SJL New Orleans, February 2019

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February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

shalom y’all The recent Angela Davis controversy in Birmingham (comprehensive coverage is on our website, sjlmag.com) should be seen as part of the greater context of uneasiness in the Jewish community with rising anti-Semitism, often masquerading as anti-Zionism, among those who had been assumed to be natural allies. There are numerous attempts to exclude Jews from feminism and other social action movements because of “intersectionalism” with the Palestinian struggle, and a new tendency to paint Jews not only as white, but as key oppressors of people of color, and as such, unsuited to give opinions about oppression.

As an illustration, though the majority of Jews in Israel have Middle Eastern origins, activists claim with a straight face that Israel is a white supremacist endeavor.

One of the best explanations of this unease in the Jewish community came from Rabbi Susan Silverman, an activist with Women of the Wall, and co-founder of Miklat Israel, which protects African asylum-seekers in Israel. She is the sister of comedian Sarah Silverman and wife of Yosef Abramowitz, known as Captain Sunshine for his promotion of Israel solar energy technology, particularly in Africa.

She wrote: “Someone asked me incredulously if the anti-Semitism on the left really upset me more or made me feel the need for a Jewish state more than (the Tree of Life murders in) Pittsburgh. And then went on to describe the evils of Israel.

“Oh yes, the anti-Semitism on the left DOES hurt and scare me more. Not that it’s worse. Just in terms of how I feel able to function in the world, it is much more impactful. Trump-types’ hatred of me means there are people I do not identify with who don’t want me. But when the people who are my refuge, who I want to make a home with me, meaning a home in the world, who I long to celebrate for and with when they

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February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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opinion

MESSAGES

Maccabi USA leader praises Birmingham Games I have had the honor of attending many Maccabi competitions around the world. From Israel to Australia to South America, Europe and the JCC Maccabi games around the United States and Canada, I have logged many miles seeing how sports can be a vehicle to help build Jewish identity, especially in our young.

Care for the oppressed? Anti-Zionist groups ignore story of Jews who were forced to flee Arab countries feltSuissa honored to come to Birmingham for the first time andtofellIslam. in loveNon-Muslims with not just the city converted frequently

by ILea but the people. You have taken Southern hospitality to a new level with your kind and caring In the name freeMaccabi speech,Games. the anti-Zionist suffer such indignities in the Arab world. In approach to theof JCC Jewish movement IfNotNow — which vows that fact, when I recently traveled to Morocco, I visthe grave of wonderful.

Suleika, a Jewish woman who by the Sokol andofHelds, hard-working volunteers were They partnered theLed current generation youngyour American Jews ited was martyred because she refused toa huge leave hit. the with your outstanding staff, led by Betzy Lynch, to make the 2017 JCC Maccabi games “will be the generation that ends our commufaith of her ancestors and marry a Muslim.

To Inity’s wantsupport to take this opportunity as executive director of Maccabi USA to say thank you on behalf for the occupation” — criticizes this day, she serves as an inspiration for Morocof everyone involved. the Democratic Party leadership for supporting can Jewish women, witha many pilgrims of from I had just returnedlegislation. from the 20th World Maccabiah games in Israel with U.S. delegation bipartisan anti-BDS around the world visiting her grave.

My relative over 1100, 10,000speeches Jewish athletes from 80 countries. Back in July the eyes of the entire They callwho for joined boycotting

by Israespent entire life with as a hostage, unable to join world were and the Danny Maccabiah.

Thisher past month 1000 athletes and liJewish Ambassador to on theJerusalem United Nations the rest of our family in Israel.

Many Moroccoaches(in from around the world in Birmingham, you became the focal point.

Danon New Orleans), citingbeing his “racist” recan Jewish girls got married young just so they marks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Everyone from the Jewish community and the community at large, including would not face a similar fate. a wonderful Theyforce, initiated a campaign urging These younggames Jews will police are to be commended. go down inmy history assuffered, being a it seminal Given what family is highly disto ask questions “occupation” onbuild their to the future by providing such wonderful moment for the about Jewishthe community as we Jewish turbing that the young Jewish American activists Taglit-Birthright Israel trips, and then to extend memories. of IfNotNow demonstrate complete ignorance of their visits in Israel so that they can go on anmy Middle Eastern history.

While the epicenter Jed Margolis ti-Israel tours.

Executive USA Yet whileDirector, they rantMaccabi about the injustices of the of their mission is combating Palestinian sufferso-called occupation, claiming that American ing, they mention nothing on their website about injustices suffered by the Jews of the Arab Jews care deeply about “oppressed” peoples, the supremacists would likemention to see pushed back world for a brief of the economic On Charlottesville IfNotNow members and other like-minded an- into a except corner and made to feel lesser.

We we faced. There is no mention stand of the ti-Zionist Jewish activists have absolutely noth- injustices with and pray for the family of Heather Heyer, Editor’s Note: This reaction to the events in horrors Arab countries inflicted upon Jews. ing to say about the oppression experienced by who was there standing up to the face of this Charlottesville, writtenin bythe Jeremy I am an olive-skinned, marginalized Jewish their Jewish brethren ArabNewman, world. They hate.

Master of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Theta Colony woman from Morocco. When my son particiignore my story.

We in recognize the essence of the American at Anti-Zionist Auburn University, was shared by AEPi pated a Birthright tour as an Israeli, he repreJews prefer to invoke the Palestinnarrative asvoice a two-century old struggle to rid to National, which called it “very eloquent” and sented our and did everything he could ian “Nakba” — Arabic for the “catastrophe” that ourselves of suchJewish corners, and allow those in praised “our brothers at AEPi Theta Colony at share Moroccan culture with the Amerwas the State of Israel’s establishment, accompathem on thethe seattrip. at the table that they soAmericans deserve.

Auburn University and… the leadership they icans On the same tour, nied by more than 700,000 Arabs fleeing their It is the struggle fulfilland theBedouin promise culture of the as display(or onas their ” narrative alleges, get- were exposed to to Druze homes the campus.

Palestinian Declaration of Independence, that “alllandscape men are well as other aspects of Israel’s diverse ting expelled from their homes) during the 1948 created equal… endowed byIDF theirtalking Creator with — far more than rehashing points, war.

But assupremacy a Moroccan whoa cancer was compelled White hasJew been on certain unalienable rights. ” We know our work as IfNotNow accuses Birthright of doing.

Jews to immigrate Israel I was nine years old, I our country to since itswhen beginning, threatening is far the fromArab finished, but we know we will not from world are invisible to IfNotNow grew up inits thevalues, shadow of its thebetter Jewishangels.

Nakba. its hopes, and move backwards.

During more 850,000 Jews and other radical leftist groups in the U.S. The eventsthis thatNakba, took place in than Charlottesville For anti-Zionist Jews, thefully story of thetake IsraeWhen men and women, armed, were forced the to flee theofArab world. Those Jews from represented worst this nation. li-Palestinian conflict entails violent, white, to the streets in droves with swastikas and “coArab countriesonto arrived in Israel as refugees who marched the streets with tiki torches lonialist” Jewish against poor, other symbols of settlers hate, it isfighting a reminder of how with no more did thansothe clothes on their backs. and swastikas to provoke violence and dark-skinned, oppressed Palestinians.

Yet there Nonetheless, rather than identify with theirdid own relevant the issues of racism and anti-Semitism fear. Those who marched onto the streets are plenty of impoverished Jews of color whose people, anti-Zionist Jewsthat lament the back plighttoof are today. It is a wake-up call to the work that so to profess an ideology harkens narrative they blatantly ignore. needs to be done to ensure a better, more Palestinian refugees. a bleaker, more wretched time in our history.

Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi — the welcoming country.

But it should not come While Morocco did not expel its Jews like A time when men and women of many creeds, blonde-haired, blue-eyed terror advocate without a reflection on how far we’ve come. and countries as Egypt Moroccan races, andsuch religions wereand far Iraq fromdid, equal and far media darling who participated in violent riots Jews from an intense wave of anAmerica was slave nation. century fromstill safe suffered in our own borders.

A time where and smacked anborn IDF asoldier — livesA like a ceti-Semitism fromunder the moment French into ourgoing history we engaged intoa war in part the Americans lived a constant cloudrule of was lebrity, on world tours champion declining, until the dayand my pervasive family lefthate. the counto ensure we would not continue as one. We racism, anti-Semitism The Palestinian cause. try.

In the waveinofCharlottesville terror attacks targeted ourselves confronted by the issue ofMidcivil events that1950s, took aplace served found Simultaneously, peaceful dark-skinned the community.

It was justrelevant as bloody as the rights, and embarked on a mission to ensure as aJewish reminder of how painfully these dle Eastern Jewish refugees, who want nothing Second Intifada. the fair treatment of all peoples matter their issues are today. While there was a decrease in more than to be compensated forno their suffering anti-Jewish terror attacks after Morocco attained skin color.

Although we’ve made great strides, and to move on with their lives, can only dream Auburn’s Alpha Pi stands with the independence, JewsEpsilon still feared for their future. it isgarnering a missionthe we’re still grappling public spotlight with that today.

Tamimi Jewish community Charlottesville, and had of By the 1960s, the of bulk of our community receives.

America was also born an immigrant with the Jewish people around the country already departed the country, and we were cut It is time this to end.

If not now, country.

As for early as charade the pilgrims, many andfrom around thedearest world. to Weus. also with time, the off those Atstand the same when? minorities who areintargeted by the hate that we remained Jews a Muslim-majority nation, groups and families found in the country the stakes, chase their future, was onisdisplay Charlottesville.

WeOne stand The writertoisplant a contributor to the news and which a veryindifficult situation. of my opportunity and be themselves.

