Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 13, 2017

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Officer Mike Lopez said University Synagogue and two campuses of Wilshire Boulevard Temple were shut down early Saturday morning. The locations reopened in the afternoon after police deemed the venues secure.

University Synagogue was closed after a staff member found an email that was beyond nastyhorrific language, and threatening in one of the congregations email accounts, said the synagogues Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported.

Wilshire Boulevard Temple encountered a similar incident when a threat was sent through its website. While a communication like that can come in through something as innocuous as an online submission form, we take them all seriously, said Don Levy, the synagogues director of marketing and communications.

The incidents follow a wave of more than 150 bomb threats issued against Jewish institutions in early 2017, stoking fears of rising anti-Semitism. In April, the U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Israeli-American teenager who stands accused of initiating the threats.

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Posted By simmons on June 13, 2017

Ladino, the language of Sephardic Jews, also represents a culture that has survived hundreds of years and is still relevant today. And more people need to know about it.

Ladino is a pan-Mediterranean language that crosses geographic, linguistic and cultural boundaries. Otherwise known as Judeo-Spanish, Ladino is the hybrid dialect that Jews from the Iberian Peninsula developed after their expulsion from the region in the 15th century. As they dispersed, they took the Castilian Spanish they had been speaking and combined it with bits and pieces of languages from the countries where they ended up settling. In this medieval Spanish, you can hear interwoven words of Portuguese, French, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic and more. Today, UNESCO lists Ladino as endangered.

I grew up hearing the language from my grandfathers family, who hailed from Monastir (now known as Bitola), Macedonia and Salonika, Greece. My family, like many others escaping the Spanish Inquisition, found refuge in the Ottoman Empire where they were welcomed. Their eventual journey to America, however, is not so dissimilar to many immigrant stories. They were escaping war, in their case, the Balkan Wars. When they arrived in America, they wanted to be American. For the most part they left the old country behind save for some folk songs and special family recipes. I grew up clinging to and cherishing those because they were all I had. The language, sadly, was not passed down as my family worked hard to master English.

As I became increasingly interested in my family history, I understood there was a serious gap in my not having exposure to Ladino as a living language. Surely, if I, a proud Sephardic Jew, had trouble accessing my own culture, then others not of my background would never even know about it. So I asked myself why it was so important to care about a language on the brink of extinction.

Losing a language is losing a culture, and its a disservice to everyone, not only to those who are born with Sephardic heritage. Ladino was the primary language spoken by thousands and thousands of people throughout the Mediterranean for centuries. It was the first language of my grandfather and, until WWII, it was even the majority language in certain major European cities like Salonika.

When the Holocaust destroyed gigantic swaths of Ladino-speakers, there were exponentially fewer speakers to perpetuate the culture. But prior to WWII, the most significant event that altered the landscape of Jewish European demography was the Spanish Inquisition. In the more than 400 years between the two events, Sephardic life, including the Ladino language, helped shape European and world culture. Sephardic Jews escaping the Inquisition brought the printing press to the Ottomans, they brought philosophy and art, and they interfaced with and incorporated different cultures all along the route from Spain to the Middle East (and elsewhere where they settled).

Through centuries of geographic displacement and acculturation, Ladino, through music, storytelling, holiday rituals and more, served as a link of connectedness that kept Sephardic life alive. It sometimes amazes me that the same Ladino folk songs I grew up with were sung by others who grew up in Sarajevo, or in Sofia, Rhodes or Izmir.

But the Holocaust dealt a massive cultural blow to Ladino and its ability to survive. Few people are aware that Greece, where many Ladino speakers once lived, had the highest percentage of Jewish population exterminated than any other country involved in WWII. More than 80 percent of the Jewish population was murdered, and almost all of them were Ladino speakers.

Despite this, however, Ladino speakers and descendants are still united by our shared cultural history. Though small in number now, Ladino speakers (estimated to be approximately 150,000 with basic familiarity) are fighting to keep it alive. It is true that no one will be born speaking Ladino again as a first language, but that does not mean its not worth preserving. Ladino holds centuries of history and beauty, but it also means something very important for today. It still can hold deep relevance.

The language itself, as a hybrid of many dialects, epitomizes the blending of cultures in todays globalized world. What other language has Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, French and more all blended together? Ladino is not just a Sephardic language. Or a Jewish language. It is a world language that belongs to all of us, and it is a way, today, to bring us all closer together. With rhythms from the Arab world as Jews settled in the Ottoman Empire, or with lyrics that sound like old Spanish to any Spanish speaker, Ladino has a universal quality that is hard to be matched by other languages. Ladino connects Arabs and Jews; it connects Hispanics and Jews; and it connects Jews among themselves.

As Yiddish has had a renaissance of sorts in the last two decades, so, too, is Ladino having its moment. But we need to seize the opportunity before it is too late. We need to ensure that scholars can teach the language in universities (it is currently taught in four universities in the United States, and more abroad), that music and book festivals are open to including Ladino performers and authors, that digitization of Ladino literature is supported (for example, at the University of Washington, Seattle), that Spanish departments in secular grade schools include the Jewish story of the Spanish Inquisition in their lessons, and more.

Preservation is not only about looking backwards though; we must be creative in how we look ahead to keep the culture moving forward. Ladino is worth the effort.

Sarah Aroeste is a singer and songwriter who has devoted her career to Ladino cultural preservation. Her upcoming English/Ladino Holiday Album, entitled Together/Endjuntos, will be released this Fall.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

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Posted By richards on June 13, 2017

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Rabbi Joseph Dweck, the chief Sephardic rabbi of the United Kingdom, speaks at a World War I remembrance ceremony.

(JTA) The United Kingdomstop Sephardic rabbi becamethe center of an international controversy after he praisedsocietal acceptance of homosexuality as a fantastic development.

Rabbi Joseph Dweck came under fire after making thecomment at a lecture last month.An Orthodox rabbi in London asked a rabbinic court to look into removing Dweck from his position, and a petition created by an American Orthodox rabbicallingDweck a heretic had gained some 480 signatures, The Jewish News reported.

A letter from Israels chief Sephardic rabbi, Yitzchak Yosef, also condemned Dweck.

I am amazed and angry at the words of nonsense and heresy that were said about the foundations of our faith in our Torah, the letter said.

Dweck received rabbinic ordination from Yosefs father, the late Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, Ovadia Yosef.

Dweck has refused to back down, although he acknowledgedthat his use of the word fantastic was exaggerated, The Jewish News reported.

I did not say that homosexual acts were fantastic. I said that the development in society had residual benefits much in the same way that Islam and Christianity did, as the Rambam pointed out, he said.

These residual effects in my opinion are that it has helped society be more open to the expression of love between men, he added. I was not asserting law, nor for that matter, demanding a particular way of thought. I was simply presenting a personal observation.

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Posted By admin on June 13, 2017

Jewish Chronicle

Judaism, Middle Eastern again Jewish Chronicle Sephardic and Mizrahi Judaism, rather than a curio, is in the greatest sweep of Jewish history the mainstream. Ashkenazi Judaism was the flickering. Next to non-existent in the early middle ages, ballooning suddenly, only to almost vanish from Europe ... and more »

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Posted By richards on June 13, 2017

Email a copy of "ADL Chief Deeply Upset, Troubled by Presence of Anti-Israel Groups Among Signatories of Statement It Endorsed Defending US Muslim Community" to a friend

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Photo: ADL.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said on Monday he was deeply upset and troubled after discovering that a public statement opposing anti-Muslim bigotry which his organization recently endorsed was also signed by a number of radical anti-Israel groups.

We would not sign onto any letter alongside these organizations intentionally, Greenblatt told The Algemeiner.

The statement an initiative of Muslim Advocates, a Washington, DC-based legal organization was addressed to a number of mayors around the country and urged them to speak out against March Against Sharia events held on Saturday by ACT for America, a national security advocacy organizationdescribed in the statement as the nations largest anti-Muslim hate group.

June 12, 2017 2:14 pm

ACT for America strongly disputes that label. On its website, itpointed outit had canceled a planned event in Arkansas after finding out that one of the local organizers was associated with white supremacist groups. The organization which was founded by Lebanese-born conservative journalist and activist Brigitte Gabriel said its nationwide marches are in support of basic human rights for all and against the horrific treatment of women, children, and members of the LGBTQ community that is sanctioned by Sharia law.

A number of centrist religious and human rights groups signed onto the Muslim Advocates statement, including The National Council of La Raza and The Sikh Coalition. As well as the ADL, Jewish signatories included the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Union for Reform Judaism and the National Council of Jewish Women.

