Los Angeles Jewish Home

Residents of the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center (JEKMC), located on the Jewish Home’s Grancell Village campus, recently played host to some very special visitors: a guinea pig, a rabbit, an African hedgehog, a tortoise, and a snake. These mammals and reptiles were at the Home as part of the Los Angeles Zoo’s Outreach Program.

The Outreach Program was created to reach out to individuals who cannot easily visit the zoo. Trained docents, such as Norma Porter, Rose Marie Walker, and Marjorie Hawkins, bring small, live animals and other touchable items to nursing homes, schools for children with disabilities, hospitals, and daycare centers. Norma, who has been a docent with the zoo for sixteen years, explains, “It’s very hands-on. We encourage our audience to touch the items (including pelts and skulls from animals that died of natural causes) and to touch the animals as well. For seniors, it’s also a chance to reminisce, perhaps about an animal from their childhood.”

Francine Finkelstein, director of therapeutic activities at JEKMC, says, “This was a great opportunity for our residents to see the animals, touch them, and relate to them.” And relate to them they did! From the first presentation – actually a stuffed life-sized toy kangaroo complete with a “joey” in her pouch – the residents were engaged. Did you know that, when a kangaroo is born, it’s about the size of a walnut? This was the first of many interesting facts the docents shared.

During the first part of the program, residents had the opportunity to see and touch pelts from a coyote and an ocelot, as well as two pelts from reindeer (one lighter to blend in with snow and thicker to provide protection from the cold of winter). The residents learned how diet is related to jaw and tooth structure for various animals.

Then the fun really began as the live animals came out to meet the residents. First up: a black and white guinea pig, a popular pet in many homes. Handled by a docent, Gabby, as she is nicknamed for the noises she makes, was touched gently with two fingers by willing residents. Just stroking her fur brought smiles and laughter to the room. The rabbit was next, with everyone oohing and aahing over her incredibly soft fur. The hedgehog required thick gloves to be worn by the docent and provided a look at her adorable little face, but no touching! Lastly, the tortoise and the snake took their turn around the room, with some opting not to learn what the snake’s skin feels like.

The docents brought energy and obvious passion for their volunteer work to the event, and the residents responded to them and their charges with openness and wonder. “It was very interesting and so informative,” said resident Muriel Peregoff. For Paul Stark, his favorite part of the program was the rabbit. “I had rabbits, and my daughter has them now,” said Paul. “My rabbit would sometimes get out of his cage, but when I called him, he would come.”

The Zoo Outreach Program provided the Home’s residents with a visual and tactile experience, an opportunity to learn new information and ask questions, and a chance to connect with a few of the animals that share this world with us.

Labels: Animals, Education, For the Spirit, Grancell Village, Guinea Pig, Hedgehogs, Jewish Home Residents, LA Zoo, Learning, Rabbits, Seniors, Special Event, Zoo

It's time to participate in the Jewish Home's first caption contest!

Every other month, we'll be posting a meme of our residents in action (a total of 6 times). Your mission—should you choose to accept it—is to think of the funniest, most creative caption you can think of, and post it as a comment. Then, get as many of our friends to like you caption as you can.

The commenters with the top three most liked captions will be announced the following Friday.

At the end of the year, the top comments from each of the six caption contests throughout the year will be entered into a drawing, and three of you will away with some amazing prizes! Seriously, we're not kidding. There'll be prizes!!!

1st Prize: iPad Mini
2nd Prize: $50 gift card to Amazon
3rd Prize: $25 gift card to Amazon

And now for the rules and details:

• All winners must live in the United States.
• The Jewish Home will notify prize winners by Facebook post and private Facebook message after the drawing takes place in December.
• Jewish Home fan page administrators reserve the right to delete/remove any caption or comment it determines to be inappropriate.
• Jewish Home employees can participate in the caption contest, but their participation cannot interfere with normal operations at the Home. Should participation in the contest lead to an employee's inability to complete normal job duties—as determined by his or her supervisor—the employee will be disqualified from that month's contest.
• When the drawing for prize winners takes place, if a winner's account has been removed from Facebook, if a winner chooses not to reply within a reasonable amount of time to requests for contact information, or if the winner is unable to redeem the prize, the award will be nullified and given to the next runner up. In the event the aforementioned circumstances apply to the 3rd prize winner, a new winner will be chosen by drawing from the remaining finalists.

Good luck!

