Dear Reader,
Congregants of the Riverdale Jewish Center, a prominent Modern Orthodox synagogue, are grappling with whether their longtime and highly respected rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt, should stay in the pulpit after reports of his practice of inviting young men to join him in the sauna has become public knowledge. My column includes a response from the rabbi that adds to the confusion.NEW YORK
Riverdale’s ‘Open Secret’ Goes Public
Congregants divided on Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt’s invitations to young men to join him in sauna.
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher
Three years ago several prominent members of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), the 700-member Modern Orthodox congregation, met privately with their longtime rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt, and offered to arrange a generous buyout for him. They told him that the persistent rumors about his allegedly inappropriate behavior with boys and young men were bound to become public at some point and it would be in his and his family’s best interest, and for the congregation as well, if he accepted an offer to resign quietly.
If he didn’t, he was told, “this could all end badly,” according to a member of the congregation with knowledge of the meeting.
“It was not meant as a threat, but rather that it would hit the press eventually and no one would see things as he did,” the person explained this weekend.
“Unfortunately, he refused, and now it’s all out there,” the person said, referring to a thorough New York Times May 31 report on Rabbi Rosenblatt’s “unusual” behavior that included inviting young men to discuss personal matters while sitting naked in the sauna with him.
The rabbi insisted, in the meeting, that he had done nothing wrong and had complied with previous requests from shul officials that he limit his gym invitations to young men rather than boys. His wife, Tzipporah, an attorney, who was present at the meeting, was said to have warned of a possible legal case if RJC took action against the rabbi based on illegal touching.
The synagogue board met for more than four hours on Monday night, debating next steps. While nothing was resolved regarding the fate of the rabbi, the board agreed to hire a public relations firm. For now there is an air of sadness, frustration and confusion among congregants, some of whom, including supporters, are hoping the rabbi will resign and spare them more public scrutiny. Others seem prepared to rally around the rabbi and hope the negative attention will soon blow over. And it appears the rabbi is not prepared to step down.
In response to a Jewish Week request this week for an interview, he sent a brief “official” statement through his “adviser,” Adam Friedman. It does not defend against or even mention the specific accusations against him, but rather frames the controversy as one over ideology.
Rabbi Rosenblatt wrote that as a rabbi he has served “with devotion, guided by high standards — religious and professional.
“My career in leadership has not been without ideological contentiousness,” he continued. “There is significant reason to believe that the attack on my reputation is being promoted by those whose real attack is on my beliefs and principles. The respected rabbi of an important congregation would, for some, represent a significant trophy in the predatory quest to discredit his ideas and, possibly, an opportunity to change the nature of the community he leads.”
But those close to the situation see the response as an attempt to divert attention away from the rabbi’s behavior with young men. And there is puzzlement over his reference to an “ideological” struggle, since Rabbi Rosenblatt is seen as a centrist within Modern Orthodoxy.
“Bottom line, he had a chance to avoid embarrassment for himself, his family and the shul,” said the person who knew of the settlement offer. “But he brought this on himself.”
Open Secret
For most of the rabbi’s more than three decades at RJC, his habit of inviting young men to play squash or racquetball, followed by a shower and sauna with them, was an open secret in the congregation.
“It was a joke among the teenage boys and young men,” one congregant recalled. “We’d ask each other, ‘did you go to the shvitz with the rabbi?’”
But times have changed, as have societal norms. There is more awareness of and less tolerance for behavior viewed as sexually predatory, even if it is not invasive — especially when initiated by figures of authority and spiritual leaders.
Rabbi Rosenblatt (no relation to this reporter) is the scion of a prominent family — his great-grandfather was famed cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and his grandfather, Samuel Rosenblatt, was the rabbi of a major Baltimore synagogue for more than 50 years. Even some congregants urging for his resignation now note that he is a man of many talents and attributes — a brilliant scholar of English literature as well as Judaic texts, with a gift for eloquent oratory, a strong voice for Modern Orthodoxy when many of his colleagues have moved to the right, and a caring and compassionate pastor, always there for families in times of need.
But even some of his biggest defenders say his lack of self-awareness, or arrogance, in denying the disturbing quality of his behavior, and his inability or unwillingness to curb it, contributed mightily to his current difficulties.
“He has this blind spot,” said one RJC member of several decades. “He thought he could get away with this behavior.”
Samuel Klagsbrun, a prominent local psychiatrist, described Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior as “a classic case of disassociation, where one separates the reality of his actions from his belief system.” It makes for a particularly strong divide when the person is a public figure with a reputation for good works, said Klagsbrun, who noted that he does not know Rabbi Rosenblatt.
“If he was warned and continued his actions — a rabbi risking being chastised — it’s obvious that his need for that connection with the young people was significant,” he added.
But Debbie Jonas, an RJC member and mother of Rabbi Davidi Jonas, who grew up in Riverdale, said her son was one of many young teenagers who went to the gym with the rabbi, and that “it was like any health club or locker room,” with people wrapped in towels. Jonas was one of several people that Rabbi Rosenblatt’s adviser, Adam Friedman, recommended The Jewish Week contact for comment. She said the rabbi “takes himself seriously as a mentor, and I give him tremendous credit for my Davidi’s spiritual development.” And she said that more than two dozen rabbis who served as rabbinic interns at RJC were sending letters to the shul in support of Rabbi Rosenblatt.
One member of the congregation for more than 20 years said that sitting through services at RJC this past Shabbat was a particularly painful experience.
“Nothing was said publicly” about the Times article, he said, noting that in Rabbi Rosenblatt’s absence, there was an expectation that the president or other official would address the problem from the pulpit. But that did not occur. (Rabbi Rosenblatt is nearing the end of a six-month sabbatical, spending much of his time in Boston and doing research at Harvard University.)
On Shabbat morning there was much private discussion among fellow worshippers, said the congregant, who like more than a dozen people interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because of personal connections to the synagogue.
The conversation ranged from labeling the Times story “character assassination” to hopes that the rabbi step down and spare the synagogue further shame, to talk of preparing for a difficult, and perhaps legal, battle over the rabbi’s future.
‘Unanswered Questions’
The publicity over Rabbi Rosenblatt comes at a difficult time for RJC, which has lost some of the energy, and membership, it once had and as it is looking to revitalize itself. It appears that older members of the synagogue, who have been the beneficiary for decades of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s soaring sermons, thoughtful teachings and compassionate pastoral care, are more inclined to have the rabbi stay on than younger members who have reacted most critically to the allegations, perhaps envisioning their sons being at risk of the rabbi’s outreach.
It should also be noted that over the years, some members left RJC for other synagogues. So those who stayed may have made their peace with the rabbi’s questionable behavior.
One young professional, an RJC member for less than two years, said he was shocked by the revelations in the Times article and was particularly upset at the synagogue’s lay leadership’s refusal to comment publicly on Shabbat.
“People are confused and upset,” he said. “There are so many unanswered questions.”
Chief among them, particularly for outsiders, is how could the congregation’s lay leaders have allowed the rabbi to remain in his position of authority decades after learning of his sauna sessions with boys and young men?
Several former leaders acknowledged that, as one said, “It’s easy to look back now” and recognize that mistakes were made in handling the situation. But he stressed that it was more complicated than it appears.
He and others interviewed noted that the rabbi performed his primary congregational responsibilities masterfully. The complaints came most directly from Sura Jeselsohn, a member whose zealous pursuit of this case led some to describe her as the rabbi’s Javert, a reference to the “Les Miserables” villain who devoted his life to tracking down a minor thief.
“In a bizarre way she helped the rabbi’s case” because she was seen as inordinately devoted to bringing him down, one member observed.
There were never reported allegations of sexual touching or criminal complaints, and there were practical concerns that any attempt to force the rabbi out could result in a painful legal suit.
Perhaps most significant is the serious confusion over the “gray area” of the rabbi’s actions — not illegal but widely considered inappropriate — that led feelings of loyalty toward him to trump taking more forceful action.
“People would say ‘I support the rabbi, but I wouldn’t let my son go to the shvitz with him,’” one congregant noted. “Isn’t that crazy?”
In a sense, the rabbi’s insistence that none of his behavior was problematic led to the congregation’s “gift” of allowing it to continue.
The rabbi’s critics tend to view the situation in a more direct way — that he had a problem, whether he acknowledged it or not, and that he had compromised his ability to serve his community.
Those who informed the rabbi that their sons were reluctant to accept his gym invitations were told that the problem was not his but their sons.’
Going Public
What changed the dynamic was that Yehuda Kurtzer, who heads the American branch of the Shalom Hartman Institute, went to The New York Times some months ago with his story. He recounted how as a Columbia University student at 19, he was “horrified and embarrassed” when the rabbi, unclothed, invited him into the sauna.
After Rabbi Rosenblatt was invited to speak to the students at the SAR Academy in Riverdale last fall, Kurtzer, whose young son attends the school, complained to the principal. He later wrote of his concerns about Rabbi Rosenblatt on a listserv of alumni of Wexner Foundation programs. That prompted a response from other participants with similar stories of their encounters with the rabbi going back a number of years, and the campaign took on renewed urgency.
[The Jewish Week has made reference to the rabbi’s unusual behavior several times over the last 15 years, without naming him. Most recently, in January 2013, this reporter’s column posed this question: “What, if anything, should be done about a synagogue rabbi who has a long history of inviting teenage boys and young men in their 20s to go to the gym with him, shower together, and share intimate talk in the sauna, making at least some of them feel deeply uncomfortable? No allegations have come to light about the rabbi crossing the line, but is this normal socializing or inappropriate behavior?”
The reason for not naming Rabbi Rosenblatt, or writing a full story, was that none of the young men who made allegations against him were willing to speak “on the record,” for attribution. Kurtzer is the first and only to do so.]
Lessons Learned?
Some stories about rabbinic impropriety are black and white, from physical and sexual abuse to spying on women in a state of undress. This one is not, and it is difficult to find the right words even to describe Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior with young men. The same invitation to play squash, shower and talk in the sauna resulted in some young men bonding with the rabbi and expressing gratitude for a mentoring relationship; others called it “predatory” and “outrageous.” The New York Times labeled it “unusual.”
Confusion abounds as well in the congregants’ range of responses. Some knew of his behavior for decades and ask now, “So what’s the big news?” Others are upset that board leaders took matters into their own hands, seeking to monitor the rabbi’s interactions with young men without informing the congregation at large.
Until our rabbinic organizations and synagogues cede power to outside experts to monitor the behavior of rabbis, the pattern will continue: peers will take precedence over possible victims. Surely we must recognize by now that rabbis, like everyone else, can have both inspiring and harmful traits. Those characteristics are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they make us human. So it’s possible that the same rabbi who shows great compassion and sensitivity to some can also present a threat to others.
It’s up to the leaders, members and rabbi of RJC to resolve this issue in a way that is dignified and fair. But it’s too late to do it quietly, under the radar. They had that chance decades ago, but no longer.
Jewish Week associate editor Jonathan Mark contributed reporting.
gary@jewishweek.org
Inset: Rabbi Jonathan I. Rosenblatt. Via rjconline.org.
GARY ROSENBLATT
With Sauna ‘Secret’ Out, Riverdale Shul Faces Tough Choice
Congregants divided on Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt’s invitations to young men to join him in the ‘shvitz.’
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher
Gary Rosenblatt
Three years ago several prominent members of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), the 700-member Modern Orthodox congregation, met privately with their longtime rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt, and offered to arrange a generous buyout for him. They told him that the persistent rumors about his allegedly inappropriate behavior with boys and young men were bound to become public at some point and it would be in his and his family’s best interest, and for the congregation as well, if he accepted an offer to resign quietly.
If he didn’t, he was told, “this could all end badly,” according to a member of the congregation with knowledge of the meeting.
“It was not meant as a threat, but rather that it would hit the press eventually and no one would see things as he did,” the person explained this weekend.
“Unfortunately, he refused, and now it’s all out there,” the person said, referring to the thorough New York Times May 31 report on Rabbi Rosenblatt’s “unusual” behavior that included inviting young men to discuss personal matters while sitting naked in the sauna with him.
The rabbi insisted, in the meeting, that he had done nothing wrong and had complied with previous requests from shul officials that he limit his gym invitations to young men rather than boys. His wife, Tzipporah, an attorney, who was present at the meeting, was said to have warned about a possible legal case if RJC took action against the rabbi based on illegal touching.
The synagogue board met for more than four hours Monday night, debating next steps. While nothing was resolved regarding the fate of the rabbi, according to interviews with those in attendance, the board agreed to hire a public relations firm. For now there is an air of sadness, frustration and confusion among congregants, some of whom, including supporters, are hoping the rabbi will resign and spare them more public scrutiny. Others seem prepared to rally around the rabbi and hope the negative attention will soon blow over. And it appears the rabbi is not prepared to step down.
In response to a Jewish Week request this week for an interview, he sent a brief “official” statement through his “adviser,” Adam Friedman. It does not defend against or even mention the specific accusations against him, but rather frames the controversy as one over ideology.
Rabbi Rosenblatt wrote that as a rabbi he has served “with devotion, guided by high standards — religious and professional.
“My career in leadership has not been without ideological contentiousness,” he continued. “There is significant reason to believe that the attack on my reputation is being promoted by those whose real attack is on my beliefs and principles. The respected rabbi of an important congregation would, for some, represent a significant trophy in the predatory quest to discredit his ideas and, possibly, an opportunity to change the nature of the community he leads.”
But those close to the situation see the response as an attempt to divert attention away from the rabbi’s behavior with young men. And there is puzzlement over his reference to an “ideological” struggle, since Rabbi Rosenblatt is seen as a centrist within Modern Orthodoxy.
“Bottom line, he had a chance to avoid embarrassment for himself, his family and the shul,” said the person who knew of the settlement offer. “But he brought this on himself.”
Open Secret
For most of the rabbi’s more than three decades at RJC, his habit of inviting young men to play squash or racquetball, followed by a shower and sauna with them, was an open secret in the congregation.
“It was a joke among the teenage boys and young men,” one congregant recalled. “We’d ask each other, ‘did you go to the shvitz with the rabbi?’”
But times have changed, as have societal norms. There is more awareness of and less tolerance for behavior viewed as sexually predatory, even if it is not invasive — especially when initiated by figures of authority and spiritual leaders.
Rabbi Rosenblatt (no relation to this reporter) is the scion of a prominent family — his great-grandfather was famed cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and his grandfather, Samuel Rosenblatt, was the rabbi of a major Baltimore synagogue for more than 50 years. Even some congregants urging for his resignation now note that he is a man of many talents and attributes — a brilliant scholar of English literature as well as Judaic texts, with a gift for eloquent oratory, a strong voice for Modern Orthodoxy when many of his colleagues have moved to the right, and a caring and compassionate pastor, always there for families in times of need.
But even some of his biggest defenders say his lack of self-awareness, or arrogance, in denying the disturbing quality of his behavior, and his inability or unwillingness to curb it, contributed mightily to his current difficulties.
“He has this blind spot,” said one RJC member of several decades. “He thought he could get away with this behavior.”
Samuel Klagsbrun, a prominent local psychiatrist, described Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior as “a classic case of disassociation, where one separates the reality of his actions from his belief system.” It makes for a particularly strong divide when the person is a public figure with a reputation for good works, said Klagsbrun, who noted that he does not know Rabbi Rosenblatt.
“If he was warned and continued his actions — a rabbi risking being chastised — it’s obvious that his need for that connection with the young people was significant,” he added.
But Debbie Jonas, an RJC member and mother of Rabbi Davidi Jonas, who grew up in Riverdale, said her son was one of many young teenagers who went to the gym with the rabbi, and that “it was like any health club or locker room,” with people wrapped in towels. Jonas was one of several people that Rabbi Rosenblatt’s adviser, Adam Friedman, recommended The Jewish Week contact for comment. She said the rabbi “takes himself seriously as a mentor, and I give him tremendous credit for my Davidi’sspiritual development.” And she said that more than two dozen rabbis who served as rabbinic interns at RJC were sending letters to the shul in support of Rabbi Rosenblatt.
One member of the congregation for more than 20 years said that sitting through services at RJC this past Shabbat was a particularly painful experience.
“Nothing was said publicly” about the Times article, he said, noting that in Rabbi Rosenblatt’s absence, there was an expectation that the president or other official would address the problem from the pulpit. But that did not occur. (Rabbi Rosenblatt is nearing the end of a six-month sabbatical, spending much of his time in Boston and doing research at Harvard University.)
On Shabbat morning there was much private discussion among fellow worshippers, said the congregant, who like more than a dozen people interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because of personal connections to the synagogue.
The conversation ranged from labeling the Times story “character assassination” to hopes that the rabbi step down and spare the synagogue further shame, to talk of preparing for a difficult, and perhaps legal, battle over the rabbi’s future.
‘Unanswered Questions’
The publicity over Rabbi Rosenblatt comes at a difficult time for RJC, which has lost some of the energy, and membership, it once had and is looking to revitalize itself. It appears that older members of the synagogue, who have been the beneficiary for decades of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s soaring sermons, thoughtful teachings and compassionate pastoral care, are more inclined to have the rabbi stay on than younger members who have reacted most critically to the allegations, perhaps envisioning their sons being at risk of the rabbi’s outreach.
It should also be noted that over the years, some members left RJC for other synagogues. So those who stayed may have made their peace with the rabbi’s questionable behavior.
One young professional, an RJC member for less than two years, said he was shocked by the revelations in the Times article and was particularly upset at the synagogue’s lay leadership’s refusal to comment publicly on Shabbat.
“People are confused and upset,” he said. “There are so many unanswered questions.”
Chief among them, particularly for outsiders, is how could the congregation’s lay leaders have allowed the rabbi to remain in his position of authority decades after learning of his sauna sessions with boys and young men?
Several former leaders acknowledged that, as one said, “It’s easy to look back now” and recognize that mistakes were made in handling the situation. But he stressed that it was more complicated than it appears.
He and others interviewed noted that the rabbi performed his primary congregational responsibilities masterfully. The complaints came most directly from Sura Jeselsohn, a member whose zealous pursuit of this case led some to describe her as the rabbi’s Javert, a reference to the “Les Miserables” villain who devoted his life to tracking down a minor thief.
“In a bizarre way she helped the rabbi’s case” because she was seen as inordinately devoted to bringing him down, one member observed.
There were never reported allegations of sexual touching or criminal complaints, and there were practical concerns that any attempt to force the rabbi out could result in a painful legal suit.
Perhaps most significant is the serious confusion over the “gray area” of the rabbi’s actions — not illegal but widely considered inappropriate — that led feelings of loyalty toward him to trump taking more forceful action.
“People would say ‘I support the rabbi, but I wouldn’t let my son go to the shvitz with him,’” one congregant noted. “Isn’t that crazy?”
In a sense, the rabbi’s insistence that none of his behavior was problematic led to the congregation’s “gift” of allowing it to continue.
The rabbi’s critics tend to view the situation in a more direct way — that he had a problem, whether he acknowledged it or not, and that he had compromised his ability to serve his community.
Those who informed the rabbi that their sons were reluctant to accept his gym invitations were told that the problem was their sons’, not his.
Going Public
What changed the dynamic was that Yehuda Kurtzer, who heads the American branch of the Shalom Hartman Institute, went to The New York Times some months ago with his story. He recounted how as a Columbia University student at 19, he was “horrified and embarrassed” when the rabbi, unclothed, invited him into the sauna.
After Rabbi Rosenblatt was invited to speak to the students at the SAR Academy in Riverdale last fall, Kurtzer, whose young son attends the school, complained to the principal. He later wrote of his concerns about Rabbi Rosenblatt on a listserv of alumni of Wexner Foundation programs. That prompted a response from other participants with similar stories of their encounters with the rabbi going back a number of years, and the campaign took on renewed urgency.
[The Jewish Week has made reference to the rabbi’s unusual behavior several times over the last 15 years, without naming him. Most recently, in January 2013, this reporter’s column posed this question: “What, if anything, should be done about a synagogue rabbi who has a long history of inviting teenage boys and young men in their 20s to go to the gym with him, shower together, and share intimate talk in the sauna, making at least some of them feel deeply uncomfortable? No allegations have come to light about the rabbi crossing the line, but is this normal socializing or inappropriate behavior?”
The reason for not naming Rabbi Rosenblatt, or writing a full story, was that none of the young men who made allegations against him were willing to speak “on the record,” for attribution. Kurtzer is the first and only to do so.]
Lessons Learned?
Some stories about rabbinic impropriety are black and white, from physical and sexual abuse to spying on women in a state of undress. This one is not, and it is difficult to find the right words even to describe Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior with young men. The same invitation to play squash, shower and talk in the sauna resulted in some young men bonding with the rabbi and expressing gratitude for a mentoring relationship; others called it “predatory” and “outrageous.” The New York Times labeled it “unusual.”
Confusion abounds as well in the congregants’ range of responses. Some knew of his behavior for decades and ask now, “So what’s the big news?” Others are upset that board leaders took matters into their own hands, seeking to monitor the rabbi’s interactions with young men without informing the congregation at large.
Until our rabbinic organizations and synagogues cede power to outside experts to monitor the behavior of rabbis, the pattern will continue: peers will take precedence over possible victims. Surely we must recognize by now that rabbis, like everyone else, can have both inspiring and harmful traits. Those characteristics are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they make us human. So it’s possible that the same rabbi who shows great compassion and sensitivity to some can also present a threat to others.
It’s up to the leaders, members and rabbi of RJC to resolve this issue in a way that is dignified and fair. But it’s too late to do it quietly, under the radar. They had that chance decades ago, but no longer.
Associate editor Jonathan Mark contributed reporting.
gary@jewishweek.org
From Israel, Josh Mitnick reports that while the Palestinian plan to have Israel expelled from international soccer was withdrawn, other efforts to isolate Israel from international supports will go forward.ISRAEL NEWS
Sports As New BDS Arena
IOC battle looms in wake of FIFA reprieve.
Joshua Mitnick
Israel Correspondent
Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rajoub led the failed bid to expel Israel from international soccer competitions. Getty Images
Tel Aviv — When a Palestinian motion to expel Israel from international soccer was scrapped last week at the 11th hour by the Palestinians, Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu and other officials hailed the results as a victory for Israeli public diplomacy.
“Our international effort proved itself and brought about the failure of the effort of the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said of the push headed by former Palestinian Gen. Jibril Rajoub.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely congratulated ministry diplomats and Israeli soccer officials who lobbied foreign governments to oppose the initiative.
Even though FIFA, engulfed in a widespread corruption scandal, ultimately approved a resolution to establish a committee to monitor allegations of Israeli limitations on Palestinian players, teams that are based in West Bank settlements, and racism in Israeli soccer, the main threat to Israel — expulsion from international soccer competitions — was avoided.
But diplomatic experts in Israel believe that the Palestinian retreat at the world soccer organization — known as FIFA — is only temporary and that the Palestinians will eventually resume their push to isolate Israel from the world of sports.
Indeed, instead of relief, the FIFA showdown seemed to ratchet up concern among Israelis that the Jewish state is about to face a tsunami of efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to isolate and delegitimize Israel in the international area. On the eve of the FIFA vote, a delegation from Israel’s top research universities huddled with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin about growing efforts on campuses to boycott Israel academically.
“This is obviously part of a bigger campaign; the events at FIFA were just the tip of the iceberg,” said Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to the European Union. Israeli diplomats believe that the next target of the Palestinians will be anti-Israel moves at the International Olympic Committee meeting later this year.
Concern about boycott efforts have heightened as Israel’s new right-wing government takes office with little expectations of renewing peace talks with the Palestinians while Jewish settlements continue to expand.
Experts said that the FIFA vote gave Palestinian efforts at internationalizing their statehood and complaints about the situation in the West Bank an unprecedented spotlight because of the attention that soccer gets around the world. The Palestinian Authority, Eran said, has discovered the “soft underbelly” of Israel by trying to isolate Israel in international organizations.
“It was a victory that Israel wasn’t kicked out of FIFA, but the Palestinian attempts will continue. It’s a good result, but it’s not the final round.”
Yuval Rotem, who heads public diplomacy at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told theMaariv newspaper that the Palestinians are just “whetting their appetites” and that diplomats were surprised at how far Rajoub was able to advance the Palestinian cause. “The Palestinians have taken us to a new level of delegitimacy,” he said.
With a continued diplomatic vacuum in peace negotiations, efforts to isolate Israel and eject it from international organizations are likely to continue, said Eran.
The boycott movement is looming large in Israel’s imagination: Rivlin called it a “strategic threat” in a meeting held with Israeli academic leaders. Since the formation of Netanyahu’s new narrow coalition government, the prime minister deputized a government minister to formulate a response to the boycott push.
There have also been reports that leading American Jewish philanthropists have been invited by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to Los Angeles to discuss strategies for dealing with the boycott campaign.
“There’s no question that the boycott movement is growing,” said David Newman, a political science professor at Ben-Gurion University who is planning to deliver a lecture at an upcoming conference on the boycott movement.
Despite the warnings of the spreading acceptance of an academic boycott of Israel, such moves have had only a marginal impact on Israeli research. The same point has been made about the impact of efforts at an economic boycott of Israel. Rather, the main damage is growing political acceptance of such moves.
Policy makers face a catch-22 in deciding on how to respond, Newman said. While overreaction by Israel risks conferring legitimacy, prestige and media on the boycott movement, Israel and its allies can’t afford to ignore the growing boycott push.
“We’re not really sure how to deal with it,” Newman said.
Not surprisingly, the debate over the boycott movement inside Israel has become political. Netanyahu said on Monday the delegitimization campaign is “nothing new” and resembles anti-Semitic libels from Jewish history. A day later, the prime minister was attacked by opposition Leader Isaac Herzog for “standing on the sidelines” and “cowardliness.”
“Concert cancellations, the economic boycott, the academic boycott, and the saga that took place at FIFA are only a few examples of war that Israel is fighting in the international area,” Herzog wrote on his Facebook page.
There’s also a debate over how to grapple with the boycott movement. While Netanyahu describes the boycott movement as a modern form of anti-Semitism, Yoaz Hendel, a former aide of his turned newspaper columnist, framed the boycotters as practicing a form of nonviolent, “asymmetric” warfare because “there are no moral limitations; there is truth and no lies.” More liberal Israelis warn against dismissing all boycott efforts as anti-Semitic.
By raising the alarm about attempts to isolate Israel, the prime minister is embracing the concerns formerly raised only by peaceniks that Israel faces a diplomatic tidal wave, said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York.
“Until recently it was the left that warned that Israel was going to face a diplomatic tsunami, and it was the right responding they were being hysterical,” he said.
But if the left blames the delegitimization campaign in part on Israel’s settlements and the occupation of the West Bank, Netanyahu is portraying a confluence of challenges — the FIFA campaign and the boycott movement, a nuclear Iran, and the Palestinian efforts to internationalize their statehood drive — as part of an existential threat pitting Israel versus the world.
“In his mind, the three are combined,” Pinkas said, “and it begs for a national unity government. It’s not about the Palestinians — it’s people who are questioning and doubting Israel’s right to exist.”
editor@jewishweek.org
Here at home, Doug Chandler has the moving story of a group of aging nuns being helped by a Jewish home for the elderly.NEW YORK
Aging Nuns Find New Home At Jewish Home
Faced with an elderly population and rising health-care costs, three orders turn to JHL for help.
Doug Chandler
Jewish Week Correspondent
Sister Loretta Theresa Richards, in nun’s habit, talks with Jewish Home Lifecare residents and Sister Margaret Smith, left.
The daily masses take place each morning, led by a priest and drawing more than 50 Catholic sisters. The sisters are each busy ministering to those around them, including other sisters, and two chapels on the premises offer the women an opportunity for spiritual reflection anytime they want.
But the space is owned by Jewish Home Lifecare, a Jewish agency founded in 1848 to care for elderly Jews, rather than any order of sisters, and the aging sisters are now part of a broader community, rather than the Catholic one they expected.
JHL’s Bronx campus is now home to 58 sisters from three separate orders — Sisters of Charity of New York (SCNY), Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, and Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — the first of which began moving members to the home last summer and the last of which is moving four members to the home this week.
“I wouldn’t say I was looking forward [to the move],” Sister Loretta Theresa Richards told The Jewish Week. “But you do the best you can wherever you are” — a credo that, in Sister Richards’ case, means furthering the interfaith work in which she’s always been involved.
The same is true of Sister Margaret Smith, who “wasn’t upset about coming to the Jewish Home. What I wanted to do at the Queen I knew I could here,” she said, referring to the now closed Convent of Mary the Queens in Yonkers, where she expected to retire. She also said she trusted that her order, SCNY, researched all possible alternatives and made the best choice.
Others among the 58 sisters now living at JHL’s Kingsbridge campus were more resistant than Sisters Richards or Smith when they first heard the news, said Elena Miranda, a spokeswoman for SCNY.
Many of the sisters from the order initially reacted as Sister Angela Rooney did, Miranda said, quoting the sister as saying, “We’re leaving our happy home.” Like Sister Rooney, 98 and the oldest sister at JHL, “they were sad.”
But Miranda added quickly that “95 percent of them are very happy about where they are” — a comment borne out by interviews with some of the sisters conducted last week by The Jewish Week. “In fact,” she said, “other sisters [not involved in the move] were more upset than [these sisters] were.”
“The space the sisters have now is much bigger than any space they had at the convents,” including the Mount St. Vincent Convent in Riverdale, the order’s motherhouse at the College of Mount St. Vincent.
The sisters have also become part of the broader community at JHL, forming friendships with many Jewish residents, said Arlene Richman, director of Kittay House, the campus’ independent-living facility. Although Richman’s staff has tried to group the sisters together on the same floors, they have the option of eating with other residents. Many participated in the campus’ Passover seder and some have attended the home’s Friday-night candle-lighting ceremonies, she said.
Beyond that, Richman said, “It was clear to me from the beginning that the tenants at Kittay House and the sisters share a mission — they want to make the world a better place — and a common history.” Many of the home’s tenants are devoted to social justice, hailing from a progressive, Workmen’s Circle-like milieu, and many of the sisters have been “right there with them,” marching for such causes as civil rights and the right to form unions, she said.
Merri Buckstone, director of housing at the campus’ assisted-living facility, echoed Richman, saying her goal “from day one” has been to create an integrated community. Longtime residents and staff alike no longer see the newcomers as a group of Catholic sisters, but as individuals with their own, unique needs.
How nearly 60 sisters came to live at JHL reveals a great deal about the current finances of their orders, the dwindling number of young Catholic women attracted to the ministry, and the inability of their congregations to sustain past models of caring for aging members. The story is also connected to the evolution of Jewish agencies like JHL, which was created by Reform Jews to serve a Jewish clientele but now cares for 12,000 older adults of all religions, colors and ethnic backgrounds, a matter on which agency leaders pride themselves.
In fact, the JHL executive responsible for negotiating the arrangement with the three orders, Regina Melly, feels a close personal connection to SCNY.
JHL’s senior vice president of business development, Melly attended Catholic schoolsas a child and graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent, making her role in the arrangement especially gratifying.
“It’s been incredibly inspiring to work with these sisters again. They’re amazing women,” she said, noting that many have worked as educators, social workers and healthcare executives. In addition to forming the backbone of many of the Catholic Church’s institutions, the orders have also been involved in the social battles of the era.
Melly reached an arrangement with SCNY, by far the largest order represented at JHL, after responding to a request for proposal issued by the order in the spring of 2014, she said, adding that she signed similar contracts with the other two orders soon afterward. SCNY now has 44 sisters living at JHL; the Franciscan Handmaids has six; and the Missionary Sisters has four, with four more to join them this week.
Thirty-eight sisters are living at JHL’s independent-living residence in the Bronx, Kittay House, while 20 reside at the campus’ assisted-living residence. An agency of UJA-Federation of New York, JHL also has campuses in Manhattan and Westchester.
The three orders are hardly alone in facing the question of how to care for aging members, said Sister Janice Bader, executive director of the Washington-based National Religious Retirement Office, an arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Several factors, she said, have prompted orders across the country to search for new models of care: the dwindling number of young men and women joining Catholic orders, the increased needs of sisters who, like the general population, are living longer, and the rising cost of health care.
In past years, the small stipends sisters received for their work covered the expenses of caring for elderly members — and that worked as long as the orders had lots of young people, she said. But the stipends weren’t enough to save for a time when the number of young members dwindled. The average median age for sisters across the country is now 72, although for some orders, it reaches into the 80s.
The search for different arrangements “never happens suddenly,” Sister Bader said. “Most of the communities do a lot of talking about this and a lot of research beforehand, so it’s never a surprise.”
Some orders have created joint retirement facilities, while at least 25 orders have moved aging members from their own property to other facilities, Catholic or not, the sister said. She believes that the arrangement at JHL is the only one in which Catholic orders have moved their sisters to a Jewish facility.
JHL provides an auditorium for daily mass, which is led by a traveling priest working for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and each of the two residential buildings have provided space for a chapel. But just as important to the sisters is the opportunity to continue their ministry, according to Sister Ellen McGrory, SCNY’s director of retirement.
“From the very beginning,” Sister McGrory said, “the administration of the Jewish Home honored that,” suggesting various ways in which the sisters could be of service. Some of the sisters simply visit other JHL residents, including those in the campus’ hospice, while others read to blind or visually impaired residents.
Sister Richards, whose order, Franciscan Handmaids, is a largely black congregation based in Harlem, said being at JHL “helps me get in touch with my roots. I’ve come to realize that the more I interact with my Jewish brothers and sisters, especially on the faith level, the more I understand my own religion, because Jesus, after all, was Jewish.”
editor@jewishweek.org
Also this week, rain didn't stop tens of thousands of hearty New Yorkers from taking part in the Celebrate Israel Parade and Festival; columnist Erica Brown on a think tank question about the Jewish future; two new documentaries on the Israel-Palestinian conflict; and Sharsheret founder Rochelle Shoretz, who died this week at 42, is recalled for her activism in dealing with breast cancer.Downpour Doesn’t Dampen Spirit At Celebrate Israel Parade
Fifth Avenue awash with Zionist pride at 51st annual event.
Carly Stern
Editorial Intern
The scene along Fifth Avenue Sunday at the Celebrate Israel Parade. Michael Datikash/JW
It rained on their parade — literally. But it didn’t dampen the spirits of the tens of thousands of people who lined Fifth Avenue Sunday at the Celebrate Israel Parade.
The parade, which has been a fixture in the city since 1965, is the largest celebration of Israel in the world. This year, more than 40,000 marchers from Jewish day schools, synagogues and social groups made their way uptown, joined by politicians including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Charles Schumer.
