September 8, 2010

Older Olim find workplace bias in Israel

Leave a Comment / 50 Plus / Jewish Journal

When Mike Diamond immigrated to Israel from South Africa a year and a half ago, he didn’t expect a job to fall in his lap. Though prepared for some rejection, Diamond was still shocked by the reception he received from recruiters and potential employers.

“I spoke to a lot of people, to employment agencies,” Diamond, who held a high-level position in a pharmaceutical company back in Cape Town, said of his Israeli job search.

“They all told me the same thing: that I had two strikes against me. My age and the language.”

Diamond was 58 at the time, and although he once spent five years living on a kibbutz, “I can talk [in Hebrew only] about cows and tractors,” he said with a laugh. “That wouldn’t matter if I was working for an international company where fluent English is an asset, but no one even gave me a chance. After four employment agencies, I gave up.”

Unable to find a white-collar job, Diamond, who lives in the upscale city of Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv, now cleans houses for a living.

“I wasn’t about to sit on my backside. I’m a marathon runner, I’m physically fit,” Diamond said “I have a queue of 20 to 30 clients, and I’m looking to start a small house-cleaning company utilizing the services of other immigrants. All I need is some investment money.”

At the start of July, Diamond launched a lively discussion about job hunting and age discrimination over the age of 50 on an English-language user list called Job Networking in Israel.

The responses, from new and veteran immigrants and a handful of native Israelis, revealed just how difficult it can be for older unemployed Israelis, especially immigrants with less-than-stellar Hebrew, to find satisfying, decent-paying employment.

The discussion was both enlightening and potentially worrisome, given the many 40- and 50-somethings from around the world who are expected to make aliyah (to immigrate) with Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Jewish Agency and other aliyah organizations.

Benny Fefferman, head of the planning and economy division of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, said that new immigrants enter a job market already saturated with young, eager workers.

“We know it’s harder for older workers, who are competing with younger university graduates who are willing to work for less money,” Fefferman, 61, said. “There’s a bias against employing older workers, who employers believe aren’t as flexible or creative as younger people. Sure, discrimination is against the law, but that doesn’t stop employers from doing it.”

The ministry has a department that deals with complaints of ageism.

Fefferman said statistics showing that just 5.4 percent of men ages 45 to 54 were unemployed in 2008 (compared with 11.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, and 4.3 percent for those over 55) could be misleading.

“That the number isn’t higher is due to the fact that many older people give up on finding work. They lack the tools to search for work,” Fefferman said.

Add to this the fact that the Israeli job market cannot keep up with the number of potential workers (an additional 2 percent every year, compared to 0.5 percent in the United States), “and it becomes difficult, especially for older workers,” Fefferman acknowledged.

Fefferman advises potential olim (immigrants) to study the Israeli job market before moving to Israel, and to learn as much Hebrew as possible.

That’s also the advice of Rachel Berger, director of employment at Nefesh B’Nefesh, who said that “90 to 95 percent” of the people who immigrate with her organization are employed a year after they arrive in Israel.

While the intensive career counseling and networking opportunities provided by Nefesh B’Nefesh are vital to the immigrants’ job search, Berger said, so too is the adventurous spirit most olim bring with them to Israel.

Yet even the most optimistic, hardworking immigrants sometimes find it very difficult to find a job, especially if they’re over 45 or 50.

“If there’s a 25-year-old and a 55-year-old who are equally skilled, the employer may go with the older one’s experience. On the other hand, the employer often doesn’t want to pay for that experience. But it’s skills and Hebrew, more than age, that usually determine the outcome,” Berger said.

That hasn’t been the case for Uri Hirsch, a licensed English teacher who was denied employment solely due to his age. He is an energetic 70-year-old.

Recalling his long job search, which started three years ago, when he returned to Israel after a long absence, Hirsch said, “There was a shortage of teachers, I was qualified, I lived close to the schools looking for teachers, but they refused to hire me. Some supervisor at the Ministry of Education told me the cut-off age is 67.”

Although Hirsch now has three part-time jobs, including one as a private English teacher, it irks him that “there are instances where kids aren’t learning English in school because there is no English teacher. And here I am, available.”

Ron Machol, a job recruiter who also serves as an adviser at Israemploy, an online job listing site, is convinced there is no more ageism in Israel than there is in the United States.

“I don’t mean to minimize the challenges in making aliyah and finding work … but my experience tells me they are not insurmountable,” he said.

Hana Levi-Julian, a psychotherapist in Jerusalem, said Nefesh B’Nefesh “does a good job” of warning potential olim of ageism in the Israeli workplace, but that some immigrants to Israel over the age of 40 or 50 are nonetheless “unprepared” for the challenge of finding a job.

“They’re stunned to discover the salaries they thought would meet the needs of their family can be as low as 25 percent of what they were making back home, yet their expenses are almost the same.” Levi-Julian said.

Devora Renert, an attractive, vivacious immigrant from Manhattan, has spent the past year improving her Hebrew, to the point that she is confident she will find a job soon. What frustrates her is the lack of cultural and singles events geared toward people over 40.

“I was planning on going to a 4th of July barbecue until I noticed at the end it was for people in their 20s and 30s,” Renert said, stroking her dog, Cheetah, in her Jerusalem living room. “It made me feel excluded. “

Renert wishes that the Jewish organizations that pride themselves on outreach would reach out to people like her — idealistic immigrants who came to Israel out of love and a desire to contribute to society.

“We’re people who made the major decision to give up our homes and lives to move to Israel. All we want are opportunities to meet each other,” Renert said.

Even with the challenges, however, older olim say they do not regret their decision to move to Israel.

Older Olim find workplace bias in Israel Read More »

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Edelstein’s bold revival of Williams classic ‘Menagerie’

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Theater / Naomi Pfefferman

Widely recognized as one of the most esteemed theater directors working today, Gordon Edelstein at one time considered becoming a rabbi. That was in the early 1970s, when he was a religious studies major at Grinnell College in Iowa.

“It’s a very short distance between the clergy and the theater,” Edelstein said in an interview before a rehearsal of his rethinking of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” opening at the Mark Taper Forum on Sept. 12. “Particularly the Judeo-Christian tradition uses stories to reveal fundamental truths about human beings and our relationship to the universe. I think the exact same words could be applied to the practice of theater.”

Edelstein, currently in his eighth season as artistic director at the Long Wharf Theatre in Connecticut, has applied that approach to works as varied as Donald Margulies’ adaptation of the Yiddish-language “God of Vengeance,” as well as plays by Athol Fugard and Anna Deavere Smith.

His “Glass Menagerie” has been lauded for its fresh, almost gritty approach to Williams’ 1944 classic; in it, the character of Tom Wingfield (Patch Darragh) —Williams’ alter ego — does not recount family memories with yearning regret “but with the anguished sense that they contain the bitter truth of his life that he has never before been willing to face,” as a writer for The New York Times put it.

In traditional productions, Tom, a restless dreamer, recites his lyrical monologues directly to the audience while, in between, his past is acted out on a set of the Wingfields’ St. Louis tenement home. Tom appears only in scenes in which he interacts with his overbearing former Southern belle mother, Amanda, (Judith Ivey), his fragile sister, Laura (Keira Keeley) and the “gentleman caller” Jim (Ben McKenzie), who comes to dinner in the devastating second act.

Edelstein reset the action entirely in a shabby hotel room, where Tom is struggling to write a play about his searing past as the images in his head come to life. The other actors enter as he types and scribbles notes, envisions scenes or acts out roles aloud.

“Gordon has an incredible understanding of the classic plays, and he is incredibly collaborative in his approach,” Darragh said. “As an actor, this has given me a great opportunity to open up an already challenging role — to play the young man in St. Louis who is still searching for his identity, and then the more mature character embracing himself as a writer, a homosexual, an artist and an individual.”

Edelstein said “The Glass Menagerie” had been on his to-do list for years when he originated the production in 2009 at the Long Wharf. “I first saw it when I was 17, in a student production that probably wasn’t any good, but I was completely shattered by the play,” he said.

Yet he remained dissatisfied with productions he has seen over the years. “Great directors and great actors have done this play, but in my opinion it hasn’t really worked. My question was, ‘Why?’ … The character of Tom seemed really to be the author’s stand-in; the play was really about him, yet he disappeared for long periods of time. So I thought, ‘How can I help make him more central?’ In having Tom actually write the play as it unfolds, the character remains on stage for much of the show and more directly serves as a stand-in for Williams himself.”

To prepare for his revival, Edelstein read all of the biographies of Williams, as well as the playwright’s letters and notebooks. “We do know the address of the hotel where he stayed in New Orleans after he left St. Louis — so the production imagines that that was where he began ‘The Glass Menagerie,’ ” Edelstein said. “What this production has flagrantly stolen from [the] biography is the objects Williams brought to that hotel: his typewriter, the record player, the suitcase, a bottle of bourbon.”

As the rehearsal got under way, the director said permission had been obtained from the fire marshal for candelabrum in the second act: “So we can light the menorah every night,” he quipped.

For Edelstein, “The Glass Menagerie” is the latest endeavor in a career that has included hundreds of productions and five years as artistic director of the prestigious ACT — A Contemporary Theatre — in Seattle.

Jewish-themed work has figured prominently in his career, from “God of Vengeance” to Athol Fugard’s “Have You Seen Us?” an exploration of racism whose characters include an elderly Jewish couple and a bitter South African expatriate.

“Jewish-based work has always interested me,” said Edelstein, who grew up with liberal activist parents in a Conservative home on Long Island and is now an active member at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan. “I remain identified in a way that is in some ways uncharacteristic for people in my profession, so this kind material will often come to me.”

It is no coincidence that some of the work has spotlighted the troubled relationship between blacks and Jews: “If I were to play armchair psychologist with myself, it has something to do with … the Saturday mornings I drove with my father from our home on Long Island to work at his pawnshop in Harlem,” the director said. In 1994, that fascination led him to direct and champion Michael Henry Brown’s “The Day the Bronx Died,” which involves the story of two childhood friends, one black, one Jewish, and their struggles in a racist world.

A different kind of impetus drew Edelstein to “God of Vengeance,” Sholem Asch’s 1907 drama about a Jewish brothel owner in Poland whose daughter runs away with one of his prostitutes. “It is the story of ‘Juliet and Juliet,’ ” Edelstein said. Margulies’ adaptation set the play on the Lower East Side in 1923, allowing Edelstein to connect with his beloved late grandfather.

“I’m also attracted to irreverence,” he added, “and I suppose Asch’s impulse for the play is rebellious. It’s a young man shooting the raspberry at his parents. I’m close to my parents but there’s a side of me that still gets a thrill at putting on a play in which there is a lesbian love scene in one room while a Torah is arriving in the next.”

Two prominent reviewers saw Edelstein’s “The Glass Menagerie” as irreverent, although that was never the director’s intention. While other critics applauded the production, John Lahr of The New Yorker and Michael Feingold of The Village Voice complained about Edelstein’s unorthodox approach. “We clearly offended a minority who thought we were [messing] with this great classic,” the director said. “But if you read the stage directions at the beginning of the play, Williams is very clear to say to directors, this is [his] idea, but in the future, there will be new technologies, and new ideas — go for it.’”

