Lt. Amit Shuker served for six years as a company commander in the Israel Defense Forces.

Visiting the United States during the second intifida, he saw “a huge gap of understanding and knowledge” between what was going on in the field and what the media were reporting.

In response, Shuker — who will speak to the men’s club of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley on Sunday, Feb. 7 — created a multimedia presentation setting the record straight.

“I try not to get into politics,” said Shuker, who now lives in the United States. “The main reason for the presentation is to explain to people the different threats Israel faces.”

Shuker said he breaks down each threat into easily understandable components, so that listeners will be better able to understand why the IDF takes the actions it does, “why they do ‘A’ and not ‘B.’”

While the media may ask a retired general to speak on behalf of Israeli actions, “there’s a huge gap between what he knows and the average Joe knows. He speaks at too high a level, so people are getting lost.”

Dealing with Hezbollah, for example, Shuker will explain “why it is so hard to penetrate that organization. I’ll talk about who they are and how they train,” he said. “I’ll also explain why they are successful.”

During his presentation, he will also speak about the threat from Egypt, “even with the peace agreement,” and about Syria, which aids Hezbollah.

“There will be a big piece about Iran,” he said, “how they sponsor terrorism and how they ship weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. All of this is public information,” he added. “Nothing is secret.”

Shuker said he presents so much information that some synagogues have chosen to have him come more than once, presenting the data in smaller installments.

“At the end of the presentation, [listeners] must understand the basics, so when the IDF operates, [people] can tell if the media is speaking the truth.”

Often it does not, he said, attributing the errors to bias.

“During the last operation in Gaza, Israel was accused of killing innocent people,” he said. “But they were killed because Hamas has a system of hiding its people among civilians. They shoot rockets from schools and hospitals [and have] operatives dressed as doctors.”

He recalled that during Operation Cast Lead, “One Hamas leader tried to pass between two buildings by holding a child. This is not being told in the world media.”

Shuker said “the IDF really tries to eliminate hurting innocent people.”

As a company commander, he learned — and taught others — about “the purity of arms.” Quoting from the IDF’s ethical code of conduct, Shuker said the phrase means that “the soldier shall make use of his weaponry and power only for the fulfillment of the mission and solely to the extent required; he will maintain his humanity even in combat. The soldier shall not employ his weaponry and power in order to harm non-combatants or prisoners of war, and shall do all he can to avoid harming their lives, body, honor, and property.”

Shuker added, however, that especially during a war, it is hard to distinguish between who is innocent and who is not when dealing with terrorists.

“They’re not wearing uniforms,” he said, noting that during the Gaza campaign, Hamas stored its weapons in different houses and passed from house to house “as civilians.”

“Hamas says 1,000 innocent citizens were killed by the IDF; but [they] were not innocent. They were terrorists, warriors, soldiers. They just have different techniques.”

Shuker said he realized during the Second Lebanon War that “the media made many mistakes in their reporting because they didn’t understand the geography and the conflict. I want to educate people so they understand what’s going on.”

For more information, call (201) 391-0801 or visit www.temple-emanuelpv.org.

The last time Rabbi André Ungar was in South Africa — some 54 years ago — he was, he says, “persona non grata.”

Ungar, rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake, left South Africa in 1956 under government orders “because of saying unkind things about apartheid.”

In mid-December, he went back not only to visit the country he left under duress but to speak from the same pulpit he had held for two years.

Ungar will speak about his trip during Shabbat services on March 26 at Temple Emanuel.

“Now that a half-century has gone, my family encouraged me to go,” said Ungar, who was accompanied on the trip by several members of his family, including three of his 15 grandchildren.

“Since I recently celebrated my 80th birthday, they thought it would be wonderful for me to go back,” he said, noting that “the country has changed and I have changed.”

During his two-week trip, Ungar met a few of his former b’nai mitzvah at Temple Israel in Port Elizabeth, where he first went as a 25-year-old rabbi from London.

“Racist laws have been totally abolished,” he said. “This time I saw a country where all colors mingled. Over the last 20 years [South Africa] has become a free country.”

Rabbi Ungar, left, revisits Port Elizabeth a half-century later. With him are, from left, his wife Judy, grandchildren Caleb, Eva Ann, and Maya, daughter-in-law Harley, and son Eli.

Ungar said that when he lived in South Africa, the Jews there were “a scared community.” While there was no “official Jewish position, we felt that apartheid was terrible, wicked racism.”

The Jews also knew, however, that they would be victimized if they spoke up. He said that while he was never physically threatened himself, “I was told I was in some danger.”

