Cindy Minetti, JFS Director; Gail Osnos, Family Support Coordinator; & Sue Charlip, Office Coordinator

Gulf Coast’s JFS Family Support Services provides a safety net for Jewish individuals and families of Pinellas and Pasco counties during times of need. This includes linking the person with needed services and providing emergency support for shelter, in-home care, crisis financial aid, medicine, and food. Jewish communal staff work very closely with referral sources including all local Rabbis, synagogues, Philip Benjamin Tower, JCC, Federation, and other Jewish organizations to ensure JFS is providing the services most needed in the community.

Clients often write notes to let us know how they are doing. “I must say the amount of generosity is so unbelievable…the assistance was more than anyone could ask for and receive…” from a recent client note.

In addition to emergency financial support, Family Support Services has a Food Pantry with both Kosher and basic food items available to Jewish individuals and families. Throughout the year, donated non-perishable food is collected from the local community. If you or someone you know needs support services, or if you want to volunteer with us, contact Gail Osnos, Family Support Coordinator, at 727-479-1806.

This program is made possible thanks to a grant by the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties. We support the Federation’s principle of Klal Yisrael and the importance of support of the Federation Annual Champaign.

NEWS RELEASE

The year 2013 is the 70th Anniversary of the Uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto. A newly released film “Never Forget to Lie” will be shown on PBS, please check your local listings. http://video.pbs.org/video/2364991369

The subject of the film are children holocaust survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto. This critically-acclaimed film by director Marian Marzynski, addresses his own wartime childhood experiences as well as that of other child survivors, including Edward and Halina Herman. The film explores childhood feelings about Poland, the Catholic Church, and the ramifications of identities forged under circumstances where survival began with the directive to the children “never forget to lie”. The film will be broadcast on PBS FRONTLINE on April 30, 2013 after a series of theatrical screenings in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and other US cities as well as in Europe: in Athens, Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Prague, Krakow and Warsaw.

Biography of Marian Marzynski, the director of the film Marian Marzynski was born in Poland and survived the Holocaust as a Jewish child hidden by Christians. He has been making documentary films for over 50 years, first in Poland, where during the ’60s he was one of the pioneers of “cinema verite”. then in Denmark, and for the last 30 years in the United States. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1982 and won two Emmy Awards for his documentaries,and a major contributor to such PBS series as The American Experience, NOVA and Frontline. Some of his films Return to Poland (1982), and Jewish Mother (1984), have dealt with the subject of Holocaust. The three hour long Shtetl (1996), became the most important work of his career. In 2005 he produced a film for “Frontline”, A Jew Among the Germans, a story of building in Berlin, a memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.

Melinda

Those who fall through the cracks
should have a soft landing.

A trapeze artist can walk confidently across a tightrope—not because he is sure of his skill, but because he knows there is a safety net below to catch him if he falls. No one wants to be the one who falls; the plunge can be humiliating, frightening, disheartening, and even painful. If you are the one that gravity plucks off that line, you will know, all the way down, that you

will be safe.

The Family Support Program of Jewish Community Services is a lot like this safety net—but it is more like part of a Jewish family. Melinda is one woman who has fallen into the embrace of Family Support Services, an embrace that offers more than just safety and support. It’s an embrace that gives guidance, comfort, and encouragement while keeping people’s lives intact—especially their spirituality and their Judaism.

When Melinda’s husband passed away, emotional turmoil was quick to seep into the lives of her family. Shortly afterwards, Melinda became disabled due to a chronic, debilitating syndrome that affected her legs. Money started getting tighter and tighter. When Melinda could not afford to purchase tickets to Jewish High Holidays, to have a Passover Seder, or even to give Hanukah presents to her children, she contacted Family Support Services.

Melinda has been adjusting to life as best as she can. She never complains. Her gratefulness to Jewish Community Services can be seen in the countless “Thank-You” cards she has sent over the years. She has even volunteered her time at the Jewish Community Services food pantry, and enlisted her son to help. Melinda lives with her sons and granddaughter, and is able to provide for them and retain their Judaism with the help of Family Support Services and Jewish Community Services.

When catastrophic circumstances require people to reach for outside help, there are many different safety nets to choose from. Family Support Services is different. It isn’t so much a net as it is a quilt of love and compassion. Family Support Services is part of the Jewish community family, and is ready to help those who have fallen get back on their feet.

Rachel

“Some of us had to live to defy them all
and one day tell the truth to the world.”

There was a time in our history—the history of mankind—that defiles who we are as a species. There was a time when man turned against his fellow man, black-hearted and venomous with hate. There was a time when death was both a punishment and a reward, an escape.

From 1933 to 1945, millions of people were led to huge, organized slaughterhouses called Death Camps. Millions of people were ripped from their homes, humiliated, and tortured. In a day, a close family could become corpses scattered throughout Europe. Generations and lineages could come to an end—a name extinct—in the blink of an eye. Yes, there was a time.

But there are people. People who have gone to the deepest trenches of hell and returned. People who have experienced what no living creature ever should. These people are Survivors. Rachel Zysmanovich Nurman is one of them.

Rachel was just 14 years old. She was having a picnic and reading a book with her friend in the countryside of her small resort town outside of Warsaw, Poland. Beautiful forests and waterfalls shaped the area. Suddenly, Rachel thought she heard thunder in the distance. She asked her friend if she was listening. “It may be rain,” she said, “but that is not thundering.”

Germany was invading Poland. They were dropping bombs.

Rachel and her friend ran home to the pandemonium of their town. People were dashing from their homes and calling out orders to run to the highways. The roads were jammed with people. Rachel hid in a ditch on the side of the road. German soldiers marched into Rachel’s town, demanding where they could find Jews.

The German soldiers issued orders that all Jewish children and women wear an armband displaying the Jewish Star. They were not to walk on the sidewalk; only in the street were they allowed. Sidewalks were reserved for Germans and Poles.

After the Germans had occupied the town for a short while and had taken all of the Jews’ money and possessions, they ordered all Jewish people to report to the marketplace with their belongings. They were being resettled to the Warsaw ghetto.

The conditions of the ghetto were miserable. People were poor, food was scarce, staying warm and fending off typhus was an everyday battle. Rachel escaped the walls of the ghetto and returned, many times, in order to bring in food, supplies, and information.

When she was outside she worked on a farm called Ozerniakow. During her absence, the Germans would “resettle” people out of the ghetto. This, of course, meant sending families to labor and death camps. Her family became separated. After enduring weeks in the soul-crippling conditions of the Warsaw ghetto and the backbreaking work on the farm, Rachel came to discover that her youngest brother, mother, and father met their ends together in the gas chambers of Treblinka. Eventually, Rachel would be resettled too. She would be sent to the camp Majdenek. Then, in 1943, she would be stuffed into a boxcar and taken to Auschwitz.

When Rachel arrived in Auschwitz, she was promptly ordered to strip off her clothing and go through delousing. Naked and vulnerable, she moved on to the hairdressers who shaved all the hair from her body. When she saw herself, she couldn’t believe how strange she looked; how strange everyone and everything looked. Because her own clothing was discarded, she was issued new clothes that were much too big and hung from her body like dirty sheets.

Rachel was then directed into a line to speak with a clerk. At the front of the line, she was questioned about where she came from, while a five-digit number was tattooed on her forearm. In an instant Rachel became #47395. When she asked the clerk what the camp was like, she was told that the average lifespan of a prisoner is three weeks. “She did not give me too much courage,” Rachel said, “but I was determined to fight for my life.”

Rachel knew she had to survive. “I kept telling myself that I had to live,” she remembers, “never obey, never give in. Some of us had to live to defy them all and one day, tell the truth to the world.” Somehow, Rachel gleaned strength from the pit of despair that was Auschwitz. Her fellow prisoners tried to give her advice. “Remember”, they said, “you must never lose your will to live. Fight for your life or be finished”.

