1017 LChaim Magazine by L'Chaim San Diego Magazine

OCTOBER 2017

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Timeless FOUR LOCAL SENIORS DEFINE THE TERM

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contents

October 2017 • www.lchaimmagazine.com

in this issue... COVER STORY

Timeless: Four local seniors define the term............................................................................ SENIORS Seniors show you can find love at any age.............................................................................. Kosher Meals on Wheels program...................................................................................................

12 14 18

SENIORS FIND LOVE

1000 WORDS Israel expects high profits after joint committee

8 22 20 24 26 28 30 32 06 34 35 37

approves medical cannabis exports................................................................................................. FOOD

Southern money bags with honey bourbon mayo............................................................. FEATURES San Diego History Center happenings this month............................................................

NEWCAJE/Education conference a boon to Jewish Educators..................................

MONEY BAGS

Shabbat San Diego.................................................................................................................................. For LGBTQ Jews, Birthright trip offers raw emotion and self-discovery................. Award-winning Israeli cancer researcher says immunotherapy is the ‘future’ of treatment............................................................................

Jewish beard-growers strive to be face of global facial hair showdown............... COLUMNS Torah: Of the Book................................................................................................................................... Guest Note...................................................................................................................................................

JewishMom.com.........................................................................................................................................

FACIAL HAIR SHOWDOWN

Humor: Mazel & Mishagoss.................................................................................................................

PUBLISHERS Diane Benaroya & Laurie Miller EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alanna Maya CREATIVE DIRECTOR Laurie Miller CONTRIBUTORS Daniel Bortz, Donald H. Harrison, Stephanie Lewis, Salomon Maya, Mimi Pollack, Sharon Rapoport, Eva Trieger, Deborah Vietor, Chana Jenny Weisberg

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TORAH l BY RABBI DANIEL BORTZ

the book The Importance of Unity

very Jewish holiday has a unique spiritual theme that characterizes it. While the outdoor Sukkah symbolizes our trust and reliance in God who protects us, the holiday of Sukkot centralizes around the theme of unity. We are all worthy of sitting together as equals in the humble Sukkah hut under the stars. The sense of unity in our country has room for improvement. How often are our Facebook feeds full of political arguments? It’s healthy to have diversity of opinion. It isn’t the differing of opinion that’s a problem; it’s the tendency we have to define an entire person by one viewpoint they have. Defriending someone on social media or serious family divisions can occur when we attribute a malicious character defect in someone who may just be looking at one issue from a different angle. For example, in the case of the football kneeling issue, of course there are extreme views, like any other. But for the most part it’s simple: Some emphasize the power of the first amendment right to protest and what they feel is the victimization of minorities, while others emphasize the importance of patriotism and wish any protests were done at a different time than the national anthem.

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

I can argue my opinion without completely delegitimizing the other side. Even in cases where a person you know has a clearly evil tendency, the Jewish Mystics teach us that while we can hate the evil trait they have, we must still love the person for the good they contain. Every day of Sukkot we take four very different species together: The lulav (palm branch), etrog (citron), hadas (myrtle) and aravah (willows). Each symbolizes another type of Jew who serves God differently. Yet all four are shaken together. Wouldn’t it be easier to take four of the same species? But God intended for us to be a diverse nation that would be unified through a deeper truth that transcended any superficial differences of view we have. The Jewish community is made up of Ashkenazim and Sephardim, liberals and conservatives, less and more religiously observant, and countless movements and systems of thought and practice. There were 12 tribes that made up ancient Israel, each with its own unique style. Life isn’t supposed to be John Lennon’s Imagine. It’s great to have many unique views and beliefs. We can disagree while still loving the Divine soul each of us equally possesses.

The students of the more lenient Hillel and stricter Shamai may have argued incessantly in the Talmud, but their children married each other. Didn’t their viewpoints differ completely? Yes, but what under lied it all was an equally pure intent. They argued for the sake of heaven, for what they felt was right. While I’m dying to post my political thoughts on social media, I avoid it because I value Jewish unity over feeling I’m right about an issue that isn’t as cosmically important. There’s a fascinating question discussed by our Sages. Before the flood of Noah’s time that decimated the world because of its complete immorality, we read of a national rebellion against G-d at the Tower of Babel. Why weren’t they destroyed? Because, while they rebelled, they were unified in doing so. A father prefers you spit in his face and treat his children kindly than vice versa. No matter how much we ever disagree, let’s always treat our brothers and sisters with love. RABBI DANIEL BORTZ IS THE DIRECTOR OF JTEEN SAN DIEGO, JTEENSD.COM. TO WATCH HIS UNIQUE VIDEOS, VISIT RABBIBORTZ.COM.

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L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

L’CHAIM

A THOUSAND

WORDS

ISRAEL EXPECTS HIGH PROFITS FROM MEDICAL CANNABIS EXPORTS

srael stands to generate large profits from its burgeoning medical cannabis industry after a joint committee of the country’s Health and Finance ministries Aug. 13 approved a new measure allowing for international exports of the plant. According to some reports, the state could earn up to $4 billion annually in revenue from medical cannabis exportation, an industry that Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said has “significant economic potential for the state of Israel and will strengthen Israeli agriculture.” Saul Kaye, CEO of the iCAN: IsraelCannabis organization, whose stated mission is “to identify, invest, accelerate and showcase cannabis innovation for the global cannabis

economy,” said the Israeli government’s move “will significantly increase investment as well as entrepreneurship” in the country’s cannabis technology sector. “Numerous jobs will be created throughout the country, in areas such as ag-tech, pharma, packaging and transportation, as well as all the support services required like legal and accounting,” Kaye said. “The economic impact will prove to be a tremendous benefit to Israel and produce many winners.” Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman initially opposed medical cannabis exports, due to concern that they may encourage recreational use of marijuana within the Jewish state. “Remember that the law prohibits the use

and trade of cannabis, with the exception of medical cannabis for treating serious diseases in special cases and under special restrictions,” he said. Following the ministerial measure’s approval, Litzman vowed to work to ensure that a portion of the revenue from medical cannabis exports will be applied to improving Israel’s healthcare system. The joint committee that recommended approving the exports also recommended certain restrictions, including limiting the privilege to the Israeli Health Ministry and licensed growers under direct government supervision. Israeli medical cannabis would only be exported to countries where the plant is approved for medicinal use, and which already have trade relations with Israel. The new measure allows for all forms of medical cannabis to be exported, including raw buds for smoking, oils, tablets and edibles. Prior to the measure’s approval, several countries had already expressed strong interest in importing Israeli medical cannabis and applied for permission to do so, including Australia, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Cyprus. “In view of the general trend in the industry, it is expected that additional countries will potentially be interested in Israeli exports,” the joint committee stated. Ma’ayan Weisberg, head of foreign relations at Tikun Olam Ltd., Israel’s first and largest supplier of medical cannabis, said the organization “has received hundreds of requests throughout the years to export our products internationally.” WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

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“We thank the recommendations of the government for allowing exports in the near future with no more difficulties,” she said. Weisberg noted that more than 90 percent of Tikun Olam’s medical patients “have benefited” from the cannabis strains and products provided by the company. “[Patients] have reported an improvement in their health and daily functionality, a decrease in need for medication and an increase in overall wellbeing,” she said. The medical cannabis supplier had already established various international “collaborations” in Canada, the U.S., Australia “and in other places soon to come,” Weisberg said. “There is no logical or legal reason not to authorize exports for the benefit of the Israeli economy and people,” she asserted. Tikun Olam is one of eight licensed medical cannabis growers in Israel, which combine to produce some 10 tons of the plant annually. More than 500 additional growers have applied to produce medical cannabis for the purpose of international exportation. In February, an Israeli government 10

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

committee took the first steps toward allowing the export of medical cannabis from Israel, and in March, the Knesset legislature passed a new law essentially decriminalizing recreational marijuana use nationwide. In recent years, Israel has become a hub for the study and distribution of medical cannabis. Hebrew University’s Prof. Raphael Mechoulam initially discovered THC, the primary psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant, in the 1970s. Since then, Israeli hospitals have demonstrated a willingness to perform clinical trials on the effectiveness of cannabis in relieving the symptoms of tens of thousands of patients suffering from chronic or terminal conditions. “Israel’s medical cannabis program is the oldest and most advanced in the world,” said iCAN’s Kaye. “Our regulatory environment allows for clinical trials to test efficacy on a variety of illnesses and our government has even provided grants for several cannabis companies. This is in stark contrast to the United States, where the ability to research the plant is nearly impossible because of Cannabis’s status as a Schedule I substance.”

