INSIDE Subscribe today! [email protected] Quick Look 2 Israel Happy 3 Federation News 6-7 Dallas Doings Mother’s Day 8 Around the Town Creative moms turn 9 Arts & Culture 10 passions into thriving Simcha 11 Youth niche businesses, pp. 5, 6 12-13 Columnists 15 Obituary Thursday, May 6, 2021 • 24 Iyar 5781 • VOLUME 75 NO. 18 • tjpnews.com $1.00 Off and Running 6 Dallas students spread their wings at Masa Israel teaching program, p.11 Photo: Submitted by Carolyn Smith “This experience has shaped how I see the world and brought with it great friends and great memories,” says Carolyn Smith about Masa. Light Shabbat candles: THE MOUNT MERON TRAGEDY 7:55 p.m. Friday, May 7 Coverage on pp. 2, 12-13 Shabbat ends: 9:05 p.m. Saturday, May 8 2 | May 6, 2021 Mount Meron: Festive night becomes tragic April 30 6 Americans read on Tisha B’Av, the saddest day rite, it was also a chance to sing and among those on the Jewish religious calendar. dance after a year of mourning. who perished Across the front of haredi news Instead, the haredi world, and sites was an incongruous phrase: Israelis as a whole, have been thrust By Ben Sales “The tragedy of Meron.” back into confronting mass death. (JTA) — Long before COVID-19 The night of music, dancing and The pictures on the front page arrived in Israel, devastating Israel’s bonfires on Mount Meron celebrates of Yated recalled those that have Hasidic communities, the annual Lag B’Omer, a festive day that marks circulated around social media Lag B’Omer gathering at Mount the end of a traditional mourning for a year: the flashing lights of Meron was a moment of release period in which, according to Jewish ambulances, corpses lying in a line for Israel’s Orthodox Jews, a festive tradition, 24,000 Torah students covered in tarp head to toe. Images night marking the end of a religious died in a long-ago plague. For about of Israelis lining up at blood banks period of mourning. a month each year, Jews around the across the country have spread And this year, when that release world commemorate the plague online. Prime Minister Benjamin was especially needed after a year of by abstaining from life’s pleasures Netanyahu has declared a national Photo: ZAKA/Aharon Baruch Leibowitz A volunteer with the ZAKA response group walks through the debris left in the loss, it became yet another tragedy. — music, dancing, weddings, even day of mourning. aftermath of the stampede in Meron, Israel, April 30, 2021. Thousands of haredi Jews getting a haircut. “To be sure, we are no strangers died in the pandemic. And last Those restrictions lift on Lag to tragedy and death,” wrote Rabbi identified. For the haredi families Cleveland, Ohio, who was a student Thursday night, at least 45 more B’Omer, the joyous day on which Natan Slifkin, director of the of the victims, who strive to bury at the Mir Yerushalayim yeshiva. ultra-Orthodox Jews were killed in the ancient plague ended. Biblical Museum of Natural History their dead as quickly as possible In Kiryas Joel, the grand rabbi a stampede at Mount Meron, with This year, that seemed especially in Beit Shemesh, a central Israeli according to Jewish law, the tragedy of the Satmar Hasidic movement, dozens more injured. resonant. A modern-day plague, city with a large haredi population. was heightened with the knowledge Aron Teitelbaum, delivered a “The joy of our heart has ceased, one that hit the haredi community “But in general such things are due that with Shabbat approaching, the eulogy for the victims at what was our dancing has turned into particularly hard, is on the verge to an outside cause — terrorism, funerals needed to wait at least a supposed to be his community’s mourning,” read the front page of of disappearing from Israel — and persecution, famine and so on. day. celebratory bonfire. Yated Ne’eman, a haredi newspaper, right in time for Lag B’Omer. So These deaths occurred simply in the The loss has stretched across the For Israel, which has a painful on Friday morning. while the some 100,000 revelers context of a religious celebration. globe, even in a year when fewer expertise in dealing with death The headline is a verse from who crowded Mount Meron were It’s just heart-wrenching.” American Jews are traveling to from war and terror, last Thursday Lamentations, the biblical book celebrating an age-old religious The dead are still being Israel. At least six men from the New night earned a dark distinction: York area are dead. They include: the deadliest civil disaster in the Rabbi Eliezer Tzvi Joseph, 26, country’s history. Mount Meron is of Kiryas Joel — a Satmar Hasid, worse even than the Carmel Forest WE ARE THE BRIDGE THAT CONNECTS he was the father of four children; fire of 2010, which also killed more Yosef Amram Tauber, 19, of Monsey, than 40 people while burning a a student at the Brisk yeshiva; large swath of a natural treasure. AMAZING CAREGIVERS popular singer, Shraga Gestetner, “[Paramedics] were