JEWISH FEDERATION OF the desert 69-710 Highway 111 Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 (760) 324-4737
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Permit #113 Santa Ana, CA
Fragile: Handle with Care
Every day, thousands of elderly Jews here at home, in Israel and around the world are fed, sheltered and given the care and love they deserve. From emergency financial assistance to medical care to transportation, with your help we can provide Jewish seniors with the help they need to live with dignity.
On the cover....
FRAGILE:
CElia Norian
HANDLE WITH CARE
President
Every day, thousands of elderly Jews here at home, in Israel and around the world are fed, sheltered and given the care and love they deserve. From emergency financial assistance to medical care to transportation, with your help we can provide Jewish seniors with the help they need to live with dignity.
jewish federation BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers and Executive Committee Celia Norian, President Sondi Green & Libby Hoffman, Vice Presidents, Campaign Vernon Kozlen, Treasurer Bernard Reiter, Secretary Lainie Weil, President, Women’s Philanthropy Allan Lehmann & Phil Glass, Allocations Nancy Ditlove, Major Gifts Roberta Nyman, Immediate Past President Howard Levy, Immediate Past President
We are in the midst of our annual campaign to raise funds for the Jewish Federation of the Desert. Our major fund-raising events have and will be taking place soon. The dollars raised will go towards the projects and programs that are and will be supported by us. Our professional staff, the Federation Board and committee members are diligently getting our message out, talking about the needs here in the Coachella Valley, in Israel and of Jews around the world. We are speaking with donors about how our dollars work to care for the vulnerable, how we support programs that enhance Jewish life in our community,
Board
Joseph Bernstein Sandra Borns Elliott Cohen Ellen Glass James Graff-Radford Fran Kaufman Marvin Lewis
Jason Novack Allan Nyman Dr. Paul Ross Stephanie Ross Elisa Schwartz Sandy Seplow Amy Stone
Bruce Landgarten, Chief Executive Officer
Table of Contents Vol. 39 • No. 7
Calendar Federation Education Programs Endowment Women's Philanthropy Jewish Family Service Schools Simchas & Classifieds Temples Tolerance Education Center Tributes
12-13 2, 3, 24 2-6 23 4 15 23 22 12 15 14
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and how we intervene when crises arise. We also talk about the community based programs which we underwrite, as the annual Yom Ha’Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance) observance, Yom Ha’Aztmaut (Israel Independence Day) celebration, and the excellent Education Day programs put on by our Women’s Philanthropy Board. We are also working on the disbursement of the funds raised. The Allocations committee has begun its work. This committee sends out grant applications to those organizations and agencies that have received funding grants from us in the past and those that have made new requests. The applications must be completed and returned to Federation by the beginning of March. At that time, each grant application is reviewed by the committee members. The requests are looked over for adherence to the values and mission of the Federation. The total
allocable dollars are based on the dollars raised during our annual campaign, minus expenses. Recommendations from the Allocations committee are made to the full Board in June. More discussions may take place; and the final vote is taken. The grant recipients are then notified. Each year we receive more requests than we have dollars to allocate. We have difficult decisions to make regarding which programs are to receive funding. It would be wonderful to be able to let everyone who asks be told that they will receive the full amount of their request. Dreaming? Maybe. However, wouldn’t that be nice? You can help to make this dream a reality. Take a few minutes and think about the richness of your life. It can be made fuller by making a contribution to the Jewish Federation of the Desert. You can truly be part of making dreams come true.
Support the 2014 Federation Campaign
From the CEO
Promise and Potential Bruce Landgarten Jewish Federation Chief Executive Officer
People frequently ask me what is the prime or busy time for Federation. As far as I’m concerned it’s prime all year around. But if I were to give a definitive answer, what comes to mind is September and January, which are two very important months at the Jewish Federation. Each month marks a time to begin again, with both promise and potential. September brings the Jewish New Year and January brings the secular New Year. Each are turning point months, integral to Federation. September marks the beginning of our Federation season – people returning to the Desert from their other home communities. Our campaign ignites, our programming begins, our Board and committees swing into action. In January our annual campaign speeds up as we move from a somewhat quiet phase -- under the radar solicitations with major donors -- to a broader, more
public phase. Both transitions always are stimulating. The beginnings of these two months - September and January – are filled with hope and promise. I believe this is because we are an organization that does many things well. And so these new beginnings continue to bring me confidence that we will do things well and continue to make a significant impact on people’s lives. February 1st marks my 4 years here in the Desert as Federation CEO. In this time I have realized two significant impressions: That there is an abundant supply of donor dollars available for our Federation and our partner organizations, and there is a healthy cadre of volunteers who want to be involved in the work of our mission driven efforts. It has been a challenge at times to raise money. But I feel that coming up short has never been a result of money not being available, but rather it has been a result of how we could better deliver our message and mission to repair the world in a more thought out and compelling, well executed manner. As we approach each September and January, I feel strongly, with unbounded confidence, in The Federation’s ability to raise money
to enrich the world. I have served in the Jewish Communal non-profit field since 1983, long enough to know that challenges, even those which at first seem daunting, can be met, and these solutions often wind up lifting our Federation to an even better place. As we begin our 2014 campaign, we are a bit ahead of what we raised last year – it has been gaining traction,
slowly but surely. So, as we begin 2014, I extend my profound thanks to so many of you for your continued generosity, support of Federation, and warm, personal friendship. Be it September or January, my feelings are the same each year: That I have a job beyond what I could have ever wished for, and I’m grateful for it.
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 3
Women's Philanthropy
760-324-4737 Pomegranate Luncheon Monday February 17th at the Jewish Federation. Couvert $30 $1500 minimum contribution to 2014 Federation Annual Campaign.
Day Trip to the “Life and Legacy of Anne Frank” Exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance,
Los Angeles Monday, March 31st Registration is now open for the International Lion of Judah Conference at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, September 7-10, 2014. Contact Barbara Ben-David for further information.
$50 per person includes the ticket to the Exhibit, transportation and a boxed lunch. There is a limited number of places. RSVP by February 17 to assure your place. Call Linn Menne at the Federation Office.
In December Mega-Mentalist Sidney Friedman was up in lights in Times Square … and this February he will be here to enthrall, excite and entertain us.
INSIGHTS
From Times Square to Rancho Mirage Wednesday, February 26, 2014 11:30 am at the Westin Mission Hills Resort Rancho Mirage Couvert $40 Invitations are in the mail. Call Linn Menne at the Federation Office if you didn’t receive your invitation. To attend requires a minimum contribution of $180 to the 2014 Federation Annual Campaign.
For more information contact Women’s Philanthropy Director Barbara Ben-David at 760-324-4737 or barbara.bendavid@jfedps.org. 4 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
JEWISH COMMUNITY NEWS A Publication of the Jewish Federation of the Desert VOL. 39, No. 7
EDITORIAL Bruce Landgarten, Chief Executive Officer Miriam H. Bent, Editor Bailey & Co., Layout & Design JCN STATEMENT The Jewish Community News seeks to provide news and feature material of special interest to its readership, and to create a heightened sense of Jewish identity through the dissemination of information about people, events and issues at home and abroad. The JCN seeks to serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas and opinions in the Jewish community. The JCN is published monthly, ten months a year by the Jewish Federation of the Desert, 69-710 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270, 760-324-4737, fax 760-324-3154. Articles & Advertising, Miriam H. Bent, Editor 760-323-0255, fax 760-320-6085, e-mail-mhbentjcn@earthlink.net ADVERTISING The JCN does not endorse the goods or services advertised in its pages and makes no representation as to the kashrut of food products and services in such advertising. The publisher shall not be liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, it fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement. Acceptance of advertisers and of advertising copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The JCN is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the JCN from all claims made by government agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads carried in the JCN.
Former Head of Bank of Israel Nominated as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve financial downturn. Fischer submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January 2013. He told the prime minister that he wanted to step down in April, but Netanyahu convinced him to delay the resignation until June. His term was originally set to end in 2015. Fischer, 70, was born in Northern Stanley Fischer Rhodesia (now Zambia) and lived top choice for some time. Fischer said in Southern Rhodesia (modern he was “deeply honored” and added, Zimbabwe) before his family moved “The Fed will continue to play a critical to the United States. He served as the role in restoring and maintaining the chief economist at the World Bank health of the economy, and I look in the late 1980s and as first deputy forward, if confirmed by the Senate, to managing director of the International working to the best of my ability with Monetary Fund from 1994 to 2001. Janet Yellen and my future colleagues He moved to Israel in 2005 to take over Israel’s Central Bank and left the to achieve its policy goals.” According to the Wall Street Journal country for the US after resigning in and Israel’s Channel 2 news, the White June. House had been close to nominating Fischer since December to be Janet To apply for Emergency Yellen’s second in command at the Funds from the US’s central bank. Fischer was touted as a possible choice to take over the Fed chairmanship from Ben Bernanke, but Yellen eventually got the nod. Fischer left his post with the Bank of Israel in the summer and was recently call the replaced by Karnit Flug. He had served Jewish Federation as the bank’s governor from 2005, and was credited with successfully 760-324-4737 steering the country through the global Former Bank of Israel head Stanley Fischer has been nominated by President Obama to serve as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Fischer had been the administration’s
Janet Yellin
TZEDAKAH FUND
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 5
Technion Program Prepares Hareidim for Hi-Tech By Ari Yashar, Arutz Sheva
Amid high tensions over the integration of hareidi-religious Jews into the Israel Defese Force (IDF) and the workforce, Israel's Technion Institute of Technology has inaugurated a mechina (university preparatory) program specifically designed to attract more hareidim into its hi-tech programs. While hareidi schools are supposed to teach 55%-75% "core studies," including science and math, the website No Camels reports that many hareidi schools do not follow the guidelines, teaching a curriculum that emphasizes Torah study to the omission of secular studies. The Technion's new 18 month
program aims to bring hareidi students up to speed on subjects they may be behind on, and allow them to continue studies at the university. In doing so, the program seeks to track into the workforce greater numbers of hareidim. MK Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid), Chair of the Knesset Lobby for Job Integration in the Hareidi community, spoke in support of the Technion program. "There is now a very high percentage, higher than ever before of first graders who are hareidim," noted Lipman. "Twelve years down the road, we are talking about a high percentage of first graders who are not receiving a basic general
Technion program for hareidi
education, are not being trained to enter the workforce." “It is very important to understand that the hareidim who do go into the academia and go into the workforce are very brave, because the pressures in their community are against them
doing so, and therefore those who are coming are coming from a position of weakness, both economically and socially," states Lipman. Lipman asserts that hareidi students at the Technion can fully integrate their religious and professional lives, saying "they are provided with an opportunity to remain haredim, but also to receive an education at the highest of levels, which will then bring them into the workforce at the highest of levels. And in doing this, we will be saving this community from poverty and broader Israel from an economic catastrophe. I can think of no better investment for the future of Israel."
