L'Chaim Magazine August 2016

CAMELS IN RAMONA: An Israeli love story you can visit today

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August 2016 • www.lchaimmagazine.com

L’Chaim 10 A Thousand Words Fire Side by the Patio Restaurant

COVER 14 Camels in Ramona An Israeli love story you can visit today STORY

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Food 24 Marrow Bones and Beans

Cilantro-Chile Gremolata | Pink Pickled Onions

Education 18 New models focus on the ‘I’ in Israel Education

20 ‘iTrek’ is the Future

An Israeli start-up called iTrek is a future business leaders’ training ground

Features 26 St. Augustine, Florida

America’s oldest city and a bit of Miami Beach, too

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30 Problem Solvers

How San Diego teen leadership programs are shaping the next generation of problem solvers

32 This is Our Moment of Real Zionism

Columns

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My Comic Relief Of the Book Guest Column Mazel & Mishagoss

PUBLISHERS Diane Benaroya & Laurie Miller EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alanna Maya

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO, LLC (858) 776-0550 San Diego, CA 92127

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, Daniel Bortz, Stephanie Lewis, Mimi Pollack, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior Salomon Maya, Sharon Rapoport, Nikki written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to Salvo, Eva Trieger, Deborah Vietor the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator” to: publisher@lchaimmagazine.com

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RANDOM RANTS l BY SALOMON MAYA “We need to come together as a people and change. We need to make a better more loving world, free from gun violence and power-hungry politicians, for our children.”

my

comic relief Mass Ignorance

W

e’re sick. Yup, society as a whole is ailing from a new disease. I call it mass ignorance but I’m sure others have different names for it. As I write this, a convention in Cleveland is in a fullfledged Patriotic chant attempting, like a good magician, to avert your attention from the blaring truth: there is a mass ignorance occurring within our nation.

It’s time to call a spade a spade. I’m not going to reinvent the societal wheel here but it’s time we realize that our communities stand on a precipice, teeter-tottering on the edge of lunacy. Full transparency: I am a registered Democrat and voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary.

Do I love her? No. But you show me a perfect candidate and I’ll show you the Messiah. No political candidate is perfect and all harbor some interesting skeletons in the closet. But I’m afraid of what the opposition offers. Look, in my opinion, Donald Trump is “an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

I hear his wife Melania Trump wrote that line (yes this was a bad attempt at satire poking fun at the obvious plagiarism Mrs.

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Trump is accused of). The RNC candidate for President of the United States has ostracized Mexicans (of which I am one), African Americans, women, homosexuals, people with disabilities, and almost every Muslim who one day would like to live in the US peacefully.

Mr. Trump’s nationalistic America First is dangerous. I love my country and would do anything to protect it. Yet we must never forget that we are just one part of this little rock called earth and to place adjectives such as the best and the greatest nation in front of our moniker is what I truly disagree with.

What have we become when a gun lobby buys elections and members of our government; when close to 92% of the citizens of this nation support some sort of expanded background check when purchasing guns. The very thought, that the rights of people on a terror watch list supersedes those of you or I is just lunacy.

It’s insane. It’s mass ignorance. And why?

To honor the Second Amendment? The very same constitution which states that black men count as three-fifths of a US Citizen

and women have no voting rights at all?

The year is 2016 isn’t it? Bayonets are not AR-15’s.

Yet we continue to roll along as this insipid community of non-action and indifference. We continue to elect the same people to Congress and they line their pockets with the same money multi-billion dollar lobbies furnish them. When did we become a nation of the people [of the NRA], for the people [of the NRA] and by the people [of the NRA]. I don’t want my son to live in a world where that’s the truth.

We need to come together as a people and change. We need to make a better more loving world, free from gun violence and power-hungry politicians, for our children.

Or as Melania Trump once said, “in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

SALOMON MAYA IS A LOCAL ACTOR AND PLAYWRIGHT. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @SALOMAYA OR EMAIL HIM AT SALOMONM@ LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM.

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TORAH l BY RABBI DANIEL BORTZ “Jews face Jerusalem when praying to the Divine, because this is where His Presence is most revealed and felt.

A place the Talmud describes as “where heaven and earth kissed.”

of the

book

Mourning the Past; in the Present

T

he Nine Days of Mourning concludes on the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, when both holy temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, known as ‘Tisha B’av’ (the evening of August 13 — day of August 14). On this day in 2010, CNN interviewed me at the Western Wall about the significance of the day and why we mourn so many years after the fact. Most of my interview didn’t make it on screen, but below is some of what I said.

On one hand, the temple was like a heart.

Imagine an ailing person who goes to the doctor complaining of pain in his legs & left arm. He also has a headache and back pain.

Exasperated, he wonders what his diagnosis might be. “It’s your heart,” explains the doctor. “Once we cure the damage in your heart and heal its ability to pump blood sufficiently throughout your body, your other ailments will instantly cease.”

The Temple was the heart of the world, its spiritual driving force. The source for the pain, confusion, disharmony and sadness we see in the world, stems from the damage to the temple; the world’s heart. Evil can only exist where G-d is hidden. When there is Divine revelation, negativity dissipates.

Let’s explore deeper by asking two questions: Why do Jews pray every day toward the direction of where the Temple used to be in Jerusalem? If G-d is everywhere, shouldn’t any direction suffice?

The same question can also apply to human interaction. When speaking to a

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friend, why do we look at their face? Their soul and inner being vitalizes their entire body. Couldn’t we just as easily speak to their hands or feet?

The reason is that the face is where a person’s soul is most revealed. As the famous saying goes: “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” This applies to the Temple as well. Jews face Jerusalem when praying to the Divine, because this is where His Presence is most revealed and felt.

A place the Talmud describes as “where heaven and earth kissed.” Miracles were common occurrence; the spiritual and physical were fused perfectly, since the One that transcends both realms called this place home.

The Talmud states that 9/10 of the world’s beauty is found in Jerusalem. Now, I’ve visited stunning scenic spots like the Amalfi Coast, Swiss Alps, Cape Town, and who can forget beautiful San Diego?

So how can we say such a statement about Jerusalem, beautiful for sure but still located in the middle of a desert land in the Middle East?

Perhaps the Talmud is referring to the incredible spiritual feeling of Jerusalem, its

old city, and temple mount. It’s not just its physical appearance, but the holiness and spiritual beauty that rest within it. As I write this article late into a Jerusalem night, it’s impossible to ignore the energy of this place and its inhabitants. Friday night at the Western Wall is an unforgettable experience of the heart.

But as amazing as it is, how can we merit the building of the third temple and real revelation of goodness in the world?

Maimonides gives the answer: “We are to look at the world as an equally balanced scale of good and bad. One good thought, speech, or deed can tip the scales of the world and bring the redemption.”

RABBI DANIEL BORTZ IS THE DIRECTOR OF JTEEN SAN DIEGO, JTEENSD.COM. FOR INFORMATION ON CLASSES, CONTACT HIM AT DANIELBORTZ@GMAIL.COM.

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L’CHAIM l BY SALOMON MAYA

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L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

L’CHAIM

A THOUSAND

WORDS FIRE SIDE BY THE PATIO

T

he year was 1915 and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy strolled around an unused piece of land in San Diego, CA. The Secretary looked around and saw a vision for a new naval training center in the heart of the city. This secretary went on to become the 32nd President of the United States and led us through one of the bloodiest conflicts this nation has ever faced. His name was Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Fast-forward eight decades as the Navy began looking elsewhere for their training center and Liberty Station, the retail and gastronomic haven we now know it as, was born. Today you’re more likely to run into scrambling toddlers than cadets in formation.

Nestled in the middle of Liberty Station is a new culinary adventure named Fire Side by the Patio. Chef Antonio Friscia states on their website that the restaurant is “A wood fire and charcoal-driven menu rooted in generations of technique and tradition inspired by flavors of Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Japan and Thailand.” It is also one of the restaurants by San Diego developer extraordinaire, Gina Champion-Cain, who brought the House of Blues to San Diego in 2005. Other restaurants in the group include the Patio on Lamont Street and the Patio on Goldfinch. Champion-Cain is quickly developing a lifestyle brand in San Diego, with a hospitality company, LuvSurf, to go along with the great food at her restaurants.

If you haven’t been to one of her patios, you are missing a true treat. Here, we visited her latest culinary venture, to give you a taste of what Fire Side is all about.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I believe in full transparency, so this was not my first venture into Fire Side. A couple months prior I enjoyed a happy hour there on the recommendation of a fellow coworker. The first thing you’ll notice about Fire Side is that it reaches the olfactory senses of your brain immediately after parking your car.

During my first trip to the restaurant, I sat outside on the patio, which is a great venue to indulge in a relaxing cocktail and soak up the San Diego sun. This time, I sat inside. The interior of the restaurant is beautiful. Concrete floors, Edison bulbs, metal finishings and a large upside down lit up tree make the space feel modern and unique, but I will say that the outside patio is definitely the better attended of the spaces here.

DRINKS

Our server for the evening, Garyt, was not only knowledgeable about his menu, he was proud of it. He knew exactly what to recommend from start to finish, and when you have a party who just says, bring me what you would eat here, it can be a little daunting. I felt completely at ease with

Garyt’s confidence and knew he was up for the challenge.

THE SCOFFLAW: rye, dry vermouth, lemon, homemade pomegranate grenadine.

It was amazing. As a die-hard old fashioned drinker, I sometimes feel mixologists make them a little too bitter, yet the Scofflaw was a perfect balance of old fashioned with noticeable fruit notes due to its homemade pomegranate grenadine. Garyt let me know that they chose to use dry vermouth instead of the typical sweet. It was a new old fashioned, and I highly recommend it.

APPETIZERS

The menu is vast. Luckily, Garyt was there to offer his recommendations.

WOOD-FIRED MUSSELS: smoked tomato, beer, grilled pepper, pork belly, scallion, toast The first dish offered to us were the mussels, which Garyt stated many people bypass because; well, how much better can you make a bucket of mussels? Well, Fire Side has. And the key is in two ingredients: wood fired tomatoes and beer. While normally mussels are served cooked in white wine, Pabst Blue Ribbon is the secret ingredient in this dish. And let me tell you folks, it freaking rocks! Fire Side does the history of this simple dish justice, but by changing one key ingredient, makes it all their own.

If you eat mussels, order it.

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L’CHAIM

Check it out

www.firesideSD.com

So if we started with something French, it only makes sense to take a trip from Paris to Tokyo, and sample some yakitori. Fire Side offered nine yakitori the day we went, and availability of each type is always subject to change.

STEAK: bell pepper, onion, togarashi butter ELK MEATBALL: tare, marinated cucumber We received the steak skewer first and I was impressed with its simplicity. This was the only dish of the night where I truly thought to myself I could do this at home. The meat was incredibly tender, yet for eight dollars, I would have preferred to try something a little more daring. The elk meatball contains pork, so if you keep kosher, this is not for you. For everyone else: you’d swear you’re eating an amazing Italian meatball with a Japanese flair. The little side of marinated cucumber (sunonomo) was also a pleasant surprise and cleansed the palate perfectly.

THE CHALKBOARD

For its chalkboard menu, customers have their choice of one of three meats cooked entirely for 12 hours in Fire Side’s on-site charcoal pits. We were lucky enough to taste all three.

CHIPOTLE TRI-TIP, BRISKET, PORK SHOULDER Served on parchment paper and a plain white piece of bread (like it’s supposed to be), the three mounds of meat sat on a plate 12

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

waiting to be devoured. As the non-kosher Guinea pig, I will say that the pork was fantastic and reminded me, oddly enough, of great Chinese BBQ pork. The smoke ring was there and it had a light glaze, which made it all come together at the end.

The tri-tip, extremely popular in the San Diego area due to its use in local restaurants, was extremely flavorful. It had just the right amount of chew and was cooked to perfection, mid-rare (if you like your meat well done, please stop reading this article right now, and go to your time out corner).

But the winner of the trio by far had to be the brisket. Now I know many of our readers will claim that their Bubbe makes the best brisket, but with all due respect to grandma, it probably is dry. This brisket is phenomenal. It truly breaks apart with a fork and for a price at around $12 bucks, is completely worth it.

The best part about the chalkboard menu was its simplicity. It’s meat, it’s smoked, it’s good. No need for overbearing sauces or spices that just don’t need to be there. It’s just pure, like apple pie and rock music.

SMOKED TROUT + QUINOA SALAD: caper shallot vinaigrette, castelvetrano olive, grape, almond, frisée, peppercress This is one of the best things on Fire Side’s menu. The smoked trout is exquisite and compliments the salad perfectly. For me, the star of this dish is the texture of the quinoa, and I still cannot figure out how the chef

made it so crunchy and delicious.

COFFEE AND DESSERT

You’ll find French pressed coffee all over Fire Side. Along with the coffee, I split the carrot cake, which was a perfect way to end the evening. It was moist and iced just right,and much like the entire meal, it was simple yet pleasing.

VERDICT

Look, we’re not here to reinvent the culinary wheel. You can put a chemistry set on a plate and serve it to me bubbling in CO2, but that’s not going to get my butt in the seat again and again. Those are parlor tricks and they tend to fizzle out.

When I go to a hearty restaurant I want to be fulfilled in what it promises to provide and Fire Side does this in spades. It’s a beautiful restaurant located in a perfect location filled with pride and the history of this amazing city I call home. But Fire Side is much more than that, its simplicity wrapped in good ol’ fashioned Americana.

It’s the tastes we know, the tastes we long for, the tastes we love. It’s the smoke and the salt and the bark of a good meat. It’s a good cocktail and amazing appetizers.

FIRE SIDE BY THE PATIO IS LOCATED AT 2855 PERRY ROAD, BLDG 8, SAN DIEGO, CA 92106. CALL THEM AT (619) 432-2100.

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COVER STORY l BY MIMI POLLACK

CAMELS IN RAMONA AN ISRAELI LOVE STORY YOU CAN VISIT TODAY

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COVER STORY

B

eing an animal whisperer is not magic. It is a combination of common sense and tapping into an energy or even spiritual connection in line with animals. Gil and Nancy Riegler, the owners of Oasis Dairy Camel Farm in Ramona are more than just trainers, they are animal whisperers. The Rieglers have had a special bond with animals since they were young, and it has grown over their many years of working and learning about them. They also have a special bond with each other, and visiting them on their farm, one can see the love they share with their menagerie.

Gil Riegler, 53, was born in Canada, but moved to Israel at the age of four. He lived in Kfar Gibton, a little moshav right next to Rehovot on a farm where animals were his best friends.

He even had a pet crow that followed him around. He took refuge there as he always felt different from others. Indeed, he has had an unusual life.

After completing military service in Israel, he moved back to Canada to pursue a career in music. Canada proved to be too cold for his taste, so he hitchhiked from Canada to California and ended up in Los Gatos, and later Santa Cruz. It was there – not in Israel, shockingly enough – that he met and bonded with his first camel. He later went on to purchase four baby camels in Yuma, Arizona, which he brought back to his home and boarded.

This started his 25-year relationship with these special beings, and he has grown to understand them well. He learned early on that camels, when forced to work, will spit, just as the pyramid camels in Egypt do. When camels are treated humanely, they do not.

He supported himself through various jobs, including cutting quartz crystal. He also spent many years volunteering at a special facility for handicapped people where the therapy included interacting with exotic animals. Gil helped to train those animals. Every year, Gil and the owner would go to a fair in San Jose to see a bird show and this is where Gil met his wife, Nancy.

Nancy Riegler was born in Su Tujanga, a town north of Pasadena, Calif. She knew from an early age that she wanted to work with animals. In middle school, a counselor advised her to go Moorpark Community College and apply to a program called Exotic Animal Training and Management. Nancy was one of 35 people accepted into the program. The training she received there was invaluable.

One day, she was recruited for a summer bird show with parrots, called “Cheep Thrills Exotic Bird Show, a Peep Show Rated G”. The owner trained Nancy to work with the birds and it was a grueling schedule. However, Nancy is grateful for this experience, as she says it really taught her how to entertain and how to work with these highly-intelligent birds. Nancy learned compassionate ways to teach the birds, and to communicate with them.

