'Hamilton' Bacow Brings Jewish Spirit of Inclusion to Harvard Communi
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OCTOBER 4, 2018 – 25 TISHREI 5779 JEWISHVOL 43, NO 3 JOURNALJEWISHJOURNAL.ORG Shirat Hayam announces move to voluntary dues By Michael Wittner JOURNAL STAFF SWAMPSCOTT – On Rosh Hashanah, Shirat Hayam presi- dent Renée Sidman stood before her congregation with news she referred to as the “biggest trans- formation of Shirat Hayam since the merger 13 years ago.” At the beginning of its next fiscal year in May, Shirat Hayam – which was formed in 2005 by a merger of Temple Israel and Temple Beth El – will join a growing number of congre- Courtesy Harvard University gations that have instituted a Harvard University president Lawrence S. Bacow in his new office at Loeb House. voluntary dues program. “Many unaffiliated families, Rabbi Michael Ragozin especially young families, see ture prohibitive, according to Bacow brings Jewish spirit the cost of mandatory mem- Rabbi Michael Ragozin. bership fees as a barrier to “Despite our commitment of inclusion to Harvard community entry,” said Sidman. “Voluntary to never turning a family away, dues are an annual pledge that what we’ve discovered is fami- By Penny Schwartz Corey Gold, the student presi- Hillel,” Gold wrote in an email. reflects both what you believe lies have a lot of pride and digni- JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT dent of Harvard Hillel, who Bacow, who was appointed you are able to pay in relation ty, and many people don’t want said that Harvard’s Hillel Jewish as Harvard’s 29th president last to the value you get from the to ask for financial aid,” said CAMBRIDGE - In the month student community is excited February and began the job on temple.” Ragozin. “For other people, it’s since the start of the school year, about Bacow’s arrival. July 1, will be formally inau- Under the new model, con- as a consumer. [The experience] new Harvard University presi- “Holding one of the Torahs gurated as the influential Ivy- gregants can donate an amount is not worth the sticker price.” dent Lawrence S. Bacow and his during Kol Nidre with our tra- League college’s president on they feel will cover their annual For Ragozin, the model wife, Adele Fleet Bacow, have ditional egalitarian minyan, Friday, Oct. 5. membership. Currently, Shirat results in a less transactional, already dropped in on a Shabbat President Bacow has demon- The 67-year-old Newton Hayam has 17 categories of more personal relationship dinner at Harvard Hillel; donat- strated that he is enthusias- resident replaced Drew Gilpin membership, and each requires between congregants and their ed bouquets of flowers for the tic about being involved with Faust, the college’s first woman a different amount. Even though shul. He cited a nationwide 2017 High Holidays; and joined stu- Jewish life on campus and forg- president, who stepped down in the synagogue is willing to make United Jewish Appeal study in dents during religious services ing connections with students. June after serving 11 years. He is accommodations to ensure that which congregants rated the on Yom Kippur. We hope President Bacow soon the school’s third Jewish presi- everyone can afford member- voluntary dues system a 4.1 out It’s an auspicious start for becomes a familiar face around continued on page 15 ship, some still find the struc- continued on page 15 Broadway comes to Boston with a bang: the spectacular ‘Hamilton’ By Jules Becker be publishing the evidence next JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT year in Jewish historian Andrew Porwancher’s book, “The Jewish BOSTON – A curious musi- Founding Founder: Alexander cal number appears in the first Hamilton’s Hidden Life.” At the act of “Hamilton” – namely “Ten same time, the evidence is clear – Duel Commandments.” Whether both in the Broadway original and author-composer Lin-Manuel the strong tour now playing at the Miranda was aware that Alexander Boston Opera House – that its sub- Hamilton studied Torah and basic ject is the kind of Founding Father Hebrew at a Jewish day school on who always defended equality and the Caribbean island of Nevis in the wholeheartedly supported immi- mid-1700s, that title – connected to grants. Tellingly, a rousing cheer the eventual shooting of the first erupted from the audition after the Secretary of the Treasury by Aaron assertion “Immigrants – we get the Burr – could be an unusual allusion job done.” to the Bible. Brilliantly, the cast of “Hamilton” Still, this remarkable winner of at the Richard Rodgers Theatre 11 Tony Awards presents Hamilton in New York and the one on tour as an immigrant and an outsid- largely includes Hispanic and er, something that could relate African-American descendants of directly to indications that George immigrants. The Broadway cast Washington’s right-hand man was even includes a black Jew named the son of a woman who convert- Daveed Diggs, whom this critic ed to Judaism on the island of St. saw powerfully play both Thomas Joan Marcus Croix. Harvard University Press will continued on page 20 Austin Scott as Alexander Hamilton in the Boston Opera House’s production of “Hamilton.” The Jewish Journal is a nonprofit newspaper supported by generous readers, committed advertisers and charitable organizations. Email [email protected]. 