Where the Money's Going
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THE VOICE OF JEWISH WASHINGTON happy wheels conGRADulations declassified sweet misery 7 10 15 20 june 8, 2012 • 18 sivan 5772 • volume 88, no. 12 • $2 Where the money’s going $ Total dollars 968,540 allocated by impact area EXPERiencing $ JUDAISM 778,329 STRENGTHENING $ GLOBAL 321,060 JEWRY $290,645 BUILDING JEWISH HELPING OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY COMMUNITY IN NEED JOEL MAGALNICK Editor, JTNews committee. “We really opened up the process this year to be able to fund ini- Depending upon which agency you talk to, the end of the Jewish tiatives that we believe are important, such as camping, and supplementary Federation of Greater Seattle’s 2012 Community Campaign is either and synagogue school funding, and organizations that we haven’t histori- the best of times or the worst of times. The campaign is expected to cally had a relationship with, but are actually doing good work in the com- close at $4.9 million — on par with last year’s campaign but lower than munity.” the 2011 Fiscal Year — but the way the Federation allocates its money Besides requiring requests that focused on specific projects, the Planning has changed significantly between this year and last. and Allocations committee gave enthusiastic consideration to collaborative Given the past years’ economic conditions, “I think staying even programs. What was labeled the “joint-camp proposal,” for example, gives in the campaign is a success,” said Richard Fruchter, the Federation’s $58,370 to help bring first-timers to one of five summer camps. president and CEO. Though the Federation had raised money for need-based camp scholar- Fruchter said the implementation of its new fundraising and alloca- ships in the past, “this is an identity builder that’s really important for the tions model likely affected the campaigns growth this year, but donor community, and we ought to be funding it through the community cam- education should help to increase the campaign in the future. paign,” Fruchter said. The new model is two-fold: Donors can choose between either In all, the Federation gave a $156,000 increase to local agencies over giving to specific areas such as early childhood, building Jewish iden- 2012 as well as $40,000 to contingency and emergency funds that had gone tity, and helping older adults, or to a general unrestricted fund, as they unfunded for several years. had done in the past; then committees from each area assess grant pro- In its first time opening the process to synagogues, a $7,000 grant to Con- posals that resulted in 48 agencies — 20 of which had never received gregation Beth Hatikvah in Bremerton will allow the Reform congregation Federation campaign funding in the past — receiving grants for spe- to expand its small education program beyond the 7th grade as well as create cific projects or programs. Allocations in the past went toward orga- a curriculum for its membership of mostly military families that often come nizations’ bottom lines with no requirements about how the money to the area with little or no Jewish background. should be used. Rabbi Sarah Newmark said the grant plants the seeds for a program “The Federation’s mandate is looking at the community as a whole,” said Jack Almo, chair of the Federation’s Planning and Allocations X PAGE 6 www.facebook.com/jtnews professionalwashington.com @jew_ish • @jewishdotcom • @jewishcal connecting our local Jewish community 2 OPINION JTNews . WWW.JTNEWS.NET . FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012 President Obama’s ‘Polish death camps’ mistake is common MICHAEL BERENBAUM JTA World News Service LOS ANGELES (JTA) — President of state, not of the Nazi Party. So there by the Soviet Union. So Soviet — not Rus- except when we specify that they are Nazi Obama made a simple and very basic mis- was no Nazi occupation, no Nazi army, no sian — occupation was the rule in Eastern terms. take when he spoke of Polish death camps Nazi laws. There was German occupation, Poland for 22 months. Thereafter, Ger- The Poles are properly sensitive to the during the presentation of a posthumous a German army — the Wehrmacht — and many occupied these lands until the Soviet common mistake of speaking of Polish Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a Polish German laws. These were instruments of Union reentered these territories in its death camps. They have labored hard in resistance fighter who was among the first the state. march to victory in 1944 and 1945. the post-Communist era to correct this to report German atrocities in his country. These mistakes are all too common For clarity’s sake, we should specify mistake and to change common usage. The president spoke during the May 29 even in articles written by scholars and that Poland itself was divided. Some West- Their efforts deserve our support. Simply ceremony of how the Polish underground historians. For example, the Encyclopedia ern areas were annexed to the Reich, some put, they are truthful. “smuggled [Karski] into the Warsaw of the Holocaust commonly refers to Nazi were occupied by the Reich — the General The president’s speech writers ill served Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for occupation. Its editor is a distinguished Government. him and ill served the late Jan Karski, himself.” scholar. In the areas incorporated into the the man so deserving of the Presiden- The next day, after objections from the That which was undertaken by the Reich, all existing Polish institutions were tial Medal of Freedom. They should have Polish government, a spokesman for the Nazi Party to realize its ideology can be dissolved and new administrative units known better or verified these matters. U.S. National Security Council said the properly referred to as Nazi. Hence the were established. In the occupied but non- The president’s mistake is entirely forgiv- president “misspoke” and meant “Nazi death camps were Nazi in origin, con- incorporated territories, not all Polish able. I can cite many distinguished schol- death camps in Poland.” ception and operation, but they were sit- institutions were dissolved. ars who have made the very same mistake. There were death camps and they were uated in German-occupied Poland, an One other common mistake: Many His correction is equally proper. It situated in Poland — deliberately so — area known as the General Government write of the Jews who “perished” in the might go a long way toward ensuring that but there were no Polish death camps. The (except for Auschwitz, which was situated Holocaust. Jews did not perish in the this mistake is not repeated. most accurate way to refer to these camps in Upper Silesia, and Chlemno, located in Holocaust. They were murdered, annihi- is “Nazi death camps in German-occupied the Warthegau). lated. Michael Berenbaum is director of the Sigi Poland.” Another caution: Between September Extermination is a Nazi term; some- Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Let me tell you why: Poland was occu- 1939 and June 1941, Western Poland was thing that is done to vermin and rats, not Religious Implications of the Holocaust at the pied by Germany. Occupation was an act occupied by Germany and Eastern Poland to people. We should not use Nazi terms, American Jewish University. In Print June 22. Online right now. www.professionalwashington.com Bigger and better and handy as ever. 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JTNews OPINION the rabbi’s turn Our fates are all tied together LENA FRIEDMAN Special to JTNews My God and the God of my When I first read my parashah, the part people with AIDS, and she made me aware of the Torah we read today, I saw words of stories from very recent years where father like leprosy, and discussion of people with people with AIDS were treated very badly boils and all kinds of skin diseases, and the while we all tried to figure out what to do, RABBI JAY ROSENBAUM Herzl–Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation Torah told the story of how these people and about how much injury was done by When I was in my early saying to me? He was reassur- were to be dealt with and treated. And the us to these AIDS-stricken people. 20s, I went through a period ing me that everything was first thing I thought was, “Yuck”! This made me think beyond sickness of several years when I set going to be all right. But then I thought more seriously, and — it made me think of things I see in my Judaism aside. I was raised “Look at Moses,” he was I could tell that the Jewish people were own life, at my own school. People who with the best Jewish upbring- telling me. “Can you imagine really struggling with what to do — how are different in their own way.