According to some reports, the state could earn up to $4 billion annually in revenue from medical cannabis exportation, an industry that Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said has “significant economic potential for the state of Israel and will strengthen Israeli agriculture.”

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COVER STORY

Timeless:

A story of Four Remarkable Jewish Women BY DEBORAH VIETOR

ome may believe we live in a time when people are considered selfabsorbed, consumed by electronics, and inhabiting a world which appears uncertain and chaotic. This is a story of four women who lived in very different times, both in Europe and the United States. There were no cell phones, televisions, microwaves or any of the modern conveniences we enjoy today. There was, however a World War and a Great Depression. Growing up in the 1920s under a variety of circumstances, these women are unique, yet similar in their faith, kindness toward humanity and determination to survive, under even the most unimaginable conditions. Each woman believes the world can change for the better as we all work together to achieve harmony and peace. It was an honor and a privilege interviewing and getting to know these remarkable women. They are each a source of strength, inspiration, compassion and humility to be passed on to the world and to future generations. FANNY KRASNER-LEBOVITS Fanny Krasner-Lebovits will be 95 years old on October 27. Born in Liepagh; Latvia, her parents ran a shoe store. There were three girls in the family. Her sisters were Jenny and Liebele Fanny was the oldest. She shared that she had a happy childhood until the war. “My life is an absolute miracle,” she said after lighting a candle for Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. “I’m obliged to see myself in every generation, as a survivor of the Holocaust, to the end of time.” Nazi soldiers invaded the Lebovits home in 1941 when she was 19. They killed her father and all the healthy Jewish men in the neighborhood. She was to lose 32 family members, along the way being placed in four different concentration camps over the years, with only her sister Jenny and herself surviving. Lebovits became a nurse and worked for The United Nations' Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNNRA), Medical Services for the United Nations. Her job involved giving medical attention to displaced persons. While in Sweden, she was employed at the World Jewish Congress in Stockholm and lobbied for Israel, working behind the scenes prior to Israel becoming a state. She has remained a strong supporter of Israel for many years and mentioned that when Israel was declared a State, she and her friends cried in the streets.

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

Fanny travelled to South Africa, where she met her husband, Louis Krasner, a jeweler. They lived in Johannesberg for 31 years, raising a family while Fanny volunteered for several Jewish organizations. Fanny is past President of the Pacific Southwest Region of Hadassah and has been a member for years. She has received the Woman of Distinction Honor for her many years of service. City Council Member Barbara Bry has presented Fanny with a “Woman Of Valor” plaque as well. She has received other numerous awards for her dedication to charitable Jewish organizations and is a member of Temple Beth El in La Jolla. “It’s the mutual obligation of our survivors and national leaders to instill in the current and future generation the understanding of what happens when hatred and injustice is allowed to flourish,” Lebovits has said of the importance of speaking about the events of the Holocaust and supporting Zionist organizations. Recently, she spoke at the Jewish Community Center in La Jolla for the “Stand Up Against Hate” event. Fanny reminds us to teach future generations consequences of hate and to build bridges with others. She is currently writing her memoir. MALKA FREIDENREICH KEMPNER Malka Freidenreich Kempner was born in Radom, Poland August 28, 1922. Malka means “Queen”, and in German Freidenreich means happy and rich, something Malka is proud of. She is the youngest of four children. Her siblings were David, Frances and Hannah. Her father, Icek was from Warsaw and owned a store which was named for her mother, Terca. The store provided custom leather shoes and also sold chocolates, nuts and candies. Icek was a man of faith and taught his family that no matter what happened to pray and believe in G-d. In November of 1938, during Kristal Nacht, Malka was only 16 years old. The family’s store was taken away and they were forced to move from their home to a nearby ghetto. A salesman who was 12 years older than Malka, named David Kempner, visited Malka’s parents to locate a friend. Later, Kempner would sneak into the women’s barracks at Auschwitz, and told Malka that if they survived the war, that he would marry her. In 1945, along with 800 Jews, Malka was marched through the snow by the Germans and huddled in a garage, covered in snow and mud. They marched through the snow and at one point, were ordered to lie down on top of one another. Thinking they would be shot and killed, no one moved until the Americans came and liberated them. Unbeknownst to Malka, David Kempner had sent 14 letters from Italy searching for her after the war ended.

She finally received one and arranged for David to come back to Germany to find her. In 1948, they were married in Stutgard and then came to the United States via Ellis Island. Malka’s son Irv was born in 1950 and her daughter, Tes, was born in 1960. She has three married grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren with one more on the way. “Never say never, be strong, continue on as things will change and you will be happy,” Malka said; reiterating the teachings her father once told her. Five years ago, she wrote a book called Good With a Needle, From Radom to Redemption, which can be purchased through Amazon with 100% of the proceeds funding a scholarship for the March of the Living. HINDA SIMONS ROBINSON Hinda Simons Robinson was born October 31, 1925 in Paterson, New Jersey. She was the youngest of three children and lived with her parents, grandfather “Zeda”, brother Myron and sister Bernice in a town where everyone watched out for each other. During World War II, Hinda worked for the Cloak and Suiter, a company making women’s suits. This quickly changed to a company making uniforms for the army on the second floor of an older building. Hinda’s future husband, Herman attended college in North Carolina, where he sent her a poem every day they were apart. They were married June 14, 1947. They had four children, and now Hinda has eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, with one more on the way. Over the years, Hinda developed a love of writing children’s books and managed the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association

(YMYWHA) in Paterson, New Jersey. Today, she is a member of the B’Nai Tikvah Congregation in Carlsbad, where she occasionally teaches Yiddish classes. She is affectionately and respectfully referred to as one of the three matriarchs of the temple. Asked what is most important to her, Hinda replied that helping one another is the most important thing in life and she quoted her favorite saying as, “This too shall pass.” “If I did not have G-d in my life, I don’t know how I would make out,” she said. “I am one with G-d and when called to the bimah, I feel closer to what I am born to do.” JANE OSSER KATZ Jane Osser Katz is also a matriarch of the B’Nai Tikvah Synagogue. She was born November 24, 1923, and is originally from Manistique, Mich., where she was raised with her sisters Bernice and Ada Fay. Katz met and married her husband, Rabbi Samuel H. Katz, an Orthodox Rabbi, when she was 23. Together, they raised four children and Jane later became a school teacher. The family moved to Los Angeles, where Jane continued teaching elementary school and did so for 30 years. Her husband became the Rabbi for a congregation in the Fairfax area called Ohev Shalom. They built a house for their family near third and Fairfax close to the Farmer’s Market. Her children are Susan, Shalom, Ethel and Ira. Today, she has five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Katz said some of the best advice her mother gave her was, “No matter what, don’t ever let ever let others know they upset you.” She recommends to the youth of today to love their spouse, always to treat others well, to have a job whenever possible and to save their money. She has a great smile and a twinkle in her eye. WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

SENIORS

BY DEBORAH FINEBLUM | JNS.ORG

JEWISH SENIORS LEARN

LOVE CAN HAPPEN AT ANY AGE Harriet is convinced grief needs to be approached with as much courage as possible. “When you embrace your grief and don’t dodge the hard work, you can come out healed,” she says. “You still miss your spouse, but you can let go of the anger PHOTO COURTESY OF HARRIET VOGEL and depression.” The next step, even at an advanced age, can be determining when one is ready to love again. “It came as a complete surprise,” says Harris Jaffe, 74, who did not expect to marry again after his first wife died. “But I’m so glad I [remarried]. We had a deep and profound love, and wanted to do this before God. That’s the only reason we would go through the mishegas (craziness) of getting married again and blending families.” “[My second wife had] been through a bitter divorce, but for her the past was in the past,” he says. “We had a wonderful five years together. She was my blessing even when she was so ill and probably didn’t feel like a blessing. She taught me that love can happen at any age.” Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz, an expert on Jewish marriage who teaches at the Ohr Somayach yeshiva in Jerusalem, recommends to “allow yourself the time to work through the grief before attempting love again.” Synagogues and other Jewish institutions can help with the bereavement process. At the Shira Ruskay Center, a program of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in New York, eightweek groups help seniors through what can be a challenging and Harriet Vogel with her book, Sad Is Not Bad: It’s How We Grieve After We’ve Loved. Vogel met her current love online at age 73 — after grieving sufficiently to be open to someone new following the death of her husband.

