Chai Life - Winter 2006

WINTER 2006

A Publication of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County

A Guide for Jewish Living and Giving in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Highland Beach

NEW DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY UNVEILED

Principal Gifts Division When Wilma threw the Federation for a loop, Gloria and Lee Baker helped set things right ... with the largest campaign gift in Federation history!

Women’s Division Put 400 generous Jewish women in a room, stir in scintillating speakers and you’ve got the 2006 annual Lion of Judah (LOJ) Luncheon.

Young Adult Division (YAD) Wine, dancing and comedy, all with a Big Apple beat. It’s NYC3 ... the party of the year!

Jewish Community Foundation Today’s donors are generous, but will their children be? Here’s how Foundation is making sure of it.

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Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) As victims of genocide, Jews would be expected to protest the slaughter in Darfur. Here’s how we’re doing it.

Jewish Education Commission (JEC) JEC marks 10th anniversary as the central resource for local Jewish learning Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County 9901 Donna Klein Blvd.

Boca Raton, FL 33428

First demographic study in 10 years shows south county Jews both older ... and younger Since Jews in south Palm Beach County were last counted in 1995, the population has become both older and younger, and changes in both directions will have major implications for the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, officials say.

That was a major finding of a full demographic profile of the south county, conducted by Federation in January 2005, and reported on at a press conference on Jan. 4. It was the first such study in 10 years.

The study was conducted by Dr. Ira M. Sheskin, a University of Miami professor of

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Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Jewish Federation of S.P.B.C.

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We’ve rolled out our theme for the 2006 UJA/Federation of South Palm Beach County Annual Campaign. It’s all about making a difference both locally, and worldwide.

Our Community. Our World.

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Chai Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . .11 Country Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

F E D E R AT I O N O F F I C E R S Chair Etta Gross Zimmerman Vice Chairs Steven Bedowitz Albert Gortz Thomas R. Kaplan Roxane Frechie Lipton Dorothy Seaman Teddy Struhl Treasurer Ira Gerstein Assistant Treasurer Michael Weinberg Secretary Warren Greenspoon Assistant Secretary Ellen R. Sarnoff Immediate Past Chair Lawrence D. Altschul President & CEO William S. Bernstein, MSW

FEDERATION/UJA CAMPAIGN Vice Chair Steven Bedowitz Chair, Women’s Division Dorothy Seaman 1st Vice Chair Campaign, Women’s Division Ellen R. Sarnoff Vice Chair Major Gifts, Women’s Division Kinnie Gorelick Co-Chairs, Young Adult Division Jonathan Louis Naomi Steinberg

CAMPAIGN PROFESSIONALS Vice President, Campaign & Community Development Jason M. Shames Vice President, Women’s Division Marla Weiss Egers Assistant Campaign Director, Affinity Campaign Mitzi Schafer Assistant Campaign Director, Principal Gifts Jennifer Koenig

Chai Lights

By Steve Bedowitz, Campaign Chair

GROWING LOCAL NEEDS AND THREAT OF VIOLENCE WORLDWIDE BECKON US TO ‘DO GOOD’ As we approach the mid-way point of our 2006 UJA/Federation Campaign, I reflect on a story that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak shared with us during our Evenings of Valor event in December. He remembered an occasion on which an Israeli leader was asked, “In one word, could you tell us how things are going in the country?” The leader replied, “Good.” He was then asked, “In two words, could you tell us how things are going?” His reply? “Not good!”

That appropriately reflects our situation here at the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County – and it’s a serious situation indeed. While we are ahead of our fundraising pace compared to last year, we see the critical needs of our Jewish community growing on an exponential basis, both locally and abroad.

Right here in our backyard, we have seen a sharp increase in the need for social services, especially among seniors, primarily as a result of Hurricane Wilma, which also caused severe damage to our Federation campus. In Israel, the threat of violence continues to mount in the wake of Hamas’ victory in the recent Palestinian elections and inflammatory statements by the president of Iran, who just a few weeks ago referred to the Holocaust as a “myth.” In the former Soviet Union, tens of thousands of elderly Jews are suffering every day without adequate supplies of food, medical care and heating fuel.

Whether things in the Jewish community are “good” or “not good,” it is the nature of our people to “do good” – something the Federation movement has been facilitating for decades. No other organization comes close to matching Federation’s ability to provide life-saving and life-enhancing humanitarian assistance to those in need and to translate Jewish values into social action on behalf of millions of Jews, in hundreds of communities in North America, Israel and 60 countries around the world.

If you have not participated in our campaign in the past, we ask that you do so. If you have supported Federation in recent years, we ask you to increase your commitment. For many of us, a five or 10 percent increase in our annual gift probably won’t change our lifestyle. But it might help change the lives of many who immediately need our help. We also ask that you consider making a commitment to our Jewish Community Foundation, where you can leave a legacy in your name to last far into the future.

When it comes “doing good,” you have the ability to do it all, to do it all at once, and do it all well, through the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. Thank you in advance of your support and Shalom.

To support the 2006 UJA/Federation Campaign, call (561) 852-3100 or visit www.jewishboca.org.

Welcome to the first issue of “Federation Chai Life.” This new publication is produced by the Marketing & Communications Department of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

If you’re interested in underwriting this publication or advertising, please contact the Marketing & Communications Department at (561) 852-3177.

DONOR SPOTLIGHT B O C A C O U P L E M A K E S L A R G E S T C A M PA I G N G I F T I N F E D E R AT I O N H I S T O RY Soon after Hurricane Wilma rampaged across south Palm Beach County, the National Weather Service reported that some of the strongest winds had hit near Glades Road and U.S. 441 in Boca Raton – the precise location of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County campus.

Federation President & CEO William S. Bernstein didn’t need a weatherman to tell him that. The evidence was all around him. The initial repair estimates totaled nearly one million dollars in damage... none of it insured.

“We would probably have had to run a deficit because of this,” Bernstein says, with the tone of a man who has never run a deficit at Federation, and never wants to. “So the gift felt like a gift from G-d.”

The “gift” was a check for one million dollars, unrestricted, meaning it could be used as the Federation saw fit. The largest single gift ever received for the Annual Campaign came from Boca Raton residents Gloria and Lee Baker.

Bernstein received the check from the Bakers at a Federation Annual Campaign event. “My reaction was elation. I was very moved, astoundingly moved, by their generosity,” he says.

“Bill told us ‘we have close to a million in damage,’ so that’s why we decided to give the million,” the Bakers said simply in reply.

The Bakers point out that their gift was not only meant for hurricane repairs. The thought process that led to it actually began when they became aware of “Operation Promise,” a United Jewish Communities project with worldwide aims, including resettling oppressed Ethiopian Jews to Israel and helping Jews in the former Soviet Union. The Federation had pledged $3.7 million, over and above its own campaign, to support the program.

Bill Bernstein picks up the story.

“[Federation Board Chair] Etta [Zimmerman] and I had several conversations with Gloria, in particular about the Ethiopian issue and about caring for the elderly,” Bernstein recalls.

“She was very concerned that the Federation meet its objectives for Operation Promise.”

“We are very concerned,” Gloria Baker says in agreement, “about the Jewish community, not only here but worldwide.”

Just what kind of people are the Bakers?

Gloria and Lee Baker

“We are very concerned about needy people getting service,” says Lee Baker. “There are luxury communities here, but also a lot of needy people.”

One way to know them is from their charitable record, which runs 27 lines long on a recent biography. Those they have helped form a galaxy of some of the world’s great Jewish organizations, including ORT, Hadassah, American Magen David for Israel, AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League, in addition to the Federation movement and several specific building projects in Israel. They are members at the highest levels of giving at many of these charities, including the Federation’s prestigious Prime Minister’s Council. Last year the Bakers were specifically honored by Israel Bonds.

The Bakers explain their charity simply. “We’ve been lifelong givers,” Lee says. “We have been fortunate and we cannot ignore those who are in need.”

Their philanthropy is not limited to the Jewish world. The Bakers are also significant contributors to the local community, including Boca Raton Community Hospital and the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Lee Baker, who spent most of his career as an attorney, donates to the local Legal Aid Society, and is one of the benefactors of his alma mater, Harvard Law School. “Baker House” stands on the law school campus as a tribute to his generosity.