Few were met with open with the minorities of whom these white relatives was abducted, raped and forcefully public policy group Haym Salomon Center.

4

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

February 2019 January 2019

Southern Jewish Life PUBLISHER/EDITOR Lawrence M. Brook editor@sjlmag.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING Lee J. Green lee@sjlmag.com V.P. SALES/MARKETING, NEW ORLEANS Jeff Pizzo jeff@sjlmag.com ADVERTISING SPECIALIST Annetta Dolowitz annetta@sjlmag.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ginger Brook ginger@sjlmag.com SOCIAL/WEB Emily Baldwein connect@sjlmag.com PHOTOGRAPHER-AT-LARGE Rabbi Barry C. Altmark deepsouthrabbi.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rivka Epstein, Louis Crawford, Tally Werthan, Stuart Derroff, Belle Freitag, Ted Gelber, E. Walter Katz, Doug Brook brookwrite.com BIRMINGHAM OFFICE P.O. Box 130052, Birmingham, AL 35213 14 Office Park Circle #104 Birmingham, AL 35223 205/870.7889 NEW ORLEANS OFFICE 3747 West Esplanade, 3rd Floor Metairie, LA 70002 504/432-2561 TOLL-FREE 866/446.5894 FAX 866/392.7750 ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries to 205/870.7889 for Lee Green, lee@sjlmag.com; Jeff Pizzo, jeff@sjlmag.com; or Annetta Dolowitz, annetta@sjlmag.com Media kit, rates available upon request SUBSCRIPTIONS It has always been our goal to provide a large-community quality publication to all communities of the South.

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agenda interesting bits & can’t miss events Temple Sinai, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and the Masjidur Rahim Mosque marched in the Martin Luther King Jr., Parade on Jan. 21, part of a Celebration of Peace weekend. The Jewish Community Day School, Anti-Defamation League and Jewish War Veterans also took part in the parade.

Edwards touts Louisiana-Israel trade partnership possibilities Over two evenings, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards touted successes from the recent Louisiana trade mission to Israel.

On Jan. 28, Edwards spoke following a panel discussion at the University of New Orleans, and at a similar event on Jan. 29 at the Estuary at the Water Campus in Baton Rouge. Each night, the panel was comprised of participants in the October mission.

Edwards said the trip will result in “a new level of cooperation and collaboration… that will make us stronger.”

About two dozen went on the mission, which left Louisiana on Oct. 27.

Participants emphasized how it was a working trip, with 22 meetings over the course of four days.

The mission had its origins in a May 22 ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion, where Edwards signed an executive order forbidding the state from signing contracts with companies that participate in boycotts of Israel.

Israeli Consul General Gilad Katz, from the Houston consulate, attended the event and invited Edwards to visit Israel. Edwards told his economic development team to make it happen, and the trip took place five months later. Edwards commented that for a trip of that type, “that was lightning fast.”

He added that he returned from Israel in time for the LSU-Alabama game, but “I wish I’d stayed a couple more days” given the game’s result.

Katz, who accompanied Edwards in Israel, attended the New Orleans event, presenting Edwards with framed photos from the trip — and an invitation to return.

While Edwards said they got to see a lot of Israel, they did not get to see all of it, so “I have every intention of going back.”

Israeli Consul General Gilad Katz presents Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards with photos from the state’s Israel mission, as Bill Hess looks on, before the Jan. 28 panel in New Orleans There were three panelists each night, with two of them — Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne and Water Institute of the Gulf President Justin Ehrenwerth — speaking each night. continued on page 10 February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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On Jan. 19, the Southeast regional office of Israel Bonds in Atlanta hosted a reception in New Orleans at the home of Susan and Bill Hess, featuring U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon. At the reception, over $2.5 million in Israel Bonds investments were made.

Beth Israel in Metairie was recognized for their staunch support of Israel, and for being the largest synagogue investor in Israel Bonds in the entire eight-state Southeast Region.

Danon also spoke at a dinner following Shabbat services at Beth Israel on Jan. 18. Due to security concerns, the sold-out dinner was restricted to Beth Israel members. Similarly, the Bonds event was by invitation, and the location was not publicly announced beforehand.

Current Louisiana State Treasurer John Schroder was in attendance, and he reaffirmed the state’s commitment to Israel and Israel Bonds.

Ambassador Danon provided insight about what he and Israel face at the United Nations, and his being the first Israeli elected to serve as a committee chairman at the international organization. He also praised those in attendance for their support and investment in Israel Bonds and the positive impact it was having on the country.

agenda

IfNotNow, which recently opened a chapter in New Orleans, demonstrated against Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon outside Beth Israel on Jan. 18. The group, which seeks to end support for the Israeli “occupation” among American Jews, condemned Danon as a racist, and 22 members held a brief alternative Shabbat service.

Southern Style: JCRS Gala explores Jewish Roots of Fashion The Jewish Roots series of galas for Jewish Children’s Regional Service continues with this year’s theme, the Jewish Roots of Fashion.

Betty Kohn will be the honoree at the March 30 gala in New Orleans, and over two dozen merchants and owners from the soft goods and fashion industries in the region will be highlighted in the evening’s program book. The stories will include well-known names including Rubensteins, Krauss, Haspel, Perlis, Sadies, The Hollywood Shop, Katz’s, Weiners and many more.

The evening will be at the Marriott on Canal Street, with a cocktail hour and silent auction starting at 6:30 p.m. There will be a seated dinner and a style show presented by Dillard’s.

There will also be a drawing for a $5,500 sapphire and diamond bracelet from Lee Michaels. Tickets are $20, or six for $100, and one need not be present to win.

The hors d’oeuvres will be provided by Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, and drinks are being provided by St. Michelle Vineyards, RNDC and Sazerac.

Tickets are $250, $100 for ages 35 and under. Sponsor levels start at $1,000. Proceeds go toward the programs of JCRS, which serves Jewish youth in a seven-state region, with summer camp scholarships, college tuition assistance, special needs funding and the regional PJ Library program.

Musical Shabbat at Anshe Sfard Anshe Sfard in New Orleans will have a community Musical Shabbat on Feb. 15 and 16. Chazan Yoni Stokar of New York will lead services. He is grandson of Sam Lupin, who was an active member of Anshe Sfard in the 1950s and 1960s.

After the 5:45 p.m. musical service, there will be a community dinner at 6:45 p.m., catered by D’vash. Reservations are $25, $36 for a couple. The dinner is sponsored by the Pennsylvania-based Leonard Tehrani Team of Keller Williams Realty, which is in town that weekend for a convention.

Chabad at Tulane is covering the cost for Tulane students or recent graduates who want to attend, and Anshe Sfard members are also free.

On Feb. 16, Stokar will lead a musical Musaf, followed by a Kiddush lunch that will include singing. The lunch is sponsored by Paula and Allen Samuels, and around 5 p.m., there will be a Shalosh Seudah at the Samuels home. Around 8 p.m., there will be a musical Havdalah with a kumsitz and melave Malka, with a range of musical instruments.

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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agenda Beth Israel in Metairie will hold a Jewish Disability Inclusion weekend on Feb. 15 and 16. “Our Family’s Journey and a Role for Each of Us” features Alison Nodvin Barkoff, Evan Nodvin and Janice Nodvin. After the 6 p.m. service on Feb. 16, there will be a Shabbat dinner and panel with individuals from the Jewish disability community. Dinner reservations are $18 for adult members, $9 for children; $25 for non-members and $18 for children. On Feb. 16, there will be a Total Inclusion Shabbat service and guest d’var Torah, starting at 9 a.m., followed by a luncheon. A family musical Havdalah will be held at 6:30 p.m.

The biggest Shabbat dinner in New Orleans will be on Feb. 15, as Shabbat 1000 takes place on the Newcomb Quad at Tulane University. The dinner starts at 5 p.m. and is free to all Tulane students. Reservations can be made at shabbat1000nola.com.

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The Cathy and Morris Bart Jewish Cultural Arts Series continues with the film “The Cakemaker,” which will be screened on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. For mature audiences, “The Cakemaker” won Best Picture, best Director and Best Actress in the Israel Academy Awards. Thomas is a pastry chef in Berlin. After Oren, Thomas’s married business-traveler lover, dies in a car accident at home in Jerusalem, Thomas travels to see the life Oren left behind, assuming a false identity and infiltrating the life of Oren’s widow, Anat.

On March 15, Jessie Hart Wilson, a member of Beth Israel in Metairie, will read from her book, “Under Water,” at the congregation, discussing the holy healing of hard work and the gift of six days of meaningful labor. Time TBA.

en from B’nai Israel and Hadassah. The catered luncheon will be Feb. 20 at 11:30 a.m. at Beth El, and reservations, which are $15, are required by Feb. 18.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, based in New York, is leading a civil rights tour of Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham, April 29 to 30. The mission is aimed at re-engaging the Jewish community in the modern civil rights movement. Registration is due by Feb. 18.

The B’nai B’rith Mardi Gras Mitzvah Makers will march on Feb. 17, not Feb. 10 as originally announced. The parade brings Mardi Gras to those who would otherwise not be able to take part in the festivities. Participants should gather at the Prytania Street entrance to Touro Infirmary at 9:30 a.m. The 40th annual parade will also hit Cura Health Hospital and Home Life in the Gardens.

PJ Our Way will have a Purim facepainting workshop, Feb. 24 at 3:30 p.m. at the Uptown Jewish Community Center. PJ Our Way is for ages 8 to 12. Students will learn about Purim costuming traditions and how to put on festive face paint designs. Everyone will receive a professional facepaint kit. Space is limited and advance reservations and payment of $10 is required.

The Oscars may not have a host, but TRIBE at Gates of Prayer in Metairie is hosting an Oscars viewing party on Feb. 24, at the home of Nancy Weinstock and Levi McDaniel. There will be an Oscar pool for an AMC gift card. For information, contact Student Rabbi Lexi Erdheim.

