American Apparel’s Black Nail Polish Color is Called ‘Hassid’

Stay classy, Dov Charney

By Stephanie Butnick for Jewcy

American Apparel’s nail polish collection may be free from formaldehyde, but it’s hardly free from the clothing company’s signature in-your-face cheekiness. A reader drew our attention to the line’s black shade, which is tastefully named ‘Hassid.’

We take nail polish names pretty seriously around here, and understand the pressure to compete with polish powerhouses like Essie and OPI, which seem to have completely cornered the pun market. Still, Hassid seems like a particularly uninspired choice.

The meeting probably went something like this:

“So, we’ve already decided on names for American Denim, African Violet, and Factory Grey. What should we call our black color?”

“Well, we went with Raccoon for brown, and Passport Blue for navy. I just wish there was some cute way to describe the color black.”

“What about those funny black hats Hasidic Jews wear?”

“Perfect! We’ll call it Hassid.”

This isn’t the first time American Apparel founder Dov Charney, who is Jewish, has gotten himself in hot water with his fellow MOTs. In 2009, Woody Allen sued the company for using an unauthorized image of him dressed as a Hasidic Jew in a scene from Annie Hall on a billboard advertisement, and received a $5 million payment.

American Apparel has never seemed to mind ruffling a few feathers to get attention; it’s pretty much their business model at this point (that and floral crop tops). Should we take the bait on this one?

 Continue reading.
 

A Family Called Berkowitz

Talking to the father who gave his children the quirkiest names in Israel

By Michael Orbach for Tablet Magazine

Most Orthodox Jewish children are given both a Hebrew name and an English name. Typically it is the same name, with one being the Hebrew or English equivalent of the other—Jacob is Yaakov, Joseph is Yoseph—with occasional alterations (my English name is Michael Jacob, my Hebrew name is a reversal, Yaakov Meir). But, sometimes, parents decide to have some fun with it.

If, like me, you’ve gone through the customary rite of passage that is the year in yeshiva or seminary after high school, you’ve probably heard this one—the story of a crazy couple by the name of Berkowitz in Gush Etzion who were so gung-ho Zionist that they gave their kids bizarre, ridiculous English names so that they would never be able to move back to the United States.

Just how ridiculous?

One son’s first name is “Just,” so he’s “Just Berkowitz.” Another child’s middle name is “Danger” so he can actually say, “Danger is my middle name.” And finally, one son is named Berkowitz James Berkowitz in a not-so-subtle James Bond homage. The strategy worked: none of the children ever left Israel.

Continue reading.

 

Why Sailing is One of My Favorite Pastimes

Murray Rosenbaum, 15-year-old student in New York

This summer, I am doing something I have never done before. I am currently doing a five week long internship at a Hudson River Community Sailing (HRCS for short), which holds a weeklong or longer camp. The camp is for children who have sailed before or have never even been on a boat. I have had a lot of experience on sailboats, so when I sent in an email asking if there was anyway I could help out with the camp, they accepted me as a intern.

I began to learn how to sail when I was about 7, and I haven't stopped yet. I remember when I was in a sunfish, a small, single-mast sailboat, with my brother for the first time. I also remember when he handed me the tiller, and said, "Just try to make sense of how this works, and tell me if I should pull in the sail or let it out." For the next half-hour, I sailed into the wind, directing us away from where we needed to be, and almost crashed the boat. Even though I was sailing terribly, my brother kept trying to teach me how to do it. I started to get the hang of it, and there is no feeling that compares to how I felt when the wind filled my sails and we began to keel. There is something that is so elating about the thought of using nature to my advantage and controlling the wind for my own use.

This is why I love sailing. It makes me powerful, that I use nature to move across water. As time moved on, I began to love sailing for the science of how it works. Once I began to learn how a sailboat uses wind and it's sails to move it, I delved into a deeper part of sailing. Even though I'm an intern at HRCS, they are still teaching me parts of sailing that I didn't know before. I learned about points of sail (what it is called when wind hits the boat in a certain direction and how far out the sails are to compensate), tide, how the boat displaces water to keep itself buoyant and to hold cargo/people, and even how the ebb and flooding of the Hudson affects where we travel and when would be the opportune time to leave and begin to return from a trip.

Sailing involves so much more than just understanding how a boat uses the wind to move through water. Sailing requires a certain appreciation for your surroundings and environment. If you don't respect whatever amount of water you're sailing in, whether it's a pond, river, lake, or ocean, nature will not be nice just for you. The trick to treating your surrounds with respect while sailing is to constantly stay vigilant so that if the wind begins to shift, you can stay on top of it and alter your course accordingly so that you aren't caught off guard later.

