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JFS marks 150 years of ‘nimble’ service to Jews in need BY BILL MOTCHAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
A key mission of JFS (Jewish Family Services) is to help seniors in the St. Louis Jewish community age with dignity. On the milestone of its 150th anniversary, JFS itself is aging quite gracefully. The organization continues to make a difference in the lives of many families by supporting seniors, alleviating hunger, promoting mental health and preventing child abuse. JFS has also adapted to new challenges without missing a beat. It began in 1871 in the aftermath of the great Chicago fire, said Brian Braunstein, chairman of the JFS board. “I’m not sure that a lot of people know how the organization started 150 years ago,” he said. “The United Hebrew Relief Association in St. Louis was formed and rallied around the Chicago community to offer support to victims of the fire. That was really the kickoff to JFS way back then. “In the late 1800s, there were a lot of immigrants coming over to the states, and we had a lot of Jewish immigrants coming to St. Louis. Jewish Family Services, as it was called then, provided a lot of support
MORE INSIDE WHO IS HARVEY KORNBLUM? Learn about the life of the namesake of the Jewish Family Services food pantry. STORY ON PAGE 11A
and assistance to Jewish immigrants. Reflecting back to the founders of the organization, I’m sure no one could have imagined what the organization would grow into today and how much it serves the community.” JFS provides services for more than 50,000 children, families and seniors annually
Timeline: How JFS grew As Braunstein noted, JFS in the 1890s helped resettle Jewish immigrants from Russia. In 1897, JFS helped create United Jewish Charities of St. Louis (now Jewish Federation of St. Louis) to help the Jewish poor. In 1957, the organization launched its first JFS homemaker services program to address the needs of Jewish elderly in St. Louis. That program remains one of JFS’ most popular senior services. JFS was incorporated as a Missouri nonprofit organization in 1964. In 1985, JFS received its first accreditation from the Council of Accreditation. In 1991, the food pantry was established, serving 40 families in its first year. JFS helped create the Child Abuse Prevention Program in 1992. It is now the only program providing sexual abuse prevention education to preschool and elementary school children in St. Louis. In 2002, JFS dedicated the Hoffman Building and moved into its home on Schuetz Road. Another significant elder care initiative began in 2009 when JFS and Jewish
JFS CEO, Miriam Seidenfeld, outside of the Allan R. Hoffman Building. PHOTO: BILL MOTCHAN Federation of St. Louis launched Elderlink. In 2012, the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry outgrew its former space and moved to a stand-alone building to serve more clients.
Progress on key initiatives Two years ago, Miriam Seidenfeld, JFS CEO, told the Jewish Light that she saw three priorities for the organization to focus on. Those were to ensure that seniors are able to maintain their independence or maintain a sense of dignity as they age; food insecurity in St. Louis; and the alarming issue of despair in children who attempt suicide. As JFS enters its 151st year of service, Seidenfeld offered a progress report on those key initiatives. “COVID challenged all three of those
areas, and it also allowed us to shine,” Seidenfeld said. “We had fewer people in the Jewish homemaker program last year, but those who were getting the services, which ranged from 150 to 200 people, were being supported in their homes and maintaining their health, and they were in a safe space. “We also found that with seniors, we could make an increased number of phone calls because we weren’t going into people’s homes unless there was an urgent need to. They maintained their quality of life and their health and safety with regular check-ins. We learned that a combination of in-home visits and phone calls allowed us to stay in touch and address needs more quickly because we were talking to them more frequently. See JFS on page 10A
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INSIDE THIS WEEK’S STL JEWISH LIGHT The Newspaper of the Jewish Community of Greater St. Louis — Founded 1963
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Address for general correspondence: PO Box 411487 Creve Coeur, Mo. 63141
INDEX ChaiLights ............................................. 16A
New & Schmooze ................................... 5A
Classifieds ............................................. 10B
Obituaries.......................................... 8B-9B
Features............................................. 1B-4B
Opinions .........................................14A-15A
Healthwatch............................................ 5B
Simchas ................................................. 12B
Jewish Lite ............................................. 10B
Spotlight Photos .............................4A, 11B
Local News ...................................... 4A-11A
Tributes ................................................. 12B
TRUSTEES Dan Bindler, Jerry Ehrlich, Richard Flom, Judy Kaplan, Debra Klevens, Mia Kweskin, Beth Manlin, Lauren Murov, Ryan Rich, Steve Rosenzweig, Jenn Sagett, Angela Sandler, Bruce Sandweiss, Adam Schneider, Helene Sherman, Joan Silber, Alan Spector, Dan Winograd
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ADVISORY COMMITTEE Terry Bloomberg, Nanci Bobrow, Ph.D., Charles C. Eisenkramer, Dodie Frey, Diane Gallant, Steve Gallant, John Greenberg, Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh, Gianna Jacobson, Gary Kodner, Linda Kraus, Sanford Lebman, Dr. Ken Ludmerer, Lynn Lyss, Donald Mitchell, Michael N. Newmark, Adinah Raskas, Jane Tzinberg Rubin, Marvin J. Schneider, Richard W. Stein, Barbara Langsam Shuman, Sanford Weiss, Jenny Wolkowitz, Vivian W. Zwick Founder Morris Pearlmutter (1913-1993)
Serving as a surrogate for your best friend
STAFF EXECUTIVE Betsy Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief
SUBMISSIONS AND COMMON INQUIRIES • Send editorial submissions (calendar items, news releases, event photos and letters to the editor) to news@stljewishlight.org. • For information on subscriptions, visit stljewishlight.org/subscribe, email us at office@stljewishlight.org or call 314-743-3600. • For information on advertising, call 314-743-3676 or email advertising@ stljewishlight.org. • To submit information on a simcha announcement (engagement, wedding, birth, bar/bat mitzvah, anniversary), please visit stljewishlight. org/simchas, email news@stljewishlight.org or call 314-743-3665.
We catch up with BFFs Kati Kaup and Nikki Freyman after the birth of Kati’s daughter whom Nikki carried for nine months.
See News & Schmooze page 5A
EDITORIAL Robert A. Cohn, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Mike Sherwin, Managing Editor BUSINESS AND ENGAGEMENT Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content Officer Alec Baris, Digital Engagement Associate Amy Worth, Office Manager SALES Shane Blatt, Senior Account Executive Kelly Morris, Account Executive Elaine Wernick, Account Executive PRODUCTION Erin Eason, Creative Lead CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Baugher, Eric Berger, Burton Boxerman, Margaret Gillerman, Repps Hudson, Barry Gilbert, Cate Marquis, Dale Singer, Margi Lenga Kahn, Cathleen Kronemer, Bill Motchan
CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES
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Meet the new head of Epstein Hebrew Academy and learn to make crepes that look and taste good.
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SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES Shabbat begins Friday, Dec. 17: 4:24 p.m.
Shabbat begins Friday, Dec. 24: 4:27 p.m.
Shabbat ends Saturday, Dec. 18: 5:26 p.m.
Shabbat ends Saturday, Dec. 25: 5:30 p.m.
Torah reading: Vayechi
Torah reading: Shemot
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PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT The ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT (ISSN 0036-2964) is published biweekly by the St. Louis Jewish Light, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, PO Box 411487, St. Louis, MO 63141-9998. Periodical postage paid at St. Louis, MO. Copyright 2021. Postmaster: Send address changes to the St. Louis Jewish Light, PO Box 411487, St. Louis, MO 63141-9998.
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ONLINE: St. Louis shows off their pajamukkahs We asked readers to share photos of their families in their Hanukkah pajamas. We compiled a photo gallery of the images you submitted. Enjoy!.
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CONGREGATION SHAARE EMETH
Above left, Rabbi Andrea Goldstein and members of Congregation Shaare Emeth’s 2022 Confirmation Class fry up fresh latkes on Dec 5. Above right, Rabbi Rachel Bearman (left) with members of the 20s and 30s group at Congregation Shaare Emeth assembled and decorated a “Frozen”-themed Hanukkah light tunnel for Sunday’s Let’s Gelt Together drive-through event. Numerous displays lined the Shaare Emeth parking lot created by different committees at the congregation and participants were asked to vote for their favorite. This display by the 20s and 30s group was chosen as the winner.
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Above, Joey and Staci Gerchen, chairs of Congregation Shaare Emeth’s Traditions with a Twist committee, with their son, Seth, and Cantor Seth Warner kicked off the Let’s Gelt Together event on Dec. 5 with the lighting of the menorah. Below, Beth Kodner, Director of Camp Emeth, Debbie Bram, Director of Jewish Life & Learning, and Rabbi Educator Lori Levine donned festive Hanukkah outfits for Let’s Gelt Together.
PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS
SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to news@stljewishlight.org. VIEW MORE ONLINE: stljewishlight.org/multimedia LEFT: In late November United Hebrew members came together to help clean up the United Hebrew Cemetery.
UNITED HEBREW CONGREGATION
Volunteers at the cemetery included Harrison Dubman and Reis Lourie (above); Sadie and Craig Alper (above right); Carolyn Satz and United Hebrew President-Elect Sheryl Bauer (right). Volunteers at the cemetery help to bury worn out religious texts.
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SUBMIT YOUR NEWS Send story tips, news releases, calendar items and photos of recent Jewish community events to news@stljewishlight.org. For more information, call 314-743-3665.
NEWS & SCHMOOZE
A holiday miracle? Times three . . . Sharing a happy story update on best friend who served as surrogate
O
ne of the realities of being a journalist is that you’re always on the lookout for your next good story. Rarely, do we find time to look back, or update readers on stories that in some ways are still works in progress. So as 2021 winds down, I’d like to tell you the outcome — at least so far — of a Mother’s Day story that had a big impact on me, and judging from reader reaction, on you as well. Let’s rewind to May, when we met Jewish St. Louisan Nikki Freyman, who became a surrogate for her best friend Kati Kaup, and her husband, Gerome Gregory. Kati was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant and had a double lung transplant in 2015. While her doctors were optimistic that she could live a long life, they cautioned her against getting pregnant, fearing it would be too risky. In 2019, Kati underwent IVF (in vitro fertilization), which produced two embryos suitable for transfer. They were frozen until they could be implanted into a surrogate, or surrogates. (You can read all about it in the original story at https://bit.ly/JL-Mothers.) In February, Nikki was implanted with one of the embryos. She and Kati learned the transfer was successful about 10 days later. Once Nikki was pregnant, she and her husband, Dan, explained to their daughters, Meryl, 2, and Piper, 5 ½, that Kati and Gerome really want to have a baby, but Kati’s body doesn’t work like mommy’s — so what would (they) think about mommy growing a baby for them. Meryl was too young to understand but throughout the pregnancy, Piper referred to Nikki’s growing belly as “Kati’s baby.” On Nov. 8 — the birthday of Kati’s grandmother — Nikki was induced as planned. She finally delivered Baby London Nicole (the middle name in honor of surrogate Nikki) on Nov. 9 at 5:59 p.m. at Missouri Baptist Hospital, where she weighed in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 21.5 inches long. Kati and Gerome were at Nikki’s side — Gerome got to cut the umbilical cord and announce the baby was a girl (they had decided not to find out
Best friends Kati Kaup (left) and Nikki Kleyman are shown after the birth of London (also shown above). Kleyman was implanted with one of Kaup’s embryos and served as a surrogate, giving birth to London on Nov. 9. the baby’s sex in advance). “People have asked if it was hard to give the baby away but from the get-go, from the way we talked to Piper about it — that we were growing a baby for Kati and Gerome — and knowing we will have a relationship with Kati and Gerome and the baby forever makes a difference,” said Nikki, who belongs to Central Reform Congregation. “When the baby came out it was purely about Kati and Gerome becoming parents. The second she came out I was so happy for them. They got to have all the experiences of childbirth without carrying. In that moment (after delivery) it was just about them becoming parents. So no, it wasn’t bittersweet. It was just so sweet.” After they left the hospital, Kati and Gerome drove to Nikki and Dan’s home so that Piper and Meryl could
NEWS & SCHMOOZE News and Schmooze is a weekly column by Light Editor-in-Chief Ellen Futterman. Email Ellen at: efutterman@ stljewishlight.org
meet London. Then the new parents drove their daughter home to Ft. Lauderdale, where Kati reports that London is a “dream baby.” But she won’t be an only child for long. Kati and Gerome are expecting twin daughters around New Year’s Eve with a surrogate named Ashley, who lives in Oklahoma. Ashley is a married mother of four; Kati and Gerome found her through a matching support group. So if all goes as planned, Kati and Gerome will have three daughters, born within a couple of months apart. “We bought a bigger house, we moved, we got married, we sold both smaller cars for a bigger one that can fit three car seats,” said Kati. “When you find out that you’re having three babies you have to jump into this logistics mode. You’re processing the emotional side but also how is this going to change our everyday life, from the size of our house to what help will we need. We have been so busy trying to get our lives ready for three babies.” Luckily, the couple has a large family support system and a nanny to help them. In addition, Nikki and Piper are planning to visit in a couple of weeks so that they can get to know baby
London better. “If you look at the odds of when we went through IVF — it was like no one even knew if we would get any viable eggs, and we got viable eggs. Then we got two embryos,” said Kati. “Then Nikki’s transfer was successful on the first round and we had one embryo left. Then Ashley’s transfer was successful. With all of those odds, and then when the embryo split and we had twins coming, that’s only a 2% chance of that happening. “For us to start this process with two embryos and to get three hopefully healthy babies, it’s a total miracle on top of a miracle that is actually happening. It’s not lost on us that it’s wild this happened. And three girls – it’s going to be so much fun.” Nikki agrees and couldn’t be happier for her best friend and for the daughters she and Gerome will raise. Nikki even kept a blog during the pregnancy for London to read when she is older. “They will always have this really, really special bond and relationship,” said Kati. “It wasn’t like she just carried the baby, she did so much more. It’s amazing how she went through labor — she was so calm. I have this image in my head, as soon as the baby came out, of Nikki and me just looking at each other like, ‘Oh my God, we did this. We really did this.’ ”
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Two new Melton courses will be offered in January The community is invited to take part in two new Melton courses starting in January — available in-person at Temple Emanuel or online via Zoom. Visit test. org/melton or contact Emily Cohen, emily@testll.org or 314-432-5877, for more information. Melton aims to offer adults deep learning in a pluralistic, intellectually stimulating environment. The courses are:
“OMG, Can You Believe?!” Michael Staenberg lights the menorah at Crown Center, ushering in Hanukkah with residents, board members and staff. From left are Crown Center board member Mark Rubin, Michael Staenberg, Crown resident Miriam Roth and board member Cindy Wallach.
Staenbergs to donate $1 million to Crown Center housing project Crown Center for Senior Living has received a $1 million donation from philanthropists Michael and Carol Staenberg to benefit Crown’s capital campaign to construct affordable housing for older adults, and a state-of-the-art community center to be named “Staenberg Commons.” Crown is planning to build new, high-quality, apartments for older adults on its site in University City, replacing the original 1960s era high rise. Construction on the Staenberg Commons is slated to begin in early 2022.
“The Staenbergs’ donation is essential to our ability to move forward with this important project,” said Nikki Goldstein, Crown Center executive director, in a statement. “The Staenberg Commons will be a beautiful gathering place, welcoming both Crown residents and retirees from the area to stay active and engaged. We’re honored to be connected with the Staenberg name and fortunate to benefit from their involvement, experience and immense generosity,” added Sally Altman, president of Crown Center’s Board of Directors.
Taught by Cyndee Levy, the course takes place Wednesdays, 7-8:30 p.m., Jan. 19 to Feb. 23. This six-week exploratory course will dive into the big questions around God and God’s relationship to humankind. Participants will examine the many different understandings of God, free will and mitzvot expressed by Jewish philosophers, rabbis, leaders past and present—as well as by class members themselves. Tuition for Cyndee Levy this six-week course is $179. Scholarships are available. There is a special tuition rate of $50 for any full- or part-time professionals working at Jewish organizations, including teachers and staff in St. Louis Jewish preschools, religious schools, day schools and youth groups. Email emily@testl.org for the coupon code. This professional learning opportunity is supported by the Jewish Federation of
St. Louis and the Leo I Mirowitz Fund for Education and presented in collaboration with the Early Childhood Directors Council, Religious School Directors Council, Youth Professionals Council, JPro St. Louis, Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School and Melton St. Louis.
