Synagogue to honor role model on 95th birthday
Palm Beach Synagogue will honor resident Bill Langfan — retired businessman and World War II veteran — to mark his 95th birthday on Saturday. Services start at 9 a.m. followed by a noon luncheon and 12:30 p.m. celebration.
“Mr. Langfan is a pillar of tremendous strength within our community,” said Rabbi Moshe Scheiner. “He has exemplified the virtues of loving kindness and generosity, and community and family and friendship.”
“At 95, he is a role model and example to all of us on how one can be engaged, building a lasting, living legacy that will impact the lives of many others for generations to come.”
Cantor Zev Müller of New York will lead the services and Israeli scholar MordecaiKedar, an assistant professor at Bar-llan University, will talk about “the shared values and principles that have forged a great relationship between the United States and Israel, something which Mr. Langfan has devoted his life toward strengthening,” said Scheiner.
Langfan will read from the Torah he donated to Palm Beach Synagogue in 2009 in his parents’ memory. He’s also given Torahs to Temple Beth El, Temple Emanu-El of Palm Beach and Temple Aitz Chaim of West Palm Beach, all local synagogues he’s attended.
Langfan’s donations toward youth education connect teens to their heritage, history and culture and build leadership. This month, he again will sponsor synagogue teens to attend the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., so they can become more engaged with issues that unite the United States and Israel. He also sponsors students attending from local temples Beth El and Emanu-El and Chabad of Clinton, N.Y., serving Hamilton University.
He lectures and writes about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, sometimes with son Mark, who uses maps to illustrate Israel’s importance to the United States and Europe. His website is williamklangfan.com.
During the war, he served in the Battle of the Bulge and was in the first group of liberators at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945.
His three children followed his footsteps and earned law degrees. One of his six grandchildren is attending his alma mater Cornell University, where a moot court competition is named for him, one of his several permanent endowments.
Langfan was the youngest of five growing up and “treated royally,” he said. He was the first one in his family to attend college and law school.
Family from Washington, D.C., and New York will attend Langfan’s birthday tribute at the temple and a party at The Chesterfield.
His birthday wish is “for people to seek the facts,” he said. “If you know the facts, and you make a judgment, you are entitled to convey your opinion. But have facts, don’t just rely on what you hear or read.”
Of the synagogue tribute, he said: “They are asking me to tell a joke they haven’t heard before. That’s a little difficult. Good jokes are hard to find.”
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Music at Bethesda-by-the-Sea — James Guyer, organist and choirmaster at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Sarasota, will play a recital at 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Evensong with the Bethesda Choir will follow at 4 p.m. All are welcome.
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Festive — Food, music and speakers will highlight a Women’s League Shabbaton weekend March 17 and 18 at Temple Emanu-El. It will kick off with a dinner at 5:45 p.m. March 17, followed by 7:30 p.m. services.
The next day, Temple Beth Sholom Teen Choir of Greenwich, Conn., directed by Cantor Asa Fradkin, will sing traditional songs during the 9:15 a.m. service.
Carol Simon of Tampa, president of the National Women’s League of Conservative Judaism, will address both services.
Mickey Feldberg, a former Women’s League president, called Simon “charming, vivacious, and she has dedicated much of her adult life to Women’s League.”
In addition, Women’s League president Rhea Zukerman will honor the board for its yearlong programming.
All are welcome. RSVP for dinner by March 13 by calling 832-0804.
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Pre-Purim event — The Palm Beach Jewish Women’s Circle gathering at 7 p.m. Monday at The Chabad House will feature tastings of hamantaschen (three-cornered cookies or pastry that resemble Haman’s three-cornered hat in the Purim story) and guest speaker Sorele Brownstein. Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Brownstein will share insights into Jewish heroines of the past. She co-directs Chabad of Davis , Calif., with husband Rabbi Shmaryahu Brownstein.
Sorele Brownstein, the author of The Gilded Cage: Queen Esther’s Untold Story, will also have a book signing and sale.
The women will prepare hamantaschen and gift packages before the Purim holiday, which runs from sundown March 11 to nightfall March 12.
