Hot Mitzvah Work, Great Steak

Sunday is a regular work day here and we were up bright at early to meet with USY Group 7. We look them to the North Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, to pack about 260 bags of groceries with Moshe Kot and Lev Ramot. Moshe left his printing business about 10 years ago to work full time in tzedaka work. These are hard times; former sources of prepared foods; caterers, hotels, restaurants and corporate and army cafeteria are not long over-cooking as they used to, and less food is available for donations. Moshe has to raise money to purchase many of the items he gives out, and donations are also down.

We provided the labor (during a heat wave that will likely last the week) to pack the bags, and then we went into a shaded park to hear Moshe's story. The synagogue where we used to bring the groups to hear Moshe has become his storage area, increasing it's holiness as a Mitzvah Machsan (Mitzvah storage room) and the synagogue moved upstairs but we weren't able to use it.

In the afternoon, I took half of the group to meet Libby Reichman at the big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel clubhouse near the Jerusalem Mall. Libby now has a staff of nine to perform the volunteer screenings, supervision of volunteers and recruitment, and raising the funds to keep this staff paid is a recurring burden on her. Libby does so many mitzvot, the BBBS is much more that a mentoring organization - it's not about play datesfor kids. It is about saving lives, giving kids accessible role models who can help them succeed in school and in life. Please contact Bill, Mary or me if you can help this year with a significant donation.

The other half of group 7 met and heard Ruth Schlossman, founder of gift of Comfort, a non-profit with a shoe string budget (about $6,000 US a year) that provides non-traditional therapy to survivors of terror attacks (some are military) that insurance won't cover - therapeutic massage, accupuncture, reflexology, etc. Ruth finds therapists to volunteer, pays a half time coordinator to match the therapist and the client and help make the appointments; then gift of Comfort provides a small gift certificate to the volunteers. It is a very lean, efficient operation, and Mitzvah Heroes Fund is proud to be a significant funder of this project.

After the wrap up, I met Scott Littky for what was an epicurean highlight of the summer, a steak at the Buffalo Steak House. I had never been there before, and it exceeded my expectations, one of the best-prepared steaks I have ever had.

Monday morning I had a few meetings, and then made my way by bus and on foot, after asking many people for directions around the Knesset to get to my friend Shlomi Zadok's office so I could spend the evening with his family at Moshav Gefen. We went to a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Ramle (authentic Indian, including most of the customers) called Maharaja and it was excellent; we had samosas, something that looked like potato knishes (with more seasoning) black lentils, a chick pea dish and it was all excellent. I finished the evening with a glass of Ben Hanna Shalem 2006 (a bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc). I am now back in Jerusalem, meeting my former student Daniel Shibley for lunch at Burgers Bar, and then finishing up some shopping and packing in the afternoon.

Tonight is another high point, the Israel Museum wine festival, an event I look forward to all year. It is a change to meet, greet wine people and taste a wide variety of what is new and terrific about Israeli wines.

I'll likely have the chance for one more entry before I fly Wednesday night. Short, intense trips are a challenge to capture.

Lehitra'ot

Mitzvah dogs, Tel Aviv and one more winery

Thursday was a very early morning - up at 5:30 to meet a cab at 6:15 to get to Tel Aviv by 8 to meet with USY group 6. We met the group (they were tired at the beginning of the day) and after an opening talk, half stayed to meet Phyllis Haimowitz and the girlfriend of one of the soldiers that was killed in the same tank as Galid Shalit was in when he was captured. Phyllis runs a non-profit that provides group therapy for men and women who lose loved ones (boy/girlfirends or fiance/es) in the Israeli Army - it was a very powerful session.

I went to the Urim Parenting Center in Holon with half of the group to meet with Avshalom Beni, Ivgeni and Rachel (who of his facilitators) and about a dozen therapy dogs. I met the puppy MHF bought for HAMA, BegalD (the Great Dane I'm with above). At 4 months he was walking me, is already about 60 lbs and is sweet and adorable. The USYers asked great questions and learned about Avshalom's important work with many at rist populations. It was a great morning.