She next started working for the Wild Life Workshop at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in its early days. It was there that she discovered that, as much as she loved working with WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

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COVER STORY

“Perhaps it was beshert (destined) that Nancy and Gil would meet each other at a county fair and, attracted to each other’s gentle, intuitive natures eventually fall in love.” animals, it also gave her great joy to connect people with animals. She worked for both the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park for six years. However, their policy was that if you changed departments, you could not bring the animals with you, even if you had bonded with them. This made her realize she wanted to start her own show.

She began her own small bird act and she went to schools, libraries and parties while she continued to build her act and menagerie. She became more well known and traveled around the state, eventually ending up at the San Jose Fair, where she met Gil. Perhaps it was beshert (destined) that Nancy and Gil would meet each other at a county fair and, attracted to each other’s gentle, intuitive natures eventually fall in love. They have been together for 17 years [married for 12] and it is obvious how well suited they are. They really enjoy their life together.

A new chapter began for them soon after meeting. Nancy’s home base was in Ramona, so Gil moved from Santa Cruz to join her. He brought his four baby camels and purchased six more as he decided to milk and breed them. Everything fell into 16

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place as they bought their present property of 34 acres, a place they felt they were destined to be. The Oasis Dairy Camel Farm was born.

In 2005, Huell Howser came to visit as part of his television show, and helped to put the farm on the map. More and more people came to experience the farm after the TV show aired. The farm now has 24 camels, 10 birds [8 in their special show], 27 turkeys, 10 chickens, 2 mini donkeys, 6 mini sheep, 3 horses, 12 koi fish, 2 cats and 3 dogs.

Gil enjoys giving the public an opportunity to get up close and personal with his camels by welcoming groups to his farm to see how he trains them. Oasis Dairy Camel Farm holds public tours once a month, except in the summer when they attend various fairs, including the San Diego County Fair. The next public tours will be offered on August 27 and 28th from 1 to 4 p.m. Camels N Apples Days takes place on the farm in October and Pomegranate Days takes place in November. Registration is recommended. Prices are $10 for adults and $10 for a camel ride. Children can ride for $5.

The public tour also includes a bird show,

where Nancy shows off her talented and charismatic birds as they perform together.

She is also an expert horse woman and her latest acquisition is a paint horse named Tiger Lili.

Gil and Nancy feel it is important to introduce people to their partnership with these animals, and they do outreach programs to educate people about camels.

Gil also explains the many benefits of camel milk, and the fact that they originated in America millions of years ago. They hope to start having more public tours, hands on clinic series, and overnight options down the road. Finally, they sell various products made from camel milk, such as soaps, lotions, and lip treatments that they make in their kitchen. For more information, visit www.cameldairy.com.

MIMI POLLACK IS A COMMUNITY COLLEGE TEACHER WHO TEACHES ESL. SHE HAS WORKED WITH STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. SHE IS THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF RUSSIAN AND ISRAELI IMMIGRANTS WHO WAS BORN IN CHICAGO, BUT GREW UP IN MEXICO CITY.SIX YEARS AGO, SHE BEGAN A SECOND CAREER AS A LOCAL WRITER. SHE IS AN AVID ANIMAL LOVER, AND LIVES WITH A DOG AND TWO CATS.

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EDUCATION l BY MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN | jns.org

the ’i’ in israel EDUCATION The iCenter’s Birthright Israel Fellows leadership Program

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ICENTER

An event of the iCenter’s Birthright Israel Fellows leadership program, which offers a growing network of young leaders who staff Birthright trips the opportunity to explore their own Israel stories.

EDUCATION

E

arlier this year, Barry Chazan, professor emeritus of education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, penned an op-ed for the New York Jewish Week in which he discussed the 21stcentury shift toward personalization and customization.

“Mattresses, automobiles and worldviews that speak to ‘my’ tastes, desires, interests, schedule, and way of thinking and living in the world,” wrote Chazan.

His argument was that up until now, the focus of Israel education has been on what is good for Israel, the Jews, and Jewish continuity. Today, however, the way we teach Israel has shifted with the way we teach and experience everything else.

“Israel is not the subject of Israel education—rather it is the one learning about Israel,” Chazan wrote. “The content of Israel education is not Israel—but rather the relationship with Israel. The aim of Israel education is not Israel—but rather finding a meaningful role for Israel in our lives.”

Chazan’s outlook is the same one that served as a spark for the formation of the innovative iCenter program, which invests in Israel-focused professional development opportunities for educators that work at camps, day schools, synagogues, on Taglit Birthright trips, and more. The iCenter, according to its website, is a national hub and catalyst for building, shaping, and supporting the field of Israel education.

“We support educators across all settings and provide the tools to bring Israel into their students’ lives,” the website says.

Anne Lanski, executive director of iCenter, said that her team is working to shift educators’ mindset from one of curriculum and information to a focus on the learner—so that students begin to understand Israel and information about it “in the context of something relevant and meaningful to them.”

Lanski said that when education focuses on an issue—the people of Israel, the issue of Israel, how to deal with that issue—it turns Israel into a “subject” and too often not even a positive one. The iCenter’s “Aleph Bet of Israel Education,” therefore, offers a set of core principles, approaches to content, and pedagogies that the center hopes constitute the building blocks for the new-age field of Israel education. The goal is to change Israel education into an experience that becomes integrated into everywhere that Jewish kids

are today.

“We used to say, ‘In what grade did you teach Israel?’ or, ‘Where does Israel live in your school?’ The answer would be like 6th grade, second semester,” said Lanski.

“Now there is an understanding of the need for identity development and excellent education and a learner-centered education, and meaning that allows Israel to live organically in the lives of young Jewish kids in a way it didn’t before.”

One way the iCenter is fostering this transformation is through its iFellows Master Concentration in Israel Education, which to date has equipped more than 150 educators with the tools to employ a learner-focused approach to Israel education. The program includes rigorous academic study, ongoing mentorship, learning opportunities in Israel, and the creation of a final Israel education project.

Following graduation, students join an alumni network through which the iCenter ensures the ongoing ability to share ideas, resources, and experiences.

Similarly, the iCenter’s Birthright Israel Fellows leadership program offers a growing network of young leaders who staff Birthright trips the opportunity to explore their own Israel stories, in order to ignite the passion they share for the Jewish state in their young travelers. Participants learn how to bring their stories to life.

Yaniv Havusha participated in a Birthright Israel Fellows seminar in March 2016. He said he learned how to share his personal Israel story, which centers on his parents—a mother who is an American immigrant and an Israeli father. The couple met just before the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

As an American, Havusha’s mother faced a dilemma: stay in war-torn Israel with the man she loves, or return to safety in the U.S. Ultimately, she stuck it out in Israel.

The couple made it through the war and later moved together to America, where Havusha was raised.

When Birthright groups visit Mount Bental, which overlooks Syria, Havusha now knows how to tell the story the way he sees it in his head: tanks, live action, and love. He shares pictures and letters written by his parents during that time and brings the circumstances to life.

“The goal is not have them (Birthright participants) become cheerleaders for Israel,” said Havusha. “It is just to start

that ball rolling, to connect, to help them know what is [in Israel] and the impact it can continue to have on them when they return.”

At the Jerusalem U non-profit, Zeev BenShachar’s role as director of Israel education has him using similar techniques to those of educators trained through the iCenter. BenShachar is involved in developing Jerusalem U films about Jewish identity and Israel.

“We learned a long time ago, if you want students to connect, you have to connect to their minds and hearts,” said Ben-Shachar.

“I believe that to support Israel is to have truth and justice on our side,” Ben-Shachar said.

The new LINK – Discovering Your Israel Connection curriculum of the pro-Israel education organization StandWithUs seeks to empower students to establish their own unique, modern connection to Israel by introducing them to the Jewish state in ways they could not experience through traditional Jewish education models, said Mina Rush, director of community engagement for StandWithUs. “If the only Israel connection students are given is kachol v’lavan (the Israeli flag’s colors of blue and white) and falafel on Yom Ha’atzamaut (Israeli Independence Day), how can we expect them to meaningfully discern between clearly anti-Israel bias and the facts?” Rush asked. “The love, connection, and pride students should feel towards Israel must go beyond the superficialities of ‘feel-good Israel.’ What better way than to expose them to the best of what a nation built on Jewish values looks like? LINK addresses this through lessons on diversity, humanitarian aid within and without Israel, innovation and technology that improves the lives of people everywhere—all delivered with cutting-edge, interactive technology. The intent is to not whitewash some of the more complicated realities, but to first build a strong foundation of respect, connection, and pride before tackling them.”

