MASSACHUS ETTS 27 Tevet 5769 Vol. XI - Issue II www.jvhri.org Januar 23, 2009 Plans moving ahead for R.I. Did Israel Holocaust win the war Memorial against Requests for design, Hamas? proposals to be sent out shortly ½ewofwar Bv RICHARD ASINOF' may determine rasino[@jfri.org Israels next prime PROVIDENCE - Plans minister for a Rhode Island Holo­ caust M emorial are now BY LESLIE SussER moving ahead, according }TA Staff Writer to Herb Stern, chair of JERUSALEM OTA) the Jewish Federation of - With a cease-fire in Rhode Island's Holocaust place, Israelis are asking l'vlemorial Committee. whether the 22-day war JTA Photo JlA Photo/ BPH Image! MORE THAN 2 M ILLION people Stern, immediate past ISRAELI TR00 :> 5 withdrawing from the Gaza Strip on Jan . 18, agajnst Hamas in Gaza came to Washington, D.C., to president ofJFRI, says that in advt h:.e o{ P1 esk ent Obama's inauguration. achieved its aims. witness the inaugural. the 11-member volunteer The government argues committee has met nivice in that the overwhelming vie- Israel activists: New tactics in PR battle recent months, and requests for Bv BEN HARRIS A •o world,Jews around the globe 'Kvelling' for design proposals will be sent NEWS ANALYSIS J OSHUA SPIRO also are utilizing innovative Obama out shortly. These proposals }TA Staff Writers methods - and particularly will be evaluated during the tory in the field will advance new technological tools - to NEWYORKOTA)- As Inauguration had next three months, Stern said. what was Operation Cast explain what the Jewish state Israel takes to the Internet in A lawsuit attempting to Lead's primary goal: bring­ is facing as it acts to protect its several Jewish search of innovative ways to block plans by the Federa­ ing a long period of quiet southern flank from rocket fire. make its case about Gaza ro the tion to move ahead with the to civilians in southern StandWithUs, a Los Ange­ moments memorial had been recently Israel, freeing them from les-based pro-Israel group, has BY RON KAMPEAS AND ERIC Editor's Note: Voice & djsmissed, with prejudice, the tyranny of cross-border established a round-the-clock F INGERHUT H erald columnists Alan Krin­ so ir cannot be brought rocker attacks from Gaza. Internet task force - in cooper­ }TA Staff Writers sky Oan. 7) and Alan Zuck­ again, according to Stern. Jerusalem hoped to achieve ation with the I nterdisciplinary erman Oan. 19) each wrote WASHINGTON OTA) - It The suit, which had been its goal of quiet for southern Center in Herzliya, Israel - to pro-Israel op-eds which ran was a week dedicated primar­ brought by survivor and monitor Web sites and provide See WAR, Page 19 in 1he Pro·videnceJ ournal. ily to marking the election of fervent Holocaust Memorial See PR , Page 11 the first African-American See MEMORIAL, Page 21 See OBAMA, Page 7 Interfaith Power and Light promotes green future RI interfaith effort seeks to Bingham opened her talk by point­ This year's confer- ing out that today's children are ence was entitled "Faith light the way to change aware of the problems of our world Lights Our Way... toward in a way that is unprecedented. a sustainable future." BY JuuA McCANN She told a vignette from her Exhibitors included: the Special to 1he Voice & H erald experience at a recent holiday pag­ Apeiron Institute, the Audu­ eant, where children were asked bon Society, which offered T THE 2009 RI Interfaith to say individual prayers aloud. tips for making a ra inwater Power and Light Confer­ One of the children prayed for a smart garden; summer camps; energy Aence on Jan. 8, keynote president and another prayed for the companies, including National peaker Rev. Canon Sally economy. When she was an 8-year-old, Grid, People's Power & Light, Bingham presaged the inaugural address Bingham continued, she and her friends and RISE Engineering; and of P resident Barack Obama, calling were unaware of society's problems. preservation and conservation­ climate change a multi-generational Today, because media inundate ists. One group, Lights Out problem, and urging people of all ages today's youth, there is no choice but Green In, requests pledges to work together to solve it as part to be aware of the world's struggles. from individuals and companies of a vision of community service. The crowd in attendance was mostly to turn their lights off daily Bingham is president and founder Baby Boomers, although the crowd was between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. of the national branch oflnterfaith sprinkled with high-school students Following Bingham's address Power and Light, with offices in San from La Salle Academy in Providence there were a variety of work­ Francisco. The national organjza­ (where the event was held), who volun­ shops. Topics ranged from "This Photos by Julia M ccann tion has 28 regional chapters with HOWARD 'CHAIM' BROWN, the director of Rhode teered to help run the night's events. See GREEN, Page 10 4,000 participating congregations. Island Interfaith Power and Light. r PAGE 2 Jewish Voice & Herald January 23, 2009 ----------S.