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Jewish Journal

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July 24, 2013

Second chances at Beit T’Shuvah’s creative company

Leave a Comment / Business /

High turnover is typical in the competitive Los Angeles marketing industry, but at BTS Communications, it has little to do with burnout. About 80 percent of interns and staff are hired full time or find work at another creative company after a six- to 12-month stint.

The other 20 percent? They relapse to an addiction and have to leave.

As a marketing and design firm affiliated with the drug and addiction treatment center Beit T’Shuvah, BTS Communications is populated almost exclusively with people who have struggled with serious drug, alcohol and other addictions. Some have been convicted of crimes and have served time in jail. Many are estranged from their families. 

But these interns and staff members who join BTS Communications to work in graphic design, photography, copywriting and more say that their experience there has given them the hope, meaning and practical skills necessary to gain a new lease on life.

“It’s given the residents hope that they can learn something. It’s given them a way of expressing their own creativity and artistic talent. It’s helped them learn how to write and be of service to other nonprofits, so that now they’re learning how to put their talents together and use them to serve somebody else,” said Beit T’Shuvah COO and Senior Rabbi Mark Borovitz.

The beginnings of the enterprise go back more than two years, to when John Sullivan, a resident with an art background, told Beit T’Shuvah staff that their marketing materials could use improvement. He volunteered to help, and soon took charge of designing all communications materials for the facility near Culver City. Eventually he hired several interns from Beit T’Shuvah, most of whom had art experience, to help him, and began recruiting additional clients and charging them for marketing work. 

To help pay for equipment and office space less than a mile from Beit T’Shuvah, BTS secured a $250,000 grant from The Jewish Community Foundation as part of its Cutting Edge Grants program, paid over a three-year period. Sullivan, its co-founder and creative director, also won the L.A. Social Innovation Fast Pitch competition, beating out dozens of nonprofit ventures to receive $12,500 for BTS.

Now the agency is poised to bring in $400,000 of business this year. Close to 70 percent of that is from outside clients, with the remaining work coming from Beit T’Shuvah, according to Lon Levin, president of BTS, and one of two employees who are not current or former Beit T’Shuvah residents. (All of the interns are residents.) 

“It’s grown exponentially in the last year,” said Levin, whose goal is to hit $1 million of business in the next year or two. 

The agency technically is a nonprofit. After paying salaries, rent and other expenses, all profits are meant to go to Beit T’Shuvah, although it has yet to break even, according to Levin. 

While many early clients were Jewish nonprofits, BTS is now branching out to secular and mainstream businesses and agencies, including Mammoth Mountain, FinditParts and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Levin, a professional illustrator/cartoonist who also has held advertising positions with Warner Bros. and Sony, said that BTS has the advantage of being able to offer quality marketing work at a bargain rate — one-half to two-thirds cheaper than a comparable marketing firm due to its low overhead, he said.

The group also is starting to specialize. Levin says BTS is developing an expertise in designing mascots and logos, and he hopes to leverage his staff’s photography talents to expand into the action sports area.

“They’re doing professional-quality work, and we were really impressed with their previous projects,” said Matt Davidson, director of programs and marketing at Kehillat Israel, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Pacific Palisades.

Plus, he said, the shul would have been unable to afford a full-service marketing firm, offering copywriting, design and photography services, elsewhere. The connection to Beit T’Shuvah and its social mission were “icing on the cake,” Davidson said. 

Working at BTS has been life-changing for Beit T’Shuvah residents like Kendl Ferencz, a 26-year-old woman who was the marketing agency’s first intern and is now on staff as senior art director. She said she doesn’t know if she would have stayed sober were it not for working there. 

An artist from the East Coast who once was offered a scholarship to a graphic design program, Ferencz had been in and out of rehab programs for years. Whenever a program would end, she would get placed in a transitional job — such as working in a coffee shop — which she found so depressing and uninspiring that she would relapse. Working at BTS gave her hope that life could be different, she said.

“It gave me a reason to think I can be a person again,” Ferencz said. “I just thought that I had screwed up my chances.” 

Her experience isn’t unique: Ferencz says she sees over and over again people coming into the agency “sad and quiet and sort of lost,” then slowly becoming inspired.

“It brings them back to life again. Treatment does that, but what happens after treatment? It’s cool to watch people come in here and totally change.” 

Borovitz said it’s been a great way to help people get into non-entry-level employment, but there’s been other value, too.

“We’ve taught other nonprofits how to market themselves, and taught people that addicts aren’t just throwaways,” he said.

While Ferencz remains on staff for the time being, many residents use their skills and training to get jobs elsewhere. 

