August 16, 2002
Shabbat Shalom!
We're back! It was a fun trip!
California is an amazing state....so much variety....I'm glad to be home....and glad that San Diego is our home!
The Bar Mitzvah was terrific! It's wonderful to have the family together for such happy occasions!
We spent a lovely time with Lani and Erin in Berkeley.......visiting with lots of Madrichim and Camp Swig people:Scott Coleman and Heather, Judith Wolochow Alex and Lucien, Dara Wolochow and Deb, Melissa Berton,
Josh Weiner, Danny and Hallie and Max,
Andy Gilbert, Jason's wife, Kimmie and many others.......I love the way they are so close to their friends from Madrichim and Camp!
News update:
Amy Haimsohn had a baby boy, Julian Caleb! Elizabeth Marsh got married......Marni Dean had a baby girl, Danielle.....
Stephanie Katleman's son will be joining us at preschool! And I saw
some Mad Moms at Greg Goldman and Stacey's shower:
Goldman, Graff, Fram, Finkel, Green, Korobkin, Dean, Berick,Sandweiss, Polakoff, and me.
Such wonderful times!
and.......such sadness......It was a shock to turn on CNN and hear of Marla Bennett's death......her sister Lisa was our camper at Camp Beth Israel and more recently, an aide at Beth Israel Day School and the Schlafman dog sitter...We've known her parents since we moved to San Diego over36 years ago.......Soooo sad for everyone......
Best wishes for a peaceful Shabbat ...
Love,
Eemah
Hiya,
Thanks for the note.
All is quite well. Enjoying the summer here in Oakland. Living, working, playing, and enjoying life. Very few complaints -- and those which I do have...I'll save for my congressman. :)
Love the Shabbat newsletters -- very entertaining. I keep saying to myself that I should drop Daniel a note to say "hi". At some point I'll make the time to do it properly.
Great to hear from you. Take care.
David (Summers)
Hi Eemah,
I noticed one of the people that e-mailed you back goes to American University. I would love to touch base with her. I graduated from there 4 years ago. Please feel free to pass along my e-mail address to her (ab_small@yahoo.com). Have a great 3 weeks.
Allison Small
The New York Times
Editorial/Op-Ed
A Boyhood Friendship in a Divided Valley
By BEN KAMIN
SAN DIEGO
The carnage from Palestinian suicide bombings in Tel Aviv and the ambush of a bus in the West Bank this week make hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians seem impossible. Yet each outrage, followed by unending grief and fierce response, makes me think even more about a little dialogue I had long ago with a Palestinian neighbor of mine.
Every morning now I read about the Palestinian town of Qalqilya and terrorists who might be seeking shelter there. But Qalqilya is not just a passing news reference for me.
In the fall of 1961, I was eight years old and living in the Israeli hamlet of Kfar Saba, where my parents had also been born. We could see the Samarian Mountains from our porch, and the town of Qalqilya, then part of Jordan, with its minarets and stone streets, just a mile or so away. A valley of orchards and wild brush hung between us and was forbidden; the border was more or less defined by an old rail path left behind by the British, who had quit their mandate in Palestine five years before I was born.
But exactly because the citrus-scented valley between Kfar Saba and Qalqilya was off limits to us, it was enticing to me one Saturday afternoon that fall. I rode my bicycle past the village square, beyond the old bus station, and into the valley that unfolded against the biblical mountains. Qalqilya was close by where I walked in the thick groves that divided the two worlds. And then I realized that I was not alone. Standing by and staring at me was an Arab boy, about my age, as surprised by this encounter as I.
We both froze in fear. But curiosity quickly prevailed and we began to talk. It was a halting mixture of Hebrew and English; I did not know any Arabic. I still remember that he knew words from both of my languages and I did not know any from his. And I still remember his face very clearly, particularly the way that he smiled.
I told him about my village and described my father as a war hero and a mighty man who had once fought in that valley. He told me that his father was very tall and strong and was chieftain of his village. We talked about the orange trees and agreed to meet again in a week at the same spot. I told him my name. He told me his Ahmed. We parted, the sons of fathers who may have battled each other in that valley.
Our second appointed meeting was washed out by an autumn rain, but we did again meet several days later. I had not told my parents about the first meeting because they would certainly have disapproved. Ahmed stood waiting for me. We barely touched shoulders. There was a tension we did not understand. But we were driven by something very good that we also did not understand.
We both knew that this second meeting would confirm the first but necessarily be the last. Nevertheless, it was truly friendly. We taught each other words from each other's languages, simple words like "goat," "bicycle" and "rain." We compared notes on siblings. And then the time grew short. Before leaving, we did something together, reaching almost simultaneously for the same large orange hanging down from the tree above us, we opened it and shared the slices. How sticky and sweet it tasted. We buried the peels and the seeds in the ground under the tree.
I remember Ahmed's face. In the television footage of rage coming to us from that same valley, I look for that face. We are both middle-aged men now and, on a visit two years ago, I saw that few trees were left in that valley. Israeli tanks rolled into Qalqilya this spring. Unforgivable bombings have killed children in my birth village. I wonder where Ahmed is and what we would say to each other if we were to meet again. Might it be possible for us reach a reconciliation now? Would he remember that we once knew more about peace than all of the grown-ups on either side of our valley?
*************************************
Ben Kamin, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in San Diego, is the author, most recently, of "The Path of the Soul: Making Peace With Mortality."
20 July 2002
Hi Eemah,
Motherhood is fabulous! Little Aaron is growing bigger
every day...giggling, smiling and playing. I'm working
part time for Verizon, primarily from home. It's
working out great for us.
Thanks for checking in!
Love,
Julie (Epstein)
Two sentences that say it all
from Naomi Kroll Moss
If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence.
If the Jews put down their weapons today there would be no more Israel.
Dear Eemah,
I have a new website address http://www.bouncingbackwithbaby.com/
We just formed a new company: Bouncing Back with Baby, LLC
We provide classes and trainings for mom and baby exercise programs. We're planning on expanding in Charlotte, to places where we visit on a regular basis (San Diego maybe), and eventually to other areas. Please wish us luck.
Give my best to Lani and Dan and their families. I really enjoy hearing your updates on your family and the Mad. family.
-Marissa
August 23, 2002
Hi!
Anne Goldberg Nagorner and I are thinking about planning a Madrichim Reunion the first weekend in August, 2003.......or over Labor Day Weekend 2003......Temple on Friday night for families, party at Anne's Sat nite(adults only) and a picnic on Sunday for families.....Please let us know if you can come and which weekend would be best for you........and if you would like to to help plan!
This year is a super celebrating August!
We began with Auntie Shoshana and Uncle Mickey's youngest son's Bar Mitzvah,(...meanwhile, their daughter is prego with her third) Jill and Dan's 4th Anniversary and Lani and Erin's commitment celebration in Berkeley.......
Last weekend we were invited to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of the Goldbergs (Anne, Susie and Eddie's parents).....We saw lots of Mad parents and grandparents......Silverman, Goodman, Galinsons, Shapiro(does anyone have the boys' emails?) Newman, Scher, Nagorner, Feldman,Foster, Rubin-Burnett, Epsten, Bloom, Byrnes, Strauss, Rozansky, Ziman, Campbell, Gerson just to name a few.......It was a wonderful party!
AND.....This weekend we Schlafmans are hosting a San Diego reception in celebration of the commitment of Lani and Erin!!
What a warm and wonderful month!
Please keep those bios coming.......send photos and check in on our Mad website. Rick is doing a super job......(Madrichim.homestead.com)
Let us know if you plan to join us for a Mad Reunion......and which date is better for you.....The first weekend next August......or over Labor Day........
SHABBAT SHALOM!
Lotsa' Love,
Eemah
ENJOY!
Hi Emma,
Shabbat Shalom,
It's always great to read your e-mail. We are enjoying our weeks in Sun
Valley, it's so beautiful up here. I think Sophie and I are going to Torah
and Bagels tomorrow morning with the Wood River JCC. Also, David Baronofsky ( now Ian ) and his wife Laura had a baby boy about one month ago. His name is Van Vincent Baronofsky. Louie and I are so
sad that we will be missing Lani and Erin's party. Have a great time.
Love ya,
Tammy (Vener)
Hi!
Always great to hear from you!
....meanwhile...you never answered me about THE
GIRLFRIEND?????????????
Love,
Eemah
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan J. Kroll"
Thanks again for the great news, Eemah!
LOL. Yeah, you're right. I conveniently skipped over that, didn't I? Her name is Michelle, and we've been living together for about 3 years now! (I only gave up my apartment a year and half ago, though. Sort of a floating space station.) She works with internet stuff -- used to be with a company that did web design, now she's trying to manage a startup company that is using the internet for clinical trials for drugs. Interesting idea, but very difficult to get funding right now. We have a good life, living almost in the heart of Union Square in San Francisco, where we can walk to theaters, restaurants, bars, shops, coffee places, all kinds of decadent things. I play lots of bridge, but try to stay in shape by running and playing softball once in a while. Lately, I've been doing more bridge and less running, because my body still thinks it's playing bridge with old ladies, and reacts by pulling muscles on me and stuff like that.
Work is . . . well, pretty much the same. Tough to get motivated these days, but I try. Thanks for keeping me informed with all the news. One of these days, I'll get back down to San Diego and give you a call. Take care.
Love, Dan
From Scientific American
August 12, 2002
Einstein's Hot Time
Great theoreticians know that hypothesis must be confirmed with experiment
By Steve Mirsky
A well-known quote from Albert Einstein, a member of the all-time time team, is his attempt to make relativity more accessible to the layperson: "When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity."
Some serendipitous research shows that the pretty girl/hot stove line turns out to be more than just a clever musing. On a recent troll through exceedingly dusty stacks at the local library, I stumbled upon the statement in its original form. Amazingly, the pretty girl/hot stove quote is actually the abstract from a short paper written by Einstein that appeared in the now defunct Journal of Exothermic Science and Technology (JEST, Vol. 1, No. 9; 1938). Apparently, the great theoretician tried his hand, and other body parts, at experimentation to derive his simple explanation for relativity. Here now, in its entirety, is that paper.
"On the Effects of External Sensory Input on Time Dilation." A. Einstein, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.
Abstract: When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity.
As the observer's reference frame is crucial to the observer's perception of the flow of time, the state of mind of the observer may be an additional factor in that perception. I therefore endeavored to study the apparent flow of time under two distinct sets of mental states.
Methods: I sought to acquire a hot stove and a pretty girl. Unfortunately, getting a hot stove was prohibitive, as the woman who cooks for me has forbidden me from getting anywhere near the kitchen. However, I did manage to surreptitiously obtain a 1924 Manning-Bowman and Co. chrome waffle iron, which is a reasonable equivalent of a hot stove for this experiment, as it can attain a temperature of a very high degree. Finding the pretty girl presented more of a problem, as I now live in New Jersey. I know Charlie Chaplin, having attended the opening of his 1931 film City Lights in his company, and so I requested that he set up a meeting with his wife, movie star Paulette Goddard, the possessor of a shayna punim, or pretty face, of a very high degree.
Discussion: I took the train to New York City to meet with Miss Goddard at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal. She was radiant and delightful. When it felt to me as if a minute had passed, I checked my watch to discover that a full 57 minutes had actually transpired, which I rounded up to one hour. Upon returning to my home, I plugged in the waffle iron and allowed it to heat up. I then sat on it, wearing trousers and a long white shirt, untucked. When it seemed that over an hour had gone by, I stood up and checked my watch to discover that less than one second had in fact passed. To maintain unit consistency for the descriptions of the two circumstances, I rounded up to one minute, after which I called a physician.
Conclusion: The state of mind of the observer plays a crucial role in the perception of time.
Einstein scholars disagree, but the pretty girl/hot stove experiment also may have led to another of his pithy remarks, namely: "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" Then again, Einstein was a bit of a wag. Consider his explanation of wireless communication: "The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without the cat." This quote reportedly kept Schrödinger awake well past his bedtime.
© 1996-2002 Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved.
August 30, 2002
Well....I guess summer is officially over....School begins on Tuesday.....The good news is that the tourists will be leaving! The beaches will empty out and we will be able to boogie with room to spare!
Last Sunday,the Schlafman family had a reception to celebrate Lani and Erin's commitment!
Friends and family gathered to wish them a lifetime of love and happiness......
David Schlafman began the festivities with welcoming remarks, Melissa Berton, Judith Wolochow, Dara Wolochow and Dan Schlafman gave beautiful toasts in their honor......Celebrating with us were Ellen Pappelbaum (moving to Los Angeles this month), Sari Resnick(visiting from New York), David and Vickie(due in October!)Eisenberg, Allison Adler(watch for her name on that new show following Everyone loves Raymond) and her girlfriend Sarah Gilbert (yes, she was on that Rosanne show and is Melissa Gilbert's sister)and Anne Goldberg. Other familiar names with various husbands, wives and parents included Deb Chester, Chris the nurse, Dana Jacobs,Jon Schuster,Francis Gotkowitz, Cara Freedman, Jane Cohen, Jill Green, Sharon Raffer, Marline Gendelman, Cantor Merel, Finkel, Fram, Pinto(ask me about them), Goldman-Katz, Graff, Jacobs, Gotkowitz, Kroll, Levy, Perlman, Scher, Barrett, Rhona Gordon, Sharon Gruby, Carol Kaplan, Jackie Snoyman, Stuart and DebbieSimmons, Eisenbergs, Wolochows, Schultz, and our family Ruskins and Buckans and extended family, Cohns and Schusters!
Have a lovely Shabbat!
Dan, Jill, Sydney and Avi will be here for Shabbat dinner with us.....
Love,
Eemah
Enjoy the following:
Hi Eemah!!
I love getting all your updates!!!! You know we really do live in a small world. I recently spent some time speaking with my son Josh's new 5th grade teacher at the Davis Academy (Atlanta's Reform Jewish day school). As we were getting to know each other I asked where she was from and MUCH to my surprise she said San Diego! A few minutes of who's who and she went to and was confirmed at Beth Israel. Her name at that time was Linda Fried, sister Emily. They moved from SD while in high school and haven't been back. Chalk one up to Jewish geography!
Hugs to all of you!
Carol (Stovin) Jacobs
Hi Helene,
I meant to write to you some time ago to offer our
mazel tov on this weekend's event and what it means to
Lani and Erin and all of their dear ones. We really
wish we could be with you, but duty calls right here
in Chicago. Please express to them our heartfelt good
wishes.
Shabbat Shalom,
Michael (Sternfield) and Deborah(Bard)
First weekend in Aug. sounds great. Faaabulous idea. Sending you lots of love -
SHawn (Goodman)
Hi EEMAH!
I know it's been a long time - I think you got my info from my mom recently -
I see tons of names I recognize on the distribution list and was finally tempted to write in when I saw my fourth grade teacher, Tammy Vener write this week! (what a trip!)
Anyway, I am off to Argentina on Monday for 8 months to do independent research with a Fulbright Scholarship. I just graduated from Columbia with a Masters of International Affairs and an MBA and figured I'd put off working for yet another year :) I just wanted to say to all the people I haven't seen in sooo many years -
I will be online down there and will keep my eye out for your updates.
Best,
Jennifer Satz
ps (no longer jenny -- it's been at least 15 years since jenny! :)
pps - you might want to change my email address to jennsatz@yahoo.com - I don't know how long this account will be active.
