Spring 2010 B'nai B'rith Magazine

B’nai B’rith Aids Haiti Disaster Relief – See Page 28

B’Nai B’rith m

a

g

a

z

PUBLISHED SINCE 1886

i

n

e

Spring 2010

The Future of Alternative Energy: A Jewish Obligation

B’nai B’rith International Elects New President Protecting the U.S. Jewish Community

spring 2010

B’nai B’rith M a g a z i n e

10 Israel’s Energy Revolution

Israel’s rising fuel consumption means she must develop alternative sources of energy in order to reduce her dependency on foreign oil and allay security concerns. Scientists in the Jewish state are finding revolutionary ways to get the most out of the country’s limited resources through solar, wind, electric, and other technologies. Read how Israel has become one of the world’s leaders in producing clean energy.

27

Newly installed BBI president Dennis W. Glick discusses his plans for the organization’s future. He hopes to focus on international anti-Semitism, hostility toward the state of Israel, and strengthening the Young Professionals Network. Read on to see what else he has up his sleeves.

By Dara Kahn

By Uriel Heilman

18 Breaking Our Oil Addiction

By Dara Kahn

36 Secure Community Network

By Matthew E. Berger

30

B’nai B’rith 2009 Policy Conference

32

Leading by Example

Speakers at this year’s policy conference in the capital of the free world included a wide range of experts on critical 21st century issues, from health care reform to energy conservation. B’nai B’rith members and supporters from around the globe convened to mingle, listen, and discuss in a smallgroup setting.

The United States and Israel are inextricably linked by politics, culture, and history. But nothing may affect their futures more than a continued dependence on oil supplied by some of the world’s most hostile regimes. Several Jewish groups and scientists have rallied to end reliance on foreign energy sources in the interest of security, quality of life, and the environment, based on Jewish tenets of caring for the Earth.

Recent events across the United States have reminded Jews they must stay vigilant against terrorist threats. But perhaps no one is watching more closely than the Secure Community Network, a trusted advisor for the Jewish community that has joined with law enforcement to keep Jewish sites safe and Jewish leaders in the loop. More and more groups are looking to the SCN to help them prepare for potential threats.

New President Charts Course

As one of BBI’s new senior international vice presidents, Gary Saltzman—a longtime B’nai B’rith member and leader— hopes to demonstrate to other leaders the importance of giving back to the organization that has given him so much.

By Dara Kahn

Read about B’nai B’rith’s disaster relief efforts in Haiti on page 28.

Cover images by Corbis and iStockphoto

page four

Building on B’nai B’rith’s Universal Brand

By Dennis W. Glick, President, B’nai B’rith International

DEPARTMENTS From the EVP Letter to the Editor

6 26

Holiday: Quinoa 8 Jewish Geography 44

From the President

Building on B’nai B’rith’s Universal Brand

By Dennis W. Glick President, B’nai B’rith International

W

ith my inaugural column coming right before Pesach, I inevitably began to think about how B’nai B’rith and Passover intersect.

Passover is arguably the most universally recognized holiday in the Jewish world.

Similarly, B’nai B’rith is the most widely recognized organization in the Jewish world.

As president, I intend to build on this universal recognition to move us forward.

Central to Passover is the Seder—the ritualistic retelling of our people’s journey from slavery to freedom and redemption. As an accountant who works with numbers every day, I am struck by how often the number four appears in the Seder.

The youngest child asks four questions, we drink four cups of wine, and we tell the story of the four sons. That got me thinking about how B’nai B’rith has four groups of constituents: our dedicated leaders, our active members, our valued member-donors, and the many individuals whose lives we touch every day.

My plan over the next three years is to reach out to all of these constituent groups to learn how we can make B’nai B’rith more relevant for each of them.

For our loyal leaders—those who toil on behalf of B’nai B’rith day in and day out—I promise to listen to you, keep you informed, and provide the tools and resources you need to guide our organization. I also firmly believe we need to nurture the next generation to lead our organization. We’ll expand our ties to the Jewish fraternity AEPi; look to pair up with a

4 Spring 2010

Jewish sorority; and further emphasize our programs aimed at young professionals.

They truly are our future.

As I travel around the world, I meet more and more people who have been active members for 40, 50, even 60 or more years.

Some attend meetings regularly. Others only pay their dues. These active members are the core of B’nai B’rith in the community. I know the culture has changed, and that fewer people find a need for, or value in, joining an organization. Indeed, most of today’s Jewish organizations are not membership-based.

Yet, in communities like northern New Jersey and Detroit in the United States, and in many communities internationally, there are vibrant local B’nai B’rith programs. Many other communities also find large groups of people who enjoy going to meetings to socialize and to work on community projects. We will continue to strongly support these active local communities and strive to inspire others to take a more active role.

Not everyone wants to play an active role.

Many choose to affiliate by contribution, as they know B’nai B’rith is making the world better each and every day. We greatly value your support. Indeed, if you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to consider one of the many opportunities for planned giving. See page 32 for more information.

The fourth group of constituents is the millions of people around the world whom we touch every day. Most don’t contribute financially, and most aren’t even Jewish.

But they are the people we work for— those affected by poverty, medical issues, and natural and manmade catastrophes.

While our history of humanitarian aid is truly impressive, it represents only part of what we do.

Because of our work, nearly 8,000 older men and women who might otherwise live in substandard housing live safely and with dignity in apartments they can afford.

As the largest national Jewish sponsor of housing for seniors, the B’nai B’rith Senior Housing Network has more than 4,500 apartments in 26 communities across the United States and additional buildings around the world.

In a week or so, more than 6,000 elderly and infirm men and women who might otherwise not have been able to properly celebrate Passover will be able to enjoy the holiday because of B’nai B’rith members who bought and delivered kosher-forPassover food through B’nai B’rith’s Project H.O.P.E.(Helping Our People Everywhere).

Earlier this year, we gave 10,000 families in Southern California copies of our “Smarter Kids - Safer Kids” booklet (in both English and Spanish) to help facilitate discussion between parents and their children on topics such as sexual abuse and talking to strangers.

Reflecting the concerns of our members and of the larger community, we have been the leading Jewish voice on the subject of health care reform, and look forward to the day when millions of Americans will benefit from these efforts.

B’nai B’rith M a g a z ine

Spring 2010

The B’nai B’rith International Board of Governors also elected the following officers: Senior Vice Presidents: Ted Greenfield, Montreal, Canada; Yves-Victor Kamami, Paris, France; Roberto M. Nul, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bruce Pascal, North Potomac, Md.; Gary P. Saltzman, Centennial, Colo.; and Stephen B. Zorn, West Bloomfield, Mich. Treasurer: Seth. J. Riklin, Sugar Land, Texas. Chief Justice, BBI Court of Appeals: William K. Peirez, Great Neck, N.Y. The appointment of Allan J. Jacobs as Chairman of the Executive was confirmed by the Board of Governors.

We speak out when any of the 13 million Jews worldwide are in peril.

Similarly, we speak out every day in the United Nations and around the world to help protect the state of Israel from those who want it “wiped off the map.” We do this because we are committed to preserving the right to a Jewish homeland for 7 million Israelis and millions more Jews worldwide.

And, when disaster strikes anywhere in the world, our Disaster Relief program provides assistance. In the last decade alone, we have contributed nearly $3 million to victims of disasters. Elsewhere in this issue you will read of the significant contributions we were able to make with our

partner IsraAID in helping thousands of victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti earlier this year. If you have contributed, thank you. If not, I urge you to do so. Information on how to give is on pages 28 and 29.

While these numbers are astounding, they are also challenging. Through the efforts of our leaders, members, and donors, we will continue to make the world a better, safer place. So, as my family opens the door at this year’s Seder to welcome Elijah’s messianic vision of the future, I will be thinking about how I can lead this great organization into the future to make even more of a difference.

Chag sameach!

Vol 124, no. 1

Dennis W. Glick President, B’nai B’rith International Daniel S. Mariaschin Executive Vice President Harvey Berk Interim Director of Communications Eugene L. Meyer Interim Editor Dara Kahn Associate Editor Joel Samen Contributing Editor Simeon Montesa Art Director Vivian Hayward Graphic Designer Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Copy Editor Theodore Fischer Proofreader Advertising Office: Fulton Advertising 301-604-3466 Editorial Offices: 2020 K St., NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 202-857-6681 or bbmag@bnaibrith.org Readership: Approximately 175,000 Signed articles represent the opinions of their authors and are not necessarily the view of B’nai B’rith or B’nai B’rith Magazine. Return postage must accompany unsolicited material, for which no responsibility is assumed.

Contents ©2010 by B’nai B’rith. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. The B’nai B’rith Magazine (ISSN 1549-4799) is published quarterly (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) by B’nai B’rith, 2020 K St., NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006, and is indexed in the Index to Jewish Periodicals. Subscription rates: U.S. and possessions, one year, non-member, $12; Canadian member, $12; Canadian nonmember, $17; overseas member (outside U.S. and Canada), $36; overseas non-member (outside U.S. and Canada), $48. Members of Hillel and BBYO, $7.50. $5 of member dues goes toward B’nai B’rith Magazine.

Honorary B’nai B’rith International President Tommy Baer (left) presents the symbolic presidential pin to newly elected BBI President Dennis W. Glick (right) during Glick’s installation.

Photo by Lloyd Wolf

Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Notification of address change should be sent to Circulation, 2020 K St., NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006, or call 888-388-4224. Please allow six to eight weeks for change. Postmaster: Send address changes to B’nai B’rith Magazine, 2020 K St., NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006.

Become a fan on

Follow us on B’Nai B’rith 5

From the EVP

Israel’s Positive ‘Disproportionate’ Response in Haiti Saves Lives

By Daniel S. Mariaschin Executive Vice President, B’nai B’rith International

J

ust a few months ago, at our policy conference, I saw a one-man play set in 1948, that extolled the virtues of Eddie Jacobson—a courageous B’nai B’rith member—and the B’nai B’rith leadership in convincing President Harry Truman to extend de facto recognition to the fledgling state of Israel—the key act that led to United Nations recognition of Israel.

Today, barely 60 years later, I see a nation that is not only self-sustaining but increasingly a leader among nations. And Israel’s work in Haiti in recent weeks is a stunning example.

As I write this, Haiti has just suffered its worst disaster in 200 years. As many as 200,000 or more are dead, and the streets of its capital are in ruins. Many nations have sent aid. Several organizations—including B’nai B’rith—are doing whatever they can to help. I note with great pride that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and medical personnel were among the first to arrive in Haiti. Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News senior health and medical editor, called the emergency field hospital they set up “phenomenal.” The Israeli mobile medical unit includes a pharmacy, a children’s ward, a radiology department, an intensive care unit, an emergency room, two operating rooms, a surgical department, an internal medicine department, and a maternity ward. As you may have seen on TV, the Israeli hospital was in operation long before even the United States could set up its own.

I was deeply moved when I read that, in

6 Spring 2010

the first days of the rescue efforts, a baby boy was delivered in that Israeli hospital. Appropriately, the mother named him Israel. One can hope that this young man will proudly cling to the symbolism of his name.

Haiti has not been a particular friend of Israel. In 2008, more than 80 percent of its votes on Mideast issues in the United Nations went against Israel’s interests, according to a U.S. State Department report. But when disaster strikes, humanity rises above politics and Israel does what a responsible nation should: reaches out to help people in need.

Israel’s accomplishments are even more remarkable when viewed in proportion to its size. Just two days after the earthquake, this nation of barely 7 million people had a staff of approximately 250 men and women on the ground, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and additional personnel, as well as 10 tons of medical equipment in the hospital. In contrast, the U.K.’s initial response was 64 firemen and eight volunteers; China, with a population of 1.3 billion, sent 50 rescuers. A week after the earthquake, the Arab League bragged that it sent a total of 30 tons of aid from its 22 member nations; no mention of any personnel.

In recent months, some have condemned Israel for its “disproportionate response” when it is attacked. To my mind, Israel’s response to Haiti was her only “disproportionate response,” and it is a response of which I am proud.

But Israel’s response isn’t limited to what the government provides. The private

sector has joined with the worldwide organized Jewish community to do even more.

We are a founding partner of IsraAID, a coordinating body of Israeli and Jewish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) headquartered both inside and outside of Israel. Since its founding in 2001, IsraAID has provided humanitarian aid to literally tens of thousands of people in need worldwide. People who have suffered from disasters or the ravages associated with life in developing countries. People of all religions, races, genders, nationalities, and ages. People from nations that have supported Israel, and from those that have not. The operative word is people.

Our World Center director, Alan Schneider, traveled to Haiti as part of one of the IsraAID teams. Previous trips had taken him to devastated countries in Africa and Asia, but he said he’d never seen the scale of death and destruction he’d witnessed in Haiti. He likened it to a war zone.

Yet, there were hopeful moments that filled me with pride over BBI’s role in aiding the sick and wounded. Alan told me about 6-year-old Jessica Hartelin, rescued by locals after six days in the rubble of a collapsed building. Her rescuers carried her to the IsraAID clinic in a nearby soccer stadium. “Only her eyes were moving,” Alan reported.

He quickly asked other members of the team to make room by clearing a table of the less-seriously injured, and they got her onto an IV drip, followed soon after by

B’NAI B’RITH INTERNATIONAL International President Dennis W. Glick giving her water and some candy. After this emergency treatment stabilized her, she was transported to the nearby IDF hospital for more extensive treatment.

All of this made possible, in part, by contributions from B’nai B’rith members and supporters, and the dedication of a member of our staff.

The descriptions of other similar moments were powerful, and the photos (some of which are on pages 28 and 29 in this issue of the magazine, and others at www.bnaibrith.org) are gut-wrenching.

My heart was deeply warmed by the knowledge that we had a role in responding to this tragedy.

Sadly, much of the expertise that Israel has developed in treating the wounded and extricating people from severely damaged structures comes from responding to the many acts of terror that have made Israeli first responders among the world’s most expert in rescuing and treating the wounded. I guess it gives truth to the concept that there is a bright side to even the most terrible occurrences.

I also found a wonderful reaffirmation of the principles of our religion when I read a report in the Israeli news outlet

YNET News that Mati Goldstein, the commander of ZAKA, the Israeli response service, observed that members of his team were observant Jews who continued with their lifesaving activities over Shabbat because Jewish law instructs that the laws of Shabbat can be broken to save a life. “With all the hell going on outside,” he observed, “even when things get bad, Judaism says we must take a deep breath and go on to save more people.”

When I saw that play about Eddie Jacobson at our policy conference, I witnessed an important step in the birth of a great nation. As I read and hear of the selfless actions of Israeli first responders in Haiti, I am witnessing one more step in the development of a great nation. Am Yisrael Chai, “the people of Israel live.”

If you haven’t yet made your contribution to the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund in support of the people of Haiti, it is not too late. Please do so by going to our website, www.bnaibrith.org, and following the links to the Disaster Relief Page.

We will need to continue providing aid for some time, and we fulfill the most basic tenets of our faith by doing just that.

Photo courtesy of IsraAID/Mickey

Honorary Presidents Gerald Kraft Seymour D. Reich Kent E. Schiner Tommy P. Baer Richard D. Heideman Joel S. Kaplan Moishe Smith Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin Honorary Executive Vice President Sidney M. Clearfield Chairman of the Executive Allan J. Jacobs Senior Vice Presidents Ted Greenfield Yves-Victor Kamami Roberto M. Nul Bruce Pascal Gary P. Saltzman Stephen B. Zorn Treasurer Seth J. Riklin International Vice Presidents Pablo Sergio Grinstein Argentina Dr. Peter Schiff Australia and New Zealand Matilde Groisman Gus Brazil Rochelle Wilner Canada Hernán Fischman Chile, Bolivia, and Peru John Manheim Europe John P. Reeves Europe Arie Bar Zion Israel

A dedicated IsraAID volunteer treats a young Haitian girl’s injuries as her mother looks on. IsraAID was one of the first foreign aid groups on the ground after the devastating earthquake struck the Caribbean nation Jan. 12.

Leon Birbragher Northern Latin America and the Caribbean Enrique Jinchuk Uruguay and Paraguay B’Nai B’rith 7

Welcome Quinoa to Your Passover Table

By Leah Dobkin

O

n a quest to find kosher alternatives to Passover dishes made with matzah or potatoes, you might want to consider the grain-like herb called quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). A staple used by the Incas, this nutritious, versatile “super food” is perfect for the springtime holiday and presented proudly at a growing number of Passover tables.

According to Rabbi Zvi Goldberg, of the Orthodox kosher certifying agency Star-K, pure modern-day quinoa is 100 percent kosher for Passover. In the late 1990s, Star-K deemed that quinoa is not related to the five types of grain that can become chametz: wheat, rye, oats, barley, and spelt—or anything else that might be considered not Passover kosher. When Star-K tested quinoa to see if it would rise, it did not.

But Goldberg recommended carefully checking quinoa for any extraneous materials. Some rabbis worry that quinoa could be processed in a plant near wheat and become contaminated. To prevent this, make sure the quinoa package has a kosher-for-Passover certification to ensure the plant was properly processed. You should also use only the whole grain as opposed to quinoa flakes or flour, which could be contaminated during processing.

Goldberg said that Star-K recommends kosher products for Passover every year, including those made by companies that package quinoa. In previous years, kosher-forPassover-certified quinoa was found under these brands: Ancient Harvest, Eden Foods, Arrowhead Mills, and Bob’s Red Mill.

Many people are on the lookout for gluten-free, organic whole grains, and low-fat meat substitutes. Quinoa has an abundance of easy-to-digest hypoallergenic protein and contains a balanced set of essential amino acids, making it an unusually complete vegetarian food.

8 Spring 2010

Quinoa is also a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus, and is high in magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin E. The seed is used as a grain substitute, and has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a nutty flavor when cooked. The quinoa plant grows from four to six feet tall, with large clusters of seeds at the end of a stalk whose leaves look like a webbed goose foot.

More than 180 species of quinoa exist.

There are three main varieties: white, dark red, and black. Quinoa importers are mixing many varieties to improve taste and visual appeal and preserve biodiversity for a healthier food supply.

Incorporating Quinoa There are many possible ways to include quinoa in your Passover meal. You can incorporate it into baked goods, casseroles, soups, stews, stir-fries, salads, side dishes, and desserts. You can use quinoa to stuff peppers and as a cold salad. Susie Fishbein, author of “Passover by Design: Picture Perfect Kosher by Design® Recipes for the Holiday,” said you can use quinoa anywhere you would serve couscous, rice, or pasta.

You can also sprout the quinoa seeds and eat them raw. The plant is sometimes grown as a green vegetable, and the leaves can be eaten fresh or cooked like spinach. If you are the Passover host and your kitchen looks like a hurricane hit your house, you will especially appreciate quinoa’s simplicity. Quinoa is also perfectly aligned with certain Passover themes such as social and economic justice and celebrating spring’s harvest. Quinoa’s growing appeal has spawned new economic opportunities for farmers and villages in the Andes, where the poverty rate is historically high and nutrition miserably low.

Until recently, quinoa was mainly used as an ingredient in home cooking, baked

goods, or cereal bars. But awareness of the grain is growing, as are new uses and products. The Global New Products Database listed 36 products that used quinoa as an ingredient in 2003.

That number exploded to 154 products in 2007, and quinoa is now in organic pasta, soft drinks, baby food, vodka, pet food, and cosmetics. There are quinoa tortilla chips, energy bars, noodles, pasta sauces, instant soups, pilaf mixes, and meat substitutes— and demand continues to grow.

In the Andean countries, the United States, and beyond, a growing number of high-end restaurants offer gourmet quinoa dishes on their menus. Chef and restaurateur Hugh Acheson, who was nominated for Best Chef in the Southeast in the James Beard Foundation competition, cooks quinoa with seasonal vegetables at his Athens, Ga., restaurant 5 and 10.

“Customers are starting to ask for quinoa because they think it’s pretty cool,” Acheson said. “It’s no longer just from South America, but they are starting to grow it as a ‘Peace Corps crop’ in Africa to help sustain agrarian communities.” You can see some sample recipes of this “cool crop” at www.bnaibrith.org/magazines.

A Grain Rediscovered From Ancient Times The ancestors of the Incas grew and ate quinoa 5,000 years ago. They believed the crop was sacred and referred to quinoa as chisaya mama, meaning “mother grain,” because of its exceptional nutritional qualities.

A 400-year decline in quinoa production began with the Spanish conquest of the region in the 1500s. Inca armies ate a mixture of quinoa and fat, known as “war balls,” for strength during battle. The Spanish destroyed quinoa fields in an attempt to weaken and conquer the population.

However, quinoa has been rediscovered.

Paratroopers in World War II used it as a portable “super food.” In the United States, it was introduced commercially in 1982 and, since then, a handful of other importers has jumped on the bandwagon.

Most imports come from small farmers high in the Andes in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, though Bolivia exports significantly larger amounts. Canada and the United States also grow quinoa, but not a great amount.

Perhaps most notable to the rediscovery of this food source is that the descendants of the Incas are not only growing and selling quinoa, but consuming it as well. It’s

Books

been a long time coming, but quinoa has, once again, become a staple of indigenous peoples and an important source of nutrition and income for local farmers, their families, and communities.

Quinoa’s future looks bright as more and more consumers demand that food manufacturers cut out junky ingredients and use more natural and environmentally friendly food products. Europeans developed an appetite for quinoa years ago and consumer awareness is growing in the United States.

Five years ago, only health-food stores would carry quinoa; however, sales have doubled since then. A growing demand for natural foods, whole grains, and gluten-

free ingredients has changed the landscape of conventional food markets.

Consumers now have many new potential ways to incorporate quinoa into their diet and many new places to buy it. There are signs the food industry is ready to make more quinoa products because of good market growth potential. Quinoa products now can be found in specialty grocery chains, such as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, or online.

“The future is bright for this healthful pure protein as it has become more widely available in regular supermarkets,” cookbook author Fishbein said.

Increased availability is making it easier continued on pg. 26

Quinoa 365: The Everyday Super Food

By Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming The Art of Cooking With Quinoa: A Complete Vegetable Protein

By Maria Baez Kijac Quinoa the Supergrain: Ancient Food for Today

By Rebecca Wood Passover by Design: Picture Perfect Kosher by Design® Recipes for the Holiday

By Susie Fishbein

This Passover-friendly recipe mixes the sweetness of fresh mango with the spiciness of jalapeño peppers for a fresh and healthy dish.

Passover By Design: Picture Perfect Kosher by Design Recipes for the Holiday,

by Susie Fishbein. Published by ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.

B’Nai B’rith 9

Israel Spearheads A

fierce wind blows through the tiny Israeli community of Ashalim, kicking up dust around a cluster of houses bunched together in a seemingly barren stretch of desert 15 miles from the Egyptian border.

At first glance, there appears to be little to Ashalim other than stucco homes, wilting trees, a few rows of crops left over from the community’s early days as an agricultural settlement, and the piercing heat of the midday sun.

10 Spring 2010

But these days, a new industry is cropping up designed to tap a resource this desert community has in abundance: sunlight.

Ashalim, in the Negev Desert, is the planned site of Israel’s first major solar thermal power plant, which proponents hope will spearhead an energy revolution in a country facing an acute electrical shortage.

For its backers, the site has great potential: A 250-megawatt solar farm at Ashalim could feed

Energy Revolution

By Uriel Heilman

energy into Israel’s power grid, substituting clean power for the energy currently produced by polluting coal-powered plants. Not only could solar power help Israel meet her soaring electricity needs while keeping the environment clean, but it also could help shift Israel away from reliance on foreign energy sources, including natural gas from Egypt. This is no small matter, given the nature of Israel’s security concerns.

“We are on the verge, I believe, of a breakthrough,” Nahum Yehoshua, an economist at Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, told B’nai B’rith Magazine. “Soon we’ll have a solar-powered power station in Ashalim. Things aren’t quite there yet, but the direction is clear.”

Ashalim is not the only place where Israelis are experimenting with solar power.

These new solar panels at Kibbutz Yavne are part of a pilot project to more efficiently provide hot water and electricity to the kibbutz, a technology which Zenith Solar hopes to make commercially viable by the end of the year.

Photo courtesy of Dani Machlis

B’Nai B’rith 11

At Kibbutz Yavne, a company called Zenith Solar has installed a large optical dish with low-cost glass mirrors that focus sunlight onto a four-inch chip to generate power. This new technology can replace a 20-square-foot conventional solar panel with

skyscrapers are rising, and traffic is getting worse by the day.

Israeli electrical consumption has grown by about 4 percent a year since the early 1990s, and a recent study by the consulting firm of McKinsey & Co. found that Israeli

In a country with no oil to speak of, finite natural gas resources, very limited wind power, and no hydropower, nuclear power, or geothermal power, many environmentalists view solar energy as the country’s great untapped natural resource. a small chip, while harvesting two to three times the energy conventional solar power captures, according to David Faiman, the scientist who developed it. The company’s pilot project provides hot water and about half the electrical needs of the kibbutz, and Zenith Solar expects to sell the technology commercially by the end of 2010.

Elsewhere in the Negev Desert, a company called Aora recently unveiled the world’s first hybrid solar thermal gasturbine power station. The device, which is shaped like a massive flower, enables electrical production 24/7, even when the sun isn’t out, and is meant to help power small communities.

The anticipated breakthrough in Israeli solar energy is a key component of a strategy many Israeli officials hope will help the Jewish state not just reduce its carbon emissions, but also avert a major energy crisis.

Israel’s energy crisis Israel’s phenomenal population growth and rise in wealth over the last few decades has been a remarkable success story, but it has also put a huge strain on the electrical supply in this nation of 7 million.

More people are living here than ever before, with more money at their disposal—Israel’s gross domestic product (GDP) has swelled at a rate of 4 to 5 percent annually since 2005. This means people are consuming more household goods, buying more cars, building new homes, and expanding businesses. Cities are growing, 12 Spring 2010

greenhouse gas emissions are expected to double by 2030 as a result of increased energy consumption.

Meanwhile, Israel doesn’t have the supply to meet even current demand. Unlike many other small countries, Israel’s electrical grid is not connected to those of any of its neighbors, for obvious political reasons, making Israel an “energy island.”

This means that when energy usage spikes, such as on hot summer days, Israel has no backup to meet the demand. Israel already is experiencing brownouts, and Israeli officials warn that, as a result, the country soon could encounter rolling blackouts, much as California experienced intermittently throughout the last decade.

The electrical shortage is not just a supply problem; it’s also a security concern. Israel imports 85 percent of her energy, mostly in the form of coal, but also in natural gas. In 2009, the country spent $5 billion on energy imports. This heavy reliance on foreign supplies makes Israel highly subject to global price fluctuations—not to mention potential boycotts by hostile energyexporting states.

“The higher the demand for electricity, the fewer choices you have, and the more likely it is that you’ll pay some pretty severe penalties—higher costs, more pollution, a coastline filled with power plants—or Israel might be much more vulnerable to supply cutoffs,” said Steven Popper, lead author of a recent study on Israel’s usage of natural gas conducted by the RAND Corporation,

a nonprofit think tank.

Facing these acute problems, Israeli policymakers are debating how best to build up the country’s energy capacity.

Ever since the oil crisis of the 1970s, when Israel shifted to coal as her principle source of energy, the answer to Israel’s energy needs has been to construct additional power plants.

“GDP is rising, and the economy is still growing. This is causing growth in demand, and the immediate answer is to build more power stations,” observed Yael Cohen-Paran, executive director of the Israel Energy Forum, a consortium of organizations committed to helping Israel develop a sustainable energy policy. “Unfortunately, it’s not sustainable.”

There are several reasons why adding power stations is an increasingly untenable solution. Because coal comes by ship, coal plants may be built only along Israel’s coastline, and there’s not much coastal land left to accommodate additional plants. Wherever there is some land, power plant proponents face stiff opposition from neighbors who don’t want to live next door to a belching coal factory that emits ash, CO2, and other pollutants into the air. It’s the NIMBY—Not In My Backyard—syndrome.

“There is a big campaign against a new coal power plant they want to build near Ashkelon,” Cohen-Paran noted.

Natural gas provides a cleaner alternative to coal, and it represents a growing part of Israel’s energy supply. In 2005, Israel signed an accord with Egypt and began construction of a natural gas pipeline from El-Arish, Egypt, that was completed and opened in the summer of 2008. Israel also has her own small natural gas field off the coast of Ashkelon. In January 2009, a consortium of gas companies discovered a much larger natural gas deposit they named Tamar about 60 miles off the coast of Haifa. That find raised significant hopes that Israel would be able to drastically reduce the share of energy she imports from overseas, possibly even turning the Jewish state into an exporter of natural gas.

Reflecting on the value of Tamar, Yitzhak Tshuva, owner of Delek Drilling, one of the Israeli firms involved in the gas find, told Israeli Army Radio that the discovery brings Israel a new measure of independence.

“Israel will no longer be dependent on others,” boasted Tshuva. Instead, he said, Israel will be able to “responsibly and certainly state that [she] is independent.”

But turning that new gas field into electricity is still years away. The companies that discovered the deposit first must figure out how to transport the gas to Israel. Building a pipeline under the Mediterranean Sea would take years and cost billions. Another option—chill the gas into liquid form for easier transport, then construct a liquid natural gas facility in Israel that could revert the liquid back into gas for electrical use—presents drawbacks of its own. Aside from the expense of its construction, the liquid natural gas plant would present Israel’s enemies with an attractive target that, if struck by explosives, could become a massive bomb.

Even within Israel, delivering natural gas around the country is no easy feat. Israel is still laying pipe to shift oil-run power stations to gas, and many parts of the country don’t have access to natural gas.

After the Tamar field was discovered, many Israeli experts cautioned against excessive exuberance. They warned that exporting the gas would be foolhardy, and some went so far as to suggest that the resource be stockpiled and held in reserve for a rainy day—much the same way the U.S.

www www..ISRAEL ISRAEL

Strategic Petroleum Reserve functions—to give Israel emergency supply in the event of a major energy crisis.

Add the fact that natural gas is a fossil fuel and, ultimately, a finite resource, environmentalists say, and it becomes clear that gas cannot be the answer to Israel’s energy problem. Instead, many Israeli energy companies are focusing their sights heavenward, toward a renewable resource: the sun.

The power of the sun Today, renewable energies—solar and wind power—account for less than a fraction of 1 percent of Israel’s energy supply.

Coal powers two-thirds of the country’s electricity, and almost all of the remaining one-third comes from natural gas (there is some diesel fuel, too).

In a country with no oil to speak of, finite natural gas resources, very limited wind power, and no hydropower, nuclear power, or geothermal power, many environmentalists view solar energy as the country’s great untapped natural resource.

Yet, despite the global technological advances made in recent years, including some promising innovations by Israeli

PHARM. PHARM.com com

companies, solar power is not yet costcompetitive with electricity produced from natural gas and coal.

Furthermore, Israel’s sunny weather notwithstanding, the country actually has far less capacity to produce solar power than might appear. While sunlight is abundant in Israel, space is not, and power cannot be generated without significant acreage to build power plants. The Negev Desert, which appears on Israeli road maps as a huge empty area, in reality is filled with military bases, sprawling Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) training zones, and nature reserves, leaving little room for much else.

The space problem has left Israeli environmentalists divided over the efficacy of building solar power capacity in Israel.

On the one hand, solar represents a clean, renewable source of energy. On the other hand, it requires the transformation of Israel’s few remaining open spaces from largely untouched areas that are havens for wildlife into industrial zones filled with miles of reflective solar panels.

“The biggest problems of the environmentalists are ourselves,” the government’s Yehoshua said. “Environmentalism is not

Save up to 70%

on prescription drugs!

Support the Israeli Economy !

IsraelPharm saves you money!

We offer huge savings on brand name and generic medications.

Israelpharm, an accredited and licensed pharmacy, located in Jerusalem Israel, has been servicing the local and international community for over 15 years.

Orders are shipped by express mail and received within 10 days.

Plavix 90 days Synthroid 100mcg 90 days Nexium 40mg 90 days Advair 250 inhaler Flomax 0.4mg 90 days Fosamax 70mg 90 days

IsraelPharm $275.00 $ 13.00 $189.00 $ 89.00 $ 87.00 $147.00

US Pharmacy $536.00 $31.00 $565.00 $126.60 $391.50 $240.00

You Save 48.69% 58.06% 66.55% 29.70% 77.78% 38.75%

DON’T FALL IN THE DONUT. Let Israel Pharm save you money!

Easy and Secure Ordering from Israel Website: www.IsraelPharm.com • Toll Free: 1-866-456-3768 • Toll Free Fax: 1-866-544-8993 All medications approved by The Israel Ministry of Health B’Nai B’rith 13

The world’s first hybrid solar thermal gas-turbine power station, constructed by Aora and located in the Negev, appears as a reflection in a collection of solar panels.

one thing; it’s many things. Both clean energy and open spaces are environmental.

Every inch of the desert is under use, and, even in the Negev, it’s difficult to find space to build solar power stations. It causes ecological disruption.”

At Ashalim, it will take approximately 1,300 acres to install enough solar panels to produce just the plant’s first 110 megawatts of electricity—only enough to power an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 households and amounting to slightly less than 1 percent of Israel’s total electrical production. Additional stages are planned to bring the project up to 250 megawatts. Once completed, the Ashalim plant will be one of the biggest solar thermal sites in the world.

