Atlanta Jewish Times, Vol. XCI No. 18, May 6, 2016

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INSIDE Calendar ����������������������������������� 4 Candle Lighting ���������������������� 4 Opinion ������������������������������������ 9 Business ��������������������������������� 12 Education ��������������������������������15 Sports �������������������������������������� 16 Israel News ���������������������������� 17 Home ��������������������������������������26 Health & Wellness ���������������28 Obituaries ������������������������������29 Crossword ������������������������������ 30 Marketplace ���������������������������31

FOOD FOR THOUGHT The annual Hunger Seder drives home the need for immediate action. Page 6

AT HOME OUTSIDE Two UGA frat brothers build a thriving outdoor furniture business. Page 12

COACH SPEAKS Basketball coach Josh Pastner talks about Judaism, nonstop work and his vision for Georgia Tech. Page 16

RIVER RUNS BY IT The defense lawyer rests in luxury at Chai-Style Homes’ first Gwinnett County mansion. Page 26

Ultimate Victory Photo by Michael Jacobs

Robert Ratonyi, who survived World War II as a child in Budapest, delivers the keynote address while a breeze whips up the Israeli flag behind him at the 51st annual community Yom HaShoah commemoration at the Memorial to the Six Million at Greenwood Cemetery on Sunday, May 1. The ceremony focused on the children of the Holocaust — those who lived, those who died and those who were never born. Ratonyi, who was born 10 months before Kristallnacht, said it was half a century after the war before his mother told him he’s an only child because his parents couldn’t bear to bring another baby into Hitler’s world. More, Page 8

Lone Soldiers Come Home With FIDF

A

tlanta has 30 lone soldiers serving in the Israel Defense Forces, but the Friends of the IDF emphasized at its annual gala dinner Monday night, May 2, that it always provides those troops and the 2,600 others from more than 60 countries with the physical and emotional support of a family.

A crowd of more than 450 gathered at the InterContinental Buckhead to pay tribute to lone soldiers — those who FIDF Southeast Region Chairman Garry Sobel said make the “courageous decision” to leave their homes and families overseas to volunteer in the IDF. “Their families and their communities have instilled in each of them a

strong sense of the importance of their Jewish identity and ensuring Israel’s survival,” Sobel said. He told of a 2014 meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who said lone soldiers represent the children of the Diaspora coming home to defend Israel and demonstrate to Israelis that Jews around the world care.

The program featured two lone soldiers: Walton High and Georgia Tech grad Eran Mordel, a paratroop staff sergeant, and Emma Browne of Warwickshire, England, a military police sergeant.

Browne described the pride and pressure at age 19 of commanding troops defending Israel’s border and thanked FIDF for funding trips to visit her family.

Retired British Col. Richard Kemp, who delivered an impassioned defense of the IDF’s morality in the gala’s keynote address, said he has “never met such an impressive young woman as Emma.”

But for the Atlanta crowd, the highlights were Mordel and the surprise appearances of two fellow Atlanta lone soldiers, neither of whom may be identified.

“There is nothing coincidental about Israel,” Mordel said. “Not its Jewish identity. Not its beautiful beaches or gorgeous cities. Not its startup spirit, and, no, not even its defense forces.” ■ • Gala photos, Page 25, part of a special Israel section starting on Page 17 to prepare for Yom HaAtzmaut

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Should I Show My Daughter the Door?

I’m sure you’re wondering why she can’t live with her father.

He has remarried and is doing his best to remain a devoted father to our children while being a caring stepfather to his new children. And our Shira would wreak havoc with that picture.

Shared Spirit Moderated By Rachel Stein rachels83@gmail.com

Does one throw a child out of her home? Would I ever get a night’s sleep again?

At this point in time, Shira is relatively polite and pleasant, if you can ignore the occasional expletive that seems to just gush out in her natural conversation like a leaky faucet.

Mind you, that form of expression is strictly forbidden in our home. So that, too, is an affront, and I shudder for my girls to be exposed to this language.

But she has come a long way.

Spinning back the wheels of time, I recall the years when she exploded regularly, and at the time I wished she had been older so I could have expelled her then.

With the help of therapy and maturation, she eventually achieved a balance. Other than her inappropriate lifestyle choices and occasional verbal slips, she’s an OK person to have around. She even kills roaches, a big plus in Atlanta, especially since we don’t have an able-bodied guy handy.

Is it possible to raise two other sweet daughters in the Torah way with Shira’s shadow hovering nearby? Or is this a time when I have to look at the bigger picture, casting aside the flesh of my flesh in regard for the innocent and yet unaffected others?

Judaism is everything to me. If my other daughters follow their older sister’s lead, I can’t imagine wanting to wake up in the morning.

This is my mission and my purpose in life: to raise a family that is steadfastly loyal to G-d and His Torah.

And if that mission is gone, of what value am I? ■ Shared Spirit is a column in which people share personal problems, hoping to receive good, practical advice from readers.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

S

hared Spirit printed a dilemma a while back that caused me no small amount of discomfiture. It concerned a parent wading neck-high in pain while watching his child chart a new path and grow in his religious leanings.

How my insides clenched as I chewed and swallowed line after line, trying to muster empathy for this father’s angst.

Yet sometimes it is difficult to feel compassion when your own issues loom so much larger and darker.

And I wonder, devoted dad of a potential religious fanatic, if you would have thanked G-d for your “problem” if you had any awareness of the issues some of your friends and neighbors deal with on a daily basis.

Maybe you should count your blessings.

I am a Jewish woman running an Orthodox home. Before our divorce, my husband and I devoted our lives to ensuring that our children received top-notch Jewish educations, hoping and praying to set them up on this most meaningful life path.

After our divide, which was peaceful and respectful, we have continued to be consistent in teaching our three children vital Jewish values. We have maintained a peaceful working relationship for the benefit of the children and for ourselves.

Yet, in spite of our best efforts, something went awry.

Our daughter, who is turning 18 next month, has rejected everything.

Is it anger about the divorce? Perhaps.

Teenage rebellion? Another possibility.

The lure of the streets glittering more enticingly than a sheltered life of rules and regulations? Sure.

If this were a multiple-choice question, the correct answer would probably be D, all of the above.

And now I grapple with a heartwrenching question that no parent should have to face: Do I allow Shira to continue living in my home?

I am scared for my other children.

Shira smokes marijuana and hangs around with unsavory people. Her lights turn on and off on Shabbos and holidays, and she makes no pretense of any semblance of observance.

How much do I worry about her compared with the effect she may have on my two innocent and compliant children?

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CALENDAR FRIDAY, MAY 6

TUESDAY, MAY 10

Days of Remembrance. “Mothers and Fathers: Stories of Love and Loss” is the theme for the official Georgia commemoration of the Holocaust at 11 a.m. in the North Wing of the state Capitol, 206 Washington St., downtown. Free, but seating is by invitation only.

Babyccino. The mom-and-tot classes at Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, focus on creation each Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. through June 21. This week’s topic is the heavens. $12 per class or $80 for the series; j1sinasohn@aol.com.

SUNDAY, MAY 8

Annual meeting. American Jewish Committee’s Atlanta Chapter holds its 72nd annual meeting at 11:45 a.m. at 103 West, 103 W. Paces Ferry Road, Buckhead, with speaker Dina SiegelVann, the director of AJC’s Belfer Center for Latino and Latin American Affairs. Tickets for the lunch meeting are $35; www.ajcatlanta.org/72AM.

Holocaust documentary. The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust’s “Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945” exhibit, 5920 Roswell Road, Suite A-209, Sandy Springs, shows the short film “Mothers and Fathers: Stories of Love and Loss” at 1 p.m. Free; holocaust.georgia.gov.

Yom HaShoah. The Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, holds a community commemoration in the Besser Memorial Garden with speaker Rabbi Joseph Polak at 3:30 p.m. Free; www.atlantajcc.org or 678-812-4161.

MONDAY, MAY 9

Memorial lecture. Rabbi Yitzchok Tendler presents a pre-Yom HaZikaron lecture on the legacy of Dov Indig, a soldier killed in the Yom Kippur War. 8 p.m. at Congregation Beth Jacob, Free; RSVP: bit.ly/1XSRhvX or 404-633-0551.

Yom HaZikaron. Amit Farkas, sister of the late Thom Farkas, is the keynote speaker at the Israeli Consulate’s observance of Israeli Memorial Day at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:30) at Ahavath Achim Synagogue. Free; attendees are asked to wear white shirts and are reminded that bags will not be allowed.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11

Survivor story. Holocaust survivor Helen Fromowitz Weingarten speaks at noon at Fellowship Bible Church, 480 W. Crossville Road, Roswell, in a

CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Achare Friday, May 6, light candles at 8:08 p.m.

Saturday, May 7, Shabbat ends at 9:07 p.m.

Kedoshim Friday, May 13, light candles at 8:13 p.m.

Saturday, May 14, Shabbat ends at 9:13 p.m. program sponsored by the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. Free; 1.usa.gov/1SMJ66g.

Character study. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, presents the six-week Jewish Learning Institute course “Strength & Struggle: Lessons in Character From the Stories of Our Prophets” on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., starting tonight. Tuition is $69; www.chabadnf. org or 770-410-9000.

Israeli music. Local band Paz performs to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut at 7:30 p.m. at Crema Espresso Gourmet, 2458 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody. Free; www.bethshalomatlanta.org.

Politics and Israel. J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and former New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Ru-

doren discuss the Israeli-Palestinian situation and how U.S. political discourse affects and is influenced by it at 7:30 p.m. at Ahavath Achim Synagogue. Free; act.jstreet.org/signup/actsground-politics-home.

THURSDAY, MAY 12

JNF breakfast. Jewish National Fund’s annual Jack Hirsch Memorial Breakfast honors Lt. Col. Tiran Attia, director of Israel’s Special in Uniform program, at 7:30 a.m. at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree St., Midtown. Free; jnf.org/ hirsch2016, bgluck@jnf.org.

Yom HaAtzmaut lunch. Jewish National Fund’s Women for Israel division holds a luncheon to celebrate Israeli Independence Day and honor Lt. Col. Tiran Attia at 11 a.m. at Congregation B’nai Torah, registration is $54; bit. ly/1Vx1q3U, mfriedland@jnf.org. ■

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

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

FOR FULTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE

HONESTY • INTEGRITY • DEDICATION

• Graduate of Brandeis University and Emory University School of Law • Judge Margolis has a proven record for fairness as a Magistrate Court Judge.

• Judge Margolis, a former domestic violence prosecutor, will protect Georgia families.

• Judge Margolis will protect our community and uphold your rights.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

• Judge Margolis respects and follows the law, and will hold everyone to the same rules.

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• Judge Margolis is active in the community and serves as the director of the Ahavath Achim Synagogue choir.

VOTE MAY 24, 2016

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LOCAL NEWS Atlanta

Remember When PUBLISHER

MICHAEL A. MORRIS

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MARKETING

10 Years Ago May 5, 2006 ■ The journalist brother of new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned a crowd of more than 50 people at Congregation B’nai Torah on April 27 that the biggest threat to Israel now is Iran. Yossi Olmert, a Jerusalem Post columnist, said people should believe everything Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says when it comes to Iran’s intentions toward Israel.

■ Josh and Jennifer Brett of Dunwoody announce the birth of their son, Zachary Samuel, on Oct. 21.

25 Years Ago May 3, 1991 ■ Jack the Ripper’s killing spree in London’s East End in 1888 sparked rioting against the residents of the nearby Jewish ghetto, feeding on anti-Semitism sparked by an influx of Russian Jews in the 1880s, according to Queen Mary College

professor William Fishman, who spoke about the case at Georgia State University. He said anti-Semitism also was to blame for a Polish Jewish laborer becoming a suspect.

■ The bar mitzvah ceremony of David Eric Appelrouth of Atlanta, son of Arlene and Dr. Daniel Appelrouth, will be held Saturday, May 11, at Temple Beth Tikvah.

50 Years Ago May 6, 1966 ■ Michele Alperin, David Gettinger and Samuel Schatten are the regional winners of the seventh annual National Bible Contest and have advanced to the national finals Sunday, May 8, in New York — David, a Druid Hills High School student, in the advanced Hebrew division and Michele, also from Druid Hills High, and Samuel, a Lovett School student, in the comprehensive English division.

■ Mr. and Mrs. Martin Eisler of Atlanta announce the

engagement of their daughter, Hannah Eisler, to Douglas Paul Strenger, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Strenger of Atlanta. An Aug. 28 wedding is planned.

Marketing & Communications Director

STACY LAVICTOIRE stacy@atljewishtimes.com

EDITORIAL Editor

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Contributors This Week ILENE ENGEL • SAM FISHMAN RABBI DAVID GEFFEN YONI GLATT • LEAH R. HARRISON MARCIA CALLER JAFFE BENJAMIN KWESKIN CARLIE LADINSKY MELANIE NELKIN TED ROBERTS LOGAN C. RITCHIE EUGEN SCHOENFELD TERRY SEGAL RACHEL STEIN

CREATIVE SERVICES Creative Design

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CIRCULATION

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CONTACT INFORMATION GENERAL OFFICE 404.883.2130 KAYLENE@ATLJEWISHTIMES.COM The Atlanta Jewish Times is printed in Georgia and is an equal opportunity employer. The opinions expressed in the Atlanta Jewish Times do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper. Periodicals Postage Paid at Atlanta, Ga.

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LOCAL NEWS

Hunger Seder: Satisfaction Through Action

By Leah R. Harrison

T

he fifth annual Atlanta Hunger Seder did more than educate attendees about food insecurity in the area; it drove home the need for immediate activism.

Representatives of World Pilgrims/Interfaith Community Initiative, Neshama and the Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta mixed with Jewish community members in a crowd of around 100 spanning generations and backgrounds at Ahavath Achim Synagogue on Wednesday night, April 27. They heard about the impact each individual can make in the fight against hunger and found opportunities for action interspersed throughout the evening.

