Atlanta VOL. XCI NO. 49
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DECEMBER 16, 2016 | 16 KISLEV 5777
Urban Core Lures Jewish Atlanta’s Future By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
AJFF Reveals First 7 Films The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival isn’t unveiling its full 75-film lineup until Jan. 6, but it has revealed the first seven titles: • “Across the Waters” — This basedon-real-events feature depicts the escape of Danish Jews to Sweden during the Nazi occupation. • “Bang! The Bert Berns Story” — Filmmaker Brett Berns tells the story of his father, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee for writing and producing such songs as “Twist and Shout,” “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Under the Boardwalk.” • “The Freedom to Marry” — This documentary follows key people in the court fight to legalize same-sex marriage. • “Harmonia” — A contemporary retelling of the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar sets the story in the world of the Jerusalem Philharmonic Orchestra. • “The Last Laugh” — Ferne Pearlstein’s documentary wonders whether it’s ever OK to use the Holocaust for humor. • “On the Map” — Maccabi Tel Aviv plays the “Miracle on Hardwood” basketball game against a Soviet juggernaut in the 1977 European Championships. • “Paradise” — Russia’s Oscar entry is a Holocaust story about three people told in black-and-white flashbacks. The festival runs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 15. Tickets go on sale Jan. 18. ■
CHRISMUKAH EVE
Young Jewish adults who like vodka, tequila, latkes or the traditional Chinese food have options all around town to celebrate starting Chanukah and not observing Christmas the night of Dec. 24. Page 14
Inside and outside the Perimeter, we all need Atlanta to keep thriving, according to an expert Jewish panel. Without Atlanta, “we’re Mississippi,” said Maria Saporta, the dean of local business reporters, who grew up in the city. “We’re not even Mississippi,” said A.J. Robinson, the president of Central Atlanta Progress. They joined Jamestown CEO Matt Bronfman and WSB-TV reporter Aaron Diamant on a panel hosted by Bronf man’s company at its signature Midtown development, Ponce City Market. Robinson said young adults are moving back into the city because of the appeal of dense, walkable development. “The urban core is doing density, and I think it’s changing us in an incredible way,” he said, adding that he thinks most of those singles and couples will stay in the city while raising schoolchildren. About 100 people attended the event Thursday, Dec. 8, organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s Business & Professionals Division. The setting was significant. Bronf man said Ponce City Market is an example of the “interesting projects” Atlanta needs to keep young professionals moving into the city, and Robinson said the mixed-use project along the BeltLine has set the standard for the vibrant, innovative atmosphere in Midtown. Midtown should be first in the region with driverless cars through an effort involving Georgia Tech on North Avenue, Robinson said. “We are way ahead of the rest of the region on some issues.”
KOSHER SALE
The Atlanta area’s only fullservice, sit-down, kosher-certified restaurant, FuegoMundo, is thriving and profitable; it’s also for sale. Chef-owner Masha Hleap explains what she has in mind. Page 26
A.J. Robinson (left), Maria Saporta and Matt Bronfman share the spotlight at Ponce City Market on Dec. 8.
That edge poses a risk, Saporta said. “We need to be strong as a region.” Other challenges include affordable housing (Bronfman suggested incentives for developers); development in Southwest Atlanta (Robinson said some gentrification is necessary to draw capital); the school system (Robinson and Saporta said Atlanta has long relied on transplants to raise the population’s education level); and traffic and transit. Traffic is “an ongoing crisis that just doesn’t seem to end,” Robinson said. But he sees hope in the rapid changes in Gwinnett County, which he expects to vote for a MARTA extension. Once Gwinnett embraces rail transit, the dominoes could fall in North Fulton and even Cobb County, he said. Those areas will just be a decade or more behind the central city. Atlanta is “still a great place to invest,” Bronfman said, because housing is cheap and the infrastructure and amenities are superior to the rest of the Southeast. “We’re the tallest midget in the circus.”
The challenge for the Jewish community is providing the services needed by young professionals and families intown after generations of Jewish flight into the northern suburbs. Most synagogues, the Marcus Jewish Community Center, and Jewish Family & Career Services are well outside the Atlanta city limits. Bronfman said the traditional Jewish model of the synagogue and Federation doesn’t appeal to millennials. “We gotta wake up,” Robinson said, urging communal leaders to recognize the differences in a generation more tied to phones than cars. “What are we going to offer this generation? How are we going to create a Jewish life for these folks?” Saporta suggested going back to the future with a call to social justice, reminiscent of the Jewish community’s involvement in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Such an effort plays to Atlanta’s strengths, she said. “Be a voice for a progressive city. That’s what made Atlanta what it is.” ■
INSIDE Calendar �����������������������������������4 Candle Lighting ����������������������4 Israel News ������������������������������6 Opinion ���������������������������������� 10 Local News ����������������������������� 14 Education �������������������������������22
Business ���������������������������������25 Obituaries ������������������������������27 Simchas ����������������������������������27 Marketplace ��������������������������28 Health & Wellness ���������������29 Crossword ������������������������������30
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DECEMBER 16 â–ª 2016
MA TOVU
A Time to Speak, A Time to Be Silent
relief that this monster was distanced from my innocent child. What terrible things could she pick up near him? Still, my heart twisted when I imagined the angst of the Abramsons. How were they coping? Fine, upstanding members of the community, and to have a child like that. Were they
Shared Spirit Moderated By Rachel Stein rachels83@gmail.com
ashamed? Did they feel judged? And what was wrong with him? Whispers of bipolar abounded at the shul Kiddush. “No,” one maven replied, “he has ODD. It’s treatable with therapy.” “So is bipolar,” another yenta insisted, “with the right medication.” So many years have passed, yet the memories are so clear, I could reach out and touch them. Grabbing both boxes of cereal, I plodded toward the next aisle with a heavy heart. As I saw it, there were two possibilities. Perhaps Jillian knew Jakie’s history and chose to overlook it. After all, this is old history, and he is now an upstanding young man. Whether with medication, therapy, maturity or some combination, his future looks promising, so why delve into the murky past? Or, I gulped, she’s clueless and would have never considered Jakie had she known the truth. More important, Sandy would never have gone out with Jakie had she been informed. What if he has a recurrence? Where would that leave Sandy and her future children? Shackled to an unstable father and trying to cope in a dizzying maelstrom of mental illness? Doesn’t she deserve to know the real picture so she can guide her daughter and make an informed decision? The doubts hammer away, relentless. If I open my mouth, will I be guilty of destroying what could have been a beautiful union? Am I playing G-d, or simply exercising my responsibility as a friend who cares? Your input would be of great value as I navigate this rocky path. I look forward to hearing from you. ■ To have your suggestions for Linda’s dilemma printed in Shared Spirit, email rachels83@gmail.com by Monday, Dec. 19.
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
“Linda, I have some great news to share.” You never know what’s going to hit you in the middle of a Kroger aisle. “I like good news,” I replied, waiting for Jillian to enlighten me. “I was planning to call you,” she said, “and you saved me the trouble.” Yup, that’s life. Unfortunately, we humans need to eat. And eat. But that’s for another dilemma. “Sandy is going to get engaged!” “Congratulations!” I shrieked. “Mazel tov! Wow! Who’s the lucky guy?” “Jakie Abramson.” Jillian beamed like a 200-watt light bulb. An iron fist rammed my stomach, and it was all I could do not to gasp. Jakie Abramson? The Jakie Abramson who went to grade school with my Tami? Does she know? Does she have any idea? I cleared my throat. “Very nice. His parents are Mel and Dena, right? Both doctors?” “Yup.” Her grin stretched wider, if possible. “I don’t think financial issues will be a concern for them. They’re going to be well taken care of.” I nodded, my lips heavy with a counterfeit smile. Money is great, don’t get me wrong. But at what cost? “And what is Jakie doing?” “He’s in law school. Has one more year to go.” “Impressive,” I murmured. “Such beautiful news. Well, you should have a lot of joy from the new couple.” “Thank you so much!” She leaned toward me, and we briefly hugged. Now, do I want Cocoa Pebbles or Honey Nut Cheerios? I barely saw the rows of multicolored boxes. Do I have an obligation to tell Jillian what I know? Tami used to come home with Jakie stories. Throughout her elementary school years until the middle of fifth grade, these tidbits were on the tip of her tongue the moment she arrived home from a long school day. “Mommy, Jakie got kicked out of class again today.” “Jakie pretended he was Superman and had to be taken to the hospital.” “Jakie screamed at the teacher and kicked the principal.” “Jakie laughed when Sarah’s grandma died.” “Jakie punched Alex.” “Jakie doesn’t come to school anymore.” I remember breathing a sigh of
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CALENDAR FRIDAY, DEC. 16
Celebrations in Lights. The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, 275 Centennial Olympic Park Drive, downtown, offers Chanukah activities from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission is $14.95; 404-6595437 or childrensmuseumatlanta.org. Sober Shabbat. HAMSA joins Congregation Or Hadash, 7460 Trowbridge Road, Sandy Springs, for services at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 7:45. Free; 770677-9318 or emiller@jfcs-atlanta.org. Children’s service. Congregation Ner Tamid, 1349 Old Highway 41, Suite 220, Marietta, holds a Chanukah Shabbat service for ages 3 to 10 at 6:30 p.m. Free; RSVP to events@mynertamid.org or 678-264-8575. Shabbat dinner. Chabad of Peachtree City, 632 Dogwood Trail, Tyrone, hosts a pre-Chanukah dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 per adult, $15 per child or $60 per family; chabadsouthside.com.
SATURDAY, DEC. 17
Menorah lighting. Congregation B’nai Israel, 1633 Highway 54, Fayetteville, holds a chanukiah lighting and a Chanukah celebration from 5 to 7 p.m. Free; bnai-israel.net or 678-817-7162. Promukkah. InterfaithFamily/Atlanta hosts a prom-themed Chanukah party at 8 p.m. at Industrious at Ponce City
Market, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave., Midtown. Tickets are $10 (no alcohol) or $18 (alcohol) in advance, $18 or $25 at the door; bit.ly/2h3Gnns.
SUNDAY, DEC. 18
Preschool Chanukah party. The Davis Academy, 8105 Roberts Drive, Sandy Springs, offers music, crafts, games and more from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Free; RSVP at davisacademy.org/cubclub.
CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES
Vayishlach Friday, Dec. 16, light candles at 5:13 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, Shabbat ends at 6:12 p.m. Vayeishev Friday, Dec. 23, light candles at 5:16 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 24, Shabbat ends at 6:15 p.m.
Menorah workshop. Chabad of Peachtree City and Jewish Kids Club help children build menorahs at the Home Depot, 2715 Highway 54 West, Peachtree City, at 1 p.m. Free; RSVP to shternie@chabadsouthside.com. DNA in genealogy. Keith Rothschild discusses three types of DNA research with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia at 2 p.m. at the Breman, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Free with museum admission; details from JewishGenealogy@JGSG.org. Family Chanukah party and auction. Congregation Beth Shalom, 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, offers a dairy dinner and a silent auction benefiting the Alefbet Preschool at 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for ages 5 to 12, and free under 5; www.bshalom.net.
Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, at 7 p.m. Admission is $20; admin@chabadnf.org.
TUESDAY, DEC. 20 Babyccino. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, concludes a Chanukah series for babies
up to age 2½ at 10 a.m. Free; RSVP to hs@chabadnf.org or 770-410-9000. Jewish Arts Zone. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, welcomes kindergartners through second-graders from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Entry is $15; www.chabadnf.org/jaz.
Pre-Chanukah celebration. Women make glass mosaics at Chabad of North
Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com. Find more events at atlantajewishtimes.com/events-calendar.
Remember When
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
10 years ago Dec. 15, 2006 ■ Former TV newsman Bill Nigut is leaving his post as president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Commission to become the Southeast regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, effective Jan. 15. Nigut, the husband of playwright Janece Shaffer, is replacing Deborah Lauter, who left Atlanta in July to become the ADL’s national civil rights director. ■ The bat mitzvah ceremony of Jillian Paige Acker of Atlanta, daughter of Mitch and Bonnie Acker, was held Saturday, Sept. 16, at Temple EmanuEl. 25 Years Ago Dec. 20, 1991 ■ Two members of the rock group RISK considered their effort to spread AIDS awareness and distribute condoms outside Yeshiva Atlanta High School to be a success, even though only one student took a condom. The 4 band members visit a Catholic school,
a Jewish school and a public school in each city on their tour, making sure to stand just off school property to avoid trespassing. ■ Andrea and Jerry Cohen of Marietta announce the birth of a son, Elie Michael, on Nov. 27. 50 Years Ago Dec. 16, 1966 ■ The BBYO regional convention Dec. 25 to 29 is expected to draw a capacity crowd of 400 members of Aleph Zadik Aleph and B’nai B’rith Girls from Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas to the Corsair Motel on Jekyll Island. The theme of the gathering is “Humanity Our Cause — G-d Our Judge,” with an opening address by Atlanta Jewish Community Center Director Frank Fierman on “A Code to Live By.” ■ Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Phillip Cohn of Gadsden, Ala., announce the engagement of niece Adele Rachel Sarasohn to Alan Burnham, son of Mrs. Leonard Burnham and the late Mr. Leonard Burnham of Atlanta.
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DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
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ISRAEL NEWS
Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home Enzyme discovery in fight against cancer. Technion researchers have found that the ubiquitin enzyme RNF4 binds to oncogenic proteins to give cancer cells longer lives. Increased levels of RNF4 have been found in colon and breast cancer patients. Removing or inhibiting RNF4 leads to the death of cancer cells. Device to keep track of insulin doses. Insulog, developed in Tel Aviv, is a device to help diabetes patients track their insulin use and prevent accidental overdoses. It snaps onto most types of disposable insulin pens, monitors and logs doses, and sends the data to a smartphone app. It displays details of the last dose to the user. Wheelchairs rolling out. The first shipment of 250 plastic wheelchairs for children in institutions in Israel and the Palestinian Authority is to be sent this month, with a batch for the refugee camps in Syria soon to follow. Closer ties with India. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed their countries’ increasing security cooperation and called to deepen their economic relationship. Rivlin spent a week visiting India to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between the countries. Japanese tourist saved in Nepal. A rockslide on the Annapurna Circuit
Ghitis to Help Hadassah Start 2017
in Nepal buried Japanese solo trekker Akiho Sugiyama. A group of ex-army Israeli backpackers, including a medic, heard her cries, treated her and used their Chabad-supplied satellite phone to organize her rescue.
World affairs columnist Frida Ghitis will speak about “Emerging Challenges and the Need for Innovative, Collaborative Strategies” as Hadassah Greater Atlanta kicks off its 101st year at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, at Maggiano’s at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody. Ghitis is a former CNN correspondent and producer who has worked in more than 60 countries, including Israel, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The event will include the installation of the 2017 Hadassah Greater Atlanta board and recognition of the Centennial Leadership Institute graduates. Tickets are $36 until Dec. 19, then are $39 until the Dec. 28 deadline. RSVP with a check payable to Hadassah at Hadassah Hub: Super South, 47 Perimeter Center East, Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30346. For more information, visit www.hadassah. org/atlanta, or call 678-443-2961.
A lie detector for machines. The cyber solutions from Haifa-based Aperio Systems alert and take action when hackers try to damage critical infrastructures, such as electricity grids or water supply networks. They detect anomalies, such as a wrong noise or temperature, in an apparently otherwise perfectly working device. Germany now a nanotech partner. Israel and Germany have set up a threeyear, 30-million-euro plan to promote joint nanotechnology initiatives. The program aims to boost cooperation between companies and research centers in the nanotechnology sector in Israel and Germany. Smart glasses for cyclists. A test program is being launched for the augmented reality (AR) Raptor smart glasses for cyclists, developed by Elbit unit Everysight. The glasses are meant to boost training and enhance performance, fitness and health. Record November for tourism. A record 287,900 tourists visited Israel in November, 38 percent more than in November 2015. For the first 11 months of
2016, tourism is up 2 percent compared with 2015 to 2,651,400 tourists. Marketing has targeted India and China. The world’s largest equity crowdfunding event. Crowdfunding platform OurCrowd will host the 2017 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem on Feb. 16. Some 5,000 delegates from 60 countries are expected, making it the world’s largest equity crowdfunding event and the biggest investor event in the Start-Up Nation. Becoming an English teacher in Israel. The Ministry of Aliyah is offering
a free course that grants an Englishteaching certificate to new immigrants and returning residents. Those from an English-speaking country are eligible with any degree. Others need a degree in English. Doughnut burgers for Chanukah. All Burger King locations in Israel will be serving doughnut burgers for Chanukah. The burger will be called SufganiKing, a play on the Hebrew word sufganiyah (doughnut). Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other sources.
A Call for Diaspora-Israel Unity By Eli Sperling Center for Israel Education
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
On Friday, Dec. 2, representing the Center for Israel Education, I had the pleasure of joining Rabbi David Spinrad of The Temple, Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Southeast Anat Fisher-Tsin and the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival for a celebration of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism’s Diaspora-Israel Unity Day. A gathering of about 60 participants at The Temple as part of the Well young professionals community, the event centered on the complicated and multifaceted Diaspora-Israel relationship. Through group study, music and thoughtful presentations, participants worked toward creating bridges between these two often-disparate halves of world Jewry. 6 My contribution was a 20-minute
presentation and text study. Comparing the perspectives of Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua, who is outspokenly critical of Jewish life in the Diaspora, and Israeli professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who highlights the rich spiritual past of Diaspora Judaism, we dug into the modern tensions between Jews in the Diaspora and Israelis. During the early years of statehood, Israelis actively distanced themselves from the Diaspora. Fiercely nationalistic, strong, determined to defend themselves, largely secular and Hebrew-speaking, the “New Jew” of Israel was seen internally as antithetical to what many Israelis felt the Diaspora represented. As Yehoshua stated, “Full Jewish life could only be had in the Jewish state.” Still scarred from the oppressionriddled experience of European Jewry, Israel separated itself from what it saw
as Judaism’s feeble past. Over the years, this Israeli view of the Diaspora softened substantially. Yet there are remnants. Not dissimilarly, many Diaspora Jews, specifically in the United States, distanced themselves from Zionism and then Israel. Afraid that such association might label them as having dual loyalty, American Jews were often more concerned with being viewed as “fully American.” Beginning after Israel’s independence in 1948 and accelerating after the June 1967 war, this attitude has almost fully disappeared. Still, American Jews today intentionally separate themselves from Israel, citing numerous political and cultural reasons for doing so. Leibowitz has implored Diaspora Jews to build on the “spiritual greatness
and creativity” outside Eretz Yisrael; it is imperative that we continue looking eastward, learning from and contributing to the cultural and spiritual richness that unfolds every day in Israel. Israelis also should continue building bridges with Diaspora communities, learning from and contributing to Jewish life all over the globe. Representing roughly 0.2 percent of the world’s population, Jews should not allow geography, nationality and insignificant issues to divide their peoplehood. For more information on the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism’s work to link Israel and the Diaspora, visit www.reform.org.il/Eng/Domim/ Domim.asp. ■ Eli Sperling is an Israel specialist and assistant program coordinator for the Center for Israel Education (www.israeled.org).
ISRAEL NEWS
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is considered the “father of modern Hebrew.”
Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (www.israeled.org), where you can find more details. Dec. 16, 1922: Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, considered the “father of modern Hebrew,” dies of tuberculosis at the age of 64 in Jerusalem. An estimated 30,000 mourners attend his funeral on the Mount of Olives. Dec. 17, 1975: In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger meets with Saddun Hammadi, the Iraqi minister of foreign affairs, and says that while Israel’s existence is not negotiable, it could be much smaller. Dec. 18, 1911: At the urging of Berl Katznelson, a proposal is passed by the Zionist leadership to create the Kupat Holim Clalit (General Sick Fund), a still-present health care organization in Israel. Dec. 19, 1903: While attending a Chanukah ball arranged by Mevasseret Zion, a Paris Zionist society, Max Nordau is the target of an assassination attempt by a mentally ill 27-year-old, Chaim Zelig Luban, upset about a plan discussed to establish a Jewish homeland in Uganda. Nordau, who co-founded the World Zionist Organization with Theodor Herzl, escapes unharmed. Dec. 20, 1936: Arturo Toscanini, considered to be one of the finest virtuoso conductors of the 20th century, arrives at the Lod airport after being asked to conduct the opening performance of the Palestine Philharmonic. Dec. 21, 1973: Convened under the co-chairmanship of the United States and the Soviet Union, the Geneva Middle East peace conference opens with the aim of “establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East.” Dec. 22, 1948: In a cable to the State Department, U.S. diplomat Julius Holmes recounts British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin’s concerns that “within five years, Israel may be a Communist state.”
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Today in Israeli History
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ISRAEL NEWS Photos by Marcia Caller Jaffe
FIDF Southeast Chairman Garry Sobel (left) poses with retired Brig. Gen. Relik Shafir and lone soldier Zach Olstein.
(From left) Marlene Seidel, Shelly Friedman, Eric Seidel and Sheila Friedman enjoy the cocktail hour.
Pilot Who Hit Iraq Takes FIDF on Wild Ride Wednesday, Dec. 7, was the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It also proved to be a day to remember in Atlanta because retired Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Relik Shafir spoke at Mason Fine Art as part of the Friends of the IDF Legends and Heroes Series. Shafir was one of the eight pilots selected for Operation Opera, Israel’s raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, and he repeated the slogan, “The older we got, the better we were.” Garry Sobel, who chairs FIDF’s Southeast Region, heralded Shafir as “a true hero for completing this secret mission.” Sobel emphasized the region’s success and progress of the past four years. “Our goal is for our soldiers to not feel alone,” he said. “Atlanta through our educational Impact Scholarship
Fund ($16,000 for four years per soldier) has resulted in those recipients giving back 4 million hours of com-
Jaffe’s Jewish Jive By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com
munity service, the largest volunteer program in Israel. It’s unbelievably profound that we have supported so many soldiers and exceeded the $1 million mark.” Board member Debby Bettsak said she’s happy to support two Impact Scholarship recipients. The largest applause of the night went to Weber School graduate Zach Olstein, who is enlisting Sunday, Dec. 18, as a lone soldier in the IDF. “I made aliyah and want to serve to keep Israel safe,” Olstein said. “I believe in the Jewish state.”
