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“Our original goal was to get JUUL off the market since nearly all teens were using it. Through testifying in Congress, and local laws and pushback, JUUL stock has plunged significantly, and it is a lot more regulated before,” says Brown University student Caleb Mintz.

Original Article Published in the JNS

When Caleb Mintz came home from his Manhattan high school in April of 2018, he was confused. He said to his mother, Meredith Berkman, “I want to tell you about a mixed message they gave out at the addiction talk.”

He was referring to a presentation made by an outside speaker to the ninth graders at his new school. Teachers and administrators had been asked to leave the room so students would have a safe place to share their feelings. Many students spoke about their use of JUUL and other e-cigarettes. He and some friends had a feeling these products might be dangerous. Yet the presenter, who entered the school through an outside anti-addiction group, told the students that JUUL was “totally safe” and would receive FDA approval “any day.”

“For my classmates who were already vaping, there was a sigh of relief,” reports Caleb, who still had a sense that something wasn’t quite right. Caleb, classmates and parents later learned more about the speaker—he never disclosed his connection to the JUUL Company.

“We were shocked and horrified at the duplicity of the company,” recounts Berkman. “We knew we had to do something!” She and some friends began by starting a website, designed with the help of a recent Heschel School graduate. “We got a flood of letters from across the country from parents who were in so much pain; their kids were addicted to nicotine,” adds Berkman.

In 2018, Berkman and two other New York City mothers, Dina Alessi and Dorian Fuhrman, officially had enough of what they found to be JUUL’s confusing messages, and what they thought were deceptive practices and of what was now a youth vaping epidemic. They formed PAVe—Parents Against Vaping eCigarettes, a national grassroots organization. Berkman quips: “We were the necessary idiots who had to create it.”

“We are accidental activists,” she adds. “All of this was completely unexpected.”

‘It is a lot more regulated before’

For Berkman, it was not really unexpected. Co-founding PAVe was an extension of her deep-rooted Jewish values and commitments. “I thought that I would hand it off to someone; it was all-consuming. Then I said, ‘No, it is what I have tried to teach my four kids. For [as Hillel said in [Pirkei Avot 1:14]: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when?”

“If as parents, we discovered the real duplicity of a company, how can we look away when we see people preying on our children?” she posed. “An entire generation will be addicted to nicotine!”

One year after Caleb shared news of the problematic school speaker with his mom, he found himself testifying before a congressional hearing on e-cigarettes and teen usage. Caleb, a classmate, their mothers, child advocates and medical professionals testified before Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and his committee on the impact of e-cigarettes on youth nicotine addiction and on how the marketing of these devices often disproportionately targets members of minority communities.

According to Dr. Barry Stein, an Upper East Side New York pediatrician, assistant clinical professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a member of the PAVe advisory board, JUUL and newer products like Puff Bar continue to be serious cause for alarm. “There is no question that the whole JUUL marketing campaign was geared to young people. They have become the tobacco of 2021,” he says.

As Stein explains, “children and adolescents have an immature prefrontal cortex, where nicotine has a major effect. [These products] are highly concentrated, and enter the brain rapidly and change the way the receptors work. They affect executive function in the brain, can cause ADD, affect memory and such bodily systems as the lungs. And the effects can be long term.”

In addition, Stein stresses how difficult it is to wean from e-cigarettes, saying some studies have shown that it can be “even stronger than addiction to cigarettes.”

PAVe was at the table in the White House as then-President Donald Trump held a listening session on vaping on Nov. 22, 2019; has testified before U.S. Congress; and, most recently, testified in January at a New York City Council Health Committee hearing. Its members were also present in July 2020 as New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, signed into law a complete flavor ban on e-cigarette and vaping products.

Caleb, now a student at Brown University, looks back with pride on what his peers, the three mothers and the organization have accomplished. But he points out that there is still work to do. “Our original goal was to get JUUL off the market since nearly all teens were using it. Through testifying in Congress, and local laws and pushback, JUUL stock has plunged significantly, and it is a lot more regulated before.”

Still, he notes the ongoing uses of unregulated disposable vaping devices, which often come from China and are readily available at “any New York corner store.”

His experience with friends who were addicted to e-cigarettes has helped him recognize these types of social problems at college. When he observes students overdoing it with alcohol, he says he is reminded of his friends and their use of vaping devices. “Binge drinking reminds of people who would use a disposable vaping device Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Because of my experience with vaping, I see binge drinking a little differently from others.”

Caleb, who intends to pursue his interest in political science, has already been interviewed for a Netflix documentary about vaping, which is scheduled for release in 2023. He continues to follow and speak out on the e-cigarette issue.

“To me, it is a very clear problem,” he says, after seeing and trying to help “friends severally addicted.”

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The idea for an observant team came about when tristate-area youth grew tired of hearing stories from their parents of their own hockey-playing childhood.

Original Article Published in the JNS

At 9:30 p.m. on a recent Saturday night, players from the North Jersey Avalanche hockey league finished their game and walked off Rink 3 at the Ice House in Hackensack, N.J. They were tired and a bit dejected, after losing 4-1 to the Bandits hockey team, as well as mindful that in a little less than 10 hours, they would be back on the ice for a Sunday-morning game against the Devils—at 7:30 a.m.

The players—by then, ravished—took off their helmets, masks and pads, put down their sticks, and quickly devoured slices of pizza. Kosher pizza. Helmets were replaced with kipahs, and the lone girl on the team, Elly Younger, changed from her yellow Avalanche hockey uniform into a denim skirt and a blue long sleeve shirt.

The New Jersey Avalanche is a team of skilled skaters and stick-handlers, but it’s not your typical hockey club—the Avalanche are four Shomer Shabbat (Shabbat-observant) youth hockey teams of players ages 9 to 16.

Playing competitive hockey involves participating in four practices a week and competing in tournaments throughout the Northeast; and tournaments usually involve playing four games in a weekend. Scheduling is complicated for organizers who need to work around teams who cannot play from sundown on Friday until three stars appear 25 hours later on Saturday nights. Players and parents also have to make arrangements for kosher food, prayer services and Sabbath-friendly activities.

‘It was a good start’

The idea for an observant team came about when tristate-area youth grew tired of hearing stories from their parents of their own hockey-playing childhood. The parents wanted to provide their kids with the opportunity to try the sport on their own.

According to founder Tzvi Rudman, he and several parents approached the Englewood Field Club in 2001. “The rink was accommodating,” recounts Rudman, “even though the players could not play on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.”

North Jersey Avalanche hockey league member Elly Younger. Photo by Howard Blas.

And so, the team played most of their games on Saturday nights. “It was a good start,” says Rudman. “But the rink was outdoors, and it was small.”

They then approached one of the premier leagues in the area with four indoor rinks. The North Jersey Avalanche is a nationally ranked hockey organization under the guidance of Daniel May, Ice House hockey director and president who has more than 40 years of experience in youth hockey.

May and the Avalanche were willing to work with and accommodate the various needs of the young players. “The biggest and hardest part was explaining how the Shabbat start times and end times changed throughout the year. At first, they didn’t believe us,” recalls Rudman playfully. “They had to look it up! This is something we always took for granted. It was one of the most fascinating things.”

For his part, May says “we knew we could make the schedule work on our end but, we were concerned about league members’ cooperation with the schedule on their end. Fast-forward to today, we now have an observant team at almost every level. It takes a lot of extra administrative work—mostly by my wife, Monica, who schedules around 1,500 games combined for all 34 Avalanche teams, but she makes it work.”

The Avalanche started with one Sabbath-observant team in 2014—a number that has grown to four teams of 15 players: Squirts (ages 9-10), Peewees (ages 11-12), Bantams (ages 13-14) and Midgets (ages 15-16).

Rudman also notes that “there are no tryouts; you just have to say you want to be part of the team. That’s really nice.”

In spite of the commitment of time required for practices, games and travel, coupled with the sometimes challenging logistics of observing Sabbath on the road, the players and parents say they could not be happier with the results.

In fact, the big news is in late October, the oldest group won its division (Under-16, AA American) in the statewide 2021-22 New Jersey Youth Hockey League.

‘Prayer books, Torah scroll and meals together’

Michael Massel, who lives in Manhattan and attends the Shefa School, enjoys being part of a team and spending time with a diverse group of friends, both on and off the ice. “You get to play a sport. It is fun to play hockey with them, and also to chill with them and play mini-hockey at the tournaments.”

He admits, however, that “it’s also a little tiring.”

While the families seem pleased with the level of hockey, they are delighted with what their children have learned about being observant Jews and members of the Jewish community. Michael’s father, Morris, reports: “Our kids can be part of a team that is high-level hockey without compromise. They can live religious lives; there’s no such thing as a Shabbat problem.”

Massel also likes the fact that players and parents spend Shabbat together at tournaments. They bring prayer books and a Torah scroll, and eat Shabbat meals together. “We are all in it together, and the memories are unbelievable!”

Aaron Younger’s daughter, Elly, is the only girl on the team.” She attends YBH yeshivah in Passaic. “She loves skating, and she loves playing with the guys.”

Melanie Sosland of Englewood, N.J., has two boys in the league. Gabriel, age 11, plays on the Peewees, and Noah, age 14, plays on the Bantam. “They saw that other Englewood kids were playing, and they wanted to play as well,” she says.

Sosland concedes that playing four times a week is a big commitment but sees the benefits that go beyond sports. “It teaches a great work ethic and how to balance schoolwork with hockey. And the tournaments are amazing—with the Torah scroll and the kosher food. They will always remember it.”

North Jersey Avalanche hockey league member Michael Massel. Photo by Howard Blas.

Bringing Jewish observance “on the road” teaches the players to navigate sometimes complex real-life situations. They also have opportunities to serve as ambassadors for Judaism. Michael Massel recalls an incident where “one team had Shabbat issues in Delaware a couple of years ago, and the local Chabad pitched in.”

Rudman, the organization’s founder, recalls: “Seven years ago, the other teams on the road looked at us like we were from another planet when they saw our kipahs and tzitzit. Then we kicked butt during the games! Now, they all know our teams, and we are accepted.”

He also recalls a moving incident from a tournament in Providence, R.I. “We played a team with players from Colorado and Kansas. One kid came over and said, ‘I had two firsts this weekend—I saw the ocean for the first time, and I met a Jewish person for the first time.’ ”

“There is respect out there,” acknowledges Rudman, who takes the Jewish values and menschlichkeit piece very seriously, and encourages his players to remember that. In fact, he quips: “We sometimes send out reminders that we are being judged on a higher level.”

Rick Pomerantz of Englewood looks back with pride on what the league has accomplished over the years and on what it has meant for his family. His son, Alex Pomerantz, 13, is a second-year Bantam and attends the Moriah School. His father recalls that “the first year at the Ice House, Alex was one of three frum kids who played when there wasn’t a Jewish team. He loves the game and has since the first time he put on skates at 3 years old. What it has done is given him a chance to pursue his passion with high-level coaching, all without compromising our Judaic values. I know it sounds trite, but it’s true.”

He continues, saying “the teams have won tournaments, but if you speak to the parents, the most gratifying thing is that we have a beautiful minyan every day, and the entire group will eat together. The fact that we have been on tournaments with minyans of 40 men and had catered Shabbat dinners in [places like] Hershey, Pa., is unbelievable. It’s important for the kids to see that as religious Jews, you don’t have to compromise to do what you love.”

“There is no sport like hockey,” attests Pomerantz. “That’s why everyone who plays is passionate about it. The camaraderie and bonds that are made are priceless. Alex has made friends for life.”