At check-in, each person was given two labels printed with his or her contact information. Throughout the seder, hunger relief agencies including Food Security America, Second Helpings Atlanta, Gideon’s Promise, Concrete Jungle, Jewish Family & Career Services’ Kosher Food Pantry and Maos Chitim, Global Growers, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank talked about opportunities for participation and ad-

Photos by Leah R. Harrison

Seder participants take turns washing hands.

vocacy in the fight against hunger.

People later could stick their labels on the easels of the agencies with which they most wanted to engage over the year.

AA Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal led the seder, assisted by Harold Kirtz of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta.

Inspired by the Hunger Seder Haggadah published by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs in 2012, the modified service paralleled traditional seder components with new awareness-raising elements.

The story of the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery to freedom was contrasted with the enslavement of those struggling with

Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal and son Avram Eli prepare meals for the needy with the seder leftovers.

hunger and poverty today. In Georgia more than a quarter of children endure food insecurity, or a lack of access to nutritional food. One in 10 senior citizens lives in poverty, while 46.5 million, or 14.5 percent of all Americans, exist below the poverty line.

Each of the four cups of wine, symbolizing the promises of freedom made to the Israelites as they were led out of bondage, was paired with a new promise we will undertake in the fight against hunger.

With the washing of the hands Rabbi Rosenthal reminded us that ours are the hands that can bring hope. He asked us how we have used our hands since the last seder. Whom have our hands helped?

VOTE MAY 24

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Gary Alembik has a broad range of experience. On top of his 27 years as a member of the state bar in private practice, he is the only candidate for judge who has served Fulton County for 10 years as a magistrate and judicial officer. He truly knows how our court system works… and where it needs to be fixed.

Jason and Sandrine Simmons prepare to leave with their MAZON tzedakah box tomato plant and haggadah.

The Four Questions brought a discussion of hunger-related questions, such as: • Why does so much food go to waste when so many people in our country are starving?

• Why is fast food so inexpensive while healthy, nutritional food is so costly?

• Why can’t we solve these problems?

The Ten Plagues were paired with Ten Plagues of Today, concluding with apathy, the greatest plague of all — the failure to make ending hunger a national priority.

Midway through the seder, Kirtz spoke about efforts to reauthorize federal child nutrition programs that expired in September. Attendees had the opportunity to fill out postcards to their representatives, asking that the funding be reinstated.

Forsaking the event’s name, no one attending the Hunger Seder left hungry. The traditional meal was once again prepared by executive chef Jodie Sturgeon and her team at Atlanta Kashruth Commission-certified For All Occasions and More.

The matzah balls, the size of baseballs, were sublime. The gefilte fish was spot-on. The meal, including a sweet kugel and a savory kugel, was wonderful. With the exception of the chicken, all items were vegetarian. Flourless chocolate cake and mammoth macaroons rounded out the meal.

The most impactful action component came into play at the end of the evening. When the seder concluded, everyone, including the children, returned to the buffet line to package up the leftovers into individual meals, which were loaded onto the Second Helpings truck. Volunteers from the seder then drove by caravan to Peachtree and Pine streets to distribute the packages to those in need on the streets of Atlanta.

The immediate action steps imparted a feeling of empowerment that complemented the thoughtful, fulfilling event. ■

LOCAL NEWS

Porsche Takes Top Prize At Kosher Kar Show

A 1956 Porsche 356 owned by Stan Olstein was named best in show at the third annual Kosher Kar Show sponsored by the Congregation Or Hadash Men’s Club on Sunday, May 1.

A 1972 Chevelle SS owned by Kirk Pardue was runner-up for best in show.

A 1956 Nash Metropolitan owned

by Ed Gerson and a 1932 Ford Street Rod owned by Joe Hatfield won the Rabbis’ Award and People’s Choice Award, respectively.

The winners received gift cards for Mammoth Hand Car Wash & Detail Salon’s Peachtree Corners location, presented by event co-chair Ted Marcus, who opened the facility on Holcomb Bridge Road with son Andrew Marcus in March.

The car show, which took place at Or Hadash, drew 22 contestants and raised money for the Central Night Shelter in Atlanta, which the Men’s Club staffs every Christmas Eve.

Deal Signs Anti-BDS Law

Georgia officially stands against boycotts of Israel after Gov. Nathan Deal signed Senate Bill 327 into law without comment Tuesday, April 26.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta), requires any individual or business seeking a contract worth at least $1,000 with the state government to certify that the would-be contractor does not boycott Israel and will not do so during the contract.

The certification does not involve any investigation; it’s simply a statement signed by the contractor.

Basically, a company that wants to do business with the Georgia state government can’t refuse to do business with Israel or with companies doing business in Israel or in Israelicontrolled territories without a “valid business reason.”

At least six other states have enacted laws or resolutions in opposition

GIPL Grant for Bet Haverim

Congregation Bet Haverim, which held a celebration of its 30th anniversary Sunday night, May 1, recently received a grant from Georgia Interfaith Power & Light to increase the energy efficiency of its new Toco Hills home.

The $750 matching grant helped pay for WiFi thermostats to ensure that the heating and cooling systems run only while the building is occupied, GIPL said in an announcement March 30. The installation of the hightech thermostats followed renovations that included adding attic insulation, replacing single-pane windows and using LED lights.

Bet Haverim moved into the building at 2074 LaVista Road in October, about a year after purchasing it from Young Israel of Toco Hills, which moved down the street to a new, EarthCraft-certified building at 2056 LaVista Road.

Young Israel won GIPL’s Gippy Award for Congregation of the Year in March 2015 for its new building.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Stan Olstein (left) receives a plaque and Mammoth gift card from Ted Marcus for his best-in-show 1956 Porsche 356.

to efforts by the 10-year-old boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

BDS aims to isolate and undermine Israel by pressuring companies to cut commercial ties to the Jewish state.

Hill’s original legislation included local governments, but the House State Properties Committee amended the bill to apply only to the state government.

The final measure passed 41-8 in the state Senate; all the no votes came from Democrats, six of whom are running unopposed this year. Only Donzella James of Atlanta, challenged by Tony Phillips of Palmetto in the primary May 24, and Horacena Tate of Atlanta, challenged by Republican James Morrow Jr. of Austell in the general election, face opposition.

The legislation faced bipartisan opposition in the House, passing 96-70.

Legislators who voted no and face primary opposition are Sharon BeasleyTeague (D-Red Oak), Pam Dickerson (D-Conyers), Demetrius Douglas (DStockbridge), Darrel Ealum (D-Albany), Mike Glanton (D-Jonesboro), Wayne Howard (D-Augusta), Darryl Jordan (DRiverdale), Mary Margaret Oliver (DAtlanta), Sandra Scott (D-Rex), Dexter Sharper (D-Valdosta), Earnest Smith (D-Augusta), Tom Taylor (R-Dunwoody), Able Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta) and David Wilkerson (D-Powder Springs).

Voting no and facing general election foes are Beasley-Teague, Sharper, Kimberly Alexander (D-Hiram), Pete Marin (D-Duluth), Dale Rutledge (R-McDonough), Bob Trammell Jr. (D-Luthersville) and Keisha Waites (D-Atlanta).

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LOCAL NEWS

Photos by Michael Jacobs

Liv Tschirhart, the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors Bertha and Markus Kshensky and Ilse and Max Arensberg, carries flowers into the Memorial to the Six Million. Three other great-grandchildren of survivors, Lily Reese Mitman and Yakov and Miriam Neiditch, also carried flowers into the memorial at the Yom HaShoah observance May 1.

BBYO members Anna Jackson of Chattahoochee High School and Charlie Burstiner of Walton High School place the special floral star marking the ceremony’s focus on the children of the Holocaust.

Enoch Goodfriend leads the singing of the “Partisan Hymn,” starting in Yiddish but this year switching to English for the final verses.

The Memorial to the Six Million’s six torches, one for each 1 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, burn brightly during the ceremony.

Jeannette Zukor, the chairwoman of the Yom HaShoah committee this year, welcomes the crowd May 1.

Holocaust survivor Norbert Friedman lights a memorial candle during the ceremony.

Memorial stones prepared by Atlanta-area schoolchildren are left inside the memorial after the ceremony.

Child survivor Robery Ratonyi recalls what he considers his lucky escape from death in Hungary during World War II.

Remembering the Shoah’s Children

S

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

everal hundred people, including dozens of Holocaust survivors, withstood steamy conditions to join a tribute to the children affected by the Holocaust at the 51st annual Yom HaShoah commemoration at the Memorial to the Six Million at Greenwood Cemetery in Southwest Atlanta midday Sunday, May 1.

Heat rising into the 80s challenged members of Jewish War Veterans Post 112 who joined active-duty military personnel in standing watch with the U.S. and Israeli flags behind the speakers during the 90-minute program, and one audience member was briefly overcome and needed medical attention.

But a year after steady rain fell on the memorial service — organized annually by Eternal Life-Hemshech with the Breman Museum, the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta — the downpour didn’t come un8 til after everyone had an opportunity

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to say Kaddish, place memorial stones and visit the names of relatives listed inside the monument.

Continuing a practice begun last year, each of the survivors at the ceremony got to light a memorial candle with the help of members of the Jewish Student Union.

But the ceremony focused on children who survived, who were killed and who were never born.

Yom HaShoah committee chairwoman Jeannette Zukor noted that the technical definition of a child survivor is any survivor who was younger than 18 at the end of World War II, and 71 years after the liberation of the Nazi camps, few nonchild survivors remain.

Among the child survivors featured during the ceremony were the memorial’s architect, Benjamin Hirsch, who escaped Germany on the Kindertransport; one of the two vice chairmen of the Yom HaShoah committee, Hershel Greenblat, who was born in a

cave in Ukraine while his parents were hiding and participating in the resistance to the Nazis; and featured speaker Robert Ratonyi, who was 6 when his mother was taken away in Budapest in October 1944 and spent two months hiding with his grandparents, aunts and cousins until they finally accepted life inside the ghetto, where the Soviet army later liberated them after his seventh birthday.

Ratonyi said his grandparents, who received protective passports from Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, had him moving seven times in two months, and each time he had to carry a hidden meat grinder that never saw any meat.

The grinder became tougher and tougher for him to carry as he got weaker and weaker from malnutrition.

The key to the family’s survival during the two months in hiding was his 14-year-old cousin, Mike, who each night took off his yellow star and went

scavenging through the war-torn city to find items that could be exchanged for food, Ratonyi said.

In the end, he lost his father and 13 other relatives to the Nazis, Ratonyi said, and he learned from his mother 50 years later that he never had a younger sibling because his parents couldn’t bear to bring another child into a world dominated by Adolf Hitler.

Ratonyi said he regrets being an only child, but his focus is on the future and ensuring that the past is not forgotten so that, as George Santayana warned, it will not be repeated. He also is haunted by a comment often attributed to Josef Stalin that a single death is a tragedy, while a million deaths are a statistic.

“Will the future remember the Holocaust as a statistic or millions of individual tragedies?” Ratonyi asked.

He and other survivors speak about their experiences to influence the answer. ■

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OPINION

AJC Mission Finds German Jews Feel Secure

“W

hoever wishes to deny our special obligations towards the Jews and the state of Israel is not just historically and morally but also politically blind.”

Those words from Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first chancellor, made it clear that reconciliation with the Jewish people was a top priority.

American Jewish Committee, known as the State Department for the Jewish people, is instrumental in helping ensure that government policies continue to support the 220,000 Jews in Germany today.

AJC became the first Jewish organization to work with Germany in its postwar recovery. In 1998, AJC opened its Berlin headquarters.

Today, AJC’s highly respected professional staff plays a leading role in outreach to government, religious, military, media and nongovernmental organization leaders who encourage political action on key issues of Jewish concern.

This relationship building in-

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Melanie Nelkin (third from left) and Ilene Engel (fourth from left) represent Atlanta as part of American Jewish Committee’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation exchange cohort.

cludes AJC lay leadership in Atlanta and across the country. In 1980, AJC and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation began an exchange program when German-Jewish relations, in the shadow of the Holocaust, were still tense. The objectives are the same today, presenting a realistic picture of Germany to American Jews and enabling German leaders to have an honest dialogue with the global Jewish community.

In April we joined this program, along with 10 other U.S. participants.

Germany is doing well economically. We saw construction cranes in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Berlin. Interestingly, Germany is Israel’s No. 1

E V A BEH

S I M T’S rating the

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trading partner, and 30,000 Israelis have moved to Berlin in recent years.

Germany is the most powerful political force in Europe; Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most powerful leader.

There are certainly a number of challenges, and topping the list is the refugee crisis. The German government is working tirelessly to create an improved integration process.

We had frank conversations regarding anti-Semitism, Iran, the German-Turkish relationship, the rise of right-wing political parties, Russian propaganda and interference in German affairs, Russian aggression in Ukraine and Syria, and Britain’s upcoming vote on whether to remain in the European Union.

We experienced two evenings we will never forget. The first was with past exchange participants in Berlin.

They shared home hospitality in which we enjoyed a home-cooked meal and an array of German wines and talked tachliss on topics ranging from politics to Holocaust education.

It was apparent that German guilt over the Holocaust lives on into the third generation after the Shoah.

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Celeb ole Porter t of C st Vocalis c i s u M ue G l a i c rd pe o S f d h t i a r W enson, nB

Carme hestra, GeorgeesBtra,

sie Orc er Jazz Orch a B t n (Cou incoln Cent verinsen) L Doc Se

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and bass r— e z a l no G a i t t p o c — S kson ophone c a J e Tyron bard—sax Hib e c a M

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On our final evening in Germany, after a week of cerebral note-taking and high-level meetings, we spent Shabbat at the Orenienburger Strasse Synagogue. The realization that we were in a Berlin sanctuary with a dark and tragic past, filled with Jews of all ages in 2016, chanting familiar Shabbat prayers loudly and proudly, came suddenly. The experience was intense.

