6-12 Elul, 5778 • August 17-23, 2018 Connect. Inform. Inspire.The Case for Nationalismby Evelyn GordonThe nation-state is now a hot topic. A new book by Yoram Hazony argues for its virtues.The US-Israel Alliance: An Unshakable BondCONGRESSMAN TED LIEU was elected to California’s 33rd Congressional District, succeeding retiring 40-year incumbent Henry Waxman. In the 114th Congress, Ted was elected president of the Democratic Freshman class by his colleagues. Today he serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He is also an Assistant Whip for the Democratic Caucus. Recognizing the great opportunities America had given to his family, Ted wanted to serve his country to preserve the American Dream. He joined the United States Air Force, where he served in the JAG corps. After serving on active duty for four years, Ted wanted to continue to serve his country and joined the Reserves. Ted has received numerous medals for his outstanding military service, including the Air Force Humanitarian Service Medal and multiple Meritorious Service Medals.Ted’s wife, Betty, is a Water Commissioner and a former California Deputy Attorney General. They live in Torrance with their two sons, Brennan and Austin.JEWISH PLATFORM FOR ADVOCACY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRESENTSShabbat Service 9:30 am • Lecture 11:30 amThe Beverly Hills Hotel9641 Sunset Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210Saturday, Aug 25Service & Lecture Moderated by: Rabbi Yosef CuninLimited Seating, RSVP: info@beverlyhillsjc.orgFor more information visit: BeverlyHillsJC.org | 310.276.4246Koral FamilyFoundationBURBANK | ENCINO | HOLLYWOOD HILLS | RANCHO PALOS VERDES WESTWOOD | THOUSAND OAKS | NOW OPEN CALABASASDistinctive Residential Settings | Chef-Prepared Dining and BistroPremier Health and Wellness Programs | Award-Winning Memory CareProfessionally Supervised Therapy and Rehabilitation Services © 2018 Belmont Village, L.P. | RCFE Lic 197608468, 197608466, 197608467, 198601646, 565802433, 197608291 “The friends that I have made here have turned my life around.”To many, living at home means freedom and independence. But it can also be isolating. Belmont Village residents enjoy a lifestyle that keeps them physically active and mentally engaged, delighting in the company of friends old and new. At Belmont Village, you don’t have to live alone to be independent. It’s not just your home. It’s your community.Voices of Belmont Villagebelmontvillage.comThe Community Built for Life.® Celebrate the new year onboard the world’s best and most awarded luxury river cruise line and be treated to one-of-a-kind, award-winning ships, outstanding service, the most all-inclusive amenities, delicious farm-to-table comfort cuisine and your choice of carefully curated experiences. In 5779, we invite you to explore Central Europe’s fascinating Jewish ties as part of our Jewish Heritage Program on our new Authentic Danube & Prague or enhanced Remarkable Rhine & Historic Holland itineraries.TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE “#1 RIVER CRUISE LINE” visit Uniworld.com, call 800-307-4689 or contact your Travel Agent.CELEBRATE THE NEW YEARin style and luxury.inside the journal20 » THE FUTURE OF THE NATION-STATE evelyn Gordon delves into Yoram hazony’s new book, “the Virtue of nationalism,” which argues that despite its flaws, a nation-state is the best form of political organization humanity has yet discovered. 9 » COLUMNISTS Karen Lehrman Bloch takes alexandria ocasio-Cortez to task for playing the victim card; Chaim Marcus tells us why leBron james is a mensch; Mark Schiff discovers the joy of going to shul as an adult; Susan Freudenheim and Ann Strimov Durbin call on the house and senate to halt the brutality of the Congolese government; and Rabbi Jill Berkson Zimmerman is back with the second installment of her six-part series on the spiritual steps leading up to Yom Kippur.14 » REMAKING OF THE AMERICAN JEWsteven Windmueller examines the emergence of a new american jew, shaped by the global forces of change and the imprint of new communal trends.19 » IS ISRAEL HEADED FOR ELECTIONS? Prime Minister Benjamin netanyahu threatens early elections unless the Knesset comes to an agreement on a bill to abolish Charedi draft deferment. senior Political editor shmuel rosner reports. 25 » AN ODE TO FARMERS MARKETS Food editor Yamit Behar Wood explains why there’s no better place to find inspiration for meals than at your local farmers market. 27 » TABLE FOR FIVE: PARSHA SHOFTIM Cantor Michelle stone; rabbis Michael Berenbaum, ilana Grinblat and Mendel schwartz; and Chaim singer-Frankes share their insights on this week’s torah portion.29 » RETURN OF THE JEWELS after a two-year hiatus, Craig taubman returns with his 29 pearls of wisdom — one for each day of the month of elul — written by people from all walks of life, to prepare us for the high holy days. ryan torok reports. 