Overseas Work May Qualify as National Service The work of 100 Israeli men serving overseas as emissaries on behalf of Chabad can count as national service, a Knesset committee decided. On January 6th, the Special Committee for the Equal Sharing of the Burden voted to include the plan as part of legislation that would require most haredi Orthodox Israeli men to serve in the military or perform national service. The legislation is being prepared for its second and third reading in front of the Knesset plenum. The committee approved the plan, recommended by Elazar Stern of the Hatnua party, by a 5-3 vote. Stern was the chief education officer in the Israel Defense Forces
6 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
(IDF) and oversaw the expulsion of Jewish settlers from Gush Katif. IDF officials objected to the plan, saying it would make it more difficult to draft other haredi men and that it will not help integrate the men into Israeli society, according to reports. Volunteers for Magen David Adom, Zaka and the Israel Police already receive the status of national service, which in some cases can be served in exchange for military service. Upon the completion of national service, those who served in the military or national service receive an end-of-service grant that can be used for higher education and other specific purposes.
Israel Names Arrow Site After Former U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye By Ariel Ben Solomon, Jpost
Israel named an Arrow defense missile facility after deceased former U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye for his contribution to Israel, marking the first time Israel has named a military facility after a non-Israeli. The ceremony took place on January 14 at a secret military facility, and Inouye’s wife, Irene, was the honored special guest of the Defense Ministry. “I knew Inouye for 30 years, and he was Israel’s greatest supporter in Congress,” said Robert Asher, a former president of AIPAC. Asher, who helped coordinate the events, said that after Inouye died in 2012, the former AIPAC president had told
Prime Minister Binyamin N e t a nya h u that the country should do something in his memory. The U.S. Senator following day, Daniel Inouye Irene Inouye presented the inaugural scholarship in Inouye’s memory at the Israel Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem – an elite charter high school that Asher and his wife, Mary Jane, founded over 20 years ago. The school combines the humanities and sciences and has
students from all sectors of Israeli society. Asher speaks passionately about Inouye, an honored World War II veteran, recalling how he developed a dedication to Jews and Judaism after studying their history. At one point, Inouye told Asher that he had even considered converting to Judaism. “The Jews are a remarkable people,” Inouye had told him. Asher recalled that the senator “had a mezuzah on the doors of all five of his offices,” as well as “something Israeli in each of them.” He recounted a conversation he had witnessed in the mid-1980s between Inouye and Shimon Peres,
when the latter was prime minister. “We speak kind of Israel in Congress and loan to Israel at high interest rates, but give grants to others – that is not right,” Inouye told Peres. “Mr. Prime Minister, I have studied the situation – there will be no more loans to Israel,” he declared – implying that from then on, Israel would be receiving grants. “Peres’s jaw dropped, and he turned white,” said Asher. “Think how much [aid] Israel has gotten all together. [Inouye] was the guy who started it.” The Arrow system combines “Israeli brains and U.S. finance,” Asher said, insisting that without Inouye, there would have been no U.S. aid.
Representing Buyers and Sellers throughout the desert for more than 27 years When you think of real estate, "Just Ring a Bell"
760.902.9206 rng.bell@aol.com/www.beverlybell.com JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 7
Becoming Part of Israel’s “Intelligence Defense Force” By Jeremy Ginsberg
This past December I took part in an exciting and eye-opening 16 day trip to Israel, on a program called The Hasbara Fellowship. The purpose of this trip was to enable me, and the other 15 students from college campuses around California and across the U.S., to experience Israel in a way that none of us had before, so we could go back to our collegiate, professional, and private lives and become better advocates for Israel. In a world where college campuses around the country are rife with anti-Israel propaganda, trained Israel activists are necessary and very much needed to counter the rhetoric in defense of our Jewish homeland. From the first day it was obvious that this trip was nothing like the trip I had experienced on Birthright Israel. We were there to see what you normally don't visit Israel for. From
Hasbara Fellowship participants with Haifa University professor Elliot Chodoff, former Israel ambassador to Sweden Zvi Mazel and Jerusalem Post journalists Gil Hoffman and Klaled Abu Toameh.
Lebanon border, we were faced with the reality that Israel is in constant On the Golan Heights, below sign showing danger. For all of us, that reality the proximity of Syria, Iraq and Jordan’s capitols to Israel. (Jeremy is on the right). served to strengthen our resolve to fight more actively and effectively for experiencing the ‘bomb shelters Israel’s security and survival. capital of the world’ in Sderot, seeing This program collected some of an Iron Dome battery near Ashkelon, the greatest educators, politicians, and being 10 feet from the volatile and journalists to give us insights on the internal Israel government, confronting us with the hard questions and teaching us how to answer them. It will enable us, and the hundreds of other students that have attended Hasbara Fellowship over the years, to embrace the logo imprinted on the green tee shirts we were given when we arrived, that we are part of Israel’s “Intelligence Defense Force.” I thank the Jewish Federation of
8 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
In front of the Knesset
the Desert, the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Hillel, for providing me with funding to allow me to take part in such an amazing and important program which is currently helping me, as President of American Students for Israel at the University of California Santa Barbara, to defend Israel on my college campus.
Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Laid to Rest by Arutz Sheva Staff and AFP
Ariel Sharon died at the age of 85 on January 11, 2014, after being in a coma for eight years, following a massive stroke. Foreign dignitaries attending the funeral on January 13th included U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Sharon was laid to rest at his Havat Hashikmim (Sycamore Ranch) in the Negev, next to his late wife Lily. "Arik, you were the shoulder on whom Israel's security rested," said President Shimon Peres, standing in the Knesset plaza alongside Sharon's flag-draped coffin. "The story of your life is bound to the story of this country. And your life was dedicated to the life of this country. "Your footprints are imprinted on every hill and in every valley," Peres went on. "You cultivated the land with your scythe and defended it with your sword. Your fingerprints are on every diplomatic situation and every military outpost. You took and implemented the difficult decisions. You never rested in service of your people, when defending your land and making it flourish. The land from which you came will embrace you
in the warm arms of the history of our nation to which you added an unforgettable chapter." “This man had a commanding presence,” said Biden, the first foreign speaker at the event. “He filled the room. When the subject of Israeli security arose, which it always did, you immediately understood how he acquired the nickname 'Bulldozer'. He was indomitable. Sharon was a complex man who engendered strong opinions from everyone,” Biden went on. “But like all real leaders, he had a north star that guided him. His north star was the survival of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. “In the late 90's he said 'Before
Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres in the Knesset 2½ months before his stroke.
and above all else, I am a Jew. I am concerned with the future of Israel in 3 years, 300 years, a thousand years'. Because he possessed such physical and political courage he never
deviated from that 'preoccupation' with Israel, as he called it. “We have an expression in the States: 'never in doubt.' Arik seemed never in doubt. There were times when he acted and these actions earned him condemnations. But American presidents were never shy with him when they wanted to air their differences, nor was he with them. He was a complex man who also lived in complex times and in a very complex neighborhood. It is time for Israelis to look at the arc of his life, which is also the arc of Israel's history. Through it all, the U.S. has been unflagging in its commitment to the state of Israel. We have never failed to defend Israel's legitimacy and no one has any doubt where America stands with regard to Israel's security. That will never change.” Blair spoke next, observing "the idea that (Sharon) changed from a man of war to a man of peace misses that which defined him," claiming the Sharon never changed, and his "strategic objective" to secure Israel "never wavered," whether that objective was pursued through "fighting or making peace." "Israel was an idea" to Sharon, claimed Blair, an idea that after centuries of victimhood, the Jewish people "should have a state where they could be independent and free, afraid of no one, equal to everyone."
To apply for Emergency Funds from the
TZEDAKAH FUND Call the Jewish Federation 760-324-4737
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 9
University of California Shifts Calendar to avoid Rosh Hashanah Conflict
By Sammy Caiola, Sacramento Bee
A University of California policy intended to avoid religious conflicts with move-in days has shifted the academic calendars of the seven UC campuses on the quarterly system, a change that next year will result in later start dates and shorter winter breaks for thousands of students. The policy was issued in June 2007 after members of the Jewish community complained that movein days in 2006 conflicted with the Jewish High Holy Days. Jewish High Holy Days move depending on the lunar-based Jewish calendar. Next year, these holidays fall at the end of September, delaying the start of the academic year until Oct. 2. “Some years when the calendar shifts a few days, this can happen,” said Keith Sterling, UC Davis spokesman. “It wasn’t a change in policy. It probably will happen again in the next six or seven years.”
In 2013 the fall quarter began on September 23 and ended on December 13, giving students a full three weeks of winter break. In 2014, the quarter will begin on October 2 and end on December 19, giving students only two weeks of break before winter classes begin on January 5. About 3 percent of UC students systemwide identify themselves as Jewish, though not all of them are observant, according to the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey from 2010. The University of California at Santa Barbara, UCLA and University of California at Santa Cruz have the largest populations of Jewish students, ranking 32nd, 33rd and 34th respectively on the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life’s top 60 colleges by population. Jim Atkins, executive director of Hillel at UC Santa Cruz, said the
change will make a big difference to Jewish students. “It’s really important to the Jewish faith; it’s like Christmas,” he said of the High Holy Days. “It’s not like students expect to have every Jewish holiday off. But it’s this awful conflict. If it’s the beginning of the year and you don’t show up, sometimes you get kicked out of the class.” David Eden, chief administrative officer at Hillel International, a global Jewish education network, said he has not heard of other institutions adopting policies to avoid conflicting with High Holy Days, but hopes the educational system will continue embracing students of all faiths. “It’s wonderful and extraordinary that the California system is so accommodating to the Jewish people, and we hope they would do the same for other religions with similar conflicts,” said Eden. “It’s the right gesture and the right thing to do.”
The policy covers all major religious holidays and last came into play in 2009, when the late August move-in days for the UC semester schools at Berkeley and Merced conflicted with the Muslim holiday Ramadan. In a June 2007 letter, then-UC president Robert C. Dynes explained the reasoning behind the decision, which was made in conjunction with the university registrars and the Academic Senate. “Representatives of the Jewish community and members of the California Legislature have expressed a desire for the University to avoid the conflicts that have arisen between fall residence hall move-in days and the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” the letter reads, “concerns over previous conflicts led to the development of this policy.
Moroccan Drought Ends after Jews Pray for Rain The Jewish Press
Jews throughout Morocco responded to a plea by King Mohammed VI and prayed for rain during Shabbat services on January 10/11, 2014. “In conformity with the high instructions of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI, commander of the faithful, these prayers will be called
for in all the synagogues to implore the Almighty to spread ample rain throughout the territory of the Kingdom,” the Council of the Jewish Community stated. The Morocco World News reported, “Moroccan Jews performed prayers in all the synagogues in the country,
imploring God to spread bountiful rain on the entire territory of the Kingdom.” Two days after the reiteration of the Simchat Torah rain prayer on the Sabbath, there were abundant thunderstorms across the country.
To apply for Emergency Funds from the
TZEDAKAH FUND call the Jewish Federation 760-324-4737 10 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
U.S. Now Protesting UNESCO’s Dropping Show on Jewish People’s Historic Ties to Land of Israel However State Department Had Declined Invitation to Support the Exhibit a Week Earlier By Times of Israel Staff, JTA and Lazar Berman
The State Department had refused to co-sponsor a UNESCO exhibit, detailing the Jewish people’s 3,500year relationship to the land of Israel, which UNESCO cancelled this week under pressure from Arab countries. The exhibit – created by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, co-organized with UNESCO, and co-sponsored by Israel, Canada, and Montenegro – was to have opened January 21st in Paris. But UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova decided to cancel the exhibit, entitled “The People, the Book, the Land — 3,500 years of ties between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel,” after Arab states in UNESCO protested, arguing it would harm the peace process. “We have a responsibility in ensuring that current efforts in this regard are not endangered,” Bokova wrote in a letter to the Wiesenthal Center. The peace process is “at a delicate stage,” UNESCO’s Assistant DirectorGeneral Eric Fait also wrote to the Wiesenthal Center in a letter made available to The Times of Israel, “and UNESCO is keen to maintain an atmosphere conducive to the negotiations.” Therefore, wrote Fait, “we will have to postpone the exhibition to a later date.” Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Wiesenthal Center’s dean and founder, responded to Bokova in a letter expressing shock and dismay that the exhibition was being pulled. “We insist that you live up to your responsibilities and commitments as the co-organizer of this exhibition by overturning this naked political move that has no place in an institution whose mandate is defined by education, science, and culture — not politics,” Hier wrote in his letter, which was also made available to The Times of Israel. “Failure to do so would confirm to the world that UNESCO is the official address of the Arab narrative of the Middle East.” Hier added, “Madame Director General, we have now reached a
UNESCO's Director General Irina Bokova poses with the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Rabbi Marvin Hier and a poster for the exhibit on the Jewish people's 3,500 connection to the land of Israel which she subsequently cancelled
crucial moment in which you must decide what UNESCO is all about. If you allow the bullying of the Arab Group to derail the presentation of our historical, cultural, and non-political exhibition, then UNESCO will be sending an unmistakable signal to the American people and its elected representatives and to the Canadian people and its elected representatives that it has defaulted on its historic mandate and is now allowing itself to be hijacked by those with a vindictive political motivation.” “Let’s be clear,” wrote Hier, “the Arab Group’s protest is not over any particular content in the exhibition, but rather the very idea of it – that the Jewish people did not come to the Holy Land only after the Nazi Holocaust, but trace their historical and cultural roots in that land for three and a half millennia. If anything will derail hopes for peace and reconciliation among the people of the Middle East, it will be by surrendering to the forces of extremism and torpedoing the opening of this exhibition — jointly vetted and co-organized by UNESCO and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Madame Director General we hope you have the courage to do the right thing and we are still looking forward to cutting the ribbon on the exhibition with you next Monday night, January 20, at
UNESCO headquarters.” Hier sent copies of his letter to US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and others. The State Department said Friday it was outraged at the cancellation of the exhibit. “The United States is deeply disappointed and has engaged with senior levels at UNESCO to confirm that the action to postpone does not represent a cancellation and to underscore our interest in seeing the exhibit proceed as soon as possible,” it said in a statement reported by JTA. “UNESCO was designed to foster just this kind of discussion and interaction between civil society and member states and the United States firmly supports the right of civil society in member states such as the Wiesenthal Center to be heard and to contribute to UNESCO’s mission. We trust that UNESCO will approach this issue fairly and in a manner consistent with the organization’s guidelines and past precedent.” Notwithstanding this professed outrage, however, the State Department had just last week itself declined to co-sponsor the exhibit — in part because of the very reason that Bokova cited for its cancellation: the peace process. Kelly Siekman, the State
Department’s director of UNESCO affairs, wrote to the Wiesenthal Center to this effect on January 9: “At this sensitive juncture in the ongoing Middle East peace process, and after thoughtful consideration with review at the highest levels, we have made the decision that the United States will not be able to co-sponsor the current exhibit during its display at UNESCO headquarters. As a rule, the United States does not co-sponsor exhibits at UNESCO without oversight of content development from conception to final production.” Hier told JTA January 17th that while was pleased at the more recent State Department statement slamming UNESCO, he was baffled by the State Department’s refusal to sponsor the exhibit in the first place. The decision by the US not to co-sponsor was a “major mistake,” he told JTA, and gave cover to the pretext that the exhibition would unsettle the peace process. “What the State Department needs to say is something along the lines of ‘We have vetted the exhibit, and the State Department finds that that the exhibit in no way interferes with [Secretary of State John] Kerry’s mission to carry out talks with leaders of Israel and the Palestinians,’” Hier said. In a bizarre twist, Siekman’s January 9 letter to the Wiesenthal Center declining to sponsor the exhibit, also included the following sentence: “We would like to offer to co-sponsor any exhibit opening ceremony or event that you may have planned.” The Simon Wiesenthal Center had been working closely with UNESCO on the exhibit since 2011, when UNESCO accepted Palestine as a member state, the first UN body to do so. The exhibit was scheduled to run from January 21 through January 30 at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. It had been repeatedly delayed for the past two years, with organizers repeatedly bowing to UNESCO demands to make changes in the displays and literature at the event.
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 11
Local Temples
February Shabbat Schedule
BETH SHALOM
(Member, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) Ken Hailpern, Spiritual Leader 79-733 Country Club Drive Bermuda Dunes bethshalom18@wordpress.com 760-200-3636
Centro Cultural Hebreo de Mexicali
(Conservative) Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico Contact: Ron Cohen www.judiosdemexicali.com 760-960-3392 US (686) 216-7152 Mexico
CHABAD OF PALM SPRINGS & DESERT COMMUNITIES Rabbi Yonason Denebeim 425 Ortega, Palm Springs www.chabadpalmsprings.com 760-325-0774
CHABAD OF PALM DESERT A project of Chabad of Palm Springs & Desert Communities Rabbi Mendy Friedman www.chabadpd.com 760-969-2153 / 760-969-2158
CHABAD OF RANCHO MIRAGE A project of Chabad of Palm Springs & Desert Communities Rabbi Shimon Posner 72295 Via Marta, Rancho Mirage www.chabadrm.com 760-770-7785
Congregation HAR-EL
(Member, Union for Reform Judaism) Rabbi Richard Zionts Har-El Cultural Center 47-535 Hwy 74, Palm Desert harelurj@aol.com 760-779-1691
Congregation Shalom Bayit (Reform) Rabbis Larry and Linda Seidman 1320 Williams Ave., Banning Contact 951-769-3678/769-7514
Beth Shalom
Shabbat Services: 8:00 pm. Oneg follows. Saturdays: Services 9:30 am, followed by kiddush. Morning minyan Mondays and Thursdays at 8:30 am. Friday, February 14-Sunday, February 16: Scholar-inResidence Weekend with Rabbis Joshua and Selilah Kalev. Community invited. See ad page 5.
Chabad of Palm Springs Friday Shabbat services: 20 minutes after candle lighting time. Saturday services: Morning - 9:30 am; Women’s Torah Discussion, led by Sussie Denebeim during Kiddush at noon. Evening: same as evening before.
Chabad of Rancho Mirage
Friday Shabbat services: 4:30 pm Mincha followed by Kabbalat Shabbat: Shabbat morning: 10:00 am followed by sit down Kiddush. Children’s Program/Service 11:15 am. Daily minyan:
TEMPLE ISAIAH
(Conservative) Rabbi Sally Olins 332 West Alejo Road, Palm Springs www.templeisaiahps.com 760-325-2281
TEMPLE SINAI
(Reform) Rabbi Glenn Ettman 73-251 Hovley Lane West, Palm Desert www.templesinaipd.org 760-568-9699
BIKUR CHOLIM
A project of Chabad of Palm Springs & Desert Communities (Community Outreach) Rabbi Yankel Kreiman www.BikurCholimPS.com 760-325-8076
Shacharit services MondayFriday 7:00 am; Sundays 8:00 am.
Desert Hot Springs Jewish Community
Shabbat service Friday, February 7 at 7 pm and Havdallah Plus Saturday, February 15 at 7 pm - Mission Lakes Country Club, 8484 Clubhouse Drive, DHS, officiated by Rabbi Faith Tessler.
Har-El Congregation
Member, Union for Reform Judaism. Kabbalat Shabbat Services Fridays at 5:00 pm followed by a speaker or discussion. February 7 & 14: Kurt Wegner, MD & Anna Berkowitz, PhD “Jewish Hereditary Diseases”
Shalom Bayit (Banning) Havdallah the first Saturday of each month at 5:30 pm. Shabbat Services the third Friday of the month at 7:30 pm. Both held 1320 West Williams Street, Banning.
Temple Isaiah
Shabbat Service at 5:45 pm, preceded by challah, cheese and wine at 5:00 pm Friday Shabbat services February 14, 21, 28 7:30 pm, followed by an Oneg Shabbat. Friday, February 21 & Saturday, February 22 – Cantor David Propis will be Guest Cantor in Residence. See page 7. Saturday mornings: Services 10:00 am. Kiddush following. Morning minyan 8:30 am Mondays and Thursdays.
Temple Sinai
Friday Shabbat services at 7:30 pm. Friday, February 21: Shabbat Zimra Service Saturday: 8:45 am: Torah Study, 10:00 am - Shabbat services. Saturday, February 1 – Bar Mitzvah of Sam Veliz.
Centro Cultural Hebreo de Mexicali
Weekly Shabbat Services Friday at 7:00 pm, followed by dinner. Saturday immediately before sunset: Havdallah.
Friday, February 7 Kabbalat
February Community Calendar Tuesdays 5:30-7:30 pm Chabad Rancho Mirage’s weekly BBQ. Reservations not required, but helpful: 760-770-7785. Wednesdays 10:00 am and 1:30 pm The Tolerance Education Center offers free movies every
12 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
Wednesday. Call for schedule: 760-328-8252. Wednesdays 3:30-5:00 pm Jewish Family Service Jewish Bereavement Group. Meets weekly at the JFS Palm Springs Office, 801 East Tahquitz Canyon. Free to local community and reservations not required.
Monday, February 3, 10, 17, 24 3:45 pm Lecture Series “They’re Coming to California – 1849 to Present.” February 3: Rabbi Richard Zionts; February 10: Rabbi Hillel Cohn; February 17: Rabbi Glenn Ettman; February 24: Rabbi Sally Olins and Robert Fey. At the Jewish Federation. $18 for the Series.
February Community Calendar Continued RSVP to the Jewish Federation, 760-324-4737. See page 2 for details. Monday, February 3, 10, 17, 24 7:00 pm Chabad of Rancho Mirage Men’s Torah Class with Rabbi Benny Lew. For more information call 760-6362897 or email rabbibenny@ chabadrm.com Tuesday, February 4, 11, 18, 25 10 am Temple Sinai Yiddish Club Wednesday, February 5, 12, 19, 26 9:30 am Temple Isaiah adult education class Intermediate Hebrew. Instructor: Rabbi Sally Olins. Wednesday, February 5, 12, 19, 26 10:00 am Chabad Rancho Mirage women’s program “Caffeine for the Soul.” Call 760-770-7785 for more information. Wednesday, February 5 Women’s Philanthropy Lion of Judah Luncheon. Guest speaker: Leah Stern. Minimum gift to Federation Annual Campaign: $5000 ($1100 for out-of-town Lions). See page 4 for more information. Wednesday, February 5, 12, 19, 26 12 Noon Temple Sinai adult education course “Rabbi’s Lunch Class” with Rabbi Glenn Ettman. Wednesday, February 5, 12, 19, 26 1 pm Temple Sinai Bereavement Group Wednesday, February 5, 12, 19, 26
4:00 pm Temple Isaiah adult education class: “The Kings: Saul, David & Solomon.” Instructor: Rabbi Sally Olins. Wednesday, February 5, 12, 19, 26 5:00 pm Temple Isaiah adult education class: Learning Haftorah. Instructor: Rabbi Sally Olins. Thursday, February 6 9:00 am Sun City Hadassah. Movie: “The Price of Kings: Shimon Peres.” RSVP: 760-772-4610. Thursday, February 6, 13, 20, 27 6:30-7:45 pm Chabad Rancho Mirage women’s evening option for “Caffeine for the Soul.” Call 760-770-7785 for more information. Friday, February 7, 14, 21, 28 9:30-10:30 am Temple Isaiah Torah Study with Rabbi Sally Olins. Monday, February 9 5:30 pm Tamar Hadassah Dinner Meeting, Grill Room at Mission Hills CC. Scott Hines “Let’s Talk China” Couvert $25, prepaid. Contact 760-321-9941. Tuesday, February 10 11:00 am Temple Isaiah Book Club. Everyone welcome. Tuesday, February 11 10:00 am Rimona Hadassah Light breakfast meeting. Montecito Clubhouse, Shadow Hills Tuesday, February 11 10:30 am Mensch Foundation lecture: The Stolen Art of Europe, with Dr. Jonathan Petropoulos and E. Randol Schoenberg. UCR Palm Desert
Campus Auditorium. $15. See ad page 6. Tuesday, February 11 11:30 am Temple Sinai Women’s Text and Torah Study. Sunday, February 16 3:00 pm Brandeis National Committee event: “Hava Nagila.” Temple Sinai. Contact Bailey Rubenstein for more information, 760-360-5196. Monday, February 17 Women’s Philanthropy Pomegranate Luncheon. Minimum gift to Federation Annual Campaign: $1500. Call 760-324-4737 for more information. Wednesdays, February 19, 26 4:00-5:30 pm. Har-El Galen YearLong Course, Winter Trimester Session on “Enjoying the Bible as Literature” - 1st Book of Samuel. Presenter: Rabbi Richard Zionts. Registration open. Thursday, February 20 11:30 am Na’Amat Golda Meir Chapter Luncheon at the Asian Bistro, 362 South Palm Canyon, Palm Springs.. Everyone welcome. Couvert: $15. RSVP to 760-408-0532. Friday, February 21 4:00 pm Tolerance Education Center Cabaret Series: In Honor of Black History Month: Suzanne Nichols portrays Eartha Kitt. Concert. $15. Seating limited. See page 15 for details. Tuesday, February 18 11:00 am Temple Sinai Sisterhood
Book Club. Monday, February 24 10:30-11:45 am Har-El Galen Book Course: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman. Reviewed by Carol Cornell, followed by discussion. New registrants welcome and should first register with the Har-El Office, 760-799-1691. Tuesday, February 25 11:30 am Temple Sinai Sisterhood Past Presidents Luncheon and Fashion Show. Call 760-5689699.
Wednesday, February 26 11:30 am Women’s Philanthropy INSIGHTS Luncheon with Mentalist Sidney Friedman. Westin Mission Hills Resort. Minimum gift to Federation Annual Campaign: $180 + $40 couvert. See page 4 for more information. Wednesday, February 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26 4:00-5:30 pm Federation Lecture Series “Making Moral and Ethical Choices” with Rabbi Jordan Ofseyer. See page 6.
Email (preferred) Miriam Bent at mhbentjcn@ earthlink.net or call 760323-0255 to have your events included in the community calendar. • Deadline is February 6th.
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 13
Tribute Card Donations Sending tributes and memorials is a meaningful way to honor loved ones.
All contributions received by the Jewish Federation for Tribute Cards are placed in our special Tzedakah Fund, which provides direct monetary intervention for needy Jews living in the Coachella Valley.
Honorarium Tributes –
• Barbara and Bob Price, Many more happy, healthy years together, from Sharon Tapper.
• Joyce Freund, Wishing you a speedy recovery, from Cora and Ted Ginsberg.
• Ken Baron, In honor of your special birthday, from Lynne and Herb Levine.
• Maddie Redstone, Thank you for a lovely brunch, from Nancy and Dennis Ditlove.
• Sally and Miles Berger, Thank you for a wonderful evening, from Toni & Bob Garmisa.
• Sally Helfer, Thinking of you and hoping you are feeling better, from Gail and Bob Scadron.
• Eddie Schwartz, Best wishes for your special birthday, from Margot and Jerry Halperin, Libby and Buddy Hoffman, Frances Horwich, Gail and Bob Scadron, Leslie and Barry Usow.
Memoriam Tributes –
• Geri Sherman, With best wishes for your special birthday, from Margot and Jerry Halperin, Leslie and Barry Usow.
• Joan Goldberg, In memory of your beloved husband, from Bob and Toni Garmisa.
• Bobbie Stern, Many thanks for a wonderful gathering, from Margot and Jerry Halperin.
• Gayle Goodman, In memory of your beloved father, from Allan and Roberta Nyman.
In Appreciation For:
• Sally Berger, In honor of your special birthday, from Margot and Jerry Halperin. • Barbara Fuller, In honor of your special birthday, from Dale and Marion Cowle. • Sandy and Rosemary Hertz, Thank you for a wonderful evening, from Irv and Muriel Becker.
• Richard and Carol Sukman, Happy 60th anniversary, from Carol and Shelly Appel.
• Libby Hoffman, In honor of your 81st birthday, with love from Rick and Debbie Hoffman.
Refuah Shleimah –
Get Well Wishes To:
• Libby and Buddy Hoffman, Thank you for hosting a magnificent party, from Renee and Herb Schneider.
• Sally Berger, Wishing you a speedy recovery, from Gail and Bob Scadron.
• Gary Nathanson, In honor of your 80th birthday, from Ellen Bakst.
• Linda Cooper, Wishing you a speedy and complete recovery, from Harold and Mimi Paley.
Condolences Sent To:
• Lee Brodner, In memory of your beloved brother Ted, from Libby and Buddy Hoffman.
• Susie Heymann, In memory of your beloved husband Butch, from Bob and Toni Garmisa. • Nora Rado, In memory of your sister, from Ellen and Phil Glass. • Debbie and Mickey Star, in memory of your beloved brother Jack Star, from Irv and Muriel Becker, Judy and Marty Cohn, Phil and Ellen Glass.
Spanish City to Open Museum on its 'Forgotten' Jews The city of Granada in southern Spain has announced the opening of a museum dedicated to the culture of Sephardic Jews who used to live there before the Inquisition. The museum, which is called “The Palace of the Forgotten,” is housed inside the Santa Ines palace located in Albaicin — a neighborhood in the city’s old center where many Jews used to live before 1492, when they were forced to convert to Christianity or flee. Historians’ estimates of the size of the Jewish population of Andalucia, the region where Granada is located, ranged from 5,000 to 20,000,
Menorah in synagogue in Madrid, Spain
according to the late historian Haim Beinart of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Today, only a handful of Jews live in Andalucia. The museum contains Judaica artifacts, archeological findings such as ceramic utensils, furniture, artworks and other valuables recovered from
14 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
Jewish homes. The artifacts were donated to the museum by the Crespo Lopez family. The museum will feature the restoration of a mikvah ritual bath from before the 15th century, which is among the few wellpreserved mikvahs from that period ever excavated in Spain, according to a statement by the municipality. In recent years, Spanish and Portuguese municipalities have invested millions of dollars in preserving their Sephardic heritage. This includes the inauguration and elaboration of a network of Jewish sites, financing for Jewish study centers and the opening of several
museums. Tourism companies have described these efforts as having the potential to draw visitors from Israel and North America, while politicians and activists often describe these actions as owing to an emotional attachment and moral debt. In December 2013, Spain’s ruling party submitted a bill which would make Jewish descendants of Sephardic Jews who were forced into exile eligible for Spanish citizenship. Portugal’s parliament unanimously passed a similar law in April 2013.
Jewish Family Service of the Desert “Count on us… for life”
801 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 202 Palm Springs, CA 92262 (760) 325-4088 www.jfsdesert.org Jewish Family Service of the Desert is pleased to announce our upcoming exciting events: “Honoring Michael Childers”- March 6, 2014- Hard Rock Hotel, Palm Springs
We show free movies each week on Wednesdays, at 10:00 am and 1:30 pm. Call us for the February schedule.
Michael Childers Presents- “One Night Only”- April 23, 2014, McCallum Theater
FEBRUARY CABARET SERIES PROGRAM
Contact JFS at 760-325-4088 for more information
PROGRAMS & SERVICES
The Tolerance Education Center proudly presents
For further information about these services and others, please call the JFS office, 760-325-4088.
COUNSELING & FAMILY SUPPORT: Experienced therapists help individuals, couples, and families address life's challenges. INTENSIVE OUTPATIENT DRUG TREATMENT FOR ADOLESCENTS: Five week course for teens that are at risk or have been expelled from school due to substance abuse at no cost.
Actors & Singers Maria Elena Infantino and Jack Betts In a musical cabaret Saturday, February 1, 2014 - 4 pm $20.00. Reservations required.
DESERT HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM: JFS counselors serve elementary school children in Palm Springs Unified School District with on-site counseling and now with a new 5th grade curriculum to teach drug refusal and interpersonal skills to prepare them for success in middle school. SOLUTIONS FOR SENIORS: Serves older adults to maintain independence and help them enjoy a higher quality of life. JFS EXPRESS SENIOR RIDE PROGRAM: Provides transportation to homebound seniors for medical or important appointments. JEWISH BEREAVEMENT GROUP: Free to the local community. This group meets every Wednesday at the JFS Palm Springs office, 3.305.00 p.m.
As a tribute to Black History Month
FRIENDLY VISITORS: JFS volunteers visit home bound seniors to provide companionship and support.
Suzanne Nichols delivers an uncanny portrayal, capturing Eartha Kitt's naughty yet vulnerable persona.
SHABBAT- IN- A- BAG: JFS volunteers provide companionship and celebration during the Shabbat observance to home bound seniors. CAFÉ EUROPA GROUP: Social programming for holocaust survivors. Transportation available, please call Julie Hirsh for dates, times & more information 760-325-4088 X 109.
Friday, February 21, 2014 4 pm • $15. Reservations required. 760-328-8252
The Desert Holocaust Memorial is located in the Palm Desert Civic Center Park at San Pablo Avenue & Fred Waring Drive. Residents and visitors are encouraged to visit this moving memorial, a place of remembrance and monument of hope.
LUNCH IN & OUT PROGRAM: Bi- monthly activity program for homebound seniors. Participants take part in social activities; transportation and lunch are provided. Some restrictions apply. Please call Lisa Schmid for further information and to register 760-7799400. X 205
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 15
13,000 Teens Complete Hamas Training Camps to Emulate ‘Suicide Martyrs’ By Elhanan Miller, The Times of Israel
The Hamas government in Gaza celebrated the graduation of paramilitary camps geared at training high-school children “to follow in the footsteps of the suicide martyrs.” The camps, titled “The Pioneers of Liberation,” are run by Hamas’s ministries of education and interior. Some 13,000 students in grades 10-12 participated in the one-week training camps this year, compared to 5,000 last year when the program was launched, Israeli sources with knowledge of the program said. The corps of instructors consists mainly of active members of Hamas’s security forces, and the curriculum
includes weapons training, first aid, self-defense, marching exercises and “security awareness” classes on identifying Israeli spies. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and Education Minister Usama Mzeini attended the graduation ceremony on January 13, each delivering fiery speeches stressing the importance of military training in developing a new generation of combatants. “Beware this generation,” Haniyeh said, addressing Israel. “This is a generation which knows no fear. It is the generation of the missile, the tunnel and the suicide operations.”
A child practices disassembling an AK-47 during the Hamas-run 'pioneers of liberation' camps in Gaza
The Hamas prime minister added that female trainers are also on staff “to oversee the training of the young women to follow in the footsteps of the female suicide operatives.” Hammad, the interior minister, said the training was in preparation
for the coming war with Israel. “This generation is a sapling from God on earth. It will harvest the enemies of God and be the pride of all nations,” he said. Omar Dawabha, an eleventhgrader who took part in the training, was quoted on the website of Hamas’s interior ministry saying that “he learned how to safeguard our rights and principles.” Another student, Mohammed Abu Nar, addressed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem at the graduation ceremony. “We are the pioneers of liberation, we are coming to purify you from the Zionists,” he said.
Final Decision: 'Anti-Semitic' Group Loses Canadian Funding
Canadian Arab Federation's Appeal to Regain Government Funding Fails, After Evidence Mounts of Intense Anti-Semitism.
By Dalit Halevy & Tova Dvorin, Arutz Sheva
One anti-Israel, anti-Semitic organization will not continue to receive funding by the Canadian national government - and the decision is final. On January 8th, the Ottawa Federal Court dismissed the appeal filed by the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) against the decision of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to stop the government funding for the years 200910, according to Shalom Toronto. The funding amounted to one million dollars per year, or 74 percent of its budget. The CAF claimed the funds are intended to be used within the framework of language courses for new immigrants and assist them in the process of integration into Canadian society. Minister Jason Kenney, who headed the Ministry at the time, recounted during the legal proceedings the reasons that led to the decision. The investigation cited anti-Semitic statements by leaders of the organization, who also have expressed support and solidarity with a number of groups declared as terrorist organizations in Canada, including Hamas and Hezbollah. The organization also distributed a
video in which children express their hatred for Israel. One child said that every Israeli citizen over the age of 18 is "a legitimate target." Another expressed support for terrorist organizations and called Israel "a racist state." In 2009, the organization was involved in demonstrations against Israel, with Hezbollah flags flying during the event. Protesters held placards comparing Israel to the Nazis. Several included horrific statements like, "Jewish children, you are going to die - Hamas will get you." At the demonstration, the organization's president called Minister Kenney and Peter Kent MPs (Conservative Party) and Michael Ignatieff (Liberal Party) "whores of war" for supporting Israel's right of self-defense during Operation Cast Lead. An event marking the 40th anniversary of the organization honored Shiite Islamic activist Zafar, who called other Canadians "infidels" and spoke about the attacks of September 11, 2001 without expressing solidarity for its victims. For Israel's 60th anniversary, the organization sponsored, along with two
16 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
Anti-Israel demonstration
other organizations, an essay writing competition on "ethnic cleansing" of Palestine. At the above interview in 2009, a CAF official attempts to explain the problem as a matter of differing with government policy, which continues to be pro-Israel. While the CAF has attempted to distance itself from evidence on its website and elsewhere that it is heavily involved in anti-Israel activity, the judges at the appeal differ. "All statements and actions specified by the Minister may logically lead me to the conclusion that the organization is portrayed as a supporter of organizations that Canada has declared as terrorist organizations," Judge Russel
Zin stated, maintaining that the nature of the statements of the leaders of the organization may be construed as antiSemitic. Minister Kenney praised the decision's logic, stressing that organizations defending terrorist organizations should not receive government funding - especially if they are in charge of absorbing new immigrants into wider society. The major Jewish organizations in Canada have expressed joy at the court's decision. Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) , said that it is particularly disturbing that an organization who holds opinions that contradict Canadian values is trusted with integrating new migrants in society. Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies in Toronto, noted that court documents clearly show that this organization has promoted anti-Semitism and extreme positions that constitute a threat to Canada. He called on the income tax authorities to examine the status of the CAF as a charity organization.
A World Free of Worry over Finding Plugs, Outlets and Wires Israel’s PowerMat to Recharge All the Gadgets of Your Life Israel 21c
One does not usually associate hightech with the alleviation of anxiety, but PowerMat Technologies co-founder Ran Poliakine claims that his venture does just that. “Imagine a world in which you didn’t have to worry about how and where to charge your mobile phones, laptops and tablets every time you left home,” says the 46-year-old innovator with a degree in industrial design from Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. It is a world that is fast upon us, according to Poliakine and his business partner, Amir Ben-Shalom, 52, the scientist behind the technology that is already taking swaths of the United States by storm. “Within a few short years, there will no longer be plugs, outlets and wires,” says Poliakine, during an interview with ISRAEL21c at his offices in the Neve Ilan communications complex in Abu Gosh, just west of Jerusalem. “You’ll simply place your electronic devices on a table, and it will receive electricity from an embedded surface.” Poliakine, whose workplace and home are both completely set up for this not-so-futuristic scenario, demonstrates on the spot. He puts his iPhone on one of many small round “plates” flush with the desktop, and it begins charging automatically. No cords, no fuss. The “inevitable” shift to wireless electricity, he asserts, “will become just as intuitive as Wi-Fi. As soon as we stopped having to use a cable between our computers and a telephone jack,
we took it for granted that we can receive data from the air. We will soon expect the same from our power.” In GM cars by 2015 The idea to launch PowerMat was sparked by a 2006 conversation between Poliakine and Ben-Shalom in the parking lot of the building where the two innovators were already collaborating on a series of startups. Laptops had become smaller and lighter, but the accompanying plugs and cords were – and still are — as cumbersome as ever. Poliakine said to Ben-Shalom: “Come on, we have to solve this problem.” By 2009, the pair had brought their prototype to technological giants, such as Nokia. “All of them said it was great, but nobody was willing to fire the first shot — to ‘cut the cables’ in favor of wireless,” says Poliakine. Such a sea change necessitates the creation of an entire infrastructure, he explains, “like when the electrical grid had to be created.” So they decided to go directly to consumers in the United States, through a series of partnerships. One such partnership was forged with Procter & Gamble, the largest consumer product company in the world. This was crucial for taking PowerMat to the retailers, among them Duracell, which is owned by P&G. It was this collaboration that Duracell PowerMat – a series of wireless charging solutions for iPhones and other smartphones and rechargeable backup batteries for carrying power on-the-go –
This Duracell PowerMat can charge three devices at once.
came into being. Next came partnerships with AT&T and Best Buy, among other leading retailers like General Motors. Not only did GM invest in the company, but announced that it will begin embedding its cars with PowerMat technology by 2015.
Powering consumers everywhere
“By 2010, there we were, a small Israeli company in Abu Gosh, using the technology invented by Amir [BenShalom], manufacturing millions of pieces in China and selling to retailers in America,” said Poliakine. It was then that “we understood that for this revolution to take hold, we would have to create an entire ecosystem. We have to surround consumers 360 degrees, based on where they spend their time away from home, such as airports, train stations, concert halls, universities and restaurants.” The first two chains he approached were Starbucks and McDonalds, both of which are now involved in pilot testing of PowerMat technology. To date, 26 Starbucks branches in Boston and San Jose — and McDonalds in Manhattan — are fully wired and equipped. Patrons simply place Duracell
PowerMat-enabled mobile devices on the table in any of those locations and it will charge automatically. Those whose devices are not equipped with PowerMat technology receive a small key ring that hooks into their devices. This ring, called PowerKiss, was invented by a Finnish company that PowerMat purchased. Still, says Poliakine, “To bridge the gap between technology and consumers, mass education is as crucial as it is challenging.” Rapper and record producer Jay-Z not only invested in the company, but made a jazzy TV commercial promoting it. “We didn’t invent the idea of wireless electricity. Over the last century, there have been at least 10,000 patents registered in this area. But up until about a decade ago, there wasn’t a real need for it. The two things that have altered this situation are the ability to generate much larger amounts of electricity at a far lower cost, and the fact that people have become mobile.” But mobility creates anxiety, says Poliakine. At Rihanna’s recent outdoor concert in Tel Aviv, he heard fans complaining about their phones running out of juice while posting on Twitter and Facebook and videotaping the event. He is aiming to eliminate this difficulty when whole regions are powered by the cloud – possibly by 2015. “This is a shift on a par with that of moving from horses to cars as a method of transportation. It is what we will be remembered for.”
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 17
Hadassah’s Pot Pioneer
Israel 21c
Among the new crops in Israel is a controversial one: marijuana. Medicinal, of course. And Hebrew University/Hadassah Medical Center is in the forefront of research in the person of Professor Raphael Mechoulam, 83. The international boom in medical marijuana is based on his research. “Much of our work was begun half a century ago,” says Prof. Mechoulam, whose research career has fluctuated with the lows and highs of interest in this weed. His addiction, says Prof. Mechoulam, is to the independence of research, not to cannabis. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, son of a Viennese-educated physician, he came to Israel with his family in 1949. He studied chemistry and researched insecticides in the IDF. When he returned from post-doctoral study at the Rockefeller Institute in New York he became fascinated by the borderline between chemistry and biology. He noticed that cannabis, to use his words, “was ripe for investigation.” Fluent in a variety of European languages, he read 19th century papers on the possible potential of the plant. No one had isolated its pure form. The Israel police gave him five kilos of high quality Lebanese hashish they’d apprehended from a smuggler. He coined a new term, “cannabinoids” and isolated first CBD, a non-psychoactive constituent which,
according to research at Hadassah, reduced sugar levels in diabetes-prone mice and ameliorated effects of heart ischemia. Then he isolated THC, the psychoactive constituent, as well as half a dozen other cannabinoids. Cannabis activists claim that the drug goes far beyond easing the discomfort of chemotherapy for cancer. But even numerous anecdotal reports are no substitute for proper clinical trials, insists Prof. Meshoulam. Pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to fund such trials because of marijuana’s reputation and the impossibility of patenting it. CNN health columnist Dr. Sanjay Gupta says that meeting Prof. Meshoulum contributed to his muchpublicized turn-around about the importance of using the drug. Like any drug, cannabis needs to be well-regulated and to be under strict medical control, says Prof. Meshoulum “The possibilities are endless. Cannabis remains a medical treasure trove which waits to be discovered.” USING CANNIBIS IN THE PAIN CLINIC Figuring out what’s inside that treasure chest is the research project of Dr. Elyad Davidson, the Scottishborn anesthesiologist, who heads Hadassah’s Pain Clinic, and meets patients for whom usual painkillers don’t work.
Is cannabis the new aspirin? “We’re still pre-clinical, which means that although cannabis is being used, we’re guessing on efficacy and safety,” said Dr. Davidson. “This is a drug where research is often agendadriven, and we have to be particularly careful on what we claim it does. In addition to legitimate medical requests, we have to make sure that we’re not providing a subsidized source for recreational use. Pain isn’t something you can quantify, so we rely on the reliability of patient reports.” In 2007, the first cannabis fields were approved by the Israeli government.
In Israel medicinal marijuana cookies come from a bakery that is certified kosher! Today, ten official cannabis growers/ dealers have been given permission to grow fields of the green leafy plant by Israel’s Ministry of Health. There is no standardization of the product yet. “That means that one dealer might be using leaves, another blossoms, and a third a different strain of cannabis altogether, “said Dr. Davidson. Certain strains and sub-strains have higher psychedelic qualities. This makes prescribing difficult. Scientists don’t even know if consumption of Alice B. Toklas brownies or smoking joints is the best way to administer a drug that has worrisome side effects like
paranoia and addiction. Cannabis is best known for helping patients through the nausea and appetite loss of chemotherapy, but even that doesn’t work for everyone, according to Dr. Davidson. It’s also thought by some to help with inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS and MS. In Israel, other pain drugs are used first and only as a last resort is cannabis recommended and approved. “There are 60 different cannibinoids in the plant. It’s not as if we are doing research with the pure THC extracted by Prof. Meshulam when we began experimenting,” said Dr. Davidson. Those experiments showed that some 20 percent with various maladies finding pain relief from cannabis. Another Hadassah study showed that 85 percent of patients found marijuana effective as an adjunct therapy for the pain associated with bone marrow transplantation. Many questions remain. For instance, does smoking pot actually decrease pain or just help a patient deal with ongoing pain? At Hadassah, Dr. Davidson has launched an on-going survey of how patients have used cannabis and how effective it was for them. “There are now 14,000 patients in Israel who have received government permission to take cannabis—with that number rising, we’re in a hurry to quantify the results to share with the international community.”
Palestinian Firm is First to Sign Gas Deal with Israel’s Leviathan The Times of Israel
A Palestinian electric company was the first to sign an agreement to buy gas from Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field. The Palestine Power Generation Company signed a 20-year deal to purchase $1.2 billion worth of gas, some 4.75 billion cubic meters, from the Leviathan group, according to reports. The Leviathan partners informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
of the agreement on January 12th, according to Haaretz. Palestine Power is planning to build a $300 million power plant in Jenin and use the Leviathan gas to operate it, Reuters reported. The plant will be completed in about three years. The Leviathan field, located about 80 miles west of Haifa in northern Israel, has not yet begun gas production; it is scheduled to start
18 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
in 2017. The partners are Avner Oil Exploration, Delek Drilling and Ratio Oil Exploration. In June, Israel’s Cabinet approved the export of about 40 percent of the country’s recently discovered reserves of natural gas while keeping a 25-year supply for national consumption. The decision was upheld in October by the Israeli Supreme Court. Several large natural gas fields have
An aerial view of the Tamar gas processing rig, 24 km off the Israeli southern coast of Ashkelon
been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel in recent years. There are projected to be approximately 950 billion cubic meters of gas in the fields.
Pew Research Center Report on Jewish Identity in American, Part III Exploring Jewish Identity
What Does It Mean To Be Jewish? % saying __ is an essential part of what being Jewish means to them Remembering Holocaust Leading ethical/moral life Working for justice/equality Being intellectually curious Caring about Israel Having a good sense of humor Being part of a Jewish community Observing Jewish law Eating traditional Jewish foods
NET Jewish % 73 69 56 49 43 42 28 19 14
A key aim of the Pew Research Center survey is to explore Jewish identity: What does being Jewish mean in America today? Large majorities of U.S. Jews say that remembering the Holocaust (73%) and leading an ethical life (69%) are essential to their sense of Jewishness. More than half (56%) say that working for justice and equality is essential to what being Jewish means to them. And about fourin-ten say that caring about Israel (43%) and having a good sense of humor (42%) are essential to their Jewish identity. But observing religious law is not as central to most American Jews. Just 19% of the Jewish adults surveyed say observing Jewish law (halakha) is essential to what being Jewish means to them. And in a separate but related question, most Jews say a person can be Jewish even if that person works on the Sabbath or does not believe in God. Believing in Jesus, however, is enough to place one beyond the pale: 60% of U.S. Jews say a person cannot be Jewish
if he or she believes Jesus was the messiah. What is Compatible With Being Jewish? Can a person be Jewish if
Yes No
DK
he/she
%
%
%
...works on the Sabbath?
94
5
1
...is strongly critical of Israel?
89
9
2
...does not believe in God?
68 29
3
...believes Jesus was messiah?
34 60
6
By several conventional measures, Jews tend to be less religious than the U.S. public as a whole. Compared with the overall population, for example, Jews are less likely to say that they attend religious services weekly or that they believe in God with absolute certainty. And just 26% of U.S. Jews say religion is very important in their lives, compared with 56% of the general public. (Orthodox Jews are a clear exception in this regard, exhibiting levels of religious commitment that place them among the most religiously committed groups in the country.) But while relatively few Jews attach high importance to religion, far more (46%) say being Jewish is very important to them. Other findings from the Pew Research Center survey include: • Jews from the former Soviet Union and their offspring account for roughly one-tenth of the U.S. Jewish population; 5% of Jewish adults say they were born in the former Soviet Union, and an additional 6% say they were born in the U.S. but have at least one parent who was born in the former Soviet Union. • Jews have high levels of educational attainment. Most Jews are college graduates (58%), including 28% who say they have earned a post-graduate degree. By comparison, 29% of U.S. adults
say they graduated from college, including 10% who have a postgraduate degree. • Fully one-quarter of Jews (25%) say they have a household income exceeding $150,000, compared with 8% of adults in the public as a whole. At the same time, 20% of U.S. Jews report household incomes of less than $30,000 per year; about six-in-ten Jews in this low-income category are either under age 30 or 65 or older. • Roughly four-in-ten U.S. Jewish adults (39%) say they live in a household where at least one person is a member of a synagogue. This includes 31% of Jewish adults (39% of Jews by religion and 4% of Jews of no religion) who say they personally belong to a synagogue, temple or other congregation. • Jews think several other minority groups face more discrimination than they do. Roughly seven-in-ten Jews (72%) say gays and lesbians face a lot of discrimination in American society, and an equal number say there is lot of discrimination against Muslims. More than six-inten (64%) say blacks face a lot of discrimination. By comparison, 43% say Jews face a lot of discrimination. Overall, 15% of Jews say that in the past year they personally have been called offensive names or snubbed in a social setting because they are Jewish. • Half of Jews (52%), including 60% of Jews by religion and 24% of Jews of no religion, say they know the Hebrew alphabet. But far fewer (13% of Jews overall, including 16% of Jews by religion and 4% of Jews of no religion) say they understand most or all of the words when they read Hebrew. • Jews are heavily concentrated in certain geographic regions: 43% live in the Northeast, compared with 18% of the public as a whole.
Roughly a quarter of Jews reside in the South (23%) and in the West (23%), while 11% live in the Midwest. Half of Jews (49%) reside in urban areas and a similar number (47%) reside in the suburbs; just 4% of Jews reside in rural areas. • As a whole, Jews support the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by more than threeto-one: 70% say they are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 22% are Republicans or lean Republican. Among Orthodox Jews, however, the balance tilts in the other direction: 57% are Republican or lean Republican, and 36% are Democrats or lean Democratic. Number of Completed Interviews NET Jewish Jews by religion Jews of no religion
3,475 2,786 689
Non-Jews of Jewish background Jewish affinity
1,190 467
These are some of the findings of the new Pew Research Center survey, conducted Feb. 20-June 13, 2013, among a nationally representative sample of U.S. Jews. This is the most comprehensive national survey of the Jewish population since the 20002001 National Jewish Population Survey. More than 70,000 screening interviews were conducted to identify Jewish respondents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Longer interviews were completed with 3,475 Jews, including 2,786 Jews by religion and 689 Jews of no religion. Interviews were conducted in English and Russian by random digit dialing on both landlines and cellphones. In order to reach Jewish respondents most efficiently, continued on next page
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 19
Pew Research continued the survey focused on telephone exchanges for counties where previous surveys indicate that at least some Jews reside. Overall, the survey covered geographic areas that are home to more than 90% of U.S. adults. Counties were excluded from the survey only if (a) no Jews had been interviewed in those counties in more than 150 Pew Research Center surveys conducted over the past decade and (b) no other surveys in a Brandeis University database had ever interviewed a Jew in those counties and (c) no synagogues or institutions of Jewish education were known to be located in those counties at the time of the Pew Research survey.6 Based on this geographic coverage, more than
95% of the Jewish population, including 99% of the Jewish by religion population, is estimated to have been eligible to be called for the survey. In addition to interviewing Jews, the survey interviewed 1,190 people of Jewish background – U.S. adults who were raised Jewish or had at least one Jewish parent, but who now have a religion other than Judaism (most are Christian) or who say they do not consider themselves Jewish (either by religion or aside from religion). Finally, the survey also interviewed 467 people with a Jewish affinity – people who have a religion other than Judaism (or have no religion) and who were not raised Jewish and did not have a Shalom Jewish parent, but whoThe nevertheless finest in Jewish Living consider themselves Jewish or partially Jewish in some way.
20 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
Shalom
Plans for ‘Shtetl Route’ Through Old Jewish Europe Underway
The Times of Israel
which has a large, 16th-century Jewish cemetery.
Historians are preparing a virtual and real-life tourist route leading through about 60 old Jewish towns along Poland’s border with Belarus and Ukraine. Called “Shtetl Routes: Vestiges of Jewish Cultural Heritage in Transborder Tourism,” the two-year project launched in December is being supported by a $570,000 grant from the European Union’s CrossBorder Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013. Historians from all three countries are gathering the material. Virtual Tour Emil Majuk of the Brama Grodzka History Center in Lublin, in eastern Poland, said the Internet site will offer descriptions, histories and anecdotes about the towns that were largely Jewish before World War II. Fifteen of them will be shown in 3-D
Lakhva, a Jewish shtetl in Poland, in 1926
models. “These are really fantastic little towns, with old architecture and old, multicultural character with their synagogues and Catholic and Orthodox churches,” Majuk said. The 3-D models will recreate the
“gems of architecture” that were the region’s tiny wooden synagogues, all of which have been destroyed. The list includes an outstanding town in eastern Poland, Szczebrzeszyn (pronounced Sh’tshebh-zeh-shyn),
Tours Planned Researchers, historians and tourism developers have begun work on a tourist itinerary. The goal is to develop tourism in the region through the promotion of Jewish cultural heritage. The route will include three tourist trails, a guidebook to Jewish heritage in the region. On-the-ground sightseeing guides and guidebooks will be available starting in late 2015. There also will be guided tours and training programs for tour guides. Eastern Europe had a vibrant Jewish life that was almost entirely wiped out in the Holocaust of World War II. Jews constituted 10 percent of Poland’s prewar population of 35 million, but they were some 50 percent of Poland’s 6 million war victims.
2013 Record Year for Israeli Tourism By Ari Yashar, Arutz Sheva
Israel experienced a record breaking year in terms of tourism in 2013 according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. International tourist entries reached a record high, marking a 3% increase from 2012, as domestic tourism similarly soared 3%. In particular, the number of tourist entries to Israel in December reached a 24% increase from the previous year, setting a monthly record for Israel. In the process, December broke the record set just two months earlier in October. Tourism Minister Uzi Landau warmly welcomed the figures, saying "the year 2013 is a record year for tourism and we are proud of that. Despite Operation Pillar of Defense and the security situation in the region, tourists voted with their feet." Jerusalem was the most visited city by foreign tourists, with the Kotel (Western Wall) being the most visited site. Most visitors came from the US, followed by Russia, France, Germany and the UK. Christians made up
53% Christian 28% Jewish 53% of the visitors, while 28% were Jewish. Growing ties with China, which led to recent agreements to promote mutual tourism, may see the country,
with its massive population, become a front-runner in the tourism sources. Figures indicate that tourism generated 40 billion shekels ($11.4 billion) for the economy. Landau pledged to continue promoting the industry, promising that his ministry will open new markets and actively market "the tourism product around the world."
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 21
Simchas M a z e l t ov t o Samuel Veliz, son of Michele and Andy Veliz, who will be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah at Samuel Veliz Te m p l e S i n a i st on February 1 ... Congratulations to the Hadassah
Classifieds PERSONAL ASSISTANT/PERSONAL AFFAIRS MANAGER Excellent local references. Bill paying, reconcile bank statement, run errands, drive to appointment. Computer help: MS Office, QuickBooks, emails. N o t a r y. 2 h o u r s m i n i m u m . Trustworthy, discreet, dependable. 760-408-5260. DAVID’S CONSTRUCTION Conscientious licensed, insured, bonded, general contractor. Catering to all your home repair needs. No job too small or big. Room additions, remodeling, patio covers, decks, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, masonry, drywall, cement, wood floors, tile, fences, painting, sprinklers, landscaping, swamp coolers, custom homes and more. License #506-370. davidsconstruction@ymail.com 760-671-4476 . TEMPLE SINAI GIFT SHOP : One of a kind and largest Judaica shop here in the desert. For all your traditional needs and unique gift items. Special orders available. For information call the Temple office at 760-568-9699. FOR ALL OF YOUR CLOTHING NEEDS – call Arlene, at Rosenthal of Palm Springs. From casual to couture, for men and women. Can make and or copy anything. Huge variety of fabrics. In your home appointments. Since 1989 – making people look and feel good in perfectly fitted clothing. 760-323-8353.
Debbie OrgenGarrett
Linda Fine
leadership in the Desert. Elected to serve for the coming year are Debbie Orgen-Garrett, Chair of the Desert-East Area of Hadassah AFFORDABLE ALTERNATIVE ASSISTANCE In-Home Care. Coordination of Medical Services. Preparation of home cooked meals and holidays. Assistance with activities of daily living. Customized solutions for your loved one(s). 24 hour/7 day home health, critical care, postop and hospice. Provided by Annelyse Battista and Andrea Lawrence, serving the desert communities for 22 years. 760-636-4611. KRISTINE A. KAUFFMAN - SENIOR CARE SPECIALIST. Driving for appointments, shopping, dining, etc; Errands (groceries, banking, etc); Bill paying and other miscellaneous tasks; Companionship. Dog sitting, walking. References available. 4-hour minimum 760-902-3490. LOOKING FOR A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE? Share a beautiful gated home in Palm Springs. Pool, spa, and garage are only a few of the fabulous amenities in a 3 bedroom 3 bath home situated in a great area. If interested call 760-323-8025 or 760-219-2155. JFS VOLUNTEERS WELCOME: JFS has rewarding volunteer opportunities available and is now accepting applications for the following positions: Lunch In & Out Driver, Lunch In & Out Program Volunteer, Friendly Visitor, JFS Express Senior Ride Transportation driver, Front Office Assistant. For more information contact Julie Hirsh, 760-325-4088, extension 109.
22 • JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org
Carol Woodward
Marcia Becker
Southern California; Linda Fine and Carol Woodward, co-presidents of the Tamar Group; Marcia Becker, president of the Rimona Group; and CONGREGATION HAR-EL GALEN WINTER/SPRING TRIMESTER COURSES are open for registration. Presenters include: Rabbis Hillel Cohn and Richard Zionts as well as Professor Marvin Sweeney. Call today to register. Save the date for Erev Purim March 15, 2014. Services begin at 5:15 pm with the Chanting of the Megilat Esther by Cantor Melanie Fine, M.S. M.. Guest presenter: Judith Brin Ingber “Queen Esther and Other Jewish Beauties Dancing Through the Ages.” Reception to follow with Hamentashen and delicacies. No fee. PRIVATE DUTY NURSE LVN available for home health care. Extensive hospital and doctor’s office experience. Call Joanie 760-776-6752. TRAVELING NOTARY PUBLIC for all your Health, Financial and Real Estate Documents. Available 7 Days. Ernest Sussman 760-408-9338.
Kathy Kramer
Phyllis Pepper
Kathy Kramer and Phyllis Pepper, co-presidents of the Sun City Group. ... Share your Simchas with us. Call or email Miriam Bent at 760-323-0255 or mhbentjcn@earthlink.net. Hadassah Sun City presents SUNDAY IN THE CATSKILLS with CANTORS HERSCHEL AND JUDY FOX, dynamic, “haimish” LA cantors. Sunday February 23, 2014, 3:00 pm, at Speakers Hall, Sun City Palm Desert. A treat of Jewish music, culture and family life. $30 per person, pre-paid. Mail checks payable to “Hadassah” to Sandy Zide, 37-712 Breeze Way, Palm Desert, CA 92211. For more information call Dorothy at 760360-9421. PRIVATE DUTY NURSE'S AIDE/ HOME HEALTH AIDE CERTIFIEC Experienced in personal care. Doctors appointments, mediction reminder, errands, cooking & light housekeeping. Loves pets. Reliable. Strong. No agency fee. References. 760-668-6764.
Candle Lighting Times Friday, February 7 Friday, February 14 Friday, February 21 Friday, February 28
Shabbat Terumah Shabbat Tetzaveh Shabbat Ki Tisa Shabbat Vayakhel
4:39 pm 4:46 pm 4:52 pm 4:58 pm
We Mourn the Passing of... Nate Cooperman, Tim Edmonds, Grace Fleishman, Ken Irom, Jack Kent - A Righteous Gentile Among the Nations, Ronald Kinwald and Jerry Korman Albert “Yonni” Pepper. Our deepest sympathies to their families and friends. May their memories endure for a blessing.
Laugh out Loud Stories in the news that bring a smile!
The Most Unforgettable Diplomatic Incident of 2013 belongs to a Belgian clerk in the city of Brussels who rejected the request by an Israeli couple to name their infant ‘Jerusalem’ fearing it would “harm the child,” adding insult to injury by suggesting the Jewish pair name their kid ‘Bethlehem’ instead. Had the clerk been an Israeli national, he would have qualified for the Chelm Award for Chutzpa, but that prize was earned by Haifa’s mayor Yona Yahav for claiming Israel’s offshore natural gas fields Dalit and Tamar situated 48 to 80 kilometres (30 to 50 miles) out in the Mediterranean, should
Community Schools RELIGIOUS/ HEBREW SCHOOLS
be added to Haifa’s ‘jurisdiction’ thus giving his city the right to tax drilling or processing platforms established to bring the natural gas ashore, for arnona (municipal property taxes).
happening, inviting Haifa residents armed with hammers and chisels to come take down the wall in unison…to the tune of Pink Floyd’s hit “Just Another Brick in the Wall.”
The Quirkiest Municipality Award – which in the past recognized Hadera for its plan to install singing traffic lights, and Jerusalem for turning the zoning commission’s Master Plan into a liturgical piece – goes this year to Haifa. Instead of engaging a contractor to take down a mustard yellow wall in Bat Galim that blocked the seafront, to make way for a promenade and bicycle path, city hall staged a mass do-it-yourself
And then there is the ultimate Jewish Mama’s Boy. The IDF is unlike any other army, particularly when it comes to the unbreakable bond between Israeli soldiers and their moms, epitomized by the classic item about a fresh IDF recruit who was afraid of the dark and asked his mom to sneak into boot camp, where she secretly accompanied him on patrol every time he drew guard duty at night.
CREATING a Jewish legacy empowers you to support the Jewish causes you care about. Because all of us, regardless of age, wealth, or affiliation, have the ability to secure our people’s traditions, promote Jewish values, and create a strong future for generations to come.
Chabad Hebrew School A project of Chabad of Palm Springs & Desert Communities Director: Sussie Denebeim 73550 S. Rosa Way, Palm Desert, CA 92260 www.chabadpd.com 760-341-6501 Temple Isaiah Principal: Rabbi Sally Olins 332 West Alejo Road Palm Springs, CA 92262 www.templeisaiahps.com 760-325-2281, ext. 203 Temple Sinai Director: Miri Ketayi 73-251 Hovley Lane West, Palm Desert, CA 92260 www.templesinaipd.org 760-568-9699
NURSERY SCHOOLS Temple Sinai Tikvah Pre-School Director: Debbie Midcalf 24 mos - Pre-K 73-251 Hovley Lane West, Palm Desert, CA 92260 760-568-6779
To learn more about Legacy Giving, contact Bruce Landgarten, Jewish Federation Chief Executive Off icer, at 760-324-4737. 69-710 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 760-324-4737
The Strength of a People. The Power of Community.
JCN • February 2014 • Shevat/Adar 5774 • www.jfedps.org • 23
Deliver meals to the homebound. Provide emergency funds at times of crisis.
Give hugs to seniors a world away
BEFORE YOUR ALARM GOES OFF. It only takes a few minutes to help seniors stay connected to community and continue living in their own homes. Meanwhile, you’ll nurture Jewish learning, fund food banks, offer counseling — just a few of the solutions Federation supports with heart, innovation and decades of knowing what works. It’s time: Donate. Volunteer. Get involved. Your link to getting started: www.jfedps.org
69-710 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 760-324-4737
The Strength of a People. The Power of Community.