Weekly News & Updates
Caring for Older Adults Since 1907
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EDWARD I. & FREDA FLEISCHMAN RESIDENCE |
Suites Starting at $3,900 Per Month! |
Contact Jill Bengle
248-661-2999 jbengle@jslmi.org
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May 23 - Eight Over Eighty
JSL board of directors member and former chair of the Eight Over Eighty committee, Carol Weintraub Fogel said, “I LOVE the Eight Over Eighty event. It was an honor to chair and to continue to promote an event that honors our older adults who are thriving and positive. Each year, we are inspired by 8 amazing people who show that the number of years lived does NOT define them!!!”
Support our biggest event of the year and help us celebrate the distinguished honorees. Register and support our 28th Annual virtual event at jslmi.org/8over80
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May 21 - Oldest Americans Brunch
Join us virtually and help us honor our community treasures who are 95 and older! Watch our event starting at 10:45 am here: jslmi.org/oab
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May 14 & 15 - "If You See My Mother" - Detroit Jewish Film Festival
Laugh and enjoy this JSL sponsored film, available until May 15! Tickets are available for purchase and are only good for 24 hours from the time of purchase, no advanced ticket sales.
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“Whatever you think matters- doesn’t. Follow this rule, and it will add decades to your life. It doesn’t matter if you are late, or early; if you are here, or if you are there; if you said it, or did not say it; if you were clever, or if you were stupid; if you are having a bad hair day, or a no hair day; if your boss looks at you cockeyed; if your girlfriend or boyfriend looks at you cockeyed; if you are cockeyed; if you don’t get that promotion, or prize, or house, or if you do. It doesn’t matter.”
Robert Rosenblatt, Rules for Aging
How much time have we wasted, ruminating over little things that have so little significance in the bigger scheme - life? How many times have you noticed feeling that you were slighted or embarrassed or mortified or any number of other reactions to things someone does something that mean nothing to you. But at that moment you somehow think it means everything. And then you hold that negativity as a grudge and your life is getting smaller and smaller and you’re only hurting yourself… until you can LET IT GO.
At JSL, we know what matters… and that is our residents and how they are being cared for during COVID, and hopefully soon, AFTER COVID! We care for our residents who live in independent housing, assisted living, and memory care, and their families and loved ones. We think about what will make them happy. We plan menus, we plan activities, we listen to their joys and sorrows, their compliments, and their complaints. We chuckle with them in the halls and if we can, now vaccinated, we touch hands a bit… we lean into those elbows and even offer hugs.
We relish these delightful glimpses of hope. But then some newscaster appears on our screens and we fall back into being worriers again. How will worrying help? The worrying won’t fix things. If you can do something about problems that feels urgent to you, just do it. It might be volunteering, or giving money, or making calls, or going to a meeting or an event. Do what will keep you in the moment because THIS MOMENT IS ALL THERE IS.
Some of us will be in the moment celebrating Shavuos this weekend, rejoicing and giving thanks for the Torah and celebrating the time God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and gave him the Ten Commandments and other laws. This matters! It should be remembered and celebrated!
Those of you who are looking for your someone might log onto sawyouatsinai.com to find your soulmate, your beshert. The Midrashim (Jewish commentaries) teach that every Jewish soul stood at Sinai with his or her beshert at the giving of the Torah. Now the challenge today is finding the soul mate, that you saw at Sinai. Use technology to access your beloved. You might consult with 8 Over Eighty honoree, Faye Jacobs, who has matched at least 8 couples into marriage.
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Meer residents continued to express themselves through art with a tile decorating class this week! Artists pictured are Rita Sills, Rose Davidson, Evelyn Levy, and Sheba Zietchick.
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BROWN CENTER INVITES YOU TO AN INFORMATIVE EVENT |
Susan Turnbull, founder and principal of Personal Legacy Advisors, a firm that advocates nonbinding personal legacy documents, such as ethical wills, as a component of estate and philanthropic planning, offers some practical advice:
Tips for Creating your Ethical Will
Start Today. If you were not here tomorrow, what is the most important thing you would not want left unsaid? Write it down.
Relax. You are not trying to write for the Pulitzer Prize. What you create is a gift to yourself, made for those you love, not for an imaginary panel passing judgment on your life or your writing.
Ask Yourself: What do I want to make sure my loved ones know and have in writing?
