Dr. Yaron Harel, Rabbi Avraham Teubal, Dr. jane Gerber, Dr. Zvi Zohar, Sarina Roffe, Dr. Avraham Marcus and Marco Metta

Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community was on stage during the International Congress on Syrian Jews in the American Diaspora, held recently in Mexico City and attended by nearly 600 people.

Sarina Roffé, a community member who has achieved international recognition for her research, genealogical studies and writing about our community, was one of 23 researchers invited to present at the conference. Ms Roffé provided an overview of the 100-year history of Brooklyn’s Syrian community from its inception in 1907 on the Lower East Side until today. While many of the researchers are university professors, Ms. Roffé provides an insider’s view of our community and was able to dispel myths and inaccuracies that come from occasional observers who cannot see the community as a whole. 

Eve Wald, honoree

In its mission to harness Israel’s scientific resources in the fight against cancer, The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) is hosting its 2008 Tower of Hope Gala on December 2, 2008 at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. This year’s honorees are Sadie Jemal-Meyers, a member of the local Sephardic community, Dr. Stanley Rosenfeld, noted radiologist and Eve Wald, a long-time supporter and past chairperson. Benjamin Brafman will be the Master of Ceremonies and gala chairpersons include Harry and Alice Adjmi, Charles and Ariela Ben Dayan, Gloria Kaylie, Dr. Alfred Rosenbaum, Dr. Ayal Rosenbaum, Alisa Sorkin and Neal and Sarah Soss.

Sadie Jemal-Meyers, honoree

Sadie Jamal-Meyers, a native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Parsons School of Design, is currently a successful real estate broker. As a cancer survivor, Sadie became a powerful advocate for cancer research, having served on the board of the Eastern Division of the American Cancer Society. She later became interested in and passionate about the work of ICRF in supporting the scientists in Israel. This past summer, Sadie served as the chairperson of an ICRF benefit held at the home of Alice and Harry Adjmi. More than 400 people came to the event to learn more about the inroads being made in cancer research and the important role of ICRF scientists in the search for a cure. Sadie stands behind ICRF because they firmly believe that the cure for cancer will come from the innovative research being conducted by Israeli scientists.

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Abraham Israel

When I was in Israel on business, I was asked to visit the Hazon Yeshaya soup kitchens, an organization which helps feed poor people in Israel. As you may know, Israel’s poor population has grown to unimaginable proportions. There are over 1.6 million people (about 25% of the population) and 900,000 children under poverty level in Israel.

While visiting one of the Hazon Yeshaya facilities, I saw up close the type of work they do. People in their 70s and 80s were waiting from six in the morning for what, for some, would be their only meal of the day. As the people started lining up two elderly ladies in their 70s got on line. All of a sudden a fight broke out between them, with actual punches being thrown for a spot in the line. The ‘loser’ cried silently as she waited for her food. It was truly a heart wrenching scene. To be in Israel, which is considered to be an economic power, and witness such poverty was beyond my understanding and hurt deeply.

Dr. Schussheim with an EFRAT baby

In 2007, 448 Israelis were killed in road accidents, and 13 were killed by Palestinian terrorism. In the same year, roughly 50,000 future citizens were lost to the Jewish people and the State of Israel because they were aborted before birth.

Israel justifiably spends hundreds of millions of shekels annually to lower the carnage on the highways, and billions of shekels to combat Palestinian terrorism. Yet not one shekel from state coffers assists mothers who want to give birth but whose difficult financial circumstances discourage them from doing so. Tragically, dentists invest more effort to avoid extracting a decaying tooth than Israeli society invests to save the life of a Jewish child.

Each week of the year, another of the Torah’s 54 parshat is studied, publicly read in the synagogue, and its lessons applied to daily living. Thus the Jew lives with the Torah: the Five Books of Moses are his calendar, their chapters and verses marking, defining, molding and inspiring the weeks and days of his year.

Simchat Torah is the day on which we conclude the annual Torah-reading cycle. On this day, we read the Torah section of Vezot Haberachah and immediately begin a new Torah-reading cycle with the reading of the first chapter of Genesis.

Imagine you throw a huge party and invite everyone you know. But this is no regular party, it’s one solid week of food, music and fun. Eventually things wind down and people begin to leave. As the host, you quietly go over to a few of your best friends and whisper: “Stick around after everyone else leaves—that’s when I’m breaking out the good stuff.”

Each year G-d has a weeklong celebration called Sukkot. In ancient times in Jerusalem, the service in the Holy Temple during the week of Sukkot featured a total of 70 bull offerings. This, the Talmud explains, corresponds to each of the 70 nations of the world. The Temple was not just for Jews. When King Solomon built the Temple, he specifically asked G-d to heed the prayer of non-Jews who came to the Temple and the prophet Isaiah refers to the Temple as a “House for all nations.”

Yom Kippur is the time to achieve forgiveness for our wrongdoings and shortcomings. Since we don’t want G-d to judge us negatively, we try to distance ourselves from them as much as possible. We do this because we don’t want G-d to judge us harshly.

Sukkot, by contrast, comes after the judgment is sealed. We’ve already been forgiven. Sukkot, therefore, is the first opportunity to do teshuva (repentence) purely out of love. Teshuva out of love means we love G-d so much we can’t believe we committed those sins in the past, and consequently feel an incredible surge to come closer to Him more than ever before—a surge not possible if we had never committed the acts that created the distance to begin with.