November 10, 2010

It was nearly 5 o’clock when Susan realized she didn’t have the fresh basil and black olives she needed for the chicken dish she was preparing for dinner. Guests were arriving at 7 and she still needed to shower and change. Scribbling the few items down on a scrap of paper, she dashed out of the house — hair a mess, T-shirt stained with olive oil. 

She flew from the parking lot into the store and headed straight for the spice aisle.

What was it she needed again? 

Shuffling through old receipts and coupons in her purse, it hit her. She threw the list in the trash can outside the store along with a used tissue that was in her pocket. 

Back outside, Susan began to rummage through the garbage. At first, she gingerly set aside the greasy bags and magazines stained with food. But it didn’t take long to abandon her squeamishness and pride and engage in a full-out search-and-rescue mission for the list. 

Which was right about the time a good-looking, middle-aged man tapped her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, miss, can I help you?” he asked solicitously.

Susan hoisted herself up, garbage clinging to her sleeve. Before she could answer, he continued.

“I’d like to give you something, to help you out.”

“Oh no, really, I’m fine,” she stammered. “Really, I’m doing great.”

“No, no, I insist. Here, take this,” he said somewhat gallantly and thrust some coins into her hand before walking away.

Susan closed her mouth and opened her palm. In it was 48 cents, mostly dimes and nickels.

Her humiliation turned to shame, but then another feeling swelled inside her. 

“Forty-eight cents? That’s the best you could do? You could have at least given me a dollar!” she fumed as she marched back into the store with the list clenched in her other hand.

When Susan told me this story, I laughed at first. But as she went on, I understood the scenario differently.

How we treat a beggar, bag lady or homeless person is an issue that goes to the heart of who we are as human beings. Do we offer a smile, a kind word, some spare change? Do we give her a sandwich or a coupon for McDonalds?  Do we dodge the situation altogether by avoiding eye contact or pretending to be talking on our cell phone?

There is a concept in Hebrew expressed by the words b’tzelem Elohim. It means that each of us is created “in the image of God.” What does it mean to be created in God’s image? The rabbis answered that question with words that help us understand the essence of what it means to be human. Simply stated, it is this: that each of us is unique, of infinite value and of equal worth.

These three ideas — that we are all unique, equal and of immeasurable value — can and should influence our actions and relationships. From encountering a bag lady to addressing our children, from dealing with our own prejudices to listening to people we don’t like or agree with — b’tzelem Elohim is meant to keep us on track so that we treat each person with the respect and dignity they deserve as human beings. Judaism teaches that when we honor others in this way, we also honor God.

So what made Susan so upset? The fact that by giving her less than 50 cents, her “benefactor” did something more damaging than helpful: He robbed her of her dignity. That gesture made her feel small and unworthy.

Since the fateful afternoon of the trash can, Susan keeps a roll of dollar bills in her purse. Now she gives — not $1, but $2 — to the woman in front of Walgreens or the newspaper man on the corner. Why?

“Because even though a dollar might be enough to show my respect, I know that two will make them feel much better. And really, it won’t make much of a difference to me in the long run, except in how I feel about myself.” 

There are many ways we can respond to others in need. Some would argue that it is best not to give to individuals who ask for help on the street but rather, to give to organizations like the local food banks or homeless shelters that support them. However we choose to give, we should recognize that it is an opportunity to do more than just hand over a few dollars. It is a chance to engage another human being and dignify his or her value and existence.

Jerry B. Epstein is probably best-known as the developer of two apartment complexes in Marina del Rey. He and his wife also have long been very generous supporters of Saint John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica. But as much money as Epstein has donated to his favored causes, which also include AIPAC and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, some of his most notable contributions can’t be totaled up in dollars and cents.

That’s because Epstein, 87, has made something of a second, unpaid career out of offering advice on every topic under the sun, even when some of it is unwelcome.

First, a bit of background. Forty-five years ago, Epstein was one of the original developers of the “400 acres of water and 400 acres of land” — as he put it — that make up Marina del Rey. “It is the largest income-producing asset owned by the County of Los Angeles,” Epstein said of the unincorporated part of L.A. County that sits on the ocean’s edge, just south of Venice. “I’m the only one of the original developers who’s still above ground,” Epstein said.

That’s something of an understatement: Epstein comes into the office every day — after starting his day at 5:30 a.m. with a three-mile walk on the treadmill.

Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Epstein had never been west of the Allegheny Mountains before coming to California in May 1942, on his way to bombardier school. He flew in B-17 and B-29 bombers during World War II and remembers how his time in the service helped him mature. “It was amazing how much my parents had learned while I was away,” Epstein said, adding that he believes the United States should institute two years of mandatory service in the armed forces for all citizens. To “get your butt kicked a little bit,” Epstein said.

Epstein sneaks suggestions like this into every conversation. “The best way to be a sailor is to be invited aboard,” the accomplished seaman said at one point during lunch at the California Yacht Club. How had he and his wife, Pat, stayed happily married for over 60 years? “Two words: ‘Yes, dear,’ ” Epstein said. “And that goes for both the husband and the wife.” Even his reflective comments often feel like gentle nudges. If he were starting his career over again today, he said, he’d go to law school. “It prepares you for any profession. It teaches you to take nothing for granted, and to research everything.”

Epstein has held a number of powerful public advisory positions, and he doesn’t seem to care about flying below the radar or worry about ruffling feathers. Until earlier this year, he served as president of the Los Angeles State Building Authority, the three-person body charged with planning, financing and overseeing construction and management of state office buildings downtown. When, in the summer of 2009, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California legislature announced — without consulting Epstein or his colleagues — that they planned to sell 11 state-owned office buildings across the state, including two in Los Angeles, Epstein requested a review of the decision.

He made the request in February 2010. In March, after nearly 30 years serving on the building authority, Epstein was fired.

“At 86 years old, I am not personally concerned about having been fired,” Epstein wrote in a blunt opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times in early April. By selling off these buildings, he argued, the governor and legislature might balance the 2009-10 state budget, but at a significant cost — namely, the rent state agencies located downtown would have to pay to the buildings’ new owners.

“Short-term solutions and accounting gimmicks like the proposed sale of state buildings have long-term consequences,” Epstein wrote in the Times. Nevertheless, last month, downtown L.A.’s Ronald Reagan and Junipero Serra state buildings were sold, along with nine other office buildings across the state, for a combined $2.33 billion.

It wasn’t the first time Epstein saw his advice go unheeded. From 1985 to 1990, Epstein served on the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, where he learned much about the inadequacy of airport security at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and around the country. In January 1999, when The New York Times reported that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) agents disguised as passengers had repeatedly been able to smuggle guns, hand grenades and bombs past security guards, Epstein, in an op-ed in the L.A. Times, urged the FAA to improve the baggage screening process at airports, hire better-trained and better-paid security personnel, install new perimeter security fencing around runways and to tack on a “modest user fee” to every airline ticket to pay for security improvements.

Jane F. Garvey, then the FAA administrator, responded by calling Epstein’s account “outdated.” “Security today is better than it was two years ago, but more can and will be done,” Garvey said.

The deadliest airport security failure in history — 9/11 — was only two years away.

After the terror attacks, Epstein testified before the House Subcommittee on Aviation, repeating some of the suggestions he had made two years earlier, including the idea that “a trained special force” had to be established to help secure the country’s airports. Their members, Epstein said, needed to be “identified, trained and managed by one accountable agency.” Today, such an agency exists — the Transportation Security Administration.

Epstein has brought his advice-giving habit to his philanthropy as well. When Saint John’s had to completely rebuild its health center, which was badly damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Epstein’s developer expertise was invaluable. “He has built so many things in his life and been through, as he calls it, the drill,” Saint John’s Foundation Vice President Robert O. Klein said of Epstein. “When things did arise, he’d been down this path before so he was great counsel to the hospital leadership.”

It’s as if he can’t help but offer suggestions. In his testimony before the Congressional subcommittee on airport security in 2001, Epstein, who served on both the California Transportation Commission and the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said what the country needed most was a good high-speed railway network.

“While it is not the subject of this hearing,” Epstein told the committee, “I want to take this opportunity to urge you to consider what the rest of the world already knows, and what we in America are only just beginning to grasp: That high-speed rail can be the most effective mode of transportation for trips of 400 miles or less.”

Epstein made a similar comment over lunch recently. He said he still misses the Yellow Car and Red Car trolleys that once plied the streets of Los Angeles, and he hopes that someone will find a way to build a high-speed rail connection between the Palmdale airport and LAX.

“What we need is a czar like Robert Moses,” Epstein said. 

This comment earned Epstein a look of warning from his longtime chief of staff, David Levine, who was sitting next to him. Moses transformed New York City in the early decades of the 20th century by building parkways, bridges and other public works. He was also known for his ruthless dismissal of neighborhood opposition to his projects.

