ATLANTA SYNAGOGUE GUIDE PAGES 16-29 A SECRET DONOR SENDS YOUNG ISRAEL A SURPRISE. Page 16
BETH SHALOM RESTORES A HOLOCAUST TORAH. Page 17
CHECK OUT OUR METRO AREA SYNAGOGUE DIRECTORY. Pages 20-22
INTERIM RABBIS JOIN SHEARITH ISRAEL AND DOR TAMID. Pages 26-27
Atlanta VOL. XC NO. 31
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
AUGUST 21, 2015 | 6 ELUL, 5775
Israel Aims To Close Consulate
T
They Are the Champions The Atlanta boys 14-and-under Maccabi basketball team celebrates winning the gold medal Aug. 6 in Dallas. The team consists of (front row, from left) Sam Bronfman, Josh Edelman, Simon Ben-Moshe, Eric Malever and David Perchik and (back row, from left) Cody Kaplan, Phil Malever, Leo Sachs, Billy Snyder, head coach Brian Seitz and assistant coach Jacob Gluck. Also on the team is Chase Engelhard, who missed the tournament because of an injury. More Maccabi results, Pages 34-35
NO ON IRAN DEAL
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta announces its position that the United States should try again in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Page 7
ASIA IN ATLANTA
Marilyn and Sam Eckstein have filled their home with jade, ivory and other treasures collected during their many trips to the Far East. Page 32-33
INSIDE
Calendar 2 Simchas 30 Candle Lighting
3 Home 32
Local News
5 Sports 34
Israel 8 Obituaries 35 Opinion 10 Crossword 38 Leo Frank
12 Marketplace 39
he Israeli Consulate in Atlanta is targeted for closure under the budget Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet approved Aug. 6. The Consulate General to the Southeast joins the consulates in Philadelphia and San Francisco and at least four embassies on the chopping block in an effort to cut 55 million shekels ($14.3 million) a year from the Foreign Ministry’s budget, according to The Jerusalem Post. Ambassador Judith Varnai Shorer, who took over as consul general this month, thus faces her first challenge. Israel has floated the idea before, but not since dozens of Israeli businesses have found homes in the Southeast and the consulate has scored such state legislative successes as purchases of Israel Bonds and boycotts of Iran. The consulate serves the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. If it closed, the nearest Israeli diplomats would be in Miami and Houston. Conexx CEO Guy Tessler credited the consulate with putting those six states on the map for U.S.-Israel business ties and noted recent business-generating missions to Israel from Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Shorer is joining Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on a trip to Israel at the end of August. “This level of activity can only come when there is a strong focus on this region,” Tessler said. The budget faces several Knesset votes before final approval, due by midNovember. Letters of support can be mailed to the consulate at 1100 Spring St., Suite 440, Atlanta, GA 30309, or sent to pr@atlanta.mfa.gov.il. ■
CALENDAR FRIDAY, AUG. 21
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Dive into Shabbat. The Marcus Jewish Community Center invites the community to celebrate the approach of Shabbat from 5 to 7 p.m. at the outdoor pool at 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free; www.atlantajcc.org/pldb-live/26037 or 678-812-4161.
SUNDAY, AUG. 23
Blood drive. Congregation Beth Shalom, 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, holds a blood drive from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Register at redcrossblood.org (keyword: BethShalom), or email debsummer@gmail.com. Holocaust workshop. The Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road, Buckhead, hosts a free workshop organized by the Memorial de la Shoah for educators from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on film and archives of World War II and the Holocaust. Free; mwilson@atlantahistorycenter.com. Torah completion. Join in the celebration as Rabbi Moshe Klein finishes a Torah for the West Cobb community at 10:30 a.m. at the Chabad Jewish Center, 1480 Shiloh Road, Kennesaw. Free; www.jewishwestcobb.com. Annual barbecue. Temple Kol Emeth, 1415 Old Canton Road, East Cobb, invites current and prospective members to join kids’ games at 5 p.m. and a cookout at 6 p.m. Admission is $5; RSVP at www.kolemeth.net or pay at the door.
MONDAY, AUG. 24
Film lecture. Christian Delage, the curator of “Filming the Camps” at the Atlanta History Center, will screen “From Hollywood to Nuremberg” at 7 p.m. at the center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road, Buckhead. Tickets are $10; www.atlantahistorycenter.com.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 26
Israeli film screening. Israeli director Eran Riklis begins his period as artist in residence at Emory University with a free showing at 7:30 in White Hall Room 208 of his 2012 movie, “Zaytoun,” set during the 1982 Lebanon War. The screening includes a discussion and reception. For a full schedule of his residency, including three lectures and two other screenings, visit filmstudies. emory.edu/home/events/film-series/ eran-riklis-residency.html.
THURSDAY, AUG. 27
Kosher festival. The adults-only Kosher Food & Wine Atlanta festival runs from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Georgia Rail-
road Freight Depot, 65 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, downtown. Admission is $70 for ages 21 to 30 or $90 for those older; www.KFWAtl.com. Fall Bargainata sale. The National Council of Jewish Women’s semiannual sale of used clothing and accessories holds its preview night from 7 to 10 at 6125 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs. Admission is $25 in advance or $35 at the door for the preview night and free for the regular hours, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 4 Sunday; www.ncjwatlanta.org or 404843-9600.
SUNDAY, AUG. 30
Civil rights struggle. Reform congregations’ role in the civil rights movement and continuing struggle for justice is explored at the Center for Civil and Human Rights, 100 Ivan Allen Blvd., downtown, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with keynote speaker Rebecca Stapel-Wax of SOJOURN and such panelists as Rabbi Peter Berg of The Temple, Janice Rothschild Blumberg and center interim CEO Deborah Robinson. Attendance, including lunch, is $36; www.cvent. com/d/8rqvj5 or prezbhood@crystalflex.com. Teen program. Chabad Intown launches its CTeen program for the school year with a yacht party at noon; www. chabadintown.org or 404-898-0434 for details. Lebanon War film. Hadassah’s Mount Scopus Israel Film Fest presents “Zaytoun,” about a downed Israeli pilot in the 1982 war and the Palestinian refugee boy who helps him escape the PLO, at 1:15 p.m. at the Central DeKalb Senior Center, 1346 McConnell Drive, Decatur. Tickets are $12, payable by check made to Hadassah and mailed to Melanie Doctor, 3825 LaVista Road, J-1, Tucker, GA 30084. RSVP by Aug. 25 to Regine Rosenfelder, gine@aol.com or 404-6331849. Camp day. The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, with the Camping Initiative and PJ Library, hold a family fun day for children of all ages interested in or recently returned from Jewish summer camp from 1 to 3 p.m. at the pavilion at Brook Run Park, 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody. The event includes free snacks, food for purchase, bounce houses, a balloon artist, face painting, music and stations from participating camps. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children; stanenbaum@jewishatlanta.org or 678-222-3730.
CALENDAR CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES
Parshah Shoftim Friday, Aug. 21, light candles at 7:59 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, Shabbat ends at 8:55 p.m. Parshah Ki Tetze Friday, Aug. 28, light candles at 7:51 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, Shabbat ends at 8:46 p.m.
An Immigrant’s Song Felder brings Irving Berlin to life By Cady Schulman cschulman@atljewishtimes.com
Felder, who has a background as a concert pianist and actor, began creating his one-man shows in 1997 when he ewish composer Irving Berlin rose took on the character of another Jewfrom his place in a Russian fam- ish composer, George Gershwin. Since ily who immigrated to the United he began portraying Berlin, he has States in 1893 and started life over with performed his well-reviewed show for nothing in New York City to become more than 200,000 people. one of America’s greatest songwriters. “They like it,” Felder said. “I’ll just For almost say that. It’s a re20 years, enterally good show tainer Hershey because it tells a Felder has told really good stothe stories of varry.” ious American Stephanie icons, including Williams, a FedBerlin. Felder has eration spokestraveled across woman, said the the country to organization is tell Berlin’s story, excited to partwhich he calls inner with Judy credible. Zaban Miller and Hershey Felder, a trained concert pianist and On Sunday, Lester Miller to actor, becomes Irving Berlin to tell the stories Aug. 30, the Jew- behind some of America’s best-known songs. bring Felder to Atish Federation of lanta. Greater Atlanta is “We felt it bringing the one-man show “Hershey was a great opportunity to bring our Felder as Irving Berlin” to the Buck- community together and share some head Theatre. American Jewish history,” Williams “You get 100 years of some of the said. “It’s an amazing story. Irving Bermost amazing music and American lin was one of the greatest musical conhistory rolled into a very fun, I would tributors of all time.” say really remarkable, story,” Felder Bringing shows like Felder’s to said. “It’s one of the great stories of all Atlanta is one way for Federation to times and a great immigrant story.” strengthen Jewish community connecFelder initially took on the project tions. of portraying Berlin’s character after a “Because Atlanta is so demographrequest by his family. ically dispersed, any opportunity we “The more I dug into his story, have to bring the community together the more I realized it’s one of the great inside the Perimeter or outside the American immigrant stories,” Felder Perimeter is a great opportunity,” Wilsaid. liams said. “This brings people outside Berlin’s songs, including “God of the Jewish community to underBless America,” “Easter Parade” and stand more about our background.” ■ “White Christmas” — which Felder said is the highest-grossing song in the What: “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin” history of published and recorded muWhere: Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell sic — have back stories, and he delves Road into them during his show. When: 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 “It’s not in a lecture,” Felder said. “It’s actually a character. It’s the man Tickets: $18; www.jewishatlanta.org/ who composed them telling you. It is hersheyfelder Irving Berlin.”
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Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com.
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Ultimately, it’s your experience that matters. To be sure, we’re proud of our 27 years of experience in senior living. But, to us, what really matters is your experience at our communities. We do everything with that idea clearly in mind. So, go ahead, enjoy yourself with great social opportunities and amenities. Savor fine dining every day. And feel assured that assisted living services are always available if needed. We invite you to experience The Piedmont for yourself at a complimentary lunch and tour. Please call 404.496.5492 to schedule.
Ask about our Assisted Living services.
Supportive services are available at The Piedmont. See how a little help can give you so much peace of mind.
HELP SENIORS AGE IN PLACE Give back to the community by helping seniors. Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta has volunteer opportunities at our Atlanta area NORCs (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities) for you to provide services to seniors so that they can remain in their homes safely as long as possible.
As a volunteer, you can: Drive seniors to medical appointments, grocery stores, and pharmacies Coordinate other drivers Arrange senior visits and outings With mileage reimbursements and tax deductions available as applicable
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Remember When
Shapiro, who resigned in March. Jay Givarz, formerly with Hillel at the University of Florida, has been appointed the director at the University of Georgia, replacing Reuban Rodriguez, who resigned in May. B’nai B’rith also has decided to rebuild the condemned Hillel House in Athens.
■ The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta sponsored its first gathering of synagogue webmasters Aug. 10 because some synagogues are reluctant to take advantage of the technology that more and more Americans are embracing. Ten congregations attended the conference, part of Federation’s effort to help synagogues use technology to reach out to the community, particularly those who aren’t formally engaged.
■ Kim and Lonnie Herzog of Atlanta announce the birth of a son, Alexander Maddox, on July 7.
10 Years Ago Aug. 19, 2005
■ The bar mitzvah ceremony of Brandon Michael Estroff of Marietta, the son of Lee and Sharon Estroff, was held Saturday, June 4, at Congregation Or Hadash. 25 Years Ago Aug. 24, 1990 ■ Hillel is back on track in Atlanta and Athens. Jody Steinberg, who was a program director for Hillel, has been named the acting director in Atlanta in place of Rabbi Zvi
50 Years Ago Aug. 20, 1965 ■ Writer Harry Golden of Charlotte had a recent exchange of letters with an Atlanta woman (name withheld) after he discussed his “Frank story” during a TV appearance. The woman wrote “in hopes that it is not the Leo Frank case which had better be forgotten.” Golden, whose book is about Leo Frank, replied, “Stop shaking! Leave the ranks of those I call The Trembling Tribes of Israel.” ■ Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Cohen of Lewistown, Pa., announce the marriage of their daughter, Linda Faye Cohen, to 1st Lt. Cary S. King, son of Mr. and Mrs. H.M. King of Atlanta, on July 28.
Associate Editor
DAVID R. COHEN
david@atljewishtimes.com
Contributors This Week DAVID BENKOF RABBI ANALIA BORTZ JORDAN GORFINKEL R.M. GROSSBLATT LEAH R. HARRISON ZACH ITZKOVITZ MARCIA CALLER JAFFE KEVIN MADIGAN RUSSELL MOSKOWITZ LOGAN C. RITCHIE RABBI NEIL SANDLER SHAINDLE SCHMUCKLER CADY SCHULMAN
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POSTMASTER send address changes to The Atlanta Jewish Times 270 Carpenter Drive Suite 320, Atlanta Ga 30328. Established 1925 as The Southern Israelite Phone: (404) 883-2130 www.atlantajewishtimes.com THE ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES (ISSN# 0892-33451) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, LLC 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, ATLANTA, GA 30328 © 2015 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES Printed by Gannett Publishing Services MEMBER Conexx: America Israel Business Connector American Jewish Press Association Sandy Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Commerce Please send all photos, stories and editorial content to: submissions@atljewishtimes.com
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
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LOCAL NEWS
Search for G-d Leads to Conversion Former Baptist shares her story with Bena By R.M. Grossblatt
“I
was a Baptist country girl raised in the Oklahoma Bible Belt,” Leah Schiermeyer began as she talked to about 100 women at Congregation Beth Jacob. It was the fifth weekly Shalosh Seudot (third meal of Shabbat) event sponsored by Bena, the Atlanta Scholars Kollel women’s division. At the earlier Shabbat gatherings, women enjoyed wraps, salads and desserts by the Spicy Peach and speeches by Rebbetzin Miriam Feldman, the principal of Temima: the Richard and Jean Katz High School for Girls; Esther Pransky; Rivka Lipschutz; and Esther Sulkes. Bena co-chairs Julie Silverman and Batsheva Gelbtuck planned the summer program in Toco Hills and Dunwoody. For this last women’s Shalosh Seudot in the Beth Jacob conference room, Schiermeyer, the author of “A Simple Twist of Faith,” shared her story of conversion.
“Rabbi Singer Active in her raised serious queschurch, Schiermeyer tions about the validity at 37 felt that she of the New Testament wanted a closer relaand why Jews don’t actionship with G-d. One cept these Scriptures,” night before she fell said Schiermeyer, who asleep, she prayed to at first brushed off the G-d: “I really want to whole thing. But when know You, whatever she and her husband the cost, whatever it tried to talk to their takes. Please lead me pastor or close friends into a deeper and more about what they had meaningful relationlearned, they were the ship with You.” ones brushed off. Then events startLeah Schiermeyer One evening in ed happening. December, they were Her husband, a physician in the Air Force and a Bible visited by leaders of their congregateacher at their church, was open to tion. The Schiermeyers were excited learning about other religions. When that their friends were finally coming a good friend, another Air Force physi- to discuss what they learned from Rabcian who was returning to his Jewish bi Singer’s tapes. Sitting in a living room decorated roots, raved about tapes by Rabbi Tovia Singer, Dr. Schiermeyer borrowed with a Christmas tree, Schiermeyer ofthem. He thought they would be in- fered her guests eggnog, warm cider teresting and prove that his Christian and food. They turned down everyfaith was true, but the opposite hap- thing. Instead, the group told the Schierpened.
Film Screening and Conversation with Christian Delage Monday, August 24, 2015 J 7:00 pm
An evening with director Christian Delage, historian, curator of Filming the Camps - John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens: From Hollywood to Nuremberg exhibition, and filmmaker whose earlier credits include the documentary Nuremberg, The Nazis Facing Their Crimes.
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Admission is $5 for members; $10 for nonmembers. Reservations required, call 404.814.4150 or visit online.
