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Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Brandeis
Vol. 12 Number 4
March 2012
End of an Era
BOLLI lost two of its founding members recently: (1) Prof. Bernie Reisman, a champion of
adult lifelong learning on the Brandeis campus, died after a long bout with Alzheimer’s; and
(2) Sharon Sokoloff, initially his assistant, retired after 11 years as the dynamic director of
BOLLI. This issue of the Banner is dedicated to these two outstanding individuals.
University Tribute to Bernie Reisman
excerpts from a posting on the Brandeis Website
Council Tribute to Sharon Sokoloff
by Joel Kamer, Council Chair
Professor emeritus Bernard Reisman was more than
the pioneering educator who helped prepare two
generations of Jewish communal leaders as founding
director of the Hornstein Jewish Professional
Leadership Program.
Sharon has always been the prime proponent of
the concept that BOLLI is more than just classes
—it is a community, a learning community. And
Sharon has been a leader in making that concept
come to fruition.
“Professor Reisman was one of the most beloved
figures in Jewish communal life,” said Jonathan
Sarna, professor of American Jewish History. “He
was best known for his leadership skills, his warm,
caring demeanor, and for the practical wisdom that
he imparted to legions of students and colleagues.”
From the standpoint of the long-term viability of
the BOLLI program, Sharon was instrumental in
obtaining the Osher Foundation grants for BOLLI
(well in excess of $1,000,000) and building a
flourishing relationship with the Osher Foundation, which led them to characterize us as one of
the best lifelong learning programs in the nation.
[Before his retirement in 1999,] Reisman founded
the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Brandeis.
The program now has more than [500] members.
“When Martin Buber wrote that ‘all real living is
meeting,’ he was describing an ideal—that to engage
people in dialogue, one really has to come without
preconditions and constraints, without an agenda and
without ego,” said Lawrence Sternberg, director of
Hillel. “Bernie embodied this philosophy in all his
encounters with people. While he taught that these
characteristics [are] good professional practice, what
his students and colleagues witnessed wasn’t simply
a master teacher at work, we witnessed a sage who
lived what he preached. Bernie showed us the way
by living it.”
Over the years Sharon has stressed the shared
leadership between the BOLLI Director and member leaders. This has benefitted BOLLI tremendously: from the unwavering support of Brandeis
University for BOLLI, to the expansion of classes
and Lunch & Learn from two days to three, to the
Turner Street facility, to the Rapaporte seminars
and graduate student seminars, to our enormously
successful enhancement program.
Sharon has been the key to that success. I want to
thank her personally, thank her from the BOLLI
Council and all of our committees, and thank her
from all of our members. I’d like to wish Sharon
all the best in the future.
END OF
AN ERA
In Memory of Bernie Reisman
by Betty Brudnick
And so, under his leadership,
BALI (now BOLLI) was
founded in 2000.
It is with much sadness that
the BOLLI community acknowledges the passing of
our beloved founding
Director, Bernie Reisman.
His sparkling eyes, his warm
smile, his gentle ways, and
his modest demeanor endeared him to all. BOLLI is forever indebted to Bernie for
his foresight, his warmth,
and his love of people.
photo by Julian Brown
Bernie came to Brandeis in
1967 when he was chosen to
be the Muehlstein Fellow in
Jewish Communal Leadership and, after completing his
fellowship, established the
Hornstein Program for Jewish Communal Studies at the
Heller School in 1970. Not
ready to retire and still the
“indigenous” leader that he
was in his youth in the Bronx,
Bernie was moved to continue
building and sustaining the
spirit of community that was
a central thread in his life.
To quote one of his colleagues, Bernie was “a
wonderful mensch. A loving mensch. An effective
mensch. An inspiring
mensch. A beloved mensch.
A mensch.”
We extend to his family the
love we had for him.
