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Philadelphia Leaders Show
Solidarity to Israel Via Mission
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE
STAFF G
oing into a solidarity
mission to Israel
organized by the
Jewish Federations of North
America, Sherrie Savett,
Sharon Kestenbaum, Tracy
Ginsburg and Gail Norry
all knew that Israel faced
immense challenges.

But even with that knowl-
edge, the journey opened their
eyes and deepened their com-
mitment — emotionally and
financially — to supporting the
Jewish state through their work
with the Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia.

A few weeks ago, Savett,
Kestenbaum, Ginsburg and
Norry, who are all active in
Jewish Federation, joined
more than 30 other Federation
donors, leaders and volunteers
from across the United States
for the mission. The four-day
educational trip included
a meeting with Knesset
members and visits to several
communities. This year’s mission took
place after the latest Israel-
Palestine conflict, in which
Israeli citizens hid in safe
rooms and bomb shelters
during heavy rocket fire. The
intention was to give the
group a deeper understanding
of the oft-tragic situation in
the Jewish state.

And there
was no
sugarcoating the narrative.

They met with the parents
of a 5-year-old boy, Ido Avigal,
who was killed by a rocket on
May 12 in Sderot. They visited
a kibbutz, Kfar Aza, near Gaza
that faced heavy rocket fire
during previous conflicts, too.

6 PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERRIE SAVETT
The four Philadelphia-area leaders who went on the solidarity mission to Israel in July are, from left, Sharon Kestenbaum, Sherrie Savett,
Tracy Ginsburg and Gail Norry.

They even visited a community
center trying to bring people
together in Lod, a city that
saw rioting between Arabs
and Jews during the crisis.

“It’s mind-boggling how
the Israelis deal with all this
adversity,” Ginsburg said. “They
are an incredible people.”
By the end of the trip, the
participants were no longer
in shock over the intractable
conflict. Instead, they were
hopeful about future relations
between the Jewish and
Arab citizens within Israel’s
borders. As Knesset members told
the group, the current body
AUGUST 26, 2021 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
has more Arab members, 14,
than any previous government.

“It was inspiring to see that
there is an effort to make sure
that everyone has a place
at the table,” Kestenbaum
noted. “It was inspiring to see that
there is an effort to make sure
that everyone has a place
at the table,” Kestenbaum
noted. In Lod, an Arab woman
named Lazinaty told them
that she was working to bring
Arabs and Jews together for
conversations. Lazinaty said
she was dismayed when
people in her tiny apartment
complex were lighting each
other’s cars on fire during the
conflict. “We don’t have a true
appreciation for
how devastating a conflict like
this is for the entire country,”
said Norry, who is co-chair of
the Jewish Federation’s board
of directors. “Everybody is
affected.” Savett, who is Jewish Fed-
eration’s campaign chair, said
that American Jews often for-
get, or don’t even realize in
the first place, that more than
20% of the Israeli population
is Arab. They live in the same
cities and towns as Israelis.

They are all citizens of Israel,
and they have a remarkable
ability to resume their lives
after days and weeks of rocket
fire. “People have the goal that
they should live peacefully
together,” Savett said. “Every-
one from Knesset members to
people in kibbutzim.”
Norry has been to Israel
more than 50 times. But this
trip left her with a better
feeling about the future than
any of her previous visits.

“Knowing that there’s a
coalition that’s more diverse
than ever is exciting,” Norry said.

“Including an Arab party.” l



local
Local Jewish Softball Leagues
Back in Play in 2021
M JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF playing since he was 4. He
gets to compete, high five,
uch like Major sweat and make fun of guys
League Baseball, who make bad plays. Plus,
the two
big since the Shir Ami team is 10-2
Jewish softball leagues in the going into the playoffs, Leon
Philadelphia area struggled to gets to win, too.

“Then we go out to eat, have
play a 2020 season.

