Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

Segundo Villanueva was born in 1927 in atiny farming village perched in the Andes. When he was 17, his father was murdered and Segundo was left with littlemore than a Bible as his inheritance. This Biblelaunched Segundo on a lifelong obsession to findthe true message of God contained in its pages.

He found himself looking for answers outsidethe Catholic Church, with a hierarchy and colonial roots that embodied the gaping social andracial inequities of Peruvian society.

In The Prophet of the Andes: An UnlikelyJourney to the Promised Land, Argentinianauthor and journalist Graciela Mochkofsky documents the life of this little known religious leader who led thousands to Jewish conversion and how he would inspire a wave ofLatin American Jewish communities today.

Mochkofsky, who originally wrote the bookin Spanish (La Revelacin, 2009) focuses on this Peruvian villager and spiritual leader, who,over years of religious study, explored variousProtestant sects and founded his own religiouscommunity in the Amazon jungle before discovering a version of Judaism he pieced together independently from his readings of theOld Testament.

Engaged in a colossal adventure, in searchof the true faith, Villanueva, like a Moses,led an entire community from the top of thePeruvian Andes to the jungle of the Amazonto find a utopian community; from modernPeru to the dangerous Jewish colonies of theIsraeli Occupied Territories; from the Gospelsto the Torah and the Talmud, and from peaceand poverty to the very center of the politicalstorm and warfare of our day.

His makeshift synagogue began to drawin crowds of fervent believers, seeking a faiththat truly served their needs. Then, in a seriesof extraordinary events, politically motivatedIsraeli rabbis converted the community to Orthodox Judaism and resettled them on the WestBank.

Segundos incredible journey made himan unlikely pioneer for a new kind of Jewishfaith, one that is now attracting masses of impoverished people across Latin America.

In a recent interview with The JewishNews of Northern California, Mochkofsky explained that she found this story aboutthe Inca Jews on theInternet, while shewas looking for something else, something that had to do with personal identity and the fact that I grew up in a veryCatholic region of the world that has avery strong Jewish history at the sametime, she said. Her father is Jewish, andher mother is a Catholic, and she wasraised as a Catholic, but she became veryinterested in Judaism.

The story of the converted Inca Indians in Peru intrigued her.

It was this conversion out of nothing,and a mass conversion now, a contemporary mass conversion and then these people had been taken to Israel, she recalled.

Three weeks later, she was inTapuach, a settlement in the West Bank,in Israel, where Villanuevas familylived. Mochkofsky would spend the nexttwo decades reconstructing the spiritualstruggle that brought them to Israel, andthe fault lines in contemporary Judaismthat influenced their experience there.

A native of Argentina, Mochkofskywas recently appointed dean of the CraigNewmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She has been aregular contributor of The New Yorker, where sheproduces a monthly column on Latinxculture and politics. She is a winner ofthe 2018 Maria Moors Cabot prize for outstanding reporting across Latin Americaand the Caribbean.

Mochofsky was a political correspondent with La Nacin in Argentina, hasbeen a columnist and blogger for El Pasin Spain, and a contributor to publications in Latin America, Europe, and theU.S., including The California SundayMagazine, The New Yorker online, andThe Paris Review blog.She is the author of six nonfictionbooks in Spanish, two of them about therelationship between press and politicalpower in her home country. The Prophetof the Andes, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillmanabout, is her latestbook.

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

TheTorah columnis supported by a generous donation from Eve Gordon-Ramek in memory of Kenneth Gordon.Ki TeitzeiDeuteronomy 21:1025:19

As the years go on, it becomes more and more clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin is evil.

Putins decision to invade Ukraine has led to the displacement of millions of Ukrainians, cities being razed, a mounting casualty count and reports of war crimes by the Russian military. Of course, Putins brutality predates his invasion of Ukraine. He previously led horrible wars in Chechnya and Georgia, and his support for the Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad has kept another brutal leader in power.

In this weeks Torah portion Ki Teitzei, we read about Amalek, the perennial enemy of the Jewish people who attacked the vulnerable, famished and weary stragglers among those who were fleeing Egypt.

One can attempt to psychoanalyze Putin and learn about his obsession with Russian nationalism, but his disregard for basic ethical standards makes him a modern-day Amalek.

Amalek is identified in our portion as lo yirah elohim, someone who doesnt revere God (Deuteronomy 25:18). As the Torah empresses upon us, Elohim is a God of morality, a God who at the pivotal moment of revelation offers the people Israel the Ten Commandments an ethical code. By impressing upon us that Amalek not only attacks the innocent but also rejects Elohim, our portion depicts Amalek as a character who rejects morality.

These verses from our portion go on to instruct us on how to respond to Amalek. Deuteronomy 25:19 tells us that when we enter the promised land and God grants us safety from all of our enemies, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

The wide sweep of Jewish commentary on these verses offers invaluable wisdom on how to respond to contemporary Amaleks.

To begin with, the Jewish tradition at an early point dismisses the idea that Amalek refers to any specific ethnic group. The rabbis of the Talmud argued in Berakhot 28a that it was no longer possible to determine who was descended from Amalek.

Amalek therefore endured in Jewish consciousness as a perennial foe who disregards morality. By being commanded to remember Amalek, we are taught to always be vigilant against the human propensity toward evil.

This offers us a useful lesson. With Putin and his invasion of Ukraine thousands of miles away, we are called on to remain vigilant even if the fighting does not immediately affect us.

There is also a strain in our tradition articulated most notably by the medieval commentator Nachmanides (Rambam) and by the Hasidic Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev that we are to internalize this commandment to wipe out Amalek. The Berdichever Rebbe wrote, each Jew has to wipe out that negative part that is called Amalek hidden in his or her heart.

We can learn from the Berdichever Rebbe to respond to the evil of the Putins of the world by filling the world with righteousness.

But I find the most compelling lesson for our times comes from the story of how the Israelites defeated Amalek originally.

The battle against the Amalekites first appears in Exodus 17. When Moses holds up his arms, the people Israel prevail in battle against the Amelikites, but when he tires and lowers his arms, the Amelikites gain the upper hand. And so Aaron and Hur hold up Moses hands and the people Israel prevail.

This story has tremendous symbolic power. It is only by partnering with Elohim, this God who is so concerned with morality, and collectively holding up Moses arms that we can prevail against Amalek.

This teaches us that human partnership and faith in the ultimate triumph of morality will be the way to defeat the Amaleks of the world.

How does this apply to Putin? Even for those of us who are not directly affected by Putins misdeeds, watching the consequences of his actions can take a psychic toll. We can feel helpless before the ongoing nihilism and violence.

But perhaps this image from the Book of Exodus can offer us hope. We have faced Amaleks for our entire existence. Our tradition teaches us to believe that by partnering with others who believe in the importance of a moral world order, we can ultimately prevail.

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We have faced Amaleks like Putin forever, but with morality we can prevail J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

(NEWS10) There are 115 days left of 2022 as of September 8! With about a third of the year left, how many days are there until important holidays and milestones in 2022? Lets take a look and get a little history lesson about what is left this year.

The Fall Equinox is set to take place on September 22 at 9:03 p.m. During the Equinox, the sun is directly above the Equator. The day and night as also about equal length. It is also the official start of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn will last until the Winter Solstice.

So what is the difference between a solstice and an equinox? A solstice denotes either the longest or shortest day of the year. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day while the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year.

The Earth is tilted at 23.5 degrees. During the Summer Solstice, the Northern Hemisphere points toward the sun while during the Winter Solstice, the Southern Hemisphere is facing the sun. This is why the seasons are opposite in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Winter Solstice will happen on Dec. 22 at 4:47 p.m.

While Halloween is full of trick-or-treaters, costumes and parties, its roots lie in Christianity. In English, Halloween derives from All Hallows Eve, the day before a major feast on All Hallows (Saints) Day. This tradition could date back as far as the 4th Century.

In America, it didnt become a major holiday until the second half of the 19th Century. Many historians attribute this to the mass immigration of Scots and Irish. Many of our modern traditions have roots in their celebrations.

Modern celebrations include dressing up in costumes, decorating and carving pumpkins, throwing elaborate parties and passing out candy. The term Trick-or-Treat was first seen in Alberta, Canada in 1927, according to the City of Edmonton. By the mid-50s it was a well-established tradition in the U.S.

Thanksgivings history traditionally includes a harvest feast between settlers and Native Americans in the early 17th Century. What is known is that the Pilgrims held a three-day celebration after their first harvest in 1621. Although, the exact time is unknown, in 1996 the Plimoth Plantationvice president of research said that it happened between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11 but most likely occurred around Sept. 29. The celebration included all of the people left from the Mayflower voyage and about 50 Native Americans.

Thanksgiving has been celebrated on and off throughout Americas history. George Washington proclaimed it a holiday at the request of Congress but Thomas Jefferson chose not to celebrate it. It wouldnt be until Abraham Lincoln brought the holiday back into Americans lives. He said the last Thursday in November would be Thanksgiving. Grant would sign an act during his presidency making thanksgiving a yearly appointed federal holiday in Washington D.C.

FDR moved the holiday one week earlier from 1939 until 1941. In 1942 the holiday was solidified as the fourth Thursday in November, no longer at the discretion of the president. This solidified the modern holiday where millions eat turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pies and so much more!

Hanukkahs roots trace back to the 2nd Century BC. The eight-day Jewish festival honors the retaking of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Second Temple. A menorah is used to celebrate the holiday, often called the Festival of Lights. A menorah has nine branches to hold candles with one branch slightly higher than the rest. A new candle is lit each night of the festival and is usually lit by the candle resting in the highest branch of the menorah. By the eighth night, all of the candles are lit.

The traditional explanation is that when the Second Temple was retaken only one small urn of oil was found. That oil was thought to only burn for one night, though it lasted eight according to the Talmud. Traditionally fried foods are served during Hanukkah to represent the oil in the temple.

A common game played during the festival is played with a dreidel. The dreidle has four sides each with a corresponding letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

The game begins with each player having the same amount of tokens. These can be anything from pennies, buttons, or wooden chips, but it is often played with chocolate coins called gelt. At the start of the game, each player puts a token in the pot. Players will also do this if there is no or only one token in the pot at any given time.

Each player takes turns spinning the dreidle and depending on what symbol is faceup when the dreidle stops determines what the player does. If nun is showing the player does nothing. Gimel means the player gets everything in the pot. If hei is showing then the player gets half the pot and if shin or pe is showing then the player must add a token to the pot.

This holiday traditionally celebrates the birth of Jesus in the Christian religion. The Bible tells the story of Joseph and Mary looking for an inn to stay the night after traveling days to Bethlehem. The inns were full so an innkeeper let them stay in the stables behind his inn. Jesus was born in the stable and visited by the Three Wise Men. Nativity scenes are a common Christmas decoration to honor this story.

Christmas is celebrated across the globe and is a holiday in many countries. Many celebrate religiously while others celebrate culturally as the holiday is widespread with many activities and events surrounding the holiday.

Common traditions today include gift giving, putting up and decorating a tree (usually an evergreen), caroling, attending mass, a large dinner or feast, giving to those in need, Advent calendars, among many other traditions. The term Christmas is a shortened version of Christs Mass, which was held on December 25.

Saint Nicolaus is widely thought to be the inspiration for Santa Claus. The patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students was well known for his secret gift-giving, giving way to Santa.

Kwanzaa was created as a holiday celebrating African-American culture. It was started in 1966 by activist Maulana Karenga and is based on harvest traditions in West and Southeast Africa. It is celebrated every year from Dec. 26 until Jan. 1. The name derives from the Swahili matunda ya kwanza meaning first fruits in English. The extra a was added so Kwanzaa would have a symbolic seven letters.

Central to the festival is the Seven Principals which are also in Swahili. Participants are encouraged to light a candle each night, similar to Hanukkah, on a candelabra called a Kinara. The candles are traditionally red, green and black and each candle represents one of the Seven Principals.

Families who celebrate often hang colorful art and African cloth like kente in their homes, especially women wearing kaftans, which are widely worn in West Africa. Children are also encouraged to participate in celebrations honoring past ancestors. The festival culminates in a feast called Karamu which is usually on the sixth day.

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Upcoming holidays and events in 2022 - NEWS10 ABC

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

Fathers Day took on new meaning for me this year, as I stood in a circle with my sons, listening to their father and the people who saved him talk about the day he died.

It was the second time that my husband Leonard met his angels, but he doesnt remember the first encounter at all; in fact, he doesnt remember the entire two weeks that preceded it. In assembling the group, Leonard and I hoped to piece together what had actually happened that day, to get to know the people who had saved him, to enable them to meet the man they saved, and to express our familys undying gratitude.

Piecing together what happened at the scene of the event. (Moshe Bernstein)

We stood at the place where the event had occurred, on the same day of the week, at the same time of day, some nine months later. There, under a tree outside the Hebrew Universitys Cossel Sports Center in Jerusalem, Leonard (known in Hebrew as Eliezer) had collapsed after playing a game of squash, gashing his head on his way down, gasping for breath, turning blue, and then not moving at all. He was not yet 60 years old and had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. His squash partner Bob, a professor of Talmud who usually defeats him, immediately phoned for help.

The first angel on the scene was Bashar Gosheh, a 27-year-old electrical technician who works at Hadassah medical school and serves as a lifeguard at the sports center once a week. On the day that Leonards heart stopped, Bashar was off duty and was swimming for exercise in the centers indoor pool. Not feeling well, he stopped his workout early and happened to be looking out the window when he heard a commotion outside. In the plaza down below, he saw a man lying on a bench and clutching his throat. Bashar bolted from the building to see if he could help.

Very soon after, Bashar was joined by a second angel. Haya Subhi, a 29-year-old surgical nurse at Hadassah Hospital, had also come to the sports center to work out that day. Like Bashar, Haya wasnt feeling well and stopped her exercise session early. As she hurried out of the building, she saw a crowd standing around a man who was blue and lying in a pool of blood. She pushed her way through the crowd, identified herself as a nurse, and immediately set to work, doing what she knows how to do in a hospital as part of a team. Except that this time she was alone, without any equipment, and outside under a tree.

Bashar ran to the lifeguards station and returned with a defibrillator. Together, he and Haya worked to save Leonards life. Bashar shocked Leonards heart repeatedly in order to restart it, while Haya did chest compressions between the shocks to keep blood flowing to Leonards brain and vital organs. After a few minutes, Leonards pulse returned briefly, just as first responders from United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom (MDA) arrived and took over, administering shocks repeatedly when Leonards heart stopped again. When Leonard was whisked away to the hospital in an ambulance, none of the people who had treated him had any idea if he was going to survive; when the ambulance team left the hospital, they didnt either.

Five days and two stents later, Leonard woke up in the cardiac intensive care unit of Shaare Zedek hospital. When he began to talk, it became clear how successful the efforts of the people who had rushed to his aid had been.

During the time that Leonard was unconscious, all we knew was that he had been saved by a lifeguard and a nurse, but we had no idea who they were. Finding the lifeguard was easy. Leonards squash partner Bob and his wife Cory tracked him down through the sports center and returned with a name, a photograph, and basic information about Bashar, who was thrilled to hear that the resuscitation had been successful.

Bashar Gosheh, Leonards first angel. (Cory Shulman Brody)

Finding the unidentified nurse, however, was harder. Bob reviewed the security footage at the sports center, hoping to recognize her. When that didnt yield results, I shared the dashing photo of Bashar on Facebook, lauding him as a lifesaver and asking for help finding the nurse who had worked with him to save my husbands life. Hundreds of shares later, our second angel had a name. It was Haya (pronounced Aya). The smile in her profile photo lit up our hearts.

Our first glimpse of Haya Subhi. (Facebook)

Our social media search for Haya also introduced us to Kalanit Taub, a volunteer Hatzalah EMT who had been at the scene. Reaching out via Messenger, Kalanit explained that she and Ari Odzer, a trainee whom she was mentoring, had been next-in-line to do cardiac compressions, which are done in shifts of two minutes each because they are so tiring, but Leonard had been transferred to the ambulance just before their turn. Kalanit asked if she and Ari could come over when Leonard was strong enough for visitors. Several weeks later, they rang our doorbell, bearing flowers and a helium balloon. When Leonard opened the door, he discovered that his cardiac arrest had left him with a new superpower: he could make people cry just by looking at them and saying hello.

For Kalanit, seeing Leonard alive and well was especially gratifying because it came shortly after a particularly traumatic first-responder experience: the mass casualty event at Mount Meron. She was glad that her protg Ari had the rare opportunity to meet someone who survived an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, since worldwide, some 93 percent of victims dont. After meeting these two volunteers and marveling at their altruism, we knew we wanted to meet Leonards other rescuers in real life, when the time was right.

That time came sooner than we had anticipated. Some six weeks after his cardiac arrest, Leonard was on his way to a medical appointment at Hadassah hospital. As he walked down a busy hallway, his face covered with a COVID mask, a young woman walking towards him stopped in her tracks. Can I ask you what your name is? she asked politely. Im Eliezer Beeri Leonard replied, a bit quizzically. Im the nurse who resuscitated you at the sports center, said Haya Subhi. Leonard was overwhelmed by emotion and stunned by the sheer coincidence that had brought their paths together. At a loss for words, he hugged Haya in the middle of the corridor, let the tears flow, and did the only thing that can be done in such circumstances He took a selfie.

A chance meeting between Leonard and his angel, Haya Subhi/ (Eliezer Beeri)

In the months following Leonards random encounter with Haya, his energies were directed at recuperating. Three months of eating healthily, sleeping well, and exercising regularly at home were followed by three months of daily treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, aimed at redressing the damage done to his memory from the lack of oxygen to his brain while his heart wasnt working. Finally, Leonard was able to return to his work as a doctor at Alyn Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital in Jerusalem, where he is the deputy director general and heads the respiratory rehabilitation department. His return was not something that could be taken for granted, since only about half of all people who survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest do so without significant neurological damage.

Seven months after it was taken, the selfie of Leonard and Haya went viral when Hadassah Hospital shared it on Facebook on International Nurses Day, along with Hayas emotional account of her role in Leonards resuscitation. Leonard soon found himself dodging requests from television shows interested in filming a meeting between the saved doctor and the nurse. He turned down the offers, though, because he had yet to meet Bashar and had barely spoken to Haya. Leonard realized it was finally time to meet his rescuers but not in front of television cameras. With Kalanits help, I set up a WhatsApp group through which I invited the Hatzalah and MDA first responders who had been at the scene to a gathering that would bring them together with Bashar, Haya, Leonards squash partner, and our family. I aptly named it Hamalachim Shel Eliezer Leonards Angels.

Leonard and three of his MDA angels: Arbel Cohen, Achiad Goharyan, and Amitai Hershkowitz. (Shifi Cohen)

When the day arrived, we assembled at the sports center, where Leonards angels introduced themselves to us and to each other, stood under the tree where Leonard had collapsed, and pieced together what had happened that day. As they spoke, we became aware of the many ways in which the cosmos had aligned so that Leonard could be saved. Nothing seemed to be able to explain why Bashar and Haya both werent feeling well that day and stopped their exercise early. Neither of them was meant to be there, but it somehow transpired that a person who knew where the defibrillator was and a surgical nurse who knew how to do cardiac massage were there when Leonards heart stopped. Both of them were necessary; without one or the other, Leonard would not have survived.

At the meetup, our eyes were opened to the existence of a sub-culture of paramedics, EMTs, EMRs, and trainees people who will respond at the drop of a hat when notified of a medical emergency in their vicinity. We were amazed at the amount of goodness and giving that was assembled in one place.

It was there that we met Lidan Findling, a volunteer Hatzalah EMT who was the first to relieve Bashar and Haya of their resuscitation efforts, working with a Magen David Adom volunteer who arrived by motorcycle at about the same time. Lidan, who works in outdoor education, answers some 60 calls a month when paged, often at the expense of his family time and free time. On the day of Leonards cardiac arrest, he had come to Jerusalem from Netanya and was on his way to run an activity when he was notified that he was four minutes away from a medical emergency. Although he was in a foreign city and knew it would make him late for his professional commitment, he responded nonetheless. It was only the second time in Lidans life that he was late for work, but he felt it was worth it.

It was there that we met Amitai Hershkowitz, Achiad Goharyan, and Arbel Cohen, the MDA ambulance crew who treated Leonard and took him to the hospital. Amitai, the paramedic who led the team, told us that they had just dropped off a patient at a nearby hospital when Leonards call came in. Although their protocol mandates resting between calls, they asked to be dispatched to the sports center because it was so close. Their selfless request shaved off vital response time and also contributed to saving Leonards life. Arbel, who was just 17 years old at the time of the incident, came to the reunion with his mother, because he was on his way to his high school graduation and she was his driver. It was from them that we learned that volunteerism can be contagious, or perhaps genetic, as Arbels mother had recently completed training as a first responder, following in the footsteps of two of her sons.

After reconstructing the events, we adjourned from the circle under the tree to a circle of chairs on the sports centers balcony. I opened by quoting the saying that saving a single person is equivalent to saving an entire world. I explained that we wanted to get to know the people who had saved Leonard and to give them an opportunity to learn about him and the many worlds that they saved, since Leonard touches many lives in his work as a doctor at Alyn. I briefly introduced our family and then dissolved in unexpected tears when I noted that it was Fathers Day, and that in saving Leonard, his angels had prevented our middle son Moshe, who had lost his biological parents when he was 11, from losing another father at 25.

Listening to Leonard introduce himself: Bashar Gosheh, Achiad Goharyan, Amitai Hershkowitz, Arbel Cohen, Kalanit Taub, Shifi Cohen, and Lidan Findling, (courtesy)

Next, Leonard introduced himself to his angels, revealing to them the person behind the patient they had last seen lying unconscious on the plaza pavement. Leonard told them about his life, his work, his passions, and his family. The angels then took turns speaking about where they came from, their families, their jobs, their hobbies, and what being at this gathering meant to them. Bashar remembered asking himself why he had been chosen to be there at that specific time, and took away a lesson about the fragility of life and the importance of spending as much time with loved ones as possible. Amitai recalled the sense of responsibility he felt as a paramedic evacuating an unidentified person unaccompanied by family, and how relieved he was when Leonards brother arrived at the emergency room to be with him in his time of great need. Lidan especially valued the boost of motivation that comes from seeing a positive outcome, as volunteering as an EMT can often be dispiriting.

Kalanit, whom we had met before, was at the reunion as well, but this time, she was able to withstand Leonards superpower hello. Ari, the trainee who had accompanied her to our home, had just gotten married, and stopped by with his glowing bride on their way to a post-wedding sheva brachot dinner.

At the end of the discussion, Leonard thanked his angels, focusing on the moment in their lives when each of them had decided to become a first responder. He thanked them for having taken that decision, because ultimately, it had been a decision to save his life. Leonard then turned to Bashar and Haya, and thanked them for having recognized him as a fellow human being in desperate need of help and for having had the courage to do what the circumstances demanded. They didnt turn away; they didnt wait for someone else to do the hard, scary, work of taking someones life in your hands. Rather, they had the courage and the compassion to act.

As our meetup wound to a close, Leonards angels received tokens of our appreciation. In recognition of Bashar and Haya, we purchased two defibrillators, in acknowledgment of their heroism and in the hope that other lives might be saved in their merit. We chose defibrillators with audio instructions in Arabic, since the two good Samaritans who saved my kipa-wearing husbands life (as you may have guessed from their names) speak Arabic as their first language. Rather than donate the defibrillators in their honor ourselves, we asked Haya and Bashar to each find a home for their defibrillator where they thought it would do the most good, whether in a mosque, school, or shopping center in their communities of Beit Safafa and Beit Hanina, or in the trunk of their car, so they would be equipped if they ever encounter an emergency.

Each defibrillator was inscribed in both Hebrew and Arabic with recognition of what they had done and the Mishnaic saying whoever saves a person it is as if they have saved an entire world. We gave the other first responders brightly colored cactuses, plants we thought would be easy to keep alive. But the biggest gift of all was the motivation that Leonard was able to give them to continue doing their emotionally and physically demanding work, in which they have fleeting encounters with people in need and often dont know the outcome.

Two defibrillators inscribed in Hebrew and Arabic and an array of colorful cactuses. (Moshe Bernstein)

As we sat on the balcony of the sports center, we were surrounded by a humbling assortment of people who give of themselves in order to save others. Our group included an Arab nurse, an Arab electrical technician who works part-time as a lifeguard, religious and secular Jews, a paramedic who works full-time as a fourth-grade teacher, a 12th grader on his way to his high school graduation, a newlywed groom still celebrating his marriage with his bride, a professor of Talmud, women and men, volunteers and professionals, and the man they saved. It was the Israel we dream about but so rarely see a place of goodness, giving, and caring that transcends national and cultural boundaries; a place where we are people first, before any of our other identities.

When I think about why Leonards angels were sent that day, it is clear to me that it was because he still has work to do for the ventilated children in his care and for the parents he advises. But perhaps Leonards angels were also sent so that I could tell their story. Maybe they were sent so that I could write about the religious Jewish doctor in Jerusalem whose life was saved by two Arab passersby, in order to counter prevalent stereotypes and assumptions in my society. Maybe they were sent so I could share with you the vision of the end of days that took place on the balcony of a sports center, where Jews and Arab shared their thoughts and feelings, bound together by their shared humanity and their esteem for the value of life.

Maybe Leonards angels were sent in order to increase awareness of the need for defibrillators in public places. Maybe they were sent so that I could tell you how important it is for people to learn how to do effective cardiac compressions, as a defibrillator alone may not be sufficient. Maybe Leonards angels were sent to inspire you with the spirit of volunteerism and encourage you or your children to take first aid courses and serve as emergency responders.

But for whatever reasons they were sent, today, on my husbands first re-birthday, I am grateful for the gift of life that Leonards angels gave to him and to us, and hope that by telling you about them, I will intensify the ripples of light and love that emanate from their deed and color our world.

Leonard with our family and many of his angels. (Aviv Kainan)

We would also like to acknowledge Orinon Jerbi and Matan Shamir, two first responders who were not able to attend our get-together. We hope to be able to meet them someday.

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The angels who saved my husband's life | Shira Pasternak Be'eri | The Blogs - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

(JTA) I hadnt heard of quiet quitting until about 10 minutes ago. Since then every major news outlet has done a story on this purported trend, defined as a movement among office workers to draw firmer work-life boundaries by doing less work. It means closing your laptop at 5 p.m. when your cubicle-mate is staying late to finish a project. It means turning off notifications on your phone so you cant check your work emails after hours. It can mean doing the bare minimum and still hanging onto your job.

On a grander scale, it means cooling your hottest ambitions in favor of a saner work-life balance.

Of course, to a certain kind of devotee of the "attention economy,"this sounds like nothing less than slacking off. Quiet quitting isnt just about quitting on a job, its a step toward quitting on life, huffed Arianna Huffington, in a LinkedIn post. The Fox News host Tomi Lahren said its just a euphemism for being LAZY (she added an expletive).

I dont have a dog in this fight, since I am not a quiet quitter. (I am more a person without any hobbies or little kids, who if he closes his laptop at 5 p.m. doesnt know what to do with himself.) But I understand the impulse. Technology and corporate culture conspire to blur the lines between work and office. The demise of unions has shifted the workplace power balance to employers. For those who could work at home, the pandemic obliterated the boundaries between on and off hours.

Quitting is a terrible way to describe what is really doing your job, no more and no less. It only feels like quitting to a culture that demands that you sacrifice private time to your employer or career. This peculiarly American ethic shows up, for instance, in vacations: Americans get on average 10 fewer vacation days a year than Europeans because, unlike the European Union, the United States does not federally mandate paid vacation or holidays.

Just reading a New York Times article about how eight of the 10 largest private U.S. employers are using tracking software to monitor their employees made me feel guilty and anxious even though I was reading the article as part of my job.

If quiet quitting were actually slacking, it would run afoul of Jewish law. Jewish employees are obligated to work at full capacity during their work hours and not to steal time from their employers, writes Rabbi Jill Jacobs in a responsa legal opinion called Work, Workers and the Jewish Owner, written for the Conservative movement in 2008. And yet this warning aside, Jewish law is much more concerned with employers who take advantage of employees rather than the other way around.

Jacobs now the executive director of Truah, the rabbinic human rights group describes nine principles of workplace justice in the Torah, and nearly all are addressed to the employer. These include treating workers with dignity and respect and paying them a living wage and on time.

The ideal worker-employer relationship should be one of trusted partnership, she writes, in which each party looks out for the well-being of the other, and in which the two parties consider themselves to be working together for the perfection of the divine world.

This is not exactly what we now know as the Protestant work ethic. The rabbis of the Talmud did not tie hard work and economic success to divine salvation. No doubt, they understood that people need to and should work for a living. In traditional sources, work is often regarded as necessary, and certainly better than idleness (which can lead to sin), according to a helpful article from My Jewish Learning.

And yet, because the study of Torah is considered the ideal use of ones time (assuming you are a man, anyway) the rabbis were clearly wary of occupations and ambitions that demanded too much of a worker. In Pirkei Avot, the collection of ethical sayings from the Mishnah, Rabbi Meir says, Minimize business and engage in Torah. The rabbis, My Jewish Learning explains, were clearly worried that excessive pursuit of material well-being would distract from higher pursuits.

The artist Jenny Odells 2019 manifesto about quitting the attention economy, How to Do Nothing, similarly rejects a frame of reference in which value is determined by productivity, the strength of ones career, and individual entrepreneurship.

Easier said than done, however. Her antidote to stand apart, to embrace solitude, observation, and simple conviviality is perhaps more feasible if you are an artist rather than an office-worker, let alone a factory worker, home health aide or Amazon warehouse runner. (She spends a lot of time birdwatching and retreating to mountain cabins.)

To her credit, Odell quotes Samuel Gompers, the Jewish-British immigrant and labor leader who championed the eight-hour workday as far back as 1886. In an address asking What Does Labor Want?, Gompers answered by quoting Psalms: It wants the earth and the fullness thereof.

What most people want, I suspect, is simply more control over their time and mind-space, and to keep work from leaking into their private lives and maybe vice-versa. They want to do work that matters, and the private time to decompress, reconnect and take care of stuff.

Its telling that there is no commandment in Torah to work, but there are plenty to rest. Shabbat is a literal day of rest, but it is also a mindset. It strictly defines profane productivity, in order to carve out space and time for the sacred. This Jewish attitude toward work and rest is not about quitting, but it is about occasional quiet.JN

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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'Quiet quitting,' the sudden trend in work, sounds sort of Jewish? (Hear me out.) - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

USC Shoah Foundation with its partner the Schindlers Ark Foundation has added a tour of Oskar Schindlers former factory in what is now the Czech Republic to its mobile IWalk application, enabling smartphone users to explore the site where the German businessman sheltered more than 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

The new hour-long IWalk detailsin Czech and Englishhow Schindler created the factory in Brnnec and then bribed SS and Nazi officials to allow him to employ Jewish workers, thereby saving them from almost certain death in the concentration camps. The story of Schindlers enterprise came to world attention in 1993 with Steven Spielbergs award-winning film, Schindlers List.

The Brnnec IWalk tour features seven stops connected to the factoryincluding the railway line that brought Jews to the factory and the building in which they workedas well as testimony clips from those saved by Schindler, including Joseph Bau, Rena Finder and Leopold Page.

After WWII, the Brnnec complex continued to be used by different owners until falling into disrepair in the early 1990s. It was later purchased by Daniel Lw Beer, a descendent of the last pre-WWII owners of the factory, who created the Schindlers Ark Foundation to save the site. Lw Beer is currently restoring textile production at the factory as well as creating a modern museum to spread the legacy of the Schindler survivors to todays generations.

Andrea Sznyi, USC Shoah Foundations Head of Programs for International Education, said the IWalk is the first of a range of testimony-based educational resources to be developed for the planned museum.

It is a unique experience to be standing and walking around in the factory, an authentic space of important historical events, Sznyi said. It is even more so to be in the space and to listen to the voices and stories of survivors there. The connectionit creates and the learning it results in is unreplicable.

Launched in 2014 and available forIOSandAndroiddevices, the award winning IWalk mobile app provides visitors to locations like the Schindler factory in Brnnec with personalized multimedia toursor IWalksthat feature photographs, maps and testimony from USC Shoah Foundations Visual History Archive.The resulting in-person experience, with survivor testimony humanizing the surrounding spaces, is unique.

USC Shoah Foundation currently offers 52 mobile app IWalks in 12 countries and 12 languages.

Rena Finder is one of the Holocaust survivors featured in the new Brnnec factory IWalk. In this clip she remembers arriving at Oskar Schindlers factory after spending weeks in Auschwitz and recalls how the Schindlers risked their lives to save the lives of so many Jews during the Holocaust.

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Oskar Schindlers Factory Added to USC Shoah Foundation IWalk App - USC Shoah Foundation |

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

The poster for The U.S. and the Holocaust, a six-hour docuseries airing on PBS Sept. 18-20, shows arms reaching toward the stars on a distorted American flag.

It is a haunting representation of the series, which is directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein and considers why the United States did not do more to help European Jews escape the Nazis.

In total, the U.S. admitted 225,00 Jewish refugees, more than any other nation, according to the series. Yet widespread anti-immigrant sentiment stoked by antisemitic figures such as Henry Ford and Father Coughlin, and codified in laws such as the Immigration Act of 1924 hampered President Franklin Delano Roosevelts ability to liberalize the countrys immigration policy. As Gunther (Guy) Stern, a German survivor, says in an interview in the film, The golden door was not wide open.

Burns, 69, recently spoke with J. about his new series by phone while walking near his home in Walpole, New Hampshire. Though he is not Jewish, he said, Novick, Botstein and producer Mike Welt are as are Burns wife, daughters and several close friends.

The interview has been lightly edited.

There is obviously no shortage of Holocaust books and films out there. In terms of documentaries, Claude Lanzmanns Shoah (1985) stands as one of the greatest and, at over nine hours, longest documentaries ever made. Why did you feel the world needed another Holocaust film?

This is one of the central topics of humanity. And [today] theres new scholarship, theres new ways of understanding, theres new images, theres new survivors [to interview].

Sarah, Lynn and I make films in a certain way. In this case, we wish to tell the story about the U.S. and the Holocaust, and paradoxically, by narrowing that focus, I think it gave a clearer picture of the Holocaust in its historical totality. Also, it forces us Americans into a kind of profound reckoning, particularly as the echoes of this are so prevalent in our daily lives.

Speaking of echoes, the series draws a line from the xenophobia of 1930s America to the resurgence of white nationalism and antisemitism in recent years. Why did you include footage of the Charlottesville rally and news coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at the end?

We started the project in 2015. Our job is just to tell a good story. But you cant help but notice that the ADL reports an unusual spike in the number of antisemitic incidents over the years we worked on the series.

We are in no way equating todays events with the Holocaust, but there are signs that seem eerily familiar rhymes, Mark Twain might say that permit us to say, Hey, theres smoke, if not fire. The assault on [government] institutions, which was a familiar tactic of the Nazis, and the undermining of fact-based reporting and just sort of subscribing to big lies all of these become central to how you turn an entire country into killers.

