Jewish Reporter A Publication of the Flint Jewish Federation

VOLUME. 72 NO. 8 AUGUST 1, 2021, 23 AV 5781 VOLUME. 72 NO. 8 VVAT, 5777 AUGUST 1, 2021, 23 AV 5781 IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE Flint Jewish Federation 5080 West Bristol Rd. Ste.3 Flint, MI 48507 Office: 810-767-5922 Fax: 810-767-9024 Email: [email protected] Website: flintfed.com

Steven C. Low Executive Director

Sheryl Deutsch President

Jeff Himelhoch Vice President Yale Strom & Elizabeth Schwartz (of Hot Pstromi) & Greg Powell (of the FSO) Diane Lindholm Treasurer HOUSE CONCERT Kathy Weiner Wednesday, AUGUST 18 Secretary 6:30 PM - Meet & Greet

Immediate Past 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - Concert President, Russ Deutsch Please join us at 1385 Kings Crest Circle, Grand Blanc, for an outdoor concert of Klezmer, Ladino & Roma music

Board Members RSVP by Monday, August 16 to Rabbi Jeff Ableser [email protected] OR Dr. Seth Bernard call 810-767-5922 Dr. Stephen Burton Jeff Chimovitz Wendy Flamenbaum Yale Strom (violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, photographer, playwright) is a pioneer among Charna Flynn revivalists in conducting extensive field research in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans Lynne Hurand Joel Kleiner among the Jewish and Roma communities. From more than 3 decades and 75 such research Judy Kasle expeditions, Strom has become the world’s leading ethnographer-artist of klezmer music and Christine Meiloch history. Leonard Meizlish Saroja Reddy His klezmer research was instrumental in helping form the repertoires Rachel Stern Ernelle Taylor of his klezmer band, Hot Pstromi. Since Strom’s first band was founded Rabbi Yisroel Weingarten in 1982, he has been composing his own New Jewish music, which combines klezmer with Khasidic nigunim, Roma, jazz, classical, Balkan and Sephardic motifs. 31st Annual Donald Riegle Community Service Award Event

This year the 31st Annual event will take place on Thursday evening, October 7th. The three outstanding 2021 honorees are Brenda Clack, Russell Deutsch and Sandra Jones. The proceeds from this annual event will help provide funding for the necessary acculturation, social programs and case coordination services to refugees and other immigrants in Genesee County. Sponsorships for the event are available: Award Sponsor—$1,000 for eights tickets and Corporate Sponsor—$5,000 for twenty five tickets. For more information on how to become a sponsor at this year’s event, please call Ashley Musser at the Flint Jewish Federation office at 810.767.5922 or email [email protected]. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR, YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS EVENT!! More details will follow in future Jewish Reporter issues and in the Blast.

Where We Are Now and Prospects For Peace and the 2-State Solution: An Evening with Bassem Eid Thursday, August 26 @ 10:00 p.m. This zoom event is free, but you must register ahead of the date! Bassem Eid is a Jericho-based political analyst, human rights pioneer, and expert commentator on Arab and Palestinian affairs. Born in the Jordanian-occupied Old City in , whose place of residence became the United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camp of , he rose to prominence during the , the Palestinian uprising, and was a senior field researcher for B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. In 1996, he founded the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group. In 2016, Eid assumed the role of chairman of the Center for Near East Policy Research. Bassem Eid publicly condemned the widespread murder of Palestinian dissidents, often for reasons unrelated to the Intifada. In 1995, following his report about the Palestinian Preventive Security Service (PSF), he came under attack by some Palestinian leaders for revealing human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). Arrested by Arafats’ Presidential Guard (Force 17), he was released after 25 hours following widespread international condemnation. Bassem Eid has spent 26 years researching UNRWA policies and has written extensively on the subject of UNRWA reform and is an outspoken critic of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Rabbi Jason Nevarez, Senior Rabbi @ Beth , San Diego Originally from New York City, Rabbi Jason Nevarez graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and went to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he received his BA in 1998. He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2006, where he earned Master’s degrees in both Hebrew Literature and Religious Education, and was the recipient of a number of scholarships, in addition to several academic prizes in Jewish education. Rabbi Nevarez held residencies and internships at Larchmont Temple, Larchmont, NY, Temple Beth Emeth, Ann Arbor, MI, and at Temple Shaaray Tefila, Bedford NY, where he served for 17 years before becoming the Spiritual Leader of Beth Israel. Prior to entering Rabbinical School, he served as a Youth Director at synagogues in Connecticut and Michigan, and also as a Regional Director for NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth).

