Amira's Posts

Original Article in The Jerusalem Post:

Omri Casspi’s Memphis Grizzlies came to town to square off against the struggling New York Knicks team in a Sunday matinée game at Madison Square Garden. Casspi did not travel to New York with the team.

After missing four games with right knee soreness, the Grizzlies announced over the weekend that an MRI revealed a meniscus tear for the 30-year-old Israeli forward. In a pre-game interview Sunday with The Jerusalem Post, Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff confirmed that Casspi will undergo surgery but reports, “I don’t know yet when the surgery will be.”

Bickerstaff and several team members spoke glowingly of Casspi as both a reliable player and important role model and remain optimistic about his return.

While Casspi has only averaged 6.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in his 36 games this season, the 30-year-old, drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft, has played an important role on eight NBA teams over 10 seasons.

Coach Bickerstaff described Casspi as “the ultimate professional.” He noted that “Casspi is a guy you can count on whether you play him 10 minutes or 25 – you know he will play extremely hard. He will give you energy. Being dependable in this league is huge.”

Teammates Garrett Temple, JaMychal Green, Yuta Watanabe and Justin Holiday shared their coach’s affection for Casspi. They spoke with the Post in the Grizzlies locker room prior to tip-off. Temple, an eight year guard who was involved in a reported recent altercation with Casspi, had only positive things to say about his teammate.

“Omri was always ready, always a professional. He is a guy that, when he plays, he plays really hard and was able to get some easy baskets in the open court. He is a great rebounder. We will miss his ability to come in and impact the game right away, off the bench.”

Green, a fourth year player, commented that Casspi brings “a lot of things other players don’t have right now,” including his slashing ability and the energy he brings to the team. “We are definitely going to miss him.”

Casspi has been a good friend and source of support to several foreign players on the team including Watanabe, of Japan.

“He is a great guy, a great player and he helps us with a lot of energy,” said Watanabe.

He notes that Casspi’s years of experience in the league made him a calming presence, and Casspi regularly speaks with him after games.

“He’s a cool guy, nothing too crazy,” offered guard Justin Holiday. “He’s a veteran guy, he has been around and played the game for a while. He knows how to win and when he is on the floor, there is an energy. He brings aggressiveness to the game, He is obviously very important to this team. At times, he has been a very good spark for us, coming off the bench – so not having him is a big blow for us. We are praying that everything goes well for him.”

Despite the Grizzlies’ 96-84 victory over the Knicks, they are likely to miss Casspi’s energy and court smarts as the season progresses. Bickerstaff added: “We’re going to miss him, obviously.  It is disappointing anytime you have in injury like that when you expect to miss that amount of time.  But knowing Omri, he will work his tail off and be ready to go.”

Casspi is no stranger to missed games due to injuries and illness. This season alone, Casspi has missed games due to right knee soreness (four games in January), illness (one game in December and one in January), knee soreness (one game in November) and right thigh soreness. Last season, Casspi missed games in the months of October, December, January and March due to sprained ankles, strained back, and back soreness.  His injuries ultimately led to his being waived last April and not playing in the championship games for the Golden State Warriors.

In February, 2017, Casspi, who was on his second stint with the Sacramento Kings, and DeMarcus Cousins, were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. In his only game for the Pelicans three days later, he broke his right thumb after scoring 12 points in a 129-99 loss to the Houston Rockets. Casspi was waived by the Pelicans a few days later after being ruled out for four to six weeks.

Casspi’s torn meniscus is a disappointing setback as he has been a recent asset to the Grizzlies.  He averaged 11.8 points per game with 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 24.7 minutes per game over his six appearances prior to getting hurt.

With the Grizzlies far from playoff contention, is unclear whether Casspi will see action again this season and whether this recent injury will impact on his NBA career. Recovery time for an uncomplicated meniscectomy is often six weeks; return to sports after a meniscus repair surgery can take three to six months.

The questions now is whether Casspi be able to return to his pre-injury form?

“It really depends,” says Manhattan physical therapist, Dr. Jennifer Schlinger. “Ten years in the NBA already is a lot of wear and tear on the knees, so I wonder how much damage there is and the extent of the surgery he needs.”

Schlinger is both cautiously optimistic and a bit uncertain.

“Meniscus surgery can range, but is usually relatively minor with definite return to sport after –but of course the NBA is an entirely different level. I would say he will probably get back to playing after following intense rehabilitation and physiotherapy, but the longevity of his career may be limited.”

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Original Article in Respect Ability:

In considering great heroes, dates, places and milestones in the history of disabilities inclusion, one is more likely to think of Tom Harkin, ADA, and 1990 rather than think of Herb and Barbara Greenberg and Donny Adelman (z”l), 1970 and Camp Ramah in Glen Spey, New York. Yet, without the pioneers Greenberg and Adelman, there may have been no Jewish inclusive camping. The Ramah Camping Movement’s network of Tikvah (“Hope”) programs, which currently serves nearly 400 participants each summer in ten overnight camps, five day camps and Israel programs, is currently celebrating 50 years from that first memorable summer in 1970.

In the late 1960’s, the Greenbergs, two school teachers from Long Island, NY, proposed what seemed back then like a radical idea—including campers with disabilities in a typical Jewish overnight camp. Not surprisingly, they were met with institutional opposition from all sides: People worried about the financial impact; how the level of Hebrew in the camps would suffer; and that the “normal” campers would leave. Even the camp doctors felt ill-equipped to care for these campers.

One visionary director, Donny Adelman, saw the potential benefit not only for the campers with disabilities and their families, but for the entire camp community. Adelman felt that including campers with disabilities was consistent with the mission of Ramah –and Judaism.

That first summer, the Greenbergs invited eight campers with varied disabilities to participate in Tikvah. They spent a great deal of time problem solving and supporting the specialists working with the Tikvah campers. The experiment was so successful that other Ramah camps soon replicated the program. When Ramah Glen Spey relocated to New England, the Tikvah program went with it. In 1973, Tikvah was started at Ramah Wisconsin. Ojai, California joined in 1985 and Canada in 1993. Fast forward to 2018—Tikvah and a wide range of services and supports for children and young adults and families (from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds) currently exist in all Ramah camps.

In 2018, 387 young Jews participated in in Tikvah programs across North America, supported in typical bunks, as part of a Tikvah division, or as participants in vocational training programs. In addition, 227 people (64 children with disabilities from 59 families) participated in family camps at our various Ramah camps. Teenagers with disabilities are regularly supported each summer on Ramah Israel Seminar, and more than ten groups of Tikvah participants have visited Israel over the years on Ramah Israel Tikvah trips. When Rabbi Sarah Shulman became founding director of Camp Ramah in Northern California in 2016, she insisted they not open their doors without a Tikvah program!

Ramah continues to grow, evolve, innovate and lead the field. Graduates of our vocational training programs are salaried workers in some of our camps. Staff members go on to present at conferences and lead the field. Reshet Ramah, our alumni network, strives to include graduates in year-round activities. Other year-round programs include “Shabbos Is Calling” and “Shavua Tov,” weekly video chats where participants at various Ramah Tikvah programs discuss their week, learn about the portion of the week and just say “Shabbat Shalom.”

Perhaps Ramah and Tikvah’s biggest accomplishment to date has been pioneering the field of disabilities camping. It is no longer acceptable to tell a family of a child with a disability, “I wish I could help, but…” There are now dozens of camps across movements and across the country that support campers with a wide range of intellectual, developmental and mental health conditions. The Greenbergs and Donny Adelman showed what is possible, even in the face of institutional adversity. Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek—May we be strong, continue their mission, and strengthen one another as we grow in our efforts to support the growth of our people with disabilities through the world of Jewish camping.

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I will be speaking and participating in the following events.

Feb 8-9:  Binghamton University:  several presentations at Hillel, Chabad and JLIC https://www.chabadofbinghamton.com/templates/events.htm 

Feb 10:  Webinar for Amitei Ramah fellows to learn about disabilities inclusion at Ramah

Feb 17:  Limmud New York:  presenting at 2 sessions (titles are at this link–perhaps include the names, etc): https://limmudny.org/2019-presenters/ 

Feb 25:  Participating in USCJ/Ruderman Meeting in Washington, DC

Feb 26:  Participating in Jewish Disability Advocacy Day in Washington, DC

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Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

Ofra Friedman, media relations manager, and her team at the Israel Tennis Association haven’t been sleeping much these days.

They have been working day and night to bring the Fed Cup tennis event to Eilat.

In 2016, 101 nations entered Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, making it the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sport.

Next week, from February 3-6, Israel will serve as host to Europe/Africa Zone Group I matches. Top players from 14 countries will compete at Eilat’s Municipal Tennis Club. Each Group is initially split into round-robin pools of either three or four countries.

Israel is in a pool with Croatia, Estonia and Turkey. Other nations participating in the fourday event in Eilat include Great Britain, South Africa, Hungry and Belgium. Two nations will advance to the World Group II play-offs.

Israel last played in the World Group II playoffs in 2009. Two nations will be relegated to Europe/ Africa Zone Group II in 2017.

Eilat has hosted the tournament four times – 1995, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The Fed Cup returns to Israel after two years in Hungary.

Friedman, who played college tennis at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, is proud of the International Tennis Federation’s support.

“This means the ITF really thinks we can handle it well. After a two year break, the Fed Cup returns to Israel. We are hosting it again and we are happy about it.”

“It is a good chance for the Israeli fans to come out and watch a lot of top 100 players in four days of great tennis.”

Bringing a major international tennis event to sunny Eilat is a major undertaking.

The ITA team is responsible for such logistics as supervising player registration, hotel accommodations, credentialing for players, guests and media, VIPs, special requests, organizing press conferences, dealing with ticketing and marketing, liaison work with the Eilat municipality and such logistics as overseeing the giant screen – and the painting of the courts.

High-profile guests likely to be in attendance include Mary Pierce, former No. 3 player in the world who was recently appointed to the ITF’s Board of Directors and Iva Majoli, former No. 4 in the world and captain of the team from Croatia.

The already busy ITA team sometimes need to deal with unexpected issues which arise elsewhere in the tennis world.

Last Thursday morning, Friedman had to turn her attention to an event taking place that day in Australia. Israeli Dudi Sela, 87th ranked, was in the middle of an unexpected comeback against Fernando Verdasco of Spain, ranked 45th, in the second round of the Australian Open.

Verdasco had defeated Rafael Nadal in singles two days earlier, and had defeated Israeli Yoni Erlich and doubles partner Colin Fleming of Great Britain on Wednesday.

Sela went on to defeat Verdasco 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6.

“The media was killing me,” Friedman reports with a combination of pride and excitement for Israel tennis, “Everybody was talking about it. Everyone went crazy over the match.”

Sela was ultimately knocked out by 74th-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia in the third round, but Israeli tennis has plenty to look forward to just around the corner.

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