Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) The congregations of Temple Emanuel, Davenport, and the Tri-City Jewish Center, Rock Island, are leaving their respective buildings and moving to a new, single location on Davenports East Kimberly Road to pool resources and make each stronger.

The new space will be called Beit Shalom Jewish Community, meaning house of peace, and it is being created in an existing building originally constructed as a Ryans Family Steak House, later a Mel Foster Co. office. Leaders hope it will be ready by early September in time for the Jewish High Holy Days.

The Quad-City Times reports the reason for the historic move is that both congregations have experienced declining membership, and more than five years ago, leaders of the Tri-City Center realized that their building, constructed in 1981, had become bigger than they needed and was no longer centrally located to its members, Steve Geifman, president of the new community, explained. The center began exploring options and talking with leaders of Temple Emanuel.

Earlier this year the two reached a sharing agreement in which they each will maintain their own identity, board of trustees and prayer books and services, but will share space and a rabbi, Rabbi Linda Bertenthal, who will serve as rabbi to both, said.

Temple Emanuel was founded in 1861, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Iowa and is a Reform congregation. The Tri-City Jewish Center, founded in 1936, is a Conservative, or Traditional, congregation that, in 1950 and 1968, took into its fold two Orthodox congregations founded in Rock Island in the early 1900s.

The congregations expect that by pooling their resources that they will become stronger and more vital, creating the kind of critical mass that makes worship and celebrations more meaningful, Rabbi Bertenthal said.

Together, Beit Shalom will have about 180 member families, making the new, 11,000-square-foot location just the right size, Geifman said. By comparison, it is about the same size as Temple Emanuel, while the Tri-City center is about 30,000 square feet.

The Beit Shalom location at 2215 E. Kimberly Road, just west of the intersection with Jersey Ridge Road, was built in 1992. When the steak house closed, the building was briefly occupied by Bishops Buffet, then was purchased by Mel Foster Co. as a headquarters, but has been vacant for at least five years.

The building was purchased for $685,000 in December 2019, according to Scott County Assessor records, and it is being gutted and reconstructed by Russell Construction Co. About $1.4 million will go into rehabbing the 10,000-square-foot space, according to building permit records on the county assessor website.

We did it, Geifman said one recent morning, leading a construction tour of the building. Its working. Were really excited.

The front door will open to a foyer with a mosaic Tree of Life on the floor that will merge into Trees of Life on the walls, brought from both synagogues. The sanctuary will be straight ahead in the middle of the building, flanked by equal spaces that can be opened or closed as needed to form separate rooms or create a bigger sanctuary. The area, located on the northeast corner of the building, will be flooded with light from existing windows.

Classrooms will be built on the south, opening to a patio. There will be a kosher-style kitchen, available for events and catering; a library that can double as a small chapel; offices, and a room with video equipment so that events, meetings or services such as funerals can be live-streamed to people who cannot attend in person.

There also will be space for both congregations memorabilia, Geifman said.

Religious and historic objects will be removed from their respective homes and incorporated into the new space, including three ner tamids, or Eternal Lights, that are always lighted to symbolize Gods eternal presence. Also being brought over are the oversized doors and Ten Commandments from the Rock Island synagogue, stained glass windows from Temple Emanuel, and the arks of the law, or cabinets, that enshrine the sacred Torah scrolls used for public worship, Geifman said.

The building also will be home to the Jewish Federation of the Quad-Cities, a nonprofit organization formed in 1980 to provide social services to the Jewish community, especially senior citizens and children, and to be the voice of the Jewish community to the Quad-Cities at large. One of the smallest of 155 Jewish Federations in North America, it has been located in the Tri-City center.

The new location is not blessed with the park-like setting of the Tri-City center, with its many trees and stream, but landscaping is part of the plan and, overall, the building was right-sized for both communities, Geifman said. It also has 180 parking slots, something that would be hard to find elsewhere in the middle of town, he said.

Although the Beit Shalom site might not be 100% completed by Sept. 6-16, the time of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Geifman expects it to be far enough along for observance.