But Epstein would not be deterred. “Two thousand years ago, there was a perfect person,” Epstein said. “Since then, there hasn’t been one. Everyone’s record is mixed. My record is mixed.”

And who might that czar be?

“It would be me if I was 30 years younger,” Epstein said. Then he remembered his age. “Forty years younger.”

How many lawyers does it take to build a library?

If you’re expecting a punch line, think again, because despite attorneys’ sharklike reputations, many law firms are generous charitable givers and many attorneys are getting personally involved in the charities their firms support.

A few years ago, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp funded a library at Richland Avenue Elementary, a school with many economically disadvantaged families and disabled students right next to MS&K’s West Los Angeles office. In addition to paying for the library, about a dozen of the firm’s lawyers continue to volunteer as reading tutors for kids in the school through KOREH L.A., a literacy program sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

“Years ago, we didn’t do stuff like this. We just wrote checks for dinners and things like that. It was a big deal for us to begin to identify things directly where we could make a specific impact,” said Allan Cutrow, a partner at MS&K, who is the chair of KOREH L.A. and a past chair of The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.

MS&K recently gave $25,000 to Jewish Family Service’s Family Violence Project, netting $75,000 through a matching grant challenge — enough to, among other things, help staff an additional support group for domestic violence victims.

According to the Pro Bono Institute, major law firms on the West Coast dedicated an average of 4.47 percent of their hours to free legal work for the disadvantaged or nonprofit institutions in 2009. Last year, firms also donated an average of $240,000 to legal services organizations, though no data was available on donations to other institutions.

Cutrow says MS&K’s charitable foundation — funded by an internal firm tax on the partners, in addition to voluntary gifts — gives about $200,000 a year.

In 2009, The Jewish Federation’s Legal Division raised more than $3.75 million, and attorneys often participate in related social-action projects, such as Bet Tzedek’s Holocaust reparation clinics.

Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor, a 50-lawyer firm in Westwood, has adopted South Central Scholars, a program that provides college guidance and scholarships to high-performing students living in challenging circumstances in South Los Angeles. The students in the Liner Scholarship Program have already been awarded scholarships at top universities but often need more money to close a tuition gap or pay for other expenses.

In addition to providing up to $5,000 annually for 10 new students every year, each student is paired with an attorney who serves as a mentor.

“Though we were doing good work before, we were not able to touch, taste or feel the impact of the resources we were directing. We really wanted to have the ability to do more than just give money, but to try to have a real, personal relationship with the people we were helping,” said Stuart Liner, a founding and managing partner of the firm, which donates about $400,000 to $500,000 annually to various causes. “It made it a learning experience for us as well — it’s a good centering opportunity for us to see where these kids are coming from.”

Often, the culture of giving comes from the top partners, sometimes going back to a firm’s origins.

At Holland and Knight, founder Chesterfield Smith is legendary.

“He built this firm not only as a very strong firm businesswise and commercially, but also around a core value of providing service back to the community, and that is something that continues to be an important value for us,” said Jerry Levine, executive partner of the Los Angeles office for Holland and Knight.

Holland and Knight houses offices and provides lawyers for Kids in Need of Defense, an organization that helps immigrant children, and the firm donates both hours and money to several other legal services funds. The firm sponsors essay contests for Native Americans and African Americans and a Holocaust-themed essay, and has awarded more than $1 million in scholarship money for top essay winners since 1995.

David Lash, who runs the pro bono services at O’Melveny and Myers in Century City and used to direct the nonprofit legal services organization Bet Tzedek, says he sees a shift away from charitable giving being the personal missions of specific partners.

“We’re not dependent on individuals anymore. … Being involved in philanthropy is more a part of the fabric of doing business,” Lash said. “How we do charity has become part of how we do business.”

O’Melveny pays for scholarships for low-income students and funds programs at O’Melveny Elementary School in San Fernando. Firm lawyers also mentor high-achieving students and scholarship recipients.

Lash says firms often support educational endeavors — attorneys understand the benefits of higher education. Most often, he said, firms support legal services organizations for the poor, both with pro bono hours and monetary donations. When he was at Bet Tzedek, law firms were his primary supporters.

“Law firms understand exactly what legal services organizations do, and that it is one of the most effective anti-poverty vehicles in the charitable world,” Lash said. “Lawyers can make a very unique impact in the fight against poverty that nobody else can make, because of their ability to go into court on behalf of poor people.”

