november/december 2014 5775 Congregation Beth Ami Office, Library, and Gift Shop Hours 4676 Mayette Avenue Mon.–Thurs. 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Santa Rosa, CA 95405 Fri. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Telephone707/360-3000 Fax707/360-3003 Mission Statement [email protected] Congregation Beth Ami enriches our lives, transforms Websitewww.BethAmiSR.org our hearts, helps heal the world and sustains our Jew- ish heritage. We are deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and welcome all to our community through celebration, Please “like” us at learning, education, and prayer. facebook.com/CongregationBethAmi Personnel Andrea Nett, Lyla Nathan Friedman Center Director Rabbi Mordecai Miller [email protected], 526-7438 707-360-3021 314-308-3672 Jeff Sheff, [email protected] [email protected] Adult Education Edythe Smith, Invitations Carolyn Metz, Executive Director [email protected], 539-5346 707-538-3698 707-360-3011 Leanne Schy, [email protected] Officers and Board of Torah/Haftarah Readings Elizabeth Jarlsberg, Directors, 2014–15 [email protected], 528-4874 Office Manager Laura Alexander, President Members Ex Officio 707-360-3000 [email protected], 837-8695 Carolyn Metz, 481-3390 [email protected] Jenny Levine-Smith, 360-3030 Barbara McGee, Treasurer Diane Lennox, Bookkeeper Pnina Loeb, 695-2275 [email protected], 953-2526 [email protected] Rabbi Miller, (314) 308-3672 Betty Boyd, Secretary Jenny Levine-Smith Andrea Nett, 707-360-3021 [email protected], Nursery School Director 537-2211 707-360-3030 Deadline for Jan./Feb. 2015 [email protected] Arnold Drake, Past President Shofar is Dec. 15 [email protected], 542-1765 Mandi Emery-Flynn, NS Assistant 707-360-3030 Myrna Morse, [email protected] VP of Administration Jewish Community Contacts [email protected] , 539-5457 Rick Concoff, JCC Teen Program Hillel of Sonoma County 707-823-3916 Russ Gurevitch, VP of Facilities Ilana Stoelting, (707) 795-5464 [email protected] [email protected] www.sonomahillel.org Ben and Tara Winkler, Barbara Tomin, JCC, Sonoma County Shofar Newsletter VP of Youth & Education Beth Goodman, 528-4222, www.jccsoco.org 641-451-7076 [email protected], 576-1167 Jewish Community Federation [email protected] Mel Decker, Barbara Levinson, 568-6207, www.sfjcf.org Pnina Loeb, RS Director VP of Ways and Means, Jewish Community Free Clinic 707-360-3000 [email protected], 540-0614 Donna Waldman, 585-7780, [email protected] Members at Large www.jewishfreeclinic.org Gabor Por, Librarian Jewish Community Relations Richard Kahn Council 707-360-3006 [email protected], 217-5265 [email protected] Suzan Berns, 415/957-1551, www.jcrc.org Alan Krubiner Jewish Family & Children’s Services Bonnie Boren, Gift Shop [email protected], 694-6239 707-360-3022 Diana Klein, 571-8131, [email protected] www.jfcs.org/sonoma-county November / December 2014 • Congregation Beth Ami Shofar • page 2 • www.bethamisr.org RABBI’S REMARKS Rabbi Mordecai Miller “The Best Speech an Israeli Diplomat Ever Held” Editor’s Note: Rabbi Miller requested that, “in es, and run away’. They said they will need the place of my column, I would love to have just a few days, in which with 5 armies they The Shofar use the September 27, 2014 speech promised to destroy the newly born Israel. My in Oslo by the Israeli Vice Ambassador to Nor- family, horrified by what might happen, de- way, George Deek. It so totally makes the point cided to flee, with most others. of my Kol Nidre sermon.” A priest was rushed to the Deek family’s Thanks to our recent guest speaker at Beth house, and he wedded George and Vera my Ami, Jonathan Carey, for bringing this speech grandparents, in the house, in haste. My grand- to our attention, at https://www.youtube.com/ mother did not even have a chance to get a watch?v=8m6ux-IeNo4 and to Eli Cohen for proper dress. After their sudden wedding, the providing the link to the English transcript at entire family started fleeing north, towards http://www.miff.no/Englisharticles/2014/10/04T Lebanon. But when the war was over, the hebestspeechanIsraelidiplomateverheld.htm. Arabs failed to destroy Israel. My family was at George Deek, Israel Vice Ambassador to the other side of the border, and it seemed that Norway: the fate of the brothers and sisters of the Deek When I walk in the streets of my home town family was to be scattered around the globe. Jaffa, I am often reminded of the year 1948. Today, I have relatives in Jordan, Syria, Leba- The Alleys of the old city, the houses in Aja- non, Dubai, the U.K., Canada, the U.S., Austra- mi neighborhood, the fishing nets at the