eretz Autism Aids Israeli soldiers work to provide helpful apps for autistic people. LEFT: IDF soldiers help create apps for people with autism. JADE ALEXANDRE TIMES OF ISRAEL S of poor quality due to costly budget issues.” The project also helped OFEK soldiers meet the three goals they abide by: “net- working, working better together and contributing to society,” Gurevich said. “This is important for our soldiers as it allows us to put our knowledge into practice, all while continuing to learn at the same time, creating a lasting legacy of productive work.” Gurevich said the 24-hour time frame “provides an indication of how quickly we can respond to a need through tech- nology.” Prior to the hackathon, ALUT organized several meetings in which therapists, specialists and psychologists educated the soldiers and volunteers about autism and the challenges of both the children and their parents. They introduced some 100 different chal- PHOTO COURTESY CENTER FOR JEWISH ART/HEBREW UNIVERSITY oldiers, parents of autistic children, high school students and random volunteers joined forces in Tel Aviv recently to make life easier for people with autism and their caregivers. Some 85 people took part in a 24-hour hackathon organized by OFEK, the com- puting unit of the IAF. Held jointly with ALUT, the Israel Society for Autistic Children, people worked in groups to put innovation in the service of disabil- ity by creating an app or computer pro- gram for the benefit of the children. “Until recently, the only treatment available for autistic children and adults in Israel was admission into a psychi- atric hospital,” said Arkady Gurevich, chairman of the OFEK Alumni Association. “Even the necessary equip- ment or tools required to diagnose a patient as autistic are minimal or ABOVE: Great (Hagdola) Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, early 18th century. T he Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem launched the world’s largest online database of Jewish art. The Bezalel Narkiss Index lenges in total, out of which ALUT chose 13. OFEK then divided participants into 13 groups, each tackling one task. The blank facial expression is a typi- cal issue for autistic people who do not know how to show facial expressions when they are happy, mad or sad. The condition makes communication between autistic individuals and their caregivers extremely difficult as the facial expressions are impossible to read. One group tackled this challenge by creating an app that aims to teach the autistic person how to express their feelings. The app displays an image of a smiling face and asks the person to imitate it. Then the app does the same for other feelings. The app monitors the expressions of the users to give them feedback if they are doing it correctly of Jewish Art is a collection of digitized images and information about Jewish artifacts from all over the world. The online collec- tion includes more than 260,000 images of objects and artifacts from 700 museums, synagogues and private collections in 41 dif- ferent countries, as well as archi- tectural drawings of 1,500 syna- gogues and Jewish ritual buildings from antiquity to the modern day. The public can access the Bezalel Index of Jewish Art (http://cja. huji.ac.il/browser.php) and search more than a quarter of a million images, with accompanying details and descriptions, either by simple keyword search, or according to or not. Navigation is another issue that bur- dens both people with autism and their caregivers. It is common for autistic persons going out in a group to want to wander off on their own. The navigation tools and apps now available are com- plex to use. One group aimed at simplifying the cur- rent tools by creating a GPS built-in wear- able device for the autistic person. The device would then be linked to an app so that if one leaves the group’s perimeters, the instructor would get an immediate update on where the person is. “While the project took place in the form of a competition, the real prize was to bring attention to the autistic community of Israel and eventually develop what could be life changing technology for many,” Gurevich said. • such categories as iconographical subject, origin, artist, object, com- munity, collection or location. The Center for Jewish Art is the world’s foremost institution dedicated to the preservation of the Jewish artistic heritage. The center’s activities include documentation, research, education and publishing. The digitization of the Center for Jewish Art archives became possible in the framework of a joint project with the National Library of Israel and Judaica Division of Harvard University Library. Among the many funders is the local Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation. It was gener- ously funded by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, “Landmarks” Program of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Judaica Book Fund endow- ments established by David B. Keidan (Harvard), as well as by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation, Mrs. Josephine Urban and Mr. William Gross. The Israeli government recog- nized the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art as a non-tangible national heritage in 2012, and it is today considered the most com- prehensive database of Jewish art in the world, existing as a virtual museum available to all. • My name is Fred S. Findling. I am a Holocaust survivor. I wrote a book about my life and experiences titled “Siegfried The Dragon Slayer”. It is available on Amazon for $12.95. 2187350 32 August 17 • 2017 jn This photo of me was taken in Southern France in 1940, during World War II. I speak twice per month at the Holocaust Memorial Center on Orchard Lake Rd. in Farmington Hills.