?How I Want to Be Remembered? |
| Since it?s not often that I send out emails to you all like this I am enclosing a picture of Patricia & me taken in Phuket, Thailand(within a week of my quitting work -May 2007) & how I want to be remembered.
Courtesy Jonathan Stein 115230p.8 |
August 16 2009
Ashley:
Good to hear from you.
You have asked for a bio?mine is going to be presented in a slightly different fashion (that is if you want to put it on the website). It is not of course a formal bio, but anyone reading this should catch the drift. I am submitting a speech I made (Dec.16,2008) when I was given at award for scholarship at a dinner reception given in my honor (I kid you not!) by JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary)
I am also sending a recent mug shot of me, a recent family shot & an old picture ( you should recognize most of the folks.)
Jonathan Stein, M.D.,
Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology & Senior Member of the American Society of Neuroradiology with CAQ?s (certificates of added qualifications) in Neuroradiology and Vascular & Interventional Radiology)
JTS Speech 12/16/08
A couple of days ago I was thinking about how I was going to say what I want to say to-night & while listening to National Palestinian Radio I decided to take a cue from a news pundit who was giving his analysis of the current white house incumbent ; this NPR commentator, quite poignantly, I thought, said & I quote :?he may be a lame?duck, but he can still quack?
I would like to thank all of you for coming to support JTS and for taking time out of your busy lives this evening. I want to thank Chancellor Eisen for flying out of New York to be with us tonight. I would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of all the JTS professionals and the volunteer committee who organized this event. Without Carolyn Kantor, Director of the JTS Florida Regional office, this evening would not have been a possibility.
What can I say to Rabbi Mathew Berkowitz?
He journeyed from Jerusalem so that he could be with us tonight. This is truly an honor for all of us.
Matt Berkowitz is the quintessence of a rabbi/ ROV, Rov being the Talmudic generic term for a teacher & in fact Rabbi Matt is a teacher par excel- lance . This is exemplified by our year- long study of the Rabbinic period in our history as seen in the context of Elisha Ben Abuya , who is referred to in the Gomorrah with contempt as (???, Acher) literally the?Other One? and from whom the subsequent Yiddish euphemism for a really bad dude emanates, that is a ?dover acher? which literally in Hebrew is DAVAR ACHER or ?another thing?. He, & I?m now talking about Rabbi Matt, has exceptional imagination & wonderful sense of humor that he brought to his workshops on movies as they relate to the American Jewish experience. One need only look at Rabbi Berkowitz?s recently published Haggadah to realize the breadth of his artistry & creativity.
The good that is JTS came about because of like-minded people who share dreams and visions of a future and the greater good of yiddishkeit in America. The affiliated Rabbis and teachers of this organization blend their teaching with humility and a desire to learn from others rather than forcing others to their viewpoint.
Almost all of you here tonite know that I have been given a ?bad break.? These particular words are not mine but those of Lou Gehrig given at his famous farewell address at Yankee stadium one month after he was formally diagnosed with his disease. With Babe Ruth, his arch-rival at his side, Lou Gehrig then made the most remarkable statement : He said that he considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I never did fully understand this statement until tonight.
Mr Gehrig gave this address on July 4th 1939 at the time the U.S. was still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression, Hitler?s Anschluss of Austria had occurred over 1 year previously, the Nazi?s had marched into the Sudentenland 3 months earlier & the ominous clouds of war were covering Europe. 3 Months later with Hitler?s invasion of Poland WW2 was formally declared by Churchill ,Sept.1,1939. Until Pearl Harbor was bombed, Dec 1941 FDR & Congress did not have the cajonos to join the war effort.
When I look at everyone here I believe I understand Lou Gehrig.
I am not equipped to talk about the current economic fiasco but I don?t believe there is anybody else on the planet who is equipped to do this either.
All of us here tonite are fully aware of the very existential threat Israel currently faces; I believe however that Israel is the proverbial canary in the coal mine because Western Civilization as we know it is profoundly threatened by the rise of organized Radical Islamism. In fact the more I think about it , the term ?Radical Islamism? is truly an anacrism because if one reads the Quoran or sees how it is practiced, one quickly realizes that there is nothing moderate about their religion. Other than mention this threat I will not speak further about it; I remember my parents admonition to me: if you have nothing nice to say about somebody, don?t say it ; so I won?t!
Nonetheless I do believe that I understand Lou Gehrig because tonight I feel that I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
I have a wonderful and beautiful and courageous wife, Patricia. I have two great kids, Victoria and Gregory, and I am immensely proud of them. I do regret that I am leaving before I will have had the pleasure of seeing my children reach all of their goals but I do have the satisfaction in knowing that they are well on their way to reaching them. Their achievements have been all that I could ever have hoped for my family. I also take great pride in their brave forging ahead in the shadow of my illness.
My family and I have been fortunate with our connection to this very special community here tonight. I have never received anything but kindness, encouragement and good humor from my rabbis, teachers, colleagues, and co-congregants in this shul. After living in St Louis for five years I had never even heard of Boca Raton until I came here for my job interview 28 years ago. Incidentally, when I returned to St Louis after this interview and I told my colleagues about Boca Raton and mentioned to my professors that my only reservation about moving here was that Boca Raton did not feel like the real world. The response I received from my learned professors was: ?Who the?with an unmentionable expletive? wants to live in the real world? ? This is a question that I should have the asked the rabbis!
Botox Raton which was at first, was truly very foreign to me has become my home. All of you here tonight are truly part of my extended family, you are a strong and warm community of friends. For this, I am extremely grateful.
I would like to think that when Mr Gehrig said he considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth that he was actually saying more. He was reflecting with pride & joy on the richness of the life he had already lived to the fullest.
What would it have mattered to him at the time of his farewell address that he was gravely ill with an existential disease?
Did he have any reason to envy his colleagues or wax nostalgic about his lost sports prowess?
Did he have any reason to envy the young for their good health?
Did he have any reason to envy them for their possible futures?
I believe not. He had lived a fulfilling and rewarding life. And so have I.
Instead of possibilities I have had opportunities and these opportunities have become the realities of my past. These realities are not only of work done and of love loved but of the rich rewards that come with suffering. Although suffering is not to be envied, there has been opportunity for closeness with family, there has been opportunity for meaningful time and depth of conversation with friends and there has been opportunity for learning life?s valuable lessons through difficult times.
I want to end off with a quote from the Jewish sage Ms Gilda Radner, one of the original the comediennes on Saturday Nite Live , who in the terminal stages of her illness said the following , & I quote:
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I?ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don?t rhyme, and some stories don?t have a clear beginning, middle, or end. Life is about not knowing, life is about having to change, life is about taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what?s going to happen next.
Once again to all of you here, thank for your warm support.
August 17th 2009 Letter from Ashley
Jonathan
I am short on words ? thank you for sharing this pain and wisdom with us We are blessed This site has become one for this exact scratching of our souls ? digging to our depths, and sharing our experiences in a trusting environment Thank you ? thank you I hope we can speak and meet soon
Are you perhaps planning to go to RSNA?
The website is down so with your permission I want to post your story on the threads that we have established on facebook. Since a thread on FB only allows 20 participants ? would post it on the 3 threads that we have established
Can I get your permission to do this and to add your email address to the essay? When the web server returns I will add the great mugshot ? You have hardly changed ? and the pictures of your beautiful family
Would like to hear a little more of your radiology career
Warm regards fellow KDSser, GB traveller , and fellow radiologist Ashley
August 17 Jonathans reply
Ashley:
Thank you for your concern. It is much easier for me to speak to you than to write to you (561-994-2082)
I had to quit working April 2007 and apart from reading a couple online radiology articles, radiology for me is something I had a lot of fun with in the past but this is in the past. I certainly would not be going to the RSNA ever again.
You have my full permission to share my letter and its contents with our old KHDS colleagues. Feel free to submit my e-mail address as well. I personally do not have a facebook account at this point.
Looking forward to speaking with you in person. Jonathan
August 18th 2009 letter from Lindsay
Hi Jonathan:
I got your email address from Ashley Davidoff after a I read you Speech you had Ash put on the KDHS web site. I opened your link and saw that sweet smiling face as I remembered you from so long ago. My thoughts were Wow John looks fantastic. I had a lag when I read about NPR as each time in van pool I say to the others they have to start questioning National Palestinian Radio and how biased it is. I had no reason to know you are dealing with a severe disease and when I read your account of this I was not shocked nor scared nor sad just empathetic. Life has a way of dealing us all sorts of curve balls and some balls that mother nature throws at us are spit balls. John my boy you are in my thoughts and I am there as your bat boy if you need to chat.
I remember your Dad?s fabric store on President Street in Joburg. Tell me if I am correct. I remember buying the fabric for my Barmi suit at your dads store with my Uncle Sev who had a clothing factory just a few blocks away. That barmi suit was so dapper and smart and was made from ?suiwer nuwe wol? Our KDHS class has a few threads going on facebook and we are weaving our own fabric. This pure and new piece of fabric is held together by the sharing of our progression since matric. Some of us have endured mighty hardship and other not, but all of us have progressed and contributed.
I don?t know if you have read the other bios and stories but each is rich. Mine is a little like yours. My wife Karen is handicapped by her illness and I survived cancer. We have fought a long and hard battle but we are still standing. Each day when I go to work at Genentech, I know that some patient out there believes the medicine we will place in the vial for him or her will give them health and renewed strength. Each day I come home and have dinner with Karen is like the first dinner date she and I had so many years ago.
I was always much better in math and science than in English but these are my words to tell you I remember you as one kind and good guy who would never hurt anybody at any time. I hope we can chat so that we can catch up and we can share some good jokes.
Best wishes Lindsay
September 18th 2009 email from Sam Sharp
Ash? Before I spoke to you I called Jonathan Stein. We had exchanged a few emails and it is something I wanted to do. I spoke to his wife Patricia first and was immediately saddened by the gratitude she expressed to me for calling. I felt very emotional and it was difficult for me to progress the conversation with him as a result. But we did have a good talk. My aunt here has the same disease and I see its devastation from week to week. It is horrendous. Her husband, my uncle, died of it too twelve years ago. I think of Jonathan every day and wish we could do something for him.
October 12th 2009 Lindsay
I had a good long chat with Jonathan today. I had half an hour between meetings and we chatted very openly. He is recovering from flu so he was coughing quite a bit. He says he is feeling well enough to play bridge each day. As we chatted he suggested that I write three pieces for him. He will review and edit these three pieces and then we can post them for him under his bio. What he told me was stuff from our youth and he wants these recorded. I will gladly do this?
I had a good long chat with Jonathan today. I had half an hour between meetings and we chatted very openly. He is recovering from flu so he was coughing quite a bit. He says he is feeling well enough to play bridge each day. As we chatted he suggested that I write three pieces for him. He will review and edit these three pieces and then we can post them for him under his bio. What he told me was stuff from our youth and he wants these recorded. I will gladly do this.
I am not scared to write these pieces I just want to write them that do justice to his worth and value as a human being.
I am so mad with illness and pain and how it infects us all. Tonight I wish you were both here next to me
October 13th 2009 Lindsay
I tried to watch dancing with the stars but my eyes just keep tearing up when thinking about the awesome nature of Jonathan?s illness and that these stories of his youth have to be the living legacy for us and perhaps his family of a fine person whose sole purpose on this planet was to be good, and do good, Jonathan to me was and still is that smarter than average guy who was not tough in body but was able in mind and was always kind , caring and witty.
October 19th 2009 from Heather Miodownik Anael Harpaz
Hi Jonathan ? don?t know if you remember me ? Heather Miodownik??I went into the KDHS ?website? today ? have not been there for a while and read what you wrote about Jannie and Sandler??.I am so proud of you for sharing this. I hope it brings you some healing ?.I know for myself ..I spent days and days trying to decide how much of myself do I open up in front of all of you who were in my life when horrible things were happening to me??after long deliberation and encouagement from Ashley and Lindsey ?.I decided to share my authentic self??
I cannot begin to tell you how healing and liberating it is for me??.I hope and pray that this will give you some peace of mind and hopefully some peace in your body too?..I know that for me, forgiving those that hurt me so badly has also helped liberated me??I am into alternative healing methods and one of the modalities that really helped me to forgive my dad was something called ?The Journey ? also a method called EFT?..if you want more information ? please let me know ? I would be happy to help and support in anyway I can.
Sending much love and prayers for your wellbeing??.Heather (Anael)
Anael Harpaz
October 19 2009 Jonathan to Anael
Anael:
Thank you so much for your warm and kind letter. Of course I remember Heather Miodownik ? she was at least to me one very hot chick! I was always incredibly shy at school and I don?t think I ever had enough courage to even speak to you. I was going through some of my old pictures from the Ulpan ?67 and I came across the enclosed picture and I believe you are in the green shirt.
Although I wrote those 3 short pieces and asked Ashley to put them on the site, I never myself felt that I was threatened and I myself never felt that I needed to go through a healing process. These events truly did not affect in any way my sense of worth or have any effect on the development of my personal self. I was just giving tidbits of information to feed the site; there is very little ugliness with regard to KDHS for the most part from the folks feeding into the site. I just hope I am not going to be regarded as a spoilsport. On the other hand, and speaking only for myself, I have no desire now or ever to forgive Mr Gert Jansen or Mr Sandler for their abusive behavior. I say this because I, myself, feel no need to be liberated.
On the other hand, I have been truly impressed with what you, Anael, have added to the site. Your prose and your poetry has totally taken my breath away. Kol Ha?kavod lach for having written so eloquently about such horrific experiences. As far as the teacher who told you to go make mudpies ? she would roll over in her grave if she could read what you have written. You have done a great job in Israel and I am sure, for the most part that it is thankless. I, myself, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you appear to be devoting your life , that is for the peace of Israel. I think there is no more noble pursuit that anyone could attempt.
Am Yisroel Chai
October 19th 2009 Ashley to Anael and Jonathan
Hi Anael and Jonathan
Thank you for sharing this communication with me ?
I applaud and admire both of you for the honesty, bravery, tenacity , warmth, zest for life that you bring and am hoping I can share this communication with the group by putting it in on Jonathan?s site
These are such precious moments ? and being what I am ? hate to lose them in the dust of accumulated emails I want to catch them while the iron is hot and position them in the context of our story
Ashley
Jan 21 2011
Dear Michelle, Sam, Eric, and Lev:
What a wonderful surprise to get emails from you all earlier this week, all the emails reaching me within a 24-hour time period. It is always great hearing from my old buddies from KDHS. Thank you for your interest in me. You all ask how I a m doing, and since these emails all came at the same time I?m taking the liberty of replying to you all in one letter. What can I say? Life is like a game of cards. I?ve been dealt a very bad hand, and all that I can do is play out this hand as best as I can. Currently I am basically a paraplegic and am constantly on mechanical ventilation. I still can speak; my speech is difficult to understand, not that I cannot annunciate my words, but my shortness of breath makes hearing me difficult. I am lucky enough to have a computer with a camera attached to it with a firewire. The camera focuses on my eyes, and the software that I have allows my eyeball to take over the control of the mouse. With this I have full access to the internet, I can operate simple programs like Microsoft outlook and Microsoft word, Adobe Acrobat and my Kindle, so I can read whatever I want to. This software also allows me not only to type emails or word on a virtual keyboard, but it also projects what I type on a speaking virtual keyboard, if I want to be heard. I can incorporate any music that I have on my hard drive and play it through my large stereo system. I am pretty well occupied. I have 2-3 hours of intensive physical therapy with stretching. During this time I listen to my music. Since I have lost the ability to project my voice, I have become fascinated with Opera and also, believe it or not, I have started listening to some cantorial music. I hope that you don?t think that I am nuts, but I have undergone a 32-hour university course on ?How to Listen to Opera,? and I am having a ball.
I believe you might know from the KDHS ?69 website that I have developed great interest in bridge. Before I manifested with my disease in late 2006 I had not played bridge since my Wits days. When I quit working early 2007 I had a lot of free time on my hands, and I started playing bridge again. Fortunately in South Florida where I live there are many national and international bridge champions, and many of these folks play at my bridge club. I am not trying to brag, but I am well on the way to getting my master status in bridge! In fact over the last year I have only played with professionals, and they call me up to ask me to partner with them.
Michelle: You are correct. I have quit facebook. My kid, Gregory, was in the same Fraternatiy and class as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of fb, at Harvard. So I have all the inside scoop of fb. I quit Facebook, because it is too cumbersome for me to open the dozens of facebook messages, for which I have to login with name and password, I started getting when I joined. I am happy to communicate on regular email.
Eric: I haven?t seen you since 1969. I am sending you 2 pictures from the Ulpan in ?67, and this is how I remember you. I am sure you haven?t changed. Your mother was a pretty good bridge player, so I think you can appreciate my excitement about bridge.
Sam: Thank you for your lengthy letter, and thank you for sharing your recent experiences visiting Israel for the 1st time since we were there in ?67. I do however, respectfully, disagree with your assessment that things haven?t changed much. Fortunately, I have been to Israel several times since we were there. I have always been impressed there is massive new development of roads and infrastructure, and Israel?s economy is booming, despite their spending the major part of their GDP on Defense. Thank you for sending me your current picture of Pension Margoa. I am sending you my picture of Pension Margoa in ?67, and when you look at it, you would be hard pressed to say that things haven?t changed!
Jonathan Stein
?Time to get out of your skin and dance in your bones? Tom Waits
Typed with my eyes using a virtual keyboard
January 26th 2011
Eric
Sure you can share my bridge letter around although I doubt anyone on the thread gives a shit about it.
I have just realized that the pictures I sent were large files; I will reduce the size and send them back under separate cover. This may be the reason I have not heard back from Michele Leon and Sam Sharp
Jonathan Stein
May 10 2011
G & V
I sent off the enclosed to the Journal Community of the WSJ.
Time will tell if it gets published but you can see my posting if you go to
the opinion section of the WSJ and scroll to the bottom where you?ll find
the columnists and look for Noonen, hit her and you?ll see her recent
articles and then hit on the Pope article which is labeled ?make him a
saint?. When you get to the page you?ll see the tab for the article which
will be open and hit the tab labeled comments and you?ll find me.
With regard to Peggy Noonan?s column ?Make Pope John Paul II a Saint ? (Declarations 4/30/11) in which she concedes that there are those ?who will speak of mistakes and sins in his papacy, and they are right. But saints are first of all human, and their lives are always flawed? (but they are ) individuals of heroic virtue ?. Without spilling the beans about the flaws of the pontiff Ms. Noonan?s column is incomplete and therefore her argument for the support of sainthood for Pope John Paul II is invalid.
