The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
www.jewishlehighvalley.org
| Issue No. 472 | January 2024 | Tevet / Shevat 5784 AWARD-WINNING PUBLICATION EST. 1977
See our focus on Health and Wellness inside
The Lehigh Valley community celebrates Chanukah. Take a look at our coverage and photo collages.
Maimonides Brunch and Learn p5
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FROM THE DESK OF JERI ZIMMERMAN p3 WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY p4 LVJF TRIBUTES p9 JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER p14-15 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL p16 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE p17 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p23
Community loses one of its pillars, Bobby Hammel
By Carl Zebrowski Editor
The Lehigh Valley Jewish community suffered a heartrending loss when Bobby Hammel died at age 71 on December 13 after a sevenyear battle with brain cancer. For a hint of what he meant to the community, look no further than the name of the Allentown JCC property: the Hammel Campus. This past June the JCC rededicated its city block at the corner of 22nd and Tilghman Streets in honor of Bobby and his wife, Bonnie. Back in 2019, when the JCC went into default on the loan on its property, the Hammels donated $1 million and provided a $900,000 interest-free loan to pay off the bank. A year later, Bobby
forgave the loan. “Simply put,” said JCC Executive Director Eric Lightman, “without Bobby, there would not be a JCC today. If you benefit from the JCC’s programs and services, if you have friends that you’ve met at the JCC, if your children have developed their Jewish identity here, you have Bobby to thank.” Hammel was well known for his giving nature. That and his positive attitude, especially in the face of problems and other obstacles. “He always conducted himself with tremendous optimism, and there’s obviously the incredible generosity,” said Robby Wax, president of the board of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley. “You put those two together and that’s what really de-
fined Bobby: generosity and optimism.” Wendy and Ross Born, pillars of this community as the Hammels have been, told Hakol, “Bobby’s big smile and optimistic attitude that almost everything in life is terrific inspired us. He loved engaging in philanthropy and volunteerism without the need for recognition. Bobby was a mensch gadol—a great mensch.” Hammel was just as generous with his time as he was with his upbeat outlook and his donations. At a time when no one else wanted to take the position of the JCC board president, he served for three terms. He also was president and an honorary vice president of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley and was active in Jewish Family Ser-
vice and the Jewish Day School. “Bobby was known for his extraordinary generosity, compassion and his kindness was only exceeded by his humility” said Jeri Zimmerman, executive director of Federation. He attended Temple Beth El, served as president there, and led the fundraising effort to construct its current building. Meanwhile, he was a member of Congregation Keneseth Israel and Congregation Bobby Hammel z”l. Sons of Israel. All of this is on top of the family business, J.C. of his enormous success in Ehrlich Pest Control. the business world. Born in In 1969 he headed off to Pottsville, Hammel and his college at Penn State with brothers started working Bobby Hammel z”l early on at the Reading shop Continues on page 5
audience in the JCC Kline Auditorium on December 17. That preparation, he said, was thanks to the ongoing efforts of nonprofit organizations that raise funds regularly for it—both before and after tragedy strikes. That includes the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, which has donated specially equipped motorcycle ambulances known as ambucycles to United Hatzalah and sponsored Beer’s live appearance via Zoom. U.S. Rep. Susan Wild was in the audience to hear Beer. “I am here today because I think that its important for
every elected official and, frankly, every member of the public to be present every time the stories of October 7 are told,” she said. “If we don’t all bear witness to October 7, everyone is going to forget what started this war and why this war started and the horrors of October 7. People already don’t remember what happened.” This day’s stories of October 7 began with the United Hatzalah command center in Jerusalem waking Beer up at 6:45 a.m. The center was getting call after call reporting direct missile hits. “Then we were taking phone calls from mothers and fathers begging us to come save their children because terrorists were knocking down their doors,” he said. “We’d actually hear the guns shooting.” Many first-response volunteers were off work that day for the holiday of Simchat Torah. The command center scrambled to get people in. It was chaos. Orders to responders were simple and direct, Beer said: “Just grab and ambulance
and go down south.” The magnitude of the attack was much bigger than anyone thought at the time. “We’re talking 2,900 terrorists,” he said. Two United Hatzalah responders were ambushed and killed as they helped treat wounded Israelis. Led by volunteers or not, widespread, massive responses like this cost a lot of money. “This is a situation that affects us all,” said Israel Zighelboim, cochair along with his wife, Valeska, of the Federation’s Israel Emergency Fund, which counts United Hatzalah among its beneficiaries. “If this doesn’t shed light on that, nothing will.” He pointed out that most of the people in the audience understood the devastation that happened and the needs it created among the Israeli population. The attendees were already donating to the emergency fund. But there were still things they could do to extend their efforts to help with the relocation of Israelis in areas attacked,
Israeli EMS chief tells 10/7 stories, urges extra support By Carl Zebrowski Editor
October 7 was a devastating day in Israel. But there was hope. Emergency medical services, tested beyond their limit, answered hundreds and hundreds of urgent calls for help. The first responders of United Hatzalah, volunteers who even pay to gas up their own emergency vehicles, rushed everywhere, rescuing and evacuating Hamas’s victims. “The reason we were successful was because we were prepared,” Eli Beer, founder of United Hatzalah, told an
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food and clothing, rebuilding of homes and infrastructure, and medical and mental health needs. “Talk to five of your friends who you know care,” Zighelboim said. “Please encourage them to really give generously and talk to others as well. Our financial support is more important than ever.” Beer told the audience that the first volunteer ambushed by Hamas was an Arab. He was a paramedic on standby to provide medical care as needed at the music festival Hamas raided along the border. He ran over to an injured girl to stop her bleeding. He told her Eli Beer continues on page 7