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AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Lectures
Stevens and his crew filming in France, n.d. © Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA
Atlanta History Center
meyers to leave the church. Around the same time, Schiermeyer, who was pregnant with twins, was diagnosed with bladder cancer and given three years to live. It was a time of great upheaval for her and her family. When she shared this part of her story, her eyes filled with tears. Eventually, the Schiermeyers moved to Denver. Lori Palatnik, a wellknown speaker at Aish.com and director of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, lived nearby, and Schiermeyer asked whether they could study together. In 2004, after 10 years of study and soul-searching, the Schiermeyers converted to Judaism. They joined an Aish HaTorah synagogue and remarried according to halacha (Jewish law). Schiermeyer has been cancer-free for 12 years. At the end of her talk, Schiermeyer shared that it was a particular pleasure to speak in Atlanta because her son married a wonderful girl from here. She added, “Be careful what you pray for,” then she smiled. ■
Federation Declares Opposition to Iran Deal
T
he Jewish Federation of Greater come up with a deal that is better for Atlanta ended its silence on the the United States, for Israel and for Iran nuclear deal Tuesday, Aug. other U.S. allies in the Middle East. In 18, announcing its support for renego- that position, Federation echoes Israeli tiating the agreement rather than rati- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insists a better deal is possible. fying it as is. Federation specifically rejects Congress is due to vote in early September on the Joint Comprehen- Obama’s argument that the only altersive Plan of Action between Iran and native to the current deal is war. Among the concerns Federation the P5+1 powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia cites with the agreement: • Iran’s relentless anti-Semitism and Germany. The agreement, reached in July, would remove sanctions that and violations of human rights and international law. have crippled Iran’s • The $100 billion or economy in exchange for more in frozen oil money a rollback but not elimithat Iran would receive, nation of Tehran’s nuclepossibly to spend on terar program. rorist allies such as HezFederation is followbollah and Hamas. ing the lead of dozens of • The validation the other local federations agreement gives Iran as and community relaa nuclear threshold state tions councils in taking even though it has been a a position on the deal. signatory to the Nuclear According to a running compilation of those an- Federation board Chairman Nonproliferation Treaty for more than 40 years. nouncements by the JewHoward Feinsand • The end of the emish Telegraphic Agency, most of those local Jewish agencies ei- bargo in eight years on Iran’s interconther oppose or are uncertain about the tinental ballistic missile program. “Any agreement is ultimately dedeal, even though polls indicate that American Jews lean toward support for pendent on the goodwill and sincere intentions of the parties to that agreeapproval of the deal. The Atlanta announcement bor- ment,” Federation says. “The JCPOA rows a phrase also used by the Charles- is a complicated matrix that must be ton Federation in urging “Congress to accompanied by mutual trust and respect. Iran has not ceased to threaten give this accord its utmost scrutiny.” But while acknowledging that it annihilation of Israel and the United “cannot be assumed to represent the States. Nor has Iran diminished its supviews and opinions of the entire At- port of its terrorist proxies.” Republican lawmakers have been lanta Jewish Community,” Federation makes clear that it does not find the nearly unanimous in opposition to the Iran deal, making it largely a matter current agreement acceptable. “While some commentary has for Democrats whether to override or suggested that the sole alternative to uphold Obama’s promised veto if Conaccepting this deal as presented is war, gress rejects the deal, as seems likely. we believe that other options and pos- (See Republican Rep. Barry Loudersibilities are available to address the milk’s thoughts on the deal on Page 8.) But Federation says the conflicts numerous legitimate concerns raised by so many and thus do not support on the deal have arisen from specific the JCPOA as it is currently written,” concerns and merits. “We believe that the disagreements spawned by these the Federation announcement reads. “Many thoughtful and well-mean- differences are disagreements of policy ing people have or will reach different and not of political differences.” Until Tuesday, the only Senate conclusions,” Federation says. “But as longtime and strong supporters of the Democrat opposed to the deal was people of the State of Israel, the Execu- Jewish New Yorker Chuck Schumer, tive Committee of Federation believes but New Jersey’s Bob Menendez joined that it must express its concerns, doing him. Five Jewish senators — Barbara so as a matter of policy and not politi- Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Brian cal partisanship.” Federation wants Congress to Schatz of Hawaii, and Al Franken of work with President Barack Obama to Minnesota — are in favor. ■
MAYER SMITH ASKS What would your banker say if you said to him:
“I want to buy a piece of property from you with no down payment. I want to pay $700 a month for 15 years for the property. At the end of the 15 years, I want the property to pay me $12,000 a year to use as I wish for the next 15 or so years… income tax free. If I become disabled before I am age 65, I want YOU to make my payments for me for as long as I am totally disabled. If I die before I start receiving income, I want YOU to pay my heirs at my death at least twice what the property is projected to be worth 15 years from now. The money you pay them is not to be subject to income taxes or probate. If I need cash during the 15 years, I want you to lend me 80% of what I have paid in but not charge me more than 2% more interest than I am getting on my deposits into the property. I will be allowed to pay the loan back any time I choose. Or, I can just withdraw part of what I have put in and take less income later. To prove to you that I am a good risk, I will allow a doctor to give me a physical examination that YOU will pay for.” Your banker will laugh at you! We won’t… Let US be YOUR Banker. WE CAN DO THIS AND MUCH MORE FOR YOU.
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
LOCAL NEWS
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ISRAEL NEWS
Loudermilk: Iran Deal Terrifying for Israel Visiting congressman finds even Palestinians oppose nuclear pact By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
Muslim worshippers on the Temple Mount (Loudermilk was in a different tour ep. Barry Loudermilk is return- group from the one pushed ing from Israel with a renewed around), and stood above determination to defeat the Iran Syria and heard explosions nuclear deal in Congress. from the civil war there. “We have to stop this or our chil“It’s important that we dren and grandchildren will pay the get to know the only true price,” the Cassville Republican said democracy in the Middle in a phone interview Thursday, Aug. East,” Loudermilk said 13, from Israel, where he joined other about the value of the two freshman members of Congress on a trips to his constituents trip financed by AIPAC’s charitable af- in Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb filiate, the American Israel Education and Fulton counties. Foundation. He emphasized the It’s his second trip to Israel this common heritage of the Rep. Barry Loudermilk visits with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday, Aug. 11. year. He spent three days there in May United States and Israel, as part of larger trip through the Mid- citing the influence of Jedle East and Europe with a congressio- thro’s governance recommendations British in other colonies during the nal task force on foreign fighters. to Moses on the representative democ- American Revolution and the Lone “When you’re here, you see Israel racy embedded in the U.S. Constitution Soldiers who join the Israel Defense is surrounded by nations that would and noting the Jerusalem intersection Forces to defend the Jewish homeland. The latest connection is the shared love to see Israel wiped off the face of King David and George Washington threat of the Iran deal. The under-negoof the earth,” Loudermilk said. This streets. week’s delegation looked into Gaza, He also sees similarities between tiation deal was a recurring topic durfaced a rough reception from some militiamen who left home to fight the ing the May visit, he said. Now, “everywhere we’ve gone, everyone we’ve met with, the focus has been how bad the “ Iran deal is.” Those meetings have included OUT OF THE ASHES OF SUMMER MOVIEGOING Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, .” Labor Party and opposition leader -JAKE COYLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS Isaac Herzog, retired IDF Gen. Amos ‘‘ Yadlin, and farmers in the Negev along the Gaza border. ’’ . “As diverse as the Israeli popula-A.O. SCOTT, THE NEW YORK TIMES tion is, and it has amazing diversity, ‘‘ . they’re all unifying around this one GETS UNDER OUR SKIN issue,” Loudermilk said. “The Iran deal AND CHILLS US TO THE BONE.’’ -KENNETH TURAN, LOS ANGELES TIMES is bad for us, but it’s terrifying for the state of Israel.” ‘‘ He echoed Netanyahu in saying that Iran’s intercontinental ballistic . So beautifully made it comes close to perfect.” missile program, which will be clear -STEPHANIE ZACHAREK, THE VILLAGE VOICE of international restrictions in eight ‘‘ ’ years under the deal, targets the United States, not Israel, which Iran can reach .
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without ICBMs. The greatest threat to Israel under the deal, Loudermilk said, is the $150 billion windfall Iran will receive in unfrozen oil revenues, which the congressmen expects to result in increased spending on the likes of Hezbollah and Hamas. “We’re putting in the hands of madmen the means to build a conventional arsenal within a short amount of time,” he said. That likely spending also makes the Palestinian Authority worry about the Iran deal, Loudermilk said. The congressional delegation visited with PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah. “It was an interesting meeting,” Loudermilk said. “You could tell there were concerns over the Iran deal because they are having issues with Hamas.” Because Hamas’ control of Gaza is one of the obstacles PA President Mahmoud Abbas must overcome to make any peace deal with Israel, the Iran deal also damages prospects for a twostate solution, the congressman said. “It’s difficult to come up with any kind of agreement as long as terror acts are going on.” Otherwise, he thinks the prospects for peace are brighter because “Abbas is playing a little better than he has in the past.” He also said he is gaining confidence daily that Congress will have enough votes to overturn President Barack Obama’s promised veto of a rejection of the Iran deal. He said most members of Congress know it’s a bad deal for the United States and for Israel; the key is to get them to vote their consciences. ■
Rabbis Urge Deal’s OK
Three Georgia Reform rabbis, including two retired from Atlanta-area pulpits, are among 340 American rabbis who declared their support for the Iran nuclear deal by signing on to a letter Zionist organization Ameinu released Aug. 17. “We are deeply concerned with the impression that the leadership of the American Jewish community is united in opposition to the agreement. We, along with many Jewish leaders, fully support this historic accord,” the letter reads. Signing the Ameinu letter from Georgia were Rabbi Ronald Bluming of Grayson, former spiritual leader of Temple Beth David; Rabbi Philip Kranz of Atlanta, the rabbi emeritus of Temple Sinai; and Rabbi Beth Schwartz, who leads Temple Israel in Columbus. The letter acknowledges the deal does not address Iran’s support for terrorism and other international aggression but argues that resolving the nuclear threat will allow the U.S. and its allies to focus more on those other problems. ■
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
ISRAEL NEWS
Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home
Robotic needle steering. Rosh Ha’Ayin-based startup XACT Robotics has developed a robotic system for needle steering, for use in biopsies and ablations or to inject medications into specific areas of the body. The first application of XACT’s technology will be for biopsies in lung tissue. XACT just raised $5 million to fund U.S. trials. The first Israeli Arab to coach an Israeli soccer team. Israeli Arab Salah Hasarma made history when he took over as coach of soccer club Kiryat Shmona (K8) in the Europa League qualifying game against Czech team Slovan Liberec. Although K8 lost, Israeli Arab striker Ahmed Abed scored a vital goal. Sandstorm diverts Jordanian planes to Tel Aviv. A major sandstorm swept through most parts of Jordan and prevented multiple flights from landing at the country’s main international airport in the capital of Amman, Queen Alia Airport. Two flights were diverted to Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport. Israeli summer coexistence camps. Three Israeli summer camps bring together Jewish, Israeli Arab and Palestinian youths. ILAN, the Israeli Association for Disabled Children, and Rosh Tzurim, a religious kibbutz in Judaea, hosted disabled Israeli Arabs. Wings of Peace brought together Palestinians and Israelis. Flood relief for Myanmar. Israel responded quickly to recent severe flooding in Myanmar. Ambassador Daniel Zonshine personally delivered a truck of food, medicine, mosquito nets and hygiene packs to the hard-hit Thayarwaddy delta area. Israel’s MASHAV is preparing more supplies, including water purification tablets. Device for ALS patients to communicate. Not everyone can afford the complex technology that ALS patient Stephen Hawking uses to communicate. Tel Aviv-based EyeControl provides a much cheaper option using a laser device connected to spectacles. It achieved its $30,000 funding target
on Indiegogo in under 20 days. A+ rating for Israeli economy. Standard & Poor’s has affirmed Israel’s international credit ratings as positive, giving it an A+ score. The agency’s economic forecast for Israel was positive as well, defining the economy as “stable” and projecting that it will grow by 3 percent between 2015 and 2018. 15 new Dreamliners for El Al. El Al has announced the largest procurement of new aircraft in the company’s history. It is buying and leasing 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, costing $800 million to $900 million. The planes will replace El Al’s 747-400 and 767 fleet on medium-to-long-haul routes. Record number of passengers at BenGurion. On Aug. 13 a record 80,000 passengers passed through Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport. The Israel Airport Authority assesses that some 2 million passengers will pass through the airport in August — the largest number of passengers to come and go in a single month.
62 medals at Special Olympics. Israeli athletes won 62 medals at the Special Olympics in Los Angeles. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu congratulated all the athletes, saying, “Even those who did not win, to reach the games and compete, this says that you have something special.” Archaeologists discover Goliath’s
birthplace. Archaeologists at BarIlan University have discovered an entrance gate and other remnants of the Philistine city of Gath, which is mentioned in the Bible as the home of the giant Goliath, who fought and lost against David. Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com and other news sources.
Israel Photo of the Week
Ready to Serve Photo by Shahar Azran
Adina Karpuj Bortz (second from right), 19, joined by sister Tamar and their parents, Congregation Or Hadash Rabbis Mario Karpuj and Analia Bortz, prepares to board a flight chartered by Nefesh B’Nefesh from New York to Israel on Monday, Aug. 17, to make aliyah and join the Israel Defense Forces. She was one of 59 lone soldiers on the flight.
Films and Archives of WWII and the Holocaust A free workshop for teachers and educators Sunday, August 23, 10am–5pm Atlanta History Center
A workshop by the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France, in conjunction with the exhibition “Filming the Camps, from Hollywood to Nuremberg: John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens” on view through November 20, 2015. Presented at the Atlanta History Center - 130 West Paces Ferry Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30305 CALL FOR ACTION | RSVP by August 20 at: contact@memorialdelashoah.org
John Ford next to his cameraman in the Pacific, n.d. © Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Success for treatment of back pain. Netanya-based Nervomatrix has reported success from independent controlled trials of its hyper-stimulation pulse device for treating lower back pain. The study on 28 patients at the Free University of Brussels found significant pain relief after four treatments compared with a control group.
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www.atlantajewishtimes.com
OPINION
Our View
The Pardon
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
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ith the centennial of Leo Frank’s lynching behind us, it is time to confront the key question: not whether Frank killed little Mary Phagan in April 1913, but whether the state of Georgia should officially recognize his innocence. As friends and foes alike note, the pardon the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles approved in 1986 clears Frank’s record on the grounds that he was denied due process during his trial and that the state failed to protect him. The pardon offers no opinion on whether Frank committed murder. But Dale Schwartz, the lawyer who won the pardon, explained during a centennial event at Congregation Etz Chaim that the compromise wording of the pardon did not reflect doubts about Frank’s innocence. Instead, some of the five board members were concerned about the precedent of granting a posthumous pardon and the risk of facing thousands of similar petitions. The Anti-Defamation League still expected to win a full pardon in 1984, only for the board to turn down the request amid some suspicious backroom wheeling and dealing. After publishing roughly 10,000 words related to the case in the Aug. 14 and 21 issues, we recognize that we will never know with certainty how Phagan died. Like most people who have studied the case, we believe that Frank is innocent and that janitor Jim Conley, the key witness against Frank, was the real killer. But like Steve Oney, who wrote the definitive book on the case, “And the Dead Shall Rise,” we recognize that there is no way to rule out Frank’s guilt. If we were to retry Frank today, we are confident he would be found not guilty. But not guilty is not the same as innocent. Certain physical evidence points away from Frank and at Conley, including the coal dust found in the girl’s lungs, indicating that she was still alive when she was dumped in the National Pencil Co. factory basement, and Conley’s feces at the bottom of the factory elevator shaft, whose intact state indicated that he couldn’t have used the elevator to dispose of the body, contradicting his testimony. But no one ever came forward and claimed to witness the slaying. No one provided an alibi for Frank, the last person who admitted seeing Phagan alive. We also must not forget the descendants of the original victim. Whatever peace a full pardon for Frank might bring our community, the process could bring just as much pain to Phagan family members, most of whom remain convinced of his guilt. Schwartz said an unsuccessful public pursuit of exoneration from the board could hurt Frank’s reputation. After all, most people aware of the case know he was pardoned but don’t know the wording; they already think the state considers him innocent. But the verdict of history matters. While Schwartz said he does not believe that the Board of Pardons and Paroles will ever take up the case again, our elected officials could. It’s time for the General Assembly, the governor or both to finish the justice marathon started by Gov. John Slaton in 1915 and continued by the pardon board in 1986 and carry Frank past the innocence finish line. ■
The Passions of Jewish Greek Life
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see their potential sisters in action and before they en years ago this week, a headline in the Atlearn where they fit into university life. lanta Jewish Times was “Rushing to Judaism.” In a response Aug. 14, “The Chutzpah of Rushing The article addressed the Jewishness of Jewish,” UGA SDT alumna Monica Flamini explained sororities and fraternities and focused on the plight that rushing SDT is not an easy choice because it imof the University of Georgia’s chapter of Delta Phi mediately identifies you as Jewish, but the benefits Epsilon, a sorority that was considering re-embracare worth it. Again, a ing its Jewish roots in the face of valuable, interesting dwindling membership. perspective. Within a few years, DPhiE We’re an open was gone from UGA, and the Editor’s Notebook forum, and I thought international sorority continues By Michael Jacobs the exchange of to celebrate its founding as a mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com ideas was great, parnonsectarian organization, albeit ticularly because it by five Jewish women. echoed what should The struggle to be Greek be a friendly if passionate debate on the university and Jewish is a more sensitive issue than I realized campus, the ultimate marketplace of ideas. as a nonmember of a fraternity. My participation Unfortunately, some view Ariel’s column as an in Greek life at Tulane was limited to attending a attack on Jewish Greek life, as slander, as an effort to few rush events with my freshman roommate (he undermine recruitment. There’s talk of formal compledged ZBT; I drank the free booze), enjoying frats’ plaints being filed against Ariel and the Tri Delts. open parties (free booze again) and occasionally visI hope the rumors prove false. I hope no one is iting sororities’ weekly free lunches (Greek organizaso sensitive as to see one person’s defense of her own tions made college much more affordable for me). choice as slander against another. And I hope that I was not prepared for the passionate reaction any organization associated with an educational to a column written by UGA junior and Delta Delta institution, where free expression should be encourDelta member Ariel Pinsky for our back-to-campus aged and ideas should be challenged and answered issue Aug. 7. “Don’t Fear Non-Jewish Greek Life” was but not silenced, would reject such complaints. an effort to explain Ariel’s personal decision not to It’s a sad statement if one column can shake join Sigma Delta Tau, the Jewish sorority at UGA. a group to its foundation. It’s even sadder if the Ariel had worried that SDT was the easy choice response is to punish a person for her opinions. and would limit her social circle to people she By the way, SDT, Tri Delt and the other sororities already knew. Now she wanted other students and soon will have more competition: DPhiE is coming their parents to know that a Jewish life was possible back. The revived chapter is scheduled to participate at UGA for those in non-Jewish Greek organizations. in UGA’s sorority recruitment in August 2016. That’s important information for new students We’ll have to wait and see whether the new because UGA conducts sorority rush for freshmen DPhiE develops as an unofficial Jewish option, before the school year begins. Young women must pursues a path disconnected from its heavily Jewish make a decision with lifelong implications based on history, or charts a course somewhere in between. ■ a few days of recruitment events before they get to
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OPINION
Fight Anti-Semitism With Mutual Respect
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gnorance breeds fear, fear breeds prejudice, prejudice breeds hatred, hate breeds violence. The history of antiSemitism is rooted in this premise. We Jews have been carrying the weight of this foundation for over 2,000 years. Bishop Apollinaris of Hierapolis wrote a polemic against the Jews in approximately 175 CE. The first anti-Jewish polemic in Latin, Adversus Judaeos, dates from about 200 CE and was written by Tertullian. Was the anti-Semitic view of the fathers of the church rooted in racism? Jesus was born, lived and died as a Jew. Was it a persecution of a race? The contra Iudaeos tradition is a dispute with Judaism as a religion in the same way the church fathers disputed pagans, Manicheans, Donatists and other heretics. That the early Christian antiJewish polemics did the intellectual spadework for later persecution of the Jews is undeniable, but at their heart the first centuries of Jewish-Christian relations were based on intellectual and theological disputes among people who sprang from the same religious soil. Nevertheless, the interpretation of deicide sprouted as a convoluted understanding of future occurrences. Medieval blood libel accusations, the Crusades, expulsions from England and Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” “Mein Kampf,” the Shoah, and the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires are just illustrations of many more antiSemitic attacks. Honorable members of this forum, honorable attendees: This forum presents us with a unique opportunity. Dialogue turns down prejudices and fears. Freedom of speech invites us to reflect and respect each other’s opinion. I don’t like the word tolerance — no human being wants to be “tolerated” — I insist on the premise of mutual respect. I learn from the sages who wrote “The Ethics of the Fathers.” Hillel the Sage taught: “If I’m not
for myself, who am I? If I’m only for myself, what am I?” We live in the 21st century. We are recipients of a masterpiece called “Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church With NonChristian Religions,” which on Oct. 28, 1965, introduced a new concept of reconciliation between Jews and
Guest Column By Rabbi Analia Bortz
not the instinct for survival alone, but a driving and motivating idea, something universal and profound, and it is possible that mankind is not capable of understanding this cause.” In each of us resides the responsibility to teach how much we can construct instead of destruct. Our cry for survival unleashes a need for survival and has kept us alive and well. Unfortunately through history, hatred and bigotry have been based on ignorance. Once again: Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds prejudice, prejudice breeds hate, and hate breeds violence.