Levin told the story of one employee — BTS has a staff of 10 — who once was in prison for embezzlement and drug use. He became very polished at bringing in new business for BTS, but thought he would never be able to get another job due to his background. Several months ago, he interviewed for a position at a marketing firm in Los Angeles and got the job — making three times what he was at BTS.

Levin said stories such as these are common, and that the impact this agency has on people’s lives is what attracted him to become president. Although Levin has had a prestigious career in entertainment and publishing, he said he no longer measures success financially. 

“I was looking more into how can I help people; how can I do something that will be significant or change someone’s life.”

Second chances at Beit T’Shuvah’s creative company Read More »

Poetry: Marriage Psalm

Leave a Comment / Poetry /

Blessed is the mattress on which they feast.
Blessed the yellow sheet on which she lies,
blessed her skin and blessed are her breasts,
and blessed are the body’s lamps, her eyes
lighting the room, rolling in dream, in lies,
and blessed is the darkness that descends
and carries them through sleep. Blessed the ways
of limbs entwined, a tangle without end
that only lack of love or death or time
can untie. Blessed mouth that eats the wool
pants and the folded sweaters, blessed blind
pink worm that digs, the insect in the wall
that feeds on them like rot in fruit yet gives
them years alive with blessings in their lives.

From “Sad Jazz: Sonnets” (Sheep Meadow Press, 2005).

Tony Barnstone is the Albert Upton Professor of English at Whittier College, author of 13 books and writer/producer of a CD of original music based on his book of World War II poems, “Tongue of War.” Among his awards are the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, a fellowship from the California Arts Council, the Poets Prize and a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts.

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Iran looks to the north

Leave a Comment / Mobile, News, Opinion /

In the United States, our focus is on Iran’s activities to its west and east. Tehran supports Bashar Assad in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, menaces oil exports in the Gulf and threatens Israel with annihilation. On its other flank, it seeks influence in Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO forces prepare to withdraw. However, we tend to ignore Iran’s actions to its north, even as this — the greater Caspian region — emerges as a particularly active theater for Iran’s ambitions of regional power.

We do so to our detriment. With Washington’s focus elsewhere during the past few months, Iran has steadily pushed the envelope with its northern neighbors, in the disputed Caspian Sea and along its land borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan. While Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, is considered more moderate than his predecessor, since his election, Iran seems to be continuing its northward pivot.

In late June, Iranian warships sailed across the Caspian Sea to the Russian port of Astrakhan. Their mission was to coordinate plans for a major joint naval exercise in the fall. This is noteworthy because not only is the Caspian a center of oil production that is exported to Western markets, but also a key transit hub for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces and equipment from Afghanistan. Vessels with U.S. military hardware routinely sail from Kazakhstan’s port of Aktau on the eastern shore to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in the west. Joint Iranian-Russian naval exercises could disrupt both the energy and transit activities on the sea.

It would not be the first time. Iranian warships have, in the past, threatened to attack Azerbaijani oil fields that were at the time being explored by BP vessels. The issue of how the Caspian’s energy-rich waters are divided among the littoral states remains unresolved. While most of the countries on its shores have come to bilateral understandings, Iran refuses to cooperate with any of its neighbors — except when it teams with Russia to threaten the rest.

Iran is also injecting itself into the region’s most protracted conflict: the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While Iran supported pro-Russian Armenia in the 1990s against secular, pro-Western Azerbaijan, Iranian clerics are now painting the conflict as a war against Islam. They recently met with ethnic Azeris seeking to liberate Karabakh. 

On the other hand, Tehran has cultivated pro-Iranian groups and extremist clerics in Azerbaijan to undermine the government in Baku. It has mobilized hacker attacks under the banner of the Iranian Cyber Army. These activities are intensifying as the October presidential election in Azerbaijan approaches.

Earlier this year, Iranian lawmakers on the Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Parliament released a number of statements demanding the annexation of 17 of Azerbaijan’s cities, including the capital Baku. They prepared a bill that would revise the 1828 treaty demarcating Iran’s northern border to pave the way for a greater Iran that could incorporate territory from across the Caspian region, from Turkey to Central Asia. It seems that Israel is not the only country that Tehran has considered wiping off the map.

These sorts of actions have actually pushed Azerbaijan and Israel closer together. The two have a joint venture on the production of drone aircraft, as well as a wider defense technology relationship wherein Azerbaijan has sought anti-aircraft systems from Israel to guard against potential Iranian attack. Such threats are all too specific for Azerbaijan, as Iran’s leadership has consistently mentioned Azerbaijan’s major oil pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean as a primary target in the event of conflict with the West.

