SJL Deep South, June 2013

Annual Summer Travel Issue

Tending Kosher BBQ in the ‘Ham

NOLA students help repair Osyka cemetery

Southern Jewish Life

Honoring an LSU legend June 2013

Volume 23 Issue 6

Southern Jewish Life P.O. Box 130052 Birmingham, AL 35213-0052 Photo courtesy LSU Sports Information

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Every so often, there is another national article about the disappearing Southern Jew. The latest, published in the Forward on April 28, was entitled “Southern Jews a Dying Breed as SmallTown Communities Dwindle Fast.”

As these pieces go, it’s not bad. There are the obligatory visits to Demopolis, Selma, Natchez and Lexington, Miss., places where the synagogues have either closed or are maintained by a handful of remaining members.

But these pieces miss a couple of important points. It’s not new, and it’s not Southern.

In this issue we have a couple of pieces about the now-extinct Jewish community of Donaldsonville. That community closed its doors over 50 years ago. Back then, the Forward could have interviewed the handful of Donaldsonville Jews and done a piece that sounded pretty much the same. They also could have mentioned communities that had gone defunct in places like West Blocton, Woodville or Osyka — or gone even further back and mention places like Claiborne, Ala., where the community was gone by the 1870s, or Grand Gulf, Miss., which disappeared even earlier.

Changing times, intermarriage and economic circumstances have always led to a change in Jewish demographics. Today, the small-town Jewish communities are disappearing in many places due to a wide range of factors, and communities are consolidating in larger cities.

There are many small communities that are on the Jewish upswing, mainly ones with strong universities that attract Jewish faculty. And other communities, such as Dothan, have had some success in attracting Jewish families looking to get away from the big city.

The newest synagogues in our coverage area were established in university towns, such as Auburn and an informal group in Oxford, or along the Gulf Coast in places like Fort Walton, Panama City and Destin.

Some places disappear, new places spring up. And that isn’t restricted to the South.

Look at any Jewish newspaper on a regular basis and you will come across similar stories from around the country. It may be the small communities of Wyoming, rural Pennsylvania, Michigan — or areas of South Africa. It’s all part of the Jewish experience, as our numbers globally continue to be relatively small.

Yes, there is a uniquely Southern way of Jewish life that is disappearing in certain areas, just as there is a distinct way of Jewish life out West.

For over two decades, one role of this publication has always been to chronicle the communities that still exist and tell the stories of the communities that are no more.

But this isn’t the obituary section. There are also many stories of Jewish communities that are thriving, efforts to strengthen Jewish life throughout the South and new,

Continued on next page Southern Jewish Life

June 2013

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uniquely Southern ways of expressing Jewish identity.

Would it be great if the congregations in Clarksdale, Gadsden Publisher/Editor: and Jasper had not been compelled to close over the last decade Lawrence M. Brook, editor@sjlmag.com because the communities were mostly gone? Of course. Would it be nice to wave a magic wand and suddenly have a few dozen more Associate Publisher/Advertising: Jews appear Selma lee@sjlmag.com to use and take care of their magnificent hisLee J.inGreen, toric sanctuary? Naturally.

New Orleans Bureau: Perhaps a few dozen younger retirees, empty-nesters who do not Alan Smason, alan@dsjv.com need to worry about Jewish schools, can pick one of the places Cait Muldoon, Gail Naron Chalew where there are plenty of huge, older homes that would be upper six figures where theyDirector: come from but can be purchased for a song in Creative these small towns.

Maybe they could come in, make a critical mass Ginger Brook, ginger@dsjv.com and re-establish one of the older communities.

Photographer-At-Large: We can look at what used to be, and there are a lot of interesting, Barry C. Altmark little-known stories that should be remembered. But we also look forward to the Southern Jewish community that will be, that will conContributing Writers: tinue to survive, adapt and thrive — just like the Jewish community Doug Brook has done for close to 4,000 years.

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Front Porch

Changing of guard at Birmingham Federation: After an unprecedented four years in office, Jimmy Filler (above) is now a past president of the Birmingham Jewish Federation.

The Federation and Birmingham Jewish Foundation held their annual meetings at the Levite Jewish Community Center on May 22. Ginger and Jerry Held, who were campaign chairs this year, were installed as co-presidents.

Jerry Held announced that this year’s campaign, which will wind down this month, will likely raise the $2.4 million needed for anticipated allocations. Though a challenging year with “relatively small” increases, one campaign success was Grassroots 2.0, an effort to raise 20 new gifts or increases of at least $2500 each to access a $50,000 challenge grant.

Federation Executive Director Richard Friedman noted that in the 31 years he has been in that role, the Federation has raised $130 million in annual campaigns, emergency campaigns and deferred gifts. “Not bad for a community of just 5500 Jews,” he noted.

Friedman paid tribute to Filler, stating he “is a singular leader, a man who took his blessings and made them count, a remarkable down to earth individual who at the end of the day radiates a love and warmth that will inspire all of us for decades to come.”

Filler noted that he was born in 1943, when the Jews of Europe were being rounded up for extermination, and he was blessed by being born in Birmingham. He will continue to chair the Next 100 Years long-term campaign. “Our work is holy, and though our challenges are extensive, our potential is unlimited,” he said.

As part of the evening, Samantha Dubrinsky spoke of her new role as the LJCC Jewish Experience Coordinator, part of a partnership between the Federation and LJCC and LJCC Executive Director Betzy Lynch’s emphasis on the Jewish flavor of the LJCC. Federation Assistant Executive Director

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Front Porch Daniel Odrezin announced that there will be an Israel mission for Birmingham’s young emerging leadership, centered around this November’s General Assembly in Jerusalem. Donors have committed to cover the land costs for 20 of the delegates.

Amy Saag stepped down as Foundation president after three years and installed Lisa Engel as her successor.

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Bruegger’s eyes Birmingham: Has the time come for another bagel battle in Birmingham?

Vermont-based Bruegger’s Bagels announced that it plans three or four locations in the Birmingham area sometime in 2014. Two locations in the Huntsville area recently opened, and the other closest locations are in Atlanta.

The Birmingham locations are to be franchised, and franchisees are currently being sought. The chain has just over 300 stores in 26 states.

Bruegger’s locations are typically open for breakfast and lunch, serving a wide range of bagels, sandwiches and soups.

Members of Temple B’nai Israel in Panama City made their own Ten Commandments and enjoyed ice cream during a pre-Shavuot visit by Institute of Southern Jewish Life Education Fellow Adam Wassell.

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June 2013

Southern Jewish Life

Front Porch Celebrating Israel in St. Francisville: On May 14 and 15, Israel was celebrated at the former Temple Sinai building in St. Francisville, a place that ceased functioning as a synagogue over two decades before Israel was established.

Roots of Faith and United Israel World Union celebrated Israel’s birthday and Shavuot by hosting “The Fame of Israel.”

The conference featured Rep. Valarie Hodges, who spearheaded Louisiana’s House resolution honoring Israel in Evening in the Sabra Style tent May 2012. Speakers included Ralph Buntyn, who spoke on “Crimson to The conference also marked the debut of Gold: From Alabama to Jerusalem,” James Sabra Style, a company founded by Sabra Tabor on “United Israel and the Birth of the Joines of Fairhope. Though not Jewish, she Jewish State” and presentations on Tamar Park recently became aware of the meaning of her and Abrahamic conversion. Johnny Powell name and has become active in promoting reenacted the reading of Israel’s Declaration support of Israel. Her company imports goods of Independence. from Israeli artisans, giving them exposure in Roots of Faith and the Synagogue Without the U.S., in an effort to help Israel’s economy.

Walls grew from a Noahide-style study group Her shop is available online, or as in St. started by Ross Nichols in 2005 that met in Francisville, she has a Sabra Style tent that can Temple Sinai. be set up at events.

JCRS Matching Gift: The Jewish Children’s Regional Service has until Oct. 31 to take advantage of a fundraising match. An anonymous donor has pledged to match gifts from new donors and lapsed donors to the New Orleans-based agency, up to $14,000.

The matching gift funds will go toward scholarships to Jewish non-profit sleep-away camps. The agency provides need-based scholarships to youth from a seven-state region that includes Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Last year, the agency provided over 300 camp partial scholarships.

The agency also supports Jewish children with “special needs,” provides need-based college scholarships, and coordinates PJ Library in the region, providing free Judaic books by mail every month to Jewish children.

Last year, the agency served a record 1500 children.

Though the deadlines for summer camp scholarships and college scholarships have passed, the agency is still accepting applications for possible funding. Those who applied before the deadline will receive priority. Information is available at jcrs.org.

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Front Porch High school honors Franco: St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile honored Alan Franco of New Orleans as this year’s Distinguished Alumnus.

Franco graduated from St. Paul’s in 1980 and continues to support St. Paul’s with special interest in the Community Service Program, where he was instrumental in creating the Rutledge Fellows of Philanthropy, a unique and special group of students who serve as the ambassadors for community service and philanthropic endeavors school-wide.

The group was named in recognition of former headmaster Bob Rutledge, who spearheaded the creation of the Community Service program at St. Paul’s.

“I never dreamed the Rutledge Fellows would become such an integral part of the life of St. Paul’s,” Franco said. “But then again, I am not surprised that it has. For this School, in talking about educating the complete person, realizes that it isn’t just about what takes place in the classroom, it is the total experience that

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June 2013

Sony Corporation has invested $10 million in Herzliya Pituach-based Rainbow Medical with an interest in expanding its medical devices operations. Rainbow Medical is a medical device accelerator built around the inventions of serial entrepreneur Yossi Gross. Other investors include Medtronic, Abbott Laboratories, and Birmingham-based PowerTen Ventures.

The fifth annual Handy at the Temple concert at Temple B’nai Israel in Florence is set for July 20 at 2 p.m. “Handy at the Temple” is an official event of the annual W.C. Handy Festival, which will run from July 19 to 28 this year. “Lox and Catfish” will feature Nancy Tunick and Scott Whitehead.

Theatre LJCC at Birmingham’s Levite Jewish Community Center is featuring Disney’s “Little Mermaid Jr.” this month. Adapted from the 2008 Broadway production, the musical includes “Part of Your World,” “She’s In Love” and the Oscar-winning “Under the Sea.” The show runs June 6 to 16, with Thursday performances at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students.

Rabbi Aaron Miller will be the guest speaker at Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El on June 21 as the centennial celebration of the historic sanctuary concludes. Miller, son of Emanu-El Rabbi Jonathan Miller, grew up at Emanu-El, was ordained in 2011 and is now at Washington Hebrew Congregation. His visit will be part of Arabian Night Under the Stars, which begins with the annual congregational

Southern Jewish Life

makes the young men and women who walk through these doors.”

Franco is co-chair of Goldring Family Interests and is president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.

The award was presented at a luncheon on April 10. meeting at 5 p.m. The 5:45 p.m. service will be A Taste of Sephardim, followed by an “Arabian Night” dinner. The dinner is $20 per adult, free for those under 12, with reservations requested by June 14.

A group of 492 rabbis signed on to a letter to President Barack Obama urging the administration to work toward peace in Sudan, through appointment of a high-level special envoy, policy aimed at the democratic transformation of Sudan and increased humanitarian access for the people of Sudan.

Signatories from our region include Rabbis Steve Jacobs of Tuscaloosa, Jonathan Miller of Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El, Steve Silberman of Mobile’s Ahavas Chesed and Uri Barnea of B’nai Israel in Hattiesburg.

Justin Shawn Baker was indicted last month on a Federal count of violating the civil rights of students and faculty from Memphis’ Margolin Hebrew Academy. On Jan. 12 he defaced several religious items as a school delegation stayed for Shabbat at the Doubletree Hotel in Jackson, Tenn.

Antoine Dodson, the Huntsville resident who became famous for his “hide your wife” comment that went viral as “The Bed Intruder Song” in 2010 announced recently that he has renounced his homosexuality and considers himself a Hebrew Israelite.

Instead of holding one city-wide event this year, North Alabama Friends of Israel promoted May 19 as a Day to Honor Israel at area churches. About a dozen congregations in the Florence area took part.

Front Porch Would it be called Al-Jazz-eera?: New Orleans is reportedly in line for an Al Jazeera America news bureau.

Though most bureau locations have not been announced, Politico reported that the network is initially planning 12 bureaus in the United States, many in places that other media outlets ignore or have just a cursory presence. According to Politico’s Dylan Byers, the list of cities was provided to Politico on background. Nashville was also listed as a bureau site.

The new cable news network plans to differentiate itself by covering stories other networks aren’t doing. The bureaus are also being places with an eye toward regional access.

Al Jazeera, the Middle East news network based in Qatar, purchased Current TV in January and announced plans to rebrand the channel as Al Jazeera America. Former vice president Al Gore was a founder of and 20 percent shareholder in Current TV. The deal was reportedly worth $500 million.

An impetus for the deal was the difficulty Al Jazeera has had in trying to get onto U.S. cable systems. That may still be an issue, as Time Warner dropped Current TV immediately after the deal was announced.

Bob Wheelock, executive producer of Al-Jazeera English, told the Tennessean that they anticipate being carried on cable systems reaching 50 million U.S. households when the channel launches later this year.

Many in the Jewish community are wary of what type of slant the new network will take, especially in coverage of Israel. Abe Foxman, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, said Al Jazeera “has exploited and exaggerated the Arab-Israel conflict in a heavy-handed and propagandistic manner, and always at the expense of Israel.”

TYG Awards: The North American Federation of Temple Youth Southern Region held its Spring Conclave in Mobile in April.

Aimee Adler of Memphis was elected president. Jared Lindy of Memphis is programming vice president. Daniela Berlinsky of Little Rock is social action vice president. Kate Fijman of Jackson was elected religious and cultural vice president. Anna Aronson of Baton Rouge is membership vice president. Becca Ashner of Memphis is treasurer, and Lauren Grundfest of Little Rock is secretary.

Best TYG went to Beth Israel, Jackson. Most improved was Monroe’s B’nai Israel. Best GA costumes went to Little Rock’s B’nai Israel. Most Spirited went to Gates of Prayer, Metairie. Becca Ashner won the Gary Weill Award for most outstanding junior and Amanda Bingham of Baton Rouge won the Henry S. Jacobs Award for most outstanding senior.

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June 2013

Vandalism at Jackson temple: Members of Beth Israel, Jackson’s only Jewish congregation and the largest in Mississippi, had an unwelcome surprise on the second morning of Shavuot.

Late in the night of May 15 or early the next morning someone broke three windows in the building and scratched the word “Jew” into the paint of one of the doors at the entrance facing Old Canton Road.

“We’re taking this very seriously,” said Rabbi Valerie Cohen, though she feels it was “an isolated incident.”

The Jackson Police Department came out to investigate, and it is being treated as “felony malicious mischief,” a hate crime. The FBI may be called in as well.

After the police were on scene, Cohen said “we cleaned up, repaired and repainted most of it right away.” A poster saying “Tomorrow is Grown Up Day” was placed over the damage on the door until it could be sanded and repainted.

Two windows were repaired immediately, the third had to be special-ordered.

Despite all the commotion, the Beth Israel preschool went on as usual, as did the 10:30 a.m. Shavuot Yizkor service. The Reform congregation has about 215 families.

Noting the significance of Shavuot, Cohen said “especially on this day, we celebrate our religion and our place in the community.”

All congregational activities went on as scheduled, including the visit by Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, for Shabbat services on May 17.

Cohen said there hasn’t been an incident like this in the 10 years she has led the congregation, and likely not since the 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombings of Beth Israel and the home of then-rabbi Perry Nussbaum.

Cohen noted that those in the community who heard about the crime have been “equally shocked as us and very supportive... we’ve gotten a lot of reminders that people in Jackson are not like this vandal and they care a lot about the Jews and the temple in their community.”

The police are requesting that anyone with tips or other information come forward.

While not unheard of, such incidents are rare in the Deep South. In December 2011 there was anti-Jewish vandalism outside a Jewish family’s home in Vestavia, a Birmingham suburb. In 1991 swastikas were spraypainted at Agudath Israel and Etz Ahayem in Montgomery, which at that time were located about a block apart.

And in a 2009 case of mistaken identity, two men were arrested for spray-painting anti-Jewish messages on a “messianic” congregation in Mobile.

Breman hosts Mah Jongg exhibit: Do the phrases “two bam” “three crack” and “four dot” ring a bell?

The Breman Museum in Atlanta will host “Project Mah Jongg,” an exhibition exploring the traditions, history and meaning of the game of mah jongg in Jewish-American culture. The exhibit about the Chinese game was created by the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City.

Introduced to American audiences

by Joseph P. Babcock who began importing sets en masse around 1922, the game delighted players with its beautifully adorned tiles, associations with other lands, and mysterious rules.

Derided as a gambling game that could lead to rebellious flapper behavior, the game became a community builder. It was the perfect complement to women’s gatherings and fundraisers, and it quickly became a fixture in the Jewish communal world.

In the post-war years, the game was embraced enthusiastically throughout circles of Eastern European Jewish women and

became a favorite activity of bungalow colonies of the Catskills. Mah jongg became an entertainment ritual in suburban Jewish homes.

The exhibition will be on view from June 23 to Sept. 15 at The Breman Museum. Highlights of the exhibition include images and items from the mah jongg craze of the 1920s, including vintage advertisements, Chinoiserie, and a colorful array of early game sets distributed by companies such as Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers. Artifacts from the 1930s include an instructional booklet by Dorothy S. Meyerson, a pioneer of mah jongg within the Jewish community, and images of early members of the National Mah Jongg League.

A game table at the core of the exhibition space encourages players and non-players alike to take part in a game of mah jongg.

Aaron Berger, Breman Museum executive director, believes “Project Mah Jongg describes an aspect of Jewish life in America that connects generations through the Jewish tradition of game playing. We are looking forward to hosting this exhibition.”

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LSU baseball is now played on Skip Bertman Field The baseball field at Louisiana State University’s Alex Box Stadium was named in honor of legendary baseball coach Skip Bertman on May 17.

Skip Bertman Field was officially dedicated prior to the evening’s game against Ole Miss. As part of the ceremony, there was a tribute to the 1993 national championship team, which he coached. Many of the players he coached from other years were also in attendance.

The stadium itself will continue to be called Alex Box Stadium, in honor of an LSU baseball player who was killed in North Africa during World War II. “In a very fortunate lifetime of thrills and awards that were mostly deserved because of great players, this is at the very, very top,” Bertman told the packed house.

He started his remarks by praising Box as a representative both of LSU and as part of the Greatest Generation as a war hero, and urged everyone to visit the exhibit about Box’s life.

In unveiling a new sign over the press box, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva said “This is truly the house that Skip built.”

After arriving in Baton Rouge 30 years ago, Alleva said, Bertman “took this program to heights of excellence that had never before been seen.”

“Never has a naming been more deserving than tonight,” he added.

The recommendation to name the field for Bertman came from the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Election Board, which recommends honors for former coaches and student-athletes. The LSU Board of Supervisors approved the honor in April.

When Bertman arrived at LSU as coach in 1983, average attendance was around 500 per game. The team now regularly leads the NCAA in average attendance, with more than 10,000 per game.

Fans love a winner, and Bertman delivered that. He is one of only three coaches in NCAA history to win five national championships.

His teams won seven SEC championships, six SEC tournament titles and had 11 College World Series berths. His overall career record from 1984 to 2001 was 870-330-3, the highest winning percentage all-time among SEC coaches.

Thirty-one of his players made it to the Major Leagues, and he was National Coach of the Year six times.

He served as assistant coach on several U.S. national teams and the 1988 US Olympic gold medal team, and was head coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympics Team in Atlanta that won the bronze medal.

In 2001 he became athletics director at LSU, overseeing a time of tremendous growth in LSU sports. It was during that time that Alex Box Stadium was built.

The 1993 team, he noted, won the national championship after

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July 11– August 4

coming out of the loser’s bracket three times. He noted it was a “high character and unbelievably talented bunch.”

He also praised Mike Bianco, who played for LSU in the late 1980s and was in the stadium that night wearing the opposing jersey as Ole Miss’ head coach.

Bertman is a member of the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame, the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Upon his retirement as baseball coach, his No. 15 jersey was retired at LSU. LSU won the game, 5-4, then in the season finale the following night set a new school record for season attendance with 413,588.

A week later, Bertman was in Birmingham for the SEC baseball tournament, where he was honored as one of four SEC Baseball Legends.

“The SEC Baseball Legends Presented by AT&T allows us to honor the deep tradition and history of baseball in our league and show why the SEC is the nation’s premier baseball conference,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

Four legends are honored each year, rotating among the schools.

Each of them was recognized on-field during the semifinals on May 25, with fans having an opportunity for photos and autographs immediately afterward. The Legends also participated in the annual SEC Youth Clinic.

Bertman grew up in Miami Beach, where his father opened a hotel in a community that was about 80 percent Jewish. In a 2004 interview, he told SJL “My folks spoke Yiddish and we attended synagogue regularly.”

He earned a baseball scholarship to Miami, then taught at area high schools until joining Ron Fraser’s staff at Miami in 1975. When the LSU job opened up in 1983, he was regarded as one of the nation’s brightest assistant coaches.

Upon arriving in Baton Rouge, he set out to promote interest in the baseball team, and learn more about the Southern Jewish community.

One of the first stops was the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica.

Congregation B’nai Israel in Baton Rouge posted about its 6 p.m.

Union Prayer Book service for May 17 on Facebook, but added, “who can compete with what is going on at the LSU Baseball Stadium. We are very proud of Skip Bertman that the field will be named after him in honor of his amazing contributions to LSU Athletics over the years.”

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On May 8, fourth and fifth grade students from Community Day School in Metairie traveled to Osyka’s long-defunct Jewish cemetery to continue a post-Katrina cleanup, building a rock path.

They learned about the history of this cemetery from Sandy Lassen, who has led the charge to clean up damage and neglect there.

The $50 million gift

Mitchell family adds to U. South Ala. legacy On May 3, heavy rain forced the 50th anniversary celebration at the University of South Alabama indoors, but that could not dampen a major announcement.

The evening included Abe Mitchell’s announcement of a $50 million gift to the university, bringing the support by the family of Mobile Jewish philanthropists to $93 million in total giving.

Half of the gift will support the Mitchell College of Business, while the other $25 million will endow an academic scholarship program for students in all fields of study.

The $25 million for scholarships is a challenge gift. It will match contri- Abe Mitchell butions by other donors on a dollarfor-dollar basis. Donors who make gifts of at least $10,000 will be able to name their scholarships. Should the entire challenge be met, this would mean $50 million to endow scholarships.

Mitchell announced that it would be called the Mitchell-Moulton Scholarship Initiative, in honor of retiring University President Gordon Moulton.

The university currently awards approximately 3,600 scholarships per year. The new $50 million would add up to 2,000 additional scholarships.

Students from the Mobile area who have an ACT score of 21 or 22 and 3.0 or better grade point averages would receive a one-time $1500 scholarship.

In-state students and those from in-state-eligible counties in neighboring states would receive annual funds based on ACT score and GPA. The ranges start at $2500 per year for a 23 on the ACT and 3.0 GPA, to $11,000 per year for a 33 or higher on the ACT and 3.5 GPA. Out-of-state students would receive anywhere from $5,000 for a 23 ACT and 3.0 GPA to $12,000 per year for 30 or higher on the ACT and a 3.5 GPA. Mitchell said his decision to establish the new scholarship initiative was based, in part, on President Moulton’s expressed wish to create more academic scholarship opportunities before retiring from the University.

“Given the rising costs of attending college and the pressure this puts on students and their families, President Moulton told me it was his fondest wish as he completed his career that even further efforts be made to create additional academic scholarships,” Mitchell said.

“This new scholarship program is about ensuring that a quality higher education remains within financial reach of all our citizens.

The emphasis is not only on the highest academic achievers who have many opportunities here and elsewhere, but also on those solid middle-achieving students, who traditionally might not receive academic scholarships.”

“Even before this latest gift, Abe Mitchell’s philanthropy in support of the University of South Alabama’s missions to enhance education, health care and the quality of life throughout the Gulf Coast, the state of Alabama and beyond, was almost incomprehensible,” said Moulton.

Moulton noted the gift is a record in the history of Alabama public higher education and would have “a transformational positive impact on USA’s ability to provide pre-eminent educational opportunities for

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

             

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Southern Jewish Life

countless people today, tomorrow and forever.”

“When I consider my investment in USA and the people it serves, I remain certain that I have received far more than I have given,” Mitchell said.

The Mitchell family has long been a major supporter of South Alabama. In the 1950s, Abe Mitchell and his late brother, Mayer Mitchell, formed a family partnership that became a highly successful residential and commercial real estate business throughout the Southeast.

They sold their firm in the mid-1980s and it continues to thrive today.

Together with Mayer’s wife, Arlene, the three Mitchells have been involved in a wide range of philanthropic endeavors.

Mayer Mitchell was national president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was active with the Jewish Theological Seminary and spearheaded the fundraising that led to the opening of the Ramah Darom summer camp in Georgia.

Mayer Mitchell served on the USA Board of Trustees for 32 years, including a term as chairman. After his death in 2007, Arlene Mitchell assumed his seat on the board.

The campus’ 10,000-seat basketball arena opened in 1999, and was named the Mitchell Center in recognition of their over $1 million gift (below).

The Mitchell College of Business’ library, dedicated in 2007, is named the Joseph and Rebecca Mitchell Learning Resource Center, in honor of their parents. Abe Mitchell gave $500,000 toward that project and met with other donors during the fundraising process.

In 2008, the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute opened one year after Mayer Mitchell’s death.

In 2006, the Mitchell family gave $22 million to support the Institute, which had been a dream of Mayer Mitchell’s. In 1969 he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s and was given six months to live. He beat the odds by receiving cutting-edge treatment at the University of Rochester, and vowed that his hometown of Mobile would one day have a cancer center.

In December 2011, Arlene Mitchell made one of the largest donations to the USA athletic program, funding the Mayer Mitchell Quarterback Endowment.

Not Just Black and White Civil Rights and the Jewish Community

“Kick that damn Jew out” Months before the Stand in Schoolhouse Door, Meyer took heat for pro-integration editorial On June 11, 1963, one of the most famous bits of historical theater from the civil rights era played out in front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama. Governor George Wallace, who five months earlier had vowed “segregation forever” in his inaugural address, made a symbolic stand in front of the auditorium door in an attempt to keep two black students, Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood, from enrolling and integrating the state’s flagship university.

Wallace eventually moved, on the order of Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and the students were admitted. One student who was not there that day was Melvin Meyer, a rising senior who had already taken the brunt of inflamed passions over the issue of integration.

A Jewish student from Starkville, Miss., Meyer was editor of the Crimson White, Alabama’s student newspaper. On Sept. 27, 1962, he published “A Bell Rang,” an unsigned column calling for James Meredith to be admitted into Ole Miss, stating there was no moral grounds for not admitting a black student to the university, and court decisions had made integration inevitable. “If the bigot or the demagogue can muster a majority to turn on the Negro, will he necessarily stop there?

Or will he next turn to the Catholic and the Jew, or the member of any other minority group?” the piece stated Meyer, known today as Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, said he had been approached by fellow Honors students Robbie Roberts and Richard Bouldin with a first draft of a piece Roberts had written. They told Meyer he could do whatever he liked with it.

“When I read it I felt a strong response to publish it because it felt right to do so,” Meyer said. “The idea hadn’t occurred to me but once seeing it I knew I wanted to go forward with it. My experience growing up in a small town in Mississippi as a Jew had somewhat shaped me as an outsider looking in on the society as an observer and not being totally absorbed in its values.”

They figured the column would stir some controversy, but Roberts was afraid that his father, who worked for the university, could be harassed or lose his job if his name was on the piece. Meyer “told him that as the editor I was glad to take the heat for it and he was never identified as being the main writer of it until many years later.”

They had no idea how vociferous the reaction would be.

Photo courtesy University of Alabama

Crimson White editor Melvin Meyer, right, with Robbie Roberts, center Southern Jewish Life

June 2013

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On the one hand, Meyer was praised across the country for his courage. The New York Times interviewed him, he was invited to speak at a Columbia University symposium and the U.S. Student Press Association — headed at the time by Roger Ebert — named him college newspaper editor of the year.

The reaction back home wasn’t anywhere near as positive. “We received hundreds of hate mail letters at the paper which we printed with a liberal sprinkling of (sics),” he said. “The Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on the lawn of the Zeta Beta Tau house. They called me to let me know; I had an apartment off campus.”

Meyer was told that George Wallace, who would be inaugurated as governor in January 1963, called University President Frank Rose to demand that the university “kick that damn Jew out of school.” That did not happen, but armed guards were assigned to him and to watch his activities. They “certainly were a lead weight on my life and that of my friends,” he said, “frisking people, not letting me start my car without checking for bombs, telling me where not to go, reporting to the University on my activities, and cooperating with the University’s efforts to censor the newspaper.”

The university asked him to retract the editorial, which he refused to do. There was a discussion of stripping him of his position or even shutting down the paper.

The guards filed reports of his activities every day. The reports are now available at the university’s archives, detailing the mundane daily life of a typical student.

Meyer did not trust his bodyguards. “They were retired detectives from Bull Connor’s Birmingham police force,” which was filled with Klansmen, “and they were supposed to be protecting us from the Klan.

But they were bigger than life size characters that we generally found more humorous than dangerous.”

A visit home for Spring Break further “broke the shell of my isolation from people of different races and customs and increased my empathy for the suffering of others,” he said.

Klan sympathizers had burned a cross on his mother’s rose trellis as

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June 2013

Southern Jewish Life

As this year is the 50th anniversary of many historic events in the civil rights struggle, Rabbi Alexis Berk of Touro Synagogue in New Orleans will be leading an adult Civil Rights Journey in November.

The tour will visit sites in Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham and Atlanta from Nov. 1 to 3. The tour is the same weekend as the Southern Jewish Historical Society’s annual conference in Birmingham, which will also have a civil rights theme.

In Montgomery, the tour begins at the Rosa Parks Museum and the Southern Poverty Law Center, before Shabbat services at Temple Beth Or. Shabbat morning, there will be a “creative service” at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, followed by a tour of Selma and a discussion of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s famous visit with Dr. Martin Luther King there.

Moving to Birmingham, the group will tour the Civil Rights Institute and Freedom Park, where the demonstrations took place.

Havdalah will be held at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four girls were killed in a September 1963 Klan bombing.

The tour finishes in Atlanta with visits to the Names Project/ AIDS Quilt headquarters, and the King Center for Non-Violence.

A planning meeting was scheduled for June 6 at 6 p.m.

a warning. His father, Henry, who had bought the Starkville News with his brother in 1946, also faced repercussions. Along with the paper, he had a printing and business supply company. Years later, Henry Meyer finally let his son know that when the controversy raged, the county board of supervisors asked him to stop his son from making trouble, and when he refused they stopped giving him the county’s printing business.

