Atlanta Jewish Times, No. 37, October 2, 2015 by Atlanta Jewish Times

BDS MIND

Anti-Israel, pro-BDS activists gathered in Atlanta find Zionism at the root of the world’s woes. Page 8

BY THE BOOK

FILM STAR

“Ally” author Michael Oren backs the Atlanta consulate and ponders life under the Iran deal. Page 9

Take a tour of Carrla and Jeff Goldstein’s Sandy Springs mansion, a popular TV and film location. Page 26

Atlanta VOL. XC NO. 37

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Special Travel Section

Am Yisrael Chai Wins $4K Sandy Springs Grant

Photo courtesy of the Beaches Museum via Jeffrey R. Orenstein

TIMELESS GETAWAY

Shown in 1926, Casa Marina has served as a beachfront escape for gangsters and movie stars in its 91 years and, since a renovation in 1991, has regained its place as a Florida vacation destination. Learn more about the barrier island beaches near Jacksonville, a Florida dude ranch, Jewish life in Florida in the 1950s, Jewish institutions in Poland and Bulgaria, the perils of air travel to Israel without a direct flight from Atlanta, and some of the synagogue trips planned for 2016 in this week’s Travel, Pages 18-23.

HOME AT LAST

A year after buying its first building in 30 years, Congregation Bet Haverim is ready to celebrate its homecoming at Simchat Torah. Page 2

YOUTHFUL TURN

The Baal Shem Tones, Helene and Michael Kates, prepare to release a CD that takes their Jewish music to a different audience, children. Page 25

OCTOBER 2, 2015 | 19 TISHREI 5776

he city of Sandy Springs has granted Am Yisrael Chai $4,000 for the group’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in January. The grant, one of 12 totaling $50,000 for nonprofit groups through the Serving Sandy Springs program, will partially pay for the Holocaust commemoration organization’s “Courage and Compassion: A Lucky Child Survives Auschwitz” on Jan. 24, 2106. Thomas Buergenthal, born in Czechoslovakia in 1934, will be the featured speaker. He was one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz and was liberated at Sachsenhausen in April 1945. Courage and compassion helped him survive, said Am Yisrael Chai’s Andrea Videlefsky, and he has shown both traits as a human rights lawyer and law professor. The annual Am Yisrael Chai event always begins with the lighting of a memorial candle by Holocaust survivors in the Atlanta area. Buergenthal’s fellow Auschwitz survivors will be a particular focus at the 2016 event, Videlefsky said. An Auschwitz-related exhibit will be part of the event, as will a signing of Buergenthal’s memoir, “A Lucky Child.” The grant is the second consecutive

INSIDE

Calendar 2 Travel 18 Candle Lighting

3 Arts 24

Opinion 10 Home 26 Business 13 Obituaries 28 Education 14 Crossword 30 Israel 17 Marketplace 31

for the event from Sandy Springs, the home of the commemoration since it began at Congregation Beth Tefillah in 2008, Videlefsky said. “I’m incredibly appreciative of the support of the city.” Am Yisrael Chai received $3,250 for the 2015 event. The increased grant will help the event move from Atlanta Jewish Academy to the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North to accommodate the growing crowd. The 900 who attended in January exceeded AJA’s capacity. The $4,000 does not cover all the expenses of the event, which is free to attend. Am Yisrael Chai depends on sponsors, whose gifts get them daffodils planted in their names for the Daffodil Project. Am Yisrael Chai has worked since 2010 to plant 1.5 million daffodils worldwide to remember the 1.5 million Jewish children killed in the Holocaust. More than 187,000 daffodil bulbs have been planted in such countries as Israel, Poland, Canada and the Czech Republic, as well as many U.S. states. The annual Daffodil Dash at the Marcus Jewish Community Center supports the effort. Videlefsky said her group has planted 100,000 daffodils in downtown Atlanta and plans to add 55,000 this year. The next major Am Yisrael Chai event in Sandy Springs is a daffodil planting at Hammond Park at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15. Organizer Mike Weinroth said he expects at least 600 people. Mayor Rusty Paul will speak at the event, the first for the Daffodil Project since Sandy Springs’ first mayor, Holocaust survivor Eva Galambos, a past Am Yisrael Chai speaker, died in the spring. ■

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CALENDAR THURSDAY, OCT. 1

Sukkah barbecue. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Johns Creek, offers inflatables, other fun activities and food for sale at a Sukkot celebration from 5 to 7 p.m. Free; www. chabadnf.org. Barbecue and the blues. The Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, holds a family Sukkot celebration with children’s crafts and activities, music from the Rockaholics, and the sale of pit-smoked beef ribs and other kosher food from 5 to 7 p.m. Free; www.atlantajcc.org. Post-LimmudFest party. Limmud Atlanta + Southeast celebrates this year’s festival volunteers in Amy Price’s sukkah at 7 p.m. Anyone interested in planning the 2016 LimmudFest also is invited. Free; leslie.mallard@limmudse.org for the address. Sushi in the sukkah. Learn how to roll your own sushi while socializing with YITH Young Professionals at 8 p.m. at the sukkah at Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road. Admission is $15 in advance or $20 at the door; www. yith.org or 404-315-1417.

SATURDAY, OCT. 3

Sukkah brunch. The Sixth Point holds its second annual “shabbrunch” with a challah taste test in a sukkah at the Levy home, 2884 Parkridge Drive, Brookhaven, at 11 a.m. For adults only. The fee is $10; thesixthpoint.org/event/ shabbat-shabbrunch-in-the-sukkah.

SUNDAY, OCT. 4

Album release party. The Baal Shem Tones celebrate the release of “8 Songs for Children” with a puppet-making workshop at 10 a.m. and a concert at 10:30 at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free; www.baalshemtones.com. Sukkah tailgate. Chabad of Georgia brings its Sukkah Lounge to Lot N outside the Georgia Dome for kosher tailgating from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. before the Falcons play the Houston Texans. Free.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7

Human trafficking program. Greater Atlanta Hadassah holds a panel discussion on human trafficking in Atlanta and beyond with experts from the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, the Interfaith Children’s Movement and Covenant House at 7 p.m. at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs. Light refreshments are served at 6:30. The suggested donation, collected at the door, is $10; RSVP by Oct. 2 to gahprogramming@gmail.com. Book Festival prologue. Knesset member Michael Oren speaks about “Ally,” a memoir of his time as Israel’s ambassador to the United States, in a prologue to November’s Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center at 7:30 p.m. at Atlanta Jewish Academy, 5200 Northland Drive, Sandy Springs. Tickets are $18 for JCC members, $24

Bet Haverim Starts Fresh Simchat Torah ushers in new era By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

imchat Torah represents the conclusion of one cycle and the beginning of a new one. To celebrate its own new chapter, Congregation Bet Haverim will hold an official homecoming for its new building and fully renovated sanctuary for Simchat Torah on Monday, Oct. 5. “In a way this is just like Simchat Torah,” Bet Haverim Executive Director Amy Robertson said. “It’s sort of the beginning of a new era. It’s so beautiful to be able to bring our Torah into the space and place it at home there. It’s an amazing alignment of the stars that the timing has worked out.” Bet Haverim closed on the purchase of its new location, Young Israel of Toco Hills’ old home, in October 2014, but with planning, permits and renovations, it took nearly a year for the space to be ready for the Reconstructionist congregation led by Rabbi Josh Lesser. Now it will join together to bless the space on Simchat Torah. Besides the traditional festivities for Simchat Torah, Robertson said the homecoming event will include the lighting of a menorah, a blessing for the space, and a toast to how far the congregation has come in the 30 years since it was founded in 1985 by lesbians and gay men.

for nonmembers; www. atlantajcc.org/ bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

FRIDAY, OCT. 9

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What: Simchat Torah Where: Congregation Bet Haverim, 2074 LaVista Road, Toco Hills When: 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5

friendship. Greater Atlanta Hadassah’s Ketura Group shows “Serial (Bad) Weddings” and serves dessert at 7:15 p.m. in Alpharetta. The fee is $12 ($6 for prospective members); RSVP to rsvp2mffried@gmail.com or 770-442-2854.

SUNDAY, OCT. 11

Shabbat Ruach. The Marcus Jewish Community Center’s music-filled, casual community service starts at 7 p.m. at Congregation Dor Tamid, 11165 Parsons Road, Johns Creek. Free; www.atlantajcc.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 10

Film

A standing-room-only crowd is expected. “This is a really huge spiritual and communal moment for us,” Robertson said. “We now have a sanctuary that’s ours and control over our space in ways that we never had before. We have opportunities to set our own policies instead of following the policies of the organization we are renting from. All these ideas I’ve had for years and years are now possible.” Upgrades to the building include the replacement of nearly all doors and windows, acoustical paneling to optimize sound in the space, and the addition of wheelchair-accessible ramps to be fully compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. High Holiday services and large gatherings will continue to be held at higher-capacity venues, such as St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, because the building is not large enough to house the entire 350-household congregation. “We’re really excited about the possibilities that this space will open up for us,” Robertson said, “and we hope that people will come visit.” ■

and

Walk to fight cancer. Relay for Life of Ruach, the only American Cancer Society Relay for Life held on a Sunday, begins at 1 p.m. and ends at 8 at North Springs Charter High School, 7447 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs. Sign up at www.RelayForLife.org/ruachga. Gathering your key documents. Jewish Home Life Communities presents Part 2 of “Preparing Your Top Drawer File,” a program providing information and tools to create your own file of important medical, legal and financial documents to ensure that your care preferences are followed, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the William Breman Jewish Home, 3150 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta. Free; RSVP

Call today for information about the newest area in our cemetery, Shalom II, and to receive your free Personal Planning Guide.

CALENDAR

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CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Shabbat During Sukkot Friday, Oct. 2, light candles at 7:03 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, Shabbat ends at 7:56 p.m. Arlington Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah Memorial Park at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, light candles Monday, Oct. 5, light candles after 7:54 p.m. SanDy SPRingS Tuesday, Oct. 6, holiday ends at 7:52 p.m. 404-255-0750 Parshah ArlingtonMemorialPark.com Bereishit Friday, Oct. 9, light candles at 6:53 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, Shabbat ends at 7:47 p.m. to 404-351-8412 or JewishHomeLife.org.

Jewish wonders. Rabbi Ken Spiro (kenspiro.com) talks about “The 7 Wonders of Jewish History” at 4 p.m. at Atlanta Jewish Academy, 5200 Northland Drive, Sandy Springs. Free; www.facebook. com/events/629742260501446. Ethics in science. Arri Eisen of the Center for Ethics at Emory addresses “The Convergence of Science and Religion” to inaugurate the Dr. Paul Fernhoff Ethics in Science Program Lecture at Atlanta Jewish Academy, 5200 Northland Drive, Sandy Springs, at 7 p.m. Free; secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=e4b126.

TUESDAY, OCT. 13

Self-defense for middle school girls. Girls Can Fight Too, a weekly, five-class self-defense workshop operated by Divas in Defense for girls in sixth through eighth grades, starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. The series is $140 for center members, $180 for nonmembers; www.atlantajcc.org. Self-defense for high school girls. Fierce & Fabulous, a weekly, five-class self-defense workshop operated by Divas in Defense for girls in high school, starts at 7:45 p.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. The series is $140 for center members, $180 for nonmembers; www.atlantajcc.org.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14

A woman’s touch. The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s Women’s Philanthropy Division hosts Jeannie Opdyke Smith, whose Polish Catholic mother as a teenager saved Jews from the Nazis, for an event called

7/27/15 11:44 AM

“One Woman Can Make an Impact.” Sign-in at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, starts at 6:15 p.m.; dinner is at 7. Tickets are $54, available only to those who have donated at least $365 to the 2016 Community Campaign. Register by Oct. 6; www.jewishatlanta.org/ wpfallevent or 678-222-3702.

THURSDAY, OCT. 15

Dealing with elderly parents. AJT contributor Nancy Kriseman leads a workshop at the Renaissance on Peachtree, 3755 Peachtree Road, Buckhead, at 5 p.m. on approaching such sensitive topics as moving a parent into assisted living, giving up driving, going to the doctor despite resistance, and overcoming resistance from someone with dementia or depression. Free; rmatthews@arborcompany.com or 404-237-2323. Caregiver help. Federation and the Meyer Balser Naturally Occurring Retirement Community present six weekly classes teaching tools for caregivers, starting today at 4:30 p.m. at the Meyer Balser NORC inside the Zaban Tower, 3156 Howell Mill Road, Buckhead. Free but registration required; agdavis@ meyerbalser.org or 404-355-5696.

SUNDAY, OCT. 18

Super Sunday. Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta holds its phonathon for the Community Campaign from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; www.jewishatlanta. org/supersunday or 678-222-3721. Pet blessings. The Marcus Jewish Community Center and My Pooch Face hold the Blessing of the Pets animal festival from noon to 2 at Brook Run Dog Park, 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody. Free; www.atlantajcc.org.

