Elie Wiesel wrote of the uniqueness of those who are now called the ...

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 1
HaShiur
A JOURNAL OF IDEAS
SPRING 2009 THIS ISSUE: COURAGE
Elie Wiesel
wrote of the
uniqueness of
those who are
now called
the Righteous
Among the
Nations:
“Only a few
had the
courage to
care. These
few men and
women were
vulnerable,
afraid, helpless.
What
made them
different from
their fellow
citizens?
Why were
there so few?”
Poetry: p. 2 Profiles of Courage (Editorial), Amala Levine p. 3 Hijacked,
Cynthia Zeger p. 4 The Courage of the Righteous, Rabbi Michael S.
Friedman p.6 Act of Courage, Eric Levine p.8 Profiles of Courage, Rabbi
Maurice A. Salth p.10 Going to War, Seymour W. Miller p.12 Biblical
Inspiration for Women of Today, Cantor Angela Warnick Buchdahl p. 14
Teaching Troubled Kids, Daniel Magliocco p.16 Standing Tall for Women’s
Rights, Catherine Shimony p.17 Nechama Tec’s Defiance (Book Review),
p. 19 Defiance (Film Review) p. 20 Waltz with Bashir (Film Review) p.21
Steve Klausner The Kuritzkes Family Torah, Caroline Kuritzkes p. 22
The Courage of the Righteous Among the Nations Rabbi Michael S. Friedman Page 6
THE PEOPLE KAETHE KOLLWITZ

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 2
POETRY
From Prison
Todros Abulafia
My rings have fallen off, but I still have
My fingers; my glory is not in my
Wealth of rings. I still have my faith,
My dignity, and my precious soul, the
Legacy of my parents, the patrimony of
My ancestors. My heart harbours
Exploits and good deeds, but having
Lost all my money, I am at a loss to act.
Yet I hope in the Lord, Who is, was,
And shall be, that Time and its days
Will once again be in my service.
Uphold me, Lord, for Your will is
Mine. How much longer shall the fool
Prevail? How much longer?
Todros Abulafia (1247-after 1295)
was born in Toledo. He was an
epigone of the Andalusian School.
His most famous work is Gan
Hameshalim Vehahidot (The Garden
of Poems and Songs). He was
among the Jews of Castile arrested
by order of Alfonso the Wise, but
later released and his possessions
reinstated.
If Fear is Like a Rock
Shem Tov Ben Palquera
If fear is like a rock
Then I am a hammer;
If sorrow is a fire,
Then I am the sea.
When it comes, my heart
Increases its strength,
Like the moon that shines brighter
When the darkness falls.
Shem Tov Ben Palquera (1225-90) lived in Northern
Spain. He was a follower and renowned exponent of
Maimonides and the author of moral and philosophical
works of his own.
2

0380_r 3/26/09 6:35 AM Page 3
EDITORIAL
Profiles of Courage
The American economy is in a freefall: Jobs are lost,
college educations in jeopardy, and endowments
and charities rapidly shrinking. Many are losing
their homes, shelters are overcrowded, food pantries
can barely keep up with the demand, and bankruptcies
continue to rise. In addition, American soldiers are still
fighting in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and the threat of
terrorism has not diminished. What is required?
To find out, HaShiur turned to the clergy and
members of the congregation to share their views on
what it takes psychologically, spiritually and morally to
tackle such challenges. Their accounts describe different
situations, from the biblical to the contemporary, but all
show the same response to adversity: Courage. People
prevail by raising the shield of courage against fear,
apprehension or doubt. Yet none would consider themselves
courageous; what they did or still do springs
from an inner need to follow a calling, to stand their
ground, to preserve their integrity, to do the right thing.
This reluctance to be categorized as courageous is not
false modesty but points to a central characteristic of
courage itself, as action so urgent that it triumphs over
self-concern. Even in hindsight, the memory of an
active response to a challenge silences any egocentric
clamoring for recognition.
The profiles of courage in this issue provide
compelling examples how human beings overcome
great odds with dignity. They constitute a composite of
the qualities of courage. The congregational voices span
the decades, from the young bat mitzvah to those in
their mid-nineties.
We hear how a Torah survived its migration
from Russia to the United States, via Germany, becoming
the lynchpin of family cohesion and Jewish traditions.
The experiences of a World War II veteran reveal
the intimate relation of courage and fear—that courage
conquers fear: “It never interfered with what I had to
do.” A hostage on a hijacked plane recalls that during
her ten-day ordeal she would always remind herself
that she “was a human being and not just a
prisoner.” That is courage: not giving in, not losing
one’s dignity. She also highlights the need for community
and normalcy during dire emergency, which is yet
another signature trait of courage: The focus shifts from
the personal to the communal.
Queen Esther is the archetypal model of such a
shift. When her community is endangered, self-concern
Scene from Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and The Children
is suspended. In turn, she has inspired many contemporary
women to acts of moral and civil courage, to stand
up and stand tall. Into that category also fall women in
parts of the world ravaged by war or famine, or both.
We learn how they overcome economic adversity and
discrimination by creating community, meeting challenges
with ingenuity, adaptability and enterprise, all
signs of social courage. And a young teacher of severely
troubled middle-schoolers links his work to service.
The book and film reviews tell of a group of
Jews who during World War II saves fellow Jews by
forming a community, the Bielski Otriad, deep in the
forests of Belorussia. Despite internal frictions, they
never loose sight of their common goal: to survive as
Jews. On the other side of this spectrum are the
Righteous Among the Nations, those gentiles,
Christians and non-believers alike, who saved Jews
from perishing under the Nazi regime because they valued
their common humanity more than their own individual
lives. A fictionalized adaptation of historical
events in Spain at the time of the Inquisition tells how
some Jews are helped to escape from forced conversion
by gentiles while others die with dignity as Jews.
Moses remains one of the greatest biblical
embodiments of courage. A man not gifted with eloquence
and given to self-doubt, he rises to God’s daunting
call to lead his people from bondage to freedom.
Submitting to a cause superior to himself, he conquers
fear and rises to the occasion, doing what is asked of
him. He embodies the quintessential moral qualities of
courageous action: integrity, resolve, service, and commitment
to something greater than mere self-preservation
or individual gain. From his day to ours, the profiles
chronicled in this issue inspire as examples of
courage that defy calamity.
Amala Levine, Editor
3

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ISRAEL: HISTORY
Hijacked
Operation Entebbe
On June 27, 1976, four terrorists commandeered Air France Flight 139,
bound from Tel Aviv to Paris. They identified themselves as members of
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On board were 248
passengers and a crew of 12. The plane was diverted to Libya for a
seven-hour refueling stop, before continuing to Entebbe Airport in
Uganda. There the hijackers were met by four others. The hostages were
sorted into Jews and Gentiles, the latter were released and flown to
Kenya. The French crew voluntarily stayed with the remaining Jewish
hostages for an ordeal that lasted until the early morning hours of July
4, when they were dramatically rescued by Israeli commandos.
The pitched battle left all eight hijackers dead, along with three
hostages. In addition to Yonatan Netanyahu, the leader of the assault
force of 200 elite troops, five Israeli commandos and 45 Ugandan soldiers
were also killed. The freed hostages were quickly shepherded onto a
waiting plane and flown to safety.
Speaking at the Israeli Knesset after the rescue operation, Prime
Minister Yitzak Rabin who had ordered the raid, said: “This operation
will certainly be inscribed in the annals of military history, in legend
and in national tradition.”
As soon as the fasten seat belt
sign was turned off, after a
stop-over in Athens on our
way to Paris, four men stood up
and shouted: “Put your hands on
your heads. This plane has been
taken over by the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine.” They
went down the aisle and ordered
us to hand over our passports and
any weapons. They did not ask for
money or jewelry. I remember how
glad I was that my three children
were not with me, that instead they
were safely in the United States.
Since I had remarried after their
father’s death, they had a different
last name, so no link between me
and them could be established by
the hijackers. It was my great con-
Israeli commandoes
4

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 5
solation during the entire ordeal.
The hijackers were very
intimidating, pointing their guns
and hand grenades at us constantly.
They told us, we would be flying to
Uganda, and I remember thinking
that we would be going to the
“Butcher of Africa,” as Idi Amin
was known. When we arrived at
Entebbe, we were taken off the
plane and brought into the terminal
building. When I had left Tel Aviv
on June 27, I was expecting to
have lunch with cousins in Paris
before returning to New York.
Instead I spent six days as a hostage
at Entebbe airport. At the time, Air
France had a slogan, “Take a
Chance, Fly Air France.” I never
imagined this could literally happen.
“You always have to
remember, you are
a person and not just
a prisoner”.
Inside the terminal, in
addition to the hijackers, there were
armed guards everywhere, belonging
to the Ugandan army. We had
to be escorted to the restrooms and
felt under constant threat. I remember
being allowed to take a shower
with some other women the morning
after our arrival. When I first
saw the pipe coming out of the
wall, I thought I was in a gas chamber.
But it truly turned out to be a
shower.
The hijackers separated
Israelis and other Jews from the
non-Jewish passengers. The latter
were flown to Kenya and from
there to Europe. The French captain
decided that he and his crew would
stay with us. They felt responsible
for us, organized the food distribution
and helped us in every way
they could. There were some mattresses,
which we pushed together
in the middle of the terminal. We
Arrivals of the hostages back in Israel.
put the little children there to keep
them comfortable; like a basket of
kittens.
Another woman and I
organized a library with the reading
material, books and magazines
that people had with them. We listed
everything on a fool’s cap, to
make it as pleasant as possible. It
certainly was not pleasant, but it
gave us something to do. At first,
quite a number of people were hysterical.
But after a while everyone
settled into a routine, once it looked
like we were going to stay for a
while and were not going to be
shot straight away. People played
cards, read, talked with the children,
and to each other. We became
a community, a little village, where
people say good morning and good
night to one another.
Some of us women put on
lipstick, even mascara; we tried to
keep ourselves as clean as possible,
under the circumstances. In an
emergency like ours, you try to live
as normally as possible. So we put
on make-up and fixed our hair,
even though we knew we were not
going anywhere. But it made us
feel that we kept our dignity. You
always have to remember, you are
a person and not just a prisoner.
5
Cynthia Zeger
The days dragged on. Even
though it was boring, it was terribly
stressful at the same time, since
we never knew what to expect
next. Many of us were convinced
we would die; we just did not
know how or when. A fellow passenger,
a Hollywood producer who
had custody of his two children,
asked me if I would take care of his
children in case he died. I agreed;
so we drew up a will and had it
witnessed.
Idi Amin arrived every
morning at the same time with his
young son, dressed in identical uniforms.
Both of them were big,
bulky and frightening. Finally we
were rescued. It was frantic and I
remember how nervous I was
getting onto the rescue plane. But
once we were in the air, we were
debriefed and ultimately I arrived
back in New York. During the following
year, I was very restless,
unable to stay anywhere for any
length of time. But then I picked
up my life again, as did the
other hostages, and the little community
we had formed at Entebbe
disbanded. ■
Cynthia Zeger is a long-time member of Central
Synagogue, where she spoke about her hostage experience
soon after her return from Entebbe.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 6
REFLECTIONS
The Courage of the Righteous
Among the Nations
Yad Vashem is, by definition, a
place fraught with emotion. A
flame leaps from the dark floor
of the Hall of Remembrance, illuminating
the names of the infamous
camps. Mirrors in the
Children’s Memorial refract memorial
candles into infinite dimensions,
representing the 1.5 million
murdered Jewish children. But perhaps
the most moving site within
the entire complex is the row of
trees known as the Avenue of the
Righteous Among the Nations.
Known in Hebrew as
the Chasidei Umot Ha’olam, these
“righteous gentiles” risked everything
to save Jews–often Jews they
didn't even know. The Righteous
Among the Nations serve as a
counterpoint, reminding us of
humanity’s potential for goodness
and compassion. The Righteous
ranged from educated to illiterate,
from religious to agnostic, from
rich to poor; the only common
denominator was their humanity.
Those whose stories have been told
and verified are honored at Yad
Vashem and are entitled to Israeli
citizenship. And there are
undoubtedly others whose honorable
deeds remain unrecorded.
“Who is courageous?
One who conquers his
own desires.”
The Nazis and their many
collaborators serve as a perpetual
reminder of humanity’s potential
for great evil. But we instinctively
categorize Holocaust perpetrators
(those who actually manned the
camps and death squads) as essentially
different from us. We know
that we could never have acted as
they did. However, we also know
6

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 7
that alongside the perpetrators
stood millions of others who knew
what was happening, yet did little
to stop it. Their indifference
reminds us of humanity’s potential
for apathy. Elie Wiesel has said:
“What hurts the victim most is not
the cruelty of the oppressor but the
silence of the bystander. Let us not
forget, after all, there is always a
moment when moral choice is
made.”
“Only a few had the
courage to care.”
When viewed against the
backdrop of the millions of
bystanders, the courage of these
Chasidei Umot Ha’olam impresses
us all the more. Maybe that is
because our deepest fear in the face
of unspeakable evil is not that we
will become perpetrators, but that
we will become bystanders. So we
are compelled to ask: What would
we have done had we been there?
Would we have stuck our necks
out? Who among us would have
dared to put our families in mortal
danger in an attempt to save others?
These difficult questions are
the ones that keep us up at night.
Elie Wiesel wrote of the
uniqueness of those who are now
called the Righteous Among the
Nations: “Only a few had the
courage to care. These few men
and women were vulnerable,
afraid, helpless. What made them
different from their fellow citizens?
Why were there so few?”
We make risk assessments
every day as a common course of
thought, weighing potential gain
against potential damages. And
when the stakes are incredibly
high, we are generally quite risk
averse. But for the Righteous
Among the Nations, the risk assessment
took on a very different
calculus. Pirke Avot, the great second-century
collection of rabbinic
wisdom asks, “Who is courageous?
One who conquers his own desires.”
The Righteous Among the
Nations conquered their desires for
personal gain, comfort and security
in favor of intangible principles of
human dignity and a sense of
shared humanity. They had nothing
to gain and everything to lose
but they still chose to do that which
was morally right. That is the very
definition of courage.
Hannah Arendt coined
the phrase,”the banality of evil”
to refer to the common human tendency
to follow orders or to conform
to societal norms, without
thinking critically about the moral
Rabbi Michael S. Friedman
consequences of their actions.
“Under conditions of terror most
people will comply but some people
will not… Humanly speaking,
no more is required, and no more
can reasonably be asked, for this
planet to remain a place fit for
human habitation.” Similarly, the
Torah speaks of a world that God
has deemed unfit for human habitation
when it introduces us to
Noah. The text tells us that while
his generation was filled with evil
people, Noah was “righteous in his
generation.” The courageous
Righteous Among the Nations
stand with Noah. They remind us
that each person is responsible for
his own deeds, regardless of the era
in which he or she lives. ■
Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
7

