Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Posted on August 18, 2010 - by admin
Levine Academy welcomes Rabbi Eve Posen to campus
By Rachel Gross
Eve Posen was ordained in May. Fast-forward three months, and she can be found as the new campus rabbi at the Ann and Nate Levine Academy, bringing her passion for Jewish education to the forefront.
Rabbi Posen joined Levine Academy last month as part of the Schechter Residency in Educational Leadership (SREL) program, a three-year fellowship designed to create a career path to day school professional leadership.
She said her goals are to provide kids with a fun, meaningful Jewish experience and to strengthen the Jewish identity of the Levine community.
“If kids have a place where Judaism is fun, they are going to grasp onto concepts and it will become important in their lives,” she said. “If I can create the connection for these kids and they like coming, then I’ve done my job. [This position] gives me the opportunity to teach people that are open and willing to learn … it will allow me to make a difference in Jewish education.”
Posen added that other objectives for this year are to rework tefillah (prayer) to focus on depth and meaning; have experiential services with yoga, meditation and art projects; and work with the Early Childhood Center to infuse Judaism into the lives of Levine’s youngest students.
Other components of her will job include teaching seventh- and eighth-grade Judaic studies classes that will center on the ethical covenant; typical rabbinic duties like officiating b’nai mitzvah and giving divrei Torah; and also being a liaison to different synagogues in the area.
She believes that creating a strong community and a Jewish environment is vital for students.
“This is a Conservative school with a pluralistic attitude,” she said. “We have kids from Chabad and Reform synagogues. My job and the school’s role is to make sure that when the students are in social studies, there is a Jewish component. We have the core seven values to live by that are distinctly Jewish. If we put that into everyday living, we are living a good life inspired by Judaism and that’s what day school is about — providing that foundation.”
Judaism has always been an important part of Posen’s life. Growing up in West Bloomfield, Mich., she attended shul weekly with her family; she said that’s where she fell in love with Judaism. In sixth grade, she learned about shiva and mourning after her grandfather died and was interested to learn more.
In college at the University of Michigan, Posen was the conservative minyan leader at Hillel and the religious life committee chair; it was then she knew she wanted to be a rabbi. She received her master’s degree in Jewish education from the Fingerhut School at AJU in Los Angeles.
Posen began teaching during her sophomore year in college and taught at LA Hebrew High during rabbinical school. She credits this as heightening her love for teaching.
“I love working with kids. When they start to understand something, you can see their brain working; it inspires me every day,” she said. “Being here for three years will allow me to see them grow up. I get to work with the ECC, all the way up to eighth grade. The most adorable thing is going to the ECC and watching them do the Sh’ma. To hear them saying it and seeing the parents and grandparents getting nachas from them, it’s inspiring and really makes everything worth it.”
Posen said she is looking forward to building relationships with the students, parents and faculty and getting to know Dallas.
She hopes to be relatable and to bring a fresh face to the table. As the first female rabbi at Levine, Posen said she wants imbue egalitarianism.
“I grew up not being able to be in a minyan or lead services and was the first female at my shul to wear tefillin on a regular basis at age 12,” she said. “Being here speaks to egalitarianism to the fullest extent. Since my bat mitzvah, everyone said I was going to be a rabbi. It’s inside me and there is nothing else I could be doing in life that would make me this happy.”
When she’s not at school, Posen enjoys reading, cooking, walking and spending time with her husband, Duncan Gilman.
Posen said she is excited for school to start next week and is anxious to see what these next three years will bring. She added that this job allows her to delve into many different areas while still staying true to her passion.
“I want to create a place that when the kids come out of Levine, they have a well-rounded education and an inherent love of Judaism,” she said. “This is a great community and the school is willing to move forward and try new things. That’s a blessing in a first position — to do what I love in a place that’s open to going through change. It’s wonderful.”
Wende Weinberg, director of Jewish studies and programs, said Posen is a dynamic, engaging and passionate teacher and believes she will make an impact on everyone.
“She embodies all that we were looking for at Levine — warmth, knowledge, wonderful interpersonal skills and the ability to lead,” she said. “Rabbi Posen will formally and informally be involved in educating all of our students, from the very youngest to the oldest. She will touch the lives of our students on a daily basis and be a role model for them.”
Randy Fleisher, president of the Levine board of trustees, added that he believes Rabbi Posen will engage the students and provide them with knowledge, leadership and vision.
“She is an energetic, charismatic person, and I believe she will engage the children, faculty and staff,” he said. “We are excited to start off our 31st year. We are looking forward to the next 30 years and beyond, and have a strong team in place.”
Posted on August 18, 2010 - by admin
Stolovitsky takes lead as new Levine Academy head
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series on changes at area day schools. Next week: Akiba Academy
By Rachel Gross
Mark Stolovitsky has spent his life in Jewish education as a student, teacher and headmaster. This year, he is back in the saddle as the new head of school at the Ann and Nate Levine Academy.
Stolovitsky started on July 1 and has been preparing for the school year, which begins Aug. 18. His job is to run the day-to-day operations of the school and be the go-between person for the staff and board.
Stolovitsky said his immediate goals for the upcoming year are to finalize the strategic plan, get the message out about Levine and its appeal, and grow the school; 419 students are enrolled for the 2010–2011 school year. He believes this can be accomplished by everyone working together.
“I want the year to get off to a smooth start with everyone on the same page,” he said. “One of the things I’m going to do is look at the ethical covenant and make sure it’s deeply felt amongst everybody who’s associated with the school. I want the kids to be able to reflect on their own behavior and as they go through life, say they learned about integrity. It’s about building on a sense of ‘we.’”
Stolovitsky came to Dallas in 2004 and was headmaster at Akiba Academy until 2009. There, he increased enrollment, participated in all recruitment and retention efforts and worked to achieve a balance between Modern Orthodox and community elements of the school, among other things.
Previously, he worked at Kadimah, in Buffalo, N.Y.; the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Kansas; and Akiva Academy in Calgary, Canada.
Although Stolovitsky considers himself Modern Orthodox and is a member of Congregation Shaare Tefilla, he said that doesn’t play a factor in how he will run Levine, a Conservative school. He believes Jewish day schools don’t focus much on denominations today, but more on inclusion.
“Jewish education has gone past pure denominationalism,” he said. “It’s not as black-and-white as people want to believe. We want to focus on what’s common and want kids to be mensches, love the Torah and Israel, and be future leaders. This is an inclusive approach and our goal at Jewish day schools is to get committed Jews who love being Jewish. That which divides is not as important as what unites. That’s a core value of mine.”
In addition to serving as head of school, Stolovitsky will teach eighth-grade Jewish history. He was a substitute in the fifth and sixth grades last year and knows many of the kids. He taught Melton courses, mentored a new teacher at Yavneh Academy and taught algebra at the Dallas County Detention Center last year as well.
Stolovitsky has also volunteered in the Dallas Jewish community. He is the chair of the interreligious committee at the American Jewish Committee, and has worked with the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas.
Stolovitsky, or “Mar S.” as he is referred to by students, said his biggest challenges will be making day school affordable in the current economy and delivering the best education possible. With his past experience, he is confident he can achieve this.
So, what does it take to be a successful headmaster? He said it’s about business, fundraising, marketing and, most importantly, education.
