Atlanta Jewish Times, No. 33, September 4, 2015

NEW HOME

The Katrina story continues with the people who came to Atlanta and those who welcomed them. Page 14

EAT UP

PLAY BALL

Chabad of Georgia’s first kosher fest opens eyes and taste buds and honors caterer Sandra Bank. Page 22

Through years of effort by two current seniors, Weber is fielding its first softball team this fall. Page 24

Atlanta VOL. XC NO. 33

WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015 | 20 ELUL 5775

Iran Deal Sparks Day Of Prayer

T

Life Under 40

Most of the members of the Atlanta Jewish Times’ 40 Under 40, named in August 2014, visited the AJT offices Wednesday, Aug. 26, for a kosher lunch from Avenue K, recognition from AJT owner and Publisher Michael A. Morris, and the distribution of their awards. Former AJT owner Cliff Weiss joined the celebration for the young Atlanta Jewish leaders he highlighted a year earlier.

NOT SO CRAZY

Yogli Mogli founder Roi Shlomo is again feeding a hunger for healthy convenience with his latest dining venture, Kale Me Crazy. Page 21

THE ICONOCLAST

Filmmaker Eran Riklis gets international acclaim but struggles to gain an audience at home as he focuses a harsh lens on Israeli society. Page 23

Calendar

INSIDE 2 Food

22

Candle Lighting

3 Arts

23

Simchas

4 Sports

24

Israel

6 Education

26

Opinion

10 Obituaries

29

Business

21 Crossword

30

he outreach organization Acheinu is organizing a Day of Jewish Unity on Tuesday morning, Sept. 8, to pray for the safety of the Jewish nation as Congress prepares to vote on the Iran nuclear deal.

“As we face the threat of a nucleararmed Iran, we are seeing an incredible display of Jewish pride and unity as people from around the world are coming together to rely on our faith and engage in prayer in order to avert disaster,” said Rabbi Motty Kroizer, the international director of Acheinu.

The group hopes to have 500,000 Jews worldwide join in reciting Psalms 20 and 130 and the Acheinu prayer between 7 a.m. and noon ET. Acheinu is spending approximately $150,000 in Jewish newspapers and radio stations to publicize the event, and a Facebook video on the event had been viewed more than 11,000 times by Monday, Aug. 31.

Several dozen businesses from North America and Israel have committed to participate in the Day of Jewish Unity.

In conjunction with the Day of Jewish Unity, a delegation of rabbis and community leaders will travel to Radin, Belarus, to pray at the grave of the Chofetz Chaim, the leader of pre-World War II European Jewry.

To learn more about the Day of Jewish Unity, visit www.DayOfJewishUnity. com. ■ Ken Stein says the Iran deal shouldn’t have happened, Page 6 President Obama says the deal buys us at least 15 years, Page 7

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CALENDAR THURSDAY, SEPT. 3

Hail to the vice chief. Vice President Joe Biden, a prospective Democratic presidential candidate, addresses “Challenges Facing the U.S. and the World in the 21st Century” in the annual Eizenstat Lecture at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead, at 7:30 p.m. Free; aasynagogue.org for parking locations.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5

Selichot program. Atlanta’s Conservative congregations hold a community Selichot service, including Havdalah

Last Laughs of 5775

and a presentation by Emory professor Eric Goldstein on shtetl life, at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead, at 9:15 p.m. Free; aasynagogue.org.

p.m. at the New Toco Shul, 2003 LaVista Road, Toco Hills, to be followed by Selichot at midnight. Free; newtocoshul. com.

Selichot program. Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road, holds a kumsitz, or evening gathering with songs, at 10:30 p.m. to prepare for the High Holidays and for Selichot at midnight.

Free; www.yith.org or 404-315-1417.

Labor and Jewish law. Rabbi Michael Broyde marks Labor Day by leading a discussion about “Paying People off the Books and Other Halachic Problems Related to Labor Law” after Selichot and Shacharit at 8:30 a.m. at the New Toco Shul, 2003 LaVista Road, Toco Hills. Free; newtocoshul.com.

Selichot program. Rabbi Eric Levy speaks about “Teshuva in Tanach” at 11

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

You can close the year 5775 with a smile Saturday night, Sept. 12, at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, where comedian Lenny Marcus is performing at 8:30. Marcus, fresh off a weeklong cruise, has appeared on such TV shows as “Louie,” “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” and David Letterman’s “Late Lenny Marcus is a 20-year veteran of the New York comedy scene.

Show.”

Marcus is a regular performer at New York comedy clubs and has recently released his third comedy CD, “Vegan Cupcakes.” His show is for adults only.

Tickets for the JCC show are $18 to $25. Visit www.atlantajcc.org/boxoffice, or call 678-812-4002.

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MONDAY, SEPT. 7

TUESDAY, SEPT. 8

Blood drive. Temple Kol Emeth, 1415 Old Canton Road, East Cobb, holds a Red Cross blood drive from 3 to 8 p.m.

For an appointment, email prepwilson@yahoo.com.

Israeli film lecture. Israeli director Eran Riklis, artist in residence at Emory University, speaks about “Israeli Cinema: Forging an Identity” at 7:30 p.m. in the Jones Room of the Woodruff Library. Free; filmstudies.emory.edu/ home/events/film-series/eran-riklisresidency.html.

Elul lecture. Rabbi David Silverman

speaks about “Making G-d the King by Making Your Friend a King” at 8:15 p.m. at Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road. Free; www.yith.org or 404315-1417.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9

Cancer benefit. Preview night at 7:30 for “Calendar Girls,” which runs Sept.

10 through Oct. 4 at the Georgia Ensemble Theatre, 950 Forrest St., Roswell, benefits the American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Ruach. Email Esther Shultz at savtaesther5@gmail.com for tickets.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 10

Israeli film lecture. Israeli director Eran Riklis, artist in residence at Emory University, speaks on the topic “Of Conflict and Optimism: My Personal Cinematic Voyage” at 7:30 p.m. in the Carlos Museum reception hall. Free; filmstudies.emory.edu/home/events/ film-series/eran-riklis-residency.html.

Pre-Rosh Hashanah party. New youngadult group Tribe Atlanta kicks off the year with a get-together with games, snacks and drink specials at 8 p.m. at Lost Dog Tavern, 3182 Roswell Road, Buckhead. Admission is $5 in advance,

in our cemetery, Shalom II, and to receive your free Personal Planning Guide.

CALENDAR SPONSORED BY

CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Parshah Ki Tavo Friday, Sept. 4, light candles at 7:41 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 5, Shabbat ends at 8:36 p.m.

Arlington Parshah Nitzavim Park at 7:32 p.m.

Friday, Sept. Memorial 11, light candles Saturday, Sept.

12, Shabbat ends at 8:26 p.m.

SanDy SPRingS Rosh Hashanah 404-255-0750 ArlingtonMemorialPark.com Sunday, Sept. 13, light candles at 7:29 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 14, light candles after 8:23 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 15, holiday ends at 8:21 p.m. $10 at the door; thekehillaorg.shulcloud.com/tribeatlanta.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 20

Rabbi Kook’s impact. Rabbi Don Seeman leads a panel discussion on the work and impact of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook to mark his 80th yahrzeit at 8 p.m. at the New Toco Shul, 2003 LaVista Road, Toco Hills. Dinner is included. Free; RSVP to newtocoshul@ gmail.com.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 24

Torah discussion. YJP Midtown Atlanta talks about Jewish views on joy and happiness. The event at Chabad Intown, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta, includes cocktails and light snacks.

Schmoozing starts at 7:30, discussion at 8:15. Free; www.yjpmidtownatlanta. com or 404-898-0434.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 27

Sushi and scotch in the sukkah. YJP Midtown Atlanta gathers at 9 p.m. at the Schusterman sukkah, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta, for kosher sushi, scotch or other cocktails, and socializing on the first night of Sukkot. Free; www.yjpmidtownatlanta.com or 404898-0434.

THURSDAY, OCT. 1

Sushi in the sukkah. Learn how to roll your own sushi while socializing with YITH Young Professionals at 8 p.m. at the sukkah at Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road. Admission is $15 in advance or $20 at the door; www. yith.org or 404-315-1417.

SUNDAY, OCT. 11

Walk to fight cancer. Relay for Life of Ruach, the only American Cancer Society Relay for Life held on a Sunday, begins at 1 p.m. and ends at 8 at North

7/27/15 11:44 AM

Springs Charter High School, 7447 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs. Sign up or donate at www.RelayForLife.org/ ruachga.

SUNDAY, OCT. 18

Super Sunday. Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta holds its one-day phoneathon for the annual Community Campaign from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; www.jewishatlanta.org/supersunday or 678-222-3721.

Kosher barbecue contest. The third Atlanta Kosher BBQ Competition & Festival starts at 11:30 a.m. at Brook Run Park, 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody, with $1 tastings, additional food and arts and crafts for sale, children’s activities, and Atlanta Jewish Music Festival entertainment. Free admission; TheAtlantaKosherBBQ.com.

ONGOING

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.

Leo Frank exhibit. The Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History, 2829 Cherokee St., Kennesaw, in cooperation with the Breman Museum, presents “Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited” through Nov. 29.

Museum admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, $5.50 for ages 4 to 12, and free for ages 3 and under and for Southern Museum and Breman members; www.southernmuseum.org.

Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com.

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

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SIMCHAS

Birth Jace Adam Dworkin

Wedding Berman-Miller

A

lexis and Eric Dworkin of Savannah proudly announce the birth of their son, Jace Adam Dworkin, on July 19, 2015. He weighed 8 pounds, 7.2 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Jace is the first grandchild of Susan and Daniel Alterman of Atlanta, Amy and Neil Dworkin of New Jersey, and Jeff and Mechelle Levine of Florida.

He is the greatgrandson of Phyllis Grocoff, Emily Levine, and Roberta and Cornelius Raskin.

The bris was performed by Rabbi Ariel Asa.

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

It’s Not to Late to Advertise in the Rosh Hashanah Issue.

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AJT 4

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The wedding took place June 28, 2015, at the Hyatt Atlanta Perimeter at Villa Christina.

The bride is a 2012 graduate of the University of Georgia and is a copywriter with AutoTrader. The groom is a 2011 graduate of Georgia Tech and is a mechanical engineer at ViaSat. Michelle and Gary Miller live in Atlanta.

Birth Mikayla Lucy Raidbard

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adine and Stephen Raidbard of Atlanta announce the birth of daughter Mikayla Lucy Raidbard on April 6, 2015. She weighed 5 pounds, 14 ounces and was 18¾ inches long.

The proud family includes grandparents Arthur Garrick, Hannah Garrick and Rochelle Raidbard of Atlanta and 3-year-old sister Amaya Raidbard.

Mikayla Lucy is named in memory of Marshall Raidbard, Steve’s father; Morris Garrick, Nadine’s grandfather; Maxie Rubenstein, Nadine’s great-uncle; Lillian Dwortz, Steve’s grandmother; and Lillian Garrick, Nadine’s grandmother.

Her Hebrew name, Samara, is in memory of Sarah Zwaig, Nadine’s grandmother; Sally Raidbard, Steve’s grandmother; Sam Dwortz, Steve’s grandfather; and Sam Charko, Steve’s great-grandfather.

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LOCAL NEWS Atlanta

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10 Years Ago Sept. 2, 2005

■ The 14th annual Jewish Festival at the Marcus Jewish Community Center drew what is believed to be a record turnout on a steamy Sunday, Aug. 28. Attendees devoured 2,000 hot dogs and hamburgers, 1,000 slices of pizza and 400 gallons of ice cream. Lisa Mallis of Marietta won a pair of round-trip tickets to Israel on Lufthansa from the Atlanta Jewish Times.

tuted a program that rewards students with football and prom tickets, parking spaces, bonus points on final exams, and small college scholarships for missing two or fewer days of school in a semester, regardless of reason.

■ Marshall and Lynda Kramer of Cherry Hill, N.J., announce the engagement of their daughter, Nancy Elizabeth, to Steven Ross Joffre, son of Lyonel and Phyllis Joffre of Atlanta. An October wedding is planned.

50 Years Ago Sept. 3, 1965

25 Years Ago Sept. 7, 1990

■ Aharon Margalith has returned from a monthlong visit to Israel and reopened the Jewish Agency’s Southeastern office in 805 Peachtree Building. In addition to meeting with Jewish Agency officials, Mr. Margalith met with several residents of the South who have gone to live in Israel, including Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chaite, formerly of Rome.

■ A program to promote high school attendance has Jewish families in East Cobb worried that students will be punished for observing the High Holidays. Pope High School has insti-

■ Mr. and Mrs. Morris Mitzner of Atlanta invite relatives and friends to the bar mitzvah of son Isador Elliot Mitzner at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 4, at Shearith Israel Synagogue.

■ The bar mitzvah ceremony of Zachary Aaron Parker of Ros­well, the son of Alan and Helen Parker, was held Saturday, Aug. 20, at Temple Beth Tikvah.

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Established 1925 as The Southern Israelite Phone: (404) 883-2130 www.atlantajewishtimes.com THE ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES (ISSN# 0892-33451) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, LLC 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, ATLANTA, GA 30328 © 2015 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES Printed by Gannett Publishing Services MEMBER Conexx: America Israel Business Connector American Jewish Press Association Sandy Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Commerce Please send all photos, stories and editorial content to: submissions@atljewishtimes.com

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ISRAEL NEWS

Stein Urges Post-Deal Political Action

Emory expert: Iran’s big threat to Israel is theological, not nuclear

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

Stein’s fear for Israel, cently as 2013, the president however, is not related to the had declared that an Iranimilitary might of Iran, even an nuclear weapon couldn’t he Iran nuclear deal is neither be contained and had to be with nuclear bombs, or to great nor terrible, but “it’s a deal prevented, but this deal will the 100,000 rockets Hezbolthat shouldn’t have happened,” lead to Iran building such a lah could fire across Israel’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel weapon in five, 10 or 15 years northern borders. director and Emory University profes- if it wants to.