Most participants were clad in a variety of T-shirts, whose vibrant hues lent some color to the otherwise darkening skies and referenced this year’s theme, “Israel Imagines.”
Along the parade route, viewers in white, blue and IDF green joined marchers in chants such as “Am Yisrael Chai” as they watched floats and marching bands pass by. Spectators also sang along to tunes performed by iconic Israeli folk singer Naomi Shemer and modern reggae star Matisyahu.
In light of last summer’s Gaza war and the looming U.S. nuclear agreement with Iran, many found it particularly important to show public support for Israel at this year’s event.
“At first I didn’t really care about Israel,” admitted David Baturo, a sophomore at Yeshivat Derech Hatorah in Brooklyn. But, he added, the more he looked into how Israel is perceived on the world stage, the more upset he became. “I just feel like it’s important to show that … [Israel] is just as important as every other country that exists,” said the Baturo, who plans to study in Israel upon graduation.
Paul Werner, a state commander for the Jewish War Veterans Association, who came to the parade for the first time this year, said that with the recent uptick in anti-Israel sentiment, it is particularly important for Jews to go to the parade and show support for Israel.
“The current increase in the amount of anti-Semitism in this country, especially at thecollege and university levels, is exceedingly important,” he said.
Though the parade is mostly a joyous celebration of the Jewish state, it’s hard to keep politics at bay, given the divisions in the Jewish community.
“I think it’s good to celebrate our country and our people, but the parade makes me uncomfortable,” said Yotam Tubul, a recent Brown University graduate and dual Israeli-U.S. citizen who lives in Brooklyn. “I don’t love the idea of allying ourselves and unquestionably celebrating a country that I’m not always proud to be affiliated with.”
But plenty of Zionist pride was on display Sunday, rain or shine.
“I think that it’s important that we show that we support Israel even though we’re living in America,” said Sam Kramer of Woodmere, L.I., who has attended the event consistently for over 15 years. “It’s important to show that with everything going on, it’s still safe here to show our support for Israel.” Kramer marched alongside her three young children.
“I am here rain or shine at the parade,” added longtime attendee Marissa Feiwus, a recent graduate of the University of Arizona. “I love Israel; Israel is my second home.”
This year, in a first, the parade was followed by an Israeli culture festival on the far West Side, sponsored by the Israeli American Council (IAC). Organizers said 10,000 people, many of them Israeli-Americans, flocked to Pier 94 to hear popular Israeli pop singer Rita, take in a replica of the Tel Aviv Promenade and sample Israeli food and wine.
Yehudit Feinstein-Mentesh, IAC’s New York director, said that even with the rain, her compatriots made a surprisingly strong showing. “It was,” she said, “the first time Israeli-Americans [in New York] came out in such numbers — for anything.”
Staff writer Orli Santo contributed to this report. JEW BY VOICE
The Big Question
Erica Brown
Special To The Jewish Week
Erica Brown
In this past month’s Atlantic Monthly, “The Big Question” for June was: “Which Current Behavior Will be Most Unthinkable 100 Years from Now?” Melinda Gates said there would be no more birth control pills. Daniel Dennett said there would be no more unsupervised home-schooling. Rebecca Silverman wrote that there would be no more football, and Katie Rophie said there would be no more sadness.
What a great Jewish question to pose to a Jewish brain trust! So, I made my own temporary think tank. Brandeis professor Jonathan Sarna thinks that a century from now, “in most synagogues and temples, the announcement ‘please open yourprayer book to page __’ will be unthinkable. Prayer books will by then have been replaced by electronic devices.” The Orthodox Union’s executive director for public policy, Nathan Diament, said, “It will be unthinkable that we once had such a costly and decentralized Jewish education system under which the costs of, and barriers to, providing Jewish education were left to be set by independent schools and borne by individual families — rather than being truly a communal enterprise.”
On the family front, Emory University Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt believes that in 100 years, “Everyone will put on their pre-wedding to-do list to get tested for Jewish genetic diseases. We may not have cured all the diseases that are found primarily among Jews but we will have eliminated them because everyone is tested. It will be seen as ‘stupid’ not to do so.” She also added that no traditionally observant parent would let a daughter get married without a halachic pre-nup.
One hundred years from now, Steven Bayme of the American Jewish Committee believes, the agunah problem will no longer exist: “The phenomenon of women ‘chained’ to husbands refusing to issue a get or bill of divorce will disappear … and Jewish endogamy, or in-marriage, will be non-existent outside Orthodox precincts given high rates of Jewish assimilation, the tiny percentage of Jews in American society, the celebration of mixed marriage as a phenomenon by the general American culture and its pervasiveness within non-Orthodox sectors.” The Jewish community, he believes, cannot “uphold the norm of in-marriage” and needs to articulate in a more compelling way “the importance of marriage between Jews — whether by birth or by choice.”
Yossi Prager, executive director of the Avi Chai Foundation, says that, “It will be unthinkable for Jews to have to convince each other or non-Jews that Judaism is both a glorious religion and an enduring nationality. With the pendulum having swung back toward religion and communitarianism, Jews will be proud carriers of the covenant with God undertaken at Sinai.”
Shifra Bronznick of Advancing Women Professionals & the Jewish Community claims, “It will be unthinkable that paid family leave is considered a discretionary benefit. Every Jewish nonprofit will offer their employees generous paid family leave.” Sign me up.
Rabbi David Wolpe thinks, “The question we will not ask is whether Jews should eat animals (no).” Good thing he didn’t write what one scholar who asked not to be named believes, “In a hundred years there will be no Conservative movement.”
In a hundred years, “The Israeli political spectrum will no longer be defined by the overarching issue of providing land or not to the Palestinians as has dominated the Israeli political debate since 1967,” contends think-tanker David Makovsky. About time. Harvard professor Ruth Wisse adds that a century from now, “All Jews would have realized that the Jewish people repaired the world when it recovered its political sovereignty in the Land of Israel so that God could enjoy the weekly entry of Sabbath to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.”
Rabbi Larry Hoffman believes that, “It will be unthinkable to allow synagogues to languish through lack of communal funding and attention. … Synagogues are the single best bet for providing communities of purpose and memory, healing and hope. Yet instead of investing in synagogues, we starve them to death and wonder why they are dying.” Professor of Jewish education Jon Levisohn argues that, “In 100 years, it will be unthinkable to instrumentalize Jewish education … in the service of some vague and thin and poorly conceived far-off outcome like ‘Jewish identity.’ We will all recognize the truth in Franz Rosenzweig’s teaching about education that ‘all recipes produce … caricatures of men’ (sic), and that the only recipe ‘is to have no recipe.’”
Hmmm … lots to consider. As Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” A hundred years is a long time when you think about what we didn’t have 100 years ago. It’s short, however, in the life of the Jewish people and in the shelf life of great universal truths. So don’t wait. What can we start changing today?
Erica Brown’s column appears the first week of the month.
FILM
Of Cows And The Conflict
Two documentaries at the Human Rights Watch FilmFestival move through the minefields of Israel and the West Bank.
George Robinson
Special To The Jewish Week
A Palestinian classroom and an Israeli one at the center of “This Is My Land." Courtesy of Human Rights Watch Film Festival
In light of the seemingly intractable nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the grinding cynicism of leaders on all sides, it is almost too easy to give in to despair. Two new documentaries on the topic, debuting in this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival (which begins on June 11), will not lighten the burden of hopelessness. On the other hand, both the Palestinian-Canadian “The Wanted 18” and the Israeli “This Is My Land,” while offering no solutions and little cause for hope, are enlightening excursions through the minefields of the Middle East.
“The Wanted 18,” which will open theatrically on June 19, is an unconventional non-fiction film, blending interview footage, archival materials and animation to recount the utterly improbable story of the small town of Beit Sahour, a West Bank town that became the site of classic nonviolent civil resistance to Israeli policy during the first intifada. At the center of the town’s protests were 18 cows bought from a nearby kibbutz in an effort to dent the town’s dependence on Israeli goods by producing its own milk.
As Amer Shomali, a Palestinian artist with ties to Beit Sahour, and Canadian director Paul Cowan acknowledge from the outset of the film, the residents of the town were the most unlikely dairy farmers imaginable. Predominantly Christian and middle class, this collection of academics, professionals and university students barely knew which end of the cow to milk. But they managed to make the whole thing work on a small scale for a little while, even clandestinely distributing milk to the locals under cover of darkness. Added to a wide range of other nonviolent protests including significant tax resistance, the presence of the 18 cows became a thorn in the side of the Israeli military.
That thorn quickly festered into a public relations disaster, with Israeli soldiers searching the small town for the cows, now symbolic collaborators in the local political struggle. Shomali and Cowan milk this turn of events (pun intended, of course) for some wry humor, and even Shaltiel Levi, the former Israeli commander who is interviewed in the film, seems to appreciate the joke. But the inhabitants of Beit Sahour would eventually find themselves the victims of a very different nemesis, as the PLO opted for the false dawn of the Oslo Accords and shut down the intifada.
Shomali and Cowan tell this story fairly artfully, making excellent use of Shomali’s sketches, and drawing on a wealth of articulate witnesses from both sides of the conflict. Ironically, the weakest material in the film comes in the animated sequences involving the four cows upon whom the filmmakers chose to center much of the narrative. They strive to individualize the quartet with little success, and the results alternate between clumsy humor and bathos.
“This Is My Land,” directed, written and photographed by Tamara Erde, takes a more conventional approach to its subject, how Israeli and Palestinian children are taught the history of the conflict and its roots. This topic has been surprisingly neglected by filmmakers. One suspects that the sober, almost somber tone of Erde’s film may be indicative of why few others have ventured into this territory. Although she manages to make the subject compelling by focusing on the students, and even more so by focusing on the teachers, this is the kind of cinema of ideas that many viewers will find forbiddingly abstract.
Erde chose to film at a half-dozen schools that reflect a wide spectrum of political opinions — from a Talmud Torah for settlers in Itamar to a boy’s school in a refugee camp in Nablus; she interviewed teachers whose opinions cover an equally wide range. Loosely using the chronology of the school year, with particular attention to such flashpoints as Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) and the memorial day for the Nakba (Arabic for “The Catastrophe,” which is how the Palestinians refer to Independence Day), she walks viewers through classes in a half-dozen schools. Unfortunately, while her selection is admirable for its thoroughness, it’s too much information for an audience to absorb in a single viewing, and inclusiveness sometimes gives way to superficiality. On the other hand, an interlude spent at the site of thedeath camp at Belzec, including a stunningly frank discussion with an Israeli docent who speaks to student groups there, is one of the highlights of the film.
What emerges most clearly from “This Is My Land” is how little flexibility there is in the way this history is taught in Israel. Two experts on the respective Palestinian and Israeli textbooks and school systems offer a grim analysis of the ideological underpinnings of their own curricula, and the interviews with the children in the film do not give much cause for optimism. The tensions brought about by the conflict are all too present still, even in a supposed haven of coexistence like the Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam village. When the teachers in that peace-oriented community speak of the death of optimism, one feels the burden of a future that promises little more than renewed bloodshed and intransigence.
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will run June 11-21 at the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th St.) and the IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave.). For schedule and other information go to ff.hrw.org. “The Wanted 18” opens on Friday, June 19 at the Cinema Village (22 E. 12th St.). For information, go to www.cinemavillage.com.NEW YORK
‘Truly A Bright Light’
Cancer activist Rochelle Shoretz remembered by friends and colleagues after dying Sunday at 42.
Amy Sara Clark
Staff Writer
Rochelle Shoretz, whose own breast cancer diagnosis at age 28 led her to found the national cancer organization Sharsheret, was remembered this week as a “passionate,” leader whose “tenacity” and “intense optimism” helped thousands of women with cancer and their families.
Shoretz died Sunday afternoon at her home in Teaneck, N.J. She was 42. The cause of death was complications from breast cancer.
“We at Sharsheret have lost our founder, our leader, our mentor,” a statement from Sharsheret said. “The Jewish world and the cancer world have lost a true champion of women and their families. ... Her passion and drive will forever remain the foundation of Sharsheret. ... We will honor her memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the critical work she loved so much.”
On Sharsheret’s website, the organization invited people to post memories of Shoretz and within hours, dozens had responded.
“With boundless energy, intense optimism and laser sharp focus, Rochie proceeded to raise her sons, create Sharsheret, [and] inspire thousands of women and to forever change the landscape of breast cancer awareness and support,” wrote Tzippy (Schulman) Wolff, a longtime friend.
“In short, she made it her business to leave this world immeasurably better than when she got here,” she continued. “As paradoxical as it sounds, she had a ‘long life’ in her too-short 42 years. I will miss her indomitable spirit, her quirky humor, her infectious laugh and her warm smile. She was larger than life. I know that she will live on in each of us who was blessed to have shared in her magnificent journey.”
“She was truly a bright light to the greater community,” wrote Linda Blachman, founder of the Mothers Living Stories Project.
Shoretz founded Sharsheret in 2001 while undergoing chemotherapy. The organization provides health information and support services for Jewish women living with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or who are at increased risk for those diseases.
The organization’s name is Hebrew for chain.
Jewish women of Ashkenazi descent are at heightened risk for certain genetic mutations that can lead to cancer.
“When I was diagnosed [in July 2001], there were a lot of offers to help with meals and transport my kids, but I really wanted to speak to another young mom who was going to have to explain to her kids that she was going to lose her hair to chemo,” Shoretz told JTA in 2003.
In a video of a talk she gave three years ago at Tribefest, a conference sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America for millenials, Shoretz said her work with Sharsheret was “unapologetically Jewish” and she urged her audience to live lives in that spirit as well. “Embrace it. Own it,” she said, “because at the end of the day, our legacy will be unapologetically Jewish.”
A graduate of Columbia Law School, Shoretz went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is thought to be the first Orthodox Jewish woman to clerk for a Supreme Court justice.
“She told me she affixed the mezuzah on Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s door at the Supreme Court,” Stuart Himmelfarb, who first met her in 2004, when she was a fellow at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Berrie Fellows Leadership Program, wrote in an email to The Jewish Week. “She was so gracious and conveyed incredible power in terms of her commitment, intelligence, tenacity, dedication to her cause ... and truly was always trying to help.”
Shoretz beat her initial bout with breast cancer. But in 2009 the cancer returned, and it had spread. No longer curable, it was treatable — and friends say her energy and resolve were boundless until the end.
Shoretz is survived by two teenage sons, Shlomo and Dovid Mirsky; her mother, Sherry Tenenbaum; her father, Morris Shoretz; five sisters and two brothers. She was a stepdaughter of Jeffrey Tenenbaum and Carol Ann Finkelstein.
The funeral and interment were held Monday in New Jersey.
JTA contributed to this report.
Finally, we proudly release our eighth annual "36 Under 36" issue, which highlights young innovators in the New York area who are blending their Jewish values with education, social justice, art and medical advancement in their quest to create a more thriving and secure world.
36 Under 36 | 2015 Winners
BUSINESS
A Taste For The Hipster Life: Yuda Schlass, 30
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Advocating For Orthodox LGBTQ Jews: Dasha Sominski, 22
INCLUSION
Advocating For Students With Special Needs: Adam Dayan, 31
ARTS
Alt Rock, Chasidic-Style: Perl Wolfe, 28
SPIRITUALITY
An Old Subject, A New Beat: Daniel Silverstein, 35
BUSINESS
Babysitting Boss, Budding Philanthropist: Noa Mintz, 15
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Backing Israel By Supporting Two States: Ira Stup, 28
MEDICINE
Bringing Science Workshops To Pediatric Patients: Yosefa Schoor, 22
SOCIAL ACTION
Building Community, And Bridges; Raysh Weiss, 31
MEDICINE
Cancer Survivor, Cancer Researcher: Elana Simon, 19
CONTINUITY
Challenging Judaism’s Self-Image: Chava Shervington, 34
CONTINUITY
Cultivating Sephardic Pride: Lauren Gibli, 24
MEDIA
Fearless Israel Supporter: Jordan Chandler Hirsch, 27
CONTINUITY
Fostering Orthodox Feminism: Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, 31
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Gearing Up To Help The IDF: Ross Den, 33
SOCIAL ACTION
Helping Malawians Help Themselves: Melissa Kushner, 35
CONTINUITY
Instilling Teens With Bukharian Pride: Manashe Khaimov, 27
CONTINUITY
Instituting A More Inclusive Judaism: Eva Stern, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Jewish Voices Transcending Generations: Johanna Sanders, 23
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Kicked Out And Pushing Back: Melanie Goldberg, 23
BUSINESS
Making The Shidduch Swipe-able: David Yarus, 28
ARTS
Making Theater Frum Friendly: Yoni Oppenheim, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Orthodox Davening, Gay Pride: Oliver Rosenberg, 29
SOCIAL ACTION
Planting Seeds For Sustainable Farming: Sophie Ackoff, 26
INCLUSION
Public Face Of Inclusion Advocacy: Tikvah Juni, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Rallying Rabbis To A Cause: Joy Friedman, 32
SPIRITUALITY
Reaching Out To Russian-Speaking Jews: Avital Chizhik Goldschmidt, 23 Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, 27
CONTINUITY
Reclaiming The Mikvah: Rabbi Sara Luria, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Sparking Change, Enabling Others: Sasha Fisher, 26
ARTS
Staging Positive Change: Sivan Hadari, 33
ARTS
Standing Up For His Dream: Simon Cadel, 15
CONTINUITY
Supporting Jews In Transition: Lani Santo, 35
MEDICINE
Supporting Jews With Eating Disorders: Temimah Zucker, 23
BUSINESS
Tikkun Olam On Wall Street: Jeremy Balkin, 31
SPIRITUALITY
Traveling Teacher: Sion Setton, 29
ARTS
Using His Voice For Performance, Politics: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 21
Enjoy the read,
Gary Rosenblatt
P.S. Don't forget to check our website any time for breaking news and exclusive videos, opinion essays blogs, advice columns and more.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/
BETWEEN THE LINES
GARY ROSENBLATT
With Sauna ‘Secret’ Out, Riverdale Shul Faces Tough Choice
Congregants divided on Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt’s invitations to young men to join him in the ‘shvitz.’