“We are very concerned about the Jewish community, not only here, but worldwide.”

The Bakers also give of their time. Lee does pro bono legal work and personally delivers food to the frail elderly in area senior communities.

Both Bakers have been active in Federation since their arrival in Florida in 1989. “They are visible, educated members of our Board of Directors,” says Board Chair Zimmerman. “We are blessed that they call our community ‘home.’“

“I went to Townsend Harris High School in New York,” he says, “one of the best schools in the world. Then, after service in the Marine Corps,

Both Bakers came from modest means. Lee grew up in Brooklyn and Gloria in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Much of their success was derived from the opportunities society provided, Lee explains.

ef

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Principal Gifts BARAK APPEARANCE MAKES FEDERATION HISTORY December 14 and 15 were historymaking dates for the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

Never in its 25-year history had the Federation had as high level a guest speaker as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. And never had the Federation received as large a single Federation Chair Etta Zimmerman greets unrestricted use donation as that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. received from longtime supporters Gloria and Lee Baker … $1,000,000. Federation President Bill Bernstein said the gift “will go a long way toward alleviating nearly a million dollars in damage suffered by our campus during Hurricane Wilma, damage not covered by insurance.”

History was also made in that the Dec. 15 portion of the event marked the premier of the Federation’s new Joshua Society, a recognition level division designed to open high profile happenings such as the Barak appearance to donors at the $10,000 level, just as “the Biblical Joshua opened a new world for Jews,” said Joshua Society Co-Chair and Jewish Community Foundation President Tom Kaplan.

The catalyst for all these developments was “Evenings of Valor,” the organization’s kickoff event for the 2005-2006 Annual Campaign.

FMSbonds, Inc. was the exclusive sponsor of the Evenings of Valor.

The two-day celebration began with Barak’s appearance at a gala dinner at St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, along with associ-

Posing with Ehud Barak (center) are Dec. 14 event chairs Jane and Alan Cornell (left), Harvey and Phyllis Sandler, Beth and Joe Mishkin and Selma and Dan Weiss.

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ated private receptions at the homes of Phyllis and Harvey Sandler and Alan and Jane Cornell. The Sandlers and Cornells served as CoChairs for the Prime Minister’s Council and Leadership Gifts Divisions, respectively, while Beth and Joe Mishkin and Selma and Daniel Weiss co-chaired for the King David Society.

A second dinner was held the following night, also at St. Andrews, under the auspices of the Joshua Society. Debra and Larry Halperin and Shirley and Allan Solomon joined with Pamela and Tom Kaplan as Co-Chairs.

At each affair, Barak first joked with his audiences that, “despite the very non-Jewish name of this country club, I still feel comfortable because of the welcoming warmth of this audience!”

He then turned serious as he launched into an intensive analysis of Israel’s current political turmoil, predicting that the new Kadima Party would take the upcoming elections in March 2006. This would, he said, ensure that Israel could continue what Barak called “the long march” toward a two-states-for-two-nations solution for Israelis and Palestinians. It was a scenario, he said, he himself had proposed during his prime ministership in 2001. But “it took five years of a ticking Iranian nuclear bomb and a Palestinian demographic bomb,” he said, for Israel’s “silent majority” to embrace the two-state concept.

He added that, in a wider perspective, the greatest threats to Israel, and the world, were terrorism and nuclear proliferation by “rogue states such as Iran,” whose leader recently called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Iran is a problem for the world, Barak said, and it would be a mistake for Israel to follow a

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Dec. 15 Joshua Society event chairs shown with Ehud Barak and his guest Nili Priell (third and fourth from left) were Debra and Larry Halperin (left), Tom and Pamela Kaplan and Shirley and Allan Solomon.

(from previous page) solitary course in solving it. He called for the U.S. to join with Europe, Russia and China in confronting the Iranians.

Despite current troubles, Barak said he was a long-term optimist about the Middle East situation. He predicted that, with the help of American organizations such as the Federation and its overseas partners, Israel would be at “the cutting edge of nations in education, technology and social life within 10 years.”

Barak’s visit was heavily covered in both electronic and print local media and the two-night event secured $6 million for the 2006 Federation/UJA Annual Campaign.

“This should be the hallmark for all the events we do here at the Federation,” Bill Bernstein said.

Federation’s new Joshua Society opens a “Promised Land” of opportunities to a wider segment of the community The Dec. 15 appearance by Ehud Barak officially launched a new division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County’s Major Gifts Division. Named “The Joshua Society,” after the Biblical figure that led the Hebrews into a Promised Land of new opportunities, and based on an individual contribution from $10,000 to $25,000, the Society will likewise offer expanded opportunities for access to high level speakers and the uniquely privileged information they bring.

Additional speakers and events will be announced as the first year of the new society progresses.

“We look forward to the community becoming founding members, and hope they will use this information to take a greater role both as citizens and as Jews,” said Shirley Solomon, a Joshua Society event co-chair. “We think this new Joshua we are creating will lead Federation to a place where more of us can practice tikkun olam (repairing the world) locally, domestically and globally.”

The Evenings of Valor was exclusively sponsored by FMSbonds, Inc. For more information on the Joshua Society, call Jennifer Koenig at 561-852-3129.

C A M PA I G N V I C E C H A I R S T E V E B E D O W I T Z : THE POWER OF PERSUASION Beth and Joe Mishkin (left and center) present an award to Jimmy Klotz, CEO and Co-founder of FMSbonds, Inc., the exclusive sponsor of Evenings of Valor.

Principal Gift Recognition Levels Minimum family contribution of $100,000 to the Annual Campaign

Minimum family contribution of $55,000 to the Annual Campaign

Minimum individual contribution of $25,000 to the Annual Campaign

Minimum individual contribution of $10,000 to the Annual Campaign

Think about one word that could describe Federation Campaign Vice Chair Steve Bedowitz, and it could be “persuasive.”

When he worked as a newspaper delivery boy in Brooklyn, to help support a widowed mother, he persuaded his customers to buy subscriptions, rather than single copies, vastly increasing his business.

When he was in the home sales business in Texas, he set records in persuading buyers that the homes he was selling were the ones to buy.

And when he decided to devote his energies to home remodeling, and to go out on his own to do so, he built a selling system so persuasive it took his company to $300 million in sales,a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the top of his field.

Since he retired to Florida in 2000, however, his persuasiveness has been put to use in another manner, one especially beneficial to the Jewish community. Under his leadership, the Federation recorded its first $20 million campaign year in 2004, then promptly beat that record in 2005.

Steve is looking for an even better performance in the year to come. The secret to his success?

“It comes from focusing your energies and never losing sight of your goal,” he says. His goals these days are family and Federation, with a special emphasis on helping Israel.

And when he gets up on that podium, and asks “If you make that extra contribution, will it really change your lifestyle, because it certainly will change the life of someone who needs it,” you, too, may find just how persuasive Steve can be.

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Women’s Division WOMEN’S DIVISION’S “JEWISH WOMEN OF THE WORLD” D R AW S O V E R W H E L M I N G R E S P O N S E success in life to programs the Federation helps fund. “Everything I am today,” she said, “I am because of you.”

Evelyn Payne of the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County says the waiting list was 100 women long. “People begged me to come,” she said, “they were willing to stand, go without lunch, even wait on tables to get in.”

The event causing all this buzz was “Jewish Women of the World,” presented on Dec. 14 by the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. Some 335 attended.

The event’s sub-title was “The First Annual Dottie Lipson Educational Journey,” after event underwriter and longtime Federation lay leader Dottie Lipson, who has committed to supporting two more annual editions of this learning experience. Event chairs were Marissa Hollander and Stephanie Owitz Greenberg.

The purpose of the event was, in Lipson’s words, “to show women here that life is not so simple everywhere, to illustrate the plight of Jewish women elsewhere and to make it clear that we have to care of them.”

