December 23, 2009 by Baruch.

I want to give you something to discuss.   During Hanukkah I went to Tucson for a purpose, namely, to present an award to two men who are doing some important and exciting work that offers a real and unique value to humanity in general and to the Jewish people in particular.  They are scientists.  Their field is genetics, specifically DNA.  They can trace the human race back to one original mother and father somewhere in Africa — Adam and Eve, if you will.  One of them proved that a certain woman was not who she claimed to be — Anastasia, daughter of the last Czar of Russia.  The other was one of those who isolated the genome that identifies Kohanim, the descendants of Aaron the first High Priest, Moses’ brother.  Now working together they launched the DNA Shoah project, with the purpose of reuniting families that were torn apart by the Holocaust.    They seek DNA samples from survivors and children of survivors so they can build a data base, essential to matching any of us with long lost kin.  Visit their website, www.dnashoah.org and learn more about this wonderful program.  We were proud to be able to present its authors Syd Mandelbaum and Dr. Michael Hammer with the 2009 Cohon Award, named for my parents of blessed memory, Rabbi Samuel S. Cohon and A. Irma Cohon.  And thereby hangs another website, www.cohonaward.com   Another chance to join in making these awards that encourage valuable work in many fields.

I hope to hear from some of you that you used this opportunity to locate members of your own family!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

December 13, 2009 by Baruch.

Checking out the history of the Nobel Peace Prize, you will find that in the 103 years since the first one was awarded, 15 Americans won.  Some were diplomats like Elihu Root, Frank Kellogg, Ralph Bunche or George Marshall.  Others range from a scientist like Linus Pauling to clergymen like John Mott of the YMCA or Martin Luther King Jr.  Just four were presidents of the United States, and a contrasting group they are.   Winner of the very first Peace Prize was Teddy Roosevelt, the intrepid Rough Rider and “bully” head of state who negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1906.  That was a peace that lasted nearly 40 years.  In 1919 a quiet academic named Woodrow Wilson won for founding the League of Nations, an achievement that looked truly noble (not Nobel) at the time, even though it crumbled barely two decades later.    No other U.S. president won until 2002 when they gave it to Jimmy Carter who never succeeded at anything except building homes for the needy, a worthy achievement but hardly Peace Prize class.  We won’t count the 2007 honoree, Al Gore who thought he should be president but didn’t quite make it.  And now comes 2009 and Barack Hussein Obama, who did nothing to earn the prize before it was awarded, and now accepts it while escalating a war.   Is the Nobel Committee serious?  Apparently they are.  Somewhere along the line they decided to use the Peace Prize as a political statement.  After all, they honored Arafat, a terrorist and liar who robbed his own people, to make a political statement, namely that they were accepting the Arab line about “Palestinians” being a nation.  They honored Gore for losing to Bush.  And now they honor Obama for nothing except for not being Bush.  Let’s face it — I have no chance to be nominated for a Nobel.      Thank G-d!  If they offered it to me I couldn’t accept such a polluted prize.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

December 10, 2009 by Baruch.

Frequently I get humorous emails from friends of my generation, about our diminishing faculties — like memory that fails us, hearing loss that confuses us, fading eyesight, and of course that sorely missed activity called sex.  Well, I tell them, I tried it both ways.  I’ve been young, and I’ve been old, and I came to a definite conclusion:  young is better.  But when it comes to advancing years, you know the alternative to growing old — and no contest there.  Growing old wins.  Or does it?  If the individual involved is fighting a painful physical condition, or a mind so demented that it cannot communicate with other human beings, is growing old worth the trouble?  Enter total misery.  Enter prayers for deliverance.   Enter physician assisted suicide.   Our society debates that idea, vociferously and validly.  After all, medical science does make groundbreaking new discoveries that could — and do — give us additional welcome and productive years.  We should not give up.  Tired as these words may sound, they still have meaning: where there’s life there’s hope.  Above all, whatever problems we face, we need to believe they can be solved.  That’s what we pray for, three times a day in Judaism: “Heal us, G-d, and we shall be healed.”  Look at life expectancy today as compared with a century ago.  And then look at the malach-hamovves (the angel of death) and laugh: “On your way, fella.  I’m not ready for you yet.”  Remember, laughter can indeed be the best medicine.  So zy gezunt — be well!  

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »