Published Articles

Original Article Published On The Jewish News Syndicate

The baseball 12-and-under set is preparing to compete for the Unity Cup in March, featuring Israel, the United Arab Emirates and potentially teams from other Gulf states.

In America’s Northeast, where the snow continues to fall, spring and baseball seem like distant dreams. But in Israel, spring is in full bloom, and baseball season is already underway. The dedicated members of the 12-and-under National Team of Israel are hard at work on the fields at Baptist Village in Petach Tikvah. They are preparing for the “Field of Peace” baseball tournament in March, which will feature Israel, the United Arab Emirates and potentially teams from other Gulf states.

Competing for the Unity Cup, players will begin their series of games March 21-25 at none other than the Dubai Little League Park next to Al Quoz Pond Park. The teams will meet again in Tel Aviv in the fall of 2021.

Baseball has come a long way since team manager Louie Miller made aliyah with his family in 1998 at age 14. His parents hoped to share their love of baseball with youth in Israel. They somehow came to Israel with five children in tow, all of their possessions and managed to donate bats, catchers’ gear and other baseball equipment they had secured from the JCC Little League in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Miller played on the JCC travel team in Pittsburgh as a boy and continued to play as a teen in Israel. “There were no great options for high school baseball,” notes Miller, who also worked as a volunteer coach. “After the army, there were no options to become a coach and make a living. Everyone had a day job and coached on Fridays.”

Yaniv Rosenfeld, Israel Association of Baseball’s (IAB) Operations Manager, helped change that.

Rosenfeld, who lives in Misgav in the Galilee and established the Misgav Baseball club in 2013, was looking to change the image of baseball in Israel and to create opportunities for young Israelis to make a living in baseball. Now, Miller playfully reports, “I am one of the first people in Israel who makes a living by coaching baseball!” The trained social worker moved up north five years ago to start a youth program. They started with 35 participants and have grown to 225. It is Miller’s seventh year coaching the under-12 team.

The members of the 12-and-under National Team of Israel. Source: Screenshot.

‘The next generation of Israeli baseball’

While the team managed to travel to Italy last summer, this has been a quiet year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Then, Jordy Alter, the IAB vice president and Peter Kurz, IAB president and general manager of Team Israel, had an idea—organize a tournament with a team in the UAE, thanks in part to the recently signed Abraham Accords.

Miller notes, “I jumped at the opportunity to go to a place where only a few months ago we couldn’t go.”

Kurz adds that “this is the IAB’s own contribution to co-existence with our neighbors. We began reaching out to the Israeli-Arab population with our program, ‘Baseball for All,’ and now with the ‘Field of Peace’ tournament, we are reaching out to our surrounding neighbors. We hope this competition will become a regional one, with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and others taking part as well, and we look forward to hosting our partners in Israel in the fall.”

Dubai Little League president Roger Duthie and his IAB counterpart, Jordy Alter, said in a joint statement: “We are excited to enter a new era of cooperation between our organizations and countries. We strive together to develop the game of baseball in Israel and Dubai as a basis for peace and cooperation between our countries. We see this as a major step forward in both areas and are excited to jointly hold the first team sports tournament between our countries. We hope these games lead to further regional cooperation.”

The players are similarly elated about the upcoming trip. Miller says “they are excited just to play ball. They understand that it is glamorous—that the field and facilities are amazing and the Little League program there is top-notch.”

Dubai Little League has more than 400 kids playing baseball and softball in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Founded in 1998, Dubai Little League has seven divisions ranging from ages 4 to 18.

As part of the expansion of baseball activities in Israel, the IAB is building new fields and looks forward to the completion of the new Bet Shemesh complex, which will host international tournaments, as well as the Ra’anana field, which will be a joint baseball-soccer facility, both slated for 2021.

Miller can’t be happier. “We are seeing the next generation of Israeli baseball,” he states.

Proof of this is the fact that more than 60 kids tried out for the national team, which Miller calls “unprecedented.” While the majority are still new olim or children of American immigrants, Miller reports that they are now seeing native-born Israelis playing as well.

“In my opinion, the main goal of under-12 baseball is to have these kids who often haven’t seen high-level baseball experience what top level baseball is like and turn them in to ballplayers,” he explains. “This is exactly what the tournament will do for these 28 players—our largest delegation ever. These are the ones who will want to become ball players and stick with it!”

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Original Article Published on The eJP

[This is the second article in a 4-part series sponsored by The Covenant Foundation and written by Covenant Foundation Award recipients and grantees.]

In my work with young adults with disabilities and their families, I constantly hear the expression “falling off the cliff” to describe the lack of adequate job opportunities for people with disabilities once they complete high school.

The unemployment rate for people with disabilities – both during the pandemic and in general – is higher than for the general population. As of March 2019, 1 in 5 workers with disabilities had been dismissed from employment, compared with 1 in 7 in the general population, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the United Nations, in developing countries, 80% to 90% of persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed, whereas in industrialized countries the figure is between 50% and 70%. Further, in most developed countries the official unemployment rate for persons with disabilities of working age is at least twice that for those who have no disability.

Addressing this problem will take years of legislation, education and awareness – a real sea change. But there is a trend that gives me hope: community support of small businesses that are owned and operated by people with disabilities. During this month of Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion, the Jewish community can and should make a stronger commitment to supporting disability owned and run and disability-friendly businesses.

There are many Jewish individuals with disabilities around the country who are starting and running such businesses. Jacob Werbin and Uriel Levitt, two Washington, DC-area young men with Down Syndrome recently started Shred Support, a shredding business in Silver Spring, MD. Alexa Chalup runs Truly Scrumptious by Alexa, custom chocolate covered cookies, right out of her home on Long Island, NY. The Sunflower Bakery and Bake Shop of Rockville, MD provides skilled job training and employment opportunities in the baking and hospitality industries.

In my work, I have traveled the country and searched the Internet for similar businesses and have already identified more than 200. They include hydroponic farming, car washes, bakeries, computer recycling, cybersecurity, mammogram reading, dog treat companies and more. You can find many of these types of business listed here.

Businesses like Shred Support, Truly Scrumptous By Alexa and Sunflower Bakery all provide unprecedented opportunities for the Jewish community to be supportive while attaining what Maimonides would consider to be the highest level of tzedakah (which I prefer to translate as “righteous action” and not “charity”). The Rambam writes, “the highest form of tzedakah is to help sustain a person before they become impoverished … by helping them find employment or establish themselves in business so as to make it unnecessary for them to become dependent on others.”

Many Jewish organizations have already begun to undertake this righteous action. Synagogues and Jewish schools in the DC-area regularly order from Sunflower Bakery. Camp Ramah Darom recently ordered “early registration gifts” from John’s Crazy Socks – a sock company owned by a father and his son with Down Syndrome. When FAISR (Friends of Access Israel) organized a Kilimanjaro climb which included four people with paraplegia, it made perfect sense to order sweatshirts from Spectrum Designs in Port Washington, NY, a custom apparel and promotional items business, which, along with their Spectrum Bakes and Spectrum Suds (laundry business) has a social mission – to help individuals with autism obtain employment.

When a person with or without a disability works, there are obvious financial rewards. But there are also social, physical and mental health benefits. Employment provides a sense of accomplishment, pride and self-confidence. When a Jewish organization supports businesses which value people with disabilities, we are acknowledging that we are all created B’tzelem Elohim, in God’s Image.

During JDAIM, ask yourself two questions: Could I order those t-shirts, cookies or gift boxes from a business run by people with disabilities? And might my place of employment benefit from the often unique skills of a person with disabilities? If the answer is yes to either question and you take action, you are supporting a disability-run business while also attaining the highest level of tzedakah.

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Original Article published in the Jerusalem Post

“For Friends of Access Israel and our collaborative partners Access Israel, disability awareness and inclusion is our daily calling,” said executive director Jaime Lassner.

An online series featuring an array of impressive individuals who are involved in the field of disability access is taking place this month to mark Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM).The series is the brainchild of Jamie Lassner, executive director of Friends of Access Israel (FAISR) who, when he first learned about JDAIM, began thinking of creative ways to share stories with the wider world of the strengths and accomplishments of people with disabilities. Lassner created and is hosting a month-long interactive Zoom series every Monday through Thursday in February (8 p.m. Israel time) featuring an all-star cast of speakers with disabilities and people connected to the disabilities’ community.

The series, titled, Access Is-Real features Richard Bernstein, a blind judge; Stephen Shore, an autistic professor; SpaceIL founder Yariv Bash; business owners Mark and John Cronin (John’s Crazy Socks) and Bill Morris (Blue Star Recyclers), who are noted for impressive practices of training and hiring people with disabilities; Omer and Shmulik Zur, creators of Paratrek; and other similarly impressive personalities. Lassner has reached out to schools around the world to participate and learn from the speakers and enjoy a break from the traditional day of in-person or virtual learning. FAISR will offer prizes to three winners who write poems or essays reflecting on what they have learned from the speaker series and on actions they will take to be more inclusive in their own lives.“For Friends of Access Israel and our collaborative partners Access Israel, disability awareness and inclusion is our daily calling. We hope that Access Is-Real is a catalyst for all to become more aware, involved and inclusive of all,” said Lassner.In the first session, Lassner interviewed Pascale Bercovitch, a paralympian who has participated in three Olympics in three different sports. She shared the story of losing both legs at age 17, making aliyah from France, and competing in swimming, hand-biking and currently in kayaking. She is proud of how far Israel has come in the area of accessibility.“Thirty-six years ago, I didn’t even know how to say ‘accessible’ in Hebrew! Nothing was accessible.” Thanks to the efforts of Access Israel, she reports that she is  now able to go to the beach, take buses and move around fairly freely. “Israel is now one of the more advanced countries when it comes to accessibility.”

