The New York Jewish Week: Connection the World to Jewish News, Culture, Features, and Opinions for Friday, 22 August 2014

The New York Jewish Week: Connection the World to Jewish News, Culture, Features, and Opinions for Friday, 22 August 2014

Dear Reader, It's back to school season here at The Jewish Week, too. We've got a special section that takes a deep dive into education topics. http://www.thejewishweek.com/special-sections/education-careers/education-august-2014 Education August 2014 Jewish studies programs in unlikely places; Birthright’s new focus on trip leaders; Bracing for the campus Israel wars. INSIDE THIS SPECIAL SECTION Hebrew Union College Going Green Q&A College Students Asking ‘Big Questions’ Khan Academy Contest Finalist Got Late Online Start Eisen’s Case For Proactive Conversion The ‘Mainstreaming’ Of Jewish Studies The Campus Wars To Come Birthright Turns Focus On Trip Leaders Sephardic In The Heights The Case For ‘True Pluralism’ What Should Day School Students Know, And When They Should Know It? Teachers Teaching Teachers — With A Lot On The Line Hebrew Union College Going Green   ____________________________ Also, a slew of other ed-related articles that have been really popular on the website. For example, YU has not only rescue its women's Torah study program from budget cuts, but has also hired a woman to run it -- a first. SHORT TAKES Woman To Head YU’s Women’s Torah Study University rescues master's degree program from budget cuts and hires alumna Nechama Price to run it. Hannah Dreyfus Staff Writer Nechama Price will be the first female director of YU’s Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Study. Courtesy of YU With women’s roles in some corners of the Orthodox world changing rapidly, it was no surprise that when it was reported that Yeshiva University’s advanced Talmudic study program for women was on the chopping block, there was a real outcry. “This would undercut the progress that has been made in women’s learning in the Orthodox community in the last few decades,” one angry woman enrolled in the Graduate Program for Advanced Torah Study (GPATS) wrote in a student newspaper. The anger might have paid off. This week, despite YU’s $1 billion budget hole, the university will, in a first, hire a woman to run the all-women’s program, The Jewish Week has learned. Nechama Price, a professor of Judaic studies at YU, will head the two-year master’s program beginning next week when classes resume for the fall semester. “The women of GPATS need someone who can relate to their challenges as they enter a field that is predominantly male,” Price, who is herself at GPATS graduate (2001-2003), told The Jewish Week. Since its establishment in 1999, the program has helped to remove the stigma of women’s Talmud study in the Orthodox world, though Price is quick to point out that she faced a lot of opposition when she finished her course work. “When I graduated, the program was still very controversial. It was very hard for graduates to find jobs in communal leadership and in teaching,” she recalled. Today, Price serves as the Yoatzet Halacha (female Jewish-law adviser) for Englewood, Tenafly, and Long Branch, N.J. She was among the first five U.S.-trained yoatzot to receive certification last November. Price hopes GPATS will enable more Orthodox women to assume similar positions in the future. “High levels of Talmud study and leadership for women are becoming more and more accepted, which I’m so happy to see,” she said. As part-time director of GPATS, Price will serve as a personal mentor for students and run recruitment efforts for the program. This year, the program only has nine students, all of them either in their second year. Rabbi Kenneth Brander, vice president of YU and the dean of the CJF, did not accept any new students while the program’s prospects were uncertain. Financial plans for the program remain murky. Under Rabbi Brander’s leadership, the program, once housed at Stern College, will now fundraise from independent sources, though this year’s funding will still come from Stern’s budget. Rabbi Brander plans to start a rigorous fundraising campaign after the 2014-15 “transitional year.” Other changes include a significant reduction of student stipends (Stern once paid women $15,000 a year to study in the program), he said. This, Rabbi Brander said, would help make the program “sustainable.” Though there were rumors about significant curriculum changes in the program, Price denied these claims. “The curriculum will be staying by-and-large the same, with a heavy focus on the study of gemara and halacha [Talmud and Jewish law], and additional seminars preparing women to be leaders and educators,” she said. Price hopes to see her role as director expand in coming years. “If women want to learn in an intense way, they should always have the chance to do so — for me, that’s priority,” she concluded. editor@jewishweek.org ____________________________ Writer Amy Sara Clark takes a look at how various student groups are preparing for the start of school on college campuses as the Gaza conflict grinds on. From JStreet to the Israel Action Network, she's got the sources. NEW YORK Campuses Hone Tactics As BDS Wars Loom In wake of Gaza conflict, local students, officials expect tense atmosphere as semester begins. Amy Sara Clark Staff Writer Brooklyn College Hillel's Creative Coexistence group shares some of their work. Courtesy of Tanger Hillel at Brooklyn College  In Gaza, there may be a cease-fire, but for Jewish college students, the war is about to begin. Groups as varied as J Street U and the Israel Action Network are bracing for what many insiders believe will be the most contentious school year yet. Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, who directs the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU, agreed that pro-Israel students are facing a challenge when they return in the fall. “I think it’s widely held that this is going to be one of the most difficult semesters for Israel on campus in a long time. It’s not just because of the war over the summer, but it’s also because the BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] moment has been gaining steam over the past few years, and the war over the summer just provides the fodder for the momentum to continue,” he said. Through leadership training conferences and strategy meetings throughout the summer, pro-Israel Jewish campus organizations have built upon a strategy of proactive, rather than reactive education. The approach focuses on having Jewish students meet other students directly, sometimes one-on-one, sometimes in small groups, to press Israel’s case. The strategy — a marked contrast to the often guerilla theater tactics taken up by BDS supporters — emphasizes “civil discourse,” offering a range of opportunities for students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to learn about Israel apart from the conflict. The approach also stresses building positive relationships with campus officials, faculty and student leaders, not being afraid to criticize Israel, mourning the loss of lives on both sides and showing a “genuine empathy” for the hardships faced by Palestinians. Campus leaders and officials believe these techniques, rather than counter protests, work best to counter anti-Israel groups, the most prominent of which is Student for Justice in Palestine, known as SJP, which engage in such strategies as proposing divestment resolutions and provocative, media-grabbing actions such as die-ins or mock checkpoints. Or as happened at NYU last semester, slipping fake eviction notices under dorm room doors to highlight the plight of Palestinians whose homes have been bulldozed. “I think for sure there is a recognition that images of Palestinian students protesting on one side of the campus and pro-Israel students protesting on the other side is not going to help us,” said the Hindy Poupko, director of Israel and international affairs at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.  “Students are perfectly capable of being disinterested in the both of us.” And, she added, “What we all have going in our favor is that the groups on campus, primarily SJP, that seek to promote divestment votes on campus are so far to the extreme, and that as long as we have the opportunity to educate the student body on the true nature of these extremist groups, then we often win the battle.” After an anti-Israel group set up fake checkpoints at Brooklyn College, said Nadya Drukker, who heads its Hillel, pro-Israel students “wanted to run around campus and draw bodies to show what happens when you walk through a checkpoint with an explosive.” But instead, they set up a table with posters showing terrorism in New York on 9/11, in London, and in Israel and information on why Israel needs checkpoints. At both Brooklyn College and Columbia University, students regularly set up information tables on campus where students can come and ask questions. At Columbia, students are planning to do even more of that this fall. “Part of the plan will be a heavy on-campus demonstration — setting up tables on the main thoroughfare of campus, encouraging students to sit with us and have a conversation,” said Brian Cohen, who heads the Columbia/Barnard Hillel. The goal of that conversation, Cohen continued, is “to both learn more about what’s happening in Israel but also to express concerns or share things that they’ve heard and to be able to have very civil conversations with students of all backgrounds.” Organizers at J Street U, which advocates a negotiated two-state solution, are focused on setting up “spaces,” such as small-group discussions where students from all political perspectives can discuss the conflict. “Some students will be coming off of a summer of seeing really nasty rhetoric on Facebook, for example,” said Sarah Turbow, J Street U’s new director. “Others will be wanting to totally disengage from the conversation as well