Community Magazine May 2012

Etz Hayim Honors David Heskiel and Ari Baum Approximately 100 people gathered on Monday March 26 th at Abigael’s Restaurant in NYC for the first annual Kehilat Etz Hayim dinner. Special awards were presented to Mr. David Heskiel, Police Chaplain and Community Liaison, and Mr. Ari Baum, VP Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, for their involvement in the synagogue and on behalf of the community. The event featured presentations by two Senior Morgan Stanley Smith Barney analysts, Mark Wiltamuth and Jane Zhao, who discussed their forecast for upcoming retail trends and offered an in-depth look at what to expect from some of the biggest department stores. The information presented by the two analysts is normally considered proprietary, but was shared with the Etz Hayim community and its supporters thanks to the efforts of Mr. Ari Baum, recipient of Etz Hayim’s Community Leadership Award. Rabbi EliyahuTobal presented awards and spoke of the institution’s role in maintaining Sephardic customs in Lakewood, and producing rabbis and educators with a keen understanding of the needs of the community and all its members, of all levels of observance, and the need for the community to unify and complement each other for the sake of its continued growth and success. Mr. David Heskiel was presented with the Community Service Award in recognition of his tireless service over the years. Etz Hayim is a community kinees (synagogue) in Lakewood, New Jersey led by Rabbi Ezra Zafrani and Rabbi Eliyahu Tobal, serving approximately 100 families. In addition to the kinees , Etz Hayim also runs a kollel that has been serving many of the community’s rabbis in recent years. The event held this past March was the second in Etz Hayim’s financial series. The synagogue is also planning seminars and workshops run by professionals from a wide range of fields to benefit the community. Claims for Jewish Refugees Becoming Official Israeli Policy A 60-year long campaign to highlight the plight of the estimated 870,000 Jewish refugees forced out of Arab lands, in the years leading up to and shortly after the foundation of the State of Israel, has finally born political fruit. Last month, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon formally stated that the issue of the “Jewish refugees” would finally become part of official Israeli foreign policy. The move, hailed by Levana Zamir, president of the Jews from Egypt in Israel, as ‘ yemot haMashiah ’ (the Messianic Era), means that the issue will now be raised by Israeli negotiators in future talks with both Arab and Western leaders. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official website outlined a series of “recommendations” for its negotiators and diplomats to follow when raising the issue in future talks with the Palestinians. These include a call for the Arab League to acknowledge its “historic responsibility” with respect to the forced exodus of Mizrahi Jews from Arab lands, as well as a heightened campaign to raise awareness of the issue among both Jewish and American policy makers. Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews comprise 52 percent of the Israeli population, but their forced exodus from Arab countries has been a historically overlooked aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict. A number of lobbies have spent years trying to secure a commitment by the Israeli government to raise awareness of the issue, and to push for monetary compensation and proprietary restitution for those Jews. Perhaps best known among these is Justice for Jews From Arab Countries ( www.JusticeForJews.com) , which exposed UN documents proving that the Arab League nations planned and employed an organized program of oppression and persecution against Jews in Arab countries following the establishment of the State of Israel. This evidence formed the basis for the claim that such Jews should be recognized as refugees no less than Palestinians. – Daniel Rosehill Community Chest Rabbi Eliyahu Tobal (right) presenting Ari Baum with the Community Leadership Award (L-R) David Heskiel with Deputy Inspector Amin Kosseim and David Gold. A Jewish refugee from Iraq, circa 1948 Courtesy of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center 78 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE