Welcome
to the latest issue of LifeLines.
It's filled with local
events, messages from Israel, news, and more.
To purchase beautiful New Year's cards,
please contact Barb Kaner, Ruth Kromash or Lisa Waksman.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.
L'shana Tova,
Darcy Silvers, Editor
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In
this issue, you'll find:
* Upcoming Hadassah & community events
* Health-smart recipe
* News briefs
* Women's health checkup checklist
* Feature stories
* E-mail tip
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Save these dates!
September
Sunday, 9/7, 7-9 p.m. Career Women's
Network, "Networking Know-how"
Leslie Rothberg's, Holland. Guest speaker: Ruth Shapira
Tuesday, 9/9, noon 55 Plus Luncheon
Meeting/Convention Update
Shir Ami, Newtown. Guest speaker: National board
member Hanna Pollack
October
Tuesday, 10/7, 6:30 p.m. Membership Celebration
Dinner/Installation of Officers.
Somerton Springs Country Club
Monday, 10/13 Newtown State Street
Shopping Fundraiser
Tuesday, 10/14, 1 p.m. 55 Plus Meeting,
"Women's Health Rights"
Shir Ami, Newtown. Guest speaker: Linda Hahn, Planned
Parenthood
November
Sunday, 11/9, 7 p.m. Career Women's Network,
"Financial Planning"
Tuesday, 11/11, 1 p.m. 55 Plus
Meeting/Book Review by Joy Pollack
Shir Ami, Newtown Jane Austen in Boca by Paula
Morantz Cohen
Sunday, 11/16, 10:45 a.m. departs Neshaminy Mall
Golda's Balcony Broadway Show Fundraiser
December
Monday, 12/8 Chanukah Dinner/Auction, Pippo's
Restaurant
Tuesday, 12/9, 1 p.m. 55 Plus Meeting/Diabetes
Shir Ami, Newtown Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Representative
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The following recipe was taken from the Hadassah Women's Health Eat Right for Life program kit R#745. This recipe, as others in the kit, tends to be fat-controlled in relation to the individual serving size. While a recipe may contain half a cup of oil or a stick of margarine or three eggs, remember that the recipe will feed many people so that the individual servings will contain minimal amounts of these ingredients.
Carrot
Kugel
1/2 cup margarine (see note below)
3/4 cup brown sugar (use 1 cup if carrots aren't sweet)
2 eggs or 4 egg whites
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup hot water, or juice
4 cups carrots, shredded
Cream
the margarine and sugar. Beat in eggs. Mix the flour, baking
powder and salt. Dissolve the soda in the hot water. Add flour
mixture alternately with the soda mixture to the creamed mixture.
Mix in the carrots. Spoon into a greased 8"x12" baking
dish greased with oil or cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for
30-40 minutes. Note: Part or all of the margarine may be replaced
by applesauce to lower the fat content. The texture will be
heavier but it will still taste great. Freezes well.
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NEWS BRIEFS
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
and you can help - with just one click...
The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting
enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota
of donating at least one free mammogram
a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute
to go to the site and click on "donating a mammogram"
for
free (pink window in the middle).
There is NOTHING to sign up for.
Corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits
to donate a mammogram in exchange for advertising.
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/
At Camp Koby,
Israeli kids beat back loss
by
Joshua Mitnick
New York Jewish Week
By all appearances, Camp Koby seems like what you'd expect from
the sleepaway camp experience. But all of the kids at the free
10-day camp have had their childhood marred by the loss of
parents and siblings in terrorist attacks. Here, the personal
nightmares of loss become a meeting point for the campers rather
than a terrible secret to be concealed. As the Palestinian
violence grinds on, the children here are part of a growing
subset of Israelis who must figure out how to continue on after
family members become the victims of terrorism.
"In
Israel, the people continue but the grief is covered up,"
said Sherri Mandell, who helped her husband, Seth, found the camp
as a memorial to their eldest son, Koby, after he was murdered by
terrorists two years ago. From their grief came the realization
that by creating communities of survivors, they could help others
grapple with mourning. Ensuring that relatives of terror victims
do not remain isolated became the Koby Mandell Foundation's
mission. It also sponsors midyear retreats for children and adult
women survivors.
Christopher Reeve:
Israel is at center of world research on paralysis
Excerpted from ISRAEL21c.org
Calling Israel the "world
center" for research on paralysis treatment, Christopher
Reeve set off for his first visit to the country this summer.
Reeve learned about Israeli advancements in the field of stem
cell research related to paralysis and spinal cord injuries. The
theater and film actor who portrayed "Superman"
suffered a horseback-riding accident in 1995 during an equestrian
event which left him paralyzed from the neck down. He is the
chairman of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which has
distributed $45 million in research grants to neuroscientists
throughout the world.
