SJL Deep South, April 2013 by Southern Jewish Life

Celebrating Israel

Funny Business at JCRS Gala

Our Annual Simchas Issue

Southern Jewish Life Rabbi Milton Grafman, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Letter from Birmingham Jail

April 2013

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Southern Jewish Life P.O. Box 130052 Birmingham, AL 35213-0052

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Full disclosure: I grew up next door to Rabbi Milton Grafman. While I was growing up, he was my neighbor, not my rabbi — he retired around the time I started elementary school, and besides, I was Beth-El and he was Emanu-El. Because our yard was sloped, I spent many afternoons riding my trike through his carport, to his back patio and through the flat strip of grass between our houses. Ida, his wife, would make us special cookies every Chanukah. When I came back from college, he served as an advisor as I started into the Jewish journalism world, to give me some extra credibility — and he helped with background on issues concerning previous publications. Later we would sit in his kitchen and talk about what happened during the Civil Rights Era. Clearly, it was not an easy subject for him. While he took many courageous stands that opened him up to retaliation, all that was seemingly lost in how the Letter from Birmingham Jail portrayed him — exacerbated by superficial teaching about the letter and what prompted it. This year, Birmingham is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the major civil rights battles that took place downtown, and of course the letter. The Jewish community was literally trapped in the middle of the events, caught between the marchers and the Klan. The common shorthand that most students are taught is that “the Jews marched with the blacks for civil rights.” The Civil Rights Era has become larger than life, with mythic figures and evil villains. What really happened was more shades of grey than black and white — thus the name of our ongoing series of articles on the subject. Yes, Jews marched for civil rights — but mostly they were from outside the area. Locally, Jews were more behind the scenes and resentful of those from outside who did not understand the perilous tightrope of the time, and what the Jewish community could realistically accomplish. What happened in the Jewish community during those turbulent times is an under-reported aspect of the Civil Rights Era. As this anniversary year continues we will continue to have stories on the movement and the Jewish response. This month we have a lengthy piece on Grafman and King’s masterpiece, explaining the complicated background that led to the Birmingham confrontations, and providing context vital to understanding the letter, and to understanding where Grafman was coming from. Because of the anniversary, this fall, the Southern Jewish Historical Society will have its annual meeting in Birmingham, further exploring the Jewish history intertwined with the movement. As we remember the struggles of 1963, there is a lot of history of the Jewish community’s perspective and struggles that we should also remember — and teach. Larry Brook Editor/Publisher

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April 2013

Opinion Publisher/Editor: Lawrence M. Brook, editor@sjlmag.com Associate Publisher/Advertising: Lee J. Green, lee@sjlmag.com Creative Director: Ginger Brook, ginger@sjlmag.com

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Contributing Writers: Doug Brook Mailing Address: P.O. Box 130052, Birmingham, AL 35213 Telephone: Birmingham: (205) 870-7889 Toll Free: (866) 446-5894 FAX: (866) 392-7750 Story Tips/Letters: connect@sjlmag.com Subscription Information: Southern Jewish Life published monthly and is free by request to members of the Jewish community in our coverage area of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and NW Florida. Outside those areas, subscriptions are $25/year or $40/two years. To subscribe, call (205) 870-7889 or mail payment to the address above. The publisher is solely responsible for the contents of SJL. Columns and letters represent the views of the individual writers. All articles that do not have a byline on them are written by the publisher. Southern Jewish Life makes no claims as to the Kashrut of its advertisers, and retains the right to refuse any advertisement. Advertising rates available on request. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved, reprints only by permission of publisher.

Philosophy: To link the Jewish communities of the Deep South, to tell you the fascinating stories of one another, and to document and preserve the news of events large and small, all a part of the rich culture of Southern Jewry.

April 2013

West Bank Jewish communities?

By Jacob Kamaras/JNS.org

Photographer-At-Large: Rabbi Barry C. Altmark

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South Africa’s chief rabbi: ‘I know apartheid firsthand’ Rabbi Warren Goldstein grew up in South Africa. He is also a regular visitor to Israel. With those two experiences, he is quick to respond with historical context to critics who call Israel an “apartheid state.” “When you use such a false analogy, you’re defaming the Jewish state and then offending the real victims of apartheid,” Goldstein tells JNS.org. “And I think as a South African who grew up under apartheid, albeit toward the waning years of apartheid, I know apartheid firsthand, I know Israel firsthand, and they couldn’t be further apart in the analogy.” Goldstein, who has served as the Chief Rabbi of South Africa since 2005, will visit the United States this month, in part to promote his new book, “The Legacy: Teachings for Life from the Great Lithuanian Rabbis,” written with Rabbi Berel Wein. JNS.org: Given the history of South Africa, what is your response to those who analogize Israel to an “apartheid state”?

JNS.org: Do you see any lingering eﬀects, in South Africa and elsewhere, from the controversial and now partially retracted 2009 report by South African judge Richard Goldstone that accused Israel of war crimes? apartheid

The analogy defames the Jewish state and offends the real victims of apartheid

Rabbi Goldstein: “It’s a modern-day blood libel in that it’s based on lies and it is defamation of the Jewish state and also — and here’s where the South African angle comes in, as well — it is desecrating the memory of the real victims of apartheid. Because if everything is apartheid, then nothing is apartheid. “If there is an analogy, then I would say that Israel is like the African National Congress of the Middle East, because what the South African experience proved is that you can’t make peace on your own. For all the years the ANC wanted to make peace, it couldn’t; it had to turn to the armed struggle because there was no credible negotiating partner on the other side, and so too [we see in] Israel. We all know that the greatest dream of any Israeli is peace; Israel wants the wars to end. But you can’t make peace on your own, you need to have someone on the other side who’s prepared to come and meet you halfway.” JNS.org: What is the South African Jewish community’s strategy regarding the proposed placement of “Occupied Palestinian Territory” labels on goods originating in

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Rabbi Goldstein: “The community is ﬁghting it on many levels — [including] political engagement with the government, to persuade them not to support this. Legal action has been launched, led by the Zionist Federation of South Africa, challenging [the proposed legislation] on the procedural side of it, to say that it’s unconstitutional, that it hasn’t met the minimum standards of administrative justice. And so, there’s the political, there’s the legal, and then there’s also the media front, where we’ve got a media team here that’s very active in the South African media, putting out opinion articles, writing letters to the editor and challenging any kind of misinformation as it comes along.”

Rabbi Goldstein: “I think there’s no doubt that given the credibility of Judge Goldstone in the international community and in South Africa, his initial report did a lot of damage to Israel. At the time, I wrote an opinion article that was published in the press here in South Africa, in which I criticized his report on a legal basis, both from a substantive point of view as well as a procedural point of view. “The issue really is challenging in the court of public opinion, so to speak, and so therefore I think his partial retraction went some way on that, but can never really undo the damage that was done at the time. It’s all part of this ongoing international campaign which seeks to delegitimize Israel, and I think that this is really a cause which is important for every single Jew to get involved in. It’s something [about which] I personally have written many articles in defense of Israel, here in the South African press and overseas as well. “Defending the justice of the course of the state of Israel [is a passion for me] — not to say that Israel doesn’t make mistakes, all human beings do. But by and large, it is a moral country, with an army that abides to standards of morality that no other army currently or in history has ever abided by.”

Front Porch Bama hoops thriller helps Jewish student recruitment: The University of Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball team unintentionally helped in the recruitment efforts of Jewish students at last month’s Bama Hillel Spring Recruitment Weekend. Part of the weekend of activities included the Alabama-Georgia basketball game. The Tide was rolling early but the Bulldogs tied the game at 58 with just a few seconds left. Junior Guard Trevor Releford launched a 57foot shot as time expired that glided through the net to win the game in dramatic fashion, 61-58. The Hillel students and 12 visiting high school students from as far away as New York were chanting “Roll Tide” on their way back to the Hillel house. Bloom Hillel Student Center Director Lisa Besnoy said they kick-started the weekend Friday afternoon, March 8, with an official tour led by the University of Alabama’s admissions team. Parents and students returned to Hillel for a Southern-style Shabbat dinner, attended by approximately 90 people, followed by an evening social activity. March 9 began with a Faculty and Staff luncheon, and an opportunity for the visiting students to learn more about Jewish life at Alabama. That was followed by the exciting Bama “buzzer-beater” basketball game. After the game they gathered at Hillel for Havdallah followed by an evening cookout hosted by the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, which last month had an alumni reunion to show off significant, recently completed enhancements to its current house. On March 10, Sigma Delta Tau sorority hosted a bagel-and-lox brunch. “The visiting students and parents said they just had a wonderful time,” said Besnoy. “We have a very energetic group of students who understand the value of Jewish life on campus and a home away from home. They were wonderful about sharing that with the visiting high school students.” Bama Football Raffle: As Mobile’s Springhill Avenue Temple looks to recover from the tornado damage it suffered on Dec. 25, the congregation has a Crimson Tide raffle to benefit the Tornado Fund. At the congregation’s annual meeting on May 5 there will be a drawing for two autographed Alabama footballs. One is autographed by Nick Saban and A.J. McCarron, and the other is autographed just by McCarron. Raffle tickets are $20 each and are available from the congregation’s office. Damage to the building beyond the coverage of insurance is estimated to be in the six figures.

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International Center’s Poland Salute explores Jewish history: This year’s Birmingham International Center spotlight country is Poland, and the Jewish community is heavily involved in the schedule of programs this month. “The BIC chose to spotlight Poland this year because it is one of the most stable and growing economies in Europe and therefore presents a special opportunity for Alabama businesses,” said Iris Gross, BIC executive director. “There are more than 22,000 people of Polish heritage living here, but very little is known about Polish history or culture. There is a need to offer an opportunity for the business community and citizens of Alabama, including students and teachers, to learn more about their wonderful country.” A highlight of the month is the Ambassador’s Dinner on April 13 hosted by Spotlight Chairman Craft O’Neal of O’Neal Industries. The Ambassador of Poland to the United States, Ryszard Schnepf will be honored along with the former United States Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. Feinstein’s grandmother came from eastern Poland. The family left Poland a century ago, and at the end of his service in Poland last fall a farewell ceremony was held at the Nozyk Synagogue in Warsaw. There is also a two-day Southeast U.S. – Poland Business Summit on April 15 and 16, and an International Women’s Day on April 25 at The Club including seminars and a marketplace, culminating with the Women of Consequences award, this year given to one woman from Poland and one of Polish heritage who is living in the U.S. On March 19, Matthew Levey spoke about Poland’s memory of occupation by Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. On March 20, Holocaust survivor Aisic Hirsch spoke at the Birmingham Public Library about his experiences following when the German army invaded his town in Poland. An exhibit about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will be in Birmingham and Huntsville this month. Coordinated by the State University of New York at Buffalo, the exhibit opens April 7 at the Birmingham International Center with a 3 p.m. lecture by Peter Gessner, who originated the exhibit. The exhibit will open at the Huntsville Madison County Public Library on April 21. The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center will have a free film series at the Emmet O’Neal Library in Crestline. The first film, “In Darkness,” will be April 14 at 2 p.m. The 2012 Polish film chronicles Leopold Socha, a Catholic sewer worker in the Polish city of Lvov, who uses his knowledge of the city’s sewer system to shelter a group of Jews in the Lvov Ghetto, first as a business arrangement but later as an alliance. On April 23 at 6:30 p.m., “The Last Chapter” presents a sweeping history of 1000 years of Jewish life in Poland, depicting the richness of Jewish culture, both religious and secular. The 1948 film “Long is the Road” will be screened April 30 at 6:30 p.m. It is the first film to represent the Holocaust from a Jewish perspective. Made by and about Jewish displaced persons, the film was shot on location at Landsberg, the largest DP camp in U.S.-occupied Germany. The series ends on May 6 at 6:30 p.m. with “The Passenger.” A German woman on an ocean voyage runs across another passenger she thinks she recognizes — an inmate from Auschwitz where she had been a guard. Andrew Demshuk will lead a discussion after each of the first three films, with Andre Millard leading the final discussion. On April 28, the play “Life in a Jar” about Irena Sendler will be performed at Alumni Hall at the Hill University Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham at 3 p.m. There is no charge, but reservations are requested to bicstaff@bic-al.org.

