Letter from 1834 on US Diplomatic Visit to Holy Land Surfaces at Jerusalem Auction

May 13, 2021

The first page of a newly discovered letter written by a passenger of the USS Delaware in 1834, following one of the first American voyages to Palestine. Courtesy of Kedem Auction House, Jerusalem via JTA.org

By Asaf Shalev

A detailed account of one of the earliest American diplomatic voyages to Palestine has surfaced as part of an upcoming auction in Jerusalem.

The account appears in a handwritten letter from one of the passengers of the USS Delaware, a U.S. Navy ship that visited the Mediterranean Sea in 1834 and made a stop at the port town of Jaffa, then under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Sent from the Spanish island of Menorca and addressed to Circleville, Ohio, the four-page letter describes several historically significant moments in the sailing ship’s journey, including a stop in Palestine and a visit with the first American diplomat stationed in the region.

According to Kedem Auction House, the letter’s existence was entirely unknown to scholars who study the history of the Holy Land and U.S. diplomacy in Palestine. The anonymous collector who spotted the letter and realized its importance usually focuses on the history of the Israeli postal service. That person bought the item from another collector who had been holding it as an artifact of relevance for U.S maritime and postal history.

“This letter is of great importance to both the history of American Jewry as well as to the history of the State of Israel,” Kedem CEO Meron Eren said in a statement. “It’s amazing to read, if only to learn about relations between the United States and Palestine at the time.”

The passenger who authored the letter, Lewis Woofley, describes traversing much of the Mediterranean on an eastbound route along the coasts of France, Italy and Greece with stops at various islands. Eventually, the sailing ship reached the port of Alexandria in Egypt. Well-versed in the geography of antiquity, Woofley is thrilled at the sight of various ruins, noting locations mentioned in ancient folklore.

An extended stop in Egypt allowed Woofley and other passengers of the USS Delaware to venture inland where they had an encounter with the local ruler, Mohammad Ali. Known today as the founder of Egypt, Ali was busy fashioning a modern nation out of the ancient kingdom when this audience of Western visitors arrived.

“We rowed once [sic] the bay to his palace, where we were received by him seated on his divan in one corner of the room,” Woofley wrote. “He did not rise to meet us, but kept his crossed-legged position reclining his head and motioning us to be seated. Coffee was handed us in fine china goblets resting on golden stands.”

During the conversation, the “good-natured” Pasha, as Woofley refers to him, displayed a charisma that apparently won over his visitors.

“The Pasha is one of the most interesting men, in many respects, of the age,” Woofley writes. “The changes that he has introduced among his subjects, the improvements that he has made and is still carrying on in Egypt are immense.”

From Egypt, the ship sailed northeast along the coast until reaching the shores of the Holy Land. This is how excited Woofley was on the morning of arrival, according to the letter: “The Holy Land! Palestine! The feelings, the reflections, the ecstasies, you may more readily imagine than I describe.”

An American diplomat stationed in Palestine, David Darmon, boarded the ship and briefed the visitors on what conditions to expect when they disembark. Darmon was a French Jew who served as a consular agent, the first American representative in the area. Little is known about him, which makes the discovery of the letter significant.

Woofley was excited to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but Darmon delivered some news that seemed to quash that possibility. Palestine was in an “unsettled state.” Darmon shared news of bad roads, bandits and a dangerous plague gripping the area.

“What a pity!” Woofley writes. “After having come so far and being so near to it — Like Moses, we are only to be permitted to see the Promised Land but not to enter it.”

Kedem expects the letter to fetch a price of between $2,000 and $4,000, with the proceeds going to an anonymous seller.

New Jewish Federation CEO, JAFI Chair Discuss Goals

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May 13, 2021

Michael Balaban. Courtesy of Michael Balaban

By Sasha Rogelberg

Both Isaac Herzog and Michael Balaban have busy to-do lists that feature the importance of building community in the year ahead.

Balaban, the incoming CEO of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and Herzog, the chairman of the executive for the Jewish Agency for Israel, were featured during Jewish Federation’s community leadership call on May 7.

Balaban, who is the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Broward County, Florida, and begins locally on June 1, said that building connections and community would be the key to increased funding of the local Jewish Federation. One of his goals is to ensure that Judaism is accessible to more Jews in Philadelphia and that the Jewish Federation is prepared to meet the diverse needs of Jews.

