Dollars & Sense

Dr. Lee Weisbard is all about building relationships, whether it is in her dental practice of 39 years or as the new president of the Denver Jewish Chamber of Commerce. In both realms, Weisbard strives to enable people to feel respected and to make informed decisions about their dental health or their business relationships.

Jan. 14, Tony Becerra was arrested in connection with the massive five-alarm fire that broke out late Jan. 2 on Leetsdale Dr. The arrest solidified what investigators already had uncovered — that the fire was the result of a deliberate act. From the liability side of things, cause is a key component for an insurance company facing a claim, local insurance agent Adam Moskowitz told the IJN.

On Jan. 2, Denverites were glued to their devices to see images of the worst fire the city has seen in 30 years. The five-alarm fire destroyed the construction site of the Harker Heights apartment complex at 5337 Leetsdale and created smoke and heat damage for those in the adjacent South Hilltop neighborhood. Shira and Marty Zimmerman were quickly checking their mobile communications, too, but their interest in the fire was a bit more intense than most. Their home on South Dakota Ave. was literally across the street from the flames.

The January 2 Harker Heights fire on Leetsdale was the worst in Denver in 30 years and raised many questions. While all the charred debris will be removed and the ground leveled, reminders of the fire remain in air, soil and water surrounding the site, raising concerns about the fire’s health and environmental impact, especially for nearby residents and businesses. Many are associated with the Jewish community.

As 2024 was coming to a close, a series of emails starting hitting the inboxes of local Jews. Coming from a wide spectrum of Orthodox rabbis and congregations, the emails outlined the value of kosher institutions to an Orthodox community and implored readers to support local food service providers.

Like any business, Linda Foster’s Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS) operates from pie charts, and, like any business — especially a nonprofit coming out of the COVID era — the slices of that pie get bigger or smaller, constantly.

Most people hate asking other people for money. Not Gaile Weisbly Waldinger. The director of development for Kavod Senior Life has no problem asking people to — as she puts it — “invest in something that will make them proud and help other people.” Because Waldinger’s enthusiasm for the community at Kavod Senior Life is so contagious, she has been successful.

From his perch in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Denver-born Daniel Wagner has a different vantage of the Israel-Hamas War. That’s not only because of his current location. Wagner has spent his career immersed in international relations, specifically in “country risk analysis,” a specialty at the intersection of politics, finance and foreign relations.

As the Mountain States president of Jewish National Fund-USA, it was a no-brainer that Sam Goldberg would show up at the international convention of JNF in Denver last December. It was also to be expected that a throng of anti-Israel demonstrators would greet Goldberg and his fellow attendees, carrying signs, chanting and hurling invective, some of which not only slammed Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas but which were clearly anti-Semitic. Less obvious, perhaps, was Goldberg’s fashion choice for the occasion: He wore a bright blue blazer, adorned with Israeli flags.

Properly securing synagogues and schools is a costly endeavor. The line item on budgets is commonly referred to as an “anti-Semitism tax,” which initially appeared after the October, 2018 attack on a synagogue complex in Pittsburgh, and has risen since the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas.