Atlanta Jewish Times, Vol. XCI No. 5, February 5, 2016 by Atlanta Jewish Times

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FEBRUARY 5, 2016 | 26 SHEVAT 5776

Bomb Threats Connected? By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

INSIDE

Israel News ��3 Local News ��5 Calendar �� 9 Candle Lighting �� 9 Opinion ��10 Health & Wellness ��14 Business ��18 Education ��19 Arts �� 24 Food �� 28 Obituaries �� 29 Crossword �� 30

T On With the Show

Photo by Eli Gray

After kicking off with a pink-accented Sweet Sixteen gala, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is rolling along with Yitzhak Rabin, Jerry Farber and a Casablanca without Rick’s Place. Pages 24-26

WOMEN AT WALL

Israel unveils plans to build an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall. Page 3

INCLUSIVE POWER

Organizations single out those who do more for people with special needs. Page 6

MUSIC OF PEACE

Noa brings a message of cooperation to a benefit concert for the Arava Institute. Page 27

IS IT THE WATER?

“Brooklynization” alters the chemistry of the water used at Original Brooklyn Water Bagel, but does it make better bagels? Page 28

Latest Scourge Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, is rapidly spreading the Zika virus from Brazil through Latin America and the Caribbean, and pregnant women seem to face the biggest threat. Page 15 Also inside this week’s special Health & Wellness section:

Photo courtesy of the CDC

• Meet the new head of Emory Healthcare, radiologist Jonathan Lewin, Page 14 • A mother and her daughters battle breast cancer and the BRCA gene, Page 16 • Follow one journey to healthy living and another away from heroin, Page 17

he bomb scare Jan. 26 at the Atlanta Jewish Academy Upper School is being jointly investigated by local law enforcement and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. In addition to the false threat at AJA, two Jewish schools in Orlando and Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., received phoned-in bomb threats around 10 a.m. the same day. Authorities are investigating whether the threats are connected. A group called Secure Community Network sends out daily information and noted the other bomb scares that day, said Cathal Lucy, Federation’s director of communitywide security. “We are working in conjunction with the local, state and federal law enforcement partners that we have here at the Federation.” The AJA Upper School and Tapestry Public Charter School, which share a Doraville building, were evacuated just after 10 a.m. in response to a threat called in to the AJA front office. Doraville police and the DeKalb County bomb squad responded but found no explosive device. Students and teachers were allowed back into the building just after noon. Lucy, noting that Federation has a response plan for such situations, said AJA followed the proper procedure. “Every time something like that happens, you always go through a debrief of what took place and see if there are any corrections that can be made. We’ll conduct a debrief with the schools in the near future.” No explosives were found at the Jewish Academy of Orlando or the Meyer Academy in Palm Beach Gardens. “We are extremely grateful that all our students and the Tapestry students are safe and healthy,” AJA Executive Director Franeen Sarif said. “Our sincere appreciation goes out to the Doraville Police Department for their swift and professional response, and we are continuing to work with them on the ongoing investigation.” ■

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ISRAEL NEWS

merican organizations committed to religious pluralism in Israel hailed the announcement Sunday, Jan. 31, of an expanded egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall. “We applaud Israel’s historic decision to create a permanent egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall,” Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Jerry Silverman, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism CEO Rabbi Steven Wernick, and Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs said in joint statement issued after the Israeli Cabinet formally approved the proposal on a 15-5 vote. The three U.S. leaders called the mixed-sex space “a dramatic, unprecedented and critical acknowledgement by the State of Israel that Judaism’s holiest site — the Kotel — should incorporate the traditions of the Masorti (Conservative) and Reform streams, in which men and women pray together.” A new organization that includes Women of the Wall and the Masorti and Reform movements and is led by the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel will administer the nearly 10,000-square-foot non-Orthodox section, slightly less than half the size of the Orthodox area. The haredi Western Wall Heritage Foundation will continue to manage the Orthodox section. The plan appears to end decades of disputes between Orthodox groups and other Jewish denominations over pluralism at the Western Wall. Monthly Rosh Chodesh worship led by Women of the Wall has at times been met with violence, creating friction between Diaspora leaders and Israeli authorities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the Jan. 31 Cabinet meeting that the Kotel should be a place that unites the Jewish people. “While I know that this is a delicate issue, I think that this is a fair and creative solution.” Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky has worked on the expansion of the egalitarian section since December 2012, a response to the arrest of Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman two months earlier for wearing a tallit during the Rosh Chodesh service. “The vision of the new section of the Kotel is a physical and conceptual space open to all forms of Jewish prayer,” Women of the Wall said in a statement. “Instead of splitting up the existing pie into ever more divided, smaller pieces, we are making the

pie much larger and sharing the new space.” Sharansky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the expanded section will run along a 31-foot section of the wall in the Robinson’s Arch area and will be able to accommodate about 1,200 people. He said construction of the area will take about two years. Not surprisingly, the plan does not please everyone. Youssef Ideiss, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of Waqf and religious affairs, criticized the construction as an effort to change the Temple Mount status quo and “Judaicize the holy site,” according to the Walla news website. The Jordanian-run Waqf administers the Temple Mount, where Muslim but not Jewish prayer is allowed, but not the plaza in front of the Kotel, which is an ancient retaining wall for the Temple Mount. The Palestinian Authority tried to have the United Nations declare the wall a Muslim holy site in October. Orthodox organization Agudath Israel of America, meanwhile, said Israel’s plan “profanes the holy site” and “creates yet a further lamentable rift between Jews.” Agudath Israel said only the maintenance of the standard of Jewish religious tradition has allowed Jews of all types for decades to pray side by side at the Western Wall, a “minor miracle” that’s perhaps unique in the world. Some supporters of Women of the Wall have vowed not to abandon the Orthodox section of the Kotel, as agreed to in the government plan. Haaretz columnist Anshel Pfeffer wrote that instead of a compromise, the plan should be seen as a “complete capitulation” to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation because it will reassert full control over the plaza viewed internationally as the holy site while non-Orthodox prayer is shunted to the side. But Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt seemed to sum up the consensus view in the Diaspora, at least among non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, in a statement that celebrated the recognition that all Jews should have a place to pray at the wall in a way that is meaningful to them. Greenblatt congratulated Women of the Wall and the Conservative and Reform movements and thanked Sharansky for “sending the message to Jews around the world that there is one Kotel for one people.” ■

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

Non-Orthodox Plaza Approved for Kotel

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ISRAEL NEWS

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home $3.3 billion to help Israeli Arabs. Israel will spend around 13 billion shekels ($3.3 billion) the next five years to improve the standard of living of its Arab minority. The investment will boost education, infrastructure, culture, sports and transportation in Arab areas. ZAKA upgrade. The U.N. Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations has unanimously granted advisory status to Israel’s ZAKA Search and Rescue after four years of frustrated efforts to gain the improvement from recognition as an international volunteer humanitarian organization. Approval as an advisory body comes with offical observer status at the United Nations. Irrigating Indian farms. The Indian state of Haryana, just northwest of Delhi, will initiate micro-irrigation projects based on Israeli expertise at 14 sites over the course of 2016. Israeli agricultural professionals work extensively in Haryana and neighboring Punjab, as well as other parts of India. $100 million in STEM scholarships. Publisher Mort Zuckerman has announced a 20-year, $100 million scholarship program to pay for American science graduate students to study in Israel. The program will enable leading U.S. and Israeli academics to work together on cutting-edge research. Early detection of lung cancer. Scientists at Tel Aviv University and Rabin Medical Center have discovered they can detect lung cancer early in smokers by performing a CT scan when

the smokers are admitted as pneumonia patients. Often, the pneumonia is caused by young cancer cells blocking air pathways. Why lack of sleep leads to obesity. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute have detailed how human biological clocks work in tandem with intestinal bacteria to control blood sugar levels. Digestion suffers when the schedules of the gut bacteria are interrupted by late-night wakefulness. Why the blind hear better. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered how the brain compensates for the loss of one sense (e.g., sight) by improving another (e.g., hearing). They studied the roundworm and manipulated synapses to control the sensory ability of the organism.

Petah Tikvah-based Teva Pharmaceuticals has reported that 49 percent of its management positions are staffed by women, including 35 percent of senior management. Teva launched 315 generic medicines in 2015. Those generics saved British local authorities $4.3 billion in 2014. Free online English. Israel’s Education Ministry is paying for Israeli university students to take English language courses offered online by the Open University in preparation for study at academic institutions. The program

Women rising in Teva’s management.

Don’t waste time dialing. Startup My State, based in Kfar Tapu’ah, shows before you make a phone call if your contact is available by displaying whether the person is on another call, is offline, is on vibrate or silent, has no Internet connection, is in a different time zone, or is running low on battery or charging. MyState has raised $6.5 million. Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other news sources.

TASTE of TASTE

The top Israeli responder. The average Hatzalah emergency response volunteer will attend to some 300 calls annually, but 58-year-old Yehuda Londner of Bnei Brak recorded 2,370 calls last year. In 29 years with Hatzalah and Magen David Adom, he has responded to over 45,000 emergency calls. El Al’s first all-female cockpit. An El Al flight from Israel to Larnaca, Cyprus, marked a small but significant moment in history for the Israeli airline: Its cockpit was composed entirely of women. The controls were in the hands of Captain Smadar Shechter and First Officer Meirav Schwartz.

will save students thousands of shekels and improve career opportunities.

GOOD of LIFE GOOD LIFE Photos by Miki Peleg, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Windows Into Galilee Life

A Greek funerary inscription with the name “Jose” and an Aramaic inscription mentioning a “rabbi” are among three 1,700-year-old funerary inscriptions found recently in Moshav Zippori, site of the first capital of the ancient Galilee. A second Aramaic inscription also has a rabbi reference. The inscriptions from Zippori’s western cemetery come from the time and place where Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nasi compiled the Mishnah, according to archaeologists with the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology and the Israel Antiquities Authority.

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Remember When

10 Years Ago Feb. 3, 2006 ■ The new city of Sandy Springs has granted the Weber School a building permit one week before the deadline school leaders set to ensure that construction of the high school building would be completed in time for the start of the 2006-07 school year. The same week, Weber entered the public phase of its capital campaign, having raised $13 million of a $24 million goal. ■ Rael and Dominique Levin of Atlanta and Stephen and Ellen Spector of Vancouver, British Columbia, announce the marriage of their children, Chantal Myra Levin and Michael Jason Spector, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Aug. 21, 2005. ■ Todd and Lauren Gordon of Alpharetta announce the birth of daughter Rian Avery on July 20.

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25 Years Ago Feb. 1, 1991 ■ Jewish institutions in Atlanta are taking extra security precautions after Saddam Hussein’s threats to use terrorism to retaliate against the United States. Most synagogues increased patrols and added extra security personnel on Friday evenings and Saturdays. They have also restricted access to their buildings.

Wednesday, February 10th 7:30 am – 9 am

■ The bat mitzvah of Sara Lane Siegel of Atlanta, daughter of Jodie and Adam Skorecki and Robert Siegel, will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

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■ Brandy and Leonard Cohen of Plantation, Fla., the latter originally from Atlanta, announce the birth of triplets, Felicia, Hali and Allison, on Dec. 11, the first night of Chanukah. 50 Years Ago Feb. 4, 1966 ■ Rabbi Maynard C. Hyman, the spiritual leader of Adas Yeshurun Synagogue in Augusta, has been invited by Sen. Herman Talmadge to open a session of the U.S. Senate in Washington with a prayer Feb. 8. While in Washington, the former spiritual leader of Congregation Tifereth Zvi in Utica, N.Y., will meet with Talmadge and other Senate leaders. ■ Mr. and Mrs. William Michael of Atlanta announce the engagement of their daughter Renee Sharyn Michael to Richard Malcolm Sadai, son of Mr. and Mrs. Irving Sadai of Katonah, N.Y. A June wedding is planned.

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LOCAL NEWS

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LOCAL NEWS

Celebrating the Power of Inclusion

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

he Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta played host to the second annual Power of One awards reception Sunday, Jan. 31, giving an early start to Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month, which is February. More than 230 people attended the event, during which representatives of 23 local Jewish organizations were recognized for their efforts to include people with special needs. The Power of One falls under the auspices of the Greater Atlanta Jewish Abilities Alliance, chaired by Sheryl Arno and Ina Enoch. The alliance’s website, atlanta.jewishabilities.org, has not only exceeded expectations for users since launching last spring, but also gets more traffic than the Baltimore site on which it is based, Federation Chair Howard Feinsand said. In addition to the presentation of the awards, the ceremony featured Temple Sinai member Gregory Jay talking about his family’s journey to the bar mitzvah celebration of son Jared, who has autism and has not spoken since age 2. Jay said his time with his son has taught him that “not being able to speak is not the same thing as having nothing to say.” The ceremony concluded with Arno’s tribute to Robyn Berger, who died in June at age 72. Arno called Berger the “original power of one” in Jewish Atlanta and said Berger was the first person she contacted when she was asked to launch the task force that became the Jewish Abilities Alliance. Here are this year’s Power of One honorees: • Helane Levy, Atlanta Jewish Academy.

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After a few moments of mic problems, Federation Chair Howard Feinsand welcomes the crowd of more than 230 people to the Power of One reception.

