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FEBRUARY 24, 2017 | 28 SHEVAT 5777

Conexx To Honor AJT

Jewish ATL’s New Website

The Atlanta Jewish Times has launched a new website as a local partner of The Times of Israel.

As a result, our online address, and we hope your home for Jewish news and community, has changed. While www. atlantajewishtimes.com will still get you there, our official home is atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com.

That longer URL — bookmark it and you can forget it — reflects our membership in the partner network The Times of Israel is building. It brings together some of the leading independent publications in Jewish news: the online-only Times of Israel; the Jewish News of England; the Jewish Week of New York; the Jewish Standard of northern New Jersey; and your AJT. More sites are on the way.

Each member of the network retains its editorial and business independence, but having one Jewish news ecosystem online makes it easy for users to jump among sites. We’re also in a stronger position to bring you the information you need and want online and to serve your advertising and marketing needs.

Our focus remains on the local Jewish news and discussions you can’t get anywhere else, but now we’ll be able to do much more. ■ • For what you’ll find on the new AJT website, see Editor’s Notebook, Page 12

Right on ’Que Photos by Eli Gray

As if to justify Georgia groundhog Gen. Beauregard Lee’s prediction of an early spring, balmy temperatures settled on the Atlanta area in mid-February, offering the perfect weather for an early taste of summer: a pop-up barbecue event at Young Israel of Toco Hills on Sunday, Feb. 19. The food was provided by Keith Marks (shown at the register) and David Schakett of Keith’s Corner BBQ, now operating under Atlanta Kosher Commission supervision.

Within two hours, the on-the-move barbecue operation was sold out.

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INSIDE Calendar ��������������������������������������� 4 Candle Lighting �������������������������� 4 Israel News �����������������������������������6 Opinion ���������������������������������������12 Business ������������������������������������� 26 Arts �����������������������������������������������32 Obituaries �����������������������������������35 Marketplace �������������������������������36 Crossword �����������������������������������38

Conexx has announced the first winner of the awards the America Israel Business Connector will present at its 16th annual gala: the Atlanta Jewish Times.

The AJT will receive the Partner of the Year award at the Conexx Gala, formerly known as the Eagle Star Awards, at the Twelve Atlantic Station hotel Wednesday night, May 3.

“For 25 years, the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce has been connecting Israeli companies and Southeastern U.S. companies for business and economic growth on both sides of the ocean. For 25 years, the Atlanta Jewish Times has been reporting, sharing and encouraging their work,” AJT owner and Publisher Michael Morris said. “Today, Conexx and the AJT come together to praise what has occurred, celebrate this year’s accomplishments, and secure a vision for future work and engagements.”

The past year, the cooperation between the organizations has included not only coverage of events, such as last spring’s Conexx awards celebration and a summer conference on financial technology, but also participation by AJT Associate Editor David R. Cohen on Conexx’s November mission to Israel.

The Conexx Gala is the organization’s community flagship event, honoring the people and companies that have contributed the most to the economic relationship between Israel and the Southeast.

Besides the Partner of the Year, Conexx will hand out the Tom Glaser Leadership Award and recognize the Israeli Company of the Year, the Deal of the Year, the U.S. Company of the Year and an Innovative Academic Program.

A raffle at the gala will include a trip to Israel: two airline tickets, a weekend in the five-star Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv and a week in a Jerusalem apartment. ■

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FEBRUARY 24 â–ª 2017

MA TOVU

Safe Travel Depends On Kindness of Strangers of deep spiritual and sometimes even practical comfort.

Right after the tragedy of Sandy Hook, I found myself delayed in Dallas. I lived in San Francisco at the time,

Taking Root

By Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder rabbiruth@gmail.com

and no one I knew owned guns. But my “neighbors” in Dallas did.

Despite that difference, we found much common ground — around our concern for our children’s safety, background checks and worries about what violent video games do to children. This was a conversation that not only passed the time and broke our isolation, but also lifted us toward a bigger vision of our shared humanity.

This summer, I took a one-day trip to New York to help a close friend bury her mother. I left before dawn.

After a meaningful but full day, I arrived back at LaGuardia to find that my flight would be delayed several hours. At first, I was content, but as the hours wore on, so did my agitation.

And I said so out loud. The only person to take notice was a heavy-set young man with intentionally saggy pants, a backward cap and large earphones. He responded by saying that someone in authority had assured him we would get out that night.

Not yet 20, this immigrant from Honduras needed to make it to Atlanta that night to be present when his father went for his final citizenship meeting the next morning. As our connection grew, so did my ability to be present and weather the inconvenience.

Arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson in the middle of the night, I pulled up the photo I had taken of my parking spot. Sadly, in the morning rush, I had blurred the image and now had no way to find where I had parked.

I flagged down a safety patrol with a lean African youth at the wheel.

Sheepishly, I explained my plight. He easily identified my blur and returned me to my car.

Traveling had not been without its challenges, but, thanks to Mohammed, I was finally and safely on my way home. ■

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

My grandmother would always kiss the mezuzah before departing on a trip and insist we did too. On normal days and even holidays, prayers and talismans were forsaken — my grandmother was not on good terms with G-d — but when it came to travel, she was taking no risks.

My grandmother left home as a young woman because Zionism beckoned.

Later she could not persuade her mother to leave as Nazism engulfed Vienna. But she did arrange a rescue for her younger sister that involved walking across borders.

I never asked about the nature of her prayers when she kissed the mezuzah, but I understood her need.

When my children were young teenagers, they flew on their own to meet my parents in Vienna to dedicate a memorial to my great-grandmother.

They were rightfully nervous about the travel plan, which included transfers in London and Frankfurt.

What would they do if something went wrong at Heathrow? Or Frankfurt? Not to worry, I assured them. I would simply call a rabbi and have someone come to their rescue.

I knew it to be true.

Two days after they safely arrived, I fielded a call from a rabbinic colleague in Buenos Aires. A congregant had taken ill while visiting San Francisco; would I be willing to check in at the hospital?

Of course, and I did.

I don’t worry about the big stuff when I travel; if need be, I’ll call on my networks.

But, still, the leaving home makes me uneasy. At home I have my mezuzot, real and metaphoric, to keep me connected. The familiarity of my bed, my supermarket, my friends and my roads grounds me.

The known keeps at bay the awareness that everything in this world is ultimately tenuous.

I counter my discomfort with a bit of help from the Jewish theologian Martin Buber. He wrote of the sanctity that comes when we allow ourselves to connect with others.

When I travel, I go out of my way to talk with others. Engaging with strangers turns them into people with whom I find kinship and reminds me that I am not alone. It is often a source

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Contributors This Week RABBI RUTH ABUSCH-MAGDER JASON ADLER EDIE BARR • MORT BARR HEATHER BLAKE ANNE KELMAN DENNEEN MARK FISHER • YONI GLATT JORDAN GORFINKEL ELI GRAY • LEAH R. HARRISON ELLEN HERSHKIN MARCIA CALLER JAFFE DIANE MARKS EUGEN SCHOENFELD TERRY SEGAL • ELI SPERLING DUANE STORK • GABRIEL WEISS ALAN WOLK • PATRICE WORTHY

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FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

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CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

THROUGH MARCH 12

“The Temple Bombing.” The worldpremiere show based on Melissa Fay Greene’s book appears at the Alliance Theatre, 1280 Peachtree St., Midtown.

Tickets start at $10; alliancetheatre. org/production/the-temple-bombing.

POSTMASTER send address changes to The Atlanta Jewish Times 270 Carpenter Drive Suite 320, Atlanta Ga 30328.

Established 1925 as The Southern Israelite Phone: (404) 883-2130 www.atlantajewishtimes.com THE ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES (ISSN# 0892-33451) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, LLC 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, Atlanta, GA 30328 © 2017 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES Printed by Walton Press Inc. MEMBER Conexx: America Israel Business Connector American Jewish Press Association Sandy Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Commerce Please send all photos, stories and editorial content to: submissions@atljewishtimes.com

THURSDAY, FEB. 23

Eating disorders. The Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta holds a panel discussion on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders at 9 a.m. at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs. Free; www. jwfatlanta.org/events.

Book talk. Brian Curtis discusses “Fields of Battle,” about the 1942 Rose Bowl and the war service of its participants, at 10:30 a.m. for the Edgewise Speaker Series at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free for JCC members, $5 for others; matureadults@ atlantajcc.org or 678-812-3861.

Dance for health. The Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, hosts Hadassah’s Every Beat Counts Zumba and Sh’Bam dance party at 6:30 p.m.

Free; Rachael.Rinehart@atlantajcc.org or 678-812-4022.

FRIDAY, FEB 24

Book club. Hadassah Greater Atlanta’s Metulla Group discusses “In the Land of Invisible Women” by Qanta Ahmed at 1:30 p.m. at 425 Wembley Circle, Sandy Springs. Contact Barbara Shoulberg at brsgolf1@bellsouth.net, or call 770948-2443 for details.

Scholar weekend. Vanderbilt scholar Amy-Jill Levine returns to Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, for a series of talks and study sessions focused on family in the Torah, starting with the Friday service at 6:30 p.m. and ending with a session Sunday morning

Mishpatim Friday, Feb. 24, light candles at 6:12 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 25, Shabbat ends at 7:08 p.m.

Terumah Friday, March 3, light candles at 6:18 p.m.

Saturday, March 4, Shabbat ends at 7:14 p.m. at 10. Some events have fees, but most are free; templesinaiatlanta.org.

Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, Springs. Free; 678-843-7001.

SATURDAY, FEB. 25

Wheelchair basketball. Players from the Israel Sport Center for the Disabled show their skills and welcome others to participate in drills during the Champions for Life event to benefit the American Friends of ISCD at 11 a.m. at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free; bit.ly/2jW1xcB.

Big Reveal. Hadassah Greater Atlanta holds its fundraiser for Breast Strokes, Hadassah Bares All for A.R.T. at 8 p.m. at the Stave Room at American Spirit Works, 199 Armour Drive, Atlanta. Tickets are $85; www.hadassah.org/events/ breaststrokes2017 or 678-443-2961.

B’nai mitzvah expo. Atlanta Party Connection holds its Bar & Bat Mitzvah Expo from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta, 5750 Windward Pkwy. Free; atlantapartyconnection. com/bar-and-bat-mitzvah-expo.

Purim off Ponce. SOJOURN honors Rabbis Michael Bernstein and Pamela Gottfried at its annual fundraising party at 7:30 p.m. at Le Fais do-do, 1611 Ellsworth Industrial Blvd., Atlanta. Tickets are $75 in advance or $100 at the door; www.sojourngsd.org/poptickets.

SUNDAY, FEB. 26

Art exhibit. The first part of “Atlanta Collects,” showing art from private collections in Jewish Atlanta, closes at the Breman Museum, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Museum admission is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for students and educators, $4 for ages 3 to 6; www. thebreman.org or 678-222-3700.

Medical ethics. Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, the director of medical ethics at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, speaks at a seminar on “My Body or Your Body: Patients’ Rights, Disclosures and Informed Consent” at 10 a.m. after a kosher breakfast at 9:30 at Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Carroll Conference and Education Center, 5665

Sandy

Torah study. The Atlanta Rabbinical Association holds its annual Yom Iyun study day at 2 p.m. at the Weber School, 6751 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs. Free; www.yomiyun2017.eventbrite.com.

Power of One reception. The Greater Atlanta Jewish Abilities Alliance holds the annual awards ceremony for community members who have made an impact on inclusion at 5 p.m. at the Selig Center, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Free; atlanta.jewishabilities.org/powerofone.

Upside-down dinner. Congregation Beth Jacob, 1855 LaVista Road, Toco Hills, marks Rosh Chodesh Adar by offering a full breakfast buffet and a hot cocoa bar for dinner at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $5 per child and $10 per adult,

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

Find more events at atlantajewishtimes.com/events-calendar.

Remember When

25 Years Ago Feb. 21, 1992 ■ A group of Shearith Israel members is establishing a Jewish group home for adults with developmental disabilities, only the second such home in Atlanta. The group, Ahava Services Foundation, plans to house four residents near the intown synagogue. While Ahava will provide volunteers and money, the organization is asking Jewish Family Services to operate the group home, which will be kosher. “The waiting list is 79 years for a Jewish group home,” said Faye Siegel, who chairs the fundraising committee. “Baltimore has 50 Jewish group homes; in Atlanta we have one.”

■ The bat mitzvah of Ashley Gerson of Atlanta, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Gerson, will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 29, at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

50 Years Ago Feb. 24, 1967 ■ The Atlanta Jewish Community Council’s community relations committee plans to meet to consider a response to a statement from the board of trustees of Agnes Scott College.

The board of the 78-year-old, Presbyterian-aligned women’s institution reaffirmed a longstanding policy against the hiring of non-Christian faculty. Charles Wittenstein, the Southeast director of the American Jewish Committee, said it was hard to understand the importance of religion for faculty teaching subject such as French and mathematics.

■ Arab violence was renewed inside Israeli territory near the Syrian and Jordanian borders, leaving one Syrian soldier dead. The incidents followed the indefinite postponement of Israeli-Syrian talks.

■ Mr. and Mrs. Sam Friedman of Brunswick announce the engagement of their daughter, Marcia Lynn, to Irwin Bomchel of Birmingham, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Bomchel.

CALENDAR

MONDAY, FEB. 27

Dementia awareness. Jewish Home Life Communities and Chabad of North Fulton present the Virtual Dementia Tour from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cohen Home, 10485 Jones Bridge Road, Johns Creek. Free; RSVP to Kim Urbach at admin@chabadnf.org or 770-410-9000.

TUESDAY, FEB. 28

Learning for moms. Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder leads a discussion open to all women on “Life Lessons to Teach Your Kids Before College: From a Jewish Perspective” at noon at the Weber School, 6751 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs. Free; www.facebook.com/ events/1886597711555786.

ORT Chinese auction. A family-style Chinese feast, starting with networking at 5:30 p.m., accompanies an auction to support ORT Atlanta at Canton Cooks II, 6990 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs.

Participants bring a new, wrapped gift ($20 retail minimum) and a poem that hints at the surprise inside. Admission

is $20; www.ORTAtlanta.org (Events).

Tenenbaum Lecture. Israeli writer David Grossman speaks about the Holocaust, writing and memory at 7:30 p.m. in Room 208 of Emory University’s White Hall, 301 Dowman Drive, Atlanta. Free; bit.ly/2kIIyn1.

SUNDAY, MARCH 5

Purim parade. Congregation Beth Jacob’s parade starts at 11 a.m. at the Toco Hill Shopping Center and ends at Beth Jacob, 1855 LaVista Road, Toco Hills, with a carnival. Carnival admission and parade participation are free; register floats at bit.ly/2ioq3Sh.

MONDAY, MARCH 6

BDS update. The Israel Action Network’s Max Chamovitz discuses the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement at 7:45 a.m. at 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Free; bit.ly/2lJeUOf.

THURSDAY, MARCH 9

“Why Be Jewish?” Federation CEO Eric Robbins and author Ruth Andrew Ellenson discuss the book by Edgar Bronfman in a Marcus JCC event at 7:30 p.m. at the Selig Center, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Free; bit.ly/2miuVr4.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

with a $40 family cap, for members and $7, $12 and $45 for nonmembers; www.bethjacobatlanta.org/breakfastfor-dinner (RSVP by Feb. 23).

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FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

ISRAEL NEWS

Record’s Clear on MLK’s Support for Israel

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home

By Eli Sperling Center for Israel Education

Saving an Iraqi’s sight. Top Israeli eye surgeon Ygal Rotenstreich of Sheba Medical Center flew to Britain in a lastditch attempt to save the sight of an Iraqi father of seven. The Iraqi stayed anonymous but was told in Turkey that Israel is at the cutting edge of optical medicine. The appointment was made in London.

During Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearings, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) argued that Sessions’ tarnished history mattered in making a judgment about his suitability to lead the U.S. Justice Department.

Warren sought to add into the record an unflattering but accurate assessment of Sessions in a letter written

by Coretta Scott King, the late widow of Martin Luther King Jr. The story of why Warren was not allowed to read the letter is, however, not our focus here.

Our focus is to look at history through primary sources, as the senator did, and recall the ties among King, Israel and the Jewish community.

February is Black History Month, a time to reflect on the stories and histories of African-Americans. King’s relationship to Zionism and Israel is one of these histories.

While activists and journalists have hotly debated whether King supported Zionism and Israel, a few primary-source letters written by King can be used to provide a clear understanding of his sentiments on the matter.

One of the most telling of these is a letter King wrote to Jewish labor activist Adolph Held on Sept. 29, 1967, months after the June 1967 war. Even a quick read through the letter shows King’s firm support of both Israel and the Jewish community in general.

In the first page of his four-page letter, King declares: “Serious distortions by the press have created an impression that SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) was part of a group at the Chicago Conference of New Politics (in August 1967) which introduced a resolution condemning Israel and unqualifiedly endorsing all the politics of the Arab powers. … The Black caucus modified its stand, and the convention voted to eliminate references to Zionism. … This change was the direct result of the spirited opposition on the floor by Hosea Williams, Director of Voter Registration and Political Education of SCLC. … I had no part

(From left) Martin Luther King Jr., Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel march in Montgomery, Ala.

in planning the structure or the policy of the conference, nor was I a delegate.

If I had been at the conference during the discussion of the resolution, I would have made it crystal clear that I could not have supported any resolution calling for black separatism or calling for a condemnation of Israel and an unqualified endorsement of the policy of the Arab powers.”

King continues: “SCLC has repeatedly stated that the Middle East Problem embodies the related questions of security and development. Israel’s right to exist as a state of security is incontestable. … SCLC has expressly, frequently and vigorously denounced anti-Semitism and will continue to do so. It is not only that anti-Semitism is immoral — though that alone is enough. It is used to divide Negro and Jew, who effectively collaborated in the struggle for justice.

It injures Negroes because it upholds the doctrine of racism which they have the greatest stake in destroying.”

Much as Warren wanted Sessions’ confirmation hearing to accurately and wholly assess his past to help decide on the present, so too it is important for the historical record to accurately show King’s stances on Israel.

The debate surrounding this issue often comes down to individuals wanting to shape self-serving, extra-historical narratives, rather than relying on the readily available sources that show the reality of our past — a past reality that can help navigate current struggles for justice and peace in Israel. ■ Eli Sperling is the Israel specialist and assistant program coordinator for the Center for Israel Education (www.israeled.org).

Further Reading Among the primary sources available: • www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-mlk-adolph-held# • www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-david-ben-gurion-mlk# • www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/MLKing08.pdf

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• www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/MLKing16.pdf

United Hatzalah EMT Avraham Levi lives in Netanya and is one of 500 ambucycle drivers.

EMT record. Avraham Levi is a selfemployed entrepreneur who works full time, has a wife and two children, and volunteers as an emergency medical technician with United Hatzalah. In January, Levi broke the organization’s monthly record when he responded to 236 emergency calls.

Sugar-free vegan sweetener. Caesarea-based Lampados International is launching Liteez, a sweetener delivery system shaped like a meringue. It’s egg-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, free of genetic modifications, vegan and rich in prebiotic fibers. It can be used to sweeten tea and coffee or enjoyed as an ultra-low-calorie sweet treat.

Helping disabled live independently.

The Colel Chabad charity and Israel’s Ministry of Social Services and Welfare are providing specially adapted communal apartments to 40 people ages 18 to 50 who have disabilities. Located in Migdal HaEmek in northern Israel, the apartments provide independent and private living spaces.

Indonesian Muslim mission to Israel.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin welcomed a delegation of Indonesian Muslim leaders. The delegation was visiting on the initiative of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. Rivlin said his father, Yosef Yoel Rivlin, translated the Quran into Hebrew in 1936.

Device to prevent GPS jamming. Caesarea-based startup GPSdome is marketing a miniature GPS anti-jammer, a low-cost, pocket-size gadget to counteract radio frequency transmitters that

deliberately block Global Positioning System communications. GPS is essential for autonomous vehicles, and GPSdome is talking to car manufacturers.

International startup event for young professionals. Around 350 budding entrepreneurs on the Masa Israel Journey program attended a professional development conference at Tel Aviv’s Yitzhak Rabin Center. They got an inside look at Israel’s startup ecosystem and learned how to build networks, résumés and personal brands.

Largest ship ever in Israel. Israel’s record for the largest ship ever to moor in one of the country’s ports was set Feb. 2 in Haifa by the container ship Maersk Elba, which has a capacity of 13,092 20-foot equivalent units (TEU).

Haifa is now formally a member of an exclusive club of ports handling highcapacity 14,000-TEU megaships. Each TEU represents one standard shipping container.

Big year for business giants. Tower Semiconductor, based in Migdal HaEmek, had a record year in 2016 with revenue of $1.25 billion, up 30 percent over 2015, and a profit of $204 million, compared with a loss in 2015. Jerusalem-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, however, posted revenue of $6.5 billion for one quarter.

Mobileye with Volkswagen. Volkswagen and Jerusalem-based Mobileye plan to implement a new navigation standard for autonomous driving, starting in 2018. Future Volkswagen models will use Mobileye’s camerabased map and localization technology Road Experience Management.

Eilat’s dolphin reef. Eilat’s dolphins are not caged; they are free to come and go as they please. Israeli biologists have discovered that dolphins have their own names for one another, have their own language and can remember dolphins from the past.

The Tel Aviv Marathon. The race, set for Friday, Feb. 24, has 40,000 runners registered. In addition to the 26.2-mile main event, there is a half-marathon, a 10K, a 5K, a minimarathon for kids and a marathon-length cycling race.

Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other sources.

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FEBRUARY 24 â–ª 2017

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ISRAEL NEWS

Aliyah Moments: At Home in Israel

By Mort and Edie Barr

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Our home in Ramat Beit Shemesh is finally complete, and we are fully at home in Israel.

Our household goods from Atlanta arrived in October. Our favorite pictures are now staring at us from the walls. Our favorite books are perched on our shelves, and all our Atlanta clothes are in our closets.

We are no longer living a divided life now that our possessions are all in one place. Every day in our prayers we ask to return to Zion. We have now fully returned.

Since early September we have studied Hebrew in an ulpan at the community center. The government provides five months of free ulpan to new olim (immigrants). We have been in class five hours a day, five days a week, for five months. It has been grueling work with daily homework and weekly tests. We had only Fridays and Saturdays off.

We knew some Hebrew when we arrived, so we were put in the Bet, or intermediate, class. We recently took our final oral and written exams, which are standardized nationwide, and thankfully passed.

However, for us it doesn’t matter because we are retired. Most of the students in the class are young with small children, and they need to obtain their language proficiency certificates to get jobs. Of course, there are many jobs in Israel where one does not need Hebrew, such as in the computer field, but comprehension is important for everyday life.

We plan to continue in some type of formal Hebrew language education, but not at the five-days-a-week, fivehours-a-day grind.

Looking back, our ulpan experience was enormously beneficial and aided our social absorption into Israel.

The class became a family of sorts, offering camaraderie and mutual support.

We are enamored with the dedication of the teachers and staff of the ulpan program here in Beit Shemesh.

They truly cared about each student and worked hard to help us through the language proficiency process.

A few months ago, we traveled from Israel to China to visit an Israeli friend who is temporarily working there. We traveled on our Israeli documents for the first time, never needing our American passports, which we 8 brought as backups.

Photos courtesy of Mort and Edie Barr

Above: Could the black mountain to the right, west of Eilat, be the biblical Mount Sinai?

Below: According to the Barrs’ guide during their visit to Eilat, this wadi is the likely route along which Moses led the Jewish people as they circled Edom.

We were Israelis visiting China.

We flew with El Al directly to Beijing.

The flight attendant spoke to us in Hebrew — and, better, we responded in Hebrew.

During the Chanukah break we spent four days in Eilat with Rabbi Berel Wein’s Destiny Foundation. Rabbis Wein and Zev Leff provided lectures each day, and we participated in daily trips in the area.

There is biblical history everywhere in Israel, and Eilat is no exception: We learned that the mountains east of Eilat are the mountains of Midian, and the mountains just north of them are Edom.

When Moshe was shepherding the flocks of Jethro, he was likely near Eilat.

Thus, our guide believes that the mountain to the west of Eilat may be Mount Sinai because Moshe did not go far to see the burning bush, which was at the base of Mount Horev (Mount Sinai).

The mountains in the area are made of sandstone (beige), a red stone (Edom) or a volcanic black rock. The mountain that may be Sinai is black volcanic rock.

Deuteronomy says the Jewish people circled Edom by way of Eilat. Our guide brought us to the wadi area that he believes is the only passable route the Israelites could have taken to Edom.

We also visited the Israeli security fence along the border with Egypt. It stretches for 300 kilometers (about 185 miles) along the entire border from Eilat to Gaza. It is high tech with sensors

to indicate immediately if anyone tries to breach the barrier.

It is the modern “Great Wall of China.”

We drove to Eilat, and on the way, near Dimona, Mort received a traffic ticket for what the police officer said was reckless driving.

Truth be told, passing a bus in a passing zone on a two-lane road with a dotted line and significant passing distance is not reckless — unless the car approaching in the opposite direction happens to be a speeding police car.

What luck!

In an “only in Israel” moment, the policeman invited Mort into his patrol car, offered him a seat next to him and carefully described in a pictorial representation what he did wrong.

Then the officer asked a series of questions. “How long have you been driving in Israel?” — a clear recognition Mort is a greener. “What do you do for a living?” “What did you do in America?”

When he learned that Mort was a research chemist, he pointed with pride to the Dimona nuclear reactor in the distance. What a nice guy!

In our second “only in Israel” moment, when we paid the ticket at the post office, our local, friendly postman smiled and said, “Now you are an Israeli.”

Speaking of “only in Israel” moments, where else can one be busy shopping at a modern, chain supermarket and be asked by a stranger to par-

The Barrs have a 6-year-old orange tree at their home that produced a bumper crop of more than 40 oranges in the first year with any fruit they could eat.

They couldn’t eat the oranges produced during the tree’s first four years, and no oranges grew in the fifth year.

ticipate in a Mincha minyan? What’s more, a synagogue was conveniently located adjacent to the dairy section.

It is hard to believe that in a short time we will be celebrating our first aliyah anniversary. We hope to report back to you later this year with news about life after ulpan and new developments in this dynamic country. ■ Mort and Edie Barr lived in Atlanta from 2006 until they made aliyah March 30, 2016. Mort retired as director of technology at Colgate Palmolive and was the executive director of Congregation Beth Jacob. He is the founder and former CEO of Jewish Interest Free Loan of Atlanta.

Edie retired from a career as an activities director in assisted living and volunteered at NORC, Berman Commons and the Carlton. She is a former president of the Mount Scopus Group of Hadassah Greater Atlanta. This is the fourth article in an occasional series about their Israel experiences as new immigrants.

ISRAEL NEWS

The mosque complex built at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron is the scene of slaughter Feb. 25, 1994.

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

Feb. 24, 1942: After being mistaken for an enemy ship, the SS Struma, carrying nearly 800 Jewish refugees hoping to immigrate to Palestine, including 70 children, is sunk by a Russian submarine in the Black Sea. Feb. 25, 1994: Baruch Goldstein, an American immigrant and member of the radical Kach party, opens fire on Muslim worshippers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 30 and wounding 125 others, before being beaten to death by survivors.

Feb. 26, 1973: Hafez Ismail, named national security adviser by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1972, holds secret meetings with U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger.

Feb. 27, 1928: Ariel Sharon, Israel’s 11th prime minister, is born in K’far Malal, near Hod Hasharon. Born Ariel Scheinerman to socialist parents who came to Eretz Yisrael during the Second Aliyah, Sharon joins the Haganah in 1945 and serves in the War of Independence, launching a long military career before his political career.

Feb. 28, 1955: Two Israeli paratrooper platoons made up of approximately 50 soldiers storm an Egyptian army camp in Gaza. The raid is a reprisal for attacks by fedayeen (Palestinian militants) against Israeli civilians.

March 1, 1922: Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s fifth prime minister, is born in Jerusalem to parents who came to Israel during the Third Aliyah. After a military career and a stint as ambassador to Washington, in 1974 he becomes the first Israeli prime minister born in Eretz Yisrael.

March 2, 1977: Judges Miriam BenPorat and Shimon Asher are appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court by President Ephraim Katzir. Ben-Porat is the first woman to serve on Israel’s highest court.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Today in Israeli History

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www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ISRAEL NEWS

A Special Visit to Special in Uniform

By Alan Wolk My wife, Roni, and I just returned from our third trip to Israel, and, as usual, the experience was terrific.

We enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Tel Aviv, the spirituality of Jerusalem, the breathtaking hilltop views in Haifa, and the artistic communities in the Golan. And we loved the food wherever we went. You can’t beat the chocolate babka in Israel.

Having been involved with Jewish National Fund’s Task Force on Disabilities and now chairing the committee for Special in Uniform, one of four JNF programs supporting special needs people in Israel, I was invited with Roni to visit two SIU units in Tel Aviv.

Special in Uniform integrates young adults with autism and other mental and physical disabilities into the Israel Defense Forces and, in turn, into Israeli society. Its core belief is that everyone belongs and has the right to reach his or her full potential.

The program focuses on the unique talents of each individual to find a job within the IDF that is perfect for that person’s abilities (not disabilities) and provides support, therapy and counseling throughout the participant’s time in the program.

Lt. Col. (res.) Tiran Attia, the director of SIU, gained security clearance for us to visit the SIU unit at Tel Nof Air Force Base. We were surrounded by immense helicopters and fighter jets, feeling the full power of the IDF. But we were moved the most by the humble captain and the SIU soldiers who greeted us inside a conference room with a heartfelt message and a surprise.

We were shown to a plaque on the wall dedicating the SIU unit in memory of my late brother, Philip. I

The Wolks visit a Special in Uniform unit.

felt a rush of emotions. I couldn’t help Phillip when he was alive, but maybe in some small way I can help these courageous young people.

We moved on to the workplace of the SIU unit to see the soldiers with disabilities working alongside typical soldiers. One of the SIU soldiers is Yaakov, a young man with Down syndrome whose story is one of perseverance.

Yaakov grew up on a kibbutz.

When he was 18, he approached an officer in the enlistment office and explained his devotion to the IDF and the Jewish state. He was told that he could not serve in the army.

He didn’t give up. “In the kibbutz, everyone goes to the army. These are the values of my family. It’s something that’s been with me since childhood.”

Special in Uniform believed in Yaakov, and he is now in charge of taking bulk minor parts, breaking them down and shipping them to the other air force bases in Israel. He is proud of his role and happy to be a part of the IDF. As we wandered from department to department, we saw these SIU soldiers take their work seriously and do it with pride. Sometimes the most brilliant ideas are the simplest in concept.

Just give these young adults the opportunity, and they’ll give you everything they have. We saw it with our own eyes.

Roni and Alan Wolk meet with the commander of a Special in Uniform unit.

The special part for me is that we take these young adults who may have been destined to be left behind, and we bring them forward to be a full-fledged part of Israeli society, something that was not possible 70 years ago when my brother was born. No such program, opportunity or vision existed.

Today, Special in Uniform gives young adults, their siblings and their parents a reason to hope and helps deliver with action.

The next morning, we visited another air base to attend an introduction ceremony for a new unit of teenagers on the autism spectrum. We watched these young adults with a variety of challenges march into a crowded hall of military personnel, family, friends, instructors and JNF lay leaders.

We knew this was a pivotal moment for these young adults and their families. The parents combined broad smiles with tears of joy. We could see hope in their eyes.

We understood how much was at stake for these loving parents. They hoped their children would have a promising future and a chance to fit in, learn a skill and contribute to society in a meaningful way. Simply put: a way to grow into adulthood with dignity.

The base commander pulled all his officers into the event, and two senior

staffers spoke at length about the program — in Hebrew, so we understood little. However, it was clear that the IDF officers and soldiers had the utmost respect for these young adults as they pinned each new SIU soldier with unit insignia. I felt privileged to have the opportunity to pin a few of the soldiers.

At the ceremony’s conclusion, we witnessed the light in their faces, the pride of their parents, the hearty handshakes and enthusiastic applause. No English translation was necessary.

Perhaps most moving for us was when one of the dads shook hands with Roni and me and, with tears in his eyes, said todah — thank you. This one word made everything we do for JNF and Special in Uniform worth every hour and every dollar.

On the flight home, Roni and I wondered how programs like Special in Uniform change people’s lives. We talked about the ripple effect way beyond the special needs populations SIU serves. This work is helping create a stronger, more inclusive Israeli society, and we, the volunteers, make it happen.

As JNF’s tagline says, we have a voice in Israel. ■ Alan Wolk is co-president of JNF Atlanta and the chair of Special in Uniform’s U.S. Board of Governors.

JNF, Partners Make Progress for Inclusion

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Jewish National Fund had more than 60 events scheduled across the nation in February for Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.

JNF provides cutting-edge rehabilitative services, special education, and medical care for people with cognitive, sensory, communicative, developmental and other disabilities in Israel. JNF also makes its resources inclusive for all visitors. JNF works with four main partners in Israel in this mission: • ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran, a rehabilitative village that offers un10 paralleled care for people with severe

disabilities, empowering residents and outpatients to reach their potential for communication and development.

• LOTEM — Making Nature Accessible, which brings people with special needs closer to nature through field trips, accessible hikes and creative workshops in nature.

• Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center at Kibbutz Grofit, which provides horseback riding therapy to nearly 200 children and adults with physical and mental disabilities and emotional and behavioral issues in the Arava.

• Special in Uniform, which inte-

grates youths with disabilities into the Israel Defense Forces and helps prepare them for careers after the army.

Alan Wolk, co-president of JNF’s Atlanta board and member of the national JNF Task Force on Disabilities and Special Needs, said: “The work our partners do in Israel is incredible, important and uniquely JNF. I knew I had to be part of this task force because it is our responsibility to help those who cannot help themselves, especially the weakest among us.”

The accomplishments of JNF and its partners the past year include:

• Hosting over 1 million visitors with LOTEM at JNF’s inclusive trail in Nahal HaShofet.

• Doubling the number of participants in Special in Uniform and expanding the program’s presence to 15 IDF bases.

• Administering over 7,000 outpatient treatments at ALEH Negev and welcoming 50 new students to its special education school.

• Providing 10,000 therapy sessions at Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center, including 6,900 for 120 children through JNF scholarships. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ISRAEL NEWS

Atlanta Garden Blossoming at LOTEM Amid Israel’s mountains and valleys, deserts and lush farms, and miracles great and small is the Atlanta Garden.

Located in northern Israel in Emek HaShalom, the garden is on the ecological farm of LOTEM — Making Nature Accessible, which provides accessible hikes and educational nature activities around the country to children and adults with special needs.

