1.Can't Miss - A Week From Today

On Tuesday I joined many of the executives of other small federations on our monthly Zoom. One of us - Ana Sazonov, the executive director of the Jewish Federation in Columbia SC - recently returned from two weeks of work at the Ukrainian border. I had a chance to hear a short version of her presentation and I can’t wait to see her in person when she joins us at our annual board meeting next week,

Born in the Ukraine, raised in Israel, educated at Brandeis, we could not have asked for a better speaker in Ana. Below is a message from Ana to our community ahead of her visit. Her story, “From Hiding to Providing,” will include a brief history of Eastern European Jewry, an inspiring story of discovering her Jewish identity and Tikkun Olam.

Save the date: Thursday, June 16 at 7:00 PM. Please join us at 6:15 PM in the small social hall for some food and mingling before we move to the chapel for the program

2.As It Should Be

"From the moment women were accepted into the rabbinate, Judaism became more inclusive and welcoming in every way. When Jewish clergy are diverse, those who have been marginalized feel represented by Jewish leadership. Jews who saw no place for themselves in the Jewish community can now look around and recognize that they are home," writes Rabbi Miriam Jerris of Society for Humanistic Judaism in Michigan.

Fifty years ago, Sally Priesand was ordained as a Reform rabbi, the first female clergy member in American Jewish history. To mark this anniversary, Moment Magazine asked rabbis, male and female, to reflect in "Ask the Rabbis: How Is Judaism Different After Half a Century of Female Clergy?"

3.Hope

While most countries either colluded with the Nazis or surrendered to their demands, she told her students, the Muslims of Albania fought to protect their Jewish neighbors and even provided refuge to Jews from other countries. There is a Holocaust curriculum at one Muslim high school in Brooklyn and that is a very bright spot. 

Amity, a private pre-K-to-12 school whose student body is largely Turkish-American and almost entirely Muslim, was designed to teach the history of the Holocaust, as well as its lessons, to young Muslims who may have had little previous exposure to Here's the full story.

4.Look to Be'er Sheva

"Israel began the hard work of providing water for its residents in the 1930s, a decade before the state was established. The work has been so successful that most Israelis don’t suffer from lack of water, and cannot remember water restrictions."

Yet "due to climate change, droughts are increasing in severity and frequency worldwide. Even developed countries are starting to see water restrictions. . . . According to the WHO, 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed services for drinking water and 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services.

“The two biggest projects that contributed to the water in the desert are the National Water Carrier and desalination plants. Today, 70% of Israel’s domestic water demand is met by desalination and more plants are being built. (In addition,) Israel leads the world by recycling and reusing close to 90% of this water sewage water, in second place comes Spain, which recycles 20%.

"Be’er Sheva is not a desert mirage but a beacon, showing the world how it can effectively deal with the consequences of climate change through well-managed water systems." For the full story, read "A Desert Spring: How This Israeli City Solved Its Water Crisis"

5.Vested Interest

"While it’s known that Pius never spoke out against the Nazi persecution of Jews before, during or after World War II, historians like David Kertzer have only recently had access to Pius XII’s Vatican archive, unsealed in 2020. (A delay in opening papal archives is typical, though researchers had taken a particular interest in the wartime pope.) Drawing from its documents, Kertzer’s book details for the first time evidence of secret meetings between the pope and an emissary of Hitler as well as the cleric’s refusal to confirm reports of Nazi mass murders to Franklin Roosevelt."

Read the interview with Kertzer in Forward's article, "A new book explains Pope Pius XII's silence during the Shoah - but does not excuse it."

6.A Particular Tree

Equally fitting for Tu BiShvat or Shavuot, this one is outside my wheelhouse. But I heard from Marty Lipmann a while ago that he had (again) fertilized and watered the bushes at the Holocaust Memorial in Buttonwood Park, so my mind was wandering in that direction anyway. 

"An app that identifies trees and flowers is changing my life," claims Andrew Silow-Carroll. When the editor in chief of The New York Jewish Week and senior editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has something to say, I typically listen (or read). While I live in a city in a building with no yard, you may find more use - and shared enthusiasm - for the same app.

"An app that identifies trees and flowers is changing my life," claims Andrew Silow-Carroll. When the editor in chief of The New York Jewish Week and senior editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has something to say, I typically listen (or read). While I live in a city in a building with no yard, you may find more use - and shared enthusiasm - for the same app.

"I can’t tell you how much pleasure I get from being able to name these plants. Not owning or planting them — for that you can thank the people who sold us the house. I mean naming them. I’ve spent most of my life in a taxonomic fog, barely being able to distinguish an oak tree from a cell phone tower. The only tree I could ever identify with confidence was a weeping willow. 

"But earlier this year I downloaded the PictureThis app, which is this nifty tool that lets you point your camera at any shrub, tree or weed and learn its name. You’ve read stories about blind people given their sight back, the deaf child hearing the world for the first time. I am like this with plants now. To my delight — and my wife’s embarrassment — I run from plant to plant with my iPhone, shouting 'That’s a sycamore! Here’s a sumac! Our neighbors have a Japanese zelkova!' "

7.Not the Babs Movie

"How did a popular Yiddish woman’s name come to mean gossip and busybody? In the first of our new Word of the Week mini-series, STL Jewish Light traces the evolution of the word yenta. Producer Jen Richler talks with Fiddler on the Roof scholar Jan Lisa Huttner, comedian Judy Gold, author Lizzie Skurnick, and Tik Tok star and Torah commentator Miriam Anzovin. And in a special cameo…Yente the Matchmaker herself!"

Take a listen here: "Where does the word yenta come from?" Or watch Yente in action below.

8.Preheat to 360 Degrees

"Ella Rossanis had no intention of being on television. She only applied to The Great Australian Bake Off after her husband applied to Survivor and asked if she would take care of their three children — all under 5 — without him for 12 weeks if he got picked." Well, she won The Great Australia Bake Off - and with all kosher bakes. Read an interview with the baker in the article. Feeling inspired? See recipes below.

Sunday, June 12, 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Bristol Holocaust and Genocide Center presents a screening of The Last Klezmer by documentarian Yale Strom, who will introduce and discuss the film followed by a Klezmer concert by his group. Open to the public. Jackson Arts Building, Bristol Community College

Thursday, June 16, 7:00 PM

Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford