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Several weeks ago, Hartford Courant commentator Colin McEnroe summed up the imminent demise of West Hartford’s Crown Supermarket in a brief Courant blog post entitled, “Nooooooo.” “The Crown is not just food. It’s culture,” he observed.

Of course, much to the community’s relief, the closing has been aborted by a group of local Jewish investors who have purchased the store. Nonetheless, the near announcement of the closing of Crown is serving as a reminder and wakeup call to Connecticut’s Jewish communities about the precarious nature of kosher establishments, not only in West Hartford but throughout the state.

In New Haven and in other parts of Southern Connecticut, Rabbi Fred Hyman, spiritual leader of the Westville Synagogue in New Haven and president of the Vaad HaKashrus* of Fairfield County, has been working tirelessly to promote kashrut and to help create a community kosher standard. “When I joined the Vaad HaKashrus in 2010, I tried to get an area heksher (kosher certification) to achieve community standards — each place under the Vaad would follow similar standards. It would bring kashrus under one roof,” says Hyman.

In many ways, Hyman’s efforts have paid off. One major achievement was working with Abel Caterers to come under the supervision of the Vaad HaKashrus. “After lots of discussion and work, we reached an understanding – that was a big achievement!” says Hyman, who also worked closely with members of the Chabad Lubavitch community to achieve his goal. “Six months ago, [Chabad] accepted Abel for fleishig (meat) catering, as well — that was an amazing thing. In one and a half years, Abel moved to be able to serve the entire community — from Reform to Lubavitch. I had always wanted to reach this goal!”

In addition to his Abel Catering ‘coup,’ in a recent letter to Westville Synagogue members, the rabbi shared other Southern Connecticut kashrut updates. Many of the changes, he noted, were in direct response to requests and concerns voiced by community members. The changes Hyman noted include:

Claire’s Cornercopia in New Haven, a vegetarian restaurant, is now certified by the Vaad, who will support Rabbi David Avigdor in his continued role of providing onsite supervision.

The restaurant formerly known as KOSH in Stamford has reopened under the name 613. The Vaad has partnered with the OU to give it a national hashgacha.

Navaratna, an Indian kosher restaurant in Stamford, has been under renovation since the beginning of the year and plans to reopen within the next couple of weeks.

Edge of the Woods Natural Market is taking over the Cafe at the JCC and will be under the Vaad’s supervision. The Vaad is also working with the company to provide pas yisrael products for the broader community.

In his letter, the rabbi urged the community to support the area’s kosher establishments. “I have worked extremely hard to maintain and develop kosher food in our area and the businesses require your support to survive,” he noted.

Sydney A. Perry, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, lauded Hyman for his efforts on behalf of the community. “Rabbi Hyman works two full time jobs as well as serving as the chair of the New Haven Board of Rabbis,” she pointed out. “He still finds time and commitment to ensure that the Jewish community of Greater New Haven has the best opportunities for kosher food in the entire State of Connecticut. We are fortunate that we have his leadership in kosher supervision as in all things.”

Perry, whose office shares space with the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, added, “We are so excited to have Edge of the Woods coming to the JCC. They have a great reputation for smoothies, baked goods, and a wonderful assortment of salads and warm dishes. Healthy and delicious is just the combination we look for to the many people who will enjoy the food and companionship in the redesigned eating area.”

But will the valiant efforts by Rabbi Hyman and others and the supportive words of Perry be enough to save such New Haven kosher establishments like the Westville Kosher Market?

Rachel and Yuval Hamenachem, owners of Westville Kosher Market

Rachel Hamenachem and her husband Yuval opened Westville Kosher Market in 1985. For nearly 30 years, she says, the market has offered “everything ‘soup to nuts’ – groceries, catering, bris and kiddush food; we have a restaurant; we have a vegetarian section; we can do vegan and gluten free, we gear for allergies, we use no MSG, no margarine in our kitchen, we support farmers around us…”

Yet, despite offering “everything kosher” under one roof, Hamenachem observes that many customers “only come before Rosh Hashanah and Passover,” and many will only buy certain items (deli, for example) at the kosher market, while buying such items as chickens or meats at less expensive supermarkets or chain stores. Hamenachem strikes a cautionary note: “If you want to have it, you need to support it,” she says. “This is my mantra. You need to support the places in your town!”

Perry agrees. “The near closure of Crown Supermarket is an object lesson for New Haven. If we do not buy kosher meat at our local market, and import everything from New

York and Monsey, we too will lose not just our kosher bakery [referring to the closure of the Westville Kosher Bakery in 2006] but also our kosher butcher.”

*A vaad hakashrut is a rabbinical council that oversees the community’s supervision.

(Source: http://www.jewishledger.com)

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A few weeks back, an article by Dan Blas, entitled, “A Jew in China” appeared in this column (Dec. 14, 2013). Dan learned his article had been published via the Google alert he received on his iPhone as we settled into our hotel room in Shanghai.

I am one lucky dad. When your son asks you to meet him in Hong Kong, where he had been spending a semester studying at the Chinese University (of Hong Kong) and travel with him through China for 10 days, you get on a plane and go!

Dan showed me the usual tourist spots — from Central to the Midlevels to Victoria’s Peak; we experienced Kowloon at night, and we hiked on Lantau Island.  And I witnessed firsthand how the little boy had grown up (he turned 21 just before I arrived), internalized the Jewish teachings and values we strived to impart, and was a really fun traveling companion.

Each Shabbat and holiday, Dan traveled nearly 90 minutes to be with a lovely, hospitable ‘ex-pat’ family who have been opening their home to observant students for many years. Not surprisingly, the family insisted I stay there with Dan during my Shabbat in Hong Kong. I was eager to meet them and say thanks; they wanted to meet me, as they had similarly met the families of previous “boarders.”  I learned how Dan sat patiently each Shabbat to help their 10-year-old daughter with her Talmud studies, and how he helped take down their sukkah mid-holiday as the typhoon approached.  On Shabbat morning at the Ohel Leah Synagogue, Rabbi Osher noted how nice it is when observant students “far from home, make the commitment to come every week to observe Shabbat and holidays.”

On Sunday, after stopping by the kosher makolet (market) to stock up on food, we were off to Shanghai – to explore a city with extraordinarily modern skyscrapers and upscale stores around the corner from ancient open air markets. While tourist attractions are interesting, nothing compares to the pleasure of discovering a tasty kosher meat restaurant -— and a women’s Chanukah learning group — at a beautiful villa known as the Shanghai Jewish Center Kosher in the Hongqiao area; or discovering the old Ohel Rachel Synagogue (now a government office, which we were permitted to photograph from outside, but not enter); and the feeling of walking through the streets of the Shanghai Ghetto, where 23,000 Jews from Vienna — including the entire Mir Yeshiva and the parents of our friends from New Haven — survived Hitler and the war years.

Ohel Leah Synagogue in Hong Kong

We left Shanghai for Beijing — the final stop in our China adventure. Beijing is ancient and modern, massive in size, and home to 20 million people. It is hard to know where to begin exploring — and where in the city to stay. Friends had strongly advised us to stay near the Bet Yakov Chabad of Beijing (at the South Gate of Si De Park). We were glad we listened!  We hit all of the major tourist sites — the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square —and the pandas of the Beijing Zoo.  After all that exploring by cab, subway, scooter and on foot, we were ready for a restful Shabbat.

Imagine our delight when 80 people came to the Chabad House for Shabbat davening and dinner. We met English teachers from London, a law professor from Michigan, an Israeli father and son on a bar mitzvah trip, diamond dealers, and a (non-Chabad) Chasidic mashgiach on his way to provide kosher supervision for fish — and canned Mandarin oranges. And these were just the people at our table! We were impressed at Rabbi  Shimon Freundlich’s welcoming style, his one-hour and 10-minute Shabbat morning “speed” davening, and the fact that there was both a dairy and meat restaurant!

As we made havdalah and returned to our hotel to pack up for our early Sunday departures — mine for New York and Dan’s for Vietnam — for the next leg of his Far East travels (and for Chabad Houses in Vietnam, Cambodia and  Thailand), I realized how lucky I was. My son and I traveled together successfully — as observant Jews and as friends.

 (Source: http://www.jewishledger.com)

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Survivors, liberators, diplomats and March of the Living alum gather for remembrance event.

Neshama Carlebach and Eli Rubenstein remember exactly where they were standing in 1998 when Judy Weissenberg Cohen uttered a moving address to a large group of teenagers from Canada attending the 11th March of the Living in Poland. A line in Weissenberg Cohen’s speech describing her Nazi experience in Hungary, which poignantly became known as “The Last Time I Saw My Mother,” painfully notes, “I never had a chance to say goodbye to my mother. We didn’t know we had to say goodbye. And I am an old woman today and I have never made peace with the fact I never had that last hug and kiss. They say when you listen to a witness, you become a witness.”

Carlebach and Rubenstein have both become witnesses. Singer Carlebach, about to attend and sing at her second March of the Living, recalls her first visit to Poland and the march from Auschwitz to Birkenau in memory of Nazi victims.

“I was decimated…I was so completely destroyed by what I was seeing…” In the Rama Synagogue in Krakow, Carlebach “finally understood” and spontaneously stood up to sing the well-known Krakow Niggun, composed by her late father, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. The niggun (wordless melody), which moves from slow and mournful to upbeat and celebratory, was inspired by a dream Carlebach had on a visit to Auschwitz. He was reportedly so sad that he fell asleep and had a dream in which naked Jewish prisoners were going to their deaths—and were suddenly transformed into people wearing white clothes, with big smiles on their faces. “Until then, I didn’t take my work as a healer seriously. You become a witness. I was there. I feel it even now speaking to you!”

Rubenstein, National Director of March of the Living Canada, is also co-curator of the March of the Living exhibit which premiered at the United Nations in New York City on January 28 —one day after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual day of commemoration established by the United Nations.

The title of the exhibit, “When you Listen to a Witness, You Become a Witness,” comes from Weissenberg Cohen’s poem of 1998.

Sara Jaskiel, a Brooklyn-based graphic artist and designer, found the work of assembling and curating the exhibit “moving, overwhelming and meaningful.”

She recounts, “You think of each person and what happened, and you want to raise sensitivities.”

Jaskiel is particularly pleased with the “Death March” photograph she was able to assemble, which served as the backdrop for the musical performances and speeches at the January 28 ceremony.

“I did research and found photographs—from the Death March and from a March of the Living—taken at the same angle. It is as if they are parallel—in a row.. I was able to synthesize the photos.”

The moving photo, which all attendees received in the form of poster, depicts a black and white photo of Jews during the Holocaust and a color photo of Jews on the March of the Living walking “together” from Auschwitz to Birkenau.

Rubenstein, Carlebach, survivors, liberators and dignitaries participated in the January 28 premiere. The evening began with guests viewing the exhibit of photos and poems and socializing over wine and kosher hor d’oeuvres.

What initially seemed like an unusual start to an evening devoted to the Holocaust actually nicely fit with both the theme which each speaker echoed—memory and hope. The formal program began with 2012 March of the Living alumna, Sara Diamond, singing “Eli Eli.”

Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, the UN’s Under Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information welcomed the guests, noting, “We at the United Nations feel privileged to host this exhibit at UN headquarters as part of our Holocaust Remembrance activities.”

The speakers included Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, chairman of March of the Living International, Shlomo Grofman, vice chair, Dr. Naomi Azrieli, chair and CEO of the Azrieli Foundation, which publishes survivor memoirs, and Max Glauben, survivor.

Max Glauben tells his story of survival (photo credit: Howard Blas)

The particularly upbeat Glauben, born in Warsaw in 1928, spoke to the Times of Israel before the ceremony, described the exhibit as “a wonderful display” and said he was pleased that it is being housed at the United Nations.

In his public remarks, he recounted his personal story of survival and thanked the liberators in the audience. He also singled out attendee, Israeli Eli Yablonek, and his guide dog, Glen. Yablonek is blind and does not have a left arm. “Eli came on the March of the Living in 2012—with his dog. It shows that the same animals Nazis used to attack people could be used to do good.”

Rick Carrier, liberator 

One liberator of Buchenwald, Army Combat Engineer Frederick (Rick) Carrier, dressed in his World War II uniform, recounted in a pre-ceremony interview, “I saw prisoners trying to squeeze through a small gap at the bottom of a fence and I reached for my wire cutters. I cut a big hole in the barbed wire fence.” Carrier, now 90, notes that he didn’t realize the people were Jewish Holocaust survivors.

“We were fighting a war—they never told us anything. We didn’t have any knowledge. They were just awful looking when we discovered them.” Carrier proudly showed off the medals he received when he attended last year’s March of the Living.

Following the address by Prosor, where he commented that “The March of the Living is to remind us as much about life as about loss, and triumph as much as tragedy,” Carrier’s voice could be heard shouting out, “Yeah!”

In an interview with the Times of Israel following the ceremony, Prosor highlighted the significance of the evening’s event.

“This all takes place at the UN—a place where, most days of the year, people don’t unite. But [International Holocaust Remembrance Day on] January 27 brings people from all counties, backgrounds and religions together in understanding.”

Prosor elaborated, “Education about tolerance and acceptance of others is absolutely crucial to creating a different and better society for the future.” When asked who the ambassador would like to bring to see the exhibit, he replied, “school students, the younger generation — so they can be more tolerant.”

Asked which world leaders and countries should attend the exhibit, Prosor noted proudly, “Several ambassadors — perhaps four or five — have come so far. They were touched and will educate others.” He concluded, “It is no coincidence that the Hungarian ambassador attended. He came out publicly to take responsibility for what Hungary did to Jews during the Holocaust.”

On January 23, several days after the Hungarian Jewish community accused the government of Hungary of engaging in Holocaust revisionism, Hungary’s United Nations Ambassador Csaba Korosi, at an event sponsored by the UN Department of Public Information for NGOs, reported, “We owe an apology to the victims because the Hungarian state was guilty for the Holocaust.”

Hungary has come a long way since the day one Hungarian Jew, Judy Weissenberg Cohen, last saw her mother.

(Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com)

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For Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson, life at the United States Military Academy at West Point was not easy. West Point demands physical and academic discipline, and even periodic “white glove” room inspections. Lucky for Melson, it also requires a semester-long class in boxing.

“The goal of the course is to teach you to face your fears with no one to lean on. It teaches you to stand up for yourself. You are really exposed and naked when alone in the ring,” says Melson, 32, now a professional light middleweight boxer with a career record of 12 wins, one loss and one draw with four knockouts. He is a 2013 inductee to the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

“I started to knock out opponents. And I won the school championship as a freshman,” says Melson, who soon found himself practicing at both 5:30 am and 4:30 pm, while carrying a difficult academic load.

“If you are not an engineering major, you must have an engineering minor. I majored in psychology and minored in nuclear engineering,” says Melson.

An army brat, Melson was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Creole father, Nolan, born in Louisiana, and a Jewish mother, Annette, born in Israel to Polish Holocaust survivors.

“Her mother fled to Uzbekistan and spent a year in prison; her father was conscripted by the Russian army, and their four children were all born in different places — Uzbekistan, Austria, Canada and Israel,” says Melson.

How did Annette and Nolan Melson decide to bring up the children Jewish?

“There was no negotiation,” says Boyd laughing, “You know Jewish moms. She said, ‘I am Jewish and our household is Jewish!’”

Boyd attended yeshiva for kindergarten (“I hated it”) and Hebrew school three days a week at Temple Beth El in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. Melson celebrated his bar mitzvah in Brooklyn and “was taken to Israel as a bar mitzvah present.”

West Point was his father’s choice of school, but one night during his junior year, Melson’s sense of purpose and mission in life changed abruptly. He was visiting his folks in White Plains, NY, and went out with friends to The Thirsty Turtle, a dance club and lounge.

