Atlanta Jewish Times, Vol. XCIII No. 35, September 7, 2018

NEXT WEEK: YOM KIPPUR

VOL. XCIII NO. 35

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 27 ELUL 5778 SHANA TOVA

Wishing You a Sweet 5779 with the Buzz on Bees

During the holiest days of the year, will you be a stakeholder in the Jewish future?

Birthright Israel Foundation has helped provide 650,000 young Jewish adults with the life-changing gift of an educational journey to Israel.

We believe it is the birthright of all young Jews to visit their ancestral homeland. And when they do, they will form an unbreakable bond with Israel, the Jewish people and their heritage, which will be felt for generations to come.

When you join our family of 35,000 donors this High Holiday season, you will ensure a vibrant Jewish for generations to come.

Shana Tova! Wishing you a happy and sweet New Year.

To make an immediate impact, give online at birthrightisrael.foundation/roshhashanah2018

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THIS WEEK

Here’s to the New Year HOLIDAY KICK-OFF

Temple Sinai features an ordained minister and Emory University theology professor as guest speaker. Page 6

LOAN RECIPIENT TO PHILANTHROPIST

views: “The Ancient Law,” a resurrected silent German film about 19th century Jewish life in Europe – put to music – and “Operation Finale,” starring Ben Kingsley. Pages 70-71

JEWISH SCHTICK

A successful lawyer recounted at a Jewish Educational Loan Fund event how help from her immigrant parents and a JELF loan helped her attend college. Her husband is also a JELF recipient and successful businessman. Page 7

Comedian Avi Liberman, who will perform next month at the Marcus JCC, lets us in on his former life as “class clown” and how he hung out with Jackie Mason and shot a commercial with Don Rickles. Page 72

TO CAMP, WITH LAUGHTER

If you need a wake-up call about your blessings, read Chana Shapiro’s column in this week’s Closing Thoughts. Spoiler alert: Like Yizkor, you’ll need tissues. Page 89

Camp Ramah Darom gets a new CEO, who comes with a strong marketing background. He shares some of his experiences involving comedians, Camp Ramah and the laughter both inspire. Page 8

BEAUTY QUEEN

Sandy Springs resident proves beauty has no age limit at the Ms. Senior Georgia Pageant involving women 60 and older. Page 10

THE BUZZ ON BEES

Meet a beekeeper who reveals how she raises bees to produce honey in her Dunwoody yard. What makes honey, a High Holiday staple, kosher? Pages 16-17

COMMUNITY GREETINGS

Representatives of the established Atlanta Jewish communal world share their inspiration, hopes and advice for the New Year.

Live each day as a new opportunity, a new year, proposes Georgia Tech Men’s Head Basketball Coach Josh Pastner while Rabbi Mark Zimmerman of Congregation Beth Shalom asserts that it’s never too late to return to Jewish life. And interestingly, Rabbi Chezky Edelson of Kollel Ner HaMizrach urges us to just stay home to jolt us into alternative thinking about the “why” of Jewish practice, instead of focusing on the “how.” Pages 18-69

FILM REVIEWS

In our arts section, you will find two re-

YIZKOR TEARS

Look further into this week’s issue of the AJT to set a positive tone for your High Holiday experience. We’ve got a Jewish joke, kosher food, and powerful art to keep you in high spirits this High Holiday season. So read on, and from us here at the AJT, enjoy a sweet and memorable New Year.

CONTENTS REFLECTIONS ������������������������������������� 4 LOCAL NEWS �������������������������������������� 6 BUSINESS ������������������������������������������ 12 OPINION �������������������������������������������� 14 ISRAEL PRIDE ���������������������������������� 15 COVER STORY ��������������������������������� 16 ROSH HASHANAH ������������������������� 18 ARTS ��������������������������������������������������� 70 SPOTLIGHT �������������������������������������� 72 COMMUNITY ������������������������������������ 74 OY VEY! ���������������������������������������������� 81 CALENDAR ���������������������������������������� 82 BRAIN FOOD ������������������������������������� 84 KEEPING IT KOSHER ��������������������� 85 OBITUARIES ������������������������������������� 86 MARKETPLACE ������������������������������� 88 CLOSING THOUGHTS �������������������� 89

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 3

REFLECTIONS Changing One’s Personal Climate When you are a stuSome of you may recall dent with a pulpit in a small that during the mechitzah Jewish community for the dispute at Shearith Israel, High Holidays, you prepare the breakaway minyan in very intensively. A spiritual the library of the new synavisitor to a small shul never gogue building on Univerknows how much intense sity Drive was led by Rav religious time the members Tuvia. Since I was still at will receive in the course Emory and living at home, of the year. My first stumy father and I walked the Rabbi David dent pulpit was in Easton, “rav” to shul every ShabGeffen Maryland, on the shore of bat, carefully descending Chesapeake Bay. The comUniversity Drive. I mention munity had a synagogue with beautiful this incident long since past because my windows in the main sanctuary. When Zayde read the Torah every Shabbat at I was there 55 years ago, I finally discov- the age of 88. He also chanted Musaf freered what it was like not be at (Congrega- quently. As a child, he learned the nusach tion) Shearith Israel for Yamim Noraim. for davening for Shabbat and all the chaMy position was arranged through gim, which he recited weekly during that the student placement office of the Jew- period. When a compromise was finally ish Theological Seminary of America found and the synagogue was whole where I was studying. The summer of again, he chanted the haftarot when it 1960 while I was here in Atlanta, I sat was his turn. I also recall him davening with my grandfather for many hours the Ne’ilah service once. I mention all learning the melody of the Torah read- of this because I carried his yontif spirit ings for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. with me to Easton, Maryland. I was his The rabbis of old decided that words of first Yamim Noraim student since Simon the Torah chanted with a different “trop” Noveck z’l and Simon Glustrom in the would alert congregants to the feeling for 1930s. I mention this because I worked the sacred days. I prepared diligently and hard preparing to lead my first Yom Tov, I had a wonderful private teacher. Rav wearing my white kittel and my Keds tenTuvia had mastered the entire Chumash nis shoes on Yom Kippur. I am indebted and the rest of the Tanach in Kovno, Lith- to Rabbi Ray Ostrovsky, a fellow rabbiniuania where he grew up. From what he cal student from Birmingham. told me, he had some yeshiva boys from To this day he is the finest baal tokeah Slobodka working with him. He caught (shofar blower) I have ever known. Many on quickly, and some of his children, my recall his father, “Cantor O.” Ray taught uncles and aunts, suggested by the age me to blow the shofar. A Jerusalemite by of six he had mastered all our sacred lit- birth, I pray that Ray and his wife, chilerature. Unlike many students, later rab- dren and grandchildren will be blessed bis of his time were not as expert in the with many more wonderful years.

Tanach field. In his papers are many hidLast year I accompanied my wife and dushim on Tanach verses. The hiddushim some of the people where she lives to the on Torah verses are in his sermons, espe- Kotel. All those who came were in wheelcially the ones for Yamim Noraim. chairs with an aide accompanying them.

Best Wishes for a Happy & Healthy New Year Richard B Arno Financial Advisor FMB Advisors

A financial advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

4151 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Suite 225 Atlanta, GA 30319 O: 770.879.8007 | M: 404.966.2030 richard.arno@ampf.com ameripriseadvisors.com/richard.arno Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC. © 2018 Ameriprise Financial, Inc.

4 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

I do not have the strength to wheel her to the Kotel, plus the Kotel is segregated so I could not take her anyway. Today we just returned from the Kotel and I want to share my thoughts as to how this visitation went. I was blessed that it imparted to me a desire to find within the davening for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Torah reading and shofar blowing, and just being in shul a real grounding to do teshuvah and express hopes for 5719.

Alighting from the bus as close to the Kotel as the police will allow, my wife, Rita, and all the others who came with her, plus the aides, were rolled down the ramps in their kiseh galgim (wheelchairs) as their large-wheeled mobile seat descended and offered them a view of the Kotel. I kissed Rita and made my way to the men’s side of the Kotel. This year two other male residents came.

I went directly to the Kotel because I wanted to spend all this precious time there. Initially we all heard the shofar blown. Minyanim were being completed which are followed by the shofar blasts as is the halacha for Elul. I went to the Kotel and placed my hands on the ancient stones. I looked up to see the amazing height of this remnant of the outside wall of The Holy Temple destroyed by the Romans in 60 of the common era. My thoughts initially were historic, recalling the men and women praying together at this sacred site in 1911, a picture snapped

by Kate Goldey, a Christian pilgrim, from Wilmington, Delaware.

While I was at the Kotel in the men’s section, Rita had been rolled down to the Kotel as near as she could get. She had written a note to be placed in the Wall, a prayer for all our family and for the State of Israel and for our granddaughter in the Israeli Navy and our grandson in a cyber unit in the Israeli army.

Rita has very deep feelings for tefillah. She started her Hebrew education at Rego Park Jewish Center in Queens across the street from where she lived. At Camp

Ramah, she was inspired by chanting the tefillot there. She knew Hebrew well; at camp they only spoke Hebrew in that period. They davened every morning, and she experienced Tisha B’Av, which falls during the summer.

The Kotel is meaningful for Rita because she has fasted on Tisha B’Av annually and understands why the Jewish people were so sad for 2,000 years. Now Israel has been renewed. She and our family made aliyah, so for her the Kotel and all it represents is a dream come true. I know that last year when we came, it was most emotional for her. She placed her note in the Wall as her tefillot “went up to heaven.”

I am a bit more prosaic. I have different feelings about the Kotel because I am not satisfied with all the conditions at this “holy place.” Nevertheless, when I move to the Kotel as close I can, I too am moved by it. My philosophy is don’t allow the Kotel to become “trite.” I only visit the Wall three or four times a year. When I am standing there, I do feel renewed as I am sure many of you do when you come from abroad and visit the Kotel. Yad Vashem and the Kotel are the two mostvisited sites in Israel, I am sure you know.

My “High Holiday juices” are flowing following my visit at the Kotel. As often as we Jews have been smitten by other nations and peoples who want to destroy us, we have survived and even risen to the heights. All of us are aware of the technological advances and computer successes we have achieved “for the whole world.” The newest miracle is the sale of the SodaStream company for $3.2 billion. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola knew they had a competitor. Pepsi acted first. I am glad that I reached the Wall again and feel that a good year is ahead.

So Rita, with all the wheelchair partners and me, as an individual, went to the Kotel this week. Rosh Hashanah is only two weeks away. To G-d we give thanks for giving us this privilege. ■

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 5

LOCAL NEWS Five Questions for Rosh Hashanah

By Bob Bahr Temple Sinai’s speaker at its Selichot program Saturday night challenged the synagogue’s congregants to fully see each other, physically, spiritually, and socially, as a first step toward understanding and engaging as a community.

To do that, Gregory Ellison, assistant professor of pastoral care and counseling at The Candler School of Theology at Emory University, led his audience at the Sandy Springs synagogue through a series of questions.

Ellison, who is also an ordained minister, described them as the five hardest questions they can ask themselves during this season of contemplation.

In a recent interview he elaborated on them:

stage is contact without fellowship, for us to be in a diverse community and be in contact with people, but to have very few spaces in which to know them and contact them.

To have contact without fellowship leads to what Thurman calls ‘unsympathic regard,’ so that if you wrong me in some way, if we have no relationship with each other, I don’t give you the benefit of the doubt.

You become stereotyped and typecast.”

And how has that affected Jews, he was asked.

“Not just Jews but many of us live separate from each other in what I call ‘our silos.’ I think it is a national problem.

There is a theorist that I love, the Jewish social psychologist, Stanley Milgram.

He says we are surrounded by familiar strangGregory C. Ellison II, assistant professor ers, people who we see on a of pastoral care and counseling at Emory daily basis, but we have this University, speaks at Temple Sinai's Selichot unspoken agreement that program. He is the author of Fearless we won’t talk to them. That Dialogues (left), that walks readers through is contact without fellowthe steps to find common ground. ship.

“The first question is We find familiar strangers in our work, in corporate a question of identity. Who settings, in people who get on the elevator every day and am I? Whom am I not? never speak, people who meet at the coffee stand and never What do I call myself at the ask: How is your mother doing? Our neighbors, how many soul level, which is deeper It was first asked by the great African-American socipeople don’t know who lives next door to them? than just the role I have in society? ologist, W.E.B. Du Bois.

That’s contact without fellowship. It is not exclusive The second question is, why am I here? What unique It asks: How does it feel to be a problem? If you think to Jewish communities or black communities or white comgifts have been given to me? What unique gifts have been differently, act differently, write differently, speak or dress munities; we have all become more ‘siloed’ over time.” given to me that I must use while I am here on this earth?

Ellison’s recently published book, “Fear+Less differently, people may perceive you as a problem. How do What must I do with all of the gifts I have been given that Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice,” is based on you own that problem for yourself? How does your own no one else can do? community conversations with more than 35,000 paruniqueness create a sense of empathy for others? How can The third is a question of community. Who is my ticipants, conducted over the past five years by the nonit help you see others who may be perceived as problems? neighbor? Who are the strangers among us? What does it profit he founded.

Finally, the fifth and hardest question. It was inspired mean to be hospitable to the stranger? How does one welHis aim, as it was Saturday night at Temple Sinai, by the writings of Howard Thurman, who was one of the come the stranger who is my neighbor? is to create a worldwide movement for better undermentors of Martin Luther King Jr. The fourth question is one that is a question of idenstanding among different and diverse communities by What must I do to die a good death? I believe we tity, purpose and community. starting first to have them understand one another as should wrestle with this on individuals. a daily basis because, acSo, based on all these conversations, is Ellison hopecording to Thurman, both ful for the future? life and death are a single “I am increasingly hopeful because of the national respiration. conversation that has begun, there can no longer be a To die a good death redenial of differences between us. Also, there is an inquires us to live a good life. creasing awareness of how privilege based upon both The legacy that we form class and race created a glaring gap within equity in our is based on the words we society. speak and the thoughts we “I am well aware,” he concluded, “of the alliances have and the actions that formed in the past between a black community that come from those thoughts was facing crisis and people of the Jewish faith. I think and the habits that develop the common narrative of triumph over adversity, which from those actions and the Christians and Jews share through the first five books of virtues that develop from the bible, says a lot about how we can stand with each those habits.

1589 Peachtree Street, NE • Atlanta, GA 30309 other.” ■ Thurman wrote that 404-872-8668 • www.the-temple.org Find out more about Ellison’s work at www.fearlessdiathere’s a genesis to the logues.com. evolution of hate. The first

L’Shana Tovah!

THE WELC WISHES YOU A HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR

6 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

LOCAL NEWS

Zalik Headlines JELF with Accomplishments and Dreams

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Photos by Marcia Jaffe // Norman and Lindy

Radow are delighted to be table hosts and serve as cheerleaders for JELF.

Steve Berman greets Eydie Koonin as she prepares to introduce Helen Zalik.

Pianist Joe Alterman chats with Ryan Enoch and Amanda Miller during the JELF cocktail hour.

Alterman is excited to be heading the AJMF. Courtesy of Revelry Photo

Keynote speaker Helen Zalik, a former JELF loan recipient, spoke of dreaming big and said happiness will come with a larger vision.

from the Soviet Union, she went on to graduate Duke University Law School, pursue a legal career, and eventually secure a job as general counsel. Quoting Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), Zalik said turning 40 was transformative in elevating not just her family – three daughters – and career, but also her dreams. She Rabbi Ed Harwitz, headmaster of The Weber questioned, “Do I have time for yet School, pictured with Mario Oves, says another 'to do' list?” that education is among his top interests as it affects the community so broadly.

Along with husband David, also a JELF recipient, they formed a foundation to further education for the Seven hundred gathered at Legendary Event’s Flourish Atlanta in Buckhead next generation.

At 4, David moved to the U.S. from on Aug. 28 to salute the good works of the Israel, with family roots in Australia, Jewish Educational Loan Fund.

Atlanta native and pianist Joe Alter- Argentina and China. He is now CEO of man charmed the pre-dinner crowd with GreenSky, which Forbes magazine referred to as a “fintech unicorn.” It streamseveral upbeat pieces.

A compelling video featured three lines the process of attaining consumer Jewish families (from Virginia, Florida loans through a mobile app that partners and Georgia) who experienced various with banks. Helen referred to her hushardships ranging from poor health to fi- band as “having a brain going a hundrednancial calamity where JELF loans made thousand miles an hour” and persevering through business failures and ultimate the difference for appreciative students.

“JELF is a positive force with people success.

Above all, she shared her inspirabehind you wanting you to succeed,” said Rabbi Lou Feldstein, parent of recipients. tion from Holocaust survivor Dr. Viktor Keynote speaker Helen Zalik, who Frankl (“Man’s Search for Meaning”), just turned 40 the day before, was a JELF who spoke of happiness as an unintendrecipient upon entering the University of ed consequence and byproduct of sucPennsylvania in 1989. With a JELF loan cess. She concluded, “Living well is not and help from her immigrant parents the end result.”

Helen co-founded Jewish Women’s Connection of Atlanta and has served on numerous executive boards including Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and Emory University Center for Ethics.

Board President Stan Lowenstein explained the loan process that determines what dollar amounts students receive.

“We have a detailed application and 22 interviewers over the five-state area. This year around 250 students will be helped. ... We had over 1,000 contributors last year. JELF has a 99 percent repayment rate and is basically recycling money!”

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From his table, new JELF board member Warren Binderman told the AJT: “Students have to go through a lot of steps to get this last bridge of funding. We hear tragic stories about broken homes and how a graduate student might just need $3,000 to finish. JELF’s mission is so critical.”

Jenna Shulman said the night was a success. “It was a truly incredible evening for JELF that exceeded all expectations (netting just shy of $500,000); and that makes me feel so proud to serve as CEO of this very special organization.” ■

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LOCAL NEWS

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The rustic milieu at Camp Ramah Darom is a far cry from Walter “Wally” Levitt’s former life hanging out at the Emmys each year with Comedy Central celebrities such as Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

But the laughter Levitt expects to engender as the camp’s new CEO will be much more meaningful, he said during a Canada the last dozen years. phone interview from his Toronto home.

Levitt considers Camp Ramah pro“It may not be the same kind of laughing. grams “transformative Jewish experiences.

There’s nothing I will enjoy more than see- What’s amazing about Ramah is that kids ing kids laughing. It will be more meaning- from different backgrounds, day school ful laughter.” and public schools and different levels of Levitt takes over for Fred Levick, who observance feel at home” at camp. They is stepping down this fall after 18 years at make a connection “in their own unique the helm of Camp Ramah. It’s a big change way.” for an organization that’s had the same His wife actually reached out to Ramah CEO almost Darom first and since its foundsuggested the ing in 1997. leaders get in Camp leadtouch with her ers are hoping husband. “I jokto capitalize on ingly say it’s Levitt’s strong her fault.” In background as all seriousness, a senior marthough, Levketing executive itt said he was in the private “ready to go sector and meto work every dia world, said day and make Howard Zanda difference. I man, Ramah can’t imagine Darom presian organization dent. “I think he I feel more paswill bring forth sionate about a great change than Ramah. It Walter “Wally” Levitt, Camp Ramah Darom's new CEO. and invigorate was not exactly the institution. He has a great corporate what I planned; it was not part of my career background that will add and enhance and plan, but I’m excited it worked out.” forward the mission of Ramah.”

He said he is very comfortable in leadLevitt is president and principal of a ership roles as a senior executive for large marketing consulting company in Toronto organizations. and previously was chief marketing officer “My background is not in Judaics or fafor Comedy Central in New York for six cilities, but business management, people years. management. I have an open mind and But he also has Jewish leadership ex- hopefully that will bring new opportuniperience that dates back to when he was ties.” a BBYO regional president, along with a So what kinds of changes is he expect15-year history of family involvement with ing to make at Ramah Darom?

Ramah camps and programs.

“Obviously it’s too early to make broad His children were campers and coun- statements about areas I want to change. I selors at Ramah in Canada and Denver and am a big believer in innovation and looking spent a high school semester in Israel with for new ways to do things.” With an orgaRamah TRY. The Levitts participated in a nization that has been successful for more Passover family camp in California, and he than 20 years, and the same CEO for most attended a week-long Ramah Poland Semi- of those, Levitt sees his job as continuing nar last summer. Additionally he accompa- the positive trend and figuring out what the nied his wife, the camp doctor, to Ramah in next evolution is. ■

LOCAL NEWS

JF&CS CEO Steps Down Rick Aranson anfocus on impact, collaboranounced Sept. 4 he was tion, adaptability, service stepping down from his excellence and long-term role as CEO of Jewish Famsustainability. ily & Career Services. Faye I am deeply proud Dresner, chief program ofof what we have accomficer, immediately assumed plished as an organization the role as interim CEO during my tenure at JF&CS, while the board of directors including selection for the identifies new leadership, Community Foundations’ JF&CS reported. The orgaManaging for Excellence nization wished him well Award; more than doubling and was grateful he agreed and diversifying our operFormer JF&CS CEO Rick Aranson to consult, as needed. ating budget; growing our “Faye has been dedicated to JF&CS by fee-for-service, grant, donor, and endowpreviously serving as a board member, as ment assets; capital projects that resulted well as in her current role of chief program in state-of-the-art clinical, disabilities and officer. We have great confidence in her dental facilities; developing and enhancability to lead the agency’s important and ing new programs in each of our service impactful work as we conduct our search areas for deeper impact; receipt of the Sue for new leadership,” said Michael Levy, Weiland award from the Atlanta Women’s president of JF&CS board of directors.

Foundation; and forging collaborative part“Rick’s work over the years has en- nerships in the Jewish and broader comsured that JF&CS stay relevant, effective, munity. and responsive, from which our commuMore than any of those things, hownity has greatly benefited. His presence ever, my proudest moments are those inand leadership will truly be missed. We volving the people we serve. Stories of imlook forward to continuing to build on the pact are the fuel that empowered me and major hallmarks of his tenure – impact, all of us at JF&CS. I am proud when a cliservice excellence, and collaboration,” ent acquires a skill, breaks down a barrier, Dresner said. achieves a goal, and progresses on their journey to greater self-sufficiency and a Here is Aranson’s personal note to the better quality of life. I often heard directly from our clients with expressions of gratiJF&CS community: tude – “JF&CS saved my life; JF&CS gave me Dear Friends and Colleagues, As the Jewish new year Rosh Hashanah hope; JF&CS cared when no one else did.” approaches, it is a natural time to reflect What could make someone prouder?

Personally, leaving JF&CS is bitteron the prior year and to contemplate the sweet.

The time is right; and yet, I will miss path forward. As many of you know, I have the work, the clients, and many of you recently taken some time off to engage in dearly.

I plan to take some time to recharge such reflection, taking stock of my personand explore new opportunities where I can al and professional goals, interests, and primake an impact through my expertise in orities. After careful deliberation, discusprogram planning and evaluation, client sions with family, friends, colleagues, and relationship management, and project/ JF&CS’ leadership, I have come to the diffiprogram management.

I continue to becult decision that it is the right time for me lieve in the mission of the agency, and, in to step aside and resign as JF&CS’ CEO. I’m September, will shift from CEO to working sure this may come as a surprise to some of you, but others close to me know that I in an as-needed consulting capacity to ashave been contemplating a transition after sure continuity and to assist staff and lay nearly 15 years at JF&CS and as my initial leadership during the transition. I hope and trust that our community will concontract as CEO comes to a close.

In late 2003, I came to JF&CS’ careers tinue to prioritize the Jewish and universal department as a job seeker for help in my values of caring for those in need, healing search for employment. Fortunately, the our world, social justice, and engaging in timing was right, as JF&CS had an internal acts of loving-kindness.

We have come a long way together, and opening as its first chief operating officer I am deeply grateful for the commitment to oversee agency programs. My wife and I, and support of JF&CS’ staff, volunteers, lay together with our then 5-year-old daughter leaders, partners and stakeholders. Thank and 2-year-old son, moved to Atlanta from you for being with me every step of the way, Pittsburgh, and I began my time with the and I hope and trust that our paths will agency in January 2004. I served as COO cross again as the journey continues. until 2015, at which time I was appointed as the agency’s CEO. As CEO I led with a

Ha Shana ppy T New ova Yea r

Sincerely, Rick ■

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 9

LOCAL NEWS

Putting the Sparkle in Senior Pageant

By Roni Robbins roni@atljewishtimes.com For 27 years, Denise Rindsberg ran a bar mitzvah decorating business called Let’s Celebrate. As a runner-up in the recent Ms. Senior Georgia Pageant, she’s the one celebrating.

The 66-year-old Sandy Springs resident originally from South Africa, had just retired and sold her business when she met the 2017 Ms. Senior Georgia, Sandra Komiskey. Rindsberg and her husband of 47 years, Frank, were having dinner when she met Komiskey, wearing a crown, who told them how she travels the state visiting and entertaining the elderly. Rindsberg decided that she wanted too, wanted to become a senior ambassador, in addition to her once-a-week visits as a “baby buddy,” rocking sick babies at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

So she entered the contest.

“Coming from South Africa, I was not involved in pageants. It was something I thought I would love to try to do,” said Rindsberg.

The contest, for women over 60, included three days of interviews, discus-

sions, formal dress, talent and questions by a panel of five judges in front of a live audience. Most of the other contestants sang or danced, and one was a baton twirler, Rindsberg said.

At first, Rindsberg thought she’d brush up on tap dancing for her talent, but when she asked a friend for help, he suggested she focus on her more recent skills – decorating. Drawing inspiration from the pageant advice to “sparkle” when presenting herself, she designed a centerpiece spelling out the seven-letter word “sparkle” using various materials: wood, cardboard, glitter and foam. With Broadway music in the background, Rindsberg spoke about how the letters of the word pertained to the business she started.

She ended with a statement about how the babies at Children’s, her family and friends give her “sparkle.”

Martha Dudley, director of the pageant, explained how Rindsberg won second runner-up. “She was so poised and spoke well and presented her talent well.”

She also mentioned how she wanted to serve her community and had more time to do that now that she was retired, Dud-

Denise Rindsberg appreciates the support of her husband of 47 years, Frank.

Rindsberg models her evening gown and trophy.

ley said.

She said the mission of the pageant is “to serve and perform and go out amongst other seniors who are shut-ins and bring happiness and joy to their lives.”

Of the other 10 contestants and members of the Classic Club that sponsors it, Rindsberg said, they are dynamic and amazing. Some are in their 70s, 80s and 90s and most volunteer in the senior community.

“It was the most incredible experience, life-changing for me because it made you look into your life, think about

Denise Rindsberg won second-runner up at the Ms. Senior Georgia Pageant.

your family and accomplishments and where you want to go from here. I have a lot of life in me yet.”

She said she feels proud to have immigrated to the U.S. with three young children in 1983 and start a business from scratch. “I don’t take it for granted.

My husband and I worked very hard and accomplished all this.”

So will she run again? Rindsberg isn’t sure. “I’d love to take a year off … and entertain.”

For now, she’s joined the Classic Club’s “Dazzlin’ Dames,” with performances for seniors starting this month. ■

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LOCAL NEWS

Hillel at UGA Celebrates Anniversary

Mayor-Elect Kelly Girtz, Hillel at UGA Director Roey Shoshan, and Mayor Nancy Denson hold a governor’s proclamation marking the anniversary.

By AJT Staff In time for the Jewish High Holidays, Hillel at the University of Georgia on Aug. 30 celebrated its 20th anniversary of Hillel at UGA Day and 60 years of holidays and Shabbat dinners at the Hillel at UGA house. The celebration included a tree planting with invited guests: Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson and Mayor-Elect Kelly Girtz.

While UGA has a long history, it started the year with a new director, Roey Shoshan, and continued the season of renewal by planting a tree donated by John

Hillel at UGA celebrates 20 years of Hillel at UGA Day and 60 years with a Hillel house.

Dayton, a UGA professor in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration and Policy.

Denson described the tree planting as “planting to plan for the future” and Girtz noted the importance of “community and laying down roots.”

Meanwhile, Hillel emphasized the relationship between Athens and the rest of the state. “Athens is the heart and soul of Georgia,” said Rabbi Russ Shulkes, executive director for Hillels of Georgia. “We hope to continue to build a strong connection between Hillel, the University of Georgia, the city of Athens and the Jewish community we serve,” Shoshan said.

Having just moved from Atlanta to Athens, Shoshan sees strengthening the tie between the two cities as a priority in his vision for the future.

Many of the students who interact with Hillel at UGA come from Atlanta, and once they graduate, a large majority return to Atlanta to empower and influence the Jewish community, Hillel reported.

Hillel at UGA is a Jewish hub for more than 2,000 Jewish students and the broader UGA community. It empowers UGA’s Jewish students to explore their Jewish identity, discover Israel and build a thriving Jewish community on campus. ■

Rabbi Russ Shulkes, executive director of Hillels of Georgia, plants a tree as part of the Hillel at UGA Day anniversary commemoration.

!‫שנה טובה‬

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The anniversary celebration attracts a crowd.