The next Old Fashioned Judaism for Beth Shalom in Baton Rouge will be Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m., on “Words That Hurt, Words That Heal.”

Place TBA. Slater Torah Academy in Metairie will have a Read Across America book fair, Feb. 25 to 28 from 3 to 5 p.m. The national project is held the week before Dr. Suess’ birthday. PJ Library will be there with a book swap table for Literacy Night, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.

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February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

On March 1, Beth Israel in Metairie will have services at 5:30 p.m., followed by a kid-friendly Mardi Gras-style Shabbat dinner. After dinner, those who wish to can walk to the parade Briann Shear, left, was recognized as route to see the Centurions parade. Dinner Hadassah New Orleans Woman of the Year, reservations are $25 per member family, $36 and co-presidents Betty Bloch Moore and for non-member families.

Helen Stone celebrated the chapter being Lee Kansas of New Orleans, past Hadas- named Chapter of the Year for large chapters sah Southern regional president, will give “A in Hadassah Southern Region. The regional Hadassah Update” at a joint meeting of the conference was held on Jan. 26 and 27 in Temple Beth El, Pensacola, Sisterhood, wom- Baton Rouge.

community

Jackson event in April to celebrate Macy Hart’s legacy For decades, Macy Hart has been an advocate for the Southern Jewish experience, and a celebration of his career will be held on April 6 in Jackson.

The founding director of the Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which provides services to Jewish communities in a 13-state region, Hart’s influence has been statewide in Mississippi, regional and national.

Growing up in the only Jewish family in Winona, Miss., Hart became the president of the National Federation of Temple Youth. He became involved in the regional push for the establishment of a Jewish summer camp, which opened in the summer of 1970 as the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, where he was camp administrator that first summer, being groomed to take over as camp director, a role he would have for 30 years.

For countless campers from tiny Jewish communities in the region, Jacobs Camp became a Jewish refuge, where they could strengthen their identity and have the unusual experience of being in the majority.

As the camp attracted donations of artifacts from small-town Jewish communities when their synagogues closed, Hart established the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in 1986. Those experiences led him to establish the Institute in 2000, which he then headed until transitioning to a new position last February, focusing on special projects, as Michele Schipper became CEO. Hart has also served as president of Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, and the Council of American Jewish Museums. He also co-founded Parents for Public Schools.

The Institute has developed a standardized curriculum for religious schools, provides rabbinic services to small or isolated congregations with traveling rabbis, cultural and historical programs, and promotes social action and historic preservation.

The celebration will be at the Mississippi Museum of Art, starting at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour, and followed by Havdallah, music, dinner and festivities. All are welcome, and tickets are $100. Additional donations are encouraged toward the official announcement of the Susan and Macy B. Hart Fund for the Institute. Dress is tie-less cocktail, with seersucker optional.

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Ehrenwerth said both Israel and Louisiana to Israel through New Orleans, while imports deal with water “as an existential crisis.” It was from Israel include food products and a lot of stated repeatedly that Louisiana has too much, furniture for Rooms To Go. and Israel has too little, leading many of the IsA major concern for the shipping industry is raelis they met with to joke that Louisiana just cyber security, and Landry noted that a hacker needs to build a long pipeline to Israel. attack had previously shut down the port in Mo“We didn’t spend a lot of time saying how dif- bile for three days. “Cyber security is increasferent we were,” Ehrenwerth said, but discussed ingly important, and we put a high priority on collaboration and how Israel was able to solve that.” their water challenges.

In Baton Rouge, Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, Now that Israel is finally in a good place co-chair of the Louisiana Cybersecurity Comregarding water supply, they are able to start mission, noted that he had served in Iraq and working on other aspects of water policy, such Afghanistan, “some pretty tough areas,” so as stream sustainability. “That is an area we he didn’t know what the “threat environment know a lot about in Louisiana.” would be visiting Israel.” He quickly realized Because of how streams transcend borders, this would be a different experience, as he “nevthey discussed how restoration efforts can also er felt threatened,” and he was “amazed to see be part of a peace dialogue. the different religions, different nationalities” He also mentioned “remarkable technology” throughout Israel. that Israel has developed for pipes and other With everyone in Israel focused on national liquid infrastructure, detecting leaks well before survival, “they have to be masters of the cyber what is currently possible. “We have some old world,” including the realms of government, oil infrastructure in New Orleans,” he commented. and gas, transportation and water.

Ehrenwerth called it “a very important trip Cyber-security is a major emphasis for Edfrom a professional perspective,” adding that wards, who noted that 40 percent of private there is limitless potential in the partnership. sector investment in cyber security takes place This was his seventh trip to Israel, but he said in Israel. He said there will be a national cythis was “completely different.” ber-security conference with officials from all Edwards said the vision for the Water Insti- 50 states invited, this May in Bossier City, and tute of the Gulf is to have a world-wide impact, he anticipates a lot of representation from Israel. with Louisiana as a global leader in water man“It’s my goal for Louisiana to be a national agement. and international leader in cyber security, and Dardenne spoke about Israel as the start-up there is so much we can learn from Israel on this nation, saying the government invests in start- front,” he said. He also mentioned that the only ups and risky ventures knowing that many of cyber security degree in the U.S. is granted at them would fail, but others would succeed tre- Louisiana Tech. mendously. He said that is a different culture He also touted a new partnership with Israeli than the United States, where state governments cyber-security firm CheckPoint (see sidebar). are not in that type of position and are much Another area of emphasis is Israel’s developmore risk averse. ment of gas fields in the Mediterranean, a field The group repeatedly heard the expres- where Israel doesn’t have much experience, but sion that Israel “lives in a bad neighborhood,” Louisiana does.

Dardenne said.

Edwards said a highlight of the trip was meetRobert Landry, chief commercial officer ing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the Port of New Orleans, spoke at the New Orleans event.

He noted that one of the largest shipping container lines using the Port of New Orleans is Zim, which is an Israeli company.

Landry and many of the participants met with the president of Zim during the trip.

Grain and frozen Justin Ehrenwerth, Jay Dardenne and Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis share chicken are exported their Israel experiences in Baton Rouge

community the type of visit that Edward said is usually perfunctory and done as a courtesy, but “it was obvious… that this was going to be more than that” as the 20 minutes allotted for the visit stretched into almost an hour and a half.

While being a governor isn’t easy, Edwards said that “compared to his job, I’ve got it made over here.”

Though the schedule was packed, there were many personal moments on the trip.

The first full day of the mission was a Sunday, which Edwards noted is a work day in Israel.

They got up at 4 a.m. to attend the 5:30 a.m.

Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He said it was a “special time” for many on the trip.

The morning included a visit to Yad Vashem, where like so many other dignitaries, he and his wife placed a wreath at the memorial. But since it was the day after the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, that “transformed it to more than a ceremonial thing you do because you’re a governor.”

A Pittsburgh native, Ehrenwerth said he knew some of those who were killed at Tree of Life. In Israel, he was inspired by “the resilience they conveyed, the understanding of what going through a trauma like that meant.”

After being asked in New Orleans about the relative lack of Holocaust education in the state, Edwards commented in Baton Rouge the next night that “we’re not doing a very good job of making sure people know,” and the fact that it is an uncomfortable subject “is probably more reason it needs to be taught, not less.”

This was Dardenne’s first trip to Israel, and he admitted that he had never really expected that he might ever make that journey. For him, it was especially “poignant” to be at the Western Wall, because his brother died in June, and the night before the delegation headed to Israel, his brother’s youngest son died of cancer.

The group visited an Iron Dome outpost at night and had a briefing from IDF soldiers, after which two of the soldiers asked for a ride to Tel Aviv. Being able to talk with the two soldiers “really reminded me how young they are, the position they are in and how much responsibility is on their shoulders,” Ehrenwerth said.

After visiting the Golan Heights and seeing into Syria, they had an unexpected break due to Israel’s municipal elections, giving them the opportunity to tour sites in the Galilee. Edward said it was particularly meaningful to be on the Sea of Galilee, and to read the Beatitudes where Jesus gave that sermon.

Donna Sternberg, who was credited with helping make the trip possible, speculated as to where Edwards’ affinity for Israel comes from.

Perhaps, she said, it was when he studied Israeli military strategy at West Point, or “perhaps he recognizes a true friend when he sees one.”

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February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter 11

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community Henry Miller, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, said “we are excited about the future of the Israel-Louisiana alliance under the governor’s leadership.”

Edwards said “I want to be a good, reliable partner for the Jewish community in Louisiana,” and “The best days of Israel, the best days of Louisiana and the United States are ahead of us.”

The New Orleans event was co-hosted by the Anti-Defamation League, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Greater New Orleans Inc., Israel’s Consulate General to the Southwestern United States, National Council of Jewish Women: Greater New Orleans Section, the New Orleans Business Alliance, the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, the Port of New Orleans, Tulane University and the World Trade Center New Orleans.

Research agreement a tangible mission result On Jan. 15, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced the signing of a research agreement between Check Point Software Technologies of Israel and the Stephenson Technologies Corp., the applied research corporation at Louisiana State University, which serves U.S. federal markets.

Check Point will work with Stephenson to commission the partnership’s Innovation and Integration Lab, dedicated to developing next-generation cybersecurity solutions for industry and government clients. The partnership agreement was signed by Julie Mitchell, Check Point strategic account manager, and Jeff Moulton, president of Stephenson Technologies Corp.

