Archived Opinion

A discussion about Jewish Disabilities Awareness & Inclusion Month would not be complete without a tribute to Ahoovim, a group for Jewish adults with cognitive challenges. Ahoovim meets nearly every month to celebrate a Jewish holiday, do a craft project or go on a field trip. Nan Kanter started Ahoovim along with Rabbi Benjamin Gonsher (formerly of the KC Kollel) roughly 12 years ago, and leads it with compassion, creativity and humility. (Her husband, Sid, plays a big part, too.) The meetings are enriched by the participation of Rabbis Shaya Katz and Allan Gonsher as it was in past years by other KC Kollel rabbis. They truly bring out the spark in each participant.

As a volunteer for Ahoovim, I have seen first-hand what a different this program has made in the lives of these adults, and how much joy they get out of it. I have also had the privilege of getting to know them as people, not people with disabilities. Ahoovim reminds us how important it is to be inclusive, and how embracing differences makes our community richer.

Sharon Loftspring

Leawood, Kansas

In the Feb. 14 issue of The Chronicle Sol Koenigsberg wrote an opinion piece in which he compared Jewish refugees from the Nazis to the immigrant caravans presently storming our southern borders. Koenigsberg severely criticizes President Trump, using expressions such as “warnings have no merit,” “delusional” and “wall of hostility.” He accuses President Trump of “demonizing Nancy Pelosi.” 

In contrast, Isi Leibler wrote an opinion in the International Jerusalem Post, Feb. 8-14, page 21, which deserves to be compared to Koenigsberg’s negative remarks about our president. Leibler writes that President Donald Trump has thus far been a very good friend to Israel. He noted that the Democratic Party’s radical and anti-Israel wing is growing and is already threatening the favorable congressional bipartisan concessions toward Israel that have prevailed.

Leibler observes that the Jewish community is utterly disunited and detracting in its loyalty to the Jewish state. “Non-Jewish Jews” have emerged, who regard “social justice and their Democratic affiliation as forums factoring in their Jewish identity”… yet Trump unquestionably is the most positive president toward Israel.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has appointed Ilhan Omar, a bitterly anti-Israel Muslim, to the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Democratic Party is being rapidly radicalized.

Thus, Jewish identity is presently horribly being submerged by excessive progressivism.

Mr. Koenigsberg, Lady Liberty is by no means synonymous with the radically left-leaning Democratic Party.

David S. Jacobs, M.D.

Overland Park, Kansas

I am launching Exodus Now, a political action group that will lead the walk away movement from the Democrat Party within the Jewish Community.

For decades I have been the voice of the Jewish community as a Democrat, appearing regularly on FOX as well as my own radio program. 

I am a strong supporter of President Trump and I laud the president’s decision to finally move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. President Trump has supported the Jewish people like no American President in history, while Democrats have clearly become the party of Israeli and Jewish opposition. Have we learned nothing from the history of oppression?

Anti-Semitism is being embraced more by the day by the Democrats. If we don’t exit now, we are part of it. I believe the answer is to support President Trump. I ask you to join him and support Exodus Now. A committee is now in formation.  More information will be available at  a later date on ExodusNow.org. 

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg

Edison, New Jersey

For the last 11 years, February has been designated as Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). Is there anything uniquely Jewish about disabilities? No. But is it Jewish to pay attention to a month about disability awareness and inclusion? Yes.

Rabbi Edythe Held Mencher, LCSW, notes in an article published by Union for Reform Judaism earlier this month that it’s important for Jews to observe and participate in this important initiative because it is the Jewish way “to cherish each and every life and to support every struggle for dignity and justice; it is Jewish to work directly with each person and each family to find out what they need to be able to learn, pray, find friends, feel a sense of belonging, and contribute to the shaping and sustaining of community; it is Jewish to dispel prejudices and misconceptions that contribute to isolation, underemployment, and lack of human rights.”

