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Pray for Peace
April 24, 2024
Happy Belated 80th Birthday
(March 31st) to one of our youngest classmates Pat Pandolfi-Cox
Pat and our youngest classmate Carolyn Nelson taken in August 2015..in the Patchogue area south of Montauk Highway
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From Doug Greener
Dear Family and Friends,
As you all know, Israel has been a different place since October 7 of last year. The shock of the attack, with its thousands of dead and wounded, has not worn off, rockets and missiles are being fired at Israel from the south and the north, soldiers are still fighting on at least three fronts, over 100,000 residents of the northern and southern borders are internal refugees, and over 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza. In addition, street demonstrations have returned with assorted pressure groups trying to pull the country in different directions.
Sure the mood is somber, and the Greener family is very much sharing this. But there are also occasions for national and family rejoicing that relieve the pressure and bring hope for a better future. Passover is one of those times. We will be gathering for the Seder at Eitan and Dalit's home in Tirat Carmel near Haifa. Trudy, Doug, Aharon and Melanie and their children, Dalit's mother Lily, Lily's sister and her family. Seventeen people in all.
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Ami will not be joining us. He is in Washington, DC, while May is in Thailand visiting her parents. And that is the big news! Ami and May got married in October. It was in the DC Superior Court, while the whole family participated on Zoom. Ami is continuing with his work as a tour guide in Washington, giving many different tours in Hebrew and English (https://www.facebook.com/HebrewDC), keeping very busy and waiting for the arrival of more Israeli tourists to Washington. He also just completed a contract with the State Department Foreign Service Institute teaching Hebrew and Israeli history. May will be returning to Washington shortly, where she will pursue her further education.
Aharon and Melanie and their three kids are living in Modi'in. Melanie's mother Joyce was in Israel for the Jewish Holidays back in September and October. Her flights back home were cancelled when the war began, but the Canadian government organized flights out of Israel for its citizens. Melanie took the opportunity to fly to Montreal with the children, where she stayed for a month before returning to Israel.
Aharon has recently become exempt from reserve army duty, but he found other ways to pitch in. He volunteers in the Modi'in city guard to keep the streets safe, and he has gone to help farmers harvest their crops when their foreign workers left, or the Palestinian workers could not enter Israel. On these volunteer harvests, he was accompanied by Doug and sometimes Trudy and/or Amitai and Yadin.
He continues to work on various archaeology projects and is re-inventing his old company "Dig the Past," all the while searching for a more permanent position.
Melanie is continuing work at the New Israel Fund as the Director of Writing. They are heavily involved with helping the many evacuees, families of the bereaved and hostages still in Gaza.
The children are all facing changes for the next school year.
Amitai (15) is entering high school in the tenth grade. He has chosen to major in Computer Science and Biology. He is continuing to be part of his advanced swimming team, and finds time to play soccer with his friends.
Yadin (11) will be starting junior high (seventh grade), and will go to a class for gifted children. He is continuing his enrichment program instead of regular school one day a week. This semester, the subjects include Nuclear Chemistry, Origami, and Arts. Yadin reads continually, mostly adventures and magical realism, and has become an avid basketball player. Both boys love watching and discussing sports with their uncles.
The youngest is Maya, who is now five and will be starting kindergarten. Maya loves to draw and build, and also likes to hear stories. She is curious and social, and is learning her letters in Hebrew and English. During her short stay in Montreal, Maya went to Gan Rimon in a Jewish day school. She loves to have sleep-overs at Grandpa and Savta in Jerusalem. She is excited to start kindergarten next year at a new school.
When the war started, Eitan was called into the reserves but was allowed to serve in his regular job: The only chemical engineer on an army base dedicated to repairing and refurbishing military vehicles. He works long hours due to the high demand because of the war. He still finds time to exercise at the gym and spend time with his twin sons, Yahav and Lotan.
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Dalit is continuing as a teacher at the Ruppin Academic Center School of Nursing, while also working on her Ph.D. thesis on geriatrics at Haifa University.
Six-year-old Yahav and Lotan are in the middle of first grade and are acing it! They are in different classes, being separated perhaps for the first time in their lives. They grew up speaking Hebrew and understanding English, but have recently started answering in English – to the great delight of Grandpa Doug and Savta Trudy. They have started to read, and especially enjoy Math and English, which is now being taught in the first grade. Lotan was the outstanding pupil in these subject in his class.