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LOCAL NEWS

Water Carriers Refresh Toco Hills Walkers By R.M. Grossblatt

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

any families in East European shtetls depended on water carriers — laborers who carried heavy buckets balanced on wooden yokes on their shoulders. Their work was essential not only for their livelihood, but for the families who depended on the water for drinking, cooking and bathing. We have running water in most homes in America today, but in the heat of Atlanta, those walking back from synagogues in Toco Hills benefit from a new version of the water carriers — one inspired by a Sukkot experience in Jerusalem. Every Shabbat morning on Bramble Road, before walking to shul, a man carries bottles of water to the curb and deposits them in an ice chest near one sign that reads, “Shabbat Shalom,” and another that reads, “For Your Shabbos Enjoyment.” He has been doing so for four or five years and shrugs off the expense and the effort. Last winter, the water carrier provided warm soup. When summer temperatures rise

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into the 90s, Shabbat observers in the community aren’t interested in soup. They often need cool drinks, however, and they find them in the middle of the block on Bramble. Children often urge their parents to walk that way home from services. Some of them knock at the door of the neighbor to thank him for the drinks. “It’s a good lesson for the children in kiras ha’tov (showing appreciation),” said the Bramble Road water carrier, who appreciates his nephew Rabbi Shlomo Pinkus, who started it all. Around 2 a.m. one Sukkot in Jerusalem, Rabbi Pinkus, then a young yeshiva student, and his friends were walking home from the Kotel (Western Wall). Tired and thirsty, they spotted a sukkah in Mea Shearim with a sign on the door welcoming guests to sit down, make a bracha (blessing) and have a drink. They walked inside the sukkah, where water poured out from a spigot connected to the owner’s house. There were even fruity flavors to add. As Rabbi Pinkus cooled down and relaxed in the beautifully decorated booth, he hoped that in the future he

would get the chance to offer drinks to others. Years later, as a married man with a family in Atlanta, Rabbi Pinkus grabbed that chance. One Shabbat morning, looking out the window from his house on Biltmore Drive, he saw a white-haired man walking by his house who suddenly leaned on his mailbox. Rabbi Pinkus ran down the hill with a drink of water for the man, who thanked him, then walked home. The next Shabbat, the same man leaned on the mailbox, and again Rabbi Pinkus offered him a drink. This time, after thanking the rabbi for the water, the man in his 80s asked, “Do you have a seat for me?” So Rabbi Pinkus pulled over an outdoor chair, and the next week he left the chair in the shade under a tree. He thought that if one person needed a drink and a place to rest, maybe others did also. He knew that in Temple times in Jerusalem, the judges stood by the entrance to the city to offer water to those traveling to celebrate the festivals. That message, plus the memory of

the hospitality of the sukkah from his youth, led the rabbi to take action. He wrote a message similar to the sign on the sukkah in Jerusalem, offering cold water bottles from a cooler and setting up a chair nearby. When temperatures were at their hottest, he left the cooler out during the week and wrote another sign for the mail carrier and garbage collectors to help themselves. But always the rabbi refilled the cooler with a fresh supply of water bottles for Shabbat. His idea caught on, and another family on the other side of Biltmore, the Sasoons, also put out water bottles and a chair to rest for Shabbat. The Pinkuses and the Sasoons have made aliyah, but the Shabbat Shalom sign that the Sasoons designed now greets walkers near the water carrier’s home on Bramble. This summer, the water carrier added lemonade (pink, at his wife’s suggestion). Now even more children (and adults) walk down Bramble Road. And the water carrier and his wife are tickled pink. ■

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Remember When

a building at Old Canton and Sewell Mill roads in East Cobb. The planned $1 million facility will end the 8-year-old Reform congregation’s reliance on meeting space at the Jewish Community Center’s Shirley Blumenthal Park, Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church and Mount Zion United Methodist Church.

■ The National Council of Jewish Women’s 1,350-member Atlanta Section and the 900-member local chapter of the Brandeis National Women’s Committee held their opening luncheons on back-to-back days. The NCJW honored past President Lila Hertz and heard from National Vice President Nancy Kipnis about a campaign to protect abortion rights. The Brandeis women learned from Kathleen Hall about work-life balance.

■ Stacy and Jonathan Regitsky of Marietta announce the birth of a son, Alec Benjamin, on Aug. 16.

10 Years Ago Sept. 30, 2005

■ The bar mitzvah ceremony of Jay Yaakov Cohen of Dunwoody, the son of Dan and Kim Cohen, was held Saturday, July 23, 2005, at Congregation Ariel. 25 Years Ago Oct. 5, 1990 ■ Temple Kol Emeth voted Sept. 7 to begin construction on

50 Years Ago Oct. 1, 1965 ■ Congregation Or VeShalom has officially welcomed an assistant rabbi to work with Rabbi Joseph Cohen, who has served as spiritual leader for over 30 years. Rabbi David Arzouane, a native of Marrakech, Morocco, is a specialist in Hebrew education who graduated from England’s worldrenowned Montefiore College. He recently completed Yeshiva University and was ordained in June 1965. ■ Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rosenstein of Atlanta announce the engagement of their daughter, Lynda Rosenstein, to John Ira Wachsteter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Wachsteter.

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POSTMASTER send address changes to The Atlanta Jewish Times 270 Carpenter Drive Suite 320, Atlanta Ga 30328. Established 1925 as The Southern Israelite Phone: (404) 883-2130 www.atlantajewishtimes.com THE ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES (ISSN# 0892-33451) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, LLC 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, Atlanta, GA 30328 © 2015 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES Printed by Gannett Publishing Services MEMBER Conexx: America Israel Business Connector American Jewish Press Association Sandy Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Commerce Please send all photos, stories and editorial content to: submissions@atljewishtimes.com

the NEW album from

10:00 AM – Caterpillar puppet-making workshop 10:30 AM – Concert Marcus Jewish Community Center 5342 Tilly Mill Rd, Dunwoody GA 30338 www.baalshemtones.com Thanks to our sponsor The Atlanta Jewish Music Festival

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

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

Local Briefs

Atlanta History Center

from Hollywood to Nuremberg

Closes November 20, 2015 Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller created American cinema classics, but their most important contribution to history was their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services.

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

An exhibition by the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France.

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FINAL WEEKS AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Filming

George Stevens and his crew, France, 1944 © Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA

filming

John Ford Samuel Fuller George Stevens

Ex-Emory Prof Duels With Fiorina One of the persistent critics of Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s reign as CEO of HewlettPackard is Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, an associate dean at Yale University’s School of Management. In the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, for example, the Jewish professor came out with an article for Politico titled “Why I Still Think Fiorina Was a Terrible CEO.” That article accused Fiorina of using personal attacks. The Fiorina campaign resorted to a personal attack in response. An email to the media from Sarah Isgur Flores, Fiorina’s deputy campaign manager, read: “He would know something about getting fired. Of course, his was for vandalism of school property while he was at Emory.” Sonnenfeld was a highflying business professor at Emory University in the 1990s whom Georgia Tech hired to be its business school dean. But before he could make the move to Midtown, Emory accused him of vandalizing the then-new Goizueta Business School in 1997, forced him to quit and persuaded Tech to withdraw its job offer. The accusation proved to be so groundless that Emory withdrew all claims against him in settling his wrongful-termination lawsuit in 2000, reportedly with a multimillion-dollar payment to Sonnenfeld. Tech also paid the professor a seven-figure settlement. Sonnenfeld told The New York Times he would give the Fiorina campaign the benefit of the doubt and assume the staff failed to discover the not-secret withdrawal of the vandalism allegations, but if the campaign brings up the Emory case again, he might head back to civil court. Adelson Enters Georgia Casino Fray Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson came to Atlanta the day after Yom Kippur to meet with leaders of the Georgia General Assembly, at least in part about the potential for a destination casino in the state. Florida Politics reported Sept. 23 that Adelson had given up on efforts to build a destination casino resort in Florida after six years of effort and had shifted his attention northward. Georgia legislative committees are considering proposals for a constitutional amendment to legalize casino gambling in the state as a way to increase the money flowing into the HOPE Scholarship program. MGM opened the potential bidding with talk of investing $1 billion in an Atlanta casino. Post-Braves Turner Field has been discussed as a possible

location, although neighbors declared opposition at a recent public meeting about the stadium’s future. Adelson isn’t the only Jewish casino magnate reportedly drawn by Georgia’s potential. A Strip rival, Steve Wynn, also is said to be interested. The visit by Adelson, well-known as a supporter of Republicans such as Newt Gingrich and of Israel, was not missed by Israel’s critics. Adelson’s name came up during the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation opening Friday night, Sept. 25, along with the suggestion that a casino in Atlanta would be an example of Israeli influence corrupting the United States. Adelson’s former No. 2 at Las Vegas Sands, Mike Leven, is close to the legislature and potential casino sites as CEO of the Georgia Aquarium. He at least provides some local expertise if Atlanta does pursue the casino path. Meanwhile, the closest full-service casino to Atlanta opened Monday, Sept. 28: Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino in Murphy, N.C. The casino is much smaller than Harrah’s Cherokee but, at two hours from Atlanta, is an hour closer and has lots of room to grow. Jester Ties Critics to Anti-Semitism DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester held a press conference Wednesday, Sept. 23, during Yom Kippur, to announce that her ongoing dispute with critics of the DeKalb police had devolved into death threats and anti-Semitic comments. Jester is not Jewish, but she made Facebook posts about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to support DeKalb’s Jewish community. The response from her activist critics was not pretty, she said in prepared remarks delivered at her press conference and posted on her website (www.nancyjester.com). “I am in possession of posts to my Facebook page where members of the DeKalb County Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability have used numerous anti-Semitic slurs interwoven with insults to women and one which states I am an operator of Satan,” she said. Jester put the blame on the Georgia State University African-American studies professor who is a leader of the coalition, Makungu Akinyela. “There can be no place in DeKalb County, metro Atlanta or Georgia State University for a man who leads an organization which tolerates anti-Semitic posts on social media,” Jester said. Akinyela told The Atlanta JournalConstitution that Jester is just trying to distract the public from the real problems of police misconduct.

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LOCAL NEWS

he Marcus Jewish Community Center and Congregation Dor Tamid have announced a partnership whose initial phase will bring JCC summer day camps to the campus of the Reform congregation in Johns Creek. “We are thrilled about this exciting partnership with Congregation Dor Tamid and the opportunity to bring the MJCCA’s extraordinary Jewish day camping experience to children in the North Fulton, Gwinnett and Forsyth county areas,” said Douglas Kuniansky, the board chairman and acting CEO of the Marcus JCC. The Marcus JCC, which in 2014 sold its East Cobb campus, Shirley Blumenthal Park, is engaged in a strategy of reaching beyond its Dunwoody home through partnerships rather than construction or property purchases. For example, its Book Festival is holding events at Atlanta Jewish Academy in Sandy Springs and The Temple in Midtown, and its summer performing arts camps held sessions at Emory University for the first time this year. The North Metro area around Alpharetta and Johns Creek has long been a target for organizations hoping to engage with Jewish families. The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s northernmost venue, Regal Cinemas Avalon 12, for instance, is 6½ miles west of Dor Tamid in Alpharetta. The Marcus JCC is bringing its free, music-filled Shabbat Ruach program to Dor Tamid on Friday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. The casual community service will feature Rabbi Brian Glusman, Michael Levine, Drew Cohen and Eli Sperling. For its summer day camps, the Marcus JCC will use Dor Tamid buildings, multipurpose rooms, the kitchen, gardens and the woods on the congregation’s 10-acre campus. The center will announce the specific camp offerings at Dor Tamid in the coming weeks. “The MJCCA is known for its stellar day camps, and we are looking forward to making this experience accessible to children both in our congregation and those in the surrounding community,” said Mark Kopkin, a past president at Dor Tamid. The JCC day camps served more than 2,000 children from pre-kindergarten to 10th grade with more than 100 options this past summer. ■

Kosher BBQ: 11 Cities, 3 Principles

he Atlanta Kosher BBQ Competition, returning after a year’s hiatus at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at Brook Run Park in Dunwoody, is one of 11 such events around the nation, all of which work together to market one another, share important information and leverage social media to build awareness. The other kosher barbecue competitions are in Birmingham, Memphis, Charlotte, Chicago, southern New England, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Long Island, Kansas City and Cleveland. They all rely on volunteer efforts, in-kind donations and sponsorship dollars to survive and thrive.

Brian Mailman, the founder of the Atlanta competition, tells the story of the origins of the event, first held in October 2012 at Congregation B’nai Torah, at www.theatlantakosherbbq.com. He and fellow B’nai Torah members Matt Dickson and Keith Marks were competing in a kosher barbecue competition at Temple Beth-El in Birmingham in 2011, and at 2 a.m., while their brisket was starting to smoke, he drew up a plan: why they would bring the event to Atlanta, who would benefit, and how they would keep it kosher and educate people about how kosher food could be amazing. “So three dads with passion, con-

viction and a taste for BBQ set out on a mission with this in mind. Let’s build a Kosher BBQ Competition each year in Atlanta with these founding principles,” Mailman wrote. Those three principles: • Bring both the kosher- and nonkosher-eating Atlanta communities together, educating guests how keeping and eating kosher is not difficult and has many benefits. • Showcase award-winning kosher food in a venue where everyone, across all Jewish movements, feels comfortable to enjoy. • Raise money and collect food for charity. ■

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

JCC Camps Expand To Dor Tamid

AJT 7

LOCAL NEWS

Photo by Michael Jacobs

Flanked by Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of the US Campaign, and Palestinian activist Nada Elia, Black Lives Matter leader Patrisse Cullors answers a question at the First Iconium Baptist Church event.

Atlanta Event Blames Zionism for Everything

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

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ionism is not a Palestinian problem or a Middle Eastern problem but a global problem, Palestinian activist Nada Elia declared to a supportive crowd of about 300 people packed into the sanctuary of Atlanta’s First Iconium Baptist Church. It was Friday, Sept. 25, the opening night of the 14th annual national conference of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Elia, a leader of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement with the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, was the one Palestinian on a three-woman panel trying to connect the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the Black Lives Matter movement of today to the Palestinian struggle against Israel. “Against” was a key element of a program titled “From Atlanta to Palestine: Continuing the Struggle for Freedom.” Elia and her fellow panelists — Ruby Sales, who worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, and Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter in 2013 who said she has fought for Palestinian freedom for 12 years — spoke far more about what they oppose than what they desire. When a conference attendee asked whether the Palestinians want a one-state or two-state solution, Elia wouldn’t commit. She said any solution is fine as long as all Palestinians between the Jordan and Mediterranean have the same rights, including the right to return to what is now Israel. But given that Elia assigned a litany of evils to Israel and Zionism and that she emphasized opposition to partial solutions, it’s hard to imagine that she would accept any Israel.