In bringing the Jewish community together, I feel great optimism and joy, Rabbi Bertenthal said. I think it will strengthen both congregations and the community in general.

Geifman agrees. While some might regard the change as downsizing, in reality, it makes us stronger, he said.

Our membership is excited. It is the best thing and at the right time.

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Jewish congregations gather at Davenport location - New Haven Register

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

A man was arrested after allegedly attacking a 12-year-old Jewish boy in Fairfax area of Los Angeles, a Jewish neighborhood of the city, as reported by The Daily Forward.

The man, Daniel Rankin, was arrested on suspicion of battery, and is known in the neighborhoods. The boy was released on the spot after being treated by paramedics.

The Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles chapter responded to the assault by saying that We are outraged over reports of a violent assault on a Jewish child while playing with his friends and thank @LAPD for investigating. We have seen a significant rise in antisemitism in recent weeks and are working with community organizations and law enforcement to stop the hate.

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Man arrested after attacking 12-year-old Jewish boy in Los Angeles - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

CBCs breakthrough comedy Schitts Creek tells the story of the Rose family.The Roses, including parents John (Eugene Levy) and Moira (Catherine O'Hara), and grown children Alexis (Annie Murphy) and David (Daniel Levy), have been conned out of their wealth by Eli, their corrupt business manager.

Theyre forced from their lavish home in California to Schitts Creek, a tacky, down-and-out small rural town. John, in better times, bought the title to the town for David as a birthday joke. Over time, however, Schitts Creek becomes the source of the Rose familys redemption, saving them from not only potentially endless wandering in search of a new home, but also, to a large extent, their parochial world view.

Schitts Creek has won 102 awards, including a sweep of the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards and 2021 Canadian Screen Awards for comedy. The cast has been lauded for their superb, on-point performances.

The show has also been recognized for its deft handling of a range of identity issues, particularly LGBTQ+ relationships, pansexuality, socio-economic class and Canadian-ness.

Yet Schitts Creek, co-created by real-life father-son duo Eugene and Daniel Levy, is also fundamentally about Jewish identity. Critics who ignore or simply miss the Jewishness of the characters fail to appreciate this key aspect of the shows inclusive reach and appeal to diverse viewers.

Eugene Levy, Jewish in real life, is also Jewish as John Rose; Johns wife, Moira, is not. The shows Jewish references are abbreviated, dropped in passing in a number of the shows episodes.

A local man presumes that John has bagel expertise because he is Jewish in Season 2, Episode 5; Daniel explicitly describes himself as a product of a delightful half-half situation (referring to an interfaith family) in a Season 4 holiday special.

More references abound, for example, in Seasons 5 and 6: Daniel mentions his birthright trip, a reference to free, 10-day trips for Jews between the ages of 18 and 32 who have never before travelled to Israel, and Alexis recalls her bat mitzvah for which she wore a tiara. John reminisces about his boyhood Hebrew school baseball team, The Flying Latkes, and Moira references a Passover seder. Alexis sports a hamsa necklace featuring a hand shape with an eye (in Jewish understandings of the hamsa, the hand is symbolic of Gods hand, which wards off the evil eye). The episode Sunrise, Sunset is named after the song from the iconic Jewish musical, Fiddler on the Roof.

Schitts Creek also presents a new interpretation of the most central of historically Jewish themes: exile and diaspora.

Throughout history Jews have been strangers in a strange land. As described in the biblical story of Exodus, the Jews were forced from their homeland due to famine to reside in Egypt. Following the destruction of the First (586 BCE) and Second Temples (70 CE) in Jerusalem, the Jews were again forced into exile, living until today in diaspora throughout the world.

The Rose family is in exile in Schitts Creek. Yet the Roses, like so many Jews in diaspora, emotionally and personally grow in this strange land, adapting to their changed circumstances, although never wholly assimilating.

The shows conclusion is at least suggestively symbolic of the range of solutions undertaken by Jews who have had to rebuild their lives time and again in diasporas throughout history: David opts to stay in Schitts Creek with his new husband, John and Moira return to California and Alexis goes to young American Jews very own Zion, New York City.