The first guest speaker, Mazi Melesa, is an Ethiopian Jew whose family was transplanted to Israel by the Jewish Agency for Israel, a Federation overseas partner. She was then helped to assimilate into Israeli society over the course of a decade. Melasa attributed her

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Ukrainian-born Evguenia Kaplan followed, explaining that because Judaism was considered a nationality, not a religion, in the former Soviet Union (FSU), she knew nothing of her faith until joining Hillel in college after Communism fell. One Hillel activity was to conduct Passover services for families long disconnected to Jewish observance. “Matzo and charoset became the building blocks to reconstruct their faith,” she said.

The final speaker was Ruth Messinger, a former Manhattan borough president who is now Executive Director of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), often called a “Jewish Peace Corps.” She spoke about the role of Jews as global citizens in the 21st century and about how they can help meet the challenges of poverty, oppression, hunger and illness.

Lipson believed that the event that bore her name carried a message about the Federation as well. “Events like this help people understand how multi-faceted the Federation is in reaching out around the world,” she said. “In this, we can set an example for the world.”

Kaplan then thanked the Federation for helping fund Hesed, an elderly relief program that assists more than 230,000 poor seniors in the FSU, including Kaplan’s father. “Hesed saved his life,” said Kaplan.

The final “Jewish Woman of the World” was Tammy Berg, born in North Carolina, but transplanted to Saudi Arabia when she married a Saudi national. “They tried to make me an automaton,” she said, first renaming her Samiah, then refusing to call her by any name. “They call you ‘wife of,’ or ‘mother of,’ but women have no individual identity,” she said. She also said men have a choice of only two roles in life, care of family or engaging in jihad. As she spoke, the audience gasped audibly. One woman shivered as though a sudden chill had gripped the room.

Berg then related the story she had first told the world on TV’s “60 Minutes,” of how, after returning to the U.S. and divorcing her husband, the man convinced her to send their three children back to Saudi Arabia for a visit. He then refused to let them return to their mother.

It took nine years and the intervention of Secretary of State Colin Powell to rescue one child. The other two remain, said Berg.

Event Co-Chairs Marissa Hollander (left) and Stephanie Owitz Greenberg with event underwriter Dottie Lipson and Women’s Division Vice Chair Emily Grabelsky.

Event underwriter Dottie Lipson (fourth from left) with speakers Tammy (Samiah) Berg, (left) Mazi Melesa, Ruth Messinger and Evguenia Kaplan.

LION OF JUDAH LUNCHEON HIGHLIGHTS HELP FOR JEWS OVERSEAS Palm Beach County became Lion country on Jan. 18, but it had nothing to do with the wildlife park of that name. Instead, the reference was to 400 Lions of Judah (LOJ), members of the elite Jewish women’s philanthropic society, who held their annual luncheon at the Polo Club in Boca Raton.

The luncheon was organized by the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. Event Chairs were Tobee Kaplan and Wendy Pressner. Corporate sponsors were the Sandelman Foundation, Ivan & Co. Jewelers and FMSbonds, Inc. LOJ members are a crucial part of the Federation’s Annual Campaign. Kaplan noted from the podium that just those in the room represented nearly $4 million in contributed funds.

The event began with a welcome to 43 new LOJ members, each of whom was presented with a fresh rose by the Federation staff. This was followed by a dramatic candle lighting ceremony, conducted by Lion of Judah Bella Cohen and Jewish Community Foundation Chair Thomas R. Kaplan, in memory of LOJ Endowment members who had passed away.

The event’s philanthropic focus was on how Federation helps Jews overseas, particularly in the former Soviet Union. The first guest speaker was Russian-born Alina Gerlovin Spaulding, who fixated the audience with the story of her family’s plight. Spaulding’s family had privileged status, she said, due to her father’s membership on the Soviet Olympic ski team … until the day he suffered a serious career-ending accident. “From the time it took to get him from the top of the mountain to the bottom, they had evicted us from our apartment. That’s because he was a Jew who was no longer useful to the government.”

Spaulding went on to tell how the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) brought her family to the United States in 1979.

Of 40,000 Jews, they were the only three rescued by JDC that year. The family was given an apartment in New Jersey and she vividly

remembers weekly visits by what residents called “the fine ladies,” who she later learned were local LOJ members. “They came in beautifully dressed and perfectly coiffed,” she said. “Then they got on their hands and knees and cleaned apartments for new arrivals.

They wanted to be sure we were welcomed with the same care and dignity they would give to their own family.”

Spaulding went on to describe her life since she arrived in the U.S, and her current position running a Jewish education program in Moldova on behalf of the Federation movement.

them,” he said.

In concluding the event, Pressner announced that more than $577,000 in new money had been raised at the luncheon.

(The total was later revised by Women’s Division officials to be at least $720,000.) “I’m very happy about how it went,” Pressner said.

“People need to see where their money goes.”

Spaulding concluded with an emotional statement. “Everything in my life, everything, is because of you and people like you!”

Event Chair Wendy Pressner saw great value in Spaulding’s address. “When you hear a story like that,” she said, “it makes you want to give more.”

Following lunch, the focus shifted to Israel and the Middle East as guest speaker Ambassador Marc Ginsberg took the podium.

Ginsberg, a FOX News TV commentator and former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, expounded on the situation Israel faces in a post Ariel Sharon era. “He was the only one with the credentials to make the unthinkable [removing Jewish settlers from Israeli-controlled land] into the inevitable,” Ginsberg explained.

He suggested that Israel may now turn politically to the right, with a “resuscitated Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Lions Cindy Nimhauser (left), Nancy Thornton, Judy Levis Markoff, Jeanne Fibus, Roxane Frechie Lipton, Francine Cole and Elyssa Kupferberg.

Matthew Zucker of FMSbonds, Inc. receives corporate recognition award.

Jane Kurcsinka of Ivan & Co. Jewelers is presented with a corporate recognition award.

Ginsberg’s take on a nuclear Iran was crystal clear: In answer to those urging a diplomatic solution, Ginsberg says, “I favor surgical military strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites.

Anything to stop the nuclear clock.”

Ginsberg, who grew up in Israel, invited those in the audience to visit and see what Federation help has accomplished in the Jewish homeland.

“Come see the courage and inspiration you give to Israelis by their knowing you are with

Co-chair Wendy Pressner, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, Alina Gerlovin Spaulding and Co-chair Tobee Kaplan.

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FEDERATION OPENING EVENT

Event sponsors (left to right): Jeff Sandelman of the Sandelman Foundation, Allan Weitzman of Proskauer Rose LLP and Elyssa Kupferberg of Mellon Private Wealth Management.

Event Co-chairs Elliot & Wendy Koolik, IDF Officer Julia Abramovich and Co-chairs Roxane and Michael Lipton.

“ O P E N I N G E V E N T ” H I G H L I G H T S F E D E R AT I O N ’ S BENEFICIARIES On January 11, the Federation held its “Opening Event,” a major fundraiser, at the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium at Florida Atlantic University.

Longtime comics Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were the headliners, but it was the people that Federation help every day who stole the show.

The choir of the Jewish Association for Residential Care sings Hatikvah.

The event opened with a performance by the choir of the Jewish Association for Residential Care (JARC), a Federation beneficiary agency. This was followed by personal testimonials by an Israeli soldier, a Hurricane Katrina victim, a Holocaust survivor, a JARC resident and a participant in the cancer patient support group coordinated by Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service. Levis Jewish Community Center (JCC) and Donna Klein Jewish Academy are also beneficiary agencies of the Federation. All have been helped by Federation funding, and all expressed their gratitude.

The audience appeared particularly touched by the story of Julia Abramovich, an IDF officer who emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union with her mother, only to have her mother die soon afterward. “When I had no family, you took me in, and now you are my extended family,” Abramovich told the audience. “Without your help, I would not be here tonight.”

Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller perform.

Event Chairs Roxane and Michael Lipton and Wendy and Elliot Koolik hosted the affair. Corporate sponsors were Mellon Private Wealth Management, Proskauer Rose LLP and the Sandelman Foundation.

Federation officials announced that the event was a financial success and that “the true stars of the show were those wonderful people we all help that you heard at the onset,” said President and CEO Bill Bernstein. “They were absolutely brilliant.”

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This might not be your idea of delivery service...

...but for hundreds of area seniors, it’s the difference between eating – and eating as they should.