Labels: Caption Contest, Facebook, Jewish Home Residents, Likes, Meme, Prizes

By Ellis Simon, 88
Jewish Home resident

During the summer months until the end of September, a lot of us residents looked forward to our Saturday Night Socials in Bagno Park hosted by the gracious Bea and Jack Kriger. The entertainment was great as was the camaraderie. Among the many diversified acts they provided were violinist Ellona Geller, vocalist Bernie Fisher, clarinetist Sam Glenn, comedian/singer Shalom Sherman, entertainers Larry & Brenda Shaw, and chanteuse Laurie Kamiel. The music ran the gamut from classical, semi-classical, popular, and show tunes. As one looked around, you saw many residents tapping their feet with big smiles on their faces as well as getting up and dancing. The weather was generally beautiful and warm, and everyone was sociable and having a great time. It’s one of the reasons we love the Jewish Home. We all owe a big THANKS to Bea and Jack, and look forward to their Saturday Night Socials next summer.

Labels: Activities, Bagno Park, Bea Kriger, For the Spirit, Jack Kriger, Jewish Home, Jewish Home Residents, Simon

By: Ellis Simon, 88, Los Angeles Jewish Home resident 
Originally published in the Chai Journal Summer 2012 issue.

Miriam Rothstein, 91, is a lovely, gentle lady who survived the Holocaust. There is not one shred of bitterness in her demeanor. Born to an observant, educated, and well-to-do family that owned a supermarket in Romania, Miriam was the ninth of eleven children. When she was four, her family moved to a village in the Carpathian Mountains to be with her mother’s family. After Hungary annexed Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Miriam’s prep school studies ended and the family supermarket closed. In August 1941, Jews lacking Hungarian citizenship were apprehended. By March 1944, Germans controlling their town rounded up all able-bodied Jews. Miriam and her older sister, Rachel, who looked more like her younger sister, since Miriam was taller and stronger, boarded a train for Uzhorod, then part of Hungary, where her older sister Margaret and her brother Baruch lived. In April, the Jews in Uzhorod had to report to the ghetto there, and Miriam and Rachel hid in a shed for three days. Miriam changed into a two-piece red silk dress, attaching her mother’s diamond ring to an inside button before the sisters entered the overcrowded and unsanitary ghetto.

At the end of May, they were squeezed into cattle cars headed to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her red dress was tossed into a huge pile and her hair was shaved. Everyone slept on the floor and people were brought to the crematorium. With the Russian army approaching in 1945, two kind SS guards gathered up food and escaped with the girls and eventually left after rescuing them. In the bitter cold, they finally came to a farm where they slept in the barn until Russian soldiers liberated them. Eventually, Miriam and Rachel returned to Uzhorod where they learned their parents, sister Margaret, and youngest brother Yehuda had been poisoned.

While living in Czechoslovakia, Miriam met Herman Rothstein, a guard for the Czech president. In 1946, they married and he, too, owned a supermarket. Their daughter Vera was born in 1947. In 1949, they immigrated to Israel where their son, David, was born in 1953. A year later, Miriam had tuberculosis, prompting a move to Chicago where Herman had relatives. Their youngest daughter, Mindy, was born there in 1957. Vera and Mindy currently live in LA, and David, a university professor, now lives in Israel. Miriam and Herman retired and moved to Los Angeles in 1992.

Herman died in 2000, and Miriam lived on her own, assisted 4 hours a day by helpers who cleaned and took her shopping and on excursions. Her children eventually convinced her it would be wiser to move into a retirement community. In 2008, after checking out three other communities, Miriam chose the Jewish Home. She wanted to live in a warm, friendly Jewish setting with a built in social life and clinic. We are so pleased to have her as a part of our community. Miriam enjoys playing bingo, our entertainment and many special events, Rabbi Rita’s services and classes, and the Talking Yiddish Group with Murray. Miriam wishes she knew the names of the kind SS officers. Her three children, seven grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren give her great pride.

When I asked Miriam how she survived such harrowing experiences, she said it was hard work (which included building trenches and laying cable), eating little (mostly bread with a little jam and margarine snuck to her by a kind cook), and living one day at a time. But mostly, it was her belief that she would survive that kept her going. Miriam’s story is truly a profile in courage.

Miriam’s story was also featured in an article by Jane Ulman in The Jewish Journal. Photo credit: David Miller

Labels: Biography, Chai Journal, Courage, History, Holocaust survivors, Jewish Home Residents, Miriam Rothstein, Remarkable Residents, Seniors, Simon

Heaven is under our feet
     as well
As over our heads  ~Thoreau


At the 2012 Largest Mother's Day Celebration in the World, Jewish Home resident Ella Kalan, 101, read a touching poem that melted the hearts of everyone there. We just had to share.

