Atlanta Jewish Times, VOL. XCIX NO. 3, February 15, 2023

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a dress by Alix (Madame Grès) for Vogue. Courtesy of the Horst P. Horst Estate and @TheArtDesignProjectGallery.

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CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE

ALLEN H. LIPIS BOB BAHR

CHANA SHAPIRO

DAVE SCHECHTER

DAVID OSTROWSKY

DEBBIE DIAMOND

DR. MARK GOLDFEDER

JAN JABEN-EILON

LINLEY JONES

MARCIA CALLER JAFFE

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Cover Photo: Rabbi Yitzchok Werbin, of Congregation Kesher Torah.

AJFF Opening Gala Back at New Venue

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

The 2023 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Opening Night Gala festivities kicked off Wednesday night, Feb. 7, at City Springs.

Around 750 fans dined and reveled in “just being back in person” in one of Jewish Atlanta’s most treasured annual events. The AJFF will run through Feb. 21 at City Springs, Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, Plaza Theatre, Merchants Walk, and Woodruff Arts Rich Auditorium, as well as some opportunities via Zoom.

The Gala night’s movie selection was “Karaoke,” which was touted as a tale of middle life and self-discovery which received 14 Israeli Academy Award nominations. AJFF Executive Director Kenny Blank said, “This year’s festival is about curiosity, conversation, and community… and sharing movies on a big screen with live audiences, the way movies were intended to be seen.”

Attorney and chairman of the board of the AJFF, Sari Earl, declared, “I am over the moon tonight to celebrate with all of Atlanta and our hundreds of volunteers, staff, and committees year after year where we have become family.”

The crowd hummed with excitement, mingling with local politicians, members of the Israeli Consulate of the Southeast, sponsors, and Israeli stars flown in for the occasion. Event co-chair Leah Blum explained how many films (110 from March through November) she previewed and the long-standing relationship she shares with event co-chair, Martha Jo Katz, as “South Georgia cousins.”

Greenberg Traurig’s managing shareholder Ted Blum laughed and said, “It’s hard to keep up with Leah as she brings the community back together here. I just sit back and watch her do her thing.” Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul said, “The excitement of opening night is amazing here at City Springs. And we are pleased to work out free parking for the festival.”

Even artsy executives from the Breman Museum, Leslie Gordon and David Shendowich, weighed in, “We just come to be entertained,” said Shendowich. Gordon had her sights set on “Love Gets a Room,” and “Leopoldstadt,” an epic about a Jewish upper-crust family in Vienna.

Sponsor Ed Mendel was in search of funny escape movies, while Barbara Mendel was committed to see “Perfect Strangers,” about an Israeli dinner party where lifelong friends leave their phones unlocked to share secrets.

Long-serving committee screener Harissa Levin remarked, “I have watched 200 films in five months. Our staff and volunteers are so ‘into it’ and working for the right reason - bringing the Jewish community together to share these movie treasures with Jews and non-Jews. We all have to learn about our culture, history, and problems with Israel’s neighbors.”

Karen Isenberg Jones, director of

government affairs for the Consulate General of Israel for the Southeast, was proud that so many Israeli writers, actors, and producers flew here to appear live on panels. Israeli Consulate of the Southeast Director of Public Affairs Aaron Braunstein hosted Israeli/Ethiopian Shai Fredo, film and theater actor (“Exodus 91”), who is now scholar/artist in residence at historic Black university Clark Atlanta, “as the first Israeli to do so.”

Fredo told the AJT that he grew up in Moshav Bakoaa, got his film and theatre credentials at Nismativ Studio, and is enjoying campus lecturing and teaching.

The crowd moved into the main auditorium to be greeted by a video from the American Jewish Committee, and personal greetings from Earl and Blank. CocaCola sponsor Tameka Harper, global chief diversity equity and inclusion officer, spoke of the 60 films which will inspire

Sari Earl, president of the AJFF board, and Kenny Blank, AJFF executive director, share the enthusiasm of being back in person. // Photos by Howard Mendel

Event co-chair Martha Jo Katz chatted with Sandra Bank of Added Touch Catering, and Sandy Springs City Councilman Andy Bauman.

Ted Blum, Leah Blum, event co-chair, walked the red carpet with Leah’s aunt, Judy Landy

Barbara and Ed Mendel, producer level sponsors, are eager movie goers.

cultural identity through film. She added, “Of course, with an ice-cold Coke in hand.”

Off to the stage side, a spotlight found Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens alongside Mayor Paul, who spoke of the

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synergy between them. Dickens concentrated on his intention to draw circles in forming relationships and how movies bridge divides…plugging how Georgia also has become a hub for film and TV.

Paul spoke of how “Moses and his coauthor” wrote on stone tablets, followed by the invention of paper and film to tell stories.” Self effacing Paul noted, “I was an English lit major, which qualifies me

to be mayor and to know about this.”

After “Karaoke,” CNN’s Holly Firfer appeared in conversation with the movie’s Israeli filmmaker, Moshe Rosenthal. A dessert reception followed. ì

Unforgettable Lessons From An Extraordinary Life

“I love America.” That is the opening sentence of the newly released memoir by Gisèle Huff “Force of Nature: The remarkable true story of one Holocaust survivor’s resilience, tenacity and purpose.” She was four when Hitler invaded her native France and she lost 18 members of her family to the Holocaust. She and her mother survived by going into hiding with false identities. The description of the horrors of that period has eerie echoes to the resurgence of antisemitism we are experiencing now.

If America had not entered the war, Gisèle might not be alive today to tell her story. And what a story it is! Her first memory of our country is viewing the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor at dawn in 1947, a symbol of not only the freedom but the opportunities that America offered. All their worldly possessions were packed in two suitcases, they had $400 to their name and neither she nor her mother spoke a word of English.

They lived with Gisèle’s paternal grandmother, her aunt and cousin in a one-bedroom tenement in the South Bronx and she attended a dilapidated public school where she was one of three white children in the

class. An outstanding student in France, she realized that her 6th grade black classmates weren’t being educated. When she launched her career as a foundation executive 50 years later, that experience inspired her to work toward making a good education available to every child in America.

Having married when she was 18, education became a major focus for Gisèle when she was 32 and enrolled as a freshman at Hunter College. Nine years later, she earned her Ph.D. in political science at Columbia University. Her family moved to San Francisco in 1977 and there began the second phase of her life, a job as the director of development of a private prep school where she met and worked with some of the city’s most prominent people and learned that they were just as accessible as others she had met over the years.

But Gisèle’s successful, happy life was interrupted by the devastating loss of her husband of 33 years who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54. At the age of 60, she decided to run for the CA 6th Congressional seat as a Republican who espoused libertarianism as a philosophy. She was defeated in the primary, but the connections she made lead to a position as the executive director of

the Jaquelin Hume Foundation. It was in that position that she met and engaged with the great minds of politics and education, from liberal New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker to conservative former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and blazed a trail for blended learning.

As she was contemplating retirement at the age of 82, she suffered another unimaginable loss, that of her 54-year-old son from the same disease as his father, at the same age. Gerald Huff, principal software engineer on the Tesla Model 3 team, was an ardent supporter of universal basic income because of his concern about technological unemployment. After the economic debacle of 200809, Gisèle made a sharp political turn away from libertarianism when Gerald persuaded her that providing every American with $1000 per month would guarantee a floor under which no one can fall.

With renewed vigor and in her son’s memory, Gisèle launched a non-profit, the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, whose mission is to work for the implementation of universal basic income. Telling a story of setbacks and triumphs, grief and joy, the chapters of Gisèle’s life speak to her strength, to her commitment to deep and lasting friend-

ships, and to her determination to challenge and engage the powers that be.

For more information about the book, please visit Amazon or you can go to Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity - https://fundforhumanity.org/force-of-nature/

State Rep. Esther Panitch poses with Karen Isenberg Jones, director of government affairs for Consulate General of Israel/Southeast, and The Breman Museum executive director Leslie Gordon.

Lori Zelony, director of development AJFF, chats with Jan Paul, Mayor Rusty Paul, and AJFF associate director Brad Pilcher.

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Georgia House Considers Antisemitism Definition

By Dave Schechter

At the conclusion of a three-hour hearing that touched on legal and legislative fine points and featured impassioned testimony, the Georgia House Judiciary Committee decided Jan. 31 that it needed more time to consider how to define antisemitism in the state legal code.

Legislation designated as House Bill 30 would employ the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition and “require state agencies and departments to consider such definition when determining whether an alleged act was motivated by discriminatory antisemitic intent.”

An almost identical bill was approved overwhelmingly by the House in 2022 but the legislative clock ran out before the Senate could act. The General Assembly works in two-year cycles, requiring that the measure be reintroduced in 2023.

The 38-word IHRA definition reads:

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Key to the definition are 11 accompanying examples of what constitutes antisemitism. Those include accusing Jews outside of Israel of dual loyalty, comparing Israel to Nazis, calling Israel racist, “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination,” and applying standards to Israel “not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

Since being approved in May 2016 by the IHRA, the definition has been adopted by some 1,100 governments and non-governmental bodies worldwide, including 39 member nations of the United Nations and — by law, executive order, or resolution — more than two dozen

U.S. states.

Testifying before the Georgia House committee, supporters of HB 30 cited the need for a legal definition at a time of increased anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence. Opponents warned that the proposed statute could be used to curtail free speech, specifically criticism of Israel, even though the bill states: “Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Georgia Constitution.”

Interest in the legislation was sufficient to fill every chair in the hearing room, with some people standing along the walls or sitting on the floor.

The chief sponsor of HB 30, Marietta Republican Rep. John Carson, told the committee, “This bill, all it does is create an objective, internationally recognized standard for what is and what is not antisemitism,” something “that prosecutors can use when prosecuting crimes specifically against the Jewish people.” Other sponsors include first-term Sandy Springs Democratic Rep. Esther Panitch, who is Jewish.

Attorney Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, who also is general counsel for the Hillel chapters on Georgia college and university campuses, said: “There’s been a lot of misinformation about this bill. The bill does not criminalize anything…It does not have anything to do with protected free speech…It only addresses discriminatory acts and hate crimes committed against Jewish people.”

Goldfeder cited the case of Samantha Strelzer, president of the Rollins Student Government Association at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, who said she was subjected to

harassment and defamation after participating in a Birthright trip to Israel. “The bill is not about protecting Israel. It’s about protecting Jews. Many times, Jews are targeted because of a real or perceived connection to Israel,” he said.

Goldfeder also read aloud a letter written by “Aaron,” who said that the anti-Jewish abuse he, then 13 years old, and his brother endured for 18 months at a Fulton County public school, was “the lowest point in my life” and that he had contemplated suicide. Aaron and his family were present at the hearing, but he did not wish to speak. The letter recounted incidences of swastikas and other graffiti, Hitler salutes, and students throwing money at them.

According to the letter, school officials dismissed complaints by saying that they did not constitute antisemitism. Goldfeder said that a statutory definition is needed, so that school officials, as well as prosecutors handling hate crime cases, have a standard on which to rely. “I do not want this to happen to another kid,” Aaron wrote in the letter.

Simone Wilker, speaking as a member of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, thanked legislators for passage of the 2020 hate crimes bill, which allows for enhanced sentencing if a bias threshold is met. “The only way you can do it is to define it first,” she said. “Without that definition in your hand it’s very hard for law enforcement or other federal or state officials to make that decision.”

Adding a personal note, Wilker told how her grandfather left Nazi Germany with other family members and found a new home in Savannah, Ga. “I want my grandchildren, who are 7 and 10 years

Marietta Republican Rep. John Carson Attorney Mark Goldfeder Murtaza Khwaja, executive director of CAIR Simone Wilker, Hadassah member

old, Jewish grandchildren, to enjoy the same freedom that my grandfather and all my family enjoyed in Georgia, in being Jewish and not being afraid to stand up and say, ‘I’m Jewish,’” she said.

Speaking in opposition to HB 30, Murtaza Khwaja, executive director of CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) Georgia, said, “Let’s be very clear: Antisemitism is very real. It’s one of the great evils of this world.” However, he continued, HB 30 conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism and, as such, risks “denying and infringing on Georgians’ constitutional right to free speech.”

Ilise Cohen, a leader in the Atlanta chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and a scholar whose focus is Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews, said, “There is not a consensus among Jewish Georgians on the definition of antisemitism, which alone should raise a question.” Linking antisemitism to opposition to Israeli government policies "forces an unfair loyalty to a country that is not my own,” she said.

“There is no reason for Georgia to protect one country over the other 195 countries in the world,” Cohen said. “Georgia law should not tell us what we can and can’t say about a foreign country.”

Legislators, meanwhile, discussed whether or not the bill should incorporate the wording of the IHRA definition or whether it is sufficient that the bill only refer to the IHRA definition, as the legislation currently reads.

Another issue of concern was IHRA’s own reference to its “non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism.” The phrase “working definition” left some legislators to worry that a future legislature could change the language and thus the definition’s application.

Blairsville Republican Rep. Stan Gunter, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said that his background as a judge made the word “working” problematic. “It

reads as a word that could be changed,” Gunter said. “If you don’t put the definition in it, the word ‘working’ opens the door for a judge to interpret this.”

Carson said that the preference of groups supporting the bill was not to include the specific wording of the IHRA definition, so that the language cannot be amended to alter its meaning or intention.

Atlanta Democratic Rep. Stacey Evans, who said that she was prepared to vote in favor of HB 30, cautioned the audience that, in the end, the committee must vote on the language in the bill itself, not on the arguments surrounding the measure.

Atlanta Democratic Rep. Roger Bruce, after expressing uncertainty about passing the bill without including the definition’s wording, moved to table the measure until the questions and concerns raised by committee members could be answered.

In the end, that is what the committee did. No date was scheduled for the committee’s next action on the bill, which would need approval by the full House and Senate before going to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. ì

(From left) Attorney Mark Goldfeder, Marietta Republican Rep. John Carson, and Sandy Springs Democratic Rep. Esther Panitch

Ilise Cohen, Atlanta chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace

Anti-Jewish Flyers Upset Community

By Dave Schechter

On Monday morning, even before the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, a stern-sounding speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives addressed what he termed “a repulsive incident” over the weekend — the distribution of antisemitic flyers in the driveways of homes in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs.

“Saturday night, under the cover of darkness, communities in north Fulton County were visited by an old enemy: hatred,” Republican Rep. Jon Burns said. “I know all of you join with me in taking such actions very seriously…We pause this morning to reiterate that hate has no place in Georgia,” prompting the chamber to rise in applause.

Without mentioning her name, Burns said that one of the driveways “littered with this garbage” was that of a member of the House. Jewish Democrat Esther Panitch posted Sunday on Twitter that her husband found three plastic bags with differently-worded flyers in the driveway when he went outside Sunday morning to bring in the newspaper.

“Welcome to being a Jew in Georgia-my driveway this morning. @SandySprings_PD came and took for testing. Govern yourselves accordingly, GDL and Anti-Semites who seek to harm/intimidate Jews in Georgia. I’m coming for you with the weight of the State behind me,” Panitch posted.

The Judiciary Committee of the Georgia House currently is considering legislation that would adopt a formal definition of antisemitism and “require state agencies and departments to consider such definition when determining whether an alleged act was motivated by discriminatory antisemitic intent.”

Police in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs are investigating the flyers, which were placed in baggies, weighted down with corn kernels, and flung into driveways in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday. In a Twitter post, Gov. Brian Kemp, said: “If needed, state law enforcement stands ready to assist @SandySprings_ PD and @DunwoodyPolice in their investigations.”

Panitch, who is a criminal defense attorney, said that distribution of the flyers may violate statutes on trespass and littering, depending on the municipal code in individual cities.

The flyers are similar to those distributed previously elsewhere in the Atlanta area, in Georgia, and throughout the nation by a group calling itself the Goyim

Defense League. In previous months, similar flyers have appeared in Cobb, Bartow, Muscogee, and Paulding counties.

The Anti-Defamation League describes the Goyim Defense League as “a loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism.”

Among the messages on the flyers was “Every Single Aspect Of The Jewish Talmud Is Satanic.” Another stated: “We disavow violence. This is not intimidation.

This is a PSA about a Jewish mafia that has hijacked our country!” Another claimed: “ADL. Established in 1913 to protect Jewish child murderers and pedophiles.”

Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch posted Sunday on Twitter: “The purpose of activities like this is to cause fear and divide us…I stand with our Jewish community and all who face intolerance. I believe that love always conquers hate. Please be good to each other.”

Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul posted on his Facebook page: “Overnight, some despicable individual(s) flyered our community with anti-Semitic, hate-filled material. I trust it came from outside Sandy Springs, but whoever is responsible is unwelcome here. We are a tolerant community, but this behavior is intolerable. Our city renounces and rejects this activity and the individuals behind it. We are checking our security cameras in an effort to identify the culprits and if legal charges are possible, they will be brought.”

Eytan Davidson, regional director for ADL Southeast, said in a statement:  “The trend of flyers like this being distributed is a longtime tactic of white supremacists and is happening with great frequency across the country. In fact, last year incidents like this occurred roughly 150 times in Georgia alone.

“Flyers like the ones discovered early Sunday morning aren’t meant to target individuals; rather they are meant to intimidate and scare entire communities. Those who distribute such hateful filth may be exercising their right to free speech, but that doesn’t mean law

enforcement can’t and won’t investigate these actions and the people and groups behind them. It’s important for officials to speak out forcefully when hatred like this crops up so community members and neighbors know they aren’t alone,” Davidson said.

The homes reporting finding the flyers included residences near the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta and Congregation Ariel, which is located on Tilly Mill Road.

The website roughtdraftatlanta.com reported: “Several Dunwoody residents reported that their surveillance cameras picked up a white four-door sedan vehicle throwing the flyers from the vehicle between 1 and 2 a.m. on Feb. 5. One resident said that several flyers were left in their little free library box.” The website also reported that about 50 were found behind St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church on Mount Vernon Road.

Among those finding flyers was Valerie Chambers, the Hillel campus director at Kennesaw State University. “Two families got together and picked up all the flyers we could find,” she told roughdraftatlanta.com. “We didn’t want anyone, including kids or older residents, getting upset seeing them.”

“Unfortunately, I see this kind of stuff all the time,” Chambers said. “It’s not my first rodeo, but it is even more upsetting when it’s right in front of your home.”

House Speaker Burns also mentioned that a member of the news media

who covers the legislature also received the flyers. Atlanta Journal-Constitution political reporter Greg Bluestein, who is Jewish, said Sunday that one of the baggies was thrown onto his property.

Later in the Monday session, a visibly upset Panitch, flanked by several of her colleagues, addressed the House chamber. “This weekend, it was my turn to be targeted. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time to be afraid as a Jew in the United States,” she said.

Panitch listed a series of antisemitic incidents in the United States and Georgia before saying, “And then, flyers on driveways and in mailboxes of hundreds of Jewish families in DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb, Paulding, and Muscogee counties, I get angry. Because it doesn’t end with that. It continues, for injured and murdered Jews in their synagogue. Poway, Jersey City, Monsey, and in Pittsburgh, in the deadliest attack on Jews in the United States history.”

“The flyers we received demonized Jews, Judaism, and Jewish culture. They’re filled with the classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and control. They came from a group famous for their outright antisemitic lies and Holocaust denial. Their twisted conspiracy theories, claiming that Israel was responsible for 9/11, and that Jews and Zionists run our government. Their stated goal is to destroy us, kill Jews, wipe us off the face of the earth. We can do something, especially here. And we must. Please listen to the communities for the solutions

The home of Dori Perling was littered with antisemitic flyers distributed early Sunday morning.

they need, not dismiss them. Do not tell them it won’t matter or it’s not necessary. Hear them. We need your help. We’ve had enough. We hope you have, as well. We know you stand with the Jewish community. We know you stand with the Jewish people against hate in Georgia. I’m heartened by all the love and support I have felt this morning. We all know, it might be the Jews today, but the same people will come after you tomorrow.”

Statements of support for the Jewish community came from across the political spectrum in Georgia.

Democratic Sen. Nabilah Islam responded to Panitch’s Sunday morning Twitter post: “I’m so sorry you woke up to this. Antisemitism has no place here or anywhere. Those responsible must be held accountable.”

Democratic Rep. Farooq Mughal also replied to Panitch on Twitter: “I stand with my friend and fellow Georgia State Representative @epanitch. Antisemitism has no place in America and #Georgia. Farheen and I stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters against despicable #antisemitism in Fulton/Dekalb.”

Democratic Sen. Josh McLaurin, whose district is in north Fulton County,

posted on Twitter Sunday: “The fringe cowards who put antisemitic trash in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody driveways don’t speak for the community. Like the vast majority of the area, I stand with our Jewish neighbors and am glad that the pamphlets are being investigated.”

Republican Sen. Jason R. Anavitarte posted on Twitter: “This is despicable, and my hope is law enforcement and prosecutors will deal with the trash that brought this to your front door and those impacted.”

Republican Rep. Will Wade posted

on Twitter: “This is truly sickening and I truly hope those responsible are found out and brought to justice. This behavior has never been okay and never should be accepted! Hatred & antisemitism is abhorrent and antithetical to the core values of Georgia & [emoji of U.S. flag].” ì

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Registration & Dinner • 5:30 pm

Program • 6:30 pm

HONORING

Sharoni & Mike Levison

FEATURING Yedidya Harush, Halutza Liaison for Negev Community Development

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Beth Gluck, Executive Director, Greater Atlanta bgluck@jnf.org • 404.236.8990 x851

Nicole Flom, Associate Director, Atlanta nflom@jnf.org • 404.236.8990 x856 RSVP

The Goyim Defense League dropped antisemitic flyers in driveways of notable Jewish Atlantans, including Democrat Esther Panitch // Photos Courtesy of Esther Panitch

State Rep. Esther Panitch was targeted on Sunday with antisemitic flyers distributed by the Goyim Defense League.

The Goyim Defense League once again distributed antisemitic flyers in Atlanta, this time targeting homes in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs.

Atlanta Medical Duo Assists in Ukraine

By Chana Shapiro

On rare occasions, something happens in which a person can make a real difference in the world. Just such an event, in March 2022, prompted Adrienne B. Clark Usadi and Moshe Usadi to spend two weeks away from their children and their medical practice, Qualified Quacks Concierge Medicine.

Adrienne, a nurse who spent many years in hospitals in baby-delivery, labor, pain management, and assisting with procedures in hospital plastic surgery, and Moshe, whose background included being a family practice physician and practicing emergency medicine, took the opportunity to bring their knowledge and training to Ukraine.

They decided to go to Ukraine shortly after they saw reports about the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol. They learned that Russia was targeting non-combatants (civilians), health centers and scores of other hospitals, and Adrienne reports, “I couldn’t just stand by and watch, and my husband felt the same.”

They brushed up on emergency procedures (Moshe was already well-experienced in this area; Adrienne’s experience was more limited), with the goal of becoming, in Adrienne’s words, a “well-oiled team” with mastery of “in the field” procedures. They had to anticipate which medications and supplies would be needed and have back-up plans if the preferred items were unavailable.

The Usadis were not sponsored by any agency, and it would take months before they could be reviewed by non-government groups, so they got resourceful. They had been the medical team for March of the Living South, and they contacted the director, Jack Rosenbaum, who they expected had contacts in Poland and Ukraine. They also joined Facebook groups dedicated to aiding Ukraine. Between these two resources, they received points of contact in Poland and Ukraine and learned that the best place to fly into the area was Krakow, Poland. They booked a flight through a company that exclusively discounts airfare for medical mission trips. They were allowed only six bags of medicine and medical supplies, which they filled from their own practice, contributions from colleagues, and a large amount from Northside Hospital. Their nearly $8,000 worth of supplies were donated to the Ukraine Hospital-

lers; however, the Usadis kept minimal supplies with them in case of personal injuries.

Their staging location was Dnipro. From Krakow, train travel would take too long to Lviv, where they would meet their driver, Chris, who would take them to their destination, and they decided to go to Lviv by Uber. While the border crossing from Poland was smooth, their crossing into Ukraine entailed being questioned about where they were going and having their luggage searched; however, showing their medical ID badges and being loaded with medical supplies helped to streamline the process. On route, they were pulled off to the side of the road behind many other vehicles. Subsequently, they found out that everyone was held in place because an alarm had been sounded. Once the “all clear” was given and their crossing documents were processed, they proceeded to Lviv with their driver, Chris.

In Lviv, the Usadis purchased a sim card and burner phone (a cheap phone with minimal features that can be easily discarded and untraced) because the Russians were targeting phones that showed USA or European origins. Lviv was a beautiful, charming city, although soldiers were present, indicating it was a military town. There were also places helping long lines of refugees. The Usadis’ supplies were added to those in Chris’s truck, filling it top to bottom.

The drive from Lviv to Kyiv took 12 hours, mainly due to fuel issues and checkpoints. Gas was rationed (4.5 gallons a time) unless one had an army permit, and there could be a one-to-two hour wait. Chris stopped wherever he could, trying to keep a full tank and full extra containers he carried in his truck.

On the drive between Lviv and Kyiv there were increasing defensive positions, including high walls of sandbags and shacks that were lookout and fighting positions. Tires were stacked in the middle of major roads, forcing drivers to slow, and many had checkpoints. Roads became heavily pockmarked as they got closer to Kyiv, and there were curfews in major cities. At one point, they had a flat tire from a huge pothole caused by the war, and the setback meant they would not reach Kyiv before the 10 pm curfew.

To avoid using valuable gas to maintain heat, they would have to endure a freezing night in the truck. Fortunately, a trucker and his wife saw them and took them to a hostel just outside the city limits. The next day, they drove another 12 hours to Dnipro.

Their home base was a hotel/apartment in Dnipro, where the accommodations were better than the Usadis expected, and, after acclimating to the war environment, they were embedded with a medical team. They used their skills in unexpected ways, such as turning box trucks into makeshift patient transports. It was common for both patients and refugees to be transported at the same time from areas of active fighting, and ambulances and transport vehicles were often destroyed near the front line, thus there was a constant need to replace them.

Air raid sirens were frequent in Dnipro, but somehow life carried on, and residents didn’t scramble for shelter whenever they sounded. When questioned about this, their interpreter, Roman, reflecting the Ukrainians’ humor under pressure, joked about the Russians’ “bad aim.” Curfew in the city required being within the checkpoint, turning off all lights and pulling the blinds, so as not

to make an easy target for bombing.

Adrienne sums up their two weeks, “We learned a lot, and there are many significant moments that impacted us. One was the resilience of the Ukrainian people… [whose] mindset was basically, ‘This is our country, we are here to stay, and we will do what it takes to protect our country.’ In the beginning of the war, Dnipro came under serious bombing (about a month before we arrived). The Menorah Center, [not far from the Usadis’ lodging], became a place of refuge, and the community helped people evacuate, feed refugees, and provide shelter.

“Our last days in Ukraine fell over Shabbat. We went to services at the shul attached to the Menorah Center, and it was wonderful to see Judaism thriving despite the war.