South Palm Beach County is noted for its fine dining, but many seniors in our area are happy to be dining at all. They cannot meet their daily nutritional needs, either because their income is too limited, they cannot physically shop for food, or both. Without someone to care, hundreds face a serious threat of malnutrition.

Someone does care: The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County and its founding beneficiary agency, the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service (JFS). JFS hand-delivers truckloads of groceries and meals direct to the door of seniors in area developments every week. And all our volunteers ask in return is a smile.

But help for hungry seniors does not stop at the county line. Through its overseas partners, Federation funds “Operation Promise,” in the former Soviet Union, where nearly 250,000 frail elderly are fed on a continuous basis. Similar programs help seniors in other nations as well.

The hungry in our community, and our world, are crying out for your help. Please give to Federation today!

TO DONATE ONLINE, VISIT www.jewishboca.org For more information, please call

561.852.3100

Our Community. Our World. Our Responsibility.

PLEASE

SUPPORT

THE

2006

UJA/FEDERATION

ANNUAL

CAMPAIGN

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Young Adult Division YAD PLANS NYC3 ... THE “PARTY OF THE YEAR!”

We’re on a mission from

Federation has announced YAD’s largest fundraiser of the season, “NYC3,”which will rock the latter part of February with a New York City beat.

Federation Young Adult Division officials include Naomi Steinberg, YAD Co-Chair (left), Sharon Shear, NYC3 Committee member, Marianne Altschul, NYC3 Chair and Vice-Chair of Campaign Events and Jill Deutch, YAD former chair and board member.

Billed as “the party of the year,” this celebration of the Big Apple comes in three parts—a wine tasting in “SoHo,” dancing in the “Meat Packing District” and then, headlining the evening, the fall-down funny comedy of hip young Jewish comedian Joel Chasnoff.

This rising star has appeared with both Jon Stewart and Gilbert Gottfried nationally and Joel blew away a packed house last year at the Boca Tov Café.

Catch him as his career takes off!

The event will take place Saturday night, Feb. 25, at Pete’s Grande Terrace in Boca Raton.

Doors open at 8 p.m. The couvert is $75 a person with a minimum individual gift to Federation of $90. NYC3 committee chairs are Rabbi Amy and Kevin Rader, Sharon and Lawrence Shear, Wendi and Todd Lipsich, Robynn and Ira Ginsberg and Tanya and Bill Miller. YAD Campaign Events Vice Chairs Marianne Altschul and Glen Golish played an integral role in the planning of NYC3. NYC3 sponsors are Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Salomon Law Center, Steinberg Global Asset Management, Atlas Party Rental, Fringe & Company, Kosher Marketplace and Royal Wine Corp. YAD is sponsored by the Sandelman Foundation.

YAD co-chair Naomi Steinberg and Rabbi Amy Rader (center) visit with Ethiopian immigrants at Kiryat Yam.

To make a reservation or for more information on this event, call Barbara Diekmann at 561-852-3152 or e-mail barbarad@bocafed.org.

YAD members mingle with Kiryat Bialik dance troupe.

Federation President & CEO, Bill Bernstein (far left) and wife Ilene enjoy dinner at Yekev Winery with mission participants.

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UPCOMING EVENT FOCUS F E D E R AT I O N A N N O U N C E S PA N T H E R S H O C K E Y EVENT AS MEN’S NIGHT OUT! Great seats! A chance to see the super-hot Montreal Canadiens battle it out on the ice with our home-fave Panthers! Exclusive receptions with an open bar and great food! Even a drawing for a puck drop, slap shot during the game or a ride on the Zamboni! Here’s a chance to enjoy them all. They’ll all be happening at “Men’s Night Out,” a community-wide event of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, to be held on March 2 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, home ice of the Florida Panthers.

Our VIPs will enjoy a backstage tour of the arena with access to the team, and an exclusive “chalk talk” by Panthers Coach Jacques Martin.

The Florida Panthers are sponsoring the event, along with the Sandelman Foundation and Barry Kaye & Associates, Inc. Chairs are Howard Kaye, Matt Baker and Craig Donoff.

But the goal of this event is bigger than just netting the puck. It’s helping thousands of people locally, in Israel and around the world. So whether the Panthers or the Canadiens are the victors, it’s those the Federation helps who really win.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is just a hockey game. It’s actually a hockey extravaganza!

Festivities start with a VIP Reception at 5 p.m.

The main reception starts at 6 p.m. Along with refreshments, it includes autographs by players and a talk on the business of sports by Sunrise Sports & Entertainment’s COO Michael Yormark.

Then, at 7 p.m., it’s on to preferential seating and all the hockey action you can handle.

VIP entry requires an $1,800 minimum contribution to Federation, while the main reception requires a $500 minimum contribution. The couvert is $75, and each donor can bring up to two

teenage sons or grandsons as guests by paying the couvert for each. Round trip bus transportation from the Federation also is available at an additional $10 per person.

Oh yes, and regarding the drawing to do a puck drop or slapshot – the winners will be chosen from the first 50 names to register, so take your shot right now and perhaps we’ll announce your name and shout, “he scores!” The Zamboni ride is open to teens ages 16 and younger.

To register or for more information, call Rachel Harman at 561-852-3120.

F E D E R AT I O N S C H E D U L E S S U P E R S U N D AY F O R M A R C H 1 9 !

If you think that big ol’ football game is a Super Sunday, well, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” The real Super Sunday is on its way, set for March 19. It’s Federation’s biggest event of the year, a day long phone-a-thon chock full of special events.

This year’s principal sponsor is ISN Wireless (ISNwireless.com) and Sprint together with Nextel.

singles, families (complete with kids’ activities to keep the youngsters busy while their moms and dads give back), country club and community residents (through the “Community Challenge,” in which volunteers from different communities compete for bragging rights and prizes) and those who are ‘golden givers,’ having supported the Federation movement 25 years or more.

Most important, this mega-fundraiser is also responsible for raising one of about every $20 of the Annual Campaign. Think how many thousands of people that helps, both locally and in Jewish communities overseas.

We’ll even have a repeat visit of last year’s “surprise hit, the King David Bikers Jewish motorcycle club. Look for leather and tattoos and a shiny row of chromed Harleys to mark every Jew’s dedication to helping other Jews.

And it’s the day YOU are the star ... on both ends of the phone. More than 500 volunteers of all ages make more than 10,000 calls in a single day, asking for pledges. This year’s event, chaired by Rosa & Glen Golish, will consist of different volunteer shifts made up of professionals,

Additonal underwriting for Super Sunday will be provided by Bank Leumi USA. For more information or to volunteer, call the Super Sunday Hotline at 561-852-6014 or visit jewishboca.org for details.

2005 Super Sunday Co-chairs Emily & Stephen Grabelsky and Etta Zimmerman, chair, Federation Board with King David Bikers.

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2 0 0 6

U J A / F E D E R AT I O N

“What does the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County do?”

It’s a question we are often asked. Perhaps the easiest way to answer it is by an analogy, a very Jewish analogy...

Just as the Jewish star has a place where all the points share common ground, so does the Federation provide a common resource for the Jewish institutions of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Highland Beach through the UJA/Federation Annual Campaign and the Jewish Community Foundation.

And just as there are six points on the star, our resources go toward meeting six great needs.

1. Supporting Israel Love of Israel begins with 4,000 of our children taking part in Israeli studies programs created by the Federation’s Jewish Education Commission (JEC).

Then, through birthright israel and other travel programs, 2,000 area teens have gone on to visit Israel at an age when they form a world view for life. The connection is strengthened through Partnership 2000, in which Boca Raton has joined with the Israeli city of Kiryat Bialik by exchanging students, teachers, tears and smiles. Meanwhile, area leaders

personally visit the Jewish state on our Missions to Israel, then share their renewed faith with the thousands they represent.

Through our support of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), more than 300,000 youngsters have returned to the Jewish homeland in youth Aliyah groups, and some 250,000 have received counseling for social problems and terrorism-related stress disorders. A thousand kindergartners in vulnerable communities have also been protected by security guards our donors helped fund.