Tickets and information, visit www.centertheatregroup.org.

Edelstein’s bold revival of Williams classic ‘Menagerie’ Read More »

Wiesel’s ‘Case’ both murder mystery, Holocaust literature

Leave a Comment / Books, Judaism / Jonathan Kirsch

When it comes to a novel, I suppose, all that matters is what’s between the covers. But when the novel is “The Sonderberg Case” by Elie Wiesel (Alfred A. Knopf: $25, translated from the French by Catherine Temerson), the author’s life story simply cannot be ignored.

Wiesel may well be the single most-famous survivor of the Holocaust. He was sent to Auschwitz at the age of 15, an experience that is recalled in “Night,” Wiesel’s compelling and enduring contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, among other honors, and he has achieved unique stature and function as a voice of morality in international geopolitics, as when he courageously cautioned Ronald Reagan against making a state visit to a German cemetery where SS troops are buried. “That place, Mr. President, is not your place,” Wiesel famously said, speaking truth to power.

More than 50 books bear Wiesel’s name as author, and his latest is the newly published “The Sonderberg Case,” a slender, taut and deeply reflective account of a Jewish theater critic named Yedidyah who is assigned to cover the murder trial of an enigmatic German expatriate. “Trials are like theater,” his editor explains. Almost inevitably, however, the mystery goes much deeper than the death of one man.

The crime itself is enigmatic. Werner Sonderberg goes for a hike in the Adirondacks in the company of his uncle, but he returns alone and the uncle’s dead body is later discovered at the foot of a cliff. At the trial, the defendant declares himself to be “guilty and not guilty,” and Yedidyah spends the rest of his life struggling to understand the meaning of his plea. “Accident? Suicide? Murder?” muses Yedidyah long after the trial is over. “The fate of an individual matters little compared to the goings-on of political, financial and artistic celebrities. But Yedidyah thinks about it often, too often probably; he remains haunted by it.”

We simply cannot read these words by this author and fail to think of the other crimes that also haunt Elie Wiesel, and we suspect that there is a linkage between the death of one man in the Adirondacks and the murder of millions at Auschwitz. “Sometimes, when Yedidyah assesses his work, with its setbacks and intervals of calm, his dazzling triumphs and slow or dizzying failures, this trial stands out for him like black granite, attracting the twilight,” he writes. “Years have gone by, but Yedidyah still can’t reach a verdict.”

At the core of “The Sonderberg Case” is a conventional murder mystery, although a particularly elegant and deeply literate one. Yedidyah is a civilized man, and his memories are ornamented with knowing references to Oedipus and Camus, Brecht and the Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, the Spanish Inquisition and Kafka’s “The Trial.” The murder case itself falls somewhere between “a Greek tragedy or a Shakespearean drama.” But Wiesel is ultimately less interested in the truth and consequences of the murder case than in the moral repercussions of history.

“Creation,” Yedidyah wonders aloud, “may just be one big, lengthy court proceeding.”

The Holocaust is referenced only obliquely as “the Tragedy,” and Yedidyah’s father, a child of survivors, falls silent whenever the subject comes up. But, not surprisingly, the subject is inescapable. At a family wedding, for example, Yedidyah’s grandmother wonders: “Do you think they see us?” And he realizes that she is referring to the ones who did not manage to escape and reach America. His mother whispers a benediction at the family holiday table: “Look, in spite of it all, we’ve defeated Hitler,” she says. “Our happiness is his hell.”

But history, as James Joyce wrote, is a nightmare from which we struggle to awaken, and the same is true of the characters in “The Sonderberg Case.” As we reach the end of Wiesel’s slender novel, everything we have assumed to be true is shown to have been a scrim behind which the harder and more poignant truths are suddenly discerned. “When the Tragedy is referred to, the law of probability is scoffed at,” says Yedidyah at the moment of revelation. “Many stories that we think are improbable and impossible are actually true.”

Indeed, the closing passages of “The Sonderberg Case” can be approached almost as memoir rather than mystery fiction. For Wiesel, as for the characters he has created, the biblical search for “the tree of life and knowledge” is something we are obliged to undertake, even if we rightly fear what we may find. More than that I cannot say lest I spoil the shocks and surprises that Wiesel has so carefully buried away in his latest book.

Jonathan Kirsch, author and publishing attorney, is the book editor of The Jewish Journal. He blogs at Wiesel’s ‘Case’ both murder mystery, Holocaust literature Read More »

Menu items at the glatt kosher taco truck Takosher include the “Original Latketaco” and a “brisketac

Leave a Comment / Food / Jewish Journal

Los Angeles’ food truck craze has motored on down to the kosher side of town. Kosher tacos where you walkest by the way, and even where you drivest by, are now on the menu and ready to order.

Since the end of August, Takosher, the blue-and-white glatt kosher taco truck, has been making test stops at locations in the midcity and Pico-Robertson neighborhoods.

When it officially opens for business on Sept. 12, the kosher taco truck will join L.A.’s growing ethnic fleet of Korean, Mexican, Italian and Vietnamese food trucks.

“I have wanted a taco truck since I was a teenager,” said Lowell Bernstein, a co-owner, along with Moises Baqueiro and Chris Martin, of this most peripatetic addition to the city’s kosher food scene.

Bernstein, a former director of culinary arts at a local charter school, is excited about the truck’s cross-cultural implications.

The kosher taco truck, the first of its kind in Los Angeles, and perhaps even the United States, serves up a kosher menu of five different types of “chosen tacos,” including a “brisketaco,” a “chosen chicken,” and what must be a first for culinary fusion, the “Original Latketaco.”