Due to the pandemic, the a couple drinks and we go
Main Line Synagogue Softball home,” he said. “Then we do it
League finished a six-game all again the next week.”
The Main Line League has
regular season with no playoffs,
according to Commissioner teams from Montgomery,
Scott Waterman. The Delaware Delaware and Philadelphia
Valley Synagogue League counties. The Del Val League
didn’t even have a season, per stretches across similar
territory, just with Bucks
Commissioner Ken Sherman.

But in 2021, much like MLB, County replacing Delco.

Last year, both leagues
the middle-aged man pastime
faced the same issue into
is back in full.

The Main Line League has late-June: Suburban townships
11 teams, three more than wouldn’t open their fields. As
last year, playing a nine- the lockdown ended, with no
game season plus playoffs. vaccine yet available, the men
The Delaware Valley League could either risk COVID and
had 18-21 teams in a typical play with heavy restrictions,
season before 2020. This year, like masks and social
18 teams and more than 400 distancing in the bench area,
players agreed to come back or just not play.

Enough Main Line players
for a 12-game regular season
decided to play in a smaller
and playoff tournament.

Most of the players in eight-team league; while Del
both leagues are vaccinated, Val guys just scrapped the
according to the commissioners. season.

“If we could have a season
That’s why they agreed to
last year, we were going to
come back.

But that wasn’t the only have a season,” Waterman
reason. For middle-aged men said.

Sherman said that, even by
with careers, families and lives
filled with responsibilities, mid-summer, he didn’t have
playing softball on summer enough open fields to organize
nights as the weather cools off a full schedule.

On the Main Line, nobody
might just be heaven.

Todd Leon, 47, is the captain got sick in 2020, according to
of Del Val’s Shir Ami team out Waterman. In the Delaware
of Newtown. The insurance Valley, most of the players did
lawyer can’t even remember get sick ... with boredom.

By the winter, Del Val
how long he’s been playing in
players were blowing up
the league.

As he described the Sherman’s phone about the
experience, he gets to keep 2021 campaign.

“What are we going to
playing the game he’s been
PHOTO BY ERIC PATENT
The Delaware Valley Synagogue League is back this summer after a COVID-induced hiatus in 2020.

do?” he recalled. “They were
chomping at the bit.”
“I was getting texts
weekly,” Leon added. “When
are we going to start batting
practice?” Both leagues started
between April and early May
to allow more guys to get
vaccinated, according to the
commissioners. But once they
opened the season, it felt like
2019 again.

They were just a bunch of
middle-aged guys going out
and playing ball. Township
rules didn’t even require them
to wear masks or maintain
physical distances anymore.

“The world
changed quickly once the vaccinations
happened,” Sherman said.

“The idea that we’re able
to provide this activity is a
blessing.” With the playoffs coming up
in both leagues, it feels like
2019 in the standings, too.

Leon’s Shir Ami nucleus is
in its sixth or seventh year
together. Some of those guys
use bats with their names
engraved on them.

In other words, they are
serious. And in their 10-2
regular season, the Newtown
boys outscored opponents by
more than 100 runs. They enter
the eight-team playoff field as
the favorite to win the title.

On the Main Line, Beth
David Reform Congregation
in Gladwyne is going for its
15th championship in 16
years. Led by ace pitcher Rob
Pearlstein, the Beth David
team is undefeated going into
the postseason.

“His ball spins,” Waterman
said of Pearlstein.

More importantly, both
leagues are on solid footing
again. Waterman expects even
more players and teams to
sign up for 2022.

This middle-aged man
pastime dates back decades,
and now it looks likely to go
on for decades more.

Sherman, 61, a member
at Congregation Beth Or in
Ambler, went to the bar and
bat mitzvah celebrations of
his teammates’ children back
in the day. Now, Leon is doing
the same thing with his Shir
Ami teammates.

“Not only are the guys on my
team some of my best friends,
their wives have become some
of my wife’s closest friends,
too,” Leon said. l
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