The feature below was provided by Susan Thompson of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas. All photos are by Jeff Rasansky, courtesy of the Dallas Federation.

August 26, 2008

On Sunday, August 22, over 5,000 supporters of Israel attended our Party on the Plaza: A Celebration of Israel. This was the largest outdoor event to promote the State of Israel in the history of Texas! It was an unforgettable experience, full of excitement, enthusiasm, and yes, heat. Sunday was a classic Texas scorcher, but it didn’t deter the fun. Held at the AT&T Plaza at Victory Park, there was plenty of live music, dancing, kosher food and numerous activities and informational exhibits for all ages. 

Through it all Marlene Gorin, Executive Director of the Dallas Jewish Community Relations Council, and her staff, handled this complex event with class and excellence. There were countless details and many volunteers to coordinate. I am very proud of the leadership of Marlene and our JCRC. The Co-chairs for the Party, Stephanie Hirsh and Charles Pulman (pictured below with Dr. Zev Shulkin), worked tirelessly in promoting and handling the logistics for the celebration.

Rabbi Adam Raskin, president of the Rabbinic Association of Greater Dallas and spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Torah, said the large crowd, especially given the temperatures, showed the strength of Dallas' support for Israel. "There's so much passion, so much excitement here," Raskin said in a speech at the event, which was shown on several large screens in the plaza. Other speakers included Dallas’ Mayor, Tom Leppert, and Pastor Terri Copeland Pearsons of Christians United for Israel and Eagle Mountain International Church; Meir Shlomo, Houston-based consul general of Israel to the Southwest, spoke exuberantly to the crowd: "It's good to know we are not alone," he told the large crowd. "The message is loud and clear: Dallas supports Israel."

Jodi Barris, spokeswoman for the celebration, said Sunday's event was such a success, organizers may consider making it an annual event. The achievement of having the Party on the Plaza speaks volumes about the strength of our Jewish community in Dallas, and the support we have from so many Christians; many who came to the event are members of Christians United for Israel. It is a tribute to the power of collaboration among diverse viewpoints.

The announcement below was sent out by our friends at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; it's a great way to remind the world of the plight of Gilad Shalit, who has been in captivity for over four years. August 28 will mark his 24th birthday.

As announced earlier this week, www.giladgreetings.org  is providing Gilad Shalit’s supporters in the United States and around the world a vehicle to express their solidarity with Gilad by sending birthday and/or Rosh HaShana greetings. 

Please post the attached button on your organizational website with a link to www.giladgreetings.org to help meet the goal of collecting tens of thousands of cards.  The Conference of Presidents will deliver the messages to the International Committee of the Red Cross to underscore the fact that Gilad has been held for four years without access to the ICRC, a right provided under international humanitarian law.

We greatly appreciate your participation in this campaign.

Alan P. Solow, Chairman
Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman

This update is from Steven J. Edelstein, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Nashville & Middle Tennessee. His community coped with deadly flooding in May, and their JCC became a vital shelter for those left homeless by the floodwaters. They have a disaster relief mailbox at http://bit.ly/TennFlood.

Dear Friends: 

I write this now from a perspective of three months out from the horrendous flood which struck this community in early May.  There are and will remain scars from this disaster for years to come; however, most of downtown is open and functional, although the symphony hall remains cordoned off and under repair.  Gaylord Opryland Resort is slated to reopen in November.  Roads are passable.  The flood is still a daily news story.  Over 10,000 homes damaged; 5,500 seriously; $2 billion in property damage, making the flood by some accounts the costliest U.S. disaster not connected to a hurricane.  In many residential sub-divisions building permits are evident, but homes remain shells of what they had been.

      For the 58 Jewish families, 119 individuals, who had catastrophic damage, life goes on, but is and will remain slow for some time.  With the generosity of 443 donations, we were able to provide initial transition stipends totaling $74,200; stipends to those with serious but less than catastrophic damage in the amount of $1,980; and additional grants based on need, which have now been distributed for $115,000.  Four additional applications are being considered. Members of 12 families are receiving counseling from Jewish Family Service directly attributable to the flood.

    The rabbis, who played an immediate and active role out in the neighborhoods, sponsored a Shabbat Unity Service last month attended by over 400.  Jewish Family Service has been instrumental in working with families.  The Gordon Jewish Community Center was an emergency shelter for 200 and a food distribution center for 500, and Vanderbilt Hillel coordinated volunteers to work with Nechama and other outside groups.

