My best friend’s wedding was a joyous celebration. Friends and family were thrilled that two such amazing people had found each other. The bride was beautiful in her stunning white lace gown and the groom was handsome in his bow tie and tuxedo, the bridesmaids wore lavender, matched by the pretty pinks and purples of the flowers on the table. We ate, we drank, we danced and we were merry.
It was an unforgettable night followed by an unforgettable Thanksgiving Sheva Bracha the next day. My family and I hosted the newlyweds—Neil and Rachel—on a cold and windy day at a Malibu beach house.
My mother was in charge of the menu and we spent the morning toiling in the kitchen. I don’t really remember the menu, but I do remember that the groom, a man who happily eats rice with every meal, was scandalized when he saw that my mother had stuffed the turkey with rice! Rachel and I still laugh about it.
For the past ten years or so, my mother has happily conceded to me the job of roasting the turkey, stirring the gravy, mashing the potatoes, making the (bread and cornbread) stuffing, sautéing the vegetables and baking all those pumpkin and pecan pies. She still brings her killer yellow rice, made with carrots and peas, topped with caramelized onions, slivered almonds and fried dried cranberries. And every last grain of rice is gobbled up.
My recipe for a classic roasted turkey involves my husband’s prized Glenfiddich Scotch whiskey and fresh tangy oranges plucked from the tree in my front courtyard.
While some will argue that kosher turkeys should be brined, I say why add more work on a very busy day? Kosher poultry is already brined through the koshering process and even Martha Stewart buys a kosher bird for her Thanksgiving feast.
I have found that the secret to a moist, juicy turkey is to glaze it in a sauce and cook it breast side down.
I have found that the secret to a moist, juicy turkey is to glaze it in a sauce and cook it breast side down.
Whip up a gravy by adding flour to all the delicious juices in the bottom of the pan.
Happy feasting!
P.S. In case you were wondering, I caught Rachel’s bouquet.
Whiskey and Orange Glazed Turkey
1 13-15 pound turkey
1/2 cup Scotch whiskey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Colman’s English Mustard Powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
Freshly ground black pepper
3 oranges, cut in halves
2 large golden onions, with peel on and cut into wedges
1/2 cup avocado, safflower or canola oil
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
In a medium bowl, make glaze by combining whiskey, soy sauce, brown sugar and spices.
Place turkey, breast side down in a large roasting pan.
Place 2 oranges in the turkey cavity.
Lightly squeeze juice from remaining orange over the turkey.
Place orange rinds and onion wedges around the turkey.
Pour broth into the roasting pan.
Pour oil over the turkey and roast for 30 minutes.
Remove turkey from oven and pour glaze over the turkey.
Roast for two more hours, then check the temperature by inserting a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. Continue roasting until turkey is 165°F.
Remove turkey from the oven, loosely tent with foil and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.
Serve with gravy and cranberry sauce
Rachel Sheff and Sharon Gomperts have been friends since high school. They love cooking and sharing recipes. They have collaborated on Sephardic Educational Center projects and community cooking classes. Follow them on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food.
The Media Line — Israel’s Foreign Ministry directed a message to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the International Day for Tolerance − celebrated each year on November 16 − which raised questions regarding possible rapprochement between the two countries following Israel’s recent peace agreements with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan.
“On the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance, we urge Saudi Arabia to confront extremism under the mantle of the Islamic religion…, an important step to spread intimacy and forgiveness under one roof,” the ministry’s IsraelinArabic Twitter account posted.
“One hand can’t clap…. Yes to tolerance,” the tweet continued.
Gilar Sher, a fellow at both Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston and at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University, and a chief of staff and peace negotiator under former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, told The Media Line that several processes were going on related to the regional trend of normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, “all brokered by the outgoing Trump Administration.”
Sher pointed out that these processes were obviously affected by myriad factors, primarily the domestic political timelines within all the parties concerned, particularly in Jerusalem and Washington.
“Saudi Arabia was often mentioned by analysts and commentators as potentially the most important pivot in the regional normalization process and the countering of Iran’s aggressions via a Sunni axis to be eventually formed,” he said.
Sher added that a component concerned the characters of the leaders involved, first and foremost US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “Consequently I do not rule out the likelihood of a hastily promoted deal in the next couple of months,” before President Trump leaves office on January 20.
Nevertheless, Khaled M. Batarfi, a Saudi analyst and professor at Alfaisal University in Riyadh, told The Media Line the kingdom’s position was fixed regarding peace with Israel, where the latter had to first accept the Arab Peace Initiative.
The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative was based on international laws and resolutions, under the principle of land for peace.
“The Palestinians can choose what they want; it’s their business, their land and cause. Let us choose for ourselves what we want. This is our business and our right,” Batarfi said.
He stressed, however, that if there were countries that had decided their interests would be served by normalization, and at the same time they were keen to obtain concessions for the Palestinians, “then this is their sovereign right. And they are thanked for what they have achieved for the Palestinian cause.”
Batarfi explained that Saudi Arabia, by virtue of its international stature, chooses to stick to the Arab initiative launched by the Arab states, as by virtue of its Islamic stature, “there will be no normalization before liberating Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Zionists.”
This will hold true “even at the expense of its political and economic interests with the countries that support Israel; this is its sovereign right as well,” he said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Jewish Week
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is massive, costing hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of jobs. Its effect on philanthropy has been no less serious, with needs rising and donations down significantly.
People are legitimately worried about what’s coming next. And ambiguity is a killer for charitable giving.
One thing is clear: We must take new approaches to engaging our donors.
A primary rule for fundraising is that, when speaking with a potential donor, you never talk about yourself. Rather, focus on the donors: their family, their interests, their commitment to philanthropy and our organization.
But at this unprecedented time, our team of over 100 development volunteers and professionals at Hadassah-The Women’s Zionist Organization of America is finding that sharing our own concerns and anxieties can create important, meaningful connections with supporters.
It makes the link we have with them more human and empathetic.
By speaking personally, we bring ourselves into the work, and people appreciate our addressing the fact that this is an anxious and uncertain time.
While this approach isn’t necessarily translating into more funds, it’s good for enhancing the relationships that we work diligently to cultivate.
We’re having far more success going to existing donors than we are to new people. We’re focusing on looking inward, finding ways to care for those who have for years stood by us.
Now is our opportunity to stand by our donors. How we care for them is more important than ever. Our team made more calls to simply check in and see how people were doing over the first three months than we did in the previous three years. Relationships cannot only be about raising money. During a time of unique human need, our need to act in uniquely human ways only increases.
Throughout the pandemic we have been organizing and implementing virtual gatherings, bringing together donors from around the country to hear from Hadassah doctors, nurses, researchers and other experts.
We have expanded that idea to creating special, personalized videos for our top supporters. We feature greetings from doctors, nurses and top leaders of our hospitals in Jerusalem, working hard to ensure that these special greetings are delivered by someone who has a close relationship with a major donor.
Ordinarily, when someone gives a naming gift to Hadassah hospital, they have the opportunity to visit Israel for a live dedication event. We’ve begun hosting those kinds of events via Zoom. While it’s not quite the same, during a time like this it’s a good substitute that has had some unanticipated benefits.
When a family made a special donation in honor of their mother’s 90th birthday, naming a nursing station in the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower on our Ein Kerem campus, a Zoom dedication included her family, guests and greetings from nurses and Hadassah staff in Israel. Even with thousands of miles separating our U.S. donors and partners in Israel, we were able to create an emotionally compelling program and a birthday celebration that this family will never forget.
While video conferencing tools are not quite the same as sitting with a donor or prospect in their own space, the technology can help organizations save on the two most precious resources they have — time and money.
It’s too early for us to know for sure just how effective our virtual programming has been. It can take years for a major gift to develop — even if the virtual programming is only 85 percent as effective in terms of money raised, it may be a net positive because of the resources saved.
One unifying outcome of this pandemic, when literally everyone has been at risk, has been an overall humanizing effect on the way we approach our work, our donors and our colleagues.
We have invested a great deal of time simply checking on each other, making sure that our friends and partners have the resources they need and the support they want.
Will this be a permanent effect? It’s hard to say for sure. Perhaps fundraising needs to shift and become as much about the very human connections we make while still respecting setting goals and reviewing performance metrics.
This has been a once-in-a-century reminder of how fragile life is and how connected we truly are. We must not forget this lesson.
Personally, I plan to bring into my work — now and in the future — the same kind of mindfulness we’ve been utilizing the past few months. As a manager and a fundraiser, I hope to better balance both aspects of our critical mission in nonprofit development.
This article originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
To Roi Mezare, fundraising is really about relationships.
“Without a meaningful relationship there is not going to be a meaningful gift,” explained Mezare, associate director of major gifts at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. “Luckily, in 14 years with Federation, I’ve formed a lot of meaningful relationships.”
Those relationships, Mezare said “are part of a very committed community that cares deeply.”
Federation and other Jewish nonprofits have had to adapt their fundraising techniques – and in some cases, alter their goals – due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At least for now, gone are the days of large Super Sunday events, where throngs of volunteers call hundreds of donors. Gone, too, are the carnivals featuring food, booths and magic shows. Instead, fundraisers are using tools like Zoom to stay in touch with potential donors. Some even maintain connections using the out of-fashion telephone.
“The form of communication has changed,” Mezare said. “Instead of doing it face-to-face, you have to do it via phone or Zoom or FaceTime. If the relationship is there, though, then the form of communication doesn’t impede it.”
Federation’s numbers add validity to Mezare’s claim. This year’s Community Campaign raised $13.6 million.
“I believe that’s the second best we’ve ever done in our 100-plus years,” ventured Federation’s Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer Brian Eglash. “We also had more increased dollars than we had over the last few years.”