But sometimes, the conditions became too unbearable. The death camp so warped the mind of its inmates that death became the only release. Some prisoners threw themselves onto the electric fences. “I envied them,” said Rachel. “I envied their eternal peace.”

Still, Rachel endured beatings, lashings, and even vicious attacks by dogs. She starved, she froze in the night; she could go nowhere without the acrid stench of burning bodies wafting out of the crematorium. She saw hell with her own eyes every single day. Auschwitz was a factory designed for breaking the human spirit, and though Rachel’s would often waiver, it never shattered. “It was essential not to lose the will to go on,” Rachel said. “Giving up was the first step to self-destruction.” She forced herself to find inner strength. She had to find ways of keeping her spirit up, so she made friends.

Friendships in Auschwitz were closer than families. “You had your enemies and you had your friends,” said Rachel. “I miss the sort of friendship I had known in Auschwitz. I never realized how strong these bonds are. We were direct and more honest than the people you would find in the outside world.” The camps brought out the best in some and the worst in others. Differences between people vanished—they were united by their shared tragic fate. They became one great family.

Rachel narrowly escaped death many times. She even managed to avoid Dr. Mengele’s selection—a process that would have ended with her in the gas chambers. One day, she would wake up to hear that the Germans were losing the war. It was rumored that British soldiers were coming. No one could believe it. It was merely fantasy. The rumor turned into reality in April 1945. Rachel and the other residents of the camp were liberated.

Rachel will never understand why her life was spared while so many others perished. “My experience left me with a great love for life. I place great importance on the meaning of life. Why am I here while my relatives and friends are lost?”

Rachel wants her experiences to be known. She wishes for these events to never be forgotten, and to never be repeated.

Her experience in the Holocaust gave her a tremendous sense of value—a feeling about what is important and what is unimportant in life. Nearly 70 years later, Rachel Nurman continues to tell her story while still picking up the pieces of her shattered childhood.

The Holocaust Survivors Program provides an outlet for Rachel and other survivors to share their grief, their happiness, and their stories with each other—others who truly understand. They bear witness to each others’ lives. That yes, they made it through hell and back; that yes, they are still alive; that yes, their pasts are real.

The monthly meeting of the Holocaust Support Group gives these survivors a unique opportunity for catharsis. But most importantly, this group allows them to acknowledge each other, to never forget, and to will each other to live their lives—not emotionally crippled; not spiritually down-trodden—but as human beings.

Robbie

There’s no substitute for a father—
but there can always be a role model.

Rachel Carson once said, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder… he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” A person’s self-image and attitude is most malleable as a child. An adult mentor is an essential part of any child’s growing up. They teach children about life, morals, and people; they provide comfort and support; but most importantly, a good mentor is a good friend.

Robbie is the brightest, most outgoing eleven year-old around. His performance in school is outstanding; his musical prowess is beyond his years, with his induction into the school Honors Chorus and summers spent at Rock Camp; his interests in sports, technology, and pop culture far exceed the norm for anyone his age. Robbie lives with his mother and is a part of the YAD b’yad program. His father passed away when he was eight years old.

Robbie and his big YAD, Jeff, are inseparable. They go fishing, they go to the movies, they go out to eat. They are like two old friends who simply enjoy one another’s company. So much admiration can be found in Robbie’s voice when he talks about his mentor. “Jeff is all the time fun,” says Robbie. “He’s always been there for me. And it makes me feel pretty good.” Jeff goes to Robbie’s school functions and is always pushing him in the right direction. Jeff helps to fill the void that was created in Robbie’s life since the death of his father. In fact, one of Robbie’s favorite things to do with Jeff is to have “man fun.” And just what is that? In Robbie’s terms: “It’s no moms nagging us!”

Jeff provides Robbie with advice and support. But Robbie gives back to Jeff, too. They talk about their lives and their problems; they learn as much about each other as they do about themselves. YAD b’yad provides Robbie not only an important male influence, but also a close friend.