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Jewish Journal

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March 31, 2011

Judge Judy: Get Well Soon!

Leave a Comment / Cover Story, Entertainment, Film /

Judge Judy said she needs “a day to chill”  in the hospital after being whisked to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center—in an ambulence—following symptoms of stomach distress today, TMZ reported.  “I’m really fine,” the 68-year-old Judith Sheindlin, a.k.a. TV’s sometimes irascible Judge Judy, told TMZ’s Harvey Levin.  “I wanted to go back to work this afternoon. I’m exhausted. I’m tired.  A lot of things just zoned together, including the bad news of the world. At my age, I know my body. My body is fine.” 

Sheindlin, host of the syndicated courtroom reality show “Judge Judy,” has hardly been benched by her experience:  she should return home on Thursday.

Described by Forbes as one of the 20 richest women in entertainment (actually she was number 13 in 2007), the tough-talking judge got her start in 1976 when then-Mayor Ed Koch appointed her to New York’s criminal court and in 1980, as Manhattan’s supervising family court judge. 

Judge Judy has Jewish credentials, too.  Born Judith Susan Blum to German Jews in Brooklyn, she was raised in a traditional household but has described herself as more of a cultural Jew, she told the Jewish World Review some years ago:  “Indeed, under Judge Judy’s robe still beats the heart of a Jewish mother,” the story said.  “When she was [once] profiled on Entertainment Tonight, she managed to slip in several times that her ‘handsome son’ was unmarried and looking.” 

While the Jewish judge has no plans to sit on her local Beit Din, it’s reported that her current show should continue at least until 2013, its 17th season. 

Stay well, Judge Judy!

Judge Judy: Get Well Soon! Read More »

Ten Commandments judge, Roy Moore, exploring presidential run

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

” title=”self-proclaimed” target=”_blank”>self-proclaimed most trusted name in news, which, surprisingly, is not The Onion. (It is, in fact, ” title=”enough wackiness to the 2012″ target=”_blank”>enough wackiness to the 2012 presidential field, Roy Moore thinks he got game.

The story goes on to mention why everyone knows ” title=”big deal” target=”_blank”>big deal, and after losing his job as a jurist, Moore tried running for governor, but lost the Republican nomination.

I certainly like Moore better than ” title=”Mike Huckabee” target=”_blank”>Mike Huckabee. But there have got to be better options for the Republican party.

Ten Commandments judge, Roy Moore, exploring presidential run Read More »

A long anticipated birth: J-CHAI: Jewish Community Housing for Adult Independence

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Uncategorized /

“Everyone came here tonight for a reason,” said Dr. Michael Held,
Founder and Executive Director of the Jewish special needs non-profit
Etta Israel, “whether you are a parent, a potential resident, or a
sibling or other relative of a Jewish adult with developmental
disabilities.” The 70 participants, some wearing head coverings and
many not, looked around the room exchanging knowing glances, a
collective sense that we are all on the same quest to find a “home”
for our loved ones with special needs when it is time for them to
leave the nest.

A new innovative independent housing program called J-CHAI was
launched by the Etta Israel Center Tuesday night in the boardroom of the Los Angeles Jewish
Federation, funded in part by a $200,000 three-year Cutting Edge grant from the
Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.

Dr. Held explained that this new housing model was based on four years
of research and discussion (including input from the Federation’s Task Force
on Housing for Jews with Special Needs) ,and took into account many current trends.

First of all, more adults with developmental disabilities and their
families are seeking a higher level of independence than afforded in
traditional group home settings (Etta Israel also operates 3 Jewish
group homes in North Hollywood and a fourth is in the works). This
desire for greater autonomy is accompanied by the fiscal realities of
California –- more people are now diagnosed with developmental
disabilities- and the average costs of each client is increasing as more
of the state caseload reaches adulthood along with the mounting

So what exactly is J-CHAI?

It probably helps to begin with what it is not. It is not a building.
It is not a kibbutz-style arrangement. And it will not be the same for
every participant.