Rabbi Kaminezki invited us to lunch in one of the ballrooms of the center, a three-course affair for over 100 people. There was a beautiful mix of Jews and nonJews who were staying at the center, helping Ukraine. I cannot begin to describe the immense feeling that overtook me as I sat among this lovely community, and my gratitude to Hashem for sparing this community from the destruction and devastation other parts of Ukraine have endured.”

After their Ukraine experience, the Usadis became certified in TECC (tactical emergency casualty care) in Israel, knowing that trauma conditions away from a hospital are very different from what doctors typically experience. For trauma in the field of battle, a doctor learns temporary “fixes” with basic supplies to help until the patient arrives at a health care facility. One learns that training in the field is essential, and important basic supplies include everyday zip-lock bags and plastic wrap. ì

Moshe Usadi

Adrienne Clark Usadi

Street art in Dnipro, Ukraine depicting someone preparing a suture.

Defense barricades spotted on the road to Lviv in Ukraine.

Sandbags seen en route to Lviv.

Heart Disease is Leading Cause of Death for Women

By Debbie Diamond

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in the United States. Today in the U.S., one in three women is living with some form of cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, the American Heart Association is looking to change that statistic because 80 percent of cardiac and stroke events may be prevented with education and action.

Regrettably, because the symptoms of a heart attack in women are often significantly different than those in men, they sometimes go undetected and untreated. Specifically, women often experience shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and back or jaw pain. Sometimes the signs are subtle, but the consequences can be deadly, especially if the woman does not seek help right away.

February is American Heart Month, a time when people are reminded to take good care of their hearts. According to preventive cardiologist, Jason Reingold, MD, FAAC, with Holistic Heart Center at Georgia Cardiovascular, there are three especially critical points in a woman’s life when she needs to pay close attention to her heart – during pregnancy; at middle age, especially if she has been diagnosed with an auto-immune or chronic inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease; and during menopause.

Reingold points out that research suggests that 70 to 75 percent of people who have a heart attack would have been classified as low risk by traditional methods of risk assessment. Furthermore, data warns that 50 percent of people who have a heart attack will not experience symptoms or do not recognize what they are experiencing. Women, in fact, frequently attribute the symptoms of a heart attack to reflux, indigestion, aging or the flu and delay seeking treatment. In addition, women who suffer a cardiac arrest in public are less likely to receive CPR from bystanders due to a fear of hurting the person or facing legal consequences.

With advances in medicine, today there are several tests available to diagnose heart disease at an earlier, pre-clinical stage to prevent future complications. A simple saliva swab test can unlock

genetic markers that raise one’s risk of heart disease, similar to the use of BRACA testing in Jewish women with breast cancer. In addition, blood-based biomarkers allow for the identification of abnormal metabolic processes such as inflammation and immune system activation that are the root cause of plaque buildup in arteries.

Imaging using ultrasound, which emits no radiation, or a CT scan will identify the earliest accumulation of plaque buildup in the arteries. Especially for women in their 30s and 40s, identifying the buildup allows for lifestyle changes before intervention may be necessary. Sometimes these tests are covered by insurance and even when not covered, the out-of-pocket costs are generally affordable.

Reingold may utilize these tests in his practice for women who have a family history of premature heart disease, complications of pregnancy such as preeclampsia or diabetes, autoimmune or chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, or are at immediate risk, based on traditional risk factors.

Leading up to, during and following pregnancy, women need to pay attention to their heart health. One in five women is clinically obese before becoming pregnant, increasing the risk of heart complications during pregnancy. Also, more than half of women enter pregnancy with a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, many without being diagnosed beforehand. These risk factors include a buildup of plaque in the arteries, high blood pressure, arrhythmia or an abnormal heart rhythm or heart valve problems. Overall, 10 to 20 percent of women will have a health issue during pregnancy. Taking care of the heart before conception is important to help ensure a healthy outcome. Managing weight and underlying conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol can significantly reduce the risk of problems and help ensure that mother and baby stay safe and healthy.

Autoimmune conditions are another important factor to consider when assessing women in their 30s and 40s for heart disease. The Sept. 3, 2022 issue of The Lan-

cet, a medical journal, reported on a study that looked at 19 autoimmune diseases and 12 cardiovascular diseases in 22 million individuals in the United Kingdom. Researchers found an increased risk of cardiovascular disease that grew progressively with the number of autoimmune diseases for each person. The study was conducted on patients under 55 years old with heart disease.

As women enter and go through menopause, cardiovascular risk factors often increase. According to the American Heart Association, women who reach menopause before age 45 have a significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease. Also, with little or no estrogen production following menopause, cholesterol may begin to build up on artery walls. A buildup in vessels leading to the heart or brain can increase the risk of heart disease or stroke. Other risks for heart disease during and following menopause include sleep issues, increased visceral fat around the midsection, higher cholesterol levels and a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, made when a person has three or more individual risk factors (abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure and high blood sugar). Scheduling a visit with a preventive cardiologist at this time is important to maintain good heart health and detect any underlying heart conditions.

Though rates of heart disease have increased in younger women in recent years, Reingold suggests prevention through earlier detection, especially for women with a higher risk factor. He also suggests women follow the “Essential 8,”

developed by the American Heart Association. “Eat better. Be more active. Quit Tobacco. Get Healthy Sleep. Manage Weight. Control Cholesterol. Manage Blood Sugar. Manage Blood Pressure,” he said. “And in addition to these steps, I also encourage everyone to take “My Life Check” to start the journey toward optimal health,” he added. “My Life Check” is a health assessment and improvement tool built by the American Heart Association to encourage people to form healthy habits that move them toward ideal heart health, lowering the risk for cancer, diabetes, and depression and improving cognitive function.

American Heart Month began in 1964, at a time when heart disease was becoming a crisis for Americans. Go Red for Women, the American Heart Association’s signature initiative for women, was introduced in 2004 and is a comprehensive platform designed to increase women’s heart health awareness and serve as a catalyst for change to improve the lives of women across the globe. Today, Go Red for Women not only advocates for the health of all women, funds lifesaving research and educates women across the United States and around the world, but is also committed to removing the unique barriers women face to experiencing better health and well-being.

The Holistic Heart Center at Georgia Cardiovascular combines traditional diagnostic and treatment methodologies with integrative approaches. Dr. Reingold graduated from Emory University School of Medicine and trained at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. For more information, visit www. drjasonreingold.com. ì

Dr. Jason Reingold with Holistic Heart Center at Georgia Cardiovascular is a board-certified cardiovascular disease specialist who integrates preventive strategies into his cardiology practice.

Former Atlanta Rabbi Pleads Guilty to Sex Charges

By Dave Schechter

A former Atlanta rabbi has pleaded guilty to two sex-related charges in suburban Cleveland and is awaiting sentencing.

Rabbi Stephen Weiss pleaded guilty Jan. 26 in Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court to attempted sexual contact with a minor and possessing criminal tools, both felony charges.

Weiss, an assistant rabbi at the Ahavath Achim synagogue from July 1990 to June 1997, and was the longtime rabbi at Congregation B’Nai Jeshrun in the Cleveland suburb of Pepper Pike until his arrest last April.

By accepting a plea deal, the 61-yearold Weiss must register as a sex offender every six months for the next 25 years. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 27. According to local news reports, the maximum sentence possible is 30 months in prison. He is eligible to receive probation. Weiss has been free on $50,000 bond.

Defense attorney Michael Goldberg told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer newspaper that Weiss takes re-

sponsibility for his actions and that, at the sentencing hearing, he will frame his client’s actions “in the context of a lifetime of good works and leadership” and

provide a “neurological explanation” for the crimes. Weiss “is deeply remorseful for the harm he has caused to his family and his former congregation and hopes

today’s plea can help toward renewal and closure for everyone,” Goldberg said.

Weiss, the senior rabbi at B’nai Jeshrun since 2001, was arrested April 18, 2022, by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children task force. The criminal complaint alleged that he communicated on a social networking app with an undercover investigator posing as a 15-yearold boy and then traveled to a location in Newburgh Heights, Ohio, to meet what he thought was a teenager. The Cleveland Jewish News reported: “According to the prosecutor’s office, the vehicle he was driving was searched and law enforcement officers found a box of condoms and two bottles of lubricant.”

Weiss initially was charged with one count of attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, one count of importuning and one count of possessing criminal tools. The importuning count was dismissed.

B’nai Jeshrun suspended Weiss immediately following his arrest. He was suspended April 25 by the Rabbinical Assembly, the international Conservative/ Masorti movement’s rabbinic body. ì

Rabbi Stephen Weiss, 61, was arrested April 18, 2022, by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children task force for allegedly soliciting sex from a minor.

JNF Women Spice It Up

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

The likes of Hyde Park and Le Cordon Bleu will have a new global player. And leave it to Israel to make it a reality.

The future Galilee Culinary Institute was showcased at the Women’s Jewish National Fund USA’s Beyond the Blue Box series, “Spice it up with Lior Lev Sercarz,” renowned chef and spice master who appeared at the Dunwoody Nature Center on Jan. 26.

The GCI is a state-of-the-art culinary institute under construction in Kiryat Shmona, poised to bring life and cuttingedge excitement to the entire region through food, agriculture, employment, education, and tourism. As the first of its kind, and accredited in the Middle East, the academy aims to become a mecca for cooking, baking, food technology, agriculture, and notably, the restaurant and hospitality industry, along with the business of food security.

Activist and JNF Atlanta board member Renee Evans commented to the AJT that just 90 days ago she had a private tour of the facility, and said, “It was so beautiful, and destined to revitalize the whole area as a worldwide industry hub."

Event co-chairs Stacy Libowski and Julie Sack welcomed the group and read comments from co-chair Lauren Harris who was unable to attend. Harris noted, “It was besheret for you all to be in front of trees in view of upcoming Tu Bishvat… and the topic of food in Jewish culture serves a vehicle of forging connections.”

Cindy Sterne, DASH Hospitality executive, introduced the guest speaker, author and food celebrity Lior Lev Sercarz, who grew up in a kibbutz near the Lebanese border and defied his family’s doubts that he would made a real profession out of the food business.

He added, “At an early age, I was melting chocolate, and when the family lived for a time in Rome, I got more intrigued by cuisine like pasta.” He served in the IDF where he stepped in to cook. One of his most impressionable experiences was working in Brittany where he used unusual spices like black cardamom.

Sercarz ended up in New York where he runs his high profile business, La Boite, Biscuits and Spices, a brick and mortar in Hell’s Kitchen. He also markets retail as Voyager Collection in partnership with Eric Ripert. His books are “The Art of Blending,” 41 blends and recipes from renown chefs. Next was “The Spice Companion,” a distillation of his 30 years of experience, and his most recent book,

“Mastering Spices,” selected by the New York Times as one of the best cookbooks of the year.

Some of his specialties are combining popcorn and chocolate, gin and amaro, hot sauces and vinegar. He laughed, “In 2008, I took out a credit line (from my fiancé) and started blending spices in my living room. Spices are for everybody from Minnesota to Mumbai. Spices are real ingredients and not just an afterthought.” His big break came when he got a call from a major customer who wanted Sercarz to prepare spices for his business.

Clad in a baseball cap covering his shock of silver hair, Sercarz expressed his vision of the GCI, describing the breathtaking 180-degree view overlooking the Hula Valley and plans the institute to be fully self-sustainable and for profit.

He shared, “We will have state-ofthe-art technology in sustainability, farming, composting/up-posting, etc., in addition to coffee, spices, and the hotel, school, and gourmet dining for tourists. Half the funds have been raised, and there are naming opportunities. Sercarz is going to great lengths to assure kashruth concerns to the point of having an onsite mill to sift flour. The space may be operational on the weekends since tourism is involved.

Annette Sacks Catering served a light lunch with Sercarz’ recipes of spiced carrot soup, marinated beets, Israeli couscous with vegetables. Attendees left with their own container of carrot soup spice, courtesy of Jewish National Fund.

Nicole Flom said, “Acting as lead staff for my first JNF-USA Women for Israel event in my new position, I am so pleased with the event. I am grateful for my strong lay leadership, which helped

organize and plan an engaging event for 70 women in the greater Atlanta community. Anytime we are able to get a nice group of people together in support of Israel, I see it as a success.” ì

Did you love the food? These were Chef Lior’s featured dishes. To make them yourself here are the recipes:

• Carrot Soup: http://bit.ly/3Ytn9wM

• Beet Salad: http://bit.ly/3lzKtur

• Couscous Salad: http://bit.ly/40SIEJ8

Beth Gluck, JNF executive director, Greater Atlanta, and Nicole Flom, senior campaign executive, use the Dunwoody trees as the perfect backdrop.

Leaders Sheri Labovitz and Sharoni Levison are fans of Sercaz and JNF goals.

After his formal remarks, Chef Lior Lev Sercarz mingled with women in the audience.

Chef Lior Lev Sercarz is flanked by co-chairs Stacy Libowski and Julie Sack, showing off his books.

Israeli Experts Address Jewish Hatred

By Jan Jaben-Eilon

While it has been widely reported that antisemitic incidents are rising and antisemitic expressions have come out of the mouths of celebrities, according to Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Office in Jerusalem, antisemitism is under-reported and most incidents “are not ever submitted to the police.” In New York, he added for emphasis, there has been only one conviction of antisemitism. Zuroff, an American-born Israeli historian and Nazi hunter, was speaking at a virtual international program, sponsored by the Jerusalem Press Club days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, this year on Jan. 27. He also noted that, in addition to actual antisemitic incidents, “Holocaust denial has been under the radar,” and must be called out by governments around the world.

Zuroff would know. He is the coordinator of Nazi war crimes research worldwide for the Wiesenthal Center, and the author of its annual “Status Report” on the worldwide investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals, which includes a list of most-wanted Nazi war criminals. Zuroff, who was granted several honors for his work during his long career, published more than 450 articles about the Holocaust and other issues concerning the Jewish world, both in the press and in academic journals.

But he was not the only speaker at the Jerusalem Press Club event. Ambassador Colette Avital, chairperson of the Center Organization of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, vice president of the Conference of Material Claims Against Germany and secretary general of the World Jewish Resti-

“Social media has an important role in promoting antisemitism. It has enabled people to promote racism and antisemitism,” according to Ambassador Colette Avital

tution Organization, said although she is not an expert on antisemitism, per se, she claims “social media has an important role in promoting antisemitism. It has enabled people to promote racism and antisemitism.”

She called the Holocaust, or Shoah, as it is referred to in Israel, as “unprecedented in Jewish history and in world history” because it was organized by a government. But it didn’t happen “out of the blue.” Anti-Jewish laws preceded the Shoah, starting in 1933. She said the indoctrination of people “made it possible to see Jews as cockroaches. The

government could not have done what it did without the people.”

Avital is a former member of the Israeli legislature, or Knesset, where she was deputy speaker and a member of several committees including the Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee. Prior to her political career, she served in the Israeli Diplomatic Corps, where she attained the highest-ranking position for a woman at the time.

Both speakers were questioned by Talia Dekel, representing the Jerusalem Press Club. There was also a pre-recorded interview with Ahmed Obaid Al-Mansooru, founder of the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, which includes the “We Remember” exhibition about the Holocaust, the first in the Arab World. In fact, Al-Mansooru recounted how he started the museum in his house, on a private basis, and only brought it to the public in 2012.

When asked how people respond to the exhibit, AlMansooru said, “When people come to the museum, they leave their critical hats outside.” He recalled the so-called Golden Age when Jews and Arabs lived together in peace. “We can go back to that. The museum shows people that we can get along.”

Avital said she is “full of admiration for Mr. Al-Mansooru for his courage and pioneering.” But that kind of work in the Arab world, as well as in Europe, “will take many years to change societies. I don’t think antisemitism will disappear.” She also pointed out that antisemitism doesn’t exist in Asia and the “Chinese have tremendous admiration for Jewish people.”

Zuroff acknowledged that there’s a problem getting countries to change their historical narrative. Speaking of Eastern Europe, he said that the West assumed that when countries moved from Soviet-era dictatorships to western democracies, that they would adopt the western narrative. “Instead, we got a totally false narrative,” he said, adding that the European Union should be more proactive in that respect.

Avital suggested that countries need to appoint someone on the national level who can combat antisemitism. Born in Romania, she noted that the country has passed a law that Holocaust education must be provided in high schools. “I’m for education at every level,” she underlined. Germany is one country that has emphasized Holocaust education. “Other nations can do the same. Austria finally has.”

ì

Ahmed Obaid Al-Mansooru founded the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, which includes the “We Remember” exhibition about the Holocaust, the first in the Arab World.

According to Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Office in Jerusalem, “Holocaust denial has been under the radar,” and must be called out by governments around the world.

Fairhaven Circle • Peachtree Hills

for $1,345,000

There’s More to Leonard Cohen Than Just a ‘Hallelujah’

By Bob Bahr

There were very few seats left in the crowded social hall last month at Temple Beth Tikvah as visiting Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin honored the memory of Leonard Cohen, the legendary Jewish Canadian singer and composer who died six years ago at the age of 82.

Many of those who showed up for the evening hadn’t even been born when Cohen released his first album of recorded music in 1967. Fifty-five years later, that album, “The Songs of Leonard Cohen,” is still a strong seller as are many of the other 14 of his studio recordings, including his “You Want It Darker,” that he had worked on almost until he died in late November of 2016.

Since his death, the extraordinary popularity of his “Hallelujah,” first recorded in 1984, has become something of a spiritual hymn for our time. A new documentary film that traces the evolution of the work was shortlisted prior to the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards.

“Hallelujah” is one of the most frequently recorded songs ever written. It has sold more than 10 million copies and been streamed, according to Britain’s Music Ally website, more than five billion times. That figure includes, as Rabbi Salkin reminded his temple audience, the Israel Defense Force.

“Every Saturday night, slash Sunday morning at 4 a.m., the official radio station of the Israel Defense Forces plays ‘Hallelujah.’ It’s been recorded in Hebrew. There’s a version in Yiddish. This is not a song. It is a phenomenon.”

As a number of prominent critics have pointed out, Cohen retains a stronger personal following than perhaps any other musical figure whose career was launched in the folk-rock era of the 1960s and then continued well into the 21st century. His last five years of concert outings, begun in 2008 when his was 74, racked up a remarkable 387 performances before he finally retired from live shows in 2013.

It’s estimated that during that period more than a million concertgoers attended, including a sold-out night at the historic Fox Theater in Atlanta in 2009. Salkin, who has a podcast, 10 books on Jewish thought in print, and is a regular contributor to the Religious News Service, has remained a longtime fan of the Canadian performer. Although much of Cohen’s work was strongly rooted in his Jewish faith, at the same, according to Salkin, he remained a

consistent critic of those beliefs

“He always venerated the fact that he was a Cohen, a descendant of the priestly class,” Salkin said. “But he also regularly expressed his belief that Jewish religious leaders had become more concerned with the nominal survival of Jews as a group, rather than with the survival of their role as witnesses to monotheistic faith. So, he found poetry to be his prayer. and music, his form of protest.”

Rabbi Salkin traced that critical voice back to its formal beginnings in his native Montreal, when, in 1964, as an already successful national literary figure there, he was invited to discuss his Jewish identity. Although he was the scion of a distinguished Canadian Jewish family, Salkin related that Cohen was scathing in his denunciation of contemporary Jewish religious life.

“The G-d worshiped in our synagogues is a hideous distortion of a su-

preme idea and deserves to be destroyed.” Salkin quoted Cohen as saying in 1964, and who continued, “I consider it one of my duties to expose the platitude which we have created.”

But, as the rabbi pointed out, there was more. The young poet, who was 29 at the time, continued his withering metaphorical criticism.

“The community is like an old lady whose canary has escaped in a storm, but who continues to furnish the cage with food and water in the convinced hope that the canary will come back.”

Cohen’s passing has only intensified the examination of the ideas he presented, not only in his recorded work and his public performances, but in the 14 volumes of poetry and three novels that he published in his lifetime.

Just in the last six months, there have been two heavyweight examinations of Cohen’s spiritual legacy. First,

in the September publication of Marcia Pally’s, “From this Broken Hill I Sing To You,” and then, in November, Harry Freedman’s “Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius.”

They join the 2017 publication by Rabbi Aubrey Glazer of “Tangle of Matter and Ghost: Leonard Cohen's Post Secular Songbook of Mysticism. Jewish and Beyond,” as a serious attempt to come to terms with what Glazer calls Cohen’s “uncertainty, doubt and pious agnosticism that speaks so profoundly to listeners today.”

As Salkin reminded his Temple Beth Tikvah audience, this incomplete search for meaning in our lives is best summarized in a verse from his 1992 composition, "Anthem.”

“Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” ì

Leonard Cohen, in the front row, right, with his Montreal Hebrew school graduation class in 1949.

Leonard Cohen had a lifelong commitment to his Jewish heritage.

Temple Beth Tikvah guest Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin described Leonard Cohen as someone whose “poetry was his prayer.”

Gravesite of Leonard Cohen in the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery in Montreal

NCJW Prepares Post-Abortion Care Packages

By Jan Jaben-Eilon

In anticipation of the National Council of Jewish Women’s Repro Shabbat, Feb. 17-18, which promotes reproductive justice, dozens of women in the Atlanta section spent hours at the NCJW offices preparing postabortion care packages to give to women after they have had the procedure.

According to Susie Greenberg, an NCJW board member and a board alumnus of Planned Parenthood South-

east, some 50 kits were prepared. Inside the packages were ibuprofen, menstrual pads, socks, mints, pregnancy tests and handwritten notes from the NCJW participants.

“Think of it as a comfort care kit to lift their spirits,” she said, calling what she assisted doing “a passion.”

The pro-abortion kits were then delivered to abortion providers Planned Parenthood and Feminist Women’s Health Center. Sherry Frank, co-president of the Atlanta section of NCJW, reported that when she told women to whom she handed the packages that

they were courtesy of NCJW, “one woman started crying.” Frank called the NCJW’s effort “a small act of good Black-Jewish relations.”

In Georgia, abortions are allowed only up to six weeks of pregnancy. “It’s hard to have an abortion in this political situation,” said Greenberg, a mother of four. “We’re probably outsupplying the demand.”

The post-abortion kits were only part of the Mitzvah Marathon held that day by NCJW. More than 90 bags were compiled for homeless women, as well as 152 sandwiches and 30 refugee welcome kits.

The post-abortion comfort care kits are the newest abortion advocacy initiative of NCJW, said local copresident Stacey Hadar Epstein. This year will be the second Repro Shabbat promoted by NCJW on a national level, as well as a local level where a number clergy have signed on in support.

The parasha for Feb. 17-18 is Parshat Mishpatim, chosen for the NCJW’s Repro Shabbat to highlight reproductive justice. The well-known “eye for an eye” clause comes from Exodus 21:22-25 in Mishpatim, which is Hebrew for “laws.” Several local clergies last year pointed out that Judaism’s understanding of – even support for – abortion is based on this Torah portion.

The goal of Repro Shabbat was to provide the Jewish framework to encourage people to protect the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in some situations across the United States, until last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that constitutional right. Now each state is determining its own laws for or against abortion. NCJW has entitled its advocacy program, 73Forward Campaign, in response.

Last year, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that the state’s six-week abortion ban, enacted in 2019, was void from the beginning because the Georgia Constitution prohibits the legislature from passing laws that violate federal constitutional precedent. At the time, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, allowing abortions nationwide, still stood and a federal district court blocked the Georgia law.

The State of Georgia requested a stay of that ruling, which was granted a day before Thanksgiving last year. It is likely that the Georgia General Assembly will vote again on an abortion ban. In 2019, the current bill, known as the “heartbeat” ban, was passed by only one vote. ì

Sherry Frank, co-president of the Atlanta section of NCJW, reported that when she told women to whom she handed the packages that they were courtesy of NCJW, “one woman started crying.”

NCJW members prepared more than 90 menstrual bags for homeless women.

Fifty post-abortion care packages were created, then delivered, to women who have had abortions.

Publisher's Note

The New Year is supposed to bring a fresh start, resolutions, and new beginnings. In addition to the New Year, I turned 60 two weeks ago. Another opportunity to take a fresh look at the future and a new decade. As I read the newspapers and talk with my friends, unfortunately there is not a lot of new, fresh or beginnings in the air. I would say we are living in about as dangerous a time as I have ever witnessed. Putting aside the internal strife and divisiveness that our amazing country is in the midst of right now; at no time in recent history has our existential threats been higher nor our enemies more embolden.

Michael A. Morris Publisher

weapons, that everyone knows, including themselves, will be used to murder innocent civilians, is horrifying. There is not one person inside or outside of these countries that doesn’t recognize who the terrorists, who the extremists are, and who is waging war. The leaders of these countries are gloating at how controlled American and European responses are to their forays. The leaders of these countries are testing their limits with the rest of the world each day.

the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, I fear our prospects of learning from those mistakes are dwindling.

Watching the alignment of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, as the new year unfolds, is terrifying. Watching as these four totalitarian dictatorships work together to create more weapons, more sophisticated

History has clearly told us how this is going to end. At this point, it will take a monumental diplomatic effort to avoid allout war. All these countries have their own belief as to why the rest of the world should be totally beholden to them and their ideals and have shown a willingness to kill their own population and wage terroristic-style war or open conflict with anyone and everyone who doesn’t see it their way. And now, in 2023, they are all working together. What history teaches us is that we, as humans, do not have the capacity to learn from history. Once history gets too old, we forget its value. I sit on the board of the WWII Museum in New Orleans. As we have celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day and will be celebrating

I certainly do not know what the solution is, where compromise lays hidden, but I certainly hope our leadership is figuring this out right now. I applaud President Biden and the leadership of our country for continuing to do more for Ukraine, most recently offering to supply tanks. I am sure this will not be sufficient, and we will need to continue to increase our support in the short term and the long term. I do hope our leaders are spending as much time as it takes, as much resources as it takes, to determine compromises and solutions at each step of the way. As this war rages on, as our enemies’ collusion increases, as each one of them becomes willing to take more risks, America will become the focus of their hatred and we will bear the burden and responsibility of a solution.

This situation will become worse, most likely far worse, before it gets better. Numbers were just released that put the total deaths from this war at almost 300,000 (in less than one year). By reading the daily reports, most of these people were likely civilians (or were civilians a couple months ago). Just to add

some perspective, total COVID-19 deaths over three years for Russia and Ukraine are estimated at 500,000. These are frightening numbers and have all been caused by a mentally deranged dictator who decided to take over, wage war and then destroy a neighboring country, all for the sake of bringing back brotherly Ukrainians to mother Russia; and, if that does not make sense, you haven’t missed a thing. Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un and Ruhollah Khomeini do not rely on truth or fact to substantiate their leadership and absolute control, they utilize lies, fear and murder and know that democracies will be slow to act, they have learned this from history.