“Beyond Borders: History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Post 1967 into the 21st Century”
Taught by Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh, the course takes place Thursdays, 7-8:30 p.m., Jan. 6 to March 10. Delve into the complexities of the past half-century of the Arab-Israeli conflict, from the War of Attrition, that began post-1967, to present tensions. Analyzing newspaper articles, speeches, poems, photographs, and maps, the class will trace the more recent history of this entrenched struggle. How did we get from 1973’s Yom Kippur War to the Israel-Egypt Rabbi Elizabeth Peace Treaty? What Hersh was the value of the Oslo Accords? What has been the impact of more contemporary peace attempts? The class will leap into these complex topics, probing why a lasting peace between Israel and the Arab world has been so elusive and what developments might be next. Tuition for this 10-week course is $295. Scholarships available, contact emily@testl.org to apply.
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In talk with Jewish group, Danforth says religion can help bridge divisiveness in America today BY ROBERT A. COHN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EMERITUS
Former Senator John C. Danforth, R-Mo., expressed deep concern over political divisiveness in the United States, andsuggested that shared religious values could help bring the polarized nation together. Danforth, whose distinguished record of public service includes not only three terms representing Missouri in the U.S. Senate, but also serving as Missouri attorney general and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was the guest speaker Monday at a meeting of the advisory board of the Michael and Barbara Newmark Institute of Human Relations, which is under the aegis of the Jewish Community Relations Council. The meeting took place at the St. Louis Club in Clayton. Phyllis Markus, chair of the Newmark
Institute, said Danforth’s book by the late Rabbi career and topic were consisJonathan Sacks, “Morality,” tent with the institute’s goal of which was published in 2020. “working to create a more pluSacks (1948-2020) was the ralistic society.” Chief Rabbi of the United In his remarks, Danforth Kingdom and Ireland, and spoke about widening political Rabbi of the United divisions in America, which he Congregations of the global said undermined the concept British Commonwealth of of “E pluribus unum”—“Out of Nations. He was widely the Many, One.” admired for his scholarship as The output of our democra- Former Senator John well as for his leadership skills cy, Danforth said “is to bring Danforth and courage. people together to work out In Sacks’ book the author their differences, not to deepen them and sought to “restore the common good in a drive us apart.” divided time,” covering much of the same Danforth who has both a law degree ground as Danforth did in his remarks. and ordination as an Episcopal priest, “Where are we today?” Danforth asked. urged the Newmark Institute to “take on “A lot of people feel we are coming apart.” an initiative based on the role that religion Danforth deplored “the increasingly can play in keeping America together.” tribal” nature of politics today. On the As preparation and as a guidebook for right, he noted a kind of populism has such a role, Danforth suggested the last emerged that sees the world divided
Pulitzer Prize winner will kick off inaugural Staenberg Lecture series Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson will be the first guest lecturer as part of a new partnership between Maryville University, philanthropists Michael and Carol Staenberg, the Staenberg Family Foundation and the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The partnership creates the Annual Staenberg Lecture, a five-year series focusing on contemporary social issues through the lens of the Holocaust, its lessons and its historical significance. “Our museum and this partnership with Maryville University is an important step to broaden the outreach for learning how the events of the Holocaust and current issues weave together even today,” said Michael Staenberg. The first lecture is set for April 12 and will be held at The Factory in west St. Louis County and is open to the public. Wilkerson, the former Chicago Bureau Chief for The New York Times, is the author of “Caste: The Origins of our Discontents.” The book was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and was named No. 1 Nonfiction Book of the Year (2020) by Time magazine. The book explores America’s deeply rooted divisions and the parallels with historical hierarchies in both India and Nazi Germany. It also
inspired an in-depth Oprah’s Book Club podcast series, produced by Apple Books. The annual lecture will also create educational opportunities for Maryville students as well as students from area high schools and youth organizations who will attend the lectures. “We are both honored and grateful to receive such generous support from the Staenberg Family Foundation to launch this program with the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum,” said Maryville President Mark Lombardi. “Together we will shine a spotlight on social issues that remind us we must never forget our past so that we can build a more just and better future.” “We are delighted to forge this partnership with Maryville University to educate the community about the legacies of the Holocaust and its relevant, contemporary lessons,” said Helen Turner, director of education and interpretation for the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. “We’re grateful to our longtime partners and supporters Michael and Carol Staenberg and the Staenberg Family Foundation for making this opportunity possible.” Details about the inaugural lecture along with registration information are to be announced soon.
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between “us and them.” On the left, there are things like the 1619 Project and a hypersensitivity, such as concerns about micro-aggressions and the like. “So, what role can religion-based organizations play in bringing us together? The root of the word religion is the same as that for ligament, the connective tissue that holds us together. The word shalom in Hebrew is completeness, or wholeness.” Danforth added, “We should not treat our political opponents as the “enemies,” but with respect. Referring to the framers of the U.S. Constitution, Danforth credited James Madison’s support of a Congress, which would encourage compromise between the mercantile urban citizens and the agricultural sector. “We should come together within our shared values and restore civility and comity to our public discourse and values,” Danforth said.
Missouri State Tax Credits available to some donors of Crown Center Crown Center for Senior Living recently announced the availability of a limited number of Missouri State Tax Credits to eligible donors, through the AHAP (Affordable Housing Assistance Program). Donors to the Crown Center capital campaign may receive a tax credit of 55% to offset State tax liability. The credits can be carried forward for 10 years and are also transferrable. Donations
will go toward funding the construction of affordable housing and a community center for older adults, replacing the original 1960s era high rise on the current site in University City. Construction is slated to begin early next year. For more information on eligibility and to reserve credits, contact Executive Director Nikki Goldstein at ngoldstein@ crowncenterstl.org or 314-991-2055.
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St. Louis Jewish leaders create summer sleepaway camp for LGBTQ+ youngsters BY ELLEN FUTTERMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
When Andy Brown and Dan Grabel founded Camp Manitowa in 2010, with two locations in southern Illinois, they vowed to make the summer camp experience as inclusive as possible for every youngster. They made good on that promise for the past decade, hosting week-long and weekend summer camps for a variety of participants, including children in the foster care system and those with cancer and blood-related diseases. This summer, from June 12-19, they are offering Camp Indigo Point at Camp Manitowa-Cedar Point in Makanda, Ill., a week-long sleepaway camp for LGBTQ+ youth entering second to 11th grades. “We’ve always believed camp is a special place where kids can be themselves, take safe risks and make friends who maybe are a little different and more
special than the friends they have at home,” said Grabel, who grew up in University City and along with Brown, has attended and worked at Jewish summer camps for decades.
I S R AEL T RAVEL G RAN TS
“We have hosted a group called TransParent, which is for families with transgender children. In talking more with families, and we’ve had a couple of transgender campers over the past cou-
Jewish Federation of St. Louis believes in the positive impact of travel to Israel, and we are offering financial support to help make that experience possible.
GR A N T A WARD S Year-long program
$1,750
Semester-long program
$1,250
Short-term program
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• Open to St. Louis teens who have completed ninth grade and young adults up to age 27. • Minimum length stay of three weeks for teens. For young adults, minimum length stay of two weeks. • Grants are for travel on a peer-based experience. Stuart I. Pessin Merit-Based Scholarship Application is now open. Deadline to apply is February 4, 2022. Four teens will receive $1,250 for travel to Israel in 2022. To apply, visit: JFedSTL.org/Israel-Center. For more information, contact Jody Gerth at 314-442-3881 or JGerth@JFedSTL.org.
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FUNDER. COMMUNICATOR. CONVENER.
For our community – now and in the future
ple of summer, we just thought it was a natural progression to offer something specifically for the LBBTQ+ community. Camp always is a special place for people who have shared experiences.” When Central Reform Congregation Rabbi Daniel Bogard heard about the camp from Grabel, the rabbi couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. He reached out to his network of summer camp friends, including Shira Berkowitz, co-director of PROMO, a Missouri organization that advocates for LGBTQ equality. Both Bogard and Berkowitz, along with a couple of other Jewish St. Louisans, have agreed to serve as the camp’s leadership and planning team. “When I started telling my own 8-yearold about (the camp), the smile and excitement that he’s not going to be the only trans kid or even one or two of the only trans kids but everyone around him is going to be like him,” said Bogard. “It’s magical to see it in his eyes and it just reinforces how great this is.” Camp leaders expect to attract at least 20 campers, though Bogard is hopeful that the number will be closer to 40 or 50. One camper from Florida has already committed to coming, as has a second one from Chicago. “I talked to (the Florida camper’s) mom and we cried through the whole conversation because of what this camp is going to mean to her daughter,” said Bogard. “It’ll be a place for kids to be themselves and not feel forced into the boxes that the outside world forces them into.” While Camp Indigo Point will not be explicitly Jewish, it will be modeled after Jewish summer camps such as Camp Sabra and Camp GUCI. It will offer traditional camp activities, such as canoeing, archery, swimming, team sports, arts and crafts and outdoor excursions, while encouraging LGBTQ+ youth to build a community with one another. The plan is for the camp to happen annually so that youngsters can develop lifelong friendships and positive memories. “We hope that by creating a space where LGBTQ+ youth can share their hopes, fears and stories, we can empower young folks to carry the feeling of queer community wherever they go,” according to the camp’s website. “This is going to be a week where the experience of trans, gender-expansive and LGBTQ+ kids is really centered and is the normative experience,” added Bogard. “I’m very hopeful that I will be the only person at camp who is not broadly LGBTQ.” The cost for the camp is $575, which is considerably less expensive than most week-long ones, but both Grabel and Bogard said they are committed to making it financially viable for any youngster to attend. “I don’t know how we will find the money, but this is life giving, sometimes lifesaving literally, for trans kids and queer kids who experience a daily level of oppression and awfulness in their lives,” said Bogard. “I’m committed that any kid who wants to be at this camp needs to be. We have to be there for these kids. I think it’s our Jewish obligation, a mitzvah, a moral obligation.” For more information about Camp Indigo Point, go to campindigopoint.org or call 314-375-6766.
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Chabad holds Hanukkah celebration with governor In late November, Chabad of Greater St. Louis organized a pre-Hanukkah celebration at the Governor’s Office at the State Capitol in Jefferson City. As part of the celebration, Gov. Mike Parson (left) proclaimed “the days of November 28 - December 6 as the days of ‘Show-Me Chanukah’ in Missouri.” View more images from the event online at stljewishlight.org/multimedia PHOTOS: JULIE SMITH/CHABAD OF GREATER ST. LOUIS
Below, Rabbi Yosef Landa, regional director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, introduces Greg Yawitz, board chair of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, to Gov. Mike Parson, before the start of the celebration.
Chabad representatives from across the state pose with Gov. Mike Parson following the pre-Hanukkah celebration. From left, Rabbi Hershey Novack of Chabad on Campus at Washington University, Rabbi Chaim Landa of the Chabad Jewish Center of St. Charles County, Rabbi Yosef Landa, regional director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, Gov. Mike Parson, Rabbi Avi Rubenfeld of Chabad of Chesterfield, Rabbi Avraham Lapine of Chabad at Mizzou and Rabbi Yossi Abenson of Chabad of the Central West End.
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JFS: Agency marks 150 years of ‘nimble’ service to Jews in need CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A “In social services we look at the simple solution. What’s the one thing we can do that is going to make people safer, healthier and improve the quality of their life. That’s what JFS does really well. We work together with all the institutions. It’s the same with food insecurity. Over the last year, the need skyrocketed. JFS succeeded wildly in getting food to people who needed it because the system was strong, the foundation was strong.” The pandemic increased demand at the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. There were 15,100 visitors to the food pantry in 2019, and 21,500 visitors in 2020, a 30 percent spike. In 2021, the demand remained high, but it returned to a preCOVID level. Seidenfeld said that was consistent with food banks across the state. “The government implemented some policy changes and provided food for families with children, especially those that were struggling,” she said. “But the amount of money people were getting is really small and doesn’t help feed a child nutritious food for a day. The increased SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits with the child tax credits decreased, and the number that were coming to the Hardy Kornblum Jewish food Pantry, people who are in immediate crisis, shot up.
Progress on suicide prevention Seidenfeld said JFS made sure it continued to address suicide prevention among children. The pandemic actually made it somewhat easier to discuss the topic during the lockdown and sheltering-in-place because so many people were feeling stressed by the sudden change in their lifestyle. “JFS has worked really hard the last three years involving everybody in the conversation and COVID affected everybody,” she said. “It didn’t just affect kids or adults who had persistent mental health issues. It affected people who generally have pretty good coping skills. They were feeling more lonely than they ever have or depressed. So it started to normalize the conversation, the way JFS has had been wanting to normalize the conversation for a long time. “We still have work to do. But we did a better job of responding, saying we’re here and let’s talk about how the problem can get solved in the community. We’re here to teach people, and this is what we’re getting really good at. One of our Jewish institutions called us about a month ago
Jewish Family Services chaplain Rabbi Janine Schloss lights the candles on the fourth night of Hanukkah 2021 at Delmar-Gardens West. PHOTO BY BILL MOTCHAN and said, ‘One of our staff people is suicidal.’ The director called us immediately and said, ‘What do you think we should do?’ It was the perfect conversation. The person didn’t need to come to JFS. They needed to get immediate help and they needed to know that we were an option, and they did exactly the right thing.”
Expanded services for the elderly The JFS Elderlink hotline is never quiet for long. Seniors and caregivers frequently call for information and resources. The Jewish homemaker program is a JFS sta-
ple, offering homebound seniors an additional level of care and support. Home health care workers are in high demand, and services often can be quite costly. The JFS program provides subsidized care with a sliding scale so clients pay for services based on their income. JFS Elderlink resource specialist Abby Wolner has begun to see patterns from the frequent callers who seek assistance. “About half the callers are adult children of older adults in some kind of stage of service coordination or finding housing,” Wolner said. “The other half are older adults, usually looking for some support in their homes. Depending on their needs, In this February 1972 file photo, Amy Rassen and Patricia Pepe, at left, staff members of Jewish Family and Children’s Service (now JFS) discuss their “great expectations” with students at Parkway Central High School during Mental Health Day.
they’ll either get referred to our homemaker services or an external service if they have higher medical needs.” Seniors’ spiritual and emotional guidance are also addressed by JFS. Rabbi Janine Schloss, the organization’s chaplaincy coordinator, keeps in contact with nearly 500 Jewish residents at 32 residences for older adults. They include independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Add a few private residences and group homes, and it makes for a busy schedule. On the fourth night of Hanukkah, Schloss lit the menorah at Delmar Gardens West. The two dozen Jewish residents at the lighting applauded her singing and storytelling skills. “It’s incredibly rewarding,” Schloss said. “Working as a chaplain, it’s important for me to simply be present with the person. That’s been a slightly different role. I just came from the Sheridan memory care facility, and I was listening to an elderly woman who was speaking as if her mother and her father and her brother were still alive. She was telling me all about the latkes that her mom baked last week. She was telling me all of these stories, and I just sat and listened. It’s a gift to be able to help people share life stories and their life experiences. It’s amazing.”
An evolving, nimble organization From the great Chicago fire to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 to COVID, JFS has been a constant presence, providing services to stabilize families in times of stress. Those situations are unpredictable and can wreak havoc on the community, like the tornados that ravaged southern Illinois and Kentucky last weekend. If and when COVID diminishes, there could be another pandemic on the horizon. JFS learned much from the past two years about weathering tough times. “What we’ve learned for over 150 years and over the last two years is that JFS has to be here and have people who can pivot to whatever the needs are,” Seidenfeld said. “We learned that we have to keep this institution strong because every year there’s a different COVID.” Where does JFS go from here? Its leaders plan to continue serving the St. Louis Jewish community and meeting the goals of its mission. Those needs evolve, so the organization will adapt to address them. Tellingly, Schloss and Seidenfeld each refer to JFS as being nimble. “This is really a transitional moment,” Schloss said. “How can we best serve you at this exact moment? We can try something new and then if things change in three months, just let us know. And we’ll let you know we will be nimble and we’ll try to adapt.” Seidenfeld said: “Our staff has become more nimble. They’ve been doing that for years. That’s how the Child Abuse Prevention Program developed. People in the community noticed that the Jewish community was having the same issues as the rest of society was, and we wanted to do something about it. We’re always here to address whatever the needs are in the community.”
