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Federation Star
JEWISH FEDERATION
September 2021
Kristallnacht 2021 Commemoration
Israel Advocacy Committee plans upcoming season
By Ginny Segaloff, Chair Kristallnacht Commemoration Program
By Jeff Margolis, IAC Committee Member
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he Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County, Florida invites you to its annual Kristallnacht Commemorative Service Sunday, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. at St. Agnes Catholic Church, 7775 Vanderbilt Beach Rd, in Naples, Florida. “Kristallnacht” or the “Night of Broken Glass” recounts the attacks on Jewish communities throughout Germany on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, marking the beginning of the Holocaust. Our upcoming event will memorialize the six million Jews, and millions of others, whose lives were exterminated as part of “The Final Solution.” We remember and honor all those who perished, the survivors and all their families. Over 80 years later, the Holocaust still challenges mankind’s ability to comprehend man’s inhumanity to man. Our guest speaker is Rabbi Micah Greenstein. Rabbi Greenstein has served almost three decades at Temple Israel, the largest synagogue in Tennessee and the Deep South. Rabbi Greenstein was named one of America’s top 50 rabbis by Newsweek magazine. He also received the
Dr. Martin Luther King Junior “Be the Dream Legacy” Award in 2016. He served at the Memphis Theological Seminary, where he taught future ministers about Judaism. The rabbi currently serves on the board of directors of the National Civil Rights Museum, and the National Board of the NAACP. Rabbi Greenberg is a Cornell University National Scholar and Harvard University Kennedy Fellow. Rabbi Greenstein’s address is entitled, “Interfaith Relations 83 years after Kristallnacht: What Have We Really Learned?” The Rabbi will discuss Kristallnacht and its call to action for social justice today. For additional information, contact CJDialogue@naples.net. The Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County is affiliated with the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and the Collier County Parishes of the Diocese of Venice Florida. Its purpose is to engage Catholics and Jews in understanding our past history and advancing the cause of mutual understanding and appreciation of our differences, as well as our commonalities.
he Israel Advocacy On Sunday, Dec. 5, Beth Committee (IAC) Tikvah and IAC present Andrew of The Jewish FedWarren in person. Florida State eration of Greater Naples Attorney for Hillsborough is pleased to announce its County, Warren speaks passionpreliminary programming ately about the disturbing and for the upcoming season. increasing trend in anti-Israel On Monday, Sept. 20 at and antisemitism attitudes. He noon, the lead-off program is a rising star in Florida governwill present Mark Werner, ment. Registration information Dina Kraft President of Volunteers for for this program to come. Israel, aka Sar-El, the organization that On Wednesday, March 23, at 7 p.m., enables Werner and thousands of AmeriMiddle East security expert Avi Melamed cans to have served as civilian volunteers will join us at Beth Tikvah for a live on IDF bases in Israel. Werner will speak presentation. Melamed was stationed about his latest book, “A Passion for in numerous Arab nations and brings a Israel: Adventures of a Sar-El Volunteer,” critically informative perspective on the describing his 14 volunteer experiences complexity of security for Israel and her on IDF bases. Please register for this free neighborhood. A patron dinner prior Zoom program. to the program is planned. Please let us The second program, Monday, Oct. know if you want to have dinner with 25 at 10:30 a.m., will feature Dina Kraft. Avi at 5:30 p.m. Registration information Journalist, editor and educator, Kraft is coming soon. host of the Hadassah Hospital-sponsored For information about all IAC events podcast, which delves deeply into the peror to suggest future topics for programs, sonal lives of Israelis and Arabs as they live please contact Harvey Cohen, chair of in conflict and in community. This Zoom the Israel Advocacy Committee of The program is presented in conjunction with Jewish Federation of Greater Naples at Collier/Lee Hadassah, and is open to the hwcohen@gmail.com. entire community. The cost is $18 per The committee wishes everyone a household. Tickets can be purchased via L’Shana Tovah and a peaceful and healthy www.jewishnaples.org. New Year.
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By Monica Goodwin, Israel Advocacy Committee Member
A
n Israeli flag flying over the Caloosahatchee River, you say? At the WP Franklin Lock in Olga to be precise. I was as curious as you! Algae is a major environmental problem. Here in Florida, it has a severe impact on human health, aquatic ecosystems, tourism and the economy. In 2018, Florida suffered a catastrophic tourist season because of red tide and blue-green algae. This is where Israeli innovation comes in. Governor Ron DeSantis has a big concern over the quality of our water and signed a $ 2.5 billion executive order to improve the state’s water quality. He also passed a mandate to find innovative algae fighting technology. Blue Green Water Technologies (BGWT), an Israeli company whose mission is to eradicate harmful algae blooms globally and make water safe again, operates on five continents. Governor DeSantis met BGWT when he led a business development mission to Israel and signed, along with other agreements, a contract with the company in 2019. Blue-green algae are a cyanobacteria that thrive on stagnant water, warm temperature and sunlight. If not treated, it gets worse in frequency and severity and can choke waterways. It has also been linked to health problems, ranging from rashes to liver cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (i.e. Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS).
What the Israelis have done is encapsulate materials that kill and destroy the toxins. But the beauty of their product is that it is safe for the environment and the natural habitat of fish and wildlife. So how does it work? ‘Lake guard oxy’ is a powdered, completely biodegradable algae idea that uses oxygen to trigger cyanobacteria to kill the algae. The active ingredient, hydrogen peroxide, breaks down into water and oxygen, then completely disappears from the environment in three to four hours, according to the CEO of BGWT. Southwest Florida Water Management says addressing harmful algae blooms is one of its top priorities. With promising progress, this study seems to be effective as the stench and blue-green swirls of algae are gone. “It is good for what it may do in confined areas, such as a canal. It may be able to treat the canals and oxidize the cyanobacteria. It is a work in progress,” says Barry Rosen, Professor of The Water School and Professor of Ecology and Environmental Studies at FGCU. So far so good! The Israel Advocacy Committee of Greater Naples is in the process of planning programs and events for the next season. If you have a suggestion for a program, please contact Harvey Cohen, IAC chair, at hwcohen@gmail.com.