Bernie Reisman, 1926-2011
The BOLLI Banner is published by the Banner Editorial Committee:
Renée Fine, Layout
Susan Posner, Archiv ist
Carole Grossman, Co-Editor
Phil Radoff, Staff Writer
Richard Glantz, Publisher
Naomi Schmidt, Co-Editor
Andy Thurnauer, Secretary
Email us at:
BALIBanner@aol.com
Next deadline:
3/9/12
Len Heier, photographer
Bonnie Alpert, Council liaison
Phyllis Pressman Cohen and Joan Kleinman, contributing writers
Banner archive: www.brandeis.edu/bolli/banner/index.html
Vol 12 Number 4
-2-
March 2012
Not a Dry Eye in the Temple
by Richard Glantz
The sanctuary of Temple Emanuel
in Newton was filled with those
wishing to pay their final respects
to Bernie Reisman. A closed
coffin was prominent, draped
with a tallis and a folded
American flag.
The rabbi began the memorial service with the 23rd
psalm:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want…
While the formal obituaries in the media list him as
“Professor Bernard Resiman,” the rabbi opened
his remarks with the penetrating observation that
we all called him “Bernie.” He explained, “Bernie
stood for Bernie Reisman, like Elvis in music and
Michael in basketball.” Bernie was a national leader, a man who inspired those around him to “reach
the goal you only imagined.”
The rabbi went on, “There were no
in-laws in Bernie’s family. To Bernie, family was paramount. He reveled in his 18 children and grandchildren.” Nachus fun Kinder—joy
from children—was Bernie’s favorite expression.
END OF
school. Joe DiMaggio was Bernie’s
hero; a poster of the baseball great
AN ERA
hung on the bedroom wall. Like all
boys, Don needed a hero as well. But, he
confessed, “I don’t need a picture of a hero. I share
a bedroom with a hero.” Indeed, Don continued, if
Bernie’s mother hadn’t intervened, there might
never have been a “Professor” Reisman. In 1944,
the postman delivered a letter to the house which
invited Bernie to come in and try out for a position
on the Yankees. Bernie’s mother hid the letter, so
Bernie went to CCNY instead.
Eric, Bernie’s second son, remembered the Friday
night dinner table from his youth. Every Friday,
his father gave the same speech on the importance
of family, concluding the speech with his favorite
phrase, Nachus fun Kinder; and his children would
roll their eyes. But now that he is a
father in his own right, Eric finds
that, at Friday night dinners, he too
gives the same speech about the
importance of family; and his
children roll their eyes.
Sharon, Bernie’s older daughter,
also remembered the dinner table.
Dinner was a learning experience
before it was an eating experience.
The remainder of the memorial serMy father “demanded everyone say
vice was filled with reminiscences
something about a topic of his
by family members and friends.
choosing before eating the first
Elaine, Bernie’s wife, described him
forkful.” She characterized her
as her best friend and a devoted cofather as “a loving family man, a
parent of their children. “There were
respected Jewish professional, a
always students at our house,” addmensch, a guy who didn’t take
ed Elaine. “At the drop of a hat, he
Bernie in his typical
himself too seriously, a man with a
would invite someone to dinner.
red sweater (2006) fun and irreverent spirit.” And, Sharon
Professionally, he talked about building
added, “my father was a fun person to
community. In his personal life, he lived it.”
be around. He made even the most mundane
activities a game, an adventure, or a competition.
Don, Bernie’s brother, talked not only of Bernie’s
Every day at the Reisman household was like
academic brilliance—he went to high school at age
summer camp. Saturday mornings camp director
12 1/2—but also of his athletic prowess—he was
Bernie stood at the bottom of the stairs and yelled,
captain of several teams. As Don remembered
those school years, Bernie “ran every club” in high ‘Attention all campers. Breakfast will be served in
[continued on page 4]
Vol 12 Number 4
-3-
March 2012
Dry Eye [continued from page 3]
ten minutes in the main dining room.’” It was
more important to be together at breakfast as a
family than to be al-lowed to sleep in.
Robin, the youngest child, captured her father’s
irreverance by relating accounts of the two of them
riding in an elevator and her father making up
stories for strangers to overhear, like his uncle in
jail or our new private jet. He still retained his baseball skills, which he would demonstrate by naming
an object—the tree over there—and then “nail it
with a rock or a snowball with great precision.”
And then there were the notes he would “write to
waitresses on napkins.”
Joel, Bernie’s firstborn child and his frequent
doubles-tennis partner, wrote a moving poem
about how he, Joel, now had to play the game
alone, concluding, “I’ve got to look to find his
strength inside of me.”