Walk into Café Europa at Westside Jewish Community Center on Tuesdays, or the Valley version in North Hollywood on Thursdays, and you’ll find dozens of elderly men and women, sometimes as many as 60 or 70 of them. Some are frail, some feisty, many are both. They chat, they snack, they listen to lectures or watch movies or play Bingo.

The name itself — Café Europa — sounds romantic, evocative of pre-World War II Europe, of Linzer tortes and intense political discussions and a world that’s disappeared. And, yes, almost all the group members were born in Europe and have European accents.

As you sit and listen to their life stories, you also realize that these men and women share something else: a past that includes ghettos and concentration camps, forced marches,  hiding in woods or cellars, starvation, torture, the murder of loved ones. And, after years of unimaginable horror: liberation, Displaced Person camps, coming to the United States, perhaps by way of Israel. The members of Café Europa are Holocaust survivors.

Run by the Jewish Family Service (JFS), Café Europa is a social club where food and entertainment are free. For many of these survivors the day’s program is enjoyable, but often it’s a pretext to catch up, once a week, with friends and acquaintances, people who share a similar background — a time to schmooze over coffee and mandelbread, to talk about what’s happening with the grandchildren and to be grateful for having survived.

Once each year, however, for the last four years, members of Café Europa have been treated to a very special day during which, as Shoah survivor Cipora Nutovich said, “They treat us like kings and queens.” The day features a three-hour cruise around Marina del Rey, an entertainment package that includes live music and a sumptuous lunch.

This year’s cruise took place Sept. 28, and before the Café Europa members arrived, the ship’s employees were prepped. Consisting mostly of Guatemalans, the crew was told that these guests had suffered more than anyone could imagine.

“We explain to the crew what the Holocaust was,” Eveline (Evi) Ginzburg said, “and who these people are, and the staff really take it to heart and make enormous efforts to show them respect and make sure they have a good time.”

Ginzburg shows them great respect as well. She greets each Holocaust survivor as he or she comes aboard, telling each of the more than 200 who went on this year’s cruise how much of a privilege and an honor it is for her, Ginzburg, to host this event.

Adela Manheimer, nearly 90, originally from Poland, said that once all the elderly guests are seated, Ginzburg goes to each table. “There’s this beautiful boat, elegant, and Evi is so humble and down-to-earth. It’s very special for us to have such a day.”

“We always do it during Sukkot,” Ginzburg said. “The first year was such a success, and everyone was so excited about it that it has become an annual event.”

FantaSea Cruises — founded 30 years ago by Ginzburg’s husband, Uri, a real estate developer — is a floating venue for celebrations and corporate events. They have three boats, and the business is now run by the Ginzburgs’ son Daniel and his wife, Stephanie.

For the members of Café Europa who go on the cruise, the day starts when buses pick them up and take them to Marina del Rey, where they board the ship.

Mina Colton, originally from Lodz, Poland, said she has been on all four cruises. “You come into an elegant lobby,” Colton said, “and there’s excellent food. When they start playing music, I like to dance. I really know how to enjoy it. But the thing that makes me cry is Evi Ginzburg. She seems so happy when we have a good time. The way they treat us, like it’s an honor for them. You see how much they want to please us.”

For Harris Frischer, as for other survivors, there’s an unspoken contrast between how they were treated during the Holocaust and how they’re treated during their day on the FantaSea cruise. “The cruise is excellent,” Frischer said. “Especially the wonderful food. We enjoy it so much, we don’t want it to end.” Frischer went on to say that when he was liberated from a concentration camp at the age of 17, he weighed 75 pounds.

“Each year, I notice that those in Café Europa, those who come on the FantaSea trip, are getting a little more frail,” Eveline Ginzburg said. “This year, there were more and more who needed walkers or special assistance, or who came with people who help them. I’m aware that they’re getting older. … They’re so appreciative of everything.”

Ginzburg recalled one woman she spoke with during the recent Café Europa cruise. “She told me that when she was 11, she was in hiding. She said she spent nearly a month by herself, on her own. I tried to think how my 11-year-old granddaughter would have survived that kind of situation. I’m not sure that an 11-year-old girl in Los Angeles, raised in today’s society, would have survived.

“These men and women are a wonderful, feisty, interesting group of people. They’ve all had horrendous lives and survived, and have come here and made lives for themselves. I feel that they deserve every honor that’s available to them.”