But the final list of signatories included a number of marginalgroups known for their support of the BDS campaign and similar effortsto promote the view that the State of Israel has no right to exist. Among them was Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) a stridently anti-Zionist fringe group that encourages its members to mourn the creation of the State of Israel on Tisha BAv, a Jewish fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Five members of JVP were arrested at the Salute to Israel parade in New York City last Sunday after they violently intimidated a pro-Israel contingent from the LGBT community.

Also among the signatories was the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), a Washington, DC-based group that frequently lobbies on behalf of theTehran regime, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization that supports BDS, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas as well as for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Algemeiner has learned that ADL was approached early on in the solicitation process and that the majority of other groups appended their signatures later. The ADL was not shown a final copy of the statement with all the signatories before it was published on Friday.

Greenblatt acknowledged the ADL would have to exercise greater caution in future before lending its name to other statements with multiple signatories. He expressed support forthe substance of the Muslim Advocates statement, saying that the anti-Sharia marches were hostile and exhibited a high degree of intolerance for Muslimsin general, and thats why we spoke up.

The ADL chief argued that the main goal of groups like JVP in signing such statements was to move from the margins to the mainstream by inserting themselves into the center of the public conversation as a way to legitimize themselves.

We cannot allow the radical left to hijack well-intended efforts like this one, Greenblatt stated. It was imperative, he continued, to avoid a situation where individuals and groups from the political center feel forced to leave rather than abandon their principles.

Were going to be a lot more careful, but we are not going to surrender the center to the extremists, Greenblatt said. We cannot allow fringe groups to capitalize on our halo.

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Posted By richards on June 12, 2017

PFLP statement on the 50th anniversary of the June defeat: struggle to confront Zionism and imperialism

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following June 5 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

June 5 marks 50 years since the defeat of 1967, which had among its most prominent results, the completion of the occupation of the rest of Palestine, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai. This occasion deepened the concept of defeat and its implication in Arab thought and practice and has sparked numerous efforts and political settlement projects under the pretext of resolving the Arab-Zionist conflict.

The defeat of June 5 came to confirm the nature and essence of the Zionist project and its aspirations for expansion, hegemony and occupation of a central area of the Arab region. This occupation included the Zionist project and its colonial and imperialist partners and allies, with shared goals, interests and ambitions in the Arab world, including the plundering of its resources, ensuring its fragmentation and continued underdevelopment. It also highlighted the weakness of the overall Arab situation, intensifying the contradictions of that situation. Despite all of these factors, it also opened the door to the intensification and escalation of the Palestinian resistance movement and popular defiance in the face of colonial aggression.

This intensification and escalation of Palestinian peoples resistance and the Arab response have shown, along with the Zionist project and its objectives of expansion, that the comprehensive and historical conflict with the Zionist enemy as a struggle for existence is not only between the Palestinian people and this enemy alone, but in essence is a conflict between the Arab nation as a whole and the Zionist project which aims at the dependence, subordination and fragmentation of this nation and the Arab homeland and the continued plundering of its resources and wealth, ensuring the security and stability of the Israeli occupation and its continued technological superiority and progress.

To the Palestinian and Arab masses

Despite 50 years after the defeat, we continue to suffer its effects very clearly. In terms of the Zionist project, we see the continued occupation of Palestine and other Arab lands, despite numerous international resolutions that do not recognize the occupation and calling for withdrawal. In practice, colonization on the ground has increased continually since that time. The leaders of the Zionist project have continued the terror and ethnic cleansing that began before 1948 against the Palestinian people and its armies and aircraft have continued their attacks on the Arab countries. Their support for reactionary and extremist forces seeks to add new burdens and costs to the Arab situation, which suffers from division, weakness and fragmentation of the national and social fabric. This comes in accordance with the open and secret wars that are hurting all with the continued erosion and exhaustion of the Arab body with violence and pressure in political, economic and military forms to impose almost complete complacency before the imperialist project. In light of the ongoing U.S.-Zionist attacks, colonialism and occupation, we in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine emphasize:

First, rejection of the political and military outcomes of the defeat of June and all of the desperate attempts to lead the Arab-Zionist struggle to the gateway of so-called peaceful settlement solutions that depend on recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity and its existence, from Camp David through the Oslo Accords and Wadi Araba. We reject all attempts to normalize between Arab states and the Zionist enemy, part of an apparent attempt to erase the essential nature of the struggle. This is a confrontation between, on one side, the imperialist powers, the Zionist project and its tool Israeli occupation, and on the other, the entire Arab nation. This struggle is for the liberation of the entire land of Palestine and the return of its people who were displaced to the corners of the earth through systematic uprooting and ethnic cleansing, and for the liberation of the Arab people and control over their destiny, wealth and resources, on the road to the dismantling of the Zionist state, a state of occupation, aggression and permanent warfare against the Palestinian and Arab people.

