Amira's Posts

Original Article Published On the Jewish Ledger

ORANGE — A physician, psychologist and a hospital medical worker are meeting one evening in the classroom of a local synagogue. But this 9*attending Al-Anon, which met some of her needs.

“I recently attended a JACS weekend and it was so spiritually uplifting. We were all people who somehow underwent this incredible gift of experiencing terrible experiences: abuse (alcohol, drugs, emotional, spiritual, physical, etc), pain, loss of faith, etc., and yet we found that we were given another opportunity to start over and have the unity, the understanding, the identification with one another. There was a feeling of belonging, and safety within this framework of people who you didn’t even know. I met so many baal teshuvot [sic]…women who were turning their life over to the care of G-d, as they understood him…It was and is very empowering. I always knew that there were people like me somewhere out there.”

Alcohol: Drug of Choice

It is difficult to determine the number of Jews battling chemical dependency. A 2001 JACS study, “Characteristics of a Population of Chemically Dependent Jewish Men and Women,” was published in the Journal of Addictive Diseases. The study, of 379 individuals who were part of the JACS database, showed that while 71% of respondents reported using more than one substance, alcohol tends to be the drug of choice for chemically dependent Jews. Also, the study shows a relatively large proportion of women substance abusers, and the study does not support the hypothesis that alcoholic Jews suffer from lack of education, poor income, alienation, or loss of religious conviction.

While JACS has been a source of support for so many Jews around the world, it is likely that many Jews with chemical dependency issues are still not attending meetings.

The JACS New Haven group meets on Sunday nights from 8-9 p.m. at Temple Emanuel, 150 Derby Ave. (Route 34 and Dogwood) in Orange. Contact jacsnewhaven@aol.com or call 203-988-3601.

Where to Go for Help

There are 64 JACS groups in 21 states, and there are additional groups in Israel and four other countries.

The national JACS organization may be contacted via their website at http://www.jacsweb.org or via email jacs@jacsweb.org or at 212-397-4197.
There is a JACS meeting each week in Stamford [Monday nights at 8:30 n Open “Pathways to Life” at Jewish Family Services – 111 Prospect Street, Stamford n contact Netta Stern at (203) 921-4161 ext. 122 nettastern@ctjfs.org. Congregation BEKI in New Haven hosts weekly AA meetings on Thursdays at 8pm Visit http://www.beki.org

For more details (go to “Tiqun HaOlam n Social Action Projects” and follow the link for “AA Meeting”).

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Original Article Published on The Jewish Ledger

WATERFORD — Rabbis across the country recently received an important pre-Pesach letter from Eli Zborowski, chairman of the American and International Societies for Yad Vashem.

“I am a Holocaust survivor and the words from slavery to redemption’ hold special meaning to me,” Zborowski wrote.

He then asks that rabbis and their congregants collect Pages of Testimony for the Yad Vashem Online Names Database to help ensure that every victim has a place in our collective memory.

Already the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, which was opened in November 2004 for global access (http://www.yadvashem.org), is helping to make sure victims of the Holocaust are recorded. It currently has recorded close to three million names.

Dr. Romana Strochlitz Primus, a Waterford resident, mother of four, and a member of the executive board of the American Society for Yad Vashem, has been involved in the collection of testimonies since 1977.

“We submitted forms for grandparents, aunts and uncles killed during the Holocaust. And we encouraged others to get the data in as well. We even sat with some of them to insure that they filled out the forms,” she said.

Primus, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, and she served as chairperson of the Life Reborn Project, in which collected artifacts and hosted an international conference in January 2000 on Jewish Displaced Persons, 1945-1951.

Primus acknowledges the usefulness of the on-line database and sees potential for increased interest in the Holocaust.

Primus recounts the story of two sisters, Clara and Chana, who last saw each other in the Budapest Ghetto in 1944. Until a granddaughter began using the database, the sisters assumed the other had died during the Holocaust. The sisters, who both live in Israel, have since been reunited. Primus also notes that the on-line nature of the database allows for easy entry and is less threatening, especially for younger people.

“I hope they will become more interested in the Holocaust and find a direct connection.”

Primus has mainly used the on-line database to make corrections to entries of her family members, and to point out duplications. For example, Primus notes that her maternal grandfather was one of 12 siblings. When the youngest survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel, he also submitted the pages of testimony, which had already been submitted by Primus. “It is really important to get duplications out and for Yad Vashem to have credible claims about the numbers,” notes Primus. “It is important to have an accurate history of the Holocaust.”

Primus was delighted when, three weeks ago, she found news of a living relative she hadn’t known.

“When I was looking in the database, I found my paternal grandmother. Another person was also searching. She wrote and said that my grandmother was her aunt.”

Yad Vashem began collecting Pages of Testimony in 1955. Approximately 30,000 new pages of testimony are recorded each year. More than two million names have been recorded on pages of testimony since 1955 and an additional million names have been taken from other archival resources.

According to Rachelle Grossman, director of communications for American Society for Yad Vashem, there has been “overwhelming interest” and “several million visits” to the site thus far.