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The Irena Sendler Project began in the fall of 1999 when four, rural Kansas students discovered the story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic woman who served in the Polish Underground during World War II as head of the children’s section of Zegota. Sendler smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then provided them with false identity documents. The spotlight closes on May 5 with “Music, the Polish Legacy: Classical, Klezmer and Popular,” a 2 p.m. free concert at Temple Emanu-El. Honoring Mountain Brook’s first basketball title: Since the school opened in 1966, Mountain Brook High School Spartans’ athletic teams had won 149 state championships in various sports, but a state boys’ basketball title remained elusive. That changed last month, thanks in part to two Jewish players and a coach who professed the value of teamwork. The Spartans’ basketball team finally got their shot in the spotlight by beating Sparkman High School at the 6A Boys High School State Championship at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. One of those players was senior guard-forward Jeremy Berman. His grandfather, Floyd, and father, Gil, will honor the players, coaches, teachers and administrators who made the dream season possible with a free event, including a kosher dinner, on At the championship game. April 21 at 5 p.m., at the Knesseth Above, Jeremy Berman. Below, Joshua Bluestein. Israel Congregation Social Hall. The event is sponsored by the KI, BethEl and Emanu-El Brotherhoods. Attendees are asked to RSVP at floydberman@hotmail. com or office@kicong.org by April 14. Spartans’ Head Coach Bucky McMillan “has a great system and it worked out so well. It’s all about teamwork and dedication. There are no superstars or individuals,” said Floyd Berman. “This is a monumental victory for the high school and the community.” Jeremy Berman, a guard whose nickname was “Mr. Ice”, led the team with great shooting and passing. He was second on the team in scoring with 9.2 points per game, with the bulk of his attempts from behind the 3-point line. He was also second in assists with 2.1 per game. The senior was named to the Alabama-Mississippi All Star basketball game roster by the Alabama High School Athletics Directors and Coaches Association. Fellow Jewish student Joshua Bluestein didn’t get as much playing time, but he sank an important three-pointer late in the state championship game. He averaged 2.1 points per game. “Coach McMillan believes in giving every player the opportunity to shine on the court… and in the classroom,” added Floyd Berman. (By Lee Green)

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April 2013

Front Porch Blumberg to talk about “Alphabet” Browne: On April 18, Temple Beth Or in Montgomery will welcome Janice Rothschild Blumberg, author of “Prophet in a Time of Priests: Rabbi ‘Alphabet’ Browne 1845-1929.” She is widow of two outspoken Jewish leaders — Rabbi Jacob Rothschild of Atlanta, who led The Temple during the 1958 bombing and was a friend of Martin Luther King Jr., and David Blumberg of Knoxville, a civic leader and international B’nai B’rith president. A past president of the Southern Jewish Historical Society, Blumberg also wrote a book about Rabbi Rothschild’s tenure in Atlanta. Alphabet Browne was an acclaimed and controversial figure, publishing the South’s first Jewish newspaper, serving as an honorary pallbearer for Ulysses S. Grant, discussing European Jewry with Pope Leo XIII and a wide range of other pursuits. Her talk will be at 2 p.m. on April 18 and it is open to the community. Beth Israel’s 46th Bazaar: Jackson’s Beth Israel will hold its 46th annual Sisterhood Bazaar on April 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The eagerly-anticipated event features a wide range of Jewish foods otherwise unavailable in Jackson, along with a white elephant sale and bake sale. There is also a silent auction, which this year will also be online.

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Beth Shalom in Fort Walton Beach will be holding a Mitzvah Day on April 15, hosted by the post-B’nai Mitzvah students. B’nai Zion in Shreveport has a Mitzvah Day scheduled for April 14, and Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El will hold one on April 28. Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El will hold a Klezmer Shabbat, a special service for cantor, mixed choir and Klezmer band, by Jose Bowen. The May 3 service will be at 5:40 p.m.

Responding to “Apartheid Week”: In response to Israel Apartheid Week by Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Birmingham Jewish Federation promoted its “Buy Buy Israel” campaign to purchase made-in-Israel goods. Some students protested that the group organizing the anti-Israel events barred comments from “Zionists and bigots” on its page, and an article in the UAB Kaleidoscope that was filled with inaccuracies. The events included several anti-Israel speakers and forums, and three sheets of plywood meant to replicate the security barrier Israel built to protect itself from terror attacks, which anti-Israel activists refer to as the “apartheid wall” (above). 8

April 2013

Southern Jewish Life

Front Porch ISJL had just six weeks but meets $1 million goal: The Jackson-based Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life had a simple challenge — raise $1 million by March 10 to get a $500,000 matching gift from an anonymous donor. What was not so simple? The challenge was issued at the end of January. Nevertheless, the Institute was able to rally enough support to raise in excess of $1 million, securing the $500,000 matching gift. The Institute had to raise at least $500,000 to gain any of the 1:2 match, meaning for every $2 the ISJL was able to raise during the challenge, the anonymous donor would contribute $1, up to a maximum of a $500,00 match for $1 million raised. The donations did not have to be paid by March 10, they can be spread out through 2015. “The grassroots support truly is phenomenal,” says ISJL President Macy B. Hart. “We had contributions from foundations, individuals, congregations; the amount of support and encouragement we received from our contributors throughout this process has been wonderful, and we thank everyone for their help. The turnaround on this, when we had just over a month to meet the goal, was just incredibly inspiring — and it’s not too late to give! We still have more to raise, but we’re certainly starting this year off on the right foot, and we are so grateful.” It was quite a kickoff for the Institute, which is celebrating its Bar Mitzvah year. The Institute provides educational and rabbinic services to Southern Jewish communities, preserves the rich history of the Southern Jewish Experience, and offers community engagement opportunities and inclusive cultural programming throughout the organization’s 13-state region. Other major donors have been inspired by the short campaign and the Institute believes there may be additional “challengers” who will match donations this year. JCRS challenge falls short: Not as successful was a valiant effort by the New Orleans-based Jewish Children’s Regional Service, participating in Gulf Coast Bank’s Community Rewards. Over 300 non-profits signed up for the promotion, where individuals could select a charity and vote once per day through March 4, with the top 10 splitting $50,000. JCRS was the only Jewish organization participating. As voting closed, JCRS was in 16th place. In all, over 100,000 votes were cast, and Looziana Basset Rescue trotted away with the top prize, $25,000. (JCRS Gala coverage, page 34)

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From left to right: AEPi leadership consultant Andy Griesinger, President Jonathan Lee, Vice President Joshua Frank, Treasurer Avi Nelson, Secretary Sam Jurgens, Rush Chairman Jared Cohen, member at large Isaac Benjamin, AEPi leadership consultant Max Green AEPi making return to Alabama: A month after Zeta Beta Tau celebrated its renovated house at the University of Alabama, Alpha Epsilon Pi began a Crimson comeback. On March 18, the Iota Deuteron Colony of AEPi inducted six Founding Fathers at Alabama. The ritual formally marked the rebirth of one of AEPi’s oldest and storied chapters, one which began in 1942. AEPi, the only International Jewish Fraternity, was founded to provide opportunities for the Jewish college man seeking the best possible college and fraternity experience, to join a Jewish organization whose purpose is not specifically religious, but rather social and cultural in nature. One of the Founding Fathers and the colony’s first elected Rush Chairman, Jared Cohen, said he is excited about the opportunity to help start AEPi at Alabama. “AEPi prides itself on being a home away from home for Jewish students, and the group looks forward to working with Hillel, one of its official partners internationally, to provide even more resources and opportunities for Jewish students in the context of Greek Life,” Cohen said. AEPi Southeast Educational Leadership Consultant ?Andy Griesinger said that many Iota Deuteron alumni and prospective students have been asking for the return of AEPi and wondering when they would be back at Alabama. Cohen can be reached at jecohen@crimson.ua.edu. Men’s Work Retreat at Jacobs: The Henry S. Jacobs Camp will hold its annual Men’s Upkeep Retreat, April 19 to 21. Adult males from the Jacobs Camp family come and work at the camp to get the facility ready for the summer. The work is everything from general repairs to special building projects. Tools will be provided, participants are asked to bring work gloves and clothes that can get dirty. The weekend begins with Shabbat dinner on April 19 at 8 p.m., then the work starts on April 20 and 21 at 8:15 a.m. There is no charge for those who come to work, and participants can stay for the whole weekend or just for the day on Saturday. Registration is requested by April 12 on the Jacobs Camp website.

Because most events will be before this issue arrives in homes, to read about Holocaust commemorations in the region, visit sjlmag.com. 10

April 2013

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Klezmer, Scouts and a parade: Celebrating Israel’s 65th The Jewish Federation of Central Alabama will celebrate Israel’s 65th birthday with cultural activities and a visit from Boston Klezmer band Ezekiel’s Wheels. The Wheels’ unique style was forged in the subway stations and farmers’ markets of Boston, where the informal setting and everchanging audience created an ideal environment for musi- Ezekiel’s Wheels cal experimentation. On the advice of an admirer from the Porter Square T station, they entered the 2012 Boston Jewish Music Festival’s “Klezmer Idol” competition, winning first place and a recording session. Seven months later, with a brand new EP under their belt, they won both the juryawarded City Winery Prize for best klezmer ensemble and the Audience Pick Award at the third biennial International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam. In addition to Montgomery, their first-ever Southern tour will take them to Atlanta and Chattanooga. The Montgomery event will be at Wynlakes Country Club’s Ballroom and Terrace on April 14 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. The community’s Israel emissary, Ori Tal, will discuss Israel, its important relationship with America, his time in Montgomery, and his hopes for the future of Montgomery’s Jewish community. “There is a special bond between the nation of Israel — Jews and non-Jews throughout the world — who believe in the importance of Israel’s existence,” Tal said. “Israel is America’s strongest ally and America is the strongest ally of Israel; essential in helping Israel deal with the dangerous threats from their Middle Eastern neighbors.” The event will feature Israeli themed cultural activities for all ages, including Israeli food and dancing lessons. Activities for kids will include a moon-bounce, face painting, crafts, and Israeli flags. There will be door prizes and a raffle. The event is open to the public, but reservations are requested by April 11, as space is limited. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children. Reservations can be made by contacting Susan McGuire at (334) 277-5820 or by emailing her at mail.jfca@gmail.com. In New Orleans, the community will hold a Yom HaZikaron service to remember soldiers who gave their lives in defense of Israel, on April 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the Uptown Jewish Community Center. Afterward, it’s a celebration of Israel’s 65th birthday with a wide range of regional Israeli foods, and a performance of “The Spirit of Israel” by the Tel Aviv Scouts. The memorial service will be led by members of the New Orleans Rabbinic Council. The Tel Aviv Scouts are high school students who are also involved in scouting. They tour the world giving audiences a taste of Israel

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through a high-energy musical performance. The Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration will include activity booths for children. The event is free and open to the community, co-sponsored by 14 local congregations and organizatons.

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In Birmingham, the Levite Jewish Community Center will host an Israel Independence Day celebration on April 21, starting with making decorations for the Israel parade at the Crestline post oﬃce on Montclair Road at 10 a.m. The parade will start at 10:30 a.m. and make its way to the LJCC soccer ﬁeld, where there will be a carnival and food. A “surprise musical performance” will begin at 12:30 p.m. Birmingham’s Knesseth Israel will also hold events for Israel Independence Day, starting with 5:15 p.m. minyan on April 15. That will be followed by a talk about Israel Memorial Day and a moment of silence, followed by a festive Ma’ariv service at 6 p.m. An Israeli-style dinner and movie will he held at 6:30 p.m. On April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tobacco Leaf, Knesseth Israel will hold an Israel-themed session, “Is the Prime Minister the King? Halachic Status of Modern Israel.”

Reconstructionists make history in New Orleans with Klein election At its convention in New Orleans last month, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association elected Rabbi Jason Klein as the new RRA president. Klein, executive director of Hillel at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is the first openlygay leader of a national rabbinic association. Before arriving in Baltimore in 2006, he was the rabbi at Reconstructionist Congregation Beth Emeth on the South Shore of Long Island. Klein said “Coming out and growing into my adult Jewish identity would not be the same were it not for affirming teachers, rabbis, and other mentors along the way. Now, I am honored to be able to give back by supporting colleagues who are creating welcoming communities in hundreds of settings across North America and beyond.” He is anticipating his new role as president of the RRA with joy and gratitude. “I have been grateful to partner with strong, invested volunteer leaders at UMBC Hillel these past several years, so it is with a great deal of humility that I walk into the opportunity to serve over 325 rabbis as the chief volunteer leader.” The convention was held March 10 to 13 at the Hampton Inn and Suites, Convention Center. As part of the event, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was honored after stepping down following 36 years at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis. She was the first female rabbi ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinic College. There was also a panel on “Engaging the Next Generation of Jews: Innovations from the New Orleans Community” featuring Janine Julia Jankovitz of Temple Sinai, Jody Braunig of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, Rachel Glicksman of AVODAH and Barrie Schwartz of My House. Currently there are no Reconstructionist congregations in the SJL area. The closest ones are in Atlanta, St. Louis and Houston.

Staying resolved

Attempts to pass pro-Israel resolutions more complicated than usual Two diﬀerent groups in the region passed pro-Israel resolutions this past month, but unlike most such attempts, it was not automatic and in both cases it took a great deal of debate. On March 15, the Mississippi Senate spent an hour debating a bill that commends Israel “for its cordial and mutually beneﬁcial relationship with the United States and with the State of Mississippi.” After the debate, the measure passed, 28-7, with about one-third of the 52-member Senate voting “present.” The measure then went to the House, where it quickly passed unanimously as part of a package of resolutions on March 19. It was sent back to the Senate, which passed it to the governor on March 22. At McNeese State in Lake Charles, Adam Harris, who heads the campus Christians United for Israel group, came back from the AIPAC policy conference and presented a resolution to the Student Senate on March 13. After his 20-minute presentation, the resolution passed 28-21. The resolution expresses “support for the

State of Israel’s right to defend Israeli sovereignty, to protect the lives and safety of the Israeli people, and to support strict enforcement of the sanctions placed by the United States Congress and by the UnitedNations on Iran, in order to maintain a nuclear free Iran.” When Harris went to the Senate oﬃce to get a signed copy of the resolution on March 20, Student Government Association President Davante Lewis said he would not sign it because it was improperly passed. When the voice vote was too close to call, there was a second vote where members raised their hands. The Pro-Tempore did not record abstentions, meaning the 49 votes that were cast fell short of the 51 required for a quorum. Harris said “If we had received two more votes either way or if they had counted the abstention the resolution would have been properly voted on,” and he will bring it back to the Senate this month. The Mississippi bill was proposed by Sen. Terry Brown, a Republican from Columbus. It begins by reiterating Israel’s claim to the land

Christians United for Israel at Mississippi College hosted “Israeli Soldiers Stories” on Feb. 26. through “the oldest recorded deed” in scripture “held sacred and revered by Jews and Christians alike.” The bill also states that the 650,000 Jewish residents of the territories “reside there legitimately” and recognizes “that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others.” Associated Press reporter Laura Tillman wrote that some senators questioned the bill’s “accuracy” and others said Mississippi

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shouldn’t be working on foreign policy matters, especially drawing boundaries in disputed areas. Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory was quoted as saying “Are we doing such a great job handling the business of the state of Mississippi that we can now focus on Middle East borders?” Bryan, who noted that “I think all of us support Israel,” offered an amendment that would specify the 1948 borders, but Brown opposed it and Sen. Nancy Adams Collins of Tupelo spoke against it. The amendment failed. Last year, the Alabama Legislature passed a very similar measure, which was signed by Governor Robert Bentley on Feb. 28, 2012. Another solidarity resolution was passed in 2004. Last May, the Louisiana Legislature passed a bill supporting Israel, with the Senate voting 36-0 in favor. What is the Mississippi relationship? Some reporters who follow Mississippi politics were puzzled by the resolution’s mention of the relationship between Israel and Mississippi, unsure if there was such a thing. In 2012, Mississippi exports to Israel totaled $29 million, ranking 39th among Mississippi trading partners — far below the exports to Israel from neighbors Alabama and Louisiana. There was also $700,000 in Foreign Military Financing contracts in Mississippi, which is part of U.S. aid to Israel that must be spent in the United States. In 2009, Israel Aerospace Industries moved assembly lines to Starkville, where they build drones at Stark Aerospace, an IAI subsidiary. In October 2010, Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure Uzi Landau came to Mississippi to visit Stark, along with government and business leaders in the state. In the 1990s, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula produced three Sa’ar 5 corvettes for the Israeli Navy. In 2011, Governor Haley Barbour spent five days in Israel before ultimately deciding not to run for president. Rep. Steve Palazzo was part of an 81-member Congressional delegation that visited that summer, and in January 2012 Sen. Thad Cochran went to Israel with Sens. Inouye and Mikulski. In late 2011, HCL CleanTech, a Herzliya company, announced it was establishing its U.S. headquarters in Olive Branch. The state passed a $100 million incentive package for the project, which was projected to bring 800 jobs to the state. Last year the company changed its name to Virdia. Currently 23 states have cooperative agreements with Israel, Mississippi does not. Alabama does, while Louisiana, which had Israel as the 6th largest market for the state’s exports in 2012, does not. Mississippi and Louisiana are not among the 36 states that have benefitted from Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation grants. BIRD was formed in 1977 to fund U.S.-Israeli joint projects to develop and bring to market non-defense technological products. Mississippi is working with the Binational Science Foundation, with $150,000 in grants since 1996 to promote scientific relations and cooperation between U.S. and Israeli scientists. The University of Mississippi and Mississippi State have received Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund grants. Two Mississippi State professors had a three-year grant with a Hadassah Medical School research team to develop a vaccine to fight a major disease affecting the carp industry. Another BARD grant funded joint research leading to COTMOD, a computer model showing how several factors affect cotton production. The system saves growers about $48 per bale. According to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, “The potential for greater cooperation with Israel for the benefit of Mississippi is limited only by the imagination.”

Not Just Black and White Civil Rights and the Jewish Community

Living with the Letter Kingʼs 1963 masterpiece had “undeserved” consequences for the eight moderate white clergy, especially Rabbi Grafman

“ re you still a bigot?” Every year for the rest of his life, students studying Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” would call Rabbi Milton Grafman, knowing little of the situation in 1963 Birmingham, and pose that question. His son, Stephen Grafman, a Washington attorney, said his father’s reputation “is still stained by what simply is not correct,” and this month’s 50th anniversary of the letter is a chance to explore the full context and history behind the letter. “The substance of the letter is beautiful and it will stand the test of time,” Grafman said. “The problem is that some of the backdrop to the letter is not correct and still needs to be corrected.” In the letter, King responds to a call from eight moderate white clergy in Birmingham who suggested that his April 1963 demonstrations were untimely. King spoke of his frustration that so few ministers and rabbis in the South were on the side of equal rights, and that negotiations had continued to be little more than a stalling tactic. The most segregated city Among hotbeds of segregation, Birmingham was seen as a special case. For decades, absentee industrial owners from up North had used racial division as a means to keep whites and blacks occupied and prevent them from agitating for better working conditions. Racial segregation was the law of the land. As the civil rights movement gained ground against the status quo in the 1950s, reaction from local white supremacists was fierce and violent. The city became known as “Bombingham” because of the numerous bombs set off at black churches and at homes of black activists — and attacks against whites who sought to upset the status quo. Caught in the middle was the Jewish community, which endured harsh anti-Semitic rhetoric by the Klan and white supremacists, and an attempted bombing of Temple Beth-El in 1958. The demonization of Jews began with the Scottsboro Boys case in the 1930s. In 1931, nine black teenagers were arrested in northern Alabama after being accused of raping two white girls. The “Scottsboro Boys,” as they became known, were quickly convicted and sentenced to death. The case became a national issue, and their lawyer on appeal was a Jewish New Yorker, sent by the American Communist Party though he was not a Communist himself. The anger and resentment toward the attorney became the prototype for the mythic “Yankee Communist Jew” who was trying to use integration to destroy the Southern way of life. That became an ongoing drumbeat for white supremacists well into the 1960s, bolstered in their eyes by the fact that roughly half of whites from around the country who came to the region to work for desegregation were Jewish. Rear Admiral John Crommelin, otherwise regarded as a war hero, ran for office several times on virulently anti-Semitic platforms. The bombing of Beth Israel in Gadsden in 1960 was done by a teen who had just been to a Crommelin rally. In 1961, the Freedom Riders sought to test court rulings mandating Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

the desegregation of interstate bus facilities. The integrated buses rolled into Alabama and were met by Klansmen who torched one bus near Anniston and beat the riders in Birmingham. Sid Smyer, who headed the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, was in Japan for the International Rotary Club convention in May 1961 when coverage of the attack on Freedom Riders in Birmingham was splashed all over newspapers worldwide. In Japan to also recruit business, he instead had to do damage control. Though a segregationist, upon his return to Birmingham, he realized that the city had to change. To truly eﬀect change in Birmingham and get rid of Bull Connor, an end-run around the city government was planned. Abe Berkowitz, a Jewish attorney who was outspoken on civil rights issues, was part of a group that plotted to change the city from a three commissioner form of government to a mayor-council system and elect new people. To do that they had to get enough signatures on petitions to force a special election, knowing Connor and his Klan-riddled police department would do everything he could to thwart them. They quietly fanned out on election day in

August 1962 and got enough signatures at the polling places, having the petitions protected that night by armed guards. That November, after a contentious campaign, voters in Birmingham narrowly approved the change in government, forcing Connor to run for mayor if he wanted to continue in office. The election took place in March 1963, with Albert Boutwell claiming 39 percent to Connor’s 31 percent, forcing a runoff. The runoff election was held on April 2, with Boutwell taking 58 percent of the vote, ousting Connor. But Connor refused to leave office, so the city functioned — so to speak — with two governments until the courts could sort out the issue almost two months later. Showing how ingrained anti-Semitism was, Grafman noted that a common anti-Boutwell taunt was “Eight, six, four, two, Albert Boutwell is a Jew.” Restarting the movement King had been looking for a time to come into Birmingham and force the issue regarding desegregation. During the summer of 1962, King tried to desegregate Albany, Ga., but the police chief kept things quiet. When King was sentenced to 45 days in jail, the po-

lice chief saw that King’s fine was quietly paid and he was released after just three days, unable to become a jailed symbol of the struggle or gain widespread media attention. Harvey Shapiro, editor at the New York Times magazine, had contacted King’s group while King was imprisoned in Albany to suggest that King write a “letter from prison” in the tradition of early Christian saints and other martyrs. But King was released too quickly. Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who headed the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, wanted King to come to Birmingham, knowing Connor would over-react and force the issue onto front pages nationally. Plans were set in motion for sit-ins and demonstrations at lunch counters and department stores — most of which were Jewish-owned. There was also a planned black boycott of downtown merchants. With the possibility of a change in government, King kept putting off the demonstrations — until April 3, the day after the runoff election, when Birmingham had just elected a new leadership. With Connor voted out and it being only a matter of time before the courts affirmed it,

