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VOL. XLVI NO. 10 PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY MAY 22 2020/28 IYAR 5780 NEXT DEADLINE MAY 29, 2020 16 PAGES

HOW TO REACH US - PHONE 860-442-8062 • FAX 860-540-1475 • EMAIL [email protected] • BY MAIL: 28 CHANNING STREET, NEW LONDON, CT 06320 One year on the job! By Carin Savel, JFEC Executive Director One year ago, on May 15, 2019, I began my service to JFEC as the new Executive Director and the first female leader in decades. As I drove from Raleigh to New London last May, I mused about Pledge 2 my new community, new hometown, and new Federation, but I never thought I’d be living in a new reality. Protect Amidst the current turmoil, fear, and uncertainty, however, I am grateful. I have been warmly welcomed into such a caring, dedicated, launches and generous community. I’ve gotten to know many of you in coffee houses, in your homes or at community events. I’ve enjoyed each of On May 15, the your drop-in visits -- just to see the office! Federation launched I’m blessed -- the Federation volunteer leadership and Pledge 2 Protect, our hardworking staff are all worth their weight in gold. I’ve been to initiative to provide restaurants, plays, synagogues, Main Streets, and beaches, and I’ve protective masks for had a ball documenting it all on Facebook. There has not been a staff and residents single day when I didn’t pinch myself over my abundant life. in our local nursing Two months into a new normal shaped by COVID-19, we have homes. It’s a part of This is a turning point. We learned how to live in quarantine, how to translate life in-person the JFEC Community Relief and Recovery Fund which has been have seen for ourselves just how to life online, and how to get up in the morning and acknowledge funding critical needs in our community. important community is to our what day of the week it is. Every day we are one day closer to all Many thanks to Pacific Link Institutional Supply, who is physical, spiritual, and global this being over. matching our efforts-- for every mask we buy, they will donate well-being—and this is our We may need to live like this a while longer but, ultimately, a second one. That means every dollar you contribute to buy chance to react. Let’s use this we must ensure that the contractions in our lives are temporary. protective masks is doubled in value. opportunity not to turn inward When the virus subsides and we go about the work of picking up To those of you who have not yet donated, your support is vital. but to continue reaching out the pieces, we will have the choice of sticking to our bubbles or of To donate, please visit our website https://www.jfec.com/ renewing our sense of community with vigor. Judaism teaches us to and strengthening the ties To anyone who needs help in this crisis, please reach out and opt for the latter. we share. Let’s take all of the let us know at 860-442-8062. We will be there. We can tap into some of our other new skills—our desire to positive, hard-fought lessons of Thank you for giving so generously. Every donor counts, deepen our relationships with loved ones and our heightened sense this time and use them to build every dollar counts, and your generosity will ensure the Federation of care for the world in which we live—to inform our path moving a better, stronger Jewish future. remains open and doing the most good in these challenging times. forward. Please consider giving to this critical fund. Shavuot holiday May 28 -- celebration Todah Rabah to you all-- we are very grateful. Ahavat Achim, Beth El, Beth Jacob, Temple Bnai Israel, and Temple 8:50-9:10 Emanu-El will join for a community-wide celebration of Shavuot. Tai Chi -- with Rabbi Alter “Festivities” begin on Thursday evening, May 28, with a Zoom 9:15-9:45 Tikkun L’eil Shavuot, a custom begun by the kabbalists in Tzfat in How to Disagree northern Israel about 500 years ago, in which we study Torah in honor A Talmudic model of of the transmission of Torah to Israel on Mount Sinai. The evening will begin at 7:00 and end at about 10:00 pm. All are maintaining community -- Led welcome, irrespective of whether you belong to one of the sponsoring byengaging Rabbi Schein in conflict yet synagogues. ZOOM information can be had from any of the sponsoring Shir Hama’alot: Psalms synagogues – just reach out to them for the information. of Ascent The schedule for the evening Singing and reading of selections from Psalms 7:00-7:15 pm – Check-in 120-134 -- 7:15-7:45 Led by Rabbi In ‘Defense’ of the Haredi Response to the Pandemic Ekstrand and Cantorial Soloist Sherry Barnes Led by Rabbi Rabinowitz Synagogue contact information Save the DATE We’reThe intersection/conflict Stuck in Our Houses. of traditional But what’s belief a house and science? in Judaism? -- Surprising bits of wisdom from Bible, kabbalah, classic sages, Ahavat Achim -- 860-537- 2809 and contemporary teachers -- Led by Rabbi Schwartz Beth El - 860-442-0418 Thurs June 18 @ 7 PM 7:50-8:10 Beth Jacob - 860-886-2459 Sacred Drumming with Ellen Shapiro JFEC ANNUAL MEETING Temple Bnai Israel -- 860- 8:15-8:45 423-3743 Jonah: A study of Isolation and Trauma -- Led by Rabbi Berg via ZOOM details in the Temple Emanu-El -- 860-443- Responses to Contagion in our Sacred Jewish Texts -- Led by 3005 Rabbi Safman June 5 Leader 2 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 Meet the Israeli startup making water drinkable again

By Naama Barak, Israel21c “For years, it was common You’d think that bacteria would be hard to see with the naked eye, practice to work with algicides, and even harder to spot from outer space. But when it comes to toxic algal blooms, even satellites orbiting Earth can’t miss it. BlueGreen’s CEO and co-founder Eyalspecifically Harel. “It’s copper,” excellent material, explains as cyanobacterial blooms. These occur when a water ecosystem it works great.” becomesBlue-green unhinged algal as blooms a result are of toxicinternal bacteria or external scientifically contamination. known “But it’s a heavy metal that The photosynthesizing algae proliferate and take over all the resources sticks around – it mounts up in the lakes or reservoirs and ruin their ecosystem, sometimes even and in the end it’s a chemical,” turning them into dead aquatic zones. he says. “In the past 25 years a This isn’t bad news only for the body of water and its plant and animal new algicide based on hydrogen inhabitants, but also for the people who live around it and rely on it peroxide was introduced. It also for their drinking does a great job, water, livelihood but it’s hydrogen and recreation. peroxide. The way Drinking the it’s being used water becomes today requires a out of the very, very great question, as deal of it.” Choir practice – corona style does eating the Using copious amounts of these A local Petach Tikvah choir practicing in a local park. there. Consuming substances is They are seen keeping the mandatory distance from vegetablesfish that livedthat not great for the each other due to the government health requirements. were grown using environment © Ashernet the water is also and not always not advisable, and neither is bathing treating the algal Candle Lighting for Eastern CT area in it – it literally blooms.efficient This in stinks. is because the Friday, May 22 • 7:49 pm Algal blooms take over all the resources in bodies of waters Algal blooms and can render them dead aquatic zones. A red algal bloom in bloom resides Friday, May 29 • 7:55 pm take over all the Sarsota, Florida, summer 2018. Photo by Shutterstock.com on the surface of resources in the water and is Friday, June 5 • 8:00 pm bodies of waters moved around by Friday, June 12 • 8:04 pm and can render them dead aquatic zones. A red algal bloom in Sarsota, the currents, while the chemicals Florida, summer 2018. Photo by Shutterstock.com used to treat it are heavy and sink This is where Israeli startup BlueGreen Water Technologies steps to the bottom, meaning that large in. Founded in 2014, the company started as one of the cofounders’ amounts of the algicides go to doctoral dissertation on cyanobacteria. It turns existing forms of algal waste.