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Who was Harvey Kornblum? BY BILL MOTCHAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
Every day, dozens of desperately hungry St. Louisans visit the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. They may be facing tough times, but they’ll leave knowing they can feed their families. Visitors to the food pantry might also wonder: Who was Harvey Kornblum? Kornblum was a World War II veteran and a self-made man. He was frugal, fun-loving and funny. He could be something of a workaholic, but he made time for fun with his family. Mostly, he wanted to share the fruits of his labor and help others less fortunate. That is his legacy. Harvey Raymond Kornblum was born in 1926 in St. Louis. He grew up in University City with a brother and sister. He served in the Army Air Forces as a radio operator and gunner on a B-17 bomber in Okinawa, Japan. After the war, he returned home and studied business at Washington University. Kornblum then went to work for the family business, Leader Garment. In 1970, he sold the company and turned his attention to investing. He was quite successful, in part because he focused on known entities, blue chip stocks. Kornblum served on the board of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service (now JFS) and as treasurer of the Urological Foundation. He also supported Jewish Hospital of St. Louis (now BarnesJewish). In 1954, Kornblum married Elaine Seldin, whose family was also in the garment trade with Sel-Mor Garment Co. Its Miss Elaine product line remained popular for years and developed into a worldwide brand, eventually receiving the prestigious Femmy Award in 1981. Sel-Mor was operated by Elaine Kornblum’s brother Marc Seldin. Harvey and Elaine had three children, Andy, John and Kathy. The family attended Temple Emanuel. Elaine Seldin Kornblum, a graduate of John Burroughs School, died in 1984. Harvey married his second wife, Gay Klearman, in 1996. Harvey Kornblum died June 18, 2004, from lung cancer at age 78. That year he endowed a $1 million gift to the Jewish Food Pantry. Today, the Har vey Kornblum Foundation supports a number of human services and arts and education institutions. They include the St. Louis Crisis Nursery, JFS, Jewish Federation of St. Louis, and Epworth Children and Family Services. The food pantry held a special place in Kornblum’s heart, perhaps because he was sensitive about hunger, said his widow, Gay Klearman Kornblum. “I think the initial feeling of hunger disturbed him,” said Kornblum, 83. “The food pantry really struck him because when he was in the Army, he was always desperately afraid of going hungry so he always put a candy bar in his pocket.” Gay Kornblum also said Harvey was fun to be around. “He had a very good sense of humor, and he was very well liked by everyone,” she said. “He had a lot of friends, and he was a good person.” Kathy Kornblum, 58, said her father’s giving philosophy was ingrained in him from a young age. “My dad was not raised in a privileged environment,” she said. “He understood the challenges and struggles of everyday people. He was very proud of what he had accomplished, but he also had a sense of duty to the community and specifically to the Jewish community.” Kathy Kornblum said her father was a frugal man who would save a few bucks by bringing his own popcorn into movie theaters. He also understood the importance of giving back to the community to strengthen it. That attitude was echoed by
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her mother, Elaine Seldin Kornblum, and likely influenced Harvey. “He was proud of what he had created,” Kathy Kornblum said. “Giving back wasn’t an ego thing because he did it quietly. I think he learned from his Jewishness the importance of giving. He also learned the power of giving from my mom, because she was raised in a privileged environment, but she saw the limits to privilege. Both of my parents had a giving kind of spirit. That’s what we all learned: to take care of your community. When you have more than others, it’s not an obligation to give back. It’s an honor and an opportunity to help other people.” Her father could sometimes be overly focused on work, she said, but he always enjoyed leisure time with his family, with regular yearly skiing trips and beach vacations and fishing trips in Florida. He loved to play golf and tennis and was a member of Westwood Country Club. The Kornblum Foundation continues to support the St. Louis community and especially the Jewish community, in the areas of mental health, and families struggling with basic needs. The foundation’s allocation to Nurses for Newborns and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) are made to aid families who lack a good support system, and to make at-risk children get a positive start in life. Laura Silver, a Kornblum Foundation trustee and step-daughter of Harvey Kornblum, said the organization likes to work behind the scenes, avoiding fanfare. “We’re not looking for accolades, we’re trying to do what’s right for the communi-
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A look at the namesake of the JFS food pantry
Harvey Kornblum with daughter Kathy Kornblum. PHOTO CREDIT: KATHY KORNBLUM ty,” she said. Kathy Kornblum, also a Kornblum Foundation trustee, said it’s an honor and a blessing to be part of the group’s efforts. “I’m very grateful that my dad chose to do this,” she said. “I’m really super proud of it. He didn’t do it for the limelight. He would have loved the honor, but he wasn’t an attention seeker. It was an attitude of,
‘How can I give?’ And it was very important to him that he do it through Jewish community.” On Nov. 21, the JFS Gala Celebrating 150 Years paid tribute to the Harvey Kornblum Foundation and trustees Gay Kornblum, Kathy Kornblum, Laura Silver and Michael Silver.
Above, volunteers prepare bags of food for clients at the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. PHOTOS: BILL MOTCHAN
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In Israel for Miss Universe competition, Puerto Rican contestant reveals that her great-grandfather survived the Holocaust Contestants of the Miss Universe pageant visit the Tower of David Museum in the ancient citadel of Jerusalem near the Jaffa Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City, Nov. 30, 2021.
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When she won the privilege of representing Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe contest, Michelle Marie Colon spoke of her pride in making history as the first Black woman from the territory to seize the honor. Last week in Israel, where the contest was held, she has been touting pride in another aspect of her heritage: her Jewish great-grandfather who escaped the Holocaust. Last week, Colon posted a photo of her holding hands with Noa Cochva, the Israeli entrant into the contest, beneath a wall covered with portraits of victims of the Holocaust. “My great grandfather, Rodolfo Cohn, was a survivor of the Holocaust,” Colon wrote. “He moved to the Caribbean and met Dorila Thomas, my great grandmother; an empowered Afro-Caribbean woman — descendant of slaves — who was the administrator of a farm at the time. Together, they formed a solid family full of love, built upon empathy and resilience.” She had told the story in an impromptu talk while the contestants toured Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Dani Dayan, the memorial’s chairman, posted a video on Twitter on Saturday and it soon went viral. “I came here to Israel knowing that I would be more connected to my family because my [great] grandfather actually escaped from the Holocaust and all of his other family members, his sisters, his brothers, even their daughters — four daughters — were killed in the concentration camps, especially in Auschwitz,” Colon said. Dayan said Colon, a 21-year old premed student, “surprised her fellow Miss Universe contestants (and also Yad Vashem staff).” Colon’s comments come at a time when advocates are seeking to turn the pageant, scheduled for Dec. 12 in Eilat, into a political referendum on Israel. Palestinian advocates have called for contestants to boycott the competition, but only Malaysia and Indonesia have so far committed to doing so. Meanwhile, South Africa’s contestant is attending despite pressure from the South African government to boycott Israel. In addition, this year’s competition will feature a contestant from the United Arab Emirates for the first time, and a contestant from Morocco for the first time in decades. Both of those countries signed diplomatic normalization agreements with Israel in 2020.
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This week in Israeli history CENTER FOR ISRAEL EDUCATION
Dec. 16, 1984: Peace activist Abie Nathan aids Ethiopia Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan arrives in Ethiopia with $300,000 worth of relief supplies for a country in the middle of a drought-driven famine that kills an estimated 1.2 million people over two years. The shipment, funded through donations by Jews around the world, includes equipment to build a camp that can house and feed 8,000 refugees. Ethiopia cut off diplomatic relations with Israel after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
ABOVE: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (center) attends the opening of the World Chess Olympiad in Haifa with Education Minister Aharon Yadlin and Haifa Mayor Yeruham Zeisel on Oct. 24, 1976, less than two months before the collapse of his governing coalition. PHOTO: MOSHE MILNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE
Dec. 17, 1993: Rabbi urges soldiers not to remove settlements Shlomo Goren, the first head of the IDF’s Military Rabbinate and the Ashkenazi chief rabbi from 1973 to 1983, calls for soldiers to disobey orders to remove Jewish settlers from the West Bank, Gaza Strip or Golan Heights. An opponent of the new Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, Goren sees any such order as illegal for conflicting with the Torah commandment to settle the land promised to the Jewish people.
Dec. 18, 1911: Health care fund is created At the urging of Berl Katznelson, a special convention of Jewish agricultural workers in Ottoman Palestine approves a proposal to create Kupat Holim Clalit (General Sick Fund) to handle the health care needs of immigrants to the Land of Israel. The Histadrut labor federation takes over the fund in 1920. Its modern successor, Clalit Health Services, covers the health care for 60% of Israelis.
LEFT: Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban addresses the opening session of the Geneva peace conference Dec. 21, 1973. PHOTO: YA’ACOV SA’AR, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE
Dec. 22, 1948: Britain fears a communist Israel
A cable to the State Department from U.S. envoy Julius Holmes recounts the concerns about Israel expressed two days
earlier by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. Because of immigrants from Communist-controlled countries and the socialist leanings of the provisional government’s leaders, Bevin worries that Israel
will become a Communist state within five years and pose a threat to the Suez Canal. Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
It’s not too late to save a life in Israel this year.
Dec. 19, 1936: Writer A.B. Yehoshua born Avraham B. Yehoshua, who becomes one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers, is born in Jerusalem, where his family goes back at least five generations. Influenced by Franz Kafka, William Faulkner and S.Y. Agnon, Yehoshua leads a new wave of Israeli writers with novels including “The Lover,” “Mr. Mani” and “The Late Divorce.” He wins the Bialik Prize, the Israel Prize and two National Jewish Book Awards.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s Laborled coalition falls apart as he fires two members of the National Religious Party, Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Rafael and Welfare Minister Zevulun Hammer, from his Cabinet and sees a third, Interior Minister Yosef Burg, resign. Rabin drops the NRP’s 10 Knesset members from the coalition, leaving him with 57 of 120 seats, and he calls for an election to avoid a no-confidence vote.
Dec. 21, 1973: Peace conference is held in Geneva A Middle East peace conference opens in Geneva under the auspices of the United States and the Soviet Union, although U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger keeps the Soviets in the dark about progress made by Israel and Egypt toward their 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Syria skips the conference because Israel refuses to recognize the PLO as the Palestinians’ representative. The conference ends Dec. 29.
Photo by Kobi Gideon / FLASH90
Dec. 20, 1976: Yitzhak Rabin’s 1st government loses majority
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December 15, 2021
OPINIONS
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ABOUT THE OPINIONS SECTION Viewpoints expressed in letters, commentaries, cartoons and other opinion pieces reflect those of the writer or artist, and not those of the Light. We welcome submissions of letters and commentaries to: news@stljewishlight.org.
Why I do not stand when fellow veterans are honored BY JIM WINNERMAN
When my wife and I attend an event where veterans are asked to stand to be recognized, she always nudges my arm prodding me to rise. Despite serving more than two years on active duty during the Vietnam War, I do not stand because of men like my college classmate Richard Cremer. In 1968, at age 24, he was 8,850 miles from home in Vietnam, serving as a medic in the thick of conflict, patching wounds, saving limbs and saving lives while his own life was in jeopardy 24 hours a day. His bed was the jungle floor for 364 days. His skill was so respected he was ordered to sleep in the middle of the platoon for more protection. He was invaluable. He used a machete to cut through the jungle to rescue men. After being wounded by an exploding enemy mortar, he was awarded a Purple Heart, the medal given those valiant men who were wounded or perished in combat. Then he went back to work. Rich was there during the fight for Hill 875, well known among Vietnam veterans for the ferocious 10-day battle that took place as American forces fought their way up a steep mountainside where the Vietnamese were entrenched. Seventy-two men were killed and 372 were wounded. Rich was busy. The same year Rich was in Vietnam, I was in a comfortable office at 5th Army Headquarters on the shore of Lake Michigan, stationed at a base north of Chicago with stately stone buildings and a golf course. I should have been in Vietnam, but I had been frozen in place by a colonel in an office where for years no one had stayed more than six months before departing for the war. The turnover made it tough to conduct an efficient office, and the colonel wanted continuity. Some days, I did have a job that would make me tremble and my heart race. I would be temporarily assigned as a “notification officer” to personally deliver the news to a Chicago area family whose son had been killed. Or I would be assigned as a “survivor assistance officer” to handle funeral arrangements for a family after the notification officer had left. When I visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., I looked up the names of the two men I remembered whose families I had notified of their sons’ deaths, and the name of a man for whose family I had
After serving in the Army from 1968 to 1970, Jim Winnerman (above) was an executive with Maritz for 30 years. After retiring in 2001 he has been a freelance writer for magazines and newspaper throughout the United States writing about travel, art and architecture. He has been married to his wife Barbara for 53 years.
Richard Cremer served as a medic in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. helped plan his funeral. When Rich visited the Memorial, a volunteer helped him find the engraved names of 27 soldiers who perished alongside him or of those he could not save. He rubbed his fingers over their names to pay his respects. They were friends. He knew their faces and their personalities. I just remembered the names of men I never knew. Maybe once every few years I get a call from someone who was in the same Chicago office as I was in, and we share memories and laugh. Rich gets calls weekly from his fellow soldiers who find comfort in hearing his voice. A colonel he served with calls every night. After many years of never talking about his experiences, a fellow serviceman who had traveled from Wisconsin showed up unexpected at Rich’s door in St. Louis to encourage him to attend a reunion of his platoon. Reluctantly, he went, and to the amazement of his wife, she was greeted by men who told her Rich had saved their lives. They called him “Doc.” More than 50 years later, Rich still suffers from Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. A few years ago, at a military funeral for a fellow soldier with whom he had served, Rich and two other servicemen fell to the ground to protect themselves when an unexpected 21-gun salute was fired. The sound of helicopters overhead sends him inside. So do fireworks on the Fourth of July. He awakens nightly at 3 a.m. so he can patrol his house. Now he carries a golf club instead of a gun. When he returned from Vietnam and first set foot on American soil at the Portland, Ore., airport, a woman spit on him. I do not stand to be honored for my service when there are men like Rich who deserve all the attention for putting their lives in danger and, in Rich’s case, saving the lives of those he could. If you are at an event during which veterans are asked to stand, turn and look at them and give them the recognition they deserve. They earned it more than you can imagine. I will be doing the same. If you would like to send a donation to Honor Flight, which has a mission to transport America’s veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials dedicated to honoring those who have served and sacrificed for our country, please send it to: Honor Flight Inc., 4601 North Fairfax Dr., Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203 You can also thank Rich for his service by sending him a note in care of the Jewish Light.