“School by school, camp by camp, community by community, we are embarking on a process of helping educators think intentionally and meaningfully about how they integrate Israel into what they are doing,” said the iCenter’s Lanski.

“We think that after a decade, Israel will be experienced by the next generation like never before.”

WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

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EDUCATION l BY MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN | jns.org

ITREK IS THE FUTURE AN ISRAELI START-UP CALLED ITREK IS A FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS’ TRAINING GROUND

E

ver since Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s 2009 book Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle came out, the Israeli innovation scene has received significant attention. In more recent years, students from one of America’s most prestigious Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs have also been noticing Israel.

Since 2014, Cornell University’s one-year Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program has included the iTrek course—a three-month intensive interaction with Israeli start-ups that culminates with a 12-day group trip to Israel, during which students deliver actionable solutions to their start-up clients.

The program was founded by Roni Michaely, the Rudd Family professor of finance at Johnson and lead instructor of iTrek, which he helped found. Michaely interviews more than 100 Israeli start-ups to select between 20 and 30 companies with whom the students work. The students identify a pain point—anything from 20

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

market strategy to product selection to financial challenges—and then work in teams, along with the company, to solve the issues. Students have weekly Skype meetings with company executives, conduct background research, and develop recommendations. The students devote a minimum of 100 hours to each start-up.

“If I get 150 of these extremely bright students to think about Israel and realize Israel is a center of innovation and startups, when in 10 years they will be in very important positions, then I have done my job,” says Michaely, who notes that the program has grown from 20 to 55 students since its founding. He projects that it will hit the 150-student mark annually within the next six or seven years.

The program is not meant as an Israel advocacy initiative. While the 12-day trip to the Jewish state does include a combination of culture, politics, and tourism experiences, Michaely says, “The best thing about Israel is the technology. If I expose them to what

is going on here without any indoctrination or propaganda—the technology, the cyber market, energy, and fintech—it is totally amazing and so impressive. That’s what I introduce to them and it speaks for itself.”

The students and the start-ups describe iTrek as mutually beneficial.

Cornell MBA graduate Carlos Alberto Fernandez was paired with Guardian Optical Technologies, which builds next-generation sensing technology for automotive safety systems, and TapReason, which provides an easy and low-cost way for developers to grab more users for apps.

He helped Guardian develop a U.S. market entry strategy and helped TapReason conduct a U.S. competitor analysis.

Fernandez, whose knowledge about Israel was “limited” before the course, said his key takeaways were three-fold: professional, personal, and cultural.

“Building a network with founders, investors, and industry professionals expanded my personal network

EDUCATION internationally to a great extent,” he said, noting that he continues to exchange professional ideas with some of the contacts he made.

Fernandez said he was “blown away” by the talent he observed in the Jewish state, which “added a whole new component in defining Israel.” He said that his conversations with journalists, advocates, and scholars about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and seeing infrastructure like Israel’s West Bank security fence firsthand, “expanded the reality of Israel beyond what one can read in the press.”

Ariel Beery—CEO of Mobile ODT, which invented a way to use mobile phones to help providers detect cancer and other diseases— had Cornell students assist his company in developing a go-tomarket strategy for the U.S. “They met with our team and got to know our product and what we wanted to do,” said Beery. “They were very quickly able to identify the basic core necessities, and from there they started working.”

Beery described the resulting market strategy as “wonderful.”

“The students are brilliant and thoughtful,” he said. “They understood the depth of our strategy and enacted a beautiful plan to move us forward.”

Beery said he thinks Israel is the perfect training ground for these students, offering opportunities that other countries cannot.

The speed of innovation in Israel, the opportunity to start at the ground level and build up, and the relatively small economy that requires Israel to see the world as an open field in which companies can play are all advantages of the Israeli start-up ecosystem, he said.

“I was really able to apply what I learned in class,” said recently graduated Cornell MBA student Derek Cutting, who is moving to the West Coast to work as an innovation consultant. “Our school focuses a lot on building entrepreneurial skills and building startups and iTrek was a really good fit.…The people in Israel are so focused on challenging norms, pushing things to be better. It fits very well with the culture our school has.”

Cutting said he enjoyed the ability to work with cross-functional teams—not just MBA students, but designers and computer scientists—which forced him to think outside the box.

For example, during the Israel trip, students participated in a one-day “hack-a-thon” design challenge sponsored by Sears Israel.

The MBA students collaborated with students from Israel’s Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art to “reinvent shopping.”

Cutting’s team developed an interactive, wearables-based game designed to keep young children engaged in the grocery store shopping experience.

“They put on the smart vest and go around the store, locate different items. It helps parents shop while their kids learn about nutrition,” Cutting said.

Shenkar design students developed the top four concepts into working prototypes.

Also while they were in Israel, the Cornell students each made two presentations to groups of venture capitalists (VCs) and industry experts. Following a five-minute introduction from a startup company executive, the students had half an hour to present their solutions and take questions from the panel.

“They start to understand what VCs think about and what types of questions they ask,” Michaely said. “Trying to break the code of the Israeli start-up DNA is something that can benefit the students a lot.”

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BADASS KOSHER l BY MICHAEL GARDINER

Marrow Bones & Beans CILANTRO-CHILE GREMOLATA | PINK PICKLED ONIONS

T

his is a celebration of cuts of meat, innards, and extremities that are more often forgotten or discarded in today’s kitchen; it would seem disingenuous to the animal not to make the most of the whole beast: there is a set of delights, textural and flavorsome, which lie beyond the filet.

-- Fergus Henderson, The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating It began as a play on words and continued as a tribute to one of the world’s most influential chefs and one of my favorite 24

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

restaurant meals. The chef is Fergus Henderson of London’s St. John. The dish is his signature: Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad.

“Nose-to-tail” has become a cliché, much like it’s successor, “farm-to-table.” Before either of those became marketing slogans they were the labels for important, and to some extent, transformative movements in the food world. And before “nose-to-tail” was even that it was the title of the original UK edition of Fergus Henderson’s cookbook/ manifesto (Tony Bourdain shepherded a US

re-issue under the name The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating). And before even that it was what he was doing, what he did and what he pioneered, having brought it back to life after decades English cuisine spent subject to World War II “era” rations that destroyed nearly all but the memory of traditional British cuisine.

Henderson, trained in architecture (the family business) rather than the kitchen, opened St. John in 1994, championing the use of offal—organ meat (e.g., tripe, livers, kidneys), extremities (e.g., trotters, tail) and

BADASS KOSHER

the like—as both a way to return to a more rational (and traditional) cuisine and as a matter of ethics. As Henderson explained his philosophy in the original edition of Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking, “… it seems common sense and even polite to the animal to use all of it. Rather than being testosterone-fuelled blood-lust, it actually seems to be a gentle approach to meat eating.”

It is a philosophy that is fully on display in Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad.

No effort is made to disguise the reality of that upon which the diner is about to dine.

On the contrary, it is there: front and center.

It is to be—indeed must be—contemplated.

And the catalyst for contemplation is the fact the dish is not bite-ready upon arrival at the table. The diner must bring it together at the table, scooping marrow from bone, combining it and the parsley salad on toast and completing the seasoning with a few sprinkles of the finishing salt. But the dish is, first and foremost, this: delicious.

It is, of course, marrow that is the key to Henderson’s signature dish. It is marrow, again, that is at the heart of this dish. But it is two different “marrows:” bones, yes, but also marrow beans. The latter are white beans that look a lot like Peruana, Great Northern or plumper cannellini beans. They have a creamy texture and a meaty flavor that are precisely why they are called “marrow” beans and exactly why they marry so well with the bone marrow in this dish.

To cut the richness of the marrow I use a variation on gremolata, the classic Italian herb condiment—lemon zest, garlic and parsley—that is the traditional accompaniment to ossobuco alla milanese.

Just as that dish uses the acidity, pungency and astringency of classic gremolata to offset the richness of bone marrow in ossobucco, I’m doing the same here. But by substituting lime for lemon zest and cilantro for parsley—and by adding a little heat with the red jalapeños—I’m taking the Italian and giving it a hint of a Mexican accent. The pink pickled onions serve to further complement the richness of the dish and also provide a splash of color.