“I am happy to welcome Check Point Software Technologies to Louisiana as we continue to expand our role as a U.S. leader in cybersecurity innovation,” Edwards said. “Cyber threats are always evolving, and new partnerships such as this one with Stephenson Technologies Corp. at LSU represent a critical effort for protecting vital assets, both public and private. This agreement is a direct result of our meeting with Check Point officials in Tel Aviv during our trade mission to Israel last fall. We look forward to a rewarding relationship that will build Louisiana’s strength and leadership in cybersecurity.”

Check Point is an international network security vendor with 4,300 employees who protect over 100,000 global businesses and organizations from cyber attacks. Edwards met with company leaders during the October 2018 trade mission to Israel, laying the groundwork for this venture.

One element of the new partnership is designed to develop cybersecurity training scenarios at the Joint Cyber Training Lab in LSU Innovation Park, with the LSU-based team integrating, customizing and testing a variety of Check Point products and technologies. The Joint Cyber Training Lab has worked extensively with the Louisiana National Guard’s cybersecurity specialists and has led the Cyber Shield training exercise involving National Guard cybersecurity teams from all 50 states.

Moulton, who was also on the October mission, said “The evolving challenges we face in cybersecurity – particularly around critical infrastructure and resilience – need new ways of thinking, and we’re excited about working with a company of Check Point’s technical caliber to develop new technologies.”

On Our Cover: Temple B’nai Israel in Monroe dedicated a new piece of art outside their building, in honor of the congregation’s 150th birthday.

The sculpture was designed by Doyle Jeter, artist-in-residence at University of Louisiana-Monroe, with the fabrication donated by Sol’s Pipe and Steel.

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February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

J

An Official Publication of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans

THE

EWISH NEWSLETTER Vol. XIV No. 2

February 2019 | Adar 5779

Answer the call on Super Sunday

On Sunday, February 17, volunteers will come together between 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the GoldringWoldenberg Jewish Community Campus in Metairie to support Super Sunday—can you lend a hand for at least 2 hours? Super Sunday is the phonathon to benefit the 2019 Jewish Federation Annual Campaign.

We will reach out to members of our Jewish community to raise the dollars which support our agencies and organizations. It’s a longstanding tradition dating back decades in our Greater New Orleans Jewish community, attracting enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers and donors alike. How can you help?

1. Sign up to volunteer, on Super Sunday or for a clerical shift on the following Tuesday.

2. Answer the call from our friendly volunteers on Super Sunday!

3. Make and pay your 2019 Annual Campaign pledge in advance at www.jewishnola.com.

Visit jewishnola.com/supersunday to sign up to volunteer or to make your pledge - or call Brenda at 504-780-5605.

Carrie Pailet Kanter, Nate Kanter, Dana Shepard, Hal Shepard & Kathy Shepard 2019 Super Sunday Co-Chairs

Albanian Ambassador to speak in New Orleans All are invited to an intimate opportunity to hear from Her Excellency, Floreta Faber, Ambassador of Albania to the United States. To be held on Tuesday, February 26 at 5:00 p.m. at Touro Synagogue, the event will offer attendees the chance to learn about trade and geopolitics from an expert – all from within a Jewish lens.

Floreta Faber became ambassador of Albania to the United States on May 18, 2015. Ambassador Faber previously served as the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania since its opening in 2000, working closely with the business community and representatives of the Albanian and American governments, international organizations and the European Union. Albania played a critical role in saving Jews during World War II. The only European country at the time with a Muslim majority, Albania committed itself to saving its Jewish inhabitants. Hundreds of Christian and Muslim families hid their Jewish neighbors in defiance of the Nazis, because of a cultural custom called besa, which is a mandate to display hospitality to all. Besa required Albanians to provide shelter and safe passage for anyone seeking protection, at the risk of losing their social prestige if they did not do so.

As a result, not only were almost all Albanian Jews saved, but Albanians also fiercely protected refugees fleeing from the Nazis. By the end of the war, there were more Jews in Albania than before. Yad Vashem has since listed dozens of Albanian protectors as Righteous Among the Nations. To learn more about this event or to RSVP, please contact Mithun Kamath at mithun@ jewishnola.com or at 504-780-5608.

Submit nominations for the 2019-2021 Katz-Phillips Class The Federation’s Katz-Phillips Leadership Development Program, formerly known as Lemann-Stern, has been in existence since 1960. A year and a half in length, the class meets monthly, September-May the first year and September-December the second year, with Graduation in January.

Participation in a November 2019 8-day trip to Israel is mandatory. Sessions deal with Jewish American history, social action, leadership, and more.

Graduates of the program have served on the boards of every Jewish agency, synagogue and organization in our community, and have used the knowledge gained from the program to benefit the wider New Orleans community as well. Please nominate worthy candidates, and note that selfnominations are accepted. Learn more about the qualifications and download the application on our website by visiting jewishnola.com/youngleadership/leadership. All applications must be fully completed before submission and are due to Sherri Tarr at sherritarr@jewishnola.com by February 22, 2019.

February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

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A Special Night for the New Orleans Jewish Community and the Federation On Monday, January 28, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans was delighted to collaborate with a number of community organizations for a special evening on trade and economic development with Governor John Bel Edwards. Hosted by the University of New Orleans, the event followed Gov. Edwards’ trip to Israel last fall, and featured the Governor discussing both his travel experience and his vision for the trade partnership between Louisiana and Israel in the future.

The Governor’s remarks were preceded by a panel discussion featuring: Commissioner of the Division of Administration for the State of Louisiana, Jay Dardenne; President and CEO of The Water Institute of the Gulf, Justin Ehrenwerth; and Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for the Port of New Orleans, Robert Landry. Matt Houston, the legislative reporter for WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, moderated the panel.

Ehrenwerth spoke at length about how both Louisiana and Israel can participate in information sharing and best practices on the critical issue of water management. Bobby Landry discussed trade traffic between the Port of New Orleans and Israel’s major ports, and how Louisiana can benefit from amplifying business relationships with Israel. Jay Dardenne spoke on the issue of start-ups, and how Israel both prioritizes and incentivizes them – a paradigm he feels can be applied to some degree across Louisiana to benefit small businesses and entrepreneurship.

All three panelists shared meaningful personal experiences they had on the trip, from meeting IDF soldiers, celebrating mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and praying at the Western Wall.

Governor Edwards then took the stage to debrief the attendees, sharing both his personal reflections on the trip and his ideas for future economic partnerships. For him, the experience was a working trip, with 22 meetings over the 4-day visit. These included a meeting with Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which lasted over an hour. Of personal significance was his visit to the Golan Heights, from which he could see Syria, and the holiness of the country. He later took audience questions, engaging directly with those in attendance.

Special thanks to our co-sponsors: ADL, AIPAC, GNO, Inc., Israel's Consulate General to the Southwest United States, National Council of Jewish Women: Greater New Orleans Section, the New Orleans Business Alliance, the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, the Port of New Orleans, Tulane University, and the World Trade Center New Orleans.

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February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

Nominations open for Marion B. Steeg-Harold Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Jewish Education Do you know an outstanding educator? Someone who meaningfully imparts the treasures of Jewish life and Judaism? Nominations are now being accepted for the Marion B. Steeg-Henry Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

This award highlights the value of Jewish education in its many varieties in our community not limited to specific institutions or classroom teaching. In addition to classroom teachers, song leaders, camp educators, independent Jewish educators, and tutors are also eligible for the Steeg-Grinspoon Award.

The award is presented at a reception hosted by Robert and Pamela Steeg, and the award is named in honor of Robert’s mother. While she was not a formally trained educator, by experience and instinct she genuinely appreciated the importance of a Jewish education and a grounding in Jewish values. The awardee will receive a plaque from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, listing on the Harold Grinspoon Foundation website, an invitation to participate in an online community of practice, and $1,000 towards future educational enrichment.

Since 1991, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation has invested more than $200 million in programs that make Jewish life and Jewish community more vibrant and more connected. They are a major contributor to the PJ Library and PJ Our Way programs. The only requirement is that a nominated educator must be involved with a group of Jewish students and/or Jewish learning community on a regular basis, meaningfully imparting the treasures of Jewish life. Anyone can nominate an educator and the nomination form can be accessed at www.jewishnola.com/educator. Additionally, nominations may be submitted using the online form located here.

Completed nomination forms are due to Michelle Neal at michelle@jewishnola.com by February 28, 2019.

Save the date for the 2019 Lion of Judah Luncheon The 2019 Lion of Judah Luncheon will be held on Tuesday, April 16 at Gabrielle Restaurant.

The event is co-chaired by Margie Bissinger, Nancy Bissinger and Nancy Timm, joined by 2019 Annual Campaign Co-Chair Jan Miller.

Cathy Bart will be honored as our community’s Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award winner.

This event is open to women who have made a minimum household commitment of $5,000 to the 2019 Jewish Federation Annual Campaign.

To learn more, contact Sherri Tarr at 504780-5609 or at sherritarr@jewishnola.com.

Invitations will be mailed after Mardi Gras.

February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

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The Latest News from Next Gen Jewish New Orleans JNOLA has launched a new series: Off the Clock with JNOLA! On the last Thursday of every month (except for February due to Mardi Gras) the JNOLA Professional Networking Committee will host a networking happy hour at a local establishment. JNOLA’s first Off the Clock took place on Thursday, January 31 at the Ace Hotel from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

JNOLA members were invited to grow their professional network by mingling with peers.

Please visit jnola.com for more information or email Tana at tana@jewishnola.com if you have questions.

JNOLA is part of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, consisting of young Jewish adults between the ages of 21–45. This program hosts a wide variety of events, centering on community connection, professional networking, social action, and Jewish life in New Orleans. JNOLA is proudly sponsored by the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust.

