Jewish

Original Article Published On The JP

For those who observe Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and for those who simply want a relaxed destination getaway not far from New York City, there may be no better place than on Fire Island.

In most American Orthodox synagogues, it’s the one guy sitting in the back wearing shorts, a T-shirt and sandals who gets stares from the more appropriately and well-dressed congregants. 

At the Fire Island Minyan (FIM), located in a small house in the Seaview section of the three-block wide barrier island 51 km. long off the southern shore of Long Island, New York, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay, it was a different scene – the one guy wearing a black sports coat and slacks got the quizzical looks. 

“We attract everything from shtreimels to shorts,” shul president Dov Schwartzben notes playfully, though somewhat seriously. Most attendees at the relaxed, relatively late starting (9:45 a.m.) island minyan were dressed only a drop more fancy than the man leading Shaharit – himself clad in shorts, a red T-shirt with white lettering, a tallit and flip-flops. Some even came with coffee cups in hand. 

The room filled as the Shabbat morning went on, though some timed their arrival to coincide with the lavish hot kiddush served outside. Women had a very good view from behind the mechitza (partition) made of fishing net and seashells decorated with Jewish stars. They had a clear view of the holy ark with the small lighthouse on top used as the ner tamid (eternal light). When the gabbai asked if there were any kohanim present to receive the first aliyah, one wise guy blurted out, “I am not, but I identify as a kohen!” 

What is Fire Island like?

Fire Island is a unique place generally and Jewishly – even among relaxed seasonal vacation communities. No cars are permitted on the island, which sports its fair share of deer, butterflies and bamboo. Arrival times to the island must be timed to coincide with the ferry or water shuttles. As soon as passengers exit the ferry, they unlock their wagons and pull their coolers of food and other household supplies to their homes. 

SUNSET OVER Fire Island. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)

In the summer, those who observe Shabbat must be on a ferry no later than the 5:30 p.m. one – the 7 p.m. ferry arrives after Shabbat has begun (though not a problem for some given the pre-paid nature of the ferry and the fact that most think the island is a natural eruv and thus the prohibition of carrying items is not an issue).

On the island, summer visitors far outnumber seasonal residents by 800,000 to 873. There are only 360 permanent homes on the island, as well as a few rooming houses, some restaurants and bars, and a few essential stores including a general store, a liquor store, a plant nursery, some churches and two synagogues.

When did Jews come to Fire Island?

While there is currently a strong Jewish presence on the small island, the Seaview section was restricted to white Protestant homeowners until 1928 when the ban against Jews was lifted. Ralph Levy was reportedly the first Jew to break into Seaview in the 1940s, closely followed by Walter Weisman. More Jews began arriving in the 1940s through the ’60s including such famous actors and entertainers as Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, Lee Strasberg, Marilyn Monroe and Tony Randall. The Jewish community’s informal historian, Michael Lustig, notes that Carl Reiner, creator of the famous sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, reportedly wrote the script for several shows from Fire Island. 

Other famous Jewish residents have included Richard Meier (architect), David Duchovny (actor), Peter Greenberg (TV travel reporter), Nat Hentoff (columnist), Harvey Keitel (actor), Paul Krassner (writer), Tim Blake Nelson (actor/director) and Ally Sheedy (actor).

Most early Jewish residents to the island were secular, though there were some observant Jews including Rabbi David de Sola Pool of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue in NYC. When he bought his first house in the Ocean Beach section of the island in 1938, a local Nazi-sympathizer reportedly burned a cross on his lawn. 

The first organized prayer services were held in 1952, and a Torah was brought to the island in 1954. Services were held in the living room of Herman Wouk, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Caine Mutiny, another early, observant Jewish resident of the island. At various times, services were held in Wouk’s living room, Jack Miner’s house at 430 Dehnhoff in Ocean Beach (for High Holy Days services) and later on the deck of Rabbi de Sola Pool’s house in Ocean Beach.

After at least a decade or more of this arrangement, the group was large enough to become independent and was able to bring out a rabbi in a rented home that would double as a synagogue. The house was large enough to host rabbi, professor and medical ethicist Moshe Tendler and his family. Tendler, accomplished on his own, was the son-in-law of the prominent Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.

RABBI DR. Shaul Magid, who has been serving as rabbi of the once Conservative, then more Reconstructionist, now more Renewal Fire Island Synagogue since 1997, provided his account of Jewish life on the island. Magid, who wears earrings and looks one part hassidic master and one part Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, explains that his shul started in the 1970s as an Orthodox synagogue “on the deck of Herman Wouk’s house.” Over time, the synagogue evolved. Magid said there was a “contentious vote” in the 1980s and the synagogue decided to become egalitarian. “Some left over it,” says Magid, who explained that there were many issues and transitions taking place at once including younger families coming to the island with children, and people no longer identifying or wishing to practice in an Orthodox fashion.

The banjo-playing rabbi is an accomplished bluegrass musician who has truly brought a musical flavor to the shul. He and cantor Basya Schechter, lead singer of the singing group Pharaoh’s Daughter, have developed what they call “a Kabbalat Shabbat nusach [style] based on Appalachian music.” 

The bluegrassy service takes place on the shul’s deck each Friday night, and musical friends regularly spend Shabbat and contribute musically. Magid also happens to be a distinguished fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth and is a former professor of religious studies and the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein chair of Jewish studies in modern Judaism at Indiana University. He recently published a book on Rabbi Meir Kahane and is currently working on a book on antisemitism and critical race theory. 

With Magid’s shul in transition in the ’80s and early ’90s, some members left to join what was to become FIM – the second shul on the island, a 10-minute walk from the Fire Island Synagogue. The creation of a second shul begs reference to the classic joke about a small community needing two (or even three) shuls – one to pray in and one to never set foot in! [Actually, one other town on Fire Island, Saltaire, offers High Holy Day services in a space at St. Andrew’s Church].

The FIM was founded in 1990 by Jim (“Yitz”) Pastreich with services taking place on his deck. Pastreich recalls “plastering the entire island” with signs announcing the new minyan. Historian Lustig says: “[Prominent Reform] Rabbi [Herbert] Weiner, [author of the well-known book Nine and a Half Mystics], rented a house to us (in 1993) for a number of years, and it was initially operated as a ‘share house.’” He explained that in a share house, four people lived in two bunk-beds and the middle was cleared for services. The modest house, which was purchased in 1999, originally went by the name “Rodfei Shemesh, Anshe Chof” (Seekers of the Sun, People of the Beach). It proudly strives to be an “inclusive place for interested parties to participate in prayer services in a traditional (yet casual) environment.”

ON A recent Shabbat at FIM, the community was hosting 20 former IDF combat soldiers spending a week on the island as they participated in Peace of Mind, an intensive therapy program of the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma. The community was also gearing up for the Sunday Rosh Hodesh bar mitzvah of the son of longtime residents.

Services moved quickly – until the announcements, when the gregarious and good-natured shul president just couldn’t stop himself as he announced birthdays, famous events on that date in Jewish history – and tide times. No one seemed to care. Everyone stayed for a long time to enjoy the hot meaty outdoor kiddush – with more than a fair share of alcoholic beverages.

The community returned Sunday morning for the bar mitzvah, and many residents will spend Shabbatot on the island through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Some visitors who don’t own homes find their way to the island for a summer Shabbat or for the Jewish holidays. “Two families of Satmar Hassidim came recently,” a member shared. “They said they needed a break from their community.”

The shul website sums it up nicely. “In keeping with the easygoing nature of Fire Island, the FIM has no ‘dress code’ (congregants may be found wearing anything from suits to shorts/T-shirt to bathing suits and everything in-between) and services are self-organized, with no official rabbinical position (therefore no accompanying weekly sermon!). The FIM is very cognizant of the location/culture in which we operate, with a (relatively) late start time and efficient operation, so as to allow people to maximize their rest and leisure hours. In fine Jewish form the FIM also has a strong emphasis on food, and we strive to have good ‘kiddush lunches’ after Saturday morning services.”

For those who observe Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and for those who simply want a relaxed destination getaway not far from New York City, there may be no better place than on Fire Island.

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Original Article Published On The JNS

The Washington Wizards player says he’d like to continue being a goodwill ambassador for Israel and Judaism, much like his friend and mentor Omri Casspi did during his 10 years in the NBA.

Deni Avdija took one look at all of the members of the Israeli media on the Zoom screen armed with questions and joked that he was worried he’d miss the Washington Wizards team flight to Toronto. The Wizards kicked off the NBA regular season on Oct. 20 with a victory against the Toronto Raptors. Avdija had eight points and one assist in 21 minutes of playing time.

Avdija has worked hard to come back from his April 21 season that ended with a fracture in his right ankle. “I always play the hardest I can and want to be perfect from the beginning,” he says.

Yet he knows this isn’t always realistic. “The people I love tell me it doesn’t come right away. I was rushing to be faster than before, to score more. I know I should just be patient and just be better every day.”

The 20-year-old Israeli is a tough competitor and even tougher self-critic. He also shows signs of maturity and insight as he enters his second NBA season.

Coach Wes Unseld has high hopes for Avdija and anticipates him having a “bigger role” on the team. “He has the capability to be a playmaker. We will move him around to understand all five spots on the floor.”

Unseld also insists that Avdija earn his playing time. “He’s not there yet. He has to earn those minutes.”

Of course, Unseld actively continues to help Avdija develop his mental game. “We have a lot of confidence in Deni; we want him to have as much confidence in himself as we have in him. He just needs more—bottom line.”

Unseld notes that Tuesday’s final team pre-season practice was devoted to mental preparation.

He further shares that Avdija stays after practice regularly and asks questions in an effort to constantly improve and to master positions. He notes that he had made some mistakes in the team’s recent practice and wanted to better understand what he had done wrong. “Me and Anthony Gill stayed and brought three coaches to run all of our plays—we want to be perfect.”

Avdija has three goals for the upcoming seasons: to be more aggressive, more experienced and more confident. He also hopes to continue getting to know and enjoy his teammates. “We are doing stuff together. The off-the-court stuff is helping us on the court, too!”

Avdija says he’d also like to continue being a goodwill ambassador for Israel and Judaism, much like his friend and mentor Omri Casspi did during his 10 years in the NBA. Due to COVID precautions, he hasn’t yet had an opportunity to get to know the local Jewish community or interact with fans.

But he notes, “I try to implement a lot of Israeli atmosphere [into my daily life] with food, holidays, in every way that I can. I haven’t met the Jewish community yet, but I am excited and looking forward to doing many things together.”

He says he’s also looking forward to helping put “Israel on the map, as they say.”

For now, Avdija is focusing on the NBA season. “In the meantime, I am concentrating on my basketball, coming back from my injury, so I didn’t have a lot of time, but I believe that in the future, we will have great times.”

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Original Article Published on The Chabad.ORG

Tell a friend you are going to federal prison and responses vary from surprise, to sarcastic comments, to questions about why a person would spend precious volunteer time visiting someone who had committed a crime. When I was asked to take part in a new visitation program as a reporter, my own first reaction to the assignment was one of nervousness and even embarrassment. What could I possibly have in common with these guys, even if we were both Jewish? What would we talk about? How would I explain my participation in this program to my friends and family members? Why would I go through an application and screening process just to visit people who had done something bad?

I spoke to a few friends who, much to my surprise, shared with me that each of their communities had several members who had spent time in prison. I began to think about those inmates’ families and what it must be like to have a family member in prison. I wondered what it’s like being Jewish in prison, and what the process of re-entering the Jewish community after release is like.

I’d have to venture inside a facility to find out.

A few months later, with the help and guidance of the Chabad-Lubavitch affiliated Aleph Institute—the leading Jewish organization caring for the incarcerated and their families—I found myself passing through a metal detector and having my hand stamped at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York, not far from City Hall. A federal facility known for its strict security, MCC is a 12-story concrete fortress in the heart of Manhattan, a place The New York Times quotes an inmate describing as “less hospitable than Guantanamo Bay”—he would know, he’d been in both. MCC is adjacent to the courthouse where I’ve gone for jury duty, but I’d never even known of its existence. Stripped of my phone, keys and wallet, and with only my reporter’s notebook and pen in hand, an officer led me through a series of claustrophobic passageways, eventually to the visitation floor.

In the small, triangular-shaped room where I was told to wait for the Jewish inmates I’d be meeting one at a time, I noticed a would-be inspirational poster on the wall. “Make it happen,” it cheerily read. “There is no challenge too great for those who have the will and heart to make it happen.”

It dawned on me that though geographically close to my own home, I was in an alternate universe.

