by Debra | Sep 20, 2023 | Activism, Antisemitism, high school, kids, racism, school, Seeking Justice, Students On Campus, tikun olam
By Sergio Carmona
Throughout the 2022-23 school year, Jewish and Black high school students from Broward County in South Florida united to dialogue, have meals and tour different museums and learning centers. Through these experiences, both groups learned about antisemitism and racism while exploring each other’s cultures and similarities.
Alcee L. Hastings Broward Black-Jewish Alliance
The Alcee L. Hastings Broward Black-Jewish Alliance, named in honor of the late politician who died in April 2021, involved the participation of 30 high school students from David Posnack Jewish Day School in Davie, FL who were in a cohort with students from Boyd H. Anderson High School, a predominately Black school in Lauderdale Lakes, FL, throughout last school year.
The alliance, which was founded in July 2021, is under the umbrella of the Jewish Federation of Broward County.
Evan J. Goldman, the Federation’s executive director for public affairs and one of the alliance’s co-founders, said both the Jewish and Black students of the program can learn that “antisemitism and racism are two sides of the same coin.”
Neo Nazi
“Today, white supremacists and [literal] Neo-Nazis are fueling hate like never before,” Goldman continued, “They’re also working hard to divide people. That’s why the need for collaboration, partnership and friendship between the Black and Jewish communities is more important than ever.”
Audra P. Berg, the Federation’s president and CEO, said, “For our community, I think it’s extremely important for us to be in partnership with the broader community throughout Broward.”
“A lot of what we do is dependent on having strong relationships with other groups,” Berg continued.
Denise Lettau, the alliance chair who is a Jew of color, said, “The reason why I’m one of the [alliance] co-founders, together with Evan Goldman and Alcee Hastings Jr, is to reestablish and restrengthen the historic alliance between the Black and the Jewish communities.“
“I know there were some instances, mostly in the 80’s, that did kind of somewhat fracture the union, but I still believe it’s a very strong coalition,” Lettau continued.
The program last year included Zoom meetings, lunches, discussions, and visits to places like the Old Dillard Museum, which is the site of the first Black school in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and the Mania and Max Nudel Holocaust Learning Center in Davie. The cohort culminated with a trip to Washington DC in April 2023.
Goldman said the synergy between the Black and Jewish students stood out the most during the DC trip, as they had been meeting together for nearly a year.
Washington
“By the time they arrived in Washington DC, they were a cohesive unit,” Goldman said.
Among the DC trip’s highlights included both groups of students touring the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture together.
Two high school students from Posnack School, whose last names could not be disclosed by the school, shared their thoughts.
“The trip and this whole experience offered me the closest opportunity that I’ve had to really form connections with and have important conversations with members of the Black community,” said Ryan C.
Gabriella S. said,”It was really impactful for me to learn about African American history as well as their experiences in modern society, and to relate that to the Jewish American experience as well the issues that we as Jews faced during and after the Holocaust and how both situations [struggles of Jewish and Black communities] are similar.”
Richard Cuenca, head of Posnack School, said the program provided wonderful educational and social opportunities for students at both schools.
“There’s the socialization piece of it with our Posnack School students having lunch and dinner together with Boyd Anderson students, sharing their experiences together, talking about what teenagers talk about, being on a first-name basis with each other and traveling to DC together,” Cuenca said. ” There’s also the educational piece of sharing about Black racism and Jewish antisemitism. You have these horrific stories in history about hate for just who you are on both sides, and some of it still goes on today.”
Cuenca continued, “I think it was empowering and enlightening for both groups of students to learn about that, hear about that and make it real to them and apply it to their own life and so forth.
James F. Griffin, II, principal at Boyd H. Anderson, thought it was meaningful for the Black students at his school to get together with the Jewish students, as he felt the alliance helped them learn from another culture and history, while diminishing any fears of the unknown for them.
Aniah Miller, a student at Boyd H. Anderson, said, “In history class, we learn about the Holocaust, but being on this program and going to the museum in Washington really helped me learn more about the depth of it.”
by Debra | Sep 20, 2023 | cooking, Culture, Family, Food, Health & Wellness, Interviews, jewish food, kids, Mental Health, Motherhood, Parenting, Profiles, Students On Campus, tikun olam
By Debra Rich Gettleman
In 2008, three modern orthodox women, Laurie Wexler, Sara Portman Milner, and Dina Leener, all guided by a sweet tooth and a passion to repair the
world, came up with an idea of using pastry arts and baking to help young adults with learning differences find meaningful employment.