-iilt1~ - ALISON IN ISRAEL A long lost 'hello' from the front lines of Beersheva Alison Stern Perez I will catch you up on what is \,Ve attempted to digest the boom, we gracefully slipped t hat Beersheva could be going on in my li fe, and why I news with as mucl1 matter-of­ out of the wedding hall and struck by a rocket, l don't returns to the pages of haven't written for so painfully factness as we could muster, gunned the gas pedal fo r home. think I ever could have imag­ long, and you will know The next day, I re ceived ined that Jerusalem would be The Voice & Herald everything you ever wanted at least seven worried the "sa fe haven" oflsrael. to know in very short order. phone cal Is from friends It's as if we are all the unwit­ HAVE SPENT the last But fo r now, I will stick all around the cou ntry, ting players in a giant, nation­ couple of months planning to the current issues, and asking how I was and wide game of musica l chairs. I my trium phant return attempt to give you a offering to host Mikhael During the second intifada, to 7he Voice & Herald. glimpse of what we are and me if we should fee l Jerusalemites left their homes I have plotted out the series dealing with over here the need for a temporary in droves, moving entirely or of"catch-up" articles I woul d on the" front Iine s." respite from the rocket fire. at least taking breaks from the write, and then the topics I Boy, is that a weird thing Ir was so bizarre to be situation by visiting frie nds and wanted to cover after that. to say: "Beersheva, on the getting these phone calls family in the periphery, sucl1 as Of course, it took longer frontlines." The past 10 from some of the very sa me M odi'in and Beit Shemesh . than I had hoped, and my days have been filled with friends who received the D uring the second Guif W ar, frequent bouts of shame and phrases that l don't think l very sa me phone call from Tel Aviv was most concerned disgust with myself that it has could ever have fathomed me just over rwo yea rs ago about becoming a target, and taken me more than a year and would come out of my during the Second Leba­ the popu lation there del iberated a half to re-emerge were the mouth or into my ears. non \,Var, when they we re about whether to take temporary source of a number of setbacks I guess the first was las t under rocket fire up north. leave, and if so, where to go. and procrastination streaks. Tuesday evening, when my And, I th ink my favorite D uring the fa teful disen­ And then, fa te stepped ne ighbor and good fr iend, Al iso n Stern Perez was an assurance made gagement from Gush Kati f, an in and made it clea r, on no Avivit, called and told us but after about 10 minutes of by a fr iend who lives in entire population oflsraelis was uncertain terms, that I was that a rocket had fa llen in Bee r­ picturing our dogs at home the ciry center in Jerusalem, a uprooted and moved inward to get my butt back into the sheva. Mikhael and I were at his alone, pa nicked and probably location that is most well-known to the heart of the country, column-writing game. cousin's wedding for its relentless only to be left to languish in So here I am, in my less-than­ near Ashdod , bombardment by their makeshift trailers and triumphant re-emergence. and the irony "The past 10 days have been filled with suicide bombers cardboard houses (with many I know how many of you are - that we had , . throughout the of them now, again, fi nd- conce rned with the current seriously consid­ phrases that I don t think I could ever second intifada: ing themselves under fi re). events in Israel, and how many ered not going have fathomed would come out of my "l fyou wantto Since then, the people of of you are aware of my proxim­ to the wedding . get away from Sderot have suffered the most, ity to them , so I felt it would (a nd in fact, that mouth or.!nto my ears." rhe danger, you being under constant Q assam be unconscionable to allow my it h ad almost 1 are welcome rocket fire fro m the very same procrastination to get the better been cancelled) to cmn e stay locations frorn whl.ch we so losing control of their bladders of me at this particular time.