Nevertheless, said Ungar, “among those whites who opposed apartheid, a disproportionate number were Jewish.” He pointed to Helen Suzman, “a member of Parliament who represented decency for many years.”

Today, he said, “the Jewish community has been shrunk somewhat” because of emigration to Israel, the United States, England, and Australia, particularly among the younger generation.

When he lived there, he said, the country had a population of 25 million. Today, “it is twice that.” The Jewish community, however, which used to include about 120,000 members, now numbers some 80,000.

Ungar said that while Jews there have maintained themselves well economically, “the chance of making a future elsewhere is rosier. The country has certain problems” such as street crime, he said. “This creates a kind of nervousness, especially in major cities. My feeling was that the Jews there are rather pleased that their children are making a future in more stable countries.”

He added that while Jews in South Africa enjoy complete freedom of worship, the country maintains an anti-Israel stance.

Ungar said that while he was there, he was asked to name a baby at Temple Israel, “the grandchild of someone I bar-mitzvahed.” The synagogue, he said, has been well-maintained and has a membership of about 100 families.

For information about Ungar’s talk, call (201) 391-0801.

Richard Michaelson, Allyn Michaelson, instructor Bette Birnbaum, and Roz Melzer examine an ancient Israelite coin in a 2007 Melton class.

Melton is one of those incredible programs,” said Frieda Huberman, UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey’s director of school services and of the Florence Melton Mini-School. “It’s more than the sum of its parts.”

Clearly, that view is shared by others. When the two-year adult education program was scaled back this past year because of cuts in funding, a group of graduates banded together to launch what has proved to be a successful rescue effort.

“It came out of the minds and hearts of Melton alumni,” said Huberman. “They wanted it to continue.”

The Melton loyalists — spurred by Sharon Weiss, a member of Wyckoff’s Temple Beth Rishon — created a network of synagogue liaisons to reach out to their respective shuls, seeking financial support for the program. Thanks to their efforts, a consortium of some 20 synagogues and two JCCs has joined with UJA-NNJ to fund the program for the foreseeable future.

An educator herself, Weiss said, “I know great teachers and great curricula when I see them. I was taking a Melton class last spring when I heard the program was in jeopardy. I was concerned mainly because the program had such a strong impact on me and I was afraid that this wouldn’t be available for other lifelong learners.”

Weiss, with several other Melton graduates hailing from Beth Rishon, Temple Israel in Ridgewood, and Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake, met with then Melton director Rena Rabinowitz “to get a sense of what our options were.”

“We felt strongly that we should give it a try,” she said. “We felt it was unconscionable not to make an attempt to see what we could do.”

Armed with a list of graduates, together with information about their synagogues, the group conceived the idea of a consortium, asking Melton graduates to arrange meetings between synagogue leaders and those pitching the consortium plan.

“We created a PowerPoint presentation and budget and set up appointments with heads of synagogues,” said Weiss. “The liaisons had a strong influence, talking about the impact the program had on them. It worked out fabulously. We now have enough financial support to offer the program.”

Weiss said the consortium is still a work in progress and she expects that more synagogues will “come aboard.” She said she is not worried about attracting students, since there is already a waiting list.

“I felt very passionate about it because of how it changed my life,” said the retired high school biology teacher. “It helped me understand my place on the Jewish continuum. I was brought up as a cultural Jew but with no understanding and appreciation of the shoulders on which I stand.”

“I have a responsibility,” she said. “I never understood that. I’ve found my Jewish voice,” she added, noting that not only did Melton inspire her to visit Israel but it empowered her to take leadership positions within her synagogue.

Helping to restore the Melton program entailed “full-time involvement,” she said, but it has been worth it. “Not only will we get learners, but we’ll get people who can become leaders.”

“I’m one of many,” she pointed out. “We couldn’t have gotten [so many] liaisons unless people cared.”

Melton graduate Susan Lieberskind, one of the graduates who helped create the consortium, said that once she realized the key to teaching her children to love Judaism lay in her own actions, “Melton became a ‘requirement.’”

Still, added the Hillsdale resident, “participating in adult Jewish education so that my children see that learning is a lifelong endeavor is only part of why I signed up for Melton. Being Jewish is an integral part of my life and I wanted to know the ‘why’ behind the various things I do.”

“Individual synagogue classes are great, [but] Melton provides a sophisticated, pluralistic curriculum and an opportunity to learn with a broader base of community members,” she said. “It makes new meaning of previous Jewish experiences and increases a student’s connection to the Jewish community, creating role models and leaders.”