In my honor, Thursday night was going to be another poker night; usually the game meets every other week, but because I was around, another game got scheduled. Rather than return to Jerusalem with the group, where they were meeting with Yael Rosen of Atzum, who provides support to the 40 remaining Righteous Gentiles living in Israel who saved Jews in the Holocaust, I stayed in Tel Aviv, so that my trip to Herzliya to meet Yossi would be easier. I revisited the home of C.N. Bialek that I last visited before its renovation 8 years ago (pictured above), went to the Carmel Market (where I ran into Washingtonians Karen and Barry Fierst), and mostly just bummed around downtown in the oppressive heat. I took two buses to get to Herzliya, which took about 90 minutes, and then walked to Yossi's office. The game was a lot of fun, I won a few shekels and had a great time.

After about 5 hours of sleep in Har Adar, Yossi and Dina drove me back to Jerusalem Friday morning and dropped me at the shuk so I could buy ingredients for shabbat dinner. I got what I needed, got back to the apartment and started to get things ready (chicken, potato kugel (I bought it prepared) green beans with toasted almonds, salads and rugelach for dessert). At about 12 Scott and I went out for a schwarma, and then my friend Shlomi Zadok picked us up so we could visit Avital Goldner at the Katamon winery. Avital's winery is in his apartment building in katamon. He is a sofer (writing parchments for mezuzot, etc) and makes about 1500-2000 bottles a year. We tasted 3 wines in the barrel, his 2009 chardonnay, cabernet and merlot. Then we tasted a white dessert wine in a tank (not ready yet - it was a little bland to me) with 2 different reislings, and 3 grapes I don't remember. His Merlot 2007 was nice, but will likely improve a bit with age. After joining Shlomi and his daughter Noam while they ate lunch, Scott and I went back to the apartment to get things ready for shabbat. We were 4 for dinner (Scott and I, Danny and Jonathan Portath). We went to shul at Shira Chadasha, and had a nice dinner.

Shabbat morning we were up by 7 and Scott and I walked to Baka to go to Yedidya. It was very nice. I ran into an old friend from USY who was originally from Minnesota, Prof Saul Wachs and a few other people. We were invited to Alice and Efri Jonahs for Lunch (Alice is an amazing cook) with what seemed like all the women from her Jerusalem Scrabble Club. We had a great lunch, walked home in the worst heat since we've been here (we're in the midst of a multi-day hamsin) and spend the rest of the afternoon resting in the cool apartment.

At about 6:30 Anita and Giora Shkedi from INTRA came over, and we talked about their new project, a research study on the benefits of Equine Therapy on long term sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, involving mostly veterans from the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Project is just in its second week, and hopefully will continue for a year. Anyone interested in helping to sponsor a veteran for a year of Horse-assisted therapy (there is room for 30 in the program) the cost is $2200 for the year - please be in touch with me. They are also considering offering a therapy/vacation package for American soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan through an organization called Horses for Heroes. If you are interested in helping, I will help you get the information you need. After shabbat Scott and I went out for ice cream (my first of the season), and since then I've been writing these blog entries. Tomorrow is our final USY group - we will be packing boxes of staples with Lev Ramot, and splitting the group in the afternoon between Big Brothers Big Sisters in Israel and Ruth Schlossman of Gift of Comfort.

More on that later - shavua tov from the hot and sticky Jerusalem.

It's been a busy week

I realize I haven't posted anything in a week - between full days and being tired at night, I haven't had much of a chance. I will try to catch up in a couple of postings. Monday was a day off for me. Yossi picked me up Sunday night so we could get an early start on Monday. We started the day with a drive to Binyamina, to do some final clean up of a house Yossi and Dina are renting to a new tenant. We started early, around 9, and only needed to work for about an hour and a half, mostly outdoor clean up stuff. Since we were in the greater Zichron Ya'akov neighborhood, we decided to check out some of the local wineries.

We started by hanging out with Barak and Hila at Somek, a small home-based winery making about 12000 bottles a year. We tasted a few things in the barrel and a very nice chardonnay, a carignan and a blend. They were lovely to spend time with and some very nice wines. Then we walked around the corner (literally) to the Smadar winery, which is also a B&B and met Motti Shapiro. We tasted a blend (called En toot, a local spring where he grows his grapes) and a Cabernet. Motti makes about 6000 bottles a year and hopes his daughter, who has recently returned to Israel from studying viticulture will continue the work of the winery.