“We must come to understand that Jews and Judaism are not a monolith, that one size simply doesn’t fit all,” he said. “My vision is to create a Jewish community that connects people, ensures a Jewish future, and cares for people here at home, in Israel and around the world.”

Balaban created a list of “musts” for the Federation for it to achieve his aim of community building: instilling a sense of pride in the Philadelphia Jewish community and working toward common goals, creating connection points and accessible ways for community members to begin participating in Jewish programming and building synergy between the different Jewish organizations in the area.

Above all, Balaban said, Jewish experiences needs to be vibrant and affordable.

In addition, Balaban hopes to engage with more LGBTQ Jews and Jews of color, believing that the Jewish Federation should be proactive in reaching out and hosting events.
“Our job … is to guarantee that when a person wishes to access the richness and diversity of the Jewish experience, the mechanisms and responses are in place to both enchant and to captivate,” he said.

Isaac Herzog. Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia

Herzog, who has served as chairman of JAFI — the world’s largest Jewish nonprofit — since June 2018, listed JAFI’s priorities in the coming year: increasing the numbers of Jews making aliyah and continuing to connect young Jewish people to Israel through programs such as Birthright, Masa and Onward Israel.

Though the pandemic stifled travel globally, aliyot have not ceased entirely: Since March 2020, 22,000 people moved to Israel from 45 different countries, Herzog said.

And JAFI recently saw triple the number of files open to those looking to make aliyah.
Israel has become the first nation in the world to approach herd immunity, Herzog said, and as it begin to ease restrictions, travel to Israel will be able to increase. For now, first-degree family members of those living in Israel may visit if vaccinated and tested before and after arriving to Israel. Through Birthright, those fully vaccinated may travel to Israel this summer, and Masa is now allowing travel by having olim quarantine upon arrival.

JAFI is also preparing 1,400 Israeli emissaries to work at Jewish summer camps in the United States this year, including summer camps funded by Jewish Federation.

If the measures put in place to increase travel to Israel prove successful, JAFI expects about 250,000 olim over the next three to five years.

Aside from growing connections between North American and Israeli Jewry, JAFI has sought to increase Jewish solidarity internationally by providing monetary aid to more than 75 Jewish communities around the world, including COVID-related aid to the Roman Jewish community.

JAFI wants to continue to influence Israeli society through the support of social projects, such as JAFI’s creation of a fund to assist struggling Israeli non-governmental organizations, Herzog said.

Herzog touted JAFI’s commitment to prioritizing pluralism in Israel — reaching out to charedi communities, as well as supporting the small, but growing, Conservative and Reform Jewish communities.

Both Balaban and Herzog identified growing antisemitism and the distancing of Israel from American Jewry as challenges their respective organizations need to overcome.

“We work with the Jewish world in a parallel track, meaning, on the one hand, we help and encourage aliyah,” Herzog said. “On the other hand, we help and encourage Jewish communities and Jews wherever they are to … have a strong Jewish identity and to live a Jewish life without threat or harassment.”

Sasha Rogelberg is a freelance writer.

Celebrate Shavuot with Your Neighborhood Kehillot

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May 13, 2021

The Jewish Federation’s Neighborhood Kehillot have a lineup of programs to celebrate Shavuot this year. Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia

Celebrate Shavuot with Your Neighborhood Kehillot

Can you smell blintzes, cheesecakes and all of those dairy goodies in the air? It’s Shavuot time!

Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. There are many Shavuot customs, such as partaking in the aforementioned dairy products and participating in marathon study sessions (that sometimes last all night). This year, Shavuot begins Sunday, May 16 at sundown and lasts through Tuesday, May 18.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Neighborhood Kehillot are ready to get you in the Shavuot spirit with a lineup of programs leading up to and on the holiday that the whole family can safely enjoy.

Torah Through the Ancient Art of Papercutting: A Hands-On Workshop
Thursday, May 13 | 7-8:30 p.m.

Papercutting is a traditional Jewish folk art form, made by cutting figures and words in paper or parchment. Join Rabbi Kelilah Miller (Congregation Ohev Shalom, Wallingford), Delaware County Kehillah and Chester County Kehillah for this pre-Shavuot workshop, where you will learn how to create your own special paper art pieces. We will also explore the concept of hiddur mitzvah (beautification of the commandments and rituals). Out of all the Jewish ritual and folk art forms, papercuts offer the greatest opportunity for elevating a simple material (a sheet of paper) from something ordinary to an object that enhances our Jewish life.

