Kol Bogrei Rambam, March 2013 - Maimonides School

March 2013 ~ Adar-Nisan-5773Page 1 of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideKol Bogrei Rambam is the Alumni Council’s monthly e-newsletter for and about Maimonides School graduates. Each month we share informationon individual graduates’ ventures and accomplishments, as well as general news notes, all reflecting the school’s mission of preparingeducated, observant Jews to be contributing members of society. Your ideas and accomplishments will help sustain and strengthen this keycommunications tool; please forward to alumni@maimonides.org.Graduate Regards Her Work with Animals as a Quest for InformationLisa Berman-Booty ’00 wanted tobe a veterinarian for as long as shecan remember. As a Maimonideshigh school student, she recalled,“I loved science and medicine and Iloved animals. It seemed like a perfectcombination.”And that’s how it turned out —almost. Lisa is a veterinary anatomicpathologist completing a Ph.D. degreein the Department of VeterinaryBiosciences at The Ohio State UniversityCollege of Veterinary Medicine.An anatomic pathologist is a veterinarianwho functions like an MDpathologist, with more than a dashof medical examiner thrown in, Lisaexplained. That means primarily diagnosingsurgical biopsy specimens andperforming necropsies (autopsies). “Ilike to think of it as solving mysteries,”she said.During her first-year anatomy class atthe University of Pennsylvania Schoolof Veterinary Medicine, Lisa said, “Irealized I would enjoy this a lot moreif I didn’t have to memorize all theselittle vessels and muscles. But it wasso neat to open up an animal and seewhat’s going on.” Two years later, in anearly surgical rotation, “I was staringinto a dog’s abdomen. I had my handsin there and it hit me: I enjoy lookingand enjoy solving the mysterieswithout having to put everythingback in the right place and suture it upproperly.” She found the solution bymoving to pathology.Lisa analyzes biopsiesprimarily fromcompanion animals,but also from farmanimals, horses, andzoo animals. “Somedays when I amon surgical biopsyduty it feels like all Idiagnose is cancer.It can become abit depressing, butI tell myself that Iam giving ownersanswers,” she said.“Knowledge ispower, and knowingwhat is going onwith your pet isso much betterthan not knowing.Owners and veterinarianscan’t makeinformed decisionwithout knowing what they’re dealingwith.”She is called upon to conduct necropsiesby pet owners and veterinarians aswell as farmers. “People want answers— an animal has a disease and theywant to know the severity and extent.We get calls all the time from peoplewho are curious about why their dog orcat was sick. We also are called upon toexamine deceased farm animals fromthe Columbus area’s beef and dairyherds.”“We also get a fairly steady supply fromthe zoo and from the Humane Society,”Drs. Lisa Berman-Booty ‘00 and Jordan Booty and their friendsLisa continued. “The zoo wants to knowwhat diseases they’re seeing in captivespecies, and whether there are anytrends. The Humane Society wants us todiagnose diseases in the shelter animalsand to document cruelty cases. I dreadthose cases because I know there issomeone out there doing horrible things.The results of the necropsy can helpcatch them.”There are a lot of sad cases, she acknowledged.“I feel like a big part of myjob is answering the question: ‘Whathappened? My dog seemed fine; I turnedaround and he was dead.’ The ability toanswer them really gives people closure.continued on page 3Visit Maimonides on Facebook Follow our Twitter feed, KolRambamSubscribe to our YouTube channel, MaimoTube

March 2013 ~ Adar-Nisan-5773Page 2 of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideAlumna Shares Uplifting Message With StudentsAfter Chesed Day on Post-Sandy Long IslandThe spring issue of the Orthodox Unionmagazine Jewish Action is replete withreferences to Maimonides School’svolunteer effort last Nov. 11 in supportof victims of Hurricane Sandy on LongIsland. This includes a mention in acolumn by OU Chair Steven Savitsky. Mostdetailed was a first-person account byLeah (Rosenfield) Lightman ’78, whohosted the busload of volunteers at herhome in Lawrence, NY for dinner. Here isher account:My alma mater, the Maimonides Schoolin Brookline, MA, sent out an e-mail toall alumni that a busload of Maimonideshigh school students would be travelingto an area ravaged by Sandy to help withthe storm cleanup.I called the school and offered to host thestudents for dinner. Even