Here in Kansas City we have SASONE, a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. For over two decades now, SASONE (the Hebrew word for “joy”) has, each year, been providing services for approximately 200 children with special needs so that they can attend Jewish preschools, Sunday and Hebrew schools, the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and summer camps at the Jewish Community Center.  

SASONE’s services, under the direction of Perry Hilvitz, can be accessed in a variety of ways, including:

• Collaborative work between special needs consultants and congregations, families, social programs and camps to create and modify programming to meet the needs of individuals diagnosed as having a special need;

• One-to-one assistance provided by para-educators;

• Modifications and adaptations of curriculum in school settings;

• Increased student and teacher strategy implementation through training in the following areas: classroom management, learning styles, physical disabilities, behavior issues, developmentally appropriate practices, sensitivity training in the area of special needs, applied behavior analysis, transitioning, youth group director and para-educator support, communication with other professionals, conferencing with parents and community service resource list.

SASONE is proud to join together with Jewish organizations and communities from all over the world in this unified effort to raise awareness and champion the civil rights of people with disabilities. In the greater Kansas City area, we are fortunate, blessed and proud to be celebrating the 22nd year of this community-wide special-needs program. SASONE’s tagline continues to be: “Bringing the JOY of Jewish education to children with special needs,” which says it all.

During this Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, let us acknowledge SASONE as a wonderful asset to our community. Let us commit ourselves to continue the work necessary to ensure that those with disabilities who need our help have a full, rich and meaningful Jewish life. By doing so, we can become our better selves by continuing to keep the doors open to Jewish education for all of our children.

Next week two programs are taking place in honor of JDAIM. The community is invited to the Jewish Community Campus, which meets federal accessibility standards and guidelines, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26.  This educational program will focus on supporting individuals with disabilities both in Israel and in the Kansas City Jewish community. It features Gidi Zur, CEO of Kivunim, New Directions for Special Needs Youth, an organization serving young people with disabilities in Israel.

During the event, Zur will share information about Kivunim’s ground-breaking work in creating new programs and models to help those with disabilities live meaningful and independent lives while contributing to society. He will also share how the Israeli government is investing in programs for people with disabilities, and options that people with disabilities in Israel have for integration and inclusion. 

The event also will offer information about the Kansas City Kollel’s Ahoovim program for adults with special needs from Nan Kanter, the assistant program coordinator, and will feature a short performance by talented pianist and Ahoovim participant Andrew Fink.  

SASONE will be represented at a community resource fair, which will showcase organizations that work with special populations in Kansas City. The resource fair runs 6:40 p.m.-7 p.m. and immediately following the program from 8:20 p.m.-9 p.m.

This event is organized by Jewish Federation in partnership with Jewish Family Services. Co-sponsors are JCRB|AJC and the Jewish Community Center – The J. Please register for this free event at jewishkansascity.org/newdirections. 

Professionals who work with Jewish people who have special needs will also get a chance to learn from Kivunim’s Zur earlier that day at Jewish Family Services — Brookside East. To register for the training session contact Debra Orbuch Grayson M.S., LCMFT, Clinical Manger at 913-327-8298.

At SASONE we believe an all-inclusive community is a stronger community, and while this quest is universal, Jewish values and traditions provide teachable moments to advance inclusion.

 Sandy Passer and her husband, Steve, along with Alan Edelman, are the co-founders of SASONE and chairpersons of the SASONE committee. Anyone interested in joining the SASONE committee should contact Sandy or Steve Passer at .

Ninety-five years ago, an anti-immigration barrier was created. It was not made of concrete or steel. It was made of paper, a legislated act of the Congress of the United States. It was successful in sharply limiting the entry of would-be immigrants, particularly those seeking asylum. 

Attitudes regarding immigration, principally the Immigration Act of 1924, are still with us. The Act authored by Washington Congressman Albert Johnson, who was chairman of the House Immigration Committee, has been described as “a legislative act of xenophobia.”

The law was a reaction to the mass immigration of people from Asia and Eastern Europe (Italians and Jews), characterized as “undesirables.” From the late 1800s to 1924, 4 million Italians and 2 million Jews immigrated to the U.S. More than 40 percent of Italian immigrants went back to their home country. They took their earnings with them to purchase land and improve their lives. Returning to the countries from which they came was not an option for Jews as they sought safety and a new life from the countries from which they fled. 

On Nov. 8, 2018, Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau offered an apology for turning away a ship with German Jewish people seeking refuge. The SS St. Louis from Hamburg was refused permission to land by Cuba, the U.S. and Canada. The ship returned to Europe. (More than 250 people were then murdered by Nazis.) Canada is the only country that has apologized for its refusal to grant asylum to the passengers of the St. Louis. Miss Liberty, with the poem by  Jewish poet Emma Lazuras on her pedestal, must have wailed in despair. (“...Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, ...”) 

We must consider, did the world miss the opportunity to have saved others that would be like Jonas Salk, Leonard Bernstein, Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear navy, Albert Einstein and many, many more? 

Today, President Donald Trump has created chaos that affected the lives of loyal, innocent government workers so he could make good on a campaign promise to build a wall on the southern border to keep out “rapists, drug dealers, sex exploiters of young girls, and other bad people.” To bully Congress to his will, Trump made the lives of more than 800,000 government workers and others miserable by being furloughed and without paychecks for weeks. He had taken out his petulance on those who had nothing to do with a Trump Wall.  

There are those that point to previous presidents that built walls in some areas between Mexico and the U.S. So why the resistance to Trump’s $5.7 billion project? The answer is that Trump hysterically exaggerates who those seeking entry are. It cannot be proven that we are “being invaded.” Trump’s warnings have no merit and appear to be delusional.

In his State of the Union address, Trump read from his speech obviously not reflecting his own views on uniting Congress for the good of the whole of the country. Instead, he built a verbal wall between what he read and his feelings. He introduced:

• A 10-year-old girl that survived cancer and raised funds to benefit children with cancer. His administration policy of “zero tolerance” tears children away from parents wanting to enter the U.S.

• A Holocaust and Pittsburgh synagogue survivor. At the Charlottesville demonstration neo-Nazi thugs shouted anti-Semitic chants. Trump called those who defamed the memories of millions killed by German Nazis “nice people!”

• Family members of murder victims of illegal immigrants. It is certain that immigrants commit crimes and must be held accountable. Studies show that immigrant criminal activity is far less than in the general population. Trump’s claims that we are facing a crisis is another example of delusional thought.  

The president emphasized unity when at the same time he builds a wall of hostility between himself and leaders of the Democratic Party. He has begun to demonize Nancy Pelosi claiming that her actions are harming our country. (It worked for him on Hillary Clinton!) 

There are walls and there are walls. Some of solid materials, some on paper and some are verbal. 

Sol Koenigsberg is executive director emeritus of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. 

A mensch, not a Jew

With reference to the Feb. 7 Listening Post column, while it is commendable that Julian Edelman takes pride in his Jewish ancestry and speaks out on behalf of Israel, if the information in your article is correct, there is no way he can be considered to be Jewish unless he formally converts to Judaism. According to your article, he had a Jewish father but was not raised in the Jewish religion. Neither the Orthodox nor Conservative branches accept patrilineal descent. The Reform movement accepts patrilineal descent only if the person is raised in the Jewish religion. So while he may be a mensch, he is not one of us.

Stu Lewis

Prairie Village, Kansas

A variety of walls

Man has always needed walls to keep the threat away from his existence of being able to survive the unknown.

History has its great walls. The castles of Europe, the Great Wall of China, water — and they all come tumbling down, even today.

“Do fences make good neighbors?” asked Robert Frost.

America’s great walls were her two oceans; people ran from European hierarchy to our teaming shores because of Europe’s social walls (classes), royalty and church. The English population ran from the Church of England, the French from its two republics, the Jews ran from ghettos — all of whom came to America. African slaves were introduced to the walls of ships to a land they could not escape.