“A headmaster needs to be open, communicate the message of the school, lead both on the educational and board side and do it with joy,” he said. “People ask what type of Jew I am and I say I’m a member of joyful Judaism. It’s a great job. Learning should be enjoyable and the more you are invested in it, the more something positive happens.”
Stolovitsky added that he is most looking forward to meeting all the kids. He recently hosted a pizza party for the eighth-graders and visited the Early Childhood Center camp, where he led a service with them.
He said his love for education and growing up at day school got him where he is today. Stolovitsky holds two law degrees, but said education is where he wants to be. His wife, Gail, whom he met at a Jewish high school, is involved with Melton and is a special needs educator.
Overall, Stolovitsky hopes to provide kids with the same experience that he had, allowing them to become well-rounded people and develop a greater sense of Jewish identity.
“What I love most about teaching is watching students grow their minds and take in concepts,” he said. “I enjoy watching them develop skills they didn’t know they had. By creating an open learning environment, you get real learners. I love teaching and learning law, but I love education. The worst day in education is still a great day and I have very few bad days.”
Levine Academy Principal Susie Wolbe anticipates that Stolovitsky will lead Levine to excel and improve.
“Mark has an incredible sense of who our stakeholders are and the ways to help them see all of the magical things we do at Levine. He will be able to convey that message well, along with a sense of calm, well-being and fun,” she said. “We were lucky to have him teaching our kids last spring, so he is able to see us from many points of view: former head of a different day school, as a teacher here, and now Levine head of school. It’s going to be a year of excitement.”
Randy Fleisher, president of the Levine board of trustees, said Stolovitsky will bring a sense of warmth.
“Mark will bring tremendous passion and energy,” he said. “He knows Dallas and is an experienced educator. He is the driving force to advancing Levine to the next level, executing the mission statement and strategic plan, and will provide leadership to the faculty and staff.”
Posted on May 28, 2010 - by admin
Saul Schisler paints his way through Sderot beautifying bomb shelters with street art
By Deb Silverthorn
Rainbows from rain is what Allen resident Saul Schisler is creating, leaving his mark on the walls of bomb shelters, restaurants, homes, schools, and public buildings of Sderot, Israel. An artist who connected with Artists 4 Israel, Schisler’s work joins those bringing a brighter hue to the community.
“I went to Sderot, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem with Artists 4 Israel to paint murals and walls to beautify and spread messages of hope to citizens of Israel and Zionists worldwide. The more money that is raised, the more public work I can do around the city and the more colorful this city will become. I don’t want to leave one ugly yellow bomb shelter unpainted, and I don’t want this city to ever feel neglected or forgotten again,” said Schisler who will return to Sderot from June 4 to July 12. “These people have been under rocket attack from the terrorist organization Hamas for a decade, and the city is full of reminders of their current plight.”
Schisler, the son of Howell Schisler, and Shelley Meyers and Avi Mitzner, is looking to his home community, family and friends to help in raising funds to support his stay with the project. Through June 1, donations can be made online at www.kickstarter.com/projects/Saulschis/saul-paints-sderot. The 2009 graduate of Winfree Academy, who will attend New York’s Pratt Institute, School of Art & Design in the fall, is the eldest brother to Becky, Evan, Leora, Jonah, Sam, Tammy, and Jacquie. A member of Congregation Shearith Israel, Schisler was an involved member of the ZOHAR chapter of United Synagogue Youth.
Schisler’s Israel experience began with the nine-month Young Judaea – FZY Year Course Program Visual Art Track. He had the opportunity to volunteer, study academically, earn college credit, study art and be a part of special arts enrichment such as field trips and meetings with known Israeli artists.
“From the start of the year, Saul has exhibited an artistic passion and drive that was beyond compare. He would stay up nights painting and explore the art scene on his own in addition to participating in the weekly classes and activities the program offered,” said Anna Abramzon, Coordinator of Art Programs for Young Judaea and Federation of Zionist Youth Year Course. “Saul’s commitment and love for art proved to be contagious to the other students and he has been a wonderful addition to the group.”
“Saul was a transformative and vibrant addition to the Artists 4 Israel Murality Mission,” said Craig Dershowitz, president of Artists 4 Israel. “The youngest of the artists, Saul was selected to join the trip based on his enthusiasm and chutzpah. He stepped into a program full of graffiti legends and accomplished artists and made it clear that his art should also be recognized. Immediately, we were happy with our decision.”
“Saul’s work, bright plays of color and depth, oftentimes resulting in floral motifs of piercing yet still, somehow, delicate beauty, resonated with the citizens of Sderot,” said Dershowitz. “He made pieces of utter joy and easily-grasped beauty, heightened and glorified, even more magical by the impossible settings where they were kept. As his work moved to the forefront, literally blossoming before our eyes, so did Saul. He became comfortable with the reporters and cameras and even more comfortable with the people of Sderot. He engaged them as he worked, turning each moment into a chance of one-on-one connection and spiritual upliftment.”
For Schisler, whose first trip to Israel was through USY’s Etgar Outdoor Adventure Summer program, going to Israel for a year was never a question, but a given. “I remember him telling me not ‘if I go back,’ but ‘I will go back,’” said his mother, herself the art teacher at Ford Middle School in Allen, who is still amazed that her son is able to spray paint the side of a police station. “Isn’t that incredible? I’m so excited and proud that he found a way to bring his really incredible talent out, and to do so with the spirit that he has.”
“Saul sent an email thanking me for the sacrifices made on his behalf, that doesn’t happen for many parents,” said Meyers. “His total heart is in this totally selfless act and I’m so proud of him.”
Schisler who only began seriously exploring his own talents in high school, started by painting and drawing on canvas and paper. He was moved to explore street art, just last year. “I think street art is all about reactions and I love it when I get positive reactions to my work; people walking by and saying how beautiful it is or thanking me for painting,” said Schisler who says it takes between two to five hours to paint a wall. “But I also enjoy when someone gets ticked off because of my work. At least they peeled their eyes away from their Blackberries or iPods long enough to notice. Right now, the art I am doing in Sderot is different. The sole reason I am there is to beautify the city.”
“The locals in Sderot love our work,” said Schisler who has worked with many artists, including Young Judaea mate Dan Solomon. “Many here feel that they have been forgotten. When you go up to anyone and tell them you are one of the painters, they tell you how thankful they are, and how much they love what we are doing.”
“I was so impressed when he was accepted by Artists for Israel and invited to join their tour in Israel,” said Abramzon. “We are so glad this proved to be an inspiring experience for him and I am incredibly proud of him for taking the next step on his own. Saul is such a driven, passionate, and talented young artist, I am sure we will all be saying we knew him when!
“I’m hoping people at home will help me remind the people of Sderot,” said Schisler, “that they still matter and the rest of the world hasn’t forgotten about them.”
Donations can be made online, through June 1, at www.kickstarter.com/projects/Saulschis/saul-paints-sderot. After that deadline, donations can be sent to Saul Schisler, c/o 1418 Fieldstone Drive, Allen, TX 75002
Posted on April 29, 2010 - by admin
Israel leaves lasting impression on Levine students
When the students in the Ann and Nate Levine Academy’s class of 2010 departed for Israel on March 7, not one of them could imagine how Israel would change their lives. For almost three weeks, they experienced the beauty, diversity, spirituality and wonder of that country. This trip was more than a tour: It was the culmination of their Jewish education and development, as well as the pinnacle of their Jewish affirmation. They saw, touched and tasted all the things they had read and learned about over their years at Levine.