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FICTION
AUTO-DE-VALOR – Act of Courage
It was May 1492. The day began
like most May mornings in
Catalonia with a clear blue sky
and bright sunlight. Manuella was
sitting in the conservatory trying
to concentrate on her needlework,
with her little brother playing at
her feet. She had recently turned
13 and was beginning to show
signs of blossoming womanhood.
Her dark, deep-set eyes and finely
sculpted nose set off her generous
mouth with its winsome smile.
She was the only daughter of a
privileged household and was
thoroughly spoiled.
Her father was Court
physician to the Duke of Cardon.
He was also the esteemed Parnas
of the city’s most prestigious synagogue
and had used his relationship
with the Duke to shelter the
Jewish community from the harshest
impact of the Inquisition. The
accession of Ferdinand and Isabella
to the throne in 1474 had not led to
any immediate worsening of the
Jewish condition. So the Duke continued
his lenient policy towards
the Jews of his principality, allowing
them to practice their faith
peaceably and avoid conversion.
But with the growing influence of
the Holy Order of the Inquisition,
ominous changes were afoot that
would leave the Jews with no place
to hide. However, in the idyllic setting
of her palatial home, gazing
out over the magnificent grounds,
the thought of any change was far
from Manuella’s mind.
Her idle thoughts were disturbed
by the sound of coach
wheels on the gravel driveway, followed
by the banging of doors.
She could hear hurried talk, then a
servant appeared. Manuella was
requested to join the family in the
library and to bring her brother.
The moment she entered, she could
tell something was wrong from her
father’s strained, worried look and
the sad expressions of her mother
and grandparents.
“We shall be Christian on
the surface but we shall
remain Jews in our hearts
and in our secret practice.”
“I have some very bad
news,” her father began. “The
Rabbi of Cardóba has converted!”
“Never! Never! It cannot
be,” her grandfather protested.
“It is true,” her father
replied. “He was baptized last
Friday with Cardinal Mendoza and
the papal nuncio as his sponsors.
But that is not the worst of it! I
have just come from the Duke. He
told me he can no longer protect us.
The King has issued a new edict.
The Holy Office of the Inquisition
has ordered the expulsion of every
Jew from all Spanish realms and
territories. They seek to cleanse the
country from the sin of heresy, and
the King has acquiesced. We must
either be baptized or leave the
country. And if we choose to leave,
we have no time to spare.
Torquemada has appointed the first
two inquisitors for this region.
They are on their way now and
could reach Cardon in a matter of
days.” He paused and heaved a
great sigh. “We have no choice!
We were born Jews and as Jews we
must die. So I have made arrangements
for us to travel immediately
to the port of Santander. From
there we will take a boat to Genoa
8
in Italy, where we will be received
by my cousin who is banker to the
Duke. We shall be well. Do not
fear.”
The hurried packing and
their hasty departure did not give
Manuella any chance to think about
the dramatic changes to her life.
She knew her father would make
everything turn out well. But even
he could not have foreseen the
chaos that lay ahead. Arriving at
the port of Santander, they found
the city clogged with fellow Jews,
all desperately seeking passage on
any ship that would take them to a
country that was open to them.
The inns and hostelries were
already crowded and bags and luggage
filled the streets, making passage
difficult. Only by sending a
letter to the Duke with his coachman
was her father able to obtain a
single cabin for the whole family
on a boat bound the next day for
Genoa.
The conditions on board
ship were overcrowded with too
many passengers and too little food
or water. To make matters worse,
the vessel was ill-managed by a
patchwork crew that had been
hastily pressed into service. Once
at sea, storms overtook them with
gale force winds that eventually
tore the sails from the mast and
swept some of the passengers overboard.
After many storm-tossed
days, the wind drove the ship with
its surviving passengers back to
the coast of Spain.
They had landed at
Valencia, where they were able to
find shelter with a physician who
was a cousin by marriage to
Manuella’s mother. That whole
family had accepted forcible con-

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 9
version. From them they learned
how many of the exiles had perished
at sea; how some had been
seized by pirates and sold into slavery;
how others had been burnt
alive when their ships had been
engulfed in flames; how many had
died of disease or been swept overboard
in the storm.
Manuella’s father left his
family in Valencia to travel to
Cardon to beg the Duke for asylum.
He returned some days later
and gathered the family together.
He spoke with great difficulty.
“I met with the Duke who
has graciously consented to restore
me to my position as his Court
physician.
We may
return to our
home where
much has
been saved,
though there
has been
some looting
and damage
in our
absence. But
there is one
condition.”
He closed
his eyes to
hold back
the tears
before continuing.
“We
must all convert
and be
baptized.
We must join
our many
brethren
who have
become conversos.
I
know this
will be hard
for you, my
parents, but
this is the
only way we
can survive.
We shall be
Christian on
continued on page 11
9
Eric Levine
the surface but we shall remain
Jews in our hearts and in our secret
practice.”
So the whole family was
baptized and took up their life as
before, openly practicing
Christianity but keeping the flame
of Judaism alive in the sanctity of
their home. But, as one of the
exiles in Valencia had said, God’s
hand was turned against them.
One day the family peace was shattered.
Manuella was at home
when they came to arrest her father,
accused by the Inquisition of practicing
Jewish rites in secret. After
several weeks of her father’s
imprisonment the family was
ordered to attend the Court of the
Inquisition where he was to stand
trial. Manuella was horrified to see
her father looking so weak and
worn, worse to see this proud man
whom she loved so much, dressed
in a sabenito as a mark of his
infamy, the infidel’s long peaked
hat pulled low over his brow.
Based upon the testimony and
forced confession they had
obtained under torture, the inquisitors
sentenced the whole family to
death by burning. Only the two
children were to be spared, for
adoption by the Church. With her
mother and grandparents taken
into custody, the children were
ordered to witness the burning of
their family, which was to take place
next day in the cathedral square.
Taking her brother by the
hand, Manuella hurried home, her
fear and bitter tears slowly giving
way to anger. And with the anger
came an awakening. She remembered
what her father had said, that
they were born Jews and as Jews

0380_r 3/26/09 6:35 AM Page 10
REFLECTIONS
Profiles of Courage
in our Tradition
Profiles of courage are found
throughout our Torah and in
the texts of our people. Our
tradition’s greatest books contain
many stories of our ancestors and
the daring choices they made
throughout their lives.
Abraham challenges God
when he is told that the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah are to be
destroyed, asking, “Will You indeed
sweep away the innocent along
with the wicked?” [Genesis 18:23]
Jacob, whose Hebrew name
is derived from the word akov,
meaning ‘crooked’ or ‘distorted,’
after decades of living with the
guilt of cheating his brother,
decides to return to Esau to make
amends. On the eve of their meeting,
Jacob wrestles with an angel
who gives Jacob a new name. This
name, Yisra-el, derives from the
Hebrew word yashar, meaning
A medieval painting showing Pharaoh’s daughter finding
the basket with the infant Moses.
‘straight.’ Courageously, the transformed
Jacob bows low seven times
before his family and hundreds of
Esau’s followers, demonstrating his
humble apology. A mollified Esau
then forgives and lovingly reunites
with Jacob. [Genesis, chapters 32 and 33]
Faced with the pending
murder of her newborn son,
Jocheved ingeniously places him in
a wicker basket. She sends him
down the Nile and asks her daughter
Miriam to watch what happens,
from a distance. When Pharaoh’s
daughter finds the basket and takes
pity on the child, Miriam is on the
spot to suggest her own mother as
nurse for the infant Moses. [Exodus, 2:3]
Later, in Exodus, Moses
encounters God at the burning
bush. He accepts God’s request to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt after
first confronting his fears about his
inability to lead. [Exodus, chapter 4]
The book
of Esther tells
of her risking
her own life,
when she goes
before the
king of Persia
in order to
save the
Jewish population
in the
land. “Though
it is contrary
to the law, I
shall go to the
king, and if I
am to perish, I
shall perish!”
[Esther 4:16]
Each week,
we read from
the Torah and
throughout
10
the year we celebrate holidays.
Such rituals are in place, in part, to
help remind us of heroes, prominent
to less conspicuous, who have
shown feats of courage. The many
stories of brave behavior in our tradition
are meant to serve as models
and inspiration for us in our own
lives.
Being strong and
courageous is an integral
part of moral living.
In addition to such tales
of courage, one of the last Torah
portions of Deuteronomy contains
the direct charge to “be strong and
courageous.” Moses uses these
words on three different occasions
when addressing the Israelites as a
whole, as well as when prompting
his successor Joshua in the final
days before his death. [Deuteronomy,
chapter 31]
Repetition of a word or
phrase is the Torah’s way of signifying
something of importance. Rarely
are phrases repeated more than
once, and it is even more unusual
for them to be repeated three times
in such a short span. This compact,
two-word charge, chazak v’ematz, ‘
be strong and courageous,’ is found
in the Torah’s shortest portion,
Vayeilech; it is an exhortation of
how we are to live as Jews.
Our tradition does not
gloss over life’s difficulty.
Throughout the Torah, our matriarchs
and patriarchs face many
challenges. The same is true for the
Israelites before and after they are
released from slavery in Egypt.
One might postulate that having
such close contact with the Divine
might have shielded our ancestors

0380_r 3/26/09 6:35 AM Page 11
from life’s hardships, but that is not
the case. Like us, they experience
struggles of existence, struggles
that at times hobble and paralyze.
The Torah sets forth lessons,
laws and commandments prescribing
how to live life; it is a
guide for navigating our time on
earth. And how does the Torah
end its long list of mitzvot and anecdotes?
With the words, “be strong
and courageous.” Why?
The call to chazak v’ematz,
‘be strong and courageous,’ is a
clear sign of the Torah’s understanding
of the human condition.
We may know our history and be
inspired by it, and we may be cognizant
of the laws that should
guide us. Still, we may need an
additional push, especially in very
challenging times, to be strong and
resolute. And we may need even
more than one push to stay true,
firm and determined to follow the
teachings of goodness, honor and
blessing set forth in our tradition.
Being strong and courageous is an
integral part of moral living. The
Torah makes it clear that we should
expect at times to be resolved to be
chazak v’ematz.
It is Moses, not God, who
delivers this message. Chazak v’ematz
is his appeal to each of us. It
comes from a man whose mother
followed such a charge, when she
set him afloat on the Nile as an
infant. It comes from a man who
had personally experienced what it
means to be fearful, doubtful and
unsure of his abilities and the
future. Chazak v’ematz are words
spoken by a person who knows
how tough, yet rewarding, life can
be. They reflect the wisdom of an
elder member of our family who
wants to prepare us for the trying
ACT OF COURAGE continued from page 9
they would die. And she knew
more certainly than ever that she
and her brother could not live as
Catholics. They had to live as Jews.
She owed that to her parents. It
was up to her, and there was no
time to lose. But how were they to
escape? If only her father were
there, what would he have done?
Then she knew.
Leaving her brother in the
care of the servants, she wrapped
herself in a shawl and set out for
the Duke’s palace. She did not
rouse the coachman, realizing that
everything she did, must now be
done in secret. So she walked the
long distance to the palace, arriving
at the gates when it had already
turned dark. Mentioning her
father’s name gained her admission
to the grounds and the long driveway
leading towards the lights of
the palace. The Duke was dining
but interrupted his meal to see her.
He had already heard the tragic
news and had tried to intervene to
save the family but to no avail.
Hearing the plight of the two children,
he immediately cast aside the
risk to himself and ordered his
coachman to escort Manuella back
home, to wait for her and her
brother. From there, they were to
travel to San Sebastian under cover
of night to board a ship the next
day that was bound for Rotterdam.
11
Rabbi Maurice A. Salth
times we will have to face sometimes.
It is a message lovingly
delivered by Moses to the people of
his day and to the people of our day.
May we find the strength
and courage to embrace Moses’
words and apply them to our lives
so that we can go forward, no matter
what challenge lies before us. ■
Pressing some gold coins into
Manuella’s hands, he kissed her on
the brow, and crossing himself in
prayer for her safety, set her on her
way.
The next day, as her family
was being led to the pyre where
they were to be burned, a man
pressed a note into her father’s
hands. Opening it with trembling
fingers, he read the message: “Your
children are safe. They will live as
Jews, free to practice their faith.
Once they arrive in Holland, I have
friends who will care for them.
Go in peace and die honorably as
a Jew.” It was signed the Duke of
Cardon.
The father turned to his
wife and said: “The children are
safe.” Then he looked towards
the heaven and smiled. “God be
praised,” he murmured, and went
peacefully to his death. ■
The characters and the story are fictitious but the setting
is true to the history of the Inquisition and the Expulsion.
The Rabbi of Cordóba did convert in the manner
described, as did other rabbis and leaders of the Jewish
communities.
Suggested Reading: Henry Kamen, The Spanish
Inquisition. (The Folio Society: London, 1998)
Eric Levine is a transnational corporate lawyer,
a founding principal of Millenia Capital Partners,
an investment advisory firm, and CEO of its inner-city
development division.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 12
INTERVIEW
Going to War: A Veteran Remembers
Editor: Can you tell me about
some of your experiences during
World War II?
Seymour Miller: I was drafted into
the Army in February, 1942, when I
was 27. After basic training, I was
sent to the infantry officer school at
Fort Benning, Georgia. After graduation,
I was transferred to the
Signal Corps, presumably to some
special unit needing combat officers,
since in civilian life I had, in
addition to my law degree, also a
degree in mathematical physics.
E.: When did you ship out to
Europe?
S.M.: We shipped out in October,
1943, for England, and left Bristol
for the invasion of Normandy on
June 3rd or 4th, 1944. Either in
Plymouth or Southampton, I was
assigned two sergeants and told to
leave to find a missing truck. We
ended up on the departure dock,
where we were only able to go forward,
straight onto a strange troop
ship. Separated from our outfit, we
arrived at Omaha Beach in
12
Normandy on the morning of
June 7th. There was firing, with
bullets and aircraft overhead, but I
did not get hit. Not all the dead
bodies had been picked up yet. It
was a terrible sight, and I really
don’t know whether God was
watching over me. We slept on the
beach for two nights, before our
own battalion arrived on D + 3, and
we were finally able to rejoin it.
E.: Omaha Beach
must have been a terrifying
experience.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 13
S.M.: Being separated from our
own outfit made it very lonesome,
to say the least. But despite the bullets,
it was more or less “peaceful,”
since we just did not get hit. When
you are young, you also feel invulnerable;
you feel you are never
going to die. When I think now
about the first wave of soldiers landing
on that beach, I really don’t
know how any survived. To this
day, I believe that, had I been in that
very first wave, I would not be here.
But at the time, I felt my “immunity”
would take care of me. In my
opinion, the real heroes were the
ones who took the bullets; the ones
who were killed. I came back to lead
a full life. Better men did not.
The real heroes were the
ones who took the bullets;
the ones who were killed.
I read somewhere that some
veterans have a sense of guilt. I do,
too. Maybe it’s not complete guilt,
but I do ask myself, “Why me?”
Why was I allowed to lead a full
life, but not the other guys? What
was God doing? Later on, at the
Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, I did
have occasions to experience fear.
E.: What happened?
S.M.: We were heavily bombed.
Mostly they were buzz bombs that
exploded all over the place. They
are a type of cruise missile the
Germans had invented that was
very fast. You could hear them coming,
because they made a buzzing
noise. At one point, it got so bad
that a whole bunch of us lay down
on a road in the Liege area. The
executive officer of our outfit,
Major Knox, got into a ditch with
six men, and they were all killed by
a buzz bomb. It was a really terrible
sight.
Finally, we had to find a
place to stay for the night and our
captain, the Chief Signal Officer of
the First U.S. Army, picked a bottle
factory, of all places. I said to him,
if we stayed there, we could be cut
to pieces, even by a near-miss. I got
nowhere. That night, he came in
late and just went to sleep. He was
the only man I ever met who never
showed any fear. Either he had
great courage, or he was just foolhardy.
Our 6’7” assistant cook from
Oklahoma said to me, “Lt. Miller,
you know what? I’m scared.”
Though I was unhappy myself in
that bottle factory, I tried to reassure
him that there was little
chance we would get hit.
E.: But you were afraid?
S.M.: Yes, I was afraid, several
times. There is no question about
that. But the point is—what do you
do with your fear. I’m fairly secure
about that. I had as much fear as
anybody, but it never interfered
with what I had to do. That is the
only credit I give myself. Sure I was
afraid; you could be torn apart at
any time.
Once in Belgium, a bomb
hit the building I was in. I got cut
and was bleeding all over. But I
had seen people with their stomachs
ripped out, their limbs torn off
and half their heads blown away.
I was never going to ask for a
Purple Heart, just because I had
been scratched. I took a rag and
some fluid, and then a doctor fixed
me up later. That was that.
Later on in Germany, I was
assigned as a bodyguard to the
same Chief Signal Officer with
whom I had been in Belgium at the
bottle factory. He was responsible
for finding advance headquarters
for the First U.S. Army. His name
was Williams. All he carried was a
13
Seymour W. Miller
little pistol, as did his driver. Not
me. I loaded myself down with my
pistol, a Tommy gun, my carbine,
and lots of ammunition. Williams
laughed and said, “You’re going to
blow yourself up, you silly---.” He
never mentioned that, if it should
happen to me, it would also happen
to him and his driver. Again
Col. Williams seemed not to be
afraid of anything.
On another trip with
Williams to find advance headquarters,
we had breached the Siegfried
Line and were moving forward
swiftly within Germany. We came
to an area where we saw no movement;
there was absolute silence.
Then Williams pointed left toward
a warning sign saying, “Achtung!
Minen!” The driver turned the jeep
in that direction and drove straight
into what I was sure was a minefield.
I closed my eyes and gripped
my seat. I was convinced I was
going to be blown up. To me it
seemed a miracle that nothing happened.
But as always, Williams
stayed totally cool. The only careful
thing he did, was to order the driver
to follow our own tracks back
out. Once out on the road, in the
distance behind us, we saw a couple
of figures running. We thought
they were Germans, which meant
that we were ahead of the front line.
That was a wild experience—for me.
E.: Can you tell me more
about Germany?
S.M.: After the Battle of the Bulge,
we continued from Belgium,
through Holland, into Germany.
Eventually, my outfit came to
Weimar in the spring of 1945. When
we got there, the nearby
Buchenwald concentration camp
had just recently been liberated. A
sergeant, who had seen the place,
continued on page 15