This new melting pot produced the greatest republic the world has known. But we have now retreated to Trump’s wall. Why? — for fear of people of color. America’s suburbs are walls. Inner cities are walls, the poor, the middle class and the wealthy are walls. Our past still allowed us to thrive and build a better union.

We were that shining light on the hill.

Now the issue is all about the “money.” Money is only a tool for man, but man has always needed people to make survival great. So what has changed us? Guns, violence and this loss of empathy.

These are the new walls: Big data and algorithms.

So…

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall;

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Jesse C. Newman

Overland Park, Kansas

Engage non-Jewish allies to help get rid of anti-Semitism 

This letter is a response to the JNS article “Yad Vashem’s Holocaust-awareness programs tackle 21st-century anti-Semitism” published in the Jan. 10, 2019, edition of The Chronicle. Throughout my life my family and I faced anti-Semitism in a variety of ways, including the examples below:

Just after my beautiful, French-born, Jewish bride Rosette moved to an apartment outside of Wilmington, Delaware, a friendly neighbor took her aside and asked if she converted to marry me. That’s presumably because of the stereotype that Jewish women could not be that good looking! 

When I was the first Jewish president of a nonprofit social agency, I was telephoned by the executive director informing me a purchase was made of a computer at a favorable price because the seller was “Jewed down!” When I expressed dismay at his comment, he response was, “Did I say something wrong?”

In other example, a disgruntled client of that agency telephoned with a complaint and guessed that I was Jewish. The client continued with a crude, insulting anti-Semitic rant. I stopped listening and hung up the phone while the client was still mid-rant.

I believe that stereotypes held by many are now on the rise again, here in the United States and especially in Europe. We cannot get rid of anti-Semitism by ourselves. We need to have our non-Jewish allies to speak up, not only after we suffer from horrific murders and anti-Semitic rants

Sol Koenigsberg

Overland Park, Kansas

The border: Should we help or reject?

I write this from the perspective of a patriotic American that yearns to see his country as: “The home of the brave and the land of the free.” I feel prideful when I read the last few lines of the Jewish Emma Lazarus’s poem mounted on the base of the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breath free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
I was born in 1924. That was the year when restrictive immigration laws were passed. Among those affected by these laws were Jews that were deemed “undesirable.” (You noticed that I referred to Emma Lazarus as Jewish. Ironic, isn’t it?) Jews were refused entry during that time, sent back to Europe to be murdered. Even after World War II ended, most survivors were left to languish in displaced persons’ camps, some in converted concentration camps. Those camps were not completely emptied until 1952, seven years after the end of that war! President Truman pressed for their entry to the USA after President Roosevelt died. It was then that I was engaged as a social worker to assist survivors to start a new life in the USA. (In the meantime, Israel came into being with many survivors choosing to live there.)
We have another opportunity to either help or to view those seeking asylum as “criminals, bad people, drug smugglers and rapists.” Studies have shown that recent immigrants commit fewer crimes than those in the general population. I have been challenged by some friends of a different political persuasion, “Do you want open borders,” they ask?
I do not respond to that question. It is the wrong question. The appropriate inquiry would be: “Should we be helpful with people seeking a better, safer life or demonize and reject them?” Instead of troops, send trained professionals that can determine whether they may join us. Instead of billions for barriers, utilize funds to keep families united and for those that must return to their own country, let us work with those countries to have them become safer and viable. That approach is humane. We should not repeat 1924.  

Sol Koenigsberg
Overland Park, Kansas

Sitting in a hospital in Holon has been a most eye-opening experience. The hospital sits on the border of Holon, Tel Aviv and Yafo serving an area mixed with Jewish and Muslim and Christian citizens. And it illustrates what I love about Israel.

