By Sharon Wisch-Ray
sharonw@tjpnews.com

Tiferet Israel will welcome Herb Keinon Nov. 13 and 14 as its scholar in residence. Keinon is an author and columnist for The Jerusalem Post. The programs will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday with a Shabbat dinner. Keinon will speak on “The Obibi Epoch: A Look at Israel-U.S. Ties in the Age of Obama and Netanyahu.” Cost for dinner is $20 per adult and $10 per child 13 and under. RSVP is required.
The Friday event has already sold out.
At 10 a.m. Shabbat services Saturday, Nov. 14, Keinon will address “Why Is It So Difficult for Israel to Get a Fair Shake in the Media?” Keinon’s final discussion will occur at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 and will focus on his collection of columns French Fries in Pita.
Herb Keinon, the diplomatic correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, has been at the paper for the last 29 years.
He took over the diplomatic beat in August 2000, just after the failed Camp David summit, and just before the outbreak of the Palestinian violence in September of that year.
Keinon is responsible for covering the prime minister and the foreign minister, often traveling with the prime minister on his trips abroad.
He has followed Ehud Barak to Paris; Ariel Sharon to Crawford, Texas; Ehud Olmert to Annapolis; and Binyamin Netanyahu to Beijing. As such, Keinon has up-close knowledge and an intimate perspective of the country’s political, diplomatic and strategic challenges — from Hamas to Hezbollah, Lapid to Likud.
In addition to these duties, which entail writing news stories, features and analyses, Keinon also writes a popular monthly “light” column on life in Israel. A collection of these columns, French Fries in Pita, was published in October 2014.
During his years at the Post, Keinon has covered a wide variety of different beats, including Jerusalem, immigration and absorption, religious parties, the ultra-Orthodox and the settlements. He has also been a features writer at the paper.
In addition, Keinon has lectured widely in Israel, the U.S., Europe and Australia on the political and diplomatic situation in Israel, and appears on a variety of radio and television programs around the world as a guest commentator on the subject.
Keinon wrote a book in 2009 that was translated into Hebrew in 2011 — Lone Soldiers: Israel’s Defenders from Around the World — which tells the tale of young men and women from the Diaspora who volunteer to serve in the Israeli army.
Originally from Denver, Keinon has a B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
He has lived in Israel for more than 30 years, is married with four children, and lives in Ma’ale Adumim, just outside of Jerusalem.
To RSVP or for more information, contact Jennifer Williams at Tiferet at 214-691-3611 or email Jennifer@tiferetisrael.org.

Retina Foundation fundraiser

Thanks to Honorary Co-Chairs Judy and Harold Kaye and Bobbi and Richard Massman, 85 host committee members and 25 sponsors, the Retina Foundation’s “Celebrate Sight with Doug Montgomery” event Oct. 28 at the Belo Mansion raised $232,750. All proceeds go to finding a cure for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a progressive, degenerative disease of the retina and the No. 1 cause of blindness for adults over the age of 50.
“My family has a long history with macular degeneration,” said Richard Massman. “My mother, grandmother, and several aunts and uncles have all suffered from this debilitating disease, and I have been the beneficiary of free eye disease screenings by the Retina Foundation for over 30 years. Consequently, Bobbi and I were delighted to serve as honorary co-chairs.”
“Throughout the years, I have been going to the Retina Foundation to see Dr. Karl Csaky to treat my dry form of macular degeneration. His brilliance is astounding! I am so grateful that a world-renowned scientist is treating me right here in our community. For right now, there is no cure for AMD, but there are definitely treatments that can delay or reduce the severity of the wet form of the disease. With all the cutting-edge research taking place at the Retina Foundation, I know my family is in good hands,” said Judy Kaye.
AMD is known to have a strong genetic component; therefore, family members of those diagnosed with the disease are at increased risk for developing the disease. AMD gradually destroys the macula, the central part of the retina, which has the highest density of retinal cells and functions to provide fine vision that is required for such activities as reading and driving.
Eighteen million Americans have some form of AMD with the prevalence of the disease increasing with age from 2 percent of the population ages 55-59 to greater than 80 percent of people over the age of 80. It is projected that the population over the age of 60 will double by the year 2030; the number of individuals affected by AMD will also dramatically increase.
For more information about the Retina Foundation of the Southwest contact Kathi Sebastian at ksebastian@retinafoundation.org or 214-363-3911 ext. 102.