January-February 2012 - The Jewish Georgian
January-February 2012 - The Jewish Georgian
January-February 2012 - The Jewish Georgian
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By Bradford R. Pilcher<br />
Why host a <strong>Jewish</strong> film festival? What is the point of highlighting<br />
specifically <strong>Jewish</strong> movies? Is there such a clamor for this particular<br />
subset of the cinematic<br />
arts?<br />
Apparently, there is, if the<br />
ever-growing numbers of festival<br />
goers to the now twelve-year-old<br />
Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Film Festival are<br />
any indication. In the briefest of<br />
times, AJFF has become not only<br />
the largest film festival in Atlanta<br />
but the second-largest <strong>Jewish</strong> film<br />
festival in the country (behind San<br />
Francisco, which has had threeplus<br />
decades to cement itself atop<br />
the pile). Some 26,000 tushes<br />
made their way into theater seats<br />
for last year’s festival, spanning<br />
six venues all over metro Atlanta.<br />
This year, the festival is adding new venues and runs over more<br />
days than ever before. From <strong>February</strong> 8 through the 29th, AJFF will<br />
come close to swallowing an entire month. Those days will be filled<br />
with more films than ever before, 70 in total (52 features and 18<br />
What’s Inside<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong><br />
THE<br />
<strong>Georgian</strong><br />
Volume 24, Number 2 Atlanta, Georgia JANUARY-FEBRUARY <strong>2012</strong> FREE<br />
<strong>The</strong> point and purpose of Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Film Festival Amit presents<br />
By Jane Guthman Kahn<br />
Savannah’s Congregation Mickve<br />
Israel, third oldest synagogue in the United<br />
States, is creating a yearlong exhibit in conjunction<br />
with the centennial anniversary of<br />
the founding of the Girl Scouts in 1912, in<br />
Savannah.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Girls Scouts—In the Beginning<br />
We Were <strong>The</strong>re” will focus on a 100-year<br />
connection between the two historic institutions.<br />
<strong>The</strong> exhibit opens in late <strong>January</strong> and<br />
will highlight the diversity that has been a<br />
part of the Girl Scouts since its inception.<br />
Additionally, it will demonstrate shared val-<br />
ues of Judaism and Scouting.<br />
“I’ve got something for the girls of<br />
Savannah and all the world, and we’re<br />
going to start it tonight,” Juliette Gordon<br />
Low telephoned a friend on March 9, 1912.<br />
When Juliette Low made that definitive<br />
statement, could she possibly have envisioned<br />
that, 100 years later, fifty million<br />
girls would fulfill that promise? Could she<br />
have known the worldwide impact her<br />
movement would have? Could she comprehend<br />
that her vision would be rooted in a<br />
diversity that organizations today still seek<br />
to emulate? (<strong>The</strong> current membership is 3.5<br />
million girls from Kindergarten through<br />
shorts). <strong>The</strong>re’s every indication the festival will break new records.<br />
It’s in breathing distance of San Francisco’s attendance. In other<br />
words, Atlanta may take its place as the biggest <strong>Jewish</strong> film festival<br />
soon enough.<br />
So it is obviously a success.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is obviously some demand.<br />
But beyond the numbers and the<br />
near miraculous growth of AJFF,<br />
there remains that niggling question:<br />
What is the point of a <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
film festival?<br />
<strong>The</strong> misconception is that<br />
AJFF, and other festivals of its ilk,<br />
screen an endless barrage of<br />
Holocaust documentaries or docudramas<br />
or melodramas. When the<br />
crimes of the Nazis are not parading<br />
across the screen, then it’s<br />
some love letter to Yiddish, or<br />
Israel. That would be a gross misrepresentation<br />
of the kinds of films that make up a <strong>Jewish</strong> film festival<br />
like AJFF.<br />
Take Deaf Jam, a stirring follow-up to last year’s hit festival<br />
Deaf Jam<br />
See AJFF, page 7<br />
Girl Scouts the focus of exhibition at Congregation Mickve Israel<br />
Beauty and<br />
utility<br />
<strong>The</strong> new Historic Fourth<br />
Ward Park is an attractive<br />
solution to a vexing problem.<br />
By Leon Soco<br />
Page 2l<br />
Company J<br />
<strong>The</strong> MJCCA raises the curtain<br />
on a dynamic, new theater<br />
company.<br />
Page 10<br />
How a Book<br />
Came to Be<br />
A family’s effort to cope<br />
with loss is now a meaningful<br />
book that can help others.<br />
By Lindsey Light<br />
Kuniansky<br />
Page 25<br />
12th grade. <strong>The</strong>y represent every background,<br />
racial/ethnic group, and socio-economic<br />
group.)<br />
In her hometown, as she would do<br />
throughout the country, Juliette Low<br />
involved community leaders. Three of the<br />
Girl Scouts’ earliest patrol (troop) leaders<br />
were members of Mickve Israel: Leonora<br />
Amram, Henrietta Falk, and Mildred<br />
Guckenheimer (Abrahams Kuhr). Leonora<br />
would serve on the first Girl Scout Council.<br />
Later, Mildred for years would hold the<br />
position of secretary of the council.<br />
See GIRL SCOUTS, page 9<br />
ASK at 25<br />
Atlanta Scholars Kollel has<br />
been bringing Torah knowledge<br />
to people for a quarter<br />
of a century.<br />
Page 48<br />
Antique Judaica<br />
Appraisal Show<br />
Dig out the family heirlooms—<br />
Atlanta’s very own Antique Judaica<br />
Appraisal Show is<br />
coming to town,<br />
Sunday, March 25.<br />
<strong>The</strong> event will feature<br />
Jonathan<br />
Greenstein, owner<br />
of J. Greenstein &<br />
Co., the nation’s<br />
Jonathan<br />
Greenstein<br />
Father and Son<br />
Stirring speeches by <strong>The</strong><br />
Reverends Martin Luther<br />
King Junior and Senior,<br />
decades apart, were<br />
reminders to work for and<br />
believe in a brighter future.<br />
pre-eminent<br />
Judaica dealer, which<br />
for the past 28 years<br />
has been solely devoted to antique<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> ritual objects. A lifelong collector<br />
and the author of A Lost Art:<br />
Handmade Silver Kiddush Cups of<br />
Eastern Europe, Greenstein will<br />
share his unique expertise and<br />
knowledge.<br />
Many of us have antiques that<br />
have been passed down from generation<br />
to generation, but none are as<br />
cherished as <strong>Jewish</strong> ritual objects,<br />
By David Geffen<br />
Page 45<br />
See AMIT, page 8<br />
A Unique Bar<br />
Mitzvah<br />
Benjamin Faber, who has<br />
mitochondrial myopathy,<br />
became a bar mitzvah with a<br />
little help from his friends.<br />
Page 12
Page 2 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 3
Page 4 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Seek to understand, not parrot<br />
To me, words have almost a sacred<br />
quality. <strong>The</strong>y are the essence of interaction,<br />
and they are the vehicles by which we communicate,<br />
influence, and teach.<br />
Words are the ordnance of society.<br />
Normally, they are appended to other words<br />
to convey a message, and the resulting<br />
thought may have a lasting effect. Used<br />
properly and understood correctly in the<br />
context of the thought, this ordnance<br />
becomes a front-line element in the positive<br />
development of our world.<br />
Words, whether written or spoken, are<br />
utterances that are made for the purpose of<br />
being received by others. It is important that<br />
the messages being conveyed are clear and<br />
do the job, but the mirror action to the conveyance<br />
of the words is the hearing or reading<br />
of the message. Actually, it is the reception<br />
and not the speaking that is the purpose<br />
of verbalizing thoughts and concepts.<br />
Espousal of a position or concept,<br />
whether by an advocate or an interested<br />
party, does not necessarily validate the position.<br />
It is the processing by the recipient of<br />
the ideas and thoughts contained in the<br />
words that puts “meat on the bone.” Ideally,<br />
as objectively as possible, we should listen<br />
to the concept being conveyed for the pur-<br />
THE<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong> is published bimonthly by Eisenbot, Ltd. It is<br />
written for Atlantans and <strong>Georgian</strong>s by Atlantans and <strong>Georgian</strong>s.<br />
Publisher Marvin Botnick<br />
Co-Publisher Sam Appel<br />
Editor Marvin Botnick<br />
Managing Editor Marsha C. LaBeaume<br />
Assignment Editor Carolyn Gold<br />
Consulting Editor Gene Asher<br />
Associate Editor Barbara Schreiber<br />
Copy Editor Ray Tapley<br />
Assistant Copy Editor Arnold Friedman<br />
Makeup Editor Terri Christian<br />
Production Coordinator Terri Christian<br />
Designer David Gaudio<br />
Photographic Staff Allan Scher, Jonathan Paz<br />
Graphic Art Consultant Karen Paz<br />
Columnist Gene Asher, Jonathan Barach,<br />
Janice Rothschild Blumberg,<br />
Marvin Botnick, David Geffen,<br />
Carolyn Gold, Jonathan Goldstein,<br />
R.M. Grossblatt, Marice Katz,<br />
Balfoura Friend Levine,<br />
Marsha Liebowitz, Bubba Meisa,<br />
Erin O’Shinsky, Reg Regenstein,<br />
Susan Robinson, Stuart Rockoff,<br />
Roberta Scher, Jerry Schwartz, Leon Socol,<br />
Rabbi Reuven Stein, Cecile Waronker<br />
Special Assignments Lyons Joel<br />
Advertising Anne Bender<br />
Ruby Grossblatt<br />
Rochelle Solomon<br />
Editorial Advisory Board Members<br />
Sam Appel Rabbi Alvin Sugarman Sam Massell<br />
Jane Axelrod Albert Maslia William Rothschild<br />
Gil Bachman Michael H. Mescon Marilyn Shubin<br />
Asher Benator Paul Muldawer Doug Teper<br />
8495 Dunwoody Place, Suite 100<br />
Atlanta, GA 30350<br />
(404) 236-8911 • FAX (404) 236-8913<br />
jewishga@bellsouth.net<br />
www.jewishgeorgian.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong> ©<strong>2012</strong><br />
BY<br />
Marvin<br />
Botnick<br />
pose of learning and as a method of understanding,<br />
but not necessarily agreeing with,<br />
the thought and position being put forth.<br />
A basic question that society in general<br />
and each of us individually should ask is:<br />
“Do we read and converse to confirm or to<br />
learn?”<br />
I remember when I was taking a world<br />
history<br />
course in<br />
high school<br />
in the early<br />
50s, one of<br />
our assignments<br />
was<br />
to read the<br />
Communist<br />
Manifesto.<br />
While this<br />
was the height of the Cold War, the school<br />
had taken the position that for its students to<br />
understand the conflict, it was necessary to<br />
learn something of the system against which<br />
we were struggling, rather than blithely<br />
mouthing the buzzwords of the day in condemnation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> school, which was located in a<br />
small town of less than 3,000 people, had a<br />
rather extensive library of its own, but since<br />
in that facility there were only four copies of<br />
the Manifesto and there were many more<br />
students that were assigned the reading, getting<br />
a copy presented a problem. Right<br />
across the street from the school library was<br />
the township library, so I went over there to<br />
see if it had a copy I could check out. <strong>The</strong><br />
school was located not too far from Salem,<br />
Massachusetts, and the reaction I got to the<br />
request for the publication made me feel that<br />
I had been transported back to the late 1600s<br />
confronting a tribunal at the Salem witch trials.<br />
An understanding of the need to read to<br />
learn was not a concept to which they subscribed.<br />
I n<br />
Chapter 13 of<br />
Histories of<br />
Heresy in<br />
E a r l y<br />
Modern<br />
Europe, it is<br />
reported that,<br />
“[Martin]<br />
Luther’s<br />
translation of the Bible, indeed the very act<br />
of translating it establishes the true moment<br />
of rupture with the Catholic Church.” At that<br />
time, the Bible was almost universally written<br />
and read in Latin, which was a language<br />
of the Church but not used or understood by<br />
the general population. Luther’s translation<br />
into the language of the people now made it<br />
possible for the words and content to be<br />
A basic question that society in<br />
general and each of us individually<br />
should ask is: “Do we read and converse<br />
to confirm or to learn?”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Georgia Chapter of the Crohn’s &<br />
Colitis Foundation (CCFA) will present its<br />
21st Annual Torch Gala at the<br />
InterContinental Buckhead, in Atlanta, 7:00<br />
p.m., <strong>January</strong> 28. For the past 20 years, this<br />
dinner dance, which includes a silent auction<br />
and raffle, has been the largest single<br />
fundraiser of the year for the Georgia<br />
Chapter. With a mission to cure and prevent<br />
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis<br />
through research and to improve the quality<br />
of life of children and adults affected by<br />
these digestive diseases through education<br />
and support, the Torch Gala has raised over<br />
$5.1 million to date.<br />
Atlanta residents Ann and Jay Davis<br />
and their son, Richard, are the <strong>2012</strong> Torch<br />
Gala Citizens of the Year. <strong>The</strong> Davises are<br />
devoted fundraisers, volunteers, and advocates<br />
for CCFA. Over the years, they have<br />
joined planning committees, engaged in<br />
grassroots fundraising efforts, and participated<br />
in each special event and campaign.<br />
Recognizing the importance of<br />
research, the Davis family played an integral<br />
role in establishing the groundwork for<br />
the Human Gut Microbiome Initiative by<br />
being the first major donors to the project.<br />
Through this initiative, CCFA is able to<br />
empower more scientists to study the intes-<br />
tinal community of microbes, therefore furthering<br />
the accomplishments in the field of<br />
inflammatory bowel disease research.<br />
“It is an honor for our family to be chosen<br />
as CCFA’s Torch Gala Citizens of the<br />
Year,” says Jay Davis. “We consider the<br />
Georgia chapter part of our extended family,<br />
and we will continue to do what we can<br />
to further the advancement of research.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of<br />
America (CCFA) was founded in 1967 and<br />
is the only nonprofit voluntary health<br />
organization dedicated to finding a cure for<br />
digested by the individual rather than having<br />
to rely on directives of others. <strong>The</strong> individuals<br />
were now able to interpret for themselves<br />
the meaning and message of the text.<br />
Literacy, especially in the developed<br />
world, is common; however, the search for<br />
understanding does not seem to be as universal.<br />
Although we are inundated by untold<br />
missives and publications, many of us chose<br />
only to rely on those that support a position<br />
to which we already adhere. We seek validation,<br />
not insight and understanding.<br />
We are the inheritors of a rich tradition<br />
of study and learning, which has become<br />
almost an innate characteristic. <strong>The</strong> intense<br />
search for truths and meanings has consumed<br />
our people for centuries, and while it<br />
was originally directed primarily to religious<br />
issues, the format was continued into<br />
secular matters.<br />
But never has the average person been<br />
so overwhelmed with the flood of communiqués<br />
as has now become possible with the<br />
modern methods. For whatever reason, the<br />
communication revolution we are experiencing,<br />
which could grow to an impact level<br />
equal to the Industrial Revolution, has been<br />
conscripted by many as a tool to service personal<br />
goals. More so than ever, it is now<br />
imperative that we seek out all sides of an<br />
issue and not limit our perspective to<br />
sources that coalesce with others of a similar<br />
bent.<br />
Honor the impact of words; “Guard<br />
your tongue from evil, your lips from deceitful<br />
speech” (Psalms 34:14); search for<br />
truths; seek understanding of issues and<br />
people, rather than questionable validation;<br />
and try to understand the true motivation of<br />
sources of “information.”<br />
Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation presents 21st Annual Torch Gala<br />
Richard Davis (from left), Ann<br />
Davis, and Jay Davis<br />
Steve Goodman (from left), Katie<br />
Goodman, Richard Davis, Ann<br />
Davis, Jay Davis, Matt Lieberman,<br />
and Elizabeth Lieberman<br />
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two<br />
very painful and life-long digestive diseases.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is no known cure for these<br />
intestinal diseases, which can have lifethreatening<br />
complications. Approximately<br />
1.5 million Americans are living with these<br />
diseases.<br />
Individual reservations for the Torch<br />
Gala begin at $300. Table sponsorships are<br />
available. To purchase tickets or for more<br />
information, contact CCFA Development<br />
Manager Amy Suiter at 404-982-0616 or<br />
asuiter@ccfa.org.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 5<br />
What’s<br />
HAPPENING<br />
SO LONG, STEVIE, TILL WE MEET<br />
AGAIN. We will really miss our friend<br />
Steven E. Weinstein, 68, a native Atlantan,<br />
whom we lost in early <strong>January</strong>.<br />
A retired real estate and transportation<br />
executive, Stevie, as he was known to his<br />
countless friends, devoted his final years to<br />
his loving wife, Jackie, and his beloved<br />
family and several charities, especially<br />
Camp Sunshine, which provides recreation<br />
to children with cancer.<br />
His daughters, Julie and Alyson, said,<br />
“We will all remember how much fun he<br />
was. His love for his wife, children, and<br />
grandchildren. His love for the Georgia<br />
Bulldogs, Athens, Willie Nelson, <strong>The</strong> White<br />
House restaurant, <strong>The</strong> Varsity, and Camp<br />
Sunshine.<br />
“He loved being with his friends, with<br />
whom he was beyond generous. He was a<br />
giving, sweet, loyal family man and friend.<br />
A dedicated Georgia Bulldog fan. He loved<br />
Atlanta.”<br />
Stevie’s oldest and best friend, Steve<br />
Selig, remembered him as “the kindest,<br />
gentlest person I have ever known. He<br />
loved his family and friends. Other than<br />
being with them, his happiest time was<br />
being at Sanford Stadium, watching his<br />
beloved Bulldogs play between the<br />
Hedges.”<br />
Stevie was one of a kind; his friendship<br />
is irreplaceable; it’s hard to imagine what it<br />
will be like without him.<br />
Steve Weinstein with his grandchildren<br />
SAM MASSELL HONORED AND SERE-<br />
NADED. Former Atlanta Mayor and current<br />
Buckhead Mayor Sam Massell, much<br />
in demand as a public speaker, is known for<br />
his wit and inspirational insights. He gives<br />
about 50 talks a year, he says, “almost<br />
always about the community I nurture in<br />
my full-time position as president of the<br />
Buckhead Coalition,” never accepting honorariums,<br />
but instead referring them to local<br />
charities.<br />
His Honor is also a very sensitive and<br />
vulnerable guy, though you wouldn’t<br />
always know it. He was lamenting to us the<br />
other day that a couple of people in the<br />
BY<br />
Reg<br />
Regenstein<br />
audience actually fell asleep during his talk<br />
to an unspecified senior citizens’ group,<br />
which he attributed to the heavy breakfast<br />
served that morning. To us, the important<br />
thing is that most of the people stayed<br />
awake, and no one angrily stalked out, as<br />
has happened to us in the past when we<br />
were receiving such speaking invitations.<br />
(On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong<br />
with helping us old folks take a little nap<br />
every now and then, and so many of our<br />
readers tell us our column helps them fall<br />
asleep at night as they read it in bed.)<br />
Still, if Sam wants everyone to stay<br />
awake, alert, and on the edge of their chairs,<br />
we suggest he bring along those two gorgeous,<br />
talented, and exciting women in his<br />
life: his wife, Doris, and his daughter,<br />
Melanie, neither of whom has ever put anyone<br />
to sleep.<br />
When the legendary <strong>Georgian</strong> Terrace<br />
Hotel recently celebrated its one-hundredth<br />
anniversary, it invited to a black-tie dinnerdance<br />
the “One Hundred Most Influential<br />
Atlantans” and their guests. Not only was<br />
Sam one of those honored, of course, but he<br />
also was serenaded by Melanie, an accomplished<br />
singer now living in Sarasota, who<br />
performs under the name of Melanie<br />
Massell and All That Jazz. She had no trouble<br />
finding the<br />
party, since her<br />
wedding to John<br />
Jacobs took place at<br />
the hotel nineteen<br />
years ago.<br />
Sam’s renowned<br />
cousin, philanthropist<br />
and real estate<br />
executive Steve<br />
Selig, was also hon-<br />
Steve Selig ored at the <strong>Georgian</strong><br />
Melanie and Sam, with Doris looking on<br />
Terrace’s centennial event. Sam was quick<br />
to note that the historic property was once<br />
owned by Irvin and Marvin Goldstein, who,<br />
“If they were still alive today, would be<br />
there, too.”<br />
HANNUKAH WITH THE GOVERNOR.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Republican <strong>Jewish</strong> Coalition (RJC)<br />
celebrated Hannukah at a huge, sold-out<br />
celebration at the Marietta home of Larry<br />
and Martha Miller. Governor Nathan Deal<br />
was the special guest speaker.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Governor and Mrs. Deal were<br />
enthusiastically received, and he gave a stirring<br />
speech, talking of the <strong>Jewish</strong> people’s<br />
long and irrepressible fight for freedom.<br />
“Hannukah speaks to us of the character of<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> people, of their amazing courage<br />
in the face of persecution, of their refusal to<br />
accept oppression and defeat, and their<br />
commitment to worship God as they saw<br />
fit—even at the cost of their own lives,” he<br />
observed.<br />
Other notable guests included Georgia<br />
Attorney General Sam Olens; Secretary of<br />
State Brian Kemp;<br />
State Senators John<br />
Albers and David<br />
Shafer; and Dr.<br />
Emily Lembeck,<br />
Marietta City<br />
Schools superintendent,<br />
who was<br />
just named Georgia<br />
Superintendent of<br />
the Year.<br />
Attorney General<br />
Sam Olens<br />
As RJC<br />
Chairman Chuck<br />
Berk observed,<br />
“Our members were overwhelmed with<br />
Governor Deal...his warmth and sincere<br />
affection and concern for Israel, his attention<br />
to addressing key issues facing<br />
Georgia, and the generous time he and his<br />
wife, Sandra, spent with us.”<br />
Governor Deal discussed his visit to<br />
Israel and how important it is to see the<br />
country. “Until you do, you really don’t<br />
understand how important the Golan<br />
Heights are to Israel’s safety.”<br />
Governor & Mrs. Deal (center), with<br />
(from left) Georgia Senator David<br />
Shafer, host Larry Miller, Georgia<br />
Senator John Alber, Israeli Consul<br />
General Opher Aviran, Rabbi Yossi<br />
New, and Bonnie and Chuck Berk<br />
ADOPT AN ANGEL PROGRAM. One<br />
December night, seventeen years ago, as<br />
she tells the story, twelve-year-old Amy<br />
Sacks Zeide was watching TV, flipping<br />
through the channels, when she paused at a<br />
local news story. She was distressed to see<br />
that someone had stolen all the presents<br />
from an Atlanta homeless shelter just before<br />
their annual holiday party, leaving the children<br />
with nothing for their Christmas.<br />
Amy was devastated that anyone could<br />
steal from those who have so little. But the<br />
more she thought about it, her initial sense<br />
of despair began to give way to activism,<br />
and Amy was determined to make sure that<br />
during the holiday season, disadvantaged<br />
children in Atlanta would have a chance to<br />
celebrate and to be celebrated. Thus was<br />
“Amy’s Holiday Party” born.<br />
That next year, in 1995, Amy donated<br />
her time and the money she received from<br />
her bat mitzvah to create a mitzvah of her<br />
own—throwing a holiday party for children<br />
at a local Atlanta shelter. What began with<br />
25 children, help from close family and<br />
friends, and a budget of a few hundred dollars<br />
has now blossomed into an annual community<br />
event. Last year, Amy, a new mom,<br />
hosted over 700 children and their families<br />
from homeless shelters, foster care systems,<br />
and refugee centers, with the help of some<br />
400 Atlanta teens who volunteered at the<br />
event.<br />
As always, Amy’s Holiday Party<br />
brought joy to underprivileged children and<br />
the teen volunteers alike, providing everyone<br />
“an opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated.”<br />
Amy is also grateful to her wonderful<br />
sponsors—Kids II, Baby Room, Carter’s,<br />
Mellow Mushroom, Flying Biscuit, Atlanta<br />
Bread Company, <strong>The</strong> Defoor Centre, Vibe<br />
Entertainment, and Aaron’s—for generously<br />
donating a multitude of food, toys,<br />
clothes, space, and services.<br />
Amy is the perfect example of how one<br />
person can make a real difference. If you’re<br />
interested in volunteering for, sponsoring,<br />
or donating to Amy’s organization, Creating<br />
Connected Communities, e-mail<br />
Amy@cccprojects.org, or visit<br />
www.cccprojects.org.<br />
Amy celebrates with a child at her<br />
Holiday Party<br />
JEWISH HOME HONORS DULCY<br />
ROSENBERG AND JERRY HOROWITZ.<br />
<strong>The</strong> William Breman <strong>Jewish</strong> Home’s 2011<br />
Golden Gala at <strong>The</strong> InterContinental<br />
Buckhead Hotel was a huge success, with<br />
over 700 people attending, and raising more<br />
than $700,000 for <strong>The</strong> Home.<br />
Sure, the entertainment by <strong>The</strong> Capitol<br />
Steps was great, but people showed up in<br />
See HAPPENING, page 6
Page 6 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Happening<br />
From page 5<br />
Dulcy Rosenberg<br />
(photo: Chuck<br />
Robertson<br />
Photography)<br />
Jerry Horowitz<br />
(photo: Chuck<br />
Robertson<br />
Photography)<br />
droves to see, thank,<br />
and recognize Dulcy<br />
and her husband,<br />
Jerry, and Jerry<br />
Horowitz and his<br />
wife, Pearlann, four<br />
of our community’s<br />
leading citizens.<br />
Many volunteers<br />
and staff<br />
worked very hard to<br />
put the fabulous<br />
event together, especially<br />
gala Co-chairs<br />
Billie Greenberg,<br />
and Ellen Goldstein.<br />
Because of the<br />
many hours of commitment<br />
and dedication,<br />
and the widespread<br />
support of<br />
the community, <strong>The</strong><br />
Home will be able<br />
to continue to fulfill<br />
its mission of caring<br />
for our senior citizens<br />
in the final<br />
years of their lives,<br />
just as individuals<br />
cared for us in our<br />
early years.<br />
STEP UP FOR ISRAEL. Radio talk show<br />
host and author Dennis Prager was in town<br />
as keynote speaker for the Step Up for<br />
Israel Atlanta Kick-Off rally, held at the<br />
Ahavath Achim Synagogue, where he discussed<br />
the growing anti-Israel movement,<br />
especially on the nation’s college campuses.<br />
This theme is powerfully explored in the<br />
highly acclaimed new film, Crossing the<br />
Line, produced by Raphael Shore. View the<br />
trailer at youtu.be/S9kBaICb3so.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Atlanta event was co-chaired by<br />
Hadara Ishak and Steve Oppenheimer. Step<br />
Up for Israel is chaired nationally by<br />
Professor Alan Dershowitz and former<br />
Ambassador Dore Gold. <strong>The</strong> project is<br />
designed to educate the public, motivate the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> community to defend Israel, and<br />
expose and counter what Shore calls “anti-<br />
Israel propaganda, pressure, and intimidation<br />
that are becoming increasingly common<br />
on college campuses across North<br />
America.”<br />
According to Amy Holtz, president of<br />
JerusalemOnlineU.com, “Many parents<br />
don’t realize that their children could be<br />
confronted by a one-sided, anti-Israel perspective<br />
when they get to college....Responsible<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> parents must prepare their kids for<br />
what they might see and hear about Israel,<br />
just as they prepare them for other challenges<br />
they might face on campus.”<br />
Publicist, commentator on Fox Five’s<br />
Sunday morning show “<strong>The</strong> Georgia<br />
Gang,” and JerusaelmOnlineU.com<br />
Managing Director Orit Sklar helped organize<br />
the event. She called it “an incredible<br />
success in bringing the Atlanta community<br />
together for Israel.... If every adult and<br />
child attains a basic knowledge of Israel<br />
through the Step Up for Israel mini-course,<br />
we are going to see a marked difference in<br />
how Israel is perceived in all of these arenas....<br />
<strong>The</strong> community can learn how we<br />
can all ‘step up’ for Israel by getting<br />
involved and supporting organizations<br />
doing great work day in and day out for<br />
Israel right here in Atlanta.”<br />
For more information, visit<br />
www.stepupforisrael.com.<br />
Step Up for Israel Atlanta Kick-Off:<br />
(from left) Orit Sklar, Hadara Ishak,<br />
Dennis Prager, and Steve<br />
Oppenheimer<br />
SUPPORTING ISRAEL’S MOST HERO-<br />
IC ATHLETES. Sheila and Michael<br />
Schwarz had a wonderful reception at their<br />
lovely home for the Israel Sports Center for<br />
the Disabled, which does wonderful work<br />
helping injured and handicapped kids in<br />
Israel.<br />
<strong>The</strong> event featured some of the group’s<br />
star athletes from the Israeli children’s team<br />
participating in the Miami World<br />
Championship for Disabled Children.<br />
Among the guests was fourteen-yearold<br />
Asael Shabbo who, seven years ago,<br />
lost his mother, three siblings, and one of<br />
his legs in a terrorist attack. He came to the<br />
center, not surprisingly, in a traumatized,<br />
grief-stricken, and psychologically disturbed<br />
state. But now, Asael is a strong,<br />
high-spirited, successful athlete who counsels<br />
and inspires other disabled victims of<br />
terrorism, “uplifting the spirits of newly<br />
disabled youngsters who share his fate, and<br />
helping them in their long journey to rehabilitation,”<br />
as the center puts it.<br />
Today, more than 3,000 kids, many of<br />
them victims of terrorism, are being rehabilitated<br />
by the ISCD through some 20<br />
sports activities. <strong>The</strong> center trains the kids<br />
in the use of wheelchairs to enable them “to<br />
take part in wheelchair sports that help turn<br />
them from a state of helplessness toward<br />
Marcia and Michael Schwarz with<br />
star Athlete Asael Shabbo<br />
active lives.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> center’s wheelchairs cost anywhere<br />
from $1,500 to $2,500 apiece, so<br />
ISCD definitely needs a helping hand in<br />
fulfilling its vital mission.<br />
To learn more about the center and how<br />
you can be part of its invaluable work, visit<br />
www.afiscd.org.<br />
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK FESTIVAL. One<br />
of the highlights of the recent Book Festival<br />
of the Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong> Community Center of<br />
Atlanta, formerly called <strong>The</strong> Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Book Festival, was the Esther G. Levine<br />
Community Read program. This year, the<br />
recommended book was Senator Joe<br />
Lieberman’s <strong>The</strong> Gift of Rest:<br />
Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath.<br />
Everyone loved seeing the senator, and<br />
Esther said she was “thrilled to have such a<br />
distinguished guest speak. He was warm<br />
and friendly, and his stories about observing<br />
and sharing Shabbat with well-known<br />
national political figures were heartwarming<br />
and inspiring.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> program is named, of course, in<br />
honor of Sandy Springs’ renowned book<br />
maven, who was instrumental in first bringing<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> book festival to Atlanta<br />
twenty years ago. For 25 years, Esther has<br />
escorted authors around town for media<br />
appearances and book signings. But when<br />
she first got started, as she told Dunwoody<br />
Crier’s Fran Memberg, “Atlanta wasn’t on<br />
[publicists’] radar screen. It wasn’t that<br />
authors didn’t want to come to Atlanta.<br />
Publicists didn’t know enough about the<br />
city to put it on the schedule. Atlanta had to<br />
build credibility.... We’ve now established<br />
ourselves and have such a wonderful reputation<br />
in the <strong>Jewish</strong> book...world, and<br />
authors really want to come here.”<br />
Senator Joe Lieberman and Esther<br />
Levine (photo: Dan Regenstein)<br />
SERVING THOSE IN MEDICAL NEED.<br />
For the last decade, Community Advanced<br />
Practice Nurses has been in the forefront of<br />
working to serve and strengthen the lives of<br />
homeless Atlantans and others who do not<br />
have proper access to medical care, providing<br />
free physical, mental, and preventive<br />
health care to mothers, children and others<br />
in need.<br />
CAPN’s main clinic is located in<br />
Genesis’ shelter for newborn babies and<br />
mothers in Atlanta. It also sends nurse practitioners<br />
to the Atlanta Day Shelter for<br />
Women and Children to provide specialized<br />
pediatric health care. Additionally, physical<br />
and/or mental health care services are rendered<br />
at other outreach sites (Atlanta<br />
Children’s Shelter, both locations of<br />
Nicholas House, Mary Hall Freedom<br />
House, Grace United Methodist Church,<br />
and Stand Up For Kids).<br />
Our friend and CAPN board member<br />
Sheila Cohen tells us that the dismal economy<br />
is causing increasingly large numbers of<br />
people to seek help: “We are seeing more<br />
and more middle-class patients who are suffering<br />
during these hard economic times.<br />
Our clinic is able to provide essential care<br />
for families, children, and young people<br />
needing help with health care, education,<br />
and employment. But especially this season,<br />
we need the public’s help so we can<br />
continue helping others.” For information<br />
on how to contribute and help out, visit<br />
www.CAPN.org.<br />
ON THE ROAD TO STARDOM. Sixteenyear-old<br />
Native Atlantan Rachel Filsoof is a<br />
singer/songwriter/actress living in New<br />
York City and about to become a superstar.<br />
You have probably seen her in lots of<br />
TV commercials, PSAs, and print ads. Her<br />
recent movie roles include Nikki in Flying<br />
By, a Lifetime film starring Heather<br />
Locklear and Billy Ray Cyrus, and a student<br />
in Paramount’s Mean Girls 2.<br />
Current projects include a reality show<br />
that will be airing on the Oxygen Network;<br />
lead roles in two films under production;<br />
and being the lead singer in a four-girl<br />
group recording songs for a record label.<br />
Her original music can be heard at<br />
Myspace.com/rachellorin, which is averaging<br />
50,000 hits a month. In July alone, she<br />
had 400,000 hits on the new song she cowrote.<br />
Most important, Rachel received rave<br />
reviews from Martha Jo and Jerry Katz<br />
(“really spectacular...amazing talent”), who<br />
attended a private performance at the home<br />
of Rachel’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred<br />
Filsoof, to promote her upcoming TV series<br />
on Oxygen, “<strong>The</strong> Next Big Thing.” <strong>The</strong><br />
show follows music coach Trapper Felides,<br />
as he trains a group of performers hoping<br />
for their big break.<br />
Stay tuned as this Atlanta “Star is<br />
Born.”
