ISRAELI CELEBRATION FOR DR. LOEB — Thanks to former BIAV administrator Barry Rubin, who now lives in Beersheva, Israel, we can tell you about a celebration of the work of Dr. Sidney Loeb, of blessed memory. Rubin is a cousin of Dr. Loeb.
Dr. Loeb was celebrated during a dedication ceremony for the Professor Sidney Loeb Archive at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research on the campus of Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Midreshet Sde Boker, Israel, on June 16.
Dr. Loeb was born in Kansas City in 1917 and went on to develop the technology that would revolutionize water desalination, and hence created a practical way to bring fresh water to drought-prone Israel, which, as noted by his wife Mickey Loeb, “saved this country from disaster.”
The reverse osmosis membrane (Loeb-Sourirajan membrane) that was created at UCLA in 1959 removed the salts from brackish water and seawater, rendering it usable for drinking and other purposes like agriculture. In 1967, Dr. Loeb traveled to Israel for three months at the invitation of the Negev Institute for Arid Zone Research to educate the Israelis in the process. According to Rubin during his time in the Negev, and also because of the Six-Day War that year, Loeb felt that his research and work would be more beneficial in Israel, so he decided to stay, where he eventually took a position at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva. While there, his work led to the pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) process, which creates energy from the meeting of fresh and saline water, as well as the reverse electrodialysis (RED) process.
Since the original invention, reverse-osmosis has become the go-to technology to address water shortages around the world in locations where seawater is plentiful.
Rubin tells us Dr. Loeb passed away in 2008, but given recent droughts around the world, most notably in the Southwest U.S. and in Cape Town, South Africa, .among many other places, Dr. Loeb’s research and innovations continue to make a positive difference to millions of lives — directly and indirectly, which was his greatest satisfaction.
“The K.C. native did well,” Rubin said.
POTLUCK PRODUCTIONS — Potluck Productions, an area organization that produces play scripts written by area women, will present its next First Sunday Play Reading on July 7 at the Yoga Patch, 7235 Central, Kansas City, MO 64114.
The 90-minute show will feature a chilling one-act, two entertaining short plays plus a gripping monologue. Each piece involves characters who either beat or succumb to the odds. All scripts will be performed via dramatic readings by seasoned actors. Two members of the Jewish community, Lezlie Revelle Zucker and Larry Goodman, will perform in several of the plays. The show starts at 3 p.m. and a small admission fee will be charged.
ON ‘BIG SONIA’ — Last week the “BIG SONIA” crew saw the realization of a dream that began eight years ago. Thanks to a generous grant from the Hoffman Family Foundation, the ADL in Washington, D.C., hosted a teacher training workshop on how to teach Holocaust education in classrooms, with a special focus on “BIG SONIA.”
They screened the educational cut of the film and also led a question-and-answer session with educators. Fifty teachers from 20 different schools on the East Coast attended, and “now they will bring the film back to their schools to spread the #SoniaEffect!”
Producer Leah Warshawski wrote in an eblast, “When we started making the film this was our dream. To work with national partners and educators who align with our goals, and to create broad social impact. We hope this is the first of many similar workshops.”