Were such a clash to occur, it would behoove U.S. policymakers to be more cognizant of the northern angle in Iran’s aggressive regional policy. Even without the prospect of a major conflict, U.S. Iran policy should reflect Tehran’s threats to our interests in the Caspian and to regional partners such as Azerbaijan. For all Iran watchers, its activities to its north will serve as a key test of Mr. Rouhani’s supposed moderation.

Reprinted with permission from The Washington Times.

Alexandros Petersen is the author of “The World Island: Eurasian Geopolitics and the Fate of the West” (Praeger, 2011).

Iran looks to the north Read More »

Dynasties prevail as Lau, Yosef win chief rabbi races

Leave a Comment / Israel /

David Lau and Yitzchak Yosef, both sons of former Israeli chief rabbis, were elected Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, respectively.

Wednesday’s vote by 147 Knesset members, local officials and regional rabbis was the culmination of a tense, months-long campaign with an unusually high public profile. Both terms are for 10 years.

Lau, who won 68 votes in the three-candidate race, is the son of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. Like his father, who served from 1993 to 2003, Lau hopes to serve as a bridge between Israel’s Modern Orthodox and haredi Orthodox communities. He is currently chief rabbi of the central Israeli city of Modiin.

Yosef is the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Sephardi Orthodox Shas party who held the post from 1973 to 1983. The head of the Hazon Ovadia yeshiva in Jerusalem, which was founded by and named for his father, picked up 68 votes to defeat three candidates; next was Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu with 49. His win is seen as a victory for Shas, which the elder Yosef founded soon after his chief rabbi term ended.

Lau staved off the challenge of runner-up Rabbi David Stav, a reformist candidate who gained widespread support from secular Israelis with his pledges to streamline the rabbinate bureaucracy. Stav, who garnered 54 votes, also was the preferred candidate of several political parties, including the centrist Yesh Atid, the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu and the nationalist Jewish Home.

Dynasties prevail as Lau, Yosef win chief rabbi races Read More »

Dealin’ with funnyman Jeff Garlin

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Entertainment, Hollywood, Is Featured?, Mobile, Mobile Sections, News /

You can hear Jeff Garlin’s signature rumbling laugh way down the hall from inside his publicist’s Hollywood office, and when he ambles into a conference room, he’s all smiles, appearing just as blustery yet affable as his character Jeff Greene, Larry David’s jocular manager, from all eight seasons of HBO’s hit comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” The actor-comic-writer-director, decked out in casual plaid slacks and a “Clockwork Orange” T-shirt, was relaxed and somewhat slimmed down from his new diet eschewing wheat and sugar, which, he said, is all good because, “If I have more energy and feel great, I’m funnier.” 

During a conversation to promote his new Little League comic film, “Dealin’ With Idiots,” Garlin was breezily droll (he tends to laugh before he tells a joke, as if he is amusing himself) as well as low-key — which was remarkable given that in a few days he was scheduled to attend a meeting with city officials regarding his much-publicized June 15 arrest in Studio City over alleged vandalism reportedly stemming from an argument over a parking space. No charges were filed against Garlin.

The comedian admitted that the incident sounds like something right out of “Curb,” although he wasn’t able to talk about the details, save to say the events were “entirely boring and nothing like they’ve been portrayed in the media.” Even so, he was “shocked,” he said, when he was actually arrested, and it was distressing to find himself handcuffed in the back of a police car, then jailed for a number of hours. “The police didn’t recognize me — and I didn’t throw out the, ‘Do you know who I am?’ [line] — but the prisoners did. They were like, ‘Wow, what are you doing here?’ ” he recalled.  

Still, there’s a bright side, sort of: The whole affair will become great fodder for his stand-up comedy act, once “everything is cleared and I can talk about it,” he said. 

“The entire idea of it was idiocy,” he said.  

Garlin knows from idiots. His new movie — all improvised, much like “Curb” — was inspired by the absurdly over-involved, narcissistic parents he observed on his older son’s Little League team about eight years ago. Garlin plays a successful comedian, not unlike himself, who is so aghast by the parents’ over-the-top behavior that he decides to interview them as material for a possible movie. “Dealin’ With Idiots” co-stars “Curb” alumnus J.B. Smoove as well as Bob Odenkirk, Fred Willard and Jami Gertz, Garlin’s old pal from Jewish preschool in Chicago. The IFC film is available nationwide on demand.

When this reporter mentioned that her son was about to start playing in the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), Garlin immediately quipped, “I’m sorry,” then added, “You’re going to see some crazy, crazy, crazy stuff.”

He said his new film was born at one baseball game, when he actually turned to his wife and said, “I’m dealing with idiots here.”

