Atlanta Jewish Times, VOL. XCVIII NO. 3, February 15, 2022

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VOL. XCVIII NO. 3

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 14 ADAR I 5782

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THIS WEEK Movers and Machers Atlanta is city of movers and machers.

From real estate and sports to new startups and game-changing ideas, our community is taking the lead on innovation and shaking up the way things are done.

In this issue, we focus on Atlanta professionals who are excelling in their fields. Politics reporter Greg Bluestein talks to the AJT about his forthcoming book on Georgia’s epic 2020 election and his guilty pleasure (PlayStation 4). Fencing great Sada Jacobson will join Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner and Atlanta Hawks exec Jon Steinberg in being inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association. And, last but not least, the AJT welcomes Sasha Heller as our new online content coordinator.

The AJT profiles the Tritts, a father and son duo whose Panther Group has invested in some 40 cannabis companies and picks their brain on how to reduce risk when investing in the “green rush.” We also speak to Robert Blazer, the visionary behind the beloved DeKalb Farmer’s Market, follow meteorologist Craig Tillison as he chases storms in Texas and Alabama, and learn how Nikki Seaman studied consumer behavior and

packaging at PepsiCo to launch her nextgeneration olive brand, Freestyle Snacks.

Our real estate section is packed with expert opinions from veterans like Steve Selig and Matt Bronfman and includes a forecast for 2022 — hint: it’s all about inventory. We take an in-depth look at the build-to-rent trend taking over new construction and get a sneak peek of the new high-tech food hall slated to open in Phipps Plaza.

Finally, not sure which of the AJFF’s 55 films (from 18 countries) to stream?

Bob Bahr and Matthew Bernstein have you covered with their Best Bets for the 2022 festival. One film you won’t want to miss is the documentary “Jews of the Wild West,” which reminds us of the key role Jews — many of them immigrants — played in frontier communities and westward expansion. Most people know about Levi Strauss, for example, but many will be fascinated to learn about Josephine Marcus, the wife of the legendary sheriff Wyatt Earp, who are buried side by side in a Jewish cemetery in California.

And stay tuned for our next issue, in which we’ll focus on innovations in education and camping. ì

Cover Image: Veteran political reporter Greg Bluestein and legendary Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner cover our real estate, business and professionals issue.

CONTENTS NEWS ���������������������������������������������� 6 ISRAEL �����������������������������������������22 OPINION ��������������������������������������24 THE LOWDOWN �������������������������� 25 SPORTS ���������������������������������������26 BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS ����28 REAL ESTATE ���������������������������������38 AJFF ��������������������������������������������� 44 ARTS & CULTURE ����������������������� 48 DINING ����������������������������������������� 50 CALENDAR ���������������������������������� 52 COMMUNITY �������������������������������� 56 KEEPING IT KOSHER ����������������� 60 BRAIN FOOD �������������������������������� 61 OBITUARIES �������������������������������� 62 CLOSING THOUGHTS ���������������� 68 MARKETPLACE �������������������������� 70

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 5

NEWS New Book Names Alleged Betrayer of Anne Frank

By Jan Jaben-Eilon Any story focused on Anne Frank, the young Jewish diarist who hid from the Nazis with her family for nearly two years in an Amsterdam attic, is sure to garner headlines. The recent publication of a book and release of a “60 Minutes” segment purporting to name the Frank family’s alleged betrayer has certainly stoked controversy in the Jewish community.

“For many people, Anne Frank represents the Holocaust,” said Sally N. Levine, executive director of the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. “For many, it’s their introduction to the Holocaust.”

That’s because “The Diary of a Young Girl,” first published in 1947, is often read by students in middle school.

The book documents Frank’s experiences from 1942, when she started writing her diary, to 1944, when her family was discovered by the Nazis and deported to Auschwitz, and eventually, with her sister, Margot, to Bergen-Belsen, where they both died.

Of the eight people who had hidden behind the famous bookcase in Amsterdam, only Otto Frank, Anne’s father and owner of the office below, survived the Ho-

6 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

locaust. Otto Frank retained possession of his daughter’s diary when he returned to the annex after the Allies defeated the Nazis.

According to a recently published book, “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation” by Rosemary Sullivan, an anonymous letter sent to Otto Frank after the war claimed that Jewish businessman Arnold van den Bergh, a member of the Nazi-appointed Jewish Council, was responsible for alerting the Nazis to the Franks’ hiding place.

Both the “60 Minutes” episode and the book are based on an investigation conducted by some four dozen consultants and crime experts, led by retired FBI investigator Vincent Pankoke. Artificial intelligence was used to sort through documents and records.

“Except for that anonymous note” to Otto Frank, “there’s no concrete evidence” that points to van den Bergh, said Levine, who acknowledged that she is a Holocaust educator, not a professional historian.

Still, Holocaust historians around the world have cast doubt on the investigation’s conclusions. According to the Times of Israel, all of the Dutch historians who were interviewed expressed “disappointment that resources were used on an investigation that produced ‘rubbish,’” as one researcher put it.

Reuters reported that the book’s Dutch publisher, Ambo Anthos, suspended printing of the book after

According to a new book by Rosemary Sullivan, a Jewish businessman was responsible for alerting the Nazis to the Franks’ hiding place. Historians have cast doubt on the conclusions.

questions were raised about the investi- Nazis in return for the freedom of his family. gation and its conclusions.

However, historians assert that And, although the Jewish community has requested that the book’s U.S. van den Bergh, his wife and their three publisher, Harper Collins, pull the book daughters were already in hiding in it released in January, Tina Andreadis, a separate safehouses by 1944, when the spokeswoman for the publisher, said in a Franks were discovered. The Times of IsFeb. 3 email to the AJT that “at this time, rael and other publications have quoted our publishing remains on track. While van den Bergh’s descendants arguing we recognize the strong reaction to the that he was not the Franks’ betrayer and expressing offense at findings, the investithe allegations. gation was done with According to the respect and the utmost Times of Israel, a famcare for an extremely ily friend of the van sensitive topic.” den Berghs, whose In the “60 Minutes” grandfather hid one of segment, FBI investigahis daughters between tor Pankoke acknowl1943 and 1945, said that edged that he would not Arnold van den Bergh have taken the results went into hiding not far of his investigation to a from Amsterdam and prosecutor. He referred that it would not have to the conclusions as made sense for him to “circumstantial,” con“For many people, Anne Frank represents the Holocaust,” leave his hiding place to taining “reasonable said Sally N. Levine, executive inform the Nazis of the doubt.” However, he director of the Georgia Franks’ location. also stated that what Commission on the Holocaust.

Levine and other his team discovered Holocaust educators contend that blamwas “pretty convincing.”

The allegations against van den ing van den Bergh is akin to “Holocaust Bergh stem from his involvement with inversion,” blaming the victim — in this the Jewish Council. It is alleged that the case, a Jew — instead of the perpetracouncil, which was an administrative tors of the Holocaust. She noted that body established by the Nazis to orga- members of Jewish councils in occupied nize and oversee the Jewish community countries “faced choiceless choices.” But, in the occupied city, kept lists of address- she added, it would have been “so danes where Jews were in hiding. Allegedly, gerous” for the local Jewish Council to van den Bergh handed over a list con- have such lists, that it makes this version taining the Franks’ hiding place to the of the story “hard to believe.” ì

NEWS

Victims Memorial Vandalized in Marietta

By Dave Schechter A memorial to lynching victims, adjacent to the Leo Frank memorial in Marietta, has been toppled.

The engraved black granite slab was forcibly removed from the pedestal to which it was attached by steel pins and left lying on the ground. The damage was discovered Thursday morning, Feb. 10, by a visitor to the site on Roswell Road, near Interstate 75. Photographs shared with the AJT show no visible clue as to how the monument was dislodged. No other vandalism or defacement was apparent at the site. The Anti-Defamation League contacted law enforcement.

Jordan Strong, a Waleska, Ga., resident, told the AJT that he was moved to visit the site after his 13-year-old son came home from school on Feb. 9 with questions about what his class had learned about the Leo Frank case. As he walked from his car, “I was on the phone with my wife. I said, you’ve got to be freaking kidding me. Somebody has managed to tip this thing over,” Strong said.

The lynching memorial landed face up, allowing Strong to read the inscription: In respectful memory of the thousands across America, denied justice by lynching: Victims of hatred, prejudice and ignorance.

Between 1880-1946, ~570 Georgians were lynched.

ADL Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation Rabbi Steven Lebow, Temple Kol Emeth The memorial to lynching victims was installed in December 2018, three months after the rededication of the Leo Frank memorial. The Frank marker had been removed four years earlier by the Georgia Department of Transportation because of road construction. It consists of a metal plaque on a pole anchored in a grassy area carved out by GDOT. Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent, was lynched on Aug. 17, 1915, in a long since built over woods along what now is Frey’s Gin Road. Frank was convicted in 1913 of murder in the death of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, who worked at the Atlanta pencil factory where he was the manager. Cobb County residents, angered by Gov. John Slaton’s commutation of the death sentence, kidnapped Frank from the state prison in Milledgeville and drove him to woods where he was hanged.

Frank’s is the only known lynching of a Jew in the United States.

When the lynching memorial was installed, an ADL statement said: “This

On Feb. 10, Jordan Strong discovered that a memorial to lynching victims, adjacent to the Leo Frank memorial in Marietta, had been toppled. (Credit: Jordan Strong)

memorial is the first to recognize all victims of lynching in Georgia. That makes it very significant. The placement of the memorial at the Leo Frank historical marker is very appropriate. ADL’s founders recognized through our mission that you cannot just fight hate against Jews but must speak out no matter who is targeted by hateful acts. While Leo Frank is the one Jewish lynching victim we are aware of, there were thousands of African Americans and others lynched, not just in Georgia, but across the country.”

By some estimates, as many as 95 percent of those lynched in Georgia were African Americans. The memorial uses the “~” figure because the documented number of lynchings may be incomplete.

The benefactor for the lynching memorial, as for the Leo Frank plaque, was Jerry Klinger, a 74-year-old retired financial services executive from Rockville, Md., and founder of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation. JASHP has placed historic markers at more than 110 locations in the United States alone and others in a half dozen countries.

The lynching memorial — 36 inches tall, 14 inches wide at its base and six inches in depth — was crafted to Klinger’s specifications by the RobertsShields Memorial Company in Marietta.

The damage can and will be fixed, Klinger said, but the incident presents a learning opportunity to teach about “the bigotry and hatred” that makes such memorials necessary. “I really see these guys as cowards. They’re being very blatant about what they’re doing,” Klinger said.

Strong and his wife, Elizabeth, are the parents of three boys and a daughter, ranging in age from 15 to 8 years old.

They are members of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes referred to as Mormons.

“We want our kids to be educated that you should stand up for anyone, regardless of who they are, regardless of

The memorial was installed in December 2018, three months after the rededication of the Leo Frank memorial.

their religion or race,” Strong said. “We want them to also understand that there are people out there who are opposed to anything other than what they think is okay.” ì

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 7

NEWS

Blinken Talks Putin, China at 33rd Eizenstat Lecture

By Marcia Caller Jaffe The 33rd annual Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Memorial Lecture Series at Ahavath Achim went virtual on Jan. 24 to fulfill its mission of bringing prominent political and economic leaders to speak at the synagogue Stuart Eizenstat attended growing up.

Eizenstat noted that this year’s guest, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, was scheduled to appear in person before the decision was made to livestream the event. AA Director Barry Herman calculated that some 2,300 viewers had registered and approximately 4,500 tuned in overall.

In his introduction, Eizenstat, who served as U.S. ambassador to the European Union from 1993 - 1996, praised Blinken’s intellect and temperament, as well as the vast experience he’s gained from serving three presidential administrations in a variety of key roles. “Blinken is the third secretary of state in history to have served as both deputy and secretary,” Eizenstat said. “Perhaps the second most powerful person in the U.S., Tony is addressing challenges and opportunities and rebuilding alliances as an amazing example of a public servant.”

Watching Blinken live was especially poignant, as the diplomatic issues he addressed had been the topic of every night’s national news. Blinken started with a summary of his first year: reenergizing the foundations of foreign policy, the climate crisis, global health and security and technology concerns.

In response to the looming invasion of Ukraine by

Stuart Eizenstat praised Blinken’s experience, bipartisanship, collegiality and commitment to Israel’s security.

Russia, Blinken demurred: “Better ask that of Putin,” he said. Nonetheless, Blinken emphasized that he was still searching for diplomatic solutions to the crisis. He provided some context for why Russia is so averse to Ukraine’s integration and possible NATO membership. “Of course we care, as this subjugation goes well beyond their sphere of influence and could open a Pandora’s box around the world,” he said. “We have sanctions in mind that go well beyond what was used in the past … with swift responses.”

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed a virtual crowd of about 4,500 on Monday, Jan. 24.

Robin and Hilton Howell

Blinken gave a summary of his tumultous first year.

In terms of China, Blinken noted, “We now see a more aggressive (and stronger) China. … We have many common denominators to try to work together. … the best way to do this is to re-invest in ourselves in education and innovation.” He shared that he had recently visited Southeast Asia to build alliances. “China is investing in other countries’ infrastructures. This could be good or bad, causing some to default or be burdened with debt.”

Another topic was the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The U.S. continues to support social causes there, Blinken said, chiefly for teachers and making sure that women and girls suffer no retribution. “These funds are not sent through the Taliban,” he confirmed.

Iran was the final contentious issue, one on which many Jews don’t agree. Blinken held that mutual compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is the best option “to put their nuclear capabilities back in a box.” Yes, he’s for a two-state solution in Israel to preserve democracy as the best way forward. “Palestinians deserve better humane conditions. Biden’s support of Israel goes back to Golda Meir,” he said.

Eizenstat’s last question: “What keeps you up at night?”

Blinken responded with optimism about the strength of Americans and the wealth of our human resources.

Eizenstat concluded, “Tony certainly gave us a tour de tabla. … Our foreign policy is in sturdy hands,” while Blinken quipped that all this praise should be sent to his mother.

AA President Gerry Benjamin told the AJT, “I was terribly impressed by Secretary Blinken’s candor and direct responses to insightfully provocative questions. He didn’t mince words, but rather, answered each question for the full 90+ minutes, providing context for the myriad of complexities impacting U.S. foreign strategy. It’s clear that the secretary and Ambassador Eizenstat enjoy a highly collaborative relationship.”

“Just when I sense that the roster of past Eizenstat Family Memorial lecture series speakers can’t be topped, Stu evaluates the global landscape and aims incredibly high, enabling AA to continue to attract the most relevant leaders, each incredibly well informed and connected,” Benjamin said. “Stu’s gift of the Eizenstat Lecture Series to the AA and the Atlanta community is truly a unique treasure.” ì

Colleyville Rabbi Talks About Being Held Hostage

NEWS

By Marcia Caller Jaffe The Jan. 15 synagogue hostage incident in Texas made “Colleyville” a household name. Watching the drama unfold on television, American Jews and non-Jews alike wondered what they might do in a similar situation. After some time to process, Congregation Beth Israel’s Rabbi Charlie CytronWalker spoke to the AJT about the events of that day and his thoughts on Judaism and security going forward.

AJT: Did you have any media coaching before being thrust in the national spotlight?

CC-W: No, the only media coaching I have received is with the public relations firm I am working with. I was told to have a focus and intention for each interview.

AJT: Has this changed your outlook on gun control? Will you now carry a gun to services or events?

CC-W: I have no plans to carry a gun to services or events.

AJT: Are there any Jewish texts or prayers that gave you solace or courage during the siege? In the aftermath?

CC-W: The chanting of “Birkat Hagomel” was very meaningful. That is a prayer for redemption after surviving a life-threatening moment. Being able to just pray on Shabbat was also helpful. All of the prayers of the healing service, on Jan. 17, were intentionally chosen. Of course, “Hashkiveinu,” our prayer for shelter and protection, was meaningful.

As I said in the Shabbat evening and morning services, all the prayers hold a little more meaning — just being able to pray, just being able to breathe are blessings.

AJT: How has this changed your view of what it means to be a pulpit rabbi?

CC-W: I don’t know that it has changed for me. I took the security courses, the same as my congregants. I feel the same responsibility for my congregation. I feel that being a pulpit rabbi is encompassing — it’s allencompassing. There are so many different aspects. It’s far more than being a teacher, far more than being a prayer leader, far more than being a pastoral presence. It’s about being there in moments of life and death and in between. It’s about education and trying to live our values. Being in the situation that we were in, I probably felt a little more responsible for everyone. But everyone I was with felt responsible for each other. We were all connected in those moments. So, it does not change my thoughts on the role of a pulpit rabbi.

Following the Jan. 15 hostage incident, Rabbi Charlie CytronWalker said that Judaism “encourages us to live with gratitude and offer blessings for the little things in our lives.”

AJT: Describe the active shooter training you had. How did you assess the choices in front of you?

CC-W: Each course was slightly different. I’ve probably been to about a half-dozen in the past five or six years. Each of them focused on the general idea that if you are in a life-threatening situation, you need to try and do something; you need to act to save yourself and others. Saving yourself is primary. Most of the day we spent looking for opportunities to get free. I would encourage people to take advantage of the courses that are offered. It’s valuable information in the same way that CPR is valuable training. The more people who have this information, the better off we are as a community — not because we are expecting anything bad to happen but, unfortunately, because of the world we live in and the reality that exists. God willing, we will get to a place where we live in a different reality, where this type of instruction is not necessary.

AJT: What inspires you in Judaism?

What is the lesson for today’s congregants?

CC-W: Judaism encourages us to live with gratitude; we’re supposed to offer blessings for the little things in our lives, like opening our eyes in the morning, the food that we eat. We offer blessings for our children and our families. We give thanks for our bodies and our souls. We aim to live with gratitude and appreciate the gifts that we have. So many teachings in the Torah are about the values that we’re supposed to live, and we want to strive to live them.

AJT: What was your initial reaction to the statement from the FBI that this was not related to anti-Semitism?

CC-W: I didn’t see the FBI’s initial refer-

In his spare time, Cytron-Walker likes board games and has an interest in gourmet cooking.

ence until after it had been corrected. The FBI director called it “anti-Semitic.”

AJT: Share something personal about you.

CC-W: I really enjoy playing board games, cards and reading fantasy books. My favorite author is Brandon Sanderson. I also love to cook. Every year, at the congregation’s Casino Night — our biggest fundraiser — I auction off a gourmet dinner.

AJT: Folks are fascinated by your name.

What’s the story?

CC-W: I love this question. I was born in Michigan. On my father’s side, the name changed when they came to the United States. Adena, my wife, was the Cytron and I am the Walker. Instead of one of us losing a last name, we both gained one.

The Forward reported in January that, a few months prior to the incident, CytronWalker had resigned after Congregation Beth Israel’s board refused to renew his contract.

Suffice it to say, he is now taking his time to regroup after the media storm. Speaking of his next career move, Cytron-Walker said, “I don’t know, to be honest. At this time, that isn’t my focus. My next step is ensuring that my congregation, my family and myself are getting the time and resources we need to heal from this traumatic experience.”

Rabbi Hillel Norry, a third-degree blackbelt in taekwondo, consults with experts in the worship security field and advocates for rabbis who are trained to use armed self-defense methods. Norry quoted Nehemiah, who said, “fight back,” instructing the Jews who were building Jerusalem to carry bricks in one hand and a sword in the other. “Being defenseless is not a Jewish value,” he said. “We must

work with law enforcement and national organizations, but that does not free us from our obligation to protect our own lives.”

Etz Chaim Senior Rabbi Daniel Dorsch was among those watching the hostage situation unfold on television. Horrified at the breaking news, his father called him to inquire if he knew the Texas rabbi. Yes, Dorsch said, the two of them had participated in an interdenominational Clergy Leadership Incubator Fellowship together prior to the pandemic. They had bonded over the fact that they were the only two rabbis in the cohort who served southern congregations.

“At that time, Charlie impressed me in much the same way as he impressed everyone: through his menschlichkeit, genuineness and kindness,” Dorsch said. “As a pulpit rabbi, I continue to be angry at what transpired. A rabbi welcomed a man in out of the cold, into his congregation, who then took advantage of his compassion. I am greatly concerned about the ramifications this may have on synagogue life, because the last thing we need today is for our synagogues to cease being places of compassion for those who seek help. We cannot close our doors and make them impenetrable fortresses. Jewish ritual and community life has already suffered a tremendous blow in recent years.

Jews already have plenty of reasons not to attend services in the era of COVID. In response to this incident, it is my sincere hope that the Jewish community fights back, not by retreating further, but by redoubling our efforts to connect with those in need. The only way not to let the terrorists win is by bringing Rabbi Cytron-Walker’s sense of love, compassion and kindness to our greater Atlanta community.”

After all, attending services should not require an act of courage. ì ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 9

NEWS

Wilensky Will Not Seek Re-election

By Dave Schechter State Rep. Mike Wilensky, the only Jewish member of the Georgia General Assembly, announced Monday, Feb. 7, that he will not seek re-election to the House of Representatives.

In a statement to the AJT, the two-term Democrat from Dunwoody said: “I want to announce that at this time, I am not going to run to be the state representative for the new House District 80. In four years[,] I accomplished many of the goals I set out to perform. These goals included the passing of the hate crimes bill, working on the Judiciary and Regulated Industries committees and having two bills pass the House, one of which was signed into law by the governor.

While I have enjoyed my time serving in the legislature, I am looking forward to spending more time with my children. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and has worked with me to serve our community.

It has been a privilege to serve you as your state representative.”

Wilensky represents House district 79, which is comprised of Dunwoody, part of Doraville and a small section of Chamblee.

Andy N. Siegel CPCU, CIC, AAI Sheldon Berch

State Rep. Mike Wilensky, the only Jewish member of the Georgia General Assembly, announced that he will not seek re-election to the House of Representatives.

He said that he will serve the remainder of his term, which ends when the General Assembly convenes in January 2023.

Wilensky had announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination and re-election to the House from newly drawn district 80, which will contain all but two precincts in Dunwoody, all of Doraville and a greater share of Chamblee.

Several hours before Wilensky’s announcement, Long Tran, the 45-year-old son

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Long Tran introduced Joe Biden at a rally in April held in Duluth, Ga.

of Vietnamese immigrants and co-owner of their own lens and it is important to have a Peachtree Corners restaurant, announced different voices on how our state should that he had filed the necessary papers to move forward.”

In January 2020, Wilensky delivered seek the Democratic nomination from disan emotional speech in the House to mark trict 80.

Wilensky, an attorney with a practice International Holocaust Remembrance in wrongful death and serious injury law, Day. “My family tree has branches that don’t was elected to the House from district 79 exist anymore,” he said. His voice broke as he explained that sevin November 2018, en of his great-grandreceiving 53.8 percent mother’s 10 siblings of the vote in defeatand 42 of his relatives ing Republican Ken were murdered in the Wright. He was reHolocaust. elected in November Tran, 45, told the 2020, receiving 59.7 AJT that the change percent of the vote in the district’s boragainst Republican ders, to include all of Andrea Johnson.

Doraville and a greatWilensky curer share of Chamblee, rently sits on the Budwas a factor in his get and Fiscal Affairs decision to seek the Oversight Committee, Democratic nominathe Judiciary Committion. He listed educatee, the Intragoverntion, immigration mental Coordination and small business Committee and the concerns as the three Regulated Industries issues on which he Committee.

Long Tran and his family. would focus his camWilensky, 38, paign. graduated from “I’m running because the district has North Springs High School, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia changed,” Tran said of the redrawn lines of and his law degree from the University of district 80. “I’ve had so many leaders from Maryland School of Law. He is the father of Doraville and Chamblee and Dunwoody as well voice the need for a representative who two daughters.

There are 236 seats in the General As- can cover all three areas and best address sembly, 180 in the House and 56 in the Sen- the challenges we’re having,” citing educaate. An estimated 130,000 Jews make up tion in particular.

Tran and his wife, Susie Martono-Tran, about 1.2 percent of the population of Georgia. One Jew makes up 0.4 percent of the with whom he owns the Peachy Corners Cafe that opened in January 2020, are the legislature.

In October 2020, Wilensky told the AJT: parents of two boys, ages 10 and 14.

Tran introduced President Joe Biden “It is important that our legislature represents the diversity of Georgia’s population, on April 29, 2021, at a rally held in Duluth, including race, religion and ethnicity. The Ga., marking Biden’s first 100 days in office.

Jewish community reflects different views A month earlier, he had helped organize a politically and about almost all issues. Peo- vigil for victims of the killings of eight people of all backgrounds bring different per- ple, including six Asian women, at metro spectives, due to experiencing life through Atlanta spas on March 16, 2021. ì

NEWS

Jeff Zucker Resigns After Relationship Revealed

By Bob Bahr In a stunning fall from grace, Jeff Zucker, the 56-year-old president of CNN, resigned on Wednesday, Feb. 2. Zucker will also step down as chairman of WarnerMedia’s news and sports operation.

Zucker, who is Jewish, resigned at the request of Jason Kilar, the chief executive of WarnerMedia, after he apparently violated the company’s policy of not promptly disclosing his romantic relationship with the network’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Allison Gollust.

During the Trump administration, Gollust worked hard to defend Zucker and CNN from frequent attacks by the president. She also served as Zucker’s personal spokesperson.

In December 2021, Zucker made the difficult decision to fire the network’s top star, Chris Cuomo, brother of New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, who was accused of having acted improperly in advising his brother on defending himself against charges of sexual harassment by several women.

Ironically, it was the network’s investigation into Cuomo’s firing that appears to have contributed to Zucker’s downfall.

Under questioning by company lawyers, Zucker, who had led CNN since 2013, was forced to admit that he had failed to disclose his own sexual relationship with Gollust.

“I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years,” Zucker wrote in a memo announcing his resignation. “I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong.”

Gollust, who, like Zucker, is divorced, indicated that she would not resign.

“Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years,” she wrote in a prepared statement. “Recently, our relationship changed during COVID. I regret that we didn’t disclose it at the right time.”

The close working relationship between the two was an open secret among staffers at CNN’s New York headquarters and may have begun much earlier than both have publicly acknowledged. (Zucker divorced his wife of 21 years in 2018; Gollust divorced the year before.)

Former “Today Show” host Katie Couric mentioned the relationship in her memoir, “Going There,” published last October. In 2011, she hired Zucker as the executive producer of a new talk show that she was developing, to be called “Katie.”

Couric described Zucker and Gollust as be-

Jeff Zucker resigned as head of WarnerMedia’s news and sports ventures, as well as from CNN.

ing “joined at the hip.” Zucker is also said to have pushed Couric to hire Gollust as the show’s publicist.

But, as Couric writes in her memoir, she was “really uncomfortable” about the “cozy arrangement” the two shared while still married to their respective spouses.

The pair even lived in the same apartment building on Madison Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. Zucker and his wife occupied apartment 3W. Gollust and her husband and children lived in the unit just above, 4W. Couric claimed that she had felt there was something “super strange” about the relationship. When Zucker left the Couric program to head CNN, Gollust became the network’s spokesperson.

Zucker has been atop the television industry pecking order for most of his adult life. He became the executive producer of NBC’s “The Today Show” in 1992, at the tender age of 26, about the same time that he first met Gollust, who was then also working for NBC. Eight years later, he was promoted to president of NBC Entertainment, where he developed “The Apprentice,” a show starring Donald Trump. Zucker was quickly promoted to progressively more important jobs in the company, and by 2007, he had become president and CEO of NBC Universal. Three years after that, when the company was acquired by Comcast, Zucker left the network and film studio with a severance package estimated at somewhere between $30 and $40 million.

His departure from CNN comes at a particularly crucial time for the news operation, which has been beset by declining ratings since Trump left office in 2020. It is on the verge of adding a new streaming service, CNN+, at the end of March to compete with its rival, Fox Nation, which launched

In a new book, Katie Couric says that Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust had such a close relationship, they seemed “joined at the hip.”

three years ago. Fox News veteran Chris Wallace has been hired as its lead anchor.

The network is also about to change hands, having been sold — along with WarnerMedia —to Discovery Networks by its parent company, AT&T. A new publicly traded company that incorporates the entity is expected to be formed by a merger in the second quarter of 2022. The new

company will be called Warner Brothers Discovery.

