How many of us can remember a heartwarming story that was read or hard during the past several weeks?
Well, here’s one: (Thank you to Barry Elkins for bringing it to our attention)
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — In January of 1943, Irma Lauscher, a teacher at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, smuggled a tree into the camp so that the Jewish children imprisoned by the Nazis could celebrate Tu B’Shevat in a secret ceremony. The children used their water rations to nurture the sapling.

Of the 15,000 children who were imprisoned in Theresienstadt during the Holocaust, fewer than 200 survived. But the tree was still standing when the camp was liberated in 1945, and a sign was placed at its base marking it as a symbol of resilience.

“As the branches of this tree, so the branches of our people!” said the sign under the tree, which survivors named “The Tree of Life.” Lauscher, who survived the Holocaust, eventually was buried alongside the original tree.

In the 1980s, branch saplings were cut from the tree and planted in Jerusalem, as well as in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia to accompany a traveling exhibit of treasures nearly lost in the Holocaust.

Now, New York City — home to the largest community of Holocaust survivors and their descendants of any city outside Israel — will also nurture a descendant of the original tree. Dr. Roger Pomerantz, a Jewish philanthropist who owns a farm in Pennsylvania that holds seven trees grown from cuttings of the original tree, has donated one to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City.

“The Children’s Tree,” as it will be known, will be unveiled to the public today during a dedication ceremony held jointly by the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Battery Park City Authority. Currently 15 feet tall, the silver maple tree will have a permanent home in the park.

“We want everybody in Battery Park City to be able to walk by and see a piece of history,” Jack Kliger, the president and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, told the New York Jewish Week. “To not only remember but to understand what resilience means in the face of tremendous odds.”

Calling the project “a labor of love,” Kliger said transporting the tree involved hiring a horticulturist to uproot the tree from Pennsylvania and working with Battery Park City Authority to find the right space for the tree.

As at Theresienstadt, the tree will be cared for by children — in this case, students at PS/IS 276: The Battery Park City School, a public elementary and middle school located just across the street from the museum. In collaboration with the museum, the school will make the tree part of an ongoing curriculum in Holocaust education.

“They were planting a tree that would live in a world that they would not live in, as sort of a physical expression of belief in the future and a form of spiritual resistance,” said Michael Berenbaum, a Holocaust historian who was instrumental in the transplant of the tree to New York, of the imprisoned children who cared for the original Tree of Life.

“Now their legacy can continue,” he added.

“Resilience is represented by both humans as well as trees,” Kliger said, comparing their abilities to survive as well as endure such a long, roundabout journey to New York.

Speakers at the ceremony will include Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. representative to the United Nations; Theresienstadt survivor Fred Terna; Czech Consul General Arnošt Kareš; and Battery Park City Authority President and CEO B.J. Jones. The student choir at PS/IS 276 will also perform.

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Author: Julia Gergely

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Saturday April 8, 8pm

PEOPLES’ VOICE CAFE
at Community Church
40 E 35th (near Park), NYC

contribution $20, subscribers $12, no one turned away

peoplesvoicecafe.org
raykorona.com

Featuring

The Band
Ivice, Barry Kornhauser, Ellen Davidson & Gina Tlamsa
augmented by Laura Liben & Chris Owens

Guest Artists
Steve Brant, Joel Cohen, Suzanne Cohen, Lydia Adams Davis,
Lisa Garrison, Emma Graves, Sharleen Leahey, Adele Rolider,
Ben Silver, Steve Suffet & Lindsey Wilson

More information, plus photos, coming soon!

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Jim Barry, Media Spokesperson Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Greg Topel, CEO Tanvas

Francesca Dubsky, Marketing Director HairMax

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From 1967 to 1973, Davis was the president of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975 through 2000 until founding J Records. From 2002 until April 2008, Davis was the chairman and CEO of the RCA Music Group (which included RCA Records, J Records and Arista Records), chairman and CEO of J Records, and chairman and CEO of BMG North America. Currently Davis is the chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment.[3] He currently plays a part in the careers of TLC, Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, Christina Aguilera, Carlos Santana, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis and Jennifer Hudson. Davis is also credited with bringing Whitney Houston to prominence.

for more info, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Davis

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Recent Study Shows One In Four American Workers Will Suffer An Income-interrupting Disability and Won’t Be Prepared For it

Council for Disability Awareness Launches Educational Campaign

Targeting Working Americans

Radio Interviews with President of the Council for Disability

Awareness Barry Lundquist

More than one in four of today’s entrants to America’s workforce will suffer an income-interrupting disability at some point during their working careers. But a recent Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) study shows that despite the potentially catastrophic financial impact, most Americans, and even their financial advisors, significantly underestimate their odds of becoming disabled. Worse yet, about two-thirds of the workforce is not covered by private long term disability insurance.

In an effort to engage Americans about the critical importance of protecting their ability to earn an income, the CDA has launched the Defend Your Income movement. This educational program seeks to unite consumers, advisors, employers and insurers in the fight to protect the incomes of working Americans from the financial risks of serious illness or injury.

In interviews on November 13th, Barry Lundquist will give tips on the risks and consequences of experiencing an income limiting sickness or accident, and how to protect your most valuable financial resource – your income.

Barry Lundquist’s professional background includes over 30 years of insurance industry success in underwriting, sales, sales leadership, senior executive management and consulting roles for employee benefits and individual disability products and sales channels at Paul Revere, Provident and Unum. In 2000, Barry founded Eastport Marketing Group, a consulting and marketing services company that helps insurance companies and distributors improve results. Since May of 2009, Barry has served as President of the Council for Disability awareness, based in Portland, Maine.

This interview is provided by The Council for Disability Awareness

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