fter her husband Jerry died, Harriet Vogel started writing letters to him. “I began doing it because it was therapeutic and comforting,” says Harriet, a grief counselor who has worked with New York-area hospice programs. Ten years later, those letters to Jerry form the backbone of her book Sad Is Not Bad: It’s How We Grieve After We’ve Loved, which includes guidance and advice derived from Harriet’s life and her years of counseling those who have also lost spouses. Five years ago, at age 73, Harriet met her current love online — after grieving sufficiently to be open to someone new. “It’s absolutely wonderful to love and be loved again,” she says. 14

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

MENSCHES OF SAN DIEGO painful time. The sessions tap into the rich trove of Jewish mourning traditions with a prayer or Torah teaching, designed to provide comfort and inspiration. “Each discussion of Jewish mourning traditions leads to sharing and support,” says Miriam Herscher, a chaplain and social worker who is part of the center’s team of clergy and counselors. “What we do is “normalize” what they’re feeling,” she says. “We walk with them part of the way on their grief journey.” Jaffe, a graduate of the Ruskay Centre’s program, says he signed up the year after his second wife’s death in part because it was something he didn’t make the time for when his previous wife had died many years earlier. “Back then I had a young daughter who needed me and a demanding job — I know I suppressed my own grieving,” he says. “But this time I made it a priority.” On the opposite end of the country, Rabbi Aliza Berk works with San Diego-based Jewish seniors in a six-week bereavement group through the LightBridge Hospice Community Foundation. “The greatest thing they come away with is the feeling that they are not alone,” she says. “We offer a safe place for them to cry and laugh, to share their feelings and learn how to cope.” The sessions cover the basics of Jewish mourning, from shiva (the first seven days) to shloshim (the first month) to yahrzeit (death anniversary), as well as Jewish views on the afterlife. Rabbi Breitowitz explains that the pain of losing a spouse “seems like it will never go away, and a person might even feel disloyal to their late spouse by even considering remarriage.” Yet “in life and love, second chances can be deep and loving,” he says. Judaism tends to encourage remarriage, says Moshe Raichman, who directs ChabadMatch.com. Since the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement is committed to “love and marriage at any age,” Chabad maintains a global network of shadchanim (matchmakers), some of whom specialize in helping older singles. “Marriage isn’t just a practical arrangement. At any age, it’s the chance for a true soul mate,” says Rabbi Simon Jacobson, author of Toward a Meaningful Life: The Wisdom of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson and dean of the Meaningful Life Center. “Older love can go beyond the physical, intellectual and emotional. No longer distracted by looks, you can appreciate their personality and soul. You know that intimacy is more about trust than lust.” Getting remarried “is the biggest compliment you can pay your late spouse,” says Rabbi Reuven Belka, author of Jewish Marriage: A Halakhic Ethic. “Not only would your husband or wife not be angry,” he says, “assuming they loved you, they’d want you not to be alone.”

MICHAEL R. MANTELL, PH.D. My wife and I moved to San Diego almost 40 years ago. She was offered a job here and we didn't hesitate to move. I am an author, keynote speaker, and director of transformational behavior coaching at a premier fitness camp. For more than four decades, I’ve been teaching young people, couples, families, CEOs and professional athletes who want to lose weight and gain. I've helped people explore new goals, dig out of the “rut”, open a new realm of possibly and detoxify their limiting beliefs. My life’s career has been anchored in empowering education, teaching and inspiring positivity and skill-power for achieving optimal health. “Do what you love and the money will follow,” has been my driving motto in developing my calling. My career teaching others how to think healthier has never been a “job,” but rather a calling. The reward of teaching another how to discover the confidence they need to create the life they envision, is simple: it’s a mitzvah. If I could sum up my life with hashtags, these would trend: #ThinkWell #FeelWell #EatWell #MoveWell #SleepWell #LiveWell To learn more visit lchaimmagazine.com/chaifiveprojects and search social media for the hashtag #MENSCHESOFSANDIEGO WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

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SENIORS

BY MAAYAN JAFFE | JNS.ORG

KOSHER MEALS ON WHEELS

PROGRAMS EMPOWER SENIORS AND VOLUNTEERS ALIKE A delivery by the kosher Meals on Wheels program in Minneapolis. PHOTOS COURTESY OF JFCS OF MINNEAPOLIS

eth sits patiently at her dining room table, waiting for her Kosher Meals on Wheels (MOW) volunteer to arrive. A visit from a volunteer means dinner, which Beth receives five days a week from the kosher MOW program, run by the Torah Learning Center in Overland Park, Kan. It also means some much-needed socializing.

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

“I look forward to them stopping in and chatting for a few minutes,” says the nonagenarian, who depends on the meals to continue living independently. “I don’t know what I’d do without Meals and Wheels. I have kept kosher since I was a little girl. It means so much to me and it would be so difficult,” notes Beth, which is a

pseudonym because the woman interviewed asked to remain anonymous. Beth’s story is not atypical. While a kosher MOW in larger cities with thousands of Jewish senior citizens may seem like an obvious option to offer, it is less so in smaller towns, where there may be fewer seniors or people with disabilities who desire kosher

food. Nonetheless, there are more than a handful of successful kosher programs. That’s because the program is not solely about the food — though that is still an important component, explains Esther Friedman, director of Kansas’s kosher MOW program. MOW is about “bringing joy, conversation, community connection and friendship to isolated Jewish older adults,” Friedman says. “It’s about empowering our community, including teen volunteers, to fulfill the important mitzvah of hiddur p’nai zaken, respect for the elderly,” says Friedman. In Minneapolis, Minn., kosher MOW started around 20 years ago and is today a thriving organization, serving 24,000 meals per year. The program, funded by the local Jewish Federation through grants and private donors, employs four drivers who deliver food on four different routes. The meals cost around $15 apiece, when including overhead, according to Annette Sandler, director of aging and disability for Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) of Minneapolis. JFCS runs the program. While considered an official MOW, the JFCS program does not receive MOW national funds. Usually, MOW offers a kick-off grant to get new programs started, but then franchises must fundraise and sustain themselves on their own. “Not all of our recipients did or want to keep kosher,” Sandler says. “But it is culturally specific food that they understand. It is not a ham and cheese sandwich or pork chops.” The Minneapolis program receives referrals from city and county case managers, as well as through other areas within JFCS. Sometimes, synagogues or individuals make referrals. Minneapolis kosher MOW will take anyone who qualifies and encourages people to pay what they can, up to $5.50 per

meal. But some recipients cannot pay, and nobody is turned away. “A couple of years ago, a driver went to the deliver a meal to a particular client and the person didn’t answer her door,” Sandler recalls. “The policy is that the driver calls the office and we follow up. The case manager called and called and then reached out to the emergency contact, but could not get through. Then we called the police.” When the police arrived at the client’s home, it discovered she had fallen on a Friday and was still there, on the floor, several days later on Monday. Her hip was broken. She was alive, but severely dehydrated. An ambulance rushed the elderly woman to the hospital for care. She survived. “Our program, the daily visits, that is what saved her life,” Sandler says. In just two years, Friedman has already had similar experiences. The Kansas initiative is funded through private donors and grants. It supplies around 13,000 meals to between 40 and 50 recipients, depending on the time of year. Meals are prepared at one of the area’s Chabad-Lubavitch centers and delivered by volunteers. It costs Kansas around $13 per meal, including overhead. As is the case in Minneapolis, where recipients tend to be among the community’s poorest individuals, Kansas recipients are asked to contribute toward their meals, but many cannot afford to do so. Friedman says kosher MOW accomplishes three goals: feeding the hungry, respecting the elderly, and infusing the Jewish value of tikkun olam (repairing the world) into the next generation of Jewish philanthropists and leaders. The Kansas program is almost fully volunteer-run. Parents come with their children, and there are dozens of teen volunteers.

