Los Angeles Jewish Home

From the Spring 2011 version of The Chai Journal


By Jewish Home Resident Helen Bragar, 84


You can start perking up the doldrums by attending the exercise class with Shelly, the T'ai Chi class with Greg, or the Chair Yoga class with Rosemary (my favorite). Norm and I have been at the Jewish Home for about four months, and we're enjoying ourselves immensely. After thirty or more years of not knitting, under Arts & Crafts Director Radka Falk's care and supervision, I've already made two baby blankets for two great-grandchildren. We knitters and crocheters have a great time joking, laughing, and/or gossiping any day of the week — except Shabbas, of course. If you don't have plans to make something for your family, fabulous Radka will find something for you to do. Her favorite words, "Keep knitting," are heard at least five times a day. Norman has returned to painting after twenty-three years. Now it's hard to keep him away from his easel. He has completed two paintings and has three others in the works.

The volunteers who work in the Arts & Crafts room are amazing. For knitting on Monday there are Sandy E., Sue Madeline, Bernice, Laura, and Marlene. For the artists on Tuesday, there is Beverly, who teaches, plus Sylvia, Iris, and Lucille. For knitters on Wednesday there is Sandy K., who teaches, plus Minnie Mollie, Shirley, Esther, Joanne, Leigh, and Nan (who brings luscious desserts for the class). For the Thursday Ceramics class there are Charo, Rose, Joan, and Elsie. And on Friday mornings, there is Radka for baking delicious mandel broit that is sold in the dining room.

Activity Director Caryl Geiger heads our Drama Group, our Choir, wonderful memory classes, and is in charge of lunch, movie, theater, and museum outings, as well as obtaining wonderful entertainers for Sunday afternoons. She also arranges get-togethers with school children. It's always refreshing to see and be with smart young people. Different types of fun word, vocabulary, and trivia games are led by our other Activity Director, Jacqui Lewinter. She is in charge of theater and concert outings on Sundays and heads our Chai Journal Committee. Jacqui's in-depth knowledge, coupled with her sense of humor, makes her "Hooray for Hollywood" classes a real crowd pleaser. She also heads the Movie Committee, and most recently added the Library Committee to her schedule.

Then there's the Men's Group, now headed by resident David Glicker, which offers monthly discussion meetings as well as lunch outings and other outside activities such as recently attending a taping of "Wheel of Fortune."

You are missing a wonderful experience if you don't spend Thursday mornings with Joel Lish. Joel, a former music teacher, is an accomplished viola player who has unlimited knowledge about composers, the history of music, and performers. he spends close to an hour playing and then showing either a movie or an opera on the screen. Sometimes he invites other musicians to perform with him and has performed with his orchestra on Sunday afternoons.

Not to be missed are the informative lecture/discussion sessions led by Rabbi Sheldon Pennes and Rabbi Rita Hertzberg. There is a Yiddish Group led by volunteer Murray Kaplan, and, of course, there's Bingo several times a week hosted by residents Ira Durlester and Jeanette Schlesinger, or Ellis Simon, or sponsored by outside organizations.

If none of the above can get you involved, you can always scrounge up players for mah jongg, bridge, Rummikub, gin rummy, Scrabble, or backgammon on your own. There are probably some activities which I am unaware of and left out, or try a new one that you've never tried before. Please get yourself out and do something. Socializing has been proven beneficial to us senior citizens.

Helen & Norman Bragar

The Chai Journal is a quarterly publication written entirely by residents at the Los Angeles Jewish Home.

Labels: Activities, Arts and Crafts, Bingo, Bragar, Caryl Geiger, Chai Journal, Choir, crochet, Cross Post, Drama, Jacqui Lewinter, knitting, Men's Group, painting, Socializing, T'ai Chi, Volunteer, Yoga

We have a remarkable legacy here at the Los Angeles Jewish Home: for nearly a century, we have been providing exceptional care for elderly men and women in Los Angeles. It began in 1912 when a small group of caring Angelenos gave shelter and hope to five homeless Jewish men at Passover.