31 » PUTTING FAITH IN RACE TALKS jewish and african-american faith leaders came together in los angeles to work on creating cross-community partnerships. oren Peleg reports. 33 » THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED advot Project executive director naomi ackerman pens a heartfelt essay while still in shock after the senseless killing of a teenage performer in her youth program, just a day before they planned to stage a life-changing show.36 » A NOVEL VIEW OF MARRIAGE Meg Wolitzer’s novel “the Wife” is now a motion picture that explores marriage, power and compromise. Gerri Miller reports.38 » AFTER THE FALL From two life-threatening experiences, jamie lee hoffer found new inspiration for her art, which will be on display in an upcoming exhibition. evita thadhani reports.39 » AN UPBEAT PRISON MEMOIR Book editor jonathan Kirsch reviews leslie schwartz’s “the lost Chapters: Finding recovery & renewal one Book at a time.”38 8 » Letters 16 » Nation/World 25 » Yamit’s Table 28 » Community 34 » Movers & Shakers 36 » Arts 40 » What’s Happening 51 » Jonathan Fong Style 54 » Just Asking SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING Fri August 17 7:19 p.m.Shabbat ends August 18 8:22 p.m.»3320August 17-23, 2018 jewishjournal.com Jewish Journal | 525Listen in on some great conversations.The DAVID SUISSA PodcastAvailable on iTunes“People (I counsel) say to me, ‘Aren’t I supposed to be honest with my spouse about my feelings?’ I say, ‘No. Do not share your feelings with your spouse when you are toxic. The secret to a good marriage is lack of communication when you are upset.’” - Rabbi Mordecai Finley on the “Jewish Take on Happiness”in conversation with David SuissaAugust 17-23, 2018 JewishJournal.com Jewish Journal | 7AmericA wAs born And rAised in protest. From the colonies that rebelled against the British monarchy in the 1770s to the fight for civil rights in the 1960s to the Women’s Marches of today, protest is a cherished American tradition. We have the freedom to speak out against injustice, and we like to use it.But not all protests are created equal.Take the ongoing controversy with the protesting athletes of the National Football League. It started in 2016 when Colin Kaepe-rnick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, made media headlines by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem to protest police violence. Now, it’s become all the rage among a multitude of players, and the league has no clue how to handle it.I’m really torn on this issue. On the one hand, what I love about sports is that it gives me a refuge from the seriousness of politics. It’s my getaway. After long days of worrying about peace in the Middle East and the effects of tax cuts, I can chill out and worry about how LeBron James will mesh with the young core of the Lakers or whether the Patriots’ Tom Brady can still be an MVP at 41.At the same time, how can I not have empathy for athletes who want to effect change in society? How can I not respect their right to protest injustice?What complicates the picture is im-pact: Does any of this work? How useful are gestures of protest during the play-ing of the national anthem? If anything, it seems to have triggered a backlash among fans who oppose the gestures, leading to a decline in attendance and television rat-ings. Protest, evidently, works both ways.If you want a sports gesture with im-pact, look at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. America at the time was em-broiled in the epic struggle for black civil rights. Heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. led freedom marches. Six months after King’s assassination, two African-Amer-ican track-and-field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, were on the Olym-pic podium to accept their medals. While the U.S. anthem played and with the eyes on the world on them, they each raised a fist in a black glove in solidarity with their oppressed brethren. It became an iconic image — an emblem of a troubled era.This singular impact is missing with the NFL protests. What the protests have done, more than anything, is divide the country. Instead of drawing attention to an injustice, they have drawn attention to a gesture. The fact that NFL games will be played every week for the next five months only ensures that the gesture itself will re-main the center of attention.What will people talk about? They’ll talk about what the league should do, what the players should do, what the owners should do, what the fans should do, what the sponsors should do, what the union should do, etc. In other words, they’ll talk about anything except what America should do to correct injustice.We can expect plenty of stories about