MEET THE INNOVATORS
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Atlanta VOL. XC NO. 25
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Same-Sex Marriage Now Legal By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com
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Standing Up For Voting Rights Photo by Jon Barash
Michael Levine and Bonnie Puckett’s 19-month-old daughter, Eden, takes up the voting rights cause during a demonstration organized by Ahavath Achim Synagogue and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta on Wednesday, June 24, at Piedmont Park. Story and more photos, Page 4
HEART AND SOUL
A high school reunion in San Antonio set Richard Quintana on a journey to find love, a career and his Jewish faith in the Atlanta area. Page 25
SPY ARTS
Daniel Silva planned one novel featuring Israeli superspy Gabriel Allon; with “The English Spy,” he reaches No. 15, with no end in sight. Page 26
INSIDE
Calendar 2 Simchas 25 Candle Lighting
3 Arts 26
Israel 8 Sports
28
Opinion 10 Obituaries 28 Health & Wellness 14 Crossword 30 Youth 16 Marketplace 31
he U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday, June 26, that same-sex couples nationwide have the right to wed. The 5-4 ruling overturning state bans on same-sex marriages followed years of legal battles. All three Jewish Supreme Court justices voted with the majority. “I am absolutely ecstatic,” SOJOURN Assistant Director Robbie Medwed said. “I think this is a fantastic thing both for LGBT couples and for the entire country. We have had two classes of people for far too long, and we can now say without a doubt that the Constitution really does stand for equality of all citizens.” Georgia banned same-sex marriage until the high court’s decision. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, who is Jewish, said in a statement: “Once the Supreme Court has ruled, its Order is the law of the land. As such, Georgia will follow the law and adhere to the ruling of the Court.” A number of Atlanta rabbis had made themselves available to officiate same-sex weddings if and when the high court ruled against the ban. Rabbis Erin Boxt of Temple Kol Emeth, Michael Bernstein of Congregation Gesher L’Torah, Malka Packer of InterfaithFamily/Atlanta and Pamela Gottfried and The Temple’s entire rabbinical staff had signed up at freedomtomarry. org to officiate same-sex weddings in anticipation of the ruling. Other local rabbis are ready to perform the ceremony. ■ Reaction to the ruling, Page 6
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Hollywood in the camps. “Filming the Camps — John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens: From Hollywood to Nuremberg” runs through Nov. 20 at the Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road, Buckhead. Admission to the museum is $16.50 for adults, $13 for students and seniors, $11 for children 4 to 12, and free for members and younger children; www.atlantahistorycenter.com or 404-814-4000. History of Jewish Atlanta. The Breman Museum, 1440 Spring St., Midtown, presents “Eighteen Artifacts,” an exploration of Atlanta’s Jewish history, through Dec. 31. Admission to the museum is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for students and educators, $4 for children 3 to 6, and free for members and younger children; thebreman.org or 678-222-3700. Holocaust exhibit. Kennesaw State University’s “Parallel Journeys: World War II and the Holocaust Through the Eyes of Teens” is on loan at the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust, 5920 Roswell Road, Suite A-209, Sandy Springs, through Aug. 25. Free; holocaust.georgia.gov. Mixed media. Ben Smith exhibits 14 works in mixed media with pencil, ink, watercolors, acrylic and spray paint at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs. Free; www.templesinaiatlanta.org.
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Class on faith and fame. Bob Bahr teaches a six-week class, “The American Idol — Faith and Fame in the Twentieth Century,” focusing on showbusiness icons Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey. Temple Sinai, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Emory University, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and Interfaith Community Initiatives/ World Pilgrims are sponsoring the class, held at 10 a.m. Thursdays. Sessions July 7, 14 and 21 meet at Holy Innocents’, 805 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs; sessions July 28, Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 meet at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs. Registration is $49; www.olli.emory.edu.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8
Supreme Court review. The AntiDefamation League brings together legal scholars Erwin Chemerinsky and Frederick Lawrence with Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick to discuss the big high court rulings online at 1 p.m. Free; www.adl.org/supremecourtreview. Spy games. Daniel Silva, author of
the Gabriel Allon series of spy novels, speaks about the latest entry, “The English Spy,” at 7:30 p.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Tickets are $24 for center members and $29 for nonmembers and include a signed first edition of the book; www.atlantajcc. org or 678-812-3981.
FRIDAY, JULY 10
Shabbat dinner. Congregation Or Hadash, 7460 Trowbridge Road, Sandy Springs, welcomes the community to a hamburger and hot dog dinner with Friday night services at 6 p.m. Free; www.or-hadash.org or 404-250-3338.
SUNDAY, JULY 12
Summer splash. Greater Atlanta Hadassah’s Ketura Group holds a pool party and cookout with kosher veggie and beef burgers and hot dogs for adults only from noon to 4 p.m. Bring a parve dish to share. The cost is $10 per person or $5 for prospective members; RSVP by July 1 to ebfrank619@ gmail.com or 404-502-4997. Holocaust film. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum brings “Projections of Life: Jewish Life Before World War II” to the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust, 5920 Roswell Road, Suite A-209, Sandy Springs, at 1 p.m. Free; holocaust.georgia.gov.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15
Refreshment for body and soul. The Kehilla, 5075 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, offers Kabbalah, dinner and cocktails with a lecture by Rabbi Karmi David Ingber on Judaism and the power of laughter at 7 p.m. The cost is $12 for members, $15 for nonmembers; thekehillaorg.shulcloud. com/kabbalah-and-cocktails.
THURSDAY, JULY 16
Spirit of Jerusalem. Learn about New Spirit, a nonprofit group working to make Jerusalem attractive for creative people from all parts of Israeli society, from visiting Israeli Ariel Arnovitz Markose at 8 p.m. at a private home in Sandy Springs. Free; ariel@new-spirit. org.il or 469-297-2609.
FRIDAY, JULY 17
Shabbat Under the Stars. Temple Kol Emeth holds services in East Cobb Park, 3322 Roswell Road, at 7:30 p.m. after a bring-your-own picnic dinner at 6:30. Free; www.kolemeth.net.
SUNDAY, JULY 19
Civil rights visit. Greater Atlanta Hadassah is visiting the Center for Civil and Human Rights, 100 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., downtown, at 1:30 p.m. You can
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CALENDAR Parshah Balak Friday, July 3, light candles at 8:34 p.m. Saturday, July 4, Shabbat ends at 9:36 p.m. Parshah Pinchas Friday, July 10, light candles at 8:33 p.m. Saturday, July 11, Shabbat ends at 9:34 p.m.
park free at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center at 11 a.m. and take the streetcar to Centennial Park for a picnic lunch or meal at the food court at CNN Center, or meet the group at the museum at 1:30. Admission is $10, payable by check to Hadassah by July 3; Greater Atlanta Hadassah, 47 Perimeter Center East, Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30346. RSVP to Edie Barr at gahprogramming@gmail.com or 404-325-0340. Movie and dancing. Congregation Beth Shalom, 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, shows the documentary “Hava Nagila (The Movie),” to be followed by Israeli dancing, at 7 p.m. Admission is $8; bethshalomatlanta. org.
FRIDAY, JULY 31
Reform community Shabbat. The Atlanta Reform congregations hold their annual joint Shabbat service at
6:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs.
THURSDAY, AUG. 6
A spoonful of sugar. The musical “Mary Poppins” opens at 8 p.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center’s Morris & Rae Frank Theatre and runs through Aug. 16 for seven performances. Tickets are $15 to $28; www.atlantajcc.org/boxoffice or 678-812-4002.
THURSDAY, AUG. 13
Love story. Author Jennifer Weiner discusses her new novel, “Who Do You Love,” with Holly Firfer at 7:30 p.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Tickets are $24 for JCC members, $29 for nonmembers, and include a signed first edition of the book and a glass of wine; www.atlantajcc.org or 678-8124002.
CLAIMS CONFERENCE CHILD SURVIVOR FUND Claims Conference negotiations with the German government have resulted in a fund for certain Holocaust survivors who were children at the time of their persecution. The Child Survivor Fund will issue one-time payments of €2,500 to eligible individuals who apply to the program. Eligibility is open to those born January 1, 1928 or later AND who were persecuted as Jews in the following circumstances: (I) in a concentration camp; or (II) in a ghetto (or similar place of incarceration recognized as such by the German government); or (iii) living in hiding or under false identity or illegality for a period of at least 6 months in Nazi-occupied territory or in Axis countries. Individualized application forms were mailed to certain survivors who have received previous compensation payments from other programs. If you received an individualized application form in the mail, please complete it and return it to the Claims Conference. If you believe you are eligible for the Child Survivor Fund and did not receive an application in the mail, you may obtain an application at www.claimscon.org/childsurvivor and return it to the Claims Conference. Information about the program is also on this website.
FRIDAY, AUG. 14
Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow leads a yahrzeit service for Frank at 2 p.m. on the 100th anniversary of his lynching at the site of his death, Frey’s Gin and Roswell roads, Marietta. Free; ravlebow@aol.com.
Shabbat in the park. Congregation Etz Chaim holds its annual musical Shabbat service, starting with fun and games at 5:30 p.m. and a grilled meal at 6:15, in East Cobb Park. Cost is $5 per person or $20 per family; RSVP at www.etzchaim.net/SITP by Aug. 10.
Leo Frank commemoration. Congregation Etz Chaim, 1190 Indian Hills Parkway, East Cobb, marks the centennial of Frank’s lynching with a memorial event at 2 p.m. Free; etzchaim.net.
SUNDAY, AUG. 16
Leo Frank commemoration. Temple
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Hardship Fund The German Government has recently restated that Jewish Nazi victims cannot receive a Hardship Fund payment if they were part of an organized evacuation. However the German Government clarified that this restriction only applies to claimants who were themselves the subject of an organized evacuation. For further information contact the Claims Conference. There is no cost to apply to any Claims Conference program. For more information, contact: Claims Conference 1359 Broadway, Room 2000, New York, NY 10018 Tel: 646-536-9100 Email: info@claimscon.org www.claimscon.org
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LOCAL NEWS
Rain Hampers Voting Rights Rally AA, JCRC launch campaign for Jewish support By Ariel Pinsky
“D
on’t just commemorate, legislate” was the primary message of demonstrators in the Piedmont Park lawn across from the Park Tavern between rainstorms the evening of Wednesday, June 24. Organized by Ahavath Achim Synagogue’s AAspire young adult group and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta as part of the national effort of Bend the Arc, the rally consisted of 15 people advocating the passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act by Congress while commemorating the 51st anniversary of the deaths of Jewish civil rights activists Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman. The memorial, including the lighting of yahrzeit candles, served as the kickoff for local Jewish activism on voting rights. By holding signs and passing out fliers, supporters attempted to raise awareness of voting inequality that they believe persists because of voter ID requirements and other “oppressive
voting laws” in several states. “Texas and Georgia have these terrible records in which African-American students and the elderly are denied the ability of access out of fear of voter fraud,” said AA Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal, who led a brief ceremony with fellow Rabbi Neil Sandler. “When you deny people, you end up with something very different from a democracy. You end up with a country that is run by a few.” Rabbi Rosenthal said the number of people perpetrating in-person voter
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fraud — the stated reason for voter ID laws — is so minuscule that the issue isn’t worth discussing. Those laws aren’t a problem for middle-class people who have driver’s licenses but are a burden for poor people who don’t drive, he said. “To get a free ID, you need to have certain documents. You need to have your original birth certificate. If you don’t have one, then you need to go buy one, which is hard for working-class people,” Rabbi Rosenthal said about the Georgia voter ID law. “Why aren’t we focusing on the polls and making that opportunity more available?” Leah Fuhr, who leads AAspire as AA’s youth and young-adult community director, explained the need to act before the 2016 presidential elections. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act that required certain states, including Georgia, to get federal preapproval for redistricting and changes to certain voting laws. “We are hoping to push our Congress to change that law,” Fuhr said. The VRAA would restore the requirement for federal preapproval in any state with at least 15 voting rights violations in the previous 25 years. That provision would cover every state
Photos by Jon Barash
Top: Representing Ahavath Achim and the JCRC at the demonstration are (from left) Myrtle Lewin, Lois Frank and Leah Fuhr. Bottom left: Three yahrzeit candles burn for the three civil rights workers killed in 1964. Bottom right: Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal says he wishes hundreds had turned out for the rally.
that was in the Confederacy except Tennessee, plus New York, California and Arizona. Rabbi Sandler led a candlelight yahrzeit ceremony for Schwerner and Goodman, who were slain with black activist James Chaney on June 21, 1964, while attempting to register black voters in Mississippi. National outrage over their deaths helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Demonstrators were disappointed by the turnout, which the bad weather and resulting heavy traffic didn’t help. “I think there’s something to say in the fact that there aren’t 200 or 300 people here,” Rabbi Rosenthal said. Supporters hope to increase attendance at future rallies and vigils. ■
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cians and visited the Cable News Network Center, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change and the Jimmy Carter Library. The mayors also visited New York and Washington. During their stay, they learned that Americans have major misconceptions about Israel.
10 Years Ago July 8, 2005
■ Camp Judaea evacuated about 175 campers in buses to Camp Blue Star in Hendersonville and to Camp Highlander in Horseshoe because of a flash flood June 27. The waters rose to about 6 feet and flooded the parking lot at the entrance to Camp Judaea, submerging 20 staffers’ cars. Camp Judaea director Mark Howard said: “Blue Star went above and beyond. … They were incredibly hospitable.”
■ Amy and Mitchell Kaye of Marietta announce the birth of a son, Jared Matthew, on June 10. 50 Years Ago July 2, 1965
■ Bagel Boys of Atlanta announces a menu of items that will be shipped from New York and delivered to the doors ■ Ross and Kelly Brown of Roswell announce the birth of a of Atlanta families by Sunday mornings. Customers can son, Gavin Miles, on June 3. He weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces order any meal, which will then be assembled in New York and shipped on a refrigerated plane to Atlanta via Delta on and was 22 inches long. Saturday night. A new menu is featured each week. 25 Years Ago ■ Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Danneman of Atlanta announce the July 6, 1990 engagement of their daughter, Lynda Joyce Danneman, to ■ Four Israeli mayors stopped in Atlanta during a monthAlfred M. Rubenstein, son of Mrs. F. Rubenstein of Anniston, long visit to the United States. They met with local politiAla., and the late Harry Rubenstein.
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LOCAL NEWS
Many Rabbis Eager to Perform Gay Weddings From AJT Staff Reports
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he end of U.S. bans on same-sex marriage brought cheers from Jewish organizations and from many rabbis in the less traditional streams of Judaism, but the Orthodox Union remained steadfast in its position that homosexual relationships are forbidden by Jewish Scripture. “Our religion is emphatic in defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman,” the OU said in a statement issued shortly after the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling that bans on same-sex marriages are unconstitutional. “Our beliefs in this regard are unalterable. At the same time, we note that Judaism teaches respect for others, and we condemn discrimination against individuals.” The OU said the law is not and should not be determined by any religion. “We accord the process and its result the utmost respect.” For the Anti-Defamation League, however, Friday, June 26, was “a great day for civil rights history. And it is a great day for all Americans.” The ADL said its work on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community included a brief it filed with the court on behalf of 25 organizations opposed to bans on same-sex marriage. “While we recognize there is not universal agreement on this issue, this is a decision enthusiastically welcomed
by our rabbis and throughout the Reform Movement,” Temple Sinai’s rabbis — Ron Segal, Brad Levenberg, Elana Perry and Phil Kranz — said in an emailed statement. “Through sermons, bulletin articles, educational sessions and e-news postings, we have repeatedly espoused our belief in and support for marriage equality as well as our willingness to stand with any couple who chooses to sanctify a loving and committed relationship. With tremendous pride, we celebrate this momentous day knowing we have done what our tradition has commanded Jews to do since the dawn of time — stand for dignity, equality, justice and love.” Many Atlanta-area Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative rabbis had listed themselves as prepared to perform same-sex marriages in anticipation of the ruling, and some had performed the ceremonies before June 26. Those movements praised the ruling. Temple Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow said a same-sex couple he had married sent him a note expressing interest in reaffirming their vows in Georgia. As legal same-sex marriage spread to most states the past few years, “I did the religious service here in Atlanta, and then they had to leave the state to, say, go to D.C. or New York City to be legally married.” He said it’s sad that more of the Jewish community didn’t offer support for same-sex marriage 30 years ago,
but “we’re grateful to have them at any case to be a part of the movement.” “What surprised me is how deeply it touched me,” said Congregation Bet Haverim Rabbi Josh Lesser, who has worked toward marriage equality since 1993 and has officiated at same-sex weddings for 18 years. “I happened to be with a group at the synagogue when we found out, so we immediately said the Shehecheyanu, but I couldn’t finish the words because tears were starting to come from my eyes.” He said the ruling presents an opportunity for Judaism’s wisdom to help build a stronger community. “I felt like there was a part of my dignity that was recognized for the very first time by our state and by our country that I’ve lived with since I’ve known that I was gay,” Rabbi Lesser said. “This is a secular ruling, it is a civil ruling, and I think it is absolutely necessary for dignity and equality in our country, and I have also felt as a religious person that there is holiness in those relationships,” said Congregation Gesher L’Torah Rabbi Michael Bern stein, who has officiated at same-sex weddings outside Georgia. “One of my favorite things to do is a wedding.” He said the Atlanta Jewish community has shown tremendous respect to
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David R. Cohen, Ariel Pinsky, Sophie Zelony and Michael Jacobs contributed to this report.
Schuster Performs Cobb’s First Same-Sex Ceremony
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AJT
LGBT Jews, and now he thinks the entire community will benefit from the ruling. “It is a reinforcement of the holiness of love and why we put it at the center of so much that we do.” The potential effects on the community are exciting for Rabbi Malka Packer of InterfaithFamily/Atlanta, who moved here from upstate New York less than two months ago. “The only thing I was concerned about was moving to a state where marriage is not legal for myself. That was a little scary,” she said. “So it was so amazing that a few weeks later it changed.” Like Rabbi Lesser, Rabbi Packer’s emotional reaction caught her offguard. “As soon as I got the text that they made this ruling, I just started tearing up and was just so overjoyed and so surprised that I was surprised this has happened. It was so overwhelming. It was just so thrilling.” The OU, meanwhile, said the first crucial question now is whether the law will continue to protect religious liberty and diversity and accommodate people and institutions whose religious beliefs block their support for same-sex relationships. ■
he Supreme Court decision to make same-sex marriage legal nationwide put some of Georgia’s Jewish judges in the simcha spotlight. DeKalb County Probate Judge Jeryl Rosh, for instance, decided to open Saturday, June 27, the day after the ruling, to accommodate county residents’ questions and increased applications for marriage licenses. “The highest court in the land has ruled on the issue, and it is up to the rest of the judiciary to follow the law and accommodate the citizens of each jurisdiction,” Rosh said. Cobb County Superior Court Chief Judge J. Stephen Schuster shared that sentiment, and he performed the county’s first same-sex wedding about six hours after the ruling. He said the Cobb courts had planned for the decision and were determined to follow the law as established by the Supreme Court. Normally, the county magistrate performs weddings at 6 p.m. daily, but Cobb decided to add the option of 4 p.m. weddings the day of the ruling. As the county’s top judge, Schuster said, it was his duty to perform the ceremony for the first couple, two men from Smyrna, and establish that “we are going to do this with dignity and respect.” “You set the tone at the top, abide by the law, follow the rule of law,” the judge said. He said the atrium of the courthouse was filled with people who wanted to see the historic ceremonies, but no one was there to protest or cause trouble. While the marriages were important for the couples, Schuster said, they were almost routine for the judges because of the lack of drama. “This is the modern Cobb County,” he said. “We did it. I’m proud of everybody involved.” ■
LOCAL NEWS
Pride Seder: A Case Of Perfect Timing By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com
new law leads to accountability, and different states need to figure out how to provide marriage licenses and benhe Pride Seder at the Rush Cen- efits. Those conversations have to come ter in Atlanta on Friday, June 26, from social justice and organizations took on a new meaning in light like SOJOURN and Human Rights of that day’s Supreme Court ruling in Campaign. Our city councils also have favor of same-sex marriage. to talk about how to become compliant “We knew the decision could come with the law. Now we have some work today which might make the seder a to do on how to put all this into place.” little bit wonky,” Rabbi Congregation Bet Lesser agreed Haverim Rabbi there is a Josh Lesser said long way to in his opening rego. “Georgia marks. The event is one of the started more than states that an hour late behas been cause many particfierce in its ipants attended anopposition other celebration to gay marat the Center for riage,” he said Civil and Human in an interRights. “People are view. “We can probably hungry,” still be fired he said. “We defifor being nitely want to do gay and lessome of our seder bian. This is but may not stick one of three to all of it. (It will states which be) a little bit loosdon’t have er. It’s not scripted civil rights tonight.” legislation. Bet Haverim It’s shocking. holds the Pride It’s hard for Seder, inspired by Georgia to Photos by Kevin Madigan join the rest the Passover seder, every year during of the world. Top: Nechemyah Sullivan says the June, LGBT Pride Some basic, Supreme Court ruling is liberating. Month. fundamental Bottom: The enthusiasm of the Pride Seder crowd isn’t hurt by a delayed start “We get to inhuman rights resulting from the big news June 26. voke our impresthat people sions on a day have in other we’ve made history. It’s incredibly pow- states, we still don’t have.” erful,” Rabbi Lesser said. The Jewish community in AtNechemyah Sullivan, who de- lanta is not entirely supportive of the scribes himself as a Jew of color, was Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision, Rabbi excited by the turn of events. “I think Lesser said. “We still want to be a good this is awesome. The LGBT community neighbor and still want to create a has come of age,” he said. “There are so sense of Jewish community, so that many benefits that come along with means living with people who don’t this decision. It’s an acknowledgment, support this legislation. I don’t want a recognition of equality. I guess it’s it to be hostile. There has been some testament to the fact that if you believe (hostility) in the past, but I want us to in something, you continue to work at respect our differences.” it until it produces the result needed. After pouring champagne and With this Pride Seder we’re coming out mingling with the congregation, he of our own Egypt in terms of inequal- added: “We get to celebrate before goity and sexual discrimination. It’s very ing back to thinking, strategizing, figliberating.” uring out how to bring our prophetic Sullivan said much more needs voices into the public square, and how to be done with legislation for LGBT to be a force for racial justice and eqrights. “We need to ensure that this uity.” ■
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ISRAEL
Bigger Problems Than Palestinians
But diplomat Mekel says Israel has the strength to endure By Ariel Pinsky
T
he U.N. Human Rights Council’s recently released Commission of Inquiry report condemning Israel for war crimes is just the latest in the frequent singling-out of Israel on the international stage, according to Arye Mekel, the former Israeli consul general to the Southeast who also served as ambassador to Greece. The veteran Israeli diplomat and journalist stopped by the American Jewish Committee’s regional office in Buckhead for a lunchtime chat Tuesday, June 23. Mekel said that although the “Palestinian problem” has long been seen as Israel’s chief issue, this assumption may be wrong because of the changing political environment in the Middle East. He said recent power struggles and regime changes in countries such as Syria, Egypt and Libya, as well as the rise of terror groups such as Islamic State, could shift Israel’s focus from the Palestinians to other neighbors.
Photo by Ariel Pinsky
AJC Atlanta Director Dov Wilker listens to a point from Ambassador Arye Mekel.
When his parents moved to Israel after surviving the Holocaust in 1949, Mekel said, they viewed the hostility between Jews and Arabs as temporary — they believed that peace would arrive in 10 years or less. Just as the mood shifted when the settlers learned that peace would not come within the de-
cade, so times have changed again, and the Palestinian problem is no longer Israel’s principle obstacle to peace. Mekel also raised an important question: If the Palestinians received their own state today, would Israel face similar problems tomorrow? He thinks yes, in part because Is-
filming
John Ford Samuel Fuller George Stevens
from Hollywood to Nuremberg
May 6 - November 20, 2015 Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller created American cinema classics, but their most important contribution to history was their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services.
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
An exhibition by the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France.
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AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Filming
Samuel Fuller’s Bell & Howell Camera © Courtesy of the, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California, Coll. Christa Fuller
Atlanta History Center
rael doesn’t even have boundaries internationally recognized as final. Reports like the one the UNHRC’s Commission of Inquiry released June 22 on last summer’s Gaza conflict reflect the anti-Israel sentiments of groups other than the Palestinians. The commission, headed by former U.S. Judge Mary McGowan Davis, was created by a U.N. resolution condemning Israel in the “strongest terms” for “gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Though Mekel views the report as less severe and slightly more balanced than the 2009 Goldstone Report — this one assigns Hamas some responsibility for war crimes — he still sees the inquiry as a “bunch of lies.” He found particularly troubling the accusation that Israel refused to cooperate with the commission by not providing necessary documents; he said several Israeli organizations did comply. While the commission may be upsetting, Mekel said, Israel is too strong and too powerful for such resolutions to have a huge impact on its foreign policy, and the Jewish community should not be concerned. He views the anti-Israel BDS movement in the same light — upsetting but ultimately unable to deliver its intended blow. According to the movement’s website, BDS “targets products and companies (Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions.” Mekel joked that if people want to boycott Israeli inventions and products, they must boycott their own laptops, cellphones and all other devices that require a computer chip. Mekel said that constantly criticizing efforts such as BDS raises the risk of publicizing and drawing attention to them. He also spoke about obstacles to a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution. In his eyes, an agreement is not likely in the near future because of the lack of the “right type of leadership” on the Palestinian side. He said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is of the Old World school of thought and might be incapable of committing to a two-state solution. But Mekel said some 40- to 50-yearold Palestinians who could take over after Abbas may be more realistic. ■
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ISRAEL
Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home
CuPID prevents falling. The CuPID project, co-directed by Tel Aviv University’s Anat Mirelman, has developed a smartphone app to help Parkinson’s sufferers who have a common symptom called freezing of gait. The app uses sensors on the shoes and alerts the wearer audibly if he is likely to fall. TB skin patch wins Gates award. Technion professor Hossam Haick has won a Gates Foundation award to help develop a sensing plaster that can detect tuberculosis biomarkers on the skin. Haick is known for a nanotech breath analyzer that detects cancer. Prisoners volunteer to help disabled. Three times a week, 26 prisoners from six southern jails shed their inmate garb and board a bus for the ALEH Negev rehabilitation village to help severely disabled residents. Upon returning, each prisoner discusses the experience with a social worker. Truck powered by natural gas. Fiat Chrysler has announced the first natural gas vehicle for the Israeli market. The Iveco Stralis heavy truck is tractor-trailer size and is powered by an Iveco Cursor 8 engine that runs on compressed natural gas. A bus powered by natural gas will be imported. Israel’s natural gas fields in the Mediterranean make such vehicles an important step toward energy independence. Anti-bullying app. Nonprofit Red Button has produced the world’s first app that lets anyone, especially kids, easily report negative web behavior. Click the red button to send the web and IP address, site ownership, and more information to volunteers at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, who collate the data and file complaints with the appropriate sites or authorities. Recycling plant for 1 million people. A state-of-the-art recycling plant has begun collecting the refuse of 1 million residents of the Jerusalem region. The plant, which cost 100 million shekels ($26.5 million), transforms waste into energy without human intervention.
Revolutionizing the music business. Startup SoundBetter enables artists and sound producers to collaborate all over the world to make music online. Musicians can record themselves at home rather than in a studio.
where shoppers move on a virtual walkway past 3D images of products. Birthright for hearing-impaired. Deafness did not keep American Jews off Birthright trips. One group specifically catered to people with hearing impediments. The highlight of the trip was a day at the Institute for the Advancement of Deaf People in Tel Aviv.
Trade talks with China. Israel and China have begun negotiations on a proposed free trade agreement. A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said Israel is one of China’s major economic and trade partners in the Middle East, and an agreement would lift bilateral cooperation to new heights.
The fifth-happiest country in the world. Israel is one of the world’s five happiest countries, according to a Better Life Index report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, behind only Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland. Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other news sources.
Israel Photo of the Week
Answers for the U.N.
More than 1,000 supporters of Israel from across Europe rally outside the U.N. offices in Geneva on Monday, June 29, during the U.N. Human Rights Council’s discussion of its Commission of Inquiry report on last summer’s Gaza conflict. “Gaza is still an occupied territory, but the occupier is not Israel. It’s a terrorist movement called Hamas,” World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer said during the rally.
The world’s best boutique hotel. Luxury American tourism magazine Jetsetter has named the 50-room Norman Hotel Tel Aviv the world’s best boutique hotel. “Tel Aviv’s smart, stylish Norman is the real deal,” Jetsetter said of its decision, based on reviews by 200 international journalists. Online shopping in 3D. Virtual shopping has arrived, thanks to Tel Aviv’s Tridshops. The platform enables retailers to quickly set up an online store
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JULY 3 ▪ 2015
Internet tool to analyze genes. Yuval Tabach of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed an Internet tool to enable any investigator, physician or patient to analyze a gene according to its evolutionary profile. The tool will help identify genes associated with diseases, including cancer.
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OPINION
Our View
Not So Fast
You may have heard that the global Jewish population has nearly returned to its pre-Holocaust level. Unfortunately, even if we accept the questionable premise that “nearly” is worth celebrating, there’s no cause for a party here. The stories aren’t true. The report came from the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem, which started with a figure of 14.2 million Jews in the world, led by 6.1 million in Israel and 5.7 million in the United States. That number is neither surprising nor dramatic. According to Ynet, which had the story first, the JPPI said the figure represents growth of 8 percent in a decade, the fastest growth since the end of World War II. That “fast” growth is slightly more than half the growth rate of the overall population, so Jews continue to become a smaller minority in the world. Still, we’re almost back to where we were before the Nazis slaughtered us. That’s a glimmer of good news, even if it took 70 years, right? Wrong. The estimated Jewish population before the Holocaust was 16.5 million, 16 percent greater than 14.2 million. That’s nearly two more decades of growth at the 2005-2015 rate. So the global Jewish population is not close to its pre-Holocaust level. The JPPI pushed the total past 16 million by adding “those who identify as partially Jewish and immigrants to the state of Israel who are not halachically Jewish but have qualified under the Law of Return.” So if we take only those who were Jewish in 1933 and compare their total with everyone alive today who is Jewish plus everyone else who acknowledges some Jewish ancestry, we almost get the same number. Almost. Whoopee. We can argue over who is Jewish, but let’s not count people who don’t count themselves. The math is simple: 14.2 million does not equal 16.5 million. ■
Wedded Bliss
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to make samesex marriage legal across the nation brought great joy to many and dismayed many others. Without analyzing the legal reasoning, we would like to make two points. First, it is not an affront to democracy that the justices overturned state laws, even those approved by voters. Rights are not subject to the whims of the majority. Rights exist to protect people, either from the government or from one another, and they have no meaning if the majority can take them away. Second, the Orthodox Union deserves praise for the statement it issued within minutes of the ruling. The OU reiterated that no court could change Orthodox Judaism’s belief that Scripture bans homosexual relationships. The OU also acknowledged that no religion should be able to force its views on society and that secular law will not always align with the Orthodox view. The OU then emphasized the importance of allowing religious institutions the leeway to make their own choices about same-sex marriages. A diverse society can respect the hard-won right of same-sex couples to marry without infringing on the fundamental right of religious groups and leaders 10 not to participate in such weddings. ■
AJT
Furling the Battle Flag dialogue and serves to shame the ancestors many of I have a confession: I grew up with the Confedus claim to honor with it. erate battle flag hanging in my bedroom. The Charleston I did so as a proud church massacre is not American and a proud the reason to retire the Southerner. I was proud of Editor’s Notebook flag; it’s a reminder that my ancestors who joined we should have lowered their friends and neighbors By Michael Jacobs the flag long ago. After in Mississippi and Alabama mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com all, it’s a battle flag, and to defend their homes. we’re smart enough to I believe that my ancesknow we are not at war. tors, like most Confederate soldiers, did not fight with the primary goal of proOn Vacation tecting slavery, but they were, of course, defending a This issue marks roughly the halfway point of system built and dependent on slavery. It is possible the Atlanta Jewish Times’ first year under the ownerto be proud of that family history and regional heriship of Michael Morris, and we’re marking the occatage without wishing the South had won. sion by taking a planned week off to rest, recharge Many Americans don’t understand why people and reflect on the first phase of the AJT’s revival. in the South feel a need to express an identity sepaIn some ways, I hate taking a break because we rate from the rest of the nation. They think we fail to have been on a good roll, in part because of the conrecognize that we lost the war. tributions of our summer interns. Zach Itzkovitz has The opposite is true. We know we lost. Until been with us since mid-May and has done incredible Vietnam, we were the only Americans who had tasted defeat in war, and we were treated as a conquered work in pulling together this week’s package on Jewish nonprofit innovators. Ariel Pinsky and Sophie and occupied nation. We’ve felt other Americans Zelony have recently arrived and made immediate looking down on us ever since. contributions. Losing a week of their involvement is The reaction to all of that — probably the overreaction — was the development of a Southern pride the biggest downside of going dark for a week. On the other hand, Associate Editor David R. Cothat doubled down on the differences Northerners hen and I can use a break to prepare for a big second noted and mocked. We needed a symbol to rally around, to declare we were different from our fellow half of the year. So please don’t be upset when you don’t receive Americans. That’s why that flag hung on my wall a July 10 issue. We’ll be back with an issue July 17, and in places public and private across the South. and you’ll see the AJT every week the rest of the year. Now it’s time to retire that flag to museums The AJT office will be closed from July 3 through and history books. It’s a damaged symbol of a difJuly 10, so we won’t be answering or returning phone ficult past that understandably offends many of our calls. Many of us will be checking email, but don’t be friends and neighbors because of its use as a battle surprised if it takes a few days to respond. Shalom. ■ flag of hate since the 1950s. Its presence shuts down
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OPINION
Most Spiritual Moment of My Life The following column originally appeared May 24 at amoveablefeast08. wordpress.com. have just celebrated the Jewish holiday of Shavuot to the fullest for the first time ever. Shavuot is the holiday where the Jewish people are given the gift of Torah from G-d. The last couple days on my MEOR Israel trip have been incredibly special because we went from the most important Jewish holiday of Shabbat, which we get to celebrate every week, right into Shavuot. Shabbat in Jerusalem is an amazing thing. I was able to welcome Shabbat from the Kotel (Western Wall), and it felt incredible. The MEOR rabbis took us to the Old City to welcome Shabbat and led us in the most beautiful songs the Jewish people have to offer. I felt connected to every Jew singing, dancing and praying with people from all over the world. Shabbat is not about not being allowed to use your iPhone or watch TV, but about putting all those things away for 25 hours or so to reflect on what you hold to be important in your
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life and provide you with clarity of mind. I engaged in so many wonderful discussions and was able to appreciate some incredible lessons. As Shabbat was coming to an end, I was so lucky to be able to welcome and celebrate Shavuot. Traditionally you stay up all night studying Torah and grappling with the deepest questions we have in life. What is Torah?
Guest Column By Cameron Frostbaum
What is Torah not? Who is G-d? Is G-d real? Who am I in the grand scheme of things? It was all great preparation for law school. What happened next affected me more than just about anything that has touched me in any way. Most people do not know this about me, but I am a descendant of the Kohens. The Kohens refused to pray at the golden calf while Moses was receiving the Torah and the Ten Commandments. For our loyalty we were hon-
ored with the right to be the priests of all Israel and were given many priestly duties. This tradition passes through your father, and until my family came to the United States and before the Holocaust, we fulfilled many of these duties and were generations of rabbis in Europe. What I was able to do at Shavuot touched me more deeply than I can ever express. One of the duties of the Kohens is to be a vessel for G-d to bless the Jewish people. During certain times Kohens raise our hands, and G-d places His hands on top of ours to bless all of Israel. This is a duty that my family has not been able to fulfill since we were forced to leave Israel and the second Temple was destroyed. I had never blessed someone except after a sneeze. As the sun was rising over the hills of Jerusalem, we went to the Kotel to receive the gift of Torah from G-d. No greater gift has ever been given to the world. I was there with all of Israel at the Kotel, waiting to receive the Torah and watching the sun rise. I was then told by Rabbi Yehoshua Styne (a great rabbi and a Kohen himself) to follow him. We cleaned and blessed our hands. A group of Kohens adorned
in our prayer shawls, the wind stirring as the sun peeked its head, the sound of Jerusalem together in prayer, took our shoes off, and I fulfilled a sacred duty — a duty my ancestors, men much greater than I, were finally able to achieve through me. I had never felt this way in my life. I felt as if I had such a significant purpose, such an indescribable unity with the world, and I could not speak afterward. My voice was not mine but part of a whole, and all of the Jewish people were blessed by G-d. I was just a small part of that, but I was a part. I was afraid, proud, excited and a million other feelings (including drained of all my energy). I am still processing what happened and what it all means, but I have never felt more accomplished — an accomplishment not just for me, but for all those who came before me and all those to come as the Jewish people thrive in the future. Next year in Jerusalem is no longer a dream; it is real. ■
in Nablus after the funeral of Zafer al-Masri, the Israeli-appointed mayor shot dead by a dissident Palestinian faction. • Standing on a Gaza City rooftop, trying to comprehend the living conditions of several hundred thousand people. The rusting freighter stuck offshore seemed a metaphor for something. • A trip into southern Lebanon accompanied by members of a Christian militia and a checkpoint “manned” by a boy of maybe 14 armed with a Kalashnikov. • An up-and-coming Saudi diplomat telling me that he could envision a time when the kingdom engaged with Israel. • The goulash and strudel at Fink’s Bar and the shawarma at King of Falafel and Shawarma on the corner of King George and Agrippas. • Encountering my brother the rabbinical student on King George Street on a Friday afternoon. We exchanged a hearty “Shabbat shalom,” appreciating the incongruity that he and his wife lived near me and my wife in Jerusalem.
• Walking in Jerusalem with the bougainvillea in bloom, particularly along Sderot Ben Maimon and Ussishkin Street. • Bringing my 10-year-old son to Israel when his older brother played soccer in the Maccabiah Games. In Jerusalem we hiked through the Old City, his parents’ Rehavia neighborhood, the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, Machane Yehuda and Jaffa Road. He favored the refurbished port in Tel Aviv, Beit Hatfutsot (the diaspora museum), the fresh juice stands and the Carmel Shuk. • A trip I didn’t make, when my wife took part in the annual bike ride from Jerusalem to Eilat to benefit the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which brings together Jews and Arabs because “nature knows no borders.” There are many more, of course, but these are some pieces of my frame of reference, my personal Israel. ■
Cameron Frostbaum is a rising sophomore at Emory University, The Atlanta native grew up attending Temple Emanu-El.
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n “Which Israel Are You Talking About?” I wrote that conversations are framed by what each of us considers to be our personal Israel. In the interest of disclosure, mine includes: • My first visit, a 19-month stay that began (six months after we married) at a program in the Negev desert town of Arad. I wonder what became of Amnon, the 5-year-old Ethiopian boy who would visit our apartment to look at magazines and play with my telescope. • Encountering 150 relatives descended from my great-grandfather’s twin brother, a founder of Zichron Ya’akov, at a family reunion in Kfar Saba. • Hiring on as Jerusalem bureau producer for an Atlantabased news network, an unparalleled education that took me throughout the country and beyond its borders, gathering elements for reports on subjects ranging from politics and security to culture and religion. • Meeting Natan Sharansky in the tiny kitchen of a Jerusalem apartment two days after he was freed from the
Soviet gulag. His wife, Avital, remembered the “very cold” Midwestern city where, as a newspaper reporter, I profiled her campaign for his freedom. • Learning to carry a kippah after Yitzhak Shamir refused my interview request as he left the cemetery on Mount Herzl because my head was not covered. • Yitzhak Rabin stopping for interviews but never suffering foolish
From Where I Sit By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com
questions. The somber mood of the country after his assassination was in stark contrast to what I had experienced before. • Shimon Peres painstakingly dismantling a cigarette hard pack in an Alexandria hotel room as he briefed reporters after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. • Fifty thousand people marching
Dave Schechter is a veteran journalist whose career includes writing and producing reports from Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
My Personal Israel
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OPINION
2 Wins Over Oppression
B
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
aruch atta Adonai ga’al Yisrael: “Praised are You, Adonai, who redeems Israel.” These words, which we offer each morning immediately before the Amidah, bring us back to the foundational story of our people, Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt. We invoke that event every day because only G-d’s gracious act of taking our ancestors out of oppression and bondage enabled us to become a people. In our Shacharit service, as we are about to turn to G-d with the words of the central prayer of any service, the Amidah, we remind ourselves that, absent the Exodus, we would not be able to turn to G-d in prayer today. The Exodus and the end of oppression made possible every opportunity that followed. So we bless G-d. In recent days we have witnessed events, I pray, that we will come to view as historic. They evoke an awareness of G-d’s redemptive power. Soon the Confederate battle flag will be recognized by all state governments as an artifact, a piece of history to be consigned to the past. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has removed that flag from the state Capitol grounds. All of us anticipate that the South Carolina Legislature will soon act similarly. It is a continuing heartbreak to know that the massacre of nine innocent worshippers in a Charleston church hastened this inevitable decision. Yes, inevitable. Because the movement toward liberation and the end of oppression is inexorable, if not always guaranteed. “Oppression” is not the same as during slavery. But listen to African-Americans’ perceptions of the Confederate flag flying on the grounds of state Capitols and you will understand the oppressive quality of this “symbol of our Southern heritage.” The stirring spirituals of oppressed black slaves reflected their self-image; they thought of themselves as heirs of our oppressed ancestors in Egypt. With the removal of the Confederate flag, we again bless G-d. Thank you, Holy One, for giving us the insight and wisdom to remove a lingering symbol of oppression. The second historic moment occurred Friday, June 26. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that the movement toward liberation and the end of oppression is inexorable when it said that same-sex marriage is a constitu12 tional right. As Jews, who know the
AJT
dignity-robbing grip of oppression and the ennobling liberation that enabled us to determine our direction, our experience provides us with a compelling way to understand the ruling. More than 15 years ago, when I served a congregation in Des Moines, I spoke at a Stop the Hate Rally at the Iowa Capitol. The issue was hate speech directed at gays and lesbians.
Guest Column By Rabbi Neil Sandler nsandler@aasynagogue.org
This, in part, is what I said that day: “As we are urged to re-experience the Exodus from Egypt, we remind ourselves today of our duty to stand with all who are enslaved. We reject the demeaning language, images and actions promulgated by some in society today that seek to keep gay and lesbian neighbors enslaved by hateful, stereotypic images.” The issue is different today, but in significant measure, the Supreme Court freed the bound. It brought to a welcome and complete end a form of oppression that had prevented marriage to those who had created a loving relationship with someone of the same gender. Now they are free to express their mutual love in marriage. As Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy so eloquently framed it: “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.” Gays and lesbians may not view themselves as heirs of our oppressed ancestors. Nonetheless, I bless G-d. Thank you, Holy One, for providing us with leaders whose decision enables all adults in our country to marry in accordance with the sexuality with which You have endowed them. Seldom do we have the opportunity to witness history — acts and actions that transform people and their societies. I hope and believe we are witnessing two of them. Baruch atta Adonai ga’al Yisrael: “Praised are You, Adonai, who redeems Israel.” And we pray, all who are oppressed in some manner. ■ Rabbi Sandler is the senior rabbi at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.
In the Name of G-d
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am tired of the news. For years without end, the Western world in general and the United States in particular — have been confronted with the same problem: Two theological forces face each other, and each claims to have a moral right to confront and bear arms against adherers of another religious group. Sometimes it seems that Islam believes that the existence of another religious faith is in itself an offense. This unremitting and unforgiving stance by Islam and Christianity reminds me of an old bigband song, “Something’s Gotta Give.” The lyric is simple enough: When an irresistible force such as you meets an immovable object like me, you can bet as sure as you like — something’s gotta give. The essence of this song is the necessity for compromise. But you can bet as sure as you will that most religions cannot compromise. Each religion claims a G-d-given right to speak for G-d and says it is the only true religion because of revelation. Each claims that the other is wrong and that its adherents violate G-d’s will. Neither follows Luke and Matthew’s cautionary perspective: Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but do not notice the log in your own? Can anyone be certain that his is the only true religion and that adherence to his religion is the only way to please G-d and be rewarded with salvation? Let me caution the reader: I am not saying that Islam is merely a speck in comparison with the Christian log. I am saying that Christianity and Islam have the same problem. Both advocate an uncompromising theology. Both religions propose that no one can achieve salvation without converting and accepting the tenets of a particular religious view. Not long ago I hired a person to retile my bathroom. “You are a very nice guy,” he told me, “and I am so sorry that you will not get to heaven. You must convert to be saved.” Where did this Christian get that idea? It is a central tenet in the Christian Bible. A mild example is to be found in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is G-d’s gift, not from works, so that no one can boast.” There are many harsher statements directed against Jews and claims that Jews will suffer eternal damnation.
Islam has a similar point of view interspersed in the Quran, especially in the second sura (chapter), which states that “Allah has cursed them (Jews and Christians) on account of their unbelief,” for so little it is that they believe. Verse 98 of the same sura states: “Whoever is the enemy of Allah and His angels and His apostles and Jibreel and Meekaeel, so surely Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers.”
One Man’s Opinion By Eugen Schoenfeld
It seems that Christianity and Islam have a common denominator: the rejection of the legitimacy of other beliefs. Christians propose that G-d gave them the latest truth, just as Islam has a similar view of Christianity. It took almost four centuries for the Catholic Church to seek peace and accommodation with the Protestant faiths. The inverse is also true. As late as John Kennedy’s election to the presidency, many Protestants opposed him because he represented Papism. This brings me to the central problem. It took many centuries of war and hostility for the Catholics and the Protestants to accommodate each other. It will take even longer for Islam to seek accommodation between the Sunni and the Shiites, let alone with Christians and especially with Jews. Accommodation does not mean acceptance of each other’s theological legitimacy; it is merely a temporary agreement to coexist. Protestants and Catholics, for their own interests, became tolerant of each other. In spite of accommodation, each religion continues to maintain that it has the exclusive path to salvation. As I look at Israel, I hope that Orthodox Judaism will learn to accommodate the other branches of Judaism. We, too, must learn to live together and accept the reality that modernity brings diversity. In the United States, Christian acceptance of Judaism is a recent development. My own experiences taught me that Christian acceptance of Jews was tentative in the 1960s. For economic reasons, I left Washington University in St. Louis and followed my major professor to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. While completing my doctorate, I took
OPINION views of our founders, who fought colonialism. But somewhere he was co-opted by the dark side. For our own economic well-being, and in order to bring back the ideals of humanism, we must leave our battles with Islamic countries and let them solve their own religious and national problems. Of course, we must be vigilant against those in our country who seek to destroy our way of life. That should be our dominant national issue. Our problem, in addition to safety, is to improve the lives of our citizens. We must separate ourselves from Islam and its internal problems. Waging wars, particularly unwinnable and prolonged wars, will not save us from another 9/11 or Boston or other jihadist hostilities. Am I an isolationist? Far from it. I believe in the idea of the United Nations (if we make it work) and in the adage taught in the Bible: Come let us reason together. I believe in the imperative of accommodation, whether with Russia, China or the Muslim countries. I also believe in punishment through isolation of those who seek to destroy other countries’ internal peace. I believe that moral imperatives are more important than the economic interests of some industries and the desire for some people to gain political power. I hope that our government has more sense than to be chivied into a war that cannot be won by the United States or any other country. All colonialist countries, in spite of their massive armies, have failed. Russia failed in Afghanistan, and that war nearly led to its economic destruction. Let us be aware: The writing on the wall is clearly visible. It tells us the same message of doom that was sent to Persia over two millennia ago: “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” Will the United States heed it? ■
‘All Children of G-d’
The following letter was sent to Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church by Congregation Beth Jacob Rabbi Ilan Feldman and President Larry Beck on June 24. On behalf of our entire congregation, we write to extend to you our condolences and our feeling of brotherhood after the recent tragedy which has affected your faith community. “You are children of the Lord your G-d” (Deut 14:1). The evil inflicted upon nine of your best community members serves to remind us all of the need to emphasize brotherhood in our relations with each other. As members of the Jewish community, we share a common familiarity with persecution that results from hatred and racism. We affirm that we are all children of G-d and that we depend on each other to fully ascend our humanity. We pray that your community experiences healing that only G-d Above can provide after such a tragedy. May your community know no further pain and may all G-d’s children stand shoulder to shoulder in recognizing His kingdom on earth. ■
1915-2015 It’s been 100 years! Isn’t it time to finally exonerate Leo Frank? Leo Frank 100th Yahrzeit Service, Sunday, August 16, 2 pm Frank lynching site: Frey’s Gin Mill and Upper Roswell Road Rabbi Steven Lebow Ravlebow@aol.com Face Book: Rabbi Lebow: “Leo Frank: Falsely Accused, Wrongly Convicted...”
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
on the task of being the rabbi and spiritual leader to the Jewish students on the campus and to the community. A few times I was invited to a breakfast given by and for the ministers and priests who worked with and for students. I was never asked to give a blessing, and all prayers were offered in the name of Christ. All breakfast plates included bacon and ham, and in spite of my request not to have these meats placed on my plate, they never ceased giving me a plate with pork. The few times I was invited were purely symbolic. No one approached me or included me in their conversations and planning. Yet we in the United States are reluctant to make accommodation with Islam. Most politicians and many vocal ministers use national security to justify our military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim nations. But is national security at stake? I am concerned that our success in World War II led us astray from letting other countries follow their destiny. Instead, we adopted the failed views of 19th-century European colonialists. We refused to learn from history. We haven’t learned from the colonialist mistakes that led our own nation to rebel and seek independence. Instead, we are becoming colonialist, involving ourselves in other countries’ struggles and seeking to control them. We follow failed policies, and we laud the efficacy of domination by force. I find great similarities, for instance, between the McCarthy inquisition and the Catholic Inquisition. Unless we want to experience the economic problems of Russia, which tried to dominate Afghanistan, or France, which waged a prolonged war in Indonesia, we must extract ourselves from futile policies of colonialism. President Barack Obama knew this and promised to return to the
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remember riding my 10-speed when I was a kid. It was fun to pedal fast and then coast. Using no effort with limited tire friction and allowing the momentum from my earlier effort to carry me forward, the feeling was exhilarating. If I was going downhill, it was even more fun. I remember my rabbi giving a sermon about the 2:57 PM Kohanim in the Temple making offerings to G-d. He taught that the place of the offerings was elevated off the ground. The way to ascend to that height was via a ramp. The obvious question: Why not steps? Several reasons are given, but my favorite from my rabbi likened the ramp to spirituality. On steps you can rest, take a breather, get comfortable or chill. On a ramp, you are either moving up or down; standing in one place with no effort is not an option. Similarly, if we are not growing spiritually, we are losing ground; there is no standing still. The same is true for health. We are either investing, improving, growing, getting stronger, or we are getting less healthy and weaker. There is no status quo. Consider: We can lose up to half our aerobic capacity when we stop training in as little as two months; additionally, data suggest that our muscles start to atrophy in as little as 72 hours without working them. As a doctor, part of my job is to function as a health coach. A coach inspires people to find the strength within themselves to make positive change. Just telling patients what they need to do — e.g., lose weight and get
more exercise — will not usually lead to success. A coach needs to inspire, be a role model, help people set personal goals, and plan out the bite-size steps to achieve them. With no how-to, people will usually not be able to achieve the success they want. No matter what our level of health
Guest Column By David Shapiro DrShapiro@CompleteSpineSolutions.com
or fitness, most of us can strive to do better. Research has demonstrated that elderly people who have lost their independence are able to regain independence when put on a regular exercise regimen. This shows that the body is forgiving but doesn’t do as well when it is taken for granted. We should all take positive steps to start fresh and renew our commitment to personal health. Every day we get another chance: Sleep more, don’t skip meals, have a healthy breakfast, don’t drink your calories in sodas and fruit juices, buy organic fruits and vegetables, move more, stand more, drink clean water, train with a buddy, learn the latest in health information. With all these opportunities to improve our health each and every day, may we all be inspired not to coast. Coasting on a bike at high speed was fun as a kid. My cousin Douglas Shapiro was a two-time Tour de France and U.S. Olympic cyclist. He used to coast when he took his victory lap; all other times he was pedaling. ■
LOCAL NEWS
Local News Briefs Federation Adds 2
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta recently added two people to its community planning and impact department: Noah Alhadeff, Israel and overseas senior associate, and Andrea Deck, senior associate. Alhadeff is an Atlanta native who attended Yeshiva Atlanta High School and earned bachelor of business administration degrees in managerial sciences and international marketing from Georgia State University in 2008. He served with the Israel Defense Forces’ social media spokesman unit in Israel, then founded Blue and White Media and most recently worked with XCite Health. He lives in Sandy Springs. Deck is from the Washington, D.C., area and graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in 2012. She earned a master’s in Jewish communities from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a license and master of social work degree from Columbia University. She received the Jewish Federations of North America’s Federation Executive Recruitment and Education Program scholarship and served graduate internships at UJA Federation of New York and JFNA’s Washington office.
Witness the remarkable behavior of
SOCIAL ANIMALS AND SOCIALITES.
Shabbat Run Continues
Don’t miss one of Atlanta’s most prestigious fundraising events: Aqua Vino — a celebration of food and wine, all with an ocean view. Proceeds benefit conservation efforts for sea otters – one of the aquatic world’s most charismatic creatures. And plenty of fascinating creatures from the non-profit and fundraising world will be there too. Along with 200 wines. And 30 restaurants. Save the date. You’ll be part of an evening that’s truly remarkable.
Georgia Aquarium is a not for profit organization inspiring awareness and conservation of aquatic animals.
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
Mira Bergen hasn’t failed to observe Shabbat since the eve of the new millennium, Dec. 31, 2000, a streak that, G-d willing, will reach 811 Shabbats on July 3 and 4. The Congregation Beth Jacob member’s commitment, however, has forced her to set aside her devotion to the Peachtree Road Race, held on July Fourth. Bergen’s participation began in the 1970s. In 2009, the Fourth fell on a Saturday, and Bergen chose Shabbat over the race. But a friend and fellow Beth Jacob member, Holocaust survivor Lucy Carson, used her seamstress skills to make a dress out of the annual T-shirts from the race. That way, she could wear her race support when she went to shul. The race falls on Shabbat again this year, so again Bergen will skip the 10K. In addition to wearing the dress Carson made, she’ll carry a purse Carson crafted out of a Peachtree T-shirt. Bergen invites readers to attend morning services at Beth Jacob to see her Peachtree combo, and she promises home hospitality for lunch.
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YOUTH
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16 Check your answers to the Super Shabbat Sheet for Balak at atlantajewishtimes.com/2015/07/super-shabbat-answer-sheet-for-balak.
INNOVATORS YOUTH
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his issue of the Atlanta Jewish Times marks the first of what we hope will be an annual look at the state of the art in Jewish nonprofit groups, viewed through the lens of innovative approaches by individuals to achieve their goals. On this and the following pages you will find 25 people who are working in the Jewish community for nonprofit organizations. Some of them are working with long-established synagogues. Others are flying solo or nearly so with startup groups. For some, innovation involves the people they work with. Others are using creative approaches in pursuit of longtime Jewish communal goals. Still others are using new ways to raise the money their organizations need. What’s important to understand is that this list is not a Top 25. Not only By Zach Itzkovitz
Rabbi Patrick Aleph Beaulier
are we not ranking the innovators on the list — the only order to the list is alphabetical — but we also are not claiming that these 25 people are better, more creative or more valuable to the community than any number of others we considered for the list. These 25 people are outstanding examples of the creativity, energy and outside-thebox thinking the Jewish community needs to confront the challenges of the 21st century, but they are not the only or necessarily the best examples. We will be surprised, impressed and a bit disappointed if anyone who reads this issue recognizes all 25 people. One of our goals in creating the final list was to draw from the breadth and depth of the community to highlight individuals whom many in Jewish Atlanta don’t yet know. At the same time, we will be stunned and extremely disappointed if you read through the list and don’t
quickly think of one or more people whose absence you consider to be a shocking oversight. We have several people in mind whom we expected to be on the list, but once we decided to cut off the list at 25 names, we knew many worthy people would be omitted. As we said, we hope to make this an annual list because the community does not stand still, and its need and opportunity for innovation are always growing and changing. We’re happy to get started on the 2016 list right away, so if you know of someone we overlooked, let us know. Send an email with your suggestions to Editor Michael Jacobs at mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com. Include a few sentences on why the person or people you are nominating should be recognized for innovation in the Jewish nonprofit world. And we’ll make next year’s list another one the community can be proud of. ■
the outsider, about the person who doesn’t feel like they fit in,” he said.
Kenny Blank
Executive director and founder, PunkTorah
Rabbi Mordy Birnbaum
PunkTorah spreads Judaism’s online presence and accessibility. In addition to a blog, PunkTorah has two online distribution platforms for Jewish media, one of which is OneShul. OneShul offers lay-led minyanim, classes, and holiday services via live-streamed video and provides an online prayer wall and yahrzeit wall. PunkTorah also manages Darshan Yeshiva, an online school to train lay spiritual leaders and provide education about conversion. PunkTorah began as a spinoff of Rabbi Beaulier’s YouTube channel, on which he answered Jewish questions. When he began to get messages inquiring about the PunkTorah community, Rabbi Beaulier felt it was time for a website. Drawing on the input and creative talent of his fans, he launched PunkTorah in 2009. By creating a range of online platforms dedicated to making Judaism accessible, Rabbi Beaulier has shaped a new Jewish community suited to evolving technologies and a changing cultural context. “Our ethos has always been about
Rabbi Birnbaum leads Congregation Ariel’s youth program, which raised over $33,000 as the only local organization in February’s #MillionForO utreach crowdfunding campaign. Rabbi Birnbaum has the ability to talk to kids on their level and engage each member authentically. As a result, Ariel Youth is one of the most successful synagogue youth programs in Atlanta. Activities include camping trips, whitewater rafting and a weekend at a cabin in the North Georgia mountains. As a smaller shul, Congregation Ariel is a tightly knit community of committed families. Ariel Youth is an extension of that model — a gathering of kids who connect with their peers and the Jewish community as a whole. Rabbi Birnbaum ensures Ariel Youth’s success by inviting and engaging much of the congregation’s youth population, then asking them to bring friends. His program is a paradigm of engagement and Jewish continuity. “The goal is to find age-appropriate things that they’re going to connect with,” he said, “and to try to engage them at their level.”
Creator and director, Ariel Youth
Executive director, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival The film festival, which started as a program of the American Jewish Committee, broke free in 2014. While the festival’s goal remains consistent with the AJC’s mission — to combat anti-Semitism through community outreach and interreligious cultural understanding — its independence provides the chance for expansion. With a background in film and television, Blank was invited to chair the film selection committee. After years of expanding ambitions for the festival, the AJC selected Blank to diversify the films and to grow the festival’s profile as its first executive director. Blank made the AJFF an organization for artistic display, not just social activism. He expanded the repertoire to include more abstract and foreign films and a variety of perspectives. The festival became attractive to the broader arts and cultural community, even receiving a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2006. The festival is a creative and artistic outlet for Jews to experience their Judaism beyond what synagogues offer. It’s one thing for Jews to experience being Jewish around other Jews. The 17 JULY 3 ▪ 2015
On the Jewish Cutting Edge
25 leaders offer 25 examples of nonprofit innovation
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INNOVATORS YOUTH AJFF’s films show Jewish life from other cultural perspectives to audiences of Jews and non-Jews, fostering multicultural understanding. Under Blank, the AJFF has become the largest Jewish film festival in the world, with more than 38,600 attendees this year. It is a far-reaching force of Jewish culture, education and advocacy. “I saw an opportunity to attract a much larger audience around a whole variety of topics,” Blank said, “not just the Jewish community, but the larger community. That was really part of the core mission of the festival from the inception.”
Alexis Dalmat Cohen President and executive director, Culture Connect Culture Connect helps newcomers to the United States bridge gaps of language and culture. In 1989, Cohen’s family housed a Russian family new to the United States. Modern organizations to help the immigrants acclimate weren’t available,
www.atlantajewishtimes.com so the Cohens taught the Russians English, helped them find jobs and more. Culture Connect offers interpretation and translation services for roughly 50 languages. With a focus on medical and school funding, the organization also offers legal and social interpretation. Culture Connect strives to help foreigners in uncomfortable or emergency situations. Cohen said that maintaining foreign and domestic identities is crucial to ensure a diverse and strong community. As part of a Russian Jewish family, she understands the sometimes uncomfortable duality of immigrants and their struggles with U.S. services. Cohen and her organization draw on Jewish empathy and understanding of being a stranger in a strange land to improve the lives of immigrants, thus improving the strength and quality of the community at large. “Culture Connect is an example of a 501(c)(3) that really acts as a social enterprise, meaning that we’re both market-driven and missiondriven,” Cohen said.
Garrett Colvin Founder, Fantasy Sports 4 Life This 17-year-old rising senior at
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South Forsyth High School leads a nonprofit that organizes fantasy sports contests online and donates the proceeds to the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Foundation. After losing his maternal grandmother to COPD, Colvin wanted to do something in her honor. Having played fantasy sports since age 9, he realized he could use his pastime to raise funds for COPD awareness and prevention. COPD refers to an array of conditions that cause decreased airflow, shortness of breath and chest tightness. It is most common in people over 40 who have been smokers, but it can result from air pollution or genetics. Colvin said Fantasy Sports 4 Life is the first fantasy sports platform dedicated to one charitable cause. Money is raised from entry fees to seasonal fantasy sports contests; winners get prizes donated by corporate sponsors. Colvin works closely with the national COPD Foundation in funding research and awareness. Fantasy sports games, in which people compete with virtual teams of real athletes, have become a multibillion-dollar industry. “Fantasy Sports 4 Life uses fantasy sports as innovative philanthropy in raising funds and awareness for a disease,” the 17-year-old said. “This summer we’re planning to scale it big across the country — open it up to everybody.”
Russell Gottschalk Founder and director, Atlanta Jewish Music Festival After years of working with the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Gottschalk wanted to create a similar outlet for Jewish music and artists, so he started the AJMF in 2009. Gottschalk values productivity, and the AJMF creates or co-creates 40 to 50 events a year, providing ongoing opportunities for aspiring local and international Jewish artists. The AJMF is unusual in serving businesses and consumers, often organizing live performances for schools such as Davis Academy. The AJMF also produces dynamic learning programs. The spring festival in March, for example, included an interfaith dialogue featuring multicul-
tural Israeli band Diwan Saz at Emory University’s Center for Ethics. Gottschalk has introduced a vibrant source of Jewish culture to the Jewish community in Atlanta and beyond. “I think the Jewish nonprofit sector is very strong in Atlanta,” Gottschalk said. “If there is an area for improvement, it’s one where more individual nonprofits and groups can get together, collaborate and grow in one place.”
Bobby Harris Director, Camp Coleman; program manager, J-Jolt The 23-year director of Camp Coleman, Harris now has launched J-Jolt, a mentorship program within the Union for Reform Judaism. J-Jolt is designed for b’nai mitzvah students. They work with mentors in the community to develop intergenerational relationships and to better understand themselves and their goals. Before Camp Coleman, Harris was the director at a JCC camp in Philadelphia and at Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake in New York. He observed the influence of camp counselors on youths and realized how effective mentorship could be in guiding and inspiring kids. With J-Jolt, Harris uses this understanding to create meaningful connections between youths and adults to keep teens involved in the community beyond b’nai mitzvah celebrations. J-Jolt guides a family in choosing mentors with leadership styles that suit the youth. The program complements the individuality of each kid. J-Jolt also designs personal ceremonies in which the youths reflect on what they’ve learned and where they might be headed. It’s a cliché that teachers often learn as much from their students as their students learn from them, but Harris said that is what happens for JJolt mentors. They are forced to explicate their experiences and the insights they have gained, creating better understanding of themselves. In J-Jolt and Camp Coleman, Harris creates mutually beneficial relationships between youths and their communities. “These are lessons that you get because somebody talked to you about those lessons,” he said. “The innovation is to capitalize on this knowledge. That’s what kids really need.”
Michelle Krebs Levy Founder and CEO, The Sixth Point As a young professional, Levy struggled to find a place in the Atlanta Jewish community and found that many friends felt the same way. With encouragement from friends and family, Levy created The Sixth Point to connect Jewish young professionals. The Sixth Point had its first event in July 2013. Word spread, and the organization has grown steadily. Levy strives to transcend traditional meet-and-greets by creating engaging and fun events. The organization’s success can be attributed to its sincerity: It was conceived to create meaningful experiences for Jews in their 20s, 30s and 40s and serves only that purpose through monthly events. Most recently, young Jewish adults spent the afternoon June 28 floating along the Chattahoochee on tubes. In addition to her work with The Sixth Point, Levy has served as program director at Camp Barney Medintz, marketing and events manager at Camp Twin Lakes, and program director at the University of North Carolina’s Hillel. She also was recognized at BBYO’s International Convention in February for her work as a BBG chapter adviser. With her understanding of young adults, Levy leads an organization that makes Judaism a more engaging source of Jewish guidance and friendship. “We’re not trying to groom future board members,” Levy said. “We’re not soliciting donations. We’re not having these events as a means to an end. We are getting people together to have meaningful Jewish experiences.”
Rabbi Levi Mentz Director, J-Crafts Georgia J-Crafts is a workshop program that brings Jewish culture and tradition to life for children. Students engage in hands-on projects of creation and culture, such as matzah baking, shofar building and kosher pickle making. The physical experience builds on concepts taught in many Jewish schools but also helps unaffiliated children understand their history and customs with events in such public venues as Home Depot.
Rabbi Mentz started J-Crafts Georgia in August 2014 when he arrived from Los Angeles. In its first year, the program had 4,000 participants, and its programming has been adopted by more than 25 institutions. J-Crafts programming already is heavily booked for next school year. Rabbi Mentz is a teacher at Chaya Mushka Children’s House, a preschool and day school affiliated with Chabad, as well as the events coordinator at Chabad of Georgia. His involvement in various youth programs shows his commitment to innovative, experiential Jewish education. J-Crafts’ success is a testament to his pragmatism and commitment to the community. “We are the first organization that is being brought to Reform, Conservative, Orthodox synagogues,” Rabbi Mentz said. “Everyone is excited about the product.”
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Jim Mittenthal Director, Camp Barney Medintz Camp Barney has a reputation in Jewish Atlanta as a place where kids feel at home and can be with friends they don’t normally see. After 23 years in charge of the Marcus JCC summer camp, Mittenthal prides himself on his accessibility, and he works with parents to make Camp Barney the best experience possible. Mittenthal keeps that experience at a peak level with an unusual approach to camp upgrades. Each year, with input from the community, Mittenthal catalyzes a new project or renovation under the principle that there is always room for improvement. In his time at Camp Barney, Mittenthal has watched campers become counselors, then adults, then parents who send their kids to Camp Barney. Last year Camp Barney completed the Howard and Lynne Halpern Aquatic Center, the camp’s second swimming pool, complete with water slides and waterfalls. Mittenthal also invested in a new septic system, crucial for a summer camp that relies on large bodies of water. Annual improvements to the camp’s cultural and performing arts complex are common, including additions to the Asher and Grace Benator Center for performing arts and the Israeli Cultural Center. Mittenthal has strengthened the connection between Camp Barney and Jewish Atlanta by working closely with families to meet their needs. “I think we have an opportunity to
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INNOVATORS
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INNOVATORS create this really welcoming, pluralistic, culturally Jewish experience,” Mittenthal said, “and we do so through a long list of artists and musicians and Jewish educators who come up and enhance our program in a really fun and experiential way.”
Rabbi Chaim Neiditch Director, Atlanta’s Jewish Student Union Rabbi Neiditch runs the Jewish Student Union in Atlanta, which creates a positive impression of Judaism for teens in non-Jewish high schools who may have lost touch with their Jewish roots. JSU, which operates independently in the Atlanta area, can be found in dozens of public and private schools. Rabbi Neiditch said the value of JSU lies in its accessibility. The free program comes to the students at school. With 2,500 kids in JSU, the program boasts participation of 25 percent of Atlanta’s Jewish high-schoolers. Rabbi Neiditch pitched JSU to Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, then-Spanx CEO Laurie Ann Goldman, and Definition 6 founder and CEO Michael Kogon at Federation’s “Shark Tank” event in summer 2013. The three sharks chose JSU over six other nonprofit pitches, earning Rabbi Neiditch’s program a grant. JSU is a program of experiential learning; kids learn by participating in a process. In addition to programs such as challah making and sukkah building, Rabbi Neiditch takes students on camping, skiing and beach trips. Through JSU, Rabbi Neiditch has created a resource for teens outside day schools, resulting in a more confident and comfortable Jewish presence in secular schools and a more connected Jewish community. “We’re hitting this huge need that’s there and isn’t being filled,” Rabbi Neiditch said. “Kids just want programming. We have no other goal. We aren’t a feeder for something else. This is what we’re doing.”
Noah Pawliger
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
Founder and co-director, Camp Living Wonders
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Camp Living Wonders is a summer program in the Blue Ridge Mountains for Jewish youths with developmental dis-
orders. As program director at Camp Barney Medintz, Pawliger had tested his experiences as a teenager working with special needs children. Complementing his background in recreational management is his wife Chanie’s background in special education and literacy. The camp is designed to increase the social skills of the kids, who may have struggled to integrate into other communities. The camp also offers a staff-in-training program for Jewish teenagers, allowing them to work with older teens with special needs. The program prepares the teens for future camp counselor positions or work with children. Living Wonders also offers a vocational work program for adults with special needs, who live and work alongside the rest of the camp’s staff. The programming combines therapeutic experiences with practical lessons. His nature and farming program, for example, combines real-world lessons in farming and sustainability with the comforting tastes, textures, smells, sights and sounds of a garden. While Living Wonders cannot admit every would-be camper, the Pawligers do their best to provide funding for families with financial needs. The camp is based on the idea that every child should be accepted and reinforced by the community. When Pawliger worked with special needs youths as a teenager, he noticed a lack of inclusive and reinforcing programs. In four years, the camp has grown from seven campers to almost 50. “We look at their achievements and their struggles,” Pawliger said. “We look at micro-wins and celebrate them on a macro level, and I think because of that, every kid returns home with a tremendous amount of confidence and a desire to share their experiences and replicate what they learned with other people.”
Eileen Snow Price Founder and executive director, In the City Camp Price’s model for running her Jewish summer day camp allows each camper to choose two of the three activity periods on a daily basis, and they have many options. Price borrows Druid Hills High School and parts of the Emory University campus for In the City Camp, giving campers access to an Olympic-size
pool, baseball and soccer fields, and a large indoor gym. Price selects her staff members in accordance with their experience and expertise in their fields. For example, the camp’s yoga instructor teaches yoga professionally. With experience as a JCC camper and a counselor at Camp Barney Medintz, Price knows what kind of counselors she needs and selects each one personally. She also trains the staff herself. She has experience as a Marcus Foundation program manager and a Federation endowment adviser. When she started In the City Camp, it served 65 campers. Now in its third year, the camp serves 150 campers each week between the Kid Camp for ages 5 to 10 and the Tween Camp for ages 11 to 14. Kid campers embark on one offcampus trip each week to educational sites. Tween campers can choose their destination and have an overnight experience each week. Price’s passion and commitment guide her attention to detail, which pays off for campers and staff. “Success for us is a kid who creates a stronger Jewish identity, who creates a relationship with the state of Israel, who learns something new and has fun, and who is also able to form a lot of new friendships and relationships,” Price said.
Ian Ratner President, Atlanta Jewish Academy Before the Atlanta Jewish Academy was born last year, there were Yeshiva Atlanta High and Greenfield Hebrew Academy. Before he became the AJA board president, Ratner served as president of the joint GHA-Yeshiva board that planned and executed the merger into AJA. As a past president of GHA, Ratner had struggled to align the strictly halachic principles of Yeshiva with the more community-oriented GHA. He created a committee to assess the feasibility of merging the schools and concluded that the time was not right. Years later, another committee reviewed the idea, and a joint board voted in favor of a merger. Soon after, Ratner was asked to be the board’s president. AJA in June sold the former Yeshiva property in Doraville to the Tapestry School. AJA will lease space there in 2015-16 for the high school. AJA also recently received zoning approval from
Sandy Springs for additions to the former GHA site on Northland Drive to make it the school’s sole campus. Ratner wanted to create a K-12 Jewish day school because of the many benefits. AJA provides students years to become acclimated to the school and affords mobility to faculty members who consider switching disciplines. The K-12 model has been shown to garner more financial support and community involvement than traditional elementary, middle and high schools. By leading the creation of Atlanta’s first Jewish K-12 day school, Ratner has made a significant contribution to education and the future of the Jewish community. “If you can get kids in an environment where they’re excited about their Judaism, they’re more likely to stay in it,” Ratner said.
Rabbi Steven Rau Director of lifelong learning, The Temple Every other summer, The Temple sends rising 11thand 12th-graders to Israel on one of four trips the Reform congregation offers teens. Rabbi Rau is behind the Teen Israel Experience and leads the teens from Eilat in the south to the Golan Heights in the north. He also runs trips for adults and families. This summer alone, Rabbi Rau took roughly 200 people to Israel. Rabbi Rau had organized a teen Israel program when he worked for a congregation in Jacksonville, Fla. When he arrived at The Temple in 2002, he wanted to do a similar trip with teens in the religious school. When they reach confirmation after 10th grade, they are eligible for the trip. The journey typically includes 28 teens and four staff members and starts in the City of David in modernday Jerusalem. From there, the teens visit sites chronologically with a view toward history. Trip highlights include kayaking in the Jordan River, climbing Masada and exploring kibbutzim. Rabbi Rau said the trip aims to create lifelong supporters of Israel, lifelong Jews and parents of Jewish children. Eligibility for Birthright trips begins at age 18, but Rabbi Rau thinks that is too late. He offers his trip in part to show Israel to youths before they reach college, where many will face vocal anti-Israel sentiment. “When I became a rabbi and real-
INNOVATORS
Yaniv Rivlin Program officer, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation The Tulsa-based Schusterman Foundation tries to engage Jewish young adults in authentic, personalized ways through grants and programming. Working from the foundation’s Atlantic Station office, Rivlin manages trips to Israel all year as part of the REALITY initiative, which brings international activists, community leaders and students together in Israel to connect with one another and share ideas. The foundation is highly selective in the applications for Israel trips. Applicants must display a history of supporting their communities with their talents or abilities; leadership experience also is important. The foundation heavily subsidizes the trips to make them affordable. Most trips are limited to 40 participants, although Rivlin with little assistance led a trip of 80 attendees last year. The REALITY program offers five trips: Eden to Zion, REALITY Pro, REALITY Leadership, REALITY Global and REALITY Tech. Rivlin is passionate about allowing the land of Israel to connect to people naturally and to enrich everchanging identities. The unique aspects of Israeli life are enriching to anyone, Rivlin said. His REALITY trips foster strong connections between diaspora Jews and Israel and develop each individual personally and professionally. “REALITY takes exceptional individuals from different spheres on a journey in Israel to expose them to Israel but also to go through a valuebased leadership journey with peers,” Rivlin said. “I think there’s no better place to go through that journey than Israel because of all its history, religion, complexity, proximity, people. It’s the best way to explore who you are and your connection to Jewish values.”
Ana Robbins Founder and executive director, Jewish Kids Groups Jewish Kids Groups,
an independent Hebrew school and after-school program, has grown in three years to serve 200 children in Atlanta. Robbins’ organization targets kids who are not synagogue members or live in interfaith families. Without synagogue affiliation, many families struggle to find an adequate Jewish education for their children, and the Jewish community often loses those children. JKG fills that need. Robbins strives to offer experiential, camplike learning that fosters a personal connection between students and the subject matter they are learning. JKG is a hybrid of day school programming, Hebrew school, and hands-on, physical experiences. JKG also provides leadership experience to the Jewish teens and young adults who serve as counselors and assistant teachers. Like JSU and AJMF, JKG was one of the nonprofits pitched to the philanthropist sharks at Federation’s “Shark Tank” event in 2013. By creating a program that fuses a day school model with an after-school program, Robbins has provided a valuable resource to unaffiliated and interfaith Jewish families and thus Jewish Atlanta. “We have really specific learning outcomes,” Robbins said. “We’re very much focused on building Jewish social networks and celebrating holidays together.”
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Jeremy Sarnat Chair of environmental sustainability and building operations, Young Israel of Toco Hills When Young Israel built its new home on LaVista Road, it followed e nv i r o n m e n t a l ly friendly principles, largely through the drive of Sarnat, an Emory professor who fills what may be a unique synagogue board position created for him. Sarnat worked with EarthCraft, a program that educates and assists in green building. The results included highly efficient HVAC, power and water systems. He said synagogues can apply green building techniques without excessive additional expenses. Upon completion last year, the building received a gold-level certification from EarthCraft, showing a deep commitment to energy efficiency, air quality and durability. Young Israel is the first Orthodox synagogue in the world to be built
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ized kids were missing this opportunity,” Rabbi Rau said, “that’s when I said, ‘This is what we need for our future, for our kids.’ ”
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INNOVATORS green from the ground up. That certification establishes Young Israel as a synagogue that balances Orthodox halachic observance with a respect for modern technology and progressive social values. Sarnat said the building was designed to mirror the shul’s values, including environmental stewardship and the judicious use of natural resources. Largely because of Sarnat’s efforts, Young Israel received the Congregation of the Year Award at Georgia Interfaith Power & Light’s ninth annual Gippy Awards on March 19 for leading the way toward green building and environmental awareness. “It’s navigating that balance between tradition and halacha and modernity, which I think is really the hallmark of what Modern Orthodoxy is about,” Sarnat said. “This effort is emblematic of that balance.”
Varda Cheskis Sauer Adviser, North Springs Jewish Culture Club Sauer introduced the Jewish Culture Club to North Springs Charter High School nine years ago. The club meets every two to three weeks. Sauer said she often is approached by speakers around town who would like to address her students, but few make the cut. Sauer is selective about the speakers and their topics. The consistently high participation in the club shows that her selectivity doesn’t limit student interest. Instead, she ensures that her speakers engage the students. Sauer works with the club’s student president and four executive officers to select speakers and gain suggestions for possible improvements.
The
The meetings themselves are generally student-run: The president checks attendance and introduces the speaker, while the officers serve and clean up food. With attendance around 150 students per meeting, cleanup is a burden, but the discipline and accountability of the officers enable Sauer to borrow other teachers’ rooms for meetings. Sauer, who also teaches two internship classes, has become a reason for Jewish parents to send their kids to the charter high school in Sandy Springs. Recognizing her value, the school’s administration has granted Sauer the use of the school’s media center for meetings in the coming school year. Whether working with organizations to set up student internships, organizing philanthropic efforts, or being the point person for Jewish parents at North Springs, Sauer creates a hugely influential Jewish presence at her public school and remains committed to the group despite extra hours without extra pay. “The Jewish Culture Club is a huge draw for Jewish kids to come to North Springs,” Sauer said. “Their parents still want Jewish continuity, and I am absolutely providing it.”