"I am looking forward to visiting Israel to learn more about
their cutting-edge paralysis research as well as their approaches
to addressing the quality of life of those living with
paralysis," said Reeve. "Israel is the center of some
of the world's leading research related to paralysis. There are
many new therapies in the pipeline as well as care strategies
being employed that may also benefit millions of people around
the world living with paralysis. This includes therapies derived
from stem cell research."
(Editor's note: Hadassah has long supported the provision of
quality health care, and believes that to reach that goal
innovative medical and biotechnological research, including
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) and stem cell research, must
be pursued.)Reeve is a strong supporter of stem cell
research, which some experts believe may unlock a way of
reversing the often-debilitating effects of spinal injuries. He
believes a cure for paralysis is close at hand.
Reeve also planned to meet Israelis who have suffered similar
injuries to him, including Ethiopian immigrant Elad Wass. Wass
was a victim of a suicide bombing in Netanya in May. The shrapnel
that entered
Wassa's abdomen left him paralyzed from the waist down. Wassa
expressed a wish to meet the actor in a letter, saying that Reeve
provided him with "hope and inspiration."
Whitney Houston calls
Israel 'home'
from Israel21c.orgPop singer Whitney Houston,
who Rolling Stone magazine dubbed "one of the
greatest voices of the 20th century," spent a week this
summer on a high-profile tour of Jewish and Christian holy sites
in Israel with her daughter and husband, singer Bobby Brown.
Houston spent the week touring every corner of the country,
including a visit with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem.
Houston said that she had come to Israel both for a
"spiritual retreat" and to gather inspiration for a
Christmas album she plans on recording soon.
The main purpose of the couples' trip was to visit to the Hebrew
Israelite community, known as the Black Hebrews in the southern
town of Dimona. The community of 2,000 African-Americans, whose
members have converted to Judaism, has lived in Dimona since the
early 1970s. They are controversial because of their practice of
polygamy, and Israel has hesitated to give them permanent
resident status. Nonetheless, over the decades, many community
members have integrated into Israeli society, and their musical
performances are particularly popular.
Houston's mother, the veteran soul singer, Cissy Houston, as well
as Whitney's godmother, Aretha Franklin, are friends of community
member Asiel Ben Yisrael from his earlier days in Chicago. Ben
Yisrael has been working on this visit for over two years and met
in the United States with mutual friends of his and the singer's
family.
About a month ago, Houston's personal manager came to Israel and
stayed with Hebrew Israelites in Dimona. She remained in the
south for two weeks and felt that "Israel is a safe
place" and recommended that Whitney and her family visit.
"You have to understand, black-skinned people always dream
of visiting the Holy Land," says Yeda'a Bat Yisrael told the
newspaper Ha'aretz. "We're Jews and she's Christian,
but the holiness of Israel is common to different religions.
Whitney came to Israel on a journey of spiritual purification and
to visit the holy sites and we're glad that she's coming with her
children. It's important they see the places they've read about
over the years."
Bat Yisrael said that she hoped the Houston visit would encourage
other Americans to visit Israel as well.
Before leaving the country, Houston told reporters that she was
going to build a house in Dimona, as she planned on visiting
Israel frequently in the future. Meeting with Dimona Mayor Gabi
Laloush, Houston said they would go back to the U.S. and
encourage Americans to visit Israel.
From 'Chicago' to
Tel Aviv:
Richard Gere's peace mission
by Ellis Shuman
IsraelInsider.com
>
One week after pop star Whitney Houston's highly publicized
"spiritual retreat" in Israel, actor Richard Gere
arrived in the country on a "visit to promote peace."
>
Gere, the 54-year-old star of hit films including "An
Officer and a Gentleman," "Pretty Woman" and
"Chicago," asked that the media not cover his three-day
visit to Israel. But the Israeli press was full of reports of
his arrival on an El Al airliner at Ben-Gurion International
Airport and his lodgings in the royal suite at the Dan Hotel in
Tel Aviv, which had previously hosted the Dalai Lama, Gere's
spiritual mentor.
>
Gere visited Israel as the guest of Spirit of Peace, the Israeli
chapter of the International Peacemaking Community - a global,
multi-
faith peace organization. In recent years, Gere has made frequent
visits around the world to promote peace, conciliation and the
restoration of Tibetan rights.
>
Gere was scheduled to meet with former foreign minister Shimon
Peres and to visit the Palestinian Authority. The Jerusalem
Post reported that Gere also planned to fly to Iraq.
