The Jewish Light Back to School Issue

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Volume 10, Number 7 Back to School 2020

Serving the Local New Orleans, Northshore, and Baton Rouge Jewish Communities

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Amid Pandemic, These Young Jews And Their Elderly Friends Are Finding New Ways To Connect

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Beren Academy student Dina Kirshner and Medallion resident Marcene Goldman plant flowers together at a pre-pandemic Better Together event in Houston. (Ari Kellerman)

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, 15-year-old Samantha Renzulli immediately thought about how it would affect her elderly friends at Jewish Senior Services, a long-term care facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Renzulli had met some of the residents through Better Together, a school-based Jewish intergenerational program, and she worried about their isolation.

“I was aware of the loneliness the residents must have been experiencing, as they were unable to have visitors or leave their rooms,” Renzulli said. “As I thought back to all the fun times I shared with the residents, it saddened me to think of their lack of companionship during this time.”

So, she and her fellow students at the Merkaz Community High School for Judaic Studies resolved to find new ways to maintain connections to the seniors. Since midApril, students’ families have paraded in long caravans of decorated cars around the residence every Friday as residents and staff look on from balconies. They’ve also delivered more than 130 bouquets of donated flowers for residents, and a trove of books, toys and toiletries for staff members and their families.

On Mother’s Day, Renzulli and her young friends shared with the seniors a “musical mitzvah mash2

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up” video they created especially for them.

In normal times, Better Together, a project launched in 2014, pairs together young Jews and older Jews for meaningful in-person interactions. Middle- and high-school students from Jewish day schools, Hebrew schools and Jewish youth groups meet with the residents of senior centers or groups of seniors from local synagogues.

Faced with the pandemic, students have found innovative ways to continue connecting with their elder “buddies” despite social distancing protocols. Rather than reducing operations because in-person encounters are not possible, Better Together ended up expanding its scope of activities to meet surging interest, introducing a modified version of its program that can be replicated in communities across the country.

Called Better Together in a Box, it’s a free, downloadable curriculum designed for the upcoming summer of social distancing, when camp, internships and many other Jewish summer activities will be cancelled. Jewish organizations that commit to implementing the program are eligible for a grant to cover staffing and materials.

Better Together in a Box includes materials for teen learning sessions on Jewish values such as leadership, responsibility, empathy,

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wisdom and wellness. It suggests virtual intergenerational activities, including cooking, fitness and art, with detailed plans on how to implement them – synchronously or not – based on the technological ability and the teens’ and seniors’ hardware. Activities include letter writing, Mad Libs, teens creating short videos to engage with the seniors, and discussions on health and community.

“What we mean by ‘in-a-box’ is that it is a ready-to-use curriculum, and that it is designed for doing things virtually, or at least not in person,” said Bess Adler, Better Together’s program director.

The program’s pandemic-era pivot is a sign of how some Jewish initiatives are adapting and innovating to meet the needs of the times.

Organizers are hoping camps, youth groups, congregational schools and Jewish day schools will utilize the curriculum for youths ranging in age from middle school to high school. An optional writing contest offers students prizes and the possibility of getting an article published based on their summer experiences.

Yolande Dauber, 101, is eager to continue participating in Better Together this summer. A resident of

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The Medallion, an assisted living residence in Houston, she has enjoyed her conversations with her young buddy from the Robert M. Beren Academy, a modern Orthodox day school in Houston.

“It’s nice to mingle with young people,” said Dauber, who once worked as a middle school guidance counsellor in her hometown of Brooklyn. “They have interesting ideas, and I enjoy hearing about their plans for the future.”

Dauber misses hugging and kissing the students as they arrive at The Medallion but understands that she can’t meet them in person for the foreseeable future. Adept at using her computer and Kindle, she is confident she’ll be able to participate in online activities organized by Beren Academy students this summer.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, students from the school have been calling their senior buddies to wish them Shabbat Shalom, and created videos for them.

“Some of the residents even made selfie videos and sent them back to us in return,” said 17-yearold Natanya Ruben, who will participate in Better in a Box this summer following cancelled plans for a See PANDEMIC on Page

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Table of Contents Around the World

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Israel Under Radar

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Global

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Education

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Bookshelf

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Sports

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Arts & Culture

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Entertainment

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Health

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The Nosher

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Jewniverse (Jewish Culture & History)

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Kveller

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family trip to South Africa.

Not all seniors are able to use technology. Rabbi Ari Kellerman, the Judaic studies principal at Beren Academy’s middle and high schools, has been trying to come up with other activities. A consultant to Better Together in a Box, he devised the idea of a Buddy Box, where teens can send their elderly partners fun items such as craft project materials along with video cards with filmed clips of themselves offering greetings and project instructions.

Until now, students have produced elaborate works based on their yearlong interactions with their senior buddies, such as photography exhibitions, documentary films, large quilts, and travel scrapbooks reflecting global destinations that have played important roles in the seniors’ lives.

Now, the focus is a bit different.

“COVID poses such a big chal-

lenge,” Kellerman said. “We need to shift from thinking so much about fun activities to making sure our seniors are okay.”

Devra Aarons, director of the Contra Costa Midrasha, a community-based weekly Jewish educational program for 8th through 12th graders in Walnut Creek, California, said the emphasis now must be on maintaining relationships and cultivating empathy. Her students are partnered with residents of The Reutlinger, in nearby Danville.

“I find that the teens are very good with coming up with ideas for using videos and other tech,” Aarons said. “Maybe we’ll just focus on teaching the seniors how to use the technology at first. That could be a good way to stay connected.”

In Connecticut, Renzulli has taken the lead in designing intergenerational activities. With her planned five-week summer language-immersion program in Spain

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cancelled, she said one of her main priorities this summer will be focusing on “bringing love and joy” to residents of Jewish Senior Services, and “showing them and the nurses at their aid that our community is here to support them.”

Renzulli’s mother, Laurie Renzulli, said the project has helped boost her daughter’s spirits during this challenging time.

“The weekly meetings for planning and execution of the activities have helped tremendously during this time of home education and limited social interactions,” she

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said. “Each week there have been deliverables to accomplish, and when each weekly mitzvah hits a milestone or completion, Samantha feels she has made a positive difference in our community and the world.”

This story was sponsored by and produced in collaboration with a foundation that wishes to remain anonymous, and is part of a series titled "On the Bright Side: Stories of innovation and resilience from Jewish non-profits.” This article was produced by JTA's native content team. 

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Samantha Renzulli was among the Jewish students who brought flowers, signs and good cheer to staff appreciation day at Jewish Senior Services, a long-term care facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut. (Margery Verlezza)

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As Businesses Open, Ampol Steps Up To Provide Disinfection And Training Services

By Amanda McElfresh, amcelfresh@theadvocate.com This story is brought to you by AMPOL.

With more offices and businesses opening, managers across the region are turning to AMPOL to ensure their workplaces are virus-free.

In recent weeks, company staff has performed disinfection work at restaurants, hotels, offshore living quarters, boats, schools, offices, industrial facilities, manufacturing facilities and more, said AMPOL CEO and President Kirk Headley.

In terms of cleanliness levels, Headley said it has been a “broad spectrum.”

“It’s really been a range,” Headley said. “We do a pre-sample and a postsample to show the owner where they were and where they are now. That can be really eye-opening. The owner can use that data however they wish. Some like to keep it themselves. Some want to show employees and clients. We provide the information, but it’s up to them to decide how to use it.”

Headley said some clients request AMPOL’s disinfection services because their place of business is preparing to re-open. In those cases, owners want employees and customers to feel safe and assure them that all steps have been taken to remove any virus. In other cases, a client or employee has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Those two situations are treated differently,” Headley said. “When we get

the call to provide a disinfection, we separate those so we know what type of cleaning we need to be doing.”

In either situation, AMPOL’s teams focus on high-touch surfaces such as door handles, doorknobs, faucets, light switches, keyboards, phones and more.

“We really pride ourselves on having a good understanding of high-touch surfaces, and we laser-focus on those quite a bit,” he said.

Headley said some clients bring in AMPOL for a one-time disinfection, while others ask for regular visits to maintain a high level of cleanliness.