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Schedule your visit today with Rise Arkin, Director of Admissions 404-917-2500 ext. 117 · risearkin@weberschool.org ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 11

BUSINESS Georgia Aquarium to Receive $7.5 M from Atlanta

By Logan C. Ritchie

Rendering of the Georgia Aquarium: Atlanta voted to allocate $7.5 million toward the expansion of the Georgia Aquarium.

Invest Atlanta, the city’s development authority, voted 4-3 to grant $7.5 million from a special tax fund to benefit the expansion of Georgia Aquarium, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization. The tax is pulled from Westside TAD, a district in which tax money returns to the community to generate growth.

Georgia Aquarium, the largest in the U.S., will receive the money over a period of seven years. Expansion 2020 is a $108 million project to build a shark habitat and redesigned entry to the Georgia Aquarium.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and other funders took a chance by opening the aquarium on the west side.

IA said the fund generates between $4 million and $5 million per year. IA also said that the city would recoup the money in five years of aquarium-generated sales taxes.

Atlanta City Council member Natalyn Archibong, an IA board member, voted against the grant citing the lack of affordable housing as a priority. Fred Smith, lawyer and Emory professor, also expressed concern. Expansion 2020 promises 22 full time jobs and 20 parttime jobs.

Michael Leven, Georgia Aquarium CEO said, “We are very grateful for the support.

The Georgia Aquarium will continue to reinvest in our facility and our employees to keep us number one, not only in Atlanta but in our country.” ■

Kleber & Associates named agency of record by Boise Cascade® Atlanta-based marketing and publication relations firm Kleber & Associates has been selected as the public relations agency of record for Boise Cascade Company (NYSE: BCC).

Boise Cascade is one of the largest producers and distributors of engineered wood products and plywood in North America.

K&A is led by Steve Kleber, a leader of Atlanta’s Jewish community whose full-service marketing and public relations agency serving the building industry has been in operation for more than 30 years.

According to Kleber, many people have encouraged K&A to abandon its positioning and to operate as a generalist agency to promote a sustainable model that is more immune to mortgage rate and construction cycles. The son of a Hebrew school teacher, Kleber said Jewish teachings have encouraged him to stay the course over the years.

12 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

BUSINESS

Steve Kleber is president and founder of Kleber & Associates.

“It’s particularly exciting to celebrate this new relationship with Boise Cascade – a New York Stock Exchange-traded company – in concert with the upcoming Jewish New Year,” Kleber said. “Like the children of Israel who stayed the course during their trials in the desert, K&A has stayed the course through 30 years of peaks and valleys in the building industry. We’re seeing a new resurgence in the building sector and our firm will continue to stick to its guns.”

K&A is a privately-owned agency led by company founder Kleber, who is the president of the National Remodeling Foundation and the immediate past president of the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s Center for Kitchen & Bath Education and Research. ■

Emory’s Next Phase of Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Based on recent discoveries, investigators with Emory University’s newly renamed Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center are expected to soon have several promising biomarker candidates that can pinpoint the development of the disease symptoms a decade or more before the onset of cognitive decline and memory loss. Not only does this allow for earlier detection, but it also makes it possible to create fundamental changes in the treatment of this debilitating disease.

The research is made possible through The Goizueta Foundation’s ongoing support of transformational research in developing treatment for the disease.

“The goal of our research is nothing less than a paradigm shift in the future diagnosis and treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Allan Levey, director of the Alzheimer’s research center.

“Our research at Emory, and that of other Alzheimer’s investigators, is pointing to an immunological basis for Alzheimer’s disease, and treating neuroinflammation has become a compelling strategy.”

Dr. Jonathan S. Lewin, CEO of Emory Healthcare, said the Alzheimer’s research center is “an integral part of Emory’s overall efforts to advance brain health treatment and research. This gift is a tremendous vote of confidence in Dr. Levey and his continued dedication as a visionary leader in his field.”

The Alzheimer’s research center is part of the Emory Brain Health Center and is one of only a few in the Southeast that are supported by the National Institutes of Health. Alzheimer’s research centers are working collaboratively to find a treatment for the disease by 2025. ■

Dr. Jonathan S. Lewin, CEO of Emory Healthcare.

Dr. Allan Levey, director of Emory’s Alzheimer’s research center.

Compiled by AJT Staff ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 13

OPINION Jewish Immigrants, Crime and "Unreliable Figures"

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In the course of family history re- is the one to which they seem to take most search, I came across a 110-year-old episode naturally,” he continued.

“Among the most expert of all the from American Jewish history that feels street thieves are Hebrew boys under 16, relevant today.

Between 1880-1920, upwards of 2.5 mil- who are being brought up to lives of crime. lion Jews, mostly from Eastern Europe (and Many of them are old offenders at the age of 10. The juvenile Hebrew emperhaps three-quarters from ulates the adult in the matter Russia), emigrated to America of crime percentages, 40 perfollowing earlier waves of Secent of the boys at the House of phardic and German Jews.

Refuge and 27 percent of those Those Jews were a fracarraigned in the Children’s tion of some 20 million peoCourt, being of that race. The ple who left Europe for these percentage of Hebrew chilshores in that period. dren in the truant schools is The newcomers, who also higher than that of any crowded into New York City, others,” he said. taxed the resources available Dave The leaders of the Jewish to Police Commissioner Theo- Schechter community – including my dore A. Bingham, who vented From Where I Sit great-grandfather – were aphis frustrations in an article entitled “Foreign Criminals in New York,” palled by Bingham’s vilification and fearful published in the September 1908 edition of of the impact his article would have on relations with non-Jews. the North American Review.

The American Jewish Committee, Inasmuch as 85 percent of the city’s residents were foreign-born or of foreign founded just two years earlier, secured a parentage, and with nearly half not speak- meeting with Bingham’s office and, on his ing English, “it is only a logical condition return from a vacation, the commissioner that something like 85 out of 100 of our issued a retraction.

“The figures used in the article were criminals should be found to be of exotic not compiled by myself, but were furnished origin,” he wrote.

Immigrants “bring among us the pred- me by others, and were unfortunately asatory criminals of all nations,” Bingham sumed to be correct. It now appears, however, that these figures were unreliable. said.

The lowest percentage of native-born Hence it becomes my duty frankly to say heads of families was to be found “in the so and repudiate them,” Bingham said in densely congested East Side quarter, large- a statement also published in the North American Review. ly peopled by Russian Hebrews,” he said.

In response, attorney Louis Marshall, a Indeed, the Jewish population of New York City nearly doubled just between 1900 co-founder of the AJC, said, “His frank recognition that he had unwittingly wronged and 1910.

“Wherefore it is not astonishing that the Jewish people will be accepted by them with a million Hebrews, mostly Russian, in the same frank and manly spirit. The inin the city (one-quarter of the population), cident should be considered closed.”

Even as data collected by the Federaperhaps half of the criminals should be of that race, when we consider that ignorance tion of Jewish Organizations showed that of the language, more particularly among the proportion of Jewish criminals was far men not physically fit for hard labor, is less than Bingham claimed, Marshall noneconducive to crime; nor is it strange that theless cautioned colleagues, “Let us not dein the precinct where there are not four ceive ourselves with the belief that we are native-born heads of families in every hun- entirely kosher.”

Bingham’s numbers may have been dred families, the percentage of criminality wrong and his rhetoric overwrought, but is high,” Bingham contended.

“The crimes committed by the Russian anti-Semitism and nativist sentiment were Hebrews are generally those against pov- growing in the country, and in the early erty,” Bingham wrote. “They are burglars, 1920s, Congress passed a series of restricfirebugs, pickpockets and highway robbers tions that severely limited immigration by – when they have the courage; but although Jews and others from sections of Europe. ■ all crime is their province, pocket-picking

ISRAEL PRIDE Good News From Our Jewish Home length of the Olympic marathon set in the 1908 London Olympic Games. According to tradition, the Benjamin man was a young King Saul (1050 to 1012 B.C.E.).

In the early 1900s, sportsman Yosef Yekutieli started the first organized sports competitions in Israel, including the Maccabiah Games.

Two years after Israel won the 1967 Six-Day War, Yekutieli re-established the Bible Marathon. Political turmoil and security concerns caused it to die just a few years later, only to be brought back in its present form in 2015.

An Israeli team shares a major breakthrough in leukemia research.

Cure for Leukemia Within Reach For First Time

A team at Israel’s Hebrew University made one of the most important leukemia research breakthroughs in 40 years, putting a cure for the disease within reach for the first time. Dr. Yinon Ben-Neriah and his Hebrew University team developed a cutting-edge biological drug that demonstrated a cure rate of 50 percent for lab mice with acute myeloid leukemia, an extremely aggressive form of cancer with a five-year survival rate of about 25 percent.

Ben-Neriah’s drug represents a major breakthrough because unlike many other forms of cancer, for which new effective treatments have been introduced, there has been little good news for leukemia patients in the past 40 years.

One of the greatest challenges facing the development of biological cancer drugs to treat leukemia is their ability to target only individual leukemic cell proteins. Leukemic cells, however, adapt and respond by blocking the drugs, resulting in drug-resistant cancer cells that rapidly regrow, advancing the disease’s attack on the patient’s body.

Ben-Neriah’s new drug is revolutionizing treatment by operating like a cluster bomb, attacking multiple leukemic proteins at once, so that the disease can’t overcome the drug’s effects. The new therapy also does the job of a multi-drug approach, which eliminates the debilitating host of side effects brought on by simultaneously administering multiple therapies to fight cancer.

Bible Marathon Mirrors Ancient Challenge

Men dressed in white and wearing ancient tarbooka drums around their necks stand on the edge of the hills of Shomron. The sound of the shofar sends a pack of runners through the orchards, vineyards and greenery that remain the heart of Israel.

This year’s Bible Marathon is Fri., Sept. 28, with the same Israeli flags, balloons and energy that have marked the modern version of this ancient race for the past four years.

The full marathon runs from Rosh Ha’ayin (Eben Ezra in the Bible) to Shiloh, as described in the Book of Samuel. “Now, a man of [the tribe] Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and dust on his head.”

The Benjamin man ran 26 miles, also the official

Lana Del Rey is set to perform in Israel this week.

Performer Not Giving in to BDS Pressure

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, was expected to perform in Israel this week, joining the lineup of a music festival Sept. 6-8 that boasts top rapper Pusha T and the popular DJ and producer Flying Lotus.

While Del Rey was set to play the Holy Land in 2014, she cancelled the show because of security concerns related to Operation Protective Edge. At that time, Israel was forced to address the security threat imposed by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.

Del Rey’s performance will be part of the Meteor Festival, a three-day Woodstock-like party on a kibbutz called Lehavot HaBashan in northern Israel.

The fest includes an eclectic lineup of hip hop, dance and jazz, with Del Rey expected to perform her smash hits “Summertime Sadness” and “Young and Beautiful.”

There was also talk that Del Ray would face pressure from the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. In the past, BDS mouthpiece Roger Waters aggressively targeted musicians scheduled to play in Israel with public shaming and less-than-honest rhetoric.

Artists such as Radiohead, Ringo Starr, and Morrissey, among others, all ignored Waters’ tactics and rejected the BDS movement.

Today in Israeli History

Photo by Oria Tadmor, courtesy of Eilat Mazar Archaeologist Eilat Mazar holds a jar fragment with a Canaanite inscription from the 10th century B.C.E.

Sept. 7, 1907: Three years before changing his last name to Ben-Gurion, David Gruen arrives in Jaffa to make aliyah with a group of young adults from Plonsk, Poland. He settles in Petah Tikvah to work in agriculture.

Sept. 8, 2010: Former Israeli armor commander Maj. Gen. Israel Tal, best known for leading the 1970 committee that designed and developed the Merkava tank, dies at age 85. The Merkava (Hebrew for chariot), the first Israeli-made tank, was deployed in 1979.

Sept. 9, 1993: Four days before Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sign the Oslo Accords, the culmination of nine months of secret negotiations, the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel recognize each other’s existence.

Sept. 10, 1956: Eilat Mazar, a third-generation Israeli archaeologist, is born. Her best-known work has involved excavations in Jerusalem’s City of David, including finding remnants of King David’s palace in 2005.

Her dig near the Temple Mount in July 2013 uncovers a Canaanite inscription that is the earliest alphabetical text found in Jerusalem.

Sept. 11, 1921: Moshav Nahalal, a new kind of agricultural settlement combining a kibbutz’s communal principles with private land ownership, is founded in the northwestern Jezreel Valley between Haifa and Afula by 80 families who came to the Land of Israel during the Second Aliyah (1904 to 1914).

Sept. 12, 2009: For the first time, an Israeli film, “Lebanon,” wins the Golden Lion Award (introduced in 1949) at the Venice International Film Festival. The movie, which follows a tank brigade during the First Lebanon War, does not win Israel’s equivalent of the best-picture Oscar and thus is not the nation’s Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film.

Sept. 13, 1984: Shimon Peres becomes Israel’s eighth prime minister, leading a national unity government combining his Alignment (the future Labor Party) with Likud and six other parties. The coalition comes together two months after elections in which 44 Knesset seats go to Alignment and 41 to Likud. ■

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

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 15

COVER STORY The Dance of Bees Leaves a Sweet Trail In flight, bees look random and unproductive. Curling and twisting through the air, bees seem like a nuisance as they buzz and brandish their stingers.

When one lands to sting, it is powerful, annoying and painful.

“Honey is fascinating Logan C. stuff,” said Rabbi Michael Ritchie Bernstein of Gesher L’Torah.

The dance of the bees buzz from plant to plant, allowing the flowers to be pollinated and renewed for new generations.

In the end, lives depend on this dance, according to Bernstein. The instinct that brings a single bee from flower to flower and the evolution of the hive makes one generation stick to the next.

The dance is what led Michelle Harvey to beekeeping.

Harvey was buzzing around the idea of starting a backyard beehive for a year.

She laboriously read about bees, consulted a neighborhood expert and visited hives. Finally, Harvey made the decision to put her research into action.

“I wasn’t having great luck with trees and veggies in my small garden,” said Harvey about her Dunwoody yard.

What Makes Honey Kosher?

If bees are not kosher, how can honey be kosher?

“Also, the fact that I’m Jewish seemed perfect. Making honey would be great for Rosh Hashanah and then I could give honey to my friends.”

Harvey studied the ins and outs of beekeeping. It’s a hobby that takes about 30 to 40 hours of work per year.

Some beekeeping groups suggest purchasing two hives, to observe the differences between two colonies. Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male part (anther) of a flower to the female part (stigma). Pollination is required for plants to reproduce, so plants depend on bees to collect nectar and pollen.

She learned that honey bees pollinate melons, broccoli, blueberries and cherries, while bumblebees pollinate tomatoes, sweet peppers and strawberries.

Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association in the North Georgia mountains offers classes, monthly meetings and mentor talks about everything from how insects can destroy a hive to junior beekeeping skills. Harvey signed up and learned more. She was ready to order bees.

those ingredients must be kosher to maintain kosher honey. The jar must contain a kosher symbol, as well, Stein said.

For example, a company that makes honey wants all of its products to be equally sweet, so they may add sweetener. If the company adds corn starch, it a Passover “The sweetness of becomes issue. If the company Torah drips from adds chocolate, it must be noted if the your lips, like is kosher honey and milk chocolate dairy or pareve.

According to Rabbi Reuven Stein, director of Supervision of the Atlanta Kashruth Commission, if honey is secreted from a bee, the logic follows that honey is not kosher.

“One point of view is that honey is not from the bee, it is from the pollen. Sometimes kosher things can come from interesting places,” Stein said.

it lies under your tongue.”

Often found in cosmetics, royal jelly is not kosher because it is part of the queen bee.

Rabbinical analysis Song of Songs 4:11 in the Gemara explains that honey is kosher because it is not To find kosher honey, AKC a secretion of the bee; the bee merely recommends Georgia Honey Farm, acts as a carrier of plant and flower which is produced in the Blue Ridge pollen.

Mountains and sold in Alpharetta.

A jar of honey purchased from With a sleek, new shop in West the market is considered kosher Midtown, Savannah Bee Company unless it contains additives. If is certified kosher by the Kosher honey is flavored or sweetened, Supervision of America. ■ 16 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Michelle Harvey and son, Max, dress in beekeeping suits in order to tend to their beehive.

According to MABA, bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value in the United States each year.

Harvey said she ordered the bees and queen for about $125. When the package arrived at her local post office, she got a call to retrieve her bees. A few had escaped the box.

Harvey joked that her chickens are shipped to the front door, but bees come to the post office.

When the shoe-box sized wooden container arrives, it contains a door on each side with wire netting, three pounds of bees, and a queen inside a cage. A few additional bees are contained because they have not yet accepted the queen. A metal tin with sugar water sits in the bottom to feed the bees.

The hive must be transferred out of the box within a few hours. Sugar water is removed and the beekeeper dumps the queen and some bees into the box.

Within three to four days the new bees eat through a piece of sugar candy while they adapt to the queen’s pheromones, and they begin to establish the colony together.

No matter how much she read, Harvey said, there are times when she made minor mistakes. One day she picked up a new hive and was alone. She got into

a beekeeping suit, dumped the bees and went back to work.

“Halfway back to my office I realized it. I forgot to pull the cork. I had to go back, get into the suit, pull the cork (to reveal the sugar candy). You get all wrapped up in the excitement of new bees. It’s scary, in a way, but energizing.

Thankfully I remembered and didn’t cause permanent damage,” she said.

Scary and exciting describes exactly how Harvey felt last week, when she made a discovery in the backyard. The chickens were out of their hen house, acting odd. She walked around to the hives to see bees swarming outside of their boxes. One swarm was huddled on the ground, still in the grass. She searched for the queen and quickly returned her to a box with the hope that the worker bees would follow.

“As I got closer, I saw a small hive that was struggling. The bees had left their hive and were behind it, clumped together in the grass,” she said.

COVER STORY Harvey said it will take time to know for sure, but she may have lost a whole hive.

Six months into her beekeeping adventure, Harvey has primed her yard for the new pets. She planted bee-friendly plants, wildflowers and an herb garden. The bees began building comb in the spring with a bountiful pollen season.

During the cold and fruitless Atlanta winter, Harvey plans to leave enough honey for the bees to consume. But next fall, there will be plenty of

honey to mark the sweet new year.

Bernstein related the behavior of bees to that of humans. “We, too, have a part to play in a dance, paying attention and responding to the call from within ourselves. We gather together in our own hives and honeycombs to bring our own gifts and share each other’s purpose. And we not only produce the sweetness of celebrating our holidays meaningfully and joyously, but, without even knowing exactly how, connect the life of one generation to the next.” ■

In addition to its sweetness, honey is a reminder of the incredible dance of bees.

Rosh Hashanah Reading List When little ones become restless during High Holiday dinners and services, hand them a book. The AJT compiled a list of books about bees and honey for children through the ages, from birth to b’nai mitzvah. After all, Jews are the people of the book. G’mar chatimah tova: May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

Apples and Honey

By Joan Holub and Illustrated by Cary Pillo-Lassen Age 6 months to 2 years

King Solomon and the Bee

By Dalia Hardof Renberg and Illustrated by Ruth Heller Ages 7+ years A young bee has had the great misfortune of stinging the nose of King Solomon. Brought to readers by PJ Library.

What’s the Buzz?

By Allison Ofanansky and Illustrated by Eliyahu Alpern Ages 8+ years Apples and honey are a traditional Rosh Hashanah treat, but how does the honey make it to the Rosh Hashanah table? You’re about to find out everything you ever wanted to know about honey! Brought to readers by PJ Library.

Eat the City: A Tale of the Fishers, Foragers,

Butchers, Farmers, Poultry Minders, Sugar Refiners, Cane Cutters, Beekeepers, Winemakers, and Brewers Who Built New York

By Robin Shulman

Ages 12 years to adult This intelligent, gripping book introduces New Yorkers – past and present – who grow vegetables, butcher meat, fish local waters, refine sugar, keep bees for honey, brew beer, and make wine. In the ferment of Prohibition on the Lower East Side, Meyer Robinson and Leo Star create Manischewitz, and a Jewish refugee from Iraq plants a grapevine in his backyard on the Upper East Side, allowing him to make wine every year as his family did in Basra. ■

With each exciting Rosh Hashanah activity, little ones begin to explore the meaning and traditions of the Jewish New Year.

Honey

By David Ezra Stein Age 3+ Bear is ravenous when he wakes up from his winter sleep and has one thing on his mind: honey!

Find the Apple & Honey: Find Hidden Objects Book for Rosh Hashanah

By Rachel Mintz Ages 4+ years I spy an apple! I spy a honey jar! Kids will love this search and find book to understand Rosh Hashanah symbols.

The Beeman

By Laurie Krebs and Illustrated by Valeria Cis Ages 5+ years Told from the viewpoint of a child whose Grandpa is a beekeeper, this rhyming text offers an accessible and engaging introduction to the behavior of bees.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 17

ROSH HASHANAH L’Shana Tova to our friends in Atlanta

By Ambassador Judith Varnai Shorer As you ready your homes and communities for the High Holidays and the subsequent beginning of the Jewish holiday season, I’d like to extend to you my greetings and hopes for the New Year.

On this Rosh Hashanah, we not only look at the months gone past and reflect on all we could have done better; we gaze at the road ahead and prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s challenges.

Israel faces challenges internally and externally. Challenges which we can and will overcome – as we have done many times before. To do so however, we must work internally to strengthen the bonds between us. The relationship between the Jewish American community and Israel is firm, and we must endeavor for an even more verdant bond.

Israel is continuing to develop its posture as a leading power in the world in technology, in certain areas such as high tech and cyber security. With these evergrowing fields, as examples, our water and agriculture

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have vastly improved, but still there are challenges that we have to face.

I hope these coming High Holidays will inspire a sense of unity throughout the world and bring us into the next year with a revitalized commitment to promoting peace.

On Rosh Hashanah, Jews are asked to shed the daily pressures of the past year in order to spend time on meditation, prayer and self-reflection, so that we may come into the year 5779 renewed and able to focus our attention on tikkun olam and matters of higher importance.

As the year draws to a close, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the unwavering support of the Jewish community of Atlanta to the people and State of Israel. On behalf of the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast, we wish you a happy and prosperous New Year, and we look forward to working with you in 5779. ■ Ambassador Judith Varnai Shorer is the Consul General of Israel to the Southeast.

ROSH HASHANAH

Three Times is a Charm

By Dena Schusterman

I could not write a Rosh Hashanah article this year. That was amongst one of my first thoughts on seeing the new year article specifications and deadline email I was privileged to get from this paper.

I am busily writing a book and my writing brain space is limited. Sorry, not sorry.

I only have so many quiet hours in a day to clack away on my laptop. (All of the kids are finally in elementary school and beyond. Happy dance.)

Or so I limited myself to thinking.

The struggle is real; I thought I was placing too much pressure on myself — and 2018, the year of selfcare.

Who was I, placing so much value on my contribution and voice, to the diversity of leadership in Jewish Atlanta? It’s the cusp of 5779, so women in leadership — not as compelling. We’ve arrived. Right?

The humble brag, that’s where it’s at.

So, I was going to be OK with not writing an article.

Not pushing myself.

Someone else could do it.

I was going to prove to myself, because that’s the only person worth proving anything to, that I didn’t have anyone to impress.

I don’t have to be a slave to my own arbitrary standards.

I could give myself a pass.

Nobody would even notice.

It’s all true.

Then I remembered that this would be my third Rosh Hashanah article for this paper and three is a chazakah, a Jewish standard of inflexibility, or, that more traditionally means strength.

So, if I could just push myself past this year’s cycle, then I would never again have to go through this agonizing self-talk.

My navel-gazing and speculation would no longer be necessary.

Because a chazakah – that’s compelling. Smooth sailing.

When it’s steeped in Jewish tradition and longevity, I am lit.

All my self-determination and self-actualization are no match to how woke I am in the face of Jewish values and ancient teachings.

Why? Because the details and nuances of how Judaism is practiced is the essence of who I am as a Jewess.

A chazakah, we are taught, is when you do something three times and then it becomes your assumptive state based on your personal track record or nature. A chazakah even holds weight in Jewish law.

It works retroactively. When you have a certain friend over for Rosh Hashanah dinner for at least three

years, it is assumed that is the track record, and it holds weight. Meaning this year, she cannot ditch you for another friend just because they make a better brisket.

Your response can be “but we have a chazakah!”

When you are looking ahead at your life and find yourself struggling with a certain piece of it, try doing it three times. It then can be considered part of your nature. I think that is pretty powerful. Think about it: If I light Shabbat candles for three straight weeks in a row; If I let go of being controlling three times. If I use kind words three times; On and on. Judaism now considers all of these practices a part of my nature.

That is an empowering thought.

Empowerment leads to further success.

And on and on.

So, in case you’re still unsure of the facts: Here I am contributing my New Year article.

My commitment this year, is to literally keep it 100.

Jewish tradition.

That’s my jam.

Make it yours.

Make it a chazakah, so you can live your best life.

Do it Jewish. (I cannot even bring myself to type Jewishy —- ugh! There, I did.)

Shana Tova, folks! ■ Dena Schusterman is a founder of Chabad Intown, a Jewish educator and a founding director of both the Intown Jewish Preschool and the Intown Hebrew School.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 19

ROSH HASHANAH

A New Year Ahead

By Rabbi Moshe Druin

A New Year is a concept that exists in many cultures and traditions.

Society decides to mark a day on which a new year begins. However, the reality is that it is just another day like the preceding or the next day.

The question one may ask is, what about our Rosh Hashanah? Is our Rosh Hashanah just another day? It is true that it is the anniversary of the creation of man, but that happened 5779 years ago. So, what is the importance of this day?

An explanation given in Chassidus, based on the Kabbalah, is that Hashem sends a new light, a new energy force, to revitalize the world. Therefore, this is not just a figurative concept. It is not just an anniversary of the creation of man. Rather, it is indeed a New Year. A year with a brandnew life force and energy from Hashem. It is a New year that has never existed before.

At Chaya Mushka Children’s House school, we just started our new year, like all other schools. However, to us, this is not just another new school year. Rather, it is indeed a completely brand-new school year. The reason for this is that we have been blessed to move into a new magnificent campus. For all our students, parents, and staff, this new school year is one where you feel a renewed energy every time you walk into our new building.

I pray that we all find this New Year filled with opportunities, blessings, and brand-new energy so that we can continue to grow from strength to strength. â– Rabbi Moshe Druin is head of school at Chaya Mushka Children's House day school.

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ROSH HASHANAH

Living Each Day

By Josh Pastner

Congregation Rodeph Sholom Founded 1875 in Rome, Georgia

We invite you to share in the unique experience of High Holiday services at Rodeph Sholom. Our services provide a mix of inspiration, spirituality, music and traditional High Holiday ritual filled with warmth and a welcoming community. Some of the unique features of our High Holiday services include: no tickets required (donations are encouraged and appreciated), children are welcomed, and services are highly participatory.

Whether you are a member of Rodeph Sholom or of the Northwest Georgia community at large, you will feel truly welcomed. Come share the holidays with us. High Holiday services led by Rabbi Judith Beiner, Atlanta. Rabbi led Shabbat services and torah study available year round.

For more information, email: www.garodephsholom.org/contact.html telephone: 706.291.6315 (leave message)

Services for Rosh Hoshanah • Erev Rosh Hoshanah Sunday, 9/9/18 • Rosh Hoshanah Day 1 Monday, 9/10/18 • Kiddush Luncheon following services (reservations required)

Services for Yom Kippur • Kol Nidre Tuesday, 9/18/18 • Yom Kippur morning Wednesday, 9/19/18 • Afternoon, Yizkor, Concluding Services Wednesday, 9/19/18 with opportunity to have names read aloud during Yizkor • Community Break fast following Concluding Services (reservations required)

22 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, culminating with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, are wonderful Jewish holidays. The question that needs to be asked: Can we live each day as an opportunity, a new year so to speak, a new opportunity, as opposed to waiting for this one day, one holiday of the year to ask for atonement and forgiveness, and to make amends? Can we take this yearly message and put it in our hearts daily? Are we able to have the awareness of our thinking and thoughts, which many times is the real enemy?

And when that point of our shortcomings arises, those of the mind of greed, envy, jealousy, judging, gossiping, bigshotism, self-pity, false pride, criticism, and condemnation of others take hold of us, can we be aware to ask for forgiveness and make amends immediately? Being able and willing to correct our course that exact moment, within the day, and letting go of resentments, is a real, true victory. Can we, as humans, be conscious enough daily, by

not attaching and holding on to or creating anger and negative energy towards others, and then waiting a full year for this wonderful holiday to make amends and atone? Yes, this holiday is important to remind us of our daily responsibilities.

Yet, it is easy to blame and say what is wrong with the world and with others. However, can each one of us be responsible for this wonderful gift of life, for today?

To see the goodness of life and extend that to all we meet. With a smile. With encouragement. By being kind and a generous listener of others. To be understanding, as opposed to being judgmental. Understanding that all human beings make mistakes.

To let our Creator be in charge as He has the final say. Thus, on this wonderful Jewish holiday, can we look deeper and make each day a new year, and each day a day of atonement and transformation into a positive way of being and living? ■ Josh Pastner is the head men’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech Athletic Association.