UNESCO designates Tel Aviv
a World Heritage Site
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has designated the "White City architecture" of Tel Aviv as one of 24 new World Heritage Sites. UNESCO now recognizes 754 world sites it describes as being of "outstanding universal value."
"What makes the designation of Tel Aviv so unprecedented," says Rami Levi, tourism ambassador of Israel to North and South America, "is that almost every other UNESCO World Heritage Site is either a natural wonder, or hundreds or thousands of years old. Designating Tel Aviv is one of the few UNESCO recognitions of a 20th century phenomenon - and it makes us very proud."
Tel Aviv, founded as a garden suburb of the ancient Mediterranean port of Jaffa in 1909, quickly bloomed into the commercial, entertainment and cultural capital of the Land of Israel. Today, while Jerusalem is Israel's capital and has the largest population of any single municipality in Israel, Tel Aviv remains Israel's "New York," heart of Israel's largest urban conglomeration that is home to almost 3 million Israelis.
And it is Tel Aviv's uniqueness as home to more "Bauhaus" or "International Style" architecture than any city in the world that has earned it UNESCO's seal of approval. During the 1920s and 1930s, as German-Jewish architects at the heart of the "Bauhaus" or "International Style" movement left Germany for what was then "Palestine," Tel Aviv - literally overnight - adopted their style as a route to defining the character of the new "Jewish" city burgeoning on the Mediterranean. By the mid-1930s it was the only city on earth being built entirely in the "International Style" - its simple concrete curves, boxy shapes, small windows set in large walls, glass-brick towers and sweeping terraces all washed with white. Viewed from the air, Tel Aviv appeared as a vision of startling white, hence the appellation, "White City."
"The creation of the city of Tel Aviv is one of the greatest symbols and successes of the Zionist Movement," Levi observed, "so for UNESCO - a body affiliated with the organization that once passed an odious resolution equating Zionism with racisim (the resolution was subsequently overturned) -- to recognize the specialness of Tel Aviv, is particularly sweet."
The 'White City' today
Almost every "Bauhaus" or "International Style" building in Tel Aviv is an architectural landmark. One of the loveliest "White City" restorations is that of the former Esther movie-theater in Dizengoff Circle, reborn as the "boutique" Cinema Hotel, that retains the sweeping staircases, tall windows and curving balconies of its former identity, plus dozens of architectural and design details that recall its heritage.
When you go
Architectural walking tours can be arranged by hotel concierges. There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Israel: the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem; Masada; the Old City of Akko; and Tel Aviv's "White City."
For more information on travel to Israel, visit www.goisrael.com or www.ibelieveinisrael.com
World's Largest Solar Power
Station
Plans for the world's largest solar power station, to be built in
the Negev, are underway. Israel has been a leading force in
worldwide development of solar technology yet, until now, has not
utilized this knowledge for its own needs. The primary obstacle
has been price.
Producing electricity with solar energy resently costs 1.5 times more than using coal or petrochemicals. However, alternatives to solar energy both pollute the environment and encourage dependence on Arab oil. The project has sparked intense interest from American environmentalists, and broadens the possibilities for sources of clean energy.
The solar station will supply 100 megawatts of power initially, growing to 500 megawatts, or 5% of the country's current generating capacity. Dr. David Faiman, director of the Solar Energy Center, claims that in theory, solar energy plants could generate all of Israel's power on 225 Kilometers of suitable land. For details, visit http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Environment/Solar.html
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Screening tests, such as mammograms and Pap smears, can find diseases early when they are easier to treat. Some women need certain screening tests earlier, or more often, than others. Talk to your doctor about which of the tests listed below are right for you, when you should have them, and how often.
The Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research Task Force has made the following recommendations, based on scientific evidence, about which screening tests you should have.
Don't Smoke. But if you do smoke, talk to your doctor about quitting. You can take medicine and get counseling to help you quit. Make a plan and set a quit date. Tell your family, friends, and co-workers you are quitting. Ask for their support. If you are pregnant and smoke, quitting now will help you and your baby.
Eat a Healthy Diet. Eat a variety of foods, including fruit, vegetables, animal or vegetable protein (such as meat, fish, chicken, eggs, beans, lentils, tofu, or tempeh) and grains (such as rice). Limit the amount of saturated fat you eat.
Be Physically Active. Walk, dance, ride a bike, rake leaves, or do any other physical activity you enjoy. Start small and work up to a total of 20-30 minutes most days of the week.
Stay at a Healthy Weight. Balance the number of calories you eat with the number you burn off by your activities. Remember to watch portion sizes. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about what or how much to eat.
Drink Alcohol Only in Moderation. If you drink alcohol, one drink a day is safe for women, unless you are pregnant. If you are pregnant, you should avoid alcohol. Since researchers don't know how much alcohol will harm a fetus, it's best not to drink any alcohol while you are pregnant.
A standard drink is one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.
Take this checklist with you to your doctor's office and fill it out when you have had any of the tests listed below. Talk to your doctor about when you should have these tests next, and note the month and year in the right-hand column.
Also, talk to your doctor about which of the other tests listed below you should have in the future, and when you need them.
| The last
time I had the following screening test was: (mm/yy) |
I should
schedule my next test for: (mm/yy) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mammogram | ||
| Pap smear | ||
| Cholesterol | ||
| Blood pressure | ||
| Colorectal cancer | ||
| Osteoporosis | ||
| Chlamydia |
(Editor's note: Hadassah's Healthy Women, Healthy Lives program serves as the umbrella for the entire Women's Health program. This comprehensive program focues on exercise, nutrition, prevention and early detection of diseases that affect women, and patient/doctor communication.)
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FEATURE STORIES
It's
'Crystal' clear -
peace project more than just an act
excerpted from Israel21c.org
It's
a Wednesday night in Jerusalem and the mood in the Khan Theater
courtyard is one of excitement blended with melancholy, as
theater students mingle with their friends and family in the
Ottoman Turkish caravan-like theater's open-air quadrant.
Anticipation is high, as this night will see the results of three
student seminars from the Billy Crystal Workshops - Peace Through
the Performing Arts project which is part of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem's Department of Theater Studies.
However, less than an hour prior to this gathering, news of a
suicide bombing in the heart of the capital has put a damper on
the celebrations.
After welcoming everyone to the event, Shai Bar-Yaacov, academic
advisor and director of the Billy Crystal Project, duly notes the
contrast between the general political situation - and the fact
that the purpose of their gathering is to see is a group of both
Arabs and Jews creating together in a peaceful manner.
When Billy Crystal, the American actor, initiated his namesake
project in 1999, his goal to foster social, cultural, and
artistic understanding between Arabs and Jews through the use of
drama techniques was conventional. Numerous undertakings
promoting co-existence were cropping up in reaction to the
general feeling that peace was just around the corner.
The situation today is very different.
"The Billy Crystal Project is trying to do something that
seems pointless in the reality in which we are but it is
something essential," says Bar-Yaacov. Just trying to do
something helps overcome feelings of pointlessness."
Five workshops took place under the auspices of the Billy Crystal
Project this year. One was devoted to a classic Arabic text; a
seminar centered around Jewish-Arab collaborations; a political
workshop delved into Brecht's world; a street theater class
lightly touched on conflict between people, and the project's
principal session: "Theater as a Mediation Tool"
workshop focused on Jewish-Arab relations.
Co-ordinators and participants are under no illusions that their
play, Searching for Understanding on the Planet
Jupiter/Justice (the Hebrew word for the planet Jupiter, tzedek,
is the same word as for justice) will change how society views
co-existence between the two warring peoples.
Ten Jewish and six Arab students took part in this year's
"Theater as a Mediation Tool" workshop run in
collaboration with the Khan Theater. In total, 100 students took
part in the five workshops. Bar Yaacov hopes to see 120 to 150
next year. "The number is not the crucial issue but rather a
better balance between Arabs and Jews is what is hoped for,"
he says, noting that all together less than a third of the five
workshops' participants were Arab.
Did you say
'Bark' mitzvah?
Many Jews
are using a new ceremony called a Bark Mitzvah
to transform Fido from member of the family to member of the
tribe
by
Rachel Zuckerman
excerpted from Jewsweek.com
Burberry
raincoats, designer biscuits, health insurance and therapy just
aren't enough for some canines. Enter the "Bark
Mitzvah." Yes, the Bark Mitzvah. It's cropping up
independently in pet stores, homes and even synagogues around the
country.
Larry Roth, co-owner of the Doggie Do and PussyCat Too Animal
Salon in New York's Murray Hill neighborhood, has played no small
part in this trend. Having hosted about 30 Bark Mitzvahs over the
past 13 years, he's become something of an expert on the matter.
So is this a rite of passage?
For
most people, he says, the Bark Mitzvah is "an excuse to have
a party." During a typical Doggie Do Bark Mitzvah, Roth
said, the dog of honor feasts on bone-shaped dog
"cake"; a nod to the Jewish state appears in the
blue-and-white frosting. Felt toys in the shape of menorahs and
dreidels abound, but the Bark Mitzvah dog is expected to play
nice and share them with the other dogs attending while their
owners toast one another, saying, "Mazel tov." For
those worried that their dog won't look the part, the salon sells
a selection of accoutrements for the occasion, including dog
prayer shawls and yarmulkes tailored to fit over dog ears. And
yes, they come in small, medium, and large.
"It's mostly Reform and Conservative Jews who come here to
celebrate a rite of passage for their dog," Roth says.
"Some people celebrate it after the dog has lived 13 human
years, and some people do it after 13 dog years."
Some religious institutions, like Temple Kehillat Chaim, a Reform
temple in Atlanta, use the term "Bark Mitzvah" in jest
- and to raise money. Last spring, the synagogue sponsored a
"Bark Mitzvah Day" fundraiser. For the event, some 60
dogs competed in a dog-show spin-off. "Most Jewish" was
one of the competition's eight categories.
While most Bark Mitzvahs are organized with tongue firmly in
cheek, Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Shalom, a Reform
synagogue in Santa Monica, Calif., sees a spiritual component
that goes beyond dog biscuits shaped as Stars of David. He has
performed eight Bark Mitzvahs in the past 15 years.
For Comess-Daniels, Bark Mitzvahs are about the spiritual
connection some humans feel for their animals, not about a
relationship between their dogs and G-d - regardless of all the
linguistic palindrome jokes. (What's dog spelled backward?)
"I run a fun event," the rabbi says. "People are
bringing their pets into the spiritual parts of their lives and
expressing it in a Jewish, communal way."
To maintain a boundary of sorts, he says, "we perform Bark
Mitzvahs around Purim, because it's a time when we make fun of
ourselves, and I felt it was more appropriate to do it in that
context."
All of Beth Shir Shalom's Bark Mitzvahs are held in the parking
lot, to avoid any "accidents" in the sanctuary. The
events are usually oriented toward a family's youngest members,
which might account for some of the sillier aspects of the ritual
- howling on behalf of the dog, for example.
Israeli teen wins
gold at Special Olympics
excerpted
from Israel21c.org
As
Shachar Gdalizon stood on the winner's podium in Dublin, Ireland
last month with a gold medal hanging proudly on her neck, her
parents Ruti and Eitan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So
they did both.
Shachar, an 18-year-old with Down's syndrome, won the 100-meter
freestyle swimming competition in the Special Olympics for her
age range. She followed that victory with a silver medal finish
in the 50-meter freestyle, returning triumphantly from Ireland to
Israel to great fanfare and acclaim.
The Special Olympics are held once every four years, for athletes
with either physical or mental handicaps. The 2003 Olympics in
Dublin this year was a major event, attracting an especially high
level of international attention, with 80,000 viewers attending
the gala opening ceremony at which U2 performed. The Israeli
delegation grabbed headlines early on this year after some of the
athletes from Arab countries refused to compete against them.
Bringing Israel pride in such a situation made Gdalizon's victory
particularly sweet.
No less so the fact that her accomplishment capped the long,
difficult and inspiring story of her life, which her parents have
devoted themselves to and documented in detail, hoping that
Shachar's struggles and accomplishments might inspire and support
other Down?s syndrome children and their parents.
Over the past two years, she had honed her swimming skills under
the tutelage of coach Ahmed Natour, who taught her to be patient,
pace herself in her race and to always believe in herself and her
ability to succeed and win.
But her training in persistence and endurance began long before
she became an athlete.
Like most parents who learn that their new baby has special
needs, a swimming championship was the last thing that the
Gdalizons could have imagined when she was young. Born after a
difficult and complicated labor, Shachar came out of the womb
tinted purple. Soon afterwards, her condition was identified:
Down's Syndrome.
Her doctor asked her parents a question that they found
astounding, "Will you want to take her home?"
The idea that they would abandon a child with special needs was
incomprehensible to them. Her mother, Ruti said, "We were
children of the '70s looking for meaning and purpose in life.
When she was born, I realized, here is the meaning that I've been
looking for all along. Here is something to dedicate myself
to."
Though she had been born on a kibbutz in the north of the
country, Ruti had left it when she was younger, but returned
there to raise her daughter, at the request of the members.
"They said we had to come live there, they told us that they
felt that growing up with someone like Shachar would make the
other kibbutz children better human beings."
Shachar went to school with all of the other kibbutz children,
forgoing special education for full mainstreaming. It wasn't easy
for her, and often lonely, but her parents are convinced that she
could never have achieved what she has without that important
socializing experience.
She truly thrived when she discovered swimming. The swimming pool
became the place where she could deal with her frustrations, and
more importantly, discover success and accomplishment.
Two years ago, she was discovered by the Israeli Special Olympics
committee, and for the eight months before the games in June,
trained intensively with Natour and her teammates at a special
camp away from home.
Even before she was a swimming champion, Shachar was a role
model. From when she was young, her parents became a lifeline for
new parents of Down's Syndrome babies. Doctors from various
hospitals would call them at any hour of the night and they would
sit with the parents, show them pictures of their daughter and
show them what Down's Syndrome children were capable of.
Taking it a step further, a documentary crew has been filming
Shachar's development for the past 10 years. Her parents have
painful footage of therapists telling them that she may never
speak. Today she is articulate and intelligent.
"There are a lot of 'normal' people whose level of
perception and sensitivity doesn't come near to Shachar's,"
her father said, adding that this isn't always easy. They have
had to tackle her questions like "Why am I different, why
did you make them this way? Can I get better? Will anyone ever
love me?"
The first two questions may have been difficult to answer. The
answer to the third - particularly after she brought such pride
to her country and her family - was and remains an unequivocal
"Yes."
(This article includes material translated from the Hebrew daily Yediot
Aharonot)
Bob, bob, bobbing along...
by
Joe Eskenazi
Jewsweek.com
As Aaron Zeff bumped and skidded along the icy, frozen track at
90 mph, breaking his back in the process, a thought jolted
through his head: "This is the sport for me."
"If you talk to a Jewish mother, she'll say I broke my back.
But if you talk to a physician, they'll say I had a compression
fracture of my T3 vertebrae, it'll heal in a couple of months and
I'll be a little shorter, but it's just as good," says Zeff,
34, of last year's accident.
"Now I'm one-sixteenth of an inch shorter. But I don't
qualify as a short, balding Jewish guy just yet."
He does qualify,
however, as the pilot and co-founder of the Israeli bobsled team
- yes, you read that right, the Israeli bobsled team. And don't
even think about bringing up the Jamaican bobsled team, mon. The
Israeli bobsledders have heard that one about a million times,
and they've had enough. They aren't growing dreads, and they
don't intend to be lovable losers.
"No, we want to divorce ourselves from that. They didn't do
that well; they went to the Olympics and crashed. We're
interested in being really competitive. And I think we are,"
says Dr. John Frank, 41, the team's brakeman and the former tight
end on the San Francisco 49ers glory teams. "We're aiming
for a legacy. Something respectable so Israel will [always] have
a bobsled team in the Olympics. And we should."
The San Francisco pair's fascination with bobsledding began like
anyone else's - by watching the Olympics on TV. They were simply
enthralled by the spectacle of a gaggle of space-suited sledders
hustling into a futuristic-looking fiberglass vehicle and roaring
down a track in which the amount of time it takes to snap your
fingers separates first from the back of the pack.
And, in case you're wondering, they're not the first Jews to
venture into bobsledding territory. French bobsledder Philippe de
Rothschild was one of a number of Jews to boycott the 1936
Olympics.
Their dream began to take shape into a tangible reality a few
years back, when Zeff persuaded his buddy, Frank, to divert a few
hours from a Canadian ski trip to visit a bobsled track in
Calgary. They met New Zealand-born coach Ross Dominikovich, who
took one look at the pair and felt he had a couple of naturals.
Zeff, who used to fly F-4 Phantom jets for the United States Air
Force, possessed the reflexes and mindset to be a dominant
bobsled pilot. And Frank, a burly former football star, was still
blessed with the brute strength necessary to push the sled from a
standstill and serve as its brakeman.
"We looked at each other and started laughing," recalls
Frank, now a plastic surgeon. But they didn't dismiss the idea.
The two began plotting out necessary time and money commitments,
and Zeff trekked to Israel to try and convince the nation's
Olympic establishment to let a pair of Californians represent the
country in the sport. As Frank puts it, his partner had to
"beg, borrow, and steal" in order to obtain Israel's
blessing. In addition to time, it will take money to get Israel
into the Olympics and keep it there. Zeff estimates $500,000 will
be needed over the next five years, but he covered one-fifth of
that with a June fund-raiser.
Working with the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East
Bay, both tackled mounds of paperwork to become dual
Israeli-American citizens, and have visited Israel numerous
times. By winter of last year, Israel gave Zeff and Frank the
green light, and the pair were in bobsled driver's school in
Calgary.
For Zeff, grabbing the controls was not unlike his prior gig in
the cockpit. He never crashed an F-4 Phantom, however.
"You've been on roller coasters or on the centrifuge at the
carnival when you're thrown up against the wall. If you can
imagine, try driving something where you're thrown up against the
wall and rattled, going through different lighting in and out of
tunnels through the snow and wind," explains the real estate
investor and parking lot owner.