And just as Henderson’s original is completed at the table by the diner assembling the dish on pieces of toast, this dish does the same asking the diner to bring

all the elements together in a warm corn tortilla. Not only does that process demand the diner’s contemplation and involvement, the inherent earthiness of corn tortillas deepens the sense of soul nourishment. It is a sort of nourishment about which I’ve written in this space before, and one that highlights the importance of offal and of the connection of Henderson’s message with Judaism.

And one more thing: it tastes good.

MARROW BEANS & BONES CILANTRO-CHILE GREMOLATA PINK PICKLED ONIONS

|

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

For the Marrow Beans 1 cup marrow beans (cannellini or Great Northern beans are adequate substitutes) soaked 8 hours (overnight, for example) or quick-soaked 2 cups vegetable stock 1 bay leaf

FOR THE PINK PICKLED ONIONS

2 red onions, sliced thinly into half moons 1 cup red wine vinegar 1 cup water ½ cup granulated sugar ¼ cup Kosher salt 6 allspice berries 20 black (or mixed) peppercorns

FOR THE MARROW BONES 2 beef marrow bones Kosher salt

For the Cilantro Gremolata 1 bunch cilantro, finely minced 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced 2 red jalapeño (or Fresno) chiles, minced 2 limes Kosher salt

FOR THE GARNISH AND SERVICE Maldon or other finishing salt Warmed, good-quality corn tortillas

1. MAKE THE MARROW BEANS. Combine the soaked beans, vegetable stock and bay leaf in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until they are tender.

Check after one hour. If they are not tender

enough, keep cooking. Because you will be puréeing the beans with the marrow it is not absolutely necessary to keep the skins from breaking.

2. PICKLE THE ONIONS. Place the onion slices in a metal bowl and cover with boiling water for one minute before draining. Place the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the sliced onions to the saucepan and let stand for one to two hours.

Store in a refrigerator.

3. ROAST THE MARROW BONES. Preheat your oven to 450° Fahrenheit. Arrange your (defrosted) marrow bones on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil (for ease of clean-up). Sprinkle the marrow in the bones liberally with Kosher salt. Roast the bones until the marrow just begins to pull away from the bones, about 20 minutes. Again, because you will be puréeing the marrow with the beans, the timing is not absolutely critical. If the marrow melts you can pour the melted gold into the food processor.

4.

MAKE THE CILANTRO-CHILE GREMOLATA. Using a zester, remove about 1 teaspoon of lime zest and finely mince.

Keep in mind that the zest is the outer peel of a lime, not the inner white pith (it’s bitter).

Combine the minced lime zest with the remaining ingredients in a bowl and season to taste with Kosher salt and black pepper.

5. PURÉE THE BEANS AND BONES. Remove all of the marrow from the bones and add it to the bowl of a food processor.

Pour any melted marrow from the pan into the bowl as well. Wasting such fatty goodness ought to be considered a sin. Add half the cooked beans to the bowl of the food processor and process to combine. Taste the resulting mixture and add more beans if necessary, adjusting the seasoning as well.

6. PLATE THE DISH. Wash the marrow bones and then fill them with the beanbone mixture. Place a filled bone at the top of the plate. Sprinkle the top of the beanbone mixture with finishing salt. Using your fingers (a spoon is likely to be too crude a tool) make a line of the gremolata below the marrow bone. Garnish the bottom of the plate with a nice tangle of pink pickled onions. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

25

TRAVEL l BY CURT LEVIANT

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA AMERICA’S OLDEST CITY, AND A BIT OF MIAMI BEACH TOO

26

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

TRAVEL

S

t. Augustine. Visitors to this charming, historic town in north Florida’s Atlantic coast are enchanted by the proximity of water, warmth and America’s past. St. Augustine bills itself as the oldest city in the United States, and people are drawn by this designation.

Wherever you look tourists are bustling about, especially in the district known as the Old Town, which conveniently has notraffic streets and is also a two-minute walk from the ocean.

Besides strolling through the carless streets and passing restaurants that feature live entertainment at night, some of the popular attractions in the city include a cruise along the St. Augustine waterfront; visits to America’s Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse (1763); the Oldest Store (1900) Museum; the Oldest House; the Old Town hop-on, hop-off trolley that takes you through the city’s sites; Flagler College, with its Tiffany stained glass windows; and the Lightner Museum, housed in the former luxurious Alcazar Hotel, built by railroad magnate Henry Flagler.

Equally old, according to some members of the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society, is the city’s Jewish community.

According to their exploratory research, the first Jews in America came with the founder of St. Augustine, Pedro Menendez de Avilas in September 1565, some 90 years earlier than the traditionally- mentioned date.

This supposition is at odds with the wellestablished historical fact that America’s first Jews, twenty-three Sephardim from Recife, Brazil, arrived in September 1654, landing in New Amsterdam, later renamed New York. Since Portugal had captured Brazil, these Jews feared the introduction of the Inquisition and decided to flee.

But members of the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society think that these Jews, very likely Marranos who hid their Judaism because of the Inquisition, portrayed themselves as Catholics. When these first settlers died some were buried with their feet pointing to the church altar; but yet several were buried with feet pointing to the East, to Jerusalem, which was a burial custom of Spanish Jews.

Moreover, the date the people on Menendez’s ship came ashore is puzzling.

It happened to be September 8, 1565, which that year was the day after Yom Kippur.

Could it be, so think the history buffs of the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society, that

the disembarking was purposely delayed by a day so that Jews, even if their identity was hidden, would not have to violate the holiday? And further, the researchers of the Jewish Historical Society have also found five names of people on Menendez’s ship that matched Jewish family names from Inquisition records.

Still, no major claims are yet being made, for the exploration continues. But the facts gathered so far are doubtless intriguing and fascinating.

Even so, Jews have been in St. Augustine for more than 170 years. In 1845, David Levy Yulee was elected to the United States Senate, the first Jew ever to serve as Senator.

Fully organized Jewish community life in St. Augustine came later. Estimations as to the number of Jews now in the city vary between 500-1,000. One long-time Jewish resident in town confessed that the reason for such a disparity between the numbers is that quite a number of Jews in town do not identify as Jews, nor are they affiliated in any way with any of the three local synagogues: one Conservative, one Reform and one Chabad Lubavitch, which is of course Orthodox.

One of the beautiful, historic synagogues WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

27

TRAVEL in a residential area near the Old Town is the First Congregation Sons of Israel, founded as Orthodox by Russian and East European Jews in 1908 but now a Conservative shul. The sanctuary’s visual appeal is enhanced by century-old stained glass windows.

Currently, the synagogue does not have a rabbi.

The Reform synagogue is Temple Bat Yam which, like the Conservative synagogue, has weekly Sabbath services and adult education classes. The Chabad in town has daily services, a school, and adult classes as well.

We stayed right in the heart of the Old Town at the comfortable and welcoming St. George’s Inn, on a pedestrian-only street. This charming hotel has a cluster of wooden buildings with spacious rooms that overlook either a quiet courtyard or have ocean views. A sumptuous breakfast is served as part of the daily hotel rate.

There is no kosher restaurant in town but at 224 W. King Street, about half a mile west of Route 1, there is a vegan restaurant named the Present Moment Cafe. Jews in St. Augustine who seek kosher provisions travel to nearby Jacksonville.

Since few people who drive down South have St. Augustine as their final destination, a few words about the real final stop – Miami Beach – are in order. The splendors and attractions of this world-famous ocean-side city need not be recounted. But a couple of discoveries are in order.

One is the luxurious boutique hotel, The Betsy, at 1440 Ocean Drive, in South Beach, in the heart of the Art Deco district. The Betsy (named after Betsy Ross) has its own swimming pool and is a two-minute walk across a park to the beach where the hotel has its own lounge chairs. A roof deck with chaise recliners has sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. The breakfasts are munificent and the Betsy’s BLT Restaurant is considered iconic. What is unique for a Miami Beach hotel, or any traditional resort for that matter, is the year-round arts and culture programming, among them jazz and other musical recitals, a variety of lectures with refreshments, and a Yiddish Salon. All this is no doubt inspired by the fact that Hyam Plutzik, the father of the hotel’s owners, was a noted American poet and professor at the University of Rochester, whose first language was Yiddish.

If you want to eat kosher in Miami Beach, no problem. And for imaginative Chinese cuisine, head for Kikar Tel Aviv, at 5005 Collins Avenue, C-1. In addition to traditional soups like hot and sour, there are meat specialties like boned roast duck, my favorite, and other treats with an oriental flavor. Sabbath observers may prepay for Shabbat meals. Intrigued by the menu, I spoke to the Hong Kong-born owner, Bonnie Poon, and asked him how long he has been in Miami Beach. “Ten years,” he said. “And before that I had a restaurant in Tel Aviv for fifteen years.”

Then I continued in Hebrew, saying, “Then you no doubt speak Ivrit.”

“Be-vaday (of course),” he answered at once, and we continued chatting for the next ten minutes in Hebrew.

Only in America; rather; only in Miami Beach.

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L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

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FEATURE STORY l BY NATHAN GLOVINSKY

PROBLEM

HOW SAN DIEGO TEEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS ARE SHAPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PROBLEM SOLVERS 30

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2016

PHOTOS COURTESY JFS

SOLVERS

FEATURE STORY

W

e unwrapped the industrialsized palette to reveal a mountain of neatly packaged Quaker oatmeal staring back at us. One by one, the boxes were unloaded and taken inside the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry, where a group of volunteers had gathered at 8am to start sorting donations. Some went straight to the assembly line, where high school MJROTC cadets and Girl Scouts were putting together kosher food bags.

Others were routed to the pantry shelves to await transportation to Jewish Family Service of San Diego’s Corner Market and other food distribution sites. Box in hand, I paused at the open door leading to the storage pantry. After four years as a teen leader in the Hand Up Teen Leadership program, I still didn’t know where we kept the oatmeal. Perhaps it was the consequence of waking up too early on a Sunday or the flurry of distractions that accompany managing a group of volunteers, but what I lacked in sorting knowledge I made up for in resolve. Years of Sunday morning pantry sessions, monthly leadership seminars, and legislative advocacy meetings lent purpose to my high school experience and altered my path for the better. I look back on my time as a Hand Up Teen Leader and recognize how important this program was to my development as a student and a leader.

The Hand Up Teen Leadership program is nationally-recognized and offers high school students an opportunity to learn about social change while making a measurable impact on the San Diego community. Students from different schools and communities are united in their passion for social justice and philanthropy, and work together for a whole year on projects and programs that address food insecurity in the community. Under the mentorship of program coordinators, Teen Leaders create projects to help alleviate the short-term effects of hunger, while gaining organizational and advocacy skills to approach the problem from a long-term perspective. While one monthly meeting might comprise a strategic brainstorming session for a community fundraiser, another might include a guest presentation from the

Mayor of San Diego’s office. Students learn about policy, as well as tactical approaches aimed at reducing the rate of food insecurity in the County. Hand Up is much more than just a local food pantry or advocacy group: it is a carefully constructed leadership program which helps to foster the next generation of student activists.

My volunteer efforts with Hand Up introduced me to the many faces of hunger and helped me to better understand that food insecurity is deeply interwoven with other socioeconomic and community issues. While some people dealing with food insecurity may be homeless or living in poverty, many military families, single parent households, and elderly throughout San Diego County are also at risk. Even among my own classmates and neighbors, there are those who may be struggling to put food on their tables. Hand Up taught me that social issues often transcend perceived stereotypes, and the only way to educate yourself is to challenge what you think you know about the issue. As a sophomore in college, I am now involved in many aspects of higher education advocacy.

I work with other student leaders on issues of accessibility and equity, and often feel surprised at how little I actually know about the obstacles students from other communities face. I felt the same way five years ago when I first started in the Hand Up Teen Leadership program, but remember the way I was challenged to see things from a new angle. In my continued advocacy efforts, I will always be indebted to the way Hand Up taught me to examine my biases and see beyond the labels ascribed to social issues.

The unique opportunities provided through Hand Up also made me a more confident student leader and helped me see my potential to affect change in the community. Not many students ever get the chance to stand on the floor of the State Assembly or Senate, but every year our team was welcomed warmly by California’s top-ranking legislators to speak about our program’s initiatives and outcomes. These trips to Sacramento are both humbling and incredibly validating, lending

heightened credence to the program and student activism in general. I will always remember my first lobby meeting in ninth grade with Assembly Member Toni Atkins’ office, and the way her staff actively listened to what we were saying. It became clear that the meeting was not a photo opportunity or simple courtesy for them: it was a real opportunity to collaborate for positive community change. Whether it’s a lobby meeting in the Capitol or a news interview at a local station, Hand Up is an organization that amplifies student voices and ensures that young activists have a seat at the table. Because local and state leaders take the students seriously, the students are motivated to take the program seriously as well.

The Hand Up Teen Leadership program gave me the skills, networking opportunities, and confidence to be a student leader in the community; and for that I will always be thankful. When I reflect on my high school experience, I think of football games and dances. But I also think of Sunday mornings in the food pantry sorting granola bars, and of long nights stuck in the airport after a long day of lobbying. Above all, I think of the friends I’ve made and the dreams we have for our community and futures. The world is in need of leaders who will work tirelessly to making it a better place; and I smile knowing that there are Hand Up Teen Leaders out there who are up to the challenge.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego is now accepting applications for their awardwinning teen leadership programs, Hand Up Teen Leadership and Girls Give Back. To apply, or to learn about what’s in store for JFS’s next cohort student leaders, visit jfssd. org/teenleadership.

NATHAN GLOVINSKY IS A SOPHOMORE AT UCLA STUDYING HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES. HE PARTICIPATED IN THE HAND UP TEEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM FOR FOUR YEARS, AND SERVED AS CO-CHAIR FOR TWO. AT UCLA, HE IS ACTIVE IN BOTH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT GOVERNMENT. WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

31

FEATURE STORY l BY JEFFRESY F. BARKEN | jns.org

PHOTO COURTESY JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

Jewish National Fund’s Young Professional Volunteer Vacation program in Israel.

THIS IS OUR MOMENT OF

REAL ZIONISM

R

ussell F. Robinson, CEO of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), believes that Israel has reached an important milestone in its development as a nation.

“I think this is our moment of real Zionism,” he says, intimating that the Zionist experiment has come of age.

The turning point in history invoked by Robinson presents new opportunities for Israel’s oldest philanthropic organization, as well as for individuals interested in exploring Israel.

For Robinson, Israel showcases a triumph of the human spirit. Following the Holocaust, the nascent Jewish state was initially impoverished and represented “the gathering of the exiles,” but the new

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Israel “is a place where people can go by choice,” he reflects. The dynamic career, spiritual, and lifestyle opportunities that Israel now affords both visitors and prospective immigrants have prompted JNF to reconsider its mission.

“Zionism is maturing,” Robinson says, explaining that instead of organizing to ensure Israel’s survival, “now we get to be Israel’s greatest partner.”

As such, JNF has in recent years rolled out several programs geared towards creating awareness of Israeli culture and stimulating investment in Israeli public works projects. Each year, the Faculty Fellowship Summer Institute in Israel program, a partnership between JNF and

Media Watch International, introduces two-dozen university faculty members of diverse and predominately non-Jewish backgrounds to Israel. The initiative is now in its 9th year.

“We have over 120 graduates of the 10day program,” Robinson says, “and thanks to increased donor funding, we have been able to expand dramatically.”

The program facilitates an academic exchange. Participants are introduced to, or are paired with, Israeli counterparts in their field of study, thereby prompting collaboration, shared research, and an exchange of teaching concepts and values.

Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, BarIlan University, University of Haifa,

FEATURE STORY

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and several other Israeli institutions all have partnered with JNF on the Faculty Fellowship Summer Institute in Israel program.

JNF also sponsors the Young Professional Volunteer Vacation. This program en-ables individuals to visit southern Israel, where they assist in building new communities.

Likewise, the Sunshine Tour with Hal Linden and JNF’s Culinary Tour offer travelers an opportunity to experience Israeli cuisine by participating in hands-on workshops with top Israeli chefs. Between the popular Birthright Israel program and these new initiatives, JNF has made it possible for nearly 16,000 foreigners to visit Israel annually.