with a secondloss of power that Erev Shabbos, I wasnonetheless determined to feed thesekids who cared enough to leave theircomfortable homes and travel via busover four hours each way to help stormvictims in Long Beach. A call to Carlos &Gabby’s, a restaurant in Cedarhurst, andwe were ready.While the teens ate dinner in my home, Itold them, “When you go away to collegeand go out into the ‘real’ world, you willbe exposed to many challenges. Yetalways remember today and that whatyou’ve done connects you to a mesorahthat dates back to Har Sinai, which hascontinued, uninterrupted, despite countlessvicissitudes.Take pride in being Jewish! Rememberwhat we say every Shabbos at Minchahand in Mussaf on Yom Kippur: ‘Mike-amcha Yisrael?’ You are part of theJewish brotherhood — whereby we allhelp each other and do for one another.The hallmark of a Jew is to always beinvolved in chesed and that’s what you’vedone today. Walk as proud Jews at alltimes.”I think these kids saw that they are tetheredto something so beautiful and timelessand so much greater than they everrealized.Michael Stern Cohen, left, and 2007 classmate EliHutton pose at center court at TD Garden before arecent game. Michael says that as a Celtics seasonticketholder he had access to the floor for onegame and also met guard Jason Terry.Graduate Regards Her Work with Animals as a Quest for Informationcontinued from page 1A lot of times owners blame themselves.I can tell them, ‘This is what happened.You couldn’t have done anything’. Or,alternatively, ‘Here’s what happened andhere’s how to prevent it from happeningto your other pets’.”Lisa and her husband, Dr. Jordan Booty,a radiologist, ended up at Ohio Statebecause it was one of the few placeswhere they could have simultaneousresidencies. “I also really liked the factthat there was a combined program witha Ph.D. You need a Ph.D. to really haveas many job opportunities as possible.”They plan to return to the Philadelphiaarea this summer — with their two dogsand two cats — after they complete theirrespective residency programs. “Peoplewho don’t have pets don’t understandthe amount of pleasure and comfortpets give you,” said Lisa. “As a pet owner,I treat each case like I want one of myanimals to be treated.”“I feel like a big part of Jewish traditionis to search, ask questions and delve intothings,” she remarked. “Look at all theposkim and their quest for answers andknowledge and debate.” As a pathologist,she said, she also asks questions andsearches for answers “Pathology is bothan art and a science. It’s nice to havebeen raised in that environment.”

March 2013 ~ Adar-Nisan-5773Page 3 of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideMaimonides School Alumni, Here and There…Matthew Levitt ’88, one of the country’sleading experts on terrorism, isthe author of a new book.Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’sParty of God is described as thefirst thorough examination of Hezbollah’scovert activities beyond Lebanon’sborders, including its financialand logistical support networks and itscriminal and terrorist operations.Matt is a senior fellow and director ofthe Washington Institute for Near EastPolicy’s Stein Program on Counterterrorismand Intelligence. Previously, heserved as the deputy assistant secretaryfor intelligence and analysis at theU.S. Department of the Treasury, and asan FBI counterterrorism analyst.The book is in production; copies maybe pre-ordered through the followinglink: press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/hezbollah. (Use code TX22for a 30 percent discount.)A 2003 Maimonides School graduatewrote the cover story in The NewRepublic March 26 issue, “The End of theTwo-State Solution.”Ben Birnbaum ’03, a Middle Eaststudies graduate student at HebrewUniversity in Jerusalem, is a formerforeign affairs reporter for The WashingtonTimes.The article is a comprehensive sevenpageanalysis with interviews fromvarious factions on both sides. “It tookabout four months of reporting,” Bensaid, noting that his academic responsibilitieslimited him to two or three daysa week.“I did most of my interviews in Jerusalemor Tel Aviv, spent a good amountof time in Ramallah and some in otherWest Bank cities, and spent a few days inMatthew Levitt ‘88Gaza City — accompanied most of thetime,” he recounted.