2. Fighting Anti-Semitism What do you say when your college roommate declares, “Israel is a racist state?”

Each fall, area students entering college get the answers at the Jewish Community Relations Council’s (JCRC) annual Israel/College Campus Advocacy Forum. More youngsters get an unforgettable lesson iabout antiSemitism by visiting Holocaust sites in Poland through the March of the Living program. And still more take part in the JCRC’s annual Yom Ha’shoah ceremony.

Nor are the victims of anti-Semitism forgotten. Our beneficiary agency, Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service (JFS), administers German reparations payments to provide vitally needed in-home care to survivors.

Overseas, the Federation works with the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League to convince foreign leaders to crack down on acts of hate.

3. Fighting Hunger and Poverty The most basic need is, simply, food... hot, nourishing and kosher. More than 200 area elderly are served right at their doorsteps by Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service (JFS) and even more are served by the agency’s “Kosher Konnection” in Delray Beach, while 375 others receive food packages bi-weekly from the Forster Family Kosher Food Pantry. JFS nourishes the soul as well, through its counseling and case management services,

especially for seniors. JFS CareLink makes referrals for home health aides, transportation, companions and other assistance and monitors those services to ensure the help is working. Meanwhile, overseas, JDC programs feed and meet other needs for more than 400,000 Jewish elderly in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

C A M P A I G N

O V E R V I E W

4. Meeting Social Needs When hurricanes raked our land and tsunamis hit abroad, Federation dollars paid for rescue, recovery and rebuilding. We collected $400,000 for Hurricane Katrina victims alone and after Wilma struck, JFS delivered water, ice, prescription drugs... and 10,000 hot kosher meals... to seniors trapped in their developments.

Kavod does the same for children. Hundreds of seniors live comfortably in Federation-administered, HUD-sponsored housing and 200 adults and their caregivers find respite at the Levis Alzheimer and Adult Day Care Center. And because physical health and culture are also social needs, more than 2,000 take advantage of the JCC’s wellness facilities and another 16,000 attend JCC cultural programs.

But every day of the year, the Jewish Association for Residential Care (JARC) provides for developmentally disabled adults while JCC’s Camp

5. Jewish Education The flame of Judaism is fueled by education. It turns our children into Jewish children and protects them from the creeping threat of assimilation.

It’s the key to our future as a faith and community.

We help support nearly 2,000 Jewish youngsters in day and congregational schools. That’s one of every six Jewish children in our area. We help train their teachers, too, through the Jewish Education Commission’s (JEC) professional programs. And because youngsters who start Jewish stay Jewish, some 570 preschoolers attend the JCC’s Zale Early Childhood Learning Center, and more than 800 children of all ages participate the JCC’s Ted Weisberg Summer Day Camp.

The Jewish Community Foundation’s Kamsley Endowment Fund program takes children through adolescence at the JEC’s “One Stop Jewish Teen Shop,” while more than 800 adults who never had a Jewish education attend Florence Melton Adult Mini-School.

Overseas, we participate in educational initiatives in our sister city, Kiryat Bialik, while supporting the educational programs of JDC to teach young Jews in the former Soviet Union a religion they were never allowed to know.

6. Rescue and Resettlement Out of other lands... into Israel. This migration, begun by Moses, continues today. One place it’s happening is Ethiopia. More than 100,000 have made the pilgrimage from poverty and persecution to a land that not only accepts them, but loves them, for their Judaism. Now, “Operation Promise” will bring an additional 20,000 home. The

Federation is helping fund this effort through our umbrella organization, the United Jewish Communities (UJC). Meanwhile, JAFI, with our support, has resettled more than one million to the land of the patriarchs.

Our Community. Our World. Our Responsibility.

Jewish Community Foundation F O U N D AT I O N E D U C AT I O N A L E V E N T H E L P S E N C O U R A G E P H I L A N T H R O P Y …

A S A FA M I LY They sat, six to eight, around a table, and talked loudly -- some might say argued -- about the best use for a charitable donation of a million dollars. One woman played a Jewish grandmother whose wish was to place the gift with the Jewish Federation, just as she’d always done. Directly opposite, in more ways than one, another participant played her 22-year-old grandchild, who insisted the money go to something called the “Whole Life Spiritual Renewal Center.” Still others, playing other family members at different ages, had alternative thoughts on the donation.

The event was the first Institute on Family Philanthropy held by the Jewish Community Foundation, the planned giving arm of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

The event was chaired by Rani Garfinkle. The exclusive sponsor was U.S. Trust.

Although the role play was not for real, the underlying issue was: How can generations come together to create a road map for giving into the future that all the generations of a family can feel comfortable with?

It’s an issue of vital importance, said JCF Chair Thomas R. Kaplan, adding, “trillions of dollars of intergenerational wealth transfer will take place in the next decade. Any change in giving by the incoming generations can have major effect in the charitable world.”

Federation President & CEO Bill Bernstein stated that the Federation was finding increasing inter-

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est in planned giving and endowments by families. He said that announcements would come in 2006 about five or six families who had made significant commitments to a planned Federation capital campaign.

Keynote speaker Lee Meyerhoff Hendler, a nationally recognized philanthropist and a trustee of her family’s fund in Baltimore, put the issue of family giving in a Biblical context. “G-d can’t act alone in our behalf,” she said. One reason G-d chose Abraham as the first Jew was that “he could teach his children by his example. Gold can be used to make a golden calf or as a free will offering. That’s what freedom is about. Your goal is to ensure the well-being of Jews not even born yet. We keep our history alive by living Judaism in every generation.”

As a result of the role-playing exercise, the participants learned that, in a real situation, no one should be surprised if the eventual compromise turned out to be different than any one person’s singular desire. The decision making process is as important as the end result.

Garfinkle stressed that the benefits of achieving unity among the generations of donor families offer a major payback to the Federation, as well as the families. ”It’s the old story that one generation plants a tree they’ll never sit under and then the next one plants a tree they’ll never sit under.”

For more information, call Jill Hagler at 561-852-5015, e-mail jhagler@bocafed.org or visit www.jewishboca.org.

The Altshuls, Marianne (left), Eric, Karen and Larry, attended as a family.

Linda Melcer and Jeffrey Abrams of U.S. Trust receive a corporate recognition award from Event Chair Rani Garfinkle.

P R O F E S S I O N A L A D V I S O RY C O M M I T T E E The Professional Advisory Committee recently held a Roundtable Discussion to educate its members on how to incorporate charitable conversations with their clients. The Roundtable Series is co-chaired by Ed Flank, Ted Goodwin and Russell Levy.

How can you thank 183 women who have made the ultimate commitment to the Jewish community by establishing a Lion of Judah Endowment (LOJE)?

At the Jewish Community Foundation’s LOJE “Ultimate Thank You” on March 30 at the exclusive Casa Casuarina, formerly known as the Versace Mansion, in South Beach.

This program would not be possible without the generous sponsorship of Eric Matheson and Robert Lewis of Bernstein Investment Research and Management.

For reservations or further information, please call Carolyn Rose, Director of Professionals Advisory Relationships, at (561) 852-3142.

Left to right: Steve Belson, Eric Matheson, Linda Melcer, Jeffrey Schildkraut, David Katzman and David Pratt.

UPCOMING EVENTS JEWISH WOMEN’S FOUNDATION LION OF JUDAH ENDOWMENT COCKTAIL RECEPTION ULTIMATE THANK YOU March 21, 2006, 5:30 p.m.

Broken Sound Country Club, Boca Raton Couvert: $50

Sponsored by: Levitt Capital Management

Call: Jill Hagler, 561-852-5015

Thursday, March 30, 2006, 10 a.m.

Casa Casuarina (formerly Versace Mansion), South Beach

LOJE “ULTIMATE THANK YOU” SET FOR MARCH 30

NEW! HERITAGE SOCIETY/ STAR 22ND ANNUAL SEMINAR FOR OF DAVID SOCIETY COCKTAIL PROFESSIONALS RECEPTION Thursday, May 18, 2006, 4:30 p.m.

April 2006 Woodfield Country Club

Cocktail Reception to honor those who CPE credits available. The keynote have made a commitment to leave a speaker will be Richard Oshins. legacy of $100,000 or more.

Sponsored by: Schwimmer-Halperin Call: Carolyn Rose, 561-852-3142 Group and Merrill Lynch Global Call: Laura Sherry, 561-852-3166 Private Client See adjacent article for details

The day will include a gourmet meal, a tour of the historic mansion and the latest update on the Israel elections and the future of the peace process by well- known political insider Elliot Chodoff. Bus transportation will be provided for those who do not wish to drive.

It’s not too late to join this exclusive group and be recognized at the LOJE Ultimate Thank You. With a minimum endowment of $100,000 – through a bequest in your will, a life insurance policy, an IRA designation or an outright gift of cash – a gift of $5,000 or more will be made annually in your name to Federation in perpetuity.

If you are interested in learning more about LOJE or “The Ultimate Thank You,” please contact Jill Hagler, Associate Foundation Director, at 561.852.5015 or jillh@bocafed.org.

Call: Jill Hagler, 561-852-5015

F O U N D AT I O N L E A D E R S H I P F O C U S : J C F C H A I R T H O M A S R . K A P L A N In October, the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County named Thomas R. Kaplan Chair of the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF). JCF provides permanent resources to ensure the continuity of Jewish life, programs and services locally, in Israel and throughout the world. It accomplishes this goal through development of permanent endowment funds, lifetime gifts, bequests in wills, trusts and other programs benefiting the Federation, its agencies and the Jewish community.

Kaplan is President of Bernstein, Kaplan & Krauss LLC Family Wealth Management, a Boca Raton-based firm specializing in financial and estate planning, life insurance, annuities and asset management. As part of serving the financial interests of his clients, he has developed planned giving programs over the last decade that are expected to result in more than $100 million flowing to such organizations as JCF.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Kaplan comes from a charitable tradition. His mother founded a not-for-profit day care program, which she still directs.

His father, a judge, has worked in many community organizations.

A resident of south Florida for the past 27 years, Kaplan currently lives in Delray Beach with wife Pamela and two daughters. He has served in leadership positions on numerous religious, civic and cultural organizations.

He feels highly optimistic about the JCF’s new Institute on Family Philanthropy, which works with families using an intergenerational approach to ensure that donors’ commitments are continued through their children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.

“The Jewish Community Foundation makes a difference, both now and in the future,” he says, “by funding critically needed programs and ensuring that there will be resources available for years to come. For donors who care about the programs they help fund, this takes that caring to the next level by perpetuating their commitment.”

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JCRC

Jewish Community Relations Council

J C R C C O - S P O N S O R S M A J O R R A L LY A G A I N S T G E N O C I D E I N D A R F U R

David Frim, a Florida Atlantic University student and interfaith advocate, faced the audience of 300. He minced no words. “The Holocaust didn’t stop in 1945,” he explained. “It just moved. To Cambodia. To Bosnia. To Rwanda. And now it’s in Darfur. But you sitting here tells me there’s a redeeming force in society that can stop it now.”

The audience he was addressing had come out for “Save Darfur: A Community Rally to Stop Genocide in Africa,” held on Jan. 26 at the Don Estridge Middle School in Boca Raton.

The rally was organized by the Save Darfur Coalition of South Palm Beach County, a joint effort of 31 organizations, including synagogues and churches representing some 15,000 area families, as well as political and social groups. The rally was co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council, the political and social action arm of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, which made its services available to the Coalition.

Rally speakers included Cong. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Miramar), a longtime civil rights advocate, and Emily Danciu-Grosso, a Boca Raton student active in the Save Darfur movement. Several prominent clergy also spoke, church and synagogue choirs performed and a candle lighting was conducted to remember victims of genocide.

The keynote speaker was David Rubenstein, top coordinator of the national Save Darfur Coalition.

Rubenstein narrated an illustrated presentation on the Darfur issue. The genocide, he said, was the outgrowth of a long-running civil war in the nation of Sudan in Africa, of which Darfur is the westernmost region.

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Three years ago, in retaliation for rebel activity, Sudan’s central government unleashed a violent band of hired militia called Janjaweed on the peaceful villagers of the Darfur region in an attempt to clear it of rebels once and for all.

Since then, some 400,000 have been killed and 2.5 million made homeless. Hundreds of villages have been burnt and countless residents raped and beaten. Both the United States government and the United Nations have officially labeled the situation a genocide, but little has been done.

Rubenstein asked the audience to fill out prewritten postcards addressed to President Bush, asking that Bush advocate creation of a multinational force to protect the people of Darfur. “This can be fixed if the President realizes that the people who elected him care,” Rubenstein said. “We’re going to deliver more than one million of these cards to the President and Congress. We’re going to move them.” His organization announced earlier in the week that they already had commitments from member groups of the national coalition to collect and deliver some 407,000 such cards.

David Rubenstein narrates slide presentation on the Darfur situation.

Candles memorialize victims of genocide.

mass murder by government is the greatest evil of all. We must all say, ‘No, no, never again!’“ For more information on the Save Darfur movement, log on to www.savedarfur.org or e-mail SaveDarfurSPB@gmail.com. To order postcards, log on to www.millionvoicesfordarfur.org. You can also contact JCRC Director Elise Dolgow at 561-852-3170 or by e-mail at elised@bocafed.org.

Cong. Hastings noted that, “this reminds me of the civil rights era. You have the spark to put us in touch with the rest of the world.”

Grosso, whose grandfather is a former mayor of Boca Raton, noted the role of youth in the effort. “We hold the keys to ending this,” she said. “But we need more news coverage. How little there is about people being killed and raped. It’s more important than the latest Paris Hilton update,” she said, alluding to the extensive media attention conferred on an entertainment world celebrity.

And Rabbi Richard D. Agler of Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton, echoed the rally’s motto: “Never again means never again for anyone,” declared Agler. “Murder is evil and

A Darfur Coalition supporter demonstrates the immediate need to take action against genocide in this troubled region of Africa.

IOC

Israel and Overseas Committee

B O C A 2 2 - Y E A R - O L D S P E N D S E D U C AT I O N “ G A P Y E A R ” I N I S R A E L

Nina Alexander-Hurst (left) with Federation Israel and Overseas Department Director Elise Dolgow on the Siemens Campus.

Boca Raton resident Nina AlexanderHurst, 22, wanted, as many college graduates do these days, to take a year off before graduate school, the so-called “gap year.” She also knew that her long-term career goal was to work as a professional at a Jewish community organization. Was there a way to use that gap year to fulfill her ambition?

Nina’s attendance, with the program cost of $11,000 paid for by Federation-provided and other scholarships, began last summer, with three months spent at an absorption center for new immigrants. “We lived with Jews from India, Argentina and other places,” she says. “The language problems were great, but we found ways to communicate.”

“I decided to take a year on, instead of a year off,” she says. “I applied for the Otzma program in Israel.”

Alexander-Hurst’s final three months will be spent in an internship position with a Jewish institution.

Otzma (Strength) is a 10-month program of communal service and leadership training in the Jewish state for recent college graduates, ages 20 to 25.

The program is 15 years old.

From there, she was assigned to the small community of Yokneam, near Haifa, where she would spend the next four months as a part-time English language tutor at a high school and an aide at a senior center.

Meanwhile, she has been detailing her Otzma adventures in an internet blog, found at http://ninainisrael.blogspot.com.

For more information on Federation Otzma scholarships, call 561-852-3170 or email elised@bocafed.org. For general information on the program, visit www.projectotzma.org.

VISITORS BRIEF FEDERATION ON OPERATION PROMISE HELP TO ETHIOPIAN JEWS A local reporter looked across the conference table at Negist Mengesha, an Ethiopian-born Israeli and current Director-General of Israel’s Ethiopian National Project (ENP).

“Was this Aliyah different than those that came before?” he asked, referring to the migration of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel over the last 20 years, as compared other groups.

Visitors Negist Mengesha (second left) and Dvora Blum are flanked by the Federation’s Leah Siskin and Richard Jacobs.

“Yes,” Mengesha replied, “it was unique, and highly motivated. In the 1984 migration, those who came by way of Sudan had to walk for a month through the desert. Four thousand did not make it.”

Mengesha was interviewed as part of a visit to the Jewish Federation of South Beach County to promote “Operation Promise,” a project of the United Jewish Communities, the Federation movement’s umbrella organization. Among the program’s aims are bringing up to 18,000 Jews remaining in Ethiopia to Israel, and helping more than 100,000 already there to assimilate fully into Israeli society.

