Friday, July 3, 2015
Dear Reader,
Happy 4th of July, everyone.
The Jewish Week's homepage features a timely piece by Rabbi David Wolpe, one of our most widely-read columnists, about the blessings of being an American.MUSINGS
Another Land To Cherish
Rabbi David Wolpe reflects on the blessings of America in his weekly column.
Rabbi David Wolpe
Special to The Jewish Week
Rabbi David Wolpe
On July 4, we should once again recall our extraordinary good fortune. For almost 20 years I have met once a week with Kirk Douglas to study Torah. He is now 98 years old. I once asked him in his remarkable life, what was his greatest blessing? “No doubt about it,” he answered, “my greatest blessing is that my parents came to America.”
Surely many of us can say the same. My great grandparents decided almost a century ago to immigrate to America. They came from Russia and Poland and Lithuania. Risking everything on a long and difficultjourney, they arrived in this unique and shining land, which enabled people from all over a benighted globe to make a better life for themselves and their children. All of us, the wretched refuse of her teeming shore.
In Jewish history this nation stands alone. Like every human endeavor, America has a lot to answer for, sins and crimes and shortsightedness. But unlike every other human endeavor, it saw the Jews and others as equal citizens and enabled us to rise and flourish. Any American Jew who is not patriotic is ignorant of history. The fireworks on the 4th light up a landscape that should move us all to prayer and thanks. God bless America.
Rabbi David Wolpe is spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @RabbiWolpe. His latest book, “David: The Divided Heart” (Yale University Press), has recently been published.
editor@jewishweek.org
And staff writer Hannah Dreyfus writes about the opening of a new restaurant that focuses on typical 4th of July fare: BBQ. Izzy's BBQ Addiction is a new kosher joint in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that's a chic mix of Lubavitchers, young Modern Orthodox families and hipsters. Kosher BBQ Fires Up In Crown Heights
Long-awaited smoke house already attracting crowds.
Hannah Dreyfus
Staff Writer
Izzy’s BBQ Addiction, the long-awaited kosher smokehouse in Crown Heights, is finally open for service.
At last week’s, soft opening, customers lined up out the door, many forced to take food to go because of the limited seating. The 600-square-foot location on 397 Troy Ave. at Montgomery Street seats 25 to 30, plus a few tables outside during the summer.
“We travel for good food, and this was definitely worth the trip,” said David Jacobs, who came from the Long Island with his wife, Shani, and their three children. Jacobs said the pit-smoked brisket and beans and the pulled-beef tacos with pico de gallo particularly stood out. “It’s chock full of rich flavors — kind of like Brooklyn,” he joked.
For owner Sruly Eidelman, the opening has been a long time coming. Though scheduled to open last October, construction was halted several times because of city zoning and permit regulations, he said. Until recently, the FDNY had banned “authentic” smokers as fire hazards.
“The authentic wood-smoked taste is what makes the difference,” said Eidelman, who uses no gas in the BBQ process.
“It’s been a long journey, but it’s finally happening,” he added while slicing ribs as customers looking on hungrily. “We’re here to deliver.”
Deliver they will. The menu, already generating buzz in the online kosher food scene, offers extra-large beef “dinosaur” ribs, smoked hot wings, and, of course, smoked cholent, the quintessential Shabbat stew.
“If you’re a vegetarian, stay out,” one customer joked.
Eidelman’s joint reflects a recent trend in kosher fine dining. The Brooklyn foodie scene is developing a kosher-foodie sub-scene, centered in Crown Heights, including Boeuf & Bun, a kosher artisanal hamburger spot, and Basil, a kosher Italian bistro.
Eidelman, a 27-year-old Jewish foodie from Brooklyn, used to work in a cabinetry company before opening Izzy’s BBQ Addiction as a part-time pop-up operation about two years ago. As he cooked, he would post the menu on his Facebook page as he cooked and orders would come in online. When the meat was ready, about 16 hours later, Eidelman would make home deliveries.
Though he always had a passion for food, Eidelman might have stayed in cabinetry had he not stumbled upon Ari White, the El Paso, Texas-born chef who owns and operates the Wandering 'Que, a kosher barbeque truck that travels around the city.
“Ari has been my barbecue guru,” said Eidelman. “If Ari likes my food, I know I’m doing something right.”
Jacobs, who has been a faithful customer ever since visiting the pop-up, described how he actively pursued Eidelman over the past two years to convince him to open a restaurant. “I wasn’t going to stop until I could have that taste on a regular basis,” he said.
Because of the high volume of customers, Eidelman said there are already plans to lease the space next door.
“We knew people were excited, but we couldn’t have predicted this turnout,” he said.
While quality taste is his priority, Eidelman hopes his restaurant can provide more than just food — he’s looking to create a unique atmosphere.
"I want this to be a place where you can sit down, order a great craft beer, listen to some bluegrass music and talk with your friends," Eidelman said. “And I think that more Jews need to try this kind of food.”
Slideshow
More food for thought: The most widely read article on our website right now is "The Story of Jonah," about how a "conversion therapy" operation featuring nudity and cuddling programming became Orthodox rabbis' go-to for LGBTQ Jews.NATIONALThe Rise And Fall Of JONAH
How a program using nudity, cuddling and group showers became Orthodox rabbis’ answer for gay Jews.
Rachel Delia Benaim, Jesse Lempel and Hella Winston
Special To The Jewish Week
Attorney David Dinielli points to photos of the plaintiffs during opening statements. The Star-Ledger, via AP Pool
On a warm day in June, a Jersey City jury heard Jonathan Hoffman, an Orthodox Jew, describe an exhilarating weekend he spent sponsored by JONAH, an organization that claims to “heal” same sex attraction.
He described a “wild party” where a group of men danced naked in the woods, threwcake at each other and rolled in the mud before washing off in a group shower. Hoffman told the court that JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing) had helped him in his effort to change his sexual orientation.
Hoffman was deemed as a “success story” by JONAH — someone with a history of sexual relations with other men who has married a woman and started a family. In a videotaped deposition played for the court, Hoffman credited JONAH’s program as “the stuff that has helped me and the stuff that I hold dear to my heart.”
But others claim they were harmed by the organization. Last week, in a landmark verdict, a jury agreed. The five plaintiffs alleged that JONAH defrauded them by saying the program’s methods were scientific. The jury found JONAH liable for $72,400 in damages for consumer fraud and “unconscionable business practices.”