Dr. Romana Strochlitz Primus will be honored by the American Society for Yad Vashem at its Fifth Annual Spring Luncheon on Wednesday, May 25. For more information, call American Society for Yad Vashem at (212) 220-4304 or send an e-mail to info@yadvashemusa.com.

Primus has mainly used the on-line database to make corrections to entries of her family members, and to point out duplications. For example, Primus notes that her maternal grandfather was one of 12 siblings. When the youngest survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel, he also submitted the pages of testimony, which had already been submitted by Primus. “It is really important to get duplications out and for Yad Vashem to have credible claims about the numbers,” notes Primus. “It is important to have an accurate history of the Holocaust.”

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Original Article Published On The Jewish Ledger

For Jennifer Kugler, Poland was a logical stop on a physically and emotionally tiring journey which has taken her from her hometown of Glenside, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C, to Auschwitz. And she prays she will get to go to Israel next year.

Kugler, a social studies teacher for sixth through eighth graders at St. Catherine of Sienna school in Horsham, Pa., is one of 130 Catholic school teachers who attended the March of the Living. Kugler was accepted to and completed a five-day Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – sponsored program in Washington, D.C. entitled “Bearing Witness.”

The program features both Catholic and Jewish theologians and teachers and is jointly sponsored by the National Catholic Educators Association, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the ADL.

“This program completely tears you apart and puts you back together again,” reports Kugler, as she described an intense week in Washington last July.

“On the first day, we learned the history of anti-Judaism, how it evolved into anti-Semitism, and what the Church did to promote and encourage it,” she explained. “We then learned how the Nuremberg Laws have striking parallels to the Edicts of the Popes from 400 years earlier. Then, they tear you down further by showing you examples of anti-Judaism in the New Testament. Now, you are really in pain.”

Kugler described the rest of the week, which included two trips to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, addresses by Holocaust survivors, a visit to a local synagogue, and a “mock” Shabbat dinner — on Monday.

“Finally, we learned about modern-day anti-Semitism, and the importance of Israel to Jewish people,” she said. “At this point, we feel we wanted and needed to do something. On the last day, we addressed anti-bias education.”

Barbara B. Balser, ADL National Chair, noted that Kugler and other participants in the March of the Living and the “Bearing Witness” program “will be emotionally moved when witnessing firsthand accounts of the Holocaust. [Their experience will] allow them to pass on the memories of this tragedy since the survivors are dying.”

Kugler said she and her classmates feel the “Bearing Witness” Program has been truly transformative. And after experiencing the March of the Living, Kugler said she is eager to return to her students at the St. Catherine of Siena school. “When I was at Birkenau and Majdanek, I felt so helpless and enraged. Where were all the people? I will continue showing my students where hatred can lead. We are all responsible for each other.”

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Original Article Published On The Jewish Ledger

WOODBRIDGE – The Dream Team came to the Jewish Community Center last week. But this team didn’t come to show off their athletic skills; they came for a graduation of sorts.

This Dream Team of teen leaders from 22 Southern Connecticut Conference high schools have spent the year participating in the Diversity Dream Teams: Differences That Make The Difference program. Participants in this program of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) “A World of Difference” Institute met regularly throughout the school year to increase awareness and understanding about diversity and to complete a “diversity action plan” for each member school.

“You have redrawn the color lines, you have stood up!” David W. Maloney, project administrator, ADL trainer, and assistant principal at Branford High School told the group.

Following an “Action Planning Exercise” lead by Debbie Colucci of the ADL’s A World of Difference Institute, the students assembled by school to reflect on the year and to share their action plans.

Students at Wilbur Cross High School listed on their chart such accomplishments as “stop using homophobic terms” and “courage to stick out for other people.”

The East Haven High students wrote on their poster under “What we have learned:” “Tolerance is a key factor in building healthy relationships” and “Working with other diverse groups helped us to overcome prejudices and discrimination.”

Students from Guilford High School engaged in an intense discussion on use of the terms “gay” and “fag” and about racial jokes.

“It’s not okay to say ‘that’s so gay,” one student chimed in. Another student recounted an incident when an African American student, during an argument with another student was told, “It is a privilege for you to even be here!”

In a nod to what they have learned over the past year, the Guilford students listed “Unity Dinner,” “Unity Week” and “Students Speak Up/Out” in their list of activities for the academic year.

“You take a diverse group and bring them together, and they reach a common platform of understanding—it’s amazing,” Maloney explained, watching the groups of students participate in the day’s activities.

Students attending the conference explained the appeal of the Dream Team program.

“It’s great to come together with kids from other schools and hear their different perspectives,” said Mike L’Altrella, a senior at Shelton High School, who notes, “Other than through sports, we don’t have many ways to come together with students from other schools.”

“It’s a great learning experience and a chance to meet people in our own school and out,” added Duy Pham, a junior at Branford High School.

“It was a crash course in diversity,” said Andre Gabriel, a sophomore at Shelton. “You get to meet people from different economic and racial groups. You don’t realize there are multiple ways to solve problems.”

SCC Commissioner Al Carbone praised the group for their participation and remarked, “The key is to bring what you’ve learned back to your schools.”


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