as other students who are thinking about these issues for the first time because of how prevalent it’s been in the news. So I think we’re coming back to campus with a student population that is far more aware and probably very angry and very frustrated about the current situation regardless of their political faction.” For their part, national organizations such as the Israel on Campus Coalition, Hillel International and J Street U have are focused on training campus professionals and students and providing them with whatever resources they need to support the strategies they come up with. Efforts include a micro-grant program launched by Israel on Campus Coalition for  pro-Israel initiatives on campus and Hillel International’s new Hinenu initiative that includes Israel advocacy pilot programs and grants to 50 college campuses for pro-Israel programming. Both groups, as well as J Street U and Jewish Voice for Peace held multi-day intensive training sessions, and Birthright Israel’s NEXT division changed its “welcome back” to include information and resources about the conflict. Since the change the percentage of students who opened the email jumped from about 20 percent to about 50 percent. The Open Hillel movement, which seeks to eliminate the standards for partnership in Hillel International’s guidelines, is planning its first national conference for the fall with speakers “spanning the spectrum of political views on Israel-Palestine,” including Judith Butler, David Harris-Gershon and Rashid Khalidi. So far, more than 150 people have registered, said organizer Emily Unger, and the group has raised more than $13,400 to fund it through a social media fundraiser. Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports BDS and “seeks to end the Israeli occupation,” has seen its supporter base — those who have participated in events or signed online petitions — jump by about 50,000 over the summer to, at last count, about 170,000 supporters. They are branching into campus organizing in the fall and expect more than a dozen campus chapters to open in the fall, said campus liaison Gabi Kirk. Back on campuses here, student groups are also focusing on educating student leaders, both Jews and non-Jews. Brooklyn College’s Tanger Hillel is ramping up its “Da Israel Initiative,” moving the sessions to a weekly basis this fall, said Drukker to give students “an opportunity for students to really dive in, understand what’s happening and be advocates for Israel on campus.” There will also be a daylong Israel advocacy workshop run by Makor and weekly education sessions for the broader campus community through the Israel on Campus Coalition. For the first time, the Hillel will host two pre-army Israeli “shinshinim.” It will also be working with visiting Israeli professor Anat Maor. A former Knesset member, Maor will teach classes on Israeli politics and women’s studies in a position jointly funded by Brooklyn College's School of Humanities and the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. In addition to education, organizations are focusing on building relationships with non-Jewish student groups on campus. At NYU, the student group “Bridges: Muslim and Jewish Interfaith Dialogue at NYU” is planning a dinner the first week of September.  Brooklyn College has two groups: Creative Coexistence, where music, theater and visual arts students work on art projects together, and a volunteer group that tutors homeless children twice a week. Both are attended by a diverse group of students allowing them to form relationships, said Drukker, “so when there are issues on campus that relate to the Middle East we have a forum for conversation and really articulating what these issues are and explaining the complexity of the situation,” she said. “And it’s worked very well,” she added. This year Brooklyn College’s Hillel is also starting a program that trains “student ambassadors” to “reach out to faculty members and start building relationships, and sort of get friends on campus,” said Drukker. Another strategy that both Columbia’s Cohen and NYU’s Rabbi Sarna put a lot of effort into is getting students to go to Israel. “For me, what will always remain as part of our core strategy is getting as many people to go to Israel as possible on experiences that get them to meaningfully engage with the society,” said Rabbi Sarna. This year, about 70 NYU students participated in the CLIP: Onward Israel program, funded by the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU, the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which sent students to Israel for eight-week internships with primarily Israeli start-ups. “Between Birthright and CLIP and students who went to Israel independently, we have over 100 students coming back from the summer having spent significant time in Israel at a time when Israel is significantly exposed,” said Rabbi Sarna. “And they are coming back with a deep understanding and a passionate attachment. And that in many ways is the best preparation for a semester like this.” amy.clark@jewishweek.org  ____________________________ And in his weekly column, Jewish Week Editor and Publisher Gary Rosenblatt offers 10 lessons from Gaza. GARY ROSENBLATT The Editor's Desk: 10 Lessons From The Gaza War The JW's Gary Rosenblatt reflects on empathy, anti-Semitism and ISIS. Gary Rosenblatt Editor and Publisher Gary Rosenblatt If you listen carefully you can hear the fraying of the unity that has held American and Israeli Jews together over the last six weeks of the war in Gaza. Until now polls in both countries have shown overwhelming Jewish support for Israel’s military and diplomatic actions, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu given high marks for relative restraint in the face of more than 3,000 Hamas rockets fired at Israeli civilians and the revelation of dozens of “terror tunnels” intended for the murder and kidnapping of Jews in the south. Inevitably, though, as the crisis continues with no dramatic solution that can assure Israel of security and deprive Hamas of a victory of sorts, voices of dissent and frustration are being heard, fingers are being pointed and commissions of inquiry are being formed to assess blame. Unlike the “miracle” Six-Day War of 1967 or the dramatic turnaround of the Yom Kippur War six years later, where Israel prevailed after a disastrous initial blow, conflicts in recent years with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza have resulted in temporary and less-than-satisfying stalemates. Who “wins” and who “loses” a war can take decades to assess, and even then depends on one’s outlook. Did Israel’s conquering of the West Bank in ’67 signal a clear victory when so many view the settlements now as an albatross? Did Anwar Sadat’s initial success in 1973 give him sufficient pride to make peace with Israel six years later, or was it the realization that Egypt could not defeat Israel militarily? Even now, before the fog of war has cleared, some sobering observations can be made about the current state of affairs for Israel in the international community and at home. The first mistake: In hindsight it seems clear that officials in Jerusalem should never have tolerated hostile rockets fired years ago, and consistently over time, into Sderot and other communities in the south. It signaled that citizens of Israel there, rather than in cities like Tel Aviv or Haifa or Jerusalem, warranted less protection. The refusal to take an immediate and more aggressive stand against forces seeking to kill Jews living inside Israel’s borders was a moral, military and diplomatic mistake. The lesson: You fire on our citizens and we will respond with full force. Will that be the case going forward? Judge combatants by their intentions, not their accuracy: One can only imagine, with horror, the result if Israel did not have the Iron Dome and if thousands of Hamas rockets had found their targets: Israeli civilians. Would the nations of the world have been more sympathetic then to Israel’s plight? Maybe, but it is better to have their anger than their pity. Don’t confuse “Palestinian” with “Hamas": Those who insist that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza lack political understanding as well as basic human empathy. The fact is that most Gazans are the victims of circumstance, virtual prisoners of Hamas, which is committed not to their security but to the destruction of Israel. Speaking out against Hamas from within Gaza is dangerous, if not suicidal. We have to acknowledge the tragic suffering of so many citizens of Gaza, whose leaders use them as human shields, literally as well as metaphorically. The blame may well be on Hamas for initiating a war of aggression and refusing to step down, but that should not blind us from compassion for the lives lost. Anti-Semitism is real, and growing: The blurring of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence, rhetoric and political views has come to the surface, particularly in Europe, to an alarming degree. Most egregious, perhaps, is the United Nations and its ongoing, blatant bias against Israel. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay of South Africa calls Israel guilty of defying international law when in fact no other country, including the U.S., goes as far in seeking to avoid harming civilians as does Israel. Pillay also blamed the U.S. for not supplying Gaza with the Iron Dome system. More recently, and cynically, the UN Human Rights Council established a commission to investigate war crimes in Gaza, headed by Canadian law professor William Schabas, who in a speech once said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be “in the dock of an international court” and is “the single individual most likely to threaten the survival of Israel.” Schabas has refused to label Hamas a terror organization and refused to make clear whether his investigation will review Hamas’ actions. A total sham. There’s “daylight” in the U.S.