CT Jewish Ledger • September 11, 2020 • 22 Elul 5780 by 2020 Media

INSIDE this week

Tour de Israel ................................. 5

It’s not just about winning, say organizers of the first Israeli team to take part in the world’s most prestigious bike race, but about offering the world a glimpse of the Jewish state and inspiring young people to pedal on.

Learning & Teaching ................... 5 West Hartford’s Emanuel Synagogue is helping train student rabbi Jessica Dell’Era, virtually. And she’s helping congregants by lifting their spirits and bringing the experience of being Jewish to life.

There aren’t likely to be any mega-family High Holiday dinners this year (thank you, pandemic). So step away from that big and beautiful brisket. There are plenty of other delicious dishes just waiting to take their turn on the Rosh Hashanah table.

The distinguished theologian, philosopher and author Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, says a ‘cultural climate change’ is eroding shared virtues and values. In his new book Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, he offers a stirring case for its reconstruction. PAGE 12

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

Is it safe to do Rosh Hashanah dinner with the grandparents? What about our annual Yom Kippur break-fast with the neighbors? Can we still go sukkah hopping? Two prominent epidemiologists weigh in.

Biden addresses Arab Americans; Republicans sing “Hallelujah”; Jewish progressive Alex Morse loses Massachusetts primary; a doctored video of a talk between Ady Barkan and Joe Biden makes it appear that Biden agreed to defund police. To determine the time for Havdalah, add one hour and 10 minutes (to be safe) to candle lighting time.

UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 | 22 ELUL 5780

Tackling the ‘Tour,’ Israelis cycle their way to history

BY JOSH HASTEN

(JNS) For the first time in its 107-year-old history, a team representing the State of Israel is dressed in blue-and-white jerseys and participating in the 21-stage Tour de France, the most prestigious bicycle race in the world.

Known as “Team Israel Start-Up Nation,” thanks to a sponsorship from the Israeli nonprofit organization “Start-Up Nation Central,” eight riders representing the Jewish state are competing alongside the world’s best cyclists and are currently making their way through the grueling French mountain course.

Guy Niv, the first native Israeli Tour de France participant ever, is part of the team, which also includes seven other riders from various countries around the world (the team has a total of 30 riders, some of whom are currently competing at other venues).

The contest kicked off in the southern French Riviera town of Nice. It will see 22 teams try and make their way across 2,156 miles to the finish line in Paris.

The vision of getting an Israeli cycling team into international competitions started just five years ago, when two friends – Israeli businessman Ron Baron, and professional cyclist Ran Margaliot –dreamed of taking the sport to a new level and founded the “Israel Cycling Academy,” (ICA) the first professional cycling team in Israel.

A little while later, Sylvan Adams – an Israeli Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist, and cycling enthusiast –joined the ICA as a co-owner with Baron. In 2018, Adams successfully helped bring the first three stages of the Giro d’Italia, another major international cycling competition to the streets of Israel, marking the first time the event was held outside European soil.

JNS caught up with Adams, along with Tsadok Yecheskeli, the ICA’s media director and a board member, as the team was getting reading to get on their bikes for the start of the 186 KM Stage 5 of the race.

When asked how the team was doing, Adams replied, “We had a bad start with three riders going down and getting banged up on the first day, but fortunately, there

were no broken bones, and they were able to continue.” He added that according to the rules of the competition, a rider who misses a starting day is out of the race.

However, Adams said that during Stage 4, one of the team’s riders, Krists Neilands from Latvia, had a very successful day. Describing what took place using cycling lingo, Adams said “we are really making noise out here, and yesterday, we got our first podium.”

In other words, Neilands was singled out as “the most combative rider” and donned a special jersey for his performance during that stage. For a large portion of the ride, Neilands broke away from the pack and was leading the race.

But more importantly to Adams, “the media covering the race was talking about our team, and the word ‘Israel’ was repeated hundreds of times over a six-hour period. Did you realize that 3.5 billion people watch the Tour de France?”

Winning the overall Tour de France might appear unrealistic for Israel’s team this year, as it has only been on the world stage at major competitions for less than a year. But for Adams, there is much more to it than just first-place finishes.

“The goals I have with this team are two-fold,” he said. “Firstly, I want to create opportunities for cyclists and build the sport in Israel,” explaining that he was responsible for the construction of a velodrome in Tel Aviv, which is a practice

arena for cyclists. “I want young Israeli cyclists to aspire and have the opportunities to be professional.”

“But my bigger goal,” he said, is to show the world the real face of Israel – normal Israel, not the one portrayed by the media, which is obsessed with conflict. Our daily life is nothing like that. That is not what Israel is all about.”

He added that “first-time visitors to Israel, almost to a person, are completely surprised when they arrive. It isn’t what they were expecting. They see an Israel that is safe, diverse and tolerant. I am bringing that message to the rest of the world” through cycling.

‘We want to change minds’

Yecheskeli was a long-time Israeli journalist and war correspondent before he was seriously injured covering Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008. After a lengthy recovery process, he decided to make a change.

Speaking to JNS from inside the car that travels alongside the cyclists on Israel’s team offering any assistance the riders might need, he explained that he turned to biking as tool for recovery and rehabilitation. “The bike saved my life in a way, so I decided that I wanted to give back,” he said.

Joining the ICA, Yecheskeli said his “dream from day one was to inspire a new

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Student Rabbi Jessica Dell’Era gains practical experience at The Emanuel Synagogue

BY STACEY DRESNER

WEST

HARTFORD

– As a third year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Jessica Dell’Era spent part of the last school year as a student rabbi at The Emanuel Synagogue. She travelled to West Hartford one weekend a month to lead services for both children and adults and to deliver divrei Torah (words of Torah). Now in her fourth year, Dell’Era is once again serving as a student rabbi at Emanuel as part of JTS’s Jack and Pearl Resnick Internship program.

All fourth-year JTS rabbinical students participate in the Resnick internship, usually spending 15 hours a week at a synagogue in the greater New York area. But Covid19 has changed all that. This year, several JTS students are interning at synagogues outside of New York for the first time, gaining important experience remotely.

“JTS students have had internships at congregations in the New York area for a long time,” says Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, associate dean of the JTS Rabbinical School and the director of its field study. “What’s new is that we’ve never been able to place these particular types of interns in a place like [Emanuel Synagogue] because they have to go every single

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MEMBERS OF TEAM ISRAEL START-UP NATION RIDING IN THE PELOTON IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE.

(CREDIT: NOA ARNON)

STUDENT RABBI JESSICA DELL’ERA

COMFORT Plant Based Comfort Foods

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