Rabbi Jerry Ram Cutler 

   Rabbi's Message

The Rabbi is on hiatus this month due to surgery, but will return in our next issue.

If you have any questions or would like to send him well wishes,

please direct them to the Temple Office at 310-470-3888.

   April Birthdays  

March Yahrzeits   

 Thank You for Your Donation and May You Be Comforted Among the  

 Mourners of Zion 

The Saga of the Wandering Jew

Have you watered your Wandering Jew? The popular spiderwort, as you may know, is a convenient and flexible houseplant-it can be planted in soil or set to hang in a pot, and it's very patient with forgetful owners. Its name calls to mind Moses and the Israelites in the Sinai Desert, wandering for 40 years.

But the plant's name actually refers to a more recent, and sinister, legend of a Jew who scoffed at Jesus en route to his crucifixion. The story isn't actually canonical - the earliest versions appeared in the 13th century,  and were popularized  in the 17th century in by a pamphleteer named Ahashver. (Ironically, this name is derived from Ahasuerus, the Persian king of the Purim story,  who himself wasn't Jewish.)

This motif of the wandering Jew also took form as an 1844 French novel,  opera, and silent film which weren't anti-Semitic so much as straight-up depressing: A Jewish man is separated from his sister by the Bering Strait and condemned to wander the Earth forever. A plague of cholera follows in his wake, and-spoiler alert-he never finds his sister.

Pretty heavy legacy for a houseplant.

- Matthue Roth

NEWS FROM    

WHEELCHAIRS OF HOPE, FROM ISRAEL WITH LOVE

Former Keter plastics executives turn their expertise into a humanitarian project to help millions of disabled children in developing countries get to school.

Virtually every household in Israel has a few Keter brand plastic chairs, so why not use a similar seat as a base for lightweight, inexpensive but sturdy kid-friendly wheelchairs?

After 30 years as a Keter executive, Pablo Kaplan decided to do just that. With his life partner and former coworker, Chava Rotshtein, in 2009 Kaplan founded the nonprofit Wheelchairs of Hope.

The couple aims to provide colorful, maintenance-free wheelchairs to the estimated five million children in the world who cannot attend school because of mobility handicaps. Central and South America, Africa, Asia and other Middle East countries are target markets.

"Our wheelchair is specifically designed for children, as we wish to empower education through mobility," Kaplan and Rotshtein explain. "Mobility from early childhood is a gate to education. By giving access to education we create a new generation with better skills, confidence and hope."

Last September, the Wheelchairs of Hope founders presented their idea at the opening day of the United Nations General Assembly and were selected to serve on UNICEF's task force for assistive technologies.

"The task force's goal is to identify novel technologies to recommend to all member countries," Kaplan tells ISRAEL21c. "Our product was chosen as one of those innovations."

A chair, not a medical device

The wheelchair, to be available in bright primary colors, weighs 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and is expected to cost about $50. By contrast, the basic metal wheelchairs currently donated to developing nations by various humanitarian organizations cost at least $150 apiece and weigh 15 to 17 kilos.

"The child sitting in it will weigh a maximum of 25 kilos, so the light weight will make a big difference," predicts Kaplan.

The first prototype, made in June 2013 on a 3D printer, followed more than a year of fine-tuning in consultation with Naomi Geffen, deputy director general of clinical services at ALYN rehabilitation hospital for children in Jerusalem, and the hospital's biomedical lab director, Ohad Ga'al-Dor.

"We went over every single part of the wheelchair," Geffen tells ISRAEL21c. "We were very happy with the results. It looks like something fun and not like a medical device you wouldn't want to use."   

To Read More: CLICK HERE  

ISRAEL "EyeMusic" HELPS BLIND 'HEAR' COLORS AND SHAPES

Hebrew University scientists use sensory substitution devices to convey senses to the brain noninvasively.

What does a triangle sound like? What noise do you think the color purple makes? Israelis scientists have made the seemingly impossible possible by helping the blind 'hear' colors and shapes normally perceived visually.

Using sensory substitution devices (SSDs), Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have shown that through the use of SSDs the blind and visually impaired can receive environmental visual information and interact with objects in ways otherwise unimaginable. SSDs are non-invasive sensory aids that provide visual information to the blind via their existing senses. 

For example, using a visual-to-auditory SSD in a clinical or everyday setting, users wear a miniature camera connected to a small computer (or smart phone) and stereo headphones. The images are converted into "soundscapes," using a predictable algorithm, allowing the user to listen to and then interpret the visual information coming from the camera.

The EyeMusic non-invasive SSD (available free at the Apple App store at http://tinyurl.com/oe8d4p4), developed by a team of researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, lets one hear pleasant musical notes to convey information about colors, shapes and location of objects in the world.

For more information, CLICK HERE 

 

Cantor Kathy has most generously donated her CD "An Island in Time" featuring Contemporary Music for the Eve of Shabbat to Creative Arts Temple.    

The price is $18 and we receive 100% of the profits. We all come out winners!

For orders, please call our office at 310 470-3888 or email us at

Click here to view website

Sends Get Well Wishes and a 

Speedy Recovery to:

Unfortunately, do to the high costs of printing and postage, we are only able to send out cards with a minimum donation of $18.00. We will be happy to post your tribute in Temple Talk no matter what you are able to donate.

Ralph's Community 

Contribution

President - Arne Charitan

Vice President - Fern Field Brooks
Secretary- Julie Gold
Treasurer- Jerry Gold
Board-
Deborah Barnhart  

Malcolm & Barbara Marmorstein 

Marty & Barri Smith

Executive Director: Jeff Cutler

Office Administrator:  Janice Metz
Director Emeritus: Lois Bennett  

Immediate Past President- Joann Roth Oseary
Past presidents:

Lou Milkowski

Arnold Charitan

Norman G. Brooks*
Irving Dersh*
Max Guefen*
deceased *