12 ELUL 5779 • SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 • VOLUME XXXX, NUMBER 18 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY
Save the date: Sisterhood Symposium to be held November 6 BY WILLIAM WALLAK The Sisterhood of Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas and the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center are gearing up to present “another timely and thought-provoking” Sisterhood Symposium this fall.The pro-
gram on “Today’s Antisemitism: What Does It Mean to You?” will be held on Wednesday, November 6, at 6:30 pm, at the JCC of Syracuse, 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt. The event’s featured participants will be Miriam Elman, Ph.D., executive director
of the Academic Engagement Network, a DC-based non-profit that combats campus antisemitism, and Rabbi Andrew Pepperstone, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas. The cost of attendance at the event
includes a Va’ad-supervised dinner. Table sponsorships include recognition in the printed program. For more information and to register, contact CBS-CS at 315-446-9570 or manager@cbscs.org.
SJFS announces art show featuring works by older adult artists BY DEBORAH ELLIS Creativity, growth, relationship and personhood: these are the core values that recent arts programming at Menorah Park aimed to realize for older adults with memory concerns and dementia, as well as their families and other care providers. On Friday, September 27, from 4-5:30 pm, Syracuse Jewish Family Service has invited all community members to an opening reception to launch the agency’s first art show, to be held through the month of October in Menorah Park’s newly designated gallery. The show will feature works by the artists of the M-Power U Arts and Minds Community and Opening Minds Through Art. SJFS Director Judith Huober said, “With our first public art show, SJFS is proud to celebrate the creative capabilities of people with memory loss and dementia. Our show will demonstrate how creative people remain – or become – in later
stages of life; and how much growth, learning and pleasure they and their loved ones enjoy as we assert the primacy of personhood, relationships, sensory and aesthetic experience, and playfulness over fact-based knowledge.” Some of the art on display has been created over the past six months or so in the Arts and Minds section of M-Power U: A Learning Community for Early Memory Loss. This program meets on Fridays for a four-hour session in Menorah Park’s Arts and Minds community room. The group uses creative arts modalities to stimulate learning, as well as self-expression and meaningful social engagement. It aims to empower people to take charge of their emotional, cognitive and physical health, and achieve overall wellness. This year, SJFS staff became certified in and piloted Opening Minds Through Art. The mission of OMA, a Scripps Institute at Miami University intergenerational art-making program
for people with dementia, is “building bridges across age and cognitive barriers through art.” Jewish Home residents are paired with interns and volunteers trained to support the elders’ creative expression in a series of weekly small group art-making sessions. Utilizing structured art-making processes, OMA allows residents to access their creativity, find new outlets for self-expression and enjoy social engagement. Volunteers and staff gain a structured opportunity to build and benefit from intimate relationships with people with dementia. Syracuse Jewish Family Service at Menorah Park is a certified OMA facilitator, thanks to Menorah Park funding from the Legacy Foundation. The next series of OMA sessions will launch in October. OMA received a Best Practice Award from LeadingAge Ohio, is featured as a model program by the National Center for Creative Aging, was recognized as Program of Distinction by Generations
United and is listed as a Quality Improvement Project by Ohio Department of Aging (2015). SJFS is also developing creative arts consultation and training in the region through its Arts and Minds Encounters. These programs feature SJFS participatory arts workshops in senior centers and faith communities, at senior fairs and in other settings designed to support other aging services providers by bringing “high-level” creative arts experiences to seniors and their care partners. Follow-up consultation, potentially including art therapeutic support, is available to the agencies as requested. All members of the community are invited to the reception and to view the art show as long as it remains hanging. Reservations for the reception are requested and may be made by contacting Deborah Ellis at 315-446-9111, ext. 234, or ellisd@ sjfs.org. Menorah Park is located at 4101 East Genesee St., Syracuse.
Israeli app becomes world’s largest cancer social network BY BRIAN BLUM Reprinted with permission from www. israel21c.org A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming: Suddenly you’re faced with a mountain of options to consider about tests and drugs and side effects that might not show themselves for months. “You might think you understood what your physician said, but most of your questions come to mind only once you’re in the parking lot or back home,” says Eliran Malki, CEO of Belong.life, an Israeli-made app for navigating the cancer journey. With the app on your smartphone, “you have a physician or nurse available at any time you have questions or when a new challenge comes up.” Malki tells ISRAEL21c that Belong is a kind of “Waze for cancer.” Imagine that you’re driving from New Jersey to New York at 8:00 in the morning. “Waze can estimate that it will take you one hour and 15 minutes,” Malki explains. That’s based on years of data
and millions of miles driven. Belong crunches data in the same way – except that instead of commutes, it analyzes the experiences of the 200,000 cancer patients, caregivers and health professionals who use the app. Like Waze, the app uses artificial intelligence to cut through the data clutter. Users only see the most relevant information for their individual cancer journey. Malki compares that with the popular Facebook support groups for cancer and other illnesses, where you have to wade through every member’s post, whether it’s of interest or not. In the three years since Belong launched, the app has become the world’s largest social network for cancer patients. Another app, Patients Like Me, has 600,000 total users, but covers some 2,800 conditions, and its cancer-specific component is much smaller than Belong’s. Oncologists answering questions Belong goes beyond patient-to-patient support; 150 oncologists from Sheba, Hadassah and Rambam medical centers in
Israel and Mount Sinai in New York voluntarily answer questions posed by patients. The physicians only need to answer a question once. After that, Belong’s AI displays the appropriate answer for similar questions that arise from other patients.
“Physicians have so much information they want to share with patients,” Malki tells ISRAEL21c. “But they don’t have enough time. An expert in pancreatic cancer could receive about 15,000 questions
See “Network” on page 4
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September 13....................... 7 pm.................................................. Parashat Ki Tetze September 20.................. 6:48 pm.................................... Parashat Ki Tavo-Selichot September 27.................. 6:35 pm............................................... Parashat Nitzavim September 29.................. 6:32 pm........................................... Erev Rosh Hashanah September 30......... after 7:30 pm....................................................Rosh Hashanah
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Holiday services
Tutoring at the JCC
“Caring for others”
Local congregations announce The JCC will continue its tutoring A new column on “Caring for their High Holiday services and program for kids in kindergarten- others” highlights Noah Satterlee’s sixth grade this school year. events. care bags for children in hospitals. Story on page 3 Story on page 2 Story on page 8
PLUS Financial Planning................. 5 Calendar Highlights............... 6 Classifieds................................ 6 D’var Torah............................... 6