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September 18, 2013

Letters to the Editor: Kaparot, Jewish by choice

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor /

Kaparot Ritual Is Met With Outrage

“Where is Hamas when you need them?” and “Go back home to Germany” were the catcalls we heard at the demonstration on the Sunday before Yom Kippur (“Kaparot Concession Sought,” Sept. 13). Demonstrators led by radical vegan Rabbi Jonathan Klein spewed hatred and accosted Jews who were following Jewish traditions of thousands of years. For religious Jews it was chilling reminder of the disdain and hostility some on the radical fringe of the Jewish community have for their own religion and those who follow its traditions. Sadly it was Jew vs. Jew in the most terrible fashion. Those with an agenda of animal rights demonstrated against kaparot to promote their radical viewpoint.

Kaparot is a time-honored ritual reaching back millennia. It is done humanly following the traditions of kosher slaughter as Jews have done for thousands of years. The chickens are donated to charities and the poor. According to USDA regulations, a small portion of chicken parts cannot not be used for human consumption and must be disposed of by law. It is this very tiny part that was slated for pick up by the sanitation department.

Sadly, extreme segments of the Jewish community, who have an agenda inimical to tradition and support a radical agenda of animal rights, have used kaparot as a rallying cry for their movements. This crosses the line of decency and respect that we all should have for each other.

Rabbi Yaakov Nourollah, L.A. Kaparos Director, Bait Aaron

It is gratifying that every year, more and more Orthodox rabbis are speaking out publicly against this vicious, heartless, pitiless, shameful ritual that could never absolve anyone of sin because it is itself a sin of total cruelty to animals. Shame on these cruel people.

Karen Davis, Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos via jewishjournal.com

The 1,000-year-old kaparot tradition continues to have meaning for many Jews. Those, apart from vegetarians, who are offended by the slaughter of chickens or other animals, forget where their own meals come from.  Yet, I am appalled by the evidence you uncovered that chickens are being thrown away en masse rather than donated as food to charities, as many of the “customers” of kaparot services are misled to believe. 

I have a proposal. Just as our community has developed our own systems of inspection and certification of kashrut for restaurants and markets, can’t we also create reliable, independent organizations to inspect and certify that kaparot providers are actually transporting and donating the slaughtered chickens, in a sanitary fashion, to bona fide charitable organizations? Jews who observe the kaparot tradition would then have the power to choose only certified providers.

Scott Taryle, Los Angeles

I saw birds stacked up and covered in urine and feces. They were in the hot sun not even being given any water by these so-called religious people. In the name of God, one should not let an animal suffer so much. With so much cruelty how can this atone for any sin? God is watching and probably saying, “Do you really believe you can scapegoat a chicken for your sins?” I heard the defeated clucks of chickens who had no water in 90-degree heat and this is done in the name of God?

Stacie Inkel via jewishjournal.com

The chickens used in kaparot are used to feed the homeless and the money collected is used for charity organizations. I like how this article fails to mention the “activist” who called religious Jews who were performing their religious beliefs as Nazis, Satanists, pagans and murderers. This article fails to mention how some of these activists spit on and physically assaulted people while LAPD stood by and watched. Where is the FBI and DHS investigating the civil right violations against the Jews and interferences with their religious practices or the arrests of the vegan “activists’ ” terroristic behavior against elderly religious Jews who were pushed, shoved, spit on and had anti-Semitic insults hurled at them?

Adam Kratt via jewishjournal.com

The Mitzvah of Being Jewish by Choice

Thank you, Isabel Hacker (“Chesed by Choice,” Sept. 13). Thank you for this courageous and painful reminder of how hurtful we can be to each other. As I wrote for this paper last year, people who choose Judaism like you have are heroes; you’re the closest example we have to Abraham and Sarah who themselves were Jews by Choice. How dare anyone in our community dismiss you or your children for making that choice? They should be ashamed. I am ashamed of the stigma that still exists in the Jewish world toward those that choose to join our people. We are blessed to have you and based on your experience — right now we don’t deserve such a blessing.

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, Vancouver, British Columbia via jewishjournal.com

Letters to the Editor: Kaparot, Jewish by choice Read More »

Fighting cancer: From loss to action

Leave a Comment / Health /

A calming shade of purple punctuates the Manhattan Beach office of the woman who founded the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). In one corner, two teddy bears with purple ribbons add a comforting touch to the “living room” setting where Pamela Acosta Marquardt meets with visitors, staff and supporters. 

