13-19 Elul, 5778 • August 24-30, 2018 Connect. Inform. Inspire.Can Big TeCh Change humaniTy?by Jonathan KirschA review of Franklin Foer’s “World Without Mind,” which sounds an alarm on how Big Tech threatens to change our lives.Venue Sponsors:Emek Early Childhood CenterYeshiva Aharon Yaakov-Ohr EliyahuYeshiva University of Los Angeles Girls High SchoolCommunity Sponsors:i-Shine ThanksLos Angeles!Cambridge FarmsChasdei AvigailContinental Kosher BakeryElite CuisineLa PizzaNagila PizzaNagila Meating PlaceOhel Chana High SchoolOrange Delight & GrillPartyTime Balloon TwistingPaws of LovePizza MayvenPizza StationRichard GralnikRoei LeonSimcha ProductionsWestern KosherThank you to our 100+ volunteers from all over Los Angeles who provided transportation, served as mentors and counselors, and ran activities. You made it all possible!To volunteer, donate or enroll your child for Fall 2018, contact Chana Leah Margolis at 310.274.6331 or cmargolis@chailifeline.org.Avigayl AbrahamAhuva AbramsonReena AhdoutElina BabayAliza BalsamGabriella BentolilaTova BerdugoZoey BotnickSara Brummer GoldsteinKelly CimentAllie CoenBracha CohenLeah DrukerSarah EdelsteinChaya EhrenburgNava ElyassiBella EssasTova FeldmanMushka FischSarah FlickerBracha FreemanChanie FriedmanBina GabbyeTali GershovYael GluckEllie GofmanStacey GralnikElisheva GresYocheved GresJuliette GuettaDassi GuidryJosh GursteinTamar HadadTzila HadadChaya HanokaYael IssakharianAbby JavidzadDani KatzNicole KlausnerChumie KleinMiriam KosbergLeora LalezariTehila LavaeiBatsheva LehmannZipporah LevineChani LitenatskyShira MayeshAdele MichelTovi MilsteinSarah NachimsonNoa NelsonTehilla OrnsteinGitty PinsonRena PinsonAliza PollakLippa PopackJacob Ratner-StauberChaya Esther RichterElliott RoesslerShira RosenMalka RosenbluthHenny RosenfeldSara RosenthalShayna Gitel SauerKatie SchachtEliana SchachterChaya SchmuklerJake SchochetShaina SedaghatEmunah ShamekhRoberta ShuchatowitzShlomo SilberbergSarah SilvermanBen SimonJoseph SimonRachel SimonChani SulamiAyelet ToppYakira ToppHindy UngarSamantha WeinbergMoryel YasharNegin YazdinianCeline ZarabiLea ZarifpourChai Lifeline’s i-Shine is an innovative after-school program which provides friendship, homework help, recreation and fun to children living with a seriously ill parent or sibling, or a loss in the home.Thank you to our sponsors, volunteers and community contributors who have helped make this past year so rewarding and enjoyable!Seed funding provided by theJewish Community Foundation of Los AngelesWith generous support fromSteven and Helena UsdanChai Lifeline West Coast Sohacheski Family Center is dedicated to helping children living with or impacted by serious illness, their families, and communities. For more information please visit our website at www.chailifeline.org.inside the journal20 » DARK SIDE OF THE INTERNET “World Without Mind” author Franklin Foer argues that Big tech threatens nothing less than the vitality and longevity of american civilization. Book editor jonathan Kirsch reviews. 9 » COLUMNISTS Karen Lehrman Bloch explores the intersection between our shared responsibility as a group and the freedom to be ourselves; Ramona Schindelheim argues for a new approach to career advancement; Rabbi Jill Berkson Zimmerman has the third installment of her six-part series on the spiritual steps leading up to Yom Kippur; Rabbi Laura Geller reflects on how giving tzedakah can help those in mourning; and Ben Shapiro calls out the double standards in the search for justice.14 » NO LONGER GOOD FOR THE JEWS? When do we know that a country is no longer good for the jews? steven Windmueller looks at jewish history to tackle an eternal question. 16 » LIFE AFTER ABBAS With Palestinian authority President Mahmoud abbas increasingly marginalized, Charles Bybelezer explores what this means for the Palestinians and the region. 19 » LOSING OUR LITMUS TESTS senior Political editor shmuel rosner laments the loss of traditional litmus tests, such as the anti-semitism of potential future u.K. Prime Minister jeremy Corbyn. 25 » LOVE, GRIEF AND SWEET DESSERTS Food editor Yamit Behar Wood channels her late aunt dora’s spirit and sweetness to share a recipe for the pastry kadayif. 27 » TABLE FOR FIVE: KI TEITZEI rabbis jackie redner, Yekusiel Kalmenson, sherre Z. hirsch, Marc d. angel and daniel Bouskila share their insights on a key question connected to the torah portion: how do we fulfill the jewish mission today?29 » ONE YEAR AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE rabbis from Charlottesville, Va., spoke via skype at a local adl briefing about the rise of anti-semitism in the country. 