I want to end by stating that while I do believe America should be doing more for Ukraine, I do not want nor to relish the thought of entering into a hot war; nor do I want all Europe to fall into war, again. However, with history as my teacher, I am very concerned because the path is quite clear. Europeans and Americans will act out of a preponderance of caution, and our enemies are banking on it. ì

Michael Morris is the publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times.

Like Throwing a Toothpick Into a Tornado

United States provides broad protection for hate speech.

“The proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate,’” U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the 2017 case Matal v. Tam.

Schechter From

Where I Sit

I doubt that the people flinging baggies containing antiJewish flyers onto driveways and lawns in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs before the sun rose on Feb. 5 knew who lived in those homes.

In the darkness they could not know whether the people asleep at that hour were or were not Jewish. That included a Jewish member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Esther Panitch.

It did not matter. Sowing unease in areas with Jewish populations was sufficient.

“Welcome to being a Jew in Georgia-my driveway this morning,” Panitch posted on Twitter, sharing photos of the three baggies her husband found when he went outside to pick up the Sunday newspaper.

When we talked that afternoon, she said, “We can be quiet and then nobody knows that is an issue because we’re not complaining about it or we can be loud and then everybody knows.”

There was little question which approach Panitch would follow. The first-term Democratic legislator was emotional, but resolute when she spoke on the House floor Monday morning. “This weekend, it was my turn to be targeted. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time to be afraid as a Jew in the United States,” she began.

Panitch told the chamber that she is named for her great-aunt, Esther Fried, “who was killed by the Nazis because she was Jewish and disabled.”

“The flyers we received demonized Jews, Judaism, and Jewish culture. They’re filled with the classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and control,” she said. “They came from a group famous for their outright antisemitic lies, including Holocaust denial.”

That would be the Goyim Defense League, which has spread these flyers (in baggies weighted down with corn kernels) across metro Atlanta, elsewhere in Georgia, and throughout the United States.

Each time, Jewish voices ask: Can’t something be done?

You may find the answer disouraging.

No matter how vile, how repugnant, how twisted the messages of the Goyim Defense League and others of their ilk, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the

“Hate speech is protected speech,” said Aaron Ahlquist, a lawyer and director of policy for the Southern Division of the AntiDefamation League.

“There are lines that can’t be crossed. They’re really good at knowing where those lines are,” Ahlquist said of groups pushing their anti-Jewish narrative. Taking care to throw flyers on random driveways or placing them on the windshields of random vehicles in a parking lot provides cover for an accusation of targeting Jews.

“Targeting an individual or individual group crosses the line into harassment. Targeting carries that intent piece, Ahlquist said. “Generally, their defense is, we treated everybody the same. They’re very careful in the language that they use to describe their activity.”

What about Georgia’s hate crime law? “Hate crimes prosecution requires both an underlying crime and the ability to show intent that the action was based on some kind of bias motivation,” Ahlquist said.

Ahlquist and Panitch, who is a veteran criminal defense attorney, said that the best tools currently available may be municipal ordinances against littering, trespassing, permitting, and public safety — which may sound like throwing a toothpick into a tornado — and speaking up.

In her Sunday morning Twitter post, Panitch said: “Govern yourselves accordingly, GDL and Anti-Semites who seek to harm/ intimidate Jews in Georgia. I’m coming for you with the weight of the State behind me.”

The Goyim Defense League may have improved the prospects for including a definition of antisemitism in Georgia’s legal code, to aid state agencies and prosecutors in determining whether an alleged crime or discrimination was motivated by antiJewish intent.

Flanked by two dozen or more supportive colleagues, Panitch concluded her remarks on the House floor by saying: “We need your help. We’ve had enough. We hope you have, as well. We know you stand with the Jewish community. We know you stand with the Jewish people against hate in Georgia. I’m heartened by all the love and support I have felt this morning. We all know, it might be the Jews today, but the same people will come after you tomorrow.” ì

Dave

OPINION

Letters to the Editor

Letter to the editor,

I would like to share my letter to Ambassador and Madam Consul General:

I am a diaspora Jew who cares deeply about the State of Israel. I pray for Israel to thrive and prosper, and to live in peace. More than pray, I also lived in Israel for a year and volunteered on an Israeli military base as part of the ‘Volunteers for Israel’ program. I’m not a citizen of Israel, but I believe we Jews are a people whose fate is bound together. I write to you in alarm at both the make-up and policies of the new Israeli government.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is an indicted politician clinging to power by inviting extremists into the government. Itamar Ben-Gvir, who openly incites hatred of non-Jews, was convicted of supporting the terrorist group Kach. Aryeh Deri was convicted of corruption. Bezalel Smotrich called himself a “fascist homophobe ” These people are either unprincipled, lack integrity, are extremist, or all three. By populating the government with convicts and extremists, Israel is heading down a perilous road that will threaten its democratic character and possibly its very existence.

Though Israelis elected these parties to the Knesset, the Netanyahu government is now poised to undermine and potentially destroy Israel democracy by eviscerating the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. We Americans know very well how important checks and balances are in government; so that one branch of government does not amass unchecked power. A weakened Israeli Supreme Court will give excessive power to the executive without restraint.

To those who attack Israel’s legitimacy, Israel supporters have for decades countered that Israel is a robust democracy, in which a wide spectrum of political views are represented, and in which the minority, especially Israel’s non-Jewish citizens, are protected from the tyranny of the majority. We may no longer be able to make this argument as Israel veers toward authoritarianism. The Netanyahu government is, by its actions, undermining Israeli democracy. And though he claims he will moderate the extremism of his ministers, Netanyahu has created a coalition of hate and intolerance.

I pray for Israel’s survival as a Jewish state and for its survival as a democracy. But I cannot remain silent as Israel’s star dims.

Reuben Haller, Atlanta

Disclamer to our readers:

This section of the newspaper is a forum for our community to share thoughts, concerns and opinions as open letters to the community or directly to the newspaper.

As a letter to the editor, we proof for spelling and grammatical errors only. We do not edit nor vet the information the letter contains. The individual signing the letter is accountable for what they share.

Letter to the editor,

The Georgia legal community mourns the loss of former Rep. Elliott Levitas. The State Bar of Georgia extends condolences to the family, colleagues, and many friends of former U.S. Rep. Elliott H. Levitas, retired from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP in Atlanta, on his passing at the age of 91.

A member of the Georgia Bar since 1955, Rep. Levitas was Georgia’s first Jewish congressman and was known for standing up against racism and for environmental protection. He served 10 years in the Georgia General Assembly, where he became a leading proponent for the development of MARTA, before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 4th Congressional District in 1974.

As an attorney, he helped lead a landmark class-action lawsuit on behalf of 300,000 Native Americans against the federal government in connection with the lands and billions of dollars of Indian trust funds held by the U.S. since the 1880s. In Congress, he chaired a subcommittee investigating the Reagan administration’s efforts to undermine the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency, which led to the firing of dozens of senior officials.

Rep. Levitas also served his country in the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command and as a captain in the Air Force Reserve and was a past chair of the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region Civil Rights Commission. Among other honors, he received the Thomas B. Murphy Lifetime Achievement Award from the Democratic Party of Georgia, the Emory Alumni Association’s Emory Medal, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daily Report.

Rep. Elliott Levitas’ career in law and public service is an inspiration to all Georgia lawyers. We appreciate and will remember his many contributions to the cause of justice in our state.

Sarah B. Akins, President, State Bar of Georgia

Voicing Support for Proposed Antisemitism Bill

This past Saturday, a group of rabid antisemites once again littered several predominantly Jewish communities around the greater Atlanta area with vile antisemitic literature that demonized Jews, Judaism, and Jewish culture.

anti-Zionist political leanings. (This is a group that is also famous for blaming Israel for all the world’s problems.)

Dr. Mark Goldfeder Guest Contributor

Let us assume for a moment that the type of vile language they employed in those flyers is not incitement, and that the people who distributed them in the dead of night did not violate any trespass laws by putting them on private property. Let us assume that what they did is simply protected free speech, as they preemptively claimed. That does not mean that we should not speak out collectively against it, and label it correctly, as antisemitic.

Hate speech is protected, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t call it hateful. It is important that we do so because right now, there is no accepted definition of antisemitism in Georgia, and, according to a recent survey, roughly half of all Americans claim that they do not know what antisemitism is. Practically speaking, what this lacuna means is that if the very people distributing antisemitic literature today under their free speech rights, were then to target and commit a hate crime against a Jewish child tomorrow, they would be able to say- with a straight face- that their actions were not motivated by antisemitism, but rather, for example, by their

That is why there is currently legislation pending in Georgia, HB30 (sponsored by Rep. John Carson and Esther Panitch, the only Jewish legislator in the entire Georgia General Assembly, among others,) to provide a definition of antisemitism for authorities to use when they are assessing the intent behind unlawful hate crimes and discrimination. It is crucial that everyone know what is and is not antisemitic because study after study has shown that the kind of inflammatory discriminatory antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric that this group and others like them are known for, quickly leads to violence against innocent Jewish people.

When a person attacks a Chinese American because they hate China, everyone understands that this is race/ ethnicity-based discrimination. When a person attacks a Jewish American because they hate Israel, all too often people say that it might just be ‘political’ and not anti-Jewish. This bill gives authorities a standard to use as contextual rebuttable evidence of intent for unlawful conduct. Note that opponents of the bill are NOT asking for the ability to continue criticizing Israel - this bill has nothing to do with speech and they have every right to say what they want. They are asking for the ability to continue attacking Jews because of their hatred and get away with it. As it stands, there is no definition in the law for a prosecutor to be able to point to and say that no, targeting an innocent Jewish person because you think Israel did 9/11 is antisemitic, and that was a hate crime.

Does that example sound farfetched? In 2017, a German court decided that the firebombing of a synagogue in Wuppertal was not antisemitic, because the criminals claimed that it was just the way they chose to express their anti-Israel politics. Do you think it couldn’t happen here? Last week lawmakers heard testimony from students in the Georgia public school system who were terrorized with swastikas and death threats while the school administrators wrung their hands and said they weren’t sure if it was antisemitism. They also heard about an innocent girl at a Georgia university who was viciously harassed because she dared to go on a Birthright trip.

To be clear - this bill would not affect an antisemite’s ability to spread their hateful message, because HB30 is not about banning or limiting speech. It is only about helping to stop unlawful discriminatory conduct. But incidents like what happened this weekend do absolutely make it clear why this bill is obviously necessary - because there are clearly hateful bigots out there who are not shy about their intentions. HB30 lets them speak, but it holds them accountable if they should then act on their antisemitic motivations.

There is wide bipartisan support on this bill, and the major Jewish organizations representing the vast majority of Jewish Atlanta have already testified in support of it. I hope that we can all get behind it, and protect the members of the Jewish community, who need this protection.

Dr. Mark Goldfeder, Esq. is director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and Counsel for Hillels of Georgia. ì

OPINION

No Room for Hate When We’re #BrookhavenStrong

Like many others in our community, I was distressed to read about the antisemitic flyers that have recently been littered in and around our neighbors’ homes in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. Unfortunately, Brookhaven has not been a stranger to these despicable acts of vandalism and hate. This past November, our city was subjected to antisemitic graffiti in the highly trafficked area of Dresden Drive and Apple Valley Road near the Brookhaven MARTA station and, perhaps not coincidentally, right near the billboard by JewBelong that reads, “Can a billboard stop antisemitism? No, but you’re not a billboard.”

While the messages conveyed in the graffiti were hateful, more importantly, they were erased.

I’m proud of our city staff and want to share the swift action they took to remove the graffiti and track down the vandal. Within an hour of Brookhaven Police being dispatched, our Parks & Recreation crew covered the vandalism with a tarp, and by mid-morning, the graffiti was painted over and no longer visible. Our Public Works department promptly replaced signs that had also been defaced. After a careful investigation, including meticulous review of nearby video cameras, the suspect in this case was later arrested, thanks to the diligent work of our criminal investigations division. The City of Brookhaven did not hesitate to throw the full weight of its resources into pursuing justice and demonstrating its commitment to stamping out hate.

It is my hope that Brookhaven’s response can serve as a model for all cities to respond immediately and resolutely to acts of hate.

We sent a strong message that hate has no place in Brookhaven.

I’m reminded of the early days of the pandemic when I sponsored a virtual city singalong and art contest titled #BrookhavenStrong. Our community came together in a heartwarming display of unity. That slogan has lived on and even inspired a Facebook page with

the same name. I will even go back to the city’s formation 10 years ago, which was based on a commitment to strengthen our community ties and resources.

This foundation of community has paved the way for Brookhaven to become a city of inclusion that also remembers its roots through a number of inclusive endeavors.

Every January, the city honors the Lynwood Trailblazers at our annual Martin Luther King Day dinner. These are a group of brave folks who once attended the segregated Lynwood School, now Brookhaven Parks & Recreation headquarters. They, bravely and at great cost, integrated into the DeKalb School System in 1968. We’re currently planning Black History Month and Juneteenth commemorations.

Brookhaven is also a proud member of the Welcoming America network, which means we seek to include everyone, and that of course includes immigrants. To that end, we’re always working to ensure the participation of our Hispanic population in our city. We translate most of our publications into Spanish, and we have a staff member whose job is outreach to the Hispanic community, which makes up about 25 percent of our population. We have bilingual police and code enforcement officers on staff.

In 2020, I sponsored a non-discrimination ordinance, enacted by our City Council, to protect our residents’ civil rights regarding employment and services. From nearly the beginning of cityhood, our annual Light Up Brookhaven event in December has included dreidel and menorah lightings, as well as booths and performances from our synagogue groups.

I truly believe these messages of love and inclusion are an integral part of the battle against hate and bigotry.

This is just the beginning – I consider these actions first steps. We are a young city. No doubt there is more we can do, and rest assured we are trying. We’d like to hear from you – let me listen to your ideas and suggestions for how we can do better. We can only be #BrookhavenStrong with you. You can reach me at Linley.Jones@BrookhavenGA.gov. ì

Linley Jones is District 1 Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem, City of Brookhaven

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Guest Contributor

Hawks, State Farm Arena Divert 2M Pounds of Waste

By any measure, it’s a staggering amount.

latable manner is critical for sparking interest among the masses.

David Ostrowsky

In 2022, the Hawks and State Farm Arena were able to divert more than 2,503,745  pounds of all waste (this included nearly one million pounds of materials such as aluminum, cardboard, plastics, and glass) from landfills throughout its yearlong slate of basketball games, concerts and ancillary events.

Now, the franchise, in conjunction with the award-winning venue, is trying to help the public conceptualize and further appreciate the impressive milestone by equating the weight of 2.5 million pounds of recycled items to that of 10 million peaches. Indeed, when it comes to sustainability and environmentalism, presenting the empirical results in a re-

“Not every guest that comes into the building knows about recycling,” Sofi Armenakian, head of sustainability for the Atlanta Hawks, told the Atlanta Jewish Times in a recent interview. “Some may not care so much about it. We’re in the Southeast—we don’t have an infrastructure that supports what we do. We often refer to our arena as a green bubble because you walk into our building and you see consistency. Every bin is set up with intent.”

For years now, the Hawks have been at the vanguard of massive-scale sustainability efforts. Last April, State Farm Arena became the first sports and entertainment arena to become TRUE Platinum certified for zero waste, a mark that signifies diverting more than 90 percent of all waste from landfills while continuing to operate in a sustainable fashion.

And the banner year that was 2022 was one in which the Hawks not only recycled close to a million pounds of aluminum (this can be recycled instantly),

cardboard (it can be reused a half-dozen times), plastics, and glass, but also composted 734,775 pounds of food and organic material (a process whereby organic matter is transformed into fertilizer for local farmers), reused or donated 610,656 pounds of materials including food, electronics, and clothing, and further limited annual waste by doing away with paper tickets.

Armenakian was quick to note, “Food is never wasted. Our No. 1 priority is to donate. If it can’t be, then we definitely compost.”

Meanwhile, the jam-packed concert schedule translated to hundreds, if not thousands, of early-arriving patrons parting with their soon-to-be-donated chairs and blankets upon entry to the building.

Going back a little earlier in the decade, since summer 2021, the Hawks and State Farm Arena have partnered with Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, to continue motivating hoops fans and concertgoers to recycle. The collaboration to promote sustainability, mindful recycling, and a circular economy culminated in the recent unveiling of “FULL COURT PRESS,” a 400-pound sculpture consisting of upcycled aluminum cups and cans resemblant of the primary Hawks logo, now located on the Terrace level by the Gate 2 entrance.

Forging the 2021 partnership with Novelis, eclipsing the 2.5-million-pound mark in 2022, and implementing 2023 goals, the chief of which will involve leveraging automation technology to streamline processes, naturally involve great ingenuity and foresight.

“My passion has always been about doing something that hasn’t been done

and doing the right thing and doing things in a really efficient way,” said Armenakian, who previously worked in the retail and consulting industries before serving as the manager of event conversions and sustainability at AMB Sports + Entertainment from which she segued to her current post with the Hawks.

“It was really exciting that the intersection of sports and sustainability still has so much opportunity. Sustainability is about innovation and it’s continuing to evolve.”

But Armenakian is the first to acknowledge that 2.5 million pounds also represents an untold number of manhours performing the not so glamorous work of digging through one scrap heap after another in search of the discarded Coke can that found its way into the wrong bin. The inconvenient truth is that for many members of the public—although certainly not all—there is a feeling of apathy when it comes to making the extra effort to recycle properly, which makes for long evenings for State Farm Arena’s Zero Waste Squad, a noble team of employees that toils tirelessly to rid the building of unused waste.

Armenakian is hoping that the efforts on behalf of the Hawks and State Farm Arena go a long way toward serving as a paradigm for how other multipurpose venues can operate in a more environmentally conscious fashion while raising awareness of environmental sustainability both internally and externally.

“There’s just a lack of infrastructure that supports that behavior, especially in the Southeast where it’s just not the norm,” she reiterated. “I’m hopeful places are starting to implement things.” ì

Sofi Armenakian, head of sustainability for the Atlanta Hawks, is trying to revolutionize the way that stadiums across the southeastern United States view their respective recycling efforts.

How much is 2.5 million pounds of waste? Approximately 10 million peaches, or enough to lace across the state of Georgia from top to bottom.

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Atlanta Falcons Promote Five Senior Execs

By David Ostrowsky

Coming off their second consecutive 7-10 season, the Atlanta Falcons are sticking with Arthur Smith as head coach and Terry Fontenot as GM. However, there are significant changes afoot in the front office. Quite a few significant changes, in fact.

The morning after their season concluded with a 30-17 win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the franchise announced the promotions of five senior executives to new positions within the Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment portfolio, which includes the Falcons along with the Atlanta United and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Steve Cannon, CEO of AMBSE, was named vice chairman of AMBSE; Rich McKay was promoted to CEO of AMBSE while continuing to serve as CEO of the Atlanta Falcons; Greg Beadles was named president of the Atlanta Falcons, and will preside over all of the franchise’s business functions; AMBSE chief revenue officer Tim Zulawski was elevated to president of AMBSE; and Dietmar Exler was tapped as executive vice president and chief operating officer of MercedesBenz Stadium.

Even though the off-season is barely a month old, an NFL team’s front office is typically waist-deep with game planning for free agency, which kicks off March 15, and evaluating college players for the following month’s NFL Draft. But amidst impending momentous decisions, Blank has a proclivity for thinking in the future tense, annually talking of succession planning so that his businesses are set up for sustained success and his longtenured employees, such as Beadles, who cut his teeth in the NFL when he started as an intern for the Falcons back in the mid-'90s, are rewarded.

“I may not even have known what a president did at that time [mid-'90s],” said Beadles, who grew up wearing Steve Bartkowski’s jersey and red helmet in his backyard as a child in Georgia. “It was definitely beyond my comprehension that I could possibly do something like that at that point. I was just looking to get my foot in the door and learn what this business is all about.”

The NFL is now a multi-billion dollar business that has seemingly grown a hundredfold from the days of the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys virtually having a monopoly on the Lombardi Trophy and MLB ballparks doubling as NFL stadiums and games getting blacked

out on local television because of unused tickets.

“It [NFL] has changed dramatically on so many different fronts,” added the Falcons’ new president. “On the field, the level of competition and parity and everything that the league has done over the years to improve that has been fantastic to where we have the great product that we have today.

“Everything there is so much bigger than when I came into the league 28 years ago now. The financial metrics and numbers are just something I could have never imagined where they are today from back in those early days in my career.”

The nascent days of Beadles’ career with the Falcons marked the beginning of McKay’s run as GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A big believer in organization-wide continuity, McKay served as the architect of the 2002 Super Bowl champion Bucs team—one stacked with franchise legacy players such as Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, and Ronde Barber—before sliding over to the Falcons in December 2003. Despite the Falcons falling short of the postseason the last two years, McKay remains a steadfast adherent to the system Smith and Fontenot are instilling.

“We had a bunch of close games,” said McKay. “We certainly had some opportunities, but I think we saw the plan that Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot have for the football team—the type of football team they want to have going forward. So now this is a big step for us in

this off-season. The first off-season really, it has to be at least five years or six years, since we’ve actually opened free agency under the cap. Usually, we have had to go into free agency and find a way to get under the cap. This will be the first time that we’ve been, let’s call it, active in free agency and using free agency as a piece to complement the building blocks they [Smith and Fontenot] put the last couple years.

"If all goes according to McKay’s plan, said free agent acquisitions, along with recent first-round picks Kyle Pitts and Drake London, will be longtime pillars of the Falcons organization…just like the aforementioned trio of Sapp, Brooks, and Barber were in Tampa.

“In the NFL, there is a limited talent

pool and there are all of these restrictions [free agency, it takes four years for a player to be able to leave a team],” added McKay. “When you live in that world, if you make a lot of changes in your plan, in your approach [toward] the players you want, and you cycle through those players, they’re not so easily replaceable. That’s why when you make any type of major change, you want to try to have sustained success for as long as you can and stay into that plan because then you don’t have to go back into the pool and start over again on players.

“They [Smith and Fontenot] did a really good job of resetting the team two years ago and have really built on it from that day. That’s what gives us a lot of confidence going into 2023 for sure.”

ì

Now entering his 29th year with the Falcons, Greg Beadles was recently elevated to team president, a post in which he will oversee the team’s finance, operations, marketing, human resources, and community relations functions.

One of the longest-tenured executives in the NFL, Rich McKay, as CEO of AMBSE, will still preside over football operations while offloading some business responsibilities to his colleagues.

Dietmar Exler has been tabbed as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Steve Cannon, CEO of Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment, has been named vice chairman of AMBSE.

Tim Zulawski, AMBSE chief revenue officer, has been promoted to president of AMBSE.

Jerusalem Man Vows to Save Lives

A man in his early 30s recently collapsed from an overdose in his home in Jerusalem as worried family members called medical services for help.

Shimon Uzan, a United Hatzalah EMT volunteer, was just on his way to work in the Ministry of Defense when he got alerted about the emergency. Uzan was already on his ambucycle and drove off to the emergency. When he arrived just a moment later, another volunteer was at the scene and the two worked together. After quickly checking for vital signs and finding none, Shimon initiated chest compressions while the other EMT attached her bag valve mask to the patient’s mouth, pressing on the BVM at regular intervals in order to provide assisted ventilation in

Today in Israeli History

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full CPR protocol.

A few minutes after the volunteers arrived, a mobile intensive care ambulance joined the efforts to save the woman’s life. The paramedic on board opened an IV line and provided the patient with an antioverdose drug. Shimon continued providing chest compressions trying to revive the patient. As the rescue efforts kicked in, the patient began to spasm. The combined EMS team continued CPR efforts until the patient’s pulse came back. After the patient’s condition was stabilized, he was moved onto a stretcher bed and transported to the nearest hospital for further care.

After the incident ended, Uzan recounted: “I started being an EMT because my brother-in-law passed away due to a cardiac arrest back in France. When I made Aliyah, I decided to learn what to do in emergency situations, so others won’t have to lose their loved ones, as I did. Thankfully, the CPR ended successfully. We worked hard trying to revive the patient, and, after 30 minutes, he regained his pulse. As an EMT I don’t bring my personal feelings to emergency scenes, I stay calm and collected even when it seems hopeless. In some cases, the patients survive just because I was persistent. Today wasn’t the first time I saved a person’s life, but each life I save is, in a small way, in honor of my brother-in-law.

Tel Aviv University Researchers Invent Robot Able to ‘Smell’

A new technological development from Tel Aviv University has made it possible for a robot to smell using a biological sensor. The sensor sends electrical signals as a response to the presence of a nearby odor, which the robot can detect and interpret.

In this new study, the researchers successfully connected the biological sensor to an electronic system and, using a machine learning algorithm, were able to identify odors with a level of sensitivity 10,000 times higher than that of a commonly used electronic device. The researchers believe that this technology may be used in the future to identify explosives, drugs, diseases, and more.

The research was led by doctoral student Neta Shvil of TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience, Dr. Ben Maoz of TAU’s Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Professors Yossi Yovel

and Amir Ayali of TAU’s School of Zoology and Sagol Schol of Neuroscience.

“Man-made technologies still can’t compete with millions of years of evolution,” Maoz and Ayali explain. “One area in which we particularly lag behind the animal world is that of smell perception. An example of this can be found at the airport, where we go through a magnetometer that costs millions of dollars and can detect if we are carrying any metal devices. But when they want to check if a passenger is smuggling drugs, they bring in a dog to sniff him. In the animal world, insects excel at receiving and processing sensory signals. A mosquito, for example, can detect a 0.01 percent difference in the level of carbon dioxide in the air. Today, we are far from producing sensors whose capabilities come close to those of insects.”

The researchers point out that, in general, our sensory organs, such as the eye, ear and nose — as well as those of all other animals — use receptors that identify and distinguish between different signals. Then, the sensory organ translates these findings into electrical signals, which the brain decodes as information. The challenge of biosensors is in the connection of a sensory organ, like the nose, to an electronic system that knows how to decode the electrical signals received from the receptors.

2017. //

By Leslie N. Emory, White House

Feb. 15, 2017: President Donald Trump plays host to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli’s first trip to Washington since his speech to Congress against the Iran nuclear deal in March 2015.

Feb. 16, 1910: Miriam Roth, who elevates children’s literature in Israel, is born in Slovakia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She makes aliyah in 1931 but doesn’t begin writing her 23 children’s books until the 1970s.

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

The U.N. Special Commission on Palestine proposed dividing Palestine into a Jewish state (in blue) and an Arab state (in yellow), with Jerusalem separated from both as an international zone.

Feb. 18, 1947: Amid rising intercommunal violence, the British government asks the United Nations to decide the future of Palestine, leading to the partition plan the U.N. General Assembly approves Nov. 29, 1947.

Feb. 19, 1936: Led by Moshe Shertok (Sharett), the Jewish Agency convenes Zionist leaders to discuss how to keep purchasing land for the growing Jewish population in Palestine despite anticipated British restrictions.