In light of this evidence of Jewishness, it may be surprising for viewers who can see that religious belief and ongoing practice is minimal to nonexistent in the Rose family. There are no Jewish holidays or heartfelt discussions of the complex nature of Jewish identity. There is no mention of affiliation or identification with Reform, Conservative or Orthodox Jewish religious movements.

Yet the Roses Jewishness is unselfconscious and undeniable: They are not hiding their Jewishness out of fear of antisemitism or self-loathing. Their Jewishness, like Daniels pansexuality, is simply a fact, part of who they are as people, if not the basis for whatever spiritual beliefs they may or may not hold.

Indeed, the Roses offer many Jewish viewers a recognizable reflection of themselves. The Roses can be described as an example of the broad category of Jews of no religion, a term used by the Pew Foundation in its surveys of Jewish Americans.

For Jews of no religion, in contrast to Jews by religion, Jewishness is located in ones ethnic, cultural or ancestral background. In terms of beliefs, Jews of no religion are likely to identify as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular.

Four out of 10 Jewish American adults under the age of 30 identify as Jews of no religion; overall, Jews of no religion make up 27 per cent of American Jewry and 79 per cent of them are intermarried. This Jewishness, for many, is most akin to an inheritance, a link to the past that shapes, but does not solely determine, ones sense of self in the present or future.

Many Jews of no religion are quick to argue that they are not less than Jews by religion. Being Jewish by religion is both a family inheritance (except in the case of converts) and a matter of belief. Jews of no religion separate family inheritance and personal belief, highlighting the fact that Jewishness is historically and in the present not only a belief system, but also a matter of history.

The Rose family, with love, sharp wit, endearing acceptance and fabulous fashion gives viewers a glimpse of Jews who know that they measure up quite nicely to just about anyone both within and outside of the diaspora of Schitts Creek.

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'Schitt's Creek': Where 'Jews of no religion,' facing exile, find redemption - The Conversation CA

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

Over the last year, no fewer than five young people came out publicly as LGBTQ at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, a pluralistic synagogue on Manhattans Upper West Side.

Even Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, SAJs spiritual leader and an active champion of gay rights dating back to her days as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the worlds largest synagogue for LGBTQ individuals, was surprised at the number.

Thats a lot in a very small community, Herrmann said. And the whole community has been very accepting.

In the congregation of 270 families, only a handful of adults identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer, she said.

But there are quite a substantial number of tweens and teens, and even younger, who are LGBTQ, Herrmann said. These are kids who are out by the fourth grade through high school, from age 8 and up.

To help figure out how to support them, the synagogue for the past six years has been working with Keshet, the national Jewish organization that works for full equality of LGBTQ individuals in Jewish life.

Among the changes the synagogue has implemented: Instead of using the gendered terms bar or bat mitzvah, the synagogue now uses the gender-neutral term bmitzvah. Instead of calling a person to the Torah by saying yaamod for a man or taamod for a woman, everyone is called by na laamod please stand.

This year, as a result of multi-year support from UJA-Federation of New York, SAJ and Keshet have developed a more formal partnership to ensure greater inclusivity and sensitivity.

A lot of kids now have more openness to express themselves in new ways, and the environment of SAJ makes it a safe place for them, Herrmann said. Its been wonderful.

Its a step that a growing number of synagogues and other Jewish institutions are taking amid the skyrocketing number of people coming out as LGBTQ while still in their teens or even younger. The 2020 survey of U.S. Jewry by the Pew Research Center found that about one in 10 Jewish Americans identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual. But among the respondents, 15% in their 30s and 40s, and 25% younger than 30, identified as something other than straight.

I would assume if we were looking at under 18, that percentage would increase, said Idit Klein, president and CEO of Keshet. These are numbers that we have to pay attention to and that we need to guide us how to make investments in a change that is needed both in Jewish life and in the broader world.