Though Eglash prefers “human contact” when meeting with community members, he knows that is not possible right now. “So, this is the next best thing.”
The Federation is a “relationship-based fundraising organization,” Eglash said. “I’ve reached out to well over 100 people and had some really incredible conversations on Zoom, on Microsoft Teams and over the phone.”
Federation has had success with its legacy giving program as well.
“Our [Jewish Community] Foundation had one of the best years in its history, with a little bit over $22 million new dollars into the Foundation,” Eglash said. “We have a Grinspoon Life & Legacy program where we partner with 19 local institutions. Over the last two years we’ve had over $26 million in expectancies. This year alone over 240 people left legacies through letters of intent.”
Most of Federation’s contributions come from individuals, Eglash noted, adding that the impetus for giving is the donor’s “deep care for the community.”
“Starting in March, when things were collapsing in the stock market and people’s businesses were really struggling, some people still increased their giving,” he said. “They felt like, as bad as it is for them, there’s someone else out there more challenged. I’m talking numerous examples, not one or two people.”
Since March, Federation has allocated $1.6 million in direct COVID-19 response. The money has come from a reallocation of existing Federation dollars as well as additional donations.
The Jewish National Fund campaign director for Pittsburgh, Jeff Koch, has not had the opportunity to develop long-term relationships with donors. He started working at the agency in November, four months before COVID-19 forced the closure of most businesses and social distancing.
He calls himself “a relationship-building person, that’s who I am. Nothing is going to replace getting to meet with someone face-to-face.”
Koch said he wants to learn about people. “I want to hear their story. I want to hear their connection to Judaism and Pittsburgh and how that correlates to their love for Israel.”
Because COVID-19 has made physical meetings impossible, JNF has “pivoted and gotten creative,” Koch explained, pointing to the organization’s annual Breakfast for Israel which moved online this year and featured Knesset member Sharren Haskel, as well as Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Emeritus Jamie Gibson.
Nationally, JNF created Spectacular Sunday, a streaming event on Facebook and YouTube, which marked the biggest day of fundraising in the history of the organization. The speakers featured in that program included Gal Gadot, Mark Spitz and Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
Pittsburghers continue to donate to JNF, according to Koch, noting that “there are still some people who feel very strongly that ‘I give, and I give for a reason, and I plan on giving you the same support.’”
Others have been forced to cut back on their giving, though.
“There’s other people who say, ‘Jeff, I’d love to continue my support. I may have to give a little bit less this year,’” Koch said. “People are looking at their finances, looking at the stock market. The conversation has led to them saying, even if they can’t do it this moment, ‘when things hopefully level out again, I really look forward to meeting you.’”
For Friendship Circle Pittsburgh Executive Director Rabbi Mordy Rudolph, fundraising, like programming, can be summed up by one word in the age of coronavirus: adaption.
“The only thing that’s certain is uncertainty,” Rudolph said. “Everything changes constantly. There is, obviously, sensitivities with businesses that have supported us in the past. Some folks we know, just from being part of the world around us, are struggling.”
Friendship Circle’s programs engage youth and adults with diverse abilities in a full range of social activities. The organization’s largest fundraiser, Friends All Around, was scheduled for April. It did not take place as planned.
“We lowered our expectations, didn’t have a physical event. It ended up being a virtual event where we sent out a tribute book, paying tribute to our graduating seniors and tried to accomplish as much of the mission of the event as we could,” Rudolph said.
The reconfigured fundraiser was able to reach its amended goal, according to the rabbi. And, while the forecast fundraising goal was lower, so were the associated costs.
The nonprofit has worked to pivot from live, in-person fundraisers.
“Federation has been very helpful, increasing their allocation this year due to COVID-19 and other foundations have stepped up or increased support,” said Rudolph.
When the opportunity presents itself, Friendship Circle has engaged the community. A case in point was its Drive-By-Carnival at Schenley Park. The nonprofit has also continued to communicate its message. “There’s a story posted on our window so you can read that and connect,” said Rudolph. “It’ allowing the feeling of community to happen.”
The pandemic has presented one opportunity Friendship Circle has attempted to leverage: It is selling face masks – dubbed Communicator Masks, designed in collaboration with iKippah and donated by Marc Tobias – that allow deaf individuals to read the lips of those wearing them.
While Jewish not-for-profits have had to adjust their practices and goals, the Federation’s Eglash believes the community will survive and thrive.
“Pittsburgh is a special place,” he said. “When you add the heimish aspect of the community, it’s really amazing. Our community’s incredible, and we are resilient, we’re going to get through this and we will be stronger as a result.”
This article originally appeared in ejewishphilanthropy.com.
Last year, at the urging of Mark Silberman, a longtime friend, Jewish Future Pledge Board Chair and former Board Chair of the Atlanta Jewish Federation, I decided to create donor-advised funds in the names of each of my three children through which they could contribute to charity. When I told my wife about this idea, she had one question: “How do you know they will donate the money to Jewish causes?”