She blamed Israel for chaos in Lebanon and Syria and thus the refugee problem in Europe. She said Israel “impacts politics everywhere,” and provides training that leads to American police killing unarmed black men. Cullors cited “very obvious reasons” why American media don’t report on the Israeli connection to U.S. police misconduct, but Elia said the story is out there, thanks to social media. “I would love new visibility of the other crimes Israel is committing in the United States,” Elia said without listing any. Palestinians complain about PEPs, or progressives except for Palestine, but they must beware of becoming POPs, or progressives only for Palestine, Elia said. The program’s goal of linking Atlanta and the civil rights movement to the Palestinian movement was attempted largely on a philosophical level: a broad view of interconnected progressive causes and Israel as an extension of American white supremacist institutions. A more concrete connection was attempted between the BDS movement and the anti-apartheid boycott movement in the 1980s. Just as the boycott movement worked then, Elia and others said, the 10-year-old BDS movement will work now. But that belief ran into hard reality in the First Iconium sanctuary. Cheering religious organizations such as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that have endorsed BDS, one member of the audience asked the senior First Iconium representative present, the Rev. Heshimu J.D. Sparks, when Baptist churches would get on board with BDS. In all seriousness, the director of Christian education of the church hosting event asked, “What’s BDS?” ■

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LOCAL NEWS

Knesset Member: Consulate Should Stay Open Oren also says Israel must live with the reality of the Iran deal

he Israeli government might close its consulate in Atlanta, but it will do so without the support of Michael Oren. As a member of the Knesset and the government from the new Kulanu party, the American-born former Israeli ambassador to the United States has a voice in the budget decisions that could close the consulate. “I don’t support the decision,” Oren said in a phone interview Sunday, Sept. 27. He said the consulate fills an important role not only for Atlanta’s Jewish community, but also for the entire Southeast. Based on his diplomatic experience, he wants to keep it open. He also said Atlanta provides leadership for the nation’s black community, and that relationship is crucial for Israelis and for

Photo by Ya’ir Vagshal

Michael Oren says the publication of “Ally” was timed to be part of the debate over the Iran deal.

American Jews. “Israel has to invest heavily in not just our current relationships, but in the future,” Oren said. Delving into budget details that can affect diplomacy is among the new experiences for Oren in the Knesset. “It is fascinating,” Oren said. “After so many years in Israel, I thought I knew the country well. … I didn’t.” He said “the nitty-gritty of a sovereign state” gets done in the Knesset committees across all political, religious and ethnic lines. But the historian deals with a different nitty-gritty in his latest book, “Ally,” about being the ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. Oren will talk about the book, as well as Iran and other topics, at Atlanta Jewish Academy as a prologue to the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Oren said “Ally” was released in June to play a part in the debate over the Iran nuclear deal because “it was important to tell our story.” The book questions President Barack Obama’s policies and approaches toward Israel and the Middle East and challenges leaders of the American Jewish community for not confronting the administration. The book also acknowledges Israeli mistakes and criticizes the methods of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Oren said the book was a commercial success, but he was disappointed at the personal attacks from the Obama administration and its supporters. He

cited attempts to delegitimize the book by claiming he had falsified or hadn’t been present at some conversations, but Oren said every word was vetted seven times by various Israeli agencies. He also was frustrated that the polarized environment in the United States prevented his book from sparking an open, civil discussion among American Jews, for whom the deal exposed and deepened divisions. “Now we have to look forward and explore ways we can defend ourselves in the new reality” of an Iran with hundreds of billions of new dollars to spend on terrorism and on weapons research and with a clear path to a nuclear arse-

Reading Recommendations Told that his appearance is the prologue to the Book Festival of the Marcus JCC, Michael Oren offered a few suggestions for good English-language books he has read recently: • Yossi Klein Halevi’s “Like Dreamers,” about the paratroopers who united Jerusalem in the Six-Day War. • Yehudah Mirsky’s “Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution,” a biography of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. • Daniel Gordis’ “Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel’s Soul,” about the prime minister who made peace with Egypt.

nal in 15 years or less, Oren said. With $1 billion a year from Iran, Hezbollah has stockpiled 100,000 rockets and can strike anywhere in Israel. What happens, Oren asked, if Iran uses its economic windfall to give Hezbollah $4 billion or $10 billion a year? He said Iran is working on converting those rockets into precisionguided missiles, which Iron Dome can’t stop. He also said Iran has moved 1,500 troops into Lebanon, giving Israel a border just across the Golan Heights with Iran, the world’s biggest state supporter of terrorism and a nation whose leaders promise Israel’s destruction. “For an Israeli,” Oren said, “we have to take that seriously and plan accordingly.” ■ Who: Knesset member Michael Oren What: Prologue to Book Festival Where: Atlanta Jewish Academy, 5200 Northland Drive, Sandy Springs When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7 Tickets: $18 JCC members, $24 nonmembers; www.atlantajcc.org/ bookfestival or 678-812-4005

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

AJT 9

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OPINION

Our View

The Refugees

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

he United States has responded to the images of huddled masses desperate to enter Europe and of bodies washed up on Mediterranean shores with lots of sympathy and little leadership. Our nation, now accepting 70,000 refugees a year from around the world, plans to take in 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017. Only 33,000 of the 70,000 are allocated to the Near East and South Asia. Syria accounts for 4 million of the world’s estimated 20 million refugees, the biggest wave of displaced people since World War II. President Barack Obama has pledged to take in an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees next year; by comparison, Germany has offered to absorb 800,000. We’re told that the United States, the world’s richest and strongest nation, can’t do more because of a lack of federal money or because screening refugees is so complicated and time-consuming or because we have to be on guard for terrorist infiltration. Let’s put aside the financial concerns, insignificant in a life-and-death situation, particularly for a federal government that routinely spends half a trillion dollars a year more than it collects and can count on many nonprofit groups, including the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and the Catholic Church, to help. What stands in the way of accepting 100,000 Syrians on top of the current quota of 70,000 refugees, as HIAS recommends, is American fear overwhelming American compassion. Our refugee process is long and complex, even in this digital age, because we’re afraid someone in a large group escaping war and oppression might fool us. What if a person just claims refugee status to access our opportunities and freedoms without struggling through our byzantine immigration system? That worry turns into paranoia toward Middle Eastern refugees pounding on the gates of Europe to escape the chaos wrought by the killing machines of Bashar Assad, Islamic State, and armed groups affiliated with bad actors ranging from Al-Qaida to Iran. We’ve convinced ourselves that the people risking and too often losing their lives to escape to the West are part of a vicious Islamist plot. Best case, we envision hundreds of thousands of Muslims changing U.S. culture and politics with their strange ways; worst case, we see the next 9/11. Thus, it’s far better that thousands should be turned away and suffer than that even one person should beat our system. Nothing is more important than protecting ourselves. As Jews, we can’t accept that attitude. Such thinking afflicted a scared United States in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The United States feared that an influx of the strange Jews would change U.S. culture, introduce extreme political ideas and even provide cover for German saboteurs. So 6 million Jews and millions of other civilians were condemned to death at the hands of the Nazis. As Americans, we can’t waste the chance to save lives and demonstrate unequivocally that we are not anti-Muslim but only anti-Muslim-extremist. It’s an overused phrase, but if the United States is too afraid to lead the world with decisive, compassionate action in this time of humanitarian crisis, the 10 terrorists truly have won. ■

AJT

Shaken, Not Stirred, by Passions

Few of them were outwardly angry; none of t’s disconcerting and disorienting to be in a room them was unfriendly. They were welcoming, and with 300 people and know that almost all of they were giddy to be with their fellow travelers. them hate something you love, to the point that As the meeting went on — first with presentamany have devoted their lives to its destruction. That was my situation at the opening of the 14th tions from a panel of activists, then with a questionand-answer session that usually took the form of annual national conference of the US Campaign to rambling statement End the Israeli Occupation on and response — Friday, Sept. 25. I was blissfully many of the people unaware of the first 13 national around me seemed conferences and would have Editor’s Notebook overwhelmed by a happily experienced decades of By Michael Jacobs mixture of euphoria continued ignorance, but when mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com and ecstasy. an anti-Israel organization comes I thought one to town, I have to check it out. keffiyeh-clad man Three hours later, I didn’t from upstate New York would pass out, he seemed so know what to make of the ethnically and religiously overwhelmed as he snapped his fingers in appreciadiverse crowd that seemed united by the belief that tion for everything he heard. He was so incoherent Zionism is the world’s ultimate evil. during his question/statement that he might as well If I had been among 300 Palestinians, I would have been speaking in tongues. have understood. If I were an Arab whose ancesReligious fervor applied to religion is natural; tors had lived for centuries in one place, only to lose religious fervor applied anywhere else is terrifying. everything when the world decided to start calling The only thing more terrifying is the ability to that place Israel, I probably would hate Israel and remain cold and calculating and provide a direcpray for its destruction, just as Jews wept in Babylon tion to that blind passion. That’s what I saw in that 2,600 years ago and cursed Rome 1,900 years ago. church sanctuary: People blinded to reality by their The Palestinians’ bitterness and blame, however ecstatic beliefs, guided by just enough people who misplaced, make sense. I hope I never find myself maintained their calm and led the others down the in the middle of 300 Hamas members, but I’d know poisonous “Palestine or bust” trail. where I stood and wouldn’t expect to walk out. Thus, no one dissented during the preaching of The Friday gathering at Iconium Baptist Church the BDS gospel. No one doubted that Zionism is raccertainly included Palestinians, but as far as I could ism. No one needed an explanation of the “very obvitell without surveying everyone in the room, they ous reasons” why the mainstream media suppress might have been only a quarter of the crowd. certain stories. No one had to clarify the role played That means most of the people there, locals and by money or who benefited from it. out-of-towners, young and old, black and white and And because no one could sit through that meetall shades in between, weren’t drawn by a personal ing without absorbing its overt delegitimization and stake in the Palestinian cause but by a certainty of implied hatred of Israel, its people and its supportthe justice of that cause and the injustice of Israel’s ers, I walked away shaken. ■ existence.

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OPINION

The Pope, Sins and Overpopulation But it did not, and now, like the new pharaoh in Exodus, the new pope, a friend of a rabbi’s, has forgotten the church’s stand when we were being exterminated. As the representative of the church, he has forgotten the sins the church has committed since its inception against Jews. Well, the blood of my brother,

One Man’s Opinion By Eugen Schoenfeld

sister, mother and hundreds of my kin still cries out from the gas chambers and the ovens. And what about the blood of those who have defended and still defend my people? Will you stand with them, Francis? But back to Cain. When G-d, for whatever reason, preferred Abel’s offering to that of Cain, the latter became angry. And G-d asked him why his face was fallen. “Surely if you do right, there is uplift. But if you do not do right, sin couches at the door; its urge is toward you, yet you can be its master” (Genesis 4:7). G-d gave Cain the same advice as He did to Adam: This is our world, and we and we alone have dominion over it. We can and should control our sinful urges. We just observed Yom Kippur, the day we are occupied with sin. From my studies I learned that sin is a relative term. What was a sin a millennium ago today may be a virtue. This is especially true with respect to population control. The first of the 613 commandments, and the one that is equally fundamental to the Catholic Church’s teaching, is to be fruitful, multiply and fill the world. But that command is one of the central problems the world has faced. The universe exists, as Einstein has pointed out, because it is in balance. The universe functions on the basis of fundamental equations. As anyone who took math knows, if any variable in an equation is altered, the variable on the other side of the equation must also change. The major balance that affects the well-being of the universe is population stability. That is why I propose, as do many others, that the greatest problems today result from population imbalance:

We have disturbed the natural association between birth and death rates. Human population is increasing at an alarming rate. Thomas Malthus, an Anglican priest, in his essay on the principles of population control in 1796, cautions us, as did G-d to Adam and Cain, that we must be masters of our own world. Hence, it is up to us to re-establish population balance. Imbalances, Malthus advises, are “the precursors in the great army of destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and tens of thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear and with one mighty blow” restores the balance. The constant wars in the most poverty-ridden countries and the human migration we experience today are responses to population imbalance. No amount of good will or establishment of social justice will solve the problem of population imbalance. To

Start oﬀ the New Year Right!

alleviate the problem, world religions must be in the forefront by rejecting the virtue of uncontrolled births. We have more than filled the world. Koheleth was wrong: The world changes, and there is always something new under the sun. Years ago I asked a friend who was a devout Catholic: “Do you practice birth control?” When he responded in the affirmative, I continued my query: “Don’t you believe in your church’s dicta?” “For the most part, I do,” he answered. “However, if the church will give me money that I need for having more children, I’ll have more.” This holds true: We cannot solve universal human problems unless we solve the root cause of today’s social problem — overpopulation. ■ Write to Us The Atlanta Jewish Times welcomes letters to the editor on our articles and other issues of interest to the Jewish community. Letters should be 400 or fewer words. Email them to mjacobs@ atljewishtimes.com. Include the town where you live and a phone number for verification.

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

he event came, and CNN, I do not know why, took the opportunity to make Pope Francis’ visit the central if not sole event of its broadcast Thursday, Sept. 24. The pope, the CEO of the Catholic Church, presumably to strengthen the falling rates of the faithful, particularly among white Americans, came to do a PR job. As the pope, that is his job, and he did it with gusto. He outlined a program for the world in general and the United States in particular that would find favor not only with me, but also with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the presidential candidate. However, even before his arrival, I wondered: Will the pope, given that he arrived on Yom Kippur, wish American Jews a happy new year or even make a brief visit to a synagogue? Such an act could have served as atonement for the church’s myriad of sins against Jews. Perhaps he should have taken a clue from Pharaoh’s cupbearer, who declared: “I remember my sins today.” Yes, the human world is in trouble. Technology has added to our capacity to kill each other with the greatest facility. There have always been wars, and in spite of supposedly having shed our primitive outlook and having gained greater wisdom, all we have gained is greater technology to make war far more effective. Here comes the pope and confronts us with our human frailty, with our continued commitment to egoism, and raises the question that Cain raised many millennia ago: Am I my brother’s keeper? The pope wishes to remind us of G-d’s answer: Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. Cain in a sense represents all who are still governed by the Freudian id — fundamentally, our egocentrism — instead of the moral ideal of our responsibility to each other. In the rabbinic period we were reminded that “all Jews are responsible for each other.” On the first day in AuschwitzBirkenau I told my father that I had hoped in the mid-20th century, having achieved advancement in intellectualism, particularly in philosophy and knowledge of moral ethics, the world would have declared in unison: “All the people in the world are responsible for each other.”