The series is co-sponsored by the Consulate of Israel in New York, which has shared the event widely on social media.Access Israel regularly hosts an international conference in Israel each year, and recently hosted its seventh international online webinar, titled “Accessible Future: Innovation in Web and App Accessibility.” The webinar was attended by 800 people from 80 countries. Access Israel founder Yuval Wagner and CEO Michal Rimon were Access Is-Real guests on February 2nd.According to Shelly Christensen, CEO of Inclusion Innovations and co-founder of JDAIM in 2009, February has long been known in the Jewish world as Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month and is “a unified effort among Jewish organizations worldwide to raise awareness and foster acceptance and inclusion of people with disabilities and mental health conditions and those who love them. JDAIM is a call to action for all of us to act in accordance with our Jewish values, honoring the gifts and strengths that we each possess.”During the month of February, the Jewish Federations of North America sponsors the similarly named Jewish Disability Advocacy Month, which they describe as “a month of education, solidarity-building, and empowerment in support of people with disabilities.” The theme for their month-long series of programs is “From Empowerment to Advocacy.”JDAIM events around the world, mostly virtual this year, are an important initiative to raise awareness about disabilities, inclusion and belonging in the Jewish world and in the larger society.

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Original Article Published On the Jerusalem post

In order to purchase the building, Soho Properties had to work out a deal with the congregation of a synagogue already on site, due to having a 99-year lease since the ’70s.

NEW YORK – Famed laid-back singer Jimmy Buffet is about as far as you can get from any obvious connection to Judaism: He was born on Christmas Day in 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, he grew up in Mobile, Alabama, he attended St. Ignatius School, and one of his most famous songs, “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” is about one of the most unkosher foods on the planet. But the soon-to-open Margaritaville Resort Times Square, named after Buffet’s 1977 megahit, “Margaritaville,” will have an unusual Jewish connection – an on-site synagogue.

New York Magazine’s Curbed recently reported on the complex series of steps leading to the synagogue in the hotel. The New School reportedly sold its building at 560 Seventh Avenue to Soho Properties in 2014, which led to the closure of the Garment Center Congregation. The synagogue had been given a 99-year lease for $1 a year in the 1970s.In order to purchase the building, Soho Properties had to work out a deal with the congregation. Soho agreed to build the synagogue, complete with a kosher kitchen, terrace for a sukkah, a lobby on the hotel’s first floor and two below-ground levels. The synagogue reportedly began in the back of a barbershop in 1931 and prior to the pandemic, proudly offered three daily minyanim (prayer services) as well as Shabbat and holiday services. The synagogue’s website reports that, “as of Monday, August 31st, there will be no High Holy Day services and all daily services are canceled until further notice.” The site does not list the name of the rabbi or synagogue president. One community member who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the long-term rabbi continues to reach out to members of the community by phone and text message and regularly teaches Zoom classes. When asked for comment on the synagogue’s arrangement with the hotel, he reported, “I am not in the loop – I don’t know much. I don’t have a lot to tell you.” The synagogue’s arrangement with the Margaritaville Resort Times Square appears to be a first for the Margaritaville chain.

The 234 guest rooms, scheduled to open in the spring of 2021, will feature “an island-inspired casual design and luxurious comfort, instantly transporting guests to the iconic Margaritaville state of mind,” the hotel’s website reports. Amenities will include an outdoor heated pool, retail store, concierge, valet parking, laundry/valet service, fitness center, and such Margaritaville touches as complementary Paradise Water and signature Margaritaville bed linens.Buffet, 74, has achieved success as a singer-songwriter, best-selling author, actor and businessman. He reportedly has a net worth of $600 million and has built much of his empire around what has been referred to as the “island escapism” or “tropical rock” style of music. His loyal fans are known as Parrot Heads.Buffett’s two restaurant chains are named after “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Margaritaville.” He is the co-developer of the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant concept and owner of the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain. His products include Margaritaville Tequila, Margaritaville Footwear, Margaritaville Brewing, Margaritaville Records and Margaritaville Foods, which include such products as salsa, chips, barbecue sauce, shrimp and margarita mix. Buffet opened the Margaritaville Casino at the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in May 2013. Other real estate ventures include Latitude Margaritaville, a $1 billion retirement village in Daytona Beach, Florida. There are currently 22 resorts in six countries including Belize, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Most of the Margaritaville hotels and resorts are located in US states including Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and California. With the exception of the synagogue at the new Times Square hotel, it is likely difficult to find a minyan in or near most of the other Margaritaville properties.

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