No previous papercutting knowledge is necessary to participate in this workshop. Required supplies: cutting mat and an X-Acto knife (recommended for 15-years-old and up or well supervised).

Old York Road Jewish Learning Fest
Sunday, May 16 | 7 p.m.–noon

Let’s virtually celebrate Shavuot with a night of learning. You will have the ability to choose from a lineup of engaging and thought-provoking sessions, led by members of the community.

Center City Kehillah Shavuot Learning
Sunday, May 16 | 3-6 p.m. on Zoom

Monday, May 17 | Various outdoor locations around Center City
Shavuot has long been one of the most celebrated opportunities for our Center City Jewish community to come together, and we’re glad to be able to reimagine our celebration for both virtual and outdoor classes. The first 100 registrants will get a special Shavuot treat emailed to them from the Center City Kehillah right before the holiday.

Bucks County Kehillah’s Journeys in Judaism
Sunday, May 16 | 6:30-7:45 p.m.

Each of us takes hold of Torah in our own way, and each of us has a story to tell. Inspired by storytelling programs on public radio, Bucks County Kehillah’s community Shavuot virtual gathering will feature several individuals’ journeys in Judaism. Hear stories of people who chose Judaism, others who returned to Judaism later in life and those who have been inspired by Judaism for their entire lives. On Shavuot, learn from and be moved by members of our community.

The program will also include music and poetry related to Shavuot.

Torah in Living Color
Monday, May 17 | 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Join the Kehillah of Bux-Mont and Torah in Living Color for a Shavuot celebration to honor the Torah and artistry of Jews of color. Enjoy a creative ma’ariv (evening) service, entertaining and engaging artistic presentations, and learn about Jews in all hues and how you can make a difference.

The kehillot are part of the Jewish Federation’s neighborhood initiative to foster a vibrant Jewish community throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. For more information about the Kehillot’s Shavuot programs and to register, visit: jewishphilly.org//kehillotshavuot.

Can We Count on You?

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May 13, 2021

a hand hovers over a Torah scroll — photovs / iStock / Getty Images Plus

By Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner

Parshat Bemidbar

Have you ever been at a small weekday service, whether to remember a Kaddish or attend a shiva, and you hear someone ask, “Do we have a minyan?” Meaning, are there at least the minimum of 10 present for communal worship?

But the next moment is occasionally a bit strange: Someone — or more than one — looks around the group, points toward each of those present, and says “not one, not two, not three … and then ultimately announces, “We have a minyan!” or that “We don’t have a minyan.” What is this not-counting ceremony?

The what is an incredibly old custom, really a circumlocution, a way to avoid counting people. Old meaning thousands of years.

Why? Why would anyone think we are not permitted to count people for a mitzvah? Frankly, we Jews do a lot of counting.

Does this mean that counting per se in Jewish tradition is a sin? No! Think about Chanukah — we count eight nights. A brit milah is on the eighth day after birth. A b-mitzvah is counted for an age, 12 or 13, respectively. We are now concluding a count of 49 days of the Omer from Passover to Shavuot.

Counting days, weeks, months, even years is not punished. We Jews have been counting everything throughout our history.

Welcome to this week’s Torah portion, Bemidbar, which begins with a census — divinely ordered no less — of all the children of Israel on their way out of Egypt, the second, in fact, since the exodus. We read this Shabbat: Moses is told “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.” [Numbers 1:2-4]

So, what is the reason for “not one, not two, etc.?” Should our tradition really have any uneasiness or even anxiety, even when God orders both? “Yes,” said our rabbinic midrashim based on a biblical precedent.

We read from the Torah only several months ago, that Moses was directed: “When you take a census of the Israelite people …” he is then instructed how to conduct the census in detail. “… Each shall pay the Lord a ransom for himself on being counted in order that no harm occur to them …” [Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:12].

What is the difference between the two census procedures? In the first mandate, they are told to collect a half-shekel per person. Then they are to count the total half-shekels gathered. In this indirect method, the number of Israelites is learned. But specifically, in this way we also are ransoming our souls; we prevent any harm to any individual or the entire group.

One would think that to count otherwise is to perhaps tempt fate and somehow sin by directly counting people. So, we count “not one, not two, not three …” to avoid a plague.
Did it ever happen? Yes! In fact, the Bible records that census which resulted in a plague, interpreted by our sages as a punishment. After Israel is established as a nation with a king who conducted a census at God’s direction that tally did go terribly wrong.

King David is ordered to census of Israel [II Samuel 24], and this same directive is repeated again later in the Bible [I Chronicles 21]. Both narratives are described by our sages as a sin that deservedly resulted in a plague in which 70,000 died.

Perhaps what made it a sin was how King David took his census suggested our sages; David failed to follow the protocol of not-counting, of collecting coins to count and the subsequent deaths were a divine punishment.

Nonetheless, this returns us to our Torah portion this Shabbat and raises new questions: Why doesn’t our portion this Shabbat repeat the protocol for taking a census? Why not also require a ransom for each soul? Why is there no parallel warning of a danger of negef, or plague? What is the difference between these instructions for conducting a census? And a population survey is needed for, after all, every administration of a country needs to know for how many citizens is the leadership to provide.

What do the scholars interpret those deaths resulting from King David’s census that since then to the present have occasioned “anxiety” or is it just what many consider a superstition?

Rashi writes that counting Israelites individually triggers the “evil eye” and brings a plague, consistent with the Talmudic sage Rabbi Eleazar: “Whosoever counts Israel violates a negative precept” [Yoma 22b]. Therefore, they must conduct every census using objects such as half-shekels and then count the objects.

His grandson, the Rashbam, counters with a practical rationale: This was a military determination to ascertain the number of fighting men and their organization for forthcoming battles.

Nachmanides (the Ramban) agrees with this last suggestion that we cannot just depend upon divine miraculous victories a wise balance between trust in God and human commitment. And he also cites contemporaries that human beings are not objects or possessions to be inventoried. Every soldier is a person who has an importance and value deserving of God’s love and our respect.

War is terrible, and inevitably they will be confronting future battles. The death or injuries to any one soldier is a tragedy and while his military role might be restored numerically, as a human being he cannot be replaced. Every soldier is or could be a husband, son, father and grandfather, uncle and cousin — part of a larger family — and each is vital to klal Yisrael, the people of Israel.

When we ask aloud “is there a minyan?” and we count those present, let’s keep these values in mind as we count people. Let’s also be people on whom the community can count! Keyn yehi ratzon.

Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner is the editor and president of JewishFreeware.org and president and rav hamakhshir of Traditional Kosher Supervision LLC. The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the Board of Rabbis.

Community Briefs: Cookbook, Virtual Conference, More

Andy Gotlieb

May 13, 2021

JFCS Compiles Cookbook
Jewish Family and Children’s Service announced that it has compiled “Recipes from the JFCS Kitchen” to highlight its pandemic work in a retrospective story and cookbook.

During the pandemic, JFCS worked to ensure the community connections were not lost. Instead of in-person cooking programs, the organization transitioned classes and programs to a Zoom format, posted cooking videos on social media and making access free to more of its programs.

JFCS held a virtual cooking series entitled “Nourishing Community,” that included guest appearances by notable chefs such as Frankie Olivieri of Pat’s King of Steaks and Michael Solomonov of CooknSolo Restaurants. Their recipes are included in the cookbook.

“Recipes from the JFCS Kitchen” is $36, with all proceeds benefiting JFCS’ food insecurity and kitchen programs. It is available at bit.ly/2QFGmO3.

IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy to Go Virtual
The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies’ 41st annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, which was slated for August in Philadelphia, is going virtual because of ongoing pandemic concerns.

The conference will feature livestream presentations and more than 100 prerecorded, on-demand video presentations to cover virtually every aspect of Jewish genealogy.

The keynote speaker will be Michael Hoberman, professor of American literature at Fitchburg State University.

Registration and conference program details are posted on the conference website at iajgs2021.org.

American Friends of Kaplan Medical Center Changes Name, Broadens Mission
American Friends of Kaplan Medical Center announced that it’s changing its name to the American Foundation for Creating Leadership for Israel and broadening its objectives.

The renamed organization will strive to connect the United States and Israel through creative and collaborative programming and focus on young leadership development. It will raise support for Israeli medical innovation programs and young leadership projects.

AFCLI’s launch event will be on July 4 at Congregation Mikveh Israel to honor the heroism of Yoni Netanyahu at Entebbe. Scheduled speakers include Israel Prize awardee Maj. Gen. Doron Almog and Entebbe lead pilot Joshua Shani.