AJT 11

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OPINION

Hope Ignited

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

azing through her bay window at the bustling world, Marci heaved a sigh and sank into her black leather couch. Maybe I’ll call my friend Debbie. We’ve talked about having lunch forever, and somehow there was never time. Marci’s heart lifted as she dialed the familiar number, only to plummet when Debbie’s answering machine came on. Glaring at the phone, Marci stifled the urge to throw it across the room. Get a hold of yourself, girl! You can find meaning in this stage of life, too! Step out of your quagmire and take an objective view. What did you tell your friend Judy, also a recent retiree, when she called just the other day? Why is it always easier to give another advice? Taking a deep breath, Marci closed her eyes and recalled the conversation. “What have you always wanted to do but couldn’t because you were working full time?” she asked her downcast friend, determined to inject her with a healthy dose of hope and determination. “Do you have hobbies? Are there classes that interest you? What about volunteer work?” “Hm,” Judy replied, her voice lifting a notch. “Those are all good ideas. But I don’t even know where to start.” “Well,” Marci continued, anxious to help, “I just found out about an amazing program from Dr. Irma Starr, director of education for the Ben Marion Institute for Social Justice. She teaches a class at Emory University’s OLLI called ‘Women Aging in the 21st Century.’ The institute offers continuing education for adults 50 and over. There are classes on every subject imaginable, and both men and women participate, taking anywhere from four to 13 classes a week. In addition, Dr. Starr mentioned the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody as another resource, which currently hosts a book club, discussion groups, and many classes and clubs composed of older adults, in addition to tennis, swimming and other activities.” “Not bad,” Judy said. Marci heard the smile and gratitude in her voice as their conversation wound to a close. How satisfying to help someone resolve her issues, she mused, feeling a small bubble of satisfaction well up within her. Yet here she was days later, still staring at her walls in a haze of 12 confusion and unproductivity. When

AJT

Divorce Talk With a Child

she turned on her computer, an email grabbed her attention. “I suggest Marci go to a coach and explore her full range of options now,” Esther Gendelman writes. “She may discover an entire new world waiting for her where she can contribute her life experience. It is understandable after so many years of purpose and pas-

Shared Spirit By Rachel Stein rachels83@gmail.com

sion, she feels the loss, and transitions are tough! Secondly, how is her overall health? This is a great opportunity to work on building in a new exercise routine, social opportunities, and of course pursuing personal growth. Maybe after she emerges healthy from this challenge, she will have tools to offer other retirees looking for new purpose — once a teacher, always a teacher. And finally, which is really No. 1, in a moment of quiet prayer, thank G-d for 50 incredible years of teaching and ask for guidance for this new season of life.” Feeling new energy course through her veins, Marci reached for pen and paper and allowed her thoughts free rein as she enumerated some of her dreams and goals. “I would love to volunteer, perhaps in a school setting, and help students who are struggling. Perhaps I can also serve as a teacher’s adviser — now that’s an idea! Including daily exercise in my regimen has always been something I’ve pushed aside, and prioritizing it sounds appealing, especially if it can help me lose those pounds that have crept on over the years. Maybe I can even find an exercise partner and accomplish fitness and socialization simultaneously. Regarding learning — Jewish history and Hebrew language are at the top of my list. And I’ve always wanted to write a guide for teachers using scenarios and lessons I’ve learned from my experiences; what’s stopping me now?” Reaching for the phone, Marci dialed a familiar number, hope fluttering its gentle wings. “Hebrew Day School, may I help you?” “Yes, this is Marci Bloom, and I was wondering when I could meet with you to explore some ideas I was thinking about …” ■

discussion about divorce with a young child is unfortunate but, in today’s world, much more common than perhaps it should be. Circumstances beyond our control — some would argue whether divorce is within our control — often require such a conversation, which must be handled with a great amount of tact and thoughtfulness. Such a discussion with a young child about the fact that his or her parents will no longer be living together is truly sad but also an opportunity to set the tone for the child’s future relationships with both parents and extended family. So how and what do we do? Therapeutic help and guidance can be invaluable. While not therapists, divorce lawyers see these problems over and over, and based on that, I offer my opinion as a minor but I hope useful contribution to the planning for such a talk. As lawyers, we are taught to simplify things. We must simplify complex legal statutes to make them easier for our clients to understand. We must also often simplify complex financial situations so that judges can understand what a marital estate is composed of and divide it fairly. We must simplify our legal documents so that the legal arguments can be easily and quickly digested. They are referred to as “briefs,” after all. But how do we help our clients explain divorce to a 3-year-old? That is something parents must deal with and must get right to help their children. Whether explaining divorce to a 3-year-old, a 6-year-old or a teenager, it is never easy, especially when it’s your own divorce. And while I think I have some good suggestions, it is beneficial to work with a therapist you trust to help guide you through that most difficult but most important discussion. If you must discuss divorce with a teenager, at least the concept is familiar. But to explain the concept of divorce to a child who does not yet or has just begun to understand the concept of marriage can be overwhelming. There are many good books (e.g., “When Dinosaurs Divorce”), but there are so many questions. As a nontherapist but someone who has seen more than my share of divorce in my practice, my best sug-

gestion is to maintain a united front. Children want their parents to love each other and to get along. At the very moment a child must learn that parents cannot get along well enough to stay married, it might soften the blow to see that they can at least get along when it comes to their children.

Guest Column By Randy Kessler

Unfortunately, I see much too much of the opposite behavior — parents trying to beat each other to the punch to tell a child one side of the story. Children want their parents to love them (and to love each other). If one parent disparages the other to or in front of a child, doesn’t that encourage the child to do the same (disparage the other parent) to ensure the love of the criticizing parent? And isn’t that wrong? Remember, the child is the sum of the two parents, so anything negative said about the other parent is in essence a complaint about a part of the child. So as hard as it may seem, take a joint approach. Remind your child repeatedly how much you both love him or her. And as hard as it may be, compliment the other parent in front of and to the child. It may be hard, but certainly you can do it. Think about your own parents — how nice it was (or would have been) for your own parents to be sweet to each other and to talk respectfully and positively about the other. Aren’t those the memories you want your child to have? Explain it together, politely and with as much love as you have ever expressed. You can do it. Your children deserve it, and you have the capability. ■ Randy Kessler is the founding partner of the family law firm Kessler & Solomiany (www.ksfamilylaw.com) in downtown Atlanta, a former chairman of the American Bar Association’s Family Law Section, and the author of “Divorce: Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future.”

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BUSINESS

Keri Gold Salon owner Jeffrey Snow says the year-old business creates a welcoming environment in areas such as the front desk, stylist stations and lobby to make people relax and feel at home.

Keri Gold Salon Celebrates Anniversary

By Cady Schulman cschulman@atljewishtimes.com

able to implement it.” He hired talented stylists and makeup artists and offered two weeks’ vacation, a 401(k) plan with an employer match after six months, health insurance, and a pay scale at the upper end of businesses in Buckhead. “When we had HiFi Buys, we had an inverted pyramid,” Snow said. “The customer was on top, and the employees were one step below that. If you treat your employees right and you get the right employees, they’ll treat the customers right. It’s proved its worth.” As part of treating customers right, Snow likes to be on the floor,

meeting people having their hair styled and offering them drinks. “Our philosophy here is we invite people into our homes,” Snow said. “We feel like if we treat people like they’re in our home, we know how we want to be treated.” The salon has eight stylists and two makeup artists and in the future will hire aestheticians and cosmetologists for waxing and skin treatments. “Women want to come here during the day and get their hair made up and their makeup put on,” Snow said. “We’ll be in that business. There’s not any limit to what we can do.” ■

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

hen Jeffrey Snow and his wife, Kerri, decided to open a hair salon in Buckhead in September 2014, they wanted it to be a place men and women could relax. Snow said they achieved that goal. “We didn’t want to have a TV blaring,” he said. “We wanted to have a place to come and relax and have your hair and other essentials taken care of. We went about designing it, making it so that Kerri and her friends and my daughter and her friends could come

here and really be comfortable.” Snow brought non-hair business experience to the salon. He bought HiFi Buys out of bankruptcy in 1982 and made it Atlanta’s leading consumer electronics retailer. He also owns two Florida apartment complexes. He said the salon (kerigoldsalon. com) at 1258 W. Paces Ferry Road is a success at 1 year old in part because he learned how to build a team of employees who have and apply great skills. “The basis of how you run a business to me and my wife doesn’t change,” Snow said. “The formula is pretty consistent. You just have to be

AJT 13

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EDUCATION

To AJA’s Campus Life

riends of Atlanta Jewish Academy celebrated one year of the existence of the merged school — combining Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva Atlanta — at its L’Chaim event at the end of August. L’Chaim kicked off the capital campaign and provided the first look at the building plans for the school’s Sandy Springs campus to consolidate all students from preschool to 12th grade in one place. Ian Ratner, the president of the AJA board, said the school has raised $6.2 million for the capital campaign from the sale of the former Yeshiva Atlanta property in Doraville, pledges from all board members, and early commitments from Vicky and Jeff

Sloan, Malcolm and Betty Minsk, and Shirley and Perry Brickman. “That is an impressive accomplishment,” Ratner said, “but we need your help. … We want to plant a shovel in the ground later this year, and that can only happen if we get a little closer” to the campaign’s $10 million goal. Head of School Rabbi Pinchos Hecht said: “At the L’Chaim gathering, we enjoyed the delicious food and drink and took pleasure in each other’s company and in the newly revealed plans for our school’s home. But most significantly, we came together with a single, higher purpose: to fulfill and enhance the command to teach our children, doing G-d’s will with all our hearts.” ■

Photos courtesy of Atlanta Jewish Academy

A: Board President Ian Ratner (left) and Head of School Rabbi Pinchos Hecht B: Rabbi Joshua Heller of Congregation B’nai Torah with AJA board member Jerry Blumenthal and Elaine Blumenthal C: Allison and Phil Cuba D: AJA parents Jef and Camilla Leiberman with AJA Director of Development Natasha Lebowitz E: AJA parents Kim and Jed Linsider F: AJA shlichim (teachers from Israel) include (from left) Eviatar Lerer, Elad Asulin, Lian Shalom, Shachar Shalom and Moishik Hoch. G: A sign shows AJA’s progress toward the capital campaign’s $10 million goal. H: (From left) Harold Arnovitz, Head of School Rabbi Pinchos Hecht and AJA board member Perry Brickman I: (From left) Elizabeth Herman, AJA graduate Josh Weissmann, AJA board member Nancy Weissmann and Rafael Harpaz

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EDUCATION

Continental Congress Character Lives Again – With Skype Counts state his name and the colony he represented, and answer a question posed ifty-eight Davis Academy eighth- by fifth-graders, first from Wisconsin, graders re-enacted the Second then Delaware and a school in Illinois. After Delaware signed off, Barry Continental Congress on Thursday, Sept. 24, after two weeks of study- shared with his students that the fifthing the causes of the Revolutionary graders in that public school come from a lower inWar. come area. Delegates in “They’re probcostume — 56 of ably going to go them, representhome tonight and ing the number share their excitefrom the 13 coloment with their nies at that Confamilies,” he said. gress — debated The Davis with one another eighth-graders and skyped with conferred at each fifth-graders in colony’s table on other states. Skypissues such as how ing might have to raise a militia, shocked delegate then stood to share Benjamin Franktheir ideas with lin, but social the assembly. studies teacher Evan Bernath, Matthew Barry who portrayed implemented it delegate Edward three years ago so Rutledge of South his students could Carolina, said he teach others. liked experiencing This is the 11th what it was like to year that Barry be part of that Conand his students gress. have re-created Lindy Feinthe Second Contituch as Francis nental Congress, Lightfoot Lee of which produced Photos by R.M. Grosslatt Virginia said we’re the Declaration of Independence. Top: Forming the Georgia delegation, (from fortunate to live left) Max Murray as Button Gwinnett, Sarah in a country that Beginning the first McMahon as Lyman Hall, and Phillip few years with a Weinstein as George Walton discuss how to allows open practwo-hour presen- raise a militia for the Revolutionary War. tices of religion. Middle: The Davis Academy eighthJenny Rice, tation, the project graders join social studies teacher dressed up as Jonow takes most of Matthew Barry in crowding close to the seph Hughes of a school day and is Skype connection with other schools. North Carolina, a highlight of the Bottom: Jenny Rice communicates with said the study of social studies curyounger students through Skype. American history riculum. The delegates met in the school is vital “because it teaches the imporcafeteria for a continental breakfast tance of believing in ourselves.” In the afternoon, Barry encourthe morning after Yom Kippur. Because of British boycotts, food was lim- aged his students to dispatch a militia to George Washington in Boston and ited, Barry said. They then moved to the media vote to declare independence. Then room, decorated with banners, quills Thomas Jefferson wrote up the Declaand faux candles. Only one delegate, ration of Independence, and the deldressed in a red coat with gold buttons, egates signed it. When Barry asked his students was a loyalist, and he stood on a chair what they liked about the unit of study, to argue his case against war. Most of the convention was led by several said they liked dressing up for the students, but Barry, in a white wig, the Continental Congress and designblue coat and tricorner hat, sat near ing a magazine. Asked what they didn’t the computer set up for Skype. A dele- like, the students yelled out, “The regate would stand before the computer, search paper!” ■

avis Academy sixth-graders (from left) Rachel Binderman, Emma Perlstein and Datya Voloschin share character traits such as appreciation of beauty, love and social responsibility while seventh-graders learn about the Periodic Table of Character Strengths during the school’s observance of Character Day on Friday, Sept. 18. Davis Middle School students viewed an eight-minute film, “The Science of Character,” directed by Character Day organizer Tiffany Shlain. Follow-up discussions and activities encouraged the exploration of students’ character strengths. Educator Sara Beth Berman, who coordinated the project at Davis, said: “This is an especially appropriate time for introspection into who we are, regardless of your faith, on Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These holy days are meant for self-reflection and working toward being a better person in the new year.” ■

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

By R.M. Grossblatt

AJT 15

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

EDUCATION

AJT 16

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

ISRAEL NEWS

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home

Find the hospital for your procedure. Entrepreneur Moni Milchman has developed ArchimedicX, the first search engine that rates hospitals by procedure. Its criteria include results and repeat treatment statistics, budget, staff quality, reputation, beds per room, waiting time, language, and food. Groundbreaking fetal test. Genetics experts at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center have devised a patentpending process to screen a fetus for genetic diseases using a blood sample from the mother. It is the first approach that can detect genetic mutations in the DNA of the father and the mother.