“Even with the sexiness of solar power, there’s a limit to how much we’re going to be able to put in, and that’s because of land constraints,” said Z’ev Gross, head of the Infrastructure Resources Management Division of Israel’s Ministry of National Infrastructures. “When the country hits 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of solar, you’re done.

There’s no more room to build.”

The solar thermal panels needed would 14 Spring 2010

occupy 35,000 to 60,000 acres.

But perhaps the biggest obstacle to transforming solar power into a major Israeli energy resource is the country’s inertia when it comes to weaning Israel off her dependence on cheaper fossil fuels.

Backers of alternative energies say new technologies can reduce the amount of land necessary to generate solar power, and that, if the government adjusted its subsidies and regulations accordingly, solar could power as much as 20 percent of Israel’s electrical needs by 2030, compared to an infinitesimal amount today. But Israel first must raise the cost of electricity so solar has a chance to compete. “Renewable energies thrive where there are incentive structures in place,” said Meir Ukeles, one of the partners in a venture capital firm in Herzliya called Israel Cleantech Ventures, which invests in alternative energy companies. “In Israel, those incentives structures haven’t been in place.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by the backers of solar projects in Israel that include Zenith Solar’s installation at Kibbutz Yavne.

Solar power comprises such a miniscule part of Israel’s energy supply because

of its “high cost relative to conventional power plants, and bureaucratic complexity caused by too many governmental and semi-governmental organizations’ inability to coordinate their efforts,” said Faiman, the scientist behind Zenith Solar’s technology and chairman of the Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics at Ben-Gurion University’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.

Meanwhile, government-backed renewable energy projects like the plant at Ashalim have been slow to take off. The Ashalim project has been stuck in the planning stage for more than five years.

Government solicitations of bids to build the plant have encountered repeated delays.

Even if construction finally gets under way this year, it still will be several years before the plant can begin producing electricity.

“It took I don’t know how many years for the necessary planning authorities to put their fingers on Ashalim, and [even more] time to put out the request for bids,” Gross said. “Everything is subject to the Not In My Backyard syndrome, irrespective of the technology.”

Energy conservation becomes vital With solar technology still in the research and development stage, the gas field off the coast of Ashkelon nearing depletion, and building additional power plants increasingly problematic, experts warn that Israel must focus on the only other promising alternative to solving the country’s energy crisis: conservation.

“Energy conservation is not only a direct monetary saving, but also a strategic objective for the State of Israel,” said Amit Mor, CEO of EcoEnergy, a Herzliya-based energy consulting firm. “We’re going to reduce our energy imports of oil and coal and natural gas, and, of course, there is the major environmental benefit.”

Rather than focusing on increasing supply, these experts say, Israel should focus on reducing demand.

“The most economical way to create energy is to create efficiency,” Cohen-Paran said. “Efficiency is getting zero attention, but this is what should be done first. Change the pattern of consumption, not production.”

With energy conservation, the solution to Israel’s energy problems can come not with massive fields of solar panels across the desert or coal power plants along the coast, but in subtle, incremental changes in Israeli households and cities. Energy savings can be achieved with energy-efficient washing machines in private homes, the adoption of compact fluorescent street lamps by city governments, better public transportation, and water-based air-conditioning systems.

Most of all, the solution lies in governmental regulation, advocates say.

In 2008, the Israeli government adopted a resolution quantifying its target for energy efficiency as a 20-percent reduction by 2020. As part of that goal, the resolution called for renewable sources to supply 5 percent of Israel’s electrical needs by 2014, and 10 percent by 2020.

To achieve these ambitious goals, the government has adopted more stringent regulations setting energy efficiency requirements for a range of household appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioners, electronics, washing machines, dryers, electric ovens, and dishwashers. Tougher standards also were adopted in regulating water pumps, steam boilers, and electric motors.

Appliances that fail to conform to these new standards may not be imported.

“The single most important factor [in] having a successful energy policy is for Israel

to slow the growth in demand for electricity and use its energy more efficiently,” said RAND Corporation’s Popper. “It takes a lot of small things and, pretty soon, you’re doing some big things.”

Of all the steps the government has taken, experts point to a decision made back in the 1980s—long before energy efficiency became a popular cause—as the most effective measure so far: making solar water heaters mandatory in all new homes. Today, Israel and nearby Cyprus have the highest per-capita use in the world of solar water heating, and nearly every Israeli household has a solar-powered water heater. This direct government mandate has reduced energy consumption in Israel by an estimated 3 percent and put solar water heaters in more than 1 million Israeli households. Even after three decades, it remains a model of how a little governmental regulation—and the widespread adoption it required—can go a long way.

“We’ve got 3,000 megawatts of installed solar power in Israel; it’s sitting in our water heating devices,” said Gross, of the Infrastructure Ministry. “That’s 3 percent of

TES A D 0

Israel’s electricity.”

Critics, however, lament that Israel lags far behind other western nations when it comes to energy efficiency. They fault the government for failing to introduce the efficiency standards and tax incentives that have been used to great effect in places like California and Western Europe.

“Unfortunately, the government is not acting sufficiently to achieve the potential of energy efficiency,” Eco Energy’s Mor said.

“One need only to look at the budget to see that the government allocates only $1 million to $2 million per year toward promoting energy efficiency.”

Mor cites a few ways Israel could significantly reduce energy consumption: Outlaw the use of incandescent light bulbs, which use up to four times more electricity than compact fluorescents. Introduce variable electricity pricing depending on the time of day, discouraging use during peak hours when capacity is limited. Electricity would cost more during the day—when businesses are open, factories are online, and air continued on pg. 42

Join Our Award Winning Tours to Israel

201

30 Years Escorting the Finest Tours to Israel!

Adult Tours Bar/Bat Mitzvah 16 Days & Families Including 2 NightsTours in Eilat

Bar/Bat Mitzvah & Family

Bar/Bat Mitzvah 16 Days & Families The Ultimate Family Tours Experience Jun 15 • Jun 29 • Aug 3 • Aug 17 Departure Dates

June 5 • June 19 • July 17 • July 31 13 Days • August 14 • December Dec 21 - Jan 2, 2011 18 Celebrant Goes Totally Celebrant Goes Totally Free *Free Includes: Includes: Ceremony on Masada Rabbi's Ceremony on Masada & Rabbi's&Services, Services, Gala Party, Archaeological Dig, Gala Party, Archaeological Dig, Kayaking, Kayaking, Camel Rides, Snorkeling, Hiking, Special Activities, GiftsSurprises & Many Surprises Gifts & Many

Departure Dates June 5 Departure • June 19 • July 17 • July 31 Dates: •Mar August 14 • December 18 9 • Apr 13 • Apr 27

MayCelebrant 11 • Oct • OctFree 19Includes: • Nov 2 Goes5Totally

Ceremony on Masada & Rabbi's Services, Guaranteed beKayaking, Gala Party, Archaeologicalto Dig, TheActivities, Trip ofGifts A& Lifetime Special Many Surprises

* Restrictions Apply

All Israel Tours Include R/T Via El Al • Deluxe Hotels • Israeli Breakfast & Dinner Daily • Comprehensive Sightseeing • Cocktail Parties • Entertainment • Dinner Dances • Cruise On The Sea of Galilee With Dancing, All Tipping Plus Much More!

1.800.327.3191 www.margaretmorsetours.com 954.458.2021

For Trip Highlights and Brochure

B’Nai B’rith 15

Closing the Recession’s Generation Gap

By Rachel Goldberg

I

s there a generation gap in the Great Recession? With more than 8 million jobs lost since it began, those under the age of 65 represent the largest chunk of the unemployed. In the natural focus on the majority of those out of work, it’s easy to overlook another demographic.

But statistics show that seniors are also taking a big hit when it comes to jobs in the current economic climate.

In December, 479,000 people 65 or older were unemployed—nearly double the number from the year before. It’s not surprising, since seniors make up an increasingly larger share of the workforce, also a reflection of economic necessity as medical costs rise, Social Security payments flat-line, and savings shrink, leaving a safety net full of holes only income from a steady job can fill.

Throughout the health care debate, I have found myself explaining why—with Medicare in place—it is a seniors issue at all.

The presumption seemed to be that seniors enrolled in the government-run health care plan no longer need or want to work. The evidence, anecdotal and statistical, strongly suggests otherwise.

In the early 1980s, about 20 percent of those between 65 and 69 were still in the workforce. Now that number is nearly 30 percent, according to a September 2009 Urban Institute study. The reasons why so many in their “golden years” continue to work are threefold.

First, the traditional pension plan, in which workers are guaranteed a defined benefit in the form of a monthly check when they retire, has for many if not most workers become a thing of the past. Over the past two or three decades, employers have substituted defined contributions for defined benefits. Under this method, workers contribute to 401k and 403b plans and employers often

16 Spring 2010

match some or all of the amounts. In this recession, however, even the employer match has fallen by the wayside in many cases, as companies cut costs to keep from failing.

Savings, another leg of the traditional three-leg stool in retirement planning, have also taken a hit, as people have withdrawn funds to pay for current living expenses. Furthermore, balances in defined contribution plans plummeted with the stock market crash of 2008. While the market rebound last year recouped some of those losses, the shrunken portfolios have also forced many seniors to keep working longer than they’d intended.

Social Security, the third leg of the stool, has also affected the retirement picture for many senior workers. Payments are pegged to the overall consumer price index and do not take account of items, such as some prescription drugs, that disproportionately affect seniors. Moreover, with inflation flat in 2009, Social Security beneficiaries have had no increase this year and, unless prices rise, are unlikely to see one next year as well.

(B’nai B’rith has worked with Congress to bring relief to seniors with lump sum “stimulus payments” to Social Security beneficiaries in lieu of a cost-of-living increase.)

Older adults nearing the traditional retirement age are also affected by the recession.

In December, 1.6 million people between the ages of 55 and 64 were unemployed. If laid off, they face a double whammy. Too young for Medicare, they must seek private

health insurance, with higher premiums based on age, and some with prior medical problems may be unable to buy policies at any price, leaving them uninsured.

Older workers, too, face age discrimination in the job market, where a premium seems to be placed on “innovation” and “energy,” words stereotypically associated with the young. Employers worried about health costs may also reject prospective older workers whose employment might boost the firm’s group rates, a cost of doing business.

Although age discrimination is illegal, it is difficult to prove and often goes unpunished.

The focus on youth, whether in job interviews or in the media, tends to hide the reality of the older worker struggling to stay gainfully employed—and financially solvent—in a recessionary economy.

In January, Time magazine focused on teen unemployment, admittedly a big problem these days, with no mention of seniors in the same boat. Older readers who wrote letters to the editor had little sympathy and, touting their own experience, professionalism, and dedication, pointed out that they have also been hard hit by the worst economic downtown since the Great Depression.

There is, it’s fair to say, plenty of pain to go around without engaging in a war of the generations. But it cannot hurt—and it may help—to remember the seniors who are also struggling. Not only to remember but to act, by fighting to preserve traditional pensions, by actively supporting universal health care, by battling age discrimination, and by educating employers about the added value of life experience that older workers bring to the job.

Rachel Goldberg is B’nai B’rith’s director of senior advocacy.

You’re on a gurney. You’re having a medical emergency far from home.

You’re in a hospital you don’t know, being tended to by people you’ve never met, and whose competence you have to take on faith.

IS THERE ANYWAY TO ENSURE THAT YOU GET THE BEST MEDICAL CARE?

YES

there is something you can do, providing you do it now, BEFORE the need arises.

As a member of B’nai B’rith, you can register for the Emergency Assistance Plus (EA+) Program with a simple phone call. Then, when you suffer a medical emergency away from home, EA+’s Emergency Response Team will assist you to ensure you get the best possible care — and get you back home, if needed, even if you’re on the other side of the world.

See how EA+ works for YOU...

PART 1: Medical Evacuation helps get you to the best medical facility quickly. If the local facilities are not good enough, EA+ will pay to move you, or airlift you, to a more suitable place.

PART 2: Medical Assistance helps you get the best medical treatment.

EA+ assigns you a medical care expert to constantly monitor your treatment and make sure you’re

Total peace of mind... getting the very best care you need. If necessary, EA+ will send With an EA+ card in your pocket, one of its medical specialists to you don’t have to worry your bedside to take about medical mishaps “EA+ was a lifesaver charge of your away from home — or on my last trip. I treatment. about getting the best would never go care, or paying thousands PART 3: Assistance for anywhere without of dollars in airfare to Companions helps to it.” look after your John W., Ohio bring a medical specialist or loved one to your traveling companions side, and then back home again. during your emergency. If you’re EA+ does it all for you. alone, EA+ will pay to fly in a family member. EA+ will also pay Special B’nai B’rith Group Rates... to send them, and you, home, EA+ covers you 24 hours a day including any kids traveling with anywhere in the world for a full you, and with an escort if 12 months for only $79, and only necessary. EA+ will assist to send $20 more to include your family. pets home, too.

You are guaranteed coverage. You PART 4: Travel Assistance helps tie cannot be turned down, providing up all loose ends. EA+ will help you register now. replace lost prescriptions, passports and visas, plus provide interpreters if you’re in a foreign B’nai B’rith Members: country. And if you’re unable to Register Now drive your vehicle, EA+ will pay to return your vehicle home, even Call toll-free from thousands of miles away.

1-866-633-6440

Full USA and Worldwide Protection on EVERY trip for the next 12 months Weddings Graduations Anniversaries Reunions Funerals 21741 ©2009 AGIA

Seminars Business trips Conventions Weekend getaways RV trips

Camping trips Sports events Tours Cruises Vacations

Ask for “EA+ Program.”

Call M-F: 8am - 7pm EST

+

he United States and Israel are inextricably connected by politics, culture, and history. Their futures, however, are also intrinsically linked by an ominous addiction: dependence on fossil fuels, supplied by some of the world’s most hostile regimes.

The obligation to be good stewards of the Earth has always been a fundamental tenet of Judaism. The current reliance on foreign oil is harmful not only environmentally but geopolitically, as the interests of the Persian Gulf oil suppliers are often adverse to those of the United States, Israel, and much of the Western world.

Jewish advocates are playing an increasingly important role in promoting alternatives to petroleum to help lower fossil fuel emissions and, in turn, bolster the national security of the United States and Israel.

“Weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels will require a commitment from civic and religious groups, in coordination with government, industry, universities, and researchers working toward a common, and vital, purpose,” said Moishe Smith, B’nai B’rith International (BBI) immediate past president and former BBI representative for Energy Alternatives for the 21st Century (EA-21), a coalition comprised of Americans of differing faiths and political outlooks that promotes energy independence and security. Member organizations include BBI and the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel, and individual supporters include Reps. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. “Our national security, our already fragile economy, and the future of our planet all hang in the balance,” Smith added.

B’nai B’rith has become an integral player in the fight for energy independence in the United States, along with other Jewish grassroots and political organizations. BBI works with EA-21 in its energy conservation efforts.

18 Spring 2010

“What is probably of greatest concern to [B’nai B’rith] in this whole constellation of issues is the threat to U.S. national security posed by our dependence on foreign oil,” said Eric Fusfield, deputy director of B’nai B’rith’s Center for Human Rights and Public Policy. “This has a special resonance with the Jewish community, because we’re so concerned about events in the Middle East, Israel’s security, and stability in the region.”

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States uses two-thirds of its oil for transportation. Two-thirds of crude oil used in the United States is also imported, of which 20 percent comes from the Persian Gulf.

The United States imported approximately 170 million barrels of oil—7.1 billion gallons—from Organization of Petroleum Export Countries (OPEC) nations in April 2008, according to the Department of Energy.

“There are some actors in the region that we are beholden to because of our dependency on oil, and our ability to advance U.S. interests in the region is going to suffer as a result of the economic leverage that they hold over us,” Fusfield said.

These actors include Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and numerous Saudi princes who control the oil and “have that power to cut it off or to keep it flowing… [Oil gives money] to these people to do things we don’t like to see done,” observed Neil Goldstein, executive vice president of EA-21.

In 2003, Goldstein, who was then with the American Jewish Congress (AJC), sought to encourage a lasting relationship between the United States and Israel in energy research and development and formed an energy independence task force with some of his coworkers.

“We thought…not only should we care about U.S. energy policy, but Israel should care about this as well, and we started looking at the question of what we could do to get Israel more engaged in the subject,” Goldstein said.