Klein said the Pew survey missed the number of Jews who are trans or nonbinary.

Its a painful erasure, Klein said. The No. 1 reason we see that trans and nonbinary Jews leave the Jewish community is because of explicit transphobia or the absence of proactive gestures that tell them this is a community that sees them and wants them.

SAJ is one of six synagogues and two summer camps now receiving yearlong training and consultation under the UJA-Keshet Leadership Project designed to strengthen their work for LGTBQ equality and belonging. Each of the institutions has designated a small team of professionals and/or lay leaders to be a part of this project, which started in March.

The Leadership Project followed one open to all Jewish institutions in the five boroughs of New York City, Long Island and Westchester begun in December 2019 and extended until the end of this month because of COVID restrictions. Some 14 institutions participated, including the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, synagogues and day schools.

Over a three-year period, UJA-Federation of New York has invested more than $350,000 in grants to Keshet.

Dubbs Weinblatt, Keshets associate director of education and training for New York, said the growing number of young people identifying publicly as LGBTQ is a reflection of a growing sense of safety people feel to come out and say who they are.

Communities are making active changes to celebrate and embrace folks. This then creates a sense of belonging for all, said Weinblatt, whose pronouns are they/them. Jewish institutions want to work with Keshet to make sure that their programming, policy and cultures celebrate and represent all LGBTQ Jews.

Weinblatt has been conducting trainings around LGBTQ issues for synagogue clergy, including how to build more inclusive congregations. For day school educators, they said, there have been discussions about how to talk about gender in the classroom.

LGBTQ Jews are an important part of our Jewish community and we want to ensure that they feel fully included in all of our Jewish institutions, said Andrea Fleishaker, a planning director in UJA-Federations Jewish life department.

The Riverdale YM-YWHA was among the Jewish institutions that did training with Keshet. Initially the senior center staff, family and youth department, a board member and the Ys chief operating officer participated in a daylong training, and several months later Weinblatt came in to do a training for all staff.

We are trying to make sure we are doing what is needed so that everyone can feel welcome. That is our goal, said Matt Abrams Gerber, the COO. We have plenty to learn and we are trying to be a place in the community where everyone feels completely welcome, including members of the LGBTQ community.

At Bnai Jeshurun, a Conservative synagogue in Manhattan, executive director Colin Weil, who is gay, was approached by both UJA-Federation and Keshet to participate in the Leadership Project. He realized through the program that being welcoming doesnt mean not asking people about their gender identity or sexual orientation; there are ways of asking that are affirming.

Today the synagogues membership forms ask about gender identity, and in parentheses, cis or trans (cis refers to those whose gender identity aligns with what they were assigned at birth).

Were trying to see everybody for who they are and allow them to add to who they are, but we do not want to separate them at the get-go, Weil said. We are all born in Gods image and God did not have to identify as a gender.

As an out gay leader in a mainstream Jewish community, he added, it is affirming that the Jewish community is acknowledging the importance of doing this work.

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Synagogues and camps are getting help to better support LGBTQ youth - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

The first military rabbi to take office in Germany in 100 years is to be inaugurated on Monday.

The rabbi of the state of Saxony, Zsolt Balla, is to be inaugurated at the synagogue in Leipzig as Jewish chaplain to the German military, with others to follow in his footsteps in the coming years.

In an interview with broadcaster Bayern 2 ahead of the ceremony, the 42-year-old said he hoped he could reach not only the Bundeswehr, but also the wider German population. There are an estimated300 Jewish soldiers currently in service.

"I think that antisemitism, and any form of hatred against minorities, is a thing that we can never eliminate from our society for good," Balla said. But it was possible to "at least isolate" these tendencies "with good work, good conversations and exchanges."

"We have to evaluate this every year, again and again: Are we doing enough for a better society in Germany?" Balla said.

He said his position was a historical responsibility. "I think it is not a false hope to say that one day it will be as natural for the Bundeswehr to have Jewish soldiers as it is for the armed forces of the United States, the Netherlands, France and England," Balla said.

