arts & entertainment

Madame Ambassador

Sally Oren to speak at Hadassah Opening Meeting.

Suzanne Chessler
I Contributing Writer

0

n a rainstorm-swept August
morning in Michigan, when a
temporary cease-fire seemed to
be calming the afternoon skies over Israel,
Sally Oren spoke by phone
with the Detroit Jewish
News.
The wife of Michael
Oren — Israeli ambas-
sador to the United States
from 2009-2013 — was
anticipating her visit
as guest speaker at the
opening meeting of the
Greater Detroit Chapter
of Hadassah, which will
feature many boutiques as
part of the event.
"Washington Wife:
Sally Oren
The Complexities and
Privileges of Israel's
Madame Ambassador in America's
Capital" will be Oren's topic on Tuesday,
Sept. 9, at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield.
"I would like the world to know that
Israel and its army have behaved in a
greater and deeper humanitarian way than

any army in history" she explained as a
communications priority.
"More than any other army, Israel has
gone out of its way to avoid civilian casual-
ties by dropping fliers, phoning and email-
ing to tell people to leave certain areas that
were going to be bombed.
"The deaths would
not be disproportionate
(with the loss of much
fewer Israelis) if Hamas
did not use its people as
shields. Instead of build-
ing homes, hospitals,
schools and shelters for
their people, Hamas has
been building terror
tunnels and investing in
armaments"
Oren, who grew up
in the United States,
will center her talk on
current commitments,
diplomatic experiences
and family. A life member of Hadassah,
she follows the organizational interests of
her mother and grandmother.
Young relatives have told Oren about the
Detroit Metro area. Two nephews attended
the University of Michigan, and a cousin,
Nadav Goren, is marrying Susan Goldis,

who still has family in Oakland County
and will be seeing Oren at the wedding
being held in California shortly before the
Hadassah presentation.
Oren, in her 60s, shows a sense of
humor when recalling her teenage connec-
tions to rock bands (as a young woman,
she was close to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan,
Jerry Garcia and Jim Morrison), a subject
that also will be part of the speech she pre-
viewed for the JN.

JN: What will Hadassah members in

Michigan learn about you?

SO: I'm going to discuss my life — how
it was that I came to Israel from San
Francisco, how I met my husband and how
together we went on this incredible jour-
ney. I will talk about our three children,
and I will tell about some very painful
moments.

JN: How did your current involvement
with Hadassah come about?
SO: It started with my relationship with

Irene Pollin, who has the international
organization Sister to Sister, a program
teaching heart-health awareness to
women. I got very close to her while I was
in Washington, and she mentioned want-
ing to do something in Israel.

My immediate thought was to connect
her with Hadassah because of the organi-
zation's women's health centers. Through
these connections, she decided to donate a
good amount of money to open a women's
cardiovascular-health center at Hadassah
Hospital and wanted me to be on the advi-
sory board.

IN: What other commitments do you
have?

SO: I'm working with IsraAid, which does
humanitarian and disaster relief all over the
world. People from IsraAid were the first on
the ground in Haiti, and I actually visited
and worked on programs in Japan and in
the Philippines. I was in Jordan doing work
with the Syrian refugees.
I've also been working with Montessori
education and have been trying to help
establish bilingual Montessori schools in
Israel. I'm on the advisory council of the
Batsheva Dance Company (Oren concen-
trated in Near Eastern Studies and dance
at the University of California Berkeley.)
It's all volunteer work.

JN: What does your husband do now?
SO: He is no longer connected with the
government and is his own spokesperson.
Ambassador on page 60

Jews

Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

Emmy Time
The Primetime Emmy Awards, for

excellence in television, airs at 8 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 25, on NBC. Seth Meyers
hosts. Here are the confirmed Jewish
nominees in selected categories:
Acting: lead actress, comedy series
– Lena Dunham, 28, Girls; lead actress,
drama series – Lizzy Caplan, 32,
Masters of Sex, and

Julianna Margulies,
48, The Good Wife;

supporting actress,
comedy series –
Mayim Bialik, 38,

The Big Bang Theory;

Caplan

best supporting
actor, drama series

– Josh Charles, 42,
The Good Wife, and Mandy Patinkin,
61, Homeland; best guest actress –
Natasha Lyonne, 35, Orange Is the New
Black.
Writing: comedy series – David
Crane, 57, Episodes, and Jenji Kohan,
48, Orange Is the New Black; drama
series – David Benioff, 43, and D.B.
Weiss, 43, Game of Thrones; minise-

ries or TV movie – Brad Falchuk, 42,
American Horror Story: Coven, and
Larry Kramer, 79, The Normal Heart;

variety series (three of the six nomi-
nated variety series have a Jewish star
who also co-writes the show) – Jon
Stewart, 51, The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart; Carrie Brownstein, 39,
Portlandia; and Amy Schumer, 33,

Inside Amy Schumer.

Emmys for outstanding series in
individual categories go to the series'
many producers (the shows' creators
are almost always producers, too). The
following all have a Jewish creator or
co-creator: best comedy series – Chuck
Lorre, 66, and Detroit native Bill Prady,
54, The Big Bang Theory; and Jenji

Kohan, Orange Is the
New Black; best drama
series – David Benioff
and D.B. Weiss,
Game of Thrones, and
Matthew Weiner, 49,
Mad Men; best variety
series – Jon Stewart,
The Daily Show with
Prady
Jon Stewart; best
miniseries – Brad
Falchuk, American Horror Story: Coven,
and David Simon, 53, Treme; best TV

movie – Larry Kramer, The Normal
Heart, and Shawn Slovo (writer), 64,
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight.

Movie/TV Notes
Matthew Weiner, 49, of Mad Men fame,

is debuting as a feature-film director
with Are You Here, a comedy he also
wrote, which opens Friday, Aug. 22,
at the AMC Livonia-20 (it also will be
available on VOD).
Steve (Owen Wilson) and Ben (Zach
Galifiankis) co-star as friends who
return to Ben's hometown after the
death of Ben's estranged father. Ben
is shocked to discover he's inherited
the family fortune. Dueling him and
Steve for the dough are Ben's sister
(Amy Poehler) and Ben's father's young
widow (Laura Ramsey).
The film was produced by Hollywood-
based Gilbert Films, a company founded
and headed up by
Southfield native and
U-M grad Gary Gilbert

(Garden State, The
Kids Are Alright), 50.
His brother is Dan
Gilbert, 52, founder

Gary Gilbert

and chairman of
Detroit-based Quicken

Loans.
The new cable show Celebrity
Legacies now airing on the Reelz cable
channel at 10 p.m. Tuesdays and 4 p.m.
Sundays, features Andy and Danielle
Mayoras, estate attorneys from Troy,
who were picked by the producers to
provide expert commentary about
dozens of contentious celebrity court
cases. The 26-episode series includes a
look at the estates of Elizabeth Taylor
and Aaron Spelling.

Ironic, Nu?

Robin Williams, who died on Aug.11 at
age 63, was the son of an Episcopalian
father and a Christian Scientist mother,
but often referred to himself as an
"honorary Jew."
He dropped Yiddishisms into his com-
edy routines, tweeted out that he went
to 13 bar mitzvahs during eighth grade
while growing up in Detroit, called
Steven Spielberg every day during pro-
duction of Schindler's List to cheer him
up and starred in the 1999 film Jakob
the Liar as a resident of a Nazi ghetto.
Actress Lauren Bacall, who died on
Aug.12 at the age of 89, was born as
Betty Joan Perske to two Jewish par-
ents, who divorced when she was very

Celebrity Jews on page 61

58

August 21 • 2014