Published Articles

Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

The blue-and-white is moving its way to the top.

Israel made the biggest jump in the World Baseball Softball Confederation World Rankings in 2017, advancing from No. 41 to No. 19.

The blue-and-white defeated four Top 10 nations – Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Korea and Netherlands – in its World Baseball Classic debut in March of last year.

Team Israel ended the WBC with a 4-2 record, reaching the last eight of the tournament. Israel registered three consecutive victories in Pool A in Seoul, South Korea to advance to the second round in Tokyo.

The blue-and-white then beat Cuba, before losing to the Netherlands and Japan, who both went on to progress to the semifinals.

Elsewhere, first-time winner of the World Baseball Classic, the United States moved to within 321 points of top-ranked Japan, cutting the lead by 450 points. USA Baseball National Teams are the current title holders of three WBSC World Championships: U-12 Baseball World Cup, U-18 Baseball World Cup and World Baseball Classic.

The absence of the US in the first two editions of the U-23 Baseball World Cup (2014 and 2016) has been significant, with Japan, the current U-23 world champion, maintaining the No. 1 ranking by earning 1,236 points in these two events.

Baseball’s world rankings weigh a country’s national team performance in WBSC-sanctioned international competitions (from U-12 to Professional) over a four-year period. Points earned from the 2013 WBC have expired.

Read more

Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

The kosher world continues to grow and diversify

If your bubbe had been one of the 6,000 members of the kosher food industry to attend the recent Kosherfest trade show in Secaucus, New Jersey, she would have barely recognized a single product on display at the nearly 400 booths. Even staples such as gefilte fish and matza have been updated. Gefilte fish long ago moved from jars to loaves (including tricolor plain, salmon and dill). And Passover matzot are now available with pictures and logos, courtesy of 2017 New Product Award-Winner Matzohgram Printed Matzos.
Two long days of walking the eight long, crowded aisles of the Meadowlands Exposition Center provided a unique window into “kosher in action”: new products in search of distributors; store owners inquiring about case prices; kosher certifying agencies, ranging from Sydney to London, explaining the certification process (the OU even has literature available in Chinese!); caterers and restaurant owners looking for that one new item to add to their menus this year.

And there was the massive sampling. Perhaps the toughest decision for attendees was whether to keep to dairy or meat products on a given day, so as to avoid violating the kosher prohibition of mixing milk and meat.

Exciting kosher products on display included Jack’s Gourmet turkey bacon, GranolaChik granola, Mikee Indian and Korean Sauces and Marinades, FreshBox Farms hydroponically grown leafy greens, Westminster Bakers Co.

crackers (oyster crackers, Sriracha seasoned crackers, and more), La Pastilya Home Style Appetizers (parve Moroccan cigars, kubbeh, empanadas, and more), Asian Star surimi fish (for imitation scallops, shrimp, lobster and crab), Angelic Bakehouse bread crisps (7-grain with sea salt, for example), and Ron Hot Sauces for the Brave – best washed down with Pernstejn Beer from the Czech Republic, or some of the 22 wines from Kosher Winery Argentina.

Visitors are always pleased when booths give out tote bags for carrying giveaways such as pens, pads and packages of Sunrise Popcorn (seven flavors), Jelly Belly jelly beans (blue-and-white, Happy Hanukka packaging), Launch Energy bars, Setton Farms Pistachio Chewy Bites (pistachios and blueberry infused cranberries with coconut) and Hayes Datiles (Medjool dates from Mexico).

Trends at Kosherfest 2017, organized by Lubicom Marketing Consulting since 1987, included an increase in organic, gluten-free and vegan products, a rise in convenience packaging and “on-the-go” products, and countries showing products from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, France, India, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Peru, Russia, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.

Kosher goes data-driven Kosher is big business, and it is no longer driven by guesswork. Kosherfest kicks off each year with a breakfast and “state of the industry” address by Menachem Lubinsky, president & CEO of Lubicom Marketing Consulting.

“We used to guess who we were targeting – more or less. Now, in the new, digital age, we can find our customers!” he said. Companies are spending more to properly market their products.

Lubinsky went on to explain that kosher is a $12.5 billion industry with nearly 250,000 kosher products in the US.

“Almost all products that can be kosher are now kosher – the US is virtually a kosher country,” he said. Kosher products are now available in stores such as Costco, Target, Walmart and 7-Eleven. “It is not a favor to local rabbis to offer kosher products – kosher products sell!” “If you are an ingredient country in Thailand or anywhere, you are effectively ‘locked out’ if you are not kosher,” reports Lubinsky, who notes that 99 countries now produce kosher-certified products.

Yarden Horwitz, a trendspotting lead for Google, was a new addition this year, invited to deliver a keynote address titled “Using online food trend to develop and market winning products.” Horwitz suggested ways the kosher food industry can use data to better understand their customers and to market and sell products accordingly.