2 Please Let Us Know Your Intentions Now!

We at the Temple, Shul, Machpelah, Chabad and Federation are gratified and excited that there has been so much interest in our LIFE & LEGACY campaign to ensure the future vitality of our Flint and Genesee County Jewish Community. We are grateful to those who have already committed to creating a legacy. Many of you have told us that you are going to create a legacy and have asked for a Letter of Intent form. You have told us that you are consulting with your attorneys and financial advisers. Please don’t wait until every I is dotted and every t is crossed to create the gift before you send in your Letter of Intent. We NEED YOUR LETTERS OF INTENT NOW!!! Those letters just tell us that you are in the process of establishing the legacy. You can let us know later if it will be in cash, a transfer of stock, a disbursement from an IRA or other retirement fund or insurance policy. Take your time with your accountant, financial adviser or attorney in working out those tricky details. BUT LET US KNOW NOW YOUR INTENTION TO DO SO by completing and returning the Letter of Intent. You can, but don’t have to let us know the amount. We would like to know if we can publicize your intent to inspire others. If so send us a photo and a paragraph about your reasons for creating a legacy. If we receive another 7 letters of intent in the next month we will receive a $5000 award from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation! Please help us reach our goal and send in your completed Letter of Intent (even if all the details are worked out!). Thank you for your commitment to our Jewish Community and call if you have any questions 810 767-5922.

Thanks to our Life & Legacy Society Members Supporting A Flourishing Flint Jewish Future

DR. BRIAN BECK RUSS & SHERYL DEUTSCH FRANK & JUDY KASLE

JEFF & BETH KATZ JOHN & DIANE LINDHOLM STEVEN & SUSAN LOW

ATTENTION!! JCS Senior Lunch program back OPEN to KAREN MAGIDSOHN the community. Please call Jamie at 810-767-5922 to let Contact Steven Low (810.767.5922) at the us know if you are joining us for lunch. Chair Yoga every Flint Jewish Federation Thursday at 11:30 AM with our fabulous instructor, Deb if you would like more information Chimovitz. (See Page 4 of the Jewish Reporter for the full on how to make a Life & Legacy Gift JCS Lunch Menu for August. Lots of great food, activities and fun! Come join us!

3 INSIDE JEWISH COMMUNITY SERVICES JCS Senior Lunch Program (Subject to Change)

Monday, August 2 MEAT LOAF Tuesday, August 3 GRILL OF INDIA AT TBE/CBI BINGO Thursday, August 4 VEG SOUFFLE YOGA (11:30 AM)/BDAYS Monday, August 9 BBQ CHICKEN Tuesday, August 10 GRILL OF INDIA AT TBE/CBI RICH’S MARKET Thursday, August 12 SALMON YOGA (11:30 AM) Monday, August 16 HOT DOGS Tuesday, August 17 GRILL OF INDIA AT TBE/CBI BINGO Thursday, August 19 DELI SANDWICHES Monday, August 23 ROSEMARY CHICKEN Tuesday, August 24 GRILL OF INDIA AT TBE/CBI Thursday, August 26 GEFILLTE FISH/BORSCHT YOGA YOGA (11:30 AM) Monday, August 30 TURKEY RICE CASSEROLE Tuesday, August 31 GRILL OF INDIA AT RESTAURANT

RSVP to Jamie at [email protected]/810-767-5922 for lunch (24 hour notice) Check with Federation Office if lunch program closed due to COVID/inclement weather) Temple Beth El, 5150 Calkins Rd. (enter through main door of Temple)

TO GET HELP with internet assistance visit AARP.ORG/EBB to see if you are eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit OR call the EBB hotline at 833-511-0311.

If you are new to the internet, you can get free training through seniorplanet.org

Please email any information to be published in the next Jewish Reporter to Ashley Musser at [email protected] or call the FJF office at 810-767-5922.

