Jewish Home to Present Special Recognition Award to Susan Blum
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Jewish Federation of NEPA Non-profit Organization 601 Jefferson Ave. U.S. POSTAGE PAID The Scranton, PA 18510 Permit # 184 Watertown, NY Change Service Requested Published by the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania VOLUME XI, NUMBER 8 APRIL 19, 2018 Jewish Home to present special recognition award to Susan Blum Connors Over its long history, the Jewish Home her trademark for every project she has president of the home, in learning of Blum Campaign; she has been involved in the has flourished in part through the efforts undertaken in the wider community.” Connors’s selection for this honor, noted NEPA affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer of volunteers who have added a “special Her work for the home’s auxiliary has how deserving she is of this recognition. Action Network; she was recently the dimension” to the comfort and care to its included recording secretary, chair of the “The perfect selection,” he remarked. recipient of the Roseann Smith Alperin residents. Yearly, the Jewish Home hosts bylaws committee and chair and co-chair Blum Connors is known for her com- Award by the Junior League of Scranton a luncheon to pay tribute to the corps of of the auxiliary luncheons throughout the munity volunteerism. To mention only a in cooperation with the Scranton Area volunteers and, at the same time, highlight years. “Her determination to assure that few of her achievements: she was past Foundation; and much more. people whose efforts have been called each responsibility be carried out with president of Jewish Family Service, where The Jewish Home and Auxiliary invite “truly remarkable.” efficiency and positive results is evident by she and her husband, former Scranton the community to attend the luncheon According to organizers of the event, her success and the admiration of her col- Mayor James Connors, were named the honoring Blum Connors and the other “Susan Blum Connors fits this description leagues on the auxiliary,” said organizers. inaugural recipients of the JFS’ Com- volunteers on Thursday, May 17, at 1pm, in to a tee. Since becoming active on the aux- She also serves on the Board of Di- munity Matters Award; she is a member the Friedman Auditorium. The cost is $10 iliary board, she has spearheaded numer- rectors of the Jewish Home, which is of the board of the Jewish Federation of and reservations can be made by calling ous projects with her typical enthusiasm tasked with the overall responsibility of NEPA and served as the 2016-17 chair Lynn Klemick at 570-344-6177, ext. 1109, and attention to detail that has become the home’s operation. Marshall Kornblatt, of the Women’s Division of the annual or e-mailing her at [email protected]. Scranton Hebrew Day School to celebrate 70th anniversary with gala dinner on May 6 The Scranton Hebrew Day School will chok Werbin, former dean and executive Canada, as well as Europe and Israel. Two ed to the school and its efforts to educate celebrate its 70th anniversary on Sunday, director of the school, the junior congre- of this year’s honorees, Yonah Holland every child regardless of their parents’ May 6, at the Hilton Conference Center gation/auditorium will be rededicated in and Fink, are day school alumni. ability to pay the cost of their tution.” in Scranton. Guests of honor at the event his memory. “The day school has maintained con- The gala event will begin with a recep- are Yonah and Miriam Holland, Dr. Joel Established in 1948, the day school nections with its alumni, following their tion at 4:30 pm, followed by Mincha at 5 and Leah Laury (Parents of the Year), has consistently served the children of careers and life events, which is most un- pm and dinner at 5:30 pm. and Dr. Daniel Fink of Woodmere, NY Scranton and surrounding areas, offering a usual for an elementary school to achieve,” To place an ad in the 70th anniversary (Alumnus of the Year). Hebrew and secular education. Its alumni said organizers of the gala. “It is a credit commemorative journal or to make din- In conjunction with the 18th yahrzeit have gone on to serve in academic and to the community, the Federation and staff ner reservations, call the school office at (anniversary of his passing) of Rabbi Yitz- professional fields across the U.S. and which has remained consistent and devot- 570-346-1576. SPOTLIGHT Israel at 70: How 1948 changed American Jews BY BEN SALES At right: David Ben-Gurion, against the Arab states in its war of inde- (JTA) – One year after Israel’s es- who was to become Israel’s pendence. In February of that year, Golda tablishment, in the dead of night, three first prime minister, read the Meyerson (later Meir), raised $400,000 in students ascended a tower at the Jewish new nation’s Declaration of one day (the