“I saw a girl who was out with her friends, dancing and a little tipsy,” he recalls. Melson was immediately interested in her and started dancing with Christan Zaccagnino — who was in a wheelchair.

“I crouched down low and we danced,” says Melson, matter of factly. The two began dating soon after.

Boyd Melson and Christan Zaccagnino, currently not dating, but still great friends. (photo credit: courtesy)

Zaccagnino had broken her neck and become a quadriplegic in 1993 at the age of ten after jumping in to a pool. She became Melson’s inspiration, in and out of the ring.

Melson continued to study (he graduated West Point in 2003 and earned an MBA at Touro College) and box — he was a three time All American, a four time West Point Brigade Open Boxing champion, and earned a spot as an alternate on the 2008 US Olympic boxing team.

Before going pro in 2010, Melson worked as a medical devices representative for Johnson and Johnson.

Since 2010, when Melson and Zaccagnino, still great friends, though no longer dating, founded Team Fight to Walk to raise awareness of spinal cord injuries, he has devoted his time to training full-time as a boxer for charity. He donates every penny of his boxing earnings tojustadollarplease.org, in support of a clinical trial to test promising treatments for spinal cord injuries.

Zaccagnino says, “I knew Boyd loved boxing and he loved to help people, so I helped him find his passion.”

“In the US alone, where a spinal cord injury occurs every 43 minutes, there are 300,000 people living with the tragic after-effects. And 40,000 of them are US Armed forces Veterans,” says Melson.

“The field of regenerative medicine is exploding and holds great promise for the treatment of these injuries,” says Melson.

JustADollarPlease.org is the fundraising project of SCINetUSA, the clinical trial network launched to test promising treatments for spinal cord injury in the United States. SCINetUSA is a partner with ChinaSCINet, the 25 center clinical trial network in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where clinical trials have already started.

SCINetUSA supports the work of Dr. Wise Young, the director of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Young’s clinical trials in China have already begun to show promise, says Melson, who has observed successes there after umbilical cells are injected to the spinal cord, and a patient is given six months of walking therapy. Young hopes to bring similar clinical trials to 40 patients in the US by 2014.

‘If five million people each give $1, then we will have a cure. We potentially have the winning lottery ticket without the money to buy a ticket!’

“If five million people each give $1, then we will have a cure. We potentially have the winning lottery ticket without the money to buy a ticket!” says Melson.

Melson reports, “I have experienced firsthand how adult stem cells can improve quality of life. I live to help Christan and others like her.”

The two have traveled the world together in search of an intervention which will get Zaccagnino up and walking.

“Boyd and I are relentless,” says Zaccagnino. “And he takes relentless to a whole new level.”

Melson is currently deep in training for his December 4 bout at BB King Blues Club and Grill where he faces Gundrick King in the eight round main event.

In and out of the ring, Melson is committed to “the cause.” Even his jewelry, clothing and nickname tell the story of his current passions, commitments and causes.

A black bracelet on his left wrist with gold writing says “Team Fight to Walk.” A blue bracelet on his right wrist says “Clinical Trials Now.” He wears a necklace with both a chai pendant and boxing gloves. And his boxing trunks feature symbols he chose in the summer of 2010, leading up to his professional career: a Star of David and a camoflauged wheelchair and West Point ’03 (his graduating class).

The Star of David, says Melson, is to honor his Holocaust survivor grandparents.

“Judaism influences my choices by reminding me of the hardships that our people endure as a race in order to merely survive, and how the idea of loving humanity is the backbone of our religion,” says Melson.

The camouflage wheelchair, he says, is for wounded warriors, Fight To Walk, for Team Fight To Walk, and “Christan’s battle along with the rest of the spinal cord injured world’s battles to get up out of their chairs.”

In the ring, Melson is known as “Rainmaker,” a name is taken from the movie, “The Power of One.”

“The Rainmaker was the nickname given to the main character because he brings hope. The Rainmaker brings hope and that’s my goal for a cure for spinal cure injuries,” says Melson.

A win for Boyd Melson means a purse for Team Fight to Walk. (photo credit: courtesy)

(Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com)

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