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 7<br />
I am a citizen of the United States<br />
I have an envelope in my desk in which I<br />
keep a few documents that are very special to<br />
me. I keep them in my desk rather than locked<br />
away so that periodically I can take them out,<br />
look at them, and bask in the warmth of the<br />
good fortune that has befallen me because of<br />
the actions that are represented by these pieces<br />
of paper.<br />
Included in these papers are: a copy of the<br />
manifest of the S.S. Haverford, which sailed<br />
from the port of Liverpool on May 16, 1906, on<br />
which my mother, who was five years old,<br />
came to this country (unfortunately, I have yet<br />
to locate the manifest for the ship that brought<br />
my father to the U.S.); the papers evidencing<br />
the naturalization of my parents as citizens of<br />
the U.S.; a copy of my father’s Registration<br />
Card showing his registration for the U.S.<br />
armed-forces draft during World War I; and the<br />
AJFF<br />
BY<br />
From page 1<br />
Marvin<br />
Botnick<br />
entrée Louder Than a Bomb. In this documentary,<br />
a deaf Israeli immigrant in Queens<br />
attends American Sign Language poetry<br />
improv workshops. She ends up partnering<br />
with a Palestinian slam poet, embarking on a<br />
hearing-deaf performance collaboration that<br />
will swell even the most snobbish of hearts.<br />
An Israeli romcom, 2 Night, will<br />
unspool in the middle of the festival, and I<br />
wish it were screening sooner. Award-winning<br />
music video director Roi Werner follows<br />
two Israeli strangers who meet at a singles<br />
bar and slip into a car for a joint ride<br />
home. <strong>The</strong> problem? <strong>The</strong>y can’t seem to find<br />
a parking spot in all of Tel Aviv. It seems like<br />
a ridiculous premise, but it’s handled with<br />
skill and powerful performances from the<br />
two leads and serves as an apt metaphor for<br />
Israel’s younger generation who cannot seem<br />
to find their identity.<br />
2 Night<br />
Let My People Go! comes by way of<br />
France and Finland. This delightful little film<br />
explodes homosexual stereotypes in its<br />
depiction of a Nordic gay couple who suffer<br />
a romantic quarrel. Nebbishy Ruben returns<br />
to his home in Paris and is forced to endure<br />
Passover with his devout, and dysfunctional,<br />
“...the Government of the United States...gives to bigotry no sanction, to<br />
persecution no assistance...May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who<br />
dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other<br />
Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and<br />
figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”<br />
– George Washington<br />
marriage certificate of my parents. True, these<br />
are just pieces of paper, but to me they represent<br />
much more: <strong>The</strong>y are the tangible<br />
reminders of the unbelievable set of events that<br />
gave rise to my very existence and the incredible<br />
good fortune that has enabled me to be a<br />
citizen of the greatest of all countries.<br />
On my desk, I also have in a frame a<br />
United States of America flag that was flown<br />
over the United States Capitol on November<br />
26, 1991, for Temple B’nai Israel, the congregation<br />
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in which I<br />
grew up. This flag is a reminder to me of the<br />
famous words contained in a letter written in<br />
1790 to the members of Touro Synagogue in<br />
Newport, Rhode Island, by George<br />
Washington, in which he said:<br />
“...the Government of the United<br />
family. It’s madcap in its pacing and hilarious<br />
in its tone, and you couldn’t ask for a better<br />
comedy, at a film festival or just a weekend<br />
date night.<br />
Let My People Go!<br />
In truth, the best films of the festival are<br />
not <strong>Jewish</strong> in the early-career Woody Allen<br />
way, which is to say stereotypically <strong>Jewish</strong>.<br />
Nor are they oppressive and unrelenting<br />
depictions of the worst moments of <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
history (see Holocaust documentary number<br />
138,401). Rather, they take the odd angle on<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> life. More than that, they use the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> experience to discuss some universal<br />
truth, and in the process they help connect<br />
our own community with those around us.<br />
In David, a lonely young Muslim boy,<br />
the son of a devout imam, is mistaken for an<br />
Orthodox <strong>Jewish</strong> child. He plays along, if<br />
David<br />
States...gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution<br />
no assistance...May the children of the<br />
Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue<br />
to merit and enjoy the good will of the<br />
other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in<br />
safety under his own vine and figtree, and there<br />
shall be none to make him afraid.”<br />
Living in this country, sometimes we forget<br />
that, of all the nations of the world, the<br />
United States has done as much or more than<br />
any other country to protect and defend liberty<br />
and justice for all people. My passport, like that<br />
of most of the people that will read this article,<br />
says that I am a citizen of the United States, and<br />
this is not a privilege that I take lightly.<br />
As an American, I am taught that I am<br />
subject to the laws of this country. As a Jew, I<br />
am taught that I am subject to the laws of the<br />
only to enjoy the new playmates and combat<br />
his isolation. Of course, the act cannot be<br />
sustained. His secret will slip out, and the<br />
results are a dramatic reminder of how much<br />
we share even amidst our distinct differences.<br />
Meanwhile, fans of dance will find My<br />
Dad Baryshnikov to be an irresistible draw.<br />
We’re taken to Russia in the age of perestroika<br />
to see a clumsy, skinny, 14-year-old<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> boy. His obsessive study of a VHS<br />
tape of the banned dissident Mikhail<br />
Baryshnikov helps him improve his dancing,<br />
but the situational comedy takes a new turn<br />
when he begins to claim he’s Baryshnikov’s<br />
illegitimate son. It may seem an interesting<br />
premise for an ultimate niche film, but the<br />
question of why a young boy, neglected by<br />
his mother, would try to perpetrate such a<br />
fraud at such a time opens up a host of questions<br />
about how we relate to one another, and<br />
the human need for attention and community.<br />
My Dad Baryshnikov<br />
This is Sodom, the box office smash in<br />
its native Israel, comes to Atlanta and manages<br />
to lampoon every vestige of our modern<br />
mediascape: reality TV, game shows, vapid<br />
land in which I live, dina d’malchuta dina.<br />
Thoughtless action is no justification to violate<br />
these principles, and irresponsible bantering,<br />
regardless of motivation, can be devastating in<br />
its results.<br />
Inherent in this precious status is the duty<br />
and responsibility to insure that we continue to<br />
function as a nation of laws, and that we are<br />
both morally and legally obligated to adhere to<br />
the laws and concepts that are embodied in this<br />
nation. Unlike so many nations of the world,<br />
redress has been and must continue to be<br />
through the legal mechanisms provided by our<br />
system and not by anarchism, subversion,<br />
armed actions, or the support or solicitation of<br />
such activities.<br />
While we may disagree with a position or<br />
with certain actions, we owe it to ourselves and<br />
to one another to honor the humanity that is<br />
ensconced in the very soul of this country and<br />
our religious heritage. So long as actions are<br />
proper and legal, we have the right to speak out<br />
against something and try to sway public opinion.<br />
But we do not have the right, either legally<br />
or religiously, to seek to effect or encourage<br />
change through force, and we denounce any<br />
activity.<br />
celebrities, overly pious leaders. <strong>The</strong><br />
comedic masterpiece skewers modern Israeli<br />
culture in a way that would make fans of<br />
South Park or classic Monty Python proud.<br />
This is Sodom<br />
<strong>The</strong> films of AJFF’s <strong>2012</strong> lineup trot the<br />
globe in this way. From Israel to Australia,<br />
from the 1930s turmoil of Europe to the<br />
1960s New Left to Brooklyn, circa today,<br />
AJFF takes you on a journey that is anything<br />
but stereotypical. <strong>The</strong>re is a slasher film,<br />
Israel’s first entry into the genre, in Rabies<br />
for crying out loud! How could you not<br />
expect a surprise, delightful ones I promise,<br />
at every turn?<br />
Yes, there are Israeli films. Yes, there are<br />
Holocaust narratives. Opening night will<br />
kick off the festival with My Best Enemy, a<br />
tragicomedy set amidst the Nazi genocide.<br />
Yet it evokes Quentin Tarantino’s<br />
Inglourious Basterds much more than<br />
Schindler’s List, which is to say that it takes<br />
a fresh take on an old subject.<br />
So it would be only the most cynical<br />
film fans who would think of AJFF as just a<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> film festival, and it would be their<br />
loss. It may be the most universally accessible<br />
film festival anywhere in America.
Page 8 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Film Festival aims for its biggest event ever<br />
By Brian Katzowitz<br />
Drawing more than 26,000 people to<br />
its screenings and earning venerable recognition<br />
from its counterparts throughout the<br />
country, the Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Film Festival<br />
has become a standout part of Atlanta’s vast<br />
line-up of cultural offerings.<br />
Now gearing up for its twelfth year of<br />
existence, event organizers are looking to<br />
expand upon previous years incarnations<br />
with more days, more films, and more venues.<br />
“Our focus has been on making the<br />
experience of the festival more customer<br />
friendly,” said Executive Director Kenny<br />
Blank. “By offering two extra days of<br />
screenings (<strong>February</strong> 8-29), we are increasing<br />
our bandwidth and providing opportuni-<br />
AMIT<br />
From page 1<br />
which keep our <strong>Jewish</strong> way of life alive<br />
and connect us to those who came before<br />
us. <strong>The</strong> Amit Program’s Antique Judaica<br />
Appraisal Show, at the <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Federation of Greater Atlanta’s Selig<br />
Center, will help you determine the<br />
value, era, and origin of your family<br />
heirlooms, including ritual objects,<br />
works of art, books, manuscripts, and<br />
antique silver of any kind. <strong>The</strong> program<br />
will kick off with Greenstein sharing tips<br />
on how to collect Judaica, followed by a<br />
group presentation on the value and history<br />
of individual heirlooms brought by<br />
attendees.<br />
<strong>The</strong> event will also include a community<br />
celebration honoring Helen<br />
Hackworth, Brenda Benamy Lewis, and<br />
Sylvia Schwartz, each of whom has<br />
played an important role in educating<br />
generations of Atlanta children who<br />
learn differently, paralleling the mission<br />
of <strong>The</strong> Amit Program. Since 2001, Amit<br />
has been the central resource in the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> community for special education,<br />
ensuring that each child is able to reach<br />
his or her individual potential, while<br />
learning in a <strong>Jewish</strong> environment. Amit<br />
strives to ensure that students with special<br />
needs can thrive and be integrated<br />
into the community by offering a wide<br />
range of educational services and family<br />
support.<br />
Atlanta native Sylvia Schwartz has<br />
ties for attendees to check out some of the<br />
festival favorites they may have missed the<br />
first time.”<br />
This year’s favorites could include any<br />
number of the 70 films being offered. From<br />
a World War II crime caper to an animated<br />
documentary on the life of Ben Gurion, the<br />
festival offers a wide array of narratives and<br />
documentaries bound together by a common<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> thread and chosen by a robust<br />
selection committee.<br />
According to Blank, the committee,<br />
consisting of rabbis, local film professors,<br />
industry experts, and enthusiastic<br />
cinephiles, spends countless hours between<br />
May and October screening, discussing,<br />
and identifying the festival line-up from<br />
more than 400 entries.<br />
While a seminal part of the planning<br />
process, film selection is only one component<br />
of a year-round effort to keep the festival<br />
moving forward. Especially difficult<br />
during times of economic austerity, Blank<br />
relies heavily on a dedicated staff and volunteer<br />
leadership to secure sponsorships,<br />
drive marketing efforts, sell tickets, and<br />
provide on-site support.<br />
“I think now more than ever, our audience<br />
wants films that will allow them to<br />
escape for a couple of hours,” said Blank.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y are looking for movies that will not<br />
only entertain but will inspire and motivate,<br />
A hand-carved silver spice tower<br />
appraised by J. Greenstein and Co.<br />
Birmingham, c. 1936. Estimate<br />
$3,000-$5,000<br />
dedicated her life to education and the<br />
community. For decades, she worked as<br />
an educator and was instrumental in<br />
mainstreaming special-needs children<br />
into the classroom. Over 40 years ago,<br />
she developed the <strong>Jewish</strong> Community<br />
and we strive to make that happen.”<br />
Highlights from this year’s festival<br />
include:<br />
My Best Enemy – Returning to <strong>The</strong><br />
Fabulous Fox <strong>The</strong>atre, the festival opens on<br />
<strong>February</strong> 8 with a true red-carpet-worthy<br />
event. My Best Enemy is a lighthearted<br />
thriller set against the backdrop of World<br />
War II. <strong>The</strong> event includes a reception and<br />
live auction.<br />
My Best Enemy<br />
Rabies – <strong>The</strong> always popular Young<br />
Professionals Night is scheduled for<br />
<strong>February</strong> 9 with the presentation of Rabies,<br />
a staple on the international film festival<br />
circuit and one of the few horror comedies<br />
to ever come out of the Israeli film industry.<br />
A pre-party at STRIP will be held before the<br />
screening.<br />
Silver Chanukah lamp, with all original<br />
wick holders, servant lamp, and<br />
oil pitcher appraised by J.<br />
Greenstein and Co. Germany, c.<br />
1890. Estimate $1,200-$2,000<br />
Center’s preschool program for children<br />
with disabilities. Now in her mid-eighties,<br />
Sylvia is a much loved community<br />
figure, with lifelong friends from her<br />
involvement in Brandeis, <strong>Jewish</strong> War<br />
Veterans, and <strong>Jewish</strong> Family & Career<br />
Services, as well as her many years<br />
teaching at the JCC.<br />
A speech pathologist by profession,<br />
Helen Hackworth is a respected private<br />
tutor and independent educational contractor<br />
who works with children with<br />
learning differences. Helen began and<br />
directed the learning differently program<br />
at Greenfield Hebrew Academy, which<br />
was the predecessor to the current<br />
M’Silot program. She is the current chair<br />
of <strong>The</strong> Amit Program’s education com-<br />
Rabies<br />
<strong>The</strong> Apple Pushers – Demonstrating<br />
the diversity of subject matter available to<br />
attendees, <strong>The</strong> Apple Pushers chronicles a<br />
community effort to address the obesity<br />
epidemic through immigrant pushcart vendors.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Apple Pushers<br />
For a complete schedule and ticket<br />
information, visit www.ajff.org.<br />
mittee and has been instrumental in<br />
helping launch Amit University, which<br />
provides professional development<br />
opportunities for educators.<br />
Brenda Benamy Lewis is no stranger<br />
to the disability community. Having two<br />
cousins with special needs, Brenda grew<br />
up understanding the importance of support<br />
services and education in the community.<br />
Several years ago, she began<br />
working as a special-needs facilitator to<br />
ensure that even children who learn differently<br />
are able to participate in <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
preschools. What started out as a way to<br />
help others has since become a personal<br />
passion and given her a new direction in<br />
her own life.<br />
It is not just tangible items of sentiment<br />
that have been passed down over<br />
the generations. <strong>The</strong>se honorees exemplify<br />
how Judaism teaches values and<br />
instills in us a sense of duty to improve<br />
the lives of others. As a community, we<br />
must join together to make sure that our<br />
most prized possessions, our children,<br />
have the chance to embrace their heritage<br />
and traditions through <strong>Jewish</strong> educational<br />
and experiential opportunities,<br />
regardless of their abilities. Supporting<br />
<strong>The</strong> Amit Program will help children<br />
who learn differently today and for generations<br />
to come.<br />
For more information about <strong>The</strong><br />
Amit Program or the Antique Judaica<br />
Appraisal Show, visit www.amitatlanta.org,<br />
or contact Amit at info@amitatlanta.org<br />
or 404-961-9966.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 9<br />
Girl Scouts<br />
From page 1<br />
Scarcely a year after the founding,<br />
Mildred would lead Savannah’s first Girl<br />
Scout camping trip to Wassaw Island, still<br />
today a barrier<br />
i s l a n d .<br />
Photographs from<br />
that 10-day campout<br />
and<br />
Mildred’s vivid<br />
memoirs punctuate<br />
the exhibit.<br />
Camp at Wassaw Island, July 1913<br />
“Finding a suitable campsite and financing<br />
the enterprise was easy in comparison to<br />
getting the anxious parents of the Patrol<br />
Leaders and of the girls to consent to such<br />
an unheard-of-expedition,” Mildred wrote.<br />
Wassaw Island caretaker and Girl<br />
Scout, July 1913<br />
In Savannah, the first Girl Scout<br />
patrols included girls from the elite Pape<br />
School, as well as <strong>Jewish</strong> girls and those<br />
from local orphanages and homes.<br />
In the beginning, Girl Scouting opened<br />
a whole new world. After 6th or 7th grade,<br />
girls had nothing to do, nowhere to go. Girl<br />
Scouts offered them opportunities to go<br />
camping, learn to cook, travel, participate<br />
in community service, and earn proficiency<br />
badges at award ceremonies that singled<br />
them out. Girl Scouting was that “new<br />
thing.” Through Scouting, they could do<br />
anything they wanted to<br />
do. (Historic note: That<br />
year, suffragettes and<br />
their supporters were<br />
parading in New York<br />
City.)<br />
<strong>The</strong> 279-yearold<br />
Congregation<br />
Mickve Israel is a natural<br />
to showcase the Girl<br />
Scouts. Located just a<br />
few blocks from the Girl Scout First<br />
Headquarters and the Girl Scout Birthplace,<br />
the temple has created a museum on its<br />
premises (including a Torah brought from<br />
England in 1733 by the original settlers). It<br />
attracts Girl Scout troops and other visitors<br />
from throughout the world. (Like the Girl<br />
Scout First Headquarters and the Girl Scout<br />
Birthplace, the Mickve Israel Museum is a<br />
member of the Coastal Museums<br />
Association.) It is expected that some of the<br />
newly created displays will become part of<br />
the permanent collection.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Girl Scout exhibit will be housed<br />
in two sections of the synagogue’s<br />
Mordecai Sheftall Memorial Hall. It is<br />
organized by a sub-committee of the standing<br />
museum committee, which includes<br />
descendants of the first leaders and early<br />
Girl Scouts. Phoebe Kerness is chair of the<br />
Girl Scout sub-committee; Eileen Lobel<br />
and Margie Levy are co-chairs of Mickve<br />
Israel’s museum committee.<br />
Savannah is expecting thousands of<br />
visitors during the centennial year, culminating<br />
in Girl Scout Weekend, March 9-12.<br />
Mickve Israel will have appropriate activities<br />
for girls—a service, tours, scavenger<br />
hunt, and the opportunity to acquire a<br />
Shalom Y’all Mickve Israel Girl Scout<br />
patch with the congregation crest. Since<br />
Gottlieb’s Bakery in 1936 provided the first<br />
commercially produced Girl Scout cookies<br />
in Savannah, the girls may have the opportunity<br />
to bake cookies (from the original<br />
recipe provided by Isser Gottlieb) as part of<br />
the weekend. <strong>The</strong>re are numerous other<br />
Girl Scout events planned throughout the<br />
year.<br />
Mickve Israel is located on Monterey<br />
Square, in Savannah’s historic district, on<br />
Bull Street, between Gordon and Wayne<br />
streets. Docent-guided tours of the sanctuary<br />
and the museum are offered 10:00 a.m.-<br />
1:00 p.m. and 2:00-4:00 p.m., Monday-<br />
Friday. <strong>The</strong> last tour starts approximately<br />
30 minutes before the end of each session.<br />
For more information, visit www.mickveisrael.org.<br />
Missing Dr. Kiley<br />
BY<br />
Gene<br />
Asher<br />
Come back, Dr. Kiley, we miss<br />
you.<br />
James Del Kiley, everybody’s<br />
favorite physician at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Tower, has retired, and we are not<br />
likely to find another one like him.<br />
My mother, the late and brilliant<br />
Erna Fromme Asher, said there would<br />
never be another Herbert J.<br />
Rosenberg, our family physician for<br />
some 50 years.<br />
When I broke my arm in a fistfight<br />
with Jack Brail at the old, old<br />
Standard Club, one of the club members<br />
hollered, “Quick, take him to the<br />
emergency room.”<br />
“You are not taking me to an<br />
emergency room, you are taking me<br />
to Dr. Rosenberg’s office,” I said. He<br />
was our family doctor for fractures,<br />
stomachaches, headaches, or any<br />
other kind of aches.<br />
Although he has been deceased<br />
for more than 50 years, I can still<br />
remember him carrying that black<br />
bag of his with all the medicines he<br />
needed. Mainly he carried a smile, a<br />
laugh, a cigar, and an assurance that<br />
all was going to be well. And it usually<br />
was.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re will never be another H.<br />
J.,” mother said.<br />
Well, mother, there is one, and<br />
his name is James Del Kiley. People<br />
at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> Tower cried when they<br />
heard their Dr. Kiley was retiring<br />
October 31, 2011. This is no trick.<br />
And it certainly is not a treat.<br />
Tower resident Lynn Morris<br />
expressed it best.<br />
“Talk about mixed emotions. We<br />
all are happy he can spend more time<br />
with his family, but we are going to<br />
miss him something awful.”
Page 10 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Company J comes to the MJCCA<br />
Company J, the new theater company<br />
at the Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong> Community<br />
Center of Atlanta (MJCCA), was created<br />
to offer a variety of theatrical offerings<br />
for audiences of all ages, as well as provide<br />
a nurturing environment for theater<br />
artists to train and develop their creative<br />
potential. Housed in the Morris & Rae<br />
Frank <strong>The</strong>atre, this new company is presenting<br />
a varied first season that includes<br />
a comedic musical masterpiece, an interactive<br />
bar mitzvah adventure, a family<br />
musical, and a teen summer stock musical.<br />
Company J kicked off its 2011-12<br />
season with <strong>The</strong> Producers; this outrageous<br />
musical satire was directed by<br />
Company J Producing Artistic Director<br />
Brian Kimmel.<br />
Company J’s mainstage season continues<br />
with <strong>The</strong> Boychick Affair. In this<br />
production, audience members mingle,<br />
eat, sing, and dance with the rest of the<br />
“guests” and enjoy a delicious bar mitzvah<br />
meal—including dessert—at the<br />
“reception” for Harry Boychick’s unique<br />
bar mitzvah ceremony. This hilarious<br />
interactive event follows a young rap<br />
wannabe as he becomes a man in front of<br />
his wacky, loving family. Performances<br />
are <strong>February</strong> 9, 11, and 12; tickets are<br />
$25-$35 and include a meal.<br />
Next is the family musical A Year<br />
With Frog & Toad. Conceived by Arnold<br />
Lobel’s daughter, Adrianne Lobel, A<br />
Year With Frog & Toad remains true to<br />
the spirit of the original stories, as it follows<br />
cheerful Frog and grumpy Toad<br />
through four fun-filled seasons. Waking<br />
from hibernation in the spring, Frog and<br />
Toad proceed to plant gardens, swim,<br />
rake leaves, and go sledding, learning<br />
life lessons along the way, including a<br />
most important one about friendship.<br />
Performances are May 9-13; tickets are<br />
$10-$18.<br />
<strong>The</strong> season concludes with the <strong>2012</strong><br />
Teen Summer Stock Musical, Spring<br />
Awakening. Winner of eight Tony<br />
Awards, including Best Musical, this<br />
rock musical adaptation of a controversial<br />
19th-century play explores, with<br />
poignancy and passion, the turbulent<br />
journey from adolescence to adulthood.<br />
This landmark musical is an exhilarating<br />
mix of morality, sexuality, and rock &<br />
roll. This show is recommended for<br />
audiences 17 years and older.<br />
Performances are August 8-19; tickets:<br />
$12-$25.<br />
Kim Goodfriend, MJCCA director<br />
of Arts and Culture, says, “Brian served<br />
Ryan Walden is bar mitzvah boy Harry<br />
Boychick in <strong>The</strong> Boychick Affair<br />
most recently as director of our critically<br />
acclaimed productions of Rent and<br />
West Side Story, and, prior to that,<br />
worked with Drama Camp, Project<br />
Impact <strong>The</strong>atre, and Camp Barney<br />
Medintz. In his years at the MJCCA,<br />
Brian has proven himself to be a creative<br />
and confident theater professional.”<br />
According to Kimmel, “Company J<br />
will continue to build bridges between<br />
community and professional collaborators<br />
by making theater available to people<br />
of all ages and levels of theatrical<br />
experience. This model will help to create<br />
a unique artistic home for our community<br />
that combines professional<br />
artistry with community spirit.<br />
“Through dynamic productions and<br />
classes,” he continues, “we challenge<br />
our community to embrace its cultural<br />
life through the art of live performance.<br />
Several objectives that I hope to accomplish<br />
include: producing at least four<br />
productions each season, one of which<br />
will be a production for children; creating<br />
partnerships with schools and local<br />
theaters that provide opportunities for<br />
sharing resources and the development<br />
of youth in theater; and nurturing and<br />
Ryan Walden (from left), Amy Feinberg, Grace Hancock, and Sylvee Legge (all photos:<br />
Heidi Morton)<br />
Harry Boychick, surrounded by his parents: (from left) David Skoke,<br />
Ryan Walden, and Stacey Shapiro<br />
sustaining an internship program for<br />
emerging professionals from Atlanta and<br />
beyond.”<br />
Brian Kimmel has been a freelance<br />
director, teacher, and actor in Atlanta for<br />
over fifteen years. His students are<br />
working on Broadway, national, and<br />
international tours; at League of<br />
Resident <strong>The</strong>atres (LORT); and in feature<br />
films and television. Kimmel has<br />
acted for theaters all over the country,<br />
including roles in Hamlet, Fiddler on the<br />
Roof, Picnic, Brighton Beach Memoirs,<br />
and <strong>The</strong> 25th Putnam County Spelling<br />
Bee. In November, he appeared in a new<br />
adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion,<br />
at <strong>The</strong>ater Emory. His directing experience<br />
includes over 50 productions,<br />
including Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the<br />
Roof, A Midsummer Nights Dream,<br />
Antigone, and Herschel and <strong>The</strong><br />
Hanukkah Goblins. His award-winning<br />
productions of Urinetown and Bat Boy:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Musical were featured at the<br />
Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006 and<br />
2008.<br />
Prior to coming to the MJCCA,<br />
Kimmel worked as an associate artist for<br />
<strong>The</strong> Warehouse <strong>The</strong>ater in Greenville,<br />
South Carolina, and co-founded Out of<br />
Hand <strong>The</strong>ater in 2000. His training<br />
includes a bachelor of arts in theater<br />
from Emory University, an apprenticeship<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Warehouse <strong>The</strong>ater, a master’s<br />
degree in theater education from<br />
Brenau University, and a specialist in<br />
education from the University of West<br />
Georgia.<br />
For more information on Company<br />
J, visit www.atlantajcc.org/companyj. To<br />
purchase tickets, call 678-812-4002, or<br />
visit www.atlantajcc.org.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 11<br />
Sawyer receives National Human Relations Award<br />
<strong>The</strong> American <strong>Jewish</strong> Committee, the<br />
nation’s oldest human relations organization,<br />
saluted D. Jack Sawyer, Jr., for his<br />
unflagging community involvement and<br />
commitment to AJC Atlanta’s mission of<br />
human rights and building bridges of mutual<br />
understanding, while erasing all forms of<br />
bigotry.<br />
<strong>The</strong> prestigious 2011 National<br />
Human Relations Award was presented to<br />
Sawyer, president of Wilmington Trust<br />
Southeast Region, at an elegant dinner at<br />
the St. Regis Hotel, on December 8.<br />
Don Perry (from left), Jack Sawyer,<br />
Elaine Levin, and Dr. Herbert Shessel<br />
<strong>The</strong> evening began with an invocation<br />
by Rabbi Ron Segal, of Temple Sinai,<br />
and continued with a welcome by American<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Committee President Lenny<br />
Silverstein.<br />
Co-chairs of the annual dinner were<br />
Lovette and Michael Russell, whose father,<br />
Herman J. Russell, received last year’s<br />
award; Linda and Steve Selig; Kane and<br />
Joel Katz, whose law firm, Greenberg<br />
Traurig, was a principal sponsor of the<br />
event; Marjorie and Steve Harvey; <strong>The</strong><br />
Very Rev. Sam Candler and his wife, Boog;<br />
and Louise Sams, of lead sponsor Turner<br />
Broadcasting, and Jerome Grilhot.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Very Rev. Sam and Boog<br />
Candler (left) and Nina and Bill<br />
Schwartz (all photos: Kim Link)<br />
Jack Sawyer joined a distinguished<br />
roster of past recipients, including former<br />
President Jimmy Carter, Senator Sam<br />
Nunn, philanthropist and Cox Enterprises<br />
past chairman James Cox Kennedy, and<br />
entrepreneur Herman J. Russell, in being<br />
honored with the National Human<br />
Relations Award.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Atlanta AJC Regional Office,<br />
founded in 1944, carries forth the 105-yearold<br />
American <strong>Jewish</strong> Committee’s promotion<br />
of democratic ideals, minority rights,<br />
and protection of human rights across the<br />
globe.<br />
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who<br />
personally asked to write a message of commendation<br />
to Jack Sawyer for the dinner<br />
program, referred to Sawyer’s “tireless<br />
work and charitable advocacy as an icon in<br />
the Atlanta community for years.”<br />
An advocate for progress, Sawyer<br />
serves on the Board of Directors of the<br />
Southeast Anti-Defamation League and the<br />
Civil War to Civil Rights Steering<br />
Committee of the Atlanta History Center.<br />
He has been both chairman and honorary<br />
chairman of the High Museum of Art’s<br />
Driskell Prize Dinner, supporting African-<br />
American art. His humanitarian and cultural<br />
leadership focuses on service on the<br />
Board of Directors of Children’s Healthcare<br />
of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding, Open Hand,<br />
the High Museum of Art, Friends of<br />
Georgia Music Festival, the Georgia<br />
Museum of Art, the Atlanta Humane<br />
Society, and Zoo Atlanta. He has led the<br />
Atlanta History Center’s Swan House Ball,<br />
both as chairman and honorary chairman.<br />
<strong>The</strong> American <strong>Jewish</strong> Committee<br />
Dinner was generously supported by lead<br />
benefactors William B. Schwarz Family’s<br />
Chatham Valley Foundation, with William<br />
B. Schwartz III, of Wilmington Trust, representing<br />
his family; the Selig Family; <strong>The</strong><br />
Coca-Cola Company; Wilmington Trust;<br />
and the St. Regis Atlanta. In addition to the<br />
co-chairmen and sponsors acknowledging<br />
Jack Sawyer’s community leadership were<br />
Wilmington Trust’s Mark Graham and his<br />
wife, Nikki, who traveled from<br />
Wilmington, Delaware, for the occasion;<br />
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed; Gregg and<br />
Beth Paradies; Laura Turner Seydel; Steve<br />
and Linda Selig; Elaine Levin; Don Perry;<br />
Chip and Sharon Shirley; Elizabeth Allen;<br />
Debbie and Lon Neese; Steve and Sheri<br />
Yeshiva Atlanta Shabbaton is a rousing success<br />
After months of planning, the day had<br />
arrived. Nearly 100 Yeshiva Atlanta students,<br />
along with another 20 prospective<br />
students from various middle schools<br />
around Atlanta, boarded buses and headed<br />
to the mountains of North Georgia. <strong>The</strong>re,<br />
at Camp Blue Ridge, they would not only<br />
discuss the topic of unity (and its importance<br />
to both the school and the greater<br />
Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> community) but would live<br />
it intensely for 48 hours.<br />
This year’s Yeshiva Atlanta<br />
Shabbaton, which took place October 28-<br />
30, featured Divrei Torah by four different<br />
YA students—girls representing grades 9-<br />
12—and by the school’s new dean of<br />
Judaic Studies, Rabbi Asher Yablok. <strong>The</strong><br />
students were also responsible for all parts<br />
of the prayer services, from serving as<br />
chazzan to opening the makeshift ark to<br />
reading the Torah. <strong>The</strong> teachers who chaperoned,<br />
including Head of School Dr. Paul<br />
Oberman and Assistant Principal of Judaics<br />
Ariella Allen, were simply part of the congregation;<br />
their respect for the students’<br />
leadership was obvious.<br />
According to Oberman, “<strong>The</strong> Student<br />
Council members did a fabulous job getting<br />
everything organized in advance, and<br />
the rest of the student body was equally<br />
engaged over the course of the weekend.<br />
Every student stepped up and took responsibility<br />
for some aspect of the Shabbaton,<br />
whether it was setting up meals, organizing<br />
an afternoon hike, or simply interacting<br />
with the 8th-graders who were in attendance<br />
as prospective YA students.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Shabbaton’s schedule was packed,<br />
starting mid-afternoon, when the 8thgraders<br />
arrived early to the camp and were<br />
treated to an hour-long ropes course adventure.<br />
With the arrival of the rest of the students,<br />
the camp was abuzz with activity as<br />
the students prepared for Shabbat, which<br />
included Kabbalat Shabbat, dinner, and a<br />
festive oneg program that included several<br />
very amusing grade skits.<br />
Shabbat day was just as packed, with<br />
the students leading both the shacharit and<br />
mincha services. <strong>The</strong> highlight of the day<br />
came via special guests Bill and Paula Gris,<br />
who both gave talks. <strong>The</strong> Grises were<br />
among the founding families of Yeshiva<br />
Atlanta, and Mr. Gris served as the school’s<br />
first basketball coach. <strong>The</strong> students loved<br />
his stories of the school’s early days, especially<br />
the one in which an opposing coach,<br />
upon seeing the six-member basketball<br />
team (the school had a total enrollment that<br />
year of seven students), asked him,<br />
“Where’s the rest of your team?” One of<br />
the boys quickly responded, “He’s home<br />
sick.”<br />
Far more powerful were Bill’s stories<br />
about what is was like to be a Jew in<br />
Atlanta in the late 1950s and early 1960s.<br />
His description of the first time he and<br />
Paula went to see a movie after moving to<br />
Atlanta from the New York area, only to<br />
confront a sign proclaiming “Black<br />
Balcony,” made a huge impact on the students.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re were also separate water<br />
fountains for blacks and whites,” he<br />
explained, “which confused us terribly,<br />
because we assumed that it was the same<br />
water we were all drinking.”<br />
Paula, who has worked extensively on<br />
Holocaust-related issues and who served as<br />
Labovitz; City Council President Robb Pitts<br />
and his wife, Fran; Ingrid Saunders Jones,<br />
of <strong>The</strong> Coca-Cola Company, another lead<br />
benefactor; Elaine and Miles Alexander; Dr.<br />
Bobbie Bailey; Darrell Mays; Lisa and Joe<br />
Bankoff; Carolyn and Rhett Tanner; Ron<br />
and Kay Quigley; Devyne Stephens; Ladi<br />
Drew; and Cindy and Bill Voyles.<br />
Fulton County Commission<br />
Chairman John Eaves (left) with Joel<br />
Katz<br />
Louise Sams (from left) with Miles<br />
and Elaine Alexander<br />
a chaperone for the Atlanta delegation to<br />
the March of the Living, made an equally<br />
moving presentation. It was particularly<br />
striking to hear her reaction to that morning’s<br />
prayer service. “I was moved to tears<br />
to hear your joyful and enthusiastic singing<br />
of Hallel to mark the occasion of Rosh<br />
Chodesh [the first day of the new month],”<br />
she told the students.<br />
At the conclusion of Shabbat, the students<br />
took part in a Charlbach-style havdalah<br />
and then enjoyed grilled hamburgers<br />
and hot dogs as they sat around a roaring<br />
campfire. Sparks and songs filled the air,<br />
and it was clear to all there that the<br />
Shabbaton had been a big success.<br />
Kudos are of course in order to the<br />
Student Council members who planned<br />
and organized the Shabbaton: Co-<br />
Presidents Yondi Kadosh and Michael Lor,<br />
Vice-President Avi Ginsburg, Treasurer<br />
Alexa Ratner, and Secretary Yifat Kadosh.<br />
Special thanks, too, are due the school’s<br />
Student Council advisors, Mrs. Amanda<br />
Bunder and Rabbi Reuven Travis.