Her philosophy — “Dream until your dreams come true” — is painted across her office wall. It’s a way of thinking that has carried Marquardt through a varied professional life that included successful, high-level stints at a chain of West Coast clothing stores and a metal recycling business in Ontario, Calif. 

However, her dreams and her outlook changed in June 1996. That’s when her mother was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. At that point, all she dreamed about was a way to save her mom.

“[My mother] followed doctors’ orders and, six months to the day after her diagnosis, died,” Marquardt said. “She had never been sick a day in her life and had only been in the hospital to give birth to her three children.”

Still, the odds had been stacked against her — just 6 percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive five years, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“When she was diagnosed, I remember the first thought that went through my mind was that this was the disease that took [actor] Michael Landon’s life. He had tremendous resources, and if he couldn’t use them to save his life, how would I be able to save my mother’s?” Marquardt said. “My next logical thought was to go on the Internet to find an organization dealing with pancreatic cancer that would give me guidance on how to save my mother.”

When Marquardt went online, she discovered, to her dismay, that there were no formal organizations that addressed pancreatic cancer. The only thing she could find was a very small online discussion group. Although there were only a dozen people using it to deal with their families’ experiences with the illness, the chat room became a lifeline for Marquardt.

Although talking with compassionate souls about her mother’s condition provided comfort, she also wanted answers. What she found, instead, was a long list of celebrity deaths tied to the disease: Landon, hairstylist Paul Mitchell, composer Henry Mancini, actress Donna Reed and entertainer Jack Benny. She also learned of a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who was having trouble securing funding for his lab and faced the possibility of having to transfer to another institution, and not continuing his work in pancreatic cancer. 

Eventually, Marquardt, 60, of Rancho Cucamonga said she realized she would have to get creative to generate widespread interest to help other families and understand the impact of the disease.

“I [turned to] the history of the AIDS movement for guidance,” she said. “Like AIDS, pancreatic cancer in its own way is a devastating illness not many people wanted to talk about. I found myself inspired in how Elizabeth Taylor took up the cause [of fighting AIDS] and how that changed everything.

“Because there were so many celebrities affected by pancreatic cancer, I came up with this crazy idea to produce a black-tie celebrity gala in Beverly Hills where families who lost their famous members to pancreatic cancer could help spread word among the Hollywood community and other influential people about the need for research, like what needed to be funded at Johns Hopkins.”

The first gala, staged in 1998, raised more than $165,000 and marked an auspicious start to an organization that began in Marquardt’s home. (The most recent one raised $1.1 million.) Its annual “An Evening With the Stars” gala will take place this year on Oct. 19 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

When the organization officially incorporated in February 1999, many of her contacts from the chat room stepped forward to help, while other volunteers came out of the woodwork. One of those volunteers was a young woman just out of college, Julie Fleshman, who lost her father at age 52. Now the president and CEO of the organization, she has built the PanCAN to a staff of more than 100, with its headquarters in Manhattan Beach and an office in Washington, D.C. 

So far, the organization has awarded 94 research grants across the country, and more than 70,000 patients and families have been served through its Patient and Liaison Services program, which provides up-to-date information on treatment options and more. 

Over time, Marquardt, who remains with the organization as director of donor relations, said she was struck by the preponderance of Jewish family names in the chat room and elsewhere. It turns out that the Ashkenazic Jewish population has an increased predisposition to pancreatic cancer because it is more likely to carry mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. 

“[Ashkenazic Jews] need to be keenly aware of everything that goes on in our bodies, and everything happening within our medical communities and families,” Marquardt said. 

Although PanCAN (pancan.org) provides patients and families nationwide with resources and information on various fundraising efforts, the organization still has its work cut out. Marquardt said that the organization’s primary goal is to double the disease’s five-year survival rate by 2020. It hopes to accomplish this by increasing: the number of scientists studying the cancer, the funding available for research, the number of patients enrolled in clinical trials and the participants at PanCAN events.

“My dream was to put the pieces together and figure out a way to pull people together  to help those affected find answers, support and so on,” Marquardt said. “Ultimately, I became a cheerleader for both families affected and everybody else who helped put together everything from the first fundraiser to the organization as it stands today. I am gratified about how so many people ultimately stepped up to the plate to help out.”

Fighting cancer: From loss to action Read More »

Reboot announces new executive director

Leave a Comment / California /

Reboot, a highly innovative nonprofit seeking new inroads to Jewish life “through conversations about meaning, identity and community”  announced on Sept. 18 that Los Angeleno Robin Kramer will become its new executive director, beginning Nov. 1.

Kramer, who has served as Reboot’s interim director for the past eight months, has been deeply involved with the organization since its inception 13 years ago, and has served as a founding board member.

