Happy 50th Birthday, Josh

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

March not only marked JARC’s annual month-long celebration of National Developmental Disabilities Month, but for Jeff Leventhal, a JARC person served, it marked his 50th birthday.

Leventhal has been an active part of the JARC community for nearly 30 years. In that time, he’s made friends with many other persons served, developed strong relationships with staff, enjoyed opportunities to get outside of JARC and into the larger community, and gained life skills at his work at the Judson Center and Kroger. While many of his daily activities have changed since the start of the pandemic, his friendly, helpful nature has remained the same. Leventhal has a reputation of being quick to pitch in around the JARC house with chores like folding laundry, putting away groceries, bringing in the newspaper, and his favorite, loading and emptying the dishwasher. The JARC staff are grateful for Leventhal’s help and how his positive attitude has impacted the other men living at the same JARC home.

“His outgoing and infectious personality brightens up our community so much, and it’s just one thing that makes him a really good fit for us,” said Jenny Kabert, JARC’s director of philanthropy,

Miriam Leventhal, Jeff’s mother, knows that to be true more than anyone.

“People often tell me he has a great smile, and they feel happy when they’re with him,” she said. “And I have to say, that’s true for me as well. There’s just something infectious about him when you meet him or as you get to know him.”

For Leventhal’s 50th birthday, Miriam organized a small but thoughtful family celebration, creating a video montage for him where family members and friends were invited to send in a video clip with birthday wishes.

“We had a video of about 25 clips, and we presented that to him,” she said. “Almost every time he’s been home since, he’s asked to watch it. That made the birthday special.”

Miriam says JARC has been terrific during the last two years in keeping everyone safe and providing virtual activities which Jeff really enjoys.

“They’ve provided a lot of stability,” Miriam said. “Even with the difficulties of COVID and the greater isolation it’s imposed on all of us, (Jeff’s) just had really good support.”

An important aspect of Leventhal’s life has been his connection with Marc Soble, now president of Congregation Beth Ahm, through JARC’s Making Community Connections program. For nearly 10 years prior to COVID19, Soble picked Leventhal up almost every Saturday and took him to Shabbat services, becoming great friends in the process.

“We would meet up at (Jeff’s) house right behind the synagogue and if the weather wasn’t good, we would drive, but as spring and summer came, we would actually walk, and that was a really nice part of the relationship,” Soble said. “He loves to chat and catch up and that gave us an opportunity to talk about things.”

In addition to going to services, Soble and Leventhal have been honored with aliyot, opened the arc and attended different shul activities and holiday celebrations together.

“One thing I’ve always liked about him, in terms of services, if there was a b’nai mitzvah, he would make a point after the service to go up to them and congratulate them,” Soble said. “It was really important to him. And it wasn’t something I talked to him about; he did it on his own. I always thought that was special.”

During the pandemic, the two have regularly kept in touch on the phone and have taken walks together. Though COVID difficulties have mostly curtailed their trips to Shabbat services, the plan is to return to that soon.

“He cares about things and people, and he’s always upbeat and positive, and I think that’s the most special thing (about him),” Soble said. “It’s an important relationship and friendship to me.”