Member Spotlight

This section is meant to be a way for us to share our stories.  Stories help us learn about each other, and can help us build a stronger, more connected community. 

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

PAST SPOTLIGHTS

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

LAURI FLAXMAN, BETH JACOB PRESCHOOL TEACHER

Lauri Flaxman has received the prestigious Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education is awarded to Jewish educators who demonstrate exceptional achievement in Jewish education while making a significant impact on their students and the community. The award offers national recognition and a monetary award which is to be used for professional development.

A caring and devoted early childhood Jewish educator, Lauri Flaxman has spent the last eight years as a pre-kindergarten teacher at Beth Jacob Preschool in Redwood City. With more than 18 years of experience, Flaxman is known as a gentle and calming presence for her students and a supportive mentor to her fellow teachers. Flaxman has a unique ability to facilitate social interactions between children, and she is constantly adapting her curriculum to meet their emotional and developmental needs. Combining her early childhood skills with her training as a Speech and Language therapist, Flaxman also teaches a Facilitated Playskills Class for children who need additional assistance with social skills.

Preview the complete list of winners of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

About Grinspoon-Steinhardt

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation and Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, in partnership with JESNA, announce an annual Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards for Excellence in Jewish Education. Designed to recognize, honor, and support, outstanding classroom Jewish educators on the local level, these awards are presented to professionals in communities across North America in conjunction with their central agencies for Jewish education or federations.

PAST SPOTLIGHTS

Team CBJ - Hazon Ride

Gerry Sarnat

Our very own Rabbi Ezray!

Mitgang/Gottesman Family

Dick Harte

Poems By Yeshaya Ballon

George and Iby Heller

Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum

Apryl Stern

Recently these CBJ members - Greg Sterling, Robyn Stone, Yeshaya Ballon, Brian Greenberg, Bill Futornick and Kathy Picard, a friend of CBJ - rode in Hazon's 1st Annual California Bike Ride.

Read Yeshaya Ballon's four blog posts about the ride: Rain, Labels, Hazon CaRide, and Chalutzim.

Click here for more information about Hazon and future rides.

Gerry Sarnat

Gerry is a good friend of Beth Jacob. He and his wife Lela now spend most of their time in Redondo Beach caring for grandsons. He has written a book of poems entitled:

HOMELESS CHRONICLES from Abraham to Burning Man

Gerard (Gerry) Sarnat is the great-great grandson of Jacob Ben Isaac Gesundheit, the High Rabbi of Warsaw, and shtetl lowlifes, Nahum Z. and Yente Liebe Sarnatzky. He is a father of three, grandpa to two, and has been married forty-plus years.

A virginal poet at the tender age of sixty-four, during 2008 his work was published in over sixty journals and anthologies and was commended or won poetry competitions and prizes inside and outside the US. In 2009 Gerry began editing literary journals. In 2010 he was invited to teach at the university level and began readings, radio appearances (available as iTunes downloads) and workshops domestically and in Israel.

Gerry is Harvard and Stanford educated, a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has been a professor at Stanford Medical School, and CEO/chief medical officer for national healthcare companies. Gerry has set up and staffed clinics for the disenfranchised, serves on the international New Israel Fund board, and has chaired community organizations.

The book is available now shipping free at California Institute of Arts and Letters and will be available on Amazon.com April 20. Gerardsarnat.com will be up around the same time.

A review of HOMELESS CHRONICLES

Gerry Sarnat’s tough, witty, language-obsessed poems are both a post- holocaust reconstruction of his family’s history and a progression towards a declaration of his own intention. In his seventh decade, after a medical career that included doctoring the homeless, the poet declares: “I must give birth.” I admire the skill of the poetry—often as precise as a diagnosis—as well as his labor-like decision. The poems may be unsentimental but they are also, importantly, emotional.

- Phyllis Koestenbaum, Stanford, Doris Day and Kitschy Melodies among other poetry collections

More reviews of HOMELESS CHRONICLES

Gerard Sarnat's epic poems burst across the page with the glee usually reserved for shooting stars. This is a playful balls-out poet unafraid to temper bold statements with enough humor and compassion to make us nostalgic for his ecstatic profound view of life. He sings to us through the voice of a universal poet. Sarnat's written one hell of an exciting book!

- Suzanne Burns Misfits and Other Heroes among other poetry collections

The epic poem HOMELESS CHRONICLES from Abraham to Burning Man . . . is an interesting foray into language. I can hear my tongue trying to form the words he uses like a rattler throatily teasing me from the first page of the book. From the Judean Desert of his heritage to Burning Man's pagan artsy Black Rock Desert, this rattler charms you, scares you and tells you before it is coming, warning the imminent charge long before you get to the bloom of the poem's end and see it for yourself. . . . The thrust of the book is this: Who do we tend to and why must we? . . . This book is a woven traffic of patterns he follows, synchronizing and priming through the forest of mankind, exposing us for the monkeys we are, and sometimes praising us along the battering route he has taken for being humane and human after all.

- Jane Crown, publishing editor of Heavy Bear, host of Jane Crown's Poetry Radio

HOMELESS CHRONICLESfrom Abraham to Burning Man is a viscous kind of cerebral punk. Sarnat, new to poetry at the age of sixty-four, is no Beatle, not even a Rolling Stone. Akin more to a prolific Sid Vicious, the highly educated Sarnat has emerged from the medical world and “delivering care to the disenfranchised” with poems that span time and circumstance.

At his best Sarnat delivers a high-octane mix of history and imagery. In “Whimperbang: Yad Vashem Revisited,” Sarnat writes about touring Israel's official memorial to victims of the Holocaust. Opening with “Heine was right:/ when books burn, humans are destined to be next,” Sarnat's poem unfolds a series of visceral images. There are few if any songs of innocence between these pages, though lines like “I dreamt and redreamt a binary dream/ rooted in revenge and prayer for those up the smokestacks,” spin my head a bit and keep me tuned in to the final transition where Sarnat emerges into the present day with social commentary coming from his fellow tour companions: “The yeshiva bocker in side curls, skull cap, and black coat/ whose steps we've trailed these aching hours, / mutters something under his breath, what I take to mean, / “Enough. Let me out of here.”

From shape poems to poems that hint at spoken word to an epithalamium which takes place at Burning Man, there is nowhere Sarnat is not willing to go, and nothing he isn't willing to risk. And while this book is a bit X-rated, there are some nice easy PG poems in here as well, including a favorite called “Edward Hopper Foster Care,” about the revival of both plant and patient. By my reckoning of Sarnat's poetry, if this powerhouse doesn't knock you off your rocker, I'm not sure what ever would.

- Cameron Scott, Sugar Mule

Gerard Sarnat comes lately to poetry but arrives with deep roots. We're immediately immersed in Gerry's ingenious transformation into Chassid Gesundheit Sarnatzky and his universal immigrant story.

Sarnat's real journeys include a surprise encounter absolutely alone with the Dalai Lama in the Dharamsala airport transit room; range from New Mexico commune to namesake Sarnath to Myanmar, Machu Picchu and Burning Man with his kids; to bridging Eurasian sides of the Bosporus, gaps with homeless patients, and a husband and wife's weak smiles.

Gerry's crackling brilliant debut collection is richly layered, engaging and really alive, irreverent and amusing, very strong, immensely enjoyable. Whether bringing pizza lunch to his 94 and 97 year-old parents, holding a daughter's newborn, or honoring sacred plants; one senses ground well traveled-though he often takes the other fork. I'd like to know this man!

- Joan Logghe, University of New Mexico-Los Alamos Rice among other poetry collections

HOMELESS CHRONICLES from Abraham to Burning Man takes us on a journey from the sensual, innocent stages of growing up to an end reflection on whether “these jottings (will) see the light of day” . . .

Gerard Sarnat talks about his experience with the homeless as he wanders “the asphalt with a toolbox of hope.” He is at his best when concrete and earthy. He describes Big Bad Bill, a dumpster diver with “weeping ankles wrapped in weeping rags” as he searches for “fungoid muffins, rancid tuna” from the trash. In “Irregular People: M-W-F,” written in short three line stanzas, we encounter graphically who the poet sees on his rounds at a community clinic-“ a bizarro ex-con,” Mona Lisa who “sashays in/mustache trimmed, cig hung/ Them shemale hormones sure work great!” and “Billie Holiday's cocoa butter double/ demure in torn tight jeans and pink plastic sandals / doesn't even know I exist.”

Who are the homeless in this collection? They are the people of the street obviously but also the homeless are the WW11 refugees of his roots, the kids like himself who grew up coping with a multicultural world of the American melting pot. In the poem, “My Odyssey, My Iliad” we see the author far from home trying to return from the wars and the constant battles of his professional life as a modern day Odysseus. Here he becomes most lyrical and the cadence carries the narrative of the poem along with it. “Polishing off today's lineup of dopers and loners/ users and losers, screamers, moaners, schemers/ smashed shoulders and dreams.”