“It was probably a big factor in him deciding to sell his business a few years later, some time after which he started the journalism department at Mississippi State,” Meyer said. The student media center was named in Henry Meyer’s memory in 2003.

Another incident while visiting home also “cracked my shell.” There was no real social interaction between whites and blacks, so it was a shock when, while making a delivery to a black woman who did their laundry, “she felt emboldened to show her true feelings — something that just wasn’t done.” She was crying joyfully at the news that Meredith was going to be re-admitted to Ole Miss.

“After that time I was always interested in really getting to know those who seemed very different but that I didn’t really know firsthand,” he said.

While the national ZBT was celebrating Meyer’s stance, there was resentment at the all-Jewish Alabama ZBT house for the negative attention Meyer brought. One fraternity brother who was particularly “pissed off ” at the disruption was Joseph Levin, Jr. But the Montgomery native, who had previously just seen himself “as a white Southerner” had an awakening. “I had not experienced that kind of naked hatred. Once my eyes were opened, I couldn’t ignore others who were persecuted around me.”

Levin says the controversy over Meyer motivated him to be a co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery — and part of the SPLC’s successes over the years has included putting the United Klans of America out of business through a lawsuit.

While Meyer is receiving a lot of attention on the 50th anniversary of university integration in the South, he said “ It is people like (Levin) who stayed in the South and worked to transform things that deserve the publicity and credit for societal changes.”

By winter break, things had settled down for him in Tuscaloosa and he could leave his guards behind. The following June would be the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, and as the time drew near “the university arranged things so that I wouldn’t be there” as a possible lightning rod. They offered him a plum Southern Jewish Life

June 2013

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internship at the Peace Corps in Washington, and “I was happy to accept it. I had no plans to stick around for the summer to be a part of the choreographed proceedings of Wallace’s stand.”

He did meet with Hood and Malone, wished them well “and that was sufficient for me.”

Looking back, Meyer feels racial progress came not through the legal battles over integration but through that most Southern of things — sports. While there was resentment over “forced integration” being imposed, “integration led to integrated sports teams, and rooting for your team and its really good black players changed people’s attitudes a lot.”

Meyer also experienced many changes in the 50 years since the battle for integration. As a senior he stopped working for the Crimson White and pursued philosophy. He was vocal in opposition to the Vietnam War, and went to Vanderbilt to study graduate-level philosophy.

His dissertation was to be on “Cosmic Laughter,” but he wanted to find mystical experience, not philosophize about it. In 1968, he became a disciple of Murshid Samuel Lewis in San Francisco, soon becoming Murshid Sam’s esoteric secretary. Murshid Sam initiatied Meyer as a sheik on the Sufi path in 1970. Lewis, who died in 1971, was the son of a Levi Strauss vice president.

For 40 years, Meyer has taught Sufism — a mystical form of Islam that welcomes “all spiritual seekers on all paths toward God” — at camps, retreats and workshops around the world. He headed the humanities department at the Tandem School in Virginia for eight years, then returned to Khankah Sam, a residential community of practitioners in San Francisco.

Meyer now serves as director of the Esoteric School of the Sufi Ruhaniat International.

He no longer has any family in the Deep South and has not been back in many years. Thirty years ago, he visited Starkville and was asked by his father what he noticed that had changed. U.S. Highway 82 had been renamed for Martin Luther King Jr., where it was previously named after Robert E. Lee. “Such a change had pretty much passed unnoticed,” he reflected.

SJHS convention to commemorate civil rights anniversaries With the city of Birmingham hosting numerous events all year marking the 50th anniversary of pivotal civil rights events, the Southern Jewish Historical Society decided to hop on board.

The SJHS annual convention, held Nov. 1 to 3, will be part of the city’s official commemoration. This is the first time in 25 years that the convention has been held in Birmingham.

Scholar and civil rights activist Julian Bond will be the keynote speaker, during Shabbat evening services at Temple Emanu-El on Nov. 1. Bond helped establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was chairman of the NAACP for 12 years and was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He is currently on the faculty of American University and the University of Virginia.

Bond will lead a tour of civil rights sites the afternoon of Nov. 1.

Southern Jewish History editor Mark Bauman will speak about Rabbi Allen Krause, who died this past year, and his interviews of Southern rabbis during the civil righst movement.

There will be presentations on Birmingham Jewish history and other areas of Southern Jewish life. The conference will be housed at the Doubletree Hotel near the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Registration information is available at jewishsouth.org.

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From synagogue to Ace Hardware store

“River Road” author tries to envision Jewish life in Donaldsonville For the casual traveler, the River Road is the long way from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, with a handful of historic plantations and a whole bunch of industrial sites to break up the winding path.

Mary Ann Sternberg hopes you’ll see much more than that.

Her new book, “River Road Rambler” was just published by LSU Press, along with a third edition of “Along the River Road.” A native of New Orleans who has lived in Baton Rouge for 45 years, Sternberg said “the River Road runs between Before and after… my two towns and the Mississippi River is in my blood.”

Her odyssey into three centuries of history began in the early 1990s when a long-time New Orleans resident said she had taken a visitor along the River Road but “there was nothing there.” In 1992, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the River Road as one of the country’s most endangered historic places.

A few weeks after her New Orleans encounter, she met a man “whose passion for and knowledge of the River Road was contagious; he offered a breathless litany of structures synagogue was built in 1871 as the parish had and sites, characters and stories that evoked a Jewish population of 179.

Sternberg detailed how the community River Road history, culture, and meaning.”

How did he know all this about the River dwindled from its early 20th century peak, Road? Simple, he explained. Everyone who due to the twin tolls of the next generation moving on to larger cities for better opportulived there knew all these stories.

“A link was missing between interested nities, and a high rate of intermarriage with visitors who could not identify most of what the Catholic community. they saw and knowledgeable people for whom By the 1940s the community was on its last the River Road is a familiar and engaging legs, In 1954, they sold the synagogue buildneighborhood,” Sternberg said. She figured ing and deconsecrated it. there was a book on the subject, The building became a Westbut couldn’t find one. Bits and ern Auto store, with a new fapieces were recorded in many çade, then after the building was places, but there wasn’t a single sold in 1977, it was converted overview that fit all the pieces into an Ace Hardware location. together.

In her piece, “The Hardware “That was the motivation for Shul,” she describes exploring writing ‘Along the River Road’,” the building for any trace of its she said. previous life as a Jewish house of The new book came about beworship, and her search for an individual who remembers atcause after 20 years “of prowling tending services there. the area” she felt there are many places that are unique or unusual but under“While closed synagogues in small southern appreciated. “River Road Rambler” is a collec- towns are hardly unusual, this reconfiguration tion of 15 new essays about those places. is,” Sternberg noted, adding that the building is One of them is Bikur Cholim synagogue considered the oldest extant synagogue buildin Donaldsonville — or what is left of it. As ing in Louisiana that still stands in any form. with many other places along the River Road, Other sites explored in the book include the the Jewish community of Donaldsonville National Hansen’s Disease Center Museum at came from Alsace in the mid-1800s. They Carville, the perique tobacco area of St. James established Bikur Cholim cemetery in 1856, Parish, and Our Lady of Lourdes grotto in the established a congregation in 1860 and the town of Convent.

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When Kathe Hambrick-Jackson arranged for an old school building to be moved across the Mississippi River to Donaldsonville’s River Road African American Museum, she had no idea what a treasure she had.

On June 8, she is opening the doors to make sure everyone else knows.

Years ago, all she knew was that the St. James Parish school board was going to tear down the Central Agricultural Schoolhouse, which was also known as the Romeville School. It was “the cornerstone for educating African American children in St. James Parish” from the 1930s to the 1960s, so she got the board to donate it to the museum in 1996.

It was only after the building was placed in Donaldsonville that she realized that it was a rare Rosenwald school. In 1912, Booker T. Washington teamed up with Julius Rosenwald, the son of German-Jewish immigrants who became president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., on an innovative program to educate blacks throughout the South. Rosenwald gave construction funds for standardized schools on the condition that the local community also shouldered some of the burden, whether financially, through land donations or through labor. Over the next two decades, 5,300 schools would be built in 15 Southern states.

In Louisiana, the first Rosenwald school was constructed in 1916.

Almost 400 were built in Louisiana by 1932, and one in four rural black schools in the state was a Rosenwald.

Only a tiny percentage of the schools still stand. Before the Donaldsonville building was determined to be a Rosenwald, there was only one known to still exist in the state — Plaisance in St. Landry Parish. A third has now been identified.

“If it’s called something else, nobody knows if it received Rosenwald funds or not,” Hambrick-Jackson said. There is a concerted effort to preserve the few remaining Rosenwalds throughout the South, and to identify other abandoned structures that may be Rosenwalds.

“If more people knew about the Rosenwald Project, they would have an interest in finding the old buildings that are abandoned,” as well as helping restore the ones that are known, she said.

At a conference last summer in Tuskegee, much was made of the importance of the schools to the black community, and how Rosenwald was motivated to further the project because of his Jewish upbringing.

On June 8 from 2 to 5 p.m., the museum is celebrating the state’s Rosenwald Schools with an open house at the partially-restored building in Donaldsonville. It will be the first formal tour of the building for the community and the museum’s benefactors. The memorial walkway, with the first set of bricks purchased by supporters, will also be dedicated.

Robin Washington Banks, great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington, will be the guest speaker.

The building, which has undergone about $500,000 in renovations, is slated to be the museum’s center for the history of black education along the River Road parishes. An attraction to Jewish history buffs, it is located just two blocks from the city’s Jewish cemetery and three blocks from the Ace Hardware store that now occupies what was Bikur Cholim Synagogue.

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New Pensacola museum slated for historically Jewish building When the new history center, “The Voices of Pensacola” opens, the city’s Jewish voices will be well represented.

The University of West Florida announced on May 3 that Gulf Power Company and Southern Company gave over $600,000 to the West Florida Historic Preservation to renovate the Beacon Building downtown into a multicultural resource center highlighting Pensacola’s diverse history.

“Gulf Power’s vision of an active center celebrating the multicultural history of our region, is now going to be realized in the renovation of the Beacon Building. ‘The Voices of Pensacola’ will be a place where people of all ages will gather, learn, and tell their stories,” said Bentina Terry, Vice President for External Affairs and Corporate Services at Gulf Power.

The new center will feature displays representing cultural groups who have shaped Pensacola’s history. Potential exhibits will showcase the Native American, Asian, Hispanic, African-American, Greek, Jewish and European cultures.

