Lloyd Levin teaches Holocaust class
Lloyd Levin is teaching a 2-part Holocaust course for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“Holocaust: Why, How, Future Implications” is to be held over two sessions, Oct. 20 and 27, 2021, 12:30-1:45 p.m., at the Hefter Center Living Room, 3271 N. Lake Drive.
Issues covered by the class are to include: What conditions existed in Germany and the world that allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power in Germany? How did Europe react to Hitler’s leadership? What signs may have been missed? Once Hitler and the Nazi Party gained control in Germany, how did they disenfranchise the Jews in Europe? What laws and regulations were put in place? How did the Nazi regime murder 6,000,000 Jews (and close to 5,000,000 others)? What lessons can we learn?
Attendance in person requires Osher membership. Virtual attendance does not require Osher membership, but one must go on the website and register for the class. The class fee is $15. Levin is a docent for Jewish Museum Milwaukee.
Contact Laurie Yingling at yinglinl@uwm.edu or 414-227-3255.
Madison natives attend Israel teaching fellowship
Madison natives and young Jewish professionals Natalie White and Gina Malagold were part of Israel’s TALMA teaching fellowship this summer.
During the academic year Malagold is a Spanish professor at Georgetown University and White teachs high school English in Prairie du Chien.
Placed in Jerusalem, the two taught English to low-income Israeli students, according to a news release. Each was paired with an Israeli co-teacher and together, they planned and facilitated daily lessons and activities for their classrooms. This summer’s program was especially powerful due to Israel’s COVID lockdown, they said. After nearly an entire year of learning from home, the students were eager to return to the classroom and regain a sense of normalcy, according to the release.
Malagold taught in an Orthodox fifth grade classroom.
“Returning to the classroom after a year on Zoom brought with it many challenges and triumphs,” Malagold said “The Israeli children delighted in teaching me Hebrew words. By the end of the program, they were pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, using English more fluently and pondering the possibility of traveling to the United States to study in the future.”
White taught fifth grade at Tali Mathematic, an elementary school in Pisgat Ze’ev. “It is incredible to witness the boost of confidence my students experienced in a matter of only a few weeks. By the end of the summer, their English-speaking skills improved drastically, and with that came a new drive to learn and speak even more,” she said.
Outside of the school day, TALMA provided the teachers with professional learning opportunities including a meeting with Jerusalem’s mayor Moshe Lion. Malagold and White were able to embrace their time in Jerusalem and enjoyed spending the majority of their free time walking through the Old City.
TALMA was founded in 2013 as a public summer school for elementary schoolchildren, according to the release. The English-immersion program strives to increase education equity for low-income Israeli students by addressing the national English teacher shortage. Teachers from all grades and disciplines are invited to apply to be part of the fellowship. More information can be found at Talmaisrael.com.
Jewish agencies organizing Fort McCoy assistance
Tikkun Ha-Ir, the local social action group, and the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation advocacy arm, are part of an effort to assist Afghans at Fort McCoy.
Thousands of Afghanistan refugees have been living temporarily at the western Wisconsin military base, after the recent collapse of the U.S.-supported Afghan government.
“We have an incredible network who rise up multiple times per year to donate items,” said Tikkun Ha-Ir Executive Director Sami Avner. “When we heard that there was an ongoing need in our state, we thought we can activate this network to do that.”
The refugees need basic and modest clothing appropriate for winter, Avner said. The effort to help is being quickly organized with other community organizations and synagogues, she said.
“This is all about the Jewish value of welcoming the stranger,” Avner said. “This is an important mitzvah that is commanded over and over again.”
Former Israeli Defense Forces soldier Peter Gilbert, a St. Francis resident, will be assisting with the delivery of the needed items.
Details on exactly what’s needed and how to donate are to be posted to Thi-Milwaukee.org as this edition of the Chronicle arrives in mailboxes or in the days to come. If you represent an organization and would like information on how to help collect items, contact Gilbert at Pggilbertsaab@Yahoo.com, Avner at Sami@Thi-Milwaukee.org, or JCRC Executive Director Kai Yael Gardner Mishlove at Kaig@MilwaukeeJewish.org
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Peter Gilbert brings supplies to Fort McCoy
More than 12,000 Afghanistan refugees have been living temporarily at Fort McCoy in western Wisconsin, according to media reports. Former Israeli Defense Forces soldier Peter Gilbert, a St. Francis resident, delivered supplies there in September for Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun.
Gilbert and some veteran friends, who served in Afghanistan, have been working to assist the refugees. They’re not allowed on the Army base, but Gilbert delivered supplies to a nearby National Guard post that then brings the supplies to the base, he said. Donated supplies have included clothes and diapers.
“I had a full load up to the ceiling,” he said, referring to his Saab station wagon and the 200-mile trip he took. “I’m just looking at this as a compassionate humanitarian.”
At the time of the Yom Kippur war in 1973, Gilbert was in command of inspecting United Nations trucks before they crossed the Suez Canal to bring needed supplies to people cut off from Egypt. He was commanded to make sure they were getting food, water and clothing, but not weapons.
“That was the first time I helped people of the Muslim faith,” he said. “I thought it was quite an honor to do that.”
Teen volunteer kick-off
Friendship Circle of Wisconsin is holding a Teen Volunteer Kickoff on Sunday, Oct. 3, 6:30-8 p.m.
Expect an LED light show, s’mores, a fire pit and desserts. The event is for teens, grades 7-12.
Friendship Circle of Wisconsin, a Chabad program, provides support, friendship, and opportunities to include people with special needs in our community.
For more information visit Fcwi.org/KickOff.
Bronfman Fellowship is accepting applications
The Bronfman Fellowship is accepting applications for twenty-six slots to filled by North American teenagers, for its year of programming that begins with a free summer in Israel.
The summer is Israel is between the Fellows’ junior and senior years of high school, followed by monthly virtual experiences and two seminars in the U.S., according to a news release.
The program educates and inspires exceptional young Jews from diverse backgrounds to have a significant impact on the world as community builders, deep thinkers, moral voices, and cultural creators, according to a news release. The nonprofit Fellowship was founded by Edgar M. Bronfman, z”l, formerly CEO of the Seagram Company Ltd. and a visionary Jewish philanthropist, according to the release.
Applications for the 2022 Fellowship are due Dec. 8, 2021, and are available online at Bronfman.org. High school students in the United States and Canada who self-identify as Jewish and who will be in the eleventh grade in the fall of 2021 are eligible to apply. The Fellowship is a pluralistic program for Jews of all backgrounds; prior Jewish education is not required. Visit Bronfman.org.
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