The Homeless Chronicles is an interesting, often lyrical response to the historical and personal passage of time, the man and the writer from Abraham to Burning Man.

- David Fraser, editor Ascent Aspirations

Our very own Rabbi Ezray!

This recent video and article, below, both highlight the success of Rabbi Ezray's bariatric surgery.  With this Member Spotlight, we commend the Rabbi on his strength and determination to be healthy, and are thankful that he has found a program to assist him in that goal. 

He is truly an inspiration to us all.

"Having this surgery is the very best thing I could have ever done for myself.” – Rabbi Ezray

SURGERY CAN BE EFFECTIVE TOOL IN FIGHT AGAINST WEIGHT

Written by Sara Wykes, Stanford Hospital & Clinics Office of Communications

Rabbi Nat Ezray’s decades of struggle with weight began early. He joined Weight Watchers in the fifth grade. In the 30 years to come, he would lose and gain weight several times over, each time gaining a bit more until his 5 foot 6 inch frame carried 280 pounds.

“I felt hostage to it,” Rabbi Ezray said, “and powerless in the face of it, even though I did diet after diet.”

He had tried to keep fit, jogging and playing racquetball. But his body was breaking down. He developed sleeping problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, acid reflux and diabetes–all issues very common in people who are seriously overweight. Still, while he would often lose the extra pounds, he would regain them.

"I felt powerless in the face of it, even though I did diet after diet." -Rabbi Ezray

In 2002, when he was just 42, he had a heart attack. His cardiologist told him, “You’re one of the brightest, most motivated people I’ve met, but I just don’t think you can lose this weight on your own.”

Rabbi Ezray fit a profile shared by many. His face-off with weight was years long and, in spite of his best efforts, the weight he lost always came back. In recent years, as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob, Ezray was managing a demanding schedule that wholly filled his days.

Still, Rabbi Ezray tried, even after doctors inserted stents in his heart to open up blocked arteries. For a second time, he tried a liquid diet. He continued to see a counselor to talk about the role of food in his emotional life. And, finally, he investigated a suggestion his cardiologist had made years earlier?to have his gastrointestinal system surgically altered.

A physician friend recommended Rabbi Ezray see John Morton, MD, MPH, director of bariatric surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. Bariatrics, from a Greek word meaning weight, refers to the study, prevention and treatment of obesity. Morton’s treatment and research focus also includes minimally invasive surgery and quality. His interest in weight and its health impacts dates back to high school, when he saw what many pounds of extra weight did to his best friend.

Not a Quick Fix

What Morton tells anyone interested in gastric surgery is that it is “no magic bullet…We can’t operate our way out of the obesity problem. It’s part and parcel of a lifestyle change. These surgeries are simply tools.” At Stanford, Morton said, “We don’t want to shoehorn anybody into a specific operation. You have to take into consideration the risks and benefits.”

Rabbi Ezray exercising. Every day, Rabbi Ezray devotes at least one hour to exercise.

 

Dr. John Morton, Director, Bariatric Surgery Program

John Morton, MD, MPH, became interested in the health effects of weight while still in high school.

 

Rabbi Ezray telling stories to children.

One of Rabbi Nat Ezray's favorite parts of his job is telling stories to the children of his congregation.

 

When prospective patients come to Stanford to discuss bariatric surgery, they face a set of hurdles designed to test their motivation and discipline. They must attend an information seminar to learn about the surgery and the most successful methods to reach and maintain their weight loss goals. They must be evaluated by a psychologist and a nutritionist. They are also required to lose 10 percent of their weight before surgery.

Stanford also follows the bariatric surgery guidelines established by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. That organization recommends surgery for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more and for people with a BMI of 35 who also have serious health issues related to their weight like Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

BMI is a way of comparing height to weight. Clinical guidelines set out a BMI of 25 to 29 as overweight. Anything over that is considered obesity. Someone who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 204 pounds (BMI 35) will be a candidate for surgery if those obesity-related health issues are present.

Weight is not the only measure. It also matters where it is. Abdominal fat has the most negative impact on overall health.

Rabbi Ezray was also concerned about the risks of surgery. “I did all the research,” he said. He learned that Stanford’s Bariatric Surgery program is the only one in Northern California recognized by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1A Center for Excellence. Morton has performed more than 1,000 bariatric surgeries, with no serious post-surgical complications. Those complications can often happen, Morton told Rabbi Ezray, “because patients haven’t been properly screened or prepared.”