Jewish history will be showcased by the building itself. It was built in 1912 for D. Kugelman and Co., a wholesale grocer. In 1990, the Pensacola Historical Society purchased the building and named it after local historian G. Norman Simons, the society’s curator.

The facility will include two stages for oral history, storytelling, and musical performances; two acoustically controlled Aural Exhibit spaces where oral histories can be heard and recorded; a research room; computer research stations and more.

“I’m truly excited about the numerous benefits this multicultural resource center will bring to our community,” said Kyle Marrero, Vice President for University Advancement at UWF. “This project will contribute to the revitalization of downtown Pensacola, further enhance UWF’s academic resources, and boost the university’s growing national reputation in the field of public history,” Marrero said. “It will also strengthen the community by providing a way for the diverse cultures of Pensacola to come together and celebrate their triumphs, learn from their failures, save their histories and connect.”

Summer events at Birmingham’s iron man, Vulcan America’s largest cast-iron statue, Birmingham’s Vulcan, will salute the country with “Thunder on the Mountain” July 4.

The Independence Day celebration is one of several events coming up at Vulcan Park and Museum over the next few months. July 20 will be Member Day, when members of Birmingham area arts and culture organizations are invited to enjoy free admission to Vulcan.

On Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Vulcan will host an event facility open house to showcase its event-hosting space. On Sunday afternoons this fall, Sept, 29, Oct. 13 and Oct. 27, Vulcan Park and Museum will bring back its popular Vulcan AfterTunes modern music series.

Currently in the gallery, there is an exhibit in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of civil rights events in Birmingham, “A Place of Our Own: The Fourth Avenue District, Civil Rights and the Rise of Birmingham’s Black Middle Class.” It will be on display through Sept.

30, followed by “Vulcan Keepsakes: Iron Man Memorabilia from the Birmingham Community.”

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Young’s Suncoast Vacation Rentals represents high-end and mid-range properties ranging from hotel rooms to rental condos and houses in the Gulf Shores area, including Orange Beach and Ft. Morgan. Marketing Director Lorri Rhodes said there is much to do when staying in the area this summer.

“Naturally the beach, sugar white sand and turquoise water fill a need for fun in the sun, but there are also many other family friendly activities in the Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and the surrounding areas,” plenty to fill a whole week with activities.

This summer vacationers can experience two new additions to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. The Wharf is celebrating 100 Days of Summer with a Family Fun Zone that has rides and games for the whole family. Their sound and light spectacular SPECTRA takes place twice nightly and is free.

Those with a love for adventure can zip on the Hummingbird Ziplines at the new Gulf Adventure Center at Gulf State Park. There are six ziplines, with four going over the waters of Lake Shelby.

In June the annual Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival takes place in Foley over Father’s Day weekend. Independence Day brings about

numerous celebrations across the island, or visitors can go at their own pace and just relax on the beach all day.

The Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo can hook interested anglers from July 18 to 21, then SEC football fans can enjoy SEC BeachFest, featuring current and former coaches and players from the conference, Aug. 15 to 18.

Orange Beach is known for great fishing.

One can have a deep sea fishing trip with family and friends, or an individual or couple can choose to fish a walk-on or back bay excursion. There are also numerous Billfish Tournaments throughout the summer where spectators can watch the weigh-ins.

The area also boasts nine championship golf courses, nature trails and water sports. For the history buffs in the family, there are tours of Ft Morgan or day trips to the USS Alabama or Naval Aviation Museum.

Young’s Suncoast has been providing vacationing families to Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Fort Morgan great economical condo and beach house rentals for the last 40 years.

“We enjoy making families happy and hearing about all the memories made and beach vacation traditions that have been carried on for generations,” Rhodes said.

New Orleans Tourism debuts “Follow Your NOLA” campaign The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation launched the “Follow Your NOLA” national leisure tourism campaign last month to “illustrate the rich culture, history and music that run deep in New Orleans.”

“This campaign invites visitors to experience New Orleans in many areas of the city,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “As one of the fastest growing cities in America, we want to encourage our guests to experience not only historic French Quarter, but also our unique neighborhoods, our bustling downtown, and our cultural arts both on the streets and in our museums.”

The television and digital execution centers around the iconic fleur-de-lis as one’s compass guiding them on a journey of discovery through New Orleans. Prospective travelers and families are encouraged to “live like a local,” exploring what’s beyond preconceived notions, to uncover the city’s vibrancy, cultural goodness, music and more.

“Those who think only of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street when they think of New Orleans are about to learn so much more about NOLA from our campaign, ” said Mark

Southern Jewish Life

Romig, President and CEO of NOTMC. “Follow Your NOLA” symbolizes the city’s renaissance, her mystery, her adventures, and her fun in every corner of the city.”

New Orleans has experienced much growth in tourism post-Katrina, helping create jobs as well as additional economic impact, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. According to a recent University of New Orleans Hospitality Research Center study, more than nine million visitors came to the city in 2012, spending more than $6 billion.

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Summer Travel W New Orleans touts summer visits

By Lee J. Green

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People across the world flock to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but the Crescent City also offers a great deal to visitors coming during the late spring and summer months.

June brings the Tomato Festival, Cajun Zydeco Festival, and the thirdannual FestiGals festival celebrating women. July events include the Independence Day fireworks show in the French Quarter, the Essence Music Festival and Bastille Day. Then in August, there’s COOLinary New Orleans, Satchmo Summerfest and the Red Dress Run. In addition to the organized events, W Hotels Concierge Travis Frye recommends private horse and carriage rides from the hotel to dinner then back; private New Orleans tours via airplane (in a Cessna 172 that can seat four people); gondola rides on the bayous of City Park; New Orleans-style cooking classes, and tours of the local breweries (NOLA, Abita, Rum House).

“That’s the great thing about New Orleans — there is something fun and celebratory going on all the time,” said Vanessa Claspill, sales and marketing director for W New Orleans.

The hotel was built as a Crowne Plaza for the 1984 New Orleans World’s Fair and became a W in 2000. “We cater to those who have a passion for music, fashion and design,” she said of the hotel. “W New Orleans is about a style, a feeling. It’s for someone who wants luxury but in a cool, friendly setting — not too formal.”

W Hotels started in New York City, known as the city that never sleeps.

“You can get anything you want here 24 hours a day,” said Claspill. “We are happy to get someone a beignet at two in the morning or a wake-up call at four in the morning.”

She also added that June to September is a good time for value in New Orleans to get some of the best, lowest rates.

W New Orleans is located just steps from the historic French quarter.

For locals, the hotel can host Simchas with its 13,000 square feet of event space.

The event space is comprised of 13 different rooms including a Great Room that accommodates up to 500 guests. For weddings, W New Orleans can host the rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception, as well as the wedding party and guests with 410 guestrooms all featuring exclusive Bliss Bath amenities. Of the hotel’s rooms, 22 are suites.

Louisiana comfort food meets contemporary cuisine at Zoë, the restaurant on property that caters all in-house events. Guests can also hang out in Rande Gerber’s Whiskey Blue, a hip New Orleans bar with enticing cocktails and live entertainment, or lounge around in a cabana at the hotel’s rooftop pool called WET.

EL AL Israel Airlines completes writing of Torah Scroll

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Southern Jewish Life

Last month Israel’s chief rabbis, the British ambassador to Israel and hundreds of EL AL Israel Airlines employees and special guests took part in an event to mark the completion of the writing of the EL AL Torah Scroll for the Unity of Israel.

Thousands of people have had a letter inscribed in the scroll over the past three years, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Nobel Prize winner Elie Weisel, spiritual leaders and EL AL customers. In Washington this past December, an inscribing ceremony included several members of Congress, including Joe Lieberman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Eric Cantor.

The Torah Scroll, which contains 304,805 letters in 249 columns, will be kept in the synagogue on the EL AL campus at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel. It will accompany Israeli leaders on flights of national and historical significance.

The Smokies offer something for everyone

By Lee J. Green Sevierville may best be known for its native daughter and music legend Dolly Parton. So it’s fitting that the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce offers “Girlfriends’ Getaways” as one of its demographic-targeting tourism packages.

But the home to Dollywood, nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, also invites guys to take “Manventures” and has many family-friendly activities, according to Sevierville Chamber of Commerce Director of Public Relations Amanda Marr.

“There are so many things to do here.

We have something for everyone,” she said.

“Adults can be kids again and kids can have the best time.”

The Girlfriends’ Getaways include a shopping experience at Sevierville’s outlets and stores such as Michael Kors, along with spa visits as well as plenty of nighttime entertainment opportunities. Manventures can include riding ATVs to the top of Bluff Mountain, New Zealand-style jet boat rentals and zipline courses.

Marr said some of the most popular tourist attractions in Sevierville and the surrounding area would be the Dollywood amusement park and the Tennessee Museum of Aviation.

“We also have what we call our ‘Bucket List’

packages. Those can include 1920s bi-plane rides, helicopter tours of the Smoky Mountains, tethered balloon rides, white-water rafting and hiking across the longest swinging bridge in America,” she said.

Additionally, the recently opened Wilderness of the Smokies Hotel offers indoor and outdoor water parks.

Last month Sevierville hosted its annual Blooming BBQ and Bluegrass Festival. From Nov. 12 to Feb. 18, the area has numerous Winterfest events that include millions of lights, parades, musical entertainment and packages for skiing as well as ice skating.

“This is certainly a value destination. You can do so much and the hotel rates year round are very reasonable,” said Marr.

Experienced Israeli tour guide with Deep South connections Israel’s tour guide training program is among the most thorough in the world and Ron Perry describes his tours as “life-fulfilling, educational journeys.”

“My tours are more intellectual. There is so much history, culture, beauty and diverse geography in Israel, which is about one-sixth the size of Alabama,” said Perry. “I don’t just tell people dates on my tours, I explain meanings.”

He grew up on a citrus farm outside of Tel Aviv and now lives in Jerusalem. In the late 1970s he attended Northeast Louisiana University, now Louisiana-Monroe, and earned a degree in psychology. He would then return in Israel in 1980, starting a four-year course to become a tour guide.

“Growing up in Israel, I was very proud of my native country and wanted to learn all I could. When I went to university in America,

I would regularly encourage people to visit Israel. So I guess you could say I have been promoting tourism much of my life,” said Perry.

“But what is most amazing is that I am always learning new things about Israel and sharing these things with those on my tours.”

Ever since becoming an official tour guide in the early 1980s, he has guided thousands of travelers around Israel, including some work guiding political officials, leaders and representatives with AIPAC and the ADL. “I think people are surprised at how diverse the landscapes and climates are in Israel considering how small the country is,” said Perry.