• Jaime Schwartz, The Temple’s Breman Religious School. • Lauren Gordon, Camp Coleman. • Becky Borak, Camp Judaea. • Kessler family, Camp Living Wonders. • Lauren Lebovitz, Camp Ramah Darom. • Jeremy Sachs, Congregation Beth Shalom. • Derric and Victoria Raggs, Congregation B’nai Torah. • Diane Mallin and Sara Dean, Congregation Dor Tamid. • Sheri Frohlich, Congregation Etz Chaim. • Wendy Bendit, Congregation Gesher L’Torah. • Jack and Rachael Rosenberg and Harold and Arlene Koslow, Congregation Shearith Israel. • Julie Herman Cohen, Davis Academy. • Jane Escalera, Epstein School. • Simon Barzilay, Friendship Circle. • Bruce Lindemann, Jewish Family & Career Services. • Gail Heyman, Jewish Home Life Communities. • Lisa Marks, Jewish Interest-Free Loan of Atlanta. • Kenny Sonenshine (who missed the ceremony), Marcus Jewish Community Center. • Jeff and Laura Marcus (who missed the ceremony), Temple EmanuEl. • Tovah Martin, Temple Kol Emeth. • Roger and Corky Gelder, Martin and Phyllis Isenberg, and Bob and Dede Thompson, Temple Sinai. • Jennifer Lieb, Marcus JCC’s Weinstein School. ■

Rebecca Cheskes recognizes Jeremy Sachs on behalf of Congregation Beth Shalom.

Photos by Michael Jacobs

Camp Coleman Director Bobby Harris gives Lauren Gordon a big hug to go with her Power of One award.

Sara Dean (left) and Diane Mallin listen while Congregation Dor Tamid Vice President of Education Angela Zubar explains their Power of One selection.

Fresh off raising $3,250 by running a half-marathon in Miami, Simon Barzilay accepts the Friendship Circle’s Power of One award.

Congregation Gesher L’Torah’s Rebecca Gordon honors Wendy Bendit.

Sheryl Arno (right) and Ina Enoch run the Power of One show as the chairs of the Jewish Abilities Alliance.

Carole Shovers (left) offers praise for the work Gail Heyman has done with Jewish Home Life Communities.

Temple Sinai member Gregory Jay describes the journey he has taken as the father of a son with autism.

While recognizing Tovah Martin, Temple Kol Emeth Rabbi Erin Boxt is upstaged by her son Jadon.

Rose Levine offers hugs to (from left) Miriam, Judy, Jay and Adira Kessler, the honorees of Camp Living Wonders.

Camp Judaea Assistant Director David Berlin poses with the camp’s honoree, Becky Borak.

More than 230 people attend the Power of One reception Sunday, Jan. 31.

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LOCAL NEWS

Knowledge Best Weapon Vs. Terrorist Destruction By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

the problem of grave robbing in Egypt since the Arab Spring five years ago. Aerial and satellite images in Egypt, Syria and Iraq tell the same story of destruction: ancient sites pockmarked with too many pits to count where looters have dug in search of antiquities. “The only antidote to destruction is the dissemination of information,” Gopnik said, pointing people to resources such as the American Schools of Oriental Research Cultural Heritage Initiatives (www.asor-syrianheritage. org). Some examples of historical irony or karma have emerged: • In Nimrud, the terrorists are destroying the remnants of Assyria, which had its first capital there and which built the world’s first empire by practicing state-sponsored terrorism from the ninth to seventh centuries B.C.E., Gopnik said. • Islamic State flattened Ashurnasirpal’s palace in Nimrud last spring, but it was only a reconstruction because the original site had suffered so much damage during European archaeological digs in the 19th century.

The reconstruction had involved extensive mapping and surveying, so it won’t be hard to rebuild again, Gopnik said. “Yeah, it’s terrible, but it’s OK because we have knowledge.” • Ancient sites make up only about 3 percent of the archaeological destruction wrought by Islamic State, according to the United Nations. Shia sites (39 percent) and Sunni sites (17 percent) account for most of what has been lost. • When scholars from the University of Pennsylvania’s Cultural Heritage Center trained locals in Dohuk, Iraq, part of Kurdistan, on historical preservation, the trainees insisted on practicing their skills on the city’s Jewish quarter, abandoned in 1950. “They represent a time when we could live together,” Gopnik said the locals told their instructors. The systematic looting took a human toll in August when Islamic State killed Khaled al-Assad, the director of Palmyra antiquities since 1963, because he refused to reveal where he had hidden treasures from the city’s museum. “He died defending his site,” Gopnik said. “I don’t think I could have done that.” ■

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slamic State creates videos of its destruction of ancient artifacts in Iraq and Syria for the same reason it records beheadings and other killings: to sow terror. That’s why Hilary Gopnik, who teaches ancient Mediterranean studies at Emory University, showed only a blank screen when addressing specific Islamic State acts during a discussion on the loss of antiquities Thursday night, Jan. 28, in a packed lecture hall at the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Gopnik, who talked about devastation at the archaeological sites at Palmyra and sister city Dura Europos in Syria and Nimrud in the Kurdistan area of northern Iraq, said Islamic State isn’t flattening ancient wonders strictly out of religious fervor but for financial reasons. Those oft-played videos of Roman-era ruins exploding help create a black market for antiquities because potential buyers convince themselves that they’re engaging in historical preservation by taking objects out of the war zone.

“They want you to react by saying, ‘Wow, I wish it were safe,’ ” Gopnik said. Islamic State has a system in place for licensing or contracting grave robbers and other black marketers to pillage archaeological sites, she said. “We lose every bit of context,” she said. “Our knowledge of the past is gone, and that’s what we can’t afford. We care about knowledge, not about things.” The results on the ground have been devastating. Palmyra, which was a wealthy, largely independent Silk Road trading outpost at the eastern edge of the Roman Empire, has lost structures such as a colonnaded road, a temple to the god Bel and a gate built in honor of the Emperor Hadrian’s visit in the second century C.E. The suspicion is that the famous funerary busts lining burial chambers are being smuggled out in what Gopnik called a “diaspora of stone.” The full extent of the pillaging might not be seen on the black market for a decade or so, said Gopnik and Melinda Hartwig, who curates Egyptian, Nubian and ancient Near Eastern art at the Carlos and who spoke about

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LOCAL NEWS

Beth Jacob Men Chill Out

bout 50 men and boys joined the Men’s Club of Congregation Beth Jacob for a day trip into the mountains Sunday, Jan. 31, to go skiing at Cataloochee Ski Area in North Carolina.

G Photos by Eli Gray, Gray Imaging

A: Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich and son Binyomin hit the slope. B: Having left Toco Hills before dawn, the group arrives at the Cataloochee ski lodge for a briefing on the trails and conditions. C: A day of skiing doesn’t mean a day with mitzvot and praying, so the men stop on the way to Cataloochee to daven. D: Joey Cavalier joins Rabbi Ilan Feldman in the snowy sunshine. E: Noach Muroff and Rabbi Ilan Feldman enjoy temperatures that rose into the mid-60s. F: (From left) Ben Steele, Avi Cavalier, Tzvi Meir Cavalier and Tuli Garfinkel ride up the slope. G: Ben Krohn (left) and Avromi Lewis try snowboarding instead of skiing. H: Before heading back to Atlanta, the men take time for Ma’ariv prayers. I: The skiers gather in the lodge for lunch, provided by the Spicy Peach. J: The whole group pauses for a photo to commemorate the day on the mountain.

Nonjudgmental Attitude Key to Estreichers’ Success FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

By Rabbi Herbert Cohen

knew Rabbi Daniel Estreicher when he was a student at Yeshiva University, but I really did not know him well until I worked with him at Yeshiva High School of Atlanta (now part of Atlanta Jewish Academy). There I saw a man deeply learned and committed to 8 the Torah growth of his students.

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He and Bluma were totally devoted to outreach and to bringing students under the canopy of Torah. A secret of their success was a nonjudgmental attitude toward every student they encountered. They just loved the students for who they were, and the students felt their palpable concern for them. The door of the Estreicher home was always open to the students at

any time. No time was inconvenient if a student needed to talk or needed advice from his rebbe. Rabbi Estreicher is a role model of a teacher dedicated to the well-being of his students. May HaShem continue to grant him and Bluma, his true partner in everything he does, good health and nachat from all the students who have come into his orbit and benefited from

his abiding concern for them. ■ Congregation Beth Jacob is honoring Rabbi Daniel Estreicher and his wife, Bluma, at the synagogue’s annual dinner Sunday night, Feb. 28, starting with cocktails at 5 p.m. Tickets are $100; www.bethjacobatlanta.org/annual-dinner-2016. Rabbi Herbert Cohen is the former head of Yeshiva Atlanta.

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CALENDAR CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Parshah Mishpatim Friday, Feb. 5, light candles at 5:54 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, Shabbat ends at 6:51 p.m. Parshah Terumah Friday, Feb. 12, light candles at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, Shabbat ends at 6:57 p.m.

Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. The festival continues through Feb. 17. Tickets are $9 for matiness and $13 for most evening shows; ajff.org or 678-701-6104.

THURSDAY, FEB. 4

Slam-dunk speech. Former Atlanta Hawk Dikembe Mutombo appears at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at 10:30 a.m. as part of the Edgewise Speaker Series. Free and open to the community; www.atlantajcc.org. U.S.-Israel ties. Yoram Ettinger, the co-founder of the American-Israel Demographic Research Group and executive director of the Ettinger Report, addresses “The Foundations of the U.S.Israel Covenant” at 7 p.m. at Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road. Free; www.yith.org.

FRIDAY, FEB. 5

Visiting scholar. Rabbi Daniel Freelander, the World Union for Progressive Judaism president, spends Shabbat at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree St., Midtown, as the Brockey-Rothschild Memorial Institute scholar in residence. After socializing at 5 p.m., he speaks about challenges and opportunities for global Reform Judaism during 6 p.m. Erev Shabbat services. On Saturday, he leads Torah study at 9 a.m. and discusses “Mishpatim: Judaism Between the Peak Moments,” then during 10:30 a.m. services addresses anti-Semitism in Europe today. Free; the-temple.org. Chinese dinner. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, holds a gourmet Asian dinner at 7 p.m. after Shabbat services at 6. The cost is $25 for adults, $15 for those 15 and younger; admin@chabadnf.org or www.chabadnf.org.

SATURDAY, FEB. 6

Cholent contest. The tasting for the seventh annual Young Israel of Toco Hills Cholent Cook-off takes place at Kiddush after morning services at YITH, 2056 LaVista Road. A donation of $18 is suggested to compete; www.yith. org/cholent.

Disabilities dance. The Bregman Dance, supporting Jewish Family & Career Services’ Bregman Educational Conference, starts at 8 p.m. at the Selig Center, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Tickets are $10; 770-677-9345 or yourtoolsforliving.org/services/dd/bregman. Comedy show. Rabbis Eliyahu Schusterman and Ari Sollish perform standup comedy after a kosher dinner at 8 p.m. at the Intown Jewish Academy, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Midtown. Tickets are $18; www.intownjewishacademy. org or 404-898-0434.

SUNDAY, FEB. 7

Blood drive. Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Drive, Buckhead, hosts a citywide Red Cross blood drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Use sponsor code JWV at www.redcrossblood.org to make an appointment. Judaica making. Sculptor Gary Rosenthal leads the creation of Judaica, from mezuzot to candlesticks, out of personal mosaics at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead, at 11:30 a.m. The price depends on the pieces you want to make; register at bit.ly/1nvGU54.

MONDAY, FEB. 8

Women and dance. The Rosh Chodesh Society, an educational series for women, continues at 7:30 p.m. with a session on “Dance: Movement & Relationship” at the Intown Jewish Academy, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Midtown. The cost is $10; www.intownjewishacademy.org or 404-898-0434.

TUESDAY, FEB. 9

Moms and tots. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, holds its Babyccino class on mitzvot around the house at 11:30 a.m. for moms and tots up to age 2½. This week’s session focuses on the playroom. The cost is $12; hs@chabadnf.org or www.chabadnf.org. Anti-RFRA rally. Georgia Unites Against Discrimination holds a demonstration against Religious Freedom Restoration Act-related legislation at

Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com. Find more events at atlantajewishtimes.com/events-calendar.

Photo by Susanne G. Katz

A yellow taxi makes its way around Cuba.

JCC Exhibit Brings Cuba’s Changes Alive

he Marcus Jewish Community Center’s Katz Family Mainstreet Gallery is showing “Cuba: Then and Now,” an exhibition of photography by Susanne G. Katz, through March 15. Katz, an AJT contributor whose work includes curating exhibits for Temple Sinai, captured the exhibit’s images over a decade of visits to Cuba, most recently in October. “This small country was changing before my eyes,” Katz said. “As a

noon at Liberty Plaza outside the Georgia Capitol, downtown. Free; action. gaunites.org/page/s/rally09. Grief support. Nancy Kriseman, author of “The Mindful Caregiver,” leads a support group at the Renaissance on Peachtree, 3755 Peachtree Road, Buckhead, at 2 p.m. on “It Still Hurts: Healing After the Death of a Spouse.” Additional sessions are held on the second Tuesday of March, April and May. Free, including valet parking; 404-240-7811.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10

Jewish-Christian relations. Rabbi Adam Starr continues his three-part lecture series on relations with Christians through the lens of halacha and Jewish history at 7 p.m. at Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road. The series, begun Feb. 3, concludes at 7 p.m. Feb. 17. Free; www.yith.org. Asking why. The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute’s six-session “Jewish Course of Why” begins at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth Tefillah, 5065 High Point Road, Sandy Springs, for $75; at Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, for $69; or at Chabad of Cobb, 4450 Roswell Road, East Cobb, for $89; www.myjli.com/index.html.

curator, I am delighted by cultural and political contrast. The challenge for me was to focus on what to look at and how to visually describe what I was seeing. Everywhere I looked, there was an unforgettable image, and there is more to every image than a photograph can say.” Her photographs range from the Havana biennial and Muraleando to baseball and cigars. They can be viewed whenever the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, is open. ■

THURSDAY, FEB. 11

Arabs in Israel’s economy. Aiman Saif, who heads the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality’s office for the economic development of minorities, speaks about “Arab Citizens as Israel’s Next Growth Engine” at 8 a.m. at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree St., Midtown, in a session sponsored by Conexx and the American Jewish Committee. Free; bswartz@conexx.org.