Christians. We called it in Hebrew an opportunity of teshuvah, of redemption. The time has come. The time of mutual reconciliation, of relational ties and spiritual growth, has come. My Latino roots bring me to Don Quixote de la Mancha, a man who refuses to give up on his prinOr Hadash Rabbi Analia Bortz speaks during an anticiples. Semitism forum at the United Nations on Aug. 11. I have lived In 1961 when men started explorthrough the “The Junta,” the military ing space, Chekhov said: “A white man government in my place of birth. I can orbit the Earth, but a black one have lived through the Israeli Emcannot enter a regular restroom.” bassy bombing March 17, 1992. I have Fifty-four years later we are still witnessed and served as a morgue so preoccupied with finding details examiner during the AMIA/Jewish on Mars while oblivious to the cries of Federation bombing in the center of our neighbors. the beautiful city of Buenos Aires on No more justifications and no July 18, 1994, where my husband and I more apologies should be expected lost friends and students. from us. The Jewish people have a That day changed the course of right to exist. We are not better than our lives forever. We decided to leave anybody else; there is no superior race. Argentina, not because we felt unsafe, We all have the responsibility to better but because we knew justice would not prevail, and unfortunately 21 years the world. Just as we wish to know G-d’s merlater we were proved right. cy, so we should show mercy to each Resilience is our Jewish name. other and to ourselves. Only three This resilience swerves from hatred weeks ago we celebrated 46 years of and vengeance to communication and humans touching the moon. We have mutual understanding. been so devoted to look beyond space We Jews are masters of looking that we forgot to look at the divine at things from a different lens, from spark inside our human souls. a positive angle, when prospects look Let’s strive to look inside the eyes gloomy. You can call it idealistic distortion or prophetic fantasy, but the truth of the other and find the divine spark, each one of us choosing right over is that we Jews do not give up easily. We fight for what is right. We claim for wrong. Who knows? Maybe that one small step of a man could be a giant justice and truth, even when we have leap for man/womankind. been persecuted and mistreated. Today we carry the responsibilDostoevsky said it right: “The ity of being ambassadors of mutual primary cause of Jewish existence is
understanding, of mutual respect, of bettering of this world. We have to defeat ignorance, fear, prejudice, so we can prevent violence. We have to start at our kitchen table, with our own families, in our homes, on the streets, through social media, and our wings should spread globally. Let me conclude with a famous Talmudic story. For many years the disputes between two schools of thought, between two prominent rabbis, Hillel and Shamai, escalated. Hillel’s school usually won the argument regarding the outcome of Jewish law. Once, the disciples of Shamai decided to test the disciples of Hillel. They took a butterfly and placed it in one pupil’s hand. They wanted to surprise Hillel by asking this conundrum. Rabbi Hillel, he would ask, is the butterfly that I have in my hand alive or dead? The disciples expected Hillel either to say alive, and the pupil would close his hand, then show it was dead, or to say dead, and the pupil would open his hand and show the butterfly was alive. Confident that they would win this trial, they knocked on Rabbi Hillel’s door and asked this enigmatic question: Rabbi Hillel, is the butterfly that I have in my hands alive or dead? Rabbi Hillel smiled and replied: The answer is in your hand. Members of this forum, the Jewish people and the state of Israel are here not just to stay, but to flourish and help others, as we have done during catastrophes in Haiti, in Africa, in Nepal, in Indonesia, being the first ones to assist “The Other,” the one who is in need, regardless of race and religion. We continue to do so in time of war and in time of peace. Martin Niemöller, a prominent Protestant pastor, is perhaps best remembered for the quotation: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me. We have many answers in our hands. You, as representatives of the United Nations, have the responsibility to teach the world that anti-Semitism is a “never again” statement, and never again truly means never again. ■ 11 AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Rabbi Analia Bortz of Congregation Or Hadash delivered a version of these remarks Tuesday, Aug. 11, at an antiSemitism forum convened at the United Nations in New York by Proclaiming Justice to the Nations.
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www.atlantajewishtimes.com
LEO FRANK CENTENNIAL
Century of Remembrance
These are some of the images the Atlanta Jewish Times captured at events marking the centennial of Leo Frank’s lynching.
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H Photos by David R. Cohen, Zach Itzkovitz and Michael Jacobs
A: Beneath a projection of lawyer William Smith’s deathbed statement on the case, Georgia Historical Society senior historian Stan Deaton (left) and author Steve Oney discuss the Frank case’s legacy Aug. 13 at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre. B: Dale Schwartz, who was the lead counsel in winning Leo Frank’s pardon, and Rabbi Albert Slomovitz unveil the memorial marker at Congregation Etz Chaim on Aug. 16. C: Former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Sears speaks at the Temple Kol Emeth memorial event Aug. 16. D: Congressman John Lewis looks toward new Anti-Defamation League National Director Jonathan Greenblatt during the ADL commemoration Aug. 17 at the Georgian Club.
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
E: Congregation Etz Chaim Rabbi Shalom Lewis speaks during the memorial service Aug. 16.
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F: Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens explains how Cobb County and the judiciary have changed in the past 100 years during the ADL event Aug. 17 at the Georgian Club. G: Coke bottles reading “Leo Frank Innocent” were handed out at Temple Kol Emeth’s memorial event Aug. 16. H: The six Reform rabbis at the ADL commemoration Aug. 17 — (from left) David Katz, Loren Filson Lapidus, Peter Berg, Steven Lebow, Harvey Winokur and Erin Boxt — prepare to lead the Mourner’s Kaddish.
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
LEO FRANK CENTENNIAL
Frank Event Launches ADL Drive on Hate Crimes By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
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he 100th anniversary of the lynching of Leo Frank provided an opportunity to reflect on how far Georgia has come, how far the state and the nation have to go, how much civil rights leader Julian Bond will be missed, and how much new or improved hate-crimes legislation is needed across the nation. The new national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, made one of his first public appearances at the Frank commemoration held by the ADL’s Buckhead-based Southeast Region at the Georgian Club in southeastern Cobb County on Monday, Aug. 17. Greenblatt, whose organization first came to prominence in response to Frank’s 1913 conviction in the murder of Mary Phagan and his 1915 lynching, used the ceremony to launch the ADL’s 50 States Against Hate initiative. The project aims to pass hatecrimes laws in the five states that lack them — Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana and Wyoming — and
to strengthen in the other 45 laws to ensure they include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. Georgia partners in the initiative include the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Jewish Women, the NAACP and SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity. Both Greenblatt’s speech to a room packed with community leaders and a few national leaders — including former ADL Southeast Regional Director Deborah Lauter, now the agency’s national civil rights director — and the ADL’s pamphlet on the initiative cited the nine killings at a Charleston church June 17. The confessed white-supremacist killer, Dylann Roof, won’t be charged with a hate crime because South Carolina doesn’t have such a law, although he could face the death penalty. “I believe that without this law, without this charge, the state prosecution is simply incomplete. We cannot properly recognize the clear bias motivation behind these murders,” Greenblatt said. “We owe it to the victims, the Charleston Nine, to be able to call this
crime what it was and to be able to pursue justice on those specific grounds.” His audience included Roy Barnes, who was governor when Georgia passed a hate-crimes law in 2000 that was later overturned, and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, who would have to defend a Georgia hate-crimes law against any court challenges. Barnes and Olens were among the speakers before Greenblatt. Barnes, whose wife is a descendant of one of the Frank lynchers, and fellow lawyer Dale Schwartz, who was the ADL’s lead counsel in the push for a Frank pardon in the mid-1980s, shared a rollicking panel moderated by WSB-TV personality Jocelyn Dorsey. Barnes and Schwartz both offered a look behind the scenes at the ultimately successful fight to win a pardon for Frank in 1986, and both backed the pursuit of exoneration for Frank through a route that doesn’t again involve the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Olens focused on how dramatically Cobb County has changed in a century to feature a more diverse judiciary and perhaps a friendlier home for Jews than some of the nearby counties.
But Greenblatt turned to the most prominent member of the audience and the man who followed him on the program, Congressman John Lewis, when he focused on the sad news from the weekend: the unexpected death of former NAACP leader and Georgia legislator Julian Bond at the age of 75. Greenblatt said it was impossible not to take a moment to remember Bond because “all of us are part of his legacy.” Lewis said the ADL event late Monday morning was the first time he could move out of his house since hearing the news about Bond. “We lost a fighter for justice,” Lewis said. He added that such fighters are still needed in an era when hatred and rage can combine to produce horrors such as the Charleston church killings. “It’s impossible to say what happened to Leo Frank could never happen again,” he said. Lewis added that the final element that turns hate into violence is silence. “I’m afraid we are much too quiet,” he said, urging everyone to stand up, speak up and condemn hate wherever it is found. ■
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LEO FRANK CENTENNIAL
Exoneration Sought in ‘Newer South’ By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
ore than 350 people gathered at Temple Kol Emeth on Sunday, Aug. 16, 100 years after Leo Frank was abducted from the state prison in Milledgeville to be driven through the night and lynched in the morning by some of Marietta’s most prominent citizens. “We don’t live in that older South anymore,” Kol Emeth Rabbi Stephen Lebow said at a memorial for Frank. “In the newer South, we are here to ask the state of Georgia to clear the name of an innocent man,” he said. “Let the state of Georgia finally acknowledge that Leo Frank was innocent. That’s all we ask for. Nothing more is necessary. But nothing less will do.” Lebow was joined by such speakers as Cobb County Superior Court Chief Judge Stephen Schuster, Georgia Senior Assistant Attorney General Van Pearlberg, former state Supreme Court Justices Leah Sears and Norman Fletcher, and lawyer Dale Schwartz, who served as lead counsel in obtain-
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A petition to the Cobb ing a posthumous pardon County commissioners for Frank in 1986. to exonerate Frank was Each speaker rememstarted by Rabbi Lebow and bered Frank and pieced tohad collected 244 of the regether a compelling arguquired 500 signatures by ment for his exoneration. Monday morning. Pearlberg explained Frank was pardoned in how Frank’s court case was 1986, but the Georgia did not sensationalized through declare him innocent of the the media. Schwartz recounted his two attempts Rabbi Stephen Lebow murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan at the Atlanta pencil to secure a pardon for factory he ran in April 1913. Frank in the 1980s. Sears raised awareness to the racial injus- Instead, the pardon acknowledged that tices that still occur in America on a the state failed to give Frank a fair trial and to protect him from the lynch mob. regular basis. Rabbi Lebow, who has champiSchuster said there are lessons to oned Frank’s case for decades, said be learned from Frank’s case today. “As an attorney and now as a he’s on a mission to clear Frank’s name judge,” he said, “This case is a reminder once and for all. “If we today, like everyone in Georthat the rule of law should never be overrun by the rule of the mob. We gia, wishes to put the painful legacy of must answer to the Constitution, not Leo Frank aside,” he said, “then let us acknowledge that it is not possible to to the person who shouts the loudest.” T-shirts and Coke bottles that read make the future good unless we are “Leo Frank Innocent” were handed out willing to make the past right.” He added: “We are living in the at the event, held the day before the centennial of Frank’s lynching a few newer South, where justice delayed is justice denied.” ■ miles west of Kol Emeth along Ga. 120.
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Goldstein Recounts Mob Terror By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
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mob that formed outside a Jewish-owned store in Marietta after Leo Frank’s lynching Aug. 17, 1915, nearly overturned a streetcar in its anti-Semitic fervor. Marietta City Council member Philip Goldstein told his family’s story during Congregation Etz Chaim’s centennial event Sunday, Aug. 16. The program included Chuck Clay, a great-nephew of lynching planner Herbert Clay, who speculated that guilt led his grandfather Lucius, Herbert’s brother, to be extra-vigilant when he served as the postwar military governor of Germany during the Nuremberg war-crimes trials. Also speaking was lawyer Dale Schwartz, the lead counsel in the effort to win a state pardon for Frank. Schwartz revealed that the hero behind the 1986 pardon was a Harvard student named Clark Freshman, who managed to speak with the members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles after they rejected the first pardon petition two years earlier. He helped devise wording the board members would sign, then carried the petition around to each of them the day after Labor Day 1986. But Goldstein’s tale of the summer of 1915 in Marietta brought home the fear that drove many Jews to leave Georgia after the lynching and compelled the others into silence. The 35-year member of the City Council said his curiosity about Frank was piqued during a trip to Washington. Someone asked The Marietta Daily Journal’s Bill Kenney about the case, and he started to answer until he realized Goldstein was within earshot. Goldstein eventually learned what had happened. His grandfather had opened a store on Marietta Square in 1912. After the lynching, a mob converged on the store while the family, including Goldstein’s 9-year-old uncle and 7-year-old aunt, sheltered inside. The family eventually made a dash for the streetcar that ran to Atlanta, but “the mob went wild,” rocking and pushing and shaking the streetcar before letting it go, Goldstein said. The family stayed in Atlanta for weeks; Goldstein’s grandfather commuted to Marietta to run the store. ■
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LEO FRANK CENTENNIAL
Oney Walks With the Ghosts of the Lynching By Zach Itzkovitz
was a fabulous witness. I read every single word of his testimony, and there were days that he had me convinced.” The program at the Strand was titled “The Ghosts of Leo Frank: Reckoning With Georgia’s Most Infamous Murders 100 Years later.” Oney’s book title also introduces the idea of ghosts from Phagan’s murder and Frank’s lynching.
Why do the ghosts of the Frank case still haunt us? It’s easy to acknowledge how much has changed in a century. It may be harder to recognize what hasn’t changed and what may never change. Deaton followed Oney with an explanation: “It is still our story, and we risk our own future if we don’t return to walk over this ground.” ■
By Zach Itzkovitz
prejudice.” Barnes equated Frank’s lynching with the modern prejudice against Mexican-Americans and Donald Trump’s supposed plan to build an impassable wall between the two countries at Mexico’s expense. Catherine Lewis, a professor of history at Kennesaw State University, discussed the social and political distance we have traveled since Frank’s lynching but also acknowledged the leaps we haven’t made. Lewis said it is important to keep Mary Phagan’s murder in 1913 from being overshadowed by Frank’s lynching two years later.
“It’s important for us to understand,” she said, “that that trial and lynching revealed deep divides among the incidents, in terms of class, region, ethnicity, religion and gender, that still reverberate.” Richard Banz, the executive director of the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History, mentioned the impossibility of changing the past but the possibility of changing the present and future. With a memory of Phagan and Frank, we can equip ourselves to deal with similar instances that may arise today or tomorrow and improve conditions to diminish the possibility of history repeating itself, Banz said. ■
Remembering to Avoid Repeating
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ongregation Ner Tamid in Marietta hosted former Gov. Roy Barnes, among others, to reflect on the lynching of Leo Frank on Monday, Aug. 17, exactly 100 years after the Jewish factory superintendent died a few miles away. To Barnes, Frank’s lynching is important to remember to ensure that nothing similar ever happens again. “It could happen again in a heartbeat,” Barnes said, “and the reason it could is because of lack of political leadership and religious leadership and the intersection of passion and
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
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t’s possible but highly unlikely that Leo Frank was the killer of Mary Phagan, journalist Steve Oney, author of “And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank,” told a packed Earl Smith Strand Theatre on Marietta Square on Thursday, Aug. 13. Oney joined Georgia Historical Society senior historian Stan Deaton onstage to mark the centennial of Frank’s lynching. After detailing events surrounding the lynching, Oney discussed his book’s methods and sources. He said Bill Kinney, former associate editor of The Marietta Daily Journal, guided him toward witnesses. Many were children of the culprits, including George and Lucille Morris, son and daughter of Judge Newt Morris, and Eugene Herbert Clay Jr., son of Herbert Clay. Oney believes, as most historians do, that Jim Conley killed Phagan, acting on his own. He noticed similarities between Conley’s written and spoken statements and the notes found with Phagan’s body.