This special plot of land is a gift from East Cobb resident Sheryl Blechner and is designed to give children with special needs and disabilities a hands-on opportunity to appreciate and connect with nature.

“It has been my good fortune to make many trips to Israel, and with each visit I make, I have had amazing personal experiences with both individuals and various programs,” Blechner said. “However, LOTEM remains one of the highlights of all my visits, and the Atlanta Garden program will impact generations of children and adults to come.”

LOTEM has been a Jewish National Fund partner organization for more than a decade, said Beth Gluck,

Children with disabilities explore a LOTEM hiking trail.

JNF Atlanta executive director. “We are thrilled that Sheryl selected LOTEM as the site for this new garden and view this as an incredibly meaningful and personal way for her voice to be heard in Israel. JNF donors like Sheryl trust us to represent them in Israel, and in return they empower us to continue our important work.”

Through JNF’s $1 billion “Roadmap for the Next Decade,” contributions from across the United States will facilitate the development of a strong, secure, productive, high quality of life in Israel’s periphery: the desert in the south and the open country in the

Sheryl Blechner (in the white shirt in the middle) and a committee from the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta visit LOTEM with Raz Rutman as their guide.

north.

That $1 billion plan continues 116 years of JNF work in the land of Israel, including planting more than 250 million trees, building more than 250 reservoirs and dams, developing over 250,000 acres, creating more than 2,000 parks, and providing the infrastructure for more than 1,000 communities.

Gluck can be reached at 404-2368990 or BGluck@JNf.org if you want to follow Blechner’s philanthropic example.

Blechner said her first guide at LOTEM was Raz Rutman, a young man

NOW OPEN

from Jewish Atlanta’s partner area of Yokneam who suffered a traumatic injury in a car accident at the age of 8 that left him in a wheelchair. Not one to allow the circumstances to define him, Rutman early on worked with LOTEM to gain the skills and the means to get back to nature, and he hasn’t stopped.

When Blechner met Rutman, he was serving as a LOTEM guide to fulfill his two years of national service, an alternative to serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Today, Rutman still works as a guide to continue to give back, and he is sought after for his knowledge, ability and motivational personality. ■

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OPINION

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Our View

2 States or 1?

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Longtime U.S. policy has been to support a twostate solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as envisioned by the U.N. partition resolution in 1947 and subsequent Security Council measures. Most U.S. Jewish organizations back a two-state solution.

The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially seeks a two-state solution.

So it was jarring when President Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference at the start of his meeting with Netanyahu on Wednesday, Feb. 15, nonchalantly waved off two-state absolutism.

“I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one that both parties like. I can live with either one,” Trump said.

News headlines and Trump critics screamed about the president’s betrayal of the established formula for Middle East peace, while some on both sides who dream of a single state between the Jordan and the Mediterranean celebrated the shift in U.S. policy.

Except there’s no real shift in U.S. policy, only an endorsement of a foreign policy principle even more important than the concept of a two-state agreement: the idea that any solution must be reached through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and not imposed by any outside authority.

The conventional wisdom, as expressed by Secretary of State John Kerry in his defense of antisettlement U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 in December, is that a two-state solution is the only way to preserve an Israel that is Jewish and democratic; a one-state resolution would sacrifice one or the other.

But that’s a simplistic interpretation of a complex situation. And as has been noted by wiser Middle East experts than Kerry, such as Dennis Ross, eitheror propositions in the region are bound to fail.

Sometimes creativity is necessary to find a path forward, particularly after decades without progress.

A two-state solution is the most likely successful outcome, as well as the one majorities support in polls of Israelis and Palestinians. But there are options other than the annexation of the West Bank into Israel, the creation of a binational (that is, non-Jewish) state, and the establishment of side-by-side, separate nations along a modified Green Line.

Ideas have been floated for variations on a confederation of Jewish and Arab states, for example, and for two independent states in the same territory with a shared security apparatus (anyone in Tel Aviv or Ramallah could be a citizen of either country). We’re fond of a devolution process, giving Egypt control of Gaza and Jordan control of most of the West Bank for a limited period to enable Palestinian civil and economic institutions to develop with less conflict while diplomats work toward a permanent resolution.

Other ideas could come along, but they matter only if world powers are open-minded and free the Israelis and Palestinians to find their own way.

To the extent wheeler-dealer Trump was presenting a coherent policy during his press conference, he was expressing exactly that kind of open-mindedness.

The United States won’t force a solution on the two sides, and it won’t oppose any agreement they reach 12 just because it doesn’t fit predetermined parameters. ■

Cartoon by Bob Englehart, CagleCartoons.com

Long, Winding Road to Web Home This month we’re unveiling the third overhaul and you can have your own blog, from which you’ll of our online presence in less than two years, so I be able to reach not only all of Jewish Atlanta, but all can’t blame you if you’re skeptical about the signifiof the Times of Israel partner network. cance and value of our new website.

The site is not perfect. We still have some But this time it’s different. glitches to work out, particularly involving our comWhen Michael Morris bought the AJT at the end munity calendar, and it will take our staff some time of 2014 and brought me to learn how to make the back as editor, we recogbest use of the new tools nized the need to revamp available to us.

Editor’s Notebook a dated, clunky website.

But you already will But while we concensee new features when you

By Michael Jacobs trated initially on the print visit atlantajewishtimes. mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com newspaper, that site had a timesofisrael.com, such as catastrophic failure in the the Daily Briefing, which spring of 2015. We were each weekday morning forced to implement a new site on the fly just to stay gives you the information you need to make the online. most of your participation in our Jewish community That new site looked much better but otherwise and to jump into Jewish Atlanta’s conversation. wasn’t much of an improvement.

You’ll find better photo galleries. You’ll see more vaWe already were working with some consulriety in the display of stories and far more informatants on a dramatically upgraded site, however, and tion presented at a glance. You’ll have links directly that painstaking process moved ahead, albeit much to news on other sites that we think is important more slowly than we hoped. Still, despite good inten- but that we can’t cover better than someone else is tions and talented people working on the site, what doing. we rolled out in the late summer of 2015 was never We plan to do more video, including live streamquite right. ing, and we’re eager to try out the live-blogging tools In November 2015 we had our first conversaavailable to us. tions with The Times of Israel, which had launched We want the AJT website to play a crucial role a network of independent local papers with New in pulling Jewish Atlanta ever closer together as one Jersey’s Jewish Standard earlier in the year and was community — full of diversity and disagreements looking to expand the partnership. but sharing an identity and a sense of time and place It took 10 months of discussions and negotiayou can’t find anywhere else. tions, but we finally started working on our new site Please send us feedback on your experiences as part of the growing Times of Israel network in with the site. The more the community embraces September. We went live this month. and helps mold the site, the better it will be able to Thanks to the flexible site structure created fulfill its role as the virtual gathering place for our

by RGB Media for The Times of Israel, our site now Atlanta community, as well as the place connecting looks and works better than it ever has before. We Jewish Atlanta to the rest of Georgia and our neighcan share more news more quickly in more logical bors in Tennessee and the Carolinas. ways, and you should be able to find the information Associate Editor David R. Cohen is taking the you care about much more easily. lead on our online operations. You can send comJust as vital, you’ll be able to join and drive the ments, suggestions and questions to him at david@ community conversation in two key ways: You can atljewishtimes.com, or give either David or me a call comment on articles through your Facebook profile, at 404-883-2130. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Palestinian Refugee Reality

A conference on fostering “dialogue on global migration” should have been ideal to discuss the anomalous situation of the Palestinian “refugees” (“Pro-BDS Voice Gets to Speak for Jewish Community,” Feb. 17). That the topic wasn’t addressed speaks volumes about the success of the Palestinian “big lie.”

The Palestinian “refugees” are overwhelmingly descendants of Arabs who fled the 1948 Arab-initiated war.

They are the only refugee group allowed (forced?) to pass refugee status from one generation to the next; the only refugee group whose situation is handled by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, rather than the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees; and the only refugee group whose leaders insist that the sole solution is for them to get the homes their forebears fled.

In rejecting the 1947 U.N. plan for the partition of Palestine (part of the defunct Ottoman Empire), Arab nations said the Arabs of the region were “Southern Syrians,” not a distinct group deserving a nation. After the war, nearly all the Muslim nations of the Middle East denied the Palestinian refugees, and their descendants, citizenship and economic opportunity.

Thus, while tiny Israel quickly absorbed and uplifted 800,000 Jews expelled from their homes in the Muslim Middle East and North Africa, a similar (probably smaller) number of Arabs who fled the Arab-initiated war have mushroomed into millions of people who have been kept in refugee limbo for nearly seven decades.

The fleeing Arabs should have been the most easily rehabilitated refugees in the world. They did not have to learn a new language, adapt to a new climate or adjust to a society with unfamiliar religious traditions. But their poverty was a useful propaganda tool, and the desire to destroy the Zionist entity was stronger than the obligation to care for the victims of the war.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that the Palestinian leaders do not intend to grant citizenship to the “refugees” in any Palestinian state. They plan to inundate Israel with millions of people raised in societies that give the highest honors to those who murder Jews. Thus, the “two-state solution” would produce a Judenrein Palestinian state and a Muslim-majority state in which Jews would be, at best, second-class citizens.

— Toby F. Block, Atlanta

Ilise Cohen certainly delivered the expected, incoherent Jewish Voice for Peace message at that recent interfaith conference (“Pro-BDS Voice”).

Arabs were not kicked out during the Arab-initiated war in 1948. Most fled ongoing warfare, heeding, as well, calls from Arab leaders to get out of the way of their incoming forces.

Nor do those many who remained “continue to live under refugee status in Israel.” How unusual that so many “refugees” should be represented in lofty positions in the Israeli government, judiciary, diplomatic corps, academia, healing professions, etc. What a contrast that is to how those Arabs who fled to neighboring countries are still so poorly treated by their own people.

Yet Cohen unwittingly spoke some truths. Palestinians are “not treated like any other refugees,” nor have they been “allowed to escape.”

There is a separate U.N. agency, UNWRA, exclusively caring for them.

Whether in the West Bank or Gaza, Lebanon or Syria, the few remaining refugees and their multigenerational descendants remain in camps. When Israel proposed building new housing for them, that idea was rejected out of

hand by the Palestinian leadership and condemned by the United Nations.

The world is now living with an immense refugee crisis. Monies that could be providing succor are instead still being squandered on a cohort that should long ago have been resettled.

— Richard D. Wilkins, Syracuse, N.Y.

Congress Must Be Diligent Americans haven’t forgotten that the president has not divested or released his tax returns and won the election because of Russian interference (then got rid of sanctions on Russia).

So instead of representing troubled constituents in demanding adherence to ethics, our senators and representatives are ignoring our requests, while Stephen Bannon sits on the National Security Council. To add insult to injury, a U.S. House committee voted to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission (the federal agency that makes sure voting machines aren’t hacked).

A little due diligence by our elected delegates would do wonders for calming Georgians and bringing this country together.

— Edith Fink, Sandy Springs

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FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Letters To The Editor

Unintended Refugee Facts

13

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Finding Hope in the Deepest Hell

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

It was toward the end of April 1944 when the doors of the cattle car slid open, and I and the members of the transport from Munkacs stepped out to face our threatened future.

We formed the lines and walked in front of Mengele. I and remnant members of my male family who were not culled out by Mengele entered the camp’s courtyard and proceeded to run the first of many gantlets. We were sheared like lambs, disinfected with a foul-smelling, dark liquid, and sent into the showers.

It was there, in the showers of Birkenau, that I was introduced to the spirit of the concentration camp.

We were allowed to keep our shoes, and as we entered the shower room, we placed our shoes in a corner.

Unfortunately, when I went to retrieve my shoes, someone inadvertently had taken one of mine. I consulted a kapo, an older inmate whose jacket sleeve bore the designation of a supervisor.

He suggested that I knock at a certain window and request in German a

14

pair of shoes, but with a high degree of humility. When the window opened, two people were in the cubicle: an SS guard with his weapon and a kapo, I assumed he was another Jewish

One Man’s Opinion

By Eugen Schoenfeld

inmate, brandishing a highly polished and gnarled stick.

If I remember correctly, I was told to start my request with “Ich bitte geheorsahm,” supposedly meaning “I am humbly requesting.”

I began my request, and the kapo wouldn’t let me finish. He lifted his shillelagh and struck me numerous times over the head.

I walked back to my father crying.

I was not crying because the beating hurt me, although of course it did: No one gets his head smashed without hurting. But the frustration, shame and mental pain were stronger than

the physical forces and brought the tears to my eyes.

“Father,” this 18-year-old asked, “how is it possible that today, in the midst of the 20th century, after we reached elevated heights in philosophy, morals and ethics, after all the knowledge we achieved in psychology and psychiatry, after supposedly we had risen in our understanding of theology, we seem not to have advanced from our status of an ape?”

In retrospect, when I stood in front of the gates of hell and read the cynical inscription “Arbeit macht Frei” and “Arbeit Macht das Leben Zuss,” if I had been given the opportunity to explore the gate through which I entered or the viaduct under which the train entered Birkenau, surely I would have found Dante’s inscription as well: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

Indeed, as the poet describes his vision of hell, so it was: a place of eternal pain, a place without justice and G-d, where souls of misery are doomed in an eternal night pierced by no light of stars. A place sans hope.

Or was it?

On rare occasions, I found that the spirit of menschlichkeit existed even among those of us who felt cursed to have our memories erased under the sun. As a gift from heaven, I found that spirit even in a young SS man, who showed me that care, concern and empathy survived among some who were taught to commit themselves to our destruction.

Five miles from Auschwitz was Birkenau, a transient camp. Those who entered it were either gassed and cremated or sent to work camps.

The others included most of my family, their ashes mixed with the soil of the Polish steppes, where they stayed as an eternal declaration of the power of the Freudian id and the consequence of the pandemic of human madness.

We survivors of the initial onslaught of the marauders lived in the confines of the barracks, sitting and sleeping on the wooden-planked, three-tiered beds that six of us called home. Having familiarized ourselves with the work that presumably would make us free, such as emptying and cleaning the slop buckets, we helplessly watched people die from coronary and diabetic diseases that they could have survived for many productive years with the help of medications that they previously took.

Within a week of our arrival, we

were ordered to embark once again on the cattle cars — destination Warsaw.

We entered the rail cars and sat down (never permitted to stand in the train) to the right and left of the middle third, the area of the doors and two bunks for the SS guards.

Our guards were quite young.

Their smooth skins betrayed their age, no older than 18. The guards were the opposite of each other by their physiognomy and temperament.

One was short, stocky, darkhaired, dark-faced and gloomy, and when he was irritated, which was frequent, he threatened us with his gun. He was Ukrainian.

The other was tall, slender, blond and blue-eyed with an open and smiling face. He had the appearance of a person with an honest disposition, a person to be trusted, with a constant, contented smile. He was an example of Hitler’s ideal, albeit mythical, Aryan.

His deeds reinforced his image as a trustworthy, kind person. Whenever the Ukrainian threatened us with his gun, the Adonis told us not to mind him and placed himself between us and the gun.

But what was most outstanding was what he did.

I often wondered how this young man became a representative of the horrendous Nazi ideology that forced me to be a slave and made him my guardian. But, unlike any other guardian who had domain over me, he cared.

Every time the train stopped on the way to Warsaw, he bolted from the train and later re-entered loaded down with containers of coffee for us.

Imagine the effort that he expanded to gather enough containers to do the job.

In the afternoon, when coffee was no longer available at the stations, he brought us water and apologized for not bringing coffee.

I am sure he was real and not merely a wish-induced apparition.

And though one forgets the good when badness keeps increasing, he became a reason for my maintaining the belief that goodness and hope exist.

In retrospect, writing this made me realize why we Jews have developed the belief in the continual existence of 36 hidden righteous men who are the maintainers of eternal hope and recognize that the blond SS guard must have been one of those hidden righteous men. For where else do we have such desperate need for hope than in the midst of rampant evil? ■

OPINION

A Call to Action For Women’s Health companies will again charge women more for basic insurance, adding riders for pregnancy and screening options.

Guest Column

By Ellen Hershkin

We must ensure that all current preventive coverage remains intact, such as guidelines for mammograms and breast cancer genetic counseling and testing, including for BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are of particular relevance to the Jewish community.

Like so many other Jewish and women’s advocates, I care deeply about what happens to contraceptive coverage and access to reproductive services. At the same time, we must recognize that a woman’s health is about far more than her reproductive cycle; it’s about her lifecycle.

Women respond differently to many drugs and medical devices. It has been 30 years since the ban on women in clinical trials was lifted, yet we still make up only a third of cardiology research subjects. We must call on the new administration and Congress to provide robust support for the Office of Women’s Health, which coordinates medical and public health research.

Building on the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act in December, we must also urge our officials to advance policies to ensure safe, effective and equitable research, such as the bipartisan Research for All Act. Last term, Hadassah members advocated to help secure six legislative co-sponsors.

We advocate not only for ourselves, but also for our daughters and granddaughters. When we pass the torch from generation to generation, l’dor vador, we must ensure a healthier future for those to come.

Now is the time for all of us to act and let our collective voices be heard.

When we say l’chaim (to life), let’s reaffirm that women’s and men’s lives are valued equally and commit, as the Jewish community, to advance women’s health and gender equity in medicine.

L’chaim. ■ Ellen Hershkin is the 26th national president of Hadassah, which founded the Coalition for Women’s Health Equality in 2016.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Women are the heartbeat and lifeblood of America. As mothers, wives and daughters, we are caregivers and decision-makers — not only nurturing families, but also strengthening the economy and future of our nation.

Women are 10 times more likely to die from a heart attack than from breast cancer. Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined. Yet many don’t know that heart disease risk factors and symptoms differ for men and women.

I know women who didn’t realize they were having heart attacks or were turned away from ERs because doctors assumed their symptoms were the result of stress.

A year after a heart attack, 76 percent of men survive, compared with 58 percent of women. Women are dying from heart disease and many other illnesses because of persistent gender disparities in research and treatment.

That is why we cannot be complacent.

Health — including women’s health — is not a partisan issue. Jewish law commands us to save lives, pikuach nefesh, even if that means breaking other commandments.

Women’s health has always been integral to Hadassah’s mission in Israel and the United States. Members of the Jewish community have an important role to play as champions for women’s health and equitable care for all.

February is American Heart Month. Each of us needs to make sure the women in our lives are taking care of themselves.

One-quarter of all women, regardless of income, reported that lack of time was the reason they went without care, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study. Think of what that means when 82 percent of heart disease cases are preventable.

Free, annual well-woman visits, including blood pressure checks, diabetes screening and nutrition counseling, are essential. When it comes to prevention — and access — we’re watching the Affordable Care Act closely. Whatever your view about other proposed changes to the law, the Jewish community must stand united behind the key provisions that help millions of American women, including mandatory maternity coverage.

We cannot remain silent when we face the real possibility that insurance

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EDUCATION

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Day Schools, Special Needs and Morality

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

There once lived a family of four: mom, dad and two bright little girls.

They lived in a suburb far away from downtown, where life was quieter and slower-paced.

Though it was not the country per se, they passed horse farms on the way to the gas station and could ride a bike 30 miles north without seeing a car on a Saturday morning. Everything they needed was within a 15-minute car ride, except rides to the airport twice a week for his work.

The public schools were suitable, and the parents assumed the girls would end up there.

But once the girls became schoolage, the family learned of a private school in another area of town that was offering more. Smaller classes, better teachers, more resources, and, best of all, values. The parents were sold on the values the school espoused.

The children at this school were taught a value system, explicitly, throughout their years at this school.

The young ones would be taught with games and puppetry. The older ones would be taught through writings and community service.

What a great thing for a school to offer, the parents thought. Here was a school actively teaching kids values in a world where often the old notion of values was just that, antiquated and nonexistent. The parents agreed they wanted this school for their kids because of the values they were teaching there.

So life became a little busier, a little more complicated. Going to this school meant a long commute in heavy traffic twice a day. It meant making sure the girls were involved after school so they would be included in the school community. It meant making an effort to invite people over to their house all the way up in the far suburbs, which was often not an easy sell.

But it worked for a few years, and life was good because the parents believed that the girls were learning important values, such as respect, community and morality.

A third child was born, a boy, and the family was thrilled to add a new life, full of excitement and potential, into the world. But a baby meant less time in the day, and a long commute twice a day was no longer feasible. The family decided to move.

16 The family based the move on this

wonderful school, which was part of their daily life, their community and their family. They moved to a house within 10 minutes of this school, believing that their kids would be there for the next 13 years.

The years went by, and the baby grew up. Something was not quite right, though, and the parents started

Guest Column

By Anne Kelman Denneen

to worry. There were things this little boy could not do, and life became challenging. The parents searched for answers and did not find any for a long time.

They researched and persevered until one day they found the answer, and it changed their lives. It shattered their lives, all of them.

The world in which this family was living was no longer happy. This new world became scary and uncertain and confusing and depressing. It meant doctors’ appointments, hospitals, procedures, isolation, separation from one another and sadness.

A new reality set in, and life was pretty bad. But the parents believed they still had their school and their community behind them. With community, they could make it through.

The boy went through a long treatment, and he didn’t just survive.

He thrived. The family tried to practice normalcy. Their world had been turned upside-down, but they continued their daily routines as much as possible.

The parents were very busy. The boy went to preschool and was happy.

The girls continued with their school involvement, while the boy attended all the events with his parents at the school. He sat through the plays, the sports events, the ceremonies and the carpool on a daily basis. He knew the school inside out, and everyone knew him.

The boy grew up and was ready for kindergarten. The parents applied to the school, to their community, to their family away from family, to admit the boy. The parents wanted the boy to have the opportunity to learn and be part of an environment that taught the values in which they believed. They wanted the boy to join

Liam Denneen, 6, is now in a mainstream kindergarten class in a public elementary school.

Liam’s two sisters, Darcy, 14, and Rachel, 11, have benefited from a Jewish day school education.

his sisters and his friends in a place of warmth and love and nurturing.

The school turned the boy away.

The school said the boy did not fit within its standards. The boy was beneath those standards. The school could not accommodate him.

The parents pleaded with the school to include the boy, to give him a chance. The parents would pay for extra help. The parents could help the school start a program for the boy and other children like the boy.

The school said it did not want a program. It did not want the money for extra help. It did not want the boy.

What happened to the values?

Does morality not teach that this boy should be included? Does morality instead teach that children with special

needs should be taught in a separate environment? Have we not established through history that separate is not equal?

What about family and community? Is it right to separate siblings? Does that sit well, to take one child out of his preschool class and tell him, “You are not welcome here,” as his childhood friends march into the beautiful private gates ahead?

Is it OK to require families who have a child with special needs to spend hours in the car driving all over town to different schools because one school won’t accept all? If not a morality issue, is that community?

The family wondered. And once again, their world changed.

It is with knowledge that we form

EDUCATION

No School Is Right for All Needs “Educate the children according to their path.” — Proverbs Mishlei 22:6 At Atlanta Jewish Academy, we believe that every Jewish child is entitled to an education that fosters a love of the Jewish people, our community, Torah and Israel. We also recognize that every child connects, learns and processes information in a different way. We are proud to offer our Matthew Blumenthal M’silot Program, which allows our students to follow the path that will best lead to their success.

We decided 16 years ago to support a program that was unique in the community and could offer families a chance to have their children’s needs met in a Jewish setting, and we continue to enthusiastically support this program.

The M’silot Program serves students throughout the Atlanta area, from a wide variety of communities and families from other day schools, and meets the most diverse students’ needs in Atlanta. We are proud that is still true.

As with any specialized program, we recognize that we cannot meet the needs of all students with special needs. A program for students with special needs requires specific resources, staff, space and intentionality to ensure that it is appropriate and meets the needs of the target audience.

No one school can provide a program for the many different special needs children in our community. It is just not financially and program-

Matthew Blumenthal M’silot Program Matthew Blumenthal was a student with muscular dystrophy at Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva Atlanta (which became AJA) from first grade through graduation.

After he died at 24, his grandparents, Saul and Adele Blumenthal, donated the seed money to start the M’silot Program in his memory in 1999.

With their sustaining gift, Matthew’s parents, Elaine and Jerry Blumenthal, are continuing this vital work. Over 200 students have come through this program and moved on to be successful young adults and valuable community members.

Early intervention is the key to success for children with special needs. At AJA, we strongly encourage students to receive intervention as

matically possible, nor is it in the best interest of many children, who may not get their specific needs met.

We pride ourselves on being inclusive; however, when we realize that another program may be a better fit for a child, we are honest with the family. The child and his/her needs are the top priority. We will also help

Guest Column

By Diane Marks

the family find the best setting. It’s all about the children.

There are some other challenges of conducting a program for special needs in a Jewish day school. We offer an excellent opportunity for students who learn differently to be included in our school, but some families do not select a program in a Jewish day school and instead choose secular specialty schools.

In addition, some families want to stay in the Jewish setting and school they are most comfortable with religiously, even if the child’s needs will be met more appropriately in another program. Therefore, many Jewish day schools are offering programs for students with similar disabilities at varying degrees.

The cost to parents is also a huge factor. Because these programs are expensive, many families cannot afford to take advantage even with tuition early as possible. Students who participate in our Running Start kindergarten program and lower-school M’silot Program in first and second grades are most likely to develop the skills, confidence and executive functioning skills to succeed in a traditional classroom at an early entry point.

In our self-contained setting, students receive direct instruction from Orton Gillingham-trained teachers in a 6-to-1 student-teacher ratio.

A speech language pathologist is an integral part of our program.

One key to our program is that we focus on teaching students how they learn best. Students who “learn how they learn” are confident and can reach their potential.

Students in our program interact with grade-level peers much of the day and participate with them in cocurricular activities and social times.

Editor’s note: To complement Anne Kelman Denneen’s column on the opposite page, the Atlanta Jewish Times invited several Atlanta Jewish day schools serving elementary school children to submit columns about the issues involved with special needs. The schools were not given an advance look at Denneen’s column or told which institution her family was involved with. Because of the timing of the AJT’s request, only Atlanta Jewish Academy was able to submit a response; we are hopeful of receiving additional responses addressing the concerns raised by these articles in future issues of the AJT.

assistance. We have introduced our flexible tuition program to help with this obstacle for parents.

We are proud that at AJA we have been at the forefront in offering a program for children with specific learning differences. The Matthew Blumenthal M’silot Program has offered many entry points for students’ Jewish journeys at AJA and is a crucial component of our religious mission at our school.

To offer a quality and specialized education to all Jewish children is a mitzvah, and M’silot delivers on this mitzvah every single day. Thank you to the teachers who help make this program a reality and who guide the M’silot students on their own specific paths. ■ Diane Marks is the director of AJA’s Matthew Blumenthal M’silot Program.

Many M’silot students take mainstream classes in areas of strength.

Our students receive Judaic and Hebrew instruction in a small group setting with many of the same strategies used in general studies. Students learn to read and write in Hebrew and receive Judaic instruction in parallel to their mainstream peers.

Our goal is to help students develop the skills and strategies to succeed in a mainstream classroom.

When they reach middle school, they are in mainstream classes.

We are transitioning at AJA to a model that provides two teachers in a middle school classroom, one a special education teacher and one a content specialist, so that all our students can succeed. Students also are provided a support period each day to help reteach, organize and learn strategies to reach their potential. ■

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

our perception of the world. When reality makes it clear that things are not as they seem, alienation sets in. It seems the family’s community was not really behind them.

Pleasantries aside, those at the top do not want to be inclusive. The values they speak are not truly practiced. The marketing materials for the school, shouting out social justice for all, really mean only for some.

The family was told inclusion is not supported at the top. The family wonders whether that is OK with the school community. Is it OK that this school teaches children values without practicing what it teaches?

Apparently, yes, it is OK with most. If it does not affect me, I am OK with it, and I will love the school, and I will give it money so it can help my typical child and my typical child’s typical friends.

And the family is left wondering: Can this really be my community?

What can we do to change this perception? The family has been told there is nothing that can be done. That is the way things are because there is no support in the private school arena for the inclusion of children with special needs.

Is it hard to accommodate children with special needs? The answer is no.

Does it take planning and money?

Yes, it does.

Would the school community like to spend money on including these children? No, it would not.

Would this same school community pay for a luxurious addition to the school instead? The answer is yes.

Where should these children go? The community would like these children to go to special little schools or ride special little buses to and from the public school, where they will stay in the small classroom at the end of the hall, away from everything.

The community does not need to worry about these children, as the community at large is not responsible for a child such as this, at least not directly. But is there a moral obligation?

These are little people. These are the kids you see in the grocery store, at religious services, at restaurants, at the playground, down the street and even next door. These are kids just like yours, except they make life even more interesting.

They are everywhere. They are part of this community, like it or not.

There are many of them. Forgotten?

Ignored? Excluded for sure.

The family is no longer happy. The family is left wondering. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

17

EDUCATION

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

ACT or SAT?

18

The purpose of my last AJT article Jan. 20, “Analyze Your PSAT,” was to encourage students to use their October PSAT scores to the fullest. High school students should ask themselves whether they have taken action, and parents should inquire of their high school underclassman whether they have acted.

Let’s go back in history for a moment. In the old days, in the Eastern and Southern parts of the United States, students for the most part had no idea that the ACT existed. Out in the Midwest, students would take the ACT and wonder what the SAT was all about.

In 2017, the world of college admissions tests has changed. The ACT and SAT are competitors, plain and simple, and all colleges in the United States accept either test.

The ACT has caught up to the SAT. Some say more students now take the ACT. In fact, as early as 2012 the ACT was ahead, and it continues its climb.

Well, now that you have analyzed your PSAT, do the same for your ACT prep score.

You probably don’t have that score. Some high schools administered the ACT’s PLAN test, but that test has been eliminated from the ACT product line. There are some substitutes, such as the PreACT test, but my hunch is that not many high schools bother to give that test to 10th-graders.

Are you stuck? No. Both online and area test prep firms offer practice tests for the ACTs. Do colleges care whether you take the SAT or ACT? Most do not care. If in doubt, ask the admissions office at a particular college.

Colleges are looking for the best scores they can find. After all, they publish their statistics. Who wants to print the low scores? That doesn’t help rankings, for whatever that is worth.

How can you find out which test is better for you? Obviously, you have to take one SAT and one ACT, even if it is a practice test. That includes the PSAT, which is scored to let you know how you might score on the real test.

Should you study for only one of the tests or both? Take practice tests and see which gives you the better result and which you prefer. If you can determine one is better for you, prepare only for that exam.

You should ask the following questions when comparing the tests: • Where can I obtain practice

tests?

• Is there a penalty for guessing?

• When are the real tests administered?

• What are the deadlines for registering?

• When will my scores be available?

• How long is each test?

The Admissions Game

By Dr. Mark L. Fisher drmarkfisher@yahoo.com

• What is the average time per question?

• What is the length and timing for each section of the test?

• How are the math questions different?

• Do I need vocabulary cards to prepare for the test?

• Will a college to which I am applying require the essay section?

• The ACT has a science section.

How much science do I need to know?

• How much time do I have for the various types of questions?

• Can I use my calculator for all the math questions?

• How much trigonometry and geometry are on each test?

• Will I need to find evidence to support my answers in the reading section?

The ACT has basically four sections: English, math, reading and science. The SAT is composed of evidencebased reading, writing and math. Each test has an optional essay, which isn’t optional if a college to which you will apply requires the essay.

You thought your major decision was signing up for either the ACT or SAT, but I guess there is more to think about. Sometimes I ask a student when he or she will take either test, and the student doesn’t know.

Why? “My mother signed me up, and I don’t know what date she signed me up for.”

My reply: “Is your mother going to be your roommate in college?”

Students, please take responsibility. You are college-bound, and no parent will make your daily decisions. ■ Mark L. Fisher is a college and career consultant at Fisher Educational Consultants (www.fishereducationalconsultants.com) and a consultant for the College Planning Institute (www.

GotoCPI.com).

EDUCATION

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Campus Anti-Semitism Rising, Expert Says

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com Reports in August from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville of antiSemitic behavior by students caught the eye of Kenneth Marcus, an antiSemitism expert and the president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Marcus was later invited to speak Jan. 26 at the university in combination with an International Holocaust Remembrance Day screening of Gloria Z. Greenfield’s film “Unmasked Judeophobia,” during which he detailed the rise in anti-Semitism on American college campuses.

Marcus spoke to the AJT by phone the day after his visit to Knoxville.

Kenneth Marcus is the president of the Washingtonbased Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which has a student chapter at Emory.

partnered with Trinity College to do a study on Jewish college students. We found that, for the first time, over 50 percent of Jewish college students have personally experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism during the prior academic year.

AJT: What can we do about this is-

puses?

Marcus: Anti-Semitism is definitely on the rise on American college campuses, and it is quite horrifying to see. After a half-century of making progress, we are now seeing a different environment. About a year and a half ago the Louis D. Brandeis Center

sue?

Marcus: We need to educate people about the meaning of antiSemitism so that palpable, hurtful, anti-Jewish activity cannot simply be denied. Earlier this month, a court in Germany held that it is not anti-Semitic to firebomb a synagogue. The court

reasoned that the perpetrator might have been expressing a political opinion about Gaza by throwing Molotov cocktails. That shocking ignorance by a German court is the sort of thing that merits standard, clear, understandable guidance on this issue. At last night’s event we discussed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act that was introduced last year in the U.S. Congress. We also discussed the state-level legislation which was introduced in Virginia and that we hope will be introduced in other states as well. People need to speak out and urge their legislators to support adoption of the State Department definition of anti-Semitism. ■

AJT: How did you end up getting invited to speak at UTK? Marcus: Last year we responded to the dozens of anti-Semitic social media postings at UT by urging the university to investigate those students. One of our recommendations was that they utilize the various local resources, such as Gloria Z. Greenfield being an artist in residence at the school, to educate students by showing her film, and I was also invited to speak.

AJT: How was the response of event attendees at the film screening?

Marcus: We had a very good event at UT last night. I could tell the audience was deeply moved by Gloria Z. Greenfield’s film. I think that watching her film about anti-Semitism and thinking about incidents at the University of Tennessee led people to ask what can be done to combat this problem.

AJT: So you would say that antiSemitism is on the rise on college cam-

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

AJT: When we spoke to UTK Hillel Director Deborah Oleshansky, she said that reports of campus anti-Semitism had been overblown. Is that not the case?

Marcus: That’s not unusual. When we deal with large, complex research universities, we often find there can be a great deal happening beneath the surface. It’s hard for engaged local professionals to be aware of. Sometimes people will come to us with information that is not known to campus professionals. That’s not an indication that they aren’t doing their job right; it’s just difficult to get a bearing of what’s going on at a large institution.

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EDUCATION

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Persian Jews Gained From ORT in Iran

By Sarah Moosazadeh sarah@atljewishtimes.com Although Iran was slowly modernizing during the 1950s, many Jewish Persian families lacked the necessary skills for employment. To combat poverty, vocational schools were established to teach skills and promote Jewish education, administered by the Alliance Israélite Universelle.

ORT was among the educational institutions at work in Iran.

From 1947 to 1950, ORT expanded its reach within the international community and began operating in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Iran. ORT, established in the 19th century in Russia, opened its first school in Iran in 1950, but it was not until the 1960s that a committee was formed.

The successes during the time ORT operated in Iran reflect the work that the educational organization continues to do around the world, putting to use money raised by chapters in Atlanta and other cities.

“One of the biggest challenges we continue to face is awareness,” ORT

Atlanta Regional Director Jay Tenenbaum said. “In the past ORT was a social club, and women played an influential role in fundraising, through membership dues and events like bake sales, auctions and gift wrapping at the malls. Today, we need to spread the importance of ORT’s work to increase funding and attract more alumni.”

Once established in Iran, ORT offered two-year programs and established 16 trade schools in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz with classes in masonry, carpentry, mechanics and electrical installation. ORT also established programs for girls in dressmaking and embroidery.

By 1980 the schools had enrolled over 5,000 students.

Sharokh Nooromid was among the participants who enrolled in ORT’s technician program. Between 1966 and 1968, he learned skills in mechanics and obtained a degree through ORT’s two-year program.

“I really enjoyed the school. I studied hard, especially in drawing, and enjoyed participating in the workshops,” Nooromid said.

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FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

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20

Contact Steven W. Cook, PhD swc@collegebridge.net or 404.983.4573

The Nooromid family includes (from left) Bobby Nooromid holding daughter Bella, Naz Shaban Nooromid, Rachel Nooromid Levin holding daughter Maya, Jason Levin, Safa Aghajani Nooromid and Sharokh Nooromid.

In 1972, Nooromid moved to Atlanta to continue his education as a technician. He enrolled at Georgia Tech and graduated in 1977 with a degree in civil engineering.

“I learned a lot in ORT, and when I came to the United States, I brought the skills I had obtained with me,” Nooromid said. ORT diplomas were recognized as qualifying students for any engineering college.

Many Jewish Persian students used their ORT skills to make aliyah.

After graduating from Georgia Tech, Nooromid wanted to return to Iran, but the Islamic revolution had started, and his parents advised him to remain in the United States. His parents escaped shortly after and moved to Rishon LeZion, Israel.

“They left everything they had and had to start from the beginning,” Nooromid said. If it had not been for ORT, he would have enlisted in the Sarvan (Iranian army ground forces) and fought in the Iran-Iraq War. ORT radically transformed Iran’s Jewish community by providing skills that led to employment and preserved the community’s connection to Judaism. But Iran’s Islamic revolution changed everything.

Parvine Motamed became the first female director of ORT in Iran in 1970.

During her stint, Motamed increased the number of women who obtained an education, led building renovations and established programs for secretarial employment.

“I wanted to provide classes that would engage the students. I began with courses in French and English and then established a program for teacher certifications,” Motamed said. The program allowed Jewish and non-Jewish students to return home and establish

Photos courtesy of Sharokh Nooromid

Sharokh Nooromid attended ORT in Tehran, and the skills he learned there helped him graduate from Georgia Tech in 1977.

schools within their own communities.

Protests erupted in Iran in 1978 and continued into 1979, calling for an end to the shah’s reign.

“Tensions were extremely high, and it became dangerous for me to attend the school,” Motamed said. ORT was located amid numerous mosques and close to demonstrations that spread anti-Zionist propaganda. “Everyone advised me to leave, but I wanted to stay for the students. I don’t know if it was because I was courageous or I didn’t know any better, but I thought it my responsibility was to help protect the students.”

Iran in 1979 began to nationalize institutions, and ORT became a prime target. Motamed maintained control until 1980.

A pamphlet was brought to her one night stating that ORT’s director was a spy for Israel. The next night she and her husband escaped Iran. Iranian newspapers indicated that Motamed had been arrested.

“I’ve been with ORT for 60 years, and I have enjoyed every moment of it because I liked what I did and enjoyed creating new relationships with people,” Motamed said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the school in Tehran and its contents in 1980. Since then, ORT has not operated in Iran; the school was later renamed the Palestine Madrasa.

Professions have changed over the decades, and World ORT has adapted in those countries where it continues to operate. Instead of embroidery and dressmaking, classes now cover robotics, mass media and engineering.

“Governments across the world are asking World ORT if we can work with them to get the job done,” Tenenbaum said, “and we always say yes.” ■

EDUCATION

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

Fifteen Israeli-American college students from Georgia attended the Israeli-American Council Mishelanu Conference in Los Angeles from Feb. 17 to 19. The pro-Israel conference aims to connect Israeli-Americans from universities across the United States.

Conference participant Lee Setty, the president of the IAC Mishelanu chapter at the University of Georgia, said the conference opened her eyes to that specific college community.

“It fills a need in a community that we weren’t even aware of,” she said.

“We’re all Israeli, American and Jewish, but now we have people that are just like us. Before we were forced to choose if we were just in the Jewish community or just the Israeli community. Now we have everything together.”

Setty’s family moved from Tel Aviv to Alpharetta when she was 3. The sophomore marketing major attended the conference with nine students from UGA and five others from Emory, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, and Georgia College and State University.

Around 300 students from around the United States attended the threeday conference and participated in breakout sessions covering topics from Israeli music to networking, entrepreneurship and tips for dealing with antiIsraeli sentiment on campus.

“They told us that the best way to tell people about what’s going on in Israel is just to tell your own story,” Setty said. “A lot of college campuses have been affected by the BDS movement recently, so it was definitely a topic we discussed.”

In February 2016, 17 members of Athens for Justice in Palestine interrupted an event hosted by campus group Dawgs for Israel at which two Israeli soldiers spoke. The protesters staged a walkout after disrupting the speech of one of the soldiers, brought to campus by StandWithUs. Setty was at that event as a freshman.

Two more soldiers touring the Southeast with StandWithUs were scheduled to speak at UGA on Tuesday night, Feb. 21. Setty helped plan the event and told the AJT in advance, “We’re really trying to get a lot of people to come and make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again.” ■

Boost for Tax Credit?

Three bills proposed in the Georgia House attempt to resolve the logjam blocking growth of a popular income tax credit that supports Jewish day schools and other private schools.

The state allows Georgians to designate a portion of their tax bills to any of a number of student scholarship organizations, such as the Federationcreated ALEF Fund. Those SSOs distribute the money to schools for scholarships and have become a significant source of support for day schools.

The problem is that the money for the credit has been capped at $58 million annually, and the state receives applications for more than that amount on the first day the credits are available each January. As a result, people are granted a reduced credit.

House Bill 217, introduced by Marietta Republican John Carson, would increase the cap $150 million for the 2018 tax year, then boost it by an additional $7.5 million each year through 2022.

Any unused money would roll over to be available for credits the next year.

H.B. 236, introduced by Marietta Republican Sam Teasley, also would raise the cap to $150 million for 2018 and add $7.5 million each year after that, but without any stopping point.

The legislation also would split the credit into two application periods, with two-thirds available in January and one-third available in July.

Neither bill has gotten as far as a committee vote yet, however, and Teasley has offered an alternative approach in H.B. 414. It would not raise the $58 million cap but specifies that any credits that are allowable but are not approved by the tax commissioner or funded by the taxpayers will carry over to the next year and be added to the total tax credit pool.

Safecrackers Going to Israel

Atlanta Jewish Academy is sending a team of scientific safecrackers to Israel for the second consecutive year.

AJA Upper School students Shaun Regenbaum, Josh Bland, Josh Italiiander, Jonathan Bashary and Nittai Shiff are traveling to Israel from March 22 to 30 compete in the Shalhevet Freier International Physics Tournament at the Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot.

The five students will design, build and operate a locking mechanism for a box, making it a safe, through the use of principles of physics. The mecha-

nism could use lasers, wires, magnets and other elements.

In the competition March 28 and 29, each team will present its safe so other teams can try to crack it within 10 minutes. The tournament goal is to decipher the physical principles used in other teams’ safes to crack them while your own safe is impenetrable.

The educational goal is to expand the basic understanding of scientific principles and encourage original thinking to use those principles.

Before the tournament, the AJA team of four seniors and one junior will spend Shabbat with host families in Yokneam, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s partner region. The AJA students also will tour a high-tech company and visit a STEM-focused high school.

TDSA Matching Campaign

Through the end of February, a donor is matching every dollar donated or pledged to Torah Day School of Atlanta, up to $150,000. If supporters give or pledge a total of $150,000 by Tuesday, Feb. 28, the school will receive $300,000.

You can donate at torahday. schoolforms­.org/donate.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Israelis Find Common Ground

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EDUCATION

Day Schools Deliver Tech Fair Success Nearly 30 students at Jewish day schools qualified for the Georgia Educational Technology Fair in Macon on March 11 despite having a more difficult route to the state competition.

The past 12 years, day school students and other Shabbat-observant students had their own regional competition, the North Atlanta Jewish Students Technology Fair. It was held on Sunday, while the other regionals and the state finals were on Saturdays.

The Sunday regional was back this year on Jan. 22, but instead of being aimed only at Jewish students, it was the Georgia Independent & Home Schools Regional Technology Fair.

So in addition to the Davis Academy, the Epstein School, Atlanta Jewish Academy, the Weber School and Torah Day School of Atlanta, winning entries came from such schools as Fulton Science Academy, Tallulah Falls School, Lakeview Academy, Pace Academy and Dar un Noor Academy.

The more diverse competition still produced dozens of Jewish day school winners. Students who finished first in their age groups in specific categories qualified for the state tournament.

Torah Day School sent eight students to the regional competition, and eighth-grader Avital Sobel finished first in 3D modeling among seventh- and eighth-graders with a digital image of her family’s home remodeling project.

TDSA eighth-graders Kira Mer­ melstein and Tehilla Robbins competed in digital photo production, and Tehilla placed second. Also finishing second were eighth-grader Shayna Winick in robotics, fifth-graders Yoni Senior and Avi Ellenoff in video production for a movie created using Windows Movie Maker, and Eli and Zeli Litvin in the web applications category.

Technology teacher Theresa Burns

AJA seventh-grader Shiraz Agichtein (left) and eighth-grader Paulina Lebowitz are repeat state qualifiers.

Mayah Loventhal of Tritt Elementary shows her first-place medal in animation from the Cobb County Regional Technology Fair.

mentored the students through her classes at Torah Day School of Atlanta and accompanied them to the event.

Ten Epstein students took firstplace ribbons: Moira Poh and Emma Cohen, audio production, seventh and eighth grades; Miriam Nadler and Amelia Heller, audio production, fifth and sixth grades; Alanna Diamond and Tyler Silberman, animation, third and fourth grades; Kira Nadler and Samantha Dubovy, digital photo production, third and fourth grades; and Shai Bachar and Elliott Lapp, device modification, third and fourth grades.

Atlanta Jewish Academy had six students finish first: Adam Berkowitz, digital photo production, fifth and sixth grades; Paulina Lebowitz, digital photo production, seventh and eighth grades; Shiraz Agichtein, graphic design, seventh and eighth grades; Zach Amdur, Internet applications, fifth and sixth grades; Dan Jutan, Internet applications, 11th and 12th grades; and Jutan and Shaun Regenbaum, tech programming challenge, 11th and 12th grades.

Shiraz, Paulina, Dan and Shaun also reached the state fair last year.

In addition, Shaun finished second in the technology literacy challenge for

The Epstein School qualifiers for the state tech far are (top row, from left) Elliot Lapp, Emma Cohen, Moira Poh, Shai Bachar and Miriam Nadler and (bottom row, from left) Kira Nadler, Amelia Heller, Tyler Silberman, Samantha Dubovy and Alanna Diamond.

Avital Sobel’s 3D model of a home renovation project has earned the TDSA eighth-grader a spot in the state tech fair.

the oldest age group.

Three AJA students earned thirdplace ribbons: Sam Wachtel, 3D modeling, third and fourth grades; Ilan Benamram, 3D modeling, fifth and sixth grades; Zachary Agichtein, animation, third and fourth grades; and Kayla Joel, 3D modeling, third and fourth grades.

Weber has five students taking four projects to the state fair after finishing first at the regional competition: Amanda Kraun, digital photography, 11th and 12th grades; Isabel Berlin, multimedia applications, ninth and 10th grades; Justin Cobb, robotics, 11th and 12th grades; and Levi Durham and Sam Kuttner, digital game design, 11th and 12th grades. All except Kuttner also qualified last year, as did Josh Glass, who finished second this year in digital photography as a 10th-grader.

Davis has the most qualifiers among Jewish day schools with 12: Jack Baylin, digital game design, third and fourth grades; Avi Frank, device modification, fifth and sixth grades; Jordan Frank, digital game design, fifth and sixth grades; Leah Green, project programming, third and fourth grades; Aidan Kramer, animation, fifth and sixth grades; Sarah Menis, robotics, third and fourth grades; Julia Moss, Internet

AJA seniors Dan Jutan (left) and Shaun Regenbaum are familiar faces at the state tech fair.

TDSA eighthgrader Shayna Winick shows the robotics project that won her a secondplace ribbon.

applications, third and fourth grades; Eleonora Pepez-Rubio, 3D modeling, third and fourth grades; Alexa Rubin, graphic design, third and fourth grades; Jacob Rubin, graphic design, fifth and sixth grades; Matthew Szabo, animation, seventh and eighth grades; and Carson Wolff, tech literacy challenge, fifth and sixth grades.

At least one Jewish student qualified through the Cobb County tech fair: Mayah Loventhal, a fourth-grader at Tritt Elementary School. The daughter of Gary and Michal Loventhal finished first among third- and fourth-graders in animation. ■

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EDUCATION

Weber Grad Reunites Shoah Survivor, Texas A&M Joshua Williams is the first Weber School graduate to attend Texas A&M, but he had no idea how a single trip would influence his college search.

During his junior year of high school, Williams skipped Weber’s trip to Poland and Israel and instead participated in the March of the Living.

“My older brother participated the year prior and said it was an incredible experience, simply because you travel with Holocaust survivors,” Williams said. “I realize how important it is to hear Holocaust stories and walk through concentration camps, but having someone who survived it there with you makes all the difference.”

Williams met Holocaust survivors Thomas and Danielle Gabor. Thomas Gabor was sent to the Budapest ghetto after attempting to flee the Gestapo numerous times and was separated from his mother when the Nazis took her away. The family was reunited after Gabor’s mom escaped the Nazis and returned to the ghetto.

After the war, Gabor’s father joined Hungary’s Communist Party, but once he realized the party was anti-Semitic, he decided to move to America.

Gabor attended a university in Hungary but had to abandon his studies when the family resettled in New York. He met a Hungarian professor who administered math and science tests, and Gabor’s results were distributed to universities across the country, including Texas A&M, which offered him a scholarship. He graduated with a degree in chemical engineering.

Gabor’s story and admiration for the school heavily influenced Williams.

“The words Gabor spoke about Texas A&M still ring true for me. The campus has some of the friendliest people.”

Williams, now a college sophomore, spoke with the director of Texas A&M’s Hillel chapter, Rabbi Matt Rosenberg, about inviting Gabor to speak at the College Station campus.

“It was historic for the university,” Rabbi Rosenberg said. “Josh had this connection to Gabor, and we wanted it to create a public event not only for Hillel, but the wider community. … We wanted to give attendees a better understanding of the Holocaust.”

Gabor returned to Texas A&M for the first time in more than 50 years.

He toured the campus and relayed his story of survival to an audience of more than 1,000. Williams and Rabbi Rosenberg said they had to turn people

“I thought to myself, ‘This is incredible, and we have no hecklers,’ ” Williams said. Before his debut at Texas A&M, Gabor had spoken to crowds of no more than 30 people.

Texas A&M has about 400 Jewish students, so most of the crowd was not Jewish.

Photo by Danielle Freedman, student activities director at Texas A&M Hillel “It’s great to hear a Weber School graduate and Texas A&M kinesiology Holocaust survivor relay sophomore Joshua Williams presents Aggie gear to his story and reminds us Holocaust survivors Thomas Gabor and his wife, Danielle. to never forget,” Williams away because of the fire hazard, but the said. He remains in touch with Gabor attendees refused to budge. They stood and hopes he’ll return to Texas A&M. He said many students who heard outside and listened through speakers.

Gabor have gone on to listen to more Holocaust speakers. “It’s as if they have become a witness to a witness,” Williams said. “There is a lot of negativity going on in the world today, especially as it relates to anti-Semitism on college campuses across the country … but there is also some positivity as well.”

“We are very proud of Josh’s commitment to share Gabor’s experience with the Texas A&M community and with the greater College Station, Texas, community,” Williams’ parents said.

“We are also delighted with Hillel’s involvement. The local College Station PBS station is going to air Gabor’s talk, which means Gabor will inspire even more people with his story.” ■

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

By Sarah Moosazadeh sarah@atljewishtimes.com

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www.atlantajewishtimes.com

EDUCATION

Torah, George Washington and All Americans

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

The following is the winning essay in the 2016 Enlighten America essay contest, sponsored by the Achim/Gate City Lodge of B’nai B’rith.

Growing up Jewish, there are two beliefs in my religion that stand out most to me. First, all people are created in G-d’s image.

Second, we must treat each other the way we want to be treated. These teachings are directly related to George Washington’s letter to the Touro Synagogue in 1790.

In 1776, our country’s founders wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.”

The Declaration goes on to say that our “Creator” has endowed us with the inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Based upon these founding concepts, similar to the centuries-old Jewish beliefs, Washington explained that our government “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

Equality, a basic concept of Judaism, comes from the belief that all people are created in G-d’s image, and

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since all people come from the same ancestors, Adam and Eve, we are all one family, and no person is created better than any other person. This is

Guest Column

By Gabriel Weiss

true, even though we may see slight differences in a person’s color, size or shape. Since we are all created in G-d’s image, all of us have value, even people who are murderers, liars, cheats, vandals and abusers.

For example, the Torah tells the story of the Hebrews’ Exodus from Egypt. The Egyptians had enslaved the Hebrews, but after the Egyptians suffered 10 plagues brought upon them

by G-d, Moses convinced Pharaoh to free the Hebrews. Unfortunately, after releasing the Hebrews, Pharaoh had a change of heart and chased after them, breaking his promise to let the Hebrews go. The Egyptians chased the

Photo by Barrie Cohn

Art Link explains why Gabriel Weiss won the essay contest.

Hebrews into the Reed Sea, but the Hebrews made it safely to the other side of the water.

When the sea began closing back in on the Egyptians, the angels began to sing for joy, due to G-d saving the Hebrews from the evil pagan Egyptians. G-d heard the songs and responded by saying, “How dare you sing for joy when My creatures are dying!” This shows that all human lives matter.

As Jews, we are taught to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Rabbi Akiva described this as the essence of Torah. Similarly, Rabbi Hillel explained, “What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah, the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.” These are ancient concepts, yet still applicable today.

There are some famous examples from the last 50 years of people working to make these concepts a reality in our world. One widely known advocate of human rights and equality was Martin Luther King Jr. Until he, and others like him, became the leading voices for equal rights for people of color, there was not the level of equality that we have today.

Prior to the civil rights movement of the 1950s/1960s, everything was separated based upon race. There were separate restaurants, schools, water fountains and bathrooms for “coloreds,” just because they looked different. Civil rights leaders made their point and were successful in promoting new laws to prevent discrimination. It was their fight to remind society that we are all created equal that helped make America what it is today. This struggle for equality and decency is, however, not completely over. It is still a work in progress to have completely equal rights for ev-

eryone and for people to truly “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Even though there are now laws that prevent obvious racism, discrimination still exists in other forms.

Recently, new groups have arisen to bring attention to racial injustice. Organizations such as Black Lives Matter are sending the message that different groups are equal, that they should be treated with the same respect, and that their lives matter just as much as everyone else’s. In other words, society is once again being reminded of the simple words of Torah, that all people are created equal and that we should treat each other how we want to be treated.

It is odd that after all these years, racism still exists, and humanity has not learned, or chooses not to follow, the simple lessons of Torah. Perhaps the reason is because people seem to fear the unknown, or things that are different from what they are used to.

Maybe it is difficult for some people to understand that these fears of people who may look slightly different are not necessary.

Until everyone can focus on each other’s similarities, instead of only seeing people’s differences, it may be difficult to completely erase all forms of racism. It may be difficult, but I believe that we are capable of eradicating racism and finally having equal rights for everyone, both under the law and in actual practice. Each of us must remember that we are all created in the image of G-d, that nobody is better than anyone else, and that we should treat each other with the same dignity and respect that we want for ourselves.

In conclusion, when Washington said that our nation “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” he meant that there is no place for disrespect, racism and inequality in our country. A nation in which every citizen will be viewed as simply an American, and judged based upon their merit and not their appearance, is what George Washington, the founders of our nation and Martin Luther King Jr. all hoped for our future. This is what I hope for too. This is the way that I will live, and this is the message that I will give to others in order to make our country a better place for everyone. ■ Gabriel Weiss, 14, is an eighth-grader at Atlanta Jewish Academy.

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EDUCATION

Photos by Barrie Cohn

Art Link presents an Enlighten America certificate of achievement to essay contest winner Gabe Weiss.

B’nai B’rith lodge President Karen Kahn Weinberg covers the 164-year history and many programs of the organization, which operates in 59 nations.

The Weiss family poses for photos after the assembly, during which Gabe Weiss’ parents surprised him.

Anna Lefkoff is the AJA teacher who supported Gabe Weiss’ essay entry.

AJA Eighth-Grader Wins B’nai B’rith Contest B’nai B’rith, and a second book on Jewish life from the bookstore And Thou Shalt Read.

Art Link, who ran the contest, and lodge President Karen Kahn Weinberg made the announcement and the presentation. B’nai B’rith also recognized the role teacher Anna Lefkoff played in inspiring Gabe’s essay.

B’nai B’rith International launched the Enlighten America contest in response to school shootings and other violence sparked by racial and religious hatred.

“B’nai B’rith started this program … to encourage respect for the people around them and respect for the individual differences in different people,” Link said.

The 2016 Atlanta-area contest, which was open to all seventh- and eighth-graders in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett and Hall counties and had an entry deadline of Oct. 31, focused on the letter President George Washington wrote to Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., in 1790.

That’s the letter in which Washington speaks of a government that “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” Students were asked to apply Washington’s message of tolerance and equality to bigotry and prejudice today.

Gabe’s winning essay references the Declaration of Independence, the Talmud, the Torah and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech while commenting on enduring bigotry and innovations such as the Black Lives Matter movement. ■

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Eighth-grader Gabriel Weiss got a surprise when the students at Atlanta Jewish Academy’s Sandy Springs campus gathered for their Friday endof-week assembly Feb. 17: He was announced as the winner of B’nai B’rith’s 2016 Enlighten America essay contest.

The 14-year-old son of former AJT owner Cliff Weiss of East Cobb received a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card and certificate of achievement, while the AJA library was given a reference book on anti-Semitism by the contest organizer, the Achim/Gate City Lodge of

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www.atlantajewishtimes.com

BUSINESS

Co-Founder Buys Fuego

Train, Train, Train

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

Many people and organizations put more effort into the purchase, initial familiarization and upkeep of a car than the hiring, onboarding and training of an employee.

When you buy a car, you research reliability. You compare prices. Finally, you pick the car that fits you best. You make your purchase, and you drive home. Then you stay up all night reading the 1,000-page owner’s manual so you and your new car are in alignment.

You can now drive this beauty with relative ease.

It’s all very exciting.

After going through all that, how could you not do regular maintenance on your new baby? You do the standard carwashes, oil changes and tire rotations. As the years go by, you perform checkups at 30,000 miles, 45,000 miles, 60,000 miles and beyond. You’re doing anything and everything to keep your car running smoothly and problem-free.

As an employer, what training do you give your employees to keep them engaged and effective? How can you expect an employee to give you consistently excellent results for years without continual training?

After those all-important first 90 days of employment, it is imperative to keep employees engaged with four types of training for their skills, knowledge, loyalty and growth: • Company-specific training.

• Job-specific training.

• Industry-specific training.

• Personal and career development training.

Open lines of communication are essential for company-specific training.

When employees are aligned with your company’s vision, mission and goals, they become engaged and loyal. The key is to communicate and reinforce those areas with constant reminders, company outings and visual aids.

Every email, meeting or training is an opportunity to calibrate the alignment process. If your company is growing and changing, making sure your employees are growing and changing at the same pace can make or break an organization.

Fostering loyalty this way is huge.

Sadly, this type of training is usually an afterthought.

Job-specific training is easy, and most businesses do it because they see an immediate impact. These are typically skills-building areas.

Sales people are given sales training. Office staff is sent to organization

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Atlanta’s only full-service, sitdown, kosher-certified restaurant is under new but familiar ownership: Udi Hershkovitz, who co-founded the establishment, has purchased FuegoMundo from his ex-wife, Masha Hleap.

Hershkovitz said he plans to keep the restaurant’s kosher South American fare as it is.

“I brought myself back here to provide the service, quality, consistency and professionalism that people are used to at FuegoMundo,” Hershkovitz said. “Udi’s back, meaning people are going to see what they’re used to.”

The restaurant opened in 2009 as kosher-style and has been under Atlanta Kosher Commission supervision since 2011. Sales have risen 30 percent since the restaurant went fully kosher.

FuegoMundo was listed for sale in early December. The listing reported 2015 gross sales of $1,078,517 with a net profit of $216,775 after all expenses.

Hleap, the Colombian-born former owner and executive chef of FuegoMundo, said in December that

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she was intent on finding a buyer who would keep the restaurant’s concept intact. She said she planned to move to Jacksonville, Fla., after the sale.

“I made the restaurant kosher five years ago,” she said. “Now I’ve become kosher, and I observe Shabbat, so I’d like to keep it that way.”

When Hershkovitz and Hleap were partners, he ran the day-to-day operations, and she oversaw the kitchen and menu.

He said he plans to keep the menu intact except for a few minor changes.

“The menu, we can give the credit to Masha,” he said. “She’s not a trained chef, but she’s a very good cook, and she grew up with these recipes. We have to give the credit to her for the original recipes.”

In his time away from FuegoMundo, Hershkovitz and Pita Grille founder Dikla Birnbaum opened Marrakesh at Ponce City Market, a Moroccan/Middle Eastern concept serving shawarma, falafel and other Mediterranean fare.

Hershkovitz now owns the FuegoMundo name and said he has plans to expand the concept. ■

workshops and computer software skills classes. Technicians are trained to do their jobs at a high level. Customer service people are given the right scripts to help with customers.

This is a base level of training, offered even by mediocre organizations.

Industry-specific training is selfexplanatory. Keeping employees up to date with industry changes will help to

Coach’s Corner

By Jason Adler JasonAdler@johnmaxwellgroup.com

make the company an industry leader.

There are many fairs and expositions to attend, as well as technology-changing seminars. This training can be looked at as knowledge base training.

Again, a high percentage of companies help employees this way.

The most important training is personal and career development, the core of a people-first organization.

When you take care of the development of your employees, you show you value them for who they are as people and not just for the work they can do.

Career development shows you care about their future as well as your own.

Get them coaching, or allow them to spend valuable work time on becoming better people. Provide a budget for them to buy books, or establish an inhouse library for them to read during the workday. Bring in experts to help people become the best they can be.

Remember, the better you take care of your employees, the better they will take care of your customers. Only the best organizations take this step.

If business owners, executives and leaders want the best organizations, they should adopt a model proven over time. The most successful companies follow a similar pattern — the pattern discussed in the first article in this series. These companies take excellent care of their employees with the model and mindset of people first.

The simple but not easy steps to achieve this are to hire correctly, onboard completely and train continually.

If you can’t do all that, think about buying a new car.

Next up: Millennials vs. boomers in the workplace. ■ Jason Adler is a John Maxwell-certified executive coach (johncmaxwellgroup. com/jasonadler) helping people and organizations hire and keep quality employees.

BUSINESS Ray’s Rio Bravo, which opened to great excitement in Sandy Springs in August 2015, shut down Feb. 15.

Part of Jewish restaurateur Ray Schoenbaum’s local restaurant kingdom, Ray’s Rio Bravo represented the rebirth of a successful regional Mexican chain that Schoenbaum started in 1984 and sold in 1995. But the new restaurant suffered from inconsistencies in food and service, and many nights the huge parking lot was mostly empty.

“We are incredibly appreciative of the support of our guests and the hard work of our staff. We hope to see you at our other restaurants, including Ray’s in the City, Ray’s on the River and Ray’s at Killer Creek,” reads a message at www.raysriobravo.com. “We are excited to continue to offer our fresh & fun catering menu, so please contact us at Ray’s on the River for information. Additionally, the restaurant will be available as a venue for any private events!”

Broadway for Sale Broadway Cafe in Toco Hills is for sale for $195,000, according to a listing with restaurant real estate broker the Schumacher Group. The listing says the kosher dairy restaurant grossed

$450,000 in 2015 and $550,000 in 2016, with a profit of $100,000 each year.

A buyer would have the option to continue with bagels and pizzas under Atlanta Kosher Commission supervision or to convert to almost anything except Thai, Mexican or sushi, so Broadway’s kosher future is not assured.

Rosenberg Honored

Morgan Stanley has named Mark Rosenberg, a managing director and financial adviser in its Wealth Management office, to the Chairman’s Club, an elite group composed of the firm’s top financial advisers. The honor recognizes Rosenberg’s creativity and excellence in providing investment products and wealth management services.

Rosenberg, who has been with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management since 2011, is a Temple Sinai member and Atlanta native, where he lives with his wife, Ruth. Their children, Cory, Mollie and Sydney, are Davis Academy alumni and still live in the area.

Rosenberg is a longtime board memMark Rosenberg ber of Davis and of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, for which he led the 2013 campaign.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Rio Bravo Closes

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BUSINESS

Atlanta Is Booming For India and Israel

By Patrice Worthy The Indian-Jewish relationship goes back more than 2,500 years. When Jews were being persecuted all over the world, many turned to India for refuge.

In modern society, technology has strengthened the relationship.

The Indian Professionals Network, ACCESS Atlanta and American Jewish Committee Atlanta held a dinner and discussion Thursday, Feb. 16, to celebrate those ancient ties and 25 years of modern diplomatic relations between Israel and India.

The panel, moderated by Matt Pearl of WXIA-TV, included Conexx President Guy Tessler, Indian Consul General Nagesh Singh and Atlanta City Council member Kwanza Hall. The panelists discussed the business contributions both communities have made to the city of Atlanta.

In 2016, Atlanta launched Atlanta Tech Gateway to Americas, an export portal. The initiative helps international companies navigate Atlanta’s business sector. The first two countries chosen for the program were India and Israel.

Israelis and Indians are leaders in rapid investment in innovation, Hall said. “Both communities embrace entrepreneurship, and Atlanta is the new startup hub that sprung up, and both communities have helped put us on the map.”

Tessler said the two countries have much to offer and receive from Atlanta’s startup culture. He said Atlanta’s strength lies in persuading companies to move to the South. “The fact that they chose Israel and India as the low-hanging fruit where success is imminent says a lot about how the region perceives these two countries,” said Tessler, whose organization, Conexx, builds business relations between American and Israeli companies.

Israel is the No. 1 country for startups per capita, and India is No. 3. India has the fastest-growing economy in the world, overtaking China.

Israel’s production is on the rise, driving a need to export and, Singh said, creating the perfect environment for a business relationship.

“Israel can only prosper if they export 70 percent of their products. We have a booming economy,” Singh said.

“Israel has contributed to India’s defense sector and agriculture. Israel has also set up production for dairy farms

and water treatment that benefit the Indian economy.”

Tessler connected Israel’s technological advances to the necessities of survival. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Israel experienced an influx of Russian Jews equal to the Jewish population of France in just over three years. In response, Israel leveraged the intellectual property of doctors, scientists and researchers who were eager to solve the population boom.

“People from this community visited Israel and saw what was happening, and they figured out, if we could find outlets for Israeli companies and enterprises, we would flourish,” Tessler said.

Whether it’s the financial sector or IT companies, there are strong connections between Israel and India, Singh said. People from both countries have launched businesses in Atlanta, and now they are focused on creating a bigger footprint in the city and the South.

“It’s the perfect market because there are multifaceted linkages in terms of finding markets in India or importing resources,” Singh said.

“What we want to see now in our city is a similar kind of progress where Indian-American communities can contribute more to the city of Atlanta socially, economically and politically — and how these two communities can work together.”

Hall said Atlanta’s unique business environment, with its concentration of Fortune 500 companies, provides resources that startups can’t easily harness in places such as Silicon Valley and New York.

“People come here and feel welcome and see someone who looks like them and land their first Fortune 500 client like Coca-Cola,” Hall said. “Moving forward, we should model that ecosystem.”

Atlanta-area startups have created a cooperative culture that leads to stronger collaboration, Tessler said.

Amid competition, there is an underlying cohesiveness that makes the Atlanta business environment special.

“We all know we need to work together because we know we don’t have the amount of investment money of Silicon Valley or the allure of New York,” Tessler said. “So we need to prove ourselves. If we do it by ourselves, we’ll not be able to succeed, and that’s why there’s a need and mentality of cooperation.” ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

LOCAL NEWS

Ga. Refugee Resettlement Program Forced to Adapt An invitation to speak to a Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta crowd Friday morning, Feb. 17, provided J.D. McCrary an opportunity to clear up confusion about U.S. refugee resettlement in light of President Donald Trump’s efforts to limit the program.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there, and I want to make sure people are informed,” McCrary, the executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta, said during Federation’s program, held with the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies, on the status of the resettlement program.

The event was held three weeks after President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13769, stopping entry to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim nations (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) for 90 days, halting the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days, barring Syrian refugees indefinitely, and cutting the cap on refugee admissions per fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000.

Restraining orders, most recently upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 9, have prevented the enforcement of most of the order.

But Trump was preparing a modified version with the focus on the same seven countries but without the indefinite ban on Syrians and with clear protections for those with green cards, dual citizenship and existing visas.

The court actions did not stop the cut in annual refugee admissions.

Trump’s order restored the cap that was in place until President Barack Obama raised it a couple of years ago.

Because of the higher limit, 35,000 refugees were accepted before Trump’s order in fiscal 2017, so only 15,000 more may be admitted until Oct. 1.

Refugee resettlement had sustained bipartisan support since President Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act in 1980. The Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies defines refugees as people who are fleeing their homeland because of persecution.

All refugees seeking to enter the United States undergo a strenuous examination that takes 18 months to two years, including fingerprinting, inperson interviews, and scrutiny from agencies such as the Departments of Homeland Security and State.

Europe does not have such a vetting process, so its problems are different in dealing with an influx of more

than 1 million refugees from the Middle East, McCrary said.

Georgia, which is one of the 10 largest states, resettles 2,000 to 3,000 refugees every year, the nation’s ninthhighest total, meaning the state accepts refugees in proportion to its size, according to CRSA. The total will be lower under the Trump executive order.

Per CRSA, Georgia does not fund any programs specifically for refugees.

The state serves as a pass-through for federal dollars, and all refugee money in Georgia’s state budget comes from the federal government.

Refugees may apply for permanent residency (green card) one year af-

ter arrival. They are eligible to become citizens four years later. The United States resettles those it deems most vulnerable and provides them shelter, transportation, and a durable solution, which may entail a job and new skills.

“We must trust the vetting process and leave it up to U.S. government officials and agencies,” McCrary said.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provides referrals to families and selects communities that can support refugees.

DeKalb County will feel the most immediate economic impact from the reduction in refugees, McCrary said.

Occupancy rates in apartments will de-

crease, fewer visits will be made to grocery stores, and anxiety will increase among refugees separated from their families or awaiting their green cards.

Multiple agencies under CRSA offer services for citizenship, including civic education and tutoring. McCrary said his agency has helped over 470 people become citizens and assisted 5,000 new Americans to register to vote. “We want to ensure that Georgia and the country remain welcoming to those seeking to enter the country. It is the core of our foundation as a nation of immigrants, and we want to ensure the Southern hospitality Georgia is known for holds true.” ■

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

By Sarah Moosazadeh sarah@atljewishtimes.com

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HOME

Designer Curates Her Home Collection

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Atlantan Amy Spanier is known for her interior design work and art consultancy. After establishing SNOB (Slightly North of Buckhead) in 1991, she scours warehouses, antique shops, the Merchandise Mart and wholesalers, buys direct from artists, and outbids at auctions to acquire just the right pieces for her clients.

Spanier recently gutted and redesigned a 1929 Georgian house in Morningside with details down to the antique pavers.

Another 12,000-square-foot house she designed in eight layers, starting with gutting the interior and finishing with flourishes of art and accessories.

Spanier is the daughter of Jack and Harriet Spanier. Jack is one of the founding doctors of Northside Hospital and, in a renowned 50-plus-year career as an OB/GYN, has delivered close to 13,000 Atlanta babies. Harriet is well known for her career in fashion.

At the first glance into Spanier’s Brookhaven home, she said, “I’m forever a collector and have bought and sold over a lifetime to build the collection in my house, my cave, where I come to be still. I live with what I love.”

Spanier is not finished. In her hunt for fabulous objects for clients, she occasionally comes across something that has to come home, especially when it is art.

About the role of art in designing interiors, she said: “No project is complete until the art is installed. It may come first, and we design around it, or art can be the finish that pulls everything together. For me, design is about curating to the client’s vision and taking it sufficiently further to completely delight them.”

Since 2014, Spanier has progressively reinvented the interiors of the Galloway School in Chastain Park around the principles of Third Teacher design.

“Galloway was the place that invented me. I was one of the first graduates, and it was an honor to be commissioned to de-beige it,” she said.

“Today, the school sings with color and shapes that engage the students.

There’s only a speck of institutional beige left, but I’m not done yet.”

Spanier’s latest venture converges two of her passions: design and art.

IDEA is an unconventional gallery in one of Atlanta’s hottest areas, down30 town Chamblee. IDEA is a living,

breathing exhibit space, hung salon style, with curated works by brilliant artists who are flying under the radar.

Jaffe: How would you describe what you are most fond of in your own home?

Spanier: Exceptional Old Paris porcelain, circa 1700 through late 1800s, ornate and hand-painted. My collection of inkwells is from all over the world. They represent the inkwell

Chai-Style Homes

By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

A

evolution. I especially like traveling inkwells, for someone who might have been adventuring across the world by ship or train.

Jaffe: How would you describe your dining room?

Spanier: The Danish parquetry china cabinet is from a local auction.

The hand-painted Chinoiserie dining room table was custom-made in 1996

by Edith and Anna Cesar at ADAC West. This delicate Hungarian basket was carried by children in wedding processions.

I adore my two French mirrors: one shell-shaped from the 17th century and the other from Parc Monceau at the Galleries of Peachtree Hills.

This collection of 18th century prints depicts tools, jewelry and armor from the Roman Empire.

Jaffe: Who are some of the artists you collect at home?

Spanier: I have a number of Tom Everhart lithographs, the only artist legally allowed to reproduce Charles Schulz. Daphne Covington is a favorite, along with Jean Becette. The living room is overlooked by the gigantic Robert Jessup oil “Bueno Dias, Senor Cuervo.” The sculpture in my mirrored niche is by Przemyslaw Kordys, an IDEA artist. Upstairs you’ll see works

by Jean Becette, known for mixed-media works on paper. I love my Victor Vasarely. Sometimes the frames are as important as the art. In my foyer is a pair of watercolors with frames by William Mailes Power, a carver, gilder and fashioner to the British royal family.

Jaffe: Share your vision of Cham-

B blee and the new gallery you have opened.

Spanier: The gallery, which I cofounded with Peter Dyer, an art entrepreneur, is called IDEA for Innovate, Design, Exhibit Art. We exhibit exceptional local works in many different media. IDEA currently represents 20 artists, and, as word of mouth spreads, so we are attracting a bigger following.

Through our nonprofit IDEAChamblee, we are working on a series of city-driven community projects. We were recently featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle for helping make Chamblee a go-to art destination. IDEA hosted a competition to design the Peachtree Road Gateway Mural. With the city and MARTA’s collaboration, mural artist Michael Jones was chosen and is painting as we speak. Chamblee will be the next intown adventure for Atlantans.

of their surplus school furniture to the Cumberland Academy and to the Atlanta Furniture Bank. Through the Furniture Bank, over the years I have furnished many residences, through donation, for families moving out of homelessness and fleeing domestic violence.

Jaffe: What is your charitable involvement in giving back to the community?

Spanier: In redesigning the Galloway School, I coordinated a gift

Jaffe: You have the last word as the designer.

Spanier: It’s fun to collect from all around the world, but Atlanta has the best of everything. It’s all right here. ■

Jaffe: What are some of the most unusual things you have?

Spanier: A four-paneled screen of Victorian-era famous leaders in decoupage; a life-sized birdhouse in the kitchen. I treasure my grandpa Louie Spanier’s metal mixing bowls and tools. He was a baker and sold restaurant equipment. I have antique posters from Belgium and Staffordshire elephants. I bought a vibrant aquarium sculpture from the Art Show at the Breman Jewish Home. It’s all pretty eclectic.

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HOME

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E

F

G

C

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J I

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Photos by Duane Stork

A: Amy Spanier’s master bath is an eclectic mix of 1926 carved carousel panels from upstate New York. The painting on the left is “Peep Eye,” by Daphne Covington.

B: The guest bathroom displays a set of four vintage posters from the Greyhound Bus Co. and wallpaper made of roofing material.

C: Amy Spanier’s dining room includes a Danish parquetry china cabinet and a handpainted, Chinoiserie dining table by Edith and Anna Cesar. Accessories include a Hungarian wedding basket and 17th century French mirrors. The long view into the kitchen peaks through “Martini Girl” by Daphne Covington.

D: The mirrored hallway niche displays a sculpture by Przemyslaw Kordys (aka “PK,” who is represented at the IDEA Gallery) and elegant Old Paris porcelain.

E: The upstairs hall has a pair of fieryred works by Jean Becette.

F: The living room fireplace boasts an encaustic, wax-layered painting by Tony Hernandez, contrasted by a scarlet pomegranate from Israel.

G: The entrance includes antique resort posters from Belgium and France above a pair of Staffordshire elephants. The chandelier is French 19th century.

H: The upstairs sitting room houses a white, 19th century French day bed. The art includes Mateo Manaure and Jean Becette, as well as French dog cartoons above an early English chest.

I: Amy Spanier poses in front of her splendidly arranged bookshelves, featuring her inkwell collection and Old Paris porcelain. High above is an original oil by Robert Jessup, “Buenos Dias, Senor Cuervo.” The triangular mixed-media piece is by Jean Becette.

J: The inkwells come from around the world.

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ARTS

‘Fanny,’ ‘Aida’ Lead AJFF Jury Awards A feature about children fleeing the Nazis and a documentary about brothers born and separated in the postwar chaos of a displaced-persons camp led the winners of the first jury prizes awarded by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

The chair of the jury, movie producer Arik Sokol, announced the winners of the six prizes before the screening of “The Women’s Balcony” at the festival’s closing night at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Symphony Hall.

The jury named “Fanny’s Journey” the best narrative out of the six films in competition for the award. The French film, based on an autobiographical novel by Fanny Ben-Ami, tells the story of a group of children trying to escape through the countryside to Switzerland during World War II. It topped “Beyond the Mountains and the Hills,” “Paradise,” “Past Life,” “Riphagen: The Untouchable” and “Zacma: Blindness.”

The jury for narrative and documentary features, composed of Sokol, the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Eleanor Ringel-Cater, Tablet’s Yair Rosenberg, and Emory film students Samantha Ann Hughes and Conor Makowski,

found “Fanny’s Journey” to be a “moving, beautifully realized story.”

“Compellingly acted by young leads and elegantly directed by Lola Doillon, ‘Fanny’s Journey’ adeptly balances the brightness of the human spirit with the darkness of its depravity,” the jury said.

While the narrative prize went to the most uplifting of the films in competition, the same can’t be said about the winner for the documentary prize, “Aida’s Secrets,” in which brothers raised in Canada and Israel without knowing the other existed find each other and piece together their mother’s past. Directed by Alon and Shaul Schwarz, the nephews of one of the featured brothers, “Aida’s Secrets” beat “Big Sonia,” “Keep Quiet,” “Mother With a Gun,” “On the Map” and “The Settlers.”

“Both historical and deeply personal, ‘Aida’s Secrets’ is a powerful human tale about the meaning of family,” the jury said.

Director Dori Berinstein’s “The Last Blintz,” a half-hour documentary about the closing of Broadway’s Cafe Edison, was named the best short over

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

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“Fanny’s Journey” is the favorite of the jury and the audiences among the narrative features at the 2017 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

eight other competitors, including Oscar nominee “Joe’s Violin.”

“It is no easy feat to juggle themes such as gentrification, Jewish history, community activism and personal loss within the confines of a half-hour. But that’s exactly what this film does, using the setting of an old New York establishment to explore the way memories come to define iconic locations to the point where change seems unthinkable — and then arrives, no matter how much resistance there is to stop it,” said the shorts jury, composed of Indiewire’s Eric Kohn, the BronzeLens Film Festival’s Deidre McDonald and Emory film student Claire Barnes.

The Emerging Filmmakers Prize, judged by Israeli filmmaker Nitzan Gilady, Peabody Awards Associate Director Nathaniel Kohn and Emory film student Emily Schloss and given to a director for showing great talent early in his or her career, went to Israeli Eran Kolirin for the family drama “Beyond the Mountains and Hills.”

The film “shows us an Israeli family in the throes of various crises that intersect in surprising and illuminating ways, giving us new insights into the contemporary Israeli landscape,” the jury said. “The director seamlessly interweaves realistic and poetic imagery to create a cinematic picture of life at the edge of change.”

“The 90 Minute War,” Eyal Halfon’s satire about settling the IsraeliPalestinian conflict with a soccer match, won the Building Bridges Prize, presented by a jury of film journalist Bradley Jacobs, American Jewish Committee’s Melanie Maron and Emory

film student Leila Yavari to a movie that exemplifies the festival’s mission.

“Through its realistic characters and complex parallel narratives, the film illustrates — with occasional humor and nuanced wit — that anything besides compromise in this conflict would be absurd,” the jury said.

Drawing the loudest spontaneous applause of the night was the announcement that “The Freedom to Marry” won the Human Rights Prize, judged by Emory University’s Deborah Lipstadt, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights’ Edith Love and Emory film student Sara Grasberg. Eddie Rosenstein’s documentary follows lawyer Evan Wolfson in his successful legal battle for same-sex marriage.

The jury awards were added to the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival this year.

Of the 55 features and 20 shorts shown during the 23-day festival, 37 films were in competition for one or more prize.

The separate audience awards, based on the ballots submitted after each screening, were announced Feb. 16 so the votes from closing night could be counted.

“Fanny’s Journey” again was triumphant among narrative features, while “The Freedom to Marry” was the audience favorite among documentary features.

For the shorts, the AJFF audiences agreed with the Oscar voters and gave the nod to “Joe’s Violin.”

The audience award winners are among the films that will be shown during a day of encore presentations Sunday, March 5. The others will be announced soon. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ARTS

Farewell to a Smashing Film Season On the other hand, Bunny and Charles Rosenberg said they attended about a dozen movies and think that this year’s festival surpassed last year in quality.

Their favorites were “Aida’s Secret” and “Riphagen: The Untouchable.” But “we thought opening night, ‘Alone in Berlin,’ was poorly placed.”

Eric Miller made an impact-

Photos by Marcia Caller Jaffe

Larry and Rhoda Weber say they found “The Women’s Balcony” to be a lighthearted finale.

Jaffe’s Jewish Jive

By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

ful statement about the role of the festival. “The AJFF is all about meeting the filmmakers, actors and directors close up in this intimate setting. My individual favorite was ‘The Freedom to Marry,’ based on a 32-year study and Harvard research about the marriage equality movement. It was a stunning, groundbreaking conversation.”

Overall, I thought the festival was weak on the bookends (opening and closing nights) but bejeweled and fascinating in the middle. My two surprise treasures were “Ben Gurion, Epilogue” and “Bang! The Bert Berns Story.”

Being from a small town, I couldn’t sleep after seeing “There Are Jews Here.” “The Green Park” made me nostalgic for New York’s Concord and Grossinger’s-type resorts, where we ate six meals a day, saw Alan King and Peter Allen, and mingled with a minkclad crowd.

Now to Netflix to ascertain how to see the many films we couldn’t jam into our schedules during the festival’s 23 days.

Arik Sokol, who chaired the festival’s first awards jury, said the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival tops Chanukah because its miracle lasts for 23 nights, not just eight.

Watch for a day of encore screenings of the festival’s biggest hits Sunday, March 5, at Georgia Theatre Co.’s Merchants Walk Cinemas in East Cobb. ■

(From left) Eric Miller, Wayne Miller, Lori Miller, Gerry Panovka and Tamar Stern give thumbs up to “The Women’s Balcony.”

After the screening, the crowd rushes to the dessert tables to enjoy creations from Icing Cake Design & Sweets Boutique.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

The final night of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival on Wednesday, Feb. 15, packed the house with the only showing of the Israeli, subtitled, rousing feminist narrative “The Women’s Balcony.”

Closing night at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Symphony Hall drew 1,500 people, 100 more than attended the finale in 2016. Overall, festival attendance totaled about 37,500, an increase of 1,500 from the previous year and second in festival history to the 38,631 who attended the 2015 festival. (The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which reported drawing more than 40,000 last summer, has regained the unofficial title of the world’s largest Jewish film festival.)

AJFF Chair Spring Asher credited this year’s festival with expansion through more access. She likened the festival to a community gathering place — “like a bar and grill without the booze” — and referred to a statement by author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who recently said that our most valuable and current themes are living the Golden Rule and maintaining a strong sense of community.

“The Women’s Balcony” was by no means a home run. Some said it was too long and predictable and only mildly entertaining.

“I enjoyed ‘The Women’s Balcony’ because it was a delightful Israeli comedy that didn’t take itself too seriously,” avid moviegoer and frequent usher Sandy Bailey said. “An important part of the scenery is the food that is served for any and every occasion.

The actresses are all excellent, as they showed the community how strong and determined they were.”

Rhoda Weber said she was happy that the festival ended on a lighthearted note.

About the festival overall, Shelley Kaplan said: “I wasn’t wild about this year’s selections. Usually they are all fabulous. Many were questionable as to the Jewish content. My favorite was ‘Keep Quiet.’ ”

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LOCAL NEWS

Etz Chaim Installs Dorsch as Senior Rabbi

By Heather Blake

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Rabbi Daniel Dorsch was installed as the senior rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim on Saturday night, Feb. 11, with the theme of “Grow Into the Future” connecting the holiday of Tu B’Shevat that weekend and the synagogue’s name, which means Tree of Life.

Rabbi Shalom Lewis had been the only senior rabbi in the congregation’s 40-plus years.

The celebration began with Havdalah, led by Rabbi Dorsch, the rabbinic search committee and Etz Chaim Program Director Heather Blake. The service separates Shabbat from the new week and symbolically marked the transition from Rabbi Lewis to Rabbi Dorsch.

Margo Gold, an Ahavath Achim Synagogue member who is in her second term as the international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, serves with Rabbi Dorsch on the board of Mercaz, the Conservative movement’s Zionist organization.

She said she was excited by Rabbi Dorsch’s hiring at Etz Chaim. “I am often asked what the future may look

34

like for Conservative Judaism and our congregations. I think it will look a lot like Rabbi Dorsch: dynamic, authentic, smart, engaged, inspired, inspiring, and a role model for living one’s Jewish values through tradition, Torah, study, prayer and mitzvot.”

Etz Chaim Executive Director Bob Bachrach, who joined fellow past President Scott Rittenberg as the masters of ceremony, introduced Rabbi Lewis for the installation.