2 THE JEWISH JOURNAL – JEWISHJOURNAL.ORG – OCTOBER 4, 2018 2018 NORTH SHORE AIPAC ANNUAL EVENT FEATURING: YONATAN WINETRAUB, CO-FOUNDER OF SPACEIL WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2018 6:30 PM - DINNER RECEPTION 7:30 PM - PROGRAM CONGREGATION SHIRAT HAYAM 55 ATLANTIC AVE | SWAMPSCOTT REGISTRATION REQUIRED BY OCTOBER 11 WWW.AIPAC.ORG/NORTHSHORE2018 QUESTIONS? CONTACT DANIELLE HARSIP AT [email protected] OR 617.399.2554 ABOUT OUR SPEAKER Yonatan Winetraub, is co-founder of SpaceIL, an Israeli non-profit organization. The expected launch date is early 2019 and if SpaceIL succeeds, Israel will be just the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. A key goal of this mission is to inspire the next generation of space researchers and to promote education and scientific exploration. To date, SpaceIL has reached over 300,000 children across Israel and the U.S. Yonatan is currently a PhD candidate at Stanford in Biophysics studying a method to interpret and intercept cancer cell communication. In addition, he was part of the International Space University Program at NASA Ames studying how we can create Martian colonies utilizing shelter and water from Martian lava caves. He studied Electrical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University focusing on how regions in the brain collaborate to create our emotions. COMMUNITY NEWS THE JEWISH JOURNAL – JEWISHJOURNAL.ORG – OCTOBER 4, 2018 3 Being God’s hands: three faiths unite to end hunger on the North Shore by Michael Wittner Bixby sees God’s hand in the Bixby participated in a pul- JOURNAL STAFF interfaith collaboration. “The pit exchange that allowed each three of us started talking, and to give a sermon at the other’s MARBLEHEAD – “He had sharing a little bit, and quite house of worship. This year, rained upon them manna to eat, frankly, it just seemed to me Abusharkh also will participate and given them grain of heaven,” that in all three of our ways of in the exchange, and all three says Psalm 78, describing the explicating our faiths that God faith leaders will speak at the miraculous food that God pro- was calling us into something Clifton Lutheran Church (Oct. vided the Israelites during their – the coincidences couldn’t be 7 at 10 a.m.), Temple Sinai (Oct. exodus from slavery. explained,” he said. “We keep 26 at 6 p.m.), and the Islamic The word “manna” appears in on ending up in the same room Society of the North Shore (Nov. the Torah, the New Testament, together, talking about the same 30 at 7:30 p.m.). and the Koran, and its usage in things, talking about the same “Let’s find ways to love and all three holy books underscores issues in our community – work together for the benefit of the importance each of the faiths maybe God says that we should community,” said Abusharkh. place on feeding the hungry. It is do something together for this.” “Because at the end, it is all of therefore apt that a Jewish rabbi, The Manna Project is not our community. [Our collabora- a Christian pastor, and a Muslim their only collaboration. Last tion] shows us that yes, we can spiritual leader have teamed up year, Cohen-Henriquez and be together.” to create the Manna Project to address hunger on the North Spiritual leader Fawaz Abusharkh of the Islamic Society of the North Shore. Shore, Rabbi David Cohen-Henriquez of Temple Sinai in Marblehead, The Manna Project began and Pastor Jim Bixby of the Clifton Lutheran Church in Marblehead. in 2017 when two Marblehead PHYLLIS LEVIN spiritual leaders, Rabbi David tiative together roughly a year team, that goal may be more on REAL ESTATE Cohen-Hernandez of Temple ago, Cohen-Henriquez and Bixby attainable. Fawaz Abusharkh, Sinai and Pastor Jim Bixby of first launched a Sukkot Harvest- the spiritual leader of the Lynn- HOW TO AVOID OVERPRICING Clifton Lutheran Church, began fest to raise money. Then they based Islamic Society of the Home sellers are often tempted to overprice discussing how their congrega- met with local businesses and North Shore, whom Cohen- their properties in order to ‘test the market’ and tions could collaborate to help rotary clubs, who supplied 31 Henriquez met at an interfaith then ‘negotiate down’ to get the most money. But this the wider community. donations such as gift baskets vigil after the Parkland shooting strategy is counter-productive. It can actually scare “One day the idea came of and free cruises that they raffled in February, joined the Manna Phyllis Levin away qualified buyers and cause your home to linger doing a project, and one thing off every day in January in order Project over the summer.