-Israel relationship: It’s no secret that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu are a dysfunctional duo; the question is how much effect their dislike of each other will have on Washington’s support for Jerusalem at this critical time. For all the talk of the administration not allowing any daylight between the positions of the U.S. and Israel, it is delaying arms for Israel in its fight against a U.S.-acknowledged terrorist group and not insisting on the disarmament of Hamas. Deeply worrisome. Connect the dots: There is a common thread and threat to Mideast headlines … ISIS, the new Islamic state, is increasing its murderous advances on Syria, which already has lost close to 200,000 citizens, and on Iraq, negating the decade-long, hard-fought gains of American soldiers and would-be peacemakers. Hezbollah controls Lebanon, Hamas gains international support by making war on Israeli civilians, and Iran stalls and dodges efforts to prevent it from going nuclear. What we have is The War of the Islamic Militants on Western Culture, though it is politically incorrect to label it as such or counter it with a unified approach. Media bias continues: Whether it is a misguided sympathy for the underdog, a failure to provide context to a complex conflict or simple anti-Israel bias, much of mainstream media has failed to point out the impossible position Israel is in, castigated for fighting back against a terrorist regime bent on destroying it and its people. “Defend yourself, but not too much” is neither practical nor helpful advice. And displaying photos each day of suffering Gazans — and no militant fighters — has played into the hands of Hamas, who only now are being called out for intimidating and threatening the media. Doves and hawks double down when assessing the crisis: Has anyone changed his or her mind based on the reality of these last few weeks? Hawks point out that one Hamas rocket closed Ben-Gurion Airport and argue that a West Bank state would present a far greater threat to Israel. Doves counter that the war and destruction only prove that there is no military solution to the conflict, which must be resolved by diplomacy and compromise. Support for Israel is slipping: Americans remain significantly more supportive of Israel than of the Palestinians. But there is serious slippage among the 18-to-29-year-old cohort, including Jews, especially when it comes to whether Israel’s military response in Gaza is justified. Younger Jews tend to have less knowledge of modern Israeli history than their elders and are ambivalent and conflicted about Jerusalem’s military stance and the lack of a peace deal with the Palestinians. True colors come out in times of stress: Many Israelis and Jews around the world have come to see themselves as family during this Gaza war. They speak of a common bond of support for Israel’s right to defend itself as it sees fit against an enemy willing to sacrifice its own children to destroy the Jewish state. A number of American Jews have rallied, raised funds and traveled to Israel to show their love and support while some Jewish groups have focused primarily on criticism of Israel’s conduct, and that is telling. Vibrant discussion and debate are the lifeblood of a nation. But at its core must be a sense of shared values. In a crisis, friends help, not harp. “Tough love” is acceptable – as long as “love” truly is part of the equation. Gary@jewishweek.org _____________________________  Shabbat Shalom, Helen Chernikoff Web Editor

The Arts As for advice for dealing with aging parents, Chast quips, "Did you read my book? I clearly don't know what to do." Bill Franzen The Dark Comedy Of Caregiving Roz Chast's heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny memoir of caring for her parents as the end nears. Sandee Brawarsky - Culture Editor This book had me hooked with the cover. Made to look like a journal, it features a cartoon drawing of a bespeckled middle-aged daughter on one end of a fading sofa, facing her parents, who are seated with their arms crossed. In a bubble above his head, the father asks, “Can’t we talk about something more PLEASANT?” That question is the title of Roz Chast’s memoir of her parents’ final years, and her role as their only child. Chast, whose signature cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker since 1978, has written a graphic memoir, mixing full-color cartoons, photographs and text to create a narrative that is heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny. (It is published by Bloomsbury Press.) Readers who have been in this situation or are in the midst of it — or see it coming — will find themselves repeatedly quoting Chast. In conversation, she laughs a lot, describing her parents and the imagery she used to capture them. The book is much more personal than anything else she was written and drawn. “It feels pretty bizarre,” she says in a telephone interview from her Connecticut home. “A friend said I must feel I’m walking around with my pants down 24/7. But I don’t think I would have bothered to write it if it weren’t personal.” Chast’s father George died in 2007 at age 97, her mother Elizabeth in 2009 at 95. For years before that, when she tried to raise the subject with them of their final days, they didn’t want to talk about it. “Between their one-bad-thing-after-another lives and the Depression and World War II, and the Holocaust, in which they’d both lost family — it was amazing that they weren’t crazier than they were. Who could blame them for not wanting to talk about death?” Her parents described themselves as soul mates. “The rocks in his head match the holes in mine,” her mother would say. They grew up in the same neighborhood in East Harlem and were in the same fifth grade class. “Aside from WWII, work, illness and going to the bathroom, they did everything together,” she writes. In one panel set in the recent past, Elizabeth says she’s going to Waldbaum’s, and George runs after her, “Hold it! I’m coming too.” Of course they fought too, but mostly each held the other tightly, hoping that nothing would ever change. But Roz understood that they were all on “the moving sidewalk of life,” as she depicts in another panel. George had worked as a high school teacher and Elizabeth as an assistant principal in an elementary school. Her mother was strong-willed, her father quieter and full of anxiety — she says that her father chain-worried the way others chain-smoked. Her mother saved everything, from tattered bathrobes to old textbooks to a kitchen mitt that was patched with a skirt Roz made in Home Ec class 40 years earlier — drawn here. Her parents subscribed to The New Yorker and were definitely proud of her, as she tells The Jewish Week. “I don’t think we shared the exact sense of humor,” she says, recalling that her father carried around a cartoon of a guy on his psychiatrist’s couch, telling the doctor, “I feel inadequate because I don’t understand cartoons in The New Yorker.” They continued living in the same apartment in the Kensington area of Brooklyn where Roz spent her unhappy childhood — she often felt outside of their duo. She didn’t dislike Brooklyn; she loathed it. From 1990 to 2001, when her two children were young, she didn’t visit once, until September of 2001, just before 9/11. Then, she found the same plastic flowers in the lobby, the same weird smells in the hallways, and an extraordinary amount of grime in her parents’ apartment. Her mother had been an inveterate cleaner, but clearly she had stopped being concerned about that.  As Roz visited more often, she noticed the grime spreading and her parents growing increasingly frail. In pages that are tender and powerful, Chast documents their decline and her need to take on the role as their caregiver, at first from a distance, and then more close up than she could have imagined. She includes a poem her mother wrote, “Too Soon We Grow Old: Too Late We Get Smart,” and she also includes photographs of things she found when she finally had to empty the four rooms they lived in for more than 50 years, when she moves them to an assisted living facility otherwise known as the Place. There, the story turns to health aids, falls, bedsores and palliative care, and she captures the distinctive rhythms of life at the Place. She faces death with directness. Near the book’s end, she includes realistic black-and-white studies of her mother’s last days, in a style that is not cartoon.  Chast says that she still thinks about them and dreams about them. She remembers her father with much affection, and says that she’s still trying to work things out with her mother. How would they feel about this book? “Maybe I’m too optimistic, but I think my father would have gotten a kick out if it and would find aspects funny. I’m not so sure about my mother.” About being Jewish, Chast says she feels very mixed. “I know on some deep level, I very much identity as Jewish, like when I’m in a place where there are no Jews. It feels strange and I feel like an outsider. But on the other hand, I’m not observant. My mother belonged to Hadassah and B’nai B’rith and I don’t belong. We had a mezuzah on our door. My husband is Presbyterian.” At book signings and event, Chast is surprised when people ask for her advice. “I don’t give advice. Did you read my book? I clearly don’t know what to do.” “It’s hard,” she concluded. “That’s what it is when you’re suddenly taking care of really old lives.” editor@jewishweek.org