Second, rejection of the so-called Arab-American-Islamic Summit in Riyadh and its results, which aim to distort the main contradiction in the region with the Zionist project and the Israeli state and shift the conflict to one with Iran through the formation of a so-called Sunni-Israeli-American alliance. This is an attempt to tailor Arab politics to the requirements of the imperialist and Zionist project and confirm the dominance of the Zionist state in the region. It also aims to target Arab and Palestinian resistance forces, which were described in this summit, in the words of US President Donald Trump as terrorism.

Third, confrontation of the results of this summit with the broadest official and popular Arab alliance, uniting all Arab progressive forces struggling for liberation and freedom from imperialism and Zionism in the region. This struggle requires activating the role of the Arab Progressive Front based on clear strategies and tactics and comprehensive planning.

Fourth, ending all Palestinian and Arab reliance on the path of so-called negotiations, which have proven through experience to be painful, damaging and a complete failure in achieving any Arab or Palestinian objectives. Any reliance on a positive role played by Trump confirms the continued cultivation of illusions and losing bets. This administration comes in continuation and intensification of the ongoing strategic policy of US administrations, designed to ensure the security, stability, progress and technical and military superiority of the Zionist occupation. Therefore, it will only strive to impose a political solution in conformity with a U.S./Israeli vision.

Our choice is that of the Palestinian people, resistance and struggle for national liberation and ending all forms of absurd negotiations with the Zionist enemy. This includes full commitment to the resolutions of the Palestinian Central Council and PLO Executive Committee, including the end of negotiations and security coordination with the occupation, on the road to a complete break with the Oslo agreement, its political and economic consequences and its disastrous impact on the Palestinian liberation struggle and our rights.

Fifth, prioritizing the Palestinian reconciliation file and undertaking hard work to end the division. This begins by ending all actions taken against the Gaza Strip and collective resolution of the issue of the administration committee and implementing reconciliation agreements. This also includes the rebuilding and restoration of Palestinian national institutions, particularly the Palestine Liberation Organization, on the basis of national and democratic foundations. It is not acceptable to deal with these institutions as a site of exclusivity, domination and monopoly, and instead it is critical to open the field widely for all forces, institutions and social strata to participate in the management of Palestinian national affairs.

Sixth, our salutes and appreciation to the brave prisoners and their struggle in the battle for freedom and dignity that they fought for 41 days of empty stomachs, confronting the occupation and its inhumane policies. We affirm our full and continued support for the prisoners struggle until freedom, liberation and the return of our people to their homes, lands and homeland.

Glory to the Palestinian People, the Arab nation and the brave resistance!

Glory to the martyrs and freedom for the prisoners!

Victory is inevitable

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

June 5, 2017

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Posted By admin on June 12, 2017

Ryan Blessing rblessing@norwichbulletin.com, (860) 425-4205 rblessingNB

MONTVILLE Descendants of some of the first Russian Jewish settlers in Eastern Connecticut gathered in a wooded clearing Sunday afternoon in the Chesterfield section of town to honor the site where, 125 years ago, their ancestors established what is said to be the first rural synagogue in the state.

The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the state of Connecticuts 24th archaeological preserve. A large stone monument and plaque now mark the spot where the synagogue, which burned down in 1975, once stood.

The New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society oversees the site, off of Route 161 just past the intersection with Route 85 in Montville.

Exactly 125 years, one month and three days ago, people from far and near gathered here to dedicate a rather unpretentious, one-room synagogue, society president Nancy Savin said. The synagogue and its creamery, also built in 1892, were the center of a vibrant Russian Jewish community, which flourished from 1890 until the Great Depression.

The descendants of these immigrants organized NEHFES in 2006, and today the society has more than 50 members in 15 states and Canada, Savin, a descendant, said. The societys website is newenglandhebrewfarmers.org.

The story of NEHFES is the perfect example of the American dream immigrants who came to Chesterfield speaking no English, who sent their children to the one-room schoolhouse and to Bulkeley High School, whose own children then went on to college and into multiple professions, Savin said. Today these descendants make valuable contributions to American society. We seek to perpetuate their legacy, their values and their ethics.

