Annual Summer Travel Guide
Jewish groups’ GiveNOLA results
Area schools are No Place for Hate
Southern Jewish Life New Orleans Edition
Rebuilding New Orleans:
Scott Cowen’s Tulane presidency
June 2014
Volume 24 Issue 6
Southern Jewish Life P.O. Box 130052 Birmingham, AL 35213-0052 Above: Scott and Marjorie Cowen were presented with a Gary Rosenthal New Orleans streetcar Tzedakah box from JNOLA on May 7
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As school winds down for the year, it is time for summer vacations. And that means summer travel. This issue contains our annual Summer Travel special section, with some ideas of places to visit in the region. Over the years, we have traveled all over the SJL coverage area, visiting every town that has or had a Jewish presence. As long-time readers know, there are a lot of great stories in farflung places, and in places one might not expect. Many people contact us for suggestions on Jewish sites to visit when they are on the road, whether in larger communities or on the back roads. Later this summer, we will publish our first Chai Cotton, a guide to the Jewish Deep South. A lot of publications around the country put out some type of annual guidebook, listing the Jewish resources in their community, from synagogues to organizations. In a sense, that is what this is — but it is also so much more than the typical guide. Chai Cotton will be a portal to the South’s Jewish presence, with history and contemporary stories. It is designed to be a traveling companion. If you are on the road, it will have a list of what Jewish sites there are to see. With so many communities in our coverage area trying to attract Jewish newcomers, it will also be a resource that communities can use as background information. In future years, the keepsake edition will be a historical record of the community. We are currently working on Chai Cotton. As is the case with the regular issues of Southern Jewish Life, we will send it to every Jewish household we know of in our coverage area, as well as make extras available to communities for their use. As an independent publication, we do not receive allocations or subsidies from any Jewish Federations. The advertisers in the magazine and guidebook make it possible for us to send the magazine to the community without subscription fees. Over our 24-year history we have endeavored to cover our entire region, including smaller communities as part of a larger Southern Jewish community. We ask that readers who have businesses consider advertising in Chai Cotton, to help us continue providing this important service to the region. Naturally, we welcome placements in the regular magazine as well! You can also support the magazine by making sure to let our advertisers know you appreciate their support. To be part of Chai Cotton or SJL, give us a call. Our contact information is on the next page. With your support, we will continue to provide New Orleans with a quality, original, locally-focused periodical — a unique publication for a unique community.
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Southern Jewish Life
Publisher/Editor: Lawrence M. Brook, editor@sjlmag.com Associate Publisher/Advertising: Lee J. Green, lee@sjlmag.com New Orleans Bureau: Publisher/Editor: Alan Smason, alan@dsjv.comLawrence M. Brook, editor@sjlmag.com Cait Muldoon, Gail Naron Chalew
On May 7, JNOLA held its Associate Publisher/Advertising: Lee J. Creative Director: spring JNetwork Event at the Green, lee@sjlmag.com Ginger Brook, ginger@dsjv.com home of Tulane University President Scott Cowen. About Creative Director: Ginger Brook, ginger@ Photographer-At-Large: 135 attended. Above, Brenda Barry C.sjlmag.com Altmark Brasher and Lis Kahn. Above Contributing Writers: left, Morton Katz, Marjorie and Photographer-At-Large: Rabbi Barry C. Doug Brook Altmark Scott Cowen, Austin Marks, Ashley Merlin and Michael Mailing Contributing Address: Writers: Doug Brook Weil. Below left, Bradley Bain, P.O. Box 130052, Daniela Totah Bain and Birmingham, Jeff Mailing Address: AL 35213 Good. Below, Michael Grodsky, P.O. Box 130052, Birmingham, AL 35213 Telephone: Rebecca Radding, Marissa Birmingham: (205) 870-7889 Shapiro, Karen Hochheiser and Telephone: FAX: (866) 392-7750 New Orleans: (504) 491-0562 Jorie Kirschbaum. Birmingham: (205) 870-7889 Story Tips/Letters: Toll Free: (866) 446-5894 editor@sjlmag.com FAX: (866) 392-7750
Subscription StoryInformation: Tips/Letters: connect@sjlmag.com Southern Jewish Life published monthly Subscription and is free by request toInformation: members of the Southern Jewish Life published Jewish community in our coverage area ofmonthly and is free by request to members of the Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and NW Jewish community in our coverage Florida. Outside those areas, subscriptions area of Alabama, Louisiana, and NW are $25/year or $40/two years.Mississippi To Florida. Outside those areas, subscriptions subscribe, call (205) 870-7889 or mail are $25/year or $40/two years. To payment to the address above. subscribe, call (205) 870-7889 or mail payment to the address above. The publisher is solely responsible for the contents of SJL. Columns and letters The is solely responsible for represent thepublisher views of the individual the contents of SJL. Columns writers. All articles that do not have a and letters represent the views of the individual writers. byline on them are written by the publisher. All articles that do not have a byline on areLife written publisher. Southernthem Jewish makesby nothe claims as to Southern Jewish Life makes no claims as to the Kashrut of its advertisers, and retains Kashrut its advertisers, and retains the rightthe to refuse anyofadvertisement. the right to refuse any advertisement. Advertising rates available request.on request. Advertising rates on available Copyright 2010. All2014. rightsAll reserved, Copyright rights reserved, reprints reprints only by by permission permissionofofpublisher. publisher.
On May 6, JNOLA celebrated GiveNOLA Day at Sun Ray Grill. Above left, Jennie Lang Jay, Bradley Bain, Amanda Trotenberg and Austin Marks. Above right, Caitrin Muldoon Gladow and Melanie Waitzer. Left, Jordan Weiss and Adriano Pacifici. Right, Rebecca Radding and Arianna Clarisse. 4
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Philosophy: To link the Jewish communities Philosophy: Deep South, to tell you the To link of thethe Jewish communities of the fascinating stories of one another, and Deep South, to tell fascinating to documentyou andthe preserve the news and stories of one another, and to all a part of the events large and small, richand culture of Southern Jewry. document preserve the news of events large and small, all a part of the rich culture of Southern Jewry.
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Front Porch Federation top Jewish agency in GiveNOLA: GiveNOLA Day was held on May 6, and in 24 hours $2.265 million was raised for over 300 area non-profits. Six non-profits from the Jewish community participated, raising $46,261. This was the first GiveNOLA Day, part of a national initiative. By comparison, Tampa raised $1.089 million. GiveNOLA was sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Topping the list among Jewish groups was the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, which came in 24th in total donors with 151, and 19th in funds raised with $20,760. A “power hour” from 2 to 3 p.m. was held during which gifts up to $1,000 would be matched by Federation President Morton Katz. During that hour, $5,130 was raised. Many gifts came that evening as JNOLA had a GiveNOLA happy hour. The Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana came in second among Jewish groups in dollars raised with $10,451 despite being fifth on the individual donors list with 40. The Jewish Community Center tied for 52nd overall in donors with 97, raising $4,020. Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans attracted 78 gifts totaling $3,544, while the Jewish Children’s Regional Service had 70 gifts for $5,814. The National Council of Jewish Women’s New Orleans Section raised $1,672 from 31 donors. Team Gleason topped the overall donors list with 631 for $42,864, while the Ogden Museum of Southern Art topped the dollar amount with $101,285 from 147 donors.
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A Saints star in Dolphin territory? On April 29, New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees was the featured guest at a Jewish Federation Men’s Night Out. But it wasn’t in New Orleans — it was in South Florida, the Miami Dolphins’ home turf, with the Jewish Federation of Broward County. Over 450 attended the event at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center, several sporting the black and gold with the number 9. Among them was New Orleans native Gadi Soved, who named his daughter after Brees. The CEO of the Broward County Federation is Eric Stillman, who was previously the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans until 2006, and he said the event came about because of his New Orleans past. At the event, Brees spoke about how the team rallied around the city, and vice versa, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. NOLA
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Original Award-Winning Local Jewish News It’s What We Do.
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New program for fifth grade at JCDS; Kindergarten on hiatus: The Jewish Community Day School in Metairie is going full “STEAM” ahead with new programs for fifth grade this year, while putting the brakes on Kindergarten for one year. This year will be the inception of STEAM at the school. Head of School Sharon Pollin said the fifth grade students will be guided in interdisciplinary instruction with an emphasis on STEAM education, which is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math. “In line with the school’s mission to instill a love of learning, invigorated by academic excellence, STEAM students will explore each discipline and integrate these skills to encourage critical thinking, problem solving, the use of digital tools and innovation,” she said. Lisa Vaughan, who will head the program, attended a two day “STEAM Camp” training session in New Orleans. “I’m excited as an educator” Ms. Vaughan said, “because STEAM doesn’t ‘teach to the test,’ but instead allows students to work together in real-world situations to achieve a goal and develop skills that will help them become successful lifelong learners.” STEAM, reflecting the acronym for Science,
Are you enjoying Southern Jewish Life every month? Our policy is that we send the magazine free to all Jewish households in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida panhandle. If you’re not receiving it, send us your address today! Outside our coverage area, anyone wishing to subscribe can still do so! Subscriptions are $25 per year, or $40 for two years. Send a gift to someone who moved away, or if you’re not fortunate enough to live here, subscribe simply because you enjoy it! o Contact me with advertising information! o I live in the coverage area! Sign me up! o I’m not in the Deep South! Enclosed is: o $25 (1 year) o $40 (2 years)
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Technology, Engineering, and Math, adds the letter “A” for the arts to help students visualize unfamiliar STEM concepts. For example, in Philadelphia, through the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership, research has verified that STEAM “students better understand abstract concepts in science and mathematics, such as fractions and geometric shapes, through art-making projects.” The JCDS STEAM program will likewise enable students to use their content knowledge in one area to conceptualize others. Pollin said the goal is for students to progress through their educational lives, through middle school and beyond, integrating the STEAM program to make connections between the disciplines. The school also announced the “strategic decision for this year only” to suspend Kindergarten “in alignment with the JCDS purpose as a model of educational excellence.” The school already has several commitments for the 2015-16 Kindergarten class and will continue to expand that number in the coming year. The 2015-16 class will “reflect the JCDS mission of academic excellence and Jewish values in our community day school.”
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Front Porch Shavuot learning in New Orleans: Beth Israel in Metairie will have a Tikkun Leil Shavuot the evening of June 3. It is traditional to study well into the night in anticipation of receiving the revelation at Mount Sinai the next morning. Following services at 6:30 p.m. there will be a community dairy dinner at 7:15 p.m. Reservations are $18 for members, $25 for non-members. The tentative schedule for the evening has Yehuda Halper discussing “Maimonides and the Ten Commandments at 8:30 p.m. That will be followed by a cheesecake buffet prepared by Rabbi David Posternock. At 9:30 p.m., Isaac Pollock will present “New Orleans School Reform: A Jewish Perspective.” At 10:15 p.m., Posternock will lead “The Prophecy of Blood Moons,” and sessions will continue from there. Services continue at Beth Israel on June 4 at 9 a.m., then June 5 at 9 a.m. with Yizkor at approximately 10:30 a.m. Shir Chadash in Metairie will also have
a study session, “Shir Chadash Shavuot University.” Three guest professors will lead sessions following the 7 p.m. service on June 3 and dinner. Cost for the dinner is $15 and reservations are requested by May 30. Daniel Mintz, who teaches in the Loyola University English department, will discuss “Wants in ‘Wants’,” a short story by Grace Paley about an encounter between a woman and her ex-husband on the steps of a New York library. Mia Bagneris will present “Gleaning (from) Ruth: An Odyssey in Visual Images of Women” from the Hebrew Bible. It will be an informal discussion of depictions of Ruth from the 17th century to today, especially how her status as a convert is depicted. Bagneris is an Assistant Professor of Art History in the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane University where she teaches African Diaspora Art History and Studies of Race in Western Art. Ronna Burger, professor of Philosophy and Sizeler Professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane, will present “The Golden Calf and the Second Giving of the Law,” discussing the dual form of the Giving of the Law, and what it means in terms of those who are trying to establish new modes and orders. Services at Shir Chadash will continue on June 4 and 5 at 9:30 a.m. There will also be a Tikkun Leil Shavuot at Touro Synagogue in New Orleans on June 3 at 7 p.m. After a potluck dairy dinner, there will be a discussion of “Torah as THE Word of God: Myths and Mysteries,” exploring what the Torah is, who wrote it and why. There will be an exploration of the purpose of the Torah and its place in the lives of congregants. At 9 p.m., Touro will have a “Sacred Moment of Torah.” Touro’s Confirmation will be on May 30 at the 6 p.m. Shabbat service. Gates of Prayer in Metairie will have Confirmation at 7 p.m. on June 3, and Shavuot services at 10:30 a.m. on June 4. Temple Sinai in New Orleans will hold its Confirmation and Shavuot service on June 3 at 7 p.m.
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Rosh Ha’Ayin, the Partnership2Gether community in Israel for New Orleans, is having a New Orleans jazz festival on May 28 and 29. Jason Marsalis and Khari Lee are among the performers, and will join with Michael Pellera of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts to jam with and teach Israeli musicians. Last May, Pellera and others from NOCCA went to Rosh Ha’Ayin on a music exchange. NOLA
Summer schedule: The Reform congregations of New Orleans are in their summer schedule. Every year, summer services rotate among Touro and Sinai in New Orleans, and Gates of Prayer in Metairie. In June, services will be at Gates of Prayer on Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. July services will be at Temple Sinai on Fridays at 6:15 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:15 a.m. August services will be at Touro on Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m.
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On May 1, the team of Doug Black, Hamilton Shaw and Rabbi Jordan Goldson won the B’nai Israel Classic with a new tournament record of 59, 13 under par. The Baton Rouge B’nai Israel Classic golf tournament was played at the Island Golf Club in Plaquemines.
NCJW Gala to honor Fox 8 Defenders: The National Council of Jewish Women’s New Orleans Section will have An Evening in the English Countryside for its fundraiser on June 8. As part of the evening, Fox 8 Defenders will be honored. The Section’s award-winning consumer advocacy program is broadcast on WVUE and has been chaired for many years
by Babs Isaacson. The program, which moved to WVUE four years ago, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The 5:30 p.m. event will be at the English Turn Country Club and include a buffet dinner, silent auction and entertainment by the Fleur de Lis Singers, a women’s quartet. Tickets are $75, $55 for ages 35 and under. Patron levels are from $150 to $500.
Jewish Family Service of New Orleans is looking for qualified volunteers to work in its personal emergency response program, Lifeline, at the Metairie office. Lifeline has been in operation for almost 30 years. The individuals must be detail-oriented and will be trained to handle administrative activities that support the program, including getting equipment ready for new subscribers and answering telephone calls from existing or new subscribers and family members, business partners, or from other volunteers. The nature of this program requires a person with excellent telephone skills, who will maintain a patient and kind demeanor with clients and their families, as well as other Lifeline volunteers who work from home. The volunteer must also commit to working a minimum of 4 hours, one day each week. Computer skills are highly desirable. Subscribers rely on this service in order to remain independently in their homes. For more information, call Jane Levine at (504) 831-8475, ext. 128.
Campaign. The first Chai Society event is dinner and drinks at the home of Federation President Morton Katz on May 28.
The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans has instituted Chai Society, a young leadership giving level for JNOLA members who give at least $180 to the Annual 8
June 2014
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The next Morris Bart Sr. Lecture Series event at the Uptown Jewish Community Center on June 2 will feature the new directors of the Rivertown Theater, Kelly Fouchi and Gary Rucker, speaking about the theater and the new season. The series is free, and lunch is available if reserved a week in advance. On July 14, Jacqueline Bishop will present “Memory and Materials: Exploring Landscape Issues Through Painting and Installation.” She will discuss her work inspired by 30 years of travel with scientists and alone, focusing on the Brazilian Amazon, India and Louisiana. Programs are at 11:45 a.m. The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans is hiring a JNOLA Next Gen manager/coordinator. The program serves the Jewish Next Gen community in New Orleans, ages 21 to 45, through a variety of programming including social engagement, professional networking, enriching and educational opportunities, leadership development, and social action. The Federation is looking for a highly motivated and creative individual who will lead, manage and steward JNOLA in the coming years. NOLA
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Celebrating business ties with Israel: Israeli innovation and business ties to the Southeast will be celebrated at the 13th annual Eagle Star Awards Gala in Atlanta on June 11. The gala is the flagship event for the AmericanIsrael Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region, and honors the people and companies who have contributed most to the Southeast-Israel economic and business relationship. The chamber promotes business ties between Israel and Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Nachum “Homi” Shamir, past president and CEO of Given Imaging, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the AICCSE Tom Glaser Leadership Award. With the encouragement and assistance of the AICC, Given Imaging, based in Yokneam and makers of the “pillcam,” established its U.S. headquarters in Duluth, Ga. It was recently announced that Covidien, a $10 billion global healthcare products leader dedicated to innovation and long-term growth with 38,000 employees in 70 countries, had acquired Given Imaging for a reported $860 million. The Southeast Medical Device Association will be presented with the 2014 Community Partner Award. SEMDA actively supports the work of the AICC, and many of the officers of AICC have served in senior leadership capacities with SEMDA. The event’s host, AT&T Mobility, is considered a global leader driving innovation through the AT&T innovation center network. At AT&T’s Foundry locations in Ra’anana, Israel, Texas, California and now Atlanta, they fast-track projects with developers and industry collaborators with the goal of cutting the time from speed date to market by two-thirds. Glenn Lurie will be the keynote speaker, telling the AT&T Mobility Israel story. Lurie leads AT&T’s strategic initiative to drive innovation by building high growth businesses both inside and outside the traditional wireless sector. Nationally syndicated consumer expert Clark Howard will be the event’s emcee. The gala will be at the AT&T Mobility midtown facility at 6 p.m. Tickets are available through the AICCSE website, 2014.eaglestargala.com.
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Area communities will get to know Rabbi Simons Joining Institute of Southern Jewish Life this summer
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In his biography as a presenter for Limmud Chicago, newly-ordained Rabbi Jeremy Simons mentioned that in his free time he enjoys traveling. He’s going to get a lot of traveling opportunities, as he joins the rabbinic services department at the Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. The Jackson-based institute serves roughly 110 communities in a 13-state area. Part of that is supplying rabbinic services to small communities, with traveling rabbis visiting different congregations on weekends. Simons succeeds Rabbi Marshal Klaven, who is becoming the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Galveston, as director of rabbinic services. The Institute also has Rabbi Matt Dreffin, who is assistant director of education. Klaven had also rejuvenated a Traveling Rabbis program, where other rabbis could tour congregations throughout the region. Simons was ordained on May 18 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Simons served as a student rabbi for the Wood River Jewish Community in Sun Valley, Idaho and Temple Beth Israel in Redding, Calif. He is passionate about social justice issues and has served as a Kol Tzedek Speaking Fellow with the American Jewish World Ser-
vice, speaking on behalf of the organization to communities across the country. In 2011, he participated on the AJWS Rabbinical Students Delegation to Senegal. The organization has worked in the Casamance region of Senegal since 1992 and funds 13 social change organizations. He also has served as a rabbinic intern with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Simons attended Ohio State University as an undergraduate, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy, magna cum laude. He also spent four years as a youth educator in West Newton and Framingham, Mass., prior to attending rabbinic school. He also completed naval officer development school. His love for travel and deep respect for the congregations who continue to thrive, even without a full time rabbi, led him to the ISJL position. “I’m very excited to learn about these communities and their members, and also to build upon the incredible work of Rabbi Marshal Klaven and his predecessors,” said Simons. “When I moved to Nashville as a child, I remember the warm greeting my family received from our temple and have really missed that famous Southern hospitality. I can’t wait to get started!”
Summit Jewish cemetery needs repair work The Jewish cemetery in Summit, Miss., just north of the Louisiana border, is in need of substantial repairs from tornado damage. David Feldman of Summit has set up a repair fund to deal with the damage and is looking for assistance from other communities in the region. “We have used the little bit of money available to repair broken tombstones but there are no funds to complete that project or to replace the iron fence around the cemetery,” he said. In the late 1800s there was a flourishing Jewish community there, and Ahava Shalom congregation, which disbanded in 1916. Many in the community had stayed in Summit after leaving New Orleans during a yellow fever
Southern Jewish Life
outbreak. Those wishing to assist can send contributions to Feldman at P.O. Box 729, Summit MS 39666. “Visitors to the cemetery are welcomed and encouraged,” he added.
A tale of two presidencies Scott Cowen reflects on 16 years of leading Tulane As Scott Cowen completes his 16 years as Tulane University’s 14th president, it really marks the end of two presidencies for him. And as with so many in New Orleans, the dividing line is Hurricane Katrina. Cowen had been a professor and dean at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for 23 years. He was attracted to Tulane because it was “already a highly-regarded and respected institution in the 1990s, but I saw that it still had a lot of upside potential.” He added that Tulane “was in a part of the country where there is not an overabundance of high-quality highly-ranked universities.” He also felt “a good cultural fit between myself and the character and values of the people here at the university and in the city.” Though he had not spent much time in New Orleans before, he said he could see himself living there. After arriving in New Orleans in 1998, the first seven years were a “traditional presidency,” though he cautions that the term can’t “accurately describe being a university president.” There was a plan in place to build on Tulane’s foundation and “increase the impact and the quality of the institution,” and “we were well on our way.” Then Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005 as the fall semester was beginning. After the levees broke and New Orleans was inundated, Tulane became “the first major university in the country to close since the Civil War.” With students and faculty scattered across
the country, Cowen and his team were tasked with rebuilding the university. Flooding inundated 70 percent of the campus and the entire downtown health sciences campus. “A lot of people didn’t think we would survive it, or if we did survive it we would be so diminished that we would be just a shadow of what we were before the storm,” he said. “I could never have anticipated in a million years” that something like this would happen. Nevertheless, in December 2005 his Renewal Plan was approved by the Board of Trustees, and when classes resumed in January 2006, 87 percent of the students returned. After the initial survival and recovery phase, the process became an opportunity to reimagine Tulane. The upward trajectory pre-Katrina was replaced with a “parallel” track, and “today we are probably stronger and better than we were before the storm,” he said. After Katrina, Tulane became the first and only major research university to integrate public service into the core curriculum for all undergraduates. “That turned out to be a very profound change in the culture and the ethos of Tulane University,” Cowen said. It affected the type of student who came to Tulane and boosted the retention and graduation rates to new highs. They are sticking around. Eighty-five percent of undergraduates at Tulane are from outside Louisiana. Previously, most of them
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JCC holding event for Cowen’s new book On the day the Scott Cowen’s book, “The Inevitable City: The Resurgence of New Orleans and the Future of Urban America” is released, he will be at the Uptown Jewish Community Center for a launch party. A book signing and dessert reception will follow the 7 p.m. event on June 10. Cowen will share his perspectives on leadership, Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University and the rebirth of New Orleans. The event is free and open to the community. The book details the challenges faced after the levees broke following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and chronicles the rebirth of New Orleans, which he says is an inspiring example of urban renewal and revitalization.
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“I believe it was my obligation to give a voice to the civic leaders and community members who brought about positive change in the face of crisis,” he said. “The resilience and creativity of the New Orleans community post-Katrina was remarkable.” The book presents 10 principles that changed the city’s trajectory as a coalition of civic, business and non-profit leaders worked around the old institutions to bring about change. Pre-orders are being taken at Octavia Books and will be available for pickup and signing at the event, and additional copies will be available that night. The book is being released nationally on June 10, though there was a preview held at Tulane on May 15.
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June 2014
Southern Jewish Life
went back home afterward. “It wasn’t that they didn’t want to stay here,” Cowen noted. “They just didn’t see ample opportunities. Today that is changing dramatically.” Students are finding opportunities in the non-profit and commercial sectors. Cowen noted that a “very high percentage” of graduates go into Teach for America and other service organizations, with the “vast majority” doing so in New Orleans. One of the largest employers of Tulane graduates is Tulane itself, he said. Last year about 75 graduates were hired by the university. Cowen’s involvement with New Orleans as a whole also changed because of the storm. Before Katrina, “I was involved but tangentially,” he said. “Post-Katrina I have been involved very intimately in a number of important initiatives in the city, and I hadn’t envisioned that” in 1998. He was appointed to the Bring New Orleans Back Commission and charged with leading a committee to reform and rebuild the city’s failing public school system. Tulane chartered a K-12 school in New Orleans and created an Institute for Public Education Initiatives to support the transformation of public education. He was a co-founder of the Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors, civic leaders who traveled the country to tell the story of New Orleans, that it was an economically viable, livable city with a recovery plan in progress. Though he is most proud of the reimagining of Tulane after Katrina, and the “culture of engagement” that came from it, there have been numerous other achievements. In June 2008 he announced the successful completion of “Promise and Distinction: The Campaign for Tulane,” which began before the storm. The initial goal of $500 million was surpassed and topped $700 million, making it the largest university fundraising effort in Louisiana history. Now, Tulane is in the “silent phase” of a $1 billion campaign “and we’re having very good early success. “I think we have changed the culture of fundraising and philanthropy at the university in very profound ways,” he noted. Also, close to $800 million has been invested in new buildings and facilities on campus. Tulane is one of only a few universities in the country rated by the Carnegie Corporation in the highest research category and the highest category of civic engagement, and Cowen also points to “extraordinary contributions that faculty and students have made in certain areas of research.” Despite all that, he acknowledges that “if you talk to some people, they’ll say my greatest legacy is I built a football stadium” on campus. Yulman Stadium is set to open on Sept. 6. Cowen says he is excited about the stadium and knows it means a lot for a lot of New Orleanians, but it’s not toward the top of his personal list. Still, “that may in many ways be the most visible mark from my tenure as president.” An area where Cowen has remained visible is his relationship with the Jewish students on campus. One concern he and his wife Marjorie had before they arrived was the size of the Jewish community in New Orleans, as they were coming from Cleveland, which had a Jewish population of over 80,000 — about nine times that of New Orleans. Though the community was smaller “relative to what we were used to… we found that it’s not necessarily the quantity, it’s about quality and impact.” While his wife has been on the Federation and synagogue board, Cowen hasn’t had the time to do that, but they try to be engaged with the community as much as possible. “My wife and I try both institutionally where appropriate and personally to stay very involved.” At least once a year they host a large Shabbat dinner for students at their home, and do things with Hillel. He said he is very proud of
the Goldie and Morris Mintz Center for Jewish Life, the new Hillel building that was dedicated at Tulane in 2011. On May 7 he hosted a JNOLA event at the president’s residence, attended by about 135 Jewish young adults from the community. This month he will be speaking at the Jewish Book Council in New York and have a program on his new book at the Uptown Jewish Community Center (see sidebar). He will also be speaking to several Federations as part of the book tour. He noted an award that will be presented to Tulane by Hillel International this month as recognition of Tulane having “the closest and strongest relationship between a university and its Hillel.” What is next for the retiring president? Aside from speaking engagements about his book, it is time for a sabbatical, something he has not had in a 40-year academic career. “This will be a new experience for me.” He will continue his non-profit work in New Orleans, mainly through the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, which was formed in 2007 as a think-tank to “eliminate the challenges impeding the success of K-12 education in New Orleans and beyond.” He also plans to go back into teaching at Tulane, most likely the year after next. He has ideas for at least two more books and is a corporate director for several companies across the country, as well as non-profit boards. In all, it will be “a portfolio of activities that will keep me intellectually and practically engaged in all the things I care about, which are higher education and Judaism.”
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Scott Cowen, Yvette Jones to be honored As part of Hillel International’s 90th anniversary, two new national awards are being established, and one of them will go to leaders at Tulane University. The Maimonides Award will be presented to Tulane President Scott Cowen and Executive Vice President for University Relations and Development Yvette Jones. The award was established to honor “a university leader, or leaders, whose dedication to higher education has promoted a deep commitment to Jewish and secular learning and devotion to the community. “I can think of no finer university leaders to bestow the first Maimonides Award” than Cowen and Jones, said Eric Fingerhut, Hillel International’s president and CEO. “Working together they have elevated Tulane’s undergraduate applications, student quality, fundraising, and research awards to record levels. And, while doing that, they played an instrumental role in helping New Orleans recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.” The award will be presented on June 9 at the Pierre Hotel in New York City at Hillel’s annual Renaissance Gala. Also being introduced is the Edgar Bronfman Award, presented to a Hillel professional who has served Hillel with distinction and honor. The initial recipient will be Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, Neubauer Executive Director of the Tufts University Hillel. The Renaissance Award, Hillel’s highest honor, will go to New York philanthropist and financier Mark Shenkman. Jones has been in her current position since 2009, and is currently leading Tulane’s plan for a $1 billion fundraising campaign. As chief advancement officer before that, she oversaw the “Promise and Distinction Campaign for Tulane,” which was interrupted by Katrina and completed in 2008, raising over $700 million and making it the largest university fundraising effort in state history.
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Abroms-Engel Institute boosts the arts world at UAB
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June 2014
Southern Jewish Life
Across the street from the Alys Stephens Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts is changing the art world in Birmingham. And many in the local Jewish community played a major role in making it happen. Opened in January, the institute houses three galleries with adjustable walls to make one large space. Upstairs there are numerous stateof-the-art classrooms, art and design studios and faculty offices. Curator John Fields said the idea was to have a medium size to largescale contemporary exhibition space, something that has been missing in Birmingham because of limitations at the Birmingham Museum of Art’s facilities. The 6,000 square feet of exhibit space will be dedicated to contemporary art. There will be a mix of student shows and shows from local, national and international artists. The choice to focus on contemporary art was to not compete with the BMA, with whom the institute has a great relationship. Much of UAB’s 600-piece permanent art collection has been stored at the downtown museum because of a lack of climate-controlled storage facilities. That void is also being met by the Institute. Key to the Institute’s completion were Judy and Hal Abroms. The Abromses first became involved with UAB in 1985 as the HessAbroms Scholarships were established in the university’s honors program. Abroms was asked to chair the advisory board, and he said UAB has been “very good from the very beginning in keeping us in touch with our students,” many of whom have gone on to impressive achievements, including two Rhodes Scholars. In 2005 Abroms was asked to be the interim vice president of development for a year, which he did as a volunteer. In 2006, “we had an opportunity to make a significant gift somewhere and we hadn’t really done anything for UAB” since the scholarships. He approached then-president Carol Garrison, who presented him with three ideas. The one that resonated was an art museum and teaching facility. “We didn’t know what it was going to cost, who was going to be the architect,” he said. “The only thing we knew was where it would go.” The art facility had been a dream of Bert Brouwer, dean of the school of arts and humanities, for years. Fields noted that when he was a student at UAB, Brouwer said the facility would be finished before he graduated. He graduated in 2003 and got his Master’s from the University of New Orleans in 2007. “I was told I’d be in the first class to graduate from this building. Now I’m the first employee,” he said. After an architect was selected, Shirley Salloway Kahn, who had become the vice president of development, called Abroms and said they
had a dollar figure for the building, but he really ought to bring a friend because it was a large amount. “We knew Marvin Engel loved the arts too, so it was a perfect fit for us,” Abroms said. After that, he quipped, “we went to our friends who always came to us” to fundraise. “We had some people who really stepped up.” The facility’s lecture hall is named by the Hess family, the Elsas family did the seminar room and the grand atrium was named by Gail and Jeffrey Bayer. Numerous other families in the Jewish community also made contributions. In April, the Institute housed the 38th annual juried exhibit of student art. A nationally-known figure in the art world judges the works, and some space is offered to that artist. This year, the guest exhibit was based on a Bar Mitzvah photo. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS George Ferrandi did an installation called “The Prosthetics of Joy.” Ferrandi’s works respond to the specifics of a site, audience or situation, employing whatever medium is best suited for the task. Based in Brooklyn, Ferrandi made news recently with her “daring” site-specific performance piece, “it felt like i knew you,” which tests the limits of a subway car’s shared spaces. Explore the history of one At UAB, she spent a week building forms that re-created poses from of the world’s oldest cities. a large group photo at a nephew’s Bar Mitzvah party. On March 20, See this IMAX film only on our about 60 students and faculty members got into those forms to create a photo reminiscent of the original. The prosthetics were then disfive-story-tall dome screen. played the rest of the month. IMAX SEASON PRESENTED BY In late August, New York artist Amanda Browder will drape two huge fabric installations to celebrate the new UAB Cultural Corridor. Magic Chromacity will drape both buildings starting on Aug. 26. Sew200 19TH STREET NORTH, BIRIMGHAM, AL 35203 • (205) 714-8300 • WWW.MCWANE.ORG ing days are set up from July 9 to 12 for members of the community to take part in the works’ creation. Faculty members from other divisions of the university are contactAds_forJewishQuarterly.indd 1 5/15/14 ing the Institute to develop interdisciplinary lessons, tying art to their departments. Abroms said, “as much as we dreamed about it and as much as we are excited about it, it exceeded our expectations.”
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Nechama working in Mississippi Nechama: A Jewish Response to Disaster is on the ground in northeastern Mississippi, where a tornado came through the Tupelo area on April 28, causing major damage. Based in Minnesota, the organization was in Alabama after the April 27, 2011 tornadoes. They also spent 20 weeks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers from the Margolin Hebrew Day School in Memphis have joined with Nechama, as have members of the Wren, Miss., volunteer fire department. Fire Chief L.D. Wise said “in 2011 Nechama came down to help us and we will never forget it. As far as the helping others goes, it’s just something the firehouse likes to do.” Wise added, “Nechama, y’all are family.”
Southern Jewish Life
June 2014
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All of Huntsville’s schools are deemed “No Place for Hate” There are over 1500 schools in the country participating in the Anti-Defamation League’s “No Place for Hate” program. In just a few places, an entire school system participates. Huntsville City Schools achieved that designation on May 8 during a ceremony at Lee High School, as all of the area’s 40 schools were recognized. No Place for Hate is offered free to schools by the ADL. The initiative is designed to rally the entire school around the goal of stopping all forms of bias and bullying. National ADL Chairman Barry Curtiss-Lusher of Denver, who flew in for the ceremony, said Huntsville is “a model for other school systems.” He said “we wish all school districts would embrace it the way Huntsville has.” To be designated as No Place for Hate, a school forms a committee to oversee anti-bias activities in the school, adopts and collectively signs the No Place for Hate Promise or the Resolution of Respect, does
a minimum of three projects during the year that align with the mission of No Place for Hate, and submits an application to the regional ADL office. About 200 schools in the Southeast region from Atlanta participate in the program. In the New Orleans region, the program is underwritten by the Entergy Charitable Foundation and is in numerous schools. The widespread adoption of the program in Huntsville came after a Jewish high school student experienced cyber-bullying and threatening voicemails about three years ago. The family contacted Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar of Temple B’nai Sholom, who approached the principal at Huntsville High School. Her second call, she said, was to Holli Levinson, education project director at ADL’s Atlanta office. They and a team that included non-Jewish clergy from the Interfaith Mission Service met with school officials. Bahar said Donna Clark, counseling coordinator for the system, “was really wanting to do things and she was very open.”
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Then when she found out that the deputy superintendent, Barbara Cooper, “had already done things with ADL, it made it so much easier.” By late 2012, three schools — Grissom High, Westlawn Middle and Whitesburg P-8 — had achieved the No Place for Hate designation. The initiative was expanded to all middle and high schools by Spring 2013, and then all elementary schools were added for this school year. Clark said the program is designed to “fight bullying, cyberbullying, intolerance and hate” with “positive behavior supports.” She said the counselors in each school are “responsible for the success. I just told them to go out and do great things.” Cooper said in her eight years of working with ADL, she has never seen an entire district recognized in the program. According to the national office, it is “a special accom-
plishment” but there have been a few districts across the country that have done so. “We find that once No Place for Hate is successfully implemented in one or two schools in a district, administrators find great value in offering the anti-bias initiative district-wide, and challenging schools to achieve the designation,” according to the ADL. Each school must fulfill the criteria to become No Place for Hate on its own, “but there is great unity and continuity when the work is being done across all grades and schools in a district.” Curtiss-Lusher spoke about last year’s ADL centennial celebration, “Imagine A World Without Hate.” He addressed the students, “you each, in your own way, are imagining a world without hate.” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle spoke of how Huntsville is building an inclusive community, which “does not have a place for hate.”
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June 2014
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National ADL Chairman Barry Curtiss-Lusher of Denver addresses the assembly in Huntsville Kenny Anderson, the city’s director for multicultural affairs, also mentioned that Huntsville is now the only place in Alabama that has been recognized as a compassionate city by the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities. “We are doing great things in this city and we will keep doing great things if we continue to work together.” As part of the celebration, representatives from each school came to the stage with their school’s No Place for Hate banner, and the city-wide banner was unfurled. Another banner was presented to the Seminole Boys and Girls Club, which is also in the program. Rena Anderson, director of community engagement for the Huntsville City Schools, said “students who learned about the program took it to the Boys and Girls Club and said we want to do it here.” Representatives from Weatherly Elementary and Grissom made presentations about their programs. Last November, four Grissom students spoke on “Mobilizing Students to Lead Bullying Prevention and Diversity Education Initiatives” at the International Bullying Prevention Association Conference in Nashville.
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June 2014
Southern Jewish Life
Class is in session for adults with Chai Mitzvah at Day Schools While giving elementary school students a firm foundation of Jewish learning has always been a top priority of Jewish day schools, the schools in Birmingham and New Orleans are offering a program that helps adults grow their Judaism. Birmingham’s N.E. Miles Jewish Day School and the Jewish Community Day School in Metairie are part of a national Chai Mitzvah program. Chai Mitzvah, a non-denominational initiative founded in 2008, offers a core curriculum for learning how to lead an engaged and meaningful Jewish life. The program has grown rapidly and now is up and running through synagogues, schools or interest groups, in dozens of communities in North America, Israel and most recently Costa Rica. The program’s popularity speaks to the needs of the Jewish community, and is enhanced by its affordability and accessibility, said Audrey Lichter, Chai Mitzvah’s co-founder and executive director. “Chai Mitzvah is meant to help individuals create their own Jewish meaning and identity through shared Jewish learning and experience, and to create a deeper sense of community in the process,” she says. “At a time when the Pew study tells us more Jews are feeling less Jewish, the program has real potential to re-energize Jewish life.” Birmingham’s Vicki Lewis was a teacher for 41 years, including at the NEMJDS in the 1970s. She later served as a board member and then president of the school, where she sent her children and is now vice president of education and personnel. As Jewishly active as she already was, Lewis, now retired, became intrigued by Chai Mitzvah when it began last fall. Monthly meetings over a nine-month period would focus on learning, social action and ritual. She decided to enroll, even though she was skeptical. “I wasn’t sure how I would like it,” she said. “I was already involved in the community, lit candles and said kiddush every Friday night. I couldn’t imagine how I might improve my rituals, my Jewish community service and my general community service.” She concedes she did not attend synagogue except for b’nai mitzvah and high holidays. Also, “I wasn’t sure how I felt about God or even if God existed.” Now that the Chai Mitzvah program cycle is nearly complete, Lewis says her Jewish practice — and her view of God — have been transformed. “In one of our lessons, the teacher guided us to talk to God outside on the playground,” she recalls. “I feel like I discovered God through the beauty of nature, accented by a building created by those inspired to teach our children about our Jewish history, heritage, rituals and obligations.” Lewis says she now attends services regularly on Shabbat morning, joins classes with her congregational rabbi and wishes the Chai Mitzvah program would continue another year. Sheri Krell is the Chai Mitzvah teacher in Birmingham. She is the Judaic coordinator and a teacher at the Day School. She had searched for a way to bring adults together to learn and to build community connections through the school. She discovered that Chai Mitzvah “fit the bill” and offered it to parents, the board, community members, and to parents of 4-year-olds as a “recruitment tool.” The diverse group of 15 who responded has met monthly from 8 to 9 a.m. Krell said members range in age from 35 to over 70, have a varied level of Jewish knowledge and practice, and include the directors of the Levite Jewish Community Center, Collat Jewish Family Services and the Day School itself. As a result of their shared Chai Mitzvah experience, the three institutional leaders have met on their own for coffee and Jewish study sessions.
Southern Jewish Life
June 2014
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Though it has a core curriculum, Chai Mitzvah allows for the kind of flexibility that was important for Krell, whose top priority was meeting the needs of the participants. “Some were already very involved in Jewish life and weren’t looking to add to their involvement, but Chai Mitzvah enhanced what they were already doing,” she said. “Others wanted to learn even more about Jewish text and ritual, and I got additional resources for them. But all had a lot to say on each of the topics,” which range from philanthropy, to mindfulness and gratitude. Krell also modified the Chai Mitzvah model for social action, which calls for individuals to pursue projects independently. Krell’s students already were engaged in volunteer work on their own, she says, so instead participants joined together for their activity, baking challot for “Shabbos kits” for the homebound. In New Orleans, Chai Mitzvah was introduced during LimmudFest in March, and the first session took place just before Passover, led by Sharon Pollin, head of school for the Jewish Community Day School. Four participants took part in the first session, which dealt with the structure of the Seder and opportunities for personal additions and enrichment. Pollin said the nine-session course will continue just before Rosh Hashanah and is open to all adults in the community. She notes that because the course is underwritten by the Avi Chai Foundation, the cost is just $18 for the entire nine-session course. By sharing the Chai Mitzvah experience throughout a Jewish calendar year, Lichter said, participants cultivate the kind of connections called for in Ron Wolfson’s highly touted book, “Relational Judaism.” “The author argues that Jewish institutional life can be impersonal and alienating and that building closer relationships is the key to its reinvigoration,” she noted. “Building relationships is a core part of Chai Mitzvah.”
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Southern Jewish Life
Summer Travel
World War II Museum building Campaigns of Courage pavilion Tales of Holocaust survivors and concentration camp liberators will be part of a significant expansion for the National World War II Museum in New Orleans when it opens its “Campaigns of Courage: Europe and Pacific Theaters” pavilion in December. Assembled for the first time in one space will be the epic story of America’s citizen soldiers on the battlefields. Visitors will discover how the war that changed the world was fought and won, through the words and deeds of the participants themselves. Covering warfronts from North Africa to the South Pacific to the heart of Germany, “Campaigns of Courage” will employ digital technology, personal stories, iconic artifacts and immersive environments to explore how average Americans rose to vanquish their foes in the most important event of the 20th century. The 31,000-square-foot building will house two main exhibits. Opening in December, “Road to Berlin: European Theater Galleries” will present the larger context of the European front, detailing what preceded and followed the D-Day landing at Normandy. The second exhibit, “Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries,” will open in the fall of 2015. “Campaigns of Courage will take visitors into the minds of the generals and leaders on both sides,” said Dr. Gordon Mueller, president and CEO of the National WWII Museum. “They will understand exactly how we secured the Atlantic and Pacific sea lanes; mobilized American industry; achieved control of the air; planned and executed amphibious landings, and harnessed powerful new technologies of the wartime effort. It will be an unforgettable experience.” The Campaigns of Courage pavilion will also debut one of the museum’s “most impactful experiences to date.” “My Journey” begins in a re-created train station where museum visitors will be issued a digitally enabled dog tag resembling those given to new GIs. Each will contain a unique identification chip, which will unlock the story of an actual war participant. Kiosks located throughout the pavilion will highlight pivotal moments of the war through the eyes of these 29 individuals. “Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries” will trace the path that led from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by way of New Guinea and South-
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Southern Jewish Life
American flying heroes and aviation pioneers with Southern — as well as Jewish — connections share rarified air at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham. Officially opened at its current 75,000-square-foot facility in 1983, the museum houses more than 90 aircraft along with many engines, models, artifacts, photographs, paintings and stories. It is also home to the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame, with more than 65 autobiographical plaques presenting Alabama aviation history through collective biography. The Southern Museum of Flight is one of the largest aviation museums in the Southeast. “We want to provide an exciting, educational experience for those of all ages. When you consider all that has been accomplished in 110 years of flight, it is incredible to see where we’ve come to today,” said Elizabeth Grady, marketing and events director for the museum. One of those early aviation pioneers with Alabama connections was Arthur Welsh, the first Jewish-American to receive a pilot’s license. He was born in Russia, but his parents immigrated to the United States when he was a boy, settling in Philadelphia. Welsh attended meetings of The Young Zionist Union and joined the U.S. Navy in 1901. Captivated by seeing one of the Wright Brothers’ demonstration flights in 1909, Welsh decided to become a pilot. The Wrights accepted him as a student and he entered the first class of the Wright Flying School in Montgomery, which began in March 1910 at what today is Maxwell Air Force Base. The Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Bessie Coleman — the first female African-American pilot and one of the barnstormers — as well as other aviation pioneers also had connections to Montgomery and Alabama. The Southern Museum of Flight includes some planes and artifacts as well as stories honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American flying platoon who were World War II heroes. The Museum also honors those who flew in the war and played roles in liberating the concentration camps. Those visiting the museum can also learn about the role aviation in the South played in supporting Israel and its independence. “I think people will be surprised at all of the connections to Alabama and the South and the important roles that were played,” said Grady. That history goes all the way to today, including more recent aviation war heroes, leading manufactures and innovators in the region and Space Shuttle astronauts from the state of Alabama. The Southern Museum of Flight also hosts summer camps and other education programs for children and young adults. They also offer several flight simulators for those who want to learn about flight, and who knows, may someday be featured in the museum.
Henderson Park Inn is key to great Destin getaway By Lee J. Green Adults making the Emerald Coast a Destin-ation this summer and fall can keep active as well as have an ideal resort to stay at on the pristine beaches of Henderson State Park. The adults-only Henderson Park Inn all-inclusive resort recommends several area events and attractions to its guests. Art lovers can enjoy ArtWalk on the Harbor every third Sunday of the month — a free event with musical entertainment and vendors selling art, crafts, jewelry and clothes. From June 5 to 7, Alys Beach presents its annual digital art event Digital Graffiti, the world’s first outdoor projection art festival. Artists use the latest technologies to project their original works onto the town’s iconic white walls. For those interested in shopping and entertainment, the New Orleans-style community of Baytowne Wharf remains a popular option. The Wharf features a summer concert series every weekend. The community features more than 40 shops and restaurants. Those wanting a more active vacation can enter the 27th annual Destin Triathlon. More than 700 participants will swim half a mile in the Gulf of Mexico, bike 20 miles along the coast and run four miles through Sandestin’s beach and bayside community. The 208-acre Henderson State Park, adjacent to the Inn, features guided hiking trails through the wildflower-filled terrain. Over the winter, the adults-only Henderson Park Inn resort, which
features 35 rooms in New England-inspired buildings, experienced a major renovation. Some rating sites and magazines have named the Inn the “most romantic boutique hotel in North America.” The Henderson Park Inn’s BeachWalk Café features a seasonal, farm-to-table menu and its expert culinary team can customize its menu items for guests upon request. Also popular is the hotel’s daily happy hour on the patio, with free drinks for guests.
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Good Neighbor for the Summer…
Come visit the Crescent City!
Summer Travel Greater Sevierville area offers active adventures
For couples on a get-a-way or girlfriend trips, consider the cocktail walking tour or the Ghosts and Spirits Tours
Locally owned and operated, giving tours since 1924
Watch for summer specials!
Fly Through History at the Southern Museum of Flight
The Greater Sevierville area of eastern Tennessee offers many exciting opportunities for active travelers, including some for those whose favorite activity is shopping. Visit Sevierville Public Relations Director Amanda Marr said Adrenaline Park is one of several places for ziplining, and the area also offers climbing and hiking, even skydiving. New for 2014 is the Tree Tops Ropes Course at Adventure Park Ziplines. For those who consider shopping a favored sport, the area opened several new outlet stores — including some high-end, nationally known name brands. And for something “cutting edge?” The National Knife Museum is located within Smoky Mountain Knifeworks. It shows many unique knives and the importance of those tools in everything from the dinner table to survival. Located at the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport in Sevierville, the Tennessee Museum of Aviation features planes, artifacts and stories pertinent to Tennessee from World War II to Vietnam. The museum also plays hosts to some impromptu flights of classic planes, since it is located at the airport. When winter comes, so too does the area’s popular Winterfest. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Winterfest, which features many free events and millions of lights illuminating the area. Marr said Visit Sevierville just launched its new website — www. visitsevierville.com. A new interactive feature allows visitors to put in the dates they want for their trip and the site will pull up a complete inventory of available hotels based on specifications provided, along with links that go directly to booking.
Lots to do around Dunes of Panama Vacation Rentals
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Iverson Anderson, Great Grandson to “Chief” Anderson, “The Father of Black Aviation” at the Southern Museum of Flight’s Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit. “Chief” Anderson is pictured with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt before their famous flight.
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Panama City Beach offers many events, activities and attractions for those of all ages, including some of those at the Dunes of Panama Vacation Rentals site. Rental Manager Joyce Hall said the property features 331 rental units of various sizes along 1,500 feet of beachfront in Panama City. The Dunes also offers three Gulf-side pools, tennis courts, picnic/pavilion areas, a fitness center and some fitness classes, a deli and a gift shop. “We have a very comfortable atmosphere. It feels like home here, and the property is not in a congested area. We welcome individual guests, couples and families,” said Hall. The Dunes of Panama is located near St. Andrews State Park and the Shipwreck Island Water Park. Guests have participated in area activities ranging from parasailing to pontoon boat rentals to fishing to golf. On July 4, Panama City Beach hosts an Independence Day extravaganza with fireworks. On Aug 29 to 31, the Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam features some of the top names in country music performing live. Starting in June and through the spring and summer on the first Friday of the month, Panama City hosts a street festival featuring live music, car shows, art and shopping. “There is always a lot to do here, or for some their favorite activity is just to relax on the beach and do nothing at all,” said Hall.
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Jewish-owned tour company offers custom New Orleans adventures Those traveling to New Orleans, or who live in the area and just want to explore unique aspects of their city, can have plans customized by New Orleans Discount Tours — including Jewish New Orleans tours. Lauren Sanders, a member of the New Orleans Jewish community, owns New Orleans Discount Tours, which can assist travelers at no charge with finding hotels, restaurants, transportation and tours. Sanders said the City Tour is still the most popular. The three-hour tour highlights everything from Garden District celebrity homes to guided tours of historic cemeteries to City Park to the post-Katrina rebuilding process still ongoing in the hard-hit Ninth Ward. A customized City Tour for any-sized party can include Jewish New Orleans sites. Sanders can coordinate those tours, including synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, JCCs, history and even kosher meals upon request. “We can even include some of the stores here that have some Judaica and the flavor of New Orleans,” she said. Other popular tours include ghost tours, swamp tours, airboat tours and Treme walking tours, said Sanders. New Orleans Discount Tours can be contacted at www.neworleansdiscounttours.com or (504) 302-4961.
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Birmingham’s Iron Man turns 110 Birmingham’s Iron Man, Vulcan, celebrates his 110th birthday in June while the Vulcan Park and Museum looks at 10 successful years of hosting more than 1.1 million visitors from 90 different countries. “The Vulcan Park and Museum serves as a history museum for Birmingham, Alabama and the South,” said Vulcan Park and Museum Marketing/PR Director Cristina Almanza. “When Vulcan was renovated and the park was completed (in 2004), I think that was a catalyst for this growth Renaissance we have seen in Birmingham the past 10 years. “We want to preserve the past and move forward into the future.” During the past 10 years, Vulcan Park and Museum has also worked with more than 83,000 students in 16 different education programs at the facility as well as in the schools. In that time, its gallery has also hosted 21 different exhibits. The Vulcan 110th birthday celebration will be in the afternoon of June 1. It will feature a Lego building competition, face painting, musical entertainment and cake. Vulcan Park and Museum Marketing/PR Assistant Director Melanie Goodsell said the national Buzzfeed website rated the July 4 Thunder on the Mountain annual fireworks celebration as the top event for Birmingham. “This is something everyone looks forward to each year. This year Thunder on the Mountain will be even bigger and better,” said Goodsell. Vulcan Park and Museum will coordinate the show with a textto-give program to help support the costs of putting on the annual fireworks show celebrating U.S. independence. On Sept. 5 and 6, the play “Miss Vulcan 1939” will hit the stage in the park at Vulcan. The production, a partnership between Vulcan Park and the Red Mountain Theatre Company, centers on an actual beauty pageant that was held about the time Vulcan was placed on his current pedestal high atop Red Mountain. It is a family-friendly show. NOLA
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Summer Travel Apalachicola a hidden gem on Florida’s west coast Join your fellow Yiddish enthusiasts for an exciting weekend celebration of Yiddish language, culture, and history
Boca Raton, Fla. • November 14-17, 2014 Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center
5150 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton, FL 33486 Presenters: Sarah Bunin Benor, Hasia Diner, Gennady Estraikh, Mikhail Krutikov, Heidi Estrin, Refoyl Finkel, Riva Ginsburg, Ruth Glasberg Gold, Ruth Fisher Goodman, Frank Handler, Marlis Humphrey, Genia Kutner, Dvoyre Dorothy Marden, Caren Neile, Hilda Rubin, Maxine Schackman, Eddie Shraybman, Harold Ticktin, Iosif Vaisman, Leon Weissberg, Barney Zumoff, and others Entertainers: Cookie Blattman, Alejandra Czarny, Naomi Miller, Jane Peppler, David and Shira Presler, Elizabeth Schwartz, Yale Strom
Scholarly Presentations by Prominent Speakers in Yiddish and English Live Yiddish Entertainment, Klezmer Music, Folk Dancing Workshops and Special Programs Vendor Area: Judaica, Books, Music Early registration deadline – July 31, 2014 For more information, call Genia Kutner, 561-498-5961 http://yiddishclubs.org • email: iayc2014@gmail.com
By Lee J. Green Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” offers memorable vacation opportunities and the historic, quaint Coombs Inn and Suites. “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 Regional Manager Leigh Coble. Visitors in Apalachicola 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. 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. The mansion was purchased in 1994 and turned into the Coombs House Inn. 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. For visitors to the area, Coble and the Coombs Inn staff recommend 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. The town will host several fishing tournaments throughout the summer. For those into being active on vacation, the St. George Island 5K Race will take place Aug. 9, and once a month — June 12, July 12, Aug 10 — they offer guided climbs to the top of the Cape St. George Lighthouse to view sunsets and full moon rises.
“Shalom Y’All: The Valley’s Jewish Heritage,” an exhibit about the Jewish community of Columbus, Ga., and the Chattahoochee Valley communities in Alabama and Georgia, continues at the Columbus Museum through July 13. 26
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FestiGals returns to New Orleans later this month Two successful Jewish women from South Florida among presenters
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Two of the prominent presenters at the 2014 FestiGals celebration in New Orleans this month are successful Jewish women from south Florida. The 4th annual FestiGals festival celebrating women, which runs June 19 to 22, will be the most-highly-attended yet, organizers say. Last year more than 400 women from 15 states converged on the Crescent City. Collectively the FestiGals fundraising ini- Amie Parnes tiative, “Bodacious Bras For A Cause,” has raised more than $40,000 with 100 percent of the proceeds dedicated to the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans. At the opening breakfast event Friday, June 20, Amie Parnes will present a “Portrait of Hillary Clinton: An Insider’s Look.” Parnes is the White House correspondent for The Hill newspaper in Washington, where she covers the Obama administration. She recently co-authored the book “HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton.” “As a woman, I was very inspired by her running for president. Then we talk about what she had to overcome and her comeback story to become a very successful Secretary of State,” said Parnes, who covered the 2008 presidential race for Politico magazine. The book provides some unique insights into Clinton’s important role in health care reform and how she rallied both lawmakers and the Obama cabinet. “The most interesting aspect of the book to me is how Hillary learned from her mistakes and put her regret aside (from losing the 2008 Democratic primary election) to work well for Obama. She put politics aside for the greater good of our country,” added Parnes. Born and raised in Miami, Parnes went to a Jewish day school in the city through the sixth grade. She grew up Reform and her family always had Friday night Shabbat dinners. Her mom was born in Iran and grew up in Israel. Her sixth grade English teacher at the day school signed her up for a journalism class in middle school. Parnes was hooked instantly. While in high school she interned for the Miami Herald and Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and for the New York Times while in journalism school at the University of Miami. “James Carville came to speak at my university and I wrote an article for the Miami Hurricane (student) newspaper. I also interned with the New York Times during the 2000 presidential vote debacle, so a combination of these things fueled my passion and interest in political journalism,” she said. Parnes spent almost three years covering politics for the Philadelphia Inquirer and then landed in D.C. in 2005 as a Florida-focused Capital Hill reporter for Scripps Howard news service. Then she would go on to earn the opportunity with Politico before the 2008 presidential race. Parnes said she was in New Orleans the day before a book-signing event. Someone she met said he was helping organize speakers for FestiGals and thought the book would be an ideal, pertinent topic. “A lot of the messages in the book are about women’s empowerment,” NOLA
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said Parnes, adding that some Jewish connections come through such as Hillary referencing one of her biblical heroes, Queen Esther. “I dedicated the book to my mom, the strongest woman I know, and my Day School English teacher who inspired me to get into journalism.”
Tory Johnson to headline FestiGals Professional and Personal Development Day Tory Johnson has helped many women achieve career and professional goals while achieving many of her own. A weekly contributor on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” best-selling author and nationally known motivation speaker, Johnson has built two multi-million-dollar, career-focused businesses — Women for Hire and Spark & Hustle. “I have always been fascinated with wom- Tory Johnson en’s career advancement and finding ways that I could help others as well as myself to achieve success,” said Johnson. “No one is coming to hand us a big check. You have to define your goals and work hard to achieve them. It’s about knowing what you want, what defines the next level and how women can attain it. We focus on practice, not theory.” Johnson had her Bat Mitzvah in Miami Beach and went to Israel as a part of her Temple’s confirmation class. Now she and her husband, Peter, have 16-year-old daughters who recently took a 10-day “History of the Holocaust” trip to Berlin, Prague and Warsaw. “We celebrate all the holidays and traditions. We take a lot of pride in our Judaism and always look for opportunities to learn more,” she said. That goes for career and life as well. Fifteen years ago, Johnson launched a business focusing on women’s career advancement for employees and entrepreneurs. She would go on local television stations in various markets to promote events. Then GMA got wind of her and invited Johnson to start doing regular segments on the show. Some of the topics included advice to women on how to negotiate a raise; how to ace an interview, how to get more flexible hours and balance family time as well as earning promotions. She did that for five years. The past three years she started doing “Deals and Steals,” The regular GMA feature helps women find extraordinary deals on products and services. Johnson has authored six self-help books and several have topped the New York Times’ bestseller lists in their categories. “We focus on giving advice from experience, from observation and from others who can provide some best practices examples,” she said. “We want to help women to make it happen; to be heard.” Johnson was in New Orleans last year hosting a show for Yahoo on successful, family-owned businesses. This is her first FestiGals and she looks forward to the opportunity. “I am very excited to be a part of something that I know will be both very fun and very productive,” she said.
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The Lord Himself.” “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the desert.” “The shekel stops here.” And what of Moses’ detractors and competitors? Throughout the Torah, they spoke to the people of Israel, saying: “It depends on what the meaning of the word <any word in the Torah> is.” “Are you better off than you were 40 years ago?” “I served with Moses. I knew Moses. Moses was a friend of mine. Sir, you’re no Moses.” “A manna in every pot, a camel in every tent.” “Yes, we can! If we ever get out of this desert.” “When I was in Egypt, I experimented with incense a time or two and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale and I never tried it again.” “Read my lips, no new burnt offerings.” “I am not a kibitzer.” Last, and certainly least, is the propensity for falsehood. On one level, candidates make promises that are either empty or end up that way. Some say things that are outright lies. Some are simply misinformed. Either way, one quote stands out from the rest of the Torah in perpetuating “facts” harder to believe than Noah tolerating the smell of all those animals: “You can actually see Russia from land here in the desert.” Doug Brook is a writer in Silicon Valley who abstains, courteously. For past columns, other writings, and more, visit http://brookwrite. com/. For exclusive online content, follow facebook.com/the.beholders.eye.
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We don’t just list organizations and call it an annual guide… Southern Jewish Life’s Chai Cotton is more than a listing of organizations, institutions and congregations… It is a portal to the history of the Deep South Jewish communities of Louisiana, Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Mississippi, and a guide to the present.
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The Beholder’s Eye by Doug Brook
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“Ask not what The Lord can do for you, ask what you can do for The Lord.” That’s how Moses famously concluded his inaugural address, but how did he get to that point? Only after an arduous campaign that would make 40 years in the desert seem like a stroll on the beach. While almost several of you set out to vote in various election primaries, consider that the level of civility and decency prevalent in the modern American political machine is not a new development. Most people don’t consider that smear tactics, sarcastic quips, and bombastic claims have riddled campaigns since the founding of the United States of America in 1776, when Columbus sailed the Today’s political climate ocean… Styx? But it didn’t start there, either. goes back a long way. Civil unrest and dissatisfaction Just ask Moses. with leaders goes all the way back to the Days of Yore B.C.E., specifically to when the Israelites wandered in the Sinai for 40 years and 40 nights. While you’ve stepped out or zoned out during Torah readings, you’ve missed many exciting episodes which would rival much of primetime television if only King James hadst writteneth not in utilization of language which casteth even unto Shakespeare a more greaterly discernable light. The Israelites rebelled against Aaron while Moses was having a second cup atop Mount Sinai, which resulted in the Golden Calf, and Moses treating his resulting tension headache by smashing up two tablets. The Korach rebellion, which almost several of you will hear read later this month, was a family affair. Moses’s cousin felt left out, and suborned insurrection with a few hundred followers. In a move that political leaders today wish they could employ, the rebels were consumed by the ground or devoured by a fire from heaven. The people complained about the manna — the one-taste-fits-all food that fell from heaven every day in the desert. When the Israelites asked for a salad bar one too many times, the response was “let them eat quail.” And they ate quail. And it was bad. Moses sent 12 spies into The Promised Land. Ten returned with terrible reports, predicting defeat, gloom, doom, and the recording career of Barry Manilow. The other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, returned with good reports and then got stoned. But not in the fun way. If you’re still not convinced, consider the following actual quotes from the 40 years in the desert which were lifted by future American politicians. As Tevye once attributed to King David, Moses was slow of speech and slow of tongue. This led him to the sage wisdom, “Speak softly and carry a big staff.” Other famous quotes from Moses inspired leaders for millennia to come, including: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is
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