The verdict, however, leaves the Orthodox community with more questions than answers. Like how a young Orthodox Jewish man struggling with homosexual desires was guided by well known rabbis to spend weekends in the woods like the one Hoffman described? All under the watchful eye of a self-styled “life coach” who is also a Mormon high priest.
Much of the answer lies in the brilliant salesmanship of JONAH’s director, convicted fraudster Arthur Goldberg, and his less colorful co-director Elaine Berk. But it also includes the fact that recommendations of JONAH came from a number of respected Orthodox rabbis and mental health professionals.
The Beginning
In the late 1990s, Berk’s son came out to her as gay, she testified. She was troubled by this and “wrote letters to rabbis and different Jewish organizations and didn't receive answers.” Frustrated, she did her own research and found psychologists positing there were ways to “heal” homosexuality.
She met Goldberg, whose son had come out to him as gay, at a conference about homosexuality and healing in 1997. The next year they founded JONAH.
Described by Goldberg and Berk as a referral service, JONAH espouses treatment that includes one-on-one counseling, group therapy, and weekends in the woods. JONAH asserts that “wounds” incurred in childhood cause homosexuality, and once those wounds are “healed,” men will have healthy, non-sexual relationships with other men and become straight.
In 2000, JONAH received an endorsement from Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, dean of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia and a member of Agudath Israel’s Council of Torah Sages. The endorsement remains on JONAH’s website today.
Around the same time, the award-winning documentary “Trembling Before God,” depicting the struggle of Orthodox gays and lesbians for acceptance in their religious communities, was released. Suddenly, gay Orthodox Jews became visible — and vocal — in a way they never had before.
Jonathan Hoffman noted that he found JONAH in 2006 through an online comment critiquing the film. He was 19 and struggling with “behaviors that were homosexual, not in line with my values,” he said.
“There weren't any other resources in the Jewish community that [were] providing Jewish men with the help that I was looking for,” Hoffman said in his deposition.
Moishie Rabinowitz, now treasurer of Jewish Queer Youth, was referred to JONAH by Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, known as the Novominsker Rebbe. Raised in a charedi home, Rabinowitz, 22, was well into the process of shidduch dating. The only problem: he knew he was gay. At the time, “there was no gay Jewish world,” he told The Jewish Week.
“I called his office ... and said this is a life or death situation, I need to see the rebbe tomorrow.” The next morning at 9:30, Rabinowitz walked into Perlow’s Brooklyn office. The white-bearded Rebbe emerged from his office donning tallit and a tefillin.
“Oh my God, I’m telling Mashiach [Messiah] I’m gay,” Rabinowitz recalled thinking.
After their meeting, Rabbi Perlow promised to look into the matter and four days later referred Rabinowitz to JONAH. But knowing that the organization used unscientific methods of conversion therapy, he decided not to go.
In 2004, the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the largest Orthodox rabbinic association, issued an endorsement of JONAH, suggesting “rabbis might refer congregants to them for reparative therapy.”
But the biggest endorsement for JONAH came with “The Torah Declaration” in 2011, signed by over 200 rabbis. The document, apparently drafted by about two dozen men, attributed homosexuality to “childhood emotional wounds” and declared that attempting change was the only Torah-consistent way to deal with the problem.
And JONAH was the only Jewish organization offering the possibility of such change.
The Unraveling
Just when JONAH had reached the height of rabbinic backing, it came under attack. In November 2012, four former clients and two mothers filed a fraud suit.
In court papers and later at trial, witnesses said that Alan Downing, JONAH’s Mormon “life coach” who claimed to have subdued his own homosexual attractions, routinely “invited” young men he was counseling to strip in his office and then “physically feel” their masculinity. Downing also led others to believe the behaviors of their parents had turned them gay.
Immediately after the complaint became public, the RCA rescinded its support and asked JONAH to remove the endorsement from its website, where it remains today.
Last week’s verdict against JONAH did not come as a surprise to Rabbi Samuel Rosenberg, the Orthodox rabbi and licensed clinical social worker who was co-director of JONAH from 1999 until around 2002, when he left due to “theological and professional differences,” particularly regarding the weekend retreats’ nudity and cuddling.
“I would not approve the methods,” Rosenberg told The Jewish Week.
Rabbi Rosenberg and Goldberg clashed over the boldness of Goldberg’s claims.
“Mr. Goldberg insisted that he wanted to publicize the claim that he can assure anyone who comes through his doors that he can ‘cure’ them, quote unquote,” Rosenberg said. “My position was that it’s totally unethical to guarantee it, as with any psychotherapy. And also, that the term ‘cure’ is totally inappropriate in this context, because I would not call it an illness.”
Goldberg and his attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Rabbi Rosenberg said he was also troubled by Goldberg’s efforts to marshal Orthodox rabbinic support for JONAH through adopting calculated, Torah-friendly language while concealing the fact that he is not personally Orthodox.
Despite Goldberg’s lack of formal Jewish education — he left yeshiva after grammar school — and his personal non-observance, he was instrumental in the formation of right-wing Orthodoxy’s approach toward gay Jews. It was Goldberg’s name that was on the 2011 article in the Orthodox journal “Hakirah,” featuring a discussion between Rabbi Kamenetsky and him about the necessity of “setting forth Torah values” and touting JONAH’s services.
Within months, language from that article appeared in the Torah Declaration.
Some rabbis have successfully had their signatures removed from the document, like Rabbi Dr. Martin Schloss, director of the Jewish Education Project’s day school division. Others have hit a brick wall.
Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, a licensed clinical social worker and president of Nefesh, the International Network of Orthodox Mental Health Professionals, said he initially signed the declaration because he thought it “was merely a stance on the idea that sexual orientation is not absolute” and that some motivated clients could “find a healthy way to manage heterosexual relationships.” However, he later took issue with the document’s “unequivocal language that all homosexuals can be treated with today's available clinical expertise.” Despite asking to be removed several times, he said, his name remains on the website.
According to plaintiff Chaim Levin, however, even Rabbi Kamenetsky has privately expressed doubts about the Torah Declaration.
Levin said he met the rabbi two years ago and “saw the pain in his eyes as I recounted my experiences in conversion therapy and JONAH. He asked me for forgiveness and said that the document ‘needs to be changed.’ To date, nothing has, and Rabbi Kamenetsky has remained silent.”
Rabbi Kamenetsky declined to comment.
Although JONAH’s bizarre methods were exposed over the course of the trial, some Orthodox rabbis stand by it.