National Award Winner of the Council of Jewish of Jewish Federations as the Outstanding use solution. WATER CONT. ON PG 3 Small Cities Jewish newspaper. Published every other Friday for the dissemination of blooms treatments into a more efficient, planet-friendly and easy-to- Jewish news and views by the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, 28 Channing Street, New London, CT 06320, 860-442-8062. Managing Editor...... Mimi Perl Layout Editor...... Jen Gault Social Editor...... Freida Katz President ...... Romana Strochlitz Primus Executive Director...... Carin Savel Mailing Volunteers...... Mimi & Milt Seed, Marlene Siegel ...... Gerald & Marilyn Rubin Advertising: Call Mimi Perl 860-442-8062 or [email protected]. Advertising Deadline: Friday, May 29 for June 5 issue. Editorial Content: Preferred receipt of editorial material is via email to [email protected]. Photo(s) submitted via email should be separate attachment(s) from article. Preferred photo format is a .jpg format; resolution should be a minimum of 200 dpi. Material sent via fax [860-540-1475] or first class mail [28 Channing St., New London, CT 06320] should be typed/double spaced or neatly printed. If you submit a hard copy of a photo and wish the photo returned, include a stamped, self- addressed envelope. Editorial Deadline: Friday, May 29 for June 5 issue. Printing: The Gazette Press, Northhampton, MA Postmaster: Send address changes to Jewish Leader, 28 Channing St., New London, CT 06320 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 3 Farewell weekend for Rabbi Rachel Safman – June 13 &14, 2020 Congregation Beth El invites time here in New London. the community to join them If you would like to in bidding farewell to Rabbi participate, be it by sharing Rachel Safman on the weekend a story, poem, song or skit, or of Saturday and Sunday, June 13 by roasting the rabbi, please and 14, 2020. Congregation Beth El would 860-442-0418, or by emailing like to send Rabbi Safman off tocontact [email protected] Beth El office at . with fond memories as we honor (Groups can work together, but her on her last Shabbat morning only one person can speak/sing written memories brief (50 El office as well. Please keep service on Saturday, June 13 at a time on Zoom.) words maximum). Donations to at 10:00 a.m. via Zoom. The Additionally, if you have a the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund following day, on Sunday, June special memory or photo that in honor of Rabbi Safman are 14, 4:00-6:00 p.m., a farewell you would like to have included gladly accepted, but not required. celebration will take place, also in a book of memories which Please join us in gratitude as we via Zoom, including personal is being made for the rabbi, wish our beloved rabbi a future odes to the rabbi celebrating her please send them to the Beth filled with mazel! WATER CONT. FROM PG 2 New treatment paradigm “We took the same chemical materials,” Harel explains, “and in a very clever procedure we gave them a nano-coating with a material that we developed using a process that we developed. It doesn’t do anything to the physical substances but it changes their The Jewish Federation’s bookkeeper, Jennifer Ripa, and volunteer, physical properties.” “We took a heavy substance that quickly Barbara Sahagan, a JFEC Board member, take a break after putting sinks and disintegrates when you put it dozens of food bags together for families who call-in to pick up in water and we turned it into a ‘light’ food. For the first half of May (1-14), the Federation provided 2,196 meals to 64 families totaling 244 individuals. The pantry provides enough food for 3-4 days. In addition to the food the Federation activesubstance,” material.” he says. “The final result is that it picks up once a week from the Gemma Moran United Way Labor floatsBlueGreen’s atop the waterLake andGuard slowly solution releases comes the Food Center, food that we purchase to fill in, we also receive food in pellet form. Users simply throw a small donations from individuals. Copy Cats of New London dropped off amount into the body of water, and the active this week an overflowing box of food they collected as a result of ingredients are released from their coating their ongoing food drive. The kids in each of the families we serve within four to six hours. According to Harel, also receive a special treat, an Activity/Coloring Book, provided results can be seen within 24 to 48 hours. Lake Guard pellets are thrown into the Roodeplaat Dam compliments of Minuteman Press of Norwich/New London. “It’s kind of a silver bullet,” he says. “All you Reservoir to treat toxic algal blooms. need to do is to put a very small amount of Jewish Federation Food Pantry is Open for the chemical on a local level and the material In February, BlueGreen starts to move in the water on its own.” treated the 4.4-square-kilometer PORCH PICK-UP -- 860-442-8062 “With this, we managed to change the treatment paradigm,” he says. Roodeplaat Dam Reservoir near Pretoria, South Africa. There, the The Jewish Federation Food Pantry is open to ANYONE in the Global problem agal blooms were so bad that they community in need of food.Call the Federation between 9-11:00 AM BlueGreen began marketing Lake Guard in 2018 and is already could be viewed by satellite and to reserve your bag/s of food...... THEN call us again between 1-2 PM working with most of the water reservoirs in Israel – some 600 of them. rendered the water unsuitable from our parking lot in the rear of the building (28 Channing Street, “Israel is our beta site,” Harel says. for use. Within days, the situation New London) so we can put your food on the BACK PORCH. “Working in Israel is very convenient,” he explains. “The variety we was reversed. The best way to support the Food Pantry is a gift to the JFEC Relief were exposed to was huge, and the distances between the reservoirs “One of the places we’re going and Recovery Fund. are nothing. That’s why it’s really great for carrying out research and to treat in the next few weeks Should you wish to make a donation of goods, we are in need of the development.” is in China, a place that’s been following non-perishable items: BlueGreen’s potential clients range from farmers with a little lake in suffering from blooms for the past Juice (in plastic containers), Cereal, Rice (plain), Beans (canned, not their back yard to municipalities and regional water authorities. 25 years. They’ve tried treating baked beans), Corn (canned), Stuffing Mix, Macaroni and Cheese, “Further down the line, the goal is to reach international cooperation it for the past 15 years and have Potato Mixes, Rice Mixes, Noodle Mixes, Soup, Ramen Noodles regarding water that’s outside territorial waters,” Harel says, noting failed time after time,” Harel says. that algal blooms can appear anywhere around the world, the North He adds that the coronavirus and South poles included, and they’re becoming a greater problem crisis hasn’t had much effect on Everyone counts: We are counting on you! with time. business. “At the end of the day, water is Here in Eastern Connecticut the JFEC works to support, sustain “Like any bacterial infection, it keeps on growing,” he says. “The curve a must – corona or not.” and revitalize Jewish life. But we can’t do it without you. is very clear all around the world. From year to year the phenomenon is Send in your donation today. becoming more acute.” 4 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 Henny Simon’s legacy lives on By Karen Rosenberg effort into advocacy and teaching students about valuing life, being world does not step up to the Each year Hadassah of Eastern Connecticut remembers Henny resilient, and standing against bullying -- messages that are so plate and prevent them. Simon, Holocaust educator and lifelong member of Hadassah important for today’s youth. The Holocaust was a terrible who shared her story throughout Connecticut. In her memory, this Many lessons can be learned from the Holocaust, to prevent event in history that impacted year Hadassah planned a full weekend plus of programs around anything like it from ever coming close to happening again. We many Jewish families and lives our guest speaker, filmmaker Emanuel Aronson Rund. Among the can learn from the strength of the heroes that showed unwavering negatively. Mona Levin, the many events planned for the Henny Simon Remembrance was an courage in the midst of such horrible times and circumstances. I daughter of two survivors of the essay contest for high school students throughout Southeastern am inspired by the story of Sophie Scholl, who was executed after Holocaust, speaks to schools Connecticut. Though most of the events had to be postponed, protesting against the Nazis by distributing anti-Nazi flyers at a around the area, telling her hopefully, to the fall, the essay contest was able to complete its University. parents’ story. It is important to objective. At her young age of 21, she was thinking about much bigger share her parents’ experiences We asked interested students to respond to the question: What things than most of the youth today are. She famously said, ``How so that this kind of event can have we learned from the Holocaust and how can we apply those can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone be prevented in the future. Mrs. lessons to today’s world? The due date was just after schools were willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a Levin’s mother experienced closed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, we received 19 entries. We fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if tremendous amounts of pain would like to share the winning essays with the community. through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action.” throughout the war, spending First place went to St. Bernard Senior, Grace Reilly. Grace is Though she knew the risk of being captured by the government, years at Auschwitz and then from Colchester. She is planning to attend Grove City College in she did what was within her power to make a difference. She was another year of her life in the Pennsylvania. She will major in communication with the incentive one person, but she stood up for what was right against an entire death march. Hearing these two of political involvement. Grace enjoys history and political science. government and advocated for resistance and change. peoples’ experience and misery She is a runner and participated in cross-country and indoor track The survivors of the concentration camps represent a different during these years makes one through her Junior year. type of hero. The strength that survivors embody teach us about wonder why nobody tried to Our runner-up, Emily Close, is a Senior at Waterford High true courage and resilience through unimaginable hardship. help the Jewish population for School, where she was active in Key Club, a student-led service The ability of survivors to have carried hope throughout their so long. program, and played Lacrosse. She has a strong interest in history ordeal and persevered is inspiring. The resilience and character of During the Holocaust, and plans to pursue a degree in Secondary Education with a focus the survivors should be a model for all. however, many people were on history at Clemson University in South Carolina. The actions of these heroes should inspire us to stand up if we either unaware of what was After a unit on the Holocaust that included guest speaker Mona see injustice or hatred and advocate for what is right. We must listen happening to Jewish prisoners Levin, Emily was assigned this essay as part of the curriculum for her to the heartbreaking stories from survivors, like Henny Simon, that due to German propaganda, AP World History class. It should be noted that we received essays experienced the Holocaust first-hand. Keeping the memories and or they pretended it wasn’t from two senior elective classes at Waterford High School. Each stories of survivors and those who tragically passed is a guiding happening as a way of coping essay mentioned the impact Mona’s visit had on their class. Mona hand in teaching the rising generations about the realities of the and easing their own feelings Levin is part of a new generation