Greetings Friends

By Rabbi Richard Baroff I would like to discuss my sermonic plans for this year at the Guardians of the Torah services for the Days of Awe. Besides talking about the Holy Days, Torah and Haftarah portions, I try to find topics that are important, but also, perhaps, unexpected.

On Rosh Hashanah I will talk about the spiritual importance of our archeological past. Civilizations rise and fall based in part on their desire to preserve the past.

When societies spurn their history, they degrade into barbarism: the Taliban, ISIS, Nazis, Red Guards, Khmer Rouges and other examples illustrate this danger.

Israel has always cherished its past as archeology has been a national obsession. I believe, in this way, Israel could be a model for other countries. In our own country, we should not give in to the iconoclastic tendencies in dealing with our own morally problematic history.

On Yom Kippur, I will reflect on the enduring mystery of consciousness. Com-

puters have become immensely powerful and artificial intelligence is progressing rapidly.

But what is missing from even the most powerful mainframes is even the merest hint of consciousness. What is this inner life of living beings, which so far has eluded science and technology? What is this miraculous phenomenon that seems so connected to spirituality?

In this information age, no philosophical question is more important than the nature and origin of consciousness.

The implications of the answers to these questions we arrive at will have a profound impact on religious life in the 21st century.

Jewish theology has much to offer on this mysterious subject.

I wish for all of you, your families, friends, fellow congregants and to our entire metro community a Shanah tova umetuka: a good and sweet year, replete with Divine blessings for the children and land of Israel and all the family of humanity. ■ Rabbi Richard Baroff is president, Guardians of the Torah.

ROSH HASHANAH

This Year – Take the Long View

By Rabbi Peter S. Berg In his book, “Future Tense,” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks asserts that the Jews invented hope.

“For the ancient Greeks, everything was fate; the future predetermined the past. But, the Jews stepped up in history – believing in freedom – rejecting determinism in favor of human agency.” Sacks says further: “The Greeks gave the world the concept of tragedy. Jews gave it the idea of hope. To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope in a world serially threatened by despair. Every ritual, every syllable of every story, every element of Jewish law is a protest against escapism, resignation, or the blind acceptance of fate.”

Hope is a word frequently used in the English language. I hope my child will get into Harvard. I hope my airplane will depart on time. I hope the rabbi’s sermon will end before Tisha B’Av. But, this is not how hope is used in a Jewish context. Hope is not a wish list of things we desire to happen to us. Rather, hope is an orientation towards life, a life in which we have faith in the future, a faith in the God who brings the future to be.

Sociologist Peter Berger calls hope “a signal of transcendence” – something that speaks to us from beyond where we are. In other words, hope is future-focused, forcing us to squarely face the facts of life and then see past them. Hope, therefore, is a human quality. Of all the animals on the earth, only human beings are capable of thinking in the future tense. Only we can allow our minds to inhabit a different reality than our bodies. We simultaneously dwell in the world that is and the world we aspire to – the world as it might yet be.

When we say Jews have hoped for 3,000 years, that is what we mean. When we hope for something, we conceive of things turning out differently – sometimes without any evidence, and such thinking is not always easy for us. Hope is an irrational emotion because we don’t always have scientific proof to believe that tomorrow will be better than today. As the old saying goes: Sometimes things get worse before they get better. To be hopeful, like investing in the stock market, you have to take the long view. After all, the long arc of God bends toward justice.

Nonetheless, the prevailing spirit of the age encourages us to take the short view. Remember the Ashley Madison hack from a few years ago? That story opened the world’s eyes to a website for people

seeking to cheat on their spouses. It told visitors: “Life is short; have an affair.” In other words, they were saying: the long view doesn’t matter.

Rabbi Rothschild of The Temple was not thinking about the short term when he spoke up for civil rights and racial integration – he was thinking about his grandchildren – despite its unpopularity in his day. He, too, took the long view.

God wants us to love our neighbor

even if it requires sacrifice, and it will.

God wants us to seek the best in one another, but to also be honest about the consequences of our choices. God wants us to be generous and kind and just. God wants us to pay more attention to our responsibilities than our rights. God wants us to value relationship more than power and goodness more than gain. God wants us to live in the tension between NOW and NOT YET. In this New Year 5779 that stretches out before us: God wants us to take the long view. ■ Rabbi Peter S. Berg is the senior rabbi at The Temple.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 23

ROSH HASHANAH

Shofar Sets Us Straight

By Rabbi Binyomin Friedman “G-d made men straight; they, however, sought out many calculations.” (Ecclesiastes 7-29) Rabbi Moshe Weinberger of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, N.Y., tells the following story.

In Aish Kodesh, there is a boy with Down syndrome.

With his natural and innate warmth, this boy loves to take two people and have them shake hands with each other. One time, at a shul event, he approached a man, took his hand and led him to the other side of the banquet hall. The man dutifully followed.

When the boy arrived at his destination, he had the man shake the hand of another man, who was standing on that side of the room. The two men shook hands and they began to converse. Soon, they sat down, and a lengthy conversation between them ensued.

After a long time, they stood up and hugged each other. The first man returned to the other side of the room, misty-eyed.

An acquaintance asked him, “What was that all about?” He responded, “I used to be a good friend of that fellow. Then something happened, years ago, I can’t even remember what it was. One of us got upset, and we stopped talking. Soon, the relationship between us became icy, and we started avoiding each other. When this boy took me over to him, without knowing our history, we both saw it as a sign from G-d that it was time to repair our relationship.”

G-d made us straight. As time goes on, we become warped with our many “calculations.” Finding ourselves bent out of shape, we often overcompensate and become even

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more warped. The “straight” soul that was implanted within us becomes engulfed in the gnarled knot of our calculations.

At one point, not speaking to one another made perfect sense to the two men at Congregation Aish Kodesh. Some important issue, perhaps money, or perhaps pride, came between them all those years ago. They twisted themselves out of the brotherhood they shared, with calculations that convinced them that the loss of their friendship was appropriate, even a necessity. Then they overcompensated, by expending energy to actively avoid each other.

Their warped reality became their normal.

The men were blessed, however, because G-d sent his angel, in the form of the boy, to help them see the error of their ways. The calculations that had kept them apart melted away before the purity of the boy. We admire them for seizing the opportunity that was placed before them.

Not everyone does.

The Jewish people are similarly blessed. Each year, G-d sends us the simple and pure sound of the shofar. It penetrates the calculations that have warped us and brings us back to our straight soul. It shows us that even without years of rehabilitation, it is within the ability of each one of us to regain our naturally straight life. We are blessed to have Rosh Hashanah, and the annual corrective benefit of the shofar. It is, however, up to us to seize the opportunity.

Not everyone does.

Wishing you a ‫ כתיבה וחתימה טובה‬May you be inscribed and sealed for good this coming year. ■ Rabbi Binyomin Friedman is the rabbi of Congregation Ariel.

ROSH HASHANAH

Jews and Public Safety in 5779

By Robbie Friedmann The International Institute for Counter-Terrorism holds its annual conference in close proximity to Rosh Hashanah and I have just attended its 18th annual conference, which – as before – resulted in reflections about looming threats. I chaired a workshop on resilience and the message is clear: identify the threat, prepare for it, minimize the damage, and focus on recovery and continuity. As we mark the New Year 5779, we should focus on these exact elements, as there are threats to Israel from Iran and its proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah), Syria, and a host of other groups, and threats to the Jewish community in Europe, the U.K., the U.S. and elsewhere.

The danger to personal and public safety from vehicular accidents, drug abuse, natural disasters and numerous other factors has a tragic toll on human life, yet none captures the imagination as man-made disasters, namely, war and terrorism. Indeed, more of the same continues to be expected this coming year, with no end in sight. Israel is preparing for war against her, expecting massive casualties as the threats from Hamas and Hezbollah have increased, and the instability in Syria could yet open a third front, and Iran, a fourth.

As threatening as terrorism and wars are, for Jews there is yet another related dimension: war by other means. Namely, the modern incarnation of the old antiSemitism. Arab and Muslim clerics from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza virulently scream to annihilate Jews and Israel, deploying the “new and improved” version of the Big Lie Technique. Jews and Israel are stereotyped as descendants of apes/pigs, thieves, usurpers, colonialist, racists, imposing an “apartheid state,” and are blamed for every ill on the planet. This hateful incitement is at the core of the BDS campaign against Israel and the Jews.

While (too) many in Israel dismiss the impact of the Boycott Divestments and Sanctions, that dismissal is unwarranted. Perhaps the economic impact is – for now – less than the BDS is aiming for, but the long-term effect of undermining the very existence of Israel is far from diminishing, and it has implications for Jews everywhere. BDS as an organization and as a campaign is soundly anti-Semitic. Such activities are on an exponential rise on U.S. and European university campuses and the vitriolic incitement is often translated into intimidation and violence. Examine U.K.’s Jeremy Corbyn: his anti-Semitic rants, phony apologies, embracing of terrorists and wild attacks against British Jews and Israel are giving legitimacy to what many thought was a bygone era. This is happening in a civilized country.

Corbyn is an aspiring prime minister, yet the president of Turkey – likely in office for life – has venomous positions against Israel and Jews. Turkey used to be an ally of Israel and is still a member of NATO. About two years ago Israel recognized the BDS as a strategic threat that needed to be addressed. In that regard, it is encouraging that the state of Tennessee passed SJR 170 (2015) stating that BDS is “one of the main vehicles for spreading anti-Semitism and advocating the

ing law enforcement agencies in closer partnerships with Israel, working with more than 25 countries and 25 states to promote this life-saving exchange.

These partnerships and knowledge sharing are what constitute a contribution to, and an impact on public safety. Real public safety, not false human rights propaganda. In that sense, law enforcement agencies should be viewed as the best protectors of human rights.

Indeed, the Thin Blue Line! Undermining Israel will not contribute to the betterment of life of Palestinians nor that of their supporters. By denying Israel of what is seen as elementary for anyone else, the BDS-JVP efforts against Israel are doomed to fail, but not without proactively coping with this threat, addressing it head-on and recovering by demonstrating strong resilience.

The lessons of strong partnerships can and should be adapted from police practice to civil society. Partnerships offer an effective way not only to better serve citizens, but also to display fortitude and resoluteness against looming threats. Perhaps not less important, being proactive through building partnerships also provides a moral compass that reinforces our well-being and sends a message to those who wish us harm that we are more than ready not to be taken for granted.

Shana tova. ■

elimination of the Jewish state.” Since then, 25 states joined with similar resolutions and laws against the BDS. Criticism of Israel is legitimate, yet the efforts of the BDS are not meant to improve and correct flaws in Israel. Rather, it aims at eliminating Israel altogether.

Under the guise of “human rights,” the BDS is striving to deny those exact rights from Israel and from Jews. The fact that some Jews and Israelis take an active role in the BDS campaign does not make it any less anti-Semitic. It is not who one is, but rather what one does that defines one’s position. The BDS attempts to cut the cooperative relationships between law enforcement agencies and the Israel Police and are aimed at weakening Israel until it breaks. These efforts are doomed to fail, but should not be ignored.

Earlier this year, the Durham City Council passed a resolution 6-0 to stop any military and police training with Israel. Not that any exist. This resolution was spearheaded by the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and supported by Durham’s (Jewish) mayor. They tried this in Atlanta two years ago Robbie Friedmann is the founding director of the Georand failed. It is a safe bet that they see Durham as a pivgia International Law Enforcement Exchange and professor otal victory and are trying to replicate it in other cities. emeritus of criminal justice at Georgia State University’s The Jewish community in Durham was understandably Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. shocked and hurt. The fact that the grounds for the resolution were unfounded makes little difference: BDS and JVP have marked their target and placed a bull’s-eye around it HOST YOUR MITZVAH OR WEDDING no matter how far away from facts it is. This is how the Big at the Wyndham Atlanta Galleria Lie Technique works. Lies become a reality.

The community is doing its best to recover and be resilient against this vicious attack, and held a community meeting to explore steps to rescind this atrocious decision.

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ROSH HASHANAH

The Changing Role of a Modern Rabbi

By Rabbi Shalom Lewis It all began in the Babylonian exile two-and-ahalf thousand years ago. Displaced, our ancestors recreated Jewish life in the first, massive diaspora. The Temple was no more and so emerged the synagogue as a gathering place. The sacrificial cult fell away with the absence of the Jerusalem altar and so prayer emerged as the new vehicle of worship. The priesthood lost its role and authority, so a new leadership evolved, linked not to bloodline, but to Torah knowledge, creativity, charisma and spiritual talent, the proto rabbi. Though historians see the Babylonian experiment as a watershed in preserving Judaism in the creation of new, vibrant salvational institutions, I’d like to suggest that the seeds were sewn for the emergence of the rabbi years before, with the prophets. Unlike the monarchy and the priesthood, which were familial and pompish, the prophets were the conscience and the moralists of the Jewish people. They had no staff. No royal ancestry. No entourage, but wandered and preached and warned of the consequences of misbehavior and spiritual defiance. Their task was to be fearless shakers and stirrers of the people, but often at great risk to their very safety. They were the vulnerable functionaries of G-d, spreading His word to the reluctant masses.

Claiming to be a latter-day Jeremiah or Hosea is an admitted leap of hubris, but indeed, there are similari-

ties in the frustrating, demanding job description and in the reception of an audience to sacred finger wagging.

But permit me to push a bit further and claim that the rabbi of today has a daunting task and a nearly impossible job. The demands imposed and the skills expected are scattered across the clerical landscape. We are to be scholars. Orators. Fundraisers.

Miracle workers. Ambassadors. Singers.

Counselors. Teachers. Diplomats. Healers. Writers. We are to uplift. Entertain.

Captivate. Console. Educate. Warn. Inform. Transform. It can be an exhausting day for the conscientious rabbi.

The dynamics a rabbi must confront are complex. We are employees and yet tell those who sign our checks how to act. How they should spend their weekends. What they should eat.

How deeply they are to reach into their pockets. Who they should marry. They seek our guidance and yet often tell us what to do. They want passion, but not too much. They want guilt, but not too much. They want direction, but not too much. For survival, rabbis must discover the Goldilocks Zone in their congregation. That ideal place that is not too hard, not too soft, but just right and pleasing to all. If that sweet spot is unfound, then a parting of the ways is inevitable.

The Maggid of Koznitz, Reb Yisroel, wisely advised, “Any rabbi whose congregation does not wish to be rid of him, is no real rabbi. On the other hand, any rabbi whose congregation has managed to get rid of him, is

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no real man.” Every day is a walk on the high wire. A balancing act. Even when stakes are high, rabbis often play it safe for fear of offending a congregant or a board member or a generous donor. But just as a loving parent administers bitter medicine to an ailing child, so too should the responsible, loving rabbi administer stern, serious messages to his/her congregation when necessary.

Not all the time, of course, variety is the spice of homiletics, but when circumstances demand, the courageous rabbi and the mature congregation must be one, even if there is squirming on the bimah and squirming in the seats. I often wonder what my European colleagues of yesteryear preached from the pulpits of Warsaw. Berlin.

Vilna and beyond, as they witnessed the ascendancy of the Nazis. Was it the importance of kashrut? Of mikveh?

Of Torah? Of licht benshin? Or was it a thundering geshrai to get packing? Many see the sanctuary literally as a sanctuary, as a safe room. A spiritual eye in the midst of a storm. A pleasant place of tranquility and Kumbaya.

Enter stressed and leave whistling a song. With apologies to Ecclesiastes, there is a time for whistling and there is a time for fist-pounding. The wise rabbi knows when to purse and when to clench. The wise congregation knows as well.

The rabbinate is ever-changing. Our position has always been fragile, and yet our sacred message has always been sought. We live in a holy paradox. We are hired and fired. We are revered and scorned. Pursued and ignored. Respected and insulted. The lucky rabbi lands in a shul and remains. Sharing laughter and tears.

Achievements and failures. Glories and upsets. The community that has the right fit sees beyond the fancy tallis and the bookshelves, accepting the imperfections and the humanity of their rabbi. In turn, the rabbi looks beyond the High Holiday crowds and the typically mild devotion of his flock and loves them no less.

What a rabbi and a synagogue create is a marriage.

There are ups and downs. Moments of calm and moments of friction. Of intimacy and of distance. If the romance is strong then the destiny of our people is secure.

The healthy synagogue lives the magnificent words of Micah, who taught, "…what doth the Lord require of thee. Only to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” If that is a shared journey and a sacred mission, then the rabbi and his congregation will live happily ever after. ■ Rabbi Shalom Lewis is a rabbi at Congregation Etz Chaim.

ROSH HASHANAH

Emotions of a Barren Woman Bereshit 29:31

‫וירא יהוה כי שנואה לאה ויפתח את רחמה ורחל עקרה‬

By Elana Frank

L’Shanah Tovah

Wishes for a good and sweet New Year

Join us for our services that are open to the community!

Erev Rosh HaShanah | Sunday, September 9 8:00 pm Erev Rosh HaShanah Service Rosh HaShanah Day II | Tuesday, September 11 9:00 am Morning Service Yom Kippur | Wednesday, September 19 5:00 pm Yizkor and Neilah

And the LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

The pressure is on for Rachel. Her womb is barren. She is infertile.

She cannot produce a child. This is HER issue, Rachel feels this sense of guilt and shame that her body has failed her. Jacob is not the one with fertility issues; he has children with his other wife, Leah. Where does that leave Rachel? Frustrated, sad, angry, jealous, stuck and alone. Many women (and men) who suffer from infertility today relate to Rachel.

The pasuk (verse) implies that fertility is a reward or a pity-present gifted to Leah and that because Rachel was loved, she deserved to suffer. There is a stigma surrounding fertility where the woman is blamed for this medical issue that does not exist when it comes to other conditions. Certainly infertility feels like a punishment.

It is an attack on all of your plans and visions for your future. As someone who has gone through what Rachel has endured, I have asked myself: “What did I do wrong to deserve this?” “Why me?” And even, “Why her, and not me?”

Rachel gets to a place in her fertility journey where she envies her sister, Leah, and tells her husband, Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die.” Infertility really is that powerful. Jewish identity is so intertwined with children that it often leaves adults without children feeling alone, isolated, and even suicidal. Couples struggling to build their own families feel left out of Jewish life cycle events, holiday celebrations,

Rose

Shabbat invitations, and they are often overlooked or not included in leadership roles within the Jewish community. Emotions are raw and painful and Jacob, too, is frustrated. He tells Rachel that it really has nothing to do with him; it’s up to G-d. Jacob may be trying to be a supportive partner, but instead, he further alienates himself from Rachel, leaving her even more alone.

Fertility puts additional pressure and stress on marriages. This is not how they envisioned their life together.

Thanks to medicine, fertility breakthroughs and adoption, women and families today have many more options and resources for how to face their infertility. However, all of the raw, negative feelings, pressure, jealousy and marital stress are still as real and painful as they were for Rachel in biblical times.

In this New Year, let it be a goal of the Jewish community to remove the stigma around infertility and help those who are suffering alone by practicing inclusion, and offering love and support. To learn more about the work and mission of the Jewish Fertility Foundation, please visit www.jewishfertilityfoundation.org. ■ Elana Frank (Bekerman) is the executive director and founder of Jewish Fertility Foundation.

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ROSH HASHANAH

The Days of Awe – It is Never Too Late to Return

By Rabbi Mark Zimmerman The High Holidays are arriving a bit early this year. At least so rabbis keep hearing. But did you notice that the holidays never seem to arrive on time?

So when exactly is “on time” for Rosh Hashanah? For many of us, the answer seems to be: one week later than when they appear on the calendar! But actually “on time” should be when we have properly prepared our souls for the experience; when we are ready to return to our roots and make a fresh start.

That’s what the month of Elul leading up to Rosh Hashanah is supposed to be about. A month of preparation to truly experience the Days of Awe. I often wonder why so many Jews, particularly those who are not as connected to the rhythms of Jewish living, put everything else aside to go to shul during this particular time of year. There must be some mysterious force that brings us back year after year. I know some of us come out of a sense of religious conviction. Others come out of a sense of guilt, or simply force of habit.

But like the salmon that must return to the stream from which it spawned, there is an almost irresistible force that calls most of us back to shul to usher in the New Year.

Something often pointed to in the world of Yiddish culture is the concept of das pintele yid, that tiny part of a Jew that just never quits. It is that little spark of Jewishness dwelling inside each and every one of us that is virtually indestructible. No matter how hard someone tries to leave their Jewish-ness behind, there is a part of us that cannot get away. Run to the ends of the earth, and it will still be there. Tell everyone you’re not that religious, and the pintele yid will tug at your neshama (soul) and call you back home.

Whatever it is that brings us back to connect one with another and to become part of a synagogue kehillah is certainly praiseworthy. People join congregations for many different reasons, and often sign up for one of the various “life plans” that resonate with them. There is the “High Holiday Plan” (available in either the one, two, or three day-a-year option); the “Bar/Bat Mitzvah Plan,” which expires once the youngest child reaches 13 years of age; and of course, the “Lifelong Membership Plan.” But those who join

the “Frequent Daveners Plan” are clearly the winners, getting the most for their synagogue shekel.

Perhaps part of what I find so inspiring about the High Holidays is that it is during this special time of year that all the different facets of our shul communities come together in one place, notice one another, and acknowledge each other’s presence -- becoming a real kehillah kedosha, a holy community.

Jewish demographers explain that the sense of belonging that our parents and grandparents held so dear doesn’t always resonate today. But I’m not so sure.

I often think it’s just one of those cyclical parts of human nature. Often those who have left their Judaism far behind come to realize later in life that something isn’t quite right; that a certain ruach is missing. And many times, it is that spiri-

tual hunger that brings the disaffected among us back home again -- sometimes when you least expect it.

The High Holidays have long been that catalyst that brings Jews back home when they are spiritually hungry. These powerful days teach us that it is never too late to do teshuva, to come back into the Jewish fold and rekindle your relationship with God, Torah and the Jewish people. By returning we can recapture what we have lost, or even acquire what we never had in the first place.

We are blessed to live in a wonderful Jewish community that offers countless venues through which to deepen our

Smile

knowledge and connection to our heritage. And at Beth Shalom we have created a special community for those who have decided to come along with us on their Jewish journey and share meaningful Jewish moments together throughout the year.

There are so many ways for us to recapture and rekindle the Jewish spark in our lives.

The holidays are almost here. It is time to come home. ■ Rabbi Mark Zimmerman is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom

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ROSH HASHANAH

You Want to Help …. But How?

By Laura Kahn Generosity seems to be a natural Jewish trait, one which is encouraged by our culture, communal life, and the commandment to give tzedakah.

We all know there are Jews in need in the Atlanta community, but it’s sometimes hard to know how to help. Do I give a person money directly?

Send them an anonymous gift card? Give to the rabbi’s discretionary fund?

And is giving money even the best approach? Maybe I should just pay that medical bill or overdue rent for them.

And what if the person is capable of paying the money back over time; is that better than just giving it to them? Wow… it is hard to know the best approach.

Over the years, I personally struggled with all of these questions. And on top of that, I also like seeing the direct impact of my contributions on real people

30 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

in my community. So that’s another challenge.

All of these issues came together for me when I was asked to join the founding board of JIFLA – the Jewish Interest Free Loan of Atlanta – eight years ago.

Before becoming president, I was on the loan committee for five years (I still am). I loved this role because it put me directly in contact with people who needed help. And it put a tool in my toolkit that I hadn’t even known existed – an interest free loan.

For me, the interest free loan has addressed many of my charity challenges.

First, it is affiliation-agnostic. At JIFLA, our borrowers have ranged from a Jewish Home resident in need of a hearing aid to a young man two years out of UGA who was ubering to work every day; with our help, he was able to buy a dependable car. They are members of The Temple, Chabadniks and unaffiliated. Their demographics range from a

young couple finishing graduate school who needed a bridge loan to their first pay checks to an 80-year-old couple who wanted to move out of their daughter’s house and into their own apartment.

Second, an interest free loan is a hand up, not a hand out, because JIFLA provides loans, not charity. Our repayment rate is extraordinarily high because people want to meet their obligations.

And because they pay us back, we are able to re-lend that money into our community again and again.

Finally, it allows me to see a direct, positive impact on my community. Imagine the feeling of making a loan to a man who, after six months unemployed, finally gets stable employment, only to have his car break down. Without $3,000 to fix his car, his life becomes a downward spiral. With it, he stays employed, his family’s position is stabilized, and he comfortably pays back at $125/ month over two years. Talk about high-impact giving!

Imagine a woman coming in with a 2-year-old child. She is going through a divorce and her ex has frozen all the assets. She has a solid job but needs money

now to pay household bills and to engage a divorce lawyer. Or a person forced to take out a payday loan to pay his medical insurance premium. He incurred over $250 in fees in just one month before refinancing with us! I actually get goosebumps when I think about the impact JIFLA has had on these lives.

I could literally tell 50 of these stories, which I have seen over the past eight years. And the need is tremendous. We made 10 loans in 2015, 32 loans last year, and 24 already this year. As the word about JIFLA gets out, more and more people realize that there is a way to retain financial stability when facing a financial challenge. And it is our incredible privilege to provide that assistance.

Due to this growth in demand, our focus is now shifting from raising awareness to raising money, so that we can continue to meet the community’s needs.

So, if you know of someone who is struggling, please send them to JIFLA. org for more information. We are here to help ensure that every community member has a sweet and healthy new year. ■ Laura Kahn is president of Jewish Interest Free Loan of Atlanta.

ROSH HASHANAH

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The broader educational message this Rosh Hashanah and throughout the year: It should not take tragedy for us all to slow down and celebrate family.

Since 2006, the Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation is educating and reinforcing to children and adults alike the importance of family time and the longterm value and “greatest gift” of family memories.

From another young, late-stage family recently treated by JAJF: “We cannot stop time, nor can we slow it down. We can only embrace the time we have with our children … as a family together. With what time I have left on this earth, it is important we make the most of it. Thank you, Jon, for JAJF. Thank you for believing in the importance of positive family time for the children. This peace is everlasting.”

I can’t tell you how often I hear the word “peace” from our Moms and Dads.

We’re able to furnish the gift of treasured, positive (indispensable) memories for these children and these young Moms and Dads … for these families together … while they can. The Moms and Dads are passing away with the peace and comfort of knowing their children will always have the lasting memories of fun and WOW! together as a family. The smiles say it all.

The many young Dads and Moms we’ve lost in our first 12 years across the country reinforce our most salient and poignant mantra: Memories become our

greatest inheritance®.

For oncologists to validate the medicinal impact JAJF is having immediately and now longer-term for these families, especially the children, is extraordinary.

While I hate why I started JAJF, I am/we are blessed to receive such poignant and uplifting feedback day after day …. from our families, from these children three to 11 years later (now in their 20s, many of them), and from our invaluable supporters (benefactors/investors).

Sadly, it remains too easy to receive prescriptions to treat these sweet, young families. Despite advances in cancer research, too many young Moms and Dads are not being saved by the next hope for a cure and are leaving behind their children.

There is a need to keeping fighting the fight; there is also a need to keep fighting for life ... for family time.

The sheer gratitude and smiles on the faces of the children and their young Moms and Dads say it all. That is the clear ROI for us all, and that is the: Broader Message For All Of Us This Rosh Hashanah (and beyond). Smiles, joy and fun (cherished) family memories are the best gift ... and often the best medicine.

Family after sweet, young family, JAJF is giving the gift of precious time and lasting, positive (cherished) memories for the children. Cherish is the word. ■ Jon Albert is the founder of Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation, www.jajf.org.

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ROSH HASHANAH

An Investment in 70 Years of Extraordinary Achievement

By Brad Young Seventy years ago, David Ben-Gurion spoke six words that electrified the world: “The State of Israel has arisen.” Three years later, Ben-Gurion made another dramatic announcement: Israel Bonds, his initiative for a global economic partnership with Israel, had officially launched.

A defining moment in Israel’s history, the creation of Israel Bonds meant the interconnected destinies of the Jewish state and the Jewish people had forever changed. Together, they would build the reborn Jewish nation.

As the Bonds enterprise spread throughout the world, Israel Bonds were viewed as value-added securities – significant acquisitions for financial portfolios and direct investments in a land of unprecedented achievement. This Rosh Hashanah, join in the renewal of the Jew-

ish Homeland; invest in Israel bonds.

•

• • •

The Israel factor Israel Bonds represent a personal stake in a nation that has unfailingly adhered to its biblical mandate to be “a light unto the nations.” Over the course of seven decades, Israel has surmounted unprecedented challenge and adversity to: • Cement its stature as a widely-admired innovator of high-tech, greentech and biotech Conquer the desert, turning an arid region into a flourishing agricultural center Absorb over 1 million immigrants from nearly 100 countries Produce 12 Nobel Prize laureates Unfailingly dispatch heroic first responders throughout the world to provide critical assistance in times of crisis

Building a strong economy Since 1951, Israel Bonds has secured

over $41 billion in worldwide sales, funds invested not only by the Diaspora community, but also by institutional investors entrusted with the highest level of fiduciary responsibility.