“It’s just the fact that parents would obsess over whether their kids’ team won or not,” he said of his observations. “They can be at times incredibly mean or embarrassing, and just to see the competitiveness in the stands and the snide comments about little kids — it was upsetting.

“Anything that brings me sadness and frustration ultimately leads to comedy, and, therefore, the movie,” he said.

The conversation turned to Garlin’s definition of an idiot: “The word ‘clueless’ comes to mind, and selfish and arrogant. And the worst kind of idiot is someone who doesn’t know they’re an idiot,” he said.

His always-scheming character Jeff Greene falls into that category: “He’s not that intelligent, he has no integrity and he’s kind of arrogant.

“What stops you from being an idiot is being humble,” Garlin added. “Some people can be incredibly stupid, but at least they know it.”

Garlin admitted he himself can succumb to the i-word syndrome. “Oh my God, can I be an idiot,” he said.

When dealing with idiots, the most important thing, he’s learned from the events of June 15, is to act serene. “Next time, I’ll just wave and smile and say, ‘Merry Christmas’ — or ‘Happy Chanukah,’ ” he said, then reconsidered. “But someone might take offense at ‘Happy Chanukah.’ No one takes offense to ‘Merry Christmas,’ even Jews.” 

Garlin, who got his start with Chicago’s comedy troupe Second City, may be one of the most versatile performers working today. In recent years, he’s starred in Pixar films (as the voice of Buttercup the Unicorn in “Toy Story 3”), co-starred on series such as “Arrested Development” (not to mention “Curb”) and penned a 2010 memoir about his struggles with weight loss. He’s now conducting a monthly podcast, “By the Way, In Conversation With Jeff Garlin,” recorded live at the Largo theater, in Los Angeles, featuring luminaries such as David, Lena Dunham and Will Ferrell. And this fall he’ll debut as a gruff dad in a loud Jewish family in the new ABC sitcom “The Goldbergs.” As far as a ninth season of “Curb,” he said, he’s been talking to David and “chances are good.”

Then there’s his stand-up work, which he performs almost nightly around town, at venues like The Comedy Store and Largo — though he’s held off lately as he’s itching to talk about his arrest onstage and can’t as of yet. His act is almost all improvised, he said, with just a list of premises committed to memory. But no, he doesn’t tell audiences that he’s virtually flying blind: “That would be bragging,” he said. “It would be not unlike [jazz artist] John Coltrane stopping a show and going, ‘You know, I’m really making a lot of this up.’ ”

Dealing with hecklers — another kind of idiot, he said — “is pretty easy for me. I do it in a very friendly, affable way. The key is to not get angry and make sure the crowd’s on your side, and you can destroy a heckler in seconds.”

Garlin is about to start shooting additional episodes of “The Goldbergs,” which he describes as “like ‘The Wonder Years’ with an edge — and with Jews.” He’s pleased about the tribal title: “The only way it could be better is if it was called, ‘Jew,’ ” he said.  “I play an Archie Bunker-like character who is a frustrated curmudgeon and emotionally unable to express himself except through anger.”

Will people assume that Garlin is an angry person because of his arrest?

“I’m crazy laid-back,” he said. “I do Transcendental Meditation, I take Lexapro, and I’m as calm as you can be.

“The truth is that at times we’re all idiots,” he said.  “You’ve just got to recognize it, embrace it, forgive yourself and move on.”

Dealin’ with funnyman Jeff Garlin Read More »

Egypt’s army chief calls for mass demonstrations

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, Lead Story, Live from the Arab Spring, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

This story originally appeared on themedialine.org.

Egypt’s military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today called for mass rallies on Friday to give him a mandate to confront violence. Coming three weeks after the army deposed Mohamed Morsi, the call puts pressure on Islamists, who vow they will continue to fight for Morsi to be reinstated.

Morsi supporters said they would also go out into the streets on Friday, which could lead to possible violence. Since Morsi’s overthrow some 100 Egyptians have been killed in fighting between the two groups. In the most recent clashes, at least nine Morsi supporters were killed when police opened fire on some 1000 people at a sit-in near Cairo University.

Al-Sisi said that Morsi was being held in a secure location for his own safety. In a press conference this week, Morsi’s son Osama said the family has not heard from Mohamed Morsi since he was overthrown. He also said he will sue Al-Sisi in the International Criminal Court.

Egypt has been rocked by huge protests in the past month. On June 30 some 17 million people took to the streets to demand Morsi resign. Many say he has failed to lead Egypt to real democracy and has pushed through a draft constitution that favors Islamists.

