Weekly News & Updates
Caring for Older Adults Since 1907
|
|
 |
By Jo Strausz Rosen
As we prepare to turn our clocks back for some much-needed daylight savings time, contemplate what you might do with an extra hour of light. Utilizing light as a metaphor for goodness, how can each of us bring more light and life back into our early morning hours? I love to go outside in my robe and fill the birdfeeder. I listen to the sounds of the animals rustling about in the leaves as they prepare for the cold season ahead. I photograph nature on my walks in the crisp cold air and often refer to them on my phone for the beauty and joy they bring. Is it just me, or are these fall leaves the prettiest we have ever seen? I’m so grateful for the colors when the sky is so gray. Collect some beautiful leaves and press them into the pages of your books. Marvel at their shape and size; Make or find some stationary rip a special article out of a magazine or one of a great image that you know someone will enjoy and send it along with a letter (and a fall leaf) to a long lost friend or family member; Purchase a bunch of new cozy and colorful warm socks. Keep some for yourself and drop the rest off at a shelter, and/or store in your glove box if you come across some homeless souls. Tuck a fast food gift card inside the socks and you will bless someone less fortunate with a meaningful surprise.
Think about what would make you happiest this fall season (yes, besides the Covid-19 vaccine!) and share it with your friends and family. Here are some other ways to bring light into your world to boost your mood as autumn begins to slip away and turn into the darkness of winter.
|
Speaking of bringing more light into our world, Carly Pildis wrote an amazing article, In Defense of Wokeness for Tablet Magazine. She said, “I find fighting for justice much like running: When you start, you huff and puff and struggle, but if you do a little every day you will soon find your muscles have grown.” Please read and let us know how you are making a difference in the fight for justice.
|
We invite the entire Metropolitan Detroit community to celebrate “Lives Well Lived” Sunday, November 22nd at 11:00 AM. This virtual event will take place online and we will show a film featuring some interviews with very special JSL residents who live exceptional lives. Enjoy this sneak preview above!
Your generous sponsorships and contributions will help Friends of Jewish Senior Life provide essential technology and activities for our residents. Click the link below to learn more.
|
Tikkun olam ” (Hebrew for “world repair”) has come to connote social action and the pursuit of social justice. The phrase has origins in classical rabbinic literature and in Lurianic kabbalah, a major strand of Jewish mysticism originating with the work of the 16th-century kabbalist Isaac Luria.
|
Light up your friends lives and don’t forget to nominate a special octogenarian as a possible recipient of Jewish Senior Life’s 2021 Tikkun Olam Award for our 28th annual Eight Over Eighty virtual celebration. Link here to nominate before December 2.
|
KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY CONNECTED |
Hechtman resident, Harriet Hessenthaler, enjoys taking walks around our lovely West Bloomfield campus, admiring the wildlife. On a recent walk she discovered a beautiful family of swans! Find more photos and stories like this by visiting "Keeping Our Community Connected: Stories From Residents, Staff and Volunteers" on our website.
|
The JSL Friends Boutique is stocked with the latest fall fashions, like our colorful ponchos! Look fabulous while wearing this on a Zoom call or running errands around town. Shop this and other great looks on:
|
|
|
|
Many of our residents have already taken advantage of JSL's shuttle service to drop off their ballots! Pictured are two of our Oak Park residents exercising their right to vote. Be sure to drop off your ballots at your clerk’s office before November 3rd! |
BAGELS, SCHMEAR, AND VOLUNTEERS |
Volunteers, we miss you! Are you a JSL volunteer who wants to reconnect? Please join us on a weekly zoom call, or simply call in so we can catch up. We can discuss the latest JSL news, crockpot recipes, interesting ways to exercise at home, or what good movies you've seen on Netflix! If you have some great ideas for the group, send them to us.
The zoom call will take place every Monday at 11:00 AM beginning November 2. Until we can invite you back to do what you do best at JSL, let’s spend some time together and heal our loneliness. See you on Zoom or call in so we can hear your voice!
|
Passcode: 635393
Passcode: 635393
Looking forward to reconnecting!
In friendship,
Leslie Katz
|
Help Run Outdoor Visitations
Enjoy some special time getting to know our residents as you oversee outdoor social distanced visitations with their family and friends. Volunteers will be trained to guide these visits safely.
Visitation hours and days are:
Fleischman 11-3 M-F
Meer 10:30-3:45 M-F
Hechtman 10-3 M-F
Prentis 10-Noon and 1-3 M-F
Teitel 10-Noon and 1-3 M-F
For questions and additional information please contact Leslie Katz at 248-592-5062 or lkatz@jslmi.org
|
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS MEET AGAIN AFTER 71 YEARS |
Holocaust survivors Ruth Brandspiegel and Israel “Sasha” Eisenberg call their reunion a miracle that began on the holiest day in Judaism, and it only happened thanks to a prayer service that was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Decades ago their families, who came from the same city in Poland, escaped the Nazis, crossed into the Soviet Union and were sent to different labor camps in Siberia, where Eisenberg was born. They later met at a displaced persons camp in Austria, where they became close friends. They last saw each other there, in 1949, before losing track of each other's whereabouts.
More than 70 years later, Brandspiegel, now a Philadelphia resident, heard a familiar name being called out in a Yom Kippur service held in late September via Zoom by her son's synagogue in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
|
Husband and wife, Mel and Claire Vatz, created a delightful song to the tune of "Homeward Bound" in hopes of raising everyone's spirits during the pandemic. Enjoy! |
Pumpkin Spice Challah
INGREDIENTS
- ¾ cup warm water
- 1 packet (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoons ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoons allspice
- ¼ teaspoons nutmeg
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 small pumpkin
- 1 egg for basting
- Pumpkin seeds
PREPARATION
- In a large mixing bowl, add the warm water followed by the yeast. Mix. Add the rest of the ingredients except the flour. Mix well, to get rid of any clumps.
- Add the flour a little bit at a time, mixing to remove clumps. You might need more if the dough is too sticky to knead.
- Knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth.
- Place dough in a clean bowl and cover. Leave bowl in a warm part of the room for at least one hour to rise, until dough is double in size.
- Divide dough in 3 even parts. Roll each into a rope. Place in a line. Braid starting in the middle.
- Place braided dough on baking tray. Wrap in a circle and braid two ends together. Don’t worry about braiding it perfectly, just try your best to stick the ends together. Place baby pumpkin in the center of the braid. This not only looks beautiful, but it keeps the challah in a perfect circular shape! Cover with a towel and allow the dough to rise for 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350℉/175C.
- Bake for 35-40 mins. If the top is getting too brown, place a piece of aluminum foil on top.
|
JSL IS ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM! |
Follow JSL on Facebook and Instagram for daily updates on what is going on at our campuses. Leave a like and comment while you're there too! |
|
|
|
Residents at Prentis and Teitel were recently able to dine with one another at a safe distance for the first time in many months. The expressions of gratitude from residents was overwhelming! Enjoy these photos and quotes from the joyous occasion. |
|
Rabbi Dovid S. Polter, JSL Community Chaplain
Meals at Your Doorstep
I recently spoke to a resident who shared that during these challenging times, her most joyous and anticipated moment in the day is when she finds her meal at her doorstep. (Special thanks to those who deliver the wholesome food to the doorsteps of our residents while providing sustenance and joy).
Despite the overwhelming COVID-19 challenge, most will agree there is something positive in everything, including this pandemic.
Let me take you on a journey some three thousand years ago. Traveling through the desert from Egypt to the promised Land of Israel, the divinely endowed manna (fresh wafer-like food customized to one’s taste) fell from heaven daily and sustained the people. The undeserving had to fetch their manna from afar and prepare its contents for consumption. For those neither undeserving nor righteous, the manna was more accessible. For the righteous, the ready-to-eat manna fell at their doorstep.
History repeats itself. The period of COVID-19 is likened to a desert with limited amenities. Just as our travels through the desert had some redeeming qualities – daily food from heaven and for those deserving, it fell at their doorstep, so too this is perhaps the goodness and virtue in finding your meals at your doorstep. It is a sign of how deserving you really are.
Be inspired. Call Shabbat Shalom by Phone 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
|
|
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!
|
|
L’Chaim!
We are so grateful for your contributions.
Please continue your engAGEment with JSL.
Your support greatly impacts our residents and their lives well lived.
|
|
Nancy Heinrich, Chief Executive Officer
Jennie Klepinger, Chief Financial Officer
Barbra Giles, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives
Dianne Azzopardi, Executive Director, Human Resources
Ron Colasanti, Executive Director, Dining Services
Gregg Leshman, Executive Director, Residential Operations
Jo Strausz Rosen, Executive Director, Development
|
|
|
|
|
People of all faiths and beliefs are welcome. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