Kramer has served as chief of staff to two Los Angeles mayors, Antonio Villaraigosa and Mayor Richard Riordan, and also held senior posts at The Broad Foundation and the California Community Foundation. She is also currently senior advisor to the President of the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands.

“I helped to shape Reboot in the beginning, but in working intimately with the organization during the last eight months, I fell in love with the inventiveness, exploration, joy and opportunity of working with so many creatives in their 20’s and 30’s,” Kramer said in a statement issued by Reboot on Sept. 18.

Reboot is currently about to launch “UNSCROLLED,” a retelling of the Torah by authors, humorists, screenwriters and journalists. The rollout will include a book, Web site and multiple live study sessions. “Unscrolled will introduce the Torah in new ways, including Twitter and novel approaches to text the Text; it is being built to prompt on-going introspection and learning,” the Reboot press release said.

Reboot announces new executive director Read More »

U.N. says chemical arms report on Syria attack ‘indisputable’

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

The United Nations on Wednesday defended a report by U.N. chemical weapons experts that Russia has criticized as “one-sided,” saying its conclusion that rockets loaded with sarin gas were used in an August 21 attack should not be questioned.

“The findings in that report are indisputable,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters. “They speak for themselves and this was a thoroughly objective report on that specific incident.”

U.N. chemical investigators led by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden confirmed on Monday the use of sarin nerve agent in the August 21 attack outside the Syrian capital in a long-awaited report that the United States, Britain and France said proved President Bashar al-Assad's forces were responsible.

Russia denounced Sellstrom's findings as preconceived and tainted by politics, stepping up its criticism of the report. Russia, like Assad's government, says the rebels carried out the attack, which the United States says killed more than 1,400 people, including over 400 children.

“One cannot be as one-sided and as flawed as we have seen, laying the full (blame for the) incident in Ghouta upon the Syrian government,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Damascus, referring to Western nations' interpretation of the report on the August 21 attack.

The U.N. defense of the report came as diplomats from the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China planned to continue negotiations on Wednesday on a Western-drafted resolution that would demand the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal in line with a U.S.-Russian deal agreed to last weekend.

Moscow, Assad's ally, said on Wednesday the U.S.-British-French draft resolution supporting a deal for Syria to scrap its chemical arms should be limited to that purpose, suggesting Moscow would oppose any threat of force in the event of Syrian non-compliance at this stage.

Ryabkov said the resolution should support an expected decision by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons backing the U.S.-Russian deal “and nothing more than that.”

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, said the point of the Western draft resolution was to require Syria to live up to its pledge to relinquish its chemical weapons program.

“The heart of this resolution and its main purpose is to make the framework agreement reached between the United States and Russia in Geneva and the decision that will be taken by the OPCW Executive Council endorsed by the Security Council in a legally binding, verifiable and enforceable form,” he said.

'PROFESSIONALLY MADE'

U.N. diplomats said it remained unclear when a vote on the Security Council resolution could take place. They said they hope to approve it before world leaders arrive next week for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

The current draft does not explicitly rule out the use of force, although Western diplomats said they might be willing to include such language if Russia insists.

Under the U.S.-Russian deal reached over the weekend, any punitive measures would require a second council resolution.

The U.S.-Russian chemical weapons deal came as the United States threatened Assad's government with air strikes to deter it, Washington says, from using chemical weapons again.

Nesirky said the chain of custody of all environmental and biomedical samples taken by the inspectors was meticulously documented. He added that the experts would return to Syria as soon as possible to continue their investigation into a March incident at Khan al-Asal and all other “credible allegations.”

Sellstrom's mandate was limited to investigating whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them. But Western officials say that technical details in the report provide clear evidence that Assad's forces carried out the attack.

The advocacy group Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that rocket trajectories detailed in the U.N. report suggested the sarin-filled shells had been fired from a base belonging to the Republican Guard, run by Assad's brother, Maher.

Western diplomats confirmed the Human Rights Watch report.

Diplomats in New York said Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin questioned some of the findings in Sellstrom's report at a Security Council meeting on Monday. Churkin, they said, asked Sellstrom to describe the quality of the weapons that dispersed sarin.

“The rockets found on the site were professionally made and, according to Dr. Sellstrom, they bore none of the characteristics of jerry-rigged, improvised weapons,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said on Tuesday.

“They had sophisticated barometric fuses to disperse the nerve agent in the air and not on impact,” she said. “This was a professionally executed massacre by the regime, which is known to possess one of the world's largest undeclared stockpiles of sarin.”