Instead, he worries about sor Ken Stein told an audience of more a theological struggle in which Iran played a waitthan 120 people Monday night, Aug. 31, ing game, Stein said, stallIran, the center of Holocaust at Congregation B’nai Torah. denial in the Muslim world, ing through two two-term “I don’t believe we’ve done our presidents, Bill Clinton and leads the delegitimization of best” in reaching this agreement, he George W. Bush, before grabIsrael in the eyes of Sunnis said. and Shia. bing the opportunity for a Still, with the deal done, the Jew- favorable agreement late in “Iran is not yet, and I reish community can’t do much except the second term of Obama. peat, not yet, Nazi Germany,” to prepare for the day after it goes into Stein said.

The United States failed After seeing the “nasty, nasty argument” within the effect and sanctions begin to roll back, to adjust to the long-term While he expects Israel to Jewish community over the Iran deal, Ken Stein says Stein said in a lecture co-sponsored by clock of the Iranian regime, survive for generations, he said there’s no reason for Jews to treat one another with such B’nai Torah, Congregation Or Hadash a regime that Obama has the Jewish state can’t stand up antagonism over a foreign policy disagreement. and Stein’s own Center for Israel Edu- repeatedly called repressive to a theological battle with 200 than wreak havoc for Israel, the United cation. million Muslim neighbors. and dangerous, Stein said.

Stein found plenty of reason for Yet Obama, Vice President Joe Biden States and its other enemies.

That’s why Israel “needs a powerAnyone confident that Iran will ful friend not willing to retreat” as the disenchantment with President Barack and other administration officials have Obama and dislike for the Iran deal confidently stated that Iran will use its spend its new wealth domestically next president, Stein said.

Obama has promised to see enacted, windfall of tens or hundreds of billions should be tested “for smoking some“We sitting in America had better even if he has to veto congressional of dollars under the deal to address thing really good,” Stein joked. look very carefully at who is going to “Given its track record since 1979, run for office and who is going to repaction. The professor noted that as re- domestic economic problems rather I have no reason to believe that Iran is resent us,” he said. interested in behaving like Canada beEmphasizing that a year from now haves with the United States,” he said, only two candidates for president will adding at another point, “Borders to remain, Stein said the Jewish comthe Iranians are only suggestions.” munity has to engage in the political The Iranian regime’s disregard for process and push those candidates to borders has grown stronger since the commit to Israel and to take a tough Sponsored jointly by the end of the Cold War and the failed U.S. line on Iran. The tough stand includes Conservative Congregations of Greater Atlanta effort to bring regime change to Iraq. reinstating unilateral sanctions with Removing Saddam Hussein “popped some teeth if Iran wavers from its comAhavath Achim, Beth Shalom, B’nai Torah, Etz Chaim, the top” on 1,000 years of Shia chafing mitments.

Gesher L’Torah, Or Hadash, Shearith Israel under Sunni rule, Stein said.

“This is the most powerful Jew“You can’t put the Shia back in the ish minority that ever lived in the free Sunni can in Iraq. You can’t do it,” he world,” Stein said. “We can’t afford to said. “And the Iranians are delighted.” be silent.” ■

T

Annual Conservative Congregations’

Selichot Program

Saturday, September 5, 2015

9:15 p.m.

Presentation by Dr. Eric Goldstein,

Director, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies

“The Shtetl: An Anatomy of What Jewish Life

was REALLY Like in the Small Towns of Eastern Europe”

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

• Havdallah •

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• Reception •

• Selichot Service •

Ahavath Achim Synagogue

The Unnamed One Jimmy Carter’s name didn’t come up during Ken Stein’s appearance Monday night, Aug. 31, but the 90-year-old ex-president was a topic of discussion.

Stein noted that in less than 17 months Barack Obama will become a former two-term Democratic president and that the last former two-term Democrat, Bill Clinton, left office without any negative feelings toward Israel.

But Stein said the Democratic president before Clinton served only one term and left with “enormous animus toward Israel” that he held onto and acted on for more than 30 years. That unnamed ex-president is Stein’s former boss, Carter.

Stein publicly broke with Carter in late 2006 after the former president released the book “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.”

600 Peachtree Battle Avenue NW | Atlanta, GA

Because Obama doesn’t have a failed bid for a second term to blame on Israel, Stein said he doesn’t expect the president to harbor any ill will, but he warned his audience to avoid lingering bitterness over the Iran deal.

The Conservative Congregations of Greater Atlanta welcome the entire community to this service.

“I would prefer not to have another Democratic president,” he started to say, only to be interrupted by scattered applause and then laughter before he finished, “who holds animus toward Israel for 30 years.”

ISRAEL NEWS

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

P

resident Barack Obama defended the Iran nuclear deal Friday, Aug. 28, as meeting all of his promises to the American people, and he dismissed the split between his administration and Israeli leaders over the agreement as a family argument.

“The bond between the United States and Israel is not political. It is not based on alliances of convenience,” the president said in a live webcast arranged by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “It is something that grows out of family ties and bonds that stretch back for generations.”

Obama said sometimes the angriest disagreements are within families, but he’s confident that Israel and the United States will quickly resume longterm discussions about enhancing Israel’s security.

“The fates of our two countries are intertwined,” he said. That’s true whether the Iran deal goes into effect or Congress votes to reject the deal and manages to override Obama’s promised veto, the president said.

A rejection of the deal, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council and the European Union, would isolate Israel and the United States and result in the collapse of international sanctions instead of their phased rollback, Obama said. “We would be putting Iran in the driver’s seat.”

The House and Senate are expected to vote in mid-September on the deal, under which Iran agrees to roll back its uranium enrichment and freeze its nuclear development for 15 years, allow international inspections of confirmed and suspected nuclear sites, and institute international monitoring of its uranium supply chain.

In exchange, economic sanctions would be dropped as Iran fulfilled certain steps, such as shipping out of the country most of its enriched uranium, and foreign-held Iranian assets worth anywhere from $56 billion to $150 billion would be unfrozen. An embargo on Iran’s ballistic missile program would end in eight years, and restrictions on uranium enrichment would phase out within 15 years.

Supporters and foes of the deal are “all pro-Israel,” Obama said. “We’re all pro-U.S.-Israel.”

He denied, however, that both sides have been equal in their fervor.

He said his side has focused on the facts of the deal, while some of the rhetoric from opponents has appalled him.

Critics of the deal, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, say the agreement legitimizes Iran as a threshold nuclear power ready for a weapons breakout in 15 years. They have called for strengthening sanctions to force Iran to accept a better deal.

“The fact is, this is our best way to make sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon,” Obama said.

He said the world community agreed to sanctions to force Iran to make a deal, and tougher sanctions are not possible. He said the only tool left to him if the deal is rejected is a military option, but even that would likely delay Iran by only a year or two if it is determined to build a nuclear arsenal.

He acknowledged that Iran might pursue its nuclear ambitions after 15 years, but at that point the United States and allies would have all the same options to respond as they have now, plus the benefit of 15 years of monitoring and fact-finding related to Iran’s nuclear program, as well as world support for action after trying the diplomatic approach.

“I’ve never understood the logic that says because there may be issues that we have to deal with 15 years from now, we should reject a deal that ensures us for 15 years of not having a nuclear weaponized Iran, and we now are in a situation in which they could break out next year,” Obama said.

He emphasized that the deal does not represent normalized relations with Iran. He called Ayatollah Khamenei’s government “an unsavory regime” that he doesn’t trust, which is why the deal relies on strict verification.

He also said the anti-Semitic, antiU.S., anti-Israel attitudes and destabilizing actions of Iran make a deal that removes the nuclear threat crucial.

Solving the biggest problem, Obama said, allows the United States to focus on Iran’s other dangers.

“I hope the character of the regime changes, but I’m not counting on it,” he said.

He added that he’s not worried about personal insults from Khamenei.

“The United States is the most powerful nation in the world,” Obama said, “and the president of the United States doesn’t respond to taunts.” ■

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SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

Obama Eager for End Of Family Dispute Over Iran

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ISRAEL NEWS

The Biggest Threats You’ll Never See Coming Israeli solutions crucial at cybersecurity forum

I

srael, always exposed to physical attack by enemies, also has been subjected to numerous cyberattacks and been forced to devote considerable resources to cyberdefense.

Not surprisingly, Israel is a world leader in this new area of conflict.

As part of its Israel and the American South Initiative, the international law firm Baker Donelson, along with Georgia Tech, hosted a forum Aug. 20 and 21 on developments in cybersecurity and the impact of cybercrime on technology, manufacturing, health care, infrastructure and society at large.

John Scannapieco, a partner in Baker Donelson’s Nashville office and co-chairman of the firm’s global business team, provided introductory remarks and served as the moderator of the program, called Securing Your Future.

Partners in the forum included the Israeli Consulate General to the

Southeast, Conexx: America Israel Business Connector, the Georgia Economic Development Department, the office of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

G.P. “Bud” Peterson, the new president of Georgia Tech, provided insight

Business Sense

By Al Shams

into the breadth and depth of the university’s contribution to the world of technology and its huge impact on Georgia’s economy. Tech’s accomplishments and achievements place it in the same league as such universities as Caltech, MIT and Carnegie Mellon.

Some of the major points I gleaned from the forum: • Cyberthreats are here to stay. We cannot turn back the clock. The world

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of computers and digital communications has permeated every aspect of our lives with great benefits, but cybercrime is the downside.

We must learn to confront and deal with this challenge.

• Georgia Tech, along with a number of small, innovative companies, has led metro Atlanta’s development into an important center for cybersecurity systems.

• Clete Johnson, a lawyer representing the U.S. Attorney’s Office, believes that cybercrime represents a great threat to the national security and economic health of the United States.

• Geography and distance do not offer any defense against cybercrime.

In effect, foreign cyberboots are already on U.S. soil. This dimension of the threat is a first in U.S. history.

• U.S. corporations must devote significantly more resources toward defending their enterprise systems.

One speaker said insurance companies will require a more robust defensive effort.

• No organization is immune. Do not take comfort in the fact you have not been hacked; it’s only a matter of time. Elbit Systems, an Israeli leader in cybersecurity, has been the subject of numerous well-planned attacks. Georgia Tech is under constant attack.

• The threat is asymmetrical. A small group with limited resources can do immense economic, social and political damage.

• Modest changes to procedures and protocol can greatly reduce the threat.

All of those on enterprise systems must be aware of the threat and act prudently.

• Someone with a grievance can use the cyberworld to strike back far more easily than he can use the court system.

Some brilliant minds are working hard to minimize the threat. ■

A

B

C

D

E Photos courtesy Baker Donelson

A: Alisa Chestler chairs Baker Donelson’s privacy and information security team.

B: John Scannapieco, a co-chair of Baker Donelson’s global business team, serves as the moderator of the Securing Your Future forum.

C: One panel consists of (from left) Matt Anthony, vice president of marketing at Pindrop Security; Derek Harp, founder of NexDefense; Robert O. Ball III, chief legal counsel of Iconic Security; and Chris Rouland, founder and CEO of Bastille Networks.

D: The two-day forum takes place at the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center.

E: Forum participants include Oded Shorer (left), the director of economic and trade affairs for the Israeli Consulate and husband of the new consul general to the Southeast, and Israeli Col. (ret.) Rami Efrati, founder and president of Firmitas Cyber Solutions.

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ISRAEL NEWS

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home

Restoring sight in Kyrgyzstan. A group of Israeli doctors restored the eyesight of 90 adults and children in Kyrgyzstan through the Israeli-Jewish Eye From Zion volunteer organization.

The doctors performed cornea surgery and plastic surgery and removed tumors and cataracts. Many patients had been blind for years.

HIV and circumcision. Circumcision contributes to an annual incidence of HIV infection in Israel that is onesixth of the rate in the Netherlands and France for men and one-tenth of the rate for women, according to a Health Ministry study published in the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research.

Haredi woman in El Al pilot course.

Nehama (full name withheld) is the first Haredi woman to be accepted into El Al’s pilot training course. She earned her pilot’s license in the United States and had to travel back to America to accumulate sufficient flying hours to take the course, which begins in November.

One of the best places to raise your kids. Israel is ranked fourth in the world for expatriate families to bring up children, according to the Family Life Index from the Inter Nations Institute. The index ranks countries in categories such as quality, cost and availability of child care and education.

U.S. water summits. Jewish National Fund is holding summits to share Israel’s technological advancements in water resources in 10 U.S. cities: Albany, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Phoenix; San Diego; and Washington.

Medical startup wins global competition. Omer-based DiACardio has won the 2015 Shengjing Global Innovation Award in Beijing. DiACardio has devel-

oped software to decode echocardiograms. Another Israeli startup, Wayerz, came fifth. The five finalists received $200,000.

Space collision pact. The Israeli Defense Ministry and the U.S. Strategic Command have signed an arrange-

ment to cooperate in preventing satellites and other objects from colliding in space. The Space Situational Awareness agreement will ensure safe spaceflight operations.

Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com

Israel Photo of the Week

Blazing an Environmental Trail The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s work protecting and preserving Israel’s natural resources includes the Israel National Trail, a hiking trail that runs 620 miles through the length of the nation across a variety of ecosystems and habitats.

Jewish National Fund (www. jnf.org) raises money for SPNI as part of JNF’s commitment to the land of Israel.

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Slowing Alzheimer’s. Yavneh-based Avraham Pharmaceuticals has announced successful interim results in a clinical trial of ladostigil for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment.

MCI patients using ladostigil for two years were less likely to progress to Alzheimer’s than were patients using a placebo.

AJT 9

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OPINION

Our View

Take Action

T

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

he Israeli Consulate General to the Southeast is under attack, but not from proponents of the Iran deal or the Palestinian-flag-waving crowd that emerges periodically. Instead, the consulate in Atlanta is threatened by its own government.

The irony is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies have made the consulates here and in Philadelphia and San Francisco, along with several embassies in smaller nations, more important than ever while his politics are putting them on the budgetary chopping block.

During his 6½ years in power, Netanyahu has refused to compromise in foreign policy, most notably in unleashing the military in Gaza in 2012 and 2014 in response to Hamas provocations and in rallying opposition to Iran’s nuclear program.

His positions and his decisions have been right far more than they have been wrong, but Netanyahu is viewed around the world as a hard-liner. As a result, Israel is more isolated than ever.

The Palestinians have found increasing support for U.N. recognition and other international steps toward statehood. The Iranians have a deal that will give them hundreds of billions of dollars and permission to develop ballistic missiles in exchange for waiting a decade before building nuclear weapons.

More than ever, Israel needs its professional diplomats to tell its story and develop friendships.

Those friends could cast crucial votes in the United Nations someday or ensure the future of the U.S.Israel relationship.

While Netanyahu was gaining little in making his Iran case before the U.N. General Assembly and U.S. Congress, the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta was making progress in state legislatures. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Mississippi enacted laws mandating divestment from Iran during the tenures of Consuls General Opher Aviran and Reda Mansour, and Tennessee is likely to act next year.

That’s the kind of grass-roots influence Israel needs more of, not less of.

But Netanyahu has a governing coalition with only 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. So tough and uncompromising on the international stage, he must cater to every Cabinet minister at home.

The demands piled up during budget planning.

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev vowed to vote against the budget and sink the government unless her agency got a big boost. It did: an additional 50 million shekels ($12.75 million) this year and next, while the consulates and embassies are closed to help save 55 million shekels a year.

Just as Israel has historically been outnumbered on the battlefield, so today it is outnumbered on the diplomatic field. Iran, for example, has diplomats in 167 countries to Israel’s 100 before the budget cuts.

The final vote on the budget is still months away, so it’s not too late to act. Send an email to pr@ atlanta.mfa.gov.il and explain the value of the consulate in bringing politicians from six states to Israel and businesses from Israel to those six states, as well as securing support for Israel in the Bible Belt.

An email to help save the consulate is the easiest 10 thing you’ll do in 5775 or 5776 to help Israel. ■

AJT

Remembering Anniversaries

A

Frank at Congregation Etz Chaim with the installanniversaries are so easy to take for granted, if tion of a stone marker and planting of an oak tree not forget, and their observance can devolve using dirt from the lynching site. into mindless routine.

Dave Schechter’s reporting for our Aug. 14 cover That’s especially true for positive events such story turned up evidence not only that Frank likely as wedding anniversaries — another year, another wasn’t the only Jew lynched in America, but that dozen roses — but can also become the reality for he might not have been the only Jew convicted of painful memories. How many of us will give more murder who was lynched in Georgia in mid-August than a passing thought to the 14th anniversary of 1915. My new history the 9/11 attacks next week or the obsession is learn74th anniversary of the Pearl ing about Albert Harbor attack Dec. 7?

Bettelheim and how We often need round numEditor’s Notebook he met his death two bers to focus on the past, which is

By Michael Jacobs days before Frank. why this August was doubly immjacobs@atljewishtimes.com If anyone out there portant. It gave us the centennial knows anything of Leo Frank’s lynching — likely about him or his the last time the most traumatic case, please share. moment in the history of Jewish Atlanta will grab As for Katrina, we didn’t dive into what hapnational attention — and the 10th anniversary of the pened Aug. 29, 2005, as much as we tried to assess near-drowning of New Orleans in the wake of Hurthe state of the Jewish community a decade later ricane Katrina — an event we might not obsess over and caught up with some of the people we talked to again for 15 more years, if not longer.

10 years ago. Because of my ties to New Orleans — I Part of the reason negative anniversaries fade was born and went to college there but didn’t grow in importance is a sense that we know everything, up there, and my grandmother and uncle still live so we’re just going through the motions each year. there — and the fact that the day the hurricane But that wasn’t the case with the Frank and Katrina made landfall was also my first day on the job at the anniversaries.

Atlanta Jewish Times, Katrina feels personal even During the events marking the Frank cententhough I was nearly 500 miles away when it struck. nial, we didn’t hear just the familiar facts surroundIt’s still hard to think about what happened. ing the lynching and the murder of Mary Phagan.

I hope our stories last week and this week We learned new details about the 1980s fight for a provide a more positive ending to the Katrina story. pardon for Frank, such as how some horse trading Whatever the struggles of New Orleans at large, its over an appeal in a death penalty case played a part Jewish community has a new strength and vibrancy in blocking a pardon exonerating Frank and how after a period of stagnation, and Jewish Atlanta has a Harvard student helped push through a revised benefited from the addition of some people who pardon. stayed after fleeing the storm.

We heard about the mob attack on a Jewish Leo Frank, meanwhile, remains a tragic figure. I store owner and his family in Marietta after the am doubtful about the prospects of renewed efforts lynching from that merchant’s grandson, Marietta to win him exoneration from the state, but at least City Council member Philip Goldstein. those efforts keep his memory alive. ■ We also gained a place to remember and mourn

OPINION

3rd Generation Rebuilds German-Jewish Relations our heartstrings as Germans and Jews stood hand in hand for the Mourner’s Kaddish and El Malei Rachamim. Who would have thought a group of Germans and Jews would join hands and sing in a concentration camp?

Guest Column

By Maddie Cook

While the concentration camp visit was difficult, it was comforting going together, and the experience broke down many barriers and united our group. We were strengthened and realized that such moments are building real German-Jewish relations. After that visit, I realized the power and strength of the members in our group.

Our conversation later reached a whole different dimension. This experience opened us all to our shared history and, oddly, made people comfortable enough to reveal their grandparents’ participation in World War II. The fact that we could all sit in a room and talk about our families’ histories speaks to the strength and power of the Third Generation.

You could say this group is selfselected, but to have the chutzpah to sit, converse and address history is empowering and motivating.

The group makes me believe in our ability to learn, reflect and build a better world. It takes a lot of courage to study your past and live with it, but I think our Third Generation has the power to do it and manage the direction of our shared future.

Since my return to Atlanta, I’ve wanted to share stories from this trip and talk about what I’ve learned. I want to learn ways to continue this conversation and educate the community about stereotypes we maintain.

World War II and the Holocaust will always be difficult subjects. Part of repairing relations is talking about the past and building connections.

Berlin’s commitment to remembering is admirable, and through this program I have met incredible people who are leading the way in educating future generations, building transAtlantic friendships, and leading purposeful and intentional lives. ■

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I

recently returned from a human rights trip to Berlin. As part of the ACCESS Third Generation initiative, I traveled with granddaughters and grandsons of Holocaust victims and survivors and of Nazi soldiers.

The program set out to build trans-Atlantic relations with Germany. After my 10 days abroad, I have a deep respect for Germany’s commitment to rebuilding a Jewish community and for our Third Generation’s desire to educate ourselves on each other’s histories.

On this diplomatic trip, our group of Jewish-Americans and Germans toured the city of Berlin and experienced the many facets of Berlin’s commitment to always remember.

During our Jewish history walking tour of Berlin’s Mitte district, we saw memorials, cemeteries and tributes to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

One project, “Stolpersteine,” is an installment of stones embedded in the sidewalks around the city. Each golden stone marks the place a Jewish person was last seen and includes the victim’s name and location of murder.

Walking through the city, we passed façades where buildings once stood and instead saw plaques with the names of Jewish families who once inhabited those spaces. These memorials evoke solemn feelings and serve as constant reminders of Berlin’s past.

Our day trip to the Sachausen concentration camp wasn’t easy. Just 30 minutes north of Berlin, we walked around land once dedicated to imprisoning, humiliating and murdering Jews, homosexuals and other political prisoners. Parts of the tour I wish I didn’t remember, but together our group toured the barracks, the dining hall, the worker fields and the extermination corner of the camp.

I remember forcing myself to read the museum plaques throughout the camp to make sure I knew what happened. I wanted to make sure I remembered this visit to a place I could never have imagined existing, to a place where the darkest depths of humanity existed, to a place that should never exist again.

While we were all silent for most of the tour, emotion erupted when we gathered in a circle and said a prayer. The sound of music tugged at

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OPINION

A Snapshot of Campus Anti-Semitism CAMERA’s conference offers practical responses

W

e came from England.

We came from Canada.

We came from across the United States, converging at a four-day conference in Boston.

We were seeking knowledge, seeking support and seeking skills to deal with the rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses.

A global fight is going on.

Jewish students have gotten the message. We didn’t need CNN to tell us about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement or anti-Israel professors. We know about them because we meet them all the time.

The National Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students found that 54 percent had experienced anti-Semitism on campus in the first six months of the 2013-14 academic year.

Professors Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar asked 1,157 students about the types, context and locations of anti-Semitism they had experienced and found that anti-Jewish attitudes are a problem for Jews at all levels of religious observance.

Kosmin and Keysar’s survey comes after the Pew Research Center’s 2013 Portrait of Jewish Americans, which found that 22 percent of young Jews reported being called an offensive name in the previous year just for being Jewish.

That percentage is far higher than

for older Jews, but this situation is not new. Twelve years ago, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights declared that campus anti-Semitism had become a serious problem.

You’d think such studies would have made the fact of campus antiSemitism more widely known.

Guest Column

By Lindsey Cohen

Yet much of the American population seemed shocked when Rachel Beyda made national headlines this year for the discrimination she faced at UCLA. “Given that you are a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community,” she was grilled by a member of the student council, “how do you see yourself being able to maintain an unbiased view?”

In other words: Given your ethnicity, Rachel, how can you have any integrity?

It’s an incredibly offensive question but sadly not too surprising. At the conference I attended on campus anti-Semitism — hosted and run by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or CAMERA — I met more than 60 other students from 45 universities who suffered similarly offensive anti-Semitic

encounters on campus.

Last year, one of the CAMERA conference attendees was assaulted at Temple University merely for speaking up on behalf of Israel. Another girl at our conference said students at York University in Canada were glorifying terrorism and inciting violence on the social media pages belonging to the student council; splashing red paint on Jewish property; and intimidating Jewish students walking to class — and university administrators have done nothing, despite repeated pleas from Jewish students.

Another girl, this one from London, told me, “Just mentioning the word Israel can cause tension.”

Campus extremism, she said, is a serious problem in Great Britain.

That’s why she flew all the way to Boston; she needed a feeling of support.

Anti-Semitism is back, folks, all over the world.

We students are the ones facing the brunt of it. It is only a matter of time before one of us is seriously hurt or killed.

How did it come to this? How can Jewish students begin to deal with this global anti-Semitism on college campuses?

Here’s an idea: Start paying attention to what’s happening on college campuses. Put pressure on administrations and alumni associations. Hit them financially and in the media.

Let’s talk about campus reforms that need to take place. Let’s hold universities to account for hiring professors

who are obsessed with anti-Israel feelings, and let’s make such awful people household names.

Let’s make sure every Jewish family knows which universities are hostile and which are not. Last but not least, we must help young people know about useful organizations like CAMERA that are there to support and train them for the realities of campus life.

At CAMERA’s conference we role-played, practiced debate, studied history, worked on writing skills, and held mock BDS student council meetings, even trained in Israeli martial arts.

That is, we did real, serious, practical things — crucial for what we’ll face on campus.

It’s time to get serious. BDS and other anti-Semitic organizations are organized, ambitious, loud and making progress on college campuses. Too many pro-Israel events and organizations are, I fear, not responding adequately. They often seem content to wave the Israeli flag or to organize feel-good rallies, or they seem like summer camp, a place to meet the opposite sex.

Enough already.

We need serious preparation now.

If we get serious, Jewish students might not feel so besieged anymore. ■ Lindsey Cohen is from Atlanta.

She attended Riverwood International Charter School and is now at Boston University.

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Hashanah with hosts in the hood. Ba-na-nas? Longshot. Apples? Dipped in honey…yes, please.

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OPINION

Vicissitudes

V

icissitudes, roadblocks, detours — challenges that crop up when we least expect them as we navigate the mountains and valleys in the maze called life.

Sometimes they are small obstacles, like lost keys or a plateau in a diet. They feel large at the time — “Honey, did you see my keys? I have to be at work in 10 minutes” — but we know they are not major emergencies in the grand scheme of things.

Yet we catch our breath and freeze, feeling incapacitated by the quirks and deviations in the script we composed for that day.

My son and daughter-in-law and their precious baby were planning to return home after visiting siblings for a holiday. They needed to set out early in the day because both of them had to be at work the next morning, and a full day’s drive lay ahead of them.

“Dave, where are the keys?” Judy asked, worry flickering in her eyes.

“They were right here a minute ago,” Dave replied nonchalantly, fishing all over but coming up emptyhanded. A glance at his wife showed that he now shared her concern.

The keys had been put on top of the large freezer in the room where they were staying for safekeeping and to keep them out of the reach of little probing fingers. Yet all searches were to no avail, and they had checked everywhere, even crawling around on all fours and checking beneath and behind the freezer and in every other crevice of the room, just in case.

And so they sat, awaiting a locksmith who had agreed to make them a new key for a hefty sum but wasn’t available for a few hours after their call. Six hours into their ordeal, my

daughter walked into the room where Dave and Judy had been staying to get something out of the freezer.

Surprise!

“Dave, Judy, I found your keys!” she called. “A little cold but intact.”

Little things have an impact.

And then there are the mountains, those grueling affairs that squeeze our

our development. The world can be viewed as a colossal gym, and as we lift weights and groan under the strain, we’re building our coping muscles to perform at maximum capacity.

In addition, we all need a support system, whether family, friends, professionals or a combination. Life is a more beautiful journey when shared.

As a certified chaplain and coordinator of Bikur Cholim of Atlanta, which assists families with medical

needs, I have seen a myriad of challenging situations. In my columns, I will present true-life situations with names and details changed. Readers are invited to write in and offer guidance, encouraging the protagonist who stands perplexed while facing a crossroad, roadblock or craggy peak.

And maybe, as we advise and encourage our anonymous friend, we, too, will glean some inspiration as we step toward our own destination. ■

Shared Spirit

By Rachel Stein rachels83@gmail.com

hearts to the point of breaking, and we wonder if we have the strength to move on. Death. Divorce. Discordance.

Alzheimer’s. Illness. Infertility. Poverty.

A wayward child. And the list goes on.

“I gave my son everything,” a parent told me recently, his voice choked with tears. “A loving home, a Jewish environment — yeah, I made mistakes. Who doesn’t? But does that mean he can just turn his back on us and everything we stand for? What do we do? Do we put our foot down, or do we look away?”

I listened, empathized and wished I had answers. My heart contracted as I shared the saga of a father in pain.

How can we cope? In times of challenge, many of us turn to an omniscient G-d and find strength. If G-d can create a baby who will grow to become a functioning human being, if G-d can paint a sunset across the skies to rival the most prolific artist, then certainly He has a plan for each of His children.

Even if the human mind is too finite to grasp the intricacies of His determinations, we trust that He loves us and is devising the best path for

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SOUTHEASTERN NEWS

NOLA’s Loss, Atlanta’s Gain Families who fled Katrina grow their local roots

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com

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A decade ago, Jeffrey “Jake” Schwartz and his wife, Susan Levitas, then both 43 years old, had busy lives in New Orleans.