Connecticut State Archaeologist Emeritus Nicholas Bellantoni congratulated the society for its work to preserve the site.

Whats youve done is preserve memories, not for nostalgia, but for cultural heritage, Bellantoni said. You maintain and pass on to the future where you and your families have been. Youve preserved a sense of place.

At the site are the stone remains of the synagogues foundation, as well as remnants of a nearby mickveh,a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism.

Stuart Miller, a professor of Hebrew, history and Judaic studies at the University of Connecticut, said he couldnt contain his excitement when he was first shown the mickveh.

I explained that the only mickveh from the 19th century that had been excavated, at the time, was in Baltimore, he said. Thats Baltimore, this is Chesterfield. What is this doing here?

Jerome Fischer, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, said he was proud as a Jew of what the early immigrants accomplished in Chesterfield in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

But Im even prouder we want to continue to welcome refugees to our country and let them settle and practice their way of life, he said.

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Posted By simmons on June 12, 2017

(JTA) Three Los Angeles synagogue locations were temporarily closed after receiving bomb threats on Shabbat.

The threats were reported in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal on Saturday.

The affected synagogues were the University Synagogue in Brentwood, and both campuses of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple the Erika J. Glazer Family Campus in Wilshire Center/Koreatown or the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Campus in West Los Angeles,

The synagogues were all closed around 8 a.m. on Saturday and cleared to reopen by about 12:45 p.m., to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Mike Lopez told the Jewish Journal.

The LAPD used K9 units to check the buildings for bombs. No explosives were found at any of the locations.

The University Synagogue received its threat in an email, according to the report. The Wilshire Boulevard Temple received a threat via an online submission form on the synagogues website. All three buildings were empty when the threats were received.

The University Synagogue had a Torah study scheduled for Saturday morning. When the members of the study group arrived and discovered the building closed, they moved about a block down the street and held it outside.

The bomb threats come some three months after an Israeli-American Jewish teenagerwas arrested at his home in Ashkelon in southern Israel and charged with makings hundreds of threats to Jewish institutions around the world, including more than 160 to JCCs, synagogues and Jewish organizations in the United States.

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Posted By admin on June 12, 2017

Three Los Angeles synagogue campuses were shut down following a series of online bomb threats, disrupting normally scheduled Shabbat activitieson June 10.

The Glazer and Irmas campuses of Wilshire Boulevard Temple as well as University Synagogue in Brentwood were closed shortly after 8 a.m., according to Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Officer Mike Lopez. By about 12:45 p.m., LAPD cleared all locations to reopen.

K9 units responded to the locations to make sure to render all locations safe, Lopez said. At this time we have no credible threats.

Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein of University Synagogue said a staff member found an email that was beyond nasty horrific language, and threatening in a temple email account and its executive director, Lisabeth Lobenthal,called the police.

About 10 police officers answered the call. The building was empty at the time, Feinstein said.

Don Levy, the director of marketing and communications at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, said a threat came in Saturday morning via an online submission form on the synagogues website. LAPD was notified immediately and the synagogues campuses were shut down. Levy said no one was at either the synagogues Irmas Campus in West L.A. or its flagship Koreatown building, the Glazer Campus, at the time the threats were made.

While a communication like that can come in through something as innocuous as an online submission form, we take them all seriously, he said. We take any threat seriously and investigate it thoroughly to protect everybodys safety.

The June 10 shutdowns follow a wave of more than 160 threats to synagogues and other Jewish buildings between January and March made by phone and email, including two against the Westside Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles. Two separate arrests have been made in connection with that series of threats.

Lopez, the LAPD officer, urged communities to exercise vigilance, and to use LAPDs iWatch phone application to notify the police of any suspicious activity.

We just want to remind the community to be aware of their surroundings, he said. If they see something, say something.

Feinstein of University Synagogue said the only scheduled activity for the morning was a Torah study group. When participantsarrived, they found the building under lockdown and retreated about a block, continuing their Torah study on the sidewalk.

The lesson of the day is, Feinstein said, We never stop the study of Torah no matter what.

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Posted By richards on June 12, 2017

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Cathy Sperlings aunt Sherrie Zaft was the only Jewish student in her class during elementary school.

Born in 1928, Mrs. Zaft traveled to Toledo each weekend often in the front of a patrol wagon that carried inmates from the correctional facility in Whitehouse to attend Sunday school at Bnai Israel, a conservative synagogue.