FRIDAY, FEB. 12

Acoustic Shabbat. Marcus JCC Rabbi Brian Glusman, Drew Cohen, and Jewish Family & Career Services’ HAMSA program hold a sober, soulful, musical Shabbat celebration at 7 p.m. at San Francisco Coffee, 1192 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. Free, with food available; www.atlantajcc.org or 678-812-4161.

SUNDAY, FEB. 14

Valentine’s yoga. Rebecca Holohan leads partner yoga to deepen the connection between couples, followed by Thai massage techniques for relaxation, at 4 p.m. at the Rush Center Annex, 1530 DeKalb Ave., Atlanta, near Candler Park. Open to singles ($18) or couples ($30), including yoga begin9 ners; sojourngsd.org/calendar.

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

ONGOING

AJT

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Our View

Bad Labels

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

resident Barack Obama rose to the occasion Wednesday night, Jan. 27, when he spoke at the Righteous Among the Nations celebration at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Rarely has the president been more eloquent than when he declared that Army Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, one of four honorees, was right in declaring, “We are all Jews.” “Anti-Semitism is a distillation, an expression of an evil that runs through so much of human history, and if we do not answer that, we do not answer any other form of evil,” Obama said. He defended Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and rejected criticism that warps into a denial of that fundamental right. The Obama who spoke that night — who emphasized the responsibility of people of faith everywhere to stand up for one another and who noted that Israelis and Palestinians alike must have empathy for and make common cause with the outsider — deserves to be counted among Israel’s best friends. Unfortunately, as we discussed two weeks ago after listening to his final State of the Union address, the president is paying only fleeting attention to foreign policy in general and Israel in particular as the start of the presidential primaries and caucuses begins the countdown to his political retirement. Thus, just four days before he delivered those moving words at the Israeli Embassy, he silently allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reinstitute 20-year-old, never-enforced regulations on the labeling of goods produced in the West Bank. Those products now must be labeled “West Bank,” “West Bank/Gaza,” “West Bank/Gaza Strip,” “West Bank and Gaza,” or “West Bank and Gaza Strip.” “It is not acceptable to mark the aforementioned goods with the words ‘Israel,’ ‘Made in Israel,’ ‘Occupied Territories-Israel,’ or any variation thereof,” the customs memo reads. It’s true the memo restores a policy created in 1995 as part of the Oslo Accords. It’s perhaps true Customs and Border Protection felt the need to issue the memo in response to complaints about nonenforcement and did not notify the White House or the State Department about a bureaucratic decision. It’s also possible, however, that customs officials recognized the sensitivity of anything involving Israel and notified officials higher in the administration, only to be met with the silence of indifference. It’s one thing to stand up for Israel in a ceremony commemorating the end of Holocaust; it’s another thing to protect Israel from international economic threats. The practical effect is minimal. The only people who care about labels of origin are people who don’t need those labels to know and respond to the products’ origin. But symbolically the United States, with the president’s acceptance if not approval, has chosen to line up with the European Union in labeling Israeli products made in the West Bank differently from those made within the pre-1967 borders. It’s a policy Israel has fought in Europe for conveying a conclusion about the status of the West Bank that must be resolved in peace talks, not by bureaucratic fiat. Again, the U.S. message to Israel is clear: You chose your own path away from the peace process; 10 now you can walk that path alone. ■

AJT

Tom Janssen, The Netherlands

When Jews Do Wrong

e’re in the middle of the Atlanta Jewish previously pleaded guilty, but we missed those pleas Film Festival, which must face the queswhen they happened. So we had more questions: tion “What qualifies as a Jewish film?” We • Is it fair to mention those convicted earlier? Is face a similar question at the AJT: What qualifies as it fair not to? If we don’t name them, should we at Jewish news? least mention previous Jewish convictions for conIs it anything that involves someone who is text, or does that disparage the whole community? Jewish? Must it affect Jewish people in particular? I think we were right to report the latest convicShould we report on local governments in areas with tions, but it was awkward to note only one person’s large Jewish populations? Do we religion. Mentiongive special attention to elected ing previous Jewish officials and candidates who are convicts without Editor’s Notebook Jewish? Is it more important to naming them By Michael Jacobs report on businesses that are seemed like a fair mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com owned by Jews or cater to Jews? compromise, but we Do we write about Jewish-owned potentially provided restaurants or only those that are fodder to those who kosher and thus available to our entire community? see us all as “greedy Jews.” When it comes to crime, are we worried about only It’s my belief that we should not ignore wrongJewish victims or also Jewish culprits? doing by members of our community, but we probFor the most part, we take a broad view, which ably don’t need to specify that a person is Jewish means we’re looking for interesting stories about when we’re doing it. As Publisher Michael Morris Jewish people as well as news about and directly afand I always emphasize, however, this is your comfecting the Jewish community. We leave most of the munity newspaper, so it’s important to know what local government coverage to other outlets. We like you think. There’s no point in reporting things few to write about local Jewish athletes (we’re hoping people want to read. to catch up with new Atlanta Brave Nate Freiman If you care about whether we report on people during spring training), but we don’t feel the need in our community who do wrong, email your to cover every Falcons or Hawks game just because thoughts to mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com. There are those teams’ primary owners are Jewish. several possibilities: But the answers aren’t simple when it comes to • Don’t write about Jewish wrongdoers. Jews accused or convicted of wrongdoing. • Write about Jewish wrongdoers only when In the Jan. 15 issue we ran information from the they sink to a certain level, with the line somewhere Justice Department about guilty pleas to real estate between a killer like Hemy Neuman or a national fraud by two men, one of whom is Jewish. Such an embezzler like Bernie Madoff on one hand and a occurrence leads to a series of questions: low-level drug dealer or a bookie on the other. • Do we report the case and culprits? If so, do we • Write about anyone who has done wrong. specify that a convict is Jewish, or leave it to readers • Write about anyone accused of wrongdoing. to infer Jewishness based on the coverage by the AJT? If you think we should write such stories, The case in question was part of an ongoing should we specify who is Jewish or let readers guess? investigation in which at least two Jewish investors I look forward to your feedback. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Teens Engaged and Interested in the News

Letters To The Editor Beware Pancreatic Cancer

The American Cancer Society recently announced that pancreatic cancer will take more lives than breast cancer this year, making it the thirdleading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. My family and I have been affected by pancreatic cancer; I lost my dad, aunt and grandmother to it. Given this recent news, it’s my responsibility to raise awareness in our community, especially so soon after Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials Awareness Month, which was January. Patients deserve nothing less. Clinical trials often provide the best treatment options, giving patients early access to cutting-edge treatments that can lead to progress in research, more options and better outcomes. I volunteer with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, whose Clinical Trial Finder allows patients and caregivers to start a search for clinical trials using the most comprehensive

The conventional wisdom is that teenagers are preoccupied with their own affairs and are more interested in

From Where I Sit By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com

reality television that distorts reality than in the serious news that concerns their elders. My youngest child is a high school junior. He watches the news on television when there is a major event but otherwise follows online through his Twitter feed and other sources. While it’s true that teens are less likely to smudge their fingers turning the pages of a newspaper or to regard the evening newscasts as must-see television, the way my son and his peers at Weber use technology belies the stereotype of being disengaged or disinterested. The afternoon session at the Weber School included students from other classes, some taking seats on the floor when the chairs filled. Other than the basketball players, who wore shirts and ties because they had a game that database of pancreatic cancer clinical trials in the country. Now, more than ever, it’s time patients have options and answers. To learn more, please visit pancan.org. — Nancy Mader, Newnan

Thanks to Sen. Perdue

The AJT editorial board recently attacked Sen. David Perdue of Georgia for his leadership and courage in stepping up to oppose the confirmation of recently resigned GALEO board member Dax Lopez for federal judge (“Our View: Dream Betrayed,” Jan. 29). In that attack the Jewish Times took a few swings at me too. In part, I write to thank the authors of the attack piece for the acknowledgment that GALEO is an advocacy group — and for quoting me accurately. We agree with Sen. Perdue that Lopez’s decade-long involvement with GALEO makes him totally unacceptable for a lifetime seat as a federal judge. To be clear, like most leftist, antienforcement immigration corporations, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials is innocuously named but is very clear in its agenda. Both before and after becoming a state court

night, the teenagers were dressed like, well, teenagers. Many of these students have visited Israel, including several recently returned from a school-sponsored trip. They study Israel, its government, its culture and the Hebrew language. The vibe in the classroom was informal, but when it came time for their questions, they were asked deliberately and seriously. Why is there so much more coverage of Israel than its neighbors in the region? Why is Israel presented this way or that? How does something like that (pick your favorite example of a mistake or what you consider bias) happen? From this point forward, I have only a couple of hundred words left in this column, insufficient space to relate my responses in full, and I’m leery of addressing such issues in shorthand. Perhaps in some future column I will expound on these subjects. I told the students that issues of history, religion, geography and politics (both domestic and international) explain journalists’ interest in Israel. To its credit, I said, Israel allows journalists into the country and, in

most circumstances, does not interfere with their work. I wanted to give the students answers unvarnished by my opinions on various aspects of U.S. or Israeli politics. We all have opinions, formed by everything we learn, every experience we have, every person who influences us. The challenge for journalists, I told them, is to prevent bias from interfering with efforts to be objective (perhaps an unrealistic goal but a worthy ideal nonetheless). When bias is evident, it must be addressed by those up the food chain, I said, because a news organization’s reputation can be sullied in an instant and take much longer to repair. Humans make mistakes, I explained, sometimes because of insufficient background in a subject and sometimes because the pressures of the job cause haste that leaves insufficient time to ensure that reports are accurate in facts and context. The Weber students were a lively bunch, and I enjoyed crossing a generational divide to meet them. That they take such an interest as teens bodes well for them to be informed and engaged adults. ■

judge, Dax Lopez served as adviser, director and tactician for the GALEO activism against immigration enforcement. Lopez’s statement that he “agrees with their mission” must always be viewed with the knowledge that, since 2003, the corporate-funded GALEO has viciously smeared law enforcement officers who dare to help enforce American immigration laws. GALEO has marched in the streets of Georgia for another immigration amnesty, lobbied against state e-verify laws designed to protect legal workers and against local jails honoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds for criminal aliens, and vehemently opposed voter ID. And they lobby against English as our official language. The murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco last summer was a direct result of successful advocacy against detaining criminal aliens in local jails until ICE can pick them up. For the radicals at GALEO, Steinle’s murder is merely a cost of advancing the antienforcement scheme. We think the editorial board may have overlooked the federal lawsuit filed against Georgia’s Illegal Immigra-

tion Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011 by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a host of other anti-borders groups, including GALEO. That lawsuit was heard in the same federal court in which Lopez would have served if confirmed. Among the lawyers suing to stop enforcement of the 2011 state law aimed at protecting jobs for legal workers was Lopez’s then-fellow GALEO board member, Charles Kuck. It should not go unnoted that GALEO’s executive director, Jerry Gonzalez, is even now threatening to sue for foreign-language voter ballots in the same court. We’re not sure which possibility is worse: that the editors at the Atlanta Jewish Times agree with Lopez and GALEO on immigration enforcement or that they want to put yet another Obama-appointed activist federal judge on the bench. We share the concerns about the content of Dax Lopez’ character. We thank and support Sen. Perdue for his action. — D.A. King, Marietta, president, Dustin Inman Society, for the board of advisers 11 FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

heir teacher said I should expect spirited sessions when I met with her students at the Weber School. When we discuss current events, she warned, the debates can be vigorous. After touring the school several weeks earlier, I had offered to speak with students about journalism and the news business. Ariella Livnat took me up on the offer. An Israeli who made aliyah from Romania at age 15, she invited me to talk with students in her morning and afternoon current events classes. My résumé includes the better part of two years as the producer in an international television network’s Jerusalem bureau and more than 26 years with the same network in various capacities as a national editor. Even when my duties focused elsewhere, I maintained contact with the news from Israel and the Middle East, returning several times for periods ranging from days to weeks. Much of my current work appears in the Atlanta Jewish Times in this column and in articles I write about various aspects of Jewish life.