“Conley had a penchant to use compound adjectives — long, tall, black — in everything he wrote and said,” Oney said. “To me, the authorship of those notes places this crime at Jim Conley’s hands.” But he acknowledged that Frank could have been the killer. “The prosecution presented a credible case against him,” Oney said. “Jim Conley
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Chai-Minded Surprise Arrives at Young Israel
New & Innovative
Youth Education Programs Have you heard about our Hebrew Chavurah program? Students in grades 3-6 now have an option to participate in small group Hebrew classes that meet in neighborhoods. Convenience for parents; connections and relationships for your kids... it’s a win-win! Our new Wednesday Night Teen Program helps teens in grades 7-9 connect and build a cohesive post B’nai Mitzvah experience in meaningful ways. We’re focused on families, making Sunday a family destination where parents learn and connect with one another and their children as one community. We also offer a variety of family fun experiences throughout the year, like our Family Fun Fest, Family Tashlich picnic and a Family Afikomen Scavenger Hunt. For more information or to register for Youth Education programs, please call 404.252.3073.
Warm, Welcoming, Creative
Jewish Preschool
With a focus on academics through play, we offer small classes, an experienced staff, and modern classrooms filled with developmentally appropriate resources. With programs for Ages 12 months through Transitional Kindergarten, Temple Sinai has a remarkable and exciting educational experience waiting for your child.
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
For more information or to schedule a tour of the preschool, please call 404.255.6200.
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5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, GA 30327
www.templesinaiatlanta.org
Young Israel of Toco Hills has an extra $10,368 to spend in the year 5776 after receiving a gift from the anonymous donor known as Chai Minded. That unknown donor has given money in multiples of 18, representing chai (life), to synagogues and related organizations for several years. Young Israel is one of 192 recipients and the fifth in Georgia. “We’re very honored and humbled that we were one of the select few that have been chosen over the years,” Young Israel Rabbi Adam Starr said. As explained at chaiminded.org, Chai Minded’s donations are one-time gifts and cannot be applied for. They just arrive without warning. Sure enough, Young Israel Executive Director Eliana Leader was opening the mail recently and found the check for $10,368, or 576 chai. In an email, Chai Minded said that he or she has not attended services at Young Israel but learned about the synagogue while doing research on Atlanta’s Orthodox congregations because “I want, as much as possible, to take a more interdenominational approach to these gifts.” Chai Minded wrote that Young Israel stood out for its innovation in the use of technology and its award-
winning green construction and for its engagement with members through social media and with the Toco Hills community. “This is such a beautiful and thoughtful way to give,” Rabbi Starr wrote in a thank-you note submitted to the Chai Minded website, adding, “We hope to pay this forward by continuing to build community by inspiring Jews committed to our people and tradition coupled with a profound engagement and openness to the world around us.” The rabbi said the exact use of the money is under discussion, but the gift will go toward programming, especially adult education. The other Georgia congregations that have received Chai Minded gifts are Temple Israel in Columbus, which received $10,062 some time around June 2013; Congregation B’nai Israel in Fayetteville, $10,188 in April 2014; Temple Israel in Valdosta, $10,188 in December 2014; and Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Rome, $10,188 in December 2014. We don’t know where Chai Minded lives, but he/she doesn’t appear to be a local. The donor’s email said he/she has seen only one Atlanta rabbi, “most impressive speaker” Peter Berg of The Temple, in person. ■
Coming Sept. 11 Our Rosh Hashanah Issue
Advertisers: Call 404-883-2130 to learn about our three-issue holiday special
The ad deadline is Sept. 3. Jewish organizations can contact Editor Michael Jacobs at 404-883-2130, ext. 104, or mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com to submit New Year’s messages of up to 700 words.
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3 - ISSUE HOLIDAY SPECIAL
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Remarkable Restoration
Beth Shalom bringing burned Holocaust Torah back to life By Cady Schulman cschulman@atljewishtimes.com
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round 1,500 Torahs survived the fires that burned synagogues in Bohemia and Moravia during the Holocaust. Congregation Beth Shalom this year is restoring one of those Holocaust Torahs, an effort Rabbi Mark Zimmerman said is aimed at ensuring that those Jewish congregations will not be forgotten. “Jews right here in Atlanta, Georgia, will keep the flame of their memory alive for future generations,” he said. When the Torah arrived in Dunwoody from the Czech Memorial Trust, congregation members were told that the scroll, which had been unrolled only to the burned portion, could not be restored. But when it was unrolled further while a scribe visited, it proved to be in better shape than anticipated. “The Torah must have been opened to that section when they set the building on fire because the rest of the Torah is in great shape,” said Vera Newman,
who is leading the project. “We were amazed as we unrolled it. The dust was flying everywhere, but we couldn’t stop. We opened the whole thing, and it was gorgeous. The edges were smokedamaged but not destroyed.” The Torah was sent to Miami, where a sofer (scribe) is re-creating the burned pages and cleaning the rest of the scroll at a cost of $25,000, funded by passage sponsorships and donors. “For only a few thousand more, we could have written an entirely new scroll, but there is something very special about our restoring a scroll from a synagogue and Jewish community that was decimated during the Holocaust,” Rabbi Zimmerman said. “Plus, it is a very elaborate scroll written in a rare scribal tradition that is no longer taught or used today. In this way we are preserving something from the past that the Nazis almost destroyed.” Although much of the work is being done in Miami, the sofer will travel to Atlanta several times to give synagogue members the chance to partici-
pate in the restoration. “Many people have signed up to write a letter or word,” Newman said. “And to think that we’re actually going to have it on holidays. We’re going to use this Torah. It’s very, very exciting.” In addition to being saved from the Holocaust, the Torah is unusual because it follows the Rabbi Mark Zimmerman looks over the HoloKabbalistic tradition and caust Torah before its restoration. uses stylized letters rarely seen in other scrolls. “The sofer and I were awestruck as That tradition includes putting letters we went through this Torah scroll and inside other letters, Newman said. discovered one surprise after another,” “You can see the letters. You can the rabbi said. read the letters. But inside the letters “It was obvious that this special you can see another letter,” she said. Torah scroll ought to be again used and “It’s so unique. When you look at the treasured by a thriving Jewish commuwriting, it’s breathtaking.” nity and not left to languish in a disThe Holocaust Torah includes play case,” Rabbi Zimmerman said. more than 100 stylized letters, comFind more on the Year of the Topared with around a dozen in other rah project at bethshalomatlanta.org/ scrolls, Rabbi Zimmerman said. holocaust-torah-restoration. ■
Ahavath Achim Synagogue
A dynamic, egalitarian, Conservative congregation that inspires our members to forge strong connections with God, Jewish life, Israel and our community.
Alef Beit Space, School of Judaism, Taglit Atzmi, Confirmation, Post-Confirmation, Next Step and Chai Mitzvah Adult Learning
High children and families to Holidays Connecting Judaism through stimulating, interactive and inspiring Jewish learning experiences, from 2015 / 5776 toddlers through high There is still time to become a member of AA to celebrate the High Holidays with the Ahavath Achim Synagogue family. Call now for more information. Lauren Dyckman 404.603.5755 ldyckman@aasynagogue.org
school with flexible schedules to meet the needs of today’s busy families
Chai Youth Community
The youth community at Ahavath Achim Synagogue is a vibrant and active home for all K – 12th grade Jewish kids and teens in Atlanta. • • • • •
600 Peachtree Battle Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30327 404.355.5222 | www.AASynagogue.org
Diverse kids and teens Fun social events Educational and religious activities Tikkun Olam (repair the world) opportunities Friendships to last a lifetime
AAspire - Young Adult Community AAspire is the new young adult community at Ahavath Achim Synagogue. AAspire creates opportunities for young adults in their 20s and 30s to actively pursue Judaism by engaging in cultural and social programs, spirituality, education, and community activism. Want more info? Have questions? Contact Leah Fuhr: lfuhr@aasynagogue.org or 404.355.3848.
Ahava Early Learning Center Reggio Emilia-Inspired Learning Enviroment Now Open! Generous scholarships available through the Alef Fund for our 4-year-old program. For information, visit ahavalearning.org or call Hannah Williams, Director, 404.603.5759 Ahava Early Learning Center welcomes all children regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Family Learning & Living Initiative’s Educational Programs
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Rabbi Spike Anderson
Exciting Things Are Happening At Temple Emanu-El! Come meet our new rabbi and become part of our warm, vibrant community.
Join us at one of our upcoming events Dunwoody/Sandy Springs Prospective Member Wine and Cheese August 25 | 7:30 pm Alpharetta Prospective Member Wine and Cheese August 26 | 7:30 pm Tashlich Family Picnic at the Dunwoody Nature Center September 20 | 4:30 - 6:30 pm Brotherhood Monday Night Football at Top Golf October 19
Sinai a Dream Come True
Progressive Dinner November 7
Schafer offers big sound to fill big place By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com
For more information and to RSVP for events, call us at 770-395-1340 and visit us at templeemanuelatlanta.org
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Congregation Ariel
An Orthodox Synagogue and a Community for every Jew. Located in beautiful Dunwoody, the Ariel family welcomes Jews of all ages, stages and backgrounds.
Daily MINYANIM • Classes with the RABBIS • One-on-one LEARNING • Events for WOMEN • YOUTH groups • TOT Shabbat • TEEN barbeques • FATHER/SON learning • Modern SANCTUARY and SOCIAL HALL • ERUV and MIKVAH • FUN, LEARNING AND GROWTH FOR ALL!
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
To fi nd out how we CONNECT, SHARE AND GROW: join us for High Holidays, come for a Shabbos kiddush, attend one of our many classes, chat with the Rabbis and make new friends.
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“Schools are always interested in a chick who can shred a little bit,” Temple Sinai Bunzl Family Cantorial Chair Beth Schafer says.
We look forward to welcoming you! Congregation Ariel 5237 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338 www.congariel.org | shuloffi ce@congariel.org Phone: 770-390-9071
eth Schafer has a lot to smile about. She recently landed the job of her dreams as the Bunzl Family cantorial chair at Temple Sinai in Sandy Springs. “I think to a certain degree we courted each other, at least informally,” Schafer said. An off-the-cuff conversation with one of the rabbis at the temple turned into a yearlong exploration of working there, Schafer recalled. She had visited occasionally as an artist in residence and had “been friends with these rabbis for decades. I’ve always been impressed with the place, with the breadth of programming, the depth of its staff.” In announcing her hiring, Sinai President Scott Zucker wrote: “For the past 13 years, (Schafer) has led Temple Shir Shalom in Central Florida as their sole spiritual leader. She used music to increase spirituality and meaning in worship, which we look forward to her bringing to Temple Sinai.” She may be new to Atlanta, but Schafer is no novice in the field of music, liturgical or otherwise. Her first album came out in 1997, and she has seven of them available on iTunes. She formed a band and toured the country. She attended the University of Miami on a jazz scholarship and received a degree in the theory of composition. “I got to be pretty good. I had decent guitar chops, and schools are always interested in a chick who can shred a little bit. My guitar skills have always
taken the lead for me, then I would say writing, then my voice, in that order.” Schafer set her sights on writing music for TV and film. “I did a stint in digital media at Full Sail (Center for the Recording Arts) and helped develop their interactive media program and projects,” she said. Schafer was also a beta tester for computer software such as Adobe Acrobat and Finale 1. “I really began taking those skills and turning them to the Jewish market and began writing liturgical music.” Schafer’s national debut as a performer came in 1999 in Orlando at the biennial convention of the Union for Reform Judaism. In 2013 in San Diego, she became the first woman to produce the convocation’s Saturday night show. “It’s the largest gathering of Jews in the country,” she said. “Six thousand people come to this thing.” At Temple Sinai, “I see myself as the person who can help funnel all that into a musical setting that evolves the worship to another level,” Schafer said. “As much as we always want everything to be prayerful, and the prayers are at the center of what we do in the sanctuary, our population is used to very well-produced music, whether it’s live or on an iPod. … “It’s not enough to just sing a pretty melody. What’s going to support that melody musically? What instruments are we going to use? How does the music work as a vehicle to move from spoken word to sung prayer?” She said Sinai is a big place, so “it should have a big sound. And I’m chomping at the bit to develop that.” ■
Congregation Etz Chaim in East Cobb
is a warm and caring Synagogue, established in the Fall of 1975 to meet the needs of the expanding Jewish community of north metropolitan Atlanta. Etz Chaim is a modern Conservative synagogue committed to blending tradition and change. The synagogue, through its rabbi, professional staff and lay leadership, offers a wide range of services, educational programs, workshops, seminars and programming for all ages. Highlights include: RESPECTED RABBI: Etz Chaim is fortunate to have Rabbi Shalom Lewis, who is a wellknown and respected leader not only in East Cobb, but also across metro Atlanta’s larger Jewish community.
FIRST-RATE PRE & RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS: Under the direction of Debbie Deutsch, Etz Chaim provides a nurturing educational environment for children and their families that is Torah-based, and encourages the incorporation of Jewish ideals and practices into everyday life.
TRADITIONAL & CREATIVE SERVICES:
ADULT PROGRAMMING: In addition to traditional services and fraternal organizations – Sisterhood, Men’s Club, Young Adults and Senior clubs – the synagogue offers a host of different experiences, including B’nai Mitzvah classes, Scholar-in-Residence weekends, regular Sedra and Lunch & Learn classes and an extensive adult education program, Lilmode, which features educators from as close as Emory and as far away as Israel.
Congregation Etz Chaim’s goal, as it was in the beginning, is finding creative and innovative ways to address the spiritual, educational and social needs of our congregants. It’s a mission Etz Chaim’s leadership takes seriously, and a belief that can be found at the heart of all our programming. It’s a goal that has proven successful over the years because, simply put, we’re a family interested in Creating Meaningful Jewish Experiences. Our intention, in all activities, is to provide an environment of warmth and an opportunity for personal growth. We celebrate together, we pray together, and we learn together, making Etz Chaim truly a home away from home!
CONGREGATION ETZ CHAIM Creating Meaningful Jewish Experiences Visit us on the web at www.etzchaim.net. For information regarding membership, please contact Bob Bachrach at 770.973.0137 or via email at rbachrach@etzchaim.net
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
AWARD-WINNING YOUTH PROGAMS: Under the leadership of Perry Birbrager, there’s a unique and special organization for youngsters of all ages at Etz Chaim – Gesher, Junior Kadima, Kadima and USY – each one filled with fun, friends and Yiddishkeit!
The synagogue of fers a full-range of religious services – Shabbat, holidays, and daily minyans – aimed at meeting the spiritual needs of our large and diverse congregation.