Virtual reality on a chip. Haifa-based GemSense has developed an instant virtual reality/augmented reality environment on a microchip. GemSense is working with Samsung and Google to turn ordinary items into 3D experiences. GemSense’s Cave Driver 3D game was a hit at Tel Aviv’s DLD Innovation Conference, and the innovation opens up possibilities for medical treatments. Robots to protect U.S. airmen. Roboteam, based in Tel Aviv, will supply the U.S. Air Force with 250 micro tactical ground robots (MTGRs) to counter improvised explosive devices. Each robot weighs less than 20 pounds; has five

cameras, a microphone and infrared laser pointers; travels at 2 mph; climbs stairs; and has a range of more than 500 meters.

on CBS drew nearly 7 million viewers for a highly entertaining skit advertising Sabra hummus. Sabra is half-owned by Israel’s Strauss and half by PepsiCo.

Delta adds four Tel Aviv flights. Delta Air Lines no longer flies directly from Atlanta to Israel, but the airline is picking up traffic American Airlines will lose when it halts its Philadelphia-Tel Aviv route in January. In May, Delta will add four flights a week to its current daily round-trip service between JFK and Tel Aviv.

Seal unearthed from time of King David. A 10-year-old Russian volunteer at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Sifting Project discovered a 3,000-year-old stone seal. The dating of the seal corresponds to the period of the conquest of Jerusalem by King David and the construction of the Temple by his son King Solomon.

Hummus on “Late Show.” Stephen Colbert’s debut as host of “Late Show”

Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com, Globes, Israel21c and other news sources.

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Navy in therapy. The U.S. Navy has ordered several Deep TMS therapy helmets made by Jerusalem’s Brainsway. Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation will treat service personnel with a range of psychological conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. Fighting for life. Three former Israel Defense Forces commanders decided to show the world the humanity of Israel’s soldiers. Their organization, Fighters for Life, encourages young post-army Israelis to volunteer in poverty-stricken areas worldwide. Some 7,000 Israelis have signed up, and the first 30 just left for Mumbai. U.N. exhibit of education for hospitalized children. The United Nations in Geneva is displaying the photo exhibition “Education Without Borders” about children’s education in Israeli hospitals. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country to provide education for all hospitalized children, including Arabs and other minorities. Gas pipeline to Jordan. Israel will lay an underground pipeline running almost 10 miles to transport natural gas from its Sdom 2 station to the Jordanian border. The pipeline is designed to make it possible to transport gas to Jordan within a year, in accordance with an agreement signed between the two countries.

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

SodaStream and Syrian refugees. Israel has been reluctant to absorb any of the 4 million refugees displaced by civil war in Syria, but SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum is eager to help. The son of a Holocaust survivor, he has promised 1,000 jobs for Syrian refugees at the company’s new Rahat plant if the government grants them asylum.

AJT 17

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AJT 18

Playing Up Bulgaria’s Jewish Community

hildren in the Gan Balagan kindergarten show their gratitude and enjoy the new Horowitz Playground on the rooftop terrace of the Beit Shalom Jewish Community Center in Sofia, Bulgaria, earlier this year. The playground, a gift of Atlantans Scott Horowitz and his mother, Pearlann, has greatly enhanced the opportunities for the 70 children in the 5-year-old kindergarten program to enjoy the outdoors. Before the construction of the play area, the children had to cross a busy road to play in the yard of a synagogue, even though it lacked proper playground equipment. In the winter, when the extreme cold limited children to 15 minutes outside, they had little opportunity to play after losing time being herded back and forth across the street. With the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Scott Horowitz visited Gan Balagan and Sofia’s 3,000-person Jewish community in 2014 during his second trip to Eastern Europe. He found a young community motivated to grow. “After visiting with the kids in school and enjoying such great hospitality,” he said, “I wanted to know how I could help with the mission of Jewish learning.” The JDC credits Horowitz with recognizing the potential for using the rooftop terrace for a play area. “With your generous help, we have proven to ourselves and our community that a Jewish community does not always mean one’s own local community. The kindergarten staff, the children, and their parents see a friend in you, even though you live many miles from here,” Gan Balagan Director Betty Gershon wrote to Horowitz. “You helped make our kindergarten a better place. But, your help has given us more than a playground. It has given us all a great example of values, togetherness and unity.” Horowitz said his parents instilled in him the importance of helping Jews wherever they are. “Knowing the joy we brought them makes me smile and reminds them that Jews help other Jews. If not us, then who? We’re not related, but we’re family.” ■

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Lesson Learned Flying Home From Israel

ike many in the Atlanta Jewish community, I try to go to Israel at least once a year, but it is quite a journey to get there. It is at least a 12-hour flight once you get out of Atlanta to an airport that has a direct flight to Tel Aviv. From 2006 until September 2011, Delta Air Lines had a direct flight from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Ben-Gurion, but during the second fiscal quarter of 2011 the airline announced that it was suspending the service because of high fuel prices. The last nonstop flight from Atlanta to Tel Aviv was Aug. 31, 2011, and the last flight back was the next day. As a result, Atlantans traveling to Israel must take a connecting flight. This additional leg of travel is exhausting and can be challenging. I flew to Israel on Aug. 30 and came home Sept. 9. Because Delta has no direct flight, I decided to sup-

port the Israeli national airline, El Al, even though it does not fly to Atlanta. I scheduled a connecting flight from Atlanta to New York’s JFK on Delta. As a somewhat frequent flier to Israel, I was excited about this new experience with the Israeli airline. To my disappointment overall, it turned out to be a bad experience. Our flight from JFK to Tel Aviv was pleasant, but when it was time to leave Israel, we were notified that our flight to JFK was being delayed five hours. Delays happen, and generally airlines will do their best to accommodate passengers and make sure they reach their destination. That was not the case with El Al. Our flight was to leave at midnight and arrive in New York at 5:30 a.m. Our flight to Atlanta left at 8:30 a.m. Because of El Al’s five-hour delay, we missed our connecting flight home. I called El Al customer service and was told that because we booked our flight to Atlanta with Delta, there was nothing they could do, even though El

Trips With Synagogues

any Atlanta-area congregations are planning trips. They include these, open to the community unless otherwise noted: • Chabad of Cobb Rabbi Ephraim Silverman and his wife, Chani, are leading local participation in a national Chabad trip to Israel called the Land and the Spirit — Israel Experience from March 27 to April 5. Pricing starts at $2,799 per person at the Mamilla Hotel or $2,899 at the David Citadel Hotel, plus airfare from New York ($1,055 through Oct. 15). Get more information at www.landandspirit.org. • Congregation Or Hadash Rabbi Analia Bortz and Sherry Frank are leading a journey to Israel “Through the Eyes of Women,” covering such areas as celebrations, sacred spaces and coexistence, from May 8 to 17. Depending on how many people participate, the rates, including airfare and tips, start around $5,100. An informational meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19; email Rabbi Bortz at rabbianalia@ gmail.com to RSVP and get directions to the meeting. Visit israeltour.com/ orhadash for more information. • Congregation Beth Shalom Rabbi Mark Zimmerman and his wife, Linda, are leading a family adventure in Israel, including a group b’nai mitzvah ceremony, from June 21 to July 4. ITC Tours CEO Larry Ritter will join an informa-

tional meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at Beth Shalom. Prices, including airfare and tips, start at $5,460. For more information, call Rabbi Zimmerman at 770-399-5300, email LindaZimmerman314@gmail.com, or visit israeltour.com/rzimmerman16. • Temple Kol Emeth Rabbi Erin Boxt and his wife, Batya, are leading a multigenerational trip to Israel, including a b’nai mitzvah ceremony at Robinson’s Arch, from June 15 to 26. The cost is $3,767, not including airfare, with the final payment due April 16. For more information, visit www. arzaworld.com/tke-ldor-vador-israelgeneration-to-generation.aspx. • Temple Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow and his wife, Madeline Sable, are leading a trip to Poland and Hungary from Aug. 7 to 17. The cost of the trip, limited to Kol Emeth members, is $3,389 plus airfare, with the final payment due June 8. For more information, visit www.arzaworld.com/temple-kol-emeth-europe-trip-2016.aspx. • Chabad of North Fulton Rabbi Hirshy Minkowicz is leading a trip to New York from March 18 to 20 for the second yahrzeit of his wife, Rashi. The $150 cost includes home hospitality, transportation to Jewish sites in Brooklyn, Shabbat in Crown Heights and all meals but not airfare. Email rabbi@ chabadnf.org for more information. ■

Al does not offer service to Atlanta. We called Delta and were told they could get us on a later flight, but because the delay was caused by El Al, there would be a change fee of $200 per ticket, plus a $272 increase in the ticket price, for a total charge of $472 per person. Not to mention an additional day for the rental car in Israel for $90. So it cost my husband and me an additional $1,034 to get home because our El Al flight was delayed by five hours. I made several calls to El Al customer service and was repeatedly told there was nothing they could do to help us. I was advised for further assistance to send an email to customer@elal. co.il. I have sent several email requests and have received no response. I have learned a valuable lesson from this experience and am glad to share this knowledge. It is important to know when you fly El Al that the airline will not take responsibility for any damages you suffer because a flight delay or cancellation affects a connection that El Al does not service. Travel to Israel is expensive as it is, and I do not mind spending the money

because it is a mitzvah to spend money in the land of Israel. But to get taken for a financial ride by the airline for $1,000 or more is unacceptable. My experience is just another reason why it is important to the Atlanta Jewish community for Delta to bring back its direct flights between Atlanta and Tel Aviv. There are many more reasons: • More than 5,000 Israelis live in the Atlanta area. • Dozens of IT companies based their offices here because of the direct flights, whose suspension has made travel difficult. • Travel to Israel is shorter by at least a half-day with direct flights. • Direct flights will enable other brilliant IT professionals to relocate to Atlanta. • Other Israeli IT companies and startups will come to Atlanta. You can petition for the re-establishment of direct flights between Atlanta and Tel Aviv by sending a letter to CEO Richard Anderson, Delta Air Lines, P.O. Box 20706, Atlanta, GA 30320-6001, or by calling Delta corporate communications at 404-715-2554. ■

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

By Kaylene Ladinsky kaylene@atljewishtimes.com

AJT 19

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Jewish Sightseeing in Krakow By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

ust south of the bustling old town square in Krakow, Poland, is a district with deep Jewish roots. The Jewish quarter of the city, Kazimierz was an independently governed town during the Middle Ages and a model for the coexistence of Jews and Christians for centuries. In 1941 the district’s Jewish inhabitants were forcibly relocated to the Krakow ghetto by German troops. Today Kazimierz is a center of the Jewish community’s rebirth in Krakow. I visited Kazimierz in July on a two-week tour of Europe. It was a moving and enjoyable experience. Below are some of my top picks for destinations to visit in the district. Jewish Culture Festival Every summer since 1988, Kazimierz has hosted Krakow’s Jewish Culture Festival. The 2015 edition, from June 25 through July 5, presented a variety of Jewish programing. From concerts and city tours to Shabbat services and

educational workshops, the festival provides many opportunities to experience everything Kazimierz has to offer. I arrived in the city on a Friday just before the conclusion of the festival and took in a performance by klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer and his band, Ancestral Groove, at the Tempel Synagogue. The 26th Jewish Culture Festival will be held June 24 to July 3, 2016. Pil Peled’s ‘Judah’ For the 2013 Jewish Culture Festival, Israeli street artist Pil Peled created a larger-than-life wall mural in the center of Kazimierz. His work, “Judah,” shows a child with a lion’s head. The child represents fear and vulnerability, while the lion represents the Jewish struggle to survive and preserve our culture. This mural caught my eye while I walked through the district. I was instantly captivated by its magnitude and striking symbolism. Old Synagogue Built in the 1400s, the Old Syna-

gogue is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Poland. During World War II, it was devastated and ransacked by the Germans, and artwork and Jewish relics were looted. Now it operates as a museum Photo by David R. Cohen with a focus on Israeli artist Pil Peled’s “Judah” stands defiantly in Krakow’s Jews. ExKrakow’s historic Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. hibits are separated into themes dealing with birth, prayer souvenir shops. One shop I visited offered a taste rituals, diet, divorce and death. The building is centrally located at the Ka- of authentic Israeli fare with a trendy zimierz square, where many events of vibe, served up with a slice of polish the Jewish Culture Festival are held an- hospitality. Open since 2012 and just down the street from the Old Synanually. gogue, the Hamsa Israeli Restobar is perfect for relaxing with a hummus Hamsa Israeli Restobar Mostly devoid of Jews after World platter and an ice-cold Polish beer with War II, Kazimierz became a center friends. Make sure to check out the garden for Krakow’s beatnik bars and cafe culture. Much of that subculture still in the back of the restaurant, where exists, but with the addition of Jewish- comfortable chairs greet guests amid themed restaurants, bookstores and contemporary Israeli music. ■

Polish Jews Rediscover Community, Themselves By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

oland’s Jewish history is packed with Hassidic connections, especially if you consider that many Russian Jews were Polish in the Middle Ages, only for the borders to shift and Poland to be wiped off the map. But Poland had more Progressive Jews — Conservative and Reform in America — than the United States, Britain and France combined on the eve of World War II, said Rabbi Haim Beliak, the executive director of Beit Polska, Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland (jewishrenewalinpoland.org). After the Holocaust and more than 40 years of communism, some people think Poland has no Jews or shouldn’t have any Jews, serving instead as a memorial to what was lost to the Nazis and their collaborators. Beit Polska knows Poland has more to offer. “What is the value of nostalgia? We’re concerned about that. You can’t build a Jewish community just on nostalgia. You have to build it on reality too,” Rabbi Beliak said. The reality is hard to pin down. Until five or six years ago, he said, census results indicated Poland had 20 3,000 to 6,000 Jews, but now people say