Cathy Sperling surveys memorial plates of her parents and other relatives in the Bnai Israel synagogue. Her parents histories are included in a book in part to celebrate the Sylvania Avenue congregation's 150th anniversary.

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It wasnt easy for them, Mrs. Sperling said of her aunts family. They had to make an effort to be a Jew.

Mrs. Zafts story, along with the interviews of 43 other members of Congregation Bnai Israel, appears in a recently published book of oral histories honoring the synagogues 150th anniversary.

We knew it in our gut that it was the right thing to do, said Mrs. Sperling, who conceived the project after noticing that the synagogue had no formal archives.

In 2007, the congregation moved from its former building on Kenwood Boulevard, which it had occupied since 1955, to a new home in Sylvania.

During the transition, the bulk of Bnai Israels historical records and photographs were placed in disorganized bins that some community members deemed impossible to catalog.

Mrs. Sperling, however, accepted the challenge.

In 2011, she devised Legacy Link, a project in which she digitized all of Bnai Israels preserved consecration and confirmation photos. Mrs. Sperling uncovered images dating back to 1916, including one of her mother, dressed in white and gripping a celebratory flower after her confirmation in 1932.

VIDEO: Fagie Benstein on Bnai Israels book project

At the urging of Hazzan Ivor Lichterman, the congregations cantor, Mrs. Sperling undertook a new task in 2015.

After spending years organizing old records, she decided to produce her own document for the archive a collection of oral histories.

The two-year project began with interviews in March, 2015, and culminated with the books release in March, 2017.

Mrs. Sperling compiled the volume with two other congregation members, Fagie Benstein and Sharon Stein.

Interviews in the newly released book vary widely, particularly in emotional intensity, but each selection aims to capture the essence of Jewish life at Bnai Israel and in northwest Ohio more broadly.

Among the 44 interviews, Cantor Lichtermans narrative highlights the extent to which the themes of loss and migration cannot be divorced from Bnai Israels history.

The cantor was born in Cape Town to Polish parents. His father, who was also a trained cantor, survived the Warsaw Ghetto and four concentration camps, but lost his wife and child during the Holocaust.

The book collects the oral histories of members of Congregation Bnai Israel in Toledo.

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Cantor Lichterman says his father survived the Shoah by escaping into a forest during the evacuation of Auschwitz, eventually making his way back to Warsaw.

His parents married in Poland before moving to South Africa. Born and raised in Cape Town, Cantor Lichterman traveled to New York to continue his studies as a young adult.

He has since held cantorial positions at synagogues across the United States, but has served as Bnai Israels cantor and acting rabbi since 2011.

Maybe because of technology and the Internet, the importance of the written word is somewhat declining amongst the younger generations, said Cantor Lichterman, expressing concern for Bnai Israels waning attendance.

The cantor cites websites such as Wikipedia, which he says reinforce a culture of instant gratification without demanding that readers understand the material, as explanations for Jewish adolescents changing approaches to the written word.

Look at how dispersed our youth is today, he said. Theres a need for a concentration of all this history.

This trend of dispersion can be seen through the gradual shrinking of Toledos Jewish population. While the city had about 7,300 Jewish residents in 1974, only 2,500 remain today.

Mrs. Benstein, Mrs. Sperling, and Mrs. Stein hope that their book will honor the individuals that worked to weave the fabric of Jewish life in northwest Ohio over the past 150 years.

I was the benefactor, as we all were, of their legacies, said Mrs. Benstein.

Since publishing the text in March, the women have begun to reflect on the central takeaways from the 44 interviews.

I think the common theme through it was the sense of community, Mrs. Stein said.

And extended family, Mrs. Benstein interjected.

Or finding a family, Mrs. Sperling added.

Standing in Bnai Israels wooden sanctuary last week, Mrs. Benstein pointed to the Hebrew lettering that encircles the space, which the architect, Abraham Musher-Eizenman, took from the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three. The words translate to the famous prayer, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.

Gazing at the phrase, Mrs. Benstein was reminded of one of her favorite lessons.

In Hebrew, there is not a word for history, she said, explaining that the closest word, yizkor, actually means remember.

Bnai Israels legacy cannot simply exist in history, but must actively live on in Jewish Toledo-area residents memories, Mrs. Benstein said.

Remembering for us is almost a mandate.

Contact Antonia Ayres-Brownat: abrown@theblade.comor 419-724-6368.

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