exposed to WITH FAMILIES THAT NEED THEM 35, of Monsey, married and father of very, very difficult sights, sights that five, was in Israel visiting relatives; we haven’t seen here in Israel since Menachem Knoblowitz, 23, of the worst days of terrorist waves Borough Park, was engaged to be back in the beginning of the 2000s,” married; Nachman Doniel Morris, said Dov Maisel, the director of A Stress-Free Process 19, of New Jersey, a student at operations for United Hatzalah, an Yeshivat Shaalvim in Central Israel; EMT service, in a video from the Caregivers Personally Elazar Yitzchok Koltai, 13, who scene. “I have no words. I honestly had lived in Passaic, New Jersey, have no words.” Matched, Vetted and before moving to Jerusalem with Screened For You his family; and Yossi Cohen, 21, of Stewart Ain contributed to this report. Fair Wages For Save the Date: Calling all Latin American Jews! Your Caregivers ¡Viva Shalom! Flexibility In Schedule Celebrating Latin American Jews in Dallas... & Duties With No Restrictive Contracts Thursday, May 27, 2021 7:00pm | A Virtual Extravaganza Featuring: Guest Speaker, Dr. Deby Roitman; Entertainer, Eli Davidsohn; excerpts from Oral History interviews of local Latin American Jews; and many exciting raffle opportunities. Sponsorships available. Register online at: https://bit.ly/2021VivaShalomRegistration Join us as we explore and celebrate this uniquely diverse www.BubbieCare.com (512) 862-9030 segment of Jews in DFW! DALLAS JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY | (214) 239-7120 | [email protected] FEDERATION NEWS May 6, 2021 | 3 Schultz Family Israel Educator Fellows named Program deepens to content, and essential “I am grateful to work on this The latest cohort of The Schultz Family Israel Educator Fellowship, connection between pedagogies that help create program for the Schultz Family focusing on Jewish youth engagement and camp professionals includes: educators and Israel high-quality, meaningful Israel and to honor the memory of • Chana Ben-Abraham, NCSY/ JSU (Jewish Student Union) education. Follow-up sessions visionary philanthropist, Leslie • Livia Bernstein, Temple Emanu-El Dallas, Youth Learning + Engagement The Jewish Federation of will focus on interactive Schultz z”l.” said Peta Silansky, • Melissa Bernstein, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas Greater Dallas has announced workshops, and connections Israel and Overseas manager for • Rachel Blum, Congregation Anshai Torah the latest cohort of The to projects and organizations the Jewish Federation of Greater • Philip Cramer, BBYO Schultz Family Israel Educator in Israel with whom the Dallas Dallas. “I have seen how this • Morgan Ducar, Temple Shalom / Greene Family Camp Fellowship, focusing on Jewish Jewish Community partners. experience has infused Israel into • Melissa Essler, Union for Reform Judaism - Greene Family Camp youth engagement and camp “This experience is such a the culture of our community, as • Esther Feldman, Akiba Yavneh Academy professionals. In partnership gift, both professionally and well as deepening the knowledge • Jonathan Goldstein, Adat Chaverim with The iCenter, the Schultz personally. I am excited to and personal relationship that • Steven Itskovich, Ann & Nate Levine Academy Family Israel Educator Fellowship continue to develop my skills each Fellow has with Israel. • Alise Robinson, Aaron Family Jewish Community Center of Dallas, Youth combines leadership training, as an educator and learn new This group of youth engagement Performing Arts Program Israel education and a 10-day techniques, to explore the impact professionals will engage in • Marco Rodriguez, Summer@Levine Israel experience planned for of immersive experiences, and thoughtful and intentional this fall, as COVID-19 travel to connect with other area programming that they can restrictions ease. Jewish educators,” said Melissa share within their organization People refer to what we do as a mitzvah. “We are thrilled to launch Essler, assistant director of and the community. Working We consider it an honor. the newest cohort of the Schultz URJ Greene Family Camp and with The iCenter provides FAITH PRESBYTERIAN HOSPICE is the most comprehensive not-for-profit hospice provider Fellows,” said program founder a member of the new cohort. meaningful opportunities for in Greater Dallas. FAITH is dedicated To make each moment matter for those we serve. Jaynie Schultz. “We are proud to “It is empowering to know that the Fellows to gain tremendous FAITH provides hospice care in the home, nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living communities and in our inpatient hospice center, located in the T. Boone Pickens Center, support our community’s youth this group of educators will be insight and varied perspectives north of Medical City Dallas. FAITH’S compassionate end-of-life care supports life and engagement professionals.