Admittedly, there were armed guards outside the rainy entrance, but that was quickly forgotten inside.

The collective voice of the German Jewish leadership, which represents 107 communities of Jews, expressed concern about anti-Semitism, but nothing like we’ve heard from France. They said they feel safe in Germany now.

What better way to end our week than with the knowledge that remembering the past, with an eye toward the future, continues to be an integral priority of the German democratic system? ■ Melanie Nelkin is the first vice president for AJC Atlanta. Ilene Engel is the vice president of regional diplomacy for AJC Atlanta.

Ahavath Achim Synagogue

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Sunday, May 15 3:00 p.m.

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Reception following Concert Program is open to public;

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Donation requested to Cultural Arts Fund

Please RSVP: ivanmillender@earthlink.net or call the Ahavath Achim Synagogue at 404.355.5222

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Guest Column

By Melanie Nelkin and Ilene Engel

AJT 9

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Our View

Ugly in Britain

R

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

etired British Col. Richard Kemp mixed history (the War of Jenkins’ Ear, the Congreve rockets’ red glare at Fort McHenry and the origins of Britain’s Jewish Brigade) and humor (an offer of a pack of matches in case anyone wants to repeat his regiment’s 1814 burning of the White House) with present praise (the Israel Defense Forces’ unmatched morality) and opprobrium (the U.N. Human Rights Council’s outrageous anti-Israel allegations) during his passionate keynote address to the Friends of the Israel Defense Fund gala Monday night, May 2.

We just hope that amid the applause for Kemp’s dry British wit, defense of Israel’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties, admiration for the Judaism permeating the IDF and Israeli society as a whole, and condemnation of slanders against Israel (“These are not just wide of the mark; they are the diametric opposite of the truth”), the crowd didn’t miss his warning about the ugly turn of events in his native England.

The bubbling cauldron of anti-Semitism long simmering in the British Labour Party has finally boiled over. Among the incidents: • A new member of Parliament, Naz Shah, was defended, then suspended by Labour leadership over social media posts in recent years, including suggesting that the solution for the Middle East is the transportation of all Israelis to the United States.

• Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended after claiming that Hitler was a Zionist.

• Three local Labour elected officials were suspended over anti-Israel and anti-Semitic social media.

Those examples follow the recent exposure of anti-Semitism in college organizations that produce future Labour leaders.

The newly elected president of Britain’s National Union of Students, Malia Bouattia, has defended Palestinian violence against Israelis — she won’t call it terrorism — and refused to criticize Islamic State.

At Oxford University, a co-chairman of the Labour Club, Alex Chalmers, who is not Jewish, resigned in February over the group’s endorsement of Israeli Apartheid Week and made allegations of anti-Jewish attitudes, rhetoric and actions within the club and the university’s political left in general. The resulting investigation found that members of the Labour Club celebrated rocket attacks on Israel, disparaged Holocaust remembrance as a moneymaker, and mocked Jewish mourning after the killings at a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015.

The fear is that these incidents are just the tip of an ugly iceberg. It’s no coincidence that another FIDF speaker, English lone soldier Emma Browne, cited rising anti-Semitism in her decision in 2014 to enlist in the IDF instead of the British army. She has family history in both militaries, but in only one could she be proudly Jewish without fear of smear or hatred.

As Kemp said, overt anti-Semitism is frowned upon in the West, but anti-Zionism is embraced and running rampant. “Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism,” he said, “are one and the same thing.”

That’s not always the case, but the distinction between the two is disappearing in Britain, further isolating Israel and, as in other parts of Europe, un10 dermining a deep-rooted Jewish community. ■

AJT

By David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star

Driving Wrong Way on Campus

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Car crashes kill as many people as guns, but ov. Nathan Deal waited until the deadline Tuesday, May 3, to decide to veto legislation while most gun deaths are suicides or domestic that would have forced Georgia universities to violence — cases in which the underlying problem allow people to carry firearms. often would lead to a death even if guns didn’t exist I have one son about to graduate from the — road deaths are inherent to our addiction to the University of Georgia and another son who’ll be a convenience and freedom of motor vehicles. college freshman out of state next year. So Deal’s As long as fallible, distractible, tired humans get decision should matter to me. behind the wheel, we will make mistakes and wreck, But after the horrible car and people will die. crash Wednesday night, April We’ve made 27, that killed four female UGA great progress in Editor’s Notebook students (none Jewish) and left highway safety.

By Michael Jacobs a fifth in critical condition, the About 43,000 people mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com whole issue just makes me angry. a year died on the As with the religious liberty roads a decade ago; fight, we’re sure to repeat this now it’s fewer than battle in 2017, but all the lobbying, all the marches 33,000. But we’ve gone about as far as we can go with and vigils, all the tweets and Facebook posts and humans behind the wheel. blogs and columns are incalculably out of proporIt doesn’t have to be that way. The various extion with campus carry’s impact. periments with self-driving cars, including self-parkThe law likely would lead to some deaths ing and autonomous braking vehicles on the market, through accidents and the escalation of arguments. have proved that we humans are the weak link in the It likely would save lives and prevent some automobile. We’re the danger. And we’re on the cusp crimes. Don’t expect to see many good guys with of solving the problem. guns stopping bad guys with guns in mass shootings, Imagine if we spent the money wasted on the but some attacks might never happen because of a campus carry debate to improve and reduce the cost gunman’s fear of running into armed victims. of autonomous driving systems. Imagine if, instead Similarly, it’s hard to imagine a lot of women of a moonshot program to cure cancer (a noble goal pulling guns on potential rapists, but the mere possibut one that can’t be achieved through the applicability would make some sexual predators stay away. tion of money or political pressure), the government Would campus carry be a net saver or taker of decided to automate our roadways. lives? Who knows? But while each life gained or lost Here’s a problem we’re on the way to fixing, and would be huge to the affected loved ones, the net with a few government carrots and sticks, more than effect for society would be minimal — perhaps fewer 30,000 families a year could be saved the pain being in an average year than what UGA lost on one night suffered by the families of those four young women on a two-lane highway south of Athens.

That’s why I’m angry. While we’re playing politi- at UGA. But our government-industrial complex is more interested in issues, arguments and fundraiscal games on guns, we’re not doing anything about ing than solutions and lifesaving. the biggest threat to college students and the rest of So I’m angry. And more than a little sad. ■ society: the four-wheeled death machine outside.

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

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he congregation was overflowing the sanctuary — standing room only — and people were quieting down as the young bat mitzvah standing on the bimah began chanting Ma Tovu. The service was routine, like any other Shabbat, except much louder.

Indeed, it was a service of rov aam, a multitude of people, and jointly we entered into the spirit of hadrath melech, honoring the king and Shabbat.

It was Parshat Zachor, the week before Purim, and a special Torah reading reminded us that throughout our history evil persons rose up against us and sought our destruction. But today a great part of the destruction of Jews is, unfortunately, self-destruction: Jews who reject their identity and our spirit.

As the Torah was read — Vayikra, the beginning of the Book of Leviticus — a ray of hope entered into my old heart, and I believed that maybe our renaissance was possible.

A few young men and an equal number of women read the Torah.

How sweet were their voices.

To my surprise, the quality of the chanting by the women exceeded the men. They read the text almost flawlessly, hardly missing a word or a trope.

I wondered: Could it be that such women with greater knowledge of Judaism, with a greater sense of spiritualism, could reverse the trend of declining Judaism?

Perhaps the loss of spirituality in our homes, especially Jewish spirituality, was exacerbated by our traditional belief that women should not be educated in Yiddishkeit more than rudimentary knowledge of ritual, mostly pertaining to home and cooking.

The Jewish view has maintained that the home is the center of the spirit and has subsumed the spirit of the Temple that was destroyed two millennia ago. Is it possible that we failed to prepare our young women, who by nature are more likely to express love, with the knowledge that they could teach that love to their children?

The need for spirituality in the home is essential to the well-being of the individual and of our people as a whole. When Isaac married Rebecca, he brought her into the tent of his mother, Sarah, and the Torah text tells us he “found comfort after his mother’s death.”

Rephrasing Rashi’s comment, I

propose that Rebecca brought back the customs, ceremonies and spirituality that ceased after Sarah’s death, and when that spirituality was restored, Isaac found comfort and was consoled.

Proverbs 31 declares the importance of a good wife and a mother’s contribution to the well-being of the family and the household. We are also told in Proverbs that children should

One Man’s Opinion

By Eugen Schoenfeld

listen to their father’s teaching and not forsake their mother’s instruction.

It is the wife and mother who is most likely to determine the family’s religious life and spirituality and thus influence her children’s maintenance of their Jewish identity. In addition to knowledge and reason, the mother imparts a sense of feeling and love.

The knowledgeable Jewish mother inculcates in her children love and appreciation for Judaism.

This duality — knowledge and feeling — is exemplified in the Jewish description of G-d’s nature as androgynous — both male and female. On the one hand G-d is male: the king, the warrior, the Lord of hosts, the judge who punishes us. On the other hand, G-d has feminine qualities reflected in the shechinah, site of G-d’s love, mercy and forgiveness.

This duality is mirrored in the structure of the Talmud, which contains the masculine logical side of the law and a feminine side, the legends the agadoth.

In short, collective human life cannot exist by laws alone. We need the purity and the severity of the law, but we cannot exist unless it is mitigated by G-d’s love and mercy.

This duality must be central to human relationships: the reason of father and love of mother. The home cannot exist without a mame and a tate, but we need a special mame: a Yiddishe mame. She is the one who infuses into us a lifelong love for Judaism.

I know: The strength and trust necessary for me to overcome the harshness of life and maintain stability after the Holocaust were gifts of my Yiddishe mame. Strength and dignity were my mame’s clothing, and she taught me to be unafraid of the times to come. ■

Motherhood: G-d’s Last Great Creation

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s most of us know, in the beginning the Lord created the heavens and the earth. Through Verse 2 of Genesis, there’s no mention of motherhood. Not a word. He has barely opened the cupboard of creation.

The Creator continues His work. You think concepts like heaven and earth are easy? First you need dry land. Bam: He does it in Verse 9. Then the sun and moon and stars and sea.

Still, no motherhood.

But the Inventor of the universe is on a roll: All the creatures tumble out of His mind onto the land and sea and into the air. As the grand finale, He produces man.

Sadly, still not a word about the invention that allows the perpetuation of the species: motherhood. He has made rain for the thirsty life-forms. He has made the sun to warm their bones. He has told man that the plants and beasts shall be salads and rib roasts for his supper table.

Food but no motherhood.

He creates Eve, the bone of Adam’s bone and flesh of his flesh.

OK, we think we know why she’s there. He’s getting closer to the machinery we need to people the planet. But it is not to be — not yet.

“And the man knew his wife,” says the Torah. Thus Cain was born. Why doesn’t He now tell us about Eve’s love and nurturing — that she comforted and sustained the creature that originated in the flesh of her flesh and the bone of her bone?

Even we humans can see that birth is only half a solution. Birth without nurturing is like dawn without light.

And the brat, Cain, in case you haven’t read Genesis 4, turns out badly; he needs attention. (Spoiler alert: He turns out to be a terrible disappointment to his mama.)

Only after the fall, after the realization that man may be made in “His image” but is not a replica of His ethical goodness, does the Molder of the universe understand what’s missing.

He left something out, the missing ingredient in the planetary soup: motherhood.

Only after He notices that the world’s first honeymooners are gullible and rebellious does He remember. Oh, motherhood: I forgot that.

Genesis tells us that “the man

called his wife Eve,” Chavah, a Hebrew word whose root means “life.” How appropriate: She is the root of life.

“She was the mother of all the living,” the book of books says.

Now the Creator, whose meditation made the world, sees that man has

Scribbler on the Roof

By Ted Roberts

some instincts in common with the beasts. At heart, without the tending of a mother, man is as wild and highstrung as the wolves that prowl the woods. If the species is going to survive, man needs tending and mending. He needs a soul superior to the beasts, so there has to be motherhood to nurture and instruct him.

That’s why, later in His book, He introduces the great biblical mothers.

First is Sarah, who is worried that Isaac, her son, must compete with the son of Hagar, a concubine. Boldly, she defends the flesh of her flesh. She banishes Hagar. And let’s be even-handed and note that Hagar, the mother of Ismael, progenitor of all Arabs, is also a great mama. That’s why the Lord saves her unruly child.

“He shall be a wild donkey of a man,” Genesis tells us.

And there’s Rebecca, who connives with and for her son to gain the inheritance of Isaac.

Fifty generations later we meet Bathsheva, David’s fascination, you remember. Bathsheva, the beauty who evidently missed most of her Sunday school sessions (not a great wife to husband No. 1, Uriah the Hittite) but turns out to be a supermom to David’s son Solomon.

So He who inspired the book of books, our Torah, finally created and praised the rapturously giving, glowing instinct we call motherhood. Without it, our universe would be an immensely silent, empty heaven and earth.

On Sunday, May 8, tell her you understand and appreciate her contribution. Buy her a flower. Take her to the finest eatery in town. She gave you life, you know. ■

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Our Yiddishe Mames

AJT

Ted Roberts is a syndicated writer 11 who lives in Huntsville, Ala.

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

BUSINESS

Frat Brothers Take Upscale Furniture Outside

By Logan C. Ritchie lritchie@atljewishtimes.com

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uthenTEAK owners Eric Brenner and Damon Fogel met in the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi as pledge brothers at the University of Georgia. Post-college careers led them into different realms of sales, from hospitality to paper products, while they remained friends.

“We were getting an on-the-job M.B.A.,” Brenner said. “You get an education from school, but that doesn’t mean you have the best work experience. We both knew that sales was the best foundation for understanding business.”