AJT

13,000 and usually will agree on 20,000 operates in the Warsaw suburbs, and to 25,000. Meanwhile, the Catholic a third synagogue opened in Gdansk Church has consistently claimed that in July. Beit Polska has seven other congregations that don’t qualify as syna50,000 Jews remain. gogues, but Rabbi Beliak anStatistically, Rabbi Beticipates that three of them liak said, Poland must have could get there within a year. 100,000 to 200,000 people The congregations rely with a Jewish grandparent or on financial and mentoring great-grandparent. The issue, support from American Jews, as in the United States and a process facilitated by Beit Israel, is whether to embrace Polska’s twinning program. those who have been sepaU.S. and Polish congregarated from the Jewish comtions’ teens might connect munity or push them away. by Skype to talk about music “Our answer at Beit Rabbi Haim Beliak or summer camp, while the Polska is we try to welcome adults talk about how to opthem,” Rabbi Beliak said. What typically happens, he said, is erate a synagogue board. “What we do in Poland is about that someone will walk into one of the 10 Progressive Judaism communities the restoration of Jewish dignity,” Rabassociated with Beit Polska and express bi Beliak said, “and that restoration of curiosity about Judaism. After several Jewish dignity is a two-way street: how months or even years, that person will we care about our brothers and sisters acknowledge Jewish ancestry and go in Eastern Europe and how much we through two years of Judaism classes, want them to connect with us.” Rabbi Beliak, whose mother was spending up to 12 hours a week, then complete the return to Judaism with a from Poland, has worked with Poland’s Progressive Jews since 2011. He has beit din (religious court) and mikvah. Rabbi Beliak said Beit Polska’s flag- seen the community grow while also ship synagogue in Warsaw has about helping dozens of Jews make aliyah. “My approach has been that we 150 members; only two of the families need to have a compelling Judaism,” he have three intact Jewish generations. A smaller Progressive synagogue said. Of the 100,000 to 200,000 Poles

of Jewish ancestry, “it’s not unreasonable to think that 5,000 to 10,000 will assume a serious Jewish life. Maybe as many as 25,000.” ■ Inside View Rabbi Haim Beliak leads one tour of Poland a year to help visiting Jews connect with the current Jewish community and Poland’s Jewish history. His “insiders’ tour” for 2016 will take place in June and July (exact dates soon to be announced). As opposed to the March of Life, which focuses on the death camps and cemeteries, Rabbi Beliak’s tour will concentrate on the diversity of Polish Jewish life as the source of modern Jewish life, including Jewish socialism, Yiddish culture, various strains of Zionism and Hassidism. And he ensures that the visitors meet Polish Jews. “Yes, some people only want to come and see the death camps and leave,” he said. “But more and more I think what people are interested in is seeing the renewal of Jewish life and also seeing something of where people lived. It’s impossible to go anywhere in Poland without the opportunity to say, ‘There was a Jewish community here, and this is what it was about.’ ” Email RabbiBeliak@ JewishRenewalinPoland.org for more information about his tour.

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Saddle Up at Florida Dude Ranch Jewish Cowboys and Cowgirls

There is no significant Jewish history at the Westgate River Ranch or the area. You can find Jewish services in Orlando and on either coast. Nevertheless, Jews have played a significant role among cowboys and cowgirls on and off the screen, including: • Famed Cheyenne photographer Penny Wolin documented Jewish cowgirls in a photo essay at the National Museum of American History. • The first Jewish governor in the nation was Moses Alexander of Idaho. • The first female rabbi, Rachel Franks, was a Westerner. • Max Aronson, a.k.a. Bronco Billy, the son of a rabbi, hailed from Little Rock, Ark., and was one of the originators and popularizers of what we now refer to as movie westerns. • On TV, Lorne Greene (born in Ottawa as Lyon Himan Green), who played Ben Cartwright on “Bonanza,” was Jewish, as was one of his sons on the show, Little Joe, played by Michael Landon, who was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz in New York. ■

River Ranch at a Glance Mobility: Low to average. Golf carts are available as rentals (reserve in advance), and most of the walks are short. The two-story lodge does not have elevators. When to go: Year-round. Expect hot, sticky summers. Occasional frost is possible in January or February, but mostly the winter and spring are great with cooler weather. Where to stay: At the ranch. No other lodging is nearby. The ranch offers a wide range of accommodations, including glamping (glamorous camping with air conditioning), western-themed lodge guest rooms with a microwave and refrigerator, lodge suites, studios, one- and two-bedroom cabins, one- and two-bedroom cottages, railcars, RV camping, and tent camping. Special interests: The ranch life, natural Florida and rodeo.

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MIKE TOLTZIS 404.376.9135 miketoltzis@atlantafinehomes.com

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

• The ranch has a noncommercial ave you ever been to a dude airport with a 5,000-foot runway. Orranch? In Florida? Yep, Florida. The state is lando International Airport is 91 miles 16th in cattle production and has a away, and Tampa International is 97 rich history of ranching. The Sunshine miles distant. • The nearest major cruise port is State was home to the first American cowboys, known as “crackers” because Cape Canaveral 121 miles away. • The closest Amtrak stations are they cracked whips to communicate as they herded Spanish cattle and horses Lakeland at 56 miles and Kissimmee at across the marshes and woodlands 80 miles. Each is served by two trains daily. A rental car to the ranch is recfrom the 17th century onward. Their legacy lives on in many working ranches and Simply Smart Travel a tourist-oriented ranch, the Westgate River Ranch By Jeffrey R. Orenstein in River Ranch, part of a jorenstein@SimplySmartTravel.com 7,000-acre wildlife management area surrounded by 400,000 acres of federal and state preommended. serves. • The ranch is It is a great on Florida Route place for families 60, 57 miles from and for corporate Vero Beach and 89 events. The Westmiles from Tampa. gate River Ranch attracts a diverse When There crowd because Dine at the onof its abundance site Smokehouse of activities, inGrill, and tour cluding a Saturthe wildlife manday night rodeo, agement area by horseback riding, swamp buggy or swamp buggy hayride. rides, swimming, The must-dos miniature golf, for a short stay: archery, horse• The Saturday shoes, tennis, a night rodeo and rock climbing line dancing. wall, a zip line, a • The hayride mechanical bull, Photos by Jeffrey R. Orenstein and dinner. bungee jumping, Top: A singing cowboy entertains during • As many othnine holes of golf, a hayride across the back country. er activities as you a petting farm, Bottom: Bull riding is a feature of the have time and taste nature hikes, trap Westgate River Ranch Rodeo. for. and skeet shootWith more than three days, enjoy: ing, hayrides with a singing cowboy, • Kennedy Space Center at Cape and a full-service marina on the Kissimmee River with boating, fishing and Canaveral. • Orlando and its theme parks, airboats. The ranch, built in the 1960s, is the about an hour away. • The Atlantic beaches, about an largest dude ranch east of the Mississippi. A herd of longhorn Watusi cattle hour away. grazes there, along with rodeo bulls What to Wear and typical Florida wildlife. Western-style casual dress is the order of the day. Take a cowboy hat Before You Go and bug spray. Start with comfortable Visit these websites: • westgateresorts.com/river-ranch. shoes or cowboy boots, and bring casual daytime outfits. Shorts for men and • www.visitfla.com. women are fine. Bring your dancing shoes for the line dancing and western Getting There Westgate River Ranch is accessible music. Bring a big hat and sunblock — this is Florida. ■ by private plane, train, ship or car:

AT L A N TA F I N E H O M E S . C O M

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Beach Life Thrives Outside Jacksonville

acksonville Beach and its neighbors, originally a town named Ruby, are where the 1.5 million people in greater Jacksonville, Fla., go to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean. The beautiful Atlantic beaches on this barrier island with no official name stretch 40 miles from Mayport in the north to Vilano Beach in the south and include Atlantic, Neptune and Jacksonville beaches and Ponte Vedra. Since 1924, Casa Marina, a classic artifact of the great Florida land boom of the 1920s, has been the grand old lady of the beach. It has welcomed gangsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly, Dwight Eisenhower, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, hordes of Hollywood stars, and wealthy Easterners taking the train to Florida. It was used for military housing during World War II, hit hard times after the war, and was remodeled and reopened in 1991 with 24 large rooms. It remains popular for those seeking classic elegance on the beach, a great view from the Penthouse Lounge, or a tony venue for weddings and parties.

• A beautiful beach drive to Sawgrass and upscale Ponte Vedra, just south on Highway A1A. • Exploration of the many good restaurants and shops on the island. With more than three days: • Visit Mayport and take a casino cruise. • Tour St. Augustine, the oldest city in America, 30 miles south.

Simply Smart Travel By Jeffrey R. Orenstein jorenstein@SimplySmartTravel.com

• Shop at the tony St. John’s Town Center. • Explore Jacksonville’s sights and destinations. What to Wear • Sunglasses and a big hat. • Cool, loose clothes in the summer — sundress, shorts, cutoffs, loose fitting tops. • A lightweight jacket and possible layers for variable winter weather. • Casual outfits for going out to dinner. • A bathing suit for beach or pool. • Sandals for the beach and comfortable walking shoes elsewhere. ■

Before You Go Visit these websites: • casamarinahotel.com. • www.visitjacksonville.com. • www.jacksonvillebeach.org.

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

Getting There Jacksonville Beach is accessible by car, rail, air and public transit: • Jacksonville International Airport is 28 miles away. • The nearest major cruise port is Port Canaveral 165 miles south. • Amtrak’s Jacksonville station is 29 miles away. It doesn’t offer car rentals. • Jacksonville Beach is not far from Interstates 10 and 95 and has adequate parking.

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When There Enjoy the beach and the historic pier. If kashrut isn’t a concern, eat breakfast at the Metro Diner, lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack (on the beach) and dinner at Ocean 60 on Atlantic Beach, and visit the ZETA Brewing Co. (also good food). The must-dos for a short stay:

Jacksonville Beaches at a Glance Photos by Jeffrey R. Orenstein

Top: Dating to 1924, the restored Casa Marina is a bright-white beacon along Jacksonville Beach. Inset: The Casa Marina bar provides a classic spot for cocktails. Bottom: Jacksonville Beach’s pier, visible from Casa Marina, stretches into the Atlantic.

Mobility: Good. Most places on the barrier island are handicap-accessible. When to go: Summer is hot, and winter can be cold, so the best times are spring and fall. Where to stay: Casa Marina is an excellent choice because of its historical elegance. Many national chains are available. Special interests: Florida history, beaches and deep-sea fishing.

Jeffrey R. Orenstein is a syndicated travel writer who lives on Florida’s West Coast. He and his wife, Virginia, enjoy simply smart travel. Check out their travel ideas, articles and blog at www.SimplySmartTravel.com.

Jewish Life Around Jacksonville

Jacksonville and its barrier island, encompassing Mayport, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra and Vilano Beach, have about 15,000 Jews out of a population of 853,000. In addition to an active Jewish Federation, Jacksonville Jews have a newspaper, seven congregations, a day school through eighth grade, a community Hebrew high school evening program, and a full array of organizations supporting Jewish life. New growth is moving toward the beach areas, and Congregations Bet Yam and Beth El are on the island. Although Jews have probably been in nearby St. Augustine for 450 years, they first settled in Jacksonville in the 1820s. A reasonably sized group of Jewish merchants settled there before the Civil War, and most were loyal Confederates. Florida’s longest-resident documented Jewish family is the Dzialynskis, who arrived from Prussia by 1850. Jacksonville suffered a yellow fever epidemic in 1857, and the first Jewish cemetery was established. Several members of the Dzialynski family died of the disease and are buried there. By 1880, Jacksonville had 130 Jews. In 1901, a fire swept through 146 blocks of Jacksonville and destroyed a synagogue, among other buildings. Architect Roy Benjamin figured prominently in the rebuilding of the city and the synagogue. He also designed many theaters throughout Florida. From the late 19th century until the Great Depression, Jacksonville was Florida’s major Jewish enclave. In the 1940s the area had 3,095 Jews. A naval air station built in Jacksonville brought tens of thousands of new faces to the city, including Jews, who settled there after the war. ■

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Rural Southern Life With My Sister

My development began in a kosher Sephardic home. My family enjoyed the Middle Eastern cuisine that my mother cooked so well. It seemed that the mothers in my parents’ families were each better cooks than the next. My father owned a grocery store and sold nonkosher meats, which no one in the family ever ate. My father used to enjoy occasionally complaining about the poor quality and high prices of kosher meat in Pensacola. No one ever took his complaints seriously. Even when we ate lunch at the store, mother brought kosher food from home. My Syrian background was different from the other children I went to school with. Before entering the first grade, my mother informed me I was kosher and would always have to bring lunch in a bag. I grew up with separate dishes for milk and meat as well as separate silverware. This did not seem different to me. At lunchtime, I first noticed that the other schoolchildren always kept their rice, vegetables and meat separate. At home we mixed everything together with a topping of sauce. The schoolchildren ate tiny portions of rice. We ate almost every meal beginning with a large bed of rice. I had to watch many times before concluding that I was different from most other children. The children at school ate their rice with a fork, while at home we ate the mixture containing rice with a tablespoon to accommodate the gravies. In grammar school, I realized my family was unlike most families because we never ate pork products. One day in the third grade I noticed the rice at school never contained noodles. Mother’s rice always was made fluffy with browned noodles like the present-day Rice-A-Roni. At first I thought the cook had forgotten the noodles. During Passover the normal

sandwiches I took to school were not allowed because they contained bread. I had to take sandwiches using matzos. Only jams did not crumble with matzos. Each day I sat down to eat with a different group of students. Each day someone asked me what I was eating. I usually said, “These are crackers which I like.”

Business Sense By Al Shams

This ended the explanation. If I had fully explained myself, I might never have had time to eat during lunch break. When I was about 15 or 16, my father (through business contacts) secured for me a part-time job on weekends selling pork sausage and nonkosher wieners. The job entailed cutting up small samples, cooking them and giving the samples to customers to sell the products. The job paid well, and I enjoyed talking to customers. By this time, I was well trained in handling customers from my father’s store. I was the best saleslady the company had ever had. In time I remembered the comments of customers about the meat. I learned to repeat their comments to other new customers. Once in a while a customer would say, “Why don’t you eat some?” I would reply, “I have been eating all day.” That seemed to satisfy them. One day the company decided to send me to a nearby town. I was too young to drive, so they hired a man to chauffeur me. At lunchtime, without asking me, the gentleman came back with a box of nonkosher fried chicken. The man was so proud of himself. I said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t like chicken.” I could not tell him I was kosher and lose the job. After this incident they may have figured out I was kosher anyway. I don’t remember working after that incident. It was fun. Thank goodness the rabbi never saw me. While in college I decided to get a degree as a home economics teacher, and it was no longer possible for me to keep the kosher dietary laws. I only slowly learned to try nonkosher products.