Al-Sisi was a member of the military council that ruled Egypt for 16 months after long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down. At that time, he was the chief of military intelligence. Morsi named him defense minister and military chief almost a year ago. He also repeated his promise that parliamentary elections will be held next year.

Morsi supporters say they will continue to use peaceful means to have their leader reinstated.

“I will not fight to regain my vote that was taken away,” Bahaa Mohammed, an Egyptian soldier told The Media Line. “I hear the rumors that we are aggressive, and terrorists, but really we’re just patient people. They [referring to anti-Morsi activists] are brain washed by the opposition media which is run by the sons and relatives of the corrupt Mubarak regime.”

In violence this week, at least 11 people were killed at Cairo University. Violence has also increased in the Sinai Peninsula, with frequent attacks on police there. The army says it has launched a crackdown to restore its control over Sinai.

Last week, four women – all supporters of Morsi — were killed in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

“The thugs were military and police dressed in civilian cloth or real thugs who are paid and drugged to commit such terrible actions.” Said Sonia the spokeswoman of the Committee to Protect Women told The Media Line.

The ongoing violence has divided Egyptians over the future of their country. Egypt was seen as a model of peaceful transition when Hosni Mubarak stepped down. A military coalition took over and paved the way for democratic elections.

But in the last few weeks, fears have grown that violence could spread among Egypt’s 85 million people, many of whom live in poverty. A growing economic crisis is exacerbating tensions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has postponed finalizing a $4 billion loan to Egypt because of the tensions although Qatar has given money to keep the country afloat,.

While some welcome the military’s intervention into Egypt’s politics, others, even non-Morsi supporters, worried that the military presence could become permanent.

“I am with Morsi now more than before even though I didn’t vote for him, Said Mohamed Taher, a taxi driver told The Media Line. “I feel that legitimacy and democracy were stolen by the military.”

Morsi supporters also say that soldiers are defecting from the army and joining their ranks.

“The people who are killed in the protests have relatives in the army and police, and when one man dies, the whole family [tribe] comes out and tries to seek revenge,” Mohamed al-Amir, a pro-Morsi activist. “Now the soldiers do not want to attack protestors. I have information that when soldiers go visit their families, they are not coming back to the service.”

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Age just a number at Maccabiah Games

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Being an alter-kacker — Yiddish for someone who’s an “old fart” — is relative. 

Many of the species, stereotypically, while away summer days at the beach cabana, sporting white shorts and knee-high dark-checkered socks, playing cards with the boys and grumbling about surgeries or high blood pressure medication.

Their opposites flash some speed on the tennis court, basketball court or in the swimming pool, such as the athletes competing in the 19th Maccabiah Games, which held its opening ceremonies here in Jerusalem on July 18.

The Maccabiah, like most athletic events, trends young. The nearly 1,200-member American delegation to what is sometimes called the “Jewish Olympics” includes only about 270 competing in the masters division, which is for those over age 35. In that group are about 20 Los Angeles-area athletes at least 50 years old competing in basketball, half-marathon, soccer, softball, squash, swimming, table tennis and tennis. 

A few other tennis and golf players are entered in the grand masters division for those over 65, while Jon Levin, 55, of Huntington Beach even earned a spot on the open golf team, where he is more than double the age of all but one teammate. The oldest L.A. competitor listed on the U.S. roster is a 78-year-old tennis player.

Like their younger cohort, the masters and grand masters athletes faced tough tryouts to earn roster sports, and, once selected, trained seriously. There were aches and pains and, in some cases, even special training with Israel in mind.

Because of their station in life, masters participants are required by Maccabi USA, the Philadelphia-based national federation, to subsidize the expenses of coaches and athletes throughout the American delegation. Aside from their own travel and lodging expenses and Maccabiah registration fees, each masters athlete pays $6,000 to Maccabi USA to cover such subsidies, said the federation’s chairman, Bob Spivak.

“The masters athlete is a high level of sportsman, but we need their financial help to make it operative,” Spivak said.

Some of the L.A. athletes already have strong ties to Israel. 

One — Steven Davis, a lawyer from Beverly Hills — bought a second home in north Tel Aviv, a product of his wife Julie Shuer’s infectious love for the country that rubbed off on him. The family’s bond with the Holy Land goes deeper, with son Benji and daughter Gaby having made aliyah; the latter recently completed her military service.

Davis, 60, a member of his University High School and Dartmouth College tennis teams, tried out for the Maccabiah at his wife’s urging. After being selected, Davis adopted a daily training routine that included riding an exercise bike and doing yoga. He also played tennis three to five times a week. When he strained his back in early June, Davis got massage therapy three times a week and pronounced himself good to go.