If an owner requests it, AMPOL staff will provide training to a business staff and custodians so they can learn how to keep areas as clean as possible.

“We do not suggest that somebody who is not a professional clean a COVID positive area,” he said. “That should be done by someone who is trained and has all the proper equipment. However, if it is a regular disinfection, we have some trade secrets that we’ve learned through a lot of trial and testing on what works and what doesn’t. We can show people steps to take to keep a space in a clean condition.”

Headley said business owners should remember that if someone with COVID-19 enters a building, it will nullify any disinfection steps that were

previously taken. That means owners should be mindful about screening people who come into a business, checking temperatures and turning away anyone who shows COVID-19 symptoms.

“The best thing you can do is try to take precautions on who comes in and who doesn’t,” he said. “Use your best judgement and the best tools you have.

We are prepared to disinfect any facility that needs us. I have faith that we are going to get through this. We just have to be as smart as we can. We just can’t put our guard down yet.”

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Immigration To Israel Could Spike Due To The Coronavirus Pandemic, Leading Groups Say

Israel Under Radar Best Wishes to my many friends & supporters in the Jewish Community

By Marcy Oster

Lambert Boissiere

Public Service Commissioner, District 3

s i n c e 19 8 3

Over 3,000 cars, trucks and SUV’s across New Orleans!

New immigrants from North America arrive on a flight arranged by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization at Ben Gurion airport in central Israel on Aug. 14, 2019. (Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel could see a sharp increase in immigration over the next few years spurred on by the coronavirus crisis, two groups involved with arranging immigration to the country claim.

The chairman of the Jewish Agency — a nonprofit focused on bolstering Israel-Diaspora ties and immigration to Israel — told an Israeli parliament committee on Monday that Israel should expect some 250,000 new immigrants over three to five years, Haaretz reported. Israel normally absorbs about 30,000 immigrants per year, according to Haaretz.

On Wednesday, Nefesh B’ Nefesh, an organization that assists Jews from English-speaking countries in immigrating to Israel, reported that in June 2020, the organization received 1,350 immigration applications, compared to 399 in June of last year.

Nefesh B’ Nefesh also received 25,435 phone calls to its call center requesting information about the immigration process, in comparison to 5,349 in June 2019.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Tuesday that the trend is consistent in Brazil, which is always among the countries that send the most immigrants to Israel every

year. Last year, 750 Brazilian families started the immigration process. The 2020 tally is expected to reach up to 1,200, according to the Jewish Agency.

Isaac Herzog, the Jewish Agency chairman, participated in a Zoom press briefing on Wednesday that included the leaders of several Diaspora Jewish communities. He pointed to multiple factors that could account for the immigration spike, including Israel’s handling of the pandemic — which was hailed originally for its efficiency, but has since come under scrutiny; the rise of anti-Semitism around the world; the desire people are having during the crisis to be closer to relatives who already live in Israel; and the knowledge that despite the coronavirus, Israel continues to have a strong health care system and social services, while many countries’ economies have flagged.

Israel’s unemployment rate has jumped in recent months as well, however.

“This is a historic challenge that we must exploit, and the government needs to understand the opportunity and prepare a national program for absorbing this immigration wave,” Herzog told the parliamentary committee for immigration, absorption and diaspora affairs. 

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Thank You For Your Support.

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With Refugees Hit Doubly Hard

By The Pandemic, Jewish Groups Step Up Aid Efforts

By Michele Chabin

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office 5400 East Broad St. • Lake Charles, LA 70615 (337) 491-3600

Thank you to all of my friends in the Jewish Community.

It is an honor to be re-elected to serve our community.

Refugees in Lesbos, Greece, return from a day of learning at the IsraAID-run School of Peace. (Courtesy of IsraAID)

Judge Paulette Irons Civil District Court Division M

Best Wishes to My many Friends & Associates in the Jewish community for a happy and prosperous New Year!

It is an honor to continue to serve the citizens of New Orleans.

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(JTA) — Nearly 80 million people around the world are refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced.

Already marginalized and at elevated risk of malnutrition, disease and hunger, COVID-19 has made them even more vulnerable due to their poverty, overcrowded living conditions and limited access to healthcare.

While in this generation very few Jews are among the displaced, the Jewish historical experience of being homeless, hungry and stateless continues to drive Jewish activists and organizations to assist.

“We used to help refugees because they were Jewish; now we help refugees because we are Jewish,” said Melanie Nezer, senior vice president for public affairs at HIAS, which was founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in 1881 to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. “It’s in our DNA to help people who are displaced, given our values, our Jewish texts and our long history as refugees.”

Among the displaced persons HIAS assists, more than 70 percent can no longer meet their basic needs for food, according to Nezer. That number was 15 percent before the outbreak. Mental health is also a growing concern.

“Psychologically we are destroyed,” a displaced man on the Greek island of Lesbos said, according to a document provided by HIAS, which is supplying him with aid. The organization declined to provide the man’s name or identifying details, including nationality.

“Our only hope was to have our asylum hearing, but with the coronavirus everything stopped. We are

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doomed to stay on this island for a long time, and no one wants that.”

To meet the refugees’ COVIDrelated needs while protecting their own staff, Jewish and other humanitarian relief organizations have had to modify the services they provide and the ways they deliver aid. Many have temporarily suspended programs that required face-to-face interactions, prioritizing emergency assistance instead.

In the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, the staff of IsraAID, an Israeli group that provides humanitarian assistance in 14 countries, has redirected much of its time and resources toward establishing hand-washing stations and fighting misinformation about how the virus spreads.

“Residents were receiving a lot of mixed messages. We worked on educating about the virus, just as we did during the Ebola outbreak in 2014,” CEO Yotam Polizer said.

Health education is also vital in South Sudan, which has just four ventilators for 11 million people.

The best strategy, particularly in poor countries with no functioning health system, is to prevent infection, Polizer said. Compounding matters, the foreign health professionals who ordinarily come on medical missions and bring with them supplies and expertise are staying home to deal with their own countries’ COVID-19 crises.

IsraAID was fortunate in that it already had teams on the ground — comprised of Israelis and locals, including refugees — before the pandemic’s outbreak.

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REFUGEES Continued from Page 6 The American Jewish World Service, which provides financial support, capacity building and support to social justice organizations worldwide, has reallocated its resources in varying ways. In a crowded Bangladeshi camp that houses 1 million refugees, AJWS has shifted resources away from specific programs and toward supporting educational efforts to prevent the virus’ spread and helping the camp’s refugees obtain bare necessities.

Children line up for clean drinking water provided by an Israeli aid group at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. (Courtesy of IsraAID) In India, AJWS funded a program before the outbreak called Women on Wheels, which provides employment opportunities to women by training them to be taxi drivers and teaching them negotiation skills and financial independence. Now that it’s unsafe for women to attend the course in person, AJWS is giving them financial assistance so they can feed their families and purchase items like masks and hand sanitizer.

“We are prioritizing flexibility,” said Robert Bank, AJWS’s president and CEO. Although refugees are in desperate need of assistance, the pandemic also has inspired many to reach out and offer assistance to others, according to aid officials. Refugees in Greece and Germany have created and donated protective masks to people who need them most.

In one initiative in Germany organized by IsraAID, Muslim refugees who work for the group created masks for Holocaust survivors.

“Seventy-five years after the Holocaust, who could have imagined that refugees from Muslim countries who have never met a Jewish person in their lives, but who are working for an Israeli organization, would be distributing masks to Holocaust survivors?”

Polizer said. “I call this post-traumatic growth. How a double tragedy – the refugee crisis and the trauma of corona – can sometimes turn into an opportunity to build bridges between people.”

Mara, a Syrian refugee who created masks for survivors, reflected on the experience.

“As a foreigner helping here in Germany, it makes me happy to see others happy when we help them,” Mara said. “To help the elderly and to protect them from a terrible illness through our masks initiative THE

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has touched me especially. As a Syrian refugee from Palestinian origin, I have experienced a lot that connects me with the Jewish people. We share a similar history, so it was especially interesting to meet Holocaust survivors and to exchange experiences.”

