I loved watching the Olympics there.  I was bummed not to be have gone back to visit friends and see the games.

A few friends shared pictures of themselves at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Risa and Ted Offit’s son Max, and Josh Wolberg, had a brush with fame. They posted this on their FaceBook page with Olympic Gold medalist Torah Bright

And, my colleague from my days at the Vancouver Jewish Bulletin, Adam Rabiner, sent me this picture which he called, The Great One.

Did anyone else meet any celebrities while in Vancouver?

This morning while pleasantly reading a New York Times story about David Gelbaum, I also checked my e-mail.

The story about Gelbaum, a little know philanthropist, was about how some recent financial constraints forced him to stop his multi-million annual gifts to several non-profits.  Over the past four years, Gelbaum has donated $380 million to the ACLU, Sierra Club and an organization that provides financial assistance to families whose loved ones are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His main condition was adhering to Maimondes’ principals of the highest form of giving – giving anonymously. It wasn’t until after he had to stop giving did his name come out.

I’m reading about how Gelbaum is living such Jewish values like Tikkun Olam, making the world a better place.

Just then I got an e-mail release from the Westboro Baptist Church about their plans to “Picket Filthy Jews in Florida.”  It outlines the places where they’ll be protesting the non-believers in Christ.

This is the same group that pickets funerals of American soldiers who died in Iraq. They believe that we’re a nation of sinners (and non-Christ believers) so people in the military should be protested for fighting for this country.

I wanted to get angry at these people. But, I really just feel sorry for these losers. These are the same misguided people who flew in from Topeka, Kan. to picket the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES. Only four people showed up, and they got lost and picketed a deli down the street.

Some of our staffers boned up on their bible reading to debate these people. But, how to you point out to the that the David Gelbaum or the Weinberg Foundations of this world do more good in one day, then any of this silly people to collectively in a life time?

Today, we got a little validation.

Right there on the front page of one of the leading dailies in the world—the New York Times—- was a story about how the fervently Orthodox are finally starting to change. They are now for the first time starting to report sexual abuse to the legal authorities, and not just to their rabbis.

The Times credits the work of rabbis, social workers, and the Jewish press. They mentioned the New York Jewish Week by name for its work in outing Baruch Lanner in 2000.

Much credit also has to go to Baltimore Jewish Times Editor Phil Jacobs for his courageous series on sexual molestation among Baltimore rabbis. It literally has changed our community. Most rabbis have supported our efforts and have pushed for changes since our series started. Even Talmudic Academy changes its procedures.

Still, some remained in denial and are hiding sexual predators. We also get all sorts of angry letters and people accusing us – and the victims of wrongdoing.

Today’s New York Times story shows that we, as a leader in the Jewish press, are fulfilling our mission if changes are being made and the perpetrators of violence against children are brought to real justice, not kangaroo courts.

The stories outline that blogs and other sources are forcing sects of Judaism that have been closed for centuries to start to opening up to this very important reality. It’s a huge positive movement and moment for the Jewish people. 

But, after all, I believe in the saying, “be the change you want to see in the world.” I want greater civility, so I won’t do it.

Still, I’m incensed by the Sunday New York Times Op-Ed by Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi Ambassador to the United States not to mention former Saudi intelligence service head. 

In the piece “Land First, Then Peace,”

al-Faisal repeats the current Muslim party line of not talking with Israel until it stops settlement building. The Muslim world, he wrote, must “refuse to engage Israel until it ends its illegal occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights as well as Shabaa Farms in Lebanon.”

Thus he begins to make several tired and factually incorrect arguments.

Just in that sentence there are two: That Israel is illegally occupying Gaza and Shabaa Farms, which sits in Israel’s northwest corner next adjacent to both Syria and Lebanon. Israel left Gaza unilaterally five years ago. Where’s the peace? And, I’ve lost count how many U.N. Resolutions have declared that Shabaa Farms is not Lebanese and that Israel is in full compliance there.

The Saudi leader next states the U.N. declarations that Israel must give back the territories it won in the 1967 War. But he glossed over what kind of peace the Muslims gave Israel prior to that date. Nor does al-Faisal mention that no nation was ever forced to give up land it won in conflict.

It would take me too long to refute the Op-Ed point for point, but I have to note another glaring oversight from the writer. He tries to give reasons why the king of Saudi Arabia should not “do a Sadat.” Prior to dramatically coming to Israel in 1977, according to al-Faisal, Sadat was assured that “Israel would withdraw from every last inch of Egyptian territory…” What? I always thought Gaza was part of Egypt prior to 1967? I guess Sadat’s negotiators missed a few inches along the way.

Still, the world deeply misses the courage of an Anwar Sadat. Instead of excuses, it would be great seeing Arab and Muslim leaders offering real movements toward peace with Israel.

In the past, I’ve written how I, too, wish Israel would stop building settlements. But I hate the lies, I mean mistruths, about Israel. The Jewish state unilaterally left Lebanon and Gaza and got no where on the road to peace.

Thus, al-Faisal presents us with yet another sad example of Muslim leadership, or lack thereof, one that continues to offer obstacles instead of real action leading towards peace.

No, because it also made the change so that we get recycling every single week instead of every other week.

Sure, it may take a few more minutes to sort your waste every day, but it makes total sense to do so. How often do we complain about city taxes? Now, as its tax coffers to pay for services are drying up, the City actually came up with a novel idea to prevent another tax hike.

It only takes a few minutes to toss paper, plastic, and metal waste into another bin. Done. Then the City can sell our trash instead of having to pay a vendor to dump it in a land fill. Not only are we saving money for the City (and essentially all of us tax payers), but we are preventing tons of waste from pilling up in landfills, saving energy and helping the environment. Sounds like a universal application of Jewish values to me.

That’s what makes it so puzzling that some Orthodox Jews in the city were against the new regulations. I understand some of their points: Many have large families, guests over for big Shabbat meals and often host a major dinner on a Jewish holiday. That all leads to more garbage. But there’s also the opportunity to sort through that garbage so that it can be recycled, lessening the need to have more or larger trash pick ups.

We all hate change, we’re all very busy. Still, we make time to study Torah and perform various mitzvot. Taking care of God’s creation also is high up on the lists of commandments. We take time to look at labels to ensure the proper hechsher (kosher certification). It takes the same amount of time to see which bin your trash goes in.

Let’s help our planet, and let’s help Baltimore City taxpayers in one swoop. Recycle. As often as possible.

After fabulous experiences, it’s always nice to return to modern civilization for hot showers and fast internet connections.

This year, we mixed it up a bit and hopped over to Iceland, a fabulously beautiful country where you have amazing diversity from barren lava fields to rich green fields, plentiful sea views and always a mountain in sight.

Instead of going back to the future at the expedition’s end, I actually felt, we were going back in time returning to the United States.

We had good look at a nice chunk of the Kentucky-sized nation, and we loved what we saw regarding their being green, which outpaces America. There were special parking spaces for electric cars that needed to be plugged in, hydrogen filling stations, and plenty of clean diesel cars.

Iceland has the benefit of geo-thermal resources; so much of the country takes advantage of this extremely cheap and energy efficient method to heat most buildings. They also employ simple inexpensive technology in most public spaces that it seems like no-brainers: hallways that have motion sensor lights and toilets with different flushes for #1 and #2.

Once upon a time, the U.S. used to lead the world in technology. We are rapidly falling behind. This hurts us, and slows down our fight again Muslim extremism. Using less oil for driving cars and heating buildings robs terrorists of their funding sources.

The U.S. Senate is taking up a House bill that will help in this area. As with most government sponsored programs, it won’t get us to where we need to be. Yet, it’s a start.  I’m glad our country is finally taking action for the environment and against oil-funded terror. As least some other countries are already showing us the way.

Many things stand out in my head. People on both sides of this difficult issue had a great deal of passion and clear thoughts about it.  While the debate was lively, it was always respectful and never heated. And in the meeting where the final vote took place last Wednesday afternoon, there was an obvious mixing of people on both sides, eliminating an “us-versus-them” attitude.

A few comments also stuck out. Dr. Michael Elman called in from Jerusalem, pleading with the Associated board not to open the JCC.  But what really stuck out was his admission that the community missed the boat 12 years ago when those who voted to keep the JCC closed did relatively nothing to teach the rest of Baltimore’s Jews about the wonders of Shabbat.

After the vote was taken, Associated President Marc B. Terrill stepped up to the microphone and quoted Rabbi Moshe Hauer—“The real work begins after the vote.”

Let’s hope that both sides work hard so that all of the 100,000 Jews living in the Baltimore metropolitan area and the JCC know how truly special Shabbat can be.

Jodi A. Buerger lost her four and one-half year struggle with cancer ended early this morning May 8, 2009.
 
My sister Jodi was the inspiration to create Climb for Hope. When she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in October 2004, I knew we had to move quickly to find a cure. Jodi was one of the greatest women you’d ever meet. Her courage and strength led me to put together an organization dedicated to speeding up work on a treatment for advanced breast cancer to give her more time with her family.

Our precious and beautiful Jodi died only after exhausting every ounce of energy from her broken body. She never gave up and never wavered, clinging to life with awesome courage and determination. I believe she was driven by a sacred devotion to her children and an abiding promise to protect and nurture them. That’s the spirit we embody on our mountaineering expeditions.
 
In turn we honor her life and take forward the lessons she taught us about being a good and decent person, always acting with integrity and grace, always with words of support and encouragement. She measured her life by what she could do for others and never by what was taken from her.  
 
Throughout her battle she drew tremendous strength from the overwhelming support and love of her family, friends, and climbers. It helped her more than you might know—through all the harrowing medical procedures and crushing relapses and in those dark moments when unspeakable pain and suffering would momentarily weaken her grip.

She leaves behind Peter, a loving husband of 14 years, and 3 children Charles 12, Caroline 9 and Max 5,

We were not able to save my sister Jodi’s life. But, as Jodi remarked to me when our expedition returned successfully from Kilimanjaro last year that we may not find something fast enough for her, but she believed that her daughter Caroline would grow up in a world without breast cancer because of the hard work of CFH volunteer climbers.

I want to thank each of you for all you’ve done to support and sustain us. Thank you for every hug, every tear, every dollar, and every ounce of support to create a sustainable organization that will keep Jodi’s name alive.

Our board recently voted to change the name of the organization to Jodi’s Climb for Hope to fulfill her wish that despite leaving us at an early age, she never be forgotten.

Now, in Jodi’s name we will continue on the many advances we’ve made in three short years, giving Johns Hopkins researcher Dr. Leisha Emens $350,000. That money sped up research by six months and lead to the ground-breaking discovery that lower doses of chemotherapy increase immune responses, an last legacy that will be left for future generations.

Jodi will be missed by so many people, including the more than 75 CFH climbers that she inspired to push themselves way beyond their perceived physical limits to summit a mountain they never thought possible.

I would have traded anything that Jodi would have never gotten this disease. Since she did, she was able affect real change in this world. Due to Jodi’s humble personality, she never fathomed how many lives she touched – donors, climbers, guides, volunteers, breast cancer survivors, and grieving families – through Climb for Hope.

If furthering cancer research and inspiring scores of people is how’s she’s remembered, than she’ll have lived a fulfilled life.
 
May her memory continue to be a blessing.

Donations in Jodi Alter Buerger’s memory can be sent to the charity of your choice or on-line to Climb For Hope, a Baltimore-based foundation that raises funds for breast cancer research. http://www.climbforhope.com/

His event made me think: It would be great if Jews and African-Americans could simply rely on their shared history of oppression and civil rights to again bring them together. But the two ethnic groups have moved further apart since the ’60s.