    Of the over $234,000 raised in our flood relief mailbox, $148,000 was from 49 Jewish Federations.  Jerry Silverman and Robyn Judelsohn of JFNA were instrumental in offering assistance, as was our own Fred Zimmerman, chair of JFNA's Emergency Services Committee.  The New Orleans Federation and JFS helped us with consultation.

    The strength of this response is further evidence of the importance of a national system.  On behalf of our leadership and Board, we appreciate the outpouring of support which all of friends around the country provided.  With best wishes.

Steven J. Edelstein, Executive Director
Jewish Federation of Nashville & Middle Tennessee
www.jewishnashville.org

A packed day of Jewish learning, identity, socializing and entertainment for young Russian-speaking adults will take place in Long Island, New York, on August 15.

More than 50 presentations, workshops, seminars, panels and lectures will take place on subjects as diverse as tales of passion in the Talmud; How S.Y. Agnon won the Nobel prize for literature; the life and legacy of Menachem Begin; human sexuality in the Bible; Kosher “take-out;” Jewish spies in the Second World War; disputation in Jewish tradition; alternative medicine and “Jewish” cosmetics; Islamic fundamentalism; the Russian-American mass media and much more.

Among starred speakers are the Jewish NASA astronaut, Dr.Garrett Reisman, Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, Israel’s Minister of Science and Technology, Malcolm Hoenlein, Congressman Peter King, Daniel Mariaschin, Rabbi Mark Schneier, Dr Nona Kuchina, Dr Zvia Walden-Peres, Matthew Bronfman, Jerry Levin, Yuri Foreman, Dr. John Ruskay, Israeli top musicians Marina Maximilian Blumin and Leonid Ptashka and dozens of others.

During the day, some of the key sessions and panels will be broadcast live on the Internet (free feeds are available).

For further details and a timetable please call the project manager, Karina Polonskaya, at 19172935023 or Roman Kogan – Limmud FSU COO 1.202.725.2583
www.limmudfsuusa.org

Read more about the event.

This column was written by Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which is one of the host organizations of ADVANCE.

Last month, The Jewish Week reported on the Samuels’, a New York family being forced to choose between a Jewish education for their two-year-old daughter Caily, and a secular program that will accommodate her special circumstances. Caily was born with Down Syndrome, and there are no local Manhattan Jewish institutions equipped and willing to enroll Caily in their program. As the article reports, “The Samuels family is part of a growing movement of special-needs families who are fed up with having to fight the system of Jewish day schools to ensure that their children get a proper Jewish education.”

We're not talking about a small Jewish market, where resources may be spread thin. This is New York City – the Jewish hub of the Western Hemisphere. 

With 14 percent of children in North America defined as having special needs and an even larger percentage of people (young and old) living with a disability, hundreds of thousands of Jews in North America and around the world must forego Jewish experiences in order to participate in secular programs – schools, camps, vocational services and more – that meet basic developmental needs.  For Jews, a people who have always emphasized fairness, inclusivity, and continuity, it is unacceptable that so many of our own are lost to the fold in this manner, and it is not just the individuals who have special needs; it is their immediate families as well: their parents, siblings, and in some cases, their children.

This October, the global Jewish funding community will be taking an important step towards building a more inclusive future. The Ruderman Family Foundation, in partnership with The Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish Funders Network, and Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies, will be hosting ADVANCE, the first-ever international Jewish funders conference on special needs.  This one-day conference in New York is designed for donors and foundation professionals who currently fund special needs programs or are interested in becoming involved. We will explore innovative opportunities to address special needs effectively within the Jewish community, drawing from experts in the field and learning from the experiences of programs that are already making a difference around the world.

The reality is, many passionate and committed individuals and organizations are already doing fantastic work in this area, including the trailblazing work of the UJA-Federation of New York, generating communal resources, financial and human, on behalf of Jews and their families living with disabilities, but there are few mechanisms – particularly in the funding community – for sharing information and pursuing collaborative endeavors. Funding for populations affected by disabilities happens in silos, across regions, age groups, and a great variance of types (autism, paralysis, learning disabilities, etc.). At ADVANCE, we hope to inspire collaboration in which private funders, Federations, and professionals can actively bring populations with special needs back into the fold of Jewish life. Together we will draw the roadmap for achieving these goals with a day of exploration, insight, engagement and networking. Our journey begins in New York on October 20. Please join us.

Jay Ruderman
President
Ruderman Family Foundation