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Jewish Journal

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January 13, 2013

Opening up more overnight Jewish camps for campers with special needs

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As part of the conservatorship process for our now 18-year-old son with multiple developmental disabilities, we had a meeting recently with staff from the state-funded Lanterman Regional Center to determine what legal rights we as parents should retain now that Danny is no longer a minor in the eyes of the law. One of those rights is deciding where to live.

In the course of the meeting, the staff member asked Danny, “If you weren’t able to live at home with Mom and Dad, where else would like to live?” Danny, who has limited verbal abilities, quickly said, “Ramah!” without any prompting or hesitation. Danny has spent the past four summers at Camp Ramah in Ojai, CA as part of their “Tikvah” special needs program. Despite the fact he is always homesick for us in the evenings for the first few days of camp, Ramah is the place that Danny regards as a home away from home. All year long, he points to his Camp Ramah T-shirts from the previous summer, and talks about his favorite parts of camp: “Ramah pool”, “Dance” and “Meir” his amazing 1:1 aide.

I tell this story in light of this week’s announcement that the national Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) has just received a $60,000 research grant from Dr. Allan and Nan Lipton of Hershey, PA to map current services available to children with special needs and physical disabilities at nonprofit Jewish overnight camps across North America. The funding will be used “to provide a thorough understanding of the options Jewish camps offer to children with special needs and provide a baseline for expanding services” according to the press release from FJC.”

As things stand now, 150 Jewish overnight camps serve nearly 75,000 children each summer but they are only able to accommodate fewer than 1,000 campers with special needs, and many camps have waiting lists for those few slots. Jewish overnight camp is the perfect place for typical campers to met, and engage with those campers who have special needs, especially those with more severe developmental disabilities such as our son.

Since most Jewish day schools and many religious afterschool programs aren’t able to accommodate kids with special needs (don’t get me started), camp is the one place where typical campers can meet kids like Danny in the cool of the pool, or during structured “buddy time”. Without the worry of academic success, it is an easy and organic environment to connect with someone a little different from you.

FJC will be partnering with Laszlo Strategies, a firm that helps non-profit organizations in their efforts to champion the causes of people with physical, mental, neurological and developmental disabilities, as well as to promote medical science. I hope that FJC and Laszlo Strategies will be able to collect and analyze the data quickly, and get more kids with special needs coming home from camp with a duffel bag full of dirty laundry and plenty of happy memories to last for next 11 months.

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January 13, 2013

Leave a Comment / Israel, Must Reads /

The US

Headline: Obama to Speed Afghanistan Troop Exit

To Read: Hawks on Iraq Prepare for War Again, Against Hagel

Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times sees neoconservatives uniting to fight Chuck Hagel's nomination at Defense. 

Mr. Kristol said he and other like-minded hawks were more concerned about Mr. Hagel’s occasional arguments against sanctions (he voted against some in the Senate), what they deem as his overcautious attitudes about military action against Iran and his tougher approach to Israel than they were about his views on Iraq — aside from his outspoken opposition to the American troop surge there that was ultimately deemed successful.

Quote: “Our backs are against the wall” Scott Wilson, president of pro-gun rights group the Connecticut Citizens Defense League on new legislation for gun control 

Number: $48.73 billion The US trade deficit at the end of November of last year

 

Israel

Headline: Police evacuate Palestinian outpost, leave tents for now

To Read: What Makes an Outpost Illegal?

If Palestinian construction in the West Bank is accetable, then why isn't the same true for Israeli construction, asks Jonathan Tobin of Commentary Magazine.

Those who oppose the Jewish presence in the West Bank or parts of Jerusalem often argue that incorporating these areas makes a two-state solution to the conflict impossible or undermine Israel’s future as a Jewish state. But the E1 area is not some remote hilltop outpost deep in the West Bank that would likely be given up in the event of a peace accord. It is a close Jerusalem suburb that would be incorporated into Israel in any treaty under the concept of land swaps that even President Obama supports.  

Quote: “Not one shekel was wasted… when it comes to the security of Israel, there is no waste” Benjamin Netanyahu hits back at claims by his predeccesor Ehud Olmert that he has been squandering state funds 

Number: 67 The projected seats for the right-religious bloc in our latest Poll Trends Tracker

 

The Middle East

Headline: Court in Egypt orders retrial for Mubarak after appeal

To Read: A Two-Year Travelogue from Hell

Christoph Reuter of der Spiegel recounts his travels within war-torn Syria since the start of the uprising. 

Since the beginning of the revolution, we — a photographer, a Syrian colleague and I — have traveled around the country a number of times, mostly following secret routes, passed on from one local opposition group to the next. We have been in hiding and have worn disguises, and we have been shot at and chased. It isn't easy to cope with the fact that so many of the people who helped us are now dead.

Quote: It is clear that Mr Brahimi is now out of the loop for the solution for Syria. He has taken sides, he is not a mediator” Pro-regime Syrian daily Al-Watan lashes out at the UN mediator

Number: Two million The reported number of Facebook users in Iran

 

Jewish World

Headline: Internet revolutionary Aaron Swarz, 26, kills himself amid legal battle

To Read: Jewish Americans may be increasingly disenchanted with Netanyahu. But their priorities lie elsewhere

Peter Beinart writes in the Guardian that while American Jews might be willing to turn the other cheek on Israel's domestic policies, they won't do so when it comes to Iran 

So is Netanyahu free to do whatever he pleases without worrying about the American Jewish response? On the Palestinians, maybe. But on Iran, no. That's because war with Iran, a war in which the US could easily become engulfed even if we don't drop the first bomb, is a much higher priority than the Israeli-Palestinian peace process (or lack thereof). It's a higher priority for Americans, for liberal American Jews, and for America's president. It's an issue on which Obama, as evidenced by the Hagel nomination, is not prepared to defer to Aipac. And it's an issue that could, if America goes to war, mobilise those liberal American Jews who would not mobilise politically on the peace process but did mobilise against the war in Iraq.

Quote: “For goodness’ sake, it’s not as if Obama is appointing David Duke” The editor of the Nebraska Jewish newspaper calls for calmer heads in the debate over Hagel's nomination 

January 13, 2013 Read More »

“In Israel, despair is not an option!”

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Israel, Mobile Sections, News /

It would be easy to throw up one’s hands in despair about prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal anytime soon. Most of the news is negative except that Israeli pollsters say the vast majority of Israelis dearly want peace and accept the principle of a two-state solution, but few expect it to happen soon. 

Mahmud Abbas does not sound of late like the peace-partner Ehud Olmert and Shimon Peres believe him to be. In a major speech last week, for example, President Abbas made no mention of the necessity of a two-state solution and the land-for-peace formula. Instead, he called on the Palestinians to continue their struggle and he pointed to Hajj Amin al-Husseini as a memorable past Palestinian leader. Al-Husseini was in alliance with Hitler during WWII and developed plans to build an “Auschwitz” in the West Bank.

I understand why Abbas has turned to more extreme rhetoric, to counteract the ascendency of Hamas. But his doing so is a tragedy. I had hoped that after his successful UN bid he would take the opportunity to drop his preconditions and sit down with Netanyahu to negotiate an end-of-conflict solution. It is exceptionally disheartening that he did not do so.

On the other hand, Israel’s election campaign has given voice to the most extreme elements in Israeli society and politics. Naftali Bennet and his new “Jewish Home” party has called for the unilateral annexation of 40% of the West Bank into Israel, and polls indicate that he would attain between 16 and 18 mandates in the next Knesset. Likud’s Moshe Feiglin, representing the extreme wing of Netanyahu’s party, has called for the unilateral annexation of the West Bank and suggested that Israel pay each Palestinian family $500,000 to leave their homes and go to another country. The growth of the right-wing settler movement combined with the ultra-Orthodox religious parties will likely pull Netanyahu further to the right, which will make achieving a two-state solution even more difficult in the next Knesset.

Both sides are frustrated, afraid of losing face and are digging in their heels. Palestinians see Israeli intransigence, continued occupation and a denial of their human rights and a state of their own as intolerable. Israelis fear the radicalization of the Palestinians and Hamas’ potential overthrow of the PA and endless terror and war, and they worry further that the “Arab Spring” will continue its hostility to Israel. And, last but certainly not least, they regard Iran’s development of nuclear weapons as a mortal threat. 

And then there are those of us in Israel and America who believe that the only solution that preserves Israel’s Jewish majority and democratic character, while being the best guarantor for the Jewish state’s long-term security and improved international standing as a progressive nation is the two-state solution.

I asked recently an Israeli friend whether he feels despair given the current trends and he said, “John, in Israel despair is not an option.”

In difficult times as these I find it worthwhile to look to history for wisdom and hope, whose ark often swings from one extreme to another. With this perspective, it is remarkable indeed that our own American founding fathers created the constitutional democracy that we have today, that the allies defeated the Nazis, that in their place emerged a new Germany and eventually a strong European Union, that the State of Israel was created at all, that the Berlin Wall fell and soon thereafter the Soviet Union crumbled, that peace came to Northern Ireland, and that an African American was elected twice as President of the United States.

History holds many surprises, and I hope that the next big one is peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.

Rebbe Nachman of Bratzlav taught: “Remember: Things can go from the very worst to the very best…in just the blink of an eye.”

And Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday we recall this week, said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

I wish the Israelis well in their election next week. Should Prime Minister Netanyahu form a new government, as he is expected to do, I pray that he commit himself to find a way to work hard for peace between Israel and Palestinians in a two-state end-of-conflict solution.

From here, thousands of miles away, we American Jews have the duty, I believe, to do everything we can to support that effort by persuading President Obama and the United States to engage aggressively and soon to help the Israelis and Palestinians achieve an agreement that addresses the yearnings of both peoples for dignity, security, justice, and peace.

None of this will be easy, but as my Israeli friend reminded me, “In Israel despair is not an option.”

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Q&A: ‘Labor will either form the government or head the opposition’

Leave a Comment / Domain's Guest, Israel /

MK Yitzhak Herzog is a lawmaker from the Labor Party. A Knesset veteran, he has previously served as Minister of Welfare & Social Services, Minister of the Diaspora, Minister of Housing, and Minister of Tourism. He is also the son of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog. In the sixth in a series of interviews with Israeli politicians ahead of the upcoming elections, Herzog discusses Netanyahu's actions during the US elections, Iran's nuclear plans, and what's really on Israeli voters' minds. Previous guests in this series include Nitzan Horowitz, Meir Sheetrit, Danny Danon, Naftali Bennett and Yohanan Plesner.

 

What is the main topic or theme of the upcoming elections? Is it Iran? The peace process? The economy? What do you think is the real worry of the Israeli public today?

The most important challenge is the social gap, the inequality in our society. Ultimately, the most important thing for every Israeli is the social and economic situation. A study conducted recently by Stanley Greenberg found that 57% of the Israeli public thinks this is the most important issue in the campaign.

 

In this context, what is the markedly unique message that your party has to offer to the public?

The Labor Party has introduced a comprehensive plan for a fair and responsible society and economy, which provides solutions to strengthen the middle class and the Israeli economy, moving towards a fairer distribution of resources and assuming higher responsibilities by the state towards its citizens in all spheres of life (education, housing, health, welfare, etc.)

 

What would be the best coalition for Israel after the election, and do you think your party should consider joining a coalition headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu?

The best coalition is a coalition led by the Labor Party that would combine all the parties that are not on the extreme fringes. Unfortunately, Likud Beiteinu contains extremists like Lieberman, Feiglin and Elkin. Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich already made clear that due to the radicalization of the Likud, Labor will either form the government or head the opposition.

 

What kind of relationship would you expect the next prime minister to have with President Obama? How would you improve U.S.-Israel relations during President Obama's second term?

Netanyahu, who is trying to position himself as the bearer of diplomatic experience, intervened in an aggressive and irresponsible fashion in the US election and has now left us to eat the rotten fruit of that endeavor. If the head of the Labor Party, Shelly Yachimovich, is elected prime minister, she will first and foremost restore relations with the US president, and will act to strengthen ties in coordinating with the US against the Iranian nuclear program. Yachimovich has commended Obama on leading reforms in the social sphere in the United States, the most important of which has been the healthcare reform.

 

Do you think American Jews should take sides in Israeli elections, or just support the winning coalition after the event? If you do think American Jewry should have a voice, what kind of involvement and support do you have in mind?

No. They should not intervene but they are worried and care for Israel and we should listen to them. It is a diverse and pluralistic community.

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Israeli movie wins top prize at Palm Springs film fest

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The Israeli movie “Fill the Void” has been named best foreign-language film, beating out entries from 41 other countries, at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in Southern California.

The International Federation of Film Critics' (FIPRESCI) prize for the Israeli entry was announced Sunday at the conclusion of the 11-day festival, which ran Jan. 3-14.

Though not as prestigious as the Academy Awards, or as well known as the Cannes or Venice film festivals, the Palm Springs event is considered the primary U.S. venue for the screening of foreign movies.

As a Los Angeles Times critic noted, “Nowhere else in America will you see such a diverse range of quality foreign movies across most genres, all in one place.”

This year, the festival screened 182 films, including 42 of the 71 foreign-language movies submitted in the Oscar competition.

“Fill the Void,” written and directed by Rama Burshtein, examines profound issues of faith and conduct within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Tel Aviv, as viewed from an insider’s perspective.

The festival jury praised the movie for “portraying a culture usually depicted in stereotypical terms, with subtlety, sympathy and sensuality, and employing a style that is intimate, but not intrusive.”

“Fill the Void” has won seven Ophir awards, Israel’s equivalent of the Oscar, and received high praise at the Toronto, Venice, New York and Sao Paulo film fests.

Hadas Yaron, who portrays an 18-year old girl torn by the choice of a future husband she loves, and another preferred by her family, won the best actress award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

Palm Springs, 112 miles east of Los Angeles, has been a favorite playground of Hollywood celebrities since the 1920s, and an array of stars usually attends the festival.

The desert resort cemented its attraction to the Hollywood crowd when the old studios issued the “two-hour rule.” It stated that any actor under contract had to report to the studio within two hours for any last minute reshooting.

Also honored this year in Palm Springs was the Holocaust-themed Serbian film, “When Day Breaks.” In the movie by director Goran Paskaljevic, an elderly music professor, who has always considered himself Christian, discovers that he is the son of Jewish parents, who left him with a farmer’s family and later perished in the Holocaust.

As the stunned professor wanders through present-day Belgrade, he finds that few people remember the war years or that the city’s neglected fairgrounds served as a concentration camp for the local Jews. With his musician friends, he sets about to establish a memorial at the site.

Like the professor, “I cannot NOT remember,” Paskaljevic said in an interview.  “If we forget the crimes committed during World War II, and later in Bosnia, that opens the door to new crimes.”
 

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