Asked about the recent verdict, Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst, a signatory to the Torah Declaration, said he wasn’t aware of it but was content to have his name on the document.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, an Orthodox rabbi in Teaneck who has been outspoken in support of the Torah Declaration, described the verdict against JONAH as imposing "draconian limitations on the pursuit of self-help."
While admitting that JONAH's techniques are sometimes "harsh,” Rabbi Pruzansky defended them as necessary "behavioral tools to sublimate the desires and lead a heterosexual life."
But the details that emerged shocked others.
“Although there are reputable therapists who use and have had successes with conventional counseling methods to help people wishing to control their same-sex attraction,” said Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, “the sort of ‘therapy’ that Mr. Downing says he employed is utterly outrageous and would never be sanctioned by any reputable Orthodox rabbi.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Helen Chernikoff
Web Director
THE ARTS
BOOKS
Joshua Cohen’s Circuit Overload
‘Book of Numbers’ can be dazzling, but its his long meditation on being human in the age of computers bogs it down.
Jerome A. Chanes
Special To The Jewish Week
Joshua Cohen. Beowulf Sheehan
‘Ulysses,” it ain’t. And why, you may ask, do Istart by saying what this book is not? Because Joshua Cohen’s startling new 580-page novel, “Book of Numbers” (Random House), reads like James Joyce’s giant classic — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Wordy, to a fault — yes, and dense. But Cohen’s prose is dazzling, often magical. It’s not just the polymathic command of his subject matter — and Cohen is a polymath of art history, and computers, and comparative religion, and seemingly everything else. He is a master wordsmith of wordplay.
Yet, “Book of Numbers” is a mess, and worse: it’s a massive circuit overload. And still, the book hums along. The reader eagerly awaits the next paragraph, the next line, the next strange locution, the next neologism, the next bizarre footnote, the next weird character...
With “Book of Numbers,” his fourth novel, Joshua Cohen has emerged not only as a significant American writer but perhaps as a major literary voice. His new novel will stand as one of the impressive novels of the decade.
So what’s it all about?
The novel’s plot is deceptively simple: on the surface, it is about Joshua Cohen (yes, he is Josh Cohen), who signs on to ghostwrite the biography of the genius founder of Tetration, the world’s monster tech company. The novel may be the high-tech thriller that it is, but in the end more like, “Boy meets binary code, boy loves binary code, boy loses binary code, boy gets binary code.”
But not so fast. Who is “Joshua Cohen?” There are at least two Joshua Cohens in “Book of Numbers.” One is the struggling writer, a stalled, writer’s-block-plagued Jewish novelist — he researched for years about his mother’s escape from Nazi Poland — “with a humanities diploma between my legs and not enough arm to reach the Zohar.” That Cohen is reduced to writing (uhh) reviews to make a living. He has ambition, and envy, and a pornography addiction. The other Joshua Cohen is the billionaire tech genius. Get it?
Digression after digression takes us to the core of the story: a mind-bending journey that pushes Josh-the-failed-writer toward an understanding of the sinister motive behind the autobiography project. In order to count as a thriller, the stakes have to be high, and there is none higher than the life-and-death antics that surround thecreating and publication of the biography. Yes, “Book of Numbers” is a thriller.
But “Book of Numbers” is also a truly funny book — and it’s not only Joshua Cohen’s turns-of-phrase that make it so. The book is to be read (if I am getting it right — and with this book one never knows) as a comic novel as well as techno-thriller — and at the same time as a moral screed. The billionaire creator of Tetration muses about the horrors of search engines and their effect, ultimately, on humanity and humankind. “A spouse would seek advice on infidelity from a different calc. How to hide a body. Consulting linear algebra on how to terminate a pregnancy.” And, most of all: “Breathe greedy!”
And of course, much will be made of Joshua Cohen’s opening line, “If you’re reading this on a screen, f--- off.”
The humor of “Book of Numbers” is most evident in the long middle section of the book, which is a polyphonic point-counterpoint — it’s a Bach fugue; the listener can’t quite get there — between the two Joshes, the billionaire and the narrator, balding and schleppy and brilliant Josh.
Brilliant, and funny, to be sure, but there is something off, something annoying, about Cohen’s narrative sense. Joshua Cohen the author gets carried away, indeed loses control, over his two fictional Joshes (and as a result over his novel) in the extended middle section of the book. Josh the billionaire is simply not the character that Josh the failed novelist is. It is as if the author has lost track of his characters; or, he does not want to reader to be invested in the billionaire. Whatever — the reader will nod off after a hundred or so pages of the Tetration story. A problem here with the editor’s blue pencil? Perhaps. There is too much data, too many “numbers,” in “Book of Numbers,” and not enough tachlis. At a crucial juncture, “Book of Numbers” simply stalls. What are numbers all about?
All of which leads us to the other “Book of Numbers,” the fourth of the Chumashim in the Hebrew Scripture. The eponymous “numbers” in the Chumash are those of the counting of the Israelites, both a religious obligation and as a means of raising the revenue necessary for the maintenance of the polity. But numbers as a religious obligation is a serious matter. Elsewhere in the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible, inappropriate counting of Israelites is fraught with peril — indeed, if not done with Divine sanction, with mortal peril. Joshua Cohen the author — and Josh Cohen the writer — are well aware of the boons and perils of numbers. They are about ethics, and ultimately about mortality.
“Book of Numbers” is about being a human in the age of the computer. A tough proposition, that. Ethicists, historians, rabbis and priests — take note!
Jerome A. Chanes writes about arts and letters and about American Jewish public affairs and history. He is the author of four books and is a fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.
editor@jewishweek.org
Read More
FOOD & WINEKosher BBQ Fires Up In Crown Heights
Long-awaited smoke house already attracting crowds.
Hannah Dreyfus
Staff Writer
Izzy’s BBQ Addiction, the long-awaited kosher smokehouse in Crown Heights, is finally open for service.
At last week’s, soft opening, customers lined up out the door, many forced to take food to go because of the limited seating. The 600-square-foot location on 397 Troy Ave. at Montgomery Street seats 25 to 30, plus a few tables outside during the summer.
“We travel for good food, and this was definitely worth the trip,” said David Jacobs, who came from the Long Island with his wife, Shani, and their three children. Jacobs said the pit-smoked brisket and beans and the pulled-beef tacos with pico de gallo particularly stood out. “It’s chock full of rich flavors — kind of like Brooklyn,” he joked.
For owner Sruly Eidelman, the opening has been a long time coming. Though scheduled to open last October, construction was halted several times because of city zoning and permit regulations, he said. Until recently, the FDNY had banned “authentic” smokers as fire hazards.
“The authentic wood-smoked taste is what makes the difference,” said Eidelman, who uses no gas in the BBQ process.
“It’s been a long journey, but it’s finally happening,” he added while slicing ribs as customers looking on hungrily. “We’re here to deliver.”
Deliver they will. The menu, already generating buzz in the online kosher food scene, offers extra-large beef “dinosaur” ribs, smoked hot wings, and, of course, smoked cholent, the quintessential Shabbat stew.
“If you’re a vegetarian, stay out,” one customer joked.
Eidelman’s joint reflects a recent trend in kosher fine dining. The Brooklyn foodie scene is developing a kosher-foodie sub-scene, centered in Crown Heights, including Boeuf & Bun, a kosher artisanal hamburger spot, and Basil, a kosher Italian bistro.
Eidelman, a 27-year-old Jewish foodie from Brooklyn, used to work in a cabinetry company before opening Izzy’s BBQ Addiction as a part-time pop-up operation about two years ago. As he cooked, he would post the menu on his Facebook page as he cooked and orders would come in online. When the meat was ready, about 16 hours later, Eidelman would make home deliveries.
Though he always had a passion for food, Eidelman might have stayed in cabinetry had he not stumbled upon Ari White, the El Paso, Texas-born chef who owns and operates the Wandering 'Que, a kosher barbeque truck that travels around the city.
“Ari has been my barbecue guru,” said Eidelman. “If Ari likes my food, I know I’m doing something right.”
Jacobs, who has been a faithful customer ever since visiting the pop-up, described how he actively pursued Eidelman over the past two years to convince him to open a restaurant. “I wasn’t going to stop until I could have that taste on a regular basis,” he said.
Because of the high volume of customers, Eidelman said there are already plans to lease the space next door.
“We knew people were excited, but we couldn’t have predicted this turnout,” he said.
While quality taste is his priority, Eidelman hopes his restaurant can provide more than just food — he’s looking to create a unique atmosphere.
"I want this to be a place where you can sit down, order a great craft beer, listen to some bluegrass music and talk with your friends," Eidelman said. “And I think that more Jews need to try this kind of food.”
Slideshow
Read More SHORT TAKES
‘Reclaiming’ Jewish History
Stewart Ain
Staff Writer
Helen Mirren: Honored by World Jewish Congress for role in “Woman in Gold.” Hahar Azran
For actress Helen Mirren, who portrays Holocaust refugee Maria Altmann in “Woman in Gold,” her critically acclaimed role is a slice of Jewish history.
It is “amazing,” Mirren said in accepting the World Jewish Congress’ Recognition Award last month, “that to this day the world is still struggling with this — the Jewish people’s attempt to reclaim their history.”
She said the movie, which recounts Austrian-born Atmann’s six-year legal battle to get back five paintings from the Austrian government — including Woman in Gold — stolen from her family by the Nazis “is about reclaiming history, memory, culture and family. That’s what the restitution of art is all about; it’s not about financial benefit.”
WJC President Ronald Lauder, who bought the painting from Altmann in 2006 for $135 million for display at the his Neue Galerie, said the movie’s release earlier this year “changed the whole field of art restitution. … It has made the world know what happens when someone comes to your home and takes paintings off your wall.”
The name of the 1907 painting of Altmann’s aunt by Gustav Klimt was originally called Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1. But Lauder said the “Nazis changed it to Woman in Gold because Adele sounded too Jewish.”
“Being a part of this film and preserving Maria Altmann’s legacy has been a truly exceptional experience from the start,” Mirren said in her brief remarks. “The real power, energy, soul of the film is Maria Altmann,” she said. “I feel very passionately about this film.
“The terrible thing is that we are losing the generation that has a living experience of these realities,” Mirren observed. “The film makes people know the reality of it. I didn’t try to impersonate her; I tried to put her memories into my mind because they’re not my memories ... It’s a devastating place to have to put oneself.”
In related news, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma cited a variety of technical defenses – including the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations and jurisdictional issues – for successfully fighting in May a suit by the daughter of the original owner of another painting, “Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep,” which was seized by the Nazis in 1941.
Among other museums said to be improperly defending against Nazi-looted art claims are the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The Nazis looted upwards of $100 billion worth of art, Lauder noted, and a report issued last week by the World Jewish Restitution Organization found that a number of prominent museums in the U.S. continue to knowingly display some of those pieces.
“Museums are central to a civilized society,” said Gideon Taylor, WJRO chair of operations. “The American museum community, while understandably an advocate for artwork to remain in public hands, must follow through on its prior commitments not to taint collections with art stolen during the Holocaust.”
editor@jewishweek.org
Read More THE JW Q&A
Searching For Young Jewish Talent
Google marketing executive Mimi Kravetz will serve as Hillel International’s Chief Talent Officer.
Talia Lakritz
Editorial Intern
Mimi Kravetz. Courtesy of Mimi Kravetz
Mimi Kravetz worked on Employment Branding at Google as a human resources marketing executive, helping the company attract and keep top talent by fostering an unconventional yet wildly successful work environment. Now, she plans to bring her own skills in recruiting and development to Hillel International as the organization’s first Chief Talent Officer. Kravetz spoke to The Jewish Week from Silicon Valley, where she will launch Hillel International’s new West Coast office in August. This is an edited transcript.
What was your involvement in Hillel as a college student?
I was one of the leaders in the Reform movement at Tufts, so I helped run weekly Shabbat services. I was really involved in a Jewish women’s collective that met monthly for Rosh Chodesh services, and then I was a leader in some of our Israel work and particularly at that time our Arab-Israeli dialogue groups that we were doing.
You were also a Jewish Campus Service Corps fellow at Stanford. How did that experience shape your perspective on Hillel’s role in the broader Jewish community?
When I was on campus at Stanford, I loved the work. Spending time with college students really reinforces for you what an important time this is for people, where they’re really figuring out who they are and what they want to be. They’re deciding what their adult lives are going to be about, everything from their careers to their spiritual identity and community. I found that as a Jewish professional, building relationships with students during this period and helping them connect Jewishly in all different ways meant a lot to these students, many of whom I still have relationships with. I think it had a big impact in their decision to commit in some way to bringing Jewishness into their adult lives. The work I did at Hillel was the best work of my life.
What do you think is the key to a successful campus Hillel?
I think one of the things that’s essential is having strong leaders and strong staff that relate to students, because they’re really the ones that are creating the experience. One of the things Hillel International will do through this process as we grow and strive for excellence is figure out a culture that makes Hillel International one organization. I think by creating a “one Hillel” culture and mindset where there’s a lot of knowledge sharing, there’s a chance for Hillel International to do a better job relating to local campuses, and for them to share more best practices with each other to make them stronger.
Can you talk about being a “Joogler” - a Jewish person who works at Google?
At Google, we have “Gayglers” and “Greyglers,” so “Jooglers” is another one of our employee resource groups. It’s a social group that gets together mostly around holidays. Around Rosh Hashanah - this is sort of incredible - we actually have beehives on campus that produce real honey, so we do an apples and honey event. Everyone can bring their children - I have 2 small children and they love this - and we harvest honey from the Google beehives. So those are the sort of activities we do, to make sure that people have that community connection regardless of whatever organizations or movements or synagogues they might be involved with outside of Google.
What lessons will you take from Google to help attract young Jewish professionals to work with Hillel International or the Jewish community at large?
Some of the things that I want to take from Google, Hillel already does really well. Google is here to build technology that makes people live better lives. That mission is what attracts a lot of people, and how every individual in the organization is part of that greater mission. For Hillel, and for a lot of the work in the Jewish community, that story is there in a deep way already. It just needs to be told in a way that helps people understand the meaning and the individual impact they can have by being part of this work. And then there’s general lessons about human resources practices that I think we can take. For example, I think that being a great place to work is essential to attracting great talent. One of the things I want to spend time doing up front is figuring out what it would take to make Hillel International, to make all the local Hillels, great places to work, and what it would take to create the kind of culture that’s empowering and inclusive and open and transparent that would make people even more excited to work in that environment.
editor@jewishweek.org
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BLOGS
Why Do They Run?
Douglas Bloomfield
When JFK was asked why he was running for president in 1960 he answered, “Because that’s where the power is.” When kid brother Ted was asked the same question 20 years later he couldn't think of an answer and his presidential ambitions went downhill from there.
President of the United States is the most powerful and prestigious job in the world, so why, once again, is the crowd of candidates not the finest America has to offer?
The salary's good but not awesome -- $400,000 plus $150,000 for expenses and travel and another $19,000 for entertainment -- but the perks are astounding (Air Force One and command of the world's strongest military, for starters) and the retirement can be rewarding. Just ask Bill Clinton.
It’s not hard to understand why better public figures choose not to run when you consider the withering attacks from all directions – not just by the opposition but also from a 24/7 media cycle with an insatiable appetite for scandal and controversy.
Yet there’s no shortage of candidates, even if they’re not the best and may not possess the experience, intelligence and integrity to be a potentially great president.
Here are some other reasons:
Consolation prize – hoping your unsuccessful candidacy gets you nominated for Veep or for a cabinet post, and a platform to run again in four or eight years.
Make history – be the first Jew, the first woman, the first Hispanic, the first gay, the first Indian president.
Looking ahead – running once can lay the groundwork for another try (Ronald Reagan did it in 1976; John McCain in 2000).
Fame – A presidential run, even a hopelessly unsuccessful one, is a chance to become ahousehold name. You have a lot (but never enough) of other people’s money to get you news interviews, town hall meetings, participation in national debates and your name painted on the side of an RV or even a plane.
A pulpit – you can draw attention to your issues even if you know lightning won’t strike. Bernie Sanders wants to push Hillary Clinton to a more progressive position; religious crusaders Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee hope to do the same on the Republican side.
Get rich – failed presidential bids can lead to lucrative speech gigs, jobs as cable networks commentators or high-paying corporate posts.
Become a lobbyist – trade on your contacts, access, publicity and notoriety by becoming a lobbyist with big paychecks based more on your contacts and your name than on your political skills.
Get a book deal – hire a ghostwriter while some people still remember your name, and reveal and embellish all your stories from the campaign and the rest of your life. It may not pay a bundle, but who doesn’t like having their name on the title page of a book?
Go back to Congress – or run for Congress if you haven’t already and capitalize on your semi-household name that is able to garner more public attention from your colleagues and translate that into influence in the institution.
Ego – This may be the most compelling reason of all, especially for repeat political offenders. It's the greatest ego trip imaginable, right up there with rock stars. And you have a cadre of sycophants surrounding you, telling you you're the next leader of the free world and making sure you get lots of media attention everywhere.
Sex – even the promise of and proximity to power is an aphrodisiac. Just ask Henry Kissinger.
Every candidate claims to be in the race to serve the nation, or to advance key values, and there’s no doubt that’s often part of the political equation. But running for president has numerous other temptations – and that may explain why the process does not attract the kind of sober, intelligent, levelheaded candidates our nation so desperately needs.
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THE NEW NORMAL
Independence Days: 25 Years Of The Americans With Disabilities Act
Steven Eidelman
Steven Eidelman
Here in the U.S., we are about to celebrate Independence Day. I’m from Philadelphia so July 4 is especially meaningful to me: After all, it was in the City of Brotherly Love that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.
July is another celebration of American freedom. July 26 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Americans With Disabilities Act, the ADA. The ADA has been widely recognized as the Civil Rights Act for people with disabilities. It's a recognition by our nation that people with disabilities are to be treated with respect and dignity.
I won’t recite the entire text of the ADA (you can find it here), but I will share some of the thoughts in the findings section that bear repeating:
(1) Physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person's right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination; others who have a record of a disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;
(7) The Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and
(8) The continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and non-productivity.
All noble words, the lofty thoughts we sometimes find in federal legislation. But when you ask people with disabilities, their families and disability advocates, providers and scholars they will tell you that the promise of the ADA is just that: a promise. It willcontinue to motivate those who care deeply about people with disabilities and disability policy to reach for the brass ring, full inclusion and participation in American society.
There are concrete actions, familiar to readers of this blog, that all of us can take, focusing on our own communities. Are there people in your community who might want to participate in congregational life who, due to either attitudinal or physical barriers can’t participate? What actions can you do to help remove any barriers?
Can people with disabilities and, for children, their families participate in all the activities of the JCC in your community? Can you help the JCC reach out to families who don’t enjoy the benefits of the JCC and bring them in, removing attitudinal barriers as well as physical barriers?
Does your Federation support programs and activities that include Jews with disabilities to participate in all they support financially? If not, can you ask them to start?
The ADA is a magnificent piece of legislation that remains an agent for change in our culture. So when you celebrate on July 4, plan to participate in the celebrations around the U.S. on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ADA. You can find those local events here. The ADA is worthy of celebration by all of us.
Steven Eidelman is the H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Human Services Policy and Leadership at The University of Delaware and the faculty director of The National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities. He has worked for the last 35 years to help people with disabilities lead full lives in the community.
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The Jewish Week
Joshua Cohen’s Circuit Overload
‘Book of Numbers’ can be dazzling, but its his long meditation on being human in the age of computers bogs it down.
Jerome A. Chanes
Special To The Jewish Week
Joshua Cohen. Beowulf Sheehan
‘Ulysses,” it ain’t. And why, you may ask, do Istart by saying what this book is not? Because Joshua Cohen’s startling new 580-page novel, “Book of Numbers” (Random House), reads like James Joyce’s giant classic — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Wordy, to a fault — yes, and dense. But Cohen’s prose is dazzling, often magical. It’s not just the polymathic command of his subject matter — and Cohen is a polymath of art history, and computers, and comparative religion, and seemingly everything else. He is a master wordsmith of wordplay.
Yet, “Book of Numbers” is a mess, and worse: it’s a massive circuit overload. And still, the book hums along. The reader eagerly awaits the next paragraph, the next line, the next strange locution, the next neologism, the next bizarre footnote, the next weird character...
With “Book of Numbers,” his fourth novel, Joshua Cohen has emerged not only as a significant American writer but perhaps as a major literary voice. His new novel will stand as one of the impressive novels of the decade.
So what’s it all about?
The novel’s plot is deceptively simple: on the surface, it is about Joshua Cohen (yes, he is Josh Cohen), who signs on to ghostwrite the biography of the genius founder of Tetration, the world’s monster tech company. The novel may be the high-tech thriller that it is, but in the end more like, “Boy meets binary code, boy loves binary code, boy loses binary code, boy gets binary code.”
But not so fast. Who is “Joshua Cohen?” There are at least two Joshua Cohens in “Book of Numbers.” One is the struggling writer, a stalled, writer’s-block-plagued Jewish novelist — he researched for years about his mother’s escape from Nazi Poland — “with a humanities diploma between my legs and not enough arm to reach the Zohar.” That Cohen is reduced to writing (uhh) reviews to make a living. He has ambition, and envy, and a pornography addiction. The other Joshua Cohen is the billionaire tech genius. Get it?
Digression after digression takes us to the core of the story: a mind-bending journey that pushes Josh-the-failed-writer toward an understanding of the sinister motive behind the autobiography project. In order to count as a thriller, the stakes have to be high, and there is none higher than the life-and-death antics that surround thecreating and publication of the biography. Yes, “Book of Numbers” is a thriller.
But “Book of Numbers” is also a truly funny book — and it’s not only Joshua Cohen’s turns-of-phrase that make it so. The book is to be read (if I am getting it right — and with this book one never knows) as a comic novel as well as techno-thriller — and at the same time as a moral screed. The billionaire creator of Tetration muses about the horrors of search engines and their effect, ultimately, on humanity and humankind. “A spouse would seek advice on infidelity from a different calc. How to hide a body. Consulting linear algebra on how to terminate a pregnancy.” And, most of all: “Breathe greedy!”
And of course, much will be made of Joshua Cohen’s opening line, “If you’re reading this on a screen, f--- off.”
The humor of “Book of Numbers” is most evident in the long middle section of the book, which is a polyphonic point-counterpoint — it’s a Bach fugue; the listener can’t quite get there — between the two Joshes, the billionaire and the narrator, balding and schleppy and brilliant Josh.
Brilliant, and funny, to be sure, but there is something off, something annoying, about Cohen’s narrative sense. Joshua Cohen the author gets carried away, indeed loses control, over his two fictional Joshes (and as a result over his novel) in the extended middle section of the book. Josh the billionaire is simply not the character that Josh the failed novelist is. It is as if the author has lost track of his characters; or, he does not want to reader to be invested in the billionaire. Whatever — the reader will nod off after a hundred or so pages of the Tetration story. A problem here with the editor’s blue pencil? Perhaps. There is too much data, too many “numbers,” in “Book of Numbers,” and not enough tachlis. At a crucial juncture, “Book of Numbers” simply stalls. What are numbers all about?
All of which leads us to the other “Book of Numbers,” the fourth of the Chumashim in the Hebrew Scripture. The eponymous “numbers” in the Chumash are those of the counting of the Israelites, both a religious obligation and as a means of raising the revenue necessary for the maintenance of the polity. But numbers as a religious obligation is a serious matter. Elsewhere in the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible, inappropriate counting of Israelites is fraught with peril — indeed, if not done with Divine sanction, with mortal peril. Joshua Cohen the author — and Josh Cohen the writer — are well aware of the boons and perils of numbers. They are about ethics, and ultimately about mortality.
“Book of Numbers” is about being a human in the age of the computer. A tough proposition, that. Ethicists, historians, rabbis and priests — take note!
Jerome A. Chanes writes about arts and letters and about American Jewish public affairs and history. He is the author of four books and is a fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.
editor@jewishweek.org
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FOOD & WINEKosher BBQ Fires Up In Crown Heights
Long-awaited smoke house already attracting crowds.
Hannah Dreyfus
Staff Writer
Izzy’s BBQ Addiction, the long-awaited kosher smokehouse in Crown Heights, is finally open for service.
At last week’s, soft opening, customers lined up out the door, many forced to take food to go because of the limited seating. The 600-square-foot location on 397 Troy Ave. at Montgomery Street seats 25 to 30, plus a few tables outside during the summer.
“We travel for good food, and this was definitely worth the trip,” said David Jacobs, who came from the Long Island with his wife, Shani, and their three children. Jacobs said the pit-smoked brisket and beans and the pulled-beef tacos with pico de gallo particularly stood out. “It’s chock full of rich flavors — kind of like Brooklyn,” he joked.
For owner Sruly Eidelman, the opening has been a long time coming. Though scheduled to open last October, construction was halted several times because of city zoning and permit regulations, he said. Until recently, the FDNY had banned “authentic” smokers as fire hazards.
“The authentic wood-smoked taste is what makes the difference,” said Eidelman, who uses no gas in the BBQ process.
“It’s been a long journey, but it’s finally happening,” he added while slicing ribs as customers looking on hungrily. “We’re here to deliver.”