Davis said his approach heading into the Maccabiah had been simple: “trying not to get injured.”

“In this age group, if you’re not injured, you’re ahead of the game,” he said.

Steven Davis, a lawyer from Beverly Hills, said his approach has been “trying not to get injured.” Photo courtesy of Julie Shure

While Davis already had a foothold in Israel, it’s Gary Berner’s first visit here. Berner, a financial adviser from Oak Park, heard about the Maccabiah from a colleague, who happened to be organizing the tennis tryouts.

Because his wife’s and children’s schedules would prevent their attending the Games, Berner was inclined to wait until the next Maccabiah Games in 2017 — but his physical therapist set him straight.

“He really advocated that I go,” said Berner, 56. “He said, ‘You could wait, but [in the meantime] you could blow out your knee or you could die.’ ”

Berner hired a trainer early this year to design workouts. They included what Berner complained were “the most awful exercises,” including squats, skipping laterally with his hands behind him, jumping onto tables and stretching resistance bands. In the process, Berner dropped 20 pounds and lowered his cholesterol count 30 points without meaning to.

A propitious encounter also led Jonathan McHugh to the Maccabiah. Last September, McHugh ran into a friend, who told him that tennis tryouts would be held the next day. McHugh, 51, didn’t make the cut in the 50-54 age bracket but was offered a spot in the more challenging 45-49 grouping. He accepted.

In the 10 months since, McHugh, a Santa Monica film producer, did a great deal of aerobic cross-training and lost 15 pounds. He also scheduled singles and doubles matches in the midday sun to prepare for the intense Israeli summer, joined a United States Tennis Association league and played several tournaments.

Meanwhile, West Los Angeles resident Peter Lowy, 54, is in Israel competing in the Maccabiah, too — just not for the United States. He’s playing basketball for his native Australia. 

Lowy, co-chief executive officer of Westfield Group and chairman of TRIBE Media Corp., parent company of the Jewish Journal, previously competed for Australia in the 1997 Games, for the masters soccer team. 

His first game this year, on July 22, was — appropriately enough — against the United States. Australia lost, but, Lowy said, the game was “fun and really competitive,” made better by his facing a hometown player, Richard Farber, 52, of Pacific Palisades.  

Another local connection is the coach Lowy recruited for the Australian team — ex-Lakers guard Norm Nixon, with whom he’d played plenty of pickup ball in preparation for the Maccabiah.

“They come here to compete and have fun,” Nixon said of his players, although he could have been speaking of Maccabiah athletes — young and not-so-young — in general. “Guys who might not have made the Olympics have an opportunity to compete against guys from all over the world.”

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Obituaries

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Jack Adelman died June 6 at 89. Survived by sister Sybil (Martin) Sage; brother Joseph; 1 niece; 1 nephew. Hillside

Joseph Beveniste died June 7 at 83. Survived by wife Sally; daughter Grace (Joel Grodstein); son Morris (Gabriella Siegel); 5 grandchildren; brother Isaac (Donna). Malinow and Silverman

Arvin Cohen died June 6 at 75. Survived by wife Harriette; daughter Rita (Darren) Shuster; son Charles; 3 grandchildren; sister Florence Bernstein. Mount Sinai

Donald Cortum died June 6 at 88. Survived by husband David Jacob; daughters Dominica, Michelle; sons Chris, Curt, Greg, John, Mark; 11 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren; sister Faye McAdams. Hillside

Buddy Epstein died June 4 at 64. Survived by wife Christine Kim; brother David. Hillside

Leah Esquenazi died June 6 at 2. Survived by mother Francesca; father Zev; brother Nicholas; grandmother Maurine Cereghino. Hillside

Barbara Goldenberg died June 3 at 67. Survived by brother Marvin; aunt Celeste (Harold) Erdley; companion Bill Strauss. Mount Sinai

Michele Gross died June 3 at 59. Survived by daughter Andree Granados; mother Florence; sisters Ricki Jones, Rhona Winchell. Mount Sinai

Florence Gutman died June 6 at 78. Survived by brother Harvey. Mount Sinai

Allen Jaffy died June 5 at 84. Survived by wife Eleanor; daughters Susan (Rabbi Jeffrey) Marx, Karen (Nick) Paris; 1 grandchild. Malinow and Silverman

Susan Kapit died June 6 at 66. Survived by husband Roger; daughter Samantha (Marc) Sedaka; sons Richard Cherniss, David (Cathy) Millen, Scott (Tommy Stuckland) Millen; 3 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Anna Langsam died June 8 at 90. Survived by husband Harry; daughter Esther (Michael) Friedberg; 6 grandchildren; 9 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Hank Leids died June 8 at 73. Survived by sister Rhoda Weintraub; niece Lynn Gerichter. Mount Sinai

Saul Lipszyc died June 7 at 78. Survived by wife Mirta; daughters Ekaterina, Nadia; sons Sergio, Monti; 4 grandchildren. Hillside

Jerry Miller died June 3 at 57. Survived by wife Lynn; son Justin; father Harold; brother Rick. Hillside

Marilyn Rabin died June 8 at 82. Survived by daughter Beth (Gordon) Goldsmith; son Andrew (Sydell) Hersh; 4 grandchildren. Hillside

Rose Riback died June 8 at 72. Survived by husband David; daughter Kimberly; 1 grandchild; brother Michael Sims. Mount Sinai

Tola Richman died June 4 at 99. Survived by son Stuart; nieces Marilyn Gaims, Ruth (James) Fleisher. Mount Sinai

Deborah Rose died June 7 at 62. Survived by sisters Diana Rose Townsend, Michele, Pamela, Stephanie. Mount Sinai

Shirlee Rovner died June 6 at 68. Survived by husband Gary; daughters Stephanie (Andrew) Serotta, Dana (Noah Abelman); 3 grandchildren; brother Abram Furman. Hillside

Jules Schwartz died June 6 at 85. Survived by wife Marion; daughters Rochelle (Steve) Hall, Carolyn (Tom) Krupa; son Steve (Liz); 6 grandchildren. Hillside

Dorothy Shinderman died June 5 at 95. Survived by husband William; son Allen Bloomfield; 2 grandchildren. Hillside

Sylvia Strachan died June 4 at 90. Survived by son Gerald; sister Bella Zuloff. Malinow and Silverman

Sybelle Subotnick died June 7 at 92. Survived by daughters Linda (Richard) Campf-Weinstein, Andrea (Lon) Magdich; sons Joel (Lisa), Jory (Sheryl); 3 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Ruth Wainwright died June 6 at 90. Survived by sons Alan, Howard (Vicki), Ronald (Joanne); sister Rachel Dunbar; brother Bernard Cash; 5 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Gloria Wheeler died June 4 at 77. Survived by son Larry. Malinow and Silverman

Ernest Wilson died June 8 at 92. Survived by wife Inez; sons Reed (Alisa), Stephen; 1 granddaughter; brother A. Charles Wilson. Hillside

Gerald Winikoff died June 7 at 83. Survived by wife Marilyn; daughters Karyl (Steve) Capan, Cyndi (Rik) Zelman; son Lee (Michele); 7 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Vladimir Zaltsman died June 7 at 65. Survived by wife Galina; sons Mark, Paul. Mount Sinai

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Twisted Recap: We Need to Talk About Danny

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Twisted seems to have stalled out in the last few weeks; it feels like it's being mired down by the simplicity of its own plot, by a plodding hesitance to reveal anything for fear that anything might lead to everything. Last week we learned that Danny's dead father was sending murdered Regina hush money for keeping quiet about something (while they were both still alive, of course)– whether it's a possible affair between the two of them or something connected to Danny's five year old murder case and Regina's recent death, we don't know. 

Also in the dark is Danny; Jo and Lacey decide not to tell him what they've discovered for fear that it will upset him. Instead, most of this week's episode is tied up in teenage lovesickness: Jo has a steamy dream about Danny and finally confesses her feelings to herself, and then to (a surely heartbroken) Rico, and finally her mother. It's hard to hear her so earnestly announce that she might be in love– especially when Lacey shows up on Danny's doorstep in the episode's final minutes to say that she's finally had it with her boyfriend, Archie, and is ready to fall into Danny's possibly-sociopathic arms.

It's a fun thought experiment to imagine how different this show would be if anyone ever told anyone else the truth. If, for instance, Danny continued to keep whatever dark secret justifies his having murdered his aunt, but told the cops immediately when he found Regina's necklace in his locker, if Lacey had given the envelope containing the note and cash directly to the police. I don't think the mystery would be much farther along, but it would make it significantly more believable, more compelling and easier to watch.

 It's nice that the show isn't built around mysterious, impenetrable plot twists, but watching people lie to and withhold from one another gets old in its own way. It makes the show frustrating, because characters are working to piece together truths the viewers already know. It's a technique that can work when handled carefully and sparingly– it's a very different show, of course, but The Wire's bodies in the vacants is a perfect example of this done well– otherwise, it's hard not to feel like the show's plot is stalling and sputtering. You feel like you can see the hands of the writers at work, trying to spin out the plot to last as many episodes as they're required to deliver.