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Atlanta Synagogue Directory
CHABAD
Chabad Enrichment Center of Gwinnett 3855 Holcomb Bridge Road Suite 770 Norcross, GA 30092 www.chabadofgwinnett.org 678-595-0196 Rabbi Yossi Lerman No membership. No affiliation. No artificial ingredients. No tickets. No fluff. No problem. The answer is always yes! Chabad Intown 928 Ponce de Leon Avenue Atlanta, GA 30306 www.chabadintown.org 404-898-0434 Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman Rabbi Ari Sollish Chabad Intown, celebrating its 18th year, provides opportunities yearround to all, regardless of background, affiliation or spiritual inclination to learn about and experience our rich Jewish tradition and heritage. We do this through programs for all ages, including the Intown Jewish Preschool, Intown Hebrew School, Intown Jewish Academy, and YJP — Young Jewish Professionals, Midtown, ATL. All of our offerings are presented in top-quality format and are always uplifting and inspiring. A variety of original community activities are being planned to celebrate our 18th year. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our programs or events soon. Chabad Israeli Center 5188 Roswell Road Sandy Springs, GA 30342 www.cicatlanta.com 404-252-9508 Rabbi Mendy Gurary
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Chabad Jewish Center 1480 Shiloh Road Suite 500 Kennesaw, GA 30144 www.jewishwestcobb.com 678-460-7702 Rabbi Zalman Charytan
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Chabad of Cobb 4450 Lower Roswell Road Marietta, GA 30068 www.chabadofcobb.com 770-565-4412 Rabbi Ephraim Silverman Chabad of North Fulton 10180 Jones Bridge Road Alpharetta, GA 30022 www.chabadnf.org 770-410-9000 Rabbi Hirshy Minkowicz
Things are buzzing in the North Fulton community. The Jewish population continues to grow as families move here from all parts of the country. There is also a growing community of families from Israel, South America and other countries. This summer we launched a pilot program for teen and preteen girls to serve as leaders and participants in a special educational program during our summer camp. The five-week program attracted 27 middle school girls, who enjoyed the summer so much that they are asking for more. We hope to use this energy to begin offering more teen programming in our area. The construction of Rashi’s Campus will be getting under way, G-d willing, this fall. The state-of-the-art facility will be named in memory of our beloved leader, Mrs. Rashi Minkowicz, and will serve as a community center where Jews of all walks of life can enjoy opportunities for meaningful Jewish connection and growth. Chabad of Peachtree City 632 Dogwood Trail Tyrone, GA 30290 www.chabadsouthside.com 678-595-0199 Rabbi Yossi Lew Congregation Beth Tefillah 5065 High Point Road Sandy Springs, GA 30342 www.bethtefillah.org 404-843-2464 Rabbi Yossi New Rabbi Ari Karp Rabbi Isser New Synagogue Director Jenna Aronowitz President Irvin Rabinowitz
ORTHODOX
Anshi S’fard Congregation 1324 North Highland Avenue Atlanta, GA 30306 www.anshisfard.com 404-874-4513 Rabbi Chaim Lindenblatt President Steve Edelkind Congregation Ariel 5237 Tilly Mill Road Dunwoody, GA 30338 www.congariel.org 770-390-9071 Rabbi Binyomin Friedman Youth Director Rabbi Mordy Birnbaum Executive Director Debbie Kalwerisky President Jason Kaplan An Orthodox synagogue and a community for every Jew. Located in beautiful Dunwoody, the Ariel family welcomes Jews of all ages, stages and backgrounds with: daily minyanim;
classes with the rabbis; one-on-one learning; events for women; youth groups; tot Shabbat; teen barbecues; father/son learning; modern sanctuary and social hall; eruv and mikvah; and fun, learning and growth for all. To find out how we connect, share and grow, join us for High Holidays, come for a Shabbos kiddush, attend one of our many classes, chat with the rabbis and make new friends. We look forward to welcoming you! Congregation Beth Jacob 1855 LaVista Road Atlanta, GA 30329 www.bethjacobatlanta.org 404-633-0551 Rabbi Ilan Feldman Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich Rabbi Emeritus Emanuel Feldman Executive Director Harvey Steele President Larry Beck Beth Jacob Atlanta is truly the Orthodox synagogue for all Jews. Beth Jacob aims to inspire and motivate individuals and families at all levels of observance to strengthen their Jewish connection. We welcome Jews of all backgrounds to participate in our programs. The Atlanta Scholars Kollel and Beth Jacob co-host study groups and workshops presenting timely topics with a Jewish perspective. Our no-membership (no-fee) High Holiday services include traditional Hebrew prayers in the main sanctuary or an English beginner’s service in Heritage Hall. On Shabbat and holidays, our synagogue is home to several concurrent services for young children, teens and beginners. Rabbi Dave Silverman’s weekly beginner’s service has inspired countless individuals on their journey of growth, and our youth programs prepare tomorrow’s leaders to be actively engaged in synagogue life. Congregation Beth Jacob is an old Atlanta tradition — chances are your grandparents were members here. Come see what we have to offer and renew your family tradition. Congregation Beth Yitzhak 5054 Singleton Road Norcross, GA 30093 770-931-4567 anatoliy@bjca.com Congregation Ner Hamizrach 1858 LaVista Road Atlanta, GA 30329 www.nerhamizrach.org 404-315-9020 Rabbi Shmuel Khoshkerman
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The Kehilla of Sandy Springs 5075 Roswell Road Sandy Springs, GA 30342 www.thekehilla.org 404-913-6131 Rabbi Karmi David Ingber Administrator Effie Ross President Matt Marks New Toco Shul 2003 LaVista Road Atlanta, GA 30329 newtocoshul.com 770-765-7485 Young Israel of Toco Hills 2056 LaVista Road Atlanta, GA 30329 www.yith.org 404-315-1417 Rabbi Adam Starr Executive Director Eliana Leader President Davi Kutner Our warm and growing Modern Orthodox community celebrates a commitment to traditional practice and observance coupled with a profound engagement and openness to the world around us. We are a proudly religious Zionist congregation that loves the people and land of Israel and believes that the establishment of the state of Israel is of great religious significance. We also cherish the important value of partnering and participating with the broader Atlanta Jewish community in the spirit of Klal Yisrael. Under the dynamic leadership of our spiritual leader, Rabbi Adam Starr, our synagogue has grown significantly and completed the building of a spectacular new spiritual home in September 2014. Our doors are open for all those who wish to join us for prayer, classes and programs. Our state-of-theart facility received EarthCraft Gold certification from Southface and won the Congregation of the Year award for environmental stewardship from Georgia Interfaith Power and Light.
TRADITIONAL
Congregation Shaarei Shamayim 1810 Briarcliff Road Atlanta, GA 30329 www.shaareishamayim.com 404-417-0472 Rabbi Mark Hillel Kunis Office Manager/Treasurer David Krombach President Steve Brown Congregation Shaarei Shamayim is the boutique intown Traditional shul. Our mission is to facilitate developing a relationship with G-d through prayer, meditation, the study of Torah, and reaching out to our fellow human beings with chesed — love
and compassion. Our shul is a place of inspiration, comfort, companionship and healing. We care about each other, for we believe in the holiness of the human spirit — that every human being is an image of G-d. In an effort to break down the artificial barriers and labels that separate our people, the principle of Ahavat Yisrael, love of our fellow Jew, takes center stage, and all are welcome. That is why we offer both separate (machitza) and mixed seating for men and women. We are an intimate and active congregation. We have Shabbat and holiday services, weekly educational activities, social activities, and a religious school — all focused on inspiring a thirst for G-d and Jewish life.
SEPHARDIC
Congregation Or VeShalom 1681 North Druid Hills Road Brookhaven, GA 30319 www.orveshalom.org 404-633-1737 Rabbi Hayyim Kassorla Executive Director Lynne Balaban Brookhaven Bayit@OVS Director Sim Pearl President Scott Galanti Founded in 1914, Congregation Or VeShalom (OVS) is a Sephardic synagogue located in Brookhaven. At 400 families strong, we are dedicated to the spiritual and intellectual growth of our members. Building upon 100 years of tradition, we are planning for our future by establishing new and innovative opportunities. B@OVS is our congregation’s new initiative to connect in creative ways to young adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s by fostering a welcoming community, a celebration of Jewish life and learning, the pursuit of social justice, and a commitment to shared experiences. Our partnership with Jewish Kids Group (JKG@ OVS) has been a great success. Going into our second year, the halls of our education wing are full of young students ready to explore, learn, create and build new friendships. Come experience our warm and welcoming community.
CONSERVATIVE
Ahavath Achim Synagogue 600 Peachtree Battle Avenue Atlanta, GA 30327 www.aasynagogue.org 404-355-5222 Rabbi Neil Sandler Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal Executive Director Manuel Mesa President Douglas Ander Congregation Beth Shalom
5303 Winters Chapel Road Dunwoody, GA 30360 www.bethshalomatlanta.org 770-399-5300 Rabbi Mark Zimmerman Executive Director Loli Gross Co-Presidents Jeff Budd and Joel Axler Beth Shalom is an egalitarian, Conservative synagogue committed to creating meaningful and lasting Jewish experiences for our members and their families. We are an inclusive, spiritual Jewish community providing a warm, nurturing environment where we pray, learn, educate, and perpetuate Torah and Jewish values while serving the greater community. We are a shul with a strong culture of welcoming. Shabbat and holiday services are a special time at Beth Shalom, infused with ruach (spirit) and the enthusiastic participation of our musical congregation, which loves to sing and pray together. Congregants join the rabbi on the bimah to lead prayer, chant Torah and Haftarah, blow the shofar, or even help teach. We are committed to sharing the joys of our simchas and supporting one another during life’s challenges. We encourage our members to support the Jewish community, the state of Israel and world Jewry and engage in tikkun olam. We are a true community built on lasting relationships. Congregation B’nai Torah 700 Mount Vernon Highway Atlanta, GA 30328 www.bnaitorah.org 404-257-0537 Rabbi Joshua Heller Rabbi Eytan Kenter Executive Director Natalie Sarnat President Elissa Fladell Congregation Etz Chaim 1190 Indian Hills Parkway Marietta, GA 30068 www.etzchaim.net 770-973-0137 Rabbi Shalom Lewis Executive Director Bob Bachrach President Cheryl Cohen-Miller As Congregation Etz Chaim begins its 41st year, our programing kicks off with our signature Lilmode adult education offering. Check our website for all the specifics. Coming up in October: “Crossing the Line: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus,” followed by a visiting scholar presentation by Dr. David Dalin, who will speak on the Mufti of Jerusalem. Later in the fall, Rabbi Matt Berkowitz will be our weekend scholar in residence, during which time he will explore the arts and Jewish learning. Both scholar pro-
grams are sponsored by the Ramie A. Tritt Family Foundation. In addition, AIPAC and FIDF will each be making presentations. These are but a few of the exciting events being offered in the months ahead. All programs are open to the public and free of charge. Congregation Gesher L’Torah 4320 Kimball Ridge Road Alpharetta, GA 30022 www.gltorah.org 770-777-4009 Rabbi Michael Bernstein Executive Director Doug Konkel President Mitch Hershkowitz Congregation Or Hadash 7460 Trowbridge Road Sandy Springs, GA 30328 www.or-hadash.org 404-250-3338 Rabbi Mario Karpuj Rabbi Analia Bortz Executive Director Bruce Warschoff President Fred Wachter Congregation Shearith Israel 1180 University Drive Atlanta, GA 30306 www.shearithisrael.com 404-873-1743 Rabbi Melvin Sirner Business Director Jodi Kadison President Josh D’Agostino With more than 110 years of history, Congregation Shearith Israel, located in Morningside, one of Atlanta’s charming intown neighborhoods, has entered its next chapter. Under new leadership with Rabbi Melvin Sirner, our egalitarian, Conservative synagogue is growing and will continue to provide a rich environment for pursuing Jewish spirituality, learning and community. Our congregants lead prayers, chant Torah and Haftarah, and share duties throughout our lay-led service. In addition to Saturday morning services, Shearith holds morning and evening minyanim seven days a week, a monthly Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat, learners’ services for adults, Junior Congregation services led by our teens, Pasta & Prayer, and Tot Shabbat programming. Our Machaneh Shai educational program (which our children actually love!) offers a rich, engaging experience for kindergarten through seventh grade. Throughout the year, our members have countless opportunities to participate in social, cultural, spiritual, educational and community service programs. Check us out!
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE REFORM
Congregation B’nai Israel 1633 Highway 54 East Jonesboro, GA 30237 Mail: P.O. Box 142481 Fayetteville, GA 30214 www.bnai-israel.net 678-817-7162 Rabbi Louis Feldstein Rabbinic Lay Leader Susan Burden President Sharon Hudgens Congregation Dor Tamid 11165 Parsons Road Johns Creek, GA 30097 www.dortamid.org 770-623-8860 Rabbi David Katz Cantorial Soloist Mike Zuspan Temple Administrator Kerry Sbat President Ellen Mayo Congregation Ner Tamid 1349 Old Highway 41 Suite 220 Marietta, GA 30060 678-264-8575 www.mynertamid.org Rabbi Tom Liebschutz President Kristine Goldstein Temple Beth David 1885 McGee Road Snellville, GA 30078 www.gwinnetttemple.com 770-978-3916 Rabbi Bob Kirzner President Barry Abis
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Temple Beth Tikvah 9955 Coleman Road Roswell, GA 30075 www.bethtikvah.com 770-642-0434 Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner Rabbi Emeritus Donald Tam Cantor Nancy Kassel President Ron Swichkow The nearly 500 families of the Temple Beth Tikvah community are excited to begin 5776 under the thoughtful leadership of our new senior rabbi, Alexandria Shuval-Weiner. As only the third senior rabbi in TBT’s 28-year history, Rabbi Shuval-Weiner brings to her role a special energy and spirituality, moving seamlessly from leading congregants in Torah study to preparing students to become b’nai mitzvah to engaging with the wider Jewish and secular communities. While new spiritual leadership means fresh ideas and creative ways to explore our roles and responsibilities as Jews, TBT retains its more traditional approach to worship as a Reform synagogue. In Genesis, Jacob exclaims, 22 “Mah norah haMakom hazeh.” Along-
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side Cantor Nancy Kassel and Rabbi Emeritus Donald Tam, Rabbi ShuvalWeiner is helping to remind TBT congregants “how awesome is this place” that we call our House of Hope. Temple Emanu-El 1580 Spalding Drive Sandy Springs, GA 30350 www.templeemanuelatlanta.org 770-395-1340 Rabbi Spike Anderson Rabbi Scott E. Colbert Rabbi Emeritus Stanley Davids Cantor Lauren Furman Adesnik Executive Director Mark Flaxer Co-Presidents Scott Walsey and Noah Rosner Temple Kehillat Chaim 1145 Green Street Roswell, GA 30075 www.kehillatchaim.org 770-641-8630 Rabbi Harvey Winokur Cantor Barbara Margulis Office Administrator Shelley Miller President Lori Dreffin Temple Kehillat Chaim is a friendly, inclusive synagogue that welcomes traditional, nontraditional and interfaith families. We have programs for tots through senior adults. For music lovers, we have wonderful adult and junior choirs singing traditional and contemporary prayer settings, plus original melodies written especially for our congregation. We have an excellent Sunday-only religious school that prepares our students to become b’nai mitzvah. Each child gets an individual date, allowing more family and friends to be honored with readings and aliyot during his/her weekend of services. Our members are very active in tikkun olam, including sponsoring an apartment at the Drake House, a transitional home for mothers and children, and the Zaban Shelter, to name a few. This year we will incorporate the social action theme of homelessness throughout our religious school in grade-appropriate ways as students actively participate in experiential projects, making a lasting impact on them and our community. Temple Kol Emeth 1415 Old Canton Road Marietta, GA 30062 www.kolemeth.net 770-973-3533 Rabbi Steven Lebow Rabbi Erin Boxt Cantorial Soloist Blake Singer Senior Temple Administrator Denise Jacobs President Henry Hene
Welcome to your Jewish home in Cobb County. Temple Kol Emeth prides itself on being a welcoming community and open to all who want to share our values and traditions. Make a personal connection with our community by indulging in adult education opportunities, watching your children prosper in our religious school, or simply enjoying music and prayer during our weekly Shabbat services. Our dynamic social, educational and social action programs are designed for those who are young to those who are young at heart. Whether you are new to Atlanta or have been here for years, choose to become a part of our family, and let us become a part of yours. Temple Sinai 5645 Dupree Drive Sandy Springs, GA 30327 www.templesinaiatlanta.org 404-252-3073 Senior Rabbi Ron Segal Associate Rabbi Brad Levenberg Associate Rabbi Elana Perry Rabbi Emeritus Philip Kranz Bunzl Family Cantorial Chair Beth Schafer Executive Director Jack Feldman President Scott Zucker Temple Sinai is a vibrant Reform congregation in Sandy Springs that values lifelong Jewish learning, a warm spirit of community, a sense of inclusivity and active participation in Jewish life. We offer educational opportunities that empower our members to make informed Jewish decisions based upon Torah, tradition and progressive Jewish thought. Our community serves as a center of Jewish life and as an extended, caring family for whom we provide a Jewish context for life experiences. We encourage spiritual growth and expression. Our clergy and our lay leadership are accessible to all members. Our congregation offers many avenues for involvement, welcomes participation in our leadership, and continually challenges itself to meet the needs of our members. We welcome all who wish to participate, regardless of age, marital status, sexual orientation or financial means. Please contact us for more information. We want Temple Sinai to be your home. The Temple 1589 Peachtree Street Atlanta, GA 30309 www.the-temple.org 404-873-1731 Senior Rabbi Peter Berg Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus Rabbi David Spinrad
Rabbi Steven Rau Rabbi Lydia Medwin Rabbi Emeritus Alvin Sugarman Cantor Deborah Hartman Executive Director Mark Jacobson President Jonathan Amsler
RECONSTRUCTIONIST
Congregation Bet Haverim 2074 LaVista Road Atlanta, GA 30329 www.congregationbethaverim.org 404-315-6446 Rabbi Josh Lesser Executive Director Amy Robertson President Charlie Chasen Congregation Bet Haverim is a Reconstructionist synagogue founded by lesbians and gay men, embracing all Jews and loved ones. Shabbat services include an Erev Shabbat with music from our chorus, a Tot Shabbat for little ones, a chant service, and a Kabbalat Shabbat followed by a potluck dinner. We also offer Parent ’n Me and Sing ’n Play programs for the baby and toddler set.
NONDENOMINATIONAL
Congregation Shema Yisrael 6065 Roswell Road No. 3018 Atlanta, GA 30328 Services at Unity 3597 Parkway Lane Norcross, GA 30092 www.shemaweb.org 404-943-1100 Cantor Herb Cole Bob Bahr Eugen Schoenfeld
Kehillat HaShem 315 Cotton Court Johns Creek, GA 30022 (As of Sept. 1: 640 Stone House Lane Marietta, GA 30064) www.rabbiatlanta.com 770-218-8094 Rabbi Jeffery Feinstein Shabbat services are held on the second Shabbat of each month at 10:30 a.m. Kabbalat Shabbat services are held every other week at Brookdale Retirement Community, 1000 Applewood Drive, Roswell. Bar and bat mitzvah tutoring, weddings, baby namings and other lifecycle services may be scheduled directly with Rabbi Feinstein.
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Profound Mixture Enhances Torah Text word, to many of us. Since Rabbi Goodman’s retirement and aliyah to Israel, he has remained an active student of our rich textual tradition and has conveyed his learning, experience and wisdom in weekly columns, “Ma Nishma From Jerusalem.” Now he has compiled a significant portion of these columns in a book titled “Ma Nishma From Jerusa-
Book Review By Rabbi Neil Sandler
lem: A Weekly Touch of Torah.” All of us desire to learn, gain new perspectives and receive replenishing uplift, and many of us appreciate these things in small doses with which we might begin or end our day. In “Ma Nishma From Jerusalem,” Rabbi Goodman offers one or two brief (two or three pages) divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion. He begins with quoting a small section of the
Torah reading, perhaps adding a comment from a biblical commentator or from our midrashic tradition, and then shares his own thoughts. I have known Rabbi Goodman since I was 9 years old. Truth be told, 50 years ago I probably didn’t marvel at his outstanding ability to share a message. But by adolescence I was already taking note of this ability, and later, as a colleague, I positively marveled at Rabbi Goodman’s ability to share a message rooted in Torah that jumps off the pages of our holy yet ancient text into our lives today. In “Ma Nishma From Jerusalem,” Rabbi Goodman draws on sources of wisdom from outside the Jewish community, from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Navaho proverbs, to enrich our understanding of our own tradition. Ultimately, as any spiritual leader does, Rabbi Goodman moves beyond providing perspective; he urges us to act in a world that is sorely in need of our reparative acts. In “Ma Nishma From Jerusalem,” Rabbi Arnold Goodman “mixes a powerful formula” of his vast knowl-
edge of traditional Jewish sources with other literary sources. To that mixture he adds the experiences of 50 years in the rabbinate and healthy amounts of personal wisdom gained from that experience. The result is a book worth reading once or twice a week. In Pirkei Avot 2:4, Hillel teaches us a practical lesson: “Do not say, ‘When I free myself of concerns, I will study,’ for perhaps you will never free yourself.” Time is precious. Rabbi Goodman’s “Ma Nishma From Jerusalem: A Weekly Touch of Torah” reminds us and enables us to study Torah, to learn from it and to apply its timeless wisdom to our own lives and world. ■ Ma Nishma From Jerusalem: A Weekly Touch of Torah By Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman Dog Ear Publishing, 380 pages, $24.95 (hardcover), $14.95 (paperback) Available at Amazon and arnoldgoodman. com
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
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any people in our community enjoyed and learned much from the spoken and written words of Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman, my immediate predecessor as senior rabbi of Ahavath Achim Synagogue and, at present, senior scholar of our congregation. Not infrequently do I hear someone say, “I remember one of Rabbi Goodman’s sermons when he said …” I remember some of Rabbi Goodman’s sermons too, and I probably heard his wise and uplifting words before anyone in Atlanta did. I grew up at the Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Minneapolis, where Rabbi Goodman served as senior rabbi during my youth, adolescence and early adulthood. His words had a profound impact on me. In fact, after I enrolled at the Jewish Theological Seminary, it was Rabbi Goodman who persuaded me to stay at JTS and enter rabbinical school. He has made a difference, again through both spoken and written
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Live Streaming Helps Congregations Connect By Logan C. Ritchie lritchie@atljewishtimes.com
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an’t come to synagogue? Synagogue will now come to you. In an effort to attract members, appeal to an aging population with less mobility, and cater to techsavvy millennials, some Atlanta synagogues are adopting technology to broadcast religious services and lifecycle events. It just takes a few clicks. Live streaming delivers events, such as Shabbat services, via the Internet while they are happening. Users can watch on smartphones, tablets or laptops from home or around the world. Atlanta congregations using live streaming include Temple Kol Emeth, Temple Sinai, Temple Emanu-El, The Temple and Ahavath Achim Synagogue. At Kol Emeth in East Cobb, Jon Worly, the volunteer director of communications, uses Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with the congregation’s 500 families. “Our feed announces general temple events as well as teen and youth
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events. Social media is the best way to talk to our youth,” he said. “We are trying to be a leader of technology and the way people receive information, whether that’s by email, newsletter by mail or social media. Whatever way they want it, we want to give it to them,” Worly said. More than a year ago cameras were installed in the sanctuary to stream major events, including Shabbat and High Holiday services. People can watch the live feed through Kol Emeth’s website (www.kolemeth.net). Users can watch Rabbi Steven Lebow deliver his sermon on the main screen while they discuss it in a chat room sidebar. “If you’re watching on Friday night, you can say good Shabbos to others,” Worly said. “We have gotten a number of emails complimenting our live stream. We send prospective members (to the site) to show our culture, spirit and music. It’s the first way to see TKE without stepping foot in the building.” Henry Hene, Kol Emeth’s president, grew up in Atlanta while attending The Temple. He said: “Live
AJR’s flexible scheduling allows for full-time or part-time study. Stay overnight, return home after class.
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Cantor Lisa Klinger-Kantor at 914-709-0900 x14
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“There are also people watching who don’t want to deal with traffic on Friday night, whether you’re 30 or 80.” Executive Director Mark Jacobson, The Temple streaming is a great first step to give an introduction, but for prospective members you still have to press the flesh. You’ve got to cross the threshold and have face-to-face time in order to cross the barrier of what you see on screen: We are welcoming, warm, inviting and involving.” Beyond attracting members, Hene touts live streaming for young and old audiences. “We want accessibility. There will be people who can’t physically travel or parents and grandparents who live out of town who want to see significant events or services.” Hene said technology can help promote Jewish community. His daughter is one example. “I ask her, ‘When are you going to join the synagogue?’ I know it’s not the priority of her generation. But when there is something I want her to see, I tell her to go on the website. It is a way to push that connectivity and Jewishness.” Temple Kol Emeth started streaming simchas early this year with different levels of privacy. For a closedsession wedding or bar or bat mitzvah, viewers log in with a special pass code. Aimed at family members who cannot travel or attend synagogue, this has become a popular option. Four years ago, the recording of a bat mitzvah compelled AA in Buckhead to install a live streaming capabil-
ity. Rabbi Neil Sandler recalled the bat mitzvah, for which a dear family member could not be present. “The family came to me and talked about how meaningful it would be for this person to witness the bat mitzvah. When I saw how tremendously meaningful it was for this loved one, it gave us an impetus to seek a donor to put in two systems for future use,” he said. AA installed cameras in the sanctuary and then, because of positive feedback, in the chapel. “The technology helps people who are infirm, shut in and cannot physically come to synagogue,” Rabbi Sandler said. “It increases their level of participation.” The most impactful feedback comes from the sons and daughters of older members, he said. At The Temple in Midtown, Executive Director Mark Jacobson does not track who is watching and where they live, but with 1,500 congregants he gets plenty of feedback. “Anecdotally, I understand college students watch High Holidays online. They may not have found local congregations, but they can watch from their dorm rooms,” he said. “Let’s be realistic. There are also people watching who don’t want to deal with traffic on Friday night, whether you’re 30 or 80. Members in North Fulton and South Fulton feel part of the service and our congregation. And we are pleased as punch.” Jacobson said many people think they are not tech-savvy, but the live streaming format doesn’t call for sophistication. “Just because you are a senior doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy YouTube,” he said with a laugh. “If someone is stuck and they call, we will walk them through it. We will stick with them. There’s a common joke about technology: If you can’t figure it out, ask your grandchildren.” ■
SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
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L’Chaim: Chabad Intown Celebrates 18th Year
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nstalling 180 mezuzot in VirginiaHighland and Morningside, Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman says, is just one way Chabad Intown plans to celebrate its 18th anniversary in Atlanta. Chabad Intown is not just a religious base; it’s an institution. Rabbi and Dena Schusterman and Rabbi Ari and Leah Sollish have established a Chabad presence in the heart of the city that includes Intown Jewish Preschool, Intown Hebrew School, Camp Gan Israel, and Jewish educational programming on every topic at Intown Jewish Academy. Chabad also has been established on Atlanta college campuses, where it is now run by Rabbi Zalman Lipskier from the Emory University campus. “Chabad stands for fundamentally providing opportunities to connect with Torah study, mitzvah and observance. We have done that well for the intown community. This year our special focus is the year of love. Torah study, mitzvah and ahava (love) are a euphemism for connecting communities to each other through Chabad,” Rabbi Schusterman said. During the yearlong celebration, Chabad Intown plans to offer activities including an intown tour of sukkahs, a kickoff dinner in October and a Shabbat candle lighting with 180 women. For the youngest audience, the creative and nurturing Intown Jewish Preschool plans to teach home rituals to children and their families. At Chanukah, Chabad’s giant menorahs traditionally stand on the corner of North Highland Avenue in Morningside and on the square in downtown Decatur. Teens can join activities through CTeen, run by Rabbi Sollish. This group meets twice a month and culminates in a huge teenage retreat in New York. “Chabad is really a place for people to connect. We keep everything joyous, nondogmatic,” Rabbi Schusterman said. “This is about your connection with Judaism and with G-d, not relating to G-d as a harsh G-d, but embracing and connecting while preserving tradition. It’s meaningful when presented correctly.” More information about events and programs, including offers of free mezuzot and lulav and etrog sets, is available at www.ATL18Love.org. The largest 18th-birthday effort is a degree program at Intown Jewish Academy, which offers three learning tracks: reading and understanding Jewish texts; deepening knowledge of mitz-
about what it is to be Jewish, he vot; and life skills as explained said. “People are busy. There are by the Torah. For example, Rabbi so many distractions in life.” Schusterman said, one course Providing meaningful expecovers what the Torah says about rience is what counts, he said. finances, relationships and more. Chabad encourages people Each year Chabad Intown to think, “What does it mean to educates nearly 500 students of me to be Jewish, and how does it all ages: empty nesters, young apply to my life?” Rabbi Schusprofessionals and young parents. terman said. “One thing we do Each person subscribes to his well across the board is to create own level of observance. a profoundly meaningful prod“Some people observe mikLeft: Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman Right: Rabbi Ari Sollish uct, whether for a class or for vah or put on tefillin or give tzechildren in a holiday event.” dakah,” Rabbi Schusterman said. He added: “We are glad you’re “Each mitzvah has a benefit of creat- is that one mitzvah one time creates a here. We are grateful you came, that ing a Jewish touch point. Chabad is not profound and eternal connection.” demanding of a full-blown observant Young adults who are not engaged you’re exploring our product. We love lifestyle. In fact, Chabad’s philosophy in the community do not think often you, and we want to serve you.” ■
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
By Logan C. Ritchie lritchie@atljewishtimes.com
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Sirner, Shearith Fit Each Other’s Needs for a Year By Leah R. Harrison
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nterim rabbi” can imply many things. In the case of Congregation Shearith Israel and Rabbi Melvin Sirner, it’s a perfect fit. Rabbi Sirner’s presence is reassuring, and his experience is vast. He is filling a void for Shearith after a rollercoaster, unsuccessful search last year for a full-time rabbi to succeed Rabbi Hillel Norry, who left at the end of June. That search will resume after the High Holidays. The interim position at Shearith also has allowed Rabbi Sirner to remove himself from the spotlight at his New Rochelle, N.Y., synagogue of 43 years, giving a new rabbi the space to take the helm at Beth El Synagogue, where Rabbi Sirner now has emeritus status. He is left with a path to return to his home community when his Shearith contract ends in a year. He decided 1½ years ago to retire from Beth El, whose membership is more than twice Shearith’s. “Even as it has been a great blessing to be in one place for a long time, the pulpit rabbinate requires 120 percent of oneself, of
time, energy. I attempted to give that, and I felt that I was looking to have a little more time, a little more freedom, a little more leisure, and therefore I decided that it was time for me to retire.” Knowing that a rabbinic search can be an extended process, Rabbi Sirner gave the synagogue extensive notice. Born and raised in Chicago, he spent many formative summers as a camper and in staff roles at the Conservative movement’s Ramah camps, “which had a big influence in my high school and college years towards pursuing further Jewish study and the rabbinate.” After earning his bachelor’s in political science and psychology from the University of Michigan, he was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1972. He then went to Beth El for what he thought would be a twoyear stint as the assistant rabbi. But he became the senior rabbi when Rabbi David Golovensky retired in 1976, and Rabbi Sirner remained there until his retirement this summer. “My full-time rabbinate has been one place, 43 years,” Rabbi Sirner said.
Congregation Kehillat HaShem invites you to join in the celebration of the High Holy Days in the secure and peaceful setting of
Brookdale
1000 Applewood Drive, Roswell, GA Services are open to all at no charge.*
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
High Holy Day services are led by Rabbi Jeffery Feinstein and follow the Reform Machzor “Gates of Repentance”. Worshippers are encouraged to bring their own books. A limited number are available at services.
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Erev Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah Day Kol Nidre Yom Kippur Morning Afternoon Yizkor Neilah and Havdalah
Schedule of Services 9/13/2015 7:30 pm 9/14/2015 10:00 am 9/22/2015 7:00 pm 9/23/2015 10:00 am 3:00 pm 4:30 pm (approximate) 5:00 pm (approximate)
For additional information contact Rabbi Feinstein at 770 218-8094, or visit him on the web at: www.rabbiatlanta.com
* Donations are appreciated to help us continue to provide services
was familiar with the synagogue and “So this is a big move for me.” He and his wife, Lenore, have three its “long and distinguished history of adult children: two in New York and serving the Jewish community here in one in Atlanta. Lenore is a former ad- Atlanta.” Knowing a few people here and ministrator and retired director of the social work department at the Burke getting to be near his daughter, sonin-law and first Re h a b i l i t a t i o n grandchild “made Hospital in White the possibility Plains. very interesting Although and exciting.” Shearith Israel He was carediscovered Rabbi ful to add: “I’m Sirner through not coming here a Rabbinic Asjust because of sembly interim our grandchild, rabbi search in right? I’m not late spring, prior coming here to forces were in tread water. I’m play. He found here to do everythe synagogue thing I can to suslast year through Rabbi Melvin Sirner tain and to build Shalom Baby, an Jewish life for intown arm of the Marcus Jewish Community Center, Shearith Israel. … I had always, over the and first visited Shearith in Novem- years, heard many wonderful things ber when he and Lenore dropped off about Shearith Israel.” Rabbi Sirner compared Beth El daughter Gabrielle and her infant son, now 10 months old, for a Shalom Baby and Shearith. Both have recently celebrated centennials and have moved program. Gabrielle’s family lives less than from previous locations, and both have strong roots with multiple-generation two miles from the shul. “It’s kind of beshert,” Rabbi Sirn- families in addition to new ones. The decision to retire as senior er said. “Being a rabbi … inevitably I came into the synagogue, and I walked rabbi after 43 years and subsequently around.” He saw a blank rabbinic sur- to move to Atlanta for the first year did vey on a table, similar to the fliers in not come lightly. He weighed the situhis New Rochelle synagogue, and he ation and did a lot of reading on the subject. “It’s not so easy to go cold turbecame aware of the search. Another connection is that a lead- key, and I think there’s merit in being er of Beth El was Dr. Abraham Geffen, able to step back and in finding a way son of legendary longtime Shearith Is- to do that,” Rabbi Sirner said. “So this rael Rabbi Tobias Geffen, the man who provides an opportunity to continue to declared Coca-Cola kosher and opened be active in the rabbinate. … I believe, Emory University to Jews by sending in all humility, and I guess some people here do too, that I have something to his sons there. So when the need for an interim contribute to this community for now. rabbi arose in the spring, Rabbi Sirner And that’s what I’m here to do.” ■
Generations of Justice
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abbi Josh Weinberg, the president of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, passes a Torah to 10-year-old Ilana Levenberg, daughter of Temple Sinai Rabbi Brad Levenberg, during the NAACP Journey for Justice on Monday, Aug. 17. The 860-mile march from Selma, Ala., to Washington is mobilizing activists and raising important issues, including voting rights. Sinai participants, including Rabbi Ron Segal, Rabbi Levenberg and facilities manager Andre Parker, marched for 20 miles, starting in Athens. ■
SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
Rabbi Brings Theater Of Teaching to Dor Tamid By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com
ater and how it relates to what you do. Katz: I had two Jewish theater companies, and I taught in intergenerationabbi David Katz from Rochester, al circumstances. I was studying that N.Y., is the interim spiritual lead- wholeheartedly as a discipline in itself. er at Congregation Dor Tamid, Even then, I was writing papers about replacing Rabbi Michael Weinstein at religion and art and ethics to motivate the Johns Creek synagogue. people to do good through theater. That Rabbi Katz holds degrees from was one of my themes in college, actuNorthwestern University and earned ally. There are certain playwrights, and his master of Hebrew letters and mas- that is their goal. Bertolt Brecht, he had ter of arts in Hebrew education from a very serious philosophy: You’re not Hebrew Union College. Ordained in just there to entertain, but to change 1981, he went on to become a Reform the world. And he had a very particuJewish educator. lar term that he created, the Alienation We talked in his ofEffect, meaning the aufice, still filled with undience should always be packed boxes. kept a little off-kilter, not be brought in emotionally, AJT: How do you see but judging, always beyour role here? ing critical and objective, Katz: The congregawalking out not only havtion needs to take a bit of ing learned something, a break in order to re-enbut planning to do somevision itself and see what thing. it’s all about before movThat was just one ing to a long-term rabbi. playwright who tried to My role is pretty much to figure out how art could Rabbi David Katz come and talk to people be more than just for art’s and find out what their sake, that it could produce needs are and make things as good change. But it could be used for the opfor the future rabbi as can be, whether posite effect too. You could get a whole that involves any political divisiveness, group of people riled for the wrong moregrouping of staff, hiring or helping tives. … When I listen to a sermon or hire new people. It could be leadership watch a performance, I really wonder strengthening; it could be anything how someone’s mind can change. for the congregation to see itself in a very strong position in the future. This AJT: What do you like to do when place is very upbeat. Things are hap- you’re not working? pening that are good, and there is great Katz: I read a lot; I’m reading biogpotential as well. It’s inspiring in many raphies, nonfiction. I like theater, movways. It will become an even stronger ies. Right now I’m trying to get settled, environment. acclimated, putting together my office. I love a night out, dining, jazz groups. AJT: Did you know in college you wanted to become a rabbi? AJT: What is personally satisfying Katz: I’ve always been interested to you about your work? in teaching and learning, and I’ve been Katz: Teaching is satisfying. Helpdifferent types of rabbi, but they’ve al- ing people to prioritize their lives, to see ways been in the area of where the pri- what is important in life. People are ofmary point is to teach others. When I ten confused. They hurt, or intellectuwas studying theater, it occurred to me ally they just want to be inspired. They that theater could be a good learning want to go deeper and deeper, so one tool. And when I did my master of edu- of the greatest pleasures is doing that cation, I learned about teaching to the with people in whatever circumstance mind and the heart simultaneously, so they’re in — to help them become the whether I’ve been an educator leading best they can be and ultimately leave a school or a professor, which I have the world a little better. Jews by tradibeen, or a pulpit rabbi, it’s pretty much tion are not supposed to be at peace been the same thing. unless the world is at peace, so there is always something that should be adAJT: Talk about your work in the- dressed. ■
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Located in the heart of Brookhaven, Congregation Or VeShalom provides members and guests with a warm, welcoming and caring community. Building upon 100 years of tradition, we are planning for our future by establishing new and innovative opportunities. BrookhavenBayit@OVS is our congregation’s new initiative to connect in creative ways to young adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s by fostering a welcoming community, a celebration of Jewish life and learning, the pursuit of social justice, and a commitment to shared experiences. Our partnership with JKGBrookhaven@OVS has been a great success. Going into our second year the halls of our education wing are full of young students ready to explore, learn, create and build new friendships.