J-CHAI will help families find regular market-value apartments
clustered in the Pico-Robertson area, as well as finding an
appropriate roommate, and then with its staff, establish both
independent living and Jewish life goals for each resident. As Dr.
Held joked, “J-CHAI keeps the ‘J” in your child’s Chai (life).” For
the first time in their lives for many of these Jewish adults,
targeted at ages 18-35 (and older, on a case-by-case basis),
They will have the ability to exercise control
over their lives in such areas as community, communication,
empowerment/independence and Jewish values.

Each participant’s schedule will be individualized, with most
residents either engaging in vocational training, educational
opportunities or working, depending on their abilities and skills.
Through the state-funded Regional Centers, many will receive ILS
(Individual Living Skills) or SLS (Supported Living Skills) in such
areas as money management or travel training. Those with more
significant behavioral or physical challenges may get IHSS hours (In
Home Supportive Services) funded by the state, provided the program is
still available.

With this innovation and higher level of independence come costs.
Families will have out of pocket costs –the costs of rent (shared by a
roommate), a sliding scale J-CHAI fee of $1,200-$2000 month, and
everyday costs of food, utilities, etc. Government funding such as SSI
(Social Security Income) can help defray some of the costs. The
estimated range is $2,300-3,600 a month, with the hope of attracting
other funders down the line.

The program is designed to provide ongoing support, year after year,
All participants are asked to commit for a minimum of one year to be
accepted into the program; this commitment will help create with the central goal of building
a strong sense of community among the residents.

One of the parents who spoke during the presentation said that her
son, now 30 years old, lives in one of the Etta group homes and lives
a “full and wonderful life”. Most of all, she said, she is filled with
gratitude and peace of mind.

Isn’t that what every parent wants for their grown children?

For more information/applications, go to www.etta.org or send an email
to Claudia Wenger, Coordinator at 818 985-3882, ext. 238 or{encode=”j-chai@etta.org” title=” j-chai@etta.org”}

A long anticipated birth: J-CHAI: Jewish Community Housing for Adult Independence Read More »

Alive I Dedicate To You

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Poetry /

By Emily Stern

For Alive I Dedicate to You.

If I were to trap you,
and change you and name you,
what could you ever blame me for doing?

How could I want you and make you forever the one I decorate myself with?

When Aaron told the people to bring gold, I think he was being called upon for a great big hoax.

Just as Betzalel received the plans for the Mishkan without going up the mountain with Moshe,

I think Aaron did too. (שמות לב:כד)
Betzalel knew he would build it.
Aaron knew he was to be a Kohain
and when his brother was still upon the mountain, he called

the people of Israel to begin.

Bring all your gold, he said.

And soon the trick was plated with gold, it melted and then made it’s own
masking behind something else.

and so it is an animal without muscle

Noah, who became in coming out of the Arc, praying.
and an animal’s skin was the very important thing that keeps everything warm within, שמות לה:ז
to know the voice,
כט:לג
so if i were to trap you, or to make you into an image,

if i were to think

a form you could be given,

who knew that when a calf arose,

the trick was now on you.

of course the rest followed Moshe it could not feel good to
trap an aimless animal,
it could not feel like anything like you.

and aaron’s poor sons who now knew this feeling, of revealing itself
when it was not time for revealing,

of course we will go with you.

did we have to learn this the hard way? by praying to something else in the wrong way?

come on, and trust us now again,
as you always have.

שמות לד.יט

Gd always seems to want the
Yaakov who finds himself with broken limbs

nothing is true about being trapped
in the whole who wrestles with you
rises with sunlight to serve the king,
not knowing how you have been everything.
who just want to know you too.

(בראשית לב:לב)

bring the hyde. bring the animals. bring their fur, bring their winged ones,
we’re making an ark for the holy one,

for a life i dedicate to you.

and Noah had trapped all the animals
and when we are free,

Aaron made a garment for his son, just as he wants it,

skin of fur, like man made himself
בראשית, כב:ט and Gd made Adam

in a life I dedicate to you.
i would never begin to trap you, in a form, for that I leave you to do.

and here I build and give this offering,
remembering

Moses said to Betzalel, I want to build an ark for the torah first,
but Betezel knew what was really said, Build a mishkan a home first,
(שמות כ:כא)
this is for the entire world.
and here we place our precious torah, to be in the face of love.