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 14
REFLECTIONS
Biblical Inspiration for Women of Today
When I ask my students to
name a brave, courageous
hero from our tradition,
they usually choose characters like
Judah Maccabbee in the Chanukah
story or David battling Goliath.
Indeed, these are examples of
courage as we typically imagine it: a
strong warrior who takes on his enemies
with fierce determination. But
courage comes in many forms, and
often a courageous hero is not spoiling
for a fight but is confronted with
a situation that requires strength and
then rises to the occasion.
We have just celebrated the
holiday of Purim. Queen Esther, a
central figure in the Purim story, is
not a typical hero. King Ahashverous
selects Esther as his wife primarily
for her beauty, and she does not
seem particularly comfortable sharing
her Jewish lineage with her
new husband. However, once
Haman threatens the lives of all the
Jews in the land, Mordechai comes
before Esther and says, “Who
knows if you have come to this
royal position for such a time as
this?” [Esther 4:14]. Esther’s assuming
the throne and concealing her
heritage were not acts of courage.
But, once the situation presented
itself, she understood her special
role in the destiny of her people
and found the courage to stand up
to the King and the evil Haman.
She felt a sense of mission,
of doing something for
a larger cause than merely
defending her own name.
Some of the most courageous
women I have encountered
in my lifetime follow in the footsteps
of this early female hero
Esther. I had the privilege of getting
to know Dr. Deborah Lipstadt,
a professor of Holocaust Studies at
Emory University, during a confer-
14
ence several years ago. She had
just won a landmark legal ruling in
the British courts against David
Irving, a notorious Holocaust
denier. Irving had sued Lipstadt
for libel, after she called him a liar
based on his “research,” arguing
that the Holocaust had never happened.
Under British law, Lipstadt
had the burden of proof to show
that Irving was indeed lying—to
prevail, she had to prove that the
Holocaust indeed had happened.
Deborah Lipstadt told me
that she felt a strong affinity with
the character of Queen Esther during
this trial. As an academic, she
had never asked for the spotlight
nor sought out such a public test of
courage. Yet she understood that
perhaps it was just for this very
moment that God had prompted
her to become a scholar of the
Holocaust. She felt a sense of mission,
of doing something for a larger
cause than merely defending her
Ladies Auxiliary, North Russel Street Shul, Purim Party 1931. With permission of The Boston Synagogue, successor to The Russel Street Shul.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 15
Queen Esther and King Ahashverous
own name. She was defending the
very integrity of our people’s collective
memory of the Holocaust.
“Survivors or children of
survivors will thank me for what I
did, which is mind-boggling to
me,” said Lipstadt. “It's not that
I'm such a humble person—I put a
lot of effort into the fight, and who
doesn't like to be thanked for something
they've done? But compared
to what they went through, I didn't
do very much.” Lipstadt is a modern
profile in courage.
Sally Priesand, the first
American female rabbi, is another
courageous hero in the line of
Queen Esther. At the age of only
sixteen, Priesand applied to rabbinical
school, undaunted by the
fact that the school had never
ordained a woman before. The
school responded that no opportunities
existed for her, but she recalls
that this did not alter her determination
to apply.
In an interview marking
her retirement as a rabbi, Priesand
admitted that her early days at
Hebrew Union College, the rabbinical
school of the Reform
Movement, had been difficult.
Teachers and peers didn’t take her
seriously, assuming that she was
really there to marry a rabbi rather
than to become one. Yet she didn’t
think of herself as a pioneer or as a
courageous trailblazer during this
time. “I just wanted to be a rabbi.”
It was as simple as that.
Rabbi Priesand was
ordained in 1972. Her first pulpit
was at the Stephen Wise Free
Synagogue in New York City,
where she served for seven years.
The only real moment of doubt in
her career occurred, when she left
Stephen Wise and had great difficulty
finding another congregation.
Most communities were not yet
ready for a female rabbi. Priesand
did not make an issue of her gender,
and she didn’t even consider
herself a feminist in the traditional
sense; however, she was aware of
the pressure that being “the first”
A VETERAN REMEMBERS continued from page 13
warned me that I should not go
there. I think, he had guessed I was
Jewish. But I insisted. What I saw
there really changed my life! I saw
piles of dead; people were walking
about looking like skeletons! The
German guards had all fled and the
cages, where the attack dogs had
been kept, were empty. There were
three big furnaces. I opened the
heavy steel covers and found
human remains.
E.: How did what you saw
change your life?
S.M.: First, hatred! I had never
hated as badly before. I hated so
much that my battalion commander
made me stay in quarters, and I was
not allowed to have my weapons
back until I cooled down, which
took almost three days. I could
15
Cantor Angela Warnick Buchdahl
carried with it. She rose to the occasion
that presented itself and eventually
became the spiritual leader of
Monmouth Reform Temple. She set
an example that I and so many
others have since followed.
In my years of congregational
work, I have often been
struck by the many courageous
acts of people in our community.
Acts of moving forward after the
devastating loss of a loved one, of
coming out as gay to family and
friends, of speaking out against the
way things have always been done,
when it is not the right thing to do.
None of these people would ever
consider themselves heroes, or
regard their actions as particularly
courageous. They only did what
they felt had to be done at that
moment. And who knows they
may have been put on this earth
just for that very moment. ■
never understand how human
beings could have done this to other
human beings, nor did I believe that
the people of Weimar could not
have known what was happening at
Buchenwald. I was so enraged that,
as far as I was concerned, except for
a few magnificent people, who are
now called Righteous Gentiles,
Europe died for me.
As a result, the man I was
then became a militant Zionist.
There had to be a place for Jews
to get away from such horror. And
to this day, aside from giving to
American veteran organizations
and to humanitarian charities, I
have remained committed to the
support of Israel and, above all, to
those who fight for its continued
existence. ■
Seymour W. Miller is a lawyer and a Major in the Retired
Reserve. He and his wife Claire have been members of
Central Synagogue since 1958.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 16
ESSAY
Teaching Troubled Kids
During a random week in
January, several incidents
occurred in my eighth grade
classroom: Tierra improved her
ability to differentiate the “a” from
the “i” sound; Joshua’s grandmother
placed him in an overnight pediatric
psychiatric ward for the fourth
time; Omar returned to my classroom
after having being arrested
for physically assaulting a fellow
student a few weeks before.
I have taught severely emotionally
disturbed middle school
students in a special education
public school in downtown
Brooklyn for the last three years.
The term ‘emotionally disturbed’ is
not a formal medical diagnosis, but
rather a classification outlined in
federal special education law. It
means essentially that a student has
difficulty learning and functioning
in a classroom, has trouble maintaining
relationships with peers
and adults, and exhibits “inappropriate
behaviors or feelings under
normal circumstances.”
As a special education
teacher, I have met many hardworking,
dedicated professionals
who would never describe themselves
as courageous. The general
notion of courage suggests that the
challenge is of such magnitude that
a truly heroic response is required.
Running into a burning building to
rescue a trapped child takes
courage. Walking into a middle
school classroom is hardly the same
thing. Managing a difficult situation
for a significant period of time
requires that you downplay the
greatness of the challenge, not
exaggerate it. At its most extreme,
a self-described courageous teacher
is at the risk of conflating the role
of teacher with that of savior.
Critics of programs like Teach for
America or New York City Fellows,
of which I am a member, implicitly
refer to this hero complex when
they charge that sending freshly
minted, under prepared, mostly
white, middle and upper class
teachers into some of the toughest
classrooms, only reinforces a paternalistic
impulse that does more
harm than good. The teacher-hero
identification makes it harder for
teachers to do their jobs successfully.
Although it may often feel
as if the students ought to be saved
from their difficult circumstances
and destructive behavior, more
than anything they need education.
That’s the job. The best teachers I
have seen stay on their grind and
slowly, methodically plug away,
teaching reading, writing, math,
and whatever else the curriculum
calls for. It’s mostly unglamorous
work. You are not Michelle Pfeiffer
to your students’ dangerous minds;
fantasies like that are the stuff of
Hollywood and it’s important to
abandon them as soon as possible.
Like it or not, they won’t come true.
The gap between fantasy
and reality can be difficult to
accept, especially by those who ask
what it’s like to teach. I often have
16
Daniel Magliocco
a hard time explaining my job and
its significance. When teachers talk
about teaching, particularly if they
have difficult or troubled students,
they use a healthy dose of gallows
humor and dry self-reflection that
can come across as slightly stoic or
even downright unfeeling. But this
tone is simply a coping mechanism
that increases our effectiveness as
well as a protective shield warding
off the creeping feeling of disillusionment
that is at least partly
responsible for the extremely high
burnout rate among young teachers
in inner-city schools.
Despite the difficulties,
there has been a renewed call to
service in our country, led in part
by the rhetoric of President Obama,
that seeks to spur people to action.
He describes his time as a community
organizer in Chicago as “an
amazingly transformative experience.”
Those who listen may wonder
how it would feel if they too
had something they could so convincingly
call transformative. This
expectation of personal growth has
become linked with most people’s
idea of service.
There is nothing inherently
wrong with this, as long as you, as
a teacher, keep in mind that you
continued on page 24