I thought about it for a moment, and then responded, “I don’t.” It set off a light bulb in my head.
My wife and I have been deeply involved in Jewish philanthropy for decades. My sons have leadership roles in their local Jewish communities. And yet, I realized that we had never had an explicit conversation with our children and grandchildren about the importance of devoting a significant percentage of our charitable giving to support the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
That became the kernel for a major initiative that we have formally launched.
We chose to launch now, in this time of unprecedented turmoil due to COVID-19, because the challenges of this moment illustrate the importance of planning for the unknown. Giving here and now is essential – we can navigate this crisis without losing sight of the future.
That’s why Mark Silberman has joined me, Amy Holtz, Hadara Ishak, and other Jewish leaders across the country in laying the groundwork for a worldwide movement to ensure that vibrant Jewish life continues for generations to come. It calls on all Jews to pledge that half or more of the charitable giving in their estate plan will support the Jewish people and/or the State of Israel.
After my wife and I took the Jewish Future Pledge last year, we sat down around the Passover Seder to discuss it with our children and grandchildren. That first conversation was empowering for everyone involved. It gave our grandchildren a window into our thinking. They became determined to deepen their engagement in Jewish philanthropy while their grandparents are still on this earth. Everyone got up from the table with a powerful sense of motivation and heightened feeling of purpose.
Currently, we find ourselves in another existential moment. Perhaps more than ever before, people are thinking about what’s important in life and what legacy they will leave behind. As a longtime businessman, I see an enormous opportunity to help spark thousands – even millions – of similar conversations around Jewish tables before my generation passes. Having important conversations today – about Jewish values and the importance of sustaining Jewish life for future generations – is a critical step to ensuring a vibrant Jewish tomorrow.
We believe that this initiative could net more than $600 billion, and transform our community in the decades to come.
Over the next 25 years, $68 trillion will transfer from our generation to the next, with an estimated $6.3 trillion allocated to charity. Of that sum, we estimate that 20 percent of this allocation, or $1.26 trillion, will be given by Jewish donors. If our dream is realized, there will be over $600 billion on the table to secure the Jewish future.
Each pledge will generate a surge in Jewish pride, as families around the world engage in critical conversations about why the Jewish future matters – and then share that commitment with their friends and networks.
Signing this pledge sends a powerful message to your family, friends, and future generations about the importance of sustaining the Jewish people. Share your story. Transmit your values. There is no greater gift that you can give.
This initiative comes at a critical time for the Jewish community. More and more young Jews are disengaged; the U.S.-Israel relationship faces new challenges; and the institutions that have held our community together for generations hang in the balance.
Nearly two-thirds of young Jews do not belong to any synagogue, and nearly 25 percent of people born to Jewish families now claim they have “no religion.”
Intermarriage continues to pull many younger Jews out of the community because our institutions have not adapted to accommodate interfaith families fast enough. At the same time, fewer and fewer Jews see Israel as a critical part of their Jewish identity.
By extending our vision beyond the short term, the Jewish Future Pledge is guaranteeing our people’s security for the future. Our initiative provides an innovative solution to develop the resources and leaders that can help our communal institutions address these challenges in the decades to come.
The Jewish story of survival and success is a miracle. And none of it happened by coincidence. If we don’t think about the Jewish future now, who will?
From Moses to Maimonides, from Herzl to Heschel, Jews have risen in every generation to secure the future for those to come. Through this new initiative, we have an historic opportunity to write the next chapter of the Jewish story – and secure the tomorrow that our children and grandchildren deserve.
Mike Leven is former CEO of the Georgia Aquarium and COO of the Sands Corporation, and co-Founder of the Jewish Future Pledge.
Los Angeles based French jazz group Paris Chansons used to perform live around the world. Then the pandemic hit.
Despite the global restrictions, the Ukrainian and Russian husband-and-wife singing duo Julia and Jacob Kantor (Jacob also plays guitar) along with their fellow bandmates Max Cohen (vocals), Jeff Lams (piano), Endre Balogh (violin), Adam Cohen (bass) and Sinclair Lott (drums) went virtual. Julia, Jacob, Max and Endre offered 25 Zoom concerts for communities in the United States, Bangkok, Germany, England and New Zealand.
“Honestly I didn’t know what Zoom even was before March,” Julia Kantor told the Journal. “Even though [the concerts] were for particular groups and organizations, it was open to everyone to experience and participate over Zoom. It allowed interaction and it united all of us. We were all connected in this very scary time.”
The group— which blends French music with Hebrew and Russian renditions among others— never imagined seven years after their formation that they’d have to adjust their performance style to meet the needs of a computer screen. Kantor said they purposely chose a Zoom format rather than a webinar to see and hear the audiences. Some nights 300 to 400 people tuned in.
“We’d invite them to get up and dance with us to raise their glass and toast with us to health and life,” she said. “We were building community with these concerts.”
During any given performance, Kantor— who first fell in love with French music while studying in Rennes— said audiences can expect original renditions of French artists including Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Joe Dassin, EnricoMacias, Salvatore Adamo, Dalida, Zaz and Stromae.
After months of performing virtually, Paris Chansons learned in September they could start playing live outdoors in front of an audience.
COVID-19 guidelines in California allowed restaurants to have limited outdoor seating. Paris Chansons played at Campus JAX restaurant in Newport Beach in September after receiving a call to perform in their re-modified outdoor space.
“It was the first time the whole ensemble was united,” Kantor said. “It was amazing. It was very emotional. You could feel the joy of being able to celebrate music together in a safe way.”
Jack Jasper, owner of Campus JAX told the Journal that he wanted their outdoor venue to remain safe and follow COVID-19 guidelines so that guests could enjoy live music again. He also wanted to help local artists and groups that were struggling. He established a virtual tip jar that allowed guests to pay and thank the performers safely.
While a portion of ticket proceeds from JAX events goes to the performers, a portion also goes to Feed the Need in OC, JAX’ community service kitchen that feeds the homeless, caregivers and frontline workers in Orange County.
“Music and food have been a major part of human existence,” Jasper said. “As soon as I saw [Paris Chansons], I wanted them on the stage. It takes a small army for this to work and it takes the bands’ willingness to come down and make the extra efforts as well.”
Before the pandemic the Kantor’s played with Jewish-French violinist Jeremie Levi Samson. With a tour and trip to France canceled due to COVID-19, Levi Samson and his wife Jacqueline Herrera decided to create a drive-in concert venue on their 15-acre property in Yucca Valley near Joshua Tree.
“I was thinking ‘What if people came and stayed in their cars and Jeremie can play music?’” Herrera said. “We had a concert [a few days later] with a rug on the floor and we had our speakers set up. We had eight cars show up.”
From eight cars came 55 meeting their maximum capacity. Through word-of-mouth their new venue, “Mon Petit Mojave,” was officially up and running in May. Every weekend the venue puts on a show, social distancing and mask wearing is upheld. Guests must also sign up and check-in through the website and must remain in their cars during the free weekend concerts.
“The arts should be accessible to everyone and are such an important thing to have in these times,” Herrera said. It’s a lot of work but we are doing it because we want to. It’s actually getting people outside, in nature. We hold [the concerts] around sunset and you get to see the Joshua trees and breathe the fresh air. The whole experience is pretty healing for people.”
Herrera said Julia and Jacob Kantor will perform on Nov. 22. “The style of music they perform is so old-world but really uplifting,” she said. “People like to hear something different but [that] resonates with them… They love to listen to music that feels familiar.”
“The music we perform is a true unifier,” Kantor said. We see how music unites people. [This] is something we crave right now. In a time where there’s so much division, our show uplifts and highlights love, friendship and togetherness.”
Paris Chansons will perform at Campus JAX on Dec. 13. For more information click here. They will also be performing at Mon Petit Mojave Nov. 22. For more information click here.
(JTA) — President-elect Joe Biden assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call Tuesday that the ties between their countries would remain strong.
“The president-elect noted that he expects to work closely with the prime minister to address the many challenges confronting our countries,” Biden’s transition team said in a statement following the call. “The president-elect expressed his determination to ensure that the U.S.-Israel relationship is strengthened and enjoys strong bipartisan support.”
Netanyahu’s office put out a similarly worded statement on Twitter.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke this evening with US President-elect
@JoeBiden,” the tweet said. “In a warm conversation, the President-elect reiterated his deep commitment to the State of Israel and its security.”
Biden’s conversation with Netanyahu and a separate one the same day with President Reuven Rivlin consolidated international recognition that Biden is the next U.S. president, contrary to President Donald Trump’s continued insistence that he won the Nov. 3 election despite all evidence to the contrary.
Netanyahu, one of Trump’s closest allies, had previously congratulated Biden, but the tweet Tuesday was the first time he referred to Biden as “president-elect” — a title for the former vice president that Trump adamantly rejects. All but a handful of foreign leaders have already called Biden the president-elect.
The statements also were significant because Biden appeared to be going out of his way following the election to reassure Netanyahu that the relationship would remain close. Some Democrats, including a number of Biden’s rivals during the primaries, have called for distancing from Netanyahu’s government as it drifts to the right, at one point considering annexation of parts of the West Bank.
Netanyahu particularly would want reassurance that Biden would continue Trump’s policy of confronting Iran — one of the “challenges” Biden alluded to in his statement.
In both statements describing the calls with Netanyahu and Rivlin, Biden also emphasized his support for “Israel’s security and its future as a Jewish and democratic state,” a reference to Biden’s oft-stated support for a two-state outcome and his opposition to any further Israeli encroachment on areas claimed by Palestinians.
We live in dramatic times. Everyone is sounding an alarm bell.
As far as American Zionists are concerned, there are those who take to the proverbial microphone — whether the press, social media or other outlets — to magnify their message. And then, there are those who roll up their sleeves and start building.
Both types of Zionists are integral. This week, I was reminded of the extraordinary importance of those who speak less but do more.
I’m specifically referring to four Hungarian grandmothers.
In 1948, they (and their husbands) met in Los Angeles and created something amazing. Concerned about a nascent Jewish state as it struggled amid a housing shortage to resettle hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors and Jewish immigrants from around the world, these women — themselves immigrants who had fled Hungary to live in the United States — brought their solution to the table.
The card table.
Photo courtesy of sheltersforisrael.com
Every week, Dr. Irene Halmos, Fanny Fletcher, Rosella Kanaraik and Lily Gould gathered together for games of gin rummy and poker. But none of the winnings went into their change purses; instead, the coins were dropped into a collective pot.
And that’s how Shelters for Israel, a nonprofit celebrating its 72nd anniversary this year, was founded. Its motto: “Every dollar goes to Israel.”
Seven decades later, they’ve stayed true to that motto. The organization has zero paid staff or overhead. It doesn’t even have an office. Everyone who leads or supports Shelters for Israel is a volunteer. These caring people range from Alyse Laemmle, 103 (and daughter of co-founder and first president Irene Halmos) to Joey Ben-Zvi, 24.
In response to the flood of newly-arrived immigrants who were living in tent cities in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Israeli government began building permanent housing to enable these immigrants to own their own highly-subsidized homes. If, that is, they could make a modest down payment. But many of these new citizens couldn’t even afford this option.
Back in Los Angeles, Shelters for Israel was enabling more and more people who cared about Israel — many of them survivors or American Jews who’d lost family members in the Holocaust — to meet socially and … what else? Play cards.
After a few years, those winnings resulted in some impressive seed capital that gave immigrants in Israel an advanced loan with which to pay their down payments. That’s a lot of nickels, dimes and quarters.
It was the true definition of recyclable tzedaka: As each loan was repaid to Shelters for Israel, the funds were distributed to another immigrant to be able to afford housing.
It was the true definition of recyclable tzedaka: As each loan was repaid to Shelters for Israel, the funds were distributed to another immigrant to be able to afford housing.
The organization reached out to prominent American Jews, including Dr. Jonas Salk, the virologist who developed the first successful polio vaccine. A video from the 1950s shows Salk visiting various infrastructure projects in Holon, supported by Shelters for Israel.
Maybe it was because they left their own homes in Hungary behind as they escaped the Nazis, or because they couldn’t bear to let immigrants, especially fellow Holocaust survivors, live in tents on their watch, or because they were homemakers themselves. Whatever inspired those four original women to roll up their sleeves paid off in a big way.
From a few dozen members, the organization grew in the 1960s to include more than 500 families who supported Shelters for Israel as it grew with Israel’s needs. Shelters for Israel began supporting the building of everything ranging from libraries and recreational centers to senior centers and playgrounds. Often, one donor family provided a significant amount of funds to have a name on a building. That name often honored a beloved family member who perished in the Holocaust.
It was a striking way to keep a name and a legacy alive. And it didn’t matter if you were Reform, Conservative or Orthodox. All were welcome around the Shelters for Israel (card) table.
To date, the organization has raised tens of millions of dollars and has built over 70 capital projects in Israel. On November 15, they held their 72nd-anniversary celebration — albeit a virtual one due to the pandemic — that featured Dan Raviv, former CBS News and i24 correspondent and author of the bestselling book, “Every Spy a Prince.”
During the online event, one thing was obvious: this is an active group of volunteers that loves working together. You could see their love and friendship — from the survivors, like the indefatigable Renée Firestone, who offered a touching convocation in which she stated that “Israel will not be defeated,” to the lay leaders who organized the event. Here were people who really, really liked one another. It was exactly what we hope for when we imagine one big family of Jewish peoplehood.
And the organization is deeply aware of generational divides, astutely using them to keep everyone connected. Shelters for Israel members constantly use terms like “first generation” for survivors and organizational founders, “second generation” for current lay leaders and “third generation” for their children, who are in their 20s. Extraordinarily, there’s even an active fourth generation of volunteers, such as a great-granddaughter or great-nephew of a first-generation member.
“I grew up with Shelters for Israel,” Los Angeles-based Co-President Myra Gabbay told me. “My parents were involved and the group was also their social group and, really, they were all each other’s family.”
Gabbay’s parents were Holocaust survivors who were born in the Carpathian region in what was then Czechoslovakia. “When our parents’ generation felt it was time to pass the baton to us, we felt so strongly that we couldn’t allow this extraordinary organization, made up strictly of volunteers, and from every type of religious observance, to fizzle out,” Gabbay said. “And now we have brought in our friends and the younger generations are also very attached.”
Two of Gabbay’s own children, Cece, 35, and Ethan, 27, also are members. “To me, it’s not really a question of do we want to help Israel? We’re going to help Israel, and what’s the best way we can do that?” Ethan said in a 2015 videoabout the organization.