The students saw and experienced Israel through a learning len s and returned with a depth of knowledge beyond what they had thought possible. From the moment the plane touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport, they hit the ground running as they were whisked away to plant trees in a JNF forest. From there it was nonstop from early morning until late at night — touring the Golan Heights in a jeep, picking vegetables for the poor, volunteering at a hospital, visiting Yad Vashem and Har Herzl, socializing with Ethiopian Jews, working at an archaeological dig, hiking at Nahal Haverim, snorkeling in Eilat, rappelling down a cliff, riding a camel, sleeping in a Bedouin tent, climbing Masada, floating in the Dead Sea, going up to Jerusalem and praying at the Western Wall. “We believe this trip ignites the flame of Jewish identity and a love of Israel unparalleled to anything that can be done in the classroom,” said Jewish Studies Director Wende Weinberg. “We send our kids to Israel to make them the Jewish leaders of their high schools and colleges, to change them as individuals and as Jews who will carry a love of Israel and Judaism with them forever.”
On the last day of the trip, the students were asked to answer a question posed to them when they arrived: “Why Israel? What makes this more than a vacation, more than just a trip?” Here are some of their answers:
Danielle Berg: “The whole Israel experience is so hard to put into words. We came to Israel with no thoughts about any type of growth — spiritual, mental or emotional. But that is what we will be leaving with. It is not a vacation at all. It is more of a question that we are faced with: who is it that you want to be, and how you choose to incorporate Judaism and all the values that are in it into your life. It is the perfect close to middle school and it represents the time in our lives where we need to accept reality and responsibility as Jewish individuals. Each of us can make a huge difference in the world, even with small actions, and the future lies in our hands. It is up to us to meet the high standards that are set for us. I want to thank Levine for all that it has taught me and all the knowledge you have provided me with. That is what Israel is for me.”
Gary Levine: “The things I can say about Israel are infinite. This wasn’t a trip, more than an experience, but a developing love and passion for a tiny piece of land. Besides becoming closer to the surrounding people, I found something inside of me, a connection from my soul to the soft limestone ground in Jerusalem, or the dry and barren pebbles of the Negev, or the many blossoming flowers and weeds in the Golan Heights. I could ramble on and on but the fact of the matter is that Israel changed my disposition physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I, Gary Levine, have found in myself a deep love for Israel.”
Sasha Kislak: “This wasn’t just an ordinary trip because I knew I couldn’t connect to my Jewish identity and past in any other place in the world. I knew that I couldn’t walk through any desert and know my ancestors were here at this exact place; I knew that I couldn’t stand on any other mountain fortress and hear the stories of beliefs so strong one would commit suicide for them; and I knew that I couldn’t stand in any other capital city and see Judaism surrounding me 24/7. I decided to take advantage of this amazing opportunity, and I will go home feeling more connected to my Jewish identity and have more personal knowledge of our history and where I come from.”
Sylvan Perlmutter: “Mah nishtanah hanesiyah hazeh — what makes this trip different from all others — was the question asked of us. For me this trip was to a place that I had a deep personal connection with, and it was a journey of self-discovery. On other trips I had taken with my class I had fun, but that was all. I was never touched emotionally on the Sky Ranch, Texas or New York/D.C. trips. Here, in Israel, after a while it really dawned on me: ‘This is my other home. I have a place here.’ Yes, I might have been tired, hot and uncomfortable at times but I never once regretted the decision to go to Eretz Yisrael. No other trip in my life has made me so acutely aware of my heritage. And now, as I finish writing this at the airport in Tel Aviv, I have one thing left to do: Try to bring Israel home with me.”
“The trip, made possible through the Gerta Vogel Marx Israel Experience Fund, illustrates Levine Academy’s dedication to the principle that a student’s education should reach beyond the classroom walls, that arenas and opportunities for learning are limitless,” said Levine Academy K-8 Principal Dr. Susie Wolbe. “We have a deep belief that this type of educational travel builds the foundation which allows our students to succeed in a global society and broaden their understanding and acceptance of cultural differences.”
Posted on February 25, 2010 - by admin
PARASHAT TETZAVEH
Praying through Jerusalem and Sinai
By Rav Hanan Schlesinger
Everyone knows in which direction a Jew faces when he prays — we turn to Jerusalem, and in the case of Jews here in the United States, that means turning east. But where should the focus of our hearts be? That is a more difficult question. Surprisingly, many ancient and modern Jewish sources tell us that not only our bodies but our hearts as well should turn toward Jerusalem when we stand in prayer.
To understand why that might be so, we have to go back to this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Tetzaveh, and to the chapters in the Book of Exodus dealing with the construction of the Tabernacle, chapters which we first began to encounter in the Torah portion recited last week. The Tabernacle built in the desert after the Israelites heard the thundering Divine voice proclaiming the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, was a veritable portable Mt. Sinai. In its inner sanctum were housed the tablets that record those Ten Commandments spoken by God at Sinai, and the Divine voice continually proclaimed additional laws and instructions from inside that inner sanctum even as it was transported through the desert, just as the Voice had earlier echoed from the pinnacle of Mt. Sinai. The Tabernacle was divided into three graduated regions of ascending holiness just as, during the Sinaitic revelation, the people remained at the bottom of the mount, the 70 elders went partially up toward the top and only Moses entered into the Divine cloud that rested near the summit. Just as God warned, during the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, that those who overstepped the boundaries and came too close would not live, so too it was constantly repeated that any who encroached upon the boundaries of the Tabernacle would forfeit their lives. And finally, animal sacrifices were mandated in the Tabernacle, just as they were offered at Mt. Sinai.
After 40 years in the desert and hundreds of years of conquest and settlement of the land of Israel, the Israelites, under the leadership of the wise King Solomon, built a permanent structure to replace the wandering Tabernacle. The Ark of the Covenant containing the tablets was transferred to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem along with the other furnishings of the Tabernacle. This fulfilled the prophecies of the Book of Deuteronomy that God would cause His name to dwell in one permanent place among the tribes of Israel, and it is to that place that all sacrificial offerings were brought. The Book of Deuteronomy mandated as well that the high court of the Jewish people that interpreted and applied Torah law, sit in that same Divinely chosen place, making the Temple in Jerusalem a continual source of Torah teachings, just as the Tabernacle had been. And so we trace a direct line from Mt. Sinai to the Tabernacle to the Holy Temple.
Now King Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the Temple, expressed a fervent conviction that this structure would serve as a focal point for the supplications of Jews around the world. Although we pray to God Almighty, our prayers should be directed “through this house.” The institution of prayer developed not as a replacement for animal sacrifice but as a supplement to it, and just as all sacrifices were to be brought to the Temple, so all prayers are to be “brought” there as well. King Solomon understood that our prayerful connection to the omniscient, transcendent God must be mediated by the physical reality of the Holy Temple, its symbolism and its memory.
So in our prayers to this very day, we are to turn not only our physical posture to the site of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem but our spiritual posture as well, and in doing so we symbolically turn to the memory of the greatest revelation of God in all of human history, the moment of the promulgation of the Decalogue. Just as millennia ago God concentrated His Presence in that place and turned His countenance towards u, bestowing upon us blessing and instruction, so we respond to Him and to the Law that we daily continue to absorb into our lives and beings, by directing our prayer back through that same holy place.