A 2003 conference, hosted by the AJC, the U.S. energy department, and Israel’s Ministry of International Infrastructure, brought together more than 100 American and 100 Israeli experts in varying fields. One result was the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, which Goldstein helped write, passed as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Jack Halpern, president of EA-21, said the act funds joint U.S.-Israeli projects in areas of energy efficiency, renewables, and alternatives. In October 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an additional $2 million to fund the U.S.-Israel energy cooperation effort, but a permanent independence from petrodollar control requires a more multifaceted approach.

“There are terrifically creative and clever engineers in both countries; they have a great cooperative spirit, they work together in a number of areas, and energy seems to be the next frontier where the synergism between the United States and Israel can really bloom,” said David Haberman, president of the consulting firm IF, LLC and a longtime energy technologist. Haberman also serves as EA-21’s senior director and provides technical analyses of energy concepts.

“We’re working to broaden the Jewish community’s understanding of why progressive, comprehensive, sustainable energy policy is so important beyond the security angle and

the security question,” explained Rachel Cohen, senior legislative assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and member of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), of which B’nai B’rith is a participating organization. “Energy policy should address the environmental challenges we face moving to clean, sustainable, renewable sources of energy.”

Sybil Sanchez, president of the coalition since midDecember, agrees that energy security needs a comprehensive approach: “Energy security means finding a way to sustain our energy that’s green, that’s safe, that isn’t emitting dangerous [chemicals] into the air, that’s accessible…and that we can count on,” Sanchez, formerly B’nai B’rith director of U.N. affairs, said. “If we don’t deal with global climate change at the same time as energy independence, we’re not really addressing the problem.”

Petroleum-free vehicles, such as hydrogen- or electricallypowered cars, are decades away from mass penetration of the consumer market. In the meantime, Goldstein and Halpern believe, the United States needs a short-term solution to gradually end its reliance on foreign oil.

Photo by Getty Images

By Dara Kahn

B’Nai B’rith 19

“If we don’t deal with global climate change at the same time as energy independence, we’re not really addressing the problem.”

—Sybil Sanchez, president of Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life EA-21, along with B’nai B’rith and other proponents of the Open Fuel Standard Act of 2009, supports flexible fuel vehicles as a feasible, short-term solution to the energy dilemma.

The legislation was introduced in Congress in March 2009 as part of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

It would require that 50 percent of new automobiles starting in 2012, and 80 percent of new automobiles starting in 2015, be flex-fuel vehicles that can operate with a combination of gasoline and either E85 (85 percent ethanol), M85 (85 percent methanol), or other biodiesel fuels.

“We must modernize and expand our energy infrastructure with sensitivity to our natural environment,” Dennis W. Glick, BBI president and current BBI representative to EA-21, stated.

“B’nai B’rith calls on our officials to support rapidly developing, producing, and marketing renewable and alternative technologies.”

Many worry about detrimental effects of corn-derived ethanol on the food supply and arable land, but clean alternative liquid fuel sources already exist. Sugar cane is successfully used in Brazil, and the use of vegetable oil derived from algae is currently being researched in Israel.

20 Spring 2010

“The nice thing about flex-fuel vehicles is that they’re so cheap that, in effect, for $100 [more per new car], you’re buying the chicken and the eggs will follow,” Halpern said.

While flex-fuel vehicles may be an effective short-term solution, other long-term solutions are still being pursued.

Haberman believes hydrogen-powered cars (using either fuel cells or hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines) are the ultimate solution to the energy crisis, though multiple types of alternative fuel technologies should still be researched.

“It takes two cents’ worth of water to make the equivalent of a gallon of gas,” Haberman explained, referring to the hydrolysis technique needed to convert hydrogen into liquid fuel. “You add solar power, split the water, take the hydrogen gas, store it, and use it [for] transportation instead of Arab oil—sounds pretty good.”

Hydrogen is already used to power pickup trucks, forklifts, space shuttles, and other service vehicles, but personal hydrogenpowered vehicles are still a few years away, Haberman said.

Gal Luft, director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, believes hybrid-electric cars provide the best of both worlds. “They’re the perfect solution. They allow you to do your daily commute on electricity but it doesn’t limit you… because you have a liquid fuel tank,” Luft said.

According to Luft, electric cars are the ultimate goal, though it will take decades for them to penetrate the mainstream market. Flex-fuel vehicles, he believes, can alleviate the problem temporarily.

“These are the ideas that we think will transform the energy landscape away from the calls to ‘drill, baby, drill,’ which is nothing but an economic boon to the enemies of both Israel and the United States,” Haberman said.

In addition to new technologies, individuals and the Jewish community as a whole can make positive environmental choices, Sanchez said.

COEJL recently secured $500,000 in funding to help make the Jewish community a key player in the energy debate. The

organization launched the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign, which “calls on individuals and their institutions to look at their role as a consumer, as an individual, as a Jew in community, and as a citizen.”

But while Sanchez said people can make individual choices, sweeping transformation comes from more complex changes.

“It’s how you live in communal life and think as a community, then whether you expect those leaders to do those things and support policies,” she said.

The first charge given to the first humans (Adam and Eve) in the first biosphere was l’ovdah u l’shomra; literally, to serve and protect the Earth.

“It’s deeply rooted in our tradition from the earliest words of Torah that we have an incredible responsibility to take care of our resources and take care of the Earth,” Cohen said.

Oil is one of those resources whose extraction, as well as its use, is destructive.

“This issue is important from a Jewish values perspective, and it crosses … the spectrum of Judaism,” Glick said. “Secondly, the foreign oil producers are not our friends.”

“The one thing we can’t do is let [the environment] deteriorate on our watch,” said Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md. “The actions that demonstrate love for God are love of neighbor and love of creation, and preventing the worst of climate change’s impact is about both.”

Another law that pervades Jewish thoughts about the climate is the charge of bal tashkhit, the prohibition of wanton destruction. “The rabbis use this as an anchor of an ethic of wasting nothing, but we have bizarrely made peace with an economy that’s based on disposability, and that is the opposite of the Jewish ethic,” Dobb said.

“I feel that history will judge this generation, more than anything else, on what we did to reverse the massive changes that we had wrought on creation,” he said.

And change seems to be within reach.

With the new presidential administration in place over the past year, Haberman said, “In the energy world, it’s like emerging from the Dark Ages. You’re hoping, given that renaissance, we might be able to get acceleration in public policy that supports these things.”

Wishing you and your family a

Happy Passover is your store for all your Kosher favorites!

Quality. Selection. Savings. Every Day. GiantFoodStores.com

B’Nai B’rith 21

educationmart Shalom! and Best Wishes to Our Many Jewish Friends

COLLEGE OF LAW 7214 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118

For program information please call

504.861.5575

or visit our website at

www.law.loyno.edu We are committed to a Diverse Student Body

For program information please call (313) 577-2515 or access our website at: www.clas.wayne.edu

22 Spring 2010

UH is an EEO/AA Institution

educationmart Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish Friends

JAMES E. BEASLEY SCHOOL OF LAW 1719 N. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19122 For program information please call

(215) 204-7861 or access our website at

Shalom and best wishes to our many Jewish friends!

www.law.temple.edu We are Committed to a Diverse Student Body

Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

Dean Andrew M. Coats and The College of Law Norman, OK 73019 For program information please call (405) 325-4726 or access our website at www.law.ou.edu

culaw.creighton.edu

We are Committed to a Diverse Student Body B’Nai B’rith 23

educationmart Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

WRENCE A L

Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

SCHOOL OF LAW

School of Health Sciences and Human Performance

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

TECHNOLOGICAL

UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

or access our website at www.ltu.edu

FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72701 For program information please call (479) 575-5601 or access our website at

To improve the quality of life TOMORROW by developing the managerial and leadership skills of our students TODAY

We Are Committed To A Diverse Student Body

Southfield, MI 48075 For program information please call

(248) 204-3050

www.law.uark.edu

C O L L E GE

Ithaca, NY 14850 For program information please call

(607)274-3237

or access our website at

www.ithaca.edu/hshp

We are Committed to a Diverse Student Body

Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish Friends

UNC CHARLOTTE College of Education Charlotte, NC 28223

For program information please call

(704) 687-8725

or access our website at www.uncc.edu

www.shidler.hawaii.edu

We are Committed to a Diverse Student Body

Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish Friends

University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work

Pittsburgh, PA 15260 For program information please call

(412) 624-6302 or access our website at

www.socialwork.pitt.edu WE ARE COMMITTED TO A DIVERSE STUDENT BODY

Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

1

8

5

6

SHALOM! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

DePaul University

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN SERVICES

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

We are Committed to a Diverse Student Body

(773) 325-7310 or access our website at www.depaul.edu

South Orange, NJ 07079 For program information please call (973) 761-9668 or access our website at www.shu.edu

24 Spring 2010

Chicago, IL 60614 For program info rmation please call

educationmart Shalom! and best wishes to our many Jewish friends

Attention College and University Admissions Officers:

Potential College Students

Plan On Visiting The Schools You See On These Pages

Let B’nai B’rith Magazine Help Demonstrate Your Commitment to Diversity For more information on advertising in our Education Mart contact: Alan Berg (702) 575-4509 B’Nai B’rith 25

letterto the editor Welcome Quinoa to Your Passover Table continued from pg. 9 for consumers to buy locally and act globally at Passover and year-round. If you serve quinoa, you are providing an affordable, healthy alternative to your family and helping to combat poverty in South America. You are also better able to meet the needs of your guests who are vegetarians, vegans, on gluten-free diets, allergic to dairy, and need an alternative source of protein.

So if the youngest child asks, “Why is this Passover night different from all other Passover nights?” a new answer

could be “quinoa.”

To obtain the current list of kosher-forPassover certified quinoa brands in 2010 call Star-K at (410) 484-4110 or OU Kosher at (212) 613-8241. To see kosher-for-Passover quinoa recipes, go to www.bnaibrith.org/magazines.

Dear Editor: I’ve been a member of B’nai B’rith since 1980 and been one of the most influential members in my area.

I’ve run the Rediscovering Cape Verde B’nai B’rith Preserving Basketball Auschwitz Leagues since 1980.

I have also been an insurance broker for 29 years and do a lot of work with Medicare supplements.

I was very disappointed to read Rachel Goldberg’s article about her mother and the Medicare Drug Doughnut Hole. She made a few statements that are absolutely incorrect and might confuse some senior citizens.

Rachel wrote, and I quote, “After her costs hit about $2,700 this year, her insurance disappears until she has spent an additional $4,350 out of pocket.”

Readers may think they can spend $7,050 out of pocket.

Listed below are the 2009 Medicare Part D details: The initial coverage limit is $2,700— this is the total cost of the medication, not the out-of-pocket cost. People only pay copays until that $2,700 is reached.

The $4,350 represents the out-of-pocket threshold. This is the total a person can pay before hitting the catastrophic coverage portion of the benefit. After that the drug copay is very small. This $4,350 also includes the copays on the initial $2,700.

Bottom Line: $4,350 out of pocket instead of $7,050.

B’nai B’rith Broa

B’Nai B’rith PUBLISHED

vvv Leah Dobkin is a freelance writer based in Milwaukee and has contributed to AARP, Kiplinger’s, My Midwest and other flight magazines, as well as international, national, and regional publications. She writes about environmental, social, and consumer issues.

A Quest for Quinoa Here are a few places where you can find more quinoa recipes: www.quinoa.net kosherfood.about.com/od/pesach (search for quinoa) www.andeannaturals.com www.bhg.com/recipes (search for quinoa) www.incaorganics.com

The quinoa timbale with grapefruit vinaigrette shown above features fresh vegetables and grapefruit, providing a nutritious, high-protein, and tasty appetizer during the Passover holiday.

Passover By Design: Picture Perfect Kosher by Design Recipes for the Holiday, by Susie Fishbein. Published by ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.

26 Spring 2010

The Medicare ‘Doughnut Hole’

SINCE 1886

m

dens Its Scope

a

g

a

of New Media

z

i

n

- See Page 46

e

WINtEr 2009

Inside: A Presidential Farewell

Thank you, Eric B. Felt Philadelphia, Pa.

Charting a New Course for B’nai B’rith

By Dara Kahn

W

Photo by Lloyd Wolf

program was meant to ith his suit fill the void for those jacket off aged 18 to 26—beand formalitween BBYO for high ties pushed aside, Dennis school students and W. Glick sits in his new B’nai B’rith. presidential office at B’nai He met his future B’rith International with wife Ruth there, and the focused demeanor of they have now been a nuts-and-bolts-minded married for 45 years. accountant ready to buckle Their daughter, Julie, down and get to work. has participated in Glick was elected as BBG (the teenage the 29th president in the girls’ component of 166-year history of B’nai BBYO) and attended B’rith International at B’nai B’rith camps as the Board of Governors a child. Glick hopes meeting that preceded the that the child his Policy Conference in Dedaughter is expecting cember 2009 in WashingGlick stands proudly with his daughter, Julie; his wife, Ruth; and his son-in-law, David DePhillips. will follow a similar ton, D.C. As a certified path. public accountant who Glick first joined B’nai of a much larger Jewish family,” Glick’s loyalty to specializes in audits of nonGlick said. “From then on, I was B’rith in the early ’60s through B’nai B’rith is evident through profits and unions, he heads his B’nai B’rith Young Adults, the his more than 40-year involveown private practice, Dennis W. convinced that I needed to find predecessor to today’s Young a way to express my Jewishness ment with the organization, Glick & Associates, P.C., and Professionals Network. He was most recently as chairman seeks to bring that experience to in an organized way.” then attending Temple UniverB’nai B’rith became the orgaof the executive board. Over his new office. sity, where he earned a Bachelor nized way for him to not only the years, he has held numer“When I was growing up, I express his Jewish identity but of Science in accounting and a ous positions, including chair remember seeing numbers tatfight for the right of others to Master of Science in business adtooed on the arms of my neighdo the same. ministration. The Young Adults continued on pg. 35 bors, and I realized I was part

Inside this Issue

28

30

IsraAID in Haiti A Glance at the 2009 Policy Conference Leading by Example

28 30 32

B’nai B’rith Today

B’nai B’rith’s Continued Aid to Haiti

T

like a war scene.”

IsraAID—the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid, of which B’nai B’rith is a founding member—has provided relief from disasters in places such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kenya, Peru, Georgia, and the Philippines. In Haiti, it worked alongside F.I.R.S.T.—Fast Israel Rescue and Search Teams. Before leaving Haiti, Schneider’s team briefed the second IsraAID team, which arrived on Jan. 24.

Along with other international nongovernmental organizations, IsraAID provided medical care

intervention in Haiti. As of early February, B’nai B’rith International’s Disaster Relief Fund had already raised more than $225,000 to continue IsraAID’s relief efforts in the region.

BBI has also contributed funds to the Pittsburgh-based Brother’s Brother Foundation, which provides humanitarian and medical aid in many countries. The BBI donation allowed for a shipment of 20,000 shoes for Haitians.

B’nai B’rith will also send shipments of food and emergency relief materials as part of the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief,

Photos courtesy of IsraAID/Mickey

he 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12 left as many as 200,000 dead and millions homeless, making it arguably the worst natural disaster in this poverty-stricken country’s 200-year history. Survivors were desperately in need of assistance, and B’nai B’rith International responded immediately by providing funds to its strategic partner IsraAID and by seeking more donations for disaster relief.

Within four days of the Tuesday-morning quake, IsraAID sent its first emergency response

Two IsraAID volunteers treat a young Haitian girl’s wounds at their clinic in Port-au-Prince soon after the earthquake.

team of civilian volunteers to the island nation and was one of the first foreign teams to deploy in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider accompanied the first team of 14 for more than a week, providing logistical support. “I’ve been to Chad, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kenya, and Georgia on IsraAid missions, and I’ve never ever seen anything of this scale,” said Schneider. “It’s 28 Spring 2010

and post-trauma support to thousands of refugees who gathered in makeshift camps outside the U.S. ambassador’s residence. The camps became home to more than 50,000 people.

The IsraAID teams, along with the local and other foreign teams operating under IsraAID’s direction, treated thousands of patients. While continuing to provide medical treatment, IsraAID will also develop a strategy for mid- and long-term

comprised of Jewish agencies taking part in Haitian relief efforts.

Upon arrival at the Portau-Prince airport, Schneider’s team was greeted by Operation Blessing, a Christian organization that has been active in Haiti for 10 years. Members of Operation Blessing helped the IsraAID team set up camp at the airport and provided it with food and medical supplies flown in from Florida. Schneider was able to report back home using satellite

Internet access provided by the Christian group.

The IsraAID team worked from sunrise to sunset each day, first helping to get the city’s general hospital—only one of four city hospitals still relatively intact—up and running to treat life-threatening wounds. During the first day, the team treated about 60 people who suffered from head trauma, amputations, and infections that had gone untended since the earthquake.