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 17
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Standing Tall for Women’s Rights
and Civil Society
Throughout my career in international
development, I have
had the privilege of working
with women who have demonstrated
tremendous courage and selfsacrifice
in the name of justice.
These women reside in conflict
regions, refugee areas, urban settlements,
and underdeveloped rural
communities around the globe.
The majority are heads of households
and many are local activists
who are seeking a life of dignity
and freedom, for themselves and
their communities. Like women the
world over, they are working to
provide a better future for their
children and generations to come.
The women understand
the power of fighting
for justice, earning an
income and advocating
for their rights.
In 2005, I co-founded
Global Goods Partners (GGP)
with my long-time friend and colleague,
Joan Shifrin, who shared
my vision of a holistic approach to
development, of addressing equally
women’s empowerment, poverty
alleviation and social justice.
Together, we identified women
leaders who are effectively organizing
communities and fostering
positive social change.
One such leader is Rangina
Hamidi, from Kandahar,
Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous
places to live and work
today. Rangina is a young social
entrepreneur who began her career
with a commitment to improve life
for women and girls in her native
country. She, unlike most Afghans,
had the opportunity to continue a
safe life in the US, but Rangina
chose to devote her time, energy
and talent to building a sustainable,
income-generation program for
women and families in the
Kandahar region. She started her
work in Afghanistan, as the director
of the Women’s Income
Generation Project for the nongovernmental
organization,
Afghans for Civil Society. Five
years later, she created Kandahar
Treasure, a social enterprise focused
on women’s empowerment and
sustainable livelihoods. GGP collaborates
with Kandahar Treasure
by bringing their beautiful handembroidered
scarves to the US marketplace
and by
providing technical
assistance in product
development
and other development
expertise.
GGP works
with grassroots
women leaders like
Rangina in 18 countries
throughout
Africa, Asia, the
Americas, and the
Middle East. We
focus on improving
the financial status
of women as an
integral part of
eradicating poverty
and building civil
society. Women’s
empowerment is
about women gaining
the skills and
confidence to develop
themselves fully
as human beings,
and their right to
17
Catherine Shimony
challenge injustice and discrimination,
wherever it exists. When
women receive the tools to learn a
craft, manage their finances or start
and run a business, they gain experience,
confidence, practical skills,
and economic independence.
These skills and experiences enable
them to have a positive impact on
the well-being of their families,
communities and countries.
Last Spring, during one of
Rangina’s rare visits to the US, we
spoke with her about the progress
of Kandahar Treasure. She shared
with us some anecdotes that illustrate
the positive social changes
that have resulted from the
Continued on next page
Malawi, Partnership with Partners In Health knitting project.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 18
Above: Income generation project,
West Africa
Left: Afghan Institute of Learning products
Bottom: Kandahar Treasures embroidery
technique
GGP/KT partnership. “For the
women who come to work at the
office, it is helpful to have a place
where they can talk with each
other, feel freer, feel less self-conscious
of their identity as a woman.
They can laugh. Not to mention,
that earning an income is an opportunity
for the women to gain more
power and freedom in their
homes.”
The women of Kandahar
Treasure take great pride in their
work as embroiderers and artists.
By working with KT, they also are
among an all too small minority of
women who have access to literacy
training and health education, a
significant benefit in a country where
resources are scarce and education
for girls and women was banned,
when the Taliban were in power.
Rangina’s story echoes the
lives of the many courageous women
that GGP works with around the
globe, who face tremendous challenges
in their daily lives and in
building a better future. The
women understand the power of
18
fighting for justice, earning an
income and advocating for their
rights. Rangina sees this power
clearly, for when we asked her
about her own safety, she simply
told us, “I have thought about it,
but I wouldn’t leave…When I see
the impact being made on the lives
of so many women, I wouldn’t be
able to do anything else.”
Rangina and Kandahar
Treasure is just one of many examples
of courageous women we partner
with at GGP. We work with
Burmese refugee women on the
Thai-Burmese border who are producing
beautiful weavings, while
also carrying out heroic human
rights monitoring and reporting
efforts. We partner with Colombian
women who are using natural
resources and sustainable agriculture
to secure incomes outside of
coca production, and to provide
their children with a future that
does not depend on illicit activity.
We also support Israeli and
Palestinian women who are coming
together to build peace through
dialogue.
These women on the
ground are taking risks everyday to
support their families and communities
and to create opportunity for
some of the world’s poorest and
most marginalized people. Our role
at GGP is to support these amazing
women in their day-to-day struggles,
helping them to access markets
and generate income, while also
raising awareness of their grassroots
activism and what we can do
here at home to support their fight.■
Catherine Shimony co-founded Global Good Partners.
She lives with her husband, son and daughter in
Manhattan, where they are members of Central
Synagogue.
To learn more about the courageous women and
Global Goods Partners please visit their website,
www.globalgoodspartners.org