Now in business together for 17 years, Brenner and Fogel are in a sweet spot: West Midtown is developing and expanding; AuthenTEAK’s career-oriented staff has low turnover; and the guys have a foothold on the outdoor furniture business.

In the 15,000-square-foot AuthenTEAK showroom, a former warehouse in the booming West Midtown design district, we discussed work ethic, ambition and business practices.

AJT: How did you become friends?

Brenner: Common interests in hobbies, music and leisure time. We went to the Bahamas and to Colorado on a ski trip. We were roommates for about a year. (After college) we were getting work experience and honing our work ethic, learning the ropes. We both went to Kinko’s corporate in 1997, so our paths crossed again.

AJT: So you left Kinko’s corporate and started your own company. Tell me more.

Brenner: We started a growing but small, hardworking printing company in downtown. Before the aquarium was down there. Before anything was down there.

Fogel: It was a grind. Printing is a tough business.

Brenner: Some of this is hindsight, but deadline-driven, time-sensitive and attention-to-detail (business) is complex. We were married to the business.

When you’re young, you are going to work a lot if you want to do it well. That became the norm.

AJT: You’re working hard, running a successful printing business. How did you make the switch to selling outdoor furniture?

Brenner: Business was good. Lots of work, lots of effort. Pure owneroperator, married-to-the-business-type situation. It wasn’t until we started this as a business that we could analyze.

People say business is business, and all business is the same. This was quite different.

Fogel: Furniture was possibly a good opportunity. We didn’t do one to get rid of the other. We worked longer hours. If you want to do business well, you work a lot. It became the norm. We were comfortable with long hours.

Brenner: We had five straight years of revenue growth in the printing business when we started the furniture business. We were working seven days a week.

Fogel: Printing was clearly Monday to Friday. Furniture was for consumers on the weekend, so we had two different audiences. We saw that (AuthenTEAK) could grow, and we were enjoying it, so we started looking for a possible exit strategy for the printing

business.

AJT: But this was downtown on the weekends. Wasn’t it a ghost town?

Brenner: We opened as a weekend-only business in the ground floor of our printing company. We ran the same phone lines and the same computers. It was a space that had no heat, no air conditioning, no bathroom, no kitchen.

Fogel: We would take deliveries on the street and build furniture at night.

We would deliver it ourselves until my great-uncle’s hand-me-down truck got stolen. It was an old Chevy pickup long bed with wood side panels. I wish I still had that truck.

Brenner: We were in this terrible location. No one knew who we were, and yet we continued to make sales.

Fogel: Eric and I would post signs on telephone poles everywhere from here to Alpharetta. We would drive around when we had time on the weekend and after work to put signs up, just to have people yell at us to take them down, and put them back up again.

AJT: What shifted?

Brenner: As we approached offseason, we needed to analyze the business. You can’t just work in the business; you have to work on the business.

In the second year of furniture we matched revenues of seven years in printing. We put the printing business up for sale, signed a lease here, and the printing business sold in two weeks.

We have rolled the dice three times. We had good jobs and left that to be unemployed/self-employed. Then we had a company that was 5 years old, with growing revenue, and we sold it to start this business. The third roll of the dice was when we moved in here before we sold the printing business.

Those were three big decisions.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

AJT: Did you turn a profit?

Fogel: Yes. We used that money to renovate this space.

AJT 12

AJT: When you moved into West Midtown, what was it like?

Fogel: You knew people were talking about doing things, but it was still industrial.

Brenner: We knew this was a home-furnishing, steals-and-deals type of district. The Huff Road corridor was growing and had a vibe.

AJT: Who is less risk-adverse?

Brenner: I am.

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

BUSINESS

Fogel: I agree. We are both pretty conservative. Coming here from a small space was pretty risky, but we don’t run our business by taking huge risks. We take calculated risks. We’re not playing Russian roulette.

AJT: When you expanded the space, did you expand product lines?

Brenner: The name AuthenTEAK started because we carried teak products. By the time we were here in 2006, we had already expanded to aluminum, wicker, natural and synthetic materials, and stone. With more showroom space, we broadened the product mix — outdoor kitchens, grills and

smokers.

AJT: What’s your strategic planning like?

Fogel: We are constantly looking at the numbers and talking about it.

Brenner: This is a seasonal business. It’s geared toward what it will look like come March 1.

AJT: But isn’t Atlanta a three-season town?

Brenner: We are outdoor living specialists all year round. Our market is national. We focus on Florida, Arizona, California and other Southern states in the winter.

AJT: That’s me. I’ve been driving by for years.

Brenner: We’re a destination location in an up-and-coming destination location. (Laughs.)

Fogel: The stuff that’s selling around West Midtown is not for our

target customers. We have something for everybody, for sure, but in a city this big there are only a few places to buy this product. (The consumer) is going to seek out the few places that sell it.

Brenner: There is plenty of competition in the city.

Fogel: The Internet is a huge component of our business. It’s the fastestgrowing component of our business.

AJT: What else should people know about your business?

Fogel: Even though our name is AuthenTEAK and our heritage is teak, we are outdoor specialists, and we do everything associated with the outdoor lifestyle: heat, fire, shade, furniture, kitchens, planters, TVs. We do everything.

Brenner: We travel the globe where we source unique items and products that were not previously available in the U.S. ■

Family Ties Damon Fogel’s family in the 1950s owned a fat-rendering and grease business directly across the street from the site of AuthenTEAK. “My grandfather got a kick out of the fact that we opened a business across the street from his old building,” Fogel said. “Back then, this was called Shanty Town, and it was full of little shanty houses.”

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Damon Fogel (left) and Eric Brenner have built AuthenTEAK into a national, high-end business in West Midtown.

Fogel: We see business in Canada, Caribbean islands and Hawaii, and all those places have a need for our product and buy from the mainland on a regular basis. We deal in different markets: consumers, design trade, and commercial or hospitality. All those markets are why we can do this all year long. We are not a high-traffic place.

We’re a destination place that services the upper end of a spectrum.

Brenner: Most people who walk in the door come in having done research already. People that come in and say, “I’ve been driving by forever” is a different client than one who has been online doing research.

AJT 13

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

BUSINESS

Marlins President to Address ACCESS Event

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

A

merican Jewish Committee’s ACCESS, one of Atlanta’s longestrunning Jewish young professional groups, will hear lessons from the business of professional baseball when Miami Marlins President David Samson speaks at the annual ACCESS Entrepreneur’s Night on Tuesday, May 17.

The organization’s signature

event, now in its 26th year, usually features prominent members of the Atlanta Jewish community, such as Bernie Marcus, Steak Shapiro, Bruce Alterman and Todd Ginsberg, but Samson, who lives in Miami, plans to fly in for the engagement on his way back from the Marlins’ seven-game National League East road trip to Philadelphia and Washington.

He won’t be the first baseball executive to speak at Entrepreneur’s Night. The more than 50 speakers over

David Samson, 48, has worked as a top baseball executive since 1999.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

the years have included Stan Kasten, a former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals who now is the president and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Any Jewish organization that asks me to speak I will say yes to,” Samson told the AJT in a phone interview. “I was sort of going to be in the neighborhood that week, so I decided to come to Atlanta. ACCESS is a great organization with a long history. I was honored to be asked.”

ACCESS Atlanta is the original ACCESS chapter, launching in 1990. AJC’s young professional wing now has 10 locations in the United States and one in Israel.

The 2016 edition of Entrepreneur’s Night will be held at 103 West in Buckhead and will start with a cocktail hour.

Samson said his remarks will focus on business and philanthropy and how to navigate a corporate world while following your moral compass.

“You can be very successful without sacrificing your values,” he said.

(After talking to the AJT, Samson had to deal with a star player who apparently didn’t follow that advice. Second baseman Dee Gordon, who won

AJT 14

the NL batting title in 2015 and signed a five-year, $50 million contract with the Marlins in January, was suspended for 80 games for using performanceenhancing drugs because exogenous testosterone and clostebol were found in a drug test during spring training.)

In addition to being the president of the Marlins for 17 years, Samson was an executive for the Montreal Expos from 1999 to 2002 and was a contestant on Season 28 of “Survivor” in 2014, although he was the first one voted off the show.

Samson is one of nine current team presidents in Major League Baseball who have presided over a World Series champion (the 2003 Marlins), and he was one of the key figures involved with the largely taxpayer-financed construction of Marlins Park from 2009 to 2012.

Asked about the Braves’ new Cobb County stadium, which is set to open in 2017, and the team’s exodus from downtown, Samson had nothing but praise for his NL East rival.

“It’s interesting, there’s no question about it,” he said. “It’s going to be an adjustment, and I think they are ready for it. The Braves have been a model franchise for a long time. I think Atlanta had the benefit of taking the best of every ballpark they’ve seen and not making the mistakes that other teams have made. That’s the key.

There’s going to be mistakes; you just want to make new ones, not old ones.” ■ What: ACCESS Entrepreneur’s Night Where: 103 West, 103 W. Paces Ferry Road, Buckhead When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17 Registration: $35, which includes one drink ticket at the cash bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres, as well as annual ACCESS membership; www.ajcatlanta. org

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

EDUCATION

JamBowl Raises Record $11,000

T Becky and Ariel Arbiv stand on the medal podium after the pole-vaulting final.

Weber’s Pole-Vaulting Sisters Best in State

Weber School junior Becky Arbiv and her sister, freshman Ariel Arbiv, finished first and second in the pole vault at the Georgia Independent School Association track and field state championships April 28 to 30 in Albany.

Becky broke her own GISA state record with a vault of 13 feet ½ inch to win the meet. Ariel cleared 10 feet 6 inches to finish as the runner-up.

Becky added a second-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 3 inches and took sixth place in the 300-meter hurdles.

Other Weber competitors included Marni Rein, who was 12th in discus, and Luke Pearlman, who placed 15th in the 1,600-meter finals.

The Weber girls finished ninth out of 21 schools in GISA Class AAA.

he student-run JamBowl, which began 12 years ago as a bar mitzvah project for Jake Seltman and Max Van Dresser, set a record for the annual event by raising more than $11,000 for the Brookhaven Boys & Girls Club on April 17.

JamBowl was a day of sporting events. The participants included boys from the Boys & Girls Club. All received prizes. At the end, three big donated prizes were raffled off: a signed Matt Ryan jersey; a guitar signed by all of the Zach Brown Band members; and Braves tickets.

This year’s JamBowl was organized by teenagers Jacob Cohen, David Cooper, Tristan Hulsebos, Michael Simon, and Max, Madi and Jake Kamean, all of whom raised money by soliciting sponsorships and donations.

The proceeds support after-school programs that offer kids a safe, supervised environment with educational and structured sports and other activities.

Donations are being accepted at bit.ly/1SWv9iZ. ■

Above: The 2016 JamBowl organizers are (from left) Jacob Cohen, David Cooper, Michael Simon, Max Kamean, Tristan Hulsebos, Jake Kamean and Madi Kamean.

Below: JamBowl participants pose outside the Brookhaven Boys & Girls Club.

Outdoor volleyball is one of the JamBowl activities.

Despite posting the second-best win-loss record in school history at 10-6, the Weber baseball team finished one win shy of making the GISA Region 1AAA playoffs.

The Rams, who finished before Passover with an 8-6 record within the region, were one game behind Bethlehem Christian, which posted a 9-5 regional record. Trinity Christian and the Heritage School each finished 11-3, and Loganville Christian, which Weber beat convincingly at home April 19 in the Rams’ season finale, ended with a 10-4 regional record.

Weber’s baseball team is graduating five seniors but looks to reach the postseason in 2017, its first year in the Georgia High School Association, behind a young pitching staff. Only Kyle Rabinowitz is graduating among this year’s pitchers, six of whom are underclassmen.

“We are already looking forward to our GHSA schedule for next year,” said Weber’s head baseball coach, Scott Seagraves.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Weber Baseball Just Misses Playoffs

AJT 15

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

SPORTS

Josh Pastner’s Fast Break

New Tech basketball coach feels strength of Jewish community

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

rebuild Georgia Tech basketball.

R

AJT: What has a day in the life of Josh Pastner been like the past few weeks?

Pastner: It’s been a whirlwind. It’s been nonstop, and it’s been fast, but I’ve loved every second of it. I wake up very early, go to bed very late, and I just feel that there’s not enough time in the day.

Sometimes late at night I wish I was in the Pacific time zone so I had another three hours to get things done.

ebuilding a collegiate basketball program is a daunting task, but if anyone’s up to the challenge, it’s new Georgia Tech men’s coach Josh Pastner.

The 38-year-old Jewish coach, who was hired April 8 from the University of Memphis, earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona in only three and a half years while playing basketball for the school.

Chat with him for five minutes and you’ll quickly sense his determination to bring the Georgia Tech basketball program back to prominence in Atlanta’s sports echelon.

Pastner talked with the AJT in his office Wednesday, April 27, about his Jewish roots, his family and his work to

AJT: What made you decide to take this job?

Pastner: It’s just a great opportunity. You’re coaching in the ACC, which, besides the NBA, is the best basketball league in the country. That’s exciting. The Georgia Tech brand is exciting. Having an opportunity to build something from Ground Zero is excit-

Photo by David R. Cohen

Josh Pastner (pictured in his office) is flying solo at Georgia Tech until he hires assistant coaches.

ing, and obviously all the great things about Georgia Tech and the city just made this a great move.

AJT: What does your family think of Atlanta? Have you settled on an area to live in town?

Pastner: They’ve only been here for about 24 hours. My wife is coming in to look at some houses. I love my family more than anything, but I couldn’t run the basketball program at Tech by myself and also take care of them at the same time. I need to get them out here sooner rather than later, though. I haven’t seen my wife or kids, and I need to go visit them. My wife is going to look around and hopefully find a good place for the family.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

AJT: Have you looked into joining any synagogues here in town?