Hi Eemah,
Greetings from Chicago. I can't believe I'm still
here - In fact, just to prove how insane I am - I just
turned down a job in San Diego to stay here in the
mid-west. (what was I thinking - no beach, snow in the
winter,etc....)
Well I would love to help plan a Mad reunion and count
me in on anything I can do to help, albeit from a
remote location..... At the moment - either weekend
works for me (who can look out that far and know what
they will be doing?)
Karen Miller (Levy)
Eemah,
Thanks for keeping your updates coming. I am guilty of not sending in any info as yet but one of these days...
I would love a Mad reunion. Too far in advance for me to tell you which weekend is better. I will try to make it which ever you choose.
Amy Weiner
Yes. I moved back to Atlanta at the beginning of the year. Got a temp job and then got a regular job in June. Things are going well so far. I just got some photos of Amy's(Haimsohn) baby today. So cute!
I would vote for Labor Day weekend. hope you are well,
Amy(Rosenberg)
First weekend is great! We're having our "cousins club" Aug. 8 - 11, 2003, which translates to LOTS OF PEOPLE!! in Yosemite. I would be happy to help MS> NAGORNER in any way!
Love,
Karen (Foster-Silberman)
I almost never pass along these kinds of warnings because 99% of the time they're false however, this one happens to be on the level....I checked it out.
MG Max Gendelman( Barry and Joel's dad)
Bob Renkes of Petroleum Equipment Institute is
working on a campaign to try and make people aware of fires as a result of
"static" at gas pumps. His company has researched 150 cases of these fires. His
results were very surprising:
1) Out of 150 cases, almost all of them were women.
2) Almost all cases involved the person getting back in their vehicle while
the nozzle was still pumping gas, when finished and they went back to pull
the nozzle out the fire started, as a result of static.
3) Most had on rubber-soled shoes.
4) Most men never get back in their vehicle until completely finished. This
is why they are seldom involved in these types of fires.
5) Don't ever use cell phones when pumping gas
6) It is the vapors that come out of the gas that cause the fire, when
connected with static charges.
7) There were 29 fires where the vehicle was reentered and the nozzle was
touched during refueling from a variety of makes and models. Some resulting
in extensive damage to the vehicle, to the station, and to the customer.
8) Seventeen fires that occurred before, during or immediately after the gas
cap was removed and before fueling began.
Mr. Renkes stresses to NEVER get back into your vehicle while filling it
with gas. If you absolutely HAVE to get in your vehicle while the gas is
pumping, make sure you get out, close the door
TOUCHING THE METAL, before you ever pull the nozzle out. This way the static
from your body will be discharged before you ever remove the nozzle.
As I mentioned earlier, The Petroleum Equipment Institute, along with
several other companies now, are really trying to make the public aware of
this danger. You can find out more information by going to
<http://www.pei.org <<http://www.pei.org/ . Once here, click in the center
of the screen where it says "Stop Static".
I ask you to please send this information to ALL your family and friends,
especially those who have kids in the car with them while pumping gas. If
this were to happen to them, they may not be able to get the children out in
time.
You must remember this,
A bris is still a bris,
A chai is just a chai.
Pastrami still belongs on rye,
As time goes by.
With holidays in view,
A Jew is still a Jew,
On that you can rely.
No matter if we eat tofu
As hours slip by.
Old shtetl customs, never out of date.
All those potatoes mother has to grate.
Honey, tsimus, latkes, chopped liver on our plate
The best that gelt can buy.
Some would send us to perdition,
But we're strengthened by tradition,
That no one can deny.
We roam, but we recall our birthright,
As time goes by.
Dreidels and chocolate, never out of date.
Ancient Jewish stories that we all relate.
Blue-and-white giftwrap, everything that's great?
And festive chazerai!
It's still the same old Torah,
It's still the same menorah,
We've latkes still to fry.
It's at yomtov when we feel most blessed,
As time goes by.
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A Happy New Year .