which player made which gesture at which game, but not as many stories about which players initiated efforts to build bridges between local law enforcement and trou-bled neighborhoods.Maybe one of the issues is that our era simply lacks the urgency and blatant in-justice of the 1960s, when Jim Crow laws in the South prevented blacks from using the same public facilities as whites, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools; when interracial marriage was illegal and many blacks couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter lit-eracy tests.It also doesn’t help when you use a weekly sporting event as an instrument of protest. Eventually, the gestures get stale. People forget what you’re protesting. You lose the cause; you lose the juice.In any case, injustices in America clear-ly persist and protesters must find creative ways to make an impact.Last Sunday, I spoke with my friend Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld as he was prepar-ing to go to the “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Washington, D.C. Not satisfied with just marching and protest-ing, he told me he would blow the shofar as hard as he could to “drown out the evil shrieks of the Nazis.”I was so moved by his idea that we decid-ed to post the story on the Journal website and disseminate it on social media. Just like the raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos 50 years earlier, the rabbi had found a singular gesture to accentuate his message.That is my wish for NFL players: Find a way to make a statement that will rally more people to your cause and put the focus on your mission. Just as watching football is a great American tradition, so is effecting real change. nNot All Protests Created Equal» 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 LewinPodcast Producer Shanni SuissaAdvertisingexecutive director, AdvertisingMartin Finkelsteinsenior Account executivesShoshana Cohen, Arlyn Isentraffic 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 24August 17-23, 2018jewishjournal.comeditor’s note At the same time, how can I not have empathy for athletes who want to effect change in society? How can I not respect their right to protest injustice?What complicates the picture is impact: Does any of this work? How useful are gestures of protest during the playing of the national anthem?Keep on Your Kippah This article (“It’s Time to Take Back the Kippah,” July 20) resonated with me very much, but I wonder why Karen Lehrman Bloch doesn’t think it would be a beautiful unity if all Jewish people everywhere, including women, wore kippot. I have been wearing a kippah for many years.To revamp Bloch’s writing, “What if all of the Jewish men and women everywhere wore kippot? What a beautiful unity — a sacred bond — that would create. I do not want to be kept out of that bond. Just think of it. What would the sidewalks look like? Men and women all showing their respect for, all honoring their connection with, all Jews all over the world. That would be a beautiful sight.Tzipporah Marks-BarnettLong BeachCall It Jew-HatredAfter reading Karen Lehrman Bloch’s column (“Fighting Fascism on College Campuses, Aug. 10), I believe we should always use the term Jew-hatred instead of anti-Semitism. Why have the leaders in the Jewish community not realized that being labeled as a race does not describe the Jewish people, culture or religion? It has always been a misnomer that we should never have so easily accepted. Edward GilbertStudio CityHatzlacha RabbaMy family and I look forward to every week’s issue of the Jewish Journal for such lively, timely and terrific articles, and the great new format as a truly great paper with expert and universal appeal. Your features, writers, news, analyses, commentaries and columns are superb. Whether it’s those by David Suissa, weekly columnists, Table for Five commentaries on the weekly parsha or Karen Lehrman Bloch’s feisty “Live from New York” views. As ever, Shmuel Rosner’s Domain’s timely, informative analysis on Israel developments; Jonathan Kirsch’s commentary on books; Yamit’s Table’s lively, creative and amazing food column; Tom Tugend’s personal insights; your community stories or Jonathan Fong’s always interesting style pieces and all the rest; you bring your readers a weekly treasure of reporting, of which all at the Jewish Journal and in your community of readers can be proud. While the list is long, your readers’ (and my) enjoyment is consistent. Recognition of your amazing paper spreads far and wide for both the Jewish community and beyond.Hatzlacha rabba — best wishes for continued success.Allan LevineValley VillageStatement on Iran SanctionsThe American Jewish Congress supports the United States government’s action to reimpose sanctions on a range of Iranian financial and industrial transactions. Sanctioned activities include trade in gold and other precious metals and the purchase of U.S. bank notes by the government of Iran.Iran has not acted in good faith. It has lied to the international community, as demonstrated by a secret cache of nuclear files discovered by Israel, and continues to pose a significant threat to regional stability. Iran should stop advancing its nuclear plan, stop its missile programs and development, agree to an effective international oversight, and stop financing terror across the world. We urge the international community to rally behind the United States in its efforts to keep the region safe.Moreover, the United States should continue supporting Iranian civilians who are peacefully protesting the regime. The Iranian government has spread conflict and instability in the region instead of taking care of its citizens.Jack Rosen,President, American Jewish CongressAddiction and Mental HealthI want to commend the Jewish Journal for spotlighting the issue of addiction and mental health (‘Jewish House’ Helps Reconnect Men With Sobriety and Judaism, Aug. 3). It is with articles such as these, highlighting the challenges our fellow community members face, that we can begin to both understand and face down the stigma of these challenges.At Destinations for Teens we work with teenagers who are battling addiction and mental illness in an effort to “catch” these issues before they become an uncontrolled problem in adulthood. As we approach the end of summer and start to look toward starting school again, families should feel empowered to reach out for help if they suspect they or their children are facing the real challenges of today. There are professionals out here who can help.Thanks again.Ari StarkVia emailNation-State LawMy applause to the Journal for publishing opinion pieces both supportive of and opposed to Israel’s new “nation-state” law (Aug. 10). Personally, I find Rabbi Rosove’s arguments against the law (“Nation State Law Was Not Necessary”) to be more convincing than Evelyn Gordon’s pro arguments (“Critics of Nation-State Law Misunderstand Israel’s Constitutional System”). Ben ZuckermanLos AngelesI will give Jonny Joseph (Letters, Aug. 10) a better test of who is better off in Israel, Jews or Arabs. They have all the same rights, but most Jews have one more obligation — the draft. That makes Arabs first-class citizens and Jews second-class. Note that many Arab men volunteer for service. They seem to know that their welfare depends on the future of the state.Louis RichterResedaSummer FictionYour new format is excellent! I always enjoy Gina Nahai’s articles and the summer fiction excerpts are simply MARVELOUS (“Who Killed Raphael’s Son,” July 6–Aug. 3). Brilliant idea to have this fiction in the Journal, and then to have the ending. ... What? Love it.Fleurette HershmanSherman OaksMamet ManiaYou could not have printed his name smaller but David Mamet is huge. A new high for the Jewish Journal — nobody can write better.Thank you.Shura ReiningerVia emailJournal Missed Details, NuanceThank you to the Jewish Journal for its coverage of our recent discussion at the Westwood Kehilla of ideas about peace between Israel and Palestinians (Movers & Shakers, Aug. 3). However, your coverage simplified the serious, almost two-hour conversation that occurred. Barry Steiner discussed immediately moving toward a two-state solution, saying that complete separation was the only way to meet the legitimate needs of both communities, and could be propelled by an immediate declaration of statehood by the Palestinian Authority. Josef Avesar advocated for a confederacy, where a Parliament representing both Israelis and Palestinians, elected by districts, could begin the movement toward peace by enacting legislation that would be subject to veto by both the Knesset and the Palestinian Authority, but by its activity could encourage compromise, reconciliation and ultimately even a unified secular state. Greg Smith said that any solution had to be safe, realistic and affirm the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and that neither a confederacy nor the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state met these three criteria. Instead, Smith noted that the Sunni world was slowly moving toward acceptance of Israel, and discussed a number of proposals to encourage the economic development of the West Bank, saying that the best hope for an ultimate solution was Palestinian prosperity, which would give Palestinians a stake in stability.This was a serious and detailed discussion with lively audience participation. With respect, we believe it deserved a more nuanced coverage than that provided by the Jewish Journal.Joseph AvesarGregory SmithBarry SteinerLos Angelesyour 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 