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Jewish Journal

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August 29, 2012

A playwright’s work wrestles with doing the right thing

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The situation created by writer David Gow in his two-character play, “Cherry Docs,” is virtually guaranteed to produce explosive drama. A skinhead facing trial for a racially motivated murder is being defended by a Jewish publicly appointed attorney. The cherry docs of the title refer to the steel-toed cherry-colored Doc Marten combat boots the youth wore when he repeatedly kicked his victim.

The play was first staged in 1998, in Toronto, and has been in constant production around the world for about 14 years, Gow said. It was turned into a film in 2005 and is currently being staged by the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon.

Although he doesn’t tie the story to any specific event, Gow, who is Jewish, cited some factors that inspired the play.

“My mother’s parents were of the generation that was lucky enough to get out of Belgium at the time of the Second World War. Both my grandfathers were in the Second World War, and so, when I lived in Ottawa, in Montreal and Toronto in the 1980s, and I would see skinheads — in particular, white supremacist skinheads — I would look at them and think of the history that my family had been through, and I would have a really visceral response to them, and I would think, ‘Well, what’s this all about?’

“There was a young guy with whom I was in school who was kicked in the face outside of a gay bar,” Gow continued, “because he was in the gay village, and some skinheads attacked him because he was gay. And then there were a couple of cases, a few, in fact, in Canada, where a Jewish lawyer ended up representing a skinhead on trial for murder.”

Early in the proceedings, Michael (Andrew Walker), the perpetrator, says he was drunk and is sorry his victim died, but he also makes racist remarks and even tells Danny, the lawyer (Alan Blumenfeld), “In an ideal world I’d see you eliminated. In this world I need you more than anyone.”

In approaching his character, Walker said, he imagined a backstory for the skinhead, after Gow shared some of the thoughts he had while writing the play. (Walker, who also played Michael in the film version, is currently working on a movie and won’t join the production until Sept. 18; until then, understudy Mark Cecil replaces him.)

David Gow

“Michael had a father,” Walker imagined, who “was probably a big drinker and beat his mom a bit. His mom was a real pushover. His dad would probably beat him up a bit, too, as he grew up. He was pushed out of the house at a young age, spent lots of nights on the streets, and slowly started to find this family in the skinheads. From 13 or 14 years old, he’s been committed to a life as a skinhead and has a family of skins that he has fun with and who are all like-minded, and also come from the same sort of upbringing that he did.”

For his part, Danny openly despises Michael’s belief system, but takes the assignment and does his best.

“He comes up against everything he believes in — his training and a background as an educated intellectual,” Blumenfeld explained. “He comes up against his political beliefs of tolerance and liberal, progressive inclusion. And when faced with someone with such violently anti-Semitic, bigoted hatred, he takes on the challenge of trying to find, as he says at the end of the play, a small piece of redemption, because he believes in tikkun olam, mending the world, and he sees this as a possibility.”

Blumenfeld believes the transformation that occurs in Danny because of his relationship with the skinhead is an unexpected outcome for this character.

“Danny’s character helps the skinhead see something different, but as a result, this Jewish lawyer winds up seeing the dark side of his own personality and loses sight of what it is that he’s doing.”

The actor added, “He has a spiritual breakdown. He has a dark night of the soul as a result of this interaction.”

On the other hand, Michael is transformed in a different direction. “He’s on this teeter-totter,” Walker said. “The ongoing phrase, the token phrase, is ‘bringing Michael through the eye of the needle.’ This is what Danny keeps saying to him through the entire play, basically, ‘I’m trying to take you through the eye of the needle. Once you pass through this eye of the needle, then you can decide,’ because I just have to connect with life, with reality, with people.”

Walker continued, “So, he’s now being put to the test, and every single belief, and everything in which he’s had some sort of trust, is now being questioned.

“There’s a line at the very end of the play, where Michael says, ‘If this man, Danny, is willing to help me, how could he be the spawn of Satan?’ ”

Both men have grown in a painful manner, Gow observed, and, Danny, who has suffered many losses, begins to discover a form of spirituality.

The action unfolds over the course of seven days, which Gow says is an intentional allusion to the story of creation.

“There’s a mythic template that sits underneath the play, and that mythic template is a battle between two people who could as easily be principals, or beings, inspired through looking at the literature of the Torah, and so these people are embodying struggles which have existed through time.”

Ultimately, Gow stressed, the story examines the necessity for people to coexist and to go beyond tolerance to actually love one another, or there will always be war, strife and murder. He pointed to the current recession in the United States and remarked that most people imagine themselves a victim of the situation, even when they still have their jobs, their education and their homes — and they have decided that they can’t hire anyone.

