Southern Jewish Life

left campus.

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.

some people go far off the rails, even to the point of wanting to get rid of us.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR

Lawrence M. Brook editor@sjlmag.com

I felt honored to come to Birmingham for the first time and fell in love with not just the city but the people. You have taken Southern hospitality to a new level with your kind and caring approach to the JCC Maccabi Games.

Ma claimed her piece has been taken out of its context, she wasn’t agreeing with Ye per se, but she was explaining where he was coming from. The piece is an extreme interpretation of the Christian ideal to love everyone — enemies included, and in that context it could make sense, had she not taken it to the point of absurdity.

Led by the Sokol and Helds, your hard-working volunteers were wonderful. They partnered with your outstanding staff, led by Betzy Lynch, to make the 2017 JCC Maccabi games a huge hit. I want to take this opportunity as executive director of Maccabi USA to say thank you on behalf of everyone involved.

Jewish teaching is that we’re not instructed to love everyone — that is unrealistic, but we are to be civil and treat people as we would want to be treated. We can acknowledge our common humanity while still realizing that

To lecture Jews about how to treat enemies takes particular chutzpah. Every Passover we remember the Egyptians who lost their lives in our quest for freedom. There is also the story of how the angels celebrated when the Israelites reached the other side of the Sea of Reeds and the waters closed in on the pursuing Egyptians. God rebuked the angels, asking how they could celebrate while His children were drowning. Yes, both the Israelites and the Egyptians are God’s children, we’ve been

ASSOCI ATE PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING

Lee J. Green lee@sjlmag.com

EDITOR

Richard Friedman richard@sjlmag.com

V.P SALES/MARKETING, NE W ORLEANS

Jeff Pizzo jeff@sjlmag.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ginger Brook ginger@sjlmag.com continued on page 29 police force, are to be commended. These games will go down in history as being a seminal moment for the Jewish community as we build to the future by providing such wonderful Jewish memories.

I had just returned from the 20th World Maccabiah games in Israel with a U.S. delegation of over 1100, who joined 10,000 Jewish athletes from 80 countries. Back in July the eyes of the entire Jewish world were on Jerusalem and the Maccabiah. This past month with 1000 athletes and coaches from around the world being in Birmingham, you became the focal point.

Jed Margolis Executive Director, Maccabi USA

On Charlottesville

Editor’s Note: This reaction to the events in Charlottesville, written by Jeremy Newman, Master of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Theta Colony at Auburn University, was shared by AEPi National, which called it “very eloquent” and praised “our brothers at AEPi Theta Colony at Auburn University and… the leadership they display on their campus.” our country since its beginning its hopes, its values, and its better angels. The events that took place in Charlottesville represented the worst of this nation. Those who marched onto the streets with tiki torches and swastikas did so to provoke violence and fear. Those who marched onto the streets did so to profess an ideology that harkens back to a bleaker, more wretched time in our history. A time when men and women of many creeds, races, and religions were far from equal and far from safe in our own borders. A time where Americans lived under a constant cloud of racism, anti-Semitism and pervasive hate. The events that took place in Charlottesville served as a reminder of how painfully relevant these issues are today.

Jewish community of Charlottesville, and with the Jewish people around the country and around the world. We also stand with the minorities who are targeted by the hate that was on display in Charlottesville. We stand with the minorities of whom these white

SOCIAL/WEB Emily Baldwein connect@sjlmag.com

PHOTOGRAPHER- AT-LARGE Rabbi Barr y 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

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Documenting this community, a community we are members of and active within, is our passion. We love what we do, and who we do it for.

On Jan. 29, the B’nai B’rith Mardi Gras Mitzvah Makers made their way through Touro Infirmary, many of them on little sleep after the previous night’s Chewbacchus parade. There was a record number of first-time participants, and the Amelia EarHawts also took part. The parade brings Mardi Gras to those in the hospital long-term who would not otherwise be able to view the parades.