Shafir, who is in the computer software business, is also a date and olive farmer. He still serves in the IDF reserve as an expert in safety missile testing and can be seen on CNN as a spokesman on emergency air force issues. In telling the story of the Iraq raid, Shafir expressed the fear he felt about being the second youngest of the eight pilots and shared his doubts that he would ever make it back. “Pilots share jokes but not emotions. There was no turning back. I told myself I was doing this as a tribute to my father, who immigrated from Vilna in 1935,” Shafir said. He recounted the fear, sweat and stomach upset that are elements of such a mission, “like having 45 seconds to find the target.” “Our biggest fear may not have been being killed or caught as a POW, but of our peers seeing the video of how we behaved under fire,” he said. “Note there are about 80 videos a day.”
Debby Bettsak (left), an Atlanta board member, and Lynn Oves support FIDF.
Of the support given soldiers, Eric Seidel said: “The FIDF is the most wonderful organization I have been a part of. Once we got to Israel and talked to soldiers, we were so touched that our charity can connect and directly impact these innocent kids.” ■
Stealthy ‘Mighty One’ Arrives in Israel
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
The first two of 50 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets Israel has ordered from Lockheed Martin landed at Nevatim Air Force Base on Monday, Dec. 12, to join the Israel Defense Forces. Israel is the first nation outside the United States to receive the nextgeneration stealth fighter, designed to meet the needs of all of the U.S. military services. It’s no coincidence that Israel is first, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the welcoming ceremony at the base. “I think that this symbolizes the very significant character of the strength of the alliance between us and the U.S. We appreciate this steadfast alliance, the American commitment to Israel’s security, and the continuity 8 from administration to administra-
Photo by Kobi Gideon, Government Press Office
One of the first two F-35 Adir jets sits at Nevatim Air Force Base behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 12.
tion, from decade to decade,” Netanyahu said. He thanked Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who attended the ceremony in Israel, and President Barack Obama. The planes, whose center wing assemblies were built at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta plant before final assem-
bly in Texas, arrived the same day that President-elect Donald Trump singled out the $400 billion F-35 program for criticism. He said the cost is out of control, and he promised that billions will be saved on military purchases after he takes office Jan. 20. Because of the complexity involved in meeting the demands of multiple services, the F-35 is years behind schedule and far over budget. Pentagon and Lockheed Martin officials have argued that the problems have been resolved, although the arrival of Israel’s first two planes was delayed because bad weather in Italy grounded them. Israel is paying more than $100 million for each of the jets, which it has named Adir (Mighty One), and has contributed technology to the U.S. planes,
particularly in the pilot’s interface with systems. But Israel is making its own modifications to the F-35 and will handle its own testing and maintenance, so its version of the fighter will be unique. With a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 (about 1,200 miles per hour), the F-35 can fly the length of Israel in 13 minutes, and its stealth technology is meant to allow it to strike targets without being detected by enemies. As a result, Netanyahu said, Israel’s “long arm” — its air force — will be longer once the aircraft become operational in about a year. “Whoever thinks to attack us will be attacked,” he said. “Whoever thinks to destroy us puts himself in existential danger.” ■
ISRAEL NEWS
Friends to Clash in Soccer Turkey and Israel have restored full diplomatic relations just in time: Soccer clubs from the two nations are about to face off in one of Europe’s top competitions. Istanbul’s Besiktas and Hapoel Be’er Sheva will play a home-and-home series in the Europa League’s Round of 32, the first head-to-head elimination stage of the international competition. The games will be played on consecutive Thursdays, Feb. 16 and 23, with Hapoel hosting the first match. The draw among qualifiers from the group stage was held Monday, Dec. 12, the same day Israeli President Reuven Rivlin accepted the credentials of Turkey’s first ambassador to Israel in more than six years, Mekin Mustafa Kemal Okem. That ceremony in Jerusalem came two days after 44 people were killed in a pair of bombings outside Besiktas’ Istanbul stadium. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons claimed credit for the terrorist attack, which occurred about two hours after a Besiktas game in Turkey’s domestic soccer league. “I want to start by expressing my deep condolences to the Turkish peo-
ple, to the victims of the terror attack in Istanbul and to the families who have lost their loved ones,” Rivlin said. “Mr. Ambassador, all life is sacred. Terror is terror is terror, whether in Brussels or Paris, Istanbul, Jerusalem or Cairo. We have a duty to stand together against this terrible threat.” Security will no doubt be high for both games between Besiktas and Hapoel, which has advanced to the knockout stage of a European competition for the first time. Hapoel pulled an upset Thursday, Dec. 8, by knocking out English Premier League team Southampton. The two teams played in England for second place in their four-team group (Sparta Prague had already clinched first), and Southampton just had to hold Hapoel scoreless to advance. Instead, Maor Bar Buzaglo scored in the 78th minute to put Hapoel ahead, and because of tiebreakers, Southampton then needed to score twice and win to stay in the Europa League. The English side scored in stoppage time and had a close call on a header in the final seconds, but the 1-1 final was good enough for Hapoel. ■
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OPINION
Our View
True Wonder
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
The United Nations is not our favorite institution. It’s easy to forget when we look at the bloated bureaucracy that delves into public health, food, the environment, nuclear proliferation, human rights and so much more, but the idea behind a global deliberative body is to reduce the likelihood of war. If top diplomats from all the nations are gathered on neutral ground, day after day, maybe they’ll find a way to talk through their disputes instead of shooting. Needless to say, it hasn’t worked. Instead, beyond the make-work jobs for government cronies, the specialty of the United Nations is Israel-bashing. From giving the Palestinians perpetual refugee status with their own U.N. agency to address their needs and advocate their cause, to the UNESCO resolutions that ignore or deny the Jewish history in the land of Israel, to the U.N. Human Rights Council (whose members include such paragons as Cuba, Qatar and Venezuela) focusing almost exclusively on the ills of Israel (including, laughably, women’s rights), to the annual exercise of the U.N. General Assembly passing resolution after resolution critical of Israel, the United Nations treats Israel as if it were the size of Russia with the population of China. No wonder people have a hard time believing Jews are only 0.2 percent of the world’s population. But the United Nations took its special brand of insanity to a new level with Wonder Woman. The comic-book Amazon turned 75 in October, and the men at the upper echelons of the United Nations, having just angered feminists worldwide by choosing another man to be the next secretary-general, decided to focus all the frustration by naming Wonder Woman the honorary U.N. ambassador on women’s empowerment and gender-based violence. In some ways, Wonder Woman was an inspired choice. She’s a powerful woman, representative of a matriarchal society, who regularly saves men and stands equal with male superheroes. She’s also smart, and she’s an immigrant (almost certainly undocumented). She could be a role model for the millions of women and girls whose lives have been ruined by the warfare the United Nations is powerless to prevent. But she’s also drawn with supernatural curves, and she’s perceived as being all-American. It probably doesn’t help the character’s popularity within the United Nations that Israeli model/actress Gal Gadot is portraying Wonder Woman in movies now. And, of course, Wonder Woman isn’t real, so promoting her as the ambassador of an institution with the thickest of glass ceilings is, well, undiplomatic. So we shouldn’t have been surprised when news broke that Wonder Woman’s ambassadorial reign will end Friday, Dec. 16, less than two months after it began. We wish she could wrap her golden lasso around a few U.N. officials to get the truth about why her term ended 10 months earlier than expected. It would all be just another U.N. farce except for what’s going on in the real world. The Wonder Woman announcement came as Syrian forces were slaughtering their way through eastern Aleppo in some of the ugliest moments of a horrible civil war — the kind of warfare the United Nations might be 10 able to prevent if it weren’t playing childish games. ■
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Fatigue From the Long Run Anyone who has ever decided to accomplish something worthwhile — exercise more, eat better, learn a new language, write a novel, devote more The Rev. Michael time to spiritual study — knows that the hard part Piazza says of isn’t getting started. those lost to HIV, Taking that first step is easy. You’re excited and “It is important motivated and captivated by the dream of the great that we keep their memories alive.” goal ahead of you. But that wonderful vision of what should be Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that rarely includes every grueling, fatiguing step along year after becoming the leader of a small Highland the way. Somewhere, fantasy meets reality, and hard Avenue church serving the LGBT community. work and determination must take the place of the The CDC wanted to know about the health of excitement and adrenaline that compelled you to the young men in his church amid the emergence of begin. what was being called gay-related immune defiThat’s where many of us hit the wall, and ciency — later AIDS — and Piazza realized that the instead of pushing through, we figuratively, if not disease had struck at least three members. literally, plop down on the couch and give up. We Piazza went on to lead a Dallas church that had wind up in worse shape about 180 members when than ever, still limited to he arrived in 1987 and a Spanish vocabulary of grew to 3,500 during his 23 Editor’s Notebook “taco” and “tortilla,” only years there, making it the By Michael Jacobs 10,000 words into that largest progressive Chris200,000-word great Amerimjacobs@atljewishtimes.com tian church in the South can novel, with a pile of and the largest predomiunread books on Talmudic nantly LGBT church in the thought sitting by the bed. world. But the staggering number was 1,500: That’s The mental fatigue that blocks improvement for how many Cathedral of Hope members died of AIDS us as individuals has parallels at the societal level, during Piazza’s less than a quarter-century in Texas. something that struck me Saturday night, Dec. 10, in But 35 years and more than 100,000 AIDS the sanctuary at Ahavath Achim Synagogue. Quilt panels since public health officials spotted the Ahavath Achim was holding its annual HIV/ disease, no more than 80 people attended AA’s comAIDS Havdalah service with Virginia-Highland munitywide HIV/AIDS observance. Rabbi Rosenthal Church. Four eight-panel sections of the AIDS Mesaid the service could have been held in a smaller morial Quilt hung from the balconies on each side of space, but he felt it was important that everyone the Buckhead synagogue’s huge sanctuary. who enters the sanctuary throughout December Michael and Bonnie Levine and Randy Crohn sees those quilt sections. They shouldn’t be pushed provided most of the music — including a powerful aside in a room where people can walk by without blending of Oseh Shalom and Mi Sheberach to Simon noticing. & Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence,” Michael Levine’s That’s where the fatigue kicks in: People who own “Tekiah,” and a call-and-response version of were angry and active and fundraising for HIV/ “We Shall Overcome” — with a few key contribuAIDS in the 1990s have moved on to other issues that tions from Virginia-Highland Church members. don’t seem under control (not that HIV is under conKerry Landis read his brother Alan’s favorite trol — Piazza said transmission of the virus is rising quotation from George Bernard Shaw, reminding in the city of Atlanta). everyone that Alan, the driving force behind Aha“When others have grown tired and cynical, you vath Achim’s HIV/AIDS observance and AIDS Quilt are here,” Piazza said, giving due praise to those in display, died in January. attendance and to AA itself. Gary Alembik, who chairs AA’s LGBT inclusion Piazza draws strength from the “great cloud of task force, read a poem written by a cousin of Rabbi witnesses” — those who have died — watching him, Laurence Rosenthal’s who contracted HIV from a as well as from the Talmudic concept that we must blood transfusion while delivering her only child in work to improve the world even though the effort 1981 and didn’t learn about the infection for a decade won’t be completed in our lifetime. because of a clerical error. It’s a lesson that applies beyond HIV/AIDS. On Etgar 36’s Billy Planer offered a reading from Page 17, The Temple’s Rabbi Peter Berg talks about his “New Jersey rabbi,” Bruce Springsteen, and Julie fatigue in the response to gun violence. I suspect Rhoad, the executive director of the NAMES Project, most of the weakening of support for Israel among read an extensive excerpt from John Lewis’ “Across the millennial generation results from similar faThat Bridge.” tigue, based on the idea that Israel has made it, so it’s Most moving was the quiet power of the homily time to move on to more pressing issues. delivered by the pastor of Virginia-Highland Church, And I wonder whether the heated passion against Donald Trump will burn itself out as the the Rev. Michael Piazza, who Rabbi Rosenthal said reality of his presidency approaches normality next has become one of his social justice heroes. spring or summer or fall. Even if people are still Piazza, a South Georgia native who was ousted presenting a public resistance, will any of the rest of from the United Methodist Church in 1981 for us even notice? ■ marrying another man, said he got a call from the
OPINION
Emotions Remain Raw
the Forward, discovered during a post-election speaking tour that “the election of Trump as our next president has introduced a whole new level of acrimony. The outcome doesn’t provoke discussion but ends it, bringing stony silences and ruptured friendships.” That acrimony continues to include the appointment (no confirmation hearing required) of Steve
From Where I Sit By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com
Bannon, late of Breitbart, as Trump’s strategic adviser. The Trump team is unlikely to be impressed that a petition signed by more than 1 million people — stating that “there is no place for a white supremacist, anti-Semitic, climatechange denying misogynist in the White House” — was delivered to Capitol Hill by a coalition of left-oriented Jewish and other groups. The communal establishment likely will not by shaken by a college student’s warning that Jewish organizations “must condemn him immediately or risk being left behind by a far more radical generation of Jewish activists.” A pillar of that establishment, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has defended itself from accusations within its own ranks of being tone-deaf by agreeing to co-host a Chanukah party at the new Trump International Hotel, a property owned by the government and leased by the Trump Organization, down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Lastly, Jewish conservatives are licking their lips at the prospect of Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison being selected as the Democratic National Committee chairman. They see Ellison, a convert to Islam who has repudiated past links with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam and whose positions on Israel concern even centrist groups, as an opportunity to attract wary Jewish Democrats to the Republican Party. The battle in the Jewish community over Ellison may bruise liberals still reeling five weeks after the election. People took their politics personally this year. Along the way, civility was discarded. Restoring it must be a priority. ■
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
My Facebook “friends,” those I know well and others I only follow online, Jews and non-Jews, run the gamut from the seriously conservative to the defiantly liberal. The conservatives chortling about Donald Trump’s victory would do well to remember the sports maxim “When you win, act like you’ve been there before” (in other words, behave graciously). The liberals continue to suffer from post-election shock syndrome. The most bitter among them post a steady stream of caustic comments on social media about the incoming administration. Their embrace of diversity apparently stops with politics, permitting them to paint Trump supporters with a broad brush as racist, xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic and antiSemitic people who, in the case of Jews commenting about other Jews, are quislings. Whatever satisfaction this may provide in the immediacy, it’s not likely to succeed in the long term. Referencing the Israeli experience, Amir Tibon, diplomatic correspondent for the Israeli site Walla, offered the American left this caution in Tablet: “Calling people stupid, racist, and hateful isn’t a good way to convince them to change their opinion on anything, but it’s a great way to discredit yourself in their eyes for eternity. … So when you use that kind of language, you’re not just insulting ‘the other side,’ you’re actually insulting people who are dear to many on ‘your side’ as well. Which is a great tactic if your aim is to lose the next election by a larger margin. There are many people who voted for Trump despite his racism, not because of it, but if you accuse them of being racists, you’re pushing them into the hands of the actual racists out there. That’s a dangerous game to play.” To be fair, most liberals, fearful as they are about the next four years, have steeled their resolve to support firmly held beliefs without invective. The divisive campaign exposed fault lines in society and cracked familial bonds, with grown children cutting themselves off from parents or siblings, some vowing never to visit. Emotional testimonies about severing contact receive sympathetic responses on the Facebook page “Pantsuit Nation,” whose 3.95 million members primarily supported Hillary Clinton. J.J. Goldberg, editor at large of
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OPINION
Jews in Europe Have an Effective AJC Friend
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Jews in Europe face an increasingly hostile environment, and many of them wonder whether they should stay or immigrate to Israel, the United States or other countries. They feel threatened by rightwing hate groups and by the “progressive” left. Synagogues, religious schools and other Jewish locations are under constant protection by police and Jewish volunteer guards. American Jewish Committee established the Transatlantic Institute in 2004. With headquarters in Brussels, Belgium — the capital of the European Union — it advocates for the Jews of Europe. Under the leadership of Daniel Schwammenthal, TAI has become an effective voice throughout the continent, combating hate speech and lobbying the EU and European leaders to pass legislation against anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric. AJC also has strategically placed offices in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Warsaw. We are privileged to be members of the TAI board. We recently attended its semiannual board meeting, spending five days in Amsterdam, The Hague and Brussels with the TAI staff, AJC leadership and board members from around the United States. We were fortunate that David Harris, the CEO of AJC, and Jason Isaacson, the director of AJC’s Office of Government and International Affairs, could accompany us for most of the meetings. The entire experience gave us the opportunity to see top professional international Jewish statesmen interacting with European diplomats and advocating the Jewish people and Israel on extremely complex and difficult issues. In Amsterdam we met with local Jewish leaders, writers and students, as well as Dutch politicians and commentators. Leon de Winter, a noted Jewish writer and commentator, started us off by projecting a very dim outlook for Jews in the Netherlands, saying that hostility toward Israel has increased anti-Semitism and noting the danger posed by the nonassimilation of Muslim immigrants, whose values are completely different from those of the Dutch. Political correctness, he added, has exacerbated the problem. In addition, Dutch politicians do 12 not want to hear strong Jewish voices.
Fortunately, conservative Christians are friendly to the Jews. Others we met with echoed those sentiments. Esther Voet, the editor in chief of the New Israelite Weekly, told us that if she had children, she would leave Europe. The only ray of hope came from the young Jewish students, who felt that the situation could
Guest Column
By Merle Horwitz and Murray Goldman Transatlantic Institute board members, including Merle Horwitz (third from left) and Murray Goldman (right), gather in Europe.
improve. Next, we went to The Hague for meetings with the head of Europol’s counterterrorism department, Israel’s ambassador to The Netherlands, the senior analyst of the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, and the Middle East director of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They gave us insight into the tensions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The bottom line is that Israel is respected for its democracy, its skill in fighting terrorism and its economic accomplishments, but the occupation of the West Bank and the settlements make it impossible for these institutions to publicly embrace Israel. After Harris succinctly laid out AJC’s talking points, a number of these people conceded that Palestinian behavior was a major factor in the failure to reach peace. The Dutch and the EU have initiated several projects for Israelis and Palestinians to work together to solve water, energy and border-crossing issues. Finally, we spent several days in Brussels, meeting with EU leaders to discuss the future of relations among the EU, the United States and Israel in the aftermath of Brexit, the Trump victory, and the rising right-wing political tide in Western Europe. AJC and TAI focused on addressing the plight of European Jews, specifically the anti-Semitic rhetoric appearing on social media from rightwing politicians and some (not all) of the Muslim community. One politician said: “The right hates Muslims and Jews. The left attacks Jews but savors and makes excuses for the Muslims.” The issues are complex. For example, Jewish values would lend support for immigration and refu-
Belgian Police Chief Commissioner Saad Amranhi speaks to the Transatlantic Institute board. Listening are Belgian Cabinet official Yngvild Ingels and institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal.
gees, even as the Muslim immigrants add to the anti-Semitic environment. European Jews need a strong U.S.-EU relationship, and EU officials asked the AJC leaders to help strengthen it, but no one could say if the bond would survive in this brave new world. There were also discussions on the economic ramifications of Brexit and the new Trump administration. After a whirlwind five days, we were left with these impressions: • Jews in Europe are in a dangerous situation, and they wonder whether the situation will come to resemble the 1930s and 1940s, when the optimists stayed and died and the pessimists left and survived. • The director of the Anne Frank House explained that Holocaust education is effective only on younger people who have not yet been indoctrinated to hate Jews. It has no effect on anti-Semites. • European politicians need to publicly support Jews and confront anti-Semitic tendencies. • Without the support of American Jews and the U.S. government, European Jews and Israel would face
imminent danger. • The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a major priority for European nations. • AJC and TAI are very influential in advocating the welfare of Europe’s Jews and strengthening Israeli-European relations. • AJC and TAI are largely responsible for advocating acceptance of the working definition of anti-Semitism by the EU and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They explain to Europeans that IsraeliPalestinian peace will not succeed unless we focus on the day after peace, to ensure that Hamas and other terrorists do not take over the new Palestinian state. • The time has come for American Jews to fully recognize the situation and assist our brethren abroad. We learned from this trip that American Jews are fortunate to live in a country that does not foster an antiSemitic environment. But we cannot forget that the rest of the Jews around the world need our help. Similarly, to survive, the Jewish Diaspora needs Israel, and Israel needs the diaspora. ■
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DECEMBER 16 â–ª 2016
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LOCAL NEWS
Young Jews Have Pick of Parties for Christmas Eve By Rachel Fayne Gruskin Chinese food and a movie aren’t the only options for young Jewish adults this Christmas Eve. Several events are aimed at the young professional crowd Dec. 24, including GozaPalooza and Latkes and Vodkas. The 8-year-old Latkes and Vodkas — not to be confused with the Marcus Jewish Community Center’s Vodka & Latkes at Big Sky Buckhead on Dec. 29 — is sponsored by and will take place at City Winery in Ponce City Market from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 24, which also is the first night of Chanukah. The event will offer a build-your-own latke bar with various toppings, vodka samplings and live music from Sammy Rosenbaum. City Winery manager JC Shurts recommends getting your tickets early. Last year’s event was expected to cap at 85 people, and 300 tickets were purchased. “It’s a night that is expected to attract people of all faiths because of the Christmas and Chanukah dates coinciding this year,” Shurts said. “It’s a great night for everyone to come out and meet new people.”
the community to do with friends on Christmas Eve. Hirsch and Gluck are expecting in the ballpark of 800 people this year, and they plan to continue the tradition of the event’s offering something different, Gluck said. “We want to make sure that we keep GozaPalooza fresh and exciting for everyone, year after year. And we’ve worked hard to make sure that’s the case this year at Park Tavern.” Ticketholders will receive a Goza drink of their choice and have access to a food truck, and Goza has teamed up with Uber to offer a free ride that night to first-time users of uberPOOL, the carpooling version of Uber. Just use the code GozaPalooza. Tickets are $20 in advance, with a $1 discount for liking Goza on Facebook, and are available for purchase through GozaPalooza’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ events/593279310870704). The price rises to $35 at the door. Most of the proceeds will go to the Marcus JCC’s young adult division. “Not only are we a company local to Atlanta, but we have received so much support
GozaPalooza is back for a third year under the sponsorship of Goza Tequila, led by CEO Jacob Gluck (left), Sales Director Lauren Kaufman and Creative Director Adam Hirsch.