Feb. 20, 1957: In a nationally televised address, President Dwight Eisenhower emphasizes the need for Israel to abide by U.N. resolutions calling for its withdrawal from all of Sinai and the Gaza Strip after the 1956 war.

Feb. 21, 1852: Pope Pius IX protests the partial emancipation of Jews under Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany. The pope writes of the need to try to keep Catholics “from having any contact with the infidels.”

Bombs leave wide destruction on Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda Street on Feb. 22, 1948.

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.

Feb. 23, 1966: Young army officers take power in a coup against Syria’s Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party. Hafez al-Assad is named the defense minister, putting him in charge of the military in the June 1967 war against Israel.

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

Feb. 25, 1928: Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv hold the first match in the city’s oldest soccer rivalry, a 3-0 home victory for Maccabi. Maccabi wins the rematch on Hapoel’s home field a week later, 2-1.

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, Israel’s 11th prime minister, 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 as defense minister.

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

I’m happy that I could do him proud today.”

Shimon Uzan, a United Hatzalah EMT volunteer, dedicated himself to saving lives after his brother-in-law died due to a cardiac arrest // Photo Credit: United Hatzalah

Compiled by AJT Staff

Tel Aviv University researchers have invented a robot with the ability to perceive smells.

President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Feb. 15,

Ariel Sharon visits the Suez Canal in 1982.

Aliyahed Atlanta Rabbis Speak Out About Government

By Jan Jaben-Eilon

Congregational rabbis in Atlanta, like most American Jews, often feel hesitant to voice their opinions about Israel. After all, they are not living in Israel.

Not so for rabbis who formerly lived and worked in Atlanta, but who have since immigrated to Israel. Several contacted by the AJT express equally divergent opinions, similar to local rabbis – but in much stronger terms.

“The prospect of the Knesset passing the [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu-endorsed judicial reform bill makes me feel less safe in Israel than I felt during the 2000-2005 wave of terrorism (known as the Second Intifada),” stated Rabbi Adam Frank, who led a major Conservative, or “Masorti,” congregation in Jerusalem until 2019. He now focuses his efforts on two areas of social activism: fighting against the monopoly of the Israeli Rabbanut (rabbinic authorities) on matters of Jewish life cycle and kashrut, and animal welfare.

According to Frank, “Not only will the judicial reform bill allow the most zealous government in Israel’s history to unilaterally dictate rules and enforcement, [but] the looming enactment of the bill has already eroded the sense of unity Israelis feel when confronted by an external enemy. The recent murder of seven Israelis outside a synagogue in Jerusalem gave almost no pause for unity of Israel’s citizens because over half of the country feels threatened by the current government.”

He claimed that “by naming their party the ‘Religious Zionist Party,’ leaders Betzalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Avi Maoz and others have smeared the reputation of religious Zionists. A friend

tells me he wants to make a T-shirt that reads: I am religious. I am Zionist. I am not a Religious Zionist.”

Although the current Israeli government, sworn in at the end of 2022, is considered the most right-wing in the country’s history, of the numerous proposed changes the Netanyahu government is endorsing, a proposed overhaul of its judicial system is attracting the most attention, both within Israel and in the rest of the world.

In a nutshell, the proposals suggest an overhaul aimed at limiting the powers of the country’s judiciary, including by allowing the Knesset, or legislature, to pass laws that Israel’s Supreme Court has struck down. The reforms would also give politicians more power over how judges are chosen – including on the Supreme Court – and limit the independence of government legal advisers.

Even strong supporters of Israel and Netanyahu, like noted lawyer Alan Dershowitz, have condemned the proposed changes, saying that they pose a threat to civil liberties and minority rights in Israel.

In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Dershowitz said, “If I were in Israel, I would be joining the protests.”

He was referring to the weekly Saturday night protests that have brought tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets, not just in Tel Aviv, but in Jerusalem, Haifa, Modi’in, Beer Sheva, and elsewhere. In addition to those mega-protests, various groups and industries, including doctors in their white coats, high-tech employees during the middle of their workdays, students, army reservists, agricultural workers, lawyers and others have gathered in protest against the proposed judicial changes.

Protest organizers plan a nationwide worker strike as well.

A growing number of Israeli hightech companies have announced that they are transferring their funds out of Israel because of predictions that investors from abroad will slow, if not halt, their investments in the country. Economists in Israel, and banks and credit rating companies abroad, have all warned that the proposed judicial changes will create an unstable and uninviting environment for business.

Rabbi David Geffen, who made Aliyah in 1977, said, “I can only look from afar because I am 84, too old to do anything…[but] the way it sounds, Israel will be challenged by the financial institutions of the world especially because of Israel’s judicial changes. If those challenges become real, then Israel will suffer.”

Not every former Atlanta rabbi has the same concerns. Citing the protesters’ fears for the future of the country’s democracy, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman stated, “There was no coup d’état. There was an election, the rightists won, the left-liberals lost. The cries of the losers, incited by the leftist media, are not about loss of democracy, but about their own loss of power.” Feldman, who helmed Orthodox Congregation Beth Jacob before he immigrated to Israel in 1991, contends that “Israel remains vigorously and fully democratic.”

Former Congregation Or Hadash Rabbi Mario Karpuj, who made Aliyah with wife, Rabbi Analia Bortz, in 2020, acknowledged that he’s concerned about the proposed judicial changes.

“I love that the society has been outspoken and taken to the streets. It’s hard from America to grasp what’s happening here.” He suggests that 100,000 protesters in Israel would equal in the millions

in the U.S. So far, he hasn’t joined any of the protests, although his wife, daughters and friends have. His everyday life, however, feels unchanged and non-political, he said.

But according to a recent poll commissioned by the Jewish People Policy Institute, the differences of opinion among Israelis about the direction of the new government could lead to a civil war. Sixty percent of Israelis believe there’s a good likelihood that the struggle over the proposed judicial reforms could turn violent. More than a third fear a civil war could result.

Rabbi Frank, who lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Lynne, and three children – the oldest of which will enter the army in August, said, “Despite the hard-right composition of the current Israeli government, the large majority of Israelis are opposed to the judicial reform bill, endangering the rights of minorities, women and the LGBTQ+ community; the economic and educational concessions to ultra-Orthodox demands; and the draconian religious monopoly of the Israeli Rabbanut. The pursuit of justice is not an aphorism in Israel – it’s in our DNA.”

He added, “As an American living in Israel, from afar I witnessed the destructiveness of the last six years of U.S. politics, upon the fabric of American society, whereby patriotism no longer seems to unify U.S. citizens. If the current Netanyahu government does not change course and govern on behalf of all Israelis, then Israel will suffer a similar destruction. I do not entertain living anywhere else but Israel; to live elsewhere means that the future of Israel is not a priority. To live elsewhere means that I condone, or even accept, others determining the character of the country.”

ì

Rabbi David Geffen said, “…the way it sounds, Israel will be challenged by the financial institutions of the world.”

Rabbi Adam Frank feels less safe in Israel now than he did during the Second Intifada in 2000-2005.

In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Alan Dershowitz said, “If I were in Israel, I would be joining the protests.”

Rabbi Emanuel Feldman stated, “There was no coup d’état. There was an election, the rightists won, the left-liberals lost.”

Atlanta Attorney Releases Third Novel

In follow up to the success of his first two novels, “Chain of Custody” (2012) and “Rally on Two” (2018), Atlanta attorney Scott I. Zucker has just released his third novel entitled “Battle for Life.”

“‘This book was a challenge for me to write,” Zucker said. “I tried to weave together a fictional father and son journey story along with the true story of my father’s military service during World War II. I wanted to tell both stories together. The combined narrative is all about love, courage, and loss.”

Zucker continued, “My dad served as a radarman on an aircraft carrier during the war as it supported the invasions on the Pacific islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On May 11, 1945, his ship was hit by two kamikaze planes within minutes of each other. That day, 393 sailors and airmen were killed, and 264 men were injured. He was injured as well in the attack and received a Purple Heart in honor of his service. Miraculously, the ship did not sink. It was considered one of the most-deadly attacks on a naval ship during World War II.”

In “Battle for Life,” Sam Silver is a 60-year-old lawyer balancing work and his family after having moved back to his hometown to care for his ailing parents. Now, his 90-year-old father, Max,

has asked Sam to accompany him to Washington, D.C., for a reunion of his crewmates from the Navy ship he sailed with during World War II. Managing the stress of life, Sam embarks on a final road trip with his father, exploring along the way not only his father’s lessons about handling adversity and heartache but exposing some long-kept secrets about his experience in the war.

Together, Max and Sam share a journey of understanding about loss and love and the challenges that each of us face as we go through life. Together, they recognize the ultimate lesson - that life can be a battle, but worth the fight.

Zucker is a partner in the law firm of Weissmann Zucker Euster + Katz, P.C. based in Atlanta and manages Epic Resolution Services, a national mediation and arbitration service. He is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and the George Washington University National Law Center. He and his wife, Melanie, have two grown sons and a new daughter-in-law.

The book can be purchased online through Amazon or via Scott’s website ScottiZucker.com. Scott can be reached as Scott@wzlegal.com.

Compiled by AJT Staff

“Battle for Life,” the new novel by Atlanta attorney Scott I. Zucker, is available for purchase on Amazon or through Zucker’s website at ScottZucker.com.

Atlanta attorney Scott I. Zucker has released his third novel, “Battle for Life.”

Berman Fink Van Horn Celebrates 25 Years

Fundraiser Supports Drake House Efforts

This year, Berman Fink Van Horn celebrates the 25-year history of its name partners, Jeffrey Berman, Benjamin Fink, and Charles Van Horn, joining together to practice law. Over the last 25 years, BFV has grown substantially as its reputation for excellence has expanded.

“While our firm has evolved in many ways over the last 25 years,” said Benjamin Fink, a shareholder that is celebrating 25 years with BFV, “we have always taken a collegial, collaborative and entrepreneurial approach to serving the legal needs of our business clients and community.”

Since 1997, BFV has expanded its practice and grown strategically. To date, Berman, Fink, and Van Horn have added nine shareholders to expand the depth and breadth of BFV’s practice, and to support the management and hands-on business operations of the law firm. BFV provides legal services in the areas of business and real estate litigation; noncompete and trade secrets; mergers and acquisitions; labor and employment; general corporate; banking litigation and creditors’ rights and more.

Building a team of next generation at-

torneys and staff is equally paramount to the firm; many of the attorneys have gained recognition thorough the “Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers,” “Super Lawyers” and “Rising Stars” selection process and other key rankings and recognitions, such as “Best Lawyers” and “Best Law Firms.” Today, BFV has more than 20 attorneys, and the firm was recognized recently as a 2022 Best Place to Work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

This month, BFV will officially celebrate its 25-year journey by hosting anniversary events in its new office space with employees, friends and family, clients and professional colleagues.

“We are incredibly proud of the new and lasting partnerships with employees, clients and other professionals that we have built along the way,” said Charles Van Horn, a BFV shareholder that is celebrating 25 years with BFV. “I can think of no better time to celebrate a bright, prosperous future together then at the start of the new year and to thank everyone for their longstanding support and friendship,” Van Horn concludes.

More information is available at bfvlaw. com.

In recent years, The Drake House in North Fulton has made quite an impact in the Atlanta community. The Drake House is an agency that provides emergency and transitional program-enriched housing for single mothers and their children who are experiencing homelessness.

One way to support The Drake House is to shop at The Drake Closet, a boutique that sells new and gently used women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories, with 100 percent of the proceeds going back to The Drake House. There are now three locations of The Drake Closet – Alpharetta, Sandy Springs, and a recently re-opened store in Roswell.

On Jan. 19, more than 70 women came out for the Ladies Night fundraising event at The Drake Closet in Roswell. Collectively, they were able to raise more than $1,700, as well as many donations of clothing and accessories brought in for future sales.

While the event was hosted by Personality Plates, event sponsors included: Fry Goehring Law Firm, The Renew Communi-

ty/Andree Group Consulting, Street Studio Creative, and Doodle Pies.

“It was an incredible night,” said Amy Rees, CEO of Personality Plates. “Women came from all over Atlanta to connect, shop, and learn about the important work The Drake House is doing. The Drake Closet volunteers went above and beyond making the event feel like one big party!”

The Drake House empowers women and their children experiencing homelessness to achieve economic independence and long-term stability.

The Drake House has provided nearly 200,000 bed nights to homeless families since 2006. More than 545 female-headed families have entered the program, including over 1028 children.

Rees says, “The community can still make a donation via this link if they would like to support The Drake House: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/drake-house-inc/ donate-now/amy-w-rees.”

Halpern Honored with Prestigious Business Award

By Robyn Spizman Gerson

With decades of accomplishments, food industry expert Kirk Halpern, founder and CEO of Farmers & Fishermen, has been honored for his years of community service and business acumen. His son, Ben Halpern, who serves as executive vice president, continues his father’s vision as they launched Farmers & Fishermen in 2019, pivoting to create one of the fastestgrowing home delivery companies in the nation.

The latest award for Kirk Halpern, recently announced, was by the headline sponsor Wipfli LLP, who shared that Halpern has been selected as a 2023 Georgia

Titan 100. The Titan 100 program recognizes Georgia’s Top 100 CEOs and C-level executives. They are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria that includes demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion.

Collectively, the 2023 Georgia Titan 100 and their companies employ upwards of 118,000 individuals and generate more than $36 billion in annual revenues. Halpern’s non-profit leadership includes having served as the former board chair of Goodwill of North Georgia, helping to get people back to work.

According to Jaime Zawmon, president of Titan, “The Titan 100 are preemi-

nent leaders who have built a distinguished reputation that is unrivaled and preeminent in their field. We proudly recognize the Titan 100 for their efforts to shape the future of the Georgia business community.”

Halpern will be honored at the Titan 100 awards on April 27 at Zoo Atlanta’s Savanna Hall, which is one of the city’s most treasured historic buildings

Compiled by AJT Staff

(Second from right) Amy Rees, founder of Personality Plates with the Drake Closet volunteers.

Jacki Chambers, Drake Closet area manager; Amy Rees, Personality Plates event host; and Kimberly Jackson, Drake House development director.

BFV marks 25th anniversary with new office, brand, website and celebration with clients and colleagues.

25 years ago, Charles Van Horn, Jefferey Berman and Benjamin Fink joined together to practice law.

Kirk Halpern, founder and CEO of Farmers & Fishermen, was recognized as a 2023 Georgia Titan 100.

Rabbi Leads Opening Prayer at State House

By Dave Schechter

History was made Wednesday morning Feb. 1 as the opening prayer in the Georgia House of Representatives was delivered by Darshanit Miriam Udel, an Orthodox rabbi and professor at Emory University.

Udel was introduced by Democratic Rep. Esther Panitch, who greeted the chamber with the words “Shalom, y’all,” not once, but twice. Panitch said, to applause from the chamber, that, insofar as could be determined, Udel was the first Jewish female rabbi, of any denomination, to lead the House in prayer.

Udel is one of the first Orthodox Jewish women ordained, choosing the title Darshanit, meaning “interpreter of text.”  Udel is  the Judith London Evans Director of the Tam Institute of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture.

Udel recognized “a little bit of history that we are making here today” as she began her remarks, a davar based on the coming Shabbat’s Torah portion, “Shabbat Shirah,” the Sabbath of song.

Video of Panitch intro and Udel speaking near the beginning at this link: www. legis.ga.gov/video/house

Rabbi Witnesses Lesserseen Capitol Hill Attitude

By Dave Schechter

The news reported from Washington, D.C., often focuses on division and polarization, but Rabbi Joshua Heller, of Congregation B’nai Torah, found a different attitude when he attended the 71st annual National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 2, as the guest of Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

“I had a chance to talk with congressmen and senators from both sides of the aisle and the people who were there, were there out of a sense of collegiality and common purpose,” Heller, senior rabbi of the Conservative congregation in Sandy Springs told the AJT. “The people who were there, were there for the right reasons. A major theme was reconciliation, which I think is an important challenge.”

Though the program had a distinctly Christian flavor, other rabbis, as well as representatives of the Muslim and Hindu communities were present, “so I felt that I was there showing respect to the faith being expressed, even if it was not my own,” Heller said.

The co-chairs of the event, held in the U.S. Capitol visitors center, were Demo-

cratic Rep. Lucy McBath, who represents Georgia’s 7th district, and Republican Rep. Tim Walberg, from Michigan, both Illinois natives and motorcycle enthusiasts. President Joe Biden was among the speakers. Heller’s trip was brief. He spent time with Ossoff and the senator’s staff, toured the Capitol, attended the breakfast — but, given the demands of a rabbi’s life, “at 11 a.m., sharp, I ran out of the Senate office building to catch a flight that would get me back to Atlanta just in time for my afternoon appointments with bar mitzvah students.”

Darshanit Miriam Udel (left) and Georgia Rep. Esther Panitch after Udel delivered the morning prayer in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff (right) introduces Rabbi Joshua Heller (left) to an attendee at the National Prayer Breakfast, held Feb. 2 in Washington, D.C. // Photo Credit: Press Office of Jon Ossoff

Mekelburg’s ‘Over the Top’ Estates

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Philip Mekelburg is founder and CEO of the residence fund, Equity Estates, a leader in shared ownership in the luxury vacation home market since 2006.

Equity Estates is a private offering that aggregates ownership and use of vacation homes…but these are not just anyone’s cribs and digs as shelter. Equity Estates offers families a way to own and use a wide selection of “magazine fabulous” vacation homes between $3 million and $5 million each.

Mekelburg explained, “It’s collective asset ownership, and we are stewards with a charter to care for the homes and the investors when they travel to them with concierge support and housekeeping. We call it a “Luxury Residence Fund.” Some send employees for perks, others do guys, girls and friend trips. After 10 years, we sell the homes and share the hopeful profits. Between now and then, the investors share in the upkeep and maintenance at cost which is way below retail rental rates.”

Here’s how Equity works: They have 30-plus full-time employees and more

than 100 independent contractors, all working to service over 50 luxury homes and upwards of 750 investors. Although they have a small finance office in Sandy Springs, they are basically a virtual company.

They have raised and deployed more than $250 million, with the minimum investment being around $350,000; an executive membership interest offers 15 allotted nights of travel; they also offer elite and advantage levels (30 and 45 nights); finally, each investor must be an accredited investor.

Mekelburg had his metaphorical “light bulb moment” when he attended a wedding at The Temple. A friend was chatting about a country club of private homes, (aka. Destination Club). In that scenario,

the owner of the club owned the homes and members paid a large deposit and dues, without any possible upside, nor fiduciary responsibilities. Mekelburg concluded, “It didn’t make sense to me, and that company ultimately went bankrupt, ironically.”

Backing up to child “biz prodigy,” Mekelburg grew up on Long Island, and moved south in the early 1990s after graduating Cornell University.

Mekelburg took another route working for a consulting firm in Charleston, S.C., where took on a summer internship much to his parents’ chagrin.

“They wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer, or at least some type of ‘professional’ like a CPA and stay closer to home,” he shared. Within months, he secured a full-time job there.

Moving to Atlanta in 1995, he worked in business development, marketing, and operations. Here, he met wife, Kirsten, and they have two children, Sarah, 16, and Elliot, 13, and dog,

Ozzie. Sandy (“Mimi”) Mekelburg lives nearby.

Tall oaks grow from acorns, and in high school, Mekelburg sold seats on the ski trip bus. He recalled, “The trips were epic from a teenagers’ point of view-- two buses, 100 kids and one chaperone. It would never fly now.” Then, he received the local Board of Education Award for Leadership and Service and labeled him, “Mr. Farmington.”

Regarding his working side hustles in high school, he said “I got a little over extended, and still live that way. I lost my brother in seventh grade, so I’d keep myself busy with after school sports and clubs as distractions. I was then fortunate to go on two school trips to Europe, and that’s when I began to appreciate traveling.”

Just a few of Equity Estates’ prized locations are located in: Bali, Puglia, Ibiza, Vienna, Prague, Paris, Florence, Marrakech, Dubai, Lake Tahoe, Phuket, Big

and Cape Town. ì

Phil’s Five Favorite Equity Properties

Sky,

* Wine Country, California — nestled amongst vineyards with an authentic pizza oven and pool

* Thompson Cove, Turks & Caicos — huge ocean front home with a stellar snorkel reef

* Big Sky, Montana — Next to Moonlight Basin Lake Lodge

* Florence, Italy — in historic town center

* Playa Palmilla, Mexico — Breathtaking views of the Sea of Cortez; see whales from the patio

Phil Mekelburg, a graduate of Cornell University, got inspired by marketing, hospitality, and travel at a young age.

Poolside at the Equity Estates property in Napa Valley, California.

The Great Room, inside an Equity Estates’ property located in Florence, Italy.

Real Estate Moguls Unite to House Homeless

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Open Doors, an Atlanta-based nonprofit focused on securing housing for those exiting homelessness, has received a $300,000 cornerstone gift to the Open More Doors campaign from Norman Radow, CEO of commercial real estate redevelopment company, RADCO.

The Open More Doors campaign is Open Doors’ new strategic plan to address homelessness and housing insecurity in the Metro Atlanta community. Through networking available apartments, nonprofits can serve homeless populations. More than 540 properties, comprising more than 100,000 units, are now participating in the collaboration. Local “King of the Beltline” Aaron Goldman, president and co-owner of Perennial Properties, serves as the founding board chair of Open Doors.

Along with more than 100 community partners, Open Doors is actively closing the gap on housing instability; with every $1,000 donated to Open Doors, a family is placed in a sustainable, affordable home in under 30 days. In 2021, Open Doors connected more than 1,200 people to its portfolio of over 450 multifamily communities that are professionally managed by 120 property management companies, including RADCO.

A noted philanthropist and respected commercial real estate leader, Radow grew up in and around the Brooklyn public housing projects and saw first-hand how poverty and segregation affected public policy. He decided that, if able, he would help families live in safer communities that offered more opportunities.

“Being on the brink of homelessness has never been more important than it is now, when, in fact, the need for affordable, stable and secure housing is growing,…I’ve been involved with Open Doors for a decade, and proud that my daughter, Lisa Hurd, serves on its board and spearheads fundraising. Although it’s hard to say ‘no’ to her, the fact is that homelessness is a pressing concern in society and Atlanta. Open Doors offers practical solutions to homelessness, and now we really see how this is making a difference.”

Radow emphasized that it’s important to place the appropriate people in the right neighborhoods, where their kids go to school, for example, so they can best thrive. He also uses high quality building materials. Radow noted that many of his multifamily buildings are located as far out as Kennesaw, as well as those Intown.

He concluded, “Being in real estate, I feel the obligation to do the most good

whenever we can.”

Goldman reemphasized Radow’s impact, “Norman doesn’t just talk, he acts, quickly and decisively. I come to him first on matters of political judgment and funding, social justice, community, and investing. Norman is exceedingly generous with his time and guidance on US-Israel, Jewish and African American partnerships, affordable and homeless housing, he is first to help, usually three steps ahead on strategy and way ahead on funding. While he and wife, Lindy, are known for incredible support in the Jewish community, and in Israel, they are first movers to support good governance, policies, and non-profit programming. Early in the creation of Open Doors, Norm was one of the first landlords to offer funding, guidance, and apartments in his portfolio to help formerly homeless Atlantans get a fresh, safe, second chance. Thanks to his early participation, others were quick to follow.”

When Norman and daughter Lisa, CIO of RADCO, pledged the $300,000 toward the non-profit’s Open More Doors’ $7 million capital campaign, Radow responded, “Thank you for this incredible service to Atlanta…Where do I send the money?”

Many others followed suit and they are now 90 percent complete on the campaign.

“Through the Open More Doors campaign, we are furthering the work of our amazing partners of making homelessness brief, rare and non-recurring while expanding our scope to help welcome home anyone living in housing insecurity,” said Matt Hurd (no relation to Lisa

Hurd), executive director of Open Doors.

“We are incredibly grateful for our longterm supporter and contributor, Norman Radow, for providing us with one of the

cornerstone gifts of this recently launched funding campaign.”

To support Open More Doors, visit https://opendoorsatl.org/donate/ ì

Norman Radow and daughter, Lisa Hurd, are helping to combat Atlanta homelessness.

PROFESSIONALS & REAL ESTATE

Rabbi Werbin Commits to Building Our Community

After earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Florida, Rabbi Ian (Yitzchok) Werbin became successful in commercial real estate. Exploring Judaism, Werbin spent 12 years studying and learning Jewish philosophy and character development. Looking for more direction in his life, Werbin traveled to Israel to explore Judaism.

Werbin met his wife, Sarah, who had moved from New York to Florida, and then to Israel, for her gap year. They met and married and stayed in Israel, where four of their six children were born.

Family was the focus, as the Werbins moved back to Atlanta on Memorial Day weekend in 2018. It was their dream and desire to be close to their family. Growing up with a sense of Jewish pride,

the Werbin family, Sam, Renee, Stuart, Robyn, and Ian, shared a story of a strong Jewish family.

Sarah is a marriage coach, a kallah teacher, and mikvah educator. Formerly a member of the rabbinical staff at Congregation Beth Jacob, Rabbi Yitzchok Werbin taught and continues to teach a weekly Torah class which is open to the public.

“My sense of Judaism was fading as I left the Hebrew Academy and attended public high school and college. It was time to ponder my sense of meaning and purpose,” Werbin said. “Exploration mode came after college, as I explored the purpose of life: what is it? For me, the main drive came with the second intifada and seeing all the atrocities. Now, it was time for to ponder the purpose of life and my sense of meaning and purpose.”

Rabbi Werbin focuses on helping the next generation of Jews to learn and appreciate their connection to Judaism.

“They need a reason to be Jewish,” he said. “If there isn’t a reason, why do it? This generation of Jews needs to know

why they/you should be Jewish. Very purposeful -- it can change your life!”

In his work, Rabbi Werbin focuses on the pillars of social justice.

“Extremes are balances, dualiies, unified, checks and balances, in all mitz-

vahs. Duality: you/others, with strong views, beliefs, and actions.”

Located in Sandy Springs (not the LaVista crowd) is the community supporting Kesher Torah. The community is extremely diverse…observant and not ob-

Susanne Katz Karlick

Rabbi Yitzchok Werbin, of Congregation Kesher Torah.

servant. Future focus is to reach others, with meaning and purpose, Werbin said.

“Kesher Torah” means “connection to Torah.” The goal of Kesher Torah, according to Werbin, is to build community and connect the Jews of Sandy Springs and to inspire and educate them to a deeper and more meaningful relationship to Judaism. Kesher Torah was founded under Rabbi Werbin’s leadership in 2020 to serve the Sandy Springs community as a resource for prayer, learning, and connection through its unique nonjudgmental approach to Judaism.

“As such, Werbin said, “Fundraising will enable us to repurpose with a $3.5 million building providing adult education and a functioning shul.”

Rabbi Werbin continued about his personal philosophy.