Spring at the Home

Slowly, I walk along the rainbow colored
     garden paths
Still sparkling with early morning dew
My heart leaps with joy and
     AWE—
At the magical sights I view.

The trees are dripping pink blossoms on
     growing things below
The roses are all in full bloom
     bursting with love
          and perfrume
     setting one's soul aglow.

Intoxicated with the fragrance
     The bees are buzzing wildly
          among the purple lavenders
          they kiss and sip the nectar
               like greedy scavengers.

I watch a pair of humming birds
     dancing from tree to tree
     They do some pirouettes - then fly free
          to rest at the bubbling fountain
               nearby

"Tis there - behind the fountains rocks -
          I spy
     some frightened little dandelions.
I hold my breath and look up at the sky
     As the gardener passes them by
Among the fleecy clouds I see
          God smile

~Ella Kalan

Labels: Centenarian, Ella Kalan, Jewish Home Residents, Largest Mother's Day Celebration in the World, Mother's Day, Poems, Poetry, Spring, Thoreau

The act of becoming a bar mitzvah, a public acknowledgment of a young man’s obligation to fulfill the commandments, is a traditional part of Judaism. In today’s society, the spiritual commitment of young women is often celebrated as well. For most of the Jewish Home’s female residents, becoming a bat mitzvah was unheard of when they were twelve or thirteen.

This was true for Jewish Home resident Marilyn Matty. As a young girl, she and her sister attended Sunday school, but not Hebrew school. As a married woman, she learned to keep a kosher home. Marilyn became involved in a Conservative synagogue and, as a pianist, worked with the choir. As life brought its share of challenges, her connection with Judaism was loosened. One day, about three years ago, she realized she wanted to go back to her community and began attending synagogue again. “That was the beginning of my feelings of getting back to Judaism,” Marilyn recalls.
After moving to the Jewish Home in February 2010, the feeling became even stronger, leading her to become a bat mitzvah on November 5, 2011, at age 85. View photos of Marilyn here.

Rabbi Anthony Elman, the Jewish Home’s Director of Spiritual Life, worked closely with Marilyn for 1 ½ years in preparation for her bat mitzvah. He regards this as a valuable part of the overall work of the Home’s rabbis in enhancing the spiritual life of residents and of the Home itself. “We try to respond to the desire of individual residents to develop further in their spiritual tradition,” said Rabbi Elman. “We also provide learning opportunities to a range of resident groups and meaningful prayer services. Our goal is to create a climate for the whole community where the spiritual dimension of life is valued and respected.” In Rabbi Elman’s view, the Home’s rabbis are here not just to allow observant Jews to continue their religious practice, but to give an opportunity for all residents to live spiritually rich lives.

When he addressed Marilyn after she had read from the Torah, he said: “You, Marilyn, are truly worthy of being called to the Torah as bat mitzvah. You achieved the necessary learning and read from the Torah beautifully. Kol hakavod for that – all honor to you. But becoming a bat mitzvah is much more than learning and reading. In my eyes, it is who you are as a whole person who merits this honor today. Walking in the footsteps of our father Abraham, you exhibit the principle of chesed – loving kindness. It is a giving from the heart – not just on a whim, but in a solid, robust, long-lasting kind of way. I have been truly moved by how you have gone out of your way to help and support others, and to practice bikur cholim – visiting the sick.”

Here, in her own words, is Marilyn’s story of accomplishing this great spiritual achievement.

This week’s parsha, Lech Lecha, is the story of Abraham and Sarah. It tells the story of leaving your present home and going toward the unknown. God told Abraham to leave his land, his birthplace, and go to a place God will show him, and he will become a great nation. Abraham took his wife, Sarah, and started on a journey to a new, and unknown, life.

Leaving your familiar home to go to the unknown is scary and uncertain. Like Abraham, I believe a message from God gave me the choice to stay in my home or search for another place to live, with no guarantee of a great nation. With the able assistance and guidance of my daughter, Tina, we found the Jewish Home, Grancell Village. This was the unknown to me, a new place, new room, and new faces, and maybe not a great nation, but a lot of love. Abraham headed west to Canaan and I headed east to Reseda.

After Abraham and Sarah lived in Canaan for 10 years, we are told that Sarah was barren, she had no children. Commentators have suggested that this repetition means she physically had no children, but spiritually she had so many as she inspired so many people.

I in turn find this inspiring. I will talk later about a woman at the Home who inspired me so much, and changed my life.

Sarah decided that the best way for Abraham (and perhaps her) to start a family was for Abraham to take Sarah’s servant, Hagar, as a concubine, with Sarah’s blessing. I see this as a great act of giving, of generosity. I think it was a mitzvah from Sarah’s heart.

