THE NEW JEWISH VOICE ■ May 2014 CEO’S Message in Praise of the “C Word” by James A
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Non-profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Jewish Family Service has started 3 Permit # 428 a mentoring program, Achi, for Binghamton, NY teen boys. The JCC will hold a six-week 4 healthy-living workshop for senior adults. The film “Six Million and One” 5 will be screened as part of the community commemoration of Yom Hashoah. may 2014/iyar-sivan 5774 a publication of United jewish federation of Volume 16, Number 4 Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien The Little Giant Collaborative Steps for Woman’s Philanthropy Spring Dinner Federations Features Dr. Ruth By Ellen Weber during which time Westheimer Greater Stamford and WWWN Move A sage once said that “Good will share her thoughts and things come in small packages.” her life story, beginning with Forward Together At 4 foot 7 inches tall, Dr. Ruth her birth in Germany, her By Sharon Franklin with presidents of the Federations Westheimer, a world-renowned time at a school in Switzerland The UJF board unanimously voted serving as ex-officio members, will media psychologist and the where she escaped from the on March 12 to establish a “Joint evaluate opportunities for cooperation guest speaker at this year’s Holocaust, her experiences as Committee” with UJA/Federation and collaboration, and will serve as a United Jewish Federation’s a member of the Haganah as of Westport-Weston-Wilton-Norwalk central coordinator for such activity. Women’s Philanthropy Spring a Jewish freedom fighter, her (WWWN) to pursue short-term and The agreement specifically calls for Dinner, can attest to that. immigration to the United long-term collaboration. The com- analysis as to how the two Federations On Thursday, May 15, Wes- States, and her success as both mittee, which will be comprised of can jointly fund-raise to support local theimer, known as Dr. Ruth, a nationally and internationally two lay leaders from each community, See “Federations” on page 2 will share her life experiences Dr. Ruth Westheimer syndicated radio personality. with attendees at Temple Beth A practicing therapist, El. The event will begin with a cocktail speaker and writer, having written 31 hour at 6:30 pm, followed by dinner, See “Giant” on page 2 JCC Tzahal Shalom: Making Connections to Israel A Negev Oasis of Jewish- During this year’s JCC Tzahal Shalom armed services, the officers are young program, the community is invited to men and women who embody commit- spend time with active-duty officers from ment, dedication, courage and leader- Bedouin Collaboration the Israel Defense Forces at a week of ship, and who daily risk their lives in the By Maayan Jaffe the Hura Municipal Council, the govern- community events scheduled for May defense of the Jewish state. JNS.org ing body of a local Bedouin township. 4-11. In cooperation with the IDF, the Scheduled events for the IDF officers Ozone depletion, climate change, soil The lab itself was set up to demonstrate Stamford Jewish Community Center will include meetings with Jewish war veter- erosion and joblessness. Those are the breakthrough approaches to sustainability welcome the officers for a cross-cultural ans, a meeting for and about women, a issues tackled by Dr. Michael Ben-Eli, practices, expanding prospects and pro- encounter in a variety of settings. presentation with the Jewish Historical with Israel’s Negev as his base. “The list ducing life-affirming impacts on people The primary goal of the program is to Society, a community Yom Ha’atzmaut of issues is long,” said Ben-Eli, citing “an and eco-systems in all parts of the world. strengthen the unity of the Jewish people. celebration and town hall meeting, a endemic failure of our social and eco- For now, though, Ben-Eli is focused on Americans and Israelis are given oppor- teen program, parlor meetings at pri- nomic institutions to address these issues the desert. And his partners are a motivated tunities to learn about each other and vate homes, lunch with senior adults effectively and in a timely manner.” combination of Muslim Bedouin and Israeli their societies, person-to-person, with and more. Ben-Eli is the initiator of project Wadi scientists. The concept for the project was the goal of participants building lasting On Saturday, May 10, at 9 pm, the JCC Attir, launched jointly by the Sustainability born in 2007 when Ben-Eli visited Ben- relationships and a sense of extended will host its second annual Cocktails and Laboratory, of which he is the founder, and See “Oasis” on page 19 family. Representing all branches of See “Shalom” on page 4 Candle 6 Better 11 Family 13 Adult 15 Voices & Bits & Pieces 6 Lighting Together Central Education Views 18 YLD Mission to Cuba Twenty-three members of the Young Leadership Division traveled to Cuba on March 6 under the auspices of United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien. In back, l-r: Rachel (partially hidden) and Nimrod Dayan, Ricky Arbron, Melissa and Mark Bildner, Amy Grabine, Jill Kaplan, Mitchell Kaplan, Parry Berkowitz and Jon Eisenstein Middle: Aaron Klein, Andrew Banoff, James Cohen, Alix Field Eben, Tara Shapiro, Stephanie Bilenker and Richard Shapiro. Front: Miriam Klein, Amanda Shapiro, Lisa Cohen and Rebekah Raz. Not pictured: Meryl Japha and Elise Klein. See page 10 for story and more photos. 2 THE NEW JEWISH VOICE ■ MAY 2014 CEO’s Message In Praise of the “C Word” By James A. Cohen since I joined the UJF team, we are doing our best to ming. We hope do more. Additionally, our ongoing Today’s CEO message is brought turn the “C word” into a reality. The Letter of Agreement collaboration with WWWN on PJ Library and PJ Goes to you by the letter “C.” And so as signed between our Federation and our colleagues in to School, highlighted in previous editions of this not to keep you in suspense, the Westport-Weston-Wilton-Norwalk (WWWN) not only publication, demonstrates the programmatic benefit “C word” at the forefront of my establishes a joint committee to look at joint activities to working together. mind is “collaboration.” Our com- seriously and strategically, it also serves as a declaration, Collaboration is by no means limited to local activi- munity has been loud and clear in a loud and clear policy statement from our board, that ties. By partnering with Jewish Cuba Connection, we many forums and for many years we take collaboration seriously and will strive to seek were able to undertake our highly successful Young that they expect UJF to adopt a it out whenever possible. Leadership Division mission to Cuba (another a la mode more collaborative posture vis-à- It is important to note that this recent agreement C word!), which gave participants a true understanding vis working with our neighbors. is by no means the only collaborative exercise we of how our dollars and dedication help those in need What seems like an obvious thing James Cohen, are undertaking. On the home front, the April 2 overseas. And we should not forget the wonderful col- to do is often easier said then UJF CEO Women’s Education Symposium, co-sponsored with laborative activities taking place every day in our sister done, given factors of tradition, tastes, priorities and UJA Greenwich, the Greenwich JCC and WWWN city/region in Israel. political realities. Federation, is the perfect example of how by work- While we have only scratched the surface of poten- I’m happy to say that as reported on page 1 of this ing with other Federations, we are able to provide tial collaborative activities open to us, we are making edition of The New Jewish Voice, and through other means Fairfield County with richer, more robust program- progress, of which I think we can all be proud. Stamford Board Representative Goes to AIPAC UConn Judaic Studies Student By Rebecca Isenstein About his experience at AIPAC, Kolenberg grams, call 203-251-9525 or e-mail stamfordjudaicstud- The Center for Judaic and Middle Eastern said, “There were thousands of people attend- [email protected]. Studies at UConn-Stamford sent a student del- ing [the conference], some Republican, some The Center for Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies is a egate to the recent AIPAC Policy Conference Democrat, all pro-Israel. The way a single issue recipient agency of the United Jewish Federation of Greater in Washington, DC, on March 2-4. Delegate like that brings so many people together was Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, and is also supported Steven Kolenberg was the UConn-Stamford amazing to me.” by donations from individuals and foundations. representative, having been nominated by Dr. Having an interest in international rela- Nehama Aschkenasy, founding director of the tions, Kolenberg took advantage of the talks on Center, after taking several classes in Judaic Sunni extremism and China-Israel relations, Giant Continued from page 1 studies and showing an interest in Judaic stud- but said he was most impressed by the talks books, Westheimer will also sign copies of her books, ies, Israel and public service. Funding for the given by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and which will be available for sale at the event. trip was made possible through the generosity Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. No prior minimum donation is required. The cover of Stephne and Kerrin Behrend, friends of AIPAC delegate and Kolenberg said he was also inspired by the charge for all women attending is $100 if registration the Center. UConn-Stamford lobbying experience, noting, “After all the occurs by Thursday, May 1, and $118 after that date. Kolenberg is currently a junior at UConn- student Steven speeches were finished, we went to Capitol Teenage women, ages 16-19, are welcome to attend and Stamford, majoring in history.