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Old Man Winter — Time To Go

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awaiting his arrival in a few
sn’t it crazy how spring offi-
short weeks. And why wouldn’t
cially started a month ago
they be? Winter Down Under is
and we’re still getting win-
nothing like the bone-numbing
ter storm warnings? Winter
freeze we get over here.
this year is like that annoying
Once, on a trip to visit my
guest who has clearly over-
family in Australia, I was look-
stayed his welcome and even
ing for some fun touristy things
as you’re physically pushing
Rochel Burstyn
to do with my kids and stopped
him out the door, he keeps
in at a visitors’ center to ask for
turning back and re-entering
recommendations. The woman
with “just one more thing,”
there enthusiastically began
hanging out in the foyer,
to describe a place — just a
talking and talking while
you’re just trying to hand him his coat, three-hour drive — that the kids would
smiling through gritted teeth and hop- surely love: one of the few places in
ing you’re not appearing like an ungra- Australia that gets snow. Apparently,
thousands of locals travel yearly to see
cious host. Because seriously, can’t he
what we here in Michigan get annually
just go already?!
by the bucket loads.
It’s well into April and while spring
When I returned to Detroit, I was
did make a brief appearance for a few
days, Old Man Winter’s still here, hang- sure I’d have a whole new apprecia-
ing out, feet up on the coffee table, still tion for snow as I thought of all those
Australians driving with fighting kids
too comfortable.
in the back seat for three hours …
And it’s not like he doesn’t have any-
and I totally did. I think it lasted, oh,
where else to go either. If he doesn’t
about five minutes … until I headed
watch it, he might be late for the
to my driveway, clumps of snow fall-
next stop on his calendar. Those in
ing into my boots with every step and
the southern hemisphere are eagerly

brushed the snow off my car windows
with frozen fingers while my kids
bickered inside the warming-up car.
Yeah. We all know the drill. Fun.
So, it’s April and we’ve still got rain
and ice.
Maybe Old Man Winter has a hard
time leaving because of his advanced
age. Or maybe it’s something to do
with being male … and winter is
definitely male! Old Man Winter. Jack
Frost. SnowMAN. I mean, this season
is definitely leaving the toilet seat up!
So, I reckon the old man just prob-
ably fell asleep.
I recently saw a similar gender-
stereotyping meme (ask your favorite
teen how to pronounce that). It said:
“Mother Nature apologizes for the
late arrival of spring. Father Time was
driving and refused to stop and ask
for directions.”
Hopefully, it’ll leave sooner than
soon so we can all have a nice day
instead of an ice day! •

guest column

Th e Easiest Way To Support Israeli Charities

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very year in April, Americans
complete their taxes, which
include for many, lists of dona-
tions to tax-exempt charitable orga-
nizations. As an American Jew, my
wife and I know and
support great chari-
ties for Israel, such as
AFMDA (American
Friends of Magen
David Adom) and
FIDF (Friends of the
IDF.) But I had often
wondered, what
Arnie Goldman
about the other
excellent charities in
Israel that are virtu-
ally unknown in the
U.S.? How do they survive and how
can we support them?
How many American Jews have ever
heard of Shai Asher (Milton’s Gift), an
Israeli charity that provides meaning-
ful employment and career training
for people with disabilities?
I doubt if many Americans were
aware of Jeremy’s Circle in Tel Aviv, an
organization that supports children
living with cancer in the family, or

Sulam L’Atid, a charitable organization
in Jerusalem that helps impoverished
Israeli high school students advance to
higher education by giving them free
tutorials along with economic support
for their families. How do these out-
standing charitable organizations in
Israel survive?
Many American Jews would like to
support Israel’s charitable organiza-
tions, but few know them and, until
now, had no easy way to contribute.
Large foundations and federations are
great, but they simply can’t represent
everyone’s values and their ideals for
Israel.
Now there is internet technology
to help us do better. Today, there is
Cause:Isreal (causeisrael.org), which lets
each person or family have a chance to
support Israel in one’s own way. You can
now donate every month to any of doz-
ens of outstanding Israeli charities.

PERSONALIZED GIVING
Cause:Israel allows you to pick the
organization you want, and it only
includes organizations in Israel that
have been thoroughly vetted by

known, respected and trusted orga-
nizations such as Midot, the Good
People Fund or the Jewish Community
Foundation of Los Angeles. It has
developed a unique algorithm that
takes into account your preferred
causes and the history of your picks,
and checks out what’s trending within
the Cause:Israel community. Based on
these factors, it chooses three orga-
nizations to send you every month.
Then you pick the one that receives
your tax-deductible contribution.
You can click to see more than the
top three nonprofits for that month
and pick a different organization that
speaks to you. You can also go into
your preferences and change the types
of causes you care about, such as pov-
erty and the needy, security and IDF
or education, and then the system will
recalculate the best picks for you. If
you aren’t able to find an organization
you want to support, you can contact
support@causeisrael.org.
Cause: Israel is the brainchild of Dr.
Amir Give’on, who developed the Jewish
crowdfunding site, Jewcer. Give’on is a
mechanical and aerospace engineer,

My Story

Marla Mendelson came to
Hebrew Free Loan a few years ago
when she was looking for help to
pay fees for a divorce attorney.
“They were kind and empathetic,
but they didn’t fund my loan. After
the initial disappointment wore off,
I heard the rest of their message,”
Marla said. “It wasn’t a flat ‘no,’ it
was ‘we want you to establish
yourself and take step one on your
own. Do that, and if you need us,
come back and we’ll help you with
step two.’ That was actually very
wise advice, because the amount
wasn’t that great, and I proved to
myself that I could do it on my own.”
Marla moved forward, establishing
her life as a single parent and the
owner of Hello Marla Ice Cream.
Marla has the only permit in West
Bloomfield to sell ice cream in
neighborhoods, and at sports parks,
food truck rallies, parties and events.
“Hebrew Free Loan kept their
word,” Marla said. “I came back
and they helped me each time. My
daughter is graduating from college,
in part thanks to the William
Davidson Jewish College Loan
Program. I’m renovating a house,
and they helped with that. When
I’m done there, I want to put more
ice cream trucks on the road, and
expand my business. I got into the
ice cream business almost by acci-
dent, but I truly love it. Each year, I
can’t wait for the weather to
change, so I can get out on the road.
An ice cream truck just makes people
happy.
“HFL is like a golden ticket. They
were one hundred percent in my
corner, and now I’m happy, too.”

Click. Call. Give Now.
www.hfldetroit.org
248.723.8184

Health. A fresh start.
A good education.
The next great business idea.

Hebrew Free Loan gives interest-
free loans to members of our
community for a variety of
personal and small business
needs. HFL loans are funded
entirely through community
donations which continually
recycle to others, generating
many times the original value
to help maintain the lives of
local Jews.

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

@HFLDetroit

continued on page 6

jn

April 19 • 2018

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