Visitation Opens Up

The Aleph Institute was founded in 1981 by Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar at the express direction of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, who was an early and passionate proponent of criminal justice reform. With the goal of reaching out to Jews in limited environments, Aleph has a division dedicated to the incarcerated and a separate one working with the military. It has been a pioneer in both fields.

The guiding principle behind Aleph’s prisoner initiatives, following the Rebbe’s leadership, is that someone who has committed a criminal act is still dear to G‑d and created in His image, with religious responsibilities, the ability to improve, and human emotional needs. Above all, each person has a unique role to play in the world, and the goal must be to assist them in reintegrating into society, where they can resume their individual missions.

“When a person finds himself in a situation of ‘after the sunset,’” the Rebbe wrote in a November 1977 Chanukah letter addressed to prisoners, “when the light of day has given way to gloom and darkness—as was the case in those ancient days under the oppressive Greek rule—one must not despair, G‑d forbid, but on the contrary, it is necessary to fortify oneself with complete trust in G‑d, the Essence of Goodness, and take heart in the firm belief that the darkness is only temporary, and it will soon be superseded by a bright light, which will be seen and felt all the more strongly through the supremacy of light over darkness, and by the intensity of the contrast.”

Despair and despondency is part and parcel of prison life, a feeling of being alone in a harsh, dark world. That’s why Aleph’s motto is: “No one alone, no one forgotten.”

And by feeling “not forgotten,” the chances of making a smooth post-prison transition improves drastically. Of the nearly 2.2 million people incarcerated in the United States today, nearly 75 percent will return to prison within five years of release. As reform advocates continue to work on various programs across the system to lower the recidivism rate—including pre-sentencing diversion, drug rehabilitation and, crucially, educational efforts—one aspect that has continuously borne results are visitation programs. Prisoners who maintain connections with the world outside, members of their families and communities, have a far better chance of landing on their feet once they re-enter society.

Aleph has facilitated prison visits by Chabad rabbis and rabbinical students for decades, but as I learned from Aleph Visitation Circle coordinator Binah Banayan, the process is now opening up. In fact, the Aleph Visitation Circle recently became the first organized volunteer effort in the Jewish community to involve “regular people” outside the rabbinate in one on one prisoner visitation.

“The visitation program was started with the idea in mind that there are a lot of inmates that do not get any visits from their friends or family,” explains Rabbi Dovid Raigorodsky, also an Aleph Visitation Circle coordinator. “This can leave them feeling very lonely, almost like they don’t matter.”

Aleph contacted the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to begin the work of setting up a one-on-one volunteer visitation program, and BOP eventually granted permission. Since September of 2018 the program has enlisted 65 active volunteers who have visited 20 different federal institutions nationwide, making over 250 visits to date. Another 30 volunteers are currently pending approval by the BOP.

The process of becoming a volunteer is fairly straight-forward. When I decided to make the plunge, I completed the online application form, provided references, and a few weeks later was accepted and offered several possible visitation dates at MCC.

I carefully read the rules about the prison dress code required for visitors and policies on what they may take inside into the prison (essentially nothing). Several days before my first visit, I was given the names and inmate numbers of two Jewish prisoners and told to report at MCC.

I found the entrance and approached the check- in window—not entirely confident the clerk would find the folder with the letter authorizing my visit. To my surprise, they had the information, and I headed in.

In the Tank

Like the rest of the building, and despite the inspirational posters, the visitation floor is not very welcoming. Several of the rooms were occupied by attorneys meeting with their clients, clad in their drab, brown prison garb. The vending machine, I noticed, was broken.

My meetings would last an hour each, and as I waited for the guards to return with the first inmate I’d spend time with, I wondered what we’d discuss.

The first prisoner, “S,” was a man approximately 55 years old. He immediately put me at ease. We spoke about our lives and learned that we had children studying in the same university, lived in a similar neighborhood and were deeply connected to Jewish practice.

Though I didn’t ask, he proceeded to tell me about his financial crimes. “Everybody has problems and makes mistakes,” he told me. He’d already served 15 years in prison.

S spoke fondly and with great appreciation of the rabbis who visit regularly. “You meet these people, and you are magnetized to them. Getting visits means you are alive. Visitations are called ‘not forgetting;’ in here, you are forgotten to the world.”

He seemed to know all of the Jewish inmates, including two women who work in the commissary. He described the experience of being a Jew in prison. “It is difficult. We are a minority in the U.S., and especially here!”

S expressed great appreciation for the visitation program. “Aleph is important because when you are in here, you live in a different world than outside; you are not in touch with society. Aleph helps you know what is going on outside; we live vicariously through others.” S feels that the visits by Aleph will greatly help him make the adjustment to the outside world easier after all his years behind bars. “Aleph gives services for people to re-enter society, funds for relocating and to get on our way.”

Minutes after S left our meeting to return to his job, “V,” a muscular man in his mid-30s, entered the small room. He, too, is committed to Jewish practice and belief, and is upset at what he describes as the lack of services Jewish prisoners receive. “There are no religious services for Jews; we get juice on Friday nights for Shabbat—no challah. This year, we did start getting matzah for Passover.”

V proudly says that he puts on his tallit and tefillin each day, and prayers three times a day.

V has struggled with addiction for many years, and acknowledges his past errors. ”Everybody makes mistakes in life,” he says, noting that “addiction is a sickness.” At the same time, he points out, ”everybody deserves a second chance … we are not bad people.”

V, too, feels a kinship with other Jewish prisoners. Although it will be years before he is released, V remains positive. “I know G‑d is with me. I have faith. I keep going.”

A Fulfilling Experience

Though my first prison visit went smoothly, on the second attempt I learned it’s not always that easy. For some reason the clerk at MCC couldn’t find my authorization and I was sent away without seeing the inmates I was scheduled to visit. Even more frustrating, I had no way of communicating with the inmates to explain to them what happened.

I had never met or spoken with others who have decided to spend time visiting prisoners, and I wondered if their experience was similar to mine. What did they do or speak about on their visits?

Avrumi Frankel of Lakewood, N.J., has been visiting prisoners at nearby FCI (Federal Correctional Institution) Fort Dix for about a year. After seeing an ad looking for people to read the Megillah on Purim, Frankel eventually connected with the Aleph Visitation Circle and completed all the paperwork. He has made 15 prison visits since. As opposed to the MCC, where I had been, Frankel says the visiting room at FCI Fort Dix is one big room where he can meet with many inmates at once, a reflection of the various rules and regulations that govern each facility differently.

“It is a very fulfilling experience,” Frankel says. “You feel that they are desperate for visitors, and that they really appreciate it. They feel good that people are thinking about them.” Frankel points out that even people not on his list come over to him during the visiting time.

Frankel has developed an ongoing, evolving relationship with the Jewish prisoners, and he makes a point to say that he never judges them—that job has already been done by someone else.

“I don’t think they are bad people,” says Frankel. “I think they are good people who have made bad choices.”

Another volunteer I got the chance to speak with was Rabbi Zalman Gansburg. Gansburg is co-director, together with his wife, Chani, of Chabad of Palmetto Bay and Deering Bay in Florida, but as opposed to going in as a rabbi, Gansburg chose to visit prison through the Aleph Visitation Circle the same way that all non-rabbinic visitors do.

“There is a special spiritual fulfillment visiting someone in prison; the impact you have on his life is amazing,” Gansburg explains. As a Chabad emissary Gansburg is no stranger to assisting people from all walks of life, and yet he feels there is something special about the simple act of visiting the incarcerated.

“You see the impact right away,” he says. “How can you not when the inmate tells you you’re the first visitor they have had in over a year?”

The experience has shaped the way Gansburg views and relates to all people. “It’s humbling. It brings you down to reality.”

Gansburg’s visits have also developed over time, and what started as friendly talk about life experiences and the like now involve a formal learning component. One of the men he visits got himself a Tanya, the foundational text of Chabad Chassidic philosophy, and each of them study the same section of the Tanya. Since Gansburg isn’t allowed to bring in books, now when he visits they’re able to discuss their studies and trade perspectives on the Torah they’ve both learned.

Gansburg hopes his own experience will encourage others to volunteer with the Aleph Visitation Circle. “When you go into a prison and interact with someone behind bars, and talk to him and try to understand him, you expand your views on life and you are able to understand people more and life more. It makes you a better father, husband, son, brother, and above all, a better person.”

Judging by my own experience 1,200 miles north, I couldn’t agree more.