What would you say is the films call to action that you want to resonate with viewers?

We have to weed our own garden right now. It has become overgrown. And were obligated to weed it. And we have to say, even though its been said and become clich, we have to say, Never again. Never again. Never again.

Shoah famously did not use any historical footage in recounting the events of the Holocaust, instead relying almost entirely on interviews with survivors. This series includes lots of old film reels and photos, along with commentary from several Jewish and non-Jewish scholars and writers. Why did you choose that format?

The scholars are a kind of intermediary or bridge to the complexity of some of these stories, and an amplification of the importance of one aspect. For a film like ours that would require a lot of scholars, theyre only in it a modest amount.

Rebecca Erbelding [an educator and archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum] is a major presence in the film, and a really wise and thoughtful one. Nell Painter [a retired Princeton professor] makes an extraordinary contribution by helping us think about our own sense of ourselves.

Another person who makes an important contribution to the film is Daniel Mendelsohn. [In his book The Lost], he took six of those 6 million victims his great-uncle and his great-aunt and their four daughters and found out what he calls the particularities of what happened so you can put stories to each one of those six people. And you begin to realize about the human potentiality that was snuffed out, the lives not lived, the children unborn, the cures to diseases undiscovered, the symphonies not written, the gardens not tended all of these things that infuriate me to this day.

Can you share some insight into what it was like on a personal level to make such a heavy series?

Im the scratch narrator. Do you know what that means? I read for years the narration for the film until the very, very end. I do this with all my films that have narration, and nearly all of them have narration, so we listen to my voice ad nauseam. But if we change two words in a paragraph, I have to reread it. So I have read every sentence 25 times over. Its the only script in which in the reading of the first draft, I broke down and cried about five times.

When were 99% done, we call on [the narrator], Peter Coyote in this case, and have him read it. And he was incredibly moved, as well, by what he was reading.

Listen, if were going to tell complicated stories in American history, were going to have to experience it, at least, at a remove. And its painful. Its not like doing Country Music [a 2019 PBS series Burns directed]. But I have to say that [the process of] making the film is the same.

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Q&A: Ken Burns on his new series, 'The U.S. and the Holocaust' J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

For the first time in more than 60 years, New Mexicos oldest synagogue may be returning to Jewish ownership. (Photo courtesy of Jim Terr / Design by Jackie Hajdenberg via JTA.org)

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Neal Behrendts bar mitzvah was the first Jewish coming-of-age ceremony celebrated inside Temple Montefiore in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in more than 75 years.

Thats in part because the local Jewish community is tiny Neals mother, Nancy Terr, recalls that when her family moved there in 1958, locals joked that they doubled Las Vegas Jewish population.

But its also because Temple Montefiores building has been a church since the 1950s.

Now, Terr and others in Las Vegas, New Mexico, a city of about 13,000 roughly an hours drive from Santa Fe, want to buy back Temple Montefiore, the first synagogue in the New Mexico Territory. They have launched a crowdfunding campaign to do just that, setting a goal of raising $200,000 by the end of September.

Already, theyve raised nearly half of the goal, bringing in hundreds of donations from all over the United States and beyond after their plea spread on social media this week.

The Las Vegas Jewish Community, an official nonprofit since 2010 but an informal group for far longer, has been interested in buying the building for more than 20 years, Terr said. But it wasnt made available for sale until last month, as the local archdiocesescales up its property salesin order to compensate survivors of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

When the church announced that it would be selling the property, rumors swirled that a local university wanted to purchase the land and, well, turn it into a parking lot.

That sent us into a tizzy to think of that going down, said Terr, who says she has begun but not yet completed the application process to get Temple Montefiore on the National Register of Historic Places.

Dedicated the week before Rosh Hashanah in 1886, the synagogue building was established as the creation of the railroad brought Jewish merchants, mostly of German ancestry, out west.

Though Jews were never an outsized population in Las Vegas, they were well-regarded in the community. Half of the people who donated funds for the 1880s construction of the synagogue were not Jewish, according to A History of the Jews in New Mexico by historian Henry Tobias, and the synagogues opening was accompanied by a performance from a Presbyterian choir. The citys mayor, Louie Trujillo, told theLas Vegas Opticin March, This town would not be alive if it were not for the Jewish merchants who settled here in the 1800s.

In 1922, as the Jewish community continued to grow, the building was moved to another location a few blocks away. But by 1950, the population had fallen so much that the community could not sustain a congregation, and services at Temple Montefiore were canceled. The Las Vegas Bible Church purchased the building for $8,000 in 1957, but due to the need for extensive repairs, the church sold the building to the Santa Fe Archdiocese in 1964, and it is now in use as a campus Catholic community center at New Mexico Highlands University.

The local Jewish community benefited in the 1990s from asudden phenomenon of people discovering their crypto-Jewish ancestry Jewish families who converted to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition, but who secretly maintained Jewish customs and embracing their Jewish heritage.

But for 65 years, local Jews have had to travel to Santa Fe, where there are multiple synagogues, for regular services. They have also rented the Temple Montefiore building for special events, according to Terr, but they had to cover crosses and other Christian symbols to do so.

The community today is small but still offers programming for Jewish locals, including Israeli dance lessons, social events, Hanukkah celebrations and cleanups at the historic Montefiore Cemetery, one of the first Jewish cemeteries established west of the Mississippi River. It also holds events for international students at United World College of the American West, a boarding school that is part of a network initially funded by the Jewish businessman Armand Hammer.

Diana Presser, the groups former secretary who moved to Las Vegas in the 1990s after visiting and falling in love with the small city, has been involved in the Jewish community ever since.

For me, the Jewish community is a real blessing, said Presser, who estimates that there are 20 Jews living in Las Vegas. A core dozen of them, she said, have organized services over the years, sometimes using a visiting rabbi and sometimes on their own, in community members homes or in rented spaces.

Now they have embarked on a much more ambitious effort to raise the funds needed to take back ownership of Las Vegas historic synagogue. The group has gotten one bridge loan for the synagogue buyback; it also got some funding for its general operations from the Jewish Federation of New Mexico before that group faced turmoil amidallegations of harassment and mismanagement against the CEO. (Terr is a current board member, according to the federation website.)

This week, the Las Vegas Jewish Community launched a GoFundMe that, as of Thursday, had raised nearly $100,000. Support has come in online and locally from Christians who want to see the community thrive, Terr said, noting that they would benefit from having access to local Hebrew classes. The group is increasingly confident that it can buy the building but the cost of maintaining the 136-year-old building remains a concern.

The group has some models to take inspiration from. Just last month, the Jewish community of Helena, Montana, closed a deal with the Catholic Church after a months-long effortto buy back the states first synagogue also supported in part through crowdfunding. In a ceremonial signing Aug. 26, the building was handed back over to Montanas Jewish community. Terr hopes her community in Las Vegas will have a similar outcome and cooperation from the church.

Its always been a dream to have it back, Terr said about Montefiore Temples building. Wouldnt it be great to have that?

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A Tiny New Mexico Jewish Community Is Trying to Buy Back its Historic Synagogue Building - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on September 9, 2022

FAIRS & FESTIVALS

Apple Harvest Festival: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 17. Apple market, arts and crafts vendors, a beer garden, and live music. Retzer Nature Center, S14 W28167 Madison St., Waukesha.

Cudahy Day: 130th Anniversary Party, noon-4 p.m. Sept. 17. Browse community booths, historical displays and presentations, and check out archival audio and video recordings for a look back into what life was like in Cudahy many years ago. Food and snacks available for purchase. Cudahy Family Library, 3500 Library Drive, Cudahy.

Delavan Scarecrow Fest: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sept. 17. Pumpkins, crafters and vendors, live music and childrens activities. Walworth Ave., downtown Delavan.

Holy Hill Arts and Crafts Fair: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 17. $6 admission. Arts and crafts displayed in natural setting, food and refreshments. Enter from Highway 167. 1525 Carmel Road, Hubertus.

South Milwaukee: 125th Anniversary Open Doors event, Sept. 17. Celebrate the history of South Milwaukee with a visit to historical attractions, city services, local schools and places of worship. For full schedule of activities visit http://www.southmilwaukee.gov

Bayshore Art Festival: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 17; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 18. Artists, artisans and makers with selections from art to food, clothing to lotions, stationery to furniture, and candles to home goods. The Yard at Bayshore, 5800 N. Bayshore Drive, Glendale.

Cedarburg Wine & Harvest Festival: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 17; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 18. Wine from Cedar Creek Winery, food trucks, beverage tent and desserts, live music, arts and crafts marketplace. N70 W6340 Bridge Road, Cedarburg.

Richfield Historical Society: Thresheree & Harvest Festival, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 17-18. Steam-powered sawmill, antique engines, trucks, and tractorswith field demonstrations including steam engine threshing, log sawing, plowingand draft horses. Richfield Historical Park, 1896 Highway 164, Richfield.