A Muslim refugee in Germany is part of a team organized by IsraAID that produced masks for Holocaust survivors during the coronavirus pandemic. (Courtesy of IsraAID) Meanwhile, to meet refugees’ increased needs, more than 100 Jewish and Israeli organizations recently participated in a 10-day campaign to raise funds and express solidarity. Fundraising for refugees is particularly challenging right now because many philanthropists are directing funds to people and institutions in their own communities, while smaller donors may be cutting back on international giving to focus on their own needs.

The #70million campaign was organized by OLAM, an umbrella group for Jewish and Israeli organizations that work in developing countries, and coordinated in partnership with AJWS, HIAS, IsraAID, and several other groups.

“The campaign was a way for us to pay it forward, share our experience and our core Jewish values,” said Dyonna Ginsburg, CEO of OLAM. “The Torah commands us to love the stranger – 36 times. That reminds us that our own experience of suffering should be transformed as empathy for other.”

The rising number of displaced people around the world should be an urgent call to action, said Nezer of HIAS. “We participated because the Jewish response to the world’s refugee crisis is powerful and important and a strong expression of tikkun olam,” she said.

Bank noted that refugees are threatened not just by the global pandemic, but by an increasingly xenophobic global environment. AJWS will use the funds raised in the #70million campaign not just to support refugees today, he said, but also to “prevent others from being displaced in the future by fighting for democratic and inclusive societies worldwide, which do not expel their own citizens or mistreat others.”

This article, sponsored by and produced in partnership with The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, is part of a series about how young Jews are transforming Jewish life in the 21st century. This article was produced

by JTA’s native content team. 

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Here’s How Jewish Schools Found Creative Ways To Maintain Community During Covid Lockdown

By Sara Ivry

Eighth-graders from the Chicago Jewish Day School toss their caps in the air during the school's graduation parade and end-of-year celebration, June 11, 2020. (Jen Minkus)

As soon as it became clear in March that COVID-19 would force school closures around the country, Jewish day school administrators faced a conundrum that went beyond the question of how to continue educating students.

The challenge: how to maintain a

sense of community at a time when everyone was shuttered at home.

Community is one of the raisons d’etre of Jewish day schools, and often why families stretch themselves financially to afford them.

With everyone apart, what could schools do to alleviate the sense of

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isolation and stress among staff, students and families?

For Yeshivat Noam, a Modern Orthodox elementary school in northern New Jersey with some 800 students, the challenge of commencement exercises brought those questions to a head.

“We didn’t want the class of 2020 to conclude as someone clicks ‘end meeting’ on a Zoom screen,” said Rabbi Chaim Hagler, the head of school.

So the school built a parade float festooned with Israeli and American flags and labeled “Bringing Graduation Home” that traveled to the houses of each graduating eighth-grader for surprise commencement ceremonies. Family members, neighbors and friends gathered in lawn chairs to watch as their local graduate, decked out in cap and gown, received their diploma while “Pomp and Circumstance” played.

“COVID-19 was trying to say: ‘Let’s not let these guys have a graduation,’” Hagler said in one of his speeches to a graduate. “But we said, ‘No way!’”

Staff used a leaf blower to scatter confetti, loudspeakers to blast music and a Nissan Titan pickup truck to pull the “Class of 2020”

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float. To get around social distancing measures, each student posed for pictures with a life-size cutout image of the principal.

“The kids were thrilled, so excited,” Hagler said. “Basically, each one had their own individual opportunity to be recognized as special.”

The school conducted 85 of these ceremonies over two days.

It was one of the myriad ways that Jewish day schools nationwide used the pandemic not just to adopt creative methods of teaching, but to maintain the sense of community that underpins the schools.

“That’s a feature of day schools — that community is strong, that we connect a lot — and I think it’s been vital to how day schools have gotten through this successfully,” said Paul Bernstein, the CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.

Bernstein’s own children attend the Leffell School, a two-campus K-12 institution in suburban Westchester County, New York. Earlier this year, Leffell turned its spring fundraiser into the Bathrobe Ball, a free online event with a live auction, an interview with comedian See COMMUNITY on Page

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COMMUNITY Continued from Page 8 and alum Nick Kroll, and musical entertainment by singer Neshama Carlebach, a school parent. The school enlisted a catering service to make fancy reheatable TV dinners that some 700 attendees ordered and picked up in advance.

Israel’s Independence Day. “Families parked on the street during it, and then after they didn’t want to leave,” said Jen Minkus, the school’s marketing and communications associate. “The school is in a very diverse area, and we had so many Israeli flags and had Israeli music blasting, and there were cars

Yeshivat Noam, a Modern Orthodox school in Paramus, N.J., organized a graduation float that visited students’ homes so that members of the class of 2020 could celebrate safely amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Courtesy of Yeshivat Noam)

“Community is a major value for us anyway, so how do you expand that sense of community and maintain it even when you can’t be physically together?” said Michael Kay, Leffell’s head of school.

driving by that weren’t from our school who were honking and waving.”

For Yom Yerushalayim, which celebrates the liberation of the Old City

Pavel Friedmann, a Czechoslovakian poet who died at Auschwitz. The poem ends, “Butterflies don’t live in here/In the ghetto.”

“We had everyone go out in their own homes and decorate a butterfly and hang it in their window and write ‘Butterflies live here,’” Soffer said.

Students from other day schools who heard about the initiative, as well as the local police department, put such signs in their windows, too.

At the Manhattan-based Yeshiva University High School for Boys, or MTA, school officials made a conscious effort to avoid words or phrases that imply remoteness.

Rather than “remote learning,” for example, the school inaugurated the “MTA at home” era and spoke of being “socially appropriate” rather than socially distant.

Meanwhile, there was a full roster

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Thank you for your continued support!

Hailey Diamond celebrates her 2020 graduation from the eighth grade on the Yeshivat Noam float. (Courtesy of Yeshivat Noam)

While being physically remote represented a challenge, using Zoom enabled the school to connect in ways it had never considered. Leffell held schoolwide Zoom sessions for the services that bookend the Sabbath, Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday night and Havdalah on Saturday night. Grandparents were invited to join, which hadn’t really happened before. The school did a series of lunch-and-learns for adults. It even launched a music program for toddlers — to build ties with future students, Kay said.

At the Chicago Jewish Day School, a multidenominational primary school, educators coordinated a car parade to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, THE

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of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, the Striar Hebrew Academy in suburban Boston created an interactive game on Zoom in which students joined their grandparents in “breakout rooms” for games and activities.

“Grandparents called with tears saying ‘We hadn’t been able to see our grandkids,’” recalled Rabbi Jordan Soffer, the head of school at Striar, which has students in pre-K through the fifth grade.

By contrast, marking Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, posed a challenge. Striar held a Zoom meeting in which students listened to a memorial siren and a reading of “The Butterfly,” a poem written by

of gradewide and schoolwide programs. MTA hosted a special Zoom dinner for seniors. Faculty surprised students with in-person visits, delivering goodie bags to graduates’ homes. As at other schools, there was a Zoom color war.

“The goal was, how can we maintain a sense of community?” said Rabbi Joshua Khan, MTA’s head of school. “Yes, we want social emotional growth and academic growth, but it is all related to community.”

This story was sponsored by and produced in collaboration with a foundation that wishes to remain anonymous, and is part of a series titled "On the Bright Side: Stories of innovation and resilience from Jewish non-profits.” This article was produced by JTA's native content team. 

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These Services Are Helping Older Jews Master Technology And Stay Connected In Isolation

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Jewish groups are making special efforts to help seniors use technology to access services and stay socially connected during the pandemic (Antonio Saba/Getty)

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Until April, Gail Lipsitz had never heard of the popular videoconferencing platform Zoom.

“All of a sudden, everyone was talking about and using Zoom. I had no idea how to get it and use it,” the 74-year-old Baltimore resident said.

Thanks to tutoring provided over the phone by Melanie Waxman, technology concierge from the Tech Knowledge Hub at the Edward A. Myerberg Center for older adults, Lipsitz was able to upload Zoom both to her iPhone and iPad and start using it confidently.

She’s now using Zoom to virtually attend exercise classes and classes from her synagogue, as well as Jewish educational institutions like Hadar, Pardes and the Hartman Center. Lipsitz is also tuning in to Shabbat services at her son’s California congregation, gatherings of her havurah and meetings with friends over tea.