of Holocaust educators. Henny Holocaust. One person can make a difference. In both small and of guilt. By telling her mother’s would be so pleased. larger scale situations, a courageous voice willing to provide truth and father’s story, Mrs. Levin and reason is impactful. As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary draws attention to the horrific Lessons learned from the Holocaust for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” experiences that Jewish people Survivors teach us that we need to learn and understand what can went through during all those By Grace Reilly happen when hatred flourishes. In today’s world, it is so important years. Prisoners of war should The Holocaust was so heinous and tragic, that many of us that the younger generations have this understanding and think never be treated in as despicable would prefer to leave it in the past. However, understanding the deeply about what the Holocaust meant. We all must unite against of ways as they were during past determines our ability to prevent persecution and advocate for peace, tolerance, justice, and the the Holocaust. Mrs. Levin’s such tragedies from reoccurring in recognition of the dignity of all. contribution and so many others the future. According to a Holocaust keep the legacy of these people study, an alarming two-thirds of The world must unite everlasting, serving as a warning millennials don’t know what Auschwitz for the future. is. Even more disturbing, 22-percent against voices of hatred It is clear to see that do not know what the Holocaust is prejudice still exists pertaining By Emily Close (The Conference on Jewish Material to certain individual groups all One of the most horrific and infamous genocides throughout all Claims Against Germany). The lack over the world, with a major of history occurred during the 1940’s, killing more than 11 million of knowledge surrounding the example being the Jews. The people. More than half of those deaths lie in the Jewish community. Holocaust is why the work that Henny Nazi Skokie trials were a firm This massive genocide known as the Holocaust changed the course Simon did to educate students was reminder that people still have of the world as people knew it. Brought upon by a depression in so important. She put her time and prejudiced thoughts, which Germany following the first World War, festering anger and disgust casts a dangerous foreshadow at the German people’s situation allowed antisemitism to take hold. on the future. There will always AUTO | HOME | COMMERCIAL | MARINE Hitler was able to rise to power with his strong charisma and radical be oppression and antisemitism ideas for Germany. in today’s modern world, but the The people of Germany were L E V I N E Holocaust, with all its terrible suffering and easily looked towards effects, serves as a reminder that others to place the blame and it is the world’s duty to fight for INSURANCE GROUP, LLC benefit from it. The horrible genocide global freedom. that ensued due to Hitler’s regime As a global community the ANDREW J. LEVINE devastated the Jewish population and world should work together to left a huge impact on the world. For Owner, Producer, 40+ Years Experience ensure that innocent people the nations involved with this travesty, never have to go through the Holocaust served as a big lesson 221 Boston Post Rd. 860-739-4444 Office this again. As a united world, for the future. In the modern age, the P.O. Box 339 860-739-6861 Fax there should be preventative Holocaust serves as a reminder of the East Lyme, CT 06333 [email protected] horrific events that can occur if the HENNY CONT. ON PG 13 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 5 avoid. even if they don’t care about reciting morning prayers at the Schechter And so the early battle lines School, one day they might. By were drawn. Worship and Years later I will sit with my Baal Teshuva youngest son in his tradition versus sports and orthodox shul and check for the correct page. He has studied in some of assimilation. To my six-year-old Jerusalem’s more rigorous Yeshivas and he navigates the service with Artie sensibilities, duty could wait. ease. I smile as I picture sitting between my father and grandfather. My parents attempt to Still need someone to show me the place. civilize me and bring me into My father passes at age 82. A dutiful son, anxious to do the right Dean the fold. I attend an orthodox thing, I promise my mother I will say Kaddish for a year. Rabbi Hebrew school four days a Greengrass, a stalwart at Beth El’s minyan, instructs me in the correct A time to pray week for two hours each day after public school. On most One of my earliest memories of my New York City childhood Shabbat mornings I attend Junior enoughplacement to leadof my the father’s service tefillin—part myself one ofday,” my Iinheritance. tell him, knowing After a thatfew involves my grandfather’s visit to my parents’ Washington Heights Congregation at our little shul, leadingweeks I the confide service in when Rabbi one Greengrass. loses a parent “If only is a Ispecial could honor. feel confident counting the hours, the minutes, “Yes, do it today. Come with me,” Rabbi Greengrass tells me while his face. His arm is wrapped in a black leather strap. A tiny black box the seconds until my release. Rabbi Astor nods approval. He leads me to the lectern at the front of adornsapartment. his forehead. I can picture He stands him now, in the a earlyhooded morning figure, light, a tallit a silhouetted shrouding At services I follow along in the our chapel with the air of one not easily refused. prayer book, haltingly, watching I make a good attempt, embarrassed by my faltering voice, the older boys, already Bar mispronouncing words, haltingly reciting the prayers with less norfigure praying by the so window, fervently. his eyes closed, his lips murmuring softly. His Mitzvahed. They nod and shake assurance than a third grader. The minyan attendees pretend not to appearanceI remember startles thinking. me for I’ve never seen someone wearing tefillin, Even Why is he doing all this, and how strange. as they daven. I feel inadequate notice. “Yasher Koach,” they say after I recite Aleinu. They pump my at age six I am aware of my Jewish heritage. My parents, grandparents to be in their presence, for my hand in congratulations. The next day Rabbi Greengrass leads me and their friends all speak Yiddish. In our German/ Austrian learning is clearly not equal up again, and the next day once more, undeterred by my hesitancy. neighborhood the traditions of European Jewry were everywhere. to theirs. I stand still as I try “But I read so slowly,” I say, anxious to be absolved of my duties. “It’s At bedtime, when other parents were reading bedtime stories, my to concentrate on the prayers, ok,” he says. “They’ve got nowhere else to go,” nodding towards the mother had me recite the Shema. In the morning it was the Modeh Ani. my attention drifting as my older minyanaires who have long since retired. “They’ll wait,” he says. My grandfather’s act of daily tribute seems otherworldly, mystical, imagination places me anywhere “Continue.” And so I do. Each day I lead the service until the prayers and a bit bizarre. I sit upright in bed and listen, absorbing the sounds, but the synagogue. nearly spring from my tongue. The year ends, Kaddish recital ends. I go his rhythmic shaking, the way he seems to be speaking to someone not Somehow, I get through my back to my life, and the urge to lead the minyan fades. in the room. own Bar Mitzvah, the recital of That was twelve years ago. When the pandemic hit and shattered “You know, Grandpa Hillel could have been a rabbi in Vienna,” my Haftorah perhaps the greatest our complacency, the synagogues closed their doors. Sometimes you my mother explains the next morning. “He had smicha.” (orthodox challenge I’ve ever faced. Some don’t know what you’ve lost till it’s gone. rabbinical ordination). I nod, unsure of this magical word that sounds months later when I graduate Beth El, like several of our local synagogues, begins to offer virtual like a sneeze, yet, knowing by my mother’s whispered tone, the from Hebrew School my father prayer services on Zoom for Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning “In fact, you come from a long line of rabbis back in Poland,” she know I never learned to daven morning minyan at Beth El had all but disappeared in recent years. significance must be very great. (pray)confides well; his my own education secret: “Youwas Butservices. I feel What if there about ever morning was a minyan?time to pray, I wondered, this is it, but and admittedly I realize theI’d from my memory. Even then, as a little boy, I sense I am not likely to interrupted by the Nazis. I want followtells me, in counting their footsteps. them out I onyearn her tofingers, be my with generation’s names that next have Mickey faded you to know more than me.” to host a virtual minyan each day on Zoom and open it up to Beth El That’s a fair amount of andlike tothe put wider on tefillin.community. So I call Although a friend we from have another trouble synagogue.making a minyan, I offer Stadium’s storied canyons seems much more rewarding than poring pressure to place on the overMantle, musty playing tomes centerfield of the Talmud. for the What New wouldYork Yankees. Babe Ruth Roaming say if hisYankee heir shoulders of a young rebel something that brings us together and maintains our tradition. apparent were torn from the baseball diamond and ushered off to the much more interested in weekly eachLately, morning like atmany 8:15 of we you, don I’ve tefillin been and thinking worship. more It andfeels more good aboutto do softball tournaments than Torah family. I picture each of them every day when I recite the service. I pray scholarship. I nod in agreement, for their continued good health. yeshiva instead? Tradition in those days seemed a yoke I yearned to I hope my grandchildren stay safe. I wonder what our Biblical ancestors would have made of such a plague. I think about my parents expectedhis hand to firm redeem on my his shoulder, father’s when they were young, and lately I’ve been picturing my grandparents regret.certainly With not all the distractions first son of growing up in the 60’s, I stray wrapped on head and arm, the tallis draped over his graying head. In from the path. My knowledge mywhen imagination I was a boy. he I turnscan see towards my grandfather me as he standsin my mind’sby the eye,window tefillin in of the Hebrew prayer book is my room so long ago, and the subtlest of smiles curls at his lips. spotty at best. At High Holiday services I sit between my father and grandfather. My grandfather seems totally at ease with the service. Apparently Jewish JT’s All Seasons Landscaping education at his cheder in Poland Call Joel Tomsky @ 860-271-9549 Chuck and Romana Primus, Owners left him well prepared. My father checks his own place by looking Commercial & Residential over at Grandpa’s book, then points out the correct place in Lawn Care • Fertilizing • Mulching mine. I grow up. I marry and move Hedge & Tree Trimming • Spring Cleanup to New London to start a family Driveway Sealing • Dump Runs • and more! of my own. I attend Sabbath Locally owned & operated / Ask about our senior rates services on occasion and Friday Come in! We’d like to meet you! morning minyans at 7 am at Beth It's not too early to call - perfect time to clean up El, following the prayer book with your yard and prune trees & shrubs! 