Rav Hanan Schlesinger is director of community education and community rabbinic scholar of the Community Kollel of Dallas, located on the Schultz-Rosenberg Campus. He can be reached at 214-789-7241.
Posted on February 5, 2010 - by admin
In Memory: Akiba Academy announces the Darryl Lazarow z”l Sports Scholarship Fund
Akiba dad Darryl Lazarow z”l was a man of great character and purpose and an avid supporter of Akiba Academy and its sports programs. He enthusiastically enjoyed watching and coaching Akiba athletics, especially soccer. Tragically, Darryl passed away too soon in December 2006, at the young age of 42.
In his memory, The Darryl Lazarow z”l Sports Scholarship Fund has been created by his loving wife Suzy Lazarow-Cohen, and his children Ariana, Jared and Eliana.
These scholarships will be available to Akiba students in kindergarten through eighth grade who need financial assistance in order to participate in sports or fitness programs at Akiba. The offer applies to any sport offered by Akiba through the academic curriculum or through its Discovery afterschool program, or any future program as long as it is a sport or fitness program. Students must apply through the Akiba business office, and the approval process will follow Akiba’s established financial assistance guidelines.
“Darryl’s family is humbled by the opportunity to provide this fund in his memory. We hope it will be a lasting benefit to children who love sports as much as Darryl did throughout his lifetime,” Suzy Lazarow-Cohen said when the announcement was made.
All scholarship awards will be held completely confidential. Akiba will report annually on the distribution of scholarships through this fund. For more information, please contact Akiba’s administrative director, Nancy Skinner, or go to www.akibaacademy.org and click on Development to donate online.
Posted on October 22, 2009 - by admin
Paula Joyce lecture series starts Nov. 2 at CSI
Connecting with God always has been a driving force in Jewish tradition. Today we do it mostly through formal prayer and Torah study. Starting Nov. 2, Paula Joyce will teach a course open to the public at Congregation Shearith Israel that will help you see, feel and know God in your daily life.
Paula Joyce, Ph.D., is a Life Coach, speaker and author. She has been teaching adults for over 40 years, was listed in “Who’s Who in World Jewry” and was the first Melton Adult Mini-School chair in Dallas.
Feeling God’s presence has become more challenging in our sophisticated and intellectual society. About 20 years ago, Paula chose to visit her mother to reclaim what seemed natural in her childhood. She remembered standing in awe as her mother poured out her deepest desires and longings to the one source she knew was listening and would provide solace, even when her wishes didn’t come true in a fairytale fashion.
On that visit, Paula and her mother had no deep theological conversations. Paula never even divulged the real reason she came. Merely by observing, she discovered her mother’s unfaltering connection with God. In her mother’s circle of friends, “God willing” and “Thank God” were ubiquitous. Their words were heartfelt. When they invoked God’s name, they were truly speaking to God. No matter what hardships they had experienced, they never doubted God’s presence in their lives.
In those few days, Paula’s relationship with God transformed from existing only in formal prayer to being a constant in her life. As with any relationship, the more she gives to it, the deeper and more profound it becomes. That visit set Paula on a lifelong journey of discovering increasingly meaningful ways to see, feel and experience God as a positive force in her life.
This path has led to profound changes and healing on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. Paula’s belief, like Einstein’s, that we live in a friendly universe, has helped her half-empty glass become overflowing. Now when things are not as she wishes, she looks for the learning and feels the greater ease provided by calling on God for guidance, strength and wisdom. Paula sees life’s difficulties as action steps that are necessary for developing the character and knowledge needed to recognize and appreciate the blessings she has asked for in prayer. Each challenge offers an opportunity to make wiser, healthier and more self-loving decisions that lead her to what she wants. Seeing the answers to prayers as occurring step by step has resulted in peace of mind and a happier, more fulfilling life.
Hearing and believing the still small voice within, the part of us that can only be felt, takes trust because the logical, verbal, “I’ll only believe it if I can touch it” part of our mind speaks so loudly and so convincingly. We can get back in touch with that part of ourselves that knows God, knows the truth and holds the seed of who we really are.
In this course, Paula will teach simple techniques that will help you connect more deeply with your soul and God. Participants in her classes have this to say: Jackie Waldman, “Paula has wonderful presentation skills. Her talent, expertise and passion shine brightly.” Miriam Friedman, “Paula’s insights are profound — she has led me out of the dark night of the soul into the light of spiritual trust.”
“Connecting with God” will enrich your life and your spirit. The weekly topics are: “Talking to God”; “Listening to and Receiving from God”; “Moving Beyond Fear, Blame and Guilt”; and “Co-Creating with God.” The sessions will be held the first four Monday nights in November (2, 9, 16 and 23) from 7 to 9 p.m. in Shearith Israel’s Fonberg Chapel. The total cost is $36. Please register by Oct. 26 with Jo at jreingold@shearith.org or 214-361-6606 to ensure that the minimum of eight participants is met. For questions, contact Paula at paula@paulajoyce.com or 972-788-2393. Additional information about Paula is available at www.paulajoyce.com.
Posted on October 15, 2009 - by admin
You don’t need to be Jewish to enjoy ‘Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg’
By Susan Kandell Wilkofsky
Quick: Who won the very first Best Actress Emmy in history? I’ll give you a little assistance: The year was 1951. No one comes to mind? Here’s another clue: Eight years later she won a Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for “A Majority of One.” If you answered Gertrude Berg — you’d be right!
Rarely does a film come along that not only educates but entertains in equal measure.
“Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is the latest entry from documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner (“The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg”). Using archival footage from TV’s early days and interviewing family members and celebrities (and a Supreme Court judge), Kempner brings to life the lady who at one time was the most famous woman in America.
For those who were not fortunate to see her TV program in its heyday, she has often been credited with creating TV’s first sitcom, modeled on her radio show “The Rise of the Goldbergs” and character Molly. She not only starred in the radio and TV program, but she was the creator, writer and producer in the day when most moms were stay-at-homes. At a tumultuous time in our history, “Mrs. Goldberg” was a welcome sight in living rooms across the country. Leaning out her window, she welcomed the audience into her world as she talked directly into the camera and later with neighbors in her apartment building. The familiar wail, “Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” beckoned her to the sill, where the friends chatted about life, modeled hats and dispensed advice.
Although she portrayed a blue-collar Jewish matriarch living in the Bronx, she spoke (with an accent) to a country that was communally dealing with the Depression and mitigating family problems. In this sense, the program transcended its religious boundaries and its popularity soared.
I want to thank Ms. Kempner not only for transporting me back to the Bronx, but for re-introducing us all to a woman who may have been temporarily forgotten, but certainly left her mark on our national cultural map.
Once a year, I get to make this proclamation: If you see one documentary this year, “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” should be the one!
Info
“Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg”
Directed by: Aviva Kempner
Runtime: 92 minutes
Opening dates: Dallas, at the Inwood Theater, Oct. 16; Houston, at the River Oaks, TBA; San Antonio, at the Santikos Bijou, Oct. 23
Interview with Aviva Kempner
By Susan Kandell Wilkofsky
I was fortunate to get a chance to speak with the director of “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” Aviva Kempner. We spoke about the film, the perils of fundraising for documentaries and even a little Jewish geography. Here’s an excerpt.