With tens of millions of Americans staying home due to the coronavirus pandemic, many older Americans are struggling to master and use the technology younger people commonly use to stay in touch with family, friends and community.

Jewish groups have responded by making special efforts to help seniors use the technology, assisting them not just with accessing the services they may require, like online shopping, but also ensuring that they stay socially connected to the wider world.

Human connection, even if it’s online, is critical to emotional wellbeing and even physical health, studies have shown.

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“Celebrating Passover virtually was an incentive to get online” for newly homebound seniors, said Katie Lehner, marketing director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. “That was just the beginning, and then it snowballed in terms of the demand for more programming via Zoom.”

In addition to offering personalized guidance to help seniors learn to use virtual communication tools, many Jewish agencies are creating online programs especially for older people. The Myerberg Center, a program of CHAI supported by The Associated, Baltimore’s Jewish federation, offers 30 virtual activities weekly, including fitness, humanities and art classes. Tutorials on how to use food delivery and financial apps, such as PayPal and Venmo, also are available.

In one recent week Niki Barr, director of the Myerberg Center, saw about 740 participants in its virtual classes.

“This is just about the same number that we have when classes would meet in person,” she said. “I was blown away.”

Jewish federations and their agencies have been notifying seniors through emails, phone calls and print ads in local Jewish media that support is available for getting connected online.

Some federations are relying on volunteers to provide tech assistance. Abbie Bailey, a 39-year-old mother of two preschool-age children, has been sheltering at home in See TECHNOLOGY on Page THE

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TECHNOLOGY Continued from Page 10 Florham Park, New Jersey, and was looking for a way to help during the pandemic.

“I reached out to the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey and said I wanted to help in any way I could,” said Bailey, who runs a retail store in nearby Livingston.

Through its dedicated helpline that matches volunteers with those seeking tech support, the federation paired Bailey with two women, one of them a Holocaust survivor. She has called and walked them through the steps of how to install and use Zoom so they can stay in touch with their families.

“They appreciated the help and seemed to be in good spirits and OK with sheltering in place,” Bailey said. “One of the women, who is 92, has invited me to lunch when this is all over.”

It took a while for Mitzi Kreinberg, 93, of Livingston, to log on to Zoom. After receiving support from Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest’s technology helpline, she finally figured it out and then expanded her online connections using other tools.

“I used Facebook, which I can access readily, to participate in classes, book reviews and chats,” Kreinberg said.

In Ohio, a Virtual Conversations series with local speakers has been well attended, according to Marcy Paul, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Dayton. Each online session begins with a short “how to” reviewing the basics of Zoom. Those needing extra help can receive it ahead of time individually.

Many seniors have taken their newfound knowledge and applied it to maintaining regular connections beyond formal offerings.

Linda Novak, 73, had previously used her computer only for email and Facebook. But she got help from Amy Dolph, program administrator for her local JCC in Dayton, to learn how to run her book club using Zoom.

“The book I had chosen was the first one up for discussion, so Amy gave me some extra help in learning how to run the meeting using Zoom,” Novak said. “Her tutorial was priceless.”

In Chicago, CJE SeniorLife, an affiliate of the Jewish United Fund of Chicago, had to quickly revamp its programming to suit the age of coronavirus.

“Before COVID, most of our THE

Education

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programming was face to face and in person. We didn’t have much of a virtual presence,” said Cathy Samatas, manager of community engagement for CJE SeniorLife, which serves up to 20,000 individuals in its community-based and residential services.

More than half of those who access virtual programming live independently in the community, while the others are residents of CJE’s nursing home and assisted living facilities.

To make staying in touch easier during the pandemic, CJE SeniorLife created a dedicated Cyber Club landing page for its live Zoom programming, along with important information and resources related to the COVID-19 crisis. In response to requests from community members, the organization made instructional videos on topics such as how to order groceries and borrow library books online. The agency is also livestreaming its programming into its nursing home and assisted living facility.

“We shifted quickly and were up and running in a week and a half,” Samatas said. “Technology is a key to bridging this gap. It has been a blessing to be forced into this. It helps solve a lot of the isolation issues. We are actually seeing more people joining our programs now because with them being online, we don’t have to deal with transportation issues.”

The silver lining of the COVID-19 crisis is that it has incentivized Jewish federations and their agencies to develop additional ways to sustain their communities, said Dayton’s Marcy Paul. Once the pandemic has subsided, Paul foresees moving into a hybrid model of program delivery that will combine virtual outreach with in-person programming.

The shift to online communication also has provided seniors with the motivation to learn new skills and overcome their isolation.

“I hope, like everyone else, the pandemic is over soon,” said Helene Gordon, 63, of Englewood, Ohio, who recently joined a birthday party via Zoom. “But I feel these skills are so important to keep individuals connected.”

This article was sponsored by and produced in partnership with the Jewish Federations of North America, which represents 146 local Jewish Federations and 300 network communities. This story was produced by JTA's native content team. 

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Bookshelf

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The Jewish Book Council’s Annual Event Goes Virtual — And Offers A Peek Into Authors’ Living Rooms

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Authors presented their books virtually during the Jewish Book Council's annual conference. (Courtesy of Jewish Book Council)

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(JTA) — In a normal year, the Jewish Book Council’s annual conference is something of a variety show where hundreds of authors take to the podium with two minutes each to convey what makes their book special.

The event is part of the council’s attempt to connect writers with Jewish communities across the country. In the audience are about 200 representatives from Jewish community centers, synagogues and other Jewish institutions across the country. On the stage are authors trying to win a coveted spot in the upcoming season of book events.

“That energy, it’s amazing,” said the council’s executive director, Naomi Firestone-Teeter.

Things looked very different this year as the event, like so many others, went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in the conference’s 22-year history, authors couldn’t see the audience’s reactions and attendees couldn’t schmooze with each other over coffee. Instead, participants watched from their living rooms as authors gave their pitches over Zoom during sessions spread over three days this week.

“Being able to be among a crowd of book lovers, or people excited about a particular subject, at our conference — the energy that you just feel when we’re all together you can’t fully replicate that experience as much as we try,” FirestoneTeeter said.

Some 240 people tuned in to the program, an increase from the number of attendees last year. Nearly 250 authors — both Jewish writers

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and non-Jewish authors whose books address Jewish themes — participated in eight sessions of author talks, slightly fewer than in 2019 but in line with previous years.

One silver lining — at least for the attendees — was getting a peek into their favorite authors’ lives.

Novelist Caroline Leavitt spoke about her book “With Or Without You,” about a longtime couple running into relationship problems, from a living room with a small trampoline on the floor and a blue miniature guitar and several large pieces of artwork hanging on a brick-lined wall.

Journalist Caroline Cenziper spoke about “Citizen 865,” a narrative history of a team of Nazi hunters searching for Nazis who fled to the United States, from a sparsely decorated room with a black and white striped couch and a single frame with a photo on a white dresser.

And Author Hallie Ephron had several large posters featuring her own book covers — including her latest, “Careful What You Wish For,” a thriller about a woman who works as a professional home declutterer — among a handful of other photographs and drawings hanging on her wall.

Another upside, for the council, was that the event didn’t require getting on a plane to participate.

“It makes it more accessible to communities and people who maybe wouldn’t have been able to travel to See BOOK COUNCIL on Page THE

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BOOK COUNCIL Continued from Page 12 New York City in May, weren’t able to commit the time, the financial resources and otherwise,” FirestoneTeeter said. “So, in a way I think by moving to the virtual arena, the program is a more accessible program for more people.”

The big question is what happens next. Usually, the book council helps facilitate around 1,300 events every year as a result of the conference. Synagogues and other local organizations pay travel expenses and put writers up in their communities for the talks. And while the authors aren’t paid, they get the opportunity to sell books in person to audiences that have spent time with them — and may feel pressure to show their appreciation by buying a copy.

Now, those talks will be scheduled virtually, and it remains to be seen how many will happen.

The book council is working to come up with creative ways to host virtual events, including possibly having authors sign labels that can be put inside book covers and allowing attendees to have short personal conversations with authors in breakout rooms. It might also facilitate joint events for several institutions for popular authors.