32 » FUELING A PRIMAL DESIRE Karen Friedman of jerusalem was in town to talk about her organization that provides emotional and psychological support for women struggling with infertility. Wendy Paris reports36 » KOSHER, BUT NOT EDIBLE British artist lucy sparrow has created a pop-up supermarket with 31,000 products made entirely of felt, including some of your kosher favorites. senior Writer Kelly hartog reports.37 » ‘MEMOIR OF WAR’ a new film by French jewish writer-director emmanuel Finkiel shows the depth and breadth of the misery the nazis unleashed. Gerri Miller reports.25 8 » Letters 17 » Nation/World 25 » Yamit’s Table 28 » Community 34 » Movers & Shakers 36 » Arts 42 » What’s Happening 55 » Jonathan Fong Style 58 » Just Asking SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING Fri August 24 7:11 p.m.Shabbat ends August 25 8:13 p.m.»20August 24-30, 2018 jewishjournal.com Jewish Journal | 51636Listen in on some great conversations.The DAVID SUISSA PodcastAvailable on iTunes“The fear of public speaking is the single largest fear, cross-culturally, around the world. Forty-one percent of adults say they are afraid of public speaking. That is higher than the number of people who are afraid of death.” - Bestselling author and global expert on public speaking Richard Greenein conversation with David SuissaAugust 24-30, 2018 JewishJournal.com Jewish Journal | 7I don’t know Ronald laudeR, one of the most powerful Jews in the world, but I’m guessing he had no re-grets after writing a heartfelt critique of Israel in The New York Times last week. In a piece titled, “Israel, This Is Not Who We Are,” the president of the World Jew-ish Congress (WJC) came across as a lover betrayed.“When Israel’s government appears to be tarnishing the sacred value of equality,” he wrote, “many supporters feel it is turn-ing its back on Jewish heritage, the Zionist ethos and the Israeli spirit.”Going through a litany of well-known complaints against Israel — the new nation-state law prominent among them — Lauder concluded that “This is not who we are, and this is not who we wish to be. This is not the face we want to show our children, grand-children and the family of nations.”The irony, of course, is that by writing in the world’s newspaper of record that “this is not the face we want to show,” Lauder was doing precisely that. He was show-ing a face of Israel he didn’t want to show; a face much of the world already sees as mean and oppressive.Given that Lauder is a longtime sup-porter of Israel and that he was writing to a global audience, it’s worth asking: Why did he think his opinion piece would be helpful to Israel? It’s not as if the world needs another op-ed criticizing Israel; God knows there are plenty of those.But if piling on is not the way to go for the head of the WJC, then what is? Could Lauder have written something more use-ful to the community conversation and to Israel?I think so. While not ignoring Israel’s problems, Lauder could have added some-thing that rarely gets mentioned in the daily avalanche of Israel bashing: the enormous corrective mechanism inherent in Israeli civil society, a mechanism that brings hope for change.In other words, Lauder could have high-lighted the presence of thousands of social activists and nonprofit groups throughout Israel that have the freedom to fight to make their country a better place.While acknowledging injustices, he could have mentioned, for instance, that the New Israel Fund, since its inception in 1979, has provided over $300 million to more than 900 organizations in Israel that fight for justice.For every problem Lauder spotlighted, he failed to add context or perspective. A Conservative rabbi who got arrested for officiating at a marriage? Horrible. But authorities had so much egg on their face that, on that same day, the rabbi gave a Torah class at President Reuven Rivlin’s house.The nation-state law? Knowing that Is-rael’s enemies are using the law to falsely malign Israel as an apartheid state, Lauder could have added some crucial balance to tone down the hysterics. He could have quoted Bret Stephens, for example, who wrote in the Times:“What the bill is not is the death of Is-rael’s democracy — it was enacted demo-cratically and can be overturned the same way. It is not the death of Israeli civil lib-erties — still guaranteed under the 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty and visibly reaffirmed by the large public protests following the bill’s enactment. And it is not apartheid — a cheap slur from people whose grasp of the sinister mechanics of apartheid is as thin as their understanding of the complexities of Is-raeli politics.”Lauder waxed nostalgic about Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948, which, as he reminded us, guarantees “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.” But he failed to men-tion that, up until 1966, Israeli Arabs lived under the thumb of the military and had virtually none of the freedoms and rights they enjoy today.Is there still a long way to go to correct injustice? You bet. Israel is a real country with real flaws. Sound familiar?In sum, overwhelmed by his disap-pointment with Israel, Lauder overlooked the complexity of Israeli society. Recogniz-ing that complexity wouldn’t turn him into a “blind supporter” of Israel, but rather, an honest appraiser of a complete reality. Lauder applauds Israel for being a “miracle,” but one of the key aspects of this miracle is that Israelis — Jews and non-Jews alike — are not a passive bunch who quietly accept their fate. They’re not intimidated by authority. They protest, they argue, they fight. They know their country is far from perfect; they know Charedim have too much power; they know their government makes its share of blunders.They also know that they’re surround-ed by Jew-hating armies that would love nothing better than to wipe them out. So Israelis struggle to balance the imperative of survival with the ideal of justice for all.That noble struggle is also the face of Israel, and as a global champion of the Jewish state, Ronald Lauder should feel no shame in showing it. nDid Ronald Lauder Help or Hurt Israel?» by David SuissaPublisher & editor-in-Chief David Suissa edItoRIalSenior Political editor Shmuel Rosnerassistant editor Richard Core Book editor Jonathan KirschFood editor Yamit Behar WoodSenior writer Kelly HartogStaff writer Ryan TorokCopy editors Linda Whitmore, Chris WoldtContributing editors Tom Tugend, Jane UlmanContributing writers Michael Berenbaum, Karen Lehrman Bloch, Debra Eckerling, Steve Greenberg, Esther D. Kustanowitz, Kylie Ora Lobell, Gerri Miller, Gina Nahai, Ari Noonan, Judea Pearl, Oren Peleg, Ben Shapiro, Raphael J. Sonenshein, Tom Teicholz, Michelle K. Wolf, David WolpeManagement Supervisor Eli FinkJewIShJouRnal.CoMdigital team Aaron Bandler, Armando Koghandigital director Shoshana LewinSocial Media director Nicole BehnamPodcast Producer Shanni SuissaadveRtISIngexecutive director, advertisingMartin FinkelsteinSenior account executivesShoshana Cohen, Arlyn Isen digital ad SalesJim Burnstraffic Manager Sara BudisantosoSales Coordinator Angela HayStyle director Jonathan FongPRoduCtIonart director Lynn Pelkeygraphic designer Paul TakizawaadMInIStRatIonChief Financial officer Adam LevineBookkeeper Andrea AlonsoIsrael advertising PartnersImp group ltdPOB 7195, Jerusalem 91071 ISRAELTel: 972-2-625-2933Fax: 972-2-624-9240E-mail: info@impmedia.co.illegal Counsel/accountants Jonathan Kirsch of Law Offices of Jonathan Kirsch O’Melveny & Myers LLP (pro bono legal services on employment law matters)Past PublishersRichard Volpert (1985-1986)Ed Brennglass (1986-1997)Stanley Hirsh (1997-2003)Irwin S. Field (2003-2011)Rob Eshman (2011-2017)TRIBE MEDIA CORP. 3250 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1250, Los Angeles, CA 90010. (213) 368-1661Annual subscription rate: $75 for home delivery (restricted in certain areas); $160 for mail both in California and out of state; $350 outside of the United States. For all subscription services, visit JewishJournal.com or call (213) 368-1661, ext.129. The Jewish Journal does not endorse the goods and services advertised in its pages, and it makes no representation as to the kashrut of the food products and services in such advertising. Published weekly by TRIBE Media Corp. All rights reserved. © 2018Volume 33, Number 25August 24-30, 2018jewishjournal.comedItoR’S note Is there still a long way to go to correct injustice? You bet. Israel is a real country with real flaws. Sound familiar?Lauder could have added something that rarely gets mentioned in the daily avalanche of Israel bashing: the enormous corrective mechanism inherent in Israeli civil society, a mechanism that brings hope for change.The Future of the Nation StateReading the Journal’s cover story (“Obsolete or Indispensable?” Aug. 17), I couldn’t help feeling very grateful to “The Virtue of Nationalism” author Yoram Hazony for his in-depth analysis and astute defense of the virtues of nationalism in general, and Israel’s affirmation of its Jewish nation-state in particular.The book’s review by Evelyn Gordon is brilliant. Pointing out the genesis and evolution of the liberal left’s ideology of the need for an international, globalized form of government as an antidote to any form of nationalism, and embracing the belief that nationalism was the cause of the Holocaust, Hazony resolutely refutes this with a simple, most obvious fact: The Holocaust was enabled by the state of the Jewish people’s powerlessness. Because the dispersed Jews worldwide, living for 2,000 years as “The Other” among non-Jewish nations, always existing at their mercy, without any means for real self-defense, they were easy prey and scapegoats to be persecuted and murdered at will.There could be no greater compelling reason for the existence of a viable, Democratic and Jewish nation-state, able to fearlessly defend itself and its citizens against any threats, foreign or domestic.David LengaWoodland HillsThe Right to ProtestI strongly agree with David Suissa’s statement, “We have the freedom to speak out against injustice and we like to use it” (“Not All Protests Created Equal,” Aug. 17). The only thing that I would add is that as Jews, we not only choose to speak out against injustice but we are taught that we are obligated to speak out. I thought of this as I sat in shul this last Shabbos listening to the parsha on Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:20) where we are directed “Justice, justice shall you pursue ... ”Whether or not the gestures such as pro football players “taking a knee” during the anthem, are useful or not is debatable. It is not the players’ gesture that has divided the country; it is the divisive, insulting and dismissive rhetoric regarding minorities from the highest