Disputed Rabbi in Jerusalem Has Connection with Orthodox Beit Din of Philadelphia
Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Michael Elkohen of Jerusalem, who anti-missionary groups contend is actually a Christian missionary sent to Israel to convert Jews, has a Philadelphia connection, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Elkohen, 42, who was born Michael Elk in Salem County, New Jersey, has denied the claims. He said he was born Jewish and had been a Christian missionary, but abandoned the religion in 2014. He referred questions about his Jewishness to the yeshiva dean. In turn, Rabbi Gideon Holland referenced a bill of divorce for Elkohen and his first wife from the Orthodox Beit Din of Philadelphia.

That Jewish court of law has since weighed in.

“It is impossible to rely on the Jewishness of the givers and receivers of bills of divorce that they are Jews for all purposes and that there is no doubt about them at all,” wrote Rabbi Yitzchok Meyer Leizerowski, one of the court’s rabbinical judges. “Matters are clarified as much as possible, a bill of divorce is written and given, however it is already impossible to clarify their past in a thorough document.”

“We are announcing publicly that it is impossible to rely just on a bill of divorce document given by a rabbinical court in order to determine Jewish status.”

Leizerowski told the Post that the court didn’t look into Elkohen’s Jewish status when it was approached about the divorce.

Rutgers Honors Students for Excellence in Jewish Studies
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey honored several students virtually on May 4 for their academic achievements in Jewish studies.

The ceremony, which was sponsored by the Department of Jewish Studies and the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers, featured student presentations about their work and experiences in Jewish studies.

Students from the Philadelphia area honored included junior Grace Herdelin of Haddonfield, New Jersey; senior Brianna Newman of Burlington, New Jersey; and graduate student Steven Weinberg of Elkins Park.

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

Letters: Israel Bill, Antisemitism

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May 13, 2021

Proposed Bill Potentially Fatal for Israel
I’m writing in response to “House Bill on Israel is Flawed, But Our Jewish Civil War is Worse,” on April 29.

The bill to limit aid to Israel, proposed by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and other progressives will harm Israel. It is endorsed by known anti-Israel/anti-Jewish legislators. Pro-Israel Jewish organizations should absolutely take a public stand against it. Aid to Israel should not be based on the falsely reported treatment of the Palestinians. The bill is not flawed — it is potentially fatal.

No Jewish organization should find merit in a bill to hobble Israel. Israel’s legitimacy is denied in most of the Islamic world, its physical and economic safety are consistently under attack, the double standards applied to Israel are legion. And yet …

Yehuda Kurtzer identifies himself as a progressive Zionist, part of the broad spectrum of pro-Israel groups. He warns that progressive values must be included or eventually Jewish groups will fade. He stressed the need for Israel to address Palestinian self-determination and their human rights, as if Israel’s 70 years of inviting compromise had never occurred.

And when does Arab recognition of Jewish rights and self-determination begin?

Progressive Zionists support for Israel, based on documented facts, is very welcome. Those of us who have done it for so long can use more help.

Roberta E. Dzubow | Plymouth Meeting

Piece on Rise of Antisemitism Lacked Context
I wanted to respond to Shira Goodman’s and Jeremy Bannett’s op-ed (“Antisemitism Mutated Like a Deadly Virus in 2020,” May 6) in the Exponent.

What they left out is context, which is that crime also mutated wildly at the same time as antisemitic incidents spread. Robberies, rapes, shootings and murders rose rapidly, often over 100% in several categories. In New York where I live, the cause is largely due to the recent “No Bail” law, which effectively releases criminals within hours of being arrested.

A recent example of this is the arrest of a serial synagogue defiler who had been arrested 41 times for his actions and was arrested yet once more for repeating his antisemitic attacks. The no bail law left the judge no choice but to release him back onto the streets, no doubt to repeat his criminal activity. Forty-two attacks, which should have ended at one.

Added to this are new laws which remove limited immunity from police, criminalize several techniques used to subdue a perpetrator and an atmosphere that demonizes them and coddles the criminal. Derek Chauvin’s actions were criminal and he was punished, but you can’t use him as the poster boy for all police without decreasing police morale and emboldening the criminal class.

As anarchy takes over the streets of our cities, Jews, Asians and other vulnerable minorities will see increases in attacks. It’s time to reject the knee-jerk reaction to demonize all because of the crimes of the few. l

Steve Heitner | Middle Island, New York

Take it From a Fat Rabbi: Nobody Needs Your Dieting Advice

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May 13, 2021

By Rabbi Minna Bromberg

Do you want to know one small but powerful way we could make Jewish life more inclusive?

Stop telling fat people about your diet and asking if they’d like to join you.