Page 12 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Free Loan Funds Help <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong>s in Need<br />
In March, 2009, Mrs. Malka<br />
Rosenbaum z”l, a beloved individual who<br />
was known for her many acts of loving<br />
kindness and who made many contributions<br />
to the spirituality of the Atlanta community<br />
and Klal Israel planted the seeds for what is<br />
known today as the <strong>Jewish</strong> Interest Free<br />
Loan of Atlanta or JIFLA. JIFLA now provides<br />
loans to <strong>Jewish</strong> families and individuals<br />
throughout the state of Georgia.<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Interest Free Loan of Atlanta,<br />
Inc., is a 501(c)3 non-profit charity established<br />
to provide financial assistance<br />
through interest-free loans and is committed<br />
to the biblical precept (Exodus 22:24),<br />
“If you lend money to My people, to those<br />
in need among you, do not act as a creditor;<br />
exact no interest from them.”<br />
According to Dr. Mort Barr, JIFLA<br />
president, “the prolonged economic downturn<br />
in our state has increased the ranks of<br />
Jews one can classify as marginally needy.”<br />
Since the stock market collapse in late 2008<br />
pushed the nation into recession, the<br />
demand for financial support, food and<br />
clothes from <strong>Jewish</strong> social service agencies<br />
and charities in Atlanta and throughout the<br />
state of Georgia has risen significantly. Barr<br />
continued to say that “JIFLA is a member<br />
of the International Association of Hebrew<br />
Free Loans. Through direct contact with<br />
other <strong>Jewish</strong> Free Loans, we are painfully<br />
aware that the same phenomenon has<br />
appeared in <strong>Jewish</strong> communities across the<br />
country.” Right here in Atlanta, both JIFLA<br />
and JELF (<strong>Jewish</strong> Education Loan Fund –<br />
which provides loans for higher education)<br />
have been busier than ever before in helping<br />
people and families in need.<br />
As economic times have gotten<br />
tougher, requests for loans have been<br />
increasing. While JIFLA had provided 8<br />
loans in its first 12 months of operation, it<br />
has provided another 12 loans in the following<br />
9 months with two loan applicants<br />
waiting for approval.<br />
Since opening its loan office in March,<br />
2010, JIFLA has provided $52,600 in interest-free<br />
loans to members of our local communities.<br />
All loans are being repaid, and<br />
with these repayments the money is available<br />
to recycle and loan out again. Each<br />
loan JIFLA has provided has helped <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
families in unique ways: an unemployed<br />
family was provided funds to pay for living<br />
expenses until they were able to find jobs.<br />
One loan persuaded the borrower’s mortgage<br />
bank to approve a mortgage loan modification.<br />
Another loan helped a family<br />
member pay for emergency surgery, which<br />
was not covered by their medical insurance.<br />
JIFLA helped an individual who started a<br />
new job after being unemployed for 2 years<br />
and needed help with 2 months of rent payment<br />
until the first paycheck came in. A<br />
recent loan helped a hardworking but strug-<br />
gling family pay for unexpected funeral<br />
expenses of a parent. <strong>The</strong>ir most recent<br />
loans helped families who lost income due<br />
to unexpected layoffs and were temporarily<br />
unable to pay their bills. <strong>The</strong> loans will<br />
bridge these families while they are searching<br />
for new jobs. Other loans helped families<br />
consolidate their debt and helped lower<br />
debt-management costs, and in other ways<br />
helped families manage their way out of<br />
severe financial crises. JIFLA will provide<br />
loans for vocational training, purchasing<br />
used cars if needed for employment purposes,<br />
emergency home repairs, dental and<br />
medical bills, and many other purposes that<br />
will help families in financial need.<br />
“We recycle money so we can recycle<br />
people’s lives,” said Barr. “<strong>The</strong> story is not<br />
that we lent $52,600. <strong>The</strong> story is that there<br />
are thousands of stories out there.”<br />
Anonymity of the borrower and loan<br />
guarantor is a major value and promise of<br />
JIFLA. <strong>The</strong> loan applicant is assigned a<br />
loan number, and all information, is identified<br />
only by the loan number. According to<br />
Barr, “At most, only two people are aware<br />
of the borrower’s identity and only one person<br />
is aware of the guarantor’s identity.<br />
Confidentiality is carefully protected.”<br />
According to JIFLA’s rabbinic advisor,<br />
Rabbi Doniel Pransky: “Besides giving to<br />
those who are already poor, make sure you<br />
prevent others from joining the ranks of the<br />
On October 28, <strong>The</strong> Temple in<br />
Midtown Atlanta hosted a special bar mitzvah<br />
ceremony for Benjamin Faber, who has<br />
mitochondrial myopathy.<br />
<strong>The</strong> unique ceremony involved assisted<br />
communication devices and the participation<br />
of Faber’s fellow students to help<br />
him through the event. Two hundred teens<br />
from all across the Southeastern United<br />
States also attended the bar mitzvah before<br />
embarking on a weekend of learning about<br />
inclusion in Judaism.<br />
Benjamin has been a student at <strong>The</strong><br />
Temple’s Breman Religious School since<br />
he was in pre-Kindergarten. He has benefited<br />
from <strong>The</strong> Temple’s commitment to cre-<br />
impoverished….Very worthy causes exist<br />
to ease the enormous burden that crushes<br />
our fellow Jews who cannot afford the basic<br />
necessities of life. As the number of those in<br />
need grows, however, it is equally necessary<br />
for us to do our part to hold back as<br />
many people as we can from that burden.<br />
“This is the job of the <strong>Jewish</strong> Interest<br />
Free Loan of Atlanta. By offering interestfree<br />
loans to those who have encountered a<br />
significant, and perhaps sudden, expense<br />
that is beyond their means, we can keep<br />
them on a sound financial footing. We can<br />
grab hold of someone teetering on the edge<br />
of a cliff and literally pull him or her back<br />
to safety. This is our mission. As our sages<br />
teach us, if a heavy burden is about to fall<br />
off a donkey, it only takes one person to<br />
steady it. After it falls to the ground, even<br />
five people can’t lift it.”<br />
JIFLA is professionally managed by<br />
volunteers. All involved in this endeavor<br />
have a passion for unity and shalom in the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> community. <strong>The</strong> outreach to all Jews<br />
and non-judgmentalism of the fund provides<br />
a wonderful opportunity to bridge<br />
diverse elements of our <strong>Jewish</strong> community<br />
to contribute to peace, unity, cooperation,<br />
and understanding within the community.<br />
More information about JIFLA can be<br />
found through its website at www.jifla.org<br />
or e-mail freeloan@jifla.org<br />
Southeast teens attend bar mitzvah for<br />
student with mitochondrial myopathy<br />
ating a fully inclusive learning environment<br />
for all of its students. Stacey Levy, a speech<br />
pathologist and member of <strong>The</strong> Temple, has<br />
been working for the Breman Religious<br />
School for ten years as learning coordinator<br />
and has developed a program that serves<br />
Benjamin and dozens of other students with<br />
developmental disabilities each year.<br />
“Judaism has never been an exclusive<br />
religion. It is available to everyone,” says<br />
<strong>The</strong> Temple’s director of lifelong learning,<br />
Rabbi Steven H. Rau, RJE. “We have a<br />
commitment to ensure that every student<br />
has a chance to learn and share in the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> experience.”<br />
To drive home this <strong>Jewish</strong> value of<br />
inclusion, <strong>The</strong> Temple scheduled<br />
Benjamin’s bar mitzvah as a kickoff to a<br />
weekend gathering of <strong>Jewish</strong> teenagers<br />
from across the Southeast that included<br />
opportunities to learn about welcoming and<br />
including everyone in <strong>Jewish</strong> life.<br />
This is a continuation of <strong>The</strong> Temple’s<br />
tzadikim (Hebrew for “righteous person”)<br />
program, which trains students to serve as<br />
shadows and aides to students, like<br />
Benjamin, who learn differently. <strong>The</strong> many<br />
students who worked with Benjamin over<br />
the years were present for his bar mitzvah.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 13<br />
Taste of Atlanta wraps up a landmark festival<br />
Taste of Atlanta, the city’s largest food<br />
festival, hosted its landmark 10th annual<br />
event October 22-23. <strong>The</strong> two-day affair<br />
saw thousands of festivalgoers flocking to<br />
Midtown’s Technology Square, enjoying<br />
samples from more than 80 of Atlanta’s<br />
premier restaurants.<br />
Highlights included the return of<br />
Inside the Food Studio, which featured a<br />
behind-the-scenes look into the kitchens<br />
and minds of some of Atlanta’s most celebrated<br />
chefs; the Family Food Zone, for<br />
young chefs-in-training; cooking stages<br />
featuring demonstrations from local and<br />
national celebrity chefs; and the introduction<br />
of <strong>The</strong> Big Grill, a Friday night block<br />
party that kicked off the weekend.<br />
In addition, Taste of Atlanta furthered<br />
its commitment to community. <strong>The</strong> on-site<br />
silent auction raised over $25,000 to benefit<br />
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters, a<br />
groundbreaking program that provides a<br />
strong foundation in nutrition, cooking, and<br />
household budgeting through specialized<br />
courses for adults, kids, and teens.<br />
<strong>The</strong> festival’s president and founder,<br />
Dale Gordon DeSena, has over 25 years of<br />
experience in marketing, advertising, and<br />
festival production. She has been instrumental<br />
in bringing together national<br />
celebrity chefs such as Emeril Lagasse,<br />
Sara Moulton, Iron Chef Morimoto, and<br />
Rocco DiSpirito as well as Atlanta chefs<br />
such as Kevin Rathbun, Linton Hopkins,<br />
and Richard Blais.<br />
DeSena created Taste of Atlanta to fill<br />
the city’s need for a food festival truly representing<br />
the best the city has to offer. Taste<br />
of Atlanta been named a Top 20 Event by<br />
the Southeast Tourism Society, Best Food<br />
Dale Gordon DeSena<br />
Event in Atlanta by <strong>The</strong> Atlanta Journal-<br />
Constitution and Jezebel magazine, and a<br />
“Top Festival Worth the Trip” by O, <strong>The</strong><br />
Oprah Magazine. It has earned numerous<br />
Kaleidoscope Awards and been covered by<br />
<strong>The</strong> New York Times, People Magazine, and<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Today Show” on NBC.<br />
DeSena is a board member of the<br />
Georgia Restaurant Association and a<br />
member of Les Dames d’Escoffier,<br />
American Culinary Federation, Georgia<br />
Organics, the American Institute of Wine &<br />
Food, and the International Festivals &<br />
Events Association. She has held board<br />
positions with the American <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Committee and the <strong>Jewish</strong> National Fund.
Page 14 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 15
Page 16 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 17<br />
Davis students learn about the critical need for safe drinking water<br />
Davis Academy students recently<br />
learned some serious facts about something<br />
most of us take for granted. For example:<br />
Approximately one out of eight people<br />
worldwide, and especially in developing<br />
nations, do not have access to safe and clean<br />
drinking water. Another fact: water-related<br />
illnesses kill more people each year than<br />
wars and conflict.<br />
Access to clean drinking water, something<br />
that most Americans take for granted,<br />
became the focus of this year’s Tikkun Olam<br />
project for Davis Academy 5th-8th-graders<br />
during the month of November, culminating<br />
in activities the day before Thanksgiving.<br />
<strong>The</strong> project, dubbed the Mayyim<br />
(Hebrew for water) Challenge, spanned the<br />
curriculum. In social studies, students<br />
learned the lengths to which people must go<br />
and the hardships they must endure in some<br />
parts of the world just to obtain clean drinking<br />
water and how that impacts their health<br />
and their families’ ability to function. In science,<br />
students learned how nature produces<br />
clean water, where it is found, and how it is<br />
accessed, as well as the different ways water<br />
can be purified.<br />
After completing surveys, Middle<br />
School students were surprised to learn how<br />
many sodas, smoothies, and sports drinks<br />
they consume. <strong>The</strong> results motivated them to<br />
forego those beverages for a few weeks and<br />
As parents, we all want to do everything<br />
we can to aid in the development of our children’s<br />
minds. As the inheritors of a long and<br />
proud tradition of study and learning, we seek<br />
to reach a higher plateau in our personal, spiritual,<br />
and business lives.<br />
To challenge young people through a regimen<br />
of formal education has proven a wonderful<br />
tool in striving for these goals. And <strong>The</strong><br />
Epstein School continues to find new and<br />
innovative ways to mold and develop young<br />
minds.<br />
One of the concepts that Epstein focuses<br />
on is enhancing brain development through<br />
bilingual education. <strong>The</strong> advantages of bilingual<br />
education have been researched for<br />
decades and are well documented. As a leader<br />
in bilingual education, <strong>The</strong> Epstein School<br />
uses an integrated curricular approach that has<br />
been recognized for its excellence both nationally<br />
and internationally.<br />
<strong>The</strong> school’s academic bilingual program,<br />
combined with integration of advanced<br />
technology and the arts, is one of the reasons<br />
Epstein graduates go on to succeed at the best<br />
high schools and colleges. In 2011, 25 students<br />
took first place at the North Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Students Technology Fair (NAJSTF); four<br />
Epstein students placed in the top three at the<br />
2011 Georgia State Technology Fair. Over the<br />
past five years, more than half of Epstein 7thgraders<br />
tested qualified for the Duke<br />
University Talent Identification Program (TIP)<br />
for academically gifted and talented youth. In<br />
both 2010 and 2011, 100% of those students<br />
tested received state recognition; four received<br />
redirect the money they would have spent<br />
toward the tzedakah portion of the Mayyim<br />
Challenge. All the funds collected will go to<br />
SAFE Water Now, an Atlanta-based organization<br />
that distributes special water filtration<br />
systems to needy communities worldwide.<br />
Fifth-graders Bryan Penn, Evan Penn,<br />
and Jack Kaye show off a sign they<br />
made to create awareness about the<br />
issue of safe drinking water and to<br />
encourage fellow students to contribute<br />
tzedakah toward the project.<br />
“At my house, there is running water<br />
everywhere,” said 8th-grader Evan Miller.<br />
“To walk two miles with 40 pounds of water<br />
because the family needs it would be so hard.<br />
national recognition. Third- and 5th-grade students<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Epstein School consistently rank<br />
in the 95th-99th percentile among students<br />
taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.<br />
Four Epstein students placed in top<br />
three at the State Level Competition,<br />
2011 Georgia Educational Technology<br />
Fair: (from left) Sarah Peljovich, Jack<br />
Schneider, Olivia Fox, and Yoel Alperin<br />
Last year, Epstein alumni included one<br />
high school valedictorian, four salutatorians,<br />
six National Merit Finalists, three Governor’s<br />
Honors participants, the Riverwood High<br />
School Student Council president, and the copresidents<br />
of <strong>The</strong> Weber School. Also in 2010,<br />
62% of alumni from <strong>The</strong> Epstein School class<br />
of 2006 were members of the National Honor<br />
Society and/or received National Merit<br />
Recognition.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are numerous additional advantages<br />
to receiving a bilingual education. Young<br />
children who learn a second language have<br />
Our grade is trying to collect as much<br />
tzedakah as possible to help.”<br />
Sophia Gurin discovers how heavy a<br />
35 pound jug of water is.<br />
<strong>The</strong> half day of school just before<br />
Thanksgiving was dedicated to Mayyim<br />
Challenge programming. Hands-on activities<br />
and the viewing of an award-winning video<br />
helped further understanding, including getting<br />
a feel for the weight of water and doing<br />
stronger communication skills, which are<br />
needed in a constantly evolving global economy.<br />
Knowing a second language also makes<br />
learning additional languages much easier;<br />
fosters understanding of, appreciation of, and<br />
respect for differences; increases self-esteem<br />
and confidence in social interactions;<br />
improves interpersonal skills; and fosters<br />
adaptability to new situations and contexts.<br />
Rotem Kadosh enjoys being bilingual<br />
and is confident that bilingual skills<br />
will help her be successful.<br />
Additional resources that support the<br />
advantages of a bilingual education:<br />
• Ellen Bialystok, in her 2001 book<br />
Bilingualism in Development: Language,<br />
Literacy, and Cognition, says that bilinguals<br />
have “consistent advantages” to understand<br />
the nature of language rather than the ability to<br />
use language to communicate meaning.<br />
• A study conducted by Peal and Lambert in<br />
1962 showed bilinguals to be superior to<br />
science labs that underscore the impact of<br />
water pollution on the environment. Tracy<br />
Hawkins, founder of SafeWaterNow, spoke<br />
to students.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Mayyim Challenge concluded<br />
with a half day of activities, including<br />
a collective science lab that demonstrated<br />
how pollution affects the<br />
water supply.<br />
“This type of program never precisely<br />
fits into the traditional academic curriculum,<br />
yet it encourages thinking and feeling, and it<br />
challenges students to seek a deeper understanding<br />
of the world in which they live,<br />
and—most importantly—their place in that<br />
world,” said Middle School Principal Jamie<br />
Kudlats.<br />
Epstein students benefit from bilingual education<br />
monolinguals in the domain of mental/cognitive<br />
flexibility.<br />
• One of the most fascinating advantages of<br />
bilingual education is described in an article in<br />
the October 2004 issue of Nature, in which<br />
researchers found that bilingual speakers had<br />
denser gray matter, in particular in areas of<br />
memory, language, and attention.<br />
• In the 2007 article “Raising a Bilingual<br />
Child: Parents Can Teach <strong>The</strong>ir Children a<br />
Foreign Language at a Young Age” by Diane<br />
Laney Fitzpatrick, Dr. Geoffrey S. Koby, associate<br />
professor of German translation at Kent<br />
State University, said, “All human beings are<br />
naturally, innately able to learn a foreign language<br />
as a child.”<br />
First-grader Joeli Van De Grift performs<br />
a Hebrew lesson task on an<br />
ActivBoard, one of the many advanced<br />
educational technologies utilized by<br />
students at <strong>The</strong> Epstein School.
Page 18 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
AMERICA’S<br />
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4455 Roswell Road<br />
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Pomegranate Prize recognizes<br />
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childhood education<br />
Anna Hartman (center) celebrates with GHA students<br />
In November 2011, Anna Hartman,<br />
director of the Early Childhood Department<br />
(ECD) at Greenfield Hebrew Academy<br />
(GHA), received the Covenant<br />
Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize. This<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> educational award was the only one<br />
granted this year in the field of early childhood<br />
education. In fact, of the sixty awards<br />
the foundation has given since 1991, this is<br />
only the third that has gone to representatives<br />
of early childhood education.<br />
Before it was recognized by the<br />
Covenant Foundation, GHA was lauded in<br />
a Yale University study. <strong>The</strong> findings reveal<br />
that the signature elements of the ECD’s<br />
scientific study of child development,<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> thought, the approach of Reggio<br />
Emilia schools, and research on the most<br />
effective way to engage children and their<br />
families in <strong>Jewish</strong> life “foster deeper relationships<br />
among the adult community,<br />
which translate into improved outcomes for<br />
the children.”<br />
Anna Hartman, along with the ECD<br />
faculty, has traveled around the country,<br />
learning from the nation’s best preschools<br />
and thinkers. She said, “We have learned<br />
from the best and been shocked and saddened<br />
to see what constitutes early childhood<br />
experiences in so many other<br />
schools.” GHA achieves excellence by nurturing<br />
authentic <strong>Jewish</strong> childhoods and<br />
helping families realize their divine poten-<br />
tial, in an environment of relationships,<br />
inquiry, reflection, and collaboration.<br />
Through the creation of this prize, the<br />
Covenant Foundation, whose mission is to<br />
Anna Hartman<br />
support quality educators, seeks to capture<br />
the passion that comes with new experience,<br />
nurture new leadership for the field in<br />
an intentional way, and enable emerging<br />
educators to take risks and make a difference.<br />
<strong>The</strong> $15,000 attached to the prize will<br />
constitute a fund to further professional<br />
development in the Reggio Emilia practice.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 19<br />
ISJL named one of North America’s Most Innovative <strong>Jewish</strong> Nonprofits<br />
<strong>The</strong> Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of<br />
Southern <strong>Jewish</strong> Life (ISJL) has been<br />
named a Standard Bearer by Slingshot ‘11-<br />
‘12, a resource guide for <strong>Jewish</strong> innovation.<br />
For the past seven years, Slingshot has<br />
featured annually the 50 most innovative<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> projects in North America, which<br />
are selected from among hundreds of nominees.<br />
In that time, ten organizations have<br />
risen to the top again and again as leaders<br />
within the community and mentors to other<br />
organizations. Now called Standard<br />
Bearers, they have been listed in at least<br />
five editions of Slingshot. <strong>The</strong>se organizations<br />
were chosen not only for longevity,<br />
but also because they continue to achieve<br />
Slingshot’s core criteria of innovation,<br />
impact, leadership, and organizational efficacy.<br />
According to Will Schneider, executive<br />
director of Slingshot, “Seven editions of<br />
Slingshot ago, <strong>Jewish</strong> innovation was still<br />
largely undefined and unexplored, and 66%<br />
of the organizations listed in this year’s<br />
guide weren’t even founded yet. Over the<br />
years, the Standard Bearers consistently set,<br />
exceeded, and reset the high standards that<br />
emerging organizations and projects in<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> life aspired to match. In truth, we<br />
had trouble selecting a name that would set<br />
them apart as examples of ongoing excellence<br />
without placing them on an “emeritus”<br />
list or implying that their innovative<br />
days were behind them. We settled on<br />
Standard Bearers, because these groups set<br />
benchmarks for the field and led by example<br />
with ongoing innovation and relevancy.”<br />
Slingshot is used by philanthropists,<br />
volunteers, not-for-profit executives, and<br />
program participants to identify path-finding<br />
and trailblazing organizations grappling<br />
with concerns in <strong>Jewish</strong> life such as identity,<br />
community, and tradition. ISJL was chosen<br />
by a panel of 36 foundation professionals<br />
from across North America. This was<br />
ISJL’s sixth time being featured in<br />
Slingshot.<br />
Based in Jackson, Mississippi, the ISJL<br />
promotes <strong>Jewish</strong> life in the South through<br />
partnerships with Southern <strong>Jewish</strong> communities.<br />
Founded in 2000, the ISJL supports<br />
religious school education, rabbinic services,<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> culture, community engagement,<br />
history, and the arts in underserved communities,<br />
as well as larger population centers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> independent, trans-denominational<br />
institute currently partners with more than<br />
100 diverse <strong>Jewish</strong> congregations and community<br />
groups across 13 states: Mississippi,<br />
Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee,<br />
Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North<br />
Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, and<br />
the Florida Panhandle. Through this unique<br />
model, the ISJL encourages communities<br />
large and small to assume the shared<br />
responsibility of promoting <strong>Jewish</strong> life and<br />
tradition region wide.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> ISJL implements innovative solutions<br />
to deliver <strong>Jewish</strong> programming and<br />
resources to communities across the<br />
South,” explains ISJL president Macy B.<br />
Hart. “Our inclusion in Slingshot ‘11-‘12 as<br />
a Standard Bearer reaffirms the impact of<br />
our work and allows us to continue building<br />
our capacity. We see that we are helping<br />
create a rich <strong>Jewish</strong> life for this next generation.<br />
Jonathan Raiffe, the chairman of<br />
Slingshot, said, “<strong>The</strong> Slingshot guide makes<br />
a statement to the <strong>Jewish</strong> community and<br />
beyond that next-gen funders embrace<br />
change, innovation, and evaluation when<br />
meeting the needs of our community.<br />
Slingshot promotes organizations that hold<br />
themselves accountable to all their stakeholders<br />
and up to the same scrutiny as forprofit<br />
organizations, while pushing the<br />
boundaries of how to solve the most pressing<br />
issues. Slingshot is about making a<br />
statement as to what we believe are the<br />
greatest needs and which organizations are<br />
doing the best job to fulfill those needs.<br />
Organizations that receive grants from<br />
Slingshot clearly identify an unmet need<br />
and offer proven models and solutions that<br />
can have a far-reaching impact.”<br />
Slingshot ‘11-‘12 was released on<br />
October 18, 2011. <strong>The</strong> community will<br />
meet on March 14 in New York City at the<br />
annual Slingshot Day, where over 250 notfor-profit<br />
leaders, foundation professionals,<br />
and funders of all ages will engage in candid<br />
conversations about philanthropy and<br />
innovation.<br />
Slingshot was created by a team of<br />
young funders as a guidebook to help fun-<br />
ders of all ages diversify their giving portfolios<br />
with the most innovative and effective<br />
organizations and programs in North<br />
America. This guide contains information<br />
about each organization’s origin, mission,<br />
strategy, impact, and budget, as well as<br />
details about its unique character. Now in<br />
its seventh edition, Slingshot has proven to<br />
be a catalyst for next generation funding<br />
and offers a telling snapshot of shifting<br />
trends in North America’s <strong>Jewish</strong> community.<br />
<strong>The</strong> book, published annually, is available<br />
in hard copy and as a free download at<br />
www.slingshotfund.org.
Page 20 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Giving Birth to a Book<br />
BY<br />
Janice Rothschild<br />
Blumberg<br />
Giving birth to a book is like having a<br />
baby, only it takes longer. In the case of my latest<br />
offspring, the gestation period surpassed<br />
that of an elephant. As I write this column,<br />
delivery is in sight.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea for Prophet in a Time of Priests:<br />
Rabbi “Alphabet” Browne 1845 - 1929 first<br />
occurred more than fifty years<br />
ago when I discovered the<br />
story of how Browne saved<br />
the life of an innocent <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
immigrant condemned to die<br />
for murdering his wife.<br />
<strong>The</strong> rabbi—my greatgrandfather—persuaded<br />
the<br />
governor of New York to<br />
commute the man’s sentence<br />
and ultimately gained exoneration<br />
for him by reviewing the<br />
case, proving that the accused<br />
could not have committed the<br />
crime, and exposing the true<br />
killer. When I first read it<br />
(fifty years ago) I thought the<br />
story would make a great play, which I planned<br />
to write for <strong>The</strong>ater Atlanta some day.<br />
Meanwhile, <strong>The</strong>ater Atlanta bit the dust, my<br />
interests moved to American <strong>Jewish</strong> history,<br />
and historians convinced me that the career of<br />
“Alphabet” Browne deserved deeper study.<br />
Although I wasn’t trained for the task, I<br />
plunged ahead, never anticipating that it would<br />
take more than a decade to complete. My<br />
search, often frustrating but always interesting,<br />
led to a series of encounters that played out<br />
much like the game of scavenger hunt, in<br />
which each discovery provides a clue to another.<br />
For example, a chance acquaintance with<br />
Tweed Roosevelt, who was writing about his<br />
great-grandfather <strong>The</strong>odore Roosevelt, initiated<br />
an exchange of information about our two<br />
forebears, who were once friends. I had letters<br />
from his great-grandfather, the president, to<br />
mine, the rabbi, which I shared with him.<br />
When he called to thank me, he asked if I<br />
had seen the ones from “T.R.” to “Alphabet”<br />
that were in the Library of Congress. I had not.<br />
Until then, I was unaware that one of President<br />
Franklin Roosevelt’s work projects in the Great<br />
Depression had produced microfilm copies of<br />
presidential correspondence. I hastened to<br />
Capitol Hill to see them, and while <strong>The</strong>odore<br />
Roosevelt’s told me nothing new, the collections<br />
of Benjamin Harrison, William Howard<br />
Taft, and Woodrow Wilson yielded numerous<br />
revelations about my letter-writing ancestor.<br />
Even more surprising was my find on<br />
Zionism. Coming from a family steeped in<br />
Classical Reform, I had never heard a kind<br />
word about Zionism or <strong>The</strong>odor Herzl until<br />
Rabbi Jacob Rothschild joined us, which was<br />
many years after my great-grandfather died. It<br />
was therefore a mystery to me as to why the<br />
family had saved a clipping from a 1912 newspaper<br />
about a memorial sermon given by a<br />
friend of Herzl on the anniversary of the<br />
Zionist leader’s death. It was quite a shock to<br />
learn that the friend was none other than my<br />
great-grandfather Browne.<br />
An email to the Central Zionist Archives<br />
in Jerusalem yielded two file folders of letters<br />
from Browne to Herzl, in which the rabbi gave<br />
his candid opinion of American <strong>Jewish</strong> leaders<br />
and the means by which Herzl could win them<br />
for the cause of Zion. It is tempting to imagine<br />
the difference it might have made in the course<br />
of history if Herzl had taken his advice.<br />
Most of my sources were closer to home<br />
and easier to probe. Browne was one of the<br />
first rabbis in Atlanta, serving<br />
<strong>The</strong> Temple from 1877 to<br />
1881 and officiating at the<br />
dedication of its first synagogue.<br />
I had ferreted out<br />
information on that aspect of<br />
his life when I wrote the congregation’s<br />
centennial history<br />
in the 1960s and discovered<br />
even more in the ensuing<br />
years.<br />
His main achievement in<br />
Atlanta was to publish the<br />
South’s first <strong>Jewish</strong> newspaper,<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> South, which<br />
did not survive his departure<br />
but preserved a fascinating<br />
view of <strong>Jewish</strong> life and interests during the<br />
four years of its publication. Browne moved<br />
from Atlanta under duress and went to a small<br />
congregation in uptown Manhattan. <strong>The</strong>re he<br />
spent a stormy decade fighting discrimination,<br />
alienating the German <strong>Jewish</strong> leaders while<br />
attracting enthusiastic friends among prominent<br />
Gentiles and pious Jews. One of his<br />
friends was Ulysses S. Grant, in whose state<br />
funeral he served as an honorary pallbearer<br />
representing the <strong>Jewish</strong> people of America.<br />
In the early 1890s, Browne returned to<br />
Georgia as rabbi of Temple Israel in Columbus.<br />
It was there that his daughter, my grandmother,<br />
met and married my grandfather and established<br />
a permanent home. Although her peripatetic<br />
father resigned his position there in<br />
1901 and served numerous congregations elsewhere<br />
during the remaining decades of his life,<br />
he continued to regard Columbus as his home.<br />
His tenure as its rabbi coincided with his awakening<br />
to Zionism and other causes which the<br />
majority of his congregants did not yet<br />
embrace. Congregations that he later served<br />
tended to be beginners that ultimately affiliated<br />
with Conservative Judaism, as did his original<br />
congregation in New York.<br />
<strong>The</strong> more I learned about the life and<br />
times of “Alphabet” Browne, the more I<br />
became convinced that he lived a century too<br />
soon. Today we take for granted many of the<br />
ideas that he espoused and for which he was<br />
largely castigated by those whom he tried to<br />
serve.<br />
Rabbi Rothschild often teased me about<br />
having gone “from shirt sleeves to shirt<br />
sleeves” in three generations. Little did he realize<br />
the extent to which that was true—the one<br />
fortunate difference, however, being that<br />
Rothschild managed to speak out and still keep<br />
his job.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 21<br />
New city park solves flood problems<br />
BY<br />
Leon<br />
Socol<br />
Some Atlantans have heard about the<br />
BeltLine and how it is transforming the<br />
inner city into a mecca of homes, businesses,<br />
parks, hiking trails, and green space in<br />
Atlanta. But not many know the key role it<br />
played in getting the Historic Fourth Ward<br />
Park built in the heart of the city. This is a<br />
remarkable example of how many elements<br />
of our city, both private and government,<br />
have come together to create a most beautiful<br />
and sustainable park. And it is one that<br />
the entire city will be able to enjoy, because<br />
it will be connected to other inner communities<br />
by a 22-mile light rail system that<br />
will encircle the city.<br />
In 2003, the City of Atlanta was under<br />
federal mandate to address the flooding<br />
around City Hall East, the former Sears<br />
Roebuck building that faces Ponce de<br />
Leon. <strong>The</strong> area is one of the low points of<br />
the 800-acre Clear Creek Basin in the Old<br />
Fourth Ward. <strong>The</strong> initial plan, under the<br />
direction of the city’s Watershed<br />
Management Department, called for the<br />
construction of an extension spur to a nearby<br />
stormwater tunnel that eventually would<br />
connect with another drain system on<br />
Highland Avenue.<br />
Before this expensive system could be<br />
built, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., proposed a<br />
joint effort that included a two-acre holding<br />
pond to solve the flooding problem. It was<br />
to be the centerpiece of a wonderful new<br />
park that would have many beautiful and<br />
unique features and would do away with a<br />
blighted area. In choosing this solution, the<br />
city saved $26 million in the cost of materials.<br />
Atlanta has less green space than any<br />
city in the country of comparable size, so<br />
this was much needed green space. Fourth<br />
Ward Historic Park covers 35 acres<br />
Historic Fourth Ward Park (photo: Christopher T. Martin)<br />
stretched roughly from North Avenue to<br />
Freedom Parkway.<br />
After completion of the holding pond,<br />
a skateboard park was built thanks to the<br />
generosity of the Tony Hawk Foundation,<br />
which provided a $25,000 grant. In addition,<br />
a private developer plans to renovate<br />
the old City Hall East building into a mixture<br />
of condos, apartments, and businesses,<br />
bringing new people and prosperity to this<br />
once blighted area.<br />
<strong>The</strong> park was designed with many sustainable<br />
features, such as the pond that generates<br />
enough water to feed the lawns and<br />
trees in the park even in times of severe<br />
drought. Park visitors will be attracted to a<br />
ten-foot waterfall that aerates and recycles<br />
the pond water to prevent odors and algae<br />
growth. Visitors can view the park and the<br />
city’s skyline from well-placed lookout<br />
platforms. <strong>The</strong>re are multiple play areas,<br />
sports fields, and a 350-seat amphitheater.<br />
<strong>The</strong> park’s two main phases were ded-<br />
icated last June, with a formal ceremony<br />
and speeches by Atlanta Mayor Kasim<br />
Reed and Department of Parks<br />
Commissioner George Dusenbury. <strong>The</strong><br />
remainder of Phase II, which will be done<br />
by next spring, will contain a community<br />
garden, a dog park, a multipurpose lawn,<br />
Legendary skater Tony Hawk at the<br />
dedication of the skatepark in June<br />
2011. <strong>The</strong> Tony Hawk Foundation<br />
donated $25,000 towards its construction.<br />
(photo: Marc Mauldin)<br />
and walking paths.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Historic Fourth Ward Park is a<br />
prime example of the improved quality of<br />
life the Atlanta BeltLine is bringing to the<br />
metropolitan area. <strong>The</strong> environmentally<br />
sustainable detention pond has increased<br />
the capacity of and reduced the burden on<br />
our city’s aging infrastructure and will minimize<br />
downstream flooding and property<br />
damage as well.<br />
<strong>The</strong> realization of Historic Fourth<br />
Ward Park is due to the combined efforts of<br />
the BeltLine, the government, individuals,<br />
and corporations. It has something to offer<br />
all citizens of our city, be they young or<br />
old. Make the park one of your destinations<br />
in <strong>2012</strong>. You’ll be glad you did, and I predict<br />
once you’ve done so, you will be back<br />
many times. To learn more about Historic<br />
Fourth Ward Park, visit www.h4wpc.com.