public sources in our great nation that have encouraged the great divide that we are regrettably experiencing.Athletes have the right to protest in any venue they choose just as we all have the right to protest what we perceive as great injustice. If we are made to feel uncomfortable by their protest, then they’ve made their point. Some forget that Tommie Smith and John Carlos of “raised fist Olympic fame” faced a backlash, too, each facing difficulty in finding gainful employment subsequent to their famous protest.But just as Suissa wrote, “injustices in America clearly persist.” I would add that we are no more post-racial in America that we are post-anti-Semitic.Following Suissa’s lead in search of creative ideas on how to protest, I’m not going to ask a rabbi but I am going to ask some of my African-American friends.Stu BernsteinSanta MonicaPutting GOP in a Bad LightAaron Bandler’s story on anti-Semitic GOP candidate Steve West smacks of obvious bias and a double standard (“Anti-Semitic GOP Candidate Wins Primary,” Aug. 17). The headline and photograph would lead a casual reader to believe that the Republican Party supports candidates who are anti-Semitic. To his credit, Bandler writes somewhere down the story that West, who won the Republican primary for a state house seat in Missouri, was denounced by the Missouri Republican Party.If Bandler wanted to be objective, he would have exposed the obvious Jew hatred among Democratic candidates who are regularly accepted and supported by the Democratic Party establishment. Among the most notable of these candidates is Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who has been criticized for his past associations with Rev. Louis Farrakhan and currently is facing allegations of abuse. He won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party primary for Minnesota attorney general on Aug. 14. He was the congressional representative from his district in Minnesota and the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee.Rashida Tlaib, the Palestinian-American congressional candidate who has stated that she believes in withholding aid from Israel “if it has something to do with inequality and not access to people having justice,” [sic] won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th District on Aug. 14. She will not be facing a Republican opponent in the general election and therefore will be the next representative from her district.Bandler’s story would leave the impression that Republicans and Democrats are permitting Jew-hating candidates supported by their respective parties to run for office with the support of the party. That is false. The Republicans have consistently renounced and disassociated themselves from Jew-hating candidates who identified as Republicans. The Democrats have consistently supported Jew-hating candidates who identified as Democrats.Marshall LernerBeverly HillsCalling Out FarrakhanRabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, leaders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, do a splendid job in discussing the many anti-Semitic statements by Rev. Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam (“Farrakhan’s Bigotry Finds Traction Across the Political Spectrum,” July 13). And, certainly, Netflix and Twitter did the right thing in refusing to give him a worldwide platform on which to spew his hatred, which also includes gays.George Epstein Los AngelesCultural AppropriationIn these divisive times, when the foundations of artistic freedom are being questioned to the core, thank you, David Suissa, for having the courage to take a stand for free speech (“Is There a Right Not to Be Offended?” Aug. 10).As poets, writers and artists, we must unabashedly be able to use language as a way of stepping into the hearts and minds of people of all colors, creeds and nationalities, even if it hurts some people’s feelings. This is not a question of “appropriating” another race’s vernacular, but of bringing new understanding, empathy and perspectives to all the voices that make up the human race. Most important of all, the premise that an artist of one color or creed is forbidden to use the vernacular of or to portray a character of another race is inherently racist in that it attempts to define what an artist can and cannot portray by his or her race. If we are to live in a free society, we must stop apologizing for exercising our rights. The act of apologizing, in and of itself, is toxic to our freedom. Mina FriedlerVeniceIt’s OK to Feel FearIn the discussion of Shoftim, only Rabbi Chaim Singer-Frankes somewhat alludes to a more meaningful way to deal with a frightened person facing a life-threatening circumstance (Table for Five, Aug. 17). He says “... we ... have learned that mutual vulnerability and acknowledgement of limitations is essential for trust and safe love.”Perhaps the bravest one is the one acknowledging his fear openly, for surely all of the others (fellow soldiers, for instance) do feel it but are concerned they would be ostracized for it. Hence, they submerge the feelings and are rewarded with the notion they are the “real men.” This is the surest