w w w . j t n e w s . n e t
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november 2, 2012
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17 heshvan 5773
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volume 88, no. 23
JEWISH WaSHIngton
v f
J
T
news
a jewish policeman page 9tzedakah time! center section
Life after the Gulag
The catalyst of the Soviet Jewry movement talks about life after prison
On page 7
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israel: to your health
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friday, November 2, 2012
ExpEt SpEakES
AJC Seattle First Annual Advocacy In ActionCommunity Reception & Campaign Event
Promoting Solutions For Energy SecurityInsight. Action. Impact.
David Harris
AJC Executive Director
Michael Granoff
Head of Oil IndependencePolicies for Better Place
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Seattle Art Museum 6:00pm - 8:30pmWine & Hors d’oeuvres Reception and Panel Discussion
EEnt Chai
Adam Goldblatt
hna CittEE
Mark Bloome Allen & Carol Gown Herb Bridge & Edie HilliardRon Leibsohn Doug & Deborah RosenJoe & Judy Schocken Don & Goldie SilvermanEvent Fee: $36 per personDonation at event of $180 to 2012 campaignPrivate Pre-Reception for 2012 Marshall Society ($1250) donors
Sp by november 29
Seattle
seattle@ajc.org206.622.6315
RSVP
Denis Stevens
Consul General ofCanada in Seattle
RSVPby November 29atwww.ajcseattle.org
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110 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022 • 212.931.0127 • info@TheCharlesBronfmanPrize.com
The Charles Bronfman Prize
celebrates the vision and endeavoro an individual or team under fty years o age whose humanitarianwork, combined with their Jewish values, has signifcantly improved theworld. Its goal is to recognize dynamic humanitarians whose innovation,leadership, and impact provide inspiration or the next generations.
An internationally recognized panel o Judgesselects the Prize recipient(s) and bestows anaward o $100,000. For inormation about thenomination process, to download nominationguidelines and orms, and to read about priorrecipients, please visit
www.TheCharlesBronfmanPrize.
com
p r o v i d i n g i n s p i r a t i o n t o t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n s
J E W I S H V A L U E S . G L O B A L I M P A C T .
www.facebook.com/TheCharlesBronfmanPrize
The public call for nominations from around the worldis open
November 1, 2012 to January 15, 2013
.
accepting
nominations
Ttn czpn bf t tt
Janis siegel
JtNw Columni
he latest researchapproach o an Israeli doctorand his team in the treat-ment o schizophrenia mightsimply be summed up as “theearlier, the better.”reating schizophrenia inyoung people beore they havetheir rst episode is a contro- versial method, but duringthe last decade, ongoing stud-ies by Dr. Uriel Heresco-Levy show that an intervention tar-geted to glutamates, one o two major neurotransmitters in the brain,won’t prevent the occurrence o the disease,but may improve a patient’s outcome overa lietime. Neurotransmitters allow braincells to communicate with each other.Heresco-Levy is the director o theSchizophrenia Research Program andthe Department o Psychiatry at HerzogMemorial Hospital, an asso-ciate proessor at HadassahMedical School, and a leader inthis prevention work. He waspart o a 2012 study on thisresearch recently published inSchizophrenia Bulletin.“One aspect o thisincreased emphasis is to high-light the potential damage asso-ciated with delays in treatmento early phases o psychotic ill-ness,” wrote Heresco-Levy.“Recent data indicate that theduration o untreated psychosis in schizo-phrenia’s rst episodes consistently predictsoutcome independently o other variables.”Tere is a growing body o evidence sug-gesting that changes in the neurotransmit-ter system, possibly caused by deects in theearly development o the neurotransmitterprocesses, may be a root cause or the onseto this disease. Te glutamate system, whichmay be altered in schizophrenia, could beunctioning below optimum levels.Tis type o neurotransmitter therapy is not the only approach researchers aretaking in the quest to manage this disease,or which there is no cure. Drug therapies,however, have several negative side eects.“Teir use implies patient exposure toa variety o side eects, including motor,Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms, andmetabolic side eects, e.g. obesity, bloodsugar level elevation that characterize sec-ond-generation antipsychotic drugs,” saidHeresco-Levy.“During the last decade, our group hascontributed extensively to the develop-ment and establishment o a novel class o medications to be used in psychotic dis-orders such as schizophrenia, and in ill-nesses such as autism, Post-raumaticStress Disorder, and Parkinson’s disease,”he added.Tese medications typically containglycine, D-serine, and sarcosine, naturalamino acids present in the human body that “have the advantage o being prac-tically devoid o signicant side eects,”Heresco-Levy said. “By now, studies per-ormed by our and other research groupshave demonstrated that these compoundshave the capacity to signicantly alleviatenegative symptoms and cognitive decitsin schizophrenia subjects.”Scientists in the eld believe that sev-eral genes may contribute to the risk o developing the disease. Additionally, they suspect that those with schizophreniahave a greater occurrence o rare geneticmutations and that these mutations, withhundreds o dierent genes, may “disrupt”brain development.At an early age, typically between 16and 30, according to the National Instituteo Mental Health, an individual at risk orschizophrenia will maniest his or her rstully blown episode o the disease. Schizo-phrenia is a broad term or a disease thatincludes many kinds o symptoms such aspsychotic hallucinations and delusions, ormore subtle ones, such as impairments tocognition, learning, socializing, apathy, anda general “blunted aect,” which can alsoimpact attention and memory.Schizophrenia oen limits the lielongpotential o those who suer rom it andit can change the trajectory o their lives,stunting the success o one’s educationand preventing successul and ongoingemployment.Although schizophrenia maniests itsel in only 1 percent o population in general,
ISraEl:
To Your Health
friday, november 2, 2012 .