Page 22 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
BUSINESS BITS<br />
By Marsha Liebowitz<br />
PRESIDENT’S MEDAL. George S. Stern,<br />
founding partner of Stern & Edlin, PC,<br />
received the International Academy of<br />
Matrimonial Lawyers President’s Medal at<br />
the academy’s 25th anniversary meeting in<br />
Harrogate, England, September 10, 2011, in<br />
recognition of his work as academy treasurer,<br />
1991-2011. Active in the Atlanta Bar<br />
Association and State Bar of Georgia for<br />
years, Stern has been included in “Best<br />
Lawyers in America” since 1997, serves on<br />
the Temple Sinai and Breman <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Heritage and Holocaust Museum boards, is<br />
a vice president of the Amit Program, and is<br />
a past president of the Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Community Center of Atlanta.<br />
George S. Stern (left)<br />
and David Salter<br />
NEXT GENERATION LEADER. Renée<br />
Rosenheck has been selected for the inaugural<br />
class of the Zin Fellows Leadership<br />
Development Program of American<br />
Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the<br />
Negev. This exclusive innovative program<br />
is designed to create a community of “next<br />
generation leaders” committed to furthering<br />
David Ben-Gurion’s vision for Israel’s<br />
Negev region. <strong>The</strong> program will provides<br />
insight into challenges presented by the<br />
Negev and intends to imbue in fellows a<br />
commitment to the region. Rosenheck is a<br />
founding member of Limmud Atlanta + SE<br />
and serves on the board of the Atlanta<br />
Chevre Minyan.<br />
PIEDMONT NATIONAL EXPANDS.<br />
Piedmont National Corporation is expanding<br />
into South Carolina, with the acquisition<br />
of Winder Packaging LLC, in Greer. Allen<br />
Ivester, Winder Packaging’s president, will<br />
join Piedmont National and assume the role<br />
of sales director for the Carolinas division.<br />
Piedmont, headquartered in Atlanta, has<br />
distribution warehouses and offices in<br />
Atlanta and Albany, Georgia; Chattanooga<br />
and Knoxville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North<br />
Carolina; Montgomery, Birmingham,<br />
Decatur and Dothan, Alabama; and Tampa,<br />
Florida.<br />
SWARTZ JOINS AICC. Barry Swartz is the<br />
new vice president of Trade &<br />
Development at <strong>The</strong> American-Israel<br />
Chamber of<br />
Commerce, SE<br />
Region (AICC),<br />
and executive<br />
director of the<br />
American Israel<br />
Educational<br />
Institute, AICC’s<br />
charitable affiliate.<br />
Swartz was<br />
senior vice president<br />
of the<br />
J e w i s h<br />
Barry Swartz<br />
Federations of<br />
North America,<br />
where he created<br />
the continental system-wide emergency<br />
preparedness and response system and<br />
directed the JFNA Consulting division,<br />
Next Generation programs, and the<br />
Washington Public Policy Office. He<br />
received a BA from York University and a<br />
master’s in <strong>Jewish</strong> communal service from<br />
Brandeis University and graduated from the<br />
Mandel Executive Development Program.<br />
FEATURED EXPERT. Karen Botnick Paz,<br />
director of Programming and Development<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Amit<br />
Program, was<br />
the featured<br />
expert for the<br />
week of October<br />
4, 2011, on the<br />
Impact ADHD<br />
Blog. Her blog<br />
entry, “Life<br />
Under the Big<br />
Top,” describes<br />
how her children’s<br />
various<br />
Karen Paz<br />
diagnoses,<br />
including learn-<br />
ing disabilities, ADHD, OCD, and Tourette<br />
Syndrome, led her to volunteer with the<br />
Amit Program, eventually leading to fulltime<br />
employment. Impact ADHD<br />
(impactadhad.com) is a national community<br />
that was created to bring a coach-approach<br />
to parents; it is intended to effectively support<br />
entire families by helping parents positively<br />
raise their ADHD kids.<br />
Lauryn Elizabeth<br />
Solodar<br />
IN THE BAG.<br />
L a u r y n<br />
Elizabeth<br />
Solodar, a 2011<br />
fall graduate of<br />
<strong>The</strong> Savannah<br />
College of Art<br />
and Design<br />
(SCAD), Atlanta<br />
Campus, is the<br />
new art director<br />
and designer for<br />
the handbag<br />
c o m p a n y<br />
Hammitt Los<br />
Angeles. She interned with the company<br />
this summer, where she created her first<br />
design, <strong>The</strong> Viper, which is being shown all<br />
across the country. Solodar also attended<br />
the Hebrew Academy and Riverwood<br />
International Charter School and is the<br />
daughter of Helena and Seymour Solodar.<br />
SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS TECH-<br />
NOLOGY. Over 200 participants attended<br />
the American-Israel Chamber of<br />
Commerce, Southeast Region’s “Social<br />
Media: Making Business Sense through<br />
Analytics,” a demonstration and discussion<br />
of the latest Israeli technologies, December<br />
7, 2011, at UPS world headquarters in<br />
Atlanta. Three leading Israeli companies,<br />
ActivePath, Pursway, and Verint, made<br />
“Ignite” presentations, and a panel moderated<br />
by Professor Benn Konsynski, Emory<br />
University Goizueta Business School, and<br />
including Adam Naide, Cox<br />
Communications; Martin O’Conner,<br />
Equifax; Del Ross, Intercontinental Hotel<br />
Group; and Joe Guerrisi, UPS, discussed<br />
the latest trends from the enterprise perspective.<br />
AICC Social Media event panelists<br />
Dov Wilker has been appointed director<br />
of the American <strong>Jewish</strong> Committee’s<br />
Atlanta Regional Office. He succeeds<br />
Sheri Labovitz, interim director, who<br />
served on the search committee.<br />
Wilker previously worked as AJC<br />
Atlanta’s assistant director, a position he<br />
held for two and a half years. He also<br />
brings international experience from his<br />
time representing AJC in the United States’<br />
first professional exchange to South Asia<br />
and his service as regional director of<br />
Academic and Community Affairs for the<br />
Consulate General of Israel to the<br />
Southeast. Wilker returns to Atlanta after<br />
earning his international MBA from Tel<br />
Aviv University and working in the private<br />
sector with an Israeli company.<br />
Founded in 1944, the Atlanta Regional<br />
Office of AJC is dedicated to building<br />
bridges of understanding between the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> community and other ethnic and<br />
faith communities, as well as the diplomatic<br />
corps representing numerous interna-<br />
30 YEARS. Abbadabba’s is celebrating 30<br />
years of improving people’s health through<br />
better footwear. Janice Abernethy opened a<br />
tiny crafts shop in the late 1970s, but her<br />
passion for comfort shoes began when she<br />
discovered Birkenstocks, which were not<br />
carried by traditional shoe retailers. She<br />
began selling them at the Atlanta Flea<br />
Market and then at Abbadabba’s first brick<br />
and mortar store, in Little 5 Points, in 1981.<br />
Abbadabba’s, now with five locations, carries<br />
numerous other brands, including<br />
Israel’s Naot footwear. International shoe<br />
designers and manufacturers consult<br />
Abbadabba’s for input and critique, sometimes<br />
before a new line goes into production.<br />
Abbadabbaʼs sales associate Laura<br />
Sultenfuss with the Buckhead<br />
storeʼs Naot selection<br />
Dov Wilker named director<br />
of AJC Atlanta Regional Office<br />
Dov Wilker<br />
tional governments in metro Atlanta and<br />
the Southeast. AJC Atlanta is known for<br />
such successful initiatives as ACCESS,<br />
AJC’s national young adult division; <strong>The</strong><br />
Atlanta Black-<strong>Jewish</strong> Coalition; and <strong>The</strong><br />
Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Film Festival.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 23
Page 24 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Anshi S’Fard’s Centennial Celebration<br />
Rabbi Chaim Lindenblatt, who has<br />
led the shul for the past 10 years<br />
addressing the group as his son,<br />
Shalom, stands by.<br />
Anshi S’Fard, known as the little shul<br />
with the big heart, celebrated its<br />
100th anniversary on November 27, 2011.<br />
Rabbi Wilson and Rabbi May<br />
Efrom Prater with<br />
Rabbi and Mrs. Wilson<br />
Blimie Lindenblatt and Regine<br />
Rosenfelder holding a photo of<br />
her grandfather at the shul on his<br />
90th birthday<br />
On November 13, in front of a large<br />
crowd at Augusta’s historical<br />
Imperial <strong>The</strong>atre,<br />
the talented spiritual<br />
leader of Adas Yeshurun,<br />
Rabbi David Sirull, performed<br />
his newly penned<br />
composition “<strong>The</strong>re’s No<br />
Place Like Augusta.”<br />
Shortly thereafter, he<br />
received numerous comments<br />
suggesting that it<br />
become the city’s official<br />
theme song.<br />
Sirull was joined by<br />
colleagues and old<br />
friends Rabbi Bertram<br />
Kieffer and Cantor Irvin<br />
Bell for an evening of<br />
diverse song. From the<br />
traditional end of the<br />
spectrum to Sirull’s original and whimsical<br />
YouTube hit “<strong>Jewish</strong> Redneck,” the crowd<br />
was thoroughly entertained by the Three<br />
Ronnie and Jerry Frostig<br />
Sheila and Joe Accortt, Ed<br />
Leader, David Freedman and<br />
Rabbi Lindenblatt enjoy brunch<br />
by Goodfriendʼs Catering<br />
Eli Rivka Monheit with their children<br />
and Marla Netze, grandmother<br />
A new theme song for Augusta?<br />
Rabbi David Sirull<br />
Kosher Singers. “It was great to see people<br />
from so many different<br />
corners of our community<br />
come out to support our<br />
event,” the rabbi said. “Its<br />
purpose was to celebrate<br />
my congregation’s 120th<br />
anniversary, but it really<br />
accomplished even more<br />
than that.”<br />
When asked how<br />
he felt about “<strong>The</strong>re’s No<br />
Place Like Augusta”<br />
becoming the city’s theme<br />
song, he remarked that he<br />
hadn’t thought about it,<br />
but based on the extremely<br />
positive feedback, “If<br />
that’s what our city’s folk<br />
want, then so be it. I’d be<br />
honored.”<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s No Place Like Augusta” can be<br />
viewed on YouTube or at<br />
www.davidsirull.weebly.com. <strong>The</strong> single is
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 25<br />
Joining forces for <strong>Jewish</strong> education in Augusta<br />
<strong>The</strong> Augusta <strong>Jewish</strong> Community<br />
Sunday School (AJCSS) is a combined<br />
religious school consisting of students<br />
from the Reform congregation,<br />
Congregation Children of Israel, and the<br />
Conservative congregation, Adas<br />
Yeshurun. <strong>The</strong>re are 39 students in the<br />
school and six dedicated teachers. <strong>The</strong><br />
AJCSS boasts seven high school<br />
madrichim and five middle school students.<br />
Elliot Price has been the principal<br />
of the school for the past three years.<br />
According to Principal Price, the<br />
religious schools of the two congregations<br />
merged eight years ago. Because<br />
the number of children in each program<br />
was dwindling, they decided to share<br />
resources and provide an environment<br />
where all <strong>Jewish</strong> students had the opportunity<br />
to interact with one another<br />
socially. Additionally, for the past five<br />
years, the AJCSS has participated in the<br />
Goldring Woldenberg Institute of<br />
Southern <strong>Jewish</strong> Life (ISJL) education<br />
program. This partnership has enabled<br />
the small but mighty religious school to<br />
use the ISJL curriculum, a spiraled body<br />
of knowledge in which students revisit<br />
key content areas with increased sophistication<br />
as they progress through the curriculum,<br />
grade level by grade level.<br />
AJCSS also enjoys broad support from<br />
ISJL professional educators.<br />
For example, AJCSS is visited by an<br />
ISJL education fellow three times per<br />
year, in the summer, fall, and spring. In<br />
the summer, second-year Fellow Lauren<br />
Fredman led teacher trainings that<br />
focused on teaching to different student<br />
learning styles, as well as how to create<br />
classroom community. More recently,<br />
Ms. Fredman had the honor of giving a<br />
D’var Torah at both Augusta congregations.<br />
She also led two separate allschool<br />
programs focusing on Israel and<br />
Israeli culture. Yet another event for the<br />
students was an all-school program of<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Values Maccabi Games at a local<br />
park.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re are many different ways to<br />
teach <strong>Jewish</strong> knowledge, and it makes a<br />
big difference if a child is motivated at<br />
religious school. We have a very positive<br />
environment at the AJCSS, and there is a<br />
lot of excitement about being at religious<br />
school,” Principal Price says. “We<br />
are always looking forward to the events<br />
that the ISJL brings to us. <strong>The</strong> lock-ins,<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Values Maccabi Games, and<br />
teacher and madrichim trainings have<br />
made a significant difference in our ability<br />
to meet the goals of our Sunday<br />
school.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> ISJL is currently recruiting the<br />
Grandmas never leave us<br />
By Lindsey Light Kuniansky<br />
On November 11, my dad, Billy<br />
Light, and I spoke about his book,<br />
Grandmas Never Leave Us, at the Book<br />
Festival of the MJCCA.<br />
We spoke of how it came about, how<br />
we designed it, how it became self-published.<br />
My dad wrote this book over 20<br />
years ago, when I was only seven years<br />
old. I’m 30 years old and happily married<br />
now. I remember my grandmothers<br />
being very sick at the same time and in<br />
different hospitals. My brother, Andrew,<br />
who was four at the time, and I would<br />
draw pictures and get-well cards for our<br />
grandmothers to be posted on their hospital<br />
room walls, because our dad told us<br />
how happy it made them, and we wanted<br />
them to know they were always on our<br />
minds. Sometimes, we would sing on a<br />
cassette tape that my parents could play<br />
for them on their daily visits. It was such<br />
a sad time, but I remember thinking we<br />
were helping our grandmothers feel better.<br />
Surely, they were the most popular<br />
grandmas in the whole hospital!<br />
Having grown up without our grandmas,<br />
my brother and I always talk about<br />
how we missed out on the experiences<br />
our friends had. I still remember when<br />
my dad had me draw pictures for his<br />
story, because at the time I wanted to be<br />
an artist. It was fun to draw the pictures<br />
and remember all the good times, but it<br />
was also a learning experience. During<br />
the process, we asked all kinds of questions<br />
about my grandmothers and what<br />
was happening to them. My dad tried his<br />
best to explain to us why they were sick,<br />
as only a parent can do, to his still-developing<br />
children. <strong>The</strong>n my grandmothers<br />
died.<br />
My dad’s story had been hiding in a<br />
drawer for over 20 years. My husband,<br />
Michael, and I put it into book form for<br />
my dad’s birthday, and to see my dad’s<br />
tears of happiness when he read it was so<br />
amazing. We were able to bring the story<br />
back to life. If only we could do the same<br />
for my grandmas!<br />
Today, I see with grateful eyes my<br />
dad’s commitment to Andrew and me as<br />
children and now as happily married,<br />
young adults—me with my husband,<br />
Michael, and Andrew with his wonderful<br />
wife, Molly. We are exceptionally lucky<br />
to have such great parents and friends in<br />
our mom, Lynn, and our dad. Our parents<br />
are our friends and biggest role models.<br />
My dad and I hope that by sharing<br />
our story with adults and children alike,<br />
we can help others get through what we<br />
know is a very tough time. Experiencing<br />
loss is never easy, but what my dad did<br />
over 20 years ago definitely helped us,<br />
and we will always have a beautiful<br />
reminder of our beloved grandmas.<br />
ISJL Education Fellow Lauren<br />
Fredman (back right) gets ready to<br />
read Sammy Spiderʼs First Trip to<br />
Israel by Sylvia A. Rouss, during the<br />
Pre-K-2nd grade Israel program. (All<br />
photos: Elliot Price)<br />
next class of education fellows, to begin<br />
June <strong>2012</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Forward described the<br />
fellowship as “a mobile <strong>Jewish</strong> Teach<br />
for America.” Visit www.isjl.org for<br />
more information, or contact ISJL<br />
Director of Education Rachel Stern, at<br />
rstern@isjl.org. In addition to the<br />
Augusta congregations, other Georgia<br />
congregations participating as ISJL<br />
Education Partners are in Rome, Macon,<br />
Fayetteville, Columbus, Brunswick,<br />
andAtlanta.<br />
Billy Light and<br />
Lindsey Light Kuniansky<br />
Lauren Fredman (left), teachers,<br />
madrichim, and 3rd-7th-grade students<br />
with an Israel Candy<br />
Topography map, completed during<br />
the Sunday Israel program<br />
Students do a team building activity<br />
during the <strong>Jewish</strong> Values Maccabi<br />
Games, March 2011<br />
And it reminds me, too, of how special<br />
my dad, Billy Light, is to me, to our<br />
family, and to our friends.<br />
Please visit our Facebook page at<br />
Grandmas Never Leave Us, and visit our<br />
website, www.GrandmasNeverLeaveUs.<br />
com.<br />
Check us out on YouTube, too—type<br />
in “Billy & Lindsey 11/11/11,” and you<br />
can watch several brief video excerpts;<br />
amazingly, we have had over 1,100 total<br />
views so far.<br />
Thank you, MJCCA Book Festival<br />
friends, for allowing us to share our<br />
story.<br />
I am very proud of you, Dad.<br />
We did good!
Page 26 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Schwartz on Sports<br />
Whenever there isn’t a pick-up game<br />
Sunday morning at the MJCCA, I head to<br />
the Brill Fitness Center and spend time on<br />
the stationary bike. I’m not crazy about<br />
exercising this way. You pedal like crazy for<br />
40 minutes, go nowhere, and burn about<br />
300 calories, which will be put back on with<br />
one bagel at brunch. <strong>The</strong> only TV tuned to<br />
ESPN is down at the other end, and I end up<br />
watching a cooking show. I spend most of<br />
the time observing what’s going on and<br />
thinking about a future humorous feature<br />
called ”Observations from the Stationary<br />
Bike.” You’ll have to wait for that.<br />
After a recent bike session, I showered<br />
and then stopped by the Blank gym to<br />
watch some of the 30+ cross court league<br />
games. I saw a lot of guys I’ve played with<br />
previously in the league, as well as pick-up<br />
on Saturday and Sunday mornings.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first person I saw when I entered<br />
the gym was Eric Felner. I asked him about<br />
his dad, Joel, who was one of the premier<br />
players at the JCC in the ‘60s and ‘70s.<br />
Frank Hughes looks strong out there and<br />
was playing back-to-back games. He was a<br />
great teammate the times we played together.<br />
Adam Appel came over from the 18+<br />
league and can still shoot the 3. His number<br />
one fan, father Sam, was there cheering<br />
Adam on.<br />
D.J. Edelson was back playing after<br />
taking a year off. He told me that he’s now<br />
become a second-round pick. That’s hard to<br />
believe, because he was the number one<br />
guard in the league for years and certainly<br />
one of the hardest players to defend. I<br />
watched him drive by me on many occasions.<br />
I’d still choose him in the first round.<br />
<strong>The</strong> caliber of the play was amazing to<br />
me. <strong>The</strong> teams I watched had not one or two<br />
excellent players but four or five. That<br />
probably has been the biggest change I’ve<br />
seen over the years. It certainly made me<br />
Jerry<br />
Schwartz<br />
think about coming back and trying one<br />
more year.<br />
JEWISH GEORGIAN MAN LAWS.<br />
Although I don’t drink beer, I enjoy the<br />
Miller Lite beer commercials where they<br />
talk about “Man Laws,” the American<br />
man’s idea of what it means to be macho.<br />
Burt Reynolds is my favorite man of the<br />
Square Table. He was great as a vice detective<br />
in the movie Sharky’s Machine. That<br />
scene where the villain goes crashing backward<br />
through a window at the Westin<br />
Peachtree Plaza and falls 700 feet to his<br />
death was some stunt. I do wish, though,<br />
that Burt wouldn’t have lost his two fingers<br />
in that torture scene, but I digress. <strong>The</strong> commercials<br />
are humorous and I thought it<br />
would be fun to develop some “Man Laws”<br />
for the <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong> sports scene.<br />
Somehow, “macho” and “<strong>Jewish</strong><br />
<strong>Georgian</strong> athlete” don’t fit. It’s more like an<br />
oxymoron. Most of the guys I know and<br />
have played with are great competitors and<br />
play hard, but you don’t see tables being<br />
overturned, punches being thrown, or a lot<br />
of trash talking going on. When the game’s<br />
over, guys shake hands and head home. And<br />
by the time they get there, the game is<br />
already history.<br />
So, please accept these “Man Laws”<br />
for the <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong> athlete in the<br />
humorous and good-natured context in<br />
which are they are intended:<br />
• When exercising in the Brill Fitness<br />
Center, all free weights are off limits. You<br />
Mama’s wedding dress<br />
BY<br />
Balfoura Friend<br />
Levine<br />
Back in 1949, the Communists had<br />
overtaken most of China, including<br />
Shanghai, where I was born and raised. I<br />
had already come to the United States on a<br />
student visa to study at the University of<br />
Georgia, through the sponsorship of my<br />
Uncle Louis Friend, of Eastman, Georgia.<br />
By that time, most of the foreigners<br />
(non-Chinese) had emigrated from China to<br />
the United States, the United Kingdom, and<br />
Australia, and many Jews went to the newly<br />
minted State of Israel.<br />
My father, Jacob Friend, originally<br />
BY<br />
from Poland/Russia and escaping from the<br />
repressive tsarist regime to China in 1913,<br />
went to Manila from Shanghai on business<br />
just before World War II and got stuck there<br />
for the war’s duration. My mother, Frieda<br />
Friend, also from Russia and called a<br />
Stateless Russian (as most of the Jews were<br />
called), was given the choice of going to<br />
Russia—returning to the Motherland, said<br />
the Communist U.S.S.R.—or making<br />
aliyah (Hebrew for “moving up”) to Israel.<br />
Having a cousin in Haifa, Mama picked<br />
Israel.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Communists in China allowed her<br />
only one piece of luggage for this trip, so<br />
among other precious items, she packed my<br />
kindergarten report cards, my 1st-grade<br />
school uniform (with bloomers!), and <strong>The</strong><br />
Concise Oxford Dictionary, which was the<br />
General Knowledge prize awarded to me in<br />
1937, when I was 12 years old. I’m sure she<br />
must use the machines, and no grunting<br />
allowed.<br />
• Don’t ever be caught in high impact, kickboxing,<br />
or that Israeli martial arts class.<br />
• When two guys are in the gym alone, you<br />
never play one-on-one. A game of H-O-R-<br />
S-E is more your speed.<br />
• No disagreements ever go beyond arguing.<br />
Just too many lawyers in the gym.<br />
• Tennis is seldom played once the temperature<br />
drops below 70 degrees, and, if it<br />
does, gloves and heavy clothing are mandatory<br />
• Your favorite radio and TV personalities<br />
are Steak Shapiro, Matt Chernoff, and Zach<br />
Klein.<br />
• Never dive for a racquetball shot. If you<br />
can’t get it standing, then the other guy<br />
deserves the point.<br />
• Never slide in a softball game. If you can’t<br />
go into second standing, then don’t try and<br />
take the extra base.<br />
• No basketball player takes the time to<br />
stretch before the game, and you better not<br />
be caught jumping a rope. You show up one<br />
minute before the game starts.<br />
• Nobody believes in a hard foul. Guys are<br />
helped up from the floor. Patting a guy on<br />
the back or saying “nice shot” is common<br />
practice.<br />
• Nobody uses the Jacuzzi, unless your back<br />
hurts or you like bathing with strangers.<br />
I could go on and on, but we’re running out<br />
of beer.<br />
GIVENS. “Givens” is a term my friend<br />
Richard Bracker coined. “Givens” are<br />
things that are bound to happen if you’re<br />
involved in sports or physical activity. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
don’t seem logical or rational, but they<br />
occur anyway. It doesn’t matter whether<br />
you understand why or not. So here are<br />
some “Givens” for the <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong><br />
sports scene:<br />
• When you take a time out during a basketball<br />
game and remind everyone not to foul,<br />
the first thing that happens when you go<br />
Wedding photo of Mr. and Mrs.<br />
Jacob L. Friend, July 29, 1923, with<br />
the four-inch lace hem of her wedding<br />
dress<br />
wanted to bring her wedding dress for me<br />
as well, but due to limited luggage space,<br />
Mama cut off its four-inch lace hem and<br />
stashed it in her little sack of embroidered<br />
back on the court is a guy on your team<br />
fouls somebody.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> one time you forget to sign up for the<br />
only racquetball court at the JCC, it will be<br />
reserved for the next two hours.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> guys who look the best and have the<br />
best equipment aren’t the best.<br />
• When you remind your softball pitcher to<br />
throw strikes, he’ll walk the next three batters.<br />
• When you get up extra early and rush to<br />
the MJCCA Saturday morning for the first<br />
basketball game, you’ll be the next player<br />
for the second game.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> bar or bat mitzvah Sunday brunch will<br />
always occur on the day of the championship<br />
game.<br />
• If there’s a wet spot anywhere on the racquetball<br />
court, you’ll slip on it.<br />
• You never start the game at the basket<br />
where you’ve warmed up or with the same<br />
basketball.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> only shower available in the locker<br />
room will be out of hot water and soap.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> guy the other team picks up as a<br />
replacement will play the game of his life.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> day you leave your ace bandage at<br />
home will be the day you sprain your ankle.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> weakest player on your team won’t<br />
miss a game all year.<br />
If you have any “Givens” or “Man<br />
Laws” of your own, send them to me at<br />
drjsch7@comcast.net, and I’ll include them<br />
in a future column.<br />
IN REMEMBRANCE. Henry Levi died in<br />
October 2011. I had known him since 1978,<br />
when he played basketball in the JCC and<br />
synagogue leagues. He was a great competitor<br />
on the court and nice guy off the<br />
court. <strong>The</strong> last time I saw Henry was in the<br />
40+ 4X4 half court league, and, in spite of<br />
being ill, he was still playing a game he<br />
loved, basketball. He’ll be missed.<br />
Until next time, drive for the bucket<br />
and score.<br />
handkerchiefs. (That was long before the<br />
era of facial tissues.)<br />
Now forward to 1956, when I was<br />
already married, with two youngsters, and<br />
finally the proud holder of American citizenship.<br />
Now, as an American, I could<br />
sponsor my mother’s emigration from<br />
Israel to America—and to me in Georgia.<br />
Years later, after her death, I came across<br />
the little sack of hankies and that now-yellowed<br />
lace hem.<br />
Just a few years ago, for Mother’s Day,<br />
my daughter Sandy surprised me with a<br />
beautiful gift. She had taken that lace hem,<br />
as well as my parents’ wedding photo, and<br />
had them exquisitely framed for posterity.<br />
Included in the frame is a card that reads<br />
“<strong>The</strong> marriage of Miss Frieda H. Kovarsky<br />
to Mr. Jacob L. Friend took place at Harbin<br />
on Sunday, July 29th 1923 (16th Ab 5683)<br />
Harbin, China. “<br />
Mama’s wedding dress lives with me<br />
every time I look at that lovely picture of<br />
my parents taken so long, long ago.<br />
God Bless America.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 27
Page 28 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 29<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong><br />
THE<br />
<strong>Georgian</strong><br />
Fidelity Bank partners with JNF as collection point for Blue Boxes<br />
By Mordecai Zalman<br />
In many of the homes and communities<br />
in which we grew<br />
up, that little <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
National Fund (JNF)<br />
Blue Box, or pushke as it<br />
was referred to with its<br />
Yiddish descriptive<br />
name, was ubiquitous.<br />
From 1901 with the<br />
founding of Karene<br />
Kayemeth LeIsrael<br />
(KKL), which, in this<br />
country, goes under the<br />
JNF banner, up until the<br />
1948 founding of the State<br />
of Israel, the Blue Box was<br />
a symbol of our dream and a<br />
vehicle to financially help in<br />
acquiring land and making<br />
improvements for the future.<br />
From 1948 forward its purpose<br />
changed from a way to<br />
support a dream to a method<br />
of taking part in making that<br />
dream a reality.<br />
According to the KKL website,<br />
“Shortly after the founding of the<br />
organization, Haim Kleinman, a bank clerk<br />
from Nadvorna, Galicia, placed a box in<br />
his office and sent off a letter to Die Welt,<br />
By Ron Feinberg<br />
<strong>The</strong> world was exploding around<br />
George Stern when his father picked him up<br />
and carried him down to the basement of<br />
their apartment complex. He was a child,<br />
only three years old, and the German war<br />
machine was on the march.<br />
It was 1940. <strong>The</strong> Nazis were rolling<br />
into Belgium, bombing Brussels, where he<br />
and his family lived, chewing up the countryside<br />
and destroying anyone and anything<br />
that stood in the path of the Third Reich and<br />
its efforts to take control of Europe.<br />
“I remember the noise, the explosions<br />
and my father picking me up,” Stern says.<br />
He also remembers what happened a few<br />
hours later, still early in the morning, when<br />
he heard someone knocking at the door.<br />
“It was the milkman,” Stern says, a<br />
note of amazement still echoing in his voice<br />
when he recently recalled his very up-close<br />
the Zionist newspaper in Vienna,” in<br />
which he notified the paper as follows:<br />
“In keeping<br />
with the saying,<br />
‘bit and bitty fill<br />
the kitty’ and following<br />
the<br />
Congress resolution<br />
on KKL’s<br />
founding, I put<br />
together an<br />
‘Erez Israel<br />
box’, stuck the<br />
w o r d s<br />
‘National<br />
Fund’ on it and<br />
placed it in a<br />
prominent<br />
spot in my<br />
office. <strong>The</strong><br />
results, given<br />
the extent of<br />
the experiment<br />
so far,<br />
have been<br />
astonishing.<br />
I suggest that likeminded<br />
people, and particularly all<br />
Zionist officials, collect contributions<br />
to KKL in this way.”<br />
A recurring challenge that has faced<br />
JNF is how to make it convenient for its<br />
<strong>The</strong> pushke lives<br />
George Stern<br />
and personal introduction to World War II.<br />
Years later he asked his parents why the<br />
worker was willing to risk his life to deliver<br />
milk.<br />
“He was making a statement,” his<br />
mother told him, that even in war “life goes<br />
supporters to deliver the change that is collected<br />
in these Blue Boxes to the offices of<br />
the organization. Now, the JNF Atlanta<br />
office has found an exciting and innovative<br />
new way to collect these coins. Under the<br />
enthusiastic leadership of board member<br />
Bruce Reisman, a unique arrangement has<br />
been made with Atlanta’s Fidelity Bank,<br />
Member FDIC, to serve as a deposit destination<br />
to have these monies placed in<br />
JNF’s checking account.<br />
H. Palmer Procter, Jr., Fidelity Bank<br />
president, and Bruce Reisman, JNF<br />
board member<br />
As an accommodation and one of its<br />
services to the general public, Fidelity<br />
Bank offers coin-counting machines in<br />
See BLUE BOXES, page 31<br />
Holocaust survivor’s story filled with drama, hope<br />
on.”<br />
Stern will be sharing his life’s story at<br />
this year’s Yom HaShoah Service of<br />
Remembrance, April 22 at Greenwood<br />
Cemetery – the early years in Belgium with<br />
his family, the rise of Hitler and the Nazis,<br />
the family’s detention as “enemy aliens” at<br />
a camp in France, and their harrowing journey<br />
through Spain and Portugal, then on to<br />
Cuba and Freedom in the United States.<br />
It’s a story laced with danger, fear and<br />
joy, rescue and survival. A tale that will also<br />
include the difficult and dangerous work of<br />
righteous gentiles and other heroes of the<br />
Holocaust.<br />
It’s been nearly seven decades since<br />
the monstrous work of the Nazis was fully<br />
revealed to the World. Today, the bleak<br />
days of World War II are a fading memory<br />
See SURVIVOR, page 31<br />
A new director, a<br />
continued direction<br />
By: Marvin Botnick<br />
Gail Luxenberg<br />
To be a good cook, turn out memorable<br />
creations, and produce a meaningful<br />
experience, a person needs the correct<br />
ingredients of the finest quality. <strong>The</strong> end<br />
result is the culmination of the efforts of<br />
many different groups and conditions<br />
that meld together, in concert and independently,<br />
to fashion the product.<br />
So it is with building a community.<br />
For many reasons – historical origins<br />
of the <strong>Jewish</strong> people as a nation, forced<br />
separation from the greater non-<strong>Jewish</strong><br />
population requiring mutual support, religious<br />
imperatives requiring communal<br />
structure, etc. – there has been and is an<br />
understanding of the need for mutuality<br />
of efforts in certain areas of support,<br />
help, and services. <strong>The</strong>re is, in fact, an<br />
understanding of the need and benefit in<br />
having certain unique organizations meet<br />
particular needs for the total.<br />
One such institution is the Marcus<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Community Center of Atlanta.<br />
From its beginning in 1904 as the<br />
Young Men’s Hebrew Association, when<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> population of Atlanta was<br />
about 2,000, the organization has grown<br />
and changed to meet the demands of an<br />
estimated <strong>Jewish</strong> population in 2006 of<br />
120,000 in Metropolitan Atlanta. In addition,<br />
many of its non-<strong>Jewish</strong>-based services<br />
have gained such an outstanding reputation<br />
that these are sought out and used<br />
by a large number of the general popula-<br />
See DIRECTOR, page 31
Page 30 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 31<br />
Blue Boxes<br />
From page 29<br />
each of its offices that will receive and tally<br />
aggregated, miscellaneous U.S. coins at no<br />
charge. At the end of each sort, the customer<br />
is supplied with a printed receipt<br />
showing the total dollar value, which the<br />
individual can either deposit to his or her<br />
checking account or redeem for paper<br />
money and the few coins that will equal the<br />
count on the receipt.<br />
It is this service that Fidelity Bank has<br />
now modified for JNF supporters. Now, a<br />
JNF supporter can come into the bank with<br />
Survivor<br />
From page 29<br />
for many, but the <strong>Jewish</strong> community<br />
continues to recall and honor the six million<br />
Jews lost in the Holocaust. One special<br />
day, Yom HaShoah, has been set<br />
aside to honor the dead, the survivors,<br />
the martyrs, and heroes.<br />
In Atlanta, the annual event, sponsored<br />
by Eternal-Life Hemshech, the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Greater Atlanta<br />
and the William Breman <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Heritage and Holocaust Museum, is centered<br />
around the Memorial to the Six<br />
Million at Greenwood Cemetery in<br />
southwest Atlanta. <strong>The</strong> permanent monument<br />
was first envisioned shortly after<br />
the war by Atlanta’s small community of<br />
Holocaust survivors. Now the memorial,<br />
a euphonic blend of chiseled stone and<br />
soaring torches, is listed in the National<br />
Register of Historic Places.<br />
At first blush, Stern seems an<br />
unlikely candidate to be speaking of the<br />
Holocaust. His accent – a gentle, southern<br />
drawl – links him to his hometown<br />
of Nashville, TN, not to the cobblestone<br />
streets and old-world charm of Brussels.<br />
But his early life was filled with strong<br />
connections to Judaism – religious traditions<br />
and ancient rituals, Zionist youth<br />
clubs, and <strong>Jewish</strong> camps in the summer.<br />
<strong>The</strong> activities continued to inform<br />
his world as an adult, his work with<br />
Camp Judea landing him in Atlanta in<br />
the early 1960s. Even after establishing<br />
a law practice – he’s the founding partner<br />
of Stern & Edlin – Stern remained<br />
active in the local <strong>Jewish</strong> community.<br />
His work with Young Judea connected<br />
him with Hadassah and the<br />
Zionist Organization of America. He<br />
became deeply involved with the Atlanta<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Community Center (now the<br />
Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong> Community Center of<br />
Atlanta), eventually becoming president.<br />
He helped establish Temple Sinai, a<br />
reform synagogue in Sandy Springs and<br />
is a high-profile member and leader at<br />
the Breman Holocaust Museum.<br />
“George is one of our most active<br />
and beloved volunteers,” says Liliane<br />
Baxter, director of the Lillian & A.J.<br />
a Blue Box, dump its contents into the<br />
machine for counting purposes, take the<br />
receipt and show the Blue Box to a teller,<br />
and that teller will credit the money to<br />
JNF’s account. <strong>The</strong> donor will then be furnished<br />
a bank deposit receipt that is to be<br />
sent to JNF’s office with the name and<br />
address of the donor, and JNF will<br />
acknowledge the donation for the person’s<br />
tax records. <strong>The</strong> donor will retain possession<br />
of the box, and no information concerning<br />
JNF’s bank account, including the<br />
account number and the balance, will be<br />
made known by the bank to the donor.<br />
Save the date<br />
If you’d like to remember the victims<br />
of the Holocaust, honor the survivors,<br />
pray for the martyrs and salute<br />
the heroes, then plan on attending<br />
Atlanta’s annual Yom HaShoah observance<br />
on Sunday, April 22, <strong>2012</strong> at<br />
Greenwood Cemetery. For additional<br />
information, contact Dr. Lili Baxter at<br />
404-870-1872 or LBaxter@thebreman.org<br />
Weinberg Center for Holocaust<br />
Education at <strong>The</strong> Breman. “Not only is<br />
he one of our most popular Holocaust<br />
survivor speakers, but he also sits on our<br />
board and has served as co-chair of our<br />
Survivor Legacy Committee.”<br />
Stern says most everyone – friends<br />
and family – knows of his links to the<br />
Holocaust. “All my friends knew that I<br />
was in Brussels at the start of World War<br />
II and that I had been in a detention<br />
camp,” he says. But it wasn’t until he<br />
heard someone discussing the camp,<br />
Gurs, and he shared his story with a<br />
Breman staffer that he began to think of<br />
himself as a “survivor”.<br />
Now he’s an active member of the<br />
museum’s Speakers Bureau, sharing his<br />
story with visitors to <strong>The</strong> Breman and<br />
students from across the region.<br />
“Students love his directness and<br />
humor,” Baxter says, “and are moved by<br />
his ability to relate to their own lives and<br />
experiences.”<br />
Why does this matter?<br />
“I think it’s important that as Jews<br />
we remember our past … particularly<br />
the remembrance of the Holocaust,”<br />
Stern says. “I have a goal, a wish that the<br />
entire <strong>Jewish</strong> community unites in our<br />
ongoing efforts to remember the<br />
Holocaust … to never forget.”<br />
Ron Feinberg is a veteran journalist<br />
who has worked for daily newspapers<br />
across the southeastern United States.<br />
He now specializes on topics of <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
interest and can be reached at ronfeinberg@bellsouth.net<br />
Director<br />
From page 29<br />
tion looking for the best.<br />
Naturally, this did not all just happen.<br />
As with most developments, ultimate<br />
credit lies with a historically forward-looking,<br />
active, and thoughtful<br />
lay leadership, which was able to conceive<br />
the vision and hire the professional<br />
staff to create the environment and<br />
model that delivered the results.<br />
As of December 1, the leadership,<br />
after a nearly 18-month search, has<br />
selected a new executive director and<br />
chief executive officer to be at the helm.<br />
If the script for the announcement had<br />
been written for a presentation at the<br />
MJCCA’s Morris and Ray Frank<br />
<strong>The</strong>atre, it would read: “Enter stage<br />
right Gail Luxenberg, new executive<br />
director and CEO.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Center is one of the major<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> communal organization in<br />
Atlanta, and it requires a person who<br />
understands and can lead the organization<br />
in its totality: programming;<br />
staffing; facilities; fund raising,<br />
spokesperson for the organization;<br />
developing a harmonious relationship<br />
with sister institutions, both within the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> community and the larger population;<br />
a respect for the services being<br />
provided; and a warmth that is projected<br />
to the membership. Having had a<br />
chance to visit with Luxenburg, it was<br />
clear to see why the search committee<br />
decided that she fulfilled the requirements<br />
that qualified her for the job.<br />
From an educational standpoint,<br />
she holds a bachelor of arts in Middle<br />
Eastern studies from the University of<br />
Chicago and an MBA in marketing and<br />
organizational behavior from the same<br />
institution. After beginning her working<br />
career with the American Medical<br />
Association, she moved into the <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
communal world as head of the<br />
Midwest Division of the American<br />
Friends of Hebrew University, and from<br />
there she went as executive director of<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> Vocational Service in<br />
Chicago, Illinois.<br />
That is the paper vita. What cannot<br />
be shown in this is the smile that projects<br />
her feeling of the “warmth that she<br />
felt in the <strong>Jewish</strong> world,” which to her<br />
encompassed the religious and communal<br />
aspects.<br />
While she is a native of New York,<br />
her coming to Atlanta puts her in the<br />
same city as her parents and one of her<br />
sisters, who moved to Atlanta after she<br />
left New York to go to college. With her<br />
move to Atlanta, she now has her biological<br />
family and her communal family<br />
all in one place.<br />
Luxenberg said that she was excited<br />
about the opportunity to continue creating<br />
“a great <strong>Jewish</strong> communal experience”<br />
with meaningful programming.<br />
She continued with the fact that the<br />
MJCCA is “considered one of the best<br />
JCCs with a full range of activities and<br />
an outstanding staff,” and that the<br />
finances are now operating in the black<br />
is an enviable scenario. She said that<br />
“people come to the Center for pleasure,”<br />
and this is the atmosphere that she<br />
is committed to continuing. She hopes<br />
to continue the growth without necessarily<br />
growing facilities.<br />
As the Center moves into a new<br />
leadership mode, we need to remember<br />
how fortunate the community is to have<br />
the dedicated, qualified, and quality<br />
leadership that enabled the organization<br />
to spend the necessary time and effort to<br />
put in place a new executive director<br />
and CEO. Howie Hyman, who stepped<br />
up and temporarily took over the management,<br />
and the entire governance<br />
board are due a great big thanks from<br />
all of us. This was a daunting task, and<br />
they not only did not shirk the challenge<br />
but fulfilled the undertaking with laudable<br />
accomplishment.
Page 32 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Breman Museum news<br />
JANE LEAVEY RETIRES. Jane Leavey,<br />
executive director of <strong>The</strong> Breman <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Heritage and Holocaust Museum, retired<br />
December 31 after twenty-eight years as the<br />
voice of Atlanta’s <strong>Jewish</strong> history. As an<br />
employee of the Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation<br />
(now the <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Greater<br />
Atlanta), Leavey identified the need for an<br />
archives and history museum focused on<br />
the settlement and presence of Jews in<br />
Atlanta and set out to build an institution.<br />
Today, that museum is robust in financial<br />
support, with approximately 1,200 members.<br />
It presents dozens of programs and<br />
exhibitions, and it welcomes 30,000 visitors<br />
annually.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea for the museum grew out of<br />
the experience of participating in the creation<br />
of “Jews and <strong>Georgian</strong>s: A Meeting of<br />
Cultures 1733-1983,” an exhibition sponsored<br />
by Federation that was displayed at<br />
the Schatten Gallery at Emory University.<br />
Through the efforts of a volunteer acquisitions<br />
committee, comprising individuals<br />
with ties to Atlanta and many of the smaller<br />
cities and towns throughout the state,<br />
wonderful material evidence of <strong>Jewish</strong> life<br />
was discovered. Much of this material was<br />
not being preserved, because there was no<br />
existing archive or historical society; after<br />
the exhibition, everything had to be<br />
returned to the lenders.<br />
After the Federation Board gave Jane<br />
and a dedicated group of volunteers the goahead,<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> Community Archives<br />
was established in 1985. This was followed<br />
by a Holocaust resource center and exhibition<br />
with a statewide program of Holocaust<br />
education and school tours in 1986.<br />
Participation in an ongoing oral history<br />
project begun by the National Council of<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Women and the American <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Committee commenced in 1989.<br />
Throughout those years, exhibitions and<br />
public programs were presented in various<br />
venues around the city, including “Creating<br />
Community” at the Atlanta History Center.<br />
<strong>The</strong> museum continued to gain attention,<br />
and philanthropist William (Bill)<br />
Breman offered the lead gift to house the<br />
archives and budding museum in one facility.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Breman Museum, which officially<br />
opened to the public in 1996, includes a<br />
gallery dedicated to the story of the<br />
Holocaust, an exhibition on the Atlanta<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> community, and a venue for traveling<br />
exhibitions. Today, in addition to the<br />
galleries, the museum offers an extensive<br />
archives and research library.<br />
Jane created numerous Breman original<br />
exhibitions. Most prominent of these<br />
are “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice<br />
Sendak in His Own Words & Pictures,”<br />
“ZAP! POW! BAM! <strong>The</strong> Superhero: <strong>The</strong><br />
Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950,”<br />
“Seeking Justice: <strong>The</strong> Leo Frank Case<br />
Revisited,” and “Dr. Seuss Goes to<br />
War...and More!” <strong>The</strong>se special exhibitions<br />
continue to travel to other museums<br />
throughout the U.S. and even to Australia.<br />
“You can see her leadership, her vision<br />
and her creativity in each program and<br />
exhibition held at <strong>The</strong> Breman,” says current<br />
Board Co-<br />
President Joyce<br />
Shlesinger. “<strong>The</strong><br />
museum is where<br />
it is today, a center<br />
for Southern<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> history,<br />
Holocaust studies,<br />
and creative programming,<br />
as a<br />
direct result of<br />
Jane’s tireless<br />
efforts.”<br />
Jane Leavey Jane, thank you<br />
for your gift to<br />
Atlanta, and thank you for <strong>The</strong> Breman.<br />
Elinor Breman and Jane Leavey at<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bremanʼs opening gala, 1996<br />
BERGER APPOINTED. Aaron Berger has<br />
been appointed executive director of <strong>The</strong><br />
Breman, succeeding<br />
Jane Leavey.<br />
Aaron has been in<br />
nonprofit work for<br />
12 years. He is the<br />
founder and CEO<br />
of Turning Point<br />
(2009-present), a<br />
consulting firm<br />
that specializes in<br />
turn-around strategies<br />
for nonprofits.<br />
He works with<br />
Aaron Berger<br />
museums and cultural<br />
attractions on<br />
strategic planning,<br />
fundraising, board development, and operational<br />
sustainability.<br />
An Atlanta Business Chronicle “40<br />
under 40” awardee in 2006, Aaron has led<br />
the growth at two Georgia museums—the<br />
American Association of Museums-accredited<br />
Albany Museum of Art and the<br />
Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. As director<br />
of each of these institutions, he ran day-today<br />
operations, elevated programming, and<br />
made each more relevant to the communities,<br />
enhanced marketing and fundraising,<br />
and put goal-setting and structure in place.<br />
In 2005, the Albany Museum of Art was<br />
named Institution of the Year by the<br />
Georgia Association of Museums and<br />
Galleries for its innovative programming<br />
and community-focused initiatives.<br />
For fundraising firm Alexander Haas’<br />
museum practice (2006-09), Aaron advised<br />
museums on capital and annual fundraising<br />
campaigns.<br />
Aaron is attracted to <strong>The</strong> Breman’s<br />
high quality and to the opportunity to grow<br />
membership, participation, and fundraising.<br />
He looks forward to meeting with Breman<br />
Board members and community leaders,<br />
“to hear their dreams, and to work with<br />
them on defining <strong>The</strong> Breman’s future.”<br />
Aaron holds an MBA from South<br />
University, in Savannah, and a BA in art<br />
history from the College of Charleston.<br />
THE ART OF GAMAN. After the Japanese<br />
attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7,<br />
1941, the U.S. government collected<br />
120,000 Japanese men, women, and children<br />
living on the American West Coast and<br />
forcibly relocated them to internment<br />
camps in Colorado, Arizona, and Arkansas.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir crime was simply looking like the<br />
enemy.<br />
While in these bleak camps, the<br />
internees used scraps and found materials to<br />
make furniture and other objects to beautify<br />
their surroundings. From <strong>February</strong> 5-May<br />
31, the William Breman <strong>Jewish</strong> Heritage &<br />
Holocaust Museum will showcase such<br />
objects in its special exhibition “<strong>The</strong> Art of<br />
Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese<br />
American Internment Camps 1942–1946.”<br />
Gaman is a Japanese word meaning to<br />
bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity<br />
and patience. Arts and crafts became essential<br />
for simple creature comforts and emotional<br />
survival. More than one hundred<br />
objects will be displayed in their historical<br />
context through photos and videos from the<br />
era. It is a universally uplifting story for its<br />
celebration of the nobility of the human<br />
spirit in adversity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Breman will host a Chai Tea<br />
reception (chai means life in Hebrew), at<br />
2:00 p.m., Sunday, <strong>February</strong> 19 (the<br />
Japanese Day of Remembrance), marking<br />
the 70th anniversary of President Franklin<br />
D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order<br />
9066, which directed Japanese Americans<br />
to report to internment camps. <strong>The</strong><br />
Honorable Takuji Hanatani, consul general<br />
of Japan, will open the event. Delphine<br />
Hirasuna, author of <strong>The</strong> Art of Gaman, the<br />
book upon which the exhibition is based,<br />
will be a featured guest, along with leaders<br />
from the Atlanta Japanese community, arts<br />
circles, and local officials. Event chairs are<br />
Spring and Tom Asher, Joanne and Eddie<br />
Birnbrey, Lois Blonder, Laura and Marshall<br />
Dinerman, Carol and Bob Nemo, Judy and<br />
Arnie Rubenstein, Lisa and Michael<br />
Shapiro, Joyce and Sonny Shlesinger,<br />
Margie and George Stern, and Judith and<br />
Mark Taylor.<br />
Could internment camps happen<br />
today? It is all too easy in times of crisis and<br />
war to look for a scapegoat, as <strong>Jewish</strong> history<br />
can attest. In mounting the “Art of<br />
Gaman,” <strong>The</strong> Breman is exploring universal<br />
themes of human dignity and respect for<br />
difference, as well as educating a new generation<br />
of Americans about the costs<br />
incurred when rights are violated.<br />
Visit thebreman.org for more information<br />
and to order tickets to Chai Tea.<br />
Bas-relief carving of camp in Heart<br />
Mountain, Wyoming. Artist unknown.<br />
Wood plank and paint, 25” x 11.25” x<br />
1.75”, private collection; from<br />
Japanese American Museum of San<br />
Jose (All photos by Terry Heffernan;<br />
from <strong>The</strong> Art of Gaman by Delphine<br />
Hirasuna, 2005, Ten Speed Press)<br />
Slate teapot carved by Homei<br />
Iseyama in camp at Topaz, Utah;<br />
courtesy Carolyn Holden<br />
Wooden bird pin carved by Sadao<br />
Oka at camp in Poston, Arizona;<br />
courtesy Sadao Oka Family<br />
NEIMAN MARCUS SAYS THANKS TO<br />
VOLUNTEERS. On December 7, Neiman<br />
Marcus invited Breman Museum volunteers<br />
to a special day of shopping in appreciation<br />
of the museum’s good work in the community.<br />
<strong>The</strong> special relationship was forged in<br />
2010 when Neiman’s began hosting <strong>The</strong><br />
Breman’s Seder with Flowers program,<br />
which is held before Passover.<br />
Jodie Goldstein and Joanne<br />
Birnbrey<br />
See BREMAN, page 33
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 33<br />
Yad LaKashish - Lifeline for the Old<br />
By Lynne Hoffman Keating and Tom Keating<br />
Tour buses abound in Jerusalem. Private<br />
companies pick up pilgrims, tour groups, and<br />
missions at well-recognized hotels. Egged’s<br />
bus #99 transports visitors interested in a hopon,<br />
hop-off overview of<br />
the city’s high spots.<br />
Tourists listen to certified<br />
guides tell about historic<br />
events and sites.<br />
To celebrate our 41st<br />
wedding anniversary, we<br />
designed our own 18night<br />
visit to Israel this<br />
past fall and made it a<br />
point to include 14<br />
Shivtei Israel Street,<br />
which is located in the<br />
Musrara district behind<br />
Jerusalem’s municipal<br />
center. Fifty years ago,<br />
this was a rundown<br />
neighborhood on the<br />
Jordanian border in which were found increasing<br />
numbers of poor and elderly beggars, as<br />
well as homeless street seniors. Having our<br />
health, and knowing the secure feeling of having<br />
employment and family back home, it is<br />
difficult to imagine what it must have been like<br />
then to be ageing seniors in a new country<br />
without income, a new language, and no family<br />
except perhaps a spouse.<br />
But that was before Myriam Mendilow, a<br />
mother and teacher, stepped forward and<br />
founded “Yad La Kashish, Lifeline for the<br />
Old,” a unique craft center for this population<br />
and our destination that day. In a 1994 biography<br />
about Mendilow by Barry and Phyllis<br />
Cytron, which had as a subtitle, Do Not<br />
Forsake Me When I Grow Old, it was pointed<br />
out that she intended to provide an environment<br />
and opportunity filled with dignity for the<br />
less fortunate, the poor, and the elderly.<br />
When we arrived at the address, our knock<br />
on its door brought Chava Brown, Community<br />
Relations at Yad LaKashish, to meet us, and,<br />
after a brief background introduction, we<br />
teamed up with Judy and Allan Shriber, who<br />
were also visiting from the States, and our volunteer<br />
guide, Vardit Schwartz. From then on,<br />
our tour switched from historical references to<br />
walking, watching, and witnessing tzedakah in<br />
action.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Lifeline for the Old program began<br />
Breman<br />
From page 32<br />
Spring Asher, Jane Leavey, and<br />
Julie Rotenstreich<br />
with one workshop focused on bookbinding. It<br />
has grown into a series of rooms, settings, and<br />
workshops, where a working cadre of senior<br />
immigrants, artistic teachers, and often attendant-helpers<br />
make authentic crafts. As we<br />
watched immigrants from the former Soviet<br />
Lifeline Artisans<br />
Union and Ethiopia perform detailed, intricate<br />
tasks with their fingers, our hearts kvelled like<br />
parents. No matter how limited our Hebrew<br />
vocabulary was, respect and pride could be<br />
transmitted. <strong>The</strong>ir hands and our eyes communicated.<br />
<strong>The</strong> demeanor of their bodies and faces<br />
demonstrated the dedication to their work.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se were not people idly passing time. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
painted with intensity, cut with purpose, and<br />
hammered with gumption. <strong>The</strong>y obviously<br />
enjoyed visitors, and our passionate activity<br />
with a Canon camera prompted discussion at<br />
one station. Through a combination of charades<br />
and a translating attendant, the artist<br />
shared his past as a photojournalist.<br />
Our touring companions, Judy and Allan,<br />
were as rapt and complementary about the<br />
handiwork as we were. Later, we learned that<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> geography connected us with only three<br />
degrees of separation, as they knew family<br />
members of some of our temple rabbis. We<br />
even continued our mutual admiration of Yad<br />
LaKashish during Friday night Sabbath<br />
Services at Beit Oren.<br />
A brief tour even for 60-90 minutes invariably<br />
ends in the gift shop, shekels and credit<br />
cards in hand, representing one of the many<br />
strengths of Lifeline for the Old. We bought<br />
tchotchkes, placemats, scarves and note cards.<br />
We tried on tallit and yarmulkes. We purchased<br />
Spring Asher, Elaine Gruenhut, and<br />
Joyce Shlesinger<br />
remembrances and made a note to order more<br />
on line. We rejoiced in the works of their hands<br />
and felt uplifted at being a part of the program<br />
that provided for a place where immigrant elderly<br />
workers could earn money and a sense of<br />
achievement.<br />
Yad LaKashish makes it possible for up to<br />
300 participants to live with dignity in<br />
Jerusalem. A recent independent evaluation<br />
completed in March 2010 by DAS<br />
International Ltd. concluded that working in<br />
Yad LaKashish gives seniors an incentive to<br />
get up in the morning, a purpose, and an opportunity<br />
to function on an equal basis in a social<br />
setting.<br />
We have since learned there are direct and<br />
indirect connections to Atlanta: the historic<br />
experiences with the founder and Janice<br />
Rothschild Blumberg; Mendilow’s subsequent<br />
publication in the Atlanta media decades ago; a<br />
few workshops supported by Atlantans; <strong>The</strong><br />
Temple’s adult and family visitors in June<br />
2011; and the years of association of the<br />
Epstein School of Atlanta and Lifeline.<br />
For at least a decade, Myrna Rubel, principal<br />
of the Epstein Middle School, has<br />
exposed her students to the work of artisans at<br />
Lifeline so that teenagers could learn from the<br />
hands of the aged, and<br />
so that those elders<br />
could experience hope<br />
through sharing with a<br />
future generation. L’dor<br />
va-dor.<br />
As many have<br />
noted, by being with,<br />
learning from, and sharing<br />
alongside one another,<br />
old and young help<br />
each other reach across<br />
all boundaries of culture,<br />
language, and<br />
nationality.<br />
For 50 years Yad<br />
LaKashish has given<br />
seniors the greatest<br />
dimension of charity<br />
according to Maimonides in <strong>The</strong> Mishnah<br />
Torah, “<strong>The</strong> Laws of Gifts for the Poor.” <strong>The</strong>re<br />
is no greater dimension of Tzedakah than to<br />
strengthen the person’s hand so he needs no<br />
longer be dependent upon others.<br />
Daily, Yad LaKashish gives this gift. For<br />
more information visit lifeline.org.il.<br />
Lynne Keating, writer, and Tom Keating,<br />
educator, are members of <strong>The</strong> Temple.
Page 34 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
JF&CS NEWS<br />
RAINBOW CENTER HONORS OWEN<br />
HALPERN. Owen Halpern does not like attention.<br />
He is a private<br />
person who<br />
would rather provide<br />
help to others<br />
quietly.<br />
Halpern is not a<br />
religious man—<br />
at least not in a<br />
conventional<br />
way. Instead, says<br />
lifelong friend<br />
M a r n i n<br />
Steinberg, he “is<br />
Owen Halpern<br />
very spiritual,<br />
with a beautiful<br />
‘Yiddisha Neshama’—a <strong>Jewish</strong> soul. He has<br />
the ability to help others in a way that allows<br />
them to retain their personal dignity and move<br />
forward with their lives.”<br />
Halpern will be receiving a lot of attention<br />
on March 10, when <strong>The</strong> Rainbow Center and<br />
its parent organization, <strong>Jewish</strong> Family &<br />
Career Services, honor him with the <strong>2012</strong><br />
Rainmaker Award at Purim Off Ponce, the center’s<br />
annual fundraiser.<br />
Anyone who knows Halpern is aware of<br />
his longtime support of <strong>The</strong> Rainbow Center,<br />
which was founded to serve the needs of<br />
GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender,<br />
and questioning) individuals, their families,<br />
and professionals. For the past six years, he has<br />
generously supported the center with charitable<br />
gifts, by hosting numerous outreach events, and<br />
by volunteering to speak at its educational<br />
workshops.<br />
Halpern wants others to know the important<br />
service the center provides and the way it<br />
promotes a healing message of love, tolerance,<br />
and acceptance. “Owen’s endless dedication<br />
has been vital to <strong>The</strong> Rainbow Center’s operations<br />
and ensuring that everyone has a safe<br />
place to turn to,” says Rebecca Stapel-Wax, its<br />
director.<br />
“Being silent and not standing up and confronting<br />
prejudice is dangerous these days,”<br />
Halpern says. “<strong>The</strong>re is too much hatred in the<br />
world, and we have to be vigilant as Jews, certainly,<br />
and I must be, too, as a gay man. One of<br />
the best ways to combat all this is through education<br />
and knowledge.”<br />
In addition to being enormously loving<br />
and kind, say his friends, Halpern is a “renaissance<br />
man.” A former restaurant owner, he continues<br />
to build on his talent for cooking and<br />
entertaining. He has cultivated award-winning<br />
gardens and has traveled the world to bring fine<br />
designs to Atlanta. He is currently director of<br />
OH! Atlanta Tours, a perfect match for his<br />
facility with words, education, and making<br />
people feel valued.<br />
“Owen is very proud to carry on the legacy<br />
of service and giving back to the community<br />
established by his father, Bernard Halpern,”<br />
says Steinberg. “This generous spirit is shared<br />
by Owen’s siblings, nephews, nieces, and<br />
cousins.”<br />
Halpern became involved with <strong>The</strong><br />
Rainbow Center when Stapel-Wax reached out<br />
to him. Prior to that, he had been active in similar<br />
organizations, but when he learned more<br />
about the center and JF&CS, it seemed like a<br />
natural fit. Since then, he has served on the<br />
JF&CS Board of Directors and co-chaired both<br />
the Community of Caring event, which kicks<br />
off the Annual Campaign each year, and Tools<br />
for Leaders, which grooms people to become<br />
involved in leadership roles with the agency.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Rainbow Center is about going into<br />
the community and educating—teaching people<br />
about things like bullying, which is such a<br />
crucial subject now,” he says. “People’s fear of<br />
the different is quite alarming. One would hope<br />
as we evolve it would become less so, but it’s<br />
become more so. Now is the time for people in<br />
the GLBTQ community to gain as many rights<br />
as we can, because we just don’t know in which<br />
direction the country is going.”<br />
Purim Off Ponce takes place March 10, at<br />
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. For more information,<br />
including how to become an event<br />
host, visit www.therainbowcenter.org.<br />
WHY YOUR COMPANY NEEDS TO KNOW<br />
ABOUT JF&CS. Stress, anxiety, depression,<br />
and substance abuse can dramatically affect an<br />
individual’s ability to work productively and<br />
safely. Statistics show that, at any given time,<br />
more than 10 percent of employees are<br />
impaired by one or more of these challenges.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are issues <strong>Jewish</strong> Family & Career<br />
Services clinicians address daily with clients.<br />
JF&CS recently launched a “Corporate<br />
Engagement” initiative directed at human<br />
resource professionals to educate them on how<br />
JF&CS can provide support and assistance to<br />
their employees and enhance performance and<br />
productivity. Awkward disciplinary actions or<br />
coaching scenarios with an employee are part<br />
of the territory. JF&CS trained clinicians can<br />
provide an alternative method of addressing<br />
difficulties and improve the prospects of converting<br />
a troubled situation into a positive resolution.<br />
JF&CS’ counselors are represented on<br />
most insurance panels, and these services are<br />
covered by major insurance plans. For more<br />
information, contact Peggy Kelly at 770-677-<br />
9405 or pkelly@jfcs-atlanta.org.<br />
CALLING RECENT COLLEGE GRADU-<br />
ATES. “Congratulations! Today is your day.<br />
You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and<br />
away!”<br />
Dr. Seuss wrote that in 1990, and even<br />
then, finding a job wasn’t easy. But people<br />
starting their careers right now are discovering<br />
that it is a tough market. In fact, finding<br />
employment is more competitive than ever.<br />
With unemployment in Georgia above 10 percent<br />
and employers often preferring more<br />
experienced workers, those just coming out of<br />
college are stuck in a hard place.<br />
Finding the right job requires creative<br />
thinking—and some introspection. JF&CS’<br />
Career Services–Tools for Employment now<br />
offers college graduates resources and programs<br />
to help in the job search. GradWORKS<br />
comprises three career packages with various<br />
elements, from career assessments to job<br />
coaching to resume writing and interviewing<br />
skills. Graduates may also register in a job<br />
placement bank.<br />
For more information about getting started,<br />
call 770-677-9358, or e-mail grads@jfcsatlanta.org.<br />
DIVORCE SUPPORT SERVICES EXPAND-<br />
ED. In 2002, Georgia had one of the lowest<br />
divorce rates in the nation; only three states had<br />
lower rates. But today, Georgia is one of the top<br />
10 states in terms of divorce. Anyone going<br />
through a divorce knows it can be very painful,<br />
especially when there are children involved.<br />
JF&CS’ Child & Adolescent<br />
Services–Tools for Families division offers a<br />
variety of divorce support services. From individuals<br />
to families and from adults to children,<br />
JF&CS counselors provide help to families<br />
during a difficult time. Services include:<br />
• Pre-Divorce Counseling: For parents considering<br />
divorce or already starting the process,<br />
pre-divorce counseling can answers questions<br />
about the first steps to take, when and how to<br />
tell the children, and the best ways to separate.<br />
• Assistance with Parenting Issues: Research<br />
shows that children who see their parents arguing<br />
during and after a divorce are more likely to<br />
have behavioral problems. In disagreements on<br />
issues regarding children, an objective third<br />
party can help one parent learn to communicate<br />
with the other parent after trust has been broken<br />
and/or anger remains.<br />
• Collaborative Divorce: A growing trend<br />
nationwide, collaborative divorce focuses on<br />
helping couples make decisions without having<br />
to go to court. Teams of lawyers, financial advisors,<br />
therapists (or “coaches”), and child specialists<br />
can help a divorcing couple do what is<br />
best for the family. Tools for Families has<br />
counselors on staff who are trained in this<br />
approach.<br />
• Post-Divorce “Check Up” for Children: Tools<br />
for Families offers evaluation services to assess<br />
children’s strengths, needs, and overall mental<br />
health as they adjust to divorce.<br />
• Starting Over (a divorce support group for<br />
adults): This support group brings together men<br />
and women of various ages who are having<br />
trouble moving on after divorce. Starting Over<br />
meets twice a month to discuss a host of topics,<br />
from meeting new people and dating to remarriage<br />
to financial and legal issues.<br />
• Moving On (a support group for children of<br />
divorced couples): Parents aren’t the only ones<br />
who find family changes overwhelming. Few<br />
things can be as scary to a child as when his or<br />
her parents split up. Talking with other children<br />
who are going through it can be comforting, as<br />
well as a great way to make new friends.<br />
• Parenting After Divorce (a workshop for<br />
adults): Parenting can be a real challenge when<br />
the mom and dad don’t live together. This<br />
workshop focuses on effective communication<br />
with the other parent and what children need at<br />
different stages of development. In addition, it<br />
provides support and resources parents might<br />
need.<br />
For more details on these and other services,<br />
as well as information on cost, e-mail<br />
divorcesupport@jfcs-atlanta.org or call 770-<br />
677-9300.<br />
Bregman Conference<br />
promotes<br />
independence, goodwill<br />
By Marla Shainberg<br />
For the third year in a row, I bundle<br />
up and head out to the Selig Center on a<br />
winter Sunday morning. Why would I<br />
choose to leave my house on a cold<br />
weekend at such an early hour? Because<br />
I am guaranteed to have a magical experience<br />
in an incredibly warm and inviting<br />
atmosphere. I get to join hundreds of<br />
spirited and upbeat folks for fun, food,<br />
and fellowship at the Larry Bregman,<br />
M.D., Educational Conference, which is<br />
presented annually by <strong>Jewish</strong> Family &<br />
Career Services.<br />
Volunteer Marla Shainberg and<br />
Molly Levine-Hunt, Caregiver<br />
Support Services manager<br />
Volunteers dressed in orange Tshirts<br />
start arriving early to make sure<br />
that breakfast items are put out, signs are<br />
hung, the registration table is organized,<br />
and the bags full of goodies are ready for<br />
a very special group of people. As the<br />
mob of participants multiplies, the whole<br />
building comes to life with a vibe of high<br />
energy, enthusiasm, and inspiring human<br />
interactions.<br />
I am a volunteer who looks forward<br />
to seeing my buddy from last year, who<br />
hugs me and remembers my name, as<br />
well as the sweet girl who shows me the<br />
matching bracelets she made for herself<br />
and her friend at the jewelry-making<br />
class. I feel a sense of exhilaration when<br />
I peek in the room during “Bregman<br />
Idol” and hear squeals of excitement as I<br />
watch people dancing, singing, and high<br />
fiving. I am proud when the policeman<br />
passes by and raves about the inquisitive<br />
people he taught in his session about personal<br />
safety.<br />
As I help people find their way to<br />
the next session, I am delighted to see<br />
one participant’s face light up as he<br />
introduces the girlfriend he met at last<br />
See BREGMAN CONFERENCE, page 35
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 35<br />
Raising the bar in Judaic studies<br />
Since its inception in 1971, Yeshiva<br />
Atlanta has prided itself on providing its<br />
students with a high-quality education in<br />
both secular and Judaic studies. This, of<br />
course, is consistent with the school’s<br />
standing as a Modern Orthodox institution<br />
and reflects the paradigm articulated by<br />
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik z”l regarding<br />
the importance of a synthesis between<br />
Torah scholarship and secular scholarship,<br />
as well as positive involvement with the<br />
broader community.<br />
This approach, commonly referred to<br />
as Torah Umadda, was perhaps best summarized<br />
by Rabbi Norman Lamm, past<br />
president of Yeshiva University, in New<br />
York, when he wrote: “Torah, faith, religious<br />
learning on one side and Madda, science,<br />
worldly knowledge on the other,<br />
together offer us a more over-arching and<br />
truer vision than either one set alone. Each<br />
set gives one view of the Creator as well as<br />
of His creation, and the other a different<br />
perspective that may not agree at all with<br />
the first . . . Each alone is true, but only partially<br />
true; both together present the possibility<br />
of a larger truth.”<br />
Yeshiva Atlanta’s commitment to the<br />
Torah portion of this equation was again<br />
underscored by the caliber of new Judaic<br />
teachers it added this year to its faculty.<br />
Together with the school’s veteran faculty<br />
members Ariella Allen and Rabbi Daniel<br />
Estreicher, they have inspired in their students<br />
a new energy and even greater passion<br />
for Judaic studies.<br />
Leading the charge is Rabbi Asher<br />
Yablok, the school’s new dean of Judaic<br />
studies. He comes to Atlanta from St.<br />
Louis, Missouri, where he was a Judaic<br />
studies instructor and program director at<br />
Block Yeshiva High School. Rabbi Yablok<br />
earned his undergraduate degree in Judaic<br />
studies and an M.A. in <strong>Jewish</strong> education<br />
from Yeshiva University. He has rabbinic<br />
ordination from both Rabbi Isaac Elchanan<br />
<strong>The</strong>ological Seminary at YU and from Rav<br />
Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. Rabbi Yablok<br />
has a special interest in problem-based<br />
learning and has taught exciting courses in<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> medical ethics and contemporary<br />
Bregman Conference<br />
From page 34<br />
year’s conference. I am also impressed<br />
when a young participant stops by the registration<br />
table to find out how he can sign up<br />
to be on a panel or the planning committee<br />
for next year’s conference. When I help<br />
pour lemonade in the lunchroom, I notice it<br />
is loud with laughter and chatter, as experiences<br />
are shared with friends and caretakers.<br />
At the end of the weekend, certificates<br />
of participation are handed out, which<br />
marks a major highlight of the year for<br />
most. As they exit the building, there is<br />
already chitchat about returning next year.<br />
Halachic problems as initial steps in incorporating<br />
this method into the Judaic studies<br />
curriculum.<br />
Joining Rabbi Yablock is Rabbi Eric<br />
Levy, who comes to Atlanta from New<br />
York, where he was the <strong>Jewish</strong> studies principal<br />
of North Shore Hebrew Academy<br />
High School. Rabbi Levy earned his undergraduate<br />
degree in computer science from<br />
Touro College and an M.A. in biblical studies<br />
from Yeshiva University. He has rabbinic<br />
ordination from both Rabbi Ephraim<br />
Greenblatt and Rav Zalman Nechemia<br />
Goldberg. He spent four years at Yeshivat<br />
Har Etzion (Gush) and served in the Israeli<br />
Army Tank Corps. Rabbi Levy’s online<br />
classes can be heard at OU Torah (ouradio.org/nach),<br />
Torah in Motion, and at his<br />
own website, www.ericlevy.com.<br />
In adding to its faculty, Yeshiva Atlanta<br />
understood that the local “talent” available<br />
to it was equally impressive, and thus the<br />
school reached out to Rabbi Reuven Travis,<br />
who has worked both as a teacher and an<br />
administrator in various Atlanta day<br />
schools. Rabbi Travis, who is teaching honors<br />
American and <strong>Jewish</strong> history as well as<br />
Chumash, earned his B.A. from Dartmouth<br />
College, where he graduated Phi Beta<br />
Kappa with a double major in French literature<br />
and political science. While at<br />
Dartmouth, he played for the school’s varsity<br />
football team and spent his junior year<br />
studying at La Sorbonne. He holds a master<br />
of arts in Teaching from Mercer University<br />
and has a T-5 teaching certification in secondary<br />
education. He also earned a master<br />
of Judaic studies from Spertus College. He<br />
received his rabbinic ordination in 2006<br />
from Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, dean of the<br />
Atlanta Torah MiTzion Kollel, after spending<br />
four years studying with Rabbi Broyde<br />
and the members of the Kollel.<br />
Lisa Belinky, another long-time fixture<br />
in Atlanta’s day school community who has<br />
joined the Yeshiva Atlanta faculty, will<br />
serve as strategic learning Judaic studies<br />
specialist. She received her undergraduate<br />
degree from the University of Georgia in<br />
child psychology/education and her master’s<br />
degree in Judaic studies from Siegal<br />
A caretaker whispers in my ear that it is the<br />
most her client has smiled in months, which<br />
makes me realize that it is the most I’ve<br />
smiled in one day since last year’s Bregman<br />
conference.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Larry Bregman, M.D., Educational<br />
Conference is a two-day conference for<br />
adults with developmental disabilities, their<br />
families, and caregivers. <strong>The</strong> first evening<br />
features a dance; the next day is filled with<br />
workshops on topics such as being part of<br />
the community, being a self-advocate, and<br />
living a healthy lifestyle.<br />
This year’s conference, “Avenues of<br />
Change,” takes place <strong>February</strong> 25-26 at the<br />
Selig Center. For more information, visit<br />
bregman.org.<br />
College, in Cleveland, Ohio. She taught in<br />
the public school system in Georgia for two<br />
years and then enjoyed a 23-year tenure at<br />
Greenfield Hebrew Academy. In her last ten<br />
years at GHA, she taught Judaic studies in<br />
the M’silot program for students who learn<br />
differently.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se recent hires come on the heels of<br />
last year’s important additions to the<br />
school’s Judaics faculty, including Rabbi<br />
Moshe Rose, who joined at the beginning<br />
of the 2010-2011 school year. Originally<br />
hailing from Toronto, Rabbi Rose spent the<br />
previous four years in Savannah with a oneyear<br />
hiatus to teach at Akiva Academy in<br />
Calgary. While he was in Savannah, some<br />
of his duties through the Kollel included<br />
being the youth director, the NCSY chapter<br />
director, community schoolteacher, and a<br />
Judaic studies teacher at a local military<br />
academy. He studied social work in Canada<br />
and education in Israel, graduating from<br />
Ner L’Elef Center for <strong>Jewish</strong> Leadership<br />
and Community Outreach, Yeshiva Ohr<br />
Avraham, and <strong>The</strong> Torah Educator’s<br />
Institute, with his American bachelor’s of<br />
education equivalent acquired through the<br />
University at Albany. He is currently completing<br />
a master’s degree in special education.<br />
And it is hard to underestimate the positive<br />
impact Liat Kadosh has had on the<br />
school’s Hebrew language program, which,<br />
by definition, is a primary building block of<br />
Judaic studies. Named last year as the<br />
school’s Hebrew language department<br />
chair, she is responsible for designing and<br />
implementing a new Hebrew language curriculum<br />
for the school. She is also a member<br />
of the SAT’s Hebrew Language<br />
Committee, and she is working diligently to<br />
prepare Yeshiva Atlanta students to take the<br />
Hebrew subject SAT and perform on a high<br />
academic level in Hebrew. Liat Kodesh<br />
holds an M.A. in <strong>Jewish</strong> education from<br />
Siegal College, in Cleveland, Ohio, as well<br />
as a B.A. from Bar-Ilan University Israel,<br />
where she earned a diploma in educational<br />
leadership. In addition to her teaching and<br />
administrative responsibilities at Yeshiva<br />
Atlanta, she serves as a consultant for<br />
Hebrew at the Center in Boston, which was<br />
established in 2007 with the goal of revolutionizing<br />
the effectiveness of teaching and<br />
learning Hebrew in all educational settings.
