In praise of Wang Druss
Broward County, Florida, is the eighth-largest Jewish community in the US, with about 185,000 people. It has the largest number of Jews of any county in Florida. Some of its elderly population lived through the Holocaust during the Nazi reign of terror against Jews during World War II.
An important part of this Jewish community is the Orloff Central Agency for Jewish Education, which develops and provides educational programs for its community. The president of the Orloff Central Agency for Jewish Education, Wandy Wang Druss, was born in Chiayi.
As an 11-year-old student living in Taipei, Wang Druss attended Penglai Elementary School, where she won a citywide essay and calligraphy contest. Her father, Wang Chan-hsiung, moved the family to the Dominican Republic when he took a position there as an irrigation engineer. Wang Druss was 12 years old at the time. Two years later, she moved to the US. She still speaks to her parents in Taiwanese, uses Mandarin when necessary and is cherished by the local Jewish community in Florida.
Wang Druss is married to an attorney and has two children, both recent college graduates: one from Dartmouth College and the other from Brandeis University. She has two master’s degrees and works as the director of continuing education for health sciences at Broward College.
A few years ago, a family friend, who is a judge in the Broward County court and Jewish, was talking to Wang Druss about Kosher rules — the religious practice of only eating foods that are permissible and avoiding those that are not according to a set of Jewish laws.
This friend knows Wang Druss’ personal history and background and knows that her Taiwanese-born parents are not Jewish. Nevertheless, she asked if Wang Druss’ parents kept a Kosher home when she was growing up. After saying this, they both paused and burst out laughing.
Wang Druss, although looking as Chinese as any other Chinese woman, so easily fits in that people no longer see her physical appearance, but instead see her inner character.
Wang Druss feels as comfortable eating Shabbat dinner at a Hasidic rabbi’s house (an Orthodox rabbi identified by having a long beard and wearing a wide-brimmed black hat with a long black coat) as she does buying something from a pushcart vendor in Taipei. She has an enthusiasm and passion for kindness that draws people to her and energizes them, regardless of their ethnicity. She understands and relates to the essence of the Jewish soul and Jews embrace her as one of their own.
The Jewish population of Broward County and the people of Taiwan have someone they can both be proud of.
Lewis Druss
Plantation, Florida
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