In 2011, Passover continues to have special meaning for the Home. Last week, for the 99th year in a row, we celebrated Passover. On the second night, we opened our home to residents, families, and anyone around the community for our traditional Los Angeles Community Seder. Word of this special Seder spread far enough so that USC graduate student Benjamin Gottlieb decided to cover the event in the USC Annenberg School of Communications blog, Neon Tommy.

Check out the video report he made!


Also, take a look the photo album by Andy Holzman of our Community Seder on the Daily News website!

We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Benjamin for stopping by and producing some great footage, to the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism for including our tradition on their school's blog, and to Rabbi Rita Hertzberg for leading an amazing Seder.

Labels: Andy Holzman, Annenberg, Benjamin Gottlieb, Blog, Community, Cross Post, Daily News, Hertzberg, Media, Neon Tommy, Passover, Pesach, Photos, Report, Seder, Seniors, USC, Video, Vimeo

The quote in the title line was said by Jewish Home resident Ellis Simon. Now 87, he's been living here for around 11 years! Granted, he's been saying that for quite some time now, but we finally caught it on tape.

Labels: Donate, Freedom, Gift, Jewish Home, Online Donation, Philanthropy, Residents, Simon, Social Media, Staff, Support, Video, Volunteer, Why We Give, YouTube

From the Spring 2011 edition of The Chai Journal


By Esther Berlin

The best part of the week for me is Friday evening at the Jewish Home. I shall never forget my first Sabbath here, six and a half years ago. I walked in for dinner and was unprepared for such a change in the dining room. It was obvious that something special was about to happen. Tables were set with white linens and each place had a glass of wine, a small challah, and flowers. Seeing this beautiful sight, tears of joy ran down my face. I realized how much I had missed celebrating Shabbos. It had been a long time since I made the same preparations at my home on Fridays. Once my two children went off to school and I was alone, I stopped our family's tradition of reciting the prayers and lighting the Shabbos candles.

Now, each Friday that I am able, I go to the Synagogue to say a special prayer for my friends and family who are ill. The Mi Sheberakh seeks physical cures as well as spiritual healing, asking for blessing for all human beings. Celebrating Shabbos with Rabbi Rita Hertzberg is very special for me. Her soft, lovely voice is very soothing and I find myself relaxed, peaceful, and calm. I particularly enjoy singing the Kiddush Motzi when everyone joins in. It seems that all who participate are filled with joy. In the dining room, Rabbit Rita always provides a helpful explanation about the various Sabbath rituals. And then to top it all off, we have that wonderful big bowl of delicious matzah ball and chicken noodle soup! I feel so blessed to be living at the Jewish Home where we observe the traditions of our faith each week.

Labels: Activities, Around the Home, Berlin, Chai Journal, Cross Post, Friday, Hertzberg, Judaism, Kiddush, matzah ball soup, Mi Sheberach, Mi Sheberakh, Prayer, Sabbath, Shabbat, Shabbos, traditions

Imagine you are alone on a desert island. There's no one to tell you what to do; you can live wholly without restriction. Of course, after a while, you would stop relishing your "freedom". That kind of life is not true freedom; it is a life of loneliness and sterility.

When I was discussing Passover in one class recently, I asked what freedom was about. The first answer I got was "the right to express yourself." Indeed, free expression is one of the central principles of a free society, like in the United States.

But freedom of expression is very important on a personal level too. Even when we are surrounded by other people, we can still feel we are on a desert island. If I feel myself totally alone – an individual without real relationships, not truly part of a community – am I free to express myself? Not really, I think. I can truly express who I am only to people I can trust, people who care for me and will listen to me.

Let us remember, this Passover, that our true freedom lies in relationship and in community. Let our own Exodus be from loneliness to relationship, as we reach out to each other, and get to know cherish each other. Through those caring relationships we will all find our dignity and our freedom.

I wish you all a happy – and heart-warming – Passover!

Rabbi Anthony Elman serves as Rabbi of the Jewish Home's Grancell Village Campus. His professional background is multifaceted, encompassing the fields of law, social work, and psychotherapy. Rabbi Elman has been with the Home since his ordination and graduation from the Academy for Jewish Religion-California in May 2007

Labels: Community, Dignity, Elman, Exodus, For the Spirit, Free Society, Freedom, Freedom of Expression, Friends, Friendship, Island, Loneliness, Passover, Pesach, Relationships, Seniors

Passover is right around the corner! And what better food is there to eat on Passover than matzah brei? Last year, we made a video of a few Jewish Home residents showcasing their culinary talents to decide which matzah brei recipe was tastier: sweet or savory.

Labels: 2010, Around the Home, Contest, Matzah Brei, Passover, Pesach, Recipe, Residents, Seniors, Video, YouTube

As we celebrate Passover, it is good to ponder on what the holiday is about. Many of us remember the story: the Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for many generations until Moses, directed and inspired by G-d, led them out to freedom. That coming out, that Exodus, marks the birth of the Jewish people. But the meaning of it has resonated around the world throughout time. In our own era, Martin Luther King, Jr. found inspiration in the story of Moses and the Exodus, as he led his people in their struggle for civil rights.

Passover is known as the season of our freedom. But why is freedom so important? Why are people across the Middle East and North Africa even at this moment struggling, and sometimes dying, for freedom? Watching the news of those struggles has led me to think more about what it means to be a free person, and part of a free people.

People held down by a dictatorship or foreign power cannot fully thrive. It is not just that they cannot choose what to do; something in the soul of a people is beaten down. Their imagination and inventiveness are squashed — they are a people without true dignity.

Is freedom simply about being able to do as one wants? (Can any of us really do everything we want?) In our Jewish story, leaving Egypt meant we did not have taskmasters telling us how to live every minute of our day. We were free from those restrictions, but that didn't mean we were free to live a worthwhile and dignified life.

That is why Passover — the season of our freedom — and Shavuot — the season of the giving of our Torah — are so closely connected. Torah gives us laws and ethical principles, so that we know that real freedom lies in how we interact in our community and our larger society. First and foremost, the Jewish people are obliged by Torah to love our neighbor as ourselves; we must not oppress the widow and the orphan; we are repeatedly told to be respectful of the stranger who lives in our society, remember what it was like when we were strangers in Egypt.

Torah reminds me that in a free society, I have a duty of care and consideration for my fellow men and women. The free society that Torah gives us is one in which we are bound together in relationship.

Ideally we do not celebrate Passover in solitude. We celebrate it in groups, in families, in communities. At the Seder, we read from the Haggada "let all who are needy come and celebrate Passover." It is together that we are able to taste the sweetness of this "season of freedom".

Rabbi Anthony Elman serves as Rabbi of the Jewish Home's Grancell Village Campus. His professional background is multifaceted, encompassing the fields of law, social work, and psychotherapy. Rabbi Elman has been with the Home since his ordination and graduation from the Academy for Jewish Religion-California in May 2007

Labels: Civil Rights, Community, Dignity, Egypt, Elman, For the Spirit, Freedom, holiday, Israelites, Judaism, Letter from the Rabbi, Moses, Passover, Pesach, Torah

The Sabbath immediately preceding Passover is known as Shabbat Hagadol, the great (big) Sabbath. What's so great about it? Would you believe it's the length of the service?

In the good old days, it was unusual for the rabbi to sermonize every week. Typically, a rabbi would speak at length only twice a year. The first time, on the Sabbath preceding Yom Kippur, to speak to the congregation about the importance of doing teshuva (repentance) and seeking forgiveness. The second time was on Shabbat Hagadol to teach the complex laws regarding chametz (leavened bread) and preparing for Passover.

Besides the age old yearning for shorter services, there is an additional reason. This week has a special reading from the Prophets, which contains the word "gadol":

Malachi Chapter 3

23. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.

24. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the land with utter destruction.

This messianic prophecy regards the end of days and the belief that Elijah will return at Pesach to welcome the Messiah. The text speaks to the importance of Passover as the foremost of all holidays for the Jewish nation. But, what does Elijah have to do with Passover? He wasn't even born for centuries after the Exodus. Yet, as central part of the Seder is the Cup of Elijah, with our little ones staring at the cup to see if the wine is diminished.