“If you are making aliyah to Israel or coming back after several visits, you want to make sure it is the most memorable trip possible. I understand that and give them an experience like they have never had before.”

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Summer Travel Apalachicola a hidden gem on Florida’s Gulf coast

By Lee J. Green Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” offers opportunities for unforgettable vacation memories, according to one of Apalachicola’s city planning leaders, who is also the owner of the Coombs House Inn Bed and Breakfast.

“This is Florida as it used to be. Much of the coast has become congested and very commercial. Here we focus on natural beauty, serenity and community,” said Lynn Wilson. “Visitors can walk or bicycle everywhere. All businesses are locally owned, including restaurants and art galleries. Some of these old mansions have been turned into museums and antiques stores. There is certainly a charm here in Apalachicola that recalls a simpler day of yesteryear.” Apalachicola is located half way between Pensacola and Tampa on Florida’s Gulf coast.

James Coombs was a successful entrepreneur who earned a fortune in Maine’s lumber industry around the turn of the 20th century. In 1905 Apalachicola, located on the Gulf at the mouth of the Apalachicola River, was a busy port with 3,000 inhabitants from which most of north Florida’s lumber was shipped. Coombs and his wife moved down that year, having the stately mansion built.

Tragedy struck with a major fire severely damaging the manor in 1911 and both Coombs and his wife died shortly after. Various family members took residence in the house for the next five decades but in the 1960s it was closed and boarded up.

Wilson, an interior designer for luxury hotel properties and her airline executive husband, Bill Spohrer, first visited Apalachicola in 1978. They saw the potential for renovation and preservation not just of the Coombs mansion but the town.

After a few years of searching, they found the owners of the Coombs House and purchased it. Several years of significant renovations and expansion ensued, with The Coombs House Inn officially opening in 1994.

Today there are 23 guest suites in three elegant historic Victorian mansions located on the property, one of which is the former Jewish-owned Marks house. The all-inclusive bed and breakfast offers amenities such as bicycle and beach chair rentals, evening wine receptions, homemade cookies, teas and coffees, Wi-Fi internet, flat-screen cable televisions, with some rooms being whirlpool massage spa suites, as well as 17 fireplaces.

The Coombs House Inn is pet-friendly.

“We also have lush gardens that along with the event facility we have in the Coombs House are just ideal for weddings,” said Wilson. They offer complete wedding packages. “We’re just one block from the city center and three blocks from the beach.”

Wilson and Spohrer have been instrumental in enhancements and growth in Apalachicola. She is on the town’s planning and zoning board.

But the growth is very much controlled.

“We have some very tight restrictions on growth. There are no chain restaurants or shopping malls here. Businesses are locally-owned and we have preserved the community feel,” she said.

For visitors to the area, she recommends the Marine Museum, sunset cruises, cemetery tours (dating back to the 1700s), live theatres, art galleries, antique museums, exploring the nature preserves, concerts in the park and waterfront cafes.

One interesting fact about Apalachicola — the first air conditioner was invented in the town. Now that’s one more “cool” tidbit.

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Destin, Henderson Park Inn for lovers

By Lee J. Green Destin’s Henderson Park Inn was recently voted one of the Top Ten Most Romantic Hotels in the United States by TripAdvisor, and its Beachwalk Restaurant was named to the list of the Top 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in the U.S., according to OpenTable Diners’ Choice Awards.

The all-inclusive, adults-only resort offers plenty for those who want a romantic getaway and can even coordinate a package of related activities outside of the beach-front inn.

Those can include moonlight cruises aboard a luxury yacht, romantic walks along the white-sand, pristine beaches of Destin overlooking the emerald-green waters, dining and dancing, and much more.

For active couples, Destin offers surfing, snorkeling and other water sports options.

TripAdvisor has earned a reputation as one of the most popular travel websites in the country, providing a place for customers to post their independent opinions and reviews. TripAdvisor gathers reviews, ranks them, and then posts rankings in several categories, including the one Henderson Park Inn was named in.

“We are thrilled with the recognition,” said Innkeeper Ryan Olin.

“What makes this particular award so special is that it’s customer driven. Our location is second to none and so is the service as well as amenities we offer our guests. We’re proud to be recognized by

TripAdvisor and our loyal guests.”

Henderson Park Inn offers 35 suites in its New England-style boutique hotel that fronts close to a mile of beachfront in the Henderson State Park. When guests arrive, they receive wine and chocolate in their rooms along with sunset toasts and happy hours on the inn’s back deck, with inclusive dining on the beach as well as free bicycle rentals.

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3626 St. Charles Ave. • 504-899-9990 www.neworleanshamptoninns.com/stcharles.html

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Summer Travel Work with travel agents for unique experiences Another Azamara cruise departing in early May 2014 will be a “10 Night Holy Land VoyOn Azamara cruises you get to see age.” This Mediterranean and Black Sea cruise starts in Athens and goes into Ashdod for where you are going Travel Central of Metairie recommends Jerusalem excursions, Haifa, Cyprus, Turkey Azamara “Destination Immersion” European and several stops in Greece. cruises, including an October voyage launching from Rome and going to 10 ports in 10 The experience of Travel Designers days across Italy, France and Monaco.

Birmingham’s Travel Designers, Inc. has “With all of the shore excursion options as been planning trips for Jewish groups for well as wonderful food, drink, entertainment more than 30 years and company president and comfortable lodging on the cruise ship, Ruth Ann Steele has more than 40 years of Azamara’s destination cruises represent the experience in the industry. best of all worlds,” said Travel Central Owner Steele also recommends European historiMelinda Bourgeois. She started the Metairie cal trips and river cruises. “We can put totravel agency 25 years ago and it is a part of gether a trip of a lifetime that can include as the worldwide American Express travel net- many points of interest as someone wishes,” work. “You can really experience the flavor she said. “Some of the most popular trips we and culture of these destinations, plus you have planned in recent years have been hisget the opportunity to make new friends with torical/educational tours of Italy, London/ your fellow travelers on the cruise ship.”

Paris, Amsterdam and Spain. We can include She said what makes Azamara cruises ideal historic synagogues, cemeteries, significant is that the ships carry only 700 passengers per places such as the Anne Frank House and trip and for all that is offered, the price points much more.” are very reasonable. “The cruise can offer Longtime Jewish community member Dormore since there are fewer people than some othy Ziff retired from Travel Designers a few of the large cruise lines, plus it is quicker to get people off the boat for a shore excursion so that’s more time that can be spent in each port,” added Bourgeois.

Azamara will be at Travel Central for an Looking to get away to North Miami Beach? open house with pizza and sangria the eve- Florida Kosher Villas has a wide range of vacaning of Aug. 8, to let those interested know tion homes for rent, with kosher kitchens and more about this Mediterranean cruise as well private pools, not far from the beach. as others they offer.

The company also has a wide range of

By Lee J. Green

years ago, but still is happy to advise someone who wants a special Jewish heritage tour. The travel agency has even coordinated tours of places with smaller Jewish communities but plenty of rich history including Greece, Hungary and southern France.

Steele said much has changed over the years in the industry but the biggest change to the advantage of the customers and agencies would have to be technology. “Now everything is at the click of a button. We have all of these resources at our fingertips. It has helped us and customers to save much time. It’s a big convenience factor,” she said. “Before 1975, we did all handwritten tickets. Now absolutely everything is automated.”

So why work with a travel agency? Steele said that travel agents can not only plan every facet of a trip but they can also provide protections customers can’t get when booking on their own. “If flights are delayed and connections are missed, or if there is a mix-up with a hotel we’ve booked with, we guarantee that customers get there, get their hotel and everything in their itinerary works out fine. We say our traveling customers can feel carefree but cared for,” she said.

Traveling kosher in Miami Beach homes that do not have kosher kitchens that can be rented for business or pleasure.

The kosher homes are all in the North Miami Beach area, walking distance to area shuls and within the eruv. The kitchens are glatt kosher with separate sets of dishes, and the heated pools are surrounded by mechitzas. Each home can accommodate at least six people with many holding far more than that. Cribs and aero-beds are available for large families.

The non-kosher facilities are available in a wider area, from Aventura to South Beach.

For more information, go to floridakoshervillas.com.

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Southern Jewish Life

Ava Lubin with parents Charlyn and Avery Lubin, along with Institute of Southern Jewish Life Rabbi Marshal Klavin, at Ava’s Bat Mitzvah at Adath Israel in Cleveland, Miss. Adath Israel Rabbi Harry Danziger also co-officiated the simcha at the small congregation the weekend of May 10.

Hebrew U. honors Morgan Freeman On May 6, Academy Awardwinner and Mississippian Morgan Freeman was presented with the Jake Eberts Key of Knowledge by Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson at a gala reception hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at the Toronto Center for the Arts.

The award celebrates Freeman’s dedication to combating racism and promoting knowledge and education worldwide.

The Canadian Friends’ Celebration of Excellence event Photo by Elizabeth Beddall/CFHU honors individuals who have Morgan Freeman with Hebrew changed the world and affected University President Prof. Menahem lives through the advancement Ben-Sasson of knowledge. The event raised $2 million for the Hebrew University’s Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, a premier institute that symbolizes the scientific cooperation and friendship between both countries. Funds raised will also establish the Morgan Freeman Scholarship Fund for international students participating in the international master’s in public health program at the Hebrew University’s Braun-Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

Over 700 guests attended the gala.

Send in your Simchas!

Email photos and information to editor@sjlmag.com, or mail to P.O. Box 130052, Birmingham, AL 35213.

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June 2013

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Sudden death of Cantor Sharon Kunitz stuns Huntsville

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Southern Jewish Life

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Cantor Sharon Kunitz, a native of Huntsville who was ordained as a cantor in 2009, died suddenly on May 22 during a visit home. She was 55.

Temple B’nai Sholom, her long-time congregation, was planning an oneg in her honor for Shabbat evening on May 24. Instead, her funeral was that day at Laughlin Funeral Home in Huntsville.

Kunitz was cantor at Ohev Sholom in Harrisburg, Pa., where she had served as student cantor during her final year at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. Upon ordination she became the full-time cantor there. She is believed to be the first native Alabamian to be ordained as a cantor at HUC-JIR. Kunitz’s family moved to Huntsville when she was one year old. She earned a degree in music therapy at Florida State University and a master’s in clinical and counseling psychology from Alabama A&M. For many years, she was cantorial soloist and choir director at Temple B’nai Sholom in Huntsville, and was a vocal coach and music therapist. She was also active in local theater and the Huntsville Community Chorus.

Around 1990, she was asked what she wanted to do with her life, and she said she wanted to be a cantor but that could never happen, because she would never leave Huntsville.

Times changed, and a decade ago she decided to follow her dream and go to cantorial school. She consulted with B’nai Sholom’s rabbi at the time, Jeffrey Ballon, to start the admissions process at HUC-JIR. In June 2004 she left for Jerusalem as a member of that year’s incoming class, spending the year in Israel that is required as part of the studies. Many of her classmates were also in their 40s and 50s, looking for a second career.

At the time she noted that she would be 52 upon ordination, which would be its own challenge. Many congregations “want young and peppy. Well, I can do peppy, but can’t help the young part.”

While in cantorial school, she had an internship with the Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Temple B’nai B’rith in Kingston, Pa., and The Jewish Home and Hospital in the Bronx.

In April 2012, she visited Huntsville to lead a women’s Seder. She arrived for this visit on May 18.

Last night she was taken to the hospital after an apparent heart attack. In the last couple of years she had heart problems, including surgery last December for a valve replacement.

Shortly after her passing, her Facebook page was filled with recollections from classmates, colleagues and friends from far and wide. At several congregations across the country, colleagues performed her setting of “B’Yado” in tribute at Shabbat services.

She is survived by her children, Rachel Parker Leventon of Richardson, Texas; 2nd Lt. Brian B. Parker USMC of Charleston, S.C. and son-in-law Isaac Leventon; her parents, Paul and Judy Kunitz of Huntsville; sisters Lisa Kunitz Walker of Huntsville and Heidi KunitzLevy of Charleston. She was “Bubbe” to Caleb Andrew and Miriam Sylvia Leventon of Richardson.

Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar and Rabbi Steve Jacobs officiated at the funeral, and burial was at Maple Hill Cemetery. There will be a memorial service in Harrisburg at a time to be announced.

Memorials can be made to Alex’s Lemonade Stand, American Conference of Cantors Chesed Fund, Temple B’nai Sholom Endowment Fund in Huntsville, or Congregation Ohev Sholom in Harrisburg.

Abraham Hausman-Weiss, center with trophy, formerly lived in Birmingham

Hausman-Weiss helps lead Houston to national championship Former Birminghamian Abraham Hausman-Weiss was part of the TIRR Memorial Hermann Houston Hotwheels team that won the National Wheelchair Basketball Association tournament in April.

The first-seeded TIRR Memorial Hermann Houston Hotwheels won the title on April 21, defeating the defending champions Nebraska Red Dawgs, 67-55. To get there, they beat the Windy City Warriors, Bennett Blazers and Mad City Badgers.

Going into the tournament, which was held in Louisville, Ky., the team was ranked No. 1 in the junior division, with players ranging in age from 8 to 18.

TIRR Memorial Hermann is a 119-bed nonprofit rehabilitation hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. TIRR Memorial Hermann provides rehabilitation services for individuals with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, strokes, amputations and neuromuscular disorders.

The Hausman-Weiss family moved to Houston two years ago, when Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss became senior rabbi of Congregation Emanu El. They had been in Birmingham since Abraham was 19 months old, as Rabbi Hausman-Weiss was associate rabbi at Temple Emanu-El from 1999 to 2011.

Abraham was born with a rare form of spina bifida and no use of his lower legs. When the family arrived in Birmingham they became involved with the Lakeshore Foundation, which promotes independence for children and adults with physical disabilities through sports and fitness opportunities. He began swimming and excelled nationally in track and field.

Abraham told the Jewish Herald-Voice of Houston that “To win a national championship and make a name for our team was great. I felt really proud and there were a lot of people proud of us.”

A rising sophomore at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, he was one of the starters on the team.

“We really stepped it up this year,” he said. “We decided at the beginning of the year that this team was going to win a national championship.”

This is the first title for the squad since it was formed 15 years ago. The team competed in tournaments in Philadelphia, Dallas and Minnesota.

Going back to his days at the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School in Birmingham, Abraham has been a resource for other students on how to respond to those who are in wheelchairs.

Two years ago, he visited Houston’s Beth Yeshurun Day School to speak with the students there about how to handle the return of their classmates, Peter and Aaron Berry, who suffered spinal injuries in a crash that also killed their parents. He also went around the school, doing a test run to see how wheelchair-accessible the building was.

Now, the Berry brothers are also on the Hotwheels with Abraham.

Peter participated in the tournament, while Aaron did not make the trip.

Southern Jewish Life

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Dothan’s first Aleph

Confirmations Northshore Jewish Congregation, Congregations across the region held Confirmation ceremonies in mid-May, mostly in Mandeville: Max Gold, Aaron Hunter, Raconjunction with Shavuot. These are the class chael Hunter, Jesse Rosenzweig. lists we received as of press time.

Gates of Prayer, Metairie: David Beerman, Temple Beth-El, Birmingham: Ayala David Gertler, R. Adam Levin, Nathan Roth, Abrams, Rafi Goldsmith, Avi Goldsmith and Brett Salus, Ilana Samantha Springer, GabriDaniel Yampolsky. elle Shoshana Stone and Kayla Rachel Tarr.

Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham: Cassidy Anderson, Elizabeth Dillard, Samuel Hirsberg, Benjamin Honan, Laine Meisler, Sarah Michel, Joely Nadler, Katherine Reiss, Stefanie Saag, Charlie Steinmetz, Clark Thompson, Joshua Weisberg and Samantha Wheeler.

Temple Sinai, New Orleans: Haley Claire Evans, Sarah Jane Lowentritt, Jordan Ariel Miller, Margaret Shapiro, Harlan Thorpe.

Touro Synagogue, New Orleans: Zoe Kessler Beriss, Alonzo Buck Brown, Ido Isaac Caspi, Peter Jacob Gandle, Abigail Sarah Ahavas Chesed, Mobile: Ariel Antar and Kahn, Helene Carroll Lovett, Aaron Remy Perles, Isabella Hannalee Yavneh Shattenkirk, Zachary Sherman.

Gemiluth Chassodim, Alexandria: Leah Elliot Gorden Sperling and Jonathan Wise Kaplan, Shira Kaplan, Ben Kaplan, Josie Katz, Wilkins.

B’nai Zion, Shreveport: Benjamin Maxey, Leslie Katz and Hunter Wellan. This is the congregation’s first Confirmation class since Claire Meyer, Noah Sorkey, Austin Toys, Austin Watkins.

2009.

Todd Anderson pinned the Aleph Medal on his son’s Cub Scouts uniform during Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El, Dothan, on May 10, with Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith assisting. Asa Anderson is believed to be the first EmanuBeth Israel, Jackson: Avery Cohen, Jacob Beth Shalom, Baton Rouge: Brandon BoEl member to earn the medal, which is worn naventure, Jacob Hausmann, Jonah Hoffman, Craig, Katie Fijman, Nina Humphrey, Ashley over the scout’s heart and has a Torah and Rubinsky, Jacob Schipper, Justin Schlakman.

Aaron Posner, Molly Litten, Brad Sherman.

Ner Tamid on it. The medal is awarded after a Temple Shalom, Lafayette: Lillian Feist series of Judaic activities is completed.

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Above, the Confirmation class from Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham. Left, Temple Beth-El, Birmingham.

Architects of the future?

The N.E. Miles Jewish Day School participated in the city wide Art In Architecture 2013 ‘Dream Park’ competition, which attracted 750 entries from Birmingham-area schools. Students in Kindergarten through 5th grade were invited to draw and describe their ‘Dream Park’ using mixed media. Five Day School students were recognized: Ava Fleisig (first grade honorable mention), Marlie Thompson (fourth grade honorable mention), Jeremy Elgavish (second place, third grade), Madison Peller (second place overall) and Hannah Thornton (second place, kindergarten).

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Strong showing for Team Sophie “Team Sophie!” a March of Dimes fundraising team founded in honor of Sophie Rzeszut, came in 3rd place among Birmingham family teams at the 2013 March for Babies on April 27. “Team Sophie!” raised more than $1500 this year to support the work of the March of Dimes in researching the causes of premature birth and finding ways to help premature and low-weight babies.

Sophie, the 7-year-old daughter of Raya and Eric Rzeszut, was born nearly eight weeks premature in 2006. “Team Sophie!” is the longest-running family team in the Birmingham March for Babies and has raised more than $7000 since 2007.

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Team Israel veteran Pederson following dream at Chattanooga

By Lee J. Green

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Chattanooga Lookouts Outfielder Joc Pederson, one of the Southern League leaders in batting average at press time, like his father bleeds Dodger blue and is proud to be a Jew. The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Stu Pederson out of the University of Southern California in 1981. His 12-year professional baseball career included a 1985 “cup of coffee” in the majors for eight games.

Joc Pederson plays for the Double A affiliate of the Dodgers and hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps… and then take some steps further. “My dad gave me a lot of good advice. I admire him. He has been a great role model,” said the younger Pederson.

After his playing days, Stu Pederson coached baseball at his alma mater, Palo Alto High School in northern California. Joc would go on to star at Palo Alto and the Dodgers selected him in the 11th round of the 2010 draft.

Joc played in the single-A California League last year and was promoted to Chattanooga before the start of this season. But last fall he got the opportunity to play for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. He hit .308 with three steals in the three games Israel played, after hitting .313 in the regular season for Rancho Cucamonga. He was named the Minor League Player of the Year in the Dodgers system.

“Baseball is a growing sport in Israel but they are very supportive of it and passionate about it there,” said Pederson. Israel’s games were played in Florida and the team was mostly comprised of Jewish minor league baseball stars in America. “It was a special memory for me that I will always cherish. It was an honor to play for the team.”

Pederson said his family is involved with the Palo Alto Jewish Community Center and he regularly keeps in touch with family back in California.

In high school and little league, he said he played in a few tournaments in the South, so the region is somewhat familiar to him.

“We have some great fans in Chattanooga and at the other (Southern League) ballparks we have visited,” said Pederson. “It has been a good experience playing in the South.”

He said he works hard to improve his game every day but in the grand scheme of things, every day of his job is “fun. You can’t say that this is rough. We’re here to play a game we love for a living. How great is that? I am blessed to be here and enjoying every day.”

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Life online at www.sjlmag.com!

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30 Years of House Painting Experience

Recognizing the Cs in CJFS Collat family honored at annual fundraising concert On May 7, Collat Jewish Family Services paid tribute to the Collat family, for whom the agency was named.

Over 400 attended the Hands Up Together concert, held at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, raised over $140,000 for the agency, which provides a wide range of social services. Funds from the concert go to CJFS programs for seniors, many of which work to enable seniors to Surrounded by family, Charles Collat Sr. addresses the crowd remain living indepenCJFS are a dedicated group of professionals dently in their homes.

Emily Skinner, a Broadway actress, per- that make your organization what it is today. formed following a reception in the Collats’ Not only is your organization staffed with professional staffers, you have an active Board honor.

CJFS Executive Director Lauren Perlman which is vibrant and effective.”

The Collats made a flagship gift to the agensaid it was “a successful night honoring specy in 1999, prompting the renaming of the cial people.”

Charles Collat Sr. spoke, surrounded by agency. He noted that it was his wife, Patsy, family members. He thanked the agency “for who was the driving force to become such all they do in our community... All of you at large supporters of the agency.

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Spread the news Send your Mazel to editor@sjlmag.com

NCCJ’s lifetime tribute to Joel Rotenstreich Brian Siegal first Anytown alumnus honoree For half a century, Joel Rotenstreich has worked to fight bias and bring groups together. On March 7, he was recognized by the National Conference for Community and Justice with the James A. Head Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award honors his decades of activism in fighting bias through a wide range of initiatives, including several NCCJ Birmingham Interfaith Missions to Israel and endeavors such as the Anne Frank Tulip Garden and tree. The dinner also honored Mayor William Bell, William Horton of Regions Bank, and Mary Johnson-Butterworth.

Cathy Friedman presented the award, Above, Joel Rotenstreich. Below, Jay Grinney speculating how it would be to the detriment presents award to Brian Siegal of the Birmingham area had it not been for Rotenstriech.

He was in the inaugural Leaderhip Birmingham class and has served as chairman of Israel Bonds, the Jewish Community Relations Committee and president of the Birmingham Jewish Federation.

He has been on the NCCJ board since 1985 and served on the Civil Rights Institute

Continued on page 37

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Mountain Brook’s favorite adult-andkid friendly place for great pizzas, Italian food as well as entertainment will soon be branching out with brunch.

“We are still working out some details, but for sure this summer we will be 2 Dexter Avenue, Crestline launching our brunch 205.414.7878 services with some exciting Italian-inspired dishes such as breakfast pizzas, Italian-style omelets and some other dishes unique to Mafiaoza’s,” said General Manager Julee Howard.

Mafiaoza’s opened in Crestline Village in 2008. Last year, the restaurant added several new menu items including a breakfast pizza, Caesar salad pizza, fried macaroni pizza, a make-your-own pasta options and salads.

But Howard said the most popular new addition to the menu has been the Tony bread appetizer. “It’s fresh-baked bread and you can top it with any of our pizza toppings. You can customize something kosher-style or combine the best things about two or three of our specialty pizzas and put it on top of the Tony bread,” she said.

Recently Mafiaoza’s launched its “Paleo” menu. This special menu is for those on the protein-vegetable Paleo diet, including nuts, veggies, chicken and other meats. The restaurant also offers gluten-free items and several kosher-style items.

The kids can be entertained at Mafiaoza’s in the large family dining room and with a “dough bar.” For adults, Mafiaoza’s has 11 flat screen televisions for all the sporting events, and live music every The Informant Tuesday and Friday night.

They also offer many great pizza options for washing that good food down. Very supportive of Note: Mafiaoza’s makes a special the Alabama craft beer move- pizza crust using beer, flour and ment, Mafiaoza’s serves more other ingredients in the dough, than 30 beers on tap every day, cooked in a stone oven. including just about every Alabama craft brewery. On Thurs- Ingredients: days, they offer discounts on Pizza crust local beers. Mafiaoza’s also Mushrooms sliced has 81 wines by the glass and Green peppers sliced will be launching a new wine Sliced tomatoes Sliced red peppers menu on July 1.

For hosting simchas and Alfredo sauce (add basil) other special events, Mafiao- Mozzarella cheese blend za’s has a semi-private dining room that can hold up to 40 Instructions: Add alfredo and basil sauce to people.

“This is a place that can pizza crust then put on toppings, please everyone. We have mixing things evenly. Bake the pizza things adults and kids love,” at 375 degrees in the oven for 15 minutes or until crust is desired said Howard. level of brownness. Manga!

Continued from page 38

Security: Your privacy is assured during your stay in Eden. Despite that, the proprietor keeps a watchful eye on everything to ensure the sanctity of our resort stays intact.

Spa: A natural hot springs is available for your relaxation. Plenty of mud and natural oils are on hand for various skin treatments.

Many waterfalls, rock gardens, and other natural habitats are scattered throughout to provide for secluded meditation and relaxation needs.

Travel: While inaccessible by plane, train, boat, or car, there are several cutting-edge modes of transportation to reach Eden.

Dr. Emmett Brown of Hill Valley offers a luxury DeLorean service, though you must provide your own small amount of plutonium, or other 1.21 gigawatt power source. There is a British (sounding) Doctor who offers safe transport — to one or two companions at a time — in a police call box that’s smaller on the outside than on the inside.

And, for the literate traveler who enjoys more old-style modes of travel, contact the estate of Herbert George Wells.

With all these offerings, you can see for yourself whether The Garden of Eden is your ideal vacation destination.

Doug Brook is a writer in Silicon Valley who believes that “The Way To Eden” is one of the most unfortunate episodes of the original “Star Trek” series. For past columns, other writings, and more, visit http://brookwrite.com/. For exclusive online content, like facebook.com/ the.beholders.eye.

>> NCCJ board.

Brian Siegal was one of two inaugural Anytown Distinguished Alumni recognized. The award was instituted this year, and the committee had a tie, so he and Cedric Sparks were both honored.

Siegal was a delegate at the first Anytown Alabama, in 1989. He credited it with helping formulate his life’s path. Siegal, now living in Florida, is the director of the American Jewish Committee’s Miami and Broward Regional Office.

He works with leaders from around the world to build coalitions addressing issues from energy to immigration to civil rights.

Siegal was selected by the Florida Jewish Journal as of one of eight leaders in Miami’s Jewish community who have had a major impact in bringing diverse groups of people together.

Funds raised from the dinner support Anytown, which is held every June.

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The Beholder’s Eye

How Do You Put A Value on Peace of Mind?

by Doug Brook

The way to Eden

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What did the rabbi say when the neighborhood was locked down during services? “I’ve always wanted to pray to a captive audience.”

What are the chances that rabbi’s contract was renewed? The same as the chances of finding two rabbis with fewer than three opinions between them.

For many years, in many places, Jews have spent history entrapped, encamped, ghettoized, ostracized, and circumcised. So it’s only natural that many Jews today have a strong impulse to travel now that we live in an era of relative freedom and all-night buffets on most major cruise ships.

But where should we go? Through the centuries, many people have told us. Some have tried to send us there. Some of us have even told For a unique each other where to go, though this vacation, how behavior is usually limited to during synagogue board meetings. about going to Some Jews, in exercising their where it all began? newfound freedom to explore most of the free world and west Texas, ironically travel back to The Old Country. Ancestral lands are important to the Jewish people, and with all the wandering and expulsions, there are a lot of them. But there’s one that hasn’t yet been breached — the most ancestral home of all.

For many millennia, and for several seasons of “I Dream of Jeannie,” many men have yearned to find their way to Eden. Here, for the first time, are details of the amenities and features for vacationing in The Garden of Eden.

Dining: Continental breakfast is available all day. This self-serve buffet is spread throughout the resort, and features only the ripest fruit possible — freshly harvested from the tree. The overall menu is particularly vegetarian-friendly, and there are no artificial ingredients or preservatives of any kind, anywhere on the premises.

The trees of life and knowledge are currently unavailable. They are under government quarantine, pending review from the Health Department. Eating from these trees will result in a no-refund expulsion from the resort.

Dress Code: Competitors in the travel industry have spread wild rumors that Eden is a nudist colony. Rest assured that Eden is a family-friendly environment.

Admittedly, the dress code is rather relaxed, but people have found Eden to be a comfortably accoutered environment where a wide variety of natural weaves and blends are particularly welcome. (Mixtures of wool and linen are not allowed.) After all, Eden is known worldwide as the place where fig leaves never go out of style.

Wildlife: Enjoy Eden’s wide open spaces where for many miles it can be just you and the native animals. From the start, Eden has been sparsely populated, so there are whole areas untouched by mankind’s presence.

You might encounter animals never before seen — if you do, you can even name them! However, as you explore, beware of talking snakes.

Continued on previous page

The sports section: Among the guest judges were Gulf South Conference Commissioner Nate Salant, Voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide Eli Gold, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive and radio personality Paul Finebaum

Grand Champion 1st Place: Still Too Sauced to Pork... (Pedorthic Care) 2nd Place: Grillin Tefillin (B’nai Torah, Atlanta) 3rd Place: Levy’s No Swine Before It’s Time Bris-Cut (Levy’s Fine Jewelry)

On May 19, 19 teams competed in the fourth annual Temple Beth-El/Piggly Wiggly When Pigs Fly kosher barbecue contest in Birmingham. Local team Still Too Sauced to Pork (bottom left) kept the title in town despite a strong showing by B’nai Torah in Atlanta, which launched its own barbecue competition last October.

Best Beans 1st Place: Kotel Kookers (N.E. Miles Jewish Day School) 2nd Place: Still Too Sauced to Pork...

3rd Place: Grillin Tefillin Best Chicken 1st Place: Levy’s No Swine Before It’s Time Bris-Cut 2nd Place: Sons of Albert EinSWINE (Temple Emanu-El Brotherhood) 3rd Place: Smokin’ Rabbis (Chabad of Alabama) Best Brisket 1st Place: Staying Alive (Knesseth Israel) 2nd Place: Levy’s No Swine Before It’s Time Bris-Cut 3rd Place: Still Too Sauced to Pork...

Best Team Name 1st Place: Still Too Sauced To Pork...

2nd Place: Jew B leev Café (Temple Beth-El Religious School) 3rd Place: Levy’s No Swine Before It’s Time Bris-Cut Best Booth Decor 1st Place: Grillin Tefillin 2nd Place: 2-J-Que (B’nai Torah Atlanta) 3rd Place: Jew B leev Café People’s Choice Awards Beans: The Cloven Hoof — Tavern on the Mountain (Marie Pittler) Chicken: The Cloven Hoof — Tavern on the Mountain Brisket: Grillin Tefillin

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