Harvest Fair: 5-11 p.m. Sept. 23; 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sept. 24; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 25. Scarecrow making, pumpkin bowling, lumberjack show, farmers market, food and beverages.

Festa Italiana: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sept. 24; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sept. 25. Live music, food vendors, cooking demonstrations and cultural exhibits. Italian Community Center, 631 E Chicago St.

More: Festa Italiana will happen in 2022 after all, but smaller and no longer on Milwaukee's lakefront

WI Mac & Cheese Fest: 4-8 p.m. Sept. 24. $30-$55. Live music, food and beverage sampling. Wisconsin Brewing Company Park, 1011 Blue Ribbon Circle N, Oconomowoc. wisconsinmacandcheesefest.com

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Boat Parade: 12:30-2:30 p.m. Sept. 25. Local artists and performers showcase art installation floats. Parade begins at HarborFest, 600 E. Greenfield Ave., and will travel up the Milwaukee River before turning around at the Holton Ave. Bridge, near Lakefront Brewery. milwaukeeriverkeeper.org

Racine Zoo: Jack-O'-Lantern Nights, 6 to 10 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays, Sept. 29-Oct. 30. Hand-carved jack-o-lanterns and festive illuminations. 2131 N. Main St., Racine. racinezoo.org/jack-o-lantern-nights

Caf Sopra Mare: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Corey Klunk, Sept. 11; Cosmo, Sept. 18; Anita Graef, Sept. 25. Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, 2220 N. Terrace Ave.

Fowler Lake Park: Yam Haus, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 11. 438 N. Oakwood Ave., Oconomowoc.

Riverwalk Commons: DJ Shawna, 6 p.m. Sept. 13. 423 N. Water St.

Cutler Park: Brooks & Dunn Tribute with Doug Brewin & Larry Turner, 7 p.m. Sept. 13. 321 Wisconsin Ave., Waukesha.

Oconomowoc American Legion Band: 7 p.m. Sept. 11. Rhodee Memorial Band Shell, City Beach, 324 W. Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc.

Cathedral Square Park: 6-9 p.m. Steez, Sept. 15; Nineteen Thirteen, Sept. 22; The Eric Jacobson Latin Jazz Quintet, Sept. 29. 520 E. Wells St.

South Milwaukee Farmers Market: 5-7 p.m. Sarah Day, Sept. 15; The Milibillies, Sept. 22; Old Sam & the Teardrops, Sept. 29; John Stano, Oct. 6. Corner of Milwaukee and 11th Ave., South Milwaukee.

Music on the Beerline: Extra Crispy Brass Band, The Erotic Adventures of Static Chicken, 5-8 p.m. Sept. 16. Plaza stage, 3350 N. Holton St.

Mequon Public Market Patio: Lous Jazz Express Plus, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9. Extra Crispy Brass Band, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 7. Groove Therapy, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 8. 6300 W. Mequon Road., Mequon.

Hop Havest & Vine: 6-8:30 p.m. Jack Tell, Sept. 16. The Casual Intent Band, Sept. 17. Johnny T Bird, Sept. 23. The ECM Jazz Trio, Sept. 24. Driving Buddies, Sept. 30. Lindsay and Jon, Oct. 1. Ryan Meisel Jazz Combo, Oct. 8. Jake Stanzer, Oct. 14. Chris Lambrou, Oct. 15. Lake Country Music, Oct. 21. Fletchers Reason, Oct. 22. Good Harvest Market, 2205 Silvernail Road, Pewaukee.

The Rock Umbrella Bar: Failure to Launch, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17. 7900 Crystal Ridge Road, Franklin.

Blu: Live music, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7-11 p.m. Friday. Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave.

Cafe Hollander Brookfield: Live music on rooftop, 6-8 p.m. Thursdays (starting Sept. 15). 20150 Union St., Brookfield.

Cafe Hollander Tosa: Live music, 4-6 p.m. Sundays, (through Oct. 30). 7677 W. State St., Wauwatosa.

Centraal Grand Caf & Tappery: Bluegrass Whatevers, 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays in Sept. Garden of Eten Courtyard, 2305 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

Clark Hotel: Dick Eliot jazz, 6-9 p.m. Sept. 16. 314 W. Main St., Waukesha.

Hartland Legion: JC Ayer, 2 p.m. Sept. 10. 231 Goodwin Ave., Hartland.

Kochanskis Concertina Beer Hall: Polka open jam, 6-10 p.m. Wednesdays. 1920 S. 37th St.

Centraal Grand Caf & Tappery: MKE Comedy, 7 p.m. Sept. 14. Courtyard, 2305 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. milwaukeecomedy.com

ComedySportz: Comedy show matches every Friday-Saturday. All ages improv comedy. 420 S. 1st St. (414) 272-8888; cszmke.com

Improv at The Corners of Brookfield: Venue features two live performance stages with full food and beverage service. 20110 Lower Union St., Brookfield. (414) 928-5400; improv.com/milwaukee

The Laughing Tap Comedy Club: Weekly live comedy shows and bar featuring Wisconsin craft beer and spirits. 706 S. 5th St. laughingtap.com

More: 'Unforgettable,' 'Titanic,' 'Mamma Mia' among 18 Milwaukee theater, music and dance performances to see in fall 2022

Acacia Theatre Company: The Jewelers Shop, Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Norvell Commons at St. Christophers Church, 7845 N. River Road, River Hills. (414) 744-5995.

Bel Canto: Community Voices, 3 p.m. Oct. 16. Irish Cultural & Heritage Center of Wisconsin, 2133 W. Wisconsin Ave. (414) 481-8801.

Carthage College: Joanne Polk, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11. Lauren Jelenovich, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27. A.F. Siebert Chapel, 2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha. (262) 551-6661.

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist: Wednesday Concert Series, 12:15 p.m. Simone Gheller, organ, Sept. 14. Pheeraroj Phupaibul, guitar, Sept. 21. Irina Yanovskaya, guitar, Sept. 28. 812 N. Jackson St.

Cedarburg PAC: Broadway Songbook starring Anthony Crivello, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24. Girl Named Tom, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15. W68 N611 Evergreen Blvd., Cedarburg. (262) 376-6161.

Choral Arts Society: The Spirit Sings, 7 p.m. Oct. 22. First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Ave., Racine. choralartsonline.org

Concord Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven and Beyond, 7 p.m. Oct. 22. St. Sebastian Parish, 5400 W. Washington Blvd. concordorchestra.org

The Constructivists: The Totalitarians, Oct. 15-29. Interchange Theater Co-Op, 628 N. 10th St. theconstructivists.org

Early Music Now: Tapestry - Faces of a Woman, 5 p.m. Oct. 15. St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 914 E. Knapp St. earlymusicnow.org

Festival City Symphony: Fiesta de Orquesta Para Nios: A Pajama Jamboree, 7 p.m. Sept. 21. Marcus Center Bradley Pavilion, 929 N. Water St. festivalcitysymphony.org

First Presbyterian Church: Zachary Scot Johnson, with the Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin, 7 p.m. Sept. 10. 716 College Ave., Racine. (262) 632-1686.

First Stage: Arthur and Friends Make a Musical, Oct. 7-Nov. 6. Marcus Center Todd Wehr, 929 N. Water St. (414) 267-2961; http://www.firststage.org

Florentine Opera Company: Romeo and Juliet, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14; 2:30 p.m. Oct. 16. Marcus Performing Arts Center: 929 N. Water St. (414) 291-5700; http://www.florentineopera.org

Forte Theatre Company: The Sound of Music, Oct. 7-16. Saber Center for the Performing Arts, 8222 S. 51st St., Franklin. fortetheatrecompany.org

Frankly Music: Bach and Beyond with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, 7 p.m. Sept. 21. Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut St. franklymusic.org

Kettle Moraine Symphony: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24. Slinger PAC, 209 Polk St., Slinger. (262) 334-3469; http://www.kmsymphony.org

Knightwind Ensemble: 3 p.m. Oct. 30. South Milwaukee PAC, 901 15th Ave., South Milwaukee. (414) 766-5049; knightwind.org

Kohler Memorial Theater: 8 p.m. Oct. 7. Soweto Gospel Choir, Oct. 7. 260 School St., Kohler. (920) 458-1972;kohlerfoundation.org/tickets

Lake Country Playhouse: Cabaret, Sept. 22-Oct. 9. 221 E. Capitol Drive, Hartland. lakecountryplayhousewi.org

Latino Arts: Son Rompe Pera, 7 p.m. Oct. 28. 1028 S. 9th St. (414) 384-3100.

Marcus Performing Arts Center: MasterChef Junior LIVE!, Sept. 17. Porcupine Tree, Sept. 21. Ozomatli, Sept. 22. BAT: A Meat Loaf Celebration, Oct. 1. Life with the Afterlife: Ghost Hunter Amy Bruni, Oct. 22. My Name is NOT Mom, Oct. 29. 929 N. Water St. (414) 273-7206.

Marquette University: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Oct. 7-16. Helfaer Theatre, 1304 W. Clybourn St. (414) 288-7504.

Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra: Oct. 8. Davians, N56 W16300 Silver Spring Drive, Menomonee Falls. (262) 751-5995; mfso.net

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre: Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, Sept. 30-Oct. 23. Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. (414) 291-7800.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater: Unforgettable: John-Mark McGaha Sings Nat King Cole, Sept. 11-Nov. 6. Titanic The Musical, Sept. 20-Oct. 23. Wife of a Salesman, Sept. 27-Nov. 6. Baker Theater Complex, 108 E. Wells St. (414) 224-9490.

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra: Alpine Glory, Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Aaron Diehl Returns, Oct. 7-9. Tchaikovsky No. 5, Oct. 21-22. Trills & Chills, Oct. 23. Bewitching Broadway, Oct. 28-30. Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave. (414) 291-7605.

Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra: Season Premiere Concert, 7 p.m. Oct. 19. Wisconsin Lutheran College, 8815 W. Wisconsin Ave. myso.org

Morning Star Productions: Revolution, Sept. 24-25, Oct. 29-30. On the trail behind Wooded Hills Church, 777 Highway 164, Colgate. http://www.morningstarproductions.org

Next Act Theatre: Kill Move Paradise, Sept. 22-Oct. 16. 255 S. Water St. (414) 278-0765.

Oconomowoc Arts Center: 7 Bridges - The Ultimate Eagles Experience, Sept. 24. Artrageous, Sept. 30. Good Morning Bedlam: A Cabaret Cafe Series, Oct. 21-22. 641 E. Forest St., Oconomowoc. (262) 560-3172; http://www.theoac.net

Over Our Head Players: Moby Dick, Oct. 14-30. Sixth Street Theatre, 318 Sixth St., Racine. (262) 632-6802; http://www.overourheadplayers.org

Racine Theatre Guild: Native Gardens, Sept. 16-Oct. 2. Drop Dead!, Oct. 28-Nov. 13. 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. (262) 633-4218.

Renaissance Theaterworks: The How and the Why, Oct. 21-Nov. 13. Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. http://www.r-t-w.com

Skylight Music Theatre: Mamma Mia!, Sept. 23-Oct. 16. Sweet Baby James A Tribute to James Taylor, Oct. 22. Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. (414) 291-7800.

South Milwaukee PAC: Steven Wright, Oct. 7. Classical Opera and Armenian Folk Songs, Oct. 8. Linda Ronstadt Experience, Oct. 14. John Denver Musical Tribute, Oct. 16. 901 15th Ave., South Milwaukee. (414) 766-5049; southmilwaukeepac.org

Sunset Playhouse: We Will Rock You!, Sept. 19-20. Rock & Roll Royalty, Oct. 13-16. Clue: On Stage, Oct. 20-Nov. 6. David Seebach: Illusions in the Night., Oct. 21-23. Americana, Oct. 24-25. 700 Wall St., Elm Grove. (262) 782-4430.

Waukesha Civic Theatre: The Dark Side of Broadway, Sept. 22. The Play That Goes Wrong, Oct. 28-Nov. 13. 264 W. Main St., Waukesha. (262) 547-0708.

Wilson Center: Cold Sweat & Brew City Horns, Sept. 30. Frank Almond & Emi Ferguson, Oct. 2. Garrison Starr, Oct. 21. Third Coast Percussion, Oct. 28. 3270 Mitchell Park Drive, Brookfield. (262) 781-9520; http://www.wilson-center.com

Wisconsin Philharmonic: More Classic Broadway, Sept. 29. A Symphonic Hollowe'en, Oct. 16. 641 E. Forest St., Oconomowoc. http://www.wisphil.org/

Wisconsin Singer / Songwriter Series: Bill Camplin, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24. Claudia Russell & Bruce Kaplan, Oct. 7. Unitarian Church North, 13800 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon. (262) 457-4399; wsss.org

Books & Company: Peter Geye, author of The Ski Jumpers, 7 p.m. Sept. 25. 1039 Summit Ave., Oconomowoc.

Boswell Books: Jonathan Ames, author of The Wheel of Doll, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 12. John Koethe, author of Beyond Belief, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 13. Jeffrey Breslow, author of A Game Maker's Life, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 14. Erika L Snchez, author of Crying in the Bathroom, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16. William Kent Krueger, author of Fox Creek, 4 p.m. Sept. 17. Marie Kohler, playwright of Boswell, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 19. John M Van Lieshout, author of Growing Up Little Chute, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 21. Judith M Ford, author of Fever of Unknown Origin: A Memoir, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 23. Francie Dekker, author of Our World of Dumplings, 4 p.m. Sept. 24. Peter Geye, author of The Ski Jumpers, 2 p.m. Sept. 25. Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less Is Lost, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30. Registration required. 2559 N. Downer Ave. boswellbooks.com

Haggerty Museum of Art: J.R.R.Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript Lecture Series, 5 p.m. Marquette University campus, 1234 W. Tory Hill St. (414) 288-1669; marquette.edu/haggerty-museum

Marcus Performing Arts Center: National Geographic Live Speaker Series: Filipe DeAndrade: Untamed, Oct. 20. 929 N. Water St. (414) 273-7206.

North Point Lighthouse: Lecture Series, 7 p.m. second Wednesday of each month. $10 admission; $5 seniors/students; Free for museum members. 2650 N. Wahl Ave. (414) 332-6754.

Roots and Branches: A Half-Century of Outdoor Wisconsin with Dan Small, 7 p.m. Oct. 18. $10. Registration requested. Historic West Bend Theatre, 125 Main St., West Bend. http://www.rootsbranches.org

Doors Open Milwaukee: Sept. 24-25. Tour Milwaukee landmarks; free and ticketed events throughout the city. View full list of sites online historicmilwaukee.org/doors-open/

More: What you need to know about Doors Open Milwaukee 2022, including featured buildings, ticketed tours and stuff for kids

Elks Lodge 400: Brew City Wrestling, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10. 2301 Springdale Road, Waukesha. brewcitywrestling.com

Jones Yellow Barn Centennial Celebration: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 17. $25. All-you-can-eat pulled pork meal, live music, live animals and hay rides. All proceeds will benefit local youth agriculture scholarships. Jones Market, 601 Jones Ave., Fort Atkinson. http://www.shopjonesmarket.com

Jurassic Quest: 1-8 p.m. Sept. 16; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Sept. 17; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 18. Timed entry tickets start at $19. General admission tickets include access to the dinosaur and marine exhibits, arts and crafts activities, and dinosaur shows. Wisconsin State Fair Park, 640 S. 84th St., West Allis. http://www.jurassicquest.com

Landmark Lanes: Weeklong events to celebrate 95th Anniversary, Sept. 26-Oct. 1. Game night, comedy acts, film night and drink specials. 2220 N. Farwell Ave. landmarklanes.com/95th

Milwaukee County Zoo: Ride on the Wild Side, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 11. four routes to choose from. The 2.5-mile kid-friendly ride stays inside the Zoo, or, riders can choose a 10-, 17- or 27-mile ride that starts and ends in the Zoo but goes out through the Menomonee River Parkway along the Oak Leaf Trail. Helmets are mandatory. Registration required. 10001 W. Blue Mound Road. zoosociety.org/bike

Milwaukee Walk for PKD: Registration, 8:30 a.m. Sept. 11. The Yard at Bayshore, 5800 N. Bayshore Drive, Glendale. walkforpkd.org/milwaukee

North Point Lighthouse: Occasional Artist Show & Sale, 4-8 p.m. Sept. 24. Art, appetizers and a cash bar in the lighthouse gallery. Admission is $10 at the door. 2650 N. Wahl Ave. (414) 332-6754.

Oak Creek Public Library: Musical Singalong Nights, Oct. 5, Nov. 16, Dec. 7. Sing along withmovie musicals. Snacks and beverages provided. Program is for all ages. 8040 S. 6th St., Oak Creek. (414) 766-7900.

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center: Nature-based programs, field tripsand guided hikes for all ages. 1111 E. Brown Deer Road. Registration required. (414) 352-2880; schlitzaudubon.org

Three Pillars Senior Living: Lunch & Learns Series held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. with lunch and educational session. Village on the Square, 375 State Road 67, Dousman. http://www.threepillars.org/

2A Wine Merchants: Shop and tasting room with food and wine events, and monthly wine memberships. 577 E. Erie St. 2awinemerchants.com

Apple Holler: Farm Store & Bakery, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Red Barn Restaurant, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. daily. Pick your own seasonal fruits in orchard. 5006 S. Sylvania Ave., Sturtevant, (262) 884-7100; appleholler.com

The Bartolotta Restaurants: Restaurant group has locations throughout the Milwaukee area, offering fine dining, casual dining and special dining events. Visit bartolottas.com

Bavarian Bierhaus: Oktoberfest, 4-9 p.m. Thursdays; 4-11 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays, (through Oct. 2). German cuisine, beerand festival foods including Spanferkel, Roll Braten, and Rotisserie chicken. 700 W. Lexington Blvd., Glendale.