Amiel BaKehila in the Crescent City Amiel BaKehila is an educational program designed to help New Orleanians feel more connected with Israel. New Orleans is one of three cities in the South that partners with educators, artists, and rabbis who live in Israel. Every other month, for a total of six visits, Israeli guests come to New Orleans to spend two days working and interacting with various Jewish groups.

In January the Federation hosted three Amiel guests and the focus was on Multiculturalism in Israel. The guests were Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider, the Community Educator, Chef Yahav Kriti, and speaker and activist Sagit Peretz Deri.

Rabbi Goldscheider and Chef Kriti visited both the Jewish Community Day School, where they made a chocolate dessert. At Slater Torah Academy, the group of older students made pizzas. Over 60 students between the two schools participated in these interactive, hands-on activities. Sagit Peretz Deri met with three groups of lay leaders and stakeholders at the JCC and Rimon.

Attendees were impressed with her work to include women in traditional Jewish frameworks. Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider partnered with Jewish Family Service, and together they hosted a workshop “Jews and Loss.”

The next Amiel delegation will be in New Orleans March 31 – April 3.

Visitors Rabbi Reuven Spolter, musician Daniel Yehuda, and Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom will be discussing the topic of Civil Rights.

Events are already scheduled with the Jewish Community Day School and Slater Torah Academy, as well as a lunch with senior citizens at the JCC. JNOLA is planning to partner with Rabbi Dr. Shalom for a discussion on his solo immigration from Ethiopia to Israel at nine years of age. More events are being planned.

To learn more, contact Michelle Neal at michelle@jewishnola.com.

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February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

Jewish Family Service Bruce Levy Memorial 2019 JFS Passover Food Basket Program Through the Bruce Levy Memorial 2019 JFS Food Basket Program, JFS volunteers and donors provide baskets of Passover food and ritual objects to individuals and families in need in our community. Many of the recipients are elderly or people with disabilities. This is the only contact some have with other members of the Jewish community all year long.

This project is entirely funded by the generous spirit of community donors. As we now prepare for this year’s Passover Food Distribution, we are asking for your support to help bring over 300 people to the Seder Table we will soon share universally as a Jewish people. A donation of $100 will fill a basket for two people, but it will also allow them the opportunity to celebrate the Passover holiday.

If you would like to make a donation, please call (504) 831-8475 or go online to www.jfsneworleans.org/services/passover.

This year, the packing & distribution event takes place on Sunday, April 14. Event co-chairs Rochelle Adler Effron and Paula Picker will join volunteers, donors, staff, board members, synagogues and other New Orleans-area Jewish agencies to prepare and deliver Passover food and ritual objects to hundreds of members of the local Jewish community.

If you know an individual or family in need, or wish to volunteer or contribute, please visit our website http://jfsneworleans.org/services/passover/ or call (504) 831-8475 for more information.

Upcoming Groups in March

Social Workers, Counselors, Mental Health Professionals:

Upcoming Continuing Education Workshops at Jewish Family Service Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Feb. 15, 8:45 a.m. to noon. Presented by Christina James, LCSW, MPP. Approved for 3 General hours by LCA and LABSWE*.

You Are Only Human: Trauma, Fatigue and You… The Unintended Consequences of Being Good at What You Do

March 15, 8:45 a.m. to noon. Presented by Stephen Phillippi, Jr., Ph.D., LCSW. Approved for 3 General hours by LCA and 3 Clinical hours by LABSWE*.

LGBTQ, Working With Youth/Families

April 12, 8:45 a.m. to noon. Presented by Carrie Patterson, LMSW. Approved for 3 General hours by LCA and 3 Clinical hours by LABSWE*.

Improving Your Group Therapy Skills

May 10, 8:45 a.m. to noon. Presented by Marvin Clifford, Ph.D., LCSW. Approved for 3 General hours by LCA and 3 Clinical hours

by LABSWE*.

CEU Bootcamp:

Personality Disorders: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment June 20, 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1 hour lunch break). Presented by Dana delaBretonne, LPC. Approved for 3 General hours by LCA and 3 Diagnosis/Clinical hours by LABSWE*.

DSM 5

June 21, 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1 hour lunch break). Presented by Thomas Fonesca, Ph.D., LPC-S, LMFT-SC, NCSN, NCC. Approved for 6 Diagnosis hours by LCA and 6 Clinical hours by LABSWE*.

*Awaiting Board Approval Pricing varies. All events located at: 3300 W. Esplanade Ave. S., Suite 603, Metairie. For more information or to register, call (504) 831-8475, or visit the Workshops and Continuing Education page on the JFS website: http://www.jfsneworleans.org/ services/workshops-continuing-education/

Dates & times to be announced soon on the JFS website.

Girl Power

A self-esteem and social skills group which helps foster positive feelings of self-worth in girls ages 8-13. Activities are designed to give participants increased self-confidence, skills to deal with stress and anxiety, build positive friendships, communicate feelings, handle peer pressure and bullying, and make positive choices.

Grief Support Group

Facilitated by a Licensed Clinician, this group will provide support and for anyone experiencing grief. Participants will learn mindfulness skills, acquire tools to incorporate grief into daily routines and process the meaning of their loss.

JFS now accepts MEDICARE, along with Aetna, United Healthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Connect, Gilsbar, and Tricare insurance policies for Counseling Services.

Counseling for individuals, couples, families and groups is a core community service of JFS. Licensed behavioral health professionals provide guidance and support on how to cope with interpersonal and family problems. Appointments are available. Fees are assessed on a sliding-fee scale based on household income. To make an appointment, call: (504) 831-8475.

February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

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Jewish Community Day School JCDS Joins Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade Tikkun Olam — JCDS students live by our Jewish value of helping to make the world a better place for all, and our outstanding teachers use the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a springboard for age-appropriate instruction.

bag and one beautifully decorated with ribbons and sparkles. What did they discover when the bags were open, but that the less attractive bag contained the most Rabbi Yehuda’s words, “Al Tistakel b’Kan-Kan - Do Not Judge by desirable gift! Rabbi Yehuda was right!

Outward Appearance” came beautifully to life in Pre-K/K as children Fifth and Sixth graders have embraced were presented with two gifts, one wrapped in an old brown, wrinkled their role as school leaders in ADL’s No Place for Hate program, and through research and discussion, have explored the parallels among the oppression of AfriIt was my true privilege to have known can Americans, Jews, and others. These the inimitable Joan Berenson for the past students are particularly committed to six years during my tenure as Head of Jewish the importance of “Standing Up,” rather Community Day School. than standing by. When considering the experiences of b’nei Yisrael coming out As most of you know, Joan, and her dear of Egypt, the midrash explains that many husband, Gerald, first ensured the creation Egyptians joined the Jews in their Exodus. How might this relate to the of the Berenson Library, and then the beaurelationship between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham tiful 21st-century Berenson Learning Lab Joshua Heschel? One thoughtful young person offered the following: at JCDS. They took deep and obvious joy This teaches us that just as the Egyptians joined the Jews in leaving in these endeavors. They understood, with slavery, so should the Jews join others in their own quest for freedom. their unique ability, the myriad opportunities that would open to children in these special spaces.

In Memory of Joan Berenson

Last spring, during the celebration of the Berenson Learning Lab’s grand opening, JCDS children presented Joan and Gerald with a beautiful painting of a Tree of Life they had created, one with each of their names as a part of it. A pomegranate tree — a mitzvah tree — was planted in their honor on Bart Field, and it has already yielded fruit. Each of these was a token of gratitude from our elementary school students.

This direction of Joan and Gerald’s giving caused me to wonder: There are so many possibilities. Why this devotion to the learning of young children? I found this brief rabbinic parable: A visitor to a verdant and world-renowned arboretum had wandered through the beautiful tall trees, and finally found the arborist in his greenhouse. He was gently pushing aside soil, puttering with the little seedlings and sprouts. He asked the arborist why he focused so much attention on these tiny, seemingly unimportant saplings. The arborist replied, “My ability to influence mature trees is extremely limited, whether they are mighty or sickly. However, I can have great impact on these young ilanot, these saplings, nourishing their health, ensuring the strength of their roots, and encouraging to flourish in good directions because of my attention.”

Now, I think I understand. Our sages teach: The world exists only by the breath of school-children.

At the end of our Grand Opening ceremony last year, Joan’s entire face was aglow, her eyes sparkling, her beautiful smile… as she gazed with love for the children, and wonder at the array of technology before her. She said, “I will NEVER understand what is going on here, but I KNOW that these young children will!”

Thank you, Joan, for sharing your grace, your support, your wisdom, and delight, with me, and with the many generations of children, these young saplings, of Jewish Community Day School.

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February 2019 • The Jewish Newsletter

Family Fun Fest “JCDS provides a kaleidoscope of offerings for our children, and we wanted this idea reflected in our Annual Family Fun Fest,” said Parent Association President and Festival Coordinator Emily Dvorin. By all accounts, the beautiful Sunday afternoon was an absolute success!

Nearly 100 visitors of all ages enjoyed activities designed to engage the body and the mind, while delicious pizza served up by Dvash Catering kept hunger at bay. STEAM challenges were on offer with Osmo’s hands-on interactive iPad puzzles and games where children were invited to construct a variety of 3-D shapes, old-time Shrinky-Dinks were toasted as designed bookmarks, and handmade challah covers will beautify Shabbat tables.

Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachers Hemda Hochman and Toby David invited all comers to taste the 7 delicious species of Israel in honor of Tu b’shevat. The prismatic offerings were rounded out by a giant Connect-4 game, 2 bounce houses, sensory exploration tables, a sno-ball table made of shaving cream and Hula-hooping with Jennette Ginsburg of PJ Library!

Jewish Community Center Register for JCC Summer Camp A summer of fun starts at the J! Registration for JCC Summer Day Camps opens to the community on Feb. 15. Located at both the Uptown and Metairie campuses, the JCC Summer Day Camps have enriched the lives of children and teens for decades, providing a chance to make memories that last a lifetime as campers have fun, explore their interests, discover new skills, and make new friends.

weeks, but those weeks do not need to be consecutive. For teens entering grades 6 to 8, weekly options focus on a specific topic or activity and include the following choices: Tennis, Adventure Trips, Culinary Arts, Fitness Focus, Maccabiah Games Color War, STEAM Superpowers, Wizardry Camp, Crime Scene, Fort Island Camp, and the all new Adventure Week in Metairie, which focuses on outdoor skills and includes an overnight camping trip! Early morning and afternoon care are also available for campers.

Tailoring programs to match the changing needs of children from toddlers to preteens, the JCC packs summer Applications and deposits will be acdays with a variety of games and activicepted online. Register by March 15 to ties including sports, art, drama, music, receive the “early bird discount.” Teens cooking, science, Israeli culture and daily who register for four or more weeks reswimming. Campers ages 3 and up receive $100 off their total tuition. Visit ceive swim instruction from American Red Cross certified Water Safe- nojcc.org to learn more about the fun that awaits campers during a ty Instructors. Older campers enjoy weekly field trips, an overnight at summer at the J! the JCC, and a day trip to Blue Bayou Water Park.

Save The Date for Adloyadah

A separate Sports Camp is offered Uptown to campers entering grades 3 to 5. These campers focus on sports but also swim each day, Carnival is around the corner! participate in Oneg Shabbat performances, and join the main camp The 50th annual communifor both the overnight and the Blue Bayou trip. ty-wide Purim celebration will The 2019 summer camp runs June 3 to July 28. So that camp fun be held on March 17, from 11:30 can fit with family schedules, registration is customizable, allowing a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Uptown families to sign up for the weeks that best fit their needs. Early Child- JCC. Bring the entire family for hood and General Day Campers must enroll in a minimum of four a fun-filled afternoon of food, music, games and activities for all ages. The “Human Hamster Balls” and giant slide are back, as are everyone’s favorite inflatCome see the award-winning film “The ables. Come enjoy delicious MidCakemaker” on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the dle Eastern delicacies and nosh Uptown JCC. In it Thomas, a young Geron New York-style deli items. man baker, is having an affair with Oren, Grab a snowball or popcorn, and do not forget to take home a bag of an Israeli married man who has frequent the homemade hamantashen. business visits in Berlin. When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Admission to the carnival is free and open to the community. A Jerusalem seeking for answers regarding children’s All Day Play Pass is $12, or $10 with a donation of nonperhis death. Under a fabricated identity, ishable items for the Broadmoor Food Pantry.

Thomas infiltrates into the life of Anat, his lover’s newly widowed wife, who owns a small Café in downtown Jerusalem.

Thomas starts to work for her and create German cakes and cookies Jewish teens ages 12 to 16 are invited to be part of Team NOLA, that bring life into her Café. Thomas finds himself involved in Anat’s the New Orleans JCC’s delegation at the Detroit Maccabi Games and life in a way far beyond his anticipation, and to protect the truth he will ArtsFest, held August 4 to 9, 2019. Come have a blast at the largest stretch his lie to a point of no return.

Jewish youth event in the world. Teens participate in athletic activities A sweet and moving film of shared love and loss, “The Cakemaker” or the arts experience, and then come together for social events, comwon seven 2018 Ophir Awards, Israeli’s version of the Oscars, includ- munity service and fun. ing Best Film, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. As part To register or to learn more about the New Orleans delegation, of the Cathy and Morris Bart Jewish Cultural Arts Series, this event is please visit nojcc.org or contact Neal Alsop, Uptown Sports Director, free and open to the community. at (504) 897-0143 or neal@nojcc.org.

The Cakemaker

Compete in the JCC Maccabi Games

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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Visit the Green Wave Community Market!

Tulane Hillel invites you to join us at the Green Wave Community Market this spring! Entirely planned and run by students in our Tulane Jewish Leaders program and open to all, the GWCM provides a connection between the communities of Hillel, Tulane and local New Orleanians. The Market has been in operation for six years, and brings vendors from all over the city to showcase locally-curated goods at the Mintz Center, located at 912 Broadway Street in Uptown New Orleans.

Typically hosting 15 to 20 local vendors, the Market boasts prepared foods, fresh produce, jewelry, art, vintage clothes, home décor, loose leaf tea and more.

Kacie Scholz and Anna Latoff, class of 2020, are two of the student leaders involved with making the GWCM a reality. Both students joined this initiative early on in their Tulane careers, and subsequently became further involved with TJL as a result of the possibilities and successes they saw in the Market. In this interview, Kacie and Anna share their passion for community as well as what they have planned for the Market’s future!

How do you find and choose the vendors?

Kacie: We source vendors from markets across New Orleans, such as the Palmer Park Arts Market and the Piety Street Market, by visiting them and inviting vendors we think would fit well. We also frequently have vendors reach out to us through email or Facebook to ask about joining the Market. When we’re considering someone, we usually look at their price range, how their products fit in with the rest of our vendors, and their relevance to our mostly student customer base.

What do you like the most about working with the local community?

Kacie: Working with the Market gives us opportunities to meet new people from all around New Orleans, which is always really exciting.

It’s also amazing to see our vendors start in small markets like ours, and then branch out across the city.

We’ve had several vendors, such as Girls Gone Vegan or Big Easy Bucha, that slowly outgrew us and started selling in Whole Foods or local coffee shops, and it’s exciting to see their businesses grow and to have been a part of their journey.

Anna: The success of the market is largely due to its connection between the

local and the Tulane community. It’s really important to us to help bridge that gap and break the Tulane bubble, so local community involvement is something we’re continually working to improve. For the New Orleans community, it also opens the door to the Tulane demographic. A lot of our vendors have been able to use our market as a kind of incubator to see how a product might be received on a larger scale, and what is less popular among students. Many have gone on to do even greater things, and it’s really cool to see their products out in the city and knowing you were a small part of that.

What is the Market’s biggest success? Is there a particular favorite amongst the vendors?

Kacie: All of our vendors are wonderful, and none of this could happen without their dedication and willingness to work with us. Our two vintage vendors, Luna Raae and Sweetwater Vintage, are always very popular and have been selling at our markets for years. We’ve also picked up several new vendors this year, such as Lossi Designs, and they’ve been really amazing, both with new products and ideas for the market.

Anna: Any kind of food product — we’ve had local farmers and CSAs (community-supported agriculture), kettle corn stands, and kombucha and kimchi makers over the past few years and those are always really popular with both the students and the community.

What are you most excited about for the spring semester?

Anna: The spring semester is always exciting because it’s such a great time to be in New Orleans as a whole. We do a lot of themed markets — Mardi Gras, and festivals, and work with other student organizations like Tulane University Service-Dog Training and Education Program and the Office of Study Abroad — and of course setting up outside when the weather is nice.

What’s next for the Market? Upcoming Sundays are Feb. 10, March 24 and April 14 from noon to 2 p.m. Be on the lookout for yard signs in your area, and follow Green Wave Community Market on Facebook for additional details. For more information on how to get involved or become a vendor, you can reach out to GWCmarket@gmail.com.

Come stop in and grab brunch at our in-house restaurant, Rimon, which is open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., take a look around, and stay a while to see the exciting and creative products that our community has to offer!

Jewish Endowment Foundation The Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana has moved!

Our new address is 1 Galleria Blvd, Suite 1040, Metairie, LA 70001 Our phone number — (504) 524-4559 — has not changed.

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February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

senior life an annual SJL special section

Co-founder says there is “huge need” for programs like ACE On Jan. 20, the New Orleans Jewish Community Center honored Allison Freeman, co-founder of the Alzheimer’s Care and Enrichment program, as she stepped down as director. A presentation was made at the JCC’s annual meeting.

ACE and Mind Matters are two adult memory programs at the Uptown JCC. ACE offers structured activities three days a week for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Mind Matters is a once-a-week class designed for individuals with memory concerns.

Peter Sperling, outgoing JCC president, said ACE offers “cognitive and stimulating activities” that encourages those with Alzheimer’s “to engage socially with each other.” The program was created in 1991, and meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Caregivers can drop off the participants, knowing that they will be in a structured environment. This also gives the caregivers time for themselves.

The program includes exercise, meal preparation, interaction with nursery school children as well as music and the arts to foster self-expression.

Sperling noted that while Freeman is stepping down as director of ACE, she will still be a consultant and direct Mind Matters.

He noted the atmosphere of “loving kindness” in the program, and thanked her for the “hundreds of ACE participants and their families you have enriched through the years.”

Freeman said the program’s name embodies what they wanted to provide to the participants. “We did that with the help of a lot of people.

It was a group effort.” She cited funding from the National Council of Jewish Women and the work of ACE staff and program aides, along with visual artists, poets and musicians that enrich the experience.

“Ace has thrived because there is a huge need,” she said. Family members need to be able to connect with others and be part of a community, and “that’s what we have wanted to create here.” She added that the effort was enhanced by being part of the greater JCC community.

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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senior life

With expanded facilities, Tulane promotes preventative heart health Tulane wants to help seniors — and everyone else — with heart health care and advice.

Recently, the Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute opened a new location in the heart of Metairie on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, (to add to the downtown and West Bank locations.

An uptown location is also planned in the near future.

“We focus not just on cardiovascular care but preventative medicine, education and research,” said Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute Director Robert Hendel. An involved member of the Jewish community who moved to New Orleans from the University of Miami School of Medicine two years ago, Hendel also serves as the Sidney W. and Marilyn Lassen Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine for the Tulane University School of Medicine.

As a trustee for the American College of Cardiology responsible for health care policy as well as how cardiology should be practiced, he has had the opportunity to travel around the world, bringing that knowledge and experience back to New Orleans.

“There have been some recent changes in the guidelines for treatment of high blood pressure,” said Hendel. “That is pertinent to seniors. Even modest levels of blood pressure increase can be detrimental. We’re also putting renewed emphasis into cholesterol checks and ways to lower cholesterol levels.”

As people get older, their metabolism slows down. Proper diet and exer-

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February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

cise are vital for heart health.

Hendel recommends the Mediterranean Diet, which includes lots of vegetables, nuts, limited, lean meats and low sodium.

As far as exercise, a minimum of 30 minutes per day of cardiovascular workout can go a long way toward heart health. “It can be playing a sport or working out in the gym or just walking the mall,” said Hendel.

The Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute considers a patient’s age, weight, family history, medical history and at-risk factors when advising them about diet as well as exercise.

Those who have chest pains, shortness of breath and increasing fatigue should seek immediate care, he said.

Hendel also said he is “very proud of the research we are doing and the advancements we have made here at Tulane.” Areas of research activities include seeking better blood pressure control mechanisms for diabetics and other at-risk patients; developing new stints, and better medications and treatments for those who have irregular heartbeats.

Hendel said he and the other medical professionals with the Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute are happy to be a resource to the community.

“I would be more than happy to speak about heart health and do screening programs at the Jewish Community Centers as well as the synagogues, as I did in Miami,” he said. “The way I see it, a good doctor treats patients and a great doctor prevents disease.”

senior life What could be better than getting NEW HAIR in the NEW YEAR? Colonial Oaks celebrates completion of renovation project Residents at the Colonial Oaks Living Center skilled nursing facility in Metairie celebrate birthdays, holidays and life.

Last November, they added a big celebration to the list — the completion of an extensive renovation of the Center, which is located behind East Jefferson Hospital.

“We essentially took a 50-year-old building and made it new again,” said Michele Varon, community liaison for Colonial Oaks and the Belle Vie Living Center located next to Ochsner West Bank hospital. “This was a complete external and internal renovation, including new flooring, lighting, painting. We renovated every room, the gym, the reception area. Everything here is brighter and more inviting.”

Colonial Oaks holds a capacity of 95 beds and Belle Vie holds a capacity of 89 beds. Twenty of the rooms at Colonial Oaks and 15 of the rooms at Belle Vie are designated as S.T.A.R. units, Short-Term Accelerated Rehab.

“The S.T.A.R. unit fills the gap for those who leave the hospital but are not quite ready to go home,” said Varon. “We have a team of in-house trained therapists who do physical, occupational and speech therapies. On average a patient’s stay in the S.T.A.R. unit is 30 days or less. We make their environment as close to home as possible.”

Varon said their rehabilitation partner is Premier Rehabilitation. She and representatives from Premier regularly get out in the community to conduct talks.

“We speak at the Uptown Jewish Community Center about once a quarter… and at senior centers across the area,” she said. “We’re happy to come to them to talk about short-term rehabilitation for seniors. I welcome anyone to contact me.”

The co-owners of both Colonial Oaks and Belle Vie are Jewish, as is Varon. They have several residents at Colonial Oaks who are Jewish, and they offer special Shabbat meals upon request. Those residents and others enjoyed a big Chanukah celebration last December.

In early February, both Colonial Oaks and Belle Vie will enjoy festive Mardi Gras celebrations, with a Mardi Gras King and Queen selected at each Living Center.

Varon said residents enjoy a monthly celebration of birthdays with a deejay playing their favorite music. They regularly bring in singers to entertain — everything from youth choirs to barber-shop quartets. Other popular activities include bingo, pet therapy (at Colonial Oaks only) and dining/ shopping excursions.

“Our residents have fun and celebrate life at our communities,” she said.

For more information, go to www.colonialoaksliving.com and www.bellevieliving.com.

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February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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senior life

Focusing on Woldenberg Village’s Jewish roots In 1962, Woldenberg Village, originally named WillowWood, was founded by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. Today, the continuum-of-care senior living community continues to reach out to the area Jewish community to strengthen ties and boost new resident numbers.

The community, which covers 17 acres on the West Bank and was acquired by Touro Infirmary in 1998, includes 60 independent garden apartments, 60 assisted-living apartments, a 120-bed skilled nursing care facility, and an outpatient rehabilitation center that specializes in physical as well as occupational therapy.

Woldenberg Village Executive Director Joe Townsend said that approximately 12 percent of their residents are Jewish. It was 7 percent when he came on board in September 2011.

“Growing our Jewish resident numbers and making this the most ideal home environment for our current Jewish residents has been a focal point for me,” said Townsend. “This was one of my main goals when I got here.”

The community celebrates all the Jewish holidays and many Jewish and non-Jewish residents attended the recent Chanukah party.

Rachel Palmer, a licensed social worker and involved member of the New Orleans Jewish community, has been at Woldenberg Village for four years. Last year, she was promoted to Director of The Villas Independent Living.

“We want to make everything in independent living more welcoming and exciting,” said Palmer. “Of course with me being Jewish it is important to reach out to the New Orleans area Jewish community and to bring in new Jewish residents here.”

One focus is to enhance the quality of and options for dining in the Woldenberg Village independent living area. She said they could do kosher options and have a licensed dietitian. “The dining areas are social opportunities for people to congregate, have some good food and get to know each other better,” said Palmer.

She said the residents at Woldenberg “love dressing up for socials and celebrations” — everything from Mardi Gras to birthdays to fancy dinners.

Palmer said independent living residents can get regular transportation options and enjoy day trips to the World War II Museum, the Audubon Zoo, shopping and dining. “Transportation is there for everything from errands and trips to the doctor to sight-seeing,” she said.

Having a background in social work, Palmer knows that an active, social environment promotes longevity. “An active senior is a happy, healthy senior,” she said. “We look at the total wellness picture.”

Navigating Medicare, long-term care Navigating the complicated world of Medicare can be a challenge, but it’s a journey seniors don’t need to take solo.

“It’s not easy understanding Medicare. Talking to a specialist is important. We can find the right plan for someone, and in many cases, get the same coverage for a lower premium,” said Milton Goldstein, an involved member of the Birmingham area Jewish community who offers clients a multitude of Medicare and long-term insurance options to clients throughout the region.

Goldstein said open enrollment isn’t the only time someone can make changes to a plan or switch plans.

Medicare does not cover long-term care needs beyond 30 days. It also covers care for only 20 days after a three-day hospital stay.

Getting long-term-care insurance can fill in the gaps for seniors as well as those who are younger and need it, he added.

“The sooner you get long-term-care insurance, the less expensive it is and the better the coverage is,” said Goldstein.

Seniors comprise approximately 60 percent of those with long-term-care insurance, but 40 percent are under 65.

“It’s a free consultation and I’m happy to talk about it anytime,” he said.

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education

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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community Longue Vue exhibit celebrates artists helped by the Rosenwald Fund While in recent years there has been increased awareness of Rosenwald Schools, Longue Vue in New Orleans is highlighting an even lesser-known but also highly significant aspect of Julius Rosenwald’s legacy.

“An Artistic Heritage: The Julius Rosenwald Fund” opened on Feb. 1 and will be displayed through July 28 at the historic home. Rosenwald, a Jewish philanthropist who headed Sears, Roebuck and Co., established the fund in 1917, and by the time it closed in 1948, it had made grants to 862 “individuals of exceptional promise” who needed assistance getting to the next steps of their careers.

Of those recipients, 190 were for arts in such diverse fields as metalworking, language, literature, and fashion design, along with traditional media of painting, sculpture and music. The exhibition highlights 20 of those recipients.

Before the fund was established, Rosenwald started a partnership with Booker T. Washington, providing seed money to build community-supported schools for African-Americans. Over 5,300 Rosenwald Schools were built throughout the South from 1914 to 1932, and a small fraction of the buildings still exist.

With a philosophy of “give while you live,” Rosenwald started his fund, which was unique for its time because recipients were not discriminated by race or field of study.

Lenora Costa, the exhibit’s curator, said the facility recently began an artist in residence program, and this exhibit demonstrates the connection between art and Longue Vue. Longue Vue was the home of Edith and Edgar Stern. Edith was the daughter of Rosenwald, and the Sterns had a large philanthropic legacy in New Orleans, including Dillard University, Country Day School, Pontchartrain Park, the symphony and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Board minutes from 1928, displayed as part of the exhibit, spoke of the fund’s flexibility in issuing these grants, that “other American foundations are too large and too formal in their organization to attempt this kind of thing.”

While any foundation “might be very proud to have assisted in the work of Pasteur, Koch, or Darwin,” it is hard to select people with that level of potential. Nonetheless, “the possible results are so great as to justify a few experiments.”

Costa said the Rosenwald Fund grants were in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $3,000, which in those days “was a considerable amount of money.” Many of the artists were already known in some manner, but with additional education or exposure to other ideas they could truly blossom.

The grant was “that next step up,” Costa said.

For example, Jacob Lawrence, considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century, was a recipient. In 1940, he received a $1,500 fellowship so he could have a studio space and concentrate on one major project. That turned out to be his celebrated Migration Series, 60 panels depicting the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South to the North.

The writer James Baldwin received a grant and followed a couple of other black artists to France, where he wrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and the book that is currently a feature film, “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

Pearl Primus was a groundbreaking dancer who promoted African dance as worthy of study and performance. Her grant enabled her to 26

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

community spend a year in Africa in the late 1940s, observing and recording traditional dances in numerous countries.

Shirley Graham, while a student at Oberlin, became the first African-American woman to write and produce an opera with an all-black cast. The debut in 1932 drew a crowd of 10,000 at Cleveland Stadium.

Some of the recipients had Louisiana ties. Conrad Alfred Albrizio first came to New Orleans in 1920, and in 1931 received his first fresco commission for the new State Capital building in Baton Rouge. He was on the faculty at Louisiana State for two decades, and one of his largest projects was the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans.

Costa noted, “it’s nice to be able to connect all of them to a little museum in New Orleans.”

As part of the exhibit, there is an iPad where clips from some of the performers can be viewed. There is also rare footage of Rosenwald speaking — giving an opinion not to think someone is credible just because he is rich, as there “is ample evidence to the contrary” — a lot of “mediocre” people who fell into circumstances where they couldn’t help but get rich but otherwise should not be viewed as experts.

The exhibit is viewable as part of the admission to Longue Vue. Programs connected to the exhibit will be announced at a later date.

Where do babies come from?

Babies come from the swamp!

Slater Torah Academy dedicates Katz Wing

Tell her the truth.

Babies come from Touro.

We asked real Touro kids the age-old question, where do babies come from?

There’s one thing we know for sure, Touro babies grow up to be adorable kids!

On Jan. 14, the Slater Torah Academy in Metairie dedicated the Sam and Jean Katz Education Wing. Barry, Alona and Simon Katz dedicated the wing in memory of Barry’s parents. Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin, president of the board, spoke of the Katzes early commitment in the establishment of Slater Torah Academy. Barry Katz and his sister, Debbie Fox, spoke of their parents’ dedication to Orthodox Jewish education in New Orleans and how they would be delighted to see the school’s progress.

Touro has delivered generations of New Orleanians and is proud to welcome the newest member of your Family.

touro.com/fbc

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

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community Little Mensches takes PJ Library to the next step

SJL

goes anywhere digital editions at ISSUU.COM/SJLMAG

Coming soon…

from the team at Southern Jewish Life

A new magazine for Christian supporters of Israel israelinsightmagazine.com 28

February 2019 • Southern Jewish Life

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, which launched PJ Library, is encouraging participating communities to hold family volunteering events. From that charge, the Jewish Children’s Regional Service, which administers PJ Library in New Orleans and many other communities in the region, is launching the Little Mensches program.

Bonnie Lustig, who coordinates PJ Library in New Orleans, said Little Mensches is “a year-long series of opportunities for families of young children to engage in meaningful family volunteer activities while learning about local community needs and Jewish social values.”

PJ Library offers free Judaic books monthly for all Jewish children, from infants to age 8. PJ Our Way then encompasses Middle School students. The Little Mensches program is open to all PJ Library and PJ Our Way recipients.

The launch event on Feb. 10, “PJ Library Little Mensches Help With Hunger, at the Uptown Jewish Community Center at 1 p.m., is a partnership with Second Harvest, the state’s largest food pantry. The kids and families will assemble family dinner kits for a local elementary school “where most students are eligible for free or discounted breakfast and lunch at school, but may struggle to have enough for dinner at home,” Lustig said.

Second Harvest staff will explain how hunger affects New Orleans families, and PJ Library dad Danny Mintz, an anti-hunger public policy advocate, will provide the Jewish perspective by explaining the Torah commandments on providing for those in need.

PJ kids will also create cards with good wishes for the students who will become recipients of the family food kits. Also, each family will create a special souvenir project to help have an impact on hunger every day.

The second project, on March 10, will be “Building Bridges,” learning about the needs of unaccompanied migrant children who are living in the area while petitioning for asylum.

The kids will write welcome letters using Spanish and English words, and assemble backpacks with school supplies and comfort toys. The program, held in partnership with Jewish Family Service, will be at 3 p.m. at the Goldring/Woldenberg Jewish Community Campus in Metairie.

Other family volunteer events planned for the coming year include a pizza party at the New Orleans Women’s and Children’s Shelter, a Sept. 11 visit to a fire station to thank local firefighters, a Chanukah event at a local nursing home, a Tu B’Shevat fruit tree planting in a public park, and an event to support children

community >> Rear Pew Mirror

continued from page 30

packages.

Unfortunately, this kind of glimpse at the human impact of the firmament shutdown — and the moments of humanity demonstrated during it — are often lost amid polarized bickering over the unanswerables: Who started it? Who owns it? Why it exists. When it will end. Will it just happen again? What was gained, by whom, from it? And what’s next?

Of course, these questions are often asked about heaven even in the best of times. Even in the days after the 1969 World Series. But they get a lot more attention in times like these.

It could be worse. Imagine if the government had that kind of impact.

Doug Brook sank lower than the low in furlough, and is now shut down.

To read past columns, visit http://brookwrite.com/. For exclusive online content, like facebook.com/rearpewmirror.

>> Mensches

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who are hospitalized.

Jacqueline Stern, who chairs the family volunteering series, said the programs “are designed to create space for our Jewish children to understand the meaning of social justice and giving to others. Along with their families, they will learn about important issues affecting our community and what we as Jews can do to better the world.”

Space at the programs is limited and reservations to JCRS are required.

Hebrew Love Songs at Temple Sinai Soprano Shira Kaplan will perform the “Five Hebrew Love Songs” cycle and give a lecture on the piece during Temple Sinai’s Feb. 22 Shabbat service, starting at 6:15 p.m. Kaplan will perform the songs using the original setting of soprano, piano, and violin, as composed by Grammy-winner Eric Whitacre.

She will be joined by Newcomb Department of Music pianist Aigerim Magavina and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra violinist Hannah Yim. Kaplan is a Tulane senior pursuing a B.F.A. in music performance, a B.S. in psychology, and a minor in Jewish studies.

>> Commentary

continued from page 3

succeed and build, see me, Israel, Jews (except their approved Jews, maybe, relishing this potential division from each other) as uniquely evil and worthy of being pointed out Haman-style, whether we are relevant or not to the issue at hand. I fear that I have no home in the world at large.

“I will always, I pray, hold onto my values for human rights and justice and compassion and fight for them in the U.S. and in Israel, and many of those values are shared with these same people. But they don’t want flawed-but-trying-hard me, us, and in fact see us as worthy of more hatred, less deserving of existence, as anyone else in this world. Just as generations have not wanted us before, have seen our sins as the whole of us and uniquely powerful and cruel.

“I guess I can understand now the disbelief when we read about how Jews’ friends, neighbors, compatriots turned against us in the past. I always thought now is different. It’s not.

“Please don’t respond to this with any unkindness. Right now I just need support. I don’t claim to be the first of anyone to feel this way. Or that people of other groups, especially people of color, have not also felt this way forever, and I hope I have lived a life of empathy and sisterhood in that regard.

“But right now, I am so very heartbroken and afraid.”

Lawrence Brook, Publisher/Editor

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OFFICE OF INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY

THIS IS AUBURN. “This wonderful country of ours allows us to gather together, to be Jewish and be free… I’m grateful I can be Jewish and a basketball coach in the SEC.”

— Auburn Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl, at the 2017 JCC Maccabi Games Opening Ceremony

WE ARE COMMUNITY. Hillel, Auburn University’s Jewish student organization, was the recipient of the 2015 AU Student Involvement Award for Overcoming Adversity. diversity@auburn.edu www.auburn.edu/diversity

The record-breaking shutdown of the firmament continues, resulting in the further prolonged heavenly non-influences of unanswered prayers, a lack of miracles, and another non-winning season for the New York Mets.

Rather than exploring the oft-debated questions of who started the firmament shutdown, who owns it, or why it even exists, it’s time to take an all-too-rate look at its impact.

Everyone is angry.

In conclusion, it’s plain to see that it’s hard to see even a hint of the presence of heaven in the past two months. It’s been hardest on those most directly affiliated with heaven, whose lives and wellbeing are normally fed by their cloud-based connection that’s now being withheld by people with their heads in the clouds (or in somewhere else entirely).

Then again, for most people, how different has it been day to day?

As Garth Brooks once sang, unanswered prayers happen all the time, sometimes for good reasons. Miracles have pretty much died off since The Great Second Date of 2008. And the Mets don’t need any help to not win. So how can one tell the difference if heaven is open for business or not?

There might be impacts that people wouldn’t see either way. For example, it’s possible that people don’t get into heaven during the shutdown.

Not that so many people are eligible to get into heaven these days anyway, but if the staff isn’t working there’s nobody at the entrance to check them off and let them in. It might also mean that there’s nobody there to stop just anyone from entering without any documentation.

This unheavenly shutdown raises important philosophical questions in many realms of society. Sports, for example. If heaven is shut down, are the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles allowed to play? Are the New Jersey Devils free to go undefeated? Are the San Diego Padres still a Major League team? (That’s a question any time.)

Even the culinary world is affected. Unconfirmed reports indicate a sharp increase in the production of devil’s food cake relative to angel food cake. Of course, this could be attributed to chocolate being a heavier comfort food than vanilla, and people seeking greater comfort during these trying times.

How does the On the other hand, there are always other hands. One of them is pointing shutdown of to the fact that there are many signs of the presence of heaven even in the heaven affect absence of active interaction. There’s the “real world”? a world and all that’s in it. There are nearly three of you reading this. There are traffic lights that still stay yellow just long enough to get through the intersection without justifying the angst of cross-traffic.

One might, therefore, call this only a partial firmament shutdown. The sun rises every day, the sun sets every night, the world spins on its fittingly tilted axis, and people are pleased or displeased about these events at more or less the same rate as always.

People don’t always get what they seek from heaven, either during this life or once they take up residence in heaven after a process that, frankly, is the death of most people. In the absence of manna or womanna from heaven, people end up having to rely on each other. In an ironic twist of faith, some people put aside their angst and re-create themselves in the Big G’s image by bringing small miracles to each other. Or, at least, care continued on previous page

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