AJT

OPINION

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AJT 12

Why Jews Turn Toward the East

he two oldest religious traditions in the world that still matter are those that began in the land of Israel and on the subcontinent of India. They are very different from each other, like oil and water. The European peoples knew shockingly little about Indian spirituality until the 19th century. The Buddha himself — beyond dispute the greatest historical figure produced by Indian civilization — was almost completely unknown in the West before that time. When Westerners thought of Oriental civilization, they usually referred to the Islamic world. Because of missionary work, something was known of China and Japan before that time. India was terra incognita. By the late 19th century Hindu mystics were found in the West. Vivekananda, Tagore, Gandhi and others became well known outside the British Raj. Beatniks in the 1950s were turned on to Eastern spirituality. In the 1960s the Beatles and others introduced transcendental meditation, based in yogic mysticism. Many hippie types were looking for gurus and swamis. Richard Hittleman’s “Yoga for Health” became popular. Hindu philosophy had become chic. After the Second World War many GIs were stationed in Japan. They brought back the Japanese versions of Buddhist ideas, particularly Zen. Through the writings of D.T. Suzuki and Eugen Herrigel’s “Zen in the Art of Archery,” Zen Buddhism entered the counterculture. Later, other schools of Buddhism — the Hinayana traditions of Southeast Asia and the Mahayana schools of India and China — became better known. The Dalai Lama became an ambassador for the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet. Because Jews, including Alan Ginsberg and Ram Dass, were overrepresented in the Beatnik and hippie movements, Jewish exploration in America of Eastern religious traditions was (and still is) common. Many American Buddhist leaders

have obviously Jewish names. Bujus and Jubus refer to Buddhists from Jewish backgrounds. In the 21st century there is indeed a great deal written about the intersection of Judaism and Buddhism. Rodger Kamenetz’s “The Jew in the Lotus” became a best seller.

Guest Column By Rabbi Richard Baroff

Many Jewish spiritualists are clearly attracted to the very different mystical traditions of the East, Buddhism in particular. The concurrent fluorescence of interest in Kabbalah is in part an attempt to address the obvious attraction of Buddhism, and to a lesser extent Hinduism, to many Jews in search of meaning. Jubus and Bujus are not a threat to the Jewish people’s future in the way secularism is. However, the disproportionate number of born Jews in the ranks of the Buddhists is a symptom of the lack of spiritual connection to our tradition for too many who are yearning for enlightenment. Enlightenment is available within the Jewish tradition. Even enlightenment through meditation is available in Judaism as it is in Buddhism. In addition, Judaism is always immersed in ethics. Buddhism is also a religion of ethics — most of the Eightfold Path is about morality and not meditation. But in the West, converts to Buddhism seem more oriented toward the quest for serenity (Nirvana) and not toward the achievement of a more moral life. At the same time, Judaism is very different from the Indic tradition of Hinduism and Buddhism. The exotic nature of these religions is part of the allure. Yet it is a failure of exploration within real spiritual Judaism that has made this modest exodus to the East possible. This can be changed. ■ Rabbi Richard Baroff is the head of Guardians of the Torah.

Write to Us The Atlanta Jewish Times welcomes letters in response to articles and on issues of interest to the Jewish community. Submit them at atlantajewishtimes .com or email them to mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com. Include where you live (for publication) and a phone number (not for publication) for verification.

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AJT 14

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Lewin Arrives to Lead Emory Healthcare By R.M. Grossblatt

onathan Lewin began his tenure Monday, Feb. 1, as executive vice president for health affairs at Emory University and president and CEO of Emory Healthcare. Lewin comes to Emory after almost 12 years at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, where he was senior vice president for integrated health care delivery, co-chair for strategic planning, and professor and chairman of the department of radiology and radiological science. He also was radiologist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and professor of oncology, neurosurgery and biomedical engineering. “I’m thrilled to be joining a fantastic leadership team at Emory and be able to help move the institution forward in health care delivery and health sciences,” Lewin said in an interview. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to make a great institution even better.” Lewin oversees Emory’s schools of medicine, nursing and public health. Emory announced his appointment Dec. 10. In a news release, university President James Wagner welcomed Lewin and recognized his “impressive track record of innovative and high-impact research, exceptional patient care, and visionary administrative acumen.” Lewin grew up in Cleveland’s large Jewish community. “Clearly one’s core values are greatly shaped by childhood and one’s religious background,” he said. He’s well aware of the Jewish idea that saving one life is like saving mankind. “The privilege to be able to save one life is a tremendous honor for anyone in the medical field.” His role model as a child was his father, a general practitioner. The young Lewin watched his father make house calls in poor neighborhoods. Still, Lewin planned to pursue a doctorate in physical chemistry. He changed his mind in the summer before his junior year of college when he worked as a scrub technician in an orthopedic operating room at Mount Sinai Hospital in Cleveland. A scrub technician hands instruments to the doctor during an operation. By the second operation, Lewin wanted to be a surgeon. With a chemistry degree from Brown in 1981, Lewin entered Yale’s medical school and learned about interventional radiology. This radiology treats disease with less invasive procedures such as a needle or catheter.

Physicians Jonathan and Linda Lewin plan to get to know Atlanta before choosing a synagogue.

Lewin developed the technology in the mid-1990s and earned 25 patents. Now he’s known for his pioneering work in interventional and intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging. After receiving his medical degree in 1985, Lewin interned at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at University Hospitals in Cleveland, a magnetic resonance research fellowship in Germany and a neuroradiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He also received training in head and neck radiology at the Pittsburgh Eye and Ear Hospital. A fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and of the American College of Radiology, serves as the president of the American Roentgen Ray Society, which is America’s oldest professional radiology organization. He is also the president of the International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology and president-elect of the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments. “I seem to attract roles,” he joked. Lewin met his wife, Linda, in high school. A pediatrician and former associate chairwoman of the pediatrics department at the University of Maryland, she also plans to work at Emory. Daughter Sarah lives in New York and is a science writer on Space.com. “She’s a great writer,” said her father, who himself has written around 200 scientific manuscripts, chapters and other papers in his field. Son Benjamin is studying computer science at Tufts University. In Baltimore and Cleveland, the Lewins were members of Reform congregations. They plan to learn more about the area after settling into the Druid Hills neighborhood before picking a new congregation. “Linda and I are excited to join the Atlanta community,” Lewin said. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Emory’s Kitron to Seek Zika’s Secrets By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

he mosquito-borne Zika virus constitutes a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Monday, Feb. 1, and an Emory University professor is going to fight it on the front lines. “A coordinated international response is needed to improve surveillance, the detection of infections, congenital malformations, and neurological complications, to intensify the control of mosquito populations, and to expedite the development of diagnostic tests and vaccines to protect people at risk, especially during pregnancy,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement. An outbreak last year of Zika, which was discovered in Uganda in 1947 and is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito in tropical and subtropical areas, has been linked to a dramatic increase in babies born with microcephaly, or an abnormally small head and brain, in northeastern Brazil. Uriel Kitron, an epidemiologist who chairs the environmental stud-

ies department at Emory University, said Brazil’s Zika outbreak, which followed outbreaks in previous years in Polynesia and Micronesia, drew attention because it spread like wildfire. But it wasn’t considered a major public health issue because the effects — rash, fever, headache, muscle aches — seemed mild compared with dengue fever, a related virus carried by the same mosquito species. Nearly 4,000 cases of microcephaly since October, more than 20 times the number in 2014, seem connected to Zika infections of the mothers in the first trimester of pregnancy, however. That situation is scary enough for some Latin American and Caribbean countries, including El Salvador, Colombia and Jamaica, to recommend that women delay pregnancy by as long as two years while public health officials assess and respond to Zika. As many as 1.5 million Brazilians have been infected with Zika since May, and some travelers have brought it back to the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers updates at www.cdc.gov/zika. “The challenge is really a very com-

plex situation,” Kitron said. “Because so little is known, everything has to be done” to study Zika and why it has broken out now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus is spread through mosquito bites, but Kitron said sexual transmission has been mentioned as a possibility. Aedes aegypti, known as the yellow fever mosquito, does not live as far north as Atlanta but is closely related to the tiger mosquito that torments us each summer. Like most things about Zika, Kitron said, scientists don’t know whether our mosquitoes can spread the virus if they bite a human who was infected while traveling. The extensive epidemiological fieldwork and lab work required to understand the threat take on urgency because of the “horrible human tragedy” and heavy toll on the health system from microcephaly cases, Kitron said. “All of the mosquito-borne diseases are not the same,” he said. “West Nile is not on the same level as Zika. It’s a completely different ballgame.” Kitron for several years has worked with scientists at Brazilian universities to study dengue, but the focus

of that research has shifted to Zika for the simple reason that dengue usually isn’t fatal. Kitron is going to Salvador, Brazil, this month to help with research and control. The WHO said travel restrictions aren’t necessary in response to Zika. Rio de Janeiro is hosting the Summer Olympics this year, but Kitron said the games shouldn’t be an issue because they are limited to the Rio area and occur at a slow time of year for mosquitoes and virus transmission in Brazil. “People are traveling everywhere, so the there’s the potential for bringing things in and out,” Kitron said, and Zika is spreading rapidly without the Olympics. He also indicated that the real story with Zika might not be this particular virus but the general increase in emerging diseases in recent decades, including HIV, Lyme, West Nile, chikungunya, MERS, SARS and Ebola. “Many of us feel this will continue. More and more people are moving into urban areas, making it easier for viruses to move,” Kitron said. “Pathogens emerge from their natural habitat and get to humans.” ■

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AJT 15

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

BRCA’s Big Reveal

Hadassah to honor Schube women for standing up to breast cancer By Cady Schulman cschulman@atljewishtimes.com

axx Schube never thought her two daughters would have to battle breast cancer. But after the BRCA gene mutation was discovered in her family, that’s what happened. Alana was diagnosed with breast cancer at 23, and older daughter Rochelle had a double mastectomy at 29 as a preventive measure. “I don’t know why I didn’t think anything about it,” said Maxx, who herself is a breast cancer survivor and lost a sister to breast cancer. “I didn’t think they’d get the gene. I didn’t think they’d get breast cancer.” Alana was a college senior when she felt a lump during a breast self-exam. When she had a biopsy, the radiologist said there was a 99 percent chance she was fine. Three days later, she got the call that the growth was cancerous. “She’s so strong and so brave, just courage beyond belief for her age,” Maxx said. “She always says, ‘My friends don’t get it, and they don’t know what to say to me.’ I say, ‘You know what, hon? Twenty years from now, you’ll be able to help them. You just got it earlier.’ ” Alana went through chemotherapy; used a Cold Cap, which saves hair by freezing the follicles; and had a double mastectomy. But her cancer came back at age 24, this time under her armpit. “Every day she would talk about a recurrence to the point where I would

get mad at her,” Maxx said. “She said, ‘Mom, I knew I would have a recurrence. I think I’m good.’ ” Alana has gone through another round of chemotherapy and will have surgery and radiation. While Alana was dealing with her first bout of cancer, Rochelle, who had tested positive for the BRCA gene at 23, had an abnormal MRI. After discussing her options with doctors, Rochelle decided to have a prophylactic double mastectomy. “I decided that I just couldn’t wait anymore,” Rochelle said. “I didn’t want to have to go through what my sister was going through. I never wanted my parents to ever have to feel that again.” Last June, Rochelle had the surgery and reconstruction and had to fight her insurance company over the preventive procedure. “It is, but it wasn’t elective,” the social worker said. “It was emotional. To even have to go through this and then have to turn around and have to fight for the thing I’m most upset about, it was definitely an array of emotions. There’s anxiety involved. It’s a major surgery. A lot of people don’t get it. I didn’t do this because I wanted perkier boobs.” She said people don’t understand the difficulty of the choice she and others have made. “It’s not a choice we want to make. It’s not like you can go to the store and say, ‘I’d like to order two mastectomies.’ They’re not going to just give it to you.” The Schubes’ struggles are why

they’re being honored this month at Greater Atlanta Hadassah’s Breast Strokes: The Big Reveal, part of Hadassah Bares All for A.R.T. (Awareness, Research & Treatment). “It’s a really rough story and very emotional,” said Annie Kohut, who works with Hadassah. ‘They’re Greater Atlanta Hadassah is honoring Maxx Schube and a wonderful family. her daughters, Alana and Rochelle, at the Big Reveal. It’s about them.” The event features 35 local breast nazi is enough to warrant being tested.” cancer survivors who volunteered to For the Schube women, being inhave their torsos painted in October. volved with this year’s event is a way to Photos of those body paintings, printed get the word out to other women. on large canvases, will be sold to raise “I don’t want women to be afraid to money for breast cancer research. speak up,” Maxx said. “Cancer doesn’t “It’s very, very meaningful,” Kohut care how old you are anymore. Back said. in the days, it was our grandmother’s It’s also important to get the word disease. It was women in their 60s and out to Jewish women about their chanc- 70s. Now, it’s when you’re in your 20s. es of testing positive for the BRCA gene, This is what’s scary to me: These young said Diane Alexander, the doctor who girls need to take it seriously.” ■ performed Rochelle Schube’s double mastectomy. The gene is more prevaWhat: Breast Strokes lent in the Ashkenazi population. Where: Stave Room at American “Why is a hard question,” AlexSpirit Works, 199 Armour Drive, Atlanta ander said. “In new breast cancers, 10 percent are BRCA-positive that we see. When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 In the Ashkenazi population, it’s much Tickets: $36 for those 36 and under, higher than that. When you’re looking $54 for others until Feb. 12, then $65; www.hadassah.org/events/ for who to test for the BRCA mutation, breaststrokes or 678-443-2961 some surgeons think just being Ashke-

The Torch Gala brings together at the Ritz-Carlton (from left) Marc Ratnowsky, Richard Kopelman, Stacey Rothberg, Michael LeVine, hotel executive Michael Weinberg and Steven Goodman.