www.jtnews.net
.
jtnws
opinion
“This was the kind of book that was ‘parve.’ You could learn your science and still appreciate being a Jew.”— Stroum lecturer Professor David Ruderman, on the best-selling book “Sefer HaBrit.” See the story on page 6.
tHE rabbI’S turn
awknn dmnt
Rabbi Chaim levine
hop for hroim
What is it about hero-ism that moves us so much?Why is it that when we wit-ness human beings puttingtheir lives on the line to helpanother we eel so inspiredthat we tell their stories longaer they are gone? We writebooks about them, and memo-rialize them in lm. Why?Tere is no way seless-ness, heroism, and sacriicecould bring us to tears i it wasn’t connectedto something at the very core o who each o us is and why we are on this earth. When wesee another person going beyond himsel, itawakens our own dormant hero. Tat partwithin us rejoices in the purity o giving toanother without any thought o personalgain or recognition.I am blessed beyond what I can expresswith being surrounded by those peoplein the Jewish nation who were in circum-stances where, without exaggeration, thiskind o pure heroic giving took place every day. I’m talking o course about the injuredhayalim — soldiers — I have met throughmy involvement in Hope or Heroism. Irealized recently, however, that there arethose among the Jewish people whose hero-ism and selessness is no less great than ourinjured soldiers, albeit largely unrecognized.In 2006 Captain Roi Klein was involvedin one o the most brutal battles in thesecond Lebanon war against Hezbollahterrorists. Roi and his soldiers were caughtin a terrible ambush in the village o Bing-bel. Space in this article does not allow meto go into detail o the battle, but o thedozens o grenades thrown by the terror-ists at Roi and his soldiers, one suddenly landed right in the midst o them. Imagineor just a second that you were there. Inthat terrible moment, what happens next?Without hesitation Roi did what he elthe must do to take care o hissoldiers. He leapt on the gre-nade in an attempt to protecttheir lives.wo o the soldiers whowere near him at that momenttold me that as Roi landedon the grenade, he said the“Shema Yisrael” prayer, withthe ervor and passion “they write about in the books o the Prophets.” Roi remainedalive or a ew seconds aer the blast. Heinstructed his soldiers to radio what hadhappened to their commanders and thenpassed rom this earth, leaving behind hiswie and two children.In Israel, ater Roi was buried, hischevruta (orah study partner) began towrite down all o the orah insights Roihad come up with while they were study-ing. He published them under the name“With All o Your Heart,” a line rom theShema prayer Roi recited beore he died. Ioen study this small book o writings onShabbat; it’s incredible.Aside rom all o Roi’s soldiers, thereare other heroes in this story, but I wantto ocus specically on his wie and hismother. Are they, and all the wives andmothers o these soldiers, not heroic andseless in ways we could never under-stand? Tey are giving their children andhusbands to Am Yisrael so the rest o usmay be sae. I don’t think I could possi-bly put into writing the level o daily sacri-ce they make or the rest o us. Te wivesand mothers o our injured soldiers are thesilent heroes o the Jewish nation. Teirlevel o giving can only be described as atthe level o “what they write about in thebooks o the Prophets.” Tey are the livingJewish heroes o today, and when Jewishhistory is written, their chapter will shineas brightly as any.