The madness of our political system BY MARTY ROCHESTER
In previous columns, I have characterized our current political culture as insane. In November, I used the word “insanity” several times when being interviewed on Charlie Brennan’s show on KMOX radio. Why do I think such language is appropriate and accurate? I think both sides of the political spectrum have contributed to insanity. The right can be criticized for Trumpism. In print and elsewhere, I have called Trump odious and reckless. However, I think the left is especially blameworthy. In any event, it is the left, not the right, that dominates our major national institutions, including the government, media, academia and corporate boardrooms. Allow me to elaborate. I was invited on the Brennan show to discuss a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “It’s Time to Cancel the Word ‘Rigor.’ ” Written by professors Jordynn Jack and Viji Sathy of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the article argued that “rigor” should be banned because it tended to promote “exclusionary and preferential practices.” I noted
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that to me, rigor connotes diligence, care, precision and excellence and, if it privileges those values, then I am for rigor. I am guessing most people share my view and consider it craziness to think otherwise. I went on to say that the attack on rigor is nothing new, that I had documented in my “Class Warfare” book 20 years ago the dumbing down of education and collapse of standards, driven mainly by liberal “equity and diversity” pressures, and that this trend has only worsened over decades. I added that it was not only rigor but also merit that had become a four-letter word. I cited a Wall Street Journal op-ed of Oct. 30, “The Views that Made Me Persona Non Grata at MIT,” written by Professor Dorian Abbot of the University of Chicago. According to him, his invited lecture at MIT “was canceled because I have openly advocated . . . views that are unpopular on university campuses. Here are those views. I believe every human being should be treated as an individual worthy of dignity and respect. . . . That means evaluating people for positions based on their individual qualities, not on membership in favored or disfavored groups. . . . I believe that admissions and faculty hiring at universities are best focused on academic
merit, with the goal of producing intellectual excellence.” He added, “It also means allowing them to present their ideas and perspectives freely, even when we disagree with them.” Again, would most people not agree that to attack Abbot based on his above-stated views is insane? Yet that is where we are at today, both inside and outside academia, thanks to a well-intentioned but misplaced obsession with diversity. Diversity is wonderful, but it should not trump all other values. I am not exaggerating how the left has completely warped our sense of values in a way that is harming our mainstream institutions. Recall that only a few months ago, the National Museum of AfricanAmerican History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution, one of the leading museums in the country, had a website on “Whiteness” in which it listed “self-reliance,” “hard work” and “rational thought” as values that reflected “white dominant culture,” therefore presumably to be rejected. Brennan’s co-host, Amy Marxkors, mentioned on air that she was offended by this because it was insulting to Blacks and sounded like it was written by David
J. Martin Rochester, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is the author of 10 books on international and American politics. Rochester has written a monthly Jewish Light column since 2014. Duke. She was rightly appalled, as most people were, leading to the museum being forced eventually to remove the website. But it was insane that leftist elites, grounded in critical race theory, would be allowed to so tarnish the reputation of an important new museum. I was further reminded of the insanity of our political culture when I attended a talk in mid-November by Douglas Murray, the British author of “The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity,” a critique of diversity-based identity politics. Murray is a leading conservative critic of American politics whom the left likes to paint as “far right” even though he is openly gay and atheist and no more right wing than the aforementioned professor Abbot. Murray called the Left’s tendency to refer See ROCHESTER on opposite page
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‘West Side Story’: The mean streets of...’60s University City? BY ERIC MINK
We had to have looked absolutely ridiculous, and I say that as a frequent participant. On weekend evenings in the late fall and winter of 1961 and into the spring of ’62, drivers casually motoring through some of University City, Mo.’s, quietest residential neighborhoods could come around a curve or crest a little hill and find themselves headlights-to-faces with five to 10 boys snapping our fingers in unison, whistling, running, leaping, kicking and spinning together across the pavement as if we owned it. We owned nothing. Weatherpermitting, our antics were just us acting out our enthusiasm for a new movie musical whose stunning dance sequences and youthful storylines had pretty much mesmerized us: “West Side Story.” Based on the Broadway musical that had premiered in 1957, the movie adaptation opened in New York in mid-October, 1961, two months later in Los Angeles and then in the rest of the country. I decided to fact-check at least the broad strokes of my ancient memories of “West Side Story” street dancing. So I called my dear friend of 60-plus years, Ron Podolsky and asked him about it. If there was a leader among us in those days, it surely was Ron, and I remembered him in our street-dancing groups. He didn’t hesitate a second. “Do you remember those metal ‘horses’ in the street?” he asked, referring to traffic barriers positioned to keep car speeds down. “Harvey Yorke [another friend], was a great acrobat and used to jump over them” during “West Side Story” moments. Ron, who later was voted the most popular boy in our U. City graduating class by a wide margin, was also a skilled piano player with a great ear and a fine touch. He reminded me that he had worked out and played piano arrangements of such “West Side Story” songs as “Maria” and “Tonight.” “I loved the music, and I loved the movie,” he said. Let me be honest: Considered logically, our feelings of connection to “West Side Story” really made no sense. The original movie –- like parts of the 2021 version directed by Steven Spielberg that was released on Friday –- is set and was filmed in working-class and impoverished areas of the
ROCHESTER CONTINUED FROM OPPOSITE PAGE to colorblindness as “racist” an “absolutely deadly” viewpoint. I call it insane. So, too, the reluctance of Democratic leaders, as during the 2016 presidential primary debates, to say that not only Black lives matter but “all lives matter.” Murray said that “public perceptions” of all kinds of things are “wildly out of kilter with reality.” For example, he focused on police shootings of African Americans. Murray cited a Skeptic Research Center poll in which participants “were asked how many unarmed black men were killed by police in 2019. Overall, nearly half of surveyed liberals . . . estimated roughly between 1,000 and 10,000” (New York Post, Feb. 27). A Washington Post database of fatal police shootings found only nine unarmed
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Upper West Side of New York, the big- way: earnestly, if poorly, trying to emugest of America’s big cities. late those moves on the streets of our We, on the other hand, were growing sheltered neighborhoods. up in middle-class neighborhoods of We worked against our abundant various income levels in University City, deficiencies with genuine enthusiasm a stable suburb of mid-sized St. Louis. and appreciation for the on-screen talThe broad story of “West Side Story,” ent that had dazzled us. And truth is, meanwhile, revolves around the often-vi- we could argue that we got at least a olent competition between two street little better as the weeks went by — in a gangs of supposed teenagers –- the Jets sub-sub-sub-pro kind of way — and we and the Sharks — for dominance on the kept at it. Upper West Side. On screen, most of the I think what this suggests is actually actors who play gang members in the the underlying reality of how art gets into original and new movie verus. We 9th-grade Jewish guys sions look to be in their midwho embraced the movie in 20s to mid-30s. 1961 to the point of dancing In contrast, we were badly in the street did so not 14-to-15-year-olds in 9th because of logic but because grade at Hanley Junior High, it resonated within us emothe since-torn-down public tionally. As I re-discovered school for 7th-, 8th- and last week when I pulled out 9th-graders living in the eastmy high-definition DVD of ern half of U. City. We didn’t the 1961 original and turned know from street gangs. Eric Mink is a freelance it up. Almost everybody in our writer and editor and As the lengthy music-andgroup of buddies was teaches film studies at graphic-art prologue kicked Jewish. But notwithstand- Webster University. He in –- absent voices, text or ing the movies’ New York is a former columeven recognizable still or setting, the few references nist for the St. Louis moving images of any kind to religion invoke Christian Post-Dispatch and the –- I began to feel, well, denominations, mostly Daily News in New moved. Catholic. York. Contact him at Later, I don’t think it was The Jets are tough teens ericmink1@gmail.com. exactly the Shakespearean born in the United States with “Romeo and Juliet” tragic parents who immigrated to storyline — a source for the America long ago mainly from the coun- plot of the stage production and movies tries of western Europe. The Sharks are — that was getting to me or even the equally tough, and some have been born broader story of ill-fated love between a in the United States. But many immigrat- boy and a girl from clashing cultures. ed to America much more recently with Stretching it even further, while it’s suretheir parents from Caribbean spots — ly true that my friends and I had been in Puerto Rico in particular. the hormone storms of puberty back in Members of both gangs and their fam- 1961, I don’t think the movie was necesilies are working-class people struggling sarily sparking memories of those chaleconomically and fighting discrimina- lenges and the emotions they set off. tion, but the more recent arrivals from Yet by the time I’d finished watching Puerto Rico also are the targets of the 2 ½-hour original movie, I had been vicious stereotyping, and they haven’t reduced to tears not once or three or yet accumulated political influence or four times but I’d say seven or eight managed to advance economically. times. And they weren’t all at sad My U. City pals and I were all born in moments. Sometimes, it was just a prothe United States, as were most of our gression of chords that got to me, or a parents. You’d have to go back to our change of rhythm or volume or instrugrandparents for immigration to have mentation by the orchestra, or a pasbeen a factor. Our parents continued to sage of dialogue from an unexpected try to improve their economic status, and character or an actor’s face with telltale middle-class standing, broadly defined, signs of an emotion hitting their heart was reasonably solid in the community. –- and mine. Even so, all these disconnections There were fewer of these kinds of didn’t seem to diminish our love of moments when I saw the new movie at “West Side Story” in 1961. There we a local theater, but there certainly were were: kids with little to no skill or train- some, and I don’t know how to explain ing in the kind of street-, ballet- and the different levels of intensity. modern-dance moves the movie’s cast Maybe that 14-year-old kid of long was pulling off. But there we were any- ago could tell me about it.
Blacks fatally shot in 2019. If the recent elections in Virginia and elsewhere around the country where Republicans succeeded in many gubernatorial, school board and other contests are any indicator of public dissatisfaction with the left, perhaps we are seeing pushback against the insanity I am describing. In trying to explain the November outcomes, even well-known Democrats such as James Carville have called for an end to the kind of “stupid wokeness” manifested by “defund the police lunacy and taking Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools” (“PBS NewsHour,” Nov. 3). The ultimate in “stupid wokeness” came from Democratic congresswoman and “Squad” member Rashida Tlaib of Michigan who called for supporting the proposed Breathe Act, which would empty all federal prisons; this was just a couple of days after a career criminal who had repeatedly been released from jail killed six people
and injured dozens more by speeding through a parade in Waukesha, Wis. I wish to reiterate that both sides are part of the problem, so we can take heart also from growing pushback against Donald Trump within his own party (e.g., on Nov. 18, the head of the Republican National Committee acknowledged that Joe Biden had won the presidency, effectively putting “the Big Lie” to rest). Maybe it is a sign of the times that someone as obnoxious and lacking in civility as Bill Maher comes off as the voice of reason, as he did when he was interviewed by Chris Cuomo on CNN on Nov. 17 and ended up excoriating both political parties for their inability to provide reasoned, moderate leadership. It was a refreshing, sensible take on what is wrong with our politics. I encourage you to watch the interview if you can. The question remains whether we can restore sanity.
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May our days be filled with meaning BY RABBI CARNIE SHALOM ROSE
Each year, as we prepare to read the final Torah portion in the book of Genesis, Parashat Vayechi, I am struck again by the opening verse of the portion: “And Jacob lived 17 years in the land of Egypt, so that the total span of Jacob’s lifetime came to 147 years.” The question which always gnaws at me is: Why would a Torah portion describing the death of a Patriarch be dubbed “Vayechi — and he lived ‘’ as opposed to “Vayamot—and he died”? There is no shortage of Rabbinic clarifications for this apparent anomaly. Many years ago when I was studying in Jerusalem with my late teacher Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (of blessed memory), he mentioned how these kinds of verses remind us that the authors and editors of sacred texts are not a bunch of “stuffed shirt old fuddy-duddies”, but rather brilliant minds with equally brilliant senses of humor. Anybody who ignores Rabbinic wit, will undoubtedly miss out on another facet of the genius of our great sages and venerated teachers. This year as I was reviewing the Torah portion in preparation for Shabbat, I came upon one such exquisite interpretation attributed to Rabbi Yaakov Ben Asher (c. 1269 - c. 1343), also known as Ba’al HaTurim who was an influential Medieval Rabbinic authority: “Why does the Parshah, which discusses the death of Yaakov, start with the word “Vayechi - And Yaakov lived”? Because the word “Vayechi - And he lived” has the Hebrew Letter numerical value of 34. Yaakov was in the land of the living for a total of 147 years. Of these, “he lived” and he enjoyed almost 34 of these years; the 17 years from the birth of his beloved son Yosef until the point when he was sold as a slave into Egypt, and then another 17 years when he lived in Egypt and was reunited with his cherished son, Yosef.” Having grown up in the Great White North, and being the son of a feminist poet, I was fortunately exposed to the powerful musings of Canadian poet, Jane Vance Rule (of blessed memory), a somewhat controversial figure in her era, as a writer of lesbian-themed works. Rule once noted: “It’s not the length but the quality of life that matters to me. It has always been important to me to write one sentence at a time, to live every day as if it were my last and judge it in those terms, often badly, not because it lacked grand gesture or grand passion but because it failed in the daily virtues of self-discipline, kindness, and laughter. It is love, very ordinary, human love, and not fear, which is the good teacher and the wisest judge”. Both the Ba’al HaTurim’s insight and Rule’s writings underscore a similar point. The best moments in our lives – the ones that feel full and teeming with positive energy — are those when we feel we are experiencing a sense of quality. Length of days — Arichat Yamim in Hebrew — can often be a great blessing, but only if those days are filled with meaning, consequence and love. And, as one who has now served my Kehillah for 17 glorious and existentially meaningful years, I look forward to at least 17 more uplifting and inspiring years of service to the people of our Kehilah Kedoshah, our holy community. As we turn to the final chapters of the Book of Bereshit, the Sefer that initiates all life, I pray that we each will experience many moments when we feel truly alive teeming with Gezunt — vitality and vigor! May this be God’s Blessings for us as we enter this Holy Day of rest and respite — Amen! Shabbat Shalom! Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, D.Div. is the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Senior Rabbinic Chair of Congregation B’nai Amoona and a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the d’var Torah for the Light.
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SATURDAY | Dec. 18
Calling all teens to schmooze with Nusach Hari B’nai Zion Rabbi Avi Okin about whatever is on your mind — life, Jewish stuff, not-so-Jewish stuff, concerns or questions. Teen Schmooze meets in person every Sunday on the NHBZ patio in a relaxed, informal group setting. Middle schoolers meet from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and high schoolers meet from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Refreshments are served. The program is free, and teens and families do not need to be members of NHBZ to attend. To ask questions or to RSVP, contact Okin at aviokin@nhbz.org.
SAT. & SUN. | Dec. 18-19
SUNDAY | Dec. 19 Jewish War Veterans meeting
Jewish War Veterans Post 644 meetings will take place via Zoom for the foreseeable future at 10 a.m. the third Sunday each month. For more information contact Post 644 Commander Ellis Frohman at 636-5197512.
Jews in Science series continues
Kol Rinah ’s Jews in Science series continues with a look at the work of late psychiatrist/psychologist Aaron T. Beck, considered the founder of cognitive behavior therapy. Dr. Randi MozAaron T. Beck, z’’l enter, a clinical psycholFounder of ogist, will lead the preCognitive sentation at 4 p.m. via Behavior Therapy Zoom. Visit www.kolrinahstl.org/vereinhome.html for more information or to RSVP.
MONDAY | Dec. 20 Mimi David leads ‘Mamas in Pajamas’
From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mimi David will lead “Mamas in Pajamas: Lessons for Ladies from the weekly Torah portion” (for women only), a Jewish Women’s Society event. Learn something meaningful and inspiring from the comfort of your home. Take part via Zoom by visiting zoom.us/j/9699246316 or dial in to 312-626-6799 and enter meeting ID 9699246316.
Mirowitz Center’s ‘Women and Art’ series continues
Dale Sharon will continue her four-part series (the final installment is Jan. 24) on Women and Art for the Mirowitz Center from 10 to 11 a.m. Sharon, a docent at the St. Louis Art Museum and an exhibited artist, will look at Women and Art represented in SLAM’s permanent collection. In the December and January events, she focuses
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Local Jewish organizations and congregations can submit calendar items to news@ stljewishlight.org. All items received by 5 p.m. Friday will be considered for the following week’s edition.
Teen schmooze at NHBZ
Are we at the mercy of our emotions or can we master them? Learn more about this fascinating topic when NHBZ Rabbi Ze’ev Smasons asks “EQ: Can We Master Our Emotions?” at 10:15 a.m. This talk is part of NHBZ’s weekly “Starting Points: Wisdom for Daily Living,” which features interactive discussions that explore relevant, contemporary topics. NHBZ membership is not necessary to attend and RSVPs are not required. For more information, call 314991-2100, ext. 2.
The New Jewish Theatre will present “A Little Song, a Little Dance, a Little Seltzer Down Your Pants!” starring Eric Williams and Sharon Hunter. Hunter is a New York cabaret artist who has returned home to St. Louis. Williams is an actor and comedian from St. Louis who now calls Los Angeles home. This duo will share stories and song in performances that will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Mirowitz Performing Arts Center at the J in Creve Coeur, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. Tickets are available online at newjewishtheatre.org, by phone (314-442-4283) or at the NJT Box office.
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NHBZ discussion ‘EQ: Can We Master Our Emotions?’