Lighting Way for Crohn’s

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

he Torch Gala, the 25th annual fundraiser for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s Georgia Chapter, drew more than 520 people and raised over $430,000 for research and other programs Saturday night, Jan. 23, at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. It was a record turnout for the event, whose honorees included Stacey Rothberg, Volunteer of the Year; Dr. Michael LeVine, Premier Physician Award; and Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, Corporate Citizens of the Year. Steven Goodman and Marc Ratnowsky served as the co-chairmen of the gala. The goal for the night was to raise $400,000 to add to the $6.2 million the gala had raised 16 in its first 24 years. ■

AJT

Photos by Heidi Morton

Torch Gala co-chairmen Steven Goodman (left) and Marc Ratnowsky flank Dr. Michael LeVine, the winner of the Premier Physician Award.

Stacey Rothberg, diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2000, holds her award for Volunteer of the Year with Steven Goodman (left) and Marc Ratnowsky.

Richard Kopelman, the CEO and managing partner of Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, represents the accounting firm in accepting the Corporate Citizens of the Year award. With him are Steven Goodman (left) and Marc Ratnowsky.

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Rocky Road to Recovery By Logan C. Ritchie lritchie@atljewishtimes.com

anuary 2014: I am curled up on a loved, worn-in couch and bawling my eyes out with a woman I’ve never met before. She’s handing me tissues and water. I’m telling her everything I want and need in order to start anew. I want my clothes to fit. I want energy to play with my kids. I want to overhaul my relationship with food. Through empathetic, patient eyes she tells me all the right things: This is a journey. You’re ready for this. You can do this. She’s not my therapist; she’s my new health coach. Hiring a health coach sounds so luxurious and exclusive, but I couldn’t afford not to engage in a new plan. Bridget Elliott showed me a glimpse of how to blaze a new path of wellness, fitness, strength and emotional growth. In just a few months I went from broken to badass. Recognizing that I was wrecked was a long, boring, expensive process. By the time I met Bridget, I had been on steroids to reduce gut inflammation for nearly a year — steroids that chipped away at my bones, tripled my

appetite, negated my metabolism and gave me a round hump on the back of my neck. For some with autoimmune diseases, steroids are a necessary evil. I wanted off the meds. In addition to my long list of medicines designed to be fighting gastrointestinal disease, I was overweight. Pain was normal. Depression was normal. Dragging myself out of bed, bailing on social functions, struggling to make dinner: It was all normal. First, my diet got a total overhaul. I stopped eating dairy, and my sinuses cleared. I stopped eating grains, and my sleep improved. I stopped drinking alcohol, and my patience grew. Changes were undeniable. March 2014: Several weeks into my time with Bridget, I was hospitalized for an obstructed intestine. The throbbing hit me just as I embarked on a solo drive from Birmingham to Atlanta. Through four hours of radiating pain I cried, drove and kept in touch with Bridget by phone. She invested her day in getting me home in one piece. Hours later I was admitted to Piedmont Hospital. After two days of hospital rest, pumped full of steroids and painkillers,

After all the training, Logan Ritchie didn’t let a freezing morning stop her from running her first 5K.

I was sent home with yet another prescription. This journey wasn’t headed down a well-paved highway. I struggled with exercise. When I told Bridget, “I’m Jewish. I don’t do sweat,” she laughed and said, “You do now.” She encouraged, texted, emailed and cajoled me into trying a boot camp workout that meets in the park across from my house. How could I watch out my window a great group of people working out and not join them? I cried during the first three workouts. I cried while trying to run (read: walk) up a massive hill. I cried while trying to do a sit-up. Just one. I cried while my face was in the grass as I tried to heave myself off the ground in a pushup position. You know how many pushups I did last week at boot camp? About 30.

And there was Bridget: “You got this, Logan!” Today: A fog has lifted in my life. This story is not about how many pounds I lost or how my autoimmune disease is being managed by food, exercise and meditation. This story is about seeking help, allowing someone else to drive the bus for a while, and being vulnerable to new experiences. My kids check my FitBit to discover how many miles I run each day. We go out for runs together in my hilly neighborhood. My husband is proud of my perseverance. He and I talk about the importance of health and staying engaged in exercise. And I just ran my first 5k race. I stopped making excuses and moved forward. Now when I hear Bridget say, “You got this!” I think, “Yeah, I really do.” ■

HAMSA: Jewish Response to Heroin Crisis bed as my body deteriorated. I was slamming my fist into my skull. The blows and ringing in my ears distracted my mind from the toil of withdrawal.

Guest Column By Adam Abramowitz

The pressure of pain provided by the removal of substances thrust me into delirium, and by the third day of my detox I began to look for a way out. Lying there, daylight creeping in through window blinds, I considered ending my life. The thought of instantly allowing myself to feel nothing eased my pain. I wanted a quick release, an end to my suffering. The fear of releasing myself from living caused my mind to search for hope. A purpose for my pain began to develop, and I stayed stoic in my fight for a new freedom. I held on to a past experience of living without the crutch

of drugs and alcohol as I clenched my teeth and gripped my bedsheets. I knew the removal of heroin from my system would spark a new outlook on life, a new sense of purpose and a reason to live. I would fight through the pain of now. Eventually, I knew I would be able to wake up and not need anything to feel OK. I’ve been sober ever since. Sharing my experiences has tapped a new passion for life. I write every day and have drafted a manuscript of my own journey since recovering. It’s documentation of what life is like for a person who has recovered from heroin and is now pursuing a dream: to become a published author. The process of recovery has magnified the voice in my head — a voice that wants a life of creativity. I’ve been given the tools and the mind-set to see my dreams unfold as I pursue what I believe in and what I feel. I have led two sober Birthright trips to Israel. The vision that got me through detox, the hope I would find purpose for my pain, has manifested. Through Jewish Family & Career

Services’ HAMSA program, I have been provided unique opportunities to connect with other Jewish addicts and alcoholics. In a 12-step world of recovery that revolves around the idea of G-d, it is liberating to be involved with a sober community based around our culture and our religious heritage. HAMSA (Helping Atlantans Manage Substance Abuse) has a full-time, dedicated substance abuse counselor and a team of support staff providing educational and outreach programming to help people like myself. As I live and breathe, I have discovered the only thing that truly matters is transparent honesty. If we can be honest with ourselves and vocal about how we feel, the world will show up to help. ■ FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

he U.S. rate of deadly heroin overdoses quadrupled from 2002 to 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heroin-related suicides and overdoses kill more people than car accidents. In 2000, black Americans ages 45 to 64 had the highest death rate from heroin overdoses. Now, white people ages 18 to 44 have the highest death rate from overdose and suicide. According to the CDC, heroin hits young adults hardest, leaving non-Hispanic white men ages 18 to 25 at highest risk for addiction. If you think this doesn’t apply to the Jewish community, you are wrong. Meet Adam Abramowitz, one among many. I am no different than any other drug addict or alcoholic. I’ve spent days, months, years powerless over my desire to drink and drug. “What’s the point of living if I can’t feel happy or high all the time?” The last time I thought that, I was lying in my room, detoxing from heroin. Three years ago, I shuddered in

Adam Abramowitz is a clinical technician and counselor at Ridgeview Institute in Smyrna. JF&CS’ HAMSA supports those in recovery and their loved ones. HAMSA counselors provide education and prevention programming at middle schools and high schools. For more information, visit ytfl.org/HAMSA. 17

AJT

BUSINESS

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Ben Cohen says he is excited to start helping Sandy Springs residents at his new practice, Excel Chiropractic.

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andy Springs’ highly anticipated City Springs project won’t be completed until at least 2017, but new chiropractor Ben Cohen is getting a head start on the growth in the area. The 26-year-old Life University graduate has opened a practice less than a block from the development and hopes to become a destination in the new walkable city center. “This whole town is about to explode,” he said. “If I can have anything to do with that, it would be amazing. It’s just an opportunity for me to help that many more people.” Cohen opened Excel Chiropractic in October, just a year after graduating from Life, because he was drawn by the idea of connecting to the community. “The entrepreneurial side of chiropractic really spoke to me,” he said. “I loved the idea that I wasn’t going to be working in a hospital when I graduated, but I’d actually get to be a smallbusiness owner and be a part of the community as well.”

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

Litigator Freed Joins Barnes & Thornburg

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Gary Freed has moved from the Thompson Hine law firm to become a partner at Barnes & Thornburg and boost its litigation department, his new firm announced in late January. As a litigator, Freed counsels clients on business matters ranging from restrictive covenants and trade secrets to business dissolution, lending and real estate. His clients include financial institutions, high-tech companies, manufacturers, developers, judges, athletes and insurers. He has contested cases in arbitra-

Step into his business at the intersection of Mount Vernon Highway and Johnson Ferry Road, and it’s easy to see why he is excited. Granite countertops and stylish furnishings greet patients, and the practice boasts such state-ofthe-art equipment as digital X-ray and thermal nerve scan machines. Cohen pipes in 1970s classic rock for a truly laid-back atmosphere. The building, which was home to a dry-cleaning business, was far from state-of-the-art when Cohen signed his lease nearly a year ago. “We took this place from the ground up,” he said. “It was a cement slab with no walls, and we just went to town. I want people to leave their stress at the door when they come in here. This is your time to enjoy yourself, relax with a little classic rock and get your adjustment.” Excel Chiropractic is holding a grand opening with a ribbon cutting Saturday, Feb. 13, from 1 to 3 p.m. “There’s such a sense of pride to come in every day and turn on the lights to this place,” Cohen said. “Nothing has felt like a chore because I’m doing what I love, which is helping people.” ■ tion and state and federal courts in more than 25 states and has a special interest in Chinese business matters. He is also a trained mediator and arbitrator. “With nearly 35 years of broad legal experience, Gary brings a unique knowledge base to our clients facing a variety of litigation concerns,” said Stuart Johnson, the managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg’s Atlanta office. An Emory University School of Law graduate, Freed has been active with the American Jewish Committee and the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and has served as the president of the DeKalb County Bar Association. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Above: Atlanta Jewish Academy secondgrader Mollie Engler reads from the Torah with Rav Shachar Shalom. Left top: Atlanta Jewish Academy secondgraders Micah Lembeck and Ari Monheit help act out the escape from Egypt. Left bottom: Atlanta Jewish Academy second-grader Ari Elkounovitch reads from the Torah with Rav Shachar Shalom.

Pupils of the Book

Both Atlanta Jewish Academy and Torah Day School of Atlanta held celebrations in January to mark the presentation of crucial books to some of their young pupils. At AJA, second-graders each received a chumash, containing the Torah portions and their accompanying haftorah pieces of Scripture, to honor their achievements in Torah learning. Led by teachers Lian Shalom, Cheryl Kunis and Miriam Fuchs, the second-graders acted out the escape

from Egypt, including crossing the Red Sea, and the giving of the Torah. They also sang songs, including a list of all the Torah portions; played instruments; and each read from a Sefer Torah with Rav Shachar Shalom. “Your new chumash contains all the information you need to solve the problems you encounter in life,” Associate Head of School Leah Summers told the children. “It will show you the right way to live, the right way to behave. Now you can read it yourself and discover what it’s trying to tell you.”

At TDSA, the first-graders received their first siddurim (prayer books) and celebrated with musical plays. The first-grade girls’ original play was directed by parent alumna Rachelle Freedman in conjunction with teachers Michal Donowitz and Miriam Goldberger. The first-grade boys performed their own play, positioning them to begin davening with Rabbi Shalom Yosef Horowitz. Also at Torah Day School, Rabbi Akiva Gross’ middle-schoolers recently taught chumash to kindergartners. ■

Above: Torah Day School teacher Rabbi Shalom Yosef Horowitz (left) and Head of School Rabbi Joshua Einzig share a first-grader’s excitement at receiving his first siddur. Left top & bottom: One of TDSA’s firstgraders receives her first siddur during a celebration that included a play. Below: Torah Day School kindergartners receive a chumash lesson from an older student at the school.

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

EDUCATION

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EDUCATION

Birthright Lesson: Israel Never Falls Short

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n the days leading up to my first trip to Israel through Taglit-Birthright, many friends and neighbors, intrigued at the exotic nature of the place I was to visit, remarked on how excited I must be. But I didn’t know how to feel. As a Georgia native, resident and university student, the farthest I had traveled was to California. Many of my friends had been on Birthright and had amazing experiences. I wanted the same but knew nothing was guaranteed. Now that I have had time to reflect on my time in Israel, I can say with certainty that the trip was one of the best I have been on, and I am forever grateful to have had this illuminating experience visiting and learning so much about the home of the Jewish people. I believe that dissecting and speaking solely about my personal experience would be more suited for a journal or my forever inquisitive mother. Instead, I hope to provide a broader view of the trip and what I’d like to think the other Birthright alumni took away. I’d like to preface this by saying that Israel is a beautiful country. It is a shame that most of what you hear about it comes from the news. Every step you take in the country has history — often ancient — attached to it. There are beautiful mountains, bodies of water and observatories that complement sunsets like puzzle pieces. What sticks out to me above all, and what I think makes Birthright so rare, are the people and the social dynamic. I knew four people pretty well before the trip, and the rest were strangers or people I had had minimal interaction with. In my estimation, this was the case for most people. So what happened over the 10 days was remarkable. Our bus, Bus 1290, clicked almost immediately. Most nights would end with a conversation about Judaism — our own, how it is practiced and where we think we fit within that. When it comes to talks like that, people have to buy in completely, or it doesn’t work. To ask people to reveal their religious beliefs and intimate thoughts, especially to mostly unfamiliar faces, is a daunting proposition. Yet every discussion peeled back tragedy and

hardship, doubt and insecurity, pride and nostalgia. It was some of the most mature, intelligent and respectful conversation I have been a part of. The more I thought about why this was the case, and why it occurred so naturally, the more it affirmed why

Guest Column By Evan Greenberg

I am proud to be Jewish. Whenever I meet another Jewish person, I feel as though a shorthand underscores any conversation we have. We have some shared notion of life and core values. When you multiply that sensation by 30, it’s magnified astronomically. That most people in the group were strangers — a situation that changed rapidly anyway — quickly became irrelevant. It was extraordinary. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Israeli soldiers who joined us for five days: Omri, Idan, Ilan, Tomar, Lior and Barak. They all blended seamlessly into our group. They were all college-aged, and it was fascinating not only to talk to them about their contrasting lives, but also to observe that they think and act in ways that are not dissimilar to ours. I would also like to thank our endlessly knowledgeable tour guide, Stav, as well as Mara and Jeremy from UGA Hillel, who kept us organized and sane as we navigated through the country. In just 10 days, I became part of a Jewish community of my peers. We laughed, we cried, and we cheered as some of us celebrated becoming b’nai mitzvah in Jerusalem. In a post-trip conversation, someone who had been to Israel before said Israel always rises to the occasion, and I found this profound. There is wonder and spectacle in every inch of the country. Israel serves as an impetus for growth, conversation and communion among Jewish people, a satellite that beams across the globe. What an incredible thing that is. ■ Evan Greenberg, a magazine journalism major at the University of Georgia who is due to graduate in 2017, participated in a Hillels of Georgia Birthright trip during winter break.