Next Reporter deadline is August 20th

SAVE THE DATES! Humanity in Harmony Thursday, October 21

Our JCS/RSVP volunteers are back in full swing Kabbalat Shabbat packing over 800 meals a month for our JCS Friday, November 19

clients. Please consider joining us on Mondays at 1:00 Havdalah PM at Temple Beth El. Saturday, November 20

4 Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is a source of pride for local Jews under haunting circumstances SURFSIDE, Fla. (JTA) — Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine teams are doing an exceptional job given the excruciating conditions,” he Cava speaks fluent English and what she calls passable Spanish, but some wrote. of her constituents use a Yiddish word to describe her. Levine Cava, who is married to a physician, has lived in the county for 40 “She’s heimishe,” said Jacob Solomon, the longtime president of the years. She is a member of Beth Jacob Congregation and told Jewish Insider Greater Miami Jewish Federation, using the Yiddish word for homey and earlier this year that she and her husband have recently taken up Torah reassuring. “And she’s provided great leadership right now. We’re proud of study. her.” This beacon of pride for the local Jewish community has become a A lawyer, Levine Cava founded Catalyst Miami, which guides poor people fixture of coverage of the deadly collapse of a 13-story condo building in through the bureaucratic process to receive benefits available to them, in this beachside community north of Miami. the 1990s. During that decade, working for the Legal Services of Greater Levine Cava, elected last year, is the first Jewish and the first woman Miami, she assisted families in District 8, the southern part of the county, mayor of Florida’s most populous county, as well as the first Democrat to which had been devastated by Hurricane Andrew in 1994. win the job since 2004. The 65-year-old leader has also become the lead Ahead of the 2016 election, she moved from the wealthy enclave of Coral spokesperson for the Surfside recovery effort, as the county shares Gables, in District 6, to run in the less well-off District 8. Her profile in the responsibility for building codes and violations along with the municipality. district helped Levine Cava fend off accusations by her opponent that she (Surfside has its own mayor, Charles Burkett, but his authority is limited.) was beholden to the left and ready to defund the police. On her watch, The Miami-Dade mayor appears frequently onsite as rescuers search for District 8 has added 80 members to its police force. survivors, wearing jeans and a windbreaker with the county’s insignia — a Last week, Levine Cava joined other mayors of large cities in meeting contrast to the more formal wear that politicos sometimes favor. At a news with President Joe Biden and asking for increased funding for violence conference Saturday, Levine Cava stood next to Sen. Marco Rubio, who prevention, including funding for police. sported a dinner jacket. In an interview Saturday with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency following The other speakers at the news conferences offer hopes, prayers and her news conference, Levine Cava said she loved Miami-Dade’s mix, thanks to the people carrying out the search. Levine Cava delivers details, particularly as it manifests in Surfside with the many Orthodox Jews and in modulated tones. She has tracked the number of known dead and Latinos. missing — nine and 150, respectively, as of the latest count. At least 40 ”It’s an extraordinary community and you can see here, it’s like a small Jews are among the unaccounted for; Surfside’s population of about 6,000 town where people have come together in support of the survivors, in is one-third Jewish. support of those who have been displaced, in support of the families that On Saturday, she described the cutting of a trench around the site to are waiting for news,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter religion, it doesn’t facilitate recovery — “it’s now 125 feet in length. Into the pile, it’s 20 feet matter nationality, everybody is working together to support.” wide and 40 feet deep,” she said. Her tone is one of reassurance: The job The mayor was sensitive to the demands of Orthodox Jews that she allow will get done by people competent to do it. on the site of the building collapse Jews who are ready to carry out shemira, “We have six to eight squads that are on the pile actively searching at any the mitzvah of watching over the dead until burial. given time,” she said. “Hundreds of team members are on standby to rotate “We are working to create space for them to come and observe,” she said. as we need a fresh start. So we are not lacking any personnel, but we have “We are working on the timing.” the best, we have the right people and the right number, and we are getting The federation’s Solomon said that was typical of a mayor who attended it done.” the federation’s kosher food distributions during the pandemic. Into that mix, Levine Cava constantly reminds listeners, she has brought “She’s a good friend” of the community, Solomon said. in an Israeli rescue team — a big deal in South Florida, where a reverence The community returns the love. for Israel is baked into every facet of local Jewish life. In January, a teenager, Goldi Lieberperson, wrote a column for Jewish “We’re grateful for the support that we have embedded from our Israeli Women’s Archive about why she saw Levine Cava as a role model. She and Mexican teams that have joined our operation,” she said. described the glee she observed at a meeting of the local chapter of the The mayor met Sunday with Israel’s Diaspora affairs minister, Nachman National Council of Jewish Women following Levine Cava’s election. Shai, and posted the photo on her Twitter feed and Facebook. (Lieberperson’s mother and Levine Cava are NCJW members.) “We know how much this means to our entire Jewish community affected “All I needed to do was drop in on one of the board’s weekly Zoom by this tragedy,” she said. Reports have emerged since the collapse that meetings to hear several rave reviews about her leadership skills and structural engineers found damage at the complex in 2018 and previously. personal qualities,” Lieberperson wrote. The Champlain Towers building was in the midst of a recertification process There were two comments on the post — from Lieberperson’s father and when it fell. Burkett, the Surfside mayor, expressed frustration in an from Levine Cava. interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. “It should have been a very straightforward thing,” he said. “Buildings in America do not just fall down like this. There is a reason. We need to find out what that reason is.” Levine Cava has been an unlikely political success story in Miami-Dade. She defeated a popular Republican opponent in a county that the GOP takes for granted in a state that Donald Trump handily won both times he ran for president. She was helped by her Spanish skills in a substantially Cuban county. Those skills were acquired through an upbringing that included stops in Latin America as her businessman father moved to cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, Chile. U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Republican, praised her leadership in a tweet Monday. “Under her command, Miami-Dade’s search and rescue

