Amira's Posts

A kosher lobster has been spotted in Boston this summer. And it is the Israeli variety.

Israeli tennis player Amir Hadad is one of five players on the co-ed Boston Lobsters World Team Tennis (WTT) team. World Team Tennis, co-founded by Billie Jean King in 1974, features 11 teams from across the United States, playing a 14 match season in the month of July. Each WTT “match” features five events — men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. A WTT “set” is the first player or team to win five games. The winner of the “match” is the team to win the most games.

Hadad returned to the Lobsters for a second consecutive season after playing for the St. Louis Aces in 2003 and 2004. The 6′, 185 pound right hander (who hits with a two-handed backhand) was born in Ramle, Israel and currently lives in Budapest, Hungary with his wife of ten years, and their three year old daughter. Most of the Hadad family still lives in Israel, and Amir plans to eventually return there.

Hadad appreciates the support he has received from the Jewish community while on the road.

“The Jewish community is always so nice and supportive. I don’t spend so much time in Israel, and it is tough to be away from home-and it is nice to come across Hebrew speakers on the road,” he said, in an interview at the Beren Tennis Center at Harvard University before a recent match.

Hadad was looking forward to meeting up with fellow Israel tennis players Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich, who were on the roster of the St. Louis Aces for the summer WTT season.

Hadad fondly recalls his years learning and playing at Israel’s Wingate Institute. “We grew up there-Andy, Yoni, Harel Levy and me.”

Hadad, 29, turned pro in 1995. In 2003, he reached a career high, ranking 180 in the world for singles and 87 for doubles. He is currently ranked 864 in singles and 1284 for doubles.

Hadad has played in many tournaments throughout the world in his 12-year professional career. Hadad has won 11 Challenger doubles events, including Rome in 2006. In 2006, he also won Futures singles titles in Israel and China.

Hadad has also qualified for several prestigious tournaments including Wimbledon, The French Open and the U.S. Open. In 1999, Hadad lost in the first round (for singles) at Wimbledon. In the 2002 French Open, Hadad lost in the 2nd round.

Unique Partnership
Hadad is perhaps best known around the world for playing doubles in the 2002 Wimbledon tournament with Aisam Ul-Haq Quereshi, a Pakistani Muslim. The pair reached the third round at Wimbledon after upsetting the 11th seeds in the second round.

While Hadad and Quereshi never intended to make a statement by teaming up, their pairing made international news. The Pakistani Sports Board threatened to ban Quereshi for teaming with a Jew. In contrast, Hadad received support from his fellow citizens and his government. In time, the Pakistani government’s threat was rescinded, and Quereshi was invited to join Pakistan’s Davis Cup team.

Quereshi, interviewed after a grueling day of both singles and doubles at the Campbell’s Tennis Championships at Newport, Rhode Island last month, is proud of his partnership with Hadad at Wimbeldon.

He reports, “We teamed up to do well — not for the image. You don’t mix politics and religion with sports.”

Hadad recalls, “We played against each other two times-and I beat him two times. The third time, I asked him if he wanted to join me. We had one thing in common-tennis! We played great together — and we have fun on and off the court.” Quereshi and Hadad clearly shared more than a love for tennis. Hadad reports that at tournaments, the two stayed in the same hotel, ate all meals together, hung out before the matches, practiced together, and met each other’s families.

Following their success at Wimbledon, the two planned to team up again at the 2002 U.S. Open. They were awarded a wild card by the tournament and won their first round match. In February, 2003, both were awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.

Both men hold firm in their convictions that sports transcends politics and religion.

Hadad adds, “Everybody can connect through sports. The religion of the player doesn’t matter.”

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Thirty-eight years ago, many people worried that having campers with special needs in a normal Jewish summer camp would be a disaster. Would those campers bring down the level of Hebrew and Jewish knowledge? Would the speciality staff know how to work with them? Would the regular campers not return in the future? Fortunately, the Tikvah Program Director and the camp director moved forward, invited a small group of children with disabilities to camp, and never looked back. The Tikvah Program continues to grow and evolve, offering an overnight camping experience for campers with various special needs at several locations in the U.S. and Canada.

In Palmer, Massachusetts, Tikvah campers follow a very busy daily schedule consisting of davening (morning prayers), breakfast, bunk clean up, three periods of morning activities, lunch, four afternoon periods, dinner, an evening activity, and finally, showering and bedtime. At the end of eight weeks, Tikvah parents have expressed their appreciation for the language, social and Jewish growth and the independence displayed by their children. Some of these campers with intellectual disabilities, autism and neurological impairments travel as much as a thousand miles to attend the program.

Tikvah campers, like their typical peers ages 9 through 16 years old, enjoy Israeli singing and dancing, swimming, boating, sports, arts and crafts, and electives such as the ropes course, drama, video production and web design. Tikvah campers also participate in vocational training, a buddy program with typical campers and various service projects within the camp. For example, we sold baked goods for soldiers in Israel, and we bake and sell challah each week. The money is being used to build a new water fountain near our baseball field in memory of a dear friend/camper who died of a heart problem a few years ago.

