Herzmark,
Berson to leave JCC
By CHRIS LEPPEK
IJN Assistant Editor
Paula Herzmark, chief executive officer of the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center for the past 11 years, announced her resignation this week, along with that of Steve Berson, who has served for the past three years as chief operating officer. In an open letter to the community released Monday, Herzmark announced that she would be leaving as soon as "an orderly transition" can be arranged. "It is time for me to move on to new challenges," she wrote. "Organizations need different things at different times in their institutional lives. This one now needs something else, someone else -- a different type of person with different skills who can take it to the next level." Gerald Gray, JCC co-president, emphasized to the IJN this week that the resignations were not the result of any dispute between the professional and lay leaders at the JCC. He had nothing but praise for Herzmark and Berson. "When Paula was hired, we expected to have her for three years, so we probably got seven or eight more years out of her than we were entitled to," Gray said. "We were extremely fortunate to have Paula for 11 years and she and Steve did an absolutely magnificent job for the JCC." Herzmark, an entrepreneur and veteran of the cable television industry, came to the JCC, with the title of executive director, in 1992. Her successful business background and status as an outsider to the non-profit world were considered strong pluses by the JCC, plagued at the time by deep and mounting debt and a facility badly in need of upkeep and repair. She originally conceived of her JCC position as a short-term one, telling the IJN in a 1992 interview that "historically I have been either a start-up person or a fix-up person. I am not a maintenance person. That's not interesting to me." That she stayed as long as she did, Herzmark acknowledged in her letter this week, was a surprise to her. "Nobody is more surprised than I am that I have remained at the helm for more than a decade." With a non-nonsense, sometimes tough, management style that contrasted sharply with that of her predecessor, the late David Eskenazi, Herzmark set stiff goals for herself and the JCC staff and board early in her tenure. She pledged to stop the Center's history of deficit spending; to initiate and conclude a major capital campaign to repair and update the JCC ("making it real for the 90s instead of real for the 60s," she told the IJN); and to begin to grow an endowment fund. Under her management, the JCC achieved all of those goals, and more, which Herzmark acknowledged in her recent letter. "When I came," she wrote, "the institution was on the brink of disaster. Today it is a going concern." While thanking the board for being "100% supportive," Herzmark acknowledged this week that sometimes the "going has been rough" at the institution. Conflicts arose over staff cutbacks and departmental reorganization, and over a later-reversed decision in 2000 to close the JCC's popular tennis center. That proposal, later settled through compromise, was an early phase of an exhaustive effort to merge the JCC's Mizel Center for Arts and Culture with the Mizel Museum of Judaica. The two-year-old union between the two institutions was officially dissolved earlier this month. Herzmark's resignation did not come as a surprise, Gray said, since the board has known for some time that she was staying on specifically to oversee the Mizel merger. It was also for that reason that Berson had been promoted to COO, in order to relieve Herzmark of routine JCC duties and allow her to focus on the merger. "When this didn't come to fruition and the merger was called off, I was not surprised at all that she decided to leave," Gray said. "I would have loved for her to stay, but it's time for her to move on." Herzmark, in her letter, wrote that the merger project had been a source of energy to her, suggesting that its failure was an impetus for her resignation. Gray was also not surprised at Berson's decision, noting that Berson had given notice even before Herzmark. Gray said the board would have been happy to hire Berson for the top job at the Center but he made it clear that he too would be seeking other opportunities. "He was getting a little burned out," Gray said of Berson, who will be leaving his position no later than Sept. 30. Gray, who has been working on the JCC's behalf since 1959, said "the Center today is such a vibrant operation. I've been involved for close to 45 years, going back to when it was in the Rude Building at Colfax and Williams, and this Center has never been more vibrant than it is today." It will be impossible, he said, to find a replacement for Herzmark but "we're really not going to need one," since so much of her projected work has already been completed. "We really owe Paula," he said. "She's a visionary." The JCC search committee, made up of executive committee members, is already seeking a new director. Herzmark, who will stay on until the new director is hired, has committed to helping with the transition. Gray is hopeful that the new director will be in place by the end of the year. RETURN TO
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Ecstatic prayer vs. classical Reform
By ANDREA JACOBS
IJN Staff Writer
Questions of how a Jew should pray and live a Jewish life have fractured Pueblo's small Jewish community.
Dr. Robert Saunders, the charismatic and divisive leader of 102-year-old Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, has resigned to start a new congregation fashioned in his Jewish Renewal image. About 15 of his followers also left the Reform synagogue to pursue what Saunders describes as "ecstatic prayer" and a deeper connection with G-d. His group, loosely called the "new chavurah," has already held its first service in a field and plans to meet regularly at Bethel Church in Pueblo. Breaking ties with Temple Emanuel wasn't his intention, he says, "but it seems to be moving that way. We're off." The group has raised just under $1,000 in a few weeks from the classes Saunders teaches on Kabbalah and other subjects. After leading Temple Emanuel for two years, Saunders, a clinical psychotherapist who is working toward his ordination from the Jewish Renewal movement, resigned from the temple in late June. The vast majority of Temple Emanuel's 42-member families stayed put. Emanuel has hired Cantor Birdie Becker of Denver to officiate at services twice a month and also tutor Bar and Bat Mitzvah students. A new board was elected in June. Temple Emanuel's president, Paul Aviles-Silva, joined Saunders' group. He was replaced by Dr. Robert Maisel. Although a sizable number of Temple Emanuel's members enjoyed the eclectic music Saunders introduced at services, they missed certain aspects of their classical Reform tradition which Saunders had replaced. "I liked Dr. Saunders and thought what he was doing was great," says Michael Atlas-Acuna, a loyal synagogue member who was temple president during part of Saunders' tenure. "The music of renewal and that whole philosophy was good. "But some people wanted to continue to see what they grew up with in the Reform movement," Atlas-Acuna says. "While they were willing to adopt some of the new things, they also wanted some of the old. But there was no compromising" with Saunders. The real problem, says Atlas-Acuna, "was about how to be a Jew. Everything else was window dressing." Saunders stressed the importance of observing Shabbat, regular attendance at services and the need to establish a kosher home. Under his leadership, Temple Emanuel grew from having bi-monthly Friday night Shabbat services to weekly Shabbat services on both Friday night and Saturday morning. The Saturday services often lasted three hours -- sans Bar or Bat Mitzvahs. "It was like, you need to be doing it this way to be a Jew, and that offended some people," says Atlas-Acuna. "Reform Judaism is a smorgasbord. Each one of us decides how observant we're going to be." Saunders, who admits he's not a Reform Jew, believes Temple Emanuel has failed to keep up with dramatic changes in the Reform movement during the past few years and is married to its classical Reform roots. "There are individuals at Temple Emanuel who wanted a manageable type of Judaism," Saunders says. "'Have a service on Friday night and don't worry about it the rest of the week; do a mitzvah and isn't that nice.' But that's not where I'm at. "I can only conclude that people felt tremendously threatened by members who wore kippot and were learning to keep kosher. And when they saw what we were doing in our toned-down Renewal services, they felt weird, strange and very put out." About 15 individuals converted to Judaism after attending Saunders' services and classes and then joined Emanuel. Saunders says their dedication to learning and studying "changed the organization." While Saunders maintains some of Emanuel's members objected to the converts, Atlas-Acuna scoffs at the statement. "A few of them were down and out, and now they're high on Judaism," says Atlas-Acuna, himself a convert to Judaism. "But the whole idea that we don't accept converts isn't true. If it is, how did I get to be president of the temple?" Saunders' musical Shabbat services at Emanuel incorporated Sephardic, Turkish and other melodies which were frequently arranged for seven-part vocal harmony. "We were rocking and rolling," agrees Atlas-Acuna, who played the conga drums on the bimah with Saunders. Too often, the music fell on congregational ears longing for the familiar. "They would say, 'Let's do [a song] traditionally,'" Saunders says. "I explained that the old melody for the Sh'ma was a soprano line from a German opera. I had 15 Odom Olams, but all they wanted was" -- he hums the traditional tune. "I got tired of all those German drinking songs." For former president Aviles-Silva, the major issue confronting Emanuel's members was whether they could expand their religious comfort zone and embrace change. "The crux of the whole thing was change," he says. "The majority of members wanted to go back to the good old days and be comfortable" with what Aviles-Silva labels as post-WW II, social action-oriented Reform Judaism, "when Jews did everything except a lot of praying." Members feared the "introspection" Saunders required from his congregation, Aviles-Silva says. "Dr. Saunders made people look inside themselves and ask who is a Jew. The subset of that is, who is a good Jew." Robert Saunders' background is as eclectic as the music he performs and the people he attracts to services -- including Rastafarians. The Brooklyn native's grandparents were Orthodox, he was raised in "the Conservative milieu," and his father, a Holocaust survivor, was secular. While a student at Indiana University, Saunders started studying Kabbalah and Jewish philosophy. "That opened my eyes to a new set of currents not being practiced in the Orthodox family or the Conservative shul or the Reform-oriented Hillel House on campus," he says. Saunders met Shlomo Carlebach in 1969. While the singer "made a lasting impression," Saunders proceeded to practice Buddhist meditation in an ashram. "But I could only go so far. Instead of having ecstatic Buddhist experiences, I was having ecstatic Jewish experiences." He moved to Pueblo from St. Louis 23 years ago. Professionally, Saunders switched from dentistry to psychotherapy at some point. In 1996, Temple Emanuel approached him to lead songs for the congregation, and he accepted. He also "started these other ecstatic-type currents, and they found their way into teachings" at Emanuel. Saunders says he attended HUC-JIR's para-rabbinics program, "but I found it unacceptable." He then "wandered" for a while until he hooked up with the Jewish Renewal movement. While at Emanuel, Saunders increased the temple's ecumenical presence in various civic and peace organizations in Pueblo. "All of a sudden we had friends" within different Christian denominations and "this made people feel too exposed, perhaps." A self-described educational reformist, Saunders insisted that religious school teachers at Emanuel have "some religious training. People who taught Hebrew in religious school actually had to know Hebrew." He also started a project which was intended to replace standard Sunday School curriculum with "an immersion program of community involvement using parents as exemplars" of Jewish behavior. Saunders' attitude angered Temple Emanuel's religious school teachers. Finally he resigned. Aviles-Silva says that services at Temple Emanuel before and after Saunders' arrival "were like the difference between a child and an adult. An adult is, 'Been there, done that.' A child can experience wide-eyed joy. I think a lot of the tension came from people who couldn't get high on prayer. The mentality there was like a football game: get in, get out." Some suggest Saunders was developing -- and encouraging -- a cult following. Although Saunders has yet to be ordained, he is referred to as "rebbe." Says one Emanuel member, "Reform Jews don't wrap themselves around a rabbi that way." Dr. Maisel, Temple Emanuel's new president, adopts a strictly conciliatory tone when talking of the separation. "Personalities are a secondary issue," he says. "We parted on a very positive note and remain mutually supportive." Saunders, who expects that certain Emanuel members will occasionally attend Shabbat services at the "new chavurah," expresses admiration for many people he met during his tenure. "I was married at Temple Emanuel. I've performed G-d knows how many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs there. But to be who we are, we had to go our different ways. And we are very wild, demonstrably tribal individuals who believe fiercely in their path." While an admirer of Saunders' intelligence and talents, Atlas-Acuna wishes Saunders had tried to compromise with Emanuel's core members. "When the congregation was starting to have all this divisiveness, true leadership could have pulled us together," he says. "That didn't happen, which is disappointing, especially since Pueblo has such a small Jewish community. "But," he says, "we're Jews. We're supposed to argue about this stuff." RETURN TO
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1,000
new Hamas missiles
By MATTHEW GUTMAN and MARGOT
DUDKEVITCH Jerusalem Post
JERUSALEM -- Hamas is utilizing the cease-fire to build more than 1,000 Kassam rockets in an effort to change the balance of power following the three-month cessation in hostilities, a senior IDF officer told reporters in the Gaza Strip on Monday. This has sparked a fear among IDF officers that should hostilities resume, "the opening of the next phase in the conflict will be much more violent," according to a Gaza brigade commander. Much of the raw material necessary to build the rockets is smuggled in myriad tunnels underneath Rafah. From there, the source said, the weapons or bomb components are driven to Khan Yunis or Gaza City. It is in those cities, said the senior officer, that Hamas is working on a new version of the Kassam that could reach "15 kilometers or up to 20 km," putting cities such as Ashkelon and Netivot within range. Some of the more lucrative tunnels whose "engineers" earn a handsome profit from material smuggled under the Egyptian-Gaza border are believed to be 80 meters underground. "Unfortunately," he said, "their digging of tunnels is much faster than our ability to stop it." Dozens of kilograms of explosives, hundreds of weapons, antitank rockets, missiles, and thousands of bullets reach terrorist organizations operating in the Rafah area, which are taking advantage of the situation to replenish their stocks and rearm, he said. "The Palestinian Authority is doing nothing to stop the smuggling of huge amounts of arms, weapons, and ammunition. We estimate that there are eight to 10 tunnels currently functioning," he said. In accordance with the understandings reached with the PA, the IDF halted initiated operations in the Rafah area that focused on demolishing and destroying the tunnels. "We destroyed or sealed more than 25 tunnels in the past year. It is unfortunate that all our achievements appear to have gone down the drain. The PA, which meant to deal with the situation, is doing nothing, and the situation is being taken advantage of by all the terrorist organizations who are receiving the weapons and arms," he said. The IDF had almost brought to a halt the smuggling of weapons, he said. "Even the Palestinians admitted that when we operated in the area, the stream of weapons and ammunition stopped," he said. The Egyptians also are not doing enough to stop the smuggling, he said. "It is not as though they are unaware of the vast amounts of weapons and ammunition being smuggled through." While the IDF has taken the PA security forces to task for failing to disarm the terrorist groups, it does commend the PA for a concerted effort in reducing the level of incitement and for clamping down on terror attacks. Nonetheless, the IDF says that it has recorded 85 attacks in the Gaza Strip alone since the declaration of the cease-fire 20 days ago. While the PA has managed to reduce the number of attacks, it has "not gotten to the root of the problem" i.e. disarming of the terrorists the senior officer said. Especially frustrating for the army, he added, is that the IDF feeds the PA intelligence tips from time to time hoping that it will act on them. "That they dealt with [inciting] graffiti and are getting traffic cops back on the streets is nice, but the main problem for us is not traffic but weapons smuggling," he said. Negotiation has so far served as the chief PA method for preventing attacks, he said. Sometimes "they arrest a militant under the most comfortable conditions possible and release him" within hours. The longest a militant has been held, he said, is four days. Jhe perception within IDF ranks that the PA has all the necessary tools to disarm and arrest Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorists is also giving way. When asked whether the balance of weapons in the Gaza Strip is tilted toward the rejectionist groups or the PA, a brigade commander in Gaza hesitated for a moment, and then noted that the rejectionists probably have the upper hand. "There have been so many arms smuggled in that we can tell by the sheer number that we capture that there must be much more that we don't," he said. Security sources have for months been publicly saying that the PA boasts a force of 20,000 armed security personnel in Gaza alone. "They are armed, have enough jeeps, cars, enough ammunition, and enough courts to arrest those men and take them to court," said one officer. But in private, the IDF gives figures much closer to those that PA security chiefs give -- about 12,000, sometimes less. Many of these men are not nearly as motivated as their rejectionist counterparts. When further pressed, the commander, who works intimately with his PA counterparts, admitted that in an all-out battle the rejectionist groups could defeat the PA. "The PA is aware of this," he said, "and so the challenge is to disarm the militant groups peacefully. The PA believes that it can only solve the problem by including Hamas in government." Standing at what was once considered the most notorious checkpoint in the Gaza Strip, the commander proudly motioned toward the unceasing flow of traffic at Katif junction. "It is a great example of how to implement separation," he said. "Gaza is a particularly good place to observe separation at work. It has a clearly demarcated and operational security fence. This allows all efforts to be made by both sides to prevent terrorists from leaving the Strip." Nonetheless, the IDF maintains that the road continues to serve as a funnel for weapons, bombs, and even new recruits from the south of the Strip to the north. Settlers travel on a bridge that bypasses the road, reducing to almost zero the settler-Palestinian friction, one of the IDF's main goals, according to the senior officer. RETURN TO
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Bucle your seat
belt for takeoff at ACC
By RABBI HILLEL GOLDBERG
IJN Executive Editor
Buckle your seat belt. Berton Glandon is so full of passion -- his speech unleashes a rush of words and so much enthusiasm -- that the room begins to levitate. We are taking off. This isn't merely a case of liking your job, or even believing in it. This is Faith, with a capital "F." The future of this country rests with its community colleges. "Notice: 'community' is in our name," Glandon interjects into a whir of discourse on the partnerships that Arapahoe Community College is building with business and industry in Douglas, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties. Glandon is president of "ACC." He took over just one year ago. Might as well have been 100 years ago. He talks like the life of metro Denver rises and falls on ACC. He talks like he knows his college's every proverbial nut and bolt. He's steeped in its budget, its school newspaper, its jurisdictions (three counties, many city councils) -- and he's decked out in short sleeves. No stuffed shirt, this president. Lightly colored pants, slightly greying mustache, big smile: Bert Glandon is flying. The thing is, suddenly, I notice, the laughing has stopped (he really got me when I asked him his age and he looked at his watch). This is one jolly man. Full of jokes. Banter. Not for nothing is he a former professor of communication. He is infectious. Warm. Makes friends in a few minutes, like he's known you forever. He's not put on, either. Not artificial. So when did the conversation turn from laughs to the dead serious? Suddenly, I face this unstoppable rush of words of Berton Glandon communicating his mission. This is one serious man. Glandon came to Denver from the presidency of the Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon. Asleep already? Ontario, Oregon -- 11,000 souls, not exactly a booming metropolis. But observe: When Glandon took over the presidency in about 1981, he found a foundation of "five really nice gentlemen who met once a month and gave away $10,000 or whatever." In three years, Glandon built the net worth of the foundation to $3 million. In 10 years, he tripled enrollment from 900 to 2,700 students (make that 2,700 "FTEs," education lingo for "full time equivalents"). Rapid-fire, he reviews his credentials: born and raised in Seattle, graduate work there, first academic position as an adjunct professor in speech and communication. Then he went into corporate America, traveling throughout the US as a food service operator. When the company wanted to move him to California for "the ultimate job, being a corporate trainer," he and his wife decided they didn't want to uproot themselves from their Seattle suburb. South Seattle Community College offered him a position as writer and director of a program in restaurant equipment technology. The rest, as they say, is history. Glandon history: inside knowledge of corporate America, the next 13 years in higher education -- and a knack for fundraising. He raised $7.8 million for his program and listened to the president of the college, who advised: Get a doctorate. Glandon did, in higher education administration, at BYU, traveling to Provo, Utah, each summer for five years and stopping off, half way, each summer in . . . . Ontario, Oregon. ("I got a presidency," he imitates himself phoning his wife years later. "You'll never guess where. . . . ") Actually, between Seattle CC and Treasure Valley, Glandon became a dean at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, and turned its foundation into the largest community college foundation in the US. "I'm back to a metro school, which is wonderful," he says of ACC. "Under the economic trends, rural community colleges are going to struggle for survival. "Metro schools have a better opportunity for fundraising, for partnering with corporate offices, business and industry. The stronger your community base, the stronger the community college can get. "Notice, community is in our name and I'm involved in the community's life. I go to Rotary, to city councils, to three sets of county commissioners. Why county commissioners? If we're going to grow the institution, you need a relationship with the county. If they bring in a business, we want to be part of it. Economic development is part of the role of a community college: to provide the education that the business needs. "A community college can respond with a sense of urgency that universities may not be able to." That's Glandon's premise: urgency, responsiveness. "I sit on the workforce for Southeast Business Partners. One of the questions that new businesses ask is, is there an opportunity for workforce development and training? Will you make a program that our employees need?" Glandon will. In two to three weeks flat. Right now he has a fast-track nursing program, working in collaboration with local hospitals to provide on-site training. "If any company is looking to move into our area, we want the opportunity to do customized business and industry training for it." Sometimes the companies pay tuition; sometimes they pay cash. Some companies want their employees to get the credit, to embrace lifelong learning. ACC, like all community colleges, has direct transfer agreements with the university systems. Approximately 60% of ACC's funding is from the State of Colorado. That was cut 17.9% in just one year, 2002-2003.
Glandon wants to move ACC to a 60% cash basis, with only 40% of the funding coming from the state. "That's the goal for '03-'04. That's going to be a trend. Colleges can't take the kinds of cuts on the horizon and still stay in business." While the state is cutting ACC's funding, it is also capping tuition and fees. Then there's the good news-bad news: In two years alone, enrollment at ACC is up 30%. Glandon must seek outside cash to survive, he says; cash for customized training, collaborative efforts. "We went to hospitals and said: Let's partner. You provide scholarship and monies to run a nursing program. Students get college credit, but it's funded by external services." And by flipping numbers. "A feasibility study for the ACC Foundation showed that we should be able to raise $1.5 million. I raised $3 million in Ontario, Oregon! We ought to reverse the numbers -- to $5.1 million. The potential is there." So is the Faith. Glandon works seven days a week, 70 to 80 hours a week. "I've been in this 29 years. Community colleges truly change people's lives for dynamic purposes. It's truly the answer to changing society, making a difference. "Much of what it's about is anecdotal. Many of our students don't graduate -- they get jobs before they finish. We get students with BA, MA and PhDs -- they're retraining. They leave when they get what they need. "When Third World countries come to visit America, they look at the community colleges developed in the sixties, and say it's the system to move them forward. "It's been an open door. It brought everybody in and figured out how to make them successful. It's worked with businesses and turned things around overnight. "I passionately believe in its mission and role." That's an understatement. "One of the greatest stories: "Two students from every community college in Oregon met in Salem once a year with the governor. An African-American woman, a single parent, got up in front of this group and said: 'I went to a community college in Portland because I was illiterate and I wanted to read to my five children.' The woman-in-transition program taught her to read, got her a GED, got her a scholarship for an associate degree, got her into a transfer program. Then she earned a law degree, and when she was talking she was the national director of adult literacy for President Clinton. There was not a dry eye in the room." And Denver? "We love Denver. In Seattle, I needed to travel 45 minutes to get to work. Here, it's 10 to 15. And light rail takes us downtown for wonderful sports and cultural experiences. Denver's got it all." Even the time zone in Ontario, Oregon, is the same as Denver's -- and so is the weather. As Glandon relates this, the twinkle in his eye comes a-flickering. What wickedness does he have up his sleeve now? "My son has been in the Persian Gulf on the USS Abraham Lincoln for a year. Question. Trivia question. What city on a west coast state is only one hour time-difference from what city on an Atlantic coast state?" Answer: Ontario, Oregon, just 40 miles west of Boise, Idaho, is on mountain time; Pensacola, Florida, on the westernmost part of the Florida panhandle, where his son trained, is on central time. Question: What time is it? I don't know, but Bert Glandon looked at his watch when I asked him his age. He's a man in a hurry. Smiling or serious, he's in a hurry. To build Arapahoe Community College. RETURN TO
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Emerson, Briskman to speak at Hadassah Gala
for Giving
Award-winning journalist and terrorism investigator Steven Emerson is the keynote speaker for Denver chapter of Hadassah's
Gala for Giving, Life . . . Every Second Counts Tuesday, Aug. 19 at BMH-BJ. Sharon Briskman, national founders chair in the fundraising division, will also be at the gala. Funds raised by the gala will support Hadassah's new Center for Emergency Medicine in Israel. Honorees for this gala event will be Ruth Silver and Elaine Wolf. Chairs for the gala are Marlene Siegel and Debra Tepper. Emerson is an internationally recognized expert on terrorism and national security, a correspondent and an author. He also serves as the executive director of The Investigative Project, which he started in late 1995 following the broadcast of his documentary film, "Jihad in America," on public television. The film exposed clandestine operations of militant Islamic terrorist groups on American soil. For this film, Emerson received numerous awards, including the George Polk Award for best television documentary, one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. Recognized as one of the foremost experts in the world on militant Islamic terrorism, he now serves as NBC's terrorism analyst. He has also given numerous briefings to Congress, the White House, Justice Dept. and other federal agencies. In his new book, American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us, Emerson tells the first full story
of these groups in the US, beginning in the late 1980s, when arms were first reported at a Brooklyn mosque. Sharon Briskman began her volunteerism with Hadassah and the women's division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. She previously served as president of the Elana Group, founding president of Aviva Hadassah, chapter membership chair, chapter youth aliyah chair, chapter fundraising chair and the president of the Phoenix chapter. In her community, she was involved with Hillel, Soviet Jewry, Community Relations Council and the women's campaign of the Federation. Briskman is a two-time Young Leadership award winner, the 1996 Israel Bonds Jerusalem 2000 Medal recipient, and Hadassah Woman of Valor. Her professional career began as the founding director of the Israel Programs and Informational Desk. She then became the director of the Scottsdale JCC. She left the center to become the director of women's services and then campaign director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. Briskman is a three-generation life member. She and her husband Barry, a Hadassah associate and car restorer and collector, have two daughters who live in Seattle. Information: Ruth Oppenheim, (303) 321-4484. RETURN TO
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Ten to chair first Keshet of
Rockies dinner on Sept. 7
Keshet of the Rockies will hold its inaugural annual dinner, Sunday, Sept. 7, at BMH-BJ, beginning with cocktails at 5:30 pm. The dinner will feature the real "Rainman," Kim Peek, from the movie "The Rainman," portrayed by Dustin Hoffman. Chairs of this event are Jeff and Terri Auerbach, Rabbi Yaakov and Marcie Calm, Burton and Sharon Kaplan, Dr. Mervyn and Ann Lifschitz, and Leslie and Ricki Illes. Jeff and Terri Auerbach are continuing their respective families' dedication to community leadership. Together they have chaired many annual dinners and major events, including thsoe of TRI, Herzl, RMHA and EDOS, and Super Sunday. Both have served on many boards. Jeff Auerbach is currently on the board of Denver Academy. Terri has served as an interviewer for Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah project. Professionally, they are purveyors of kosher meat. Rabbi Yaakov Calm is the regional director of NCSY. He has taught in adult education for many years. Marcie Calm is the assistant head of Herzl Jewish Day School. She is involved with Tomchei Shabbos and Bikur Cholim. The Calms are members of EDOS. Leslie Illes is a developer-builder and private investor. He is involved in Jewish outreach, Aish Ha Torah and interested in Jewish education. Ricki Illes, LCSW, is a wife, mother and psychotherapist in private practice. She is a member of Hadassah, NCJW, the National Assn. of Social Workers and the Colorado Society of Clinical Social Workers. Burton and Sharon Kaplan have been involved with the Jewish community since moving to Denver in 1976. Both have been board members of Hillel Academy, BMH-BJ and RMHA, of which they were among the founders. Sharon Kaplan has been a special education teacher for the last 17 years in Denver Public Schools. They are members of EDOS. Dr. Mervyn and Ann Lifschitz are members of EDOS and are active in the Jewish community. They moved to Denver 25 years ago. They are supportive of Jewish education, including Keshet of the Rockies. RETURN TO
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Then, Peace Now; now, center for religious Zionism
By KATHRY BERNHEIMER IJN
Boulder Correspondent
Although there was a wide difference of opinion among the Israelis with whom Matt Finberg and Jessica Sandler spoke on their recent trip to Israel, there was agreement on one point. "If you can stop the funding for terror, you can stop the terror. Everyone we met agreed with that," Sandler notes. Finberg and Sandler, who were recently married, were interviewed by the IJN following a 10-day Lawyers' Mission sponsored by Shurat Hadin (Israel Law Center, www.israellawcenter.org). The first "Ultimate Lawyers' Mission" allowed more than 50 attorneys, law professors and jurists from around the world to explore the military and strategic dangers to the Jewish state from Arab terrorism in an intensive schedule of brief-ings, tours and exhibitions. Last year, Sandler heard Shurat Hadin lead attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, 28, speak at the JCC in Denver. "I was so impressed, I promised to raise $5,000 for the organization on the spot," she says, adding that she has already exceeded that goal. In lieu of wedding gifts, she and Finberg asked that donations be made to the legal rights center. Shurat Hadin assists the hundreds of Israeli victim's of Arafat's violence to fight back, in court, against the Palestinian terrorist groups and their financial patrons. The law group also tracks the funding and material support for terrorist groups by Syria, Iran, Iraq and the European Union, and provides emergency legal assistance to the Arabs accused of working undercover for Israel against the PA. When Finberg and Sandler learned of the lawyer's mission and the opportunity for access to senior commanders of Israel's intelligence and security services, Finberg and Sandler signed up. The couple was highly impressed by the personal encounters with strategic decision-makers who lead Israel's multifaceted war on terrorism. The tour to the Golan Heights was led by Yom Kippur war hero Avigdor Kahalani, whose armored battalion defeated overwhelming Syrian forces there. They heard a talk by Michael Oren, author of Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East and the former director of Israel's Dept. of Inter-Religious Affairs. Oren described the issue of the settlements as a red herring, noting that the Palestinians consider Tel Aviv a settlement, according to Sandler. The couple attended the trial in IDF military court of four Islamic terrorists caught while attempting to plant a bomb on a military road. For Sandler, the highlight of the trip was an inside look at Israel's military operations. The group was taken to a military post on the Lebanese border where they say they were eyeball to eyeball with Hezbollah. With irony, the couple notes that Hezbollah's camp is right next to the UN post. Right under the eyes of the UN and the Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah has erected a huge billboard with pictures of decapitated Israeli soldiers and other graphic images of brutality. "The commander at the post said he's sorry for every 100 meters he's been forced to give up," Finberg says. "At one time there was a 1 kilometer buffer, but he's been forced by the Israeli government to pull back. Now there's no buffer at all, just a fence. There's not time to prepare for an attack. He said he never sleeps. He's pretty edgy." Sandler also was impressed by a talk by the chief medical officer for the Jenin operation. He talked about the extraordinary care taken by soldiers as they went house to house, encountering booby traps and attacks. He described photo albums found in houses featuring children dressed as suicide bombers, and notes that 50% of the suicide killers came from Jenin. "He's Dutch, the son of Holocaust survivors and he said he thought he knew what anti-Semitism was, but this is worse than he ever imagined." Finberg speaks of a reception and demonstration given for the group by the border police at Jenin.
"This is a special force unit in the police. Most are Druze. They infiltrate the villages and work the borders. They demonstrated how they intercept Arabs trying to make illegal entry." When Finberg visited Kfar Tapuach, a settlement, he was allowed to do guard duty, unarmed, but with night vision binoculars. "Doing that kind of guard duty, knowing you are responsible for the security of 35-40 families, was exhilarating." Finberg says there were highlights that were also lowlights, insightful but discouraging. "Meeting the president of the supreme court, members of the Knesset and the equivalent of the attorney general, and hearing from their mouths the government's policy of respecting basic human rights regardless of the cost to the State of Israel," Finberg shakes his head in silent frustration. "I kept hearing, 'We need to be better than our killers,' 'this is the price of democracy,' 'we must be patient.' I asked direct questions. 'When is enough enough?' I didn't get an answer. "They hope that taking the high road will prevail for them," Finberg continues. "The people in power are frustratingly decent. But they sounded defeated and worn down. The former head of the Mossad was asked why he supported the road map. He said he was an optimist and had no other choice." "It was a running theme -- we're so much better off . . . while Jews are getting killed and Israel is being vilified for its self-defense." Though disheartened, Finberg says the encounters "encouraged me in the work I want to do with religious Zionism. Secular Zionism has done a lot to build the state. But now . . ." Finberg formed Kol Hamacabee: The Center for Religious Zionism in May after he developed an email correspondence with David Ha'ivri during his search for Torah-based Zionist activity. Ha'ivri assumed responsibility for the publication of "Darka Shel Torah," a bi-monthly Torah newsletter founded and edited by the murdered Rabbi Binyamin Kahane. "I began to question the Israeli government and its vision and dedication to democratic values." As the friendship developed, Finberg decided to collaborate with Ha'viri on a Boulder-based group that would "educate American Jews and gentiles about the Torah basis for the land of Israel to belong to the children of Israel." Today, Finberg notes, the idea of transfer, once labeled "racist," is discussed in polite company in Israel and in the Knesset. "There's a new force emerging in Israel, composed of young, observant men and women, who are vocal and angry and well educated in Torah. They are unwilling to put up with what secular Zionists have tolerated for 50 years." Finberg says that what he hopes to do with Kol Hamacabee is "to teach the real history of the Jewish people, what we've accomplished, and the outrageous treatment we've received, and to instill a strong connection to Torah, Israel and Hashem." Finberg is an attorney who moved to Boulder from Washington DC, a decade ago. The one-time president of Bonai Shalom board became a founding member of Aish Kodesh, where he also served as president. Coincidentally, Sandler also moved to Boulder from Washington, DC, 10 years ago; she was transferred by OSHA. She left that federal agency five years ago and now works for PETA, an animal rights organization with offices in Boulder. Sandler lived in Israel for six years and was member of Peace Now back in the '70s and '80s in Israel and founded a chapter of the organization in Baltimore upon her return. Two years ago, she co-founded Boulder ActionIsrael with Jane Rubenstein. One of her assignments was to recruit members from the congregations. She recruited Finberg from Aish Kodesh, which is how they met.RETURN TO
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'Jesus ossuary' owner
arrested after forgery lab found his home
By ETVGAR LEFKOVITS Jerusalem Post
JERUSALEM -- An antiquities dealer who owns an ancient burial box with a purported reference to Jesus, as well as a separate stone tablet with seemingly ancient biblical passages, was arrested Tuesday after an elaborate forgery lab was discovered at his home, police said. The 52-year-old collector, Oded Golan, was apprehended after a six-month-long joint police and Antiquities Authority fraud investigation culminated in a late-night search of his Tel Aviv home. During the search, police and representatives from the authority's anti-robbery unit uncovered a "laboratory" of sophisticated forgery equipment, along with other suspected forged antiquities found hidden in storage rooms, police and the Antiquities Authority said Tuesday. Golan, who was remanded for three days on Tuesday afternoon at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, is suspected of selling scores of "antiquities" of religious, historical, and national significance to museums and collectors in Israel and abroad in a huge scam that is likely to have earned him millions of dollars. Last year Golan had tried to sell the tablet via an intermediary for $4 million. Last month, capping off months of international controversy, the Antiquities Authority announced that a team of Israeli experts had unanimously concluded that the inscriptions on the ancient ossuary, as well as the biblical passages on the stone "Joash tablet," were modern-day forgeries. Both artifacts were the property of Golan. When news of the ossuary first emerged last year, Golan publicly stated that he bought the ossuary in the mid-1970s from an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem's Old City for about $200, though he asserted he could not remember the dealer's name. Then in March it became clear that Golan was in fact also in possession of the mysterious stone tablet of uncertain origin that was making headlines in the archaeological world. The burial box, or ossuary, bears the inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," leading some scholars to believe it was used to store the remains of James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. The 15-line inscription on the tablet was thought to have described First Temple "house repairs." In concluding both inscriptions were forged, the team of experts had noted that the inscription on the ossuary cut through the ancient limestone box's patina, a thin coating acquired with age, proving the writing was not ancient. The officials also concluded that the writing on the black sandstone tablet, was carried out by someone thinking in modern Hebrew. Even after the committee's unanimous findings were released in June, Golan asserted that the inscription on the ossuary was in fact genuine. RETURN TO
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Who determines what
medicine I take?
By ROGER SIMON IJN
Columnist
WASHINGTON, DC -- -- Like most people in America, I have health insurance.
And while I am sympathetic to plans to provide health insurance to everyone in this country, millions of people like me face a different kind of problem: The health care system we have currently does not operate in a rational way. Here is a true-life example, one I bet most of you have experienced yourself. You find a doctor you like and trust -- one whom your insurance company has approved, of course -- and you are prepared to follow his or her medical advice. Recently, my doctor prescribed a drug for me for a common ailment. He did this after examining me and talking to me. He then called upon his years of training and expertise to prescribe exactly the right drug. So I take his prescription to my pharmacy and hand it in. After a wait, the pharmacist says to me, "Your insurance company won't pay for this." Why not? I ask. The pharmacist shrugs. "It's on their list," he says. Their list of what? I say. "Their list of drugs they won't pay for," the pharmacist says. Why the insurance company won't pay for the drug is something mere mortals -- you and me -- cannot find out. They won't pay because they won't pay. I call my doctor and tell him the insurance company won't pay for it. "I was afraid of that," he said. Is the drug no good? I ask. "Oh, no," he says. "It's very good, and it's what you need. But the insurance companies don't like to pay for it." The drug is neither exotic nor experimental; the insurance companies just don't want to pay. My doctor mentions another drug, and I check it with the pharmacist, who checks it on his computer. His computer, by the way, is not showing him information on the drug. It is showing him what the insurance company will and won't pay for, which is the most important decision in medicine today. "They will make a partial payment," the pharmacist says. "And your doctor has to call them." Why does my doctor have to call them? I ask. "Because the insurance company says so," the pharmacist says. I tell my doctor he has to call the insurance company. My doctor is a hard-working, busy guy, but he will do it. "It usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes on the phone," my doctor says. Which is not a real lot of time, unless you have to do it for five or six patients a day. My doctor calls me back and tells me he has called the insurance company and the company has agreed to make a partial payment on the drug. The insurance company almost always agrees, he tells me. Why, then, does the insurance company make the doctor call? Because the insurance company knows that most doctors don't want to waste their time calling, which means they will prescribe some other (cheaper) drug, instead. In other words, some insurance toad somewhere, who does not have any training in medicine and has never examined me, determines what kind of drugs I can take. I pay for my health insurance. I also make co-payments on all drugs, doctor visits and treatments. But the insurance company does not view this as my money. The insurance company views everyone as an enemy: It operates as if every patient, every physician, every health care provider is trying to cheat it out of its money. Undoubtedly some do cheat, but this has become an excuse for treating everyone as an adversary. But I am an optimist. And I look forward to a day in America when doctors make medical decisions and not faceless bureaucrats, who neither know nor care about us. And if some presidential candidate could come up with a plan to do that, he or she might really be onto something. Roger Simon can be e-mailed at WriteRoger@aol.com.RETURN TO
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It's always something else
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Internationalize the reconstruction of Iraq
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Tony Blair's resplendent
voice
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