“We are sitting on a gold mine of data about what consumers are searching for, in over a billion searches a year,” she said.
Horwitz identified three main times of the year when consumers search for kosher products, and she pinpointed where they are searching from: April (pre-Passover), searching mainly from New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC; July and August, searching for kosher hot dogs (Nevada is the top search location); and November (Thanksgiving in the US), searching in large numbers from Florida. “We are always looking at risers [water is a riser, she noted] and decliners [e.g., juice], we are asking what is going to be the next Greek yogurt [French yogurt is showing promise], and we follow trends during the week [people tend to be focused more on healthy eating during weekdays and are more indulgent on weekends],” she said.

Israel at Kosherfest While long known for its agricultural exports, and more recently for wines, Israel exhibited a diverse range of products at Kosherfest. Lubinsky stressed Israel’s role as a leader in the worldwide kosher food industry.

“Israel is developing cutting-edge technologies and using new, innovative tools. For example, low sugar and low fat. Just eight or nine years ago, $150 million in kosher products was exported from Israel. Now, it is $246m.,” he said.

There are more than 1,700 plants in Israel that produce food, employing 64,000 workers. The five largest food companies are Osem, Strauss, Unilever, Tnuva and the Central Beverage Company. The export of wine and beverages to the US in 2016 was $32m., a 7% increase over 2015.

Benjamin Bauer, an importer of fine kosher wines, proudly showed wines from Hevron Heights Winery, including a $200 bottle of Ezekiel wine.

“People are looking to support Israel. They will take an Israeli wine over a French wine. And wines from Hebron were especially popular [a few weeks ago], when we read about it in the weekly Torah portion,” he said, pointing to a bottle of Makhpelah wine.

Debbie Smith, associate director of sales and marketing for Marzipan Bakeries, gave out samples of hot marzipan, well known in Jerusalem for 40 years, and available in the US for the past two years.

“So many people love marzipan so much!” she said.
Yonatan Gershon and daughter Keren, owners of Neptune Foods of Beersheba, displayed a wide range of sauces and spreads, including pesto za’atar, sweet harissa and sweet pepper spread. Yonatan’s father was a spice importer from India. He developed blends, and the company now produces sauces, spreads and rice mixes.

“We believe Israeli companies can succeed in America – if we have good items at a good price. The US is the best market for Israeli products, and we are not only selling to the Israeli and Jewish market.”

Mahdi Aralan of Almahdi Sweets came to Kosherfest from Nazareth. He has had a store in Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda market for two-and-a-half years. He proudly shows off beautiful, carefully packaged gift boxes of baklava.

“Our baklava has 7-12% less sugar than most other baklavas, and we make 100 pieces per kilo,” he said.

Others reportedly make 50 per kilo.

El Nakhleh Coffee of Shfaram proudly displayed ground roasted coffee, with and without cardamom, in capsules for use in Nespresso machines.

Toot Food Industries is a Migdal Ha’emek-based company with a strong social justice connection. The maker of hazelnut date snacks, chocolate-covered almonds and pecans, truffles and marshmallows was in danger of closing and laying off 60 Arab and Jewish workers. American businessman and real estate investor Jonathon Weiner and his wife, Ayelet, bought the factory, hired manager Moti Goldstein and invested in new machinery. They are developing healthier products, for the local market and for export.

Weiner would like to see more Israelis proudly buying made-in-Israel products over often cheaper products made in China and elsewhere.

Shelly’s Natural Best, a three-year-old Israeli company, sells two different products – tiger nut butters, and freeze-dried sprouted legumes (lentils, mung beans, chickpeas). The company aims to “define new standards of quality, taste, aroma and nutritional value for the health-food industry.”

Other Israeli companies at Kosherfest included Al Arz Tahini, Dough’s, Tenta Topgum Sweets, Maadaney Yehiam, Jerusalem Winery, Mahroum Sweets, Matzot Aviv, Bare Juices, Pri-Chen, and J&G Pecans. Bare was one of the winners of the New Product Competition.

The Israeli companies at Kosherfest all expressed appreciation to Carol Nave, manager of food and beverages in the Consumer Goods Division of the Israel Export Institute/Israel Economic Mission, for helping them get to this important show.

“We come to Kosherfest each year,” said Nave. “We have all the latest food trends to offer – gluten-free, sugar-free, lactose-free, lean label.

“The kosher market is our natural market,” she continued. “We are also trying to penetrate the general market.”

The range of quality Israeli products at Kosherfest indicated she and her Israeli companies may be on the road to continued success.

A kosher export with an import twist If Barry Brucker has his way, he will import Aviv matzot and send them back to Israel – once he and his Matzohgram Printed Matzo company are done printing Stars of David, Seder plates and “Happy Passover” greetings on them.
Brucker wanted to do something nice for his synagogue Seder a few years ago. “We had printing equipment, since we are a printing company.”
People were so excited when they saw the matzot with pictures and writing. “People came out with napkins wrapping the matza to take home so it wouldn’t break!” he said.

He test-marketed the matza in Los Angeles delis, and it sold out in four days. “Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, had it on his table, and it was a hit. I have gotten similarly nice comments from other rabbis!” Brucker now hopes to introduce his matzot to the Israeli market.

Read more

Original Article at The New York Jewish Week

A partnership between Ramah and Birthright brings young adults with disabilities to experience Israel

Los Angeles Jewish communal professional Michelle Wolf’s daughter had been on a Birthright Israel trip, and she wanted her 22-year-old son Danny to have the same experience. But until recently, she thought that a free Israel tour together with young peers was not in the cards for Danny, who has cerebral palsy and many specialized needs.

To Wolf’s delight, her son is headed to Israel this December on the first-ever Ramah Tikvah/Amazing Israel Birthright Israel trip. Ramah, the camping arm of Conservative Judaism, has organized Israel trips for Tikvah Program participants and alumni in the past. This, however, is the first one being offered in collaboration with the exceptionally successful initiative that has brought more than 600,000 young Jews to Israel since 1999.

“When we got an email about the trip, we were so excited! Danny is thrilled to be going to Israel with some of his friends from Camp Ramah in California, where he has gone for the last nine summers,” said Wolf.

According to National Ramah Tikvah Network director Howard Blas, between 20 and 25 young adults with disabilities are expected to fly to Israel from New York on December 18 for the 10-day adventure. The trip’s itinerary includes Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Galilee, and Masada. There will also be unique opportunities, such as a meeting and conversation with IDF soldiers with disabilities.

Many—though not all—of the 18- to 29-year-old participants will have attended a Tikvah Program at one or more of Ramah’s ten overnight camps. Those who have applied and been accepted to the trip hail from every region of North America.

Elana Naftalin-Kelman, Tikvah director at Camp Ramah in California, noted that the largest contingent is from her program.

“The combination of Birthright and Ramah is one that our families have been waiting for. Raising a child with disabilities is very expensive and families don’t have disposable income. This trip is finally giving our Tikvah families access to Israel for their children,” she said.

Naftalin-Kelman expects this Israel experience to deepen the relationships between the Ezra (vocational training program) participants and the other staff at her camp next summer.

“The young men and women in our Ezra program already have good connections with members of our mishlachat (visiting Israeli counselors), but I think those bonds will become even deeper this coming summer due to this trip,” she said.

Those who will have been on the Birthright trip will also be able to share common experiences and memories with neurotypical peers at camp who will likely have visited Israel with the Ramah Seminar summer program, or Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim, Ramah’s semester in Israel for high school students.

Tikvah Program founders Herb and Barbara Greenberg look forward to welcoming the Birthright group during their visit. The couple, which made aliyah in 1998, knows how much detailed planning goes into organizing an Israel trip for young people with disabilities.

“We organized the first Tikvah Israel trip in 1984, and it was not only a learning experience for our kids, but also for Israeli society, which was not used to seeing and interacting with groups like ours,” Barbara Greenberg said.

“Israel had no concept of inclusion to that point,” she said.

The Greenbergs led seven trips through the early 1990s (Blas led subsequent trips), each time increasing their knowledge about how to help young people with disabilities experience Israel. For instance, they discovered that everything on the itinerary had to be a hands-on and on-site activity.

“You can’t talk about the history of a place while riding on the bus. You have to talk about it when you are actually at the site, so that there is a visual, tactile and experiential context,” Herb Greenberg said.

These concrete connections help form strong memories for the trip participants.

“The kids come back with the same feelings as any other kid. They have a visceral connection to Israel and feel more Jewish,” Barbara Greenberg said.

New Yorker Jacklin Simoni is sending her 20-year-old daughter Nora, who attends the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England, on this December’s trip for just this reason.

“I want her to see what I saw when I first visited Israel. I was so excited to visit Jerusalem and the wall, I felt I was part of a bigger community that just my own,” Simoni said.

Read more

Original Article Published On The Ruderman Family Foundation

Dana Mathewson hits lightning serves and ground strokes and races to return seemingly out of reach tennis balls on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the prestigious U.S. Open tennis tournament.  Yet, her name is not nearly as well known in the tennis world as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.  Every time this 26 year old number #1 ranked player from San Diego takes court for singles or double matches, people notice more than her amazing strokes.   Dana and her opponents play world class tennis while sitting in specially designed, light weight wheelchairs.  Her journey to Arthur Ashe stadium is a result of her great determination and talent.  It was also made possible by extraordinarily innovative and inclusive programming, both at the U.S. Open and at the University of Arizona where Dana was introduced to wheelchair tennis.

