The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
www.jewishlehighvalley.org
| Issue No. 486 | May 2025 | Iyar/Sivan 5785 AWARD-WINNING PUBLICATION EST. 1977
80 years after the camp liberations, LV community remembers the victims on Yom HaShoah, and a group visits the governor. p6-7
See our Celebrating Israel pages for photos and more photos of the community Yom Ha’Atzmaut party, and other good stuff. p21-25
FROM THE DESK OF JERI ZIMMERMAN p3 LVJF TRIBUTES p8 JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER p10-11 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL p12 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE p13 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p27
Celebrating ISRAEL
300 watch first-run film about post-10/7 world By Carl Zebrowski Editor
The few hundred people seated in the JCC’s Kline Auditorium on March 31 realized the film they’d come to watch would be difficult to get through. “We know each moment will be heart-wrenching,” said Amy Golding, who cochaired the event along with Lauren Rabin. “Yet you chose to show up.” “The only way to see it is with the community,” said Robby Wax, president of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, which presented this new documentary at the time it was playing nationally in first-run theaters (though nowhere else in the Lehigh Valley). Fresh-popped popcorn and boxes of Mike and Ikes lent the feel of a movie theater.
“October 8” begins with the horror of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and quickly transitions to the aftermath. It traces the months of antisemitism directed at Jews all over the globe as much of the world quickly seemed to forget the fact that Hamas attacked and killed Israeli civilians of all ages and took hostages back to Gaza, many of whom still have not been returned. The film, which features appearances by actresses Debra Messing and Noa Tishby and others, showed how global media bias fanned the flames of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. “Wars today are not only on battlefields, but on media outlets and social media,” said an Israel Defense Forces officer on camera. One glaring early example of news media mistakes and misconduct came at the end of October 2023, when numer-
ous outlets reported that an Israeli missile had hit a Gaza hospital, killing and injuring civilians. The source of the information was the “Gaza Ministry of Health,” an instrument of Hamas, which the U.S. State Department has officially listed as a terrorist group since 1997. The IDF responded promptly that the incident was under investigation. That didn’t slow the storm of social media condemning Israel for the attack and fueling antiIsrael anger. The evidence Amy Golding, event cochair; Jeri Zimmerman, Federation executive director; and soon showed that the missile Lauren Rabin, event cochair and incoming Women’s Philanthropy president. was not launched by the IDF, their self-professed mission to “People are thinking that if a but was a malfunctioning or human rights organization is seek justice. A former 13-yearmisfired Hamas weapon. But saying it, it must be true, and veteran executive from Huthe damage had already been that’s a dangerous assumption man Rights Watch reacted to done. to make.” one written release from the Human rights organizaThe worst of the growing organization criticizing Israel tions have sometimes fared antisemitism in America repost-Hamas attacks. “Not one no better than the media— mention was made of a Jewish comparatively worse if you “October 8” film victim or a hostage,” she said. expect better of them due to continues on page 4
Outgoing Federation president Robby Wax reflects on tenure By Carl Zebrowski Editor When Robby Wax took over as president of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley in 2022, he hardly expected the world to turn upside down— again. The Jewish community was just beginning to rebound from the anxiety and isolation of Covid, finally gathering in person and pickNon-Profit Organization
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ing up momentum. Then, on October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel. The Jewish homeland was at war, Israeli hostages were taken to Gaza, Israeli women were raped and beaten, antisemitism soon spiked all over the world, and Jews in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere were feeling especially vulnerable. Robby was a great fit to be the leader at this time. The senior vice president and general counsel for St. Luke’s University Health Network is close friends with his Federation predecessor, Gary Fromer, who had just led the organization through the pandemic and could provide critical guidance. Robby is a well-spoken, well-written, well-respected former winner of the Federation’s George Feldman Achievement Award for Young Leadership who knew how to get things done and to stand up for a cause. But how can you really be prepared for a moment like October 7 and what followed? Being intimately familiar with the community and its people
didn’t hurt. Wax, the son of Stan z”l and Vicki Wax, grew up here and witnessed his parents’ deep involvement in the Jewish agencies and organizations—a couple of highlights: Stan was a former Federation president and Vicki was corecipient, along with Robby, of the Daniel Pomerantz Award for Campaign Leadership. Robby spent much of his youth bouncing between the Jewish Day School (through fifth grade), Sunday school and Hebrew high school at Congregation Keneseth Israel, the JCC and its basketball courts, and Pinemere Camp in the Poconos. Along the way, he was deeply influenced by Jeanette Eichenwald, the wise community educator famous for her grasp of Jewish history and her ability to make it understandable to any audience. “Anybody who has had the privilege of being her student at any stage of life is truly blessed,” Robby said. “She taught me as a teenager and provided incredible lessons
that remain with me today. Her classes covered the history of the Holocaust and America’s role in that era, as well as lessons on how, as a young person, you are obligated to stand up to hate and bigotry towards all people, not just toward Jews.” After high school, Robby left for Emory University in Atlanta. While in his senior year there, he met his wife, Laurie. They started dating after he moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple Law School. After graduating from Temple, he joined the Dechert law firm in the city, where he worked for several years. He moved to Allentown in 2002 to raise his children closer to his parents. Robby received a job offer from St. Luke’s University Health Network in 2004. He wouldn’t have to travel any longer, and he could spend more time with his two sons, then 4-year-old Ben and newborn Danny. Pinemere also came callWax continues on page 4