475 Broad St., New London CT • 860-443-CITY to shake. I tell my children that Insured #MPT7743H • LLC 1101711 difficulty. My insecurity is hard 6 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 Operation Cool Down Realtor Corner It is getting to be that time of year again Selling or Buying where the weather is getting warmer. during COVID-19 You most likely are seeing many families By Geoff Hausmann going outside enjoying In 1991, I was given this girl’s telephone number. I called her and activities in the heat. the conversation started, “Hi you do not know me, but would you like But there are many others at risk of married to Susan for almost 27 years. How does this relate to real getting sick or even to go out on a date with me?” Well, she said yes, and I now have been dying from the heat. Excessive heat, without asestate? there Well are todaybuyers you out buy there a home ready by to viewing purchase. pictures As your or a agent,video. it is home air conditioning my Thejob firstto protect question you. you First, need when to ask, I take am the I ready listing, to sell?I will Do take not plenty panic could affect those of photos and going to the next step by taking full videos of the home. with congestive heart failure, COPD, allergies, you can get a 30-year mortgage today with an interest rate between 3 asthma, and sleep apnea. And, helping those at-risk secure air conditioners to combat heat and Buying a home right now: Easy? No. Smart? Yes. Can you believe that heatstroke is most likely to illness. This year, we have come up with a new way of doing things. We list a home today, I will go through and take a full video of each room. affect older people who live in Whenand 3.5%? I am Butrepresenting I am scared the of buyer, going Iout will during go one this step pandemic. further. I Whenwill go I apartments or homes lacking air conditioners directly from the store, without direct contact with JFEC into the home and Skype you while in the home and show you every staffwill be and giving volunteers. out vouchers For more so qualifiedinformation, applicants or to support can pick this up criticalthe air nook and cranny of the home. For over 10 years, JFEC’s program, please contact [email protected]. Some buyers feel it is important to go into the home in order to Operationconditioning Cool or goodDown airflow. has been as I showed a property yesterday and the buyers felt claustrophobic, afeel feeling if the that home a video is the does perfect not completelyfit for them. detail. I completely On the other understand hand, I The first kosher wine was able to limit the number of homes they had to go into by showing them videos of the properties. For extra protection, I request all lights in a can has arrived turned on and every door to be open. The sellers are allowed to request By Shannon Sarna, JTA Bartenura Moscato is the super sweet, bubbly mortgage qualification letters prior to entering the home. kosher wine beloved by Upper West Side Jewish gals when someone is asking me when the prices are going to start going Recession? Yes. Housing Crash? No. Lately, a day does not go by and hip hop stars alike. It made splashy headlines down. Actually, the prices are the same or going up and there are back in 2005 when the rapper Lil’ Kim mentioned it multiple offers on many properties. The Spring Market has started a in one of her songs. From there, other performers (including process on hold too long and now are coming out of the woodwork. little late this year, but it has definitely started. 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Since 1946 Located at Pearle Vision | Waterford Commons, Waterford, CT THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 7 Israeli comedy on Netflix is the perfect pandemic pick-me-up By Lior Zaltzman, JTA cheating on him, with a woman. Israeli TV is all the rage right now. You’ve probably heard of “Shtisel,” So he winds up back in his Ivgy, an Israeli acting legend. the sensation about a haredi Orthodox family in Jerusalem that childhood home. empoweredHere I have woman. to stop Then and there’ssay that Konfino’s Ivgy has father, been accusedplayed by of Moshesexual harassment by several women, and was convicted earlier this year of know “The Beauty and the Baker,” an enchantingswept the world Israeli since comedic it premiered telenovela on Netflix in 2019, or maybe you Konfino’s mother is played by me question whether I should write (streamable on Amazon Prime for all aboutindecent this assault. show. But At first,since thisthe series made you romance lovers) which just got an takes on and dismantles toxic ideas exciting stateside adaptation by ABC. about masculinity and sex, I decided it But one less hailed Israeli show that was still worth recommending. In the push and pull between appearing authoritative and manly, or “Theyou definitelyGood Cop.” should be watching is loving and gracious, Danny choses the calledThis “Hashoter Israeli Hatov”police —comedy Hebrew is for a latter, over and over again. delight that turns the toxic masculinity “Hashoter Hatov” was originally conceived as a “Reno 911”-inspired especially in a macho country like show, but it turned out to be its own associated with police work — creature, one that is a mix of moving it already got an American adaptation and funny, that brings a heartfelt Israel — on its head. It’s so great that vulnerability to a profession normally Danza at its helm, no less. But the thought of as macho. The show was American— one with show Josh couldn’t Groban fully and capture Tony conceived Erez Aviram, a former the lightness and magic of its Israeli journalist and veteran writer for “Eretz Nehederet” (Israel’s “Saturday season. The cast of “Hashoter Hatov.” Hashoter Hatov Streams for free on: Netflix. Family friendly? Night Live” equivalent) who has counterpart“Hashoter andHatov” fizzled stars after comedy one Teenagers and up years of an almost anthropological veteran Yuval Semo (known for being a knowledge of the comedic fabric of member of Israeli comedy troupe “The Prozac Trio” and a cast member Liora Rivlin, who is known as one Israeli society. That in turn makes the show deeply and accurately of the leads in “Krovim Krovim,” Israeli. gruff and successful cop who comes from a family of petty criminals. The show’s brand of humor is heartfelt and infectious. You can feel Unsurprisingly,of the Israeli ensemble they don’t show really “Eretz respect Nehederet”) his penchant as Danny for the Konfino, law. a She is absolutely spectacular as its spirit in the opening number, which has the troupe of cops do a Israel’s first sitcom from the 80s. both a loving mom and sexuality NETFLIX CONT. ON PG 13 Konfino lives with his girlfriend and her son until he finds her Rabbi Rachel Safman

FAREWELL WEEKEND ON ZOOM JUNE 13 & 14 Saturday, June 13 – 10:00 am - Noon RABBI SAFMAN’S FINAL SHABBAT MORNING SERVICE Sunday, June 14 – 4:00 - 6:00 pm FAREWELL CELEBRATION S K AN TH Read more details IVE C | G in the accompanying ELEB RIES RATE | SHARE MEMO article in this issue of The Jewish Leader.

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Post Office Box 1310 • New London, CT • 860.442.0418 • bethel-nl.org 8 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 Israel finally establishes new government By Edgar Asher, Ashernet crises. Lapid was understandably There was not a lot to be proud of as members of angry that his former partner in the the Knesset came forward to play their part in the Blue and White party, Benny Gantz had sold out to Binyamin Netanyahu government to be established since November 2018 on for a position of power. Yair Lapid theestablishment afternoon of of May Israel’s 17. new government, the first full commenting on the fact that the It took three elections, within more than a year, new government was the biggest to bring together a group of politicians who in many in Israel’s history, told the plenum, cases held completely differing views and were trying “Coronavirus is an excuse for a to show some form of solidarity after more than a corrupt party at the expense of the year of political stagnation. To bring together a group taxpayer.” of disparate politicians they were offered incredible He continued to berate the new incentives which resulted in the establishment of no less arrangement. “After all the empty than thirty-six ministries and sixteen deputy ministries. talk of an ‘emergency government’, All this at a time when thousands of Israelis have lost the government being formed today their jobs due to the covid-19 epidemic. is the largest and most wasteful in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had managed our country’s history. Thirty-six to stage manage a scenario where he will remain prime ministers and sixteen deputies. Do minister until October 2021 and his new political partner, former IDF Chief of the General Staff Benny two dynamic younger members of the Knesset have Gantz, will take over as prime minister in October 2021. you call those fifty-two ministries an decided to remain in the opposition. Binyamin Netanyahu In the meantime, Gantz will serve as defense minister. patients on ventilatorsemergency in Israel government? - we have There more are believes that it is still possible to entice Yamina to join the Seventy-three of the one hundred and twenty Knesset ministers and deputytoday ministers fewer than than fifty patients coronavirus on life coalition. However, now Netanyahu has nothing to offer members approved the new arrangement. Yamina. Perhaps on this time round Yamina would prefer Not all Knesset members agreed to join the new next to each patient’s bed and still have two ministries to stay in the opposition camp. coalition. Former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett and leftsupport! over -We Israel could deserve put abetter.” minister or deputy minister But perhaps it was the new leader of the opposition, former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, both members MK Lapid vowed that the opposition “will be here Blue and White’s Yair Lapid, who spoke for many Israelis of the Yamina party, could not agree on Netanyahu’s to remind them that it can be different. There is an whose future looks so uncertain because of the covid-19 terms for joining the coalition, so for the moment the alternative, a different leadership. Not a leadership that cares only about its own jobs and seats. A leadership committed to values, to the change we want to lead.

ourTo lovedemocracy Judaism from but those to fight who religiousseek to destroy coercion. it.” To© ASHERNETstand against racism. To fight corruption. To protect

The scene in the Chagall Hall of the Knesset following the successful conclusion of voting in a new government earlier in the afternoon on May 17 in the Knesset plenum. THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 9 Corona breakthrough - 60 second breath test By Edgar Asher, Ashernet infectious biological samples. Now, Ben-Gurion University making it easier than ever to track the course of the Israeli scientists and researchers have been highly of the Negev’s Prof. Gabby Sarusi has developed and virus, as well as triage and treat patients. active in their efforts to understand, treat and analyze The new method is based on the change in the the world-wide corona virus outbreak. covid-19 virus in less than a minute with greater than resonance in the THz spectral range imposed by the So far Israeli has been remarkably successful in its 90%is now accuracy validating and at a testa dramatically that identifies lower carriersprice than of any the coronavirus through a THz spectroscopy performed on isolation measures and slowly people are getting back other method presently available. the device. This spectral range has been employed in to their normal lives. Clinical trials in conjunction with the Defense Ministry Of course, nobody is on more than 120 Israelis had a better than 90% success of biological samples. complacent about the rate compared to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. recent“We decades asked forourselves, the fast detection and identification future of the virus in The ongoing trials will seek to determine if the test can since this virus is just the community and like a nano-particle or Israelis are still being its presence. a quantum dot with a asked to observe identify“Right the from specific the beginningstage of covid-19 of the infectiontrials, we as received well as diameter between 100nm measures to resist the to 140nm in terms of spread of the virus. and PCR tests,” says Professor Sarusi, deputy head its size and electrical One of the problems forstatistically research significant at the School results of in Electrical line with ourand simulations Computer properties, can we detect that all health workers Engineering and a faculty member of the Electro-Optical it using methods from have is identifying Engineering Unit at Ben-Gurion University. the worlds of physics, whether a particular “We are