port— lia, and more. they all seem to tell different stories about the The story of my family is just one—and prob- year that has changed my city forever. One of ably not the worst—among the many tragic those stories is about one of the oldest fami- stories of the year 1948. And to be frank, you lies in this ancient city—the Deek family—my don’t need to be an anti-Israeli to acknowledge own. Before 1948 my grandfather George, after the humanitarian disaster of the Palestinians in whom I’m named, worked as an electrician, 1948, namely the Nakba. The fact that I have at the Rotenberg Electricity Company. He was to skype with relatives in Canada who don’t not very interested in politics. And since Jaffa speak Arabic, or a cousin in an Arab country was a mixed city, he naturally had some Jew- that still has no citizenship there, despite being ish friends. In fact, his friends at the electricity a third generation– is a living testimony to the company even taught him Yiddish, making tragic consequences of the war. him one the first Arabs to ever speak the lan- According to the U.N. 711 thousand Palestin- guage. In 1947 He got engaged to Vera—My ians were displaced, we’ve heard that before— grandmother—and together they had plans to some fled and some forcefully expelled. At the build a family in the same city where the Deek same time, because of the establishment of Is- family has lived for about 400 years—Jaffa. rael, 800 thousand Jews were intimidated into But a few months later, those plans changed, leaving the Arab world, leaving mostly empty literally overnight. When the U.N. approved of Jews. As we’ve heard before, atrocities from the establishment of Israel, and a few months both sides were not uncommon. the State of Israel was established, the Arab But it seems that this conflict was not the leaders warned the Arabs that the Jews are only one during the 19th and 20th century that planning to kill them if they stay home, and lead to expulsion and transfer. they used the Deir Yassin massacre as an ex- From 1821 to 1922, 5 million Muslims were ample. They told everyone: ‘Leave your hous- expelled from Europe, mostly to Turkey. In the November / December 2014 • Congregation Beth Ami Shofar • page 3 • www.bethamisr.org Rabbi's Remarks continued… 90’s Yugoslavia broke apart, leading to 100,000 the Jewish state. In other words: they do not people dead and about 3 million displaced. mourn the fact that my cousins are Jordanians, From 1919 to 1949, during the Visla operation they mourn the fact that I am an Israeli. between Poland and Ukraine, 150,000 people By doing so, The Palestinians have become died, and 1.5 million were displaced. Follow- slaves to the past, held captive by the chains ing World War II and the Potsdam conven- of resentment, prisoners in the world of frus- tion, between 12-17 million Germans were tration and hate. displaced. When India and Pakistan were But friends, the evident yet simple truth is— established, about 15 million people were that in order not to be reduced to sorrow and transferred. This trend also exists in the Middle bitterness, we must look forward. To put it East, more clearly: To mend the past, first you have For example the displacement of 1.1 million to secure the future. Kurds by the Ottomans, This is something I learned from my music 2.2 million Christians who were expelled teacher, Avraham Nov. When I was 7 years old from Iraq, And as we speak today, Yazidis, I joined the marching band of the Arab-Chris- Bahai, Kurds, Christians and even Muslims are tian community in Jaffa. That’s where I met being killed and expelled in a rate of 1,000 Avraham, my music teacher, who taught me people per month, following the rise of Radi- to play the flute and later the clarinet. I was cal Islam. good. Avraham is a holocaust survivor, and his The chances of any of those groups to return entire family was murdered by the Nazis. He to their homes, is almost non-existent. was the only one who managed to survive, be- So why is it then, Why is it that the tragedies cause a certain Nazi officer found him gifted in of the Serbs, the European Muslims, the Polish playing the harmonica, so he took him home refugees or the Iraqi Christians are not com- during the war to entertain his guests. When memorated? How come the displacement of the war was over and he was left alone, he the Jews from the Arab world was completely could have easily sat, and wept and cried over forgotten, while the tragedy of the Palestinians, the greatest crime of man against man in his- the Nakba, is still alive in today’s politics? It tory, and over the fact that he left alone.