“I did a lot of reading and research onmy own time. I did all the interviews inEnglish, though knowing Hebrew was,of course, helpful.”A landmark commemoration of the 20thyahrzeit of Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik,zt”l, spearheaded by MaimonidesSchool alumni and friends, is scheduledfor Wednesday evening, April 10, inJerusalem.Keynote speaker at the April 10commemoration will be Rabbi Soloveitchik’sgrandson, Rabbi Mayer Lichtenstein,whose topic will be “Implicationsof the Rav’s Worldview for ContemporaryIsraeli Society.” The program willtake place in Yeshurun Central Synagogueon King George Street.The impetus for the memorial programcame from a successful Maimonides75th anniversary event in Jerusalem onFeb. 10 (described in last month’s KolBogrei Rambam).Co-sponsors include AMIT, Emunah,World Mizrachi Movement, OU IsraelCenter, RCA, Yeshiva University inIsrael, Yeshiva University Israel Alumni,Yeshurun Central Synagogue andCouncil of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel.Adina Gerver ’97 helped organize arecent book sale that raised more than$2,400 to support the Jewish CommunityCouncil of Washington Heights andInwood.According to the New York neighborhoodblog DNAInfo.com, members offive congregations across the Jewishspectrum donated thousands ofbooks, which were sold for $1 to $5.As the sale approached, “I was gettingphone calls and texts asking, ‘Can weget more books to you?’ ” said Adina,a member of the Washington HeightsCongregation.Proceeds from the sale, held at theWashington Heights shul on West 179thStreet and Pinehurst Avenue, will helpthe JCC provide social assistance forUptown residents, regardless of religion.“We sold a few thousand books andhad maybe 1,000 left over,” Adina said.“Towards the end of the sale, we soldplastic grocery bags of books for $5/bagand larger paper grocery bags for $10/bag. More information is available atbooks.bridgeshul.com (which I created,updated, and maintained all by myself).”Adina said a volunteer delivered manyof the leftover books to public schools,hospitals and geriatric centers. “TheMetropolitan Council on Jewish Povertymay be willing to take the rest of thebooks to distribute to people whoneed them, and the Jewish CommunityCouncil of the Rockaways is consideringproviding some of the sefarim to peoplewho lost all of theirs during Sandy.”

March 2013 ~ Adar-Nisan-5773Page 4 of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideFellowship Presentation a Proud and Poignant Moment for Weiner FamilyDr. Chana Weiner ’00 recently washonored by Hyundai Motor Co. with a$75,000 award to Columbia Universityin support of her pediatric hematologyoncology research.The award was especially poignant forChana and her family, as her father, Dr.Mark Weiner ’73, was diagnosed withbrain cancer almost a year ago and isundergoing chemotherapy.For the past 15 years Hyundai HopeOn Wheels has been making donationsto hospitals across the country tohelp support training and/or researchof childhood cancer specialists.The award recognizing Chana wasone of the first presented by Hyundaiin 2013 and was announced duringrecent ceremonies at the the recentNew York International Auto Show atthe Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.About 200 people, including Hyundaiexecutives, Columbia physicians, andpediatric cancer patients and theirfamilies, watched a video interviewon a giant screen in which Chanadescribes her research goals (www.hyundaihopeonwheels.org/researchgrants/doctor-spotlights.html.Last spring, Chana completed herpediatrics residency at Mount SinaiHospital and began a fellowship inpediatric hematology/oncology atColumbia University Medical CenterNew York Presbyterian Hospital.Dr. Chana Weiner accepts a $75,000 award from Dave Cantin (center), a Hyundai dealer and Hope &Heroes Board member, and Ken Bloach of Hyundai’s corporate office.“This summer, I will be completing myfirst year — the intensive clinical year— and transitioning to my next twoyears of research,” she said. “While Iwill still see patients in clinic one dayper week, I will be devoting most ofmy time to laboratory research.”The grant, she continued, “will helpfund my research, which will focus onstudying epigenetic abnormalitiesin pediatric cancer cell lines and theeffect of targeted therapeutic agentson these cells. The ultimate goal willbe to transition these new agents toclinical trials.”Mark tells the story of his diagnosisand therapy — including a fundraisingbicycle ride — in an interviewpublished on the Dana-Farber CancerCenter website, “A neurologist seesthe other side of brain cancer” (www.dana-farber.org/Adult-Care/Treatment-and-Support/Patient-Stories/Neurologist-faces-the-other-side-ofbrain-cancer.aspx).