The CEO of the new company, David Zaslav, has been a longtime friend and golfing buddy of Zucker’s. Speculation has been building that the two veteran executives, who had first met when both worked at NBC, would eventually team up to run the new communications company. ì

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 11

NEWS

Murder Trial Date Set for Marlene Colon

Chelci Chisholm, also known as Malka Padalon, will stand trial in August for the murder of Marlene Colon.

By Jan Jaben-Eilon A date has been scheduled for the trial of a woman accused of murdering popular

Marlene Diane Colon was a popular Zumba instructor in Atlanta.

Sandy Springs fitness instructor Marlene Diane Colon. Colon was killed on April 5, 2021, in her own home, allegedly by the woman who had been renting a room from

Colon’s sons held a tribute for her at a Braves game last summer. “As we continue to heal, my brother, Loren, and I are hosting a Zumba class in my mom’s honor,” said Jonathan Colon.

her.

Chelci Chisholm pleaded not guilty in front of Judge Ural Glanville in Fulton County Superior Court on Jan. 31, during

a very brief arraignment. According to Jonathan, one of Colon’s two sons, he and his wife, Tasha, attended the brief hearing.

“Her public defender put in a non-guilty

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Chelci Chisholm, originally from Israel, is the suspect in the murder of local Jewish woman.

plea,” he told the AJT. “We were there for a few hours and her portion was only about five to 10 minutes.”

“It was a very emotional and draining day,” he added, noting that his brother, Loren, had been unable to attend the arraignment. “Moving forward, we plan to be up to date on all of the proceedings regarding the case.”

According to Fulton County records, Chisholm’s trial will begin at 9 a.m. on Aug. 8, with Judge Glanville presiding. Chisholm will stand trial on counts of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Chisholm, who was arrested at the crime scene, was denied bond in her first appearance in Fulton County Superior Court two days after the murder.

“We believe the suspect is the person that made the 911 call,” said Sandy Springs police, “but the dispatcher didn’t understand what was being said, and that’s the reason officers were dispatched to the home to an unknown disturbance.” Law enforcement officials reported that when “officers arrived, they encountered the woman-suspect in the garage holding an object and challenging officers. After a brief struggle with officers, she was subdued and taken into custody.”

Fulton County Superior Court records indicate that Chisholm is also known as Malka Padalon. As the AJT previously reported, the defendant had changed her name. An Israeli driver’s license indicated that she had lived in the Tel Aviv area.

Sandy Springs detectives say that Chisholm had only been living at Colon’s house for one month when the murder occurred. Court documents filed in Fulton County showed that Chisholm had listed an address in Duluth, where she had lived until a few years ago with an ex-boyfriend.

That house has since been sold.

It was in that house, in December 2017, that Chisholm allegedly attacked her boyfriend. According to Gwinnett County documents, Chisholm was charged with misdemeanor battery and simple assault. Those documents also indicate that Chisholm forfeited her bond and did not appear at a bench trial scheduled in October 2018. Chisholm had apparently left the Atlanta area and returned to Israel, before coming back to Atlanta not long before the murder.

The 73-year-old Colon had been a popular aqua aerobics and Zumba instructor at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta and the Breman Jewish Home and was active in the Jewish community.

Her license plate, according to her son, read ZUMBA4U. She particularly enjoyed working with the elderly and with children with disabilities. On her resume, she wrote, “I have a passion and commitment to increase the activity level among students of all ages and fitness levels.”

In addition to her two sons, Jonathan and Loren, Colon is survived by grandchildren Matthew and Julianne and more than a dozen first cousins.

“We hope that justice prevails and our Mom, Marlene, can rest in peace,” said Jonathan Colon. “We would appreciate the Jewish community’s support in her trial.” When asked to elaborate, he noted that the trial will be a public forum at the Fulton County Courthouse. He urged that “anyone that my Mom had a positive influence on or connection with in the Jewish community, that would like to attend the trial, is welcome.”

Colon, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, certainly impacted many in the Atlanta community. In June 2021, a Zumba class was held in her honor near the pool in the Spalding Lake subdivision where she had lived. In May, her family and friends celebrated her life at a Braves game, highlighted by a memorial message on the left field scoreboard. ì ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 13

NEWS

Abilities Alliance Advocates for Greater Inclusivity

By Robyn Spizman Gerson No one should feel unwelcome in the Jewish community. That’s why the Jewish Abilities Alliance of Greater Atlanta (JAA) was established to “provide training, resources, and support to help Jewish organizations welcome and serve people with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life.”

JAA Manager Annie Garrett says the organization “began in 2012, as a Disability Task Force formed to assess the needs of Jewish Atlanta’s disability community.” In 2015, the Task Force “evolved into the Jewish Abilities Alliance, which has grown to become the centralized resource for disability inclusion in Jewish Atlanta.”

According to a 2020 disability inclusion study by the organization Matan, there’s still a lot of work to be done. So, this year, the Jewish community is making inclusion a priority. According to Michelle Simon, the JAA has been chosen as “the newest Targeted Philanthropy for the Federation’s 2022 Community Campaign, enabling donors to direct gifts to support disabilities. We are poised to make Atlanta the MOST welcoming and inclusive community.”

Kyle Simon davening in Israel with another participant on his 2018 Birthright trip.

Jan Jay spends time with her young adult son Jared.

Community leaders (L) Elaine Blumenthal and (R) Debbie Levinson stay involved in JAA events.

Simon knows from firsthand experience. “After our middle son Kyle was born, we quickly discovered that he had differing abilities,” she said. “They were not always visible to others, but it was clear to us that Kyle had unique challenges. We were fortunate to intervene early and provide him

with the supportive services he needed along the way. Today, at age 25, Kyle has a great job where he is highly valued by his coworkers and a robust social life. Though he lives at home, he is quite independent and is the heart of our family.”

JAA Co-chair Jan Jay has seen the ben-

efits of community inclusion with her son Jared. “Our family cannot express the pride we feel when Jared uses his letter board to spell out his thoughts as he reflects on his Jewish heritage,” Jay says. “He has the desire to study Torah and frequently compares the struggles that he has as a non-speaking indi-

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Let’s stand together against hate.

LutinforCongress.org PO Box 466 Rome GA 30162 Donations deeply appreciated

Rachael and Jack Rosenberg with their 55-year-old daughter, Marla, at the 2018 JAA Power of One Awards.

Jim Mittenthal (L), former director of Camp Barney Medintz, has given Gail Heyman’s son, Scott (R), an opportunity to be on staff for over 20 years.

vidual living with autism with those of Jews we all participate.”

JAA advocate Gail Heyman echoed in history. We are so grateful for the opportunity Jared has had to learn about our tra- that sentiment. “I’ve been involved with the JAA task force and dition and identify with it’s very exciting, since it so closely. This would so much has been done,” not have been possible she said. “The bottom had the Jewish commuline is we want to get nity not been dedicated the information out to helping those of all there and awareness is abilities.” key. We are a caring JewAt a recent Zoom ish community and it’s event, advocate Elaine about providing opporBlumenthal, said, “Our tunities for those who goal is to provide more need a little bit more opportunities for people Jared Jay started learning how to spell on a letter board support. As I’ve always with disabilities to enin October 2015. He spells said about my son Scott, gage Jewishly throughgenerally with a communication and I would think this is out our Atlanta Jewish partner who is highly trained probably true for anycommunity. As Jews, we in working on the boards. one who has a disability, have a responsibility to take care of our loved ones and our neigh- they have the same thoughts, feelings and bors’ loved ones. In 1968, I came to Atlanta to dreams that we all have. So just remember, teach in one of the first public school classes if that person has difficulty with walking, in America for children with autism. Until expressing themselves or the ability to include themselves in the 1980s, many children the typical setting, we with autism were institushould be mindful to do tionalized for all their lives. our part to create an enThere was no Americans vironment where they with Disabilities Act (ADA) can succeed.” to protect those with a disRachael Rosenberg ability. In 1970, I delivered said that she and her my first child, who, at age husband, Jack, “are able five, would be diagnosed to sleep well at night, with Muscular Dystrophy, knowing our Atlanta and by age eight would be Jewish community is in a wheelchair. We felt working to care for our that if he ever asked, ‘why daughter, Marla, and me, G-d?’ that the answer Michelle Simon and her son the thousands of Jewish should be Jewish. In those Kyle spend time learning community members years, only one Jewish together as participants in the with differing abilities, day school was handicapMJCCA’s Melton Program. who need assistance.” accessible. Today, services For additional information about JAA for our special needs community are much more available. It is nice to know that things and upcoming information sessions, visit get better in the Jewish community because www.atlanta.jewishabilities.org. ì

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NEWS

The Temple Hosts Political Power Couple

By Bob Bahr One of Washington’s most politically influential couples, Rabbi Jonah Pesner and his wife, Dana Gershon, weighed in on the side of reproductive rights at The Temple’s Scholar-in-Residence weekend on January 28-29.

Pesner, who is executive director of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center in the nation’s capital, and his wife, who is president of the National Council of Jewish Women, positioned the battle over abortion rights as part of a broader campaign.

It is just one aspect, Pesner told the congregation during Friday night religious services, of a more serious attempt to restrict legal rights on a large number of social issues.

“There has been a rise of authoritarianism, of bigotry, of xenophobia and frankly, an assault on democracy in these last few years. And we, as Jews, experience it violently and we experience it personally. But we also witnessed, because we have intersectional identities, the ways in which many marginalized groups are experiencing this same rise and bigotry as authoritarianism.”

Gershon also tied the issue of abortion rights to the fight for social justice.

She was particularly critical of attempts

by Georgia’s legislature to restrict access to abortion clinics, adding that recent efforts have made the state the envy of all those who would make abortion illegal.

Gershon said that, according to the National Abortion Rights Action League, abortions are unavailable in 96 percent of Georgia counties, which represent some 58 percent of the state’s population.

“There is currently a bill pending in Georgia that would restrict access to

16 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

The Temple’s Rabbi Peter Berg introduced Pesner as the voice, hands and heart of Reform Judaism’s Washington presence.

medication abortion (the abortion pill),” she added, “and a law on the books that bans abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected. This law is tied up in court, but with Roe vs. Wade in imminent danger of being overturned or severely curtailed, it may only be a matter of time before most abortions in Georgia, like in Texas, are banned.”

Pesner and Gershon’s appearance was scheduled to coincide with Repro Shabbat, an event sponsored by 73Forward, an abortion rights coalition that was started last October by the National Council of Jewish Women. The coalition describes itself as “harnessing the energy and resources of Jewish women and allies” to seek “transformational change through education, advocacy and community-based service.”

According to 73Forward, nearly 600 abortion bans and restrictions have been introduced in U.S. state legislatures since 2011 in an effort to virtually eliminate access to abortion. In coordinating the

Rabbi Jonah Pesner and his wife, Dana Gershon, spoke at The Temple’s Scholar-in-Residence weekend on January 28-29.

Both the National Council of Jewish Women and the Union for Reform Judaism have been active in the abortion rights movement.

program, The Temple joined several hundred other community-based events created by 73Forward.

The Friday evening service gave Pesner an opportunity to praise The Temple’s long history of commitment to social justice and close relationship with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. He noted that The Temple’s association with social justice, under the leadership of the late Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, goes back to the late 1940s.

“Let Rabbi Rothschild’s legacy remind us that he understood the core lesson. The lesson that I want to frame tonight, which is our safety as Jews, our safety as a minority, is in our solidarity and our redemption as a nation may yet come through our democracy, which is why Rabbi Rothschild and the luminaries of the Jewish community marched with Dr. King for voting rights and for civil rights — because our future, our democracy, our fate is bound up with one another.”

The Shabbat service took place just two weeks after the attack on the

Reform congregation in Colleyville, Texas. In remarks made on Twitter at the time, Pesner amplified his belief that such attacks should cause us not only to strengthen our solidarity with other Jews but also remind us of the need to build bridges with other faith communities.

“We must address the threats to our synagogues as both a distinct problem, yet at the same time a danger faced by every faith group. Sikh temples, African American churches, Muslim mosques and Protestant and Catholic churches have all been targeted. Government, law enforcement, civil society and the entire interfaith community must all be engaged in efforts to ensure Americans can pray safely and securely in their houses of worship.”

Peter Berg, The Temple’s senior rabbi, introduced Pesner as the Reform movement’s voice, hands and heart in Washington. Berg also happens to be an old friend of the couple. Their relationship goes back to when all three were national leaders in Reform Judaism’s youth movement. ì

NEWS

Georgia Bill Would Define Anti-Semitism

By Dave Schechter

can society … [the IHRA definition] has been an essential definitional tool used to A bill to define anti-Semitism in the determine contemporary manifestations state’s legal code has been introduced in of antisemitism and includes useful examples of discriminatory anti-Israel acts the Georgia House of Representatives. that can cross the line If approved by the into antisemitism.”

House and Senate and Wilensky said that signed into law by Gov. sponsors consulted Brian Kemp, the legislawith the Atlanta regiontion filed Feb. 7 would al office of the Amerimake the International can Jewish Committee Holocaust Rememand the Israeli-Amerbrance Alliance definiican Coalition for Action the basis for legal tion, the advocacy arm actions regarding antiof the Israeli-American Semitism.

Council.

That definition On Jan. 26, Interreads: “Antisemitism national Holocaust is a certain perception Remembrance Day, 10 of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred to- Rep. John Carson, a Republican from states announced that ward Jews. Rhetorical Marietta, is the chief sponsor of the they would adopt the bipartisan measure. “The persecution IHRA definition. Procand physical manifesof the Jewish people simply must tations of antisemitism stop, and I look forward to the bill’s lamations were issued

by Alabama, Arkansas, are directed toward Jewpassage,” Carson told the AJT. Idaho, Nevada, Oklaish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jew- homa, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and ish community institutions and religious Wyoming, while the Commonwealth of Virginia issued an executive order. In June facilities.”

Rep. John Carson, a Republican from 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legisMarietta, is the chief sponsor of the bipar- lation making his state the first to adopt the definition. tisan measure. Other The IHRA adopted co-sponsors are Repubthe “non-legally binding lican Reps. Chuck Efworking definition of stration, from Dacula, antisemitism” in 2016.

Sharon Cooper, from The U.S. became a signaMarietta and Demotory in January 2019. cratic Reps. Mike WilenCritics contend sky, from Dunwoody, that the IHRA definiAngelika Kausche, from tion could be used to Johns Creek and Stacey stifle debate, particuEvans, from Atlanta. larly around the Israeli“I am proud to Palestinian issue. Of 11 sponsor this update to defining examples of Georgia’s definition of anti-Semitism that acantisemitism, which Rep. Mike Wilensky believes the company the 38-word will bring us in line with bill “should have no problems definition, six reference other states and help demoving through both chambers.”

Israel. Among them are lineate what constitutes antisemitism. The persecution of the Jew- accusing Jews outside of Israel of dual loyish people simply must stop, and I look alty and “denying the Jewish people their forward to the bill’s passage,” Carson told right to self-determination.”

The newly-introduced bill states: the AJT. Wilensky said that Senate backers “Nothing in this Code section shall be conare being lined up. “It should have no strued to diminish or infringe upon any problems moving through both cham- right protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or bers,” he said.

The bill’s language states: “Antisemi- the Georgia Constitution.”

Meanwhile, the House and Senate tism, including harassment on the basis of actual or perceived Jewish origin, ances- have sent Kemp legislation that amends try, ethnicity, identity, affiliation, or faith, the state’s anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment remains a persistent, pervasive and dis- and Sanctions) law.

The 2016 law requires that any perturbing problem in contemporary Ameri-

son or company contracting with the is awaiting the governor’s signature,” state for services valued at $1,000 or more thanking in particular Carson, Wilensky agree not to boycott Israel. The BDS move- and Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican ment seeks to use economic pressure to from Marietta.

Even with the change in the threshold force changes in Israeli policies regarding for triggering the antithe Palestinians. boycott pledge, the law’s The law awaiting viability remains in the governor’s signadoubt. U.S. District Court ture would raise the Judge Mark Cohen last threshold for triggering May declared the meathe anti-boycott pledge sure to be unconstituto $100,000 and apply tional, as he rejected the it to businesses with state’s request to dismiss five or more employees, a lawsuit challenging in effect reducing the Georgia’s law. number of contracts Cohen wrote: “The that potentially may be requirement contained affected. in [the Georgia law] that A boycott is defined parties seeking to conas “engaging in refusals Dov Wilker, the American Jewish tract with the state of to deal with, terminatCommittee’s Atlanta regional Georgia sign a certificaing business activities director, said, “We are very pleased tion that they are not with, or other actions that the House and Senate have engaged in a boycott that are intended to limpassed a law that is awaiting of Israel also is unconit commercial relations the governor’s signature,” stitutional compelled with Israel or individuals or companies doing business in Israel.” speech … The certification that one is not House Bill 383, approved 146-9 on Jan. engaged in a boycott of Israel is no differ27, matches a version approved by the ent than requiring a person to espouse Senate in the 2021 session. “Trade with Is- certain political beliefs or to engage in cerrael is a compelling state interest for the tain political associations. The Supreme state of Georgia, I would argue, and this Court has found similar requirements to bill preserves free speech rights for indi- be unconstitutional on their face.”

At least 35 states have some form of viduals and sole proprietorships,” Carson, the lead sponsor, said on the House floor. anti-BDS law, resolution or executive or“But it also says we as a state are not going der, several of which have been challenged to contract — we’re updating our statute on First Amendment grounds. In January, to say we are not going to contract with a federal judge in Houston granted an ingroups that embrace boycott, divestment junction blocking a similar law from taking effect in Texas. ì and sanctions against the state of Israel.”

Dov Wilker, the American Jewish Video of Carson's remarks Jan. 27 on Committee’s Atlanta regional director, said, “We are very pleased that the House floor re: Georgia anti-BDS law: https:// House and Senate have passed a law that www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0lZmTHw41o

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Atlanta Clergy Support NCJW’s Repro Shabbat

According to The Temple’s Rabbi Lydia Medwin, “Georgia has the highest recorded maternal mortality rate in all the United States.”

By Jan Jaben-Eilon It was appropriate that Parshat Mishpatim was chosen for the National Council of Jewish Women Inc.’s (NCJW)

Shira M. Zemel, co-director of NCJW’s 73Forward Campaign, said the goal of Repro Shabbat was to provide a Jewish framework to encourage congregants to protect the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade.

Repro Shabbat, a special event to highlight reproductive justice. Nearly 50 Atlanta clergy members joined 1,300 of their colleagues around the country in signing the Rabbis for Repro pledge — a

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“As a male rabbi, I’m a little bit of an outsider,” admitted Rabbi Hillel Konigsburg, associate rabbi at Congregation B’nai Torah, “but I can raise my voice and awareness.”

“Carrying a pregnancy to term has a risk of death that is nearly fortyfold greater than the risk associated with legal abortion,” noted Dr. Mimi Zieman, an ob-gyn.

commitment to educate their congrega- Lauren Henderson referred to the same tions about reproductive rights and Ju- portion of Exodus in her sermon, saying daism, a subject on which many focused that “already in the time of the Mishnah (circa 200 CE), the rabbis wrote that their sermons in late January.

The well-known “eye for an eye” clause when a pregnant woman is experienccomes from Exodus 21:22-25, in Mishpatim, ing difficult labor and her life is being threatened, as long as which is Hebrew for the baby’s head has “laws.” What is less not yet emerged from well known, as several the mother’s body, the local rabbis pointed mother’s life and safeout, is that Judaism’s ty take precedence understanding of — — and abortion was even support for — permitted.” abortion is based on According to this Torah portion: Henderson, “great “When men fight and legal scholars like one of them pushes a Rabbi Jacob Emden, pregnant woman and a leading Orthodox a miscarriage results, rabbi in Germany in but no other damthe mid-18th century, age ensues, the one ruled that abortion is responsible shall be permitted ‘even if the fined according as the “We work for reproductive freedom mother’s life is not in woman’s husband may exact from him, the because of our tradition, not in spite of jeopardy, but only so it,” Dana Gershon, president of NCJW, as to save her from payment to be based told congregants of The Temple. woe associated with on reckoning [as the it that would cause her great pain…’ emojudges determine].”

As Temple Sinai Cantor Beth Scha- tional, or psychological.”

Henderson acknowledged that, prifer explained to her congregation, “certain crimes should be met with certain or to Repro Shabbat, she had never spopunishments, some even punishable by ken about reproductive justice. “We have death … but here the Torah tells us that a strong NCJW presence at Or Hadash,” the death of a fetus does not warrant the she said, referring to the co-presidents death of the attacker, it is not ‘eye for eye,’ of the Atlanta section, Sherry Frank and or life for life. The rabbis conclude from Stacey Hader Epstein. Henderson said this that the fetus was considered part of that the focus on reproductive justice the woman’s body and that her physical gave her a chance to delve into Judaism’s health is what holds greater value and stances on abortion.

According to Shira M. Zemel, cotakes priority.”

Congregation Or Hadash Rabbi director of the NCJW’s 73Forward Cam-

NEWS

Temple Sinai Cantor Beth Schafer said the new state laws hindering access to abortion actually threaten religious freedom because they elevate some Christian beliefs about abortion over Jewish beliefs.

Congregation Or Hadash Rabbi Lauren Henderson said she had never before spoken about reproductive justice in her sermons.

paign, that was indeed the idea behind Repro Shabbat. By encouraging clergy to sign the Rabbis for Repro pledge, she explained, they are saying, “I am a safe person. You can come to me without fear or judgement to talk about” the choice of getting an abortion. The goal of Repro Shabbat was to provide congregants with a Jewish framework that would encourage people to protect the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which granted access to abortion in certain cases across the United States.

But, Zemel said, “Roe is the floor, not the ceiling” for access to abortion, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court is currently looking at state laws that weaken access to abortion. NCJW provided Jewish resources to clergy, including liturgy, text study and videos of people sharing their abortion experiences. “We’re building this up every year,” she said, of the number of clergy that sign on to the pledge.

“The list spans all denominations.”

“Personally, I see Judaism as being supportive of women’s right to choose,” said The Temple’s Rabbi Lydia Medwin.

According to Jewish law, she said, life begins at birth, and the “health and wellness of the mother is of utmost importance.” She noted that “Georgia has the highest recorded maternal mortality rate in all the United States.”

Dr. Mimi Zieman, an ob-gyn, has noted in interviews and in op-eds that “carrying a pregnancy to term has a risk of death that is nearly fortyfold greater than the risk associated with legal abortion.” She also pointed out that most major medical societies oppose anti-abortion laws.

Dana Gershon, president of NCJW, joined The Temple’s Repro Shabbat via

Zoom. She noted that, according to the organization NARAL Pro-Choice America, 96 percent of Georgia’s counties have no clinics providing abortion care. She emphasized that “the fetus and a person are not the same thing.” Jewish tradition, she said, views abortion as healthcare.

“We work for reproductive freedom because of our tradition, not in spite of it.”

Schafer, who is an NCJW board member, pointed out that the new laws hindering access to abortion actually threaten religious freedom because they elevate some Christian beliefs about abortion over Jewish beliefs.

But it was not just Atlanta’s female clergy who addressed reproductive justice during Repro Shabbat. “As a male rabbi, I’m a little bit of an outsider,” admitted Rabbi Hillel Konigsburg, associate rabbi at Congregation B’nai Torah, “but I can raise my voice and awareness.”

In his sermon, Konigsburg said, he delivered two messages: that “Jewish law sometimes permits and even requires abortion in relation to a mother’s health, both physical and emotional,” and that people shouldn’t judge the choices of others.

Konigsburg, who is the father of two young children, noted that a 2014 survey indicated that 83 percent of Jews would support a woman’s access to abortion. He commended NCJW’s Repro Shabbat for providing an opportunity to continue the conversation about reproductive justice.

Schafer reported that, after her sermon at Temple Sinai, she was approached by several women and men who told her that “this is their fight.” One, she said, was a retired ob-gyn.

“Judaism tells us to fight. I encouraged them to take action,” she said. ì

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NEWS

Esther Panitch and Betsy Kramer Seek Public Office

By Dave Schechter Two Jewish women in metro Atlanta are running for seats in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Attorney Esther Panitch is seeking the Democratic nomination in the 51st district and Fulton County Republican Party 1st Vice Chair Betsy Kramer is seeking her party’s nomination in the 50th district.

Panitch, who announced her candidacy Feb. 10, told the AJT that she had not planned to run for public office, but changed her mind after Democratic Rep. Mike Wilensky, the lone Jewish member of the Georgia General Assembly, announced that he would not seek reelection. “Once Mike decided not to run and it became clear he was the only [Jewish legislator], that really surprised me.

Given the numbers in Georgia, we should have some level of representation in the legislature,” she said.

Candidates “have to be qualified, whether they’re Jewish or not,” Panitch said. “It’s an added benefit. It brings a sensitivity to not just Jews but to other

Betsy Kramer has been raising money and knocking on doors in the 50th district.

Attorney Esther Panitch seeks to run for District 51, which includes sections of Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Johns Creek.

minorities. People who have never been in a minority may not be sensitive” on particular issues.

District 51 includes sections of Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Johns Creek.

The district currently is represented by

two-term Democratic Rep. Josh McLaurin, who is running for a seat from Senate district 14.

There is one other announced candidate for the Democratic nomination.

No Republican has filed to run in the 51st district.

The 50-year-old Panitch said that her priority issues would be women’s reproductive rights, “reasonable” gun control, and strengthening Georgia’s treatment of childhood sexual abuse victims. She also cited increased antisemitism as motivating her candidacy.

Panitch said that she supports the Second Amendment but would like to see more restrictions on who is able to purchase a gun. In terms of childhood sexual abuse victims, she has represented men who were abused as boys by adult leaders in the Boy Scouts.

Panitch also represented Ariela Neuman in her divorce from Hemy Neuman, whose 2016 conviction for murder in the November 2010 slaying of Russell Sneiderman in Dunwoody were upheld last year by the Georgia Supreme Court. The high-profile case was of particular interest in the Jewish community.

Because she is a candidate for public office, Panitch has given up her role as a legal analyst at WSB-TV. “I very much enjoyed doing that, that was my hobby,” she said. Panitch also served as a legal analyst for CNN in the past.

Panitch received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and her juris doctor from the University of Miami School of Law. She served in the Miami-Dade County public defender’s office before opening her own law firm, specializing in domestic violence

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cases. Panitch moved to Atlanta in 2004 and now heads The Panitch Law Group, whose website says she “specializes in defending first-time criminal offenders.”

Panitch and her husband, Roger, are members of Congregation B'nai Torah (where he recently served as congregation president) and are the parents of a daughter and two sons. Panitch is a thirdgeneration member of Hadassah, for which she has served in leadership roles, and been active on behalf of Camp Judea.

Kramer began her campaign in December and already has been raising money and knocking on doors in the 50th district, but had not made a public announcement of her candidacy. The district which includes sections of Johns Creek and Alpharetta. Two others have filed for the Republican nomination in the district. Democratic State Sen. Michelle Au is running as a Democrat in the 50th.

“People who know me, know that I’m a doer. I get things done,” Kramer said. “My conservative principles, my love of our country and our city led me to enter the race.”

As did Panitch, Kramer also cited the issue of antisemitism. If elected, “I would represent my [Republican] caucus as a Jewish woman and represent the Jews of Georgia as a Republican,” Kramer said. “Most people think of Jews as being Democrats.” Kramer, 64, and her husband Steve are the parents of a son and a daughter, and are members of Congregation Gesher L’Torah.

Kramer said that her priority issues would include election integrity, education, and reducing or eliminating Georgia’s income tax.

Kramer, who has served as vice chairman of the Fulton County Republican Party, is a member of the state Republican Party election integrity committee.

On education, she said, “I think COVID opened a lot of peoples’ eyes as to what children are learning. Children should be taught how to think critically and not necessarily be taught a lot of the propaganda that is being taught to them.” Kramer said that she grew up being taught that America “was a melting pot, but now children are being put into groups. We’re being blamed and dividing people and it’s just not right.”

On how the state could replace the loss of the estimated $14 billion generated by the income tax, “It is something to work on,” she said, adding that the state could study other forms of taxation and that change could be made gradually, rather than all a one time. ì

NEWS

Lipstadt Testifies at Confirmation Hearing

By Dave Schechter After waiting 193 days for a confirmation hearing, Deborah Lipstadt began her testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Feb. 8 with the Jewish prayer of thanks for captives being freed.