“Often, there is a lack of meaning as you grow older,” Rabbi Werbin explained, “and Kabbalistic learning explores the relationship between body and soul as we age. Soul overcomes the body as we are in our 50s and 60s. This leads to a mid-life crisis, and the soul is so much more meaningful. Excite the soul spiritually, merging two souls into one. The key ingredient in a good marriage is great character. And older generations inspire new generations…wine gets better with age.”

Rabbi Werbin was born and raised in Dunwoody where he attended the Greenfield Hebrew Academy and North Springs High School. He traveled south to attend the University of Florida where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

Enjoying a very successful career in real estate, he was inspired to explore Judaism on a higher level. The impetus behind the inspiration began early in life where he grew up in a traditional kosher Jewish household with loving parents, an older brother and a sister who are both very close and dear. Family life was

steeped in Jewish tradition where Jewish values were taught and practiced and a love for Israel was abundant in all family members, including grandparents who eventually moved into the Werbin home.

The summer after his junior high school year, Werbin attended the Alexander Muss High School in Israel which further instilled his strong positive Jewish and pro-Israel feelings. While Werbin was studying in college, Israel experienced the second intifada and 9/11 occurred which had a tremendous impact on him and further sparked his desire for a deeper understanding of the world.

This, coupled with his desire for learning, would ultimately change his pattern in life. He packed his bags and headed to Israel where he eagerly enrolled in a Machon Yaakov, a Yeshiva that caters to young professionals who are looking for a deeper understanding and purposeful Jewish life. Two years into the program, Werbin developed a deep sense of fulfillment and direction in his understanding of Judaism, which, in turn, helped him develop a keen understanding of deep ideas in life and in the world. Two years turned into 12 and Werbin, now Rabbi Werbin, taught Torah, Jewish philosophy, and character development in his beloved Jerusalem.

The dynamic, gracious and magnetic Rabbi Werbin shares the tools that connect timeless Jewish traditions with modern life. Additionally, the ever accommodating and warm Werbin family opens their home to share Shabbat with members.

Rabbi Werbin is a guiding light to all who wish to learn and experience the joys of Jewish life. Kesher Torah welcomes everyone to Friday night and Shabbat day services.

Rabbi Werbin said, “Please join us to pray and learn and be sure to stay to meet us and share in a l’chaim.” ì

Rabbi Yitzchok Werbin pictured with his wife, Sarah, and their children.

The Busy Life of City Councilman Bauman

Entering his third term as a Sandy Springs City Councilman, Andy Bauman shared some of his accomplishments, activities, Jewish vibes, and behind the scenes humor. Bauman explained, “The work of a city council member isn’t full-time, and I often joke that it is my ‘night job.’ But even if not always ‘doing’ the job, I feel like I am always ‘on the job,’ as the issues that come up can be unpredictable and often 24/7.

In my first month on the council, in January 2014, Atlanta experienced “Snowmageddon,” and I was in constant contact with my constituents providing regular updates and helping out with some serious situations. It was also during that first year that all the critical decisions had to be made for our new city center.”

Bauman grew up in White Plains,

N.Y., with southern roots and mom originally from North Carolina. Graduating Emory University School of Law in 1990, interested in government and politics, he was elected president of the Student Government Association. He was one

of the first interns for the Carter Center working directly with President Jimmy Carter, wife Rosalynn, and Dr. Ken Stein on some of the early security and Middle East peace conferences. He recalled, “It was an amazing opportunity and an ex-

perience I will always cherish.”

In 2013, after careful consideration, Bauman decided to run for city council. He mused, “It never occurred to me that four others would join the race! It was a hard-fought campaign in which

Marcia

Caller Jaffe

A graduate of Emory University School of Law, Andy Bauman cut his teeth in politics and government by serving as president of the Student Government Association, then as an intern at the Carter Center.

Andy Bauman with wife, Dr. Debbie Bauman, and their children, Evan and Anna. They have memories of hanging out at the Sandy Springs Farmer’s Market which Andy co-founded.

I came in first place, but without a majority. Then, I won the runoff and began serving my first four-year term.”

Looking back, he counts these accomplishments: building the new city center and leading the metro area in the delivery of efficient and responsive government services. He noted, “In a very difficult time for attracting and retaining first responders, our police and fire departments are the envy of the state. I often say that nothing unites our community more than in our support for our first responders!”

Weighing in on being Jewish, the late founding member mayor, Eva Galambos, was Jewish. When Bauman joined in 2014, Galambos had retired, and Bauman was the only Jewish member, and one of the very few Jewish elected officials in the state. They now have another Jewish member.

Bauman said, “The number of Jewish elected officials in Georgia remains very small. In Sandy Springs, I’m proud that we have (a) established a sister-city rela-

tionship in Israel (Mayor Paul and I and a delegation visited in 2015); (b) we have adopted a resolution condemning BDS; and (c) we were the very first city in the state to adopt a Hate Crime ordinance (which I introduced), more than a year prior to when the Georgia legislature adopted our state’s Hate Crime Law. I am also proud that the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center serves as ‘heart and home’ of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival!”

He summarized, “We have a large and vibrant Jewish population, and I have often said that there is no community more welcoming, safe, and full of opportunity for the Jewish community than Sandy Springs. We are home to many of the area’s prominent synagogues and most of the Jewish day schools. While our city doesn’t close for Jewish holidays, our council doesn’t meet during the High Holidays. I am very grateful to Mayor Paul for his long-standing support and friendship with the Jewish community, not just in Sandy Springs, but all throughout Atlanta.” ì

Andy Bauman greeted Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, while proudly wearing his America/Israel flag pin.

Doc Takes New Path After Health Scare

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Dr. Neil Cooper had a severe heart attack while working at the outpatient procedure suite. Coming out of that, he has committed himself to a new mission, advocating for plant-based diets to decrease inflammation and thus, prevent, treat, and reverse heart disease and other chronic conditions.

He recalled, “The chest pain was so severe, I couldn’t speak. I knew my heart was starved of oxygen, cardiac cells were dying, and my body was screaming to do something quickly. I was lucky to be in the right place, then rushed to the hospital and had stents placed. Upon discharge, my wife, Shelley, asked the cardiologist what could be done to prevent another heart attack. His doctor’s answer? Read “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease,” by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Soon after attending a plant-based medical meeting, Cooper transitioned to a plant-based diet. “This was the best decision of my life. I have never felt better, but, more importantly, my lab values normalized, and I had no residual heart damage.”

He retired from practice and started a health and wellness business with Shelley with the goal of helping others learn how to take control of their health -- without buying supplements, nutraceuticals, or

weight loss pills.

He said, “The largest hurdles to a plant-predominant diet are fear of protein shortage and fear of eating only salads. A whole food plant-based diet consists of

fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. The variety of meals and tastes are endless. Plants have all the protein we need. It’s a marketing myth that we need animal flesh for protein. The docu-

Pizza is delicious without cheese- just load on the veggie toppings.

Fruits of all varieties make a colorful and sweet ending to any meal.

Happiness is chickpea blondies and black bean brownies!

mentary, “The Game Changers” is a must! Google for plant-based athletes and you will be amazed.”

Those who keep kosher could follow a plant-based diet, automatically not mixing dairy and meat, etc. For more information, visit https://www.jewishveg.org/

Some rabbis and scholars endorse the vegan lifestyle. In Genesis 1:29, G-d said “Behold, I have given you every herb-yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit—to you it shall be for food.”

In his plant-based training business, Cooper offers options: a short intro meeting five days in a row; a slightly more advanced, 14-day course with deeper science, environment, fiber, protein, supplements; all programs are online, live or on-demand;

he also offers one-on-one coaching.

Cooper concluded, “The motivation to make changes has to come from the individual. I’m there to educate and support this lifestyle change. In patients not ready, I let them know, when they want to discuss further, I will be available."

Cooper suggests a step approach, “I don’t expect clients to become vegetarian, but with each step to increase fruits, veggies and beans reduces risks of disease. If you start with meatless Monday or tofu Tuesday, you are reducing the inflammation inside that builds up chronically and silently from eating animal products and highly processed foods every day.

For more information about Dr. Cooper, email neil@neilcoopermd.com or visit www.neilcoopermd.com. ì

Cooper’s Words of Wisdom

* Veggie power: Per gram there is more protein in broccoli than steak…because steak is almost 40 percent fat by weight.

* Alcohol: I always joked that if you couldn’t drink alcohol, then nobody would be vegan. Science, in the last decade, has shown no health benefit from any type of alcohol, including red wine. It’s the grapes that give the health benefit, not the alcohol.”

* Salt: Sodium gets into our diets not just from table salt, but restaurants and packaged processed foods. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 mg of sodium a day. Most Americans are getting double that.

* Beyond Meat burger with fatty oils? A plant-based burger is healthier than a beef burger, but not compared to eating lentils and beans. So, if trying to eat less meat, I’m fine with the fake meat substitutions in the beginning. Over time, I would tweak choices and move toward healthier options.

* Best meat replacement: Look at the nutrition label with total fat less than seven grams and saturated fat less than three grams per serving. The Gardein brand is tasty with a good nutritional profile.

* Treats: Oreos have no animal products, so technically, they are vegan. We prefer to use the term “whole food plant-based dietary pattern.” It’s more descriptive and would exclude highly processed foods like Oreos. Try Chia pudding with cocoa for a hint of chocolate.

Shelley and Neil Cooper are passionate about helping clients achieve their health and well-being goals.

American College of Lifestyle Medicine promotes six strategies for health used by Dr. Neil Cooper.

Temple Emanu-El Signs 15-Year Deal with Rabbi

When Temple Emanu-El senior rabbi Spike Anderson speaks with prospective congregants, he noted, “it’s not unusual for them to ask about his contract” with the synagogue. Congregants, he explained, want to feel that a rabbi is going to be with the congregation on an intergenerational basis. “Changing rabbis can be disruptive.”

Jan Jaben-Eilon

As of last fall, Temple Emanu-El congregants no longer must fear that disruption. The congregation signed a long-term, 15-year contract with Rabbi Anderson, taking the 50-year-old clergy member to his retirement. The congregation also signed five-year contracts with rabbis Max and Rachel Miller, who are in their sixth year with the Temple. “The [new] contract that begins summer 2023 will begin their seventh year with the congregation,” explains congregational co-president Edye Summerfield Disner.

Rabbi Anderson is in his eighth year with Temple Emanu-El.

The congregation’s stability could be seen in another way as well. Rabbi Max Miller grew up attending Temple EmanuEl. He attended both The Davis Academy and the Weber School in Atlanta and met his wife at Hebrew Union College.

The contracts for the temple’s religious school director and executive director have also recently been extended.

Disner said the congregation’s leadership has encouraged past presidents to stay active, even treating them to a Shab-

bat dinner with their wives last fall.

One of the many former presidents of the congregation still providing counsel to the current leadership, Harold Kirtz, said the clergy contracts provide stability to the congregation. Kirtz, who was president from 1991 to 1993, said his biggest achievement as head of the search committee was bringing Rabbi Stanley Davids to Temple Emanu-El. After Davids’ retirement, he made Aliyah, but is now living in Santa Monica to be near family. When he was senior rabbi, the congregation peaked at about 830 member families. After a dip in membership, the number is back up to 725 member families.

“Most congregations during the COVID pandemic did not experience growth, but we were lucky to see an increase” in the number of member families, said Disner. There was an even larger increase in the religious school numbers – the largest ever, said Disner, at 225 children. “We realized that that energy and enthusiasm increased since Spike came on board, and the youth with Max and

Rachel. This clergy team is bringing in enthusiasm and we want it to continue. It’s been a long time since we felt like this with our senior rabbi. It’s been such a wonderful match.”

Looking at the “big picture,” said Rabbi Anderson, “it is very rare for a rabbi to be offered this type of contract. A 15year contract is like a marriage, on top of the previous years. It is a sign of stability and maturity from a congregation, even the fact that Emanu-El could do this. In the past, it might not have been able to.”

Citing his family that includes wife and three children, Anderson said it’s a good “cultural fit. Atlanta is home. I am dedicating the best decades of my life to this place. It’s not just job stability. This is a feel-good thing. I think the synagogue is happy with the way I’m leading and it’s a spiritual home for me and my family.”

Anderson had previously served several years at the mammoth, 2,500-member families Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles. “My mentor had been there 40 years and the founding rabbi had been there 40 years,” he noted.

According to Disner, Anderson “has a connection with congregants at all ages and stages of life. This was so different

from the past. We were unanimous; this is what we wanted from a rabbi. We have several founding members still around.”

Kirtz added, “I think most people think he is doing a terrific job. He is bright, articulate, empathetic, knowledgeable and he brings a big combination of things with him. He’s very good in giving responsibilities to the Millers and good at bringing them along. He’s very cognizant of doing that.”

Disner said she considers the longterm contract with Rabbi Anderson to represent her legacy as a co-president.

For Anderson, the long-term contract represents a stability, not unlike the congregation’s. He spent his first year of marriage to wife, Marita, in Jerusalem in 2003, during his Israel studies year at Hebrew Union College. In addition to his seven years in Los Angeles, he spent five years in New York and some time in San Francisco. “We’ve moved around,” he understated.

So, the realization that he will be with the temple until his retirement is “weird. But we feel blessed.” Speaking of himself and his wife of 20 years, he said, “We have always had five-year plans. For the first time ever,” the couple have a longer term outlook. ì

Temple Emanu-El co-president Edye Summerfield Disner said Rabbi Anderson “has a connection with congregants at all ages and stages of life.”

Atlanta native Rabbi Max Miller and Rabbi Rachel Miller met at rabbinic school.

“We feel blessed,”said Rabbi Spike Anderson, speaking for his family about the long-term contract he signed with Temple Emanu-El.

Former congregation president Harold Kirtz said, “I think most people think he is doing a terrific job. He is bright, articulate, empathetic, knowledgeable.”

Father – Son Real Estate Team Knows the Ropes

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Larry Brown and son, Adam, have long teamed up to expand the family real estate business.

Brown Realty Group, LLC, is a familyowned real estate company concentrating on commercial properties. Together, they are broadly based in commercial real estate and property tax remediation with a combined 70 years of experiencing the market’s pulse and volatility.

Larry stated, “The real estate business is very cyclical, and we’ve maneuvered through several ups and downs by staying focused, working hard, and relying on decades of relationships. The real estate business is one of the few that can be very economically viable with the only inventory being market knowledge and what does and doesn’t work for the client.”

An Atlanta native, Larry was licensed by the Georgia Real Estate Commission in 1970 while still a student at Georgia State University, studying urban life with a concentration on land development. He was encouraged by his father, Melvin, to get

into the real estate business.

Larry stated, “Dad was an investor, owner of several businesses, and had the vision of the Atlanta area’s growth potential.” As an interesting history nugget, in

addition to real estate, Melvin was the operator of the Peachtree Art Theatre, which was located at the corner of Peachtree and 13th Street. Margaret Mitchell was on her way there when she was hit by a car crossing the street.  He also was one of the first liquor store owners in Atlanta and was an owner/operator of the Downtown Motel.

After graduating college, Adam spent several years in media sales. Larry encouraged him to get a license and join the business. Adam developed a rapport with several restaurateurs and concentrated on site selection for the past 20 years, as well as other retailers and medical professionals nationwide.

Larry works with investors seeking properties as well as site selection for storage developers and gas stations. He said, “Having invested in and developed several retail properties, our investment focus has shifted to multi-tenant warehouses. For the past 40 years, Larry has also successfully assisted taxpayers in the appeal of property taxes.

Both Adam and Larry have been involved in several high-profile transactions from the ownership and broker side. Larry finished the development of Glenridge Point Shopping Center, near Northside Hospital, and the Papa John’s on campus at the University of Georgia. Adam’s list of restaurants is vast. His newest is Nowak’s in Sandy Springs (soon to open). He also has done all the deals for Taqueria Tsunami and Café at Pharr.

In looking toward 2023, Larry stated, “After several years of major growth, the market appears to be adjusting. Interest rates that were near zero are climbing, and, since the pandemic, traditional habits have changed. Employees have learned to work

remotely causing companies to downsize. 2022 was a banner year for Brown Realty Group, LLC. We are cautiously optimistic about 2023. The first three months should reveal what’s going to happen. Rising interest rates will make it difficult to refinance some properties. This could be good and bad. For borrowers, ‘not so good’, but for investors, there could be opportunities. ‘Cash is king,’ so we are telling our investors to stay liquid while the market adjusts.”

Adam added, “The neighborhood shopping center will never go away, but big box retailers are getting hurt by ecommerce, causing landlords to consider repurposing properties.”

For many years, Brown was a twoman firm with a few independent contractors working as associates. Last year, their longtime associate Karen Friedenberg passed away, and added her nephew, Harry Rosen, with an MBA and a five-year banking background.

Larry concluded, “We have done multiple deals with a very large and diverse client base. Our philosophy is to secure the best results for clients. Referrals and relationships are the life blood of the industry.”

Adam said, “Dad told me when I first got into the business that the best thing he was giving me was a good name and not to mess it up. A father/son relationship has its challenges and positives. We have learned from each other’s strengths and weakness to create a lucrative and rewarding business. One thing we like about the real estate business is flexibility. We enjoy driving to preview property and seeing new developments. It’s very helpful when asked about an area that we can confidentially convey what is going on." ì

Father Larry Brown (right) and son, Adam Brown, learn from each other to work the best angles in the commercial real estate market.

Adam Brown is known as a multi-tasking “girl dad.”

Adam Brown is a sports enthusiast and can often be seen at Atlanta Braves games. He has done many high-profile restaurant deals.

The Lowdown I Bet You Didn’t Know … Aaron Goldman

Atlanta is chock full of interesting “movers and shakers” - some bent on creativity, empire building, activism and/or just plain having fun and living the good life. Lean in to hear some of the “off the cuff” remarks as to what makes our spotlight, Aaron Goldman, tick.

Raised in Milwaukee, Wisc., Goldman is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Real Estate Program and served on the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association Board of Trustees. He is the president and co-owner (with brother-in-law Tim Schrager), of Perennial Properties, Inc., a development, investment, and management firm focused on apartments accompanied by retail establishments. Five of the earliest apartment and mixed-use communities on the BeltLine are Perennial Properties.

Perennial’s existing portfolio is centered in Atlanta’s Intown neighborhoods including West Midtown, Virginia Highland, Morningside, Piedmont Heights, Emory, Buckhead, Inman Park, Grant Park, East Lake, and the Old Fourth Ward. Perennial has acquired or built more than 30 properties in metro Atlanta. The company has also developed projects in Athens as well as Tampa and Orlando.

Goldman served as a board member for Cool Girls, Inc., a nationally recognized mentoring and afterschool program serving Atlanta’s at-risk girls. In 2012, Goldman was a founder and became board chair of the Atlanta Real Estate Collaborative, a group of real estate principals who created a non-profit. Goldman also serves as the founding board chair of Open Doors. Goldman resides in Morningside with his wife and daughter. The Goldmans also have a son at the University of Wisconsin and a daughter at the University of Colorado - Boulder (a badger and a buffalo)!

Find out how Goldman notched the “belt” in BeltLine:

What are you reading?

“Powder Days,” a fascinating book about the life of ski bums in the west in search of the biggest snow, air (jumps, cliffs, etc.) and parties, while addressing the impacts of climate change and extreme income inequality in resort towns.

My wife says I’m too…

There is a claim that I snore, she has recordings…

My best real estate deal…

Sept. 12, 2001 (day after 9/11) we went under contract for seven acres in the Old Fourth Ward on the border of Inman Park, with frontage on “scary” train tracks. We had no idea if Atlanta, or the world, would come back, Atlanta being an “airport” town. While under construction for apartments, we were asked for a small donation for what sounded like a longshot project to turn those tracks into a network of pedestrian trails and light rail transportation (calling it “The BeltLine”) linking 46 neighborhoods. We said ‘yes,’ and our karma was pretty good.

What are you streaming?

"The Recruit” on Netflix and waiting impatiently for “Fauda” season 4.

What was your most unusual job?

I was the ticket taker for the local beach ($1 for the day or $10 for the season/family) on chilly Lake Michigan.

My last fashion disaster…

I bought 11 items of clothing for my wife and daughters for Chanukah to head to a ski trip that I thought were exceptional. They returned 10.

When I walk on the BeltLine, I feel…

Excited and grateful for the leadership that created this opportunity to rejuvenate the intown community with recreation, commerce and vitality.

The one odd thing about real estate is…

You can’t escape it, it’s everywhere, both sides of the street, at ground level and up in the horizon, at home and wherever you travel.

The best advice your grandfather ever gave… “The figures never lie, but the liars always figure.”

What was your most exotic vacation?

Went on a hiking and biking trip with 10 couples to Basque country in Spain and France. The Basques speak neither French or Spanish and have extraordinary sea and mountains, food, and wine.

What is one thing most folks don’t know about you?

I’m a major “cheesehead” from Milwaukee, which relates to owning the Midtown Bowl (for “Laverne and Shirley” lovers).

Your guilty pleasure?

Anything bourbon and walking the dog to podcasts about “P and P” (politics and the Packers). Reported by Marcia Caller Jaffe

ARTS & CULTURE

Netflix’s Newest Hit 'You People' Takes Jewish Flack

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Social media led with strident reactions to the new Netflix movie, “You People,” starring Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy, portraying a modern look at love amid counter cultures -- in this case a Jewish male (Hill) wanting to marry a Black woman at odds with societal expectations and generational differences.

Billed as a comedy, it was indeed that. In today’s woke world, who looked worse, Blacks or Jews or both? Ultimately, both families want the best for their kids, and sometimes that means surfacing some touchy adages, “If you marry someone of another culture, marriage in itself has enough challenges, don’t compound that with blending families and different

beliefs.”

Viewers weighed in. Terry Lakritz said, “‘You People’ showed great talent, and speaking from experience, it’s real! Glad I saw it but can’t say I loved it or hated it.”

Renee Paula said, “As someone in an interfaith and interracial marriage…I think Julia Louis-Dreyfus (mother) was a caricature trope, a well-intentioned white woman, who [showed] white fragility. Eddie Murphy hit too hard as the angry bitter Black man trope. My husband and I agree that it was funny, yet a slightly offensive attempt at a Hallmark movie with cussing.”

“You People” is an equal opportunity offender. Jews look bad type cast in liberal Los Angeles where Jewish mother (Louis-

Dreyfus) is falling all over herself trying to be accepting and understanding of her future Black daughter-in-law. She’s awkward at doing it, and ultimately got lambasted, “You never got to know me. All you wanted was me to be your cute toy to brag to your friends that I am Black.”

On the other hand, Murphy, in a serious role as the black Muslim father, is judgmental and fawns over noted antisemite Louis Farrakhan. Murphy drives an upscale car, and is contrasted with his “more ghetto-like” brother who has not taken on an Islamic persona. Does this endorse Farrakhan’s beliefs (which are not stated) or are they symbolic of his failure when Farrakhan’s prayer hat is caught on fire, and stomped past recognition? Not a positive image.

Two characters, Hill’s gay sister and “out of it” father, played by David Duchovny, are miscast and add nothing to the mix. Especially fun are appearances by old timers Elliot Gould, Rhea Perlman,

and Richard Benjamin…still in the game, charming as ever.

Kenya Barris and Hill wrote the script. Hill, as the groom, was likable to a point. He truly loves Amira (fiancé) and wants to care for her, but then he repeatedly lies and gets caught, about small things…trying to pretend that he knows who Langston Hughes is, getting into deeper holes defending himself.

The star of the movie and the “truth teller” is Hill’s Black LGBTQ+ podcast partner with a lively sub plot where they earnestly discuss race relations. She espoused, “You white people just don’t get it. It’s like a woman whose husband cheated. She is always looking over his shoulder and can’t forgive him. We just can’t forgive white people for what you did to us,” a closed door leaving little hope.

As liberal as the Jewish parents are, mawkishly super accepting, there’s one telling scene with a “hard stop.” As both the Jewish and Black parents are dining

and getting acquainted, the Jews state that they have “a good rabbi to perform the ceremony.” Murphy insists that a Muslim imam do the service. Louis-Dreyfuss and the normal deadpanned Duchovny grimace -- an outcome too far.

Jewish Women of Atlanta on Facebook heralded more weigh-ins.

Lisa Steinmetz Morchower said, “The movie let Eddie Murphy’s character rave about Farrakhan without much push back. Louis-Dreyfus’ character was too scared to say anything and that would have been a great place to say something.”

Janice Perlis Ellin felt even stronger. “The show had absolutely nothing redeeming and placed Jews in an unrealistic negative light. I simply do not understand the appeal of this movie.”

Leah Stock-Landis chimed in, “Too heavy handed with stereotypes. I found it stilted with one-dimensional portrayals of what could have been an interest-

ing film.”

Rita Yanchuck Kessler added, “Couldn’t get through it. Stereotypes were overdone and too woke.”

Sheina Liberow-Kavka commented, “…I did not like the whole Holocaust/slavery comparison.”

And Hula Brod Isseks said, “I hated ‘You People’…very cringey. The specific joke about grandma’s Holocaust ring was not funny and came out on Holocaust Remembrance Day…there’s a lot of Holocaust denial in this country, just wasn’t funny.”

Wendy Eisner Lenard commented, “Loved it…I thought it showed great insight into how some of us parents present ourselves, trying to navigate situations in regards to race and relationships with our adult children…it was as much about the couple as the parents fecklessly trying to do what was right.”

Yes, “You People” was tasteless, crass, and out right goofy. I just hate myself for liking it. ì

“You People” on Netflix is drawing negative feedback from Jewish viewers…all about the stereotyping.

Jonah Hill (right) both co-wrote and starred in the movie. He’s likable, and not, at the same time. “You People” examines both lenses of interracial marriage from the Black Muslim point of view and liberal California Jewish posturing.

Patinkin Plays to Sold Out Crowd

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta came out of the gate galloping with a smash hit sponsoring Jewish entertainer Mandy Patinkin at the City Springs Performing Arts Center on Jan. 25.

Tickets went on social media and sold out quicker than fryin’ hot cakes. Patinkin, 70, appeared in his oneman show, “Being Alive,” alongside pianist Adam BenDavid, with songs from Sondheim to Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.

An Emmy and Tony Award winner, Patinkin is somewhere between a raconteur, actor and singer. Atlanta fans knew him from high profile roles in “The Princess Bride,” “Homeland,” and who could forget, “Yentl,” and even movies about Smurfs and Elmo. Perhaps what made him most unique for this audience was his facile performance in Yiddish, from his album, “Mamaloshen,” where he seemed most alive.

The program began with a video about the MJCCA with a series of genuine testimonials of meaningful programming at all stages of life. MJCCA executive director Jared Powers acknowledged Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch, and state representative Esther Panitch.

Powers summarized, “Community, camaraderie, and connections impact four generations at the MJCCA.”

The entrance line looped around City Springs, and a very few lucky patrons were able to buy tickets that had been returned by generous patrons who were unable to attend at the last minute. With not an empty chair in the 1,200-seat house, Patinkin appeared in all black with orange trimmed sneakers frequently sipping from something he called out as “scotch,” showing no fatigue going straight through, from song to song with no intermission.

The first half of the performance seemed to drag a bit with a string of melancholy tunes like “A Tisket, A Tasket,” “School Days,” one somber number, “Drinking Tea in Dayton, Ohio 1903,” and “Time in a Bottle.” Later, he sang “It’s Not Easy Being Green” as an homage to Kermit the Frog.

There were props like a newspaper, umbrella, megaphone, Charlie Chaplin wobbling, lying flat on the floor, then effects like train sounds and a peppy echoing duet with Ben-David. There were a few comedic “shtiks” with the audience for Jews being late and needing to use the bathroom. Audience members rose to do the “Hokey Pokey” with Patinkin which made for a light moment. Later to be au currant, he threw out, “Who gives an ‘f’ about that?”

The second half picked up tempo, and Patinkin came most alive in two arenas: performing in Yiddish and sharing his personal history, salute and recognition for the role that his Southside Chicago JCC played in shaping his life.

Septuagenarians Lynne and Tom Greenfield noted, “We have been fans of Patinkin for a long time, having seen him in ‘Evita’ in London’s West End before he even came to Broadway. However, although he still possesses that magical and melodic voice, his choice of songs was disappointing and a little strange. We wanted more from his performing past, not “ditties.” Before the performance, a younger couple, Rachel and Avi Binstock, said they were huge fans of Patinkin from “The Princess

Bride” and continue to follow him on Instagram.

The real treat was Patinkin’s Yiddish tunes like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “God Bless America,” and “White Christmas” - enough to make Irving Berlin proud.. We all knew these tunes and attempted to sing gutturally along.

Patinkin praised the audience for caring and supporting the MJCCA. He reminisced about his youth, starting in kindergarten at the Chicago JCC, and returning later in his teen years where he saw the very same courtyard tree. At that point in time, he “didn’t know who he would be” and found a home there and encouragement for his

drama career and the stage.

He stated, “I love for you taking care of the JCC.” He also took encouragement and meaning at age 15, interpreting an inspirational theatre piece as “If you love someone, tell them.”

He recounted that the highlight of his high school AZA experience was stealing a bomb that didn’t amount to much.

Patinkin still has his Broadway pipes and precise delivery, sometimes evoking an Irish tenor. He has earned his place in the entertainment world and was a proper match for the MJCCA crowd. ì

Patinkin performed to a sold-out crowd benefiting the MJCC. Rachel and Avi Binstock were proud Mandy Patinkin fans.

EXHIBITION SERIES SUPPORTERS

Foundation, Inc.

Stella (American, born Italy, 1877–1946), Flowers, Italy (detail), 1931, oil on canvas, Phoenix Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Marshall, 1964.20.

This exhibition is co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Brandywine River Museum of Art.

SUPPORT FOR THE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE IS PROVIDED BY THE Andrew Wyeth Foundation for American Art

Emory Dance Program Examines New Beginnings

For inspiration for his latest dance project, Ararat, at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for The Performing Arts, choreographer George Staib has reached back into both contemporary world history and biblical scriptures for his theme.

Bob Bahr

Staib, who is also a professor of dance practice at Emory, unveiled Ararat as a work in progress on the last weekend in January. He has subtitled the work by his staibdance company, “The Beginning.” Staib believes that there is much to ponder in the idea of celebrating new beginnings, starting with our own life.

“Starting again, you know, whether it’s a failed relationship or having a baby, how much of your identity do you maintain and what new identity do you take on when that happens. I’m just so fascinated by this. And especially in this post-pandemic

world, when everything stopped, I’m thinking, well, what do we pick up again? What do I want to pick up again?”

Although he is quick to deny that the work is not biblical in its origins, he mentions that the world confronted a new beginning in the Book of Genesis, and the rec-

reation of the world after the waters had receded. Ararat is clearly mentioned as the landing place of Noah’s Ark after The Great Flood in the Book of Genesis. The text mentions that Noah spent 150 days in his ark after the water had gone down “on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark

came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”

While there have been differences of opinion about where those mountains may be located, those who have had an interest in exploring biblical history have concentrated their attention around an area in northeastern Turkey, where the

One of the themes of staibdance’s Ararat is the Armenian massacres during World War I. 1280 PEACHTREE ST NE // ATLANTA, GA 30309

Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Written & Directed by KATORI HALL

snow-covered, 17,000-foot summit of an extinct volcano called Mount Ararat is located. Interestingly, it is only about 400 miles from the epicenter of a more recent cataclysmic event, the Turkish earthquake on Feb. 6 that has so far has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Mount Ararat is seen as a sacred mountain by those who live just across the Turkish border in Armenia. There is a legend that Mount Ararat is the cradle of our present-day world. Armenians believe themselves to be the first humans to appear after The Flood.

Staib is of Armenian ancestry. His family has had several new beginnings, as they moved from India to Iran before ending up in Glendale and Burbank in California, which he says has been such a magnet for his people. New beginnings for him have always had particularly relevance.

“There’s this hunger to find a place, after starting over and over. You then layer that with personal tragedies or losses. Humans, just as we all do, have many beginnings and sometimes the beginning turn into an assimilation question. And this is why I find the Jewish faith so noble and beautiful. There is something that Jews hold on to regardless of where they might end up.”

According to Staib, Armenians and Jews are related not only by their respective diasporas but by the tragedies they have endured over the last century, something he understands particularly well from having made several extended visits to Israel studying dance in Tel Aviv.

The Ararat performance seeks to memorialize the Armenian Holocaust of 1915 and 1916 which is said to have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians and their forced exile. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that as many as 1.2 million Armenians died during the genocide by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.

Thirty years later, the world learned the full horror of the Nazi crimes of World War II, when one concentration camp after another was liberated. The first night’s performance of Ararat on Jan. 27 coincided with the UN’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the date in 1944 when Auschwitz Birkenau was finally captured by the advancing Soviet Army. Expressing the deep feelings that come with new beginnings, Staib points out, works particularly well in dance.

“So the value for me, of working with it through movement, stirs up the same kind of incomprehensible and unidentifiable ‘aha’ moment that we encounter when we’re beginning something. In working with the dancers or the musicians or whatever it might be, we collaborate to find a way to recreate that moment of feeling, almost like on an unsteady boat without an anchor.”

Staib considers the January performances of Ararat - The Beginning as a work in progress, which is supported, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. A formal premiere is scheduled in November. ì

“The idea of the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble is to bring people from the countries of the Middle East together based on equality, and on a more individual level, so that each one's role is more enhanced.”

—Michael Barenboim, violin and leader

Choreographer George Staib on the banks of the River Jordan during one of his several visits to study dance in Israel.

Ararat - The Beginning is a work in progress. It will have its formal premiere in November.

The Thrill of Sapir’s Quills

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Ada Sapir’s intricate, joyful, colorful, and dancing designs bloom with the notions of Judaism and inspirations of nature.

Her quilling, also known as “paper filigree,” starts with envisioning, cutting, turning, folding, and several processes in between. Strips of paper are rolled, curled, twisted, looped, shaped, and glued together, or otherwise manipulated, to create shapes that make up engaging and original designs.

Sapir explained, “I have never had formal art education. My love of creating fueled all my many self-taught forms of art, and still, I continue to grow and learn new skills and improve my techniques. I started quilling 15 years ago just for family and friends and truly found my calling. When the pandemic started, I was encouraged by my daughter-in-law to try and sell my work and it has been a dream come true.”

Paper quilling dates to the 15th century, though some historians believe that it originated in ancient Egypt. It was widely practiced in 18th century France, Italy, and England by women from both nobility and

the working class. Others believe it originated in China following the invention of paper. Papers were often used from gilded edges of books. It was popular as a niche craft in the 1970s and '80s and appears to be making a comeback. Sapir is riding the wave of this re-creation.

SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2023

A Night at the Museum: Amazing Discoveries from Biblical Times

Hands-on Presentation showing original Passover and other ancient artifacts presented by Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch of the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn, New York Program Begins: 7:15pm

Admission Free with a Donation of $180 or More

130

For More Information: www.atlantakollel.org

Pomegranate

granted,”

Born in Argentina, Sapir attended Jewish day school and art school. At age 10, she sold her first piece, a beaded handbag, to a local boutique. At 12, her family moved to Israel where she lived on a kibbutz and served in the Israel Defense Force. She married and moved with her husband to a moshav (farm), where she grew organic vegetables, considered pioneering at the time, and flowers. Later, in 1991, she followed family to New York, then Florida, until she ultimately moved to Atlanta to be closer to grandchildren.

Sapir explained, “Sometimes, I draw the vision that I have in my mind for a particular piece; often I make pieces then move them around on the canvas for days, until I’m satisfied.”

There are many different ways to curl paper for each piece using tools like combs, rulers, needles and her fingers. Some pieces are glued together, or to each other, and then transferred to the cardboard or canvas. Then, there are pieces that are individually glued directly to the final canvas. She continued, “I often start with an idea in my mind, and then let it evolve, until it feels complete in my mind.”

She is especially inspired by nature and Judaism - two things that greatly impacted her growing up. Into her productions, whether a blessing, a greeting or a good wish, she infuses things that are meaningful and cohesively align to her style.

She concluded, “I also believe that

since doing this brings me so much joy, that joy gets infused into each of my pieces.”

Depending on the size and the complexity, it takes between three to 10 days to complete a piece. Sapir employs blessings, passages, stories from the Bible, Hebrew songs, prayers, holidays, and Judaic symbols. Since nature is such an integral part of Judaism, she uses the Seven Species, especially pomegranates, but also depicts doves, other birds, flowers, and items that are associated with sky and water. She uses paper of different weights that are either self-cut or pre-cut.

Quilling is done with text weight paper, which is heavier than printer paper, and sometimes placed on card stock. Her pieces are framed in 8x10” or 11x14”. The prices generally range from $110 to $300. Shipping is included. Ada has commissioned pieces for Temple B’nai Torah in Wantagh, N.Y., and the Brevard Hadassah Chapter in Florida. Locally, her work is for sale in Judaica Corner on Briarcliff Road. She also takes individual commissions and is willing to interpret all sorts of ideas. Sapir doesn’t paint, but beads, knits and crochets small toys called “amigurumi.”

What’s next for Sapir? Mastering calligraphy by her own hand, in Hebrew and English, to produce quilled ketubahs and blessings. Find Sapir on Etsy at https:// www.etsy.com/shop/AdaStudioDesigns; on Instagram: @adastudiodesigns; and her website at https://adastudiodesigns.wixsite.com/website ì

Sapir created this blue hamsa in 2020 entitled, “Genesis.

“Abundance” with the blessing, “May all your wishes be

by Ada Sapir.

Ada Sapir poses with her two works: “Spring in Ancient Persia” and “Cerulean Star of David,” symbolizing a dye used by high priests.

Sapir made this “Peacock” for $290, in an 11x 14” frame, inspired by a ketubah.

GRAND OVERLOOK at the ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER

WEST PACES FERRY

THE ATLANTA SCHOLARS KOLLEL PRESENTS

Flexner’s ‘Ebb and Flow’ at MACoM

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Barbara Flexner was approached by Jocelyn Schoenfeld, MACoM director, about exhibiting her art after attending a workshop at Or Nashim, the women’s group at Congregation Or Hadash.

Schoenfeld said, “I was fascinated by Flexner’s style and expression through neurographic art, working with the subconscious mind through drawing, and was grabbed at how vibrant and captivating her pieces were…I knew her work was a natural fit for MACoM, Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah, a sacred space for Jews to encounter ritual immersion in Sandy Springs.”

Flexner, a native New Yorker raised in Puerto Rico, studied architecture and environmental design at Kent State University. After careers in corporate architecture, artistic textiles, and directing a cultural arts center, she moved to Atlanta. In the MACoM exhibit, she reflects her Jewish views on the importance of the ebb and flow of world systems - water, the cycle of the seasons, and the cycles of our lives.

She relayed, “While these emanate from my Jewish world view, I think that they are shared universally by people of all faiths from all parts of the world.”

Nearly 20 framed pieces are for sale at the exhibit, ranging in price up to $1,500. Unframed smaller pieces are available starting at $36.

Flexner’s work communicates a love of color, shape, and texture, inviting shared explorations and how simple ingredients create infinite opportunities for reflection. She declared, “After (my use of) watercolor, the sky’s the limit. My sketchbooks have work in colored pencil, crayon, Inktense, inks, graphite, and acrylic. I also work in fiber media. My personal favorite in the exhibit is the “Flight of the Fireflies,” a technical triumph because of its size and complexity.”

Each of Flexner’s series represents a different approach. “Circular Reasoning” is painted using traditional watercolor techniques on handmade Arches paper, one of the finest substrates for watercolor. The paper is stretched, and the sizing removed before paint is applied. Some areas are masked to be saved as white, and paint is applied by brush, pouring, and blowing. Materials are applied to the wet paint to create the illusion of texture. When dry, it’s enhanced with lines and more paint. Flexner may add ink or graphite. These paintings are executed using a limited palette of primary colors

to allow for a wide range of secondary and tertiary hues.

“Hoopla!” series uses the same materials while introducing ink into the mix. The circles are hollow on white ground and mostly outlined in ink. Within the open circular shapes, there are several drawn patterns offering fillings of different designs. The perceived values are created using negative and positive spaces within the lines. As these are created by hand, precision isn’t desired.

“Magically Resonant Images (MRI)” is painted in watercolor on Arches paper with an overlay of ink and acrylic paint, creating a weblike structure highlighting different effects created by watercolors. These cells are loosely based on the system called “neurographica,” developed by Pavel Piskarev, a Russian psychiatrist, and used as a therapeutic tool to strength-

en connections and relationships.

“Ebb and Flow” is created using alkyd, an oil-based paint that is the modern descendant of oil paint. The pigment is suspended in a mix of oil-based petroleum product and resin creating the high gloss durable finish. Because the paint is very heavy, these are executed on panels with raised edges. The paints take three to five days to dry enough to stop shifting. Since they don’t mix to create additional color, they “marble” enabling illusions of additional colors.

Flexner concluded, “The paintings in this exhibit allow the paint in the various media to flow. Generally, I am considered a ‘non-objective’ artist…no discernable subject represented. I use the shape of the circle as an entry point to interest viewers. Circles are familiar, recognizable objects and give the viewer an easy

access point to begin exploring the paintings.”

Always creative, Flexner and her husband built an 8’ whale articulated puppet for the Or Hadash Yom Kippur afternoon reading of the book of “Job.” Next up for Flexner is threading her loom to create heirloom-quality linens and making bobbin lace trim. Flexner is active in the Dunwoody Fine Art Association, Peach State Stitchers of the Pomegranate Guild, and the Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance.

Schoenfeld stated, “A mikvah isn’t the first place people think about when discussing art, but at MACoM, our gallery space is an important part of the experience. The concept of “hiddur mitzvah,” the act of beautifying or enhancing a Jewish ritual by appealing to the senses, is essential.” The

run

exhibit will

thru July. ì

The artistic work of Barbara Flexner is on display at the MACoM Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah in Sandy Springs.

“Hoopla! 5 - Circular Reasoning Versions” have been executed in the past six years by Flexner.

“Flight of the Fireflies” is the artist’s personal favorite in the show.

“MR17 Magically Resonant Imagery Series” began in late spring of last year.

Glass Shofar Radiates at Temple Kol Emeth

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Local glass artist Paul Heller was showing Temple Kol Emeth’s senior rabbi, Larry Sernovitz, his works and studio. There began the inspiration for a meaningful project when the rabbi asked, “Have you seen the temple’s new logo? I think we could incorporate your art as part of our upcoming 40th anniversary initiatives.” Six weeks later, the project was approved by the temple board, and Heller was off and running.

The newly-installed shofar spans 10 feet in the main lobby of the synagogue above the entrance windows to the social hall. Heller has received rave reviews like, “The glass shofar you made for TKE is astounding. Its beauty rendered me speechless. The colors are so vibrant. You are so very, very talented,” said congregant Sheri Siegel.

Rabbi Sernovitz explained, “Kol Emeth in Hebrew translates to ‘the voice of truth.’ The most important sound in Judaism is the shofar, which is sounded throughout the high holidays. This is both a wake-up call to reflect and improve our lives, and the belief that miracles can happen in our everyday lives,” which explained why TKE members decided to have their new logo centered around the shofar. Congregant and graphic designer Jennifer Bienstock helped design both the new logo and the illuminated shofar. The new glass stayed true to the colors of the logo except for using more dynamic coloration for the four sound waves.

Heller weighed in, saying, “The shofar also has broader symbolic interpretations. TKE has always been very involved in the broad Cobb community. The shofar represents the congregation’s active voice for community service along with hearing G-d’s voice for support and direction while studying and praying at the synagogue.”

The project was a collaborative effort with Rachel Barich, both a TKE past president and currently the temple’s senior administrator. Rachel solved how additional vertical height could be created to allow the shofar to fill the entire space above the windows, allowing a 30 percent more visual expanse of glass.

Heller’s glass art topics are diverse. During February, he will install two more Atlanta projects, focused on healthcare and healing: a hope-themed mural at the Piedmont Cancer Institute Infusion Center on Howell Mill Road; and two butterflies flying towards a daisy with a Christopher Reeve quote, “When There is

Hope, Anything’s Possible.” The total mural width is nine feet with both butterfly wing spans reaching five feet. Heller is also working on a pink breast cancer ribbon for the surgical physicians at Atlanta Breast Care’s reception area.

Recently, Heller created a cardinal for a client who, at 18 years old, lost his mother. Since she loved cardinals, Heller’s bird design brings comfort to the family.

Heller described his unique art forms as, “3-D, illuminated stained-glass creations involving a diverse skill set: advanced carpentry and glass skills, along with electronics. The art forms captivate people’s attention with its radiating and vivid colors.”

Visiting Nashville? See Heller’s illuminated musical instruments at hotels and live music venues. At The Local, near Vanderbilt University, is a five-piece drum set, piano, saxophone, guitar, and a four-foot-high wine bottle. In Stamford, Conn., at Landfall Navigation, an upscale outdoor marine retailer, there are two of Heller’s displays including illuminated sailboats, a 7-foot sailfish, and a sunfish.

Heller customizes his projects by collaborating with the client on theme, glass coloration and scale, and said, “My objective is to get my clients enthusiastic about all elements of the creation. Clients often contribute great ideas, and they have a wonderful time helping select the glass from a multitude of options.”

Heller’s art journey is an example that it’s never too late to pursue new endeavors. Prior to age 55, his career included management consulting, hotel management and ownership, and teaching business courses at five Atlanta universities. At 55, Heller and wife, Diane, enrolled in a mosaic class at Spruill Center for the Arts. With his love for live music, he chose to make a mosaic guitar. Ten years later he still seeks these adventures that spark his creativity and innovation of new techniques.

Paul and Diane Heller’s home was featured in the Atlanta Jewish Times Chai Style column in September 2018. For more information and a gallery of Paul’s work, visit PaulHellerArt.com. ì

Heller created a musical wall grouping of guitar and tenor saxophone.

Heller created this 3-foot-tall cardinal as a memorial for a client who, at an early age, lost his mother.

Artist Paul Heller created this Illuminated 10-foot shofar at Temple Kol Emeth in conjunction with the temple’s new logo.

Heller created this 5-foot butterfly as part of the hope-themed mural for the Piedmont Cancer Institute Infusion Center.

This 5-foot abstracted piano is at The Local live music venue and bar in Nashville, Tenn.

Authenticity Theatre Brings Social Issues to Life

Authenticity Theatre began in 2021 with a mission to produce thought-provoking shows that would create awareness about important social and cultural issues. Since the theatre’s founding, executive and creative director Sasha Keefer has continued to focus on staging shows with powerful societal messages, ones that deal with topics such as aging, divorce, racism, mental health challenges, sexual abuse, antisemitism, and topics that impact LGBTQ+ communities.

Later this year, from April 13-16, the theatre group will present, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Tennessee Williams’ epic tale of class tensions and sexual aggression set in New Orleans. Keefer will play the tragic heroine, Blanche DuBois, and the show will be directed by Atlantan Kara Cantrell. Pulitzer Prize-winning “How I Learned to Drive,” will be directed by Kate Donadio MacQueen and run later this year, from Oct.12-15. The drama uses the metaphor of driving to explore issues of pedophilia, incest, and misogyny, as well as the ideas of control and manipulation.

“Art and drama have such a power to heal people’s pain and wounds. As someone who has dealt with depression at various points in my life, I understand first-hand that being able to relate to a particular show or character can be a form of deep healing,” said Keefer.

Authenticity Theatre opened in 2022 with the show, “Pizza Man,” a dark comedy about two friends who turn the tables on sexism and misogyny by luring an unsuspecting pizza delivery man to their apartment. Originally slated for a one-night run, the production, staged at Lyric Theatre Alley, was extended for three additional nights due to audience response.

Later in 2022, Authenticity Theatre produced, “Doubt: A Parable,” a drama focused on questions surrounding a potential child molestation. The show opened to full houses for four consecutive nights at Seven Stages The-

atre. Keefer played the lead role of Sister Aloysius Beauvier, a stern nun, who believes a priest has molested one of her students.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” was a staged reading produced in 2023 to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Held at Merely Players Presents in Doraville, the audience members were also treated to a performance by the klezmer band, Chaverim.

During each show’s run, a non-profit organization related to the play’s theme is invited to partner with the theatre group to help create greater awareness about a specific social issue. For example, during “Pizza Man,” the Giving Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency assistance to food service workers, partnered with Authenticity Theatre. For “Doubt, a Parable,” The Powerful Project, a non-profit that provides affordable mental health care services to those in need, was selected to participate. The selected organization is included in all the theatre’s outreach and marketing materials, provided with a lobby presentation area during performances and receives donations from audience and community members.

“Being selected to partner with Authenticity Theatre expanded our reach and generated community awareness about The Powerful Project. Our goal is to help individuals and families who might otherwise fall between the cracks gain access to free or affordable mental health care. Authenticity Theatre staff and cast members genuinely care about helping

people, and our missions are perfectly aligned. Their name fits them perfectly,” said Lauren Foster, director of The Powerful Project.

“We want to contribute to other organizations who mirror our desire to make a difference. Our goal is to help empathy and compassion grow and thrive in order to heal and change our society,” said Keefer.

Keefer’s love of the theatre began at an early age here in Atlanta. Immigrating to the United States at the age of eight with her family from St. Petersburg, Russia, she found happiness and a strong command of the English language by performing in her school’s productions. After studying at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and performing in shows during high school, she went on to receive her BFA in theatre from the University of Georgia.

After taking a break from performing, raising her son, and teaching school, she returned to her first passion -- acting -- and founded Authenticity Theatre. Her husband, Scott Keefer, is also involved in the non-profit theatre company as managing director, responsible for manage-

ment, operations, and marketing.

In addition to her passion for theatre and commitment to making an impact on greater societal issues, Keefer hopes to provide opportunities for people who may have a harder time getting cast in local performances because they are new to the area or not affiliated with a specific theatre troupe. She mentioned that many groups tend to select the same people time and time again for their shows. Her goal is to cast a wider net so more actors can get involved and Atlanta audiences can be exposed to a larger pool of acting talent.

For more information about Authenticity Theatre or to purchase tickets to “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the upcoming 2023 season, please visit https://www. authenticitytheater.org. ì

Debbie Diamond

“Doubt: A Parable” played to full houses at Seven Stages Theatre.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” is cast and will be directed by Kara Cantrell.

Scott Keefer is managing director of the theatre group.

Sasha Keefer is the founder of Authenticity Theatre, as well as the executive and creative director.

Next on calendar is “A Streetcar Named Desire,” playing April 13-16.

“Pizza Man” was the first production of the theatre group.

The Temple & Breman Museum Host 'theater dybbuk'

By Bob Bahr

The main sanctuary of The Temple in Midtown became a stage as theater dybbuk settled in for a one-week residency that began Jan. 31.

Based in Los Angeles, theater dybbuk describes itself as a creator of “provocative new works” that blend theater with other art forms.

The theater company, in keeping with its unconventional approach to drama, used the ornate bimah of The Temple, with its intricate iron work and gilded Ark, for a performance of “Breaking The Protocols,” that lampooned the notorious forgery, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” This “Protocols” was a forgery that was first published in Russia soon after the turn of the 20th century, and was reputed to be the transcripts of a secret cabal of Jewish leaders bent on world domination.

In the hands of theater dybbuk it became the basis for a comic performance that, at one time, had a member of the theater company pantomiming, while fully

dressed on the makeshift temple stage. The founder and artistic director of theater dybbuk, Aaron Henne, explained it is all part of the theatrical experience.

“Because we were dealing with the possible author of the “Protocols,” we were kind of stripping him bare, as he was putting forth his ideas about the protocols and saying aloud where they come from and how they operate. We are using that theatrical technique of burlesque, strip

LaSt ChAnCe

tease or exotic dance, [and] reveal this human being who has his own motivations and resentments that are driving him.”

The jarring juxtaposition of the words of the published work, which inspired the Nazis and other antisemitic conspiracy seekers, with The Temple setting, was in keeping with the approach that the theater company has cultivated since its founding almost a dozen years ago. Theater director Henne describes it as way of getting his audiences to actively pay attention to group performances.

“We present work that asks you to lean in, to pay attention, to have to process what is being said. If you turn away for a moment, you might miss something. That’s what our whole approach is about requiring something of the audience, not just the old like ‘go to the movies, sitting back and enjoy the show.’ We have the opposite approach. We want you here as a participant.”

LA's theater dybbuk takes its name from the supernatural spirit that has the power to possess Jewish souls. It was first popularized in the well-known classic of the Yiddish theater, "The Dybbuk." For Henne, it became a way to remind his audiences that they could possibly also be ‘possessed’ during the company’s performances.

“This idea of something that has sort of possessed you is moving through you, that resonates in you is part of what we are after. We’re engaging with folkloric mythic questions, questions of darkness and questions of difficulty in a variety of ways.”

In a second performance before a mid-afternoon audience on Feb. 5 at The Breman Museum, troupe previewed ma-

terial from “The Merchant Project,” an exploration of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” that is said to explore the nature of truth and how it comes to be accepted on the stage and in our lives.

“I think what we’re wrestling with in the show is the question of what do people do with their anxieties in a changing world and how do they maybe displace those anxieties about the quote unquote ‘other,’” Henne says. “Shakespeare’s day in the late 16th century in England was a very difficult period and difficult in ways that also reflect or mirror today.”

The Breman audience had a chance to sit in on a session that illustrated how the company creates its new work and to question the creative team about that process. The work will have its world premiere on the West Coast in May.

During its week-long residency, the group also held workshops and professional development classes at The Weber School and The Davis Academy and for students and staff in The Temple’s educational program that, according to Henne, brought theater into the educational process.

“We’re bringing in storytelling techniques that add power to the curriculum’s power. We ask students and teachers how they can align their own life and their own story and their own experiences with what is being taught. We feel that it doesn’t feel alienating and separate if you can bring yourself to it.”