The answer is to be found in a rabbinic disagreement concerning the number of cups we drink this night.

In Exodus 6 we read of the promise of redemption:

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel: I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments;
and I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a G-d; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your G-d, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Eyptians.
And I will bring you in unto the land...

Should this last verb, "bring you", be included as a term of redemption, thus requiring a 5th cup? Or is it not about redemption but the promise of the holy land made to Abraham, thus only 4 cups?

The question remained unanswered, and according to tradition, the prophet Elijah will resolve all disputes at the time of the coming of the Messiah.

We honor the dispute itself by pouring a special 5th cup, we call the Cup of Elijah. We welcome this prophet of peace to acknowledge that people can have honest disagreements without vilifying the other. And, as Malachi said, the hearts of parents and children will be turned to one another. What better place than the seder table?

Rabbi Sheldon Pennes is the Jack H. Skirball Director of Spiritual Life at the Los Angeles Jewish Home, where he oversees the many services and activities that educate, illuminate, and enrich the spiritual life and needs of those living in, or served by, the Home.

Labels: Chametz, Cup of Elijah, Elijah, For the Spirit, Gadol, Judaism, Malachi, Messiah, Parshah, Passover, Pennes, Pesach, Redemption, Religion, Seder, Sermon, Shabbat, Shabbat Hagadol, Word of Torah

The Los Angeles Jewish Home is celebrating a very special birthday today! Shirley Strozenberg, our oldest resident, just turned 108. Yes, she is older than the Home itself.


Originally from Poland, Shirley is a long-time resident of Los Angeles, and recently moved into the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center. 


Over the last 99 years, the Jewish Home has become world renowned for its quality of senior care. Our residents' average age is 90, and we're home to 31 centenarians. This is a testament to the Home's philosophy of caring for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.

Labels: Aging, Around the Home, Birthday, Centenarian, Healthy Aging, Jewish Home, Oldest Resident, Poland, Remarkable Residents, Senior Care, Senior Living, Seniors, Staff, Strozenberg, Super Elderly

For two weeks, the Torah deals with the laws of TZA’RA’AT, usually translated as leprosy. The Cohen, the priest, was charged with identifying those with the ailment, and determining the course of action to be taken to achieve a cure. Until then, the afflicted was sent out of the community until pronounced clean by the priest. Only then does he go through ritual cleansing to re-enter the camp of Israel. The details of these procedures are difficult to understand. So, Rabbi Schulweis approached me last week to ask what would be the topic of my Torah “drash”. But, I punted, avoiding the leper altogether. Instead I chose to speak about the upcoming new month of Nisan, the month of the Passover holiday.

Years before, as a student, Rabbi Schulweis didn’t have this luxury. He had been assigned this portion for his senior sermon at the Seminary in New York. He was very brave and told the Rabbis, that this portion is un-interpretable. He was right. Trying to decipher the meaning of these procedures from the literal text seems to be impossible.

Later Maimonides pointed out in his Mishneh Torah, Tahara, Hilchot Tzara’at 16:120, that tzara’at refers to skin diseases, to mold on one’s house or one’s clothing. In- other-words, a collection of various afflictions, not leprosy. To better understand this “tzara’at” let’s look at the Biblical verse in which Miriam was smitten by tza’ra’at (Num. 12: 10). Here we see the affliction is a direct result of a particular behavior, for she spoke badly about her brother Moses. The Torah later warns, “Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt” (Deut. 24: 8-9).

Speaking badly about another, slander, is known in Hebrew as “motzi shem ra”, and sounds very much like tza’ra’at, thus the change from disease to moral failing.

Rambam gives a brilliant account of why tza’ra’at afflicted both inanimate objects like walls and clothes, and human beings:

It was a sign… For if a man uttered slander, the walls of his house would suffer. But if he continued in his wickedness until the house was torn down, leather objects in his house on would suffer. But if he continued in his wickedness the garments that he wore would suffer. And, finally, if he continued in his wickedness his skin would become infected by tza’ra’at and he was set apart and alone until he no more engaged in wicked conversation.