"It's not unlike flying a jet at low altitude. You have
almost no peripheral vision and you have to always be one turn
ahead. If you try to make a correction on the turn you're on,
it's too late." In always staying one step ahead, piloting a
bobsled is "like playing pool - but you're going 90 miles
per hour, it's freezing and snowing, and the guy behind you is
digging his spikes into your back."
Bobsledding's governing body has made the Olympics a more
exclusive club than ever before. In order to compete in 2006,
teams are now required to have been competing for at least four
years. And while 45 teams traveled to Salt Lake City for the 2002
Olympics, only 28 will be invited to Turin, Italy, in 2006, with
up to two teams per country. Even though the top five bobsled
nations will easily grab the first 10 slots, Zeff and Frank are
confident they can crack the top 28.
When they're not training with Dominikovich in Calgary for
several weeks at a time, both Zeff and Frank work themselves into
game shape at local gyms. Frank, for his part, has bulked back up
to his football weight of 225 pounds, after slimming down to
"doctor weight" of around 200 or so pounds after he
retired in 1989.
"We're coming into the sport ranked 41st, so it's
unrealistic that we could vie for gold, silver or bronze. But we
could put together a squad that'll be in the top 50 percent of
the sport by the Olympics," says Zeff, who stands a stocky
but athletic 5-foot-10 and weighs around 215 pounds.
In fact, at the Alberta Cup Championship in February, the
Israelis took on Armenians, Brazilians and a Canadian team that
competed in the 2002 Olympics. Zeff and Frank finished second in
one heat, and won the other.
And, in a time when most organizations are downsizing, the
two-man Israeli bobsled team has already lined up an alternate,
Canadian-born David Greaves, and are looking to add another.
Think you could fit the bill? Zeff and Frank are looking for a
man who: Weighs at least 225 pounds, can sprint 30 meters in 4.1
seconds or less, can bench press 300 pounds and squat 450 pounds,
and is an Israeli citizen or willing to become one. If you
qualify, visit www.israelibobsled.com.
(Editor's note: If you, your daughter or granddaughter want to be fixed up with a guy like that, that's another story altogether! Just keep your eye out for the bobsled with the Star of David emblazoned on its nose.)
Homeless in the Homeland
Milk and Honey Runs Dry for Israel's Jewish Poor
by Anya Kamenetz
excerpted from the Village Voice
In one of the stores lining Tel Aviv's Downtown Square, a pair of
Miu Miu pumps adorned with raspberry and pink paillettes are half
off at 900 New
Israeli Shekels (about $215). Kikar Hamedina, as the
"square" is called in Hebrew, is actually a circle, the
largest, most elegant roundabout in the city. It's ringed with
designer boutiques both foreign and Israeli - Gucci, Gaultier,
Helmut Lang - and coffee bars peddling $5 iced cappuccinos; the
center is adorned with flowering shrubs and a large fountain. And
a shantytown.
About 50 men, women, and children with nowhere else to go live in
the
Kikar Hamedina, which they have renamed with a large
banner "Kikar
Halechem," or Bread Square. They have been here almost
a year. In July,
a municipal court temporarily blocked the city from evicting
them, but a
Supreme Court ruling could give police the power to clear them
out.
For now, their settlement consists of some camper buses; an
outdoor
kitchen, under a tarp and powered by a gasoline generator;
several tents
in various stages of repair; and some tables and chairs set in
the
shade. Life-size effigies hang from the trees, bearing the
legends in
Hebrew "Died of Hunger," "Died of
Humiliation," and "Avtelei" (a play on
words meaning both "unemployment" and
"father-hanging"). Tel Aviv
residents walk their dogs and shop for camisoles not 50 feet
away,
scarcely glancing at the Kikar Halechem or its
inhabitants.
Yisrael Tuitu, 38, a dignified-looking man with close-cropped
hair and a
sweet expression, greets a visitor with a simple "I am the
leader here."
Tuitu unpacks his long story of grievance and activism. Tuitu has
been
charged not only with illegally occupying, but also with
illegally renaming the square.
"I go to the army when I am 18, in 1983. When I am 19 and a
half, in the
Golani, I have an accident. September 1984. I am in the hospital
for 14
months. Leg, back, head." He pulls his eyelid down to show a
scar, a
short row of healed stitches. Meanwhile, flies swarm around the
table,
Tuitu's cell phone rings regularly, and a snaggletoothed old
woman named
Valentina laments her fate on a bench two or three feet away. A
man
named Mark occasionally supplies Tuitu with an English word.
"The army give me nothing. I have a wife and three
daughters. We live in
the bus." He gestures to his camper, which is decorated with
anti-poverty slogans. He says the army eventually supplied him
with a
pension of about $350 a month, but he needed so many operations
on his
back that he couldn't keep a steady job. His wife was also sick
and
often in the hospital. In time they divorced, and he feared he
would
lose custody of the children. "I go to the TV, radio, paper
and tell
them, why me in the street with three children?"
Tuitu's misfortunes coincided with a startling shift in Israel's
economic situation over the past two decades. Although the image
lingers, both at home and abroad, of a country with a strong
socialist
legacy and a dedication to embracing and absorbing destitute
Jewish
immigrants, the state welfare apparatus has begun to strain and
buckle.
In June, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked Jewish charities in
the U.S.
not to focus on images of Israeli poverty when making their
appeals, for
fear it would hurt tourism and immigration. "One must not
present the
state as a hunger-stricken state," Sharon said, according to
UPI. "There
is poverty but there is no hunger."
State facts say otherwise. The split between rich and poor, once
one of
the smallest among industrialized nations, widened rapidly in the
1980s;
a special report by the Knesset committee on social gaps in
December
2002 found that the gross income per family in the top 10 percent
is
more than 12 times higher than in the bottom 10 percent. Among
developed
countries, that disparity is second only to the one in the United
States. The number of poor children in Israel rose by 50 percent
over
the past 14 years, and the number of poor families went up by
almost 30
percent; today, one in six families lives in poverty, including
25
percent of all children. In the first quarter of 2003,
unemployment hit
a 10-year high of 10.8 percent.
The situation for Israel's poor has worsened even though social
welfare
spending almost doubled over the past 20 years, to a staggering
54
percent of the budget. Several factors account for this.
Thousands of
guest workers from Thailand and the Philippines were brought over
in the
mid '90s to lessen the reliance on Palestinian agricultural,
construction,
and home-health-care workers. The foreigners, employed by temp
agencies like the giant Manpower, work 40 percent cheaper than
Israelis. Nearly 80 percent of ultra-Orthodox men do not work, up
from 50 percent in 1980; the "black-hat" communities
are marked by high birthrates and a reliance on state subsidies.
And, of course, Israel's perpetual state of war, which has
intensified since the second intifada in September 2000,
has had a variety of detrimental effects on the economy, the
disappearance of tourism and the high cost of security and
infrastructure in the territories being just two.
"The danger to Israel is not from Palestine, not from
Hezbollah, not from Iran," he says. "It is from the
people that don't have a way to live, don't have a house. And
every day many people come to this situation." Beginning in
the late '90s, Tuitu won the support of some far-left members of
the Knesset for actions like pitching a tent in front of then
prime minister Ehud Barak's offices for three months.
Tuitu persisted, holding a Passover seder for hungry people in
2000 and
2001 outside Sharon's offices. Then he took a more drastic step,
bringing his cause right to the heart of wealthy Tel Aviv.
This year in
Jerusalem
Israel's economy, only five years ago blooming with tourism and
high-tech
industry, is in its third year of recession. A few sobering facts
and figures:
1. Poverty line in Israel: $934 a month for a family of four
2. Number of Israelis below that line: 1.2 million, or one in
five
3. Percentage increase from 2001 to 2002 in number of poor
children in
Israel: almost 50 percent
4. Number of poor children: 530,000, or 25 percent of all youths
5. Average monthly income for richest 10 percent of Israeli
households:
$9,000
6. Average for poorest 10 percent: $716
7. Factor by which the most wealthy are richer than the poorest:
12 times
8. Unemployment in first quarter of 2003: 10.8 percent
9. Rank of Israel's unemployment rate among industrialized
nations: 2
10. Growth in number of Israelis receiving some form of
government
payment from January to June 2003: 16.8 percent
11. Overall budget reduction planned for 2004: 4 percent
12. Current retirement age for women: 60
13. For men: 65
14. New retirement age proposed for both genders: 67
15. Percentage change in Israel's GDP from September 2000 to
December
2002: minus 9 percent
16. Percentage change in Palestine's GDP, same period: minus 36
percent
17. Estimated unemployment in Arab Jerusalem, the West Bank, and
Gaza
Strip: 55-65 percent
18. Average monthly household income, as of 2001, in Palestine:
1,200
shekels
19. Average in Israel: 11,361 shekels
20. Percentage of people in Gaza living on less than $2 a day: 70
- Anya Kamenetz
Sources:
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Jewish Telegraphic Agency; 2, 8, 9 Forward; 10,
19
Haaretz; 11, 12, 13, 14 New York Times; 15, 16 Globes Online; 17,
18, 20
B'Tselem
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