Blogs THE POLITICAL INSIDER | THE ROSENBLOG | THE NEW NORMAL | A COMIC'S JOURNEY | WELL VERSED THE NEW NORMAL Another Kind Of Holy Land by Ellen Seidman Fireman Max with his new friend June. Courtesy of Ellen Seidman Editor's Note: This blog originally appeared on Ellen Seidman's blog:  Love That Max: Special Needs Blog Last Wednesday, I headed to family camp with Max for five days. I figured we'd have fun; I had no idea how meaningful our time there would be. It was full of firsts for Max—and the discovery of a whole other kind of holy land. As a a teen, I was a counselor at two Camp Ramahs in New York and loved it. After I found out that the Ramah in the Poconos had a five-day Tikvah Family Camp for kids with developmental disorders and social learning disorders, I signed us up. (The Ramah Tikvah Network offers family, day and overnight camps at nine locations.) The plan was Max and I would go on Wednesday and Sabrina and Dave would join us on Friday, after she returned from camp, only she liked being home too much to leave again so soon. So Tikvah Mommy and Fireman Max Camp it was. We arrived just in time for the afternoon petting zoo. Max was into the cow, but was completely enchanted by the goat who pooped pellets in front of him. As the zoo was about to close, Max decided that he wanted a horse ride, and two staffers helped him up. All of the staffers were warm and welcoming to everyone in the fifteen families who attended, especially wannabe firefighters. Max got an assigned buddy, Shana, a super-friendly counselor who hung out with him at activities. Our dedicated waiter regularly hooked Max up with assorted pasta dishes. Meanwhile, we had a spacious cabin all to ourselves, impeccably decorated with plaques from bunks past and wads of dried toilet paper stuck to the wood cathedral ceiling. Camp! The grounds are hill-y, as camp grounds tend to be, and at first I thought Max would need golf cart rides to get around. He did well walking on his own, but he has a thing for golf carts so he tried to score as many rides as possible. During our first hour there, he slammed his foot on the gas pedal as a counselor had his foot on it and drove the cart right into our cabin's porch. But the broken railing was fixed within minutes, and they allowed Max back on the carts again...in the back seat. Every morning, there were separate activities for kids with special needs, their siblings and parents, then family stuff in the afternoon. Max did arts and crafts, cooking, music, dancing, story time and swimming. One of his favorite activities: Walking up to the mic when announcements were made after mealtime and telling the crowd, "I want to be a fireman when I grow up!" Meanwhile, the siblings of kids with special needs did their own activities, which included discussions about what it's like to have a sibling with disabilities. Parents had their own kind of fun; we could take our pick from Zumba, basketball, tennis, boating, archery. I joined Dina of the lovely Commonplace blog for two blogging/creative writing workshops, which also included the proper technique for throwing wads of wet t.p. onto ceilings. OK, not that. I took a bike ride down some back roads with beautiful scenery. I added a square to a group quilt: Afternoon was family time; we could choose from tennis, volleyball, arts and crafts and swimming. I went boating with Max and Shana; my bad shoulder is still bad, so she did the rowing...until Fireman Max decided to take over. It was the first time Max had ever rowed before, the first time he ever wanted to. One of the cool things about being Max being in a setting where he felt completely comfortable was that he was game to try new stuff, which included participating in kickball games. The biggest boating challenge: making sure his hat stayed on. After kids were tucked in, counselors came to the bunks to babysit so parents could head out for the night's activities. We did an Iron Chef Competition, a trivia game and karaoke; we rocked Borderline, Let's Give 'Em Something To Talk About and Dancing Queen. While Max sat out Ooey Gooey Stickiness (kids could paint, make Silly Putty, play with shaving cream and otherwise get completely messy), the campfire was a highlight, as befits a firefighter. Max arrived by making his fire engine siren noise, zooming through the crowd and up to the edge of the fire so he could douse it with his pretend hose. He also eagerly participated in the Saturday evening family talent show, with me and Shana; we sang "Let It Go" and Max did the chorus. The MC had asked people not to clap, at Max's request. So they held up their hands, wiggling their fingers to show their appreciation, and he took a big bow. Max didn't mind the applause he got on the last day at the Paper Plate Awards, however. So, lots of fun happened, the communal kind you have in camp. But there was also a spirituality to our time there. Although Max is not usually one to concentrate during prayers, he was really into the interactive kind they had. He got up and stood at the pulpit, participating in a reading of the Torah, after being called up as Fireman Max. He observed and listened. He offered musical accompaniment. I had my own spiritual awakening when my iPhone died, and realized that for the sake of my inner peace I needed to unplug more often. We also celebrated the sabbath, a day of rest when you don't drive, turn on electricity or talk on the phone (although Max didn't get the memo about taking a nap). I