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher
36 Under 36 | 2015 Winners
BUSINESS
A Taste For The Hipster Life: Yuda Schlass, 30
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Advocating For Orthodox LGBTQ Jews: Dasha Sominski, 22
INCLUSION
Advocating For Students With Special Needs: Adam Dayan, 31
ARTS
Alt Rock, Chasidic-Style: Perl Wolfe, 28
SPIRITUALITY
An Old Subject, A New Beat: Daniel Silverstein, 35
BUSINESS
Babysitting Boss, Budding Philanthropist: Noa Mintz, 15
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Backing Israel By Supporting Two States: Ira Stup, 28
MEDICINE
Bringing Science Workshops To Pediatric Patients: Yosefa Schoor, 22
SOCIAL ACTION
Building Community, And Bridges; Raysh Weiss, 31
MEDICINE
Cancer Survivor, Cancer Researcher: Elana Simon, 19
CONTINUITY
Challenging Judaism’s Self-Image: Chava Shervington, 34
CONTINUITY
Cultivating Sephardic Pride: Lauren Gibli, 24
MEDIA
Fearless Israel Supporter: Jordan Chandler Hirsch, 27
CONTINUITY
Fostering Orthodox Feminism: Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, 31
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Gearing Up To Help The IDF: Ross Den, 33
SOCIAL ACTION
Helping Malawians Help Themselves: Melissa Kushner, 35
CONTINUITY
Instilling Teens With Bukharian Pride: Manashe Khaimov, 27
CONTINUITY
Instituting A More Inclusive Judaism: Eva Stern, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Jewish Voices Transcending Generations: Johanna Sanders, 23
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Kicked Out And Pushing Back: Melanie Goldberg, 23
BUSINESS
Making The Shidduch Swipe-able: David Yarus, 28
ARTS
Making Theater Frum Friendly: Yoni Oppenheim, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Orthodox Davening, Gay Pride: Oliver Rosenberg, 29
SOCIAL ACTION
Planting Seeds For Sustainable Farming: Sophie Ackoff, 26
INCLUSION
Public Face Of Inclusion Advocacy: Tikvah Juni, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Rallying Rabbis To A Cause: Joy Friedman, 32
SPIRITUALITY
Reaching Out To Russian-Speaking Jews: Avital Chizhik Goldschmidt, 23 Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, 27
CONTINUITY
Reclaiming The Mikvah: Rabbi Sara Luria, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Sparking Change, Enabling Others: Sasha Fisher, 26
ARTS
Staging Positive Change: Sivan Hadari, 33
ARTS
Standing Up For His Dream: Simon Cadel, 15
CONTINUITY
Supporting Jews In Transition: Lani Santo, 35
MEDICINE
Supporting Jews With Eating Disorders: Temimah Zucker, 23
BUSINESS
Tikkun Olam On Wall Street: Jeremy Balkin, 31
SPIRITUALITY
Traveling Teacher: Sion Setton, 29
ARTS
Using His Voice For Performance, Politics: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 21
Enjoy the read,
Gary Rosenblatt
P.S. Don't forget to check our website any time for breaking news and exclusive videos, opinion essays blogs, advice columns and more.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/
BETWEEN THE LINES
GARY ROSENBLATT
With Sauna ‘Secret’ Out, Riverdale Shul Faces Tough Choice
Congregants divided on Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt’s invitations to young men to join him in the ‘shvitz.’
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher
Gary Rosenblatt
Three years ago several prominent members of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), the 700-member Modern Orthodox congregation, met privately with their longtime rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt, and offered to arrange a generous buyout for him. They told him that the persistent rumors about his allegedly inappropriate behavior with boys and young men were bound to become public at some point and it would be in his and his family’s best interest, and for the congregation as well, if he accepted an offer to resign quietly.
If he didn’t, he was told, “this could all end badly,” according to a member of the congregation with knowledge of the meeting.
“It was not meant as a threat, but rather that it would hit the press eventually and no one would see things as he did,” the person explained this weekend.
“Unfortunately, he refused, and now it’s all out there,” the person said, referring to the thorough New York Times May 31 report on Rabbi Rosenblatt’s “unusual” behavior that included inviting young men to discuss personal matters while sitting naked in the sauna with him.
The rabbi insisted, in the meeting, that he had done nothing wrong and had complied with previous requests from shul officials that he limit his gym invitations to young men rather than boys. His wife, Tzipporah, an attorney, who was present at the meeting, was said to have warned about a possible legal case if RJC took action against the rabbi based on illegal touching.
The synagogue board met for more than four hours Monday night, debating next steps. While nothing was resolved regarding the fate of the rabbi, according to interviews with those in attendance, the board agreed to hire a public relations firm. For now there is an air of sadness, frustration and confusion among congregants, some of whom, including supporters, are hoping the rabbi will resign and spare them more public scrutiny. Others seem prepared to rally around the rabbi and hope the negative attention will soon blow over. And it appears the rabbi is not prepared to step down.
In response to a Jewish Week request this week for an interview, he sent a brief “official” statement through his “adviser,” Adam Friedman. It does not defend against or even mention the specific accusations against him, but rather frames the controversy as one over ideology.
Rabbi Rosenblatt wrote that as a rabbi he has served “with devotion, guided by high standards — religious and professional.
“My career in leadership has not been without ideological contentiousness,” he continued. “There is significant reason to believe that the attack on my reputation is being promoted by those whose real attack is on my beliefs and principles. The respected rabbi of an important congregation would, for some, represent a significant trophy in the predatory quest to discredit his ideas and, possibly, an opportunity to change the nature of the community he leads.”
But those close to the situation see the response as an attempt to divert attention away from the rabbi’s behavior with young men. And there is puzzlement over his reference to an “ideological” struggle, since Rabbi Rosenblatt is seen as a centrist within Modern Orthodoxy.
“Bottom line, he had a chance to avoid embarrassment for himself, his family and the shul,” said the person who knew of the settlement offer. “But he brought this on himself.”
Open Secret
For most of the rabbi’s more than three decades at RJC, his habit of inviting young men to play squash or racquetball, followed by a shower and sauna with them, was an open secret in the congregation.
“It was a joke among the teenage boys and young men,” one congregant recalled. “We’d ask each other, ‘did you go to the shvitz with the rabbi?’”
But times have changed, as have societal norms. There is more awareness of and less tolerance for behavior viewed as sexually predatory, even if it is not invasive — especially when initiated by figures of authority and spiritual leaders.
Rabbi Rosenblatt (no relation to this reporter) is the scion of a prominent family — his great-grandfather was famed cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and his grandfather, Samuel Rosenblatt, was the rabbi of a major Baltimore synagogue for more than 50 years. Even some congregants urging for his resignation now note that he is a man of many talents and attributes — a brilliant scholar of English literature as well as Judaic texts, with a gift for eloquent oratory, a strong voice for Modern Orthodoxy when many of his colleagues have moved to the right, and a caring and compassionate pastor, always there for families in times of need.
But even some of his biggest defenders say his lack of self-awareness, or arrogance, in denying the disturbing quality of his behavior, and his inability or unwillingness to curb it, contributed mightily to his current difficulties.
“He has this blind spot,” said one RJC member of several decades. “He thought he could get away with this behavior.”
Samuel Klagsbrun, a prominent local psychiatrist, described Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior as “a classic case of disassociation, where one separates the reality of his actions from his belief system.” It makes for a particularly strong divide when the person is a public figure with a reputation for good works, said Klagsbrun, who noted that he does not know Rabbi Rosenblatt.
“If he was warned and continued his actions — a rabbi risking being chastised — it’s obvious that his need for that connection with the young people was significant,” he added.
But Debbie Jonas, an RJC member and mother of Rabbi Davidi Jonas, who grew up in Riverdale, said her son was one of many young teenagers who went to the gym with the rabbi, and that “it was like any health club or locker room,” with people wrapped in towels. Jonas was one of several people that Rabbi Rosenblatt’s adviser, Adam Friedman, recommended The Jewish Week contact for comment. She said the rabbi “takes himself seriously as a mentor, and I give him tremendous credit for my Davidi’sspiritual development.” And she said that more than two dozen rabbis who served as rabbinic interns at RJC were sending letters to the shul in support of Rabbi Rosenblatt.
One member of the congregation for more than 20 years said that sitting through services at RJC this past Shabbat was a particularly painful experience.
“Nothing was said publicly” about the Times article, he said, noting that in Rabbi Rosenblatt’s absence, there was an expectation that the president or other official would address the problem from the pulpit. But that did not occur. (Rabbi Rosenblatt is nearing the end of a six-month sabbatical, spending much of his time in Boston and doing research at Harvard University.)
On Shabbat morning there was much private discussion among fellow worshippers, said the congregant, who like more than a dozen people interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because of personal connections to the synagogue.
The conversation ranged from labeling the Times story “character assassination” to hopes that the rabbi step down and spare the synagogue further shame, to talk of preparing for a difficult, and perhaps legal, battle over the rabbi’s future.
‘Unanswered Questions’
The publicity over Rabbi Rosenblatt comes at a difficult time for RJC, which has lost some of the energy, and membership, it once had and is looking to revitalize itself. It appears that older members of the synagogue, who have been the beneficiary for decades of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s soaring sermons, thoughtful teachings and compassionate pastoral care, are more inclined to have the rabbi stay on than younger members who have reacted most critically to the allegations, perhaps envisioning their sons being at risk of the rabbi’s outreach.
It should also be noted that over the years, some members left RJC for other synagogues. So those who stayed may have made their peace with the rabbi’s questionable behavior.
One young professional, an RJC member for less than two years, said he was shocked by the revelations in the Times article and was particularly upset at the synagogue’s lay leadership’s refusal to comment publicly on Shabbat.
“People are confused and upset,” he said. “There are so many unanswered questions.”
Chief among them, particularly for outsiders, is how could the congregation’s lay leaders have allowed the rabbi to remain in his position of authority decades after learning of his sauna sessions with boys and young men?
Several former leaders acknowledged that, as one said, “It’s easy to look back now” and recognize that mistakes were made in handling the situation. But he stressed that it was more complicated than it appears.
He and others interviewed noted that the rabbi performed his primary congregational responsibilities masterfully. The complaints came most directly from Sura Jeselsohn, a member whose zealous pursuit of this case led some to describe her as the rabbi’s Javert, a reference to the “Les Miserables” villain who devoted his life to tracking down a minor thief.
“In a bizarre way she helped the rabbi’s case” because she was seen as inordinately devoted to bringing him down, one member observed.
There were never reported allegations of sexual touching or criminal complaints, and there were practical concerns that any attempt to force the rabbi out could result in a painful legal suit.
Perhaps most significant is the serious confusion over the “gray area” of the rabbi’s actions — not illegal but widely considered inappropriate — that led feelings of loyalty toward him to trump taking more forceful action.
“People would say ‘I support the rabbi, but I wouldn’t let my son go to the shvitz with him,’” one congregant noted. “Isn’t that crazy?”
In a sense, the rabbi’s insistence that none of his behavior was problematic led to the congregation’s “gift” of allowing it to continue.
The rabbi’s critics tend to view the situation in a more direct way — that he had a problem, whether he acknowledged it or not, and that he had compromised his ability to serve his community.
Those who informed the rabbi that their sons were reluctant to accept his gym invitations were told that the problem was their sons’, not his.
Going Public
What changed the dynamic was that Yehuda Kurtzer, who heads the American branch of the Shalom Hartman Institute, went to The New York Times some months ago with his story. He recounted how as a Columbia University student at 19, he was “horrified and embarrassed” when the rabbi, unclothed, invited him into the sauna.
After Rabbi Rosenblatt was invited to speak to the students at the SAR Academy in Riverdale last fall, Kurtzer, whose young son attends the school, complained to the principal. He later wrote of his concerns about Rabbi Rosenblatt on a listserv of alumni of Wexner Foundation programs. That prompted a response from other participants with similar stories of their encounters with the rabbi going back a number of years, and the campaign took on renewed urgency.
[The Jewish Week has made reference to the rabbi’s unusual behavior several times over the last 15 years, without naming him. Most recently, in January 2013, this reporter’s column posed this question: “What, if anything, should be done about a synagogue rabbi who has a long history of inviting teenage boys and young men in their 20s to go to the gym with him, shower together, and share intimate talk in the sauna, making at least some of them feel deeply uncomfortable? No allegations have come to light about the rabbi crossing the line, but is this normal socializing or inappropriate behavior?”
The reason for not naming Rabbi Rosenblatt, or writing a full story, was that none of the young men who made allegations against him were willing to speak “on the record,” for attribution. Kurtzer is the first and only to do so.]
Lessons Learned?
Some stories about rabbinic impropriety are black and white, from physical and sexual abuse to spying on women in a state of undress. This one is not, and it is difficult to find the right words even to describe Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior with young men. The same invitation to play squash, shower and talk in the sauna resulted in some young men bonding with the rabbi and expressing gratitude for a mentoring relationship; others called it “predatory” and “outrageous.” The New York Times labeled it “unusual.”
Confusion abounds as well in the congregants’ range of responses. Some knew of his behavior for decades and ask now, “So what’s the big news?” Others are upset that board leaders took matters into their own hands, seeking to monitor the rabbi’s interactions with young men without informing the congregation at large.
Until our rabbinic organizations and synagogues cede power to outside experts to monitor the behavior of rabbis, the pattern will continue: peers will take precedence over possible victims. Surely we must recognize by now that rabbis, like everyone else, can have both inspiring and harmful traits. Those characteristics are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they make us human. So it’s possible that the same rabbi who shows great compassion and sensitivity to some can also present a threat to others.
It’s up to the leaders, members and rabbi of RJC to resolve this issue in a way that is dignified and fair. But it’s too late to do it quietly, under the radar. They had that chance decades ago, but no longer.
Associate editor Jonathan Mark contributed reporting.
gary@jewishweek.org
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MUSINGS
All In The Family
Rabbi David Wolpe
Special To The Jewish Week
Rabbi David Wolpe
It is remarkable how many turning points in Torah are about events in a family. Not only Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, but Abraham and Sarah emigrating and Jacob and Esau fighting and Joseph struggling with his brothers. Also, the fidelity of Ruth to Naomi and Esther to Mordecai and Absalom’s betrayal of his father David and Solomon’s succession, and on and on.
There are grand sweeping events and national crises as well. Yet for a book that unfolds the drama of the created world, the Tanach reminds us repeatedly that families are the lifeblood of a nation. I once heard Israeli writer Amos Oz say that he would rather be a fly on the wall in the living room of any family than an astronaut because there is more adventure in the former than the latter.
When we turn the table into an altar through prayer, when we place our hands on our children’s heads and bless them, we are enacting the great human drama. It is natural to assume that an epic should be set on the battlefield or the mountaintop. But the Torah reminds us everything begins with families, the precious first spring of human hopes, errors and dreams.
Rabbi David Wolpe is spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @RabbiWolpe. His latest book, “David: The Divided Heart” (Yale University Press), has recently been published.