The coursework was challenging and interesting. The problems came in my senior year. I had to pass two programs to get my degree. One was to complete the home management house, a two-story house occupied with about 10 senior home economic students each taking turns with a different job each week. When I was being interviewed by the director, Miss C., I told her gently that I might have some difficulty cooking Southern food because of my kosher Middle Eastern background. She didn’t want to understand and reprimanded me. The tears flowed down my face in puddles. However, I was not about to give up. For breakfast, the cook of the week awakened at 5:30 to prepare a full breakfast for all. The meal had to be cooked, eaten and cleaned up in time for our 8 a.m. class. As a further challenge, when I was cook, I had a class that did not let out until 11 a.m. The food for lunch had to be on the table by noon. That necessitated running across a football field to arrive in time. I am not sure whether I ran faster than the football players because I never had time to look back. One day I planned vegetable soup for the menu. I had some leftover chicken and ham but didn’t know what happened when you mixed the two in a soup. I asked my knowledgeable roommate what to do. She said, “Take all your leftover food out of the refrigerator and mix everything in a pressure cooker.” I did just that and saved the day. To my great surprise with proper coaching, I also successfully cooked a ham for the school homecoming. All the other students were very experi-

enced cooking Southern cuisine. One student’s father owned a restaurant where she gained much experience. All the floors and tables within the house had a multitude of layers of polish from each successive class. The dining room table had so much polish that if water fell on it, the water became beads of moisture. The floors and tables were hand-polished by each class every week and sometimes daily. Miss C. never liked me, but we respected each other, and I passed the home management program with a C, which I was grateful for. In student teaching, the professor assigned me to teach home economics in a rural school outside Tuscaloosa, Ala. One of the first lessons I instructed the students on concerned homemade biscuits. I think every student knew how to bake biscuits except me. I stayed late the day before my biscuit class to practice. The janitor was surprised to find me there at 4:30 p.m. with flour everywhere. My real challenge came next: We were to prepare pop-overs (similar to éclairs without the cream filling), which were shaped like muffins. I had never seen or heard of a pop-over, much less knew how to bake one. This time I was not able to practice beforehand. I told the class, “Students, you and I have reviewed your book on pop-overs. I am sure you will do a good job on this lesson. Good luck with the pop-overs.” That lesson may have taught the students and me best what not to do. I later learned my supervising teacher evaluated me as more likely to succeed in an urban community rather than a rural community. To my surprise, my first successful teaching assignment was in the rural community of Pace, Fla., outside Pensacola. ■

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t’s hard to believe six years have passed since my sister Arleen was murdered on the first day of Rosh Hashanah at the hands of an indigent person she was trying to help. While going through some old records, I found this article Arleen wrote in 1965 for The Southern Israelite. It depicts her life in Pensacola, Fla., in the 1950s.

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ARTS

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‘Labyrinth,’ SCADshow Dazzle at AJFF Screening

She said the most powerful scene involved a German gentile going to Auschwitz to say Kaddish for a friend’s twin daughters who were killed by Josef Mengele. “We all left the theater emotionally drained but impressed with the experience.” The Atlanta Jewish Jaffe’s Jewish Jive Film Festival event also By Marcia Caller Jaffe showed off mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com the Savannah College of Art and Design’s renovated It is hard to believe that human beings SCADshow, the could perform those atrocities and theater that believe it was acceptable.” “The movie was beautifully filmed has replaced the 14 Street and directed,” Jill Stoumen said. Playhouse at “Seeing it from the perspective of the Juniper. The Germans from 1958 to 1963 was very change is, well, interesting. It was amazing to realize “WOW!” how much the Germans didn’t know “They did about what had happened or didn’t a remarkable want to know.” job. It is clearly an example of a creative interior Season Opening Celebration that SCAD was Saturday, October 10, 2015 • 3:00 PM born to do,” Robyn SpizmanGerson said. A colorful, headdressed triptych painting and a Mid-Century cream credenza contrast with Christine Brewer, soprano multihorned rams. Tangerine Paul Jacobs, organ glowing glass and metal are perfectly Clayton State University placed for the most glitz. The stage is framed by two ancient mummylike caryatids. It’s not the Fox in history or size, but the Season Opening AJT Ad.indd 1 9/18/2015 11:01:09 AM venue is a marvel of sass and cleverness. Opening a bathroom door — albeit inconveniently down three levels (an elevator is an option) — results in Ricky Ricardo yelling, “Lucy, I don’t know what you’re doing in there, but you better hurry up and get out!” The sightlines have some issues, Goldstein said. “I had trouble seeing well on the sidelines, having to peek through others to read the subtitles.” SCADshow manager Brian Titshaw said: “The decor was overseen by President Paula Wallace and her RE/MAX AROUND ATLANTA David Shapiro Jon Shapiro husband, Glen, in collaboration with DShapiro@remax.net JonShapiro@mindspring.com 404-252-7500 SCAD’s wonderful design group team.” 404-845-3065 404-845-3050 www.jonshapiro.com 24 The auditorium for the main aturday night, Sept. 19, brought out the movie aficionados to see Germany’s nominee for next year’s Oscar for best foreign language film, “Labyrinth of Lies.” Actually titled “Labyrinth of Silence” in German, the subtitled film had us bolted to the seats at the new SCADshow as the one of the world’s largest moral dilemmas unfolded on the screen. We knew about Nuremberg, but many were shocked to experience a cinema verite of sorts about the German trials examining the shame, guilt (or not), and cover-up of everyday Germans’ roles in the Holocaust. “Go along to get along,” but what if it’s your uncle? And would Germans seriously prosecute fellow Germans? “I thought the movie was fabulous in the acting and the way it was presented,” Doris Goldstein said. “I knew the Germans covered things up, and many didn’t want to make waves. We could all see the moral quandary:

not just the evil Nazi officers, but the middle ground, the ordinary person’s value systems.” Stan Lefko, a lawyer and son of Holocaust survivors, said: “I thought the acting was well done. It was very thought-provoking.” Gail Solomon said: “I thought the movie was very moving and impactful.

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

www.SpiveyHall.org

AJT

Your GO TO Specialists for all YOUR REAL ESTATE Needs

Photos by Marcia Caller Jaffe

Top: “Trinity” is a 2001 work by Melinda Borysevicz. Middle left: SCADshow manager Brian Titshaw and Robyn Spizman-Gerson stand in front of “The Hotel’s Hall,” a 2013 mixed-media light fixture by Marcus Kenney, who created the piece with donated costume jewelry and jewelry molds from a closed factory. Middle right: Another Marcus Kenney work on display at SCADshow is “St. KicKitic,” created in 2010. Bottom left: The SCADshow lobby is colorful and eclectic. Bottom right: Caryatids, based on sculptures from Delphi, Greece, in the sixth century B.C.E., flank the main SCADshow stage.

stage seats 375 people. A second stage seats 160. Both stages can be rented out for events. “Our school is bursting with creative energy,” Titshaw said. ■

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Baal Shem Tones Shift to Younger Key By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

ongregation Beth Tefillah members Helene and Michael Kates make up the Baal Shem Tones, one of the most prolific duos in American Jewish music. The husband and wife are attempting to reach unexplored territory with their new album, “8 Songs for Children.” The album, set for release Sunday, Oct. 4, blends the duo’s storytelling with topics that should interest parents and children alike. The Kateses talked to the AJT about their music, influences and album. AJT: Tell me about your Oct. 4 CD release party/concert? Helene: It’s a family concert, and it’s free, Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody. At 10 a.m. there’s a caterpillar puppet-making workshop, followed by a concert at 10:30. AJT: Interesting. Have you always been focused on children’s music? Helene: Well, this is our third CD,

megillah in itself. I have memories of being pushed in the stroller for the mile walk from Temple Sholom in Brooklyn, New York. As I learned the melodies for the prayers, I began to sing from my seat, harmonize along with the cantor, who encouraged my parents to take me out of public school and send me to a Jewish day school. My parents didn’t Helene and Michael Kates are releasing the Baal Shem Tones’ third CD, “8 Songs for Children,” Oct. 4. think that was such a good idea, but somewhere inside but the first one specifically for chil- me that passion kept alive, and I think it has a lot to do with how I ended up dren. Michael: Writing songs for kids writing Jewish music. sort of comes naturally when you have AJT: What’s next for the Baal a bunch of grandchildren running around, and we both teach music in Shem Tones? Helene: We’ll be touring to supJewish schools. Most of the songs began as improvisations, and kids would port the CD, of course, and we have contribute ideas for lyrics. Over time new material to record. We have a Puyou get a sense of what works and what rim show based on parodies of Mardi Gras songs. We debuted that show in doesn’t. New Orleans. I can’t wait for people to AJT: How did you get into the Jew- hear that. Michael: Then we have Chanukah ish music scene? Helene: Ah, well, that’s a whole with Johnny Gelt.

AJT: Johnny Gelt? Michael: Yes. He’s the greatest Jewish country-western singer of all time. He wears only black and performs with his wife, Juneleh (laughs). Helene: One night we started singing Chanukah songs in the styles of other singers, Michael started singing like Johnny Cash. So it turns out that “I Have a Little Dreidel” and “Folsom Prison Blues” were a perfect fit. Michael: The next few weeks after that, Peter Allard and I knocked out six more parodies, all Johnny Cash songs, all based on Chanukah. Helene: We also have a lot of songs that aren’t outwardly Jewish that we’ve never put on an album. They’re Jewish in the sense that they reflect our thoughts and feelings, and we happen to be religious Jews. ■ Who: The Baal Shem Tones What: “8 Songs for Children” CD release party Where: Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody When: 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 Info: www.baalshemtones.com

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OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

RECITAL AJT 25

9/29/15 10:53 AM

HOME OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

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Drama of Hollywood, Essence of South Beach

arrla and Jeff Goldstein’s 4-acre contemporary Mediterranean manse in Sandy Springs is a masterpiece of spectacular open views of billowing cabanas and a four-sided infinity pool overlooking the tennis court. It took eight years and a team of architects (PFVS, led by Haitham Haddad), interior designer Tamara Bickley and art consultant Anthony Naturman to finalize the Goldsteins’ vision. “We wanted clean lines to showcase this awesome property and bring the outdoors in,” Carrla said. “I wanted a beachy feel and was pleasantly surprised how it turned out,” Jeff said. “Carrla is really the artistic force in the family.” The Goldsteins are a youthful couple who have a deep commitment to the Jewish community. Jeff, an Internet marketing entrepreneur, gave Carrla the green light to travel to New York and Miami to find the exact furnishings. If the house looks familiar, that’s because it is used to shoot movies, rap videos and commercials. There are better-than-Hollywood high-elevation views from every room, a side yard that resembles parts of Versailles, and a life-size three-part mosaic of an alluring blonde. And doesn’t everyone have an 80foot bowling alley? Jaffe: How did you amass this kind of land inside 285? Jeff: Our kids saw this old house go on the market. So we bought that and the house next door to demolish.

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

Jaffe: Your entrance indeed evokes South Beach, the Delano Hotel. The rotunda off to the side is unbelievable. I see some important Judaica. How are you involved? Jeff: Actually, this started as my study, but Carrla put in the aqua Pucci seating area, and it is much better served to house our books and sentimental keepsakes. This shovel was used to ground-break the new educational center at Beth Tefillah, which bears our name, and the kollel Torah dedication piece. If you look up 50 feet, you see the cascading chandelier (C Lighting). What’s fun in this room is pushing this particular bookshelf and, voila, the secret compartment recesses 26 as a side entrance to our master bed-

AJT

room. In addition to Beth Tefillah activities, I study with Atlanta Scholars Kollel (Congregation Ariel) to produce the “Jeff and the Rabbi Show,” which is podcast learning. Carrla: I am most proud of being a member of the founding board of Jewish Women’s Connection of Atlan-

Chai-Style Homes By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

in the Bellagio. Jeff: Yes, we like that they contrast with the lime pool table in the rec room. You’re going to ask me how many TVs — 11. And no discount. Is it too late? Jaffe: How did the art come together? Carrla: Anthony Naturman contacted us just at the right time. I especially like Craig Alan, a local artist. He has so much versatility. Naturman: When I met the Goldsteins, they had vast, open, blank white walls. Art is really the icing on the cake, as it is the last thing to tie in before completion of décor. I wanted

white theme with only a hint of red (feathers) above the bed. Carrla likes this Western art. Not so much my taste. Jaffe: OK, I’ve heard about the basement. I’m holding my breath. Carrla: Our goal was to have a paradise in which our twins could entertain. They were actually featured on a TV show, “Teen Cribs.” The bowling alley is the focal point, but we like the diner feeling with red glitter banquets. Even the restrooms are labeled “Male” and “Female” to enhance the theme. Jaffe: The mural reminds me of the Atlanta Fish Market. So much fun!

ta, which brings together women of varying levels of observance to arm them with a strong Jewish identity. JWCA sponsors social activities like cooking classes and conversations with varying levels of observance. It has really taken off. Jaffe: Describe your stark alabaster dining room. Carrla: The ceiling molding A is Venetian plaster. Luckily, our house manager also does the floral arrangements. I wanted the drapes in here to have a gold, gauzy feel with velour flocking and a hint of chartreuse to peep through. The leather chairs are Fendi. Jaffe: The kitchen has the feel of an open restaurant. Formal and informal. Carrla: The counters are limestone, and the rows of stools are faux ostrich. You would not call me an accomplished cook, but we like takeout sushi. My favorite area in here is the dining nook: an orange leather banquette opposite the high-backed zebra print. I love to eat in here. Jaffe: I hope C Lighting gave you a discount. I see his pieces everywhere. These black sconces of his are Vegaslike, reminiscent of the Chihuly lobby

their art to make the furniture pop and the frames to make the art pop. I brought in various artists to handcraft the caricatures above the bar and the graffiti, in addition to the fine art. My view of art is ever-changing; the bottom line is B interpreting the client’s vision. Jaffe: This guest suite upstairs is for the dogs? Jeff: Sometimes we hang out up here to chill with them (an Australian shepherd and a cavalier King Charles spaniel). I call them my CCOs — chief canine officers. We like the black-and-

And I see you in with the stars. Jeff: Reagan, Ozzie Osborne, Pamela Anderson, Mick Jagger, Demi Moore. … Hey, I had a bit part in a movie (“American Reunion”)! Normally when they shoot movies, we move out with the pups. Jaffe: What would you do differ-

HOME OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING ently if you had a chance to redo? Carrla: The spa is on the back side of the house vs. right here next to the master bath. I would attach them. Also, I would make my closets twice as big. I’ve already taken over everyone

else’s! Jaffe: Did we mention that the master shower turns on a rain forest? We have a picture of your shoe closet which we are withholding. You

two are our local Brad and Angelina — dedicated to charity and good deeds and, oh, so fashionable. ■

I Photos by Duane Stork

A: The rotunda to the side of the entrance houses Judaica and aqua Pucci seating, plus a secret entrance to the Goldsteins’ master bedroom. B: The alabaster dining room features a Venetian ceiling and Fendi chairs. C: The back yard includes a South Beach-style infinity pool. D: The family bowling alley helps the Goldsteins’ twins entertain their friends. E: The Goldsteins have faux-ostrich stools for use in the double-island kitchen with limestone counters. F: The real Jeff and Carrla Goldstein pose with a mural featuring them with celebrities. G: A C Lighting chandelier highlights the rotunda. H: The front guest powder room features a white table imported from England. I: The family’s Australian shepherd and cavalier King Charles spaniel often visit the guest suite, where red feathers provide the color amid the black-and-white design.