At the US Open, wheelchair athletes receive the same treatment and respect as all other participants—chair umpires, ball persons, digital scoreboards, press conferences, and even the chance to play in the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium.  Following Mathewson’s first round doubles victory with partner, Aniek Van Koot of the Netherlands, they were interviewed post-match by the on court emcee and signed autographed balls which were hit in to the stands for lucky fans to catch.

Mathewson’s journey to the U.S. Open began when she contracted a rare neurological disease known as Transverse Myelitis at age 10.  The disease causes the immune system to attack the spinal cord and she went from running sprints on the soccer field to being paralyzed in a matter of minutes.  Mathewson’s mother recognized the importance of sports and recreation for physical and mental health and encouraged Dana to play adaptive sports.

Dana Mathewson and doubles partner,   Aniek Van Koot of the Netherlands, communicating between points on court at Arthur Ashe Stadium during first round/semi finals 2017 US Open doubles match.  The two won the match and lost in the finals 6-4, 6-3 to Buis and de Groot.

When it was time to explore colleges, Mathewson wanted to find a place where she could continue her athletic career.  Unfortunately, most universities fail to go beyond minimal compliance with the ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act).  Campuses provide services to help students with academics, such as extended time on tests and note-takers in class.  However, the University of Arizona takes a more holistic approach to inclusion for students with disabilities.   The institution acknowledges the importance of sports, recreation and healthy living for students with disabilities.  The University of Arizona’s adaptive athletics program is open to students and community members and currently includes five competitive sports: basketball, rugby, track, road racing, and tennis.  The athletic department is housed within the disability resource center.

“When I heard Arizona had a program, I said I was definitely going there, and they offered me a scholarship. It is not an NCAA sport as of yet, it is a club sport, but we compete against other schools. They have collegiate nationals and they help with tournament assistance like coaching,” says Mathewson.

The adaptive athletics program at the University of Arizona does not play “watered down” versions of sports, nor does it demand any less commitment from its athletes than do other athletic programs on campus.  Dana attributes her success to this rigor.  She explains, “We practiced daily like all D1 (division 1) athletes. This was a big stepping stone to me becoming a pro player and getting to tour and getting to play on Ashe.”  At Arizona, Mathewson competed with athletes from such schools as Alabama, Whitewater, Texas Arlington, and Grand Rapids.

Dr. Amanda Kraus, the Director of Disability Resources at the University of Arizona, herself a wheelchair tennis player, says, “The University of Arizona (UA) has a long history of disability resources on campus.  We work to cultivate an inclusive and welcoming experience that goes beyond minimal compliance obligations with a proactive and progressive approach to campus access.  We support all aspects of the disability community and are particularly proud of our Adaptive Athletics program.  The largest in the nation, we host six competitive teams and have seen over 30 athletes compete in the Paralympic Games.”

The program and the accomplishments of its athletes are indeed impressive – sending 30 competitors in the Paralympic games speaks volumes about the preparation that the school provides for its athletes.  But perhaps the most remarkable element of the adaptive athletics program and its leadership is its holistic view of inclusion.  Kraus says, “We appreciate the power of sport to provide opportunities for personal development, health, competition and inroads to higher education.”  For a college campus to “succeed” at inclusion, it needs to provide more than note-takers.  It needs to foster an atmosphere that makes all students feel welcome in classrooms, cafeterias, sport facilities, dorms, and more.

Dana’s experience at the University of Arizona has been tremendously beneficial.  The hours of practicing and competing paid off:  Mathewson has also played tennis at Wimbledon, and when she  heard that the U.S. Open would be at Arthur Ashe stadium, she said it was “a pinch me kind of moment”.

One of the most compelling aspects of inclusive programming is that it pays off long-term. Bryan Barten, a current US Open quad division participant who coached Mathewson at the University of Arizona from 2009-2013,is proud of her accomplishments and those of other wheelchair athletes—on and off the court.  He explains, “I have engineers, attorneys, people in education, scientists.  So many different players who played for me are doing great things outside of sports. That’s what makes me proud.”  Indeed, when student athletes are meaningfully included in sports, this demonstrates that they should accept nothing less from the other places they spend their time.

Mathewson is well on her way to making an impact outside of the sports arena. The day the US Open ended, she was off to England to start a master’s degree program in audiology with the hopes of becoming a pediatric audiologist.

Dana Mathewson and doubles partner, Aniek Van Koot of the Netherlands, communicating between points on court at Arthur Ashe Stadium during first round/semi finals 2017 US Open doubles match. The two won the match and lost in the finals 6-4, 6-3 to Buis and de Groot.

Read more