Resources generated through the sale of Israel Bonds have been a cornerstone of one of Israel’s most outstanding achievements – building a strong, resilient economy. Israel’s Gross Domestic Product growth is projected to continue exceeding the European Union average, and the consistent decrease in its debtto-GDP ratio currently ranks among the world’s best.

Ratings agencies, too, have taken notice. In August, Standard & Poor’s assigned Israel its highest-ever credit rating, with an upgrade to AA- (Israel bonds are not rated).

Innovation nation Seventy years ago, Israel’s most famous product was the Jaffa orange.

Today, Israel is globally renowned for game-changing technology, evidenced by its top-10 ranking in the 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index.

Over 300 multinational companies have built R&D centers in Israel, and there are thousands of startups throughout the country turning last year’s science fiction into this year’s reality. Israeli

34 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

tech companies raised $1.61 billion in 170 deals in second quarter of 2018.

Praise for the bonds enterprise During an August 23 visit to Israel Bonds national headquarters in New York, Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon emphasized, “We need Israel Bonds,” which he called “Israel’s connection to the Jewish people and the global economy.” He stated, “Thank you for the job you do, and will continue to do, for the State of Israel.”

Finance Ministry Director General Shai Babad, also at the meeting, added, “The fact that you get Jews from all over the world to commit to Israel is the major story. This is the virtue of Israel Bonds.”

And Warren Buffett, the world’s most famous investor, declared at an Israel Bonds event in Omaha – his third with Bonds in just 18 months – “I’ve lived through Israel’s entire 70-year history and I believe it is one of the most remarkable countries in the world.” He emphasized, “I’m delighted to own Israel Bonds.”

As we embark on the year 5779, L'Shana tova, may it be a year of health and prosperity and a year of peace for Israel. ■ Brad Young is the executive director for the Southeast regional office of Israel Bonds.

ROSH HASHANAH

Time to Join the Struggle to Protect Israeli Democracy

By Shai Robkin As Israel celebrates 70 years of independence, we have many reasons to rejoice and take pride. This is also a difficult time for so many of us who love and care about Israel.

There are many warning signs that the principles of equality and democracy upon which the country was founded are being uprooted.

This summer, along with the vast majority of American Jews, I was dismayed to watch as the Knesset passed the Nation-State Law, a totally unnecessary piece of legislation that was enacted for populist political reasons. It mainly served to slap non-Jewish Israelis and non-Orthodox Jews in the diaspora in the face. At the same time, the Knesset rejected an amendment to the Surrogacy Law that would have allowed surrogacy for same-sex couples and passed a bill

36 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

that seeks to keep human rights organizations from speaking in public schools. Then there was the Conservative Rabbi Dov Haiyun, who was arrested, on the eve of Tisha B’Av, for daring to officiate a wedding.

Especially in times like these, I’m grateful to be a part of the New Israel Fund. After the passage of the Nation-State Law, protested in the streets by thousands of Israelis, NIF launched a campaign, in cooperation with other leading Jewish American organizations, to hold accountable the 62 Knesset Members who voted for the law when they meet with our communities, conferences, and delegations. It is critically important that American Jews make it clear to our brothers and sisters in Israel that we will make our voices heard when the Jewish State acts in a way that contradicts the Jewish and democratic values we hold dear.

It’s our responsibility to stand to-

gether with the many Israelis who are working to prevent the exit of Israel from the family of liberal democracies. While NIF is not the only organization engaged in this fight, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks on NIF are any indication, it is clearly the organization that Israelis are looking to for leadership. NIF is the bedrock for Israelis doing the hard work of steering the country on the path towards liberal democracy, pluralism and shared society.

Just before Passover, we saw the power of this community in Israel after Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly ended his policy of forcible deportations of people seeking asylum in Israel. This policy change followed an outcry by the Israeli public. For months, with the support of NIF, Israeli nonprofits that specialize in the rights of refugees stepped up their efforts to advocate for the basic human rights of the asylum-seeker community in Israel. Rabbis mobilized.

Holocaust survivors spoke out. Zazim – Community Action, a new grassroots organization incubated by NIF, success-

fully organized pilots to pledge not to fly deported refugees back to countries where their safety could not be guaranteed. In this mobilization, I saw the greatest hope for Israel’s future: Israelis, from all walks of life, who believe that Israel can indeed be the light unto the nations that its founders envisioned.

There is enormous potential for mobilization and activism like this on the ground – with tens of thousands of Israelis showing up under the banner of “equality for all” after passage of the Nation-State Law. The Israelis who still believe in the Jewish and democratic principles that animate Israel’s founding vision need our support, our encouragement and our passionate engagement.

This year more than ever, it is clear to me how important this partnership is to the future of Israeli society.

Shana tova. ■ Shai Robkin is chairman of the Atlanta Regional Council of the New Israel Fund.

ROSH HASHANAH

It Takes a Minyan

By Bobby Harris I once heard Rabbi Harold Kushner teach that the function of a minyan is not merely religious, but communal. Our tradition teaches that, just as we congregate for joyous holiday occasions such as Rosh Hashanah, so too must we seek each other out in life’s challenging times, and that these experiences will help us build a genuine community.

I am drawn to the sociological function of this obligation, and I have seen its power play out firsthand. Having been a camp director for more than three decades, I have been privileged to see our campers pray, play, laugh and cry together. During these summers, I have seen young people develop a caring community with deep friendships and compassionate counselors, all in a supportive Jewish environment. These camp communities become a deeply meaningful part of their lives. Camp becomes that glue – that minyan – that builds connections that they carry with each other and which support them as they journey through childhood, adolescence and well into adulthood.

The power of our camp community to provide healing became especially evident this past summer, as our community grappled with the death of our camper, Alyssa Alhadeff, who was tragically killed in the Parkland shooting. Many of Alyssa’s camp friends, in addition to the sizable number of our campers and staff who attend or attended Stoneman Douglas and adjacent middle school, were living in the new reality and aftershock from February 14. As we headed into the summer, several campers shared that they were unsure how they would be feeling during camp. They wondered if they could ever really be happy again. As the summer progressed, they shared with us that being at camp was just what they needed - that camp and its community had given them renewed joy and hope. We also received several notes from parents: “Thank you for everything you did to ensure that our son and the rest of the Parkland families had an amazing summer. He is finally smiling again. The spark in his eye is back after being gone for five months. We have loved being part of Coleman for years and this year in particular has meant more to my family than any other – our boy was able to experience joy again. He was able to be a carefree child and to live without fear again. Thank you again for giving him back his childhood.”

Mindful of camp’s capacity to heal, Jeff Levine, a member of the ritual committee at Temple Kol Tikvah in Parkland, had a dream that each of the 17 United Reform Judaism Camps could do something to show widespread support for the Parkland community and victims of gun violence. Based on this dream, our staff

and campers at Coleman created 17 unique and colorful tallitot. Inscribed on each tallit is the prayer, “El Na Rafah Na La – Please God Heal Her,” the short prayer that Moses called out seeking healing for his sister Miriam.

Each camp was asked to create its own lesson and to use the tallit during a worship service to recognize the tragedy that occurred in Parkland and many other communities.

The tallit’s presence reminded each camper of our universal need for shelter and peace. URJ Camp Newman, Camp Coleman’s sister camp located in the San Francisco Bay area, had each cabin

group create blessings to the people of Parkland, including this one: “Our community has come together to love you, grieve with you, support you, and ask for strength to be provided for you and within you. We will always remember you.”

On this Rosh Hashanah, we will be traveling to Parkland and Coral Springs to be part of their minyan. We will be bringing these 17 talitot with us – to remind them that they are not alone and that the larger community is thinking of them. As we commit and recommit ourselves to building community at camp and at home, it is our hope that this will be a year of continued healing and meaningful connection. ■ Bobby Harris is director of URJ Camp Coleman.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 37

ROSH HASHANAH

The Magic of Birthright Israel

By Doug Ross “I have been profoundly awakened. This trip has transformed me and changed my life. I have been filled with a rush of loving purpose.”

“I cannot thank you enough for this sacred experience … Israel is my heart and soul … I had no idea how much of a soulawakening, life-changing ex-

perience this was going to be for me. How magical. I have never felt anything like it.”

The lines above were written a few months ago by a young woman named Jessie, 32, from New Jersey, upon returning from her Birthright Israel trip. Her words of gratitude are all the more poignant because she almost didn’t get to experience what the program’s co-founder,

Charles Bronfman, once referred to as “one of the most successful education projects in Jewish history.” For Birthright Israel’s first 18 years, this “gift from one generation to the next” was available only to young Jewish adults between the ages of 18 and 26. It was only this year that this life-changing experience was opened up to a limited number of 27 to 32-year-olds. This young lady just happened to be one of the lucky few.

In late June, my wife, Robyn, and I traveled to Israel as part of a national mission celebrating Birthright Israel’s 18th

anniversary. Of all the many profound and meaningful experiences we had on this trip, one of the most special wasn’t on our group’s itinerary. This young lady, Jessie, had been so moved by her experience that she decided to come back to Israel only about two months after her trip, but this time, she returned with her mother and grandfather, neither of whom had ever been to Israel. She needed to show them the country that she had fallen in love with. Realizing we were all going to be in Israel at the same time, we arranged to meet up in Jerusalem. People I had never met before instantly became family as we shared hugs and stories. A very special moment, indeed.

The idea that others like Jessie might not ever have the opportunity to participate in Birthright Israel motivates me every day. It literally breaks my heart to think that even one young person might not get to see what Jessie saw, or to feel what she felt. It remains one of the great honors of my life to be part of this remarkable family of professionals and lay leaders who do the work necessary to provide this experience to tens of thousands of young Jewish adults each year and connect them to Israel and to our rich Jewish traditions, history and culture.

As we begin a new year, my wish for each member of the wonderful and vibrant Atlanta Jewish community is that they find their own way to connect, to be part of something bigger than themselves, and to feel, in Jessie’s poetic words, “a rush of loving purpose.”

Wishing everyone a Shana tovah umetukah. ■ Doug Ross is the Atlanta chair of Birthright Israel Foundation.

38 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

ROSH HASHANAH

Obligated to Change

By Rebecca Stapel-Wax We, at SOJOURN, are often asked, what does GSD mean? We reply that it’s an acronym for Gender & Sexual Diversity and explain we prefer it to LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) because we find it to be more inclusive.

Sometimes a person will look at us and say, “I’m never going to be able to learn all of these new terms.” We say, “Join the club!”

At this time of year, we are all instructed to humble ourselves, acknowledge we have “missed the mark,” that we are not perfect, and that we have room to grow. We all have different experiences, so we don’t automatically understand another person’s life. But what we can, should, and are mandated to do, is to try.

When we strive to move forward, we often look back.

SOJOURN’s work started in 2001, as The Rainbow Center, after the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta put out a request for proposals to serve a new demographic.

However, at the time when they meant demographic, they really meant geographic.

It took a second round of proposals to address the urgency our community’s needs.

Back then, the reaction to our services was tepid at best. There was no marriage equality – anywhere in the world. Hate crimes legislation and LGBT people serving in the military were a long way off. And the Conservative movement was five years away from accepting those who are openly gay and lesbians to be ordained. In Atlanta, we were still trying to be visible.

We’ve come a long way since then.

Politics, the internet, the media, and our family and friends coming out have forced change. As SOJOURN, we now consult with schools, camps and work places on how to best support their children, faculty, parents, employees. There are 54 Jewish organizations that will march in the Atlanta Pride Parade on October 14 while also honoring SOJOURN’s founder, Rabbi Joshua Lesser, as a grand marshal. We speak to mental health clinicians and child advocates and ultimately serve thousands of people every year.

In addition to offering artistin-residence Chana Rothman on November 10 and author/ poet/Yeshiva University professor Joy Ladin on January 15, we will be honoring Bex Taylor-Klaus at SOJOURN’s 13th annual Purim off Ponce fundraiser on March 9.

Bex, who uses the pronouns she and they, is an actor and is an Atlanta native.

At the age of 24, Bex has made a tremendous impact on youth and the adults that care about them. Bex has introduced characters that are gender fluid and non-binary. Bex has brought language into homes that weren’t familiar with these identities and has normalized them. Bex is living the life that we have all worked to support. And SOJOURN and many, many others have made Bex’s opportunities possible. Bex is using their platform to take us to the next level of societal change.

At this time of year, we are especially obligated to expand our thinking about what is true and right for other people. We are being judged on how we judge others.

We may need to change our long-standing attitudes in order to give others the freedom to share their authentic selves. We don’t have to worry about our own redemption if we see people before us as they choose to express themselves.

The theme for Purim off Ponce’s 13th year is “Get Lucky.” Luck can be interchanged with being blessed. Our hope is that in 5779 we are all blessed with peace, love, and freedom of all kinds.

With our Purim off Ponce theme, this year we will embody the lyrics from the Daft Punk song, “Get Lucky”: “Like the legend of the phoenix All ends with beginnings What keeps the planet spinning The force of love beginning We’ve come too far to give up who we are So let’s raise the bar and our cups to the stars” Rebecca Stapel-Wax is executive director of SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender & Sexual Diversity. ■

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 39

ROSH HASHANAH

Thanking Israel’s Soldiers for 70 Years of Independence

By Seth R. Baron For the past 70 years, the brave men and women of the Israel Defense Forces have been risking their lives to protect Israel and Jews around the world. Every day, we are reminded of what it has taken, for Jewish people living in and outside of Israel, to guarantee the survival of the state. We must never forget the role soldiers of the IDF have played in defending our beloved Jewish homeland, and what it was like for Jews before we had our own country, before the soldiers of the IDF were there for protection.

As we celebrate 70 years of countless heroes and endless hope – without which Israel could not have endured – we thank and salute those who have sacrificed their lives and pledged to the next generations that Israel will always remain our safe home.

Our organization, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, works tirelessly to care for the IDF soldiers, and offer them well-being, educational and recreational programs and services, in an effort to ease the burden placed on their young shoulders and provide some respite and relief.

This month, FIDF is partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews to provide $1.5 million in Rosh Hashanah gift cards so that more than 10,000 IDF soldiers in need and Lone Soldiers can cel-

ebrate a sweet new year.

There are 6,330 Lone Soldiers serving in the IDF today. Fifty-three percent of them come from abroad, hailing from 75 countries around the world – and about 795 are American, with nearly 30 of them originally from metro Atlanta. In June, FIDF sponsored the biggest-ever “Fun Day” for Lone Soldiers to kick off Israel’s IDF Appreciation Week, and these gift cards are just the latest example of how FIDF cares for Lone Soldiers financially, socially and emotionally during and after their challenging military service. FIDF also sponsors flights for Lone Soldiers to visit their families and friends in their countries of origin. FIDF’s Lone Soldiers Program is one of its flagship initiatives – and a source of pride for the Atlanta community.

Besides caring for the well-being of Israel’s Lone Soldiers, FIDF initiates and supports many other educational and well-being programs for IDF soldiers, such as the LEGACY program, which this summer brought 60 children and siblings of fallen IDF soldiers to the United States for summer camps, and the IMPACT! Scholarship Program, which grants college scholarships to Israeli combat veterans of modest means.

We in Atlanta and the Southeast proudly support these courageous young men and women. During the 2017-18 academic year, the Atlanta community sponsored 62 FIDF IMPACT! Scholarships – worth $16,000

apiece – for IDF veterans to pursue their academic dreams, and our community is sponsoring more than 85 scholarships for the upcoming school year.

Five years ago, as part of the FIDF Adopt-A-Brigade Program, the FIDF Southeast Region adopted the IDF’s Combat Intelligence Collection Corps. The program allows supporters to go beyond their donations and get more involved, providing financial aid for soldiers in need and their families, supporting Lone Soldiers, and funding general well-being activities and weeks of rest and recuperation for soldiers of the adopted brigade.

FIDF also recognizes the important need to think about the next generation – and recruit and cultivate future leaders. The Southeast Region’s Young Leadership has seen tremendous growth over the past three years and has become an essential part of FIDF’s success in Atlanta.

Legends & Heroes of the IDF, our annual end-of-theyear donor appreciation event will be held on Monday, December 10, at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center. This program allows our supporters the opportunity to meet Israeli soldiers and hear firsthand about the tremendous impact FIDF’s educational and well-being programs have on their lives.

On behalf of FIDF, I wish you a good and sweet new year. Please help us wish the same to Israel’s brave men and women in uniform by signing our Rosh Hashanah card online at https://join.fidf.org/rosh-hashanah-2018.

For more information or to support FIDF, please visit http://fidf.org/Southeast or call (678) 250-9030. ■ Seth Baron is executive director of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces Southeast Region.

40 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

ROSH HASHANAH

Our Strong Commitment to Tikkun Olam

By Michael Levy On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate and reflect on last year’s challenges and accomplishments.

Our tradition tells us our fate for the coming year is written in the Book of Life, and on Yom Kippur, it is sealed. We reflect and commit to improving the course of our own lives and how will we dedicate ourselves to repairing the world by helping people in need. It is a good time to reflect and ask: What else can I do? Can I spend a few hours volunteering each month to help others? Or maybe, I need to ask for help for myself in dealing with life’s challenges. As president of JF&CS, I am proud to see us help both the needy and those in need – in need of a friend, a support or a resource.

Many of our clients come to JF&CS with little hope. Each year, we help more than 14,000 of our community members take their journey from hope to opportunity, to greater self-sufficiency and a better quality of life. We are rooted in traditional Jewish values of repairing the world and acts of loving-kindness.

We commit our values into action to build a better world and care for those in need, for the Jewish and broader communities. We help people from all walks of life, from a young student struggling with school, to an anxious teenager needing someone to talk to, to a middle-aged man suddenly thrust in the position of job-seeker after years at the same job, to a mother in the sandwich generation trying to take care of her aging father while balancing the needs of her family. We are here to help.

Working with our community partners, we have amplified our impact for older adults through the AgeWell Atlanta initiative and our growing geriatric care

management program; created connections between young professionals and Holocaust survivors; and worked with strategic partners to better respond to the needs of the ongoing opioid crisis with the HAMSA program. Our best-inclass therapists help the community navigate life’s challenges with individual, family and group counseling.

Each year, our 150 volunteer dentists dedicate themselves to putting smiles on our patients’ faces at the Ben Massell Dental Clinic. It continues to be the only resource for comprehensive, quality dental care available at no cost to Atlanta’s population in greatest need.

It is also truly inspiring to see the smiles and hear the laughter at IndependenceWORKS, our program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We celebrated our first full year in our beautiful new building, complete with sensory room, teaching kitchen, laundry facilities and art and music rooms. Our supported employment program continues to build confidence and skills for clients who wish to work, and our wonderful staff take our participants on new adventures every week.

We could not have achieved these results without the hard work and deep commitment of our 200+ staff, 500+ volunteers and the greatly valued generosity of our community. We are proud of who we are and what we do, and we thank you for making it all possible.

JF&CS is and always will be here for our Atlanta community. On behalf of the board of directors and our dedicated employees and volunteers, I wish you and your family Shanah tovah umetukah – a good and sweet year. ■

Resolve to Forgive

By Rabbi Neil Sandler So what is your New Year’s resolution for 5779?

Is it to cut down on all of those fattening foods and exercise more so that you can lose a few pounds? Is it to treat yourself nicer and not be so hard on yourself? Is it to pause a bit more often in order to better and more fully appreciate life?

Do you have a New Year’s resolution? Chances are you do not.

New Year’s resolutions are thoughts we associate with January 1 each year; not with the first of Tishrei. Even if that is the case, I offer one resolution that each of us would be wise to make and live by this year … and every other year of our lives: Forgive. That’s it. Forgive. Forgive yourself and forgive others.

We know we ought to forgive others, but we seldom do so. Our lingering anger too often gets the best of us. We cannot hear even the faint echoes of an apology, and we are too proud to offer forgiveness even when we recognize that apology.

The Kotzker Rebbe, Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, offers words that have become familiar in Hebrew, especially as they are sung: “The entire world is a narrow bridge. The essence (of life) is not to fear at all.” What did the Kotzker Rebbe have in mind when he penned those words? In part, I think he meant to convey that life is short. It can be quite perilous at times. Don’t be afraid of the things you truly have no reason to fear, including the parts of life that can enervate you

if you allow them to do so.

One of those unnecessary fears is the fear many of us have of saying, “I forgive you.” We fear we will appear weak to others if we forgive them. We fear we will wound our self-image if we admit we were wrong and seek to forgive ourselves.

Dr. Dean Ornish, the well-known guru of health and nutrition, regards forgiveness as the “tofu of the soul,” a healthful alternative to the “red meat of anger and vengeance.”

What a wonderful image! Offering forgiveness is not only potentially liberating as one allows himself or herself to let anger dissipate. It is a staple of a healthy and grounded soul.

Researchers have already shared their medical findings concerning the physical benefits of seeking forgiveness and offering it. Dr. Ornish helps us to reflect on what offering forgiveness may mean to our spiritual selves. Can anyone doubt the truth of this discovery?

As the New Year approaches, commit yourself to live in accordance with this resolution, “I will forgive. I will forgive myself and I will forgive others.”

On behalf of the members of Ahavath Achim Synagogue, I wish you and your loved ones a blessed year in 5779.

May you enjoy good health and wellbeing. ■ Rabbi Neil Sandler is senior rabbi of Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

Michael Levy is president of the board of Jewish Family & Career Services.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 41

ROSH HASHANAH

Energy, Excitement and Making a Difference

By Jared Powers As we ready our hearts and homes for the high holidays and prepare to welcome 5779, it is a time for both reflection and looking forward to the coming year.

This new year will be one of great excitement at the MJCCA as we prepare to host the 2019 JCC Maccabi Games®. From July 28-August 2, the Atlanta community will welcome more than 1,600 teens and their families from across the nation. Hosting the JCC Maccabi Games® will bring together and strengthen our community in an experience that transcends the week-long itinerary. The energy and excitement of this event makes it an unforgettable experience for every participant, from athletes to volunteers, from coaches to host families. As you plan your new year, I hope you will consider including involvement in the JCC Maccabi Games®. We can’t do it without you.

In celebration of Rosh Hashanah, we often wish our family and friends a healthy new year. At the MJCCA, we are committed to building a healthy community. We start the new year with three new, larger fitness studios and an expanded class offering. The hope is that more members of our community join us on their journey to get fit and truly make this a healthy new year.

We also start this new year with a new preschool, the MJCCA Schiff School at Temple Emanu-El. MJCCA preschools are a special community, one that builds lifelong learners, lasting friendships, and a lifetime of memories. We are thrilled with this opportunity to build another amazing preschool community with the MJCCA Schiff School.

The high holidays are a time for reflection. As I think back on the past year, I feel a sense of pride to be a part of the MJCCA, an organization that is so integral to the lives of so many, as it has been for mine for more than 40 years.

The many summers I spent at Camp Barney Medintz played a big part in shaping the person I am today. I am proud that the MJCCA continues to impact the lives of more than 1,200 Camp Barney Medintz campers each year as they develop lifelong friendships and a strong connection to their Jewish identity.

There is so much to be proud of at the MJCCA. Our day campers thrive during 42 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

a summer filled with adventure while making enduring friends and memories. Our more than 500 preschoolers learn the vital skills needed to prepare them for kindergarten in a nurturing, Jewish environment. The Book Festival of the MJCCA brings exceptional year-round cultural opportunities to more than 13,000 book lovers.

Through our teen programs, thousands of young people connect with each other, establishing meaningful Jewish social networks. MJCCA sports programs offer recreational and competitive options. Our Jewish learning classes impact more than 480 adults. Our inclusion program enables children with special needs to learn and play side-by-side with their typically-developing peers. More than 3,500 active mature adults participate in activities that help them stay engaged and live rich, full lives.

During this time of reflection, I want to acknowledge the incredible contributions made by our board, donors, members, sponsors, staff, lay leaders, partners and participants. Your continued commitment to the MJCCA will enable us to make an even greater impact in 5779.

We are dedicated to our community and those who depend on the MJCCA to be a welcoming, inclusive and safe space to gather, learn, play and find meaningful connections.

On behalf of the MJCCA, I wish all of you L’shana tova! ■ Jared Powers is CEO of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta.

ROSH HASHANAH

The Goodness Will Come

By Avrohom Tkatch “And all of these blessings will come upon you and they will reach you when you listen to Hashem your God.” Deuteronomy 28:2. The Torah teaches us that if one adheres to the teachings of the Torah, one will receive blessings. After a careful reading of the verse, one notices a seeming repetition; the blessings “come upon” a person and they “will reach” the person.

The implication is that not only will one be blessed, but one can do everything necessary to be on the path of failure and still be successful. The blessings will ultimately “reach” him.

The story is told of a simple man that heard the fish market just received a large shipment of high-quality fish and they were being sold at a very good price.

Although he was lazy and not interested in this fish, his wife pressured him to

44 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

get a fish. He went to the market to buy a fish. In the market, there was a very large fish of lesser quality that the merchant could not sell. He had offered it to many customers for half price, but everyone only wanted the higher-quality fish. When this simple man walked into the market, the market owner thought that he now found his customer. After much sweet talking and good salesmanship, the store owner convinced the simple man to buy the big fish of lesser quality for 75 percent off instead of the higher-quality fish for which he came. The man left the market feeling good about this deal, until he imagined what his wife would say when he brought home the wrong fish.

So he decided to go to the butcher and have him skin it and cut it up, that way his wife would never know what fish it really was. When the butcher cut it open, he found a beautiful jewel inside. The

simple man took the jewel to the jeweler and received a small fortune for his find!

The lesson is very simple: When goodness is supposed to find you, it will.

The lesson is one of faith: If a person acts in accordance with the Torah laws and follows the ways of Hashem, keeps the commandments, treats others with respect, acts kindly to others and is humble, then the blessings will reach that person.

It was only one year ago that many people suffered loss during the hurricane season. During Irma, so many people evacuated Miami and came to Atlanta for Shabbos. As I walked through the social hall of Congregation Beth Jacob, I saw numerous families benefiting from the outpouring of kindness of our community.

There is something else I noticed: There was no social status. It did not make a difference if you were poor or wealthy, wellknown or unknown, fancy or simple; everyone took the same food from the same serving plate to eat. No one had a house, a car or a job to define them. No social status mattered. Everyone was just themselves.

It made me think and reflect on what is important and what in life really matters. Whatever exterior façade one might have, it is not at all any definition of the person himself. A good person is not defined by amassed wealth, but by the willingness to change and improve.

In a similar vein, what might seem like fun and a blessing might not truly be one. Part of receiving a blessing is to understand what in life is truly important and therefore understand what is truly a blessing.

As we enter into the New Year, let us all resolve to follow the directives of Hashem through the Torah and be recipients of G-d’s blessings, and also allow ourselves the time to reflect on what is truly a blessing and then rejoice when we receive it! ■ Rabbi Avrohom Tkatch is the menahel (principal) of Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael of Atlanta.

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ROSH HASHANAH

Setting Intentions to Amplify Our Strengths

By Eric M. Robbins These waning days of the month of Elul signal that Rosh Hashanah and 5779 will soon be here. I look forward to this season of introspection that runs up until Yom Kippur. And I love when, after midnight on the Saturday before Rosh Hashanah, Jews begin reciting Selichot, Hebrew prayers of forgiveness, putting us into a collective mindset of setting intentions for the coming year.

Notice that I said intentions. I make a distinction between the resolutions we make on December 31, and the authentically Jewish way of embracing change at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. As Jews, we commit to change and the repair of relationships through teshuvah, which is not simply repentance, but also the revelatory idea of returning to our true and best selves. This is how I frame my soul work for the high holidays.

What does teshuvah and repair mean for our wider Jewish community?

What does the collective work our community has done this past year with The Front Porch reveal about where we can grow and how we can be faithful to our core values?

I believe it’s about amplifying our strengths. For more than a century, we have built one of the strongest, most committed and most creative Jewish communities in North America. We built it together.

We sustain it together. And together we will take it to brilliant new heights. I cherish all the ways we support and invigorate this community we love – through volunteerism, through social justice advocacy and yes, through financial contributions.

To me, the ultimate way to say, “Being Jewish matters to me. This community matters to me,” is by supporting the 2019 Community Campaign. The campaign is how we actualize our commitment to each other and build a robust Jewish future. As we continue to reimagine, collaborate and innovate, we also honor our obligation to raise the essential funds that sustain our community infrastructure and our people worldwide.

One of Federation’s most important intentions for 5779 is to amplify Jewish giving in bold new ways. This year, with a 1:2 matching grant from a national funder,

Federation is investing in the Atlanta Jewish Foundation with additional staff, new technology platforms and new investment options. We intend to increase total resources by securing legacy gifts that can direct even more generosity to local causes.

We have an intention to make community innovation a priority, so we’ll encourage donors to invest through The Jewish Innovation Fund and other targeted giving options. This year, we hired our first ever VP of Innovation, giving donors new ways to: • Accelerate the progress of change and invest in new ideas; • Enhance successful, proven initiatives like Jewish Camping and PJ Library; • Help new programs like Jewish Teen Engagement and Repair the World open even more doors to connection and meaning.

In a growing and changing Atlanta, The Front Porch lays out a vision of what we must become: A thriving and connected 21st century Jewish Atlanta where every Jew and their loved ones can access warm Jewish community, timeless Jewish wisdom, global Jewish peoplehood and Jewish ways to do good in the world. We’ll be the community’s philanthropic champion, diversifying the ways by which we raise funds. We’ll be an incubator for promising ideas that address gaps in services and drive us to try new things. We’ll be a wayfinder, linking people to serv-ices, resources and events. And we’ll be both an amplifier and a source of community intelligence, tuned in to what the community wants, and collaborating with all our partners to make great things happen.

These are just some of the ways that we can make 5779 a year of Jewish community health, fulfillment, prosperity and growth. Our Jewish Atlanta is magnificent, brimming with opportunities for spiritual growth, service and connection. For these coming holy days, my hope is that every one of us finds a pathway and a place for nourishment, wholeness and renewal right here in this community.

Ana, Sasha and I wish you, Shanah tovah — all the sweetness the new year can bring! ■ Eric Robbins is CEO and president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

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ROSH HASHANAH

Unity in the Community?

By Phil Rubin The importance and Jewishness of Civil Discourse While Fighting Hate for Good Entering this special time of year and celebrating the birth and rebirth of our world, our one world, we know that this year is different. But again, aren’t all years? We live in interesting times and while we may see things differently, it’s certainly interesting for those of us in the Jewish community.

Here at ADL, we continue to make strides in Tikkun Olam, helping propel humanity to a better place – what we describe as Fighting Hate for Good – but it has not gotten any easier. Hate crimes and anti-Semitism, fueled by white nationalism and other isms and phobias, continue to challenge us. Within our Southeastern region, in particular, we have seen enormous increases in incidents infused with anti-Semitism, making our work to improve the world by fighting against the defamation of the Jewish people and for ensuring justice for all an ever-growing challenge, even as we approach 75 years after the Holocaust. See for yourself what has happened by exploring the ADL Heat Map, which reveals nearly 96 incidents in Georgia alone from 2017 to 2018.

Our work, hope and prayers this High Holiday season start with one pillar in the foundation for what we all need to achieve, and that is unity within our community.

Not in spite of our differences, but because of them, it is more important than ever that we not allow differences in philosophy, partisanship and society to divide us, but rather we need to remember that WE were once, and still are, on the receiving end of injustice.

Civil discourse in our own community, both here and in Israel, is not and should not be the challenge that it is. Quite the

contrary, it is inherently Jewish – both religiously and culturally – to ask and contemplate difficult questions. We all learn by listening to other points of view and, if we don’t actively listen with openness, we’ll be limited to our existing perspective rather than continuing to grow/evolve. Partisanship is nothing more than policy difference. It shouldn’t be what defines or divides us. Our values are so much higher and more meaningful than political or other social divisiveness.

We have certainly persevered through such challenges before, and we undoubtedly will do so this time, and again in our future. We must fight the good fight together.

The passing of John McCain, who Jewish Telegraphic Agency described as someone who “made human rights and Israel centerpieces of his advocacy” serves as an important reminder of someone who worked for liberty and justice, causes much bigger than himself. As JTA also fittingly remembered, McCain said at a funeral of a friend that he was taught “how narrow are the differences that separate us in a society united in its regards for justice, in a country in love with liberty.”

In this spirit of unity, I’d encourage everyone to participate in Oneday Against Hate – a national conversation of understanding – during the first week of October.

You can read more about it on the Oneday website, weareoneday.org, and sign up to have a conversation. ADL will be participating enthusiastically, and so will many of our nationwide partners. We’d love to have you join us!

Let this serve as a reminder that we are all here for a greater purpose, and that purpose, for all of us, is to improve our world.

Wishing you a sweet New Year and the fulfillment of such purpose. ■ Phil Rubin is the board chair for the ADL Southeast Region.

ROSH HASHANAH

Connecting Israel to the Next Generation

By Randall Foster Last month I returned from a personal trip to Israel. Although I’ve visited more than 25 times for business, this was the first trip for my children. Not only did they connect with history through walking the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, seeing the view from Masada, visiting the Negev kibbutz where David Ben-Gurion retired, and hiking ruins and the Jordan water source at Tel Dan, but we experienced modern adventure through sailing on the Mediterranean from Acco, rappelling from the cliffs of Mitzpe Ramon, and scuba diving among the coral and colorful fish in the Red Sea. Whatever experience you have had with Israel, I assure you there is even more than you imagine. Seeing the country through their eyes re-emphasized how important Israel is to me and helped me crystalize some thoughts that I would like to share. For this Rosh Hashanah, I’d like to encourage parents to truly bring a sense of identity, knowledge and pride of Israel to the next generation.

As generations shift, it is a great challenge to maintain our next generation’s affinity to Israel. Many of the values that connected our parents and my generation are a lot less relevant for today’s technology-savvy and information-loaded teenagers and young adults. While survival issues, immigration and pioneering spirit are still a major factor in day-to-day life, Israel and Israelis have succeeded in building a country and society that is the envy of many. Israel of today is strong, viable and charts its own course. Israel is no longer that defenseless young child that needs to be cuddled. It has energy independence, water independence, highly productive agriculture, and world-leading technology innovation.

While problems exist there, like for any other nations, it is mostly in Israeli hands to resolve.

Having said that, there is still a need for us to connect and support Israel and for Israel to connect and support its friends around the world, and in our case, the Southeastern U.S. The relationship now is more symmetrical than ever before. Our role is to pass on a contemporary narrative for our children to help them justify their investment in this relationship.

Personal connections and experiences with contemporary Israel go a long way to etching a positive image in our children. Connecting on mutual areas of interest such as technology, innovation, and working for a greater good, is one of the most prolific ways to find common ground. And this is critically important to combat the disproportional negative and misinformed voices still prevalent in the news and certain societies about Israel.

Every trip I’ve taken to Israel, both personal and for business, I’ve always been inspired by the country.

In fact, I’ve been so moved by all that I’ve seen that I’ve dedicated much of my volunteer time back home to Conexx, the premier America Israel business connector, connecting people, businesses and influencers with opportunities and technological developments in Israel.

Special day spending Tisha B’Av on the Temple Mount.

Afternoon sailing and sunset meal on the Mediterranean Sea at Acco.

I currently serve as the chairman of the board of this great organization.

At Conexx we have carved a special place for our young professionals to be the flag bearers of this renewed commitment to connecting with the country.

Israel and its people offer us a wealth of culture to be proud of, whether its business innovation and technology, archeology and history, or architecture and ad-

Hurray for Theodor Herzl, father of Zionism. The dream of Israel is reality.

venture. It’s up to us to pass along that sense of pride and connection to the next generation, keeping the dream and reality of Israel and its people alive and well.

Shanah tova! ■ Randall Foster is chairman of Conexx: America Israel Business Connector.

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ROSH HASHANAH

Peachtree Jews in a Time of Change

By Aaron Levi Ten years have passed since Limmud Atlanta + Southeast first convened at Oglethorpe University. During this time, Limmud has become an integral component of Atlanta’s Jewish communal landscape. Our premier event, LimmudFest, curates an immersive and ongoing experiment contributing to a vibrant Jewish community by engaging with and integrating diverse perspectives and opinions from across the community.

LimmudFest 2018, held this year from Aug. 31 - Sept. 3, was a dynamic weekend offering something for everyone. Our invited speakers included some of the most influential voices in their respective fields, locally and nationally.

Our participant-presenters included educators, rabbis, parents, professionals, lay leaders, writers, thinkers, podcasters and activists whose opinions span vast spec-

trums. Together, these sessions touched on religion, food, culture, history, technology, parenting, the IsraeliAmerican and IsraeliAtlantan relationship(s), the #MeToo Movement and so much more. And, of course, what Limmud would be complete without joyous Jewish ritual, yoga, comedy, music, cigar smoking, bonfires and all the classic camp activities—experiences fit for the whole family?

So what makes Limmud such a draw, at least for me and my family?

In Limmud’s adaptive approach to community and learning, everyone is a teacher and student. This simple notion breaks down traditional communal roles, hierarchies and beliefs into novel combinations every year. From its inception, Limmud’s volunticipants foster a flexible institutional knowledge and collaborative wisdom, resulting in a unique annual experience within a consistent institutional framework.

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Cultivating Jewish culture and community is a complex endeavor, of course.

So what, you ask, is the secret in Limmud’s special sauce?

Part of the answer lies in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, which contrasts a technical problem – meaning, a challenge that experts can solve through proven solutions– with adaptive challenges. Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky write, “Adaptive challenges are typically grounded in the complexity of values, beliefs, and loyalties … and stir up intense emotions rather than dispassionate analysis.”

Does this definition not apply to most, if not all, major challenges across American and Israeli Jewry today? And if transmitting and fostering Jewish community and culture is an adaptive rather than a technical challenge, how might this affect institutional or communal processes?

The authors suggest that “making progress requires going beyond any authoritative expertise to mobilize discovery, shedding certain entrenched ways … and generating the new capacity to thrive anew.”

But doing so can potentially raise questions that are not always comfort-

able. For instance, who is an authority on or in the Jewish community? Which parts of tradition do we preserve and which do we adapt? How do we define “thriving?”

While we approach the High Holidays and another new Jewish year, one of the beautiful messages I’m reflecting on comes from Ecclesiastes 3: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven … A time for seeking and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for discarding.” It’s okay if we do not have all the answers, now or in the future. Sometimes all we can do is choose to come together in the jubilant spirit of openness, curiosity and discovery. Together, may we continue to seek the words that articulate our generation’s enduring questions and the friendships that help us navigate them.

As we emerge renewed for a most memorable weekend, we at Limmud wish the entire Jewish community a year of learning, laughter, family, friends and bountifulness. Shanah tovah u’metukah!

■ Aaron Levi is program chair at LimmudFest, a freelance curriculum developer www.aaronlevicurricula.com, and an independent officiant of Jewish ceremonies www.aaronleviceremonies.com.

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ROSH HASHANAH

Preparing for our Future in 5779

By Melanie Nelkin and Dov Wilker Preparing for the upcoming year, we are excited to look toward the future while recognizing the impact of our past. In 5779, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Atlanta region will celebrate its diamond anniversary (75 years) of leadership.

Over seven decades ago, AJC’s Atlanta leaders understood what we know even more intensely today. The Jewish people are a global people, and the challenges we continue to face do not always respect local or national boundaries.

Today’s challenges demand a reasoned, yet strong response from a respected organization that has a global reach. This anniversary year provides us an opportunity to ask how we can continue to make an impact in Atlanta because the challenges we faced 75 years ago may have been different, but many of the themes are still the same.

AJC Atlanta’s cohort of professionals, lay leaders and passionate advocates have been engaged on multiple levels to defend our values and define our world.

They participate directly with policy-makers, our local diplomatic corps and community partners to find shared values and mutual understanding.

AJC’s network is unique and has never been needed

52 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

more. Our reach and impact have never been greater.

AJC has grown to have more than 60 offices and partnerships around the world. This affords our Atlanta advocates and leaders opportunities to engage on issues such as trade, immigration, Israel’s place amongst the community of nations, anti-Semitism and extremism. We recognize the importance of core democratic values and the integral role they play within our own community as we strive to respect one another’s diversity.

At this moment, we are preparing for our annual Southeast Diplomatic Marathon, a series of meetings with consuls general in Atlanta that mirrors AJC’s high-level diplomatic engagement, meeting privately with more than 70 heads of state and foreign ministers during the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Our own meetings with the Atlanta-based diplomatic corps underscores the importance of international relationships on a local level. It also gives us a chance to highlight and invite leaders outside the Jewish community to participate in our many local community initiatives such as the AJC Atlanta Unity Seder and Shabbat

Around the World, where synagogues will host diplomats for Shabbat dinners.

Our history of engagement with Atlanta’s ethnic, religious, international and political leadership has built relationships that have fostered dialogues and deepened mutual understanding otherwise unimaginable decades ago. While the Black-Jewish relationship continues to be the most identifiable, our ties with the Latino, Indian, Korean and Japanese communities also hold the future of our ethnic relationships. Partners such as Muslims, Baptists and Mormons continue to play an important role in our religious dialogues as well.

We often say that we have “something for everyone,” and 5779 will be no different.

Please join us. The easiest way is by visiting www.ajc.org/atlanta/RSVP. Today, we celebrate the impact of the last 75 years, and through our front-line work we will continue to strive for tangible actions and positive outcomes on every level of future Jewish interest. We look forward to strengthening friendships and making new ones over the next 75 years. ■ Melanie Nelkin is AJC Atlanta president and Dov Wilker is AJC Atlanta regional director.

ROSH HASHANAH

Immerse Yourself in all Five Senses this New Year

By Barbara LeNoble I challenge you to experience all five senses in New Year 5779 - smell, taste, touch, sight and sound.

Let’s start!

You’re busy preparing for the holidays, pulling out longstanding recipes for chicken liver, brisket, kugel … maybe a honey and apple strudel.

The family waits in anticipation, kitchen aromas envelope your home and family and friends feast on a robust meal.

Congratulations! You’ve experienced smell and taste.

As executive director of Metropolitan Atlanta Community Mikvah I can say with confidence, that you’ll experience sight, sound and touch after just one short car ride.

We are honored to serve the Atlanta Jewish community for our third High Holiday season.

What makes us unique is that we have taken one of the oldest Jewish rituals and reinvented it anew for our day and our time. MACoM is a safe, welcoming and inclusive space for all members of the Jewish community to find spiritual meaning, healing and renewal.

MACoM meets the highest aesthetic and halachic ritual standards. You will see a beautiful, inviting space where trained mikvah guides can facilitate your spiritual journey.

It’s one of the few quiet spaces in the world just for you. Hear the soothing ripples of water and profound sound of silence … all at once.

Finally, the last sense to enjoy … touch.

As you prepare for your spiritual immersion, feel the special attention you’ve given yourselfthe slow, deliberate walk down the seven stairs into the warm, still water feels like a dream – your dream. It can be calming and exhilarating all at one time.

MACoM is not a project of one congregation, but a common space for the community. We are the only pluralistic, sacred space in Atlanta.

Are you up to the New Year’s challenge?

Come and immerse!

We are located at 700-A Mount Vernon Highway in Atlanta. To schedule an immersion or tour please call or email, immerse@atlantamikvah. org or 404-549-9679. Shana tovah umetukah. ■ Barbara LeNoble is executive director of the Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 53

ROSH HASHANAH

Shana Tova from ACCESS Atlanta

By Adam Hirsch and Brandon Goldberg 5779 years isn’t too bad, but it’s time to kick it up a notch in the way we engage with the Jewish community as young professionals. ACCESS, the young professional division of American Jewish Committee, is providing Atlanta’s Jewish young leaders the opportunity to engage with local issues in Atlanta as well as issues facing global Jewry. Through various events and programs during the year, we engage with the difficult subjects facing our community without losing sight of the social bonds that bind us together and connect us with our partner communities.

One of our first events of this new year will be to host a dinner with Mohamed Abubakr (founder of The African Middle Eastern Leadership Project) for young Jewish and Muslim leaders. Creating these kinds of connections is crucial to building a community of educated young professionals with diverse networks. As we continue to grow together, it is imperative that we take the time to learn about what is important to each other, not just in Atlanta, but in Africa and the Middle East.

Looking ahead to January, ACCESS will be holding our 2nd annual Advocacy Accelerator, an initiative that

will jump-start young professionals to mobilize around issues facing our community. By focusing on anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism in Atlanta, we will be better-suited to combat them. The timing of the program, at the beginning of the legislative session, will provide the participants an opportunity to take their advocacy directly to the decisionmakers in our state.

An ACCESS year is not complete without the annual Young Professionals Night of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. This event is a highlight of the Atlanta young professionals calendar, bringing together more than 400 people from 20 different community organizations. Film is a great way to engage in dialogue, and this event is one of the best the community has to offer!

These three events are only a small sampling of the types of opportunities that we provide throughout the year, and only represent what ACCESS does locally. Part of what makes ACCESS so unique is the global network that our members are a part of, and the opportunity to strengthen those connections at our annual AJC Global Forum in Washington, D.C. This conference offers a

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ACCESS has been a strong presence in the Jewish young professional community for over 25 years, and we are only growing stronger. We know that young professionals are ready to begin impacting our community and the world, and we give them the tools to make that happen.

Come join us at our next event and be a part of it! Want more information now? E-mail us at accessatlanta@ajc.org or get in touch with our ACCESS associate, Jeff, directly at silversteinj@ajc.org! Shana tova! ■ Adam Hirsch and Brandon Goldberg are ACCESS co-chairs.

ROSH HASHANAH

Planning Ahead for Healthy Children and Grandchildren This Year

By Karen Arnovitz Grinzaid What if you had an easy way to help prevent suffering in your family and friends? JScreen is giving you that opportunity this High Holiday season.

We are asking you to encourage each and every person who is planning on having children to take an athome JScreen test to help us in our mission to prevent Jewish genetic diseases.

JScreen is a national nonprofit Jewish genetic disease screening program based out of Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Human Genetics. The program brings innovative technology of genetic screening and peace of mind to your front door. JScreen’s panel of more than 200 genetic diseases includes over 100 diseases that are common in people of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish ancestry, and other diseases that are common in non-Jewish groups.

Screening is important for Jewish individuals and couples, as well as interfaith couples who are also at risk for having children with these diseases. JScreen provides results via phone or secure video-conferencing with a certified genetic counselor who can answer questions, explain the results and talk through all of the options to help ensure that you or your loved one has a healthy baby. JScreen is accessible from anywhere in the U.S. In fact, since launching in 2013, JScreen has tested thousands of people from all 50 states.

As you are gathering around the table and dipping your apples in honey, mention genetic screening to a loved one and you might make their future a little sweeter. Tell them to check out the website www.JScreen.org to learn more and to order an at-home screening kit.

JScreen wishes you and your family a happy, healthy New Year! ■ Karen Arnovitz Grinzaid is the executive director of JScreen at Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Human Genetics.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 55

ROSH HASHANAH

Atlanta Jewish Music Festival & Rosh Hashanah

By Joe Alterman

Temple Kehillat Chaim 1145 Green Street Roswell, Georgia 30075 770-641-8630 A Reform congregation in historic Roswell welcoming interfaith families

L’Shanah Tovah!

Join us for the High Holy Days!

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www.kehillatchaim.org 56 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

As I reflect on the past year and anticipate the coming one, I, a believer that nearly everything good in my life has come from my love of music, want to offer a simple tip about listening to music that I hope will enrich your life as much as it has mine.

I had the same routine nearly every Saturday afternoon during my high school years.

Saturday was piano lesson day down at Emory. The drives from Sandy Springs to those lessons became almost as educational as the piano lessons themselves. Learning music is learning a language and, in addition to practicing speaking that language, one must hear it being spoken. My weekly stop and CD purchase at Tower Records on the way to my lesson is what helped me hear that language and thus fall more deeply in love with the music.

I’d usually get to hear the CD twice all the way through that day, really getting to know the music on that album. However, I’ll never forget how free I felt when I got my first iPod. Finally, I could have all of my music in one place! No longer was I held back by only being able to have one CD in my car.

While the iPod has made music listening easier and more accessible, it’s taken many of us away from patient, mindful listening.

Whereas back in my high school days, I was trained to listen patiently and mindfully because that Tower Records CD purchase was my only accompaniment for the ride that day, we now don’t even have to give a song a chance; if we don’t like the first two seconds of it, we can simply hit “next.”

I love putting my phone down, putting a record on, and simply listening to it with my full attention. However, often when in-

viting friends over to do the same, I’m asked, “What will we do while the record’s on?”

It almost seems that, in this very visual-centric age, if there’s no visual component to an activity, it can’t be “the activity.”

I’ve spent much time asking many people around my age (29) about their listening habits. What I’ve found is that many people I ask most often listen to music by themselves on their way somewhere. While they admit to having a sincere love of music, they confess to not listening to music in the same way that they would watch TV. They don’t devote their full attention to it. For many, music isn’t the activity; it’s simply a distraction, and when I stopped to think about it, I realized that music, in many people’s lives, plays a similar role to Facebook and their phones; it’s often nothing more than a distraction from being alone with oneself and one’s thoughts.

However, in the coming year, I want to encourage you to show music some more love! To not only listen to it, but to pay attention to it while you do. Music is so much more than a distraction from being alone.

When you’re paying attention to the music that you’re listening to, you’re meditating, you’re calming and massaging your mind, you’re inviting your imagination to go to work, you’re allowing whatever it is that’s inside of you to bubble up; not to mention, you’re also surrounding yourself with beauty, joy and good feelings.

Emerson once said, “You become what you think about all day long.” So, in the coming year, I hope you’ll invite beauty, peace, love, patience and mindfulness into your thoughts by listening attentively to music! ■ Joe Alterman is director of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival.

ROSH HASHANAH

Jewish National Fund with Israel Forever

By Beth Gluck For the Zionists who 117 years ago created Jewish National Fund, the events that led them to do so were not very pleasant. The world of the late 19th century was a cool one towards world Jewry and anti-Semitism was rife with attacks on Jews by means of state-sponsored restrictions, false propaganda and violent pogroms.

That rising fervor eventually led Theodor Herzl to the realization that Jews could in fact reclaim their ancient land in Eretz Israel via a national fund of, and on behalf of, the Jewish people everywhere. “The people,” Herzl said, “will forever be not only the donors, but also the owners of this dedicated capital.”

Soon afterwards, Jewish National Fund and our iconic Blue Box found its place in nearly every Jewish home on the planet — long before radio, TV or social media could advertise its existence. Such was the power of an idea, the strength of a people’s will, … the concept of a dream.

Golden Books were created to inscribe the global record of Jews from across the diaspora who gave whatever they could to plant their way home — if not physically, then with a bit of land, a tree sapling to earmark their spot on the land.

In 1948, after 2,000 years in exile, Jews returned to the welcome arms of other Jews who had not only formed the government of Israel but ran it — for the first time ever in modern history. Up until that time, JNF had bought 13 percent of what was to become the State of Israel, fulfilling Herzl’s mission 47 years earlier: Land that was in the name of the Jewish people everywhere.

Land that could never be sold or given away. Land that was as revered to the Jewish people as the sacred birthright Isaac passed down to Jacob.

Today, Israel is a booming country and northern Israel is witnessing a transformation as global companies are investing in the Galilee’s fertile landscape and the growing agritech food industry to research and develop new ways to feed the world with better ingredients. Israel is home to 40 percent of food start-ups and JNF is providing a new state-of-the-art facility to bring these companies together in the Galilean town of Kiryat Shmona, just below the Lebanese border. Nearby, in 2019 we are opening the JNF-USA Institute of Culinary Arts, a 58 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

world-class fine cooking school to train the best chefs. All of this will have a major impact on the region’s economy with good jobs and housing.

And, while some nations threaten the Jewish homeland, Jews continue to move to Israel by greater numbers every year, and JNF makes that happen with Aliyah provider Nefesh B’Nefesh.

We’ve brought over 50,000 new citizens to Israel to make new lives in towns in the Negev and the Galilee; towns we have built or further developed with new infrastructure to carry water and utilities, and paved roads to take little ones to school.

I am so pleased that trees remain our most popular product. Those young saplings that long ago created our Jewish homeland, today stand tall anchored by mighty roots, serving as the connection between the soil and our people across the globe.

The coins that bought those trees are still deposited in a JNF Blue Box with a message that continues to ring true: they represent the Jewish people’s dream. They are the power of the Zionist movement. They are the proud historic legacy of a nation returned to Zion. Your Israel, forever.

With my warmest wishes to you and your family for a sweet, happy and healthy New Year. ■ Beth Gluck is the executive director of Jewish National Fund Southeast.

ROSH HASHANAH

The Future of Emory’s Israel Institute?

By Ken Stein After four decades of teaching at Emory and half of them directing the Institute for the Study of Modern Israel, the last two years have been amongst the best. Teaching superb students and often befriending their outstanding parents have become yearly corollaries to getting paid for what I love to do and study. Working with a superb staff and an appreciative Atlanta Jewish community adds gratification that goes well beyond our boundaries of the Clifton corridor. It has been great fun. But what happens in several years, when I am no longer at the helm of the institute? How can we all assure ourselves that an Israel Studies institute at Emory does not simply fade away?

We are opening our silent “Kol Nidre” appeal now, culminating in our ISMI@20 celebration in Atlanta from November 9-11. Superb speakers will address politics of the moment, the need

for Israel Studies centers in the U.S., making of U.S. policy toward Israel and the Middle East, an Ethiopian Israeli singer will perform, and much more. The program is not fully set, but learn about the topics and the confirmed participants on our website.

How about some context? Israel Studies as compared to Jewish Studies or Holocaust Studies is a relatively new field. At present, there are some 14 Israel Studies Institutes or Centers in North America, with only eight of them possessing some endowment money to assure continuity. Emory is not one of them. We exist because of annual giving by donors and foundations. There are probably 40 Holocaust Studies endowed chair positions in the U.S.; endowed Israel Studies chairs are a quarter of that number. In creating ISMI in 1998, we succeeded in persuading parents of students, former students and Atlantans to provide annual funding. For the last two

years, when rankings were published, Emory appeared among the top three of American universities for students to live a safe Jewish life and learn about Israel.

Let’s be clear. Israel Studies centers can influence the way Israel is taught in campus settings. But Israel Studies courses in college cannot provide a sense of belonging to Israel or its role in one’s Jewish identity if students have not first learned those concepts in the home or in youth and teen programs. Israel Studies centers are not an Rx to prevent youth distancing from Israel. Centers cannot guarantee that individual professors will not use the classroom for preaching an anti-Israeli political ideology. No, I am not advocating that clamps or muzzles be placed on academics by university administrators, peers or donors. But if ISMI disappears, so does a minimum of balance on the Emory campus and perhaps in Atlanta.

Israel Studies faculty help the student. ISMI has provided mentoring in pro-Israeli campus organizations like Hillel. We have mentored students on where and how to pursue their interests

in studying modern Israel, from nanotechnology to ecology to entrepreneurship. Fourteen times in the last two decades, we have raised funds from private donors and foundations to bring visiting Israeli scholars to campus and to the city.

Their presence has spilled over to virtually all of our local Jewish organizations and congregations. The newest one is here this semester. Professor Yitzhak Reiter is a specialist on Jerusalem. Last year it was Israeli Ambassador Reda Mansour.

These visiting Israelis have provided 36 additional courses to Emory College and taught some 650 students.

The best part of ISMI has been our internship program, guiding student research projects on modern Israel. Ask the 40 students who have intensively learned with us. Helping students and Atlantans belong to Israel’s story is a noble wish for the new year and hopefully into the future. Shana tova. ■ Ken Stein, an Emory professor of modern Israeli history, is the president of the Center for Israel Education and leads Emory’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel.

L’Shana Tovah

WISHING YOU A SWEET NEW YEAR You have a place with us for the High Holy Days.

Come meet our people, our clergy & our staff.

Our services are especially designed for the community!

WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US:

Erev Rosh Hashanah @ 9pm Rosh Hashanah @ 11:30am Yom Kippur @ 11:30am

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 59

ROSH HASHANAH

The New Year and Promise of Impactful Learning

By Rabbi Ed Harwitz Sefer Kohelet, (the book of Ecclesiastes), offers a stoic analysis of the human condition: “A generation comes and a generation goes, but the land remains forever.”

Does Jewish tradition as a whole identify with this notion, suggesting that our impact in the world is minimal, that as we “come and go,” the places that we inhabit remain static, unchanged and unmoved?

The rabbis of the Mishnah offer a more inspiring perspective: “In a place where there are no ‘people,’ make every effort to be a ‘person.” This charge requires that we reject any notion that minimizes our potential for impact, requiring instead that we engage in our Jewish community and the broader world with intellect, creativity and courage.

As we enter 5779 and begin a new

school year, students and teachers at The Weber School are newly committed to directing our teaching and learning toward this grand mission. From the moment that they enter high school through their graduation, Weber students learn not only with a concern for personal achievement and success, but with the determination to serve causes greater than their own self-interests. When students embrace the responsibility and realize their potential as agents of positive, constructive change, they fulfill a foundational Jewish value of bringing shleimut, peace and unity, to the world.

As The Weber School enters its 22nd year and continues to expand its courses and programs, we do so with the hope of extending the reach and impact of our school community: Weber students do not merely rep-

resent the Jewish future – they are eager and ready to serve our community now.

Thanks to the new Daniel Zalik Academy for Science, Technology, Engineering and Design, complementing legacy initiatives such as Peace by Piece, the Israel Poland Experience and Spanish ImmersionJewish Heritage experiences in Spain and Cuba, Weber students learn to invent, innovate, teach and serve in ways that grow and enrich the Jewish and broader community beyond the walls of our high school.

The Weber School faculty has created a robust, creative culture with courses in every academic discipline, an athletic program rooted in health, wellness and productive competition and unique cocurricular options in music, visual and performing arts. Looking towards the future, Weber teachers and staff actively engage new community partners so that we may pool our intellectual and human capital and broaden the appeal of Jewish education to families who have yet to establish a Jewish connection in Atlanta.