Pastner: I’ve gotten tons of emails from the Atlanta Jewish community already. I can tell it’s strong here. I was very active with the Jewish community when I was in Memphis and Arizona, so I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me, which is great. I just haven’t had time yet to really move on anything.

AJT 16

AJT: What was your Jewish upbringing like in Houston?

Pastner: I used to go to services a lot growing up in Texas, but I kind of drifted out of it. Not from a religious standpoint, but from a discipline standpoint. You know, you have high school basketball games on Friday nights and such, but I was a lot more active when I was at the University of Arizona and I tried to continue that at Memphis.

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AJT: How did you manage to get your undergraduate and master’s degree in just three and a half years?

Pastner: So I got my bachelor’s degree in family studies in 2½ years. I took 45 hours my freshman year and 42 my sophomore year, which gave me 87 out of the 120 I needed to graduate.

I took all 33 credit hours my fifth semester. Then in my sixth and seventh semesters I got my master’s in teaching and teacher education. I did it because I figured the next best thing to playing was coaching, and I thought a seriousness about academics would set me apart when I went in for interviews.

The funny thing is, when I got the job at Memphis, they didn’t ask about that.

I just got the job because no one else wanted it.

AJT: What do you do to unwind?

Play basketball?

Pastner: I haven’t picked up a basketball in years. I have no interest in playing other than being on the practice floor with the guys shooting around here and there. Guys want me to come play five on five or three on three, and I just have no desire.

AJT: You spoke at the JCC Maccabi Games in Memphis. Have you been offered a spot coaching in the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel?

Pastner: I got asked, and they want me to do it next summer, but I don’t know if I can based on this new job. I really would like to do it, and everyone tells me it’s a great experience, but I’d be missing part of recruiting during a key time. If I was a little more tenured, I could probably do it. ■ (404) 817-3500 Atlanta@Israelbonds.com Development Corp. for Israel Member FINRA Effective through May 14, 2016

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ISRAEL NEWS

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home

Saving Gaza child from paralysis. Doctors at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem removed a tumor from the spine of a 3-year-old boy from Gaza to prevent him from becoming paralyzed.

Better dental implants. Magdent in Ramat Gan has developed an electromagnetic-based technology that could speed up the process and improve bone quality in patients who are having trouble getting dental implants in place. After animal trials, a human study is necessary.

No heart problems with IVF. A 25-year study of almost 100,000 women by researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center has concluded that in vitro fertilization poses no cardiovascular

risk to mothers. The study compared 4,153 women receiving fertility therapy with 95,138 who conceived naturally.

More help for Arab startups. The Hybrid accelerator and Made in Jerusalem brought 15 Arab entrepreneurs from Nazareth and East Jerusalem to meet top figures in the Israeli tech ecosystem.

Field hospital in Ecuador. Humanitarian aid organization IsraAID has operated a field hospital in Canoa, Ecuador, to treat victims of a magnitude-7.8 earthquake since April 23. In addition to medical aid, IsraAID is providing child-friendly spaces.

Visa agreement with China. Israel and China have signed a deal to issue mutual multiple-entry visas valid for 10 years. Israel is only the third country (after the United States and Canada) to have such an arrangement. China’s Hainan Airlines soon will start direct flights between Beijing and Tel Aviv.

Wave power for Gibraltar. Tel Avivbased Eco Wave Power has completed

the construction and entered the testing phase of its first commercial-scale wave power plant in Gibraltar. The $5 million, 5-megawatt plant is expected to produce 15 percent of Gibraltar’s electricity within two years.

Silencing that annoying GPS device.

Car satellite navigation systems can be distracting and dangerous, so Cellepathy has developed Ergo, which uses sensors, cameras and artificial intelligence to turn off the satnav when the driver doesn’t need it.

Agro-tech delegation to the Philippines. An Israeli delegation to the Philippines is promoting irrigation technology to cut costs and make water use by farmers more efficient. The companies are Agrotop, Bermad, BioFishency, Eshet Eilon, Metzerplas Cooperative, Netafim, ShneorSeed, and Tefen Flow and Dosing Technologies.

R&D agreement with New South Wales. Australia’s New South Wales government has signed an industrial research and development agreement with Israel that will team up compa-

nies to develop and commercialize innovative products. R&D areas include cybersecurity, water management and agricultural technology.

America’s favorite coconut drink. Israeli Ira Liran co-founded Vita Coco, a globally successful coconut water business. The company has 10 manufacturing facilities in eight tropical countries that together use 2 million coconuts daily.

World champion in figure skating.

Daniel Samohin, 18, landed three quad jumps to vault from ninth place and win the gold medal at the 2016 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He’s the first Israeli to win an International Skating Union title.

First female Olympic wrestler. Ilana Kratysh will be the first Israeli woman to compete in wrestling at the Olympics after winning a qualification tournament in Mongolia.

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

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Defeating brain thrombosis. Surgeons at Beer Sheva’s Soroka University Medical Center unblocked veins in the brain of a 56-year-old woman with a serious cerebral venous thrombosis. The rare, complex catheterization procedure involved the removal of a number of large blood clots.

AJT 17

ISRAEL NEWS

Mitchell: Lasting Peace Must Begin in Israel

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AJT 18

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ative Atlantan Ceasar Mitchell was one of four leaders nationwide who were selected to participate in the “Winning the Future” panel at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington in March.

The Atlanta City Council president is strongly considering a run for mayor in 2017, when Mayor Kasim Reed won’t be able to run again.

Mitchell is committed to education, most noticeably in his college admissions exam preparation program.

He is an honor graduate of Morehouse College and earned his law degree from the University of Georgia.

He has been featured in Georgia Trend as one of Georgia’s 40 Under 40 and in Atlanta Magazine’s Super Lawyers Edition as a rising star. Recently he was named one of Atlanta’s 100 most influential people.

In a press release after the AIPAC conference, Mitchell said: “This is perhaps one of the most influential events of the year for the pro-Israel community, many of whom live and work in the city of Atlanta. At a time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity in the Middle East, I am proud to join this distinguished group of young elected officials and represent African-American leaders who are becoming voices on this important issue.”

Mitchell talked to the AJT about Israel, American Jewish Committee’s Project Understanding and more.

AJT: You have been involved with the Jewish community for several years. Why is this important for you?

Mitchell: As a young lawyer before being elected to public office, I was involved with AJC’s Project Understanding, which helps bridge gaps and misunderstandings between Atlanta’s Jewish and black communities.

It opened me up and contextualized the world to conversations and issues relevant to the black experiences and beyond. When I was attending Morehouse College, of course I was exposed to black history and the civil rights movement, but this education also included a lot of white faces that didn’t have typical last names. Later on, I learned many of these people were Jewish. Project Understanding also made me realize that there is a real power in genuine relationships that are essential in overcoming barriers.

AJT: AIPAC’s “Winning the Future” panel this year explored why and how the next generation of African-American officials can support Israel. What were some of the key takeaways from this discussion? How was this year’s conference different from the one you attended in 2013? What were some of the challenges highlighted?

Mitchell: It is important to note that there are some risks as an AfricanAmerican leader taking such a bold stance in support of Israel. Some may claim we are neglecting our own neighborhoods. Ours is a community at a crossroads with some political issues and policies. In other words, we need to decide who is our enemy and who is not. Is the Middle East conflict our fight too? We also recognize there can be some tension with Christians, Muslims and Jews. Yes, there is sometimes tension in the black-Jewish communities.

Some may question whether Jews truly care about our needs and struggles.

For example — and I’m not necessarily for or against #BlackLivesMatter — but a Jewish person who supports that struggle may not always feel welcome if black issues in the U.S. are conflated with those in Israel.

On the actual panel, Amanda Edwards, a city councilwoman from Houston, Texas, encouraged debate and conversations on these difficult issues because sometimes we need them.

This is what was also great about Project Understanding, by the way, which I am a strong supporter of, and this is partially why I think Atlanta is special.

Here, we have strong black and Jewish leaders, and we come from a history of inclusiveness. We also have the (Martin Luther King Jr.) Center and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

To this end, education is key, and we all need mutual partnerships to continue to foster genuine relations. In some cases we are literally fighting for the souls of our kids, so let’s put our tools and resources together.

AJT: In 2009 you were instrumental in the Atlanta City Council passing an Iranian divestment resolution. Can you articulate a bit about this: How does it affect Atlanta, and why it was important to pass such legislation?

Was it merely symbolic legislation?

Mitchell: This legislation expresses the belief of the city’s population. We wanted to take a stand, and we wanted

ISRAEL NEWS The path taken should be one toward peace vs. personal views. I’m engaged because I believe in peace.

to support federal policy as well. We also included Sudan in this legislation because there was terrorism emanating from that country — even years before Darfur became an issue. Atlanta decided it would not do business with companies that invest in Iran and Sudan, and it does have an impact.

AJT: Several years ago, you and other African-American political leaders and activists visited Israel to participate in an American Israel Education Foundation seminar. How important was this trip, and what did you learn?

Did you meet with diverse groups of Israelis and/or Palestinians? What was most surprising for you?

Mitchell: The leadership wanted to build on its outreach program of African-American political leadership, and we developed a relationship. AIEF and AIPAC both sought to have firsthand experiences in Israel, and it was an important trip for me and all of us.

It was very educational: There is a powerful significance to the fact you have the three monotheistic religions originating from this specific area. But it is also bad and sad: With all the beauty we saw comes such horror.

We went to Sderot and saw how kids are forced to play inside, and we saw that one neighborhood to another in Jerusalem can be so different and the people there can hold such different worldviews. We know that there are many people on both sides wanting peace but simply cannot grasp it.

We can see from all this that history is living.

AJT: What is your position on a Palestinian state?

Mitchell: Whatever lasting peace is, it must begin in Israel; whatever solutions are made will become seeds for peace. I fundamentally believe that.

To this extent, the United States has a role to play because we are the world’s greatest democracy, and Israel is one of the only democracies in the region.

AJT: This year is a contentious one, as our country will soon choose a president. As it relates to Israel, how do you find the presidential candidates? Are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and Ted Cruz sufficiently pro-Israel, and is Bernie Sanders truly anti-Israel?

Mitchell: Are there candidates that are pro-peace? That’s the question to ask. And I would feel silly to say that Bernie Sanders is anti-Israel.

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AJT: Israel is home to roughly 140,000 Ethiopian Jews. What are some of the similarities and differences with their socio-political and economic challenges there and the African-American experience in the U.S. today?

Mitchell: We once visited an Ethiopian and Russian orphanage, and some of us were crying because we saw how even after many of the kids grew up, they came back and maintained their friendships, and some even got married there. Israel is a young country — as is the U.S. — and if you want to be the best version of yourself, you have to work on your worst parts. To be an example of freedom and justice, this is what has to happen.

AJT: Some state officials, particularly in the South, have been very opposed to welcoming refugees from the Middle East. What do you make of all the surrounding issues, and where do you stand?

Mitchell: I support embracing refugees, and we should do so responsibly and ensure the safety for our communities. These refugees should be treated equally and with respect. There is a lot of misinformation and large gaps between myths and facts. We must also recognize that we are in a war with terrorism, so the American public and political leadership are conflicted on this issue. ■

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell

AJT: Recently, many Jews have become disillusioned with President Barack Obama’s policies vis-a-vis Israel. Can you speak to this? Is President Obama anti-Israel?

Mitchell: Such criticism of President Obama is both unfortunate and unfair. There have not been any changes in actual policy, nor in financial assistance to Israel. The president is looking at balance and equality. As president, I expect candidates to look at this issue [Middle East conflict] through their professional lens, and Obama has done just that.

AJT 19

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ISRAEL NEWS

Never Forget: We Are Still Here Carlie Ladinsky, a Walton High junior, has spent the spring studying in Israel through Jewish National Fund’s Shirlye Kaufman Birnbrey Alexander Muss High School in Israel Impact Fellowship Program. She visited Poland in April. oland was what I expected but also completely different. I never thought Poland would be devastating. It unleashed hidden sadness.

Even when we toured the happier parts of Poland, I could feel a pit of sadness inside me. Most of my classmates felt the same way and assumed it was death in the air from the Holocaust.

The Holocaust’s numbers were so huge and the circumstances so catastrophic that the whole thing is ungraspable. I often found myself forcing emotions but later realized it was OK if I didn’t cry — that did not mean I didn’t feel sad.

In the Yad Vashem museum, we went to an area that displayed videos and pictures of Jewish life before the war and life in the concentration camps. Before the war, children ran up

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

P

AJT 20

and down the streets, parents frantically ran after their laughing sons and daughters, and grandparents watched from a distance. Life was good.

Then the laughter and smiles turned into cries and frowns. Everyone looked the same: frail and distraught.

I remember a little girl with pigtails who was jumping rope before the The Jewish cemetery in Warsaw and the Poznanski Palace in Lodz show how Jewish society thrived in Poland before World War II.

Guest Column

By Carlie Ladinsky

war. Later she was merely skin and bones and had no family, or even her jump rope, to keep her company.

When I was younger, I always jumped rope in front of my house, trying to learn tricks. It is crazy to imagine that two little girls who loved to jump rope were set on completely different paths — one to suffer, the other to thrive. I could see myself in that little girl; thus, I felt a more personal connection to the destruction.

As soon as we got off the plane, we were thrown headfirst into the darkness of Poland. We started at a Warsaw cemetery from before the Holocaust.

The people buried there established a Jewish culture, a common ground for Jews to express themselves publicly, socially and religiously.

Y.L. Peretz, for example, was a Yiddish and Hebrew writer who was born to a prominent family in a multiethnic city (at the time ruled by Russia) that was a stronghold of the Jewish Enlightenment. Ester Rachel Kaminska traced the future path of the Yiddish theater.

This collection of graves was sad, but I also felt comforted that the people did not die in pain and did make a huge contribution to the Jewish community.

Right before she died, Kaminska wrote in her diary: “It is not the first time that I start my life from scratch, but these words are written by a person who, after decades of frenetic work as an actress, director and playwright, finds herself without work, without a home, without a country.”

Another pre-Holocaust place is the Poznanski Palace. Izrael Poznanski put his palace close to his factory in Lodz.

He decided to hire only Jewish manufacturers so that the Jewish economy would flourish. Because of his devotion to the factory, he made a huge contribution to the industry of Lodz. He gave to the city and to the community, and 230,000 Jews prospered in Lodz. The Holocaust left only 20,000 of them.

Poznanski made miraculous efforts to keep the Jewish reputation high, but I think he threw away his money to build his colossal home and monumental grave.

We spent Shabbat in Krakow. We went to the Isaac Synagogue — the men going to the right, the women to the left. Most of the girls went up the stairs to a ledge that looked over the entire shul. People were celebrating Shabbat in peace. This is what shul was like before the war; men and women were able to follow their Shabbat traditions with freely expressed prayer.

It was nice to see Jews united in prayer where they were banned from practicing more than 70 years ago.

The funeral home was stunning.

There were beautiful stained-glass windows on the back wall. The sun shone through the colors and lighted up the sole table in the middle of the room. Before the war, people in the community cleaned bodies on that table and buried them in the Lodz cemetery.

The room seemed holy and special, so I felt disheartened that these traditional preparations were not used in the Holocaust.

A huge portion of the Lodz cemetery was set aside as the ghetto fields.

The 44,000 victims who died in the Lodz ghetto were fortunate enough to receive individual graves. But most remained unidentified and unclaimed.

This was the first place in our trip where many students felt the impact of the Holocaust and cried. I did not cry, but I felt extremely uneasy. I was angry and uncomfortable when I saw my classmates sitting and journaling in the middle of the cemetery. To me, it was an inappropriate place to record their thoughts. My friend Sophia said to me, crying, “I just want to know their favorite ice cream flavor, their hobbies, their first love.”

Those questions seem simple, but standing in that field, I knew it was a privilege to be able to answer even the simplest of questions.

Our first Holocaust location was the train station in Lodz, where Chaim Rumkowski was appointed by the Nazis as head of the Jewish Council of Elders. This ghetto was the last to be liquidated in Poland because of its notable productivity, but its residents eventually were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps.

When I walked into a train car, I saw half my classmates squished on the right side, so I expected to go to the left to have extra room. When I was directed to the right, I caught a glimpse of the reality of the Holocaust: A train car that would comfortably hold 20 people

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ISRAEL NEWS

instead trapped 100 victims at a time.

The experience was terrifying. I barely had room to move; Jews 70 years ago scarcely had space to breathe. The only shred of safety was the light from the sorry excuse for a window. When a working train passed us, we were all startled and jumped in our places. We all experienced five seconds of fear, but I cannot imagine the years of fear Jews felt under the Nazis.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the most lethal camp in World War II. Walking around in the freezing cold was close to unbearable. I kept thinking how fortunate we were to have our layers and our knowledge that we would be able to walk out in a couple of hours. I put myself in the shoes of the victims and concluded that I most likely would have given up because of the cold alone. I didn’t even take into account the work or the other brutal conditions.

I thought of a man on the train tracks who had refused to take off his tefillin. It is amazing that he held on to the religious flame in his heart; I would have succumbed to any request.

I stepped on each plank of wood on the train track. The planks seemed to never end, but when I reached the camp gate, I sighed. I knew I could

walk out and return to my reality, but for the deported men, women and children, Birkenau was their reality.

The most common mode of mass killing in the Holocaust was the gas chamber. I learned about the gas chambers in history classes at home, but stepping inside one was nothing like the textbooks. There were smudges of blue on the floor and walls from the Zyklon B poison tablets. The walls had scratch marks from people trying to pull themselves up for a last gulp of air.

I looked at my shoes and thought to myself how hundreds and thousands of bodies were beneath my feet.

Death was right below me. And it was one of the smallest gas chambers: It killed only 700 people a day.

I couldn’t process how I was feeling. I was not sad; I was not numb. It was all just too much, and it got worse.

“Majdanek — it was the worst thing I experienced during the war.”

These were the words of Alf Knudsen.

I read his story in the Majdanek Museum. His picture looked so innocent, but behind that face was a history of barbed wire, torture and no escape.

Majdanek was much more than a death camp. The couple who ran it invented murderous techniques such as

Carlie Ladinsky visits Poland.

dragging a body behind a motorcycle and skinning women for canvases.

I still could not connect with the stories we were told, but it all became real when we were taken to the mountain of ashes. Those were Jews. Those were victims. Those were the tortured.

Those ashes were once human beings.

The relatively small mound of dust and bones represented countless human beings — unidentified and unclaimed.

I could not and still cannot fathom how those ashes used to have arms, legs and heartbeats. Right before we

Hadassah Greater Atlanta

proudly invites the community to join us in honoring the recipients of The Marian F. Perling Hadassah Chesed Student Awards at a special Centennial event in memory of Marian F. Perling z"l Sunday, May 15, 2016 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.

Congregation Or VeShalom 1681 North Druid Hills Road NE, Brookhaven, GA 30319 The Marian F. Perling Hadassah Chesed Student Awards recognizes outstanding students in Jewish day schools and synagogues for their love for Israel, concern for fellow Jews, Jewish culture and fellow human beings and good academic standing. Each year the exceptional accomplishments, high ideals and aspirations of the Chesed recipients are awe-inspiring, and as a special tribute to Hadassah Atlanta's Centennial year, this year's Chesed program will also be shining a spotlight on its alumni.

2016 Marian F. Perling Hadassah Chesed Student Award Recipients Ahavath Achim Synagogue – Judah Means Atlanta Jewish Academy - Middle School – Aidyn Levin Atlanta Jewish Academy - Upper School – Oryah Bunder Congregation Beth Shalom – Mira Mutnick Congregation Dor Tamid – Alyssa Bruck Congregation Etz Chaim – Chase Flagel Congregation Gesher L’Torah – Joel Pozin Congregation Or Hadash – Noa Benveniste Congregation Or VeShalom – Flelix Fisch Congregation Shearith Israel – Lianna Slomka

RSVPs appreciated by May 10th Hadassah Greater Atlanta 470.482.6778/atlanta@hadassah.org

Temima High School – Ruthie Feldman Temple Beth Tikvah – Sloan Salinas Temple Emanu-El – Jessica Hankin Temple Kehillat Chaim – Morasha Winokur Temple Sinai – Hailey Kessler The Davis Academy – Mya Artzi The Epstein School – Elaine Berger The Temple – Carolyn Capelouto The Weber School – David Medof Torah Day School – Leah Lipskier

No charge to attend Refreshments served Dietary laws observed

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

The desolation and destruction of the death camps are eternal reminders of the need for a Jewish state.

went back to the buses, I looked down and saw scattered bones. I finally felt the devastation of the Shoah.

Throughout the week in Poland, two questions ran through my mind: Why Poland? Why those people?

Poland is a beautiful country. Its destruction physically, socially, economically, culturally and in other various ways is awful. Its beauty is no longer appreciated because it is associated with the Holocaust. It truly is a shame.

And how did the universe, G-d or whatever is beyond us decide those Jews were to be subjected to such torture?

I also wondered how I am so privileged in life. Why wasn’t it me 70 years ago spending days in the train cars or catching my last glimpse of light in the gas chambers or having my head shaved, being stripped of my warmth, beauty and dignity?

I do not know why events turned out as they did, but it is unfair.

I would not repeat my experience in Poland, but I am glad I went once.

Everyone should go at least once. It is unforgettable.

Stepping back into Israel gave me a new appreciation for a Jewish state.

As my teacher proclaimed hundreds of times: “Never forget; we are still here.” ■

AJT 21

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ISRAEL NEWS

The Betsy Ross of Israel

By Rabbi David Geffen

J

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

abotinsky Street in Jerusalem is best known today for Beit HaNasi, the Israeli president’s official residence.

Near it in one large complex are the Van Leer Institute and the Israel Arts and Sciences Academy.

In 1948, across from where these two buildings stand today, Rebecca Affachiner, the Betsy Ross of Israel, lived.

Her patriotic act on the afternoon of May 14 has resounded for 68 years.

Who was Rebecca Affachiner?

When I began to research her history 35 years ago, I was surprised to learn that in Norfolk, Va., in the early 1930s she was the adviser to my mother’s Junior Hadassah group. The January 1934 Odds and Ends, the group’s monthly paper, which my mother, Anna Birshtein Geffen, edited, bid farewell to Affachiner. “We know that Miss Affachiner will make quite an impact in Palestine, G-d should bless her and the country,” my mother wrote.

In November 1999 at Emory, in what are now the Stuart A. Rose special collections, a monthlong exhibit on Affachiner was held to complement

AJT 22

the General Assembly of Federations in Atlanta. Linda Matthews, then the director of special collections, arranged the exhibit, underwritten by the late Professor Marcella Brenner, a niece of Affachiner’s.

Rebecca, or Becky, was born in Nes­vizh, Poland (now Belarus), in 1884.

Her father, Isaac, later a founder of the Shomer Shabbat Labor Organization, went to the United States, then brought his family in 1891. She grew up on New York’s East Side. Along with Henrietta Szold, she enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

On a recommendation from her close friends Chancellor Solomon Schechter and his wife, Mathilde, in 1907 she became the principal of Columbia Religious and Industrial School for Jewish Girls, an innovative educational institution in New York.

In the summer of 1918 Affachiner volunteered to be a Jewish Welfare Board war worker. Arriving in France after World War I in early 1919, Affachiner was given a JWB hut and served cookies and chocolates to several hundred Jewish soldiers each night and danced with them. She arranged the

Left: Rebecca Affachiner was in her 60s when she created this flag.

Below: Rebecca Affachiner in Norfolk, Va., in the early 1930s

Lincoln and Washington birthday celebrations and planned and orchestrated a seder for 350.

For the next 14 years she was employed as an organizer for Hadassah, was the director of the Hebrew Charity Association of Hartford and became the director of Council House in Norfolk. Every summer she took a trip — Cuba, India, Mandate Palestine, Nesvizh. She was in Nazi Germany just after Hitler took over. A fervent Zionist, she made aliyah in 1934.

Early in May 1948, an American consular official knocked at the door of her apartment on Jabotinsky Street.

The official urged her to leave Jerusalem because of the expected violence.

Affachiner refused, saying she could not “abandon her brothers and sisters. I have waited my entire lifetime to see the rebirth of a Jewish state. I do not intend to miss it.”

Her dramatic act May 14, 1948, won her a permanent place in the folk annals of the new state.

Desirous of flying the Magen David, the flag of the new state (no one knew the exact design at that point), Affachiner had been unable to leave her apartment for two weeks because of enemy fire in the neighborhood.

Never one to be thwarted, she cut up a bedsheet and sewed it into a flag with a six-pointed star and stripes. For color, she used a blue crayon. She waited for that historic moment.

Late on Friday afternoon, May 14, when she learned that Ben-Gurion had proclaimed the new state of Israel, Affachiner went to her porch and raised her flag as the sun set over Jerusalem.

She died in 1966, and for the last years of her life she was cared for by an immigrant from Philadelphia, Ezra Gorodesky. The family chose to give him her flag, which has left Israel only once: when it came to Emory’s Woodruff Library in 1999 for exhibition.

As the 70th anniversary of Israel nears in 2018, Gorodesky is seeking a permanent home for the flag. I will funnel any and all suggestions to him.

Happy Israeli Independence Day to one and all. ■ Rabbi David Geffen can be reached at geff706851@yahoo.com.

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ISRAEL NEWS

Independence Ran Through Edgewood Avenue

I

n the late 1940s and early 1950s, I spent a lot of time on Edgewood Avenue. After school I enjoyed going to town to my father’s office. At the end of the working day we drove with my mother from his Five Points office down Edgewood Avenue via Boulevard to 1435 N. Highland near Big Apple and Shackelford Drug.

I plied that route with my folks many times, but only now has the mystery of 154 Edgewood Ave. and Atlanta Jewry’s contribution to the birth of Israel been solved.

Arthur Weiss of Carrollton served in World War II. After he finished Temple University, he returned to Atlanta and became the commander of Jewish War Veterans Post 112.

His major role in pre-Israel years was defined by a meeting of Ben-Gurion in New York with American Jewish leaders. “The Pledge” by Leonard Slater recounts the story of how BG stressed that a Jewish state would need armaments of all types to defend itself. Most nations were refusing to help the Yishuv prepare for its military needs. A few years after the Holocaust, the Jews might be slaughtered again when a state came to be.

Arthur Weiss, at 154 Edgewood Ave., was appointed Southeastern coordinator to “collect military clothing and equipment for Palestine fighting forces — in particular compasses, binoculars, and map cases.” Regarding weaponry, shells, even military vehicles and scrap tanks, it was suggested “communities or individuals having large quantities (whatever that might be) were instructed to contact Arthur Weiss for shipping instructions.”

The Southern Israelite noted in May 1948 that “haste is a factor” in these efforts.

My father, active in the JWV and later commander, visited Weiss often, as did many other Atlanta Jews in 1948.

Today, it is estimated that over $1 million in World War II weaponry went through Atlanta and was shipped out of Savannah and Charleston, reaching, after a circuitous route, Eretz Yisrael.

Yes, Atlanta Jews and Christians, like Jews and Christians across the United States, did their share. The legendary Ralph McGill, the editor of Atlanta Constitution, who was sent to Palestine by a news agency to get the real story in 1946, aided Palestinian Jews when they came to Atlanta to locate large stockpiles of armaments.

A large advertisement in the May 28, 1948, issue of The Southern Israelite was headed “Close Your Ranks — Jewish Soldiers Are on the March.” The ad showed an Israeli in a shorts uniform with a rifle in his left hand, wearing a Magen David patch on his right arm and pushing a plow.