We had lunch at a dairy restaurant on the main street of Zichron, Nili, and headed just north of Yokne'am (about a half hour away) to the Tulip winery at Kfar Tikvah. Tulip which will be kosher as of this year's vintage, is sort of a mitzvah winery. It's located in a village that houses adults with mental and physical challenges, and Tulip employs some of these adults as workers in their winery. In fact, over the last 5 years, these workers have been the impediment to Tulip receiving kashrut supervision, but the issues have now been resolved. We tasted a delicious white blend, a Cabernet and a blend - are are terrific and I look forward to offering them at future tastings.

We were on the road by 4 and back in Jerusalem by 6 - since we'd had a nice lunch we actually had coffee and dessert at a new place on Emek Refayim, Ben Ami - it was very nice, if only the service had been a bit more attentive.

Tuesday was a day of meetings (and some laundry) in the morning, and lunch with Danny and Rabbi Jonathan Porath at Angelica, a very nice, very high end restaurant in downtown, on Shatz street. It was very nice. After lunch I ran a couple of errands in town, came home to shower and then went back into town for the Mitzvah Heroes dinner at the Village Green.

We had nice attendance at the dinner, we were able to give updates of Mitzvah Heroes Fund's work and hear updates from some of our Mitzvah heroes. It was a terrific evening, very energizing. Bradley Cohen and his wife, who were leaving in the morning for India managed to join us and it was special to have them spending that time with us.

Wednesday we went to S'derot with USY group 8 - we worked with Afikim BaNegev helping them move a youth center from a rented house to a more permanent home near their offices. It was a lot of hot, hard work, the USYers were amazing (it was a small group of 22) and we learned about life in a desert development town in the shadow of Gaza. When we got back, I introduced Scott Littky to Rachmo, a long established, family owned restaurant in downtown on Yoel Solomon - great, comfort food at amazing prices - it was very satisfying.

More soon

Distributing Tzedakah and Mitzvah Shopping

A nice day with USY Group 9 – we started with our opening in the morning, and split the group between Shalhevet, and apartment house in Katamon for wheel-chair bound adults and the Rabbanit Kapach. I went with the group to the Rabbanit’s. I just visited her during Pesach, but she looks well and her voice was stronger (she had abdominal surgery this winter) that she did in April. She was great with the USYers and told her story in her usual engaging way.

She was a bit down after discussing her 50th year of running her summer camp, saying she had hats, t shirts and backpacks for the kids, and that usually there are school supplies to put in the backpacks, but this year there was no money. Then I told her I had just given her son Aryeh a $2000 grant from the Mitzvah Heroes Fund, so that she would have the money for the supplies. 7800 NIS – not a bad tzedakah morning, and the Rabbanit was thrilled.

After yet another mediocre youth hostel lunch (I’m trying to forget the mushroom quiche; my stomach has not forgiven me yet) we split the group into 3 and Danny, Arnie and I led Mitzvah hero tours of center-city Jerusalem. I can’t speak for exactly what my colleagues did, but our stops were at Meled, Crossroads, Village Green (one of the first businesses in J-lem to hire disabled adults), a toy store owned by a volunteer of Lev Ramot where we did some Mitzvah shopping of items to help injured soldiers in rehab pass the time (board games, brain teasers, 3-D puzzles) and a few other spots (where Ruth Shlossman from Gift of Comfort was at the corner of King George and Jaffa when the bombing of the Sbarro inspired her to provide alternative therapies to improve the lives of terror survivors). We spent about and hour and three quarters in the mid-day sun, finding shade where we could and returned to the base at Agron for Danny’s wrap up and a talk by Mitzvah hero Channa Greenwald, who provides support to families of wounded soldiers. We also had a sizeable donation for Channa. Not a bad day so far.

A quick dinner with Danny at Schnitzli (disappointed a bit in the burger – their predecessor, Joy Express, was a better eatery), then a shower and off to Har Adar, so that Yossi, Dina and I can spend some of Monday winery hopping in Binyamina and the surrounding area – I will report on that on Tuesday.

Laila tov,

Another Great Day - Mitzvah Hero and Mitzvah Cabbages

Another great day - Today we joined USY Group 2. We started the morning (pancakes at the youth hostel) with Mitzvah hero Bradley Cohen of All-for-the-Kids and learned about his life for years in Asia; Laos, China, Nepal, S. Korea, Thailand, Japan and found his way to Jerusalem. Bradley is an inspiring leader, speaks 5 or 6 languages and is encouraging Israelis in India to help the local population to improve their image abroad as well as helping the children in orphanages in various parts of India.

Bradley after telling his story, led the group through some martial arts exercises and breathing (he holds a black belt in tae kwan do and a brown best in Aikido) and then described his projects. He was terrific with the teens and we learn a lot from him whenever we are together. He is about to leave for a 4 month trip to India, where he will again organize groups of Israelis to help local groups of children. His new venture is called Lev Olam (Heart of the World) and he has many ambitious plans for its success.

After a hostel (as opposed to hostile) lunch at Agron (much of it looked a lot like breakfast, except for the spaghetti) we got on the bus to Ra'anana to the logistics center of Leket Israel (formerly Table-to-Table), Israel's largest food recovery organization, serving over 240 non-profits with rescued fruits and vegetables, catered and prepared foods, manufacturers' overruns and sandwiches for school kids. After a complete introduction to the program from Natalie, we spent an hour cleaning cabbages (several layers of leaves needed to be peeled off to make them attractive for use - even people in need don't like receiving ugly vegetables) and filled 6-1 cubic meter crates (of about a ton each, so about 12,000 pounds of cabbage) that tomorrow or at the latest Sunday, will be on tables throughout Israel. Not a bad hour's work.

The group was going on to Herzliya, and by coincidence so was I so I could meet Yossi for his regular poker game - I have been playing in this game when I am here since the 90's, and it is one of the joys of my visits. I will stay in Har Adar tonight and Shabbat and return to J-lem Sat night for work with our next USY group on Sunday.

Post Shabbat update -

Summary - Poker went well - up 6 NIS (about $1.50). The ride home was arduous - construction after 2 am had the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway closed at we sat going nowhere for about 40 minutes, got home at 3:30 am.

We were up and out by 9:15 to attend a cheese tasting Yossi had arranged witha very nice cheese wholesaler at Moshav Bnai Tzion near Ra'anana. We brought some of Avi Yehuda's Cabernet (Shaked - a new favorite of mine) to taste and sell. Yossi sold about 8 bottles. 25-30 people, mostly friends of Yossi and Dina came. I think there were over 20 cheeses to taste, they were terrific, and this guy also imports other items like Bumblebee Tuna, Kraft BBQ sauce, V-8 and Dr. Pepper. People bought a lot of stuff and had a nice time.

After a quick shop at the Mega grocery store we went to Avi Yehuda's winery at Shoresh for an afternoon visit. We tasted a new blend and the new shiraz, and I left with a few bottles, including some 2007 Shiraz for Michelle to enjoy when I get home.

Shabbat was quiet - because we'd all had so little sleep Thursday night, we managed a late Friday afternoon nap, so I missed shul. Dina made a lovely meal, roasted chicken and vegetables in a clay pot. We drank a 2006 Yehuda Shiraz with dinner. It was a quiet shabbat - I finished 2 books that I had started - a Larry McMurtry novel and an Amos Oz novella so I I am going to start James Kugel's book, How to Read the Torah. I hope to hear him speak at the Turkish shul next shabbat. After shabbat Yossi and Dina brought me back to Jerusalem and we went for a later dinner at a fairly new place, 54, next to Cafe Hillel and it was nice (mediocre service, though) I had a club sandwich with grilled chicken and roast beef and it was very nice.

Tomorrow we stay in Jerusalem with our USY group - I will see the Rabbanit Kapach in the morning (the other half will go with Miriam Frier to Shalhevet) and then in the afternoon, a mitzvah tour of downtown J-lem.

Shavua tov.

WOW - Mitzvahs with USY Group 4

Every once in a while you have one of those days that reminds you why you do this work, and that teens are well worth our investment of time and effort.

This was a great group of USYers with an exemplary staff. After a delicious youth hostel breakfast (if you've never had one, you don't know what you're missing - not every food service can get the scrambled eggs the same temperature as the cold orange juice) and our opening we boarded the bus for Hod Hasharon to spend some time doing some craft projects with some of the elder participants as Click. This exemplar of social entrepreneurship runs 5 centers in town, runs a craft kit factory where the elders make and assemble the kits, and a gift shop where items made by the elders are sold. The workers are paid for their work, treated to home-baked treats, and find companionship in dignity in their work.

Linda Mosek, the Aussie born director is a bundle of energy, and had guests, including the wife of the mayor there to greet us. The USYers sang with the elders while working on their crafts (stuffed teddy bears and hand puppets) and their a capella group also performed for us. They were terrific.

After a delectible USY box lunch (tuna and cheese) we got back on the bus and headed for Kibbutz Nachshon, where we met with Asher Elias to runs Tech Careers, a non-profit that trains post-army ethiopian adults in computer programming, network design and software quality assurance. Their residential (hence the location on Kibbutz) programs run from 4-11 months and are very intense. Even in the current difficult job market, over 80 percent of their graduates are employed in the high-tech industry in Israel, and according to the manager, Naomi Zimmerman, the recent graduates of their COBOL class (and old business-related mainframe language popular in the 70's and 80's) are taking over Bank HaPoalim (one of Israel's leading banks). The issue was that the generation of COBOL programmers from the 70's was reaching retirement age, and there was no one to replace them, until Tech Careers stepped in and started training their students. Asher is an amazing example of Mitzvah Hero - modest, soft spoken, seeing an problem - the economic disadvantages of the Ethiopian community in Israel, and did something concrete to start solving the problem.

It was a great day - we had a great closing session in Jerusalem. Danny and I had dinner at Marvad HaK'samim, a homey, yemenite style restaurant. You'll have to ask what I had privately. I don't want to blog about it in case my doctor should check my blog.

Another full day tomorrow - a session with USY group 2 where we will hear from the charismatic Bradley Cohen of All for the Kids - an Israeli NGO that is building and supplying schools for kids in India followed by packing food packages at Leket Yisrael (formerly Table-to-Table in Ra'anana - more to follow....

Not your North American Tisha B’Av

Not your North American Tisha B’Av

I’m writing in the concluding hour of Tisha B’Av here in Jerusalem. How different than anything you can experience in the States, even if you go to a Jewish summer camp.

Most restaurants in the city, and for that matter, most places of business, closed before dinner time yesterday. Knowing that, I planned ahead and cooked dinner last night (baked chicken, Spanish rice and zucchini). I went to the evening service of Moreshet Avraham, the conservative synagogue in Talpiyot, which was held on a plaza of the scenic promenade looking north toward the old city. The view was breathtaking and the crowd was huge (I estimate 400-500 people, which is about 10 times what I’ve seen in any north American synagogue). A lot of movement luminaries were there – my teacher Saul Wachs from Philadelphia, Prof. Joel Roth, Rabbis James LeBeau, Reuven Hammer, David Golinkin (who led most of the singing), my brother’s colleague, Shalom Lewis. I ran into my madrichim from our 2004 visit to Israel with USY, Itzik Yanai and Deb, former Washingtonian Elliott Goldstein (brother of the famous (in our house) Aileen Goldstein). It was a very nice ma’ariv and Eicha, one of the best I’ve ever attended.

This morning I went to the Conservative Yeshiva, for a series of lectures, one on Jeremiah, one on the why’s of Tisha B’Av, and one on one of the kinot (religious poems) read today. Between that and mincha (I had hagba, I would have made my synagogues proud) I was there about 4 hours. I joined Scott, saw many of the people I saw last night, spoke with Rich Moline, Rabbi Jerome Epstein – Rabbi Steven Wernick was there but I did not get to speak with him.

Even now, late in the day, there is little traffic on the street, restaurants and stores are just starting to open and the streets are quiet. The fast ends in about 45 minutes. It made the day very meaningful.

I will say that personally, spending time in the rebuilt Jerusalem makes you wonder why this day is still observed. We have Jerusalem, and we are not exiled – those of us living outside of Israel do so voluntarily. I guess, since 1967, Israel could knock down a couple of mosques and rebuild the Temple (I can’t imagine if we did that we could be any more hated than we already are). As a democratic nation, Israel has chosen not to do so. I wouldn’t want to worship in a new Temple if it involved re-establishing animal sacrifices and the priesthood. So I can’t tell you why I fasted today, or why I observe 2nd days of holidays in the US, but I did and I do.

Tomorrow is our first USY day – we are going to Click in Hod HaSharon and Tech Careers at Kibbutz Nachshon (near Latrun) with group 4. Thursday we will be with Bradley Cohen of All for the Kids and Leket Yisrael (formerly Table-to-Table) I likely won’t have a chance to write about those days until Friday. Enjoy the week.