Lipstadt was referring to the outcome of last month’s hostage-taking at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, but might just as well have meant her nomination to be the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

President Joe Biden nominated the Emory University professor on July 30, but Republicans delayed the hearing as a demonstration of their irritation about Lipstadt’s social media posts. That issue led to Deborah Lipstadt at a confirmation hearing on Feb. 8, 2022. the hearing’s one testy exchange.

The committee chair, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, told Lipstadt entire political spectrum. One finds it discuss the controversy over her social me- if I made it in a way that it could be assumed that he was “truly disappointed it took this among Christians, Muslims, atheists and dia posts, notably one concerning Wiscon- to be a political … at the person personally.”

Johnson said that he would accept Lipsadly, even a handful of Jews. One finds it sin Republican Ron Johnson, a member of long to schedule your hearing.” stadt’s apology, “But I think that somebody A confirmation hearing was required in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America the committee.

On March 14, 2021, Lipstadt posted who has had a 30-year professional career because the position now carries the rank and even in countries with no Jews. I am an ought to know better. … equal-opportunity foe an article about a stateof ambassador. If apI certainly cannot supof antisemitism. Unless ment made by Johnson, proved by the commitport your nomination. one is willing to fight that he would have been tee — a vote has yet to be … You’re just simply not Jew-hatred wherever one more concerned about scheduled — and then qualified for it.” After finds it, one should not the Jan. 6, 2021 attack the full Senate, Lipstadt’s his response to Lipstadt, be a nominee for this po- on the Capitol if the mob portfolio at the State DeJohnson left the commithad been made up of sition,” she said. partment would include tee chamber.

If confirmed, the “Black Lives Matter and anti-Semitism anywhere No other senator 74-year-old Lipstadt antifa protesters” rather in the world, except, by attending the hearing would take a leave of than supporters of thenlaw, in the United States. voiced opposition to her absence from Emory Present Donald Trump.

Jewish groups renomination.

University, where she is Lipstadt’s comment said newed their push for The committee chair, Democratic Ron Johnson told her. “You Ohio Republican the Dorot Professor of of Johnson’s statement, Lipstadt’s confirmation Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. have engaged in the malicious Rob Portman asked LipModern Jewish History “This is white supremfollowing the Jan. 15 poison [of social media] … stadt about programs to hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel, and Holocaust Studies in Emory’s Tam In- acy/nationalism. Pure You’ve never talked to me. ..." improve security at Jewwhich ended with four hostages physically stitute for Jewish Studies and the religion and simple.”

Lipstadt told Rubio that “sometimes I ish institutions in the United States. “The diunharmed and their assailant killed by the department.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio have not been as nuanced in my tweets as vision between domestic and international Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Senators, this was no isolated inci- asked Lipstadt about the Amnesty Interna- I like” and that she has “been exceptionally antisemitism is getting murkier,” Lipstadt dent. Increasingly Jews have been singled tional report issued Feb. 1 and titled “Israel’s critical of members of the Democratic Party, said, noting that the hostage taker in Texas out for slander, violence and terrorism. apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel sys- of people on the end of the spectrum, politi- “was radicalized abroad and then came here to do his handiwork.” She added that tem of domination and a cal spectrum, where I place myself.”

Today’s rise in antisemiLipstadt’s clarification that her criti- security concerns extend to Congregation crime against humanity.” tism is staggering. We Lipstadt said, “I cism pertained to behavior, not the person, Ohr HaTorah, the synagogue she attends in witness this surge less found the language used did not satisfy Johnson, who referenced the Atlanta. than eight decades after Under questioning from Maryland in that report … more Biblical commandment not to bear false one out of every three than ahistorical. I found witness. “But that’s not true. What you just Democrat Chris Van Hollen, Lipstadt said Jews on earth was murit unhistorical. Branding testified there is false,” Johnson told her. that while all criticism of Israeli policies is dered,” Lipstadt said in Israel an apartheid state “You have engaged in the malicious poison not anti-Semitic, “certain things cross the her opening statement. is more than historically [of social media] … You’ve never talked to me. line into antisemitism and criticism can “Often in their long hisinaccurate. I believe it’s You’ve never met me. You don’t know what’s cross the line.” tory, Jews have felt abanBefore the hearing adjourned, Lippart of a larger effort to in my heart.” doned, but then is not Lipstadt told Johnson, “As I said earlier, it stadt assured Menendez that she undernow, certainly not in the Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio delegitimize the Jewish state. Such language, I was not nuanced. I would not do diplomacy stood the difference between making United States. Today, the asked Lipstadt about the Amnesty see it spilling over onto by tweet. While I may disagree with … what comments as a private citizen and as a American government International report issued Feb. 1. recognizes Jew=hatred as a serious global campuses, where it poisons the atmosphere, you said specifically, and I think that’s [a] le- public servant, and that she “already had gitimate difference, I certainly did not mean begun an education with would-be colparticularly for Jewish students.” challenge.”

Rubio gave Lipstadt the opportunity to it and I’m sorry if it was taken. And I’m sorry leagues at the State Department.” ì “Jew-hatred can be found across the ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 21

ISRAEL PRIDE

NEWS FROM OUR JEWISH HOME

When snowstorm Elpis hit Israel last week, hundreds had to be rescued, including a bride and groom. // Credit: Yechiel Gurfein/United Hatzalah)

Bride and Groom Rescued amid Heavy Snowfall near Jerusalem Snowstorm Elpis hit Israel last week and stranded hundreds of people in the north of the country and the Jerusalem area as highways were closed due to heavy snowfall.

Among those stranded were a newly wedded bride and groom, who were trapped in the Sequoia wedding hall in Ma’ale HaChamisha. Due to the snow, many of the roads were either closed or dangerous to drive on, so the couple was unable to return home after the celebration.

The newlyweds tried to find a way home as someone reached out to emergency services to assist. United Hatzalah’s Dispatch Center, which received the alert, did not hesitate for a moment and sent volunteers with

Today in Israeli History

The flagship Les Grands Magasins Cicurel et Oreco store, owned by Salvator Cicurel until 1956, is seen in downtown Cairo in the 1940s.

Feb. 15, 1975: A former leader of Cairo’s Jewish community and a 1928 Olympic fencer, Salvator Cicurel dies. He was forced to sell his department store to Muslims after the 1956 Sinai war and left for France in 1957.

Feb. 16, 1932: Author Aharon Appelfeld is born near Czernowitz, then part of Romania. He is sent to a Nazi concentration camp in 1941 and escapes at age 10. He makes aliyah in 1946. He receives the Israel Prize in 1983.

Feb. 17, 1948: The State Department’s policy planning staff sends a memo to President Harry Truman and Secretary of State George Marshall to argue against the implementation of the U.N. partition of Palestine.

Feb. 18, 1577: The Jews of Safed (Tzfat), 22 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

an emergency all-terrain vehicle to assist. Despite the heavy snowfall, the volunteers traveled from Jerusalem to Ma’aleh HaHamisha and came to the assistance of the bride and groom.

The guests escorted the couple with singing and dancing as they walked out to the United Hatzalah vehicle. They returned safely to their home in Bayit VaGan to conclude the most momentous day of their lives.

The head of the United Hatzalah operations division, Moshiko Moskovitz, said, “As soon as we received the call about the bride and groom stuck at the wedding hall, I rushed out with the van to help. We felt that it was important to help the bride and groom and that this was no less important than saving lives, not to mention that it is a great mitzvah to make a bride and groom happy on their wedding day. I wish the dear couple the biggest congratulations and I was honored to be part of helping them on their special day.”

After the bride and groom were safely home, United Hatzalah volunteers expanded the rescue operation and were able to escort around 30-40 percent of the guests home from the wedding hall as well. “Most of the guests they helped were either elderly or families with babies and young children for whom it was more urgent to return to their homes,” Moskowitz added.

Midreshet Lindenbaum’s New Program for National Servicebound Students

the largest Jewish community in Ottoman Palestine during the 16th century, petition the sultan for protection from extortion and other persecution by local officials.

Feb. 19, 2009: Facing terrorist threats, 10 of the fewer than 300 Jews remaining in Yemen are secretly airlifted to Israel. Most of Yemen’s Jews left during Operation Magic Carpet in 1949 and 1950.

Feb. 20, 2009: Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud finished second in the Knesset election, is given the chance to form a government and invites Kadima and Labor to join him. Netanyahu eventually forms a coalition and remains prime minister until 2021.

of the need to try to keep Catholics “from having any contact with the infidels.”

Feb. 22, 1948: Arabs disguised as British troops and two British deserters detonate several truck bombs along Ben Yehuda Street’s shopping district in downtown Jerusalem, killing as many as 58 Jewish civilians.

Pope Pius IX was beatified in 2000 despite Jewish protests over his overt antisemitism.

Feb. 21, 1852: Pope Pius IX protests the partial emancipation of Jews under Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany. The pope writes

Midreshet Lindenbaum, of Ohr Torah Stone in Jerusalem, has launched a new program called Sherut Sheli to support students who wish to go on to do their Israeli National Service (“Sherut Leumi”). The initiative is specifically designed to help students participating in the one-year overseas program by giving them the information, resources and personalized guidance that Israeli students receive more naturally to prepare them for national service.

The Maria and Joel Finkle Overseas Program at Midreshet Lindenbaum has been viewed as one of the premier opportunities for young women who wish to strengthen their Torah studies and overall Jewish academic potential during their year in Israel. It is guided by the educational vision of uniquely combining serious learning with warmth and caring, fostering dedication to Torah Judaism, the land and the people of Israel.

During their time at Midreshet Lindenbaum, participants in the Sherut Sheli program will be mentored by staff members and assisted in identifying an appropriate national service placement. The program

“Sallah Shabbati” is the first of (so far) 10 Israeli films nominated for the foreign language Oscar.

Feb. 23, 1965: The Israeli movie industry has its first Oscar nominee when “Sallah Shabbati” is nominated for best foreign language film. The film loses the Academy Award but wins a pair of Golden Globes.

Feb. 24, 1942: A Soviet submarine sinks the refugee transport SS Struma in the Black Sea in the belief that it is an enemy ship. Only one of the 769 Jewish refugees survives. The British had denied them visas to Palestine.

Atlantan Deborah Broyde made aliyah and did her national service (“Sherut Leumi”) with Magen David Adom.

coordinators will remain in close touch with the students during the application process and throughout their service, providing continued mentorship, guidance and programming, giving them a home at Midreshet Lindenbaum even during their service experience. Alumna Jodi Fishbein Jaffe will serve as the program coordinator, having spent two years of national service working in the Foreign Ministry.

“The goal is to help our students plan for their national service by giving them the various practical and support tools they will need and ensure they have a smooth transition into this next phase of their Israel experience,” said Cheryl Burnat, director of programming at Midreshet Lindenbaum.

More than 20 percent of last year’s overseas students chose to stay in Israel, with many taking part in national service, the school reported, in explaining the need for this new program.

Feb. 25, 1994: Kach party member Baruch Goldstein fatally shoots 30 Muslims worshipping at the Mosque of Abraham in Hebron’s Cave of Machpelah and wounds 125 others before being beaten to death.

Ariel Sharon visits the Suez Canal in 1982.

Feb. 26, 1973: In Armonk, New York, Egyptian National Security Adviser Hafez Ismail tells his U.S. counterpart, Henry Kissinger, that Egypt is willing to negotiate directly with Israel under U.S. mediation.

Feb. 27, 1928: Ariel Sharon, who becomes Israel’s 11th prime minister in 2001, is born in K’far Malal. He serves in the army from the War of Independence through the Yom Kippur War and oversees the first war in Lebanon.

Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

ISRAEL NEWS Atlanta Jews Ready to Travel to Israel Again

By Jan Jaben-Eilon

scheduled for this summer.

According to Rabbi Rachael Klein Miller, Temple Emanu-El After a dizzying, has a “family bus” and an stop-and-go two years, “adults-only” bus touring the Israel Ministry of Israel this summer. And Tourism is beckoning the congregation just anback tourists. COVIDnounced that it is launchvaccinated tourists, that ing the Schiffer Teen Israis. And the Atlanta Jewish el trip for the summer of community is ready to go.

2023. “This is going to be a “I think there’s a highly subsidized 10-day pent-up demand,” said trip to Israel for our teens Wendy Yaniv, founder of 5 who have completed conSenses Tour, who stopped In 2023, Temple Emanu-El is firmation,” Miller told taking groups to Israel in March 2020 when the launching a “highly subsidized the AJT. “The trip will run 10-day trip to Israel for our every other year, so two pandemic slowed, then teens who have completed cohorts of confirmation nearly stopped, interconfirmation,” said Rabbi classes will travel togethnational travel. While Rachael Klein Miller. er. We believe we are the COVID is still spreading widely throughout the U.S. and in Israel, only synagogue in the city” to offer such the Sandy Springs resident said people highly subsidized teen trips.

Andrea Fineman, director of com“who have dreamt of going to Israel feel munications at Temple they just have to make it Sinai, says the congregahappen.” tion has 25 people schedAtlanta Jews seem uled to visit Israel on its to have decided that the seven-day “Cuisine, Culfuture is uncertain and ture & Art in Israel” tour impossible to predict and in April. they just have to take The Federation’s last some risks to follow their trip to Israel was a “Men’s dreams.

Journey” that took place Israel has two big in November 2019. Now advantages as the world, it expects to take about hopefully, starts return“I think there’s a pent40 men on its next trip, ing to a new normal, says up demand” for travel to scheduled for April 28 to Yael Golan, director of Israel, said Wendy Yaniv, May 5. “We had to move the Southern region for founder of 5 Senses Tour. the date once or twice” Israel’s Ministry of Tourism in Atlanta. “It is the only Holy Land during the last couple of years because and almost all year round, you can be of the pandemic, said Kenny Silverboard, senior director of outside. We’re really exthe Federation’s Business cited about this reopenand Professionals diviing. COVID is just a part sion. “People really want of our lives now. I hope to travel,” he said, noting we can keep Israel open,” that the next group to she said. “As long as you go will be based in Jeruare vaccinated, it doesn’t salem and Tel Aviv durmatter if you’re Israeli or ing both Yom HaZikaron not.”

(Memorial Day) and Yom Now that Israel has Ha’atzmaut (Indepenopened its borders to nondence Day).

Israelis, Atlanta Jewish “While it may seem far off, Dates are still pendgroups, including the Jewwe are also actively planning ish Federation of Greater now for a community journey ing for the Federation’s 40 Under 40 Mission to Atlanta, the Jewish Nato Israel in April 2023,” Israel, but most likely tional Fund and several said Renee Kutner, chief synagogues — The Tem- operating officer at the Jewish it will be scheduled for ple, Congregation Beth Federation of Greater Atlanta. early June. In addition, Tikvah, Congregation Beth Shalom, Atlanta youth will participate in two Congregation Etz Chaim, Congregation Birthright trips scheduled for May 22 to B’nai Torah, Temple Sinai and Temple June 2 and July 24 to Aug. 4. The Atlanta Emanu-El — are filling up tours, mostly chapter of the Jewish Women’s Renais-

sance Project sent its group to Israel in known to plan their trips a year or more November, added Renee Kutner, the Fed- in advance. “We are seeing changes in booking trends,” Golan acknowledged. eration’s chief operating officer.

“While it may seem far off, we are “People are booking much closer to their also actively planning now for a com- trips now.”

That change may be based on necesmunity journey to Israel in April 2023,” Kutner said. “The last big community sity, given the constant shifts in travel restrictions put forward by Israel and mission like this was in summer 2014.”

On a smaller scale, independent the U.S. Even now, the Israeli Ministry Cantor Debbi Ballard, who leads spiritu- of Health states that tourists are allowed into the country no more al trips to Israel, said the than six months after tours she is taking this their third or fourth COyear “are those that didn’t VID vaccination. travel in 2020 and 2021.”

But, so far, the U.S. She has two trips planned isn’t offering a fourth for June, plus a private shot, and by summer — trip for a family of 16. when most of the Atlanta All of these tours out trips are scheduled to beof Atlanta are scheduled gin — it might be more to take place despite the than six months after infact that, on Jan. 18, the dividuals have received U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “As long as you are vaccinated, their third booster shot. it doesn’t matter if you’re Golan said that the placed Israel on its highIsraeli or not,” said Yael Golan, Israeli Ministry of Tourest red-alert level, caudirector of the Southern ism is working with the tioning travelers against region for Israel’s Ministry of Tourism in Atlanta.

Ministry of Health to visiting due to COVID. According to Golan, the ongoing change that requirement. “So much can pandemic has definitely altered the way change in six months,” she said. After Americans plan their travels. While all, “no one [was expecting] the Omicron Israelis are traditionally seen as more variant” to further complicate pandemspontaneous, Americans have been ic planning. ì ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 23

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Whenever I read about people wanting to ban books, I think of Alvin Schwartz.

Schwartz was a friend of my father. They were camp Dave Schechter counselors toFrom Where I Sit gether in New Hampshire and when my parents married, Schwartz and another friend hitchhiked halfway across the country to Des Moines for the wedding.

Schwartz’s “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and “Scary Stories” trio (artwork by Stephen Gammell) topped the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most challenged books of the 1990s. Critics denounced the reimagined folklore as being too scary and violent, and of dabbling in the occult and witchcraft. The books ranked 7th on the ALA’s 2000-2009 list and 24th for 2010-2019.

One of Schwartz’s daughters, Betsy Johnson, last October told Smithsonian Magazine: “My dad was very proud of that.

It meant the books were relevant. People were paying attention. It was great publicity.

He used to joke, ‘When I die, I want my New York Times obituary to say I had some of the most banned books in America.’” Schwartz died in 1992.

I once asked Barbara Schwartz what she thought about her late husband’s books being banned. The more they ban, the better the sales and the royalty checks, she said.

The chronic fever over what middleand high-school students are being taught or can access from public school libraries is spiking again.

The McMinn (Tennessee) County board of education voted 10-0 to remove “Maus,” Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel on the Holocaust, from an eighth-grade language arts curriculum. In “Maus,” Jews are depicted as mice, Germans as cats and other peoples in various animal forms. Board members objected to the book’s language and an image of a naked woman — er, mouse — who committed suicide.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum considers “The Diary of Anne Frank” as appropriate beginning in 6th grade, “Maus” in 8th grade and Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” a haunting work, in 9th grade.

Barbara Schwartz, who died last year, was right. As this was written, “Maus” topped Amazon’s list of best-selling biographies and history graphic novels, despite being “tempo-

rarily out of stock.”

The school board in a Seattle suburb voted unanimously to remove Harper Lee’s frequently-challenged 1960 novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” from a 9th grade required reading list, citing objections to its use of a particular word and depictions of Southern racial attitudes. Teachers retained the option of assigning the book.

The Granbury (Texas) Independent School District, which removed 125 books from library shelves, received a scolding from a high school junior. “No government — and public school is an extension of government — has ever banned books and banned information from its public, and been remembered in history as the good guys,” she told the district’s board.

A bill before the Georgia Senate would require local school boards to create a complaint process about “harmful” material being provided to minors. The criteria include being “patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors” or “taken as a whole, lacking in serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”

How do you determine the “prevailing standards” in a diverse society? How do you judge the “literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors”?

“I know it when I see it,” the standard suggested by Associate Justice Potter Stewart in a 1964 obscenity case before the U.S. Supreme Court, seems insufficient to the task.

Schwartz’s daughter, who, perhaps ironically, is a librarian in the children’s room of a public library, said, “My father was a former journalist, a big First Amendment supporter. I think he was offended by the notion that parents thought they had the right to tell kids, who he thought had a lot of agency, what they could read.”

Adults who weigh the risks inherent in permitting access to books on sensitive and controversial topics also should be mindful of history’s excesses.

The students who burned 25,000 “unGerman” books in Berlin’s Opera Square on May 10, 1933, upheld the prevailing standards in that time and place as they “sought to purify German literature of ‘foreign,’ especially Jewish, and other immoral influences,” according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Before I am pilloried, I am not suggesting that today’s events will lead to yesterday’s outcomes. Still, if anyone knows to keep a wary eye out for a slippery slope, it would be “the people of the book.” ì

The Lowdown I Bet You Didn’t Know …

Greg Bluestein

Greg Bluestein is a reporter who covers state politics for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He joined the newspaper in June 2012, after spending seven years with the Atlanta bureau of the Associated Press, where he covered politics and legal affairs. Bluestein writes for the front-page of the AJC, contributes to the Political Insider blog and morning Jolt newsletter, hosts the Politically Georgia podcast and is a frequent guest on local and national TV and radio programs. He’s also an MSNBC and NBC News contributor and the author of “Flipped,” a forthcoming book about Georgia’s epic 2020 election.

Bluestein graduated from North Springs High School and recently gave the commencement address at the University of Georgia, his alma mater, where he earned degrees in journalism and political science. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Dunwoody. Read on to find out why Bluestein is an expert in balloon art and what one might find him doing in the wee hours.

If they made a movie about you, who would play the lead?

The tall blond dude Paul Sparks (on “House of Cards”).

My most exotic vacation was …

Visiting castles in Scotland and Ireland on my wife’s business trip. She’s a VP at Emory Midtown.

One fun thing people don’t know about me is …

At sports events, I assist photographers on the field, running around and editing. Saw the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl really close up.

My guilty pleasure is …

PlayStation 4 when everyone else is sleeping.

I’m reading and streaming …

Streaming: “The Wheels of Time.” Reading: “The Way of Kings.”

My most unusual past job was …

Organizing kids’ birthday parties. Making animal balloons and swords and playing baseball games.

My kids say I’m too …

Embarrassing. When I drop them off at school and say, “I love you, boogly woogly.”

What keeps you up at night?

Nothing. I do my best work late at night.

What advice would you give to a 21-year-old Greg?

Stick with it. Journalism can be as fun as you ever thought it could be. ì

Reported by Marcia Caller Jaffe

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 25

SPORTS Atlanta Sport Pros Inducted in Jewish Hall of Fame Alan Freedman founded and ran the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame from 1993 to 2013. In 2015, he launched the Jewish Sports Heritage AsDavid Ostrowsky sociation. This coming spring, on Sunday, May 2, the Jewish Sports Heritage Association (JSHA) will hold its 4th Annual Induction Ceremony at Temple Israel of Lawrence, N.Y. Among the latest class of inductees is Atlanta native and former Olympic fencer Sada Jacobson. In honor of Jacobson becoming the third Atlantan to join the JSHA, the Atlanta Jewish Times is paying homage to this triumvirate.

Sada Jacobson

The latest Atlantan to join the Jewish Sports Heritage Association is an all-time legend in the sport of fencing. Back in June 2003, when Sada Jacobson was an undergraduate at Yale, she triumphed in two consecutive World Cup competitions to become the first U.S. woman and second American fencer to ever rank first in the world. The following summer, she

took home a bronze medal in the women’s individual sabre competition during the Summer Olympic Games in Athens.

This proved to be a historic development.

Although women’s fencing debuted at the 1924 Olympic Games, women were restricted to competing in foil, the lightest weapon. It wasn’t until the 2004 Games that women were allowed to compete in sabre. Four years later, during the next Summer Olympics in Beijing, Jacobson captured two more medals: a silver in the women’s individual sabre competition and a bronze in the team sabre competition.

This is not the first time that Jacobson has been recognized as a world-class Jewish athlete. In 2002, prior to her Olympic glory, Jacobson received the prestigious Marty Glickman Award from the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Commack, N.Y. Two decades later, induction into the JSHA takes on an even deeper meaning.

“Being inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association reminds me how fortunate I am to live in a place and time where I can pursue my goals without restriction,” says Jacobson, who is a mother of two and an attorney at Krevolin & Horst. “My coach, Arkady Burdan, faced extraordinary discrimination as a Jew in the Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States for a better life. His pursuit of the American dream is what enabled me, in turn, to excel in my sport.

This is what I reflect on when I consider what it means to be a Jewish athlete.”

Fencing runs deep in Jacobson’s family. Both of her parents were competitive fencers and her father, David, was a member of the 1974 U.S. Men’s National Sabre Team. Emily, one of Jacobson’s two younger sisters, was also a world-class fencer who represented the U.S. during the 2004 Summer Games, while the youngest, Jackie, is an avid fencer as well.

By excelling in the sabre event, Sada Jacobson became a trailblazer in the sport of women’s fencing.

26 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Josh Pastner

The first Atlanta resident to be inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association was Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner. Being named to the JSHA’s class of 2019 was a welldeserved honor for the longtime college hoops coach, who was formerly the head coach at Memphis after serving as an assistant on Lute Olson’s staff at the University of Arizona. Since taking over the program in 2016, Pastner has guided the Yellow Jackets to an NCAA tournament berth and its first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 28 years. The latter feat was particularly impressive, since Pastner became the first Jewish head coach to guide a college basketball team past traditional ACC powerhouses Duke, University of North Carolina and Florida State.

Pastner’s work as a tireless recruiter (this is a tall order given the school’s rigorous academic standards

and stiff competition from the aforementioned conference rivals) and promoter of the Georgia Tech program has been just as impressive as the team’s solid track record during his tenure.

Pastner’s enthusiasm has spread to the Georgia Tech campus, not to mention the Greater Atlanta community: During four pre-pandemic seasons, his Yellow Jackets played in front of a sold-out McCamish Pavilion 13 times while reeling off an 11game home winning streak.

Yet, for all that Pastner has accomplished — including being named 2017 ACC Coach of the Year — the JSHA recognition remains one of his most personally significant accomplishments for good reason. Pastner, 44, is very observant and, while coaching has made it hard for him to attend synagogue as frequently as he did when he was younger, he stays connected to his roots by bringing a copy of Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski’s “Growing Each Day” with him on road trips. When he is at home, Pastner has made a concerted effort to engage Atlanta’s Jewish community, whether through speaking at the launch of the Jewish Business Network in Midtown Atlanta or inviting Congregation Etz Chaim’s Men’s Club and Georgia Tech Hillel to attend games.

“Any time you can be inducted into a hall of fame that is a true honor,” says Pastner, who played on the 1997 national c h a m p i o n -w i n -

Despite only being in Atlanta since 2016, Josh Pastner has already been named ACC Coach of the Year and led Georgia Tech to an elusive conference title.

SPORTS ning University of Arizona Wildcats team before he took up coaching. “Being inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association is an extra special honor and blessing because it is dealing with Judaism and different Jewish sports figures in all sports, both male and female and both athlete and coach. The names that have been inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association are incredible and just to have your name even associated with that is extremely humbling.”

Jon Steinberg

Jon Steinberg has been with the Hawks since the mid-1990s and remains one of the most revered PR executives in the NBA.

Jon Steinberg, who has been part of the Atlanta Hawks organization for 28 years and currently serves as the team’s VP of Basketball Operations, received the 2021 Dr. Bruno Lambert Jewish Good Guy in Sports Award from the JSHA last spring. Steinberg, who is known for his compassion, humility and grace, represents a “good guy” in every sense of the word.

“My first thought is I don’t know that I did anything special to earn the award,” says Steinberg, the son of a reform rabbi who broke into the NBA as a PR intern for the Washington Bullets in 1993. “I hope it’s just that I’ve worked hard and treated people well and have happened to survive a while in a competitive business.

And to be fair, I have been surrounded by amazingly talented and hard-working people.”

When you’ve worked in professional sports as long as Steinberg has, you’re going to miss quite a few personal events.

Whether it’s a child’s birthday when you are in Sacramento or a wedding anniversary when you have to be in Detroit, it’s a sacrifice you make for working in an

enviable field.

“When one enters into a career in pro sports, it’s natural to think about and understand how team schedules work,” says Steinberg. “Over the years, there have been a lot of missed birthdays, holidays and family events. Work/ life balance is without question the most challenging part of the job. It’s not even the hours, it’s when those hours are. My family is incredibly understanding of the trade-off. Maybe it helps that I’ve worked in sports as long as they’ve all known me!”

For much of Steinberg’s tenure with the Hawks, the team hasn’t been a championship contender. This presented an additional challenge for those working in the Hawks PR department, whose task it was to keep the team relevant in a sports town in which the Braves were winning pennants and the Falcons were showcasing stars like Michael Vick and Matt Ryan.

“The main challenge during that time (and there were a lot of very good players and teams during that time) was staying relevant in a very competitive sports and entertainment market,” says Steinberg. “This is an amazing city, and part of what makes it amazing are the multitude of sports (including professional and college) and entertainment options. And those are all our competitors.”

These are better days to be working for the Atlanta Hawks. Since the team changed ownership in 2015, there has been a more acute focus on marketing to the city’s multicultural and millennial sports fans. As such, over the past decade, merchandise sales, TV ratings and applications for season tickets have all skyrocketed. It also doesn’t hurt that the team has one of the league’s most dynamic young stars in point guard Trae Young and appears to be on the upswing after reaching last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.

“Having a successful and charismatic young player like Trae on our roster has changed things for the better,” says Steinberg. “We obviously field a ton of requests for him and work through those with him and his team. But obviously, also the team’s profile has grown, resulting in more national TV games, more attention from casual fans, increased ticket sales, sponsorship sales, etc. And while he is obviously the center of attention, it’s not only Trae, but a number of young and growing players on the roster that aren’t near their primes yet, that have caught the imagination of Hawks’ and NBA fans.” ì

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BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS Father and Son on Cutting Edge of Canna-Biz On March 24, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s Business and Professional Division will host a panel discussion focusing Marcia on cannabis Caller Jaffe l e g a l i z a t i on, the investment landscape and other critical issues tied to the “green rush.” Kenny Silverboard, senior director of the Federation’s Business and Professional Division, said the event “will take a look at the whole industry, including the investment side, dispensaries, as well as the push for medicinal legalization.”

Among the panel members will be Jordan Tritt, CEO of the Panther Group — a local cannabis advisory firm — and Georgia State Rep. and attorney Mike Wilensky.

Tritt is among a growing number of cannabis professionals based in Atlanta.

He attended the Epstein School and earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He currently lives in Toco Hills with his wife, Erica, and three children.

“As a member of the Georgia State House Regulated Industries Committee, I am focused on Georgia continuing to progress in this space,” Wilensky said. “I am proud to know Jordan for more than 25 years and am highly impressed in his knowledge and leadership in the cannabis industry.”

Tritt comes from a family of entre-

28 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

With staff in multiple states, the Panther Group team is poised to capitalize on new developments in the ever-changing cannabis space.

preneurs and medical professionals who taught him how to identify early opportunities in emerging industries. His father, Ramie Tritt, was an early investor in healthcare “roll-ups” (when smaller companies in a fragmented industry are merged to become part of a larger business with expanded profits and payroll), co-founding a company he took public in the late 1990s. In 2014, the elder Tritt entered the cannabis industry, starting a fund that invested in 12 companies over the next three years. Jordan joined him in 2016, starting a second venture fund focused on the cannabis space.

Together, the Tritts have invested in some 40 cannabis companies across more than 20 sub-sectors. “The cannabis industry moves very quickly (six months in cannabis is like two years in the real world),” Tritt said. “Many trends have emerged, including new consumer types and product categories such as edibles, packaging, holders and the like. With deep experience in data and advertising, Panther is able to drive growth for companies, using consumer data, demographics and purchasing behavior to create targeted advertising. This strategy is critical, as consumers evolve past ‘ston-

ers’ looking for highly potent cannabis.

For example, some people with anxiety are looking to take the edge off, while high-performance athletes are looking for pain relief and help with other ailments.”

Even wholesome TV personality Katie Couric now has a CBD company and extols the benefits of the cannabinoid.

Tritt has identified five specific strategies to reduce risk and maximize return in the cannabis industry: 1. Be an active investor, serve on boards of companies when possible and support management through key deci-

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sions.

2. Select companies led by experienced and coachable management teams: “Invest in the jockey, not the horse.” This has gotten easier with management consisting of more sophisticated operators routinely leaving more established careers to enter a growing industry.

3. Create a portfolio of diverse and synergistic companies across many sectors, including opportunities that apply to cannabis and other industries. This minimizes the concentration risk of individual segments of the industry.

4. Focus on growth-stage companies with a proven business model, significant traction and a clear path toward an exit.

This reduces the companies that fail and yield zero return.

5. Pick a small percentage of unique earlier-stage companies to be positioned

to invest in subsequent rounds.

Because cannabis is still federally illegal, the industry is made up of a patchwork of individual state markets. This makes building relationships across the country crucial. Initially, Tritt focused on relationships in established markets such as California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. But as the green wave of legislation moves toward the Midwest and Northeast, the Panther Group has continued to make inroads in each state, shifting focus to emerging limited-license markets like Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Maine, New Jersey and New York.

For now, the firm is staying nimble.

With staff currently in Georgia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, California and New York, it’s poised to capitalize on new developments in the ever-changing cannabis space. ì

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BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

Retired Attorney’s Second Act as Tour Director

Joel Freedman leads a tour visiting graduate schools in Chicago.

By Marcia Caller Jaffe Joel Freedman sold his law practice after an epiphany he had on a Tauck Tour in China. As he befriended a charismatic tour guide, he thought, “This job would be perfect for me. Travel has always been

one of my passions. How do I turn this into a second career?”

Not long after his China trip, Freedman was off to Denver for a 10-day course to get his tour director certification.

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Freedman reinvented himself as a tour guide after retiring from the legal field.

tires, weather, all kinds of moving parts and plans changing,” Freedman said. He recounted a recent dilemma in which he escorted a group of seniors across the border to Canada. When they presented their vaccination documents, several had the wrong type of COVID test results (rapid versus PCR) required for entry. Soon, Freedman was putting some travelers in hotel rooms for a few days while they retook the COVID test, while leading the others into Canada.

Many of the travelers were furious, and Freedman found himself having to smooth over tensions on both sides.

Freedman is licensed to work anywhere in the U.S., but sticks mostly to regions east of the Mississippi. “I just escorted an Irish group here, and you might find me in New Orleans, D.C., or Manhattan on any given day,” he said.

Freedman’s calm demeanor is an asset when it comes to dealing with frequent breakdowns and flight and restaurant cancellations due to COVID. He’s still enthusiastic about his work. “This job is the coolest thing ever! Maine fall foliage, New Hampshire, Cape Cod, the Florida Everglades, Great Smoky Mountains, Philadelphia Museum of Art … I can work nonstop. I love rail tours.”

New York City is perhaps Freedman’s favorite tour destination. “I have seen some Broadway shows multiple times,” he said. “I think ‘Beautiful’ maybe six times. I escorted a group who got drenched in a thunderstorm in the middle of Central Park. Then we showed up at a Manhattan restaurant (confirmed weeks ahead) to find a sign in the window, ‘Closed due to COVID until February.’ No warning!”

Freedman admits that he’s tipped handsomely by adult travelers, many

of whom follow him to sign up for his tours. His heart is also rooted in Tikkun Olam. He frequently takes groups of college-bound students (often from minority communities) on tours of college campuses, charging them a per diem rate, which is a sacrifice that he considers worth making.

“They are very grateful and respectful,” Freedman recalled. “Perhaps their own families cannot be of much help in this situation. We especially tour Boston, home to Harvard, MIT and Tufts. There I am on the bus, giving lessons in etiquette, in more of a counselor role.”

Another fun tour on Freedman’s itinerary is for high school students interested in the performing arts. For these students, he arranges workshops with actors, behind-the-scenes technicians, even trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Radio City Music Hall.

Freedman’s hard work is paying off.

He will soon assume the lead position in the Atlanta Tour Guide Association, utilizing his high energy and extensive contacts to secure speakers from the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and arrange conferences.

Freedman graduated from Emory Law School. In his spare time, he competes in body building competitions.

Having raised three adult children with wife, Donna, one might ask how all this traveling fits into his family life.

“Donna might come a few days before or after a tour and enjoy the sights with just the two of us,” Freedman said.

“She and I are off to Iceland on our own soon to see the northern lights. My new professional role has enormous benefits.

I enjoy influencing people in a positive way.” ì

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

The Next-Gen Olive Brand

Freestyle Snacks currently come in a non-liquid pouch and modern packaging. They are available in three flavors.

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

like Whole Foods had removed their open olive buffet bars, which could be messy Nikki Seaman, a local Atlanta and require draining. Plus, “the traditionresident and University of Pennsylva- al retail olive-positioned shopping aisles are unimpressive,” she nia graduate, recently said, “showing watery, launched her innovative bland brands that have olive brand, Freestyle olive ‘eyeball’ photos Snacks. Seaman, who staring at you.” started her career in After sampling over management consult50 types of olives across ing at Bain & Company, six countries, Seaman has always had a pasidentified and sourced sion for understanding the perfect Greek olives consumer preferences. from the Kalamata reShe worked alongside gion, which she finds to consumer packaged be more flavorful. She goods industry veterans also set about designing at PepsiCo and Whisps, convenient, liquid-free studying the role that health and convenience Nikki Seaman studied consumer pouches to satisfy those quick, savory cravings play in customers’ purtrends to come up with her convenient healthy olive and located a co-packer chasing decisions, bebrand, Freestyle Snacks. in Boston. Freestyle fore embarking on her olives are marinated in EVOO and all own path.

“For far too long, olives have been natural spices. They are low-calorie, doomed to cans and jars, showing an plant-based, sugar-free and filled with unappealing ‘eyeball aesthetic,’ a bland heart-healthy fats. They’re also high in taste, and an inconvenient experience,” antioxidants, Vitamin E, copper, calcium she said. “At Freestyle, we’re giving con- and iron. The first three flavors include sumers the taste with none of the has- Kalamata Olives Extra Virgin Olive Oil, sle. We’re sourcing and producing the Green Olives Lemon Garlic and Green Olhighest quality, best-tasting snacks and ives Hot & Spicy. A package of 32-35 olives serving them in on-the-go, friendly, re- retails for $4.99.

Olives are traditionally found in the sealable and — dare I say? — sexy packMediterranean basin and have a long aging.”

An avid olive lover, Seaman wanted Jewish history. Travelers to Israel and to apply the innovative packaging design Greece are taught about the history of she observed with cheeses, salami and the olive tree, including one of the most even tuna fish to a category she consid- enduring metaphors for peace — to exered unsuited for the modern consumer tend an olive branch. They are technicallifestyle. Using COVID precautions to her ly drupes, part of the stone fruit family advantage, Seaman noticed that retailers that also includes peaches, mangoes and

Seaman with Arden Coplin Miller and Marta Jo Katz, who share their favorite olive recipes.

Olive and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade The beauty of this recipe is you can custom design using optional additions to the basic recipe or the recipe as is. Quick, Easy and Delicious! Double the recipe if desired.

1 jar of Roasted Red Peppers (Drained) 1/3 Cup Total Freestyle Kalamata Olives and Lemon Garlic Olives 1 tablespoon Olive oil 1 teaspoon Red Wine Vinegar Black Pepper to taste Chop above ingredients in Cuisinart.

Optional additions: One of the following Add two tablespoons cream cheese Add two tablespoons Parmesan Cheese Add one tablespoon Capers Add 3 or 4 Anchovies Serve with cracker of your choice or sliced baguette.

cherries. Olives are often bitter when eaten directly from a tree, becoming savory and flavorful only when they are cured in brine.

Now, Seaman is working on building a strong valuation for her brand so she can appear on the popular TV show “Shark Tank.” In addition to inventing new snacks, Seaman enjoys spending time with her husband and Sheepadoodle, Lila. In addition to olives, she’s an enthusiast of red wine. ì

Egg and Olive For sandwiches, deviled eggs or as a salad 6 large eggs hard boiled, peeled, chopped or grated 1/3 to ½ cup chopped olives (green with pimento or Kalamata or your choice) Mix above with 2 tablespoons of Mayonnaise and ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

OPTION: add celery that has been chopped finely in a mini Cuisinart.

Use as a side for a green salad, in a sandwich in your favorite bread, or for deviled eggs. Also, great on crackers as a hors d’oeuvres!

By Arden Coplin Miller

By Martha Jo Katz ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 31

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

Blazer’s Vision Comes to Life at DeKalb Farmer’s Market To loyal customers, the DeKalb Farmer’s Market is more than an exquisite place to shop; it’s a solid generational institution. Yet few Tiffany Parks people really know the story of how the DFM grew to become the beloved marketplace it is today.

In 1977, the store’s first location opened on Medlock Road in Decatur. According to owner Robert Blazer, “the beginning years were tough.” In 1979, an ice storm damaged the Medlock Road building, but Blazer didn’t let bad luck stop him. He ignored the naysayers, and with the support of his customers, rebuilt the facility in just eight weeks.

The customers kept flocking, until Blazer had to relocate to the current location at 3000 E. Ponce de Leon Avenue.

He used his expertise as a mechanical engineer to help design and construct the building he operates out of now.

One of Blazer’s biggest goals for his company was to figure out how to get his employees to work well together in a meaningful, engaging way. He found answers once he started to recognize certain dynamics both in his family and in families all around the world.

“For the last 33 years, I’ve recognized patterns that allow us to appreciate what we naturally have to contribute to each other,” Blazer says. “My own family worked well together because all three generations — the child, parent and grandparent — were there to support each other. When I go to work, I carry the blessings of the generations that came before me.”

Loyal customers appreciate that DFM employees work closely like a strong family unit; when a customer has a problem, the entire team works together to solve the problem.

Building critical business relationships has been pivotal to DFM’s growth.

The seemingly endless supply of exotic fruits and vegetables, the fragrant flowers, the fresh bakery products and pastries made from scratch, the aromatic coffees and nuts roasted daily, the qual-

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The De;kalb Farmer's Market is truly international, employing over 750 people from 40 countries.

“This store is the result of my prayer. ity meats and fresh seafood and the best natural ingredients from all over the This store is a family unit that extends world are all possible because of the con- not only to the employees but to the customers too. It’s a harmonious unit. It’s a nections Blazer has made.

“This store could never have existed gift to the community for this generation if it were not for the relationships I have and future generations,” Blazer says.

The store currently employs over 750 built with key people over the years,” Blazer says. The store’s mission is summed up people from 40 countries. DFM staff speak in “Our Stand,” which forms the frame- over 50 different languages and dialects.

Even though Blazwork that the organizaer’s difficult years have tion is built on. passed, he is still grate“In part, the stateful for all the progress ment says that within the business has made. the store, life works free In 2014, he wrote a book, of scarcity and suffering.

“Our World Market: The We cannot escape our Generational Distincfundamental relationtion, Our Connection to ships with food and each Life.” (A digital copy of other. We strive to have the entire book is availbalance in our relationable on the DFM’s webships with each other, site, with videos and which helps us maxiRobert Blazer opened the first testimonies explaining mize positive experienclocation of the DeKalb Farmer’s es with the customers,” Market on Medlock Road in 1977. certain aspects of the book.) In it, Blazer details states Blazer.

Customers love that they can buy his business philosophy, the store’s miswholesome, organic meals at reasonable sion statement and his gratitude to his prices. And they appreciate Blazer’s com- friends, customers, employees and associates. mitment to his values.

Blazer also reflects on 1966, the year “The market has no debt,” says Blazer. This allows his team the freedom to be he first visited Jerusalem. He saw an agocreative with new ideas that will benefit ra coin on the ground and did not pick it customers. The market also doesn’t ad- up. An Israeli girl urged him to pick it up, vertise its products. Blazer believes that warning him that if he didn’t, he would “if a business is not good, the team will be more worthless than the amount of the coin. Since that day, Blazer always do what’s necessary to make it right.”

His wife Barbara and son Daniel help picks up pennies for good luck.

“I always pick up a penny, no matter him run the market, along with other business activities. With her love of people what the condition,” he says. “When they and food, Barbara has been an integral appear, they are a symbol to me that I am part of the market’s development for over on the right track.”

Judging by the smiles, quality prod35 years. Daniel is focused on international shipping business and produce opera- ucts and reasonable prices at the DFM, Blazer is indeed on the right track. ì tions and speaks Spanish fluently.

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

Young Meteorologist Chases Storms for Fun — and Science

By Marcia Caller Jaffe Craig Tillison says he’s always been obsessed with weather. Now, he’s chasing storms instead of waiting for them to come to him.

“Craig’s passion for meteorology goes all the way back to first grade,” his mother, Nancy Rosenblum, recalled. “Over the years, he has chased every type of severe weather, including blizzards, hurricanes and tornadoes. As a child, he would get really upset when the National Weather Service canceled a previously posted Roswell tornado warning!”

“I’ve always had a deep passion for the weather,” says the Roswell native. “My interest in science became evident after a rare ice storm hit Atlanta in 2000, when I was four.”

Tillison graduated from Mississippi State’s program in broadcast meteorology, but soon realized that being on TV was not the right path for him. He switched his focus to professional meteorology, which emphasizes the scientific aspects of forecasting and focuses on theory and physics. After classes on dynamic meteorology and statistical climatology, Tillison kicked off his career with Fleetweather Group in Fishkill, N.Y, which provides forecasting and weather routing that keeps vessels safe at sea.

But after two-and-a-half years in New York, he decided to move back to Atlanta this September to work remotely and pursue his weather-chasing passion.

“I storm chase in my spare time, pending financial situation and time,” Tillison said. “Just to be clear: it’s not work related, but for my own pleasure. I have chased storms in the Plains states, where I saw my first tornado in 2017, a beautiful rope tornado in the Texas Panhandle. Another adventure was with Mississippi State, where we saw an EF-2 tornado in southeast Wyoming, with rolling green hills as far as the eye can see.

The most recent storm chase was in western Alabama, where I saw a small EF-1 tornado in Moundville.”

One of his most memorable professional successes came when Tillison “noticed a favorable pattern for tropical cyclogenesis in the Indian Ocean.” He was able to “accurately forecast the tropical activity due to the transition in monsoonal winds flipping from being the seasonal summertime, strong southwest-driven wind to the wintertime northeast-monsoonal winds (and contrasting lulls)” such that he was then able “to predict Tropical Cyclones Gulab and Shaheen back-to-back over a short amount of time.”

When it comes to the sources of catastrophic weather events, Tillison is emphatic. “Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is very real and accelerating at rates higher than what is already modeled by our current projections,” he says. “The amount of carbon emissions in our atmosphere due to industrialization has impacted the global mean temperature, causing it to rise for both bodies of land and sea, driving the jet stream patterns and sea surface temperatures to coalesce and create more extremes, [as well as] an increase in the frequency of powerful major hurricanes, an increased risk of mega droughts, record high and low temperatures becoming more common and sea level rise due to arctic ice melt.

In my lifetime I have experienced many extremes from Hurricane Katrina’s devastating blow to the Gulf Coast in 2005 to the California megadrought and subsequent

Roswell High grad Craig Tillison chases storms for fun.

One of Tillison’s big thrills was witnessing a rope tornado in the Texas Panhandle.

historic wildfires that have been ongoing. It’s clear that we must act before the ‘climate emergency’ becomes irreversible.”

When he’s not chasing tornados, Tillison enjoys ghost hunting, tennis, golf, hiking, fishing and urban exploration. ì

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BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

Amy Rees Launches Personality Plates

Amy Wynne Rees has launched a series of Personality Plates, extolling the blessings of sisterhood.

By Marcia Caller Jaffe Amy Wynne Rees first came to Atlanta over 30 years ago to start a career at CNN. Along the way, she discovered a passion for pottery. Spending evenings at the studio, surrounded by other women

trying to express themselves, she was inspired to create her first plate. Now she’s launching Personality Plates, a line of collectible stoneware designs for home use, or as gifts for the women in your life.

Rees created the first limited “Sisters Edition” as a tribute to the women that

have supported, motivated and inspired her. The bright and colorful plates, which are dishwasher and microwave safe, all have their own names and lively stories.

The mahjong edition is set to hit the market in late 2022, as are wine charms and plates from other parts of the world. Each

set includes a note on the series theme.

“My hope is that women will connect with the plates and the sentiments,” Rees said. “Our sisters hold a special place in our hearts. They are our best friends and confidantes. They are by our side for the good times and the bad. Whether she was born into your family or adopted, maybe you’re an only child and the only sisters you have are the ones you have chosen.

No matter how or why you call her sister, she is your family. These plates are in honor of all our sisters out there.”

In keeping with the theme, Rees says that she will be donating a percentage of the profits to a good cause. “Part of our mission is to help support women who don’t have their own support system.

Amy Wynne Designs will be donating a portion of the proceeds to nonprofits.”

Helping Travelers Plan for David Scheuer Joins the Unthinkable Berkshire Hathaway

By Flora Rosefsky

By Flora Rosefsky

Vacations are exciting, but few travelers want to think about worst-case scenarios. That’s where Helen Scherrer-Diamond comes in. “What if the unthinkable happens?” asks her website. “Many times, the death of a loved one occurs while away from home. Families are left with the added burden of figuring out the logistics of transporting their loved one home. What do they do now?”

According to Scherrer-Diamond, the Travel (Protection) Plan by Inman can bring peace of mind for those who take a cruise, travel throughout the U.S., or around the world. Coverage includes one certified death certificate, all necessary legal documents and transport back to a local funeral home.

Scherrer-Diamond, who obtained her Georgia Life and Health Insurance license in 2012, said, “holders of this plan can relieve their family of the stress and financial implications of bringing them home should death occur 75 miles or more away from their legal residence.” Planning ahead, she said, can help avoid “crisis mode” should anything go wrong.

Born in Philadelphia, Scherrer-Diamond was raised in eastern Pennsylvania.

After earning her degree in business administration and communications at Muhlenberg College, she was hired by IBM, then went on to pursue an insurance career, followed by becoming an estate Ppanning rep

Native Atlantan David Scheuer is a new realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties, working out of their East Cobb office. Since graduating from Georgia Southern University (GSU) in 2015 with a bachelor’s in business administration — and a minor in trumpet performance — Scheuer had been in various sales positions, including corporate recruiting. But the pandemic, he said “gave me a chance to finally focus on going after what I had been Dave Scheuer is a new realtor with Berkshire wanting to do since I was in Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties high school: getting into real from 5-18+ years old.” He was also one of the estate as my career.”

At Berkshire Hathaway, Scheuer’s fo- coaches for the MJCCA’s 2015-2016 Special cus is on residential real estate, an area, he Olympics team.

Growing up, Scheuer attended metro says, in which he can be an asset to clients in the short term while building relationships Atlanta public schools: Spaulding Drive Elementary, Sandy Springs Middle and North that will last for years to come.

“I have always enjoyed helping people Springs High. He started playing trumpet in 5th grade and still plays when he can. He in any way I can,” he said.

Previously, Scheuer worked in the is one of the 13 founding fathers/brothers MJCCA’s Special Needs department, camp of the Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter at GSU. He program and the after school program, but currently lives in Sandy Springs along with said his “main focus there was to be a fa- “a great sidekick, my 160-lb. Saint Bernard cilitator with and for special needs children Riley.”

34 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Helen Scherrer-Diamond offers travel protection plans just in case “the unthinkable happens.”

with Personal Legal Plans in Dunwoody. She is a member of NAIPC-National Aging in Place Council, ASCNN-Atlanta Senior Care Network Niche and the SRANA-Senior Resource Alliance of North America. A member of Ahavath Achim Synagogue, she lives in Cumming, Ga with her husband David, and has three young adult stepsons.

The protection plans she offers travelers have a personal resonance for her. “I had lost my parents by age 28,” she said, and “learned the importance of time and planning ahead, with no excuses.”

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

Sasha Heller Joins the Atlanta Jewish Times Veteran journalist Sasha Heller has joined the Atlanta Jewish Times staff as online content coordinator. He will assist in expanding the AJT’s digital footprint, especially in social media.

The 42-year-old has spent the previous decade working in various newsrooms, from the Alabama Gulf Coast to the Mississippi Delta and South Padre Island to Denver.

Most recently, Heller served as managing editor of the Aurora Sentinel in the metro Denver area. Before that, he spent four years leading design teams for GateHouse Media at its Center for News & Design in Austin, Texas. In that time, Heller designed sports sections and front pages for nearly 50 publications, including: The Providence Journal (R.I.), Oklahoma City Oklahoman (Okla.) and Columbus Dispatch (Ohio).

“I am excited to bring my experience and expertise to the Atlanta Jewish Times and be a part of the local Jewish culture,” Heller said. “I grew up reading the AJT and its coverage often came up in casual conversations in our home, so it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And now I get to help produce it.”

Heller graduated from Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Ga. in 2008 with a degree in English. He is a Dunwoody native and graduated from North Atlanta High School in 1997. He had his bar

Sasha Heller has joined the Atlanta Jewish Times staff as online content coordinator.

mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom and was an active member of Chai USY with Ahavath Achim synagogue while in high school.

The award-winning writer has earned a Mississippi Press Association first-place Best Investigative Series award for a sevenpart series on an historic audit of the Sunflower County School System by the Mississippi State Department of Education. He also earned a Texas Panhandle Press Association second-place award for Best Features for a special report linking the deaths of local cattle to plastic bags that were blowing across the highway from a nearby Walmart.

JScreen Announces Screening for National Cancer Prevention Month JScreen, a national nonprofit public health initiative dedicated to preventing genetic diseases and cancers common in the Jewish and other populations, recently added CancerGEN, an easy, at-home genetic saliva test that screens for genetic risks for many types of cancer.

Headquartered in Atlanta’s Emory University School of Medicine, JScreen provides convenient at-home access to cutting-edge genetic testing technology, patient education and genetic counseling services. JScreen believes the combination of education, access to premier genetic screening technologies and personalized, confidential support are the keys to preventing devastating diseases.

During the pandemic, Americans learned more and more about the importance of healthcare, with many of

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BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

GSU Pre-Law CASA Faculty Todd Starr Appointed to AFISCD Board of Directors Associate Appointment Clinical Associate Professor Michael B. Shapiro has recently been named the Pre-Law Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni (CASA) Faculty Associate at Georgia State University. Shapiro is in his 19th year of teaching at the university level and beginning his 10th year in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, where he also serves as the undergraduate internship coordinator.

GSU is the state’s largest university, with more than 50,000 students across seven campuses. The new role will connect Shapiro with students from a wide variety of disciplines interested in seeking a law degree. Shapiro, who served as the faculty advisor to the Undergraduate Criminal Justice Student Association for many years, also serves as the faculty advisor to GSU’s PreLaw Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta fraternity, International, the largest professional law fraternity in the United States.

A graduate of Emory University (B.A., Political Science, 1978) and Emory University’s School of Law (J.D., 1981), Shapiro has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 1981 and has been licensed to practice law in Ohio since 1991. He served as Managing Partner of Fambrough and Shapiro, P.C. and Peters, Townsend, Shapiro and Wilson, P.A. before becoming the executive director

Michael B. Shapiro has been named the Pre-Law Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni (CASA) Faculty Associate at Georgia State University.

of the Georgia Indigent Defense Council, the predecessor to the current Georgia Public Defender Council. He is a past president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the country’s second largest private criminal defense bar association and the Criminal Justice Association of Georgia.

Shapiro, who enjoys sailing and SCUBA diving, is married to Carolyn Sellinger Shapiro. The couple has two children, a son who majored in marketing at GSU and a daughter who double-majored in political science and psychology at Tulane, then earned her law degree at Emory University.

The family belongs to Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta.

New Book Guides Women through Financial Transition Junko Horvath, CEO of Fujiyama Wealth Management, a full-service financial company, specializes in helping clients in financial transitions. An expert in the field, Horvath has written “Women in Financial Transition,” a new book especially for women who are facing these situations.

She is dedicated to ensuring that readers learn how to manage their money even while facing difficult life transitions.

“I wrote ‘Women in Financial Transition’ because people tend to come to us and seek help after a problem occurs,” Horvath said. “We all go through changes in life. The book features expert interviews on topics including divorce, retirement, the sale of a business, inheritance, widowhood and more. My goal is to help women navigate these situations and know what to do.”

Horvath, originally from Tokyo, Japan, added, “I was wondering collectively 36 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Junko Horvath, CEO of Fujiyama Wealth Management

if I can help individuals before bad things happen. I decided to interview those individuals who went through financial transitions and collect those stories and share them.”

For more information, visit www.fujiyamawealth.com. The book is available on Amazon.com.

The American Friends of the Israel 2014). He has participated in the ADL-SteinSport Center for the Disabled (AFISCD) is berg Leadership Institute in 2000, the JCC Maccabi senior leadership pleased to announce the apcommittee (2019), the MJCCA pointment of Todd Starr to Executive Board of Directors its Board of Directors.