Susan K. Wilkofsky: I was born and lived in the Tremont section of the Bronx, so thanks for the walk down memory lane. Besides being so entertaining, the film was educational as well. It hit on all cylinders! Thank you.
Aviva Kempner: Ah, my pleasure! Now do you think that folks in Dallas are going to go?
SKW: Absolutely! I’ll tell them to! How did you get involved with Gertrude Berg’s story?
AK: I knew about her; I was trying to figure out what to do next and I went to the Jewish museum. There was a great exhibit called “Jews Entertaining America.” The museum had a re-creation of the Goldbergs’ living room.
SKW: At what point did you read her bio by Glenn Smith, “Something on My Own”?
AK: First I went to the family and they said, “Great!” Then I heard about Glenn Smith and this biography he was doing on her about six months [into the project]. In my little film called “Today I Vote for My Joey,” where the Jews mistakenly vote for Pat Buchanan, I had the character yelling out the window, “Yoo-hoo, let’s go vote!”
SKW: That’s a nice touch! What specifically interested you in Gertrude Berg? The fact that she was an early, visible feminist?
AK: She was so talented. She would get up every morning and write, then go and produce. She developed the most long-lasting positive portrayal of American Jews that you’ll ever see, during the time of the greatest domestic anti-Semitism. Plus, she developed that character that was beloved way beyond the Jewish community, and of a mother figure that she didn’t have in her own life. She [was] the right person at the right time.
SKW: I enjoyed your [documentary] about Hank Greenberg. Many of your films deal with Jews who were heroes in their day and age, but have been somehow forgotten. Can you address that?
AK: It’s bringing up these stories of heroic figures especially at the time of so much domestic anti-Semitism. [They were heroes] in athletic form or in creativity; time passes and people don’t remember heroes past — that’s why I do these films. What’s interesting is there are four bio-flicks out this year about important women around that period: Amelia Earhart, Coco Chanel, Julia Child and Gertrude Berg. It’s wonderful that their stories are coming to the screen.
SKW: It’s interesting that she played a stereotypical Jewish mother on TV and radio, but she wasn’t one in real life.
AK: Exactly!
SKW: Many of your films deal with famous folks who include the name “Berg.” Who’s next — Ingrid Bergman?
AK (laughing heartily): Want to hear the best story? I went to interview Justice Ginsburg and the first thing I said to her was, “You know I’ve done Greenberg and now Goldberg. Maybe I should do Ginsburg … sounds like a Jewish law firm.”
SKW (also laughing): Seriously, what’s your next project?
AK: There was a very famous Jewish philanthropist named Julius Rosenwald who championed Booker T. Washington’s project and together they built over 5,000 schools in the rural South. It’s a great black/Jewish story.
SKW: I look forward to learning about the next unsung hero.
Posted on September 17, 2009 - by admin
“Our Ronnie:” Remembering Ronald Gruen
By Dave Sorter
Ronald Gruen, who died on Sept. 7, 2009 at age 94, was more than simply a pillar of the Dallas Jewish community. He helped build the community, fostered its growth and had a profound effect on shuls that were not even gleams in the eye when he came to town.
Perhaps his greatest legacies in the community survive at Congregation Beth Torah in Richardson, Chabad of Dallas and Yavneh Academy in Dallas, all of which he nurtured from the beginning of their existence.
Beth Torah was his home synagogue, after having been recruited to the new Conservative shul in 1974 by founders who knew of his proficiency in leading services and of his singing voice.
“For Ron, God was always close, accessible and personally interested in His creation,” Beth Torah Rabbi Adam Raskin said in a eulogy spoken at the Sept. 10 funeral at Sparkman-Hillcrest Funeral Home Northwest Highway Chapel.
Mr. Gruen designed Beth Torah’s ark and its ner tamid. Raskin told how Mr. Gruen decided that the top of the ark should feature the verse “Karov Adonai le’chol korav” (God is near to all who call upon Him).
“He explained, in a lot of shuls the words Da lifnei Mi Atah Omeid are inscribed over the ark — ‘Know before Whom you stand,’” Raskin added. “Ron thought that was a cold, terrifying verse that just did not match his understanding of God. ‘God is near to all who call upon Him. That’s much more fitting for a place of prayer,’ he told me.
“And that’s how he built Beth Torah. When he was tapped from Shearith Israel to help build a new Conservative congregation in North Dallas, he set out to construct a community where God would always be near. A place where everyone had access; where participation was not limited to professionals or a select few, but where everyone could learn the melodies, lead the service, share words of Torah and join together in the excitement of synagogue life.”
Though remaining loyal to Beth Torah until the end, studying and celebrating with Raskin days before his death, Mr. Gruen was also a strong supporter of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
To that end, he was ready to assist when Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky came to town to open Chabad of Dallas, which in 30 years has spawned Chabad houses in Plano, Fort Worth and Arlington as well as a second congregation in Dallas.
His help merited the presentation of the Chabad Founders Award to Mr. Gruen and his wife of 67 years, Ethel, in 2003 on the 30th anniversary of Chabad in Texas.
His daughter Debbie Gruen said that his family background inspired his love of Judaism, but there was more to it.
“It’s a mystery,” his daughter said. “But it was with him strongly from his early adulthood and became stronger as he got older.”
Education also was dear to Mr. Gruen’s heart. He was a past president of Akiba Academy in Dallas and was one of the first to work toward building what would become Yavneh Academy of Dallas, the first local Jewish high school. Mr. and Mrs. Gruen established an endowment at Yavneh in 2001 in memory of their grandson Aaron, who died of cancer at age 14.
“Mr. Gruen was an amazing man,” said Deb Silverthorn, Yavneh’s director of communications. “He was an incredible supporter of Jewish learning and living; a zayde to us all.”
The Gruens continued their support of Jewish high schools by creating an endowment at Yeshiva University to help Jewish high schools throughout the United States, with a specific focus on supporting teacher salaries and special programs to help students.
Yeshiva recognized his gift by awarding him an honorary doctorate in the humanities, which he hung in his study right next to his degree from the City College of New York.
“His love of learning inspired his work in education,” Debbie Gruen said, “as well as his deep conviction that the secular and the religious were in their truest nature completely intersected, and he wanted as much as possible to enhance that reality during his life.”
Mr. Gruen was a lifetime student of Torah, Talmud, Jewish mysticism and Jewish history, and taught adult education courses. He also wrote articles on various Jewish subjects for Midstream and Sh’ma. Additionally, he was an artist, painting pictures of images from Judaism, nature, classical art themes and, as Raskin said, “images that only he understood.”
He had a great love of the Venus de Milo and of the Biblical character Betzalel, the chief artisan in the creation of the mishkan (tabernacle).
“I am quite sure that he saw himself as a direct descendant of this great biblical artist,” Raskin said.
The great love of his life, though, was his wife, the former Ethel Agatstein. They met in 1934, when he was 19 and she was 14, and
Agatstein said to herself, “This is the guy I’d like to marry.”
They did marry in 1942 in a ceremony at which the chazzan was the renowned tenor Richard Tucker, who was then a cantor and three years away from his Metropolitan Opera debut.
“Sixty-seven years was a long time, but it also seems like a dream,” Mrs. Gruen told Raskin.
They raised four children who have followed in his tradition. Son Dan, for example, continues his father’s tradition of singing at Beth Torah during the High Holy Days.
“It’s overused, but he was inspirational, joyful, iconoclastic,” daughter Debbie said. “He encouraged us to think independently and be respectful of authority. He definitely opened a permanent channel in experiencing being Jewish as something joyful, meaningful, liberating and a way of being more engaged in the world, not less.”
Ronald Gruen was born in 1915 in Czernovitz, Austria, and immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1934. He graduated from City College of New York and acquired the craft of tool and die maker, eventually attaining to positions of tool-room foreman and plant superintendent.
Mr. and Mrs. Gruen and their children moved to Dallas in 1952, and Ronald Gruen established the Gruen Tool and Die Company, which soon changed to Gruen Manufacturing Company when the business specialized in precision fabrication for electronics. The family also ventured into construction and leasing of office warehouse type buildings under the names of Dart Development Company and Remington Development Company.
Mr. Gruen did graduate work in history at Columbia University and SMU.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Gruen is survived by sons and daughters-in-law Ted and Helen Gruen, and Dan Gruen and Grace Bascope; daughter and son-in-law Naomi and Brit Schlinke; daughter Deborah Gruen; grandchildren Sara Gruen, John Gruen, Michelle Gruen and Alyssa Gruen; and many loving nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
Services took place on Sept. 10 at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home Northwest Highway Chapel with Rabbi Adam Raskin officiating.
Internment followed in Hillcrest Memorial Park, Beth Torah Garden on the north side of Hillcrest Memorial Park.
Memorial contributions may be made to Yavneh Academy of Dallas. The family would like to express their deep gratitude for the loving care given Mr. Gruen by members of Faith Presbyterian Hospice, Home Helpers and Ms. Rickie Stephens.
“Our Ronnie”
Remembering Ronald Gruen
by Rabbi Adam Raskin
Photo: Please give credit to: David Duchan
Hesped for Ronald Gruen z”l, Yitzchak ben Menachem Mendel v’Feige
September 10, 2009; 21 Elul 5769
Rabbi Adam J. Raskin
When Shabbat departs, just before we recite havdalah, it is traditional to end the evening prayers with the words of Psalm 91. The Psalm says: Since he is devoted to Me I will deliver him. I will protect him because he cares for Me. When he calls to Me I will answer, I will be with him in time of trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. Orech yamim asbi’eihu– I will satisfy him with a long life, and lead him to enjoy my salvation fully. It was Saturday night, just after those words were recited, words that could have been written for Ronald Gruen, that Nomi called me to come over to Ronnie and Ethel’s home. These words in which God promises to answer, and accompany, and rescue and honor those who love Him… Those words which promise long life and eternity still hung in the air when I reached Ronnie’s bed side. And there, a most miraculous thing happened. Ronnie was awake and alert. Around the bed were Ethel and Debbie and Nomi and Dan and Grace and Jonathan. For a solid hour, if not more, we all sang together. Ronnie was so delighted…we sang songs from the siddur, Israeli folk songs, camp songs, high holiday melodies…Debbie and Nomi harmonized so beautifully, and Ronnie, eyes wide open, looked around at his precious family and smiled broadly at the music that has been a part of his life forever! Music he taught to his children, and other people’s children. Music he sang both in shul and at home. Music that helped to escort his precious soul from this world to the next. When he finally left this world on Monday night, he was again surrounded by loving family, holding Ethel’s hand as he has been doing for 67 years of marriage, and as Nomi described, “meditating in the glow of our connection.” That connection is something so beautiful that it is almost indescribable. Ever since Ron’s surgery three weeks ago, his children kept a constant vigil around him. When he wanted to speak and his voice became raspy and belabored, everyone was hushed, the hospital room door was shut, so that he could be understood. When he had something to say, one of the daughters was there with a pad and pen to record it. When he wanted his spirits lifted, the soothing power of music was always there. In these past several weeks I learned from you, Ronnie’s kids, the meaning of the fifth commandment: Kabed et avicha v’et imecha…Honor your father and your mother. I witnessed an outpouring of respect, compassion, and loving-kindness that goes to the very core of what I believe the Torah meant when it taught these words. To all of Ron and Ethel’s children and grandchildren: I want you to know that you gave him such an invaluable gift. Your presence and support were unwavering…he never felt alone in these past several weeks, and I know that as memorable and significant as those final conversations and song sessions and quiet moments of just holding hands and caressing cheeks were to each of you; no one could ask for more precious blessings that these in their final journey on this earth. In these past few weeks, you know, I heard Ron ask one question several times; He didn’t ask about his prognosis or his treatment; he kept asking “How’s Mom?” How’s Mom he wanted to know…Is Mom okay? Is Mom being taken care of?
Ever since he met her on a hot summer day in the Bronx over 75 years ago, he’s been inquiring about his Ethel. What a gorgeous, elegant pair they were. Ethel was remembering the other day when they first met. He was 19, and she was only 14. She was sitting in her mother Yura’s living room when this tall, strappingly handsome young man came through the door with wavy black hair, and immediately struck up a conversation with her. Only he didn’t talk to her like she was a child. With a British clip to his speech and a deep voice, he spoke to her like a young woman. Ethel said she thought to herself, this is the guy I’d like to marry.” They would meet now and again at family events-they were after all distantly related. The family used to sit and sing Yiddish songs, and Ronnie and Ethel would dance together across the living room floor. This was no quick engagement though…they dated and saw each other at family affairs for 8 years until one afternoon they were swimming at the Hotel St. George, which was at the time the largest hotel in New York City. Ronnie, in his inimical way announced, “I think we’ll get married.” “Oh,” replied Ethel, “okay.” Not exactly a proposal, but it would do. “When would you like to get married?” he asked. “Well, said Ethel, how about June?” It was already March. Ronnie thought he’d have some more time to plan, perhaps firm up his career as a tool and die maker…but June it was. June 21, 1942. The chazzan at the wedding was none other than the famous opera singer Richard Tucker, who Ethel’s father called Ruby. His Jewish name was Reuben. Under the chuppah Ruby Tucker led Ron in the ring ceremony. Although instead of saying I consecrate you to be my wife, Ron said I concentrate. Ruby made him go back and say it the right way. The truth is, they were both the right way. Ronnie certainly consecrated himself to you and only you Ethel…but he also concentrated on you so intently, so adoringly…until he took his last breath. You were his world, Ethel, and every time you two had an anniversary aliyah, the whole congregation was inspired by your legendary love and devotion to one another. Ethel said to me the other day: “67 years was a long time, but it also seems like a dream.” Looking back at that dream are countless wonderful memories of life in New York, then their adventurous move to Texas to start a new business and really a whole new life. Wonderful memories of children and grandchildren, of leadership in synagogue life and the Jewish community, of building a successful business and cultivating incredible, God-given talents. A few days ago, I stood in Ron’s study. It was very quiet…only the hum of the lawnmower outside could be heard. I felt like Moshe Rabbeinu, when God said to him at the Burning Bush, “Ha’makom asher atah omeid alav, admat kosesh hu.” The place on which you stand is holy ground. This study was Ronnie’s sanctuary. This was his place of creativity, of learning, of dreaming. In one corner was the art easel that he built for himself. A work still in progress sits on the ledge. Acrylic paints and brushes stand ready to be put to use by his creative hands. On every wall is another painting or piece of art that he created: Brilliantly colorful canvases incorporating Jewish themes, themes from nature, themes from classical art, and images