Lieberskind noted that her Melton education has not only provided her with a better Jewish foundation but has given her “confidence to pursue leadership opportunities in the Jewish community.” One of her classmates recently completed a term as synagogue president, she said, while “a member of my original class went on to be UJA-NNJ president. There is no question that the presence of Melton students makes for a better community.”

According to UJA-NNJ’s Huberman, there will be three Melton 1 classes in Fall 2010, to be held at the Glen Rock Jewish Center, Temple Emanu-El in Closter, and Temple Emanuel in Woodcliff Lake. Students will attend two hours a week for 30 weeks. As regards instructors, she said, the program will draw on “the phenomenal Melton teachers who taught in the past.”

Calling UJA-NNJ the “anchor” of the program — which she expects to attract between 100 and 200 students — she pointed out that federation is providing staffing for the program as well as serving a fiduciary role.

“The details are still evolving,” she said, adding that the fall program will include one Melton 2 class as well as post-Melton graduate classes. The program will be open to the community.

For additional information, visit www.ujannj.org/meltonschool, call (201) 820-3914, or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

All of Islam bears some responsibilty for 9-11 and the epidemic of terror carried out in its name and by its adherents,” wrote Rabbi Benjamin Shull of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake in an e-mail to The Jewish Standard.

Asked to elaborate, he added, “I realize that there are many Muslims who practice a moderate form of their religion and who do not condone terror or violent jihad, but it is obvious to anyone who has studied the history of Islam that the violence we see today is not a mere aberration. There is endemic to Islam an aggressive and imperialistic strain that, many times in the past, has reared its head and brought much religiously fueled violence to the world. Many truly moderate Muslim leaders have acknowledged this and called for a reform of Islam. The leader of the World Trade Center mosque has not — though he will condemn terror in one breath he will excuse it in another. He actually once claimed that Osama bin Laden was created in the United States (by U.S. foreign policy).

“I don’t think that the government should stop the mosque, but I do believe that we, the Americans, can demand accountability. This is not Islamophobia, it’s common sense.”

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Alex Grobman, a historian who lives in Englewood and is the author, most recently, of the ironically titled “The Palestinian Right to Israel” (Balfour Books), was similarly negative about the mosque site.

He wrote in an e-mail to the Standard that “If those building the imposing 13-story $100 million mosque were truly interested in portraying Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance, this is clearly the wrong place to do so. Allowing a mosque to be built so close to the destruction of the Twin Towers will be seen as an act of triumphalism. What else are we to assume when the projected name is Cordoba House, a term obviously identified with conquest? As one analyst noted, the first Cordoba mosque was erected in Cordoba, Spain, following the Muslim conquest of Christian Spain in the eighth century.

“A very transparent and unmistakable message will be conveyed to the faithful,” Grobma added, “that they have been given a premier platform from which to preach their form of Islam under Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. He is a prominent member of Perdana, which is ‘the single biggest donor’ to the Free Gaza Movement, according to David Horowitz, and refuses to say if Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

Grobman wrote that in “Abdul Rauf’s book, published in Malaysia, ‘A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Dawa in the Heart of America Post-9/11,’ the word ‘dawa’ refers to spreading sharia [Islamic law] by any way except through violence, according to Islam expert Robert Spencer.

“Is this mosque not then a Trojan horse?”

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Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, an Englewood resident and a columnist for this newspaper, has written frequently of his qualified opposition to the mosque. The author, most recently, of “Renewal: A Guide to the Values-Filled Life,” he wrote on the Huffington Post website on Tuesday that he is, in fact, “a supporter of the mosque being built, but only under two conditions. First, that its builders consult the families of the Ground Zero dead, who are the people whose opinion matters most. Second, that the 13-story complex include a museum detailing the events of 9/11 with exhibits explaining the modern abuse of Islamic teachings by extremists and their repudiation by Islam itself.”

Responding to accusations of bigotry against opponents of the mosque, Boteach wrote, “There are bigots in America but Americans are not bigots. There are a hundred mosques in New York alone and nobody objects. But the average American is souring on Islam not based on any intrinsic prejudice but based on the violence they constantly read in the newspapers….

“[T]his is where the builders of the Ground Zero mosque squandered a unique opportunity to portray Islam in a favorable light,” he continued. “They could have said that while they are firm about their intentions of creating an Islamic presence at this hallowed site, their intention in so doing is not to offend the families’ sensibilities but to repudiate the fanatics who have tarnished the name of Islam and hence, the builders wish to proceed with the greatest sensitivity and understanding.

“Sadly, … none of this happened. Rather, it was announced that a mosque is being built adjacent to a giant American cemetery irrespective of the families wishes, that it’s a First Amendment right, and that all those who oppose it are bigots.”