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Is that coat kosher? Out of a lab in his Brighton house, a rabbi tests clothes to Established 1902 make sure they don’t violate the commandment of mixing Vol. 201 No. 7 ■ 28 Shevat 5770 — FEBRUARY 12, 2010 ■ www.TheJewishAdvocate.com ■ $1.50 linen and wool. See Page 3 Armenians, Facing down Photographic memories Shoah denial Jews push In her Our Turn column, the granddaughter of a Holocaust genocide survivor describes her en- counter with Arabs who had been taught the death camps legislation were fiction. See Page 7 Local group The great launches national cholent cook-off campaign The Kosher Food Lover ven- By Cara Hogan tures into the kitchen at Young Advocate Staff Israel of Brookline for a be- hind-the-scenes look at the Local leaders from the Armen- shul’s annual culinary contest. ian and Jewish communities have See Page 17 launched a nationwide petition drive to press Congress to pass Celebrating a legislation recognizing the Armen- dance great ian Genocide. The petition reads, “As a presi- Conservatory hosts a dential candidate, Barack Obama centenary tribute to Anna proclaimed ‘a principled commit- Sokolow, a pioneering Jewish ment to commemorating and end- choreographer and modern ing genocide.’ He then explicitly dancer. pledged, ‘As President I will recog- See Page 16 nize the Armenian Genocide.’” The petition calls for the United Campers States to recognize the genocide send out SOS on its 95th anniversary this April. Organizers say they have collected The international alumni of 3,400 signatures from people Camp Szarvas in Hungary are across the country since the drive waging a Web campaign to was launched Feb. 2. raise money as the economic The petition (posted at crisis has slashed in half this www.change.org) was drawn up summer’s sessions. by the Coalition to Recognize the See Page 24 Leslie Starobin’s montage, “The Sketchbook of MZ,” captures the story of a family torn apart by war. Armenian Genocide, which was The charcoal drawing is of the same woman who is in the photo of the mother and son wearing skis. co-founded by Rabbi Howard Jaffe of Temple Isaiah in Lexington. The coalition was formed two Teaching how to detect stories in family pictures years ago by more than 20 local Ar- By Dawn Swann ry in attic boxes and family albums or on the walls of menians and Jews, including Special to homes. Rabbi Ronne Friedman and Rabbi Two JWA representatives, Emily Scheinberg and Ju- Elaine Zecher of Temple Israel in The funny thing about treasures: They’re often hid- dith Rosenbaum, brought their mission to Mayyim Boston. ing in plain sight. At least that’s what the Jewish Hayyim, the mikvah and education center in Newton, Jaffe said he was galvanized by SHABBAT CANDLE Women’s Archive hopes. in the format of a workshop called “The Album as the controversy triggered when LIGHTING TIMES The JWA’s mission is to uncover, chronicle and pub- Archive: the Photograph as Story.” the director of the licize the rich history of Jewish women in North Amer- A dozen women gathered around a table, sipping chapter of the Anti-Defamation Parshah: Mishpatim ica. It is always on the lookout for lost pieces of histo- League broke with the national or- BOSTON 4:54 PM steaming mugs of tea and peering at photos they had brought from home. The goal was to ferret out the sto- ganization by saying it should rec- MANCHESTER, N.H. 4:54 PM ognize the Armenian genocide. FALL RIVER 4:55 PM ries behind the photos, by examining the expressions PORTLAND, MAINE 4:48 PM of their subjects, their clothing and other telling de- The director, Andrew Tarsy, subse- PROVIDENCE, R.I. 4:56 PM tails. It was also to prod the memories of the keepers quently resigned. SPRINGFIELD 5:00 PM of the photos. “I thought the ADL did good WORCESTER 4:57 PM For inspiration, the women looked at the montages work, but I learned more, and my ERUV STATUS: on the wall by Leslie Starobin, a professor of Commu- eyes were opened to how so many BOSTON 781-446-9797 nication Arts at Framingham State College. Each of our national Jewish organiza- MALDEN 781-322-5686 mixed-media work was based around a single, myste- tions weren’t just silent on the Ar- SHARON 781-695-0505 rious image. menian genocide, but working to One montage in particular, “The Sketchbook of oppose recognition,” Jaffe said. “I MZ,” captivated the group’s imagination. A haunting was horrified.” charcoal image of a woman’s face takes up most of the An estimated 1.5 million Arme- canvas. She appears to be staring into the distance, as if nians were massacred in the Ot- longing for something lost. Elsewhere on the canvas are toman Empire in the period a young man’s passport and a photograph with a around World War I. The Turkish Participants in the Jewish Women’s Archive cracked seam splitting the image of a mother and son. government has rejected the label workshop scrutinize family photos for clues to The mother is a smiling version of the woman in char- “genocide” for the killings. The the past. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 2 NEWS FEBRUARY 12, 2010 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Costa Rica elects its first Jewish VP How to sleuth through the family album Continued from Page 1 know it,” Scheinberg told the mends that history sleuths keep Keeping photos coal, and her arm is wrapped workshop, referring to the histo- track of all the stories pictures around a younger version of the ry waiting to be discovered in old trigger, no matter how insignifi- picture perfect man in the passport. The caption photos. “It’s the instinct of the cant they may seem. Rebecca Judith Rosenbaum of the Jewish in an accompanying book reads: viewer to want to piece the story Sher brought a picture of her Women’s Archive offers these tips “My father carried a family snap- together.” grandmother as a serious-looking for preserving family photographs: shot with him through the war, With the mystery of history in schoolgirl with a big bow in her • First, digitize all your old pictures. throughout the camp, through- mind, the group partnered off hair, a frilly white dress and a Scan them into the computer at a Two Costa Rican firsts: one for out the Gulag. It’s a picture of my and set to sleuthing. The JWA rec- book in her lap. She sat on a one- high resolution and save them as women, one for Jews. mother and myself, before the ommends having a fresh pair of armed posing chair, crossing her digital images. The Central American nation war broke out. We are on skis. It’s eyes check out your old photo- legs at her ankle boots. Her feet • Scan in the back of the photo, graph. Your friend probably elected its first female president tissue paper thin from years of didn’t reach the floor. The grand- too, if it contains a note or a pho- won’t be able to unlock the se- and first Jewish vice president in being wound up in a tutga, a daughter recalled hearing stories tographer’s seal. crets that your great, great grand- elections last week. Russian cigarette holder.” of how those boots had to be • Upload images to an Internet site Luis Lieberman (above), a for- The mother didn’t survive the mother took to the grave, but her pulled on with hooks. As a child eyes might notice details ren- such as Flickr. Besides providing mer banker and financier, ran war. she would look at the boots in backup storage, the site will help Had the son not shared the dered invisible by familiarity. For with Laura Chinchilla, a social the picture and wonder how dif- you categorize photos and add photographs and his memories example, a close look at the conservative, who won the presi- ferent it was for kids in her grand- taglines like names, dates, places with Starobin, this slice of his- photo of one woman’s great dency by a large margin. mother’s day. and short descriptions. For example: tory could have been lost. grandfather from Krakow re- Where and how the pictures Lieberman is the son of Polish vealed that he wore side curls New York, bow, book, student, “The truth is rooted in the had been kept might be signifi- immigrants and the grandson of and carried his keys on birthday. story, but we don’t always cant as well. Costa Rica’s first mohel. a long cane. In addi- • Tagging photos with proper nouns “I remember my father saying The newly elected Jewish vice tion, a partner can is a way for long-lost relatives to president said that Jews have prod you with ques- not to mix the photos, as if they contact each other. Don’t forget to served in prior Costa Rican gov- tions about the photo, wouldn’t even get along in a Zi- include details like the name of the ernments, and his religion was perhaps triggering ploc bag,” said participant Lauren ship that transported your great- not a factor in his candidacy. memories of family Teller. grandmother to America. Some 3,000 Jews live in Costa stories. The fact that someone kept all • Instead of displaying a family Rica out of a total population of The pictures them- his pictures crammed together in heirloom on the wall where it can 4.2 million. selves offer plenty of a cardboard briefcase would re- fade or break, scan it into the com- clues as well. In the veal something of his personality puter and make a high-quality print early days of photog- to future generations. to hang instead. Original photos raphy, sitting for a Anyone can access the JWA’s should be carefully stored on acid- The new portrait was an event. Web-based collection, which in- free plastic sheets. Jewish People wore their cludes thousands of images and • Back everything up. CDs are one Advocate best clothes and papers. You’ll find prominent way, but they degrade quickly and online backgrounds were people like Estelle Getty of TV’s are breakable. Other options in- arranged to appear “Golden Girls” and Judith Resnik, clude an external hard drive or a as plush as possible. the second woman in space, as thumb drive. People rarely well as myriad other women • The number one tip JWA has to smiled, but affected whose stories are threads of Jew- offer is to get all your stories from Online postures of serious- ish history. “We need people to relatives or memory, and write them ness (in part this find those stories and tell them.” all down. debate was due to long ex- Rosenbaum said. • A novel way to archive photos is February poll question: posure times). Can- For more information about to have them turned into a work of did shots became JWA, including a documentary Israel has presented the UN with Rebecca Sher said she was particularly art by an artist like Starobin or to the findings of an Israel Defense more common as and lesson plans for educators, have them fashioned into a hand- struck by the shoes in this circa 1918 Forces investigation of last win- photography be- visit jwa.org. For more on Mayy- bag by craftswoman Lauren Teller photo of her grandmother, Rachel ter’s Gaza war. Critics say it does- came more im Hayyim, visit mayyimhayy- who uses pictures, trinkets and (Rae) Baskin Green. “My grandmoth- n’t go far enough. Should Israel: portable and af- im.org. To see more of Leslie poems to tell stories with photo- er showed it to me when I was A. Stand pat fordable. Starobin’s artwork, visit star graphs. B. Appoint a committee of senior around the same age,” Sher said. The JWA recom- obinartworks.com. jurists to conduct a limited investigation C. Conduct a full independent inquiry Tell us what you think at www.TheJewishAdvocate.com Local Armenians, Jews push for genocide bill Continued from Page 1 years to come out with a final peti- should not trump history. them. “Genocide scholars tell us January United States and Israel have been tion because of scheduling issues, “If you start denying the Armen- that denial of any genocide fuels Poll Results reluctant to officially use the term rather than conflicts over the con- ian genocide, very soon people current atrocities and emboldens out of concern for their relations tent. will deny the Holocaust for politi- those who would commit future In 2009, more North with Turkey. Abraham Foxman, the national cal expediency,” said Boghosian. crimes against humanity. Acknowl- Americans made aliyah Jaffe said the Jewish and Ar- director of ADL, last commented “We have a double standard as edgment of the Armenian Geno- than in any year since menian communities in Lexington on the issue in 2007, saying the ac- Americans. Our government does cide is, therefore, a human rights 1973. While you may not decided to create a grassroots or- tions of the Ottoman Empire not officially acknowledge the issue for all,” she said. be making the big move, ganization to discuss the issue and against the Armenians during the genocide and neither does Israel.” do you plan to visit Israel in 2010? resolve lingering ill will. period of 1915 to 1918 were “tan- Jaffe agreed. “If there were any Correction “It quickly moved from dia- tamount to genocide.” As of press group out there saying we’re not 40% A Jan. 29 story on 36% logue to a group interested in time, representatives from the going to recognize the Holocaust Boston incorrectly stated that 24% doing something,” he said. “Even- local and national ADL did not re- because it would affect diplomatic JStreetPAC has a minimum tually, after a number of meetings spond to requests for comment. relations, we would be up in arms donation. Donors to JStreet- and conversations, we agreed that Laura Boghosian, an Armenian screaming.” PAC give on average less than circulating a petition would be a community leader who co-found- Boghosian said that while the $75. Ye s Maybe No positive step.” ed the Coalition with Rabbi Jaffe, ADL controversy brought the He said the group took two said today’s diplomatic concerns group together, it does not define

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