For more information about visitor tickets, year-round programming and joining our Or VeShalom community, please contact us.
Congregation Or VeShalom 1681 North Druid Hills Road, Atlanta, GA 30319 404-633-1737 | office@orveshalom.org www.orveshalom.org
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Come experience our warm and welcoming community.
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
OU Opens Southeast Office
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he Orthodox Union has hired its first Southeast regional director, Naftali Herrmann, based in Boca Raton, Fla. Herrmann’s region covers Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, Alabama and Louisiana (no OU-affiliated congregation operates in Mississippi). His office’s support to synagogues and communities will include Yachad, the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, and youth movement NCSY. Barbara Lehmann Siegel, an OU vice president and chairwoman of the OU’s community and synagogue services department, said Herrmann “will serve as our ambassador to strengthen the bond between the OU and the region’s Jewish communities, as well as to deepen the relationships among the various synagogue communities.” In Atlanta, Congregation Beth Jacob and Young Israel of Toco Hills are OU members. The OU’s decision to open a Southeast office is a response to the concentration of Jews in South Florida, the second-largest Jewish community in the United States, said Rabbi Judah
Isaacs, the OU’s director of community ric nurse practitioner, are members of the Boca Raton Synagogue. and synagogue services. “I was very fortunate and blessed “We feel it is imperative to fully and robustly service that burgeon- to have grown up in a home and community in which the founing Jewish presence,” he dation was built on tzedasaid. “The OU also aims to kah and chesed,” Herrmann bring to the entire Southsaid. “From the leadership east network of Orthodox of my parents to the synasynagogues and communigogue we all davened and ties positive vitality, shared grew in, I was constantly resources, programming surrounded by people who ideas and solutions to varstrove to make the world a ied challenges. We deliver better place.” strength in numbers and He worked in New are a respected, powerful York as the director of voice in the political arena. Naftali Herrmann community outreach and Naftali Herrmann will lisengagement at Yachad. ten, ask and learn from the He said his work will begin by region’s rabbis and lay leaders.” Rabbi Isaacs said Herrmann will developing relationships with the rehelp synagogues fulfill a role as the gion’s rabbis, synagogue lay leaders gateway to the full range of OU ser- and other Jewish organizations. “I come from a social work backvices. “Naftali’s personable nature, his enthusiasm and depth of experience ground, and the first step is going to be augur well for deepening relationships us listening and learning,” Herrmann within both the OU family and the gen- said. “We need to better understand each unique community’s story so we eral Southeast Jewish community.” Herrmann, who grew up in Suf- can properly address the needs of their fern, N.Y., and his wife, Shani, a pediat- synagogues and beyond.” ■
Bet Haverim Almost Home
Congregation Bet Haverim is marking the arrival of 5776 by completing its move into the former home of Young Israel of Toco Hills. Renovations on the building at 2074 LaVista Road are nearly done, and the Reconstructionist congregation plans to hold its first service in its new sanctuary Friday night, Aug. 28. The synagogue’s offices will move into the building after the High Holidays. The first big event in the new building will be Simchat Torah festivities, which will also celebrate the move. ■
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Join us each Friday night before and after services for nosh and schmoozing.
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SYNAGOGUE GUIDE
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B’nai Torah Streak Alive
ickets are still available for the first Kosher Food & Wine Atlanta festival, set for Thursday night, Aug. 27, at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot at 65 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive downtown. The festival is the creation of Chabad of Georgia, based on similar upscale kosher festivals in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, and has almost 30 vendors lined up to help celebrate 30 years of Chabad in this state. Chabad’s operations include Congregation Beth Tefillah as well as the Chabad centers spread around the metro area. The adult-only kosher festival will honor An Added Touch caterer Track Seven Events, known for setups Sandra Bank, who has shown the like this one, is providing lighting upscale potential for kosher cuisine and décor to the kosher festival. through A Kosher Touch Catering. The festival also aims to display that potential. The vendors working toward that goal include Aaron’s Best, Ali’s Cookies, Avenue K, Cellar Filler, Classic Pita, Coca-Cola, Costco, Cotton Cravings, Dolce Catering and Bakery, For All Occasions and More, the Georgia Aquarium, Goodfriend Co., Gourmet Foods International, Goza Tequila, Herzog Wine Cellars, InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, Keurig, A Kosher Touch, Kosherology, Kroger, Lisan Catering, ModernTribe, Pita Grille, Publix, the Spicy Peach, Sweetwater Brewing, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Wolfgang Puck Catering. Admission to the festival, which runs from 7 to 10 p.m. and offers more than 100 options for food and drink, is $70 for ages 21 to 30 and $90 for those older. You can purchase tickets at www.kfwatl.com or, if they don’t sell out, at the gate. ■
Congregation B’nai Torah remains on a quest for its ninth consecutive A division title in the Atlanta Men’s Synagogue Softball League. The eight-time champions defeated Congregation Or VeShalom 15-8 on Sunday, Aug. 16, to return to the finals. B’nai Torah will play Temple Sinai, Or VeShalom or The Temple. In the C division, Congregation Or Hadash beat Temple Sinai 2 in a 9-8 game to advance to the finals against Temple Kol Emeth. The B finals will pit Congregation Ariel against Young Israel of Toco Hills in a rematch of a semifinal that Ariel won 11-4. The schedule for Sunday, Aug. 23: A division, No. 3 Sinai vs. No. 6 Temple and No. 2 Or VeShalom vs. Sinai-Temple winner (winner faces B’nai Torah in the finals Aug. 30); B division, No. 1 Ariel vs. No. 2 Young Israel; C division, No. 1 Kol Emeth vs. No. 2 Or Hadash. ■
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Your grandparents belonged.Here’s why YOU want to belong: ■ Become part of a warm, growth-oriented community ■ Participate in engaging study groups and workshops ■ Develop friendships with members and community leaders ■ Enroll your little ones in a fabulous Preschool Program ■ Strengthen your family’s love and support of Israel* ■ Sign the kids up for fun, educational youth programs ■ Feel pride as your teens lead the show in our Teen Minyan ■ Join the Beginner’s Services on Shabbat and High Holidays (*The BJ board mortgaged its building in 1967 to send a million dollars to Israel. We also have a huge rate of families who make Aliyah, our “Israel Connection.”)
Beth Jacob Atlanta 1855 LaVista Road Atlanta, GA 30329 404.633.0551 bethjacobatlanta.org
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Nearly 30 Vendors At Kosher Festival
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SIMCHAS
100th Birthday Irving Schiff
Irving Schiff celebrated his 100th birthday Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015, while also marking his 73rd wedding anniversary with his wife, Norma. The Schiffs are residents of Berman Commons Assisted Living & Memory Care of Dunwoody. For the finale of the festive weekend, Berman Commons played host to a marriage renewal ceremony Aug. 16. Marcus Jewish Community Center Rabbi Brian Glusman, son of Berman Commons chaplain Fred Glusman, officiated under the chuppah. “We are thrilled to play a role in commemorating such notably happy occasions for Irving and Norma,” Berman Commons Executive Director Jenice Holtz Cunningham said. “The Schiffs, who are loved by all at Berman Commons, inspire and remind us to fill every day and every year with love and joy.”
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Irving and Norma Schiff, shown at their wedding in 1942, live at Berman Commons.
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Engagement Edlin-Gordon
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aren and Andrew Edlin announce the engagement of their daughter, Felicia Sara Edlin, to Benjamin David Gordon, son of Linda and Alan Gordon of Pittsburgh. Felicia is the granddaughter of the late Lola and Rubin Lansky. Ben is the grandson of Carole and Dr. Mark Gottlieb of Pittsburgh and Sara and Larry Gordon of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Felicia graduated from Emory University and works at the High Museum of Art. Ben earned his bachelor’s degree from Emory and his juris doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an associate at Hartman Simons & Wood L.L.P. An April 2016 wedding is planned.
Wedding Lynne-Gang
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n July 30, 2015, actor and grant writer Franceska Lynne, daughter of Dr. Don J. and Frances W. Brenner, retired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention microbiologists, married holistic life consultant Warren I. Gang, son of educators Philip Snow Gang and Dolores Rosenberg Gang, under the chuppah at Cherry Log Pavilion in Blue Ridge. Rabbi Steven Lebow officiated at the ceremony, dubbed “the Beatles meet the Grateful Dead.” Guests at the summer casual affair noshed on mini-knishes, veggie meatballs, spring rolls, and vegan mac and cheese and jambalaya. Cakes with hamsa and Tree of Life designs were made by Dulce Vegan Bakery. The couple first met as students at the Paideia School and now make their home in the Dunwoody area with their four cats and two chickens.
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AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
YOUTH
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HOME
Exotics From the Far East
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arilyn and Sam Eckstein have deep roots in Asia. Sam was a Marine there in 1948; Marilyn first visited Canton in 1969. Both returned with carefully packed tea sets, screens, jade and ivory. Their combined art in their Buckhead condominium complements the historical collection of Marilyn’s family. Her father, attorney Paul Ginsberg, was appointed by President Harry Truman in 1952 as a special emissary to the Orient, Yugoslavia and Germany. Ginsberg’s follow-up book was “Wake Up, America.” Jaffe: What exactly did your father do for Truman? Marilyn: Back then, the United States was keenly interested in the spread of communism and what countries would align with that movement. The State Department set up meetings for Dad with the leaders of all these countries. After his 1952 trip, he reported back to the president. On that trip, Dad procured this ivory (now illegal) as a gift from Chiang Kai-shek, this silver letter opener from General Marshal Tito, and this cigarette box from Prime Minister Nehru. This ivory piece and Baccarat crystal I inherited from my Uncle Max Cuba (a local CPA and philanthropist). The jade bird and Buddha I received from my mother, Jean Cuba Ginsberg, Max and Joe Cuba’s sister. Other jade and ivory I bought during my four trips to the Orient.
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Jaffe: What was China like back then? Marilyn: On all my trips except the last, the Chinese used an abacus instead of calculators. In 1977 I went with a group from Harvard who had hardto-acquire visas. China was just opening up to outsiders. We never had less than 20 people following us around. It was their first time seeing foreigners, blondes, dresses. (They were still in their Mao Zedong garb.) They did not have enough hotels, so they had to open places for us to stay. Some rooms had mattresses and no springs or vice versa. In the mornings hotel staff would come to the rooms to manually remove the unflushable toilets. Upon entering a hotel and checking out of the hotel, the staff formed a line outside to either welcome us or say goodbye. With the exception of breakfast, the food was impossible to eat, and we had to use 32 chopsticks. Every meal had peas. Try
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picking up peas with chopsticks! I lived on peanut butter crackers. It was such a hard trip, all we could do was laugh. Contrasted to our 2009 trip, I was overwhelmed with the modernity of the hotels, services and food. I have to say I enjoyed my 1977 trip the most even with all its hardships.
Chai-Style Homes By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com
other is more aesthetic with peaceful trees and women in Vietnam dress. You guess whose is which. It takes 100 days through 20 stages to create the lacquer ware. Jaffe: What else do you have from the Cuba family? Marilyn: Here is a photo of Mother and Max in 1910. I treasure this collage done by artist Elaine Pollock, combining my mother’s siblings: a family history in pictures. I still play with Mother’s ivory mahjong set. The bedroom Capodimonte (Italian) lamp is hers (1940), as well as the dining room rundles. The lamp shows a lascivious
on trains with old-fashioned doilies and traditional tea service and acquired these two panels, “8 Immortals Crossing the Sea,” illustrating that the ancients have to work together to achieve their goals. It’s an old Chinese fable about contributing individual strengths in their collective journey (still good advice now). These antique Burmese puppets were used by the royal family for entertainment. All the beading was hand-sewn. Jaffe: What among your accessories would you say is your favorite? Marilyn: We set out in the Istanbul Grand Bazaar years ago to find this
A Jaffe: The chess set is huge and so detailed. Marilyn: It’s from Cochin, India, where chess was first played. Sam had to schlep it back in a wheelchair since it is so heavy. Each piece is hand-painted. Jaffe: I just can’t figure out which one is the rook. Sam has indeed done some major transporting. Sam: Before bubble wrap, in 1948 I brought back this tea service for six from a dangerous area off-limits to Americans (Shanghai), right when Mao Zedong’s army was entering. With a knife held at the neck of the cabdriver, I got back to my ship. Here’s the tea set, not a piece cracked or broken. I’m better than UPS. Jaffe: So you both have the same taste? Marilyn: Mostly, but this pearl-inlaid screen is a fun example. We had it custom-made in Vietnam. We couldn’t decide on the scenery and character arrangement, so we both designed it. Sam did one side, and I did the other. From time to time, we flip it over. One side depicts oxen and farmworkers; the
B orgy. See them eating, frolicking, fanning themselves and reclining. Jaffe: Reclining — maybe they are having a seder. … The front guest powder room has some dramatic pieces. Marilyn: In China (1969), I rode
particular set of antique, hand-painted poetry books framed here. Closely examine these tiny strokes of the picture within the picture. The brush must have been the dimension of a human hair. You can also determine authenticity because of the wormholes in the pa-
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HOME per. Note two women playing the flute. Very rare to depict females. Jaffe: So why surround yourself with all this? What are you trying to evoke? Sam: Asian art is reminiscent of our life of travel. It is our signature from the Orient. Everything in this house has memories and meaning. Jaffe: What’s next? Why not visit Cuba? Is that a Sephardic name? Marilyn: No, it’s actually Kuberski from Lomza, Poland! ■
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D
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K Photos by Duane Stork
A: Marilyn and Sam Eckstein designed this pearl-inlaid lacquer screen, which was custom-made in Vietnam. The other side features oxen and farmworkers. B: Sam Eckstein serves wife Marilyn with the tea set he brought out of China as Mao’s forces advanced in 1948. C: Elaine Pollock created this collage of the Cuba family journey. D, I: Importing these ivory pieces would be illegal today. E: Things get a little racy on this Italian Capodimonte lamp. F: These puppets once entertained the royal family of Burma (now Myanmar). G: The detail of the picture within the picture on this hand-painted Turkish piece indicates the use of a brush as fine as a human hair. H: This hand-made chess set comes from Cochin (or Kochi), India, the birthplace of chess. J: The Ecksteins’ collection is rich in rare jade and ivory pieces. K: The depiction of “8 Immortals Crossing the Sea” teaches cooperation and harmony among leaders.
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SPORTS
Team Atlanta Shines in JCC Maccabi
Atlanta sent Maccabi teams to Dallas and Milwaukee this summer.
Tennis, basketball and soccer squads win gold
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he 2015 JCC Maccabi Games in Milwaukee and Dallas from Aug. 2 to 7 saw Atlanta’s delegation take home 31 medals. In Dallas, the 14-and-under boys basketball team and 16-and-under girls soccer squad won gold, and the tennis team, coached by Michael Roth, won four gold medals. The boys 14-and-under soccer team, coached by Bob Meyer and Roey Shoshan, won gold in Milwaukee, as did swimmers Arie Voloschin, Jonathan Fischer and Lee Haber, who combined for 11 medals. In addition to facing tough com-
petition from across the country, the teens from Atlanta came together to learn valuable lessons in humility and sportsmanship. They also participated in community outreach events in both cities. In Dallas, the athletes helped pack boxes of donated food. In Milwaukee, they helped build a community garden. Along the way, they made connections with Jewish athletes from across the United States. “What a week!” Atlanta Maccabi chair Libby Hertz said. “I am so lucky to have been able to get to know and care for these vivacious, athletic and
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Cody Kaplan shoots a lay-up during Atlanta’s run to the 14-and-under gold medal.
inspirational teens. To witness them as teammates, friends, leaders, followers, brothers and sisters has been an utter joy. I sincerely hope that they enjoyed and grew from this experience and will continue to participate in this program.”