Last year I launched Fat Torah, with the aim of confronting weight stigma in Jewish communal life and deploying Jewish tradition in ways that are liberatory for all bodies. It has been my pleasure to connect with people in Jewish communities who are tired of diet culture interfering with our full enjoyment of traditional foods and appalled by the enshrinement of weight loss as a Jewish value. They are deeply concerned about how the pervasiveness of disparaging attitudes toward fatness and fat people harms not only the largest among us, but also those who are struggling to recover from eating disorders (among the most deadly of mental illnesses).

My inbox is blessedly full of their righteous anger, genuine sadness and deep love of the Jewish community, despite its failure to protect its own from fatphobia and the many oppressive forces that so often intertwine with it, including misogyny, ableism, healthism, homophobia, transphobia and white supremacy.

But one problem has only recently occurred to me, 10 years in the rabbinate and 30 years as a fat activist notwithstanding: Working with individuals has its limits when what we are seeking is systemic change. The people who most need a fat rabbi’s advice — about how to “know better so you can do better” (to paraphrase Maya Angelou) or how to confront weight stigma within themselves before they continue afflicting others with it — are the ones least likely to seek my counsel.

We want our communities — synagogues, schools, summer camps, programs for elders, Hillels and more — to be places that welcome us as whole human beings, created in the Divine image. Anyone who has been even a little bit fat for more than five minutes in our fatphobic culture is already deeply familiar with the sense that they don’t fit in.

When you suggest a diet to us, you reinforce the message that this space is one in which we cannot or ought not belong. If you are taken aback when we do not respond with gratitude, please know that we have already received too many of these offers and your “new” diet (or “program” or “healthy lifestyle”) only reminds us that we have heard it all before.

Often this urge to share your diet comes from a place of being “concerned about health.” But you cannot properly assess anyone’s health just by their size. Ask yourself: What does Jewish tradition teach us about how to care for the sick? One thing is to pay attention to a person’s actual needs and desires, and not the needs that we are projecting onto them.

When the Talmud (Berakhot 5b) has us follow Rabbi Yochanan, a famed healer, as he visits the sick, we learn that his very first question is “are your sufferings welcome to you?” We can all follow this model of first assessing whether our “help” is wanted.

You do not need to give up your own diet. But please be mindful of how your relationship with your body — and how you talk about it publicly — impacts those around you, especially when that relationship aligns with oppressive stereotypes rather than disrupting them.

I yearn for a world in which our Jewish communities can be places of belonging for bodies of every size. There is no shortage of work to be done to get there — from making sure we have seating that can accommodate the largest among us, to breaking ourselves of the habit of using fatness and fat people as the targets of “humor.” But please know, my dear dieter, that simply holding yourself back from trying to recruit others to your diet plan would truly be a wonderful starting point for making a world of difference.

Rabbi Minna Bromberg is founder and president of Fat Torah.

Bold Rabbi’s Tale Reads Like a Movie

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May 13, 2021

By Bat Ami-Zucker

“The Rabbi of Buchenwald”
Rafael Medoff
Yeshiva University Press

There is a remarkable scene early in “The Rabbi of Buchenwald” that sounds like something out of a movie — and perhaps should be.

It takes place in May 1945, soon after the United States army liberated that notorious Nazi concentration camp. The Swiss government offered to admit 350 Buchenwald children under the age of 16. The problem is that not enough children survived that Nazi hell to take full advantage of the offer.

An intrepid U.S. Army chaplain, Rabbi Herschel Schacter, tries to pass off a number of young adults as young teens so they can board the train taking them to a new life. A suspicious Swiss Red Cross inspector, one Sister Kasser, disqualifies many of the would-be passengers for exceeding the age limit.

Schacter finds a printer in nearby Weimar to create a rubber stamp bearing the Red Cross emblem. The rabbi and two confederates break into Kasser’s office, help themselves to blank cards of the type she gave to qualified passengers, and spend the night forging the signatures needed to confirm that the holder is of the required age.

The next morning, as Kasser stalks through the train in search of stowaways, older children in cars ahead of her elude discovery by jumping from the train and running back to the cars through which she has already passed. In this madcap fashion, many more than 350 Buchenwald children make it to Switzerland.

Rafael Medoff’s new study, “The Rabbi of Buchenwald,” is at once a biography of Schacter and a history of postwar U.S. Jewry, viewed through the lens of the many leadership positions Schacter held and the ways he impacted the community.

