com.UNITY
FROM THE DESK OF MARK L. GOLDSTEIN
Executive Director | Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley markg@jflv.org
The Israel that is not in the news There is much in the news about Israel. Most of it reflects conflict in some form, whether with the Palestinians, the European Union (particularly the EU Foreign Affairs Department), the recent U.S. declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (although stopping short of words which would preclude Israel and the Palestinians negotiating important final status issues including borders), the United Nations and its UN Human Rights (which could be a column all to itself!), rockets fired from Gaza and Israel’s retaliation, and the list could go on. I could actually take each of these topics and outline what the media is not reporting. But that might be for another time. I want to focus on the Israel that is – more or less – totally missing from news cycles, not necessarily those which underreport or misrepresent the Israeli narrative. For over 25 years, our Maimonides Society has had a relationship with Galilee Medical Center (nee’ Western Galilee Hospital) in Nahariyah. The hospital today has grown into a regional medical center and is not only excelling at quality health care, but is an institution
that is hallmarked by humanity and generosity. You should meet Dr. Massad Barhoum. Born and raised in Haifa, in 2007, Dr. Barhoum became the first Arab physician to head a major Israeli hospital. The Galilee Medical Center isn’t just any hospital. It serves Israel’s multiethnic (Jews, Muslims, Baha’i and Druze) western Galilee region and, since it’s only a few miles from the Lebanese border, specializes in treating trauma – especially trauma caused by war. Under Dr. Barhoum’s leadership, the hospital leveraged these characteristics in a powerful expression of Israelis’ own fundamental decency and generosity. It began treating casualties from the civil war across the border in Syria (see article on Page 3 of the Health and Wellness section of this HAKOL). An Israeli hospital treating Syrians. Arabs. “The enemy.” Men, women and children. Thousands of them. No questions asked, and no payment for services. “This is our way,” Dr. Barhoum wrote recently in Newsweek. “This is the way of Israel, my country.” Whoever says Israeli Jews and Palestinian/Arab Mus-
lims cannot live, learn and become enriched by each other is wrong. There is a school in southern Jerusalem, with six other branches across the region, enabling Israeli Jews and Palestinian Christians and Muslims to learn together. The school, Yad B’Yad (Hand in Hand), has Israeli and Palestinian principals and both Israeli and Arab teachers in each classroom. It is a bilingual school and includes full integration throughout the school day and in extracurricular activities. Hand in Hand’s public schools, by contrast, build friendship and cultural understanding. When Arab and Jewish children learn together, they break the cycle of negative stereotypes and learn to relate to one another with mutual understanding and respect. Hand in Hand’s extraordinary model provides a clear and simple example that Jews and Arabs can study, work and live together in peace. Not everyone agrees with the goals of the Yad B’Yad schools. Three years ago, a group of Jewish terrorists firebombed the school, destroying a first grade classroom and the library. This past February, I
“There’s a Pokémon in my salad” was perhaps not the sentence my mom was expecting to hear from me in the middle of lunch, but both of these methods – the traditional salad, the rather nontraditional method of hunting for Pokémon in everyday places – were part of my determination to live more healthily in 2017. January is often a time when people think of their health and wellness in many ways. Colgate University, where I went to school, defined wellness as a broad spectrum encompassing many types of health, including physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual. Working on your own health can thus come in many different ways. This month, I took inspiration from this view of wellness
for our new special section, Health and Wellness. There is no one way to become healthier that works for everyone. My mom walks on a treadmill, my dad runs, and I was always bored with working out until Pokémon GO came out last year, encouraging me to walk. But Pokémon GO encouraged other things as well – I got to learn more about landmarks in the Lehigh Valley as I spun PokéStops and I went to gatherings and met fellow Pokémon fans, touching upon other forms of wellness. When I resolved to hunt Pokémon last year, I had no idea that the app was not just about walking, but about getting in shape in other ways, as well. Now, as I look to create resolutions for 2018, I have been inspired by my gaming to seek out new and fun ways to
Shalom, Michelle Cohen
JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY We gratefully acknowledge those individuals who have offered expressions of friendship by requesting that trees be planted in the Yoav--Lehigh Valley Partnership Park. IN MEMORY YUDKE GROSSMAN (Husband of Nurit Grossman) Jill and Jeff Blinder Vicki and Larry Glaser and Family MARVIN WUNSCH (Father of Bruce Wunsch) Linda and Neil Dicker
IN HONOR SAMANTHA AND ISAAC HOF Birth of their daughter, Lydia James SHALOM BABY
TO ORDER TREES, call the JFLV at 610-821-5500 or visit www.jewishlehighvalley.org.