Hungarian-born Balla studied engineering in his home town of Budapest. He has lived in Germany since 2002. In Berlin, he attended the Beis Zion Talmudic high school.

In 2009, he completed his rabbinical studies. That same year, he was ordained as a rabbi in Munich. He has been the regional rabbi of Saxony since 2019.

According to the National Library of Israel, during the First World War, around 100,000 Jews, including such notable figures as theologian Leo Baeck, served in the Imperial German Army. 12,000 of them were killed in action and tens of thousands received decorations or commendations.

Despite this, there was widespread suspicion among German nationalists that Jews were avoiding military service, leading the High Command to order a Judenzhlung, or Jewish count. When the Nazis took power in 1933, Jewish soldiers and chaplains were expelled from the military.

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First German Army rabbi in 100 years takes office - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

Jaret Lyons. Photo by Wendi Lyons

By David Statman

Like the rest of the world, Jaret Lyons went through a lot of change in the last year and a half.

In the fall, Lyons left his old company after 14 years. And amid a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, he suddenly found himself with some spare time on his hands.

A board member of Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Lyons was never a stranger to dedicating free time to charitable endeavors. But to fill the new gaps in his schedule, Lyons decided to go bigger than ever before.

I knew that Id have, for the first time in my professional career and probably the last time, more free time, Lyons said. I was in a mood where I was given to be thankful to things and think about things you want to do. I came up with an idea after chatting with my wife to volunteer more, and because I like to go big when I think of ideas, I thought, what if I could volunteer for 52 organizations in 52 weeks?

Lyons idea manifested itself in what he calls Mission: Possible, which has seen him put in shifts for nearly 40 different charities in the Philadelphia area since beginning in December.Many have had to do with food insecurity and homelessness not necessarily by design, Lyons said, but because those organizations were simply more likely to pick up the phone.

Lyons also has volunteered with many Jewish charities over the past several months. On his website, Lyons lists shifts with Temple Emanuel, Jewish Family and Childrens Service of Southern New Jersey, KleinLife, PJ Library and the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, among others. In doing so, Lyons said hes found a new way to express his Jewish identity.

Ive always tried to be vanilla in the world of sales, but Im proud to be Jewish, and it brings me even greater pride to volunteer for PJ Library or the Federation and deliver meals to Holocaust survivors, Lyons said. That was special. That was something Ill never forget. The idea that there are Holocaust survivors still, and heres me pulling up in my car and delivering a couple bags, it was a humbling experience.

For Lyons, Mission: Possible has served several purposes.

Theres the personal satisfaction and growth that he feels from volunteering and setting a strong example for his 15-year-old son, Brandon.

More than that, however, is the opportunity to show people that volunteering is easier and less time-consuming than they may think, and to encourage others to do the same.

A lot of people may look at volunteering as a huge investment of time and logistics, Lyons said. Im the vice president of a very successful company, and I have my own responsibilities. I find a way to fit it in, and when you really think about it, its only a couple hours here and there every so often. Its a lot easier than people think to get a volunteering shift somewhere.

So far, Lyons has completed his volunteer work with 39 of his goal of 52 organizations, leaving him well ahead of schedule for his planned finish date of Dec. 9.

But the completion of Mission: Possible wont mark the end of Lyons newfound hobby of volunteering: Already, hes brainstorming ideas for sequels in the years to come.

Ive made so many connections with places I havent even volunteered at yet, Lyons said. Some organizations dont accept volunteers due to the pandemic.

Theres no way Im going to turn them away when things start to open up.

David Statman is a freelance writer.