Like Sarah, doing something for someone else is very important to me: visiting residents who are ill, seeing new residents or seeing someone who needs company. I have made reaching out to others a part of my life at the Home, and it gives me great pleasure. But if we go back to the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, we see that there might sometimes be a downside to giving.

When Hagar became pregnant with Abraham’s child, she scorned Sarah, and this was very painful for Sarah, who perhaps had hoped that her relationship with her servant Hagar wouldn’t change.

Sarah told Abraham how badly Hagar was treating her, and he said she should do whatever she wished. Sarah was horrible to Hagar and made her life miserable.

Hagar ran away from her mistress, and, in the desert, she met a stranger in her path. Unknown to Hagar, this was an angel, a messenger from God. He asked her what she was doing and Hagar said that her mistress was unkind and she ran away. The angel of God told Hagar to return back to Sarah and that she, Hagar, would be granted many descendants, so many descendants that they would be uncountable. So Hagar returned home and had a son whom they named Ishmael – “God heard” – that is, God heard Hagar’s pain.

Why did Sarah do such a generous thing as give her servant to her husband for them to have a child? She hoped this would be like a child to Abraham and herself (so that Sarah would bring up the child), and fulfill God’s promise that Abraham would become father of a great nation. Sarah gave, but then it seems she regretted giving; she became filled with bitterness. This makes me question: can giving sometimes go too far?

A true mitzvah is one of giving unconditionally. But I also know that too much giving can deplete one’s resources. As well as giving, I’ve learned the importance of balance in my life. I personally find pleasure particularly in playing blackjack, bridge, reading, and allowing time for hair, nails and chit chat – things that are about fun rather than suffering. These allow me to go on being a person who can be with others in distress.

As we get older, we have to make choices and changes, especially when we are no longer able to be independent. It’s a big adjustment for everyone, but I believe God had pointed the way for me. The Jewish Home has given me a place and I’m finding communal living both beautiful and challenging. My choice to come to the Jewish Home’s Grancell Village was not at first an easy one, but it soon filled by heart and soul with joy. I adjusted, met a lot of people, and satisfied myself with love from the new feeling of community.

Being part of the Jewish Home community brought me back to Judaism, which had become misplaced from my life. I became aware of my hunger, so I started studying Hebrew and Torah, which led on to this exciting moment in my life.

When I first arrived at the Jewish Home, I met a woman who changed my life. She was a young 96 years and always eager to learn. We started reading the Torah weekly and asked questions of the Rabbi. Spending regular time with May Blank inspired me to fully understand and appreciate life. Like Sarah was to countless others, May was an inspiration to me. We developed a great friendship, so that at the end of her life she called me her “sister.” Memories of May will me daily and help carry me through to my Bat Mitzvah. May her soul rest in peace.

There was another woman who became important to me – a wonderful, brave person, Miriam, was part of a “learning threesome” with May and myself, and we became known as “The Three Ms.” Miriam was blind, and had lost a leg, but was active with us, learning and contributing her knowledge and wisdom, until her end.

There are so many wonderful people here at the Jewish Home, that my life is blessed with friendship and love.

I would like to thank Rabbi Elman for being my teacher and guide, helping me to take my place more fully as a Jewish woman. The story does not end here: I plan to continue studying Torah so as to learn and deepen my understanding of our beautiful Jewish heritage. I would also like to thank Rabbi Wendy for her support.

As I look out to the congregation and see my loving family, which include my devoted children and their spouses, grandchildren (and their spouses), sister, two nieces and a nephew, I feel such love for you all. Thank you all for being here with me today as witnesses – and my special gratitude to those of you who are participating in this service this morning. I am intensely proud of my family.

I know that my mother is giving me her blessing because this is the anniversary of her death. Rest in peace, Mom.

Finally, I wish to thank my entire Jewish Home family for their love, and for making this a wonderful Jewish community in which to live.

Once again, I am THIRTEEN!

Labels: Abraham, Around the Home, Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Bible, Elman, Feature Articles, Jewish Home, Jewish Home Residents, Judaism, Marilyn Matty, Remarkable Residents, Sarah, Staff, Thirteen, Torah

Jewish Home resident David Glicker, 82, is hilarious! Check out the video we posted on YouTube last week of a joke he shared with us. A bit of English humour to brighten your day. :)

Labels: Around the Home, David Glicker, Englishman, Funny, Guillotine, Humor, Humour, Irishman, Jewish Home Residents, Jokes, Scotsman, Staff, YouTube