Churkin asked Sellstrom other questions during Monday's council session, council diplomats said. Sellstrom was able to answer Churkin's questions without difficulty, diplomats said, including the chain of custody of the samples and how the inspectors could be sure the victims they took biomedical samples from had been in the area at the time of the attack on August 21.

Editing by Doina Chiacu and Peter Cooney

U.N. says chemical arms report on Syria attack ‘indisputable’ Read More »

Sukkot veggie heaven

Leave a Comment / Food /

Sukkot is a wonderful time of year to incorporate seasonal ingredients into your cooking. Beets, cabbage and squash are vegetables that are especially delicious at this time of year and work well in many recipes. Sukkot also reminds me of savory sweet and sour dishes that we ate in Eastern Europe, where I was raised.

For the holidays, I like to stick with traditional family recipes, and fortunately we have many for Sukkot. Many of these recipes also freeze well, which helps with the planning and unexpected company.

Beet Salad With Ginger is a lovely way to start a Sukkot meal. It is a delicious appetizer that I like to serve at room temperature surrounded by greens lightly dressed with oil. Traditionally, beets are boiled or steamed, but I think baking gives them a much richer flavor and a gorgeous color.

It is a popular custom to make stuffed foods for Sukkot as a symbol of an abundant harvest, and Stuffed Cabbage Rolls is a perfect example of the tradition. Among the many versions of the dish is the one I feature in my cookbook “Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine.” It’s light, the cabbage rolls are small and not too filling, and it freezes well. The cookbook also includes a wonderful recipe for a vegetarian alternative, Barley Stuffed Cabbage.

BEET SALAD WITH GINGER

  • 5 medium beets
  • 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Snipped chives, for garnish
  • Mache or other greens, for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 F (you can also use a toaster oven). Line a baking pan with foil.

Wash the beets and, while still wet, wrap each one individually in foil. (Be sure to wrap them tightly, otherwise some of the juice may ooze out.) Place in the pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife. Remove each beet from the oven as it becomes ready.

When cool, slip the skin off the beets. Cut them into 1/4-inch slices, then into 1/4-inch cubes. Add the ginger, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; combine well. Season to taste.

Serve on individual plates, garnished with chives and accompanied by mache. Makes 4 servings.

TIPS: I always wear thin plastic gloves when I work with beets to avoid staining my fingers with beet juice, which can be hard to remove. For those in a hurry, you can chop the beets in a food processor, but it will give them a different texture.

STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

In Eastern Europe, stuffed cabbage rolls are traditionally served on Sukkot. This one is a favorite, as it is light and sweet and sour. Like all stuffed cabbage recipes, this is a bit time-consuming, but you can do it in stages, and because it freezes well, you can make it in advance.

CABBAGE

  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 medium heads cabbage (about 3 pounds each)

FILLING

  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 2 garlic cloves, quartered
  • 1 baking potato, peeled and cut in large pieces
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 pound veal and 1 pound beef, ground together
  • 1/2 cup tightly packed flat-leaf parsley (stems removed), coarsely chopped
  • 1/3 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
  • 2 tablespoons double-concentrated tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

SAUCE

  • 2 Granny Smith apples
  • 4 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
  • 2 onions, quartered
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup tightly packed flat-leaf parsley (stems removed), coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup golden raisins
  • 6 ounces dried apricots, diced
  • 1 can (35 ounces) imported peeled tomatoes
  • 1 can (28 ounces) imported crushed tomatoes
  • 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons double-concentrated tomato paste
  • 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, plus more as needed
  • 1 cup chicken broth

Cabbage leaves: Bring a large pot of water to a boil with the salt. With the point of a knife, cut out some of the hard center core of the cabbages. Remove and discard any bruised and discolored leaves. Add the cabbage to the boiling water and boil for a few minutes, turning the cabbage often. Remove the cabbage from the water by piercing the core with a large fork and lifting out the head.

To remove the leaves without damaging them, cut where they are attached at the core, then peel off. If necessary, return the cabbage to the boiling water to soften the leaves. Shred the small center leaves.

Repeat this process for the second cabbage. (You can do this earlier in the day or the night before. Place the leaves in a tightly sealed zip-top plastic bag and refrigerate until needed.)

Filling: Place the onion, garlic, potato and egg in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and add the meat, parsley, rice, tomato paste and soy sauce. Mix with your hands to combine well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To fill the cabbage leaves: Spread each cabbage leaf on a cutting board and cut out some of the center rib. Place 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center. Starting from the smaller end, roll the cabbage halfway, fold the sides toward the center, and roll tightly to the end. Continue until all the filling has been used.

