Brickman to receive leadership award
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation will honor Mark Brickman with the inaugural
Distinguished Leadership Award at its 2022 Annual Meeting on Tuesday, August 9.
Brickman has held top leadership positions at the Federation including chair of both the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation. He has inspired and mentored many young leaders who are building on his incomparable legacy, according to a news release.
During its annual meeting, the Federation will also recognize and thank outgoing board members while welcoming new board members.
A dessert and wine reception (dietary laws observed) will be start at 6:30 p.m. followed by the 7:15 p.m. program. It will be held in the Daniel M. Soref Community Hall at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Whitefish Bay. Event co-chairs are Peter Klein and Jodi Habush Sinykin.
Register at MilwaukeeJewish.org/AM to attend in person or to view the live event remotely.
Jewish Family Services grows training
In response to mental health workforce shortages, Advancing Healthier Wisconsin awarded $113,966 to Jewish Family Services for extensive training, according to a news release.
In partnership with Sojourner Family Peace Center, the project will help recruit, train and maintain clinical trainees with expertise in interpersonal violence and related trauma. Additionally, it is to improve access for adult and child survivors of intimate partner violence.
“We are looking forward to further improving these services for our clients and the communities in which they live. The ability to train and expand a generation of Intimate-Partner-Violence-informed mental health clinicians while meeting the increased demand for mental health services will be possible due to this funding,” said Director of Clinical Services Anne David of Jewish Social Services.
Veteran said kaddish for another
Retired US Navy Chief Hospital Corpsman Bernard Nachimson of Delray Beach, Fla. found Wisconsinite Dave Kramer’s gravestone at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on June 13, 2016.
Looking to honor Jewish servicemen at the cemetery, Nachimson stumbled upon the site with Kramer, a fellow Wisconsinite. He said a private kaddish for him, as well as rendered honors to him with a military salute. He laid a Jewish War Veterans garrison cap on the headstone.
Since then, Nachimson had wondered where in Wisconsin Kramer was from. Years later, however, he found his answer in the Chronicle; Kramer grew up in Milwaukee, just like Nachimson. Nachimson soon contacted the Chronicle.
“It was a humbling experience,” Nachimson said. “I’m the child of a Holocaust survivor, but I was born in Europe after the war,” he added, expressing his gratitude for other Jews who served alongside him.
Gilbert seeks state Senate seat
Peter Gilbert seeks to run against incumbent state Sen. Chris Larson, a Democrat who represents much of the Milwaukee area in Madison. Gilbert is running in the Republican primary, which is Aug. 9, 2022.
Gilbert’s campaign supports disability rights, rights of the unborn, police funding and the right to bear arms, according to a statement. Gilbert has advocated for three state bills, including the Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Program, and testimonies on behalf of the Iron-Ore Mine and the anti-BDS Law, he said.
An experienced combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces, Gilbert is primarily concerned with local and foreign policy affecting Wisconsin.
Ken Burns film on U.S., Holocaust
“The U.S. and the Holocaust,” a three-part, six-hour documentary directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botsein, will air Sept. 18, 19 and 20 from 7-9 p.m. on PBS. The broadcast will be accompanied by educational materials for middle and high school classrooms.
Inspired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition, the documentary places the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany in the context of American issues. “History cannot be looked at in isolation,” Ken Burns said.
The documentary is meant to dispel myths that Americans were ignorant of the persecution of Jews or looked on the catastrophe with indifference. With first-hand testimonies from witnesses who were children in the 1930s, the film is unique.
“‘The U.S. and the Holocaust’ asks us to think differently about our country’s history,” said Sylvia Bugg, chief programming executive and general manager.
Jewish Food Festival in Mequon
The Peltz Center for Jewish Life will host its fourth annual Jewish Food Festival at Mequon’s Rotary Park, 4100 Highland Road, on Aug. 14-15 from 12-7 p.m. Despite a usual turnout of 80 volunteer staff and 3,500 participants, last year’s festival hosted over 100 volunteers and 5,000 community members.
The festival started out as a grocery store table called “Taste of Kosher,” which Rabbi Moshe Luchins and his wife used to host. Responding to the table’s popularity and wanting to educate even more community members about Jewish cuisine, he combined the Milwaukee festival tradition with the high demand for traditional food distribution, according to a news release.
The festival “provides a great opportunity for folks to enjoy a nice day at the park, eat good food and meet up with friends, family and neighbors,” said Rabbi Luchins.
This year’s menu includes pastrami knish, deli sandwiches, shawarma and falafel in pita, and Cholent, a slow-cooked meat stew. All food items have a fee.
The festival provides additional activities for children, such as a petting zoo, jugglers, a magician, and the Milwaukee Flyers, a local acrobat group. For four dollars, kids get unlimited access to these activities, and general admission is free.
Sweeney is interim director for Lux
The Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology appointed Jon M. Sweeney as interim director on July 1.
Sweeney’s appointment begins after the retirement of outgoing Director Bonnie Shafrin, who the seminary praises for her contributions. The Lux Center intends to appoint a full-time director to begin sometime in 2023.
Sweeney is an independent scholar, author, editor and rabbi’s spouse living in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. He will be responsible for programming, fundraising and building relationships between seminary students and the Jewish community in Milwaukee and beyond, according to a news release.