General admission is $15, and a portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival. Tickets are available at the door or at CityWinery.com. You can use Latkes and Vodkas as a warm-up for GozaPalooza, which starts at 9 p.m. at Park Tavern and is expected to last until 2 a.m. Atlanta-based Goza Tequila is hosting the event for its third year. Goza founders Adam Hirsch and Jacob Gluck said the party began out of their desire to create something exciting and different for young Jewish people in
from the Atlanta Jewish community over the years,” Hirsch said. “It’s nice to enhance the community experience and give back to the JCC.” Other Chanukah parties with Chinese food are taking place on Christmas Eve. Ahavath Achim Synagogue is hosting Chinakah & J-Jam from 7 to 11 p.m. for families. The Conservative congregation offers kosher Chinese food from Chai Peking and live music from Tony Levitas and the Levitations. Tickets, available at aasynagogue.org, are $25 for Ahavath Achim members and $35 for nonmembers, or you can skip dinner and attend only the concert for $20 in advance or $30 at the door. The Sixth Point offers Latkes and Lo Mein. The 7:30 p.m. event at the Ashford Creek Clubhouse includes dinner, latkes, dessert, drinks and games. Tickets are $10 in advance at thesixthpoint. org or $15 at the door. Congregation Shaarei Shamayim’s Chinese dinner on the first night of Chanukah starts at 7 at the Toco Hills shul. Call 404-417-0472 or email mkunis@shaareishamayim.com for details or to RSVP. ■
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LOCAL NEWS
A Jewish ex-legislator has joined the list of candidates preparing to run for Congress in the special election that will be held if Rep. Tom Price is confirmed as Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services. Ron Slotin, who served in the state Senate in the 1990s and lost a bid for Congress in 1996 against Cynthia McKinney, announced Wednesday, Dec. 7, a progressive campaign to win the 6th District for the Democrats. He also revived his “Votin’ for Slotin” campaign slogan and established www.votinforslotin.com as his campaign website. “On the national front, we need a progressive voice in Washington who will fight to protect the progress we have made on many issues, including a woman’s right to choose, affordable health care coverage including covering pre-existing conditions, protection of Social Security and care for our growing number of senior citizens, and marriage equality,” said Slotin, who also promoted his support for MARTA rail expansion, public schools and environmental protections. Price won re-election with almost 62 percent of the vote against Democrat Rodney Stooksbury in a district stretching from Marietta to Johns Creek and from Milton to Sandy Springs and Chamblee. A Democrat without Slotin’s legislative experience, Josh McLaurin of East Cobb, also has declared that he will run in the special election that is expected in the spring. McLaurin is a lawyer and a 2010 graduate of the University of Georgia who wants an America “where we can celebrate difference with a light heart and open arms rather than cynical mistrust and hatred.” One Republican has officially declared his intention to run in a district held by the GOP since the days of Newt Gingrich: state Sen. Judson Hill of Marietta, who has been a leading pro-Israel voice in the General Assembly, including introducing and pushing through anti-BDS legislation this year. He will have to resign to run for Congress. A Dunwoody resident, Alexander Hernandez, a progressive independent, announced Monday, Dec. 12, that he has formed an exploratory committee for a possible 6th District run. The Atlanta Journal Constitution says former Secretary of State Karen Handel, former state Sen. Dan Moody and state Rep. Chuck Martin are among Republicans expected to run. ■
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Slotin Seeks Price Seat
15
LOCAL NEWS
Photo courtesy of the city of Sandy Springs
A fire burns through the roof of the Sandy Springs Gun Club and Range on Dec. 4.
Gun Club to Upgrade After Tracer Sparks Fire By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com The Sandy Springs Gun Club and Range is doing more than repairing the damage caused by a fire Sunday, Dec. 4, co-owner Cara Workman says. “Our ultimate goal is to get back up and running as quickly as possible,” said Workman, who owns the gun range with her sister, Robyn Marzullo. “When we do reopen, we’ll be bigger and better than we were before.” The Sandy Springs fire marshal determined that a pyrotechnic, military-style tracer round sparked the fire, which burned through the roof but did not set off any ammunition or cause any injuries. “We had a customer who came into the range that used inappropriate ammunition and subsequently caused a fire,” Workman said. “We’re very thankful our guys responded according to protocol and were able to get everyone out and notify the Fire Department. Now we’re just assessing the damage and seeing when we can open back up.” No criminal charges have been
filed against the customer. Although city investigators reportedly determined that the customer fired the tracer round by mistake, Workman said the investigation is ongoing. Workman, a member of Temple Sinai, was at her home in Sandy Springs when she heard about the fire and said she was at the scene within minutes. Until the range reopens, Sandy Springs Gun Club members are invited to the sisters’ Norcross location for free range time. SharpShooters USA, a shooting range in Roswell, also has offered free range time to members of the Sandy Springs club. Workman and her sister opened the gun range in 2010 and added the Norcross location in 2012. Sandy Springs police regularly use the range for pistol and shotgun training, but city spokeswoman Sharon Kraun said officers have no sessions scheduled in the near future. The club’s Facebook page will provide updates on repairs. A hashtag, #SSGCRStrong, was created for members to connect while the range is closed. ■
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LOCAL NEWS
Gun Idolatry, Compassion Fatigue After Newtown “The way we worship guns in our society is a form of idolatry,” Rabbi Peter Berg of The Temple said after a screening of “Newtown,” a searing look at the shooting of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut four years ago. Joining Rabbi Berg at the screening and panel discussion Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the Lovett School were the film’s director, Kim Snyder, Imam Plemon ElAmin of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam and adjunct behavioral sciences professor Linda Degutis of Emory University. Interfaith Community Initiatives and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation sponsored the event. “The only response is sustained moral outrage,” the rabbi said. “Everybody has to come together and see this film and stand strong against idolatry.” Rabbi Berg and Imam El-Amin are part of OutCry Georgia, an interfaith advocacy group formed after Sandy Hook that aims to “stem the ceaseless tide of violence that plagues too many communities,” according to its website. “We have to bring sanity to an insane movement that is just taking lives for no reason,” the imam said. “It cuts across any belief system. All of us have to feel the depth of this tragedy and take some kind of stand. We come together for many reasons, but one of them should be social justice for human lives and investment in our children.” “I believe the tide is beginning to change, and most people understand that carrying an AK weapon into a school” is wrong, Rabbi Berg said. “The status quo cannot be; that’s why religious leaders are so involved.” He said gun control initiatives at The Temple are complicated. “In one sense, the congregation is saying, ‘There’s nothing more important than preventing gun violence.’ On the other hand, it’s difficult to program because there’s a shooting incident every single day in the United States. We develop compassion fatigue. We feel like it’s just going to happen over and over again. We hear about another shooting, and we say, ‘It’s Tuesday.’ That’s a terrible place to be.” The film focuses on three families affected by the shooting rampage and avoids mentioning the killer’s name. “I tried to be true and honest to the idea that you can’t put this into a neat little package and tie it up. You just have to be present, sit in silence and let
Photo by Kevin Madigan
“Newtown” director Kim Snyder speaks at the Lovett School on Dec. 7.
the camera roll, and not cut,” director Snyder said. “We have all had to learn to do that with people we love who are in grief and pain.” Snyder said she wanted to portray “the emotional power that’s left in the
wake of this kind of gun violence. I did want to make an advocacy film, but I was more compelled to look at a story of collective grief and trauma.” Degutis, who led the Injury Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when the Newtown massacre occurred, said: “We have to acknowledge we’re not going to eliminate guns. It’s just not going to happen. But we can talk about things we can do, given that there are guns: responsible gun ownership and responsible gun owners. It’s a small proportion of them we have problems with.” About 33,000 people a year are killed by guns, she said, and most are
suicides. “Most people don’t realize the risk of keeping a gun at home when somebody might be depressed. A teenager might be prone to a more impulsive act after getting in a fight or receiving a bad grade. You worry about what might happen in that home.” Degutis added: “Since there are a lot of people from different congregations here, we need to pray that Congress will have the courage to do something. People still feel bullied by the gun lobby and the NRA. As with anything else, we have to stand up to the bullies and say, ‘We’re not going to let you prevent us from keeping our children safe.’ ” ■
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com
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LOCAL NEWS
Germany’s Nazi Trials Uphold Rule of Law By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
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DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
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German lawyer Christoph Rueckel brought some good news to the nearly 300 people who turned out Sunday, Dec. 11, at Ahavath Achim Synagogue to hear him talk about ongoing German prosecutions of Nazis. The German Supreme Court on Nov. 28 upheld the 2015 conviction of Oskar Groening and his four-year prison sentence for being an accessory to thousands of murders as the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz” with the Nazi SS during World War II. “It is a clear statement: If you participate in Auschwitz, you are an accessory to murder, period,” Rueckel said. The crucial precedent now established in German law, he said, is that you can’t use a defense of “I was following orders” if you commit war crimes. Rueckel spoke at a gathering organized by Eternal-Life Hemshech, a group of Holocaust survivors and their descendants. About 10 survivors were part of the crowd. The four-year prison sentence against Groening is not important, Rueckel said. He suspects that Groening’s frail health will save him from ever serving a day in prison. But because his conviction makes him responsible for court costs, including the expense of Rueckel and other lawyers representing Holocaust survivors, Groening will lose his home and the wealth he has accumulated the past 70 years. Reinhold Hanning, an SS noncommissioned officer who served as a guard at Auschwitz, also is awaiting word on a Supreme Court appeal of his July 17 conviction for accessory to murder. Because, unlike Groening, Hanning did not testify in court and contribute to getting the story of the Holocaust on the record, he was sentenced to five years in prison. Rueckel said he expects the Supreme Court to uphold the conviction early in 2017, but he doesn’t think Hanning will serve prison time. German prosecutors are investigating eight to 12 other former Nazis who served at concentration or death camps, and six are likely to be healthy enough to stand trial, Rueckel said. But the next round of cases will try to extend the legal precedent from cases of accessory to murder to the crime of attempted murder. The argument is that holding
Karen Edlin presents a thank-you gift featuring Eternal-Life Hemshech’s logo to Christoph Rueckel on Dec. 11.
people at Nazi concentration and work camps was tantamount to trying to kill them because death was an inevitable outcome even without gas chambers. Rueckel, whose firm, Rueckel & Collegen, has an office in Midtown, said he and the several lawyers working with him to represent survivors in these German criminal trials are looking for survivors and relatives of survivors who were held at Stutthof, Bergen-Belsen or Neuengamme. Unlike the Groening and Hanning trials, prosecutors have agreed to come to the United States to take depositions. Rueckel, who is Catholic, said that of the more than 15 private lawyers involved in the Nazi cases, perhaps one is Jewish, but the lawyers’ religions are irrelevant. Their involvement reflects their belief in the rule of law, not in any religion. Any country devoted to the rule of law must pursue such justice, he said. “It is too late, but it’s never too late.” One daughter of survivors said her father witnessed German guards who were shot for not obeying orders at a camp, and she noted that Groening drew prosecutors’ attention in part because he spoke out against Holocaust deniers and detailed what he saw at Auschwitz. She asked whether it was right to prosecute men for not risking their lives, then becoming witnesses for history. Rueckel said he and the other lawyers wrestled with that question, but military historians assured them that if a soldier had moral problems with service at a camp, he could request a transfer to a front-line unit. And soldiers such as Groening and Hanning weren’t common infantry troops. They were part of the brutal SS, and Rueckel said camp service was a reward for their time at the front. “I had no other choice” was a defense higher-level officers tried to use in Germany’s 1965 Auschwitz trial, Rueckel said, but “it was wrong.” ■
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LOCAL NEWS
Science Finds Space for Spirituality in Child Health By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com
Photo by Kevin Madigan
“The psychology and mental health fields minus spirituality simply made no sense to me,” psychologist Lisa Miller says.