Tikvah campers are constantly interacting with their typical peers in activities, shared mealtime, camp programs and incidental walks along the same road from activity to activity. There are field trips for bowling, chocolate factory visits and blueberry picking as well as the annual camping and canoeing trip. At the end of the camp session, Tikvah campers put on a play (in Hebrew and English) for the entire camp community.

Tikvah campers clearly benefit from the overnight camping experience the various Tikvah Programs offer but it is the rest of camp which is being given the real gift: a four week or eight week opportunity to interact and form meaningful, genuine relationships with people similar and different from themselves. It is our hope and dream that all Jewish children will be able to attend a Jewish summer camp!

This article featured in the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) Religion and Spirituality Division Newsletter, Summer 2007.

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MILFORD/STRATFORD — In two nearby towns, two synagogues plus two rabbis, plus curious young children, equals Yachad, a newly combined religious school.

Congregation Sinai of Milford and Temple Beth Sholom of Stratford have joined together to create Yachad, which in Hebrew means together.

Yachad is largely the result of the realities of small congregational life, said Rabbi Yvonne Youngberg of Temple Beth Shalom.

Youngberg notes that of fifteen students in her Hebrew school last year, three became bar or bat mitzvah and completed Hebrew school.

Our synagogue has always had a strong educational program and we wanted to insure that would continue-so we began to explore new models.

Youngberg feels it was fortuitous that the Conservative Congregation Sinai was moving from West Haven to Milford, approximately six miles from her own Conservative synagogue. Our lay leaders began talking and the six month process leading up to the merger [of the religious schools] was a very positive experience.

Rabbi Dana Bogatz of Congregation Sinai is similarly pleased and relieved by the merger. When I was in West Haven, the Hebrew school was run all by me — alone. I was a staff of one, plus a person helping on Sundays, Rabbi Bogatz said. I am delighted to be in a school with classes as opposed to before when I was teaching students privately. It is very different when students learn from each others.

Bogatz feels a strong affinity toward Sinai.

I used to sit on this pulpit, reports Bogatz affectionately. I had great input into the Hebrew School curriculum years ago.

Bogatz and Youngberg jointly made a few changes and modifications to the curriculum. Both are pleased to serve as teachers in the newly- formed school.

I am very excited to be teaching a combined bar/bat mitzvah class and a course on The Topical Bible. Bogatz said. We will be learning how to put lessons learned in Hebrew school in to practice in their lives.

Grades K-2 will meet at Temple Beth Sholom on Sundays. Grades 3-7 will meet at Temple Beth Sholom on Sundays and at Congregation Sinai on Wednesdays.

Youngberg feels, This is an appropriate and exciting model-and expanding their idea of community and helping them forge connections outside of their own synagogues will help them grow.

For more information about Yachad, contact Congregation Sinai at (203) 934-7946 or Temple Beth Sholom at (203) 378-6175.

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MADISON — For 47 special Israeli children, Madison, Connecticut is truly a second home.

For the fourth year in a row, Camp Laurelwood has again welcomed children of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers killed during their military service. Twenty-eight boys, 19 girls, and seven volunteer madrichim (counselors) arrived at Camp Laurelwood on July 21 and are participating in a variety of camp activities and trips during a three-week period.

Camp Laurelwood director Ruth Ann Ornstein says she is proud that her community has again welcomed the campers, all ages 12 and 13, who are part of the Chaverim Program of the Israel Defense Forces Widows and Orphans Organization.

Rutie Perechodnik, director of the Israeli delegation, reports that they all had at least one parent die serving in the IDF.

Perechodnik notes that each member of the Israel delegation has a unique story.

Many in the group had fathers who were killed during last summers war in Lebanon. One boy from Ethiopia, who didnt have the best life in Israel, has lost a father. One boy, whose parents both immigrated from Russia, lost his father, who was killed last year in Lebanon. Others had parents who were killed several years ago: One girls father was killed ten years ago in a helicopter crash in northern Israel which killed 90. Someones father was a major officer killed in Lebanon, and anothers father was killed in Jenin four years ago. And two delegation members are orphans-having lost both their father and their mother. Perechodnik adds, They all died heroes.

Referring to their stay here, Perechodni, notes, They are having a good time. It is like group therapy-they are all together. They talk about their feelings and needs as orphans. And they dont feel so different.

The Israeli campers love the opportunity to integrate with, learn from and teach their American counterparts. They get to learn English, teach Hebrew, enjoy American games like baseball and softball, and share games like soccer. They are so excited to be with the American children, reports Perecohodnil.

Some participants in this years program come from religious homes. Wishing to be sensitive to their needs to be near a synagogue on Shabbat, Ornstein contacted JCC employee and (Orthodox) Westville Synagogue member, Barbara Zalesch, for advice. Zalesch easily recruited members of the Westville community to host the 15 religious Israeli children. Camp Laurelwood is Connecticut’s only co-ed Jewish residential summer camp for children ages 7-15.

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