J0080813

Page 1

2 ELUL 5773 • AUGUST 8, 2013 • VOLUME XXXVII, NUMBER 15 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY

Save the date for the 14th annual JMAC By Vicki Feldman The Jewish Music and Cultural Festival will celebrate its 14th year on Sunday, September 20, from noon-6 pm. As in the past, this year’s festival will be held at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse. The event will be free and open to the community. Among this year’s performers will be

internationally-known artists The Guy Mendilow Ensemble, as well as Zetz!, Farrah, West of Odessa and local musicians Keyna Hora Klezmer Band, Jonathan Dinkin and Klezmercuse, and the Kenesseth Shalom Singers. Additionally, there will be a selection of Va’ad-supervised kosher foods available for purchase indoors and outside. The

event will also feature a variety of artisans and vendors. The rabbis’ tent, the Robert Rogers Puppet Theater and the Open Hand Theater will return this year, and there will be activities for children of all ages. The JMAC sponsors include Price Chopper, Jewish Federation of Central New York, the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Cen-

ter of Syracuse, M&T Bank, Tiffany’s Catering, Eagle Newspapers, Syracuse New Times, Sunny 102, Natur-Tyme, Key Bank, Jewish Observer, Time Warner Cable, WAER, the Paul and Georgina H. Roth Charitable Foundation, Raymour and Flanigan Furniture, CNY Arts and Exhibits and More. For more information, visit http:// Syracusejewishfestival.com.

Jewish newcomers bring optimism, but can they revive small towns in the South? By Josh Lipowsky (JTA) – Standing beneath the chuppah during his wedding in May, Doug Friedlander said he felt a “magical moment,” and it wasn’t just because of his blushing bride. Theirs was the first Jewish wedding in Helena, AR, in more than 20 years. An ailing Mississippi River town of 12,000, Helena once was home to a Jewish community of 150 families. Today, fewer than a dozen Jews remain, most of them 85 or older. By 2006, the community could no longer support a synagogue, and Temple Beth El was turned over to the state, which remade it as a community center. Friedlander rented the facility for his wedding, which still has a Star of David on the glass dome above the former sanctuary and Hebrew passages inscribed in the doorways. “I had a feeling it was the end of young people getting married here,” said Mary Lou Kahn, whose daughter, Caroline, was the last person to be married in the synagogue, in 1989. “It was great that the attendance was so large that many people could see what became of our beautiful temple.” Helena’s story is a familiar one in the South, where many once-thriving, smalltown Jewish communities have all but disappeared, their young people drawn away

to better opportunities in bigger cities. But Friedlander’s recent wedding — indeed, his very presence — is among a number of signs of new Jewish life in the South, which, while perhaps not enough to reverse long-term demographic trends, has injected a dose of optimism into towns accustomed to a narrative of decline. “We understand one family can truly make a difference for the world and certainly for these small towns,” said Rabbi Marshal Klaven, director of rabbinic services at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which provides resources to small Jewish communities in the region. “If they participate in some sort of communal Jewish existence, then Judaism is still alive.” In 2010, Klaven was asked to lead a holiday service by members of the Upper Cumberland Jewish Community, a small chavurah of fewer than 20 people in Crossville, TN, a city of about 11,000 people east of Nashville. When Klaven showed up, he was surprised to find 70 people there. The community now holds Friday night services every other week for about 20 people; up to 75 may show up for holidays services, according to Nort Goodman, the community president. An interfaith Passover seder earlier this year drew about 150.

Upper Cumberland Jewish Community President Nort Goldman, left, Rabbi Marshal Klaven and Becky Ackerman led a Simchat Torah service in Crossville, TN, in October 2010. (Photo courtesy of Institute of Southern Jewish Life) “We don’t have a real synagogue and we don’t have a rabbi,” Goodman said. “There are probably more Jews than we know of. But for the ones who do it, it’s a way to cling to their faith and socialize with other Jews.” In Dothan, AL, a program that provides $50,000 grants to young families or retirees willing to stay for three years has attracted six takers since 2008. The program, which drew national headlines when it was first launched, has helped reverse the fortunes of Temple Emanu-El, which by 2008 was down to 50 families from 110 in the 1970s. “We’ve been able to really help reinvigorate the Jewish community here in Dothan,” said Robert Goldsmith, the temple’s membership chair. Jewish life in the South has been helped along by a trickle of young, college-educated newcomers drawn to the area by the small-town vibe and the opportunity to do the kind of meaningful work that’s much harder to find in a big city. One of them is Matty Bengloff, who

grew up in Manhattan, came to the South six years ago, and now owns a frozen yogurt shop in Cleveland, MS, with his fiancée. He attends a monthly Shabbat service at the small city’s Temple Adath Israel led by Harry Danziger, a Reform rabbi from Memphis. The synagogue has only about 20 members left, but the monthly gatherings draw about a dozen non-Jews, intrigued by the service and eager to support their Jewish neighbors. “It’s a little bit more laid back,” Bengloff said. “I definitely enjoy everyone knowing each other here.” The monthly services include Torah readings, a sermon and a potluck dinner. Danziger said the community’s commitment to Jewish life, including three bat mitzvahs in recent years, is cause for optimism in the South. “It really flies in the face of a stereotype that Jews from the South are excluded or outsiders,” he said. “There’s a great sense that Jews are part of the community.” See “South” on page 10

C A N D L E L I G H T I N G A N D P A R AS H A The May wedding of Doug Friedlander and Anna Skorupa was the first Jewish nuptials in Helena, AR, since 1989. (Photo courtesy of Doug Friedlander)

August 9...................7:59 pm.............................................................Parasha-Ki Tetze August 16.................7:49 pm..............................................................Parasha-Ki Tavo August 23.................7:38 pm..........................Parasha-Nitzavim-Vayelech (Selichot)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Reconnecting

Electric cars

Beersheva

In Kiev, the website Jewishnet Even though Better Place went Beersheva is hoping to bloom in the reconnects young Jews one post bust, some Israels are still bulish Negev as construction continues on at a time. for electric cars. homes and an amphitheater. Story on page 6 Story on page 8 Story on page 9

PLUS Home & Real Estate.................. 8 Women in Business................... 9 Calendar Highlights................10 Obituaries.................................. 11


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
J0080813 by Jewish Federation of CNY - Issuu