History will judge him that as head of the Catholic Church, he will be held accountable for the systemic sexual abuse, principally that of homosexual pedophilia, that was continuously enabled by clergy in his church under his watch. Men of the cloth in his church who were known to be sexual preditors by higher ups in his flock were repeatedly shunted from parish to parish to repeat their offences on new unsuspecting young boys and so these heinous crimes were continuously recycled. We are only aware of these cases of[FD1] [FD2] miscarriage of justice in these States United thanks to courageous men going public about how they were violated during their preadolescence and adolescence, to our free press and a system of redress that have been allowed by our founding fathers. One shudders to contemplate what could be occurring in the rest of the world where most members of the Roman Catholic Church live under repressive governments. Pope John Paul II, as captain of his ship for 26 years bares the ultimate responsibility not only for this miscarriage of justice but even worse for the sordid manner of protection of known sexual predators by his subordinates.
In considering Pope John Paul II for sainthood one should bear in mind that a great leader is only as strong as his weakest link. If he, as head of the Roman Catholic Church is not considered accountable for the atrocities committed by his flock that occurred during his tenure, then who is?
Jonathan S. Stein, MD. Boca Raton, Florida
May 20 2011 ? Lev
Jon sent me this email and I asked his permission to send it on. He said send it on. I know Phil will have a kniption and as for me I totally agree with Jon and that he typed the message with his eyes means he can see right through Obama
here is the message
Jonathan
You want my opinion of Obama?s speech today.
At risk of sounding like a right wing bigot by you and your groom I will tell you both that the speech was an embarrassment for anyone who not a halfwit.
He spent much time pontificating how wonderful the widespread Arab uprisings are for freedom and democracy without reference to the real issue which is that for the majority of these camel jockeys the idea of democracy is the freedom to choose Allah and his prophet Mohamet over their tyrannical leaders. He spent a lot of time specifically extolling the virtues of the Egyptian uprising without mentioning that the only thing that has changed concretely is the fact that Mubarak is no longer in power. The army is still in power as it has been during the days of Nasser and Sadat, ever since King Farouk was deposed. The sand monkeys in Egypt are not in any fashion better off now. Spending so much time on Egypt, Obama demonstrates naivete in the extreme by not even mentioning the Moslem BROTHER HOOD and the implications of this for his case for democracy and his profound statement that ?greatest resource of the Arabs are it?s people ? is absolute drivel in this context.
He ends off with Israel. What happened to the agreement during the Bush years 2004/2005 when discussion of more territorial concessions would not be considered by the US a prerequisite for restarting peace negotiations. This agreement was not between Bush and Israel but between the US and Israel. If Israel cannot trust the US over this agreement why should they trust Obama now?
Finally what Israeli, other than a few crazy black hatters would not give all of Judea and Samaria on the West Bank if they were sure of real, lasting secure peace? The latter is just a pipe dream when one looks at the record of the Arabs whose border for the Zionists is in fact the shoreline of the Mediteranian Sea.
Jonathan
Typed with my eyes using a virtual keyboard.
June 01 2011 Bob Dylan at 70
Lev
Not having received you?re usual Saturday blog reminder I mistakenly assumed that you had taken the long Memorial day weekend off from writing your blog. I have always loved the lyrics of Mr Zimmerman. As much as I like his lyrics I hate his whiney scrachty voice which to me is no voice at all, which has only gotten worse with time like badly stored wine ..way long past it?s prime?how?s that for a Dylanesqe lyric?
Lev:
I never realized that the pearls of wisdom had been passed onto you from that dreadful book in our KDHS curriculum viz.
Lady Magnus,
who by boring us to death,
by relating to us history profound
Proved to us all
that she was no lady at all
and that like three old ladies
locked in the lavatory,
she should never have been found.
(copyright yours truly )
Feel free to send this to Mr Zimmerman to add this to his repertoire
Jonathan
?Time to get out of your skin and dance in your bones? Tom Waits
August 25 2011
Ashley
I believe you have a cpu virus. You are sending out a hyperlink for cialus and Viagra.
Jonathan
?THE MASS OF MEN LEAD LIVES OF QUIET DESPERATION? HENRY DAVID THROREAU
September 18 2011
Folks:
Shana Tova U?Metuukah. I wish y?all a year of peace, prosperity, and good health, a year of living each moment, a year that brings fulfillment and joy.
As most of y?all are aware I won?t be able to go to shul this year. Nonetheless, I believe I am still allowed to dream about a sermon I would have liked to hear on this Rosh Ha?Shonnnah (or last year for that matter )
Jonathan
Am Yisroel Chai
First Day of Rosh Hashanah 2010
Sermon delivered by Rabbi Schlomo Lewis of Atlanta
I thought long and I thought hard on whether to deliver the sermon I am about to share. We all wish to bounce happily out of shul on the High Holidays, filled with warm fuzzies, ready to gobble up our brisket, our honey cakes and our kugel. We want to be shaken and stirred, but not too much. We want to be guilt-schlepped but not too much. We want to be provoked but not too much. We want to be transformed but not too much.
I get it, but as a rabbi I have a compelling obligation, a responsibility to articulate what is in my heart and what I passionately believe must be said and must be heard. And so, I am guided not by what is easy to say but by what is painful to express. I am guided not by the frivolous but by the serious. I am guided not by delicacy but by urgency. We are at war. We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as heartless as the Nazis but one wouldn?t know it from our behavior. During WWII we didn?t refer to storm troopers as freedom fighters. We didn?t call the Gestapo, militants. We didn?t see the attacks on our Merchant Marine as acts by rogue sailors. We did not justify the Nazis? rise to power as our fault. We did not grovel before the Nazis, thumping our hearts and confessing to abusing and mistreating and humiliating the German people. We did not apologize for Dresden , nor for The Battle of the Bulge, nor for El Alamein, nor for D-Day.
Evil? ultimate, irreconcilable, evil threatened us and Roosevelt and Churchill had moral clarity and an exquisite understanding of what was at stake. It was not just the Sudetenland, not just Tobruk, not just Vienna, not just Casablanca. It was the entire planet. Read history and be shocked at how frighteningly close Hitler came to creating a Pax Germana on every continent.
Not all Germans were Nazis; most were decent, most were revolted by the Third Reich, most were good citizens hoisting a beer, earning a living and tucking in their children at night. But, too many looked away, too many cried out in lame defense, ?I didn?t know?. Too many were silent. Guilt absolutely falls upon those who committed the atrocities, but responsibility and guilt falls upon those who did nothing as well. Fault was not just with the goose steppers but with those who pulled the curtains shut, said and did nothing.