equivalent of some $4 million Theological Seminary in New York and Independence in Tel Aviv today) on behalf of the provisional state raised the Israeli flag. The next morning, on May 14, 1948. (Photo on just one stop in Montreal. In the weeks the Conservative rabbinical school’s ad- by Zoltan Kluger/Israeli following independence, she started a ministration took it down. Government Press Office drive in the United States and Canada for $75 million more (or about $750 million That act of surreptitious Zionist protest via Getty Images) was one of several at JTS during the years in 2018 dollars). surrounding 1948, when Israel gained Jewish state won its independence 70 years and Tel Aviv. Instead, they were getting “There was a sense that once America independence, Michael Greenbaum wrote ago, that feeling was not yet universal. used to the idea of a Jewish sovereign recognized the state, Zionism had won, in an essay in “Tradition Renewed,” a Before the Holocaust, Zionism itself state – gradually incorporating it into their and everyone wanted to link with the win- JTS history edited by Jack Wertheimer. was polarizing among American Jews. culture, prayers and religious outlook. ners,” said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Students supported the new Jewish state. Many, especially in the Reform move- “After the mid-1930s, the majority of Jewish history at Brandeis University. “It However, the seminary’s chancellor, Louis ment, felt support for a Jewish homeland American Jews had come to be positive was growing very quickly, it took in all of Finkelstein, opposed American Judaism would cause their loyalty to America to be one way or another about the idea of a these refugees, which solved that problem.” focusing all its efforts across an ocean, called into question. The other side was Jewish homeland,” said Hasia Diner, See “Israel” on page 10 and also needed to appease a board wary represented by Louis Brandeis, the first director of the Goldstein-Goren Center of Jewish nationalism. Jewish Supreme Court justice, who saw for American Jewish History at New But the students persisted. Once, they no conflict between American values and York University. “While 1948 on the one Federation sang the Israeli anthem “Hatikvah” fol- Zionist aspirations. hand was very exciting and [had] lots of lowing graduation ceremonies. Another By the time Israel declared indepen- communal programming and celebrations, time, they convinced their colleagues dence on May 14, 1948, American Jews it was slightly anticlimactic in the sense on Facebook at the Union Theological Seminary, the – scarred by images of the Holocaust that opposition had been gone for at least The Jewish Federation of Northeast- Protestant school next door, to play the and Nazism, and inspired by newsreels 10 years.” ern Pennsylvania now has a page on anthem from their bell tower. of tanned kibbutzniks – were largely North American Jewish support for Facebook to let community members Today, nearly all American Jewish supportive of Zionism. But they were Israel was turbocharged by the Truman know about upcoming events and keep institutions are vocally, even passionately, not yet turning out for organized political administration’s quick recognition of the connected. pro-Israel. But even in the years after the advocacy and mass tourism to Jerusalem state, and by the Israeli army’s victory Candle lighting INSIDE THIS ISSUE April 20 ........................................ 7:30 pm Jewish philanthropy April 27 ........................................ 7:38 pm Sports and music in Shoah News in brief... May 4 ............................................ 7:45 pm A recent study looked at An exhibit on soccer during the Israel plans new desalination the changing face of Jewish Holocaust; the music of Holocaust plants; a bill to fund Holocaust PLUS philanthropy in the 21st century. victims returns to Westerbork. education is in Congress; more. Opinion .......................................................2 Story on page 3 Stories on pages 6-7 Stories on page 15 D’var Torah ...............................................8 2 THE REPORTER ■ APRIL 19, 2018 A MATTER OF OPINION The Palestinian “March of Return” The Palestinians’ so-called non-violent dedicated to Israel’s destruction and Israel behind it – to destroy Israel. They told the would effectively end the Jewish state. The “March of Return” at Israel’s border has been has every right to defend its citizens and crowd that the march marked the beginning purpose of the march, in short, is to produce erroneously referred to by the international its borders as any nation is entitled to do of the “liberation of all of Palestine from Palestinian “martyrs” for media purposes, media as a “peaceful and popular” drive by under such circumstances. the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. not to highlight