Before becoming Israel’s first General, David ‘Mickey’ Marcus had already graduated West Point and Brooklyn Law School, prosecuted Lucky Luciano, served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, negotiated the surrender of Fascist Italy, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, provided for millions of Displaced Persons in Europe and planned legal and security procedures for the Nuremberg trials and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. All of that paled in comparison to his visit to Dachau where he witnessed firsthand the atrocities of the Shoah.
Born to immigrant parents on New York’s Lower East Side in 1902, Mickey Marcus had a typical upbringing for a first-generation early 20th century Jewish-American which is to say poor and pocked with persecution. His pushcart hawker father died when Mickey was just nine years old. Street antisemitism was so pervasive that he organized self-defense groups to protect elderly Jews from roving gangs. He felt an intense sense of gratitude to the nation which opened its doors to his family and so enrolled at the United States Military Academy where he became a star student and athlete.
Mickey Marcus then enjoyed the above series of postings each one of which more is impressive than the last. But the experience at Dachau never left him. Immortalized in the 1966 John Wayne film ‘Cast a Giant Shadow’, General Lucius Clay required that all senior officers in Germany visit the recently liberated concentration camp. A Yankee Doodle Dandy who initially planned on returning to the United States to continue his meteoric rise, Marcus could not shake the feeling that while he had already done so much for his country, at that particular moment in history his people might need him more.
In 1947, David Ben-Gurion asked Marcus to identify and recruit a military advisor to the Haganah. Instead, Marcus volunteered. The US War Department approved Marcus’s undertaking provided he disguise his name and rank to avoid problems with the British Mandate of Palestine. He was appointed as the Commander of the Jerusalem Front and given the rank of Aluf. His most famous contribution in the War of Independence, among many, was the construction of the Burma Road which broke the Jordanian siege on the Jewish commuity in Jerusalem.
Mickey Marcus’s life ended tragically in the fog of war when an Israeli sentry mistook him for an enemy soldier. Ruth and Moshe Dayan personally escorted Marcus’s body to West Point Cemetery, the first ever funeral for a graduate who died in the service of another country’s armed forces. His yahrzeit is commemorated on annual basis at the West Point Jewish Chapel where representatives of the United States Army, New York City Department of Correction and Israeli Mission to the United Nations take part.
In recognition of Mickey Marcus and all of the fallen, we invite you to join the Israeli Embassy’s Yom HaZikaron Memorial Day ceremony this Monday evening at 6:00pm. Registration required at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QEC0Rl6Fwbpl3GSisnADUeMzjLkgyBMgfOm5THdTdFc/viewform
Services
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, May 10th
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Kedoshim
Saturday, May 11th
Kiddush sponsored in the Cinco de Mayo style by the Scheer Family in celebration of Akiva Levi’s First Birthday
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, May 17th
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Emor
Bat Mitzvah of Nina Tischler
Saturday, May 18th
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, May 24th
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Behar
Bar Mitzvah of Eli Starobin
Saturday, May 25th
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
RSVP: https://jccjapan.jp/event-registration/
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, May 31st
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, June 7th
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Bamidbar
Kiddush sponsored by the Scheer Family in honor of Asher Adi’s 3rd birthday
Saturday, June 8th
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Friday Night Dinner Reservations can made on our website: https://jccjapan.jp/shabbat-meals-sign-up/
Events
Sephardic Jewish Cuisine Cooking Class
In this intimate setting, limited to just 12 participants, you’ll have the opportunity to master the secrets of two mouthwatering dishes: Tagine and Tunisian cigars.
Limited space available
Sunday, June 2nd
10:00am – 2:00pm
Materials Fee: 2,000 JPY
Violins and Hope
From the Holocaust to the Symphony Hall: a photographic journey documenting the man and work of Israeli master luthier (violin maker) Amnon Weinstein who set up a project to restore violins that survived the concentration camps and ghettos of the Holocaust, even when their owners often did not.
Sunday, June 23rd
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Event Registration Page: https://jccjapan.jp/event-registration/
If you have an idea for an event or a topic you would like to share with others, please visit our website: https://jccjapan.jp/event-committee-inquiry/
Announcements
Mazal Tov to the Monas Family on the birth of a baby boy!
Thank you to Carol Isaacs who presented ‘Wolf of Baghdad’, a unique audio-visual journey through a Jewish family’s memories of their lost Iraqi homeland. We all felt a bit of ‘Kaukokaipuu’ which in Finnish means ‘a feeling of homesickness for a place you’ve never visited.’ (Carol’s husband is a Finnish Jew.) We greatly appreciate Rachel Walzer’s moderating and the Events Committee for arranging.
Yashar Koach to Yoram Cisinski for sharing so powerfully his family’s miraculous story of survival during Sunday night’s Yom HaShoah ceremony. We were honored by the presence of the Israeli and Estonian Ambassadors as well as representatives from the German and American embassies. Thirty members of the Beit Shalom Choir sang beautifully, touching the souls of all who attended.
Yiddish Club with Jack Halpern: Please contact Jack at jack@cjki.org if you are interested to join. All levels are welcome, from beginner to advanced. Much more than just language, the club’s monthly meetings explore Yiddish culture as well.
Shabbat Kedoshim
Candle Lighting: 6:17pm
Havdala: 7:18pm