The tagline stressed, “These Men and Women Need to Know You Are With Them — Stand Up and Be Counted.”

Rabbi Harry Epstein and HaRav Tuvia Geffen knew from the daily Yiddish newspapers they received by mail that a Jewish state would be declared May 14, 1948, as soon as British Mandate forces sailed away.

Most of the general U.S. newspapers assumed that Ben-Gurion would wait until Sunday, May 16, after Shabbat, to announce an independent Jewish state.

Today we all know that at noon Friday, May 14, BG read the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv because Jerusalem was under siege. After 2,000 years, our state — Israel — came to be.

What a Shabbat.

At Congregation Shearith Israel, Rabbi Geffen spoke in Yiddish, a sermon now available in Hebrew and English that has been quoted in the United States and Israel. After a few appropriate sentiments, Rabbi Hyman Friedman led the junior congregation in the moving singing of “Hatikvah.” I was there.

Rabbi Epstein, one of the few Atlanta Jews in 1948 who had visited the Holy Land, had learned in Hebron in the 1920s and received his smicha there.

With the flair that only he possessed, he invited a visitor to Atlanta: the Rev. Stanley Grauel of Boston, who was on the ship Exodus. At midnight Saturday (May 15 into May 16), a motzei Shabbat service at Ahavath Achim on Washington Street, open to the community, focused on that special guest.

Elliot Levitas, a Rhodes scholar and former congressman, recently shared his recollections of that night with me. “My most vivid memory was going with my parents to a community meeting at Ahavath Achim, where there was an extensive program with moving ceremonies, music and speakers. Jews and non-Jews packed the house. Emotions ran high. Palpable joy could be felt. At the time I knew that I would never forget the moment.”

Grauel’s impact on Levitas was powerful. “To me, the most impressive speaker was a tall Christian minister

who spoke so powerfully that he thrilled the audience. To this day I can hear and feel the delivery of his concluding word, which reverberated through the entire synagogue and brought the crowd to its feet cheering: ‘Yisrael!’ ” Another specific memory of that night remains for Levitas. “It was a strangely transformative experience. All of a sudden I felt different. There was now, at last, a Jewish state re-established after all these years — sometimes very dark centuries — and I was a Jew living to see it happen.”

He noticed an American flag on the bima. “I felt then such great pride and good fortune in being an American, whose country played a significant role in making this historic moment possible.” ■ Rabbi David Geffen, a former Atlantan who lives in Jerusalem, is the author of the American Heritage Haggadah, which is found in three American presidential libraries and one Israeli presidential library.

Photo by Rabbi Matt Berkowitz

Rabbi David Geffen and his oldest son, Avie, who lives in Beit Herut, attend a Jewish Theological Seminary of America event in February.

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MAY 6 ▪ 2016

By Rabbi David Geffen

AJT 23

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ISRAEL NEWS

Anti-Israel Die-In Fails to Stop Fest

A

celebration of Israeli culture at the University of Maryland drew an ugly protest but proved that a positive message can prevail.

On Tuesday, April 19, the UMD Jewish Student Union put on its annual Israel Fest, the culmination of a year’s worth of programming sponsored by a wide array of student groups. As the executive vice president of JSU, I, with the other executive board members, spent months planning the event.

Israel Fest is a celebration of Israeli culture, providing fun activities with educational components on McKeldin Mall in the center of campus. We had a rock-climbing wall to represent Masada and educational posters to explain its significance. We had a Birthright coffee lounge, where prospective participants could grab an Aroma coffee and talk to Birthright representatives about the 10-day experience. JSU also brought a camel to campus, enabling students to take a ride and learn about the Negev desert.

While the issue of Israel is always

political, Israel Fest focused on culture.

But Students for Justice in Palestine had a different idea.

About two hours into the event,

Guest Column

By Sam Fishman

protesters starting waving Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel remarks at the other end of the mall. They were attracting some attention but were not directly interrupting Israel Fest.

About a half-hour after they started, the protesters marched down the mall to the center of Israel Fest.

They shouted, “End the Israeli apartheid,” “F--k the police” and “Fight the power.” They even orchestrated a diein, in which all participants lie on the ground, imitating dead bodies.

Campus policy was violated when they blocked pedestrian traffic and infringed on the rights of others.

Almost all activities ceased; months of

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planning seemed to go down the drain.

After about 45 minutes of confronting university police, the protest dispersed, and Israel Fest continued with its positive celebration of the Jewish homeland. At the end of the day, I would estimate well over a thousand students, faculty and other guests participated in some way at Israel Fest.

The anti-Israel demonstration involved about 25 protesters shouting obscenities, disrupting a cultural celebration and making accusations.

More than 40 times as many people at our event got a taste of Israeli life, whether trying falafel or an Aroma coffee, learning about Eilat, or hearing about the opportunities of the Israeli studies department at UMD. We tried to educate and provide people with a fun experience, whereas the protesters sought to instill fear.

My thoughts should not be taken as opposing free speech, but a protest could be done in a respectful manner.

The events of that day have great importance beyond the University of Maryland. Pro-Israel activists across the country should learn a few essential lessons.

First and most obviously, there is serious anti-Israel sentiment across the globe, and we should not neglect it. Anti-Israel forces have a serious following, especially in Europe, and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is an affront not only to the state of Israel, but to the Jewish people as a whole.

Second, the events of this day provide some insight into how to win the communications battle of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. It is essential that we maintain a positive message. There is room to criticize the other side, but as pro-Israel Jews, it is vital that we take the higher road.

Think about it: If you were a non-Jew who was unfamiliar with the conflict and saw the events that transpired on that Tuesday afternoon, whom would you be more inclined to support? The fearmongering protesters shouting obscenities, or the people who invited you to have fun and learn about something new and interesting?

We win that battle 10 times out of 10.

The conflict we face is not an easy one, but with the right insight and message, we will prevail. ■

Remember Israel’s Dead, Celebrate Independence

T

he sister of an Israel Defense Forces helicopter pilot killed fighting Hezbollah in 2006 will be the guest speaker at the Yom Ha­ Zikaron observance Tuesday, May 10.

Thom Farklas, a native of Toronto, was 23 when his helicopter crashed on the Lebanon border July 24, 2006.

One of his two sisters, Amit Farklas, will speak about the loss of her brother and represent bereaved families at the Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) ceremony. Robbie Friedmann, the founder and director of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, will emcee the event, honoring the memories of fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.

Sponsored by the Israeli Consulate, the ceremony will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead.

The doors will open at 6:30. People are asked to arrive early for security and to wear white shirts.

Yom HaZikaron will be followed

by Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening, May 11 and 12.

Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations (on May 12 unless noted otherwise) will include: • A free performance of Israeli music by local Jewish band Paz at Crema Espresso Gourmet, 2458 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody, at 7:30 p.m. May 11.

• Jewish National Fund’s two events with Special in Uniform head Lt. Col. Tiran Attia — a free breakfast at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree St., Midtown, at 7:30 a.m. and a $54 women’s division lunch at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, at 11 a.m.

• The Marcus Jewish Community Center’s free celebration with music and activities at Food Truck Thursday at Brook Run Park, 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody, from 5 to 8:30 p.m.

• Young Israel of Toco Hills’ free festival at Mason Mill Park, 1340 McConnell Drive, Atlanta, from 5 to 7 p.m.

• A community celebration with a shuk, kosher food, games, music and dancing for $18 per person, $24 per couple or $36 per family at Congregation Or Hadash, 7460 Trowbridge Road, Sandy Springs, from noon to 3 p.m. May 15. ■

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ISRAEL NEWS

Scenes From the Homefront

FIDF’s Southeast Region has built up a leadership group of 50 young professionals, including (from left) Ryan Kaplan, Rachel Rimmer, Toni Mishael and Elan Mishael.

M

ore than 450 people packed the ballroom at the InterContinental Buckhead on Monday night, May 2, to help the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces support Israel’s troops, with a particular focus this year on lone soldiers.

Suzanne Eisenberg of Sandy Springs has two sons serving as lone soldiers, Mathew in an infantry unit and David in a tank unit. She said she and husband Joel visit Israel two or three times a year to see their sons, who get to come home for a month a year, and they use WhatsApp every other day to communicate.

“They have only one hour to get in from the field, shower and talk,” she said. “I will say they appreciate us more. They request personal items like toothpaste and gum that we take for granted. This has been David’s dream since he was 16, and he will stay.

Mathew has one more year to decide and is debating his future.”

Eran Mordel, an East Cobb resident who fought in the 2014 Gaza war after graduating from Georgia Tech and was one of the lone soldier speakers at the gala, said: “The FIDF is a lifeline of support for soldiers to feel loved.

I remember being on the front doorstep of Gaza and getting a comforting care package.”

“Helping these soldiers is a part of who we are,” said Garry Sobel, the FIDF Southeast Region chairman and a national board member. “They are part of our family, and it’s our responsibility

Israeli Consul General Judith Varnai Shorer (left) and FIDF Southeast Region Executive Director Seth Baron pose with Suzanne Eisenberg, the mother of two lone soldiers.

FIDF Southeast Region Chairman Garry Sobel talks about the personal connection FIDF builds with Israeli soldiers.

to help because their hearts tell them to serve.”

Tsur Fabian, who was an officer in the IDF Special Forces years ago, said his son is joining the IDF in August. “I am very proud of him. My wife is a tad fearful.”

Isaac Barel, who served in the IDF many years ago, said: “My son will soon go into service. It’s important that we help with better equipment that improves their lives as well as higher education later on.”

One of the fundraising focuses for FIDF’s Southeast Region is the Project Impact scholarship program, which pays for college for IDF veterans.

“We must show our appreciation and love for Israel’s greatest young men and women,” FIDF Southeast Region Executive Director Seth Baron said.

“Supporting Israel and the IDF are the most important things Jews in the Diaspora can do,” said retired British Col. Richard Kemp, a Roman Catholic and fervent defender of the IDF who delivered the keynote address May 2.

“It is important for the younger generation here to help soldiers in the IDF keep Israel safe,” IDF Young Leadership supporter Toni Mishael said.

“We want to set an example for Atlanta.”

The FIDF Southeast Region is planning its first mission to Israel from Sept. 9 to 16. For more information, visit www.fidfse.wix.com/mission2016, or call 678-250-9030. ■

Photos by Marcia Caller Jaffe and Michael Jacobs

The brother of Guy Barel (left) and son of Isaac Barel (center), as well as the son of Tsur Fabian, will join the IDF this summer.

Col. Richard Kemp says the IDF is the most moral army in the world in part because of its Jewish core and in part because its soldiers join not because they want to fight, but because they have to defend their homeland.

Weber School student Abby Goldberg sings the U.S. and Israeli national anthems.

U.S. Marine Brian Coleman is stationed at the Army’s Fort Benning in an officer leadership program in partnership with the IDF.

FIDF Southeast Region Executive Director Seth Baron explains the commitment of FIDF and the Diaspora to Israel’s soldiers.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

(From left) Garry Sobel, Col. Richard Kemp and Staff Sgt. Eran Mordel chat during the cocktail hour.

AJT 25

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HOME

Eclectic, Whimsical, Elegant Gwinnett Expanse

T

hrough the life of this Chai-Style Homes column, this is our first Gwinnett County venue. The Findling home makes it easy to appreciate the expanse of 3.4 bucolic private acres of lush, level pasture abutting the Chattahoochee River.

The gems on the inside are no less impressive.

Beth Findling, the president of a corporate recruiting firm, and Drew Findling, an international boutique criminal defense lawyer, collect and nurture art from a variety of wells. Drew said, “We collect in basically three arenas: regional, environmental (from recycled sources) and art found during our travels. Beth, who eschews professional design help, has a passion for arranging eclectic fabrics and wall surfaces.”

She said, “I work very closely with crafts people to get the best result. I’m obsessed with art! It is totally my thing to go to the nth degree.”

Jaffe: Describe the connection to your land.

Beth: This is technically Peachtree Corners at the very tip of Fulton County. This was originally a dairy farm, and the property served as the family’s country retreat. We bush-hog every October. It is so sweet to wake in the morning to see the deer frolicking. Two of our three kids were college ball athletes and enjoyed having the batting cage.

(Writer’s note: For those city folks like me, “bush hog” describes a rugged tractor-mounted boom mower.)

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Jaffe: The green recycled art is fascinating and certainly topical.

Drew: It’s just that: being creative with things that are disposed of. We cherish this metal Dumpster acquired in Asheville made with blowtorches showing the hustle and bustle of New York City, along with our actual family members in the scene. It weighs over 200 pounds. You can image the installation!

Chris Beck’s “Sunday Best Suit” and “Trevor” (9-foot blue jeans) are constructed by hand from galvanized steel and a barn roof with a hammer, anvil and arc welding, then hemmed with pliers. The nobs are from a Victorian house in Chattanooga.

The amber work at the very top of the stairs is from a 100-year-old 26 condemned barn from the artist’s

AJT

wife’s family with their photographs superimposed.

Jaffe: What inspires you?

Drew: “Abraham Lincoln the Great Emancipator” by Penley. It’s a patriotic salute from a criminal defense attorney like me. I am also an avid John Adams fan.

Chai-Style Homes

By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

Jaffe: Describe what is going on in the art room.

Beth: When we entertain, people comment that they feel they are in a gallery. I sought just the right technique to have the sky trompe l’oeil (art illusion to trick the eye) ceiling done by an amazing artist, Joel Cook, Twin Palms Studio.

The rest is very eclectic: the threedimensional cow behind real barbed wire by Calvin Walton, the black-andwhite bird totem pole, a folk-painted milk jug by R.E. Roebuck. Part of our gallery has several Murano pieces, one Dino Rosin. One of our first oil paintings was acquired on Maui, an original

by Marcia Banks with her use of very bold colors, entitled “Bare Shoulder.”

