MY URBAN KVETCH

Important: Rosh Hashanah Help for a Friend

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah (eve), I'm asking your help.

A friend of mine is going through cancer treatments and will not be able to attend services this year (crowds, and their accompanying germs are very dangerous for him because his immune system is repairing itself). He's found something for Yom Kippur. But he's still looking for something online, live streaming video, or the like that will enable him to feel like he's at shul, participating in the Rosh Hashanah service, even though he will be homebound. He understands that such services, if available, will likely be Conservative or Reform. But so far we've not been able to find anything for him for Rosh Hashanah.

Do you have anything to recommend? Organizations/rabbis/leaders to contact? Put them in the comments section, or email me at esther.kustanowitz at gmail dot com.

Let me know if you know of anything like this--it would be a real mitzvah.

Wishing us all health in the new year.

Save Darfur Rally in Central Park, Sunday 9/17

Next Sunday is a rally for Darfur in Central Park. I can't be there, but if you want information, you can download a flyer with complete information (Download flyer.pdf) and volunteer to help out through their website or by contacting the Save Darfur Coalition 646-624-5053 or email Aja@savedarfur.org.

Help Match Lindsey

From MatchLindsey.org:

Lindsey is a 26-year-old New York City law student who was diagnosed with leukemia in the spring of 2005. She needs a bone marrow stem cell transplant, and is looking for a donor. Lindsey is Jewish, and since tissue type is inherited, her best chance of finding a donor lies with recruiting as many volunteers of Eastern European Jewish descent as possible. But because the Holocaust destroyed so many Jewish bloodlines, identifying matches is very difficult.

If you haven't already been tested for a bone marrow match, there are a few options in the NY area next week.

	Wednesday. August 30th Thursday. August 31st 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Where:	Cardozo School of Law - map Lobby of Building
	55 Fifth Avenue (between 12th and 13th Street)
	New York, NY

If you can't attend the drive, but still want to be tested, please e-mail

admin@matchlindsey.org.

Plea for Help: Liver Transplant Needed

This is not a joke. This is not a hoax. This is a real person, a 31-year-old woman from Long Island, who is engaged to be married in October, and who led a 345-city tour to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation, whose liver suddenly failed this week, and who needs a complete liver transplant (Type A or O) to survive.

There are very few of us who might be able to help in finding a liver. But if you know someone who can help, contact liverforalife@yahoo.com or go to http://helpshari.typepad.com. Link to the blog, send emails to your friends, send notes of support to her friends and family (via the blog)--do whatever you can.

And if nothing else, pray.

(Cross-posted to Jewlicious and JDaters Anonymous)

Everyday Hero

I've known this hero since he was four years old. Rather, since we were both four years old. He's one of my oldest friends, and like a third brother to me...just wanted to share his inspiring story:

Thursday July 14th, I was heading south on Broadway towards the subway at 9:20 when a two-story wall of a building fell onto the sidewalk. The site was a two-story Gristedes supermarket that was being demolished to build a 40-story condo. The demolition began about one week ago, so scaffolding covered the sidewalk to protect pedestrians.

The entire street-front brick wall and the scaffolding crashed down onto the side-walk and innocent pedestrians. I was about 50 feet away from the site. As I was walking I blinked for a moment and suddenly heard the crash; I looked up and saw the terrible accident.

I ran to the site immediately. I threw off my blazer and surveyed the situation as some more citizens arrived to see what happened. As I looked down I saw an arm of an adult, wearing orange. Some people tried to lift the debris off the person, but I know there was too much to lift and pull a person out.

I yelled, "just clear the debris, throw it into the street." Within seconds we formed "pail-lines" and were removing debris from the site. Within minutes we pulled out a woman who screamed, "My baby, my baby."

I looked down and saw what was clearly the front wheel of a jogging-stroller. Someone who was standing on top of the debris yelled, "where is the baby?" I yelled back, "you are standing on it." People looked down as I pointed to the wheel. Despite what you read in the papers, there was a solid brick wall and scaffolding on top of this baby. I doubted there was anyway the baby could survive. We continued to clear the debris to reach the baby. We moved brick by brick, chunk by chunk. First we found another adult, in a "pocket." He was ok, and crawled out. We got to the baby and pulled out a flat, smushed stroller. I did not hear the baby crying; I was sure hope was lost.

But EMT was already there and, from what I hear in the news, resuscitated the baby. I want that brand of stroller for my child!

We continued to clear the debris because no one knew how many people could still be trapped. We found another adult past the infant, and people pulled this person out. By now police started to arrive, and, not knowing what to do, helped clear debris. Everything was frantic.

Eventually the fire department arrived with huge saws and chains. The Fire Dept cleared the civilians because, by now, we realized that we were working under exposed electricity and telephone wires.

I was dusty and dirty, but left the rest of the job to the professionals. I retrieved my blazer as I saw the lady in orange being loaded into an ambulance.

By the time I left the site there were news crews already there. I was interviewed by NY Times, 1010WINS, Ch2, 4,5,7 and CNN, among others. Article on some web sites say, "It was not immediately clear how the child was injured, officials said, but some debris spilled onto the
sidewalk and street. " Let me assure you. Nothing spilled into the street. It was a solid brick wall laying over that baby. I was told that some news sources say debris flew and hit the baby sitter in the shoulder; the baby sitter, turns out, was the first person we saved -she was buried all but her arm.

NY Times

CNN

Friday Night Lights

I’ve been posting fairly frequently on Jewlicious, a Jewish and Israel issues blog, where the discussions become vast and often heated. One recent post, which started as a report gleaned from the Jerusalem Post about the issue of pre-marital sex in the Orthodox community, has burgeoned into a 460+ comment post about whose Judaism is authentic. The discussion, which is usually pretty respectful even when divisive, has devolved into a shouting match over what true Judaism is, and what Jewish tradition encourages or discourages in terms of thoughts and approaches to modern life.

Because I’m also coming off of a weekend at the Jewlicious @ the Beach conference, a gathering of students from CA Hillels where I was part of a panel on the challenges of being female and Jewish, I found this particular comment resonant (although not in the way the author might have hoped):

It is important for a Jewish woman to light two candles on Friday night. Takes half a minute. This will make the world a better place…You can light candles every Friday even if you are not seeing anybody at all, and if you live alone. ) Even lighting once will make the world better. Lighting every week will REALLY make the world better.

Postings at Jewlicious

In case any of you were wondering what I've been posting about at Jewlicious, here's the rundown.

Brave New Blog; Nice Jewish Girl (a religious woman in her 30s who is "shomer negiah" [abstains from physical contact with the opposite sex] has started a blog about her struggles)

You Go, Yaldah (Orthodox girl founds new magazine for Jewish teenage girls)

Shmuley's Back! (Shmuley Boteach has a new book about America's hatred of women)

Come on over to Jewlicious. You know you want to.

What Insurance is For

Many of you may know that, until very recently, I was one of New York City's uninsured masses. My 18 months of COBRA from my last job had terminated, and I couldn't find the right insurance plan that would enable me to keep my doctors and not pay a jillion dollars a month in fees. So I kept looking. My parents--worrying about their daughter's life in the big city surrounded by evil subway staircases, slicks of black ice and airborne influenza molecules--were insistent, and kept bugging me to get insurance of some sort, any sort, that would help out in case of (God forbid it should happen at all) emergency.