Deliver they will. The menu, already generating buzz in the online kosher food scene, offers extra-large beef “dinosaur” ribs, smoked hot wings, and, of course, smoked cholent, the quintessential Shabbat stew.
“If you’re a vegetarian, stay out,” one customer joked.
Eidelman’s joint reflects a recent trend in kosher fine dining. The Brooklyn foodie scene is developing a kosher-foodie sub-scene, centered in Crown Heights, including Boeuf & Bun, a kosher artisanal hamburger spot, and Basil, a kosher Italian bistro.
Eidelman, a 27-year-old Jewish foodie from Brooklyn, used to work in a cabinetry company before opening Izzy’s BBQ Addiction as a part-time pop-up operation about two years ago. As he cooked, he would post the menu on his Facebook page as he cooked and orders would come in online. When the meat was ready, about 16 hours later, Eidelman would make home deliveries.
Though he always had a passion for food, Eidelman might have stayed in cabinetry had he not stumbled upon Ari White, the El Paso, Texas-born chef who owns and operates the Wandering 'Que, a kosher barbeque truck that travels around the city.
“Ari has been my barbecue guru,” said Eidelman. “If Ari likes my food, I know I’m doing something right.”
Jacobs, who has been a faithful customer ever since visiting the pop-up, described how he actively pursued Eidelman over the past two years to convince him to open a restaurant. “I wasn’t going to stop until I could have that taste on a regular basis,” he said.
Because of the high volume of customers, Eidelman said there are already plans to lease the space next door.
“We knew people were excited, but we couldn’t have predicted this turnout,” he said.
While quality taste is his priority, Eidelman hopes his restaurant can provide more than just food — he’s looking to create a unique atmosphere.
"I want this to be a place where you can sit down, order a great craft beer, listen to some bluegrass music and talk with your friends," Eidelman said. “And I think that more Jews need to try this kind of food.”
Slideshow
Read More SHORT TAKES‘Reclaiming’ Jewish History
Stewart Ain
Staff Writer
Helen Mirren: Honored by World Jewish Congress for role in “Woman in Gold.” Hahar Azran
For actress Helen Mirren, who portrays Holocaust refugee Maria Altmann in “Woman in Gold,” her critically acclaimed role is a slice of Jewish history.
It is “amazing,” Mirren said in accepting the World Jewish Congress’ Recognition Award last month, “that to this day the world is still struggling with this — the Jewish people’s attempt to reclaim their history.”
She said the movie, which recounts Austrian-born Atmann’s six-year legal battle to get back five paintings from the Austrian government — including Woman in Gold — stolen from her family by the Nazis “is about reclaiming history, memory, culture and family. That’s what the restitution of art is all about; it’s not about financial benefit.”
WJC President Ronald Lauder, who bought the painting from Altmann in 2006 for $135 million for display at the his Neue Galerie, said the movie’s release earlier this year “changed the whole field of art restitution. … It has made the world know what happens when someone comes to your home and takes paintings off your wall.”
The name of the 1907 painting of Altmann’s aunt by Gustav Klimt was originally called Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1. But Lauder said the “Nazis changed it to Woman in Gold because Adele sounded too Jewish.”
“Being a part of this film and preserving Maria Altmann’s legacy has been a truly exceptional experience from the start,” Mirren said in her brief remarks. “The real power, energy, soul of the film is Maria Altmann,” she said. “I feel very passionately about this film.
“The terrible thing is that we are losing the generation that has a living experience of these realities,” Mirren observed. “The film makes people know the reality of it. I didn’t try to impersonate her; I tried to put her memories into my mind because they’re not my memories ... It’s a devastating place to have to put oneself.”
In related news, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma cited a variety of technical defenses – including the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations and jurisdictional issues – for successfully fighting in May a suit by the daughter of the original owner of another painting, “Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep,” which was seized by the Nazis in 1941.
Among other museums said to be improperly defending against Nazi-looted art claims are the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The Nazis looted upwards of $100 billion worth of art, Lauder noted, and a report issued last week by the World Jewish Restitution Organization found that a number of prominent museums in the U.S. continue to knowingly display some of those pieces.
“Museums are central to a civilized society,” said Gideon Taylor, WJRO chair of operations. “The American museum community, while understandably an advocate for artwork to remain in public hands, must follow through on its prior commitments not to taint collections with art stolen during the Holocaust.”
editor@jewishweek.org
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THE JW Q&ASearching For Young Jewish Talent
Google marketing executive Mimi Kravetz will serve as Hillel International’s Chief Talent Officer.
Talia Lakritz
Editorial Intern
Mimi Kravetz. Courtesy of Mimi Kravetz
Mimi Kravetz worked on Employment Branding at Google as a human resources marketing executive, helping the company attract and keep top talent by fostering an unconventional yet wildly successful work environment. Now, she plans to bring her own skills in recruiting and development to Hillel International as the organization’s first Chief Talent Officer. Kravetz spoke to The Jewish Week from Silicon Valley, where she will launch Hillel International’s new West Coast office in August. This is an edited transcript.
What was your involvement in Hillel as a college student?
I was one of the leaders in the Reform movement at Tufts, so I helped run weekly Shabbat services. I was really involved in a Jewish women’s collective that met monthly for Rosh Chodesh services, and then I was a leader in some of our Israel work and particularly at that time our Arab-Israeli dialogue groups that we were doing.
You were also a Jewish Campus Service Corps fellow at Stanford. How did that experience shape your perspective on Hillel’s role in the broader Jewish community?
When I was on campus at Stanford, I loved the work. Spending time with college students really reinforces for you what an important time this is for people, where they’re really figuring out who they are and what they want to be. They’re deciding what their adult lives are going to be about, everything from their careers to their spiritual identity and community. I found that as a Jewish professional, building relationships with students during this period and helping them connect Jewishly in all different ways meant a lot to these students, many of whom I still have relationships with. I think it had a big impact in their decision to commit in some way to bringing Jewishness into their adult lives. The work I did at Hillel was the best work of my life.
What do you think is the key to a successful campus Hillel?
I think one of the things that’s essential is having strong leaders and strong staff that relate to students, because they’re really the ones that are creating the experience. One of the things Hillel International will do through this process as we grow and strive for excellence is figure out a culture that makes Hillel International one organization. I think by creating a “one Hillel” culture and mindset where there’s a lot of knowledge sharing, there’s a chance for Hillel International to do a better job relating to local campuses, and for them to share more best practices with each other to make them stronger.
Can you talk about being a “Joogler” - a Jewish person who works at Google?
At Google, we have “Gayglers” and “Greyglers,” so “Jooglers” is another one of our employee resource groups. It’s a social group that gets together mostly around holidays. Around Rosh Hashanah - this is sort of incredible - we actually have beehives on campus that produce real honey, so we do an apples and honey event. Everyone can bring their children - I have 2 small children and they love this - and we harvest honey from the Google beehives. So those are the sort of activities we do, to make sure that people have that community connection regardless of whatever organizations or movements or synagogues they might be involved with outside of Google.
What lessons will you take from Google to help attract young Jewish professionals to work with Hillel International or the Jewish community at large?
Some of the things that I want to take from Google, Hillel already does really well. Google is here to build technology that makes people live better lives. That mission is what attracts a lot of people, and how every individual in the organization is part of that greater mission. For Hillel, and for a lot of the work in the Jewish community, that story is there in a deep way already. It just needs to be told in a way that helps people understand the meaning and the individual impact they can have by being part of this work. And then there’s general lessons about human resources practices that I think we can take. For example, I think that being a great place to work is essential to attracting great talent. One of the things I want to spend time doing up front is figuring out what it would take to make Hillel International, to make all the local Hillels, great places to work, and what it would take to create the kind of culture that’s empowering and inclusive and open and transparent that would make people even more excited to work in that environment.
editor@jewishweek.org
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BLOGS
Why Do They Run?
Douglas Bloomfield
When JFK was asked why he was running for president in 1960 he answered, “Because that’s where the power is.” When kid brother Ted was asked the same question 20 years later he couldn't think of an answer and his presidential ambitions went downhill from there.
President of the United States is the most powerful and prestigious job in the world, so why, once again, is the crowd of candidates not the finest America has to offer?
The salary's good but not awesome -- $400,000 plus $150,000 for expenses and travel and another $19,000 for entertainment -- but the perks are astounding (Air Force One and command of the world's strongest military, for starters) and the retirement can be rewarding. Just ask Bill Clinton.
It’s not hard to understand why better public figures choose not to run when you consider the withering attacks from all directions – not just by the opposition but also from a 24/7 media cycle with an insatiable appetite for scandal and controversy.
Yet there’s no shortage of candidates, even if they’re not the best and may not possess the experience, intelligence and integrity to be a potentially great president.
Here are some other reasons:
Consolation prize – hoping your unsuccessful candidacy gets you nominated for Veep or for a cabinet post, and a platform to run again in four or eight years.
Make history – be the first Jew, the first woman, the first Hispanic, the first gay, the first Indian president.
Looking ahead – running once can lay the groundwork for another try (Ronald Reagan did it in 1976; John McCain in 2000).
Fame – A presidential run, even a hopelessly unsuccessful one, is a chance to become ahousehold name. You have a lot (but never enough) of other people’s money to get you news interviews, town hall meetings, participation in national debates and your name painted on the side of an RV or even a plane.
A pulpit – you can draw attention to your issues even if you know lightning won’t strike. Bernie Sanders wants to push Hillary Clinton to a more progressive position; religious crusaders Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee hope to do the same on the Republican side.
Get rich – failed presidential bids can lead to lucrative speech gigs, jobs as cable networks commentators or high-paying corporate posts.
Become a lobbyist – trade on your contacts, access, publicity and notoriety by becoming a lobbyist with big paychecks based more on your contacts and your name than on your political skills.
Get a book deal – hire a ghostwriter while some people still remember your name, and reveal and embellish all your stories from the campaign and the rest of your life. It may not pay a bundle, but who doesn’t like having their name on the title page of a book?
Go back to Congress – or run for Congress if you haven’t already and capitalize on your semi-household name that is able to garner more public attention from your colleagues and translate that into influence in the institution.
Ego – This may be the most compelling reason of all, especially for repeat political offenders. It's the greatest ego trip imaginable, right up there with rock stars. And you have a cadre of sycophants surrounding you, telling you you're the next leader of the free world and making sure you get lots of media attention everywhere.
Sex – even the promise of and proximity to power is an aphrodisiac. Just ask Henry Kissinger.
Every candidate claims to be in the race to serve the nation, or to advance key values, and there’s no doubt that’s often part of the political equation. But running for president has numerous other temptations – and that may explain why the process does not attract the kind of sober, intelligent, levelheaded candidates our nation so desperately needs.
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THE NEW NORMAL
Independence Days: 25 Years Of The Americans With Disabilities Act
Steven Eidelman
Steven Eidelman
Here in the U.S., we are about to celebrate Independence Day. I’m from Philadelphia so July 4 is especially meaningful to me: After all, it was in the City of Brotherly Love that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.
July is another celebration of American freedom. July 26 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Americans With Disabilities Act, the ADA. The ADA has been widely recognized as the Civil Rights Act for people with disabilities. It's a recognition by our nation that people with disabilities are to be treated with respect and dignity.
I won’t recite the entire text of the ADA (you can find it here), but I will share some of the thoughts in the findings section that bear repeating:
(1) Physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person's right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination; others who have a record of a disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;
(7) The Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and
(8) The continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and non-productivity.
All noble words, the lofty thoughts we sometimes find in federal legislation. But when you ask people with disabilities, their families and disability advocates, providers and scholars they will tell you that the promise of the ADA is just that: a promise. It willcontinue to motivate those who care deeply about people with disabilities and disability policy to reach for the brass ring, full inclusion and participation in American society.
There are concrete actions, familiar to readers of this blog, that all of us can take, focusing on our own communities. Are there people in your community who might want to participate in congregational life who, due to either attitudinal or physical barriers can’t participate? What actions can you do to help remove any barriers?
Can people with disabilities and, for children, their families participate in all the activities of the JCC in your community? Can you help the JCC reach out to families who don’t enjoy the benefits of the JCC and bring them in, removing attitudinal barriers as well as physical barriers?
Does your Federation support programs and activities that include Jews with disabilities to participate in all they support financially? If not, can you ask them to start?
The ADA is a magnificent piece of legislation that remains an agent for change in our culture. So when you celebrate on July 4, plan to participate in the celebrations around the U.S. on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ADA. You can find those local events here. The ADA is worthy of celebration by all of us.
Steven Eidelman is the H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Human Services Policy and Leadership at The University of Delaware and the faculty director of The National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities. He has worked for the last 35 years to help people with disabilities lead full lives in the community.
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