Alan Teperow, a Brandeis alumnus who lost his
own father in his 20’s, spoke of how Bernie became a deeply influential father figure for him. In
return, as Bernie’s health declined, Alan visited
him weekly—a ritual they called Mondays with
Bernie—to hike, play tennis, swim, and eventually
just to walk up and down the hallway or sit in
silence.
The extended Reisman family was indeed a loving
family. Nachus fun Kinder.
Dear BOLLI, …
END OF
AN ERA
Bernie’s vision led to the creation of the BOLLI program. When my father, Ted
Saxe, of blessed memory, retired at age 86 and came to live with me in Boston, BOLLI became his
intellectual home. It filled his days with meaning and enabled him to transition gracefully from his work
as a surgeon to his life as a retiree. It was an extraordinary gift from Bernie.
-- excerpt from a letter by Prof. Leonard Saxe, Brandeis University
Maintain Those Foreign Language Skills
French Conversation Group
by Barbara Apstein
Hebrew Conversation Group
by Harris Traiger
A group of BOLLI members who share an
interest in French language and culture have
been meeting bi-weekly since last fall. A
few participants have lived in France or
other francophone countries, others studied
the language in college, and some have taught
French. We decided to read and discuss Le Petit
Prince by Antoine de St. Exupéry, a little book that
appears simple but, as we discovered, is both witty
and profound. Our conversations are lively and
wide-ranging and are guided by questions developed by one of our members; we discuss grammar
and translation, ponder the significance of the
Prince’s adventures, and try to understand how the
book both reflects the author’s life and times and is
relevant to our own.
Chug Ivri, a group of BOLLI members
who share a love of the spoken Hebrew
language, have been getting together
monthly to converse in a friendly setting
and to maintain or improve their fluency in the
language. Conversations, conducted in Hebrew,
often involve current issues, humorous stories,
personal and family histories, and discussions of
Hebrew grammar, vocabulary, and usage. We
share recipes (in Hebrew of course), read Hebrew
short stories by well-known Israeli authors, and
occasionally discuss interesting articles from the
Israeli press. Our group has grown since its beginning last spring and is open to anyone who has
some knowledge of the language and who wishes
to expand it in a very pleasant environment.
Vol 12 Number 4
-4-
March 2012
Celebration of Sharon
by Michaele Whelan
[a speech given at Sharon’s farewell reception]
At this celebration for and of Shar- developing new study group leaders,
are direct results of Sharon’s imagion, our director of BOLLI, we are
END OF
nation and success in working with
not here to say farewell, but to bid
her good luck and godspeed on her outstanding member leaders who are AN ERA
themselves educators.
new adventure. For more than 11
years, Sharon has been educating
me about the second stage of life— Finally, having led BOLLI out of the proverbial
think of it as an extended tutorial. I wilderness of Gosman to a permanent home at
had a lot to learn! She’s talked with Turner, Sharon is ready to turn over the baton to a
new leader. It is clear that BOLLI and the Univerexcitement about new stages in
sity are in her debt. There are many more achieveadult development that are only now being exments I could cite, and I certainly have not done
plored, the importance of giving back, connecting
justice to the intellectual and emotional commitwith others, generating meaning, creating a legacy.
ment that Sharon has made to this program over
As she embarks on her own journey of discovery,
the last eleven-plus years. Certainly, her love of
it is important to recognize how much she has
Brandeis (she is after all an alumna, and so will
already achieved in these areas.
always be
As a pioneer in
connected here),
innovative lifeher tireless
long learning
energy and
and interenthusiasm
generational
(here I should
education,
in tribute make
Sharon has
some sweeping
brought Bergestures), her
nie’s amazing
buoyancy, good
vision to fruihumor, and
tion. Successpassion for her
fully stewardwork will be
2009
2008
2003
ing first BALI
missed greatly
and now BOLLI, through so many changes in
by her staff, faculty, members and of course, by
growth, funding, and membership, Sharon has
me.
