IN HONOR JOAN AND RICH BASS In honor of the birth of your great-niece, Melody Marilyn Claire LAURA AND BOB BLACK In honor of the birth of your grandson, Asher Noah Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald ROSS BORN In honor of your Retirement Joan Brody Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald WENDY AND ROSS BORN In honor of your grandson Jacob’s Bar Mitzvah Joan Brody Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald ILENE COHEN In honor of a speedy and complete recovery Community Relations Council ANN AND GENE GINSBERG In honor of your grandson’s Bar Mitzvah Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald BETH AND WESLEY KOZINN In honor of your grandson Jack’s Bar Mitzvah Marilyn Claire Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald SHELAH MUETH Wishing you a speedy and
complete recovery Aaron Gorodzinsky and Jennie Schechner SARA AND BERNIE SCHONBACH In honor of your grandson Jude’s Bar Mitzvah Wendy and Ross Born Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald RANDI AND DONALD SENDEROWITZ In honor of your daughter Rissa’s engagement to Evan Ntonados Carol and Stewart Furmansky Roberta and Alan Penn DONNA AND BRUCE SILVERBERG In honor of your granddaughter’s Bat Mitzvah Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald AMY AND JACK SILVERMAN In honor of your daughter Jessica’s marriage Suzanne Lapiduss MARYANN AND ALAN SNYDER In honor of the marriage of your son Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald ART SOSIS Happy 80th Birthday! Laura and Bob Black AMY ZYLBERMAN Thank you for being a mentor Seth Browner
8 DECEMBER 2021 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY
IN MEMORY DEBRA HIRSCH BATT (Sister of Stephanie Kricun) Roberta and Alan Penn SANFORD (SANDY) BELDON (Husband of Pat Beldon) Wendy and Ross Born JUDITH GINSBURG (Grandmother of Tama Tamarkin) Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald Sara and Karl Glassman WALTER GOLDFARB (Bother of Harold Goldfarb) Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald Sara and Karl Glassman Audrey and Art Sosis Arlene and Richard Stein SELMA JACOWITZ (Mother of Amy Optiz) Deb and Barry Opitz GILFRID LEVY (Husband of Michele Levy) Jeanette and Eduardo Eichenwald MICKEY UFBERG MEMORIAL AMBUCYCLE FUND Mary Anne and Douglas Johnson Barb and Rick Reisner Susan and Joel Weiner We gratefully acknowledge those individuals who have offered expressions of friendship through recent gifts to the Lehigh Valley Jewish Foundation. The minimum contribution for an Endowment Card is $10. Call 610-821-5500 or visit www. jewishlehighvalley.org to place your card requests. Thank you for your continued support.
COVID-19 vaccines for kids are here. These rabbis (and their children) wrote prayers for the occasion. By Shira Hanau Jewish Telegraphic Agency When Rabbi Lisa Gelber heard that the Food and Drug Administration had approved the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5-11, she couldn’t wait for the moment that her daughter would get the shot. But she also knew her daughter was scared of needles. So she sat down with her daughter, 11-year-old Zahara, and together they composed a kavanah, Hebrew for intention, to reflect the gravity and gratitude with which they viewed this milestone and process the feelings her daughter had about the shot. “Holy One of life and love, wrap me in a warm embrace as I prepare to receive my COVID-19 vaccine,” the prayer begins. “I give thanks to the doctors and scientists who are creators like you, for the wise people who approved the vaccine, and for everyone who made sure this was available to kids.” Gelber, the spiritual leader of Congregation Habonim in New York City, shared the full prayer on Facebook, where her friends and colleagues were circulating it in anticipa-
tion of the vaccine’s availability for children. “This feels like a miraculous moment in time. What a gift that this next expansive cohort will have access to a vaccine,” Gelber told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. When COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States began in December 2020, there was much discussion of which blessing or Jewish prayer to recite when receiving the shot. Several new prayers were even written specifically for that occasion, with many offering thanks to the scientists who created the vaccines. Now, children ages 5-11 are eligible to receive the COVID vaccine in the United States, potentially bringing to an end a period when parents have worried about the risks of activities as basic as sending a child to school or going to the playground. And the moment is being marked by a new set of Jewish prayers, with at least one, as in the case of Gelber and her daughter, even written by a child. Gelber said her daughter wanted to thank the people who created the vaccine while COVID-19 vaccines Continues on page 9
