Happy Chanukah - The Jewish Georgian

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Page 42 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN November-December 2011 Book Festival of the MJCCA features top authors The 20th Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA, one of the South’s premier cultural events, runs through November 20. A highlight of Atlanta’s literary calendar and one of the most prominent and well known in the country, the Book Festival of the MJCCA presents more than 40 of the year’s best and brightest authors in a variety of forums. Before the festival ends, more than 10,000 visitors will have enjoyed engaging speaker programs, author meetand-greets, book signings, panel discussions, and more. Most events are taking place at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. This year’s lineup features Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling authors; rising literary voices; television and film stars; humorists; journalists; historians; novelists; and scholars. The remaining events on the schedule are: • November 15, 6:30 p.m. Deborah Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial: A Chronicle of the Holocaust Dr. Lipstadt offers a compelling reassessment of The Eichmann Trial. (Non-Member: $16/Member: $11) • November 15, 8:00 p.m. Charles Fox, Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music MISHMASH From page 40 FAMOUS JEWISH WOMEN YOUʼVE NEVER HEARD OF. On September 14, the Ketura Group of Greater Atlanta Hadassah held its opening meeting at Summerʼs Landing Mt. Vernon. Barbara Ellison Rosenblit, who serves on the Board of the Jewish Womenʼs Archives, spoke and conducted an interactive discussion documenting the accomplishments of Jewish American women. Their many contributions to society are chronicled on the online archives at www.jwa.org. Pictured: (from left) Co- President Sheila Dalmat, Barbara Rosenblit, and Co-President Sybil Ginsburg HEALTHY HOLIDAY EATING. On November 1, Stability Pilates & Physical Fox recounts his development as a musician and composer of the song “Killing Me Softly,” the theme from “The Love Boat,” and many more popular tunes, describing the cornerstone events of his musical and personal life. (Non-Member: $16/Member: $11) • November 16, 12:00 noon Panel discussion with Greg Dawson and Alyson Richman Greg Dawson, Hiding in the Spotlight: A Musical Prodigy’s Story of Survival This book tells the story of Dawson’s mother, who changed her identity and survived the Holocaust performing for the Nazis. Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit, and the strength of memory. (Non-Member: $13/Member: $8) • November 16, 7:30 p.m. Jane Gross in conversation with CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen Jane Gross, A Bittersweet Season: Caring for our Aging Parents—and Ourselves New York Times journalist Jane Gross weaves the experience of a parent with health problems with a resource for keeping your family strong. (Non-Member: $13/Member: $8) Therapy presented a free nutritional seminar featuring Julie Taube, MS, RD, LD, at its Roswell Road studio, in Sandy Springs. The seminar provided healthy eating tips and recipes that can be used during the upcoming holiday season. Snacks were provided by Café Sunflower, Breadwinner Café, and Sally’s Bakery. Stability Pilates and Physical Therapy provides Pilates group, mat, and one-on-one classes, as well as quality, safe, and therapeutic exercise and rehab in a warm and welcoming environment. Julie Taube A FAMILY CHRONI- CLE. Larry Freudenberg’s Ordinary Jews in an Extraordinary World, Freudenberg Family Scrapbook, and Freudenberg Family Genealogy are available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. • November 17, 10:30 a.m. Melissa Fay Greene, No Biking in the House without a Helmet With four biological children and five adoptive ones, Greene captures her unique family’s shared delight in one another’s differences. (Free to the Community) • November 17, 12:00 noon Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers An Oprah Book Club author, Hoffman weaves a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold women, all keeping secrets about who they really are. (Non-Member: $13/Member: $8) • November 19, 7:30 p.m. Dyan Cannon, Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant With unparalleled honesty, award-winning film and television actress Dyan Cannon shares the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of her magical romance and stormy Freudenberg’s family on