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What's going on in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin in fall 2022 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Posted By admin on September 8, 2022

Editors note: This is the second in a series of stories about how Latinos are redefining narratives within Hollywood. Click here to read the first in our series. Both pieces first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

By Saida Pagn

Jos Manuel Lico, Jimnez was a child prodigy and one of the first Afro-Latinos to leave Cuba in the 1860s to study classical music and perform in Europe. Although he received standing ovations in cities across the continent, when he returned to his beloved homeland he found that, sadly, his talent as a classical musician was not as widely appreciated by some in colonial Cuba.

But the pianist known as The Ebony Liszt persevered and his tale of strength and triumph against incredible odds is an authentic Latino story that is about to be told. Preserving his legacy is one of the goals of his great-granddaughter, actor Julie Carmen, who is executive producing a documentary on Jimnezs life.

There is part of Black (Afro-Latino) history that has been erased and the whole range of my family is coming together to reintroduce the world to their accomplishments, Julie said in an interview with palabra.

Best known as the star of films such as The Milagro Beanfield War, Windows on the World, and programs such as The Tales of the Walking Dead anthology and Greys Anatomy, Julie is a veteran performer and now producer, who understands the business of moviemaking. She is active in Latino Hollywood, organizing table reads to support both performers and writers and as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences she has the opportunity to sponsor qualified actors for membership.

Julie is also among the many Latino creatives who are networking and collaborating on projects that shine a bright light on the complex and nuanced narratives of the Latino experience seldom seen on screen. She is especially proud of the documentary currently in progress, Lico Jimnez, the Ebony Liszt, which showcases the remarkable life of her great-grandfather, an acclaimed pianist and composer.

He was discovered at age 12 en el Palacio de Cantero in Trinidad, Cuba, said Julie. At age 15 he was in the Paris Conservatory and won first place ahead of (his classmate, French composer) Claude Debussy.

Julie said Jimnez, along with his father and brother, were among the first Afro-Cuban musical artists to travel throughout Europe in the 1800s. Jimnez performed for audiences filled with the most accomplished musicians of his generation and was often compared to the famed Hungarian composer Franz Liszt.

But when he returned to Cuba a few years later, he faced obstacles. At the time that my great-grandfather went to Europe, classical music was not acceptable for people of African descent to perform in Cuba, she said.

Although Jimnez and his family had been born free, that was not the case for thousands in Cuba for much of the 19th century. Slavery was still legal, Julie explained. Consequently, Jimnez decided to move to Germany, where he married and started a family.

Second cousins (from left) Toms Jimnez, Julie Carmen, Lorenza Jimnez, and George Friedman-Jimnez, gather at Palacio de Cantero in Trinidad, Cuba in May 2022. Courtesy Julie Carmen

Nowadays, Lico Jimnezs descendants live all over the world, and while working on her documentary this spring, Julie got to meet some of them for the first time. Basically, the story that I am producing now is the coming together of the two branches of the family, the Cuban branch that we knew nothing about, and the European branch, Julie said.

The cousins immediately bonded, and organized a special concert celebrating both their great-grandfathers music and the inauguration of a plaza named after him. It was an event that made national news on the island.

Isidro Betancourt, the films director, tells palabra that being involved with the documentary is an honor for him. Directing this documentary with Julie is a new experience for me and Im fulfilling a dream of making this great musician known, (because he was) someone who was unknown and unfairly forgotten. Getting him (and his music) to be known, studied, and played is the key objective of this documentary.

Julie shares the same vision and describes her film as a compelling work of art that she believes will resonate with people everywhere.

Race and tribalism and nationalism are really polarizing the world, and people are gravitating toward what they feel is their little tribe, she said. Through the generations in our family we have seen a lot of multiculturalism and mixed marriages and people from all different backgrounds falling in love, marrying, having children, and raising those children with progressive values, she added.

The Lico Jimnez documentary is being produced at a pivotal moment in the history of American entertainment. Calls for a more balanced media portrayal of Latinos have grown louder, with advocates voicing concerns that Latinos who comprise nearly 19% of the U.S. population are often erased or misrepresented.

While Hollywood has recently expressed an interest in Latino projects, research suggests that the industry needs to more carefully consider how its content is depicting various communities and, in turn, impacting society.

A 2021 study about Latinos in film by the University of Southern Californias Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that in top-grossing movies from 2019, 39.3% of all characters were part of gangs, involved in sex trafficking, or members of crime syndicates. Of the top-billed Hispanic/Latino characters shown as criminals, nearly half (40%,) were violent 21.4% of all Hispanic/Latino characters (were) depicted as violent criminals.

These statistics are part of the reason why many in Latino Hollywood are working hard to change the narrative. They end up publishing stories that are all about drug dealers; that are all about criminals, Julie said. And it just cements in the minds of the general population that Latinos are marginalized criminals who are only coming here to take something from America.

In addition to her documentary, Julie is also developing other projects many with Latino storylines that defy the stereotypes. And like-minded professionals have joined her.

Writer-producer Nancy De Los Santos is one of Julies industry connections. De Los Santos was the associate producer of such iconic films as Selena, My Family, and is currently in pre-production with The Answer to My Prayer, a Latino-themed romantic comedy.

I think the collaboration between Latinos in this business is super important. I say I work in Latino Hollywood, and I really do. De Los Santos said. I know that we share information as much as we can.

As a show of camaraderie, Julie and De Los Santos have teamed up and secured the film and life rights to the dramatic, true story of Frank Gallegos, a lawyer from New Mexico and his wife Marta, a doctor from El Salvador. The couples experiences include outstanding personal achievement attained through hard work, as well as unimaginable tragedy brought on by war and the whims of fate.

Gallegos was just 21 when a devastating car accident in New Mexico left him comatose for weeks and partially paralyzed. Marta was only 25 and was completing her medical training in the jungles of Guatemala when she was shot in the face during a massacre in a village during the countrys decades-long civil war.

They endured excruciating pain and years of medical treatment and surgeries. Yet, in spite of their formidable challenges and physical disabilities, they never gave up. Frank was determined to become a lawyer, and Marta, who later emigrated to the U.S. had no doubt that someday she would practice medicine again.

Frank and Marta Gallegos eventually went on to become successful professionals, finding love along the way, starting a family and leading happy, purposeful lives. Today both are in their late 60s. Marta is still a doctor and Frank continues to practice law part-time.

It is not a Latino story. It is a story of human beings, and tenacity, and love and overcoming tremendous barriers, De Los Santos said.

Frank Gallegos and Marta Gonzlez Gallegos near the Sacramento Mountain Range, New Mexico. Courtesy: Frank Gallegos

I think its important at this particular time, to tell this particular story because Latinos are being marginalized scapegoated politically, Julie said. And there arent enough positive role models to point to and say: There is a doctor who changed history. There is a lawyer who moved the needle. We need positive role models.

Frank and Marta Gallegos are also hopeful that their arduous journey will serve as inspiration for the kind of literary and theatrical projects that many are yearning for.

That is such a great movement in the industry to start telling these stories, said Frank Gallegos in an interview with palabra. They havent gotten to our level yet, as far as (Latinos making it) from the ground up making it into the highest level of society and changing laws and saving lives. (Hollywood) has a ways to go, and I think that this where (our) story can be a bridge.

De Los Santos agrees. I know our stories will resonate with the mainstream community. They just need to be given that pedestal like any other movie. Put it on the pedestal and see what happens.

Actor Julie Carmen with writer-producer Nancy De Los Santos in Los Angeles earlier this year. Courtesy Julie Carmen

De Los Santos adds that if anyone can help bridge the gap, whether it be through the Gallegos story or the Lico Jimnez documentary, its Julie. I truly believe that Julie Carmen is the missing link between Latino Hollywood and Hollywood, De Los Santos observed. She knows a lot of people, and has the (confidence) to just go and talk to them about things. She has no fear.

Julie simply smiles when asked about this assessment, and quietly points out that her knowledge about the business and large network are the result of decades in the industry. But she says whats most important today is that with the entertainment industry showing signs of change, it may be the right time for Latinos to tell their own stories.

The wave (of interest) in Latino-themed filmsis coming back in full force. There are more projects right now, said Julie. There are more powerful people doing great projects. American Latinos are doing solid work.

__

Saida Pagn is a Los Angeles-based journalist and the winner of three recent Los Angeles Press Club Awards for entertainment reporting and a first-place award in the National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards competition. In 2021, she received two first-place awards from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors for her documentary work. Pagn was born and raised in New York City, and is of Puerto Rican heritage. She has worked as a newscaster for television stations across the United States, and has appeared in nearly 100 primetime television programs, major motion pictures and other on-camera projects. Pagn holds a masters degree with distinction in Strategic Communication, and also conducts webinars on the media and communication.

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Actor-producer is on mission to tell real-life stories about the Latino diaspora without stereotypes - syracuse.com

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