Puah’s Day of enLIGHTment

Last Week Wednesday, December 5th of 2012, Puah (see here, here and here) held a pre-Chanuka Day of EnLIGHTment at the beautiful home of Rachel and David Franco in Brooklyn.

It featured a Chinese Auction, a music class for mothers and young daughters (given by Mariel Dweck) and a deeply inspirational talk by Chani Shelby. These were followed at 1:30pm by Panel of Awareness with Josh Klein, MD; Rabbi Gideon Weitzman and Rivki Itzkowitz.

Dr Klein is an Orthodox physician specializing in Fertility; Rabbi Weitzman is the director of Puah and he’s based at the organization main headquarters in Jerusalem; Mrs. Itzkowitz is in charge of the Madrichot, who oversee the lab work and more to ensure that halachic rulings are followed at every step of the procedure.

In you know anyone in need of their services or you wish to help Puah financially, please contact the organization’s American Director Mrs. Lea Davidson, at: 718.336.0603 in Brooklyn.

SYR counseling

Tonight’s Radio Show – Puah Institute

Our guest – last Wednesday – was Aaron Ritter, president and founder of the Kosher Wine Society. We spoke about Israeli wines and his recent tour of 16 Israeli wineries and the 100 wines the tour participants tasted. If you missed it, you can hear the archive right here: A Conversation with Aaron Ritter.

This evening we turn away from our usual food and wine discussions. The Kosher Scene, as you know, covers every aspect of the kosher lifestyle. Our talk this evening will be about the Puah Institute. What is the Puah Institute?  As their web site puts it: “Puah Institute, under the guidance of Rabbi Menachem Burstein, provides counseling, referrals and support, free-of-charge, to all those seeking professional help. Our discreet and caring counselors possess a unique synthesis of pastoral wisdom and specialized training in modern reproductive medicine. Professional Puah supervisors certify the genetic integrity of fertility treatments worldwide.” Their counselors cover every facet from halacha to women’s health, to men’s health, to intimacy issues and more.

We will be talking to Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Director General of the Puah Institute in Jerusalem, and Mrs. Leah Davidson who runs Puah‘s American offices. We will discuss how the organization came about, some of various places on the globe where they have offices and what services they provide.

Please listen to this informative show (which we pretaped this morning) about an Israeli organization providing free counseling to couples around the map. Please listen this evening, we will be on at blogtalkradio from 8:00pm – 8:30pm Eastern Time. If you know anyone who could be helped by this organization, or would like to help out, please tell them to listen in to tonight’s show.

RELATED POST

Puah’s 20th Anniversary Dinner

Puah’s 20th Anniversary Dinner

This past Tuesday, April 5th of 2011, Puah celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a festive dinner attended by close to 200 persons at Manhattan’s 5th Avenue Synagogue.

Prior to the dinner’s start, Shlomo Blashka from the Royal Wine Corporation gave a wine tasting, featuring wines and spirits from among the company’s many imports.

The honorees were Mr. Mrs. Barry Akrongold, of Fortune Financial and Investment Corporation, received the “Gift of Life Award” on the very eve of their first son’s brit milah . Dr. Lawrence Grunfeld, OB/GYN from Reproductive Medicine of New York, received the “Physician of the Year” award. Mr. Brian Andreoli, Esq., partner at Squire Sanders, received the “Partners in Creation Award.” Mr. Sam and Mrs. Peggy Nitka, from Crown Equities received the “Pioneers of Hope” award.

Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Director of the Puah Institute addressing the dinner attendees.

The speeches were very moving but brief. Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier, spiritual leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue more than ably MC’d the dinner. Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Puah Institute‘s Director and Visiting Associate Professor at Einstein University, handed the awards to the honorees and shared Puah’s successes and future plans as global leaders in rabbinic halachic counseling, hashgocho and continuing education for both the professional and the layman.  The attendees were deeply moved by keynote speaker Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, spiritual leader at Congregation Bnai Jeshurun of Teaneck, NJ, whose family just endured the tragic loss of a little granddaughter.

The Kosher Scene is grateful to those of our friends who made the effort to join us for this inspiring, heart-warming evening.  The work of Puah, the hundreds of families they help to build each and every year, the amazing support and counseling they provide to couples struggling through the maze of information and disinformation regarding fertility issues is second to none. We support their extraordinary efforts and wish them tremendous success. Some of our friends and fellow foodies in attendance included incomparable Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum, her husband Maurice, their son Yaakov and his wife, Kim Amzallag – Director of Sales and Marketing at Kosher Inspired magazine – among others.

During the dinner we managed to talk about Puah’s work with Kim Amzallag (here), who shared a personal story; Dr Lawrence Grunfeld told us how Puah’s work extended to these shores and how he’s involved (here); with his obvious caring and genuine humanity Brian Andreoli, Esq., singlehandedly – in less than five minutes – managed to dispel all my misconceptions about lawyers (here)

All in all, it was an evening well spent.

If you’d like to find out more about  PUAH’s mission services and partnering opportunities, visit: them at: www.puahonline.org

CS