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Special Section
2015 36 Under 36
Every year, The Jewish Week presents a list of 36 individuals under the age of 36 who display exemplary devotion to merging Judaism with action. We now proudly release our eighth annual "36 Under 36" issue, which highlights young innovators in the New York area who are blending their Jewish values with education, social justice, art and medical advancement in their quest to create a more thriving and secure world. Recognize anyone on the list? Check out the exclusive special section here.36 Under 36 | 2015 Winners
BUSINESS
A Taste For The Hipster Life: Yuda Schlass, 30
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Advocating For Orthodox LGBTQ Jews: Dasha Sominski, 22
INCLUSION
Advocating For Students With Special Needs: Adam Dayan, 31
ARTS
Alt Rock, Chasidic-Style: Perl Wolfe, 28
SPIRITUALITY
An Old Subject, A New Beat: Daniel Silverstein, 35
BUSINESS
Babysitting Boss, Budding Philanthropist: Noa Mintz, 15
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Backing Israel By Supporting Two States: Ira Stup, 28
MEDICINE
Bringing Science Workshops To Pediatric Patients: Yosefa Schoor, 22
SOCIAL ACTION
Building Community, And Bridges; Raysh Weiss, 31
MEDICINE
Cancer Survivor, Cancer Researcher: Elana Simon, 19
CONTINUITY
Challenging Judaism’s Self-Image: Chava Shervington, 34
CONTINUITY
Cultivating Sephardic Pride: Lauren Gibli, 24
MEDIA
Fearless Israel Supporter: Jordan Chandler Hirsch, 27
CONTINUITY
Fostering Orthodox Feminism: Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, 31
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Gearing Up To Help The IDF: Ross Den, 33
SOCIAL ACTION
Helping Malawians Help Themselves: Melissa Kushner, 35
CONTINUITY
Instilling Teens With Bukharian Pride: Manashe Khaimov, 27
CONTINUITY
Instituting A More Inclusive Judaism: Eva Stern, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Jewish Voices Transcending Generations: Johanna Sanders, 23
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Kicked Out And Pushing Back: Melanie Goldberg, 23
BUSINESS
Making The Shidduch Swipe-able: David Yarus, 28
ARTS
Making Theater Frum Friendly: Yoni Oppenheim, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Orthodox Davening, Gay Pride: Oliver Rosenberg, 29
SOCIAL ACTION
Planting Seeds For Sustainable Farming: Sophie Ackoff, 26
INCLUSION
Public Face Of Inclusion Advocacy: Tikvah Juni, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Rallying Rabbis To A Cause: Joy Friedman, 32
SPIRITUALITY
Reaching Out To Russian-Speaking Jews: Avital Chizhik Goldschmidt, 23 Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, 27
CONTINUITY
Reclaiming The Mikvah: Rabbi Sara Luria, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Sparking Change, Enabling Others: Sasha Fisher, 26
ARTS
Staging Positive Change: Sivan Hadari, 33
ARTS
Standing Up For His Dream: Simon Cadel, 15
CONTINUITY
Supporting Jews In Transition: Lani Santo, 35
MEDICINE
Supporting Jews With Eating Disorders: Temimah Zucker, 23
BUSINESS
Tikkun Olam On Wall Street: Jeremy Balkin, 31
SPIRITUALITY
Traveling Teacher: Sion Setton, 29
ARTS
Using His Voice For Performance, Politics: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 21
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California scene: Laguna Beach. Hilary J Danailova
TRAVEL
Come Summer, Head For Winter
Hilary J. Danailova
Travel WriterSummer is vacation season — yet it can also be the most frustrating time to travel. Crowds are thick, prices skyrocket, hotels sell out and temperatures soar to uncomfortable heights. But given the reality of school schedules and the urge to get out of town, summer travel is inevitable.
If you’re dying to get out of town but can’t stand the crowds, the heat or the prices, what are your options? Here are a few suggestions — from the practical to the perverse — for summer vacations that go against the grain.
For those who hate the heat:
Head for winter! On their worst year, the Southern Hemisphere experiences a much milder winter than anything we’ve seen in New York lately. If your idea of a good time is incompatible with sunscreen and sweat, consider cities like Quito, Ecuador — a fresh, pleasant 68 degrees year-round, due to its Andean altitude — or Lima, Peru, where the perpetual mist and leaden skies do little to dampen a vibrant nightlife. Added bonuses: The flights aren’t cheap, but the countries themselves are, and jet lag is minimal compared to Europe or Asia. And both have small but historic Jewish communities that welcome visitors.
Northern Europe is also a safe bet for the heat-averse. Few have suffered heatstroke on the moody heaths of Scotland, where a nice midsummer day calls for a sweater and perhaps a trench as well. Since most Brits head to the Mediterranean, you have their castles and pubs to yourself, which is also rather nice.
You may notice that these places aren’t very sunny. If you insist on sun but don’t want heat, there’s always San Francisco. Remember Mark Twain’s legendary claim that the coldest winter he ever saw “was the summer I spent in San Francisco.”
For those on a budget:
The U.S. dollar is strong, so put it to work in places with favorable exchange rates.
I just got back from the Balkans, where I felt rich. Really rich. This region has always been cheap by European standards, but the weak euro — and local currencies pegged to the euro — combined with lingering recession have made Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia and much of Greece incredibly cheap for Americans.
Depending on your location, you can stay in a really nice hotel by the sea or in the mountains for anywhere between $30 and $100; hike some of Europe’s best mountains, free of crowds; dine on fresh salads, fish and local wine for $5-$10 per person; and spend in a week what you’d spend in a day in Tuscany, all during peak summer weather.
Of course, with the weak euro, even Tuscany is cheaper than at any time since the early 2000s. The best European deals, however, may be up north in Scandinavia. Norway and Sweden aren’t exactly budget destinations, but for those who’ve been dreaming of the land of Ikea and lox, their relatively weak currencies — coupled with discounted flights and hotel rates — have finally made them accessible to many. (Scandinavia is also ideal for heat- and crowd-avoiders, and summer is the ideal time to visit.)
How about the tried-and-true winter spots? Costa Rica and Belize, hot destinations for winter getaways, slash rates for summer vacationers — but temperatures are only a few degrees higher in June than in January. This region is hot and humid in summer, but no more so than Manhattan is, plus the sea breezes (and the pool, and cold drinks) keep things pleasant. Odds of a hurricane are still pretty low on any given week.
Florida is another obvious yet overlooked summer destination, as are the resorts of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Costa Rica, Florida and the Yucatan are all thick with Jewish communities or kosher rentals; you may have to book a year in advance for your family in wintertime, but July is a far easier bet for that tropical escape.
For those who abhor crowds:
If cities beckon — and you don’t mind a little heat — summer can be an ideal time to explore vacant museums, or waltz into popular restaurants at 7:30 and sit right down.
The emptiest place I have ever been to was Madrid on an August weekend. Absolutely everybody with any ability to flee the city does so, leaving 100-degree days to those willing to make the tradeoff for pleasantly uncrowded museums, tranquil plazas, and an unbeatable negotiating position with the city’s hotels. French cities are a close second: everyone heads for the coasts. The caveat is that Paris can get pretty hot, and Madrid positively bakes.
Closer to home, Friday afternoon is an ideal time to head into a town while everyone else is in traffic en route to the shore. In Philadelphia, you can snag an outdoor café right on Rittenhouse Square, then have the park all to yourself on summer weekends. Boston’s Public Garden and riverside parks are at their summery best in July, while the college crowd’s away and locals are all on the Cape.
And California doesn’t really have seasons — so crowds aren’t noticeably thicker in summertime, and there’s always plenty of sand to go around. But by July, the Pacific is finally warm enough for swimming at the spectacular beaches of Southern California: Santa Barbara, Malibu, Venice, Laguna Beach and La Jolla.
editor@jewishweek.org
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Featured on NYBLUEPRINT
Swiping Right On Peace In The Middle East
Maya Klausner
Blue Print EditorNew dating app launched to pair Israelis with Palestinians
Maya Klausner | Editor | Dating, Dating & Mating | 05/28/2015
“Two households, both alike in dignity … from ancient grudge break to new mutiny/Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
In Shakespeare's play, love doomed Romeo and Juliet. Matthew Nolan, founder of a new app he called Verona as homage to the couple's native city, hopes love will help heal the Middle East. Verona is a social and dating app that matches Israelis with Palestinians.
“Is my app going to spark world peace? As much as I would love to take credit for igniting world peace, it’s going to take a lot more than my app, but it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a shift,” Nolan told VICE.
The app’s tagline boasts, “World peace, one swipe at a time.” Verona, which is modeled after the swiping style of Tinder, was launched in March for Android and will be releasing a version compatible with iOS in June, according to Digital Trends.
Verona currently has between 1,000 to 2,000 users and of those users, the majority are college students living in the United States. However, Nolan reports that there are also a few users from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah.
On Tinder, the user fills in basic information like whether they are a man or a woman; on Verona, the user indicates whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.
“If, for example, there is an Arab woman who lives in Israel but wants to identify as Palestinian, she can do so and can still meet someone to fall in love with. We have hundreds of users here that are Jewish or Arab who do not necessarily live in one of the two countries, but nonetheless identify themselves as Israeli or Palestinian,” Nolan said in an interview withYnet.news.
Nolan, who is neither Israeli nor Palestinian, but in fact a white guy from Detroit, was inspired by a close friend of his, who is Palestinian and fell in love with an Israeli girl. Nolan is more than just a tech geek. He is also a professional dating coach. By pairing his two areas of expertise he hopes to create many new couples.
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TOP STORIES:
Sports As New BDS Arena
Joshua Mitnick
Israel Correspondent
Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rajoub led the failed bid to expel Israel from international soccer competitions. Getty ImagesTel Aviv — When a Palestinian motion to expel Israel from international soccer was scrapped last week at the 11th hour by the Palestinians, Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu and other officials hailed the results as a victory for Israeli public diplomacy.
“Our international effort proved itself and brought about the failure of the effort of the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said of the push headed by former Palestinian Gen. Jibril Rajoub.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely congratulated ministry diplomats and Israeli soccer officials who lobbied foreign governments to oppose the initiative.
Even though FIFA, engulfed in a widespread corruption scandal, ultimately approved a resolution to establish a committee to monitor allegations of Israeli limitations on Palestinian players, teams that are based in West Bank settlements, and racism in Israeli soccer, the main threat to Israel — expulsion from international soccer competitions — was avoided.
But diplomatic experts in Israel believe that the Palestinian retreat at the world soccer organization — known as FIFA — is only temporary and that the Palestinians will eventually resume their push to isolate Israel from the world of sports.
Indeed, instead of relief, the FIFA showdown seemed to ratchet up concern among Israelis that the Jewish state is about to face a tsunami of efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to isolate and delegitimize Israel in the international area. On the eve of the FIFA vote, a delegation from Israel’s top research universities huddled with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin about growing efforts on campuses to boycott Israel academically.
“This is obviously part of a bigger campaign; the events at FIFA were just the tip of the iceberg,” said Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to the European Union. Israeli diplomats believe that the next target of the Palestinians will be anti-Israel moves at the International Olympic Committee meeting later this year.
Concern about boycott efforts have heightened as Israel’s new right-wing government takes office with little expectations of renewing peace talks with the Palestinians while Jewish settlements continue to expand.
Experts said that the FIFA vote gave Palestinian efforts at internationalizing their statehood and complaints about the situation in the West Bank an unprecedented spotlight because of the attention that soccer gets around the world. The Palestinian Authority, Eran said, has discovered the “soft underbelly” of Israel by trying to isolate Israel in international organizations.
“It was a victory that Israel wasn’t kicked out of FIFA, but the Palestinian attempts will continue. It’s a good result, but it’s not the final round.”
Yuval Rotem, who heads public diplomacy at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told the Maariv newspaper that the Palestinians are just “whetting their appetites” and that diplomats were surprised at how far Rajoub was able to advance the Palestinian cause. “The Palestinians have taken us to a new level of delegitimacy,” he said.
With a continued diplomatic vacuum in peace negotiations, efforts to isolate Israel and eject it from international organizations are likely to continue, said Eran.
The boycott movement is looming large in Israel’s imagination: Rivlin called it a “strategic threat” in a meeting held with Israeli academic leaders. Since the formation of Netanyahu’s new narrow coalition government, the prime minister deputized a government minister to formulate a response to the boycott push.
There have also been reports that leading American Jewish philanthropists have been invited by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to Los Angeles to discuss strategies for dealing with the boycott campaign.
“There’s no question that the boycott movement is growing,” said David Newman, a political science professor at Ben-Gurion University who is planning to deliver a lecture at an upcoming conference on the boycott movement.
Despite the warnings of the spreading acceptance of an academic boycott of Israel, such moves have had only a marginal impact on Israeli research. The same point has been made about the impact of efforts at an economic boycott of Israel. Rather, the main damage is growing political acceptance of such moves.
Policy makers face a catch-22 in deciding on how to respond, Newman said. While overreaction by Israel risks conferring legitimacy, prestige and media on the boycott movement, Israel and its allies can’t afford to ignore the growing boycott push.
“We’re not really sure how to deal with it,” Newman said.
Not surprisingly, the debate over the boycott movement inside Israel has become political. Netanyahu said on Monday the delegitimization campaign is “nothing new” and resembles anti-Semitic libels from Jewish history. A day later, the prime minister was attacked by opposition Leader Isaac Herzog for “standing on the sidelines” and “cowardliness.”
“Concert cancellations, the economic boycott, the academic boycott, and the saga that took place at FIFA are only a few examples of war that Israel is fighting in the international area,” Herzog wrote on his Facebook page.
There’s also a debate over how to grapple with the boycott movement. While Netanyahu describes the boycott movement as a modern form of anti-Semitism, Yoaz Hendel, a former aide of his turned newspaper columnist, framed the boycotters as practicing a form of nonviolent, “asymmetric” warfare because “there are no moral limitations; there is truth and no lies.” More liberal Israelis warn against dismissing all boycott efforts as anti-Semitic.
By raising the alarm about attempts to isolate Israel, the prime minister is embracing the concerns formerly raised only by peaceniks that Israel faces a diplomatic tidal wave, said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York.
“Until recently it was the left that warned that Israel was going to face a diplomatic tsunami, and it was the right responding they were being hysterical,” he said.
But if the left blames the delegitimization campaign in part on Israel’s settlements and the occupation of the West Bank, Netanyahu is portraying a confluence of challenges — the FIFA campaign and the boycott movement, a nuclear Iran, and the Palestinian efforts to internationalize their statehood drive — as part of an existential threat pitting Israel versus the world.
“In his mind, the three are combined,” Pinkas said, “and it begs for a national unity government. It’s not about the Palestinians — it’s people who are questioning and doubting Israel’s right to exist.”
editor@jewishweek.org
Three years ago several prominent members of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), the 700-member Modern Orthodox congregation, met privately with their longtime rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt, and offered to arrange a generous buyout for him. They told him that the persistent rumors about his allegedly inappropriate behavior with boys and young men were bound to become public at some point and it would be in his and his family’s best interest, and for the congregation as well, if he accepted an offer to resign quietly.
If he didn’t, he was told, “this could all end badly,” according to a member of the congregation with knowledge of the meeting.
“It was not meant as a threat, but rather that it would hit the press eventually and no one would see things as he did,” the person explained this weekend.
“Unfortunately, he refused, and now it’s all out there,” the person said, referring to the thorough New York Times May 31 report on Rabbi Rosenblatt’s “unusual” behavior that included inviting young men to discuss personal matters while sitting naked in the sauna with him.
The rabbi insisted, in the meeting, that he had done nothing wrong and had complied with previous requests from shul officials that he limit his gym invitations to young men rather than boys. His wife, Tzipporah, an attorney, who was present at the meeting, was said to have warned about a possible legal case if RJC took action against the rabbi based on illegal touching.
The synagogue board met for more than four hours Monday night, debating next steps. While nothing was resolved regarding the fate of the rabbi, according to interviews with those in attendance, the board agreed to hire a public relations firm. For now there is an air of sadness, frustration and confusion among congregants, some of whom, including supporters, are hoping the rabbi will resign and spare them more public scrutiny. Others seem prepared to rally around the rabbi and hope the negative attention will soon blow over. And it appears the rabbi is not prepared to step down.
In response to a Jewish Week request this week for an interview, he sent a brief “official” statement through his “adviser,” Adam Friedman. It does not defend against or even mention the specific accusations against him, but rather frames the controversy as one over ideology.
Rabbi Rosenblatt wrote that as a rabbi he has served “with devotion, guided by high standards — religious and professional.
“My career in leadership has not been without ideological contentiousness,” he continued. “There is significant reason to believe that the attack on my reputation is being promoted by those whose real attack is on my beliefs and principles. The respected rabbi of an important congregation would, for some, represent a significant trophy in the predatory quest to discredit his ideas and, possibly, an opportunity to change the nature of the community he leads.”
But those close to the situation see the response as an attempt to divert attention away from the rabbi’s behavior with young men. And there is puzzlement over his reference to an “ideological” struggle, since Rabbi Rosenblatt is seen as a centrist within Modern Orthodoxy.
“Bottom line, he had a chance to avoid embarrassment for himself, his family and the shul,” said the person who knew of the settlement offer. “But he brought this on himself.”
Open Secret
For most of the rabbi’s more than three decades at RJC, his habit of inviting young men to play squash or racquetball, followed by a shower and sauna with them, was an open secret in the congregation.
“It was a joke among the teenage boys and young men,” one congregant recalled. “We’d ask each other, ‘did you go to the shvitz with the rabbi?’”
But times have changed, as have societal norms. There is more awareness of and less tolerance for behavior viewed as sexually predatory, even if it is not invasive — especially when initiated by figures of authority and spiritual leaders.
Rabbi Rosenblatt (no relation to this reporter) is the scion of a prominent family — his great-grandfather was famed cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and his grandfather, Samuel Rosenblatt, was the rabbi of a major Baltimore synagogue for more than 50 years. Even some congregants urging for his resignation now note that he is a man of many talents and attributes — a brilliant scholar of English literature as well as Judaic texts, with a gift for eloquent oratory, a strong voice for Modern Orthodoxy when many of his colleagues have moved to the right, and a caring and compassionate pastor, always there for families in times of need.
But even some of his biggest defenders say his lack of self-awareness, or arrogance, in denying the disturbing quality of his behavior, and his inability or unwillingness to curb it, contributed mightily to his current difficulties.
“He has this blind spot,” said one RJC member of several decades. “He thought he could get away with this behavior.”
Samuel Klagsbrun, a prominent local psychiatrist, described Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior as “a classic case of disassociation, where one separates the reality of his actions from his belief system.” It makes for a particularly strong divide when the person is a public figure with a reputation for good works, said Klagsbrun, who noted that he does not know Rabbi Rosenblatt.
“If he was warned and continued his actions — a rabbi risking being chastised — it’s obvious that his need for that connection with the young people was significant,” he added.
But Debbie Jonas, an RJC member and mother of Rabbi Davidi Jonas, who grew up in Riverdale, said her son was one of many young teenagers who went to the gym with the rabbi, and that “it was like any health club or locker room,” with people wrapped in towels. Jonas was one of several people that Rabbi Rosenblatt’s adviser, Adam Friedman, recommended The Jewish Week contact for comment. She said the rabbi “takes himself seriously as a mentor, and I give him tremendous credit for my Davidi’sspiritual development.” And she said that more than two dozen rabbis who served as rabbinic interns at RJC were sending letters to the shul in support of Rabbi Rosenblatt.
One member of the congregation for more than 20 years said that sitting through services at RJC this past Shabbat was a particularly painful experience.
“Nothing was said publicly” about the Times article, he said, noting that in Rabbi Rosenblatt’s absence, there was an expectation that the president or other official would address the problem from the pulpit. But that did not occur. (Rabbi Rosenblatt is nearing the end of a six-month sabbatical, spending much of his time in Boston and doing research at Harvard University.)
On Shabbat morning there was much private discussion among fellow worshippers, said the congregant, who like more than a dozen people interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because of personal connections to the synagogue.
The conversation ranged from labeling the Times story “character assassination” to hopes that the rabbi step down and spare the synagogue further shame, to talk of preparing for a difficult, and perhaps legal, battle over the rabbi’s future.
‘Unanswered Questions’
The publicity over Rabbi Rosenblatt comes at a difficult time for RJC, which has lost some of the energy, and membership, it once had and is looking to revitalize itself. It appears that older members of the synagogue, who have been the beneficiary for decades of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s soaring sermons, thoughtful teachings and compassionate pastoral care, are more inclined to have the rabbi stay on than younger members who have reacted most critically to the allegations, perhaps envisioning their sons being at risk of the rabbi’s outreach.
It should also be noted that over the years, some members left RJC for other synagogues. So those who stayed may have made their peace with the rabbi’s questionable behavior.
One young professional, an RJC member for less than two years, said he was shocked by the revelations in the Times article and was particularly upset at the synagogue’s lay leadership’s refusal to comment publicly on Shabbat.
“People are confused and upset,” he said. “There are so many unanswered questions.”
Chief among them, particularly for outsiders, is how could the congregation’s lay leaders have allowed the rabbi to remain in his position of authority decades after learning of his sauna sessions with boys and young men?
Several former leaders acknowledged that, as one said, “It’s easy to look back now” and recognize that mistakes were made in handling the situation. But he stressed that it was more complicated than it appears.
He and others interviewed noted that the rabbi performed his primary congregational responsibilities masterfully. The complaints came most directly from Sura Jeselsohn, a member whose zealous pursuit of this case led some to describe her as the rabbi’s Javert, a reference to the “Les Miserables” villain who devoted his life to tracking down a minor thief.
“In a bizarre way she helped the rabbi’s case” because she was seen as inordinately devoted to bringing him down, one member observed.
There were never reported allegations of sexual touching or criminal complaints, and there were practical concerns that any attempt to force the rabbi out could result in a painful legal suit.
Perhaps most significant is the serious confusion over the “gray area” of the rabbi’s actions — not illegal but widely considered inappropriate — that led feelings of loyalty toward him to trump taking more forceful action.
“People would say ‘I support the rabbi, but I wouldn’t let my son go to the shvitz with him,’” one congregant noted. “Isn’t that crazy?”
In a sense, the rabbi’s insistence that none of his behavior was problematic led to the congregation’s “gift” of allowing it to continue.
The rabbi’s critics tend to view the situation in a more direct way — that he had a problem, whether he acknowledged it or not, and that he had compromised his ability to serve his community.
Those who informed the rabbi that their sons were reluctant to accept his gym invitations were told that the problem was their sons’, not his.
Going Public
What changed the dynamic was that Yehuda Kurtzer, who heads the American branch of the Shalom Hartman Institute, went to The New York Times some months ago with his story. He recounted how as a Columbia University student at 19, he was “horrified and embarrassed” when the rabbi, unclothed, invited him into the sauna.
After Rabbi Rosenblatt was invited to speak to the students at the SAR Academy in Riverdale last fall, Kurtzer, whose young son attends the school, complained to the principal. He later wrote of his concerns about Rabbi Rosenblatt on a listserv of alumni of Wexner Foundation programs. That prompted a response from other participants with similar stories of their encounters with the rabbi going back a number of years, and the campaign took on renewed urgency.
[The Jewish Week has made reference to the rabbi’s unusual behavior several times over the last 15 years, without naming him. Most recently, in January 2013, this reporter’s column posed this question: “What, if anything, should be done about a synagogue rabbi who has a long history of inviting teenage boys and young men in their 20s to go to the gym with him, shower together, and share intimate talk in the sauna, making at least some of them feel deeply uncomfortable? No allegations have come to light about the rabbi crossing the line, but is this normal socializing or inappropriate behavior?”
The reason for not naming Rabbi Rosenblatt, or writing a full story, was that none of the young men who made allegations against him were willing to speak “on the record,” for attribution. Kurtzer is the first and only to do so.]
Lessons Learned?
Some stories about rabbinic impropriety are black and white, from physical and sexual abuse to spying on women in a state of undress. This one is not, and it is difficult to find the right words even to describe Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior with young men. The same invitation to play squash, shower and talk in the sauna resulted in some young men bonding with the rabbi and expressing gratitude for a mentoring relationship; others called it “predatory” and “outrageous.” The New York Times labeled it “unusual.”
Confusion abounds as well in the congregants’ range of responses. Some knew of his behavior for decades and ask now, “So what’s the big news?” Others are upset that board leaders took matters into their own hands, seeking to monitor the rabbi’s interactions with young men without informing the congregation at large.
Until our rabbinic organizations and synagogues cede power to outside experts to monitor the behavior of rabbis, the pattern will continue: peers will take precedence over possible victims. Surely we must recognize by now that rabbis, like everyone else, can have both inspiring and harmful traits. Those characteristics are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they make us human. So it’s possible that the same rabbi who shows great compassion and sensitivity to some can also present a threat to others.
It’s up to the leaders, members and rabbi of RJC to resolve this issue in a way that is dignified and fair. But it’s too late to do it quietly, under the radar. They had that chance decades ago, but no longer.
Associate editor Jonathan Mark contributed reporting.
gary@jewishweek.org
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MUSINGSAll In The Family
Rabbi David Wolpe
Special To The Jewish Week
Rabbi David Wolpe
It is remarkable how many turning points in Torah are about events in a family. Not only Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, but Abraham and Sarah emigrating and Jacob and Esau fighting and Joseph struggling with his brothers. Also, the fidelity of Ruth to Naomi and Esther to Mordecai and Absalom’s betrayal of his father David and Solomon’s succession, and on and on.
There are grand sweeping events and national crises as well. Yet for a book that unfolds the drama of the created world, the Tanach reminds us repeatedly that families are the lifeblood of a nation. I once heard Israeli writer Amos Oz say that he would rather be a fly on the wall in the living room of any family than an astronaut because there is more adventure in the former than the latter.
When we turn the table into an altar through prayer, when we place our hands on our children’s heads and bless them, we are enacting the great human drama. It is natural to assume that an epic should be set on the battlefield or the mountaintop. But the Torah reminds us everything begins with families, the precious first spring of human hopes, errors and dreams.
Rabbi David Wolpe is spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @RabbiWolpe. His latest book, “David: The Divided Heart” (Yale University Press), has recently been published.
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Special Section
2015 36 Under 36
Every year, The Jewish Week presents a list of 36 individuals under the age of 36 who display exemplary devotion to merging Judaism with action. We now proudly release our eighth annual "36 Under 36" issue, which highlights young innovators in the New York area who are blending their Jewish values with education, social justice, art and medical advancement in their quest to create a more thriving and secure world. Recognize anyone on the list? Check out the exclusive special section here.36 Under 36 | 2015 Winners
BUSINESS
A Taste For The Hipster Life: Yuda Schlass, 30
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Advocating For Orthodox LGBTQ Jews: Dasha Sominski, 22
INCLUSION
Advocating For Students With Special Needs: Adam Dayan, 31
ARTS
Alt Rock, Chasidic-Style: Perl Wolfe, 28
SPIRITUALITY
An Old Subject, A New Beat: Daniel Silverstein, 35
BUSINESS
Babysitting Boss, Budding Philanthropist: Noa Mintz, 15
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Backing Israel By Supporting Two States: Ira Stup, 28
MEDICINE
Bringing Science Workshops To Pediatric Patients: Yosefa Schoor, 22
SOCIAL ACTION
Building Community, And Bridges; Raysh Weiss, 31
MEDICINE
Cancer Survivor, Cancer Researcher: Elana Simon, 19
CONTINUITY
Challenging Judaism’s Self-Image: Chava Shervington, 34
CONTINUITY
Cultivating Sephardic Pride: Lauren Gibli, 24
MEDIA
Fearless Israel Supporter: Jordan Chandler Hirsch, 27
CONTINUITY
Fostering Orthodox Feminism: Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, 31
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Gearing Up To Help The IDF: Ross Den, 33
SOCIAL ACTION
Helping Malawians Help Themselves: Melissa Kushner, 35
CONTINUITY
Instilling Teens With Bukharian Pride: Manashe Khaimov, 27
CONTINUITY
Instituting A More Inclusive Judaism: Eva Stern, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Jewish Voices Transcending Generations: Johanna Sanders, 23
ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Kicked Out And Pushing Back: Melanie Goldberg, 23
BUSINESS
Making The Shidduch Swipe-able: David Yarus, 28
ARTS
Making Theater Frum Friendly: Yoni Oppenheim, 33
LGBTQ LEADERSHIP
Orthodox Davening, Gay Pride: Oliver Rosenberg, 29
SOCIAL ACTION
Planting Seeds For Sustainable Farming: Sophie Ackoff, 26
INCLUSION
Public Face Of Inclusion Advocacy: Tikvah Juni, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Rallying Rabbis To A Cause: Joy Friedman, 32
SPIRITUALITY
Reaching Out To Russian-Speaking Jews: Avital Chizhik Goldschmidt, 23 Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, 27
CONTINUITY
Reclaiming The Mikvah: Rabbi Sara Luria, 32
SOCIAL ACTION
Sparking Change, Enabling Others: Sasha Fisher, 26
ARTS
Staging Positive Change: Sivan Hadari, 33
ARTS
Standing Up For His Dream: Simon Cadel, 15
CONTINUITY
Supporting Jews In Transition: Lani Santo, 35
MEDICINE
Supporting Jews With Eating Disorders: Temimah Zucker, 23
BUSINESS
Tikkun Olam On Wall Street: Jeremy Balkin, 31
SPIRITUALITY
Traveling Teacher: Sion Setton, 29
ARTS
Using His Voice For Performance, Politics: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 21
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California scene: Laguna Beach. Hilary J Danailova
TRAVEL
Come Summer, Head For Winter
Hilary J. Danailova
Travel WriterSummer is vacation season — yet it can also be the most frustrating time to travel. Crowds are thick, prices skyrocket, hotels sell out and temperatures soar to uncomfortable heights. But given the reality of school schedules and the urge to get out of town, summer travel is inevitable.
If you’re dying to get out of town but can’t stand the crowds, the heat or the prices, what are your options? Here are a few suggestions — from the practical to the perverse — for summer vacations that go against the grain.
For those who hate the heat:
Head for winter! On their worst year, the Southern Hemisphere experiences a much milder winter than anything we’ve seen in New York lately. If your idea of a good time is incompatible with sunscreen and sweat, consider cities like Quito, Ecuador — a fresh, pleasant 68 degrees year-round, due to its Andean altitude — or Lima, Peru, where the perpetual mist and leaden skies do little to dampen a vibrant nightlife. Added bonuses: The flights aren’t cheap, but the countries themselves are, and jet lag is minimal compared to Europe or Asia. And both have small but historic Jewish communities that welcome visitors.
Northern Europe is also a safe bet for the heat-averse. Few have suffered heatstroke on the moody heaths of Scotland, where a nice midsummer day calls for a sweater and perhaps a trench as well. Since most Brits head to the Mediterranean, you have their castles and pubs to yourself, which is also rather nice.
You may notice that these places aren’t very sunny. If you insist on sun but don’t want heat, there’s always San Francisco. Remember Mark Twain’s legendary claim that the coldest winter he ever saw “was the summer I spent in San Francisco.”
For those on a budget:
The U.S. dollar is strong, so put it to work in places with favorable exchange rates.
I just got back from the Balkans, where I felt rich. Really rich. This region has always been cheap by European standards, but the weak euro — and local currencies pegged to the euro — combined with lingering recession have made Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia and much of Greece incredibly cheap for Americans.
Depending on your location, you can stay in a really nice hotel by the sea or in the mountains for anywhere between $30 and $100; hike some of Europe’s best mountains, free of crowds; dine on fresh salads, fish and local wine for $5-$10 per person; and spend in a week what you’d spend in a day in Tuscany, all during peak summer weather.
Of course, with the weak euro, even Tuscany is cheaper than at any time since the early 2000s. The best European deals, however, may be up north in Scandinavia. Norway and Sweden aren’t exactly budget destinations, but for those who’ve been dreaming of the land of Ikea and lox, their relatively weak currencies — coupled with discounted flights and hotel rates — have finally made them accessible to many. (Scandinavia is also ideal for heat- and crowd-avoiders, and summer is the ideal time to visit.)
How about the tried-and-true winter spots? Costa Rica and Belize, hot destinations for winter getaways, slash rates for summer vacationers — but temperatures are only a few degrees higher in June than in January. This region is hot and humid in summer, but no more so than Manhattan is, plus the sea breezes (and the pool, and cold drinks) keep things pleasant. Odds of a hurricane are still pretty low on any given week.
Florida is another obvious yet overlooked summer destination, as are the resorts of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Costa Rica, Florida and the Yucatan are all thick with Jewish communities or kosher rentals; you may have to book a year in advance for your family in wintertime, but July is a far easier bet for that tropical escape.
For those who abhor crowds:
If cities beckon — and you don’t mind a little heat — summer can be an ideal time to explore vacant museums, or waltz into popular restaurants at 7:30 and sit right down.
The emptiest place I have ever been to was Madrid on an August weekend. Absolutely everybody with any ability to flee the city does so, leaving 100-degree days to those willing to make the tradeoff for pleasantly uncrowded museums, tranquil plazas, and an unbeatable negotiating position with the city’s hotels. French cities are a close second: everyone heads for the coasts. The caveat is that Paris can get pretty hot, and Madrid positively bakes.
Closer to home, Friday afternoon is an ideal time to head into a town while everyone else is in traffic en route to the shore. In Philadelphia, you can snag an outdoor café right on Rittenhouse Square, then have the park all to yourself on summer weekends. Boston’s Public Garden and riverside parks are at their summery best in July, while the college crowd’s away and locals are all on the Cape.
And California doesn’t really have seasons — so crowds aren’t noticeably thicker in summertime, and there’s always plenty of sand to go around. But by July, the Pacific is finally warm enough for swimming at the spectacular beaches of Southern California: Santa Barbara, Malibu, Venice, Laguna Beach and La Jolla.
editor@jewishweek.org
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Featured on NYBLUEPRINT
Swiping Right On Peace In The Middle East
Maya Klausner
Blue Print EditorNew dating app launched to pair Israelis with Palestinians
Maya Klausner | Editor | Dating, Dating & Mating | 05/28/2015
“Two households, both alike in dignity … from ancient grudge break to new mutiny/Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
In Shakespeare's play, love doomed Romeo and Juliet. Matthew Nolan, founder of a new app he called Verona as homage to the couple's native city, hopes love will help heal the Middle East. Verona is a social and dating app that matches Israelis with Palestinians.
“Is my app going to spark world peace? As much as I would love to take credit for igniting world peace, it’s going to take a lot more than my app, but it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a shift,” Nolan told VICE.
The app’s tagline boasts, “World peace, one swipe at a time.” Verona, which is modeled after the swiping style of Tinder, was launched in March for Android and will be releasing a version compatible with iOS in June, according to Digital Trends.
Verona currently has between 1,000 to 2,000 users and of those users, the majority are college students living in the United States. However, Nolan reports that there are also a few users from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah.
On Tinder, the user fills in basic information like whether they are a man or a woman; on Verona, the user indicates whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.
“If, for example, there is an Arab woman who lives in Israel but wants to identify as Palestinian, she can do so and can still meet someone to fall in love with. We have hundreds of users here that are Jewish or Arab who do not necessarily live in one of the two countries, but nonetheless identify themselves as Israeli or Palestinian,” Nolan said in an interview withYnet.news.
Nolan, who is neither Israeli nor Palestinian, but in fact a white guy from Detroit, was inspired by a close friend of his, who is Palestinian and fell in love with an Israeli girl. Nolan is more than just a tech geek. He is also a professional dating coach. By pairing his two areas of expertise he hopes to create many new couples.
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TOP STORIES:
Sports As New BDS Arena
Joshua Mitnick
Israel Correspondent
Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rajoub led the failed bid to expel Israel from international soccer competitions. Getty ImagesTel Aviv — When a Palestinian motion to expel Israel from international soccer was scrapped last week at the 11th hour by the Palestinians, Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu and other officials hailed the results as a victory for Israeli public diplomacy.
“Our international effort proved itself and brought about the failure of the effort of the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said of the push headed by former Palestinian Gen. Jibril Rajoub.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely congratulated ministry diplomats and Israeli soccer officials who lobbied foreign governments to oppose the initiative.