The injured sat outside in the hospital garden, for fear of potential aftershocks. “They were afraid that this hospital, too, would collapse as the others had,” Schneider said.

IsraAID also sent two teams into the hills surrounding Portau-Prince, where they were able to treat 70 people.

On its third day in Haiti, IsraAID moved its clinic to the national soccer stadium in downtown Port-au-Prince, where about 3,000 displaced persons were encamped. “People set up makeshift tents in the playing field, where there was no medical assistance, no foreigners,” Schneider said. “We set up the clinic with whatever could be found in the area and the medical supplies we brought.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with whom IsraAID quickly developed a working relationship, had set up the first fully functioning field hospital in a soccer field owned by Israel’s Honorary Consulate in Haiti.

Using any available transportation, IsraAID volunteers referred the most seriously injured to the IDF hospital.

The IsraAID clinic soon attracted other foreign medical teams, which included French and American doctors. IsraAID volunteers were able to treat between 200 and 300 patients a day.

Among those rescued by the

B’nai B’rith Today

Volunteering in Haiti: (Clockwise from top left) A F.I.R.S.T. member examines a baby; an IsraAID representative distributes much-needed supplies in one of the makeshift camps in the Haitian capital; and another IsraAID volunteer helps bring smiles to some of the children affected by the natural disaster.

IsraAID team was 6-year-old Jessica Hartelin, pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building by locals nearly six days after the earthquake. The team moved quickly to get her on an IV drip, followed soon after by water and some candy.

“She was completely motionless,” Schneider said. “Only her eyes were moving, looking at the people around her.” She was quickly moved to the IDF field hospital for further treatment.

Millions of Haitians are still homeless, hungry, and in need of emergency aid. Food and water supplies are limited, as is medical expertise and supplies. Morgues are overflowing, thousands of children have been orphaned, and the country’s infrastructure is in shambles.

Even before the disaster, Haiti was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

About 80 percent of its population lived on less than $2 day and unemployment was 70 percent, according to the U.N. Office for the Special Envoy for Haiti.

— Compiled by B’nai B’rith Staff

Now, more than ever, the Caribbean nation will depend on outside help. To contribute to the B’nai B’rith Haitian Relief fund, go to: www.bnaibrith.org and click on the Action Alert box, or go directly to https://secure.ga1.org/05/web_relief_donations. Checks can be mailed to B’nai B’rith International Disaster Relief Fund, 2020 K Street, NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permissible by law.

B’Nai B’rith 29

B’nai B’rith Today

Confronting the

Challenges of Difficult Times

Over the course of three days, Dec. 6-8, 2009, B’nai B’rith members and supporters from nearly 20 countries convened in Washington, D.C., for the annual B’nai B’rith Policy Conference to confront and address some of the most difficult challenges facing the United States and the world. The conference tackled a range of domestic and international issues vital to the Jewish world and the world at large, from global anti-Semitism, human rights abuse, and the Iranian nuclear threat, to Jewish activism, U.S. policy toward Latin America, and energy security.

The following are some of the highlights from this year’s conference.

All policy conference photos by Lloyd Wolf

Dr. Charles Small, director of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism, speaks candidly at the policy conference about the Iranian regime, genocidal anti-Semitism, and human rights abuses.

From the Administration: John Brennan, deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism, speaks about U.S. foreign policy for 2010 at the conference. Four other policy experts spoke at the conference: Lauren Aronson, policy director for the White House Office of Health Reform; Christian Kennedy, special envoy for Holocaust Issues for the U.S. Department of State; Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, an advisory board member of United Against Nuclear Iran; and Dan Restrepo, special assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, National Security Council.

30 Spring 2010

B’nai B’rith Today

Label A. Katz Outstanding Young Leadership Award

S

even extraordinary young B’nai B’rith leaders earned the Label A. Katz Outstanding Young Leadership Award at the 2009 Policy Conference. The award is named for the youngest person to achieve the status of international president of B’nai B’rith. It is given to B’nai B’rith members under 45 who demonstrate exceptional service to the totality of the organization and have worked to achieve the goals of the B’nai B’rith Young Leadership program.

This year’s winners included Eric Engelmayer of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Nathalie Gamain of La Colle sur Loup, France; David Geller of Weston, Fla.; David Mizrachi Fidanque of Panama City, Panama; Jacob Reckess of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Victor Salomon of Montevideo, Uruguay; and Matthew Waas of Arlington, Va. The award has proven a good barometer of future achievement in B’nai B’rith—our newly elected president, as well as many before him, was a Label A. Katz award winner.

Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio, sets the tone for the conference with her insightful take on the U.S. political and policy outlook for 2010 at the meeting’s opening luncheon.

(Left): Bruce Pascal of North Potomac, Md., one of the new B’nai B’rith senior vice presidents, receives the 2009 Moe and Berdie Kudler Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service from Rob Spitzer, whose late parents—former B’nai B’rith International President Jack J. Spitzer and his wife Charlotte—established the honor.

(Right): Eduardo Kohn of Montevideo, Uruguay, and B’nai B’rith International director of Latin American affairs, receives the 2009 Julius Bisno Award for Professional Excellence (also established by the Spitzer family) from Rob Spitzer.

Panamanian Ambassador Jaime Eduardo Aleman presents the Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award to David Mizrachi Fidanque, who is from Panama.

Conference coverage continued on pg. 34 B’Nai B’rith 31

B’nai B’rith Today

Leading by Example

By Dara Kahn

F

or more than 30 years now, Gary P. Saltzman has lived and breathed B’nai B’rith International (BBI). As one of BBI’s newly elected senior vice presidents, he wants to give back to the organization that has influenced him so positively and set an example for other B’nai B’rith leaders.

He has done so by designating a significant end-of-life monetary gift to BBI—from not only himself, but his entire family.

As a senior vice president, he hopes to encourage leaders to give back, not only through their current involvement but also by making a financial investment in the future of B’nai B’rith.

“A leader needs to demonstrate his or her ability and commitment to the organization. This is a lasting way of saying ‘I’m there for you, even though I’m no longer physically there for you,’” said Saltzman, who was elected to his office at the December Board of Governors meeting.

He said his gift has no strings—it can be used to support all kinds of B’nai B’rith causes, from senior housing facilities to public policy issues for world Jewry.

“Unfortunately, it takes resources to carry out these important missions, to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves,” he explained. “I trust that the funds will be used to further the mission of the organization at that particular time. It’s ultimately for the betterment of men and women.”

Born and raised in Denver, Saltzman started his professional career in the 1970s as a certified public accountant at the firm Wenner, Silvestain & Company, LLC, where he still works today.

Outside the office, bowling was 32 Spring 2010

Photo by Lloyd Wolf

Gary P. Saltzman speaks at this year’s policy conference. He says he wants to provide future B’nai B’rith leaders with the opportunities he was given.

Saltzman’s first entry to his threedecade association with B’nai B’rith. He had always enjoyed the game, so when in 1975 his wife, then a member of the former B’nai B’rith Women, suggested he join the Denver B’nai B’rith bowling league as a social outlet and to brush up on his skills, he wholeheartedly agreed.

He enjoyed meeting people and bowling with the B’nai B’rith “fellas,” and eventually became president of the more than 100-person league. From there, he joined the Denver Lodge Board, eventually ascending to the presidency in 1986. He simultaneously served on the na-

tional B’nai B’rith Youth Commission, eventually becoming national chairman in 1998. He became president of the former District Two in 1996 and, later, president of the former Western Frontier Region.

Saltzman has been recognized over the years for his achievements, winning the Label A. Katz Award for Young Leadership in 1989 and the Gold Key Award from BBYO around the same time. His strongest personal connection to B’nai B’rith, he said, was through BBYO. In 1985, immediately preceding the start of his presidency of the Denver Lodge, Saltzman

participated in a B’nai B’rith leadership development weekend at B’nai B’rith Beber Camp in Wisconsin with fellow young members.

“It provided me with more tools and opportunities to become a better leader,” he said, adding that he wants to ensure that others can participate in such programs as well.

One of the highlights of his B’nai B’rith career was the March of the Living trip Saltzman took in 2000 with about 250 BBYO participants, when he was chairman of the B’nai B’rith Youth Commission. March of the Living is an international educational program that brings Jewish teenagers to Poland and Israel for two weeks to learn about the Holocaust. It was at once grueling, inspiring, and energizing because of the engagement of the B’nai B’rith youth.

“It was one of the most gratifying times that I had,” he said.

“There’s extreme value for someone to leave a legacy to an organization that they feel makes a difference in the lives of people other than themselves,” Saltzman added. “This gift is probably the best opportunity for me to give to the organization for the good things it has done for me but, more importantly, for the good things that it will do for others.”

To create a B’nai B’rith endowment or trust fund, please contact the Planned Giving Department, 2020 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006; 800-656-5561; plannedgiving@bnaibrith.org, or send in the postcard facing this article. More information can be found at our website: www.bnaibrith.org/support/planned_giving.cfm.

Keep your Promise.

Build your Legacy.

S

pring is a time of renewal, when we recommit ourselves to faith, family and community. What better time, then,

to consider a bequest to the B’nai B’rith Foundation that provides important services for Jews around the world and ensures Jewish continuity.

Consider a bequest to B’nai B’rith today. With the planned giving professionals at B’nai B’rith Foundation just a phone call away, you can develop a plan that secures your own future while building a legacy for generations. Together, we can keep our promise to build a brighter Jewish future.

To Make a Bequest

A

bequest to the B’nai B’rith Foundation of the U.S. will perpetuate your love for Judaism by providing positive Jewish experiences for young people and important services for Jews of all ages around the world.

To remember B’nai B’rith in your will or estate plan, please include: B’nai B’rith Foundation of the U.S. (tax ID # 53-0257218) 2020 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006

Please contact our professional staff for a no-obligation consultation.

Daniel Heckelman Deputy Executive Vice President Washington, D.C. 202-857-6548

Marna Schoen National Deputy Director, Planned Giving New York Washington, D.C. 800-656-5561

Denise Herschberg Director, Planned Giving Florida Region Boca Raton 561-620-8177

Danny Levy Director, Planned Giving Western Region Los Angeles 818-387-8264

Bernadette Richardson Planned Giving Associate Washington, D.C. 202-857-2757

B’nai B’rith Today

Confronting the Challenges of Difficult Times (Conference coverage continued from pg. 31) Newly-elected Senior Vice President Ted Greenfield of Montreal, Canada (right), poses with Moishe Smith, immediate past BBI president, after he receives the Jack Smith Memorial Keter Shem Tov (Crown of a Good Name) Award for a lifetime of service.

Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin presents a special award to Christian Kennedy, special envoy for Holocaust Issues for the U.S. Department of State.

Honorary President Kent Schiner of Hunt Valley, Md., receives the B’nai B’rith Silver Medallion Award for Lifetime Service from Moishe Smith.

‘Eddie’ Showcases United States’ Early Support of Israel

“S

gt. Eddie, reporting for duty,” Marvin Starkman announced as he stepped back in time and character as Eddie Jacobson at the Armistice Day Reunion of 1949. So began the Washington premiere of “Eddie,” a play about Jacobson, a B’nai B’rith member from Kansas City whose friendship with President Harry Truman—which began during their World War I days in Battery D—helped change the course of history.

The one-man play at the 2009 B’nai B’rith Policy Conference showcased how Jacobson, at the urging of B’nai B’rith International President Frank Goldman, prevailed upon his friend and former business partner Truman to give Israel’s future first president Chaim Weizmann a chance to plead the case for a Jewish State of Israel.

34 Spring 2010

“We think [audiences will] learn about an authentic American hero named Eddie Jacobson who’s little known and insufficiently appreciated, not just by world Jewry but by the public at large,” said Bob Feinberg, the play’s writer.

Before Jacobson’s private meeting with Truman, the former president said he was tired of the relentless pressure from the Zionists. A.J. Granoff, Jacobson’s attorney and a B’nai B’rith officer, helped to bring Jacobson and Goldman together.

The play’s ending showed how Jacobson’s pleading with his old friend Truman and Chaim Weizmann’s patient, private, and productive meeting with the U.S. president resulted in the United States becoming the first country to recognize the de facto existence of Israel, 11 minutes after it declared independence May 14, 1948.

B’nai B’rith Today

Charting a New Course for B’nai B’rith (continued from pg. 27)

of the Youth Commission, B’nai B’rith Perlman Camp, and BBI’s Center for Human Rights and Public Policy, as well as president of the former District Three. He has also been involved in related organizations such as the AntiDefamation League, Jewish Community Center Board, Jewish Community Relations Council, and Jewish Federation of Philadelphia.

He also won the Label A. Katz Award for Outstanding Young Leadership in 1983, an honor that has proven to be an indicator of his future B’nai B’rith leadership success.

For his three-year term as president, Glick has promised to focus on some of the greatest threats to the Jewish community today: international antiSemitism and hostility toward the State of Israel.

He is also working to maintain the organization’s financial stability, advocate for seniors, focus on humanitarian and disaster relief, create a stronger fundraising base, concentrate on the core membership in the United States without losing sight of overseas members, and invigorate new young leadership.

“I firmly believe that I’m just a temporary custodian as the president and that my job is to develop new [young] leadership

so we can turn the organization over to them,” Glick said.

As president, Glick said he wants to make a difference and leave B’nai B’rith better than he found it, as well as “expand the role of the organization, create more visibility, and increase the number of participants.”

beyond the Band-Aid and into the long term,” Glick said.

During his first week in office, Glick also met with several younger B’nai B’rith members, giving them positions of responsibility to hone their skills through the Center for Human Rights and Public Policy.

B’nai B’rith became the organized way for him to express his Jewish identity while fighting for the right of others to do the same.

Glick acted immediately on his campaign promises. His first official act as president, befitting a CPA who specializes in auditing, especially of nonprofits, was to carefully review B’nai B’rith’s finances with the fiscal department and BBI’s bank.

“CPAs tend to … take a perspective both short-term and long-term. You need to look

A strong believer in teamwork, he wants to involve all of his officers in meetings with world leaders and government officials as part of the B’nai B’rith agenda of promoting human rights, defending the State of Israel, and protecting Jews internationally.

“We just can’t sit on the sidelines when other issues, like the situation in Darfur or

worldwide hunger, are occurring,” he said. “But we also need to continue to advocate for the senior community and health care. It’s unconscionable for a country like ours not to be able to provide health care for its citizens.”

Outside of B’nai B’rith and his accounting practice, Glick still finds time to focus on what’s important: family and baseball. For three to four days each summer, he and his brother-in-law traverse the country visiting ballparks in places they’ve never been.

While he enjoys these trips, his loyalty remains forever at home with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Glick lives and works just outside that city, in Huntingdon Valley, Pa. As president, Glick hopes to use his knowledge from all these experiences to carve a stable new path for B’nai B’rith International.

“We have a long and storied history,” Glick said. “We’ve served many generations well, we have an important place in the community, and we must continue to serve. We need to make the organization stronger so it’s available to the next generation.”

Interim Director of Communications Harvey Berk Interim Editor Eugene L. Meyer

B’nai B’rith Today (BBT) is now a special section in B’nai B’rith Magazine. BBT focuses on timely major issues affecting the members, supporters, and leaders of B’nai B’rith International, including regional success stories, programming, departmental initiatives, events, etc.

Designer Vivian Hayward Editor Dara Kahn B’Nai B’rith 35

By Matthew E. Berger

36 Spring 2010

other incidents, like the mass shooting at the Fort Hood Army base last November. While the event was still playing out on the television screens above them, the men were on the phone with law enforcement and government officials, asking whether the alleged suspect had ties to Muslim extremist groups and questioning whether other targets, like synagogues, could be next.

Inside the clandestine “war room” of the SCN, the task is to protect the American Jewish community from terrorists and extremists. In a few short years, the e-mails and conference calls they send out have become essential for executives, lay leaders, and security directors at Jewish community centers and organizations, federation buildings, synagogues, and day schools across the country. The SCN also has developed exercises for its supporters to help develop preparation strategies.

After all, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched for terrorists to target one of the vast numbers of summer camp properties that many Jewish groups like B’nai B’rith International run. Anyone could learn about the camp on the Internet, including its layout and demographics, and use the data for nefarious purposes. That was the exact scenario Jewish leaders were presented with in a tabletop exercise coordinated by SCN last year. Many of those around the conference table were awakened to how unprepared they truly were to the potential of a terrorist attack on their grounds.

“It was a shock-in-the-face exercise,” said Mark Olshan, B’nai B’rith’s associate executive vice president, who participated.

While Jewish groups have spent years preparing for terrorist attacks on major institutions, many had not focused on smaller venues, such as summer camps, that were even more vulnerable. Olshan said that as soon as he returned to his Washington office from the SCN exercise, he contacted Harrell Wittenstein, director of B’nai B’rith’s camping services depart-

ment, to make sure response policies and procedures were in place.