It doesn’t help matters in Baltimore that the Jewish community keeps moving to the exurbs and into gated communities, our children tucked safely into private schools — parochial and religious. Improving relations is even harder with little interaction.

I’d love it if we could inoculate our youth to prevent racism and anti-Semitism, but that vaccine hasn’t yet been invented. Enter Mr. Cummings’ Baltimore-based ECYP. It is enjoying success on a very, very limited basis. Sadly, at about $12,000 per participant, it would take a lot of resources to make it larger.

The ECYP’s mission is to improve relations between the black and Jewish communities by immersing high school students in a four-week trip to Israel and a two-year leadership enhancement program. ECYP is a non-profit started by Mr. Cummings, Baltimore’s 7th Congressional District Representative.

Participants learn and develop skills that will help them become a future leaders, ones who organizers hope will promote interethnic understanding, and racial and religious tolerance. Hundreds of African-Americans from Mr. Cummings’ district compete to win a coveted spot in the program. Sadly, only 12 are chosen annually, due to funding constraints.

Last week, the organization’s annual gala honored outstanding Jewish and African-American leaders — the Hoffberger family and Dr. Benjamin Carson, the famed Hopkins neurosurgeon. I had a chance to meet with and be impressed by some of this year’s students and prospective applicants.

One mother told me about her son’s fears. He was so scared that he lay in bed each morning in tears. The distraught parent didn’t know what to do.

Ironically, her child was not afraid to go to Israel; he hated being home in the United States after a month in the Holy Land. The high school junior never knew what it was like to be safe, albeit in a country known for terrorism, and he feared his safety on the streets of Baltimore. The African-American woman didn’t know where to turn; her son begged her to allow him to move to Israel. Wisely, ECYP has a landing point with leader training and mentoring, so the distraught young man received counseling upon return.

We’ve heard stories from Jewish families who send their children to Israel about how they, too, don’t want to come home, or are changed for life. For the ECYP participants, the Israeli experience touches impressionable kids searching for meaning. Being Baptized in the Jordan River and visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is tremendously moving in this foreign and sacred land. Many were struck by witnessing how committed Jews are to Israel; others enjoyed meeting Jews from Ethiopia and South Africa.

For some, just being with 11 other kids on whom they could rely, who in some cases became the only people they could depend on in their lives, was overwhelming. They called themselves family.

ECYP started 11 years ago at the urging of philanthropist Stuart Greenebaum and the implementation of the Baltimore Jewish Council. It’s now a separate non-profit. Over the next few weeks, the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES will be meeting alumni, some of whom are now 28 years old, to explore how the decade-old experience has changed their views of the Middle East and the Jewish people in the long run.

Judging from current participants, the program creates confident students with tools for success. They gain something many inner city kids never get: a chance. Let’s be thankful it’s coming courtesy of the Jewish community, even though itìs only 12 per year.

The Jewish sage Hillel said it best: “To save one life is as if you’ve saved the entire world.” Let’s hope that these 12 participants become the Dr. Ben Carson’s of their desired fields.

What troubles me in calling out Israel and writing “The military code of the Israel Defense Forces, the best army in the region, obligates its soldiers to protect human dignity,” is that there was no comment about Hamas’ conduct. 

Yes, we all hold Israel and its democracy to a higher standard. Still, where is the Sun or any human rights organization chastising the Islamic organizations that control power in Gaza?

I recently attended an event for the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces. The speaker, an IDF officer, told us how Israeli strategy has changed since the war in Lebanon in 2006. Strong navies and air forces don’t help when one’s enemy is hiding in urban areas. This was the case in Gaza where Hamas military was set up in schools and hospitals. 

I agree and applaud that Israel is making the effort to question is conduct. The world would be a better place if the human rights organizations and Muslim leadership also worked to conduct themselves according acceptable rules of engagement.