“Rabbi Lewis must be credited as our guiding light over these past 40 years,” Bachrach said. “When engaging a new senior rabbi, it was not about a replacement for Rabbi Lewis, but identifying a rabbi that would appreciate, understand and embrace the values and culture unique to Etz Chaim and who could cultivate and nurture our growth going forward. Rabbi Dorsch was not only a good choice, but without a doubt the right choice to be our new spiritual leader.”

Rabbi Lewis said the ceremony was bittersweet for him, but he expressed full confidence in Rabbi Dorsch after a seamless transition full of genuine respect and admiration for each other.

Rabbi Shalom Lewis performs the formal installation of his successor, Rabbi Daniel Dorsch.

Rabbi Daniel Dorsch (right) joins Heather Blake (left) and the rabbinic search committee in leading Havdalah at the start of the installation celebration Feb. 11.

Etz Chaim President Todd Surden and past President Scott Rittenberg president the congregation’s gift of a Tree of Life painting to Rabbi Daniel Dorsch.

Etz Chaim Senior Rabbi Daniel Dorsch gets a ceremonial lift from congregants.

Rabbi Dorsch “is a man of talent,” Rabbi Lewis said. “He is a man who is skilled deeply. He is a man of decency.

He is a man of Torah. He is a man of energy. He is a man of youth, and, most importantly, he is a consummate mensch, a wonderful soul with a wonderful heart.”

He said he and Rabbi Dorsch had an instant connection, starting with a hug when they met.

“In these last eight months, I have seen a marvelous human being function in a marvelous way with this congregation, with the community and with me personally,” Rabbi Lewis said.

“And so for me, it is a glorious honor to be able to officially install Rabbi Dorsch.”

After the prayers of the installation, Rabbi Lewis presented Rabbi Dorsch a painting of a rabbi deep in thought in front of an open Torah — a painting Congregation Etz Chaim gave him almost 40 years ago. Rabbi Lewis said he passed the painting on to Rabbi Dorsch in the hope that it will give him the same feeling of joy and love for the congregation that he felt every time he looked at it.

“What I see is Etz Chaim, a Tree of Life,” Rabbi Dorsch said of his new congregation. “I see caring, committed, unique individuals, with branches that go out in so many different directions.

But I also see that which unites us, and that is our roots and our enduring melody. Our roots are our das pintele Yid, that enduring Jewish spark that we plant here for our future as we begin our journey this evening. Tonight is a celebration of all of you, the branches

of our Etz Chaim family tree, and the roots you will plant here with me.”

The installation weekend, which began Friday morning when the preschool welcomed the congregation to an open house with Rabbi Dorsch, concluded Sunday morning with an actual tree planting in the Etz Chaim Tu B’Shevat grove, followed by Rabbi Dorsch’s celebration with the religious school.

On Saturday morning, during Sisterhood Shabbat, the symbolic torch was passed when Rabbi Lewis took the Torah from the ark and handed it to Rabbi Dorsch.

Synagogue President Todd Surden presented Rabbi Dorsch two gifts: a Tree of Life painting with thumb prints from Etz Chaim members as the leaves and a proclamation from Gov. Nathan Deal welcoming Rabbi Dorsch to the greater Atlanta community.

About the installation weekend, Rabbi Dorsch said: “It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase to our synagogue and to our broader community many of the exciting things that have been taking place at Etz Chaim. As the community has continued to embrace my family so warmly, I remain deeply gratified that we also continue to embrace many other new faces into our synagogue family as we grow into our future.”

Rabbi Lewis said: “The sign of an enduring institution is when it can go seamlessly and joyfully from one generation to the next. When transitions are smooth, energetic and respectful, that is all that is needed to ensure a great and glorious future.” ■

OBITUARIES

Jacqueline Cohen 87, Atlanta

Jacqueline Cohen, 87, a native of Atlanta, passed away peacefully Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Born Sept. 22, 1929, to Sarah and Sol Cohen, both of blessed memory, she was a talented artist who excelled in painting. Jacqueline is survived by her sister, Lorraine Kroll; a niece, Julie Kroll; and nephews Scott (Preeti) and Keith (Audrey) Kroll.

Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Graveside services were held Monday, Feb. 20, at Crest Lawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Esther Jacobs 93, Atlanta

Esther Forman Jacobs, loving wife, mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully Monday, Feb. 13, at the William Breman Jewish Home in Atlanta at age 93.

The daughter of immigrant parents, Sam and Libby Forman, she grew up on Ninth and Meinecke in the old Jewish neighborhood of Milwaukee, along with two siblings, Sol (z”l) and Faye. Esther graduated from North Division High School and Marquette University, where she was a member of the Jewish sorority.

She spent two summers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and among her favorite places in the world was the outdoor patio at the Student Union there.

During World War II she worked in an armaments factory.

She met her husband, Albert Jacobs, at a Jewish singles event in Chicago, and they married in the summer of 1951. They moved to Glendale, Wis., in the summer of 1961, and there they were longtime members of Congregation Beth Israel. She was also a member of ORT and Hadassah before moving to Atlanta in 2002.

She is survived by her daughters, Lynn (Robert) Harris of Chicago, Susan (Jonathan) Schaer of Atlanta and Sharon (Isaac) Seluk of Rishon LeZion, Israel; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. The family requests that donations be sent to Weinstein Hospice (www.weinsteinhospice.com), the William Breman Jewish Home (www.wbjh.org) and the National Stroke Foundation (www.stroke.org). Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Funeral services were held Wednesday, Feb. 15, at Goodman Benson Funeral Home in Milwaukee. Interment was at Beth Hamedrash Hagodel Cemetery in Milwaukee. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Rosellen Levin Rosellen Moltack Levin passed away Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, at the age of 79.

She was a native Atlantan and graduated from Grady High School. She was a mother to many more than her actual children and Gammy to even more. She owned and ran the Wonderful World of Children, a 24-hour learning center, with her husband, Robert Levin. She was a very determined woman, at the age of 13 asking her neighbor Robert Levin out for New Year’s on Oct. 1, ensuring that he couldn’t say he already had plans. Our father, being the gentleman he was, couldn’t say no even though he was dating another woman. So started one of the great romances ever. They married when Rosellen was 18.

She has three children, Arthur (Jo) Levin, Eryn Levin Bennett and Sheryl (Richard) Arno. She adored her grandchildren, Jake (Alyssa) Bennett, Bryan Bennett, Lauren Levin, Jackie Levin, Eliot Arno, Pearl Arno and Adam Arno, and her yet-to-be-born great-grandchild, Bennett. Rosellen lighted up every room she entered and would quickly become the center of attention, using her combination of wit and storytelling and her pension for no-holds-barred telling of the truth.

Her Friday dinners were legendary. You were invited only once, and from then on there was always a place for you at the table. She was a phenomenal basketball player, a lover of sports and a huge fan of anything her grandchildren were playing. She was a great baker, but most of all she perfected the challah.

Rosellen is survived by her sister, Dee Venzer. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to Weinstein Hospice, 3150 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30327. A memorial service was held Tuesday, Feb. 21, at Temple Sinai in Sandy Springs. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

79, Atlanta

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LOCAL NEWS Dinner and Training Planned for Chevra Kadisha

The annual communitywide Zayin Adar Seudah, the 7th of Adar gathering of the Chevra Kadisha marking the traditional yahrzeit of Moses, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 6, at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs.

It is the custom for all congregational Chevra Kadisha groups in Atlanta to gather for discussion and inspiration relevant to this chesed shel emes, act of ultimate kindness Chevra Kadisha members and their spouses are invited to attend the dairy buffet dinner, sponsored by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, H.M. Patterson & Son-Arlington Chapel and the local congregations.

RSVP to your Chevra Kadisha chair or to Fred Glusman at fredglus@ comcast.net.

If you want to get involved with Chevra Kadisha, a training session is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at Temple Emanu-El, 1580 Spalding Drive, Sandy Springs.

David Zinner, the executive director of the National Chevra Kadisha Society, will explain the history and importance of Chevra Kadisha. There will be a demonstration of tahara (ritual washing).

Anyone in the Jewish community who is 21 or older is welcome to attend.

RSVP to malberhasky@templeemanuelatlanta.com.

Teen Service Day Nears

Hundreds of Atlanta-area teens in sixth through 12th grades will work together on community service and improvement projects as part of J-Serve, an International Day of Jewish Youth Service, on Sunday, March 19, from 12:30 to 5 p.m.

J-Serve is expected to involve 11,000 Jewish teens in 90 communities across 20 countries. This is the 11th year for J-Serve, which encourages community building and connections across religious and societal lines.

Teens signing up through the Marcus Jewish Community Center can choose among 12 projects around Atlanta. Among the options: • Creating graffiti art murals and learning how to become a stronger advocate for Israel during the Israel Graffiti Project with Artists 4 Israel and StandWithUs. • Getting CPR training and certification with Georgia CPR. • Sorting medical supplies for shipment to developing countries at MedShare International.

• Caring for dogs at FurKids Ani-

mal Shelter & Rescue.

• Preparing care packages for people in need at the Packaged Good.

• Making matzah and matzah covers for Passover with residents of Berman Commons.

Teens on the J-Serve planning committee are organizing the projects.

“J-Serve is meaningful to me because I love participating in community service and being able to bring our community together while working with other teens,” said Sydney Rein, an 11th-grader at the Weber School and a J-Serve planning committee member.

“Being part of J-Serve has given me the opportunity to go behind the scenes and coordinate a day of service for hundreds of other students.”

Bus transportation will be provided between the J-Serve projects and the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Advanced registration is required at bit.ly/2lCcyA8. For more information, contact Amy HelmanDarley at 678-812-3978 or amy.helmandarley@atlantajcc.org.

Exhibit Approaches Close

Atlanta photographer and sculptor Steve Steinman’s exhibition “China: Tradition and Change” will be on display at the Ventulett Gallery at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church, 805 Mount

Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, through March 3.

The show features everyday life in China from Shanghai to Beijing, as well as Tibet, and includes work by Deeann Rieves, a contemporary artist working with mixed media.

“My photographs are an observation on changes, which have affected the social landscape as well as the physical environment in China,” Steinman said. “The images are a mix of landscapes, portraits and street photography which examine the fragile coexistence of an environment that has experienced dramatic change.”

Steinman (www.stevesteinmanfineart.com) also is preparing a oneman exhibition on a new series of recycled sculptures for display at Gallery 72 in downtown Atlanta in November.

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Photo by Steve Steinman

Steve Steinman’s Chinese photography will be on exhibit through March 3.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

The Radical Feminine, Then and Now

FEBRUARY 24 ▪ 2017

Rosh Chodesh Adar begins Monday, Feb. 27. It’s a time of increased joy, good fortune and miracles.

People are challenged now to feel lighthearted and playful. If you take the pulse of our nation, this does not match the energies we’re witnessing. We must keep our eyes on the prize. This means looking for opportunities to be joyful, grateful and hopeful.

Let’s take our cues from the Book of Formation.

Adar’s zodiac sign is Pisces; Hebrew letter, kuf; tribe, Naphtali; sense, laughter; and controlling organ, spleen.

The lunar calendar energy is intense. On Feb. 10 we had a full moon and a lunar eclipse that set off eclipse season, which runs until Aug. 21. Look for prominent themes in emotionality and relationships.

The eclipsed lessons are revealed each year as they run a course of five to six months. Following the reflection and illumination of these themed lessons, we move from awareness to action. Our perspective has much to do with our feelings about it.

Last June, Eris, the planet of discord, joined with Uranus to set off a huge, cosmic explosion of the radical feminine spirit. It represents both Mother Earth and women.

Through March, male or female, awareness of personal beliefs on inequality, exploitation and oppression of the feminine energy is magnified.

The eclipsed moon connects us to the miraculous story of Esther, which is featured in Adar. The truth was hidden for a time, then revealed.

Esther changed the rules, spoke out and and saved the Jewish people.

She serves as a role model who allows for the full expression of beauty and strength, femininity and power, intuition and intelligence.

The zodiac sign Pisces is represented by two fish swimming in opposite directions. One swims below the murky waters, turbulent, violent and moving in the low-vibration underworld. The other is guided in the opposite direction, toward the surface, from the highest vibration of joy and hope and in the direction of miracles.

The fish is a symbol of protection from the evil eye. In most varieties of fish, the eyes are located on either side 38 of the head, each capable of a 180-de-

gree field of perception. The blind spot is right behind the tail fin.

The second Piscean fish makes

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seeing in both directions possible.

The letter kuf dips below the line, also suggesting a need for awareness of what’s lurking beneath the surface.

The 12th tribe is Naphtali, Jacob’s sixth son, born from his union with Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaiden. Bilhah produced two sons with Jacob, Dan and Naphtali. Some translations say Naphtali means “sweetness is to me.”

Others say it means “to obtain by wrestling,” from a root meaning to twist, be cunning or crooked.

Rachel’s experience seems fraught with wrestling. There is a suggested struggle in her rivalry with Leah, who was given to Jacob as a bride instead of Rachel. Feelings of anger and jealousy toward Leah intensify when fertile Leah bears Jacob four sons. Rachel also wrestles with her resentment toward Hashem about being childless.

These themes of the radical feminine repeat themselves. Women struggle with self-worth regarding child bearing, women’s health care, and the pitting of those in the sisterhood, one against the other.

In Western medicine, Adar’s controlling organ of the spleen is a filter for the blood and regulates the metabolism of bodily fluids. In Chinese medicine, the spleen joins with the stomach to digest food, as well as provide stimulus and information.

While alcohol and anxiety stress the spleen, laughter buffers the ill effects. The sweetness from the wine in Adar is ingested until the distinction between “Blessed is Mordecai” and “Cursed is Haman” becomes blurred.

Meditation focus: Quiet yourself and observe your thoughts about the energy of the feminine. Breathe in gratitude for the freedoms we have.

Exhale pain that exists for women.

Maybe by embracing the archetypal radical feminine, women can honor themselves through a full expression of the divine feminine embodied by Queen Esther. ■

“Countrymen”

By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Challenging

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Dr. Terry Segal tsegal@atljewishtimes.com

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ACROSS 1. Be petulant (after losing a game of Shesh Besh, perhaps) 5. Foe of a pauper voiced

by Scott Weinger 10. Aid for a shochet 14. Baruch follower 15. Make like Judah (but not Jonathan) Maccabee at getting captured 16. Comic actor Eugene 17. Great African writer?

19. Challah need 20. What a Talmud has that an iTalmud does not 21. Secular texts? (Abbr.)

23. Biblical, e.g.

24. David was anointed with it 25. Classic rap group managed by Jerry Heller 28. Eastern European chief rabbi?

30. Lo and no (in a vote) 32. 2003 James Caan comedy 34. Most in need of a massage and a shvtitz 35. Roman or Khazarian 38. Simmons and others 39. Central European tennis player?

41. Jewish Jr. 43. Grande who studies Kabbalah 44. “But ___ after 25 years it’s nice to know” (Tevye and Golde) 46. Tannaim needs?

47. Agitated state (of Saul when dealing with David) 51. Western European prophet?

53. “Rugrats” dad 55. Work a chuppah 56. What blows up in a tent?

57. Marvel of a name?

59. Arch for Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah?

61. Molding that sounds

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Stereotypical skill of many a bubbe 33. Strasbourg sibling 36. “Little lady” after a chuppah 37. Heatherton and Andrews 39. Most like the figures of 37-Down 40. 65-Down, e.g.

41. Ones forgiven in a jubilee year 42. Makes like Johansson’s Black Widow 45. Power problem that’s DOWN no problem for the Ultimate 1. Not one for a haircut 2. 49-Down, to an idealistic Power 48. Mashugana Zionist 3. Idly (like an uninspired 49. Home of the countrymen schlub) 50. Doodad 4. Great foe of Kirk 52. Actress Debi 5. Talking Bush?

54. Thurman with 6. Rabbi Weiss of note 7. Guides for the perplexed; 52-Across in 2005’s “Be Cool” abbr.

58. Last stop for Moses 8. “No such thing as ___ 60. Show with a Pharaoh question” 9. Pieces from a Spielberg 62. (9-Down) belonging to this little fellow classic?

64. ___ Heifer 10. Hamas rival; abbr.

65. Illness related to 6411. Rabbi’s Sunday Down; abbr. counterpart 12. Share a pair of tefillin to the point of deterioration 13. Descendants of David, once 18. Most Western Wall LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION prayers?

C I R C A A B H O R E S T 22. “Make U S E O N P L A N T D U O Israel Great S H I M O N P E R E S E L M Again,” e.g.

S E N E C A D E S O N U S 26. “And the S H O E D I O R children of C H A I M W E I Z M A N N Israel ___ for I E R E S T E E S Moses” (Deut. B O A D R I P S S I B K E T E L 34:8) S E T O U T C A R I D O 27. Shulem Y I T Z H A K B E N Z V I Shtisel’s T E E M Y A E L secretary L O T S R U T S P O U S E 29. Romema O U R M O S H E K A T S A V and Menora A C E U V E A S L Y D I A Mivtachim G A D N A I S A L L D H S 31. like a synonym for “oy vey” 63. Western Asian diplomat?

66. Sabbath command 67. Kaplan and Kapler 68. Wicked adviser to Saul 69. Retired fleet that didn’t have regular flights from TLV 70. Make like the rock at the Caesarea Amphitheater 71. How a reliable Baal Koreh reads Torah

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FEBRUARY 24 â–ª 2017

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FEBRUARY 24 â–ª 2017