Players on the Shomer Shabbat North Jersey Avalanche hockey league. Photo by Howard Blas.

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Professor Yaniv Poria’s recent master’s degree course is giving future travel industry leaders the tools to improve travel and recreational experiences for people with a wide range of disabilities.

At first glance, Professor Yaniv Poria doesn’t appear to be the most traditional Jew on the planet. He regularly wears a hat, but it is more Leonard Cohen than traditional Jewish; he sports a goatee beard and he wears earrings. Yet, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev professor at the Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management would proudly argue that his entire career is informed by Jewish values and outlook. 

Through his teaching and writing, Poria works hard to bring the unique needs of often marginalized populations – including LGBTQ, people who are obese, and people with disabilities – to the forefront. His recent course for undergraduate and graduate students from the Beersheba and Eilat campuses, “Impacting Accessible Tourism: Impact Entrepreneurship as a Tool for Making Tourism Accessible for All” is giving future travel industry leaders the tools to improve travel and recreational experiences for people with a wide range of disabilities. 

Poria traces his interest in people with disabilities to a formative experience that happened when he was a young soldier. 

“I was a soldier on Arlozoroff Street with all the real man symbols – a gun, a red kumta [beret], red shoes…” recounts Poria. “I looked up and I saw some young religious Sherut Leumi girls around my age. My first reaction was, ‘Why don’t they go into the real army?” He then recalls observing the girls helping a group of children with disabilities saying goodbye to their parents for the weekend. The curious Poria engaged one young woman in conversation. 

“What if on Shabbat, you need to buy diapers?” he asked. “I will go to SuperPharm and run faster than you!” one replied. Poria was shocked and began to wonder, “What is more difficult – to be on the borders, or to take care of these kids?” Poria was a changed man. 

PROF. YANIV PORIA (credit: BGU)
PROF. YANIV PORIA (credit: BGU)

“I decided that, in my own way, I will make their life better. I will do research and focus on the travel experience and will assist wherever I can.” Now, as a professor, writer, editorial board member and reviewer for many tourism and hospitality journals, he is living up to his word.

Poria has pursued many areas of interest on the way to his very successful accessible travel course. Earlier in his academic career, he researched visitors’ experiences at heritage tourist sites. 

“I focused on management of Jewish heritage sites because people were losing Jewish heritage and Jewish identity.” He proudly reports, “I am a Jewish researcher. I look at Jewish heritage. It is the way I interpret Judaism.” 

He concedes that this and his subsequent areas of academic research could have harmed his academic career. 

“This could have put my academic career in danger!” as they were “of no interest to the mainstream.” He playfully refers to himself as “the rasha  [evil child] of the Passover Haggadah. 

After doing PhD work in the UK and returning to Israel, Poria conducted research on what he describes as “special segments often ignored in the tourism literature,” including gays and lesbians and people with disabilities. He also studied people who are obese. A 2017 paper published in the Journal of Travel Research is titled, “An exploratory study about obese people’s flight experience.” 

“I did a study on obesity which is the new form of disability. Due to their appearance, people suffer from racism. I call it a social disability.” 

WHEN PORIA decided to devote his attention to teaching a course on accessible tourism, he figured literature and course material would be readily available. 

“I made an assumption I‘d find another course,” reports Poria, who planned to adapt and expand material for his proposed course. “I wasn’t looking for a course on technical issues like measurements (i.e. of an accessible bathroom). I wanted a course about dilemmas, a course with a body of knowledge for those who want to manage.” He and a teaching assistant got to work in designing a three credit graduate course—with a five-page syllabus, nine required readings, 14 recommended readings, and 13 sessions. 

“This was different from all of my other courses,” concedes Poria. “Each session started with a meeting with a person in management of disabilities tourism, or a person with a disability – a person who is blind, or deaf, or who has a child who is autistic.” He adds, “The students learned how people are treated in the hospitality and tourism industry. They imagined what it would be like to travel with a disability.” 