In WWII we won because we got it. We understood who the enemy was and we knew that the end had to be unconditional and absolute. We did not stumble around worrying about offending the Nazis. We did not measure every word so as not to upset our foe. We built planes and tanks and battleships and went to war to win; to rid the world of malevolence.
We are at war, yet too many stubbornly and foolishly don?t put the pieces together and refuse to identify the evil doers. We are circumspect and disgracefully politically correct.
Let me mince no words in saying that from Fort Hood to Bali, from Times Square to London , from Madrid to Mumbai, from 9/11 to Gaza , the murderers, the Barbarians are radical Islamists.
To camouflage their identity is sedition. To excuse their deeds is contemptible. To mask their intentions is unconscionable.
A few years ago I visited Lithuania on a Jewish genealogical tour. It was a stunning journey and a very personal, spiritual pilgrimage. When we visited Kovno we davened Maariv at the only remaining shul in the city. Before the war there were thirty-seven shuls for 38,000 Jews. Now only one, a shrinking, gray congregation. We made minyon for the handful of aged worshippers in the Choral Synagogue, a once majestic jewel in Kovno.
After my return home I visited Cherry Hill for Shabbos. At the oneg an elderly family friend, Joe Magun, came over to me.
?Shalom,? he said. ?Your abba told me you just came back from Lithuania?.
?Yes,? I replied. ?It was quite a powerful experience?. ?Did you visit the Choral Synagogue in Kovno? The one with the big arch in the courtyard??
?Yes, I did. In fact, we helped them make minyon?. His eyes opened wide in joy at our shared memory. For a moment he gazed into the distance and then, he returned. ?Shalom, I grew up only a few feet away from the arch. The Choral Synagogue was where I davened as a child.?
He paused for a moment and once again was lost in the past. His smile faded. Pain filled his wrinkled face. ?I remember one Shabbos in 1938 when Vladimir Jabotinsky came to the shul?. (Jabotinsky was Menachim Begin?s mentor; he was a fiery orator, an unflinching Zionist radical, whose politics were to the far right.) Joe continued, ?When Jabotinsky came, he delivered the drash on Shabbos morning and I can still hear his words burning in my ears. He climbed up to the shtender, stared at us from the bima, glared at us with eyes full of fire and cried out, ?EHR KUMT. YIDN FARLAWST AYER SHTETL ? (He?s coming. Jews abandon your city).? ?We thought we were safe in Lithuania from the Nazis, from Hitler. We had lived there, thrived for a thousand years but Jabotinsky was right ? his warning prophetic. We got out but most did not.?
We are not in Lithuania . It is not the 1930s. There is no Luftwaffe overhead. No U-boats off the coast of long Island; no Panzer divisions on our borders. But make no mistake; we are under attack? our values, our tolerance, our freedom, our virtue, our land.
Now before some folks roll their eyes and glance at their watches let me state emphatically, unmistakably? I have no pathology of hate, nor am I a manic Paul Revere, galloping through the countryside. I am not a pessimist, nor prone to panic attacks. I am a lover of humanity, all humanity. Whether they worship in a synagogue, a church, a mosque, a temple or don?t worship at all. I have no bone of bigotry in my body, but what I do have is hatred for those who hate, intolerance for those who are intolerant, and a guiltless, unstoppable obsession to see evil eradicated.
Today the enemy is radical Islam but it must be said sadly and reluctantly that there are unwitting, co-conspirators who strengthen the hands of the evil doers. Let me state that the overwhelming number of Muslims are good Muslims, fine human beings who want nothing more than a Jeep Cherokee in their driveway, a flat screen TV on their wall and a good education for their children, but these good Muslims have an obligation to destiny, to decency that thus far for the most part they have avoided. The good Muslims must sponsor rallies in Times Square, in Trafalgar Square, in the UN Plaza, on the Champs Elysee, in Mecca condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the slaughter of the innocent. Thus far, they have not. The good Muslims must place ads in the NY Times. They must buy time on network TV, on cable stations, in the Jerusalem Post, in Le Monde, in Al Watan, on Al Jazeera condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the slaughter of the innocent; thus far, they have not. Their silence allows the vicious to tarnish Islam and define it.
Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.
I recall a conversation with my father shortly before he died that helped me understand how perilous and how broken is our world; that we are living on the narrow seam of civilization and moral oblivion. Knowing he had little time left he shared the following: ?Shal. I am ready to leave this earth. Sure I?d like to live a little longer, see a few more sunrises, but truthfully, I?ve had it. I?m done. Finished. I hope the Good Lord takes me soon because I am unable to live in this world knowing what it has become.?
This startling admission of moral exhaustion from a man who witnessed and lived through the Depression, the Holocaust, WWII, Communist triumphalism, McCarthyism, Strontium 90 and polio, yet his twilight observation was, ?The worst is yet to come?. And he wanted out.
I share my father?s angst and fear that too many do not see the authentic, existential threat we face nor confront the source of our peril. We must wake up and smell the hookah.
?Lighten up, Lewis. Take a chill pill, some of you are quietly thinking? you?re sounding like Glen Beck. It?s not that bad. It?s not that real.?
But I am here to tell you? It is. Ask the member of our shul whose sister was vaporized in the Twin Towers and identified finally by her charred teeth, if this is real or not. Ask the members of our shul who fled a bus in downtown Paris, fearing for their safety from a gang of Muslim thugs, if this is an exaggeration. Ask the member of our shul whose son tracks Arab terrorist infiltrators who target pizza parlors, nursery schools, Pesach seders, city buses and playgrounds, if this is dramatic, paranoid hyperbole.
Did anyone presume to know in the coffee houses of Berlin or in the opera halls of Vienna that genocide would soon become the celebrated culture?
Did anyone think that a goofy-looking painter named Shickelgruber would go from the beer halls of Munich and jail, to the Reichstag as Feuhrer in less than a decade? Did Jews pack their bags and leave Warsaw , Vilna, Athens, Paris, Bialystok, Minsk, knowing that soon their new address would be Treblinka, Sobibor, Dachau, and Auschwitz?