As the program expands, volunteers are needed in every city and state—especially Brooklyn, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago. To date, over one hundred and four prisoners have received visitors thanks to the program. The goal, Aleph says, “is to reach every Jewish prisoner and remind them that even in prison they are never alone or forgotten.”

To volunteer for the Aleph Visiting Circle, visit their website or contact Sara Schmukler at sara@aleph-institute.org, 310-598-2142 ext. 231.

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Original Article in Jerusalem Post

The Jewish and engaging Kaufman is perhaps its most colorful member. Her family and personal stories weave deep connections to Jewish causes while offering a window into American history.

NEW YORK – The packed crowd at the Mercury Lounge on Manhattan’s Lower East Side last week was witnessing a rare feat – the New York debut of a band that formed in 1967.

Ace of Cups, the all-female San Francisco rock band from the heady Summer of Love, who shared stages with the Grateful Dead, The Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and opened for Jimi Hendrix at a free concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, might have been one of the only hippie bands of the era who didn’t nab a recording contract and become stars.

However, a half-century later, with it members now grandmas and hovering around the 70-year-old mark, the band with four of the original five Aces – Denise Kaufman (vocals, bass, harmonica), Mary Gannon (vocals, ukulele, bass), Mary Ellen Simpson (vocals, lead guitar), and Diane Vitalich (vocals, drums) – were rocking the crowd and enjoying the accolades.

Their debut album released late last year, and featuring contemporaries like Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), David Freiberg (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Barry Melton (Country Joe & The Fish), Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Moonalice), David Grisman, Steve Kimock (Zero, RatDog), Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Taj Mahal and Buffy Sainte-Marie, has won them the full-fledged recognition that evaded them the first time around, as well as a sense of vindication and jubilation.

The Jewish and engaging Kaufman is perhaps its most colorful member. Her family and personal stories weave deep connections to Jewish causes while offering a window into American history – from the Stock Market Crash of 1929, to the early and late 60’s Bay Area scene.  

Raised in northern California, Kaufman played piano, guitar and wrote songs from an early age. At her high-school graduation in Palo Alto, Jerry Garcia, the famed lead singer and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, played at the after party. She traveled on Ken Kesey’s bus as part of the Merry Pranksters (when LSD was available in vats of Kool-Aid), and was chronicled as Mary Microgram in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Kaufman attended Lowell All-City School in San Francisco for the first two years of high school, joining her first picket line in San Francisco at age 14. She then transferred to the Castilleja School in Palo Alto, “the same school Grace Slick had previously attended.”

The legends of the up-and-coming 60’s music scene were very accessible. When Kaufman graduated high school in 1964, she arranged to rent Bimbo’s 365 Club in North Beach, San Francisco. “I had to find a band, and hired my favorite local band, The Zodiacs, which included Pigpen [Ron McKernan] and Jerry [Garcia]!”

After taking summer school classes at Stanford, Kaufman started her studies at UC Berkley, intending to study political science and theater. 

“It was always my vision. Kennedy had been shot. I was in Youth for Kennedy. I studied Latin American studies and Shakespeare.”

Berkeley was emerging as a center of activism and protests. 

“Outside of Sprout Hall, every political perspective was represented by the card tables full of brochures and people on soapboxes. There was a sense of ‘We can do this! We can change the world. We have to!’ I was in heaven there!”  

Kaufman vividly recalls that, within a few weeks of arriving at Berkeley, the campus police removed all the tables and told the organizations that they could no longer operate in any way on the campus. 

“This started the Free Speech Movement,” she continued. “From the first day, I was one of the students ready to fight this battle. Within two months, 700 of us got arrested and our free speech rights were eventually upheld.”

As the counterculture unfolded with its twin flags of music and drugs, Kaufman indulged in both. She describes her involvement with LSD as having “a deeply life-altering effect – there were no words to talk about it.” Even though it wasn’t yet illegal, she recalled that she met resistance at home. “My parents were terrified,” she said, adding that she was one of the youngest involved in Kesey’s escapades, along with the Dead’s Weir and Mountain Girl, Kesey’s girlfriend who would go on to become Jerry Garcia’s wife.

Kaufman always felt she was embodying the Jewish values and that they were always a part of the Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco 1960’s scene. “It was all so intertwined.”  

She notes the involvement of so many of her peers in various civil rights, social justice and spirituality causes and movements.