17-23, 2018Torrey Pines Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank. Member FDIC.EVERY BANK HAS BUSINESS ACCOUNTS.OURS COME WITH ACCOUNTABILITY.CONTACT YOUR LOCAL BANKING EXPERTS:Los Angeles 601 West 5th St, Suite 100Los Angeles, CA 90071213.362.5200Beverly Hills 9355 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 102Beverly Hills, CA 90210310.623.8900Bank on Accountabilitytorreypinesbank.com August 17-23, 2018 JewishJournal.com Jewish Journal | 9Mazel tov! You have becoMe quite the media sensation since your unexpected New York primary win in June. Of course, instant celebrity does come with a price — hyperscrutiny, as you saw last week.My Jewish Journal colleague Ben Shapiro, noting that you have been called “the future of the Democratic Party” and that you have repeatedly stated that Republicans are afraid to debate you, offered to donate $10,000 to your campaign if you would come on his daily podcast and discuss issues for an hour.You responded with a now notorious tweet: “Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions. And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one.”Shapiro then tweeted: “Discussion and debate are not ‘bad intentions.’ Slandering someone as a sexist catcaller without reason or evidence does demonstrate cowardice and bad intent, however.” Shapiro also pointed out that, as an Orthodox Jew, he’s never made a catcall in his entire life. Thus ensued an epic Twitterfest that was often not very nice to you. Perhaps the funniest came from the parody Mossad account: “Well that was confusing. We just offered the Palestinian Authority $1,000,000 to sit down and negotiate with us and then they accused us of catcalling.”Though I disagree with nearly everything you have said, and perhaps more important, how you’ve said it, I do feel bad that you’ve been taught that playing the victim card is the best way to win — and that your progressive acolytes have indeed responded as though it was.But guess what? It’s only a win for anti-feminists. Real feminists don’t play the victim card, especially since this was hardly victimization. How is an invitation to debate or a donation to your campaign sexist?See, this is the problem, Alexandria: You and your millennial cohort were never taught real feminism. You were taught platitudes about “the patriarchy” that aren’t even true. You were taught to see anything you don’t like as sexist.When I was your age, 28, I was a writer and editor at The New Republic. There were a couple of men there who didn’t think women were up for writing about politics. My female colleagues and I spent every day there proving them wrong. And it is because we did prove them wrong that young women like you are able to win congressional districts today.But here’s the thing: We worked extremely hard to make that happen. And if we were asked questions that we didn’t know the answers to, we didn’t giggle and flip our hair back or arrogantly spew out assertions that have no basis in reality. We did this thing called research. I know that research wasn’t prioritized when you were in college. Theory was. But you’re now out in the real world, and post-modern theory just doesn’t cut it out here. You can’t reduce everything to sexism (ironically while running around getting your picture taken everywhere).By falsely making yourself into a victim, you not only demeaned real victims of sexual assault, but all female candidates who actually know the issues. My generation of women worked hard to show our equality. Your answer seems to be: Why work hard when I can just play the victim card?Can you imagine Nikki Haley ever doing this? Or more to the point, Hillary Clinton?Is this how you’re planning to handle yourself in Congress? If a Republican asks for more information on a bill you’re sponsoring, will you respond, “Stop catcalling me!”I don’t want to be harsh. You probably regret your tweet. But I must still ask you, as a woman, as a feminist, as a human interested in bettering humanity: Stop undoing everything we did for your generation. While you run around campaigning for others, find time to do in-depth research on issues, both domestic and foreign. Your assertions have ranged from nonsensical to unrealistic. Even The Washington Post has marked each of your “eye-raising claims” as false or misleading.You’re now in a somewhat difficult situation. Overnight, you’ve become politically prominent, with reporters (justly) expecting you to be familiar with lots of complicated issues. It’s OK to slow down and catch up.Then, when a conservative pundit invites you to debate, you can say, “No, I’m too busy,” or even better, “Absolutely.” Karen Lehrman Bloch is an author and cultural critic living in New York. nlive froM new YorkDear Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez» by Karen Lehrman BlochNext >