To make the sauce: Peel, core and quarter the apples. Chop the apples, carrots and onions in a food processor, one at a time. (Chopping each ingredient separately preserves its distinct texture.)

Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the apples, carrots and onions, and saute for a few minutes. Remove to a large bowl and add the parsley, raisins, apricots, peeled and crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, brown sugar and chicken broth.

To cook the rolls: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the rolls near each other, seam side down, in an enamel-lined saucepan large enough to hold the rolls in 2 or 3 layers. Scatter the leftover shredded cabbage on top. Add the sauce. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat. (If the heat is too high, the bottom will burn.)

Cover the pan with heavy foil and a tight-fitting lid. Place in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Season the sauce to taste with additional brown sugar, salt and pepper. Makes about 3 dozen small rolls.

SWEET-AND-SOUR ACORN SQUASH

This is a pretty winter dish that goes very well with any kind of poultry or fish. 

  • 1 small acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking pan with foil and brush the foil with 1 tablespoon of the oil.

Rinse and pat dry the squash. Trim the ends and discard. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out all the seeds and fibrous strings. Cut into 1/2-inch wedges.

Arrange the wedges in the pan. Brush the squash with the remaining oil, then the vinegar; sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the wedges are tender and the sugar has lightly caramelized. Serve warm. 

Makes 6 servings.

ZUCCHINI CAKE

This moist and delicious cake is perfect when a surprise visitor pops in and you want to serve a light snack with your tea.

  • 1/4 pound skin-on hazelnuts
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing pan
  • 2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting the pan
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • Generous 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons grated zest from a navel orange
  • 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 1/2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 medium zucchini (not more than 1/2 pound), coarsely grated

Roast the hazelnuts in a toaster oven at 350 F for about 15 minutes, or until the skins are blistered. While the nuts are still hot, rub them in a dishtowel to remove most of their skin. (Some skin will remain.) Cool. Chop them in a food processor until coarse.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Dust the pan with 1 tablespoon of the flour, then invert and tap the pan to shake out any excess flour.

Place the 2 cups flour in a large bowl and add the hazelnuts, baking soda, baking powder and sugar. In a smaller bowl, whisk the 1/2 cup oil, the eggs, orange zest, orange juice, ginger and vanilla. With a rubber spatula, combine the wet ingredients with the flour mixture. Fold in the zucchini.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 60 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Run a metal spatula around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert the loaf pan onto a serving plate. 

Makes 12 servings.

Sukkot veggie heaven Read More »

Sukkah Hill Spirits: The spirit of Sukkot

Leave a Comment / Food, Holidays /

Howard Witkin sleeps only about three hours each night. He has a wife and four children, runs a life insurance company, is the lead organizer of the Los Angeles Community Eruv and has spent the last 14 months battling cancer.

Oh, and he and his wife, Marni, just released an etrog liqueur under the label of their new company, Sukkah Hill Spirits.

The citrus-flavored alcohol (the only one of its kind on the market) went on shelves at Glatt Mart, Cambridge Farms and wine stores The Cask and Vendome in recent weeks. During a recent lunch with the Journal, the couple said the liqueur will soon be available at Ralphs and Smart & Final, as well.

“I started making it after Sukkot, when you have all these leftover etrogim,” Marni Witkin said. “It came out pretty good.” After some prodding by friends and community members — including an owner of Glatt Mart — the Witkins decided to turn their hobby into a business.

“If you make it, I want it, and I will sell every drop that you can make,” Howard remembers the Glatt Mart co-owner telling him.

Sukkah Hill Spirits has a warehouse in Marina del Rey, where it produces and stores the liqueur. And the etrogim, which they buy from a citrus farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, come in five or six varieties, according to Witkin.

“We get a mixture of etrogim,” he said. “A couple of them have more pith, some have more sweetness, some have more tang.”

After extracting the flavor from the etrogim (the process of which, Witkin said, is a trade secret), it sits in kosher cane sugar-based alcohol for about two weeks before the mixture undergoes taste testing — almost all of which is determined by Marni’s palate.

“Once we have it to the proper taste [test],  we have a pump system, and we pump it into bottles and measure out the bottles and cap them and seal them and label them,” Witkin said.

Sold in 375-milliliter bottles at a suggested retail price of $34.95, the etrog liqueur is smooth and sweet, but not too sweet. Its flavor explodes on the tongue, is far less bitter than a plain etrog, and has a slightly syrupy yet refreshing taste. 