We cannot be hypnotized by eloquent-sounding rhetoric that soothes our heart but endangers our soul. We cannot be lulled into inaction for fear of offending the offenders. Radical Islam is the scourge and this must be cried out from every mountain top. From sea to shining sea, we must stand tall, prideful of our stunning decency and moral resilience. Immediately after 9/11 how many mosques were destroyed in America? None. After 9/11, how many Muslims were killed in America? None. After 9/11, how many anti-Muslim rallies were held in America? None. And yet, we apologize. We grovel. We beg forgiveness.
The mystifying litany of our foolishness continues. Should there be a shul in Hebron on the site where Baruch Goldstein gunned down twenty-seven Arabs at noonday prayers? Should there be a museum praising the U.S. Calvary on the site of Wounded Knee? Should there be a German cultural center in Auschwitz? Should a church be built in the Syrian town of Ma?arra where Crusaders slaughtered over 100,000 Muslims? Should there be a thirteen story mosque and Islamic Center only a few steps from Ground Zero?
Despite all the rhetoric, the essence of the matter can be distilled quite easily. The Muslim community has the absolute, constitutional right to build their building wherever they wish. I don?t buy the argument, ?When we can build a church or a synagogue in Mecca they can build a mosque here.? America is greater than Saudi Arabia, and New York is greater than Mecca. Democracy and freedom must prevail.
Can they build? Certainly. May they build? Certainly. But should they build at that site? No? but that decision must come from them, not from us. Sensitivity, compassion cannot be measured in feet or yards or in blocks. One either feels the pain of others and cares, or does not. If those behind this project are good, peace-loving, sincere, tolerant Muslims, as they claim, then they should know better, rip up the zoning permits and build elsewhere.
Let us understand that the radical Islamist assaults all over the globe are but skirmishes, fire fights, and vicious decoys. The collision between civilization and depravity is on the border between Lebanon and Israel. It is on the Gaza Coast and in the Judean Hills of the West Bank. It is on the sandy beaches of Tel Aviv and on the cobblestoned mall of Ben Yehuda Street . It is in the underground schools of Sderot and on the bullet-proofed inner-city buses. It is in every school yard, hospital, nursery, classroom, park, theater? in every place of innocence and purity.
Israel is the laboratory; the test market. Every death, every explosion, every grisly encounter is not a random, bloody orgy. It is a calculated, strategic probe into the heart, guts and soul of the West.
In the Six Day War, Israel was the proxy of Western values and strategy while the Arab alliance was the proxy of Eastern, Soviet values and strategy. Today too, it is a confrontation of proxies, but the stakes are greater than East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel in her struggle represents the civilized world, while Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Queda, Iran , Islamic Jihad, represent the world of psychopathic, loathesome evil.
As Israel, imperfect as she is, resists the onslaught, many in the Western World have lost their way displaying not admiration, not sympathy, not understanding, for Israel?s galling plight, but downright hostility and contempt. Without moral clarity, we are doomed because Israel?s galling plight ultimately will be ours. Hanna Arendt in her classic Origins of Totalitarianism accurately portrays the first target of tyranny as the Jew.
We are the trial balloon. The canary in the coal mine. If the Jew/Israel is permitted to bleed with nary a protest from ?good guys? then tyranny snickers and pushes forward with its agenda.
Moral confusion is a deadly weakness and it has reached epic proportions in the West; from the Oval Office to the UN, from the BBC to Reuters to MSNBC, from the New York Times to Le Monde, from university campuses to British teachers unions, from the International Red Cross to Amnesty International, from Goldstone to Elvis Costello, from the Presbyterian Church to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
There is a message sent and consequences when our president visits Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and not Israel .
There is a message sent and consequences when free speech on campus is only for those championing Palestinian rights.
There is a message sent and consequences when the media deliberately doctors and edits film clips to demonize Israel .
There is a message sent and consequences when the UN blasts Israel relentlessly, effectively ignoring Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, North Korea, China and other noxious states.
There is a message sent and consequences when liberal churches are motivated by Liberation Theology, not historical accuracy.
There is a message sent and consequences when murderers and terrorists are defended by the obscenely transparent ?one man?s terrorist is another man?s freedom fighter.?
John Milton warned, ?Hypocrisy is the only evil that walks invisible.?
A few days after the Gaza blockade incident in the spring, a congregant happened past my office, glanced in and asked in a friendly tone, ?Rabbi. How?re y? doing?? I looked up, sort of smiled and replied, ?I?ve had better days.? ?What?s the matter? Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?? he inquired.
?Thank you for the offer but I?m just bummed out today? and I showed him a newspaper article I was reading: ?Madrid gay pride parade bans Israeli group over Gaza Ship Raid.? I explained to my visitor, ?The Israeli gay pride contingent from Tel Aviv was not allowed to participate in the Spanish gay pride parade because the mayor of Tel Aviv did not apologize for the raid by the Israeli military.?
The only country in the entire Middle East where gay rights exist, is Israel . The only country in the entire Middle East where there is a gay pride parade, is Israel. The only country in the Middle East that has gay neighborhoods and gay bars, is Israel. Gays in the Gaza would be strung up, executed by Hamas if they came out and yet Israel is vilified and ostracized. Disinvited to the parade.
Looking for logic?
Looking for reason?
Looking for sanity?
How do we convince the world and many of our own, that this is not just anti-Semitism, that this is not just anti-Zionism but a full throttled attack by unholy, radical Islamists on everything that is morally precious to us? How do we convince the world and many of our own that conciliation is not an option, that compromise is not a choice? Everything we are. Everything we believe. Everything we treasure, is at risk.
The threat is so unbelievably clear and the enemy so unbelievably ruthless, how anyone in their right mind doesn?t get it is baffling. Let?s try an analogy. If someone contracted a life-threatening infection and we not only scolded them for using antibiotics, but insisted that the bacteria had a right to infect their body and that, perhaps, if we gave the invading infection an arm and a few toes, the bacteria would be satisfied and stop spreading.
Anyone buy that medical advice? Well, folks, that?s our approach to the radical Islamist bacteria. It is amoral, has no conscience and will spread unless it is eradicated. There is no negotiating. Appeasement is death.
I was no great fan of George Bush? didn?t vote for him. I disagreed with many of his policies, but one thing he had right. His moral clarity was flawless when it came to the War on Terror, the War on Radical Islamist Terror. There was no middle ground? either you were friend or foe. There was no place in Bush?s world for a Switzerland. He knew that this competition was not Toyota against G.M., not the iphone against the droid, not the Braves against the Phillies, but a deadly serious war, winner take all. Blink and you lose. Underestimate, and you get crushed.
I know that there are those sitting here today who have turned me off. But I also know that many turned off their rabbis seventy five years ago in Warsaw, Riga, Berlin, Amsterdam, Krakow, Vilna. I get no satisfaction from that knowledge; only a bitter sense that there is nothing new under the sun.
Enough rhetoric? how about a little ?show and tell?? A few weeks ago on the cover of Time magazine was a horrific picture with a horrific story. The photo was of an eighteen year old Afghan woman, Bibi Aisha, who fled her abusive husband and his abusive family. Days later the Taliban found her and dragged her to a mountain clearing where she was found guilty of violating Sharia Law. Her punishment was immediate. She was pinned to the ground by four men while her husband sliced off her ears, and then he cut off her nose.
That is the enemy (show enlarged copy of magazine cover.)
If nothing else stirs us. If nothing else convinces us, let Bibi Aisha?s mutilated face be the face of Islamic radicalism. Let her face shake up even the most complacent and naïve among us. In the holy crusade against this ultimate evil, pictures of Bibi Aisha?s disfigurement should be displayed on billboards, along every highway from Route 66 to the Autobahn, to the Transarabian Highway. Her picture should be posted on every lobby wall from Tokyo to Stockholm to Rio. On every network, at every commercial break, Bibi Aisha?s face should appear with the caption, ?Radical Islamic savages did this.? And underneath ?This ad was approved by Hamas, by Hezbollah, by Taliban, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, by Islamic Jihad, by Fatah al Islam, by Magar Nodal Hassan, by Richard Reid, by Ahmanijad, by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, by Osama bin Laden, by Edward Said, by The Muslim Brotherhood, by Al Qaida, by CAIR.?
We peer up into the heavens sending probes to distant galaxies. We peer down into quarks discovering particles that would astonish Einstein. We create computers that rival the mind, technologies that surpass science fiction. What we imagine, with astounding rapidity, becomes real. If we dream it, it does, indeed, come. And yet, we are at a critical point in the history of this planet that could send us back into the cave, to a culture that would make the Neanderthal blush with shame.
Our parents and grandparents saw the swastika and recoiled, understood the threat and destroyed the Nazis. We see the banner of Radical Islam and can do no less. A rabbi was once asked by his students, ?Rebbi. Why are your sermons so stern?? Replied the rabbi, ?If a house is on fire and we chose not to wake up our children for fear of disturbing their sleep, would that be love? Kinderlach, ?di hoyz brent.? (children, the house is on fire) and I must arouse you from your slumber.?
During WWII and the Holocaust was it business as usual for priests, ministers, rabbis? Did they deliver benign homilies and lovely sermons as Europe fell, as the Pacific fell, as North Africa fell, as the Mideast and South America tottered, as England bled? Did they ignore the demonic juggernaut and the foul breath of evil? They did not. There was clarity, courage, vision, determination, sacrifice, and we were victorious. Today it must be our finest hour as well. We dare not retreat into the banality of our routines, glance at headlines and presume that the good guys will prevail.
Democracies don?t always win.
Tyrannies don?t always lose.
My friends? the world is on fire and we must awake from our slumber. ?ER KUMT.?
Letter from Elliot Wolf September 2011
Dearest Jonathan,
I was thrilled to hear from you and am so much in awe of your amazing ability to cope with your horrific difficulties. You are an amazing man and I feel privileged to know you and to number you among my former students.
Thank you for taking the trouble to write to me and for giving us the opportunity to reconnect after so many years. I am not surprised that you are a bridge champion ? after all I seem to remember that one of the Steins was a Maths Olympiad winner , and I believe there is strong correlation between logical Mathematical thinking and the game of bridge. I am also amused that you still remember some Latin. Pliny?s Ex Africa semper aliquid novi and Carpe diem were such wonderful, endearing touches for an old Latin teacher! Thank you, too, for sending me the text Of Rabbi Lewis?s 2010 sermon ? a truly inspiring message and one that so accurately sums up my feelings about the present state of world affairs. I also loved your joke at the end of the sermon.
Keep up your indomitable and amazing spirit ? you are an inspiration and I am blessed to know you and to be associated with someone of your special calibre.
Well over the fast
Fondest regards.
Elliot Wolf
September /October 2011 Jonathans reply
Elliot
Thank you for those accolades and I don?t deserve them although I will treasure them coming from a man who served in what I believe in the noblest profession of them all i.e. teaching & then reached the pinnacle of that in your populous city at a relatively young age. Please send her my best & you can tell her I still remember can quote Cicero?s discourse on friendship (in English).
Sadly, I know the rabbi is correct. I have always believed we have among us Jews who are self-hating and are pro-Palestinian. In all protests on university campuses & in city squares, there always are a number of Jews standing with the Palestinian protester. To my knowledge there is never been a single Palestinian or Moslem standing prominently on the pro-Israeli side. To me it is incomprehensible how the West fails to see the big picture when for some people it is so obvious. America has always used Israel as the canary in a mine & I believe Obama has already shown his clear intent to be the 1st US president to actively assist in snuffing out this canary. The ex competing with Obama for the position of the worst president in US history is Carter and we know happened to him when ran for his 2nd term. Rose Cohen taught me a long time ago that history has a habit of repeating itself.
Gemar Chatimah Tovah!
Jonathan Stein
Carpe Diem !
Typed with my eyes using virtual keyboard
October 6th 2011
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 5:34 PM
To: ?Elliot Wolf?
Subject: RE: Reconnecting, at last!
