SJL Deep South, September 2015

Southern Jewish Life

KATRINA: 10 YEARS FORWARD “WELCOME HOME” RATTLES LOUISIANA TOWN REP. BYRNE TALKS ISRAEL, IRAN CHABAD EXPANDS PRESENCE AT AREA UNIVERSITIES ANOTHER MISS. ISRAEL TRADE MISSION September 2015 Volume 25 Issue 9

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

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shalom shalomy’all y’all shalom y’all Yes, this is the September 2015 issue, right after the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation along the Gulf Coast and the levee disaster in New Orleans.

By the time this hits homes, the commemorations will be well in the rear-view mirror, and even at the beginning of the summer there were a lot of people who were already sick of all the “nostalgia.”

As Jews, we remember things, good and bad, and this is no different. So, apologies in advance, but we have our Katrina 10 pieces in this issue.

That said, let’s take a different topic for Page 3.

We’re approaching the 25th anniversary of this publication, and a great benefit of doing this work is the wide range of Jewish experiences we get to enjoy as we cover the communities in our region.

In an eight-day span before this issue wrapped, I did some Torah reading Shabbat morning at my lifelong congregation (Conservative), went to the evening service later that day at the Orthodox congregation in Metairie, was at Mississippi’s only Conservative congregation the next Shabbat evening, and at one of Baton Rouge’s Reform congregations the next morning.

During our summer travels, our boys spent time at the JCC day camps in Metairie and Birmingham, Chabad day camps in Metairie and Little Rock, and our older son spent a week at Ramah Darom, the Conservative movement’s summer camp.

We have a wide range of experiences and see the full range of philosophies under the Jewish umbrella, from all-Hebrew and strict shomer-Shabbat to mostly English and iPhone photos during the Torah reading, from mechitzas to entirely female-led services.

One thing remains: All are part of the Southern Jewish community that we call home.

One message that came out of Katrina was the need to work together. As one example, it was said that after the storm, New Orleans didn’t have Reform rabbis, Conservative rabbis — it just had rabbis who needed to be there for anyone and everyone. While there are

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commentary certainly still differences in the New Orleans area’s Jewish community, there is also still a willingness to work together and to blur the lines of separation.

In other communities around the South, there is also much more cooperation across Jewish groups than one is likely to see in larger communities. Part of that comes from numbers — there aren’t as many of us to divide, so to have a viable community even without the immediate focus a disaster brings, we need to work together.

We have seen so much division in the Jewish world in recent years, and this is often a time of year when those divisions are shown into sharp relief (such as when some groups run ads saying if you hear the shofar in a Reform or Conservative congregation, it is as if you did not hear it at all).

We don’t have to agree on everything (in fact, I worry about people who say they always agree with everything in this column). But we should work on being agreeable and respectful of those who have different views.

Is that difficult to do? Of course. You should see some of the nonsense on my Facebook feed. But it’s still the goal we should set, the direction we should head.

As we embark on 5776, let’s make this a year of more experiences, more variety — and more peace.

Shanah Tovah, y’all!

Larry Brook EDITOR/PUBLISHER

The most unlikely kippah collection

by Cantor Daniel Gale

EDITOR@SJLMAG.COM

incitement to German anti-Semitism between the wars. (He attributes the greatest influence over the German people’s views about Jews to Julius Streicher, editor of the anti-Jewish rag Der Stürmer beginning in the mid to late 1920’s. Not sure about that, but it’s an interesting thought.

As a side note, the rabbi of my youth, Josef Kratzenstein, was an early critic of Streicher; it was Kratzenstein’s criticism of Streicher which caused him to flee to Switzerland before the war.

Kratzenstein’s family perished at Auschwitz.)

Rainer and I continued our conversation as we walked toward the synagogue’s front door.

Suddenly he stopped, and placing his hand atop his head said, “I’m so sorry! I forgot to wear my kippah (yarmulke) tonight! I always wear my kippah when I speak at a synagogue.”

Somewhat taken aback, I offered how incredible it was that the grandson of Rudolph Höss has his own kippah. Rainer told me that he actually has a collection of kippot from every synagogue where he has spoken.

I asked him if he has one to remember his talk tonight at Midbar Kodesh Temple. When he said no, I took the kippah from my head and offered it to him. He accepted it with thanks.

(He actually clicked his heels as he thanked me.)

As I watched the grandson of Rudolph Höss — commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau and one of the most horrific mass-murderers in all of Jewish if not human history — walk through the Midbar Kodesh Temple parking lot with my kippah in his pocket, what I saw was a clear vision of hope despite the darkness of the past, and strength to confront the uncertainties of the present.

Even if it takes generations.

The next day, I am still processing the events of Aug. 26.

That evening, Midbar Kodesh Temple in Henderson, Nev., along with the Zachor Holocaust Memorial Foundation, hosted a program featuring some remarkable speakers. The first was Ben Lesser, a Holocaust survivor who shared his remarkable story of courage, perseverance and survival from Auschwitz and Dachau. Ben has spoken before at MKT, recently to our older Religious School students. His story is eloquent and moving.

The next speaker, Khubaib Ali Mohammed, was one of the members of the prosecution team which recently convicted Oskar Grüning, the so-called “book-keeper of Auschwitz.” He spoke about Grüning’s trial, as well as the challenges involved in prosecuting Nazi war criminals so many years after the Holocaust.

The final — and perhaps most remarkable — speaker was Rainer Höss, grandson of Rudolph Höss, commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau — the man responsible for the brutal and systematic murder of over a million souls, 90 percent of the victims Jewish.

Rainer told the story of his discovery as a teen of his grandfather’s role in the Final Solution, his gradual disassociation from his unrepentant family, and his recent work around the world speaking out against right-wing extremism and for the prevention of genocide through the work of his foundation, Footsteps.

After the event, I found myself, along with a few congregants, engaged in conversation with Rainer. It was a fascinating discussion of about Daniel Gale is cantor at Midbar Kodesh in 30 minutes. He has a historian’s grasp of events leading from the First World War to the Second, Henderson, Nev., formerly of Temple Beth-El, and some intriguing thoughts about the primary Birmingham.

4 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

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agenda interesting bits & can’t miss events

Auburn Hillel had its annual beginning of the year bagel event on Aug. 23 at Beth Shalom

B’ham Holocaust Education Center honors those who teach the next generation One of the main activities of the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center is facilitating the training of teachers across the state, giving them the tools to teach the Holocaust and apply its lessons to today’s society.

The Aug. 23 L’Chaim event paid tribute to those educators, and to Brenda and Fred Friedman, who have underwritten scholarships that enable those educators to go on national and international seminars and conferences. In the past 10 years, 75 teachers have received scholarships.

BHEC President Phyllis Weinstein, in paying tribute to the Friedmans, said “it is breathtaking to contemplate how many people have been affected by these 75 teachers.”

She noted that the teachers “tell us over and over again that it is a life-changing experience.”

Deborah Layman said the teachers “lead the students to make connections to their own lives and the world around us,” and they emerge ready to make a difference.

Numerous teachers received Friedman scholarships this summer.

Amy McDonald of Shades Valley High School in Birmingham did the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Advanced Seminar and the European Study Program, and Kate Gholston of Opelika Middle School did the Advanced Seminar.

The JFR Lerner Fellowship Program was attended by Mike Gadilhe of John Carroll High School in Birmingham, and Farrah Hayes of Sardis High School in Sardis City.

Ken Wiggins of Ranburne High School attended the Jan Karski Institute for Holocaust Education.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Belfer Conference was attended by Melody Campbell of Sparkman Middle School in Toney, Karen Coleman of Horseshoe Bend School in New Site, Brittany Watters of Anniston High School, and Birmingham teachers Rachel Hartsell of St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, Dominique Linchet of Alabama School of Fine Arts and Darby Baird of Homewood Middle School.

Baird teaches sixth grade, and “I’d wanted to learn a lot more on how

to teach the Holocaust to my students,” she said. When she started teaching the topic six years ago, there was just one paragraph in the textbook.

She attended a workshop at Temple Emanu-El and felt she had a decent handle on the information, but there were a lot of questions the students had but she could not answer.

Baird met local Holocaust survivor Ruth Siegler, and that “lit a fire” for her to learn more.

At Belfer, she was affected and humbled Gen. Charles Krulak by hearing the story of a survivor, and was floored when he thanked her for teaching the stories of the survivors.

She thanked the Friedmans “for lighting that fire and giving us the teaching tools that we need.”

A video was screened from a class project led by McDonald’s students, where they each did videos about meeting eight local survivors and what they had learned from the encounters.

Fred Friedman spoke about the “life-altering work” of BHEC “whose mission is to remember the past in order to shape the future.”

He said “Brenda and I are in awe of the wonderful, talented teachers” who have participated in these programs.

“The Holocaust happened in a world similar to the one we live in today,” but in response “we are armed with the weapons of community organizations like BHEC” that teach the lessons of the Holocaust.

The event, which was held at the Alabama School of Fine Arts theatre, raised about $145,000, and this was the first time the BHEC used a crowdfunding platform for their event.

Marking the 70th anniversary of liberation, there was a dramatic reading, “What We Saw: In the Words of the Liberators,” featuring actors from

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 5

agenda The Seasoned Performers. The dialogue came from the testimony of two liberators from Alabama — George Mitnick of Jasper, and Travis Ray Carter of Marion County, who participated in liberating Buchenwald.

Layman said they recently learned of another Alabama liberator, Otis Williams, “the soldier who took down the Nazi flag at Dachau.” His son, Jim Williams, lives in Decatur. Jim Williams’ son, a Navy SEAL who died recently and had been on a mission in Israel, had gotten to know Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Jim Williams spoke to Netanyahu last week and told him about the L’Chaim event, and passed on Netanyahu’s message to “thank the people of Birmingham for keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.”

The program also included music by Cantor Jessica Roskin, Alan Goldspiel, Gabriel Tajeu, and the Birmingham Community Mass Choir.

Keynote speaker was General Charles Krulak, formerly a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and recently retired as president of Birmingham-Southern College.

Krulak showed clips from two films, one of which was a decades-old warning about those who would forget the Holocaust.

Krulak said “Today we’re living in a very dangerous world, where it’s not people who deny the Holocaust, but entire nations.”

He added, “interestingly, they are prepared to conduct another one, and they tell us that their goal is to destroy the state of Israel and wipe every Jew off the face of the Earth. That cancer is now moving throughout Europe and coming to the United States.”

He is fond of saying “Training is preparation for the expected. Education is preparation for the unexpected.

“Our world is filled with the unexpected,” and there is great concern about what is happening in Russia and in Iran.

Krulak said when he was approached by Weinstein on behalf of BHEC, “Having been to Israel so many times, and having a deep and abiding love for Israel and the Jewish people, it was a no-brainer” to get involved with BHEC and its efforts to educate young people.

He praised “this tiny operation” which “is preparing your children, your grandchildren to meet a world of the unexpected,” while operating on a small budget.

Year of Kindness at Emanu-El As Rosh Hashanah approaches, Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El is embarking on a Year of Kindness. Last year, the congregation had a yearlong focus on Israel, with recurring programs linked to that theme.

Congregants are being asked to consider three questions as individuals: Is my speech kind, are my actions kind and do I encourage kindness in others.

Miss. State Hillel holding golf tourney

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Mississippi State Hillel is hosting a golf tournament to raise funds for the Jewish student organization. The Sept. 20 event will be at the Mississippi State golf course. Registration is $50 per player or $100 per team.

Sponsorships are available starting at $75.

The Hillel was founded in 2010 and seeks to grow Jewish life at the Starkville campus. For information on the tournament, email Hillel President Joseph Metz, jm1902@msstate.edu.

Pensacola’s Beth-El returns home Rosh Hashanah will be a new beginning for Pensacola’s Temple BethEl, as it will be the first service held in the newly-renovated sanctuary.

The congregation is currently in the middle of an extensive renovation that is linking its main and education buildings. Work will continue, but the sanctuary is expected to be completed in time for the Sept. 13 service.

4/16/15 9:55 AM

agenda Torah dedications in Tuscaloosa, B’ham Tuscaloosa’s Temple Emanu-El will dedicate a community Holocaust Torah on Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.

Last year, the congregation raised $7,000 for the Torah, insurance, a new cover and other expenses. It arrived in Tuscaloosa last September and has been read from numerous times.

The scroll was stolen by the Nazis and warehoused in Czechoslovakia. The 1600 scrolls were later brought to the Westminster Synagogue in London from Prague, and the Memorial Scrolls Trust distributes them to communities worldwide as a way to remember the Holocaust.

A booklet will be distributed at the dedication, giving the history of the Jews of Czechoslovakia and the odyssey of the rescued Torahs.

A reception will follow at the Bloom Hillel House.

Birmingham’s Bais Ariel Chabad Center will dedicate a Torah in memory of Brian Grodner on Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. The ceremony will start with the dedication and dancing, followed by dinner and children’s activities.

The community is invited.

A Birmingham native, Grodner died of cancer at age 55 in 2013. While seeking treatment in Houston, he became active with Chabad there, and a playground at Houston’s Torah Day School was dedicated in his memory.

He was known for a joyful outlook no matter the circumstances. He wrote “Cancer Is Not the Boss of Me” to guide patients through the process of diagnosis and treatment.

Welcome to a World FULL of Relaxation

Birmingham Hadassah joins effort for anti-bullying license plate The Birmingham Hadassah Social Action Committee is partnering with Baylee Smith to promote an anti-bullying license plate for Alabama drivers.

Smith graduated from Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa county last spring, and has been involved in anti-bullying efforts through her participation in the Miss High School America pageant, which has anti-bullying as a national platform. She volunteers with elementary-age students, teaching them what to do when confronted by a bully.

In May, she received approval for the plate from the Legislative Oversight Committee. For the plate to be issued, there must be 1,000 pre-order commitments in a one-year window. As of mid-August, 22 had been reserved.

The Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles website started accepting pre-orders on June 1. Hadassah is committing to help her get 500 orders

by December.

Proceeds from this specialty license plate will benefit Eagles’ Wings, Inc., an organization in Tuscaloosa County providing day habilitation services to adults with developmental disabilities-many have experienced bullying throughout their lives.

According to Hadassah co-chair Amy Sedlis, “This plate could generate a conversation about bullying that has never happened before. As many know, cars often are a great time to talk to kids and other passengers about many things and license plates offer that non-threatening opportunity. What a great opportunity to help raise awareness.”

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Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El will welcome Julian Resnick to its Shabbat service on Sept. 25 at 5:40 p.m. A South Africa native, Resnick moved to Israel in 1976, and has served as an Israeli emissary in San Francisco, London and New York. Over the last five years he has guided three Friendship tours in Israel of Christians and Jews from Birmingham.

Could kosher meat be available in Shreveport without schlepping to Dallas? According to Cantor Neil Schwartz of Agudath Achim, a new relationship among markets in Dallas may make it possible for those in the Shreveport area who are interested in kosher meat or other specialty Judaic products to be involved in a co-op. Assuming enough participation, shipments would be made on a regular basis to the Albertsons on Southfield.

The Beth Israel Congregation Ensemble will perform at “Singing Together Jackson,” an evening hosted by Working Together Jackson. The group is a coalition of religious and nonprofit organizations in the Jackson area that is working to achieve community change, as part of the organizations’ common call to justice. Jackson’s Beth Israel has been a member for several years and is part of the executive board. The event will be on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m., at St. Andrews Cathedral.

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces will have an event in Nashville on Oct. 12, with FIDF Southeast Region Executive Director Seth Baron as guest speaker. The evening also features Staff Sgt. Yonat Daskal, a paramedic with a special unit of the Nahal Brigade and a veteran of Operation Protective Edge. She is one of only four women to serve inside Gaza during last summer’s operation. The 7 p.m. program at the Gordon JCC is open to the pro-Israel community and is complimentary, but for security reasons reservations are required by Oct. 9 to southeast@fidf.org or (678) 250-9030.

The annual Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth World Kosher Barbecue contest will be Oct. 18 in Memphis. This is the 27th year for the contest, which last year drew 40 teams and 3,000 spectators.

The next Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class at the Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham will be a wine tasting forum, Sept.

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On Sept. 20, Cantor Harvey Bordowitz will present “The Jewish Soul,” Jewish music from classic to Klezmer, at Birmingham’s Temple Beth-El. The 4 p.m. concert is open to the community. Bordowitz moved to Israel in 1976 and was founding music director and conductor of the Herzliya Chamber Orchestra. He lectures widely on a wide range of musical topics.

Birmingham’s Levite Jewish Community Center introduced J Explorers, a new series of programs for children ages 5 and under. Classes run one month at a time so children can explore many new activities and find their passion. Sample classes include Spanish, dance, art, chess and more..

Explorers runs from Sept. 7 to May 27.

B’nai Israel in Baton Rouge will have Art & Soul on Oct. 22, which will benefit the congregation’s musical programming. A silent auction will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Bill Grimes Quartet, featuring vocalist Stephanie Jordan. Tickets are $50 per person. Auction items include an Ultimate Wildflower and Mountain Escape in Mt. Crested Butte, a luxury chartered fishing trip off the coast of Louisiana, a spring getaway at Historic Coco Farm near Woodstock, N.Y., airplane rides, tickets to events, tickets to LSU games including the Alabama and Ole Miss away games, LSU memorabilia, and dinner at several restaurants, including Shaya in New Orleans. Auction items can be bid online at bnaibr.org.

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Orthodox Union names first Southeast regional director Naftali Herrmann has been appointed the first Southeast regional director of the Orthodox Union Department of Community and Synagogue Services.

Based in Boca Raton, Fla., Herrmann will work with synagogues and communities in the Southeast, including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

“The OU Southeast Regional office provides resources including services and programming through Yachad, the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities; and NCSY, the OU’s international youth movement,” explained Herrmann. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations has “always focused on the support of our synagogues. We are now adding a regional director to underscore that commitment — to enable community and synagogue services to provide leadership, resources and programmatic support to southeast Orthodox communities and congregations.”

OU national vice president and lay chair of the Department of Community and Synagogue Services, Barbara Lehmann Siegel of Silver Spring, Md., said Herrmann “will serve as our ambassador to strengthen the bond between the OU and the region’s Jewish communities, as well as to deepen the relationships among the various synagogue communities.”

Rabbi Judah Isaacs, director of the OU’s Department of Community and Synagogue Services, said the second-largest Jewish community in America is South Florida. “The OU also aims to bring to the entire Southeast network of Orthodox synagogues and communities positive vitality, shared resources, programming ideas, and solutions to varied challenges.

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individual challenges and needs.”

Isaacs added that Herrmann “will be able to forge deeper relationships with our southern Jewish communities, and will be able to offer the full menu of support that Synagogue Services offers OU member shuls. He will enhance the role of the synagogue as the gateway to the wide range of OU services that runs the gamut of support for all ages and backgrounds.”

Herrmann said “While this is a brand new initiative, the Southeast office is not an island. I am in constant communication with other regional directors throughout the country and we are joining forces and working together so that we don’t need to recreate the wheel in addressing the different issues in our constituencies.”

He expressed his enthusiasm for how the OU will serve the Southeast.

“The regional office creates a giant tent to house all current OU Southeast services, while simultaneously developing and addressing the changing and growing needs of our synagogues.”

The initial function of the Southeast office, he said, “will be to connect, network and develop meaningful relationships with the region’s synagogue rabbinic and lay leadership, as well as local Federations and Jewish organizations… We need to better understand each unique community’s story so we can properly address the needs of their synagogues and beyond.”

Hebrew sign prompts terrorism suspicions

12/12/2012

Numerous concerned citizens in Gardner, La., contacted the Rapides Parish Sheriff ’s Office in mid-Au11:22:58 AMgust to report a suspicious Arabic sign, thinking it might have something to do with ISIS or support of Jihadists. Their concerns were picked up by media around the world.

The Sheriff ’s Office reassured the tiny town about a dozen miles west of Alexandria that the signs were harmless.

Indeed, the three signs were something a bit more Photo courtesy KALB-TV “romantic,” according to Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman of Gemiluth Chassodim in Alexandria. And they weren’t in Arabic — they were Hebrew, with a message of “Welcome Home Yamit.”

Karz-Wagman said a man in the town had met a young Israeli woman who worked in the local mall, and a couple of years ago they married. He explained that she was frequently away on business for a while, so her husband approached the rabbi a year ago and asked him to write out a welcome message in Hebrew so he could copy it onto a card for her when she returned.

This time, he decided to make three yard signs for her return — but when they were seen by neighbors, alarm bells rang. “Because they were in a foreign language, obviously that spooked a lot of people to think this was some kind of code,” Karz-Wagman said, adding that it speaks about today’s suspicious society.

Nevertheless, “I thought it was hilarious” that it got so much attention, especially in Israel.

10 years forward

“It tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.”

New Orleans Jewish community marks Katrina anniversary with reflections, celebration of progress On Dec. 20, 2005, a community homecoming and Chanukah celebration at the Uptown Jewish Community Center drew a huge crowd as the first community-wide event held since the flood. Donated Chanukah menorahs and other ritual items were distributed to those who were able to make it back to New Orleans and needed to replace what was lost in the storm.

In that same room on Aug. 28, the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was marked with a decidedly more upbeat event, featuring music, dancing and a New Orleans-style kosher feast of jambalaya, beef debris po-boys, corn and potatoes.

It was even a birthday party, as a large cake was served after everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to Sara Stone, “the matriarch of our community,” for her 100th birthday.

Allan Bissinger, who served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans for two years just after the storm, summed it up by adapting the traditional joking definition of a Jewish holiday: Katrina “tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.”

The New Orleans area rabbis and cantors held a remembrance of the storm and its aftermath The evening started with remembering the storm and how the community pulled together afterward, with a lot of help from the rest of the world. That Chanukah party from 2005 was referenced several times.

Bobby Garon, who emceed the evening, opened by saying “We commemorate the memory of Katrina, the tragic loss of precious lives and the hardships that all of us who were here 10 years ago endured,” but the evening was also

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 11

10 years forward

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“to celebrate the tremendous success and progress that our city and the Jewish community have accomplished over the last 10 years.”

Garon was finishing his term as Federation president when the storm hit.

“We could not remember Katrina without doing something pro-active,” Garon said, mentioning the TikkuNOLAm program building houses with the St. Bernard Project that had taken place on Aug. 9, and the effort that evening to partner with and collect items for the Youth Empowerment Project.

The rabbis and cantors from Greater New Orleans did a reading, remembering everything from the initial forecasts to those who welcomed evacuees, newcomers and those who contributed to the rebuilding. There was a moment of silence for “those who died in their homes, in the streets and from the stress of the experience.”

“Knowing that there remains much work to be done to bring wholeness to all,” Cantor Joel Colman led a group Shehecheyanu because “still we celebrate having reached this moment.”