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Mission: Volunteer 52 Times in 52 Weeks - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

The SimonWiesenthal Center,an international Jewish human rights organization, has launched a campaign to hold Google accountable for "tolerating" antisemitism in its workplace, the organization announced on Thursday.The Center has around 400,000 members worldwide and has consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and other notable international organizations. The controversy began in 2007 when Kamau Bobb, known for being Google's head of diversity, wrote a post where he wrote that Jews have "an appetite for war and killing."This directly contradicts to Bobb's original job, which is to ensure that the workplace would be free of bigotry. However, Bobb was moved to a different department instead of being fired once Google had been made aware of his comments.The SimonWiesenthal Center argued that Bobb's comments are "dangerous accusations that have been used for centuries as a pretext for virulent hate and violence directed against Jews."Furthermore, the organization emphasized that not firing Bobb sends a message that a double standard exists that is biased against Jews within Google. The organization urged Google's employees to speak out against such bigotry, implying that they too would be biased when it comes to Jews while they celebrate all other cultures.

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Google criticized by Jewish organization for 'allowing' antisemitism - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

By Staff | on June 20, 2021

Yavapai CASA for Kids Foundation (YC4KF) sincerely thanks the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott for their generous $8,000 grant. These funds will be used to complete the final stages of constructing an outside play area at the Family Visitation Center.

When families are separated during difficult times and children are placed under the care of the Department of Child Safety (DCS), the shared goal of DCS and YC4KF is family reunification. It is important that biological parents visit their children regularly to maintain the parent-child emotional bond. Because visits often must be supervised to ensure the childs safety, they must take place in an appropriate, safe, and private setting.

To learn more about Yavapai CASA for Kids work in our community, visit ycfk.org.

The Community Connections category made possible by Vince Moser Farmers Insurance of Prescott, Valley, AZ.Thank you, Vince!

Is your business listed in the official Prescott Valley Recreation Guide?! 60,000 copies are being printed annually! How can you add your business? Call 928-257-4177 or email info@talkingglass.media or fill out the form atwww.signalsaz.com.

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YC4KF Thanks Jewish Community Foundation for $8,000 Grant - Signals AZ

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

An egg cream was my fathers kitchen claim to fame. He assembled them with great flourish Foxs U-Bet chocolate syrup, cold milk from a glass bottle, and a long, hard shpritz of seltzer followed by a vigorous stir. Even today, when I drink or think of it, it takes me back to my familys Brooklyn roots and him.To my surprise, I have discovered that I am not alone in my nostalgic connection to this fancy-named but pedestrian drink. According to Pete Freeman, co-owner, co-founder and chief soda jerk at Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain, nostalgia is at least half of the egg creams appeal. There was a time when every New York diner and ice cream parlor offered them. As Elliot Willensky wrote in his book When Brooklyn Was The World: 1920-1957, a candy store minus an egg cream, in Brooklyn at least, was as difficult to conceive of as the Earth without gravity.

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In 2021, there arent many candy stores or pharmacies with marble counters where you can still order an egg cream. But those eateries that offer the beverage do so with pride and purpose.

When Matthew Grogan partnered with Patsy and Carol Grimaldi to open Julianas Pizza, rated best pizzeria in New York in 2017 by Zagats, they crafted a menu that would bring back foods from the Grimaldis youth: pizza made with fresh mozzarella in a coal-fired oven; seltzer from glass bottles and egg creams made with U-Bet chocolate syrup. Pre-pandemic, they sold about 40 egg creams a week to customers of all ages, many of them curious tourists.

Aside from nostalgia, though, what is the egg creams appeal?

When you break it down, its just carbonated chocolate milk with foam on top. If youre thirsty, Freeman said, it satisfies you on a physical level. But on a cultural level, it is tied to being Jewish.

The egg cream was born in the poor and crowded Jewish communities of the Lower East Side and Brooklyn. According to Barry Joseph, author of Seltzertopia, in the 1920s and 1930s Louis Auster the Jewish immigrant credited with creating the egg cream would report selling 3,000 egg creams a day. On hot days the number would soar with the temperature up to 12,000!

Plus, two of the egg creams three ingredients have strong Jewish connections.

Jews dominated the seltzer trade in New York City, and Jews loved to drink it. According to Sara Gardner in her article Why Jews Love Seltzer, seltzer is a pareve beverage beloved by Jews, observant and assimilated alike. It was a welcome digestive aid to the heavy Eastern European fare people ate in delis.

Foxs U-Bet chocolate syrup was produced by a Jewish man, Herman Fox, in his Brooklyn tenement home at the beginning of the 20th century. Fox was a gambler who lost his money in a Texas oil well investment, but turned things around when he struck gold with his syrup. While his money stayed in Texas, the Texan term you bet its good became part of his syrups name.

In the 2018 documentary Egg Cream, food historian Andrew Coe describes egg creams as a cheap copy of the soda fountain drinks from the fancier neighborhoods of New York. Coe said the drink gave people a sense that they were having a fancy, uptown kind of drink for a very downtown kind of price. Even the name sounds rich, he says. But its also misleading; the standard egg cream has no egg and no cream.

Some say the name is a bastardization of the Yiddish word echt, which means genuine or real. Grogan, of Julianas Pizza, heard that when Auster was making the drinks he would call to his staff and ask them to bring up more of the [grade] A cream which, given New York accents, morphed over time to egg cream.

Freeman of Brooklyns Farmacy believes the original egg cream really was made with egg. In the 20s, he says, refrigeration was bad. Soda jerks would whip egg whites and dollop them on top of the chocolate soda. In so doing, they could turn a 2-cent chocolate soda into a 5-cent egg cream. Only later, he believes, was egg replaced by milk when good refrigeration became more widespread.

Just as there is no consensus on the origins of the name, there are myriad ways to make the drink. Freeman first mixes milk and seltzer for a white, foamy head; the purity of the foam is important to him. Then he adds the chocolate syrup. Grogan, however, makes his egg cream with cream! He mixes the cream with Foxs U-Bet syrup and then adds Brooklyn Seltzer Boys seltzer for a thick, rich head.

For Freeman, the egg cream is not just a drink its a mission. When he and his sister opened Brooklyn Farmacy, the egg cream was disappearing from menus and people werent giving it the attention he felt it deserved.

Your legacy can only survive if one generation passes it down to the next, Freeman says. You can bemoan that or do something about it. Parents and kids now come to our shop. Our egg creams are codified in those kids memories. They will grow up and share it with their children. And the egg cream will live on.

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What is an egg cream and why is it so Jewish? - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on June 21, 2021

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix awarded $141,000 in scholarships for children hoping to attend Jewish day and sleep-away camps this summer. The need-based scholarships were granted to 108 families with children at 41 different camps throughout the United States and Canada.

Sheryl Quen, JCF director of grants and communications, highlighted the idea that a Jewish summer camp can help build a Jewish identity and create a sense of belonging.

By providing camp scholarships we have the opportunity to fund lifelong friendships, Jewish learning, new adventures, sheer joy and a connection to the Jewish community, Quen said, via email.

Campers at Gindling Hilltop Camp gather with their arms around one another.

Andrea Cohen, director of youth philanthropy, pointed out that COVID created new challenges for families and said that due to these new financial pressures, the need for assistance greatly increased.

Scholarships were awarded for campers to attend pluralistic, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox camps. They included several camps in Arizona: Camp G.R.O.W. of Arizona, Camp Daisy and Harry Stein, Gan Israel and Martin Pear Jewish Community Centers Shemesh Camp.

There were also scholarships to camps in California: Camp Agudath West, Camp Mountain Chai, Camp Ramah Northern California, Camp Ramah Ojai, Maccabi Sports Camp, URJ 6 Points Academy, URJ Camp Newman, Camp Hess Kramer, Gindling Hilltop Camp and Yeshiva HaKayitz.

It is one of the most gratifying things we do, knowing the difference Jewish camping can make in the lives of these children, stated Richard Kasper, JCFs president and chief executive officer.

Campers enjoy outdoor games at Gindling Hilltop Camp.

The scholarships were made possible by endowment funds established at the JCF by Jack Bromfield; the families of Gloria and Sidney Kasper, Jean and Harold Grossman, Labe Eric Targovnik and Kenneth Maltenfort; JCFs donors; and by the Molly Blank Fund. JN

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JCF awards more than $140000 in scholarships for Jewish campers - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

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