that only he understood. He had a special love for the Venus de Milo…in one portrait Ronnie depicts the beautiful ancient Greek sculpture of the human form, with the words of Genesis 1:26…na’ase adam: Let us make man. This weaving of the secular and sacred was one of Ron’s artistic hallmarks. On his easel, the verse from Exodus is affixed on a bronze plate: Betzalel, ve’amalei oto ruach Elohim: Betzalel was filled with the spirit of God. I know that Ron had a special affinity for the Biblical character Betzalel, who was of course the chief artisan responsible for channeling both divine inspiration and artistic talent to create the Mishkan, the holy Tabernacle that housed the tablets of the covenant. At a lecture Ron gave at Beth Torah about a year ago he declared: “If we are descendants of Moses then we are also descendents of Betzalel.” I am quite sure that he saw himself as a direct descendant of this great biblical artist. His prize creations were the ark at Congregation Beth Torah, and the Ner Tamid, the eternal light that hangs above it. He once told me that he selected the verse from Psalm 145: Karov Adonai Le’chol Korav to go across the top of the ark. That verse means, God is near to all Who call upon Him. He explained, in a lot of shuls the words Da lifnei Mi Atah Omeid are inscribed over the Ark. Know before Whom you stand. Ron thought that was a cold, terrifying verse that just did not match his understanding of God. For Ron, God was always close, accessible, and personally interested in His creation. God is near to all Who call upon Him. That’s much more fitting for a place of prayer, he told me. And that’s how he built Beth Torah. When he was tapped from Shearith Israel to help build a new Conservative congregation in North Dallas, he set out to construct a community where God would always be near. A place where everyone had access; where participation was not limited to professionals or a select few, but where everyone could learn the melodies, lead the service, share words of Torah, and join together in the excitement of synagogue life. When his leadership was sought for the building plan of the synagogue, he argued that an ornate structure might make membership inaccessible and overly expensive to new, younger families. So he advised Beth Torah to build a more modest home, again where people could easily find a way in and readily become a part of the community. And so it was that he taught countless children and adults the melodies he brought with him from Czernowitz, melodies he heard his father Mendel sing, and melodies he himself perfected. He called up children to sign with him on the bimah, and insisted that everyone participate together! That legacy is forever enshrined in the culture of Beth Torah and it is a tribute to Ron that our incredible congregation thrives because of the seeds he sewed in its earliest days. As we anticipate the High Holidays we will all invariably here your voice through the singing of your son Dan, who inherited his beautiful voice and learned his nusach from you. We will remember you every time we gaze at the Aron ha’Kodesh, every time we bask in the light of the ner tamid. We will remember you whenever someone leads services for the first time, whenever a child is made to feel welcome and comfortable in the shul and on the bimah.
Back to the study. I scanned the walls and the bookcases…The Talmud, several chumashim, Encyclopedia Judaica, the classics of Jewish history by Salo Baron and Heinrich Graetz, the commentaries of Rashi, Rambam, the Midrash, the Zohar, the philosophical and literary works of the Rambam, Yehuda Ha’Levi, Moses Mendelssohn, and of course, his favorite Jewish thinker Abraham Joshua Heschel. One afternoon in the hospital he instructed me, index finger pointing in my direction, to continue to promote and publicize the thought of Abraham Joshua Heschel, and in the same breath he appointed Nomi and Debbie to be my research assistants. He once told me that he wanted to name the sanctuary at Beth Torah for Heschel, because of his love for him. But wait, there’s more: Drawing tablets, watercolor books, art references, Mozart. On the far wall, his diploma from the City College of New York, and his honorary Doctorate conferred here in Dallas by the President of Yeshiva University himself. On the wall by the door, plaques and recognitions from floor to ceiling acknowledging his profound generosity and leadership to Akiba Academy where he served as President of the Board, Yavneh Academy, American Jewish Congress, and Beth Torah. What an incredible breadth and depth of knowledge, interests, and causes. There’s more: Pictures of his parents and grandparents; as well as his children and grandchildren. An incredible tapestry created in Poland by his mother in 1890 hangs over his desk; it reads, Arbeitschaft Zufreiedenheit…Work Creates Contentment. What contentment he got from his artistic work, his work in the tool and die business, his work for the Jewish community, his work to strengthen and bolster Jewish education, and the invaluable work he did for his beloved shul, Beth Torah.
It will be difficult for many of us to imagine Beth Torah without Ronnie. I know exactly where he would sit, beside Ethel toward the back of the sanctuary each and every Shabbes. Ron and Ethel always referred to the committed core of Shabbat regulars at Beth Torah as: Just us chickens. Yesterday Paul Koch emailed me from Singapore, where he and Raye are living for three years. He said: “Our head chicken has been taken from the coop and ‘just us chickens’ singing together… just won’t be the same.” My father-in-law remarked that Ethel and Ron like to sit in the back row, just so they could keep their eyes on all their chickens! Indeed he will be missed by people of all ages. My own son Ezra, like many of the kids at shul each week (I see some of them here today), loved running up to him at the luncheon to give him high-fives and hugs. He had a very special rapport with children…they revered him, and at the same time were drawn to his uncanny warmth. So many of the chevrei at shul will miss drinking a lechayim with him, and I personally will miss his weekly reviews of my sermons. I could never mention Heschel enough. Sometimes he would say, “You really gave to ‘em rabbi,” or “you spoke with courage today.” Sometimes he wouldn’t say anything…that’s when I knew I was in trouble! When I first came to Beth Torah, I received typed letters from Ron almost every week. He would reflect on something I said, or something he read in the Jewish media. In one letter dated December 21, 2005 he began: Dear Rabbi Raskin, Please forgive this intrusion into your busy days. I do it with apologies yielding to the need to share with my rabbi some concerns triggered by words spoken at a recent convention of the United Synagogue… Ronnie, your letters, always so prosaically written, were never intrusions! They were blessings! They were treasures! How I will miss your wisdom and interest and affection! My reverence and love for you and Ethel is indescribable. But you are now singing with the angels, and I imagine, sitting across from Heschel and next to Betzalel, learning in the yeshiva shel ma’alah…the great, house of study above.
Ronnie would want me to share something written by Abraham Joshua Heschel…and I conclude with words Heschel wrote toward the end of his own life. In an essay entitled Death as Homecoming, Heschel wrote about the Jewish understanding of mortality and the afterlife. He said: “If life is a pilgrimage, death is an arrival. A celebration. The last word should be neither craving nor bitterness, but peace and gratitude. Unless we cultivate sensitivity to the glory [of life] while here, unless we learn how to experience a foretaste of heaven while on earth, what can be in store for us in life to come? The seed of life eternal is wasted when placed on stone, into souls that die while the body is still alive. The greatest problem is not how to continue but how to exalt our existence. The cry for a life beyond the grave is presumptuous, if there is no cry for eternal life prior to our descending to the grave. Eternity is not perpetual future but perpetual presence. He has planted in us the seed of eternal life. The world to come is not only a hereafter, but a here-now.”
Ronnie, you have taught us all so much about how to live with such meaning, such purpose, such profound values; every one of us who knew you was transformed by having known you. The seed of eternal life was planted in the fertile soil of your neshama, of your holy soul, and we now say goodbye to you, as you move from this world to the world of eternity. I love you, my friend, my teacher, and I will never forget you.