EDUCATION

Photo by R.M. Grossblatt

TDSA Championship

Rabbi Michael Alterman and fellow coach Charles Diener celebrate with the Torah Day School Thunder varsity basketball team after the boys won their division championship with a 39-35 win over the Museum School on Thursday, Jan. 28. The week before, the TDSA junior varsity won its division championship.

Ben Franklin Reaccredited

Ben Franklin Academy earned continuing accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement at the December meeting of Alpharetta-based AdvancED’s Accreditation Commission. Ben Franklin, in the Emory area, has held accreditation since 1992. “Accreditation demonstrates to our students, parents and community that we are focused on raising student achievement, providing a safe and enriching learning environment, and maintaining an efficient and effective operation staffed by highly qualified educators,” Head of School Martha Burdette said. SACS CASI grants accreditation for five years, based on an evaluation by a team of professionals against the organization’s standards and the implementation of a continuous process of school improvement. “SACS CASI accreditation is a rigorous process that focuses the entire school on the primary goal of creating lifelong learners,” Mark Elgart, the president and CEO of AdvancED, said in a statement. “Ben Franklin Academy is to be commended for engaging in this process and demonstrating a commitment to continuous improvement.”

were Georgia Tech at No. 47 with $1.86 billion, down 1.6 percent from $1.89 billion, and the University of Georgia at No. 92 with $1 billion, up 3 percent from $976 million. Altogether, 93 U.S. universities had endowments of at least $1 billion, led by Harvard University at $36.4 billion. NACUBO reported that the average endowment among 812 reporting institutions gained 2.4 percent from investments in fiscal 2015, compared with 15.5 percent in 2014.

Emory University had the 17thlargest university endowment in the nation for fiscal 2015, according to the annual National Association of College and University Business OfficersCommonfund Study of Endowments, released Wednesday, Jan. 27. Emory’s endowment had a market value of $6.7 billion, unchanged from fiscal 2014, making it one of three university endowments in Georgia worth at least $1 billion. The others

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

Emory Endowment 17th

AJT 21

AJT

22 5

ACROSS 2. ‫( נהר‬23:31) 4. ‫( שן‬21:24) 6. ‫( לבד‬22:19)

DOWN 1. ‫( ארבעים‬24:18) 3. ‫( לפני‬21:1) 5. ‫( יד‬21:12) 7. ‫( אכל‬24:11) 8. ‫( שור‬21:32)

HATO

NYOEM

(Hint: Laws of Damages, Parsha Mishpatim, Ch. 22, verses 4-8)

BUEDLO

NLTEOS

(scramble)

LFDEI

EIRF

WORD CMRLESAB

• ֿThe teacher yelled at you for talking when you weren’t. • Your lunch was missing from your locker.

Can you judge these situations favorably?

you be the judge

Check your answers at: www.thefamousabba.com/mishpatim

Complete the crossword by translating each Hebrew word into English. Use the parsha reference for help.

CROSSWORD

• A Jew lending money to another Jew. (22:24) • The Shabbat of the week and of the years. (23:10)

Act out these scenes with friends and family:

PARSHA SKIT ideas

Courage: Befriend another child that doesn't have many friends.

H D

E T

Brought to you by:

A T

www.thefamousabba.com

S I

WORD FIND

Find the bold italic words on this sheet. The unused letters spell a secret message!

The Torah details the law of a Jewish slave. If someone hurts another person on purpose, he is punished. If it was done by accident, there is a place to which he can run for safety and to seek refuge. The Torah tells us not to hurt a mother or father or to kidnap another person. If an animal hurts a person more than once, then the owner of the animal will be punished. Jews are commanded not to leave open pits in the ground, not to steal animals, and to make sure their animals don’t cause any damage. HaShem also gave the laws of borrowing and lending objects to other Jews. A Jew is told to be extra nice and help converts, orphans and widows and to extend interest free loans to other Jews. Judges must be honest at all times. Jews are permitted to work the land for 6 years and the 7th year is Shabbat for the land. HaShem tells the Jews to come to Him for Passover, Shavuos and Succot. HaShem says He will help remove the people currently living in Israel so the Jews can live there. The Jewish people agreed to everything that HaShem said and declared “We will do and we listen ”. Moshe went to the top of the mountain to receive the stone tablets.

27 SHEVAT 5776 PARSHAT MISHPATIM

FRUIT

‫לז‬ +‫ג‬

‫כ‬ x‫ה‬

‫ב‬

‫סח צא ע‬ - ‫ סט‬- ‫לד ÷ פט‬

weekly chinuch podcast - over 100 posted! parsha + chinuch < 5 minutes www.thefamousabba.com/podcasts

400 300 200 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

‫א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת‬

‫א‬ x‫א‬

The Gemara details the laws of damages in:

gematria

• Into which blessings of the Shemoneh Esreh is "Al Ha-Nissim" inserted into on Purim? • True or False: One should recite 4 blessings at a meal consisting of water, spaghetti, meatballs, and green beans.

HOLY TEMPLE

SPRING

blessings

MATZAH 5

spot the difference

A shochet's knife An apple on a tree An orange on a table Your pet’s food

Which one is different? (Hint: The 3 Pilgrimage Festivals, Ch. 23)

• • • •

Muktzeh is something that is not “prepared” for use before Shabbat and can’t be moved during Shabbat. Are the following items muktzeh?

SHABBat

Share two things that made you think about HaShem this week.

WEEK IN REVIEW

SUPER SHABBat SHEET

good trait OF THE MONTH

CANDLELIGHTING IN JERUSALEM 4:36 P.M.

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

EDUCATION www.atlantajewishtimes.com

AJT

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

ARTS

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77 Years of Laughing at Himself ‘Jerry-atric’ stands up to tell Farber’s story By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com

ocal Jewish comedian Jerry Farber is the subject of a short documentary, “Jerry-atric: One Comic’s 77-Year Climb to the Top of the Bottom,” having its world premiere at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival as part of the third shorts program. The film’s director, Leanna Adams, is herself a comedian, as well as a writer, producer and actor. Based in Atlanta, Adams runs an online comedy troupe called Decent Humans and is part of the Sketchworks group in Decatur. Her award-winning work has been shown on LaughsTV, TBS, and Funny or Die. AJT: Why did you pick Jerry Farber for a documentary profile? Adams: I was talking to my husband one day, and I said someone should do a documentary on this man. He’s a living legend. He’s a social Woody Allen. He can make anyone feel like he’s their friend. He’s the opposite of elitist. He’s down to earth, treats everyone like a real person, and (my husband) said, “Well, why don’t you do a documentary on him?”

Jerry Farber, who played tennis for the University of North Carolina many moons ago, sports a North Carolina sweat shirt.

AJT: How did it all come about? Adams: I ran into Jerry in town when I was first getting into comedy — figuring out what I was good at, what I wanted to do. Acting in comedy is my love, my passion, what I have some talent in, but I didn’t know: Is it standup? Is it improv? Is it sketch? So I was dabbling, doing research, going out and seeing shows. I took a standup class, and I went to Jerry’s bar. I had met him before, I knew he was funny, and I liked him, but this one night when I was going to perform, he came to me and said, “What’s your dream?” I told him, “I want to be on ‘SNL’ (‘Saturday Night Live’).” He asked me, “What are you doing every day to make it happen? Are you reading the news?” He just started

quizzing me, and he really got me to thinking about news and how to attack it and treat it seriously. He was the first older person in the entertainment industry who talked Jerry Farber does what he does best — standup comedy. to me like that him, and I really would like to do it. His and listened to what I said and then latest club — he closed it. He brokered gave me advice, and he was so genera deal to get Punchline in there. I was ous with it. there (filming) the night it closed, and the young comics came and roasted AJT: How did the project evolve? Adams: I’ve been working on this Jerry. There are tons of them dishing at project with Jerry for the last few years. him. Then there were these moments I knew I wanted to work with him, of sweetness like “Jerry is the first one so first I did a web series with him as to give me time onstage.” I interviewed the bartender at his bar. It was nice, some of them. I want to do more. What is it like but he wasn’t that comfortable in the to tour as a senior citizen? Lots of crazy situation, and he didn’t get to shine like I knew he could. He can just riff comedy could happen if I followed him with people any time. I’m a huge fan around some more. I hope people will of standup, but I couldn’t do the late enjoy the film, but what really drew nights. He’s still so good; I think he me to Jerry was that his story is universal. Even if you’re not a standup commainly kills instead of dies. edy fan, no matter what you’re doing, AJT: Your film is 18 minutes long. just to do it for that long, that was a big draw. And he’s still open about his Are you planning a longer version? Adams: I have more footage on flaws and willing to give advice. ■

AJFF Review: 2 Windows Into Rabin’s Life, Death By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

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itzhak Rabin was assassinated 20 years ago last November, so it’s natural that the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival should offer multiple looks at the Israeli prime minister who, for a moment, seemed to hold the key to actual Israeli-Palestinian peace. The documentary “Rabin in His Own Words” and the Oliver Stone-style docudrama “Rabin, the Last Day” are well made, though more interesting than entertaining. If you plan to see one, you should see both. “Rabin in His Own Words” is the less challenging of the two, in part because it’s 40 minutes shorter than “The Last Day.” The film is basically recordings of Rabin talking about his life, along with archival photos and videos. The approach works well in telling the basic life story but goes only so deep. Rabin doesn’t engage in meaningful self-analysis about how particular events affected him or molded

man, not the other his outlook. He way around. also doesn’t sift Director Erez through a lifetime Laufer deserves of experiences thanks for porand declare some traying Rabin as more important a real person and than others. not just a symbol, Fortunately, Much of “Rabin, the Last Day” takes place even as the film he doesn’t seem to in interrogation rooms as investigators inevitably moves have taken himtry to figure out what happened. to its conclusion self too seriously, and there are some funny moments, in what is now Rabin Square in Tel Aviv as when a TV interviewer asks Rabin on a November night in 1995. All the film is missing are viewwhether he ever wonders, “I am prime minister?” Rabin, at that point in his points other than Rabin’s. For non-Rabin perspectives, we second stint leading the Israeli government, pauses, sighs, rolls his eyes and have Amos Gitai’s conspiracy-driven “Last Day,” which begins with a lengthy replies, “Well, first of all, it’s a fact.” That self-deprecating humor is the monologue from Shimon Peres about happiest revelation in the documen- his Labor Party rival and peace ally. Lengthy is the key word. Like tary. As with Abraham Lincoln, another man who was assassinated while Stone, who needed over three hours trying to lead a divided nation into each for “JFK” and “Nixon,” Gitai lets a peaceful future, martyrdom buries “Last Day” run a leisurely 2½ hours to part of Rabin’s greatness: He shrugged explore how the assassin got to Rabin. Much has been written about the off his importance, seeing himself as an example of the times making the film and its effectiveness at portray-

ing the killer not as some lone fanatic compelled to act by vicious anti-Rabin, anti-Oslo rhetoric, but as the intentional product of an organized incitement campaign. So it’s a surprise that Gitai holds back in chasing the conspiracy. Early on, he shows a secret gathering of settler leaders and rabbis deciding to condemn Rabin to death. But Gitai doesn’t directly tie that cabal to the government, let alone implicate the man who has been an increasingly dominant force in Israeli politics since Rabin’s assassination, Benjamin Netanyahu. As a portrayal of the anger splitting Israel under the Oslo Accords and as an exposé of the disappointing level of competence of those charged with protecting our leaders, “Last Day” is indispensable. The filmmaking is top notch, especially in telling the entertaining story of frustrated investigators. Just don’t expect that “JFK”-style moment of Donald Sutherland breaking down the conspiracy from a park bench in downtown Washington. ■

ARTS

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Food, Fashion Roll on AJFF Red Carpet

he opening-night gala for the 23day Atlanta Jewish Film Festival greeted 850 in-crowders and movie aficionados Tuesday, Jan. 26, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The Sweet Sixteen-themed gala for the 16th festival featured food from local and Israeli celebrity chefs, an open bar, and live entertainment. “I am honored to have been chair of this event and to work with Kenny Blank and his amazing team,” said Martha Jo Katz, one of Atlanta’s most admired former professional models. “This opening night brought together a dazzling array of vendors and volunteers allowing it to be not only beautiful, but also successful. I had so many guests say, ‘This is the most enjoyable and fun event of the year.’ That is the highest compliment for me and all the people who work so hard to bring this opening night to fruition.” Ever elegant, Martha Jo donned a Vince silk blouse, Ralph Lauren Black Label velveteen pants and silk shantung Neiman Marcus jacket. Her earrings were by Israeli-born designer Roni Blanshay. The ballroom was spacious and vibrant with plumages of hot-pink feathers and opalescent lighted rectangular stands.