his mother’s side was one of the first Jewish families in the new world. His father and grandparents escaped Nazi Germany in 1939; they immigrated to Charleston, and his father served in the United States Army, retiring from the reserves as a full colonel. Grandmother Margot S. Freudenberg, age 104, was Charleston’s only physical therapist for many years and became one of the city’s most honored citizens. HOLIDAY TRIBUTE CARDS. In lieu of holiday gifts, individuals and companies can show friends, family, and clients that they are committed to bettering the community through Jewish Family & Career Services’ Holiday Tribute Program. Make a donation supporting JF&CS, and it will send customized holiday cards with your company logo or your name. Choose from various designs, including Season’s Greetings, Christmas and Chanukah. Visit ytfl.org/HolidayTributes for more information, or contact Susan Metz at 770-6779329 or smetz@jfcs-atlanta.org. marriage to screen legend Cary Grant. (Non-Member: $22/Member: $15) • November 20,10:00 a.m. At Congregation Etz Chaim, 1190 Indian Hills Parkway, Marietta Leonard Felder, Here I Am: Using Spiritual Wisdom to Become More Present, Centered, and Available for Life In Here I Am, Dr. Felder expresses how much of his personal growth came from the world of Jewish spirituality. (Free to the Community) • November 20, 3:00 p.m. Regis Philbin, How I Got This Way The iconic host of one of television’s most enduring talk shows, “Live! with Regis and Kelly,” Regis Philbin will make his first appearance at the Book Festival of the MJCCA. (Non-Member: $22/Member: $15/Premier Seating: $50) For more information or to purchase tickets, call the MJCCA Box Office at 678- 812-4005, or visit www.atlantajcc.org. Always the teacherʼs pet, Paul Muldawer is still trying to improve his grade with his former teacher at Hoke Smith Junior High School, Eloise Beerman.
November-December 2011 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 43 Israeli folk dancing is becoming an Atlanta tradition By Celia Gilner Who is that graceful dancer with the long strides and clearly defined movements, described as “having youthful enthusiasm that infects everyone around you”? It is Meliss Jakubovic Bachar. FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION Meliss began dancing as a seven-yearold, when she accompanied her mother, Jacki Jacoby Smith, to her Israeli folk dance sessions. She still speaks with frustration about the year without Israeli dancing, when her mother broke her toe, and Meliss was too young to drive. Meliss enjoyed the forty- to sixty-yearolds in her dance classes as a teen but was unsuccessful in getting her young friends involved. She was a talented and eager student. As a seventeen-year-old, Meliss became the youngest Israeli folk dance instructor in the United States. Israeli folk dance session (photo: Leon Balaban) Meliss graduated from The Epstein School in 1996, and, in the tradition of l’dor v’dor, she went back to Epstein to teach Israeli dancing, which she has done for the past twelve years. Meliss also teaches at most of the Jewish day schools in Atlanta and at many simchas, including bar and bat mitzvah parties. Her passion to have younger participants perform was fulfilled when she founded the Atlanta-based high school performing group Nitzanim (Hebrew for flower buds). There are now fourteen girls in Nitzanim. Eleven have returned from last year, and three have been in Nitzanim for all four years of high school. The dance troupe performed on August 14, 2011, at the World Congress Center. For seven years, Nitzanim has been the only Israeli dance group from the South to perform in the Israeli Folk Dance Festival of Boston. Nitzanim performing at the Americans United with Israel rally (photo: Cohen Photographic Art) Meliss’s very first dance teacher, Debbie Kroll, has two daughters, Yaz and Lital, who joined Nitzanim when they were in high school and continue to dance at the Wednesday dance session for adults. Yaz taught dance at Camp Barney Medintz and currently leads Israeli dance sessions at her college. Like Yaz, many former members of Nitzanim have gone on to teach Israeli folk dancing. Meliss is proud of her son Shai’s dance performances; she has promised he can attend the Wednesday adult dance session when he turns seven and hopes he will become her dance partner. Along with his younger brother, Ilan, Shai is immersed in Israeli folk songs and dances daily. A PORTAL TO JUDAISM AND ISRAEL A major goal of Meliss’s organization, Rikud