Congregation Beth Torah
720 West Lookout Drive
Richardson, Texas 75080
Posted on December 30, 2008 - by admin
Is Gaza conflict a crisis or an opportunity for Obama?
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Does the mini-war under way between Israel and Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip present President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming administration with a crisis or an opportunity?
Israel’s aerial bombardment, the most intensive in the Gaza Strip in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has killed at least 320 people, most of them militants belonging to the terrorist group Hamas, although tens of children were reported dead in surprise attacks on the crowded strip.
The assault, which started Saturday, came after days of intensified rocket attacks launched from Gaza on Israel’s southern towns and farms. The Palestinian rocket fire, launched even before a Hamas-Israel cease-fire formally lapsed Dec. 19, has killed at least four Israelis and is emptying the south of its residents. Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, warned of “all-out war,” possibly including a land invasion.
Buried beneath the fretting over whether the renewed conflict would kill talks between Israel and the relatively moderate leadership of the Palestinian Authority were hints that it could in fact bolster the negotiations, if only by marginalizing Hamas. That, in turn, could help Obama clear the ground for a breakthrough, a prospect Obama’s team seemed to recognize by limiting its reactions to expressions of support for Israel.
“He’s going to work closely with the Israelis,” David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday when asked about the outbreak. “They’re a great ally of ours, the most important ally in the region. And that is a fundamental principle from which he’ll work.”
Washington pundits and officials in European capitals are casting the flare-up as a crisis that could scuttle Obama’s stated intention of developing talks — first launched a year ago by the Bush administration — into a final status agreement.
Jackson Diehl, the deputy editor of the Washington Post’s editorial page, said the war was the final failure for Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister who is to leave office by March to face corruption charges. “His failure represents another missed opportunity for Middle East peace — and probably means that the incoming Obama administration, like the incoming Bush administration of 2001, will inherit both a new round of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed and a new Israeli government indisposed to compromise,” Diehl wrote in Monday’s Post.
Meanwhile, Israel is casting the war, first of all, as one of necessity: The bombardment of Israel’s south, in the days before Israel launched its aerial counterattacks, at times reached 70 rockets a day. The effect has been to devastate the region’s economy and to create levels of anxiety that Israelis regard as intolerable; the retaliatory strikes earned the support of the vast majority of Israelis in weekend polling.
Sallai Meridor, the Israeli envoy to Washington, cautioned that the action was not undertaken with the peace process in mind. “The direct reason for these activities is to remove a threat over the head of 500,000 Israelis — not a theoretical threat, a real one,” Meridor told JTA. “Three were killed only today. No country would sacrifice its citizens to terror.”
Meridor added, however, that an Israeli success could have salutary effects on the peace process. “Indirectly, the chances for peace are dependent on the weakening of the enemies of peace. If Hamas strengthens, the chances of peace weaken; if Hamas weakens, it contributes to the chances of peace.”
In remarks Sunday to his Cabinet, Olmert said the aim was to “restore normal life and quiet to residents of the south who — for many years — have suffered from unceasing rocket and mortar fire and terrorism designed to disrupt their lives and prevent them from enjoying a normal, relaxed and quiet life, as the citizen of any country is entitled to.”
Another factor might be political calculation. Little love is lost between Olmert and his government partners: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has assumed control of his Kadima Party, and Barak, who heads the Labor Party. Yet Olmert, Livni and Barak are united in hopes of keeping Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition Likud Party who has vowed to bring talks with the Palestinians to a halt, from coming to power; the first post-assault polls show their chances of doing that substantially improving.
The effect Israel’s current leadership sought was not simply to remind the public that doves are capable of defending Israel, but that the onslaught would help reinforce the current round of talks. The aim, director of the Shin Bet security service Yuval Diskin suggested at the weekly Cabinet meeting, is to isolate Hamas. “The mood among a not unsubstantial part of the Palestinian population understands that the operation is against Hamas, which has inflicted great suffering on the residents of Gaza,” Diskin said in remarks relayed by Oved Yehezkel, the Cabinet secretary.
That approach was echoed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, in remarks Monday on P.A. television.
“I say in all honesty, we made contact with leaders of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip,” Abbas said in a translation made available by Palestinian Media Watch. “We spoke with them in all honesty and directly, and after that we spoke with them indirectly, through more than one Arab and non-Arab side … We spoke with them on the telephone and we said to them: We ask of you, don’t stop the cease-fire, the cease-fire must continue and not stop, in order to avoid what has happened, and if only we had avoided it.”
Ziad Asali, an Abbas ally who founded the American Task Force on Palestine, said it was notable that Abbas and other Arab leaders were muted in their calls on Israel to draw back.
“There is a certain withholding of outright support” for Hamas “that usually would accrue to any party in active conflict with Israel,” he said.
Arab frustration with Hamas stemmed from its refusal until now to defer to Abbas as the lead negotiator in peace talks and its insistence on armed conflict as the only way to confront Israel, Asali said.
“There is no military solution to this conflict,” he said. “At the end of the day there has to be a negotiating process, and the people who are clearly authorized to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians are the P.A. folks.”
He warned, however, that there was a limited window to exploit Hamas’ marginalization, and joined a number of dovish pro-Israel groups — including J Street, Americans for Peace Now, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and the Israel Policy Forum — in calling for an immediate cease-fire.
“We don’t know how the parties on the ground will react,” Asali said. “We see ever increasing human suffering in Gaza that would add to the pressure to bring about some kind of cease-fire.”
Should the bloodshed intensify, the sufferings of ordinary Palestinians, joined with public outrage on the “Arab street” with Israel’s actions and the chaotic nature of the conflict, could turn an opportunity into a crisis — and an Obama administration faced with a crisis on Jan. 21 might not be equipped to respond.
“The issue is how urgently they would prioritize this conflict,” Asali said.
Hamas’ responsibility for re-launching hostilities, coupled with a desire to corner the terrorist group into deferring to Abbas’ negotiations with Israel, was likely behind the near unanimous backing in Washington for Israel’s actions.
Most significant was the Obama transition team’s steadfast commitment to Israel’s right to respond, albeit expressed with the requisite deference to George W. Bush as the sitting president.
“The president-elect recognizes the special relationship between the United States and Israel,” Axelrod, Obama’s adviser, said on CBS. “It’s an important bond, an important relationship. He’s going to honor it. And he wants to be a constructive force in helping to bring about the peace and security that both the Israelis and the Palestinians want and deserve. And obviously, this situation has become even more complicated in the last couple of days and weeks as Hamas began its shelling and Israel responded.”
Pressed, Axelrod suggested Obama’s strategy would be shaped by his own visit over the summer to Israel’s frontlines.
“He said then that when the bombs are raining down on your citizens, there is an urge to respond and act and try and put an end to that,” Axelrod said. “You know, that’s what he said then, and I think that’s what he believes.”
The Bush administration and congressional leaders of both parties also issued statements squarely blaming Hamas, followed up with pleas to Israel to curb civilian casualties.
“Peace between Israelis and Palestinians cannot result from daily barrages of rocket and mortar fire from Hamas-controlled Gaza,” U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Speaker of the House of Representatives, said in a statement. “Hamas and its supporters must understand that Gaza cannot and will not be allowed to be a sanctuary for attacks on Israel.”
The White House sounded a similar note: “Hamas’ continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people. The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”