"We can't operate our way out of the obesity problem.  It's part and parcel of a lifestyle change." -John Morton, MD, MPH, Director, Bariatric Surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Morton has also made it a priority to keep his clinical team together, to build the collective experience. “The more cases you do, the better you are,” he said. “We have also researched where problems can occur and created protocols to prevent those. For us, patient safety is first.”

Choices to Be Made

One of the most frequently performed bariatric surgeries, the gastric bypass, first appeared in the mid-1960s. Now surgeons, staple off all but a small portion of the stomach and connect that directly to the intestines. That reduces caloric absorption and reduces exposure to hormones physicians suspect influences appetite and blood sugar.

The bypass has shown to have the most immediate effect. Other approaches reduce the stomach’s size but do not involve the intestine, and are reversible. The weight loss associated with those surgeries is less.

About 70 percent of the bariatric surgeries at Stanford are the gastric bypass. After considering his options, Rabbi Ezray chose that one. Even before the surgery, however, he had examined what his prior stumbling blocks were and figured out how to address them. One thing he did, he said, was to approach food mindfully, “to sit down when I eat and really value it. I loved that the surgery would slow me down and I would appreciate taste and texture.”

He would also make his exercise time as high a priority as possible, “part of a true devotion to health being first on my list,” he said.

He was home about four days after the surgery and recovered quickly, he said. Also quickly, his high blood pressure and cholesterol levels dropped so he didn’t need to take as much medication. He no longer needs any diabetes medication. The positive impact on Type 2 diabetes of surgery-assisted weight loss was first documented in the 1990s.

A Life Renewed

Stanford has a comprehensive after care program. After surgery, patients are seen five times for check-ups in their first year, and then annually. The Bariatric Surgery program also organizes a support group for patients to see them through the changes in their lives.

Rabbi Ezray wants to lose a few more pounds, but otherwise, he could not be happier. The people who helped him at Stanford “were very kind and compassionate,” he said.

"I don't have to to hold onto the fear that I was going to die young.  I feel like I've been given a second chance."   -Rabbi Ezray

He is still not eating certain foods: no red meat or ice cream or alcohol, and almost no processed foods. He rises early several days a week to stretch and do 45 minutes on his elliptical exercise machine; frequently he adds weight training to develop his core muscles.

And now, as he talks with people in his congregation, they’ll often be walking with him. “I had a lot of energy before, but boy, do I have a lot of energy now!” Rabbi Ezray said. “I didn’t realize how much energy it took to fight the daily fight with food.”

His congregation gave him great support when he told them about his surgery, he said. “I didn’t realize how much anxiety people felt about my health.”

And he has realized something else. “I don’t have to hold on to the fear that I was going to die young,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been given a second chance.”

Click here to view original article

About Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer treatment, neurosciences, surgery, and organ transplants. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the U.S. News & World Report annual list of "America's Best Hospitals," Stanford Hospital & Clinics is internationally recognized for translating medical breakthroughs into the care of patients. It is part of the Stanford University Medical Center, along with the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, visit http://stanfordmedicine.org.

SOURCE: Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Mitgang/Gottesman Family

Beth Jacob members go on a sailing adventure!  Barb Gottesman, Michael Mitgang, and their children, Danielle (6th grade) and Harrison (4th grade) decided to follow their dream of sailing the world together. 

Click here to go to their blog and follow their year-long journey

Dick Harte

Shabbat Service on Saturday, August 1, CBJ member Dick Harte gave a insightful and thought-provoking midrash.

DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES - WHAT TORAH TEACHES US

Poems By Yeshaya Ballon

The Second Friday Speaker Series on June 12 featured readings of original poetry by Beth Jacob members.  This event was just another way for our members to express their Jewish souls and share story.

Or Chadash

Tekiah Gadolah

After Israel

The Call of the Sukkah

Revelation (from Blessings, A Spiritual Gift for My Family and Friends)

George and Iby Heller

TIKKUN OLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE

by Neil Heller, presented at the Beth Jacob 2009 Chesed Awards

MIT 50th REUNION STORY

by George Heller, April 2009

Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum

LIVING LEGACY:  AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY

Apryl Stern

I WASN'T BORN JEWISH, BUT I WAS MEANT TO BE A JEW

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

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