JGA July-August 09 - The Jewish Georgian

July-August 2009 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 21
Jewish
THE
Georgian
Twittering goes kosher for Roberta Scher and Lois Held
By Suzi Brozman
W
here do you get your kosher
news? From the newspaper?
From the Atlanta Kashruth
Commission’s newsletter or website? From
cookbooks? From friends? From walking
up and down the kosher aisles at the grocery
store? Today, there’s a new option,
called KosherEye—tweet about it at
Twitter.com, or follow it on Facebook,
courtesy of Roberta Scher and Lois Held.
Not too many years ago, we all marveled
at something called the Internet; we
were fascinated by our cellphones. Before
that, we thought Dick Tracy’s two-way
wrist radio was pure fantasy, never to be
made real. How wrong we were!
Then came e-mail and instant messaging,
and we found communication to be
both instantaneous and addictive. Or am I
the only one who’ll admit I stay in touch via
e-mail far more than I ever did when I had
to buy stamps and go to the Post Office to
mail a letter?
Then came Facebook, and suddenly
people we didn’t even know were aware of
our existence are popping up, asking us to
be their friends. Craigslist and e-Bay and
internet shopping let us browse without
ever setting foot in the mall.
And now there’s the new sensation—
Twitter.com, a site that lets you “tweet”
about anything at all, as long as you can
keep your message
under 140 characters.
Track a person or a
product, talk about politics
or whatever interests
you. And it’s all
free.
But how to make it
matter, and
not just
substitute
for gossip
or e-mail?
That was
the question
facing
Roberta
Scher and
Lois Held when they decided to put their
many years of volunteer experience to use.
The two women had been friends for
some 39 years, since they met as volunteers
in a Hadassah chapter. Like many women,
they’d joined to meet people and do good at
the same time. Scher remembers,
“Hadassah was an outlet for us. Women’s
roles have changed. You can judge a person
by working with her on a volunteer basis.”
Held agrees. “We formed so many
friendships in Hadassah,” she says. “Then I
Atlanta Group Home
celebrates its 25th anniversary
Lois Held and Roberta Scher
went back to school and Roberta went into
business. Recently, we’ve worked on Beth
Jacob things together,
including many things
related to food—the
Kosher Festival, dinners
of honor, and so forth.
We love to eat, cook,
and read cookbooks.
And Roberta has had her
kosher
food column
in
T h e
Jewish
Georgian
for six
years.”
After
Scher
sold Paper Parlour, her store for over 25
years, and Lois retired from her career as an
information technology specialist, they
began to search for a new project and soon
settled on one that had been germinating in
Scher’s mind for some months. “We believe
there is an audience that wants to know
about the newest and the best in kosher
products, gadgets, wine, beverages, and
edibles,” says Scher. “We decided we wanted
to highlight products for chefs, restaurants,
foodies, and cooks, both Jewish and
By Evie Wolfe
In 1984, The Atlanta Group
Home opened its doors to young
adults with mental disabilities.
At the time, there was no
other facility in Fulton
County like it. Twenty-five
years later, three of its original
residents have lived happily
in this remarkable home.
It all began years earlier,
when Harry and Frances
Kuniansky were given the news that
their newborn daughter, Jill, had
Down syndrome. Six doctors
strongly recommended placing
her in an institution. Harry and Frances followed
the advice of a seventh and took Jill
home, where she lived until she was 24.
In her heart, Frances knew that life at
home would be difficult for a child with a
mental disability, even though her three siblings
adored her.
Born in 1959, Jill had a typical child-
non-Jewish, who are looking for kosher
items.”
Held added to her friend’s statement,
“There is a preconceived notion of what
kosher is—Manischewitz—but that’s not
the case anymore. There are a lot of mainstream
and gourmet products. It’s not like
what our grandmothers used.” In the old
days, the women point out, you had very
few options available, like a single brand of
kosher parve margarine. Now there are
many, and people need to be made aware of
the choices and their advantages and disadvantages.
Scher shared her philosophy, “We’re
looking for healthy, delicious products for
anyone wishing to cook kosher—it’s a
whole new world out there—milks, preserves,
much more, and they’re not in the
kosher department.” Held calls their service
an informational network: they walk up and
down every aisle in the supermarket, virtually
survey products, and contact manufacturers
and distributors, looking for new
items. Their adviser is Rabbi Reuven Stein,
of the Atlanta Kashruth Commission.
The women decided to test their concept
on Twitter.com. It’s free, it’s easy, and
it’s open to anyone. It’s a fast and convenient
way to communicate and get your mes-
hood until it became time for school. No
schools would take children
known to have Down syndrome,
and there were no
training centers available.
Frances placed a
personals ad in the
newspaper, in which
she encouraged
protests, and she was
able to convince Fulton
County to come up with
funds for a day-training cen-
ter for children who needed
help. Eventually, it
became possible to send
Jill and others like her to
Fulton County schools.
At 21, Jill graduated from Northside
High School. She announced to her parents
that she wanted to move out and live on her
own. Frances was against it, but knew
change was necessary.
Jill and Frances
Kuniansky
See TWITTER, page 25
See GROUP HOME, page 25