Even though FIFA, engulfed in a widespread corruption scandal, ultimately approved a resolution to establish a committee to monitor allegations of Israeli limitations on Palestinian players, teams that are based in West Bank settlements, and racism in Israeli soccer, the main threat to Israel — expulsion from international soccer competitions — was avoided.
But diplomatic experts in Israel believe that the Palestinian retreat at the world soccer organization — known as FIFA — is only temporary and that the Palestinians will eventually resume their push to isolate Israel from the world of sports.
Indeed, instead of relief, the FIFA showdown seemed to ratchet up concern among Israelis that the Jewish state is about to face a tsunami of efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to isolate and delegitimize Israel in the international area. On the eve of the FIFA vote, a delegation from Israel’s top research universities huddled with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin about growing efforts on campuses to boycott Israel academically.
“This is obviously part of a bigger campaign; the events at FIFA were just the tip of the iceberg,” said Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to the European Union. Israeli diplomats believe that the next target of the Palestinians will be anti-Israel moves at the International Olympic Committee meeting later this year.
Concern about boycott efforts have heightened as Israel’s new right-wing government takes office with little expectations of renewing peace talks with the Palestinians while Jewish settlements continue to expand.
Experts said that the FIFA vote gave Palestinian efforts at internationalizing their statehood and complaints about the situation in the West Bank an unprecedented spotlight because of the attention that soccer gets around the world. The Palestinian Authority, Eran said, has discovered the “soft underbelly” of Israel by trying to isolate Israel in international organizations.
“It was a victory that Israel wasn’t kicked out of FIFA, but the Palestinian attempts will continue. It’s a good result, but it’s not the final round.”
Yuval Rotem, who heads public diplomacy at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told the Maariv newspaper that the Palestinians are just “whetting their appetites” and that diplomats were surprised at how far Rajoub was able to advance the Palestinian cause. “The Palestinians have taken us to a new level of delegitimacy,” he said.
With a continued diplomatic vacuum in peace negotiations, efforts to isolate Israel and eject it from international organizations are likely to continue, said Eran.
The boycott movement is looming large in Israel’s imagination: Rivlin called it a “strategic threat” in a meeting held with Israeli academic leaders. Since the formation of Netanyahu’s new narrow coalition government, the prime minister deputized a government minister to formulate a response to the boycott push.
There have also been reports that leading American Jewish philanthropists have been invited by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to Los Angeles to discuss strategies for dealing with the boycott campaign.
“There’s no question that the boycott movement is growing,” said David Newman, a political science professor at Ben-Gurion University who is planning to deliver a lecture at an upcoming conference on the boycott movement.
Despite the warnings of the spreading acceptance of an academic boycott of Israel, such moves have had only a marginal impact on Israeli research. The same point has been made about the impact of efforts at an economic boycott of Israel. Rather, the main damage is growing political acceptance of such moves.
Policy makers face a catch-22 in deciding on how to respond, Newman said. While overreaction by Israel risks conferring legitimacy, prestige and media on the boycott movement, Israel and its allies can’t afford to ignore the growing boycott push.
“We’re not really sure how to deal with it,” Newman said.
Not surprisingly, the debate over the boycott movement inside Israel has become political. Netanyahu said on Monday the delegitimization campaign is “nothing new” and resembles anti-Semitic libels from Jewish history. A day later, the prime minister was attacked by opposition Leader Isaac Herzog for “standing on the sidelines” and “cowardliness.”
“Concert cancellations, the economic boycott, the academic boycott, and the saga that took place at FIFA are only a few examples of war that Israel is fighting in the international area,” Herzog wrote on his Facebook page.
There’s also a debate over how to grapple with the boycott movement. While Netanyahu describes the boycott movement as a modern form of anti-Semitism, Yoaz Hendel, a former aide of his turned newspaper columnist, framed the boycotters as practicing a form of nonviolent, “asymmetric” warfare because “there are no moral limitations; there is truth and no lies.” More liberal Israelis warn against dismissing all boycott efforts as anti-Semitic.
By raising the alarm about attempts to isolate Israel, the prime minister is embracing the concerns formerly raised only by peaceniks that Israel faces a diplomatic tidal wave, said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York.
“Until recently it was the left that warned that Israel was going to face a diplomatic tsunami, and it was the right responding they were being hysterical,” he said.
But if the left blames the delegitimization campaign in part on Israel’s settlements and the occupation of the West Bank, Netanyahu is portraying a confluence of challenges — the FIFA campaign and the boycott movement, a nuclear Iran, and the Palestinian efforts to internationalize their statehood drive — as part of an existential threat pitting Israel versus the world.
“In his mind, the three are combined,” Pinkas said, “and it begs for a national unity government. It’s not about the Palestinians — it’s people who are questioning and doubting Israel’s right to exist.”
editor@jewishweek.org
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Aging Nuns Find New Home At Jewish Home
Doug Chandler
Jewish Week Correspondent
Sister Loretta Theresa Richards, in nun’s habit, talks with Jewish Home Lifecare residents and Sister Margaret Smith, left.
The daily masses take place each morning, led by a priest and drawing more than 50 Catholic sisters. The sisters are each busy ministering to those around them, including other sisters, and two chapels on the premises offer the women an opportunity for spiritual reflection anytime they want.
But the space is owned by Jewish Home Lifecare, a Jewish agency founded in 1848 to care for elderly Jews, rather than any order of sisters, and the aging sisters are now part of a broader community, rather than the Catholic one they expected.
UHL’s Bronx campus is now home to 58 sisters from three separate orders — Sisters of Charity of New York (SCNY), Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, and Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — the first of which began moving members to the home last summer and the last of which is moving four members to the home this week.
“I wouldn’t say I was looking forward [to the move],” Sister Loretta Theresa Richards told The Jewish Week. “But you do the best you can wherever you are” — a credo that, in Sister Richards’ case, means furthering the interfaith work in which she’s always been involved.
The same is true of Sister Margaret Smith, who “wasn’t upset about coming to the Jewish Home. What I wanted to do at the Queen I knew I could here,” she said, referring to the now closed Convent of Mary the Queens in Yonkers, where she expected to retire. She also said she trusted that her order, SCNY, researched all possible alternatives and made the best choice.
Others among the 58 sisters now living at JHL’s Kingsbridge campus were more resistant than Sisters Richards or Smith when they first heard the news, said Elena Miranda, a spokeswoman for SCNY.
Many of the sisters from the order initially reacted as Sister Angela Rooney did, Miranda said, quoting the sister as saying, “We’re leaving our happy home.” Like Sister Rooney, 98 and the oldest sister at JHL, “they were sad.”
But Miranda added quickly that “95 percent of them are very happy about where they are” — a comment borne out by interviews with some of the sisters conducted last week by The Jewish Week. “In fact,” she said, “other sisters [not involved in the move] were more upset than [these sisters] were.”
“The space the sisters have now is much bigger than any space they had at the convents,” including the Mount St. Vincent Convent in Riverdale, the order’s motherhouse at the College of Mount St. Vincent.
The sisters have also become part of the broader community at JHL, forming friendships with many Jewish residents, said Arlene Richman, director of Kittay House, the campus’ independent-living facility. Although Richman’s staff has tried to group the sisters together on the same floors, they have the option of eating with other residents. Many participated in the campus’ Passover seder and some have attended the home’s Friday-night candle-lighting ceremonies, she said.
Beyond that, Richman said, “It was clear to me from the beginning that the tenants at Kittay House and the sisters share a mission — they want to make the world a better place — and a common history.” Many of the home’s tenants are devoted to social justice, hailing from a progressive, Workmen’s Circle-like milieu, and many of the sisters have been “right there with them,” marching for such causes as civil rights and the right to form unions, she said.
Merri Buckstone, director of housing at the campus’ assisted-living facility, echoed Richman, saying her goal “from day one” has been to create an integrated community. Longtime residents and staff alike no longer see the newcomers as a group of Catholic sisters, but as individuals with their own, unique needs.
How nearly 60 sisters came to live at JHL reveals a great deal about the current finances of their orders, the dwindling number of young Catholic women attracted to the ministry, and the inability of their congregations to sustain past models of caring for aging members. The story is also connected to the evolution of Jewish agencies like JHL, which was created by Reform Jews to serve a Jewish clientele but now cares for 12,000 older adults of all religions, colors and ethnic backgrounds, a matter on which agency leaders pride themselves.
In fact, the JHL executive responsible for negotiating the arrangement with the three orders, Regina Melly, feels a close personal connection to SCNY.
JHL’s senior vice president of business development, Melly attended Catholic schoolsas a child and graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent, making her role in the arrangement especially gratifying.
“It’s been incredibly inspiring to work with these sisters again. They’re amazing women,” she said, noting that many have worked as educators, social workers and healthcare executives. In addition to forming the backbone of many of the Catholic Church’s institutions, the orders have also been involved in the social battles of the era.
Melly reached an arrangement with SCNY, by far the largest order represented at JHL, after responding to a request for proposal issued by the order in the spring of 2014, she said, adding that she signed similar contracts with the other two orders soon afterward. SCNY now has 44 sisters living at JHL; the Franciscan Handmaids has six; and the Missionary Sisters has four, with four more to join them this week.
Thirty-eight sisters are living at JHL’s independent-living residence in the Bronx, Kittay House, while 20 reside at the campus’ assisted-living residence. An agency of UJA-Federation of New York, JHL also has campuses in Manhattan and Westchester.
The three orders are hardly alone in facing the question of how to care for aging members, said Sister Janice Bader, executive director of the Washington-based National Religious Retirement Office, an arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Several factors, she said, have prompted orders across the country to search for new models of care: the dwindling number of young men and women joining Catholic orders, the increased needs of sisters who, like the general population, are living longer, and the rising cost of health care.
In past years, the small stipends sisters received for their work covered the expenses of caring for elderly members — and that worked as long as the orders had lots of young people, she said. But the stipends weren’t enough to save for a time when the number of young members dwindled. The average median age for sisters across the country is now 72, although for some orders, it reaches into the 80s.
The search for different arrangements “never happens suddenly,” Sister Bader said. “Most of the communities do a lot of talking about this and a lot of research beforehand, so it’s never a surprise.”
Some orders have created joint retirement facilities, while at least 25 orders have moved aging members from their own property to other facilities, Catholic or not, the sister said. She believes that the arrangement at JHL is the only one in which Catholic orders have moved their sisters to a Jewish facility.
JHL provides an auditorium for daily mass, which is led by a traveling priest working for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and each of the two residential buildings have provided space for a chapel. But just as important to the sisters is the opportunity to continue their ministry, according to Sister Ellen McGrory, SCNY’s director of retirement.
“From the very beginning,” Sister McGrory said, “the administration of the Jewish Home honored that,” suggesting various ways in which the sisters could be of service. Some of the sisters simply visit other JHL residents, including those in the campus’ hospice, while others read to blind or visually impaired residents.
Sister Richards, whose order, Franciscan Handmaids, is a largely black congregation based in Harlem, said being at JHL “helps me get in touch with my roots. I’ve come to realize that the more I interact with my Jewish brothers and sisters, especially on the faith level, the more I understand my own religion, because Jesus, after all, was Jewish.”
editor@jewishweek.org
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Aging Nuns Find New Home At Jewish Home
Doug Chandler
Jewish Week Correspondent
Sister Loretta Theresa Richards, in nun’s habit, talks with Jewish Home Lifecare residents and Sister Margaret Smith, left.
The daily masses take place each morning, led by a priest and drawing more than 50 Catholic sisters. The sisters are each busy ministering to those around them, including other sisters, and two chapels on the premises offer the women an opportunity for spiritual reflection anytime they want.
But the space is owned by Jewish Home Lifecare, a Jewish agency founded in 1848 to care for elderly Jews, rather than any order of sisters, and the aging sisters are now part of a broader community, rather than the Catholic one they expected.
UHL’s Bronx campus is now home to 58 sisters from three separate orders — Sisters of Charity of New York (SCNY), Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, and Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — the first of which began moving members to the home last summer and the last of which is moving four members to the home this week.
“I wouldn’t say I was looking forward [to the move],” Sister Loretta Theresa Richards told The Jewish Week. “But you do the best you can wherever you are” — a credo that, in Sister Richards’ case, means furthering the interfaith work in which she’s always been involved.
The same is true of Sister Margaret Smith, who “wasn’t upset about coming to the Jewish Home. What I wanted to do at the Queen I knew I could here,” she said, referring to the now closed Convent of Mary the Queens in Yonkers, where she expected to retire. She also said she trusted that her order, SCNY, researched all possible alternatives and made the best choice.
Others among the 58 sisters now living at JHL’s Kingsbridge campus were more resistant than Sisters Richards or Smith when they first heard the news, said Elena Miranda, a spokeswoman for SCNY.
Many of the sisters from the order initially reacted as Sister Angela Rooney did, Miranda said, quoting the sister as saying, “We’re leaving our happy home.” Like Sister Rooney, 98 and the oldest sister at JHL, “they were sad.”
But Miranda added quickly that “95 percent of them are very happy about where they are” — a comment borne out by interviews with some of the sisters conducted last week by The Jewish Week. “In fact,” she said, “other sisters [not involved in the move] were more upset than [these sisters] were.”
“The space the sisters have now is much bigger than any space they had at the convents,” including the Mount St. Vincent Convent in Riverdale, the order’s motherhouse at the College of Mount St. Vincent.
The sisters have also become part of the broader community at JHL, forming friendships with many Jewish residents, said Arlene Richman, director of Kittay House, the campus’ independent-living facility. Although Richman’s staff has tried to group the sisters together on the same floors, they have the option of eating with other residents. Many participated in the campus’ Passover seder and some have attended the home’s Friday-night candle-lighting ceremonies, she said.
Beyond that, Richman said, “It was clear to me from the beginning that the tenants at Kittay House and the sisters share a mission — they want to make the world a better place — and a common history.” Many of the home’s tenants are devoted to social justice, hailing from a progressive, Workmen’s Circle-like milieu, and many of the sisters have been “right there with them,” marching for such causes as civil rights and the right to form unions, she said.
Merri Buckstone, director of housing at the campus’ assisted-living facility, echoed Richman, saying her goal “from day one” has been to create an integrated community. Longtime residents and staff alike no longer see the newcomers as a group of Catholic sisters, but as individuals with their own, unique needs.
How nearly 60 sisters came to live at JHL reveals a great deal about the current finances of their orders, the dwindling number of young Catholic women attracted to the ministry, and the inability of their congregations to sustain past models of caring for aging members. The story is also connected to the evolution of Jewish agencies like JHL, which was created by Reform Jews to serve a Jewish clientele but now cares for 12,000 older adults of all religions, colors and ethnic backgrounds, a matter on which agency leaders pride themselves.
In fact, the JHL executive responsible for negotiating the arrangement with the three orders, Regina Melly, feels a close personal connection to SCNY.
JHL’s senior vice president of business development, Melly attended Catholic schoolsas a child and graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent, making her role in the arrangement especially gratifying.
“It’s been incredibly inspiring to work with these sisters again. They’re amazing women,” she said, noting that many have worked as educators, social workers and healthcare executives. In addition to forming the backbone of many of the Catholic Church’s institutions, the orders have also been involved in the social battles of the era.
Melly reached an arrangement with SCNY, by far the largest order represented at JHL, after responding to a request for proposal issued by the order in the spring of 2014, she said, adding that she signed similar contracts with the other two orders soon afterward. SCNY now has 44 sisters living at JHL; the Franciscan Handmaids has six; and the Missionary Sisters has four, with four more to join them this week.
Thirty-eight sisters are living at JHL’s independent-living residence in the Bronx, Kittay House, while 20 reside at the campus’ assisted-living residence. An agency of UJA-Federation of New York, JHL also has campuses in Manhattan and Westchester.
The three orders are hardly alone in facing the question of how to care for aging members, said Sister Janice Bader, executive director of the Washington-based National Religious Retirement Office, an arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Several factors, she said, have prompted orders across the country to search for new models of care: the dwindling number of young men and women joining Catholic orders, the increased needs of sisters who, like the general population, are living longer, and the rising cost of health care.
In past years, the small stipends sisters received for their work covered the expenses of caring for elderly members — and that worked as long as the orders had lots of young people, she said. But the stipends weren’t enough to save for a time when the number of young members dwindled. The average median age for sisters across the country is now 72, although for some orders, it reaches into the 80s.
The search for different arrangements “never happens suddenly,” Sister Bader said. “Most of the communities do a lot of talking about this and a lot of research beforehand, so it’s never a surprise.”
Some orders have created joint retirement facilities, while at least 25 orders have moved aging members from their own property to other facilities, Catholic or not, the sister said. She believes that the arrangement at JHL is the only one in which Catholic orders have moved their sisters to a Jewish facility.
JHL provides an auditorium for daily mass, which is led by a traveling priest working for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and each of the two residential buildings have provided space for a chapel. But just as important to the sisters is the opportunity to continue their ministry, according to Sister Ellen McGrory, SCNY’s director of retirement.
“From the very beginning,” Sister McGrory said, “the administration of the Jewish Home honored that,” suggesting various ways in which the sisters could be of service. Some of the sisters simply visit other JHL residents, including those in the campus’ hospice, while others read to blind or visually impaired residents.