“The virtual event space is allowing our communities to take risks,” Firestone-Teeter said. “It’s allowing them to actually create many more programs, perhaps than they maybe would’ve in a physical space. Obviously the costs are different.”

Indeed, that is happening at the JCC of Greater Albuquerque, which typically invites between six and eight authors to speak at its annual book festival in the fall and an additional one or two throughout the year. This year, since it won’t have to cover travel expenses, the JCC is thinking about inviting the same number of authors for the book fest, which it is doing virtually, as well as one author a month after.

The JCC is also interested in partnering with other Jewish organizations to host joint events, though that won’t replace hosting

events just for the local community.

Local-only events are “communitybuilding” and “more intimate” even when virtual, said Phyllis Wolf, the Albuquerque JCC’s director of arts and education.

The conference also hosted a panel on how to plan literary events in the time of coronavirus, which included a breakout group on how to plan socially distanced events.

Iris Krasnow isn’t worried about selling books. Prior to the book council conference, she spoke at a virtual event with 1,100 attendees and managed to sell 400 copies of her new memoir, “Camp Girls: Fireside Lessons on Friendship, Courage, and Loyalty.”

“I’m really optimistic about it,” she said of the prospect of virtual events stemming from this year’s conference.

Mary Morris, who spoke about her memoir “All the Way to the Tiger,” said she wasn’t worried about personally losing out on bookings since she had made many connections during her three previous Jewish Book Council events.

But she thought that not being able to connect after the two-minute pitches could hurt less established authors who have not developed relationships with the various sites.

“It’s a very energizing event when it’s in person,” Morris said.

“And one of the things I found about the in-person part is that a lot of times there will be a site that will come up to me and they will ask me questions and then I can tell they get interested in having me come.

And a couple times I felt that those conversations afterwards have actually led to me having postings.”

Having virtual events isn’t the long term goal for the book council.

“For the authors, not being able to necessarily travel and visit some of these communities in person is disappointing and we hope that in the future they will return to that again,” said Firestone-Teeter. “And I think for them getting to really meet their readers in person and sign their books physically and see a book sale and see their book out there in the world, that is something very special.” 

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Sports

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This is not the first time Steel playing first base. The following City sports has given Black-Jewish inning, Greenberg was walked and, relations a much needed shot in the arriving at first base, asked Robinarm. son if he had been hurt in the earlier The year was 1947. Hank Green- collision. berg, the legendary Jewish slugger According to a New York Times and longtime Detroit Tiger, had been report, Robinson assured Greentraded due to the reserve clause to berg that he hadn’t been, at which the Pittsburgh Pirates for what would point Greenberg said to Robinson,

By Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove be his final season. Throughout his “Don’t pay any attention to these career, Greenberg had been subject- guys who are trying to make it hard ed to just about every anti-Semitic for you. Stick in there. You’re doing insult imaginable. fine. Keep your chin up.” FollowPlaying first base that day for the ing the game, Jackie told The New Brooklyn Dodgers was Jackie Rob- York Times, “Class tells. It sticks inson, the rookie who had recently out all over Mr. Greenberg.” broken Major League Baseball’s Robinson was deeply moved by color line. Days earlier, according the supportive words of Greenberg, to the Journal of Sport History, who was praised in the AfricanRobinson and his family had American press. The two men received threats on his life and that would remain friends into the years his infant son Jackie Jr. would be ahead — both giving testimony in kidnapped. Members of opposing Curt Flood’s 1972 historic Supreme teams sat in their dugouts pointing Court case on the aforementioned From left: Jackie Robinson (Hulton Archive/Getty Images); Hank Greenberg (Getty baseball bats at him — simulating reserve clause (the mechanism used Images); Zach Banner (Katharine Lotze/Getty Images); and DeSean Jackson (Carmen machine gun noises. The hotel in by teams to hold on to the rights of Mandato/Getty Images) which the Dodgers stayed refused players even after their contracts NEW YORK (JTA) — Pittsburgh backs of other people or by vilify- to admit Robinson. Not surprising- had expired).

Steelers offensive tackle Zach Ban- ing Jews. ly, Robinson’s batting average had Who would have imagined that ner posted a video late last week in In Banner’s own words, “We can’t slumped and he was contemplating some 70 years after the Greenbergresponse to Philadelphia Eagles preach equality but in result we’re quitting.

Robinson exchange, it would be an wide receiver DeSean Jackson’s just trying to flip the script and After laying down a perfect bunt anti-Semitic screed against Jews. change the hierarchy … Change your early in the game, Robinson collidSee FRIENDSHIP 15 on Page After describing his horror at the heart, put your arm around people, ed with Greenberg, who was also 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shoot- and let’s all uplift each other.”

Happy New Year And An Easy ing, Banner preached that as imporIn the days since, Jackson has tant as the work of Black Lives both issued an apology and begun Fast To All My Family And Friends Matter may be, its achievements to engage with the Jewish commuIn The Jewish Community! cannot come by stepping on the nity.

What Hank Greenberg’s Friendship With Jackie Robinson Can Teach Us Today

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FRIENDSHIP Continued from Page 14 African-American athlete — Zach Banner — who would call out his own community on prejudice against Jews?

Bias operates in every direction — sometimes at the same time — and the pressures of the pandemic run the risk of bringing out the worst, not the best, in people. The examples of Greenberg and Banner are instructive because both men would have been well within their rights to be bystanders, carrying on with their business as athletes.

Instead, both chose to be upstanders — allies in fighting prejudice.

In the years ahead, Greenberg would leverage his stature as Cleveland’s general manager, refusing to let his team stay at any hotel that denied admittance to all his players, remembering when he as a ballplayer had been denied to stay at hotels because he was Jewish. On and off the field, the examples of Greenberg and Banner show the power of one’s personal example to prompt much-needed dialogue and societal change.

In his 1963 opening address at the National Conference on Religion and Race, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “To think of man in terms of white, black or yellow is more than an error. It is an eye disease, a cancer of the soul.”

In calling out racism as an eye disease, Heschel signaled that as important as sit-ins and freedom rides — or, in our own day, Black Lives Matter, police reform and tearing down Confederate monu-

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ments — the first step in fighting racism is for people to identify prejudices within, dismantle them and set a personal example for others to follow. Some may be more guilty than others, as Heschel taught, but all of us are responsible.

Confessions of bias need not be damning; they are opportunities to acknowledge the work yet to be done. When it comes to building an inclusive society, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we do not want the next generation to inherit and internalize deeply ingrained notions of race, then we must work to eliminate the structures that serve to perpetuate them.

It is simply not enough to consider oneself to be one of the good guys and go about one’s business.

One must check one’s implicit biases, live intentionally knowing they are present, be willing to publicly model behavior for others to follow and work together toward effectuating much-needed societal transformations. The fact of our flawed humanity reminds us that we are all capable of doing better.

In simpler terms, we must do what Greenberg did in 1947, what Heschel taught in 1963 and what Banner posted the other day.

Change our hearts, put our arms around people and uplift each other.

It’s not everything, but it is something, and it’s certainly better than nothing. It is, one might say, first base. Maybe from there we will round the bases together, creating a world worthy of our hopes and dreams for our children and grandchildren. 

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Arts & Culture

The Yiddish Song That Kicked Off The Swing Era Is Due For A Comeback

By Arielle Kaplan This article originally appeared on Kveller.

Image by Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer/ Getty Images

Printed in black and white and bigotry all over, Nazi official Hans Severus Ziegler’s brochure for his public exhibit in Dusseldorf featured an African American jazz musician with a Star of David on his lapel. Designed to ridicule and belittle Jewish musicians for performing “Negro music” as another tactic to contaminate German culture, “Entartete Musik” (“Degenerate Music”) opened in May, 1938 — just four months before Kristallnacht.

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By then a ban on “Negro jazz” had already been instated, three years prior, on German radio for its “hysterical rhythmic reverses characteristic of the barbarian races.”

And yet, in spite of this, a curious historical phenomena transpired the same year this exhibit opened its doors: Hitler’s Germany was obsessed with “Bei Mir Bist du Schön” (“To Me You Are Beautiful”), the 1937 song that catalyzed the era of Yiddish swing. A subgenre of jazz, swing music is more upbeat and easy to dance, or “swing,” to than the style of jazz that originated in New Orleans that was born out of African music. In its golden age, Benny Goodman, the Jewish King of Swing, fought for integration in Tin Pan Alley and hired African American musicians to bring the new musical style to the masses.

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“The fundamentals of jazz are the syncopation and rhythmic accents of the Negro,” American music theorist Henry Cowell wrote in 1930. “Their modernization is the word of New York Jews… So jazz is Negro music seen through the eyes of the Jews.”

Hailed by Jewish music scholar Neil W. Levin as “the world’s bestknown and longest-reigning Yiddish theater song of all time,” “Bei Mir Bist Du Schein” was written by Jews, performed by Black musicians, popularized by a Lutheran trio of Norwegian sisters, and beloved by the Nazis — until they discovered its Jewish roots, that is.

(Under its Germanized title, “Bei Mir Bist du Schön,” many assumed the language was a southern German dialect.)

A song so powerful that even the Third Reich couldn’t resist, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schein” launched the Andrews Sisters to fame overnight, fueled a growing counterculture against German fascism, and by way of blending American music with sounds of the shtetl, it helped ease Jewish immigrants’ assimilation into American society.

The song was originally written

by Sholem Secunda for a Yiddish operetta in 1935. After hearing the

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African American jazz duo Johnnie and George perform the song in the Catskills, Jewish lyricist Sammy Cahn bought the rights and rewrote the lyrics in English, preserving just the titular chorus in Yiddish.

Within a month of the Andrews Sisters’ recording of the song, some 250,000 records and 200,000 copies of sheet music were sold. (Hilariously, American fans couldn’t quite catch the song’s title, confusing it for “Buy a Beer, Mr. Shane” or, my personal favorite, “My Mere Bits of Shame.”)

“The lyrics were revamped for popular release to transcend the song’s Jewish roots and celebrate America’s melting of multiple languages and cultures,” writes Charles B. Hersch in his book, “Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity.” “As the song’s lovestruck protagonist imagines saying ‘bella bella‘ or ‘sehr wunderbar,’ each foreign tongue is simply a vehicle to express how “grand” the beloved is.”

In America, the success of “Bei Mir” helped Jews feel they made the right choice in fleeing pogroms of Europe — through theatre and music they could, and did, cement See YIDDISH on Page

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YIDDISH Continued from Page 16 themselves in the New World.

Benny Goodman furthered the Yiddish jazz craze with his iconic 1938 performance of “Bei Mir” at Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theatre — within months, a myriad of popular artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Belle Baker, Kate Smith, and the Barry Sisters recorded covers, hoping to cash in on the fad.

To highlight the new musical fusion of klezmer and jazz, New York’s WHN created “Yiddish Melodies in Swing,” a program that lasted two decades. The feat was a “sense of mastery over the challenge of integrating in the American mainstream while maintaining ties to their distinctive immigrant heritage,” writes Hersch.

Back in Germany, swing music was hardly a relief from the woes of war and Nazi violence. While Hitlerjugend — Hitler Youth, the Nazi’s youth organization — grew in popularity, so did the countermovement known as Swingjugend.

Rejecting societal oppression, uniformity, and police brutality, these teens separated themselves from the Nazi state by dancing the Charleston in speakeasy bars filled with the sounds of swing music, a genre that emulated free love, independence and peace.

Members of Swingjugend let their hair grow long. The men carried umbrellas, the women wore heavy makeup and collectively they mocked Hitlerjugend’s infamous “Sieg Heil” with proclamations of “Swing Heil.” With songs like “Bei Mir” beating in their hearts, the 1993 movie “Swing Kids” depicts the counterculture German rebels as they are confronted by the Nazis.

The movie is fiction, but the historical atrocities are chillingly accurate: In 1941, 300 swing kids

were punished for praising the “degenerate music” of Jewish and Black people — some were given haircuts, others were sent back to school, many were deported to Nazi concentration camps.

But even in the Nazi-drawn ghettos, the popularity of swing endured.

In 1942 Theresienstadt —the “model” concentration camp, designed to fool the world into believing all was well and dandy in the Third Reich — Eric Vogul led the Ghetto Swingers, a jazz orchestra forced to perform in the main square for long hours. A disturbing charade, the Jewish musicians still found joy in performing jazz and swing music. In their darkest hours it was an escape.

“When I played I forgot where I was. The world seemed in order, the suffering of people around me disappeared — life was beautiful,” wrote Ghetto Swingers guitarist Coco Schumann in his autobiography. “We knew everything and forgot everything the moment we played a few bars.”

“Bei Mir Bist Du Schein,” of course, was one of the songs that “tranquilized ourselves into the dream world produced by the Germans for reasons of propaganda,” Vogel said. Filled with notes of hope and love that transcend language, that blissful bubble burst in 1944 when the camp was cleared and most of the remaining prisoners were sent to Auschwitz.

By the end of World War II in 1945, swing music was replaced with new sounds like Bebop and rhythm and blues. As Jews embraced a state of their own in 1948 with Hebrew as the lingua franca, Yiddish was swept to the side, left to gather dust along with the memories of pogroms and gas chambers.

“Israel was happening and Israelism was a way for Jewish

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people to be more American, more assimilated, more macho, more cowboy-like than the old skinny, left-wing, intellectual type so common with Yiddish culture,” Alicia Svigals, a founding member of the Klezmatics, tells The Washington Post.

Nearly a century after the golden era of klezmer-meets-jazz, I think the song that started it all is due for a comeback. So much of the landscape that gave way to Yiddish swing has returned, and the parallels are chilling: recent acts of police brutality launched a fiery wave of Black Lives Matter protests; antiSemitism is at an all-time high; the

crushed economy in the United States is being likened to the Great Depression, the very historic crisis that gave way to the swing era.

Made most famous by three nonJewish sisters, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schein” is hardly the only Yiddish swing tune we should revere and revive as an unlikely protest song.

But it’s the rich history of Black and Jewish musicians who made this “degenerate music” irresistible to the Nazis that makes this shtetl swing melody an ultimate song of resistance. 

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The Way ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Handles Mental Illness Makes It A Heartwarming And Relevant Watch During Quarantine

By Penina Beede Social distancing and staying inside is hard. Thankfully, accessing good things to watch during this time is not. This is the 12th installation of a weekly column on Jewish movies and TV shows that you should stream in quarantine.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Streams on: Netflix Family friendly? No (JTA) — In a world in which “crazy” is becoming the norm, the musical sitcom “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” reclaims the epithet with charm and humor.

And in the midst of a pandemic that has caused a wave of anxiety and depression, the show, which handles its portrayal of mental illness with grace and wit, is a more relevant watch than ever.

The plot centers on Rebecca Bunch, a young woman who quits her high profile job at a New York City law firm and moves to West Covina, California, in search of happiness. For Rebecca, happiness

comes in the form of Josh Chan, her ex-fling from summer camp years ago.

After running into Josh on the streets of Manhattan, Rebecca takes a job at a low-profile real estate firm in Josh’s hometown, where he “just happens to live.”

“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is the brainchild of award-winning screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “27 Dresses”) and musical comedy performer Rachel Bloom (who plays Rebecca). Bloom first gained popularity from her satirical music videos on YouTube and her underrated Hanukkah album, “Suck it, Christmas!”

Drawing on Bloom’s successful online comedy, songs in the series are often performed in a recognizable showtune style. Her tongue-incheek song in the pilot, “The Sexy Getting Ready Song,” which deals with the high beauty standards expected of women, is particularly

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fun, and features a cameo from the late rapper Nipsey Hustle, who comes to reckon with the way he treats women.

Interrupting his rap verse, Hustle looks down at the used wax strips strewn around Rebecca’s bathroom.

“This is horrifying,” he says, “like some nasty as_ patriarchal bull_.

You know what? I gotta go apologize to some bi_ches. I’m forever changed after what I’ve just seen.”

Unaffected, Rebecca continues her song accompanied by a set of backup dancers decked out in shapewear.

The show is also delightfully Jewish, from Rebecca’s overbearing mother played by Broadway star Tova Feldshuh to the epic JAP rap battle that occurs when Rebecca comes face to face with her childhood rival from Scarsdale.

The show even deals with antiSemitism. Rebecca’s boss, Darryl, begs Rebecca to represent him in a custody battle with his ex-wife.

Despite Rebecca’s legal expertise covering real estate, Darryl insists,

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“I just want to see my wife’s face. I mean, her Jew went to CSU Long Beach. My Jew? Harvard and Yale!”

Rebecca agrees to consider but mentions that they should “circle back to the ‘Jew’ thing, because that’s a conversation we need to have.” Darryl is left alone to realize his mistake in a satisfying portrayal of the subtle prejudices that American Jews often contend with.

The show is filled out by a diverse cast of characters whose storylines are often given as much or more airtime than Rebecca’s. Bloom and Brosh-McKenna intentionally put out a casting call that did not specify any particular desired ethnicities.

Once the cast was in place, the writers created backstories to match the actors’ identities. In doing this, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” gives us understated representation that most contemporary shows lack.

There’s another topic that the series succeeds in showing honestly See CRAZY on Page

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This Jewish College Offers A Fast Track To Careers In Medicine And Health

By Larry Luxner

Sarah Laks, a dental student from Florida, is one of five siblings to attend Touro. (Courtesy of Touro)

Eitan Glucksman often wakes up at 4:30 a.m., putting in 15-hour days as a first-year urology resident at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York.

The father of two has a grueling schedule but says he feels lucky: He’s one of only two urology residents admitted per year to the hospital, which is affiliated with New York Medical College, part of the Touro College and University System.

“This is a field where you can really make a difference,” said Glucksman, 27, an Orthodox native of Clifton, New Jersey, who spends his days treating everything from prostate cancer and bladder problems to kidney stones and urinary tract infections.

“My pre-med coursework at Touro was very hard and intense, and I was a lot more prepared for med school than others in my class,” he said.

Aaron Kattan, 26, of Great Neck, New York, enrolled in Touro’s Lander College for Men after studying for a time at a yeshiva in Israel.

It was at Touro that he decided he wanted to work in physical therapy.

Touro connected Kattan, then a science major, to two alumni who were physical therapists.

“I started working with them, loved the work they were doing and knew it was for me,” he said.

Staying within the Touro system, Kattan fast-tracked his career.

“I just took all my prerequisites while at Lander, and went directly to PT school without having to first receive an undergraduate degree,” he said. “That saved me two years.”

After graduating last year with two degrees — a bachelor of science and a doctor of physical therapy — Kattan now works at the Hebrew Academy for Special Children in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood helping kids with cerebral palsy, autism, Down synTHE

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drome and other genetic disorders.

He also works at Forward PT, an outpatient clinic in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood.

Aaron Kattan, right, saved two years of college tuition by going directly to physical therapy school without having to first receive an undergraduate degree. (Courtesy of Touro) Glucksman and Kattan are among countless current and former Touro students who have taken advantage of the educational ecosystem Touro offers to fast-track their path from high school to a degree in medicine or other health sciences. In many cases, students are able to fulfill their bachelor’s degree requirements while simultaneously doing graduate programs, saving years and thousands of dollars in educational costs.

There are 34 schools in the Touro network, including 10 in medicine and health care, in New York, California and Nevada. More than 7,000 of Touro’s 18,000 students worldwide are pursuing careers in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and other health fields, and many of them reached their careers as physician assistants, doctors, nurses, speech pathologists or physical and occupational therapists faster than possible through traditional routes at other schools.

“We provide something unique that’s not available elsewhere,” said Dr. Alan Kadish, president of Touro

Health

and a cardiologist by training. “We offer our undergraduates a liberal arts core, but we also make sure people are prepared for the job market. That heavy emphasis on health sciences was part of Touro’s strategy when they hired me. You can start your undergraduate studies with us and end up with an exciting professional career.”

Touro, which was founded in 1970 by the late Bernard Lander, is the largest university system under Jewish auspices. Although only about one-third of Touro’s students are Jewish, its campuses offer kosher food, daily prayers are available, and its schools are closed on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

“Dr. Lander envisioned a Jewish college that would be open to all,” said Rabbi Moshe Krupka, Touro’s executive vice president, “but also ensured that anyone coming from an observant background would receive a superior education — without ever having to choose between religious observance and their pursuit of a career. We have divisions that are specifically geared for the observant Jewish community, but all of our divisions provide a warm and nurturing environment for our observant students.”

Yosef Buchen, 26, of Passaic, New Jersey, was inspired to become a doctor when he fell off a ski lift at age 7 and fractured his hip. Buchen attended Lander College for Men — “I liked that I could study Torah and take college classes at the same time,” he said — then New York Medical College, where he just finished his second year.

He noted the advantages that Touro students have in being accepted to medical, dental and other professional health schools, which are very competitive.

“They actually help set up interview prep, research and ongoing coaching,” Buchen said of Touro.

“That’s an example of them going the extra step for you. The fact that Touro has so many schools in medicine and the health fields, and has those professors work with us, gives a Touro student an edge that no one else provides.”

Yosef Buchen, a second-year medical student, with Dr. Nader Abraham, professor of medicine and pharmacology at Touro’s New York Medical College. (Courtesy of Touro) Sarah Laks, 24, a first-year dental student from North Miami Beach, Florida, also stayed with See COLLEGE on Page

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NOSHER

(food)

Hot Dogs Are The Greatest American Jewish Food.

Here’s Why.

By Joel Haber

(Getty Images)

This story originally appeared on The Nosher.

American Jewish food is most typically defined as pastrami sandwiches, chocolate babka or bagels and lox. But I am here to argue that the greatest American Jewish food may actually be the humble hot dog.

No dish better embodies the totality of the American Jewish experience.

What’s that you say? You didn’t know that hot dogs were a Jewish food? Well, that’s part of the story, too.

Sausages of many varieties have existed since antiquity. The closest relatives of the hot dog are the frankfurter and the wiener, both American terms based on their cities of origin (Frankfurt and Vienna,

respectively).

So, what differentiates a hot dog from other sausages? The story begins in 19th century New York with two German-Jewish immigrants.

In 1870, Charles Feltman sold Frankfurt-style pork-and-beef sausages out of a pushcart on Coney Island, Brooklyn. Sausages not being the neatest street food, Feltman inserted them into soft buns.

This innovative sausage-bun combo grew to be known as a hot dog (though Feltman called them Coney Island Red Hots).

Two years later, Isaac Gellis opened a kosher butcher shop on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He

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soon began selling all-beef versions of German-style sausages. Beef hot dogs grew into an all-purpose replacement for pork products in kosher homes, leading to such classic dishes as franks and beans or split pea soup with hot dogs.

Though unknown whether Gellis was the originator of this important shift, he certainly became one of the most successful purveyors.

Like American Jews, the hot dog was an immigrant itself that quickly changed and adapted to life in the United States. As American Jewry further integrated into society, the hot dog followed.

In 1916, Polish-Jewish immigrant Nathan Handwerker opened a hot dog stand to compete with Feltman, his former employer. Feltman’s had grown into a large sitdown restaurant, and Handwerker charged half the price by making his eatery a “grab joint.” (The term fast food had yet to be invented, but it was arguably Handwerker who created that ultra-American culinary institution.)

Nathan’s Famous conquered the hot dog world. Like so many of his American Jewish contemporaries, Handwerker succeeded via entrepreneurship and hard work. His innovative marketing stunts included hiring people to eat his hot dogs while dressed as doctors, overcoming public fears about low-quality ingredients. While his all-beef dogs were not made with kosher meat, he called them “kosher-style,” thus underscoring that they contained no horse meat. Gross.

The kosher-style moniker was another American invention. American Jewish history, in part, is the story of a secular populace that embraced Jewish culture while rejecting traditional religious practices. All-beef hot dogs with Ashkenazi-style spicing, yet made from meat that was not traditionally slaughtered or “kosher,” sum up the new Judaism of Handwerker and his contemporaries.

Furthermore, American Jewry came of age alongside the industrial food industry. The hot dog also

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highlights the explosive growth of the kosher supervision industry (“industrial kashrut”).

Hebrew National began producing hot dogs in 1905. Its production methods met higher standards than were required by law, leading to their famous advertising slogan, “We Answer to a Higher Authority.”

