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Jewish Federation of NEPA Non-profit Organization 601 Jefferson Ave. U.S. POSTAGE PAID The Scranton, PA 18510 Permit # 184 Watertown, NY Change Service Requested Published by the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania VOLUME X, NUMBER 23 NOVEMBER 30, 2017 Super Sunday and “Mop- Up Monday” called “successful events” Nivert Metal in Throop, was the site pledge cards of potential donors. volunteers met at the Scranton Jewish at Nivert Metal. for the annual phone-a-thon for the People from Scranton and the Poco- Community Center on November 6 to The Federation also thanks its volun- Jewish Federation’s UJA Campaign on nos received phone calls and responded make a second round of phone calls teers: Esther Adelman, Bernice Ecker, November 5. with pledges that help the Federation to maximize the response from the Esther Elefant, Vera Epshteyn, Madelyn Gathering for a brunch, the group serve the needs of the Jewish commu- communities. Fink, Gilda Franceze, Seth Gross, Dassi of volunteers listened as Federation nities of Northeastern Pennsylvania, The Jewish Federation thanks Laury, Campaign Co-chairwoman Leah Executive Director Mark Silverberg as well as Israel and around the world. Louis Nivert for his continued par- Laury, Nivert, Charlene Scott and Mil- briefed everyone as to the mission of For those donors who were not ticipation in this endeavor as the host dred Weinberg. the phone-a-thon and handed out the available on Sunday, another group of A group of volunteers during the orientation session held before the Super Sunday phone-a-thon. A group of volunteers during the orientation session held before the Super Sunday phone-a-thon. Vera Epshteyn made phone calls during Charlene Scott made phone calls during the Monday night Mop-up. the Monday night Mop-up. 2018 UJA paign Upd Cam ate Pay it forward & give to the 2018 Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania Annual Campaign! Goal: $910,000 For information or to Mildred Weinberg made phone calls make a donation call during the Monday night Mop-up. 570-961-2300 ext. 1 or send your gift to: Jewish Federation of Northeastern $436,429 Pennsylvania as of Nov. 21, 2017 601 Jefferson Ave., Federation Scranton, PA 18510 (Please MEMO your pledge or gift 2018 on Facebook UJA Campaign) The Jewish Federation of Northeast- ern Pennsylvania now has a page on Facebook to let community members know about upcoming events and keep connected. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Candle lighting December 1..................................4:16 pm Chanukah History unearthed Making their mark December 8..................................4:15 pm Why Chanukah is popular in the A trove of 170,000 Jewish A look at seven Israelis who have December 15................................4:16 pm U.S.; an Italian town celebrates documents hidden from the Nazis made an impact on life in America, year-round; recipes; and eight and Soviets in Lithuania has been from economics to food, to films PLUS new Chanukah children’s books. discovered. and music. Opinion .......................................................2 Stories on pages 2, 7, 12, 14 Story on page 5 Story on page 9 D’var Torah ...............................................8 2 THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 30, 2017 A MATTER OF OPINION From Rome to Charlottesville, a statue is never just a statue BY STEVEN FINE II, for example, was hardly unequivocal. across America, the Civil War is very landscapes, to change how we relate to (JTA) – French historian Pierre Nora Hitler did, after all, celebrate his own much with us. our places of memory. spent his life describing and explaining victory there, and France did not exactly Each place and time since then has The ceremonial – the liminal – moment “places of memory,” sites commemorating emerge victorious by its own power. thought about and reimagined the war of removing a place of memory is always significant moments in the history of a One of the more enduring photographs – “The War of the Rebellion” to many laden and significant. It is a shorthand, a community that continue to resonate and of the liberation shows American troops Northerners, “The War of Northern Ag- summary statement and dramatic enact- transform from generation to generation. marching under the arch. gression” to some in the South – in com- ment of the ways that those present un- For the French Republic, the Arc de The Arch of Titus, too, is a complex plex and differing ways. The meanings derstand the place and encode its memory. Triomphe is one such “place of memory.” monument whose meaning shifted over of these places of memory are not stable. The march of the neo-Nazis, the texts Begun by Napoleon and completed in time. Titus had not defeated a foreign They shift and transform as essential they recited, the torches and flags they 1836, the Arc is a place of French pride power, but put down a pesky rebellion elements of our social fabric and civil carried, and the violence they instigated and memory, where war dead from the by a small province. For Christians, the religion from generation to generation. are essential to understanding who these Revolution to the present are recalled and Arch became a place to celebrate Christian Conflicting visions often inhere in the people are and what values they see in the military triumph exalted. triumph over Judaism and the imperial same sculpture, much as Jews and Classi- statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville. Part of the power of this central place of power of the Catholic Church. For Jews, cists often “see” very different messages Reading this event, one can tease memory resides in the architecture itself. the arch was a symbol for their own defeat in the Arch of Titus. out their entire worldview – and it is The Arc de Triomphe is a larger version and exile, even as some took solace by In a pre-civil rights era, a statue of a horrifying. of another triumphal arch, the Arch of claiming that its magnificence was proof Confederate general was seen by many as In the meantime, each community and Titus. This arch, located on the Sacred that Israel had once been a “powerful a tribute to military bravery and regional locale will act and respond as we play out Way in the ancient center of Imperial nation” and formidable foe. loyalty. Today the tide has shifted, and a this distressing drama and rehearse the Rome, commemorates the victory of the In modern times, the Arch of Titus consensus regards them as reminders of repercussions of this tragedy in our lives. Roman general Titus in the Jewish War became a symbol both of newfound a racist past and an ignoble cause. Some Confederate statues will come down of 66-74 C.E. Jewish rootedness in Europe and a place Tearing down a place of memory is a – as in Baltimore and at the University of Built circa 82 C.E., its deeply carved of pilgrimage where Jews, religious and serious matter. The act of iconoclasm, of Texas, Austin. Some will be contextual- reliefs show the general, soon emperor, not, could proclaim, “Titus you are gone, tearing down or transforming a place of ized or moved. Others, alas, will be left parading through Rome in a triumphal but we’re still here. Am Yisrael chai.” Or memory, is never neutral. The list of such undisturbed and continue looking down procession. The spoils of the Jerusalem as Freud put it, “The Jew survives it!” events is long and includes the Macca- on us contemptuously. These once mostly Temple, including its menorah, are borne Where once Mussolini had celebrated the bees’ destruction of idols in the second forgotten monuments are again potent and aloft by Roman soldiers. Napoleon and Arch as part of the heritage of fascism, century B.C.E.; the midrashic account complex places of memory. those who came after him borrowed the Jews after the war assembled there to of Abraham breaking the idols; late an- Faced with similar provocations, tal- design of this Roman triumphal arch, demand a Jewish state. Others imagined tique Christians and Muslims smashing mudic rabbis would avert their eyes from transferring the glory of Rome to the exploding the Arch and thus taking final Roman religious images (and burning Roman imperial sculpture, placed in the French nation. retribution against Titus for his destruction synagogues); Orthodox Christian icono- cities of ancient Israel as tools of control. Subsequent events have complicated of Jerusalem. Instead, the state of Israel phobes destroying sacred icons during Some would spit in their imperial faces. the meaning of the arch, which was in- took the Arch back unto itself, basing the the eighth century; Protestants ravaging When they could, others would tear down tended to commemorate French military design for its state symbol on the menorah Church art during the Reformation; Nazis the statues of the hated emperors and their prowess. French victory in World War carved into its surface. torching synagogues during Kristallnacht; colonial regime. In modern times, Jews I tell these stories of Paris, Rome and the Taliban destroying giant sculptures of avoided walking beneath the Arch of the Jerusalem as parallels to debate that has the Buddha; or Eastern Europeans tearing Evil Titus. been intensified following the horrible down sculptures of Lenin and Stalin after In the case of Charlottesville, the statue events in Charlottesville. The sculptural the fall of communism. of Lee will continue to cast a shadow for tributes to the Civil War, North and South, Such transformations of our visual decades, perhaps centuries, to come. “ The Reporter” (USPS #482) is published bi-weekly by the are still living places of memory. Whether cultures mark major transitions and often Steven Fine is the Churgin professor of Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA 18510.

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