Also a sculpture (acquired in New Orleans) by Susan Clayton, a Tallapoosa, Ga., artist, entitled “Coffee and a Piece of Cake.”

Jaffe: What interests you about regional art?

Beth: We like the intensity of this tryptych by “Cornbread” (John Anderson) of regional animals — the playfulness of his raccoon, the black bear and the fox. We shop in Asheville and throughout the Southeast to keep our hands in regional art.

Jaffe: What are some exotic travel stories where you acquired art?

Beth: Now that we are empty nesters, we have collected art from Austria, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, but the most interesting is from a serendipitous meeting in Vienna. We had coffee at the Mozart Cafe with the artist Andrzej Kasprzak, who did this oil, “The Soul Voice.” It’s very emotional to me, depicting split emotions with the scarlet heart beating against the black background.

Photos by Duane Stork

The master bedroom features a red tray ceiling that is visible from the grand foyer entrance.

Also we acquired our Miro, “Homenatge a Joan Prats,” in New Orleans, so it varies.

Jaffe: The foyer is so tony. What brings it all together?

Beth: I wanted this very specific marble flooring, Michelangelo, in warm chocolate shades. I knew it would go well in here. One of my favorite glass sculptures, this totem pole is by Richard Jolley (known as the East Coast Chihuly). It’s over 200 pounds and also had a yeoman assembly. He was lecturing in Atlanta, and it was lovely as he personally delivered this piece to us. There is also a Henner Schroder glass sculpture in the foyer. The pre-foyer is very Romanesque, sticking to very pale ochre tones depicting

statues and sky.

Jaffe: What were you trying to evoke in your master bedroom?

Beth: I love that the Pompeii red ceiling is visible from the front door entrance. And it’s a “wow” to wake up in the morning to that red. Other than that, I love the limited-edition oil painting of the female dressed in her robe by Peter O’Neill, titled “The Breakup,” acquired in Charleston. It captures the essence of contemplation.

The master bath is cut stone and slate.

Jaffe: It’s whimsical, it’s stimulating, and it works. It’s even Western, as I see a metal, 5-foot cowboy boot with spurs resting on the patio. ■

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HOME

A

B

C

A: Beth Findling’s eclectic parlor office showcases “Black-Eyed Peas,” a piece of African-American folk art by Cedric Smith from Avisca Fine Art in East Cobb.

B: The Findlings’ gallery-style art room features a trompe l’oeil painted ceiling and an oil by Maui artist Marcia Banks titled “Bare Shoulders.”

C: Beth and Drew Findling pose with westie Cassius Clay in the grand foyer.

D: The stacked stone patio looks out on more than 3 acres abutting the Chattahoochee River.

E: The dining room table is set with Royal Crown Derby English bone china in the Black Aves pattern.

F: Anchoring the living room are Drew Findling’s favorite Abraham Lincoln painting by Steve Penley and “The Soul Voice” by Andrzej Kasprzak.

G: “Trevor,” a giant blue jeans wall sculpture, is a Chris Beck work composed of recycled roof material.

H: Richard Jolley’s 200-pound glass totem pole graces the foyer.

E

F

G

H

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

D

AJT 27

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Four Questions With …

Jeffrey Koplan, global health expert

J

effrey Koplan has led global health initiatives for Emory University since the establishment of the Emory Global Health Institute in 2006. Since 2008, he Jeffrey Koplan has held the title of vice president of global health.

He led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1998 to 2002 before moving to Emory.

Koplan is the guest speaker for the Jewish Breakfast Club at 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday, May 11, at Greenberg Traurig, 3333 Piedmont Road, Suite 2500, Buckhead. The program is $15. RSVP to JBC@atljewishtimes.com and pay cash at the door or pay at bit.ly/1UvM4ev.

Koplan took time while traveling to answer the AJT’s Four Questions.

AJT: Why does Emory University have a Global Health Institute?

Koplan: Global health has been a very hot topic on university campuses for the past decade — exciting both students and faculty, along with donors,

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philanthropies, the government and the private sector.

AJT: What attracted you to public health and global health in particular?

Koplan: For both, the opportunity to have the biggest impact with those most in need.

AJT: What achievement in your career are you proudest of, and why?

Koplan: Having the opportunity to be the director of the CDC — the world’s premier public health institution with an extraordinarily accomplished, multidisciplinary workforce.

AJT: How dangerous is the Zika virus, and what is Emory doing in response to its emergence?

Koplan: Zika virus poses a particularly serious threat — especially to pregnant women and their families, but potentially to all who are infected.

We may not fully appreciate the extent of its threat in terms of various outcomes and disabilities to multiple age groups for several years. ■

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SIMCHAS

Bar Mitzvah Max London

Max London, the son of Lori and Joel London of Dunwoody, will become a bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 7, at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Max’s grandparents are Arlene and Milton Jacobson of Atlanta and Bonnie and Jack London of Montgomery, Ala. He has a sister, Sarah London.

Max is a seventh-grader at the Davis Academy. For his mitzvah project, he registered a team of 13 runners and walkers to participate in the Daffodil Dash and raised more than $1,250 for Am Yisrael Chai, an organization that aims to plant 1.5 million daffodils in memory of the children who perished in the Holocaust and supports children threatened by genocide in Africa.

OBITUARIES

Werner Spiegel 94, Sandy Springs

Death Notices

Jerry Grossinger, 81, of Atlanta, husband of Leila Grossinger and father of Dara Grossinger-Redler, Jolie Grossinger-Brown and Jared Grossinger, on April 27.

Michail Miller of Brookhaven on April 28.

Sol Mix, 89, of Monroe Township, N.J., father of Temple Kol Emeth member Frank Mix, on April 26.

Revekka Sandler of Atlanta on April 26.

MAY 6 ▪ 2016

Werner Spiegel, age 94, passed away peacefully at home in Sandy Springs on Friday, April 29, 2016.

Werner was born in Fuerth, Germany, on Nov. 16, 1921. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Sylvia; his three sons, Harvey (Ellen Spitz), David (Deuzimar) and Stephen (Denise); his seven grandchildren, Daniel (Emma), Jonathan, Kevin, Brandon, Adam, Sarah and Emma; and his older brother, Frank.

Werner’s youth was spent providing for his family under the persecution of the Nazi regime. Eventually, Werner, his parents and his sister escaped to the United States in September 1941, with the help of brother Frank, who had arrived earlier. After marrying Sylvia Hirsch in 1953, he moved to Columbus. Werner was active in the Jewish community and served as a board member and president of Shearith Israel Synagogue and as president of the local chapter of the Jewish Welfare Federation. Werner was a successful businessman who had his own real estate company and partnered with others to establish and operate quality nursing homes.

After retiring, he moved to Atlanta, where he served as a docent at the Breman Museum, teaching students about the horrors of the intolerance he experienced firsthand in Nazi Germany.

Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. A graveside service was held Monday, May 2, at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs with Rabbi Neil Sandler officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations to Jewish Family & Career Services are welcome. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-4514999.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

Iyar: Spring Training

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osh Chodesh Iyar begins Sunday, May 8. During this month we consider our inborn character traits, evaluate them, and embrace or replace them with actions that elevate us spiritually. We balance our primitive, animalistic behaviors with our refined spiritual selves to make us worthy of receiving the Torah in the month of Sivan.

During the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, at Whole Foods and again at the gym, I was stopped and asked similar questions, such as “Are you the one who writes the, uh, let’s say, unusual articles about Judaism with the meditation?”

I laughed and replied, “Yes.” All of their comments were kind, and one woman said, “I don’t always understand what you’re talking about, but I like it. It makes me think.”

I hope that she’s reading this article because she has made me think as well.

The whole point is to continue to examine our Jewish ways of life regarding prayer, mitzvot and the rituals that govern our days. I invite you to stretch yourself and accept the challenge to view Judaism through different lenses that focus it and bring it closer to you.

I, on the other hand, will strive to include imagery that is also more familiar.

What if, during this Iyar, we imagine that we are Rocky, standing at the bottom of the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum? We are in training, you know. We have the task ahead to refine ourselves, conquering physical cravings and desires, in order to achieve our goal of sprinting to the top of the elevation by Shavuot, June 12.

Most of us wouldn’t be expected to dash up the 72 stone stairs on the first try. Practice and discipline are more likely to result in success.

And so it is with our study of Judaism. We take one step at a time, incorporating rituals and observances.

Iyar is the perfect month in which to start. Actually, any month is the perfect month.

In Iyar, we’re commanded to count the Omer. For seven weeks, or 49 days, from the second night of Pesach to the night before Shavuot, we have the challenge of achieving deep spiritual cleansing.

During this time, imagine increas30 ing the number of steps we climb, day

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by day, while focusing on middot to elevate the soul. These are Kabbalah’s seven attributes of mercy, judgment, beauty, victory, splendor, foundation and kingship.

Iyar’s Hebrew letter is vav; zodiac sign, Taurus; tribe, Issachar; sense, thought; and controlling organ, right kidney.

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The appearance of the letter vav is like a connecting pipe to lean on as a railing during training.

The bull represents the zodiac sign of Taurus. Sometimes, in words or actions, people are like bulls in a china shop, crashing through and destroying everything. Let’s harness the power of the bull to cultivate determination to stay the course.

Those born under this sign are dependable, generous, down to earth, patient and persistent. They can also be stubborn, unmovable, materialistic and possessive. See which of those traits describe you to understand what challenges you may encounter and consider the changes to implement.

Members of the tribe of Issachar were lofty thinkers who made great use of thought toward understanding the laws of nature and the universe.

The right kidney, the controlling organ this month, aids with purification as it rids us of toxic thinking that impedes the process.

Meditation focus: For the next five weeks, work up to walking 49 steps each day or go for a 49-foot walk (it has to be measured only the first time) or a 49-minute walk every day.

Be creative and get moving.

Choose one or two attributes each week to contemplate during your walk. By the time Shavuot arrives, you’ll have used the radiance of the light in spring to refine your physical, mental and spiritual prowess.

Iyar is the acronym for alef-yudresh, “I am G-d your healer,” from Exodus 15:26. As we all push ourselves to improve, we can envision Hashem walking by our side, offering healing.

When you arrive at Shavuot, like Rocky, raise your hands in the air, turn your face upward and celebrate the glory. ■

“Cut Out This Puzzle”

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

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New Moon Meditations

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ACROSS 1. Like a red heifer 5. Actress Fisher 9. David beating Goliath, e.g.

14. Bills in America but not Israel 15. Like Haman 16. Optimus in Bay’s sci-fi films 17. Kinsler’s RBI, e.g.

18. Locked (up), like those in Buchenwald 19. Like the tale of the Golem 20. Part I of a helpful suggestion this time of year 23. Cousin of Seinfeld’s “yadda-yadda-yadda” 24. Julia’s “Veep” co-star Chlumsky 25. Kilmer who played Moses 28. Go to (Bar Ilan) 31. Period at Bar Ilan 35. SodaStream’s was $20 on the NASDAQ 36. Do kriah 37. Event where Borat sang the Kazakhstani anthem 38. Part II 42. ___ bet (like picking Casspi to beat Obama in a one-on-one) 43. Mrs. Netanyahu 44. Name with mori?

45. Freudian concern 46. Divided land like Joshua 48. One on the court with Maccabi Tel Aviv 49. “Young Frankenstein” role 51. Michal to Yonatan, for short 53. Part III (make sure to put this puzzle in a place you’ll see every day) 60. Puzo who created the character of Moe Greene 61. Paddan ___

32. First name of “The Monkey’s Paw” scribe 33. Christopher in Donner’s “Superman” 34. Recurring theme for Gershwin or Berlin 37. One of Matisyahu’s crew 39. Ron Dermer, ____ representative of Israel DOWN 40. Forbidden ink, in 1. ___ Hashana Judaism 2. Chip that can’t be 41. Many a new student at kosher?

Stern College 3. What Abraham did to 46. Mary’s boss on “The young Lot Mary Tyler Moore Show” 4. Makeup’s Lauder 47. Like many a synagogue 5. Made like Iron Dome on Shavuot missiles 50. Kosher bird 6. Samuel, for one 52. Yom Kippur feeling, 7. Lois created by Shuster ideally and Siegel 53. Like a pomegranate 8. Paul Rudd superhero 9. Donald and Ivanka’s alma 54. Cookie that went kosher in 1998 mater 55. Like many Jewish 10. 1987 Joel Silver produced Schwarzenegger practices (Abbr.)

56. Bit of work for Spielberg hit 11. Kingly title not used for 57. It must be seen for prayer once a month Jewish kings 58. “Anything ___” (2003 12. Arab ruler Woody Allen movie) 13. Sukkot requirement?

59. It’s what Shabbat is for 21. Big no-no for a 60. Some YU degrees synagogue 22. Like Bernie Sanders before he became a Dem. 25. Needs to LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION get into Israel L E S L I E A V O I D C H E W A T H E N S D E N S E O I L Y 26. Strike ___ S I M O N A N D G A R F U N K E L (what Rafaeli E L A N I N D E E D S H I N S and Ginzburg M E N A N T E E A T A do) D A R K N E S S N E O N G O D D I O S H I D S A N E 27. Jonathan to D R I S H A A E R I E B A V David, e.g.

D I S T U R B E D B O D R B I 29. “The ___ Y E M E N I O N S A L L E Y of Steve” F I X W I E N N E L L G R A D U A T E (2000 Jenniphr D R A I M A N T O C K A E R G O N G Goodman film) S P R I N T A L E E A G O A L 30. Dadaist T H E S O U N D O F S I L E N C E Max hunted by A I N T A W A R E M E R I T S L A M E R A S S E S S B L T S the Nazis 62. Tevye for Topol. e.g.

63. Some West Bank locales 64. “Indeed” 65. A Jewish Friend 66. Was a ganef 67. Biblical plot 68. Source of Israeli news

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