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Purim drama — Purim Puppet Theater led by Rabbi G of the Chabad Youth Network will take place at The Society of the Four Arts Children’s Library for ages 3 to 12. Children also can bake and take home hamantashen at the event, set for 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
The third in the Daled Arts series is presented by The Chabad House in cooperation with The Friedman CJE’s PJ Library. Email hindel@palmbeachjewish.com or register at palmbeachjewish.com/daledarts.
(This article was published on 7:00 a.m. Friday, March 03, 2017, in http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/religion/synagogue-honor-role-model-95th-birthday/zKyRUzNefPOg93RCoBC9aN/)
William K. Langfan Project Survivor Interview March 2014
Why the two-state solution is impossible today
The two-state solution sounds like a reasonable approach to end the Palestinian- Israeli conflict.
The following slightly modified application of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner Robert Aumann’s Agreement Theorem is a valid illustration of why the two-state solution is not possible today.
Two men are placed in a locked room with a box containing $100,000. They are told that if they can agree on how to split the money, they will share the agreed-upon amount.
No. 1 says this is the easiest $50,000 I have every received.
No. 2 says I want the whole $100,000 amount because I have known the donor for many years, and you have just met him. The only reason why you were chosen was because your great-great grandfather and the donor’s great-great grandfather were very close friends.
They argue for an hour but cannot reach agreement, because No. 2 will not change his mind about the whole $100,000.
The echo of gentleman No. 2 is in every Palestinian document, such as the PLO Charter, the Hamas Charter, the Fatah Constitution and practically every Palestinian writing in Arabic. Palestinian television programs, textbooks and newspapers also consistently follow gentleman No. 2’s thinking. Please try to find one Palestinian Arabic example of sharing one grain of sand with Israel.
This is not my opinion; these are facts readily available to all. Just type Palestinian Media Watch into an internet search engine and you will find a constant stream of English translations of what I have stated above.
(Letter to the editor published on 1/24/2017 in http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/letters/1.767118)
The countries of the UN should spend their time trying to have the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, and Hamas convert their mindset to destroy Israel, rather than waste their time on Israeli settlements
Dear Editor:
The countries of the UN should spend their time trying to have the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, and Hamas convert their mindset to destroy Israel, rather than waste their time on Israeli settlements.
Were the West Bank settlements the reason why the Arabs attacked Israel in 1948, when the UN resolution established Arab segments and the establishment of the Jewish state?
Were the West Bank settlements the reason in 1964 when the PLO and its 29-clause charter were created to destroy Israel? Charter clause 24 stated, “this organization does not exercise any sovereignty in the West Bank or Gaza.”
Were the West Bank settlements the problem in 1967 when Egypt forced the UN troops to leave the Sinai? The UN troops were stationed in the Sinai to prevent Egypt from attacking Israel.
Were the West Bank settlements the problem in 1967 when Egypt closed the Tiran Straits to Israel ships? This was an act of war.
Were the West Bank settlements the problem in 1967, when Egypt and Syria massed hundreds of thousands of troops and tanks ready to attack Israel?
Were the West Bank settlements the problem in 1968, when the Palestinian National Council (PNC) slightly amended the 1964 charter by eliminating clause 24 and adding clauses to use “armed struggle” to “liberate” Palestine? The same PNC is the only entity which can change the charter (1968 charter clause 33).
Were the West Bank settlements the problem when the PNC issued its 10-clause Political Programme in June 1974 after the Yom Kippur War? This document stated that the aim of “the Palestinian National Authority will strive to achieve a union of the confrontation countries, with the aim of completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory, and as a step along the road to comprehensive Arab unity.”
Were the West Bank settlements the problem when Arafat sent a Sept 1993 letter to Rabin in which he listed a series of PLO promises of peace which were all contradictions of the 1968 charter? The last sentence of Arafat’s Sept 1993 letter stated, “consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant.”
There has never been a valid PNC recognition of Israel. There has never been a change of one word in the 1968 charter. The Fatah, the PLO, and Hamas still have formal documents calling for the destruction of Israel. There is no Palestinian document in existence to show that there has ever been a change in their mindset to destroy Israel.
Respectfully,
William K. Langfan
(This letter to the editor was written on 1/3/2017)
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