So as I stand knowing I don’t just want to bow to
just a golden image of You.
שמות כה:ב
I also know that the whole is safe,

never trapped, and always new.

Oh, love, if I can’t look at you,

I may look down at the Torah given by you.

שמות כו:יד

Seeing pure gold that I am seeing through

to the words

rising through.

love, love love love.

do not trap yourself in believing you’re anything, I really think that this shows everything that you gave us
a plan and now this plan is true. all the gold is for you.

in a mishkan or in an earring, even this structure, although quite endearing, thank you for work, thank you for giving,

take me inside.

if i were a yoke upon my brother’s neck, through and through, please throw me off, place your faith in you.

something is truer than what you think you are,
a life I dedicate you to.
I say this to myself, now that I treasure you,
do not trap us, in any karmic ring, used to carry us, as if it were an earring that kept me in
a false “hood” of servitude

pulling me through,

pulling me everywhere because I’m alive, my earrings are yours.
Betzalel knew that life on the inside
needed a home, and didn’t want to hide
on top of the truth
with a body of gold,
but a life that I dedicate to you.

בראשית לה:יד

the tablets were broken, and still they were saved for you. each one a piece, each one a place
and you can now begin to bring us ever enduring

who will carry the four corners of the earth
or the chair at her wedding?
שמות כה:יב/כו
who will be the poles

that I place on this ring of you?

a lifelong friend,

just the beginning….

and we place on the table the grandest bread,
and say seven blessings,

” title=”Perki Avot 5:13″ target=”_blank”>yours AND yours, to know how if feeling the
one of thing

שמות כו:ז

safe inside israel.

so the world is a table gloriously received,

on which the bread
rests

have we tied the knowing
the knot,

or the singing our song of grace,

שמות מ:לז

what is the angel you’re welcoming?

with him lies a job, on whom he arrives with,

and all is his will, building demolishing,

שמות לא:יג

on a cloudy day, we are just staying….

 

 

 

 

Alive I Dedicate To You Read More »

UC Irvine students met with Hamas leader

Leave a Comment / Community /

Students from the University of California, Irvine met with a Hamas leader during a student trip to Israel.

The Institute for Jewish and Community Research said it learned recently that the university’s branch of the Olive Tree Initiative, an Israeli-Palestinian peace organization, arranged for a meeting between the Irvine students and a Hamas leader in the West Bank while the students were on a trip to Israel in September 2009. The communal organization is protesting the meeting.

According to an October 2009 letter sent to Irvine’s chancellor by the Jewish Federation of Orange County, California, the students were told to keep the meeting secret. That was to avoid problems re-entering Israel, the letter alleged, and angering local Jewish organizations, including the federation, which is the initiative’s biggest funder.

The letter said the federation had reviewed the trip itinerary ahead of time with the faculty member and graduate students in charge, and were “surprised to learn” afterward “that they conducted an unapproved, off-itinerary meeting with Aziz Duwaik.” The federation has demanded that the university investigate the incident.

Duwaik is the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, but the federation letter pointed out that for years he had been a leader of Hamas, which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization.

The Institute for Jewish and Community Research this week is adding its voice to the federation’s, urging UC Irvine to “respond to this serious misuse of funds and gross violation of public trust.”

The University of California system is facing federal anti-Semitism complaints against its Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses. In December 2007, a federal civil rights investigation into similar allegations at UC Irvine by the Department of Education found “insufficient evidence” that the university failed to respond to complaints by Jewish students that they were being harassed.

UC Irvine students met with Hamas leader Read More »

Mishloach Manot of Song from Maccabeats

Leave a Comment / Travel /

In my article, ” title=”Maccabeats: Raise Your Glass” target=”_blank”>Maccabeats: Raise Your Glass!