New Jewish Theatre presents cabaret events
JEWISH LIGHT
Tech Tutor: Hardware helper
Eric Williams and Sharon Hunter the New Jewish Theatre will perform at a pair of New Jewish Theatre cabaret events Dec. 18 and 19.
on women artists of different social eras and various art movements with vastly different working conditions and points of view. She will highlight some that inspired the world with both their extraordinary craft and their unyielding courDale Sharon age. Register for this free online program at http://bit.ly/Register_MirowitzCenter or by calling 314-7339813 or via email to joliver@mirowitzcenter. org.
23 THURSDAY | Dec. 23
LollapaJEWza returns in person at The Last Hotel
YPD’s 10th Annual LollapaJEWza will take place from 9 p.m. to midnight at The Last Hotel, 1501 Washington Ave., in downtown St. Louis. This is your chance to reunite with friends and celebrate being Jewish at the best party in town. Proof of COVID vaccination will be required to attend. Each of the first 100 registered will get a free drink. Register at JFedSTL.org/Lolla. Pre-registration online or walk-in registration at-thedoor includes an $18 donation to the 2021 Annual Campaign. For more information, contact Jeremy Goldberg at JGoldberg@ JFedSTL.org.
SATURDAY | Dec. 25 NHBZ talk on ‘The December Dilemma’
The bright twinkling lights and joyous songs of the December holiday season are all around us. As Jews, how do we strike a balance between retaining our Jewish identity while still being a part of our non-Jewish world? Join the discussion when NHBZ Rabbi Ze’ev Smason discusses “The December Dilemma: Living Jewishly in a Non-Jewish World” at 10:15 a.m. This talk is part of NHBZ’s weekly “Starting Points: Wisdom for Daily Living,” which features interactive discussions that explore relevant, contemporary topics. NHBZ membership is not necessary to attend and RSVPs are not required. For more information, call 314991-2100, ext. 2.
STARTING | Jan. 6 Melton course on history of Arab-Israeli Conflict post-1967 See related news brief on page 7A.
FRIDAY | Dec. 7 Betsy Cohen to discuss her new book at Temple Emanuel
At 7 p.m., Temple Emanuel’s own Betsy Cohen will be the Shabbat guest speaker discussing her new book, “Welcome to the U.S.A.-You’re Hired!: A Guide for Foreign-Born People Seeking Jobs.” Additionally, Cohen will give an update on the Afghan and other refugees coming to St. Louis and ways community members can support these new families. Join via Temple Emanuel’s livestream, available at www.testl.org/ stream.
For those looking for assistance with their technology devices and wanting to acquire new skills, in-person appointments are available at the Mirowitz Center. Tech Tutor’s free in-person classes take place every Monday from 1 to 3:30 p.m., in 30-minute increments and are led by two extraordinarily qualified instructors, Larry Edison and Jim Salih. Please plan to wear a mask, sanitize your hands and maintain social distance. Register online at http://bit.ly/Register_MirowitzCenter or by calling 314-733-9813 or via email to joliver@ mirowitzcenter.org
Bible study with Rabbi Shook
Congregation Temple Israel Rabbi Emeritus Mark L. Shook will hold a regular Saturday morning Bible study at 9:30 a.m. through spring 2022. The St. Louis community is invited to join via Zoom. To join the class via Zoom or for more info, email Shook at mshook@ti-stl.org. No previous Bible Study experience is necessary.
Discuss important issues of the day in Mirowitz Center series
Do you find yourself talking at the TV when listening to the daily news? The news can be upsetting, controversial and exciting, and if you would like to discuss the issues with others, join community facilitators Harvey Gerstein and Sheldon Enger each week to share your thoughts and opinions on some of the important issues of the day. The online Mirowitz Center talks take place Tuesdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Register online at http://bit.ly/Register_MirowitzCenter or by calling 314-733-9813 or via email to joliver@mirowitzcenter.org
Rabbi leads weekly meditation
Join Rabbi Andrea Goldstein at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and 5 p.m. on Thursdays for mindfulness meditation sits. Incorporating lessons from the weekly Torah portion, as well as stories, rituals and symbols of the season, No meditation experience necessary. Questions? Contact Stacy Jespersen at sjespersen@sestl.org.
FRIDAY | Dec. 24 Aish Family Shabbat Dinner
At 5:15 p.m. join Rabbi Yosef and Mimi David, and Rabbi Shmuel and Chana Greenwald for a warm Shabbos evening. Rabbi Greenwald will give a short learners service at 5:15 followed by a delicious dinner with homemade challah at 6 p.m. The evening takes place at U City Shul, 700 North & South Road. The cost is $20 per adult, $12 per child (ages 5 - 11); kids under 5 are free. RSVP by Tuesday, Dec 21 by calling 314862-2474 or emailing cwolff@aish.com.
Betsy Cohen will be a guest speaker on Jan. 7 at Temple Emanuel, discussing her book ‘Welcome to the U.S.A.-You’re Hired!: A Guide for Foreign-Born People Seeking Jobs.’
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A rabbi and a shrink walk into a podcast...ethics ensue “I thought he was funny and interesting,” she said. “I love the fact that he is worldly, and I love his stories. I’m super-practical, he’s super-theoretical. I thought those oppo-
BY BILL MOTCHAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
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hen is it OK to mislead, deceive or outright lie? What causes hate? How should a person deal with a friend or relative who dismisses COVID19 protection? A weekly podcast tackles these weighty questions — and some lighter ones. “The Rabbi & the Shrink” is all about ethics. St. Louis area Rabbi Yonason Goldson offers his take on ethics from the perspective of Jewish values and the Torah. His partner (the shrink) is Dr. Margarita Gurri, a Catholic Cuban psychologist who taps into her practical side during their lively chats. Their podcast launched early this year, and the pair is building an audience by taking on any subject that can uncover the secrets of successful relationships in business, family and community. “Ultimately, ethics is all about prioritizing,” Goldson said. “Things that are black and white should be easy when it’s obviously right or wrong. But most of life is in gray areas.” Goldson is familiar with the search for that balance. It’s also the subject of his latest book about ethics, “Grappling with the Gray: An Ethical Handbook for Personal THE PODCAST: “The Rabbi and the Shrink” is available to download from amazon.com, audible.com, podcasts.apple.com and Spotify.
Rabbi Yonason Goldson partnered with psychologist Margarita Gurri (above) on a podcast, “The Rabbi & the Shrink.” GOLDSON PHOTO: BILL MOTCHAN
Success and Business Prosperity.” A retired teacher, Goldson was participating in an online panel discussion when he first met his podcast co-host. “We just had a chemistry, and Dr. Gurri contacted me a short time later and said she’d been thinking of starting a podcast and wondered if I’d be interested,” Goldson
said. “I said, ‘Sounds great!’ I really didn’t want to do the hard work of producing it, and that’s one of her strengths. I’m a philosopher, and she’s very good with the details. So it was a good match.” Gurri quickly determined that Goldson would help her achieve the balance she wanted for the podcast.
sites would work well together.” The goal of “The Rabbi & the Shrink” is to improve communication and critical thinking, Gurri said. “I was disappointed at how Americans were dealing with challenges on social See PODCAST on page 10B
Fifty years ago, the Grateful Dead crashed a St. Louis bar mitzvah JORDAN PALMER CHIEF DIGITAL CONTENT OFFICER
There is a saying, “It’s the stuff of legends,” and it usually means the story isn’t true. The following story about the band the Grateful Dead crashing a bar mitzvah in St. Louis really is the stuff of legends, and it’s all true. “It’s true.” That is a quote from Mark Slosberg, who was a living witness. Members of the Grateful Dead crashed a bar mitzvah party on the evening of Dec. 12, 1971, got up on stage, played music, and gave everyone in the room a story to tell forever. In 1971, Slosberg was a 10th grader at Ladue Horton Watkins High School and was the bass player of a band called Spring Rain. Also in the band were fellow 10th graders Sherri Weingart, Doug Heller, John McSweeny, Steve Fisher and Bruce Byers. On this night, the band was at the Airport Marriott Hotel, playing at the bar mitzvah party of Richie Gerber. “This was my bar mitzvah in 1971. The party was on a Sunday night. It was kid party only,” said Richard Gerber, now an attorney in St. Louis, speaking to the hosts of The Good Ole’ Grateful Dead podcast. “At that time, I was not into rock ‘n roll. I don’t think I even knew who the
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Grateful Dead were.” Gerber and his 100-plus friends would soon get to know the Grateful Dead. The band had just played two shows at the Fox Theater on Dec. 9-10 and remained in town before heading to Michigan. Whenever the band played in St. Louis, they always stayed at the Airport Hilton. As parties go, people drift in, and apparently, some of the guests met several members of the band in the lobby. The band members signed autographs and gave posters away. “My sister Jo, comes up to me while I’m playing and says ‘the Grateful Dead are here,’” remembers Slosberg. “I told her to go away, but she insisted I look, and then, there they were.” According to the podcast, Richard Gerber said it was his sister who invited the band to play on stage. Not wanting to interrupt Spring Rain’s set, the Dead musicians said they would wait until the band took a break. “Jerry Garcia was the only one who wasn’t there, but everyone else was there plus Marmaduke,” said Slosberg on the podcast. “All of the kids used the pay phones to call their older brothers and sisters, and so within 25 minutes there were high schoolers arriving in the lobby while the Dead played.”
The Grateful Dead (from left, Bill Kreutzmann, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh) in 1970. PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS The Dead played a few songs, and then returned the stage back to Spring Rain, but the Dead band members remained in the room enjoying their show. As the set wound down, the members of the Dead came back to the stage and joined Spring Rain to continue the show. “We jammed jointly on some blues changes,” said Slosberg. “Spring Rain probably started out with a 12-bar thing to get the set going and it just ramped up from there.” Afterward, the Dead stuck around for quite a while, talking to the kids and parents, but eventually retreated to their rooms. Spring Rain still had some work ahead of them, as Slosberg recalls: “We still had to break down all of the equipment for the night.” All the teens went home with a memorable experience to tell
about their crazy night. “It was the talk of the high school for years to come.”
Sorry, No Photos In the podcast, the hosts asked Richard Gerber about photos. “Many photos were taken. We had at least 15 pictures of the Dead playing and interacting with Spring Rain,” said Gerber. “I remember one picture with one of the band members standing behind my sister Debbie, who was holding a guitar, trying to show her a few things (Debbie was taking lessons at the time). Unfortunately, my mother had a fire at her home years ago which took many of the photo albums… None of the Dead photos survived.” In essence, the story became the stuff of legends. And this stuff of legends is true.
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7 Jewish facts about ‘West Side Story’ DR. YVETTE ALT MILLER AISH HATORAH RESOURCES, AISH.COM
“West Side Story,” Steven Spielberg’s remake of the 1961 movie classic that opened Dec. 10, is focusing attention on this iconic American musical. Here are seven little-known Jewish facts about “West Side Story.”
A scene from the 2021 film version of ‘West Side Story,’ which opened in theaters Dec. 10.
1. It was supposed to be about Jews and Catholics. Choreographer Jerome Robbins was the first person to propose making a Broadway musical based on the classic “Romeo and Juliet” theme of star-crossed lovers who fall in love despite the hatred their families and communities feel for each other. The original title was “East Side Story.” In 1949, Robbins approached composer Leonard Bernstein and playwright Arthur Laurents with his idea: a musical about a Jewish girl and an Italian Catholic boy living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan who fall in love. The story was to take place against the backdrop of Easter and highlight anti-Jewish feelings in the Catholic community. An Italian gang in this version was to be named the Jets and a Jewish gang was to be called the Emeralds. (In the final form of “West Side Story,” the Emeralds are mentioned once in the context of a previous fight with the Jets.) The project went nowhere for years, until Bernstein and Laurents found themselves staying at the same hotel in Los Angeles. While sitting by the pool, they perused a newspaper which described a Puerto Rican youth gang. They decided to pursue their Romeo and Juliet-like project, but this time with Puerto Ricans squaring off against Italians in New York. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1957. Four years later it was adapted for the silver screen and won Oscars for best picture and best director.
PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX
2. Its playwright was known for tackling antisemitism. Playwright Arthur Laurents wrote the book for “West Side Story.” Laurents was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn in 1917. His original name was Arthur Levine; he later explained that he changed it to the less Jewish sounding Laurents because having a Jewish surname made it all but impossible to find work. During World War II, Laurents joined the army and was assigned to write training films for the army and plays for army radio. Inspired by his time in uniform, in 1945 he wrote the play Home of the Brave about a Jewish soldier who experiences antisemitism and betrayal at the hands of antisemitic soldiers in the American army. Home of the Brave ran for over a year on Broadway, reminding audiences of the antisemitism present in the United States. (In a 1949 movie based on the play, the protagonist was changed to an African American soldier who faces racism in the forces.) When he started working
on “West Side Story” in its original form, describing prejudice against Jews, he wrote about experiences that he himself had lived. Laurents remained active in Broadway and addressed antisemitism in later plays too. In 2010, at the age of 90, he directed a revival of “West Side Story” on Broadway. For that production, he hired a Puerto Rican artist to translate the songs “A Boy Like That” and “I Feel Pretty” into Spanish. (The artist was none other than a young Lin-Manuel Miranda.) 3. Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein saw “West Side Story” as a plea of tolerance. The inspired music that makes “West Side Story” so compelling was written by Leonard Bernstein, a son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine who moved to Massachusetts. Bernstein was born in 1918 and his parents hoped he’d become a rabbi. Instead, Bernstein was drawn to music. He showed musical brilliance at a young age. By 25 he’d already been appointed conductor of the New York Philharmonic, an unheard of opportunity for such a young man; he was the very first American-born conductor to lead a major orchestra. Bernstein was always proud of his Jewish identity. During World War II, the Jewish composer Serge Koussevitzky, his friend and teacher, tried to persuade Bernstein to change his last name to Burns in order to hide his Jewishness and have more professional opportunities. Bernstein “lost a night’s sleep over it” he later recalled, then went back to Koussevitzky and said, “I had decided to make it as Leonard Bernstein or not at all.” Bernstein first traveled to Israel in 1947,
before the establishment of the State, and conducted the Palestine Philharmonic (later called the Israel Philharmonic). He returned to conduct in Israel many more times. One of his most memorable concerts took place in the Israeli city of Beersheba in 1948. weeks after Israeli soldiers had captured the town in the Negev Desert, the United Nations ordered them to withdraw. The Israeli troops refused and stayed in the town, now a major cultural center in Israel. Bernstein performed for a packed crowd of soldiers, playing a program of Mozart, Beethoven and (Jewish composer) George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The U.S. Library of Congress owns Bernstein’s copy of “Romeo and Juliet,” the Shakespearean play on which “West Side Story” is based. “An out and out plea for racial tolerance,” Bernstein wrote in his copy of Romeo and Juliet. “West Side Story” seems to be a version of that plea, calling on American audiences to eschew prejudice and hate. 4. Jewish composer Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics. Bernstein brought the Jewish composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim on board to write the lyrics. It was the first major show that Sondheim (who recently died at the age of 91) ever worked on. Sondheim never had much Jewish education — he later said that Leonard Bernstein had to teach him to pronounce “Yom Kippur.” 5. Choreographer Jerome Robbins, a closeted Jew, captured the spirit of 1961 dance. Born in 1918 as Jerome Rabinowitz, Jerome Robbins grew up in a warm Jewish
Above, from left: Playwright Arthur Laurents, composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. LAURENTS PHOTO: BERNARD GOTFRYD; BERNSTEIN PHOTO: JACK MITCHELL; ROBBINS PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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home and became a dancer. One of his first performances was in the Jewish-themed piece The Brothers Ashkenazi, at the Yiddish Art Theatre in 1937. Robbins became deeply conflicted about his Jewish identity, hiding it for years and changing his name to the non-Jewish sounding Robbins. When he was choreographing West Side Story, he went undercover to a high school dance in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Harlem to gain inspiration. On the set of “West Side Story,” he enforced a strict method acting protocol: dancers were to remain in character even when they weren’t rehearsing; dancers playing Sharks and Jets were never to mix. This led to some real-world resentment, with dancers who were playing Sharks playing practical jokes on those who were playing Jets. (At least two actors broke this rule: Chita Rivera — the star who played a Shark — fell in love with Tony Mordente, who played a Jet, and they married each other.) 6. Today, New York’s West Side is home to robustly Jewish neighborhoods. The West Side of Manhattan today has a sizeable Jewish population. One 2013 study found that 43,900 Jewish families lived in the Upper West Side, the area between about 59th Street and 110th Street on the west side of Central Park. (That’s larger than the number of Jewish households in all of Cleveland.) 7. Steven Spielberg’s 2021 version brings together today’s Jewish movie heavyweights. The 2021 version of “West Side Story” has some serious Jewish talent behind it. It’s directed by Steven Spielberg, who also made “Schindler’s List” in 1993. The story has been updated by Jewish playwright Tony Kushner (who previously worked with Spielberg on the 2005 movie Munich about the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972). Spielberg has noted that “As a Jew I am aware of how important the existence of Israel is for the survival of us all. I am a proud Jew. I am worried by the growing antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the world.” Like Leonard Bernstein before him, hopefully Spielberg will bring a measure of tolerance and beauty into the world with his own acclaimed version of “West Side Story.” Dr. Alt Miller lives with her family in Chicago, and has lectured internationally on Jewish topics. Her book “Angels at the table: a Practical Guide to Celebrating Shabbat” takes readers through the rituals of Shabbat and more, explaining the full beautiful spectrum of Jewish traditions with warmth and humor.