Restaurants and chefs participating in the gala included Bistro Niko, Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse, Del Frisco’s Grille, Dolce, For All Occasions & More, The General Muir, Ouzeria, Paces & Vine, Il Giallo Osteria & Bar, Restaurant Eugene, Rumi’s Kitchen, South City Kitchen, Sprinkles Cupcakes, and Batdorf & Bronson.

Jaffe’s Jewish Jive By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

Murmurs last year were that the food was too seafood-oriented, but the pendulum swung back by over-featuring beef this year. My favorite was The General Muir’s salmon gefilte fish, which was a far cry from the traditional pickly, jarred oval bites. Asked what “gefilte” means to salmon, chef/owner Todd Ginsberg said, “It’s chopped Scottish salmon with ground matzah.” One of the most popular and creative vendors was Tel Aviv’s Ouzeria with a buffet of authentic and varied tastes, starting with fish wrapped in katafia pastry over avocado cream and ending in a tehina panna cotta silan dessert. Chef Avivit Priel Avichai had the support of the Israeli Consulate’s

cultural attache, Yonit Stern, who was especially sentimental because one of the festival’s documentaries, “Every Face Has a Name,” includes her mother’s plight as a survivor. Caterer Sandra Bank and her husband, Clive, extolled Ouzeria’s cuisine as their favorite of the night. Ina Pinkney, star of her own documentary, “Breakfast at Ina’s,” was sampling Davio’s mushroom gnocchi. She said: “I love the hospitality in Atlanta. I was here before at a Les Dames d’Escoffier event and am thrilled to premiere my movie here.” Impresario George Lefont said the opening-night movie, “Remember,” although not scheduled for a second festival screening, will be shown at his theater in Sandy Springs during its general release. Prompted to choose one film, AJFF Executive Director Kenny Blank said, “I think ‘Song of Songs’ will be the most poetic and artistic for our Atlanta audience.” The film is a tableau of Russian shtetl life inspired by the folklore of Sholem Aleichem. Blank’s sidekick was Lesli Greenberg, the festival’s development director, who was dressed in a multizippered, black, midlength dress by Marc Jacobs. The late Joan Rivers was there in spirit as we experienced one of Atlanta’s tastiest red carpets with a Jewish twist. ■

Photo by Marcia Caller Jaffe

It’s a big night for festival Executive Director Kenny Blank and Development Director Lesli Greenberg.

Photo by Marcia Caller Jaffe

Theater mogul George Lefont is flanked by Donna Lefont (left) and Wendy Babchen.

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

Photos by Eli Gray, Gray Imaging

A: Gala chair Martha Jo Katz takes a break in her Vince silk blouse, Ralph Lauren Black Label velveteen pants and silk shantung jacket. B: Festival patron Alli Allen is warm and fashionable in her Sherlock Holmes jacket from Anthropologie. A mother of two daughters, she is looking forward to “Look at Us Now, Mother!” C: Clive and Sandra Bank favor the Israeli treats from Ouzeria. D: Dr. Ed Gerson (right) dines on salmon gefilte fish with chef Todd Ginsberg of The General Muir. E: Brenda Benamy Lewis sparkles in a silver number from Bergdorf Goodman by Lanvin. She’s looking forward to seeing “The Front” for its 40th anniversary. F: Marcia Caller Jaffe, in Nicole Miller, chats with Ina Pinkney, star subject of “Breakfast at Ina’s.” She flew in from Chicago for her film’s premiere. G: Mark Kopkin, in a custom-made sports jacket, poses with Tami Wecksler in David Meister from Neiman Marcus. Charles David shoes complete her look. H: Hot-pink plumes brighten the room at the Cobb Energy Centre.

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ARTS

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Casablanca Goes Native in ‘Midnight Orchestra’ By Bob Bahr

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

aptain Renault (Claude Rains): What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca? Rick (Humphrey Bogart): My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters. Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert. Rick: I was misinformed. Not only was Bogart misinformed, but in “Casablanca,” the 1942 Hollywood classic, so were the screenwriters. They evidently forgot, for the sake of a witty line, that Casablanca was not a desert outpost somewhere in the Sahara, but a great Moroccan city on the Mediterranean. The waters, as Renault should have known, were everywhere. But waters, schmaters, who cared in 1940s Hollywood exactly where Casablanca was? Everyone knew it was, after all, nothing more than a flimsy set on the back lot at Warner Bros. And the only thing that mattered was where Casablanca was in our imagination. Almost 75 years after the premiere of Hollywood’s Casablanca, a Moroc-

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“The Midnight Orchestra” stars Aziz Dadas (left) as Ali and Avishay Benazra as Michael.

can film, “The Midnight Orchestra,” takes us back to Casablanca to examine the power the city exerts on the imagination. Only this time the story is about Moroccans, both Jews and Muslims, and how the city, its culture and even the waters have shaped their lives. Michael Botbol, played by the Jewish Moroccan actor Avishay Benazra, is a successful Wall Street speculator who comes back from New York to the city of his birth. He is hoping to repair the fractured relationship he has with his father, Marcel, a famous Moroccan Jew-

ish musician, who has also returned to the city after many years abroad. Their return home — indeed, their universal story of return and remembrance — lies at the heart of the film, whose U.S. premiere is at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. For 2,000 years Jews have gone to Morocco, first as refugees from the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and later as victims of Christian and Muslim persecution. Life there was not always easy, and the relationships with their non-Jewish neighbors have had ups and downs. But by the 20th century Moroccan Jews had become an integral part of the culture of the country. Today the king even has an influential Jewish adviser. When I spoke recently with the Jewish director of “The Midnight Orchestra,” Jerome Cohen-Olivar, who lives and works in Casablanca, he talked about how well he gets along there. “My best friends are Muslims. There is this strong friendship and this brotherhood that exists between Jews and Muslims. In my own case my friendship with Muslims is sometimes stronger than my relationship with other Jews.” To partially finance the film, the government-supported Moroccan Film Production Center lent the production $600,000. That doesn’t sound like much by American standards, but this film, made by Jews about Jews, received more government support than any other Moroccan film in history. In Casablanca, where the film premiered late last year, it’s a big success. Cohen-Olivar, who wrote the script as well as directed, said: “It’s a cultural phenomenon. It’s been in theaters for 14 weeks. It’s a huge hit. People love it. And the people who like it the most are Muslim religious people.” But if Morocco has come to terms with its Jews and they have full rights as citizens, it has been too little, too late for many. At its peak, the Moroccan Jewish community numbered over 300,000, the largest in the Arab world. Only about 2,500 Jews remain. As CohenOlivar put it, “They are only like a drop of water in the ocean.” A strong Islamic nationalist movement, the threat of violence and a major program by the Israeli government to support aliyah led to mass immigration. Many went to Israel, where Moroccan Jews number over 1 million; others to France, Canada and the United States. But a Morocco without Jews

Photos by Stefano Berca

The funeral of Marcel helps bring together the members of his old band in “The Midnight Orchestra.”

doesn’t mean a Morocco without a Jewish memory. Wherever Jews have gone, whatever success they have achieved elsewhere, “The Midnight Orchestra seems to say,” the country they left remains deeply embedded in their collective memory. “You scratch the surface and Morocco comes back,” Cohen-Olivar said. “It’s crazy. It gives rise to a lot of depression and neurosis because to alter your identity is very hard. I tried doing it when I went to the United States to study, and it was very hard.” And so it is with Michael Botbol, who returns to Morocco only to see his father die soon after. To honor his father’s memory and the memory of a culture he had tried to forget, he reassembles his father’s old orchestra of Muslim musicians. The reunion is made more difficult because the musicians have become estranged in the many years since they gave their last performance. But Michael bridges the differences to heal the wounds, imagined and otherwise, and create harmony again between Muslims and Jews. They reassemble for a final bittersweet moment at the father’s burial. “Music is what brings them together,” Cohen-Olivar said, “but that’s really just a metaphor for a people who have been deprived of so much.” ■ After the festival Bob Bahr is teaching a six-week course, “Fitting In: A Short History of Jewish Film in America,” sponsored by the AJFF and the Breman Museum. It begins Wednesday, Feb. 24, at The Temple (the-temple.org).

ARTS

Singer Noa’s Career Arc Brings Her to Kennesaw By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

Above: Noa performs with longtime collaborator Gil Dor, who will join her in concert in Kennesaw. Below: Noa, the first Jewish Israeli singer to perform at the Vatican, visits Pope Francis for a Vatican show in July.

with Bach’s “Ave Maria” on an album produced by Pat Matheny, who discovered her. The artistic director of a Vatican event was a big Pat Matheny fan, so he listened to Noa’s album and liked her “Ave Maria” enough to invite her to the show. Pope John Paul II became a big fan, Noa said, and she performed for him eight or nine times. She also sang at the Vatican for Benedict XVI and returned in July to perform for Francis. “Not bad for a Jewish girl from the Bronx,” Noa said, especially a selftaught musician. She sees herself as carrying on the spirit of singer-songwriters such as Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and Leonard Cohen. While her collaborator for a quarter-century, Gil Dor, the yin to her yang, is thorough, intricate and meticulous, “I’m more volcanic in my approach.” But they complement each other, she said, with common interests and characteristics and a shared desire never to let their careers detract from their separate family lives. Dor and Noa will take the stage together in Kennesaw for an acoustic show with a guitar and various percussion instruments touching on a wide range of musical styles, she said. “It’s just good music. That’s what we try to make.” ■ Who: Noa with Gil Dor Where: Morgan Hall, Bailey Performance Center, Kennesaw State University, 488 Prillaman Way, Kennesaw When: 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14 Tickets: $40 to $65 in advance, $50 to $75 at the door, or free with a donation of at least $100 to the Arava Institute; arava.org/join-us/atlanta

Saturday, March 19, 2016 7-11PM • Ivy Hall at Roswell Mill

Bid on items in our auction, dance the night away, and hug your rabbi…it’s your choice! For tickets, to be a sponsor or to place an ad in the tribute book, visit our website or call

www.kolemeth.net 770-973-3533

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

ne of Israel’s most popular singer-songwriters is taking time from an American tour to perform a benefit concert in Kennesaw on Valentine’s Day. Achinoam Nini, known internationally as Noa, is waiving her usual fee for the concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, whose students include Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians working together in southeastern Israel. “It’s an amazing place,” Noa, an Arava board member, said in a phone interview in January, adding that she loves the place and the idea of a multicultural institute focused on learning about and protecting the desert. “I’ve seen what they’re doing, and I’m incredibly impressed.” The institute models the kind of peace and cooperation she envisions for Israel and the Middle East despite what she acknowledges as a terrible situation between Israelis and Palestinians now amid repeated small-scale but often deadly terrorist attacks. “We need a great Middle East collaboration between moderates to fight off the extremists across international borders,” Noa said, calling for a united effort among Jews, Muslims and Christians, with or without the United States and Europe, to ensure that extremists and opponents of peace “are not hijacking our agenda and our future.” She said Arava is typical of grassroots efforts to improve education, the economy and the environment to build hope for the future. Noa, a Yemenite-American-Israeli who was born in Tel Aviv but grew up in New York before returning at age 17, said she makes it her business to expose the work of the Arava Institute wherever she goes, but she embodies outreach in other ways. She represented Israel with Israeli-Palestinian singer Mira Awad (featured in David Broza’s “East Jerusalem West Jerusalem” documentary at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival) in the 2009 Eurovision contest, in which she sang in Hebrew, Arabic and English (just half of the languages in which she sings). She made history in the 1990s when she became the first Jewish Israeli singer to perform at the Vatican, thanks to the lyrics she wrote to go

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FOOD

Better Know a Bagel: Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

W NEW PROGRAM

Earn prizes while raising money for your school.

