Kudos: Five special people who make Passover freedom come alive

Andy Levy

Andy Levy has that touch. He’s the kind of person you want as a friend and are pleased to have as a friend. He likes making other people look good. It’s not about Andy Levy — it’s about others.

Andy has made people look good in every way. He was a buyer for the old Fashion Bar, once a major clothing store in Denver. He made people look good that way. Then he went over to the non-profit world, starting with the Allied Jewish Federation endowment foundation. He made its staff look good and made the project look good — which it is.

Now Andy is at Denver Hospice. There is no more challenging group of individuals who require selfless dedication than the dying. That’s why Andy Levy is a perfect match for this job. He builds hospice because, to him, each moment of life is precious, and because it takes a very special person to bring out the best at the end of life. Vintage job for Andy Levy.

Not that Andy has dropped out of his previous pursuits. Hardly. Always dressed in good taste, Andy is ubiquitous. The Aish dinner. Temple Emanuel. DAT. At just about every Jewish cause and event  you could think of, Andy is there, as if he were still back in Jewish communal life. Actually, he is. The whole Jewish community is important to him and therefore it’s his personal task to make it . . . look good.

Take a look at Andy — that smile — you see his spirit immediately.

Rabbi Wilhelm

OK. A rabbi on campus is supposed to work with students. If he does it well, we are pleased, but not surprised. Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, Chabad at CU in Boulder, is both pleasing and surprising. He works with students, yes. He works with them uncommonly well — getting scores of students over to his house, and hundreds of students to his big programs. He jumpstarts the first kosher kitchen on campus. He stands up to the dangerous “Israel Apartheid Week” charade. He’s everywhere — for the students.

Pleased — and surprised. The rabbi and his wife have reached out to parents of children with major special needs. This is not an effort limited to the student community, or even the Jewish community. It’s pure compassion, sharing and expertise. The Wilhelms have added a distinct humanitarian touch to life in Boulder.

Then there’s the “Jewish vs. Catholics” . . . basketball game. Almost by chance, Rabbi Wilhelm met a Catholic priest and then figured out how to build religion on campus, that is, any and all religion. If the Catholic students could be better Catholics, and if the Jewish students could be better Jews, so much the better for everyone. And what better way to make the point than a highly ironic “versus,” a competiton — this time, a friendly one — between the two groups?

Rabbi Wilhelm, please keep surprising us.

The Morrisons

In the 1970s, when evangelical Christians began expressing their support for Israel and professing a love for the Jewish people, many Jews were skeptical and confused. Especially after the second intifada began in 2000, those who accepted this support did so hesitatingly with the disclaimer, “Israel needs all the friends she can get.”

As time wore on and this evangelical Christian support for Israel grew, Jews in Denver got to know, trust and appreciate two of the original Christian lovers of Israel, Pastor George and Cheryl Morrison, leaders of the Faith Bible Chapel mega-church in Arvada. From their pulpit to thousands of congregants, in small groups and on frequent missions to Israel, Pastor George and Cheryl teach their fellow Christians how and why they should stand behind Israel.

As believers in and students of the Bible, the Morrisons many years ago realized that G-d expects them to love the Jewish people and the land of Israel. There is nothing that will stop this power couple from responding to this Divine command. Through the years, they have done so in the face of Jewish mistrust, which they’ve slowly counteracted with genuine love and true acts of friendship, especially directed at Israeli soldiers and the poor in Israel.

“Israel needs all the friends she can get” is no longer applicable here. We have come to realize that Israel and Denver Jewry are honored to have Pastor George and Cheryl Morrison as true friends.

Larry Mizel

There’s a rumor . . . Larry Mizel has a job. We know it’s hard to believe — given his 24/7+ philanthropy schedule as an interntional and local leader, bridge-builder and ambassador. Mizel heads Mizel Development Corp. It’s spelled with 27 letters. Now, add up the letters in “Mizel Museum,” “Mizel Arts and Culture Center,” “Men’s Event,” “Simon Wiesenthal Center,” “The CELL,” “American Israel Public Affairs Committee,” “Boy Scouts.” Keep adding. We list merely the basics of Larry Mizel’s philanthropy.

Peer into just one: Colorado AIPAC. Larry lines up the Democrats and lines up the Republicans in the legislature and Congress. He lets them see his consuming passion for Israel. He is highly persuasive. Of all that Mizel does — international chair of the Wiesenthal Center, founder of America’s advocacy center/security booster/ museum, The Cell (to limit his philanthropic letters) — perhaps nothing is more important than what he does for AIPAC. As in underwriting its entire annual event; as in serving notice that Colorado Jews are eagle-eyeing their Congressional delegation on Israel.

Miriam Goldberg, IJN editor and publisher, observes that no matter how early in the morning one gets up, Larry gets up earlier. What a beautiful ambassador for the Jewish people his dedication has made him. Arts. Security. Anti-Semitism. Israel. Kids. Oh, and what about those non-basic events of his, those “frills” — like bringing Israel’s ambassador to the Colorado Capitol? Larry, G-dspeed! Until 120!

Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News