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December 15, 2021
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AMY FENSTER BROWN
Page 3B
2021 in the rear view: Masks, Oreos…and Britney! February
BY AMY FENSTER BROWN
Remember a year ago, as 2020 came to a close, so many of us thought 2021 would usher in all the positive changes we needed and wanted? A new president. The end of COVID. The promise of sticking to a New Year’s resolution to lose those last few, or 20, pounds. Now 2021 is coming to a close, and it’s not that much rosier, is it? An uninvited COVID variant showed up and brought along an extra cousin or two. Political fights are still around and, let’s be honest, are never going to go away no matter who is in office. We read upsetting and unsettling news every day. All the news stations do wrapups of the biggest stories of the year at the end of December. So, I probably should do the same. I present to you “Amy’s 2021 Wrap-up of the Biggest Stuff That Happened.”
Groundhog Day kicks off the month, and I am always hopeful our good friend Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow because that means spring will be here soon. Punxsutawney Phil is one of our most famous rodents, probably a little more known than Michael Jackson’s best friend Ben, but not quite the rodent royalty of, say, Mickey Mouse. Mickey and friends have so much success with their theme parks that I think would be unattainable by Phil because guests would never know how to dress for the weather. February also brings us Fat Tuesday or, as I call it, Tuesday.
March After a late February approval, COVID vaccines became available to us, rolling out in stages. And the race began to get an appointment. It should have been filmed for a reality show.
January
April
The year kicked off with what was possibly the biggest news story of the year: the debut of the gluten-free Oreo. People who eat gluten with reckless abandon, I envy you, and I have since my celiac disease diagnosis in 1999. That was back before avoiding gluten was cool. Over the years, a gluten-free version of so many favorites have hit the store shelves. The iconic Oreo in gluten-free form was the icing on the cookie cake for me. It made me feel normal, like those left-handed kids in the 1970s who were presented special lefty scissors so they could keep up with the Joneses while cutting their construction paper projects.
The month of injuries at chez Brown, also known as the month the Brown family met their health insurance deductible for 2021. One kid broke his leg in two places playing soccer. That’s why I don’t play soccer. A couple of days later, the other kid broke his finger playing flag football. That’s why I don’t play flag football. Mama kept Monthly columnist Amy Fenster Brown is married to Jeff and has two teenage sons, Davis and Leo. She volunteers for several Jewish not-for-profit groups. Fenster Brown is an Emmy Award-winning TV news writer and counts time with family and friends, talking and eating peanut butter among her hobbies.
her leg bones intact so she could drive to the orthopedist, and she kept her fingers safe so she could pay the orthopedist bills.
May This is when the CDC told us vaccinated people wouldn’t have to wear masks in many public places. That went well. I had just gotten back to my routine of eating samples at Costco when so many of us realized we should still keep the masks on. There went my lip gloss plans.
June School let out for the summer, which meant my kids’ pesky alarm clocks would be on vacation. A win for everyone! We took a family trip to Phoenix during an insane heat wave of temperatures at 115 degrees most days. A dry heat is just as annoying as a moist heat, so annoying, in fact, that it made me use the word “moist.” Other words that give me the creeps include “encrusted,” “wound” and “salve.” To be extra cruel, fate assigned me annoying words that come together beautifully in a sentence: Put some salve on that moist, encrusted wound. Gag.
July July in St. Louis was also hot, probably because it was July in St. Louis. The weather segment on the local news always makes me laugh when the anchor says to the meteorologist, “Wow, it looks like it’s going to be really, really hot today. What’s with this heat wave?” Just once, I would love for the meteorologist to reply, “Well, you know, it is July. I mean, you do have a calendar, right?” Also, big news: My kids were both fully vaccinated! As my older son was getting his shot, I watched my DNA come to life as he said sarcastically to the pharmacist, “Wow, I can hardly feel the microchip going in.” Davis = apple, Mommy = tree.
August Back to school time! I wasn’t counting the days or anything. The milestone celebrated at the Brown house is that both kids are now high schoolers. Some might shed a tear of sadness knowing their little babies are growing up. Others might shed a tear of joy knowing they no longer have to drive to two schools each day. I bet you can guess which tear I shed.
September We rang in the Jewish New Year, 5782,
As my older son was getting his COVID shot, I watched my DNA come to life as he said sarcastically to the pharmacist, “Wow, I can hardly feel the microchip going in.” by celebrating the High Holidays, some in person at synagogues, others virtually from home. I love a festive time, and September 2021 did not disappoint with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. This year, as in years past, I celebrated my late father’s most famous quote: “Since I’m diabetic, I can’t fast for Yom Kippur, so instead I only eat foods I really hate.” — Ron Fenster z”l.
October Before Halloween came and went, many stores set out Christmas decorations. This is my most favorite time of year because I am unleashed to express myself creatively See AMY FENSTER BROWN on page 5B
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Kennedy Center honorees and the Sondheim-Spielberg bond I mention all this because the 2021 honors are something special and it’s really worth watching. The gala audience was reportedly “giddy” as they got to enjoy Kennedy Center Honors mark “real” live entertainment from the Kennedy ‘return to normalcy’ Center stage (saluting the honorees). The Kennedy Center Honors are annuCBS will broadcast the Kennedy Center ally given to five people in the performing Honors gala concert at 8 p.m. (CST) arts for their lifetime contribution to Wednesday, Dec. 22. The concert is a fourAmerican culture. The honorees this year hour event that CBS edits down to two are LORNE MICHAELS, 77; BETTE hours. This year, for the first time, the CBS MIDLER, 76; Motown Records gala footage will also stream on founder Berry Gordy; Justino Paramount+ (formerly CBS AllDiaz, a Puerto Rican opera Access). CBS never reruns its singer; and legendary singer/ gala coverage or makes it availsongwriter Joni Mitchell. able on-demand. I don’t believe The honors are a weekendit will be on-demand on long event that this year took Paramount+ either. Best bet: place on Dec. 5 and 6. The honwatch live on CBS and, if you ors normally include a dinner can, DVR record it. sponsored by the State Midler was feted by BEANIE Department, a private recepFELDSTEIN, 28, Kate tion at the White House and a Bette Midler (above) Baldwin, and Taylor Trensch, Sunday evening gala public and Lorne Michaels who co-starred with Midler in concert at the Kennedy Center. are among this year’s her hit 2017 Broadway revival In welcoming remarks, Kennedy Center of “Hello, Dolly!” They took the Secretary of State ANTONY honorees gala concert stage and sang a BLINKEN, 59, noted the vital Midler favorite, “You Gotta role culture can play in Have Friends.” advancing international underGOLDIE HAWN, 76, singer standing. MELISSA MANCHESTER, As the Washington Post put 70, and BARBARA HERSHEY, it: The most recent honors 73, (who co-starred with Midler events were a return to normalin “Beaches”) told warm aneccy. The awards began in 1978 d o te s about M i d le r and before 2017, a sitting presi(Manchester’s parents were dent almost never missed an Jewish; Hawn’s mother was honors event. However, Donald Jewish, and Hershey’s father Trump chose not to attend any honors was Jewish). event during his term. The 2020 honors LORNE MICHAELS, born Lorne events did not take place last December, as Lipowitz, co-created “Saturday Night they usually do, because of the pandemic Live” (“SNL”) in 1975 and he remains its — honorees got their award in a virtual very much “hands-on” producer. To keep a event hit show a hit show for 45 years is an Now that availabletook on threeplace popular in March 2021. BY NATE BLOOM
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Above, Stephen Sondheim in 1987. PHOTO BY OLIVER MORRIS/ GETTY IMAGES
At right, director Steven Spielberg and actress Rita Moreno on the set of the new ‘West Side Story.’ PHOTO: NIKO TAVERNISE/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS
objectively remarkable record. At the gala, a series of SNL “Weekend Update” hosts took the stage (Kevin Nealon, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Colin Jost, and Michael Che). They appeared in a mockup of a television set and, in classic “SNL” way, they honored Michaels through barbed comedic comments about his shortcomings and quirks.
Stephen S. and Steven S. Shortly after STEPHEN SONDHEIM’s death, the website CinemaBlend published a moving piece about Sondheim’s last communication w ith ST E V E N SPIELBERG, who directed the new film version of “West Side Story” (Sondheim wrote the lyrics for “West Side” songs.). After seeing a special preview screening of the new “West Side Story,” Sondheim sent Spielberg a simple note. Spielberg explained that due to their shared initials, he sometimes called Sondheim ‘SS1,’ and Sondheim
sometimes called Spielberg “SS2.” The note read: “SS2, you done good buddy boy. —SS1.” Spielberg went on to say that he was “heartbroken” and that during the pandemic “SS1 and SS2” became great friends. They bonded over the making of the new “West Side Story” and through their mutual love of older movies. During the pandemic and quarantine, Spielberg said, they spent a year-and-a-half exchanging films with each other and wrote many long e-mails to each other about the films. Here’s a personal story: Rita Moreno, who turned 90 on Dec. 11, won an Oscar for her performance in the original 1961 “West Side Story” film and has a smallish supporting role in the new film. About 10 years ago, Moreno hired the then-girlfriend of a close friend to be her housekeeper. This girlfriend had had a very rough life. Moreno couldn’t have been kinder to her. Nice to know that people who seem “nice” in interviews really are mensches.
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Healthwatch is a monthly feature focusing on a health- or fitness-related topic with a Jewish angle. The feature is published the second edition of each month. Have a suggestion for a potential Healthwatch subject? Email news@stljewishlight.org.
At the of Itboost All Brain and autism research in Israel getCenter major BY ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN ISRAEL21C.ORG
Two major grants from the Azrieli Foundation will advance brain research and autism research in Israel. The foundation donated $50 million to the Weizmann Institute of Science to establish the interdisciplinary Azrieli Institute for Brain and Neural Sciences on its campus in Rehovot. “It will create a home for all the Weizmann researchers studying neuroscience, who will, under one roof, work together to gain a detailed understanding of how the brain develops and how it functions. I’m confident that this new and unique research environment will enable the next major leap in brain research,” said Weizmann Institute President Prof. Alon Chen.
The Azrieli Foundation also donated establishing regional subsites and con- partner with clinicians and study large 13for floors cornerof of Clayton Hanley, some $13 million for a major expansion of structing a new building atRising SUMC cut- at the numbers childrenand with autism over Israel’s existing National Autism Research ting-edge research in genetics/bioinformatextended periods of time. The Clarendale Clayton is quite simply the place to see andAzrieli Centre in Beersheva. ics, biomarker-detection, and neuroimaging Foundation contribution will enable be seen. Home of unforgettable moments and starting us to To be renamed the Azrieli National using samples and data from across Israel. do this on a national scale, by building a point for each day’s adventures in the heart of Clayton. Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental The center also will provide services to system of national sites in leading clinical Coming Summer 2021. Research, the facility is a collaboration autism researchers throughout the country. centers where autism is diagnosed and between scientists from Ben-Gurion “Our research has demonstrated that treated,” said Dinstein. University of the Negev (BGU) and clini- autism is actually a family of multiple disorSUMC child and adolescent psychiatrist cians from Soroka University Medical ders, with a variety of symptoms that are Dr. Gal Meiri, medical director of the cenI N Fbig O RMAT N said C E Nthat T E R“combining N OW O P clinical EN! Center (SUMC), the Negev’s only hospital. caused by different reasons. The chal- I O ter, and sciOriginally established in 2019 by the lenge is to determine how many types of entific excellence will lead to critical CALL 314-789-8173. Israeli Ministry of Science and autism there are, how to best identify them breakthroughs in the way we currently Technology, the center hosts translational early, and most importantly, what interven- diagnose and treat children with autism. research hoped to revolutionize diagnosis tions work best for each type,” said Prof. We see this daily in the clinic where the techniques and interventions for autism Ilan Dinstein, director of the center and a use of research tools as part of the diagnoIndependent Living ■ Assisted Living ■ Memory Care spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neuro- member of BGU’s departments of psychol- sis and follow-up procedures improves the Community Information Center developmental conditions. ogy and cognitive and brain sciences. quality of clinical care that we are giving ClarendaleClaytonLIFE@ClarendaleClayton.com Clayton Road 7700 Clayton Roadhave #103 to the children The Azrieli donation is earmarked for 7651“To determine this, scientists and their families.”
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Amy Fenster Brown: Here’s my 2021 recap CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3B
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in a more public way than I get to from January through September. How, you ask? With monogrammed Christmas stockings! When employees aren’t around, I take a chance at being naughty instead of nice by shuffling the stockings to spell out words in the middle of the display. Body parts, political statements and less-thantasteful expressions I’m not allowed to print here are created to surprise and delight strangers in a move I consider a random act of kindness. I’m like a chubby Jewish elf spreading holiday cheer. Plus, I figure Santa’s not really watching to keep track of me for one of his famous lists because I don’t celebrate Christmas.
November Britney was freed, you guys. Britney was freed! Why do I care so much about this particular piece of pop culture? I don’t know. Celebrity news is my hobby, and I tend to really get into Hollywood happenings. Also, in November, we celebrated Thanksgiving and Hanukkah just days apart from each other, and I’m still full just thinking about it.
December We’re only halfway through the month and the biggest highlight for me thus far was watching reboots of shows and movies. “Sex and the City” started up again. There were live versions of “Diff’rent Strokes” and “Facts of Life,” the latter featuring an actress who played Mrs. Garrett better than the original. I watched it about four times to make sure. I still can’t believe they never called me to play Natalie. The Steven Spielberg version of “West Side Story” was released. My review has two points. One, it was magical. Two, as Maria and Tony are talking about being together for the rest of their lives, how is it that not one person says to them, “Guys, you just met yesterday?” It’s time to wrap up 2021 and look forward to 2022. Do you think I should kick off the New Year with some predictions? Email me at news@stljewishlight.org and let me know what you think we have to look forward to in 2022. In January, I’ll stare into my proverbial crystal ball and let you know what to expect in the months ahead.