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

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AJT 27

OBITUARIES www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Rona Kushner Balser 76, Dunwoody

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Rona Kushner Balser, 76, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015, at her home in Dunwoody after a nine-month fight with leukemia. She was a beautiful wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend. But above all, she was a teacher, and her love for science and art is her legacy. Rona grew up in Chevy Chase, Md., and was an honor student in biology at the University of Maryland. There she met Bill Balser in 1957. They were pinned in ’58, engaged in ’59 and married in ’61. Rona taught biology at Patterson High School in Baltimore until it was time to begin raising a family. When her daughters were young, Rona began creating works of art in various media and taught children’s art classes in their home. Her daughters’ friends will remember her as the Art Mom. In 1977, they moved to Atlanta, where Rona again immersed herself in learning, teaching and helping others. In the late ’70s, she volunteered to help many Russian families resettle in Atlanta. A lifelong learner and avid reader, she was an active member of the Hillside-Sinai book club, a biracial, bi-religious book club, and she helped found the Temple Sinai Book Club, in which she stayed active until her final days. Rona worked in educational sales for 10 years, and she and Bill found time to travel the world and explore new places. Once she had grandchildren, Rona would volunteer to bring interesting science topics into her grandsons’ classes at the Temple Sinai preschool and the Galloway School. Her grandsons’ friends will remember her as the Science Grandma. She lived life with a joy and spirit of curiosity that never diminished. She continued her practice in the arts, specifically in ceramics, and began selling her pottery in various shops around Atlanta. Rona was blessed with twin granddaughters just six years ago, and her family’s mission now is to ensure the girls understand the love and beauty and enduring strength of their grandmother. Rona was preceded in death by her parents, Reeva and Max Kushner. She is survived by her loving husband, Bill; daughters Gloria Southerland (Ken) and Sherry Hoban (Mike); grandchildren Max and Jake Goldwasser and Rachel and Caroline Hoban; and sisters Phyllis Wolowitz and Harriet Lawrence (Mike). Funeral services were held Friday, Sept. 25, at Temple Sinai with Rabbi Brad Levenberg officiating. Burial followed at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (www.lls. org). Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Larry Craig 59, Atlanta

Larry Craig, 59, of Atlanta died suddenly Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015. He was a devoted, loving and wonderful husband, father, brother, uncle, cousin, son and friend — beloved by all. A gentleman’s gentleman, Larry fully embraced his family and his entire community, both at home and at work. He shared his generous spirit with all with whom he interacted. Larry spent his work life in the hardware-related industry, from owning and operating retail hardware stores to his most recent ventures in the hardware supply business. He was easy to love and to befriend, always loyal and supportive. He always filled the room with his warmth, optimism and sense of humor. He will be missed terribly. Larry is survived by his wife of 33 years, Francee (Gilbert), and his children, Michael and Hannah. Also surviving are his mother-in-law, Henrietta Gilbert; sister-in-law Beth and Jeff Tatelman and brother-in-law Gary and Karen Gilbert; and nieces and nephew. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, donations in Larry’s memory can be made to Jewish National Fund (www.jnf.org) or a charity of your choice. A graveside service was held Monday, Sept. 28, at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999. 7/27/15 10:51 AM

OBITUARIES

Zira Richman Atlanta

Zira Richman of Atlanta died Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. A native of Boston, she was the wife of the late Jack Richman and the mother of the late Michael Richman. Zira lived a life of generosity, dignity and kindness to her family and friends. She exemplified a sense of humanity and charity in everything she did. Left to cherish her memory are her son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Pat Richman; daughters and son-in-law Nancy Richman and Susan and Aaron Kublanow; and grandchildren Ryan Richman and Joey and Brandon Kublanow. Graveside services were conducted Thursday, Sept. 24, at Arlington Memorial Park with Rabbi Steven Lebow of Temple Kol Emeth officiating. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org). Arrangements by Greenlawn Jewish Funeral Services at H.M. Patterson & Son Arlington Chapel.

Death Notices

Gail Bachmann, 90, of Chicago, mother of Temple Sinai member Mark Bachmann, Richard Bachmann and David Bachmann, on Sept. 24. Sofia Konstantinovsky of Atlanta on Sept. 26. Khana Rotmanskaya of Tucker on Sept. 22. Bernice Seidman of Johns Creek on Sept. 23. Marni Rachel Sambler, 44, of Brandon, Vt., sister of Congregation Or Hadash member Aaron Stambler, on Sept. 21.

SPORTS

Weber Wins in Softball

Behind a stellar game at the plate and on the mound from senior Remy Zimmerman, the Weber School softball team notched the first win of its first season, 13-1 over Griffin Christian, on Thursday, Sept. 24. Zimmerman went 3-3 with two singles and a double and allowed only one run and three hits through four innings pitched for the Rams (1-7). An RBI single by Meredith Galanti in the first inning got the Rams’ offense started. Weber added six runs in the third inning with an RBI single by Marni Rein, a walk by Reanna Edlin, a two-run error, and a two-run double by Jessica Seagraves. With a clutch bases-loaded walk by Zimmerman, the Rams added four more runs in the fourth inning. Weber was set to close the regular season at home against LaGrange Academy on Thursday, Oct. 1. ■

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Job duties include but are not limited to, complete production layout for weekly newspaper, interacting with sales staff on ad designs, working directly with the editor, and designing house collateral and materials as needed.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

Putting Mettle to Pedal

OCTOBER 2 ▪ 2015

emember the CB radio (may it rest in peace)? I sure do, and I miss it terribly. My handle was Lady Silver Bullet. Yes, seriously. LSB was another way of saying speed demon. All the truckers in and around Tampa, Fla., and all the “county Mounties,” “plain brown wrappers” and “bubble gum machines” (police) knew me. I would get on the CB on my way to work, on my way to the market, on the way to anywhere. I met some fascinating folks via my CB. I could rely on the truckers should I ever be in trouble: “Breaker, breaker, 1-9” and help was on the way. Cellphones and texting are not the same. Boring! CBs were verboten when riding a motorcycle; my hands were busy keeping me alive. Bike riding, on the other hand, was never about speed or friendship. Bike riding was a way to feel the wind on my face, enjoy the gifts of nature and squeeze in a little exercise. Those ridiculously expensive bikes with 10 or more speeds that became the rage in the late ’60s were not my cup of tea. We moved to Atlanta, and a few things changed. The most traumatic was the loss of my CB; it was not all the rage in Atlanta. Gene and my girls and I started bike riding for fun. Then Gene and daughter No. 2 started entering races. The most insane were the 150-mile ride across Georgia and the 50-mile MS rides. I was happy to join them at the end of the race, cheering them along. I was also happy to join them in more manageable races and rides; I won first place in one. OK, only three people were in my division, but I did come in first. Gene and I traveled to many lovely towns, especially the Highlands; I showed my support for Gene as he rode with hundreds of other crazy people up and down the mountains. Finally, after many discussions, Gene convinced me this one particular ride in Cashiers was mostly flat with some hills. I loved the flat part; the hills, not so much. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and accepted the challenge. We drove up to Cashiers on a Friday afternoon and checked into a little bed and breakfast. The next morning, hundreds of bikers of all shapes, ages, 30 sexes and colors milled around. Some

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should have chosen to wear anything other than biking clothes, if you get my meaning. By 7 a.m., everyone was lined up and ready to put the mettle to the pedal. All the riders were stretching, sipping water, checking and rechecking tires. The rest stops all had bananas, water and healthy bars.

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CROSSWORD “Everybody Knows One” Editor: Yoni Glatt (YoniGlatt@gmail.com ) Difficulty Level: Easy

Shaindle’s Shpiel By Shaindle Schmuckler shaindle@atljewishtimes.com

Finally, it was time to head out. I strategically placed myself toward the back of the pack, to make it a bit of a challenge for the real riders to mow me down. Gene, a strong, experienced rider, was a gentleman and stayed with me and the other slowpokes. Did I mention I was terrified of heights? By the by, I am no longer height-challenged, a story for another time. For the first few hundred feet the terrain was fairly flat, with trees and shrubs hugging both sides of the road. As we turned the left, all heck broke loose. The flat turned into the hill, and I realized we were heading straight up a mountain, the brush and trees no longer hugging the road. I promptly moved to the middle of the road and rode on the double solid yellow line. Trust me when I say my little feet were furiously working the pedals. I was close to panic, my fear of heights consuming me. One man’s hill was this woman’s mountain. Where was my CB when I needed it? My hubby yelled: “You’ll be killed if you ride in the middle of the road. With the severe turns up ahead, trucks and cars will not see you.” I responded: “I’d rather be killed by a truck then fall down the mountain.” Fortunately, the sag van was not far behind me. (Sorry, I have no clue what sag means; they are emergency vehicles.) The heroes driving the van, realizing my paralyzing fear, saved me from a sure death. They drove me and my bike to safety. Wondering about the gentleman (Gene) who chose to ride with the slowpokes? Wonder no more: He headed for the hills. ■

ACROSS 1. Shoe that might be worn on Yom Kippur 5. Shipment container for an oleh 10. Common Jewish last name 14. Yoni Netanyahu, e.g. 15. Common Jewish last name 16. “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer King 17. Hebrew for made 18. “All ___ the Watchtower,” oft-covered Dylan song 19. Bilhah and Zilpah to Josef, en espanol 20. Common Jewish last name 22. Common Jewish last name 23. Shochet string 24. Pinkish Monster who has appeared on “Shalom Sesame” 26. Have some kreplach 29. French equivalent of an agora, once 30. Indiana Jones finds it 33. Common Jewish last name 38. Pilot Earhart in Shawn Levy’s “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian” 40. Asimov’s “Counting the ___” 41. What clashes sometimes do in Jerusalem 43. One can do this down the Jordan 44. Common Jewish last name 46. Common Jewish last name 48. Weizman and Bialik in Tel Aviv: Abbr. 49. Some rural rtes. in the Negev 51. “Now You __ Me,” Isla Fisher flick 52. Ein Gedi, e.g. 54. Klutzes 59. Common Jewish last name 62. Common Jewish last name 65. Idina (Menzel) voiced her 66. The brass used in the Temple, e.g. 67. Tref Bell 68. “___ of You” (1958 Elvis

hit) 69. Kind of fire agreed to with Hamas 70. Sound that can be heard at the Makhtesh crater 71. TV Personality Berkus 72. What Saul did by letting Agag live 73. Farm no-no on a sabbatical year DOWN 1. ___ toppers, many Drake songs 2. Plant pomegranates, again 3. “… ___ I like to call it …” (Start of many a Borscht Belt punchline ) 4. Common Jewish last name 5. Kvetch 6. Make like David 7. Call off an IDF mission 8. Bits of (different) colors that can disqualify a red heifer 9. It’s often heard in Ra’anana: Abbr. 10. Accomodate a Hatzalah vehicle 11. “East of Eden” director Kazan 12. Prince ___ Dracula, Winona Ryder love interest in a 1992 film 13. “___ Can!”: Sammy Davis Jr. book 21. Requirement, like matzo on Passover 22. Stern Grad 25. Truly dislike, like a Nazi 27. What Jews try to make around Yom Kippur time 28. Black, gooey substance not suitable for lighting Shabbat candles, according to the Mishna 30. Banned spray that isn’t good for apples (and honey) 31. There was one between David and Absalom 32. Common Jewish last name 33. Admit to sin, with “up” 34. Result of Blatt’s

Cavaliers against Maccabi Tel Aviv 35. Jay Fiedler didn’t like throwing them: Abbr. 36. Woodmere, NY time zone 37. Anti-Israel college grp. 39. Steroid ___, stain for Selig 42. Dell alternatives to Macs 45. Israeli diplomat Namir and others 47. Becomes chatan and kallah 50. Actress Jamie-Lynn 52. “August: ___ County” (2013 Weinstein film) 53. Panels on many Israeli roofs 55. Furry swimmer endangered in northern Israel 56. Shalom 57. 9 Av reading 58. Be a nosy yenta 59. Common Jewish last name, or at least a start to many 60. Site of Napoleon’s exile 61. “___ fire to the rain …”: Adele chorus that Leah Greenblatt said “surges” 63. ___ weight, post Passover goal 64. Like blue strings on tzitzit 66. Israeli air force hero

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