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and with a new government much more interested in making racial progress, there was a fear that King’s demonstrations would cause a backlash and do more harm than good. That was the concern being aired by the eight clergy in their April 12 statement, “A Call for Unity” — that the demonstrations were “untimely” given that Birmingham was on the verge of “a new day” and needed a chance to make progress with Connor out of the way. Grafman points out that it was a concern shared by others who never felt the sting of progressive backlash afterward — Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Rev. Billy Graham and the Washington Post, among others, said the demonstrations were untimely. Nevertheless, the clergy noted “we recognize the natural impatience of people who feel their hopes are slow in being realized.” The demonstrations had limited success during the ﬁrst weeks. Many were arrested, and on April 10 Connor raised the bail bond amount substantially. On Good Friday, April 12, King was arrested for defying an injunction against the demonstrations. He would be released on April 20. While in the Birmingham jail, King decided to take up Shapiro’s suggestion, writing the now-famous letter on scraps of paper and later on a legal pad — but when Shapiro received the writings, he could not get the higher-ups at the Times to publish it. Instead, it appeared in a few magazines including “Liberation,” “The New Leader” and “Atlantic Monthly.” Grafman and the other seven clergy never received a copy — they saw it the same way everyone else did. Though it was written on April 16, the letter was ﬁrst published in mid-May. Within days, hate mail started pouring in to Rabbi Grafman. “The Jewish community nationally, particularly in the New York area, reacted with vicious letters about which they knew very little,” Grafman said. That vitriol continues even today — just moments after Barack Obama was sworn in as president, Stephen Grafman received an email sneering about what his father must think about there being a black president. After the letter was published, Rabbi Grafman was called “a disgrace to your temple, to your religion and... to your God.” The statement’s praise for the Birmingham police’s calm response was likened to thanking the Gestapo for how they handled the Jews. Grafman noted that when the ministers had issued the statement and when the letter was written in mid-April, it was still early in the demonstrations and the police for the most part had been restrained in their response. But when the letter was published, it was shortly

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after the early May now-infamous clashes with the police dogs and firehoses, so any notion then that the police had been “calm” was laughable. In early May, the movement had changed tactics. Finding it difficult to recruit adults who would be subject to arrest, they started the Children’s Crusade. On May 2, over 1,000 students left school and began to demonstrate. They were arrested, completely filling the jails. The next day, another thousand followed, and that is when Connor — still fighting his ouster as commissioner — decided to go for the firehoses and the dogs. As the national media showed the shocking footage from Birmingham, the situation became a full-blown crisis. National figures flocked to the city to lend support as the marches continued. Meanwhile, negotiations continued behind the scenes, with a desegregation agreement finally reached on May 10. Federal troops arrived on May 13 to restore order. The Letter Shortly after the crisis in Birmingham ended, King’s letter started appearing, and Grafman suffered the backlash. In the letter, King speaks of traveling the “length and breadth” of the state, seeing churches and wondering “Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred” in his 1963 inaugural where Wallace gave his famous “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” speech. In fact, those eight clergy, plus three others, had spoken out at great risk to themselves. In January, those 11 clergy — including Rabbi Eugene Blachschleger of Temple Beth Or in Montgomery — issued “An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense” three days the inauguration. It stated that “hatred and violence have no sanction,” laws must not be ignored by individual whims, court decisions must be respected, and every person’s freedom should be equally protected. Immediately, a backlash came from segregationists. One of the original signatories in January, Father Soterios Gouvellis, refused to sign the April statement. In his chapter in the book, “Autobiographical Reflections on Southern Religious History,” Andrew Manis wrote that “it was not terribly long after this that we had a new priest,” and “one of the factors was the same race consciousness that pressured Protestant ministers to avoid challenging the accepted racial arrangements,” and Greeks in particular as relative newcomers “could ill afford a troublemaking priest.”

Judge Oberdorfer’s Civil Rights legacy recalled Judge Louis Oberdorfer, who was involved in numerous civil rights cases during his Washington-based legal career, died on Feb. 21, on his 94th birthday. Oberdorfer was a native of Birmingham’s Jewish community, the son of prominent attorney A. Leo Oberdorfer, who was president of the Birmingham Bar Association in 1928 and the Alabama State Bar in 1934. Louis Oberdorfer graduated from Dartmouth in 1939 and left Yale Law School to serve in the Army during World War II. He returned to finish his law degree at Yale in 1946, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He was in private practice except for a stint at the Justice Department from 1961 to 1965, where he was assistant attorney general in the tax division under Robert Kennedy. In 1963, he was a founder of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a group of lawyers that sought to enforce civil rights laws in the South. He was co-chair in the late 1960s, establishing chapters throughout the country. During that time, he argued a Supreme Court case where the Nixon administration said it could not enforce desegregation of schools in Holmes County, Mississippi, because the Department of Justice didn’t have the personnel to enforce it. He stated that if the government didn’t have enough lawyers, the Lawyers Committee would provide. The Supreme Court directed the integration take place. In 1962 he helped oversee the integration of the University of Mississippi, and was active in the 1963 Birmingham conflict. He later said while Birmingham and Atlanta had been similar cities before, Birmingham’s Bull Connor-led resistance to civil rights set the city back 50 years while Atlanta flourished. Oberdorfer returned to private practice in 1965, then was appointed to the U.S. District Court in 1977, where he served until retiring in 1992. One case he worked on in private practice was a suit by the state of Wisconsin to keep the Milwaukee Braves from moving to Atlanta, under antitrust laws. Oberdorfer was president of the D.C. Bar in 1977. With his civil rights background, he raised eyebrows in 1990 when he ruled that the Ku Klux Klan had the right to march in Washington. The local government had said they could not guarantee the marchers’ safety, and despite 3000 officers there was a melee with 1,000 counter-protestors, with several injuries. In making the ruling, Oberdorfer said “It would be a sad day when the United States with all its forces can’t protect people walking down the street from the Washington Monument to the Hill.” He dismissed a suit by Japanese U.S. citizens who were in detention camps during World War II, stating the statute of limitations had run but they should pursue their goals in Congress. In 1988, Congress and President Reagan authorized reparations payments to the survivors. The Robert Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights said “Louis was a towering figure in the American judicial system and a man whose council helped shape the Department of Justice during Robert Kennedy’s tenure… a dynamic legal mind dedicated to pursing America’s most just future.” He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Montgomery native Elizabeth Weil Oberdorfer, sons John, William and Thomas Oberdorfer, daughter Kathryn Oberdorfer, five grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

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That circumspection was also felt in the Jewish community as well as the Christian world. Any minister who was too outspoken was subject to looking for future employment outside the region. Rabbi Grafman’s predecessor, Rabbi Morris Newfield, as president of the Reform movement’s rabbinic group, had to investigate the departure of Rabbi Benjamin Goldstein from Kahl Montgomery in 1933 after Goldstein spoke out in defense of the Scottsboro Boys. Rabbi Joseph Gumbiner of Mishkan Israel in Selma was also subject to great pressure after speaking out on the same issue. More recently, Rabbi Seymour Atlas had left Agudath Israel in Montgomery after a backlash for his speaking out in support of the 1956 bus boycott sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks. Grafman said King overstated things by charging that the eight ministers “deplore the demonstrations,” noting that the demonstrations were controversial even in the local black community — and the ministers merely thought the timing was wrong. Many historians think King’s reference to not standing by as Jews suffered had he been in Nazi Germany was a direct slap at Rabbi Grafman. His son noted that Rabbi Grafman was one of the few American Jewish leaders to visit Nazi Germany, in 1938. When he came back, he reported on what he saw, and there were still a lot of “doubting Thomases who could not believe such things were going on.” Far from being a coward, as some historians have charged, Rabbi Grafman stood in the face of difficult times and did not hide, Stephen Grafman said. A native of Washington, Rabbi Grafman was ordained in 1933 and became rabbi at Adath Israel in Lexington, Ky. On Pearl Harbor Day in 1941, he arrived in Birmingham to start at Emanu-El, a pulpit he would hold until his retirement in 1975. He would live out the rest of his days in Birmingham, the only one of the eight clergy to do so. In 1956 he had been invited to speak on a panel at the University of Mississippi for Religious Emphasis Week. Shortly before then, one of the other panelists, from Ohio, won $32,000 on the quiz show “$64,000 Question” and declared that he was giving some of his winnings to the NAACP. That did not sit well in Mississippi, and the legislature forced the university to rescind the invitation. When Rabbi Grafman found out, not only did he pull out of the panel but encouraged the other speakers to do the same. That destroyed the friendship he had with Ole Miss Chancellor J.D. Williams, who Rabbi Grafman had known since their days in Kentucky. Once word of Rabbi Grafman’s actions hit

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the newspapers in Birmingham, the threatening phone calls and letters began. He bought a whistle that he kept by the phone, to ring the ears of those who got particularly obnoxious. In 1958, the Grafmans sought to buy property off Pine Ridge Road in Birmingham’s suburbs, but the seller refused to sell it to them because they were Jewish. In the fall of 1963, Rabbi Grafman was one of 16 whites on the 25member Committee on Group Relations set up by the city. He also traveled to the White House one week after the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, to discuss with President Kennedy how to further racial progress. In 1964, Rabbi Grafman said the Ku Klux Klan should not have a booth at the Alabama State Fair. The Klan sued him for libel, and Grafman reflected it was fortunate that all the Klan did was sue him given the Klan’s propensity for registering displeasure through dynamite. In 1970, a vote to accept two black members failed at Birmingham’s First Baptist Church. Pastor J. Herbert Gilmore immediately resigned and took much of the church staff with him, forming the inclusive Baptist Church of the Covenant. The new church was welcomed by Grafman into Temple Emanu-El until it could find its own facilities. Shortly afterward, the Birmingham Ministers Association was debating the schism. Rabbi Grafman listened to the arguments back and forth, and then was asked for his opinion. He asked the ministers if they had read the words of Jesus and if they had walked where he had walked in Jerusalem. “I have,” he told them. “When you read these books and when you walk in his path, you will have your answer. He has settled this matter.” Moments later, the vote to pass a resolution supporting racial inclusiveness in churches was unanimous, and a few years later he would be elected president of the group. Rabbi Grafman also spoke out over the 1990 controversy over a Professional Golf Association tournament at Shoal Creek after the developer — a good friend of his — defended not having black members by saying “we don’t do that here.” Despite the criticism over the letter, Rabbi Grafman kept silent for 15 years. “Emotions were so high that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for people to accept anything other than what was in Dr. King’s letter,” he felt, and any response would not be productive. When Rabbi Grafman died in 1995, local civil rights activist Abraham Woods had kind words about him, saying he was one of Birmingham’s “great assets,” something Stephen Grafman said would have pleased and somewhat surprised his father. At the funeral, Stephen Grafman said, among the crowd was one black man he did not recognize. He not only attended the service at Emanu-El, but also went to the graveside service and back to the Grafman house. It turned out to be Orzell Billingsley, who was King’s attorney and had been the one to escort King out of the Birmingham Jail in April 1963. Billingsley told Grafman he wanted to be there to pay his respects. Stephen Grafman said “the ministers as a whole were completely misunderstood,” and he regularly attends talks about the letter, though he acknowledges it is almost impossible to overturn 50 years of narrative about a letter that will go down as one of the most important documents of the 20th century. In the late 1990s he attended a seminar at Duke, and afterwards an African-American professor who taught about the letter approached him, asking for copies of some of the hate mail Rabbi Grafman received after the letter was published. Some time later, Grafman received a letter from the professor, saying he read those missives in class as a clear example of “how good people get mis-used” by history.

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Becoming kosher in high school Communication essential with rest of family By Michael Orbach The hardest thing for 17-yearold Jackie Farber was giving up shrimp, her favorite food. Once she did, she was able to move on to other levels of kosher observance, such as splitting up meat and dairy dishes. It was a while before she became completely kosher and stopped eating in non-kosher restaurants. “There’s no kosher restaurants where I live,” she said. Now she maintains her own kosher kitchen complete with separate meat and dairy sponges. Jackie Farber (on left) But for Miss Farber, a native of Huntsville, that was only part of the struggle of keeping kosher. At 17, she’s still in high school and lives with her parents, who, while supportive of her personal decision, do not keep kosher. In a way, she faces a predicament similar to many other NCSY Y teens: how to live a more observant life while living in their parents’ home. While many facets of religious life are personal commitments, keeping kosher typically requires the participation of the entire family in some way and can be a source of friction. NCSY, Y, formerly the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, is the Y international youth movement of the Orthodox Union. Jackie recently spoke about her struggle of keeping kosher on Charlie Harary’s radio program, “The Book of Life,” on NachumSegal.net. “I went on NCSY’s The Jerusalem Journey in 2011,” she told the audience. TJJ is a trip to Israel for public school teens. “Afterwards I started keeping kosher, little by little.” “What do you eat?” host Harary asked her in astonishment. “You’d be surprised by how many packaged foods are kosher,” Jackie answered. To get fresh kosher meat, Miss Farber travels over two hours by car to Nashville. Observant Jews are not common in Huntsville and when Jackie tried to pick up challah, the attendants didn’t know what she was talking about until she described it. “Jew Bread?” Jackie recalled them asking. Asked how she managed to maintain her commitment to keeping kosher, Miss Farber was frank. “I felt obligated as a Jew,” she said. “It gives me my Jewish identity and I believe there is a righteous and loving God and this is what He wants.” For Farber’s parents, Alan and Marcia, the process has been a learning experience. “We read a lot more labels,” Alan said with a laugh. “To ﬁnd things around here is not the easiest thing. We support Jackie keeping kosher. It’s something I admire her for doing, especially in this environment where there aren’t so many Jewish people living here. It’s not something that I’ve ever done or thought I thought I could do.” “We’re very proud of her,” Marcia added. “NCSY helped her do it.” Rabbi Micah Greenland, interim international director of NCSY, Y Y, advised that teens who want to keep kosher should be open with their parents about it. “There is no hard and fast rule of what teens might expect to experience or what the challenges might be for teens,” Rabbi Greenland said. 22

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“The only common denominator is the primacy and importance of really good communication between teens and parents.” He also added that keeping kosher can be a positive experience for both teens and their family members. “I’ve seen so many examples where teens who communicate openly with their parents and vice versa can come to an understanding that the whole family can live with,” Rabbi Greenland said. “It strengthens the Jewish ideals in the home, not just for the teen, but for the entire family.” Rabbi Greenland also said that typically teens make the choice to keep kosher based on two factors. “It’s a desire to connect to their heritage in a way that they know their ancestors did,” he stated. “Kosher is something that can connect them to their roots. It’s also a way to recognize that to grow as a person, some measure of self-sacriﬁce is often required. Cutting out nonkosher food from their diet speaks to kids as a way to say that, ‘I want to be a growth-oriented person’.” At the tail-end of the radio program, Charlie Harary told Jackie that she would be receiving a set of tapes about keeping kosher by the Orthodox Union as well as a shipment of kosher food. Miss Farber had her own surprise. Keeping kosher soon won’t be too diﬃcult for her. She plans to spend next year in seminary in Israel.

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Reprinted with permission from Ignite, the oﬃcial NCSY magazine.

Doing the Southern Seder circuit Nobody attends more Seders each year than Elijah, but the Jackson-based Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life is giving it a try. ISJL Rabbi Marshal Klaven and Student Rabbi Matt Zerwekh visited 14 communities as Passover began, do- Rabbi Klaven leads Seder at Our Home ing the third annual ISJL Unitarian Universalist Church in Ellisville, Miss. Passover Pilgrimage. In their week-long journey across six states, Klaven and Zerwekh conducted services, led Seders, offered educational programs and facilitated dialogue for Jews and non-Jews in 14 small and often underserved communities throughout the South. “Passover,” said Rabbi Klaven, “is a yearly reminder of how we must use our blessed freedom to enhance the lives of all, redeeming those still oppressed by forces large and small, internal or external. Collectively, we engage in this yearly reminder around the table, sharing God’s bounty with friends and family, neighbors and strangers alike.” Klaven started on March 21 at St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Jackson, then visited B’nai Israel in Natchez on March 22 and 23, Auburn’s Beth Shalom on March 24, and Beth Tefilloh in Brunswick, Ga., on March 25. On March 26 he was at B’nai Israel in Panama City, followed by Albany, Ga., on March 27. He spent the weekend at Temple Shalom in Lafayette from March 29 to 31, finishing his tour on March 31 at Gemiluth Chassodim in Alexandria. Zerwekh started at Anshe Chesed in Vicksburg on March 25, followed by Beth Israel in Jackson on March 26 and the University of Mississippi on March 27. He then traveled to the Upper Cumberland Jewish Community in Crossville, Tenn., on March 28; then finished at B’nai Israel in Fayetteville, Ga., on March 29 and Rodeph Sholom in Rome, Ga., on March 30. Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

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Homecoming with a purpose Jacksonʼs Sharp biking native England in fundraiser to honor sonʼs memory

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Six years after losing his son to leukemia, Peter Sharp is returning to his native land of England in May to do a fundraiser that will take him from “Land’s End to John O’Groat’s.” Sharp is owner and innkeeper at the fourdiamond Fairview Inn in Jackson. His 14-day, 1,000-mile bike ride will be from the tip of England to the tip of Scotland, to raise money for the Simon Sharp Eagle Fund. “Originally born in England, I thought this would be a great way to raise money for the Boy Scouts of America, Andrew Jackson Council, and the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital Cancer Clinic — two organizations that meant so much to Simon,” said Sharp. “At age 55, it also is a ‘bucket list’ accomplishment.” Simon Sharp was diagnosed with leukemia Peter Sharp in 2006 after falling ill at Boy Scout camp in is $30,000, which will go completely to the Florida. Right after camp, the Sharps were charities as they are funding the trip expenses moving from the Orlando area to Mississippi, themselves. Simon’s twin sister, Sophie, is a where two days later they would close on their junior at Tulane. purchase of the inn. Two days afCorporate and individual ter that, Simon was diagnosed donations that “will help make with leukemia and wound up at differences in so many lives of Children’s Hospital. young adults in Mississippi” are He had already started his Eagle welcome and can be made on the Scout project, raising thousands website where Sharp is chroniof dollars for a Veterans’ memocling his preparations, www. rial in Celebration, Fla., where he lejogbike.blogspot.com, or by grew up. He continued working contacting the inn. As of press on the project with assistance time, he had over $8,000 in comfrom fellow scouts, ultimately mitments. raising $80,000. “There are many facets to sucIn November 2007, he was cessfully completing an endeavor awarded his Eagle Scout, and died Simon Sharp such as this”, said Sharp. “Equipthe next day at age 15, after a 15ment, clothing, training, nutrimonth battle with the disease. The day after tion, safety, logistics, finances and pure deterhis first yahrzeit, the memorial was dedicated mination to name a few.” in Florida. A plaque in his memory was also He added, “You have a deep sense of comdedicated at the site, and the project received mitment to those who have pledged money to the James B. West Award from the Boy Scouts the charities to make sure you succeed in the of America, which honors outstanding Eagle endeavor and for your own personal pride. As projects. an Innkeeper working long hours to please all Sharp and his wife, Tamar, who are both our guests, it is a true test of organization and active at Beth Israel in Jackson, started the endurance.” Simon Sharp Eagle Fund to honor their son, The fund has also hosted “Chefs and the and thus far have raised over $80,000 for the City” fundraisers featuring Jackson’s top chefs, two charities. Sharp’s goal for the bike ride and a five-kilometer Simon’s Walk.

info. h e b r i c a @ g m a i l

CUSTOM ORDER ORIGINAL ART 24

April 2013

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A Century of Celebrations Bʼhamʼs Emanu-El focuses on joyous events in historic sanctuary The weekend of March 1, Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El continued marking its centennial in the historic Highland Avenue building with a celebration of life cycle events that have taken place in the domed sanctuary. A quilt made from pictures of congregants’ celebrations was dedicated, and became a chuppah as those who were married in the sanctuary were recognized (left). Also being called up were those who were Conﬁrmed at Emanu-El (above) and who had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah there (below).

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April 2013

Simchas —What to Wear

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Bella Couture goes from “simple and elegant” to vintage By Lee J. Green

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Bella Couture in Birmingham believes that the key to providing ideal dresses for its Jewish brides and others involves marrying key components — friendly, knowledgeable service, quality fabrics, construction and designer lines, and an eclectic, diverse mix of style options to meet all tastes. Owner Colleen Hopwood started sewing and making clothes when she was seven years old, and for many years it was her dream to open up her own shop. After working for a division of Saks as an area sales manager, that dream became a reality in 2006 when she opened up Bella Couture in the Mt. Laurel community of Birmingham. “Everything just fell into place so perfectly with Bella Couture,” said Hopwood. “We’ve done a lot of research and we listen to folks to understand what they are looking for. We make sure we carry designers that can provide well-made, fashionable dresses that fit perfectly with what the By Justin Alexander customer wants.” As far as trends go, she said that Birmingham is still a more traditional market and most of the Jewish brides and families she has worked with have selected “simple and elegant” gowns. “I focus on having styles for everyone and we can go custom if, say, someone likes certain aspects of a few dresses,” she said. “We have everything from the traditional ball gowns to the more couture with ruffles, lots of beading, sequins, three-dimensional flowers (made of ruffles) and other things that might be trending modern, fashion-forward.” She said in the past two or three years, lace has been very popular among wedding/bridal dresses in the Birmingham area, along with slimmer silhouettes. “We are also seeing a rise in popularity of dresses I would categorize as having a vintage feel to them,” added Hopwood. Bella Couture said they have worked with brides who come in for the first time just a few weeks before their weddings. But they recommend planning at least six months in advance, especially if custom is the preferred option. Hopwood said owning a bridal store has been so rewarding, especially sharing in the joy of others. “This is perhaps the most special day or at least one of the most special days in a woman’s life. The best part about this job is the relationships Bella Couture has developed with customers,” she said. “We enjoy getting to know the families and the brides-to-be and get to share in their joy. Most of them stay close with us after the wedding.”

Olivier Couture sees tradition trend in bridal gowns By Lee J. Green New Orleans-area bridal boutique Olivier Couture sees tradition prevailing when it comes to what many of their customers seek today. “I think we’re seeing a modesty trend; a more covered look. Brides are coming in searching for more classic silhouettes like ball-gowns and wanting to be a tad bit more conservative by adding a detachable lace bolero,” said co-owner Jessi Olivier. The Mandeville bridal boutique celebrated its third birthday last month. Olivier married six years ago and her By Victoria Nicole sister/co-owner Emily Shaffer married three years ago. Both of them had experiences that left much to be desired when first looking for bridal dresses at larger chain stores. “I went to a ‘big box’ store and my brain just shut down because I was so overwhelmed. We wanted to open a place that was familyowned, friendly and focused on service. We have approximately 100 dresses to choose from so the selection is there, but the way we display it doesn’t look cluttered like those big stores,” said Olivier. In addition to helping brides-to-be pick out the perfect gowns, Jessi and Emily say they are happy to provide vendor referral for other services. “We love being able to get to know our brides and recommend vendors that we feel they will match nicely with.” she said. The most often asked question they get from brides is how they came up with the store’s name. Olivier laughs, “It was simple; Olivier is my last name and we paired it with the French word ‘Couture,’ which means ‘made-to-measure.’ Since brides do not purchase our sample gowns off-the-rack and need to special order their wedding gown, all of our gowns are essentially ‘made-to-measure’.” She added, “Our name sounds fancy, but we have dresses here that everyone can afford,” starting at just under $1000.