During the coming year, The Weber School invites you to join us as we work to enhance the reach and impact of Jewish Atlanta. On behalf of the entire community of students, parents, professionals and lay leaders at The Weber School, I wish a Shanah tovah u’metukah – a happy and sweet new year to you and your families. ■ Rabbi Ed Harwitz is head of school of The Weber School.

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ROSH HASHANAH

Repent One Day Before Your Death

By Harley Tabak Rebbe Eliezar famously said in the Talmud to “Repent one day before your death.” I often think about this idea in my work at Jewish Home Life Communities, where many of the people we serve are nearing the end of their days. When faced with a serious medical problem, or reaching the later stages of life, or during the High Holy Days, we are more likely to think about dying. Yet Rebbe Eliezar’s teaching would require us to think about death every day, since none of us knows when we will die. Wouldn’t thinking about dying all the time be depressing?

After working in the field of aging for 40 years, I have learned that being able to speak about death is liberating and helps each of us to better appreciate each day we are living. Most of us get caught up with our daily challenges and routines and tend to forget this. Only when we are confronted with a crisis are we jarred into remembering that no one is guaranteed to be alive tomorrow. Every day of life is a gift.

Those that are sick, frail or debilitated are reminded of life’s preciousness each moment. Fred Rogers, the creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, understood this. Rogers once asked a 14-year-old boy whose cerebral palsy left him sometimes unable to walk or talk, to pray for him. The boy had never been asked this. He had been the object of prayers many times, but not one person had ever asked him to pray for another. When complimented about cleverly boosting the boy’s self-esteem with this request, Rogers replied, “I didn’t ask him for his prayers for him; I asked for me. I asked because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked because I wanted his intercession.” And this is why caring for the people we serve at JHLC is so inspiring. Wherever our amazing team members are assisting someone — in our nursing home, independent and assisted living communities, or when our hospice or private caregivers provide support in the home – we find people who know that because they may not be here tomorrow, they appreciate every single blessing of today.

L’shanah tova. ■ Harley Tabak is president and CEO of Jewish Home Life Communities.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 61

ROSH HASHANAH

Seek Meaning Together

By Margo Gold

Happy New Year ~ Shana Tova Thanks to the MJCCA for Going Green with LED Lighting

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The High Holidays are a time for reflection. As I approach the conclusion of four years as international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, it seems an appropriate moment to reflect on what I have learned from this incredible vantage point and hope for the future.

USCJ envisions an authentic and dynamic Judaism that inspires Jews to seek meaning, find connection and experience a sense of wholeness in a very complex world. Our network of 600 kehillot is dedicated to strengthening Jewish communities inside and outside the walls of a synagogue, ensuring there are thriving centers of Jewish practice that celebrate both tradition and contemporary life. When we rebranded USCJ last year, we selected the tag line “Seek Meaning Together.” Its multiple levels of interpretation convey individual, organizational and communal relationships. The phrase is also a perfect fit for my message here to you.

We seek meaning together when helping others on their journey. This summer on a USY On Wheels bus trip the teens convened in the visitor’s center at the Paper Clips Project in Whitwell, Tennessee, to celebrate the bat mitzvah of a USYer who had never considered such an experience possible. Her bus mates embraced her desire, taught her the blessings and encouraged her every step of the way in this lifeaffirming ceremony.

We seek meaning together in worship. At Beth Am in L.A., I participated in an awesome, uplifting weekend of creative worship. Our USCJ conventions showcase creative prayer, but what would be the response to this new opportunity? One hundred thirty congregational leaders traveled from across North America to be part of it and to imagine the ways and elements they could convey back home to deepen the experiences within their diverse congregations.

We seek meaning together when we acknowledge the diversity of our congregational communities, recognizing that even as we live under obligations of the covenant, we also hold powerful responsibilities of community. After much thoughtful study, USCJ recommended we change our congregational membership guidelines, enabling each affiliated congregation to establish its own guidelines for membership and creating thoughtful materials to

support those internal discussions. Our member congregations voted overwhelmingly in favor.

We seek meaning together within our diversity. Welcome means something different to everyone who enters our spaces.

And the common expression of welcome is respect. Through its inclusion learning cohorts, USCJ has helped dozens of kehillot examine their attitude and practice toward people with disabilities, those seen and unseen. One participating congregation reimagined their planned infant daycare room to make it disability compliant, the only one in the city. Another made every aspect of their sanctuary redesign reflect their value of inclusiveness.

And this year at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, the annual AIDS quilt display was hung for the first time in the main sanctuary. The panels cascaded from the balcony, creating a powerful backdrop for reflection and connection.

We seek meaning together in Israel.

From the Kotel to the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center for Conservative Judaism, USCJ stands firmly by the tenets of pluralism and Israel as a homeland for all Jews.

To seek meaning together has inspired me in this role. Though the institutional Jewish landscape may be rocky, I believe we have the motivation and tools to navigate it and the will to create a path forward.

The people I have had the honor to work with, volunteers and professionals, are a testament to that. Together we address our future with intentionality, aspiring to a shared vision of an authentic and dynamic Judaism. So at this time of reflection, I look forward to the blowing of the shofar. May its call jolt us from complacency and compel us to seek meaning together.

On behalf of Larry and our whole family, best wishes for a sweet new year. ■ Margo Gold is the international president of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

ROSH HASHANAH

Rosh Hashanah 1943

By Sally Levine

By Rosh Hashanah 1943, Adolf Hitler had ruled Germany for 10 years. During those years Germany gained control of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Yugoslavia, Greece and a portion of the western part of the Soviet Union. Nazi Germany was allied with Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Italy. Sweden, Switzerland and Spain remained neutral.

By Rosh Hashanah 1943, World War II had ravaged Europe for two years.

The United States had entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The Battle of Britain and the Blitz saw Great Britain successfully defending itself from bombings from Nazi Germany’s air force.

By Rosh Hashanah 1943, Nazi Germany was implementing the Final Solution, murdering all the Jews of Europe. The Einsatzgruppen, special SS and police units in Eastern Europe, along with local collaborators and police battalions, murdered over a million Soviet Jews and tens of thousands of other “enemies of the state” in the lands of the former Soviet Union. By 1943, German authorities had built and set in motion gassing facilities at centralized killing centers.

By Rosh Hashanah 1943, hundreds of thousands of Jews had been deported from ghettos to these killing centers: from Lodz to Chelmno, from France and the Netherlands to Auschwitz, from Warsaw, Poland, to Treblinka.

By Rosh Hashanah 1943, ordinary people witnessed their friends, neighbors and co-workers being rounded up and deported. Most stood by and did nothing. Some, however, felt compelled to respond, providing hiding places, underground escape routes, false papers, food, clothing, money, and sometimes even weapons.

Denmark was the only occupied country that actively resisted the Nazi attempts to deport its Jewish citizens. On September 28, 1943, Georg Duckwitz, a German diplomat, secretly informed the Danish resistance that the Nazis were planning to deport the Jews of Denmark.

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Wednesday, September 29, 1943, Marcus Melchior, rabbi of the main synagogue in Copenhagen, warned his congregation that the Germans planned a mass roundup of Jews the next day, when the Nazis knew families would be gathered in their homes for the

holiday. “The situation,” Rabbi Melchior said, “is very serious. We must take action immediately.”

As word spread, non-Jewish Danes mobilized. They hid Jews in their homes and in hospitals, churches, convents and schools all over Denmark. They protested the roundup of the Jews. Politicians made statements. Newspapers published editorials. The people of Denmark, almost as one, reacted to the threat to their Jewish brothers and sisters.

Reaction also came from the Lutheran Church, the official state church of Denmark.

The Church had always strongly opposed anti-Semitism and included Jews within its “universe of concern.” By Rosh Hashanah 1943, the Church was prepared to act. On Sunday, October 3, a protest against the roundup of the Jews was read aloud in Lutheran churches throughout Denmark. The church roused its people and provided shelter and support.

A long-range plan by the Danes soon emerged. They organized a nationwide effort to smuggle Jews by sea to neutral Sweden. In only two weeks, Danish fishermen helped ferry 7,200 Danish Jews and 680 of their non-Jewish family members to safety across the water separating Denmark from Sweden.

By Rosh Hashanah 1943, Jews in other western European countries had been required to identify themselves and surrender their property and businesses. Many were forced into ghettos. Many had been shot or sent to killing centers. Not so in Denmark. Including Jews in their “universe of concern,” most of the Jews in Denmark were led to the rescue, by the Danes. It is estimated that only 120 Danish Jews died during the Holocaust. This number represents one of the highest Jewish survival rates for any German-occupied European country.

This Rosh Hashanah, may we learn from the courage of the Danish people. May we recognize and respond to prejudice, anti-semitism, racism and genocide, wherever they occur. This Rosh Hashanah may we, like the Danish people in 1943, have the courage to act, to include all people in our “universe of concern.” ■

Shana Tova

May Rosh Hashanah be the start of a New Year bright with promise, filled with hope, and blessed with peace.

Temple Kol Emeth • Marietta, GA 770-973-3533 • www.kolemeth.net

Sally N. Levine is the executive director for the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 63

O ur F amily W ishes y Ours a h ealthy & h appy 5779

www.kempforgovernor.com Paid for by friends of Brian Kemp

64 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

ROSH HASHANAH

This Year Just Stay Home

By Rabbi Chezky Edelson Recently someone asked me if I had any advice on how to survive the High Holiday services again this year. I said, “Yea, don’t go.” I know that sounds pretty crass and it probably wasn’t the type of advice that they were expecting to hear, but that was my response. Indeed, I often ask people why they come to shul, and I’ve gotten all types of responses. Some people ask, “What do you mean, why do I come? Because I’m Jewish!”

Others say that they come just for the Kiddush (it’s called JFK – Just For Kiddush). One guy told me that he comes because otherwise his grandmother would take him out of her will! To these people I will often question, “Why don’t you just stay home?”

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t do this because our shul is overcrowded and I’m searching for creative crowdcontrol methods, nor is it my intention to in any way discourage people from attending shul. I just feel that these days many people focus too much on the how of being Jewish without thinking about the why.

So sometimes I just want to give people that small nudge of a shocking response that will get them to think a little deeper and discover the beauty and the depth which makes “doing Jewish” so meaningful and rewarding.

You see, everything that we do in Judaism is loaded with beauty and deep meaning. Take Rosh Hashanah for example, on Rosh Hashanah we traditionally wish people a Shana tova umetuka, a good and sweet year. Now that sounds kind of redundant, good and sweet? What’s the differ-

ence? Why can’t we just say have a happy new year like everyone else? The answer is that our year may turn out good and we may end up being happy, but it might take bitter sweat and tears to get us to that goal.

Wouldn’t we rather be able to experience a smooth journey to success without hitting any bumps in the road? That’s why we bless people that their year should be good and sweet. “May you achieve your goals without any setbacks or disappointments and without having to make any difficult or painful sacrifices.”

The journey itself should be sweet, not just the outcome.

My point is, Judaism is really deep with meaning and when something has meaning, it’s important.

When something is meaningful and important, we thrive; we don’t need to survive. The High Holidays present us with a tremendous opportunity, an opportunity to reflect, to step back and reassess our course, to connect, to forge ahead. Attending a High Holiday service gives us an opportunity to reach deep inside, to find ourselves, to become part of something larger than ourselves, to connect with our community and to bond as a united family. It’s just that sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing that we forget why we are doing it. There have got to be some better reasons for attending shul than the gastronomical incentives or some good ole’ Jewish guilt, laid on thick by your grandmother. So how can we survive the High Holiday services? I say we gotta stop surviving the high holidays, we gotta start living them to their fullest! ■ Rabbi Chezky Edelson is educational director of Kollel Ner HaMizrach Atlanta.

ROSH HASHANAH

High Holiday Reflection 5779

By Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal Way before any of us were ever born, each year’s Yom Kippur that we will ever observe throughout our lives is set. Unlike other holidays that have an actual historical event that we celebrate or commemorate, noting either gratefulness or sorrow for our history (Passover = exodus from Egypt; Tisha B’Av = destruction of the Jerusalem Temple; Tu B’shevat = New Year for trees), Yom Kippur is completely contingent on us today and our failings over the past year. That’s a bit pessimistic, isn’t it? An infant isn’t even given a chance. From birth, the days on which that baby will seek forgiveness are assigned. We are all preordained to mess up, and the day on the calendar when we stand before Hakadosh Baruchu, repentant and seeking forgiveness, is assigned for each year of our lives. Why is this? Shouldn’t we check in a few weeks after Yom Kippur and see how things are going before we decide that an entire day of fasting and solemn reflection is needed for the coming year? That’s not the way it works. Yom Kippur is assigned the 10th day of Tishrei and those dates are assigned before we even have something to say sorry for.

The reason for this isn’t a negative statement about human beings or a stain on the human spirit. Instead,

our missteps, or errors, our sins, if you will, are part and parcel of the human condition.

In fact, I posit that part of a healthy spiritual journey is about navigating, learning from and rising above these sorts of stumbles in life. This is why our tradition lays out each and every Yom Kippur we will ever observe.

I am often asked, “If God doesn’t want us to sin, why did God give us free will?” I don’t believe that God wants us to be perfect. It is through our missteps along the journey that we find our own voices and ourselves. It is through the stumbles in the expedition of life that we learn how to encounter other individuals, fallible as we are, and see the spark of God within them.

God doesn’t want us to be perfect. God just wants us to be honest, humble and experience growth when we have erred, and strive to make ourselves and the world a little bit better. We stand at Yom Kippur contrite, but knowing that this moment is not only about the past that we reflect on, but also critical for the bold year to come. Let’s make 5779 something worth a few good missteps. God will be waiting to see us next Yom Kippur – let’s have something to talk about! ■ Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal is a rabbi at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 65

ROSH HASHANAH

Epstein’s New Year

By David Abusch-Magder

Frankly Speaking with Sherry Frank!

NCJW Atlanta is excited to continue our women’s discussion group for our members and friends.

Moderated by noted Atlanta advocate extraordinaire Sherry Frank, this monthly luncheon meeting focuses on current events through a Jewish lens. Bring your lunch; we’ll provide beverages. Mark your calendars with the upcoming dates for our discussion series: Thursday, September 13 Thursday, October 11 Thursday, November 15 Thursday, December 13

The series will be held from noon – 1:30 pm each day at the NCJW Atlanta office at 6303 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Please RSVP by the day before each meeting to christineh@ncjwatlanta.org.

Visit our website at www.ncjwatlanta.org.

66 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Our Jewish tradition has great wisdom in how it marks time. We honor both time’s linear progression across the years and throughout our lives, while also celebrating the enduring cycles that repeat year after year and hint at the cycle of lives across generations. The High Holidays speak to both the progression and the cycles of our lives and of our institutions.

It is a time to reflect on our actions, celebrate our accomplishments, redouble our efforts, and plan for the future.

At The Epstein School we are engaged in just this sort of activity, as we have built on our past and are planning for our future by launching our 20Chai initiative, which was seeded with more than $5 million in cash and endowment gifts. The purpose of this new and timely initiative is to enhance and continue to deliver an exceptional education and create a new way to invest in our current and future Epstein families. We know that choosing Epstein is an investment for our families. 20Chai is our platform for ensuring excellence and addressing affordability.

Our two-pronged approach focuses on excellence and affordability efforts while continuing discussions around these key issues that are facing Jewish day schools locally and nationally. We want to see our efforts impact the broader community and the lives of Jewish students across Atlanta and the country. We know that for real, sustainable change to occur, these efforts must extend beyond this initiative at Epstein.

On a day-to-day basis at Epstein, this initiative will help us continually innovate and improve our academic program that is led by our specialized STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and Hebrew language programs.

The 2018-19 school year began a few weeks ago and students are already enjoying the benefits of our renewed focus and energy. We were able to recruit and retain top teachers and create new positions to enrich learning. Our new Teacher Innovation Fund will encourage our educators to think differently and fund bringing their new ideas to life in the classroom.

Our new STEAM coordinator is focused on integrating hands-on learning into all subject areas across the school, including additional MakerMorning activities, expanded coding and reverse engineering instruction, and STEAM in the

Chagim projects.

Cultivating the unique Jewish identity of each student has been and remains a cornerstone of the Epstein experience.

With new professionals and new ideas, we have formed a Jewish Life committee that will develop ways to enhance Jewish experiences throughout the school, including Shabbat B’Yachad, holiday celebrations, and tefillah.

However exceptional our education, there are some families for whom tuition is too great to achieve their dream of enrolling at Epstein. Pay it Forward, our new program that provides additional avenues for access to Epstein, is an investment by our community in these families. It will be available to students beginning with the 20192020 school year. The innovative tuition reduction program is designed for current and new families who are in the beginning stages of their careers and financial lives. It is an investment in the future of these students, their families, and our community.

As we begin 5779, I am excited by what this year and the future will bring. I know it will be a year of growth and learning for our students, our families, and professionals. May it be a year filled with health, happiness, learning and growth for you and for our whole Atlanta community: ‫‏שנה טובה ומתוקה‬ Shanna tova u’metuka. ■ David Abusch-Magder is head of school at The Epstein School.

ROSH HASHANAH

What the Talmud Teaches Us About Trusting Children Lessons from Tractate Yoma

By Neshama Littman This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in Queer Talmud Camp, a program of the SVARA Yeshiva based in Chicago, led by Rabbi Benay Lappe. Over 100 queer-identified, multigenerational Jews gathered in Northern California and Wisconsin to study Tractate Yoma, the volume of the Talmud that deals with Yom Kippur. The Mishna that we studied declares that if a person is sick on Yom Kippur, they should be fed, according to the opinion of experts.

Given that the dire consequence of breaking the Yom Kippur fast were being subjected to karet (physical and spiritual exile), it makes sense that the Mishna would require an expert opinion to guide the sick person’s actions. But then the Mishna turns around and states that if no experts are present, we give agency back to the sick person and allow them to make their own decision and decide their own fate. The Gemara goes even further, saying that even if there were 100 experts present, there would be no expertise in the room greater than the sick person’s own experience of their needs. Why do the sick person’s needs override the experts’ opinions? The Gemara uses a phrase from Psalms as the proof text for this surprising assertion: lev yodea marat nafsho, the heart knows the bitterness of its own soul.

I am a queer and trans person who lives with the invisible illnesses of depression and anxiety, and I am all too familiar with the experience of an expert’s opinion overruling my own knowledge of myself. This text is so compelling to me because it offers a radical repudiation of traditional social and religious power dynamics.

It not only empowers the sick person to make their own decisions about their health, but also gives them the authority to define their own religious and spiritual experience. It is deeply moving to me that one of Judaism’s foundational texts actively makes space for self-determination and for the subversion of power structures that keep some community members on the margins.

As a long-time educator, this text also got me thinking about my relationship to authority when it comes to teaching children. What would it look like to really trust a child’s knowledge of their own needs? How often do we assert our own expertise as adults to overrule a child? What are we saying when we draw boundaries for children around what a Jewish person is allowed to believe, what a Jewish person is supposed to look like, what conversations are allowed to happen openly in Jewish spaces?

Jewish Kids Groups is creating a culture of education that values children’s authentic experience of their own complicated, dynamic Jewish identities. When a JKG kid bounds to their parents’ car after JKG Sunday, we want them to be burning with questions about what they have learned in class that day. As we prepare for the High Holidays by learning about hachnasat orchim, the Jewish value of welcoming guests, we want kids to go home demanding that our communities make this

value alive and visible in the real world, not just in our classrooms and synagogues. Who needs to be welcomed into our sukkah this year?

What can the experience of being vulnerable in our sukkah teach us about what it’s like to live as an unhoused person, or as a refugee forced to flee their home?

May this year deepen your trust in your own expertise, and may we all have the courage to extend that trust even to the youngest members of our community. L’ Shana tova u’metuka from the whole JKG family! ■ Neshama Littman is the Sunday Families Director for Jewish Kids Groups.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 67

ROSH HASHANAH

To Live and Let Live

By Rabbi Ari Leubitz Live and let live.

Don’t judge.

To each his own.

We hear these expressions over and over and we accept them as truth.

In our current culture, we have a hard time engaging with differences - and often we try not to stir the pot by challenging others. So, we live and let live, and in the interest of being “politically correct,” we do not always say what is on our minds. I understand that need, and on some level I agree. However, on another level, I do not. Allow me to explain.

As we reach our High Holy Days, there is an authentic Jewish approach we can take when we see behavior that we believe to be unethical or incorrect. Our Torah teaches that we are not allowed to turn a blind eye to the world around us. We must be active in acts of kindness to strengthen our society and our community. For us to turn away, and not get involved when we see something that doesn’t quite sit right with us, is to shirk our responsibilities to our city, our community and our world.

In the eyes of Jewish Law, a righteous individual is not one who is secluded, it is one who successfully navigates and faces the complicated nuances of the world around them. It is our moral obligation to judge - not just others, but ourselves as well.

One of the qualities that sets us apart from all other creations is the ability to discern. We are capable of choosing to make value-based decisions and judgements. We are capable of choosing not to turn away and not to live and let live. If we chose to be like other creations and not use our G-d-given abilities to make value-based decisions and judgements, then we are not shaped in the image of G-d. To be human is to be discerning.

As we near the High Holy Days, my bracha for us all is to manifest the verse: ‫ׁשמְרֶ ָך ה’ צִּלְָך ע ַל־י ַד יְמִינ ֶָך‬ ֹ ’‫ה‬ “Hashem your Guardian; G-d is your shadow; G-d is by your right hand.” (Tehillim/Psalms 121:5) May we all merit to live our lives mimicking G-d’s shadow, judging each other with merit, being discerning and holding each other lovingly to a higher standard.

This is our purpose.

This is our calling.

L’shana tova to you and your families. ■ Rabbi Ari Leubitz is the head of school at Atlanta Jewish Academy.

Shana Tovah u’metuka to All

By Mario Oves The Hebrew Order of David International (HOD) is a non-denominational Jewish fraternal brotherhood that is committed to helping Jewish individuals and organizations around the world. We volunteer to perform community services, such as working with the William Breman Jewish Home, Jewish Family & Career Services, Habitat for Humanity, and planting trees in the community. Each HOD Lodge in Atlanta has its own activities although we all share the same principles. HOD promotes Jewish continuity and antiassimilation as one of its pillars of the foundation.

HOD is active with Jewish Family & Career Services with the annual Rosh Hashanah Appeal, a project that collects thousands of dollars to benefit needy Atlantans who lack food and basic necessities to celebrate New Year festivities and meals.

This year HOD International collected funds to create a hair salon in Israel for Zichron Menachem to provide wigs to children in Jerusalem with cancer.

We continue to be the proud organizers of the Atlanta Kosher BBQ Festival, which began six years ago. The festival is preparing for its new home at City Springs outdoor venue in Sandy Springs on Oct. 21.

This event is considered one of the premier Jewish festivals in Atlanta with the full support of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. In the past, crowds of more than 3,000 people gathered. We hope to surpass that mark with such a great location and accessibility to the Jewish community. Come and join us!

In our HOD town lodges, Magen David has teamed with the Atlanta Scholars Kollel to bring together the 2018 networking event for the fourth consecutive year, on Sept. 5 at Sandy Springs City Center. It is a great opportunity to network with Jewish entrepreneurs and businesspeople.

As the local brethren of HOD continues efforts to support the community, we wish you all a happy, healthy and fraternal New Year. ■ Mario Oves is president of Hebrew Order of David International, North America Governing Lodge.

68 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

ROSH HASHANAH

Rebecca’s Tent Can Help You Help Homeless Women

By Candice Gulden Though we may not be aware of it, we live in a city with thousands, yes thousands, of homeless people. Sometimes they are the ones carrying garbage bags bulging with their possessions or those wearing threadbare clothes who sleep wherever they can.

They may also be the folks in low-paying jobs who live in their cars and work hard to look clean and healthy every day. What they all need is a safe place to go at night and help getting back on their feet.

During the very cold winter of 1983, a group of members at Congregation Shearith Israel, led by Helen and Frank Spiegel, decided it wasn’t right or humane that there were no shelters for homeless women in Atlanta. So the hard work began to create a haven for the homeless, and the Shearith Israel Shelter was born. Thirty-five years later the shelter, now an independent 501(c)(3) known as Rebecca’s Tent, continues its important work to house, feed and provide resources to women who badly need a helping hand.

Over the years, shelter services have expanded to include training in money management, resume writing and job-readiness skills. There also is computer training and assistance with online job hunting and the skills needed to get and keep a job.

As the New Year approaches, our Jewish community has an opportunity to step up and make a significant difference for women who want better lives for themselves. Volunteer activities such as holding a paper goods drive, organizing friends to provide a week of home-cooked meals for shelter residents, or volunteering to serve a meal or staff the shelter on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Day are all meaningful ways to show you care.

There also is a need for organizers of shelter tours for school children to teach them about this important societal problem, as well as to help with large and small fundraising activities to cover the costs of paying utilities and keeping the shelter’s doors open.

Donations of umbrellas, raincoats and warm winter scarves and gloves, among other items, are most welcome, too.

There are many reasons that women become homeless, such as domestic violence.

Sometimes the cause may be unexpected expenses for medical care for a serious illness. Perhaps a job is lost because a company has changed locations and is no longer near a MARTA station or bus stop. Many homeless women are well-educated working people whose lives have taken a wrong turn.

Rebecca’s Tent provides case management to put each resident on her own path to solving her problems and working towards independence and stability.

There also are the basics that so many of us take for granted, including three meals each day, laundry and shower facilities, a secure place for personal possessions and the availability of medical and dental care.

Tikkun Olam is a driving force at Rebecca’s Tent, and it truly takes a village to create real support for our fellow human beings and to help them become more productive members of our society. Working to serve this very vulnerable group is a special mitzvah that can help to enrich our lives in the coming months.

As the new year approaches, remember that there are people who live among us who need and welcome our help. Please call Tasho Wesley, director of Rebecca’s Tent, at 404-873-3147, or reach out to her at twesley@rebeccastent.org and find out how you can help to repair the world. ■

L’Shana Tovah!

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ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 69

ARTS The Ancient Law Rises Again “The Ancient Law,” a silent German film about 19th century Jewish life in Europe that premiered in 1923, was resurrected 95 years later for a screening by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Thursday night at The Woodruff Arts Center.

The film looked almost Bob as good on the Woodruff’s Bahr screen as it did nearly a century ago at its premiere in Berlin. Through the magic of the digital film restoration team at the German Deutsche Kinemathek, we are reminded once again that silent film in the 1920s was an impressive art form in its own right with a strong narrative tradition.

“The Ancient Law” tells the story of the rise of a sensitive, yet ambitious young man, Baruch Mayer, portrayed by the Austrian Jewish actor, Ernst Deutsch.

He is the son of a rabbi in what the film calls a ghetto, but what we have come to know as a poor shtetl or Jewish village in Eastern Europe.

The film eventually takes him to Vienna and he achieves great success as an actor in the prestigious Royal Court Theatre. But for him and, especially, his devoutly religious father, there is no way to fully escape the power of “the ancient law,” the law of Jewish life and tradition that has shaped the Jewish consciousness over the millennia.

Baruch’s rapid rise to stardom is aided by a love affair with Viennese royalty, the Archduchess Elisabeth Theresa, but she eventually rejects him because of his Jewish heritage.

“We too,” she sighs, “are slaves to an ancient law — etiquette.” Good manners, presumably, don’t allow her to say what she really means, that their romance is doomed because of the notorious antiSemitism of Viennese society.

Director E.A. Dupont and screenwriter Paul Reno, whose real name was Pinkus Nothmann, were both Jews who

“The Ancient Law” is reconstructed from a 1923 German film.

Baruch Mayer breaks with tradition when he cuts his sidelocks or payes.

“The Ancient Law” was presented as part of the AJFF Selects programs.

May the sounds of the shofar herald a year of peace & happiness.

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70 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

fully understood the social dos and don’ts of Austrian society. Their hero, Baruch, is modelled, in part, on a reallife Jewish actor of the mid-19th century, Bogumil Dawison, who never quite made it to the top.

The prominent director of Vienna’s most important theater, Heinrich Laube, apparently didn’t believe Jews could handle leading roles. Moreover, he demanded that all his Jewish actors either assimilate or be fired.

The pull of assimilation was strong in both Germany and Austria, which attracted large numbers of Jews from the poor regions of Eastern Europe who flooded into Vienna and the cities of Germany. Many quickly abandoned the ancient law in favor of the social and political advantages that came with religious conversion.

But the hero of The Ancient Law never gives up his attachment to his religious upbringing, even when he chooses, after great anguish, to go on stage on erev Yom Kippur in his first starring role.

It’s said that the silent film, “The Ancient Law,” may have inspired, just four years later, the first great success of the sound motion picture era, “The Jazz Singer,” in 1927. It starred the great American Jewish singer, Al Jolson, who also struggles in the film with assimilation and the power of religious tradition.

Although it is not immune to the occasional theatrical excesses of the films of the period, “The Ancient Law” generally is a well-crafted, atmospheric story of Jewish life with strong performances that make you forget this is a film, without sound, that’s more than two hours long.

