Great Communicators

Hundreds of South Floridians will gather at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach on Sunday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m. to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust in observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Dr. Howard Rosen, 91, an eyewitness to testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, will provide the keynote address at the event. A retired dentist and current resident of Aventura, Dr. Rosen was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Seventh Field Artillery Battalion stationed in Vilsek, Germany, and served as a liaison to the Nuremberg Trials from 1945 to 1946.

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of public military tribunals held by the Allied forces after World War II to prosecute prominent political and military leaders of Nazi Germany for war crimes. The first and best-known of these trials has been described as “the greatest trial in history.” These hearings and the resulting convictions of crimes against humanity received worldwide attention and led to the execution of some of Hitler’s top collaborators and closest confidants.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m., a multi-generational group — including Holocaust survivors, families and schoolchildren — will assemble at the Holocaust Memorial to observe this annual occasion with a solemn commemoration. The program will feature prayers, songs, a candle-lighting ceremony and other presentations, memorializing the men, women and children who died in the Holocaust and paying tribute to those who survived. The Children’s Choir of Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center and cellist Jason Calloway will perform as part of the observance. The evening will conclude with a screening of the film Echoes of the Holocaust, featuring four Holocaust survivors who are Miami-Dade County residents, at 8 p.m. in the Memorial’s Chester Lecture Hall.

The Yom HaShoah observance is being presented by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, in partnership with a coalition of civic, cultural, educational and charitable organizations. It is supported by the City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council.

The Holocaust Memorial is located at 1933-45 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach. Free parking will be available south of the Memorial. In case of rain, the program will be held at Temple Emanu-El, 1701 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach.

For additional information about the Holocaust Remembrance Day event, call 305.538.1663, email info@HolocaustMemorialMiamiBeach.org or visit HolocaustMemorialMiamiBeach.org.

gc360°, an entrepreneurial “concierge” law practice, is providing South Florida’s small and mid-sized companies with the opportunity to confidently outsource their legal services at a fraction of the cost of hiring large law firms or full-time general counsels.

Clients retain gc360° on pre-negotiated, heavily discounted fee arrangements to purchase fixed numbers of legal hours on a monthly basis.  Each arrangement delineates “In-Scope Services,” covered by the fee arrangement, and “Out-of-Scope Services,” requiring extra time, attention and expertise, subject to additional fees.

“Small and mid-sized companies face a choice between spending their funds on growth and development, or investing in expensive professional services,” said Brent A. Friedman, principal of gc360°.  “We offer an alternative to costly general-counsel-level services and believe in total transparency.  Our clients know exactly what services they will receive and what they will cost with no surprises.  This also helps them to even out their monthly cash flow and avoid unexpected spikes in monthly expenses.”

Based on his 30 years of professional experience, Friedman’s gc360° law practice offers a broad range of In-Scope Services that include:

• Corporate Services and Governance
• Corporate Finance
• Contracts, Licensing, Distribution and Related Transactions
• Intellectual Property Programs
• Employment Law
• Real Estate Transactions

gc360°’s billing rates range from $200 to $275 per hour, compared to the $450 to $600 per hour rates charged by South Florida’s major law firms, or the $250,000-a-year salary, plus benefits, of a full-time general counsel.  Legal services can be purchased in blocks of 5 to 40 hours per month, depending on each client’s specific legal needs.

In addition to its low hourly rates, gc360° absorbs all routine expenses that law firms traditionally charge back to clients, including copying, faxing, postage, scanning, telephone charges and secretarial overtime.

Friedman began his legal career on Wall Street, representing major corporate clients at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, and Stroock Stroock & Lavan, two prestigious New York-based law firms.  He subsequently served as general counsel and secretary of Eclipsys Corporation (NASDAQ: ECLP), a publicly held provider of health information technology.

Friedman most recently served as principal outside counsel to GE Healthcare IT and other Fortune 100 companies on complex contracting matters, and to banks and financial institutions on commercial restructuring and collection matters.

gc360° is headquartered at 1101 Brickell Avenue in Miami.  For more information, visit www.gc360.co or call 305-579-6800.

For Magda Bader of Aventura, the 2014 Leo Martin March of the Living will provide an poignant opportunity to share her Holocaust experiences with her daughter and granddaughter.

A Holocaust survivor, Magda rarely spoke with her family about her experiences at Auschwitz concentration camp.  When she travels to Poland on April 23, she will take daughter Anne Bader Martin and granddaughter Naomi Martin to the site where she was separated from her parents who were put to death, along with two of her 10 sisters and a niece.

“My mother never talked much about her life during the Holocaust,” said Anne. “She’d say to others, ‘I was in Europe during the war.’  That was her code.  It was very hard for her to talk about it.”