Levitas was a folklorist-turneddocumentary film producer (including the 2003 release “Shalom Y’all,” about Jewish life in the South) and voiceover artist. She also was three months pregnant.

Schwartz, a specialist in labor and employment law, was preparing a case for argument before the U.S. Supreme Court. He served on the boards of local Jewish organizations. His daughter, Cydney, was preparing for her bat mitzvah celebration.

George Fuhrman was head of the surgical residency program at Ochsner Clinic, a hospital near New Orleans.

Fuhrman and wife Laura and their three daughters, Sarah, Melissa and Allison, were members of Conservative Congregation Shir Chadash, and the girls attended the Jewish Community Day School of Greater New Orleans, both affiliations shared with the Schwartz-Levitas household. Likewise, the Fuhrmans were preparing for Melissa’s bat mitzvah that fall.

Jack and Annette Rau were approaching their 62nd birthdays and beginning to think about the next phase of their lives. Jack was the third generation of his family to operate M.S. Rau Antiques on Royal Street, a French Quarter fixture since 1912. Annette served on the boards of Jewish communal groups, including one with Jake Schwartz.

Above: In September 2005, Head of School Stan Beiner (left) helps welcome Katrina families Susan Levitas and Jake Schwartz and daughter Cydney and Laura Fuhrman and daughters Allison and Melissa to the Epstein School.

Left: Now that daughters Sarah, Melissa and Allison are adults, George and Laura Fuhrman are again living in metro New Orleans.

Mark Merlin, a 38-year-old New Orleans native, was a radiation oncologist in practice with his father. Mickie Merlin, 37, was an at-home mom looking after Zachary, a third-grader, and Raye Claire, a kindergartner about to turn 6.

Hurricane Katrina was churning in the Gulf of Mexico. When the storm

came ashore and the levees failed, most of the city was flooded. The home addresses of these four families changed in the days and weeks that followed, and they became part of the significant community of Jewish former New Orleanians living in Atlanta.

Ten years ago, the Atlanta Jewish Times told the story of Cydney’s

bat mitzvah: how she had learned her haftorah, how her dresses for synagogue and party were ready, and how at 5 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28, she fled with her father and stepmother the day before Katrina made landfall.

The family came to Atlanta and the Toco Hills home of Levitas’ parents, former Congressman Elliott and Barbara Levitas. Back in New Orleans, 6 to 8 feet of water filled the Schwartz home, destroying the first floor, filled with memorabilia and photos.

Schwartz was grateful for the refuge. “It almost goes without saying how much we have appreciated Atlanta’s outstretched arms and welcoming us in,” he said a decade ago.

When it became clear that a nearterm return to New Orleans was out of the question, Barbara Levitas placed a phone call to Rabbi Neil Sandler at Ahavath Achim Synagogue and set in motion a plan to save the bat mitzvah.

Arrangements were made for Cydney’s service to be held Sept. 17 in the small chapel at Ahavath Achim. Jewish

SOUTHEASTERN NEWS Melissa Fuhrman sees herself as both a New Orleanian and an Atlantan. “Even though it felt uncertain at the time, I think it gave me two really great communities,” she said. “I sort of feel like I have two homes, two communities, two peoples behind me. I think that it gave me really great opportunities.”

In January 2006, Atlanta also became the home of one of Jake Schwartz’s colleagues on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.

Annette Rau said that if Katrina had never happened, she and Jack, the parents of Rabbi Steven Rau of The Temple, probably would have remained in New Orleans. The storm and the devastation that followed made the decision about the next phase of their life easier.

They had grown tired of the annual hurricane threat. Storms had forced them away from New Orleans and to their daughter’s home in Waco, Texas, during the High Holidays in 2003 and 2004. Katrina was the proverbial last straw.

Jack worked at the antiques store until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27. The Raus then left for Waco, planning to return in a few days.

“We were in the family business, so he had no real idea of retiring,” Annette said. After the storm hit and the levees failed, “we retired within 24 hours of Katrina.”

The business remains in family hands.

The Raus lived close to their synagogue, Beth Israel, a Modern Orthodox congregation dating to 1857.

When the levees failed, Beth Israel, located in the Lakeview area near Lake Pontchartrain, suffered flooding more than 8 feet deep. The water destroyed seven Torahs and more than 3,000 prayer books.

The Raus’ home, just blocks from Beth Israel, also flooded.

The Raus, married for 50 years, now live in Dunwoody, a few miles from their son and his wife and their five children. They chose Atlanta rather than Waco for size and opportunities in the Jewish community.

“At that time, a lot of our friends were doing the same thing, going where their children are, leaving New Orleans after the storm,” Annette Rau said. “People our age, 60 and over, were the ones who made the mass exodus from New Orleans.”

They thought they might join an Orthodox congregation but felt wel-

Continued on the next page

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geography added to the day. One of the two girls to become b’not mitzvah in the main sanctuary was the daughter of the woman with whom Susan Levitas had shared her own bat mitzvah in 1974. The other girl was a cousin. The Levitases had relatives in common with both of those families.

Cydney’s rabbi from New Orleans, who also had evacuated to Atlanta, conducted the service. Relatives went between the Kiddushes afterward. An Atlanta company donated its services so that Cydney would have a party. Cydney’s mother, who had escaped Katrina to Texas, recovered the dresses and brought them from New Orleans. The bat mitzvah kippot were shipped to Atlanta from Schwartz’s law office.

A decade later, Levitas combines Jewish communal projects with her professional life. Schwartz’s law practice has expanded. Annie, born in Atlanta six months after Hurricane Katrina, is an active 9½-year-old.

After the move to Atlanta, Cydney, now 23 and studying art direction at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, enrolled at the Epstein School in Sandy Springs, where her classmates included a couple of familiar faces from New Orleans, Melissa and Allison Fuhrman, whose older sister, Sarah, entered the Weber School.

The Fuhrmans joined Congregation Beth Shalom, where Melissa’s relocated bat mitzvah celebration was held in the fall of 2005.

“I think that Atlanta provided consistency, and there were good opportunities here for our family, both Jewishly and secularly,” Melissa Fuhrman said. As a result, from mid-September 2005 until the summer of 2006, George Fuhrman worked at Ochsner while maintaining a home in Atlanta.

Only after youngest daughter Allison followed her sisters and graduated in 2012 from Weber did George and Laura Fuhrman move back to Old Metairie within a half-mile of their old home, and George returned to Ochsner.

Their oldest daughter, Sarah, graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and remained in New York to work in the fashion industry.

Allison is on track to graduate from the University of Texas in May with a degree in bilingual education.

Middle sister Melissa, meanwhile, returned to Atlanta this summer after graduating in May from the University of Maryland, where she majored in Jewish studies. Living in Buckhead, she works as a fellow in Midtown with the Schusterman Family Foundation, which works with young people to ensure a strong Jewish future.

AJT 15

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

SOUTHEASTERN NEWS

Mississippi Congregation NOLA’s Loss, Atlanta’s Gain Just Wants to Forget continued from previous page

By Larry Brook Southern Jewish Life

services since the storm, with a rabbi and cantor supplied by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The or Brad Kessie, the president of congregation met at Beauvoir United Congregation Beth Israel in Gulf- Methodist Church until a new building port, Miss., the 10th anniversary — several miles inland in Gulfport — of Hurricane was completed Katrina “can in April 2009. come and go as Katrina quickly as poscaused only misible.” nor damage at MississipTemple B’nai Ispi’s only synarael in Hattiesgogue along burg, though the Gulf Coast the congregamarked the antion’s rabbi at niversary at its the time, Celso Shabbat service Cukierkorn, deFriday, Aug. 28. scribed the city The first part as looking like a of the service war zone. was held at the At the congregation’s Henry S. Jacobs former location, Camp in Utica, the corner of the storm damCamellia Street aged the camp and Southern dam, draining Photo by Michael Jacobs Avenue in Bithe lake. About Four months after Hurricane Katrina, the loxi, then the 150 New Orleaabandoned Biloxi location of Congregation Beth Israel was still littered with the congregation nians took refremnants of the brick façade. proceeded to uge at the camp, the new locaand a week aftion in Gulfport for the rest of the ser- ter the storm the Reform movement vice and a special oneg. and the camp set up Jacobs Ladder, a While much of the focus of the warehouse for distributing relief aid 10th anniversary of Hurricane Ka- throughout the region. trina is on New Orleans and the levee Kessie said Beth Israel, Missisbreach there, Mississippi’s Gulf Coast sippi’s only Conservative congregation, felt the brunt of the storm itself when had about 65 members before Katrina. it crashed ashore Aug. 29, 2005.

At the time of the 2009 dedication in The storm brought a surge that Gulfport, there were about 45 memflattened structures, often leaving a bers; currently about 50 families are concrete slab as the only evidence members. buildings had been there. Casinos that Many older members died soon afhad been built over the Gulf of Mexico ter Katrina, losing some of the congrewere lifted and placed on what was left gation’s institutional memory, but Kesof the beach highway. sie said Beth Israel has “more children Beth Israel was two blocks from at this point than we did before, which the beach. While the building still is exciting.” stood, much of the brick façade was The new building has many items peeled away, and water that flooded in rescued from the old building, includmade the building a moldy, unusable ing the Tree of Life, some of the stained mess. glass windows and the Ten CommandThirteen Beth Israel families lost ments that hung over the entrance. their homes in the storm. A Chabad “We have enough of the past sprinkled team wandered the now-unmarked in that we haven’t lost too much of who streets, using a community list from we were,” Kessie said, “but at the same previous visits to make sure everyone time we’re moving forward.” in the community was accounted for After 10 years “everybody has been and giving assistance as needed. able to put their lives back together,” he One month later, the congregation said. “We don’t think much about Kawas able to hold Rosh Hashanah ser- trina anymore. It’s there. It’s always in vices at Keesler Air Force Base, the first our minds, but we don’t talk about it.” ■

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

F

AJT 16

comed at The Temple, the Reform congregation where their son has been the director of lifelong learning since 2002.

“You miss the camaraderie of the city,” Annette Rau said of New Orleans.

“You miss the friends you made over the years. They’ve all scattered. You leave a community, and you build a life somewhere else. You keep going. Atlanta was a very welcoming community.

You have everything right here.”

They keep in touch with family and friends in New Orleans and visit every three or four months. A number of their friends relocated to Atlanta, and the ex-New Orleans Jews stay in touch and get together frequently.

Katrina’s approach wasn’t on the radar for the Merlins. Mark had patients needing his attention. Friday, Aug. 26, was Raye Claire’s sixth birthday party with her school friends, and Mickie heard little talk about the storm. The Merlins recently had written a check to an architect to begin renovations on their home in the Lakewood area, near Lake Pontchartrain.

Mickie was out to lunch when a girlfriend whose husband worked at the Weather Channel called and told her to get out of New Orleans. Mickie called Mark, and they headed out Saturday, taking enough clothing for a long weekend. Their destination choices were Chattanooga, where Mickie’s mother lived, and Atlanta, where Mickie’s sister had a house with a yard to accommodate the Merlins’ three dogs.

On Monday, Aug. 29, Mickie’s brother-in-law was watching television and told her that some of the levees had failed and New Orleans was flooded.

Mickie saw video of people sitting on a rail bridge with their feet dangling in the water. She recognized the bridge and knew her neighborhood was underwater.

The Merlins are University of Georgia graduates, and he did his residency at the Medical College of Georgia. He quickly joined Radiotherapy Clinics of Georgia so that he could stay active professionally. The children enrolled at the Davis Academy.

When they returned to New Orleans to check on their home — as a doctor, Mark could enter closed-off areas — they found the first floor of their two-story home flooded and the entire structure mold-infested. They salvaged what they could and returned to Atlanta.

“To me, the silver lining in the

whole Katrina thing was I finally got to move to Atlanta, where I always wanted to live because my family is here. … It was a homecoming of a bit. It felt very natural,” Mickie said recently, recalling that she attended Camp Barney Medintz as a girl.

After the Davis Academy, Zachary graduated from Mount Vernon Presbyterian School and now attends the University of South Carolina. Raye Claire is in high school at Mount Vernon. Mark, whose parents and extended family remain in New Orleans, turned his work with Radiotherapy Clinics of Georgia into a full-time position.

In New Orleans, the Merlins belonged to Touro Synagogue, the first synagogue founded outside the original 13 colonies. In Atlanta, they are members of Temple Sinai, like Touro a Reform congregation.

Annette Rau, who had been president of the New Orleans chapter of Hadassah, was set to become vice president of Federation and was active in Israel Bonds campaigns. Jake Schwartz was the president of the New Orleans Jewish Community Center board of directors and served on the executive boards of Federation and the South Central Region of the Anti-Defamation League.

Annette Rau saw Schwartz at the Marcus JCC not long after moving to Atlanta. “We were big fish in a small pond” in New Orleans’ Jewish community, about one-twelfth the size of Atlanta’s 10 years ago, she recalled saying to him. “Now we’re small fish in a big pond.”

For Schwartz, the damage from the storm and the hospitality in Atlanta were enough to make the move permanent.

“While my wife, Susan, and I both have a tremendous attachment to New Orleans, neither of us were from there, and we had no family living in New Orleans,” he said. “My wife is an Atlanta native going back several generations on both sides, and we have truly benefited by having family nearby.”

Levitas measures the past decade

by Annie’s growth. “I recall her baby naming at Shearith Israel,” she said. “I brought three jars of water: one represented the Mississippi River in New Orleans (the place she was supposed to be born); one was the Chattahoochee River (her new home and the home of her large extended family); and the third represented the Jordan River (the river

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

SOUTHEASTERN NEWS

Atlanta Opened Its Heart

Katrina relief came through the Shearith Israel Night Shelter

T

ravel back with me to late August 2005. We all knew Katrina was coming. We all watched the meteorologists project the paths she could take. None of the scenarios was good.

Katrina formed as a tropical depression over the Bahamahs on Aug. 23 and grew as strong as a Category 5 hurricane before hitting the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 on Monday, Aug. 29. That day we saw New Orleans submerged after the levees failed.

In Atlanta, we watched the disaster unfold in slow motion. We saw the devastation, the people stranded on rooftops, the misery of those who had sought refuge at the Superdome. We empathized with our neighbors and wondered what we could do to help.

We felt frustrated and powerless.

Then we caught wind that some of the evacuees would be heading to Atlanta, and we got busy.

In a brief conversation, Howie Slomka, who was the president of Congregation Shearith Israel, said the board was thinking of opening the night shelter, which typically opens for winter each November, to the Katrina evacuees. As a serial volunteer mom, I quietly said, “I should help with that.”

All of Atlanta was looking for a way to help. We simply needed to focus

that energy. The shelter provided that place.

Synagogue member Genie Sockel verbalized what we all felt: We wanted to do something but felt helpless for “a way to channel that wish to do more.”

When she got to the shelter, she recalled, “I was just really struck by how much people had donated.”

She added, “I just felt a great sense of pride that I belonged to a community that had such an overwhelming desire to Photos courtesy of Albert Barrocas help.”

Albert and Maxine Barrocas pose with their grandchildren in the summer before Katrina and this summer.

Katrina relief through the Shearith Isshelter. We strategized and made a list brushes and toothpaste. Annette rerael Night Shelter became the largest, of needed supplies, and that day I won called a family donating five TVs. One most intense, extensive, expansive, her respect by cleaning, among other woman shopped for us at Sam’s Club, time-consuming, exhausting, mar- things, the toilets. only to find she was a few dollars short. riage-threatening, eye-opening, aweOn Sept. 5 an e-blast went out to When the cashier realized her purchasinspiring and rewarding two-month the congregation about our needs. Vol- es were for Katrina relief, she keyed in volunteer effort in which I had ever unteers, supplies and donations began a discount so the purchases could be taken part. But I had the best seat of all: pouring in. People came to wash linens made with change to spare.

I got to see the size of people’s hearts.

Word spread through the Atlanta and make beds, fold and sort clothes, Until now, much of that effort has and hang out racks so evacuees could Jewish and then the greater commubeen locked away in my memory and “shop.” The items we requested, from nity. in the 2-inch binder used to keep track paper goods to soup, a coffee urn and Housing requests through of it all.

MoveOn.org and other organizations fans, arrived.

I met with Annette Easton, a synaDentist Howard Abrahams degogue member very involved with the livered laundry baskets full of toothcontinued on the next page

continued from previous page

NOLA’s Loss, Atlanta’s Gain of her Jewish homeland). I also talked about the three rivers of Pittsburgh, Jake’s hometown, that course through that city. Rivers and water were on my mind quite a bit back then.”

Annie attends Paideia, the school her mother attended. “My father cosigned the loan for the school, and we were there the day the doors opened in 1971,” Levitas said.

On Sundays, Annie goes to the Levitases’ for lunch and a game of cards.

“Cydney and Annie have grown up with their extended family here. We had no family on either side in New Orleans. This is the best thing that has come of our lives in Atlanta,” Susan Levitas said.

On the communal side, Levitas is the president of the board of Jewish Kids Groups, an independent, “ridicu-

lously cool” Hebrew school with two sites in Atlanta and more planned. She also served on the board of Rebecca’s Tent, the women’s shelter that was started by Congregation Shearith Israel and was a center for post-Katrina relief efforts.

“I miss New Orleans in a quiet, background sort of way. It’s in my heart,” Levitas said. “My cellphone number is the same, with the 504 area code. I love seeing that and feeling that tiny tether to my old home place.

It’s a small but proud reminder of my former life. It makes me feel like I still belong.”

Schwartz joined the Atlanta office of the national law firm Jackson Lewis, which opened a New Orleans branch, allowing him to maintain his clients there. He won the case he argued (with

his very pregnant wife in attendance) in January 2006 before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Professionally, my transition to Atlanta has been a high mark of my career,” he said. “I have benefited greatly by the larger business community and have been blessed to come into contact with many friends who also now have become clients.”

Schwartz has the feeling of being, if not an Atlantan, at least settled in Atlanta. “For several years, when I would travel back to New Orleans, I would always lament that but for my family’s connection to Atlanta, I would come back to New Orleans,” he said. “In the last couple of years, that has changed, and I came to realize that I am also now connected to Atlanta. … I have really come to appreciate what Atlanta offers Jewishly. Shearith Israel has really welcomed us, and I have created meaningful relationships there. We also attend Limmud at Ramah Darom each Labor

Day. All in all, it is hard for me to say what life would have been like had the storm never occurred, but I can say we are now at home in Atlanta.”

Well, almost all of him is at home in Atlanta. Schwartz is still looking for a barber to replace his favorite shop, Aidan Gill for Men, on Magazine Street in New Orleans. Like his wife, he still has a 504 area code on his cellphone.

And you can take the Pittsburgh boy (and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh law school) out of Pittsburgh and transplant him in New Orleans and replant him in Atlanta, but certain allegiances cannot be broken, particularly when it comes to professional football. “The Steelers are No. 1, the Saints are No. 2, and I have no interest in the Falcons,” Schwartz said. “I will say, however, that I have become a Hawks fan.”

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

By Leah R. Harrison

AJT

Michael Jacobs contributed to this report.

17

SOUTHEASTERN NEWS

Atlanta Opened Its Heart

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began to come in. Atlanta Travelers Aid told us 300 people were on the way.

Heart-wrenching phone calls came from people driving toward Atlanta and trying to find us, only for some calls to be dropped or for cellphone batteries to die.

The needs were urgent, and our knowledge of them became immediate.

The entire synagogue responded, and we were forced to circulate this note asking for patience: “Dear Shearith Israel Congregants: Working with you on our Hurricane Relief efforts is an honor and a privilege. We are inspired beyond belief by your overwhelming enthusiasm and generosity. The shelter is overflowing with your gifts, supplies and donations. Our voicemail and e-mail systems are clogged with your messages about donations and offers to help. Please be patient with us — we are trying to get back to each and every one of you. There are just so many responses!”

The community united in providing aid. Trays of kosher food arrived from Ahavath Achim Synagogue on more than one occasion. We worked with JF&CS to accommodate people.

We were contacted by City Hall, CNN, DeKalb County Hurricane Relief, Federation, Georgia Parent Support Network, the Israeli Consulate and even a Girl Scout troop. The Temple Shelter was responding; Congregation B’nai Torah was hosting displaced people and offering help for anything needed.

We were informed through synagogue member Norman Siegel that six apartments at the Montclair on Clairmont Road would be given to six families for six months. We identified recipient families and asked synagogue members and businesses to “adopt” the furnishing of any of the apartments.

Specifics, such as two parents and a 9-year-old girl, were circulated to tailor donations. In addition to the shelter, we focused on fully furnishing and supplying those apartments as kitchen and cleaning supplies, linens, lamps, youth bedding, coffee tables, microwaves, televisions and calls to pick up all types of donated furniture poured in from all parts of the city.

The constant calls made it impossible to keep my cellphone charged.

Crews had to be organized and trucks rented to pick up furniture from church groups, multiple locations in Atlanta and outlying areas. Offers came in from normal guys, some of whom had friends with trucks, to pick up and deliver the furniture allocated

to each apartment.

For example, on Thursday, Sept. 8, Doug Brown of Brown Bag Marketing, and a neighbor and friend of Shearith member Lorrie Nadler’s, sent an email: “I have a small marketing firm in Buckhead and I have told my folks that whoever wanted to join me next Monday … could do so to see how we could help you guys out.” He had already enlisted seven people and a pickup truck, and they completed a furniture and delivery route for the apartments Sept. 12.

For some reason we received lots of recliners and heavy sofa beds — the bane of any volunteer mover’s existence. Zac Pasmanick’s real estate team offered the use of its moving truck.

Georgia Backyard called to have us pick up items it was donating. A rehabilitation hospital kept calling, trying to give us four hospital beds.

An account was opened to accept monetary donations. It covered expenses such as truck rental and bought supplies and gift cards for the evacuees.

Meanwhile, the shelter continued to overflow, and the volunteers were busy funneling things back out to the apartments and others in need.

Returning to the shelter after delivering pillows, linens, laundry baskets, cutting boards, sets of plates and silverware, clothes, and cleaning supplies to the apartments, I found the doors blocked with garbage bags of new clothing from T.J. Maxx. Every day the entryway overflowed with donations, now from churches and the greater community as well as the Jewish community.

Move-in day at the Montclair for the families in the last two apartments was in early October. The last and largest one housed three generations of the Barrocas family to give them time to communicate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, submit insurance claims, deal with adjusters, work and chart courses to begin anew.

Natalie and Michael Cohen and their two children arrived first. Natalie said the largest concern was getting her parents here. Her father, Albert Barrocas, was the chief medical officer of Methodist Hospital in New Orleans, and he stayed, with wife Maxine, to care for patients and see the hospital through terrible conditions.

Albert and Maxine took the last helicopter out Sept. 2 and landed at DeKalb Peachtree Airport after many connections around midnight. It was only then, after almost a week with little to no news, that the family was

reunited.

“It just goes to show you,” Albert said. “You think things are going well, and all of a sudden you’re homeless in two states.”

Six Barrocas family members lived in the only three-bedroom we had available. Pleased at the opportunity to come together in this effort, the Feldman/Bagen/Bressler family had adopted this apartment, in addition to others. After getting to know the Barrocas family, together with mother Clara Feldman, the Bagens and Bresslers made countless trips to furniture stores to outfit the apartment.

Terri Bagen recalled becoming aware of the devastation the family had suffered in losing everything. “It was a time of a lot of highs and lows because when you meet new people and at the end of the day they’re better off than they were that morning, that was kind of a high, but the circumstance and what these people had been through, I’m not sure a piece of them ever recovers from that.”

Speaking about her family’s compulsion to help, Bagen said: “Our perspective is we were feeling so impotent, and the fact that our synagogue gave us the opportunity to reach out and do was very important to us at that time.

And the fact that we were able to do it as a family was … it was very important for us to do it together as our family.”

Her husband, Laury, concurred.

Bagen said her mother “wasn’t young, and she wasn’t a shopper, but she did that IKEA trip every time with us. … I can’t call it good family memories, but it was maybe a wonderful family experience for us.”

Albert Barrocas praised the Jewish and secular community support for the Katrina families, including donations and gift cards and even interest-free loans made available through JF&CS and Federation. Spots in schools were created for his grandchildren at Oak Grove Elementary and at the Marcus Jewish Community Center preschool that was at Shearith Israel.

The Barrocas family remains grateful for the help from Shearith Israel and other synagogues, and I get a call and thank-you card from the doctor every Thanksgiving.

In January 2006, Barrocas became the chief medical officer of South Fulton Medical Center, and is now CMO of Atlanta Medical Center South. The family moved into a new home in Sandy Springs in June 2006.

Shearith member Erin Chernow’s family is from New Orleans. Her father and his wife evacuated to Texas, while her cousins came to Atlanta.

She said that getting to Atlanta was like survival of the fittest. Much of the Gulf Coast was shut down, so it was easier to go west than east. Nonetheless, her cousins made it here and settled in Marietta.

“People were coming out of the woodwork with everything they had,” Chernow said. “The needs just got filled. … (It) is nice to know that in a crisis people can pull together and just do what needs to get done.”

Like her cousins, Chernow said, most of the evacuees who came here stayed. “They set their lives up here.”

The needs and urgency in Katrina’s wake began to subside. On Oct. 18, an email to the synagogue director read, “Please let everyone on staff know that we are no longer accepting donations in the shelter for hurricane relief. I know you have already put the word out to the congregation, but now we really have to officially stop accepting them! No matter how much we organize them, more keep appearing every time I go down there — to this day!”

We still needed an organizing committee to go through the bags that accumulated in the front hall of the shelter.

On the Thanksgiving after Katrina, I was again humbled to get effusive thank-you calls from three of our resettled families. Life moves forward, but those we assisted made an indelible impact on us as we did on them.

Hurricane Katrina relief revealed the best in our community. For a long time afterward I felt guilty that, in exhaustion, I had not followed up with detailed thank-you letters for donors’ records. Only later did I realize there was no 501(c)(3) charitable organization or tax-exempt status. People opened their homes and their hearts because they could and felt compelled to.

We can be proud of what we did.

Believe me, it was a lot.

After 10 years, revisiting what we did as a community was an emotional experience. Many more helping hands and selfless acts of kindness come to mind than are mentioned above. For all the destruction and havoc Katrina wreaked on so very many lives, she brought us together to do the best we could for those who came to our city. I am humbled and honored to have had this particular insight into all that we together did do for those in need.

A final thought: Ten years is too long to have gone, and my memory and handwritten binder are inadequate to catalog the depth of your combined response. For any of you who helped in the relief effort or had related experiences, please comment on this story online and share your memories. ■

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SOUTHEASTERN NEWS

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LOCAL NEWS

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Understanding Blooms at Black-Jewish Retreat

By Benjamin Kweskin

O

n the way to the biennial Project Understanding Black-Jewish Retreat, Mimi Hall, a 2013 project participant, said: “If I decided tomorrow I don’t want to be Jewish, no one, including the police, would treat me any differently. African-Americans do not have that same luxury as Jews.”

“Driving while Jewish” is not a real thing. Jews are neither harassed nor closely watched in stores, and Jews make up a minuscule percentage of inmates in America’s overcrowded, increasingly privatized prisons. Though anti-Semitism is still an issue in the United States, its overall impact is nowhere near what it was decades ago.

But African-Americans continue to face many of the same social, structural and economic ills that have plagued them since the abolition of slavery and advent of Jim Crow laws.

The weekend of Aug. 22 and 23, the American Jewish Committee’s Atlanta Chapter hosted the biennial retreat at the Wyndham Hotel and Conference Center in Peachtree City. Established in 1989, Project Understanding seeks to break down barriers and bring together the black and Jewish communities.

The program facilitates discussions about race, income inequality, educational disparities, police brutality, anti-Semitism, the Arab-Israel conflict and other issues. Luminaries such as Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and recently deceased civil rights leader Ju-

lian Bond have been involved with the Black-Jewish Coalition.

Sponsored by the Marvin C. Goldstein Project Understanding Young Leadership Retreat Endowment Fund and the Lois Frank and Terri and Mickey Lubin/Atlanta Regional Office Endowment Fund, the coalition holds Project Understanding every other year.

“It was very interesting for me to meet people on both sides who didn’t come from diverse backgrounds like myself and had no concept of the other,” 2013 alumna Lauren Linder said.

“Yes, this program facilitates a safe space and environment, but we do discuss many tough issues.”

Nearly 100 applicants applied for the 32 slots, evenly split between blacks and Jews. The conference offered seminars such as “Everything I’ve Always Wanted to Know,” “What We Would Like Them to Know About Us” and “What Difference Are We Going to Make as a Community and Coalition?”

“Growing up in Atlanta, I have worked with many African-Americans, and I wanted to better understand their community,” one of this year’s participants, Renée Rosenheck, said. “It was a great opportunity to learn and collaborate towards future social change.”

One of the major takeaways for her was that the black community “still feels the after-effects of slavery on a daily basis. The sheer fact that only 30 percent of black males graduate from high school is appalling. It was also

Photo by Benjamin Kweskin

(From left) Ceasar Mitchell, Sherry Frank, Arnie Sidman and B.J. Bernstein participate in the Project Understanding panel discussion Sunday, Aug. 23.

important to learn that many AfricanAmericans have a deep respect and admiration for the Jewish community’s successes.”

The only part of the conference open to alumni and the public was the Sunday afternoon luncheon and panel discussion, moderated by lawyer B.J. Bernstein.

Panelist Arnie Sidman, author of “From Race to Renewal,” said that given its special history and demographic makeup, Atlanta is the place to talk about race in America.

“You have the ability to change the city and country for the next decades to come, depending on how you deal with current issues facing our communities,” said panelist Ceasar Mitchell, the president of the Atlanta City Council and a Project Understanding alum.

Fellow panelist and Black-Jewish Coalition founder Sherry Frank said:

New Tribe Reaches Out to Young Adults

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

A

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

conversation at a Kehilla Lag B’Omer event has led to the creation of Atlanta’s latest organization by and for young adults, Tribe Atlanta.

Zack Feldberg said he and Kehilla Rabbi Karmi David Ingber talked about what was missing among local Jewish organizations, as well as the need of the Sandy Springs congregation to renew its outreach to young adults.

Feldberg, 26, and Erica Pomerance, also 26 but not a Kehilla member, formed a board with some other friends and brainstormed on the needs of 21- to 39-year-olds.

“Other young-adult groups don’t necessarily teach you anything about 20 Judaism. They’re more social,” Pomer-

AJT

ance said. And some of those social events are huge and sell out in days, making it tough for people who aren’t already connected with the Jewish community.

Both Feldberg and Pomerance are involved in other young-adult groups, so the goal isn’t to compete. Instead, Tribe Atlanta is trying to fill a niche for learning and socializing together in a casual, inviting setting.

“Tribe Atlanta recognizes that young adults are motivated in different ways and so we strive to create a plethora of entry points for young adults to experience the beauty of being Jewish,” the group’s description says.

The goal, Feldberg and Pomerance said, is to hold an event once a month and do classes twice a month. The classes planned include the basics of Judaism, Kabbalah, love and Judaism,

and life after death. Rabbi Ingber will do most of the teaching.

As for the social events, they’ll usually be more than just getting together to drink, such as a paintball outing or a kayaking trip that was rained out in August.

That said, the kickoff event is a preRosh Hashanah party Thursday, Sept.

10, at Lost Dog Tavern that Feldberg acknowledged will largely be drinking and socializing. The difference, Rabbi Ingber said, is that Tribe will facilitate the meeting of new people.

That’s something the group also did at its first Shabbat dinner Friday night, Aug. 28, at the Kehilla. Seating arrangements were made by drawing from a hat.

Tribe Atlanta is open to all and doesn’t require membership dues. The best way to get involved is to join the

“These relationships must be personal and real. These relations must be sustained, and we must deal with all issues, whether it is ‘driving while black’ or other unjust policies, and we must continue to push to change legislation.”

James Hammond, a project participant born and raised in Atlanta, said the retreat helped him understand the similarities and differences between blacks and Jews in terms of historical and current discrimination. “I did not realize Jews faced discrimination in the U.S. post-Holocaust.”

He said the new project alumni won’t leave behind what they learned at the retreat. Instead, they “are bringing this to our communities and continuing our conversation so we can act upon them. We are agents and liaisons to and for our communities.”

His only complaint: “The retreat should be much longer.”

open Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/108794386129975 (or search for Tribe Atlanta on Facebook).

Nearly 600 people have joined in less than two months.

Tribe doesn’t have a membership goal, but it wants to create a buzz. Feldberg said, “I want people to hear Tribe Atlanta is doing something next weekend and be excited about it.” ■

Who: Tribe Atlanta What: The PRoHaPpening: Pre-Rosh Hashanah Party Where: Lost Dog Tavern, 3182 Roswell Road, Buckhead When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10 Admission: $5 in advance or $10 at the door; thekehillaorg.shulcloud.com/ tribeatlanta

BUSINESS

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

From Moshav Lettuce to Restaurant Kale Roi Shlomo presses healthy dining trends

Jaffe: Why kale?

Shlomo: It’s high in vitamins and low in calories. I was also looking for a fun and catchy business name. My favorite juice is Kale Yeah; it has kale, spinach, cucumber, apple and lemon.

One of our goals is to provide nutritional foods on the go. We worked side by side with nutritionists to create our

Jaffe: Is juicing a fad?

Jaffe’s Jewish Jive

By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

Shlomo: No, juicing is not a fad; it’s a lifestyle. Each bottle contains about 2½ pounds of produce, making nutrition easy for all. Our juices are prepared fresh on the premises that day. What you buy elsewhere might be pasteurized. We cold-press the produce so oxygen is limited, providing longer freshness, higher nutritional content and a better-tasting juice.

Jaffe: So how do you plan for Kale

Me Crazy to fold out?

Shlomo: Our growth philosophy is slow, safe, smart. Right now we are focused on the Southeast region and a few other major cities. My brother moved here to run the corporate stores. I plan to keep four stores as corporate and franchise the rest. Franchising is quite a different business, for which we have brokers.

line is we have well overexceeded our performance projections.

Jaffe: As an Israeli, how do you feel about politics?

Shlomo: Let’s leave politics out. …

But I think there is a meaningful place in the American economy for more encouragement for small businesses.

Kale Me Crazy is open in Decatur at 358 W. Ponce de Leon Ave. and Inman Park at 300 N. Highland Ave. Watch for more mezuzot on Shlomo’s doors: • Midtown, 100 Sixth St. in the new Skyhouse, is opening in October.

• Sandy Springs, Wieuca and Roswell roads, opens in November.

• Buckhead opens in January.

• Brookhaven opens in March. ■

Photo by Sara Hanna

Roi Shlomo has moved on from frozen yogurt to cold-pressed juices.

Jaffe: What have been some of the obstacles?

Shlomo: Top-notch lease locations can be a challenge. Some landlords are old-fashioned and don’t understand our cutting-edge concept. Atlanta is changing as educated people are willing to pay a bit more for quality and to get away from pasteurization, canned sugars and sweeteners. The bottom

Atlanta History Center

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.

An exhibition by the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France.

AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Filming

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

Jaffe: Why are you attracted to the organic market? Going in next to Sprouts on the border of Buckhead and Sandy Springs is brilliant.

Shlomo: Let’s back up. I grew up on a predominantly organic diet and home-cooked meals. In Israel we didn’t have the preponderance of food allergies (soy, gluten, dairy) that Americans have, probably because of the genetically modified organisms.

Thus, it is difficult to find good-quality food while dining out. Remember, Kale Me Crazy is not just juices. We have a full menu with smoothies, superfood shots, salads, and healthy wraps like wild-caught tuna, wild salmon, organic turkey and chicken.

menu. We offer a barlike atmosphere with superfood shots in place of alcohol. We also have catering for those who are weary of the abundance of unhealthy options.

Samuel Fuller’s Bell & Howell Camera © Courtesy of the, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California, Coll. Christa Fuller

R

oi Shlomo is a young, handsome Israeli on the crest of a culinary trend with Kale Me Crazy: organic juices and a full menu of healthy, organic foods.

Shlomo is best known for selfserve frozen yogurt. Remember how excited we were when Yogli Mogli opened at Roswell and Abernathy roads?

Shlomo got in early (2009), built up units in five states, and sold out in 2013.

“In my view, the market was getting oversaturated, eventually leveling out. I sold out to U-Swirl, who still uses my Yogli Mogli name,” Shlomo said.

Shlomo has earned his education in hard knocks, perseverance, trial and error. After growing up harvesting lettuce on Moshav Noga near Ashkelon, a frequent target of rockets from Gaza, he served as an Israel Defense Forces air force ground trainer.

He bounced from New York to Baltimore, then Houston and Las Vegas, selling jewelry, mall cosmetics and carpet cleaning, and bottomed out in the real estate recession.

Shlomo came up with the frozen yogurt concept in Atlanta “because we are so family-oriented.”

AJT 21

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

FOOD

‘Retirement for Now’ For Brickery Owners

Sandy Springs restaurant’s last hurrah will be February national burger contest

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

S

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

ince 1992, the Brickery Grill & Bar has served as a community gathering place and source of comfort food in Sandy Springs, but the Jewishowned eatery announced Monday, Aug. 24, that it will close in December.

The restaurant’s shopping center at Roswell and Hilderbrand roads is being torn down to make room for a multiuse development in Sandy Springs’ downtown overhaul. Rather than search for a new location, owners Bruce and Sally Alterman decided to close up shop.

“Finding a new location for the restaurant became difficult primarily because of the timeline,” Bruce Alterman said.

“There are a lot of moving parts getting from Point A to Point B. Because we knew we had to be out of here in December, it took almost a Hail Mary approach to see if we could put all those parts in place, and we weren’t able to.

As soon as we realized that, we went to all of our wonderful preferred customers and let them know.”

In the three days after the announcement of the closing by email and Facebook, Alterman said, he received over 1,900 email messages from customers thanking him for two decades of memories.

The restaurant’s catering operation, which under Sally Alterman’s leadership has long served the High Holiday, simcha and shiva needs of nonkosher members of the Jewish

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community, will also cease operations in December. The 65-year-old couple thus will be out of work for the first time in 24 years.

“Closing the Brickery means retirement for now,” Bruce Alterman said.

“But we are entrepreneurial people and always have been. Now that the pressure of finding a new location is over, it’s a great opportunity to spend these next four months closing this thing down with the kind of energy and celebration it deserves. If something were to happen and present itself after that, we would be wide open.”

Besides going out with a bang the next four months, the Altermans have an opportunity to add an exclamation point to their legacy. The day after announcing its closing, the Brickery learned that its iconic Caesar burger was voted the best hamburger in Atlanta as part of a nationwide contest run

by Hellmann’s and Best Foods mayonnaise.

Despite losing its home, the burger will compete for top national honors at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February in Miami.

The Brickery has not set an official closing date, but Alterman said he aims to keep it open as far into December as possible.

“I think you can look back and say we were very fortunate,” he said. “Sally and I were able to create a genuine restaurant that the community saw and appreciated for all these years. There were no animal heads on the wall, and nobody in short-shorts. We just ran a genuine neighborhood place.” ■

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Kosher Fest Delivers Over-the-Top Cuisine

S

ome 600 hungry revelers turned measured by the growth of its kosher out to sample the fare at Chabad observance.” of Georgia’s first Kosher Food & The sponsors enjoyed a private Wine Atlanta festival at the Georgia reception with fabulous dishes an Railroad Freight Depot Aug. 27. hour before the main event, and praise Caterer Sandra Bank of A Kosher came from around the room.

Touch was the night’s honoree.

“Sandra gives the host confidence “This is a huge honor.

As an immigrant 20 years ago, my welcome by the Jaffe’s Jewish Jive Jewish community was

By Marcia Caller Jaffe amazing,” the South Afrimjaffe@atljewishtimes.com can native said. “Rubbery, old-fashioned food has given kosher a bad rap.

We use the same oils and vinegar as other as she keeps everyone gourmet purveyors. calm, and it turns As a caterer, I have out perfectly,” Mark a need to please and Lichtenstein said. make people happy.

“I have used Over food, adults Sandra for several share stories — even events. I think what in sad times like she has done here shiva. I take pride in with marrying sushievery meal.” grade tuna with pizza Bank thanked and jalapeños is cool,” her staff, then conAngie Weiland said. fided, “Some say I am Chabad also woos not always easy to with bounteous Shabwork for.” bat meals, as my chilThose at the top dren enjoyed at Tulane of their craft rarely and the University of are.

Florida.

“Everyone has Appropriately, their own Sandra then, room after story,” Rebbetzin room of upscale food Dassie New said. and beverages did “Sandra has elevated not disappoint at kosher to a new level the kosher festival. in Atlanta.”

Curry chicken, Thai Rabbi Yossi New, beef with cucumber the head of Chabad salad, vegetarian corn of Georgia, complidogs, salmon sashimi, mented the crowd for flavored cotton candy, raising $120,000. He fruit, mushu barbecue said the Atlanta area brisket, hearts of palm now has 15 Chabad salad, smoked turkey centers. and prime rib were Top Down: Rabbi Isser New, just a few of the items.

Photo by Bonnie Moret Rabbi Yossi New’s son Track Seven Honoree Sandra Bank (left) received praise from Dassie New and one of the kosher transformed the and Rabbi Yossi New at the Kosher venue to a hip scene as festival’s organizers, Food & Wine Atlanta festival. said: “Bringing the aerialists hung from Photo by Marcia Caller Jaffe community together ceiling ribbons and University of Georgia Chabad for this food is a real music grooved. Bo Rabbi Michoel Refson and his mitzvah. As Chabad Lefkoff, Tessa Shabban wife, Chana, attend the festival celebrates 30 years in and Erin Lis chaired with student Megan Maziar.

Atlanta, this exemthe event.

Photo by Marcia Caller Jaffe plifies our impact.

Wine, Goza Jeff and Carrla Goldstein It is said that the tequila, SweetWater light up the sponsor party. growth of a Jewish beer and champagne Photo by Marcia Caller Jaffe. Dolce community can be presents a station of kosher Thai food. flowed. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ARTS

Elusive Identity

Emory visiting artist Eran Riklis confronts Israelis’ core struggles

E

ran Riklis doesn’t look like the director of some of Israel’s most important recent films.

Standing in late August in the glow of the big movie screen in a projection room at Emory University, where he’s a visiting lecturer, he was easy to imagine as a character in one of his iconoclastic films about Israeli life.

This soft-spoken bear of a man only betrays his celebrity when he casts a critical eye on Israel’s relationships between Arabs and Jews.

“In the last 20 years, at some point, we put aside the Palestinians. We said, ‘It’s never going to work. Let’s put a wall between us.’ So I think I am there as a small reminder it is not going to work that way,” Riklis said in an interview.

“Separation will not solve it. It will just delay it. It will cause more problems. It will cause more frustration.”

Israelis who have gotten used to a critical drumbeat from foreign nations are not always eager to hear what one of their own has to tell them.

Riklis’ stay at Emory has the theme of “Forging Cinematic Identities.” But he said that creating a modern Israeli identity has been a difficult process, laden with Jewish guilt.

“Deep down in every Israeli there is this notion: We are the chosen ones.

If we are, our society is supposed to be a perfect model for the world. Then when you realize it’s not, I think that’s the big tragedy,” he said. “We are like everybody else, and that’s what we’re trying to cope with and out of that to re-forge our identity.”

So while his films have been critically acclaimed worldwide the past decade, they have gotten a mixed response at home. That’s particularly true of three films.

“The Lemon Tree,” released in 2008, is about a Palestinian woman who takes on an Israeli defense minister building a home next to hers. The secret service demands that she cut down her grove of old lemon trees as a risk to his security. She goes to court and wins a small victory.

Israelis didn’t buy it.

They were also not eager to see two more films about Palestinians: 2012’s “Zaytoun,” about a Palestinian boy in Lebanon who saves the life of a downed Israeli fighter pilot, and last year’s “Dancing Arabs,” which played to a standing-room audience in Febru-

ary at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

“Dancing Arabs” had its first international showing to a crowd of 8,000 people at the Locarno Festival in Switzerland and was the talk of the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. But in Israel, despite a boost from Haaretz, it got a lukewarm response.

It had to be yanked from its scheduled premiere at the Jerusalem International Film Festival in 2014 because of the start of Israel’s war in Gaza. Nobody wanted to see a provocative, coming-of-age film about Arabs and Jews.

“The Palestinians, who are amongst us, are part of Israeli society.

Not Palestinians who are the enemythe West Bank or Gaza. These Arabs are Israeli citizens. They are 20 percent of the society, and you can’t just say they are good only for their nice food,” Riklis said. “Do you ever go beyond that? Do you ever go to somebody’s house? Do you ever try to explore what is going on in that village? Do you understand that those people don’t have running water?

I think that is what it is about.”

“Dancing Arabs” has gotten rave reviews during its U.S. commercial rollout this summer. It has been acclaimed as one of Riklis’ best in Washington and Los Angeles.

In Atlanta, the film, retitled “A Borrowed Identity” by its American distributor, opens Friday, Sept. 4, at the United Artists Tara Cinema 4 at La­Vista and Cheshire Bridge roads. Riklis will introduce the film at 7 p.m. Friday and 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday.

His Atlanta visit is a highlight of Emory’s fall artist series. Riklis’ threeweek campus visit, featuring three screenings and three lectures, was put together by Matthew Bernstein, who chairs the Emory film department.

“His films are an eloquent cinematic voice for common understanding among various peoples, cultures and traditions, a voice that has never been more relevant than in the past three decades,” Bernstein said.

Tuesday and Thursday, Sept. 8 and 10, at 7:30 p.m., Riklis will give his final two free lectures at Emory, in the Woodruff Library’s Jones Room on Tuesday and the Carlos Museum on Thursday.

Riklis’ international success has been fueled in part by financial support from French and German film funds and companies, and he was a pioneer in Israel in putting together international co-production film deals.

Filmmaker Eran Riklis is more popular abroad than at home in Israel.

Last fall Riklis taught for a semester at the University of Pennsylvania.

He spends half his time traveling the world these days and is philosophical about Israeli audiences.

“I am a little bit beyond that already,” he said. “I feel my audience is everywhere. It’s Atlanta, New York, London, Rio. I think it is very easy

for audiences; even if they have never heard of Israel, they adapt the story to their own culture.”

Fame helps Riklis soothe the sting he sometimes feels at home. He doesn’t have to be reminded about the first Jewish critical voices more than 2,500 years ago. The biblical prophets also didn’t get such hot reviews at first. ■

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www.atlantajewishtimes.com

SPORTS

Stepping Up to the Plate

Weber seniors lead off school’s first softball team

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

R

emy Zimmerman transferred to the Weber School from North Springs in the spring of 2013. As a freshman, she was eager to jump into everything her new school had to offer, including Weber’s wide variety of athletic programs.

But softball, the sport she had excelled in as a pitcher at Davis Academy and North Springs, wasn’t on the list.

Zimmerman wanted to start a team, but it wasn’t until a former teammate from North Springs, Meredith Galanti, transferred the next fall that the duo thought a softball team at Weber could become a reality.

“Remy and I have played together since we were 10 years old,” said Galanti, who plays catcher. “I came to Weber my sophomore year, and of course it was something that Remy and I talked about. At that point we had a pitcher and catcher; we just had to fill in the rest of the field.”

So Zimmerman and Galanti approached Weber Athletic Director David Moore in the fall of their sophomore year with the hope of rounding up a team. Moore helped them organize a lunch meeting to gauge interest, but only about 10 girls attended.

“At the first meeting, people

showed up, but there were only three of us really interested,” Zimmerman said. “It was hard getting people to come out who had played softball before.”

Despite that setback, Zimmerman and Galanti kept pushing for a chance to play softball at Weber. In their junior year, they rounded up enough girls committed to playing. From there, the group formed into a club and began creating a team and looking Seniors Meredith Galanti (left) and Remy Zimmerman (center), along with junior Mauri Viness, pushed for Weber to add softball as a school sport. Head coach Scott Seagraves says the future looks bright. for a coach.

For Moore, who said the Sandy Springs school has nev- baseball coach, was selected to lead the The 12-member squad was 0-5 er dropped a sport in his eight-year ten- team, and his daughter, Jessica, trans- through five games of its Georgia Indeure, adding softball was about making ferred from Lassiter High to play. pendent School Association schedule. sure the team would last.

“No matter the scores of the Weber math teacher Caroline “Starting the team was really a Campbell joined the team as an assis- games,” Zimmerman said, “most people question of, is this something we can tant coach. are out here for the experience. Even if maintain?” Moore said. “We didn’t Weber’s baseball field was con- we haven’t been successful with the want it to only last for a year or two. verted to accommodate softball with end results of each game, it’s definitely Our goal was that this is a permanent a portable fence in the outfield, a new been a great learning experience.” addition to our program.”

“Now that we have an established backstop behind home plate and a Once the girls were together and shortened infield. The decision was program,” Galanti said, “when kids are the school was on board, Moore started made to play home games on campus looking to come to Weber, they are golooking for a coach and a place to play. so the team would feel more connected ing to see that this is an actual team, Scott Seagraves, the school’s assistant with the school. not just an idea.” ■

B’nai Torah Keeps Softball Crown

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

F

or the 11th time overall and ninth time in a row, Congregation B’nai Torah has won the Atlanta Men’s Synagogue Softball League A division.

The championship game Sunday afternoon, Aug. 30, against secondseeded Congregation Or VeShalom was a low-scoring affair with a rare pitchers’ duel between Billy Light of OVS and Neil Wiesenfeld of B’nai Torah.

B’nai Torah, the No. 1 seed in the double-elimination tournament, held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning, when the squad put up four more runs. B’nai Torah never looked back, winning the game 7-3.

This summer was B’nai Torah’s third undefeated season in the past nine years.

Ariel Takes B Division The B division finale featured No. 2 seed Young Israel of Toco Hills (8-2) and No. 1 seed Congregation Ariel (8-2), 24 which split two games to win.

AJT

Young Israel scored quickly in Game 1 and cruised to an 8-3 victory with impressive defense and timely hitting. The win forced a winner-take-all championship game.

Game 2 saw the teams trade offensive blows. Young Israel took an early 6-3 lead, but Ariel fought back to lead 8-7 going into the final inning.

With two runners on and no outs for Young Israel, Ariel pitcher Jonah Goldberg grabbed a sharply hit ball and

started a 1-5-3 double play. The final out was recorded on a hard-hit ball to shortstop and punctuated by a great play from first baseman Mike Chen, who scooped the ball out of the dirt.

“With both teams knowing each other so well on a personal level from within the Atlanta Jewish community,” Ariel captain Jeremy Schulman said, “we just wanted to have fun and play our best.” ■

Playing for B’nai Torah (left) are David Weidenbaum, David Feldman, Adam Sauer, Neil Wiesenfeld, David Dix, Matt Yoels, Jeremy Friedman, Michael Kornheiser, Art Seiden, Matt Isenberg, Eric Halpern and Sandy Mencher, as well as the not-pictured Steven Richman, Jordan Fladell and Josh Wikoff. Ariel’s players are Serge Menschikov, Gary Lips, Gabe Lembeck, Rabbi Dan Freitag, Mike Chen, Jonah Goldberg, Larry Glassman, Jeremy Schulman, Avi Binstock, Rob Landers, Adrian Barr and Justin Adler, plus the not-pictured Lenny Felgin, Ryan Lambert and Jason Kaplan (Photo by Noah Chen).

In roughly 2 weeks, Congress will vote on the Iran nuclear agreement.

The future of the Jewish people worldwide hangs in the balance.

JOIN THE “DAY OF JEWISH UNITY” THIS COMING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 If approved in its present form, the Iran deal would place the Jewish nation in harm’s way and pose a grave threat to democracies worldwide. In times of crisis, the Jewish nation has historically turned to prayer in order to help us persevere and overcome the odds.

THIS IS A TIME OF CRISIS – WE NEED TO ACT TOGETHER NOW. On Tuesday, September 8, 2015, just days before Congress holds this important vote, a delegation of rabbis and community leaders will travel to Radin in Belarus in order to pray at the grave of the Chofetz Chaim, who was the beloved and revered leader of world Jewry in pre-war Europe. In conjunction with that special event, coordinated by the Acheinu organization, Jews around the world will be joining together to recite 2 chapters of Psalms in an attempt to deflect the acute danger that would result from allowing Iran a path to obtain nuclear warheads.

The days leading up to the High Holidays are an appropriate time for repentance, reflection and prayer. Join with an estimated over 500,000 Jews around the world in a Day of Unity and Prayer this coming September 8. B”H

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SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

EDUCATION

AJT 26

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EDUCATION

Lion Pride

The Davis Academy PTO held the school’s annual back-to-school carnival with games, face painting, a game truck, a magician and carnival treats Sunday, Aug. 30. Davis Middle School student ambassadors (below from left) Samuel Finkelstein, Margo Kaye, Alon Rogow and Amalia Haviv helped ensure that attendees had a good time, while (right)face paint helped kindergartner Samantha Eichenholz give meaning to being a Davis Lion.

Melissa Cohen Silver, a 2003 alumna of the Epstein School, looks toward Middle School English students Jordan Shoob (raising hand) and Maddie Lampert.

2nd-Generation Alumna Back at Epstein to Teach

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Silver earned a bachelor’s degree in English and history from the University of Georgia and a master’s in teaching from Emory University. She holds gifted education and International Baccalaureate endorsements.

She taught sixth-grade humanities at Renfroe, a charter school.

About her focus as an English teacher, Silver said: “The work we do in English class requires a lot of reflection, making connections and creativity. I hope to help students develop their own voice by infusing their own experiences and personalities into their writing.” ■

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ore than a decade after finishing eighth grade, 2003 alumna Melissa Cohen Silver is back at the Epstein School to teach English in the Middle School.

The daughter of 1976 Epstein alumna Heidi Cohen, a member of the Epstein Alumni Hall of Fame, Silver said she has known since being asked by her fifth-grade Hebrew teacher that she wanted to teach when she grew up.

“I became a teacher because I love making connections with my students and helping them achieve moments of success and realization,” Silver said.

She had help in realizing her goal from Epstein Middle School Principal Myrna Rubel, who has served as a mentor to Silver for many years. Silver said Rubel helped her choose a college and a graduate program, helped her prepare to apply and interview for teaching jobs, and served as a sounding board while Silver developed a Holocaust curriculum at her previous school, Renfroe Middle School in Decatur.

“To me, Mrs. Rubel is the authority on all things learning and teaching. I’m immensely grateful to be working with her and am thrilled to be able to learn from her on a daily basis,” Silver said.

Rubel said Epstein is excited to have Silver. “When our alumni return to teach at the school, it speaks volumes about the quality of an Epstein education and the importance of the relationships and lifetime connections

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HIGH HOLIDAYS

Start the Year Right The following are some of the High Holiday options for people who aren’t synagogue members or are looking for something different at no or low cost. Rosh Hashanah starts by 7:29 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, and concludes at 8:21 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15. Yom Kippur runs from 7:16 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, to 8:10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Brookhaven Bayit Brookhaven Bayit, the new youngadult group housed at Congregation Or VeShalom in Brookhaven, holds a free, alternative Rosh Hashanah service led by Bayit@OVS director Sim Pearl from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Sept. 14.

RSVP to sim@orveshalom.org.

Chabad Intown Chabad Intown, offers three sets of free High Holiday services open to all: traditional services blended with contemporary messages and led by Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman; learner services led by Rabbi Ari Sollish; and family and children’s services led by Rabbi Schusterman. A buffet Kiddush follows daytime Rosh Hashanah services.

Reservations are requested; atl18love. org. Traditional Rosh Hashanah services are at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 13, 9:30 a.m.

Sept. 14 and 15, and 8:15 p.m.

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Sept. 14. Learner services are at 10 a.m.

Sept. 14 and 15. The children’s program runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 14 and 11:30 to 12:30 Sept. 15, with a family service from 11:15 to 11:45 both days.

Tashlich is at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Piedmont Park Gazebo, followed by a procession to the Beltline for a shofar blowing at 6:15.

For Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre starts at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 22. The traditional morning service begins at 9:30 a.m.

Sept. 23, while the learner service is at 10 a.m. Children’s program is 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with the family service from noon to 12:30. Yizkor is at 1 p.m. and Mincha at 5:45.

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Congregation Beth Jacob in Toco Hills, offers free learners minyans under the leadership of Matt Lewis, followed by lunch during Rosh Hashanah, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 14 and 15 and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 23. For more information, visit www.Facebook.com/HighHolidayMinyans.