“The young volunteers learn to cook, they learn about kashrut, about holiday times and the foods associated with those holidays,” Friedman says. “We have a rabbi on board and the young people feel comfortable in this setting to ask their questions, so it accomplishes that, too.” She adds, “So many people come together to do a kindness to make this happen in our community. There are people who donate food, people who package it, the drivers and the people that come to cook and deliver. It is not just that it takes a village — it is a village.” That’s how Montgomery County (Maryland) kosher MOW volunteer Bill Zanoff describes his role. He has been volunteering as a delivery driver for 10 years. In Montgomery County, the program is funded with county dollars through the community’s Senior Food & Nutrition Program. The meals — in Montgomery County they deliver both lunch and dinner — range in content from tuna sandwiches or lasagna for lunch to chicken, turkey or meatloaf for dinner, as well as sides of fruits, veggies and desserts. Zanoff says he enjoys meeting the seniors and knows how grateful the recipients are. “Sometimes, I am the only person they see during the day, their only human contact,” he says. But Zanoff gets a lot out of it, too. “I think we get more out of it,” says Zanoff. “The drivers feel so good after we deliver.” According to Diane Hays-Earp, who runs the Montgomery County program, there are 80 kosher MOW volunteers who are “the lifeblood” of the program. “People are worried about the future, the Jewish future,” Friedman says. “This program is about the here and now. Every meal brings life today.” WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

FEATURE STORY

SAN DIEGO

HISTORY

CENTER

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

FEATURE STORY

ne of the oldest and largest historical organizations on the West Coast, the San Diego History Center is solely devoted to preserving San Diego’s collective history and bringing it to life and enhancing community identity. The History Center was established in 1928 by noted philanthropist, businessman and civic leader George W. Marston. The History Center presents dynamic, engaging exhibitions and programs highlighting what makes San Diego unique and the region’s emerging role in the 21st century. There is something for everyone, young and young-at-heart, including exhibitions and events that are of particular interest for our San Diego Jewish Community. Here’s a sample of what’s going on at the History Center, and upcoming not to be missed, programs: CELEBRATE SAN DIEGO! THE HISTORY & HERITAGE OF SAN DIEGO’S JEWISH COMMUNITY MARCH 12, 2017 – MAY 20, 2018

An exhibition that chronicles the history of San Diego’s Jewish community beginning with pioneers who arrived in 1850 looking for adventure, good weather, better health, and, above all, the opportunity to make the American dream their own. It follows their path as they faced obstacles such race restrictions in some neighborhood subdivisions in La Jolla, during the early 20th Century, and surged with the founding of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and UCSD to become the thriving community we are today. The exhibition also touches on the diversity of San Diego’s Jewish community; 19% of whom were born outside of the U.S., mainly in Mexico. Film: To the Ends of the Earth: The Jews of San Diego This is the second of a four-part series of documentaries from filmmaker Isaac Artenstein, chronicling the Jewish experience in the American Southwest. It is also one of the most exciting features of Celebrate San Diego! As the common narrative of the American West has centered on Anglo-American pioneers, Artenstein set out to explore the important role played by San Diego’s Jewish Community in settling the region. Our hometown is home to the second oldest organized Jewish community in California, and the first city in California to have a

recorded Jewish observance. The film goes as far as to explore the community’s roots through Mexico to Europe. FILM: BALBOA PARK, THE JEWEL OF SAN DIEGO ONGOING

Featuring stunning aerial vistas juxtaposed with historical images, this documentary film provides an introduction to Balboa Park for visitors. Using state-of-the-art motion graphics, three-dimensional mapping, an original soundtrack and photomontages, the 30–minute capsule history explores the Park from the heights of the California Tower to underground museum collections—an unforgettable visual experience. PRESERVING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY SERIES: GENEALOGY DAY OCTOBER 21, 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM

several 19th-century English immigrants. He has been pursuing his elusive ancestors since 1988 and has been online since 1992. Randy is a former President of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) and is currently the Newsletter Editor and Research Chair. In this presentation, Randy will explore the research journey to find the ancestors of his wife’s great-grandmother, Jane (Whittle) McKnew (1847-1921). She married in Gold Country, had a family of 11 children, survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and died in San Francisco. Jane was born in Australia to parents who were born and married in England. Most of the research was done with online resources and in a collaborative environment. Come watch Randy unveil a fascinating family history worthy of a “Who Do You Think You Are?” television episode.

This event should be attended by anyone who is looking to create a narrative for the genealogical research on their family. It is part of the “Preserving your Family History” series and made possible by a partnership with the Genealogical Society of San Diego. These are some of the most intriguing session titles of Genealogy Day, and their presenter’s bios:

PETER STEELQUIST “RESEARCHING LOCAL LIBRARIES: YOUR GUIDE TO SUCCESS”

DAWN PARRETT THURSTON “BE A GOOD ANCESTOR: WRITE YOUR OWN STORY”

DEL RITCHART “GENSMARTS–USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO ASSIST WITH YOUR RESEARCH”

Many of us would like to write about our lives, so our descendants will know who we are, what we experienced, and how we felt about the important issues of our time. We want our stories not only to be informative but also compelling. This class will show you how to structure your narrative, reveal yourself and your era through your story, and write honestly about sensitive issues. Dawn Thurston’s family history writing courses have been called “life-changing,” and “the class I’ve long been looking for.” She helped hundreds of students write and publish their life stories and family histories at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, where she received the “Faculty Excellence Award” in 2008. She has also shared her expertise with students at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. RANDY SEAVER “DISCOVERING JANE’S ROOTS IN CALIFORNIA, AUSTRALIA, AND ENGLAND”

Randy Seaver is a 4th generation San Diegan. His ancestry is mainly colonial New England and Upper Atlantic, with some colonial German, French and Dutch forebears, and

This presentation will cover how to effectively research genealogy library collections and what local libraries and archives offer the genealogical researcher. Peter Steelquist, past President of the San Diego Genealogical Society, has been actively pursuing his family history for 29 years.

GENSMARTS is a software program that analyzes most popular Genealogy programs to detect missing data and suggest sources for finding the information. Del began researching his family history in 1994. He has served in leadership positions in several San Diego genealogy organizations THE SAN DIEGO HISTORY CENTER HOSTS DOZENS OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS EVERY YEAR AT THE HISTORY CENTER IN BALBOA PARK AND THE SERRA MUSEUM IN PRESIDIO PARK. POPULAR ADULT PROGRAMS INCLUDE WALKING TOURS, LECTURES, EXHIBITION RECEPTIONS, CURATORS’ TALKS, HAPPY HOURS, FASHION EVENTS, MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATIONS, FILMS, MUSICAL PRESENTATIONS, SYMPOSIA AND COLLABORATIVE EVENTS WITH OTHER CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. THEY ALSO OFFER FAMILY-THEMED PROGRAMS SUCH AS READINGS AND WORKSHOPS. SANDIEGOHISTORY.ORG WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

FOOD

KOSHEROLOGY SOUTHERN MONEY BAGS WITH HONEY BOURBON MAYO STORY & PHOTOS BY ALEX THE KOSHEROLOGIST KOSHEROLOGY.COM

This recipe combines two of the South’s favorite dishes, accentuated by curedsmoked turkey leg.

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

FOOD

Makes 20 Money Bags As a fourth generation Atlanta native, I have naturally developed a strong affinity toward traditional Southern fare. Growing up, there was always some sort of Southern cuisine gracing my family’s Sabbath or holiday table-including collard greens and black-eyed-peas. In the American South, collard greens and black-eyed-peas are viewed as foods symbolic of monetary wealth: the collards symbolizing dollar bills (greenbacks, y’all) and the black-eyed-peas symbolizing change. This awesome recipe combines two of the South’s favorite dishes, accentuated by cured-smoked turkey leg (in lieu of the ham-a southern cooking staple), and is wrapped and fried to look like little money bags-symbolic of our prayers for monetary stability in the coming year.