If Witkin’s etrog liqueur turns out to be a popular drink sold in major grocery stores, it would be just his most recent of many successes.

Raised in a Conservative Jewish home in Woodland Hills, Howard met Marni at a synagogue confirmation class at Maarav Temple when they were 15. He began his path to observance at age 20, while he was in Israel during summer break from UCLA, from which he received degrees in mathematics and computer science.

Survivor: Adela Manheimer

Leave a Comment / Culture, Survivor /

“Who wants to go home?” the SS soldiers asked the 500 women who had just been delivered to Grünberg/Schlesien, a forced labor subcamp of Gross-Rosen in Lower Silesia. Adela Manheimer, née Kestenberg, an only child who, in her words, was “naïve and upset and sick for my parents,” raised her hand. An SS soldier armed with brass knuckles proceeded to beat her. She fell to the ground, her body swollen, especially around her eyes, but she managed to stand up, knowing that if she didn’t, she would be carted away. It was February 1942, and Adela was 20 years old. 

Adela was born on June 21, 1921, to Wolf and Eleanor Kestenberg in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland. Ten years before her birth, her parents had lost two children, ages 12 and 13, within a week from tonsillitis.

Adela’s father was a tailor and fabric salesman who owned his own shop. Adela remembers he was always collecting money for the poor, especially on Purim. 

The family, middle class and very religious, lived in an apartment. Adela attended Bais Yaakov in Dabrowa until she was 15 and then a private accounting school in Bedzin, four miles away. “I was spoiled,” Adela said. “I had everything.”

The Germans entered Dabrowa in early September 1939. Adela, then living at home and assisting in her father’s business, looked out the window and saw the town engulfed in flames, including the nearby shul. A Polish girl who worked for the family began emptying out drawers in their home. Adela confronted her. “If you say one more word, I will go to the Germans,” she answered. 

The family tried to live as normally as possible, Adela said, but “every day we were sitting and waiting for what was next.” 

After several months, Adela was working seven days a week sewing uniforms for German soldiers. She understood that this job would save her from being shipped to Germany. 

During this time Adela attended a party at a friend’s house in Bedzin, where she met Wolf Manheimer. In late January 1942, the two families celebrated Adela and Wolf’s engagement at Adela’s house in Dabrowa. 

Wolf’s parents planned an engagement party at their house in Bedzin a week later. But that day, Saturday, Feb. 7, 1942, Adela and the other young women in the workshops were rounded up and marched to waiting trucks. Adela’s mother came running, trying to slip her daughter a piece of cheesecake, but she was spotted by an SS soldier and beaten.  

The women were taken to Sosnowiec and held in a building for one or two days. From an upstairs window Adela saw her mother standing outside, crying. She later learned that both her parents were shipped to Auschwitz. 

From Sosnowiec, the women were transported to Grünberg, where Adela worked 12-hour night shifts weaving blankets for the Wehrmacht. Once a day, the prisoners were given some bread, a piece of butter and watery soup. “If you were lucky enough to find a little piece of potato in your soup, you saved it for a second meal,” Adela said. 

On Sundays, the young women didn’t work. Instead, Adela said, they “fought with vances (bedbugs).” They also endured selections as SS soldiers lined them up and counted them off by 10s, with every 10th woman dispatched to Auschwitz. “Many times, I was number nine or 11,” Adela said.

One day, unable to work because a bedbug in her ear was creating a painful ringing, Adela visited the medical clinic. A German nurse reported to an SS soldier that she was lazy, and the soldier, wearing a large finger ring, beat her up. 

At the end of January 1945, with the Soviet forces approaching, Grünberg was evacuated and the prisoners forced on a death march. In the bitter cold, Adela walked in thin clothes and only one shoe and carried a ragged pillow, her only belonging. At night the women slept in fields, even in the rain, or in barns. With no food, Adela sometimes ate grass.

One day, with her feet so swollen she could hardly walk, Adela hid inside a dog house, where an SS soldier found her. “Dirty Jew,” he said, holding a small gun to her head. “If you want to run away, why do it in the daytime?” Adela waited for him to shoot, saying to herself, “Shema Yisrael, shema Yisrael.” When he abruptly ordered her back to the line, she ran, dropping her pillow on the way. She saw him coming after her and began shaking. He handed her the pillow and left. 

On March 6, 1945, the group stopped at Helmbrechts, a subcamp of Flossenbürg. “It was a terrible place,” Adela recalled. On April 13, the death march resumed. 