(2019), AIPAC Senate Club, Starr was welcomed the Erwin Zaban Leadership aboard at AFISCD’s January Program (2017), and was 2022 Board Meeting. “Todd selected to join the Frank is an incredible addition to Mission (2018). He serves on our Board of Directors,” said Atlanta’s Jewish Federation’s AFISCD Board President Global Jewish Peoplehood Lori Komisar. “His commitCommittee (2019). ment to the Center’s mission Todd Starr is appointed to Starr and his wife have makes him an asset to the board of directors at AFISCD. served as chairpersons of AFISCD team.” the Chabad of North Fulton’s Starr is a small business entrepreneur, having successfully founded Rashi’s Campus building (2019). “The Cenfive businesses over the last 16 years. He re- ter is an incredible place,” Starr said. “I’m ceived his bachelor’s from DePaul Universi- very excited to work with everyone on the ty and earned his MBA from Mercer Univer- board.”

The American Friends of ISCD is comsity. In November 2012, he was named one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 under 40. mitted to providing ongoing financial supStarr has also dedicated himself to port to the Center, empowering children working with several nonprofit organiza- and youth with physical disabilities from all tions, including serving as Jewish National backgrounds to participate in physical and Fund’s youngest regional president (2010- psychological rehabilitation through sports.

Manzi Organics Makes Beauty for the Greater Good Manzi Organics is a natural, smallbatch lip balm brand whose products are handmade locally. Founded by Mia Azani, the company launched in September 2021, during Azani’s junior year of college. The idea, though, began back in childhood, when Azani’s chronic lip-picking problem (called dermatillomania) forced her to rely on Chapstick or Vaseline. Neither product ever worked for her, Azani said, because “the ingredients are synthetic and made to keep your lips staying chapped.”

Azani is a Yemenite-Israeli Jew, born in Atlanta. Her mother is Jewish and adopted, with Ashkenazi and Mizrachi roots. Her father is Yemenite, her grandmother having been born in Sa’ana, Yemen, and her grandfather in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, though their family quickly immigrated back to Yemen.

Azani takes immense pride in her Yemenite roots and culture and heavily identifies with her identity as a brown Jew. “I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but it is my dream to involve myself in a business that supports the greater good,” she said. That’s why Manzi strives to put social responsibility first and is run by queer women of color.

Since launching, Manzi has established a presence on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, along with an online store where customers can purchase its products. Azani has done one local farmer’s market and is getting ready to feature her wares at other Atlanta markets, having established Manzi Organics as a licensed business.

As of September, Manzi has sold over 70 lip balms and drop-tested a new product — a tinted natural lip gloss called SPICE that Azani says has been very well received. Now Azani wants to bring completely natural products to the beauty market to “take over your lip beauty care,” with ambitious balms that go way beyond chapped lips.

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONALS

AEPi Announces Gitelson Silver Medallion Winners Elan S. Carr, Daniel Elbaum and Hon. president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity sity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1996, Representatives. Klein has also served as the Ronald Klein have been awarded the Gitel- from 2012-2014. He resides in Southern Cali- where he was a member of AEPi’s Delta chap- co-chair of the House Anti-Semitism caucus son Silver Medallion by the Alpha Epsilon fornia with his wife and three children. ter, and received his Juris Doctor from the and played a significant role in the drafting Daniel Elbaum is currently the head of University of Illinois College of Law in 1999. and passage of the comprehensive Iran SancPi Foundation. The award recognizes AEPi North America for The Jew- He lives in the suburbs of tions Accountability and alumni for their commitish Agency for Israel (JAFI), Chicago with his wife and Divestment Act of 2010. ment to Jewish commuas well as the president and two daughters.

He is a 1979 graduate of nal services. Only 55 AEPi CEO of The Jewish Agency The Ohio State University, alumni (out of more than Ron Klein has worked International Develop- in the private sector as a where he was president of 120,000) have received this ment (JAID). He leads and business and transactional AEPi’s Eta chapter. He represtigious honor in the oversees the over 90-year- attorney for over 25 years ceived his law degree from 108-year history of the orold organization’s work and in the public sector Case Western Reserve Uniganization. connecting Jews to Israel as an elected official. He versity. He resides in Boca Elan Carr, an attorney, and each other through- is currently a member of Raton, Fla., with his wife, served as the United States out the United States and Holland & Knight’s Public Dori.

Special Envoy to Monitor Canada. Prior to his cur- Policy & Regulation Group.

“AEPi Alumni Carr, and Combat Antisemitism Daniel Elbaum is currently Elan S. Carr, an attorney, served rent position, Elbaum was He is also the co-chair of Elbaum and Hon. Klein from 2019-2021. During his the Head of North America for as the United States Special The Jewish Agency for Israel Envoy to Monitor and Combat the Chief Advocacy Officer the firm’s Israel Practice exemplify everything two years in office, Carr ne(JAFI), as well as the President Antisemitism from 2019-2021 for the American Jewish Group, where he works that the Gitelson Medalgotiated groundbreaking and CEO of The Jewish Agency Committee (AJC), leading with the firm’s attorneys, clients and others lion represents,” said Executive Director Jay agreements with foreign International Development (JAID). the orgagovernments, convened in identifying and facilitat- Feldman. “Their commitment to leadership the first-ever U.S. government-sponsored nization’s advocacy efforts ing investment and busi- in our Jewish community is inspirational conference on combating online hate and in combating antiseminess collaboration oppor- and critical during these challenging times. drove the establishment of important new tism and protecting Israel’s tunities between Israel and Brothers Elbaum, Klein and Carr personify policies on anti-Zionism, anti-Israel discrimi- security. Elbaum’s Jewish the United States. Since the mission of Alpha Epsilon Pi — the develnation and campus antisemitism. He is also communal career began 2017, Klein serves as the opment of the leaders of the world’s Jewish a JAG Corps officer in the U.S. Army Reserve with the Anti-Defamation founding chair of the Jew- communities.”

The Gitelson Silver Medallion, Alpha and an Iraq War veteran. Previously, Carr League (ADL), where he ish Democratic Council of prosecuted violent crimes for more than a was the Midwest Region’s America (JDCA). Previous- Epsilon Pi’s most historic alumni honor, is decade as the Deputy District Attorney for civil rights Counsel and ly, he served in the Florida presented in memory of the scholarship and Los Angeles County. Carr is a 1990 graduate Director of Development.

House of Representatives, communal activity of Nehemiah Gitelson, of the University of California, where he was Previously, Elbaum was a the Florida Senate and as Talmudic scholar and father of M. Leo GitelHon. Ronald Klein is amember a member of AEPi’s Chi Alpha chapter and felony prosecutor in the a member of Congress rep- son, a 1921 graduate of New York University. of Holland & Knight’s Public Policy & Regulation Group. earned his Juris Doctor from Northwestern Cook County State’s Attorresenting Florida’s 22nd The Gitelson Medallion is awarded by a vote University. He served as the international ney’s Office. He graduated from the Univer- congressional district in the U.S. House of of the AEPi Foundation Board of Directors.

Polyvision Selects Kleber & Associates Kleber & Associates (K&A), a fullservice marketing and public relations agency focused on the building materials industry, has been named agency of record (AOR) by Polyvision, a global leader in the innovation and manufacture of CeramicSteel, collaborative writing products and architectural panels for cladding. In this role, K&A will develop and execute strategic public and media relations, content marketing and social media programs for Polyvision.

“Polyvision is excited to partner with K&A to drive brand awareness and value for our company’s unique offerings,” said Kristalyn Mumaw, director of marketing for the company. “We appreciate the K&A team’s expertise and strategic vision and look forward to collaborating to help drive visibility and growth for the Polyvision brand and products both in North America and across the global markets we serve.”

For more than 65 years, Polyvision has been a world-class manufacturer of durable and sustainable CeramicSteel products. From chalkboard and whiteboard surfaces to architectural walls and cladding for public spaces, Polyvision focuses on providing engaging visual experiences and creating a connection among people and their environments.

The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., and has manufacturing facilities in Ghenk, Belgium and Okmulgee, Okla.

Through this strategic partnership, K&A and Polyvision will work together to ensure that Polyvision’s marketing, public relations and business objectives are aligned to drive brand transformation and growth across multiple verticals

and via a diverse mix of marketing and media channels.

“K&A and Polyvision share a passion for an innovative and results-driven approach to brand building that moves the needle in a meaningful way,” said Steve Kleber, president of Kleber & Associates.

“The K&A team is proud to partner with Polyvision to increase brand equity for the company’s exceptional products, solutions and customer service while helping to position Polyvision for future expansion.”

K&A was selected as AOR after a formal RFP process in the fall of 2021.

Polyvision is the latest addition to the agency’s client roster across the building products industry, which includes CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain, Feeney Architectural Solutions and Vadara Quartz Surfaces, among many others.

Business Briefs Compiled by AJT Staff unless otherwise noted.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 37

REAL ESTATE 2022 Real Estate Forecast: Inventory, Inventory, Inventory Atlanta’s real estate community is thriving, and the consensus is that 2022 is off to a great start.

The old industry adage — “location, location, Robyn Spizman location” — now Gerson sounds more like “inventory, inventory, inventory.” Over the past two years, many of the real estate professionals we spoke to said they have set new sales records. Now, mortgage rates are increasing and more inventory is needed.

Jewish leaders in the Atlanta community have also been busy. J-CREN, a Rendering in likeness of our local neighborhoods. network of Jewish commercial real estate professionals and individuals from re- said, “but over the past decade the num- even more jobs to the area. The people fill- the seller’s perspective is good, as prices lated industries, was recently organized ber of young, smart, energetic deal mak- ing these jobs will need places to live and are still increasing. “We have seen sigby the Jewish Federation of Greater At- ers has grown. J-CREN is an opportunity shop, and the younger generation espe- nificant price increases across the marlanta. The group, which so far has 400 to bring the seasoned and the young to- cially values convenience, so the in-town ket as we struggle to add supply,” Chaliff members, offers networking and learn- gether for networking, deal making and residential market, both multi-family said. “The growth of the Sunbelt region ing opportunities for new and seasoned getting to know and understand the his- as well as single family, will continue to has had a tremendous impact on proptory and importance of the Jewish com- benefit. Based on this demand, we have erty prices in all asset classes. The MSA professionals and is free to join. recently broken ground on a multi-family (Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area) is Matt Bronfman, CEO of Jamestown munity.”

“The real estate industry has histori- project at The Works on the Westside, and in high demand, investors and operators and board chair at the Federation, said, “The number of Jewish commercial real cally been an outperforming sector of the should have another mixed-use project to continue to be attracted to our growing population, robust economy, transportaestate professionals in Atlanta is large economy,” added Tim Schrager, CEO of announce shortly in Midtown.”

When it comes to commercial real es- tion access and educated workforce.” and growing. Giving them opportunities Perennial Properties, Inc., “and it’s filled Another trend is the growth of deto network with each other and engage with generous people who are often look- tate, the pros say that sellers continue to mand for space in the suburbs. “Multimore with the work of Federation will ing for ways to give back. J-CREN pro- have an edge in this market. According to family rents continue to rise across the vides an aligning of the stars for industry Lawrence G. Brown, a 50-year veteran of strengthen Jewish Atlanta.” market,” Chaliff said. “Rents are up over the commercial real estate business and Mark Silberman, one of the group’s professionals.”

20 percent year over year, with rents in Industry veteran Steve Selig, presi- a broker for Brown Realty Group, LLC, it’s founders, said J-CREN “brings together affluent suburbs such as Alpharetta inmultiple generations and an abundance dent and chairman of the board of Selig all about diversifying. “It’s a great time creasing 25 percent Enterprises, Inc., said, to be a seller,” Brown of young people workin a 12-month period.

“We are bullish on real says. “Sellers are geting in the industry to Developers continue estate, both commer- ting multiple offers for better connect them to pay record prices cial and residential, their properties due to to the mission of the for developable land.” more so now than ever. several factors: lack Federation and our His firm is focused on The demand from cor- of supply, low interest growing Atlanta Jewcreating workspace porations to relocate to rates and the desire ish community.” in the suburbs, with or expand their offices to own real estate as Industry leaders recent projects in in Atlanta is outweigh- an investment to dilike Eliot Arnovitz of Cumming, Lawrenceing the supply of office versify a portfolio. If the M&P Shopping ville and Smyrna that product, especially in interest rates go up as Centers (and a J-CREN “have taken advantage the red-hot Midtown predicted, the market co-chair), said, “The of increasing market submarket. Just the will change; however, Real Estate Division demand for industwo announcements there is so much cash (J-CREN) allows real trial and flex suites,

by Google, who will be chasing deals that estate professionKenny Holzer, president of Marc Garfinkel, mortgage consultant securing market rents moving into our 1105 a seasoned investor als a chance to meet, Skyline Seven Real State. at Prosperity Home Mortgage. well above pre-COVID West Peachtree project could make some reshare ideas and crerates.”

His team continues to look for ate friendships and mentorships. It is a this year, and Microsoft will bring 4,000 ally good buys.” “available properties in affluent suburbs According to Jason Chaliff, mannew high-paying jobs to Midtown, collecchance to do well by doing good.” where both investors and owner-users Fellow J-CREN Co-chair Carolyn tively. These tech giants’ announcements aging director of Rise Property Group, Oppenheimer, of Halpern Enterprises, were later joined by Cisco, Visa, Micron which specializes in helping landlords are eager purchasers.”

Looking back on the real estate agreed. “Atlanta real estate has always and several others announcing major purchase, sell and lease properties market over the course of the pandemic, throughout the Southeast, the view from had a strong Jewish representation,” she office expansions in Midtown, bringing 38 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

REAL ESTATE

Steve Selig, president and chairman of the board of Selig Enterprises, Inc., said, “We are bullish on real estate.”

Richard Lenner, Carolyn Oppenheimer (J-CREN Co-Chair) and Benjamin Halpern. // Credit: Patti Covert

Federation Board President and J-CREN advisor Matt Bronfman. // Credit: Patti Covert

Tim Schrager, Seth Greenberg and Mindy Selig-Shouldberg at a J-CREN event. // Credit: Patti Covert)

Kenny Holzer, president of Skyline Seven Real State, said that “in the spring of 2020, the real estate market came to an immediate halt. Properties expected to sell didn’t close and leases ready to be signed didn’t get signed. For the remainder of 2020, many people took a ‘wait and see’ attitude while the pandemic ran its course. Even

worse, some businesses were forced to close their doors permanently. And then, in 2021, we learned about the resilience of Atlanta and our business community; the retail real estate market bounced back at an incredible clip, with more leases being signed and properties being sold than I recall in any year during the last 25 years.

And while some property types (hotel and office) may face challenges (emergence of Zoom versus business travel and remote working), the retail sector has entered 2022 with the same momentum we enjoyed last year.”

Beyond the lack of inventory, one detail stood out: mortgage rates are

climbing. According to Marc Garfinkel, mortgage consultant at Prosperity Home Mortgage, “2022 is the beginning of the inevitable mortgage interest rate climb. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest rates in 2020-2021 hit rock bottom. Well, that is over. Rates are on the rise and projected to continue to increase throughout

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REAL ESTATE

Veteran realtor Larry Brown says it’s a great time to be a seller.

Robin Blass and her daughter, Lauren Blass Solomon, offer advice for buyers and sellers.

the year. We are resetting expectations to ensure that clients get the best mortgage rate, but also understand [that] rates are going up. If you want to hold out, expecting that rates will get better, it’s advisable to lock in a rate as soon as possible. Do not

count on the past predicting the future.”

Garfinkel added that he expects this “more normal interest will reduce the buyer demand slightly and allow for a more normal and healthy housing market in 2022.”

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40 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Robyn Zimmerman shares tips on preparing your house to sell.

Leigh Schiff says the best times to sell a house is now.

confirmed that Atlanta is seeing a seller’s want to win in a multiple-offer situation. market. Seasoned agent Lauren Blass of Many buyers are simply not in a posithe Blass Group predicts that “2022 will tion to waive all of these contingencies. continue to be a seller’s market.” But, she Skilled realtors looking for properties says, we won’t be seeing “the 24-26 per- for their buyers are exhausting any and cent increase of the prior year’s prices.” all creative efforts to build inventory. It Rather, we should see a “normal stable has never been more important to work with a savvy, strategic realtor. We are see4-6 percent increase.” ing record numbers of Buyers, Blass said, homes selling off the know that they must market at ‘make me be prepared to make move’ prices.” an offer above the list Agent Robin Blass price. “We have less said, “Today’s buyers than a one-month are exhausted from supply,” she said. “In home searches and a stable market we the continued rejecwould have a two to tions of offer after offour-month supply.” fer. Home purchasing Agent Robyn Zimneeds will continue merman counsels sellto fuel the market as ers to show potential many new buyers enbuyers that “they don’t ter the market [alongneed to leave their new Jason Chaliff, managing director side] relocation buyers home and can enjoy of Rise Property Group. from all the compatheir favorite activities in their very own backyard. Although it nies selecting Atlanta as their new home. will continue to be a seller’s market, giv- All of this is exciting, but we need more ing your home things that 2022 home- homes. Interest rates are still great — for buyers are looking for will translate into now — and even with the higher home prices, buyers can secure a great rate more money on the sale of your home.”

Leigh Schiff, of the Schiff Real Estate and a monthly payment that is doable. team, is busier than ever. “Historically, Now is a great time to buy. Lending opthere has never been a better time to be tions have evolved, with many products a seller in today’s real estate market,” she for the consumer to choose from. Resaid. “Homes are selling for record prices cently, the conforming loan amount was because of unprecedented, low inven- increased, allowing a buyer to purchase tory levels and extremely high demand. up to $647,200 with a conventional loan.

On the other side of the coin, buyers That is huge. Our best advice is to pack are competing against other buyers on your patience and always be ready. This almost every new listing, often regard- market is crazy.” ì For more information about joining less of price or condition. In most cases there is no due diligence period, financ- J-CREN visit www.jewishatlanta.org and ing or appraisal contingencies if buyers contact Joel Ashner.

REAL ESTATE

Real Estate Developers Pivot to Build-to-Rent W h e n Kaplan Residential sold its high-profile apartment development in the heart of Sandy Springs in July 2021, it didn’t invest Bob Bahr in another property just like it. Instead, the Atlanta developer pocketed $59.2 million for the 203 apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space in the Square One building at the corner of Roswell Road and Hammond Drive.

Last year, Kaplan also sold off Generation Atlanta, a 330-unit apartment complex downtown, to Canadian investors, for $83 million. But, instead of investing its share of the profits into another apartment building or mixed-use development, it decided to build single-family homes that it would rent rather than sell.

The developer now has plans to put $300 million into several build-to-rent housing communities that are already in the works. Among its publicly announced projects are a community of 239 single-family units to be built in a development called Avondale Generation East, a single-family active adult community in Dallas, Ga., and 183 rental townhomes in Cartersville, less than an hour from Atlanta.

According to Nathan Kaplan, a partner in the firm, all of the company’s available funds are being channeled into the build-for-rent single-family home market. The same is true for GTIS Partners, a real estate investment firm that picked up 4,700 single-family homes in nine cities, including Atlanta, in the years following the 2008 financial collapse. Over the last four years, GTIS has been in the process of selling them all in favor of building its own singlefamily rental communities. Seven such projects, laid out like small villages, are said to be underway in Phoenix and south and central Florida.

According to a report in the New York Times, the number of single-family homes built for the rental market increased 30% from 2019 to 2020. It has quickly become the fastest-growing segment of the housing market and is expected to double in the next 10 years.

Brad Hunter, of the consulting firm Hunter Housing Economics, says that almost 100,000 new homes were built in the last year, representing an investment of almost $30 billion. The reason,

Generation Avondale East is a new community being built by Kaplan Residential.

This townhome complex near the Edgewood-Candler Park MARTA station will be composed of all rental units.

in part, is that many home buyers are being priced out of the traditional housing market, where the supply of new and existing homes is quickly outstripping demand. Rising home prices and high down payments are also fueling the shift to rentals.

According to real estate brokerage Redfin, the average home price in America increased 14 percent last year, to $357,000. In Atlanta, the rise in home prices was even sharper in 2021. ReMax, the residential sales company, estimates the average price of a home in Atlanta in 2021 rose 24 percent, to $354,000.

A new study released Feb. 7 by the

Kaplan Residential sold this 203-unit apartment building in the heart of Sandy Springs to finance new single-family housing developments for rent.

National Association of Realtors demonstrates that home ownership has become even more elusive for middle-class Americans. The drop in housing affordability, combined with low inventory, means that home buyers looking for affordable housing, particularly in high-growth areas like Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs, are out of luck.

Nadia Evangelou, director of forecasting at the National Association of Realtors, concluded that the drop in housing supply meant many home buyers had few options if they wanted to avoid renting.

Young affluent families are choosing

to rent rather than buy because it offers greater flexibility should career options or family situations change. They usually pay a small fee for maintenance and lawn care in addition to rent and have few of the worries that often come with home ownership.

But, by choosing to rent rather than own, first-time home buyers are also not getting the opportunity to build longterm wealth as a hedge against the rising prices that often come with home ownership. What the long-term effects of such a fundamental shift in economic life in America will be is an important, if still unanswered question. ì ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 41

REAL ESTATE

High-Tech Food Hall Announced for Phipps Plaza

By Bob Bahr Phipps Plaza, the upscale Buckhead shopping center, is adding a massive food court to its offerings. The new 25,000-sq.ft. dining area is the result of a partnership between the Simon Property Group, which is the largest owner of shopping centers in America, and SBE, which has a diverse portfolio of brands across the food, hospitality and entertainment industries.

Unlike other new food court offerings that have proliferated throughout local shopping centers in recent years, the Phipps Plaza food court is expected to feature a number of dining options created by SBE’s subsidiary, Creating Culinary Communities (C3).

When the concept debuts in November, visitors to the food court will be able to choose from such C3 creations as Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, In A Bun and La Gente Tacos, among others. All of the food will be sourced from a single kitchen and diners will pay for what they buy on a single check.

The new food hall, called Citizens, is being developed by Sam Nazarian’s SBE, which is in the entertainment and hospitality industries.

The new food hall is the latest effort by owners of Phipps Plaza to reshape the upscale mall for a new era.

SBE is owned by Sam Nazarian, a Los Angeles-based businessman who was born into a wealthy Persian Jewish family in Tehran. He told the online hospitality newsletter QSR that the new operation strives to adapt its concept to offer economies of scale.

“What really makes us unique is that we’re able to put up to 15 brands into a kitchen. We own all our own brands. We create them in house and with strategic culinary partners like some of our James

Beard and Michelin chefs. We’re able to mon, in 1960. It rode the boom in suburban American shopping mall expansion really unlock the value.”

The company, which is calling the through much of the latter years of the new concept Citizens, has opened food 20th century but has scrambled to adapt halls in Manhattan and Miami. The goal in recent years to alternatives like online is not only to offer a sit-down dining ex- shopping.

Its partnerperience, but also ship with SBE is to facilitate pick-up yet another addiorders there and tion to the Phipps quick delivery to mall, which opened the surrounding in 1969 as Atlanta’s homes, apartments first multilevel mall, and offices. built on a large tract “You’re able of land once owned to have a lot of difby the Alexander ferent experiences family, prominent through one purand longtime Jewish chase, one delivery All of the dining options on offer will residents of Atlanta. fee,” Nazarian told be produced in a single kitchen.

In the last QSR. “More importantly, all these brands and the food four years, the mall has demolished you’ve ordered, all coming at the same what had been a Belk department store time through one delivery driver. And I to build a 150-room Nobu Hotel and resthink it’s a real game changer as opposed taurant, a 300,000-sq.-ft. office tower to families or individuals having to order and a 90,000-sq.-ft. athletic facility. Last year, Alon’s, the local bakery and marmultiple.”

The food hall remodeling is the latest ket, opened a 5,300-sq.-ft. location on the effort by Simon Property Group to pump ground floor.

Nazarian’s new food hall at Phipps new life into its most attractive shopping malls amidst a sharp decline in retailing. is just one part of a much broader Coresight Research estimates that strategy to take advantage of the new 25,000 stores closed in the first year of ways consumers are engaging with the pandemic and as many as 60 percent restaurants and accessing their menus. of them are in America’s malls. The re- Although Simon Property executives search firm estimates that 25 percent of may be hopeful that the new food hall America’s 1,000 malls will shutter per- will increase shopping at Phipps Plaza, Nazarian sees the new venture as an opmanently in the next three to five years.

Phipps Plaza is anchored by Saks portunity to take advantage of the latest Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom and has a trends.

“We do have food halls. But we’re a number of high-priced designer label shops. It also houses a Tiffany & Co. and a brand company and we’re a technology 32,000-sq.-ft. Legoland Discovery Center, company to get you the food in the manwhich displaced a number of food court ner you want it. And so, it’s definitely a tenants when it was built on the mall’s big foundational part of the way we look at the business, which is the quality of third level in 2011.

Simon Property Group is a real the brand and how it speaks to millenniestate investment trust based in India- als, how it speaks to people that are for napolis. It was originally founded by two the first time — because they are a bit Jewish brothers, Melvin and Herbert Si- older — ordering online.” ì

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42 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

REAL ESTATE

Selig Announces Partnership with GID at The Works

The Works, an 80-acre adaptive reuse development in the heart of Atlanta’s Upper Westside, has begun construction on its residential units.

Selig De- heart of the property. The project, designed velopment, one by RJTR and built by contractor Brasfield of Atlanta’s and Gorrie, will include a mix of floor largest private- plans, comprising 70 percent one-bedroom ly held com- and 30 percent two-bedroom apartments. mercial real es- Future residents will be able to enjoy statetate firms, and of-the-art amenities that open onto The GID, a vertical- Camp, such as an indoor/outdoor clubly-integrated room, fitness center and coworking spaces. real estate com- The property will also feature a pool and Marcia pany, have an- central amenity area, with a Club Room Caller Jaffe nounced a joint and clusters of unique gathering spaces for venture part- residents throughout.

Future residents of The Works will nership for a multifamily community at The Works, Selig’s 80-acre adaptive reuse be able to enjoy the development’s upbeat development on Atlanta’s Upper Westside. restaurants and retailers, including Chatta(Selig Development, the development arm hoochee Food Works (the 31-stall food hall), of Selig Enterprises, was co-founded by Fox Bros Bar-B-Q, Dr. Scofflaw’s, Ballard Designs, Adelina Social Scott Selig and Steve Goods, Stellar Bodies, Baile in 2015.)

Les Mains Nail Bar, Construction American Axes and on the 306-unit resiBasik Spaces. Future dential project is tenants will include underway, slated to The Third Spot, a be finished by 2023. restaurant by Dave Selig Enterprises Green, Waffle ExperiCEO Steve Selig said, ence, Brash Kitchen “Adding residences and Fetch Dog Park. is a key component The Works is also to creating the type home to 125,000 of exciting place sq. feet of adaptive that my son Scott reuse office space originally envisioned with tenants, includfor The Works. The ing MacDermid, an construction on the Atlanta-based flexoapartments has alSelig Enterprises CEO Steve Selig recalled graphic and printing ready started, and we the memory of his late son Scott in solutions company, can’t wait to welcome completing his vision at The Works.

Uppercut, a post-prothe first residents in duction company based in New York City, 2023.”

The Works is already home to 160,000 Conisus, a provider of strategic medical sq. feet of retail space and 120,000 sq. feet communication services to the biopharof office space. The new homes will be lo- maceutical industry and global media cated at the front door of the development, company iHeartMedia.

Dating back to 1918, Selig Enterprises along Chattahoochee Avenue and adjacent to The Camp, the one-acre green space and is a family-owned and -operated real estate

company with a portfolio encompassing some 11 million sq. feet of retail, industrial, mixed-use and office properties throughout the Southeast and several large-scale mixed-use developments. GID operates a diverse portfolio of multifamily, industrial and mixed-use developments and has placed a focus on Atlanta, where it operates nearly 2,700 multifamily units and 4 million sq. feet of commercial real estate, as

well as a corporate office space.

In 2020, Selig worked alongside the City of Atlanta Department of Planning to create and receive one of Atlanta’s first industrial mixed-use (I-MIX) zoning designations, which allows for a newly constructed residential complex to exist within the historically industrial site.

One thing is for sure: being bored will not be an option at The Works! ì

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AJFF Bernstein & Bahr’s Best Bets for 2022 AJFF The 2022 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival features an array of 55 films from 18 countries, all of which are available for screenMatthew Bernstein ing during the festival’s entire & Bob Bahr 12-day run.

