Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Pittsfield, MA Berkshire Permit No. 19 JEWISHA publication of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, serving V the Berkshires and surrounding ICE NY, CT and VT Vol. 29, No. 3 Nisan/Iyar 5781 March 15 to May 2, 2021 jewishberkshires.org A Community Commemoration of HAPPY PASSOVER 5781! Yom HaShoah If we could gather together this Pesach – Dayenu! Reflections, remembrance, and the story of a long-neglected wartime diary On Thursday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m., join us for a community commemo- ration of Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day. Featured speaker Timothy Boyce, Esq. will discuss From Day to Day, the World War II diary kept by concentra- tion camp prisoner Odd Nansen. Boyce edited the diary, which Vanderbilt University Press republished in 2016 after its being out of print for more than 65 years. The New Yorker hailed this diary as “among the most compel- ling documents to come out of the war.” Rabbi David Weiner of Knesset Israel will offer a benediction and Massachusetts State Senator Adam Hinds will present opening remarks. Rabbi Barbara Cohen of Congregation Ahavath Sholom will facilitate a memo- rial candle lighting and prayers in memory of those murdered during the jewishberkshires.org for a link to this Holocaust following the speaker. program. After registering, you will This Jewish Federation of the receive a confirmation-email containing Berkshires program commemorating information about joining the meeting. Yom HaShoah will be presented via From Day to Day: One Man’s Diary Zoom. Visit our calendar of events at of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps is a World War II concentration camp diary – one of only a handful This fanciful rendition of an Eastern European Seder is from The Szyk Haggadah, a Inside ever translated into English – secretly 1940 masterpiece by illustrator Arthur Szyk hailed as “worthy to be placed among written by Odd Nansen, a Norwegian the most beautiful books the hand of man has produced.” Although many of us will When COVID-19 Hits Home .......................2 who provided refuge for Jews fleeing be Zooming again, we celebrate the Festival of Freedom with good tidings in the Nazi persecution. Arrested by the Nazis Cultivating Trust for Better Days ..............3 spring air suggesting that an end to many long months of captivity is nearing. As in January 1942, Nansen, son of polar Students and Seniors – Caring Pals! .......7 they say in Hebrew, “She’yitgashmu” – May it come true. explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Seeking Peace Through Shared Loss .....9 Nansen (Nobel Peace Prize, 1922), was How Yiddish Changed America held captive in various Nazi camps in (and Vice Versa) ........................................23 Norway and Germany. Meanwhile, Back at the Farm… YOM HASHOAH, continued on page 4 In the Land of Israel Characters from Amos Oz’s classic portrait of Israel captured by actress/playwright TAMIR On Sunday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m., the Israeli/American actress and playwright TAMIR presents her adaptation of Amos Oz’s In the Land of Israel, bringing to life six women portrayed by the author in his indel- ible portrait of Israel in the 1980s. Near Moon In The Pond Farm in Sheffield In the 1980s and 1990s, TAMIR trav- Over the years that Elisa Spungen and purveyors – whose livelihoods can eled and worked with Bildner and Robert Bildner re- be precarious even in the best of times Oz at book festivals searched, wrote, and photographed – make it through? and other venues, The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook, Over the summer and into the presenting a version of they could scarcely have imagined winter months, the Bildners kept tabs this performance before that publication of their book would on what was going on with our local the author would speak coincide with the coronavirus pan- farmers, restaurateurs, and artisanal about his book. In the demic, which rocked the farm and food producers – how they adapted to Land of Israel recounts food communities they intimately and the changes wrought by the pandemic lovingly portrayed. The June/July and how they are preparing for the Oz’s travels around Amos Oz with TAMIR Israel and conversations 2020 issue of the BJV featured the upcoming summer season. In this he had with its inhabitants – Israelis personalities and conveys their views of cookbook in a story that expressed report, Elisa tells some stories (and and Palestinians, Sephardim and the past, present, and future of Israel. the uncertainties of that moment in Bob shares images) that convey the Ashkenazim, secular and religious Although