C ommunity / mazel tovs
E N GAG E ME N T
ANNIVERSARY FINGERMAN
SILOW-CARRAGHER Gilda (née Mazie) and Al Fingerman, who have been friends
and sweethearts since their childhood in Camden, New Jersey,
celebrated 70 years of marriage on Nov. 12.

On Nov. 14, Gilda will turn 90 and on Nov. 27, Al will turn 94.

Al worked in advertising, while Gilda was an elementary school
teacher. Throughout their lives, they have enjoyed many activities
together, including duplicate bridge, eventually becoming life
masters. Photo by Shirley J. Lutz
BIRTH BENJAMIN GRANT DAUSCH
Benjamin Grant Dausch was born on July 8, weighing 8 pounds and 11
ounces, to Lindsay and Justin Dausch.

Sharing in their happiness are grandparents Susan Breslow Silver, Bob
Silver, Janis Zaidman Silver, Jane Dausch and Daniel Dausch and great-grand-
parents Melvyn Breslow, Roberta Steinberg, the late Barbara Breslow, Marvin
Silver, the late Geraldine Silver, Judy Penzinger and Michael Penzinger.

Benjamin is named in loving memory of his maternal great-grand-
mothers Barbara and Geraldine.

Photo by Jordan Silver
A llison Troy and Daniel
Ca rrag her of Wel lesley,
Massachusetts, and Deenie
and Gary Silow of Huntingdon
Valley announce the engage-
ment of their children, Kaitlin
Carragher and Grant Silow.

Kaitlin is a graduate of the
University of Rochester and
the U.C. Hastings College of
the Law, and practices corpo-
rate law at Goodwin Procter.

Grant is a graduate of Johns
Hopkins University and the
Yale School of Management
Photo by Emily Elisabeth Photography
and works as a venture capital
investor at 25madison.

Kaitlin is the granddaughter of the late Audrey and John
Carragher and the late Lorna and Jeffrey Troy. Grant is the
grandson of the late Betty and David B. Silow and the late
Kathryn and John Brett.

COMMUNITYBRIEFS Writer and Broadcaster Janice Booker Dies at 91
JANICE LEAH BOOKER, who wrote three books,
hosted a radio program for nearly two decades and
had a hand in the creation of the iconic “I’ve fallen,
and I can’t get up” line, died Oct. 25 in Malibu,
California. She was 91.

Booker, who was formerly of Philadelphia and
Wyncote, and her late husband Alvin, started
publishing several small regional business magazines
from a two-room office. Their company, Secrephone,
branched out into transcriptions of medical reports
for individual physicians and hospitals.

Years later, the Bookers bought the rights to what
became Med-a-Lert, and its first advertisement was
videotaped in their home with an actress saying the
now-famous line “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.”
Aside from newspaper and magazine articles,
Booker wrote “The Jewish American Princess and
Janice Leah Booker
Courtesy of the
Booker family
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Other Myths: The Many Faces of Self-Hatred” in
1992, “Philly Firsts: The Famous, Infamous, and
Quirky of the City of Brotherly Love” and “Across
from the Alley Next Door to the Poolroom” in 2011.

In addition, she hosted “The Janice Booker Show,”
taught journalism at Temple University and memoir
writing and public speaking at the University of
Pennsylvania and wrote for The Jewish Writing Project.

She also worked as an interviewer for Steven
Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation.

When living in Wyncote, Booker was a member of
Or Hadash, a Reconstructionist Congregation and its
Havurah group.

Booker and her husband moved to California
in 2002, becoming active members of Partners in
Learning Actively Teaching Ourselves.

Booker is survived by her son Ellis Carl Booker
(Erin), daughter Susan Barbara Booker (Jerry Shevick)
and seven grandchildren.

Folkshul Memorial Commemorates
Kristallnacht, Tulsa Massacre
Jewish Children’s Folkshul held a memorial Nov.

8 at Fort Washington State Park to commemorate
both Kristallnacht and the 1921 Black Wall Street
Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Participants examined firsthand witness testimo-
nies and combined music, songs and stories, with
facilitated dialogue to reflect on those events and
consider their relevance today.

In the Black Wall Street Massacre, white residents
of Tulsa ransacked their neighbors’ Black-owned
JEWISH EXPONENT
businesses and property. The Greenwood District,
known as Black Wall Street, was attacked by ordinary
citizens, some of whom were deputized and given
weapons by local law enforcement. The numbers of
deaths is disputed, although the Oklahoma Bureau of
Vital Statistics recorded 36 deaths, and as many as 6,000
Black residents were interned, some for several days.

Bat Mitzvah Project Raises Money for
Women’s Hygiene Supplies
Bat mitzvah girl Sami Neff’s community project
raised enough money to buy more than 29,000
women’s hygiene products that will be distributed by
the Jewish Relief Agency.

The Philadelphia girl developed four methods
for obtaining donations and supplies, including a
donation box at the Baldwin School, where she is
a student; links on Amazon.com for supplies to be
bought online; use of her mother’s Venmo account
for cash donations; and a Facebook fundraising page.

During her bat mitzvah speech, she said she raised
$2,872 in cash and collected more than 50 unopened
packages of hygiene supplies.

“Sanitary products are as essential as toilet paper
or a toothbrush, and need to be discussed as such ...

[and] long after my bat mitzvah comes and goes, I plan
to continue to raise awareness and help break down
the taboos surrounding this extremely important
topic,” she said.

Sami will visit the JRA warehouse on Nov. 13 to
see the products her money bought. l
Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
NOVEMBER 12, 2020
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