W w pd df m qt
Joel magalniCk
edior, JtNw
I can remember the moment mar-riage equality became important to me.More than eight years ago I sat down witha member o our local clergy, David Ser-kin-Poole, a man who with his partnerMichael had adopted and raised threechildren with special needs. Why, I won-dered, was I allowed to marry the woman Iloved? I hadn’t done anything particularly special or important by the time I walkeddown the aisle, and I took that right orgranted. Yet here was someone who hasdone this much good — and continues todo good things or his congregation andhis community — and he doesn’t get thesame right to marry the man he loves?Since then, this newspaper hasexpressed support or marriage equality.With a measure on our ballots to upholdsame-sex marriage in Washington State, Iask today that you do the same and vote toapprove Re. 74.While I don’t mean to put the Serkin-Pooles on a pedestal — aer all, they dealwith the same ups and downs and mun-danities o lie as any other couple — itwas the opportunity to understand theirlives and the indignity o being deniedsomething as undamental as a marriagecerticate that made me understand how this amily was considered less than equalin the eyes o the law.As Jews, many o us have known whatit is like to be shut out o certain areas o society, whether it was in health clubs, col-leges, neighborhoods, or, as we rememberar too well, civilization as a whole. Many o us cite past discrimination as a reasonto prevent it urther today.When we wrote an editorial in 2009in support o Reerendum 71, which gavesame-sex couples “everything but mar-riage,” we said this:
It’s an issue of fairness. As Jews,whether it’s because we have experi-enced unequal rights so many timesin the past, or because we live in thebelief of loving thy neighbor as thy-self, it should be of utmost impor-tance to ensure that our neighbors,our coworkers, our fellow synagoguemembers have the same rights aseveryone else.
Tat holds true today. We said at thesame time that the issue then wasn’t aboutmarriage, but about those rights that mar-ried couples oen take or granted. Whathas become clear is that “everything butmarriage” is not enough. Tere are stilltimes when a couple during a crisis mustpull out a card proving a domestic part-nership. Tat partnership is recognizedhere, but not necessarily everywhere else.And is anyone renting a tux and book-ing a DJ aer heading down to Olympiato pick up a domestic partnership regis-tration card?Opponents o this measure say Re. 74redenes marriage. Tis law would rede-ne
who
can get married, but or those o you married already, I have one simplequestion: How does it redene your mar-riage?Tink about that. For two people wholove each other to be able to walk downthe aisle and stand in ront o a rabbi anddeclare to their community that they are joined in marriage both beore God andbeore the state is a very powerul thing.How can we justiy that such a rightshouldn’t be available to everyone?What’s interesting is how the marriageissue transcends party lines. Accordingto a poll released earlier this year by thePublic Religion Research Institute, ully 81 percent o Jews support same-sex mar-riage. aking a closer look, o the peoplewho identied as Democrat, 89 percentapproved o marriage equality. hat’smost, but not all. Fully hal o Jews whoconsider themselves Republican — 48percent, plus the margin o error — alsoapprove. Te study also noted the trend o support is heading in one direction: Up.We are well aware that not everyoneagrees or will agree on this issue. Tat’sokay. Passage o the reerendum doesn’tmean the conversation has to stop, and thelaw is explicit in stating that clergy whodo not wish to perorm such marriagescannot be obliged to do so.Many halachic Jews, those who livestrictly by the laws set orth by the orah,see the idea o two men or two womengetting married as a problem due to theprohibition o them lying together. Butmarriage is about ar more than consum-mation. We all know this — it’s aboutteamwork, it’s getting through the nightwhen a partner is sick, it’s watching Vtogether, it’s getting the kids to school ontime. It’s loving your neighbor as you loveyoursel.As a newspaper that serves our entireJewish community, we must welcome inas much o our community as we can,regardless o anyone’s place on the spec-trum o observance.Over the last couple decades, moreand more synagogues and Jewish agen-cies have become welcome homes to gay,lesbian and transgender Jews. A coalitiono 28 Jewish organizations across the stateare leading the charge to approve Re. 74because they too see the need to seek jus-tice or everyone who comes through theirdoors. We are proud to be a part o thatcoalition.So please vote to approve Re. 74. Youcan do it or Cantor Serkin-Poole. Or yourneighbor. Or your sister. All things beingequal, we all should be equal.that risk rises to 10 percent or those whohave a “rst-degree” relative with the dis-ease, such as a parent or sibling. A second-degree relative with the disease also hasan elevated risk; a person with an identi-cal twin has between a 40 and 65 percentchance o succumbing to schizophrenia.Using behavioral, neurophysiological,and unctional brain imaging approaches,Heresco-Levy said that his studies duringthe last 20 years clearly show there is“severe sensory dysunction in schizo-phrenia.”He believes that limiting the onset andthe severity o symptoms is, at this time, oneo the only ways doctors can aect the pro-gression o schizophrenia, but noted thatthis approach may set the stage or urthertreatment options or other conditions.“We recently perormed clinical trialsthat ound evidence that glutamatergicdrugs can help not only schizophrenia butalso depression, Post-raumatic StressDisorder, and Parkinson’s disease,” addedHeresco-Levy. “Yet these possible treat-ments are not established and certainly not in the health und basket. It is researchor the uture.”
Longtime JTNews correspondent and freelance journalist Janis Siegel has covered international health research for SELF magazine and campaigns for Fred HutchinsonCancer Research Center.
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