Sister Richards, whose order, Franciscan Handmaids, is a largely black congregation based in Harlem, said being at JHL “helps me get in touch with my roots. I’ve come to realize that the more I interact with my Jewish brothers and sisters, especially on the faith level, the more I understand my own religion, because Jesus, after all, was Jewish.”
editor@jewishweek.org
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NEW YORK'Truly A Bright Light'
Amy Sara Clark
Staff WriterRochelle Shoretz, whose own breast cancer diagnosis at age 28 led her to found the national cancer organization Sharsheret, was remembered this week as a “passionate,” leader whose “tenacity” and “intense optimism” helped thousands of women with cancer and their families.
Shoretz died Sunday afternoon at her home in Teaneck, N.J. She was 42. The cause of death was complications from breast cancer.
“We at Sharsheret have lost our founder, our leader, our mentor,” a statement from Sharsheret said. “The Jewish world and the cancer world have lost a true champion of women and their families. ... Her passion and drive will forever remain the foundation of Sharsheret. ... We will honor her memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the critical work she loved so much.”
On Sharsheret’s website, the organization invited people to post memories of Shoretz and within hours, dozens had responded.
“With boundless energy, intense optimism and laser sharp focus, Rochie proceeded to raise her sons, create Sharsheret, [and] inspire thousands of women and to forever change the landscape of breast cancer awareness and support,” wrote Tzippy (Schulman) Wolff, a longtime friend.
“In short, she made it her business to leave this world immeasurably better than when she got here,” she continued. “As paradoxical as it sounds, she had a ‘long life’ in her too-short 42 years. I will miss her indomitable spirit, her quirky humor, her infectious laugh and her warm smile. She was larger than life. I know that she will live on in each of us who was blessed to have shared in her magnificent journey.”
“She was truly a bright light to the greater community,” wrote Linda Blachman, founder of the Mothers Living Stories Project.
Shoretz founded Sharsheret in 2001 while undergoing chemotherapy. The organization provides health information and support services for Jewish women living with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or who are at increased risk for those diseases.
The organization’s name is Hebrew for chain.
Jewish women of Ashkenazi descent are at heightened risk for certain genetic mutations that can lead to cancer.
“When I was diagnosed [in July 2001], there were a lot of offers to help with meals and transport my kids, but I really wanted to speak to another young mom who was going to have to explain to her kids that she was going to lose her hair to chemo,” Shoretz told JTA in 2003.
In a video of a talk she gave three years ago at Tribefest, a conference sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America for millenials, Shoretz said her work with Sharsheret was “unapologetically Jewish” and she urged her audience to live lives in that spirit as well. “Embrace it. Own it,” she said, “because at the end of the day, our legacy will be unapologetically Jewish.”
A graduate of Columbia Law School, Shoretz went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is thought to be the first Orthodox Jewish woman to clerk for a Supreme Court justice.
“She told me she affixed the mezuzah on Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s door at the Supreme Court,” Stuart Himmelfarb, who first met her in 2004, when she was a fellow at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Berrie Fellows Leadership Program, wrote in an email to The Jewish Week. “She was so gracious and conveyed incredible power in terms of her commitment, intelligence, tenacity, dedication to her cause ... and truly was always trying to help.”
Shoretz beat her initial bout with breast cancer. But in 2009 the cancer returned, and it had spread. No longer curable, it was treatable — and friends say her energy and resolve were boundless until the end.
Shoretz is survived by two teenage sons, Shlomo and Dovid Mirsky; her mother, Sherry Tenenbaum; her father, Morris Shoretz; five sisters and two brothers. She was a stepdaughter of Jeffrey Tenenbaum and Carol Ann Finkelstein.
The funeral and interment were held Monday in New Jersey.
JTA contributed to this report.
GARY ROSENBLATTAmy Sara Clark
Staff WriterRochelle Shoretz, whose own breast cancer diagnosis at age 28 led her to found the national cancer organization Sharsheret, was remembered this week as a “passionate,” leader whose “tenacity” and “intense optimism” helped thousands of women with cancer and their families.
Shoretz died Sunday afternoon at her home in Teaneck, N.J. She was 42. The cause of death was complications from breast cancer.
“We at Sharsheret have lost our founder, our leader, our mentor,” a statement from Sharsheret said. “The Jewish world and the cancer world have lost a true champion of women and their families. ... Her passion and drive will forever remain the foundation of Sharsheret. ... We will honor her memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the critical work she loved so much.”
On Sharsheret’s website, the organization invited people to post memories of Shoretz and within hours, dozens had responded.
“With boundless energy, intense optimism and laser sharp focus, Rochie proceeded to raise her sons, create Sharsheret, [and] inspire thousands of women and to forever change the landscape of breast cancer awareness and support,” wrote Tzippy (Schulman) Wolff, a longtime friend.
“In short, she made it her business to leave this world immeasurably better than when she got here,” she continued. “As paradoxical as it sounds, she had a ‘long life’ in her too-short 42 years. I will miss her indomitable spirit, her quirky humor, her infectious laugh and her warm smile. She was larger than life. I know that she will live on in each of us who was blessed to have shared in her magnificent journey.”
“She was truly a bright light to the greater community,” wrote Linda Blachman, founder of the Mothers Living Stories Project.
Shoretz founded Sharsheret in 2001 while undergoing chemotherapy. The organization provides health information and support services for Jewish women living with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or who are at increased risk for those diseases.
The organization’s name is Hebrew for chain.
Jewish women of Ashkenazi descent are at heightened risk for certain genetic mutations that can lead to cancer.
“When I was diagnosed [in July 2001], there were a lot of offers to help with meals and transport my kids, but I really wanted to speak to another young mom who was going to have to explain to her kids that she was going to lose her hair to chemo,” Shoretz told JTA in 2003.
In a video of a talk she gave three years ago at Tribefest, a conference sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America for millenials, Shoretz said her work with Sharsheret was “unapologetically Jewish” and she urged her audience to live lives in that spirit as well. “Embrace it. Own it,” she said, “because at the end of the day, our legacy will be unapologetically Jewish.”
A graduate of Columbia Law School, Shoretz went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is thought to be the first Orthodox Jewish woman to clerk for a Supreme Court justice.
“She told me she affixed the mezuzah on Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s door at the Supreme Court,” Stuart Himmelfarb, who first met her in 2004, when she was a fellow at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Berrie Fellows Leadership Program, wrote in an email to The Jewish Week. “She was so gracious and conveyed incredible power in terms of her commitment, intelligence, tenacity, dedication to her cause ... and truly was always trying to help.”
Shoretz beat her initial bout with breast cancer. But in 2009 the cancer returned, and it had spread. No longer curable, it was treatable — and friends say her energy and resolve were boundless until the end.
Shoretz is survived by two teenage sons, Shlomo and Dovid Mirsky; her mother, Sherry Tenenbaum; her father, Morris Shoretz; five sisters and two brothers. She was a stepdaughter of Jeffrey Tenenbaum and Carol Ann Finkelstein.
The funeral and interment were held Monday in New Jersey.
JTA contributed to this report.
With Sauna ‘Secret’ Out, Riverdale Shul Faces Tough Choice
Congregants divided on Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt’s invitations to young men to join him in the ‘shvitz.’
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher
Gary Rosenblatt
Three years ago several prominent members of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), the 700-member Modern Orthodox congregation, met privately with their longtime rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt, and offered to arrange a generous buyout for him. They told him that the persistent rumors about his allegedly inappropriate behavior with boys and young men were bound to become public at some point and it would be in his and his family’s best interest, and for the congregation as well, if he accepted an offer to resign quietly.
If he didn’t, he was told, “this could all end badly,” according to a member of the congregation with knowledge of the meeting.
“It was not meant as a threat, but rather that it would hit the press eventually and no one would see things as he did,” the person explained this weekend.
“Unfortunately, he refused, and now it’s all out there,” the person said, referring to the thorough New York Times May 31 report on Rabbi Rosenblatt’s “unusual” behavior that included inviting young men to discuss personal matters while sitting naked in the sauna with him.
The rabbi insisted, in the meeting, that he had done nothing wrong and had complied with previous requests from shul officials that he limit his gym invitations to young men rather than boys. His wife, Tzipporah, an attorney, who was present at the meeting, was said to have warned about a possible legal case if RJC took action against the rabbi based on illegal touching.
The synagogue board met for more than four hours Monday night, debating next steps. While nothing was resolved regarding the fate of the rabbi, according to interviews with those in attendance, the board agreed to hire a public relations firm. For now there is an air of sadness, frustration and confusion among congregants, some of whom, including supporters, are hoping the rabbi will resign and spare them more public scrutiny. Others seem prepared to rally around the rabbi and hope the negative attention will soon blow over. And it appears the rabbi is not prepared to step down.
In response to a Jewish Week request this week for an interview, he sent a brief “official” statement through his “adviser,” Adam Friedman. It does not defend against or even mention the specific accusations against him, but rather frames the controversy as one over ideology.
Rabbi Rosenblatt wrote that as a rabbi he has served “with devotion, guided by high standards — religious and professional.
“My career in leadership has not been without ideological contentiousness,” he continued. “There is significant reason to believe that the attack on my reputation is being promoted by those whose real attack is on my beliefs and principles. The respected rabbi of an important congregation would, for some, represent a significant trophy in the predatory quest to discredit his ideas and, possibly, an opportunity to change the nature of the community he leads.”
But those close to the situation see the response as an attempt to divert attention away from the rabbi’s behavior with young men. And there is puzzlement over his reference to an “ideological” struggle, since Rabbi Rosenblatt is seen as a centrist within Modern Orthodoxy.
“Bottom line, he had a chance to avoid embarrassment for himself, his family and the shul,” said the person who knew of the settlement offer. “But he brought this on himself.”
Open Secret
For most of the rabbi’s more than three decades at RJC, his habit of inviting young men to play squash or racquetball, followed by a shower and sauna with them, was an open secret in the congregation.
“It was a joke among the teenage boys and young men,” one congregant recalled. “We’d ask each other, ‘did you go to the shvitz with the rabbi?’”
But times have changed, as have societal norms. There is more awareness of and less tolerance for behavior viewed as sexually predatory, even if it is not invasive — especially when initiated by figures of authority and spiritual leaders.
Rabbi Rosenblatt (no relation to this reporter) is the scion of a prominent family — his great-grandfather was famed cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and his grandfather, Samuel Rosenblatt, was the rabbi of a major Baltimore synagogue for more than 50 years. Even some congregants urging for his resignation now note that he is a man of many talents and attributes — a brilliant scholar of English literature as well as Judaic texts, with a gift for eloquent oratory, a strong voice for Modern Orthodoxy when many of his colleagues have moved to the right, and a caring and compassionate pastor, always there for families in times of need.
But even some of his biggest defenders say his lack of self-awareness, or arrogance, in denying the disturbing quality of his behavior, and his inability or unwillingness to curb it, contributed mightily to his current difficulties.
“He has this blind spot,” said one RJC member of several decades. “He thought he could get away with this behavior.”
Samuel Klagsbrun, a prominent local psychiatrist, described Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior as “a classic case of disassociation, where one separates the reality of his actions from his belief system.” It makes for a particularly strong divide when the person is a public figure with a reputation for good works, said Klagsbrun, who noted that he does not know Rabbi Rosenblatt.
“If he was warned and continued his actions — a rabbi risking being chastised — it’s obvious that his need for that connection with the young people was significant,” he added.
But Debbie Jonas, an RJC member and mother of Rabbi Davidi Jonas, who grew up in Riverdale, said her son was one of many young teenagers who went to the gym with the rabbi, and that “it was like any health club or locker room,” with people wrapped in towels. Jonas was one of several people that Rabbi Rosenblatt’s adviser, Adam Friedman, recommended The Jewish Week contact for comment. She said the rabbi “takes himself seriously as a mentor, and I give him tremendous credit for my Davidi’s spiritual development.” And she said that more than two dozen rabbis who served as rabbinic interns at RJC were sending letters to the shul in support of Rabbi Rosenblatt.
One member of the congregation for more than 20 years said that sitting through services at RJC this past Shabbat was a particularly painful experience.
“Nothing was said publicly” about the Times article, he said, noting that in Rabbi Rosenblatt’s absence, there was an expectation that the president or other official would address the problem from the pulpit. But that did not occur. (Rabbi Rosenblatt is nearing the end of a six-month sabbatical, spending much of his time in Boston and doing research at Harvard University.)
On Shabbat morning there was much private discussion among fellow worshippers, said the congregant, who like more than a dozen people interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because of personal connections to the synagogue.
The conversation ranged from labeling the Times story “character assassination” to hopes that the rabbi step down and spare the synagogue further shame, to talk of preparing for a difficult, and perhaps legal, battle over the rabbi’s future.
‘Unanswered Questions’
The publicity over Rabbi Rosenblatt comes at a difficult time for RJC, which has lost some of the energy, and membership, it once had and is looking to revitalize itself. It appears that older members of the synagogue, who have been the beneficiary for decades of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s soaring sermons, thoughtful teachings and compassionate pastoral care, are more inclined to have the rabbi stay on than younger members who have reacted most critically to the allegations, perhaps envisioning their sons being at risk of the rabbi’s outreach.
It should also be noted that over the years, some members left RJC for other synagogues. So those who stayed may have made their peace with the rabbi’s questionable behavior.
One young professional, an RJC member for less than two years, said he was shocked by the revelations in the Times article and was particularly upset at the synagogue’s lay leadership’s refusal to comment publicly on Shabbat.
“People are confused and upset,” he said. “There are so many unanswered questions.”
Chief among them, particularly for outsiders, is how could the congregation’s lay leaders have allowed the rabbi to remain in his position of authority decades after learning of his sauna sessions with boys and young men?
Several former leaders acknowledged that, as one said, “It’s easy to look back now” and recognize that mistakes were made in handling the situation. But he stressed that it was more complicated than it appears.
He and others interviewed noted that the rabbi performed his primary congregational responsibilities masterfully. The complaints came most directly from Sura Jeselsohn, a member whose zealous pursuit of this case led some to describe her as the rabbi’s Javert, a reference to the “Les Miserables” villain who devoted his life to tracking down a minor thief.
“In a bizarre way she helped the rabbi’s case” because she was seen as inordinately devoted to bringing him down, one member observed.
There were never reported allegations of sexual touching or criminal complaints, and there were practical concerns that any attempt to force the rabbi out could result in a painful legal suit.
Perhaps most significant is the serious confusion over the “gray area” of the rabbi’s actions — not illegal but widely considered inappropriate — that led feelings of loyalty toward him to trump taking more forceful action.
“People would say ‘I support the rabbi, but I wouldn’t let my son go to the shvitz with him,’” one congregant noted. “Isn’t that crazy?”
In a sense, the rabbi’s insistence that none of his behavior was problematic led to the congregation’s “gift” of allowing it to continue.
The rabbi’s critics tend to view the situation in a more direct way — that he had a problem, whether he acknowledged it or not, and that he had compromised his ability to serve his community.
Those who informed the rabbi that their sons were reluctant to accept his gym invitations were told that the problem was their sons’, not his.
Going Public
What changed the dynamic was that Yehuda Kurtzer, who heads the American branch of the Shalom Hartman Institute, went to The New York Times some months ago with his story. He recounted how as a Columbia University student at 19, he was “horrified and embarrassed” when the rabbi, unclothed, invited him into the sauna.
After Rabbi Rosenblatt was invited to speak to the students at the SAR Academy in Riverdale last fall, Kurtzer, whose young son attends the school, complained to the principal. He later wrote of his concerns about Rabbi Rosenblatt on a listserv of alumni of Wexner Foundation programs. That prompted a response from other participants with similar stories of their encounters with the rabbi going back a number of years, and the campaign took on renewed urgency.
[The Jewish Week has made reference to the rabbi’s unusual behavior several times over the last 15 years, without naming him. Most recently, in January 2013, this reporter’s column posed this question: “What, if anything, should be done about a synagogue rabbi who has a long history of inviting teenage boys and young men in their 20s to go to the gym with him, shower together, and share intimate talk in the sauna, making at least some of them feel deeply uncomfortable? No allegations have come to light about the rabbi crossing the line, but is this normal socializing or inappropriate behavior?”
The reason for not naming Rabbi Rosenblatt, or writing a full story, was that none of the young men who made allegations against him were willing to speak “on the record,” for attribution. Kurtzer is the first and only to do so.]
Lessons Learned?
Some stories about rabbinic impropriety are black and white, from physical and sexual abuse to spying on women in a state of undress. This one is not, and it is difficult to find the right words even to describe Rabbi Rosenblatt’s behavior with young men. The same invitation to play squash, shower and talk in the sauna resulted in some young men bonding with the rabbi and expressing gratitude for a mentoring relationship; others called it “predatory” and “outrageous.” The New York Times labeled it “unusual.”
Confusion abounds as well in the congregants’ range of responses. Some knew of his behavior for decades and ask now, “So what’s the big news?” Others are upset that board leaders took matters into their own hands, seeking to monitor the rabbi’s interactions with young men without informing the congregation at large.
Until our rabbinic organizations and synagogues cede power to outside experts to monitor the behavior of rabbis, the pattern will continue: peers will take precedence over possible victims. Surely we must recognize by now that rabbis, like everyone else, can have both inspiring and harmful traits. Those characteristics are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they make us human. So it’s possible that the same rabbi who shows great compassion and sensitivity to some can also present a threat to others.
It’s up to the leaders, members and rabbi of RJC to resolve this issue in a way that is dignified and fair. But it’s too late to do it quietly, under the radar. They had that chance decades ago, but no longer.
Associate editor Jonathan Mark contributed reporting.
gary@jewishweek.org
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