Jerusalem — Half a dozen Israeli teens shouted like rock groupies and pressed up against the blue metal police railing in hopes of catching a glimpse of larger-than-life California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in Jerusalem Sunday to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Museum of Tolerance\’s new $200 million museum here.
Amid a gaggle of Israeli security guards, bustling volunteers and California Highway Patrol officers wired up to communicate with who knows whom, Rabbi Abraham Cooper runs around the first two of about 50 rows of plastic seats temporarily set up in Jerusalem\’s Cats Square.\n\n\”Bring me chairs over here,\” says Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, as he tries to move some seats to make room for one more.\n\n\”[Israeli Defense Minister] Shaul Mofaz is not going to be a happy man,\” he says aloud to no one in particular. \”See this guy over here?\” he tells his helpers, pointing to a flimsy seat that doesn\’t look big enough to hold the name on the sign: \”Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,\” \”this guy doesn\’t move.\”
A new study suggests that genes, not religion, may help explain why Jews generally have fewer problems with alcohol than Caucasians in general do.
Last May, Dr. Michael A. Friedman took the helm of City of Hope as its CEO. A federally designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, the 112-acre biomedical research and treatment center in Duarte got its start in 1914 when members of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Association set up two tents as a haven for those stricken with
tuberculosis.
Friedman, an oncologist and clinical researcher, also has experience in public policy and commercial drug development. He served as the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under President Bill Clinton and as associate director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He got his start as a clinical oncologist and professor at UC San Francisco Medical Center and most recently worked in the pharmaceutical industry.
The Jewish Journal spoke with Friedman as City of Hope celebrates its 90th anniversary, Friedman marks his first year with the institution and a state-of-the-art Helford Clinical Research Hospital, scheduled to open this fall, nears completion:
Johnny Carson used to have a joke about it. A friend of his had sworn off coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, red meat and sex. The guy was doing just fine, Carson quipped, until he committed suicide.
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