Page 36 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
By Belle Klavonsky<br />
CREATIVE WITH A CLASSIC. Davis<br />
Academy eighth-grader Rebecca Greenberg<br />
and 7th-grader Sophia Bussey work on a puppet<br />
for a school production of Prokofiev’s<br />
Peter and the Wolf. <strong>The</strong> puppet performance<br />
was the culmination of academic and creative<br />
activities during <strong>January</strong> that integrated the<br />
arts into the curriculum at the Davis Academy<br />
Middle School. <strong>The</strong> project was led by Davis<br />
faculty and visiting artist and puppeteer<br />
Marilyn Price.<br />
YOUNG READER. Davis Academy students<br />
work with a variety of tools in everyday learning.<br />
Kindergartener Renee Vaysman concentrates<br />
on a writing activity using a listening<br />
program that helps her learn how sounds make<br />
up words.<br />
FRIENDLY AUTHOR. Award-winning children’s<br />
author Eric A. Kimmel spent a day at<br />
<strong>The</strong> Davis Academy Lower School reading<br />
from his newest book, <strong>The</strong> Golem’s Latkes,<br />
and his most popular book, Herschel and the<br />
Hanukkah Goblins. Students enjoyed Mr.<br />
Kimmel’s stories and asked questions about<br />
his work and the writing/publishing process.<br />
FRIENDS FROM ISRAEL. <strong>The</strong> Davis<br />
Academy welcomed three 8th-grade Israeli<br />
students and their teacher, who visited and<br />
studied at Davis during <strong>January</strong> through the<br />
ORT Lipson International Studies program.<br />
<strong>The</strong> program is a win-win, allowing Davis and<br />
the Israeli students to learn about each other’s<br />
cultures. Left to right: Davis 8th-grader<br />
Meredith Galanti, Israeli student Polina<br />
Gogian, Davis 8th-graders Lily Sandler and<br />
Lille Brown, Israeli students Betty Khaimov<br />
and Lior Mashim, Davis 8th-grader Mallory<br />
Goldenberg, and Israeli teacher Tamar Katz<br />
JOYFUL DAY. Davis Academy 2nd-graders<br />
had much to celebrate after ceremonies in<br />
which they received their permanent Siddur<br />
books from their parents. Afterward, they gave<br />
thanks and sang songs on the occasion of this<br />
meaningful milestone.<br />
MUSICAL EXPRESSION. <strong>The</strong> Winter<br />
Concert showcased the budding talents of<br />
nearly 50 Davis Academy Middle School students,<br />
who performed a repertoire ranging<br />
from classic rock to contemporary. Here, Alex<br />
Heller plays the Keytar, and Matthew<br />
Diamond plays guitar; both are 7th-graders.<br />
SENIOR EXPERIENCE. Weber seniors<br />
returned from their five-week Senior<br />
Poland/Israel Experience tired but happy to be<br />
home. <strong>The</strong> trip began with one week in<br />
Poland, where students explored a millennium<br />
of <strong>Jewish</strong> history and learned of the complexities<br />
of rebuilding modern <strong>Jewish</strong> communities.<br />
After Poland, students traveled to Israel,<br />
where the country became the classroom.<br />
Students enjoyed experiential learning based<br />
on important chronological events that molded<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> people and the State of Israel.<br />
WRESTLING WITH SUCCESS. <strong>The</strong> Weber<br />
Wrestling Team is receiving local recognition<br />
for its strong start to the season. Recently featured<br />
in <strong>The</strong> Northside Neighbor, the team<br />
received accolades for coaching, teamwork,<br />
and dedication. Head coach Zachary Shindell<br />
was a member of the first Weber wrestling<br />
team and won an individual GISA state championship<br />
his junior year. Sophomore team<br />
member Jonathan Geller (pictured) was subsequently<br />
recognized as <strong>The</strong> Northside<br />
Neighbor’s Male Athlete of the Week.<br />
CHALLENGE AWARD. <strong>The</strong> Weber School is<br />
one of twenty-seven U.S. schools that received<br />
a $25,000 Challenge Award, designed to drive<br />
increased revenue through innovation, by<br />
Partnership for Excellence in <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Education. One hundred twenty-seven schools<br />
submitted a total of 141 applications. <strong>The</strong><br />
Weber School’s PEJE Challenge initiative is<br />
the establishment of its first-ever endowment.<br />
<strong>The</strong> endowment initiative was launched at a<br />
special event on <strong>January</strong> 18, at which Weber<br />
introduced two honorary endowed funds<br />
named in honor of two very special Weber<br />
friends and leaders, Carol Nemo and Felicia<br />
Weber.<br />
ENTREPRENEURS-IN-TRAINING. In<br />
<strong>January</strong>, Weber welcomed several new semester-only<br />
classes, including a new entrepreneurship<br />
class. <strong>The</strong> class recently began a project<br />
in which individual teams must develop a<br />
product—a child’s toy—meeting specific<br />
requirements and using a selection of random<br />
items. <strong>The</strong> five teams had to develop three<br />
product ideas, narrow down their ideas to the<br />
best one, select a name and tagline for the toy,<br />
draw the toy, set a price, and then design the<br />
box in which the toy will be sold.<br />
UN BUEN HOTEL. Sophomores in Liza<br />
Suarez’s Spanish II Honors class furthered<br />
their learning about Spanish-speaking countries<br />
by creating a brochure, written entirely in<br />
Spanish, for an imaginary hotel in the<br />
Hispanic country of their choosing. In order to<br />
fully develop and design their brochures, the<br />
students researched and compiled information<br />
covering the geography, people, government,<br />
and culture of their respective countries. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
incorporated sentence structure and vocabulary<br />
learned in the previous semester to create<br />
compelling brochures for countries such as<br />
Puerto Rico, Argentina, the Dominican<br />
Republic, and Spain.<br />
SKYPE TALMUD. Weber Judaics teacher<br />
Marc Leventhal is leading a “Skype Talmud at<br />
Lunch” series. Students use Skype software to<br />
make video calls over the Internet, discussing<br />
Talmud with students from Barrack Hebrew<br />
Academy, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and<br />
Posnack <strong>Jewish</strong> Day School, Plantation,<br />
Florida. Most recently, the students discussed<br />
Tractate Sanhedrin, one of ten tractates of a<br />
section of the Talmud that deals with judicial<br />
procedures, both civil and criminal. <strong>The</strong> discussions<br />
are lively, as the text addresses questions<br />
of criminal law and punishment.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 37<br />
2011 SHIRIYAH. A crowd of 750 people<br />
attended Epstein’s Eleventh Annual Middle<br />
School Shiriyah at the Cobb Energy<br />
Performing Arts Centre. <strong>The</strong> production was<br />
led by Musical Director Michal Spiegelman<br />
with the support of choreographer and Israeli<br />
folk dance instructor Meliss Bachar and<br />
Middle School staff. As has become tradition,<br />
the grand finale included Epstein alumni, who<br />
rushed to the stage to join in the singing of Shir<br />
Israeli. Here, Rachel Greenwald, Aly Satisky,<br />
and Mikayla Hertz stand up to support the<br />
earth as they and their classmates perform “It’s<br />
a Small World.”<br />
TEAMWORK. Three years ago, in an effort to<br />
prevent the spread of the flu, <strong>The</strong> Epstein<br />
School partnered with Teamworks, a job skills<br />
development program run by <strong>Jewish</strong> Family &<br />
Career Services, to have developmentally disabled<br />
volunteers serve lunch and thus reduce<br />
the chance of students spreading germs to each<br />
other. Since then, the school has seen a significant<br />
drop in illness and absenteeism. In addition,<br />
Teamworks participants bring much joy<br />
and perspective to the school. First-grader<br />
Hannah Friedman has her lunch served by<br />
Teamworks volunteers Jemel Wynn (from<br />
left), Trevor Smith, and Asherhee McNeil.<br />
GYM RENOVATIONS. At <strong>The</strong> Epstein<br />
School, the Ramie and Joyce Tritt Gymnasium<br />
is getting a fresh look, thanks to a gift from the<br />
Henry and Etta Raye Hirsch Heritage<br />
Foundation (Lisa and Seth Greenberg and<br />
Michelle and David Hirsch) to refinish the<br />
walls. New insulation has given the gym a<br />
much-needed lift. <strong>The</strong> school also has used<br />
money from a Refurbishment Fund set up by<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Greater Atlanta to<br />
update window coverings and repaint the walls<br />
of the gym. Ben Siegel, Max Marcovitch, and<br />
Ross Brill play in the newly renovated gymnasium.<br />
GOOD SPORTS. One of the middle school<br />
girls basketball teams from Torah Day School<br />
of Atlanta played the Atlanta International<br />
School in the TDSA gym on November 29.<br />
While the girls did not win this game, they<br />
played with remarkable sportsmanship,<br />
resilience, and determination.<br />
A WINTER GARDEN. TDSA Kindergarten<br />
students have their very own garden. Located<br />
just outside their classrooms are raised beds<br />
containing beautiful winter crops, including<br />
potatoes, radishes, and dinosaur kale. Aside<br />
from planting, weeding, and watering, during<br />
the colder months, the students will decorate<br />
their garden with hand-painted rocks and decorated<br />
popsicle sticks to help identify their<br />
crops.<br />
CPR TRAINING. TDSA 8th-grade girls<br />
attended a CPR training class on December 1.<br />
Coordinated by science teacher Mrs. Christine<br />
Hippeli-Castle, the class taught students how<br />
to be first responders in an emergency. Now<br />
trained in CPR and AED usage, the girls will<br />
receive Heartsaver AED membership cards<br />
from the American Heart Association. <strong>The</strong><br />
8th-grade boys were trained in CPR and AED<br />
usage earlier in the school year.<br />
CHANUKAH PLAY. TDSA 2nd-grade girls<br />
worked with teacher Mrs. Vita Resenson on<br />
their Chanukah play, which they presented to<br />
the kindergarten students—entirely in Hebrew.<br />
NEW STUDENTS. Torah Day School of<br />
Atlanta hosted over 30 incoming kindergarten<br />
students. <strong>The</strong> pre-kindergarten students were<br />
treated to special activities, a pizza lunch, and<br />
a performance by Young Audiences.<br />
MENTORS AND TEACHERS. TDSA 8thgrade<br />
boys make wonderful role models as<br />
they review Hebrew with the Kindergarten<br />
boys.<br />
TEAM LALA. Greenfield Hebrew Academy<br />
students Shannan Berzack, Zoe Bagel, Quinn<br />
Rabinowitz, and Rose and Dov Karlin recently<br />
took part in a 5K walk for PanCan, an<br />
organization raising money and awareness for<br />
pancreatic cancer. Rose and Dov’s grandmother,<br />
Lala, was diagnosed <strong>February</strong> 1, 2011, with<br />
pancreatic cancer. In honor of their grand-<br />
mother and in support of finding a cure, Rose<br />
and Dov created Team Lala, and entered the<br />
walk along with 1800 other supporters. Team<br />
Lala raised $2,500 for PanCan.<br />
SPORTS AND REHABILITION. Recently<br />
two disabled athletes from the Israel Sports<br />
Center for the Disabled came to GHA. One of<br />
the athletes, Asayel, an 18 year-old swimmer,<br />
spoke of his hopes to be in the Olympics<br />
someday. Asayel’s home was attacked a little<br />
over two years ago; during the attack he was<br />
shot and lost his leg. Students learned that the<br />
purpose of the center is rehabilitation through<br />
sports, and to help people with disabilities<br />
flourish.<br />
SCIENCE FAIR WINNER. GHA student Ari<br />
Stark was this year’s winner of the Science<br />
Fair. Ari chose to do his project on keeping cut<br />
flowers fresh. Ari learned that by using the<br />
drug Viagra, his flowers remained fresh.
Page 38 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> Jews of Augusta, Part III<br />
BY<br />
Stuart<br />
Rockoff<br />
Throughout its history, Children of<br />
Israel, in Augusta, Georgia, has had<br />
numerous rabbis, with most staying only a<br />
few years. For one third of its first 100<br />
years, the congregation did not have rabbinic<br />
leadership; during the other 67 years,<br />
it employed 25 different rabbis.<br />
A few stayed several years: Rabbi H.<br />
Cert Strauss led the congregation from<br />
1920 to 1927, while Joseph Leiser served<br />
as rabbi from 1930 to 1939.<br />
In 1941, a young Hebrew Union<br />
College graduate, Sylvan Schwartzman,<br />
took over the pulpit at Children of Israel.<br />
Although he stayed for only six years,<br />
Rabbi Schwartzman had a profound<br />
impact on the congregation. When he<br />
arrived, Children of Israel had only 60 or<br />
so member families. Five years later, it had<br />
105 families. Rabbi Schwartzman brought<br />
a new energy to the congregation, leading<br />
a popular adult education class and starting<br />
a regular interfaith community forum.<br />
During the war, he led services at the local<br />
military base.<br />
Rabbi Schwartzman was not afraid to<br />
push the congregation to take political<br />
stands. In 1945, the congregation sent a<br />
letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, urging<br />
his support for the plan to create a United<br />
Nations. Rabbi Schwartzman also raised<br />
money for the Haganah, the group fighting<br />
for <strong>Jewish</strong> independence in Palestine.<br />
Rabbi Schwartzman also led the way<br />
in convincing the congregation that it<br />
needed a new building, because the existing<br />
one could no longer hold its growing<br />
number of families. At Children of Israel’s<br />
centennial celebration in 1945, members<br />
voted to build a new synagogue. In 1946,<br />
they appointed a building committee,<br />
headed by Mose Slusky, that acquired a lot<br />
on the corner of Walton Way and<br />
Bransford Road.<br />
While it took several more years to<br />
raise the necessary money, Children of<br />
Israel finally dedicated its new synagogue<br />
in 1951. Rabbi Schwartzman, who left<br />
Augusta in 1947, came back to give the<br />
dedication address. Reverend J. Hambry<br />
Barton, of the Trinity on the Hill<br />
Methodist Church, gave the invocation<br />
during the ceremony. For the six months<br />
before they moved into their new home,<br />
the congregation met at Reverend Barton’s<br />
church. According to the local newspaper,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> symbols of both religions remained<br />
on the same altar during this entire period<br />
in a perfect example of religious brotherhood.”<br />
Rabbi Norman Goldburg arrived in<br />
1949 and led the congregation for the next<br />
19 years, before becoming rabbi emeritus.<br />
Under Rabbi Goldburg’s leadership,<br />
Children of Israel interior<br />
Children of Israel continued to grow,<br />
reaching 142 families by 1955. By 1963,<br />
the congregation had 103 children in its<br />
religious school, which was run by the<br />
rabbi’s wife, Rose Goldburg.<br />
By 1964, Children of Israel had outgrown<br />
its sanctuary, and members voted to<br />
build a new one, along with a new kitchen<br />
and social hall, just thirteen years after<br />
they had dedicated their then-current synagogue.<br />
Abe Friedman, a longtime board<br />
member of the congregation who served<br />
several terms as president, headed the<br />
effort to raise money for the addition. <strong>The</strong><br />
local First Baptist Church made a donation<br />
to the building fund.<br />
In 1967, Children of Israel dedicated<br />
the new sanctuary in a ceremony that drew<br />
Augusta’s mayor and several local ministers<br />
and featured the theme of interfaith<br />
harmony. <strong>The</strong> old sanctuary was converted<br />
into an auditorium for the religious school.<br />
Children of Israel thrived in its revamped<br />
building. By 1976, the congregation had<br />
161 member families and 61 children in its<br />
religious school. By the mid-1990s,<br />
Augusta’s Reform congregation had<br />
reached 197 member families.<br />
Adas Yeshurun grew over the years as<br />
well. In 1944, members decided they had<br />
outgrown their old and deteriorating building.<br />
Led by William Estroff, the congregation<br />
quickly raised $70,000 for the building<br />
fund. But soon, this effort stalled after<br />
the deaths of both Estroff and Rabbi<br />
Goldberger, along with growing disagreement<br />
over where to build the new synagogue.<br />
While Adas Yeshurun had always<br />
been in downtown Augusta, the vast<br />
majority of members now lived in the Hill<br />
Children of Israel (all photos:<br />
Preisler)<br />
neighborhood. While most wanted to build<br />
the new synagogue there, a strong faction<br />
lobbied to keep the shul downtown. Adas<br />
Yeshurun found a creative, if unsustainable,<br />
way to bridge this divide. One member,<br />
Pincus<br />
Silver,<br />
bought a big<br />
house and<br />
property on<br />
Johns Road,<br />
which was<br />
converted<br />
into a satellite<br />
site for<br />
the congregat<br />
i o n .<br />
Separate<br />
High Holiday<br />
services were<br />
held at the<br />
Johns Road house, with a visiting rabbi,<br />
for those who preferred the residential<br />
location to the downtown synagogue. <strong>The</strong><br />
Johns Road house even had an optional<br />
“family seating” section, where husbands<br />
and wives could sit together, if they<br />
wished.<br />
Maintaining two synagogues was not<br />
a viable long-term solution, and Silver<br />
soon sold his property to the congregation,<br />
which had finally decided to move from its<br />
old building. In 1953, they broke ground<br />
on a new synagogue on the property, finishing<br />
it the following year. At the time of<br />
the dedication, Adas Yeshurun had 200<br />
member families. Despite this move, Adas<br />
Yeshurun remained an Orthodox congregation,<br />
building a new modern mikvah in<br />
the late 1960s. When Adas Yeshurun celebrated<br />
its 75th anniversary in 1965, the<br />
rabbi from the Orthodox Baron Hirsch<br />
Congregation, in Memphis, took part in<br />
the ceremony. In 1970, Adas Yeshurun<br />
dedicated a new education building;<br />
Senator Herman Talmadge was the<br />
keynote speaker at the dedication.<br />
As reflected in the steady growth of<br />
both congregations, Augusta’s <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
community peaked in the years after World<br />
War II. While 950 Jews lived in Augusta in<br />
1937, 1500 did by 1980. <strong>The</strong> number of<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> merchants has declined, as it has<br />
Adas Yeshurun<br />
throughout the rest of the South, but growing<br />
numbers of <strong>Jewish</strong> professionals have<br />
settled in Augusta. Dr. Robert Greenblatt<br />
moved to Augusta in the 1930s and<br />
became a renowned endocrinologist, writing<br />
several books on the subject. Dr.<br />
Sumner Fishbein came to Augusta by the<br />
1970s and became very active at Children<br />
of Israel, serving on the board, teaching<br />
religious school, and blowing shofar on<br />
the high holidays. With this rising number<br />
of professionals, many drawn by the medical<br />
school at the Georgia Health Sciences<br />
University, Augusta managed to avoid the<br />
sharp population declines that affected<br />
other Southern <strong>Jewish</strong> communities.<br />
In recent years, the <strong>Jewish</strong> community<br />
of Augusta has shrunk a bit, to 1,300 people<br />
in 2003, as growing numbers of Jews<br />
have moved to the thriving <strong>Jewish</strong> metropolis<br />
of Atlanta. Nevertheless, Augusta still<br />
supports two strong congregations with<br />
full-time rabbis, a <strong>Jewish</strong> Community<br />
Center, and an active <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation. In<br />
1995, Adas Yeshurun officially became a<br />
Conservative congregation, joining the<br />
United Synagogue of Conservative<br />
Judaism. Seeing an opportunity to serve<br />
Orthodox Jews,<br />
Chabad opened<br />
a house in<br />
Augusta in<br />
1996. In recent<br />
years, as the<br />
number of children<br />
in the<br />
community has<br />
declined, the<br />
two congregations<br />
have<br />
merged their<br />
religious<br />
schools, creating<br />
the Augusta <strong>Jewish</strong> Community<br />
Sunday School. <strong>The</strong> school, which is a<br />
partner in the Institute of Southern <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Life’s education program, had 45 students<br />
in 2009. That same year, Children of Israel<br />
had 157 members, while Adas Yeshurun<br />
had 170.<br />
<strong>The</strong> above history of Augusta,<br />
Georgia, Part III, is a segment from the<br />
ISJL Encyclopedia of Southern <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Communities. Readers are invited to learn<br />
more about the history of <strong>Jewish</strong> communities<br />
by visiting www.isjl.org and looking<br />
under the History tab. <strong>The</strong><br />
Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Life considers the encyclopedia to<br />
be a work in progress and encourages the<br />
public to contact Dr. Stuart Rockoff at<br />
Rockoff@isjl.org with additional information<br />
related to the history of <strong>Jewish</strong> communities<br />
in Georgia or other communities<br />
of the South.<br />
Throughout the thirteen-state<br />
Southern region of the United States, the<br />
eleven-year-old grassroots organization<br />
Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Life (ISJL) is dedicated to providing<br />
educational and rabbinic services,<br />
promoting a <strong>Jewish</strong> cultural presence, and<br />
documenting and preserving the rich history<br />
of the Southern <strong>Jewish</strong> experience.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN — KASHER LIVING Page 39<br />
Kosher Affairs<br />
BY<br />
Roberta<br />
Scher<br />
Once again, I ate my way through<br />
Kosherfest, the world’s largest kosher<br />
food trade show. <strong>The</strong> 2011 event was<br />
held at New Jersey’s Meadowlands<br />
Exposition Center, and it set new<br />
records for both exhibitors and attendees.<br />
I am sharing Kosherfest’s official<br />
2011 New Product Award winner,<br />
selected by a show panel, followed by<br />
my personal list of “bests.”<br />
KOSHERFEST 2011<br />
NEW PRODUCT AWARDS<br />
• Best Overall: Tishbi Passion Fruit and<br />
Strawberry Champagne Preserves<br />
• Beverage: Sparkling Ayala’s Herbal<br />
Water<br />
• Bread, Grain, Cereal, or Cracker:<br />
Sliced Artisan Slider Rolls from<br />
Tribeca Oven<br />
• Candy: Rabbi Mints Classic Kosher<br />
Mints<br />
• Desserts/Baked Goods or Sweets:<br />
Mango Gourmet Italian Ice from<br />
Gianni New York<br />
• Dips, Spreads, Salsas: Sabra<br />
Guacamole<br />
• Frozen Entrée: Ta’amti Meat Flavor<br />
Meatless Bourekas<br />
• Giftware or Novelty Item: <strong>The</strong> Royal<br />
Challah Silicone Bakeware Pan<br />
• Jam or Preserve: Tishbi Passion Fruit<br />
and Strawberry Champagne Preserves<br />
• “Kosher for Passover” Product:<br />
MIKEE Mango Duck Sauce<br />
• Meat/Seafood/Poultry Item: Jack’s<br />
Gourmet Jamaican Style Jerk Chicken<br />
Sausage<br />
• Pasta, Rice, Beans, or Soup: Gezunt<br />
Gourmet Pastas<br />
• Savory & Salty Snack Food: Bamba<br />
Halva Peanut Snack with Sesame<br />
Cream Filling<br />
• Savory Condiment, Spice, Sauce, Oil,<br />
Vinegar, Dressing, or Marinade: Fresh<br />
Frozen Pesto Cubes from Dorot Foods<br />
• Wine, Beer, or Spirit: Fincas<br />
Marumatok Cabernet Sauvignon<br />
Malbec<br />
• Cheese or Dairy Item: Sugar River<br />
Cheese from Anderson International<br />
Foods<br />
MY PERSONAL KOSHERFEST<br />
FAVORITES<br />
• Jerk Chicken Sausage: <strong>The</strong> newest<br />
flavor from Jack’s Gourmet Sausage.<br />
What makes Jack’s unique is that it is<br />
made without artificial ingredients,<br />
fillers, by-products, or MSG.<br />
• Moses Date Vodka: A new “kosher for<br />
Passover” spirit, this sweet, smooth<br />
vodka is good enough for year round.<br />
• Tishbi Passion Fruit and Strawberry<br />
Champagne Preserves: A sophisticated<br />
and delicious spread with crackers and<br />
perhaps a creamy soft cheese<br />
• Zelda’s Apple Caramel Cake and<br />
Lemon Poppy Cake: Moist cakes with<br />
fruit flavors that shine through. Zelda’s<br />
also introduced a new specialty for<br />
Passover—chocolate locusts, a companion<br />
to its popular kosher-for-<br />
Passover chocolate frogs. I am happy to<br />
note that Zelda’s cakes are available<br />
locally at <strong>The</strong>chosenknish.com.<br />
• Schmerling Hazelnut Chocolate Bar:<br />
Rich, luscious chocolate available in<br />
parve and dairy<br />
• Challywood: Even the name is fun!<br />
<strong>The</strong>se challah loaves and rolls can be<br />
ordered online in many flavors.<br />
Shipping is free on orders over $50.<br />
Among the flavors are onion, raisin,<br />
blueberry, apple cinnamon, chocolate—and,<br />
of course, plain. Tempted?<br />
Find even more at Challywood.net.<br />
• A note about cheese: <strong>The</strong>re were hundreds<br />
of cheeses at the show—many<br />
brands from countries worldwide and<br />
from the U.S. as well. Take note,<br />
Atlanta retailers.<br />
—————<br />
On the night before Kosherfest,<br />
KosherEye co-founder Lois Held and I<br />
coordinated a special journalist/social<br />
media dinner event at Manhattan’s Solo<br />
Restaurant. <strong>The</strong> menu, presented by<br />
Solo Executive Chef David Kolotkin,<br />
was spectacular, and it reflected the<br />
expanding boundaries of kosher food. I<br />
am sharing the mouthwatering menu<br />
(yes, there was a choice in each category):<br />
• Appetizers: big-eye tuna tartare,<br />
mushroom risotto, or crispy veal sweetbreads,<br />
along with a tasting of crispy<br />
vegetable spring rolls, Buffalo chicken<br />
lollipops, and sliders<br />
• Entrees: pan-seared organic Scottish<br />
salmon, one-half roasted chicken, or<br />
pan-seared black Angus filet, along<br />
with a tasting of tacos, roasted fingerling<br />
potatoes, and Japanese eggplant<br />
• Desserts: Mandarine crème Chiboust<br />
brûlée, molten chocolate cake, passion<br />
fruit meringue<br />
Royal Wine, the largest importer<br />
and distributor of kosher wines in<br />
North America, presented a tasting of<br />
two champagnes: Drappier Carte-D’Or<br />
Brut and Drappier Carte Blanche, products<br />
of a new joint venture with<br />
Champagne Drappier, the highly<br />
regarded French Champagne house.<br />
See KOSHER AFFAIRS, page 40
Page 40 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN — KASHER LIVING <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Kosher Affairs<br />
From page 39<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are the first-ever kosher cuvees<br />
from the famed Champagne region and<br />
are outstanding additions to the growing<br />
availability of kosher spirits.<br />
Joey Allaham, the owner of Solo’s<br />
parent company, Prime Hospitality<br />
Group, is planning to launch a fleet of<br />
kosher food trucks. How we would love<br />
one of these rolling around Atlanta.<br />
—————<br />
One more Kosherfest note: I had<br />
the pleasure of meeting cookbook<br />
author, magazine editor, website owner,<br />
and fellow foodie Leah Schapira, and I<br />
received a copy of her new cookbook,<br />
Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking<br />
(ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications). Leah<br />
shares 170 simple, practical recipes<br />
using “ordinary ingredients to create<br />
extraordinary meals.” <strong>The</strong> simplicity of<br />
the recipes, easy-to-follow instructions,<br />
and color photos make the book a great<br />
go-to guide for everyday meals, especially<br />
for the busy or novice cook.<br />
LOCAL NEWS<br />
GrillersPride has expanded its<br />
product mix. In addition to meat and<br />
poultry, Peter Swerdlow has introduced<br />
some new ready-to-heat meals and fish,<br />
Zomick’s baked goods, and some colorcoded<br />
kitchenware items, perfect for the<br />
kosher cook. Visit Grillerspride.com, or<br />
call 770-454-8108.<br />
Kosher Gourmet has added some<br />
new items. Lydia Schloss has created a<br />
parve candy department within the<br />
store, including pre-packaged, giftable<br />
candy arrangements and platters. In<br />
addition, the store has a new Israeli<br />
chef—Julie Meni, who prepares freshly<br />
made Israeli foods on the premises,<br />
including specialties such as kubbeh;<br />
cigars; moussaka; stuffed grape leaves;<br />
fresh salads such as tabbouleh and hummus;<br />
and more. For information, call<br />
404-636-1114.<br />
Recipes<br />
Risotto with Mushroom Ragout and<br />
Truffle Oil<br />
Adapted from a recipe by Executive Chef<br />
David Kolotkin, Solo Restaurant<br />
Makes 6 appetizers or 4 entrees<br />
Yes, risotto is time consuming to prepare,<br />
and this version is long. However, once<br />
you get the hang of it, the method is actually<br />
simple and the results are truly<br />
superb. Before you begin, have all of<br />
your ingredients ready and prepped.<br />
Mushroom Ragout:<br />
1/2 lb. porcini mushroom, quartered<br />
1/2 lb. cremini mushroom, quartered<br />
1/2 lb. shallots, finely minced<br />
2 cups chicken stock<br />
3 ounces brandy<br />
What’s cooking? Email kosheraffairs@gmail.com<br />
This column is meant<br />
to provide the reader with current<br />
trends and developments in the kosher<br />
marketplace. Since standards of<br />
kashruth certification vary, check with<br />
the AKC or your local kashruth authority<br />
to confirm reliability.<br />
kosher salt to taste<br />
2 tablespoons vegetable oil<br />
Risotto:<br />
1 cup Arborio rice<br />
3 cups chicken stock, warmed<br />
1/2 cup diced onion, cut into 1/4’ dice<br />
1/2 cup white wine<br />
2 tablespoons kosher salt<br />
2 tablespoons vegetable oil<br />
1 tablespoon white truffle oil *<br />
Mushroom Ragout:<br />
Heat vegetable oil in pan, and gently<br />
cook mushrooms until they start to<br />
sweat. Add shallots, and continue simmering<br />
until liquid from mushrooms has<br />
reduced to “nothing.”<br />
Turn off flame, and add brandy to<br />
mushrooms.<br />
Place pan back on the heat and<br />
reduce the brandy by half. <strong>The</strong>n add 2<br />
cups of chicken stock and reduce by 3/4.<br />
Remove from heat and reserve half<br />
of the cooked mushrooms. Set aside.<br />
Risotto:<br />
Place reserved mushrooms and all<br />
of mushroom liquid in food processor;<br />
blend until smooth. Set aside.<br />
In another pan, heat oil and sweat<br />
onions until soft and translucent. <strong>The</strong>n<br />
add the Arborio rice, and gently toast for<br />
3-4 minutes. Using a wooden spoon or<br />
silicone spatula, stir in white wine, and<br />
let the rice absorb it while continually<br />
stirring.<br />
On low flame, stir and simmer rice<br />
and wine; then slowly start to add the<br />
warm chicken stock to the rice 1/2 cup at<br />
a time, until the rice absorbs the liquid.<br />
Keep adding the stock 1/2 cup at a time,<br />
until the rice is cooked and no stock<br />
remains. Make sure to continuously stir<br />
the rice to ensure it cooks evenly and<br />
doesn’t scorch. Season rice with salt to<br />
taste.<br />
Just before serving, add the pureed<br />
mushroom mixture to the rice, and bring<br />
it back up to temperature. Gently fold in<br />
the white truffle oil. Adjust seasonings if<br />
necessary.<br />
Place cooked risotto on plates and<br />
top with the remaining mushroom<br />
ragout.<br />
*Chef Kolotkin advises that if kosher<br />
truffle oil or fresh truffles are unavailable,<br />
just omit.<br />
—————<br />
See RECIPES, page 42
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN — KASHER LIVING Page 41<br />
Kosher Korner<br />
COLD SEASON. People are used to making<br />
sure their food is kosher. Sometimes people<br />
have to be careful about medicinal products, as<br />
well. Many cough medicines contain glycerin,<br />
which can be of non-kosher animal origin. We<br />
recommend buying only liquid cough medicines<br />
that do not contain glycerin. If the only<br />
cough medicine available contains glycerin,<br />
some rabbinical authorities allow the user to<br />
nullify the non-kosher ingredient by mixing a<br />
teaspoon of the cough medicine with two<br />
ounces of juice or milk.<br />
Cough drops, since many of them have a<br />
good flavor and could contain non-kosher<br />
ingredients, need certification. Below is a partial<br />
list of acceptable cough drops.<br />
Cough drops that have a hechsher can be<br />
used for medicinal and non-medicinal needs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> cough drops below without a hechsher can<br />
be used for medicinal purposes only. Kroger,<br />
CVS, and Walgreens also have their own<br />
brands of cough drops that can be used when<br />
bearing an approved kosher symbol. Make sure<br />
to check the labels to ensure that they are<br />
indeed kosher.<br />
Fisherman’s Friend (Manchester Beis Din)<br />
Original: Ex-Strong, Sugar-Free, and Tooth<br />
Friendly<br />
Fisherman’s Friend (Manchester Beis Din)<br />
Cough Suppressant Lozenges<br />
Halls Breezers Sugar Free: Cool Berry<br />
Lozenge<br />
Halls Defense Sugar Free: Assorted Citrus<br />
Lozenges<br />
Halls Original: Cherry Lozenge<br />
Halls Original Sugar Free: Freshmint, Honey-<br />
Berry, Ice Blue, Mentho-Lyptus, Mountain<br />
Menthol, Peppermint, Spearmint, Strawberry,<br />
and Tropical Fruit Lozenges<br />
Luden’s OU-D Dairy Equipment<br />
Ricola Honey Herb Lozenge<br />
Ricola Honey Lemon with Echinacea Lozenge<br />
Ricola Lemon Mint Lozenge<br />
Ricola Lemon Verbena Lozenge<br />
Ricola Natural Herb (original) Lozenge<br />
Ricola Sugar Free: Green Tea with Echinacea,<br />
Lemon Mint, Menthol, and Mountain Herb<br />
Lozenges<br />
Vicks Cough Drops Menthol, Cherry<br />
—————-<br />
KOSHER FOR PASSOVER CLASSES. If any<br />
group or synagogue is interested in scheduling<br />
one of Rabbi Stein’s Kosher for Passover classes,<br />
which are conducted before Passover, call<br />
the Atlanta Kashruth Commission office (404-<br />
634-4063) now.<br />
BY<br />
Rabbi Reuven<br />
Stein<br />
SAVE THE DATE. This year’s Kosher Day<br />
takes place April 29.<br />
—————-<br />
KOSHER ALERTS<br />
Waiora Natural Cellular Defense is not<br />
authorized to bear the AKC kosher logo and is<br />
not under AKC kosher certification.<br />
AKC certifies only those Schakolad<br />
chocolates made in the facility (excluding<br />
dipped strawberries). Other pre-packaged<br />
products must be checked individually for a<br />
kosher symbol. <strong>The</strong> facility sells pre-packaged<br />
non-kosher chocolate with bacon in it.<br />
Carefully read the kosher letter at<br />
Cowlicks Yogurt and Floats, 1100 Hammond<br />
Drive, Atlanta (770-913-0190), as not all items<br />
are kosher.<br />
Make sure to check Whole Foods Gelatos<br />
for the AKC symbol, as not all varieties are certified.<br />
KC Masterpiece Buffalo Marinade bears<br />
an unauthorized OU symbol and contains<br />
dairy.<br />
—————-<br />
KOSHER NEWS<br />
Tandoory Bread manufactured by King<br />
David Community Center, located at 5054<br />
Singleton Road, Norcross (678-499-9693), is<br />
now kosher and parve.<br />
Classic Pita is a new AKC-approved, pas<br />
Yisroel wholesale facility. All pita breads manufactured<br />
on the premises are kosher, parve,<br />
and pas Yisroel when bearing the AKC kosher<br />
logo. <strong>The</strong> pita is available at <strong>The</strong> Kosher<br />
Gourmet. Classic Pita is located at 42<br />
Piedmont Drive, Suite 203, Winder GA 30680.<br />
Visit www.ClassicPita.com, or call 678-254-<br />
1383.<br />
<strong>The</strong> AKC now approves KSA products<br />
produced in the U.S. and Canada.<br />
Rabbi Reuven Stein is director of supervision<br />
for the Atlanta Kashruth Commission, a nonprofit<br />
organization dedicated to promoting<br />
kashruth through education, research, and<br />
supervision.