MONEY BAGS • 1 lb. Egg-roll wrappers • 4 cups prepared or 2 cans black-eyed• •

peas, drained 4 cups prepared or 2 cans Allen’s Collard Greens, drained 1 Aaron’s smoked turkey leg or thigh,

pulled and chopped into small pieces

• 6 cups vegetable oil for frying

HONEY-BOURBON MAYO • 1/2 cup mayonnaise • 1/4 cup honey • 1/8 cup bourbon • 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika • 1/4 tsp. kosher salt Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and creamy. 1. In a large bowl, combine the black-eyedpeas, collard greens, and smoked turkey leg pieces. To form the bags, scoop 2 tablespoons of the pea/greens mixture onto the center of each egg-roll wrapper. Using water, moisten the area around the filling and gently fold (“scrunch”) each wrapper into the shape of a small bag. 2. In a medium pot, heat the oil to 365°. (test to see if the oil has reached frying temperature by placing a small piece of eggroll wrapper or a small piece of onion.) Fry 2-3 bags at a time (do not overcrowd the pot) for

approximately 2-3 minutes, or until goldenbrown. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper-towel lined cookie sheet/sheet pan. Serve with Honey Bourbon Mayo and enjoy. BORN AND BRED IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH, ALEX ‘THE KOSHEROLOGIST’ IDOV, WAS RAISED ON COLLARD GREENS STEWED WITH SMOKED TURKEY LEG (IN PLACE OF HAM HOCKS), BLACKEYED-PEAS, AND BRUNSWICK STEW. HE BOASTS BEING A 4TH GENERATION JEWISH SOUTHERNER, WITH ONE OF HIS GREAT-GRANDMOTHER’S BORN IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA IN 1888. HIS OTHER GREAT-GRANDPARENTS HAILED FROM RUSSIA, POLAND, AND FRANCEINSPIRING MUCH OF HIS COOKING WITH THE CUISINES OF HIS HERITAGE. ALEX’S CULINARY REPERTOIRE GOES BEYOND TRADITIONAL JEWISH AND SOUTHERN FARE, AS HE REVISITS AND REINVENTS THE CUISINES OF HIS ANCESTORS. ALEX HOLDS A BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN CULINARY SUSTAINABILITY AND HOSPITALITY FROM THE KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY MICHAEL A. LEVEN SCHOOL OF CULINARY SUSTAINABILITY AND HOSPITALITY AND WORKS AS A FREELANCE FOOD WRITER. FIND MORE RECIPES AT KOSHEROLOGY.COM

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CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN JEWISH EDUCATION Local teachers meet at conference for Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education BY BARBARA BIRENBAUM

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

his summer, 10 local Jewish educators attended NewCAJE8, an educational conference put on by the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education, which was held at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. For 40 years, two generations of Jewish educators have been connecting to each other and to their higher purpose through this innovational conference with visionary, Cherie Koller-Fox, president and founder of NewCAJE. “It’s home for excellence in Jewish education, deepening educators’ knowledge base, creating year-round support networks, higher standards for benefits and compensation, food for mind, body and soul of an educator,” says BeLinda Singer. “This conference is a major event that we look forward to all year! It brings great joy to be together.” This year the group from San Diego included BeLinda Singer and me from Congregation Beth Am; Anita Ip, Sara Kaminski and Leora Lazarus from the San Diego Jewish Academy Preschool; Ellen Statman, Sue Brown and Steffi Retin from Ohr Shalom Synagogue; Becky Combest from Temple EmanuEl; and Naomi Gabai-Fisher from Congregation B’nai Tikvah. This conference is simply the best place to share, explore, review and re'jew'venate with the best theories and practices in Jewish education from across the country. Unfortunately, there were only ten of us. While the conference fees are reasonable, accommodations comfortable and the returns enormous, too few community foundation and professional growth dollars are going toward sending educators to the gift that is NewCAJE. The gifts that we bring back from our NewCAJE experiences are invaluable to an educator’s development, to their students, faculties and communities. It’s not hard to imagine the ripples through

our whole San Diego Jewish community if more of us attended regularly. NewCAJE is like Jewish Camp for teachers. Welcoming to all ages, all movements, all levels, all degrees, ordinations and positions, this pluralistic Jewish Educators conference has been, for these past five years, the most consistent source of inspiration and support as well as a significant factor toward my success as an educator. There’s serious scholarly study, pedagogic programming, and experiential models for music, dance, art and enrichment. Every day and night we find connections, make contacts, enjoy concerts and kick back at kumsitz (late night gathering with singing, dancing, laughing and fun). Everywhere you turn there’s encouragement, challenge, togetherness and growth. Workshops abound for creative approaches to prayer, powerful programing as well as basics for beginners conducted by participant presenters who add a healthy dose of perspective and collaboration. Each year renowned Jewish musicians as well as emerging artists make the most beautiful music together. One of my NewCAJE take-aways is how I choose a different artist’s music and lyrics in my Jewish studies classes to help my students engage with a passionate and profound impact. The conference draws the best and the brightest Jewish educators, musicians, storytellers, teachers, artists and scholars. Many submit proposals in addition to registration fees for the chance to present a workshop or two over the course of the four-day conference. For the full experience, I choose to attend for Shabbat two days early. These extra sacred hours of rest and renewal, prayer and perspective, introspection and intensives are an incredible inspiration for the Jew in me. Among the hundreds of workshop and presentation proposals that are submitted and organized by a dedicated team of volunteers into the conference program, I have been selected to present

one of my specialties, Israeli Folk Dance Fun, for the past three years. Just like in every community with Jews, NewCAJE naturally attracts lots of people who love Israeli folk dance. One year I led a grand evening session and another year after two sessions and one rehearsal, I led a group performance on the main stage. Locally I teach adult Israeli Folk Dance Fun sessions as well as Israeli Chair Dance sessions at several retirement communities around town. I’m branching out to include Jewish preschools, I’m developing a danceinfused Kabbalat Shabbat service and am available for community events and simchas. While I was once the only educator from San Diego, an amazing delegation of 45 of us, led by Marcia Tatz Wollner, attended NewCAJE5 in 2014 with the help of a Federation grant when the conference took place in Los Angeles. With so many teachers inspired each year, it’s pretty easy to see how the benefits would blossom in our Jewish classrooms. If attending NewCAJE was a priority and seen as a critical opportunity wherever it’s held year after year, schools, congregations, and foundations could budget funds for San Diego’s Jewish educators to experience this conference annually. Can you imagine the rippling impact on young children and early childhood educators; to the families who attend Jewish supplemental and day schools; and on madrichim through youth programming to life-long learners? My wish for this new year is that we can increase awareness and appreciation for the unparalleled effects of investing in Jewish educators at NewCAJE9 and beyond. FOR MORE INFORMATION, NEWCAJE.ORG.

VISIT

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FEATURE STORY

SHABBAT SD IS GLOBAL MODEL MORE THAN 20,000 SAN DIEGANS WILL PARTICIPATE; JOINING TWO MILLION PEOPLE IN 90 COUNTRIES

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

habbat San Diego will be celebrating its fourth year of inclusive, uplifting, spiritually inspirational activities, October 26-28. The San Diego Jewish community will participate with more than two million others globally from 90 countries also celebrating International Unity Shabbat. “We anticipate 20,000 members of the San Diego Jewish community uniting and engaging in this collectively meaningful religious and spiritual experience,” Michelle Lyons, this year’s co-chair of Shabbat San Diego says. “Individuals, families, friendship groups and more from 130 organizations including synagogues, schools, community organizations and youth groups, will come together with one positive purpose – to celebrate a weekly tradition that has been observed by Jews for more than 3,500 years – the holy Shabbat.” On Thursday, Oct. 26, men, women and children from all walks of Jewish life are invited to join a Challah Bake at multiple locations throughout the county. Participants will be provided with the necessary ingredients and personalized instruction on how to braid the dough to take it home to bake, serve and savor with family and friends. “The heart of our momentous program is Shabbat, which begins at sundown on Friday, October 27 and ends at sundown on Saturday, October 28,” this year’s CoChair Tamara Klein says. “Following prayer services at local synagogues throughout San Diego on Friday evening, Shabbat San Diego will match guests with many congregations and private host homes to enjoy a richly prepared Shabbat dinner.” A special highlight this year is a

communal Shabbat dinner at the San Diego History Center that will include a tour of the exhibition “Celebrate San Diego! The History and Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community.” On Saturday evening, October 28, there will be a Havdalah concert, free of charge, featuring the internationally celebrated “Moshav Band,” followed by an open dessert reception for all attendees. “Havdalah is a personally meaningful ceremony that marks the end of Shabbat and welcomes the coming of a new week,” explains Lyons. Shabbat San Diego is underwritten by the Mizel Family Foundation and includes additional major sponsors such as the Leichtag Foundation, San Diego Private Bank, Sunroad Automotive, Isakow Foundation, Westfield and the Jewish Federation of San Diego County. To participate fully in these activities, Shabbat San Diego requests everyone register by going to https://shabbatsandiego.org. SHABBAT SAN DIEGO IS AN INDEPENDENT GRASSROOTS, INCLUSIVE AND EGALITARIAN ORGANIZATION OF VOLUNTEERS DEDICATED TO ENCOURAGING THE ENTIRE SAN DIEGO JEWISH COMMUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNATIONAL JEWISH IDENTITY EVENT. SHABBAT SAN DIEGO IS PART OF INTERNATIONAL UNITY SHABBAT TAKING PLACE IN MORE THAN 1,200 CITIES AND 90 COUNTRIES AROUND THE GLOBE. THE GOALS ARE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TO HAVE THEIR MOST MEANINGFUL SHABBAT YET, TOGETHER BUILD A UNIFIED COMMUNITY, AND ENJOY GLOBAL IDENTITY, PRIDE AND SOLIDARITY. FOLLOW SHABBAT SAN DIEGO ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, AND PINTEREST.

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FEATURE STORY | BY ELIANA RUDEE | jns.org

niche birthright israel trip for lgbtq Jews, trip offers raw emotion and self-discovery A Birthright Israel trip participant with a Jewish gay pride flag parade on the Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv. PHOTO BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FACEBOOK PAGE

“It’s a deconstructed Star of David,” said Amy Osaiason, showing off the arm tattoo that she and two other LGBTQ Birthright Israel trip participants had just gotten in Tel Aviv’s Shuk HaCarmel market. “This is the 18th tattoo for the two others, and this is my second,” she said. “It’s symbolic of this trip to Israel and it points to my other tattoo, the chai (the Hebrew word for ‘life’ and the numerical equivalent of 18) on my wrist that I got as a result of my first trip to Israel.” Bex Zank, another participant on the trip, then showed a tattoo, a “95,” which represented both the year Zank was born and the group’s Birthright bus number. Zank recounted the events of the previous night, which some trip participants called the most meaningful night of their lives and the first time they could be exactly who they are. The group sat around a campfire, sharing their coming-out stories. Bex came out as nonbinary — not fully identifying as male or female. As Zank began to cry, describing coming out on Instagram while riding a camel in the mountains, a group of new friends linked arms and hugged each other in support. “I’ve cried more this week than I’ve ever cried in my life,” Zank said. Since 2000, Birthright has provided free 10-day educational and cultural trips to Israel for nearly 600,000 Jews ages 18-26. 28

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

Niche Birthright trips like the LGBTQ trip ensure that all eligible participants feel they have a place in the often transformative experience of discovering Israel. The trip taken by Zank and Osaiason could be seen as particularly symbolic coming on the heels of June’s anti-Semitic incident at the Chicago Dyke March, where three people were kicked out of the event because their gay pride flag featured the Star of David. LGBTQ trips cover the usual Birthright itinerary, including classic sites like the Western Wall, Masada, the Dead Sea and Tel Aviv. But participants also have LGBTQ-relevant experiences, such as visiting the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance or participating in Tel Aviv’s gay pride parade. While participants mentioned challenges such as trans and nonbinary individuals trying to choose between the men’s and women’s prayer areas at the Western Wall, they also spoke of intensely positive emotions and finding a sense of meaning. Osaiason, who used to visit the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., left a note in the Western Wall for her friend who survived the shooting attack that killed 49 people at the gay nightclub in 2016. Many participants felt an intense sense of community among their peers. For most on the trip, it was the first time they met fellow LGBTQ Jews. “I feel more connected to Judaism and Israel now,” said Osaiason, who dismissed anti-Israel boycotts and claims of “pinkwashing” — the idea that Israel promotes gay rights as a means of covering up alleged human rights abuses against the Palestinians — as “propaganda and nonsensical.” At the same time, some participants maintained that Israel has a long way to go on improving LGBTQ rights and addressing the issue of homophobia outside of Tel Aviv. Osaiason expressed the desire to bring home some of the traditions she learned in Israel, such as lighting Shabbat candles, having a family Shabbat dinner and speaking Hebrew. She also wants to return to Israel for another visit. “It was so raw and emotional,” Osaiason said. “Something about being in the desert with each other allowed us to be our true selves.” ELIANA RUDEE IS A FELLOW WITH THE NEWS AND PUBLIC POLICY GROUP HAYM SALOMON CENTER. HER BYLINES HAVE BEEN FEATURED IN USA TODAY, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, FORBES, AND THE HILL.

FEATURE STORY

CANCER RESEARCH

Award-winning Israeli Cancer Researcher says Immunotherapy is the Future of Treatment BY SEAN SAVAGE | jns.org

rapidly aging population and increased environmental risks have led cancer to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in parts of the Western world. Researchers remain a long way from eradicating cancer, but several new treatments may offer hope. On the cutting edge of cancer research in Israel is Prof. Yosef Yarden of the Weizmann Institute. Earlier this year, Yarden was awarded the Israel Prize — the state’s highest honor — in life science research. 30

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

Born in 1952, Yarden received degrees in biology and geology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a molecular biology doctorate from the Weizmann Institute. He is known for his discovery of the function of an enzyme that strengthens the chemical signals that lead cells to become cancerous, especially in breast, ovarian and lung tumors. Much of his work is centered on EGFR and HER2, which belong to a family of growth factor receptors that play a crucial role in tumor progression. Yarden’s

findings have laid the foundation for the creation of new cancer treatments such as immunotherapy, which uses the body’s immune system to help fight cancer. JNS.org spoke with Yarden while he was in New York attending a fundraiser for the Israel Cancer Research Fund, which supports Israeli scientists in their efforts to find a cure and treatments for cancer. JNS: Could you explain the nature of the

research that led to you receiving the Israel Prize?

YOSEF YARDEN: “I became interested in

the connection not only between genes and cancer, but also specific molecules called growth factors. “Cancer tumors need to collaborate with the human body. To them it is a hostile system and environment. They find a way to recruit the human body or host; they attract blood vessels for oxygen and sugars, minerals, vitamins, etc….so they can sustain themselves. Somebody needs to take care of them and feed them. The way they do that is by sending signals to the human body, telling them that they are a new organ here and to take care of it, [to] supply the oxygen and all of the goodies. “The growth factors are what tell the body that this is a new organ here — you’ve never seen it before, but that organ is growing very rapidly, kind of like an embryo. Those are the growth factors. “We started a way to block the growth factors, because that is kind of the key of collaboration between the tumor and the host.” JNS: How does your research relate to

immunotherapy? JY: “Immunotherapy is at the very heart of my research. One clear way to void the growth factors is to use antibodies. Antibodies are molecules — we can engineer them to get rid of growth factors. Now, we can engineer the antibodies to make them suitable for injecting into human patients. Sometimes they are very effective in blocking cancer.” JNS: You believe that immunotherapy is

preferable to traditional forms of combating cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation. Why? JY: “Radiation is one way to slow down the proliferation of cancer cells. Unlike most cells in our body, that are resting and rarely divide, cancer cells are rapidly dividing. Chemotherapy and radiation slow down the rate of proliferation, but it comes with an enormous cost. There are some cells that are rapidly dividing and this affects them, such as hair and skin cells, gastrointestinal cells, red and white blood cells etc….it is very hard for patients.

Consul General of Israel in New York Dani Dayan, the Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Yosef Yarden and Israel Cancer Research Fund President Rob Densen at the consul general’s residence. PHOTO BY PERRY BINDELGLASS

“The new generation of immunotherapy antibodies are in fact biological molecules and the body naturally uses them, so they come with very mild side effects. The future is very much in immunotherapy.” JNS: What impact has the Israel Cancer

Research Fund (ICRF) had on your career, and throughout Israel? JY: “In many aspects, Israel is considered a superpower in the field of cancer research worldwide — proportionally, in terms of breakthroughs, volumes of findings, pharmacology of cancer and even the success of cancer treatment of patients in Israel. “ICRF is committed to basic research, which we know is a precondition of actual early detection and prevention of cancer. The ICRF serves as a major player in the Israeli arena that deals with cancer research and early detection research. “The ICRF has supported me in the past 30-plus years. I always remember my first grant from the ICRF in 1988, which helped me in my first critical steps early in my career. They gave me money for seven years, which is still today my longest period of grant money. It is very critical, timely and very generous.”

JNS: What do you love about being a

research scientist? JY: “I believe it is a great time to be a cancer researcher today, with all the new promising breakthroughs. When I began, we were just shooting in the dark. Cancer is such a difficult disease to model, to mimic and study. Since it may develop so slowly in the body, initially dormant, nobody can detect it. Then it emerges sometimes when we are old, and it attacks us. “I think one major milestone in my career was the completion of the human genome project around the millennium. It helped us enter a new era in cancer research. It gave us, in a way, a roadmap of cancer and a listing of all of the mutations. “The tricky thing about cancer is, it is very individualized. A particular person with kidney cancer may be different than another person with kidney cancer. Now we understand that, and we have to tailor therapy and treatment to every patient according to their cancer genome, not even the human one. The cancer genome is essentially a copy of a human genome, except it comes with several mutations. The mutations push cancer forward. And they are a major target of our research.” WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM

FEATURE STORY | BY ORIT ARFA | jns.org

jewish beard-growers strive to be the face of global facial hair showdown Haim Hoffmann, a German champion for the “Imperial Beard,” at the Otto Weidt Workshop for the Blind Museum in Berlin. PHOTO COURTESY ORIT ARFA

isitors to the Otto Weidt Workshop for the Blind Museum in Berlin would need to be blind not to notice Haim Hoffmann — or rather, his weird beard — as he asks them to leave their backpacks at the reception desk before entering this former brush factory that was used to save Jews during the Holocaust. “You should try that,” a Jewish tourist from Florida told her husband, pointing to Hoffmann’s strange sprout. “It’s called the ‘Three-day Freestyle,’” Hoffman, the museum’s shift manager, joked about his scraggly hair growth. Hoffman should know. He’s the German champion for the “Imperial Beard” — in which a sizable mustache-beard arches upward, in the style of German Emperor Wilhelm. He took second place at the 2017 World Beard and Mustache Championships (WBMC) in Austin, Texas, in September. Born in Germany to Polish Holocaust survivors who eventually made aliyah, Hoffmann came to Berlin in 1970 with a scruffy mustache for a “post-army trek.” 32

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Neither the mustache nor the trek ever ended. With stints as a truck driver and bar owner, he eventually made his professional home at the museum in 2001 and started competing in mustache and beard competitions in 2012. But Hoffmann doesn’t like to take attention away from the museum’s righteous namesake, Otto Weidt, also known as the “blind Schindler,” even though it’s inevitable. Speaking in Hebrew at the artsy courtyard outside the museum, Hoffmann said he’s particularly popular among children who visit the venue. Occasionally, he overhears young Israeli women talk about his beard in Hebrew, not imagining he’d be Israeli. “They say, ‘Oh, my God! See how he looks! What is that? What kind of shape is that?’” Hoffmann said. When he’d surprise them with Hebrew, they’d turn apologetic. “Then they start to say, ‘It’s nice, looks cool.’ At the end, they ask, ‘Could we take a picture of you?’” he said. One would think that Jews, with their religion’s bearded rabbinic tradition, would

be well-represented at fuzzy competitions. Bryan Nelson, president of the Austin Facial Hair Club and organizer of this year’s WBMC, counts at least a handful of “Members of the Tribe” among the recordhigh 700 contestants. In fact, a judge and leader in the female category — don’t worry, female beards are fake! — is Jewess Jodi Mitnick of New Jersey, founder of “The Whiskerinas,” a women’s beard and mustache society. WBMC competitor Regev Nyström, of Chicago, has Israeli roots — his mother was born in Kiryat Gat. Today, he’s active in his local Reform synagogue. “A lot of people are hardly shocked when they find out I’m Jewish, and they guess I’m more Orthodox than I am because of the beard — not a problem until someone starts trying to speak to me in Yiddish,” Nyström said. And while haredi Jews with long, traditional beards may be prime candidates to enter such contests, there are Jewish restrictions. Styling such beards sometimes involves shaving the hair with a blade, which is forbidden according to the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish law. The Shulchan Aruch also sets limits on how much time a man can spend primping himself in front of a mirror, to avoid vanity. Hoffman, for example, spends about 45 minutes every morning styling his beard with a blow dryer, after applying beard oil to soften it overnight. But perhaps the rabbinate could give a concession for Nystrom’s next idea: “I’m still contemplating a style — possibly a Magen David?” Next June, many more Jews will have their big, bearded chance. The 2018 Open European Beard Championships are being held in Tel Aviv.

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GUEST COLUMN | BY JUDITH BUCHMAN-ZIV

one more thing

Caught in the Middle of Contentious Agendas

s we reflect on the New Year and hope for good things to come, we, as Jews are in a precarious situation. Are we caught in the middle of two contentious agendas? Do we need to confront the Neo-Nazis, head on, show up at their demonstrations and be more vocal? Can we support the left’s agenda as they supposedly support equality, while so many of the different movements are turning against Israel? Israel must improve its public relations. There are so many people who enjoy a good and modern life there, including many Arab women doctors, teachers and lawyers. Israel needs to show that there is a fair judiciary system. The country is not perfect, but it is not the monster depicted in the media, nor is it an apartheid state. We must be aware that the anti-Israel sentiments coming from the left are dangerous in the U.S., as many are trying to equate the oppression of African Americans, Native Americans up to the Dakota pipeline to Palestinian issues. The fact is, many 34

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

Israelis, particularly the Israeli-left, long for a more egalitarian society, with less orthodox influence, and call for Bibi Netanyahu to step down. Although I agree with most of that, I am finding myself on occasion wishing to hush them about vocalizing their anger in a destructive manner in the media. So the big question we reflect on today is, “can we, as Jews, afford to criticize Israel?” How can we do this without making her “look bad” in the eyes of the world?” I often wish to ask the Haaretz readers to tone down their rhetoric when criticizing this small country with 6.5 million Jews and 1.5 million Arabs. (6,419,000 Jews and 1,786,000 Arabs to be more precise. See Wikipedia for a total breakdown of Israel’s population). As the left in Israeli society works toward getting more progressive candidates into leadership positions, can we, as Jews, treat Israel like any other country? Because the Jews really do have a lot of enemies and haters out there, as we have learned more so in recent months. And to anyone who supports BDS, aka the

desire to cripple Israel’s economy and thus endanger the livelihood of Israelis, Arabs, Druze and the other ethnicities living and prospering in Israel, I call on them to educate themselves and take on a much more serious cause; maybe women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, maybe the oppression of the Yazidis, the Kurds, the Christians in Syria, the suffering in Yemen or the Congo. I say to them, educate yourselves, please. It’s time to wake up. We’re caught in the middle: the alt-right and Neo- Nazis are trying to spread, and the left is being brainwashed to be an anti-Zionist, antiJewish homeland. I am being vocal about this today, on the New Year, not to be political, but to express my support of my fellow Jews and Israel. I am proud to be leftist, liberal and a lover of Israel. We all need to be strong and proactive against the anti-Semitic AND anti-Zionist banter! Many think they can hijack the seekers of social and racial justice and turn them all against Israel. Tomorrow does not belong to the haters. I am proud to wear a T-shirt or carry a sign anywhere, anytime, stating that I am liberal, support equality and justice for all -- and support a homeland for the Jews. We need to be more vocal. Shana Tovah and praying for a Shnat Shalom – a year of peace and tolerance for all. This column does not necessarily reflect the views of L'CHAIM or its publishers. If you would like to submit your own commentary, email editor@lchaimmagazine.com.

BY CHANA JENNY WEISBERG l FAMILY

jewish

mom.com Gilad She'ar's Final Diary

hree years have passed since Jews around the world were united in prayer and tears following the kidnapping and brutal murder of Gilad She’ar, Naftali Frankel, and Eyal Yifrach. Ten months after their brutal murder, Israeli police officers presented Gilad She’ar’s mother with an unexpected gift — Gilad’s diary, which had been miraculously discovered within the burnt wreckage of the kidnappers’ car. “Hours after the police detectives left, I couldn’t stop shaking,” Gilad’s mother, Bat-Galim, recalls. In this red spiral notebook, several months before his murder, Gilad wrote: Last Monday I was the prayer-leader in yeshiva for Shacharit and Mincha. Before praying, I prepared myself to serve as a messenger, that the prayers would pass from the congregation to HaKadosh Baruch Hu through me. This was an empowering and special experience. I was very moved while praying. I tried to focus and purify my prayer and I felt amazing. Now I pray that many more of my prayers will be like that. Because right after I lead prayers, I fall. I come late to prayers, and sometimes I miss. But today, I decided that I am going to stop falling. I am going to stop falling with sins, falling with despair, I’m not going to let this have power over me. I hope to succeed. With the help of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Another day Gilad wrote: There is something special about me!

Finally, I feel that I have found something strong within me. Life force. That’s what I call it. I feel that I have a great force of vitality within me. This expresses itself with great happiness which I try to experience (I wasn’t given this beautiful name, Gil-Ad [literally “Eternal Joy”], for nothing). This expresses itself with the strong love that I feel, for family, for friends. I have infinite power for love which desires good for my loved ones and those close to me. Which wants to be close to them. And that makes me happy. Gilad’s profound reflections remind me what true soul-searching looks like. They remind me, as well, of the infinite, Divine

potential of a child’s soul. CHANA JENNY WEISBERG, THE CREATOR OF JEWISHMOM.COM, IS A STAY-HOME MOTHER OF 8 CHILDREN LIVING IN JERUSALEM WITH HER HUSBAND, RABBI JOSHUA WEISBERG. ORIGINALLY FROM BALTIMORE, CHANA JENNY HAS DEVOTED HER NON-MOM TIME OVER THE PAST DECADE TO PROVIDING INSPIRATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR OTHER JEWISH MOMS THROUGH HER POPULAR BOOKS EXPECTING MIRACLES AND ONE BABY STEP AT A TIME.

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DR. SOL LIZERBRAM TAKES HELM

AT JEWISH NATIONAL FUND Dr. Sol Lizerbram, the newly-elected president of Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA), is an entrepreneur and visionary. He is an award-winning medical professional who co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board of HealthFusion, a web-based cloud computing software developer for medical practitioners and healthcare providers. He has been recognized by the California State Senate for his valuable contributions to healthcare and was a former health advisor to California Governor Jerry Brown. As President of Jewish National Fund, the first to hail from the West Coast and a long-time resident of San Diego, he said that he is “deeply humbled and honored to step into the shoes of the many leaders who have come before me.” Lizerbram assumed the position of President at the beginning of Jewish National Fund’s 2018 fiscal year on October 1. He will be honored at JNF’s 2017 National Conference gala in South Florida in November. “We are tremendously grateful and fortunate to have Sol as the president of our organization,” said Jewish National Fund CEO Russell F. Robinson. “Not only does he bring institutional knowledge to the position, but he also has the passion and commitment necessary to continue to elevate JNF’s role as we work to achieve the goals of our visionary One Billion Dollar Roadmap for the Next Decade campaign.” Upon hearing the announcement of Dr. Lizerbram’s new role at Jewish National Fund, California Governor Jerry Brown remarked “Sol is not only a good friend, he’s a great leader.” Lizerbram, who assumes one of the key roles in Jewish philanthropy, succeeds Jeff Levine, who now becomes Chairman of the Board. During his time in office, Lizerbram said, Levine introduced the One Billion Dollar Roadmap for the Next Decade campaign, which has reached $450 million and continues to grow. According to Lizerbram, under Levine’s watch, Jewish National Fund introduced “the revolutionary $100 million Boruchin Israel Education and Advocacy Center. This center and the Billion Dollar campaign are game changers in our work and what we accomplish every day for the land and the people of Israel.” Levine, for his part, says that leading Jewish National Fund is one of the proudest experiences he’s had in his life, and he has full faith and confidence in Lizerbram: “I am so happy to see my legacy go into the worthy hands of my good friend, Sol Lizerbram. He will be great for the West Coast.” Jewish National Fund introduced the One Billion Dollar Roadmap for the Next Decade campaign in 2013 and has now raised over $450 million. The campaign channels Jewish National Fund’s values for ground breaking new ventures and revenue is invested in a range of initiatives that include infrastructure for new communities in the north and south, protecting the environment, providing essential services for those with special needs and strengthening the link to the past with heritage sites preservation. On a recent trip to Israel during the 50th Anniversary of Jerusalem’s

L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

Reunification Mission, Lizerbram remarked that he met with the key individuals who carry out the important work, and the countless beneficiaries impacted by Jewish National Fund supporters. “I had the good fortune to meet with community leaders, mayors, government ministers and the president and prime minister themselves – all who deeply appreciate and recognize that without Jewish National Fund and the contributions we receive, Israel would not be the country that it is today. When I began my involvement with JNF 35 years ago, never did I imagine sitting and discussing our homeland’s past, present and future with its key influencers and decision makers,” he added. Looking back, Lizerbram explained that it all began after he graduated medical school and moved from Philadelphia to California with his wife, Lauren. Not long after settling in San Diego, he was invited to serve on the local Jewish National Fund board and later served as its President Eventually he joined the national board two decades ago. “Lauren has been my co-partner through it all and also served as our Board President. Now,” he explained, “she will have a national role as Presidential Advisor. We view JNF and its donors as extended family, one that has drawn us closer to Israel and to Jews across the diaspora. Like any family, we have our differences and challenges. I know that there will be times when the politics of Israel will charge us emotionally. I know there will be times when it faces unfair criticism. I also know that it is up to us to draw on our common bond – of building a stronger, better, more secure Israel. That is what unites us and what differentiates Jewish National Fund. We build.” Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA) will host this year’s national conference in South Florida at The Diplomat Resort and Spa from November 10-13 (3555 S. Ocean Drive, Hollywood, FL 33019). JNF’s conference brings together over a thousand committed leaders, philanthropists, young professionals, college and high school students from across the country and Israel for an impactful three-day experience to learn about the key issues of the day facing Israel and the world Jewish community. Some of the invited speakers include: Ron Dermer, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S.; Gilrad Erdan, Israel’s Minister of Public Safety; Ronald S. Lauder, JNF Chairman of the Board; Jose Maria Aznar, former President of the Government of Spain, and many others. To register, please visit jnf.org/nc. For more information contact Amy Penchansky at apenchansky@jnf.org or 212.879.9305 x804.

BY STEPHANIE LEWIS l HUMOR

mazel

& mishagoss Fiddler on the Roof Uses Craiglist? WANTED

Woodworker: Willing to build one long staircase just going up and one even longer coming down. And one more leading nowhere, just for show. (I’m a poor man, but dairy products for carpentry skills? We don’t eat like kings, but we don’t starve either!) Contact Tevye. Nanny/Housekeeper: Must know the way to make a proper home, a quiet home, a kosher home. Who must raise the family and run the home, so Papa’s free to read the holy book? Qualified candidates should contact Ms. Golde at the Women’s Lib Center in Anatevka. Diamond ring: For I’m longing to be….the envy of all I see. Contact Little Bird, Little Chavala. (Everybody’s favorite child!) Dream Analyst: I’m been having some doozies lately. You’ll have a field day. Contact Tevye.

FOR SALE

Pearls, Pearls, Pearls!: Contact Fruma Sarah. (Owner of “Beyond the Grave” Consignment Shop) Love: It’s a new style. A whole new world. Ask your mate, “Do you love me?” Then ask yourself, “Do I love him?” Perfect matches made with fondness and affection! No more “You heard he has a temper, he’ll beat you every night. But only when he’s sober…. so you’re alright!” Contact Yente (True? Of course true!)

Clothing: Made by machine. See how close and even the stitches are? No more handmade clothes! Contact Motel Kamzoil, The Tailor. GPS -- New, still in box. Traveling “Far from the home you love?” Soon you’ll be a stranger in a strange new place, searching for an old familiar face. Easy to install! P.O. Box 613, Siberia Settlement.

LOST

Violin: Left on rooftop while trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking my neck. Contact The Fiddler, Isaac Stern. My head: Some day it fell off and a horse kicked it in the mud and Goodbye Yente! My Bride-to-Be: Stolen right out from under my butcher knife! If you see Tzeitel, please return her to Lazar Wolf. (We had an agreement. We drank on it!) My Children: The Little Girl I Carried and The Little Boy At Play. Misplaced at sunrise or sunset. Brokenhearted. Large reward! Contact Golde if found.

FOUND

Horse: Only six years old. It’s really twelve. No, it’s six. Twelve. Six. Twelve! Okay, Age Unknown. But it’s a moot point because now we all live in simple peace and harmony. 3 Bumper Stickers: One says, “Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness.” Another says, “A husband isn’t to look at … a husband

is to GET.” The last one says, “Even the worst husband, G-d forbid, is better than no husband, G-d forbid.” A Man: Suddenly materialized. Out of a worthless lump of clay, G-d has made a man today. Wonder of Wonders, Miracles of Miracles. Please identify him and he’s yours!

TRADE

Wedding Veil: I’ll bring the veil, you bring the groom, slender and pale. Contact Hodel. Bottle Dance lessons For Russian Ballet classes: Contact Fyedka An Eye For An Eye – (And a tooth for a tooth!) Very good. Then the whole world will be blind and toothless! Contact Tevye. Lessons For Food! – Daughters should learn too. Girls are people. I’d be willing to teach them, open their minds to great thoughts! Contact Perchik. JOBS Hiring Director: Idea for a musical set in prerevolutionary Russia where a Jewish peasant contends with marrying off his three daughters while a growing anti-Semetic sentiment threatens his home. We’re hopeful this will be Broadway bound! A REGULAR HUFFINGTON POST WRITER, STEPHANIE D. LEWIS IS AVAILABLE FOR ALL YOUR HUMOR NEEDS THEQUOTEGAL@YAHOO.COM.

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L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017