According to UJC, Operation Promise, which also includes help for Jews in the former Soviet Union, will carry a cost of $160 million over the next three years, $100 million of which will go toward the Ethiopian component.

Last October, the Federation Board set a target of raising $3.7 million over the next three to five years, over and above its normal campaign goals, as its share of the cost of the project.

Mengesha was accompanied by Dr. Dvora Blum, UJC’s Deputy Director General for Research and Development, based in Israel. Together, they briefed Federation leadership and staff on the situation of Ethiopian Jews today.

While individual Ethiopians have shown high achievement, the assimilation of Ethiopian Jews, in general, has gone far too slowly. Seventy percent of families live below the poverty line, 40 percent have no wage-earner, and 75 percent of junior high students perform below average in key subjects at school, with one in four then dropping out of school.

For more information on Operation Promise, contact Federation Israel and Overseas Committee Director Elise Dolgow at 561-852-3170 or e-mail elised@bocafed.org.

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JEC

Jewish Education Commission

FEDERATION’S JEWISH EDUCATION COMMISSION TO MARK 10TH BIRTHDAY WITH SERIES OF COMMUNITY EVENTS For the “people of the book,” as Jews are often called, education is an essential tenet of their existence. That has made the Jewish Education Commission (JEC), which marks its 10th anniversary this year, an essential part of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

with Kiryat Bialik (Boca Raton’s “sister city” in Israel under the Federation’s Partnership 2000 program) and the annual Kristallnacht Film Forum, which presents Holocaust-themed movies during the anniversary of the 1938 “Night of Broken Glass” in Nazi Germany.

“We’re the central resource for Jewish education,” says Dr. Leon Weissberg, JEC Executive Director.

“We help day and congregational (synagogue) schools and early childhood centers by offering professional training, curriculum development and other services for which they do not themselves have the resources, and we are involved in Jewish education for all ages, from early childhood to adult learning.”

Also continuing will be JEC’s normal commitments to professional development of both early childhood and kindergarten through 12th grade educators through seminars and workshops, its recognition of great teaching through the annual Gerald Legow Outstanding Achievement in Jewish Education and Greenspoon-Steinhardt Teacher Recognition Awards and its local administration of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, which has provided hundreds of adults the opportunity to receive the education in Judaism they never received as youth.

has more than doubled since the last study was done in 1995, compared to growth of only 13 percent in the overall Jewish population.

STUDY LED TO JEC CREATION

YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION PLANNED

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, JEC plans a year-long celebration. In February, the organization began a Scholars-in-Residence (S-I-R) program that actually occurs in people’s homes. “We’ll have distinguished speakers in 20 to 25 private homes,” Helen Cohan, the S-I-R chair notes.

“Each host will invite 10 to 20 people to sit and learn as it says in Ethics of the Fathers ‘make your home a place for scholars ... and swallow thirstily in their words.’ We’ll have rabbis, school principals and teachers speaking. There will be no solicitation, just lots of education.”

TEEN PROGRAMS ARE IMPORTANT

Mark Mendel, the chair of the Jewish Education Commission, points with special pride at JEC’s teen programs, noting that some 85% of local Jewish teens are unaffiliated, and thus vulnerable to the pressures of assimilation. “If we lose them as Jewish teens,” Mendel says, “we lose them as Jewish adults. We cannot afford a ‘lost generation’ of Jewish adults.”

The schools that the JEC supports will be part of the celebration. Each school will be asked to dedicate one of its major school year events to recognizing the JEC, by, for example, presenting a plaque to a JEC official, Weissberg indicated.

Then, in November or December, there will be what Cohan calls a “major culminating event.”

The JEC is currently thinking of a progressive dinner, with multiple speakers.

To keep teens in the fold, JEC offers “Chai School” after-school classes, some of which carry college credit, outreach to the unaffiliated through Jewish forums and clubs in secular high schools and grants for travel to Israel. JEC is also the local administrator for the March of the Living program, which transports teens on trips to Holocaust sites in Poland, then directly to Israel.

These intensely emotional two-week voyages have stirred many teens’ interest in their faith.

None of this will take away from JEC’s normal run of activities, which include a Distinguished Lecture series, teacher and student exchanges

The recent 2005 demographic study of area Jews highlights the importance of JEC’s teen programs in that the local adolescent Jewish population

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It was the 1995 demographic study that led to the creation of the Jewish Education Commission.

“The study showed a rising young population even at that time,” said Weissberg, “plus the congregational schools were asking the Federation to reconsider what help it was giving them. They wanted us to provide the professional support for what they were unable to do for themselves.”

There also was another, much more ancient reason for the Commission, says Mendel. “The scriptures tell us, ‘And you shall teach it to your children,’” he says. “This is a commandment, not a choice, to teach our children the principles of Jewish law.” He likens education to passing on the torch, to ensure a Jewish future.

“The concept is that all Jews are responsible one for the other,” he says.

Weissberg says JEC will be a large part of that future. The Commission plans to greatly increase its outreach to the unaffiliated, to elevate its involvement in early childhood education and to create programs that allow the area’s many retirees to both act as teachers and receive the Jewish education they never had time for before.

“Retirees are a tremendous resource,” he says.

“They should not be relegated to staying home.

They can be active and involved role models for Jewish education.”

For more information on the Jewish Education Commission and its 10th anniversary events, call 561-852-3318, e-mail jec@bocafed.org or visit www.jewishboca.org.

Every pledge has a purpose.

$54

Three food pantry packages for a senior living in an adult community.

$250

Two months of blood pressure medicine.

$390

Yearly homecare service for a bed-ridden elderly person.

$1,000

One month for a child to participate in a special needs camp.

Donate online today. www.jewishboca.org

D E M O G R A P H I C S T U D Y R E S U LT S

T

o read the complete demographic study and view all of our findings, visit our website www.jewishboca.org

(from front cover) geography and expert in Jewish community demographics. Sheskin has done 38 such studies for Jewish communities nationwide, and did the 1995 survey here. The data was compiled from phone interviews of persons in randomly selected Jewish households, Sheskin said.

A similar study was simultaneously conducted

by Sheskin for the county’s other Federation, the West Palm Beach-based Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. Taken together, the results of the two studies present the first ever countywide profile of the Jewish community.

Results received wide media coverage, including several front page news stories, reports on all three network affiliate TV stations and distribution of the story by a wire service. Sheskin was told of TV coverage in Connecticut.

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SENIORS AND “JUNIORS” BOTH INCREASE The aging side of the south county story came into sharp focus with one key statistic: Whereas a decade ago Jews over age 75 were 29 percent of the total south county population of approximately 116,000, now they are 40 percent of a larger population of 131,300. “This has major implications in the need to provide senior services,” said William S. Bernstein, President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

Reflecting his comment were a number of south county sub-statistics, indicating that more than one of five elderly households contains a healthimpaired member, nearly one in five Jews is widowed and that roughly 19,000 say they need in-home health care.

But a real surprise, according to officials, came in the number of Jewish youngsters in south county. This figure has rocketed up 102 percent while the general population grew only 13 percent since 1995, in what Bernstein said was “a very significant trend for the future.”

The studies, and their results totaled, impressed many with the size and composition of the county’s Jewish community, especially in comparison with those of other cities. Reporters learned that: •

At 255,550, the total Palm Beach County Jewish population is the largest in Florida, and fourth largest in the nation, exceeded only by New York, Los Angeles and slightly by Chicago. It exceeds the size of Jewish communities in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.,

Boston and many other major cities. It has surpassed Broward and is more than double the size of Miami, at one time the center of area Judaism.

•

The local Jewish population is dense.

Almost one of every two households in south county, for example, is Jewish. “To get more densely Jewish, you’d have to go to Israel,” quipped Richard Jacobs, Federation Vice President of Community Planning, through whose office the study was conducted.

•

The Jewish population is becoming more stable. The number of Jewish households established 20 or more years in south county rose from five percent to 23 percent.

And belying the common image of south Florida as “snowbird country,” nearly 80 percent of Jews now live in Palm Beach County full time, defined as eight months of the year or more, further increasing the need for services.