David Schoenberg President, Second Helpings Atlanta Second Helpings, which acquires leftover food from restaurants and distributes it to charitable agencies that feed the hungry, started in 2004 as a social action project of Temple Sinai. The project relied heavily on the support of some 15 volunteers, including Schoenberg. As part of Temple Sinai, Second
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Helpings was often approached by agencies that requested its services. The organization acquired more responsibilities and gradually demanded a volunteer base larger than Temple Sinai could provide. Second Helpings became an independent nonprofit in 2013 under Schoenberg’s leadership. Second Helpings has enlisted over 350 volunteers in its volunteer army. Schoenberg said Second Helpings has three main sources of operation: volunteers, donors and agencies. A volunteer coordinator identifies potential volunteers. A donor volunteer identifies places with excess food that might be willing to donate. Grocery stores are the main donors, but restaurants, farmers markets and schools also contribute. An agency coordinator seeks Atlanta agencies to assist in distributing the food. Second Helpings works with 17 agencies, including the Atlanta Community Food Bank. In May, Schoenberg hired Second Helpings’ first executive director, Joe Labriola, to lead the communitywide growth of operations. Schoenberg has given time and effort since Second Helpings’ inception to address the dual problems of food going to waste and people going hungry. With his help, Second Helpings carried 745,000 pounds of food in 2014 and 4.2 million pounds since 2004. It continues to grow in scope and prominence. “We feel like we’re ready to go help rescue food that’s being thrown away today in East Atlanta or the West End or in Clayton County,” Schoenberg said.
Dena Schusterman Founding director, Intown Jewish Preschool Intown Jewish Preschool offers a creative and progressive Jewish environment for children. IJP has a specialized curriculum, including programs that advance language skills, motor skills, social skills, math, science and creative expression, in addition to Judaics. IJP treats each student as a seed that requires extended attention and nurturing to develop properly, in accordance with Jewish teachings. The school just completed its seventh year. Each year, a new student body appears with unique strengths
and weaknesses. IJP staff members adapt the programming to the children. Schusterman and her staff pride themselves on their ability to learn about their students quickly and adjust accordingly. IJP does not keep children in a room and lecture to them. The staff listens to the children to gather the best way to help them develop. Through IJP, Schusterman has adopted a progressive teaching style and applied it to a substantial part of the Jewish community, connecting Jewish families who otherwise might never have met. The result is a stronger, more future-oriented Jewish community. “The child needs to learn a certain set of skills, like cutting, pasting, matching, math, science, language,” Schusterman said. “They will learn it that much better if they’re interested in the topic through which it is taught.”
Jenna Shulman Executive director, Jewish Educational Loan Fund JELF provides interest-free loans to Jewish college students in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Since 1961, JELF has granted over $9 million to 3,700 students, with a 99 percent repayment rate. The money that comes back in then goes out as new loans. In her relatively short time as executive director, Shulman has introduced a new marketing campaign, JELFie, using images and quotes from loan recipients to display JELF’s accomplishments. Shulman also has devised tools to increase student applications and to make JELF more accessible to donors. She redesigned JELF’s annual report to make the mission of the organization clearer, and she developed the JELF journey map to help loan recipients understand their future and payback options. Shulman has brought many new board members to JELF, in addition to many new volunteers and donors, in an effort to ensure educational opportunities for the Jewish community in a period of soaring higher-education expenses. “JELF is a recycling program,” Shulman said. “Your money is helping one student today, but many, many, many students over time, and I think that’s pretty innovative.”
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INNOVATORS Co-founder and executive director, SOJOURN SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity promotes the understanding and acceptance of people in the Southeast across the entire spectrum of gender and sexual orientations through education, outreach, and advocacy, inspired by Jewish and universal ethics and ideals. Stapel-Wax became the director of the Rainbow Project of Jewish Family & Career Services in 2004. The Rainbow Project later separated from JF&CS to become SOJOURN, with the same mission and expanded efforts. Through partnerships, the organization has expanded beyond the Atlanta area to neighboring states. The outreach efforts include film programs, and a program that assesses an organization’s inclusiveness and openness is being applied to the entire Birmingham Jewish community over 10 months this year. SOJOURN led the protests this spring when Jewish National Fund planned to honor First Baptist Atlanta Senior Pastor Charles Stanley, then Stapel-Wax was at the forefront of efforts to reconcile both sides. Stapel-Wax has also coordinated the Jewish contingent in the Atlanta Pride Parade, which last year included 200 Jews, 15 rabbis and 36 Jewish organizations. SOJOURN serves as one of the parade’s 12 grand marshals. Stapel-Wax works with many more Jewish organizations, regardless of denomination. Georgia Equality, a secular LGBT advocacy group, honored SOJOURN on June 20 for uniting the Jewish community in LGBT support. “This was a momentous year for the Jewish community and their activism,” Stapel-Wax said. “There are so many strengths in our community.”
Rachel Wasserman Executive director, Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta Wa s s e r m a n joined Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta as the part-time director in 2012, a few months after the organization launched. Now JWFA has more than 85 women as trustees, with the collec-
tive power to allocate the funds raised, and Wasserman has been named the full-time executive director, effective July 1. JWFA is the only organization in Atlanta that focuses solely on social change for Jewish women and girls. The organization of and for women gave $100,000 to 15 programs in Atlanta and Israel in its grant cycle this spring. To Wasserman, the difference between social service and social change is crucial. She understands social service as damage control — an attempt to diminish the effects of social problems. Social change entails solving those social problems. “I think that the Federation and the Women’s Fund and other organizations are looking at the data and speaking to the necessary stakeholders,” Wasserman said, “so that we are serving what is actually there and not just our perceptions of what may or may not be happening.”
to homeless teens, such as playing Whirlyball and laser tag at Jimmy’s Mad Mad Whirled in Marietta. Teen volunteers at CCC also run spring and fall festivals for homeless youths. Both feature outdoor field games, bounce houses and a DJ. In throwing a holiday party for homeless children as a 13-year-old and in creating her own nonprofit to host the party and expand into other programs, Zeide has provided practical leadership experience to hundreds of
Amy Sacks Zeide Founder, president and executive director, Creating Connected Communities Zeide created Amy’s Holiday Party as a bat mitzvah project in 1995. The party’s mission was to provide Christmas gifts to poor children. The party now serves over 800 children a year from 40 homeless shelters across Atlanta and engages more than 350 teen volunteers. Amy’s Holiday Party is the culmination of a year of community service and leadership building provided by Creating Connected Communities, the nonprofit Zeide started to host her party. CCC also offers a leadership training program to Jewish eighth- and 12thgraders to teach the teens how to operate a nonprofit by soliciting donations, planning logistics and advocating for a cause. The training helps the youths build their own careers in the nonprofit sphere. The Jewish teens also are educated about the homeless population in Atlanta and how to assess needs in the community. Teen volunteers are largely responsible for planning the yearly programming of CCC. One of the programs is designed for homeless teens. CCC works with shelters to provide fun opportunities
Jewish teens, many of whom receive scholarships for their work. She has done much for Atlanta’s homeless community as well as its Jewish community. “The way to empower someone to get involved and be passionate is to show them,” Zeide said. “So we take them through the full cycle. We go through the planning, fundraising, the implementation, and they get to see the entire process of giving and outreach with our organization.” ■
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JULY 3 ▪ 2015
Rebecca Stapel-Wax
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INNOVATORS
Cohen Puts Connection Above Innovation By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com Few people in Atlanta have a better view of creative thinking in the global Jewish community than Seth Cohen, who four years ago made the transition from what he calls semipro status to Jewish communal professional. After years as a Federation board member and time as president of Jewish Family & Career Services, Cohen now travels the world as the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s director of network initiatives. His job is to find and support young Jewish adults who are leaders and to help them form communities to strengthen the Jewish future. “There’s cleverness and innovation and creativity everywhere,” he said. “It’s about whether you can get it done.” A self-described “radical optimist,” Cohen offered insight into the Atlanta Jewish Times’ quest to recognize innovators during an interview June 24 at his office at Atlantic Station.
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AJT: How do you make the connections to build the Jewish community? Cohen: A lot about what we’re thinking about in terms of engaging individuals is twofold. It’s finding Jewish leaders and leaders who are Jewish. That’s at the highest level at Schusterman. So once you start to look for leaders, I think the qualification that we’re most looking at is not do you have an idea, but it’s do you have the motivation, the competency and the capacity to make that idea happen.
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AJT: How big is the need in the Jewish world to find innovation? Cohen: I think we focus on the phrase innovation. I think the fetish for innovation belies a much greater need, which is connection. When we talk about innovation, we’re talking about creative ways to solve problems or creative ways to connect people, and the truth is we have problems, and we need to connect people. The way our foundation thinks about this is what is the problem you’re trying to solve, or what is the community you’re trying to create, and what are the best approaches you can use to do that. In some cases, the oldest approaches are actually the best, and in some cases you need novel approaches to do it, and I think that sometimes we focus too much on the new when actually we need to spend time reinterpreting the old. …
The greater discussion we should share everything. I think the generabe having as a Jewish community is not tion that’s learning how to share in the what are the innovative projects, but commercial economy is very well posihow we can make contemporary Jewish tioned to learn how to share in the colife truly engaging in innovative ways creation of solutions. to move audiences. It’s not AJT: Is there a generaprojects. We’re at a point tion gap in Jewish commuwhere Jewish life itself can nal leadership? be reinvented, grounded Cohen: Just like chalin tradition but radically lenging problems can’t inclusive in ways that we wait for solutions, I think don’t yet fully understand. that communities can’t That’s the conversation I wait for leaders. I think think we should be having a community recognizes about what’s innovative, leaders. It doesn’t make not necessarily projects leaders; it recognizes them. and people, but how is JewAnd I think that what is ish life itself being reimagimportant for that emergined for the next hundred Seth Cohen ing generation is to do years, for the next thouwhat it takes to be recogsand years. nized as leaders. It means doing someAJT: Should that reimagining take thing. What are you doing to change place within traditional institutions, or the community? It’s not a question of what you’re saying, and it’s not a quesdo we need an iconoclastic approach? Cohen: We should recognize that tion of where you’re going. I think it’s a we stand on the shoulders of giants. question of what you’re doing. I think So was Heschel a radical? Or was he an what great innovators do is they see a institutional movement rabbi? He was challenge, and they lead by respondprobably both. I think that when you ing. I think what great leaders can do is start to focus on individual empower- see a challenge and lead by innovating, ment, you can transcend institutional and the gap between those two is still limitations and silos. I don’t think significant, and it’s critical. there’s an inside the Jewish world or AJT: Are things on the right track? outside the Jewish world. I actually Cohen: I think that the Jewish think some of the best innovations are coming from outside the Jewish world world is facing perhaps some of its entirely, and we should be paying at- greatest confluence of challenges, certention to them because that’s where tainly in generations, which gives me the audience is that we want to engage, reason to be concerned. I think we also and the individuals that we want to en- have a level of knowledge, passion and gage also are paying attention to. So I commitment among young adults to don’t think any one group has owner- take on those challenges that gives me ship of innovation in the Jewish world, enormous reason to be optimistic. and I don’t think any one group is inAJT: So what needs to happen? herently incapable of innovation. Like Cohen: I think as a community we everything, the best innovations come through a spirit of co-creation and col- have to demonstrate humility. We have laboration where diverse stakeholders to recognize that just because it worked share diverse ideas and come to some before doesn’t mean it’s going to work again. So we need to be bold. We need blended solutions. to take risks. We need to understand AJT: Do you see that spirit of co- that some of the best models are not only not in our community, but are not creation in the Jewish community? Cohen: I think that the spirit of co- necessarily in the Jewish community. creation and collaboration is increas- I think we need to articulate expectaing as younger generations take re- tions and demand commitment. There sponsibility for leading organizations should be no recognition of success both as professionals and key volunteer without articulation of commitment leadership. People who have grown up or expectation of commitment. or are inherently predisposed to live in AJT: Are we too focused on rules? a collaborative economy and the colCohen: We live in an era where we laborative society are going to be well positioned to collaborate. I mean, we spend a lot of time talking about rules, share rides. We share apartments. We to the detriment of spending time
about tools, and for sure we should be spending more time about tools. What are the tools of inclusivity? What are the tools of engagement? What are the tools of Jewish literacy? What are the tools of collective empowerment? What are the tools of communication that allow us to engage with one another around substance? I think we need to spend a lot more time on that and less time about what the rules are or even who makes them. … We don’t live in a moment where we can afford for people to wait for permission to ignite change in our community. They need to go and ignite it, and if they cross a line, if they create a challenge and need to ask for forgiveness, so be it. AJT: Do we too often see Jewish professionals as bureaucrats? Cohen: Yeah, we think of Jewish life as a service industry, and it’s not. It’s a creative industry. Jewish life is not a service enterprise; it’s a creative enterprise. And different individuals have different roles in co-creating what it means to be Jewish. We each have our roles, and they’re equally valid and they’re equally valuable. There is one thing where we could be much more creative. I think when it comes to Israel, which is one of the most innovative ideas in mankind, we need to continue to sustain our idea of understanding how Israel changes and grows — how we engage with it changes and grows. It is the most innovative and creative idea in constant need of innovation and creation. AJT: Israel requires innovation and creativity from us or from Israelis? Cohen: From both. Just like everything else I’ve been talking about with you in terms of collaboration, I think that we’re at a moment in time that demands a much greater sense of common cause between Israel and Jewish diaspora, not only for the sake of strengthening Israel, but for strengthening the Jewish future. AJT: Should we have listed creativity in nonprofits instead of innovation? Cohen: I think it’s important to talk about innovation, but I would have preferred to see not so much a list of innovation or creativity, but here’s a list of the top 25 collaborators in the Jewish community or collaborative initiatives. Because at the end of the day, I think it’s ultimately collaboration and execution that’s going to change the Jewish world, not innovation. ■
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SIMCHAS
Journey to Judaism
Richard Quintana follows love, the JCC and a Jewish soul
A
fter a 6½-year learning experience, Richard Quintana, 53, of East Cobb recently completed his Jewish conversion at a ceremony at his synagogue, Temple Beth Tikvah. Quintana, a maintenance technician for the Marcus Jewish Community Center, was born Catholic and became agnostic. He always considered himself a spiritual person, however, and decided he wanted to connect with G-d by joining a religious community. As a Hispanic from Texas, he could have easily reconnected with his Catholic roots, but the people who affected him in his life were Jewish. Quintana’s girlfriend, Bernice, now his wife, is Jewish and works at Congregation Etz Chaim, and she was a big contributor to his interest in Judaism and his eventual conversion. A few weeks ago, the couple attended their 35th high school reunion in San Antonio and held a surprise wedding in front of all their friends. The newlyweds got together many years after they graduated high school, and Quintana moved to Atlanta to be with Bernice in 2011. At the Marcus JCC, Quintana graduated this spring from a two-year program with the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, the largest pluralistic adult Jewish education network in the world. He learned a wide
Wedding Isaac-Quintana Bernice Isaac and Richard J. Quintana were married June 13, 2015, in San Antonio. Bernice and Richard have known each other since their days in middle and high school and reconnected a few years before their 30th high school reunion. They recently attended their 35th reunion, where they tied the knot in a surprise ceremony in front of all of their classmates. Bernice is the administrator at Congregation Etz Chaim. Richard works in facility maintenance at the Marcus Jewish Community Center and Temple Kol Emeth.
engagement. Quintana thanked them as well as Miriam Rosenbaum, a professional Jewish educator at the Marcus JCC, and Rabbi Fred Greene, who was the rabbi at Temple Beth Tikvah, for all they did to guide him to a Jewish life. Buxbaum spoke highly of Quintana. “I was convinced of Richard’s sincerity and commitment to becoming Jewish from our first telephone conversation,” she said. “I was particularly impressed by his Two important markers along Richard Quintana’s journey are his certificate of conversion from Temple Beth Tikvah and his certificate of Jewish learning from the Melton School. sincerity and commitment to living a Jewish life. It has been both array of Jewish traditions, and he at- Quintana loves is the welcoming coman honor and privilege to help tended a class called “Derech Torah” munity. “It’s great knowing that people guide him along his path to becoming aimed at those who wish to convert to are there for you for the good times part of the Jewish community.” Judaism, though it is open to everyone. and the bad, when you’re at your highRabbi Glusman said Quintana Some people convert to Judaism in est and when you’re at your lowest. I’ve took on a Jewish identity even before months or a couple of years. Quintana seen nothing but that since I came into he was a member of the faith. needed more time. the faith.” “He was a proud Jew before becom“I needed to be at a point where I Wearing a kippah all day is a Jew- ing Jewish. He wore his Jewish Magen felt I was comfortable,” he said, “where ish tradition that Quintana has fully David (Jewish star necklace) and his I really knew as much as I needed to to embraced. In keeping with his free yarmulke before he was Jewish,” Rabbi be part of this community.” spirit, he wears a different one every Glusman said. Quintana loves that Jews are en- day and owns more than 70 kippot. “He’s one of those people that had couraged to ask questions about their “I wear it to continually remind a Jewish soul, and in the classes and religion. He said that asking questions me of my covenant with G-d and my with the teachers, he found a way he is a part of Judaism’s never-ending humility before him,” Quintana said. could nurture that soul and find his learning process. Growing up Catholic, He had guidance through the con- way in Judaism. I was honored to be he was not allowed to question his re- version process from several mentors, able to serve as a guide and honored to ligion. including Shelley Buxbaum, the direc- be with him on his journey.” “Whatever was read to you, you tor of the Lisa F. Brill Institute for JewQuintana hopes for continued listened, you learned, and that was it,” ish Learning at the Marcus JCC, and growth with his Jewish identity and he said. Rabbi Brian Glusman, the Marcus JCC’s knowledge. “I don’t want to stop learnAnother facet of Judaism that director of membership, outreach and ing.” ■
100th Birthday Leah Janus
Leah Janus has reached her 100th birthday. Settling in Atlanta in 1942, she and husband Sidney, z”l, raised three children and lived a life of service to faith and community. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1985 at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, where she was active in the Sisterhood. With heartfelt joy and appreciation, she remembers her many co-workers and friends at the Brandeis University Women’s Committee, Zionist Organization of America, Hadassah and National Council of Jewish Women, for which she was entrusted with leadership. With gratitude for the privilege of citizenship, she also recalls exhilarating years of stewardship at the League of Women Voters.
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By April Basler abasler@atljewishtimes.com
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ARTS
The Art of the Spy Novel
Silva’s unexpected mission: Keep Gabriel Allon alive By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com
D
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aniel Silva, the author of bestselling tales of international intrigue, led a double life in the mid-1990s. By day, he was executive producer of Cable News Network’s Washingtonbased talk shows, including “Crossfire,” “Capitol Gang” and “Reliable Sources.” But well before dawn, as early as 4:30 a.m., Silva would rise and enter a world of his own creation. His mission required secrecy. Silva left his colleagues in the dark. Only his wife knew. Two decades later, Silva is the early bird who got his worm — and then some. In 1997, in his mid-30s, Silva’s first book, “The Unlikely Spy,” earned him a publishing contract sufficient to quit his day job. “The Mark of the Assassin” and “The Killing Season” followed, and Silva’s reputation was made. In his fourth book, “The Kill Artist,” Silva introduced Gabriel Allon, an agent of Israel’s foreign intelligence service, referred to as the Office. Silva will discuss Allon’s 15th adventure, “The English Spy,” at the Marcus Jewish Community Center on July 8. The book went on sale June 30. Two quotes encompass the theme of his latest: “When it’s personal, it tends to get messy” and “Our mistakes always come back to haunt us, and eventually all debts come due.” Allon is a sabra, a native Israeli, the child of German survivors of the Holocaust; he is Jewish but not religious. His grandfather was a famous Expressionist painter, and his mother also painted. After completing his military service, Allon studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. That is where spymaster Ari Shamron recruited him for Operation Wrath of God, Israel’s retribution for the killing of 11 of its athletes at the Munich Olympics. Allon has known loss (his son killed and his wife debilitated by a terrorist bombing) and renewal. His greatest passions outside of his not-so-tender work are his second wife, Chiara, herself a former operative; the twin children she is soon to birth; and the restoration of valuable paintings (and, simultaneously, his soul). Silva had an interest in art and the good fortune to form a friendship with one of the greats in the field of art 26 restoration, who helped him create a
AJT
character who is creator and destroyer. in 1987, he met his wife, Jamie Gangel, For those keeping track, Allon whose career includes more than 31 would be in his mid-60s, perhaps a years at NBC News, mostly as national touch old to be the father of newborn correspondent for the “Today” program. They are the parents of twins, a twins or chief of the Office. Speaking from an undisclosed son and a daughter (a coincidence, Sillocation, Silva told the Atlanta Jewish va suggests, to Allon’s second family), Times that he does not think of Allon now college students. Silva, who was in those terms. “When I’m writing, I raised Catholic, converted to Judaism. Silva said his characters are not, see him as slightly older than when he came on the page,” which fictitiously so to speak, his children, “but it is fair was after the 1972 Olympics and in real to say that I spend more time in their world than I do terms in 2000 with in the quote — publication of “The unquote — real Kill Artist.” world.” That means As for Allon’s allowing Allon’s future, Silva coyly voice to tell a story suggested, “It’s highwith minimal inly possible that he terference from might squeeze in one the author. When more operation bethe story takes fore he signs his conshape, “sometimes tract” and becomes it comes very, very chief of the Office. easily,” he said. Allon has Don’t kid proved durable, suryourself. You don’t viving 15 novels (and write the kind of numerous attempts books Silva writes on his life), but “I without hundreds never intended him of hours of reto be a series. He search. was to appear in one Photo by John Earle You don’t book and one book Daniel Silva says he intended for Gabriel write them withonly,” Silva said. Allon to be a one-book character because out traveling to “I never thought he didn’t think the reading public had far-flung outposts he was suited to be an appetite for a Mossad superspy. so that readers can a continuing character. No way can you have an Israeli see what the characters see. You also don’t write them withMossad officer, with all of the anti-Israel sentiment in the world and all of the out contacts who provide valuable inanti-Semitism in the world,” be the lead sights. Silva values his contacts within intelligence agencies. “I like to get their character in a series. Silva credits his publisher for talk- worldview. How they speak. How they ing him out of a decision that, in hind- think. What they think is important. sight, would have disappointed legions Their sense of humor,” he said, adding that there are some very funny people of fans. “I have been proven wrong.” He has allowed the Allon series to in that line of work. A Jewish audience will be interestprogress along a real-life timeline of world events. Readers of “The English ed in Silva’s perspective on Israel and Spy” will find hints of events from not the wider Jewish world, which natutoo many years ago and some currently rally plays a role in his books. Silva shared a couple of anecdotes on the global radar. Silva’s passion for foreign intrigue from a recent visit to Israel. In the square in Netanya, a coastal fits his background. “I became a journalist because I wanted to be a novel- city north of Tel Aviv, you can sit at a French cafe and watch French-speakist,” he said. Silva, who grew up in central Cali- ing children play. France led the counfornia, studied international affairs tries of origin for new immigrants to with an emphasis on Russia and the Israel last year “because it’s not safe to Soviet Union. He worked on the inter- be a Jew in France right now.” On another occasion, Silva and his national desk of United Press International and as UPI’s correspondent in wife were enjoying the view from the balcony of the King David Hotel in JeCairo and the Persian Gulf. While covering the Iran-Iraq war rusalem — one of the best in the city,
an interviewer offered. One of the best in the world, Silva replied. His wife noticed that a man at a nearby table was reading one of her husband’s books. She asked if he would like to meet the author. It turned out that the reader was French and had bought an apartment in Israel. He told Silva that he pretends not to be Jewish when in France, living “underground,” so to speak. This is part of the world Gabriel Allon will inherit as chief of the Office. “Israel is an island in a sea of absolute chaos in the Middle East,” an island with divisions between rich and poor, between religious and secular (and within the religious), between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi, Silva said. “I have noticed, anyone reading has noticed, an incredible deterioration in support for Israel in the world. Anti-Semitism is really, really on the rise right now,” said Silva, who serves on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council, the museum’s board of trustees. “It is interesting to write a character against that backdrop.” About relations between Israel and the United States, Silva said, “It is fair to say that Barack Obama and the team around him see the U.S.-Israel relationship differently than any other president who has come before.” As for Israel and the Palestinians, “I guess that it would really be wonderful if two states — one Jewish and one Arab — could live side by side in peace, with a very clean border,” Silva said. “A two-state solution in the current state of affairs is not realistic. It’s not going to happen. There has to be another way to unscramble that egg.” Even as Silva tours in support of “The English Spy,” he is working on the second chapter of Allon’s next adventure — but will say no more. When he has finished a book, “I like to dive into the next book right away,” Silva said. “Starting a new book helps restore the author.” ■ Who: Daniel Silva in conversation with CNN’s Nadia Bilchik What: “The English Spy” discussion and signing Where: Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 8 Tickets: $24 members, $29 nonmembers (includes a signed book); www. atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-8124002
ARTS
Archangel Past His Prime Est. 1989
G
abriel Allon is no James Bond. He doesn’t defeat the bad guys with a combination of charm, class and luck while bouncing between women’s beds with a vodka martini in hand. Gabriel Allon is no Jason Bourne. He has no genetically enhanced superpowers, and he has a painfully accurate memory. Gabriel Allon is an Israeli spy through and through, a man, like Liam Neeson’s character in the “Taken” films, with a particular set of skills enabling him to travel the world and do more than could be expected of anyone to help Israel and the Jewish people stay just ahead of those who would destroy us. Daniel Silva’s creation is a wonderful character because he is so human. He’s smart, but maybe not the smartest person in the room. He’s good-looking, but women don’t swoon at the sight of him. He’s in good shape, especially for an agent approaching his mid-60s, but he doesn’t defeat villains by being faster or stronger than they are. The only area where Allon’s physical prowess stretches believability is in his Wolverine-like ability to survive punishment, from beatings to bomb blasts. If you’ve entered the world of Allon, a world-class art restorer when he isn’t running clandestine operations, you know the pleasure of following his adventures through 14 novels involving Palestinian terrorists, Swiss bankers, Russian oligarchs and Syrian money launderers, among others. “The English Spy,” the 15th Allon novel, shows us a man in transition. Allon has never settled down or been happy as a spy since assassinating the men behind the slaughter of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Now, through fatherhood, age and a series of bargains made through the years, he’s heading home to Israel and an administrative role, perhaps for good. The Allon novels have a familiar rhythm to them: Allon is out of the game, usually working on a Renaissance art restoration, when something deadly pulls him back in, often in response to a threat to friends. The investigation reveals something bigger and darker, at which point Silva shows the depth of his research and intelligence contacts through exposition that advances the story and educates the reader about the history and current threat
The English Spy By Daniel Silva Harper, 496 pages, $27.99
of the story’s main villain. Allon brings in the full Israeli field team to execute an intricate, clever plan that goes awry. Allon and at least one other good guy escape death. The operation ends as a partial success, and a villain gets his just deserts in the denouement. Along the way, Allon’s mentor, Ari Shamron, makes at least one try through a shroud of foul-smelling Turkish cigarette smoke to persuade Allon to take the lead position in their agency, known as the Office. Formulaic? Sure. That’s the spy genre. The fun comes from the variety of nuanced, detailed, ripped-from-theheadlines plot lines Silva crafts to carry us through the guideposts, as well as the vivid characters he creates, none more alive than Allon. And yet, while “The English Spy” has so many familiar elements, it’s also different. With twins and the director’s desk at the Office in the immediate future, Allon faces a life without art restorations or field operations; he is repeatedly told that he’s doing things the Office chief just doesn’t do. Matching the tweaks in Allon’s life, Silva adjusts his approach even while taking his star to new territory, Northern Ireland. Silva provides less of his usual reader-educating exposition and almost none of his typical details about spycraft, and Allon spends much of the novel sharing the leading role or even playing second Beretta to Christopher Keller, a recurring character since “The English Assassin.” It surely is no accident that as Allon nears the end of his time in the field, he provides mentorship of Keller that parallels the guidance Shamron gave him for four decades. Keller is a bit too much Bond and too much Bourne to replace Allon in readers’ hearts, but if “The English Spy” marks a transition not only for Allon from field to office, but also for Silva from Allon to another, Keller is an appealing option. This isn’t farewell for Allon, but if you’ve ever enjoyed one of his adventures, you won’t want to miss this one, just in case. ■
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By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
AJT 27
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SPORTS
New Look for Hawks With New Owners By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com
I
t has been a little more than a month since the Atlanta Hawks wrapped up a franchise record 60-22 season with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. Memories of former owner Bruce Levenson’s racially charged email have faded, and a new ownership group, led by Jewish investor Tony Ressler and including seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill and Jewish entrepreneurs Sara Blakely and Jesse Itzler, has taken control. Since the Hawks’ season-ending playoff loss May 26 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the organization has moved to rebrand itself. On June 1, the Hawks unveiled a new logo and brand identity with the return of the classic “Pac-Man” logo and the words “Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club” around the outside. The team unveiled redesigned uniforms and a color scheme featuring neon green on
June 24, the same day the league approved the team’s sale to Ressler and his partners. To get feedback on proposed uniforms, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin reportedly had his 27-year-old son David and a group of his millennial friends over to his house to get their impressions on marketing proposals. “I wanted to get confirmation because I wasn’t the target,” the Jewish CEO said of the impromptu focus groups. “When I worked in television, I was much more of the target demographic, and I could relate to the product. With the Hawks, I’m a middleaged, white, Buckhead executive talking about African-Americans and millennials.” The Hawks have retained Koonin as CEO and have a handshake agreement with head coach Mike Budenholzer to add president of basketball operations to his titles. General Manager Danny Ferry, however, took a buyout June 22 after
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a 10-month leave of absence, the fallout from a racially charged incident in which Ferry read aloud an offensive scouting report of Miami Heat player Luol Deng during a conference call. The Hawks have not been as dramatic with their players heading into the free-agency period July 1. The team used its first-round pick, 15th overall, in the NBA draft June 25 on Kansas swingman Kelly Oubre and traded him to the Washington Wizards for the 19th pick and second-round picks in 2016 and 2019. At No. 19, the Hawks selected point guard Jerian Grant from Notre Dame and promptly sent him to the New York Knicks for third-year shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., a bench player. The Hawks, who have salary cap flexibility, reportedly are targeting bigname free-agent center LaMarcus Aldridge to complement All-Star forward Al Horford. The next change for the Hawks might come around the court. During his introductory press conference June 25, Ressler said 16-year-old Phillips Arena is in dire need of a remodel or complete rebuild. The Ressler group’s purchase included operating rights and debt for the arena. Despite complaints about the arena, Ressler seems ecstatic to be a part of the rebranded Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club. “Obviously, we are just so excited to be here,” he said. “We couldn’t be more excited to be in Atlanta. We couldn’t be more excited to be owners of this special Hawks franchise.” ■
Week 5 Results Gersher L’Torah def. Emanuel 11-22 Gesher L’Torah def. Young Israel 12-9 Dor Tamid 2 def. Etz Chaim 10-8 Ariel def. Etz Chaim 7-0 Young Israel def. Beth Shalom 22-3 Emanuel def. Beth Shalom 8-6 Beth Tikvah 1 def. Ariel 14-8 Beth Tikvah 1 def. Dor Tamid 2 16-8 Temple 2 def. Beth Tikvah 2 22-17 Or Hadash def. Bet Haverim 19-8 Beth Jacob def. Bet Haverim 17-5 Sinai 1 def. Beth Tefillah 7-0 B’nai Torah def. Or VeShalom 8-6 Dor Tamid 1 def. Chabad 7-5 Kol Emeth def. Sinai 2 6-5 Temple 1 def. Ahavath Achim 8-5
Week 5 Standings A Division
W
L
B’nai Torah
4
0
Sinai 1
4
1
Or VeShalom
3
2
Ahavath Achim
2
2
Temple 1
2
3
Dor Tamid 1
2
3
Beth Tefillah
1
2
Chabad
0
4
B Division
W
L
Ariel
5
1
Young Israel
5
1
Beth Tikvah 1
5
2
Emanuel
5
2
Etz Chaim
3
4
Gesher L’Torah
3
4
Dor Tamid 2
2
5
Beth Shalom
0
C Division
T 1
1 T
7 W
L
Beth Jacob
5
1
Sinai 2
3
2
Beth Tikvah 2
3
2
Or Hadash
3
2
Kol Emeth
3
3
Temple 2
2
3
Bet Haverim
0
5
T
OBITUARIES
Audrey Braverman 87, Cumming
Audrey Braverman, age 87, of Cumming died unexpectedly Saturday, June 27, 2015. She was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Herb Braverman, and her sister, Ruth Hodes. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Jill Braverman-Panza (Tony) of Clifton Park, N.Y., Joni Barocas (Victor) of Johns Creek, and Shari Braverman Kenny (Jeff) of Germantown, Md.; grandchildren Alex Panza, Karlee Kenny and Courtney Kenny; and loving nieces and nephews. Audrey was born in New York City. She was a graduate of Hunter High School and Hunter College, where she earned her degree in economics. Audrey and Herb owned and operated Rock Ridge Pharmacy in Glen Rock, N.J., and Urban Pharmacy in Franklin Lakes, N.J., for more than 35 years, and they shared a lifelong interest in finance and investment. The funeral services were held Wednesday, July 1, at Robert Schoem Menorah Chapel in Paramus, N.J., with Rabbi David Fine officiating. Interment followed at Cedar Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Heart Association and the ALS Association. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, Atlanta, and Robert Schoem Menorah Chapel, Paramus.
OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING
Irene Levine-Kronick Atlanta
Irene Levine-Kronick died Monday, June 15, 2015. A private family service was held at Arlington Memorial Park. A native of Detroit, Irene moved to Atlanta in 1954. She was an exceptional homemaker and was devoted to her family. She enjoyed music, flowers, crafts and playing mah-jongg with her friends every Wednesday for 40 years. Irene founded the Atlanta chapter of the City of Hope and was an active member and officer for 50 years. She was instrumental in raising $2 million for this charity and was proud of her accomplishment. She was a member of Ahavath Achim Synagogue for many years, was active with the Jewish War Veterans and was a lifetime member of Hadassah. Irene was blessed with the love of two wonderful husbands, Leon Levine and then Ken Kronick. Her survivors include her children, Rhonda, Barry and Marlene, and their spouses; eight grandchildren and their two spouses; and a stepsonin-law, Keith, as well as extended family in Detroit and Atlanta. The family wishes to thank the staff of The Carlton and the Cohen Home for their excellent care over the past three years. Donations in Irene’s memory should be made to her favorite charity at cityofhope.org.
Helen Reiber 93, Tampa, Fla.
Helen Reiber, age 93, of Tampa, Fla., died Tuesday, June 23, 2015. Mrs. Reiber was born in Poland and moved to Tampa in 1970 from Stewartville, Minn. Helen was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 43 years, Moses Reiber. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Sam and Lynn Reiber of Tampa and Jack and Marcia Reiber of Tampa; her daughter and son-in-law, RoseAnn and Steve Gerson of Atlanta; grandchildren (and their spouses) Andrew (Angie), Lesley (Seth), Joseph, Jennifer (Matt), Susanne (Matt) and Jason; and four great-grandchildren. Helen and her brother, the late Jonah Renschowicz, were Holocaust survivors. Her parents and five siblings perished during the Shoah. She participated in Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Project with “Foundation Testimony” and was a featured contributor to the Holocaust publication “Go Where Your Eyes Take You” by the Epstein School in Sandy Springs. Helen was a member of Congregation Rodeph Sholom and the congregation’s Sisterhood and was a lifetime member of Hadassah. Funeral services were held Friday, June 26, at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Tampa, with interment at Rodeph Sholom Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in her honor may be made to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., or to Congregation Rodeph Sholom. Condolences may be expressed online at www.segalfuneralhome.com.
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loving friends; and his family’s many pets. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Graveside services were held Sunday, June 28, at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs with Rabbi David Spinrad officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ty Davis Seldes Fund through the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation at www. umdf.org/donate. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
Robyn Shier 55, Atlanta
Robyn Shier, 55, of Atlanta passed away Friday, June 26, 2015. Born in Miami, Fla., she is survived by her parents, Jackie Kanfer and Sidney Shier; a sister, Lynn Hassett (Robert); a brother, Scott Shier; nieces Laura O’Dell (Ryan) and Elizabeth Hassett; nephew Joe Hassett; and stepfather Arthur Kanfer. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Graveside services were held Sunday, June 28, at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs with Rabbi Peter Berg officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-4514999.
Death Notices
David Ehrman, 54, of Atlanta, father of Alexis Ehrman, on June 22. Ronni Hodes-Wise of Cumming on June 5. David Kaplan of Marietta on June 26. Berton Karol of Atlanta on June 25. Robert Fisher Lichtenstul, 92, of Pittsburgh, father of Temple Sinai member Barbara Lippman, on May 29. Yury Podrazhansky of Atlanta on June 18. Joe Sanford Rich, 83, of Sandy Springs, husband of Winifred Rich, on June 23. Arthur Weiss of Roswell on June 22. Felix Zgurzhnitsky of Atlanta on June 15.
Ty Davis Seldes Ty Davis Seldes, age 12, died peacefully Thursday, June 25, 2015, in the comfort of his home in Atlanta, surrounded by his parents and his big brother. He lived his final days loved by family and friends. In Ty’s short yet meaningful life, he inspired everyone near him with his gentle smile, and although he never spoke a word, his voice and thoughts could always be heard. He was born Nov. 5, 2002, in Atlanta. A truly sweet, loving and exuberant boy, Ty delighted in watching cartoons, listening to music, drawing on his doodle pad, and spending time with his big brother, Max. He is survived by his parents, Sheri and Darin Seldes; his brother, Max; his grandmothers, Madolin Seldes and Marilyn Davis; his aunts, uncles and cousins;
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
12, Atlanta
AJT 29
CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING
Why I Don’t Read Palms Anymore
M
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
y husband, Zvi, and I were at a big party for Bella, our friend Mike’s sister, who had come to Jerusalem to meet potential mates. After a broken engagement, she intended to mend her heart in the Holy Land. I was disappointed to note two strong qualities as she worked the room: her sarcasm and her chainsmoking. She disregarded the females at the party, who were there to help her. To top it all off, Bella had not purchased any of the American products she’d agreed to bring (and for which Mike had collected our hard-earned money). Bella was a big disappointment. I wasn’t going to introduce this woman to marriageable men, and Zvi (whom Bella had shunned when she discovered his marital status) didn’t plan to be a matchmaker, either. Her ex-fiancé may have once found her habits appealing, but we didn’t. And we weren’t alone. The ambience in the room was gloomy. We started to leave, but Mike stopped us. “Do something!” he begged. “I can read palms!” I boasted. I’d recently read “Your Future in Your Hands.” Even though our Jewish sages caution us against this sort of thing, I just had to show off. Mike called for attention, and because Bella was the woman of the hour (it felt like 10), she took a seat in the center of the room. I knelt before her and made a big deal of studying her palms. “Are you right- or left-handed?” I asked. She was a leftie, so I studied her right hand first. “This is your potential,” I announced with feigned authority. “Your left hand, which you use most, will reveal your evolving future.” Mike’s friends sat politely as I dramatically explored the hills and dales of Bella’s palms, sanguinely predicting long life and a decent financial future. Just for fun, I pointed to a slightly puffy portion of her hand and joked about a strong possibility of lunacy. The group, now aware that I was faking it, chuckled, but not Bella. I had read one skinny book and remembered almost none of it, but Bella was hooked. She had her agenda. “How soon will I marry?” Bella demanded. “How many children?” 30 I didn’t like Bella, and I now had a
AJT
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Courage of Their Convictions”” CROSSWORD “The
By Alan Olschwang Editor: DavidBenkof@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Easy
chance to upset her. I let my evil inclination take over, planning to confess after I was finished. I pointed to what may have been her love line. “See where it touches your life line?” I showed her. “It looks like you’re going to meet your beshert
Chana’s Corner By Chana Shapiro cshapiro@atljewishtimes.com
(intended) very late in life, so I don’t know about children.” Bella jumped up and ran into the bathroom, where she remained. Mike’s apartment quickly emptied as every one of his friends shook their heads and gave me dirty looks. “I’ll never forgive you,” Mike sneered as we made our exit. Mike claimed that his sister’s visit had been ruined and that I was the epitome of falseness in friendship. Naturally, I knew what a terrible mistake I had made, and when we returned to the States, I finally tracked Bella down. “I’m dating someone,” she said, “no thanks to you!” Boy, she really did believe I had power, so I decided to use it, throwing caution to the wind. Before she could slam the phone down, I blurted out, “I know more about palm-reading now, and I was wrong in Israel! You’ll definitely get married and have children.” “I better!” she screamed. “But you’ll never know! Don’t ever call me again!” I immediately sent a heavy-duty prayer heavenward. I know who’s in charge. I recently took our grandchildren to a carnival, where a bejeweled, turbaned woman sat, examining the palms of people waiting to hear their fortunes. I wanted to watch her style, but the kids weren’t interested. They thought it was crazy to believe that a total stranger could predict anything about somebody’s future. I wondered if the palm-reader was the type to play around with human dreams and fears, or was she wise and kind? Why not give somebody hope and optimism, I thought, even if you have no idea what you’re talking about? I wish I had. ■
ACROSS 1 Shoes for Jennifer Grey in “Dirty Dancing” 5 “Downtown Abbey” Lady whose father was named Isidore Levinson 9 “___ Were The Days” (song recorded by Theodore Bikel in Russian) 14 Many a Spielberg movie 15 ___ Man (Robert Downey, Jr. role) 16 Ingredients in some gefilte fish 17 Shin preceder 18 Campaigner against Mordecai Manuel Noah’s Tammany Hall organization 19 Siskel’s one-time partner 20 Do it while standing, at your service 23 A Jewish congregation was initiated there during its gold boom of 1900 24 Like Shimon Peres: Abbr. 25 She preceded Ruth onto the US Supreme Court 28 How a ’60s Sabra may be sold 30 They don’t like it when you bring a bottle of Mogen David? 33 Ends of Jewish years 34 “Oy vey!” 35 Removes payot, with off 36 Do it before chanting the weekly portion, at your service 39 One-tenth of an ephah 40 Paul Newman’s “Hud” costar Patricia 41 431 is in the south of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area 42 Land of Cain’s exile 43 Disney CEO 44 Emulates Sid Luckman with a football 45 Ended Yom Kippur observance 46 “Night” author Wiesel 47 Do it while chanting the final prayer, at your service 55 Like 46-Down 56 Garr who costarred with Richard Dreyfuss in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” 57 Home st. of Burt Bacharach’s second wife, Angie Dickinson
58 Overdo it at the Seder, say 59 Help stealing the afikomen, say 60 Remove from an article intended for this publication 61 2001 Holocaust movie “___ of the Lord” 62 Feast of ____ (Purim) 63 Red and Dead DOWN 1 Deborah who starred in Fred Zinnemann’s “From Here to Eternity” (1953) 2 Sword favored by Israel’s Boaz Ellis 3 Medium on which you can download Neil Diamond music 4 “___’s Ark” (Australian title of Thomas Keneally Holocaust novel) 5 MGM’s milieu 6 Abba Eban was known to do this well 7 New Year opener 8 This might be added to a Rummikub game to make it more interesting 9 Some of Philip Roth’s novels have mature ones 10 Kissing the mezuzah, for many people 11 Blessed 12 Word repeated in the title of a Livingston/Evans song made popular by Doris Day 13 Biblical bk. named after a woman 21 Samson’s was very impressive in his prime 22 “___, My Love” (Debbie Friedman song) 25 Place atop one’s head, as a yarmulke 26 Eldan rent-acar alternative 27 Reheated the kugel, the fast way 28 Where glasses get broken 29 Early stand-up comic Mort 30 Bagel shape 31 The locust plague, e.g.
32 Biblical symbol of mourning 34 What the bar mitzvah’s Hebrew pronunciation should be done to? 35 Tzitzit, so to speak 37 Randall’s character in the ’70s sitcom “The Odd Couple” 38 Masada’s Snake Path, for one 43 Application on which you can download Neil Diamond music 44 Judy Garland had them when she starred along with Bert Lahr in “The Wizard of Oz” 45 “Cast thy bread upon the waters, and it shall return to thee,” for one 46 Cattle ___ (a bird of Israel) 47 Non-Biblical Ruth 48 Poet born in 3717 49 Aaron Sorkin’s “The West ___” 50 Like computer maker Camillo Olivetti: Abbr. 51 Mount from which Moses viewed the Promised Land 52 Notion from Marcel Marceau 53 Moira Kelly voiced her opposite Matthew Broderick’s Simba in “The Lion King” 54 Instruments occasionally used by Klezmer groups, briefly
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770-751-5706 HOME IMPROVEMENT
Generator Sales & Service, Inc. www.perkinselectric.com
770-251-9765
24/7 Power Protection Hands Free Operation | Professional Installation
GENERATORS 24/7 POWER PROTECTION
Mitzvahs Weddings Formal Ceremonies Formal Dinners
25,000 sq. foot midtown event space www.defoorcentre.com events@defoorcentre.com 404-591-3900
fakakta computer? HVAC, Plumbing, Carpet Cleaning, Pest Control, Moving Services & More
470-222-4369 housedox.com CAREGIVER CAREGIVER Experienced CNA seeking private duty position for elderly care-give baths, dress, meals, errands, etc Excellent work ethic-honest and reliable References available Call Zee: 706-715-0949 Experienced caregiver seeking position for elderly care. Can do everything: personal hygiene, dressing, meals, errands, driving, appointments, etc. honest and reliable. Just finished a 3 year commitment. References available. Call Delores: 404-834-0812
I’ll drive to you! → Desktop & Laptop Repair → Home/Business Networking → Performance Upgrades → Apple Device Support → Virus/Spyware Removal Fast Appointment Scheduling Reasonable Rates All Services Guaranteed
404-954-1004 damon.carp@gmail.com BURIAL PLOTS 3 Burial Plots for Sale Arlington Memorial Park Shalom Lot 61D, Space 2, 3 & 4, No Synagogue Affiliation necessary Valued at $6,000 each. Priced at $4,000 each. Contact Betty: 678-714-0418 or bettymarian@bellsouth.net
BUSINESS FOR SALE
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
Pre-screened Providers. Pre-negotiated Rates.
AJT
Successful Kosher Restaurant for sale located in New Orleans. 20 years in business. prime location. please call 504-390-5560. 31
I WOULDN’T BE HERE WITHOUT GRADY. ALL I REMEMBER IS THE GROUND COMING UP AT ME. I had an opportunity to go up in a World War II British trainer. We ran into some problems and as we came back over the airfield, we were going straight into the ground. I said to myself, “This is it.” People ran out to help and they could immediately tell I was in bad shape. Badly broken arm, my face was ripped off and I had internal injuries that were life-threatening. Next thing I know I’m at Grady. I got to the right hospital, the right surgical team, the right set of nurses. I’m a captain for an Atlanta airline. I got cleared medically to fly again. So just four months later and all is well.
JULY 3 ▪ 2015
Stanley James Trauma Survivor
AJT 32