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September-October 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 29
Jewish
THE
Georgian
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
There 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. The 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.
The 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 The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, I wrote a news brief about a
little controversy brewing in the Jewish
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.
(The 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.)
The 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