“I realized I didn’t know what to do, because I wasn’t aware of the procedures at that camp and hadn’t discussed emergency procedures with the head of the camp,” Olshan said. “It brought home in real terms what can happen and how you can have clear, concise guidelines in place, so people understand what to do and when to do it.”

k When certain events occur—from a shooting at a Los Angeles synagogue to a gunman holed up in an Orlando office building—SCN sends out alerts and suggestions for Jewish sites to lock their doors, contact local law enforcement, or just proceed as normal, but with a heightened state of vigilance.

“We feel very strongly that the community needs to do everything it can to protect itself,” said Paul Goldenberg, SCN’s full-time executive director, a former undercover cop and former chief of New Jersey’s Office of Bias Crimes and Civil Affairs.

“When events unfold, you cannot always [assume] that 911 will be there. If you have multiple events in a city, as we’ve seen in Mumbai and 9/11, you better be ready to protect yourself and to address your own security,” he said.

The threat is real. While many groups and municipalities worry they could be in the crosshairs of a terrorist’s sights—or, in law enforcement parlance, a “soft target”— no one can deny that Jewish institutions have been stalked by extremists over the last decade. Jews in federation buildings and community centers have been killed by gunmen. On multiple occasions, law enforcement officials have warned Jewish community leaders of threats picked up while intercepting terrorist communications. The FBI foiled a plot last year to place bombs underneath two Bronx

Photo by Getty Images

M

ost Jewish leaders first learned of an early-morning shooting at a Los Angeles synagogue last October via e-mail.

Within minutes of the attack in the underground garage of the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Congregation, community leaders at other locations began sealing doors, limiting access, and closely noting out-of-place visitors or vehicles.

As the hours passed, and as e-mail updates suggested the shooting was an isolated incident rather than a terrorist attack, Jewish leaders lowered their guard. Another crisis averted.

The e-mails stemmed from a vigil held in a nondescript office building in New York City where, in a room the size of a walk-in closet, three men work to protect the U.S. Jewish community. The lights are usually off, and the one pane of glass that would let in the outside world has been covered with brown paper. A large bank of flat-screen televisions is tuned to cable news stations in the United States and around the world.

This is the Secure Community Network (SCN)—an organization composed of three paid staff and numerous volunteer advisors from other Jewish groups and law enforcement, launched by leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in 2004.

SCN’s original sole purpose was to be an alert system for imminent threats to the American Jewish community, a way for every facility to receive the same message from federal law enforcement.

The screen in the center of the SCN dwarfs the others in size and shows a running log of disruptions around the country—from minor earthquakes and traffic accidents to bomb scares and police standoffs. The men stare at the screen and seem to be in a state of constant readiness, waiting for the next big thing.

A direct attack on the Jewish community, like the Los Angeles shooting, certainly raises their awareness. But so do

A State of

Constant Readiness: Protecting the Jewish Community

Y B’Nai B’rith 37

synagogues. A security guard lost his life last summer protecting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington from an armed gunman.

The fear and anxiety are just as real.

Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Jewish groups were keenly aware they could be targeted by Muslim extremists.

And 9/11 highlighted the terrorist tactic of a calculated, multi-pronged attack.

With word of every shooting, bombing, or act of vandalism, there is a palpable concern within Jewish organizations across the country: Who will be next?

When leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations launched SCN, its goal was to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the organized Jewish world.

SCN gave Jewish sites around the country a way to get reliable information while squashing rumors, and it gave the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and other federal law enforcement agencies a single phone number to call to alert the Jewish community.

“The first directive of SCN was to provide a liaison with the federal authori-

or alerts can deter a lone gunman from entering a Jewish facility with weapons blazing. But SCN’s team believes it can instill key techniques to mitigate the damage from such an incident, including controlling access to the facility, providing master keys to law enforcement, and even coordinating who calls 911, so communication channels are clear.

“We are maximizing information, expertise, and technology to ensure, on behalf of the Jewish community, that people are talking to one another,” Goldenberg said.

The Need Ask Jewish organizational leaders from across the country why an organization like SCN is necessary, and they recall horrific attacks on Jewish facilities in recent years. Each time, there was a sense of confusion about how to respond. Was it the start of a bigger attack, or just a lone gunman on a rampage?

One alert came on a Friday afternoon in June 2002, when the FBI warned that al-Qaeda terrorists could use fuel tanker trucks to attack synagogues or Jewish

With word of every shooting, bombing, or act of vandalism, there is a palpable concern within Jewish organizations across the country: Who will be next? ties where we didn’t have it before,” said current SCN co-chair Stephen Hoffman, who co-founded SCN when he was CEO of United Jewish Communities. “The second role was to have a communication system within our national system, so that rumors could be knocked down or serious information transmitted.”

But SCN has morphed into more of an education conduit, offering new tactics for preventing terrorists from entering buildings, or for aiding law enforcement once an incident occurs.

Of course, no amount of planning

38 Spring 2010

schools in the United States. The message was sent initially to just a handful of Jewish organizational heads in New York City. Most Jews across the country learned about it through the media. And no one knew whether it was safe to go to synagogue for Shabbat.

The alert was based on intelligence the FBI had received from terrorists being interrogated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There was nothing to suggest there was an imminent threat that Friday evening, and the situation turned out to be benign, but, with few details being

released, rumors and confusion were rife. The creation of SCN two years later stemmed from what its founders saw as the need to provide law enforcement authorities with a single contact point within the Jewish community for such alerts. The FBI and other agencies are notably reluctant to share information with the general public because doing so could impede the FBI’s investigations, said Steve Pomerantz, a former assistant director and chief of counterterrorism at the FBI who is now chair of SCN’s Law Enforcement Advisory Board.

To be effective, SCN has to be taken seriously by law enforcement, but developing that credibility hasn’t always been easy. That is why American Jewish law enforcement veterans like Goldenberg and Pomerantz built SCN, rather than Israeli military veterans who often handle security for Jewish organizations.

Even so, they needed to prove to the feds that they weren’t trying to advocate for policy initiatives or promote a human rights agenda.

“We had to show, because we were the first ones out of the box, that we represented a vulnerable constituency,” Goldenberg said. “We had to show we represented infrastructure.”

Over time, the relationship has grown to what Goldenberg now calls “exemplary,” with SCN officials having access to classified security intelligence, rare for the private sector. And Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced in September the SCN model would be replicated to serve other communities as well.

“The secretary looked at this as a benchmark of what we can do with similar organizations,” said William Flynn, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting assistant secretary of infrastructure protection. “What SCN has that is very valuable is [its] network and the ability to provide that network to a broader audience.”

The information doesn’t always flow just one way. When SCN began receiving information about surveillance of Jewish facilities in different cities, its staff contacted national law enforcement. State officials knew of incidents in their own jurisdictions, but no one had made the national connection, Goldenberg said.

SCN has built on relationships many

Jewish organizations have with their local law enforcement as well.

In Seattle, after a gunman shot six women—killing one—at the Jewish Federation building in 2006, SCN worked with local leaders to create sustained relationships with police. The relationship wasn’t bad beforehand, said Nancy Geiger, who oversees security as vice president for finance and administration at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. It’s just that the police never saw the Jewish community as a target.

She said that now, when the police receive a call from the Federation, they know to take it very seriously. “We are considered a ‘special risk’ address.”

But not all communities have been as proactive. Much of the Jewish world is in denial that Jewish institutions and individuals may be the targets of Islamist terrorism, Pomerantz said.

“The community has, by and large,

dealt with that by sticking [its] head in the sand,” he said. “It makes the job simply more difficult.”

k On an average day, the men in the walk-in closet—SCN’s only employees—scour the Internet, looking at the sites of neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups. But it is when there is an immediate event that their true expertise comes into play.

“If something pops up, we’ll do an immediate assessment,” said Patrick Daly, SCN’s senior program analyst. Using their technology, they can look at the location of police activity and pinpoint what Jewish facilities are in the vicinity. Then, they get on the phone with their sources in local and national law enforcement. While everyone is focused on the big event, they are asking whether there is an imminent threat to the

Paul Goldenberg, SCN executive director, monitors potential trouble spots on a map at the SCN war room, as Mark Genatempo (left), the program administrator, and Patrick Daly (right), SCN’s deputy director, look on.

American Jewish community.

“It’s pretty clear whether it’s directly targeting the Jewish community,” Daly said. “The broader concern is whether it’s something indirect, something that hasn’t been broadcast.”

Indeed, just because a shooting doesn’t immediately appear to have Jewish connotations doesn’t mean the community is entirely safe. When Abdulhakim Mujahaid Muhammad opened fire on a Little Rock military recruitment center last June, no one could have suspected he had conducted research on Jewish facilities in Arkansas

B’Nai B’rith 39

For more information contact: Secure Community Network www.scnus.org Scandesk@scnus.org During business hours: 212-284-6940 After business hours or to report an incident: 877-265-3337 and several East Coast cities.

And police found a copy of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in the motel room used by Stephen Morgan the night before he killed a student at Wesleyan University last May. Often, extremists lump the Jewish community with the American government, military, and infrastructure. It is a likely secondary target if a suspect escapes capture.

“We run down everything and rule it out, which is what the FBI does,” Daly said. “Is this a lone shooting, or is this a terrorist attack? We run down every lead until we’re comfortable to say this isn’t going to directly [affect] the Jewish community, and then we move on.”

40 Spring 2010

Any alert they send to Jewish leaders can be only a few sentences long, but the information can be invaluable in a perceived crisis.

“They have a very quick response rate,” Geiger said. “If there is something they learn about that could be a potential concern to the Jewish community, they alert you to it. They vet things, but they also let you know uncertainties, so they don’t create undue panic.”

Sometimes there is very little to say, and SCN has been accused of not sending information out fast enough, especially when Jewish leaders are watching an attack on television and hearing rumors from dozens of different sources. But Goldenberg said SCN wants

to give verified information, as well as advise facilities on what to do next.

“The message is going to be real, the message is going to be consistent, and the message is going to be fact versus fiction,” he said. “No one will ever accuse us of saying the sky is falling. Ever. We are extremely careful in what message we deliver, how we deliver the message, and what the context is.”

The message often reminds Jewish leaders to be vigilant and to pay close attention to people keeping their facilities under surveillance or acting suspicious. At times, it may recommend more concrete actions, like locking doors or limiting access. These are just suggestions, however; each facility is responsible for making its own security decisions, which SCN recommends be done in coordination with local law enforcement.

Follow-up is important as well, because so-called “copycat crimes,” when a gunman emulates a recent shooting, have become more common.

“Almost every event that has unfolded in the past eight months has been a direct result of either what they see on television or what they hear in the media, or even, in some cases, what they read,” Goldenberg said. “Our concern is, is someone going to be inspired by this, are we going to have multiple events?”

k Unfortunately, most attacks against the Jewish community come with little warning and the risk from so-called “lone wolves” seemingly increases nationwide.

Accordingly, SCN has spent additional time and effort training Jewish groups for what might come next. Just days after a gunman attacked an office building in Orlando last November, SCN had the head of the Orlando SWAT team on a conference call with more than 400 Jewish security officials, offering ideas for securing their sites. While some suggestions were common sense, like controlling entry points, others were advanced, like having full staff lists available to determine if anyone is unaccounted for, and blueprints of the facility available for law enforcement.

SCN holds these types of calls often and provides site assessments for Jewish facilities around the country as well.

“Security is only as strong as the weakest

link of the chain,” Geiger said. “It comes down to each individual being trained and the training reinforced, and each individual workforce taking responsibility.”

Goldenberg estimates the organization trained more than 1,000 people during October and November of last year.

Participating groups are asked to pay a nominal fee to receive all the alerts, training, and advice. SCN originally started with funding from United Jewish Communities, the Conference of Presidents, and other Jewish groups. The organization has received several significant donations in recent years, and hopes to eventually apply for government grants. Future plans call for regional representatives who can work more closely with Jewish communities.

“The battle across the country has been for people to pay attention and put the money in,” said Hoffman, who leads fundraising efforts. “Security today is like electricity and heat and water. You can’t run a JCC without electricity, heat, water, and security.”

Goldenberg doesn’t mince words. “Ten years ago I was dealing with cemetery desecrations and swastikas on tombstones,” he said. “Now we are dealing with people who are armed tooth and nail, and are entering our houses of worship, not only to create havoc and send a message of hate but to kill.”

Yet, he is convinced the American Jewish community is safer than it was five years ago, because it is more aware now and better coordinated.

“We are taking the terror out of terrorism,” he said. vvv Matthew E. Berger writes for Politico, The Forward, and the Religion News Service. He has covered politics for NBC News and homeland security for Congressional Quarterly, and spent five years as senior political correspondent for JTA.

Are YOU Paying TOO MUCH For LIFE INSURANCE?

Transamerica Life Insurance Company offers term life insurance policies which guarantee that the premiums you pay will remain level for 10, 15, 20, or 30 years.

10-Year Level Premium Policies * Issue Age 30 40 50

Male Female Male Female Male Female

$100,000 $ 100.00 94.00 118.00 110.00 185.00 171.00

$250,000 $ 130.00 117.50 160.00 145.00 300.00 277.50

$1,000,000 $ 330.00 280.00 410.00 380.00 980.00 860.00

15-Year Level Premium Policies * Issue Age 30 40 50

Male Female Male Female Male Female

$100,000 $110.00 106.00 128.00 124.00 226.00 197.00

$250,000 $152.50 135.00 207.50 190.00 430.00 357.50

$1,000,000 $ 400.00 330.00 640.00 550.00 1,460.00 1,180.00

20-Year Level Premium Policies * Issue Age 30 40 50

Male Female Male Female Male Female

$100,000 $ 114.00 108.00 142.00 133.00 273.00 233.00

$250,000 $ 167.50 155.00 240.00 217.50 545.00 440.00

$1,000,000 $ 480.00 410.00 760.00 660.00 1,860.00 1,440.00

30-Year Level Premium Policies * Issue Age 30 40 50

Male Female Male Female Male Female

$100,000 $ 139.00 129.00 204.00 161.00 433.00 368.00

$250,000 $ 245.00 202.50 390.00 307.50 897.50 710.00

$1,000,000 $ 700.00 580.00 1,200.00 980.00 3,030.00 2,320.00

*Annual premiums shown are for preferred plus nonsmoker class. Equivalent premiums are available for other underwriting classes, ages, face amounts and payment modes.

Trendsetter® Super 10 (#1-306 11-107), Trendsetter® Super 15 (#1-305 11-107), Trendsetter® Super 20 (#1-304 11-107), and Trendsetter® Super 30 (#1-334 11-107) are term life insurance policies issued by Transamerica Life Insurance Company, Cedar Rapids, IA 52499. Premiums increase annually starting in year 11 for Trendsetter Super 10, in year 16 for Trendsetter Super 15, in year 21 for Trendsetter Super 20, and in year 31 for Trendsetter Super 30. Policy forms and numbers may vary, and these policies may not be available in all jurisdictions. Insurance eligibility and premiums are subject to underwriting. In most states, in the event of suicide during the first two policy years, death benefits are limited only to the return of premiums paid. In Missouri, suicide is no defense to payment of benefits unless the Company can show that the insured intended suicide at the time of application for coverage.

Call The Leibowitz Group at **No quotes are final until underwriting is completed.

888-448-LEBO for a no obligation quote.** (5326)

FLD 172 0909

B’Nai B’rith 41

Israel Spearheads Energy Revolution continued from pg. 15 conditioning use is at its peak—and less at night, when consumers could then run their dishwashers, washing machines, and other energy-guzzling appliances without taxing the power grid.

“People react to tariffs, people react to standards,” Mor said. “The standards here are not so tough in terms of energy. There is a move toward more restrictive standards, but we are far away from implementation.”

Gross says much of the criticism of the government is misplaced and that, to its credit, the government is pioneering some energy-efficiency programs even if it is not mandating them nationwide.

The Health Ministry is carrying out an energy-reduction project in all government hospitals in the country, and the Education Ministry is introducing energy-efficiency learning materials in Israeli schools, according to Gross.

The government is also launching pilot programs across the country, in partnership with local municipalities, to test new energy-related initiatives.

Although these programs bring some savings, Gross acknowledges that the real savings will come from the people, not the government. “Unquestionably, reduction in consumer demand is the key,” he said. “This probably holds for everyone in the world.”

Israeli innovations While the Israeli public has been slow to adopt energy-efficiency measures, the Israeli technology industry has embraced alternative energies with gusto.

As in the high-tech sector, Israeli companies have become leaders in the field of alternative energy technologies, partly because the field is related to high tech.