5 Karen Magidsohn Announces LIFE & LEGACY GIFT! "My Grandparents, Sam and Beatrice Magidsohn, were founding members of Temple Beth El and my Parents, Jack and Rita Magidsohn, were also life-long members. Although I no longer live in the area, maintaining my membership and providing a legacy gift to Temple Beth El is simply doing my part to honor my past and past experiences and support a future ongoing Jewish Community." Questions? Call or email any of our LIFE & LEGACY team members: Harold Steinman, Jeff Himelhoch, Dr. Brian Beck, Leonard Meizlish or Steven Low. We will be featuring other members of the community who have left a LIFE & LEGACY GIFT in upcoming issues of the Jewish Reporter and the Blast! We hope you will join the Life & Legacy Society Members and sign your letter of intent today!

Be Remembered Forever by the Flint Jewish Community with a Gift in Your Will, Trust, Retirement Account or Life Insurance Policy FJF ENDOWMENT FUNDS Starting this issue, we will be featuring one Endowment Fund in the Jewish Reporter each month. This month’s fund is: PHILIP & MARIAN AGREE SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND You must register for Jacqueline This fund is for the purpose of higher educational scholarships and free loans, Saper in advance for this zoom call. especially in the field of Art. So if you are interested, email Ashley Musser at [email protected] If you would like to make a tribute in memory of or in honor of someone you and information will be sent to you care about, give us a call at 810.767.5922. You can also send in a check to so you can register. the Federation office, 5080 W. Bristol Rd., Flint, MI 48507.

July Birthdays Celebrations with Debby Chimovitz, Ashley Musser and Phil Knisley 6 Russell F. Deutsch, MBA Miller Road Chapel Financial Consultant Roger L. Sharp, Manager CA License# 0M83299 [email protected] 8138 Miller Road • Swartz Creek Tel: (810) 733-2800 (810) 635-4411 Cell: (810) 287-6337 Flint-Grand Blanc Chapel Equitable Advisors Jennifer Sharp Scully, Manager 2347 Stonebrige Building G Compassion Flint, MI 48532 6063 Fenton Road • Grand Blanc www.equitable.com Dignity & (810) 694-4900 Securities offered through Equitable Advisors, LLC (NY,NY (212) 314-4600) member FINRA, SIPC (Equitable Financial Advisors in MI & TN). Investment advisory products and services offered through Equitable Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment Respect. Additional locations in advisor. Annuity and insurance products offered through Equitable Network, LLC, which conducts business in CA as Equitable Network Insurance Agency of California, LLC. CA Fenton and Linden license # OM83299. Ref. AGE – 156013 ( 09/2022) Generations of Service to the Community

funeral home and cremation center

810-235-2345 • 810-694-2345

FREE ADMISSION for Genesee County residents provided by the Arts Education & Cultural Enrichment Millage

THIS SPACE IS

Contact Rick Soper to place an ad today! [email protected] or (800) 477-4574 x6474

4-D-5-5 For ad info. call 1-800-477-4574 • www.lpicommunities.com 15-0662 Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 362 5080 West Bristol Rd., Ste. 3 Flint, MI Flint, MI 48507 Electronic Service Requested

More July Birthday Celebrations Pictures Along With Some Blueberry Picking At Montrose Orchards