For a religion that celebrates three pilgrimage festivals, you might think that mobile kosher food would be a natural. Yet, the road to kosher food on wheels has been a slow one.

“It’s taken 1 1/2 years,” Bernstein said. “We needed to find someone to help us develop a kosher certification program,” he explained one afternoon as he cooked a skillet of well-seasoned brisket in the truck’s 3-foot-wide galley-style kitchen.

After making inquiries to several kosher certification groups, Bernstein began working with Three Line K under the direction of Rabbi Yisroel Kelemer, the current kosher supervisor for the Skirball Cultural Center, to develop a glatt kosher program for the truck.

The program includes unannounced spot checks by a mashgiach (kosher supervisor) and keeping all purchase records on board the truck for inspection. The program also allows the rabbi of authority at any site where the truck is parked to come on board for his own inspection.

“We wanted a completely transparent program … one that would stand up to scrutiny,” said Bernstein, who had moved on to preparing a tray of tiny potato puffs for the Latketaco.

“We call in every morning with our locations,” he said as he cooked up some sweet-smelling onions and peppers.

“We buy all our meat from Doheny Kosher Meats. We even found an authentic-tasting line of corn tortillas,” added Bernstein, who has lived in Mexico City.

According to co-owner and chef Baqueiro, who grew up in Mexico City, the menu has been created from authentic recipes. “We make all our own sauces,” he said as he seared filling for the chicken tacos.

Adding to the fusion feel of the kosher taco truck, they also serve Dr. Brown’s cream, black cherry and Cel-Ray sodas.

As part of the plan, Kelemer even requires Takosher to inspect its greens. To prevent any insects from getting into the food, Bernstein first is required to wash cilantro in hydrogen peroxide and then examine it on a light box.

“Haven’t found anything yet,” he said.

Kashering the truck also presented several challenges.

“We worked out a plan,” said the fedora-wearing Rabbi Kelemer, who stood by the truck one afternoon while it was parked in front of the Kosher Club on Pico Boulevard.

Kelemer’s assistant, Rabbi Eitan Ratzabi, made the truck kosher-ready. “He came on the truck and torched the metal countertops,” Kelemer said. The kashering was completed by heating the oven and taking the cooking utensils to a local mikveh for immersion.

A finishing touch came with the addition of a side-panel hand-washing station complete with blessings.

With so many gourmet food trucks lining up for customers, how will the kosher taco truck concept roll financially?

Story continues after the jump.

According to the third partner in the venture, marketer and business investor Martin, “I fell in love with the concept. I could see there was no competition,” he said. “Being a non-Jew helped me to see that this transcends religious boundaries,” he added.

A couple of paying customers seemed to agree.

“It tasted like an authentic Mexican grill,” said customer Heather Warren of Pico-Robertson, who keeps kosher and tried the chicken. “It’s tangy and sweet.”

“The brisket is very tender and has a nice barbecue flavor,” said another customer, Chris Grisham of Los Angeles.

In terms of cost, the fact that most truck tacos ring up at between $1 and $1.50 and his kosher brisket taco costs more than $3 didn’t faze Grisham. “It’s a small investment,” he said.

“I only have a vague idea about what kosher is,” Grisham admitted, “Something about hygiene?”

“It couldn’t hurt,” he added, digging in.

Find the Takosher truck’s daily location (doesn’t roll on Shabbat) at Takosher.com, or on Twitter @Takosher.

Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles. He can be reached at {encode=”edmojace@gmail.com” title=”edmojace@gmail.com”}.

Menu items at the glatt kosher taco truck Takosher include the “Original Latketaco” and a “brisketac Read More »

Free family services can build connections

Leave a Comment / Holidays / Jewish Journal

Here’s the scene: It’s the first day of Rosh Hashanah, and the rabbi and cantor are on the bimah. Adult congregants are packed into the shul with their machzorim. And a bunch of kids are sitting next to their parents during the service. Kids? This certainly isn’t your grandparents’ High Holy Days service.

For most people, High Holy Days services are strictly an adult affair. Children are sent to the babysitting area or junior congregation and picked up by their parents at the end of the main service. Yet many synagogues offer “family services,” programs that not only allow parents and children to pray together, but many times are free and open to all.

“We often hear that synagogues present a barrier to participation [in the Jewish community],” said Miriam Prum-Hess, director of the Center for Day School Education of the BJE of Greater Los Angeles. Prum-Hess says these new services are especially helpful for young families, who may not be willing or able to invest in a synagogue membership. They offer an opportunity for families to sample the culture, service style, clergy and offerings unique to each synagogue.

“JKidLA [a service of the BJE] has made a concerted effort to get the message across to synagogues that access to programs like these [free High Holy Days services] are a great way to introduce prospective families to the Jewish parenting groups, preschools, day schools, religious schools and camps available to them through their institutions,” said Debra Markovic, city concierge for Jewish education at the BJE. The services “also represent an opportunity for these families to experience what individual communities feel like and to get a sense of which might work best for them,” she said.

“Families nowadays really want to share in the experience with their kids,” Prum-Hess said. The BJE’s concierge service, which helps connect parents with Jewish educational resources, began receiving queries about family-oriented High Holy Days services about a year ago. At the time, there weren’t many options. Prum-Hess says that inquiries by the BJE to various synagogues in the city and the San Fernando Valley may have prompted a few of the shuls either to create family services, promote their existing services or open them to the community at large.

There are several draws to the services, Markovic says. “For parents with young children — who are temple members already, or not — they provide a quick, social and fun way to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and observe Yom Kippur that does not necessitate expense, commitment or the provision of childcare that separate services for adults and children require. For interfaith families, they’re a great alternative to long, formal services and unfamiliar liturgy that can feel intimidating and uncomfortable,” she said.