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2021-2022 Ohr Chadash Teen Page Staff Editor-in-Chief: Jordan Eisen Staff members: Idan Lerner Molly Levine Poppy Orchard Noah Sentnor Daniel Shanker Katie Silver Ryan Silver Avital Vorobeychik Advisor: Caroline Goldenberg
High school students discuss learning as pandemic persists BY DANIEL SHANKER YESHIVAT KADIMAH HIGH SCHOOL, FRESHMAN
Remember when the world shut down? Short of stopping orbit, the globe was pretty much non-functioning. Through all the in-one-ear-and-out-the-other information, one mantra I’ve often heard was, “It will be a story to tell your children… and their children.” The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted different people in so many different ways. For some, it was an inconvenience; for others, it meant financial catastrophe. For students, it’s been one crossroad after another. So, it seems fitting to ask: What have the past three school years looked like? How has education evolved? Akiva Greenberg, a junior at Yeshivat Kadimah High School and a Young Israel congregant, said, “After [COVID-19] started spreading a lot in the U.S., [the school] shut everything down, [and] they quickly got on Zoom. The last day was Friday, and the following Monday we had already started Zoom school.” Zoom has been a tremendous help for schools, but it certainly has its shortcomings. “It wasn’t as organized as I hoped it would be,” said Ben Olivero, a freshman at John Burroughs School, who is unaffiliated. “We kind of just had to learn how to roll with that. I didn’t go to school [in-person] until the next school year.” After the summer brought new information, schools were able to reassess and
rescript their guidelines. For the time still spent on Zoom, though, challenges didn’t disappear. “The classrooms can lag, there can be issues getting into the classroom, there can be issues where it’s hard to understand,” said Olivero. “You just don’t get as good of an understanding without being there in the room.” Olivero had a different experience last year. “Every other day I would go to [in-person] school, and the days that I wasn’t at school, the other cohort would be there,” he said. “I would be on Zoom on the days that I wasn’t at school, obviously. And that’s pretty much how it went until after spring break, when I went to school [in person].” Each hurdle was met with the ever-changing guidelines, which—by their ever-changing nature—made them difficult to properly overcome. However, with vaccines now widely available for almost everyone, schools have settled into more of a routine. “This year the precautions don’t make it more difficult at all,” Greenberg said. “It’s just very minor things like wearing a mask or distancing. It doesn’t really affect classes, unlike the Zoom learning.” Despite tremendous progress with COVID, schools still implement precautions to remain safe and decrease the likelihood of breakthrough cases.
PHOTO CREDIT: STOCK.ADOBE.COM
“Some teachers prefer that the students wear masks in their classes, and some don’t,” Greenberg said. “Really, the teachers can kind of form their own precautions [within school rules]. The students just have to follow whatever precautions are set in that specific class.” “There aren’t too many precautions this year,” Olivero added. “We got it easy. There are no cohorts. Everyone’s in school, [and] everyone has to wear a mask unless you’re doing sports or you’re outside. Most of the time they will say something if your mask is below your nose or you’re not wearing it indoors.” Schools have varying policies regarding Zooming. “[Zooming] is not allowed [at Burroughs],” Olivero said, while Greenberg said that at Kadimah, “the option is still available if the need arises.”
Both schools have high vaccination rates, and while COVID policies have lessened and people’s thoughts on them have evolved, they are no less respected. “It’s gone pretty smoothly,” Olivero said. “It’s a small price to pay for us to come to school.” “[Rules have] been followed pretty well. I haven’t seen any pushback,” Greenberg said. Ideally, schools won’t have to bear precautions for much longer. “Hopefully there will be a point where, if you have COVID, you can just walk into a pharmacy and say that you need to get medicine for it, and they’ll just give you it,” Greenberg said. Olivero added: “People should follow the rules set in place even if they don’t agree with them, and they should set a good example for others.”
Meet EHA’s new head of school Rabbi Shmuel Miller BY AVITAL VOROBEYCHIK YESHIVAT KADIMAH HIGH SCHOOL, FRESHMAN
Rabbi Shmuel Miller was named Epstein Hebrew Academy’s (EHA) head of school for the 2021 school year and has done a phenomenal job thus far. From the minute Miller walks into school, the atmosphere feels lighter and more welcoming. Every morning, Miller joins principal Itta Boyko and many other faculty members outside to greet each child. However, even though they may start out the same, every day is unique for Miller. “The course of the day is time divided into supporting teachers, building relationships with people who are interested in the school—could be supporters or future families—there’s always an element of surprise each and every day,” said Miller. In addition to working in his office and spending time in meetings, Miller also emphasizes interacting with the students. “I spend time going into classes, so the teachers see my presence, and I get to see the students, which reminds me why I work in the first place,” said Miller. Although this is Miller’s first time being in the position of “head of school,” he has had similar experiences. Prior to coming to EHA, he served as regional director for New England NCSY for 10 years where he built extensive programming, managed staff and created a network of supporters. He was also the executive director of an outreach
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shul in South Africa, so he is very comfortable in leadership positions. Every Friday, at the end of the school day, Miller holds a ruach assembly for the early childhood and elementary students. Although Friday afternoon ruach assemblies are nothing new at EHA, he has reinvigorated the tradition with his own unique style. “When I hear the word ‘ruach,’ what comes to mind is music—it’s how I relate to spirituality,” said Miller. “We are not giving out any prizes, the decorum is wonderful and I think one of the best parts is when the middle school comes down, without being asked to come down. The goal is to end the week to prepare for Shabbat and a week together. Let’s use this opportunity to unite the school together and keep it simple.” Miller connects easily with the students and teachers. Students light up as soon as he walks in the classroom and the teachers feel comfortable reaching out to him when they need support. “When students and teachers feel valued and supported, we thrive,” he said. “Just like at home, when our children feel valued and supported at home, they thrive at home. It’s a challenging balance; I’m not a teacher in a classroom, but I want to set a tone in the school. That takes time. “I like it when the kids run to school, and I like it when they run home because it means they enjoy where they are running to in both directions.”
Rabbi Shmuel Miller
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COMMENTARY: JORDAN’S JOTS
A plea for MLB to adapt BY JORDAN EISEN PARKWAY NORTH HIGH SCHOOL, SENIOR
In the future, I hope we can cite Dec. 2, 2021 as the day that MLB saved itself, not the day that it rendered itself even more obsolete. On that fateful day, the MLB lockout began, and no one has a clue as to when or how it will end. However, I don’t see this as an inconvenience, rather a catalyst for change in a sport that desperately needs to adapt. As someone who grew up going to baseball games, wrote their college essays about baseball and hopes to pursue a career in sports analytics, when would you think the last time I watched the entirety of a baseball game on TV was? Maybe the World Series? Perhaps during the Cardinals’ historic 17-game win streak? Surely at least sometime this season? While those should all be extremely logical guesses based on my genuine passion for sports, the last time I recall watching a full baseball game was in 2020 when I had nothing else to do (and that comes from someone who tries to dedicate 10 ½ hours every Sunday to watching football). As the youngest of 435 members of “The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational,” I think that it’s appropriate to say that if you can’t get me to watch one of your games, chances are slim at getting anyone else my age to do so. This should not be the case. Now, more than ever, baseball is laden with young, international talent like never before, and they have the ability to utilize social media to connect with their young audiences. The likes of “Japanese Babe Ruth” Shohei Ohtani and wunderkind Juan Soto provide the MLB with the perfect selection of players to market to international youth, yet it has failed. In order to resolve the lockout, compromises will be made and things will change; it’s just a matter of what. Yes, reconsidering contract structures, arbi-
Nutella-banana crêpes are simple and simply delicious LADUE HORTON WATKINS HIGH SCHOOL, SENIOR
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tration, player options, etc. are extremely important to maintaining the game, but the MLB must think outside the box and act somewhat radically to reignite young peoples’ love for this sport. There are confounding circumstances far beyond my understanding, but those involved in making these altering decisions must at least be flexible and forward thinking in matters concerning free streaming, redesigning the ball (again) to cater towards a more active game, shortening the season, etc. If the MLB continues on the path that they’ve been on for most of the 21st century, the sport will turn from America’s pastime to America’s past. This column isn’t to (completely) sound off on the MLB’s poor management recently; instead, I wish to shed light on just how grim their future could be. This is a plea for the MLB to adapt while the opportunity is right in front of them and effectively save the future of the sport that I grew up on.
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COOKIN’ WITH KATESTER
BY KATIE SILVER
Listen to Jordan Eisen’s podcast “Field of Vision Sports” in which he interviews professional guests from ESPN, CBS, etc. wherever you get your podcasts or join 7,000 people in following @fov_sports on Instagram.
December 15, 2021
Crêpes? If you’re like me, this is a dessert (or entrée) that you probably don’t think of very often. That is until I had a strange conversation with my mom; then they really rose to the forefront of my mind. “Katie, I just bought a crêpe pan.” “Why?” “It’ll be fun. New family tradition?” From there, my mom proceeded to make my brother and I a delicious Nutella-banana crêpe. For the next few
MORE ONLINE Check out Katie Silver’s video on how to make Nutella-banana crêpes: stljewishlight.org/multimedia days, she continued making them, even experimenting with other things that you can wrap in a crêpe ranging from pigs in blankets to other dessert flavors. All of these were brilliant, if I do say so myself, but for this recipe, I decided to go back to her original. After all, as they say, your first instinct is usually right. Here’s how you make it!
Nutella-banana crêpes Prep time: 35 minutes; Cook time 1-2 minutes INGREDIENTS: 2 eggs 1 cup milk ½ tsp salt 1 cup flour 2 tbsp butter (melted) and small amountto butter pan 1-2 bananas 1-2 Extra large spoonful of Nutella DIRECTIONS: Start by beating eggs in a bowl Whether you enjoy it as a sweet breakfast or a desAfter this, microwave butter until sert, these crêpes are worth drooling over. melted PHOTO: KATIE SILVER Afterwards, slowly beat in milk, Pour, or put 1-2 spoonfuls of batter on salt, flour and butter pan, spreading into extremely thin layer Cover, then set aside for 30 minutes Once cooked, (this will take about 20 (preferably in refrigerator) seconds) flip onto the other side In the meantime, cup up banana(s) Working quickly, add as much Nutella After 30 minutes, heat up Nutella in a and banana desired onto crêpe, and fold microwave-safe bowl until it reaches a Plate, and if wanted (or needed, runny consistency obviously) drizzle with more Nutella Turn on stove to high and lightly butter Enjoy! crêpe pan
Obits Obits
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OBITUARIES
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OBITUARY NOTICES UPDATED DAILY AT STLJEWISHLIGHT.ORG/OBITUARIES
AUDREY LOIS GERSHENSON, December 1, 2021 Beloved wife of Harvey Gershenson for more than 70 years; dear mother and mother-in-law of Shelley Sarver (Jay), Dean Gershenson (Debbie), the late Bradley Gershenson (Michelle Bowers), Mark Gershenson (Caryn), and Beth Manlin (Mark); dear grandmother of Michael (Ingrid), Kevin (Melanie), Alex (Elena) and David (Lily) Sarver, Scott Gershenson, Sarah Gershenson (fiancé Andrew Andereck), Ellie and Meredith Gershenson, Corey and Brette Gershenson, Ben, Sam and Max Manlin; dear great-grandmother of Madeleine, Leo and Noah Sarver, Isla Sarver, and Asa Sarver; dear sister and sister-in-law of the late Monte Nissenholtz (Analee); dear aunt, cousin, and friend to so many. A funeral service was held Friday, December 3 at Congregation Shaare Emeth, 11645 Ladue
Road. Private interment. Memorial contributions preferred to the Brad Gershenson Fund for Youth Sports Programs at the JCC, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146. Please visit www.bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service RAE GROSMAN, December 5, 2021. Beloved wife of the late Samuel Grosman; dear mother and mother-in-law of Lonnie Grosman (Susan), Cindy Katz (Buz), Michael Grosman (Sherry) and Lori Gavril (Barry); dear grandmother of Brian Katz (Amy), Steven Katz (Lindsay) and Benjamin Katz (Justin), Aaron and Matthew Grosman, Jamie and Melanie Gavril, Andrew Grosman (Laura) and Adam Grosman (Jill); dear greatgrandmother of Spencer, Elliott, Emmie, Wyatt, Griffin, Sawyer and Brooklyn Katz, Landon and
OBITUARIES INDEX Gershenson, Audrey Lois Grosman, Rae Hulbert, Gertrude Kiem, Ruth Poslosky, Deborah Jeanne
Roufa, Lindsay Helen Saltzman, Sarah Gabrielle Schnurman, Robert Irving
Luke Grosman; dear friend to many. Rae’s greatest pleasure the past few years has been the time she spent with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A graveside service was held Monday, December 6 at Chesed Shel Emeth CemeteryWhite Road. Memorial contributions preferred to the Missouri Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, St. Louis Chapter, 1034 S. Brentwood Blvd, 63117 or the charity of your choice. Please visit www.bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service
Family & Single Lots Community Mausoleum Cremation Graves & Niches Forty-Two Forested Acres
GERTRUDE HULBERT, December 11, 2021 Beloved wife of the late Dr. Bernard Hulbert; dear mother and mother-in-law of Dr. Laura Goldmeier (Dr. David), Don M. Hulbert, and the late Anita E. Hulbert; dear grandmother of Jeremy Goldmeier (Kyle Kratky) and Rachel Goldmeier; dear sister of the late Nathan Kessler (Sara), Ruth Sandler (late Sylvan), and the late Morris Kessler (late Roberta); dear sister-in-law, aunt, cousin, and friend to many. A funeral service was held Tuesday, December 14 at 1:45 PM at BERGER MEMORIAL CHAPEL. Interment followed at B’nai Amoona Cemetery. Memorial contributions preferred to Shaving Israel, the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry, Washington University Hillel, Congregation B’nai Amoona Mitzvah Circle, and the Anita Hulbert Fund at Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service RUTH KIEM, December 6, 2021. Beloved wife of the late Leonard Kiem; dear mother and mother-in law of Barbara Balk (Rabbi Hanan Balk), Robert Kiem (Kathy), Deanna Witt (Lee), and Ted Kiem (Elizabeth). Dear grandmother of Aviva Needle (Aryeh), Eliana Balk Moore (Spencer), Shoshana Balk, Sharona Balk, Leora Lesher (Rabbi Shmuel Lesher), Hannah Kiem (fiancé Ian Marshall),Sophie Peker (Nick), Jacob Witt (Libby), Max Witt, Ilana Witt (fiancé Mesud Dedic) and Henry Kiem; dear sister of the late Leonard Zellinger (Frances), sister-in-law of the late Irving (Fran) Kiem and the late Donald Kiem (Debbie Edwards); great-grandmother of Maytal, Ariana, Ayla and Matan Needle, Maya and Roey Moore, Daniella, Gavriel and Zecharia Lesher. A funeral service was held Wednesday, December 8 at BERGER MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 9430 Olive Blvd., followed by interment at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery-650 White Road. Memorial contributions preferred to Memory Care Home Solutions (memorycarehs.org) or to the charity of your choice. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service DEBORAH JEANNE POSLOSKY We mourn the death of Deborah “Debbie” Poslosky, on December 6, 2021 beloved wife of Dale Poslosky; dear mother and mother-in-law of Jamie (Michael Buchwald) Poslosky and Nikki (Andrew) Goldfeder; dear grandmother of Ilana and Ethan Goldfeder and Eleanor and Amelia Buchwald; dear sister and sister-in-law of Nancy (Aaron) Rubin, Scot Poslosky, Ron Poslosky, Keven Poslosky, and Beth Poslosky; dear aunt, cousin, and friend to many. Debbie was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 2, 1956 to parents Seymour and Janice Silverman. She passed away on December 6, 2021 due to complications from cancer. She graduated from Parkway West High School, the University of Missouri-Columbia, with a degree in Elementary School Education, and Maryville University with a Master’s Degree in Education. Debbie served the Parkway School District for more than 30 years as a teacher and instructional coach. A life-long learner, Debbie constantly sought out ways to learn and develop her skills, always keeping children at the center of her work. Debbie created innovative literacy programs, mentored countless teachers and saw the potential in Obituaries continue on opposite page A Monument Dedication For
SYDNEY B. ROSEN
Ne w M t S i n a i C e m e t e r y. o r g | 3 1 4 - 3 5 3 - 2 5 4 0 | 8 4 3 0 G rav o i s R o a d
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each child. She was a trailblazer and her legacy of instilling a genuine love to read will outlive her for generations to come. Debbie married Dale Poslosky on May 28, 1978. They met as camp counselors at Lucky Day Camp when they were teenagers and were married for 43 years. Debbie called Dale her rock, and through all of the valleys and peaks of their lives together, their love remained a continued source of strength. Debbie was a compassionate, nurturing and generous mother to daughters Jamie and Nikki, and embraced her sons-in-law Mike and Andrew as her own. Her greatest joy was spending time with her four grandchildren. A funeral service was held Thursday, December 9 at Temple Emanuel, 12166 Conway Road, followed by interment at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery-White Road. Donations in Debbie’s memory may be made to Siteman Cancer Center, Ready Readers or a charity of your choice. Please visit bergermemorialchapel. com for more information and parking instructions. Berger Memorial Service