During the course of nearly half a century in Jewish public life, Schacter was the rabbi of a successful synagogue in the Bronx and a pioneer in early U.S. Orthodox outreach efforts, as well as chairman of national Jewish organizations such as the Religious Zionists of America, the American Conference on Soviet Jewry and, most important, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Schacter was the first Orthodox Jew to chair the Presidents Conference, which, Medoff shows, represented a kind of coming-of-age for Orthodox Judaism in the U.S. The old stereotype of Orthodox Jews as insular and unsophisticated gave way, in the 1960s, to a generation of young rabbis such as Schacter — impeccably tailored, speaking unaccented English and entirely capable of leading the entire Jewish community, not merely its religiously observant minority.

Deeply researched through archival documents and numerous interviews, Medoff’s well-written narrative explores Schacter’s involvement in a slew of Jewish public controversies. Some of those conflicts will seem familiar to contemporary readers, from disputes over Israel’s Jewish identity to clashes with U.S. government officials who were pressuring Israel to make one-sided territorial concessions.

We read of a rain-drenched Schacter picketing the Polish Embassy in Washington (to protest that government’s scapegoating of Jews), a magnanimous Schacter inviting Jewish militant hecklers to join him on the podium and a rather chutzpahdik Schacter entangled in a comic incident involving the president of the United States and a pair of cuff links — to mention just a few of the many episodes in this scholarly but very readable work.

“The Rabbi of Buchenwald” is not hagiography. Medoff presents a full picture of Herschel Schacter, the leader and the man, and he was not flawless. Serious scholarship shows us history in its full scope, not just the most flattering or pleasant parts.

Most of all, what Medoff shows is that while Schacter left Buchenwald after two and a half months, Buchenwald never left Schacter. “What I saw in Buchenwald was seared into my heart and mind,” Schacter often said.

Bat-Ami Zucker is a professor of American history at Bar-Ilan University.

Health-Tracking App Promotes Patient Empowerment

Jesse Bernstein

May 13, 2021

Tracey Welson-Rossman Photo by Neil Hoving

Journal My Health, a new app created by local entrepreneur Tracey Welson-Rossman, is billed as a tool for patients and their physicians to manage illness.

The app, which allows users to track symptoms in a private, detailed and simple manner, is intended to help patients give their providers as accurate of a picture of their health as possible during their visits. If patients can refer to an easy-to-navigate record of their symptoms, activities and medications, the thinking goes, their physicians can more accurately plot the next steps in treatment.

“I often wish I could place a Vulcan mind meld on patients to instantaneously understand how they are feeling and what they have observed. A patient may not think to mention their big toe occasionally turns blue, but that may be an important diagnostic clue, or not,” said Dr. Marta T. Becker, chief medical officer of Journal My Health. “Physicians’ brains are honed to cut through information and recognize meaningful patterns. Journal My Health reduces the time required to gather and analyze comprehensive health information and formulate a personalized treatment plan.”

For Welson-Rossman, founder and CEO of Journal My Health, the app is more than a business venture. It’s a response to her personal experience with a chronic condition, and a way to give patients the feeling that they are empowered to take charge of their own health.

Twenty years ago, Welson-Rossman was injured in a car accident that continues to cause her chronic pain. Managing the day-to-day pain was one thing; managing all of the different sources of information, whether from her body, her doctors; or her environment, was another difficult job on top of that. Her analog version of Journal My Health was juggling everything in her head and a folder. Dealing with multiple doctors, she often found herself struggling to recall who had what information, and when they’d gotten it.

Welson-Rossman’s idea for an app that could help her keep track of such things was germinating back then, but it wasn’t until the last year that she began to develop the first versions of what became Journal My Health. A telehealth appointment early in the pandemic and the first rumors of what has come to be called “long COVID” were the push she needed to try and make something new.

“It was almost like somebody was saying, ‘You should do this,” Welson-Rossman said.
The persistence of long COVID — the still-being-studied long-term effects of COVID-19, wherein people who have had the virus suffer symptoms of the virus well after their initial recovery — made the development of the app feel especially timely to Welson-Rossman and her team. Welson-Rossman, a Jewish graduate of Drexel University, works for Chariot Solutions, an information technology consulting firm that counts mobile application development as one specialty.

Becker, an ear, nose and throat specialist, contributed to the app’s design. It was important to her that the patterns and trends in a patient’s condition be easily legible to medical professionals, and she believes that the app does just that.

“It is time-consuming to extract and identify critical pieces of patient information,” said Becker, who is Jewish. “If a physician can visualize patterns and trends in a patient’s condition, we can be efficient diagnosticians and come to effective treatment strategies.”