Most can be accessed online from anywhere in Georgia, but several — like “The Specials,” which is one of Bernstein and Bahr’s Best Bets — can be screened by anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the United States. Here is our top selection of offerings that combine strong, artistic statements with compelling subject matter.

or his shrewd judgment, you are likely to find immense satisfaction in knowing that he is truly one of us.

“Tree of Life” is the first documentary to portray the reaction of survivors and the families of victims to the 2018 synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh.

“The Specials” is a French film that follows a Muslim and a Jew in Paris as they partner to help autistic children.

The Specials

“Berenshtein” tells the story of Leonid Berenshtein, the last surviving commander of a battalion of Russian WWII partisans.

Berenshtein

“Berenshtein” is an Israeli docudrama that honors the life of Leonid Berenshtein, the last surviving commander of a battalion of Russian WWII partisans.

It’s a thrilling film that time and again makes you want to cheer for the young, dashing, brilliant and often brutal Jewish hero, played by Ukrainian actor Yaroslav Kucherenko.

The film also gives the lie to the mistaken notion that Jews were led willingly to their slaughter, without ever fighting back, during the Holocaust.

In this tale of a genuine Jewish hero who never strays far from his principles 44 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

“The Specials” is a remarkable film that treats the experiences, challenges and triumphs of autistic people and those who care for them with care and compassion.

Through an overarching narrative and several subplots, the film follows the partnership between an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim who prepare the “specials” for work. From the opening scene there is never a dull moment and the action and editing are fast-paced.

As we saw at last year’s AJFF, with the Israeli film, “Here We Are,” realistic productions about autistic people can be painful yet uplifting. That is overwhelmingly the case with “The Specials,” which takes viewers into a challenging world that might seem marginal and makes it normal.

Tree of Life

As Shabbat services were getting underway on October 27, 2018, at ten minutes to 10:00, a 46-year-old white supremacist named Robert Gregory Powers entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was carrying four semi-automatic weapons, including an AR-15 assault rifle. In a little over an hour, 11 of those who had come for the morn-

ing minyan were dead, and seven others were wounded, including four police officers.

“Tree of Life” is the first film about this deadly shooting and its aftermath.

This expertly produced film, which has its Atlanta premiere at the festival, features extensive interviews and the personal stories of those who survived, as well as with family members of three of those who did not. It brings sensitivity and restraint to its telling of the story and the questions it raises about the real impact of the ideas that proliferate in this political climate.

The film is a chilling reminder that extreme political rhetoric may, in fact, encourage those in our midst who are emotionally unhinged — and armed to the teeth — to act out their murderous fantasies on our community.

city of Ashdod. Well-equipped units of the Egyptian army faced off against the vastly outnumbered and ill-equipped defenders of the kibbutz. The film dramatizes Israel’s existential struggle to exist from the very moment of its founding.

Recreating the battle in extraordinary detail, “Image of Victory” gives this story the epic treatment it deserves. Avi Nesher, who wrote the script and directed what may be the best film of his long career, is capacious enough to create vivid characters, even in secondary roles.

The result is simultaneously suspenseful, hopeful, funny and heartbreaking. Viewers will emerge more skeptical of established narratives and what governments tell us about their military exploits.

“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen” is the story of how director and producer Norman Jewison made the 1971 film version of the musical.

Fiddler’s Journey to The Big Screen

“Image of Victory” is a moving drama about Israel’s War of Independence.

Image of Victory

“Image of Victory” is one of the absolute top films at the festival this year. It’s about the little-known battle for Nitzanim during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, which took place in southern Israel, on the coast between Gaza and the

2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the film version of “Fiddler on the Roof.” For all of us who love this great movie, the festival has a special anniversary present. The documentary “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen” relates, in its own charming and very thorough way, everything you ever wanted to know about how the film version came to be.

Released in 1971, “Fiddler” was the top grossing American film of the year.

In the documentary, the viewer is treated to behind-the-scenes footage shot during the production, as well as many of the most familiar scenes from the finished film. It also introduces the main creative figures involved in the blockbuster 1971 production.

Holding everything together is pro-

AJFF ducer and director Norman Jewison, who, at 95, is bursting with energy and charm. Not to be discounted is Topol, who at 85 has lost none of his skill in front of the camera. “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen” is the perfect companion to the groundbreaking film.

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The 2022 AJFF showcases 55 featurelength and short films.

The lives of Arabs living in Israel and the West Bank is the theme of “Let It Be Morning.”

Let it Be Morning

“Let it Be Morning,” based on the novel of the same name by Palestinian Israeli writer Sayed Kashua, is Israel’s submission to the Academy Awards.

Kashua specializes in detailing the impossible and improbable positions — social, political, cultural, familial — that Palestinian Israelis find themselves in. He calls this “forced exile in the heart of my homeland.” In the film, the main exile is Sami, a successful Palestinian Israeli who has been working as a coding executive for a high-tech company in Jerusalem. As the film opens, Sami and his family are

J

attending his younger brother’s wedding in his home village when an Israeli lockdown forces them to remain there indefinitely. Over several days, Sami learns more about the village and the various conflicts that have divided the town. While the IDF and the Israeli government control their every move, the villagers have, in turn, internalized the restrictions they live under.

The film’s mix of absurdity and melancholy — of motion and stillness — requires a delicate balance, but “Let it Be Morning” does it beautifully, thanks to the direction and the cast. More information is available at www.ajff.org. ì

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AJFF

AJFF Premieres Jews Who Built the ‘Wild’ West

By Bob Bahr “Jews of the Wild West,” which premieres at this year’s Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, is a relative rarity. The documentary film, about a neglected aspect of American Jewish history, is produced by someone who actually lives in the community the film discusses. Moreover, it largely relies upon locally sourced historical materials and was financed by local and regional donors.

Amanda Kinsey, the writer and producer behind the film, found much of her material in the extensive archives of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society at the University of Denver.

Over a three-year period, including two years navigating the restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic, Kinsey pieced together a broad history of the westward migration of American Jews and the often-significant role they played during the decades prior to the beginning of the 20th century.

“I was totally blown away,” she said.

“I mean, the stories were so incredible and compelling and revelatory, and although much of the material centered on Colorado, as I looked around a little bit more, I realized there were equally impressive stories in New Mexico and Texas and California that had not been connected in a documentary about the larger Jewish migration movement.”

Kinsey focuses on some of the more important Jewish success stories of the period, such as Josephine Marcus, a Jewish woman who married Wyatt Earp, the legendary sheriff of Tombstone, Ariz.

Marcus was so successful in promoting the Earp saga that he became a popular figure in a string of Westerns, including John Ford’s 1946 classic “My Darling Clementine,” starring Henry Fonda. “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” was another popular prime time TV series on ABC that ran for six years, beginning in 1955. Later, a fictionalized version of Marcus’s life was the subject of a 1983 NBC TV movie, “I Married Wyatt Earp,” starring Marie Osmond.

As the documentary tells it, she and Earp, who were married for 48 years, are buried side by side in a Jewish cemetery in Colma, Calif. Who knew?

There’s also the wildly successful story of Levi Strauss, who became a thriving wholesaler of dry goods in San Francisco, supplying Jewish merchants in the West and along the Pacific Coast.

In 1873, he and Jacob Davis, a Jewish tai46 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Early advertisements for Levi Strauss jeans — patented by Strauss and Jacob Davis, a Jewish tailor in Reno — touted their durability.

The legendary Wyatt Earp was married to his Jewish wife, Josephine Marcus, for 48 years. Both are buried in a Jewish cemetery in California.

Jewish shopkeepers were often key members of their communities, holding small towns together.

lor in Reno who had emigrated from Latvia, received a patent for a pair of pants that never seemed to wear out. The two of them produced and marketed the first pairs of Levi’s jeans. The rest, of course is history.

As was the case in the American South during the same period, Jewish immigrants from Germany and Bavaria — and only later from Eastern Europe — came to look for opportunities outside of New York and the big cities of the Northeast.

Unlike the South, however, which had been devastated by the Civil War, the West was a land of relative opportunity in the last four decades of the 19th century, as miners joined cattle ranchers to build communities literally over-

night.

Jewish merchants and shopkeepers took the lead in creating a sense of purpose for local residents of these communities. According to Kinsey, a handful of Jews in these far-flung new settlements often made the difference between survival and failure.

“A Jewish merchant who opened up a store was a central part of the community. It wasn’t uncommon for the Jewish merchant to also become the first postmaster or the first mayor, really integral in terms of getting schools established — or the first library, or the first fire departments.”

Even Golda Meir went west for a time, starting in 1913. Born Golda Mabovitch in Kyiv (then a part of the Russian

Empire), she went to high school in Denver, met her future husband, Morris Meyerson and became a fervent Zionist there, making the decision to move to Israel a precondition for her marriage.

“Jews of the Wild West” shines a bright light on a critical chapter of the American Jewish story that deserves to be told.

“These are important stories for people to know about,” Kinsey says.

“And even though I’m not Jewish, I feel a real responsibility as a storyteller, an imperative really to help amplify voices that may have been marginalized.”

To its credit, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has chosen to give this film its world premiere, sponsored by The Breman Museum. ì

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 47

ARTS & CULTURE Flora Rosefsky’s Jewish Art Inspires Social Change F l o r a Rosefsky’s artworks express a sincere respect for the beauty of Judaism and a concern for the health of our environment.

Susanne Katz Two of her seKarlick lected works will be included in an exhibition at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College in New York City in 2023.

Others will be on view at the MJCCA Katz Family Main Street Gallery through March.

“A lot of the work is original work that often uses repurposed materials and mixed media,” Rosefsky said. “I do like to work in a series, or as I call it, ‘variations on a theme.’”

Her “Stop” series, for example, incorporates seven vinyl 45-rpm records, along with paper cutouts. “‘Schach’ is a large work in which I use house keys, ephemera from newspapers, my own artwork cut up, magazines and cut paper,” Rosefsky said. “The Mother Earth figurines have vintage bracelet watches around their heads — a metaphor for time running out to mediate global warming. ‘Acronym for Change,’ in the MJCCA exhibition, is one of the largest works and uses a large, crocheted cloth as the support.”

Tangled

“In dreamlike visual language, twisted random lines of string on paper support floating figures struggling to

“Grassroots 1, 2 and 4” (collage: magazine, newspaper and other paper cutouts, 2019)

“Acronym for Change” (Mixed materials wall hanging on found object cloth)

find freedom. The subconscious nature symbolizes my personal reflection as a working artist and writer who is also wife, mother, grandmother, friend and volunteer — roles defined yet still evolving within their own boundaries of commitment and time. Life’s interruptions often make me feel tangled, struggling to continue to be generous with my spirit and time, yet searching for more balance within the boundaries of each day, month, or year.”

Visit us online at: www.atlantaJewishtimes.com

48 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

“Seder” from the “Tradition” series (pen and ink marker)

“Ketubah Signing” from the “Tradition” series (pen and ink marker)

Acronym for Change

“I conducted research about global warming, now called climate change, uncovering hundreds of acronyms symbolizing research projects or institutions working to better understand why ocean temperatures are warming way too fast.

The cascade of magazine cutout letters on card stock covered with blue liquid watercolor, along with ribbons, trim and textiles, manifests a deeper appreciation for the scientists, scholars and researchers doing their important work, while appreciating God’s grandeur of creation.”

Grassroots 1, 2 and 4

“Long, deep roots of grass entangle and intertwine, a metaphor for how grassroots groups can bring about powerful change. Citizens on a grassroots level, often starting with the efforts of a few people’s effort, manifest how a good idea begins to grow. I created ‘Grassroots’ as a way to find something positive in today’s political climate. Individuals, springing up from grassroots, may be the only way to turn the tide of the horrendous divide in our country. We can’t stand back and do nothing. Together, not by acting alone, it is my hope to create positive change.”

“Tangled” (Mixed materials, string on paper, trim, paper cutout, fabric, push pins)

Seder

“The spring festival of Passover is celebrated at home when family and friends gather around the table to retell the story of the Exodus from a special book called a haggadah. This festive event is called a seder. Many symbolic foods are eaten, new and old rituals are performed.”

Ketubah Signing

“Before the wedding ceremony under the traditional chuppah, a ketubah — a Jewish legal marriage contract — is read and then signed by two witnesses.

The ketubah is a document that often is illuminated or decorated and can become a very special work of art in the married couple’s home.” ì

ARTS & CULTURE

Spizman Compiles Life Lessons from Greatest Coaches

Marcia Caller Jaffe

Justin Spizman has published a new book, “Coach: The Greatest Teachers in Sports and Their Lessons for Us All,” a collection of wisdom from 168 of the greatest sports coaches

of all time.

“I cover a wide range of sports, from football to basketball, hockey, tennis, rugby, skating and even wrestling … just about every sport you could imagine,” Spizman said. “I grew up in our ‘big sports’ town, playing and watching all the Atlanta pro teams. I loved every second on the field. So here are the greatest takeaway lessons that everyone can apply to life and to leadership.”

In addition to being a practicing lawyer, Spizman has worked as a “book architect,” cowriting or ghostwriting books and proposals for boxing champion Evander Holyfield, NCAA basketball coach Jim Valvano and sports agent Molly Fletcher, who is sometimes called the “Female Jerry Maguire.”

“Coach” is the first book Spizman has written under his own name in almost 15 years. “This is the first book I wrote for myself as a way to return to my roots,” he said, “the culmination of so much of my work over the first half of my career as a writer.”

AJT: Advice for the Falcons…

JS: Get a better defense.

AJT: Hawks?

JS: Bring Dominque Wilkins back.

AJT: Braves?

JS: Repeat!

AJT: Best Jewish coaches?

JS: Some covered in the book: Red Auerbach, Red Holtzman, Bruce Pearl.

AJT: Ted Lasso?

JS: Will be featured in the revised version of “Coach.” He has to win a couple titles first.

Justin Spizman, who has ghostwritten for others, has published his first book under his own name.

Spizman’s new book is a collection of wisdom from 168 of the greatest sports coaches of all time.

He has helpfully divided the book into four sections and coaching styles — Team Builders, Strategists, Technicians and Closers — so that readers of all backgrounds and ages can relate to these stories.

True to its goal, the book shares lessons from a wide variety of coaches from different sports, including several marquee female coaches, such as Barbara Stevens (Bentley University), C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers), Becky Hammon (San Antonio Spurs), Katie Sowers (San Francisco 49ers) and University of Tennessee favorite Pat Summitt. “‘Coach’ is a cool combination of what’s historically relevant and how the

game has changed alongside the study of sports, both in terms of coaches and players,” Spizman said. “We examine some big-time personalities and names, many of whom came up through different coaching trees and left their mark on sport. Then there are the stories within the stories, like the time fellow ‘tribe member’ Bruce Pearl showed up at a Lady Vols game shirtless and covered in orange body paint. It is truly amazing what some of these coaches have done for the love of the game.”

Spizman earned his undergraduate degree in speech communications at the University of Texas and his law degree at Georgia State University. He grew up play-

ing basketball at the JCC, usually as a shooting guard. “My dad was a good athlete and came to every game of mine,” he recalled.

“Sports meant a lot to me at a young age.”

Now, applying life lessons closer to home, Spizman coaches his young daughters’ teams. To build character, he often tells the players, “We didn’t win as much as we wanted, but we tried really hard and had a lot of fun.”

And watch for Spizman’s next book, “Hometown Victory: A Coach’s Story of Football, Fate and Coming Home,” to be released in May. It’s the story of coach Keanon Lowe, who is the subject of an upcoming Disney original film. ì

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DINING Nur Kitchen’s Modern Take on Mediterranean Nur Kitchen’s chef-owner Shay Lavi first learned about cooking in Or Yehuda and from his Turkish and Libyan relatives. Now, after Marcia leaving Rozina Caller Jaffe Bakehouse in Downtown Atlanta, Lavi has opened his own establishment on Buford Highway.

“I always had a deep passion for cooking from a very early age,” Lavi says.

“Most of my menu is influenced by my memories, and it’s rotating always due to farm availability.” For Mediterraneaninspired fare, the menu is extensive. In the partially exposed kitchen, diners can see the chef working, manning several burners, twisting, turning and delicately arranging. The whole branzino fish, one of Nur’s most popular dishes, was plated as if caught fresh. Lavi’s plates have character and complexity.

House favorite: Whole branzino amid bright vegetables, including pink turnips.

Nur Kitchen’s interior features azure blue accents and wood furnishings.

We went on a Wednesday evening.

Lavi said, “We serve a mix of cultures here. Also, lunch draws a nice crowd.”

Next to our table were two optometrists,

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Roasted cauliflower with sesame seeds, baba ganoush in the background.

The burned eggplant was the table’s favorite dish.

David Grosswald and Darren Levine, to a good hummus is the quality of the leering at their brilliantly colored cold tahini and the freshness of the ingredibeet carpaccio platter. Grosswald said he ents.” The fluffy pita is made in house had dined at Nur previously and waited and is oh so satisfying. Good the next day, 90 minutes to get a seat. The next time, also.

Fish of the Day: Lavi’s wife, Karen Branzino brick oven Haroz, recognized whole fish with seahim and arranged sonal vegetables for a table right and farm salad with away. Haroz, it turns buttery lettuce, simout, grew up in ply dressed, and Peachtree Corners. scarlet ripe tomatoe “She’s my wife, best wedges and cucumfriend, partner in bers. everything,” says Seasonal vegLavi. “Although I etable plate ($18). cook at home, our According to the best times are hangserver, the chef uses ing out with the a unique process in kids, doing basically drawing out natural whatever they want juices with a smatto do.”

Here’s what we Chef Shay Lavi oversees a bustling kitchen. tering of butter.

Kale, squash, brocsampled at Nur. Burned eggplant ($10). Favorite dish! coli, tomatoes.

Beverage-wise, Nur offers Turkish Brick oven-roasted eggplant with tahini, chopped salad, cheese, herbs and mango coffee, espresso, latte and eight beers, including an exotic Efes Turkish Pilsner. dressing. Very complex.

Roasted cauliflower ($10). Half cau- Wine by the glass ($14) or bottle (most $40).

Bottom line: Lavi deserves the press liflower roasted with house labneh and za’atar. Even the cauliflower leaves were treatment for putting his heart and soul into Nur, where he has an extensive charred to perfection.

Side falafel. Swimming in hummus, menu and is carving out a path for himthe crisp brown balls were bright green self. Rumor has it that he is searching for on the inside. Americans may need to ad- larger space and will retain the current just to Lavi’s homemade hummus, which location for a different concept. Stay is thinner and milder than what we are tuned. ì Nur is located at 7130 Buford Highway, used to buying at Publix. Lavi is not giving away any hints, but said, “the secret 678-691-3821.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 51

CALENDAR DREAM HOU$E — Select dates through Feb. 13. “DREAM HOU$E” follows two Latina sisters on an HGTV-style reality show who are selling their family home, hoping to capitalize on the gentrification in their “changing neighborhood.” As they perform for the camera, one sister grapples with turmoil in the family’s ancestral past while the other learns how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the family’s future. What is the cultural cost of progress in America — and is cashing in always selling out? Purchase tickets from Alliance Theater at https://bit. ly/3twVqyz.

Atlanta Jewish Film Festival — 22nd Festival — Select dates through Feb. 27. The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is thrilled to announce a continued virtual experience for its 22nd edition this February. The 12-day festival model will offer audiences flexibility in crafting their own customized festival experience enjoying the latest lineup of international narrative or documentary film from the comfort of home. Visit https://bit.ly/3s71jjU to learn more.

Leonardo Drew: Cycles Starting Feb. 19 daily through May 7 – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “The work is immersive and personal without being leading. It is up to the viewer to interpret and participate in the communion of physical form and individual history. Leonardo’s work makes tangible a refuge that allows for self-reflection and perhaps space in which to contemplate the constructs of beauty.” Join Kennesaw State University at the Zuckerman

FEBRUARY 15-28 Museum of Art and learn more at https://bit.ly/3HjT3DB.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 Significant Others of Addicts Support Group — 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Join Sally Anderson, MS, LPC from JCFS for a free weekly support group for spouses, partners and/or significant others of those struggling with addiction. This group is intended to help those in an intimate relationship with a person who has or had an issue with alcohol or other substances. Members will find support in others, learn about the disease of addiction and develop coping skills such as setting healthy boundaries to move them towards their own healing process. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3t53zr5.

tival and for the East Coast premiere of “The Survivor,” directed by Barry Levinson. Visit https://bit.ly/343fQVR to purchase tickets.

Trivia on Zoom — 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Join Congregation Or Ve Shalom for trivia every other Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. Get the Zoom link by visiting https://bit.ly/3riw2LF.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17 Mommy & Me — 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Join Chabad of Fulton for the Baby Loves Shabbat Series, featuring Challah Baking, Baby & Mommy Yoga, Shabbat Songs and Crafts. Visit https://bit.ly/3Hlirc0 to learn more.

A Guide for the Perplexed: Exploring Judaism with Rabbi Lauren — 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This monthly class with Rabbi Lauren from Congregation Or Hadash will cover big questions and topics that mystify many of us: how to make sense of the structure of the Friday night service, how to wrestle with a concept of God that just doesn’t make sense anymore and other big questions about how this ancient tradition fits into our 21st-century lives.

Visit https://bit.ly/32S3DTe to register.

Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s Opening Night — 8 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. Join the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in celebrating the Opening Night of the 22nd annual Atlanta Jewish Film Fes-

PrimeTimers Coffee with Rabbi Jordan — 10 a.m. Grab a beverage and head over to Zoom to spend time with Rabbi Jordan and your PrimeTimer Friends from Congregation Dor Tamid. Get the Zoom link by visiting https://bit. ly/3Cg2QZ6.

Family Estrangement Support Groups — 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Being estranged from loved ones brings mixed and complicated emotions. This group is intended for those experiencing longstanding estrangements from family members. Group meetings will focus on processing and supporting one another. To learn more and to register, visit https://bit.ly/3G2BEOQ.

Winner gets bragging rights & charity of their choice gets the proceeds. Visit https://bit.ly/3HmhG2e for details.

Couples and Conversation: Building a Life Together as an Interfaith* Couple — 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Being part of an interfaith/Jew-ish/multi-faith/ however-you-define-yourself couple can be challenging, but you don’t need to find the answers alone. This workshop by 18 Doors Atlanta offers a safe environment to work on creating your religious/cultural lives together.

It is intended for seriously dating, engaged and newly married Jewish/ interfaith couples. Register at https:// bit.ly/3t45gYK. Hidden Secrets of Israel — 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Join Intown Jewish Academy for a magical never-before-seen tour of the Holy Land. Explore places you can’t visit in person and discover the incredible secrets they tell. Expert Israel guide and author Josh Even-Chen will take you on a journey you will never forget — and forever change the way you see Israel. Learn more at https:// bit.ly/3IRB4Ve.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Shabbat, Me & Rabbi G — 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Bring your children to the JCC for a fun Shabbat celebration with Rabbi G! All are invited to this monthly Shabbat sing-along featuring activities, Shabbat songs and more! Get more information at https://bit.ly/3m80m8Q.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Find more events and submit items for our online and print calendars at:

Story Time with Rabbi Jordan — 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Join Rabbi Jordan from Congregation Dor Tamid for Story Time on Facebook. Visit https:// bit.ly/3xfpywO to get the link.

www.atlantajewishconnector.com

Calendar sponsored by the Atlanta Jewish Connector, an initiative of the AJT. In order to be considered for the print edition, please submit events three to four weeks in advance. Contact community relations director Diana Cole for more information at Diana@atljewishtimes.com.

52 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Parshah & Poker on Zoom — 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Use your phone, computer and/or tablet. One device will be for poker, the other to Zoom with the group. Video must be on to participate.

Etz Chaim Team Shabbat Kids Programs — 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Join one of our Team Shabbat Leagues.

Formerly Jr. Congregation, we now

introduce separate teams for more meaningful, age-appropriate activities and services. Learn more at https://bit. ly/3Gdlhyt.

Tot Shabbat and Kiddush Lunch — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Join Congregation Beth Shalom every Shabbat at 11 a.m. for an interactive Tot Shabbat where we sing, play and engage in fun activities, followed by a wonderful Shabbat Kiddush lunch together. Visit https://bit. ly/3rZrU3J to get more information.

CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES Torah Reading: Ki Tisa Friday, FEBRUARY 18, 2022, light candles at 6:06 p.m.

Saturday, FEBRUARY 19, 2022, Shabbat ends at 6:57 p.m.

Torah Reading: Vayakhel Friday, FEBRUARY 25, 2022, light candles at 6:12 p.m.

Saturday, FEBRUARY 26, 2022, Shabbat ends at 7:08 p.m.

alcohol or other substances. Members will find support in others, learn about the disease of addiction and develop coping skills, such as setting healthy boundaries to move them towards their own healing process. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3t53zr5.

Mother Road by Octavio Solís — 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Purchase tickets at Kennesaw State University by visiting https://bit.ly/3AQS37x.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 ly/3y8i68w and take part in lively monthly discussions led by book club expert Ariela Rich.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21

Teens Learn About Israel and Leadership Online — 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Join the Center for Israel Education, along with Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and the Hillels of Georgia, for an interactive presentation that will not only enhance ninth-to 12th-graders’ understanding of Israel, its complexity and its role in Jewish identity, but also provide skills for sharing that knowledge. Learning with and from peers, college students, communal professionals and CIE’s own experts, teens make valuable friendships and gain important critical thinking abilities they can apply across future endeavors. Register at https://bit.ly/3gd64CX.

Peachy Parsha — 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Join Intown Jewish Academy Mondays at noon as we discuss and explore the weekly Torah portion while enjoying a delicious lunch! Get the information to order lunch and RSVP at https://bit. ly/3enslxi.

Atlanta Jewish Bowling League — 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. All adults are welcome! We meet every Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and bowl 3 games per night. Visit https://bit.ly/3yYlEZU to get more information.

Virtual LinkedIn Workshop — 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Join JCFS for a two-hour virtual LinkedIn Workshop designed to give job seekers and those in career transition a solid base of information to strengthen their brand on LinkedIn. This workshop will cover how to set up a profile and use the job search resources offered through LinkedIn. Register at https://bit.ly/3AUH5hh.

Beth Shalom Movie Night — 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Based on the true story of the love affair between theater director Pnina Gary and Eli Ben-Zvi, the son of Israel’s second president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. Visit https://bit.ly/3oYEuPx to learn more.

Intown Jewish Academy’s Jewish Book Club — 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. IJA’s Jewish Book Club features the most captivating and exhilarating new Jewish literature. Join the club at https://bit.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

Lunch ‘n Learn on Zoom — 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Join Rabbi Hearshen from Congregation Or Ve Shalom each Tuesday for a discussion about the Torah portion of the week. You bring your lunch; he’ll share his knowledge. Get the Zoom link by visiting https://bit. ly/3Hn1qhv.

Bereavement Support Group — 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Grief and loss of loved ones bring about complicated and

mixed emotions. This support group aims to foster a safe and healthy environment to process these feelings and support people in mourning. To register, visit https://bit.ly/3q2IX2w.

Mommy & Me — 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Join Chabad of Fulton for Baby Loves Shabbat Series featuring Challah Baking, Baby & Mommy Yoga, Shabbat Songs and Crafts. Visit https://bit. ly/3Hlirc0 to learn more.

PrimeTimers Coffee with Rabbi Jordan — 10 a.m. Grab a beverage and head over to Zoom to spend time with Rabbi Jordan and your PrimeTimer Friends from Congregation Dor Tamid. Get the Zoom link by visiting https://bit. ly/3Cg2QZ6.

Mother Road by Octavio Solís — 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Inspired by “The Grapes of Wrath,” this modern epic picks up generations later, when William Joad must find a blood relative to inherit the family land in Oklahoma that was abandoned in Steinbeck’s novel. Learning that the only surviving descendant is the young Mexican American Martín Jodes, Joad convinces him to travel from California, across the American heartland, to Oklahoma. During their journey, these two men forge an unexpected bond as they grapple with the brutal past and strive for a hopeful future.

An inventive and engrossing tale of American identity, immigration and the ties that bind. Purchase tickets at Kennesaw State University by visiting https://bit.ly/3AQS37x.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 Significant Others of Addicts Support Group — 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Join Sally Anderson, MS, LPC from JCFS for a weekly free support group for spouses, partners and/or significant others of those struggling with addiction. This group is intended to help those in an intimate relationship with a person who has or had an issue with

Mother Road by Octavio Solís — 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Purchase tickets at Kennesaw State University by visiting https://bit.ly/3AQS37x.

Mah Jongg on Zoom — 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Join Congregation Or Ve Shalom on Zoom, using the app Real Mah Jongg. Register at https://bit. ly/3AQUqqX. Couples and Conversation: Building a Life Together as an Interfaith* Couple — 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Being part of an interfaith/Jew-ish/multi-faith/ however-you-define-yourself couple can be challenging, but you don’t need to find the answers alone. This workshop by 18 Doors Atlanta offers a safe environment to work on creating your religious/cultural lives together.

It is intended for seriously dating, engaged and newly married Jewish/ interfaith couples. Register at https:// bit.ly/3t45gYK. ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 53

tell Torah stories, create crafts and enjoy challah. Find out more at https:// bit.ly/3zP0UEk.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25 The Wind-Down: A Musical Shabbat with The Well — 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Celebrate Shabbat with Neranenah and The Well. We’ll gather at Urban Tree Cidery to relax and unwind as we enjoy a unique and truly “Atlanta” musical experience with The Hello, Goodbye & Peace Ensemble. Led by Rabbi Micah Lapidus, the ensemble performs completely original music and features a diverse array of incredibly talented musicians. Of special note is the fact that Melvin Myles, a rising star of gospel music and soloist at Ebenezer Baptist Church, will be joining the ensemble to celebrate the intersection of the Black/Jewish journey in American Music as a way to celebrate Black History Month. Purchase tickets at https://bit.ly/3sfpfS7.

Tot Shabbat and Kiddush Lunch — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Join Congregation Beth Shalom every Shabbat at 11 a.m. for an interactive Tot Shabbat where we sing, play and engage in fun activities, followed by a wonderful Shabbat Kiddush lunch together. Visit https://bit. ly/3rZrU3J to get more information.

Havdallah, Bonfire, Singing & S’mores — 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Bonfire, Campfire, S’mores — bring your friends and family as Congregation Beth Shalom says goodbye to Shabbat. A relaxing evening around the campfire!

We will play the guitar, board games and more. Learn more at https://bit. ly/3KYJ1tJ. Ghost — 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Purchase tickets at https://bit.ly/3L3Nc7C.

Story Time with Rabbi Jordan — 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Join Rabbi Jordan from Congregation Dor Tamid for Story Time on Facebook. Visit https:// bit.ly/3xfpywO to get the link.

Saturday Tot Shabbat — 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Join Congregation Etz Chaim for Tot Shabbat. Join other families with young children and sing songs,

Hadassah’s Everyone Has a Story to Tell — 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. From Hypnotherapist to Children’s Author, hear how Hadassah of Greater Atlanta’s Health

54 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Professionals member Lori Sugarman started a new career. Register at https://bit.ly/32O83dG. Teens Learn About Israel and Leadership Online — 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Join the Center for Israel Education, along with Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and the Hillels of Georgia, for an interactive presentation that will not only enhance ninth- to 12th-graders’ understanding of Israel, its complexity and its role in Jewish identity, but also provide skills for sharing that knowledge. Learning with and from peers, college students, communal professionals and CIE’s own experts, teens make valuable friendships and gain important critical thinking abilities they can apply across future endeavors. Register at https://bit.ly/3gd64CX.

Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s Closing Night — 8 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. Join us in closing out the 22nd annual Atlanta Jewish Film Festival with a special presentation of the 2022 AJFF Awards Ceremony and the North American premiere of the documentary “Women of Valor,” directed by Anna Somershaf. Get the Zoom link by visiting https://bit.ly/3ITOeRM.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27 3rd Annual Atlanta Jewish Life Festival — 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Atlanta Jewish Life Festival is Atlanta’s largest single-day festival promoting and celebrating Jewish and Israeli arts, food, music and culture, while connecting the community to local synagogues, nonprofits and social action groups, with the hope of further strengthening the bonds and understanding of Jewish beliefs, traditions and family. Purchase tickets at https://bit. ly/3mUR40f.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Atlanta Jewish Bowling League — 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. All adults are welcome! We meet every Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and bowl 3 games per night. Visit https://bit.ly/3yYlEZU to get more information.

Mother Road by Octavio Solís — 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.to 10 p.m. Purchase tickets at Kennesaw State University by visiting https://bit.ly/3AQS37x.

Mother Road by Octavio Solís — 8 p.m.to 10 p.m. Purchase tickets at Kennesaw State University by visiting https://bit.ly/3AQS37x.

Ghost — 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. This concert is made possible thanks to the Pomare/ Connor Memorial Endowment Fund for Dance at KSU. Choreographed and performed by Montreal-based company Tentacle Tribe, this new work combines elements of contemporary dance, street dance and martial arts in a physical score that echoes the subtle pulse of respiration. The invigorating power of the breath and its circulation in the organism is embodied and magnified by this energetic, architectonically-rich dance. Purchase tickets at https://bit.ly/3L3Nc7C.

State University by visiting https://bit. ly/3AQS37x.

People of the Book Talk and Signing with Author Roni Robbins — 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. This historical fiction novel is loosely based on cassette tapes left by her grandfather detailing his adventures across several countries and his near-death experiences. He accidentally kills a man but saves countless others. Audrey Fried-Sheets and Congregation Etz Chaim will moderate Roni Robbins’s book talk about this Jewish family saga that touches on the Holocaust. Visit https://bit.ly/3rggfNm to learn more.

Mother Road by Octavio Solís — 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Purchase tickets at Kennesaw

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28 Jewish & Israeli Film Festival: Forgiveness — All day. In this uproarious buddy caper film, Nissan and Shaul are two bumbling thieves whose failed attempt to rob a bank lands Shaul in jail.

Released from prison just before the Jewish New Year, Shaul tries to regain the trust of his wife and daughter, but his plans go awry when Nissan, now a Hasidic Jew, re-enters his life seeking forgiveness. When the two reformed criminals find themselves in need of money, their adventures begin anew.

Join the Jewish Fertility Foundation and register at https://bit.ly/3oirnY1. ì

CONNECTOR CHATTER Directory Spotlight www.atlantajewishconnector.com

JLewis Therapy

ALEF Fund

In conversation with Jill Lewis

In conversation with Nicole Flom, manager How long has your organization been in Atlanta?

The ALEF Fund was established by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta in 2008 in response to Georgia’s General Assembly passing the Education Expense Credit law to provide families in our state with access to better educational opportunities for their children.

How do you cater to the younger members of the community?

The ALEF Fund gives families the opportunity to provide their children with a Jewish education. Because the ALEF Fund offers scholarships for students in preschool through 12th grade, we serve some of the youngest members of our community. We hope that by choosing a Jewish education, families will feel a closer connection to the greater Jewish community.

How long has your organization been in Atlanta?

5 years — since March 2016.

How do you cater to the younger members of the community?

We work as psychotherapists to support our adolescents and teens with individual therapy. We strive to be where our young clients are at, and help them navigate the world they’re living in.

Where do you see your organization in 10 years?

In 10 years, I would love to see ALEF Fund include more partner schools as they open in our community, as well as to provide more students with scholarships.

Where do you see your organization in 10 years?

Hopefully, supporting the larger metro Atlanta therapeutic community. Running many psychotherapy groups and training incredible clinicians.

How does your organization help the community?

The ALEF Fund provides scholarships to students who wish to attend one of our 21 partner Jewish private schools. It is the only organization in Georgia that provides student scholarships exclusively to Jewish preschools, day schools and high schools. Our guiding principle is to improve the affordability of Jewish education by awarding scholarship dollars to eligible students.

How does your organization help the community?

We help the community by being advocates for mental health, sharing our knowledge of eating disorders and offering an alternative perspective on how to be in our bodies. We do family work and volunteer in the community, helping others explore and understand their bodies.

Chabad Israeli Center Atlanta — Congregation Beit Reuven In conversation with Liba Leah Gurary, co-director

How long has your organization been in Atlanta?

For 14 years.

How do you cater to the younger members of the community?

We provide a variety of events and opportunities for youth and young adults, including Jewish quality time, a Sunday brunch twice a month for families or friends, with learning opportunities on various Jewish subjects. A time to connect with each other in a positive, joyful environment. We offer a Hebrew school for kids to learn the Hebrew language, Jewish traditions, holidays and lessons from the Torah. A bat mitzvah club for girls, summer camp and Shabbat dinners and events for young adults.

Where do you see your organization in 10 years?

We have a few big projects we are working on now, such as a preschool, mikvah for women and men, a Hebrew library with a focus on education about Israel and a new social hall to host community events and simchas. We look forward to new families moving into the neighborhood as we continue to grow and strengthen our community.

How does your organization help the community?

We have many programs that help the community and provide a homelike place for all Jews, to assist in whatever they may need, physically and spiritually. We distribute food every Friday to those in need and send over 80 boxes of food to needy families before the Jewish holidays.

We help the community stay connected to their Judaism and the land of Israel through Torah classes, prayer services, holiday events and programming for all ages.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 55

COMMUNITY A Kitchen Utensil for Everything

Marsha Spector, with granddaughter Nora Gontownik, hopes her collection will stay in her family.

By Chana Shapiro Pansies bloom in front of Marsha and Jan Spector’s traditional-style brick home in a small cul-de-sac off Houston Mill Road.

Inside, the high walls hold paintings by talented family members, including Jan’s late mother, Ruth Spector. She was a graphic artist who illustrated ads for Rich’s department store in downtown Atlanta and later gained fame for painting a romantic embrace that for decades promoted the perfume Tabu.

Another family treasure is a hand-embroidered matzah cover made by Marsha’s great-aunt in Europe. The Spertus Jewish Museum in Chicago requested to add it to their permanent collection, but Spector’s grandmother gave the family heirloom to her daughter instead. Today, it’s prominently displayed in her Atlanta dining room.

Spector has several interesting collections. The most unusual, however, is a trove of antique kitchen tools used by home cooks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Spector, her mother and two sisters avidly collected vintage quilts, jewelry and purses, as well as kitchenware. When Spector’s mother, who had a full-wall display area set up in the family’s Chicago home, moved into an assisted living facility with limited space, she only held onto a large breakfront with glass shelves and drawers. She kept most of her purses and gave her collection of kitchen utensils to Marsha.

“I took all of it and added it to what I had,” Spector said. “I couldn’t bear to get rid 56 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Lemon press

Rug beaters

Noodle cutter

Apple corer

“American Kitchenware, 1725-1925,” is a standard reference book.

Toaster

of anything! At least a third of my present collection belonged to my mother.”

Spector has learned a lot about the genre. If one wants to know how women efficiently cored dozens of apples for pies, squeezed lemons, cleaned dusty rugs, toasted four pieces of bread at one time or grated a quantity of nutmeg 100 years ago, Spector owns the appropriate kitchen tool for each task. She especially enjoys demonstrating how each of them was used.

Well after her family’s hunting party years, Spector continued to add to her trove. In her own modern kitchen, she displays select items on a wooden wall rack. There are larger and heavier pieces on her kitchen shelves and other oddities wrapped safely in a storage box. Most of the tools are so arcane that Spector refers a visitor to her indispensable 1974 copy of “Old American Kitchenware” by Louise K. Lantz, a comprehensive, illustrated compilation covering two centuries of American

Nutmeg grinder

Soap savers

Cardboard dairy insulating tube

Egg beater with fitted bowl

6-sided cookie cutter

Egg beaters

culinary gadgets.

The women in Marsha’s family greatly admired the ingenuity and craftsmanship of these inventive implements, which were necessary to prepare labor-intensive meals and to maintain tidy homes. The tools were probably lifetime purchases; everything in Spector’s collection bears the patina of heavy use. Identifying brand names are dulled and enamel and protective finishes have worn away. One surmises that, over a long period in one home, these essentials were passed from one generation to the next — that is, until electricity became commonplace, reducing or eliminating the time, hand dexterity and arm strength needed to use the vintage items.

Standouts include a two-piece hand fluter, which, along with a base, was used to create pleats and decorative crimped fabric edging. A pair of small hanging wire baskets reflect the prudence of families who used them to collect the remains of

handmade soap, to be combined for extra washing or added to supplement new soap blocks.

Another curiosity is a tabletop wooden-paddled butter churn that fits neatly onto a heavy glass bowl. Spector owns several fanciful wire beaters that were used to knock debris and dust from rugs. A heavy cardboard tube was used to insulate freshly bottled raw milk. A conical ice-cream scoop features a clever release mechanism.

These egg beaters, graters and peelers add to our modern appreciation of how much prep time and physical energy it took to prepare ingredients for a simple meal.

Spector does not want to trade or sell a single piece, even though some items are rare and valuable. “I love what I have, and everything brings back happy memories of treasure-hunting,” she says. “But I have enough. I’m hopeful that someone in our family, maybe a grandchild, will value the collection as much as I do.” ì

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 57

COMMUNITY

Last Jewish Member of Merrill’s Marauders Dies Stanley Sasine was only 18 and in his second week as a freshman at Cornell University when he was drafted to fight in World War II in FebruBob Bahr ary 1943. Sasine had wanted to join the ranks of what was then known as the U.S. Army Air Corps, but he was color blind and flunked the physical.

For Brigadier General Frank Merrill, who was then putting together an army unit that would fight a guerrilla war in the jungles of Burma, colorblindness was an important quality, as it would allow Sasine to easily pick out camouflaged Japanese snipers. Merrill made him the unit’s first scout and he became a founding member of what came to be called Merrill’s Marauders, a legendary unit that was the forerunner of the Army’s Special Forces, or Rangers.

The unit entered popular culture in 1962, when Jewish American actor Jeff

Stanley Sasine reminisced about his combat experiences during World War II on the website Witness to War.

Chandler starred in a popular 1962 film adaptation of their wartime exploits.

When Sasine died last month in Atlanta, at 97, he was the last of a handful of veterans of the fabled fighting force and almost certainly its last Jewish member.

An expert marksman and a decorated war

SIMCHA SPOTLIGHT

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58 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Brigadier General Frank Merrill, center, led his Marauders in Burma during World War II, but died of a heart attack before the war’s end.

hero, Sasine credited his scouting abilities with helping him to survive brutal and deadly jungle combat behind Japanese enemy lines.

Sasine’s unit harassed Japanese forces with a series of quick attacks, many lasting no more than six minutes, before they broke off contact and disappeared back into the jungle. Official records show that the unit engaged in formal combat 32 times and fought five major battles.

Sasine remembered one incident vividly, even 75 years after it had occurred. In a video interview with the website Witness to War, recorded shortly before he died, Sasine recalled coming face-to-face with a Japanese soldier while on patrol.

“My hand was on the trigger before he could get to his,” he said. “I had a Thompson .45 machine gun that does not shoot straight. You had your fingers on it and you got 10 shots going from eight o’clock to two o’clock. Those bullets cut this little guy in half and I recall it like it was yesterday. I see it now. It’s terrible. No scream, no noise.

Just a machine gun. That was my first kill and it remains with me in my dreams.”

For years after, Sasine would wake up in a cold sweat from dreams like this and would need a few calming words from his wife before he could get back to sleep. But the incident didn’t keep him from daily combat. In a profile in the Atlanta Jewish Times for Sasine’s 95th birthday, he spoke about the Burma campaign and being a deadly shot.

“I must have picked off 250 Japanese in those trees. At times I would get them at 300 yards, but when I was that far away I couldn’t hear them get hit, so I moved closer just to make sure they got hit.”

Deadly combat was just one of the many threats the Marauders faced. Dur-

ing the 1944 campaign, disease killed five times as many of the soldiers as enemy bullets and shells did. The field hospital staff described their patients as “so tired, dirty and hungry that they looked more dead than alive.” In the jungle, Sasine and his buddies had to fight exhaustion, malnutrition and epidemics of cerebral malaria and scrub typhus. Often, they fought through bouts of bloody dysentery while sloshing through rivers of mud created by monsoon rains.

Eventually, toward the end of the campaign, an enemy bullet brushed Sasine’s cheek and badly wounded his shoulder. It took the better part of a year to recover. At one point, several survivors of the unit visited Sasine in the hospital and presented him with a gift of the Long Tom Japanese sniper rifle they had captured from the soldier who had wounded him.

Because soldiers were not allowed to bring captured weapons back to the United States, he ultimately disassembled the five-foot-long rifle and mailed it back home in pieces. Before he died, it stood as a treasured possession in the corner of his small one-bedroom apartment.

Sasine finally came home in December 1945, but decided not to go back to college and began a successful business career instead. He married, had four children, 14 grandchildren and 18 greatgrandchildren. He and his wife were married for 69 years before she died almost seven years ago.

Sasine was one of the few remaining survivors of what the author and television journalist Tom Brokaw had called the Greatest Generation — those men and women who went off to defend America not for fame or fortune, but because it was the right thing to do. ì

COMMUNITY Connor Goldstrom, son of Julie and Seth Goldstrom, in January 2022.

SIMCHA SPOTLIGHT

Elias Anker, son of Dara and Jonathan Anker, in 2021.

Addison Becker, daughter of Amanda and Daren Becker, in 2021.

Dylan Brody, daughter of Dara and Jason Brody, in 2021.

B’nai Mitzvah Notices:

Jeremy Flug, son of Sari and Zachary Flug, in 2021.

Adeleigh (Addy) Lichtstein, daughter of Susan and Jason Lichtstein, in February 2022.

Scott Hopkins, son of Cindy and Jeff Hopkins, in 2021.

Grant Bernstein-Wilner, son of Evan Bernstein and Richard Wilner, in February 2022.

Olivia Jones, daughter of Jamie and Nathan Jones, in 2021.

Vivian Gerber, daughter of Civia and Bejnamin Gerber, in February 2022.

Elijah Levin, son of Lindsay and Ron Levin, in 2021.

Jacob Hyken, son of Stacy and Edward Hyken, in February 2022.

Julia and Emma (Charlie) Promoff, children of Gabbi and Michael Promoff, in 2021.

Daniel Hyken, son of Stacy and Edward Hyken, in February 2022.

Haley Rosenwasser, daughter of Kelli and Steven Rosenwasser, in 2021.

Juliet Ratner, daughter of Jill and Joshua Ratner, in February 2022.

Eli and Lila Suddeth, children of Marci and Brent Suddeth, in 2021.

Noah & Rae Northcutt, children of Florence Val Rusk and Robert Northcutt, in February 2022.

Jaron Wilensky, son of Ilana and Eric Wilensky, in 2021.

Molly Rose Silver, daughter of Jennifer and Adam Silver, in January 2022.

Madeleine Ganz, daughter of Jodi and Adam Ganz, in January 2022.

Albert Tommy Vertino, son of Beth and Albert Vertino, in January 2022.

Kol Leibowitz, son of Jennifer and Scott Leibowitz, in January 2022.

Blake Cohen, son of Stacy Cohen and Brian Cohen z"l, in January 2022.

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 59

KEEPING IT KOSHER

JEWISH JOKE

Baked Crispy Sticky Chicken Cooking and Prep: 1 hour Serves: 8 Preference: Meat Difficulty: Easy Occasion: Shabbat This sauce is universally appealing and easy to throw together (especially if you use frozen cubes of garlic and ginger... I won’t tell if you won’t). I recommend keeping the sauce and chicken separate until serving for max crisp factor, but it’s still delicious if you reheat once sauced.

Ingredients Baked Crispy Sticky Chicken 8 pieces boneless, skinless chicken thighs 1 cup Gefen Mayonnaise 2 tablespoons Haddar Teriyaki Sauce 1 cup cornflake crumbs or fine panko crumbs 3 cleaned scallions, finely sliced, white and green parts separated

Sauce 1/2 cup Gefen Soy Sauce 3 cloves garlic, crushed or grated with a microplane or 3 cubes Gefen Frozen Garlic 2 teaspoons Gefen Frozen Ginger, grated with a microplane 2 tablespoons mirin or pineapple juice 1/4 cup Galilee’s Delicacy Silan or brown sugar (if you like it sweeter, add an extra 2 tablespoons of silan)

The Checkup Shlomo goes to Dr. Lewis for a check up. After extensive tests, Dr. Lewis tells him, “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. You only have six months to live.”

Shlomo is dumbstruck. After a while, he replies, “That’s terrible, doctor. But I must admit to you that I can’t afford to pay your bill.”

“OK,” says Dr. Lewis. “I’ll give you a year to live.”

Prepare the Chicken Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).

Mix mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce together.

Dip chicken in the mixture, then in the crumbs, and lay on a baking sheet covered with Gefen Parchment. Bake for 40 minutes.

YIDDISH WORD

Prepare the Sauce Combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over gentle heat until simmering.

Add the white scallion slices to the sauce and simmer for two more minutes. Remove from heat.

Assemble Pour sauce over chicken immediately before serving and garnish with scallion greens.

Oysegeventlich adj. exceptional “This matzah ball soup is oysegeventlich.”

Recipe By Michal Frischman Photo by Felicia Perretti Source: Family Table by Mishpacha Magazine 60 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

BRAIN FOOD

Crossing Pairs

ACROSS

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35. Major issue 36. Some Italian models 37. Name in Costa Rica’s capital 38. Home of the NYK and NYR 39. Large antlered animals 40. Honey quaffs

41. Licorice quaffs 43. Annual pair of 40-Down 44. Haunted house employee, perhaps 47. It’s subjective 48. Annual pair of 41-Down 51. Hearing them can be concerning 55. Words with “Lucy” 56. What the themers in this puzzle conveniently do 58. 90’s presidential candidate 59. “Bring ___!” (fighting words) 60. Many a locker room has one 61. What people make on DraftKings 62. HR dept. data 63. “The Godfather” scorer Rota

DOWN

1. “Roll Tide” school, for short 2. Middle East sultanate 3. Org. with drills on campus 4. Some Tsar names 5. Some Tsarina toppers 6. The sun, for one 7. Moses and Aaron, but not Miriam 8. Yisrael go-with 9. Dry up 10. Gives a sermon 11. Dominated, in sports lingo

12. See 9-Across 16. Billionth: prefix 18. See 25-Across 22. Insect pests 25. Magen David of note 26. Ballpoints, e.g.

27. Promote 28. Magpies’ mouths 29. Makes like many a Jew at the start of 11 Tishrei 31. See 31-Across 32. David’s great-grandfather 33. Food-inspecting org.

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45. Israelite spy 46. Be mad for 49. Final parts of trilogies 50. Denali and Kilimanjaro, for short 52. Atlanta Hawk Osman 53. “Micro” or “macro” subj.

54. Houston MLBer 57. Large quantity

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 61

OBITUARIES

Lois Schecket Asher

Joseph Elias Goldman

Lois Schecket Asher, 81, of Atlanta, Ga., passed away Feb. 1. Lois was lovingly surrounded by her children as she passed. Lois was born April 10, 1940, in Detroit, Mich., to Jacob and Shirley Schecket.

Upon graduating high school, Lois came to visit her big sister, Beverly, and her family, and never left. Shortly after arriving in Atlanta, she met and married Murray Asher, who preceded her in death.

Mom was a huge UGA football fan as well as an avid Falcons fanatic (despite their many “winning” seasons). She loved reading, mahjong, her 4-legged friends (more than her own children), TV crime and drama shows, puzzles and her grandchildren.

Mrs. Asher is survived by her three children, Barry (Beth) Asher, Jeff (Sheila) Asher and Lynn Asher and Mike Cox. Grandchildren, Jacob, Sam, Ethan and Frannie. She was preceded in death by her brother, Harold Schecket, and sister, Beverly Epstein.

Donations may be sent to the charity of your choice. A graveside funeral was held on Feb. 3 at Greenwood Cemetery in Atlanta. To sign the online guest book, visit www. dresslerjewishfunerals.com. Arrangements by Dressler’s, 770-451-4999.

Joseph Elias “Joe” Goldman, 98, left this life on Feb. 3.

He passed peacefully surrounded by his family. Joe was born in New York City on Nov. 26, 1923. At 18, he joined the USMC and fought in WWII in the Pacific Theater at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Okinawa and Tinian. When the war ended, he finished his military service in Tsin Tsin, China. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1946, he met the love of his life, Barbara Van Gelderen, and a year later they were married. Daughter, Carlee, was born in 1948, followed four years later by son, Richard.

After attending Pratt Institute, Joe began work as an artist and designer until 1952, when he helped found Gamut Advertising. In 1965, he founded Adways Advertising. Nine years later, he and Barbara started Goldman-Van Gelderen Studios. They moved to Easley, S.C. in 1979, where Joe joined Graphics Plus in Greenville as vice president. He retired in 1986 to spend time with Barbara and pursue his artistic passion as a pencil portrait artist, plein air artist, water colorist and caricaturist. During his time in Easley, he was a president and member of the Greenville Artists Guild, as well as a member of the Blue Ridge Art Association, Upstate Visual Artists, the National Caricaturists Network and the Marine Corps League. In 2011, Joe and Barbara moved to Wesley Commons in Greenwood, S.C. Joe is preceded in death by his parents, Dr. Abram Milton Goldman and Caroline Elias.

He is survived by his wife of almost 75 years, Barbara, his sister, Ruth “Stevie,” his daughter, Carlee Paddock and husband Veetkam, his son, Richard Goldman and wife Mary, his grandchildren, Tana, Joss, Rebecca and Kyra, great-grandson, Sage, step-grandchildren, Hans, Karl, Joe, Lonnie and Angela, 13 step-great-grandchildren and 4 step-great-great-grandchildren.

Joseph Elias Goldman was a man of honesty, wisdom, integrity and love. His beautiful light will be remembered and cherished by all who knew him. A memorial service with military honors will be held at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, Ga., in the spring.

81, Atlanta

Geraldine Friedman Ashkenazie 95, Atlanta

Geraldine (Jerre) Friedman Ashkenazie passed away on Sunday, Jan. 23. She was born Feb. 10, 1926, in Sioux City, Iowa, to Edward and Minnie Sobel (OBM). She grew up in the Midwest with two loving sisters, Jean and Anita (OBM). She married Isadore (Sonny) Friedman and moved to Atlanta as a young bride.

In 1960, she went to work at AA synagogue on 10th Street. She worked at AA for 39 years, starting as a parttime bookkeeper, and retired as the Executive Director. She was one of the first women to break the glass ceiling as an executive director of a major U.S . synagogue. She was an accomplished and highly respected professional.

She was married to Saul Ashkenazie (OBM) for 11 years. She retired in 1999 and enjoyed life, traveling with her special companion, Kurt Homburger (OBM). She loved to play mahjong and colored over 100 coloring books. She is survived by her daughters Eileen Yerlow (Richard OBM) and Ellen Goldstein (Shelton) of Charlotte, N.C. She had four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30327.

Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

770.757.0330 office 770.289.0982 cell brook@rmemorials.com www.rMemorials.com Brook Bolton has been serving the Jewish community for over 20 years with the finest stone monuments and bronze markers available.

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62 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

98, Greenwood, S.C.

Barbara S. Kreissman 84, Atlanta

Barbara S. Kreissman was born Aug. 2, 1937, in the Bronx, N.Y., and passed away peacefully after a long illness on Jan. 30. Barbara graduated from CCNY in 1959 with a bachelor’s in business administration and married her husband, Marvin, on Dec. 20, 1959. She began her career as a teacher at P.S. 69 in the Bronx in the early 1960s.

She left teaching after giving birth to her two sons, Adam in March 1966 and Jonathan in May 1968.

Barbara moved with her family to East Brunswick, N.J., in 1969 and became a homemaker to raise her young sons. After a few years, Barbara and a friend started a small business, “Plant Peddlers,” selling plants to individual customers and businesses. The family moved to Atlanta in 1977 and she started working administrative positions at several offices. Barbara found her home in the mid-1980s, when she landed at the AJCC Downtown as the executive administrative assistant to the executive director and was a prominent fixture at the MJCC for over 15 years.

Barbara made friends wherever she went. From college friends, to whom she remained close, to new friends made later in life, to everyone in between, Barbara loved them and they loved her. Barbara was the mother of two sons, two dogs and six cats, who in her eyes never had enough food on their plates or in their bowls. She loved to cook during Passover and Thanksgiving, preparing too many dishes, so there would always be leftovers to feed a small army. Barbara loved concerts and plays and was a frustrated actress early in life and never got the chance to shine on Broadway. Friends and family remember Barbara as a smart, highly intelligent person with a strong point of view, who liked to email and forward funny and sometimes dirty jokes.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Abraham and Florence Schwartz, and her son, Jonathan. She is survived by her husband, Marvin, and her son, Adam. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making contributions to your favorite charity of choice.