LINDSAY HELEN ROUFA, December 10, 2021 Beloved wife of Sean W. Connolly; loving mother of Audrey Pazelo and Odin Scott Connolly; dear daughter of Linda Preston and the late Joel S. Roufa; dear sister of Jillian Coates (Madison); dear aunt of Andi Coates and Joel Coates. Lindsay honorably served her country in the United States Army from December 2009 to December 2021. Visitation Friday, December 17 at 10 AM at the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, 1315 Chestnut, St Louis, MO 63103. A funeral service follows at 12 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions preferred to the American Lung Association, 55 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60601. Please visit www.bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service
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SARAH GABRIELLE SALTZMAN, December 3, 2021 Beloved daughter of Melvin and Louise Sobel Saltzman; dear sister of Stephanie Saltzman, Samantha Saltzman and Michael Saltzman (Stacey); dearest aunt of Sophia Julia Saltzman; dear niece of Jacqueline Saltzman; cousin and friend to many. A funeral service was held Monday, December 6 at Traditional Congregation, 12437 Ladue Road. Interment followed at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, 650 White Road. Memorial contributions preferred to the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry, 10601 Baur Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63132 or the Barbara Mendelson Tomchei Shabbos Fund, 7 Highgate Road, St. Louis, MO 63132. Please visit www.bergermemorialchapel. com for more information. Berger Memorial Service
ROBERT IRVING SCHNURMAN, December 10, 2021 Beloved husband of Rise Shickman Schnurman; dear father and father-in-law of Daniel Schnurman (Erica Copulsky), Jill Dachroeden (Dana) and David Schnurman (Ashley Hennessee); dear grandfather of Alexander and Elyssa Schnurman, Sarina Askinazi and Elliott Schnurman; dear brother of the late Steven Schnurman and the late Richard Schnurman (Donna); dear brother-in-law, uncle, cousin and friend to many. The graveside service was held Sunday, December 12, 2021 at United Hebrew Cemetery, 7855 Canton Avenue. Memorial contributions preferred to the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, 12 Millstone Campus Drive, 63146. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service
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DEATHS ELSEWHERE
Ed Shames, ‘Band of Brothers’ vet who toasted son’s bar mitzvah with Hitler’s cognac, dies at 99 BY RON KAMPEAS JTA
When Ed Shames described his Jewish self, he used the term “tough SOB.” Shames, the oldest surviving member of the legendary Easy Company parachute infantry regiment, could also have added “patient.” Shames, who died Dec. 3 at age 99 at his home in Norfolk, Va., in 1945 secured bottles of cognac designated for Hitler’s use only from the palace of the man who wanted to wipe the Jews from the earth. He waited until 1961 to open one: The occasion was a bar mitzvah — his son’s commitment to a Jewish future. The exploits of Easy Company were immortalized in the 2001 HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” In a 2015 interview with the Jewish News of Southeastern Virginia, Shames described how growing up Jewish on the Virginia coast shaped him. “Things were tough at that time for Jewish boys,” he said. “There were times when you had to fight your way through. One thing people learned about me … they never called me ‘dirty Jew’ twice. I was a tough SOB; not mean, just tough.” Being Jewish saw him through excruciating training, he said. “Because I was a Jew, I didn’t want to wash out, and lots of guys did,” he recalled in the interview, conducted when he was 94. “Heck, they had 7,000 volunteers they had to whittle down to 2,500 soldiers. They wanted to discharge me after I hurt my
Ed Shames attends the American Veterans Center’s “2019 American Valor: A Salute to Our Heroes” in Washington DC on Oct. 26, 2019. PHOTO: PAUL MORIGI/GETTY IMAGES knee on my first parachute jump. I wouldn’t let them. After walking 149 miles from our training base at Camp Toccoa to Ft. Benning in full gear over three and one-half days, there was no way.” His determination to give antisemites no quarter carried over into his military service. He recalled organizing an outing to a Passover seder for Jewish troops while they were training in England ahead of D-Day. “We had 18 men from the regiment sign up and this officer made a disparaging remark about Jews,” he said. “I could have received a general court-martial for what I told him.” Easy Company saw some of the most consequential battles during World War II; Shames was at Normandy on D-Day and at the Battle of the Bulge, among other pivotal battles, the obituary posted on the funeral home’s website said. He was a noncommissioned officer who got his offi-
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cer’s stripes on the battlefield. He retired as a colonel. Shames was one of the first U.S. troops to enter the Dachau concentration camp but would not speak of the experience. About his prize of Hitler’s cognac, he was more voluble. “When Germany surrendered, Ed and his men of Easy Company entered Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest where Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were ‘or the Fuhrer’s use only’,” the obituary said. “Later, he would use the cognac to toast his oldest son’s bar mitzvah.” Revenge served cold in a shot glass seemed worth it, although Shames said the bottle he opened at his son’s bar mitzvah was soon gone. “My buddy Lee Kantor finished that bottle
and I threw it out,” he said in 2015. “Do you know it would be worth $15,000 today?” After the war, Shames worked for the National Security Agency. His wife Ida, whom he married at Temple Beth El in Norfolk, predeceased him after 73 years. She too was pretty good at keeping a secret. “Before heading to England I visited her where she was working as a hospital volunteer,” he recalled. “She gave me a goodbye kiss on the cheek and that made an impression on me. At the time, Ida was engaged to a Naval officer from New York named Joseph. I got to her just in time after the war. You know, to this day, she won’t tell me his last name.” Shames’ survivors include two sons, four grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
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Emily Stein MacDonald
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12/14/21 3:55 PM
December 15, 2021
JEWISH LITE
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By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com | ‘Sleepy Time Books’ Difficulty: Medium
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1. Slightly open 5. Impressive digs, perhaps
nal website
ing” drinks were a craze in 90’s TV
31. Loughlin who didn’t have the best 2020
17. Root canal prefix
61. Port near the Red Sea
32. 1949 armistice locale: Abbr.
62. “Esq.” user, briefly
13. ___ Bora, Afghan region
35. 1982 classic by Sandra Boynton, with “The”
63. Bad eye sight?
14. Crooks’ alter egos
39. Suppositions
9. Relaxing locations
15. “Perry Mason” creator Stanley Gardner 16. 1982 classic by Stan and Jan Berenstain 18. Freeway, for instance
64. “The Thin Red Line” star Sean
41. Negate
1. Cause of overtime
42. Do ghostly work
2. Mah-___ (tile game)
44. Windy City team, on scoreboards
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19. Dangerous trip for a leader
46. 2002 modern classic by Kate Banks
20. Not quite bite
51. Suggestions
21. Diploma word of honor
52. Bath 53. Cruella de ___
6. Kosher striped animal
22. 1947 classic by Margaret Wise Moon
55. A.C.L.U. part: Abbr.
7. Quite a ways away
26. “Got milk?” response, perhaps
56. Apt Jewish location for 16, 22, 35, and 46-Across?
8. Sound made while shaking one’s head
27. Most insignificant
59. Big name in plastic?
9. Medical fluids
28. Create an origi-
60. Where “Flam-
4. Cheerleader’s shout 5. Sephardic cousin of Yiddish
11. Avis alternative
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31. Get-rich-quick method that rarely works
led?
33. Lay down new grass
44. Big name in Scientology
34. Early Hollywood studio
45. Spud of NBA fame
36. Gorilla and Krazy
46. Ancestor of Noach
37. Minute
47. Put a restriction on
38. Engaged
10. Marketing
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28. Type of graphics
30. Like many a politician, stereotypically
3. “Star Wars” droid, casually
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43. Where most members of the lost tribes were
stljewishlight.org
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23. The writing on the wall in Daniel, e.g.
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25. “Poh”
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21. Prim and proper
24. “Daily Planet” logo
Down
40. Beer option
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12. Kind of car
JEWISH LIGHT
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JEWISH CROSSWORD PUZZLE
Across
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49. Avoid artfully 50. Mermaid 54. “24” actress Mary ___ Rajskub 56. Bennett and Bibi 57. Scribble 58. Genre of Israel’s Black
48. Chase who was often booed at Citi Field
LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B media,” she said. “People forget that it matters what we say and how we say it. I thought of this podcast to elevate civil conversation.” For Goldson, the podcast was an opportunity to do what he loves: talk about meaningful issues. “I retired from teaching in 2016,” he said. “That’s when I started a speaking business. The message has always been clear to me. I wanted to take traditional Jewish values and apply them to the business world so that professionals who engage in the secular world see the value to their own business and their lives, their own relationships. I came up with ethics and ethical leadership, and that’s how I frame my keynote speeches and articles.” Initially, Goldson and Gurri talked about the same issues on the podcast in a point/ counterpoint format. After about 10 episodes, they began inviting guests in to create a new dynamic. They try to find guests who take them out of their comfort zones, including some with differing opinions. Goldson said the best way to achieve understanding for people of differing opinions is to step outside your own echo chamber. “One of the greatest evils in the world is groupthink, where we have our own little cliques and we don’t really talk about anything substantive,” he said. “If anyone says anything that goes against the established outlook, they’re terrified that they’re going to be attacked or ousted from their group. So there’s no growth or perspective.”
Following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Goldson tried a thought experiment with his audience. He said: “Donald Trump is responsible for the events of Jan. 6 and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Then he asked people who agreed with the statement to write a short essay arguing the opposite point of view, and those who disagreed with the statement to write an essay explaining why it was true. “What fascinated me was there were people who attacked me for simply asking to consider the other side,” he said. But others who actually did the exercise thanked Goldson for compelling them to look at the issue in a meaningful way. “They found it very instructive,” Goldson said. “And if we’d be willing to do that more often, then we’d find so much more common ground between us and so much less to fight about.” Goldson said he and Gurri want to use their platform to improve their audience’s lives by focusing on ethics. Their message is resonating with audiences who have been positive with their feedback. The have also achieved a perfect five-star rating on Apple’s “Society & Culture” podcast lineup. “Relationships depend on ethics,” Goldson said. “Trust inspires loyalty and passion. It also drives productivity and prosperity. We’ve got a unique style and we have this message. It’s one that you don’t find a lot of out there.” “The Rabbi and the Shrink” is available to download from amazon.com, audible. com, podcasts.apple.com and Spotify.
12/14/21 3:56 PM
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December 15, 2021
JEWISH LIGHT
Page 11B
SAUL MIROWITZ JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School celebrated its Elijah’s Circle donors on Nov. 11 at an event that brought together about 50 people — some in person and some on Zoom — for a concert by Mirowitz alum Eitan Kantor. Pictured above are Joel and Betsy Dennis, Marty Levison, Michael Rubin and Lynnsie Balk Kantor. At left, Paul Flotken, chair of the Head of School search committee, gave an update on the process. Head of School Cheryl Maayan will retire at the end of this school year after 21 years at Mirowitz.
ABOVE: Marty Levison, Matthew Levison and April Levison. BELOW: Caroline Goldenberg, Lee’at Koertel, associate director of admissions and development at Mirowitz, and Gay Goldenberg.
Above, Eitan Kantor, an alum of Mirowitz legacy school Solomon Schechter, impressed the crowd with original music that is culturally rooted in Judaism. Kantor was accompanied by Will Sol. At left are Robert Weintraub, Gay Goldenberg, Steven Arnstein, Susan Weintraub and head of school Cheryl Maayan.
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PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to news@stljewishlight.org. VIEW MORE ONLINE: stljewishlight.org/multimedia
CROWN CENTER Crown Center celebrated Hanukkah with a community candle lighting, songs and stories from JFS Chaplain Binyomin Mazer. Residents, board members and staff joined in the celebration. Pictured above are Crown Center residents Lina Melamed and Sara Gimpelevich, and Board Member Erin Schuver. At left, JFS Chaplain Binyomin Mazer shares Hanukkah stories and songs. Pictured below, from left, are Shelli Kastin, Board President Sally Altman, resident Alyssa Person, Frieda Fixler, resident Gail Kushner and Crown Center Executive Director Nikki Goldstein.
At right are Crown Center Executive Director Nikki Goldstein, JFS Chaplain Binyomin Mazer, and Crown Center Board President Sally Altman.
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Page 12B
December 15, 2021
STL
SIMCHAS BIRTHS
ENGAGEMENTS
WEDDINGS
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Submit your simcha announcement online at stljewishlight.org/simchas
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JIM AND BARBARA BAER CELEBRATE 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY Jim and Barb Baer of Olivette are happy to announce the celebration of their 50th year of marriage on the weekend of Dec. 17-18. The actual date is Dec. 26, 1971. But to accommodate holiday travel for their children and four grandsons, the celebration will be held a week earlier. James Baer and Barbara Cranis first met at the University of Missouri-Columbia. For their anniversary celebration, Jim and Barb are being blessed on the bimah at United Hebrew Congregation on Friday night and the family will gather for a private dinner at one of their favorite restaurants on Saturday. Joining the celebration are their daughter Emily Lischer (Tom) and their children William and Charlie who all live in Omaha, Neb. Their son Andrew (Dana) and twin grandsons Simon and Jacob, who all live in Berkley, Mich., are also joining the festivities.
The Baers on their wedding day in 1971 (left) and in a recent photo (above).
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: ANAELLE JOY WEBER Brian and Sarah Weber of Dallas would like to announce the birth of their daughter, Anaelle Joy Weber, on Nov. 29, 2021, weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces. Anaelle is the granddaughter of Douglas and Sheryl Weber of St. Louis, and Gary and Marian Crighton of Dallas. She is the great-granddaughter of Alvin and Esther Appelbaum of St. Louis, the late Harold and Joyce Weber, Rhoda and the late Frank Crighton, and the late Solly and Doreen Rudansky.
PHOTO CREDIT: ASHLEY PIEPER PHOTOGRAPHY
SALKY-WEINSTEIN WEDDING Ellie Salky and Jared Weinstein were married Aug. 7, 2021 at Westwood Country Club, where Rabbi Jim Bennett of Congregation Shaare Emeth officiated. Ellie is the daughter of Molly and Kenny Salky of St. Louis. She is the granddaughter of Lee and Burney Salky of St. Louis; Pat and George Roether of Ogden, Utah; and the late Virginia Byrum of Durango, Colo. Jared is the son of Randi and Ellis Weinstein of Pittsburgh. He is the grandson of Leslie Spiegel and the late Arthur Spiegel, and the late Elaine and Robert Weinstein, all of Pittsburgh. The bride’s sister, Sarah Salky, served as woman of honor and the groom’s brother, David Weinstein, served as best man. Ellie and Jared took a wedding trip to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The couple resides in Chicago.
SUBMIT YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FREE!! ENGAGEMENTS BAR/BAT MITZVAH BIRTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY BIRTHDAY GRADUATION
DECEMBER TRIBUTES IN MEMORY OF PHILIP KRANZBERG “Our thoughts are with you. All the Littmann siblings” - Carl Littmann MILTON AND ELEANOR FRY - Lawrence Fry AUDREY GERSHENSON - Board & Staff of the St. Louis Jewish Light NANCY LEON BENSON “May the memory of Nancy, beloved wife, sister in-law, and aunt, be a blessing. Love, Sharon, Lisa, David, and Alissa, Ethan and Heather” - Sharon Silverstein -
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IN HONOR OF MIKE & AGGIE SHERWIN “Congratulations on the birth of your daughter, Genevieve Lori!” - Your friends at the St. Louis Jewish Light JERRY EHRLICH “Congratulations on the birth of your grandchild, Harvey” - The Board & Staff of the St. Louis Jewish Light BETSY SCHMIDT - Barbara Kohm RACHEL MILLER “We Love You, Rachel! Rachel is our last living Holocaust survivor who still speaks of her experiences. She is a treasure.” - Irl Solomon -
ALICE HANDELMAN - Karen Handelman ELLEN FUTTERMAN, MIKE SHERWIN, BETSY SCHMIDT, JORDAN PALMER, AND BILL MOTCHAN “Thank you for all you do via your work with the Jewish Light to keep our community connected!” - Susan Kemppainen JERRY ZAFFT ON HIS 85TH BIRTHDAY - Steve Zafft JOEL & DIANA SCHMIDT’S 63RD ANNIVERSARY “Congratulations on your 63rd anniversary mom and dad! Love, Betsy, Karen and Jennie” - Betsy Schmidt -
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