This year’s anniversary event, which was organized by a 22-member committee, highlighted three projects the organization supports in Israel. One project is Latet, a nonprofit aid organization whose name means “to give.” Since 1996, Latet has combated poverty and food insecurity, establishing Israel’s first food bank. During the pandemic, it has provided services to 70,000 families and 3,500 Holocaust survivors. Its latest focus is a home repairs project that helps survivors by providing free-of-charge handymen who install everything from better door knobs to grab bars. If you’re a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor living below the poverty line in Israel, a long grab bar that allows you to walk from a hallway into a bathroom, where you can access another grab bar in the shower, are seemingly small, but life-changing gifts.
Photo courtesy of sheltersforisrael.com
The November 15 event also highlighted the work of Stop Cancer, Israel’s only initiative aimed at supporting young adult cancer patients and survivors, as well as the Beit Shulamit Cancer Center at the Emek Medical Center in Afula, which serves northern Israel.
According to the Shelters for Israel website, the majority of the organization’s projects are located in “more geographically and economically vulnerable periphery areas of the country, where the needs are the greatest.” These include the Negev and the Galilee. In the past five years, recent projects have included everything from student dormitories to hospital equipment and an ICU ambulance.
One former project, a music education program called Sulamot — Music for Social Change, put musical instruments into the hands of at-risk Israeli youth. Gabbay reflected on the project: “It was easy for us to understand how music could not only be a refuge for these kids, but also learning a skill, and performing well gave them so much positive reinforcement.” For two years, the children came annually to Los Angeles to perform for Shelters for Israel members. “At the luncheons, people were dancing and crying,” Gabbay recalled. “It was very special.”
Another project, Keren Gimmel (The Gimmel Foundation), provides Jewish education, including tutoring programs and day camps, to children in southern Israel. Shelters for Israel helped the organization when, in the past few years, it was forced to re-open camps in bomb shelters as a result of rocket fire from Hamas in Gaza.
Shelters for Israel also provides support for Beit Shanti (Shanti House), which helps runaways and homeless youth in Israel and has a location in Tel Aviv as well as a “Desert Shanti” in Ramat Negev.
Most of Shelters for Israel’s funding ideas for projects come from organization members, including co-president Dave Jackson, treasurer Karen David, and a board of directors.
I asked Gabbay why more pro-Israel supporters in Los Angeles hadn’t heard of Shelters for Israel. “We’re an under-the-radar kind of group,” she said. “We don’t like to spend money on advertising, etc., [because] we want every penny to go to Israel, and also, we all work, and so our time has to be devoted to the most essential aspects of fundraising.”
More than ever, in a world of digital clouds and deletable selfie photos, many of us are drawn to the tangible. It’s comforting to have organizations like Shelters for Israel, which moves beyond the scope of one-time events to create spaces like kindergartens and community centers —structures whose permanence remind us that we can create future realities with our own hands.
And at a time when virtually every event in the Jewish community is dedicated to a supposed crisis and schism between American Jews and Jews in Israel, there’s so much power to the one thing that transcends “Diaspora relations” and “internal politics”: The simple, basic concept of shelter — an intentional concept that begins with a thought and ends, in the words of the Torah, “with an outstretched hand.”
The United Kingdom’s Labour Party reinstated their former party leader Jeremy Corbyn on November 17 following his suspension on October 29.
The Jewish Chronicle reported that a panel of the National Executive Committee, the party’s governing body, voted in favor of reinstating Corbyn. According to LabourList, a pro-Labour website, Corbyn will receive a “reminder of conduct” as part of his reinstatement.
“I am pleased to have been reinstated in the Labour Party and would like to thank party members, trade unionists and all who have offered solidarity,” Corbyn tweeted. “Our movement must now come together to oppose and defeat this deeply damaging Conservative government.”
I am pleased to have been reinstated in the Labour Party and would like to thank party members, trade unionists and all who have offered solidarity.
Our movement must now come together to oppose and defeat this deeply damaging Conservative government.
On October 29, the Equal Human Rights Commission (EHRC) released a report stating that Labour had violated the law during Corbyn’s reign as party leader for inadequately addressing anti-Semitism in the party and, in some cases, engaging in political interference to quash anti-Semitism complaints in the party. Corbyn responded to the report by calling the issue of anti-Semitism in the party “dramatically overstated for political purposes,” prompting his suspension.
Jewish groups were furious at the decision to reinstate Corbyn. The Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jewish Leadership Council and Community Security Trust said in a joint statement that the reinstatement of Corbyn is “a retrograde step for the Party in its relations with the Jewish community.” They added that the fact that Corbyn’s case was expedited while the party failed to address “hundreds” of pending cases involving allegations of anti-Semitism under Corbyn “adds insult to injury.”
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) similarly said in a statement that the NEC panel was “factionally aligned” with Corbyn and noted that the former Labour party leader has yet to show remorse for the party’s failure to address allegations of anti-Semitism during his tenure as party leader.
“He has offered no apology for his total failure of leadership to tackle anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, or contrition for his role in allowing political manipulation of the disciplinary process by his own office in his own name,” the JLM statement read. “His statement on the day of the [EHRC] report’s publication made no mention of this and was grossly offensive as it downplayed the reality of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Today will only embolden those that agreed with him.
“Once again we find ourselves having to remind the Labour Party that Jeremy Corbyn is not the victim of Labour anti-Semitism – Jewish members are.”
The Jewish Labour Movement’s statement on Jeremy Corbyn’s readmission to the Labour Party pic.twitter.com/eMMjJgKoJm
StandWithUs UK tweeted that Corbyn’s reinstatement is “inexplicable and deeply disturbing” and “will send shockwaves throughout all sections of the UK Jewish Community.” The pro-Israel education group added, “This backward step will inevitably sow seeds of doubt that Labour’s new leadership is serious about expunging the stain of antisemitism from their party.”
This backward step will inevitably sow seeds of doubt that Labour’s new leadership is serious about expunging the stain of antisemitism from their party.
British researcher David Collier tweeted that Corbyn’s reinstatement “is a great victory for the antisemites and a heavy loss for every decent person in the UK.”
So the breaking news is that Jeremy Corbyn has been reinstated.
Which is a great victory for the antisemites
And a heavy loss for every decent person in the UK.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer acknowledged that Corbyn’s reinstatement into Labour has caused pain in the Jewish community, but he “will not allow a focus on one individual to prevent us from doing the vital work of tackling antisemitism. When I stood as leader of the Labour Party, I was clear that my first priority would be to root out antisemitism. It still is.”
I know that this has been another painful day for the Jewish community and those Labour members who have fought so hard to tackle antisemitism.
I know the hurt that has been caused and the trauma people have felt.
Celebrating instruments rescued from the Holocaust and lovingly restored by Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein at their workshop in Tel Aviv, the traveling multi-format Violins of Hope project was to take place at concert venues, synagogues and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in March and April. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the event’s cancellation, and after seven carefully stored months under the stage at The Soraya in Northridge, the 60 violins were returned to Israel. But before the flight, The Soraya commissioned and videotaped a concert inside the empty venue. The performance, featuring violinists Niv Ashkenazi, Lindsay Deutsch, and Janice Mautner Markham, will premiere virtually on Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. PT.
Ashkenazi, a Juilliard-trained L.A. native and the son of Israeli parents, has been involved with the Violins of Hope project for several years, making appearances at associated events and concerts. “I’d met Amnon Weinstein before at a music festival in Israel and I reconnected with him and met Avshi, who lent us a violin, and It’s the one I still have, on long-term loan,” he said. The instrument belonged to a Holocaust survivor who made it to America.
“It’s early 1900s, perhaps from Yugoslavia. It’s a very fine instrument that would have gone to a wealthy family or a professional musician. The front is darker than the back, and that’s because in Jewish Orthodox tradition you can’t have representative artwork on the wall. They’d hang violins and one side was exposed to sunlight. This violin took months to repair. It wasn’t in good shape.”
Niv Ashkenazi (Photo: Ricki Quinn/The Soraya)
The Weinsteins have 87 Shoah violins in their collection, in varying stages of playability. “We chose not to repair all of them. We left a few in their original condition, for people to see what happened when the violin was played outside. There is an old German violin from the 1770s and there’s one with a swastika inside. We decided not to touch that one. The rest are restored or will be restored,” Avshalom Weinstein said.
“Every [concentration] camp had an orchestra. Playing the violin was a way for people to survive. But many of the survivors never spoke about it and the instruments were sold. Many of the people were sent on death marches, and left the instruments behind. We don’t know how many were destroyed. Most of them are lost,” he said, noting that his father acquired his first survivor violin in 1979. The owner had played it in Auschwitz on the way to the gas chamber.
“Every [concentration] camp had an orchestra. Playing the violin was a way for people to survive.”—Avshalom Weinstein
The Weinstein collection began with instruments from Germany and Austria. “Nobody wanted to touch anything German after the war. They were very good instruments and it was a pity to sell them for nothing. So many of them sold their instruments to my grandfather. No one wanted to buy them either, so they had no value,” Avshalom said. His father put out the word that they’d love to rescue others, and he received them.
Avshalom revealed his own Holocaust connection, a famous one. His maternal grandfather was Assael Bielski, who fought the Nazis with the partisans during the war. He and his brothers were the subject of the movie “Defiance.” “The part in the movie where he got beaten in the camp never happened,” he said. “He had to join a Russian unit because he killed someone he wasn’t supposed to kill, then he ran away from that unit. My mother never met him. He died before she was born.”
Projects like Violins of Hope are vital now because the clock is ticking, Avshalom noted. “Most of the survivors have passed away and in the next few years we will have no more left,” he said. “These violins speak for them.”