Back in Jerusalem, Trudy underwent a full mastectomy in September. It was her third operation in a year. Her physical recovery is going very well, and she is back to her regular volunteering activities, even adding an Israeli dance class to the mix. She is also busy with some private editing work. She hopes to start doing more for the evacuees who have been living in Jerusalem these last months.
Doug keeps a schedule of writing on Israeli beer for his blog (now on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027317781778) and in The Jerusalem Post, while also serving his advertising and direct mail clients. The other daylight hours are taken up by reading, listening to music, exercising and jogging, shopping in the market, meeting friends for food and beer, corresponding, and visiting the families. From time to time, there are also beer-tasting sessions with his wonderful Israel Brews And Views Tasting Team.
He has also begun to write more on other subjects that are important to him: Political and security, vegetarianism and animal welfare.
It's striking to see the themes of Passover so alive at this time. "In every generation, there arises someone to destroy us." The Hamas and Hizballah terrorists and their Iranian backers have tried and are still trying to so this. Anti-semites and Islamists around the world are emboldened to join them. "Let my people go – from slavery to liberation." There are still more than hundred captives, alive or dead, being held in Gaza tunnels. The evacuees from border cities and towns are still waiting for peaceful conditions that will allow them to return home.
But the message of the Haggadah and the holiday is that there will be peace and redemption! So today we wish all of our family and friends a wonderful holiday and an enjoyable springtime to follow. May we all hear good news, and soon!
Happy Passover!
חג פסח כשר ושמח!
Doug
Trudy
Amiel
May
Aharon
Melanie
Amitai
Yadin
Maya
Eitan
Dalit
Yahav
Lotan
April 20, 2024
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Sad to report that our Classmate Antoinette (Toni) Salometo passed away on January 27, 2024 Toni's yearbook photo will be moved to the
"Gone but not Forgotten" page.
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These two guys got together today for dinner
in Oxford, CT
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Harvey Pearlstein and Bob Levine have
been friends since 1957
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March 13, 2024
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LONG ISLAND, NY, has a population of about 7.7 million in its 118 mile length from New York Harbor to its eastern terminus on the Atlantic Ocean at Montauk Point. It is about 28 miles in width from Long Island Sound on the north to the Atlantic Ocean on the south. Its western end includes the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. When Long Island is defined it generally excludes the Queens and Brooklyn sections of New York City. Long Island's political divisions consist of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, 11 towns and 109 villages -- all with their own administrations. The area has had an historical past from the arrival of the first settlers. Here are interesting facts:
Mastic was the home of William Floyd, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Long Island's
Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk is the site of the oldest cattle ranch in America, built in 1658, and birthplace of the American cowboy
The Lighthouse at Montauk became NY's first coastal beacon in 1796.
The first radio transmission, by wireless inventor Guglielmo Marconi, was in 1901 on Fire Island Avenue in Babylon
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, as he embarked on the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
America's first supermarket, King Kullen, started on Long Island in 1930.
Levittown, the first suburbia in the U.S., was built on Long Island in 1947.
The Lunar Module which landed men on the moon in 1969, was built on Long Island by the Grumman Corp.
The only working water mill and windmill in the US are located in the Long Island community of Water Mill.
Richard Nixon's deceased dog Checkers is buried at Long Island's Bide-a-Wee Pet Cemetery.
When the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, it became the first land -transport route between Long Island and mainland USA. Before that, the only way to travel between the two was by boat.
Long Island was sculpted by melted glaciers, which is why there is a clear difference between the hilly North Shore and the flat South Shore of Long Island.
Long Island is the most populated island in the United States and the
17th most populated island in the world. Interesting fact: Long Island is more populated than the entire country of Jamaica and of Ireland!
If Long Island was its own state, it would rank 12th in terms of population.
Robert Moses creation of a cars-only parkway system created the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects and urban planners across the nation
The North Shore is known for its large mansions, exclusive vacationing, and rich history of its affluent citizens and architecture. The South Shore hosts more entertainment and sports venues together with Atlantic Ocean beaches such as Jones Beach.
The largest industrial park in the US is located on Long Island - The Hauppauge Industrial Park which houses 1,300 companies and employs more than 55,000 people.
Together Nassau and Suffolk counties' nearly 180 fire agencies possess more fire trucks than New York City and Los Angeles County combined.
Suffolk County is the leading agricultural county in New York State based on the wholesale value of its farm products.
More 7-Eleven coffee is purchased on Long Island than in all of California.
George Washington commissioned the Montauk Lighthouse so that the ships coming in from Europe could identify the Atlantic Ocean from the Long Island Sound.
Fire Island got its name in the 17th century when it built fires to identify the coastline to the ships in the ocean.
After World War II, the Japanese were nationalized and able to fly to just 5 places in the country with Idlewild Airport (JFK International) being one, which is why Canon, Nikon and Olympus located their corporate offices there.
The Town of Hempstead with 800,000 residents is the largest township in the country, larger than Boston, San Francisco and Baltimore.
The Nassau and Suffolk population is greater than 20 of 50 states.
Hicksville was the original home of Fudpucker World Airlines, the Worlds only steam powered Airline.
Long Island is the largest college "town" in the US with 175,000 students registered in 21 colleges.
Long Island has the highest level of volunteerism in the world.
March 1, 2024
LEVITTOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
We're shining the spotlight on a remarkable individual who's been a cornerstone of our community and business landscape - Louise Cassano, the dynamic force behind LuCas Communications. Celebrating 30 years of innovation in the communications industry, Louise's journey from insurance broker and award-winning reporter to a thriving business owner and artist is truly inspiring.
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A proud resident of Levittown since 1951, Louise's deep roots in the community and her involvement in the Levittown Chamber of Commerce for over 30 years have made her a familiar face, contributing significantly as President, Board officer, and Director.
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Louise's transition to her dream profession as an artist marks a new chapter in her illustrious career. Her latest venture, Art Works by Louise Cassano, combines her passion for art and communication, offering a unique blend of creativity and community spirit.
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Discover more about Louise's artistic journey and visit her online galleries:
Etsy: ArtWorx Fine Art: https://www.etsy.com/shop/artworxfineart/
Blog: Fine Art by Louise: https://fineartbylouise.wordpress.com/
Facebook: Artworx by Louise Cassano: https://www.facebook.com/artworx.louisecassano/.
As a dedicated member of the Levittown community, Louise has played a pivotal role in events like the Chamber’s Holiday Tree Lighting and has been a beacon of leadership and service through various community and arts organizations.
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Louise's accolades, including the Nassau Council of Chambers Small Business Person award and the New York State Assembly’s Woman of Distinction award, are a testament to her impact and dedication.
In Levittown, chances are, whether you look to your left or right, you’ll find the indomitable spirit of Louise Cassano. Let's celebrate her achievements and contributions to our community!
#LevittownChamber #BusinessSpotlight #LouiseCassano #CommunityHero #Artist #Communicator #LevittownPride
February 21, 2024 - New phone number (805-585-7377) for Gino Lynch. His brother Robert set up service for him. Gino would love to hear from all his classmates - please remember he is in the Pacific time zone. I will add the number to his "YearBook" Photo
February 9, 2024 - New home address for Frank Curtin on his YearBook Photo. Photo posted in "The Way We Were Then"
February 1, 2024
A new painting by one of our very talented classmates Gino Lynch
January 11, 2024 - An addition/revision from Doug Greener
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My long-awaited article on "How Israeli Craft Breweries Responded to the War" was published in The Jerusalem Post Magazine. I put on my journalist hat and interviewed eight brewers who delivered beer to soldiers and evacuees from the border areas, opened up their facilities for selling farm produce, struggled to keep their breweries opened and running when they were called-up, and even went to pick fruit along the Gaza border.
Here is the link to the article on The Jerusalem Post online edition:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-779134
If you're interested in keeping up with the Israeli craft beer scene, please "Follow" and "Like" my blog on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Israel-Brews-and-Views/100027317781778/
January 7, 2024 - Received from Doug Greener
My long-awaited article on "How Israeli Craft Breweries Responded to the War" was published in The Jerusalem Post Magazine. I put on my journalist hat and interviewed eight brewers who delivered beer to soldiers and evacuees from the border areas, opened up their facilities for selling farm produce, struggled to keep their breweries opened and running when they were called-up, and even went to pick fruit along the Gaza border.
I published the same article on my blog, Israel Brews and Views, and you can read it by clicking on the link below. While you're on my blog, please sign up for free updates by putting you e-mail address in the little rectangle on the right side and pressing "Subscribe." I would also appreciate if you share it on your own social media.
I'm trying again to publicize my posts and articles via e-mail since Facebook is becoming more unreliable and unwieldy. Zuckerberg & Co. decide whether your posts are worthy and who gets to see them, surrounded by advertisements that may you despise. Let's see how the reception is with e-mail.
In the meantime, may 2024 bring us better tidings that 2023, an unconditional victory for the good guys, the complete destruction of Hamas, healing of bodies and souls, and a return to unity.
Together, we will win!
ביחד × × ×¦×—!