The visit to Atlanta by theater dybbuk was underwritten by a grant from the Covenant Foundation in New York that will bring performances and theater company to six cities over the next three years. ì

The Temple presented a performance of theater dybbuk on Jan. 31 on the bimah in its main sanctuary.

Aaron Henne is the founder and artistic director of theater dybbuk.

Among theater dybbuk’s productions is “Exagoge,” a work based on a Jewish play from the 2nd century. BCE // Photo Courtesy of Taso Papdakis

Being Jewish in Atlanta vs. Being Jewish in Berlin

I have been to Berlin many times visiting family, being a tourist and experiencing Judaism in Germany, so it is important to understand what it’s like being Jewish in Germany compared to being Jewish here in Atlanta.

If you haven’t been to Germany at all, you might not have a perception of what Berlin is like today. If your perception is based on World War II movies, you might think that Berlin is still in ruins looking like it was after the Allied bombings during the war. Nothing can be further from the truth. Berlin is a major, modern city with roads in better shape than Atlanta, with extensive trains and buses that can reach any part of the city, and students ride free.

The shopping and restaurants rival anything, if not better, than what we have in Atlanta. All the upscale shops are in Berlin, and the symphony hall is nicer than our own symphony complex. You will find many remnants of World War II here, but only as memorials.

When it comes to remembering the Holocaust, Berlin has Atlanta beat by a mile, as it should. There is a square block in the center of the city located near the Brandenburg Gate that is one of the city’s most impressive sights. It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern over 4.7 acres. The slabs plunge out of the ground vertically with varied heights. It’s a major tourist attraction.

There is a museum called “Topography of Terror” because all the terror carried out by the German government was devised in Berlin, as well as interrogations and the torture of those who opposed the Nazi regime. There are brass plaques on the sidewalks throughout the city telling the places where the Jews lived, when they were arrested, where and when they were sent to concentration camps, and dates of their deaths. Thank G-d there’s nothing comparable in Atlanta. There is also a walking tour of where the Jews lived in Berlin before the war.

There are six kosher restaurants and cafes and 11 synagogues active in Berlin. Almost all of them are Orthodox, and a couple of them are Conservative (called “masorti”). Reform synagogues do not exist in Berlin. All of the synagogues are protected 24/7 by state police. When

you go to any synagogue in Berlin, you will find security outside of the buildings, first from the police and often from Jews who work there. For some of the synagogues, there are double security doors, offering much more protection than what we have in Atlanta. The service follows the traditional service you would expect in Atlanta. The synagogue buildings are significant and capable of handling hundreds of worshipers.

There are about 30,000 Jews in Berlin and 4,000 Jews in Cologne. Many are from Russia and Israel. In Germany, at your job, you are asked to identify your religion. You can refuse to do that, but if you do identify as Jewish then the State takes nine percent of your income tax for religious purposes and sends that money to the Jewish Federation to support various Jewish groups, including the synagogues, schools, and Jewish organizations. This translates to about $175 per Jewish family per year, which significantly replaces the need for charitable contributions.

In Berlin, there are three kosher butchers, distinctly at a lower level than

Spicy Peach or The Kosher Gourmet in Toco Hills. The main Berlin store carries a large variety of canned products from Israel, as well as frozen meat items, but there is no fresh kosher meat available. When it comes to bread, there are bakeries all over the city, and the breads are significantly better than what is available in Atlanta. When it comes to kosher wine, the selection is substantially broader than what is available in Atlanta since wines from Israel are plentiful.

The Jewish Museum, another major attraction, was constructed by a famous architect to associate it with the various concentration camps that existed during the war. You have to go there to feel the difference as you walk through the building. There is also a Jewish bookstore in the center of one of the main shopping centers, and it is protected by police.

There are Jewish day schools, though they are smaller in size than Atlanta’s, and the cost is mostly paid by the Jewish Federation. Not only are Jewish day schools significantly lower in cost, but college in Germany is essentially free. This writ-

er’s grandchildren went to a Jewish Day School until high school, and now they are in a private high school significantly lower in cost than a private high school in Atlanta, and half their classes are in German and half in English. And health care is also covered by salary deductions, so that living as a Jew in Berlin does not involve having to choose either paying to educate your child Jewishly or taking care of most of your medical needs.

Purchasing a gun in Germany is very difficult and requires a very defined need, training to use the gun, and document information sent to the state of your ownership. Murders in Germany by guns are very rare, so children travel alone by public transportation at most hours of the day and night without fear.

Some Jews in the U.S. will not visit Germany because of the Holocaust, and that is their right. There is certainly concern about antisemitism in Germany as in America, but it seems that living in Germany is perhaps the safest country in Europe, and perhaps, even safer than in the U.S. ì

Allen H. Lipis

The Topography of Terror museum in Berlin.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin.

AJFF Film Examines Right to Die Issues

By Bob Bahr

The French film, “Everything Went Fine,” about how a wealthy and successful Jewish industrialist decides to end his life, is one of the thornier issues that the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has taken on this year.

The film, which was written and directed by the talented, veteran director Francois Ozon, bravely examines a subject that most filmmakers have chosen to avoid, the subject of assisted suicide as a way to end the life of someone who is chronically ill.

It is based on an autobiographical novel published in France in 2013 by Emmanuele Bernheim about helping her father to have an assisted suicide. Rabbi Judith Beiner is the community chaplain at Jewish Family and Career Services. She knows from professional and personal experience how difficult end of life decisions can be. Her own father suffered a serious stroke in July of 2021 and before he died in November of that year he asked her for help in ending his life. She reluctantly refused.

“I was one of two daughters caring for an aging father who was debilitated and wanting to take his own life. And we couldn’t, it wasn’t legal in the state where he was. He didn’t have a terminal diagnosis. So, we knew there was no way for him to do it. And it was awful, awful seeing him

so miserable. I would have if I could have helped him grant his wishes, I would have.”

Today, assisted suicide is legal in Canada and five European nations, including Switzerland which is one of the few countries to accept non-residents.

There are eight states and the District of Columbia where physician assisted suicide is legal if strict guidelines are followed. None are in the south. At the same time, nine states, including Georgia, have strengthened their laws against assisted suicide. Beiner believes the issue is one of the most difficult our society faces.

“When my father was dying, I really had a hard time being objective about everything. And again, even in that objectivity, I see both sides. Why it shouldn’t be done and why it should be done. This is a dilemma for our time. This is a big ethical and moral and emotional dilemma for our time.”

mained opposed to the taking of a human life.

At Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Ira Bedzow, who is a bioethicist as well as an ordained Orthodox rabbi, maintains that the decision in Judaism to end our life is not one for us to make.

“The Jewish tradition basically doesn’t say that we are owners of our life such that we can do whatever we want with it. It’s typically said that that G-d gave us a life, that we have responsibilities to it, to be a guardian, to preserve our life but we don’t own it, so we can’t end it whenever we want.”

by the way we view individual responsibility.

While the film, “Everything Went Fine,” generally avoids a deep discussion of all the legal and religious issues that are involved, it was, for some, difficult to watch. Rabbi Beiner felt it should have come with a warning label.

“I think the film for even for people not going through this, I think the film will leave some with more questions than answers. And it can be pretty difficult to watch, I think people can expect to have some of their emotions deeply activated in a very strong way.”

Rabbinic opinion on assisted suicide in recent years has remained largely static, the major rabbinic denominations have re-

The dilemma, Bedzow believes, stems not from the way Jewish belief is challenged, but in the way some have come to view our end of life decisions.

“In America, death with dignity has become popular because there has been a push towards the idea of personal autonomy. Right now, autonomy is the ability for a person to make a reasonable decision and based on what they define as a reasonable right. So, it becomes a matter of free choice or personal decision.”

Whether there is, in fact, a change in how we make our decisions about the end of life or not, Beiner, who as the community rabbi listing those in hospice care and hospital room, is continually confronted by the issue.

“It’s personally and professionally present just about every day. And maybe that in and of itself is the message here. Yes. this is a gut-wrenching topic to have to face for families and those who are the patients.” ì

“Everything Went Fine” is about the dilemma a daughter faces when her ill father asks her to help him end his life.

Emory University’s Ira Bedzow argues that the end of life issue has been influenced

Atlanta Rabbi Judith Beiner has had personal experience in dealing with end-of-life issues.

Director of ‘Remember This’ Celebrates Moral Heroism

By Bob Bahr

“Remember This” is the story of how the Polish diplomat and patriot, Jan Karski, tried unsuccessfully to alert two important leaders of World War II, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, to the enormity of the Holocaust. It is having its Southeast premiere at this year’s Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. The film is a one-man show, featuring the celebrated actor, David Strathairn, in a virtuoso performance. His props throughout the film are nothing more than a wooden table and two wooden chairs.

The project was originally developed as a play at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., where Karski taught for 40 years. It was co-written and directed by Derek Goldman, who heads the performing arts program there. The AJT spoke with him by phone from Krakow, Poland, where the play has been on a tour in four Polish cities.

AJT: Please describe the subject of both the play and the film.

Goldman: I think for us, one of the core themes of the film is individual responsibility, the idea that individuals have souls. Karsky didn’t go silent after World War II. He chose to teach for 40 years. And we see in his teaching his belief that, despite our human tendency to ignore things that are not convenient, and our tendency towards certain kinds of denial and complacency, that individuals have souls. Individuals have the capacity to make significant differences by taking care of each other, by bearing witness to what’s happening, by speaking up and speaking out. I think is probably the most important core theme.

AJT: How does the fact that Karski is not Jewish shape the story?

Goldman: It’s a story of allyship, of connection across difference. We see, in Karski, a very profound relationship to his own faith as a Catholic. His mother plays, I think, a really critical role in the trajectory of his story. She models and exemplifies very early, a sense of, for him, living a life of faith and devotion and commitment to others. And so, it’s so important for him to see in the early scenes what’s being done to Jews in his own neighborhood and his own choice to watch over them. His mother laid the foundation for a kind of way of being in the world. Today, at a time where we feel so polarized and fragmented and factionalized, it's really important to witness, across differences, how developing alliances happen with those who are different than ourselves.

AJT: How did you get David Starthairn to do this project?

Goldman: I had worked with him previously on some projects and we had become friendly. In the beginning, I had only an image in my mind of the kind of dignity and humility and the texture of the project. And I thought of Dave first.

I called him and he remembered Karski from Claude Lanzmann's 1985 documentary, “Shoah,” and it had stayed with him. The fact was it still haunted him a bit. He said ‘yes’ right away. Over time, I’ve gotten to see the toll the role has taken on him and what he gives to it. And it’s an amazing gift to be near. His performance is an incredible technical achievement, there’s almost a spiritual virtuosity in the way that David has found the spirit and bonded with the spirit of Karski.

AJT: You’ve managed to marry this incandescent performance with a spare, minimalist style shot in black and white that seems so right for this production. How did you achieve that?

Goldman: I think that we had the great gift that was the collaboration with Jeff Hutchens, the director of cinematography. The play already was cinematic in certain ways. It was lean and used time and space in certain expressive, transformative ways. But to create what we see on screen it took someone who came in with just incredible vision and experience as a director of photography and who responded so deeply to the material in a visual way.

There was a kind of miraculous dimension to what it took to pull it off in that way. We were just beautifully in sync with a team of people who were on the same page about what we were trying to do. And there was a kind of sacredness, ac-

tually, about those six days of filming watching David. it just was a masterclass in so many ways.

AJT: What’s been your impression of how this film has been received?

Goldman: We see in the character of Karski an inspiring example but not an easy example. Karski himself, of course, saw himself as largely a failure. So this is not a one sentence lesson that we’re imparting here, but it’s been very gratifying to see how not only how moved, but how galvanized and energized people seem to be by our film. ì

More information about “Remember This” can be found at www.globallab.georgetown.edu/projects/remember-this/

“Remember This” is having its southeast premiere at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

From left, co-writer Clark Young, actor David Strathairn, director and writer Derek Goldman, discuss “Remember This” at Georgetown University with professor Cynthia Schneider.

What's Jewish About... Franz Kafka

What attracted you to Franz Kafka?

When I first discovered Kafka’s fiction, as an adolescent, I was attracted to his themes of alienation and anxiety, the plights of his characters, and the nightmarish worlds they inhabited. At the time, I didn’t necessarily identify what I found so enthralling about Kafka’s work with Jewish themes, but I later recognized that they were present, for example, in his preoccupation with questions of communal belonging.

As a translator, tell us about your Jewish background.

I grew up in a Jewish family in New York. My strongest connection to Judaism came from my grandfather, Aaron, who, at the age of eight, fled pogroms in Ukraine with his mother. His story of persecution, fear, flight, and new beginnings was inseparable from the larger, perennial Jewish story.

How did you come to translate Kafka’s diaries?

When I read the German edition of his complete, uncensored diaries, originally published in 1990, I was astonished by its revelatory richness. I couldn’t fathom why, after decades, we still had in English only a 1948-49 translation based on a bowdlerized German version, prepared by Kafka’s close friend and literary executor, Max Brod, who had cut a substantial amount of material and made other intrusive alterations to the text that drastically misrepresented it.

Tell us about Franz Kafka and how he impacted the literary world. Born in 1883 in Prague to middle-class, assimilated German-speaking Jewish parents, Kafka was one of the most groundbreaking writers of the 20th century. For most of his life, he lived in the city of his birth, where he was employed at the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. From 1917 until his death in 1924, at the age of 40, he suffered from tuberculosis. While alive, he published several collections of his stories, but never completed the novels he’d begun. He had a limited but enthusiastic readership in his lifetime, particularly among prominent literary and cultural figures of the day.

How did Kafka rise to such importance as a writer?

Despite Kafka’s testamentary instructions to burn all his papers, Max Brod brought (Kafka’s) posthumous writing into print, including his unfinished novels, “The Trial,” “The Castle,” and what Brod titled “Amerika.” Together with Brod’s editions of the diaries, letters, and aphorisms, these publications brought Kafka worldwide renown. His visionary work has long been enshrined in the pantheon of modern literature.

Can you share Kafka’s relationship to his Jewishness?

Growing up, Kafka went to synagogue with his father four times a year, and had a bar mitzvah, which, testifying to his father’s assimilationist tendency, was announced in the local newspaper as a “confirmation.” He later wrote about how all this seemed to him mere formality, and his bar mitzvah just an exercise in learning by heart. But, in his diaries, we witness him, as an adult, taking an intense interest in a traveling Yiddish theater troupe. Later, he took Hebrew lessons and, while living in Berlin near the end of his life, courses on the Bible. Occasionally, he toyed with fantasies of moving to Palestine. It’s clear he was deeply engaged with the question of what it meant to be Jewish in his time and place.

What did you find in his diaries that was most interesting?

I found the fragmentary, unpolished nature of the writing in the diaries especially interesting and appealing because it opened a window into his creative process. His constant reworking of literary drafts, false starts, even his spelling errors and missing punctuation, give us an intimate sense of the haste, spontaneity, and restless inventiveness with which he wrote in his diary notebooks. I was fascinated with the complex relationships to his body, sexuality, and Jewishness that are revealed in the unexpurgated diaries.

Who will benefit most from reading this book?

Anyone whose life has been made richer and whose mind and imagination have been electrified by reading Kafka. And anyone who may not have read him yet but who likes to be jolted by literary genius.   www.rossmbenjamin.com

By Robyn Spizman Gerson

Ross Benjamin is the accomplished translator of “The Diaries of Franz Kafka.” He has received the prestigious Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Franz Kafka // Photo Courtesy of Schocken Books

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15

Global Connections with Robert Siegel: Ukraine – How Will the War End? - 4 to 5 p.m. Join American Friends of Rabin Medical Center and Robert Siegel who interviews: David Ignatius, Kori Schake, and Ambassador William B. Taylor. Get the Zoom link by visiting http://bit.ly/3WUa125.

Sisterhood Galentine’s Accessory Swap! - 6:30 to 9 p.m. GLT’s Sisterhood Galentine’s Accessory Swap! Learn more at http://bit.ly/3kSyK9S.

Caregiver Support Group Johns Creek Alpharetta - 6 to 7 p.m. Watching those we love lose their memory or ability to live independently is difficult on all levels. Taking some time to focus on your own mental and emotional wellbeing will help you be a better caregiver for someone else. RSVP to the Cohen Home and Jewish HomeLife, at http://bit.ly/3keoS9T.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18

Men’s Club Escape Room Date Night - 8 to 10 p.m. GLT’s Men’s Club Date Night: Escape Room. Register at http://bit. ly/3HGd7mc.

CTEEN Intown Atlanta 2023 – 5 p.m. Chabad Intown CTeen Atlanta is back and better than ever for the new year! Join fellow Intown ATL teens for these upcoming events filled with fun, friendship, food, Jewish pride and engaging torah learning! RSVP at https:// bit.ly/3jN3nwO.

Hadassah Etz Aviv -The Story of The Safe Haven Museum – 7 to 9 p.m. Featuring: Dr. Rhonda Mandel, Member of the Safe Haven Board of Directors. Register at http://bit.ly/3HFlq1q.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19

Atlanta Mah Jongg Madness – 9:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Join Beth Shalom for 4 rounds /16 Fun Tournament Style Mah Jongg Games. You will have chances to win money & gift cards. There will be a 50/50 Raffle with 3 winners. Enjoy a continental breakfast and a delicious catered lunch. Register at http://bit.ly/3JpnADz.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16

Countering An Active Threat Training - 9:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. Neil Rabinovitz, Atlanta’s Community Security Director, will lead this vital informational session. In 2022, Rabinovitz was announced as a recipient of a U.S. Attorney’s Award in recognition of the work he does every day with partners city-wide to keep our community safe. You can take action to protect yourself and save a life. Attend this crucial training session to learn how. Register at http://bit.ly/3WLpGkb.

B’teavon – All Day until February 21 B’teavon is an all-new, 4-day culinary exploration through the tastes, history, diversity and connections of all things Jewish food developed in partnership with The Gefilteria (co)LABS at Ramah Darom. Register at http:// bit.ly/3RhV7Bv.

Children’s Shabbat Pop-Up at Flour Power - 6 p.m. Check out this fun Tu B’shvat event for children and families hosted by Temple Kehillat Chaim. Learn about Tu B’shvat. Cook your own dinner. Sign up early at http://bit. ly/3HSeDSd.

Family Challah Bake – 10 a.m. Bring your children and grandchildren to the Mega Family Challah Bake! So much fun for the whole family and make new Jewish local friendships. Purchase tickets at Chabad of Forsyth at http://bit.ly/3XQ7Vle.

Atlanta Jewish Bowling League Winter Session – 6:30 to 9 p.m. Atlanta Jewish Bowling League is a co-ed fun group who love to bowl and have a good time, a very social league! Dues are $18 per week. Learn more at https://bit. ly/3V9TZjV.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20

Family Estrangement Support Group –4 to 5 p.m. Being estranged from loved ones brings mixed and complicated emotions. This JFCS virtual group is intended for those experiencing longstanding estrangements from family members. Group meetings will focus on processing and supporting one another. Register at http://bit. ly/3W46rC9.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21

Bereavement Support Group – 10 to 11:30 a.m. Grief and loss of loved ones bring about complicated and mixed emotions. This Jewish Family and Career Services support group aims to foster a safe and healthy environment to process these feelings and support people in mourning. To learn more and to register visit https://bit. ly/3uBFPx2.

CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Torah Reading: Mishpatim

Friday, February 17, Shevat 26, 5783 Light Candles at 6:04 PM

Saturday, February 18, Shevat 27, 5783 Shabbat Ends 7:01 PM

Torah Reading: Terumah

Friday, February 24, Adar 3, 5783 Light Candles at 6:11 PM

Saturday, February 25, Adar 4, 5783 Shabbat Ends 7:07 PM

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

Jacobson Leadership Institute -9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Jacobson Leadership Institute (JLI) has been a think tank and training ground for adaptive leadership and good governance within Atlanta’s synagogues, Jewish day schools, and Jewish agencies. In 2023, JLI will again bring in local and national experts to help facilitate discussions and training about Jewish community leadership. Register with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta at https://bit.ly/3fp2ZD7.

Caregiver Support Group - Dunwoody

Sandy Springs - 6 to 7 p.m. Watching those we love lose their memory or ability to live independently is difficult on all levels. Taking some time to focus on your own mental and emotional well-being will help you be a better caregiver for someone else. RSVP at Berman Commons Assisted Living & Memory Care and Jewish HomeLife, at http://bit.ly/3XuB84q.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23

Israeli Politics: A PENDULUM OUT OF CONTROL- 7 to 9 p.m. Join Congregation Etz Chaim and Rakefet Ginsburg CEO Of Masorti Israel to discuss Israeli Politics. RSVP at http://bit. ly/3XZNToy.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24

Shabbat, Me & Rabbi G at the JCC! – 5 to 5:30 p.m. Bring your children to the JCC for a Shabbat celebration featuring fun songs and blessings with Rabbi G!  Challah and grape juice are served.  Learn more at bit.ly/3Ab1C1F.

Primer Timers Sommelier- Curated Fine Wine Experience – 7:30 to 10 p.m. Enjoy a sommelier-curated fine wine experience with Congregation Etz Chaim. A hands-on experience with an aroma kit to help refine the wine palate of all participants! Find tickets at http://bit.ly/3RrJyYE.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Book Smart - Winter JLI Course – 8 to 9:30 p.m. A panoramic overview of 3000 years of Jewish learning, this  course from Chabad of Intown introduces you to the works that earned us the title “The People of The Book." Whether you’re meeting these texts for the first time or as a seasoned scholar, this course will inform and enrich all your Jewish learning. Register at https://bit.ly/3vFRgnO.

Michael Feinstein performing the Jewish American Songbook – 8 p.m. Neranenah presents Michael Feinstein performing the music of the Jewish American Songbook, including works by the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, and more. Purchase tickets at http:// bit.ly/3Dpkjk0

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25

Casino Night and Cocktail Party Fundraiser - 7 to 11 p.m. Eat, drink, play, support GLT! Purchase tickets at http://bit. ly/3jfy3qI.

31st Annual Atlanta Purim Parade & Festival! – 12 to 3:30 p.m. Don’t miss Atlanta’s most well-loved tradition for over 30 years - the Atlanta Purim Parade & Festival on Lavista Road! The fun starts with a parade with costumed marchers and decorated floats traveling down Lavista Road from Houston Mill, culminating in an outdoor festival on Beth Jacob’s outdoor campus. Enjoy carnival rides, food trucks, music, entertainment, and so much more! Pre-purchase tickets at http://bit.ly/3HjXD5F.

Family Hamantasch Bake! – 2 p.m. Mix, fill, and roll your very own hamantaschen and customize it to your liking with an assortment of delicious flavors with the Chabad of Dunwoody! The fun just gets better with a grand hamantasch pinata and mask decorating. Come along with your friends and family and get into the Purim spirit! Register at http://bit. ly/3HjXIpZ.

Sisterhood Donor Event 2023 – 2 to 3 p.m. Join Congregation Or Ve Shalom-

munity is invited to “An Afternoon at the Comedy Club”. Purchase tickets at http://bit.ly/3YkJTyM.

Atlanta Jewish Bowling League Winter Session – 6:30 to 9 p.m. Atlanta Jewish Bowling League is a co-ed fun group who love to bowl and have a good time, a very social league! Dues are $18 per week. Learn more at https://bit. ly/3V9TZjV.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27

Our Time of Wisdom – 7 to 8:30 p.m. You are invited to join Temple Beth Tikvah members in a program designed to meet the social, emotional, and spiritual needs of those 50+. Register at https://bit.ly/3ERHfZ3.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28

Bereavement Support Group – 10 to 11:30 a.m. Grief and loss of loved ones bring about complicated and mixed emotions. This Jewish Family and Career Services support group aims to foster a safe and healthy environment to process these feelings and support people in mourning. To learn more and to register visit https://bit. ly/3uBFPx2.

Find more events and submit items for our online and print calendars at: 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 Diana Cole for more information at Diana@atljewishtimes.com.

Are You Committed To Ensuring Jewish Tomorrows?

Join

Thursday, March 2nd | 6:30pm

Congregation B’nai Torah

700 Mt. Vernon Highway, NE Sandy Springs, GA 30328

With special recognition for donors who have made a legacy commitment to the Atlanta Jewish community and signers of the Jewish Future PledgeTM.

Join us for a special evening of community, togetherness, and celebration!

Heavy hors d’oeuvres, drinks, honored guests, and a chance to hear from Bernie Marcus and Dr. Catherine Lewis on their new book, Kick Up Some Dust, Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back and Doing It Yourself and the power of philanthropy.

OY VEY

Dear Rachel,

We have been living in a suburb of Atlanta for several years now, and I love our neighborhood. It is picturesque and beautiful while having all the amenities of mainstream Jewish city life. When we first moved in, there was one small house minyan at the end of our block, so that was the natural choice for my husband and me. The rabbi and rebbetzin became our friends, and we appreciated the convenient location.

Recently, someone who lives a few blocks away started his own house minyan. I went there one Shabbos for a bar mitzvah, and I found I was much more comfortable there than in my usual one. The women there were in my middle age bracket, not the age of my adult children, and there was no talking during the prayers, a value I cherish.

So, now I am faced with a double dilemma. The first one is that my husband prefers the first minyan. Is it acceptable to go to a different shul from the one my husband attends? The second is that if I go to the newer shul, I am concerned about hurting my friend/rebbetzin’s feelings. I happen to know that she is sensitive in this regard because a different family deflected, and she felt personally affronted.

Your suggestions would be appreciated.

Dear Seeing Double,

It seems to me that some good, honest communication is in order. Regarding your husband, how does he feel about your choosing a different shul from the one that he attends? Based on your description, it sounds like you would not be sitting beside him during the prayer service anyway. So, what is the underlying issue? Is it that people will see that you are not entering and exiting shul together? Is there something innately bothersome about a couple going to different shuls?

If your husband agrees that you should go where you feel most comfortable, then your choice becomes fifty percent easier. If it is a sensitive issue to him that you are going to separate places, perhaps you can work out a compromise where you go to each shul every other week. Perhaps he enjoys walking to and from shul with you. In that case, it is not merely a question of going to the same shul together; it is an investment in your marriage.

Regarding your rebbetzin/friend who might be insulted that you are leaving her shul, have a conversation with her. Tell her that leaving her shul is not a personal issue. It is simply a decision reflecting two values that are important to you: being with your peer group and praying in an atmosphere that is undiluted by mundane conversation.

Perhaps the family who “deflected” didn’t speak with the rabbi and rebbetzin, and that is why hurt feelings erupted.

It is entirely possible that there will be upset even after a clarifying conversation. But communication can certainly help. The rabbi and rebbetzin will see that you care, and they will understand that your decision is nothing personal.

Perhaps you can compromise in this area, as well. Can you offer to pay a certain amount for membership to both places? Since they are both house minyanim, I assume this will not be prohibitively expensive. Then, perhaps you can come and go to either shul, sharing occasions with both constituencies.

Wishing you warm and peaceful conversations,

Rachel

Atlanta Jewish Times Advice Column

Got a problem? Email Rachel Stein, a certified life coach, at oyvey@ atljewishtimes.com describing your problem in 250 words or less. We want to hear from you and get helpful suggestions for your situation at the same time!

The Groom

“Congratulations, Moshe,” said the groom’s uncle. “I’m sure you’ll look back on today and remember it as the happiest day of your life.”

“But I’m not getting married until tomorrow,” replied Moshe.

“I know, I know,” replied his uncle.

YIDDISH WORD

Yiddishe pooch

n. A dog who has learned and responds to commands in Yiddish.

“Daisy is a Yiddishe pooch. Tell her to go kibbitz, and she chews the other dogs’ ears off. Not literally, of course.”

Yiddish pooches are for real; New Yorkers can even attend Yiddish dog training seminars in Central Park.

Paper Products

By: Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com

Difficulty Level: Easy

ACROSS

1. Paper product brand for the Clouds of Glory?

6. White water boat

10. TV host Kelly

14. Trey Anastasio’s jam band

15. “Female” magazine, in 29-Down

16. Discordia’s Greek counterpart

17. Paper product brand for one looking to save a shekel or two?

19. They’re not kosher, at the farm

20. They’re not kosher, at the sushi restaurant

21. Bit of pain

23. Paper product brand for one observing the mitzvah of redeeming captives?

27. Paper product brand for a lil maideleh?

28. Type of reef

29. Home of the Seminoles, for short

31. It’s used to make challah and rye

32. Like New Jersey in January

33. “The Count of Monte ___”

35. Bright students’ org.

36. Paper product brand for Gavriel, Michael, or Raphael?

39. .docx alternative

42. Made a noise like 19-Across

43. Uses +

47. Give a dvar Torah, perhaps

49. HTML formatting language

50. Start a game of pool

51. Paper product brand for those living during the time of Enoch? (with 58-Across)

53. Paper product brand for Samson?

54. One who might observe strict halakhot

55. Young Hawk star?

57. The truth of Torah?

58. See 51-Across

64. Torah unit volume

65. Aussie birds

66. “I agree”

67. “I agree”

68. Jewish retirement investor?

69. Paper product brand for actor Wolf?

DOWN

1. Jordan had 30.12, highest in NBA history

2. ___ Kasdim (Var.)

3. “Fee, ___, foe, fum”

4. Gov. tax-free option for paying health care costs

5. “Fiddler on the Roof” village

6. Legitimate

7. Word with cover or over

8. It’s more than just a 32-Across

9. They’re in your mouth

10. Bring back on to the team

11. Avenger with a memorable snap

12. Like gluttons and 19-Across

13. Goes along with

18. Oy follower

22. The ___ of the Fist, “Cobra Kai” motto

23. Secretly add to an email

24. Scoreboard line in a perfect game

25. Modern link

26. Zilch

27. Uses foul language

29. Like Chagall or Rashi

30. Worm-made cloths

33. “Avatar” effects, briefly

34. “Dracula” director Browning

37. “There’s ___ in sight”

38. O’Hara’s plantation

39. Fashionable to the max

40. Joseph or Pharaoh, e.g.

41. “Star Wars” mastermind Jon who also directed 11-Down

44. It covered manna

45. Aykroyd of note

46. What’s above us

48. Acquire 9-Down

50. Challah and rye

52. Detroit athlete

53. Kind of Mitzvah?

55. Letter-shaped hardware piece

56. The start of Rosh Hashanah?

59. Goth’s favorite genre, maybe

60. First syllable of a simple game

61. Judge Lance of the O.J. trial

62. Giant outfielder Mel

63. Shalt follower

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To Your Home or Office within 5 Miles

LUNCH SPECIAL

Good Sunday Through Thursday 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Roberta Schwartz Berger

80, Atlanta

Roberta (Bobbie) Schwartz Berger lost her fight to a rare form of leukemia on Jan 31, 2023. After being in remission for more than 2 ½ years, she died peacefully in home hospice. Bobbie was a trailblazer. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree at eight months pregnant, and earned her Master of Childhood Education, and PhD in Psychology while raising three children. She was also a tour de force. In 2015, she received the Audrey Kaplan Inspiring Women of the Southwest Award from the Southwestern Jewish Committee. She also received the SMU Profiles in Leadership Award from the SMU Women’s Symposium. She was best known and loved for her empathy and giving heart. She and Murray opened their home to so many who needed a respite including fostering a child who fled Iran and a number of friends who were in transition. Her work as a psychologist concentrated on helping women and children every day. Bobbie also focused her time on charitable endeavors, which included setting up Vogel House in Dallas, Texas. She also served on the boards of multiple nonprofit institutions, including the American Jewish Committee and the Conservative movement’s national sisterhood organization. More recently, she volunteered with the local synagogue, Or VeShalom, making burekas every week.

Everyone knew her for baking and sharing cupcakes, her secret sin cookies and other goodies with people who lived in her senior community. Her challah was legendary, winning the championship for Challah Baking in Dallas, Texas. Bobbie was an avid traveler from the time that she was a teenager—starting in Israel and visiting many countries on every continent in the world, to include Asia, Europe, the Americas, and India. She loved learning about new cultures, history, and meeting new people.

404-327-7810

Toco Hills Shopping Center 2205 Lavista Road Atlanta, GA 30329

Bobbie is survived by her husband, Murray, of almost 60 years, and her three children, Karyn Berger (Karen Humphrey), Allan Berger (Carita Bachman), and Heidi Geller (David Geller). She was lovingly known as “Bubbie” to her grandchildren: Mikko, Elli, Rachel, Felipe, Daniel and Julia. She was blessed to know her great-grandchildren, Olivia and Hailey. May her memory always be a blessing. Funeral services were held 1:00 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3 at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree Road, NE, Atlanta. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Sally Beinhorn Freedman

73, Atlanta

Sally Beinhorn Freedman, 73, of Atlanta, Ga., passed away peacefully on Jan. 26, 2023 with the love of her life, Jeffrey, by her side.

Sally grew up in a close-knit family in Miami, Fla., and was a proud graduate of Miami Edison High School. She then attended the University of Tennessee and moved to Atlanta as a young woman.

Always the last to leave a party, Sally had countless friends and remembered everyone’s birthdays and other special events. Her kindness, wit, and big, bright smile won everyone over. She would say, “Your family are your friends, and your friends are your family.”

Sally worked in the promotional products business, which she loved because it brought out her creativity and allowed her to work with people, which she also loved. She ran a successful business of her own for decades.

Sally enjoyed staying active and exercised almost every day. She always knew what was happening around town and often visited the High Museum, galleries, and art festivals. Volunteering with One Good Deed and Second Helpings Atlanta made her happy and her service with both organizations helped so many others.

Sally had a lifelong love of travel. She explored Russia, Japan, and all over Europe. She also traveled the US, visiting beautiful places like Sedona and Hawaii with Jeffrey, and loved to take cruises with her family and friends.

Sally is predeceased by her beloved parents, Lois and Irv Beinhorn, and sister, Luci. She is survived by Jeffrey Geismar, Rachel Geismar (husband Paul Dorfman), and her grandson, Elijah, whom she adored.

Her funeral was held at Arlington Memorial Park on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 3:30 p.m. with Rabbi Judith Beiner officiating. Donations may be made in her memory to Second Helpings Atlanta.

*An example of our lunch sweet and sour chicken On Our Hot Bar We Offer Your Choice of Entrée, Your Choice of Rice and One Eggroll

Alice Orenstein Kaplan

94, Atlanta

Alice Orenstein Kaplan passed away on Jan. 26 at the age of 94 with family by her side, having repeatedly stated that she was quite ready to join her husband, Sidney, to whom she was married for almost 60 years.

Born in Decatur, Ga., in 1928, she was the only Jew in elementary and high school, yet she remained strictly kosher, travelling by streetcar every week to Sunday School at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue on Washington Street, and later to the old Alliance Jewish Center to be with Jewish friends and especially with Sidney.

She would recall standing under the chupah with Sidney in 1948, only one month after the State of Israel was established, listening to Rabbi Harry H. Epstein draw a comparison between their marriage and the creation of the new Jewish State.

Preceding her were her father and mother, Samuel and Esther Orenstein, and her two brothers Leonard and Marvin Orenstein. She enjoyed a very special “big brother, little sister” relationship with Marvin, and both families always celebrated together High Holidays, Passover seders, and family events.

She affectionately remembered Thanksgivings of old when the two families would always come together for lunch at the old Progressive Club, followed by the traditional Thanksgiving Day “Tech vs. Georgia Freshman Football Game.”

Alice was the consummate mother and homemaker, devoting every minute of her early years to raising her children, Scott, Randy, Mark, and Terri. Later, she adored her children-in-law, Shelley, Paul, Karen, and Jack. Her pride and joy were her grandchildren, Shira (David), Dori (Mark), Laura (Eli), Jeffrey, Kristin (Alex), Cody, and, of course, her great-grandchildren, Sydney, Hailey, Harper, and Aliyah.

She loved spending time with all children, and after she raised her own, she became a teacher’s-aid at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue Early Childhood Program for many years. A week did not pass without a former student recognizing and reconnecting with her.

Among her chief joys in life were her weekly card games (actually reported in the Atlanta newspapers) with her lifelong friends, Shirley Tenenbaum, Barbara Bock, Margie Greenberg, Betty Goldstein, Florence Gillman, and Augusta Cohen which took place consistently for almost 70 years.

Together with husband, Sidney, she emersed herself in AA Synagogue affairs, volunteering at countless events, serving as a member of several committees, and as an officer of the sisterhood.

She loved dancing and performed in several musical productions at the synagogue, as well as the old Mayfair Club of Atlanta.

Alice was an early advocate of Jewish Day School education and Jewish summer camps. She and Sidney were among the very first in our community to send each of their children to the Hebrew Academy of Atlanta (now the Atlanta Jewish Academy) and Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.

She insisted upon a strict rule that wherever you were and whatever you were doing, you came home to be with family for Rosh Hashanah and Passover seders.

With Sidney by her side, Alice was blessed to enjoy a full, joyous life, traveling with family and friends to more places than she could recall. She was known for her elegant, creative, and contemporary sense of style.

The family is grateful to Alice’s care providers, Zee, Stephanie, Susan, Jane, and Melissa, who provided loving and compassionate care during her final years.

May the memory of Alice Kaplan be a blessing to all who were honored to know and love her. A graveside service was held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at Greenwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Irwin Lang Lowenstein

87, Atlanta

Irwin Lang Lowenstein, 87, died Feb. 7, 2023, at his home in Atlanta, Ga., after a heroic battle with cancer. He was born on Aug. 17, 1935, in Louisville, Ky. Son of Stanley and Fanny Lowenstein. He was married 65 years to Joel Dampf Lowenstein.

From 1988 until 1997, Irwin Lowenstein was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Atlanta based Rhodes, Inc., and has been affiliated with the Rhodes organization since 1972. At that time, Irwin was appointed President of the then Houston-based Crossroads Furniture chain, a showroom/ warehouse division of Rhodes, Inc. in 1977. When Crossroads consolidated their interests with Rhodes, he was elected President and COO.

Rhodes, Inc. was a leading specialty furniture retailer in the southeastern United States; during his tenure he helped build Rhodes throughout the southeast taking them public on the New York Stock Exchange and continued to grow them through multiple public and private acquisitions. He held numerous board positions over his life including, L.A.T Sportswear, Atlantic American Corporation, Goody’s Family Clothing, Schnadig Corporation, and The Powell Company.

He was also proud to be a leader outside of his professional life in areas where he was passionate. One of his proudest roles was when he served as President of the “The Temple” (Hebrew Benevolent Congregation) where he also established The Lowenstein Youth Scholarship Fund to help all children participate in Jewish programming without funding getting in the way. He also served as President and Director of the Standard Club of Atlanta; President and Director of the American Furniture Hall of Fame; member of the Advisory Council of Emory University Business School; member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Home; Director of the Jewish Vocational Service; and Jewish Children Services of Atlanta. He was also a member of the Young Presidents Organization; member of the Board of Directors of the American Jewish Committee, Director of the National Home Furnishings Association; and Past Director of the Future Leadership Award for DuPont.

In June 1982, Lowenstein received the Distinguished Community Service Award from Brandeis University. In October 1983, he was the recipient of the Human Relations Award by the American Jewish Committee. In March 1985, he received the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In February 1991, he was the recipient of the The Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League, and, in November 1995, he received the Spirit of Life Award from the City of Hope and the National Home Furnishings Industry.

Survived by his wife, Joel Dampf Lowenstein, his sister, Regine Aberson (Les) his five children, Joanne Birnbrey (Eddie), Suzanne Reiman (Richard), Ruth Shor (Alan), Ellen Italiaander (James Weisberg), Stanley Lowenstein (Jennifer); 18 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Irwin had numerous pleasures including golf, bridge, horse racing, art, Vanderbilt sports, Scotch, and a great steak. But none of them compared to his love for his family and Grammy.

A private family burial was held on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, followed by a memorial service and Celebration of Life at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree Rd. NW Atlanta, GA, 30309. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Lowenstein Youth Scholarship Fund at The Temple. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-4514999.

OBITUARIES

Leon Irwin Rechtman

94, Atlanta

Leon Irwin Rechtman, loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away peacefully on Jan. 29, 2023, at the age of 94. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Leon was the youngest of the four children born to Jenny and Sol Rechtman.

Leon’s father, Sol Rechtman, emigrated to the United States from Chelmnik, Russia (on the Russia/ Poland border) in 1913. Leon’s mother, Jenny Rechtman, and Leon’s older sister, Belle, followed Sol to Ellis Island in 1919. Leon’s father, Sol Rechtman, had fled from the Russian army during a Russian Revolution due to antisemitism in the Russian military.

Leon was predeceased by his siblings and their spouses, Belle (Herb), Melvin (Bettie) and Edwin (Esther). He was the last Rechtman of his generation, and therefore, his passing has increased significance to his loving extended family.

Leon Rechtman is survived by his wife, Ann Scott Rechtman. Leon is survived by his four children, David Rechtman (Judy), Michael Rechtman (Sheryl), Scott Rechtman, and Sallie Friedman. Leon is survived by his seven grandchildren, Jami Rechtman, Lauren Rechtman (Jeff Chod), Joel Rechtman, Rebecca Friedman, Jennifer Friedman, Michelle Rechtman, and Hannah Friedman. Leon is survived by his two great-grandchildren, Logan Chod, and Ella Lucille Chod.

Leon attended the University of Michigan and earned a B.S. in Chemistry in 1950. He married Lucille Greenberg (Rechtman) Freiser. Leon was married to Lucille for 26 years, before they divorced in the 1970s.

Leon’s father, Sol Rechtman, founded a textile manufacturing plant in Detroit, Wolverine Hat & Cap. In approximately 1950, Sol moved his plant to western Alabama, to the town of Reform in Pickens County. Leon, his brothers, Mel and Ed, and his brother-in-law, Herb, came with Sol to rural Alabama to help manage the factory. Wolverine Hat & Cap Manufacturing Co. became the largest employer in town. The extended families of Sol Rechtman were the only Jewish families in the region.

When U.S. textile manufacturing became less economically feasible, Leon Rechtman decided to return to school to become a dentist. During this journey, he lived for a few years in Tuscaloosa, then in Birmingham. Leon graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Dental School in 1963 at the age of 35. During dental school, he became active in Alpha Omega, the professional Jewish dental fraternity.

After graduation from dental school, Leon moved his family to Atlanta to pursue his dental career. He practiced dentistry primarily in Chamblee, but also worked stints in Dahlonega, LaGrange, and Atlanta. Leon gave back by volunteering to provide dental services to Atlantans who could not afford them at the Ben Massell Dental Clinic. Leon founded the LaGrange Denture Clinic and worked in the dental field well into his eighties.

Leon and his growing family lived in Morningside and were members of Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

As a second career, Leon volunteered to serve the Volunteers for Israel (VFI) organization. VFI creates opportunities for American civilian volunteers to serve on IDF bases in Israel, and is affiliated with Sar-El, an Israeli organization. It is estimated that Leon himself volunteered in Israel approximately 19 times over a span of 25 years. Leon was subsequently named the Southeast Regional Director of VFI.

A memorial service and Celebration of Life for Leon Rechtman was held at Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, Georgia on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. Contributions in memory of Leon may be made to Volunteers For Israel or the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Armond “Jay” Senoff

91, Sandy Springs

Armond “Jay” Senoff, 91, slipped quietly and peacefully away on Jan. 27, 2023. Jay was born to Beatrice and Harry Senoff in Chicago, Ill., on March 26, 1931. He was predeceased by his loving wife, Rita Gartner, his brothers, Eddie and Danny Senoff, and his mother and father, all of blessed memory.

Jay treasured his families. He raised four children, including a set of triplets. In the 1970s, he exposed them to road trips, poetry, car shows, and homemade corned beef hash. He loved chocolate-covered orange peels, beef jerky, licorice, gumdrops, and Milky Ways. He was the most gentle, sweet, and nurturing father, and he loved his children and grandchildren dearly, proud of each one of their endeavors. When Rita came into his life, Jay also cherished the time spent with her children and grandchild.

For work, Jay valued the hustle of a sale. After college at Arizona State University, where he was a charter member of AEPi, he worked at Fine’s Quality Meats in Chicago, delivering meats and tenderizing skirt steak. Following his stint in the meat market, Jay sold women’s clothing, traveling Pennsylvania, South Georgia, and North Florida. He caught the sales bug, earning top 10 sales associates for Bobbie Brooks for five consecutive years. Later, as a clothing salesman, Jay put his business prowess and “fix-it” knowledge to work as the owner of Atlas Transmission in downtown Atlanta. Eventually, he returned to selling women’s clothing, co-founded a boutique handbag company, and created a new business selling self-designed and manufactured Lucite windscreens for convertibles. Even into his late 80s, Jay utilized a fully operational workshop for his creative endeavors and income.

Jay adored cars and took his first job collecting automobile loan payments from the Ford Motor Company because the job came with a company car. Eventually, he saved enough to buy a 1948 Green Plymouth Club Coupe. With his first clothing territory, he leased a Buick to travel in and work from, forever finding fascination with motor vehicles. When his children were young, Jay bought, stripped, and rebuilt his pride and joy, a 1930s British Riley Sprite, and loved driving around Sandy Springs as neighbors stared and waved. A Porsche 911 remained with him for years, followed by a Cadillac Allanté and others.

Jay also loved the women in his life. He became his most authentic self when he was dating, living with, or married to these strong women. Built-in friendships fueled him through two marriages, and he was the consummate flirt - always. Even in his later years, Jay perked up when the young, attractive hospice staff visited him, and he showed off whenever possible - cracking jokes and making those around him feel at ease. Ultimately, his caregiver, Azita Shooshtari, helped him celebrate life, and for that, he treasured her kindness and care.

We will sorely miss Jay. His legacy lives on through his children, Terri Senoff Jacobson (Eric), Robyn Senoff Pomerantz (Ken), Michael Senoff (Shelley), and Joel Senoff (Sysser). He leaves his adoring grandchildren, Hilit and Jonah Jacobson, Max, Ella, Oscar, Joseph, and Alan Senoff, Everest Gartner, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins, his stepsons, Craig and Shawn (Amy) Gartner, and a long-lost half-brother he never had a chance to meet, Eddie Kunin.

Donations may be made to The Longleaf Foundation (Hospice and Palliative Care) or the American Cancer Society Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Hope Lodge. Arrangements by Dressler’s, 770-451-4999.

OBITUARIES

Marvin Shrager 96, Atlanta

Marvin Shrager died at home in Atlanta on Jan. 14, 2023, surrounded by his adoring family. He was born in 1927 in Plainfield, N.J. He was a graduate of Plainfield High School and was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania.

Marvin served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He married the love of his life, Sara Michael, in 1950, and they raised three children in Plainfield. The family enjoyed summers at the beach, game nights, and bumper-car competitions at the Jersey Shore.

Marvin took over his father’s CPA firm, H.L. Shrager & Co., in Scotch Plains, N.J. He was a partner there for years, until retiring to Atlanta in 2013.

Marvin was an avid card player and tennis player. At 95, he was still playing bridge twice a week with friends and joining his grandchildren for online card games. He was a logic-puzzle wizard and passed on his passion for card games and math puzzles to his children and grandchildren.

Marvin is survived by his wife Sara, his son, Gary Shrager (Eileen Sullivan), his daughter, Jody Sitts (Brian), his three grandchildren, Rachel Lartey (Ayesu), Daniel Sitts (Mitchell Cohen), Dylan Sitts, and a great-grandson, Asong Lartey. He is predeceased by his two sisters, Elinore Heyman and Robin Gerson, and his son, Howard.

Marvin’s greatest joy was his family. He will be remembered for his loving spirit, his intellect, and his keen sense of humor.

Rabbi Marc Wilson 73, Atlanta

Rabbi Marc Wilson, 73, died Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. He was a Torah scholar, beloved educator, gourmet chef and caterer, music lover, and self-proclaimed hippie. His self-effacing humor and wit and powerful oratory style touched many, young and old alike. He took great pride in building bridges between Jews and those of other faiths.

Marc was born and raised in Chicago to parents, Simeon and Sophie Wilson, in 1949. He received his rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Theological College and a BA in Sociology from Depaul University. He served as the rabbinical leader of Adas Shalom in Morton Grove, Ill., Shearith Israel in Atlanta, Ga., Temple Israel in Charlotte, N.C., and Beth Israel in Greenville, S.C. He was a noted columnist for publications including the Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, Chicago Tribune, and Reader’s Digest.

He was a community organizer and activist throughout his adult life. Among his accomplishments, he founded the first two synagogue-based homeless shelters in the country and the Year of Altruism, which encouraged and celebrated altruism, focusing the Greenville community on fostering acts of kindness, drawing participation and sponsorship from over 100 Greenville organizations. He was cited as Atlanta JournalConstitution’s Public Servant of the Year and Greenville Magazine’s Fifty Most Influential Citizens.

Survivors include his wife, Linda Wilson, of Greenville, S.C.; daughter and her husband, Anna (Chanie) and Scott Steinberg, of Atlanta, Ga., son and his wife, Joey, and Jessica Wilson of Atlanta, Ga., son and his wife, Benjamin and Joy Wilson, of Riverdale, N.Y., stepchildren, Heather and Phil Weinstein, of Apex, N.C., and Geoffrey and Laura Binnick, of Apex, N.C.; 14 grandchildren: Sophie, Jordan, and Izzy Steinberg, Simeon, Mikey and Jonathan Wilson, Rachel, Batya, Ella, and Alex Wilson, Talia and Evan Weinstein, and Allie and Myles Binnick.

A memorial service was held at Congregation Beth Israel in Greenville, S.C. with Rabbi Sharon Cohen officiating, and graveside services were held at Crest Lawn Cemetery in Atlanta, Ga., with Rabbi Adam Starr officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Congregation Beth Israel at https://www.bethisraelsc.org or Congregation Ohr HaTorah at www.ohrhatorahatl.org. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

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.

CLOSING THOUGHTS Do It Yourself or How Not to Build a Bookshelf

Full of selfconfidence and boredom (never a prudent combination), I ordered a flatpack bookshelf online. Don’t worry. I am not a novice in the do-it-yourself universe (I have the bruised fingers to prove it), and I was pleased that by building the bookshelf myself, I would save more than $100, which was an additional fee for a fully-assembled similar piece.

Even though it took more than a month for the flat-pack to arrive, I was full of spunk and great expectations when I opened the package. There was a slight blip, however; I had ordered the shelf unit in faux mahogany wood, but the pack I received was black laminate. Fortunately, “flexibility” is my DIY middle name, and I understand that mix-ups that originate in foreign countries do happen from time to time. I wasn’t picky, so I decided to keep the black laminate

and not go to the trouble of repacking and returning my kit, likely delaying the replacement delivery another month or more. I was rarin’ to go.

Online, the kit assembly had looked simple enough, and I eased myself into my DIY zone, an alternate universe which is so often comprised of 90 percent optimism and 10 percent reality. Unfortunately, the sheet of directions was in foreign languages on both sides. But the instructions were illustrated, so I was still feeling capable and hopeful, determined to maintain my cheery outlook.

I laid all the nine pieces on the living room floor and identified the pieces and hardware according to the pictures. This took a long time because all the pieces looked the same, and I had no recourse but to distinguish the pieces according to their pre-drilled holes for screws. Then, when I had everything in order, I began.

When I was finished, I had some screws and one shelf (I think it was a shelf) left over, and I couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.

I’m not a quitter (although I did give up learning to drive a school bus in the

1980s). Therefore, I took the whole thing apart and laid out all the pieces again. I got it put together, but, in this round of assembling, my project came out lopsided. Upon closer scrutiny, I saw that I had used one of the shelves as a supporting end. Another disassembly ensued. I’m embarrassed to admit that I considered throwing up my hands and getting back to the cheesy novel I was reading; I felt a disturbing wave of self-doubt creeping in, but instead of giving in to my obvious incompetence, I decided to break for a restorative bowl of left-over pasta, then I resolutely returned to my project. Now I had only one aim: conquer the enemy. I filled my bowl with more pasta and took it with me, for sustenance, to the construction site.

My husband, who is smart enough to stay away from me when I’m DIY-ing, had been surreptitiously watching me with poorly-guarded looks that meant “Give up, already,” and his vocalized advice, although it had merit, was not appreciated: “Stuff the pieces in the box, and throw the whole thing away. It looks like you’re nearing a total meltdown, and you’ve had enough pasta.” Naturally, this

emboldened me to prevail over him and the nine-piece hurdle seductively luring me back to the living room floor.

I tried again and failed. There are times in battle, alas, when one needs to call in reinforcements, and I was considering whom to call, when -- miracle of miracles-- one of our daughters came by to drop off a chair for my scrutiny before taking it to Goodwill (family members know not to give anything away which I, committed do-it-yourselfer, could put to good use some day.)

In spite of my husband’s fatherly warning to her to get out fast, as I sat back and packed on the carbs, my daughter agreed to take a look at my project. She, of course, put the whole thing together lickety-split, and took her leave. Her parting words were, “Mom, that pasta’s not good for you. Stop.”

After finishing the pasta (there wasn’t much left), I moved the finished bookshelf to its designated location and was glad I had saved $100. In case you’re wondering, I would have offered the $100 to my daughter if she hadn’t mentioned the pasta.ì

Chana Shapiro

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66 Year Old Jewish Sandy Springs Woman seeking Jewish Female Caregiver/Companion for 4-5 hours per day for indefinite period of time. Healing from complex PTSD. Need soft spoken, empathetic, caring, compassionate, gentle, fully Covid vaccinated non-smoker. Should have Federal Background Check available or willing to submit to Background Check. Please text Rhonda 404-317-4552.