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April 2013

Simchas — Historic Venues The Elms Mansion and Gardens The Elms is now one of the most sought-after spaces for private events in New Orleans, but the mansion has a long history before it became a wedding and celebrations venue. Built on St. Charles Avenue in 1869, the mansion was home for “Yankee in Grey” Watson Van Benthuysen II. He moved to New Orleans in the 1840s from New York and became an officer in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, Van Benthuysen became a prominent New Orleans businessman in wine and tobacco, and the president of a St. Charles streetcar company. From 1931 until the start of World War II, the house served as the German Consulate office. Then in 1952, John Elms, Sr., owner of the largest coin-operated amusement company in the South, purchased the home. Just before his death in 1968, the family started using the house for private functions and today is operated by the third generation of the Elms family. The mansion features elegant touches such as an imported mantel of hand-carved marble, ornamental cornices, 24-karat-gold sconces and a 48-foot grand ballroom lined with jeweled windows. For events, The Elms can customize a New Orleans-style menu to fit any occasion. Events can be inside or outside in the lush gardens or both. When not hosting a celebration, The Elms offers groups a historical tour of the mansion.

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April 2013

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Historic Rucker Place Simchas represent historic occasions for celebrants, so an eventhosting mansion on the national register of historic places and located just a few short blocks from Temples Emanuel and Beth-El might be the perfect ﬁt, advises Rucker Place Owner Gail Thompson. The 6,500-squarefoot mansion, which includes a large porch and gardens overlooking downtown Birmingham, was built in 1900 and opened 10 years ago for special event hosting. “It’s a very elegant and appealing place in very close proximity to the city’s two largest synagogues,” said Thompson. She said the capacity for an event inside the mansion is 250, but some have set up tents on the ground to accommodate approximately 400 people. “The best thing about this place is that you can turn it into anything you can imagine. We can work with people to organize and decorate the space to ﬁt with whatever they might desire.” She said Rucker Place has hosted Jewish wedding receptions, Bar-

Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans The newly renovated Fleur de Lis Suite enhances the 20,000-squarefeet of function space for Simchas at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The 1,800-square-foot Fleur de Lis Suite opens to the tropical courtyard and is “perfect for traditional wedding services such as the Kabbalat Panim or the groom’s Tisch.” Then the Grand Ballroom, offering 5,000-square-feet of function space can be divided into two sections accommodating up to 300 guests. The room includes sparkling chandeliers and elegant wall sconces. Executive Chef Peter Page and his culinary team can design a customized kosher-style menu upon request and Executive Pastry Chef Solandie Exantus can create custom wedding cakes for the couple, according to Wedding and Social Events Manager Wyeth Furlong. He said The Royal Sonesta also has a 24-hour, full-service audio and visual company as well as a dedicated convention services team available for special events. “With over 25 years of experience in the celebrations industry, the Royal Sonesta’s talented team of event planners has produced numerous Jewish weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs,” said Furlong. “And we look forward to the opportunity to host many more.” The Royal Sonesta is home to Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, PJ’s Coffee Café, Desire Oyster Bar and Bistro and the new Restaurant R’evolution. For more information contact Furlong at wfurlong@sonesta.com.

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Bat Mitzvah celebrations and other events in its 10 years. “We very much believe in the Southern hospitality approach. We have myself or another event hostess there to work with organizers of the event. We coordinate with all of their vendors and take the worry out of it. And we’re here for whatever is needed also on the day of the event from the very beginning to the very end,” added Thompson. Rucker Place’s in-house caterer is Savoie Catering, led by Chef Richard Bishop. He is happy to work with those hosting an event on special requests — everything from kosher-style to vegetarian to special dietary requests to working with family recipes. The mansion has its own commercial kitchen so all of the food is prepared fresh in-house. “Richard is happy to customize a menu and he has vast experience with all different types of cuisine,” said Thompson. She said one thing people might not realize about Rucker Place is that it has ample parking options, including lots at adjacent office buildings during non-work hours. From May through October on the first Thursday of each month, Rucker Place invites the public to Jazz on the Porch. The cost is $5 a person for some Savoie fare and live music. Tours of the mansion are also offered. During one week in December, Rucker Place hosts holiday lunch open houses every day.

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April 2013

Simchas B&A Warehouse still partying while awaiting new ballpark neighbors

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With the new ballpark for the Birmingham Barons now next door, the B&A Warehouse hopes its B&A Baseball Buddies Club catches on and proves to be a grand slam idea. For years, the downtown Birmingham event facility by Railroad Park has hosted numerous Simchas, corporate and holiday events. This month they will open to the public before Barons’ home games when there isn’t a private event booked at the B&A. “We’ll sell upscale baseball food, beer and wine,” said Director Susan Mason. “We love to tailgate in the South, we love our teams and we love good food. We thought this would be a great option for those coming to catch a (Double A Southern League) baseball game.” Mason said over the years, the B&A has hosted events ranging from small group luncheons to huge aﬀairs of up to 1,200 people. In 2012, they hosted Sallie Downs’ event “Free to Be — A Chanukah Celebration,” a co-op event between Collat Jewish Family Services and the Alabama School of Fine Arts attended by 300 people last June, and the Hollywood-themed Bar-Bat Mitzvahs for the Weissman twins. “For the Weissman B’nai Mitzvah we had a red carpet and wall decorations featuring celebrities. They had someone interviewing the ‘stars’ as they came in just like they do before the Academy Awards. There were more than 250 people there. It was a lot of fun,” said Mason. B&A launches its new website this month and has also expanded its impressive menu options. New chefs were recently brought in from Louisville. She said the B&A can customize a menu with kosher-style, vegetarian and gluten-free items. When asked what type of food is most popular, Mason quickly replied, “Southern fare. We have found our niche with good food at a good value.” She said the B&A is excited about the new Regions Stadium and growth in the neighborhood. “We welcome people to come in and to understand all we can do here.”

Vulcan takes events to new heights In addition to welcoming guests from across the globe to learn about Birmingham’s history and to experience its “mascot” — the world’s largest cast-iron statue — Vulcan Park and Museum recently hosted a Bar Mitzvah “tribute” to the 2013 BCS National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide football team. In late January, Vulcan hosted Marshall Wilensky’s Bar Mitzvah celebration. The Alabama football theme was hashed out for the 150 guests in attendance. Everyone got to enjoy the history museum and observation tower. Guests also roasted smores on the private patio overlooking the city of Birmingham. Vulcan oﬀers the history museum tour and captivating panoramic views to those who want to visit or who are part of exciting Simchas there. The museum provides a unique look not just into the history of Vulcan and Birmingham, but also the Deep South. 30

April 2013

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Simchas Workplay lends star power to simchas By Lee J. Green Workplay hosted ﬁve 2013 Grammy Award winners in 2012, and also makes stars out of its Simcha “celebrities.” The entertainment venue on the Southside of downtown Birmingham let several young B’nai Mitzvah take center stage the past couple of years.

April 2013

“What’s so appealing about this place is that we have some of top lighting, sound and multi-media that is used with top national performers who play here. We use it to make a Bar Mitzvah boy or a Bat Mitzvah girl or a wedding couple the stars,” said Workplay Private Events and Marketing Coordinator Joel Pryor. Workplay oﬀers several rooms of varying

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sizes to host events ranging from a dozen to more than 1,300, the size of a party hosted by an Ole Miss alumni group prior to the 2013 BBVA Compass Bowl. In 2012, Workplay hosted four Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. One of them — a Bar and Bat Mitzvah together — was just a few days after Alabama won the BCS Championship over LSU and the Workplay soundstage was transformed into a football field. Workplay already has one more on the books for this upcoming October. “This is an ideal space for playing out a theme party,” said Pryor. “It’s like a blank canvas. The space is very flexible and it can be turned into whatever people having an event want it to be.” He said at a winter-themed corporate event, they brought in a snow machine to make a winter wonderland. “We’ve had everything from corporate events to alumni events to special celebrations for adults and kids,” said Pryor. When Workplay does not have a scheduled public concert or other event, people can rent portions of the entertainment venue or the whole venue. He said they also host breakfast and lunch events for groups, companies and organizations. “There’s always something exciting going on here,” said Pryor. That included a movie shoot last fall for a film coming out this fall that stars Kevin Pollack. Workplay concerts in 2012 included Grammy winners fun, Jack White and the Athens, Ala.-native Alabama Shakes, to name a few. And Workplay is offering an opportunity for young musicians to perhaps become national music stars some day. Parents can sign their kids up for Workplay Rockschool. Kids can start with the program any time and would come regularly during a 12-month span. They get lessons from professional rock musicians, can learn to play in bands with others in the class and how to use Pro Tools software to record songs.

Party City continues expanding offerings By Lee J. Green Party City is a part of many parties across the Southeast, and the company’s goal is to be a one-stop shop to make planning simple. CEO Vic Kennison said in 2012 the company had a “pretty sizable transformation and expansion of our wedding program. For weddings or any other celebration, we can provide turn-key customized solutions that include invitations, linens, decorations, accessories, party favors, candies, balloons and much more.” Party City’s New Orleans-based operation has 18 stores in Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, Mobile, Gulfport, Ft. Walton, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Kennison said they carry a full line of “theme modules” including Hollywood, Rock and Roll, Fiesta, Luau and so forth. Theme decorations can revolve around just about any color, for a school celebration/graduation or a Bar-Bat Mitzvah, for example. “Especially with Bar-Bat Mitzvahs but also with other parties, it seems that just about everything has a fun theme. We can help them to develop that theme with our products and we have trained employees in the stores who have experience planning out these customized party solutions,” he said. “The options are limitless.” Of course, costume sales spike up before Halloween, but Kennison said the Party City stores keep a large supply of costume options regularly. “There are theme parties going on year-round, and of course Mardi Gras, Purim,” he said. “Our costume sales are strong all year.” He said the company’s buyers stay very attuned to new products out there and what the customers are seeking. “We listen to our customers and if it’s not in the store someone goes to, chances are we can order it and get it in,” added Kennison.

Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

Funny business for a serious cause Helping Jewish youth in a seven-state area is something the Jewish Children’s Regional Service takes seriously — but that doesn’t mean the agency can’t kick back and laugh. About 350 attended the JCRS Jewish Roots of Comedy fundraiser and gala on March 9 in New Orleans, held in conjunction with the agency’s March 10 board meeting. JCRS is the oldest Jewish children’s social service organization in the country, oﬀering ﬁnancial assistance for summer camp, college and special needs to Jewish children in a region from Alabama to Texas. It is an outgrowth of the long-closed Jewish Children’s Home in New Orleans. Those in attendance at Harrah’s were greeted by fake cigars, Groucho noses and glasses, and whoopee cushions that they were encouraged to use throughout the night. Nationally-acclaimed comedians Wendy Leibman and Avi Liberman entertained. Rabbi Ethan Linden of Shir Chadash gave a review of Jewish comedy over the last century, and the program book included a couple of Jewish Home alumni who used humor in their businesses. Billy Crystal sent a signed script from “When Harry Met Sally” and a signed baseball cap from the Academy Awards, both of which were auctioned at the event. As part of the evening, the JCRS honored Shirley and Ralph Seelig, and Lisa and Mark Heller. The Seeligs established the Shirley and Ralph Seelig Education Fund to provide scholarships to low-income Jewish college students. The Hellers have been active with many organizations, and Lisa Heller was JCRS president from 2007 to 2009 after 20 years as a board member. Supporters from Houston, Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Baltimore, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa, Phoenix, and Shreveport attended the event.

Photos by Ashley Merlin

Above, Earl and Barbara Magdoviz, Mark and Dee Paris. Below right, cochairs Mimi Schlesinger, Ellen Kessler and Jane Miller.

Above, Lisa and Mark Heller. Left, Shirley and Ralph Seelig. Right, Board Members Jimmy Cahn, Eileen Wallen and Marc Beerman

April 2013

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April 2013

People of the Law Books

Several in Tulane Law Hall of Fame inaugural class from the Jewish community On March 22, the Tulane Law School inducted its ﬁrst class in the new Law School Hall of Fame. Of the 12 inductees, several are or were members of the Jewish community. Among the inductees are:

& Kerrigan (now Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles), becoming the first woman ever hired by a law firm in the state. She continued her activism and co-founded the People’s League, which worked to expose and uproot corruption in New Orleans government. Marian Mayer Berkett Now 100, this May she will be the graduaAs a student, Berkett edited the Gumbo, tion speaker for the Tulane Law School. LSU’s yearbook, in 1933. Picking up on the Indian mound on campus, she used that as Russ M. Herman a theme throughout the book, including one Herman was founding partner of Herman, of the symbols the tribes used — an inverted Herman & Katz and lead counsel in many swastika. When the book was mostly done, high-profile class action cases. Hitler came to power, but she decided not to He was a lead negotiator for plaintiffs in the replace the symbol in the book, since it was $368 billion proposed settlement with the toused by so many cultures world-wide. bacco industry and was on the private counsel Ironically, she had wanted to attend Rad- team that recovered $4.6 billion for Louisiana cliffe, but to go there one had to know Ger- through its attorney general. He specializes man, and at that point it was the last language in product liability, environmental, anti trust and Civil RICO defense work. she wanted to learn. Herman has served as president of the She left LSU’s law school and enrolled at Tulane because her vocal opposition to Huey Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Civil Justice Foundation and the Roscoe P. Long brought surveillance and hostility. After graduating first in her class at Tulane Pound Foundation. In 2001 he was selected in 1937, Berkett was hired as an associate by for The Leonard M. Ring Champion of Justice the leading New Orleans law firm of Deutsch Award, which is the highest honor bestowed

April 2013

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by ATLA, and also has received the ATLA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010 he was admitted to the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame, with such ﬁgures as President John Adams, Clarence Darrow, Fred Levin and Morris Dees. Bessie Margolin Margolin spent much of her childhood at the Jewish Children’s Home in New Orleans after her mother died. After earning her law degree she started working with the Tennessee Valley Authority, then joined the Department of Labor in 1939. She eventually became Assistant Solicitor in charge of Supreme Court appellate litigation, arguing 27 cases before the Supreme Court and winning 25. After World War II, she was temporarily at the War Department, drafting the original regulations for the Nuremberg war crimes trials. She retired from the Department of Labor in 1972 and died in 1996. Marlene Trestman is currently writing a biography of Margolin. Max Nathan Nathan, a founding partner of Session, Fish-

man, Nathan and Israel, was president of the Louisiana Law Institute from 1998 through 2001, and is now the chairman. Noted for expertise in estate planning and successions, Nathan is very active with the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana, serving as president in the 1980s and being honored with its Tzedakah Award in 2006. He oversaw the creation of the New Americans Holocaust Memorial Fund and the annual Tzedakah Award program. He also has served as president of Jewish Family Service and the New Orleans Estate Planning Council, and chairman of the local Anti-Defamation League, and was founder of the New Orleans Mental Health Association. He has also taught at Tulane Law School for 44 years. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. Wiener received his law degree in 1961 and worked in private practice in Shreveport until 1990. In November 1989, President George H.W. Bush nominated him to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He was unanimously confirmed in March 1990 and served until 2010, assuming senior status. Weiner is past president of the North Louisiana Jewish Federation. In 2011 he and his family established the first endowed fund for legal excellence at the Tulane University Law School. Another inductee is John Minor Wisdom, who was the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge who played a pivotal role in enforcing the civil rights of racial minorities. Wisdom’s grandfather, David Labatt, was from one of the oldest Jewish families in the South, according to Wisdom biographer Joel Friedman. Labatt married an Episcopalian, and by the time Wisdom came along, he and his brothers were not exposed to their Jewish heritage. Friedman said he never looked to hide it, but “rarely discussed it simply because it was a matter of no interest or consequence to him.” Also being inducted are Hale Boggs, 13term Congressman who served as majority whip and majority leader; John J. Hainkel, Jr., first person to serve as both speaker of the house and president of the Senate in a state legislature; Joseph Merrick Jones, founder of the law firm now known as Jones Walker and former president of Tulane’s board of administrators; Wayne J. Lee, leading New Orleans lawyer who helped diversify the legal profession; Ferdinand Stone, member of Law School’s faculty for 41 years before retiring as W.R. Irby Chair, and John Giffen Weinmann, former U.S. ambassador to Finland and chief of protocol in the White House. Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

Girl Scouts honors Spielberger, Goldstein Joyce Spielberger was one of eight women who received the Woman of Distinction Award at the Girl Scouts of East-Central Alabama awards luncheon on March 8. Judge Debra Goldstein also received the Mildred Bell Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award. Spielberger is now executive director of Magic Moments, a wish-granting organization for children in Alabama. Before that, she served as director of community relations and overseas programs for the Birmingham Jewish Federation for 11 years. She currently serves on the boards of directors of the YWCA of Central Alabama, the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, the Alabama Poverty Project, University of Alabama Hillel and MeetUP for Change. “The most valuable lesson I have learned through my service to the community is the importance of joining forces whenever possible,” she said. “In my years of communal service, I have met so many passionate people, all dedicated to the same goals of lifting our community, helping those in need and correcting social injustices. There is truly strength in numbers; the value and importance of combining forces and limited resources cannot be understated.” Goldstein has been an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration for the past 20 years. Before that she was a trial attorney with the United States Department of Labor for 12 years. She is also an accomplished writer, and received an Independent Book Publisher Award for her mystery novel “Maze in Blue,” published in 2011. She currently serves on the YWCA board, the UAB Center for Metabolic Bone Disease Community Leadership Council, Alys Stephens advisory board, the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Executive advisory board and the Birmingham Bar Association Bulletin. Goldstein was a 2002 Woman of Distinction and was named one of the Birmingham Busi-

Joyce Spielberger, above, and Judge Debra Goldstein, below, with Girl Scouts CEO Trish Coghlan and Board President Christina Ross

ness Journal’s Top Ten Women in 2004. Her involvement with Girl Scouting began when she was Brownie as a girl. She has since served as a board member and troop leader. With all of her accolades, Goldstein says her family is still her greatest sense of pride. “My children are my proudest accomplishment. Through them I see that whatever I have done, they have the capacity to go beyond,” she said. The most valuable lesson she has learned from her service to the community is, “to be a good listener and to always try to leave something better than I found it.”

Israeli tennis player winning at Xavier An Israeli player on the Xavier University tennis team has been helping Xavier climb the rankings in the NAIA. As of March 27, Nikita Soifer had an eight-match winning streak as Xavier improved to a 10-5 record and a No. 8 ranking. On Feb. 19, Soﬁer was the season’s ﬁrst Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week. A sophomore, Soifer was born 38

April 2013

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in Russia but moved to Israel when he was six years old, growing up in Beer Sheva and graduating from Hof Hasharon High School. He was ranked ﬁrst in singles among Israelis in the 14 and 18 age groups. His highest overall singles ranking in Israel was 12th, and he spent two and one-half years in Israel’s army before signing with Xavier in the fall of 2011.

Jackson’s Cohen named to Most Inspiring Rabbis list Rabbi Valerie Cohen of Beth Israel in Jackson was named to the Forward’s list of 36 “Most Inspiring Rabbis” in America. The rabbis were nominated from readers’ submissions. Forward Editorin-Chief Jane Eisner said there were hundreds of nominations, and said the nominations show “American Jews, regardless of denomination, geography or gender, harbor a deep longing for spiritual leadership... They yearn for rabbis who touch the soul and create community.” Cohen was nominated by Dan Ring, who said he did not expect to ﬁnd much Jewish life when he moved to Jackson last June. “Instead, I found the complete opposite: a weekly Talmud class; a weekly Torah study; Reform-style Friday night services; Conservative-style Saturday morning services, and diverse events and speakers almost every Shabbat — supported and organized by Rabbi Valerie.” Ordained in 1999, the Florida native was assistant rabbi at Temple Israel in Memphis before taking the Jackson pulpit in 2003. Also on the list is Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn of Temple Israel of Greater Kansas City. He is brother of Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn, former rabbi at B’nai Israel in Hattiesburg.

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Military museum honors Rabbi Task Rabbi Arnold Task was honored by the Louisiana National Guard with the Louisiana Distinguished Civilian Service Medal for his work with the Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum. “The museum is an amazing example of a partnership between the civilian community and the military community working together to accomplish something of great value,” Task told the Town Talk. “Both communities have been able to do things the other could not to create this lasting tribute to the thousands of men and women who served our country.” Task is president of the museum board and a founding member. It is located at Camp Beauregard in Pineville, near Alexandria, in a replica of a World War II barracks. Building Holocaust Memorial Task is also president of the Alexandria Holocaust Memorial Fund, which will build the state’s second Holocaust memorial in front of Rapides Regional Medical Center at Elliott and Fourth Streets. The memorial will also mark the area’s vital contribution to World War II, as training exercises and mock battles took place in central Louisiana, and many troops who trained there wound up liberating Dachau and other camps. In its fundraising letter, the fund states that “General Dwight Eisenhower prepared to liberate Europe here in Alexandria,” and personally went to the camps “to be in a position to give ﬁrsthand evidence if there develops a tendency to change these allegations merely to propaganda.” Almost half of the $75,000 cost has been raised through the Central Louisiana Community Foundation. A mockup of the memorial is on site, but the permanent one is slated for completion by the end of the year. A Holocaust commemoration is being planned for April 29.

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Skier exhibit gets national acclaim The Birmingham Museum of Art exhibit, “The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection” was named one of ﬁve ﬁnalists by the Association of Art Museum Curators for the 2012 Outstanding Small Exhibition Award. The exhibit ran from February to June 2012 and came from the collection of Birmingham’s Nan and David Skier, involved members of the local Jewish community. Featuring 96 pieces, this collection is considered the largest of its kind, with only 1,000 lover’s eye miniatures thought to be in existence worldwide.

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On March 18, it was announced that Margaret Epstein will be presented with the 2013 Judah Touro Society Award, an award given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to Touro Inﬁrmary in New Orleans. Epstein started working at Touro in 1977, creating what is now the Touro Foundation. In that role, she created the Judah Touro Society & Award, Touro Baby Tiles, the Fifty Year Doctor’s Award and the Heritage Wall. Under her leadership, the Auxiliary sponsored the Touro archives and hired a professional archivist. When Epstein retired, she returned to Touro as a volunteer. The award ceremony will be Nov. 2 at the World War II Museum’s Boeing Center.

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On April 18, the Birmingham Museum of Art will hold a screening of the documentary, “BESA: The Promise,” the story of Muslims in Albania who saved Jews from the Holocaust during World War II. Photographer Norman Gershman chronicled the story over the last decade, in an exhibit that is currently on display at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute through June (above). The film, which debuted last year at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, will be screened at 7 p.m. There is no charge. Coordinated by the Birmingham Islamic Center and four other groups, the area synagogues and Birmingham Jewish Federation are co-sponsors of the exhibit and film.

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Enjoying the “Rock of Ages” road By Lee J. Green Even though the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’” — featured prominently in the “Rock of Ages” national touring Broadway musical — came out before cast member Judah Frank was born, he connected with the number and it became a mantra for not just his career but also his Judaism. The “Rock of Ages” story takes place on the Sunset Strip in 1987. A small-town girl rolls into town and meets a big-city boy dreaming of music success. Both fall in love at a legendary Los Angeles rock club they work at, to the backdrop of great 1980s rock songs by Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake and more. Frank, 26, and the production visit The Strand in Shreveport on May 1 and the Baton Rouge River Center Theater on May 2 before a fiveshow engagement in Birmingham May 3 to 5 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, presented by Broadway in Birmingham. “Everywhere we have been, the audience has been on its feet at the end, clapping, dancing and singing along. It’s like a party every night and it’s so exciting to be a part of something that is so fun, so uplifting,” said Frank, who joined the company last summer. The national tour started last August. Ironically, Frank was born the year the show is supposed to take place. He calls himself a child of the 1990s, but said his older brother grew up listening to ‘80s music. “I hadn’t heard several of the songs in the show before, but I quickly found myself very connected to the songs and connected to the movement,” he said, adding with a smile that the actors have the challenges of “dancing in some tight ‘80s-style outfits with some big hair.” Frank was born in the Bronx and grew up in an involved, Conservative Jewish family in Teaneck, N.J. For years his father was the executive director of the Princeton, N.J., Jewish Federation. “My dad has always been involved with Jewish organizational leadership and being Jewish has been something that continues to be very important for all of our family,” he said. In high school, Frank started getting involved with acting, singing and his other passion – gymnastics. He would go on to attend Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., majoring in theatre and minoring in dance. He also competed in gymnastics at Rider. “My freshman year of college I tore my ACL doing gymnastics and so I got even more heavily involved in theatre. I started doing some professional theatre while in college and it just blossomed from there,” he said. Not too long after graduating, Frank landed a role in the “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” show and then later a production of “Legally Blonde” in Indianapolis. He had seen pieces about the “Rock of Ages” production on Broadway and after a couple of auditions with the traveling show, he got a role in the ensemble last year. Frank also understudies for a couple of lead roles, including headlining rocker Stacey Jaxx and the Germanborn Franz. There was a film version of the show that came out last summer, but he said it “really doesn’t do this show justice. There is so much more in the singing, dancing and grandeur of it all on stage,” he said. “We all have so much fun doing this show. It just exudes energy!”

Frank said the only difficult part has been being away from family and friends in New Jersey. They have only had three weeks off in seven months of touring. “I won’t be able to be home for Seder, but thanks to things like Skype it’s almost like we’re all together,” he said. “We will have a Seder in my hotel room and we get to share it with some folks who were interested but not Jewish. That’s what’s so wonderful about this cast — it’s my extended family. We’re very close-knit.” Frank hopes to transition into a film and television career, but for now he is enjoying the bright lights “Rock of Ages” brings. “We get to tour around the continent and entertain people. What could be better than that?”

Bass to speak on Birmingham’s Emanu-El and civil rights On April 12, Samford University Professor Jonathan Bass will visit Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El to speak on “This City Isn’t Dead Yet: Temple Emanu-El and Civil Rights in Birmingham.” Bass, chairman of Samford’s Department of History, is author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Blessed are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King Jr., Eight White Ministers, and the Letter From Birmingham Jail,” which speaks extensively of former Emanu-El Rabbi Milton Grafman, one of the eight moderate clergy addressed in the letter. At Samford he teaches courses in civil rights, Alabama history and modern America. He has recently completed a book-length manuscript entitled “He Calls Me By Lightning: A Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty,” which examines how Jim Crow laws affected Alabama’s legal and prison systems. He is also historian for the Balch and Bingham law firm, and is writing the first comprehensive history of Samford. His 5:40 p.m. talk is part of a series of lectures and programs coordinated by Samford and the Birmingham Public Library to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham.

Special screening of “Our Mockingbird” On April 28, Birmingham Hadassah is sponsoring a screening of “Our Mockingbird” at the historic Carver Theater as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement events in Birmingham. The date was also selected because it is the 55th anniversary of the attempted bombing of Temple Beth-El by white supremacists, a case that was never officially solved. “Our Mockingbird” is a documentary by Birmingham native Sandra Jaffe, featuring the collaboration between mostly-white suburban Mountain Brook High School and mostly-black urban Fairfield High School to produce a theatrical version of “To Kill A Mockingbird.” It also features many notable civil rights figures discussing the book and its effect on society. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion including students from the schools and the movie’s producer. The film will be at 3 p.m. on April 28, and there is a suggested donation of $5. Co-sponsors are the YWCA, the Southern Literary Trail, the Birmingham Pledge, the Levite Jewish Community Center, P.E.A.C.E. Birmingham and City of Birmingham 50 Forward. Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

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April 2013

Kosher-Style Recipe: Iron City Birmingham By Lee J. Green Like the city it is named for, Iron City Birmingham is many things to many different people. This Iron City is an event space, an entertainment venue, a “classic Americana gastro pub restaurant with creative cuisine” and the Magic City’s newest star on the scene. Located on 22nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues South, the venue was the brainchild of owner Steve Demetis. He wanted a place where some of the blues, rock and folk bands he really liked could play in a classy setting. But what started out as just a bar with entertainment became so much more in 2012 when additional space next door became available. The venue can now host up to 1,300 people standing, offers live music in its theater every Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night, and also houses a restaurant open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. On some occasions there is acoustic entertainment during dinners. “We envision this place to be a chameleon of sorts,” said marketing and events director Alyssa Gross. The grill opened in late February and the theater officially opened to the public mid-March. “We can accommodate groups large and small in a variety of different areas. It’s also a great place to have a delicious, creative meal and then enjoy a show.” Gross said Iron City Birmingham already has booked some events ranging from a trade show to a high school Battle of the Bands to other types of simchas. She said they are very flexible with groups. “We had a group that had an event in the theater before a concert was scheduled. So the space was theirs and then they could enjoy the entertainment along with the rest of the viewing public,” she said. “People can rent out the whole theater when we don’t have a live music event going, or when we do, we can accommodate some small groups.” Demetis sought out John Pellini to be Iron City Birmingham’s general manager and executive chef. Originally from Chicago, Pellini had most recently been opening restaurants at hotels and B-and-Bs in the Washington area. Since Birmingham is a college football haven, there naturally has to be some connection there. Pellini’s brothers are Nebraska Cornhuskers Head Coach Bo Pellini and Offensive Coordinator Carl Pellini. John Pellini said right after he came down to Birmingham last year, he went to a lot of other restaurants and did research on what was being offered along with what wasn’t. The goal with the Iron City grill was to have an “all-inclusive, classic American fare menu with influences from the South, New Orleans cuisine, Baltimore, Midwest steaks and even

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513 22nd Street South, Birmingham 205.202-5483 • ironcitybham.com some international dishes prepared with a creative twist.” The open-air-kitchen-style allows for more of an interactive setting between employees and customers, adds Pellini. A few of the kosher-style menu items include chicken piccata, seared yellowﬁn tuna, tournedos of beef

Continued on page 45

Braised Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Figs Ingredients: ¼ cup lemon juice 1 lemon, sliced ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup cider vinegar ¼ cup Sherry (optional) ½ cup chicken stock 1-1/2 lb. dried figs 2 tablespoons salt 2 teaspoons black pepper 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped 12 chicken thighs Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine lemon juice, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and stock. Place figs and lemon slices in the bottom of an 11x16 baking pan. Arrange chicken thighs over top of fruit. Pour liquid mixture over top. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes uncovered. Remove from oven, baste chicken. Cover with foil and bake an additional 30 minutes. With a slotted spoon remove chicken, figs, and lemon. Skim the juice, pour over chicken. Serve immediately. Lightly seasoned Quinoa is a wonderful accompaniment.

Continued from page 46

In all, 10 plagues came down upon Egypt. To make the plagues stop, they hung Haman’s 10 sons, and then let the Israelites leave. The Israelites had to rush to leave before King Pharaoh changed his mind. They had to desert Shushan without even a shoeshine. More important, they didn’t have enough time to make bread — all they could make were dry, flat, three-cornered confections, the originals of which have lasted until today as Shmuretaschen. Of course, King Pharaoh changed his mind — as rulers often do, but usually only when they’re awake. He came after the Israelites with the Egyptian and Shushan armies, requiring at the Red Sea that The Big G use not merely a finger, or even a mighty hand and outstretched arm, but the whole shaking fist of The Big G. But with Haman’s defeat, the Israelites celebrated. They got totally sloshed, but not as much as King Pharaoh’s armies did because they showed up late to the party. Doug Brook is a writer in Silicon Valley who is thrilled to see AEPi back at Alabama, and for his next magic trick, will elaborate on Chankippur – the eight day fastival of light eating. For past columns, other writings, and more, visit http://brookwrite.com/. //. For exclusive online content, like facebook.com/the. beholders.eye.

>> Recipe tenderloin, wild mushroom ravioli, fried macaroni and cheese along with salmon burgers. As far as event menus go, Pellini said he has much experience doing kosher, kosherstyle “and just about every type of cuisine you can think of from the U.S. or internationally. We’re happy to customize an event menu for any client and even include some of their family recipes if they want.” He said “interactive stations” have been very popular with the events Iron City has already hosted. Those can include a pasta station, New Orleans station, burrito station and mashed potato station in which people can make their own creations. Pellini said the grill menu will include some rotating specials and some seasonal changes. They try to use as many Alabama-grown products as possible and make everything fresh-to-order. “We wanted a menu that was simple but exciting with robust flavors. It is affordable but we offer nice-sized portions. And the vibe of the place is very important. We want to make this place a community place at which you can get a great meal, drinks and enjoy some nice entertainment,” he said. “It’s the total experience.” Southern Jewish Life

April 2013

The Beholder’s Eye by Doug Brook

Purover II: The Search for More

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Normally this month would cover Passover, but by now the matzah has been covered, uncovered, broken, eaten, disliked, and stuﬀed back into the shirt packaging where it belongs. Nonetheless, as a result of the court ruling U.S. versus Fishbein, because Passover intruded into Purim’s usual space in March, Purim is entitled to intrude into Passover’s usual space in April. And to $10,000 worth of airline tickets. Not that the two holidays are particularly similar. Purim commemorates a time when the Jews were in peril, and saved. Passover, on the other hand, commemorates a time when the Jews were in peril, and saved. They have some similarities, Since Passover was however. On Purim we are commanded to drink until we can no so early, it was easy longer tell the good guy from the to confuse with bad guy. On Passover we are comPurim. We’ll help manded to drink four glasses of wine, after which we can no longer you do just that… tell the good wine from the kosher wine. Some are also commanded to not drink Elijah’s cup of wine at the end of the seder, but some commandments were made to be broken. After all, pouring it back in the bottle just won’t do, and pouring it down the sink is alcohol abuse. Unless it’s Manischewitz. Moses, our emissary in the Passover story, went to Pharaoh many times, and needed 10 plagues to convince Pharaoh to let his people go get just a head start. Esther was in position to emisserate the Purim story because she won a beauty contest and married the King. Perhaps the Exodus from Egypt would have been easier if Moses could have nailed the swimsuit competition. For these and other reasons too few to count, this is the merged Purover story, as told this year at every seder that readers of this column did not attend. (You don’t know. Neither of you were there.) In the days of Moses and Esther, which due to an error in stitching parchment together appeared as one, King Pharaoh needed a new Queen. Esther was persuaded to audition for “So You Think You Can Be Queen” by her uncle Mordechai, who had hoped to have the house to himself again after she graduated from Memphis. Haman, King Pharaoh’s right-hand man, was insulted because Mordechai wouldn’t bow to him, so he enslaved his people for four hundred years. One day, Haman’s wife caught him playing the lottery, which he wasn’t supposed to do anymore because they had 10 mouths to feed. So Haman covered by saying he was just choosing a day for Esther’s people to die. While Moses was in the desert hanging out at Burning Bush, Mordechai told Moses about Haman’s plot. Moses went to King Pharaoh and said, “let my people go.” He tried this several times with numerous plagues and no success, so Mordechai called in Esther instead. She married King Pharaoh, made him a couple of feasts, and then said, “let my people live.” Now, which of them had a better sales pitch?

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