When Magda travels this year with 140 other Miami participants, it will mark her third trip to Poland with the March of the Living, but the first time with family members.  She began to discuss her Holocaust era experiences several years ago with local public school students as a speaker for the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center.  Then a fellow survivor encouraged her to become a docent on the March.

“When I was younger, I wanted to blend in and it was emotionally difficult for me to relive my past,” Magda said.  “What I’ve discovered is that it is important to educate the kids to see what hatred did.  They should know to be involved and to do for others.  It does matter what you do.”

In 1944, Magda was 13 when she and her family were rounded up by the Nazis in Munkach, Hungary (now Ukraine), and were transferred to a ghetto for a few months before being sent to Auschwitz in Poland.  She remembers coming to the camp and being separated from her parents by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele.

“I started to cry when we were taken from our parents,” she said. “Dr. Mengele said, ‘Don’t cry.  You’ll see them again.’  None of us knew what was waiting for us.”

Although Magda previously traveled to Hungary with family members to visit her hometown, the 2014 March of the Living will be the first time she, her daughter and granddaughter will face the awful memories of Auschwitz together.  Anne, an attorney who represents traumatized children and families, will travel from Boston, and Naomi, a young newspaper reporter, will fly from New Orleans to link up with Magda in Poland.

“It will give us a real understanding of what she’s been through,” Anne said.  “There is healing in the telling.  My mother is an amazing person and each year she becomes more amazing.”

Leaving April 23 and returning on May 7, the March of the Living is a two-week international experience where teens from around the world come together each year and bear witness to the destruction of the Holocaust in Poland and then travel to Israel to rejoice in the Jewish Homeland.

The program commemorates Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, marching from Auschwitz to Birkenau, and celebrates Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, in the streets of Jerusalem.

The March of the Living is a transformative event that leaves participants with a Jewish experience unlike any other. For more information on the Leo Martin March of the Living, contact 305.576.4030, ext. 144 or email aleysheer@caje-miami.org.

Congratulations to John Squitero, shareholder of the Katz Barron Squitero Faust law firm, who has been nominated by Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Florida as one of its 2014 Twelve Good Men of South Florida.  He and other nominees will be honored for their histories of outstanding community service, civic service and involvements in South Florida charitable organizations during an April 29 luncheon at Jungle Island in Miami.

John has served as a Board member of the Viscayans and the Broward County Humane Society.  He also is a member of the Citizens Board of the University of Miami and a trustee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Florida raise funds to provide temporary lodging for out-of-town parents who have sick children in South Florida hospitals.  The charity currently operates Ronald McDonald House facilities on the grounds of Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Miami and Chris Evert Children’s Hospital in Fort Lauderdale.

Even some of the most successful and sophisticated Jewish singles need some help navigating the dating maze. That’s why Nancy Gold, a psychologist, and Barbara Black Goldfarb, a community leader, have founded Elegant Introductions, a high-end matchmaking service for Jewish singles in South Florida.

Elegant Introductions is an executive search firm for the heart, a service that finds, pre-screens and creates Jewish matches.  Dr. Gold and Ms. Goldfarb bring their keen sense of who matches with whom, and are gifted coaches and consultants, guiding Jewish singles to become relationship ready.  Using their intuition, and listening skills, they advise singles how to have a successful date. Coaching and image consulting services are provided to clients throughout the dating process to clarify goals, develop self-confidence, improve communications skills and recognize relationship patterns.

Dr. Gold and Ms. Goldfarb are known for their highly personalized, confidential introductions of attractive, successful Jewish singles, as well as their understanding and deep commitment to their clients’ happiness and well-being.

Their motto, “Making Jewish Matches That Matter,” drives their passion.  They understand the dating landscape.  They know that every client’s time is valuable and that finding “your match” can be like finding a needle in a haystack. They are committed to understanding you, your wants and needs.  By blending their extensive search with your expressed desires, they are bringing loving people together and igniting one match at a time.

“Why leave finding love to chance … leave it to us,” said Dr. Gold.  “Our process is comfortable, elegant and confidential.  We offer a compassionate, no-nonsense approach to making your dreams of love come true.”

Elegant Introductions was conceived after both founders had introduced dozens of friends and acquaintances to their future spouses.  They decided to turn their matchmaking skills into a business, combining their personal expertise and experiences with a precise methodology.

The matchmaking process begins with a series of personal interviews and a personal compatibility assessment to become acquainted with each client, and gain a full understanding of his or her relationship needs and preferences.  Ms. Goldfarb and Dr. Gold subsequently review their files of potential matches and meet with the client to review each carefully chosen potential partner.

Elegant Introductions’ fees begin at $2,500 per client and vary depending on age and other specific demographic factors.

For more information about Elegant Introductions and its matchmaking services, visit http://www.JElegantIntroductions.com, or call 305-615-1900.