TheBeginning
They met with government leaders and service providers to fully understand the plight of job scarcity for these young people in the Metro DC area. Then in May of 2009, Sunflower Bakery opened their 501(c)3 non-profit 8-month pilot program in a Potomac, MD donated kitchen at Sholom Congregation and began offering vocational training in pastry arts and baking.
The bakery idea wasn’t based on some whimsical sentiment. The three founders actually commissioned a study by an MBA class at American University’s Kogod School of Business that showed a real demand in the local kosher sector for baked goods. In 2010 Sunflower Bakery moved into a 1200 square foot warehouse in Gaithersburg, WA with donated bakery equipment and the support of the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services. Then, in 2011, they opened the Pastry Arts Program. Sunflower’s kosher/pareve bakery has grown and expanded over the years, and now occupies its new home in Rockville, MD where they offer both the Pastry Arts and Hospitality Employment Training programs.
Why baking? According to Executive Director, Jody Tick, “It’s consistency, recipe following, and structure. It’s also repetition. All things we see a need for in this industry.”
Autism Spectrum
“A significant percentage of our students fall in the autism spectrum,” she tells me. “Pastry Arts is our signature training program. It’s been with us from the beginning.” In 2015 they opened Café Sunflower, a collaboration of Sunflower Bakery along with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes. The Cafe expanded employment training and employment opportunities to adults with learning differences in front-of-house operations and customer service.
In January of 2020, Sunflower moved into their new Sunflower Bakery Employee Training Center and opened Sunflower Bakeshop in March 2020, just before COVID hit. With a new production kitchen, a dedicated training kitchen, classroom space, offices, and a small retail bakeshop where Sunflower’s Pastry Arts students receive customer service training, the new space was ready to take on students.
Then we all know what happened. The pandemic. But the founders used the shutdown to pilot a new training program, Hospitality. Tick tells me, “We now have two major training programs, Pastry Arts and Hospitality. Our strategic three-year plan is to grow our programs to train more students with learning differences.” In addition to baking and pastry art, the new Hospitality program trains students in customer service, front of house, food handling, and order filling.
Pastry Arts Program
In their Pastry Arts program, they start with all students doing the same tasks at the same time in the same order. In learning phases two and three, students begin to work on different assignments. They have varied schedules, multiple tasks, and time constraints. Tick reminds me, “We do everything to prepare them for work in a competitive employment venue.”
Sunflower even has a job coach and offers job services which teach students how to search for employment, write resumes, and interview. And, because they know their students so deeply, they’re really good at job matching. “We look at the job requirements and the work environment to match the right student with the best opportunity,” Tick assures me.
The dedicated Sunflower team doesn’t lose touch with their students once they’re gainfully employed. They reach out on a regular basis and spend a lot of time educating their 60+ employer partners. “A lot happens on the employer side,” Tick states. “They may not be familiar with working with employees that have different learning styles. However, it’s really a win-win. Our students are more dependable than many other entry-level workers. They’re happy to be part of the team, happy to be contributing members of society. Dependability and loyalty are huge factors in our students’ success.”
Employee Training Center
In June 2020, Sunflower moved the Cafe Employment Training Program to their new Employee Training Center in Rockville and renamed it their Hospitality Employment Training Program. Sunflower also incorporated bread baking into its Pastry Arts curriculum in the summer of 2020 and began selling challah and rolls. In February 2021, Sunflower started its shipping program with shipments of hamantaschen nationwide for the holiday of Purim. “We have redefined hamantaschen,” Tick proudly announces.
“The Sunflower experience is transformational,” she beams, “Students come in and they don’t leave as the same people. The growth, self-confidence, and self-esteem are life changing.”
Check out Sunflower Bakery for pick-up, delivery, or online ordering at:
www.sunflowerbakery.org
info@sunflowerbakery.org
by Debra | Sep 19, 2023 | Family, jewish news, Loss, Media, Mental Health, Motherhood, News, Seeking Justice, True Crime
by Tara Dublin
No Closure
The grieving parents of Ellen Greenberg, the beloved Philadelphia teacher who was slain twelve years ago, have never stopped fighting to clear their daughter’s name after her brutal stabbing death in 2011 was ruled a suicide.
Josh and Sandee Greenberg have never stopped believing Ellen was murdered, and their fight has dragged on for far longer than any grieving parents should ever have to endure.
According to the Greenbergs’ Change.org petition, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Officer, at the insistence of the Philadelphia Police, “suspiciously reversed itself” regarding the cause weeks after Ellen’s death was ruled a homicide.
Ellen Greenberg was just 27 when she was found by her fiancé Sam Goldberg on January 26, 2011, after he returned from the gym but couldn’t get back inside of their apartment because the swing bar lock was in use from the inside.
After he forced himself inside, Goldberg discovered Ellen’s body in the kitchen with more than 20 stab wounds to her chest, abdomen, head, and neck, according to the investigation report.
The weapon, a 10-inch knife, remained in Greenberg’s chest. Later, the coroner counted eleven separate stab wounds to the back of Ellen’s neck.
Homicide or Suicide?
Ellen’s death was initially ruled a homicide, but later was changed to a suicide. Police investigators only found Greenberg’s DNA on the knife and on her clothes, and there were no signs of foul play.
Ellen was struggling with depression and after visiting her psychiatrist on January 12th, 17, and 19th, Ellen was prescribed Zoloft. She then switched to a “low dose” of Xanax. After “no success,” she was prescribed Ambien and Klonopin.
The question of whether or not antidepressant drugs can cause suicidal ideation is a debatable one. But that is likely what influenced the M.E.’s decision to reverse the cause of death to suicide.
But top forensic pathologists all agreed the case was highly suspicious of murder. In fact, the City’s own neuropathologist, based on her own exam of Ellen’s spinal column injury, testified the wound was consistent with Ellen being stabbed after she was already dead, which rules out any possibility that Ellen stabbed herself.
Ellen’s case was reopened in September 2022, and her parents are seeking to have her cause of death adjusted to “Homicide” or “Undetermined.”
According to former homicide prosecutor Guy D’Andrea, Ellen’s cause of death should already have been changed to “undetermined.”
Four key pieces of evidence led D’Andrea to question the M.E.’s reversal to rule Ellen’s death a suicide:
- Ellen had a wound on the top of her head, not something she could’ve inflicted on herself.
- She was found seated upright with blood that had dripped sideways across her face, indicating that she had been moved.
- She had a large number of bruises at different stages of healing.
- Her fiance claimed that he broke the locked door down when crime scene photos show the latch still attached to both the door and the frame.
Goldberg claimed he had to break down the door. But the lock was still intact when police arrived.
“Reviewing the file and the crime scene photographs and the medical examiner’s photographs, I don’t know how you come to that conclusion (of suicide),” D’Andrea said. “In all my years of
experience, and all of the homicides that I’ve done, and suicides, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Multiple Suits and Millions of Dollars
The Greenbergs have brought two civil suits in the last few years, and they estimate they’ve spent half a million dollars trying to bring some closure to the unimaginable. The second of the Greenbergs’ civil suits accuses the police, prosecutors and ME officials involved in the case of “individual and willful misconduct and participating in a conspiracy to cover-up the murder of Ellen R. Greenberg.” That suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
The Greenbergs continue to lean on their community as well as the online “netizens” who’ve been vigilant about keeping Ellen’s name and story in the news.
Holding their local politicians accountable via social media has also proven to be an effective way to make sure more people are aware of Ellen’s story.
To support the Greenbergs in their continuing fight for justice for Ellen, please sign their petition.
by Debra | Sep 19, 2023 | Business, Featured Slider, Health & Wellness, Influencer, Lifestyle, Medical News, Mental Health, Motherhood
by Tara Dublin
POTREPRENUER
When Jewish Life Now last spoke with “potrepreneur” Lilach Mazor Power in 2020, the legalization of marijuana in her state of Arizona was on the docket and had not yet been passed.
At the time, the aptly named Power, now 44, had already spent years enduring the frustrations of the highs and lows–pun intended–of creating The Giving Tree, her dream vision of a wellness dispensary come true.
More than just a place to swing by to grab a preroll on your way out for the night, the Giving Tree is focused on guiding customers seeking pain relief from a more organic source. The idea grew from discussions with her husband, Keith, an emergency medicine physician, regarding better pathways to pain management to treat the whole body with a combination of Western and Eastern approaches.
The locals who underestimated the Israeli-born Power at first did so at their own detriment. While she had to downplay the cannabis connection at first when opening her wellness center, women in particular would approach her and quietly tell her how much they enjoyed the plant’s recreational use.
Opening the Giving Tree allowed Power to tap into her true passions over the last decade. The marijuana industry is disproportionally male-dominated. But after years of hard work, Power has set herself apart and made a name for herself as vice president of the Arizona Dispensaries Association. In January 2023, she announced a new position as president of the board of directors for the Arizona Dispensaries Association (ADA).
REVELRY
Power helped create the Kindred and Katatonic cannabis lifestyle lines, but her proudest creation and biggest passion is her brand, Revelry, which she and her partner Stef Swiergol seemed to have specifically designed for me (but also for others slogging through perimenopause and menopause or those who have come out the other side of it).
The Revelry line helps ease the myriad symptoms and side effects of what comedian Samantha Bee calls “reverse puberty.”
While Power feels she’s just beginning her own journey, she also wants to expand the conversation around perimenopause and menopause because women aren’t nearly educated enough regarding the final third of our lives.
Menopause is spoken about in whispers. But Power is lifting her voice to shake off that stigma.
“We create our communities with women,” Lilach told me, “So I wanted to create this evolution, a celebration of our community.”
At the same time, Power, the mother of two sons ages 13 and 9, is also still working to remove the stigma of those who prefer marijuana either to ease their pain or to just enjoy recreationally. “We don’t have to hide it,” she told Jewish Life Now in 2020, and in the subsequent years she’s been able to be a much more vocal advocate for the myriad uses of cannabis.
As often dangerous opioids still dominate the national discussion regarding pain, many in the cannabis industry are advocating to decriminilize marijuana at the federal level so that it can be offered as a legitimate alternative by prescribing physicians.
PROVEN HEALTH BENEFITS
The health benefits of the full plant are already well-known, and Power has a hand in growing the carefully cultivated strains at Giving Tree. A decade ago, she had to rely on illegal pot farmers to help her literally grow her business. But over the last three years since it’s been legalized in Arizona, Power has been able to find experts in what one of my grower friends has cleverly dubbed “Potany” to create new strains targeted for specific needs.
“It’s a different time now,” Power says. “It’s OUR time.”
THE GIVING TREE
Visit The Giving Tree at 701 W Union Hills Drive in Phoenix, AZ and check out their website: https://givingtreedispensary.com/
by Debra | Sep 19, 2023 | Holidays, Judaism, Mental Health, rosh hashana, tikun olam
Repairing the world
Tikkun Olam is such a well-known concept in Jewish life that it almost borders on being a cliché. But of course, it is not. Certainly, the importance of making the world a better place through acts of kindness and compassion is taught to us from an early age and is a tenet of Judaism. And though helping others is admirable, by helping others, you can also help yourself as Tikkun Olam is a powerful antidote to loneliness.
Holiday Lonliness
While many anticipate the holidays as a time to rejoice with family and friends, others dread the loneliness that can accompany the holiday season, particularly for those who may be separated from loved ones or who do not have a strong support network. However, Tikkun Olam provides a way to transcend this sense of isolation and build bridges with others, while also creating a sense of connection and community that can last long after the holiday season has ended.
Focus on Others
Finally, by focusing on the needs of others, one can also gain perspective on their own challenges and struggles, and find a new sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. In the same fashion, while many find fulfillment by volunteering at non-profit organizations, even a call to a friend or family member who may be struggling or lonely is equally important. The important thing is to do something. It’s not about thinking about ways to improve the world or help others. It’s about taking action in the here and now. Helping others is free, but the reward is priceless.
Top 10 Cures for the Blues
Here are a few suggestions of Tikkun Olam that you can do during Rosh Hashanah or any time of the year:
1. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or food bank to help provide meals to those in need.
2. Visit elderly residents at a nursing home or assisted living facility to brighten their day and offer companionship.
3. Collect and donate clothes, blankets, or other items to a homeless shelter or organization that supports those experiencing homelessness.
4. Participate in a community clean-up effort to help keep your local area clean and attractive.
5. Volunteer at a charitable organization or find a cause that aligns with your values and passions and start contributing.
6. Write letters or make phone calls to elected representatives or government officials to voice your concerns about issues affecting your community.
7. Plant trees or participate in an environmental restoration project to help improve the health of the planet.
8. Participate in a march or rally to support a cause you believe in, such as racial justice, climate action, or immigrant rights.
9.Volunteer at an animal shelter or rescue.
10. at a hotline serving those with mental health emergencies.
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