The group arrived in Volary, Czechoslovakia, on May 3, 1945. Adela, along with about 30 prisoners who were incapable of walking, were loaded onto a truck. “We were taken to be killed,” Adela said. But American planes bombed the truck, and pieces of shrapnel pierced the pregnant SS woman sitting next to Adela, killing her. 

In the chaos, Adela forced a friend from Dabrowa, Tzipora Magerkewitz, to jump off the truck with her. They walked through a field and came to a small lake. “I couldn’t swim. I had to take a chance,” Adela said. They walked in, discovering the water rose only to their chins. They then crossed through woods, where snow still covered the ground. 

They learned from a German man passing by that 18 girls from the truck had been shot. 

Eventually they walked toward the mountains, where they ran into French POWs who helped them. On May 5, which marked the end of the war, the POWs carried them to a makeshift hospital the American Army had set up. Adela weighed 77 pounds. “They gave us farina; they built us up,” she recalled.

Weeks later, Adela and Tzipora went to Salzburg. From there, Adela traveled to the Foehrenwald displaced persons camp where her fiancé’s brother found her. She was eventually reunited with Wolf at the Feldafing displaced persons camp. 

“You’ll never be happy, because I’m sick,” Wolf told Adela. He had been shot by the SS when he tried to escape from a cattle car and was shipped to Mauthausen, where he was beaten every day. But Adela would hear none of that: “I will never leave you. It’s going to be Ruth and Naomi,” she answered, referring to the biblical story. 

Wolf spent time in a sanitorium in nearby Gauting, where Adela cared for him and also assisted 12 other survivors, cooking extra food and mending their clothing. 

After Wolf had partially recovered, he and Adela, in a borrowed dress and veil, were married in Feldafing on March 30, 1947. Their son Aron was born on Jan. 29, 1948. 

Wolf spent more time in Gauting, but he also needed surgery, so they left for Heidelberg and, later, Munich. 

In 1951, Adela, Wolf and Aron immigrated to the United States, arriving in Cleveland on Sept. 7. Their daughter, Rose, was born on June 4, 1953, and the family moved to Los Angeles in 1959. 

Adela worked at various jobs, retiring in 1972. Wolf, who never recovered from his war injuries, died in 1984. 

Today, Adela is 92 and participates in Jewish Family Service’s Café Europa and UCLA Hillel’s Bearing Witness program. She also writes poetry and takes classes at the Freda Mohr Multipurpose Center. She also enjoys her family, including six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, who call her every Friday.

In 1995, Adela took her son and daughter to Czechoslovakia for a 50th anniversary commemoration of Germany’s defeat. 

“It was the best thing I ever did in my life, to show my children where I was liberated,” she said. 

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Report: Belgian government website compared Israel to Nazi Germany

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

A Belgian Education Ministry website compared Israel and Nazi Germany, a Jewish newspaper reported.

The comparisons were made on the KlasCement.be website, a major teaching resource offered by the Education Ministry of the Flemish Region, one of three entities that make up the federal Belgian state, the Jewish monthly Joods Actueel reported Monday.

The website featured a caricature of a Jewish man impaled on the fence of a concentration camp next to a man wearing Arab headress, their limbs arranged in the form of a Nazi swastika. The caption “Never Again” appears above the image of the Jew and the words “Over Again!” are written at the Arab’s right foot.

The caricature was drawn by the Brazilian artist Carlos Latuff, whom the Simon Wiesenthal Center has accused of anti-Semitism. Latuff rejects these claims.

The Flemish Education Ministry did not reply to requests for comment from JTA. But Guido Joris of Joods Actueel said the exercise was pulled off the site following the publication of the newspaper’s article.

Another item removed following Joods Actueel’s report was a role-playing game in which one of the characters is described as follows: “You sympathize with the radical group Hamas. You live in Gaza and work in Israel. You were shocked by the slaying of a Palestinian girl by Israeli soldiers at a school playground. Israel denies that it fired the shots but U.N. representatives in Gaza indicate it did.”

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Happiness, Addiction, Training

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Judaism /


How Can Emotions Be Commanded?

‘How can emotions be commanded?’, I am asked, when I go over the three main commandments regarding Sukkot:  to live in rickety hut with an unfinished roof (Sukkah), wave a bunch of foliage around, and be only happy. I am certainly asked to explain the rickety hut and the waving of foliage, but the commandment to be happy must be justified. The “how” in the question is usually the “how” of complaint, not the “how” of curiosity.

First of all, emotions are commanded all the time.  We are asked to move on when we are grieving, to calm down when we are excited, to get over it when we are upset. We tell our children to stop pouting.  We tell them to be grateful. 