“The [programs go] beyond the confines of conflict and demonstrate how Israel makes the world a better place,” Robinson says.

The programs also reflect changing perceptions of Israel held by Diaspora Jews as well as Israelis themselves. An optimistic narrative is emerging from the decades of turmoil that characterized Israel’s birth and struggle for survival. Perhaps unintentionally, author Jonathan Safran Foer’s story, “Maybe it was the Distance,” published in the June 2016 edition of The New Yorker, echoes Robinson’s assertion that Israel has achieved stability and has both a proud history and a bright future ahead.

In “Maybe it was the Distance,” Grandfather Irv, his 43-year-old son Jacob, and his 11-year-old grandson Max pick up their “Israeli cousins” at Reagan International Air-port in Washington, DC. After collecting Jacob’s cousin Tamir and his son Barak, the family quickly engages in a heated discussion about Israel. Fending off doubt-driven questions concerning Israel’s protracted water crisis, hostile enemies, and the seemingly irresolvable situation, “Israel is thriving…Things have never been better, anywhere, at any time,” Tamir insists. “Walk down the streets of Tel

“We’re 68 years old...

We have only eight million people, no natural resources, and are engaged in perpetual warfare. All that and we file more patents every year than any other country …”

Aviv one night,” he suggests.

“There’s more culture per square foot than anywhere in the world. Look at our economy. We’re 68 years old...We have only eight million people, no natural resources, and are engaged in perpetual warfare. All that and we file more patents every year than any other country, including yours,” Foer writes.

The above passage illustrates how, despite enduring decades of conflict, Israelis today enjoy cultural prosperity, and the so-called “start-up nation” has made the world take notice through its numerous technological innovations.

Founded in 1901, JNF’s philanthropy echoes the foundations of Israel. The country’s original borders were drawn around land JNF had purchased during Ottoman rule and the British Mandate.

During the past 113 years in Israel, JNF has planted more than 250 million trees in Israel, built more than 240 reservoirs and dams, developed more than 250,000 acres of land, and created more than 2,000 parks, according to the organization’s website.

Robinson regrets that what he describes as a shallowly conceived, incendiary, and emotional discourse prompted by

traditional news media casts a pall over Israel’s achievements.

“To be sure, there are blemishes,” he admits when reflecting on Israel’s history.

He suggests, however, that Israel has allowed its record to become tarnished in part be-cause “Jews have a fear of talking about [their accomplishments].”

Consequently, Robin-son and JNF advocate that Israel refocus the discussion.

“Why can’t we start a conversation about Israel from a positive perspective?”

Robinson asks.

“No other culture in the history of the world has come back from a water crisis like the one Israel faced 20 years ago,” he notes.

Today, Jordan and some of Israel’s other neighbors eagerly embrace Israeli water technologies and methods.

In light of JNF’s efforts, Foer’s fiction may ring true. Israelis, as well as people around the world, are seemingly tiring of an endless emotion-driven dialogue about Israel.

“The biggest thing people want is hope,” Robinson says.

“The world changes,” he says, “but the narratives that bring people together are always positive.”

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THE ARAVA INSTITUTE’S

CROSS-BORDER WORK In the Middle East, many rural communities suffer from a lack of municipal services such as safe waste disposal, wastewater management, and clean water and energy provision. Without access to such services, off-grid communities struggle to obtain affordable safe drinking water and clean energy, properly dispose of their waste, and reuse treated wastewater for irrigation in a region fraught with water scarcity.

At the Arava Institute, researchers are producing decentralized, low-cost, sustainable solutions to these challenges that simultaneously encourage peacebuilding through cross-border cooperation.

Named one of the top 100 environmental think tanks in the world, the Arava Institute is a leading environmental and academic institution in the Middle East dedicated to preparing future leaders from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and around the world to cooperatively solve the regional and global challenges of our time. Based in southern Israel, in the Arava Desert Valley, the Institute houses academic programs, internships, research, and international initiatives on a range of environmental concerns and challenges.

Jewish National Fund (JNF) is a partner of the Arava Institute and the generous support of JNF donors, individual donors, and grants allows the Institute to progress with their innovative work to solve environmental and social challenges. Among four other research centers at the Arava Institute, the Center for Transboundary Water Management (CTWM) is tackling some of the most pressing water and wastewater management issues in the region and proposing tangible decentralized solutions.

This semester, Dominik Wendschlag – an intern with CTWM from Germany – is researching the potential for an integrated system combining greywater filtration 34

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methods with biogas technology. How does it work? First, greywater from household sinks and showers is diverted to a simple filtration system and then made available for plant irrigation, which is especially important in regions fraught with draught.

“It’s a constructed wetland so you are mimicking nature,” states Mr. Wendschlag.

“The idea is that it’s a simple solution with low-cost, easy implementation, effective in improving living quality.” The greywater is also used in the biogas digesters, which require water in its anaerobic process. Dr. Shmuel Brenner, Director of the Arava Institute’s Arava Center Sustainable Development, explains, “You take domestic waste or animal waste and you mix it together with water and you get an anaerobic process by which after a few days you get several products. One of the products is gas – mostly methane gas – which can be used for heating, electricity, cooking, and so on. The system also produces compost which is used as a fertilizer.”

These off-grid decentralized systems are created in close partnership with local communities to best meet their needs. As Jaclyn Best – an intern at CTWM – explains, “As we were building these systems we weren’t just plopping them down and walking away. We had a number of meetings involving stakeholders: Israelis, Palestinians, and internationals. The goal was to meet the ‘other’ and realize that both sides want to see a solution to cross-border water issues.”

According to Ms. Best, approximately 70% of people in the West Bank are not connected to the wastewater management grid, which leads to improper disposal of sewage and wastewater. No border or physical barrier can prevent untreated sewage from polluting shared aquifers or air pollution from spreading from one country to another.

“In the West Bank,” Ms. Best explains, “a lot

of the streams flow into Israel and a lot of the sewage is being dumped in there, so it’s also beneficial to Israel to have wastewater treatment across the border.”

For the past 20 years, the Arava Institute has pioneered cross-border environmental research and cooperation between Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians because protecting the environment cannot wait for the conflict to be resolved. “In order to protect nature, which is very precious to all of us, we need to cooperate and coordinate with each other,” explains Fareed Mahameed, a current student at the Institute who identifies as a Palestinian Israeli from Um-Elfahem. “We should try and overcome our political disputes in order solve the environmental problems. I think in the end that is what is really what connects us all as human beings – we are part of nature and nature is part of us so that is why we should cooperate relentlessly trying to solve environmental problems.”

To learn more about how JNF is helping build modern-day Israel, visit jnf.org or contact JNF San Diego Director Amy Hart at ahart@jnf.org or 858.824.9178 x988.

BY RON JAMES l GUEST COLUMN

a look inside

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Works

T

aking the first step in dealing with life’s challenges can be the hardest.

Fear of failure or fear of success can feel like a stop sign.

Douglas (name changed) came to me with a severe case of obsessive compulsive disorder which manifested itself with compulsions such as excessive counting and overchecking. He spent much of the day engaged in repetitive behaviors such as making sure he had turned off the stove or that he had counted the right change at the grocery store.

Doug and I became collaborators in creating a safe environment for the inception of a brief course of cognitive behavioral therapy which is a form of psychotherapy where negative thought patterns about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unhealthy behaviors and treat mood disorders such as depression. It emphasizes the key role that thoughts have in how we feel and behave.

The goal is to change the way we think in order to feel & act better even though the situation doesn’t necessarily change in a

significant way. CBT as it is often referred to is a structured & time limited talk therapy that gives patients the tools to better handle conflictual relationships, manage chronic pain, prevent mental health and substance abuse relapse and generally cope better with life’s stressful situations. It has been proven effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety, phobias, sleep disorders, eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder to name a few.

With Douglas we initiated a six week trial of exposure response prevention therapy (a form of cognitive behavioral therapy) that focused on resisting the urge to check or count excessively and rather sitting with and best tolerating the accompanying anxiety. As the treatment progressed, he was able to refrain from the behaviors and reported a reduction in anxiety from 9 to 3 on a 0-10 scale.

The lesson to be learned is that the first step is the most important one! Restore your emotional health by finding a practitioner you can trust and start telling your story.