continuing clinical trials and will compare photonics and electrical individual is carrying samples from covid-19 patients with samples from engineering,” said Prof. the virus. Scientists all patients with other diseases to see if we can identify the Sarusi. “We discovered over the world have different stages of the infection,” explained Professor that the answer is yes, Professor Gabby Sarusi. Sarusi. Professor Sarusi developed his chip within the this virus resonates in a quick and reliable framework of the university’s Coronavirus Task Force, the THz frequency, and method to ascertain if a personbeen is a trying covid-19 to virus find initiated by the university’s President Professor Daniel spectroscopy in these frequencies reveals it carrier. Also, they want to know if somebody who has Chamovitz to harness the resources and ingenuity of the The breath test device University to tackle the myriad aspects of the pandemic. promptly.” developed by Professor Now researchers at Ben-Gurion University have Particles from a simple breath test or throat and nose Each test kit would Gabby Sarusi of Ben- been identified with corona is now free of the infection. swabs, such as are already currently used for other tests, Gurion University. breakthrough in identifying the killer virus. are placed on a chip with a dense array of metamaterial one hundred dollars to announcedCurrent coronavirus what might test very kits are well based be on a amplifying significant produce,cost between which is fifty far less to and identifying the viral RNA sequences, and therefore The system then analyzes the biological sample and than current laboratory testing. Moreover, because the depend on costly reagents and biochemical reactions. providessensors thatan accurate was designed positive/negative specifically for result this within purpose. a test is electro-optical in nature, rather than biochemical, In addition, these PCR-based kits take hours, and in minute via a cloud-connected system. it is not sensitive to environmental factors that can many cases days, to yield results and require logistically The point-of-care device automatically backs up the affect results of current testing methods. © ASHERNET complicated shipping and handling of sensitive and results into a database that can be shared by authorities, Advances in blocking covid infection cycle By Edgar Asher, Ashernet from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where there to interdisciplinary knowledge which combines the Scientists from Technion’s Wolfson Faculty were numerous cases of coronavirus, revealed that the of Chemical Engineering have developed smart virus can survive on surfaces for as long as 17 days. This and controlled release. “The materials we developed disinfectants that destroy the coronavirus infection fact increases the probability of infection from touching willfields be of a combinatorialgamechanger becausechemistry, they polymer will block engineering the cycle mechanism and remain active over time. These contaminated surfaces, in addition to person-to-person of infection from contaminated surfaces,” says Farah. products are expected to replace household bleach infection. “Infection from touching surfaces is a serious and other chorine-based products whose disinfecting Asst. Prof. Farah’s research group develops innovative problem, especially in public places such as hospitals, powers diminish rapidly. polymers for medical use and smart drug delivery factories, schools, shopping malls and public Asst. Prof. Shady Farah, head of the research group, technologies. When the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, the transportation. Our polymers will make these places has been awarded a European Institute of Innovation research group immediately devoted itself to developing safer. Although this development was accelerated due and Technology (EIT) Health COVID-19 Rapid Response special anti-viral polymers that act on the virus in two to the current coronavirus crisis, in the future it will grant to accelerate its development process and market ways- 1.By altering and damaging its structure so that also be effective against other microorganisms. We are its infection capability is impaired; and 2. By attacking enriching the arsenal of tools available to us and adding receives a prestigious EIT Health grant alone. and destroying the virus’s envelope. No less important, a new family of disinfectants that release the active launch.The SARS-CoV-2This is the firstcoronavirus time that belongs a Technion to an extensive scientist the disinfecting substance is released in a controlled and substance in a controlled manner. In this way, they family of viruses that the world has been aware of for continuous manner so that the new technology’s effect is remain effective for long periods of time.” many years, some of which can also infect humans. long-lasting. Asst. Prof. Shady Farah completed three academic The novel coronavirus closely resembles one of its Disinfectants have been used since the start of degrees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, predecessors, SARS-CoV, which also originated in China the coronavirus pandemic to prevent infection from including a direct-track PhD in Medicinal Chemistry. He and spread to many other countries; however, the steps contaminated surfaces – mainly by applying hypochlorite then pursued postdoctoral research at MIT (with Prof. solutions, more commonly known as household bleach. Robert Langer and Prof. Daniel G. Anderson) and at the enough against the current epidemic. To date, there is Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. nothat approved were taken ‘knockout’ to fight treatment SARS-CoV for areSARS-CoV-2 not effective and it evaporates quickly and breaks down rapidly when He is currently Assistant Professor in the Technion’s there is no vaccine against it. exposedThis method to the has sun several or UV significant light. Consequently, disadvantages: its Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering, where he effectiveness is limited and short-term, requiring surfaces holds a Neubauer Chair, and is a fellow of the Russell for blocking the spread of infection via contaminated to be disinfected several times a day. Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI). He received a surfaces.Given theThe situation, novel coronavirus efficient disinfectants can survive onare various crucial The new disinfectant technology developed by Farah’s Maof Fellowship for Outstanding Young Researchers and surfaces for extended periods of time, depending on research group is based on low-cost and readily available his lab received generous funding from the Neubauer the type of surface and other conditions. Findings raw materials. The development was made possible thanks Family Foundation. © ASHERNET 10 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 High Holidays 2020: Rabbis start to think outside the synagogue By Ari Friedman, The Forward usually sees 3,000 attendees using excerpts from the High Holiday prayerbook, the mahzor, to create over the High Holidays. He said a service for families to do at home, around their dinner table. Families prayer. This fall, it will face another challenge that, while not quite on caution is more important than theAbout order of 2,000 the destruction years ago, of Judaism the Second swapped Temple, animal is still historic: sacrifice How for speed right now, and he and his staff are working on creating guidancewould focus from on YouTube different videos symbols made — apples, by their honey rabbis and and pomegranates cantors. maintaining enough physical distance between congregants to prevent multiple possible options for the insteadJust about of matzah, everyone shank agrees bones that and the horseradish services will — be perhaps brief. Zoom with theto conduct spread ofthe coronavirus. faith’s holiest — and best-attended — services while and Facebook Live attention spans can’t support hours-long At a time when people are High Holiday services. Synagogues in the Reform movement, craving human and spiritual America’s largest, as well as those in Reconstructing Judaism, connection, rabbis are feeling a denomination with just under 100 communities, have even more pressure than normal to create a deeply structure, since their denominations prioritize adaptability over meaningful High Holidays adherencemore flexibility to halacha, in using Jewish technology law. and changing the service Conservative synagogues will place a higher emphasis on making their adapted services comport with halacha. Jewish towardexperience. 2020’s Some Days — of clergy Awe law only considers certain parts of the High Holiday liturgy to withand congregants anxiety, but — areothers looking are be obligatory. That could mean stripping down Yom Kippur to relishing the challenge of Kol Nidre, the evening service; the prayers “Avinu Malkeinu” and radically rethinking what is “Shma Koleinu”; the rabbi’s sermon and Yizkor, said Heller, of possible in the context of an Congregation B’nai Torah near Atlanta. ancient tradition. “Let’s blow it out of the If not in synagogue, then where? water,” said Rabbi Amy There are three main formats rabbis can use for services Schwartzman, who leads the this year: in-person; broadcast, which has rabbis conducting 1,800-household Temple Rodef services via Facebook Live or YouTube, with no interaction from Shalom, a Reform synagogue congregants at home; and services over software like Zoom, in outside Washington, D.C. “It which congregants can participate. will change us next year and the year after. We’ll realize we can push fall. Most of the synagogues consulted by the Forward said they will try into new boundaries.” to mix up the formats of their services. That could mean, for instance, to announce our plan, if those a socially-distanced tashlich ceremony, when one casts one’s sins plans“I’m are okay what if we end are upnot meetingthe first they’reThe when High Holidayssynagogues — are meaning at their chiefly busiest. Rosh The Hashanah,staff works the through New the safety and spiritual needs of theYear, summer and Yom to Kippur, coordinate the Day services of Atonement for the largest — happen crowds in theof the fall, year. and our community,” he said. — in the form of bits of stale bread — into a body of water; a Yizkor Rabbis spend weeks crafting special sermons, and cantors compose mourningThe services service might over be Zoom accompanied and a broadcast by opportunities — maybe during even the pre- 10 elaborate musical programs. Brief, and intimate interveningrecorded — daysof Kol between Nidre, the Rosh first Hashanah service of and Yom Yom Kippur. Kippur for small Though it is only May, the 14 rabbis from egalitarian denominations Rabbis said they are working groups to spend a half-hour or so inside the synagogue. Schwartzman together to tackle the challenge said that Rodef Shalom in D.C. might offer in-person yoga or text-study who spoke to the Forward for this story are making their plans based of re-envisioning High Holiday classes for maybe 50 people at a time in their main sanctuary, which on— Reform,the assumption Conservative, that synagogue Reconstructing buildings Judaism will andneed Humanistic to be closed — services. Reconstructing Judaism, can house up to 950 people. when Rosh Hashanah starts, on September 18. for example, has begun a weekly Rabbi Rachel Ain, of the Sutton Place Synagogue in Manhattan, said Indeed, even as the United States begins efforts to restart its Zoom conference attended by she and her colleagues plan to use that period to make sure that every economy, a broad range of Jewish leaders agreed last week that over 60 rabbis called “Dreaming family has an opportunity to approach the ark where they house their synagogues should be among the last institutions to reopen, wherever of the High Holidays,” said to the they are, in order to adhere to the Jewish doctrine of pikuach nefesh, movement’s president, Rabbi Kippur. which mandates setting aside religious obligations in order to save a Deborah Waxman. TorahThat, scrolls, Ain said, a tradition will give usually congregants observed a chance over the to finaldo what hour so of many Yom life. The rabbis who spoke to the are missing: be in their synagogue, their “sacred space.” Forward all said it is impossible more deeply than the dangers of singing, which studies are showing to translate the holidays’ The big show canThere spread are the practical coronavirus considerations, at alarming too rates. — noneEven singingweighing with on masksrabbis While all the clergy who spoke with the Forward expect they’ll be on is possibly unsafe. across multiple sanctuaries, Then there are shofars, the ceremonial ram’s horn blown at specialelaborate programs schedules for — toddlers, services climactic moments in the High Holiday services. No scientist has children and teenagers, classes, closedTemple for theSholom, holidays, in some Cincinnati, haven’t yetOhio, made announced the final decision to their yet. actually measured the dispersal of coronavirus in aerosol droplets congregationOthers have — that four they months would out. be all virtual last Friday, said Rabbi shooting forth from a hollow ram’s horn. But at least one study found “How can we create ritual at Miriam Terlinchamp. They’ve invested thousands of dollars in their guest speakers — to streaming. livestream and prayer-on-demand operation over the past few years, Sarit Horowitz, of Beth Shalom drawing in viewers from around the country. Terlinchamp said that lodgethat vuvuzelas deep inside — the plasticlung. horns from the 2010 World Cup in South Synagogue,home for people?” a Conservative asked Rabbi her decision was based around not over-extending her staff by making AfricaThe — study can “propelwas enough extremely to largescare numbersRabbi Joshua of aerosols” Heller, that whose can community in Memphis, Tenn. them plan for multiple High Holidays scenarios. Conservative synagogue, Congregation B’nai Torah, outside Atlanta, “Part of that requires people’s “Even if we have mud on our face in September and everyone is openness, because it won’t running around and hugging and sharing drinks, we’re still not gonna be the same as being go back,” she said. in shul with 500 other Yet while other synagogues anticipate saving money on virtual people.” Horowitz is playing with the idea of a Seder for bandservices and — videographers no overflow spaces and renting to rent, out no a guardsprofessional to hire, sound no catering studio Rosh Hashanah, in a spin tobill! create — Terlinchamp pre-recorded said services. she expects to spend more. She’s hiring a full on Passover’s ritual meal. High Holiday services are a performance, she reasoned: “Let’s just Though the idea is still in own the performance part.” its infancy, she is mulling HOLIDAYS CONT. ON PG 13 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 11 Israeli experts propose radical post-corona exit strategy By Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21c to be split into two groups. Each still be overcome. The biggest worry as we start emerging from isolation in the group would alternate between Easy to enforce? Covid-19 pandemic: How do we return to schools and businesses lockdown and routine activity in Milo says a cyclical work-lockdown strategy is equitable, easy weekly succession. to understand and easy to enforce as part of a comprehensive exit In many ways, this is a numbers game. In Israel, we’re seeing He says the combination of strategy. somewithout triggeringstrong reentry a fresh outbreak?strategies He suggests that countries try coming from mathematicians. Their an alternating lockdown strategy recommendations aren’t only for their as a pilot on a small scale in limited home country. On May 11, the New York Times featured an opinion piece, “10-4: How regions“We arefor ain defined touch for period example of time with – to Reopen the Economy by Exploiting say, a month — and then reassess. the Coronavirus’s Weak Spot,” by in performing such a pilot study,” he Weizmann Institute of Science tellsofficials ISRAEL21c. in Peru who are interested computational and systems biology “If infection rates grow, it can professors Uri Alon and Ron Milo and be adjusted to fewer workdays. Tel Aviv University economist Prof. Conversely, if things are going well, Eran Yashiv. additional workdays can be added. Their proposed “10-4” cyclical routine is built around the three-day lockdown days in each two-week window between the time a person cycleIn certain could scenarios, still prevent only resurgence.four or five becomes infected with the novel coronavirus and the time that person long, the alternative of going back to can infect others. fullWhile lockdown it will be for difficult an unknown to do for length very People go to work or school for four of time might be much worse.” Milo recently headed a project days a week every two weeks, followed Israeli children began a gradual return to school on May 3, 2020. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/ by 10 days of home lockdown. Ideally, Flash90 the population would be split into two information in an orderly framework. groups alternating weeks, wit would h Heto organizeworked thewith flood Weizmann of coronavirus grad children and parents going to work and school on the same four days. isolating virus spreaders and student Yinon Bar-On and US colleagues from Caltech and Berkeley. “Models we created at the Weizmann Institute in Israel predict keeping up protective behaviors that this two-week … 10-4 cycle could suppress the epidemic while can help defeat the virus while novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, the foursome revealed that allowing sustainable economic activity,” they explain. sustaining socio-economic theAfter virus consolidatingis 96% identical hundreds to a coronavirus of findings genome about that SARS-CoV-2, infects bats, the activity at a 50% level. 91% identical to a coronavirus genome that infects scaly anteaters Intermittent lockdown The main advantage of (pangolins), 80% identical to the SARS virus, 55% identical to the this strategy is that it isolates MERS virus and 50% identical to the coronavirus that causes common lockdown idea. not just the sick, but also the colds. “ThinkIn late of March, dieting. Weizmann’s You can fast Alon for two first months proposed and thelose intermittent weight, but majority of presymptomatic They also uncovered some good news: The virus’s mutation you will probably die. Even if you survive, you will quickly gain weight or asymptomatic “invisible again. Similarly, a two-month lockdown will suppress the coronavirus, spreaders.” Milo said he’s cautiously optimistic that drugs and vaccines developed but it will kill the economy. Lockdown will push hundreds of millions Barzel explained: “Consider an againstaccumulation Covid-19 rate will is therefore relatively prove slow durable compared in curbing to influenza outbreaks. viruses. of people globally into unemployment and poverty,” Alon said. individual who became infected “At the end of each lockdown, remaining patients will cause a during their active week. They resurge in the epidemic, forcing another lockdown. This is the well- are now in their pre-symptomatic known yo-yo effect, with the number of coronavirus patients going period – the most dangerous Norwich Hebrew Benevolent up and down. At the same time, the global economy will be hit hard stage, in which they are invisible Association and hundreds of millions will go hungry. When the dust settles, more spreaders. According to the P.O. Box 663 Jewett City, CT 06351 people will have died of hunger than of the coronavirus.” alternating lockdown routine, An epidemiological model developed by Alon with graduate they are now scheduled to enter Hebrew Cemeteries #1, #2, and #3 students Omer Karin and Yael Korem-Kohanim and senior engineer their lockdown phase.” During their week at home, Interfaith Cemetery #4 every week –or even better, a four-day work/10-day lockdown cycle. he reasons, invisible spreaders Cremains Cemetery Boaz Dudovich suggested five days of lockdown and two days of work will most likely begin to exhibit “In this way, the number of people infected by each infectious Synagogue Affiliation Not Required person drops below one – the magic number that causes the epidemic symptoms and remain in to decline,” he said. isolation until full recovery. 860-887-0896 Alon suggested that the intermittent lockdown continue until the “If following a week of lockdown they show no or a vaccine. symptoms, they are most likely epidemic“Our main is contained message throughis to open sufficient up the discussion testing, effective on lockdown treatment and uninfected and can partake in Byles-MacDougall point out that a well-designed smart lockdown strategy can suppress social and professional activities Funeral Service, Inc the epidemic and sustain the economy.” during their active week.” (860) 442-0343 Click here to read a paper by Alon and colleagues from Weizmann, The Bar-Ilan simulation (888) 736-7036 Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University. suggests that if the proportion of “defectors” – people who Daniel W. Byles Invisible spreaders continue to be active during their Reid B. Burdick Alternating lockdowns also are championed by Bar-Ilan University lockdown phase or who hold John D. MacDougall essential positions and cannot Prof. Baruch Barzel, principal investigator of the university’s Data Byles Memorial Home Byles-Groton Memorial Home Science Institute and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center. be under lockdown – is kept at 99 Huntington Street 310 Thames Street The Barzel lab’s mathematical model calls for the general population under 30%, viral spread could New London, Conn. 06320 Groton, Conn. 06340 12 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 How to make my grandma’s pelmeni By Sonya Sanford, JTA the pelmeni into tortellini-like shapes. If you have a potsticker mold, My grandmother’s kitchen you can use that to shape the dumplings as well. was barely the size of a hot This recipe takes some time and effort, but it has a great return on tub. Somehow, in that tiny, investment of energy. It’s wise to make a big batch and stock up while immaculate space she could cook you’re putting in the work. Many folks make double or triple batches enough food for a party of 20. at a time, because the dumplings can last for months in the freezer. The kitchen’s best features were There is a unique satisfaction that comes from homemade an overhead skylight streaming dumplings. It feels like a culinary achievement of the highest order. If it with light, and an eat-in you’ve ever made pasta dough, this is a cousin to that process. kitchen counter that you could sit on the other side of while she The trickiest bit is rolling out the dough so thin that it is vellum-like, cooked. Growing up, I sat and If you’ve made a filled pasta, then you’ve basically made pelmeni. watched her make food as often as possible, and sometimes I had simmered.and then filling each pocket with just the right amount of mixture so the fortune of licking spoons of thatAfter the edgesall the can work, firmly there seal is shut, such and satisfaction get smooth when and theglossy pelmeni once made latke. always a little too hot, but it is nearly impossible to wait any longer for batter,Her orkitchen trying was the full first of objects freshly themfinally to come cool outdown. of the pot, fully cooked and shining. That first bite is that she brought with her from dumplings, sealing the two layers of dough together. You will see and Ukraine when she immigrated Pelmeni - Russian Dumplings feel the dumplings drop into their molds below the rolling pin; the to the States in the late ’70s. On metal will start to poke through between the dumplings. Flip over the top of her fridge was an electric Ingredients: mold, and the dumplings should easily come out with a gentle tap. If samovar, on her counters were For the dough: not, you can nudge them out with a poke from the bottom-side with sets of white enamelware, and the round holes. sometimes she pulled out a ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon water 6. If making pelmeni by hand: Roll out one-sixth of the dough to pelmenitsa from the pantry. A 13 largecups all-purposeegg flour about 12” in diameter. Use a 2-inch round cutter or a similar-sized pelmenitsa is a mold for making 2 teaspoons kosher salt drinking glass, cut our rounds out of the dough. Fill each circle with pelmeni, a type of dumpling that is common across the former For the filling: dampen the edges of the circle with water. Pinch the circle upward, Soviet Union. 