When I sail, especially on the Hudson, I feel a certain sense of happiness that I don't get from anywhere else. I feel as though if I can control the wind, a powerful force of nature, then I can easily control parts of my life that seem difficult. Sailing is a pastime that always keeps me on my toes, and I plan to keep sailing as long as I can.

Diller awards recognize teens for leadership, innovation

 (JTA) — Ten U.S. teens were recognized for their volunteerism with Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards.
Each will receive an honorarium of $36,000 “in recognition of their leadership, innovation and commitment to making the world a better place,” the Helen Diller Family Foundation said in its announcement.
 

 It is the seventh year for the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards but the first time they have been offered nationally, recognizing teens outside California.
The winners are:

* Jake Bernstein, 19, of St. Louis, Mo., for VolunTEENnation, a nonprofit that connects youth with available volunteer opportunities across the country;

* Skylar Dorosin, 18, of Palo Alto, Calif., for Project 2020, a program that aims to boost self-confidence and foster friendships through the teaching of swimming and water polo to girls from low-income communities;

* Ellie Dubin, 17, of Beverly Hills, Calif., for Kesem Shel Shir, a musical theater program that fosters self-esteem, collaboration and language skills for underprivileged American and Israeli children;

* Jordan Elist, 18, also of Beverly Hills, for Save a Bottle, Save a Life, a program that collects bottles and cans and uses the proceeds to support the work of food pantries;

* Ben Hirschfeld, 19, of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., for Lit! Solar, a project that supports children’s health and literacy using a revolving fund to replace dangerous kerosene lamps with safe solar lanterns;

* Ido Kedar, 17, of West Hills, Calif., for Ido in AutismLand, an awareness initiative that provides firsthand insight into the hidden realities of those living with nonverbal autism for educators, families and others;

* Talia Leman, 18, of Waukee, Iowa, for RandomKid, a website that provides tools and resources for youth to launch and lead their own community service projects and endeavors;

* Nick Lowinger, 15, of Cranston, R.I., for Gotta Have Sole, a foundation that donates new footwear to children living in homeless shelters across the country;

* Max Wallack, 17, of Natick, Mass., for PuzzlesToRemember, a nonprofit that designs, collects and distributes puzzles to serve as therapeutic tools for those living with Alzheimer’s disease; and

* Talia Young, 18, of Lafayette, Calif., for Looking for Home, a poetry club that works to empower high school students with confidence and eliminate stereotypes.

The recipients were selected by committees of educators and community leaders from across the United States.

Nearly $1.5 million has been given out to 40 Jewish teens since the awards — the vision of Bay Area philanthropist Helen Diller — were first presented.


 

Bar Mitzvah Boy Comes to the Aid of a Southern Synagogue in Disrepair

Elijah Schulman’s family had roots in Selma, Ala. Now his mitzvah project will help maintain its century-old temple.

Like many other synagogues in small Southern towns, Mishkan Israel in Selma, Ala., has seen better days. The slate roof is more than a century old and has been patched but never replaced. Termites have damaged the basement. The frames are rotting around the Tiffany-esque stained-glass windows. And don’t ask about the organ.

In the social hall, a recent photo of the congregation’s scant membership is captioned “The last of the Mohicans.” And its numbers have diminished even more in the few years since that photo was taken—down to nine today, plus two active non-Jewish spouses of members, and a few out-of-towners. The city has lost population, too, to fewer than 21,000, according to the 2010 census, down from a high of 28,000, and it can’t seem to shake its reputation as Ground Zero for racism: Many young folks haven’t heard of Selma, but others can’t forget the images of Bloody Sunday 1965, when Sheriff Jim Clark, his posse, and state troopers attacked 600 nonviolent civil rights marchers with tear gas and billy clubs as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Enter Elijah Schulman of Bethesda, Md. Not yet 13—his birthday is July 10—he already has a website, a Pay Pal account, and a plan to save the shul.

Last year, he and his family were mulling over their venue options for his bar mitzvah because their roving havurah in Bethesda has no building. They could have chosen to hold the ceremony at the former Girl Scout camp where his cousin had her bat mitzvah, or at Washington, D.C.’s Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, or in Israel. Then his mother came up with an idea where the family had a long history: Selma.

Continue reading.