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David Perchik, one of the team’s most accurate longrange shooters, launches a 3-pointer in Dallas.
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Basketball Five months ago, when Coaches Brian Seitz and Jacob Gluck announced the 10 members of the Maccabi Atlanta 14-and-under basketball team, no one could have known that the boys would roar through the 19-city bracket to capture the gold medal. “I have coached many youth teams,” said Seitz, who coached at Northview High School in Duluth, “but you rarely see kids who are as hardworking, passionate about winning and unselfish as this team.” Last year’s champion from Washington, D.C., entered as the favorite in Dallas, but Atlanta won its first four games by an average of 44 points. That earned Atlanta the No. 1 seed going into medal round. The team beat Phoenix and New York City to set up a championship game with Washington. Atlanta took the gold with a 59-36 win.
Leo Sachs and Cody Kaplan were Atlanta’s top scorers, while Sam Bronf man, Billy Snyder and Phil Malever led the team in rebounds. Eric Malever and Simon Ben-Moshe led the team in assists, and David Perchik and Josh Edelman were the most accurate longrange shooters. Baseball The 14-and-under and 16-and-under baseball teams reached the championship games in Dallas and came away with silver. The 16-and-under squad started out 4-0 and was seeded first for the medal rounds. The team beat San Francisco 12-6 in the semifinals but lost 2-1 to Los Angeles in the final. The 14-and-under team started with two losses, but made a strong comeback to advance to the medal round and won the next three games to reach the championship. But the team lost the gold medal in 10 innings to Los Angeles, the longest Maccabi baseball game in recent history. Atlanta Medal Count Gold 11 Silver 15 Bronze 5
SPORTS Dallas Results Girls 16U soccer — gold; Coaches Jack Vangrofsky and Ryan Pollard Girls 16U basketball — silver; Coaches Michael Feldman and Michael Radetsky 16U baseball — silver; Coaches Marc Lipson, Mark Rudel and Daniel Kaufman Taking silver in 14-and-under baseball were (from left) 14U Baseball — silver; Mark Schilstra, Coach Howard Janis, Sam Janis, Willie Coaches Todd Starr, Frontman, Alex Borsuk, Zach Leaf, Ryan Danz, Charlie Tommy Carola and Goldstein, David Morgan, Coach Todd Starr, Jeremy Leven, Coach Tommy Carola, Josh Peljovich and Alex Effron. Howard Janis Boys 14U basketball — gold; Coaches Brian Seitz and Jacob Gluck Boys 16U basketball — fourth; Coaches Eric Tannenbaum and Ryan Halpern Dance Team — 3 silver, 1 bronze Golf — bronze Table tennis — 2 bronze (From top left) Coach Mark Rudel, Coach Daniel Tennis — 4 gold, 2 silver; Kaufman, Aaron Rosenberg, Zach Nozick, Tyler Coach Michael Roth Beard, Justin Kaiser, Noah Lampert, Sam Drucker, Milwaukee Results Coach Marc Lipson, Nate Cohen, Ryan Kurzweil, Jack Boys 14U Soccer — gold; Lipson, Josh Sorkin, Sam Berman and Ben Bernstein formed the silver-winning 16-and-under team. Coaches Bob Meyer and Roey Shoshan ver, 400 relay; gold, 50 breast. Arie 16U flag football — silver; Coaches AnVoloschin, bronze, 50 back; silver, 100 drew Levison and Ronald McRae breast; silver, 200 IM; silver, 50 fly; Swimming — Lee Haber, gold, 100 gold, 200 back. Jonathan Fischer, silbreast; silver, 200 IM; gold, 50 fly; silver, 200 breast ■
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EYD I E KO ON IN GROUP
OBITUARIES
Arnold Holzer Jr.
“The Team Friends Recommend”
89, Atlanta
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Arnold Holzer Jr. passed away Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015. Arnold was born in Birmingham, Ala., on Feb. 7, 1926. He served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1949. Arnold had a 60-year career as an independent insurance agent in Atlanta. He founded Insurance Counseling & Management Inc. in 1971. He served as the president of the Atlanta Association of Independent Insurance Agents from 1972 to 1973. He was a guest lecturer at the University of Georgia insurance department. He enjoyed playing tennis and was an avid backpacker. Arnold possessed the rare gift of being able to bring honesty, humor and compassion to every aspect of his life. He was married to the late Shirley Korman Holzer and is survived by his wife, Toby Spar Holzer; son and daughter-in-law Tracy and Betty Holzer; daughter Debe Holzer; grandchildren Justin and Donna Holzer and Adam and Lauren Holzer; stepchildren Suzanne and Eric Merlis and their children, Emily and Zoey, and Andrew and Merav Rosen and their children, Dvir and Koral; and his pet dachshund, Sophie Lee. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Temple, Congregation Beth Tefillah or Weinstein Hospice. Funeral services were held Monday, Aug. 17, at The Temple with Rabbi Peter Berg officiating, followed by a committal service at Crest Lawn Memorial Park. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
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OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING
Reny Götz Raphael 103, Atlanta
Reny Götz Raphael, born Feb. 1, 1912, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, died Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, at age 103. She, her husband and daughter immigrated to the United States in 1938. She had been trained as a tailor in Germany. Her creativity with fabric and design made her a sought-after dressmaker in Atlanta. She was predeceased by her husband, Arthur Raphael; her parents, Albert and Susanna Götz; and her sister, Hilde Götz. She is survived by her children, Inge Raphael Rothschild of Highland Park, Ill., and Lillie Raphael Janko of Atlanta; grandchildren Bruce Rothschild (Sherri Shapiro) of Atlanta, Kathy Rothschild (Jim) Klein of Northbrook, Ill., Steven Rothschild of North Andover, Mass., Susan Rothschild of Atlanta, Paige Janko (David) Peritt of Skokie, Ill., Shawn (Angie) Janko of Atlanta, and Dena Janko (Mark) Cohen of Atlanta; and great-grandchildren Amy Rothschild, Diane Rothschild, Scott Rothschild, Daniel (Cassandra) Lettenberger-Klein, David Klein, Laura Klein, Sam Rothschild, Ariel Peritt, Ilana Peritt, Charlie Janko, Katie Janko, Jack Janko, Grey Cohen and Sidney Cohen. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. A memorial service was held Sunday, Aug. 16, at Temple Sinai in Sandy Springs. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the William Breman Jewish Home or Weinstein Hospice, 3150 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30327. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
Geraldine Reicher San Francisco
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
Geraldine Reicher of San Francisco died peacefully Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015. She is survived by her sister, Ruth Alhadeff of Atlanta, and many nieces and nephews. Geraldine was a world-renowned soprano who performed operetta and
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show tunes all over the world. She was a member of the San Francisco Opera and a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music. She sang at the Massenet Festival in France, the Stadtheater in Switzerland, and operas in Sweden, Austria, Italy and France. The family would like to thank all of her full-time caregivers of Jewish Family and Children’s Services in San Francisco. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Jewish Home of San Francisco.
Susan Arnovitz Saltz 61, Atlanta
Susan Arnovitz Saltz passed away early Wednesday morning, Aug. 12, 2015. Born in Atlanta on Dec. 28, 1953, Susan was preceded in death by her parents, Pearl Feldman Arnovitz and Morris Arnovitz, and her sister, Ellen Fae, all of blessed memory. She attended Morningside Elementary School and Grady High School and graduated from the University of Florida. Susan loved the arts; she never missed a debut, an exhibit, a community event or a new Broadway musical in New York. She became a master at scoring tickets to events when the “sold out” sign was already posted. Susan was a lifelong learner of all things Jewish, attending book and film festivals, forums, debates, lectures, and courses, and traveled near and far to increase her knowledge about Israel and her heritage. She was an active member of numerous Jewish and community organizations. She was especially proud of her support of Hadassah, the Atlanta Jewish Academy, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, the Florence Melton School and many others. Susan was the convener of family and friends, hosting large gatherings, whether for holiday observances or for weekly dinners. Her home, filled with her collections of memorabilia, was always a whirlwind of activity and excitement. She opened her doors to all those who wished a place to share holidays, festivals or even a simple meal. Author of “Susan Stirs Things Up in the Kitchen,” now in its third printing, Susan loved to share recipes through stories. The book has become a standard for Jewish comfort food, though it’s not unusual for her recipes to show up at Christmas and other holiday tables. Susan was most proud of the family she raised and inspired. Her daughters, Shauna Grosswald (Steven), Dara Grant (Andy), and Jessica Sacks (Jeff), and the 14 grandchildren of her and her husband, David Saltz, were the joy of her life. She reveled in all their accomplishments and loved to be surrounded by them. She attended every recital, graduation, birthday party and sports event, capturing every moment on camera. During the last six years of her life, Susan suffered from both lymphoma and glioblastoma. Her battle became an inspiration to her entire community. She drew great strength from the support from family and friends who surrounded her. During her lymphoma treatment, her CaringBridge journal went viral and became a must-read far and wide. Her positive attitude permeated her daily life; in fact, it was not unusual for her to have chemo or radiation, then show up at an exercise class or a birthday party. She didn’t have time for cancer. Susan married David Saltz in 2013, and he was by her side throughout her battles. She is survived by David; three daughters and sons-in-law; eight grandchildren; brother and sister-in-law Eliot and Phyllis Arnovitz; half-sister and brother-in-law Judy and Jimmy Rotenstreich; stepmother Ruth Arnovitz; stepchildren; step-grandchildren; and numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and countless friends. The family thanks the caregivers of the One Group and Weinstein Hospice for their compassion. An online guestbook is available at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, c/o MJCCA, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338, or other charity of one’s choice. Funeral services were held Thursday, Aug. 13, at Ahavath Achim Synagogue with Rabbis Laurence Rosenthal and David Silverman officiating; burial followed at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
Death Notices
Robert Carr of Roswell on Aug. 4. Irving Feingold of Atlanta, father of Temple Sinai member Caren Feingold, on Aug. 8. Fahimeh Karendian of Atlanta on Aug. 13. Norman Lebedin of Atlanta on Aug. 9.
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CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING
Louisa!
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A
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s another school year begins, once again I must adjust my body clock. When I went to school, Labor Day marked the beginning of a new school year. The school year always ended on my birthday. I’ve lived in the South more than three-quarters of my life, yet my body clock still anticipates these start and end dates. It’s positively exhausting. My elementary school was directly across the street from our apartment building. No grass, but a huge schoolyard. The lunchroom was in the basement with bars on the windows. At that young age, it never crossed our minds to question what those bars were for. My high school boasted a winning basketball team and a champion cheering squad; lest we forget, we proudly hosted the Fordham Baldies and the Fordham Baldettes. Of course, it goes without saying we were very proud of Beta Club, math and science clubs, and our G.O. (government organization). Note the order of what made us feel proud! We had periodic lockdowns when rival gangs to the Baldies would try to invade our space. Zip guns were all the rage. But enough about me! The elementary school my girls attended had a beautiful lake where ducks and swans were in abundance. Tie-dye peace signs were all the rage. The giant old trees were for shade and for climbing. The garden produced flowers and vegetables. The main classroom building was shaped like a giant dome. The teachers loved and respected their students. They learned reading, writing and arithmetic. More important, they learned, by example and discussion, how to treat others. They learned about their immediate world and the world beyond their neighborhoods. After moving to Atlanta, I felt as if their education was a bit one-dimensional. One Sunday morning I was reading the newspaper and drinking my coffee when I spotted an ad about the wonderful experiences families have had in bringing foreign exchange students into their homes. And so began our journey learning about the world up close and personal. We shared our home with students from France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Israel and more. They
became immersed in the American school system and were rocked by how much Americans eat, and the fact that most Americans have never traveled to other countries was a mystery to them. We had to introduce them to the concept of a snack. Seriously! We had mostly fabulous experiences, which informed how my girls
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CROSSWORD “That’s How You Know” Editor: DavidBenkof@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Medium
Shaindle’s Shpiel By Shaindle Schmuckler shaindle@atljewishtimes.com
see the rest of the world, the many challenges it faces, and the importance of giving back. Louisa was from an impoverished small town in Spain. She won a scholarship that enabled her to participate in the program. She was appalled at the amount of water we wasted on what she considered to be frivolous. She was stymied by our use of a clothes washer, not washing clothes by hand and saving the water for baths. The amount of food we ate made her gag. Always afraid she would not have food for the next day, she would hide food under her mattress. Our student from Germany pushed my family, including my dad, who lost almost everyone to the Holocaust, to see her as a beautiful, bright girl and not as a threat to the Jewish people. By the way, my dad adored her. Our young man from the Netherlands graduated with high grades from our high school. He was able to use his soccer skills to play football on the school team. He did, however, fail the driving test. With a little ingenuity on my part, he was awarded an international license in his home country. Within the next two weeks, everyone will be back in school. I, on the other hand, will be working on adjusting my body clock, as well as adjusting to the onslaught of traffic. To all you students out there, young and old, I toast you with my cup of coffee and wish you a fun, meaningful and happy school year. Until next summer when you can all join in singing: “No more pencils, no more books, and no more teachers’ dirty looks.” Oh, wait, do you even use pencils anymore? And, of course, why use books when Google is just a click away? ■
ACROSS 1 Canadian-born Jewish humorist Sahl 5 “Dinosaur ___ to Israel” (2012 children’s book) 9 Actor who appears in 2015’s “Charlie Countryman” film in “le buff” 13 “World ___” (1970s and 1980s magazine for Jewish children) 14 According to a song, “he built him, he built him an arky arky” 15 What a chutzpadik person lacks 16 Question from Kaiser Wilhelm to Otto von Bismarck, part 1 19 Calvin or Naomi 20 Six-pointed star, for one 21 Hated ruler whose name comes from “Caesar” 24 Brouhaha 25 Dead Sea destination 28 Do piecework on the Lower East Side, e.g. 31 Question from Kaiser Wilhelm to Otto von Bismarck, part 2 34 Poisson __ juive (fish dish) 35 Abraham’s was open 36 “The ___” (2008 Holocaust movie) 37 Darren Aronofsky’s first one was “Pi” 39 Question from Kaiser Wilhelm to Otto von Bismarck, part 3 41 Brent Spiner “Star Trek” robot role 42 Joan Rivers left behind a $150 million one 45 Star Paul of the 2015 superhero movie “Ant-Man” 48 North Korean leader lampooned in a movie by James Franco and Seth Rogen 49 Bismarck’s answer, part 1 51 German fighter Fritz Beckhardt in World War I, for example 52 “Babi ___” (Yevtushenko poem) 53 All rabbis, until 1935 54 New York’s Prime Rib might do it to prime rib 56 Month in the title of a Simon & Garfunkel song 58 “The Trial” author
62 Bismarck’s answer, part 2 66 Jerusalem’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo 67 Study for the Bagrut, perhaps 68 Over a dreidel? 69 Numbers for Amy Alcott 70 Bar Kochba, famously 71 They’re fleishig even though they don’t produce milk DOWN 1 Perform in a Purimspiel, often 2 Office shape Rahm Emanuel used to visit often 3 Cassin who won the 1968 Nobel Peace Prize 4 “Come on, give the herring a taste!” 5 Richard Stallman’s freesoftware project that shares a name with a kosher animal 6 Alley-___ (move in Kent Alterman’s sports comedy “Semi-Pro”) 7 Units in one of Joseph’s dreams 8 Conductor Gil 9 For followers of Rabbi Abraham Twerski, it involves admitting one’s powerlessness 10 ADL target 11 Freud’s ego 12 Noshed 17 Genesis 18 Star Wars character whose armor is said to have Hebrew writing on it 22 “Shall the ___ boast over the one who hews with it?” (Isaiah 10:15) 23 Orthodox weddings only use one 25 “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” crooner 26 Evoking a bit of Lazarus 27 Common kibbutz housing choice 28 Taylor Mays position for the Minnesota Vikings 29 Follower of Elijah 30 Benjamin of philosophy
32 Philip Roth’s “The Conversion of the Jews” is a short one 33 Oskar Schindler was one, at first 38 Rank for Confederate officer Raphael Moses: Abbr. 40 Chavrutas 43 Gingis are suposed to have fiery ones 44 Vessels for hand washers 46 Primo Levi’s two 47 Rapper who is Canadian, black, and Jewish 50 Be a moser 55 A mahatma’s melech 56 Way to leave the door for Elijah at a seder 57 “Praise Him with the ___ and harp” (Psalms 150:3) 59 Purim, e.g. 60 Tae ___ Do (Krav Maga alternative) 61 Things for Egyptian slaves to fear 62 You won’t find Israel on an Arab one 63 Its most recent Jewish president was Dr. Jeremy Lazarus 64 Ark covering 65 Kupat Holim, essentially
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Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Annual Lecture at Ahavath Achim Synagogue presents
Vice President
Joe Biden
Thursday | September 3 7:30 p.m.
“Challenges Facing the U.S. and the World in the 21st Century”
AUGUST 21 ▪ 2015
A free public lecture drawing on Vice President Joe Biden’s experiences at the center of domestic and foreign policy and politics.
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Open to the public. No tickets and reservations required. RSVP requested: info@aasynagogue.org Uber recommended. Additional parking with shuttle service available at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Howell Mill Road. Ahavath Achim Synagogue | 600 Peachtree Battle Ave. NW | Atlanta, GA 30327 404.355.5222 | aasynagogue.org
Young Adult Tick