Prum-Hess notes that many of the services take place in the afternoon, after the traditional services, and last between 45 minutes and one hour. At Temple Beth Hillel, a Reform congregation in North Hollywood, the popularity of the family service continues to grow. “We have been offering these services for years,” said Rabbi Sarah Hronsky of Beth Hillel. “We want our kids to have a wonderful High Holy Day experience geared toward them, with age-appropriate stories, music and length.”

Hronsky says that Beth Hillel has always offered some community members in need free tickets to attend regular services, so a no-cost, family service seemed like a natural progression. And sometimes, parents simply like the change. “Many of our adults really enjoy the experience alongside their children. In the past, I have received glowing comments about being together as a family, about understanding the meaning behind a prayer, and the excitement of the shofar service,” Hronsky said.

Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, senior rabbi at Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation in Pacific Palisades, says his shul has been offering a free family service for 24 years. “We wanted to reach out to the community as a whole and give people a chance to experience the warmth, inclusiveness and openness of Kehillat Israel and provide a place for the kids of unaffiliated Jews to experience the High Holy Days,” he said.

Many rabbis relish the challenge to create a multigenerational service. Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, spiritual leader of Beth Shir Shalom in Santa Monica, says the services make people smile. “It hits the core of what they know and what they understand about the High Holy Days, except that it’s expressed in a wonderful language that the children can understand.” Beth Shir Shalom’s family service is offered after its traditional service on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, each child is given a chance to blow the shofar.

Most synagogues offering free family services do so for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The BJE has compiled a list of synagogues offering these family services in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Markovic says her concierge department is available to help match families throughout the area with services that will meet their needs.

The following list is courtesy of the BJE Web site, and information may change. For more information, please contact the institutions directly.

Rosh Hashanah Children and Family Services (Valley)
Thursday, September 9, 2010 Rosh Hashanah: No tickets required.

Congregation Or Ami (Calabasas), 2:15 p.m. at the Civic Arts Center in Thousand Oaks. http://www.orami.com.

Adat Ari El (Valley Village), 8:45-9:45 a.m. for families with young children and 11a.m. for families with elementary school aged children. http://www.adatariel.org.

Temple Adat Elohim (Thousand Oaks), 3:30-4 p.m. Tot Service and from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Tashlich Service for Families at Oak Canyon Park . http://www.adatelohim.org

Temple Etz Chaim (Thousand Oaks), 2:30-3:30 p.m. Family Rosh Hashanah Services. http://www.templeetzchaim.org.

Temple Beth Hillel (Valley Village), 2:45-3:30 p.m. Three separate sevices: Children PreK and Kindergarten, 1st-6th grades, 7th-12th grades. http://www.tbhla.org

Temple Judea (West Hills), 3 p.m. for children 1-5 years old and 4 p.m. for children 5-8 years old. http://www.templejudea.com.

Temple Kol Tikvah (Woodland Hills) Children’s Services, 1:30 p.m. http://www.koltikvah.org.

Tot & Family High Holiday Services, 1st Day RH 2010 (City)
Thursday, September 9th, 2010; The following Rosh Hashanah services are open to the community (no Temple membership required) and many do not require tickets.

Beth Shir Sholom of Santa Monica: Rosh Hashanah Children’s Service; 1:30 p.m.; No tickets or RSVP required; Service takes place at Barnum Hall on the Santa Monica High School Campus, 601 Pico Blvd. http://bethshirsholom.org

IKAR at the Westside Jewish Community Center: Variety of Children’s Services Available; Parents Welcome; Tickets for children must be purchased; http://ikar-la.org;

Kehillat Israel of Pacific Palisades: Family Service at the Wadsworth Theater; 3-4 p.m.; No tickets or RSVP required; http://kehillatisrael.org;

Leo Baeck Temple of West L.A.: Children’s Service; 2 p.m.; Tickets required but they are free of charge- please visit website to reserve; http://leobaecktemple.org;

Stephen S. Wise Temple of Bel Air: Rosh Hashanah Service for ECC & Pre-K Families; 3-3:30 p.m. in the Magnin Auditorium at the Skirball Cultural Center; No tickets required; http://wisela.org

Temple Akiba of Culver City: Rosh Hashanah Children’s Service; 3 p.m.; No tickets or RSVP required; http://templeakiba.net

Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills: Tot Rosh Hashanah, 11-11:30 a.m.; For children 6 & under; No tickets or RSVP required; http://tebh.org;

Temple Isaiah of West LA; Family Service at UCLA/Royce Hall; 9 a.m.; Tickets required; http://templeisaiah.com;

Temple Israel of Hollywood; Children’s Service; 8:30-9:15 a.m.; Toddlers through 2nd grade; No tickets or RSVP required; http://tioh.org;

Temple Menorah of Redondo Beach; 9 a.m.; Tot Family Service for preschool age families; Tickets required; http://templemenorah.org;

University Synagogue of Brentwood; Family Service; 1:30 p.m.; No tickets or RSVP required; http://unisyn.org;

Wilshire Boulevard Temple; Nursery School Rosh Hashanah Service; 3 p.m. Temple Campus; No tickets or RSVP required; http://wbtla.org;

The following Tashlich services occur in public locations and therefore are open to the community; no tickets required.

Beth Shir Sholom of Santa Monica; 3 p.m.; Location: TBA; http://bethshirsholom.org;

Kehillat Ma’arav of Santa Monica; 5:30 p.m.; End of the Santa Monica Pier; http://km-synagogue-org;

Leo Baeck Temple of West LA; 5 p.m.; Will Rogers State Beach; http://leobaecktemple.org;

Nashuva; 4:30 p.m.; Where Venice Blvd. meets the sand; http://nashuva.com;

Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills; 5 p.m.; PCH & Temescal Canyon; http://tebh.org;

Temple Israel of Hollywood; 4 p.m.; Location: TBA; http://tioh.org;

Tot & Family High Holiday Services 2nd Day RH 2010 (City)
Friday, September 10th, 2010.

IKAR at the Westside Jewish Community Center; Interactive Family Service; Details TBA; http://ikar-la.org;

Nashuva at Temescal Gateway Park; 9 a.m. Hike; 10 a.m. Outdoor Service in Temescal Park; No tickets required but please RSVP; http://nashuva.com;

Temple Beth Am (Mid-Wilshire); Shir Rosh Hashanah Family Service; 4 p.m.; No tickets required but please RSVP; http://tbala.org;

The following second-day Tashlich services occur in public locations and therefore are open to the community; no tickets required.

Friday, September 10th; Temple Menorah of Redondo Beach; 5PM; Manhattan Beach Pier; http://templemenorah.org

Free family services can build connections Read More »

Great Advice

Leave a Comment / Blogs / Chava Tombosky

Me: “It hurts me when I do this….”(picture me moving my elbow)

My DAD: “So don’t do that.”

Me: “But it hurts when I touch my arm.”

My DAD: “So don’t touch your arm.”

Me: “Is my arm broken?”

My DAD: “I don’t know, try to move it.”

Me: “But it hurts.”

My DAD: “So DON”T MOVE IT!”

Me; “What kind of doctor are you?”

My DAD: “Guts and Butts. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.”

Me: “but it’s my elbow.”

My DAD: “Like I said, don’t move it, you’ll be fine.”

Me: “What if I die?”

My DAD: “You’re not gonna die. You’re alive today.”

Me: “What happens when we die?”

My DAD: “I don’t know much, but I can tell you this, life and death are like a two sided coin. On one side of the coin is life, and on the other side is death. One day we will die and go to heaven, and I promise you this, we won’t need money to pay for property once we get there.

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Interview with Jewish Hall of Famer Shawn Lipman

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / JewishJournal

Recently TGR caught up with arguably the greatest Jewish rugby player of all time. That’s right rugby. If you haven’t played or seen rugby you should. It is brutal. Real tough athletes who lay it all on the line. Thank you to our correspondent Rabbi Erez Sherman for setting this up.

INTERVIEW

1) Tell the TGR world a little bit about yourself?

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and developed a love for rugby, the national pastime at a young age. Rugby was not a sport that was generally played by Jews, but I loved it. I joined Wits University Rugby Club at Under 20 level in 1983 on a Rugby scholarship, from Sandringham High School, where I was a first team (varsity) player, having received full colors (awarded to selected best players) in Rugby. I represented Transvaal Under 20s (Provincial All Stars, highest level in South Africa for my age group) whilst playing at university, and also South Africa in the Maccabiah Games in 1985. I emigrated to the United States at the end of 1985and joined the Santa Monica Rugby Club where I immediately made lifelong friends. Through my selection to the regional All Star teams, I was selected to play on the United States national team in 1988, earning my first cap (full international) against Canada, who we beat for the first time in many attempts. I travelled all over the world with the US National Team and represented the United States in the 1991 Rugby World Cup in England, the third largest sporting event in the world. I represented the U.S. team in over 20 international matches, including 9 test matches, and was fortunate enough to play against some of the best national teams and players in the world, including the New Zealand All Blacks, England and France. I played in 5 World Maccabiah Games ( held every four years in Israel) as a player, having captained the U.S. team in 1993 and 1997, and represented the U.S. in 1989 and South Africa in 1985. I was selected as MVP of the Maccabiah Games Rugby Event in 1989, 1993, and 1997. In the Maccabiah competition, we won gold in 1985; bronze in 1989; silver in 1993 and gold in 1997 (the first time South Africa did not win the tournament). The biggest honor was being elected as the Flag Bearer for the entire United States delegation in 1997. Unfortunately it was marred by a bridge collapse at the opening ceremony where some members of the Australia delegation died. In 2009 I came out of retirement at the age of 44 to represent the United States at the Maccabiah Games, winning a bronze medal. This culminated a 24 year career of playing at the Maccabiah Games, winning 2 Gold Medals, 1 Silver , and 2 Bronze Medals, and three MVP’s. I also toured South Africa in 1988 with the Pacific Coast Grizzlies, playing against the best teams in South Africa. My rugby career allowed me to play all over the world against international sides, and took me to places like Russia, Japan, Canada, South Africa, France, England, Israel, Scotland, and Bermuda I was inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 along with some of the best professional athletes in the United States, including Mark Spitz and Sandy Koufax amongst many other great Jewish sports stars. I also earned MVP of the Year award at the Santa Monica Rugby Club eight times and in 2006 was also inducted into that club’s Hall of Fame. I married my wife Karen in 1994, who I originally met in 1988 and we have three awesome kids, Scott 15, Jamie, 12, and Lindsay 9.

2) What makes rugby such a great sport? How does it compare to football?

Rugby is probably one of the most grueling sports in the world. It requires significant endurance and strength, as you have to play both offense and defense with no timeouts and very little stoppage of play. The very physical nature of the game creates an environment where no player can hide and the true character of each player comes out. hrough this test of will and courage, tremendous bonds are made with team mates and life long friendships are formed. Prima Donnas are not tolerated and are exposed through the demanding requirements of the game. Football is a very tough game as well. However it is a burst sport, where the maximum exertion is used in short furious bursts. The game has a tremendous amount of specialization, with a great deal of emphasis on each play. Rugby, while requiring a variety of different skills and physiques in different positions, is a game of continuous attrition where capitalizing on a teams weaknesses and mistakes through continuity of play and possession of the ball is the key to success. No time outs and no substitutes. That being said, I think it would have been fun to have played football. I think I would have liked it.