Elliot:
It?s wonderful to here from after a period of close to 43 years! ?Semper aliquid novi Africam adferre?(Pliny). I thank for saying all those good things about me: I don?t deserve it! I remember you very fondly for your warmth. Although I was unaware at time that you were on track to succeed that S.O.B. whom you followed as head master, I certainly was not surprised when I heard later. You were like a breath of fresh air following the ugliness & pettiness of that small man mentality. I apologize for speaking badly about the departed who unable to defend themselves particularly as we approach the day of Judgement 2 days from now but so it be. I find it amazing that you refer to the only 2 other teachers (besides you) I remember for their wonderful teaching skills & how I looked forwards to their classes. You have heard about my horrid illness from Naomi & the KDHS ?69 web site What can I say? Life is like a game of cards. I?ve been dealt a very bad hand, and all that I can do is play out this hand as best as I can. Currently I am mute,, quadriplegic & on a ventilator. I am lucky enough to have a computer with a camera attached to it with a fire wire. The camera focuses on my eyes, and the software that I have allows my eyeball to take over the control of the mouse. With this I have full access to the internet, I can operate simple programs like Microsoft outlook and Microsoft word, Adobe Acrobat and my Kindle, so I can read whatever I want to. This software also allows me not only to type emails or word on a virtual keyboard, but it also projects what I type on a speaking virtual keyboard, if I want to be heard. I can incorporate any music that I have on my hard drive and play it through my large stereo system. I am pretty well occupied. I have 2-3 hours of intensive physical therapy with stretching. During this time I listen to my music. Since I have become mute I have become fascinated with Opera and also, believe it or not, I have started listening to some cantorial music. I hope that you don?t think that I am nuts, but I have undergone a 32-hour university course on ?How to Listen to Opera,? and I am having a ball. I believe you might know from the KDHS ?69 website that I have developed great interest in bridge. Before I manifested with my disease in late 2006 I had not played bridge since my Wits days. When I quit working early 2007 I had a lot of free time on my hands, and I started playing bridge again. Fortunately in South Florida where I live there are many national and international bridge champions, and many of these folks play at my bridge club. I am not trying to brag, but I have reached master status in bridge. In fact over the last year I have only played with professionals, and they call me up to ask me to partner with them.
Elliot: Thank for your new year wishes. I am enclosing my email which sent off to my buddies a fortnight ago:
Shana Tova U?Metuukah
November 06 2011
Folks:
I am taking the liberty of telling you that Gregory & Andrea (Buenos Aries)
gave me a new lease on life this weekend by their announcing their
engagement yesterday. I enclose a recent picture of this happy couple .
Since it?s not often that I send out emails to you all like this I am
enclosing a picture of Patricia & me taken in Phuket, Thailand(within a week
of my quitting work -May 2007) & how I want to be remembered.
For you bridge players out there here?s your chance to play with world class
bridge champions & pro?s for a worthwhile cause
Jonathan Stein
Carpe Diem !
Typed with my eyes using virtual keyboard
Greg and Andrea |
|
I am taking the liberty of telling you that Gregory & Andrea (Buenos Aries) gave me a new lease on life this weekend by their announcing their engagement yesterday. I enclose a recent picture of this happy couple . Courtesy Jonathan Stein 115231p.8 |
|
?How I Want to be Remembered? |
|
Since it?s not often that I send out emails to you all like this I am enclosing a picture of Patricia & me taken in Phuket, Thailand(within a week of my quitting work -May 2007) & how I want to be remembered. Courtesy Jonathan Stein 115230p.8 |
February 5th 2012 Letter to Stuart (Daniels?) referring to Communications wwith Elliot Wolf
It was good hearing your voice today. I congratulate you on sending your kids to my alma mater. Since you were told about my correspondence with my ex headmaster I am taking the liberty of sending this you this. Incidentally for those folks not educated in the Classics Pliney?Jr?s quote:
Out of Africa you always get something new, ( Implying something different).
Jonathan Stein
Carpe Diem ! Typed with my eyes* using a virtual keyboard.
April 2012 Letter to Jill regarding an op ed article ?Peace without Partners? by Ami Ayalon Orni Petruschka and Gilead Sher Published April 23 2012
Jill
I hope you don?t think I am a crazy right wing fascist dude but I did read Yoram?s son?s op-ed in the NY Times this week and I think he is profoundly naïve (& if you want to forward this to him I would be interested in his response. )
a. The pre 6 Day War borders were not ? borders ?; they were the UN armistice lines of 1947 & never even accepted by the Arabs. These lines are indefensible & would only work if there would be bona fide peace.
b. The West Bank Arabs led by the Nobel peace prize winner Arafat rejected the Rabin offer to give back 97% of the territory under dispute with rest left for negotiation in 2000 & the Israelis were rewarded with the onset of the Intifadas.
c. I cannot believe the majority of Israelis want a worse upheaval than that of the relocation of only 50,000 crazy Jews who had no reason to live in Gaza in the 1st place. If the Arabs were serious about bona fide peace they would accept the crazy Jews living on the West Bank & even in East Jerusalem in the same way as Israel allows over 1 million Arabs to behind the old armistice lines. There is no prohibion in the Quran against the Infidel living in the midst of the Muslims.
d. There will never be bona fide peace as long as the Palestinian leadership is bent on annihilation of Israel &they change their whole educational system of the promotion of the most vicious anti Semitism.
e. the Muslims have never practiced Democracy & the religion demands the practice of Sharia law & the placement of ALLAH & his prophet above all else is in fact incompatible with democracy.
Joanthan
Am Yisroel Chai
Typed with my eyes* using a virtual keyboard.
June 08 2012 from Lindsay
Jonathan
Happy birthday ou maat. As a gift I am sending you the article we hope to get published in the WSJ. This guy Paul Driessen rewrote the article. Driessen could be my twin. A Jewish guy in DC who takes on the ganovim on the left. With Caesar Rodney in Dealware and Driessen in DC this story is going to make headlines. Enjoy the article as it now stands but keep this under your yamulkas as it is yet to publish Lindsay Leveen
June 08 12 from Jonathan
Kick ass good, as they say in the Classics. Carpe Diem ! Typed with my eyes* using a virtual keyboard.
August 17 2012
Sent: Fri, Aug 17, 2012 4:39 am
Folks
Florida is just dandy. My son, Gregory, gets married on Sunday.
Jonathan Stein
?THE MASS OF MEN LEAD LIVES OF QUIET DESPERATION? HENRY DAVID THROREAU
Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives. (A. Sachs)
August 19th 2011 from Dorothy
Dear Jonathan,
Lots of Mazal Tov! The wedding of a son I think is more thrilling than one?s own!
And just to let you know this message of yours came for me at punkt the right time- giving me much needed encouragement for a change I decided to make to restore some of my ?joie de vivre?
September 20th 2011 from Eric
Dear Chavers of the Class of 69
We heard today that our dear classmate Jonathan Stein sadly passed away in Boca Raton last evening after a long illness bravely borne. He suffered from motor neuron disease for a number of years. The funeral will be on Sunday. Wishing deepest sympathies and condolences to his twin sister Naomi Stein Slivka and all their families. Naomi?s email is knowme@idirect.ca.
MHDSRIP
Eric Stillerman