OBITUARIES

Nick Nichols

86, San Francisco, Calif.

A. J. “Nick” Nichols III, the Bay Area technology expert and engineer who served as a “tech guru” in high-profile court cases, died on Dec. 30 at his home in San Francisco, Calif., at 86. His daughter, Atlantan Michèle Taylor, has been nominated to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council.

Nichols, who previously worked for Millennium Systems, Intel Corporation, American Microsystems, Novar Corporation and Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, was the president of Probitas Inc. He had advised judges in several high-stakes technology cases as special master and neutral expert. Notably, Nichols served as neutral expert in Applied Materials v. MultiMetrixs and Napster, the case that spawned the music streaming industry we know today.

Nichols also held several patents and had a hand in many of Silicon Valley’s most important technological advances, including the microprocessor, early video games, GPS maps and the first cash registers with scanning capability. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford, and B.S. degrees in both business management and electrical engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Nichols was a lifelong learner and educator. He lectured at Stanford University and taught a course titled Buzzwords with Byte in the early days of computing to help people understand the basics of the emerging technology. He gave generously of his time as a tutor and mentor to young students. He also enjoyed attending lectures and gave talks on a variety of topics throughout his life, most recently on the facts surrounding Bitcoin.

He is survived by his loving family, including: his wife, Linda McPharlin of San Francisco, Calif.; sister, Betty Jean Bacon of Mason, Ohio; daughter, Michèle Taylor and her husband, Kenneth, of Atlanta, Ga.; stepson, Sean McPharlin, his wife, Andrea, and their son, Milo, of El Cerrito, Calif.; grandson, Zach Taylor, and his partner, Raymond Starks, of Charlottesville, Va.; and granddaughter, Zoë Ruhl, and her husband, Christian, of Philadelphia, Penn. He also leaves behind a large community of friends and colleagues throughout the Bay Area.

Nichols, who was fighting mesothelioma, died peacefully at home in Pacific Heights, surrounded by family, with a sweeping view of San Francisco and the Bay, the area he loved and helped to shape.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that contributions be made in Nick Nichols’s memory to Friends of the Children — SF Bay Area, 111 Quint St., SF 94124. Friends of the Children is an organization he believed in and supported, which is dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through salaried, professional mentoring.

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OBITUARIES

Thelma Mayson Ornstein

Joel Elliott Schaffer

Toby Mayson Ornstein passed away on Feb. 5, in her daughter’s home. She was surrounded by the love she had always given.

Growing up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, she left New York for a singing engagement in Atlanta and knew that that was where she wanted to live. She met charming Max Mayson there, and they were married in 1945, when she was just 19. Their daughter, Phyllis, was born the following year, and Toby became a marvelous and creative homemaker. Her meals were fresh and delicious, and she always made Shabbat and holidays special for the family. With a thirst for learning and growing, she decided to go back to school. In 1958, she graduated with a degree in interior design and began working with her own clients.

Toby adored her family, and her grandchildren gave her immense joy. Her love was unconditional, generous and always supportive. That caring spirit carried over to extended family, each of her friends and anyone she encountered. When Toby had a conversation with you, she was all in — genuinely interested and listening. If you needed her help, it was immediate.

Toby’s loving nature guided her to remarry when Max passed away after 41 loving years together. She soon met Terry Ornstein and they were married for 25 good years until he passed.

Toby was known for her healthy lifestyle — fresh fruits and vegetables, which she loved to share, a nice daily walk, staying active and playing bridge with friends, doing what made her happy and always fresh air from open windows no matter what the weather. She was truly a role model and beautiful inside and out. She will be greatly missed and remembered always.

Toby was predeceased by her first husband, Max Mayson; second husband, Terry Ornstein; sister and brother-in-law, Frieda and Ed Reichler; brother, Murray Hoch; son-in-law, Joe Cohen; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Esther & Sam Karp and Sara & Bill Mayson. Toby is survived by her devoted daughter, Phyllis M. Cohen; adoring grandchildren, Steven & Delilah Cohen, Jodi & Shon Mekyten; six precious great-grandchildren: Sarah, Jamie, Mia & Shira Cohen and Maya & Joey Mekyten; and sister Millie (Irwin) Amdur; as well as many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and their families.

If you wish to make a donation in her memory, please consider Weinstein Hospice & Jewish Home Life, Hadassah, ORT or Congregation Or VeShalom. A graveside service was held Monday, Feb. 7 at Arlington Memorial Park. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Joel Elliott Schaffer, 74, of Atlanta, Ga., passed away on Feb. 1. Funeral services were held Sunday, Feb. 6, at 1:30 p.m., at Memory Hill Cemetery, 2390 Hartford Highway, Dothan, AL 36305, with Cantor Neil Schwartz officiating. Interment will follow, Holman Funeral Home of Ozark directing. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to their charity of choice.

Joel was born Jan. 7, 1948, in Ozark, Ala., the eldest son of Sylvia and Nathan Schaffer. Joel grew up listening to Clear Channel radio stations from St. Louis, Atlanta and other faraway places, which sparked a wanderlust. Late-night Big Band music became the soundtrack of Joel’s life.

In high school, Joel, a member of the only Jewish family in Ozark, was selected to be a page for the Alabama delegation in the United States House of Representatives in Washington. This experience sparked a lifelong interest in politics and political discussion. His other lifelong loves included Crimson Tide football, through which he made many friends, like the great All-American Fred Sington, who he chatted up at Michael’s Steakhouse in Birmingham on game day. A picture of Paul “Bear” Bryant, personally autographed to Joel, proudly hung on the wall of Joel’s dining room.

Joel graduated from Dale County High and attended Georgia State University. After a short stint as a night clerk for pro wrestler Paul Jones’ White House Hotel in Atlanta, and later for Fulton County voter registration, Joel found his home in the Fulton County court system.

Joel began as a clerk in the back room of the criminal division, and quickly moved up — to the front desk, then to the position of courtroom deputy clerk and calendar clerk, to, ultimately, a Senior Judicial Case Manager for a who’s who of Fulton County judges, including the Honorable Woodrow Tucker, former state senator and future chief judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Honorable Ed Johnson, the Honorable Mel Westmoreland and former attorney for the City of Atlanta and State Court Judge, the Honorable Susan Forsling. Joel was also instrumental in the formation of the Fulton County DUI Court. Following his retirement, Joel relaxed and began an extended and enthusiastic exploration of his many and varied interests.

Joel enjoyed annual trips to Major League Baseball’s Spring Training and enjoyed visiting ballparks throughout the United States. Perhaps his fondest memories were of his trips to Europe with his godson, Scott Miller. While there, he visited Chartwell, the home of his idol, Winston Churchill, and “stormed” the Beaches of Normandy.

Joel enjoyed his Dunhill cigars, Braves baseball games with Scott and Billy Rudolph, Katz’s pastrami and his mother’s cheesecake. He was beloved by animals, and his personal pet loves were the canine trio of Augie Doggie, Bernard and Jolene. Joel loved recounting his tales of meeting famous folks, including Vin Scully, a drunk Mel Allen, Otis Nixon, Ted Turner (in the courthouse bathroom) and Ringo Starr (also in the courthouse bathroom). Joel also loved long talks with Lane Miller, history books, sitting on the set of the Tonight Show, Pink’s hotdogs, Turner’s in Ozark, the Ice House, oysters and Dreamland.

Joel is survived by his brother, Steven Schaffer, and sister, Beth Schaffer, of Montgomery, Ala. He is also survived by his adoptive family, the Millers: David, Nancy, Lane (with Danielle Moore) and Scott (with Erin Miller), all of whom loved him for “just being Joel.” We will all miss his kind, gentle, generous and selfless spirit so very much.

96, Atlanta

Sariece Rubin 95, Atlanta

Sariece Rubin passed away Wednesday, Jan. 26, at the age of 95. She was born Sept.

23, 1926, and was raised in Chicago, Ill., with her sister Marcella Debs. She lived most of her adult life in Atlanta. Sariece is survived by her loving children, Bonnie (Larry) Jonas, Rick (Stacey) Rubin and her five grandchildren, Sharon (Jason), Lori, Robert (Kayla), Rachel and Zachary, as well as her great-grandchildren, Aaron, Max and Nora.

Her career began at Swank, Inc., as a secretary. She met her husband, Bill Rubin, at Swank, where their journey began. They were married 68 wonderful years. She was an avid reader and up to date on everything that was happening. She loved entertaining, hosting, watching all sporting events, playing mahjong, knitting and so much more.

She was passionate about everything she did. She loved life and was eager to help in any way possible. Family was everything to Sariece and she sure knew how to live life.

Her memory was an amazing gift. She remembered everyone and had her own special way of communicating. She had a gift for watching out for everyone and spreading her love. Sariece has left an everlasting imprint on those she loved and those that loved her.

A graveside service was held on Jan. 28 at Arlington Memorial Park, with Rabbi Sam Blustin officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, (770) 451-4999.

74, Atlanta

Barrie Segall 85, Albuquerque

Barrie Segall died on Jan. 11, at the age of 85, in Albuquerque, N.M. He was preceded in death by his son, David Segall. Barrie is survived by his wife, Abby Segall, of 49 years, his children Shari White (David) and Michelle Parnes (Dave); and his grandchildren, Rebecca, Talia, Nola and Milo. Donations may be made to the donor’s charity of choice.

64 | FEBRUARY 15, 2022 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

OBITUARIES

Hiram Maxwell Sturm 95, Atlanta

Hiram Maxwell Sturm, a resident of Atlanta for 65 years, died in his Atlanta home Saturday night, surrounded by his four children and his loving caregiver from Me Times Two. He was 95. An internationally recognized pioneer in the field of dermatology, a national leader and founder of professional societies that will endure as part of his legacy, a valued teacher and mentor to generations of young doctors, caregiver to thousands and shining light of warm graciousness to everyone, Hiram wanted to be known as a Tennessee country boy who made good.

He will be remembered as a folksy guy, nourished by the energy he generated by engaging and knowing the person in front of him. He never stopped being the cute kid in the small town, whether on the national stage as a prominent dermatologist, on the tennis court with partners decades younger than he, enjoying social events with his long-time family of Atlanta friends or focusing his all on the patient he was with. Regardless of the events of his long workdays, the unwavering priority meeting of the day remained the family dinner.

Hiram was born in Corbin, Ky. in 1926, and raised in the Appalachian hill towns of Middlesboro, Ky. and Jellico, Tenn. He grew up in the cradle of an extended family with three brothers and three first cousins, whose houses and general stores made one big home. The values of 1930s small town America, the experience of his family’s economic struggles as storekeepers navigating the Depression and floods and the challenges of maintaining heritage and identity as a Jewish family in a foreign land, established family and persistence as the bedrock of his generation’s future successes and became the unwavering identity and values Hiram embraced throughout life.

Hiram attended college and medical school at Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee, receiving his bachelors and medical degrees in five years. He launched his medical career at age 21 as a country doctor, serving families in the hardscrabble coal mining communities of Kentucky and Tennessee. A revolver Hiram obtained from a family engagement with the Hatfield-McCoy clans provides a representative colorful memento of the period.

In 1950, Hiram began his internship at Cincinnati Jewish Hospital, which was interrupted in 1951 by three years of stateside service in the Navy as a flight surgeon at Camp LeJeune, N.C., where he delivered over 1,000 babies. He also met Ruth Soltzer when Hiram and his brother, Mel, two country boys from the hills of Tennessee, set out for Grossingers resort in the Catskills for potential Jewish brides. After a weekend of shows and dinners, Hiram and Ruth pursued their poolside attraction with a rapid courtship via telephone and letters between Cincinnati and New York. Married in 1951 with Hiram in Navy uniform and Ruth in a dress designed by her mother, a 64-year-partnership was launched. After naval service in Pensacola, Fla. and Cherry Point, N.C., the young couple moved to New York with their newborn Lois, where Hiram did his dermatology residency at NYU’s Skin and Cancer Clinic under the tutelage of renowned dermatologists Marion Sulzberger and Norman Orentreich, with whom he developed the first successful hair transplant surgery.

After a year in private practice in New York City, having been joined by their second child Richard, Ruth undertook a comprehensive assessment of the 10 most promising towns in America, inquiring with letters to chambers of commerce about medical school teaching opportunities, demographics, conditions for raising a family and professional opportunities. The research pointed the young couple to visit and ultimately choose Atlanta as their home, where the family was soon completed with the arrival of Russell and Nancy.

Drawn by the strength of the Emory University School of Medicine, and the welcoming arms and clear promise of the city, Hiram became the 11th dermatologist in Atlanta in 1957. His 46 years of private practice, which Ruth helped run, were punctuated by his donated weekly service — one day a week — leading rounds with students and residents at Grady Hospital as Clinical Professor of Dermatology with Emory University Medical School. The legacy of his life’s work includes thousands of patients, whose letters of appreciation in the past week attest to his care, the multiple local, regional and national professional education and learning societies he co-founded, as well as the extended family of mentees and generations of effective physicians who continue to carry forward Hiram’s surgical methods and caregiving approach.

Hiram is survived by his four children: Lois Sturm (Alexander Titov), Richard Sturm (Christine Sturm) and sons Benjamin, Mac (Harlow) and Jackson (Harlow), Russell Sturm (Michele McNally and sons Justin and Eli and daughter Tevah) and Nancy Sturm (Michelle Miller). Hiram’s brother, Howard (100), and cousins Sam and Eve remain from the early family. The extended family of cousins join in mourning the loss of Hiram.

A funeral service was held at 1:30 pm on Jan. 25 at Ahavath Achim Synagogue (600 Peachtree Battle Ave. NW, Atlanta). A brief graveside service followed at Crestlawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a gift in Hiram’s memory to Weinstein Hospice of Jewish Home Life.

Dressler’s Funeral Home, 770-451-4999.

Marsha Ann Sussman 80, Atlanta

Marsha Ann Sussman, nee Berliner, passed away on Feb. 9. She was 80 years old. Marsha was born in West Chester, Pa. and grew up there and in Harrisburg. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Leonard Sussman, her daughters Brenda (Lee) Footer and Michele (Jack) Walsh, her siblings, Steve Berliner and Cherie Berliner, and her granddaughters, Naomi Footer, Stella Walsh and Adaline Walsh.

Marsha was a woman of many talents, starting her career as a medical assistant before becoming an early childhood educator at the Dallas and Atlanta Jewish Community Centers. Marsha was a lifelong Girl Scout, leading troops for both her daughters and granddaughters, as well as managing many cookie campaigns and becoming a trainer of other leaders. She was also a CPR and First Aid instructor. She had a passion for Jewish education as both a student and teacher.

Marsha also loved to knit. She was a regular at her local yarn shop, started a knitting club at her senior residence and gifted everyone she met with hats, scarves, sweaters and socks at every chance. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Marsha’s memory to Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta or Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, Program Department-Preschools. A graveside funeral was held on Feb. 11 at North Atlanta Memorial Park. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 65

OBITUARIES

Miriam G. Schroeder Tambor

Deems Jan Taylor

Miriam G. Schroeder Tambor died peacefully in her sleep on Jan. 4, at the age of 94, in St. Petersburg, Fla. She was born in Jersey City, N.J., to Sayde and Herman Gallant, of blessed memory, and is survived by her children, Lauren Mahady (Mike), Harold Schroeder (Lora), Robin Schroeder (Steve Feld), her sister, Vivian Glazer Greene (Howard), seven grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and beloved nieces, nephews and cousins.

Miriam was predeceased by her husband of 35 years, Josef A. Schroeder, her husband of 12 years, Milton Tambor, her brother, Harold Gallant, and her son, Eric W. Schroeder.

She enjoyed cooking, antiquing, needlepoint, doll-making, movies (especially from the '40s and '50s), every genre of music, reading and family celebrations. Miriam had a flair for drama and acting and she loved performing in amateur productions throughout her life.

Mema (as she was called) was smart, wise and intuitive. She had an incredible memory and was the family historian. She had a thirst for knowledge and relished a lively discussion on various subjects. She was respected for her sharp mind and was a modern thinker throughout her life. She was never shy about voicing her opinion.

Mema created a beautiful, loving, Jewish home whether living in New Jersey, Atlanta or Florida. She was devoted to her family and stressed togetherness. She valued her friendships, lived a full, eventful, inspiring life and will be deeply missed.

Graveside services were held Jan. 6 at Arlington Memorial Park with Rabbi Binyomin Friedman officiating. Donations may be made in Miriam’s name to Congregation Ariel (www.congariel.org) or Temple Sinai (www.templesinaiatlanta.org). Please sign online guestbook at www.dresslerjewishfunerals.com. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Deems Jan “DJ” Taylor died on Dec. 17, 2021, in Wichita, Kan. DJ was born on Oct. 21, 1934, in Everett, Mass. to the late Paul and Mildred Taylor. Following high school, he served in the U.S. Navy as an Electrician’s Mate on a sonar training vessel. He graduated from the University of Miami with a BS in engineering.

DJ spent his entire professional career of 45 years with Boeing. He had a seat at launch control at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy. Some of the notable projects on which he worked during his time with Boeing were the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo mission launch sites and capsules; performing computer testing and verification on the Minuteman III missile system; writing software for computerized testing of rockets during their manufacture and assembly; and writing diagnostic monitoring software that verified rocket readiness up to three minutes before launch.

After the Apollo program ended, DJ worked on various defense projects. Some of these were AWACS radar systems; the SNECMA engine upgrade system for military Boeing 707 aircraft; Air Force One; SR71 Blackbird anti-tracking system; and the B-52 bomber.

DJ loved tinkering with cars, attending air shows, completing all kinds of home projects, watching sports (especially football) and police/crime shows on TV, and he and Nancy loved to take cruises all over the world.

DJ was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Spradling, and his brother, Robert.

He is survived by his children, Gayl (Gary) Struletz, Wayne (Nora) Taylor and Steven Taylor; stepdaughter, Melissa Woods (Steve Guiot); grandchildren, Jessica (Jon) Storer, Joshua, Jason, Andrew and Ashley Strultetz, Adam Taylor, Marissa (Dan) Hemy and Spencer Woods; and great-grandchildren, Aiden and Finley Storer.

Funeral services were held on Jan. 21 at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in Winfield, Kan. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in DJ’s name to The American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 7023, Merrifield, VA 22116-7023 (or www.diabetes.org) or Serenity Hospice Care, 3221 North Toben Street, Wichita, KS 67206.

94, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Obituaries in the AJT are written and paid for by the families; contact Editor and Managing Publisher Kaylene Ladinsky at kaylene@atljewishtimes.com or 404-883-2130, ext. 100, for details about submission, rates and payments. Death notices, which provide basic details, are free and run as space is available; send submissions to editor@atljewishtimes.com.

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Stuart Jeffrey Young, 66, died Jan. 27, surrounded by family. He is survived by his wife, Ellen, and son, Evan. Stuart was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease seven years ago, but he did not let that diagnosis define him. To combat his symptoms, Stuart developed a passion for the game of pickleball and played often at the Fowler YMCA in Peachtree Corners.

A graduate of Brandeis University and Boston University Law School, Stuart began his career at a law firm in Manhattan, litigating for Jaguar. He then moved to Bethesda, Md., where he served as General Counsel at United Broadcasting and met the love of his life before he landed in Atlanta. Stuart worked 17 years as Associate General Counsel for Cox Enterprises.

Outside of his legal career, Stuart had a lifelong love affair with radio and music. During college summer breaks, he worked as a disc jockey for WFAS AM in White Plains, NY. Those in our community may know Stuart for his rich, velvety singing voice, most notably on display in the Southern Discomfort parody singing troupe. Stuart took up voiceover acting after retirement and recorded commercials and jingles in his home studio. Gone but not forgotten. Graveside services were held on, Jan. 30, at Arlington Memorial Park. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999. ì

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CLOSING THOUGHTS Spreading the Words I’m not the only one who worries that the younger generation, which is welleducated, well-fed and well-dressed, isn’t so great at Chana Shapiro conversation.

The kids I know are adept at writing interesting compositions, but writing isn’t the same as talking. That’s why I’ve been thinking about the old country (St. Louis), when three generations of my family used to get together on Sunday afternoons to eat and schmooze.

Let’s go back to my sophomore year of college. I had visited my boyfriend Harvey’s family, who were the strong, silent types. Well, Harvey was pretty strong, and, except for him, all of them were silent. His father drove a hearse, his mother sat in the back of a fancy jewelry store, hand-stringing pearls (there’s a trick to it) and his sisters worked for an import company in which everyone spoke Dutch,

so it’s easy to understand his family’s parsimonious verbal style. At the sole family dinner I attended, the only people chatting were Harvey, a neighbor who owned a grocery store downtown and me.

When it was time for Harvey to meet my uninhibited, animated family, I decided to bring him to one of the Sunday soirees. I figured that the bonhomie would be energizing, but, unfortunately, I was wrong. His discomfort was such that, even though he was polite and had lovely manners, we didn’t stick around. I hated to miss the food, but I had to save my sweetheart. As we drove away, Harvey had only one question: “Why does everybody have to talk, talk, talk all the time?”

It was disappointing that Harvey couldn’t appreciate extroverted folks who loved each other so much that we just had to let everybody know what was on our minds. I was used to the nonstop backand-forth among the union members, smart-alecks, sports nuts, store owners, shul presidents, military vets and selfstyled “intellectuals.” I loved the salad bowl of personalities in my family, and I honestly believed that Harvey would find

the afternoon crowd lots more fun than his uncommunicative clan.

It boiled down to this: I came from a family of talkers, and Harvey didn’t.

That’s not the reason we broke up, but it was a good thing because later in the year, I met Zvi, a talker, who, if there were an Olympics for people who have opinions and ideas and are fond of sharing them, would win gold.

Zvi and I met at a convention in the Midwest. At the opening dinner, my chair backed into his and we had a brief chat, during which he bemoaned the fact that he’d recently hurt his leg and had to use a cane. There was a dance that night, but because he had only one useful leg and I liked his New York-iness, red hair and the fact that he had gone to one of those small, liberal arts, pinko-Commie schools as an undergrad, I decided it would be worth my while to skip the social and stick with him.

We talked for four hours, called it a night and resumed communicating the next day. Zvi is a New Yorker, and the winter after we met, I flew, with much trepidation and insecurity, to meet his sophisti-

cated parents. “You’ll love my mother,” Zvi told me, “and she’ll love you.” Naturally, I was a nervous wreck, but I steeled myself for my first test: a brunch his parents hosted at their co-op. After it was over, we four sat together and I awaited my final grade. I was surprised when my future mother-in-law candidly expressed relief.

“I always feel obliged to do my part in the conversation when I’m invited to someone’s house,” she asserted, “and I see that you’re not afraid to talk.”

Zvi and I were married that summer.

I was able to graduate early and move to New York, where Zvi had rented an apartment. Between his old friends, family, the people with whom I taught school and the folks in our apartment building, there was no dearth of amusing raconteurs, multilingual storytellers, scandal-sharing informants, lifestyle gurus and shopping mavens.

And that was before the internet and texting. With the miraculous technological gains, there have been critical losses.

I suggest that we seasoned talkers reach out, infiltrate the youthful sector of our land, and spread our words. ì

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BEST OF JEWISH ATLANTA

10% OF PROFITS THROUGH 2022 WILL BE DONATED TO JEWISH CHARITIES.

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B J A

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as well as many other issues...

John Salvesen • 404-453-3438

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BEST OF JEWISH ATLANTA

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STANLEY PAVING

Asphalt Paving, Patching & Seal Coating

STRENGTH IN ROOFING

Get A New Roof For As Low As $99 A Month!

Specializing in driveways & small parking lots Family Owned & Operated since 1969

CALL NOW FOR 10% OFF SPECIAL

thehandymancanatlanta@gmail.com

770.962.7125 770.480.1698 cell

HOME

HOME

Your Home -Your Sanctuary

• FREE Roof Inspection • FREE Replacement Estimates • Save 5% with this coupon Call 678-228-9269 to schedule your free inspection today www.skyshieldroof.com

HOME We provide same-day comprehensive services as professional handymen to satisfied clients throughout Atlanta and the surrounding area.

We work meticulously, professionally, punctually, and take care of the small details to give each client the project of their dreams.

All Home Repairs Deck Building & Repair Carpentry

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Book your initial consultation at www.spacesbyjohnross.com Interior Design | Project Management | Custom Tailoring

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Marketplace ADVERTISE WITH THE

PERSONAL GOOD-HEARTED, PROFESSIONAL SOULMATE An educated and successful 63 year old man, a Kohen with no kids is looking for an observant, not converted, not divorced career lady, 48-58 with no kids, no pets, willing to relocate to Los Angeles.

No Republicans please!

More information will be provided upon request.

Please send your profile with your recent pictures to: isaackahen@gmail.com

404-883-2130

Development Corp. for Israel | 404-817-3500 Eleventh Series Jubilee Bonds 2.95% Eleventh Series Maccabee Bonds 2.80% Eighth Series Mazel Tov Bonds 3.06% Eighth Series eMitzvah Bonds 3.16%

COLLECTIBLES

THE DUSTY COIN

“Shekels For Your Collectibles”

MEDIATION

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Take the Trauma Out of the Process

Atlanta Divorce Mediation Services Call 678-985-8858

To set up your FREE 30 MINUTE CONSULTATION 275 Carpenter Drive, Suite 303 Atlanta, GA 30328

404-263-2967

Dr. Jeri Breiner Mediator

Dr. Breiner, a Neutral Mediator, provides both parties with the tools needed to execute an equitable divorce agreement unique to their family’s circumstances.

After hundreds of mediations, the goal remains the same: to help spouses avoid the pitfalls, trauma, and expense of litigating their divorce in court.

Strict Confidentiality • References Upon Request Member: ANA, NGC, PCGS & PMG

Dr. Breiner is a Clinical Psychologist and a registered Divorce Mediator with the State of Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution.

AUTO

AUTO Everyone Knows Someone Who Loves Their SUBARU

A Jim Ellis Family Dealership Where you can always expect the best!

Winner of Salesman of the Year Award 5 out of the past 6 years!

Ralph Kurland Sales Representative 905 Ernest Barrett Pkwy, NW Kennesaw, GA 30144

Brian C. Spaner

Audi Brand Specialist Mobile: 404-606-0286 Direct: 770-243-5611 bspaner@jimellis.com 5805 Peachtree Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30341 www.audiatlanta.com

470-227-0277 theallin1company.com

Services

www.AtlantaDivorceMediationServices.com

• Coins • Gold • Jewelry • Sterling •

EVERYTHING UNDER ONE ROOF!

cell: 678-665-1024 dealership: 770-419-9800 ext. 3312 rkurland@subaruofkennesaw.com www.subaruofkennesaw.com

Call me to test drive any of our new or used cars!

• Home Repair & Maintenance • Kitchen, Bathroom & JUST ASK FOR Bedroom Remodels GEORGE and additions • Fans & Lighting • Basement Remodel • Plumbing • Decks Repairs • Additions • Flooring • Drywall Repair Removal & Installation • Painting

“Best handy service and home contractor I have ever worked with.”

Kaylene Ladinsky Editor & Managing Publisher of the AJT

TRAVEL

Licensed & Insured

WOODRUFF SCHWALL For generations, the Woodruff family has captured the attention of admirers

A household name in both Atlanta and Sea Island, the Schwall family created a legacy

across the globe. And now you can capture some of that notoriety for yourself.

through philanthropy and kindness. This is your chance to own part of that legacy.

Pair, Sevres Attributed Bronze Mounted Urns

Norman Rockwell, Portrait of Robert Woodruff

18th Century George III Silver Epergne Centerpiece

Tiffany Deco Platinum & Diamond Custom Bracelet

19th Century Christofle Figural Centerpiece

Karl Kaufman, Port with Ships

The Estate of Robert and Nell Woodruff

The Estate of Emory Schwall

February 26, 2022

February 27, 2022

404.869.2478 | info@AandOauctions.com | www.AandOauctions.com | 700 Miami Circle, Atlanta, GA 30324 | GAL #C2954