One presenter, Omer Zur, knows a great deal about accessible travel. Many years ago, Zur wanted his father, paralyzed during the Yom Kippur War, to join him for the final month of his three-year post-army trip. They jointly designed Paratrek Trekker, a device that can handle off-road hiking without taking away his father’s independence. Zur is founder and CEO of Paratrek and has used the Trekker to successfully help people with paraplegia navigate 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro. 

Zur appreciated the opportunity to speak to the class as “until recently, it was thought that people with disabilities should stay home or go out only to specific places.” He has seen a change in recent years but feels the travel industry still has more to learn. “When people who provide the tourism experience know more, and better understand the needs of people with disabilities, they will be able to provide better service.”

Fred Maahs Jr, a wheelchair user who is also chief operations officer for Travel for All and editor of Melange, Accessibility for All magazine, wasn’t able to speak to Poria’s students, but he is delighted to learn about the course. Maahs, who recently returned to the United States after attending Expo2020 in Dubai, notes the many challenges that still exist for travelers with disabilities including lack of adequate accessible transportation. 

“The mere fact that people with disabilities still have to do their own research in order to ensure that their travel destination is adapted and accessible tells you that we still have a lot of work to do.”

Poria’s students found the course, sponsored by the Rothschild Foundation, to be challenging and demanding yet rewarding. The final project involved students speaking with people with disabilities, identifying problems and suggesting a solution that would be affordable and ultimately lead to profits for those who implement it. Poria didn’t want his students to lose sight of the fact that while they are learning to be sensitive practitioners, they are graduate students in a school of business and management. 

ELI LEVY has a close relationship to disabilities and took his final assignment very seriously. 

“I am the son of a disabled father who grew up when there was a very low awareness of the subject.” Levy reports, “My partner and I have chosen to develop a technological aid that will allow the blind to dive and experience an accessible and as close experience as possible to the experience of a sighted diver. As part of the work we were exposed to many stakeholders in the field, diving clubs, product engineers, blind organizations and of course the blind themselves. 

“The experience was challenging and the results were interesting and surprising. It was evident that there was a huge need to make tourism accessible to this population and the enthusiasm as well as the cooperation on their part was immense. It was an experience to be part of a unique and first-of-its-kind course and the feeling was of pioneering in a field that requires a lot of investment and research in the future as well.” 

Levy adds, “Professor Yaniv Poria is an impressive and interesting man and I really wanted to take a course under his guidance!”

Or Dvir felt the course was “unique” and that it exposed her and her classmates to “the gaps that exist between the demands and needs of those we so desperately want to host and the situation and infrastructure that exists in Israel. We have been exposed to the day-to-day challenges of those who want to enjoy leisure and tourism services like everyone else.” 

She reports learning a very valuable practical lesson which will help in her career. 

“I learned that the most important thing is the ability to ask, knowing that the first and most important step on the path to full accessibility for all is an understanding of the real needs of those in front of us. If we do not look our guests in the eye, without shame, and ask them how we can make this vacation fun and easy for them, we are not doing our job as service providers.”

Eli Meiri is no stranger to the disabilities travel industry. The 67-year-old graduate student, Pardes Hanna resident, tour operator and tour guide who specializes in tours for people with disabilities (and founder of Israel4All, an accessible travel company in Israel), enjoyed the course and continues to internalize its message. 

“Accessibility for all is a way of life. I think everybody must have a way to get everywhere. People with disabilities have the right and need appropriate opportunities to get out of their homes for fun and recreation and to participate in all parts of communal life.”

Poria is delighted with the feedback he has received for the course and continues to dream big. 

“I think the course is only a first step. I would like to develop a center focusing on conducting the best research about people with disabilities and travel, tourism, recreation and leisure experiences. Our findings would not be just in academic journals but would be available to all. This can be done easily. This is being an or l’goyim – a light to the nations – and it should be done in Israel, and at Ben-Gurion University, which has a spirit of innovation.”

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Original Article Published on the Jerusalem Post

The Israeli pavilion at the Expo 2020 offers the experience of being a disabled person in an urban environment.

Access Israel is well known in Israel for its disability awareness work and advocacy efforts on behalf of people with disabilities.

Last week, a delegation of leaders from Access Israel took their message and their “urban obstacle course” on the road to Dubai. Visitors to the Israel pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai had an opportunity to experience what it is like to navigate an urban environment in a wheelchair or as a blind or visually impaired person.

Access Israel, an NGO established in Israel in 1999, also marked December 3 the International Day of “People of Determination” at its pavilion, along with colleagues from Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), Start-Up Nation Central, and the Regional Cooperation Ministry.

The organizations also showcased advanced accessibility technologies, including an automatic speech recognition device developed by Voiceitt; medical technology and innovative communication technologies produced by EyeControl, an AI-based motion-control system that analyses wheelchair seating positions developed by ReSymmetry; and a panoramic, 3D photography system that identifies accessibility obstacles in a range of terrains, including urban environments.

According to most estimates, people with disabilities comprise 15% of the world’s population.

Access Israel brings ‘urban obstacle course’ to Dubai. (credit: ACCESS ISRAEL)
Access Israel brings ‘urban obstacle course’ to Dubai. (credit: ACCESS ISRAEL)

“The Israeli innovation ecosystem offers multiple technological solutions to a global challenge, with the hope of enhancing the lives of people with disabilities and achieving a more precise lateral integration,” said Michal Seror, director of ecosystem development at Start-Up Nation Central. “Start-Up Nation Central regards the display of the Israeli technology in Dubai as a direct continuation of our long-term partnership with the UAE.”

KKL-JNF, Access Israel, Start-Up Nation Central, the Regional Cooperation Ministry, Google and FAISR also created a collaborative social event to increase awareness. One hundred people with and without disabilities jointly created the logo of the International Disability Alliance on the Expo lawn by holding up blue umbrellas.

Michal Rimon, CEO of Access Israel, found the making of the umbrella campaign video, which required 100 people to stand in the Dubai heat with an umbrella raised, to be one of the most touching and memorable moments of their stay in Dubai.

“I was afraid it would be difficult to get so many people to agree to be part of it. Eventually, we had hundreds of participants – those who did not have an umbrella cheered and clapped and the entire hour became a real attraction – bringing together people from all over the world on this special date and raising awareness for us all.”

Rimon welcomed the opportunity for Israel to actively participate in this important world event.

“The Expo is one of the largest global exhibitions and a great opportunity to send our message and share our projects with people literally from all over the world. We had a chance to get together with people from all our neighboring countries as well as from other parts of the world. Israel’s leadership in inclusion and disability was evident, and people want to learn more.”

Access Israel founder and wheelchair user Yuval Wagner added, “Arriving at UAE on an official delegation of Israel with an amazing unique combination of people with and without disabilities, wearing the Israeli flag with pride and receiving great reactions from the people themselves, was an amazing experience and true pride for us all.”

Wagner looks forward to returning soon.

“The fact that we left with a specific request from several local contacts – that they want more and want us back already in January – is probably the best proof to the potential and the ripple effect of our visit.”

The Access Israel delegation had planned to organize an accessible candle-lighting event on December 5 in Dubai, utilizing a menorah developed by Impact Labs and printed on a 3D printer. The menorah makes it possible for people with arm and hand disabilities to light candles using a special lighter.

While the menorah was indeed accessible, it was deemed ineligible on board the plane to Dubai due to its fire-starting mechanism.

Instead, Wagner, who has limited use of his hands, lit candles on the eighth night of Hanukkah in Tel Aviv with TOM (Tikkun Olam Makers) and the Impact Labs team.

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