Atlanta, is to create excitement about Israeli folk dancing, which enhances her students’ Jewish identity and connection to Israel. Sandra Cuttler, one of the dancers, describes it as a “portal to Judaism through dance.” She finds it “invigorating, life enriching, and constantly evolving. I’m praying with my feet.” Israeli dancing provides a space and time to let off steam. Meliss notices that she sometimes dances her best after an especially stressful day. Israeli folk dancing (photo: Leon Balaban) GETTING INVOLVED Meliss teaches adult Israeli dance classes at B’nai Torah, where she gratefully acknowledges she has “found a home with a wooden dance floor.” The Wednesday night dance sessions include teenagers and adults from as far away as Athens, with a wide range of ages up to an 86-year-old woman who has danced for forty years. Israelis who never danced in Israel and others not affiliated with a synagogue find their way to the dance sessions. It becomes a way for them to connect: to Judaism with lyrics from the Torah, to the Jewish community, to Jewish holidays and events in Israel expressed in the songs and dances Meliss chooses to celebrate at appropriate times. Every Wednesday, a 6:30-7:00 p.m. beginner’s session and a 7:00-7:40 p.m. intermediate session are taught by Avital Landman, followed by advanced circle and line dances from 7:40-9:30 p.m. and an intermediate-to-advanced couples session from 9:30-10:00 p.m. with Meliss. Israeli folk dancers from all over the world who visit Atlanta often show up at the Wednesday night sessions at B’nai Torah. Participants pay per session and can come any time. When asked why people keep returning to her dance sessions, Meliss cites her emphasis on tailoring classes to each age group and teaching via clear movement and instruction. She is able to see what each individual needs by moving around the circle and standing in front of the person asking a question. Meliss learned to speak modern Hebrew by volunteering to translate songs for hebrewsongs.com. She can sing every single song as she dances and calls steps by name, rhythm, and counts. She participated in a questionnaire from Mona Goldstein, a friend and dance instructor in Washington, D.C., who is writing a dance instructors’ manual, and she is anxious to read it. To pique her students’ interest, she has theme nights when she serves food from a particular country whose dance steps have been incorporated into Israeli folk dancing. One night, she had food from Yemen, Yemenite decorations, and an artist who painted henna tattoos. For Persian night, she surprised her students by having a belly dancer teach, rather than perform for them. FOR EVERY SONG A DANCE From its socialistic roots in pre-state Israel, where the pioneers of the 1930s and 1940s danced barefoot on the ground, holding hands or clasping arms, Israeli folk dancing has become a worldwide phenomenon. Dance was emphasized as a way to promote a distinctly Israeli culture and to unite a diverse multi-language immigrant population. Today, when a popular Israeli song comes out, a choreographer can register with the Irgun Hamadrichim and create a dance for it. It becomes the official dance for that song. There has been an explosion of creativity, and today there are over 7,000 choreographed Israeli dances. With today’s technology, a dance can be disseminated through youtube, websites, DVDs, and CDs very quickly in thirty-two countries. As soon as a song is played, each person is able to know the dance for that particular song. Dance camps and dance festivals are ways to connect with other Israeli folk dancers. Israeli culture is brought to the world in a positive, healthy, and social way. These events have become so popular that dancers plan their vacations around the dance sessions in a particular city. In Tel Aviv, Israel, for example, on Thursday nights, famed choreographer Gadi Bitton attracts 1,500 people. Meliss’ “all-time favorite” is Beit Dani, in Tel Aviv, on Sunday nights, with Dudu Barzilay. On July 12-14, 2011, the yearly Israeli Dance Festival, in Karmiel, attracted the best Israeli dance instructors and 10,000 dancers from all over the world. Meliss Jakubovic Bachar and Dudu Barzilay (photo: Alex Huber Professional Photography) To read more and get involved in Israeli folk dancing, check out Meliss’ website, www.rikudatlanta.com; the Israeli Folk Dancers Association website, www.harokdim.org/indexENG.php; www.rokdim.co.il; and www.israelidances.com.
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