ADDITION
Stuart Horowitz, who wrote last month’s “What’s Up, Doc?” column, is the president of the Pennsylvania State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the chairperson of the JFS Clinical Committee.
2 JANUARY 2018 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY
STEPHANIE SMARTSCHAN JFLV Director of Marketing
HAKOL is published 11 times per year for the Jewish communities of Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and vicinity by the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley.
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become healthier. Some of these ways made it into the special section, including adult coloring, new forms of yoga and new types of workout programs at the JCC. Whether your health journey advances through traditional or newer methods, I wish you a happy and healthy 2018!
ment organization in Israel, is today operating schools in both the Jewish and Arab public school systems. Like how Israel integrated its Ethiopian Jewish emigrants. If you know of other special stories that should be shared, please email me at markg@jflv.org. We might not get it on CNN, but we can get it into HAKOL.
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Submissions to HAKOL must be of interest to the entire Jewish community. HAKOL reserves all editorial rights including, but not limited to, the decision to print any submitted materials, the editing of submissions to conform to style and length requirements, and the placement of any printed material. Articles should be submitted by e-mail or presented as typed copy; “Community Calendar” listings must be submitted by e-mail to hakol@jflv.org or online at www.jewishlehighvalley.org. Please include your name and a daytime telephone number where you can be contacted in the event questions arise. We cannot guarantee publication or placement of submissions.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers,
visited the school and heard from students and their parents about that incident. They were not deterred and felt that something very special was happening at the school. School officials spoke about their fear that parents and students would not return to the school and recruitment of new students would be difficult. At the time of the fire, Yad B’Yad operated four schools around the country with roughly 1,200 students. Today they operate seven schools with over 1,600 students. Jews and Arabs - learning together, living together - and inspiring broad support for social inclusion and civic equality in Israel. There are lots of other such stories. Like how Israel ORT, a Jewish organization and the leading education improve-
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MICHELLE COHEN Editor ALLISON MEYERS Graphic Designer DIANE MCKEE Advertising Representative TEL: 610-515-1391 hakolads@jflv.org
JFLV EXECUTIVE STAFF MARK L. GOLDSTEIN Executive Director JERI ZIMMERMAN Assistant Executive Director TEMPLE COLDREN Director of Finance & Administration JIM MUETH Director of Planned Giving & Endowments AARON GORODZINSKY Director of Outreach & Community Relations EVA LEVITT JFLV President
EDITORIAL BOARD Monica Friess, Acting Chair Barbara Reisner Judith Rodwin Sara Vigneri
Member American Jewish Press Association
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JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY MISSION STATEMENT
In order to unite, sustain, and enhance the Lehigh Valley Jewish community, and support Jewish communities in Israel and around the world, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley is dedicated to the following core values: • Supporting Jews in need wherever they may be. • Supporting Israel as a Jewish homeland. • Supporting and encouraging Jewish education in the Lehigh Valley as a means of strengthening Jewish life for individuals and families. • Supporting programs and services of organizations whose values and mission meet local Jewish needs. To accomplish this mission the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley is committed to the following operating guidelines: • Raising and distributing funds to support the core values. • Developing Jewish leaders. • Building endowments to support implementation of core values. • Committing to ongoing Jewish community strategic planning. • Fostering cooperation among organizations and community building. • Evaluating all decisions with respect to fiscal responsibility. • Identifying unmet needs and investing in community initiatives to help get them started. • Coordinating and convening a community response as an issue or need arises. • Setting priorities for allocation and distribution of funds. • Acting as a central address for communication about events, programs and services of the Jewish community as a whole. Approved by the JFLV Board of Directors on November 15, 2000