Consider the process a work in progress. Start by writing something short, and add more pieces or pages as you wish. It’s natural that as you and your audience grow and change you might want to modify or add to what you wrote. Don’t let the feeling that it has to be “perfect” from the beginning paralyze you. Just get started.
Make sure it is easy to find. Keep the file accessible so you can add to it. Either keep it with your legal papers or affix a note that about where to find it. You want to make sure your words find their intended audience.
Share it! Consider sharing it during your lifetime, even as you know you may add to it or change it.
Write a letter. Address it to those you love – your spouse, your partner, your children, your grandchildren, your friends, your community. Put into this letter what life has taught you: What have you learned from childhood from growing up from your education? What have you learned from your relationships, marriage, children, friendships? What have you learned from work, from your triumphs and successes in the world, and more importantly, from your failures and disappointments? What have you learned from the death of loved ones, from the path of mourning and grief? What has life taught you? What is the meaning, the lesson, the wisdom of your life? What is your message.
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Join The Dorothy & Peter Brown Jewish Community Adult Day Program for a virtual event:
Legal Documents & Important Paperwork to Consider for Older Adults
Tuesday, May 25 at 4 pm
In honor of Older American Month, the Brown Program invites attendees to learn about Patient Advocates, DNRs, the new Michigan Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (MI POST), and more.
This program is free and open to the community.
Presented by
Howard H Collens
Attorney & Counselor
Galloway & Collens PLLC
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For questions, contact Debi Banooni at dbanooni@jvshumanservices.org or
248-592-5034
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DOROTHY & PETER D. BROWN MEMORY CARE PAVILION |
Private Suite Rates Reduced to $5,100 for a limited time! |
Contact Jill Bengle
248-661-2999 jbengle@jslmi.org
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BEHIND THE MASK: Meet our Devoted JSL Family |
Joanne Kristal lives in Huntington Woods. For 10 years, she has served as program coordinator for the Jewish Community Chaplaincy and Outreach Program, along with Rabbi Dovid Polter, to serve the most vulnerable and isolated Jewish older adults. Most recently Joanne has served as Activities Assistant at Fleischman.
Joanne is inspired and motivated by the residents. She says, “I feel grateful to be able to work with this senior population. I was also at Prentis over four months and enjoyed those residents as well. Jewish Senior Life provides incredible services for much of our population. That’s why I’m still working at 76!”
Joanne enjoys singing with the Chaplaincy volunteer group called, ‘Thanks for the Memories’ and appreciates how singing improves dementia in seniors. “I saw this happen last week, there was an incredible change in a woman with dementia. She became a different person.”
Joanne has 2 adult children, 2 almost adult grandchildren she adores, and a couple of ex-husbands and lots of friends. She has been a member of a Peace Group for 15 years and hopes “that someday soon, people will not be judged by the color of their skin but what is inside their hearts. Racial justice is very important to me.”
Joanne loves art, music, nature walks and her family. She golfs, enjoys poetry, reading, and birding. She volunteers as a docent at the Detroit Institute of Arts. She hopes to travel after the pandemic ends and she reflects on coping and prays, “that this too, shall pass.”
Thank you, Joanne for all the wonderful work you do with Jewish Senior Life.
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SHOP JSL'S ONLINE BOUTIQUE |
Freshen up your spring and summer wardrobe with our fabulous selection of tops! Find these and more stylish pieces at:
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YOUR PERSONAL PRONOUN ETIQUETTE QUESTIONS ANSWERED |
By Lisa Milbrand
You may have noticed a new addition to many social media profiles and introductory conversations with a new friend or colleague—a person's name followed by a set of preferred pronouns: she/her, he/him, they/them, or even some nonbinary pronouns, such as ze/zir, per/pers, ey/em and xe/xem.
This has made it easier for trans, nonbinary, and other LGBTQ+ people to let everyone know how they'd like to be addressed—and sharing your own personal pronouns (even if your personal pronouns line up with the gender you were assigned at birth) is a way to show respect and be inclusive of everyone.
Here's a quick primer on how to include everyone by using the appropriate pronouns.
How do I ask someone what pronouns they use?
If you meet someone and they don't volunteer the information themselves, notice the pronouns their friends and loved ones use for them—odds are, that's what they would like you to use for them. "Friends and people who know the person best will probably use the correct pronoun," says GLAAD.
If that isn't an option, volunteer your own to encourage them to share theirs. For example, "Hi, I'm Eileen and I use she/her pronouns. What pronouns do you use?"
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Heavenly Cheesecake
Chocolate Graham Cracker Layer
1 package chocolate graham crackers, crushed or finely ground (1 cup)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted (5 and 1/3 tablespoons)
Fudgy Cookie Dough Layer
6 ounces Elite Milk Chocolate or other good-quality milk chocolate
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons flour
1 12-oz. box frozen chocolate chip cookie dough (12cookies – I use either Kineret or Ostreicher’s)
Cheese Layer
2 (8-oz.) tubs whipped cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon Gefen Vanilla Extract
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup sour cream
Ganache Topping
3 ounces Elite Dark Chocolate or other good-quality chocolate
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Prepare Graham Cracker Crust
1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Combine ingredients for chocolate graham cracker layer and press into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Prepare Fudgy Cookie Dough Layer
1) Melt together chocolate and butter for the fudge layer in a microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring in between, or in a double boiler.
2) Once the mixture is melted and smooth, add the sugar, eggs, and flour. Mix well and pour over graham cracker crust.
3) Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. (The chocolate will be soft and fudgy.) Allow to cool.
4) Press the softened chocolate chip cookie dough evenly into the fudge, forming a second thin layer of crust.
Note: If frozen chocolate chip cookie dough is not available where you live, make a batch of your favorite recipe. Set aside 12 tablespoons or small scoops of dough for this cheesecake. Freeze the remaining dough for future use, prescooped onto a parchment paper.
Prepare Cheese Layer
1) Beat cream cheese just until smooth (do not overbeat).
2) Slowly add sugar. Add eggs one at a time, making sure each one is completely incorporated before adding the next. Then add vanilla, flour, and sour cream.
3) Pour cream cheese mixture over the fudgy cookie dough layer in the pan. Tap the pan on your counter to make sure the mixture is leveled.
Bake the Cheesecake
1) Place a pan with 1 inch of water on the bottom shelf of your oven. Place cheesecake on the middle shelf and bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. (Do not open the oven door during the baking process.)
2) Turn off oven. Open door slightly and allow cheesecake to cool in the oven for up to an hour. Place in refrigerator overnight to cool and set completely.
Prepare the Topping
1) Melt the chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave, stirring every 15 seconds, or in double boiler. When the mixture is completely smooth, spread on top of cooled cheesecake.
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Follow JSL on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for the most up to date and inspiring JSL content. Leave a like while you're there too! |
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Rabbi Dovid S. Polter, JSL Community Chaplain
Shavuot - Celebrating the Giving of the Torah
On Shavuot we read an eloquent poem about the Torah and its Author:
“His might is eternal, and it could not be described adequately, even if the heavens were parchment, all the trees were quills, the oceans and all the waters were ink, all the inhabitants of the earth were scribes and writers.”
Although we could never reach the end of describing the grandeur of our heavenly Master, I believe we should always carry a pen or pencil to jot amazing scenes of nature, inspiring and uplifting messages and ideas endowed to us from On High.
Torah charges us with a mission of love and life, and to apply this to our daily lives and conduct. To contribute to the public and to leave a note to last for generations. The word “Torah” means a guide and a manual by which to live. Torah reminds us that life is forever pulsating with real and relevant messages for you and me.
Let this holiday of Shavuot, the historic moment of the giving of the Torah, encourage us to document and share our life lessons with others, especially with our youth. Relish the Torah letters, revere its words, thrive on its meaning, and rejoice in its all-encompassing spirit “for it is the life and length of our days.”
Shabbat Shalom by Phone - Enjoy some inspiration
Dial Toll free: 605-313-4107 Access code: 270368#
(Reference number not needed)
Dial # to hear the most recent recorded message.
Rabbi Dovid S. Polter Jewish Community Chaplaincy Program Jewish Senior Life
248-592-5039 • dpolter@jslmi.org
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This newsletter was created by Jo Rosen and Amanda Martlock
We’re human, prone to mistakes, so if we erred in our newsletter, please forgive us!
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L’Chaim!
We are so grateful for your financial contributions.
Please continue your engAGEment with JSL.
Your support enhances the lives of our residents.
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Nancy Heinrich, Chief Executive Officer
Jennie Klepinger, Chief Financial Officer
Barbra Giles, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives
Jo Strausz Rosen, Executive Director, Development
Dianne Azzopardi, Executive Director, Human Resources
Ron Colasanti, Executive Director, Dining Services
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People of all faiths and beliefs are welcome. |
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