Theodore Feinman Obit
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Style Israel It's showtime Death of a Zionist Plenty of firsts in Goldberg mourned Jewish-Israeli filmfest by Jew, Arab alike The Official Web Site of Page 6. Page "12. The Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh 43, NO. 39 FEBRUARY5, 2004 SHEVAT 13, 5764 lad homecoming Black/Jewish dialogue starts on Pitt campus BY JO MARKS RIFKIN StaffWriter In an effort to cross cultural bound- aries, black and Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh were to meet for an evening of dialogue this week. The Black Action Society partnered with the The Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center (JUC) on Wednesday to present an award-win- ning PBS film, "From Swastika to Jim Crow," followed by a student discus- sion. The program is the first in a series of events that will bring together student groups from various cultural back- grounds. "I think it's a great opportunity for us to talk publicly about our fears, and build bridges that need to be put in place," said Jackie Braslawsce, JUC program director for Pitt. "That's my vision and that's what I hope t'6 bring to my students here in Pittsburgh. It's not an option. It has to be done." Brian Hendler/JTA photo The Anti-Defamation Leauge sup- raeli soldiers carry the bodies of Staff Sgt. Benny Avraham, Staff Sgt. Adi Avitan and Staff. Sgt. Omar Souad to lie in state at an ported the program, which is part of fflcial memorial service on Jan. 29, at Lod air force base near Tel Aviv. The soldiers' bodies were returned as part of a prisoner swap * Hezbollah. Pitt's Martin Luther King commemora- tion. The next program in the series is an inter-group campus dialogue with JUC, an Islamic student group and three [F soldier's fate touches Pittsburghers Christian groups later this month. VSTEPHANIE SIEGEL rael along with live captive Elhanan rise, a group of Pittsburghers, includ- "From Swastika to Jim Crow" is a JJdiil Editor Tannenbaum on Jan. 22 in exchange for ing some of the United Jewish Federa- documentary that tells the story of Jew- some 435 Arab prisoners. tion's top leadership, went to Israel on a ish-German scholars who fled Nazi iter meeting the family of a kid- The soldiers were captured and taken solidarity mission in 2001. Germany for America and ended up jPPed Israeli soldier, some Pitts- into Lebanon on Oct. 7, 2000, after they One stop on their trip was the teaching in southern black colleges Bers were especially touched when were attacked by Hezbollah operatives Bedouin village of Salma in Israel's during the 1930s and '40s. i body was returned to Israel last while patroling the Israel-Lebanon bor- Misgav region, Pittsburgh's Partner- The refugees arrived in the United pK as part of the controversial swap der. Eight days later, Hezbollah an- ship 2000 area — Souad's hometown. P Hezbollah. States to find a country reeling from de- nounced they were also holding Tan- Souad had been kidnapped about 10 pression and rife with anti-Semitic and J16 D°dies of Israel Defense Forces nenbaum, an Israeli businessman. months prior to the visit, said UJF Di- anti-German sentiment. White, eastern ffitrs Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan Less than a year after the kidnap- academia was often hostile to them, but Omar Souad were returned to Is- pings, as violence in Israel was on the Please see Soldiers, page 31. black schools welcomed the foreigners. Southern white neighbors ostracized these educators, who could not invite black students and colleagues into their homes without a probable visit from the Ku Klux Klan. So they socialized most- u ETShevat ly behind the walls of black academia. From the beginning of the civil rights movement, many blacks and Jews stood tamon's challenge spurred tree-plantings together, but trust started to erode in the late 1960s with the growth of the AHCI BARNES dream of planting a tree in Israel for overwhelming, particularly the re- Black Power movement and the decline • Correspondent every Jew alive today, the Pittsburgh sponse from Beth El, Rodef Shalom of American anti-Semitism after World War II, as Jews were no longer seen as 3 Jewish community certainly partici- and Temple Sinai." h !' after the death of Israeli as- pated. Nationally, the JNF did not reach Ra- a persecuted population. Lolonel Han Ramon in the "Several thousand trees were pur- mon's goal of 13 million trees, but Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitic of NASA's Space Shut- chased through congregations in Pitts- Communications Director Serena rhetoric, the Crown Heights and Tli B'Shevat, this year, Harlem riots and Million Man March, fecial burgh," said Bobbi Elmer, regional di- Roffe says that it is possible in a few meaning. rector of the Jewish National Fund, hardened distrust among blacks and to help fulfill Ramon's Western Pennsylvania Region. "It was Please see Tu B'Shevat, page 31. Please see Dialogue, page 31. side BUSINESS 26/CLASSIFIED 2&/COMMUNITY 22/EDITORIAL S/OBITUARIES 30/REAL ESTATE 25/SEDRA 29 THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 5, 2004 Making Russian Jews care about Judaism a 'challenge' for German rabbis BY LEE CHOTTINER Admiel Kosman, also made the trip to molka dismissed as "preposterous." On another issue, despite reports Executive Editor speak at the Milton Harris Interfaith Lec- "Do you really want German civil ser- resurging anti-Semitism in Europe, Hi ture. vants deciding who is going to get the molka said the climate for practicii Rabbi Walter Homolka sees his job as Founded in 1999, Abraham Geiger, green card on a halachic basis?" he asked. Jews in Germany is hardly dangerous. twofold: not only to train German and which has eight rabbinical students en- "That's pushing it." In fact, Homolka, a chaplain in the Gi Eastern European rabbis, but to give rolled, but has yet to graduate one from its Still, once Russian Jews become inte- man army, says he's "flabbergasted" Jews with virtually no background in five-year program, is already sending its grated into the community they became the stories of anti-Semitism, because their religion an easy entrance to Jewish students to congregations without rabbis strong supporters. rarely sees examples of it. life. free of charge to the congregation. Case in point: A congregation in "I cannot say we have more anti-Semi- There are some 120,000 Jews in Ger- In that respect, Homolka said the Hameln with 300 members (and co- tism in Germany than we've had in tfo many these days — a major increase from school is already having an impact on founded by a woman bom in Butler Coun- last decades, and we've had very the 18,000 who lived there before the communities its graduates will eventually ty, Rachael Dohme) is 99 percent Russian. Homolka said. "I think we're talkini Berlin Wall came down. However, few of serve. Jacob, who makes at least two trips to about a new Germany. I am German boi those Jews, mostly Russian by birth, have Yet Russian Jews, even though they Geiger per year, said.liberal communities and I think this country has done a gre; any kind of background or interest in Ju- identify as Jews for government purposes such as Hameln often face different prob- deal" to make up since the Holocaust. daism. — German religious groups receive state lems. Unlike the nominally Orthodox syn- He said there is a problem in Euro; "The challenge is to show them why funding through income taxes from their agogues and organizations in Germany, especially in France, with anti-Sen# they should affiliate with the Jewish com- members — rarely affiliate. liberal organizations, get no funding from acts and messages generated by fund} munity," he said. In Munich for instance, 4,000 Jews live, the taxes German Jews pay. mentalist Muslims from North Africa, Homolka, the executive director of yet only 150 of them actually affiliate with He said the Central Council of German that hardly transcends Islam in Europe, Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, the city's five nominally Orthodox syna- Jews is responsible for doling out the In fact, he noted a recent and unexpect which trains rabbis in the liberal (Re- gogues, which receive state support, and money in a pluralistic way, but only tradi- ed guest of a liberal synagogue in Gtr | form) tradition, visited Pittsburgh -this 200. attend the one liberal synagogue, tional groups get funded. many during the Sabbath was a Tur weekend where he gave a Saturday ser- which is self-financed. "They have not been willing to recog- imam. He was there to offer his mon at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Some German Jewish leaders have sug- nize this sort of (pluralistic) approach/' thies for the recent synagogue attacks Rodef Shalom's rabbi emeritus, Walter gested that Russian Jews be allowed to Jacob said, "and we are fighting this be- Instanbul. Jacob, serves as president of Abraham live there only if their Jewishness can be cause we are entitled to a percentage, of (Lee Chottiner can be reached online Geiger. determined halachically — an idea Ho- the funding," [email protected]) The college's dean of academic studies, Correction Beatrice Slutsky's name was mis- dramatizes story behind polio vaccine^ spelled in the article, " 'Undoing Salk' in last week's Chronicle. Hearing RELAX AND RECUPERATE Aids Recovering from an illness or surgery can seem overwhelming. You may not want to be alone or to rely . on family and friends, yet you need assistance. WE CAN HELP YOU THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIME! 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