sat with parents on porches and talked about raising our kids as they played on the grass. Max made some incredible connections all his own, befriending other kids with special needs and reminding them when they said "Hi, Max!" that his correct name is "Fireman Max." (We have yet to make it legal.) Once, a boy picked up Max's bandana bib. "Don't grab!" his mom said. Only what he wanted to do was dab the drool. In the evenings, the siblings hung out in a gazebo near the cabins we were in, and Max wanted to be with them. The first night, I sat there trying to be invisible as the kids dug up a time capsule buried beneath the deck and debated what to do with its contents. Max kept saying something until I finally translated: "He's saying 'police' and he wants to make sure you don't get into trouble!" The next evening, Max told me he wanted to be with them by himself. I watched him trek up the hill to sit with them in the twilight, the first time he'd ever hung with a group of kids on his own. I'm sure it felt so good to him. Me, I was thrilled. These are moments you dream of as a parent of a kid with special needs. After that, Max sat at the siblings table at meals. I was there to help him eat, but again I was invisi-Mom. This was a unique group of kids, ones who didn't think twice about welcoming a kid with special needs because to them they're a natural part of their lives. They included Max in kickball games, too. "My friends!" Max said as we left the gazebo one night. Max is a friendly kid, but this kind of socializing—the kind that happens naturally at camp, the kind that happens with siblings of kids with special needs—was a whole new experience for him. This is the what I long for Max to have in everyday life: People who get him. Kids who welcome him. An entire world that's welcoming to him. We found it at camp. Obviously it's a special setting, a holy land all its own. As is often the case, it's up to me and Dave to figure out a way to forge opportunities for Max the other 360 days a year in which he'll feel included by so-called typical kids. But Tikvah, which means "hope" in Hebrew, had given me plenty. We both came home happy and rejuvenated, thankful for a good time...and more. Read all about Ellen Seidman here. http://www.lovethatmax.com/p/about-methis-blog.html

Food & Wine Oooh! Ahhh! Mmmm ... A tiny cookie packs a big punch of flavor with ginger and clove. Amy Spiro - Jewish Week Online Columnist Are you ready for the prettiest, daintiest, loveliest cookie you've ever seen? Then you're ready for these miniature linzer torte treats. A buttery almond dough, a flavor-packed jam filling and a dusting of icing sugar on top really are the perfect combination. The dough gets its flavor from the ground nuts but also the brown sugar, citrus zest and a variety of spices. It may seem like a lot of ingredients for one cookie, but the hints of ginger and clove are definitely present in the final product.  The cookies are delicious, but the jam is really a star here too, so you don't want to skimp on the cheapest brand. I have a soft spot in my heart (and stomach) for raspberry jam, but strawberry is also great -- really whatever flavor you love most. And if you're lucky enough like me to live near a place you can purchase your nuts freshly ground, then go for that as well. Your taste buds will thank you!   Amy Spiro is a journalist and writer based in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute's baking and pastry track, a regular writer for The Jerusalem Post and blogs at bakingandmistaking.com. She also holds a BA in Journalism and Politics from NYU. Hide Servings & Times Yield: Makes about 4 dozen cookies Active Time: 1 hr Total Time: 3 hrs Hide Ingredients 1 cup (200g) unsalted butter or margarine, softened 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest 1 cup (100g) ground hazelnuts or walnuts 2 1/2 cups (315g) flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/3 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1 cup good-quality raspberry or strawberry jam Confectioner's sugar, for dusting Hide Steps Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add in the eggs, vanilla and zest and beat to combine. Beat in the ground nuts until well mixed. Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves and ginger, and mix until all ingredients are completely combined. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thick on a well-floured surface. Cut out as any fluted rounds as possible. In 50% of the rounds, cut a small center hole (can use a piping tip). Bake the cookies on parchment-paper lined baking sheets at 350 F for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are turning golden brown. Let cool completely. Spread the bottom cookies with a thin layer of jam, without spreading it all the way to edges, otherwise it will ooze out. Top with a cut-out cookie, and sift confectioner's sugar over the finished sandwich cookies.

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