While the majority of Americans may be surprised to hear this, Hebrew National’s self-supervised kosherness actually was not accepted by more stringent Orthodox and even Conservative Jews at the time.

But non-Jews, believing kosher dogs were inherently better, became the company’s primary market.

Hebrew National eventually received the more established Triangle-K kashrut supervision, convincing the Conservative movement to accept its products. Most Orthodox Jews, however, still don’t accept these hot dogs as kosher.

But over the last quarter of the 20th century in America, the Orthodox community has gained prominence and its opinions, and food preferences, hold more weight in the food industry.

The community’s stricter kashrut demands and sizable purchasing power created a viable market, and glatt kosher hot dogs hit the scene.

Abeles & Heymann, in business since 1954, was purchased in 1997 by current owner Seth Leavitt. Meeting the demands of the Orthodox community’s increasingly sophisticated palate, A&H hot dogs are gluten-free with no filler. The company has begun producing a line of uncured sausages and the first glatt hot dogs using collagen casing.

Glatt kosher dogs are now available in nearly 30 sports arenas and stadiums. American Jews have successfully integrated into their society more than any other in history.

So, too, the hot dog has transcended its humble New York Jewish immigrant roots to enter the pantheon of true American icons. So, when you bite into your hot dog this summer, you are really getting a bite of American Jewish history and the great American Jewish food. 

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COLLEGE Continued from Page 19 Touro from college through her professional training.

“I knew going into college that I wanted to do something with the medical field,” Laks said, “and continuing with Touro for dental school was the right decision for me.”

Laks has a special connection to Touro: Her father, Arthur, was part of Touro College’s first graduating class 46 years ago. All four of her older siblings went there, too.

At Lander College for Women, Laks began shadowing dentists in various specialties. She graduated with an honors biology degree, worked for her alma mater’s dean for a year and then started at Touro College of Dental Medicine, which just graduated its inaugural class. Located at the Westchester County campus of New York Medical School, it’s the first new dental school in New York to open in 40 years.

Amid the pandemic this spring, the dentistry program along with all

CRAZY Continued from Page 18 that most other shows fail to capture well: mental illness. As the plot develops, Rebecca goes through intense manic episodes followed by periods of depression. She’s eventually diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.

As Rebecca grows to understand her mental health, she helps her new friends in their own growth, and that aspect of the show is especially touching right now. The global health crisis and growing economic recession have sent many spiraling, in search of a feeling of kinship as they struggle with social

of Touro’s other programs went online.

“Since the advent of COVID-19, we have not missed one class,” Kadish said. “We have successfully transitioned nearly 3,000 classes, including labs, to an online environment.”

Despite the economic downturn that has accompanied the pandemic, health care remains one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most employable professions.

“Our med school graduates are receiving outstanding residencies, and our health science students are experiencing 100% employment,” Kadish said. “Providers look for Touro grads because they are highly trained and represent quality and integrity. We are so proud that our system is set up to make the dreams of so many for medical and healthcare careers a successful reality.”

This story was sponsored by the Touro College and University System, which supports Jewish continuity and community while serving a diverse population of over 19,000 students across 30 schools. 

isolation.

And yet, despite the strain we’re all under right now, our culture remains insistent on shoving depression under the rug, or depicting mental illness as a negative character trait. Bloom’s realistic portrayal of someone with mental health issues is a comfort for those struggling in this moment.

There’s only one warning to be given: heed the title. I once recommended the show to a friend, but she returned having failed to get through the first episode because, in her words, “[Rebecca]’s just too crazy!” 

Jewniverse

A Candy Bar With A Jewish Identity Crisis

By Abby Sher

Other than Hanukah gelt, there isn’t too much candy renowned for being Jewish.

But Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews are one. Introduced in 1917 by the Goldenberg Candy Company as a protein-rich ration for WWI troops, they later became a popular snack for civilians. Starting with 19thcentury Romanian immigrant David, the company passed from Goldenberg to Goldenberg until 2003, when the family decided it was done devoting its energies to one bar of nuts.

They sold their product to Just Born, Inc., the candy company behind Mike & Ike and Peeps. Just

Born changed Peanut Chews’ secret recipe and logo, and perhaps most significantly, they struck the familiar “Goldenberg’s” from the packaging.

The New York Times surmised it was because the name was “too homespun for a national player.”

Sales plummeted. People either didn’t like the new taste or didn’t trust that these were authentic Goldenberg’s. So the marketing team went back to the original vision: simple and sweet–and with Goldenberg’s pack on the label. A series of funny commercials released after the 2011 rebranding showed people transported back in time by the familiar taste. They also closed with a hip spokesman saying: “Now that’s chewin’ it old school:” Moral of the story: Don’t potchki with the Peanut Chews. 

Best Wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community.

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Kveller

Self-Care Isn’t A Buzzword.

It’s Essential In These Times.

By Jamie Beth Cohen

Image By Hisa Nishiya/Getty Images

It’s 10 p.m. and we are still negotiating who is sleeping where. Yes, my kids are fortunate to each have their own bed in their own room.

My daughter (almost 11) even has bunk beds in case she and her brother (who just turned 8) want to have a “sleepover,” but my daughter occasionally wants to sleep on the floor of our bedroom, and my son always prefers to sleep smashed between me and my husband in our queen-sized bed.

We’ve been giving in to these requests a lot in the last few months — and even more so in the last few weeks, as we have overlaid our concerns about Black people being murdered across the United States on our anxieties about the Covid-19 pandemic. We have allowed for creative sleeping arrangements partially because we know our kids need us right now, and partially because we don’t have the energy at

the end of a long day to convince them otherwise.

As a family, we have been socialdistancing and sheltering in place since March 13, and we have continued to do so even as the restrictions in our area have been relaxed. Our only meaningful in-person interactions have been with each other. In many ways we are fortunate: We love each other and, most of the time, we like each other, too. My husband and I are able to do most of our work from home and go to our respective offices on opposite days so one of us can always be with our kids. I am still being paid my full salary and my husband’s online business selling comic books has taken off during the pandemic.

We are also fortunate because the color of our skin protects us from racial discrimination and most systemic inequality. In that way, our situation is easier than many people’s. But we have something in common with all the other social distancing parents of young kids I talk to, whether they’re struggling financially or have all the material comfort they need; or whether they are Parents of Color or not. As every parent across the country knows, we all have become our kids’ everything: parents, teachers,

THE

playmates, cooks, coaches, and comfort.

But when we are completely maxed out being our kids’ everything, how can we have anything left for ourselves?’

Self-care is a buzzword that conjures up images of Gwyneth Paltrow doing yoga in a crocheted bikini on a private island. We’ve never had the resources for that kind of vacation, but for me, selfcare is my morning walk. I wake up before my family and take time to do a few stretches before I walk two loops through our suburban neighborhood, wearing shorts I bought at Target, a 25-year-old t-shirt I’ve cut a V into, and, to hold back my curls, a makeshift headband that was once a shirt sleeve.

Once I come home, I log onto my work email while simultaneously negotiating endless sibling rivalry, inventing new ways to keep my kids off screens, pursuing my own creative endeavors, and finding ways to support my community as they protest inequality, care for Covid-19 patients, and work to get candidates elected who will take action to address these things. I don’t always make it out for my walk, and I don’t always accom-

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plish what I want each day, but I know the days I feel some measure of hope are the days I’ve taken care of myself, done my job, been present for my family, and contributed to repairing the world.

The other night, the 10 p.m. bedtime negotiations end with my husband and son in my son’s bed and my daughter and me and my bed, so when I wake up for my walk the next morning, my daughter grabs my arm and asks me to stay. I cuddle with her for a little while longer and then move to the yoga mat next to my bed. As I stretch, my daughter asks why I need to go out.

“So, I can be a better mom,” I tell her.

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“You’ve heard about the oxygen mask in the airplane, right?” I ask.

“Adults are supposed to put it on first before you put it on kids,” she replies.

“Do you know why that is?”

“No,” she says.

“Can you guess?”

That skeptical look she gets when she knows I’m about to impart wisdom on her takes over her face. “So you don’t pass out?” she offers.

“Right,” I say. 

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