•

A major story in north county is an explosive increase in the Jewish community in Boynton Beach, which has grown 63 percent in the past six years, compared to 26 percent in Boca Raton over 10 years.

Some 2,000 new Jewish households are established in Boynton Beach each year,

Sheskin reported. Boca Raton remains the largest Jewish community within the county, however, with 76,800 Jews compared to 58,600 in Boynton Beach.

•

Palm Beach County’s Jewish population has the highest median age, nearly 70, in the nation. In comparison, the median age in Broward County is 59.4 and in Miami, 50.7. We also have the smallest average household size, 1.93 countywide, largely due to the many elderly Jews living alone.

Our population remains steadfastly interested in things Jewish. Some six in 10 have had a household member who has visited Israel, and about the same percentage identify themselves as “extremely/very attached to Israel.”

And though synagogue membership is at only 32 percent, compared to a national Jewish average of 40 percent, fully 97 percent have taken part in a Jewish activity, including giving to a Jewish charity, in the past year. Still, there are challenges.

Synagogue membership drops with age, averaging 16 percent in the 35 and under age group, Sheskin noted, a sign that assimilation and lack of identity continue to be a concern related to younger Jews.

Almost one of every two households in south county, for example, is Jewish.

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“To get more densely Jewish, you’d have to go to Israel.”

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COUNTRY CLUB SCENE Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County

Hamlet Opening Event

Boca Greens Kick-Off

Hamlet Women’s Division Co-chair Joyce Newman, husband Ted Newman and guest speaker Ted Deutch.

Marcia and Sam Spear, Hamlet Men’s chair.

Sponsored by: Citigroup Private Bank

Stanton Bernstein and Jacqueline Bernstein, Lorraine and Dr. Gerry Rosenblatt.

Gold Coast Kick-Off

Gold Coast Lion of Judah Outreach

Polo Club Lion of Judah Outreach

Campaign Chair William Weprin, Event Chairs Joseph & Selma Sitrick, Wendy Gutmann-Kupfer of Citigroup Private Bank (Gold Coast’s Official Sponsor), Major Gifts Chair Florence Brody and Campaign Co-Chair Ann Kelman.

Host and new Lion Charlotte Robinson, Event Chair Diana Stein, new Lion Myrna Skurnick, and Toby Weinman-Palchik.

Sponsored by: Citigroup Private Bank

Five new Lions Susen Grossman, Toby Horowitz, Helen Ross, Lois Wolf and Martha Gaynor.

Sponsored by: U.S. Trust

Guests Florence and Barry Friedberg.

Boca Lago Women’s Chair Lyna Zommick and husband Joseph Zommick.

Boca Lago Pacesetter

Boca Lago Men’s Chair Marvin Rosett and wife Sylvia Rosett.

Bocaire Cocktail Party Campaign Opening Event Event Chair Barry Hamerling, Elyssa Kupferberg, Senior Vice President of corporate sponsor Mellon Private Wealth Management, Federation Chair Etta Zimmerman, guest speaker Cong. Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ), Bocaire Women’s Division Chair Marilyn Tulgan and Bocaire Men’s Division Chair Norman Feintuck.

Sponsored by: Mellon Private Wealth Management

If you will it, we can end anti-Semitism... forever.

Anti-Semitism continues to threaten the Jewish people – in Europe, the Middle East and, incredibly, on our own college campuses. It is therefore vital that we do whatever we can to fight this evil – now and in the future.

You can help by adding the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County to your will or increasing an existing bequest.

With the funds you make available, you will not only fight anti-Semitism, you will help support Israel, combat poverty and hunger and build Jewish identity through education. Your commitment will be felt in our community and our world for years to come.

Make your legacy a Jewish legacy by including the Jewish Community Foundation in your will or bequest. Call 561.852.3157 for a complimentary Will Kit today.

J E W I S H C O M M U N I T Y F O U N D AT I O N Contact: Leah Siskin, Executive Director Jewish Community Foundation 9 9 0 1

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(Continued from page 3) B O C A C O U P L E M A K E S L A R G E S T C A M PA I G N G I F T I N F E D E R AT I O N H I S T O R Y which was a major turning point in my life, I was able to attend Harvard Law School on the G.I. Bill.” Gloria won a college scholarship which enabled her to attend Douglass College at Rutgers University.

The two met at a party at Harvard. Gloria was visiting her brother, a student there. When Lee saw her, he says, “I fell in love with her on the spot, and, on the spot, I said I was going to marry this girl. And I did!”

“He proposed on our fourth date,” recalls Gloria. “We were married on our tenth.” It’s a marriage that has resulted in three children, and no less than 14 grandchildren.

The two have enormous respect for each other.

Gloria describes Lee by quoting from a recent

biography on Lincoln by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. “He possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling,” Kearns Goodwin wrote of Lincoln, but Gloria Baker says, “that is my husband!”

For his part, Lee says of Gloria, “She has deep feelings for people who need help. She’s a thoroughly good person.” Then he adds, with a laugh, “even when she admonishes me!”

If they agree on how they feel about each other, they also agree on what giving to charity does for them.

Lee adds, “We hope what we’ve done will inspire others to do the same.”

For more information on contributing to the Federation’s Annual Campaign, contact Jason Shames, Vice President, Campaign and Community Development at 561-852-3127 or email jasons@bocafed.org.

To participate in a Federation Planned Giving or Endowment Program, contact Leah Siskin, Vice President and Director, Jewish Community Foundation at 561-852-3151 or email leahs@bocafed.org.

“It gives us pleasure to help others, particularly Jews around the world,” says Gloria.

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UPCOMING EVENTS ACTRESS-PHILANTHROPIST JANE SEYMOUR TO HEADLINE MARCH 9 L U N C H E O N E N T I T L E D “ W H AT W O M E N WA N T ” Entitled, “What Women Want,” it will be held at the Broken Sound Country Club in Boca Raton. The chair is Judy Levis Markhoff.

Co-Chairs are Tara Baker and Pam Kaye.

Judy is the sparkplug behind the concept. “I was honored when Women’s Division asked me to chair their major event,” she says, “and I was thinking about a theme. Then, at an airport, I saw a woman’s magazine called ‘W.’ It made me think about what we women want in life, and what we are on this Earth for.”

Event Chair Judy Levis Markhoff helped select Jane Seymour as major speaker.

Just what do women want?

Men have been asking that question probably since Adam first met Eve, but on March 9, a group of south Palm Beach County Jewish women will ask it of themselves ... and with the help of world-famous actress and humanitarian and philanthropist Jane Seymour, they’ll try to answer it.

The event will be the annual major luncheon of the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

Well, we’re Jewish,” she continues, “so we want philanthropy, to create legacies, traditions, knowledge, wisdom, health. And it’s all about keeping family together to have roots, to have a heritage.”

She sees, in the current issue of assimilation, a need for younger women to start thinking about these values, so she reached out for a guest speaker who both would attract younger women, she says, and exemplify Jewish values. That search led her to Jane Seymour.

“Jane is the definition of a modern Renaissance woman,” notes a recent biography, and the facts seem to back that up. Star of numerous movies and of TV’s “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” Seymour also is a noted artist and author, spokesperson for the alternative medicine movement, tireless promoter of more than 20 charities and hands-on mother of six.

Attendees are also being asked to write answers to the title question with the best responses receiving prizes, including a Pippo diamond watch, a two night stay at the Boca Raton Resort & Club and a gift of fine jewelry from event sponsor Ivan & Co. Other corporate sponsors include The Adolph & Rose Levis Foundation, Sandelman Foundation, Rafael C. Cabrera, MD, FACS, Mellon Private Wealth Management and Kaye Scholer.

A $55 couvert per person and a minimum $500 donation to the Federation/UJA 2006 Women’s campaign are required to attend.

To RSVP, please call 561-852-3176.

DON’T MISS MEN’S NIGHT OUT!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

MEN’S NIGHT OUT – MARCH 2, 2006

SEE PAGE 11 FOR DETAILS

Sponsored by ISN Wireless and Sprint together with Nextel

SEE PAGE 11 FOR DETAILS