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atlanta jewish times Weber students are helping our community stay connected to Jewish Atlanta while earning prizes and money for their school with each subscription they secure. (through February)

Here at the AJT, we have started an exciting new program for schools in the Atlanta area promoting subscriptions to raise money. For other organizations interested in participating, call (404) 883-2130 ext. 120

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

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hat makes New York bagels so great? One bagel bakery in the Atlanta area claims the secret is in the water. The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. in Vinings and at other locations nationwide uses a proprietary water treatment system to copy the mineral content of water from New York. But what does it mean for your bagel? Purportedly, New York water contains lower amounts of calcium and magnesium, making boiled bagels softer when cooked. Does “Brooklynized” water make bagels taste better? We find out in this week’s edition of Better Know a Bagel. Atmosphere The interior of Brooklyn Water Bagel is full of throwbacks to its namesake New York borough. Names of Brooklyn-born celebrities, including Jerry Seinfeld, Zero Mostel and Barbra Streisand, line the walls. All that separates the bagel assembly line from patrons is a sprawling window, so guests can see where the bagel-making magic happens. The seating area is laid out like a traditional New York deli with generic booths and tables. Altogether, this is a good spot to stop in and enjoy a Sunday morning bagel and coffee. Verdict: Bagels Do the bagels taste just like New York? That’s tough to say, but they do taste like bagels and good ones at that. Coming in a bit smaller than their competitors, the bagels at Brooklyn are dense, thick and more than adequate for enjoying an egg sandwich or standing up to a shmear of cream cheese. After eating bagels in New York and Atlanta, I found no discernable difference between these bagels and those at other delis in the Atlanta area. Nothing spectacular, but a good bagel nonetheless. Verdict: Spreads While there’s nothing earthshattering about the variety of cream cheeses, the shop’s best offering is undoubtedly its selection of egg sandwiches. If you visit Brooklyn Water Bagel, make sure to try the Staten Island, a toasted bagel stuffed full of spinach,

Photos by David R. Cohen

Above: Brooklyn’s Manhattan Nova Bagel is good but not worth the $8.49 price. Below: The Staten Island omelet platter is a great choice for breakfast on the go.

mushroom, melted Swiss cheese and egg whites. However, I can’t recommend Brooklyn’s signature Nova bagel, which was small, flavorless and not worth the $8.49 price. My advice: Stick to the egg sandwiches and wash them down with one of the excellent varieties of freshly roasted coffee. Verdict: Overall All in all, the Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. is great for what it is: an excellent place to stop in for a quick bagel breakfast or grab some bagels to go. Unfortunately, the bagel shop lacks the character and color of some of Atlanta’s less generic bagel establishments. Verdict: Next time: Sunny’s Bagel & Deli in Kennesaw ■ Previous Ratings • Brooklyn Bagel Bakery & Deli: 5/5 • Art’s Bagels & More: 4.5/5 • The New Broadway Cafe: 4/5 • Bagelicious: 4/5 • Soho Bakery and Deli: 4/5 • Goldberg’s Bagel Co.: 4/5 • The General Muir: 3.5/5

LOCAL NEWS Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob has decided to retire after more than 36 years as a federal judge, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday, Jan. 30. Citing an announcement from the Jewish judge’s office, the newspaper said Shoob’s retirement will be official Feb. 23, his 93rd birthday. President Jimmy Carter nominated Shoob, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 23, 1979. He became a senior judge Sept. 30, 1991. A 1948 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, Shoob served in Europe with the U.S. Army during World War II. He has said he gained inspiration for the pursuit of justice from an incident in which an American lieutenant killed five German soldiers who had surrendered to Shoob. He is the father of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob.

Pride to Recognize Colbs

Judy Colbs, who led the Atlanta chapter of PFLAG from its founding in 1986 to 2006, is one of seven trailblazers being honored by the Atlanta Pride Committee and the LGBT history organization Touching Up Our Roots at Our Founding Valentines: Celebrating Our Pioneers on Tuesday, Feb. 9. In addition to her work with PFLAG, an organization for relatives and friends of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, Colbs is being recognized for forging alliances within the LGBT community and with Congregation Bet Haverim. Also being honored are Mona Bennett, Charlie Brown, Dee Dee Chamblee, Jesse Peel, Duncan Teague and the late Ray Kluka. Our Founding Valentines is free to the public. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at Bantam + Biddy’s Lenox Square location at 3393 Peachtree Road in Buckhead. For details, visit atlantapride.org.

Margolis Running for Judge

Ahavath Achim Synagogue member Andrew Margolis announced his candidacy for Fulton County Superior Court judge Jan. 19. Margolis is a former prosecutor who has his own Andrew Margolis law practice and has served as a Fulton magistrate judge since 2012. “I have the dual experience of serving as a prosecutor and as a defense

attorney specializing in criminal and family law cases. … In order to be fair and arrive at a result that serves justice, a judge must have the ability to see both sides of a case,” Margolis said in his announcement. “I am the only candidate with experience as a prosecutor who has not spent his whole career looking only at one side of the issue in criminal cases.” He will speak at The Temple after the broadcast of a 92nd Street Y event with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. Qualifying for the judicial elections is March 7 to 11. Margolis’ announcement said three judges have said they don’t plan to seek re-election. Margolis is graduate of Brandeis University and Emory University School of Law. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Mindy, and their two children, Robbie, 4, and Lily, 1½.

Kol Emeth to Honor Lebow

Temple Kol Emeth is celebrating 30 years with Rabbi Steven Lebow and his wife, Madeline Sable, at a gala at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at Ivy Hall at Roswell Mill in Roswell. Rabbi Lebow arrived to become the East Cobb Reform congregation’s spiritual leader in July 1986. The event is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased for $118 at www.kolemeth.net/celebration30. Ads for a tribute book honoring the couple also can be bought at that site.

Bettie Ann Spector 86, Kennesaw

Bettie Ann Spector, 86, of Kennesaw died Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. Born in Denver, Bettie got her bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, her master’s degree from the University of Maryland and her family therapy degree from Seton Hall University. She had many successful careers throughout her life, but her true passion was teaching. She taught psychology at Livingston High School in New Jersey. She later became a Vanderbilt School of Medicine faculty member, teaching medical residents family therapy. She was preceded in death by her husband of over 64 years, Dr. Sydney Spector. She is survived by her children, Dr. Faye Spector Maloney (Brian) of Marietta and Dr. Neil Spector (Denise) of Chapel Hill, N.C., and four grandchildren, Jennifer, Michelle, Kevin and Celeste. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. Funeral services were held Friday, Jan. 29, at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton with Rabbi David Spinrad officiating. Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, Atlanta, 770-451-4999.

Death Notices

Gary Leff, 75, of Atlanta, husband of Nancy Leff and father of Sandy Leff, Craig Leff and Ricky Leff, on Jan. 18. Maier Levine, brother of Temple Sinai member Dorothy Lobel, on Jan. 19. Elizabeth Nius of Atlanta on Jan. 24. Rose Roffman of Atlanta on Jan. 22. Sarah Evelyn Sanders, 102, of Atlanta, mother of Allen Becker, Cheryl Harp, Renee Chiarenza and Stephen Sanders, on Jan. 28. Eleazar Sondervan, 76, of Atlanta, husband of Maryke Sondervan and father of Sofia Sondervan and Richard Sondervan, on Jan. 16. Mikhail Tinkelman of Atlanta on Jan. 19. Eugene Weisberg of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., father of Temple Sinai member Jeff Weisberg, on Jan. 17.

UpStart Seeks Applicants

UpStart is accepting applications through Feb. 29 for its Accelerator program, which provides three years of training, network building and funding for innovative Jewish startups. The Accelerator program has helped launch more than 30 Jewish organizations since 2006, including Moishe House, G-dcast and A Wider Bridge. Atlanta-based Jewish Kids Groups and Camp Living Wonders entered the program last year. “It’s critical for entrepreneurs to step away from their ventures to think about their ventures,” said Ana Robbins, the founder and executive director of Jewish Kids Groups. “Any Jewish nonprofit who wants the tools and network to create large-scale change should apply for the Accelerator.” The UpStart curriculum teaches the latest in entrepreneurial tools and thinking, guided by Jewish wisdom, to fuel success and growth. Get more information about the Accelerator and apply or nominate an organization for the program at upstartlab.org/accelerator.

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

Shoob Leaving Bench

OBITUARIES

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CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

CROSSWORD “Sha!”

Lucky Money

FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016

very time we stopped at the gas station to fill ’er up or pick up a snack for the kids and a cappuccino for me, we walked with our heads bowed. No, we were not in prayer. We were on the lookout for lucky coin money. We still do it — well, at least I still do. Lucky coin money: money found on the ground face up. One day, I had an epiphany: Any money found, even face down, was lucky. All this lucky money was dropped into my car’s ashtray, where I was sure no one would ever think to look for money. (Wrong! Someone did, a story for another time.) Every now and again we would dump out the change and count our bounty. For years, when my grandbabies were actually babies, I carpooled them to the Weinstein preschool. I delivered them to their teachers and headed for my desk on the other side of the Marcus Jewish Community Center building. I cherished those carpool days. We sang, played games like I Spot Something Red, and shared those agonizing “Why did the chicken cross the road?” jokes. Mostly we sang along to country music or tried to identify singers on the jazz station. We always seemed to make two stops on our way to Zaban Park. First, of course, was the gas station. Second, approximately three-quarters of the way, was the inevitable country pishy stop. “Can you wait for just a few more minutes?” I would ask. “No, Savti, I have to go RIGHT NOW!” We carefully scouted a safe place to stop without being discovered. You think it’s easy? First, you must know how to quickly open the modern contraption known as a child’s five-point car seat, so complicated for adults but not for children. “Just push the red button,” they would cry out, in that condescending voice only children can get away with. Next comes the ceremonial dumping of the crumbs, which covered not only the car seat, but also their clothes after that first stop. “Savti, you are littering!” “No, I am feeding the birds,” I would reply with indignity. Then we had the desperate search for the socks and shoes, all while 30 hearing the cry: “I can’t hold it!” G-d

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

forbid I should let them walk in the grass barefoot; my daughters would cringe. The fact that they grew up just fine and dandy, thank you very much, even though their mommy allowed them to go barefoot seems to be of no consequence. The grandkids and I have shared many fun moments in my car, not

always carpooling, but always singing. Now, of course, since they have outgrown that horrible contraption, I don’t worry about country pishes (OK, we did have a desperate moment not too long ago). We listen and sing to the in music stations on the radio. I am still asked not to sing so loud. Let us not forget how this article started. Shoyn fargessen (forgot already)? On one of our outings, I had to stop for gas, a snack and my cappuccino. We piled out of the car, heading for the gas station store, with our heads bent as if in prayer. We hit the jackpot. Not only did we find good-luck coins (73 cents), but my sweet grandgirl found a Star of David. “Savti, look what I found. What do you think it means?” “I think it is an omen,” I said. “What’s an omen?” she asked. Hmm, I had to think how to answer her. “It is HaShem sending us a message.” “What’s the message then?” Oh, good grief, I was flying by the seat of my pants here. “It means we should count all the lucky money and donate it to someone who needs it.” I suddenly hear, “No, we found it; we keep it!” “It was never really ours, was it?” I ask. Heads are once again bowed and, I can assure you, not in prayer. Then I hear: “Do they have to be Jewish, since it’s a Jewish star?” OK, now I am beginning to think this omen was a sign for me to either keep my big mouth shut or learn more about omens. I explain that the person does not have to be Jewish, just someone who needs some help. The next time we were in the Target parking lot, we gave the lucky money to a family asking for help. ■

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By Shaindle Schmuckler shaindle@atljewishtimes.com

Shaindle’s Shpiel

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ACROSS 1. Punch for Foreman 4. Martin on Loria’s Marlins 9. Tefillin piece 14. URL ender for YU 15. The Inbal, e.g. 16. Hideki on Loria’s Expos 17. First part of a Shammai saying from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 19. Russia’s Vladimir 20. Purim plays 21. Weight issue for Eglon 23. Italian volcano approx. 3,000 km from Israel 24. Negel vasser vessels 26. Yafo, for one 29. Has a shvitz 33. 2011 best picture winner directed by Michel Hazanavicius 36. Play dreidel 37. Telushkin’s “Rebbe,” e.g. 38. Like Elsa’s magic 39. Mentalist Geller 41. Volunteer for the IDF: Abbr. 42. Actress Fisher of “Now You See Me” 44. Second-oldest funny “Brother” 47. Call from a korban or start to an ovine nursery song 49. Ken and si 50. Winner of Miss Israel, e.g. 52. Lashon ___ 56. Statement from Bezeq 59. Wood the ark was made out of 61. Dahl who said, “I am not anti-Semitic. I am antiIsrael.” 62. Last part of a Shammai saying from Pirkei Avot 65. Sukkot branch

Phinehas), perhaps 32. Where Andy Samberg got his start, for short 33. Parshat Ki ___ 34. Shalom, in Granada 35. Yofi 37. Tinok tie-on 40. “___ Mine,” Beatles song produced by Spector 43. Pardon, by a beit din 45. Kosher deli staple 46. Korban ___, accidental sin sacrifice 48. See 9-Down 51. Columbo’s clues 53. Like the eyesight of a nesher 54. Poison to be used by Franco and Rogen in “The Interview” 55. Sounded pleased at a Dead Sea spa 56. Levin and Gershwin 57. “Heartburn” author Ephron 58. Rabbinic group 59. Dress-up time 60. Actress Didi of “Grease” 63. Prophet to King David, for short 64. Tekhelet, for tzitzit strings

66. General Moshe 67. Neckwear at a simcha 68. Kibbutz Mashabei 69. Howard who takes issue with Roger Waters 70. Say Aleinu, say DOWN 1. Actor Eisenberg 2. Change voltage when coming to Israel 3. Join a game at a Sheldon Adelson establishment 4. Main character in Ramis’ “Groundhog Day” 5. Goes bad, like yesterday’s manna 6. Abbr. for Alan Dershowitz 7. ___ Boca Vista 8. Pareve spreads 9. With 48-Down, central Jewish prayer also known as the shemoneh esrei 10. Sheitel macher locks 11. Indian malkah 12. Bissel (2 words) 13. Average man, compared with Samson 18. New “contract” one who blesses gomel might have for life 22. Le Marais cafes 24. Adopted mother of Moses 25. Rabbi T S P A Isaac Luria, R A H L A L I C I with “The” 27. Tel follower S T A L E H E L E N 28. Like the Y R S words “smite” J E A B B A S or “thou” G A L G A 30. Larry H I E David, when A N D R E being Bernie E N K R A F T Sanders A I D E 31. Cozbi S C A R L bat Zur (who H E R E I was killed by A S S E T 1

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LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 5

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FEBRUARY 5 ▪ 2016