“I had a rabbi once who said to me, ‘You should pay people to do things.’ I said, ‘Why, because they’ll make a good job of it?’ And he said, ‘No. You should pay people to do things, because if you don’t give the other guy a plate of food to eat, he’s going to have to come after you eventually.’ And, I actually saw, as a result of that, in my own life, that when you hire other people, when you engage other people, when you show some compassion to other people, it, generally speaking, provides you, as the person who looks out for someone else, with much more than you’re giving.  You usually get more in return for your compassion and your kindness than whatever it is that you put on the table.”

“Cherry Docs”
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum
The S. Mark Taper Foundation Youth Pavilion
1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Topanga, CA 90290
(310) 455-2322 main office
(310) 455-3724 fax
(310) 455-3723 box office
http://www.theatricum.com
Thursdays, Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27; Saturdays, Oct. 6, 13. All shows at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $20
A panel discussion follows each performance.

A playwright’s work wrestles with doing the right thing Read More »

John Hagee: Christian pastor with a Zionist message

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It’s become a standard part of John Hagee’s stump speech, the story of how the evangelical pastor and founder of the 1.2 million-member Christians United For Israel (CUFI) first got started on the path of Israel advocacy.

It began with a trip to the Holy Land in 1978 — “I went to Israel as a tourist and came back a Zionist,” Hagee told the mostly Christian crowd of more than 1,000 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on Aug. 26. And then grew into something bigger with the Israeli airstrike that destroyed the nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981.

“Israel has done the world a favor, and they should be complimented, not criticized,” Hagee said, recalling his reaction to the negative media coverage that followed the Israeli preemptive strike.

That was the inspiration for the first “Night to Honor Israel,” held in 1982 in Hagee’s hometown of San Antonio. He founded CUFI in 2006; today the rapidly growing organization stages about 40 “Night to Honor Israel” events every month in cities around the United States.

In some cases, the events amount to infusing a regular midweek religious service at a local church with a pro-Israel agenda. But at the Saban, CUFI staged its first “Night to Honor Israel” to take place in a non-church venue in Los Angeles, precisely at a time when Israel might be poised to, as Hagee would call it, do the world another favor.

Consul General of Israeli in Los Angeles David Siegel also spoke: “Iran today represents the genocidal hunter, they are on the prowl and they are calling for the destruction of my people, day in and day out,” Siegel told the crowd. “And after 20 years of trying to deal with this diplomatically, it is time to say, enough.”

Last month, Hagee told The Journal’s senior political editor Shmuel Rosner that he is not satisfied with the United States’ current regime of sanctions against Iran; from the audience’s applause, it appeared Hagee’s supporters in Los Angeles found his tougher stance — which is more closely aligned with that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s — more to their liking.

What the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — a lobby singularly dedicated to supporting Israel — is to the American Jewish community, CUFI aims to be for American evangelicals. Both pledge to support the policies of any Israeli government in power, regardless of party, and, to that end, CUFI does not take an official position on the two-state solution. In Hagee’s view, any decision about creating a future Palestinian state should be made by Israel alone.

“God is angry with every nation that does anything to divide the land of Israel; that includes the United States of America,” Hagee said.

The pastor’s position is even more uncompromising on the matter of Jerusalem.

“President Obama told the Jewish people in Jerusalem they could not build homes in East Jerusalem,” Hagee said. “The truth is, Barack Obama has absolutely no authority to tell the Jewish people what they can and cannot do.”

When the applause from the crowd died down, Hagee continued. “Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for the past 3,000 years. That’s before Barack Obama was a community organizer in Chicago.”

Given such comments, it’s hardly surprising to find that Hagee has Republican fans.

“I was amazed and impressed,” Ron Plotkin, a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s board of directors, said as he left the Saban Theatre. “I had heard some great things about [Pastor Hagee]; he lived up to all the expectations.”

Having Jews in the audience at CUFI events is of the utmost importance to this organization, which has taken pains to try to reassure Jews that they do not seek to convert them to Christianity.

The members of CUFI, inspired by the passage in Genesis in which God tells Abraham “those who bless you will be blessed, those who curse you will be cursed,” appear genuinely to want to stand with Israel and the Jewish people.

To that end, CUFI has set up more than 100 campus chapters at colleges and universities across the country, in an effort to “level the playing field,” Randy Neal, CUFI’s western coordinator, said. All the money collected at Sunday’s event was directed to CUFI’s efforts to reach out to college students and impact the debate over Israel on American campuses.

“If they’re going to put a fake apartheid wall up on the quad, then we’re going to put a faux Western Wall up on the quad,” Neal said. “And instead of putting prayers on the wall, we’re going to put up signs that show the incredible contributions that Israel’s made to the international community.”

Neal mentioned Israeli contributions ranging from “agriculture, technology, communication, medical, environment, energy,” but his reference to the Western Wall is telling, as that location clearly holds pride of place, not just in the Jewish psyche, but for CUFI as well.

Hagee calls the Western Wall one of his favorite places in Israel, and one of the few videos shown at the event that featured views of Israel — it played near the middle of the evening, as ushers walked the aisles with silver plastic buckets in their hands ready to collect donation envelopes — made generous use of shots of the Western Wall.

As a Christian rock band on stage played the theme song from the film “Exodus” (“This land is mine / God gave this land to me”), the screen displayed Jewish men at the wall swaying and praying in prayer shawls. They lifted Sephardic Torahs and shook their lulavs.

The scenes at the wall were, as it turned out, the primary representation of contemporary Israel in the video. Most of the rest of its footage had been pieced together from black-and-white reels that appeared to be at least 50 years old, showing haggard-looking Jews kissing the earth and, immediately after, folk-dancing Israelis, moving at the slightly sped-up pace of old-style newsreels.

John Hagee: Christian pastor with a Zionist message Read More »

Hotel Shangri-La, ZOA find common ground

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On Aug. 21, on the heels of a jury decision that found the Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica, along with one of its part-owners, had discriminated against a group of Jews during an incident in 2010, the Western Region of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) sent out a notice that it was planning a protest in front of the Hotel Shangri-La on Aug. 26, to “express outrage.”

Then, on Aug. 24, the ZOA announced that it had canceled the rally after coming to an agreement with the hotel and its owner.

In a statement released on Aug. 24, Hotel Shangri-La President, CEO and part-owner Tehmina Adaya condemned anti-Semitism and declared her support for Israel, even as she reaffirmed her intent to appeal the jury’s decision and maintained that she had never made any discriminatory comments to any of the plaintiffs who had brought the lawsuit.

[For more on the Hotel Shangri-La case, visit jewishjournal.com/thenon-prophet]

In the case in question, Adaya and the hotel were found to have violated the civil rights of 18 Jewish and non-Jewish plaintiffs when members of the hotel’s staff, allegedly acting on Adaya’s instructions, disrupted a pool party that had been organized by a pro-Israel group.

At the conclusion of their deliberations, the jury in California Superior Court ordered the hotel and Adaya to pay the plaintiffs a combined $1.65 million in damages, statutory payments and punitive damages.

The hotel’s press release — which made no mention of the ZOA’s planned protest — also announced donations from Adaya of $3,600 each to two Israeli foundations, the Koby Mandell Foundation, which supports Israeli victims of terror, and the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization, which supports wounded Israeli soldiers.

The ZOA announced the cancellation of the protest in a separate release, circulated just moments after the hotel’s statement was sent out.

“The mere fear of a protest evoked these concessions,” Steve Goldberg, chairman of the ZOA’s Los Angeles region and its national vice chair, said in an interview. “We actually got something tangible, as opposed to a group of people walking in front of a hotel.”

“I care deeply about the hurt, anger and misunderstanding that has resulted and I want the Jewish and pro-Israel community to know I condemn anti-Semitism,” Adaya is quoted as saying in Friday’s statement. “I welcome diversity and never made disparaging comments to anyone who attended an event here.”

However, one point in the hotel’s statement — an invitation from Adaya to “leaders of the Jewish and pro-Israel community” to attend a private event sometime in the next 12 months to be coordinated with the ZOA and hosted by the Shangri-La — has provoked criticism from one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Lou Sokolovskiy, who was awarded more than $115,000 by the jury, said in an interview that while he hadn’t intended to attend the canceled ZOA’s protest, he was “quite disappointed” that ZOA had agreed to host a pro-Israel event at the Shangri-La and had not demanded that Adaya apologize for her actions.

“That’s basically playing along with a public relations campaign that Ms. Adaya is trying to build and becoming a puppet in her hand,” Sokolovskiy said. 

ZOA’s Goldberg countered that the “vast majority of feedback” his group had received about the agreement with the hotel had been positive, and he called Sokolovskiy “one of fewer than a handful of malcontents.”

“We’re not giving her [Adaya] any cover,” Goldberg said. “We’re simply taking her money and giving it to pro-Israel charities.”

James Turken, the attorney who represented the plaintiffs in their successful lawsuit, declined to comment specifically on the hotel’s agreement with ZOA, but called the hotel’s statement “clearly an effort at damage control” and “spin control.”

As an example, Turken pointed to the statement’s interpretation of the jury’s verdict. “While the jury found that the hotel did not have proper business protocols in place,” the statement read, “they did not claim or believe she made discriminatory comments to any of the plaintiffs.”

Yet the jury unanimously decided in the cases of each of the 18 plaintiffs that the hotel and Adaya had violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and further found that in most cases, the hotel and its owner had acted maliciously.

The verdict made no comment about the hotel’s business protocols, Turken said, and he called the hotel’s portrayal, “100 percent false.”

“There’s no way to spin the verdict as anything other than what it was,” Turken said. “All that one needs to do is look at the court record. This isn’t something you can hide.”

Asked how the hotel had come to that interpretation of the verdict, Miles Lozano, the hotel’s director of PR/Marketing, wrote in an e-mail, “None of the plaintiffs claimed to have heard any discriminatory comments, it was based on hearsay from a former disgruntled employee who did not show up in court to testify.”

Sworn testimony from a deposition of that former employee, Nathan Codrey, was read into the court record for the jury during the trial. In addition, a number of plaintiffs who testified during the trial said under oath that while they had not heard Adaya make discriminatory comments, Codrey had reported to them on the day of the event in 2010 that Adaya had instructed him to “Get the [expletive] Jews out of the hotel.” At the time, Codrey was serving as the hotel’s assistant food and beverage manager. He was terminated from his position shortly after the event.

The complete text of both statements is below.

The Hotel Shangri-La’s:

Hotel Shangri-­La Owner Reaches Out to Jewish Community Makes Donation and Invites Pro-Israel Groups to Hotel

August 24, 2012, Santa Monica, CA -­‐-­‐-­‐ Tehmina Adaya, owner of the Hotel Shangri‐La, today publicly voiced her sensitivity to Jewish groups and Israel by announcing a plan that supports Israel, condemns anti-Semitism and embraces cultural understanding.

Ms. Adaya, who has always supported diversity, announced an equal donation of $3,600
to both the Koby Mandell Foundation (www.kobymandell.org) and Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization (www.zdvo.org) to reinforce her commitment to supporting Israel and appreciating diversity.

In addition, she extended a personal invitation to leaders of the Jewish and pro-Israel community to attend a private event, hosted by the Shangri‐La, to be led by and coordinated with the Zionist Organization of America in Los Angeles within the next 12 months.

Ms. Adaya, a longtime Santa Monica resident and board member of the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau, is eager to clarify misinformation and improve relationships with Jewish leaders following a recent jury decision alleging discriminatory remarks.

“I care deeply about the hurt, anger and misunderstanding that has resulted and I want the Jewish and pro‐Israel community to know I condemn anti-Semitism. I welcome diversity and never made disparaging comments to anyone who attended an event here,” said Ms. Adaya. “I pride myself on having close Jewish friends and senior staff, employees representing 12 countries, and we welcome guests from around the world. While I regret I didn’t publicly address this sooner given my belief in my innocence, I support Israel and seek to enhance relationships with people of all backgrounds.”

Ms. Adaya plans to appeal the jury decision based on plaintiffs who attended an event for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, comprised of Jewish and non-Jewish supporters. She believes the claims were based on false information from a disgruntled former employee who did not show up in court to testify. While the jury found that the hotel did not have proper business protocols in place, they did not claim or believe she made discriminatory comments to any of the plaintiffs.

Opened in 1939, the 70-room oceanfront Hotel Shangri-­‐La has been a destination for international visitors throughout its long history.

###

The ZOA’s:

Protest in front of Hotel Shangri La CANCELLED!

August 24, 2012 – In response to Ms. Tehmina Adaya’s public statement today condemning anti-Semitism and expressing support for Israel, the ZOA is cancelling the community-wide protest that it had planned for Sunday, August 26, 2012, 11 am. Please alert everyone you know who was planning to attend the protest.

The ZOA has made this decision in light of a public statement (which can be found here) in which Ms. Adaya and Hotel Shangri La have expressed support for Israel and a condemnation of anti-Semitism; a pledge to give to charities that assist Israeli victims of terror and IDF war veterans; and a pledge to host an event for the Jewish and pro-Israel community of Los Angeles to be coordinated with the ZOA.

In the wake of the ZOA’s announcement on August 20, 2012 that it was leading a community-wide protest with regard to the civil rights violations against a group of Jewish young professionals at Hotel Shangri La, the ZOA was approached by Hotel Shangri La to achieve reconciliation.

Although, based on a finding of clear and convincing evidence, the jury held that Ms. Adaya and the Hotel acted with malicious intent in evicting the group of Jewish young professionals, we believe that her statement exhibits the Jewish value of teshuva, repentance. Thus, the main purpose of the protest, which was to express outrage at anti-Semitism as well as Jewish pride, has been sufficiently addressed. We look forward to working with the Hotel to hold a Jewish community event that also expresses Jewish pride and support for Israel.

We at the ZOA greatly admire the 18 plaintiffs, “the Santa Monica Chai,” who refused to be victims of anti-Semitism and who had the courage and determination to seek justice. They are true Jewish heroes. We at the ZOA are also grateful to all those whose willingness to join the ZOA in the planned protest led to the satisfying resolution we have reached with Hotel Shangri La. We are proud to have demonstrated that Jewish activism is alive and kicking on the West Coast and that anti-Semitism will never again be quietly tolerated.

Shabbat Shalom to the entire House of Israel,

THE ZOA WESTERN REGION

Hotel Shangri-La, ZOA find common ground Read More »

Paws of Love: Fur healing’s sake

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Ari Gould, 6, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia three years ago. In addition to the physical pain he has endured, the disease and the stressful medical procedures that followed have also left him socially isolated.

The steroid treatments he receives once a month have numerous unpleasant side effects, including increases in anxiety levels.

“When he is on steroids he feels really bad,” said Alissa Gould, Ari’s mother.

During those times she arranges for Ari to visit with Ziggy, a friend he made back in April.

“When Ziggy comes, it totally calms him down and is a great distraction,” Gould said.

Only Ziggy isn’t a boy; he’s a golden retriever whom Ari met through Paws of Love.

Started in 2011, Paws of Love is a volunteer-based project of Chai Lifeline that provides seriously ill children with canine companions from Lend a Paw, a pet therapy agency whose teams of handlers and dogs have been through a rigorous training program. The therapy dogs and their trainers help lift the spirits of chronically ill children and fill the social void that often occurs when a child gets sick.

“When someone is hit with an illness out of the blue, the shock and the terror that strikes a family is overwhelming, especially for a pediatric illness,” said Gila Sacks, coordinator for Paws of Love.

First introduced by Boris Levinson in the 1960s, animal-assisted therapy has grown from fewer than 20 programs in the 1980s to more than 1,000 such programs today. Therapy applications include helping children practice reading, assisting with physical therapy, and providing emotional support to senior citizens and war veterans, among others.

Aubrey Fine, author of the textbook, “Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy,” says that while there is little evidence-based research to confirm the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy, that’s beside the point. “There is a lot of qualitative support out there to say that animal-assisted therapies have value,” he said.

Some evidence is beginning to emerge that dogs can help people with cardiovascular disease. Blood pressure in both the human and the dog may be reduced when the person pets the animal, according to Fine, and people who walk their dogs are less likely to have chronic health problems.

Levels of oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that promotes good feelings, also change in humans and animals when the animal is being petted. And when it comes to the emotional benefits of animal-assisted therapies for children, Fine said, “The animal seems to go under a child’s conscious defense mechanism.”

Sharon Vincuilla, director of Lend a Paw, says she regularly sees the positive effects of animal-assisted therapy. “There was a woman at one facility who never talked, but she would talk to the dogs,” she said. 

One Chai Lifeline family, Sacks noted, has noticed significant improvement in their children’s communication skills after several sessions of pet therapy.

In addition to Paws of Love, Chai Lifeline offers a wide range of services for all members of a family fighting a childhood illness. Programs include individual and family counseling, telephone support groups, art therapy for patients and siblings, tutoring, help with medical insurance, referrals to specialists and therapists, big brothers and big sisters mentoring, and retreats for parents. All of Chai Lifeline’s services are free, funded by private donations and grants.

Chai Lifeline has “helped us a lot with food and keeping the Sabbath. They have helped with activities Ari could do that were very sanitary and geared toward his age,” Gould said. “They also have programs to help the moms … relax without the kids, to give them some free time. And they are very good with the children.”

During a July visit, Ari ran out to meet Ziggy, despite feeling ill from his steroids.

Ziggy’s handler, Jody Rudy, said she met Ziggy while walking dogs for a golden retriever rescue organization. She says she quickly noticed he was meant to be a therapy dog.

“It was not so much about me, but about my dog. The thing about Ziggy is that when someone is nervous or having a hard time, Ziggy will pick that person out of a crowd and sit next to them. I saw this in him, and so I wanted to use him to benefit other people.”

Rudy wanted to make sure she was not forcing Ziggy into a job that was against his nature, so she barely trained him at all before the therapy dog exam. “I read what he was supposed to do … and I made the determination that if he was ready to be a therapy dog, he would pass that test. … And he did. It was really easy for him to do it.”

Rudy chose New Leash on Life to get Ziggy certified for therapy, because they make a point of choosing shelter dogs to be trained for therapy.

Although he was too tired to play outside, Ari gave Ziggy his full attention for most of the visit, petting him while telling his visitors about his recent experience at summer camp.

“Ari just lights up when he sees Ziggy,” Rudy said.

For more information about Paws of Love, call (310) 274-6331 or visit chailifeline.org.

Paws of Love: Fur healing’s sake Read More »

Valley congregation debuts Russian-language program

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Congregation Beth Meier will debut a religious school program in Russian for children ages 6 to 8 at its Studio City campus starting Sept. 9. Citing a limited number of local Russian-language programs for elementary students, Rabbi Aaron Benson said the Sunday morning classes at the Conservative synagogue will help students build their Russian-language skills while learning about Judaism and Jewish culture.

The Russian-language class will mirror the English- and Hebrew-language Jewish studies classes at Beth Meier, with “Jewish studies taught in Russian, with the topics presented used as a means by which [students] would improve their [Russian] vocabulary and grammar skills,” Benson said.

Educator Anastasia Smirnova will teach the new class.

“We know families who have expressed that the options for their children to continue the study of the Russian language formally become fewer and fewer as their kids get past preschool age — and certainly to be able to do so in a Jewish environment there are hardly any programs like that at all,” Benson said.

Of Beth Meier’s approximately 100 member families, about a dozen are Russian-speaking, according to Benson, who hopes the new program will appeal to the Russian Jewish communities of the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and elsewhere.

Demographer Pini Herman, research coordinator for the 1997 L.A. Jewish population survey, said that there were 24,500 Jews from Russia and the Former Soviet Union in Los Angeles at the time of the survey. However, he estimates that number is likely lower today.

“I would imagine that it is smaller now as it was an aging population probably with a rather modest birthrate,” Herman said.

If the Beth Meier program takes off, Benson hopes to add a class for 9- to 10-year-olds in 2013.

“We’re very interested to hear feedback and suggestions, and really make the program something that will be a meaningful addition to Jewish life in Los Angeles,” he said.

For more information, call (818) 769-0515 or visit bethmeier.org.

Valley congregation debuts Russian-language program Read More »

Inaugural Brawerman scholarships awarded

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Five Los Angeles teenagers have been awarded $40,000 in college scholarships as part of the inaugural Brawerman Fellowship of the Geri and Richard Brawerman Leadership Institute. The fellows, who applied for the scholarships through The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, will receive their scholarship in four annual installments and will participate in a Birthright trip, several Shabbatons and four weeks of community service projects each summer.

The winners were Josh Cahn of Culver City High School, Leigh Evans of Milken Community High School, Mitchell Handler of Venice High School, Evan Lowell of Cleveland Humanities Magnet and Harmony Richman of Santa Monica High School.

The Brawerman Leadership Institute was started with a multimillion-dollar gift from Geri Brawerman, on behalf of herself and her late husband, which will enable the Brawerman Fellowship to become an annual scholarship.

“The fellows we’ve chosen represent the finest young leaders in our community,” Geri Brawerman said. “It is extremely gratifying to be able to make this unique program possible. I’ve personally gotten to know them and am excited that they will be leading our community in the future.”

The Brawerman Fellowship was open only to graduating high school seniors who intended to enroll in college this fall. Eligible applicants included those who were Jewish, excelled academically and showed a commitment to leadership and community service as well as a demonstrated financial need.

Cahn and Handler are enrolled at University of California, Berkeley; Evans is at University of California, Santa Barbara; Lowell is at Boston University; and Richman is at Barnard College.

Jewish Federation President Jay Sanderson said that although the fellowships will be limited to four or five students for the first few years, the Federation hopes to add more in the future.

“We’re going to be able to help create the next generation of Jewish leaders,” Sanderson said. “These are the most extraordinary kids who are so committed to the Jewish people.”

For more information on applying for the Brawerman Fellowship, contact brawerman@jewishla.org.

Inaugural Brawerman scholarships awarded Read More »

L.A. youths among growing numbers serving in IDF

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As the 360 international youths milled around the Miriam and Adolfo Smolarz Auditorium on the Tel Aviv University campus in the sweltering August heat — some still standing in registration lines and others already proudly wearing their new pale blue T-shirts, several dozen huddled into small circles and a few lingering outside on shaded stone benches — the raucous excitement of youth united by a common cause was palpable. Suddenly, the Hebrew word for seeds — garinim — was catapulted from a metaphor encapsulating the hopes of the Zionist dream into a living, breathing reality of youth who had volunteered to join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

They have come under the auspices of the Tzofim Garin Tzabar, an organization founded in 1991 by the Tzofim Israel Scouts and the Ministry of Immigration Absorption to provide financial aid, emotional support, quarterly care packages and adoptive families to soldiers who come from around the world to serve in the IDF and make aliyah to Israel. Designed to simplify the rigorous physical examinations, psychological evaluations and personal interviews required to serve in the IDF, the program also organizes intensive Hebrew classes and post-acclimation support to participants who plan to remain in Israel.

So celebratory and blissful was the atmosphere on this day that even the impending threat of a war with Iran, the potential collapse of a fragile Syrian regime that many fear could lead to another conflict with Hezbollah on Israel’s Lebanese border, the upcoming U.S. presidential elections and even Egypt’s amassing of troops in the Sinai Peninsula could not put a damper on the occasion.

Everywhere one looked there were teenagers and young adults in the prime of their youth clapping to the beat of IDF chants, singing Hebrew songs and posing with wide smiles for photographs to send their friends and family back home.

“I was going to do it all by myself, but it was so overwhelming, Amit Ninary, 18, said with excitement. “Now I realize why it’s so good to be here for the entire process.” The participants receive an identity card and medical coverage, as well as help opening bank accounts, getting cell phones and driver’s licenses.

Ninary, the daughter of Israeli parents, was born and raised in Los Angeles. She speaks perfect Hebrew and has spent every summer in Israel. Unlike most of her high school classmates who will soon be working toward a university degree, Ninary chose to leave the comforts of home to serve in the IDF. “I’ve seen all my aunts and uncles do their military service, and it just seemed like the natural thing for me to do now,” she said with a slightly bashful smile. “My parents always taught us to love Israel. I guess it worked.” Like all of her Los Angeles-based counterparts, who make up one of this year’s largest garinim groups (around 33), Ninary sees this endeavor not as a sacrifice but as an opportunity.

Adi Lerner, 18, and his brother Tamir, 21, said the difference in maturity levels between a 21-year-old American and a 21-year-old Israeli is astounding. “Going to school and making money aren’t going anywhere,” Adi said. “But this isn’t something you can do when you’re older. Serving in the IDF is going to show me my true potential as a person. I’m contributing something to Israel, but I feel that Israel is also investing in me.” As an aside, he points out with a sheepish grin that he’s also hoping to meet his future Israeli wife.

“It does make me a little nervous,” Tamir said. “But if we don’t do it, who’s going to? The religious aren’t serving, and Israel relies strongly on lone soldiers like us.”

One of the program’s slogans is “family for life,” which the new garinim interpret as referencing both their adoptive parents at the kibbutz and their fellow soldiers. Nothing forms a true bond like surviving basic training together, defending national borders or fighting side-by-side in a war. Most Israelis form deep, lifelong friendships while completing their obligatory IDF service.

Shira Or, a spokesperson for Tzofim Garin Tzabar, explained that while the program provides bureaucratic, medical, financial and emotional support to its participants, it also allows them to serve in the army as individuals. The members of the Los Angeles contingent do not all serve in the same capacity, for example; each applicant is given a chance to apply for his or her dream job in the IDF, whether it’s as a combat soldier or a singer in an entertainment troupe. “We also have a large alumni population that helps the participants enter society once they complete their service,” Or said. “The program has become so popular abroad that it has more than doubled over the last four years, and nearly half of all lone soldiers come through us, because the process takes three months instead of over a year. Most people find us through word of mouth or friends, and if you want to become a citizen of Israel, this is one of the best ways to do it.”

Or said she doesn’t know exactly why the numbers have increased so much over the last several years, but the fact that it has become increasingly acceptable for American students to take a gap year between high school and college may be a factor. Another possibility is that as more young people decide to serve, word of their experiences spreads faster back home.

Although the IDF does not have exact statistics, they estimate that a high percentage of the 800 to 1,000 foreign lone soldiers who enter the military every year here end up in the toughest units. It’s difficult for many 18-year-old Israelis to understand why anyone would choose to serve in the army — especially in the combat units known for pushing individuals to their physical and mental breaking points — but many lone soldiers say it is exactly this volition that motivates them to excel.

“A lot of Americans get accepted into the paratroopers, because the IDF sees who really wants to be here and who is wiling to push themselves further. They take olim [new immigrants], because they are voluntarily here, so there are relatively a lot of foreigners in my unit,” said 23-year-old David Derin. Originally from Encino, Derin went to the paratrooper tryouts because he wanted to face the challenge of such a difficult unit. Currently stationed on a base in northern Israel, right on the border with Lebanon, he spends most of his time on guard duty or cleaning weapons, but like every other soldier in his battalion, Derin must be ready to face combat with Hezbollah at any moment. 

“Our border is relatively quiet now, but this is where you see some of the differences in mentality between the foreigners and the Israelis,” he said. “For an 18- or 19-year-old Israeli, this is a fact of life that they’ve grown up with. There’s a suicide bombing in Jerusalem and you still get up the next day and go to school. We all have to continue going and not show that we’re afraid.”

All of Derin’s male friends in the program are serving in combat units, except for some from his Los Angeles garin who are not physically able to. For female lone soldiers, that is much more of a rarity. For one L.A. native named Sarah, who asked that her last name not be used for security reasons, the choice to enter the hardest combat unit for females was a personal goal. Her unit, which works with sniffer dogs, trains for an entire year (six months longer than any other unit a female can enter).

“For me, a big pull was that it’s hard to get into,” Sarah said. “It’s a small group of people, and it’s really quality people. It’s a different experience, and it’s the hardest path a girl can have. It suits my personality to do that. I wanted to go for the hardest one.”

Sarah still has two months and three weeks left of training (and she’s counting every day), and she said she now fully understands what she signed up for. There are days when it’s hard to remember why you have to pull Palestinians on their way to work out of a car and make them stand in the hot sun for 20 minutes while your dog practices sniffing their car. But on the days when you find guns or explosives, the reminder of why this is necessary slaps you in the face.

“If someone asked me now if they should do it, I would tell them it’s a huge decision,” Sarah said. “You’re in the army. You have to be ready to give up everything, because you do give up everything. For me it’s not that bad, because I look at it as a temporary situation, but I can’t control when I can go home, if I have to close Shabbat on base, when I eat or when I sleep. You give up all of your personal freedoms — even the way you think and feel.”

Still, even for Sarah, the hardest part of serving in the army here is being far away from her family. Having close friends from home on the kibbutz helps, but nothing can replace her mother’s cooking. And although anyone who serves through Garin Tzabar is considered to be making aliyah, she points out that this term is relatively meaningless for her at the moment. “Everything is on hold now,” she said matter-of-factly. “I don’t have any plans for the future. … We’ll see what happens when I get out. I have time to think.” 

Far away from the dusty checkpoint where sniffer dogs periodically search for explosives and from the northern base on constant alert, the fresh recruits in Tel Aviv eagerly awaited their new beginning. As the lights dimmed in the vast auditorium and a short introductory video featuring garin alumnus Sam Grossberg began, the charged atmosphere faded into a simmering buzz.

“This will define you as people,” the participants were told. “This will be a thrill and the experience of a lifetime. You’re in good hands. You are continuing the path of honor like the Zionists who have gone before you, and we thank you for leaving your families, your friends and your lives behind to join us.” 

Cheers filled the room as the Chairman of the Israeli Scouts Eli Ben Yosef concluded his welcoming speech. “Ours is not an easy path, and we do not go it alone.”

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Leiby Kletzky’s killer sentenced to 40 years to life

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Levi Aron, the Brooklyn store clerk who pleaded guilty to killing 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

Aron, 37, was sentenced Wednesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court. He did not address the court.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to kidnapping, killing and dismembering Leiby near his home in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn in July 2011. Aron’s attorney at first had attempted to pursue an insanity defense; Aron reportedly has a history of mental illness.

Leiby’s family did not attend the sentencing, The Associated Press reported. A statement from his father, Nachman Kletzky, that was read in court said that “God did not abandon our son nor our family for one second.”

Leiby, making his first attempt to walk home alone from camp, had stopped to ask Aron for directions and entered his car. Less than 48 hours later, the search for the boy came to a grisly conclusion when parts of his dismembered body were found in the freezer of Aron’s apartment in the nearby Kensington section of Brooklyn.

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Designer Galliano reportedly sues Dior over firing for anti-Semitism

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Designer John Galliano reportedly has filed an $18.7 million lawsuit against Christian Dior, the fashion house that fired him for anti-Semitic speech.

On Tuesday, the website of the London-based The Daily Telegraph reported that Galliano “is believed” to have lodged an employee/employer dispute claim with the French labor court, with a Paris hearing scheduled for Feb. 4.

The Vogue website reported the following day that “a spokesperson” for Galliano “refused to comment on rumours” that Galliano had sued.

Christian Dior fired Galliano, a British national, last year after he was filmed making anti-Semitic statements at a Paris bar. Galliano stated his love for Adolf Hitler and told people he believed were Jewish that their mothers should have been gassed. He blamed his outbursts on addictions to drugs and alcohol.

On Aug. 20, the French government journal published a decree signed by French President Francois Hollande which said that Galliano, 51, may no longer wear the French Legion of Honor medal that he received in 2009.

Last year, a French court ruled that Galliano had made “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” in several incidents.

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Designer John Galliano loses French title over anti-Semitic tirades

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Fashion designer John Galliano reportedly was stripped of his Legion of Honor medal because of anti-Semitic behavior.

The newspaper Le Point, among other French media, reported that a decree by French President Francois Hollande published last week on France’s official journal said Galliano, 51, may no longer wear the medal — France’s highest honor — which he received in 2009.

Last year Galliano, a British citizen, lost his job as design director at Christian Dior after he was filmed making anti-Semitic statements.

A French court later ruled he had made “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” in several incidents.

In one incident, Galliano at a Paris bar stated his love for Adolf Hitler and told people who he believed were Jewish that their mothers should have been gassed. He blamed his outbursts on addictions to drugs and alcohol.

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