published 35 years ago, In time: How would our community fare resilience of this community in the face Jews, the doves and the hawks, and the Land of Israel is still relevant today. without the cultural programming that of an unprecedented challenge. nationalists and humanists. TAMIR This free online presentation is is the lifeblood of our local economy? distilled these conversations into a LAND OF ISRAEL, How would our local food producers Please turn to page 12 for the story. theater piece that captures six women’s continued on page 11 Page 2 Berkshire Jewish Voice • jewishberkshires.org March 15 to May 2, 2021 In My View When Our Traditional Ideas of Giving and Receiving Get Turned Upside Down Some thoughts about relying upon others in a time of need By Dara Kaufman Growing up, I was blessed to have my grandpar- ents, Betty and Philip Turetsky, live close by. My A Federation board member recently reminded me grandparents were hard-working chicken farmers that by allowing others to help you during a difficult in Perinneville, NJ and my grandfather also worked as a dress cutter in New York’s Garment District. time, you are actually enabling them to do a mitzvah Upon retirement, they moved to the Berkshires to be close to us. For most of my older childhood, themselves relying on adult children or community volunteers to bring them my grandfather would be at our house every day groceries and medicine. Many times over the last year, I heard a common senti- helping my parents in our greenhouse and flower ment: “I have always been the one who gives. I never thought I would be the one business. who needed help.” Working alongside my parents in their flower This past month, despite being extremely careful, my husband Ofer and I shops, taking us for ice cream, making us our contracted the COVID-19 virus. The illness was awful, and we were both very favorite meals, and giving us rides to school was sick. To complicate matters, our 15-year-old daughter Maya did not contract the their way of showing us love. As children and even virus. The reversal of roles between parent and child, giver and receiver, changed young adults, my sisters and I happily received the overnight. We were quarantined in our room, and our daughter became our care and attention my grandparents bestowed upon us. primary caregiver. I was living in Israel when l learned that my beloved Grandpa Philip had As difficult as this situation was for all of us, it was especially hard for her. passed away. There was no Skype, FaceTime, She was scared for us; she was afraid that she or Zoom to facilitate a virtual funeral or shiva. would get it; and to make matters worse, she I had a hard time grieving alone. I remember had to go into quarantine on the exact day that sitting with a close friend and sharing stories all her peers were finally returning to in-school about my grandfather, including telling her how learning for the first time since November. he would always drive me to school when it was Let me say that Maya was AMAZING. She raining. As a child, I thought it was just a fortu- rose to the challenge in ways we never expected. nate coincidence when he would show up in our For two weeks, she managed everything on her kitchen on a rainy morning and offer to take me own. She attended virtual school, prepared and to school. It was only as an adult that I realized cleaned up meals, put away groceries, emptied he came over early on purpose because he did the dishwasher, did her laundry, and sanitized not want me to walk in the rain. every surface every time she used any common Such is the nature of life. As children, it is area. She took care of all of us! And she was natural that we are on the receiving end of care, resourceful in keeping herself busy. One day and as we grow into adulthood, we gradually I called her on FaceTime to see what she was take on the role of the caregiver. The ritual of up to, and she showed me all the rings she had becoming a bat or bar mitzvah specifically lays made out of paperclips. out this transition from being a receiver of care As much as I was grateful for all that Maya to assuming the responsibility of caring for was doing, I felt a lot of ‘mom guilt.’ I was also others – giving Tzedakah, caring for the sick, surprised at how uncomfortable I first felt when feeding the hungry, and protecting the orphans Our first post-COVID Shabbat friends and family began offering food and other and widows. forms of help. Like so many others, I was used This pandemic has turned our traditional notions of giving and receiving to being the one doing the helping. I never thought I would find myself needing to upside down. People who unexpectedly lost their jobs through no fault of their accept the assistance of others.