Page 42 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN — KASHER LIVING <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Recipes<br />
From page 40<br />
Crock-Pot Chicken Soup<br />
An easy Scher family winter favorite<br />
Serves about 6<br />
2 1/2-3 lbs. pounds cut up chicken<br />
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped<br />
2 carrots, large rough chop<br />
1 clove garlic, chopped<br />
1 large onion, chopped<br />
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed<br />
1/2 teaspoon black pepper<br />
2 bay leaves<br />
2 cups cold water and 4 cups kosher<br />
chicken broth (such as boxed<br />
Manischewitz or Imagine Brand)<br />
Place vegetables in a 4-5 quart slow<br />
cooker. Top with chicken, herbs, and liquid.<br />
Cover and cook on low heat setting<br />
for 8 to 10 hours. Remove chicken,<br />
debone, cut into pieces, and add back into<br />
soup. Enjoy.<br />
Options: add 1 chopped parsnip or 1<br />
chopped turnip. Serve with cooked white<br />
rice or cooked egg noodles.<br />
Variation: omit all of the liquid in the<br />
recipe, use a whole chicken, and presto,<br />
you have Crock-Pot roast chicken.<br />
—————<br />
Hot Chocolate Molten Cake<br />
Adapted from Fresh & Easy Kosher<br />
Cooking by Leah Schapira<br />
Serves 4<br />
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate<br />
1/2 cup vegetable oil<br />
1 cup sugar<br />
2 eggs<br />
2 egg yolks<br />
6 tablespoons flour (For Passover, substitute<br />
potato starch)<br />
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.<br />
Grease a 4-cup muffin pan, or 4 individual<br />
ramekins.<br />
In a double boiler, melt chocolate in<br />
oil. Remove from heat when chocolate is<br />
melted, and whisk in the sugar.<br />
Whisk the eggs and egg yolks<br />
together, and add them to the chocolate<br />
mixture. Stir in the flour until smooth.<br />
Pour the batter into prepared baking<br />
cups.<br />
Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove<br />
from the oven.<br />
Leah says that the cakes are “ready<br />
when the center top still feels soft and jiggly,<br />
while the rim is firm.”<br />
Let stand for 1 minute, then invert<br />
onto a plate.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 43<br />
MJCCA NEWS<br />
AUTHOR EVENTS. <strong>The</strong> Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Community Center of Atlanta continues the<br />
excitement of its November Book Festival<br />
with two Page from the Book Festival<br />
author events.<br />
On Thursday, <strong>January</strong> 26, 7:30 p.m.,<br />
Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey<br />
Zaslow, co-author of <strong>The</strong> Last Lecture with<br />
the late Randy Pausch, will present his new<br />
book, <strong>The</strong> Magic Room: A Story about the<br />
Love We Wish for our Daughters, at the<br />
MJCCA, 5342<br />
Tilly Mill<br />
R o a d ,<br />
Dunwoody.<br />
T h e<br />
Magic Room, a<br />
nonfiction narrative<br />
set in a<br />
small-town<br />
Michigan<br />
bridal shop,<br />
looks at the<br />
lives of a handful<br />
of brides<br />
and their parents<br />
who’ve<br />
JSU NEWS<br />
THE MEANING OF SHABBAT. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> calendar is filled with exciting,<br />
meaningful, and joyous holidays, but no<br />
day has as much presence as Shabbat, the<br />
holy day of rest observed on a weekly basis.<br />
Recently, 13 <strong>Jewish</strong> Student Union clubs at<br />
Atlanta area high schools held Shabbatthemed<br />
meetings in which participants<br />
learned about various aspects of the holy<br />
day, including the mitzvah to light Shabbat<br />
candles and the special blessing said over<br />
them. Over 350 teens took part in the activities,<br />
which included making decorative<br />
Shabbat candles, and they received copies<br />
of the Hebrew blessing text, along with a<br />
Eric Beeler, Lauren Siegel, Josh<br />
Rudolph, and Liel Van Der Hoeven<br />
learn about Shabbat at JSU at<br />
Centennial High School.<br />
journeyed to the store’s “Magic Room.”<br />
This is Zaslow’s third appearance at the<br />
MJCCA. Tickets are $16/non-members,<br />
$11/members.<br />
On March 27, 7:30 p.m., the MJCCA<br />
welcomes<br />
author and<br />
CNN Chief<br />
Medical<br />
Correspondent<br />
Dr. Sanjay<br />
Gupta. He will<br />
present his new<br />
book, Monday<br />
Mornings, a<br />
novel that follows<br />
the lives<br />
of five surgeons<br />
who<br />
must confront<br />
their personal<br />
and professional failings, often in front of<br />
their peers at weekly Morbidity & Mortality<br />
meetings.<br />
Gupta appears as part of a special<br />
“Upfront & Unscripted” program, featuring<br />
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent<br />
translation and transliteration, so that they<br />
could perform the mitzvah themselves.<br />
Dozens of teens reported lighting Shabbat<br />
candles on the Friday night after their JSU<br />
club meeting, the first time most of them<br />
had ever done so.<br />
LEARNING ABOUT ISRAEL. With so<br />
much misinformation in the media, it is<br />
imperative that <strong>Jewish</strong> teens become educated<br />
about the relationship between the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> people and Israel and learn the truth<br />
about the current conflict in the Middle<br />
East. Recently, upwards of 300 teens from<br />
15 Atlanta-area JSU clubs learned about the<br />
true history of the State of Israel and <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
claims to the land. Rabbi Chaim Neiditch<br />
also told the teens the harrowing story of<br />
Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier held captive<br />
for over five years in enemy hands. As a<br />
way of showing their support for their<br />
brothers and sisters in arms (only a few<br />
years older than themselves) and increase<br />
their connection to Israel, the teens made<br />
and decorated almost 100 banners to be sent<br />
to Israeli soldiers at their army bases. It is<br />
hoped that this touching gesture will bolster<br />
the spirits of the troops as they guard and<br />
protect Israel.<br />
Elizabeth Cohen. Tickets are $22/nonmembers<br />
and $15/members.<br />
Tickets to both events are available at<br />
atlantajcc.org or through the MJCCA Box<br />
Office at 678-812-4005.<br />
KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS. On<br />
<strong>January</strong> 8, internationally acclaimed pianist<br />
Jeffrey Siegel returned to the MJCCA to<br />
perform “Art to Heart: <strong>The</strong> Romantic Music<br />
of Franz Liszt.” <strong>The</strong> program, which ranged<br />
from the elegant and melodious<br />
“Liebestraum” to the exhilarating<br />
“Hungarian Rhapsodies,” was the second of<br />
three concerts in the 2011-<strong>2012</strong> Keyboard<br />
Conversations, a series of unique, concertplus-commentary<br />
programs; exclusive in<br />
the Southeast to the MJCCA’s Morris &<br />
Rae Frank <strong>The</strong>atre, these programs are<br />
designed to make classical music more<br />
accessible to everyone.<br />
<strong>The</strong> last concert in the 2011-<strong>2012</strong><br />
series, “Russian Rapture: Music of<br />
Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky,” will take<br />
place April 15, at 4:00 p.m.<br />
Tickets are $25/general admission and<br />
$18/MJCCA members, with discounts for<br />
students and seniors. To purchase tickets,<br />
call the Box Office at 678-812-4002, or<br />
visit www.atlantajcc.org.<br />
HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Family and close<br />
friends were among the many well-wishers<br />
Tori Zellner, Samantha Jacober,<br />
Brittany Bruck, and Samantha<br />
Mandel show their support for Israel<br />
during a JSU meeting at Northview<br />
High School.<br />
CELEBRATING CHANUKAH. When the<br />
holiday season rolls around each December,<br />
Jews everywhere know that it’s time to<br />
“light up the night, with candles burning<br />
bright” and celebrate Chanukah.<br />
Excitement—as well as the aroma of sizzling<br />
latkes—was in the air as over 400<br />
teens attended JSU club Chanukah gatherings<br />
at 14 Atlanta-area high schools.<br />
Rabbi Neiditch led the proceedings<br />
at each of the events, overseeing dreidel<br />
tournaments and teaching the teens the<br />
original Chanukah story and the laws of<br />
lighting the menorah. <strong>The</strong> teens also participated<br />
in discussions about the significance<br />
of miracles in our lives and took part in<br />
other fun activities, such as decorating<br />
who gathered to wish Sid Cojac, of Sandy<br />
Springs, also known as the mayor of<br />
MJCCA’s Main Street, a happy 98th birthday<br />
at the Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong> Community<br />
Center of Atlanta on Monday, November 7.<br />
Cojac was surprised with a cake and other<br />
goodies during the weekly meeting of the<br />
MJCCA’s Mature Adults’ Talking Heads<br />
group. He has been a long-time member of<br />
the MJCCA’s Mature Adults committee and<br />
actively participates in discussion groups,<br />
social gatherings, and other outings.<br />
Sid Cojac (from left), Jerry Broder,<br />
and Sidʼs daughter and son-in law,<br />
Roni and Alan Mintz (photo: MJCCA)<br />
wooden dreidels and making edible menorahs.<br />
JSU Lassiter Co-Presidents Jake<br />
Glickman and Alec Rush make decorative<br />
dreidels.<br />
Sarah Hamer and Megan Miller<br />
enjoying the JSU Chanukah<br />
Celebration at Riverwood.
Page 44 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Operation Lifeshield helps protect Israeli citizens from missile attacks<br />
“Trauma cement.” It’s the name given<br />
to the steel-reinforced concrete used to construct<br />
bomb shelters in Israel, and it evokes<br />
a sobering image of life in a nation still<br />
threatened by near daily missile attacks.<br />
Building those shelters is the work of<br />
Operation Lifeshield, a unique organization<br />
dedicated to providing air raid shelters for<br />
Israeli citizens. <strong>The</strong> group’s executive<br />
director, Rabbi Shmuel Bowman, was in<br />
Atlanta recently to talk about the threat facing<br />
Israelis and to issue an urgent appeal for<br />
donations as Operation Lifeshield continues<br />
its mission.<br />
Rabbi Shmuel Bowman (from left),<br />
Reverend Tony Crisp, and Susan<br />
OʼDwyer, Habif Arigeti & Wynneʼs<br />
Director of Business Development<br />
A European Sojourn, 1943-1945: An<br />
Autobiography<br />
By Pvt. Frederick O. Scheer, Serial No.<br />
14118781<br />
As recounted to Rear Admiral William<br />
O. Miller JAGC<br />
September 2011<br />
Trafford Publishing (www.trafford.com)<br />
$37.95<br />
Reading this book is like sitting<br />
down with a veteran and having him tell<br />
you, in comfortable conversation, his<br />
real war stories. But Fred Scheer’s stories<br />
are not so much about combat. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
are about being a POW of the Germans<br />
during World War II.<br />
Fred, who has vision problems,<br />
gives this credit on the book’s cover:<br />
“As Recounted to Rear Admiral William<br />
O. Miller.” Miller, known as “Dusty,”<br />
suggested that Fred write down his POW<br />
experiences and subsequently helped<br />
him put the book together.<br />
<strong>The</strong> story begins when Fred, who<br />
That mission: to save lives by providing<br />
Israel’s threatened communities with<br />
accessible, easy-to-reach protection in the<br />
event of an attack. Operation Lifeshield is<br />
the only nonprofit group working on building<br />
bomb shelters for every city in Israel.<br />
<strong>The</strong> need is clear enough. From the<br />
time a Code Red alarm signals an imminent<br />
missile attack in any Israeli community,<br />
local residents have 15-90 seconds to find<br />
shelter.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> shelters, which are placed at hot<br />
spots like bus stations, have saved many<br />
lives since the nonprofit was founded in<br />
2007,” Rabbi Bowman said. “However, the<br />
shelters are expensive. A fifteen-person<br />
shelter is $20,000, and a fifty-person shelter<br />
costs $40,000.”<br />
To date, Operation Lifeshield has<br />
placed at least 90 shelters in transit stops,<br />
synagogues, parks, and other areas where<br />
people gather. <strong>The</strong> group works with the<br />
Israel Defense Force Home Front<br />
Command to determine priority locations<br />
for the shelters.<br />
Determining those priorities is a difficult<br />
decision-making process for Operation<br />
Lifeshield, according to its executive director.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> organization is constantly overwhelmed<br />
by requests from municipalities<br />
asking for shelter,” he said.<br />
At a packed community forum in mid-<br />
calls himself “a young farm boy from<br />
Eatonton, Georgia,” reported to Fort<br />
McPherson on April 6, 1943. After one<br />
year at the<br />
University of<br />
Georgia, where<br />
he volunteered<br />
for the enlisted<br />
reserves, he<br />
was called up,<br />
herded through<br />
Army induction,<br />
and sent<br />
by troop train<br />
to Fort Riley,<br />
Kansas.<br />
Basic training<br />
was followed<br />
by living<br />
in tarpaper<br />
huts, where<br />
Kansas dust<br />
blew through<br />
the walls. Fred recounts, with equal parts<br />
realism and humor, the memories of getting<br />
his M-1 rifle, doing KP duty, practicing<br />
drills, doing calisthenics, and getting<br />
through obstacle courses.<br />
In October 1943, Fred was put on a<br />
ship to Europe, landing in Northern<br />
Ireland to join the 5th Infantry Division.<br />
Combat training followed for the next<br />
eight months.<br />
September hosted by Habif, Arogeti<br />
&Wynne (HA&W), Georgia’s largest independent<br />
accounting firm, Rabbi Bowman<br />
and other participants painted a stark picture<br />
of life in Israel’s most vulnerable cities<br />
and towns.<br />
“I don’t know how many executive<br />
directors of non-governmental organizations<br />
like myself get phone calls during the<br />
night from mayors of Israeli towns, who<br />
can’t sleep for fear that if they authorize<br />
children to go to school the next day, they<br />
may be sending them to their deaths,”<br />
Rabbi Bowman told the forum. “<strong>The</strong>y call<br />
me…at two or three o’clock in the morning<br />
screaming, ‘Shmuel, where are more shelters?<br />
Where are more shelters?’”<br />
Wherever the shelters are placed,<br />
Israeli citizens gain a sense of security and<br />
can feel safe going about their daily lives,<br />
Bowman and another panelist asserted.<br />
“I was near one of those bus stop shelters<br />
during my last visit,” said Alondra<br />
Larenas, a tax specialist with HA&W, who<br />
lived in Israel for 10 years. “It’s a very nice<br />
feeling that you have somewhere you can<br />
go and protect yourself in case something<br />
happens.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> shelters’ proximity to schools and<br />
playgrounds can also help relieve the anxiety<br />
suffered by thousands of Israeli children,<br />
he said, along with the medical prob-<br />
<strong>The</strong> D-Day invasion of Normandy<br />
commenced on June 6, 1944, and Fred’s<br />
unit landed July 10. He describes the<br />
landing, the<br />
fighting, and<br />
life in a foxhole.<br />
Fred<br />
was captured<br />
when his unit<br />
was surrounded<br />
by Germans<br />
soldiers coming<br />
around a<br />
hedgerow.<br />
Thus began his<br />
period as an<br />
American<br />
POW, in<br />
Stalag IV-F,<br />
lasting until<br />
the end of the<br />
war in Europe.<br />
<strong>The</strong> camp housed prisoners who<br />
worked on the railroad yard and along<br />
the railroad tracks. Fred describes the<br />
clothing issued to prisoners: one shirt,<br />
one pair of pants, one set of underwear,<br />
a pair of socks, and an overcoat. (Most<br />
overcoats had a bullet hole.) <strong>The</strong> shoe<br />
soles were so thin “we started to put<br />
pieces of newspaper in them to keep out<br />
the cold.”<br />
lems associated with childhood stress, such<br />
as mature bed-wetting and hair loss.<br />
Operation Lifeshield’s most recent<br />
shelter delivery was to a kibbutz founded<br />
by Holocaust survivors near the Lebanon<br />
border, in a region terrorized by Hezbollah<br />
rocket attacks and escalating threats.<br />
Rabbi Bowman’s involvement with<br />
Operation Lifeshield began in 2007, but his<br />
exposure to the threats facing his adopted<br />
nation came much earlier. He joined the<br />
Israel Defense Force on the brink of the<br />
Gulf War, moving to Israel and serving with<br />
the Emergency Readiness Team of the<br />
Israeli National Police.<br />
After spending years surrounded by the<br />
continuous fear of Hezbollah missile<br />
attacks on his fellow citizens, Rabbi<br />
Bowman was moved to join the newly<br />
founded Operation Lifeshield four years<br />
ago. As executive director, he participates<br />
in fundraising tours around the world.<br />
“We get donations for shelters from all<br />
over the world,” he told the forum.<br />
Community groups, foundations, corporations,<br />
and individual donors all contribute,<br />
he said.<br />
For more information on Operation<br />
Lifeshield, including how to help, visit<br />
www.operationlifeshield.org.<br />
Fred Scheer recounts his POW experiences in A European Sojourn, 1943-1945<br />
BY<br />
Carolyn<br />
Gold<br />
Double-decker bunks had a “straw<br />
mattress, accompanied by an ample supply<br />
of bed bugs.” Daily rations consisted<br />
of a cup of coffee (made from barley or<br />
other grain) and a quarter kilo of dark<br />
German bread in the morning and a bowl<br />
of small boiled potatoes and another cup<br />
of ersatz coffee in the evening. Once a<br />
week, they received a patty of mystery<br />
protein called bloodwurst. Some Red<br />
Cross packages arrived once a month.<br />
Fred describes how the prisoners<br />
stole bits of coal along the railroad track<br />
and any food they could find in the countryside.<br />
Prisoners worked in the bitter<br />
cold during the winter of 1945, and the<br />
potatoes became potato soup, which<br />
grew thinner and thinner.<br />
As the war was drawing to an end,<br />
Fred managed to escape. He describes<br />
how that happened and how his folks<br />
back in Eatonton got news first of his<br />
capture and then of his escape. <strong>The</strong> book<br />
contains pictures, documents, and newspaper<br />
clippings of these many events.<br />
Fred’s story luckily had a happy<br />
ending, after the many hardships he<br />
endured. He tells it all in a kindly voice<br />
that does not dwell on the horrors, but<br />
emphasizes the everyday efforts of a<br />
young “20 something” managing to survive<br />
and of some of the everyday people,<br />
French and German, who helped him.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 45<br />
Martin Luther King, Jr. - A Leader<br />
By David Geffen<br />
Reverend “Daddy” King, MLK’s<br />
father, was the chapel speaker at Emory<br />
University’s Glenn Memorial Church in the<br />
mid-fifties when I was a student there. At<br />
that point in time, segregation was rampant<br />
in Atlanta, in spite of the Supreme Court<br />
Decision. My fellow students and I wondered<br />
how Emory could break the color line<br />
so easily, since the school had no black students.<br />
Maybe Coca-Cola, the school’s<br />
biggest donor, was behind the invitation.<br />
Martin Luther King, Jr.<br />
Chapel in those days was always on<br />
Wednesday mornings when classes were<br />
cancelled. You could not “cut” chapel<br />
because attendance was taken. We marched<br />
into the big chapel that day not knowing<br />
what to expect. Present was this all-white<br />
audience and a black minister. For all of us<br />
it was quite a sight and became a morning<br />
to remember.<br />
<strong>The</strong> university chaplain introduced<br />
King, and we all sat on the edge of our<br />
chairs waiting for him to begin. “Young<br />
men,” he began since the school had not<br />
gone co-ed, “you are most fortunate to be<br />
here. When I was your age, I was still performing<br />
miniscule tasks with my father.<br />
Somehow I got the message, part of it from<br />
the girl I courted who became my wife, that<br />
God had more in store for me. I became a<br />
minister of the gospel and, in time, became<br />
head of the Ebenezer Baptist church on<br />
Auburn Avenue here in the city.”<br />
Auburn Avenue was the locale of most<br />
black businesses in Atlanta. Some were<br />
quite successful - one insurance company<br />
was known nationwide. I was familiar with<br />
the area a bit because my father, Louis<br />
Geffen, an attorney, had black clients. In the<br />
thirties, the early years of his law practice,<br />
he became known to the black community<br />
because he was someone to be trusted.<br />
After his six years as a judge advocate<br />
in the US Army in World War 2, he returned<br />
to Atlanta and continued to have individuals<br />
from this community who came to him for<br />
their legal work. I accompanied him often<br />
when he met them on Auburn Avenue to<br />
find out what needed to be done. I must<br />
admit that it was only many years later that<br />
I came to know some of my black contemporaries.<br />
Segregation truly kept us apart.<br />
King continued that day in the past by<br />
citing the Bible. “When Moses was chosen<br />
to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, he was<br />
hesitant because his speech was not perfect,<br />
‘tongue-tied.’ So he called on his brother<br />
Aaron to help him out,” King said. What we<br />
Negros know is that we must lead our people<br />
out of Egypt and go forward into the<br />
Promised Land. Some of us realize that our<br />
speech is not too good, so we need some of<br />
you whites to help us. When you listen to<br />
me, like you are doing today, you are helping<br />
us get on the path to a new life. I want<br />
you to know that by the time you are earning<br />
a living, we blacks will be on the freedom<br />
trail in schools, in business, in the arts<br />
and in sports. I am proud that Emory<br />
brought me here today, and I thank you for<br />
being so respectful. Hallelujah!”<br />
I told my parents about this experience,<br />
since I lived at home. “<strong>The</strong>y are good people”<br />
was their response. Some of my AEPi<br />
fraternity brothers were in favor of black<br />
rights, so they thought King’s message was<br />
great. <strong>The</strong> person who truly analyzed this<br />
moment for me was my Professor of poetry,<br />
Floyd C. Watkins. “David, I grew up in Ball<br />
Ground, Georgia, where few people finished<br />
the eighth grade. I knew the local<br />
Negro minister, and he kept saying, ‘Floyd,<br />
Floyd you got a mind - use it.’ So I feel that<br />
the Negros too have the ability to study and<br />
be successful. David, just you wait and<br />
see.”<br />
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Martin Luther King, Jr., Mickey Shure<br />
and Peter Geffen<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was a big gap in my life between<br />
that Emory chapel address of the father and<br />
my actually hearing the son, Martin Luther<br />
King, Jr. Truth to tell, I did not do much to<br />
help overthrow segregation in the U.S. I<br />
was not a part of sit-ins, teach-ins, or<br />
marches, but my cousin Peter Geffen was.<br />
In the spring of 1968 he gave me a ride up<br />
to the Rabbinical Assembly convention.<br />
Held at Kutshers Hotel, the great attraction<br />
was Martin Luther King, Jr. He was introduced<br />
by his comrade in arms in the struggle,<br />
Professor Abraham Joshua Heschel.<br />
Heschel gave a moving introduction<br />
before King’s presentation, including these<br />
words. “Martin Luther King, Jr., is a voice,<br />
a vision and a way. Martin Luther King is a<br />
sign that God has not forsaken the United<br />
States of America. I call upon every Jew to<br />
hearken to his voice, to share his vision, to<br />
follow in his way. <strong>The</strong> whole future of<br />
America will depend on the impact and<br />
influence of Dr. King.”<br />
When King spoke, he praised Israel as<br />
Martin Luther King, Jr., and<br />
Professor Abraham Joshua Heschel<br />
an “oasis in the desert.” He lauded the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> people for assisting the blacks in the<br />
early years of the century and now. <strong>The</strong><br />
atmosphere was electric and I recalled<br />
“Daddy” King at Emory telling us what the<br />
future held for his people.<br />
In the summer of 1963, my wife, Rita,<br />
and I had come to Israel to study. We<br />
missed the March on Washington, since we<br />
were in Jerusalem. In an unexpected way<br />
we were able to feel that great moment in<br />
US history. Here in Israel, in those days 49<br />
years ago, movies were accompanied by<br />
newsreels. Without TV in Israel then, news<br />
came by radio or by newspaper.<br />
We went to the Paladin <strong>The</strong>ater on<br />
Agrippas a week after the march for a<br />
movie, but we really wanted to see the<br />
newsreel. <strong>The</strong>re on the screen, we witnessed<br />
portions of the march, and we heard<br />
MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Even<br />
more uplifting were the words of a young<br />
man sitting behind us. “Zeh manhig,” he<br />
said and we echoed, “that’s a leader.”
Page 46 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
MISH MASH<br />
By Erin O’Shinskey<br />
MAKING HISTORY. In honor of its 175th<br />
anniversary, Emory University has designated<br />
Elliott Levitas, of the law firm Kilpatrick<br />
Townsend, one of 175 Emory Historymakers.<br />
Mr. Levitas, a Rhodes Scholar, served in the<br />
Georgia Legislature (1966-1975) and the U.S.<br />
House of Representatives (1975-1985). He<br />
served on the plaintiffs’ litigation team in the<br />
historic class-action suit of Cobell v. Norton,<br />
which sued the federal government on behalf<br />
of more than 500,000 Native Americans for<br />
breach of trust regarding U.S.-held lands and<br />
trust funds; this led to a $3.4 billion settlement,<br />
the largest class-action award against the government<br />
in U.S. history.<br />
Elliott Levitas<br />
FEDERATION HONORED. At its biennial<br />
convention, the Union for Reform Judaism’s<br />
Synagogue-Federation Relations Committee<br />
presents the Shutafim Award for Outstanding<br />
Federation/Synagogue Partnerships to three<br />
communities—one small, one mid-sized, and<br />
one large. <strong>The</strong> UJA-Federation of New York,<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Greater Houston, and<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Western<br />
Massachusetts were honored at URJ’s<br />
December convention, outside Washington,<br />
D.C. <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Greater Atlanta and<br />
nine other Federations (Princeton Mercer<br />
Bucks; Springfield, Illinois; Tulsa; New<br />
Mexico; Ft. Worth & Tarrant County; Broward<br />
County; Greater New Orleans; and Greater<br />
Toronto) were recognized for meritorious<br />
cooperation and mutual support.<br />
LOCAL PROFESSIONALS ON NATIONAL<br />
TEAM. Two <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation of Greater<br />
Atlanta professionals have been selected to<br />
serve on <strong>Jewish</strong> Federations of North<br />
America’s 10-person Professional<br />
Development Institute Leadership Team.<br />
Ronette Throne, vice president of Community<br />
Campaign, and Phyllis Silverstein, vice president<br />
of Planned Giving & Endowment, will<br />
assist in planning this year’s skill-building conference,<br />
in coordination with other Federation<br />
professionals from around the country. <strong>The</strong><br />
conference will unite development professionals<br />
to discuss new ideas about integration and<br />
new models of development, as well as address<br />
timely and critical issues.<br />
Phyllis Silverstein (from left); Rabbi<br />
Louis Feldstein, Federation COO; and<br />
Ronette Throne at Federationʼs Major<br />
Donor Thank You event<br />
CASINO NIGHT. Nearly 200 people had a<br />
great time at <strong>Jewish</strong> Educational Loan Fund’s<br />
2nd annual casino night, JELF: A Sure Bet on<br />
the Future Casino Night and Silent Auction<br />
Fundraiser, December 3, 2011, at Le Fais Dodo.<br />
<strong>The</strong> event, chaired by Karen Goldstein,<br />
Marcey Alter, and Justin Wyatt, raised funds<br />
for JELF, which provides interest-free loans for<br />
post-secondary study at accredited institutions<br />
to <strong>Jewish</strong> students from communities in<br />
Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North<br />
Carolina, and Virginia. Applications for the<br />
<strong>2012</strong>-2013 academic year will be available at<br />
www.jelf.org on March 1.<br />
Casino Night guests at tables<br />
ANNUAL MEETING. At JELF’s 135th<br />
Annual Meeting, December 15, at Marcus<br />
Hillel Center, Emory University, a new president<br />
was inducted—Ed Hyken, who is not only<br />
a seasoned JELF volunteer, but also a past loan<br />
recipient. JELF also thanked and acknowledged<br />
outgoing President Jeff Alperin for his<br />
excellent leadership over the past two years,<br />
awarding him a place on the JELF Honor Roll.<br />
Lisa Salzman of Durham, North Carolina, and<br />
Howard Wexler, of Atlanta, were awarded the<br />
Garber Family Service Award, which recognizes<br />
newer board members and up-and-coming<br />
leaders.<br />
Jeff Alperin and Rob Smulian<br />
Marvin Botnick, Harold Berger, and<br />
Morris Brown<br />
SEPHARDIC BAKING. <strong>The</strong> Mt. Scopus<br />
Group of Greater Atlanta Hadassahʼs<br />
Sephardic Baking Event with Sarah<br />
Duwell took place November 6, at a<br />
kosher home of a member. <strong>The</strong> money<br />
raised by this event will help Hadassah<br />
support its two state-of-the-art hospitals<br />
doing breakthrough medical<br />
research in Jerusalem. Sarah Duwell<br />
holds a cookie sheet of biscochos de<br />
huevo, a sugar cookie, as Mt. Scopus<br />
member Julia Alvo looks on.<br />
“Beyond Politics: Inspirational People<br />
of Israel” was the subject of the Mt.<br />
Scopus Group of Greater Atlanta<br />
Hadassah meeting, November 9, at the<br />
Chamblee Library. Anita Levy presents<br />
speaker and author Ronda Robinson a<br />
Hadassah certificate in honor of her<br />
presentation.<br />
DELEGATION VISITS ATLANTA. Top leaders<br />
from the Israeli Center for Disease Control<br />
recently made an unprecedented working visit<br />
to the Centers for Disease Control and<br />
Prevention in Atlanta. <strong>The</strong> delegation consulted<br />
with several directors and experts in various<br />
fields at CDC, including chronic disease prevention,<br />
cancer prevention, smoking and<br />
health, food safety, public health preparedness,<br />
injury prevention, environmental health, and<br />
immunizations. ICDC members learned about<br />
how CDC works 24-7 saving lives, protecting<br />
people worldwide, and saving money through<br />
prevention; they plan to incorporate this newly<br />
acquired knowledge into ICDC’s <strong>2012</strong> working<br />
plan.<br />
ICDC visits CDC: (front) Ross Mason,<br />
founder and managing Director HINRI<br />
Labs, Inc.; (back, from left) Dr. Michal<br />
Bromberg, head, Infectious Diseases<br />
Unit, ICDC; Dr. Inbar Zucker, senior resident,<br />
Public Health, ICDC; Sharon<br />
Kabalo, deputy consul general of Israel<br />
to the Southeast; Anneke Ifrah, head,<br />
Publications Department, ICDC; Shelley<br />
Castaldi, director of Academic Affairs,<br />
Consulate General of Israel to the<br />
Southeast; Opher Aviran, consul general<br />
of Israel to the Southeast; Michael<br />
Edmeades; Dr. Tamy Shohat, director,<br />
ICDC; Dr. Lital Keinan-Boker, deputy<br />
director, ICDC; and Talyah Aviran<br />
Etz Chaim Preschool students recently<br />
learned about “Parsha Bereshet,” the<br />
story of creation. Sophie Levy and Milo<br />
Medoff explore their shadows while<br />
learning about light and darkness.<br />
As part of a unit about Parsha<br />
Bereshet,” the story of creation, Etz<br />
Chaim Preschool students gathered<br />
interesting objects from nature to<br />
examine in the classroom. Pictured<br />
(from left) are Tzvi Gan, Julia Goldberg,
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 47<br />
Sophie Levy, Ethan Efrat, Ellison<br />
Krivutza, Milo Medoff, Hannah<br />
Buxbaum, Daniel Barchichat, and<br />
Jackson Greiner<br />
COOKIN’. Support <strong>The</strong> Temple Early<br />
Learning Center and get some delicious recipes<br />
in the bargain. <strong>The</strong> TELC cookbook, Not Just<br />
Chicken Soup, is now available for just $20. It<br />
comes packed with recipes collected from<br />
Temple members, as well as helpful tips and<br />
tricks for every kitchen situation. Discount<br />
pricing is available for bulk orders, but act fast<br />
before they’re gone. To place an order, contact<br />
Karen Luscher at karen.luscher@gmail.com,<br />
or call <strong>The</strong> TELC at 404-872-8668.<br />
JEWISH HERITAGE CONTEST. <strong>The</strong> 9th<br />
Annual <strong>Jewish</strong> Heritage Contest is a writing<br />
competition that offers a creative opportunity<br />
for fostering strong <strong>Jewish</strong> identity among<br />
middle-school students. Entries are judged on<br />
originality of thought and quality of writing in<br />
three categories: creative writing (essay); true<br />
story: personal or family; and poetry. <strong>The</strong> contest<br />
deadline is April 16. For details, visit<br />
www.jewishheritagecontest.com.<br />
JOB SEEKER STRESS. Are you dealing with<br />
the emotional stress of being unemployed and<br />
looking for a job? Job loss can take you on a<br />
roller coaster of emotions—anger, fear, relief,<br />
and hope for a new direction. JF&CS offers a<br />
support group where you can release your<br />
emotions and reinvigorate with other job seekers<br />
as you move through this transition. Come<br />
share stories, experiences, ideas, and<br />
resources—without the pressure of needing to<br />
be “on.” Contact Betsy Frasier at 770-677-<br />
9310.<br />
Mrs. Dena Friedman and Mrs. Elana<br />
Shenk lead Torah Day School of Atlanta<br />
kindergarten students in singing<br />
Chanukah songs for the residents at<br />
Summerʼs Landing assisted living facility.<br />
(Photo: D. Kapenstein)<br />
Epsteinʼs 4th-grade choir performed for<br />
a group of Holocaust survivors at their<br />
monthly social gathering, Café Europa.<br />
Afterward, they worked on decorating<br />
cookies to be donated to a homeless<br />
shelter.<br />
Service! Where is it?<br />
BY<br />
Marice<br />
Katz<br />
A recent article in <strong>The</strong> Wall Street<br />
Journal Magazine featured a gentleman<br />
who had been CEO of an exclusive<br />
store some years ago. He talked<br />
about how disgusting retail is now, not<br />
like in the old days, when the salespeople<br />
wore proper outfits and treated customers<br />
royally. It reminded me of how<br />
frustrated I often get when so little consideration<br />
is shown the ones paying<br />
their wages: the customers. And it is<br />
not just retail.<br />
I don’t want to identify the ones at<br />
fault, but take one of the big telephone<br />
companies. I was talked into signing up<br />
for a new service a few years ago, and<br />
my phones have not worked properly<br />
since. Yes, I have had technicians out—<br />
three in a row—and the last was a<br />
supervisor. He fixed the new problem<br />
that the previous tech created, but now<br />
my fax rings when my phone rings. To<br />
whom do you complain about a super-<br />
visor? Another supervisor? I am just<br />
living with it right now.<br />
And then there was the office supply<br />
company that did not want to give<br />
me the rewards I had accumulated,<br />
because they said the answer I gave to<br />
a privacy question was incorrect. <strong>The</strong><br />
question: Where were you born? I told<br />
them Durham, North Carolina. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
did not accept that, and I heatedly told<br />
them I certainly knew in which city I<br />
was born. When I told this to the head<br />
manager, he said, “Oh, for Pete’s sake;<br />
I am so sorry you had to go through<br />
that.”<br />
Of course, we have all had the<br />
experience of being transferred from<br />
one section of a company to another.<br />
And still not getting the department we<br />
needed.<br />
One final thing: I was on the phone<br />
all afternoon recently with someone<br />
overseas, because my new printer has<br />
never worked, and the company from<br />
which I purchased it refused to<br />
exchange it for another. Why? Because<br />
the deadline for that was 14 days, and<br />
nobody told me that. Well, I got it<br />
fixed, but it took all afternoon.<br />
Thanks for letting me vent.
Page 48 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Atlanta Scholars Kollel at 25<br />
In late August 1987, three newly<br />
ordained rabbis, from Baltimore’s Ner Israel<br />
Rabbinical College, and their families packed<br />
up all their earthly belongings and drove in<br />
caravan style to Atlanta to begin a brand new<br />
concept: the “outreach kollel.” (<strong>The</strong> term kollel,<br />
literally “inclusive” in Hebrew, was adopted<br />
in pre-war Europe to refer to a group of<br />
advanced Torah scholars, typically married,<br />
who study in a post-yeshiva framework.)<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea was to create a cross between a<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> think-tank and a community outreach<br />
center. <strong>The</strong> young rabbis would study<br />
Talmudic law together and then go out into the<br />
community at large to teach, inspire, encourage,<br />
and connect Jews to their precious heritage.<br />
What was novel about this new venture<br />
was the communal outreach component. <strong>The</strong><br />
few dozen kollels in the states at the time were<br />
full-time learning centers. This was the dawn<br />
of a new beginning.<br />
<strong>The</strong> story begins during the preceding<br />
summers, when Ner Israel sent Rabbi<br />
Binyomin Friedman and his wife, Dena, to<br />
lead the Atlanta Summer Kollel, which was<br />
hosted by Congregation Beth Jacob. Rabbi<br />
Ilan Feldman was then assistant rabbi to his<br />
father, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman, and, as he<br />
contemplated his future in the rabbinate, the<br />
idea of bringing a year-round kollel was very<br />
appealing. He and his brothers grew up in an<br />
Atlanta that was warm and nurturing, but it<br />
was a time when only he and his brothers<br />
wore yarmulkes to Braves games or were<br />
Sabbath-observant. A kollel would provide<br />
collegial support, model a spiritually committed<br />
lifestyle, and share the beauty of Judaism<br />
with <strong>Georgian</strong>s who might never set foot in an<br />
Orthodox shul.<br />
For Rabbi Ilan Feldman and the young<br />
enthusiastic Rabbi Friedman, it was obvious<br />
that this was the right idea. <strong>The</strong> question was:<br />
How? <strong>The</strong>y brought the matter to the attention<br />
of the head of the yeshiva—Rabbi Feldman’s<br />
father-in-law, the revered scholar and communal<br />
leader, Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg z”l.<br />
Rabbi Weinberg promptly suggested that<br />
Rabbi Menachem Deutsch—who had just<br />
rejuvenated a once-floundering fundraising<br />
campaign on behalf of Chinuch Atzmai, a private<br />
school system in Israel—consider taking<br />
the lead role in founding the Atlanta Scholars<br />
Kollel (ASK). A special bouquet of flowers<br />
for Shabbos, sent by the Feldmans to the<br />
Deutsch family, sealed the deal.<br />
Would the Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> community<br />
support the kollel and its families? Chuck and<br />
Leslie Lowenstein were the first to answer the<br />
call. <strong>The</strong>ir lead commitment, in July 1987,<br />
blazed the trail for others to embrace a kollel,<br />
even though most of the people didn’t know<br />
exactly what a kollel was.<br />
After the kollel arrived, Rabbi Deutsch<br />
configured an office in his basement, hiring<br />
“Bubby” Ethel Cenker as the secretary, opening<br />
a business account, and setting the annual<br />
calendar. Many decisions needed to be made:<br />
When does the rabbis’ learning part of the day<br />
start? What is our mission statement? How do<br />
we attract students when they don’t even<br />
know what a kollel is or what learning Torah<br />
is all about? When they find out, will they still<br />
want to participate? How do we start a Beis<br />
Midrash (Torah study hall)? What happens<br />
when the initial funding runs out?<br />
Rabbi Menachem Deutsch, founding<br />
dean of ASK, 1987-2010<br />
<strong>The</strong> mission of ASK was simple: to promote<br />
Torah study in Atlanta. Rabbi Herbert<br />
Cohen, of Yeshiva High School of Atlanta<br />
(today Yeshiva Atlanta), graciously offered<br />
the school’s Beis Midrash as a place to start.<br />
Within a few weeks, the kollel rabbis were<br />
passionately absorbed in their own Torah<br />
study, as if they were still in Baltimore; now,<br />
to share that passion with the rest of the city!<br />
It became evident to Rabbi Deutsch that,<br />
in order to make Torah study accessible to all<br />
Jews, the kollel would have to embrace an<br />
activist stance, seeking out local Jews and<br />
offering them multiple modalities for <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
learning. This stance was reflected in the kollel’s<br />
original public mission statement:<br />
“Whether you’re Reform, Conservative,<br />
Orthodox, unaffiliated, or somewhere in<br />
between, the Atlanta Scholars Kollel (ASK) is<br />
your most vibrant source for <strong>Jewish</strong> learning<br />
in Atlanta!”<br />
Rabbis David Silverman and Yaakov<br />
Schwartz began their day teaching at Yeshiva<br />
High School. In the afternoons, the rabbis’<br />
learning took place in the school’s Beis<br />
Midrash. In the evenings, classes were formed<br />
for those whose interest had been piqued, and<br />
“homegroups” were created, leveraging social<br />
circles, for teaching introductory classes about<br />
Judaism. <strong>The</strong> topics were intriguing—sometimes<br />
light and sometimes heavy. <strong>The</strong> rabbis<br />
recall with a chuckle that often, at the end of a<br />
homegroup, as the rabbi thought he would<br />
field one or two more questions before people<br />
headed for the door, someone would innocently<br />
drop a bomb, such as: “Rabbi, so how do<br />
you explain the Holocaust?” or “Do you really<br />
believe that the Red Sea split?”<br />
After several months, Rabbis Shmuel<br />
Khoshkerman and Binyomin Friedman joined<br />
the ASK team. Rabbi Khoshkerman set out to<br />
address the needs of a fledgling Iranian community<br />
in Atlanta; today, he is rav and spiritual<br />
guide to several hundred Jews across the<br />
spectrum of Sephardic Jewry at Congregation<br />
Ner Hamizrach, as well as a sought-after<br />
authority and author of works on <strong>Jewish</strong> law.<br />
Rabbi Friedman captured his audiences with<br />
his thought-provoking Torah classes. After a<br />
friendship with community activist Adrian<br />
Grant was ignited on a Federation mission to<br />
Israel, the two friends piloted the first lunchand-learn<br />
at Adrian’s CPA firm, Aarons Grant<br />
& Habif. Today, the lunch-and-learn concept<br />
is ubiquitous, adopted by many communal<br />
organizations throughout metro Atlanta.<br />
Two years later, ASK expanded with the<br />
addition of Rabbi Menashe Goldberger,<br />
whose charge was to strengthen the learning<br />
in the kollel community Beis Midrash and<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Unity Live honors Rabbi Deutsch<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Unity Live <strong>2012</strong> will be an anniversary extravaganza for Atlanta Scholars<br />
Kollel, which is celebrating 25 years. <strong>The</strong> kollel rabbis will stroll down memory lane<br />
and pay tribute to Rabbi Menachem Deutsch for his years of vision, creativity, and<br />
leadership.<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Unity Live <strong>2012</strong> takes place March 11, at the Woodruff Arts Center. To<br />
register, visit www.atlantakollel.org, or call Marcia at the home office at 404-321-4085.<br />
who later taught part-time at Torah Day<br />
School. In July of 1990, Rabbi Deutsch<br />
teamed up with the Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong> Federation<br />
to hire Rabbi Michoel Lipschutz, to address<br />
the acculturation of Atlanta’s Russian <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
immigrants.<br />
In 1989, Rabbi Friedman helped organize<br />
the <strong>Jewish</strong> Educational Alliance, a studentbased<br />
organization at Emory University.<br />
Eventually, in 1997, the kollel recruited the<br />
talented Rabbi Ahron Golding, to expand the<br />
college outreach efforts to include Georgia<br />
Tech, Life Chiropractic College, and the<br />
University of Georgia for Shabbatons and<br />
weeknight learning. In 2005, Rabbi Golding<br />
became the first kollel rabbi in the U.S. to be<br />
appointed as Hillel rabbi. In 2006 and 2008<br />
respectively, ASK expanded the college program<br />
even further with the arrival of Rabbis<br />
Shlomo Gelbtuch and Yaakov Fleshel. Today,<br />
learning opportunities are offered at Emory<br />
University, Georgia Tech, Georgia State<br />
University, University of Georgia, Oglethorpe<br />
University, and Kennesaw State University.<br />
Meanwhile, in 1994, Rabbi Silverman<br />
began to take his experience working with<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> teens on the road and reach out to the<br />
many who were enrolled in non-<strong>Jewish</strong> private<br />
high schools. <strong>The</strong> students would meet<br />
after school with the “cool” rabbi, in both<br />
group and one-on-one encounters. <strong>The</strong> program<br />
was eventually embraced by school<br />
administrators, and Rabbi Silverman was<br />
invited to meet with the students at a “<strong>Jewish</strong><br />
lunch club” to discuss topics of interest over<br />
kosher pizza. Over the years, Woodward,<br />
Westminster, Pace, Paideia, International, and<br />
Lovett schools have all hosted the rabbi.<br />
Recently, North Springs High School, a public<br />
school, opened its doors to the program.<br />
One of the most far-reaching projects that<br />
ASK has facilitated to date is the development<br />
of <strong>Jewish</strong> learning in Dunwoody. Together,<br />
Rabbis Deutsch and Friedman implemented<br />
the gradual process, first leasing a storefront<br />
in a strip mall off of Jett Ferry Road; then purchasing<br />
a residential property on Sandell<br />
Court, which Rabbi Deutsch helped pay for<br />
through a second mortgage on his own home;<br />
and finally purchasing the present site of<br />
Congregation Ariel on Tilly Mill Road, which<br />
is today the hub of a thriving community<br />
under the loving guidance of Rabbi Friedman<br />
and his renowned rebbetzin, “Morah Dena.”<br />
Over the past decade, Rabbis Daniel Freitag<br />
and Michoel Friedman (no relation to<br />
Binyomin) have moved into the Dunwoody<br />
community to assist the congregational rabbi<br />
with classes and outreach.<br />
ASK’s two-pronged focus on Torah<br />
learning and community outreach has been<br />
eternalized in the construction and dedicated<br />
use of its two learning facilities. <strong>The</strong> state-ofthe-art<br />
ASK Beis Midrash on Lavista Road<br />
(contiguous with Congregation Beth Jacob) is<br />
occupied over 16 hours a day, by adults and<br />
teens in classes and one-on-one chavrusa<br />
study on all levels of <strong>Jewish</strong> literacy. <strong>The</strong><br />
Dome, in Dunwoody, is home to Kollel<br />
Institute, a comprehensive overview program<br />
for adults with minimal <strong>Jewish</strong> knowledge,<br />
consisting of four courses: <strong>Jewish</strong> History,<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Living, <strong>Jewish</strong> Thought, and the Book<br />
(Bible). <strong>The</strong> Free Hebrew Crash Course<br />
(offered in both locations) guarantees reading<br />
proficiency in five sessions—or your money<br />
back!<br />
Although it now has the bricks and mortar,<br />
ASK continues to bring Torah learning to<br />
people throughout the metro area: adult beginners’<br />
prayer services on both Sabbath and<br />
weekdays; weekly learning and social events<br />
for singles and young couples; numerous<br />
lunch-and-learns in corporate and professional<br />
offices, hospitals, the MJCCA, schools, and<br />
private homes; women’s study groups, and<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> teen clubs. Torah Media Atlanta<br />
(www.torahmediaatlanta.com), a privately<br />
operated and funded website that is a veritable<br />
repository of thousands of Torah lectures and<br />
classes delivered in Atlanta, was conceived<br />
and first hosted on the ASK website.<br />
In 2006, ASK recruited a full-time rosh<br />
kollel (traditional title of the academic head of<br />
a learning kollel), Rabbi Doniel Pransky, from<br />
the Columbus Community Kollel, in Ohio.<br />
Rabbi Pransky’s primary role is to direct the<br />
scholarly learning of the rabbis and other<br />
advanced students of Torah in the community.<br />
He is a first-class Talmud scholar, as well as a<br />
prolific teacher for both men and women on<br />
topics ranging from <strong>Jewish</strong> philosophy to<br />
Tanach (Bible) to intricate matters of halacha<br />
(<strong>Jewish</strong> law).<br />
<strong>The</strong> current rabbinical staff of ASK<br />
In April 2011, Rabbi Deutsch spread his<br />
wings and became the North American coordinator<br />
of college outreach for the Wolfson-<br />
Horn Foundation. After months of “downloading”<br />
twenty-four years of experience and<br />
sheer memory to his successors, Rabbi<br />
Deutsch handed the keys to Rabbis Silverman<br />
and Pransky to lead the kollel into its next<br />
phase of growth and success.<br />
In mid-<strong>January</strong>, ASK launched its new<br />
website, www.atlantakollel.org, to connect<br />
people to <strong>Jewish</strong> learning on the cutting edge.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 49<br />
A note of gratitude from a rookie softball coach<br />
By Marc Frost<br />
Having read and enjoyed Jerry<br />
Schwartz’s “Schwartz On Sports” column<br />
in <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong>, I was motivated to<br />
write about my firsthand experience as a<br />
rookie coach at the Marcus <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA).<br />
What a thrill it was for me. I only hope that<br />
I can approach what Jerry does in capturing<br />
the excitement and camaraderie that is part<br />
of this scene.<br />
While I played baseball in my younger<br />
years in New York, 2011 was only my second<br />
year of playing at MJCCA. I so enjoyed<br />
the experience, that when the Fall League<br />
concluded, I decided to try my hand at<br />
coaching. <strong>The</strong> team ranged from people in<br />
their 20s to those in their 60s, and some had<br />
participated for over 30 years.<br />
Coaching added a new dimension to<br />
my sports participation. Naturally, there<br />
were lows, including a 7-game losing<br />
streak. But, like the World Series-winning<br />
St. Louis Cardinals, our players got hot at<br />
the right time. Although we were underdogs<br />
in all three playoff games, we swept those<br />
three teams, winning the season-finale<br />
championship game by a 14-2 score. What<br />
a thrill!<br />
Success in baseball and softball starts<br />
with a pitcher, and Jack Arogeti, who reactivated<br />
himself to play in the 2011 Spring<br />
and Fall Leagues, filled that bill. Having<br />
played and become friends with Jack in the<br />
Spring League on Michael Kornheiser’s<br />
championship team (we won 11 of 12<br />
games), I was excited to not only have him<br />
as a player but also to help me coach. Jack<br />
On Sunday, December 11, <strong>The</strong><br />
William Bremen <strong>Jewish</strong> Home remembered<br />
former residents who died in the past<br />
twelve months, with a candle lighting and<br />
remembrance service in <strong>The</strong> Home’s<br />
Garson Auditorium. <strong>The</strong> new tradition provided<br />
an opportunity for staff and current<br />
residents to remember the deceased and to<br />
provide comfort to their families.<br />
Led by <strong>The</strong> Home’s Culture Change<br />
Team with assistance from in-house chaplain<br />
Cantor Donna Faye Marcus, the<br />
poignant non-denominational service was<br />
sprinkled with touching and sometimes<br />
humorous anecdotes from family members,<br />
current residents, and staff. Each of the 41<br />
residents was remembered individually. As<br />
the person’s name was read, a family member<br />
was invited to light a candle. For those<br />
who did not have family present, a staff<br />
member close to that individual lit a candle.<br />
Many families expressed appreciation<br />
to <strong>The</strong> Home’s staff, and some recounted<br />
stories about their loved ones’ experiences<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Home.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> service gave our staff and residents<br />
a way to honor those who impacted<br />
MJCCA Menʼs Softball Tournament Champs: (front, from left) Todd Mitman<br />
(supersub), Neil Weisenfeld, and Josh Tolchin (supersub); (standing)<br />
Jeremy Zisholtz, Dr. Barry Zisholtz, Josh Perlstein, Jack Arogeti, Captain<br />
Mark Frost, Michael “Diggs” Grosswald, Scott Arogeti, Wayne Aronson, and<br />
Jeremy Friedman. Not pictured: Harris Weinstein<br />
kept the book and would e-mail me recaps<br />
of each game and season-to-date statistics,<br />
which helped me tweak our lineup for the<br />
upcoming game.<br />
Outfielders Wayne Aronson and Neil<br />
Weisenfeld played on our teams in both the<br />
Spring and Fall Leagues, and their experience,<br />
outfield dependability, and leadoff<br />
batting consistencies were tremendous<br />
assets throughout our 24-game 2011 seasons.<br />
We also drafted young guys, including<br />
newcomer Jeremy Zisholtz, son of teammate<br />
Barry Zisholtz; Harris Weinstein;<br />
our lives,” says Harley Tabak, CEO of <strong>The</strong><br />
Home. “While the end of life is part of our<br />
job, our residents become our extended<br />
family. <strong>The</strong>y are our grandmothers, sisters,<br />
uncles, and fathers. We feel the loss each<br />
Scott Arogeti, Jack’s son; and Jeremy<br />
Friedman, whom we traded for after the<br />
draft and who played outstanding shortstop<br />
and had many big hits. Catcher John<br />
Perlstein performed yeoman’s duties as “a<br />
pitcher’s catcher” and often batted as cleanup<br />
hitter. Michael “Diggs” Grosswald had<br />
hit after hit, and it seemed as though he,<br />
Neil, Wayne, Josh Pearlstein, and Jeremy<br />
would be on base every time I looked up.<br />
This was perhaps the first time ever at<br />
MJCCA that there were two father-son<br />
combinations playing together. This added<br />
time and appreciate being part of their lives<br />
for however long they were part of ours.”<br />
Among the memorialized was Irene<br />
Russ. A Holocaust survivor, she left a lasting<br />
legacy at <strong>The</strong> Home by donating a<br />
an extra dimension, and this family feeling<br />
spread throughout the team. While no one<br />
hit the ball over the fence for a home run—<br />
ever—the camaraderie and cohesiveness<br />
melded for a winning combination.<br />
Teamwork, defense, and respect for<br />
fellow players during the game and in the<br />
dugout were paramount. We discouraged<br />
negative remarks to one another on and off<br />
the field, realizing that mutual respect leads<br />
to teamwork and focusing on the next<br />
inning. This is what amateur athletics is<br />
supposed to be about. And if you can win,<br />
that’s not too bad, either.<br />
Whatever the ingredients were, they<br />
worked.<br />
For anyone considering playing this<br />
upcoming Spring <strong>2012</strong> season, come on<br />
out. Call the MJCCA, and, whether you’ve<br />
played before or not, you’ll find a great<br />
group of guys who take the league and competition<br />
seriously but know it’s a recreational<br />
league. You’ll find an environment where<br />
you can make friends with people who have<br />
respect for one another and the game.<br />
Special thanks to fellow coaches Jody<br />
Blanke, Gene Benator, Todd Schecter, and<br />
Greg Eisenman, who set admirable coaching<br />
and personal examples and helped make<br />
finding substitute players less stressful.<br />
I’m looking forward, G-d willing, to<br />
coaching next year and would gladly take<br />
the same ten players. While a competitive<br />
draft is likely to preclude that, I am so glad<br />
to be part of this fun and competitive<br />
league. And that’s always worth giving<br />
thanks for.<br />
William Breman <strong>Jewish</strong> Home remembers residents at First Annual Memorial Service<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Home Culture Change Team lights the final remembrance candle<br />
handwritten chronicle of her experiences in<br />
concentration camps. She did this to help<br />
staff understand the needs of other survivors.<br />
Ms. Russ’ two sons attended the<br />
memorial and expressed appreciation to<br />
<strong>The</strong> Home’s staff for “making her life<br />
much richer.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> remembrance service is part of<br />
<strong>The</strong> Home’s ongoing Culture Change<br />
efforts to create a place that looks and feels<br />
more like home. Staff members are consistently<br />
assigned to the same “neighborhood”<br />
and the same residents. Staff members<br />
become family with the residents, and the<br />
residents’ families become extended family<br />
to others in <strong>The</strong> Home.<br />
<strong>The</strong> William Breman <strong>Jewish</strong> Home has<br />
been providing skilled nursing care in the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> tradition for over 60 years. As one<br />
of Atlanta’s leading senior residential care<br />
providers, the Home also owns and operates<br />
<strong>The</strong> Zaban Tower, an independent and<br />
assisted living community for low-income<br />
seniors, and <strong>The</strong> Cohen Home, an assisted<br />
living community in Johns Creek. For more<br />
information on <strong>The</strong> William Breman<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> Home, visit www.wbjh.org.
Page 50 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Thought You’d Like To Know<br />
By Jonathan Barach<br />
SHUTTLE BUS FOR OLDER<br />
ADULTS. <strong>The</strong> Toco Hills Senior<br />
Coalition invites the community to hear<br />
about and provide feedback on the proposed<br />
routes of a pilot shuttle bus to<br />
serve older adults, age 60 and over. <strong>The</strong><br />
meeting is <strong>January</strong> 25, 10:30-11:30<br />
a.m., at the Toco Hill-Avis G. Williams<br />
Library, 1282 McConnell Drive,<br />
Decatur. <strong>The</strong> pilot is a collaborative<br />
effort of the Toco Hills Senior<br />
Coalition, the DeKalb County Office of<br />
Senior Affairs, and the Georgia<br />
Department of Human Services, with<br />
the support of Commissioner Jeff<br />
Rader’s office. Contact Karen Harvell<br />
at 770-766-9318 or Kharvell@jfcsatlanta.org<br />
for more information.<br />
THE MATCHMAKER. One of the<br />
favorites of the 2011 Atlanta <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Film Festival, <strong>The</strong> Matchmaker is a<br />
remarkable coming-of-age story filled<br />
with emotion and combining young<br />
love and Holocaust memory. <strong>The</strong> vivid,<br />
quirky characters touch audiences in a<br />
sensitive and sincere way. <strong>The</strong><br />
Congregation Or Hadash Film Series<br />
presents <strong>The</strong> Matchmaker, Wednesday,<br />
<strong>January</strong> 25, 7:00 p.m., at the congregation’s<br />
sanctuary on the Weber School<br />
campus. This event is free and open to<br />
the public. Donations are requested.<br />
RSVP to info@or-hadash.org or 404-<br />
250-3338.<br />
MONEY MATTERS—JEWISH BUSI-<br />
NESS ETHICS. Is Judaism socialist or<br />
capitalist? Who is responsible for preventing<br />
poverty? Is unionization a<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> ideal? Must Walmart pay its<br />
workers a livable wage? Where would<br />
you draw the line? Chabad of Cobb<br />
presents an ethical, Talmudic, and legal<br />
debate on current economic issues. This<br />
six-session series, accredited for 9 CLE<br />
ethics credits for attorneys, takes place<br />
Wednesdays, 7:30-9:00 p.m., beginning<br />
<strong>January</strong> 25. <strong>The</strong> fee is $89/individuals,<br />
$160/couples, and includes a book;<br />
there is a fee for credit based on<br />
Georgia Bar rates. Register at<br />
www.myjli.com. Call 770-565-4412<br />
x300 or e-mail<br />
office@chabadofcobb.com for details.<br />
FUN RAISER. <strong>The</strong> Mt. Scopus group<br />
of Greater Atlanta Hadassah will usher<br />
in the new year with a “Fun Raiser.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> event takes place Saturday, <strong>January</strong><br />
28, 7:30 p.m., at the home of a member<br />
and will feature improv comedy group<br />
Southern Fried Schnitzel. <strong>The</strong> cover<br />
charge is $25/person. Kosher hors<br />
d’oeuvres and desserts will be served.<br />
For more information about this program,<br />
contact Suzy Tibor at 404-636-<br />
8582 or suzytib@bellsouth.net. For<br />
information about Hadassah and other<br />
upcoming events, contact Edie Barr at<br />
404-325-0340 or<br />
mtscopushadassah@aol.com.<br />
FACING AGING. Aging: Facing the<br />
Facts, Fears & Feelings is <strong>January</strong> 29,<br />
2:00-5:00 p.m., at Temple Emanu-El.<br />
Aging is something everyone will deal<br />
with, whether it’s an aging parent, a<br />
spouse, or our personal journey. Just<br />
after the holiday season is when we<br />
often see red flags that tell us something<br />
may not be quite right with a loved one.<br />
This workshop, co-sponsored with the<br />
Atlanta Rabbinical Association, will<br />
explore various components of aging<br />
and caregiving and provide practical<br />
resources and information. This event is<br />
free and open to the community. For<br />
more information contact<br />
outreach@jfcs-atlanta.org or visit yourtoolsforliving.org/calendar/view/996/da<br />
te/<strong>2012</strong>-01-29.<br />
ON THE RUN. On the Run in Nazi<br />
Berlin is Bert Lewyn’s vivid memoir of<br />
growing up in Nazi Germany. In 1942,<br />
the Gestapo arrested Bert and his parents.<br />
His parents were deported to a<br />
concentration camp, and 18-year-old<br />
Bert was forced to work in a weapons<br />
factory. Co-authored with his daughterin-law,<br />
Bev Saltzman, Bert’s book is the<br />
story of his escape and courageous<br />
struggle to survive underground. <strong>The</strong><br />
Lewyn family will discuss the book at<br />
2:00 p.m., Sunday, <strong>January</strong> 29, at<br />
Temple Kehillat Chaim. This event is<br />
free; refreshments will be provided.<br />
Reservations are appreciated; contact<br />
nnrose@comcast.net.<br />
SCOUT SHABBAT. In observation of<br />
Scouting’s 102-year anniversary, Boy<br />
Scout Troop 73 will observe the Scout<br />
Shabbat by participating in Saturday<br />
morning services at Congregation Or<br />
VeShalom, <strong>February</strong> 4, 9:15 a.m.-12:00<br />
noon. Troop 73 will observe its 62nd<br />
anniversary under the leadership of<br />
Scoutmaster Josiah V. Benator.<br />
Scoutmaster Benator will also observe<br />
his 77-year anniversary in Scouting.<br />
During its 62 years, Troop 73 has seen<br />
42 scouts earn the Eagle Badge. Current<br />
and former Scouts are cordially invited<br />
to attend this special Saturday morning<br />
service. For more information, contact<br />
Scoutmaster Benator at 404-634-2137<br />
or jvbenator@juno.com.<br />
HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT.<br />
Nature vs. Nuture: How Heredity and<br />
Environment Impact Learning and<br />
Behavior is presented by the Taylor<br />
Family Speaker Series and <strong>The</strong> Amit<br />
Program. Guest panelists are Carol Ann<br />
Brannon, MS, RD/LD, nutrition therapist;<br />
Leslie Rubin, MD, developmental<br />
pediatrician; and Brocha Tarshish, MD,<br />
Emory Genetics. This event takes place<br />
<strong>February</strong> 5, at <strong>The</strong> Epstein School, 335<br />
Colewood Way, Atlanta. Registration is<br />
10:30 a.m., and the program is 11:00<br />
a.m.-2:00 p.m. RSVP by <strong>January</strong> 27.<br />
Register by phone at 404-961-9966.<br />
Lunch is included with $18 pre-registration.<br />
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. <strong>The</strong><br />
GHA Players will present Beauty and<br />
the Beast, a musical directed by Mira<br />
Hirsch, starring Zoe Aaron as Belle,<br />
Brett Feldman as <strong>The</strong> Beast/Prince, and<br />
Kevin Feldman as Gaston. Come sing<br />
along with Belle, <strong>The</strong> Beast, Gaston,<br />
and the entire cast. Performances are<br />
<strong>February</strong> 1, 4:15 p.m. (open seating);<br />
<strong>February</strong> 2, 7:30 p.m. (reserved seating/opening<br />
night); <strong>February</strong> 5, 11:00<br />
a.m. (open seating), and <strong>February</strong> 5,<br />
3:00 p.m. (reserved seating/closing<br />
show). Order tickets at tickets.ghacademy.org<br />
or 404-843-9900.<br />
SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE.<br />
Congregation Or Hadash welcomes<br />
Rabbi David Golinkin for its Scholarin-Residence<br />
Weekend at the congregation’s<br />
sanctuary on the Weber School<br />
campus. David Golinkin is a rabbi,<br />
author of many books, and president of<br />
the Schechter Institute of <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Studies in Jerusalem. <strong>The</strong> weekend<br />
begins <strong>February</strong> 10 with Shabbat<br />
Dinner and Conversations (immediately<br />
following Servicio de Shabbat); the cost<br />
is $12 for COH members and $18 for<br />
non-members; RSVP (required) to communication@or-hadash.org<br />
or 404-250-<br />
3338. <strong>The</strong>re will be a post-Shabbat kiddush<br />
discussion, <strong>February</strong> 11, and Art<br />
and Midrash: An Illustrated Guide,<br />
<strong>February</strong> 12, at 10:15 a.m.<br />
100 YEARS. In commemoration of<br />
Hadassah’s 100th birthday, Greater<br />
Atlanta Hadassah will hold a<br />
Centennial Celebration featuring<br />
Celebrity Chef Tina Wasserman,<br />
<strong>February</strong> 26, 1:00-4:00 p.m., at the<br />
Greenfield Hebrew Academy, which is<br />
open to the entire community. Ms.<br />
Wasserman will treat attendees to a<br />
lively presentation, and guests will<br />
enjoy a special tasting of her recipes.<br />
<strong>The</strong> event will also honor longtime Life<br />
Member Florence Nathanson, who<br />
served as a Hadassah volunteer nurse in<br />
a refugee transit camp during Israel’s<br />
early days of statehood. Sponsorship<br />
opportunities are available. For details,<br />
call 678-443-2961, or visit<br />
www.atlanta.hadassah.org.<br />
LET IT SNOW. Visiting Nurse Health<br />
System is moving its annual Big-To-Do<br />
to Stone Mountain Park’s Snow<br />
Mountain. This event, benefiting<br />
VNHS’ Children’s Program, takes place<br />
Sunday, <strong>February</strong> 12, 3:00-6:00 p.m.,<br />
and includes tubing down Snow<br />
Mountain, other outdoor activities, and<br />
hot snacks indoors. Attendees can enjoy<br />
Snow Mountain all day, plus two hours<br />
of private use of the snow tubing slopes<br />
between 3:00-6:00 p.m. Individual tickets<br />
are $60; ticket packages are available<br />
at $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000.<br />
Children under 36” tall are free. Tickets<br />
are available at www.vnhs.org and<br />
include free parking and a memorable<br />
gift for kids.<br />
HUNGER WALK/RUN. <strong>The</strong> 28th<br />
annual Hunger Walk/Run is March 11,<br />
at Turner Field. <strong>The</strong> 5k event benefits<br />
the Atlanta Community Food Bank and<br />
five other local nonprofits: Action<br />
Ministries-United Methodists,<br />
Episcopal Charities Foundation, <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
Federation of Greater Atlanta, Lutheran<br />
Services of Georgia, and Society of St.<br />
Vincent de Paul. Gates open at noon;<br />
the run/walk begins at 2:00 p.m. <strong>The</strong><br />
$25 runner’s fee includes a moisturewicking<br />
T-shirt; walkers who donate<br />
$25 or more receive an official Hunger<br />
Walk/Run <strong>2012</strong> T-shirt. Register online<br />
or the day of the event. For more information<br />
or to register, visit<br />
www.HWR<strong>2012</strong>.org.<br />
GUYS AND DOLLS. Jerry’s Habima<br />
<strong>The</strong>atre kicks off its 19th season with<br />
Guys and Dolls, March 22-April 1.<br />
Featured in American <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
Magazine, Jerry’s Habima <strong>The</strong>atre is<br />
Georgia’s only theatrical company<br />
directed and produced by professionals<br />
and featuring actors with developmental<br />
disabilities. All productions are held<br />
at the MJCCA’s Morris & Rae Frank<br />
<strong>The</strong>atre. General admission tickets are<br />
$35, and $15 for children 12 and under.<br />
Tickets for MJCCA members are $25,<br />
and $10 for children 12 and under. For<br />
tickets or additional information, call<br />
the MJCCA’s Box Office at 678-812-<br />
4002, or visit www.atlantajcc.org.<br />
FOR TEEN BOYS. Chabad of Cobb<br />
offers a teen program for all boys in<br />
grades 8-12, led by Noah Pawliger.<br />
Snacks will be provided. <strong>The</strong> boys meet<br />
for an evening of fun, current events,<br />
and community service. <strong>The</strong> fee is $10.<br />
Contact office@chabadofcobb.com or<br />
call 770-565-4412 x300 for more information,<br />
dates, and times.
<strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 51
Page 52 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN <strong>January</strong>-<strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong>