Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/915129
Our Story Our Story Health. A fresh start. A good education. The next great business idea. Hebrew Free Loan gives interest- free loans to members of our community for a variety of personal and small business needs. HFL loans are funded entirely through community donations which continually recycle to others, generating many times the original value to help maintain the lives of local Jews. Click. Call. Give Now. www.hfldetroit.org 248.723.8184 Hebrew Free Loan Detroit 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 @HFLDetroit Stacy and Michael Carroll had been married just two months when Michael's mother passed away. "It was an incredibly emotional time of mourning and loss, and transition to new responsibilities with his siblings," said Stacy. "As time passed and we began to think about family and our future, we found hope and excitement at the thought of having a baby. We wanted children and looked forward to some happiness in our lives." However, after that prospect proved difficult, the Carrolls contacted a fertility specialist in an effort to 'take it up a notch,' and looked into in-vitro fertilization. "We realized it was quite costly, even if was just a single, successful attempt," Michael said. "We both work, but our savings wouldn't cover that easily, certainly not more than once. Bank loans have high interest rates, and this isn't normally why a bank funds you." Stacy, Director of Advancement at Michigan Hillel in Ann Arbor, was perusing Jewish agency websites looking for partnership opportunities, when she had a "lightbulb moment" about Hebrew Free Loan. "It all kind of came together. I called, and the process couldn't have been easier," Stacy said. "It was done with a great deal of dignity and respect, and suddenly, it was happening for us." The Carrolls joined a clinical trial as soon as the loan was approved. After two unsuccessful attempts, perhaps due to new medications, Stacy became pregnant on her own. "However it happened, we credit HFL with helping us have our daughter, Fiona, Stacy said. "What a gift the Jewish community has given us in starting our Jewish family. She's healthy and happy, and she's the delight of our lives." Berl Falbaum's Nov. 28, 2017, article pro- mulgates lies by the Forward that have repeatedly been debunked, in order to falsely malign guests at the recent ZOA Annual Gala, especially Steve Bannon and Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer himself told me that Bannon is a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people. I am a child of Holocaust survivors; the Nazis murdered most of my family. Understandably, I despise neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and racists. Neither I nor the other speakers at the ZOA gala, including Alan Dershowitz, Sen. Joe Lieberman, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman or Sen. Tom Cotton, would have shared a dais and happily taken pictures with Bannon if he were anti- Semitic. Talk show host Dennis Prager, who authored books about anti-Semitism, says: "Calling Steve Bannon anti- Semitic is a witch hunt. . . . It's just a libel. It's fabricated." The liberal Anti- Defamation League wrote: "We're not aware of any anti-Semitic statements from Bannon." Bannon has assisted us combatting anti-Semitism on college campuses. His Breitbart news site is full of pro-Israel and pro-Jewish articles — including a column written by me. Dr. Sebastian Gorka's father defended classmates against Nazis during the Holocaust and was honored by the local Jewish community. Dr. Gorka often asks me how he can help Israel, to continue to honor his father. Jerusalem Post Senior Editor Caroline Glick praised Dr. Gorka at the Jerusalem Post conference in May, and spoke about how shameful and demoralizing it is when members of the Jewish com- munity "demonize one of Israel's best friends in Washington today." Caroline Glick implored: "Stand up for our friend. Don't allow people to slander a good and honorable man as a Nazi." It's time to stand up for our friends instead of slandering them. Morton A. Klein national president, Zionist Organization of America letters D espite our conflicts of opinions and loud arguments, at the end of the day, we have a lot in common, particularly when it comes to family. I mean, every family has at least one member who merrily slurps his soup and another person who always complains about how noisy they are. ("Can't you eat quieter?" and "Why do you have to breathe so loudly anyhow?" and then, particularly if it's a teenager, "This family is so embarrassing.") Most of us have those relatives who are handy to know, like the ones who can fix your phone or computer (again, often a teenager) or the ones who love baking and push their fresh- ly baked whatevers at you. Always wonderful, until you don't fit into your clothes anymore … and then you have that inevitable conflict when you try to resist next time. ("What do you mean you're too fat? A little schmaltz never hurt anybody!") We all have those relatives who disagree with anything anyone says, even when they're called on it. ("I do not always disagree with you!") And those who spend all their time on their phones, constantly tak- ing selfies or frantically texting others, making you wonder what they'll remember when they're older. Many of us have relatives who come up with a nickname for everyone they meet. I once introduced Sam, a man in his 80s, to a young flirty relative who promptly began calling him "Sammy baby." Sam's friend over- heard and said warningly, "She must be after your money …" to which he replied, "But I don't have any money! She must be after my food stamps!" And even if you don't have those types of relatives (and you're missing out if you don't; they're annoying as anything, but do keep things interest- ing!), the bottom line is this: Jews are like one family, wherever we are in the world. This is especially clear to me at this time of year. When a holiday rolls around, folks tend to reminisce about the holidays of the past, their family and the good old days — only half aware that soon today will be part of the "good old days." When I start talking about the Chanukah of my childhood, I talk about sunshine, summer camp, swimming parties or spending the day at the beach. That's because I grew up in Australia far on the other side of the equator, and Chanukah falls in the middle of the summer. Little kids barely know what Chanukah is — school's not in ses- sion, so they don't learn about it and they're put to bed loooong before it's time to light the menorah. I still remember the strangeness I felt in experiencing my first winter Chanukah in Michigan. It was so weird to be so cold in December! And I had never even seen snow before … Chanukah felt familiar but different at the same time, like putting on your shoes, but on the wrong feet. On the other hand, it was beauti- ful. Because there I was, suddenly far from my immediate family, but the holiday itself was exactly the same. Even though I missed my family and friends back home down under, it was lovely to be singing the same songs, spinning the dreidel and lighting the menorah, like always. Even if we celebrate differently, the fact that we keep the same holidays at all speaks volumes. It really hammers home the message that Jews all over the world are truly one large extended family. Happy Chanukah! • views Rochel Burstyn for openers World-Wide Family Greenberg's View December 14 • 2017 5 jn