Although the German print did not survive the war years, the cinema detectives in Berlin painstakingly pieced together the film with prints found in five nations, including our own Library of Congress, and even matched up the original tinted film stock.

They added an original musical score by the master of silent film music in our time, the composer and pianist Donald Sosin, and one of the greatest klezmer violinists in the world, Alicia Svigals. She co-founded and led for many years the Grammy award-winning Klezmatic band. Both Sosin and Svigals were on hand this week to accompany the film in a live performance. ■ “The Ancient Law” was another in a series of this year’s AJFF Selects presentations, which screens a selection of films with Jewish themes at area theaters throughout the year. This program was co-sponsored by the German Consulate General in Atlanta and Emory University’s Department of Film and Media Studies.

ARTS

“Operation Finale” is a Historical Thriller The true story “Operation Finale” details the Israeli abduction of Nazi Adolph Eichmann from Argentina in 1960. Directed by Chris Weitz (“The Golden Compass,” and the “Twilight” series), the film focuses primarily on the agents who seized Eichmann.

“Operation Finale” Jen opens with the unorthodox Evans rebel Israeli agent Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) and the Mossad grabbing a man from his home and shooting him in his yard in 1954, only to discover that it is the wrong Nazi they’re looking for … the Nazi they’re after has been spotted in Argentina. The intensity of this scene prefaces the tempo of the story.

The film details the mission to capture Eichmann (Ben Kingsley), the “Architect of the Final Solution.” He was the mastermind that brought millions of innocent Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.

Eichmann had been reported dead after WWII and Nazi Germany’s collapse, but he escaped to Buenos Aires where he was living under an assumed identity with his wife and two sons. Argentina in the late 50s was crawling with Nazi sympathizers, which made it easier for Eichmann to blend in. He led his life there working at a Mercedes-Benz plant and habitually taking the same bus home from work every day, as a normal Argentinian would do, which ultimately led to his demise.

Fifteen years after the end of World War II, Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad and security agency Shin Bet plot the secret capture of Eichmann after they receive credible information and photographic evidence of his whereabouts

in Argentina. They come by this information from a young woman named Sylvia Hermann (Haley Lu Richardson) who is dating a young Nazi, Klaus (Joe Alwyn). Sylvia, who was raised Catholic, finds out she is Jewish from her father, Lothar (Peter Strauss), and that Klaus’ father is Eichmann.

Knowing this, she is sent to confirm Eichmann’s iden-

A movie still captures the tension and complex dynamic between captor Malkin (Isaac) and captive Eichmann (Kinglsey).

tity.

The news of Eichmann’s whereabouts reaches Israel, and Malkin and the team are put on the mission to secretly transport him to Israel to stand trial for his unthinkable crimes. There he would be publicly tried in the global reckoning of the Holocaust.

The film goes through the intricate planning of Eichmann’s abduction and, when the time comes, the capture goes off without a hitch. A very powerful scene, flawless and well-orchestrated, this is the best scene in the film by far.

From there we see the array of characters battle with themselves and each other on how to proceed with keeping Eichmann in hiding. Complications arise with their escape back to Israel from their makeshift safe house. All members of the team feel unsettled by the fact that they are in such close quarters with a man who had taken part in the murders of their families.

Part of the team is Dr. Hanna Elian (Mélanie Laurent) who is there to sedate Eichmann when the time comes to transport him to Israel. She is also the exgirlfriend of Malkin, which provides flirtatious glances and male-female banter that lightens the mood of the film.

While in captivity, the cat-and-

mouse game between Malkin and Eichmann becomes complex, as each were master manipulators. Malkin tries to get Eichmann to sign papers indicating that he is willing to go to trial in Jerusalem. Here we see the powerful acting and chemistry between Kingsley and Isaac.

However, these exchanges are cut too short in the film, which is unfortunate because this was the heart of this drama.

Although there is very little time spent on the trial and the aftermath of the characters, Weitz does give this film the respect the story deserves. “Opera-

L’ Shana Tova 5770 L’Shana Tova 5779

L’ Shana Tova L’ Shana Tova 5770 5770 Wishing the Atlanta Jewish Community a Year of Peace and Health, and a

Blessing in the Book of Life

Rosalyn Bush, Director/Founder

6215 Black Water Trail Sandy Springs, GA 30328 404-256-5542 Rosalyn Bush, Director/Founder

Rosalyn Bush, 6215 Black Water Trail

6215 Black Water Trail Rosalyn Bush, Director/Founder Sandy Springs, GA 30328 404-256-5542

Director &

Sandy Springs, GA 30328 Founder 404-256-5542

from, The Bush Wishing the Atlanta Jewish Community Centre for Ballet

A Year of Peace and Health, and a Blessing

In the Book of Life From Wishing the Atlanta Jewish Community

6215 Black Water Trail ■ Sandy Springs, GA 30328 404.256.5542 ■Bush www.bushballetcentre.com Centre for Ballet In the The Book of Life

A Year of Peace and Health, and a Blessing

From Atlanta Jewish Community Wishing the

A Year Peace Health, and a Blessing The BushofCentre forand Ballet

In the Book of Life

tion Finale” is a good movie but is more geared for Netflix or The History Channel. ■ “Operation Finale” opened Aug. 29 in area theaters.

This true-life dramatic thriller stars Academy Award® winner Ben Kingsley as Eichmann, Golden Globe® winner Oscar Isaac as Peter Malkin and comedian Nick Kroll in a supporting role as Rafi Eitan.

Rated: PG-13 for disturbing thematic material and related violent images, and for some language. Run Time: 2 hours, 6 minutes

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SPOTLIGHT Comedian Liberman Brings Clean Schtick to MJCCA One of this generation’s great Jew- bachelor! ish comics, Avi Liberman, will perform Read on to learn about this new genOct. 14 at the Marcus JCC. His routine eration Jewish comic. will flow “clean as a whistle” with stories about his personal experiences and Jaffe: Will this be your first time in days as a preschool teacher, and poking Atlanta? fun at Israeli names. What’s especially Liberman: I performed at The Temadmirable is his annual charity tour ple on Peachtree a few years ago as well benefiting victims of terror attacks for as Chabad here. Also, Atlanta is familiar The Koby Mandell Foundation, an Israeli with comedian Sarge (Steve Pickman) nonprofit. He’s often accomwith whom I toured and perpanied on this tour with his formed in Israel.

Jewish friend, comedian and musician Sarge, who also Jaffe: How did you get has made several recent apstarted as a child? How pearances in Atlanta. would you describe your Liberman performs nastyle? tionwide at comedy clubs Liberman: Oh yes, I was and has appeared on CBS’s the “class clown.” I was into “Late Late Show” with Craig stand-up comedy and some Ferguson, on Comedy Cen- Marcia screenwriting. I identify tral’s “Premium Blend” and Caller Jaffe as Modern Orthodox, and “Make Me Laugh,” as well as style-wise I stick to a clean NBC’s “Friday Night!” Perhaps you will routine because that affords more opporrecognize him from TV commercials tunity. Initially I shied away from Jewish for Mercedes-Benz, Miller Lite and Star- material, but obviously that has changed. bucks.

As I matured, I could no longer separate Born in Israel, raised in Texas and that out. You can’t run away from who educated in New York, he now lives in Los you are. Now my routine is about my life Angeles. And hey, ladies, Avi is an eligible experiences in a Jewish world: the holi-

72 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

days, Israeli names – things like that. I am always changing my routines, … seeing what goes over well in a performance, flushing it.

In another part of my younger life, I was a teaching assistant and draw some material from that.

Often teachers get no respect.

Avi Liberman, host of the biannual ‘Comedy for Koby’.

Jaffe: You are behind a meaningful charity?

Liberman: “Comedy for Koby” is a biannual tour of Israel featuring some of America’s top stand-up comedians.

The tour, first launched in 2008, benefits The Koby Mandell Foundation, an Israeli nonprofit organization that works with victims of terror attacks. I started it and continue to recruit fellow comedians (of various races and religions) for the tour.

Jaffe: Who are some of the Jewish comedians you admire?

Liberman: Shelley Berman (whom I

met in Vegas) and Mel Brooks. I spent three mornings hanging out with Jackie Mason. The best was shooting a commercial with Don Rickles. He poked fun at me the whole day – how I dressed, my hair. You can imagine.

Jaffe: Share something funny that happened to you today that you might use as material.

Liberman: I went on a tour of a winery with Chasidic Jews from Brooklyn. I think that lends itself to a great “schtick.”

Jaffe: Leave us with a joke.

Liberman: I had a friend who went to Israel for 40 days in a row to find his soulmate. The good news is that he did find her! So, then he divorced his wife. ■ See Liberman in person at the Marcus JCC’s Morris & Rae Frank Theatre at 5 and 7 p.m. Oct. 14. Tickets are $20 to $28.

COMMUNITY Simcha Announcements

Mazel Tov

Sandy Springs/Buckhead Eagle Scout Earns Highest Honors from Jewish Scouting On Friday night, Aug. 24, Rabbi Brad Levenberg of Temple Sinai presented Eagle Scout Ethan Hartz, 17, with the highest honor from the National Council on Jewish Scouting, the Etz Chaim (Tree of Life) emblem. He had previously earned the Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) and Aleph awards.

This medal recognizes teens in the Boy Scouts of America who proactively explore adult roles in the context of family, community, and the Jewish faith. Ethan is a senior at the Galloway School, a member of Temple Sinai, and a leader in Troop 467, chartered by Peachtree Road United Methodist Church. He is the son of Jennifer and Eric Hartz of Sandy Springs. ■

Rabbi Brad Levenberg presented the Etz Chaim emblem to Ethan Hartz.

Mazel Tov

Jon Albert Named 2018 CNN Hero Jon Albert was chosen as a CNN Hero, an award that recognizes individuals who make extraordinary contributions and make a difference.

Albert is the founder of Atlanta-based Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation. JAJF eases the burden of children whose parents are dealing with a cancer diagnosis and treatment. JAJF arranges WOW! Experiences, a prescribed time away from hospitals and treatments, to bond families through positive memories such as trips to the beach, baseball games, concerts, amusement parks, guest ranches and festivals.

Since 2006, JAJF has helped 1,000 families facing latestage cancer.

Jon Albert recognized JAJF was born from tragedy when Albert realas a hero on CNN. ized the cancer diagnosis of his late wife, Jill, was affecting the entire family. He served as director of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. After the 1996 Olympics, Albert became president of the builder division of Apex Supply, which was bought by The Home Depot.

CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute is a special television program hosted by Anderson Cooper. Ten recipients are elected each year and receive $50,000 each. ■

Student’s Book Offers Advice for Hard Times

By Roni Robbins roni@atljewishtimes.com It’s not every day a fourth-grader writes a book based on her challenges, offering mature advice to others dealing with difficult situations. Ruby Mundell is the rare exception, according to Davis Academy Assistant Principal Jeff Rothstein.

“In my 25 years in schools, I have only seen a young student write something this meaningful once before. What Ruby has created and shared is very unique and special, which is not surprising because she is a really unique and special kid.”

Rothstein helped Ruby develop “Kindness Come In,” her chapter book featuring her artwork and personal stories of adversity and bravery. It offers tools and tips for parents and children to face life’s challenges head-on and come out stronger. The book also provides advice on practicing compassion, consideration, thoughtfulness, self-expression and forgiveness.

Ruby lost her father to chronic lung disease five years ago and fought dyslexia and teasing when she was younger.

By expressing her thoughts and feelings through writing and drawing, Ruby said she found the healing, strength and courage to move forward.

We asked Ruby about her writing experience, her inspiration and her plans for the future. And we asked her assistant principal how he helped guide her.

74 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Here’s what they had to say: AJT: Who inspired you?

Ruby: A young girl named Ava (7 years old) wrote about having dyslexia and I thought that was really cool because she helped a lot of people, and I wanted to help a lot of people, too. So I wanted to write a book. My mom also wrote a book so I realized I could also write a book.

AJT: What was your experience with dyslexia and social challenges that led you to write this book?

Ruby: It was hard to understand the computer, but the writing part wasn’t hard. I went to Schenk (The Schenk School) for first and second grade and felt like I was ready when I came back to Davis.

AJT: Tell us about the writing process, how long it took you to write and your target audience.

Ruby: It took me about seven months to write it and the rest of the school year to edit it and get it ready to be printed. It is 57 pages long and it is for kids to help them deal with being bullied or teased.

AJT: How do you get yourself in the mood to write? When do you write?

Ruby: Usually when I get mad, I go to the computer and it calms me. When I am in a fight with my mom, sister or a friend, or when I am sad and missing my dad, going to the computer to write helps me.

AJT: What is your connection to

Ruby Mundell held a book launch party and signing on Aug. 18 at her mother’s store, The Packaged Good. Left inset, Mundell showcases her book, “Kindness Come In,” to help children and adults face and overcome challenging times.

The Packaged Good, where you had your book launch Aug. 18?

Ruby: When my dad died, he said his only regret was that he didn’t do enough good, so my mom created the PG. It is now a community place and I go there to make packages for soldiers, children in need, homeless and sick people.

AJT: What are your plans for the future?

Ruby: I want to be an art therapist because it gives me a chance to help people and do what I like.

AJT: Assistant Principal Rothstein, how did you help Ruby develop her book?

Rothstein: By the time Ruby started to share her drafts with me, we looked at ways for her to help kids dealing with some of the same challenges she encountered by being solution-oriented, positive, and using the values they are

learning at home and in school to handle them. We also looked at ways for her to include her artwork in the book as this is her primary passion.

AJT: How do you feel about the accomplishment and what does it say about Ruby and the school?

Rothstein: As a community, we are very proud of Ruby for her courage and spirit of tikkun olam that are revealed in this book. The book exemplifies the values she has learned at home and at school, making her a model for what we strive to achieve, while supporting the growth of all of our students. ■ Ruby and her book will be featured at the Book Festival of the MJCCA Nov. 8. For more information about Ruby Mundell and “Kindness Come In,” visit her website, www. rubymundell.com.

COMMUNITY

Epstein School Making Education More Affordable In an effort to make Jewish education more affordable for some, The Epstein School is starting a new Pay it Forward tuition reduction program made possible through $5 million in cash and endowment gifts the school recently raised. The money will launch a new 20Chai initiative to enhance the school’s high education standards and address affordability concerns, said Head of School David Abusch-Magder.

“Excellence is essential to families wanting to be part of our community, however, for some tuition is too great to achieve their dream of being an Epstein family,” Epstein wrote about the initiative. Pay it Forward will be available to students beginning with the 2019-20 school year. Applications will be online in October. The program is designed for current and new families who are in the beginning stages of their careers and finances. Traditional financial aid will still be available.

In addition to addressing affordability, the new 20Chai initiative allows Epstein to recruit and retain top teachers and create new positions to enrich learning. The new Teacher Innovation Fund encourages teachers to think differently

because they can get funding to bring their ideas to life in the classroom. Professional development grants also allow teachers to enhance their own learning from top institutions such as Columbia University’s Teachers College, Jewish

Theological Seminary, The School of Hebrew at Middlebury Language Schools, the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute.

Also financed through the 20Chai

initiative is the school’s new coordinator of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math), who is focused on integrating hands-on learning of subjects across the school, including additional Maker Morning activities, expanded coding and reverse engineering instruction, and STEAM in the chagim (festival) projects.

“Our team is excited to have the opportunity to grow learning opportunities like TILT, which stands for technology and innovation learning time, throughout the school,” said Aaron Griffin, principal of school-wide programs and digital learning. “We are also focused on aligning STEAM philosophies and components into Judaic studies.”

We will be continuing to innovate and enhance as the year goes on and in future years, said Tali Benjamin, Epstein’s director of strategic marketing and planning. ■ For more information about Pay it Forward, families can contact access@epsteinatlanta.org. To be a part of 20Chai, contact Chief Advancement Officer Ronette Throne at ronette.throne@epsteinatlanta.org.

"L'Shana Tova!"

Wishing You & Your Families a Sweet Healthy New Year!

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COMMUNITY

TDSA wishes you a Sweet

New Year Conservative Synagogues

filled with

Excitement, Exploration, & Wonder

Get Artsy for Selichot

By AJT Staff Members of Atlanta’s seven Conservative synagogues expressed their past year through art Sat., Sept. 1, at a joint, late-night program for Selichot, the official kick-off of the High Holiday season.

Rabbi Michael Bernstein of Congregation Gesher L’Torah in Alpharetta, where the joint event was held, said the synagogues were inspired to focus on art as the theme of the gathering based on a quote

by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “Above all, remember that the meaning of life is to build a life as if it were a work of art.”

Selichot is the opportunity to begin

For a tour of our school and to meet Rabbi Meir Cohen, our new Head of School, please contact Mrs. Leslee Morris at lmorris@torahday.org or 404-982-0800 ext. 100

the High Holiday season with teaching and prayers about reflection on the past year and inspiration for the new one, Bernstein said. All in attendance had the opportunity to use a collage of various colors to represent the important aspects of their past year, he said.

“With innovative approaches – even if without, for the most part, artistic expertise – participants shared their pieces and learned together ways to make the coming year more meaningful.”

“The Art of Teshuvah” interactive program and discussion at 9:45 p.m. was followed by a Selichot service led by the rabbis from the Conservative congregations. ■

Showing off Selichot artwork are Rabbis Neil Sandler (Ahavath Achim), Laurence Rosenthal (AA), Mark Zimmerman (Beth Shalom), Hillel Konigsburg (B’nai Torah), Dan Dorsch (Etz Chaim), Josh Heller (B’nai Torah), Shalom Lewis (Etz Chaim), Michael Bernstein (Gesher L’ Torah).

1985 LaVista Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30329 torahday.org

Creative expression: Members of Atlanta’s seven Conservative synagogues use art to illustrate their past year.

76 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

COMMUNITY

Middle Schoolers Display Personal Histories at Breman

By Logan C. Ritchie Twenty middle school students from Congregation Shearith Israel spent the past year planning projects to tell the story of their ancestors, in an exhibit that opened Aug. 27. “Curating Your Family Story” is on display until Sept. 16 at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum as part of an international program with The Museum

of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot in Israel. Beit Hatfutsot rewards winners with a trip to Israel to view final selections from around the globe. Stemming from an effort to maintain Jewish heritage and connect young people with their past, “Curating Your Family Story” explores each student’s personal history, genealogy and traditions through family recipes, maps and displays of art.

Julie Zeff, community engagement coordinator at the

Breman Museum, said the year-long curriculum teaches interviewing skills, the importance of artifacts and how to be an anthropologist for a day. During the final stages of completing their projects, students received help from local curators and artists.

Here are photos from the presentation at the Breman. Students introduced their projects in front of an audience of 60 people. ■

Congregation Shearith Israel students listened to presentations of their peers.

Students presented their projects to a crowd of about 60 attendees.

Photos courtesy of Ariel Simons

“Curating Your Family Story” is on display at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum until Sept. 16.

Sarah Zeff displays a jewelry box she created to represent her family heirlooms.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 77

COMMUNITY

A Weekend of Israel and Leadership for Teens

Participants of the Center for Israel Education's first Teen Institute in Atlanta in April 2018.

The Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education (israeled.org) and the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel (ismi. emory.edu) invite Jewish 10th- and 11thgraders to apply to attend the Teen Israel Leadership Institute during the weekend of Oct. 26 to 28.

The institute will feature a series of learning activities to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of Israel and Zionism while they experience Jewish life on a college campus (Emory University) and forge friendships with peers from across the country.

The inaugural Teen Israel Leadership Institute was held in April and drew 24 Jewish teens from nine states plus Israel. The students learned about Israeli history, politics, innovation and culture, the Israeli-Arab conflict, and Zionism. They participated in Shabbat services and had Friday dinner at the Emory Hillel house. They visited the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. They discussed what Israel means to them and had a “Chopped”-style food competition with hummus.

Aliza Reinstein, 17, of Potomac, Md., now a senior at Wootton High School, said the hummus competition was her favorite part of a weekend that enriched her understanding of modern Israel and the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

“Hearing from both sides and different perspectives was one of the best things I got out of the program,” she said, praising the impartial presentations and adding that the civil rights center provided an “overall human perspective.”

Perhaps most important, the institute showed students how to apply their knowledge to the benefit of their home communities. The teens at the October retreat will work on educational projects they can bring back to their schools, synagogues or other organizations.

The cost of $100 for the three-day pro78 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

gram includes double-occupancy lodging and kosher food. Travel subsidies of up to $200 are available.

The institute is part of a year-old, national CIE initiative to provide more impactful education on Israel to Jewish teens.

Leading the program are CIE President and ISMI Director Ken Stein, who has taught the modern Middle East at Emory since 1977; CIE Vice President Rich Walter, a former director of Hebrew high schools in New Haven, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, and was the New England regional director of March of the Living for a decade; and Steve Kerbel, an educational consultant in the Washington area who spent 14 years as a synagogue education director.

Partners in the institute include Emory Hillel and the North American Association of Community & Congregational Hebrew High Schools. A grant from the Legacy Heritage Fund is supporting the program.

The deadline to apply for the institute is Oct. 1. Each applicant must describe a proposed Israel learning project — a course, a teen program for Yom HaAtzmaut, a film series, a website — and include a letter of support from a rabbi, an educator or another person who can explain why the student would be a good fit for the program.

More information and the online application can be found at israeled.org/ teens.

“Everyone should apply,” Aliza said. “I got so many awesome experiences out of it.

It was amazing.” ■ Find more comments from institute participants and their parents at www.israeled. org/educators/youth-and-teen-israel-enrichment-programs/youth-program-comments.

For more information, contact Michael Jacobs at michael@israeled.org or 404-9747134.

COMMUNITY

Noshfest: More Than Good Jewish Eats More than 5,000 people came for a bite and a nibble at Temple Kol Emeth’s eighth-annual Noshfest over the Labor Day weekend.

The two-day event featured 55 vendors and included samples of Jewish and ethnic foods, crafts, gifts, interactive

exhibits, a kids’ zone with inflatables, games, face painting and a petting zoo along with dancing and entertainment.

The Alex Guthrie Band performed on Sunday, following a Bagel Eating Contest that pitted six contestants against each other in a battle of carb-loading and ex-

panding waistlines. Brandon Clark, “Da Garbage Disposal,” a professional eater from Chicago, won the contest by snarfing down seven bagels in five minutes. He beat the previous record of five bagels.

Noshfest celebrates Jewish food and culture by showcasing delicacies and ac-

tivities unique to the Jewish heritage. The event brings together members of Cobb County’s diverse community for the two-day festival in the parking lot of the Marietta synagogue, which also included a tour of its sanctuary for anyone interested. ■

Noshfest attracted more than 5,000 to the two-day event, which included Jewish and ethnic fare.

Andi and Ella Thalheimer, third-generation members of Temple Kol Emeth, enjoyed the petting zoo.

Cody, Joshua, and Rebekah Cipolla took a cool ride in the shade of their Radio Flyer during Noshfest. Rebekah had her face painted at the festival.

Robert Wilson, Druw Biello, Ethan Wilson and Alonzo Lestage volunteered during morning set-up of the festival.

The shul in the center of the city

Dale Jacoby and Sarah Thalheimer were co-chairs of Noshfest. They are sisters who grew up at Temple Kol Emeth. Their parents were among the first members and were active on several committees and the synagogue board.

The largest Sephardic synagogue in the Southeast nestled in Brookhaven, Atlanta.

TheWe largest Sephardic synagogue invite you to join us for Rosh Hashanah in andthe Yom Kippur services led by Rabbi Hayyim Kassorla and Southeast nestled in the Brookhaven guest Cantor Rabbi Hazzan Avraham Sultan. neighborhood Atlanta.

Contact the synagogueof office for details.

Professional eater Brandon Clark won the Bagel Eating Contest with seven bagels in five minutes.

1681 North Druid Hills Road, Brookhaven 30319 404-633-1737 office@orveshalom.org ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 79

L’SHANA TOVA

APPOINTMENTS ONLINE!

COMMUNITY Parsha: N’tzavim Shabbat

5779, the Year of Shabbat Shabbat Together Brings Judaism to Down to Earth

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The apartment was about 400 square and in your heart, to observe it. (Deuteronomy feet, if that, and its owner, a 20-something 30:12-14) I believe that this kind of accessibilyoung Jewish professional in Cincinnati, did not have a baking pan, a proper knife, ity to Judaism begins with Shabbat dinner.

For the past several years now or a bottle of olive oil to his I have spent countless Shabname, and yet, it was one of bats mentoring and empowerthe most beautiful Shabbats ing friends to see the simple of my life. We had everything practice of Shabbat dinner as we needed, a love for Jewish within their reach. Anyone identity, a desire to bring Judacan create a Jewish moment ism into the home, and a willin their home regardless of ingness to be creative. After space, cooking ability or exthis Shabbat, the words of this perience. I feel blessed that week’s parasha became clear.

Temple Emanu-El encourages Our tradition is not supposed Rabbi my mission through our Shabto be an unapproachable, mys- Max Miller bat Together experience, a proterious teaching. Judaism is meant to be as easy to access as a plate, fork gram designed to help unaffiliated Jews and or knife. As Moses is at the end of his life, he members of the Temple Emanu-El commuimplores the Israelites to see the Covenant nity foster a Shabbat dinner practice.

Moses teaches us that we are the inthe same way, as within their grasp and unheritors of a tradition that is for us to shape derstanding: It is not in the heavens, that you should and mold. I believe that when we create say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens unique weekly moments that connect us and get it for us and impart it to us, that we with our Jewish identity, then the more of may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, Jewish tradition will fall within our reach. that you should say, “Who among us can cross After all, the Covenant is not just with those to the other side of the sea and get it for us and present at Moses’ speech, it is for all the impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, subsequent generations of Jews as well.

As we enter the High Holy Days, let the thing is very close to you, in your mouth Moses’ words serve us as an essential reminder that Judaism is for each of us. We will engage with the sometimes-unfamiliar words and melodies of the High Holy Days, and we might feel as though Judaism is truly something in the heavens or across the sea; however, my prayer is that we will find ways in this new year to claim our inheritance in the chain of tradition.

Rabbi Max Miller is a rabbi at Temple Emanu-El. Engraving by Gustave Doré of Moses presenting the commandments.

Paid for by friends of Brian Kemp 80 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

COMMUNITY OY VEY! HAVE I GOT A PROBLEM...

Dear Rachel,

le is Isaac, an adorab ungest of whom yo e d, th te n, us re dj l-a ild el ch w d is a I have three l close friends an ra pve lo se s ve ha de c w aa ne Is derful 5-year-old boy. o, we had a won ag s om th fr on ay m aw w fe ks oc happy child. A a home a few bl sister moved into r ere both so exw de e ol w y d m t: an en n, m so ld r-o ea 5-y a friende has one usins to strike up co where we live. Sh e th r fo d an is a classic ily nearby little one, Asher, cited to have fam er H . ay w at th ry bossy ’t happen him, and he is ve to ship. But life didn a m he at an is hand, is g his toys aac, on the other Is . only child. Sharin ay w s hi ng hi bent out ing everyt hy Asher gets so w and insists on do nd ta rs de un t ine, the and doesn’ . As you can imag ys to used to sharing, s hi ith w ay r the two tries to pl and my hopes fo , of shape when he es ch at m g in to scream playdates turn in smoke. friends e have gone up in os cl be to s in she doesn’t have ; us er co m co w ne a is gh Leah, fficult. Even thou Since my sister, tes for Asher is di da em ay pl th t g in ge ng to ra s ie tr to call on, so ar water, Leah still are like oil and r he d. re As d bo is an r c he aa Is ise As ly because otherw to go in timent ue ng vi eq fr ha er up th ge nd to ou w c aa Is , te playda fists and During their last d me balling my ha ss ne ir fa un e to play her. But th time Isaac tried y er out for hitting As Ev . m ru nt ta a mave into a her dissolved into As , wanting to dissol ke bi or ks uc c’s hands. r’s cars, tr e toy out of Isaa th with one of Ashe g in ch at sn d nce and aming an e limit of his patie th jor tantrum, scre d he ac re c aa ng. Yet, ear old, Is he waited that lo at th Like a normal 5-y ed az am as w m, “Even onestly, I t and remind hi en finally reacted. H om m ng hi ac y and use ze the te ve to be a big bo I still had to utili ha u yo ly, ce ni g t playin though Asher isn’ ol that r to the same scho he your words.”

As g in nd se so is al ea of havTo top it off, Leah my mind at the id in ng gi an cl e ar m bells that to my sister?

Isaac attends. Alar but how do I say s, as cl any way, e m sa e th r relationship in ou ing them in e ag m da or ah rt Le dynamic.

I don’t want to hu le this unhealthy nd ha to w ho re but I’m not su

Sincerely, air Pulling Out My H

Dear Pulling Out Your Hair, Isaac is lucky to have such a sensitive, intuitive parent. Your caring for him rings through every line of your letter. I agree wholeheartedly. Why should his playdates have to turn into boxing matches? Yet, you don’t want to just close the door. You’re concerned about your relationship with your sister and want to keep things on an even keel, not to mention encourage cousincloseness. In addition, your sister has just moved in; naturally you want to be warm and welcoming. So, what’s a person to do when caught between a rock and a hard place?