1 pound dark ground chicken sealingabout ½ the a dumpling teaspoon into of filling. a half-moon Using shape, your fingerthen fold or the a brush, ends inward lightly Pelmenis are made with ½ medium yellow or white onion, grated on the medium size hole and press them together. This will make a dumpling that looks similar a simple dumpling dough of a box grater to tortellini, without the pointed top. You can also keep the pelmeni in 2¼ teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal brand) half-moon shapes, just make sure they are well-sealed. and sometimes egg, and are 1½ teaspoons garlic powder (optional) that consists of flour, water, Ground white or black pepper, to taste sheet. You can immediately cook the dumplings, or you can freeze them.7. Once Once formed,they are transfer fully frozen the onpelmeni the tray, onto transfer a lightly them floured to a freezer- baking chicken,traditionally beef, filled lamb, with pork, ground or Directions: safe container for long term storage. ameat. combination Typical fillingsof meats. include A 8. To cook the pelmeni: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. I make vegetarian option is made with a 30-40 pelmenitsa-sized dumplings at a time. How many dumplings to the1. To center, make andthe dough:turn the Add mixer the flourto low and until salt it to starts the bowl to combine. of a stand If you add depends on the size of the pot; you do not want to overcrowd formixer any fitted reason, with it is a not dough starting hook to attachment. ball up and Add looks the dry, water add andanother egg them, and may have to cook the dumplings off in batches if you’re simplyminced withmushroom the addition filling. of salt, tablespoon full of water. Increase the speed to medium, and allow preparing many at once. pepper,The onion filling and is garlic. seasoned Once the dough to knead for 8-10 minutes, or until very smooth, soft, and 9. Add the dumplings to the pot, and let them simmer for 4-5 the dumplings are made and elastic. If the dough is feeling very sticky and not forming a smooth formed, they are cooked quickly minute. Test one by cutting it in half if you are uncertain, and make in simmering water. Each family dough can be made by hand, but it takes double the kneading time. sureminutes. the meatOnce is they fully float cooked to the through top, let and them no simmerlonger pink. for an additional has their preferred toppings for ball,2. add Cover a little the more dough flour, and one let tablespoonit rest for 1at houra time. on Alternatively, the countertop. this 10. To serve: Add the cooked dumplings to bowls, and add the soup, pelmeni. Some top them with or your favorite toppings, to the bowl. Serve immediately, as they’re sour cream, caramelized onion, toppings prepared and ready to serve with the cooked dumplings. best hot and fresh. fresh dill, or vinegar. While the dough is resting, you can make your filling and get all of your My personal favorite way garlic powder, and pepper to a bowl. Mix until combined; be careful to eat pelmeni is in a bowl of not3. to makeovermix the as filling: the meat Add can the get ground tough. chicken,I like to test grated my mixture onion, salt, for homemade chicken broth, with a good amount of fresh greens patty. I cook the meat off in a small pan, and then taste and adjust the seasoningsalt and flavor if needed. by taking a tablespoon full and forming it into a small tops. I always garnish the pelmeni 4. To assemble: Once the dough has rested, divide it into six equal- withadded an to excessive it — like amount kale or of turnip fresh sized balls. This will yield 3 sets of 37 dumplings if using a pelmenitsa. dill. Dividing the dough into six can be done by weight or by approximation. The pelmenitsa is a pleasing honeycomb-shaped mold that about 12” in diameter, and very thin. forms 37 dumplings at a time. On a lightly floured surface, begin to roll out one of the balls until it is They are available online, and dough over it so that there is at least an inch of overhang. Roll out eBay has some for just a few the5. dough If using wider a pelmenitsa if necessary. – generously I like to gently flour press the mold, into eachand drape of the the 37 bucks. These dumplings can also be made by hand with little more holes before filling. Using a small spoon or piping bag, add about a ½ than a rolling pin and a water doughteaspoon until of theit is filling also about into the 12” center in diameter. of each Oncedumpling, rolled so out, that lightly they glass. You can roll out the dough brushare just the filled. surface On aof lightly the dough floured with surface, water, roll and out place another it on balltop of the thin, and cut out circles to form

filled dumplings. Using your rolling pin, firmly roll over the top of the THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 13

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and brings out the personality If people feel left adrift on their couch this year, there is concern that of— their the cast characters keeps straightto a joyfully faces thosespiritual people intensity will be from less the likely sheer to crushreturn of the a sanctuary next year. filled to capacity. imperfect musical number. Some congregants are so eager to return to synagogue that they Like many serialized police are pressuring their rabbis to host in-person services even though the shows, “Hashoter Hatov” digs clergy are in higher risk categories, such as being over the age of 65, into the personal lives of its said to Rabbi Hara Person, head of the Reform movement’s rabbinical heroes, and how those intersect association. “There’s gonna be a mourning period,” said Sutton Place but there’s nothing glamorous Synagogue’s Rabbi Ain, for people who want things to just go back to aboutwith theirthe professionaldaily lives of ones these — normal. But she is hopeful that people will reconcile with reality, like broke cops, in a country that also, they did for Passover: “Judaism is an adaptive culture.” Save the DATE well, is not exactly into rules and Rabbis in the South and middle of the country, which have seen regulations. their economies reopen or protests pushing for a reopening, are Thurs @ 7 PM Still, the show has a vision of concerned about how to pitch a distanced High Holidays, especially June 18 justice, in which friendship and to congregants who simply don’t think the economy should remain love triumph over being a stickler closed. JFEC ANNUAL MEETING to the rules. “I’m in Georgia, where you can go bowling and get a tattoo of your So if you’re looking to be score,” said B’nai Torah’s Heller. “I have congregants who based on via ZOOM details in the moved, to laugh and to be their sources of data don’t see this as a threat in the same way that June 5 Leader distracted from the raging others do, and may not see the need for caution.” Perhaps the biggest question mark remaining is fundraising. Many your next binge. synagogues use the large crowds of the High Holidays to make appeals, pandemic — “Hashoter Hatov” is or ask congregants to buy space in special booklets. Synagogues that require tickets are wondering if they can reasonably charge for a Zoom HENNY service. Schwartzman said that if they do end up foregoing use of their CONT. FROM PG 4 COPY CATS, INC building for services, there will be no tickets this year. Full service print/sign provider matizing experience again. Rabbi Paul Kipnes, who leads Congregation Or Ami, in Calabasas, The Holocaust destroyed so Calif., said that his synagogue will likely not have tickets, and instead We are collecting food donations to be dropped off many peoples’ lives, leaving he will just double the number of calls he usually makes in the weeks at area food banks during this difficult time. many people alone without before Rosh Hashanah to check in on families and broach the subject Donations can be dropped off M-F 7am-5pm. their family and friends. Europe and the rest of the world must yield results, he said, they will simply organize an annual campaign. 458 Williams St. New London stand united in the face of such of financialThe silver support, lining of to the around uncertainty, 300 households said Heller, this is year. that Ifit thathas pusheddoesn’t 860-442-8424 | www.copycatsnl.com hatred and never allow conflict rabbis, perhaps more than ever before, to lean on one another for to grow to such extent again. support and ideas. That collective brainpower is what’s keeping him The Holocaust was one of calm for now. the most despicable examples “I think some of the best ideas for how to run these High Holidays of human treatment in history. haven’t been had yet,” he said. The severity of the Holocaust serves as a daily reminder to Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. people of all nations that people 136 Sachem Street should not forget the past and Norwich CT 06360 what leads to it. 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We didn’t know if the argument was a sketch or real,” Ben Frank’s catchphrase, the comic Stiller told Stephen Colbert in 2019. but apt supplication, “serenity While Stiller did not want his kids to go into entertainment because was,hilarious above roles all, anthat extraordinarily he’ll always be loving remembered Jewish dad for of— two. most he feared the rejection, he became his children’s biggest fans. notablyGerald as Isaac George Stiller Costanza’s had a profoundly father, Frank, Jewish on Seinfeldupbringing — he in own Jewish father. “Amy’s very funny,” Stiller told the New York Brooklyn and, later, the Lower East Side. now!” was inspired by Stiller’s Times. “She’s very much like Anne in a lot of ways, His mother’s family came from Frampol, but better. Amy’s a natural. Nobody taught her to

Obituaries perform or gave her a cue. She went out and did it also hails from. His father immigrated on her own.” fromPoland Galicia — where and Isaacbecame Bashevis a taxi Singerdriver, Amy concurred in the same article: “My dad and later a bus driver, in New York. He taught both me and Ben to be fearless. He said, was also a lover of vaudeville and took his young son to see shows. The kind of adoration Stiller felt for his kids is‘Find palpable a stage, in find every an audience,photograph and of do him it.’” with his one that he later mined for content in his various Stiller’s parents had a contentious marriage — time he looks at them. crashing Passover dinners (since his family couldn’t children. He seems thrilled — in awe, even — every affordroles —to hostthough their Judaism own) and was his an uncle escape. taking He recallshim to camera, inspiring him to go into directing: “I gave a Hanukkah service at a local synagogue to escape himHe the also camera gave and his he younger went and child, ran Ben, with his it.” first He his parents’ arguments. “I remember we entered later acted in Zoolander and many more of Ben’s this Orthodox shul and all the beautiful candles in directorial projects. the menorah were lit and there was such a feeling of And yet, Stiller admitted that working with his happiness,” he said. “It was a modest old synagogue, son could be nerve wracking. nothing fancy, just people and they sang happily. Son Ben, dad Jerry, and daughter Amy Stiller. it up,” he said. “You want to be there, and at the As a student in Seward High School in the Lower East Side, where Following Seinfeld, Stiller same time, you want to“He’s be as a good terrific as him.actor It’s and not you easy.” don’t want to mess ZeroAnd thatMostel was and my other first memory famous comediansof Hanukkah.” also attended, one of Stiller’s landed a role as another popular “I asked myself, what’s my greatest enjoyment in this business,” TV dad: Leah Remini’s character’s Stiller said in an interview about his son’s 1997 movie, The Heartbreak “The show was called ‘Hitler Goes to Heaven’,” Stiller told Italian father on The King of Kid, in which he co-starred. “It’s what my kids have done on screen.” EmmyAwardInterviews,first acting roles was playing and heAdolf “got Hitler. a lot of laughs.” Queens. His rise to fame started as an act of love. Stiller and his unlikely Leah Remini wrote in a May his memory be a blessing. moving Instagram post: “I was If that’s not the definition of a doting dad, we don’t know what is. redheaded Irish woman, created a comedy act based upon their lucky enough to work with Jerry opposites-attractgirlfriend — and relationship. later wife of 60-plus years — Anne Meara, a tall, Stiller, playing his daughter for Jeffrey M. Betz Stiller and Meara, as the duo was known, became a household name 9 years on The King Of Queens, in the 1960s. They were frequent guests on the Ed Sullivan Show (their but even luckier to know him, the Norwich - Jeffrey Matthew “Jeff” debut performance was pretty Jew-y: a modern retelling of Jonah and man, the husband, the father, the Betz of Norwich died peacefully at the Whale) and they performed in Las Vegas and appeared in successful grandfather. I am only comforted home with his loving family by his side commercials. Even if their audiences were neither Jewish nor Irish, knowing that Anne & Jerry, the Saturday, May 16, 2020. many couples who came from different backgrounds related to their great comedy duo of Stiller & Jeff, born in Lancaster, Pa. June 20, story. At a time where intermarriage was still largely considered taboo, Meara are back together. I will be 1961, grew up on the Stonington side the two gave so many the laughter and validation they craved. forever grateful for the memories, of Mystic. He was a beloved husband, Notably, while Meara, who passed away in 2015, kept her last name, the fatherly talks off-screen and father, son-in-law, uncle, cousin, and for the many years of laughter, the friend who brought humor and loving kindness he had shown to me and kindness to every place he entered. familyshe did wasn’t convert very to Judaismreligious, before but they their celebrated children —Jewish Amy, holidays58, and Ben,and my family…You will be so very Jeff is survived by his beloved wife Ben54 — was were bar bornmitzvahed. (“so they would know where they came from”). The missed Jerry.” of 36 years, Opal (Rosenshein) Betz; Stiller and Meara retired their act by 1970. But Stiller experienced Despite all of Stiller’s his two children, Jacob Betz, and a resurgence of fame later in life when he was cast as Frank Costanza successes, the role of his lifetime Sarah Beth Betz, both of Norwich; along with many extended family on Seinfeld. was, by his own admission, that of members and his three much-loved dogs. a father. Although sad, we as a family take solace that Jeff is with us in spirit the last minute, Stiller decided to improvise, creating the loud and “You’ll always know if I’m in and no longer in pain. He was a genuine loving husband and father, argumentativeAt first, the characterdad we came was tosupposed know and to be love meek in theand iconicquiet, 1990sbut at the audience when Ben or our whose happiness was spending time with family and friends and going sitcom. While Stiller was featured in less than 30 episodes, his daughter, Amy, is performing,” he on long motorcycle rides. He enjoyed telling stories, working with his told Esquire in 2005. “I’m the one hands, and had a great love for all creatures, nature, and especially his laughing loudest.” dogs. His caring and loving spirit and humorous wit will always be in THOMAS L. NEILAN & SONS the hearts of those who knew him. Given the situation with COVID-19, burial was private. In lieu of Funeral Directors childhoodBen Stiller as unusual— himself but a Jewishidyllic father of two — recalls his in its own way: “We got to stay for someone who needs your help right now. Please do this in Jeff’s up late and go to TV studios. It honor.flowers, Small please or golarge, out heof wouldyour way have to lovedperform knowing a kind that and he caring was theact was like this fun fantasyland. But inspiration for so many kind deeds. we had no idea how hard they Our family wishes to thank Connecticut Home Care Solutions 12 Ocean Avenue 48 Grand Street worked.” Stiller and Meara raised and Hartford HealthCare at Home – Center for Hospice Care staff for New London, CT 06320 Niantic, CT 06357 their kids in an apartment they their excellent and loving care and support they provided to Jeff and 860-443-1871 860-739-6112 owned in the Upper West Side, our family. Thanks to all our family and friends who have loved and and their living room often served supported us throughout our lives, in good and bad. THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020 15 Everything Counts TEDDY WEINBERGER © 2020, Teddy Weinberger Forward: This column has been percolating in my mind for a very person, I try to ask them their long time. I was planning to write it up in advance of this Fall’s High name, and I try to remember that is the lifeguard at my pool, Itzik drives a cab Holidays, the designated time on the Jewish calendar for deep personal name if we meet again (and hope in the area, Nir delivers my morning paper, the person does the same for me). Erez came to swap out my dead car battery our isolation and resuming our more normal lives, there is a sense of Little by little, over the course of for a new one, and Grigory is the old Russian startingreflection. over I offer and itnew now possibility. out of a feeling that in gradually coming out of many interactions we get to know man who like me is saying kaddish in shul. each other better, moving toward And of course once you start to get to know *** what Martin Buber called an a person, interesting surprises await: Who I-Thou relationship. knew that Tsipi, in her mid-60s, has been What this means is that in whatever you do, the more muscle activity I must admit that things used theIn better. the world For example,of physical since fitness, you there use moreis a saying: muscles Everything when standing counts. to be a lot easier for me living in decades, and who knew that Grigory was a personal fitness trainer for over three than sitting, it is healthier to speak on a telephone call while standing; the relatively small town of Givat and for similar reasons, it is even healthier to pace the room while you So, I know something about Tsipi and Grigory. Why make a big deal a professor emeritus of mathematics? But so what, you might ask. minute walk without meeting aphorism had broader use, and I came to the following stupendous someoneZe’ev. I couldwith whom not take I was a on five- a conclusion:are on that call. Everything About two counts years in ago, all human I realized interactions. that the physical-fitness embracedabout all of them. this? All I know is that I realized that I feel good even after small, ostensibly insignificant interactions with people--and so I have to the city of Herzliya seven I would have been happy to end this column with my previous had been: If I was walking to the supermarket and saw an acquaintance monthsfirst-name ago, basis. I have Having my movedwork sentence, but I feel a responsibility to warn you of the following: Not aheadStupendous? of me, I would Yes—at cross least the for street me. and Because pretend this not is the to typesee that of person person I cut out for me. But I’m making everyone is friendly. Despite your best efforts, some people want in order to avoid some meaningless chit-chat. I gradually realized that progress. I encouraged Tsipi, in nothing more from you than a kind of I-It relationship. An important the chit-chat was not meaningless, that it made me feel connected to charge of our building’s seven- corollary to Everything Counts, therefore, is: Prioritize Friendliness. In another person, and that I enjoyed that connection. Incredibly to me, apartment house committee, to all aspects of your life, try to gravitate toward friendly people. To what I have become a person who will now speed-up to be able to have an start a group WhatsApp, and so interaction with an acquaintance. it’s easier to connect with fellow extent? That is, exactly how much should you go out of your way or pay Because Everything Counts, in any kind of interaction with another residents. I also know that Gilad I give myself to this question is: As much as possible. a premium to interact with friendly people? The older I get, the answer Rare Bar Kokhba Revolt coin discovered in Jerusalem By Edgar Asher, Ashernet in the area of the Old City in historical research based on the testimony of the Roman historian A very rare bronze coin from the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt Jerusalem. This examination Cassius Dio, it is accepted that the Bar Kokhba revolt broke out in 132 (circa 132 CE) was discovered in archaeological excavations of the Israel revealed that only four of the CE, after Emperor Hadrian declared the establishment of a Roman Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the William Davidson Archaeological coins are dated to the period of colony called ‘Aelia Capitolina’. This colony was built on the ruins Park, under the the Bar Kokhba revolt. of Jewish Jerusalem and began with the construction of a temple supervision of the This is a small number, dedicated to the god Jupiter on the Temple Mount. The establishment Company for the even more so when of the Roman city and the construction of an idolatrous temple in Reconstruction and compared to the large place of the Jewish Temple, in addition to restrictive religious decrees, Development of number of Bar Kokhba distressed the Jewish population that had remained in Judea. This the Jewish Quarter coins that have launched a widespread revolt against the Roman government under in the Old City of been found outside the leadership of Shimon Ben-Kosiba, known as ‘Bar Kokhba’. The Jerusalem, Ltd. of Jerusalem. The located between the recently discovered the Roman legions - so much so that they had to deploy large military Temple Mount and coin is the only Bar unitsrevolt from itself around lasted the about Roman five years,Empire causing to compliment heavy casualties their ranks. among The the City of David. Kokhba coin found revolt ended with the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities The excavations in the area on which and villages that took part in the revolt. However, Bar Kokhba remains are conducted by the word ‘Jerusalem’ etched into the memory of the Jewish nation as a historical hero. © the IAA and funded appears. ASHERNET by the Ir David Despite their Foundation (Elad), desire to do so, the Bar which operates the Kokhba rebels failed to site. breach the boundaries The obverse of of ancient Jerusalem. the coin is decorated This fact gives rise to with a cluster of the question of how grapes and the four coins from the inscription ‘Year The Bar Kokhba Revolt Coin inscribed with the word revolt period still Two of the Freedom ‘Jerusalem’ and a picture of a date palm. managed to make of Israel’ and the their way into the city. reverse side features a palm tree and the inscription ‘Jerusalem’. The excavators, archaeologists Coins from the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt, which declared the Moran Hagbi and Dr. Joe Uziel rebels’ purpose - to liberate Jerusalem from Roman occupation after of the IAA, raise the possibility the destruction of the city - are well-known in archeology. Discovering that the coins were brought to such coins helps researchers map out the revolt, which took place Jerusalem (where the legion approximately 1,900 years ago. It is interesting to note that the rebels camp was seemingly posted), minted these revolt coins on Roman regime coins with stripped or by Roman legionnaires of the Tenth Legion, who participated revolt coins featured the Temple facade, trumpets, a harp/violin, as in suppressing the revolt and welldamaged as the faces, inscriptions: possibly ‘Redemptionout of defiance of Israel’of the Romanand ‘Freedom occupation. of Israel’. The saved the coins they found on Dr. Donald Tzvi Ariel, Head of the Coin Department at the IAA, has The reverse of the Bar Kokhba Revolt Coin inscribed with the words examined over 22,000 coins discovered in archaeological excavations In the archaeological and ‘Return to Israel’ with a cluster of grapes in the center. the battlefields as souvenirs. 16 THE JEWISH LEADER, MAY 22, 2020

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