Hence the poetic justice Jewish tradition attributes to one of the least poetic of biblical passages. The slanderer spreads his lies in private, but his evil is exposed in public. First the walls of his house, then his leather objects, then his clothes, and eventually his skin itself. He is then condemned to the humiliation of isolation:

'Unclean! Unclean!' he denounces himself to the world. Since he is unclean, he must remain alone, and his place shall be outside the camp (Lev. 13: 45-46). Said the rabbis: Because his words separated husband from wife and brother from brother, his punishment is that he is separated from human contact and made an outcast from society (Arakhin 16b).

And so we learn, be careful in what you say as you may be ashamed to have it exposed in public. That should be the basic understanding of the law of tza’ra’at today.

It's always interesting to see how Eastern medicinal techniques make their way into Western practices. Today's posts in The New Old Age, an award winning blog sponsored by The New York Times, talks about the use of reiki in special care centers to help people with dementia.

In a recent Jewish Home Feature Article, Dr. Edward Schneider explained that Eastern and Western medicine can complement one another. What would be interesting to know definitively, though, is whether reiki can physically heal, or whether the presence of a calm caregiver or peaceful music simply puts dementia patients at ease.

What do you think?

Labels: Alternative Medicine, Caregiving, Dementia, Eastern Medicine, For the Body, Healing, Health, Japanese Medicine, New York Times, Reiki, Schneider, Staff, The New Old Age, Traditional Medicine, Wellness

Cross posted from the Daily News.


By Al Martinez, Columnist

The came like an army of saints, sometimes in multiples and sometimes one at a time.

Their mission was simple but compelling: to get us through a time of grief and anxiety.

I sing today of the Skirball Hospice program, medical personnel and volunteers working out of Encino to bring comfort to the dying and their families, in their homes, in rest homes or in hospitals.

They came to our house when doctors and chemo and machines could do no more for our daughter Cindy, who died last week of cancer.

Their job wasn't to keep her alive but to ease her gently into heaven without pain or the discomforts that often attend a person's last days. They bathed her, medicated her, prayed for her and held her hand.

One can imagine that kind of caring on a battlefield where a solder lay dying of his wounds in the blood and dust of combat, and being cared for by a medic or a hospital corpsman, because cancer too is a ruthless and mighty enemy with killing fields of its own.

The concept of hospice care is rooted in the 11th century as an element of moral compulsion to tend the terminally ill. Skirball Hospice began in Los Angeles in 2001 as a program for the Jewish Home funded in part by the Skirball Foundation. Its services are offered to the terminally ill and families 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Caring never sleeps.

We knew of them from Cindy's doctor, who recommended that she be placed under home hospice care, which is what she wanted, close to the things she loved, including three cats, Tigger, Sarah and Star, who rarely left her side.

A social worker came first, explained the insurance-covered, nondenominational program and then was followed by a multicultural army of nurses, assistant medical personnel, bathers, various other attendants and a rabbi. They were African-American, Asian, Latino, Russian and Caucasian. It didn't matter to them what our ethnic mix was. It never matters at Skirball.

Then came the drugs at various times, the morphine and tranquilizers and whatever else was required to sedate our daughter in her final weeks and to keep her free from pain. There came a hospital bed, too, a portable toilet, oxygen and items I've probably missed in the bustle of the process.

Some staff members appeared in person periodically and others as needed, responding to telephone calls deep into the night. They were there for us all in the final days of Cindy's life, holding our hand as well as hers.

When it became clear that the final moment was approaching, they sent a woman to bathe her and sit by her side until the night and the essence of Cindy merged at 1:35 a.m. I will be ever grateful to the hospice group members for the grace and gentility they displayed in guiding her into eternity. They are special.

Al Martinez writes a column on Mondays and Fridays. He can be reached at almtz13@aol.com.


Read the original column here.

Labels: Al Martinez, Cancer, Caregiving, Cross Post, Daily News, For the Spirit, Hospice Care, Jewish Home Services, medical staff, nurses, Palliative Care, Skirball Hospice, Staff, Volunteer