created her own legacy here. Writing grant applicaI know, though, that Brandeis and BOLLI are home
tions and connecting in person and in reports with
for Sharon and that she will return to recount her
Mr. Osher and the foundation, Sharon secured the
adventures and exclaim about our progress. And
million-dollar endowment—an enduring foundawe will welcome her with excitement and gratitude
tion for BOLLI. Through her tireless work within
for all that she has done. So as the 19th century
the University and with the membership, she has
integrated BOLLI into the University so that every- British essayist, Jerome Klapka Jerome, said, “Let
your boat of life be light, packed with only what
one knows that BOLLI students are Brandeis
you need—a homely home and simple pleasures,
students, and would not dare say otherwise! Our
one or two friends, worth the name…a dog…
national reputation as an innovator in education
enough to eat and enough to wear…” We wish you
with high-quality and diverse programming, and
all the best as you embark on your next adventure.
our unique and self-sustaining way of eliciting and
Vol 12 Number 4
-5-
March 2012
An Instrument of Change
by Nancy Rawson
Sharon was with BOLLI from the very beginning,
starting on May 10, 2000, her 50th birthday. She
was instrumental in developing an infrastructure
(one of her favorite words) and in taking many
divergent—and often conflicting—ideas and melding them into a workable solution. One of BOLLI’s
serious needs from the beginning, if this program
was to thrive, was to develop a strong, positive,
productive relationship with the University. Thanks
to Sharon’s efforts—one of her main achievments
—we now have such a relationship.
Sharon also encouraged and supported the development of a broad-based membership. In a recent
“aha” moment I realized that we are now truly a
two-generation program. There are now several
members younger than my own children and a few
members older than I am. We are
attracting an ever-widening range of
ages and interests.
END OF
AN ERA
Sharon leaves behind a thriving program. How we
have grown under her stewardship! In our first
semester, Fall 2000, we met two days a week, three
periods a day, in four rooms. There were twenty
courses to choose from, and basically no extracurricular activities. We now meet—in our own
space—three days a week, four periods a day, and
offer over 40 courses, in addition to a host of everdeveloping educational and recreational “extra”
activities. A notable achievement in twelve years.
Thank you, Sharon, for seeing the possibilities and
turning them into reality.
Fridays with Friends
by Tamara Chernow
Although Peter Schmidt speaks with a soft voice, he opened his talk
Growing up in Germany with a loud bang. It was the bang of a bomb
dropped from an RAF airplane and detonating in the family’s small house
near Berlin while he and his mother were in the cellar. It was 1943 and
Peter was five years old.
He told us about returning to the area with his mother at the end of the
war, while his father remained in Berlin as a teacher. They coped with
post-war hardships, including a lack of food. He became a young expert at
identifying mushrooms, and he told of an incident avoiding Russian
soldiers while stealing cabbages from fields.
When a friend tipped off his father in 1947 that he was on a list of possible
deportees to Russia, the family decided to flee. A dangerous border crossPeter Schmidt, age 6
ing brought them from the East to Bremerhaven in West Germany, where
they lived until they could immigrate to the U.S.A. in 1949. At 11 years of age, Peter started a new life in
Brooklyn, with an education at Cooper Union and Columbia University, a teaching position at Brandeis,
careers in physics and machine vision, and finally an active role at BOLLI, where he is a friend to many.
Peter’s talk was sponsored by the BOLLI Enhancement Committee as part of a series of programs called
Fridays with Friends, when BOLLI members are given the opportunity to share some personal experiences and learn more about their fellow members. These programs will continue on an occasional basis
throughout the semester. Information about upcoming events can be found in the weekly BOLLI Bulletin.
Vol 12 Number 4
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March 2012
Rapaporte Seminars: The Winter Intensives
The Press and Politics
by Dianne Hoaglin
The Fascination of Watching Evil
by Naomi Schmidt
With the Republican primaries
underway, BOLLI members
flocked to the January seminar
on The Press and Politics,
taught by Eileen McNamara,
former Boston Globe columnist and current Brandeis
Eileen McNamara journalism professor.
With apologies to Shakespeare,
some thirty-two Rapaporte Seminarians would assuredly assert
that “the January of our discontent was again made glorious by a
son of Brandeis,” namely noted
Shakespearean scholar Billy
William Flesch Flesch of the English Department. Billy continued his series
of riveting Shakespeare seminars with a course on
Richard III, a work whose title character presages
those of Macbeth and Iago, villains who take
pleasure in their own evil.
The seminar explored the history of Presidential
campaign coverage and the nominating process,
looked at the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire
primary, examined the effect of the Citizens United
decision on the creation of Super PACs, considered
the post-truth campaign and media’s obsession
with “balance,” and previewed the general election.
