Page 4 - The Jewish Voice - May '24

Page 4, The Jewish Voice

LocaL happenings

Alpert JFS Raises Over annual No Excuse for Abuse
evening and 50th Anniversary
$750,000 at 20th Annual No celebration at the Kravis Center
for the Performing Arts in West
Excuse for Abuse Evening Palm Beach. The event, which
featured comedian, actor, and
Ferd & Gladys Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm author Gary Gulman, was
Beach County recently hosted its highly regarded 20th attended by more than 500
guests and raised over $750,000
– a record for the organization.
“What a beautiful celebration Iris Markel, Clark Monish, John and Nancy Mindy Nichols, Neil Merin, Nikki Ganz Stahl,
of our agency’s 50th anniversary Armentano Shuly Oletzky, Lesley Sheinberg
and 20th annual No Excuse for
Abuse fundraising event,” said Marc Hopin, CEO of Alpert Former Alpert JFS President and Board Chair Zelda
JFS. “We were able to illustrate five decades of Alpert JFS’ Mason was presenting sponsor of the evening, as well as the
ongoing commitment to excellence in human service delivery, recipient of the agency’s Second Annual Luminary Award.
domestic abuse prevention, mental health support, suicide Co-chairs of the event were Dr. Paula Newmark, Wendy and
awareness, and more, while raising more than $750,000. It Geoff Stahl, and Carolyn and Michael Yasuna.
was a huge success.” “I have always proudly supported Alpert JFS, an
organization that has done so much for so many, and
especially those whose lives have been touched by mental
Featured speaker Gary Gulman (center) with, from left, board health challenges,” said Mason. “I am honored to be this
chair and president Gary Hoffman; event co-chairs Carolyn year’s Luminary Award recipient and appreciate the support
and Michael Yasuna; immediate-past board chair and and kindness I have received from Alpert JFS over the years.”
president Zelda Mason; event co-chairs Dr. Paula Newmark, Jewish comedian, actor, and best-selling author Gary
Wendy Stahl and Geoff Stahl, and CEO Marc D. Hopin Gulman, who has made five masterful TV specials including his
recent stand-up special “Born on 3rd Base,” and is well known
Howard and Emily Bromberg Marvin and Eva Schlanger for his fresh and honest take on mental health, entertained the
From the Rabbi from page 3 crowd during the event. Gulman’s speech was followed by an
intimate discussion on mental health with Alpert JFS’ Chief
Applying this wisdom, our sages point out that after Clinical and Impact Officer Dr. Elaine Rotenberg.
every calamity in our nation’s history, we experienced “We are grateful to Zelda Mason for her lasting impact on
a windfall proportionate to the crisis we had endured. our organization and to the No Excuse for Abuse co-chairs
Only after we emerged from centuries of servitude in and committee members for their hard work in organizing
Egyptian bondage were we brought to Mount Sinai this wonderful evening,” said Gary Hoffman, board chair
to be crowned as the Chosen People and gifted with and president of Alpert JFS. “This event demonstrates the
the Torah, which infused purpose and passion into impact our organization has made over our 50-year history
mankind. After the destruction of our Temple, we and will continue to make in the communities we serve far
experienced the great light of the revelation of the into the future.”
Babylonian Talmud, the study of which has kept us Photo credit Jeffrey Tholl
anchored and oriented throughout the darkest days of
our exile. Tom and Diann Mann, Julie Simons, Ellen and Mark Levine Local Happenings on page 6
Similarly, after the trauma of the Spanish Expulsion
and Inquisition, the study of Kaballah was widely
disseminated and studied like never before, especially
with the advent of the Arizal, who was born soon after
the edict of Expulsion. After the terrible suffering of
the Cossack massacres in 1648 and 1649, the Ba’al
Shem Tov was born, bringing the light of Chassidus
to the world.
If you ponder your own suffering, you will likely
discover that you also experienced a great benefit
afterward. Perhaps you never drew the connection
between the darkness and the subsequent light, but
the Torah insists that the sequence is deliberate.
This idea is emerging in modern psychology as a
phenomenon that behavioral psychologists describe
as post-traumatic growth. After serious cancer illness,
survivors often emerge with a deeper appreciation and
zest for life. After experiencing the traumas of war,
victims will often sense a stronger sense of community
and brotherhood. After grappling with death and
tragedy of a loved one, many have reported feeling a
spiritual awakening.
Admittedly, this idea can take a lifetime of
meditation to apply and recall. But it’s well worth
the effort, as it replaces fear and anxiety with faith
and confidence in every experience and encounter.
Understanding the reason for our torment makes it
easier to bear the pain. The troubles become even more
meaningful when we realize that the good that is soon
to follow will be proportionate to the intensity of the
discomfort that came prior.
Yet, when Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the
Sixth Chabad Rebbe known as the Frierdiker Rebbe,
was asked to summarize his feelings about the crippling
abuse he had experienced as the hands of the Soviets
while on death row for false accusations, he declared
(Sefer HaToldos 3, pg. 236): “If someone would offer
to sell me a single moment of additional suffering for a
billion dollars, I would not buy. But if someone would
offer to purchase a single moment of my past suffering
for a billion dollars, I would not sell!”
I hope that this wisdom can help you carry the
weight of your past and lift your spirits for what you
are yet to face.
Rabbi Dovid Vigler is the spiritual leader at
Chabad of Palm Beach Gardens and host of the
Jewish Schmooze Radio Show. Email him at rabbi@
jewishgardens.com.