I feel that your child should be your priority. As a 5-year old, he is totally dependent on you to support his physical and emotional well-being. If playing with Asher is unhealthy for him, then he deserves to be protected from that experience as much as possible. That is not to say that the cousins should never get together. Perhaps shorter intervals can be attempted, and maybe a neutral territory, like a park, would be more conducive to positive interactions.

Can you call the school, explain the situation, and see if the cousins can be separated into different classes? I have the feeling that you are probably not the only one dealing with this situation, and perhaps the school would be sympathetic. Leah will never know that the decision was instigated by you.

And there will be a major benefit: Asher will have the opportunity to have a whole new network of friends, a different crowd from those in Isaac’s circle!

I wonder if their friendship can be fostered with an occasional treat. If you’re planning to stop off for ice cream one day, can you invite Asher along?

Little spurts of time involving pleasant experiences can plant new seeds.

Having a sibling move to your neighborhood sounds so wonderful from an outsider’s viewpoint. But real life can be complicated. Yet, as we all know, it is the challenges, whether small or large, that build our muscles, fortifying us with resilience and endurance.

I hope that one day, Isaac and Asher will be close friends! Kudos to you for looking out for your child and for caring about your sister and nephew.

Navigating this new territory with sensitivity is the best way to go. May your efforts bear fruits soon! ■

Wishing you all the best, Rachel Atlanta Jewish Times Advice Column Got a problem?

Email Rachel Stein at oyvey@atljewishtimes.com, describing your problem in 250 words or less.

We want to hear from you and get helpful suggestions for your situation at the same time!

Identifying details will be changed upon request.

L’Shana Tovah

Your GO TO Specialists for all YOUR REAL ESTATE Needs

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CALENDAR sored by Atlanta Jewish Music Festival and The Weber School. Free. For more information, www.bit.ly/2nVTxbJ.

CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

Kegels & Bagels – Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Atlanta, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Enjoy bagels and listen to Dr. Amy Wolkin. Free for members, $5 for the community. For more information and to register, www.bit.ly/2vYXzEI.

Nitzavim Friday, September 7, 2018 light candles at 7:37 p.m.

Saturday, September 8, 2018 Shabbat ends at 8:31 p.m.

Rosh Hashanah Sunday, September 9, 2018 light candles at 7:34 p.m.

Monday, September 10, 2018 light candles after 8:28 p.m.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018 holiday ends 8:27 p.m.

Vayelech Friday, September 14, 2018 light candles at 7:27 p.m.

Saturday, September 15, 2018 Shabbat ends at 8:21 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

Senior Day at the MJCCA – Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Atlanta, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For active seniors. Activities and kosher lunch included. $5, open to the community. For more information, www.bit.ly/2L99FQt.

Congregation Beth Shalom’s Prospective Member Shabbat – 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet Rabbi Zimmerman and other members of the kehillah. Free. For more information, www.bethshalomatlanta.net or call 770-399-5300.

NE, Atlanta, from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. The topic this week is “The Ottoman Empire’s Jewish State, Jewish Leaders, and Jewish Power in the Harem” by Seth Fleishman. Free. For more information, www.bit.ly/2MovDV0.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

MJCCA Arts and Culture Presents Sandcatchers – Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Atlanta, from 8 to 10 p.m. Sandcatchers consists of oud, lap steel, bass and drums, with special guest Erik Friedlander on cello. $15 for members, $20 for the community. For more tickets and information, www. bit.ly/2wrYrB7.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

AJA: Tashlich, Tots & Teens with Rabbi Leubitz (Blue Heron) – Piedmont Park, 10th Street and Charles Allen Drive, Atlanta, from 9:30 to 11 a.m.

For more information, https://www. atljewishacademy.org/.

Sandy Springs Infertility Support – MACoM, Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah, 700-A Mount Vernon Highway NE, Sandy Springs, from 6:45 to 8 pm. Free. For confidential registration, www.bit.ly/2OVtc95. For questions call Elana Frank, 770-843-7413.

Intergenerational Brunch for Young Adults and Holocaust Survivors – Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta Prime Minister’s Event – Yoga and Spirituality – Congregation Beth Shalom, 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, from 10 to 11 a.m.

Combining yoga and Jewish spirituality. Bring a yoga mat, towel and water.

Free. For more information, call 770399-5300.

High Holiday Bootcamp – Chabad Intown, 928 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. First in a series of three sessions. Free. For more information, www.bit.ly/2PpUcyN.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7

City Springs, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, starting at 6 p.m. Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dinner and an interactive experience celebrating Jewish Atlanta. Live music on the rooftop patio with The Joe Alterman Trio. For more information and to RSVP, www.jewishatlanta.org/prime-ministers-event/.

The Sixth Point’s Rosh in the Park – 1442 Ashford Creek Circle NE, Atlanta, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. An opportunity to get personal and feel connected. For young adults only. Free. No registration required. For more information, www.bit.ly/2MDDVYq.

Westview Cemetery Tour – Westview

Shabbat, Me & Rabbi G @ the JCC – Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Atlanta, from 5 to 6 p.m. Activities and crafts followed by songs and blessings with Rabbi Glusman, concluding with a visit from the popular “Weinstein School Shabbat Dinosaur.” Challah and grape juice will be served. Free and open to everyone. For more information and to RSVP, www.bit.ly/2BwiaoZ.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

Acoustic Shabbat Café – Dunwoody –

Chabad of Toco Hills Presents: World History by a Jew – Torah Day School of Atlanta, 1985 Lavista Road

82 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

Road, Atlanta, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The MJCCA Young Adults, JF&CS Young Adult Volunteer Group, VIA (Volunteers In Action) and JF&CS Holocaust Survivor Services invite Holocaust survivors and young adults in the Atlanta area to join them for a special intergenerational brunch. Free and open to the community. For more information, www.atlantajcc.org/pldb-live/ intergenerational-brunch-40919/.

Alon’s Bakery & Market, 4505 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, from 7 to 9 p.m. Join Rabbi Glusman, Drew Cohen and teen musicians from The Weber School for an evening of music and Shabbat prayers. Food and wine available for purchase. This interactive, Shabbat-themed experience is spon-

Cemetery, 1680 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Explore one of Atlanta’s oldest cemeteries with local historian and author, Jeff Clemmons. Free for members, $10 for non-members. For more information, www.bit.ly/2wkLhH5.

Tashlich at the Lake – JCC Zaban Park – Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Atlanta, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Bumper boats, paddle boats, songs with Rabbi G

SEPTEMBER 6-23

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

Congregation Bet Haverim’s Shofar on the Mountain – Arabia Mountain, Georgia, from 4 to 8 p.m. With support from InterfaithFamily/Atlanta, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Honeymoon Israel – Atlanta, and the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival. Free. RSVP to receive information about location, ridesharing, and potluck signup, www.bit.ly/2Ms8FfN. and more. Free and open to all. For more information, www.bit.ly/2PPwAnw.

Israel Today – 2646 Weddington Place, Marietta. Join Hadassah Etz Aviv as it welcomes Ambassador Judith Varnai Shorer, Israel’s Consul General to the Southeastern U.S. Light refreshments will be served. Free. RSVP to rozreiss@ gmail.com by Sept. 12.

730 Ponce De Leon Place NE, Atlanta, from 9 to 11 p.m. Lantern making and musical Havdalah. Limited parking. For prices and more information, www.bit. ly/2Nupgfz.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

Infertility Support Group - Intown – Jewish Fertility Foundation, 60 Lenox Point NE, Atlanta, from 7 to 8 p.m. Facilitated by licensed therapist Ashley Marx.

Free. RSVP to JewishFertilityFoundation. org or call Elana Frank, 770-843-7413.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

FIDF Southeast Region Bike Ride –

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

Havdalah & Lantern Parade VIP Section – Chabad Intown On the Beltline,

Sosebee Cycling Park, 465 Simpson Road NE, White, from 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. Celebrate Israel’s 70th and ride 70 miles to honor and benefit our heroes. From free to $70. For more information, southeast@fidf.org or call 678-250-9030. ■

Find more events and submit items for our online and print calendars at:

www.atlantajewishconnector.com

Calendar sponsored by the Atlanta Jewish Connector, an initiative of the AJT. Please contact community liaison, Jen Evans for more information at jen@atljewishtimes.com.

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 | 83

BRAIN FOOD Starts to the New Year By: Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Easy 1

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ACROSS 1. Annoys 5. Not live, as on TV 10. Snake sound 14. Mine finds 15. Kemper who plays Kimmy Schmidt 16. Arches National Park state 17. Trips after being under the chuppah 19. Prefix with phone, tron or bytes 20. Leb. neighbor 21. Mimicked 22. Big name in Jewish camps 23. Chew on a baby toy, say 25. “The Man” Musial 27. Building a sukkah near them is a bad idea 33. Cold home 36. Make into a movie, maybe 37. Soap ingredient 38. “Dark” film 39. Makes mittens, in a way 40. “Just Do It” brand 41. . follower 42. ‘The Da ___ Code’ 43. With ___ breath (showing anticipation) 44. They can remind people to burn more (Rosh Hashanah) calories

47. Hawaiian necklaces 48. Best Actor winner in 2018 52. They aren’t given to Israelis in some Arab countries 55. Batman’s hood 57. Some kosher symbols 58. First name?

59. The tale of Jonah?

62. Del Rey or Turner 63. Legendary composer Morricone 64. Dershowitz of note 65. They might be split 66. Linda Ronstadt hit “Blue ___” 67. Fem. counterpart

22. Deliver a diatribe, e.g.

24. One eyed Marvel hero 25. Crackling noise, in radio 26. Recipe abbr.

28. Mums’ mums 29. Authoritative order 30. Skirt opening 31. Little one 32. Plant starter 33. Ancient Peruvian 34. Gunk 35. Bizkit of rock 39. One from New Zealand 40. ___AQ, NYSE competitor 42. Victory letters 43. Quasimodo rang them 45. Alpaca relatives 46. “___ doin’?” (Tribbiani catchphrase) 49. Cash, casually 50. Angels might have them 51. Big boy band in 2000 52. Land between hills, poetically 53. “Boee” singer Raichel 54. Beach, mostly 55. They sang 56-Down 56. State that was a hit for 55Down 59. Summer mo., in Australia 60. “Barefoot” Garten in the kitchen 61. When doubled, a cracker

DOWN 1. Like a rare baseball game 2. Got up 3. 38-Across, e.g.

4. Tel Aviv to Hebron dir.

5. Short fuse, so to speak 6. Sunburn soother 7. Slog (through) 8. ___ Gedi, Israel 9. Moines preceder 10. Compassionate 11. Tabloid twosome 12. Long tale 13. Iran ruler, once 18. Where many play Fantasy Football

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 1

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Torah’s 16-member team captured the trophy in the competition, beating the Ahavath Achim Synagogue team by a score of 10-8.

■ The bat mitzvah of Lily Frisch of Atlanta took place at 10 a.m. Mon., Sept. 6, at Congregation B’nai Torah. Lily is the daughter of Gloria and Geoff Frisch.

15 Years Ago // September 5, 2003 ■ Torah Day School of Atlanta, an Orthodox institution for children in kindergarten through eighth grade, has started its 19th year in a much-anticipated new facility that will serve its own students as well as open its doors to the larger Jewish and nonJewish community.

■ Harvey and Carolyn Berkowitz of Marietta announce the engagement of their daughter, Jennifer Rose, to Dale Scott Douglas, son of James and Mary Douglas of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.

84 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

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25 Years Ago // September 3, 1993 ■ Congregation B’nai Torah took the championship trophy in the Synagogue Softball League, held Aug. 29, at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center’s Peachtree branch. Congregation B’nai

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Polish theater director Ida Kaminska

50 Years Ago // September 6, 1968 ■ Ida Kaminska, the renowned director of the Jewish State Theatre in Poland, fled from Warsaw in the face of an intensified anti-Semitic campaign. Miss Kaminska is planning to settle in the U.S. in the hope of resuming her career in the Yiddish theater here.

■ Miss Elsa Weinstein left Tuesday for her freshman year at Brandeis University. She is the daughter of Mrs. Hannah Weinstein and the late Dr. Alfred Weinstein.

Apple Chutney Roasted Salmon

KEEPING IT KOSHER

learn to adjust the amounts of spices to your own taste.

Recipe by Levana Kirschenbaum Source: KosherScoop.com See more: www.bit.ly/apple-chutney Cook and prep: 1 hour 15 minutes Servings: 4 No Allergens Preference: Parve Difficulty: Medium Occasion: Rosh Hashanah Diet: Pescetarian, gluten free Cuisine: Indian Chutneys, from the Hindi “to be licked” (an inspired derivative if you have ever tasted a good one), are relishes that originated in India to preserve fruits and vegetables. Sweet, tart, chunky and with a bit of fire, a good chutney is complex and incredibly versatile. Serve chutneys with curries, roasts or cold cuts. Mix them with a little honey and add to fruit salads. Stir in low-fat mayonnaise or creamed tofu and serve as a dip. Incorporate in recipes … with salmon or meatballs. Chutney preparation is always based on the same principle: Fruits and/or vegetables are simmered in a hot liquid containing vinegar, sugar and spices until the mixture is reduced and thickened. Chutney is easy to make and to modify. After a few batches, you will

Ingredients: ¾ cup mustard seeds 3 ½ cups sugar 2 cups apple cider vinegar 2 cups diced tomatoes (fresh or canned) 2 tablespoons salt 1 tablespoon cayenne 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 tablespoon cardamom 1 tablespoon curry 2 cups raisins 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and quartered 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered 2 celery ribs, peeled and cut into thirds 1, 2-inch piece ginger, peeled ¼ cup oil (for protein) 1 side boneless, skinless salmon For the Apple Raisin Chutney: Put the mustard seeds, sugar, vinegar, tomatoes, salt, cayenne, turmeric, cardamom, curry and 2 1/2 cups water in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Coarsely grind the raisins, apples, onions, celery and ginger in a food processor, using the pulse button. Add the ground mixture to the boiling liquid and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat to medium-low

Yiddish Word of the Week schmooze

‫שמועס‬: A Yiddish word for a conversation, talk or dialogue. Used also for idle

talk or informal conversation, as in English: to schmooze – pass the time or “shoot the breeze.” It can also signify chatting in a friendly and persuasive manner, especially so as to gain favor, business, or connections. From Hebrew – ‫( שמועות‬n.pl.) “things one hears,” rumors, gossip. The word comes from the Yiddish shmuesn, "to chat" and from shmues, "idle talk." Among other uses: Google Talk instant messaging in Yiddish is ‫“ – גוגל שמועס‬Google schmooze.”

Rabbi Joab Eichenberg-Eilon, PhD, teaches Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic at the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, eTeacher Group Ltd.

and cook, covered, for about 30 minutes.

The mixture will thicken as it cools. Cool completely before storing in clean, widemouth glass jars. Store refrigerated.

For the Salmon: Use just one cup of the chutney in this salmon. Reserve the rest for another delicious use.

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Mix the chutney and the oil and smear mixture all over the salmon. Place the salmon in a baking pan just large enough to fit it snugly. (If it’s easier to halve the fillet to fit it more easily in the pan, go ahead and halve it.)

Bake 25 minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature. ■

Jewish Joke of the Week Look to the future

Rabbi Herzl was visiting Mrs. Gold, an elderly member of his congregation. Rabbi Herzl said, “You know, my dear Mrs. Gold, that you are getting on in years and although I pray to the almighty that he will grant you many more years in good health, you really should now be thinking more of the hereafter.”

Mrs. Gold replied, “Thank you, Rabbi, but I am always thinking about the hereafter.”

Rabbi Herzl was rather surprised with this response.

“Really?” he said.

“Oh yes, Rabbi, every time I go upstairs, I say to myself, ‘What am I here after?’ And every time I go into my kitchen, I say to myself, ‘What am I here after?’

I do it all the time now.” ■ Joke provided by David Minkoff www.awordinyoureye.comw

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OBITUARIES

David Shulman Atlanta Born ~ Atlanta Owned ~ Atlanta Managed

Funeral and Cemetery Pre-planning It’s easy: Over the phone, online, in person It’s safe: Pre-payments are 100% escrowed in an account you own It’s responsible: Simplifies arrangements, removes burden from family, and fixes most funeral costs WE HONOR ANY PRE-PAID FUNERAL FROM ANY OTHER FUNERAL HOME

770.451.4999 HelenScherrer-Diamond OutreachCoordinator

Edward Dressler, Owner

www.JewishFuneralCare.com

70, Atlanta

David Shulman, 70, was born on May 26, 1948, to Nat and Lillian Shulman of Charleston, S.C. He was the youngest of three siblings. He attended St. Andrews High School, graduating in 1966. After high school, David attended a junior college in Charleston and then Clemson University before enlisting in the U.S. Army. While in the Army, he served from 1970 to 1972 as a dental assistant at Fort Belvoir, Va. After honorable discharge, David moved to Atlanta and studied civil engineering at Southern Polytechnic University (now Kennesaw State University, Marietta campus). While in Atlanta, he met his wife of 31 years, Marsha Tepper Shulman, with whom he had two daughters. In his mid-40s, David went back to school and became certified as an HVAC technician. Upon completion of his certification, he then pursued a career in commercial HVAC, in which he worked until he became sick in April 2018.

In May of 2018, after a 24-day stay in the hospital, David was diagnosed with nonHodgkin’s lymphoma. Although responding well to his chemotherapy treatments, he contracted pneumonia. After another 24-day stay in the hospital, he succumbed to his illness.

David was extremely active in the Atlanta Jewish community. Most notably, he was the volunteer coordinator at Temple Emanu-El for the Temple Zaban Night Shelter for the Homeless (now known as the Zaban Paradies Center) for many years. Most recently, David was very active with the Jewish War Veterans. His other hobbies included playing with his two grand-dogs, Booker and Molly, traveling, and helping his friends and family.

He is survived by his daughters: Mara “Malka” Shulman of Atlanta and Simmi Shulman of Mountain View, Calif.; his brother and sister-in-law, Sanford and Sandy Shulman of Atlanta; his former wife, Marsha Tepper Shulman of Gulfport, Fla.; and brother-in-law, Paul Hirsch of Atlanta. David’s oldest sibling, Elaine Shulman Hirsch, of Atlanta passed in January of this year.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Jewish War Veterans Atlanta Bicentennial Post #112.

Funeral services were held Aug. 27, 2018, at Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, Atlanta.

The committal service was held Aug. 29, 2018, at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Cemetery, Charleston S.C. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999. You may sign the online guest book at Dressler’s.

Edie Fay Rubin Cohen 81, Athens

Edie Fay Rubin Cohen, 81, of Athens, died Aug. 27, 2018. The light has gone out in many hearts as the world has lost a truly wonderful lady and gentle soul. Always gracious and kind, Edie Fay was a devoted wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, grandmother and friend.

Edie was born in Atlanta, May 3, 1937. She attended Grady High School and went to the University of Georgia where she was an active member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and a sweetheart of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. She graduated with a teaching degree from UGA and went on to teach elementary school for several years. She later retired to work at an even harder job – being a full-time mom. She met her husband, Larry, at UGA and they were married in 1959. They went on to share almost 59 magical years together.

From living in Japan at Tachikawa Air Force Base, to coming home and raising a family in Athens, they shared great times and wonderful memories through the years as their family continued to grow. Edie enjoyed donating her time and was involved in many organizations. Some of the highlights include being a Pink Lady at St. Mary’s Hospital, an active member of the Congregation Children of Israel Sisterhood, and a second mom to all the girls as an advisor for Delta Phi Epsilon sorority at UGA. She loved to travel, and she and Larry were fortunate to travel the world through the years with family and friends, going on Rubin Brothers trips, her father’s floor-covering business. Later in life, she cherished the cruises the family took every year.

Family was always important to her – from taking care of her folks as they aged to welcoming her four grandchildren and even her grand-dogs – Edie was always a loving daughter, mom and grandmother for sure. Edie loved to play mahjong with friends; she enjoyed the camaraderie and challenge of a hot game. She also loved to garden, dabbled in stained glass art, and was a wonderful cook (she was famous for her sweet and sour meatballs). She also loved to escape into a good book, and of course the TV was always tuned to HGTV. And we cannot forget how Edie loved to SHOP! She had a true passion for it. Nothing made her happier than finding a fantastic deal on a handbag or outfit at Loehmann’s or Marshalls or T.J. Maxx. And quite often, she would simply be shopping for 86 | SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES

OBITUARIES others – picking up little gifts and trinkets for birthdays, thank-yous, or get-well-soons.

She was always thoughtful and generous that way.

To know Edie was to truly love Edie. She touched the lives of so many with her beautiful smile and presence, always putting others first and never going anywhere emptyhanded. And it truly was the simple things in life: dancing and socializing at bar mitzvahs and weddings, enjoying the rain as she sat on the porch at the lake house, overlooking the happenings on 30A from their beach condo, or simply just having her family around her.

That’s what made her happiest.

Edie was preceded in death by her parents, Lakie and Myer Rubin of Atlanta, and her husband Larry of Macon, who passed just four months ago. Survivors include her daughter; Robyn Cohen (Jennifer Wall) of Roswell; sons, Mark (Sara) Cohen of Johns Creek, and John (Lisa) Cohen of Mt. Juliet, Tenn.; grandchildren, Elyssa, Jacob, Cayla and Dylan; sister, Rhalda Kahn of Atlanta; brother Les Rubin (Nermine) of Clearwater Fla.; and sister-in-law, Sandy Cohen of Atlanta.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, Jewish Education Loan Fund (JELF), Hospice Atlanta, and the Congregation Children of Israel in Athens.

A graveside service was held Aug. 29, 2018, at Arlington Cemetery in Atlanta. Arrangements made by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Larry Cowen 68, Atlanta

Larry Cowen, 68, beloved son, brother, uncle, and wonderful friend to many, died on Aug. 29 in Atlanta after a courageous battle with a relentlessly aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease. Born on Sept. 25, 1949, in New York City, son of Bette V. and David J. Cowen, he attended Northside High School in Atlanta and the University of Georgia. He was a lifelong, ardent Georgia Bulldogs football fan, and he loved to watch their games with his friends. Even as illness took its toll, he eagerly awaited the start of the upcoming football season.

Larry worked for 32 years at Northside Hospital, transporting patients and later delivering vital supplies to various departments, all the while brightening the days of many patients and staff members with his wit and good humor. Well-liked and respected by his colleagues, Larry was extremely proud that he never had to apply for new assignments, but instead was sought after because of his conscientious work and the obvious enjoyment he got from helping others. Following retirement, Larry maintained friendships with numerous fellow employees and also volunteered at the hospital greeting visitors.

During recent stays at Northside as a patient, he was heartened when doctors, nurses, and other staff recognized him from his work there.

The phrase “He never met a stranger” fit Larry. Outgoing and kind, he nurtured friendships formed decades ago during high school and college. He was a mainstay of our family, keeping in touch with his nieces and nephews, as well as his Aunt Sylvia and her family. With every call, he shared his concern and love. And Larry had a warm sense of humor; always gentle and never belittling.

Larry responded to health challenges throughout his life with grace, patience and optimism. The most important thing for Larry was his relationship with other people. No matter how sick he became, he immediately was cheered if a friend or relative called or visited. He will be so missed by us all.

Larry was preceded in death by his parents, Bette and David, and is survived by his siblings, Michael (Naomi), Stephen (Julie), Alan (Lynda), and Debra (Beth); nieces, Dena Morton, Aviva Cowen, Ilana Cowen, Susie Cowen (Ross), Kelly McCaig (Jon), and Rhonda Hickey (Jim); nephews, Jason Cowen (Rachel), Jeff Campanella (Emily), and Ross Ronan (Susan); grand-nieces, Rebecca, Elisheva, Leah, Orla, and Madeline; and grand-nephews, Felix, Reed, Donovan, Logan, Aidan, and Vincent. He is also survived by his aunt, Sylvia Leikin, and cousins, Celia Stell (Doug), Howard Leikin (Terry), and Steven Leikin (Chiye).

The family wishes to express its appreciation to the many fine health-care professionals who treated Larry, and the caregivers who assisted him during the last year of his life. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Parkinson's Foundation (Parkinson.org).

A funeral service was held Sun., Sept. 2 at Temple Sinai, followed by burial at Greenwood Cemetery. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999. ■ Obituaries in the AJT are written and paid for by the families; contact Managing Publisher Kaylene Ladinsky at kaylene@atljewishtimes.com or 404-883-2130, ext. 100, for details about submission, rates and payments. Death notices, which provide basic details, are free and run as space is available; send submissions to editor@atljewishtimes.com.

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The Woman Who Couldn’t Cry Even though I sit in the same spot every Shabbat, when I go to services during the High Holy Days, I usually end up finding a seat near people I don’t know or whom I know only slightly. I look forward to rubbing shoulders (really) and praying in an ambience of newness, unpredictability and discovery. Sometimes I’m next to a woman with Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation; sometimes I’m treated to a gorgeous or Chana haunting voice; sometimes Shapiro I’m delighted by exotic or unexpected clothing; sometimes I’m entertained by an effusive response to the Torah portion or the rabbi’s sermon.

Once in a while I can explain something to a stranger, and just as often a stranger helps me. It’s OK if we never see one another again, but at the same time, I’ve met some great people.

Yom Kippur last year was a bonanza for me! I got to the synagogue early enough to select a seat from which I could perfectly see and hear the service. I was eager to discover who would end up sitting near me. One by one, three individuals soon took nearby seats, managing to arrive well before the Yizkor memorial service, which is always packed.

We smiled and nodded hello to one another, and then we got down to the business of prayer. I couldn’t help noticing the disparity among the three. On my

right was a casually-dressed teenager.

On my left was a small-boned, dignified elderly woman. Behind me sat a middleaged, stylish beauty. All of them read the Hebrew with fluency and seemed completely comfortable in our Orthodox shul. I wondered which of them would leave the sanctuary during the recitation of Yizkor, and who, as is our custom, would stay to recite it for departed members of their family.

I was saddened that the young woman beside me remained. In the few minutes before Yizkor began, she told me that an unmarried uncle had no children to recite Yizkor, so she decided to take that mitzvah upon herself. The older woman on my other side heard the story and told us about her late parents, husband and new greatgranddaughter. Even though the woman behind us seemed to be listening intently, she sat in silence.

My own parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents passed away many years ago, so the Yizkor experience was not new to me. But, inexplicably, this time my heart broke all over again. I was picturing my parents, siblings, cousins and grandparents long ago, on a typical Sunday afternoon in the park, where our extended family swam, played ball, argued about politics, told crazy stories, and ate a big picnic lunch. I missed them all so much

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that I could hardly bear it. I sobbed and sobbed and couldn’t stop.

The teen to my right put her arm around me. The woman on my left handed me a pack of tissues and patted my hand. She was crying, too.

As the non-Yizkor congregants came back into the sanctuary, the woman behind me leaned forward. “I envy you,” she said, flatly.

“Why?” “It looks like you loved your parents.”

“Of course. I’ll always love them.”

“You don’t know how lucky you are,” she declared.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I hated my parents. I got nothing from them, and I don’t mean money. I didn’t sit shivah for them, and I let my

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brother make all the funeral arrangements. I wish I could cry, but it’ll never happen.”

“Maybe one day ….” I said, helplessly.

“Never!” she insisted. “Never!” Then again, stronger, “Never!”

Within a few minutes after Yizkor, everyone had come back into the sanctuary, and the service continued. I was greatly disturbed by what I had just heard, and then I led my mind back to my own past. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. How blessed I was to grow up in a loving family! How blessed to cry helplessly during Yizkor because I missed them so much.

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A FRESH VIEW OF A HISTORIC PRESIDENCY Stuart Eizenstat, the Atlanta native who is a champion for Holocaust survivors and was President Carter’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, delivers the definitive history of the Carter Administration, including details from Eizenstat’s work as the official backchannel to the Israeli government in the Middle East peace negotiations.

“A COMPREHENSIVE AND PERSUASIVE ACCOUNT.” —THE WASHINGTON POST

“THOUGHTFUL, MEASURED, AND COMPELLING.” —THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“FASCINATING: DETAILED, INTIMATE, EVEN PAGE-TURNING.” —THE NATIONAL REVIEW

“AN ILLUMINATING, VITAL, AND ELEGANT COMBINATION OF WHITE HOUSE INSIDER’S MEMOIR AND WELL-RESEARCHED HISTORY.” —MICHAEL BESCHLOSS

“AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORY.” —WALTER ISAACSON

“TOUGH-MINDED, THOROUGH, AND THOUGHTFUL.” —LARRY SUMMERS

“AN IMPORTANT, FASCINATING BOOK . . . Eizenstat has provided us with a lengthy, detailed, and probably best account to date of the long, difficult road from Carter’s initial response to Sadat’s visit to the signing of the Camp David Accords in September 1978 and the full-fledged peace treaty in March 1979.”

—ITAMAR RABINOVICH, THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

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