Miller is a professor at Columbia University and the author of “The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving.” She is the director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Columbia’s Teachers College. “I see plain as day in my work with children in Harlem and Washington Heights that the road to recovery for children who had survived great loss and suffering was entirely different when there was a personal connection to a higher power or the source of life or a sense of sacred presence in a child’s life and was held by the family,”
she said. In her book, Miller presents the view that children who have a positive, active relationship with spirituality are less likely to use drugs, be depressed, or have dangerous or unprotected sex and “have significantly more positive markers for thriving, including an increased sense of meaning and purpose and high levels of academic success.” But in her research, Miller found that a child’s background can make an enormous difference. “When we looked at well-resourced communities like Fairfield County outside New York and Marin County outside San
Made in Israel
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Psychologist Lisa Miller has devoted the past 20 years to an unusual area of research: the link between science and spirituality and the benefits conferred on the mental and physical well-being of children. “When I first started out in 1996, there was not one single peer-reviewed scientific article on spirituality and mental health in children. So the struggle to define what’s good practice and treatment with illness and health — in the American Journal of Psychiatry or in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry — was completely silent on spiritual life,” Miller said while delivering the annual Alembik Lecture on Sunday, Dec. 4, at Temple Sinai. “The psychology and mental health fields minus spirituality simply made no sense to me,” she said. “So I set to work with other labs around the country, and we now have, 20 years later, a very strong body of science and spirituality in the first two decades of life.”
Francisco, we found something that really shocked the field and at the time shocked our society: the rate of depression, the rate of suffering, anxiety, substance use — all those very prevalent forms of struggle — are actually more prevalent at higher rates per family in the affluent suburbs than the inner city.” Miller said the elevated rates of depression and anxiety — the inner void — and the painful abdication of natural spirituality in teens have an enormous cost. “It’s actually more true among affluent teens than in children in poverty. Uniquely in the United States, with education we become less spiritually aware.” She sees this as an opportunity, however. “In that matrix, the most important person in the whole world is you as the grandparent, you as the father or mother. You are the one who turns the tide in this cultural tidal wave. What we know as Jews, from generation to generation — the passing of the torch — is that seeing through the lens of science can be the most powerful of all possibilities for igniting your child’s deep spirituality.” ■
A L E X A N D E R S O FAT L A N TA . C O M
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Happy Chanukah
LOCAL NEWS
The Earth Goddess sports Chanukah colors.
Photos by Rachel Fayne Gruskin
Rabbis Loren Filson Lapidus and Peter Berg show that Chanukah can compete with Christmas when it comes to ugly sweaters.
Snowflakes and festive trees light up the Rose Garden.
The Levy Parterre is surrounded by lights and topped with Chihuly glass.
(From left) Allyson Adams, Kara Hoffman, Jackie Nix and Elizabeth Foster stay late for a trivia contest.
Ugly Sweaters Launch Temple’s Holiday Season
Peachtree Hearing has opened under the direction of Dr. Melissa Wikoff.
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An ugly sweater contest and a gelteating competition helped The Temple get an early start on Chanukah celebrations with families and young professionals Tuesday night, Dec. 6, at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. “It was an evening in which our Temple community was able to socialize as well as learn underneath a beautiful backdrop,” said Summer Jacobs, The Temple’s engagement associate. The night at Mershon Hall began with activities for kids and families, including Chanukah songs, crafts, and the gelt contest, narrowly won by Temple Breman Religious School student Ethan Droze. The school-night transition to more young professionals began with
an ugly sweater fashion show hosted by Rabbi Steven Rau. Children, adults and clergy walked the runway in their holiday worst. Throughout the event, open to Temple members and nonmembers, the holiday lights around the garden were on display — from the Levy Parterre, a waterfall surrounded by lights and topped with a Chihuly glass sculpture, to the Reflecting Pond, where the hair of the famed Botanical Garden Earth Goddess was lighted in shades of blue, to the tall trees in the Rose Garden, topped with holiday-colored snowflakes. “Our goal was to create a night of meaning making for our Temple friends, as well as anyone else seeking connection with our vibrant community,” Jacobs said. ■
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LOCAL NEWS Photo by Leonard Goodelman
Led by Cantor Lauren Adesnik (left), the EmanuEl youth choir performs at the Governor’s Mansion.
Photo courtesy of Sally Mundell
For a moment, Matilda Mundell is Georgia’s first lady during Temple EmanuEl’s visit to the Governor’s Mansion.
Photo by Leonard Goodelman
Wendy Frank and Emanu-El youths give a congregational present to Sandra and Nathan Deal.
Photo by Leonard Goodelman
A tree with peaches depicting key people and moments in Georgia’s Jewish history is the centerpiece of EmanuEl’s decorations at the Governor’s Mansion.
Photo by Michael Jacobs
The Sephardi food is always a highlight at the Or VeShalom bazaar.
Photo by Leonard Goodelman
Emanu-El Rabbis Scott Colbert and Spike Anderson flank the first couple.
Igniting the Chanukah Spirit
Photo by Sarah Moosazadeh
With Chanukah starting on Christmas Eve, while schools are on vacation and many people are traveling, synagogues are getting an early start on celebrations, including several events Sunday, Dec. 11. Temple Emanu-El brought a celebration of the season and Georgia’s Jewish history to the Governor’s Mansion in Buckhead, while Congregation Or VeShalom held its 41st annual Chanukah bazaar in Brookhaven. Also that day, Congregation Shearith Israel held its Chanukah party in Morningside, just down the street from the home of Anshi Rabbi Mayer Freedman and his wife, Shani, who welcomed the neighborhood for a Chanukah party the night before. ■
Candles, latkes, sufganiyot and an explanation of Chanukah are part of the Governor’s Mansion observance.
Photo by Sarah Moosazadeh
Rabbi Scott Colbert speaks to first lady Sandra Deal and Gov. Nathan Deal.
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Weber English department members (from left) Mike Bennett, Sam Bradford, Holly Chesser, Leigh Herman and Corinne Skott attend the teachers conference in downtown Atlanta.
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Weber School English teachers led a session at the National Council of Teachers of English conference at the Georgia World Congress Center the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Weber session, “Creative Public Works: Research-Based Art as Social Justice Advocacy,” was based on work done in the 10th-grade “Reading the World” class. Weber developed the Creative Public Works project with the Marist School. The project enhances research skills with a sense of self and responsibility.
Tide Rolls With Menorah
The University of Alabama will have a public menorah display on campus for the first time in the Tuscaloosa school’s history this Chanukah. After receiving a request from students for a menorah to join the Christmas tree on campus last year, the university is letting students in Alabama’s Chabad chapter erect and maintain a chanukiah outside the Ferguson Student Center from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1. “I am proud to be part of the Tide and proud of my Jewish faith,” said Zach Greenberg, the president of the University of Alabama Chabad Student Group. “We are excited to share this important part of our religious and cultural heritage with the rest of campus this Chanukah season.”
All Epstein School first- through eighth-graders participated this month in Computer Science Education Week’s An Hour of Code, a grassroots campaign supported by 350 partners and 100,000 educators worldwide. The program enhances knowledge of and comfort with technology. Epstein technology specialist Helene Marcus, media specialist Barri Gertz and 21st century learning coach Emily Khan facilitated computer programming sessions, based on resources at code.org. The annual Computer Science Education Week, which was Dec. 5 to 11, recruits millions of students to complete an hour of code. Computer science is a top-paying college degree, and jobs in the field are growing twice as fast as the national average. By 2020, the United States is expected to have 1 million more jobs than students in computer scine. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, “In 15 years we’ll be teaching programming just like reading and writing … and wondering why we didn’t do it sooner.” Epstein first-grader Lali Stillman participates in Computer Science Education Week’s An Hour of Code.
Ryan Srochi, Noah Blatt and David Rubel work together and use code to create snowflakes, make a winter wonderland and explore the beauty of ice with Disney software featuring Anna and Elsa from “Frozen.”
Your GO TO Specialists for all YOUR REAL ESTATE Needs RE/MAX AROUND ATLANTA David Shapiro Jon Shapiro DShapiro@remax.net JonShapiro@mindspring.com 404-252-7500 404-845-3065 404-845-3050 www.jonshapiro.com
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EDUCATION
Scholarship, Busted Myths Celebrate Tam Institute By Arlene Appelrouth aappelrouth@atljewishtimes.com
Photos by Arlene Appelrouth
(From left) Ellie Schainker, Miriam Udel and Deborah Lipstadt present their books.
Participants such as Perry Brickman look through books by Emory authors.
el dealing with time and space, spoke about Judaism in its current state of “post-denominationalism.” He said religious practices are declining in Israel, Conservative Judaism is on the decline in the United States, and the number of U.S. Jews who are Haredi is up. Rabbi Berger, who is working on
Shirley and Perry Brickman enjoy the scholarship and the kosher meal.
a book called “The Intentional Jew,” said today’s religious scene is affected by the divorce rate and technology. He said there is a lack of religious stability. Three Emory professors talked about their recently published books: Deborah Lipstadt, “Holocaust: An American Understanding”; Ellie Schainker,
Discussing Judaism across time and place are (from left) Jacob Wright, Jonathan Crane and Michael Berger.
“Confessions of the Shtetl: Converts From Judaism in Imperial Russia, 18171906”; and Miriam Udel, “Never Better: The Modern Jewish Picaresque.” Dentist Perry Brickman, who attended with his wife, Shirley, and about 100 others, called the afternoon program “first rate.” ■
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies celebrated 40 years of Jewish studies at Emory University on Sunday, Dec. 4, by highlighting some of the best of its scholarship for a crowd of about 100 people at Cox Hall. Rabbi David Blumenthal, whose hiring in 1976 launched the Jewish studies department at Emory, has remained a respected expert on Jewish mysticism and recently published a book titled “Keeping G-d at the Center: Contemplating and Using the Prayerbook.” “It’s OK to be angry with G-d,” he said. His perspective on Judaism is that “spirituality is at the core.” Another professor, Rabbi Don Seeman, spoke about the relationship between anthropology and Judaism. He called the Chabad movement “neighborhood mystics.” Both spoke during a panel discussion on the anthropology and theology of Judaism, which was concurrent with a discussion on America and Israel as modern centers of Jewish life. Eric Goldstein, the Tam Institute’s director and a specialist on Eastern European Judaism, spent his time busting myths about Jewish immigration to the United States in the 20th century: • Many people believe that the Jews who left Europe were the poorest and least educated, “but the facts are that between 1880 and 1914, Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire were the most skilled and more literate than the Russian Jewish population as a whole.” • Only a small minority of our ancestors suffered from pogroms, Goldstein said. • Many of today’s Jews, with Anglicized names, believe that their family names were changed at Ellis Island. But Goldstein said no immigration official at Ellis had the ability or power to change anyone’s name. Instead, “immigrants changed their own names.” For example, he explained how a Jewish immigrant ended up with the name Shawn Ferguson. “When asked by the immigration officer what he was called, he answered shayn fergessen, which is Yiddish and means I already forgot,” Goldstein said. “His desire to forget stayed with him, as his name, for the rest of his life.” The second set of panel discussions offered a choice between “Jews Across Time and Space” and “The Jewish Experience in Literature and Art.” Rabbi Michael Berger, on the pan-
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torah Fun VAYISHLACH 5777
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
EDUCATION
i
Yaacov did 3 things before seeing Esav for the first time in 34 years: he sent him messengers with gifts, got ready to fight, and davened. Yaacov wrestled an angel who said his name would now be Israel and then he hit him in the sciatic nerve. When they met, Esav hugged and kissed his brother and asked him to join him in Seir. Yaacov told him to go ahead. Dinah, Yaacov’s daughter, was taken captive by Sh’chem. Sh’chem’s father arranged for Sh’chem to marry Dinah, but Shimon and Levi tricked them and killed all of Sh’chem’s people. Yaacov didn’t agree with what had happened. HaShem told Yaacov to go to Beit-el so he went with his family. Rivka died and was buried. HaShem confirmed that Yaacov’s new name was Israel and that He will give him the land He had promised to Avraham and Yitzchak. Rachel died as she gave birth to Binyamin and was buried near Efrat. Yaacov died at 180 and his sons buried him. Esav’s descendants and the kings of Edom are listed.
WORD FIND
Can you discover the Secret Message? Find and circle the bold, italicized words from the Torah summary in the Word Find. Write the unused Word Find letters in the spaces below to spell the Secret Message. Have Fun!
Y
Which one is different? Hint: Places Yaacov passed through on his way home from Lavan’s house
SCHEM
SUKKOT
PENIEL
YABBOK
LUZ
SEIR
CROSSWORD Complete the crossword by translating each Hebrew
word into English. Use the parsha reference for help. 1
ACROSS
2
1. ( לילה32:14) 4. ( לבד32:25) 5. ( עיר33:18) 7. ( אח32:7)
3 4
DOWN
5 6
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
7
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2. ( ּכבד34:19) 3. ( מקום32:31) 4. ( מזּבח33:20) 6. ( ים32:13)
N A C O
Y
A
J
O
I
D A V
T
H
I
N G S
A S
A V N A M E
U E D C
T
E
I
E
V
T
D
I
E O E
E D M U
H
T
B
I
T
K
I
N G S
E
A R M N M A R R
R D
T
N V
D A
Y H S O N
L
S
R D S
I
N E D N D
E D O M
E
L
L
R N O
G A V H O T
T
spot the difference
V
Y
I
A K
G H H
I
S D A E H A
SECRET MESSAGE
______ _____ __ _ _______ ___ ______
gematria
Hint: The place Yaacov wrestled an angel
טו + טו
קצ ÷ קצ
ג +ז
י xה
ק
-כ ּפ
א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת 400 300 200 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
9
WORD CMRLESAB SRAM ____ YKSNEDO _______
EACMSL ______ SOAGT _____
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
(scramble)
WOSC ____ ESWE ____
Hint: Gifts Yaacov sent his brother Esav
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BUSINESS
Cobb Joins Waze The Cobb County Department of Transportation has announced its membership in the Waze Connected Citizens Program, a data-sharing partnership to help drivers get around the county’s roads more efficiently. Waze, the Israeli-created, Googleowned smartphone app that shares real-time, crowdsourced road and traffic information, has built a global network of more than 100 partners in the program the past two years. Locally, the participating jurisdictions include Atlanta, Johns Creek and Bartow County. In CCP locations, Waze distributes government-provided news about construction, traffic and other road issues to supplement what drivers upload. Waze and its users, including those who turn to Google Maps, get improved information, and the Cobb County DOT benefits not only from better use of its roads, but also from anonymous data Waze collects to identify traffic trends. “Joining the Connected Citizens Program was a logical step to take to ensure that we are providing our citizens with the best available tools to make decisions about their daily travel on our roads,” Cobb Transportation
Director Jim Wilgus said in a news release. “Our work is about helping people get around as safely and efficiently as possible. That means construction, certainly, but it also means making the most of technology. We are excited about how working with Waze will help us meet that goal.” The partnership comes during the Northwest Corridor project, which is causing construction-related traffic delays amid the widening of Interstate 75, and during the construction of SunTrust Park and the Battery mixed-use development in the Cumberland area. Traffic is a major concern with the opening of the Braves stadium in April. The Waze-Cobb partnership is free to both sides, as well as to users. The exchange of information creates a map that evolves with every data point. “Cobb County will contribute critical data to the Waze app, which is key for hyperlocal citizen support,” said Adam Fried, the new business development manager at Waze. “No one knows more about what is happening on the roads than Wazers, and Cobb County will be able to use these anonymous insights to further promote safer roads.” ■
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ELECTRIFY THE HOLIDAYS!
BUSINESS
Bring your old bicycle to ElectroBike Georgia’s retail store and receive $150 off any new ElectroBike model. Your old bike will be refurbished and donated to the Clarkston Community Center. Offer good through Jan. 31, 2017.
ElectroBike has come to Brookhaven’s Brighten Park!
FuegoMundo specializes in South American fare, such as a meal of steak, rice and beans, and fried plantains.
Getting around town has never been so much fun!
FuegoMundo for Sale By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com
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The owner of the Atlanta area’s only full-service, sit-down, kosher-certified restaurant is looking for a buyer or at least a managing partner. Masha Hleap, the Colombian-born executive chef and owner of FuegoMundo in the Prado shopping center in Sandy Springs, has put the kosher South American meat restaurant up for sale so she can open a location in the Jacksonville, Fla., area. “I’m planning to make Jacksonville my primary residence and, G-d willing, find someone to take over my location here in Atlanta,” she said. “I made the restaurant kosher five years ago, and now I’ve become kosher and I observe Shabbat, so I’d like to keep it that way.” Hleap said FuegoMundo will operate as normal until she finds a buyer or managing partner. The restaurant closes on Friday for Shabbat and reopens Saturday night, per Atlanta Kosher Commission regulations.
Gottlieb Takes AGH Reins
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Come see us at Ticknors Men’s Clothiers, Atlanta’s newest spot for high end casual, sportswear, and quality men’s tailored.
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Located on the upper level (next to Mayor’s jewelers) Ticknors carries finer brands such as Robert Graham, Bugatchi, Tommy Bahama, and Coppley clothing. Ticknors Men’s Clothier • Phipps Plaza 3500 Peachtree Rd. NE #2012A
Atlanta, GA 30326-1222 (404) 946-5808
Kathie Gottlieb recently was named the president of AGH, a Buckhead-based, globally focused accounting and business advisory firm. She’s the first female president of the firm, which is growing in such sectors as real estate, health care, private wealth, and estates and trusts. “I’m tremendously honored to take on this role,” Gottlieb said. “The people of our firm are incredibly intelligent and hardworking. Collaborating with them on a daily basis is a joy.” A certified public accountant, Gottlieb has more than 20 years of tax expertise. She is a Temple Sinai member and a Camp Twin Lakes executive board member, as well as a former treasurer of the Cystic Fibrosis Camp of Georgia.
The restaurant opened in 2009 as a kosher-style concept but has been under AKC supervision since 2011. Hleap said sales have gone up 30 percent since the restaurant went fully kosher. “I actually think that the nutritional movement is going in that direction, and people, even non-Jews, will appreciate kosher even more in the future,” she said. “Nutritionally, it’s the best way to go.” As first reported by Tomorrow’s News Today, FuegoMundo was listed for sale by the Schumacher Group for $476,000 in early December. The listing reported 2015 gross sales of $1,078,517 with a net profit of $216,775 after all expenses. With a second location potentially on the way in the next year, Hleap said it’s still her dream to build FuegoMundo into a national kosher franchise. “But I need an investing partner,” she said. “I haven’t really actively looked yet because I’m so busy running the restaurant, but that would be my dream: to make it a national kosher franchise.” ■ AGH also is appointing new members to its management group committee, which advises and works with the firm’s leadership. “We have a collaborative culture at AGH,” Gottlieb said. “Nothing is ever decided by a single person, Kathie Gottlieb but instead through is a University discussion, cooperaof Delaware graduate. tion and agreement throughout.” Adrian Grant, a founding partner of the firm, said: “Kathie is the perfect professional to lead AGH. Her expertise is not only beneficial to clients, but also to the firm’s team members. She provides insight and perspective that is invaluable as our firm continues its upward trajectory.” ■
Sylvia Kaye 84, Nashville, Tenn.
Sylvia Kaye, 84, of Nashville, Tenn., passed away peacefully Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. Sylvia was born and raised in Coney Island, N.Y. At 20, she married the man she picked out at age 15. Sylvia and Ray eventually moved to Miami, where they adopted two beautiful babies, Jodi and Jeff. The family moved to Atlanta in 1967, and Sylvia became active with the City of Hope, where she served as president for two years. Later, when her husband took early retirement, Sylvia went to work as the food and kitchen administrator for the Georgia Retardation Center, where she retired after 20 years of service. She was also a member of the Pomegranate Guild and volunteered for the Paralympics and for hospice. Sylvia was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Raymond, and her son, Jeff, who passed away at age 18. She is loved very much and survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Jodi and Fred Buc; three grandsons, Michael Jeffrey, Harrison Joseph and Dylan Isaac, who thought their Grandma Sylvia was so funny and always enjoyed their time spent at “Camp Kaye”; and many close friends, who always knew Sylvia to be a true friend who was there whenever there was a need. She was very smart and very funny and will be missed by all who knew her. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Graveside services were held Friday, Dec. 9, at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs with Rabbi Scott Colbert officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the City of Hope, www.cityofhope.org. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
Sara Zangwill 95, Memphis, Tenn.
Sara Zangwill of Memphis, Tenn., died of congestive heart failure on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016, in New York. She was 95. Born in Mississippi to Eastern European immigrants, Sara demonstrated immense responsibility at a young age. When her parents went on buying trips to purchase goods for their store, Sara, just 13, ran the store and took care of her siblings. She learned to drive at 14. She was the valedictorian of her high school class and attended the University of Illinois for two years, rare accomplishments for a woman of that time. She returned to Mississippi and visited Memphis often, where she met Morris, a handsome football player who later attended dental school. They soon married, and after World War II they settled in Memphis, where Morris practiced dentistry, and they raised four children. Sara assisted Morris in his dental practice and supported him when he was the first white dentist in Memphis to accept AfricanAmerican patients in his practice, despite death threats to their family. Sara loved cooking, travel and crossword puzzles, but most of all, she loved her family. She tutored at-risk youths, was a regular volunteer in her children’s schools and was active in many Jewish organizations. During the ’60s and ’70s, she became active in the Democratic Party, hosting lunches for rising young politicians in Tennessee. At one lunch she began talking to a young gentleman who was running for a Senate position. She was very impressed with him and said, “You, young man, are going places.” The gentleman was Albert Gore Jr., later the vice president of the United States. Sara is survived by her children, Terri Z. Cohen of Atlanta and children Rob and Melissa, Dr. William Zangwill and daughter Marissa of New York City, Diane Zangwill and Dr. Joseph Katz of Atlanta and son Brian Katz, and Judy Zangwill and Ric Cherwin and children Jace and Marley of New York City. She is also survived by sisters Zelda Kaplan of Alexandria, La., and Rae Plitman of Memphis, as well as several nieces, nephews and great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Sunnyside Community Services, 43-31 39th St., Sunnyside, NY 11104, Attention: Development, or www.scsny.org. To our mother: You gave us life, love and laughter. You were an extraordinary parent. It is your time to sleep now.
Death Notices
Sid Antonoff, father of Temple Kol Emeth member Steve Antonoff, on Dec. 7. Betty Cornett, 84, of Johns Creek, mother of Diane Farhi and Ronald Farhi, on Dec. 4.
SIMCHAS
Engagement Handelsman-Vertelney
Mrs. Ellen Hodes and Dr. Stuart Handelsman of Atlanta joyfully announce the engagement of their darling daughter, Lindsay Paige Handelsman, to Seth Jeremy Vertelney, son of Lisa and Sam Vertelney of Minneapolis. Lindsay graduated from the University of Georgia in 2005 with a B.S. She completed her master’s degree in public health at Emory University. Lindsay serves as a senior outreach specialist for the Text 4 Baby program at the nonprofit organization Zero to Three in Washington, D.C. Seth graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He serves as a deputy editor for Goal.com and a contributing sportswriter for The Washington Post Express newspaper in Washington. Lindsay and Seth are excited to begin the next chapter of their lives at their wedding in October 2017. ■
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
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Representatives of the Life University Midtown Clinic run Toco Hills NORC members through some exercises designed to improve spinal health.
Toco Hills NORC members are all smiles with Karima Arlene Cooper and Niko Chaniotkis.
Building Better Posture With NORC
Karima Arlene Cooper and Niko Chaniotkis explain the benefits of regular chiropractic care.
Residents of the Toco Hills Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (www.tocohillsnorc.org) got some help with spinal care, posture, and overall health and wellness from Life University’s Midtown Clinic on Nov. 2. Chiropractor Karima Arlene Cooper and Niko Chaniotkis from the clinic explained the benefits of regular chiropractic care, including the prevention of spinal stenosis and other maladies. Cooper and Chaniotkis also demonstrated a few exercises people can do to promote spinal health. NORC helps older adults stay in their homes and maintain their independence and is a program of Jewish Family & Career Services. ■
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CLOSING THOUGHTS
Location, Location
DECEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
My wonderful sister-in-law died recently. Sitting around her big oval dining table, family shared memories and marveled at the magnificent jewelry and knitted sweaters she created. Some discussions became heated; some caused belly laughs. We talked politics (don’t ask), memorial services, funerals and burials. At the end of her memorial service, we walked around the cemetery, searching for family history. After what seemed like miles of headstones, we located those family members who gave us life and love. I was reminded of an early shpiel. Here it is. I was 11 years old when Dad and Uncle Joe bought a bungalow colony. At first they built six bungalows, but the location turned out to be perfect. The area was close to the city (1½ hours away, always stopping at the Red Apple rest stop), and soon they were able to expand to eight bungalows. Within a few years New York, in its infinite wisdom, built a major highway from the GW Bridge, and they were able to expand to 18 bungalows. (A bungalow was a small summer place in the Catskills where families, sometimes three generations, living in cramped quarters, escaped the brutal city heat. Most bungalow colonies boasted a pool, a recreation building, a small day camp and an open field. The men stayed home in the hot city to work and schlepped up the 1½ hours on the weekends and back on Sunday night or early Monday morning.) Dad and Joe said it’s all about location, and their gamble paid off. When Gene and I decided it was time to purchase a couple of small pieces of property, my priority was location, location, location. You may think you know where I am going with this little story, but read on. Ever notice how the punchline is always at the end of a joke or story? Location, location, location. We (meaning I) came up with a list of priorities. The most salient consideration was not to be too far from our girls. G-d forbid they would have to travel far to visit. Here is my list of priorities, as outlined to the efficient and accommodating agent: • Location — Close to the main entrance of the gated community we chose. The thought of my four girls, their husbands and children getting 30 lost or tired or frustrated trying to find
me made me shiver. I certainly did not want them to schlep to me. Hence, close to the main entrance was important. • Location — Shade from a beautiful hardwood tree. I hate schvitzing. • Location — In case of rain, sleet, snow, thunderstorm, hurricane or twister, close to the main road. It also allows easy drive-by waves and shouts of “Hello; hi, Mom. How’s it going?
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ACROSS 1. Fred Wilpon (MLB) 5. Joseph has a (long) one with his brothers 9. Fragrant wood used in the Temple 14. New Israeli 15. Paula’s “American Idol” co-judge DioGuardi 16. Holy Land bank 17. Mark Cuban (NBA) 19. Undercover (like a Mossad agent), for short 20. Apple pie option that would also work on hot babka 21. Meas. when making challah 23. ___ and Ktiv 24. What Trump might end for Syrian rebels 25. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ HBO show 26. Like 59-Down 27. Ramallah grp. 30. Lovato who claims to have Jewish ancestry 32. Conference foe of 70-Across and 57-Down 34. Broadcasts (“The Goldbergs”) 36. “___ il tas” (Ladino Chanukah song) 37. Radio psychologist Westheimer 41. What an Israeli heat wave will eventually do 43. Currency abbr. in Israel 45. Coppola who directed Scarlett Johansson in “Lost in Translation” 46. Shabbat prayer 48. ___ Yisrael (Moshav) 50. Sefer read on Yom Kippur 51. Had some kreplach 52. Jewish actress Jennifer 54. Allenby and Yefet in Tel Aviv: abbr. 55. Quick punch from Tyson or Baer 58. Regrets, like Antiochus IV for oppressing the Jews 60. Old French coin, worth a few agorot
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Everything nice and quiet?” • Location — Close to more expansive and more expensive properties. I plan for my property value to go up. No riffraff in MY neighborhood. As it turns out, directly across from our small piece of land, a plan is on the books for beautiful, large family structures. That’s what I’m talking about. • Location — Having our name in back of the property makes no sense. I want our name to be front and center and beautiful. Something we and our kids will be proud of. By the way, we decided on a rather elegant bronze nameplate, a true work of art. • Location — Feng shui is crucial. A few weeks ago we meet with the agent for the gated community. Mr. R tells us he has been in the business five years and truly loves helping people. He goes over the costs (costs you wouldn’t believe; I tell myself it is good for the economy) and the various options. We climb into his golf cart to visit the available sites that fit my requirements. Quickly we find a perfect spot with a large, beautiful hardwood tree, close to the road, exceeding our expectations. And aren’t we the lucky couple? There is a sale this month — a special sale if we are members of a shul. Finally, we will get our reward for the various building funds to which we have contributed. And here is the best part: To the right of our property is a huge Walmart; to the left are LongHorn and other restaurants. So the visit shouldn’t be a total loss. We went home, discussed and decided it was perfect. So mazel tov to us. We now have our burial plots chosen and paid for. Even after passing on, we’ll take care of our children. Have you chosen your location? ■
“A League of Their Own”
By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Manageable
1
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By Shaindle Schmuckler shaindle@atljewishtimes.com
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
62. Simian opponent of 55Down 63. A mean Amin 64. Like G-d 68. Lenny Solomon shlocked his “Rock Me Amadeus” 70. Dan and Gary Gilbert (NBA) 72. Coastal town south of Haifa 73. 4-Down in English 74. Sneaker brand or Israeli storage company 75. Observes Shabbat 76. The Gershwins’ “It ____ Necessarily So” 77. Micky Arison (NBA)
leftovers? 31. Adam, e.g. 33. 2004 Brad Pitt-Orlando Bloom film 35. Shushan 38. Ships in several Spielberg films: abbr. 39. Krusty the Klown’s green hair, e.g. 40. Shira of “Shtisel” 42. Robert Kraft (NFL) 44. Former title for Rabbi Sacks 47. Clash between Judah and Israel, e.g. 49. Boot up the Dell again 53. Singer Sharabi 55. Foe of Scott Weinger’s DOWN “Aladdin” 1. NYC locale where Chagalls 56. Taper off, like the end of hung around a simcha 2. Plane that might have a sky- 57. Jerry Reinsdorf (NBA) high minyan 59. See 26-Across 3. Israeli footwear brand 61. Ill-fated husband of 4. Bedtime prayer Bathsheba 5. Spun out (unlikely Arad road 64. Singers ___ and Jaron occurrence) 65. Wolf’s “Party of Five” co6. Tempo (of Torah reading) star Campbell 7. Tablet holder 66. Any solo from “Salome” 8. Sample sufganiyot 67. Exam before Cardozo, for 9. Steve Balmer (NBA) short 10. Dark time for Keats or 69. Future staff at Ramah: Lazarus abbr. 11. Henry Samueli (NHL) 71. OU preceders? 12. Early rabbi 13. Like one who very strictly keeps halacha LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 18. Rage that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 R I M O N T I M might have been M O I R A 14 15 16 O L S E N A R I S E R S A displayed by 17 18 19 B A R M I T Z V A H S U R N Barry Bonds or 20 21 22 23 S H A I E R I E S S M A N Ryan Braun 24 25 26 27 28 22. Sondheim’s 29 30 E N Y A 31 N R A 32 A B I E G O L D E N A G E S W O R D “___ in the 33 34 35 36 A M I M E N G Y M S Clowns” 37 38 39 40 41 42 L G S I C E I O U E P S 25. Zygi and 43 44 45 Mark Wilf (NFL) 46 47 48 A N K 49A 50 N U T 51 X C I R A S H I S P A R T A C U S 27. Lulav 52 53 54 A N T E A Y E E Y R E provider 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 B E R M A N R A S A L B A 28. In ___ of 62 63 64 65 B I O K I R K D O U G L A S (wine, use grape 66 67 68 I N K A C T E D J O E L S juice) 69 70 71 S E E D S A N D I N S U E 29. Shabbat
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