I came to Israel because my daughter needed surgery. The day of her scheduled surgery we arrived at 6:25 a.m. After all the intake she was shown to her room where she would wait for surgery. Her roommate was a Muslim woman, ‘K’ who had acute appendicitis and also needed surgery.

We were now linked together. They went down to surgery about the same time and returned to their room around the same time: five hours after we first went down. While we waited we sat in an area with many others: Jewish, Christian and Muslim parents, children, spouses and friends waiting for their loved ones to emerge.

I do speak some Hebrew, but in my mother anxiety, my Hebrew left me and I mainly spoke English. Of course my daughter’s husband speaks Hebrew. But it really did not matter. Most of the nurses and aides could quickly move from Hebrew to Arabic to English and at times Russian and Yiddish.

As patients were wheeled into the surgery area a barrage of languages wished them luck. And as families were reunited after surgery, those remaining behind sent prayers for speedy recovery to all no matter the religion; we were united in our need to comfort each other in our time of stress and anxiety.

When a 13-year-old boy was left to wait alone as his father had surgery, we banded together to speak to him and keep him calm until his much-older brother arrived. It was K’s husband who told him what to tell his brother after the doctor came out, because the boy’s happy tears rendered him unable to speak. When his phone’s battery died, my son-in-law gave him our charger so he could call his brother again.

We became a team. When the nurse came in and started to speak to me in Hebrew, I responded in Hebrew, “more slowly please.” K’s husband told the nurse to speak to me in English. When he left to walk his two young children out along with his sister, I held his wife’s head and cleaned her face after she vomited. She was young enough to be my daughter too.

At first, before the surgery, K’s husband put her hijab over her hair when we were in the room. But after the surgery he did not bother. We were in this together. Only when visitors came did she put her hijab on.

Later that evening, when my daughter started to vomit, I grabbed the garbage pail for her, while my son-in-law brought in another trash can. Then K’s mother began to laugh, the idea of the two of them vomiting simultaneously was just too much. I started to laugh as well. My son-in-law was a bit confused as to why we were laughing. But it was fine. We were in close quarters as the hospital was full, and we were put together in a single room.

When the nurse came to check my daughter, we two mothers were asked to leave for a few minutes. We stood outside together and spoke about our daughters. We were together in wishing both a speedy recovery. It did not matter our language or religion, we were just moms whose daughters just had surgery.

Actually I really enjoyed listening to all the conversations, not to the words, but to the switching in one sentence from Arabic to Hebrew to English. The cadence of the melody changes with each language like a symphony of sound. At times I would be confused as to what language I was hearing, as the speakers would switch so fluently from one to another.

My daughter told me that Arabic spoken in Yafo is filled with Hebrew expressions.

Late that evening, after I had spent over 15 hours at the hospital, my son-in-law and I went back home. K’s husband spent the night. In the morning we found out that my daughter had been sick and he helped her after she threw up.

I felt terrible that I was not there, that she had not told us to return. Her answer when we asked was the room was way too small for us all to be there. Also in the morning before we came, it was K who told the nurse who came to check on her that my daughter had been sick during the night; that she needed to be checked as well.

That morning I purchased tulips for both of them because they were going to have to spend another night in the hospital. Yes being sick at night landed both of them another night in the hospital.

My daughter and K are now home. Their room is empty and ready for the next patient.

In all I spent parts of four days at Wolfson Medical Center. While at the hospital I felt a sense of companionship. People working together to help everyone else. I get so sick of hearing about hatred and bigotry and stereotypes. At Wolfson we are one people. That is the Israel I love.

I am aware of what is happening elsewhere in Israel. At the borders and in the West Bank. But when you are at the hospital you know that the everyday people can live together and wish each other well.

Doctors, nurses, aides; patients and families; Jewish, Muslim, Christian; all together in one purpose: To help everyone feel better. At least that is the impression I had at Wolfson. That feeling is what gives me hope for Israel.

Ellen R. Portnoy is a freelance writer, blogger, fundraiser and volunteer. This article originally appeared on her blog, zicharonot.com.