RAFAEL “RAFI” JAMES IS A SAN DIEGO BASED LCSW PSYCHOTHERAPIST WHO HAS STARTED THE PRIVATE PRACTICE, SAN DIEGO CENTER FOR INTEGRATED HEALING. FOR A TELEPHONE CONSULTATION WITH HIM, CALL (914) 215-1508, OR EMAIL THERAPY@ RAFAELJAMES.COM

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Known for her vibrant personality, community leadership, sense of humor, creativity and, most importantly, her good work, Mickey Stern succumbed to cancer on July 1, 2016 in La Jolla, California.

Mickey is survived by her children, Bob Sturm and Melanie Sturm, son-in-law Marc Zachary, and her beloved grandson Zane Zachary. Her much-loved sisters – Dorothy Dimond, Ruth Fried and Marlys Marion – preceded her in death.

Born August 21, 1934 in Sioux City, Iowa to Mary (Kiser) and Harry Rabiner, Mickey (Maxine Shirlee) lived a purposeful life, enriching the lives of people who encountered her and causes lucky enough to claim her devotion. Stylish and magnetic, she challenged people’s better angels to follow her trailblazing, making possible the improbable.

Though worldly and wise, she emerged from a small-town background in Storm Lake, Iowa where she forged childhood friendships that lasted her lifetime. The youngest by nine years of four sisters, she was the first in her family to attend college.

Mickey obtained a degree in education from the University of Nebraska where she was a member of Sigma Delta Tau sorority, serving as its President. Ever the elementary school teacher, Mickey became an inspiring educator, in the classroom and later as a mother.

Mickey understood that as a Jew, she was put on earth for a reason involving responsibilities and challenges to meet a higher standard. Throughout her life, she used her voice, organizational acumen and resources to further this aspirational ideal.

In 1963 she settled in Omaha, Nebraska, venturing into communal work where her passion and pluck thrust her into myriad leadership roles and relationships with influential people, including Nebraska Governor Bob Kerry and Warren Buffet.

It was frequently said, “If you want something done, ask Mickey.” That’s because, as the Omaha Jewish Press noted, “she reached for perfection, and she succeeded.”

When Mickey got done with a job title, 36

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people would clamor to succeed her so they could assume the now influential role. In recognition of her many civic accomplishments, she was named to Who’s Who of American Women.

During the 1970s, she rose through the volunteer ranks in Omaha’s Jewish Federation, supercharging its United Jewish Appeal campaign for which she won a First Place national award. Following her usual template, she picked reliable partners, averting her understandable frustration with people who’d say, “Let’s do this big idea… and you be lets,” as she put it.

As co-chair of the Federation’s Women’s Division, she hatched the winning idea to bring Holocaust survivor Gerda Klein to Omaha to unfurl her incredible story.

In 1986 she chaired the Holocaust Memorial Nebraska State Dinner, a pioneering fundraiser for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, creating a template for other communities across the country.

Through her work, she became acquainted with the museum’s founding chairman, Elie Wiesel. At her funeral, it was noted that Mickey would be pleased that the two were making their debuts in the next world together on the eve of July 4th, which celebrates the nation they both loved. After all, along with Israel, America is among the greatest blessings the Jewish people have ever known.

When Mickey moved to La Jolla in 1990 following a bout with breast cancer and her divorce, her courage and desire to improve the world helped her forge a new life in California where she made more friends and championed myriad causes.

Notable highlights include: underwriting cultural arts productions including the Old Globe Theater’s “Sammy” and “Golda’s Balcony,” shows featuring inspirational Jewish characters; chairing her residential building’s speaker series; orchestrating the 100th birthday celebration of friend (and noted public servant) Pat Butler; spearheading with Scripps Breast Cancer Center an outreach program to educate and uplift woman facing the disease she

overcame; and funding facility upgrades at the La Jolla Community Center.

La Jolla friends say of her, “You never had to ask Mickey for anything; she just knew what to do. If you had a cold, soon chicken soup would show up on your stoop.”

Referring in its interview of Mickey to her self-description – “I’ve always tried to help good causes” – the LaJolla Light newspaper called her a “woman with a gift for understatement.”

Entrusted with a beautiful soul, Mickey used it to move through the world with commitment, generosity, kindness and love.

She understood the ultimate question of life is not how great you think you are, but how great you think your purpose is. She taught others how to stand out for noble reasons by standing out so nobly herself… and to always try to retain a sense of humor about life.

Her life was a gift.

Mickey’s family gratefully acknowledges the loving support she received over the last year from her remarkable stable of caregivers and doctors.

Donations in Mickey’s memory are encouraged and the following causes are ones she championed: 1. M.D. Anderson Hospital: designated to “The Mickey Stern Breast Cancer Research Fund” 2. Athenaeum Music and Arts Library: 1008 Wall St, La Jolla, CA 92037 3. The Old Globe Theatre: 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego, CA 92101 4. La Jolla Community Center: 6811 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037 5. The University of Nebraska 6. Beth Israel Synagogue: 9001 Towne Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92122

BY STEPHANIE LEWIS l HUMOR

mazel &

mishagoss Forget Pokémon Go... Now There’s Pokémensch!

M

y kids return to school soon but it can’t be soon enough for me ever since Pokémon Go was released. In case you haven’t seen this faddish phenomenon sweep the nation, (and you’d have to be blindfolded by your tallit to miss it) it’s a new Smartphone app you download that connects to your GPS to direct you to move about the outside world to capture strange little critters onscreen and earn points.

But as any smart Jewish mother knows, if you can’t beat ‘em, you should join ‘em.

Therefore I present to you my version of the popular game that finally gets your kids off their tuchus and onto their own two legs (for you Yiddish speakers, that’s why I almost named it Pulkemon!) and encourages them to do good deeds (Mitzvahs) for others.

The tagline for regular Pokémon Go is “Gotta Catch ‘em All!” So of course my slogan is “Never Kvetch At All!” Types of PokéMitzvahs Your Child Will Do: Chores: (My Pokémensch game encourages children to help out around the house!)

“Permanent Press Pokémensch” pops up suddenly when they do their own laundry.

He’s wrinkle free, rainbow on one side and colorless on the other, reminding them to separate the whites from brights.

“Puffy Pillow Pokémensch” can be located under their sheets for when they make their

bed. I gotta admit he looks a bit militant and you can even bounce a quarter off of him.

If they should accidentally wander within even a hundred yard radius of the dishwasher, “Cascade Pokémensch” magically materializes, beckoning them to unload spotless drinking glasses and shiny plates with his crystal clear appearance.

A “PokéPooch” will manifest whenever they remember to walk that family dog they promised that you’d never have to take care of. But first they must wipe the dust off his leash and actually make it out the front door.

Errands: (They’ll be begging to accompany you around the city now!)

Getting your kids to the doctor and the dentist for check-ups has never been easier now that I designed the “Pediatrician Pokémensch” and the “Plaque Pokémensch.” (Don’t be dense -- of course one wears a stethoscope and the other holds a toothbrush!)

“Pride and Prejudice Pokémensch” will tempt your children into a library so they will (gasp) read a book.

“Payless Pokémensch” will have your child agreeing to shop in their reasonably priced store for shoes rather than needing the popular $$ Vans or Sketchers.

“Patriarch PopPop Pokémensch” guarantees that going to grandpa’s (and grandma’s!) house will never be seen as boring. A little guy wearing dentures, using a walker and Metamucil will offer bonus points for every visit.

Respecting Religion (Elevating your children’s spirituality from a Pikachu to a PikaJew!) “Prayers/Psalms/Parsha Pokémensch” will ensure your kid is drawn into a synagogue on many occasions other than his Bar Mitzvah.

And of course “Promised Land Pokémensch” will entice your older teen to sign up for birthright and go tour Israel.

Note: If you decide to borrow my Pokémensch invention, feel free to omit the annoying little accent mark over the “e” that drove me “Pokémashuggah” trying to figure out how to type on my keyboard. And you’re welcome!

STEPHANIE D. LEWIS IS A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR TO THE COMEDY SECTION ON THE HUFFINGTON POST. SHE ALSO WRITES A HUMOR BLOG, “ONCE UPON YOUR PRIME” AND YOU CAN FOLLOW HER @MISSMENOPAUSE ON TWITTER.

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