An Israeli company called GreenFuel is working on harvesting energy from ocean algae. Another homegrown outfit, PowerSines, has developed technology that optimizes voltage use in electric motors and machines to reduce the amount of energy required for operation. Applied CleanTech, based in Hadera, has invented a mechanism to generate energy from human and animal waste by breaking sewage down into raw materials, including oil. Tel Aviv-based Variable Wind Solutions has developed a way to significantly increase the efficiency of wind turbines. Numerous 42 Spring 2010

Israeli companies also are involved in the quest to lower the cost of producing solar energy by coming up with more efficient ways to capture the power of the sun.

“Israel has a pool of talented entrepreneurs vastly disproportionate to our size,” said Ukeles, whose firm invests in Israeli alternative energy companies. “Maybe it’s because Israel’s a start-up of a country.

What Israel has that many other countries don’t is a class of entrepreneurs willing to innovate and start new companies.”

The irony is that many of these Israeli companies are taking their technologies abroad first, rather than implementing them in the domestic market. Variable Wind Solutions is conducting its first pilot project in California. PowerSines’ main clients are FedEx, Macy’s, Pepperidge Farms, and IBM. An Israeli company called BrightSource Energy, Inc., signed the world’s largest solar energy deal in February 2009 with Southern California Edison, contracting to build a massive solar thermal power plant in the Golden State.

“This is the standard dynamic in the technology industry in Israel overall,” Ukeles said. “You develop a new technology, then go to the airport and fly off to a real market somewhere. The traditional model was never to pursue business domestically because Israel is such a small-end market.”

It doesn’t help that Israel has a lot of bureaucratic red tape—more so than in Western Europe or the United States, according to Ukeles. This slows the adoption of alternative energy technologies and hampers the development of government incentives like tax breaks and feed-in tariffs to make alternative energies competitive with fossil fuels.

“The bureaucracy of the state is a huge risk factor in this business,” said Yosef Abramowitz, CEO of Arava Power, an Israeli solar power company based at Kibbutz Ketura, near the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat.

Arava Power plans to build a solar field in the desert near Ketura with photovoltaic panels, which use a fraction of the silicon required in conventional solar panels and, therefore, require less land.

But Arava Power first has had to overcome dozens of regulatory hurdles, according to Abramowitz, and, as of the end of 2009, the company still hadn’t cleared all of them and begun building, despite having investors lined up.

Abramowitz says the final bureaucratic

battle the company needs to win is to convince the Israel Electric Corporation to add a tariff to the price of electricity to subsidize solar power and make companies like his competitive. This is no small matter.

“The integration of large solar plants into the electrical grid is a far from trivial operation,” Faiman said. “I doubt that it could be successfully accomplished unless a single organization—i.e., the [Israel Electric Corporation]—were to have complete control over all plants in the grid.”

Uzi Landau, the minister of national infrastructure, is waging a public battle with the Electric Corporation to make it more compatible with solar energy.

In December 2009, the Israeli Cabinet established a new committee on renewable energy to promote, develop, and implement renewable energy initiatives—and to deal with bureaucratic obstacles and competing interests between varying ministries. The Israeli prime minister will head the committee.

“Today, the approach of the Israeli government is serious. Things are happening,” said Yehoshua, of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. “Today, all the relevant parties are dealing with it—the Electric Company, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Ministry, etc. But there are still many challenges, and things don’t happen right away.”

Despite all the bureaucratic red tape, Israel’s advantage is that it is nimble and can change in an instant—if it wants to, Ukeles said.

“One of the nice things about Israel is [she’s] a country where things can look like they’re going nowhere and then turn around very, very quickly,” he said. “Yes, there’s a lot standing in its way, but this is a country that, when needed, can turn on a dime.”

Or, perhaps, a solar panel.

The flower-shaped hybrid solar thermal gas-turbine power station in the Negev (left) produces enough continuous electricity to power small communities, with or without a sunny day. The hefty solar panels (below) at Kibbutz Yavne produce power by using relatively cheap glass mirrors to focus sunlight onto a four-inch chip—a chip that would harvest two to three times more energy than with conventional solar power panels.

Left photo courtesy of Boaz Dovev. Photo below courtesy of Dani Machlis.

B’Nai B’rith 43

Discovering

44 Spring 2010

Jewish Geography

Jewish Las Vegas (New Mexico)

By Noel H. Pugach

I

n the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, at the edge of the high plains of eastern New Mexico, lies the other Las Vegas—older, smaller, and poorer. The town, boasting three exits off Interstate 25, attracted a number of German Jewish merchants soon after its founding in 1835. There they created the largest organized Jewish community in 19th-century New Mexico, one that is now seeing a modest resurgence.

Charles Ilfeld, a young Jewish immigrant from Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt, became Las Vegas’ leading businessman and its most prominent citizen. He engaged in retailing, wholesaling, and bank-

ing; raised tens of thousands of sheep; and was for many years New Mexico’s largest wool dealer.

The arrival of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway in 1879 made Las Vegas the state’s commercial hub for 25 years. Ilfeld responded to the town’s sudden prominence by investing in the Plaza Hotel, built in 1882 to accommodate the surge of visitors and business travelers and known as the “Belle of the Southwest.” In 1883, Ilfeld erected the adjoining Great Emporium, said to be the largest department store between St. Louis and San Francisco. In a gritty Wild West town, the two elegant buildings represented civiliza-

tion and economic development. And then the buildings—and the Jewish community of Las Vegas—went into decline.

But a revival of sorts took place last March 31 with a ceremony at the renovated Plaza Hotel, incorporating it with the former Ilfeld Emporium building.

Schoolteacher-turned-entrepreneur William “Wid” Slick had almost two decades earlier reopened the then-defunct hotel after a $2 million makeover. Slick shared Ilfeld’s vision of a vibrant downtown plaza, where the first Jewish merchants had set up shop. With the assistance of the New Mexico Finance Authority, which guaranteed two local bank loans, Slick and other investors lavished $5 million on restoring Great Emporium’s Italianate façade and Victorian interiors.

On that March 2009 evening, city and state officials, clergy, the media, local businessmen, and Ilfeld descendants assembled in the “Ilfeld Ballroom,” where once shelves and counters were stacked with merchandise ranging from clothing and draperies to tools and household items.

Steve Flance, the chairman of the state finance authority that arranged the project’s funding, noted the legacy of New Mexico Jewry.

Flance, who came to New Mexico in 1970 and currently lives in Santa Fe, where he heads the Flance Finance Group, is descended from German Jews who settled A ceremony was held at the renovated Plaza Hotel (opposite page) last March to celebrate its incorporation with the former Ilfeld Emporium building, an effort to restore the structures to the way they were in the late 1880s.

Photos courtesy of Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas

B’Nai B’rith 45

in St. Louis as early as 1820.

“People needed to be reminded of the contributions of Jews,” he said.

Though no Ilfelds currently live in Las Vegas, 16 members of the extended Ilfeld family, many of whom stayed at the renovated hotel the night of the rededication ceremony, came from New Mexico, Colorado, and California to reunite and return to their roots. Larry Ilfeld, a greatnephew of Charles who lives in Albuquerque, planned the gathering with Slick.

“The Ilfeld family is very closely connected because of its historical prominence and

significance in New Mexico,” he observed.

Fred Ilfeld, a psychiatrist who lives in Squaw Valley, Calif., was struck by the public recognition of the Ilfelds’ Jewish identity. Fred grew up in the 1930s and 1940s in Los Angeles, where his parents felt the bite of anti-Semitism and therefore downplayed their Judaism.

“We were always aware of our [New Mexico] heritage,” he said. While his Jewish heritage “was not denied … it was not up front, like [the] state of New Mexico heritage.”

A visible Jewish presence Unlike Fred’s childhood experience in California, the Ilfelds’ hometown had an unmistakable Jewish presence. By the end of the 19th century, German Jews predominated as the Nahm, Stern, Bachrach, Rosenwald, Judell, and Lefkowitz families, among others, planted their enterprises in Las Vegas.

In addition, Jewish institutions flourished. In 1884, a Reform congregation, Temple Montefiore, was established with about 100 members. Dr. Joseph Glueck served as the first rabbi and was soon instructing 40 children in its religious school. After meeting in homes, the congregation erected a building in 1886 on a lot purchased by Charles Ilfeld and supported by donations from the town’s gentile businessmen. The temple moved to a new location in 1922.

For many years, Jews came from as far away as 150 miles

to pray at Temple Montefiore on the major holidays, to be married in its sanctuary, and to socialize with other Jews. The local newspaper, the Las Vegas Optic, reported the closing of Jewish-owned stores for the High Holidays. The temple sisterhood sponsored Chanukah and Purim balls to raise money for charity and promote solidarity. In 1888, the congregation purchased a section of the Odd Fellows Cemetery for a Jewish burial ground. (Now, the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society devotes a day to repairing and cleaning the old cemetery each spring.)

In November 1902, New Mexico’s second B’nai Brith Lodge, #545, was founded in Las Vegas (Albuquerque’s #336 was the first). The town’s prosperous Jewish merchants built their comfortable Victorian homes near the new business district.

“One can still see the impression of the mezuzot on the doorposts of many homes,” said Diana Presser, a leader of the reemerging Jewish community. She includes the history of Jewish Las Vegas as part of an adult Jewish literacy course she teaches.

In one of the houses, Ludwig Ilfeld— avid outdoorsman, horse breeder, and the colorful chief of the West Las Vegas volunteer fire department—entertained future President Theodore Roosevelt. In that same house, Ludwig prepared boys for their bar mitzvahs in the early 1900s.

By the time New Mexico achieved statehood in 1912, Las Vegas’ Jewish population had reached a peak of about 200, out of the town’s approximately 6,900 residents. Among the newer Jewish residents was Joseph Taichert, a Lithuanian immigrant who became the region’s largest wool and hide dealer in the 20th century, exceeding the volume handled by the Ilfeld Company. His brother Milton managed the family’s J.A. Taichert Haberdashery.

Although Charles Ilfeld remained in

Charles Ilfeld, a German Jewish immigrant, became the leading entrepreneur in Las Vegas, where he built both the Plaza Hotel and the adjoining Great Emporium, and he was also for many years New Mexico’s largest wool dealer.

Photo courtesy of the Ilfeld family

46 Spring 2010

Local entrepreneur William “Wid” Slick reopened the then-defunct Plaza Hotel in the 1980s, sharing Ilfeld’s vision of a vibrant downtown plaza where the first Jewish merchants had set up shop.

The Ilfelds—including brothers (pictured from left to right) Charles, Louis, Bernard, and Noa Ilfeld—dominated the Las Vegas business community in the 1880s.

Photo courtesy of the Ilfeld family

Las Vegas until his death in 1911, his son-in-law Max Nordhaus moved the company’s operations to Albuquerque.

Soon after, the Jewish population of Las Vegas started to decline, dropping to fewer than 100 in the 1920s when a total of about 9,000 residents lived there. The B’nai B’rith Lodge’s minutes trace the death and movement of many members. The congregation lost its rabbi in the 1930s, and the dwindling number of Temple Montefiore’s members forced the sale of the building in 1955. It now serves as the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Newman Center for students at New Mexico Highlands University.

The sale of the Ilfeld Building in the late 1960s underscored the demise of the plaza business district. The new owners turned the ground floor of the Great Emporium into a discount store, The Bonanza, until competition from Wal-Mart forced it to close in 2004. The adjoining Plaza Hotel had earlier fallen into disrepair and only operated the restaurant and bar. The closing of the Taichert store in 1991 marked the end of the town’s important Jewish mercantile history.

In the early 1990s, however, Jews started drifting back to Las Vegas and the surrounding area. Many were fleeing big cities and were teachers, medical person-

nel, artists, and other professionals. Over time, some of them have come together to re-establish the Jewish community. An estimated 100 Jews now live in the area, from singles to families to local college students.

The annual Passover seder, formerly held in local restaurants and most recently in the social hall of the Methodist church, draws more than 50 people, including students from New Mexico Highlands University and the Armand Hammer United World College in nearby Montezuma. In 1997, on Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath before Yom Kippur, services were conducted in the former Temple Montefiore using the original prayer books.

In recent years, High Holiday services have been conducted annually, and Shabbat services and other events have been held periodically in the old temple. The Newman Center “put our events on their calendar,” said Marshall Poole, the contact and webmaster for the new Jewish community.

Do these developments mean a genuine rebirth of the Las Vegas Jewish community? “We are not thriving, but we are hanging on,” Poole said.

Still, as the small Jewish community looks to the future, its past reverberates in Las Vegas, from the tombstones in Montefiore Cemetery to the plaque outside the Newman Center and words on the east wall of the former Ilfeld department store: “Charles Ilfeld & Co. Wholesalers of Everything.”

B’Nai B’rith 47

NATIONAL

Happy PASSOVER

ARIZONA

Northfield Lines, Inc. “We’re the DRIVE behind Worry-Free travel” · · · · ·

School Bus Charters Motorcoach Charters Group Tours & Cruises Airport & Wedding Shuttles Corporate Transfers much more!

Check out our new website at

www.northfieldlines.com Northfield Lines, Inc. 32611 Northfield Blvd Northfield, MN 55057

507-645-5267

FAX 5076455635

HENRY A. KNAPP, C.P.A., P.C. •Complete Income Tax Service •Accounting Service •Fiduciary & Trust •Partnerships &Corporations

(520) 887-1838 5501 N. Oracle Road, Suite 131 Tucson,AZ www.accountant-city.com/knappcpa

Active

Property Management and Sales William Paul Pacini President/Broker

MLS

8751 North 51st Avenue, Suite #110 Glendale, AZ 85302 BUS: (623) 934-4595 FAX: (623) 934-3994

48 Spring 2010

CALIFORNIA

SUPERFAST COPYING & BINDING SYSTEMS WE DO IT ALL Full Color Printing COLOR COPIES BLACK & WHITE COPIES

FULL COLOR POSTER: $6.50 PER SQUARE FOOT Ask forVolume Discounts Binding • Digital Output Graphic Design • Typesetting

310-452-3352 • Fax: 310-452-7662 2358 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA

GROMAN

MORTUARY, INC. Groman Eden Mortuary Services In All Cemeteries

(800) 522-4875

Los Angeles, CA • Mission Hills, CA

RESS FINANCIAL CORPORATION 1780 Town & Country Drive, Suite 105 Norco, CA 92860

BRUCE R. BEASLEY President

Phone (800) 343-7377 Fax (866) 481-2032 PROFESSIONAL TRUST DEED AND LAND CONTRACT FORECLOSURE SERVICES

Mention B’nai B’rith when calling

PYRAMID PIPE & SUPPLY CO. Canoga Park, CA

FD #696 FD #1070 www.gromanmortuary.com

SINCE 1968 M-F 9-7

• • • • •

Sat - 9-5

MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SICKROOM SUPPLIES SPORTS MEDICINE SUPPLIES ORTHOPEDIC ASSIGNMENT MEDICARE ASSIGNMENT

714-846-0688 562-592-3020

SALES & RENTAL

u ] t Huntington Harbour Mall 16881 Algonquin St. H.B.

Please Mention This Ad

Greetings To B’nai B’rith Patrons

Le Central Ser ving French Provincial Cuisine

Since 1974

Mon-Sat 11:30 am – 10:00 pm

Hearing Resource Center of San Mateo Rebecca Dolan, Au. D. Kimberly Krantz, M.S. Christine Telleen, M.A. Katherine Salkin, Au. D. Donald E. Morgan, Ph.D. Audiologists providing: • Diagnostic hearing testing and counseling.

• Hearing aid fitting and service to individuals of all ages with hearing loss.

(415) 391-2233

650-579-4470

453 Bush Street San Francisco, CA 94108

100 S. Ellsworth Ave., Suite 303 San Mateo, CA 805 Veterans Blvd., Suite 115 Redwood City, CA 94063

Melissa’s can create signature gourmet gift baskets to fit any theme or occasion!

B’Nai B’rith 49

CALIFORNIA

Since 1954

COLORADO

CONNECTICUT

OUTDOOR KITCHEN DISTRIBUTORS INC.

United We Stand

1585 Casa Buena Drive Corte Madera, CA 94925

Ducane, Broil King, OCI Big Green Egg Broilmaster Natural Gas & LP Grills Bar Stools & Fireplaces & Inserts Patio Furniture & Accessories

415-924-2081 415-924-1500

4401 S. Tamarac Pkwy.

Denver, CO 80237

www.marinjoesrestaurant.com

BAYBERRY INSURANCE

„DENVERÊS COMPLETE BARBEQUE SHOP‰

An Independent Agency

PAM ATKINS, CIC • HOME • COMMERCIAL • FARMS • LIFE • BOATS /MARINE • AUTO

(860) 445-5625

303-991-9911

One Fort Hill Road, Groton, CT 06340

ILLINOIS

FLORIDA

Passover Greetings To Our B’nai B’rith Friends & Clients

Creating financial solutions and prosperity for our clients.

BROUTMAN & CO., CPA’s SERVICING Closely Held Businesses Not-For-Profit Organizations TAX, COMPUTER AND CONSULTING SERVICES

• Nursery Furniture & Accessories • Big Kids Bunks, Desks, Twin Beds • Strollers, Carriages, Highchairs • Crib, Cradle & Twin Bedding • Shower & Gift Registry

www.bermanhopkins.com Brian L. Nemeroff, Partner

321-757-2020

Melbourne

West Palm Beach

Orlando

GENERAL SALES SPECIALTIES , INC. Creativity Is The Key To Our Success…

And Yours Buttons • Beverageware • Balloons • Calendars Wearables • Key Chains • Pens • Pencils

Free Catalog

Email: gsi2@bellsouth.net or visit: www.generalsalesmiami.com 8560 NW 56th Street • Miami, FL

(305) 592-2700 • Fax: (305) 592-2052

Read past issues of B’nai B’rith Magazine at www.bnaibrith.org.

A Family Business SInce 1917 Open 7 Days For Your Convenience WE DELIVER & ASSEMBLE

200 N. Dearborn Street, Suite 3502 Chicago, IL 60601

(312) 357-0700 (312) 357-0720 Fax

www.lazarsfurniture.com

847-679-6146

jerome@broutman.net

6557 North Lincoln Ave. • Lincolnwood, IL

CHICAGO’S AUDIO/VIDEO RENTAL

E 19

66

COMPLETE DELIVERY AND SET UP

• VIDEO PROJECTION • HOTEL & RESTAURANT SHOWINGS • FILM PROJECTION • SLIDE PROJECTION • COMPUTER PROJECTION

ESSANNAY SHOW IT

851 WEST GRAND AVE., CHICAGO, IL

800.427.6968 Mention B’nai B’rith When Calling

Adams Foam Rubber Co., Inc. Fabricators and Distributors

Flexible Cellular Foam Products To Industry Since 1950

Design Engineered Protective and Decorative Packaging Custom Sample and Demonstration Case Inserts High Risk Institutional Mattress Cushioning Residential Furniture Cushions and Replacements Voice: 773-523-5252 • Fax: 773-523-0430 Web: Adamsfoam.com

Chicago, IL 60632

50 Spring 2010

SINC

ILLINOIS

INDIANA

LAVEN

Passport Renewal Service

Passport Renewals Visas Legalizations Instant Passport Photos

InsuranceMichiana.com Commercial Coverages Property & Casualty Personal Lines • Long Term Care Group Health • Competitive Rates Online Quotes 2628 S. Michigan St., P.O. Box 2379 South Bend, IN 46680-2379 Phone 574.291.5510 • Fax 574.291.8505 Toll Free 1.800.552.2910 www.insurancemichiana.com

NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED

MICHIGAN SERVING SPORTSMEN SINCE 1958

Perry International www.perryvisa.com

312.372.2711

3100 S. DIVISION AVE., GRAND RAPIDS, MI

SPORTSMEN SERVING SPORTSMEN

Fax - 312-372-2715

100 W. Monroe Chicago

FISHING TACKLE • FLYTYING MATERIALS • LIVE BAIT MARINE SUPPLIES • GUNS & AMMO • RELOADING EQUIPMENT CLOTHING • CAMPING • HUNTING & FISHING LICENSES • ARCHERY

Monday-Friday 9 to 5

8 AM TO 8 PM MON-FRI SAT 8 AM-5 PM

] u

612-729-8256

Fax 612-729-3688 OPEN: MON-FRI 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Serving St. Paul & All Suburbs Locally Owned Since 1932 3400 CEDAR AVE.

SPECTACULAR SERVICE CONTRACTOR FRIENDLY Granite and Marble Countertops & Vanities

508-230-TILE (8453)

EASTON INDUSTRIAL PARK 15F Plymouth Drive, So. Easton, MA 02375

A Quality Senior Community CONVENIENT TO DOWNTOWN AFFORDABLE RENT

616-245-9156

NO FIXED ASSET LIMIT

1-888-AL N BOBS

ALL SEASON SOLARIUM STUDIO, ONE & TWO

WINDOW TREATMENT YOU WILL LOVE...

“EVERYTHING FOR YOUR WINDOWS”

For In-Home/Office Estimates Call

RETAIL SHOWROOM LARGEST SELECTION

INCLUDES HEAT & A/C

MINNESOTA

MODERN WINDOW SHADE CO.

Tile & Marble

ORNERSTONE

GIFT CERTIFICATES

www.alnbobs.com

DON’T SETTLE FOR JUST STOCK SIZES CUSTOM WORK & WINDOW SHADES MADE ON SITE “Finest Quality Material and Workmanship at Economy Prices”

MASSACHUSETTS

OTTING HOUSE MOVERS

BEDROOM APARTMENTS

Canterbury Towers

HOMES BOUGHT & SOLD DELIVERED TO YOUR SITE

508 757-1133

35 Years Experience Licensed and Insured Free Estimates/References

6 Wachusett St. Worcester, MA

CUSTOM MOVING

952-461-3265

27626 Pillsbury Ave., Lakeville, MN 55044

MISSOURI

Restore your karma. Remodel.

Baxter Gardens OF CHESTERFIELD

Landscape, Irrigation and Garden Center

“WHERE QUALITY IS FOREMOST” Since 1971

Designing, remodeling and building with a conscience.

(612) 789-7070 www.otogawa-anschel.com

636-532-1033 www.baxtergardens.com 17259 Wild Horse Creek Road Chester eld, MO

B’Nai B’rith 51

NEBRASKA

NEW YORK HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING

COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL

AUTHORIZED SERVICE

SALES - DESIGN - INSTALLATION

HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS SERVICE ALL MAKES FINANCING AVAILABLE

(402) 333-2775 24 HR EMERGENCY SERVICE

11701 Centennial Road, Omaha, NE

NEVADA

It’s not a special offer, just plain everyday low rates.

• Convenient local office • Money-saving discounts • Low down payments • Monthly payment plans • 24-hour service and claims

The Kensico Cemetery

The Kensico Cemetery (Non-Sectarian) and Sharon Gardens (Jewish Faith) are situated in a rural setting with beautiful trees, rolling hills and sweeping lawns in Westchester County. They provide a serene and peaceful resting place not found in many cemeteries today. For FREE color brochure call toll free:

1-888-KENSICO or 1-888-536-7426 P.O. Box 7, Valhalla, NY 10595 Sharon Gardens is a division of The Kensico Cemetery 914-949-0347

www.kensico.org

www.sharongardens.com

Happy Passover

A.E. Rosen Electrical Company, Inc.

Glaser Bake Shop Inc. Family Owned & Operated Since 1902

Specializing In Cakes and Home-Made Butter Cookies

Edward Rosen - President Cliff Wessot - Vice President Adam Rosen - Treasurer

1670 First Ave. At 87th St. New York, NY

212-289-2562 OREGON

At Clean Copy we help you communicate your unique printed style on time and on budget! Whether you want to open doors to new opportunities or stand out from the crowd, we can help!

AUTO • HOME • RENTE RS MOTORCYCLE • BOAT

702-643-0057

• B&W & Color High-Speed Copying • Business & Conference Printing and Promotional Products • Large Format Printing & Scanning

• • • •

Offset Printing Graphic Design Binding Services Mailing Services

Two Locations to Serve You 1704 SW Broadway Portland, Oregon 97201

503.221.1876

946 SE Baseline St. Hillsboro, Oregon 97123

503.693.9181

3315 W Craig Rd, Ste 110 No Las Vegas, NV 89032

www.clean-copy.com

Home, renters, and boat coverages are written through non-affiliated insurance companies and are secured through Insurance Counselors Inc, the GEICO Property Agency.

Some discounts, coverages, payment plans, and features are not available in all states or in all GEICO companies. © 2007 GEICO. The GEICO gecko image © GEICO 1999-2007

OREGON

PENNSYLVANIA

TEXAS

B’nai B’rith Thank You For Your Continued Support

CUSTOM CATERING

FARMER’S MARKET

OTIS CAFE “WORTH THE WAIT”

Full Service Off-Premise Catering Create your own menu with the assistance of our Catering Coordinator from Soup and appetizers to full Meals & Desserts!

WEDDING & ALL OCCASION CAKES

Everything Is Homemade

Homemade Sour Cream Pound Cake with Buttercream Icing.

Decorated to Your Specifications!

Breakfast Served All Day Call ahead to place large orders.

290 Main St. Meadowbrook Plaza Harlesyville, PA 19438

541-994-2813 Hwy. 18 Otis Junction Otis, OR

52 Spring 2010

HENNING’S MARKET 215-256-9533

Open Everyday 6AM-11PM for more information log on: www.henningsmarket.com

R.L. SAYERS FAMILY

WHOLESALE - RETAIL

• FRESH FRUITS & VEGETABLES DAILY • • FULL LINE OF PRECUT VEGETABLES (Lettuce, Onions, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Etc.)

• FRUIT BASKETS FOR ALL OCCASIONS • SUPPLYING RESTAURANTS - SCHOOLS • WATKINS PRODUCTS COMPLETE SELECTION OF NUTS SPECIALIZING IN CRACKING & SHELLING PECANS (817) 838-8526 (817) 838-8781 FAX 838-7754 “FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED” 5507 E. BELKNAP, FT. WORTH, TX

TEXAS

VIRGINIA

A Caring, Non-Denominational, Offering Assisted Living Services

• Fashion Eyewear • Contact Lenses • Artificial Eyes • Free Hearing Evaluations Mon - Tues 9-6 • Wed-Fri 9-5 • Sat 9-1 - closed 1st Saturday each month -

• Month to Month Leases • Sponsored By The Catholic Diocese of Richmond • FourDistinct Assisted Living Personal Care Plans • Planned Program Of Activities/Events • Fine Dining Services 5345 Marian Lane, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462 www.marian-manor.com ©Coordinated Services Management, Inc. Professional Management of Retirement Communities Since 1981

757-456-5018

www.lenzoptical.com

(502) 897-0856 4012 Dupon Circle, Louisville Sherwood Buliding

1508 W. 35th Austin, TX

512-454-2653 $10.00 Value With Any New Or Transferred Prescription Cash Purchase: $10.00 off prescription price

Long-Term Care and Custom Compounding Specialists Limit one per customer. No cash refund.

State and local restrictions apply. Exp. December 31, 2009

Classic European Fashion

WASHINGTON

American in Paris brings a touch of

LINCOLN HEIGHTS • SOUTH HILL

Paris and Italy to the heart of Old Town.

No passport needed!

Personalized style consultant service.

Open 7 days a week - 10:30 to 7:00 on the corner of King St. & South Payne.

B’nai B’rith Members 1225 King Stree, Alexandria, VA Bring In This Ad For A 703.519.8234 5% Discount Fax: 703.519.8235 WASHINGTON

Gracious Downtown Retirement Living

Since 1981 INC. • Secure Records Storage • Tape Rotation Services • Fast Pickup & Delivery • 24-Hour Access • Document Shredding

713-849-5988 www.safesite.cc ADRIAN’S CUSTOM CLEANERS

“We do it all - We do it right” SAME DAY SERVICE Drapery & Leather Cleaning Wedding & Beaded Gowns In-House Shirt Laundry

817-732-5171

5800-Z Camp Bowie M-F 6:30-6:30 Sat 8-4

t

817-441-6377 817-596-0106

621 N. FM 1187 #D Aledo Willow Park I-20, Exit 415

FREE IN-HOME DESIGN CENTER

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL Mon-Fri 9-5:30 • Sat. 10-4

] u t www.wallflowerdesigns.com

509-534-5064 2820 E. 30th Spokane, WA

RS AUTO REBUILD INC. Serving Seattle Since 1965 All Insurance Accepted • All Work Guaranteed Foreign • Domestic • European Luxury

206-323-3112

Over 40 years local ownershi p A sense of community, only 80 apts.

Custom-designed apartments Month to month rental options Customized care services Assisted Living Skilled Nursing New Health Center opening in 2009

EXETER HOUSE

Alterations & Repairs • Reweaving OVER 30 YRS EXPERIENCE

u ]

• • • • • • • •

Turn Your “Dream” into a Dream Home

Drapes • Shades Blinds • Shutters Tile • Carpet Vinyl Flooring Wallpaper & More!

BODY & FENDER SPECIALISTS

A Senior Community offering:

Simplified Flat Fee Billing No Exit Fees

ALLFLOWERS

72 0 Seneca Street • Seattle, WA 98101 marketing@exeterhouse.org www.exeterhouse.org (206) 622-1300 Call for a tour and complimentary lunch Presbyterian Retirement Communities Northwest

1265 S. King, Seattle, WA Free Estimate With Mention Of This Ad.

This space could be yours!

To advertise in our Mart Sections, call 866-612-4295.

B’Nai B’rith 53

WASHINGTON D.C. High Holiday Greetings

NEWMAN GALLERY ROTATING EXHIBITS OF ORIGINAL WORKS

Conservation Framing On Premises Art Restoration Free Pick-Up & Delivery

202-544-7577

Please Mention This Ad

513 11th St. SE, Capitol Hill www.newmangallery.com

Packages Available

Windsor Park Hotel

Near Downtown, on Embassy row. Nestled in a charming neighborhood of majestic homes, regal embassies and tree-lined streets that are a pleasure to behold in any season. Walk to the National Zoo, Rock Creek Park, and Woodley Park Metro.

All the Capital sights are within easy reach.

Moderate Rates • Free Continental Breakfast • 43 Pleasant Rooms with AC, color TV, mini refrigerator, direct dial phones and voice mail.

2 computer stations with wireless internet free to guests.

2116 Kalorama Rd., NW, Washington, DC 20008

202-483-7700 • 800-247-3064 Fax: 202-332-4547 www.windsorparkhotel.com

To advertise your business in our Marketplace, call 866-612-4295.

Readership: Approximately 175,000 B’nai B’rith Magazine cannot guarantee the veracity of advertisements nor accept responsibility for them.

B’nai B’rith Magazine does not screen advertisements for compliance with the laws of kashrut.

We do attempt to avoid advertisements that would be blatantly offensive to all who observe kashrut.

Advertisement in B’nai B’rith Magazine does not imply endorsement by the magazine or B’nai B’rith International.

Follow B’nai B’rith on Twitter and Facebook!

Social Networking websites create a direct connection between organizations and members, giving you the opportunity to discuss today’s issues and B’nai B’rith policy. Also, learn about what B’nai B’rith is doing in the community and around the world through regular updates and conversations. To learn more about B’nai B’rith’s presence online, search for us on Facebook or Twitter!

54 Spring 2010

ITC Tours

The ultimate way to experience Israel

v

Bar and Bat Mitzvah Family Tours • Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah child is our guest with Free land and air*

• Featuring 5-star deluxe hotels, including the David Citadel in Jerusalem • Moderate tour prices available

Synagogue Tours

• Educational and spiritual experiences for groups of all ages

Jewish Heritage Group Tours

• Featuring tours for 9, 11, 12, and 14 nights

Custom-designed Private Tours • Unique and meaningful tours, designed specifically to your needs

• Accommodations from the newly opened 6-star Mamilla Hotel in Jerusalem to unique Kibbutz guest house experiences in the Galilee

ITC Tours LLC is the official tour operator for Ramah and Masorti. *Restrictions may apply.

Call 1-800-2-ISRAEL or 973-535-2575

www.IsraelTour.com 107 East Mount Pleasant Ave. Suite 115 Livingston, NJ 07039

Israel Tour Connection,LLC The difference between an ordinary trip to Israel and an EXTRAordinary one!

WHY IS THIS FLIGHT DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER FLIGHTS?

Many airlines can fly you to Israel. But what makes a flight home on EL AL a flight like no other?

• New state-of-the-art aircraft and new routes • Upgraded entertainment systems at every seat with programs for the entire family • New advanced sleeper seats in premium classes • Improved health-smart meal options for everyone And while any airline can upgrade their equipment, only EL AL has one feature that no one else can of fer — the hospitality and professionalism of our Israeli crew.

Your visit to Israel begins the moment you board EL AL, the national airline of Israel.

For more details, visit www.elal.com or call 800 - 223-6700 or any travel agent.

THE MOST NONSTOP FLIGHTS TO TEL AVIV FROM NEW YORK (JFK/NEWARK) AND THE ONLY NONSTOP FLIGHTS FROM LOS ANGELES, IN ADDITION TO NONSTOP FLIGHTS FROM TORONTO

www.elal.com