Congregation Kehillat HaShem Rabbi Jeffery Feinstein offers free services using the Reform “Gates of Repentance” mahzor at Brookdale, in Roswell. Rosh Hashanah services are

7/27/15 11:44 AM

at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 13 and 10 a.m. Sept.

14. Yom Kippur services are at 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 and 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sept. 23, with Yizkor at approximately 4:30 p.m. and Neilah at 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.rabbiatlanta.com.

Congregation Ner Tamid Congregation Ner Tamid, in Marietta, welcomes nonmembers to High Holidays. Rosh Hashanah services are at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 and 10 a.m. Sept. 14. Yom Kippur services are at 7:30 p.m. Sept.

22 and at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 23, with Yizkor at 4 p.m. Tickets, good for all services, are $108; www.mynertamid.info.

Shema Yisrael Shema Yisrael: The Open Synagogue holds services open to all at Unity Church, in Norcross. Bob Bahr, Eugen Schoenfeld and Cantor Herb Cole lead the services, set for 7 p.m. Sept. 13 and Sept. 22 and 11 a.m. Sept. 14 and Sept.

23. Tickets are $65, covering all of the High Holidays, and reservations are required; www.shemaweb.org.

The Sixth Point The Sixth Point celebrates the new year with its adults-only alternative to services, Rosh in the Park, from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 13 outside the Hammond Park Community Building, 6005 Glenridge Drive, Sandy Springs. The event is more spiritual than religious, featuring discussions about the holiday, reflections on the past year, intentions for the coming year, and apples and honey. Options are available for Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner afterward.

Free; thesixthpoint.org.

YJP Midtown Atlanta Chabad Intown’s Young Jewish Professionals group offers a 45-minute slackers service, including apples and honey and the shofar, at 6:45 p.m.

Sept. 14 at Chabad Intown, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta. Attendees are welcome to stay for traditional secondnight Rosh Hashanah services at 8: 15 p.m. Free; www.yjpmidtownatlanta. com or 404-898-0434.

Young Israel of Toco Hills YITH offers free seating in its new building at 2056 LaVista Road for the High Holidays, although nonmembers may reserve specific seats for $72 each.

Rosh Hashanah services are at 7:25 p.m. Sept. 13, 14 and 15 and 7:15 and 8:30 a.m. Sept. 14 and 15. Tashlich is at 5:45 p.m. Sept. 14; meet at the home of Rabbi Adam Starr, 1682 Rosemont Place. More information: www.yith. org. ■

OBITUARIES - MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

Binnie B. Bergen 97, Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Binnie B. Bergen, 97, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., passed away Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015. She was the beloved wife of Maj. Herbert L. Bergen, who preceded her in death after 53 years of marriage.

Binnie was born in New York, the daughter of immigrant parents Isadore and Celia Posner, who were from the same shtetl in Riga, Latvia, and met and married in New York. She had three beloved siblings: Betty Koch, Anne Kadison Weinstein and Lou Posner, who also preceded her in death.

Survivors include children Mira D. Bergen of Atlanta and Sally Bergen and husband Chuck McCormack of Albuquerque, N.M.; cherished sister-in-law Marcia Posner; and beloved niece Betty Ann and husband Richard Shan and their children, Spencer and Melissa Shan. She is also survived by treasured nephews Ed and wife Debbie Koch and their children, Adam and Daniel, and Ted and wife Stephanie Kadison and his children, Daniel and Elissa; beloved niece Gail and husband Howard Golden and their children, Deborah and Rachel; dear niece Amy Adler and husband Josh and her children, Johnathan and Tamar; and nephew Dr. David Posner, wife Liz, and their children, Anna and James.

Binnie was the consummate military wife, moving around the country and world for 23 years with her husband’s military career. She had many careers of her own throughout the years. She was a highly valued employee during World War II with Bulova Watch Co. in Queens, where the company made precision parts. Later, her exquisite attention to detail made her a valuable asset to a Miami company that made airplane parts. After the war, she became a dental assistant, a career she followed for many years before returning to school to earn her B.A. in social work from Florida International University. She worked at Douglas Gardens Home for the Aged, and after Herbert died in 1997, she took comfort in the Bereavement Group in her Century Village community in Pembroke Pines. Later, with her social work degree, her personal bereavement experience and her daughter Mira’s hospice materials, she went on to lead the bereavement group for many years.

Jewish traditions were important to Binnie and Herbert: They hosted 40 people at their home for Passover two years in a row during their stay in Taiwan.

One of her most treasured memories was Herbert flying in from Okinawa with gefilte fish on his lap for the seder. One of their favorite activities was grinding the horseradish from scratch, and her latkes at Chanukah were a legend in the entire family.

Memorial contributions may be made to Doctors Without Borders, Memorial Sloan Kettering, National Jewish Health in Denver (www.nationaljewish.org) or Jewish Guild for the Blind (www.wsiaca.org).

Graveside services were held Tuesday, Aug. 18, at Mount Nebo Cemetery, Miami, under the direction of Levitt Weinstein Memorial Chapel, Hollywood, Fla. Rabbi Michoel Lipschutz of the Atlanta Scholars Kollel flew down to officiate.

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

own retail fabric stores, Fabrics-Fabrics, which were located throughout Georgia.

As a Southern gentleman, Barry took great pride in landscaping of the family home and immensely enjoyed gardening. However, nothing gave him more pleasure than being “Pop” and spending time with his family, especially on family trips.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Rosalind; daughter Lynne S. Raphael of Marietta; sons Harry of Arlington, Va., and Marc and his wife, Amy, of Sudbury, Mass.; and five grandchildren, Sam and Michelle Raphael and Emma, Michael and Ryan Spector. He was preceded in death by his son-in-law, David Raphael.

Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Services were held at Greenwood Cemetery in Atlanta on Monday, Aug. 31. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces or the organization of your choice. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Death Notices

Beverly Shane Ortner, 84, of Charleston, S.C., mother of Brenda and Kenneth Silverboard, Elaine and David Brabham, and Leon and Karen Ortner, on Aug. 30.

Vera Pensky, 87, of Atlanta, a member of The Temple and mother of Henrietta Brilliant and Doris Goodman, on Aug. 27.

Alon Price on Aug. 25.

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets From time to time, the Atlanta Jewish Times has the opportunity to give away tickets to events, from Braves and Falcons games to stage shows and film screenings. But we’ve struggled to get responses when we’ve tried contests on the website, Facebook or Twitter. So you tell us: How should we give away our bounty? Send your suggestions to david@atljewishtimes. com. There might even be some tickets available for the best ideas.

Barry ‘Bobby’ Spector Barry “Bobby” Spector, 76, died Saturday, Aug. 29, at Emory University Hospital near his boyhood home.

A lifelong Atlantan, he graduated from Grady High School early, earning in the process the school’s Golden G honor for scholarship. He matriculated to Emory University and the following academic year transferred to the University of Georgia, graduating with the Class of 1960 with a B.S. in psychology. After graduation he served in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

Upon receiving his honorable discharge, he led his family’s textile business, Southern Products Co. Under his guidance the company supplied national chains and small stores alike with textiles and related merchandise and for a time provided Opening Day bunting to the Atlanta baseball teams. Barry also established his

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

76, Atlanta

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CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

Not My Mother-in-Law

I

SEPTEMBER 4 ▪ 2015

only had one argument with my mother-in-law (z”l).

I grew up in Camp Kindervelt (children’s world) in Highland Mills, N.Y. The summer camp was approximately three miles from the bungalow colony where my mother, sisters, cousins and aunts lived each summer.

A place for women and children, with their men traveling back and forth from the bungalow colony to New York, where they worked. Leaving on Sunday night or Monday morning, returning the following weekend, repeating this trek every weekend for the entire summer.

Everyone returned home to the city after Labor Day. Gene grew up in Camp Kinderring (children’s circle) in Hopewell Junction, N.Y. Gene’s dad stayed in Brooklyn for the summer, occasionally schlepping himself up to Hopewell Junction on the weekends. Gene’s mom was the camp mother. Yes, our summer camps had a camp mother, a great comfort mostly to the parents of campers.

I waited all my young life to become a camp staff member. When I finally reached the age when I could work as a camp counselor, I went to Camp Kinderring. Why would I not work at the camp where I grew up?

Well, truth be told, I was one of 13 girls banned from working at Kindervelt.

The camp director banned us when we were 15-year-old counselors in training for what seemed like benign, fun antics. Obviously, he did not think we were funny. I myself found this punishment too harsh. However, I learned a big lesson. Well, maybe not actually learned as much as remembered the incident, ignoring the lesson.

My hubby and I met at Kinderring. Our first year of marriage, I invited my mom and dad (z”l), my mother- and father-in-law (z”l), sister and brother-in-law, and an aunt and uncle (z”l) for Shabbat dinner.

We lived in a spacious one-bedroom apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens. The apartment boasted a kitchen, living room and bedroom.

It was here I learned that washing windows was not an appropriate activity for a girl who at the time was terrified of heights.

I pushed together some borrowed card tables and chairs in the living room. The table looked beautiful. A major part of my shtick is a beautifully dressed table.

30 Did I mention my mother-in-law

AJT

was a great cook and baker?

I baked my first challah, which was perfect. The menu for my comingof-age Shabbat included broiled grapefruit, brisket, chicken, veggies, potato kugel, komput (don’t ask!), noodle pudding, and a very healthy, interesting vegetable soup with a flanken (a type of meat) base. I had everything timed down to the last detail. I had timers

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CROSSWORD “Acting Jewish”

By David Benkof and Byron Kerman Editor: YoniGlatt@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Easy

Shaindle’s Shpiel

By Shaindle Schmuckler shaindle@atljewishtimes.com

with labels on them so I’d know which menu item was ready for consumption.

Ever heard the one about the bestlaid plans? Or have you heard this one: We plan, and G-d laughs?

The apartment was Shabbat clean, flowers were arranged, and the smell of comfort foods filled the hallway to our apartment. I was ready.

Or so I thought.

Coats were placed on our bed (no coat closet). Conversations were stimulating. The first course, broiled grapefruit with a maraschino cherry, was devoured in less time than it takes to say maraschino cherry. I pride myself on being intuitive, and I quickly concluded everyone was hungry.

The next course was the soup.

Let’s take a moment to consider the impact of a broken timer. Never mind; let’s not. It is still too painful.

My mother-in-law noticed I was taking a long time in the kitchen. She came in to see if she could be helpful.

She took one look at my face, then at the soup, which was now a thick pie, walked back into the living room, and, while everyone was deep in conversation, surreptitiously collected the soup spoons and brought them into the kitchen — all without a word, except to say: “They all eat too much anyway; they don’t need soup.”

She proceeded to help me serve the next course after she put the soup dishes back into the cupboard. She never mentioned this again; it was as if it never happened.

So what could I have found fault with to warrant an argument with a woman who had more class than Bloomingdale’s shoppers?

I have no earthly idea. What I choose to remember is my coming-ofage Shabbat and the love I felt for her in that telling moment. ■

ACROSS 1 Bet preceder?

6 Nonkosher critter with a shell 10 It beat Spielberg’s “Lincoln” for best picture 14 1956 Frank Loesser musical “The Most Happy ___” 15 Singer McEntire who starred on Broadway in “Annie Get Your Gun” 16 Kind of Haifa tide 17 Gets a golem under control 18 Kaput 19 Animator whose character Mickey once did an Orthodox-style dance 20 Armand Goldman in “The Birdcage” 23 Articles included in “Mein Kampf” 24 Mistake an Amish person for a Hasid 25 Web site filled with thinkpieces about Judaism 29 Get ___ (succeed at Ida Crown Jewish Academy) 30 Shape of Noah’s rainbow 33 Erik Lehnsherr in “X-Men” 36 Call a “Dirty Jew” 37 Place on the head to find a yarmulke 38 G-d, to Josephus 39 Actor Alan whose wife Arlene is Jewish 40 Word you might fine in a limerick about Jewish cats 41 Tuvia Bielski in “Defiance” 45 Org. overseen by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew 46 Sandy Koufax’s was 2.76 over his career 47 They make up 12 percent of Syria’s population 48 Observed shiva 49 It’s 20 minutes from the Lower East Side 51 David Greene in “School Ties” 57 “I, ___ Scott” (slave bio

by Sheila P. Moses) 58 Delete a photo of a woman from a haredi publication 59 Book that mentions Abraham, Joseph and Moses

61 Part of “hagafen” 62 Part of the costume of Bob Kane’s Batman 63 Israeli gum-maker 64 “Naftali is a swift ___” (Genesis 49:21) 65 Eating carrots on Rosh Hashanah, e.g.

66 Archaic biblical word for “Thou accomplish” DOWN 1 Org. of educators Rahm Emanuel negotiated with in 2012 2 “All in the Family” creator Norman 3 Muppet who learned what todah means from Seth Rogen 4 Member of the Roman legion 5 Lubavitch, e.g.

6 ___ Heights riot 7 Jeans maker Strauss and others 8 First murder victim 9 Actress Dietrich who dated Josef von Sternberg 10 Big name among 20thcentury Egyptians 11 One of many needed to print the Talmud 12 Israeli actress Gadot and others 13 Make something chosen 21 Chicken part often used as a Passover shankbone 22 Whence Persian Jews 25 City in Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-Fla.) district 26 “The Frisco Kid,” e.g.

27 Makes Mount Hermon whiter 28 Bit of equipment for Matisyahu 29 Plant sometimes buried with Jewish bodies in the Second Temple period 30 Gloria Allred is this kind of attorney 31 They’re one

way to measure bagels 32 Sinai sights 34 Harvey Fierstein’s “Hairpray” role 35 Souvenir from Bette Midler’s home state 39 Constellation whose name is Latin for “altar” 41 Brandeis bigwig 42 Design movement by Gustave Kaitz and others 43 1930s lion of Judah?

44 Justice Stephen Breyer, when he’s on the bench 48 Passover meal that Israelis enjoy just once a year 49 Kvetch 50 Frequency Jews win Nobel Prizes 51 It’s cut with a milchig knife 52 ___ Belloq, villain in Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” 53 Father of 8-Down 54 Ford’s character in 2015’s “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” 55 Suez alternative 56 Some characters in “An American Tail” 57 It might contain a Woody Allen flick 60 Brooklyn player, in Silver’s league

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