3) What can the sport do to get more national exposure?

With rugby having been added to the 2016 Olympic Games we are already starting to see a great deal of interest. Major networks like NBC are starting to televise more rugby and as we get closer to the Olympics we should expect to see much more. Now we have top athletes who have just missed the cut in the NFL or NBA, seeing rugby as a vehicle to continue their professional sporting careers and potentially be Olympians. The US national team is now starting to attract these top athletes more than ever before. Also with the tremendous commercial success and following of rugby outside of the US, and it’s inclusion in the Olympics, corporate sponsors are going to be eager to capitalize on the growth of the sport. There has also been a huge upsurge in the amount of youth and college Programs in the country, and that is ultimately where the growth will come from.

4) How was the experience of playing in the Maccabiah games?

My involvement in the games has had a profound effect on me. As a Jewish athlete playing a sport not usually played by Jews, it was a lonely place. There was always the sense that as a Jew you were not good enough and it was imperative to always prove myself that not only did I deserve to be playing, but that I was better. It seemed that I was always fighting the stereotype of the weak Jew who could not play sports. And then I went to the Maccabiah Games , and here there were thousands of Jewish athletes from all over the world , excellent athletes, and in some cases world-renowned Olympians , all with a commonality and shared experience. It was amazing to be with these great athletes, and feel proud to be with all these world class Jewish athletes. It felt like we were sticking it to anyone who ever tried to perpetuate the myth that Jews could not play sports and were fundamentally weak, especially with the games being held in Israel, in the midst of all their enemies. Having experienced the same feeling that other great Jewish athletes like Mark Spitz, Mitch Gaylord, Lenny Krayzelberg, Kerri Strug, Jason Lezak , all Great Gold medal winning Olympians, is truly life affirming, and having been selected as the US delegations flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies in 1997 was a highlight of my sporting career.

5) What was it like being inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame?

It was surreal. Here I was, an immigrant from Johannesburg South Africa, being inducted into the company of some of the greatest American sporting figures in history. to be in the same company of Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, Mark Spitz, Sarah Hughes, Jason Lezak, Red Auerbach, Marv Levy, Howard Kossell and so many more, is unreal to me. I am very proud that we have a Jewish Rugby player in the Hall of Fame as it gives our sport the recognition it deserves and in some way I am merely am representative of so many other great Jewish rugby players in the US, many of whom I was so lucky to play with over the years, and form lifelong friendships. Having many of my teammates from Santa Monica Rugby Club and the US Maccabiah team, come out to New York for the induction, as well as my family, was a great thrill. I think it is so important that young Jewish athletes can look at these inductees and realize that there are no limits to what they can achieve and that it does not have to come at the expense of their Jewish identity.

6) What are you up to these days?

On the personal side, I try and spend as much time with my family as possible. I have an amazing wife, Karen, who was a four time All American swimmer at college, my oldest son Scott is playing Football as a high school freshman, my middle son Jamie is also playing football now for his middle school team, and my 9 year old daughter is wonderful soccer player. I have coached all my kids and still coach my daughter. I have also been very involved in coaching youth rugby in the San Fernando Valley. I am actually distributing a great Rugby themed movie that a close rugby friend of mine wrote and directed. The movie will be launched through a very focused Internet campaign and initially distributed through online streaming and downloads. Anyone who watches the movie will earn a chance to win a free trip for two to New Zealand next year during the rugby world cup. The movie is called Play On and is available at www.playonthemovie.com. It is a very fun project and obviously a labor of love. Other than that I still play rugby every Sunday on the beach in Santa Monica , and squash. I am also a partner with a lifelong friend and business partner in a Private Equity Firm called The KJL Group.

Thank you to Shawn Lipman for helping us out and giving us some insight to your career and the sport.

And Let Us Say…Amen.
-Jeremy Fine
For More Info Check Out WWW.THEGREATRABBINO.COM

Interview with Jewish Hall of Famer Shawn Lipman Read More »

A Loss of faith

Leave a Comment / Holidays / Jewish Journal

I am angry with God. I thought we had a deal. I feel betrayed. The bargain was not kept. The contract was broken.

(I am not used to the weight of sadness. I don’t carry it well. I’m searching for balance so I don’t become crippled.)

Some families seem burdened with mishegoss. Always a “drama,” a “situation,” a “disaster,” an illness. Our children’s stories seemed embarrassingly carefree. Two beautiful daughters, perfect health, excellent schools, traveling the world, lovely friends, wonderful careers. Raising them was pure pleasure. The only real “drama” was the argument about letting my older daughter attend her winter formal in Chicago while interning in London. My younger daughter faced a similar controversy. Would her bat mitzvah be on Masada or at the Western Wall, and should she choose to attend Vanderbilt or Boston University. (She chose the Wall and Vanderbilt.)

God smiled on our house, and the Book of Life overflowed with abundance. What could possibly go wrong? Handsome menches had shown up to propose, the brides were stunning, and the years of joy flowed easily. By last summer, my elder daughter had produced two perfect grandchildren and my younger announced she was expecting. My husband and I sat back comfortably to contemplate retirement and plan for the next round of nachas.

How does one process the death of a child? Unfortunately, we are all too familiar with the more common scenarios. The blinding flash accident, the hand of fate, the wrong place at the wrong time, a drunk driver, a drug overdose, the teen suicide or the long, heart-wrenching struggle against incurable disease such as the one described in Rabbi Harold Kushner’s seminal book on the subject of death, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” The “good fight” is waged and lost.

But what happened to us was an aberration, fitting none of these scenarios. A slow-motion train wreck, an unbelievable series of errors, omissions, miscalculations, coincidence and bad timing, a spinning vortex of tragedy. Our beautiful daughter, Shane Gold Burwick, a bride of eight months, and her unborn son of six months’ gestation, are now forever together at Mount Sinai Memorial Park.

How did they get there? It makes no sense! Why did they miss the seder, and all our birthdays? Her first anniversary was to be her first Mother’s Day. We were planning a bris, not a funeral. This does not equate! This is not my life!

The new birth control pill Yasmin was supposed to help solve a variety of problems common to young women. And for many, it does, but for countless others, it has dangerous side effects, including blood clots, particularly, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, which Shane suffered. But, being vibrant and otherwise healthy, Shane quickly recovered, resuming her career at Sony Pictures, becoming engaged in August 2008, then married in May 2009 and pregnant in July, never being warned of the well-documented extreme danger, the ticking time bomb, her condition produced.

Last fall, our lives began to unravel. A gut-wrenching medical horror story unfolded, rivaling those of medieval torture. Shane and her husband saw the loss of their child, and then we saw the loss of ours. Shane was diagnosed with a cerebral thrombosis in December and died following a Caesarean section on Jan. 14, 2010. She was 31.

Sadly, the hows and whys of what happened to Shane and to us will be revealed by investigating medical records and expert testimony. Perhaps there will be answers, but not the one I am seeking.

Where was God? Why did he turn away? So many were praying! Why our Shane? Why our grandson? Why this time? Why this way?

I have studied Rabbi Kushner’s book. (Ironically, he had officiated at the bar mitzvah of Shane’s husband in Boston.) I find no answers there. I find it intensely provocative that the book is titled “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” rather than why. The answer to “when” is well addressed. It’s often and randomly. The answer to why is the critical issue and is simply not there, or anywhere else. Perhaps it’s just “why not.”

Rabbi Brian Schuldenfrei of Sinai Temple, (now with Bet Shira in Miami) delivered a eulogy that managed to penetrate and resonate through my grief-addled mind:

“This is tragedy in its most cruel manifestation. … This is a dark time. There should have been more light, there should have been more memories and blessings. … It should have been the beginning, not the end … the light of Shane’s memory does not take away the pain or the anger or the hard questions: Why? How could God do this? … There are no good answers. Any attempt to explain, any attempt to answer would be an insult to their memory. Why? … This is a question for which there is no answer. What I will say is that I do not believe God caused this. The God I believe in does not rob us of life, does not impart illness and does not devastate us with tragedy. The God I believe in is not such a God.”

Still contemplating his words at 3 a.m., I wrote the following: “God is the universal Life Force, setting in motion, but not controlling, the power of nature and her seemingly random extremes of beauty and cruelty.”

As the holidays approach, I struggle with the thought of going to temple. Why do we pray to be inscribed in the Book of Life? It might as well be the Book of Good Luck. Some will have it, others, not.

God exerts no control. God is not involved. We see the evidence that this is so and experience it first-hand but persist in the fantasy that life makes sense, that things can be fixed, that we have some control. Is it a comfort to believe that God cries with us? It seems a greater comfort that the odds are usually are in our favor. The first is a matter of faith, the second a statistical reality.

As we left the hospital that horrid afternoon, the Los Angles sun was blinding and defiant. We pulled the car over, gasping, uncomprehending. “What just happened?” My husband said that we ran out of luck. Yes! That was it! Certainly not God’s will! God doesn’t will such things! Just bad luck. Shane’s husband said we were cheated and that Shane was cheated most of all.

Shane was so incredibly sweet and loving. She brought nothing but joy and light into the world. Why did she have to suffer weeks of such pain only to have her child taken from her? Why did it take three days of torture for her to die? Is it possible to envy those who can say, “He never knew what hit him. In an instant, he was gone”?

Why didn’t anyone at the hospital and the doctors, in all their wisdom, seem to notice that everything was spiraling out of control. So many bad things had to fall into place, a virtual conspiracy of “bad luck.” I keep going over and over it in my mind, the staggering improbability of this series of events. An infinity of “ifs.”

Shane was a great beauty with a vibrant, indelible personality and intelligence. She led a charmed life only made possible by the blessings of good fortune and the culmination of her grandparents’ impossible dreams. So, we cannot mourn the life she led, only that it was cut so short, all the promise unrealized.

Nature is random, but the universe is generous. The lord giveth, and the lord taketh away, but for no real reason, either way. So much evil is rewarded while the good suffer. And, while it may be true that our prayers are heard, God doesn’t manipulate the affairs of man. The concepts of prayer, faith, hope and luck are powerful illusions. We persist in believing because to do otherwise is against human nature.

People say that time helps to heal the searing pain of loss. But nothing could be less true. Each day that passes takes Shane further away from me, so that now, when I hear her voice and see her smile, I realize that these are memories, and will always be, only that — receding deeper in time.

The living are compelled to travel forward. Time is a dimension of distance, moving in only one direction, and no matter how well “packed” you are for the journey, you can take nothing with you.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? It’s all the same question.

So, why do we pray? Not for the future, over which God exerts no control. We pray to honor what exists, what we’ve been privileged to know and see. To honor the power of life God has set in motion and all that we don’t understand and will never have answered.

The future tense does not belong to the Book of Life because we can only see it in the rearview mirror.

Shane is survived by the author, Roberta Gold, and Arnold Gold, of Encino, as well as her husband, Jordan Burwick, and her sister, Robyn Fener.

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