A sample of a “Wellbeing Journal” entry. Courtesy of Journal My Health

One hundred patients are beta testing the app, logging their symptoms, medications, treatments, sleep patterns, stress levels, mood, lifestyle occurrences, doctors appointments and other relevant data. There are still kinks to be worked out; to Welson-Rossman’s amusement, the first support question came from a United Kingdom user, who noted that there was an issue with the app’s clock feature.

The app is available from the Apple Store for iOS devices and will be ready for Android and other devices in the future, according to a press release.

The idea is that, eventually, the finished version becomes popular enough on a national scale that Welson-Rossman and her team could market Journal My Health to insurance companies and large employers. It goes beyond long COVID; 45% of Americans, Welson-Rossman said, are affected by chronic conditions.

“Our ultimate goal is giving people with long COVID and chronic conditions a way to create better outcomes for themselves,” she said. “This is possible through the use of their own data, improved communications with their healthcare team, and a demonstrable way to track progress.”

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Anniversary of Nazi Book Burning Marked

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May 13, 2021

By Eleanor Linafelt

The Nazis held their first book burning on May 10, 1933, destroying texts they deemed “un-German,” including those by Jewish, liberal and leftist authors.

Eighty-eight years later, Philadelphia politicians, community leaders and students marked the anniversary of the event by reading and distributing texts that were on the Nazi banned list, as well as those by contemporary authors fighting racism and antisemitism today.

The Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, Friends Select School and The Philadelphia Citizen co-hosted the “History is an Open Book” event at the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza in Center City. The celebration of literature and education promoted freedom of expression and uplifted historically marginalized people.

PHRF Executive Director Eszter Kutas opened the event by providing a brief history of the Nazi book burnings, which she argued were one of the lesser-known starting points of the Holocaust.

Kutas then told the story of Magnus Hirschfeld, a German Jewish physician and sexologist whose work that supported LGBTQ people was destroyed in the book burnings.

“He was a Jewish man but, most importantly, he was an advocate for others. This story shows us how loss was not singular to the Jewish community and the Holocaust was not singular to the Jewish community either,” Kutas said.

“His legacy demonstrates how marginalized communities can help one another.”

The PHRF organized “History is an Open Book” with that principle in mind.

“Our foundation has broadened our mission to concentrate not only on the Holocaust, but to make those lessons relevant to our society today,” Kutas said. “We are giving a nod to our historic past but also concentrating on those people who are fighting the right fight today.”

Middle and high school students from Friends Select, a Quaker pre-K-12 school in Center City, read throughout the event. The PHRF wanted to include students to educate them on this piece of history, and acknowledge the fact that university students participated in the book burnings.
“Students are going to play a critical role in making sure that our society is heading in the right direction,” Kutas said. “The example of the Nazi youth is a historical warning.”

This was the first year that the event was held, and multiple speakers acknowledged its relevance to today’s political climate.

Shira Goodman, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia, who also read at the event, noted that over the past several years there have been spikes in antisemitism and increases in white supremacist activity in the region.

“It’s important to come together in ways that counter those forces,” she said. “We can do that by reading these words and giving out these books.”

Books offered in the giveaway at the book burning anniversary event. Photo by Eleanor Linafelt

Others who read and spoke at the event were Larry Platt, editor and co-founder of The Philadelphia Citizen; City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart; Councilpersons Derek Green, Allan Domb and Jamie Gauthier; and Commissioner of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Kathryn Ott Lovell.

Rhynhart prefaced her reading from Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 book “Caste” with a reflection on how its description of the unspoken racial caste system in the United States resonated with her as a Jewish woman. She explained how Nazi Germany looked to the racist systems of the U.S. for inspiration.

“How disgusting is that?” Rhynhart said. “We need to understand the darkness and racism in the history of our country in order to fully break it down.”

The event concluded with a giveaway of books, including “Caste,” as well other texts that combat racism, antisemitism and bigotry, such as “Night” by Elie Wiesel, “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi and “Malala’s Magic Pencil” by Malala Yousafzai.

Kutas hoped that the readings and giveaway informed attendees about the book burnings and encouraged them to continue to resist intolerance and oppression.

“Our goal is to deepen people’s historical understanding, but also to have them walk away with a sense of how important it is to stand up for what is right so that we can live in a more tolerant society,” she said.

Eleanor Linafelt is a freelance writer.

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