Page 28 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN September-October 2012
September-October 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 29 <strong>Jewish</strong> THE <strong>Georgian</strong> New Year in the Pacific, 1945 By David Geffen When the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in early August 1945, my father, Lt. Col. Louis Geffen, who had been a judge advocate in the U.S. Army since January 1941, assumed that he would soon be issued his discharge papers. What a surprise it was, four days later, when he received orders to join a military unit shipping out from Oakland, California, at the end of August, for parts unknown. His wife, Anna, and I, their son, staying with Anna’s mother, in Norfolk, Virginia, were most disappointed. Louis knew people who were getting orders to return home and becoming civil- ians again. But not him. As a judge advocate, he was conversant with military rules. Thus, he had no recourse but to board the ship at the end of the month. What struck him was the date of embarkation—August 29. That was a mere nine days before Rosh Hashanah, the first weekend in September. Just his luck. He would be on the high seas, in a Navy transport, for the New Year 5706. Before being drafted in 1941, by a special order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louis had spent most of his life in Atlanta, Georgia, where his father, Tobias Geffen, had been an Orthodox rabbi since 1910. After high school, Geffen entered Emory College, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree faster than any- Rosh Hashanah with Mr. Spock By Ron Feinberg <strong>The</strong>re is much high ritual associated with Rosh Hashanah, but certainly one of the most mesmerizing moments is the Priestly Blessing. It’s a bit of spiritual theater handled by the Kohanim, the class of Jews believed to be direct descendants of Aaron, the Kohen Gadol and the brother of Moses. At our synagogue in East Cobb, members of the congregation turn their backs on the Kohanim, mys- teriously shrouded in their prayer shawls, as they gather together on the bimah in front of the Ark. <strong>The</strong> prayer leader slowly chants the ancient words of the iconic blessing—May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; May the Lord lift up His face unto you and give you, shalom, peace. <strong>The</strong> choir of Kohanim responds to each phrase, chanting the words as they wave their arms about, their hands held high and their fingers splayed out in a very, ah, Vulcan-like fashion. Truth to tell, it’s the Vulcans—specifically Mr. Spock—who came up with the idea of using the look and style of the Kohanim. Most everyone knows the story of Spock, a.k.a. Leonard Nimoy, coming up with the Vulcan greeting based on what he recalled seeing as a youngster attending High Holiday services with his grandfather. About all I have to add is a bit Spockʼs Vulcan greeting based upon the Kohanimʼs Priestly Blessing of shameless namedropping. Consider this, then, a New Year’s gift. Several years ago, when I was still working at <strong>The</strong> Atlanta Journal- Constitution, I wrote a <strong>news</strong> brief about a little controversy brewing in the <strong>Jewish</strong> community. Apparently, some local rabbis one in school history, completing all his work in two and a half years. With that first degree in hand, Louis went to New York, to study at Columbia Law School. In a distinguished class, he sat next to Stanley Fuld, who became the chief justice of the State of New York. Upon receiving his degree, Louis turned down offers in New York and returned to the South—to Atlanta, where his parents and six of his seven siblings continued to reside. So, in 1928, having passed the Georgia Bar, he was back in his hometown to open an office. Holy Roots: Farmer D’s seed-to-soul journey begins By Daron Joffe While in the Holy Land in 1992, on a two-month adventure at Alexander Muss High School in Israel, I found myself suddenly surrounded by agriculture, community, self-sufficiency, and entrepreneurialism. (<strong>The</strong> agricultural innovations throughout Israel were hard to miss despite my teenage Ibqqz!Ofx!Zfbs See PACIFIC, page 34 Daron Joffe Louis and David Geffen at train station, Portsmouth, Virginia distractions, which I will choose not to go into here for the sake of my reputation.) <strong>The</strong> kibbutz and moshav movement, in particular, enthralled me, and I soon found myself touring and working on some of the most sustainable farm kibbutzim and moshavim in the country, such as Kibbutz See ROSH HASHANAH, page 46 See HOLY ROOTS, page 35