It is important to experience this work on the stage
as well as on the page, and we were treated to video
interpretations of the title role by masters such as
McNamara drew on her experience as a reporter
Laurence Oliver, Ian McKellan, and Kevin Spacey.
and columnist to illustrate the priorities that motiWe saw how Richard enters into and deviously
vate reporters, the way coverage of the White
changes the complexion of every scene, manipulaHouse and Congress works, the impact of thorough ting people even as he addresses us in his asides,
reporting, the dynamics of a newsroom, the probletting us in on his evil plans.
lems that arise when reporters socialize with politiThe arc of the drama follows the rise and fall of the
cians, and the role of strong backing by editors.
protagonist as he gains and then loses power, and it
She used videos to both enlighten and entertain us.
was particularly interesting to see how the events
On a serious note, the class viewed Bill Moyers’s
and even the dialogue signaling Richard’s upward
Buying the War, which demonstrated how the
path in earlier scenes are echoed in later scenes
populace and the media got swept up in the “big
when his trajectory is reversed.
lie” about weapons of mass destruction during the
Discussion ranged from the erudite, such as the
run-up to the invasion of Iraq. On a much lighter
definition of stichomythia (a technique using short
but informative note, seminar participants viewed
Stephen Colbert’s hilarious and satirical explanation exchanges of dialogue between two characters, each
of how a Super PAC works. Over the course of the replying with a phrase that parallels that of the other
week, the class also viewed a variety of Republican speaker), to the commonplace, such as the similarity in plot structure between this play and contemcampaign commercials.
porary film and television works.
McNamara urged us not to yield to cynicism about
the election process or the media, but rather to view Although these days it isn’t fashionable among
some scholars to think of Shakespeare as “great,”
the news critically, focus on the important policy
Flesch was passionate and convincing in explaining
questions, and obtain the facts amid the large
why the Bard deserves this epithet, and left no
volume of information. She provided an excellent
doubt in our minds that he is correct.
list of resources to aid participants in that quest.
Vol 12 Number 4
-7-
March 2012
Campus Cultural Calendar
compiled by Phil Radoff
Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400
Remember: BOLLI members with ID receive a discount
Save $2 handling fee by buying tickets at the box office, located in Shapiro Student Center
SLOSBERG MUSIC CENTER
Sat., Mar. 10 (8 P.M.; free pre-concert lecture 7 P.M.)
Free preview concert: Thurs., Mar. 8, 4 P.M. - Rose Art Museum
Improvisations: Raga in Afghanistan and North India
Presented by MusicUnitesUs
Master performers reunite two historically kindred stringed
instruments through the common language of raga and tala
Homayun Sakhi, Afghan rubab
Ken Zuckerman, sarod
Salar Nader, tabla
To hear samples, go to:
www.musicunitesus.info/music/Raga Chandranandan.mp4
www.musicunitesus.info/music/Sakhi%20Kataghani.mp4
Fri., Mar. 23 (8 P.M.)
Recital
John Kusiak Mohegan Suite (world première)
works by J. S. Bach, Katherine Hoover, and Joan Tower
Jill Dreeben, flute
Peter Clemente, guitar
SHAPIRO THEATER
Mar. 29–Apr. 1 (2 P.M. Sat. and Sun.; 8 P.M. Thu.–Sat.)
She Stoops to Conquer
Written by Oliver Goldsmith
Directed by Eric Hill
BOLLI SQUARE DANCE
If BOLLI members think Square Dances are only part of their past—“these old bones” can't do it any
more—they have another think coming. The annual Square Dance, given by BOLLI for the International graduate students at the Heller School, is a favorite event for all ages.
The Square Dance, showing part of America’s heritage, was initiated as our response to the wonderful culture nights the students provide us. Led by a masterful professional caller experienced in
dealing with the inexperienced and the inept, all the dancers are soon hopping around with their
partners. It doesn’t take long for the do-si-do to catch on, and Turner St. quickly turns into a funfilled dance hall. Generous amounts of “American” foods (even peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches) and lots of joy and laughter make this an event to remember.
Please join us for the next Square Dance on March 31st at 6 P.M. at Turner St.
It is sure to be another rousing success.
Vol 12 Number 4
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March 2012