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 19
BOOK REVIEW
Nechama Tec’s Defiance
In the Edward Zwick film,
“Defiance”, the movies’ James
Bond (Daniel Craig) straps on a
pistol and a machine gun, mounts a
white horse, and hunts down Nazis
and local anti-Semites with guns
blazing and blue eyes flashing. But
the film tells only a fraction of the
rich and complex story that comprises
the 1993 book on which it’s
based. At its heart, Defiance, the
book, is more about Jews saving
their fellow Jews than Jews punishing
marauding Nazis. Deftly balancing
journalism, sociology and
narrative prowess, noted Holocaust
scholar Nechama Tec places the true
tale of the Bielski Otriad (partisan
unit) in both a political and Jewish
context.
A Polish-born Jew who
spent the war hidden by a
Christian family, Tec has had a
long career as a writer and educator.
In 1986, she was approached
by the eponymous Organization
of Partisans, Underground Fighters
and Ghetto Rebels of Israel, and
asked to chronicle the Bielski
Otriad. Defiance, the eventual result
of that inquiry, draws on extensive
research that includes interviews
with Otriad survivors, among them
former leader Tuvia Bielski.
Tec begins at the beginning,
in the period between the World
Wars. She chronicles the lives of the
Bielskis and their comrades in
arms, whose hardscrabble shtetl
upbringing made them particularly
well suited for the struggle to
come. In Amos Oz’s memoir of
Jewish life in Belorussia, a region
contested by Poland and the USSR,
he writes that the Jews “…felt we
were living on a volcano. We
already knew that Stalin wanted to
put an end to Jewish existence by
force…the Polish attitude toward
the Jews was one of disgust…the
main thing was we should scram to
Palestine, and good riddance.” Tec
delves into this perilous existence
in fascinating and painstaking
detail.
The Otriad began in 1941,
less as a military unit than as a ragtag
band of fugitives—men, women
and children—fleeing the Nazi
terror. The Bielski brothers, like
their neighbors, were ordered to
leave their homes and assemble
in a nearby ghetto, as part of an
Aktion, a Nazi operation that usually
ended in a mass firing squad.
Indeed, that’s how their parents
were killed. Tuvia, Zus and two
younger brothers defied the order
and fled to the nearby forest, where
conditions were only a little harsher
than their everyday lives. Raised
in abject poverty, they belonged to
a family of ten sons and two
daughters, whose tiny wood hut
was so crowded that the inhabi-
19
Book and Film Reviews by Steve Klausner
tants had to sleep in shifts. Although
the family kept the Sabbath, they
were neither educated nor particularly
observant. Tuvia had already
picked up some German from a
more benevolent occupying army
in World War I. He also spoke
Russian and, of course, Yiddish.
These language skills, his training
as a sharpshooter in the Polish
army, and his sheer force of will
equipped him with the skills that
would transform a dispirited rabble
into an armed and functioning community,
a mobile kibbutz complete
with kitchen, tannery, hospital, and
makeshift orchestra.
Tec as a young girl
photographed in the
Lublin Ghetto.
Right: a recent picture.
As the war progressed, the
Bielski Otriad gained the respect of
counter-attacking Red Army forces
and Soviet partisans, who served as
a welcome counterpoint to Nazi
troops and the paramilitary White
Poles, who were fiercely anti-communist
and virulently anti-Jewish.
Soviet officers worked and fought
continued on next page

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 20
alongside the Bielskis, making sure
they were well supplied with intelligence,
ammunition and, mostly
unwelcomed political indoctrination.
Unlike other partisan units,
only the Bielskis were willing to
take in non-combatant women,
children and older refugees, those
who would otherwise perish if left
to their own devices. By 1944 the
Otriad had more than 1200 members.
Despite his warrior’s reputation,
Tuvia was more famous for
his pledge, “I’d rather save one Jew
than kill 20 Nazis.” Nevertheless,
when betrayed by local farmers or
Belorussian police who gave away
their whereabouts to the enemy, the
Otriad’s vengeance was swift and
deadly. On more than one occasion,
they wiped out entire families in
reprisal.
Tec pays particular attention
to the partisan movement’s
reversal of traditional Jewish social
hierarchy. Intellectuals, Talmudic
scholars, university graduates, and
writers suddenly found themselves
at the bottom of the heap. Called
malbushim, Hebrew for old clothes
or cast off rags, this pathetic remnant
of the intelligentsia, the first to
be killed by the Nazis, was now
disdained even by their fellow
Jews. But those who could sew,
cook, treat a wound, repair a shoe,
shoulder a rifle, milk a cow, or plan
an ambush were literally at the top
of the food chain. They had their
pick of scarce meat, dry boots,
warm leather coats, and willing
sexual partners. Women in particular
had a very hard time for themselves
in the wilderness, and many
took a “forest husband” for survival.
Surprisingly, many of these
arrangements survived as decades-
continued on page 23
FILM REVIEW
Defiance–The Dirty Minyan
Belorussian SSR, 1941: Two parties
of armed men meet in a
Nazi-occupied forest, each
with nervous fingers on the trigger.
A platoon of Russian soldiers, disciplined,
well-fed and heavily armed,
face down a ragtag band of Jewish
refugees. Despite the fact that they
are dirty, hungry and toting a
makeshift arsenal of shotguns, pistols
and stolen Wehrmacht rifles,
the Jews give no quarter to their
Red Army challengers. The Russian
commander breaks the silence.
“Who are you? Identify
yourselves,” he barks. “We are partisans,”
comes the equally brusque
reply. “Jewish partisans? Jews
don’t fight,” sneers the Russian.
“These Jews do,” says one, providing
the dramatic premise behind
writer-director Edward Zwick’s
true to life profile in physical
courage, “Defiance.”
Based on the experiences of
20
the Bielski Otriad (partisan unit)
who roamed the contested border
region between Polish and Russian
territory, the film hews faithfully
to author Nechama Tec’s written
account of the same name. Tec,
herself a Holocaust survivor,
chronicles the exploits of Otriad
commander Tuvia Belsky (Daniel
Craig), and brothers Zus (Liev
Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell).
Through a rare combination
of luck, grit and seichel, the
Bielski’s managed to hold off Nazi
Einsatzgruppen (liquidation squads),
the collaborating gendarmerie and
a wilderness populated by an anti-
Semite lurking behind every other
tree. While the story is somewhat
romanticized, Director Zwick sticks
mostly to the facts as he chronicles
the Bielskis’ struggle against opposing
armies, intermittent starvation,
rampant disease, punishing cold,
and the sheer ineptitude of most of

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 21
the ghetto escapees who became
their unlikely warriors.
Led by level-headed Tuvia,
and trigger-happy Zus, the group
manages to elude their captors and
support a community of more than
1200 men, women and children
complete with a hospital, communal
kitchen, and armaments factory.
As often happens in a cracking
good adventure, those who first
turned to each other for survival
soon found solace in each other’s
arms.
New York Times reviewer
A.O. Scott praised the film as “…
most interesting, and most persuasive,
not as a chronicle of heroic
action but rather as a series of arguments
— mainly between the patient
Tuvia and the hot-headed Zus —
about justice, righteousness and how
a decent society should function.”
In that sense, Scott poses
the question: Who shall lead the
Jews on their 20th century exodus?
Moses or Judah Maccabee? Zwick
leaves the answer up to the viewer.
While judicious in his depiction of
war’s carnage, he does not gloss
over the partisans’ need to fight
hatred with firepower or take
reprisals on a hostile population
that frequently sold out the Jews
hiding among them for a few
rubles or an extra ration.
As Hollywood entertainment,
“Defiance” touches all the
bases. It is a satisfying experience
that refutes the lie that European
Jewry succumbed to the Nazi
terror with meek complicity. To
quote Rolling Stone, “For all the
film's flaws, this is a war story
told with passion about a band of
brothers that still has the power
to inspire.” ■
FILM REVIEW
Waltz with Bashir
The New York Times called Israeli
director Ari Folman’s awardwinning
Israel film “Waltz
With Bashir,””…a memoir, a history
lesson, a combat picture, a piece
of investigative journalism, and an
altogether amazing film… a work
of astonishing aesthetic integrity
and searing moral power.” The
Hollywood Foreign Press gave it a
Golden Globe for Best Foreign
Language Film. It was also nominated
for an Academy Award for
Best Foreign Film. And it won the
Ophir Award for best film at
Israel’s equivalent of the Academy
Awards. Thoughtful viewers
should give it the top spot on any
must-see list.
Folman, a veteran of the
1982 Israeli incursion into Lebanon,
was troubled by his inability to
remember key details of the combat
action years later. Plagued by
nightmares, he went back to members
of his unit, interviewed them
and then overlaid his recordings
with a surreal animated narrative.
21
The film culminates in archival
video of the aftermath of the
slaughter at two Palestinean
refugee camps by Lebanese
Phalangist forces allied with the
IDF at the time.
To its credit, the Israeli government
has underwritten much of
the cost of showing the film internationally.
Folman has also said
that he began the film as a way to
finish his army reserve service commitment.
In any event, no other
country in the Middle East, and
few other countries anywhere,
would have the moral courage to
shine a light on their own failings,
and, having identified them, dared
to show them to the world.
A word of caution: like war
itself, “Waltz With Bashir” is visceral,
occasionally fraught with horrific
violence and explicit sexuality.
The anti-”Defiance” in every way, it
is not for the faint of heart. ■
Steve Klausner is an advertising copywriter, an awardwinning
screenwriter and long-time member of Central
Synagogue.

0380 3/24/09 8:37 AM Page 22
ESSAY
The Kuritzkes Family Torah
Earlier this year, on the day I
became bat mitzvah, I read from
an extraordinary Torah scroll
that had endured many decades of
anti-Semitism in Europe. This
Torah was written in Russia in the
1860s, where it survived the 1905
pogroms and later the Nazi
takeover in Germany, due to the
courage, determination and good
luck of my great great-grandfather
Abraham and his son David.
In 1905 Abraham decided
to leave Kiev with his wife Jennie
and five children to move to
Germany in order to escape future
pogroms in Russia. Before he left,
he was entrusted with the Torah
that belonged to his synagogue
because it was thought that the
Torah would be more secure in
Germany than in Kiev during the
pogroms. Abraham was able to
bring his family and the Torah safely
to their new home in Leipzig.
David and his family
packed the Torah in their
luggage, along with some
clothing, books and his
medical equipment. Right: David and Gita Kuritzkes, in a photo
In Germany, Abraham
worked as a furrier. His son David
graduated from medical school in
1926 and became a doctor. Under
the relatively liberal Weimar
Republic, Jews were permitted by
the government to attend university
and have various professions.
However, when Hitler came to
power in 1933, this changed and
many restrictions were set upon
Jews. David practiced freely for
three more years, until 1936, when
he was only allowed to treat Jewish
proabaly taken in Leipzig, Germany in 1936.
patients. By 1938, as a Jewish doctor,
he was not permitted to practice
at all, which meant that he
could not get a job or earn any
money to support his family.
A few months later, during
Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938,
David was arrested and sent to the
Buchenwald concentration camp.
Fortunately for David and his family,
they had obtained immigration
visas to the United States, after
David’s sister Nju and her husband
22
Sig Neumann who had left for the
United States in 1933, provided affidavits
for them. Thanks to these
visas, David was permitted to leave

0380_r 3/26/09 6:35 AM Page 23
Buchenwald after a few weeks.
Conditions got steadily worse for
Jews in Germany as David and his
family prepared to leave. However,
his father, Abraham, was 80 years
old and much too frail to travel. It
was the hardest decision of his life,
but David chose to leave his sister
Ida (who refused to leave without
their father) and his father, Abraham,
behind in Germany. He brought
his wife, Gita and his children,
Alexander and Fedor (my grandpa),
with him to the United States.
David and his family
packed the Torah in their luggage,
along with some clothing, books
and his medical equipment. The
security forces either didn’t check
their baggage, or checked it but
didn’t know or care about the significance
of a Torah brought from
Germany to the United States.
It was very difficult for David to
adapt to the United States after
spending forty years of his life in
Europe. He moved to Brooklyn
with his wife and older son,
Alexander, while Fedor, their
younger son, lived with Nju and
Sig Neumann in Connecticut until
1940, when he moved to Brooklyn
to join his parents and older brother.
English was a challenging lan-
guage for David as a native
German speaker, but he had to
learn it well in order to pass his
English language and medical
exams. Meanwhile, the HIAS
(Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society)
helped the family during David’s
time of study. He passed the exams
in the fall of 1939 and opened an
office to practice as a doctor.
His sons, Alexander and
Fedor, found it relatively easy to
adjust to the American lifestyle.
They picked up English quickly
and enjoyed living in the United
States. They felt safe in America,
compared to Germany, where they
had lived in fear of people attacking
their synagogue or their home.
David, Gita, Alexander, and Fedor
had been extremely lucky since
they were among the last Jews
allowed to leave Nazi Germany.
Unfortunately, David’s
father Abraham died and his sister
BOOK REVIEW continued from page 20
long marriages. Yet other women,
particularly nurses, doctors and
soldiers, resisted the pressure and
remained single for the most part.
By mid-1944, the Nazis
were in full retreat from the Eastern
Front, and the Bielski Otriad was
disbanded. In the aftermath of the
Russian victory, Tuvia and Zus
were in danger of being purged
by communist authorities. Relying
on their characteristic survival
instincts, they and their families
quickly fled to Rumania and then
on to Israel. Eventually, the brothers
made their way to Brooklyn,
where they started a trucking
business. And they lived peacefully
ever after. ■
23
Caroline Kuritzkes
Ida was killed in a concentration
camp, shortly after David’s arrival
in the United States. The regret that
he had left them behind haunted
him for the rest of his life. Like
many other Holocaust survivors,
he never spoke about his own
experience in Buchenwald.
The Kuritzkes Family
Torah that has survived anti-
Semitism and persecution in Russia
and Germany is a reminder of what
our family and Jews all over the
world have endured with great
courage. It is significant not only to
my family history but also to
Jewish history, and with it, we will
always keep tradition alive. ■
Caroline Kuritzkes became a Bat Mitzvah at Central
Synagogue in January 2009. Her interests include
basketball, writing and drama. She extends her thanks
to her Grandparents Fedor and Thea for sharing the
story of the Kuritzkes Torah with her.
About the Author
Nechama Tec is Professor of Sociology Emerita at the
University of Connecticut, Stamford. She is the author of
six books, including Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost
Childhood, a memoir of the Nazi Occupation of Poland.
In the Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen, the winner
of the 1990 Christopher Award. And When Light Pierced
the Darkness. In 2002 she was appointed to the Council
of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by President
George W. Bush.
Nechama Tech, Defiance.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)
What the critics said about Defiance:
“Excellent.” David Denby, The New Yorker
“A remarkable story of a great leader, as well as
of a neglected aspect of WW II.” Kirkus Reviews
“Elevating and inspiring...An accomplished and startling
work of Holocaust documentation.” Los Angeles Times
“One of the most elevating and inspiring stories in the
chronicle of death and despair that is the Holocaust...an
accomplished and startling work.” Publishers Weekly

0380_r 3/26/09 6:35 AM Page 24
TEACHING TROUBLED KIDS continued from page 16
may need to actively downplay the
significance of what you’re doing
in order to ensure your own effectiveness.
Consequently, service
may not feel particularly life changing
at the time, but that doesn’t
mean the experience won’t end up
altering you in some profound way.
I did not intend to stay in education
when I became a New York Teaching
Fellow and while I cannot say with
any certainty how long I will remain
in the classroom, I have a hard time
picturing my life without education
playing a meaningful part.
The idealistic expectations
attached to teaching, the fantasies
of saving troubled students and the
soaring rhetoric of service are, in
the end, an exaggerated version of
what people expect service should
feel like. Such notions may inspire
action, but service itself is difficult,
often thankless, and almost by definition
demands more than you will
get in return. The differences
between expectation and reality can
be hard to reconcile and it takes a
certain amount of courage to let go
of fantasy, but only then does it
become possible to understand and
value the true meaning of service. ■
Daniel Magliocco is completing his third year as a New York
City Teaching Fellow. A graduate of Northwestern University,
he has been published in The Reading Room and has also
been associated with The Village Voice and The Bellevue
Literary Review. He is a member of Central Synagogue.
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HASHIUR A Journal of Ideas
is published twice a year by Central Synagogue,
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Editorial Committee:
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Picture References
Cover: Woodcut, Kaethe Kollwitz, 1923 H. Bittner & Co.
Publishers, Collection of E. Cohn.
Page 2: Photograph, Mark Bond
Page 3: “Mother Courage and The Children”, from a
Munich production 1951
Page 4-5: Photographs,The Jewish Agency
Page 7: Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
Page 9: Drawing,Young Woman in Profile, Raphael,
1504, Uffizi Gallery (Inv. N. 57 E, GDSU)
Page 10: Photo courtesy of The Boston Synagogue
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Page 12: Normandy Invasion, AP Newsphoto
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Pharaoh’s daughter
Page 15: Jacob and the Angel, Gustave Dore-Steel
Engraving 1855
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Page 22-23 Photographs of the Torah, Rudi Wolff
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