way to foster the development of a post-traumatic disorder with all of its disabling symptoms and the resistance to get help.No, the biblical injunction is just plain wrong. Far better is for the leader who counsels how normal such fear is, and how all those facing such perceived life-threatening circumstances have the same apprehensions and fears, all of which are entirely normal. It is the circumstance that is abnormal. By the way, this applies just as much to a child needing stitches in an emergency room who should be supported and not “sent back to his home (Shoftim)” as if he were a coward for having natural feelings.Sheldon H. KardenerVia emailyour turnLetters should be no more than 200 words and must include a valid name and city. The Journal reserves the right to edit all letters. letters@jewishjournal.com.Don’t be shy. Send your letters to letters@jewishjournal.com8 | Jewish Journal JewishJournal.com August 24-30, 2018August 24-30, 2018 JewishJournal.com Jewish Journal | 9My synagogue seeMs to be Making a bigger deal about Elul this year. The rabbis are sending out daily emails reminding us that during this month of introspection, we’re supposed to delve deeply into our individual souls and, well, fix them.“We all have a ‘best self’ who has become unfamiliar to us in the year gone by,” writes Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue. “These holy days call on us to identify that person whom we seek to be but are not, and then close the gap.”Maybe I’m just noticing the Elul attention more this year because the underlying assumption — that we are unique individuals who can remake ourselves — is now nearly entirely lost from the prevailing culture. Indeed, the subtext of identity politics is: Individuals have no power. Groups have all the power. We are nothing compared with the group. We must submit to the will of the group.By contrast, Judaism, as my Journal colleague Rabbi Eli Fink puts it, offers a healthy balance between individuality and group identity: “Judaism balances individualism and group identity so that they are both prominent. When balanced, they are beneficial; when one dominates, it can be detrimental.”Although our identity as Jews is profoundly significant, our primary relationship is still our relationship with God, as individuals. We pray as a community; we speak to God directly from our hearts.The delicate balance between individuality and group identity can, of course, be found throughout nature. Like the leaves on a tree, we are part of the larger species of humanity and also part of the smaller groups that have become so hyper-magnified today: race, ethnicity, gender. But if you remove every leaf from a tree, you will find that no leaf is the same: from far away, they look like leaves; up close, you can see every unique idiosyncrasy. The loss of individuality from our culture is ironically counterproductive to both the advancement of the various groups and the betterment of humanity as a whole. In most cases, the personal is not political. The personal is personal. And what we can’t change about ourselves, we have to learn to accept. We are not perfect; we are human.And when we accept that we are not perfect, we can accept that others are not perfect, either. Acceptance breeds compassion, tolerance … and bravery. “I believe I can fly … I believe I can touch the sky,” my 9-year-old son sings offhandedly. I have always felt that the three greatest lessons I can teach him are: 1) We are the artists of our lives. We are unique and can shape our individual destinies. 2) Resist conformity of all kinds. Look deep inside: Find your soul and never let it go. 3) Seek truth and beauty, not what’s popular.But there is a fourth lesson that follows the others more than I’ve realized. Find your inner, unique strength to be brave. As Professor Dumbledore puts it in Harry Potter: “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.”It is a gift to us, as Jews, that our religion, our ethnicity, represents this exquisite balance between individualism and group identity. In the Talmud it is written that all of Israel is responsible for one another, but however important that responsibility is, it in no way undermines our individuality.In this time of great disunity in the Diaspora, perhaps we should use this month of Elul to reflect on both this shared responsibility and this shared freedom to be ourselves. Perhaps we need to relearn to respect and tolerate our differences; to show more compassion for our imperfections. The truth is, we’ve always argued. But we did so respectfully. We are Jews, yes. But it is our Judaism that teaches us never to prioritize groupthink over individuality. Why should we ever be confined by any other group’s orthodoxy? Why should we ever be told not to think for ourselves?The irony is that to become our best selves, we must marry that self to the soul of our people. Elul is as good a time as any to work on that marriage.nKaren Lehrman Bloch is an author and cultural critic living in New York. live froM new yorkBetween My Self and My Group» by Karen Lehrman BlochWhy should we ever be told not to think for ourselves?Next >