In the commandment to be “happy” (meaning here inner wellbeing), it is not just the emotion of happiness that is being commanded, but more essentially the feeling of happiness. In my work, the distinction between feelings and emotions is crucial. I see emotion occurring rather immediately.  Emotions take us over before we are even aware of it. They often come and go quickly. Emotions usually bridge our inner lives to the outside world, to other people. 

I see feelings as running more deeply.  I can recall times when my deeper feelings were troubled, worried or grieving. I would have moments emotional happiness when I was with other people, or doing something enjoyable, but once I was alone with my feelings again, the pain came back. Feelings are often kept inside. When they are negative, they can produce a range of destructive emotions and behaviors.

This where addictions come in. Addicts want to feel better. External substances help the body lie to the soul that we have found a solution. It is not too different with emotion addicts; profound physiological changes occur when we are, for example, angry, which both produces a high, but also, like addictive substances, damages our health (the heart, the immune system, the arterial system, the hippocampus  — the list is rather extensive).

Negative feelings damage us. Positive feelings, well, make us feel better, and can improve our health, psychological, spiritual, and physical. We would typically not question a physician who told us to quit smoking, go on a diet, exercise more, drink less alcohol, not to take methamphetamine and so forth. But the directive to be happy is questioned.

Cultivation of feelings of happiness is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. The real question to ask at this time is not the complaint: “how (dare) the Bible tell me how to feel?”, but rather:  “how exactly do I fulfill this commandment?”.  Many wise books have been written on precisely this topic and those who follow the advice of the wiser of these books are likely to become happier (and if the book sells well, the author, too, may experience an uptick in the happiness quotient).

If you add up all the advice offered in these tomes, under the bottom line you will get an answer, in which the following advice is central: learn to manage consciousness toward inner wellbeing (a synonym for the feelings of happiness). Getting negative people out of your life or extricating yourself from negative situations are included under the bottom line, as well, but quickly getting negative people out of your life or getting out of negative situations are, however, not that easy for some of us.  So we are left with managing consciousness as our main course of action.

Managing consciousness takes training. Managing consciousness can feel like an inner battle. If you have ever wrestled with procrastination or depression, you know that it often feels that we are way out of our weight class. The feelings behind those patterns are heavy and they dominate us. With procrastination and depression, time seems to slow down.  If we learn how to engage the enemy, we typically have the time to do so.  (Here I am not referring to clinical depression, but rather the sort that can be treated with a cognitive-behavioral approach).  With anger, on the other hand, time speeds up. We have to be pretty well trained to intervene. 

Training consciousness to deal with anger, one of the strongest forces that attacks our ability to cultivate inner wellbeing (happiness), is to fight a crafty, quick and strong inner foe.

Training consciousness is not as difficult as it sounds. What is difficult is showing up for the training. Once you show up, things get better rather quickly.

The essential questions are how to get yourself to show up, and how to start the training.


During the holiday of Sukkot, I will give an abridged training (teaching) on how to manage consciousness on this blog. Stay tuned and Chag Same'ach!

Happiness, Addiction, Training Read More »

Which Milk (alternative) Should You Be Drinking?

Leave a Comment / Food, Holidays /

Remember the days when your latte options were whole milk, 2%, or non-fat?  I barely know anyone who still eats cereal (no judgement), but you are not forgotten, and the following information applies to you, too.

Alternative milk options are as plentiful as surgical enhancements in Beverly Hills; endless and sometimes confusing. I mean, why do our grocery shelves need chocolate hemp milk? And how does one get get milk from the same plant that makes you crave episodes of Ren and Stimpy while consuming a McFlurry?  Mind-boggeling.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  What is the healthiest option for your daily latte? Almond milk, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk, hemp milk, rice milk, or the traditional stuff from cows?

The life coach answer: whatever tastes best to you. Listen to your body.

The nutritional answer: if you aren't lactose intolerant, milk. Unlike the other options, dairy milk provides you with calcium and protein. The fat content you chose should take into account the amount of fat in your overall diet.  (Remember, a little fat in your diet is needed to be able to absorb nutrients and function properly.)

If you are lactose intolerant, choose the option with the least amount of sugar.

A couple hints: Coffee shops often use sweetened soy and almond milk so ask if they have either unsweetened.  Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk has only 30 calories a cup and you can always add a few drops of stevia to sweeten it if necessary.  Hemp and rice milk are high in carbohydrates (not necessarily a bad choice, but just be aware of this fact).

And as always, everything is ok in moderation.

 

Which Milk (alternative) Should You Be Drinking? Read More »