After meeting the other women in Haight-Ashbury in early 1967, Kaufman and Ace of Cups became integral components of the live music scene in the Bay Area. She was romantically linked to both Paul Simon and to Rolling Stone-founder Jann Wenner.

However, at the same time as compatriots like Grace Slick and Janis Joplin were catching national attention fronting male-dominated bands and receiving record contracts, Ace of Cups were facing challenges. 

“The record label guys that were coming up from LA didn’t know what to do with us. I don’t think we fit in with what they wanted,” said Kaufman. 

They stuck it out without a recording contract for another few years, but by 1972, the band was finished and music made way for motherhood, family responsibilities, “day jobs,” and for Kaufman, life in such exotic places as Kauai, Hawaii.

But nearly 35 years after performing with Jimi Hendrix, the band had an important break – in 2003, it released “It’s Bad for You But Buy It!,” a well-received CD of 1960s “rehearsals, demos, TV soundstage recordings, and in-concert tapes.” 

In 2008, a DVD of their performances from the 1968 television program West Pole was released. 

An even bigger break came on May 14, 2011 when the band reformed and performed at Wavy Gravy’s 75th birthday party and a SEVA Foundation benefit. George Baer Wallace, founder of High Moon Records – in attendance at the Mercury Lounge show – was moved by their performance and offered them a recording contract.

Once again in the limelight, their schedule has been demanding and fun-filled. Before their Mercury Lounge show, the band members appeared onstage with Sirius FM radio host Gary Lambert, who playfully suggested they receive a Grammy Award for best new artist.

The evening kicked off with a video showing the band’s storied history, and continued with an animated Q and A discussion with music editors and writers from Rolling Stone, Relix and other publications. The band played a full electric set and Patti Smith Band guitarist and rock historian Lenny Kaye joined the band for “The Well.”

The next day, they went to Philadelphia for NPR’s World Cafe, and were out late Wednesday attending a Wailers concert at Brooklyn Bowl. Later in the week, they participated in a Friday Night Jam with Rabbi Daniel Brenner and Relix’s Mike Greenhaus at New York’s Rockwood Music Hall.  

The band proudly reports that they have so much additional material that they’ll release their follow up album next year, featuring contributions from Jackson Browne, Wavy Gravy and others. 

The Grateful Dead may have written the line, but it most accurately applies to Ace of Cups – “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”

A JEWISH JOURNEY

Denise Kaufman’s parents were “deeply involved” in Jewish causes. “People always came to our home for dinner – from Brandeis, Hadassah, Federation – causes related to Israel.”

She has photos of her parents with both Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan from fund-raising trips they took to America, and she traveled to Israel – once with her parents, and once with a boyfriend in 1980. Her parents even owned an apartment in Netanya.

“They always gave it to their friends to stay in order to have a more local experience of Israel,” she says.

Kaufman mostly raised her now-adult daughter, Tora, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where she cofounded a school (The Island School), arranged Seders (“We had 120 for a seder in 1983!”), served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Hawaii, and hosted Entebbe mission physician Ilan Kutz.

Kaufman speaks fondly of the Friedmans, Israeli friends she met on Kauai in 1980. “Their daughter and her family now have an organic a farm next to ours.”

In 1980, Kaufman and her boyfriend spent a few months in Israel, which she recalls affectionately. They played Hawaiian music (on the dulcimer and guitar), and appeared on the Israeli TV program, Kitoret, with Yaron London. They played at Jerusalem’s Tzavta Theater, surfed in Yamit (“We bought a little car”), surfed and camped in Dahab, in the Sinai.

“One of the most amazing musical experiences of my life happened under the stars in Dahab. We started playing music in the desert night – there were no lights and we couldn’t see anyone, but people in the dunes around us began to join us in song. We sang with an unknown choir almost till dawn.”

Kaufman continues to be actively involved in Jewish life. She speaks fondly of Rabbi Mordecai Finley, her rabbi at Ohr HaTorah in Los Angeles, where she currently spends most of her time. She plays bass there every Shabbat and holiday when she is in town. Kaufman notes that this was also Leonard Cohen’s shul.

In Los Angeles, when she’s not rocking with the Ace of Cups, Kaufman is a private yoga teacher and has worked with Madonna, Quincy Jones, Jane Fonda, and former basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.


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