For what it's worth, though, this was also the first episode in which I felt legitimately creeped out by Danny, and I think that's a good thing. I've never believed that the show would have the guts to make him a serial killer but there was something seriously off about him this week. I want to believe he was framed for poisoning his teammate Cole, but part of my brain insists that there's something more devious going on here: Danny poisoning his teammate and framing himself  so obviously in order to gain sympathy from Lacey and Jo, and possibly to convince Jo to leave her boyfriend, Archie, who he blames for the incident. It would be a serious turn for the show to take, and a ballsy move for ABC Family, so I'm not getting my hopes up here– mostly I'm hoping that this means something darker and more interesting on the horizon for Danny: less stonewalling, more twists and turns ahead. 

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Kerry, peace and the EU

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile-Homepage, News, Opinion /

Three leaders were eligible for a Nobel Peace Prize 20 years ago for not bringing about a lasting peace. Today one wonders: Has the bar been lowered enough since then so that achieving negotiations alone — just the talking — is now an accomplishment worthy of the trophy? If Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat got it for their noble yet unsuccessful efforts at achieving peace, is John Kerry already a candidate?

He should definitely get credit for his tenacity. Stubborn, dogged, insistent, the U.S. secretary of state achieved his goal after the oh-so-familiar last-minute stumble. The Palestinian leadership was, as always, at its best the minute before negotiations resume or a document needs to be signed. But as expected, Peres knew what he was talking about when he said that “real progress” was made. And the credit for this “real progress” goes to Kerry.

There’s a famous sketch by HaGashash HaChiver — ask your Israeli friends about this fantastic Israeli comedy trio — called “the Churba” (the ruin). Two friends are nearing the end of a long, exhausting walk — tired, breathless and sweaty. They are talking about the person who brought them to this destination.

“Without him,” the first guy reminds the second, “we would never have gotten to where we are.”

“Well, where did we get to?” the second guy asks.

“To the ruin!” 

Of course, negotiations are no ruin — they are a blessing. One is right to wonder about Kerry’s priorities, and to doubt his chances of success, and to be mystified by his game plan — while still congratulating him for a job well done. And one can still hope something will come out of it.

Being skeptical about the process is both easy and reasonable: Even assuming both sides come to the table with the best of intentions, the minimum that the Palestinians are demanding seems quite far from the maximum Israel will be willing to agree to. And the support of the Arab League doesn’t mean as much as it used to. And then there’s the fact that the most crucial Arab country — Egypt — is busy (the region, generally speaking, is busy). And the Obama administration is also busy. And Israel is busy with a fairly ambitious domestic agenda — and quite skeptical regarding the prospects for peace. And Gaza is still held by Hamas.

Yet negotiations are still better than what we have now. Or are they? Previous ambitious attempts at reaching a solution for the “conflict” ended badly. In other words: Talks might be better than stalemate, but a stalemate is better than failure. That’s one reason to enter this phase of talks hopefully, but warily. 

Thoughts on the Palestinian Strategy

Why did the Palestinians decide to play last-minute games instead of seizing the opportunity to get back to the negotiating table? Ask the European Union. If the Palestinians can pocket achievements without having to sit at the table and face the tough choices they need to face, why negotiate? If they can look around and reach the conclusion that even more ambitious targets are within reach with the assistance of the international community, why waste time on small prizes, such as getting to talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

As Palestinians were mulling their strategy for the future, “Senior Palestinian officials had come to view the United States as a significant obstacle and started looking for a way to circumvent it,” Shlomi Eldar writes in Al-Monitor. So now the United States is facing a dilemma: It can signal to the Palestinians that they can circumvent the United States — and to the Europeans that cooperating with such a maneuver will have a cost — or it can try to compete with the European Union for Palestinian attention by making concessions. Naturally, the price for such concessions can only come from one wallet: Israel’s.

That’s why the events of recent days, and the U.S. response to the Palestinians’ last-minute stalling and demands, were important to watch. If the Palestinians were able to significantly gain from this little last-minute exercise — if Kerry used his newfound European leverage to put more pressure on Israel — then Israel has reason to worry about the future course of negotiations.

Is this what happened? We really don’t know, not yet. The conflicting reports haven’t yet revealed all the details about the last round of last-minute talks, and they have made it hard for the public to assess whether Kerry was playing hard ball (by threatening to pull American support away from the Palestinian Authority) or whether he was making concessions (and giving a letter of intent he didn’t intend to give, promising Palestinians to talk about the 1967 lines).

Shmuel Rosner is senior political editor. For more analysis of Israeli and international politics, please visit Rosner’s Domain at jewishjournal.com/Rosnersdomain.

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