In another room, the Federation’s video, “Our Hurricane Katrina Story,” which was used to tell the city’s story when raising recovery funds years ago, was screened.

Several out-of-town guests were recognized by Garon for their roles in the community’s recovery. Lee Wunsch, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, “welcomed so many of us into their community and adopted us as their own.” The New Orleans Federation set up a “Federation-in-exile” in the Houston office until they could return to New Orleans.

Howard Feinberg, former managing director of United Jewish Communities Consulting, “spearheaded the fundraising effort that helped not only our community but also the Gulf Coast.”

Rabbi Deborah Hirsch was co-director of the Union for Reform Judaism’s disaster relief, assisting the four Reform congregations in the community.

Arnie Fielkow, who played a role in keeping the New Orleans Saints in the city after Katrina and was elected to the New Orleans City Council, was also recognized. He is now CEO of the National Basketball Association Retired Players Association, but Garon reminded him that he will eventually be returning to New Orleans.

Eric Stillman was also recognized in the out-of-town segment, but Garon said he could officially announce that Stillman has returned to New Orleans. Stillman was executive director of the New Orleans Federation from 2000 to 2006.

Garon was scheduled to step down as president a week after Katrina hit, with Bissinger succeeding him. Despite the hardships everyone was

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10 years forward enduring, Garon said “Allan did not hesitate a bit” to take the reins. “We are hugely indebted and grateful to Allan for his time, energy and devotion, and his vision to make sure this community survived.”

In his remarks, Bissinger recalled how so many packed for a two or three day evacuation “like you had done for so many hurricanes… just part of being in New Orleans.” With most of his family safely elsewhere, he decided to ride it out.

Bissinger said the three days after the levees broke were the quietest he would have for a couple of years. He stayed on the second floor of his home reading Harry Potter books. Finally on Thursday after the storm, he realized the waters weren’t going down and he was starting to run low on peanut butter and bottled water, so he swam out of his house and was rescued by a passing boat, and made his way to Baton Rouge.

“Normalcy was gone,” he said.

In Baton Rouge, Rabbi Martha Bergadine, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Baton Rouge, had secured some apartments for New Orleans evacuees. “In every community… there was an outpouring of heart-felt compassion” for the evacuees, Bissinger said.

A three-year plan with UJC began, and the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana and the Goldring Family Foundation also kicked in a great deal of relief assistance.

Bissinger said that was important, so New Orleans could tell the world “look at what we are doing to help ourselves. Want to join us?”

The community gradually went from survival mode to rebuilding mode. While estimates vary widely, anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 Jewish volunteers have come from around the world to help rebuild New Orleans, he said.

Over $19 million that was raised nationally was allocated through the New Orleans Federation to keep the 19 community organizations and congregations going. “All Jewish institutions which were here before Katrina are still here today, with some new ones,” he said. A community-wide strategic plan was developed to help the community “get past it. And as a community, we have.”

A key component was the newcomers program, to replenish the numbers of those who did not return. About 2300 newcomers benefited from the program, and the Jewish community now numbers 10,300, and still growing.

The evening was jointly sponsored by the 19 local institutions.

The formal part of the program concluded with Colman leading the room in “God Bless America,” then the party began.

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14 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

Starting Shabbat services at Beth Israel’s former site in Biloxi

A brief Biloxi return to quietly remember Katrina Before Shabbat services began on Aug. 28, Milt Grishman looked at the empty lot at the corner of Camellia Street and Southern Avenue in Biloxi and remarked, “these palm trees are like old friends.”

The trees are at the perimeter of what used to be the site of Biloxi’s Congregation Beth Israel, until Hurricane Katrina flattened the Mississippi coast in August 2005, and Grishman said they gave a Middle Eastern atmosphere to the site.

While much of the focus on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is on New Orleans and the levee breach there, Mississippi’s Gulf Coast felt the brunt of the storm itself. There were 238 Katrina-related deaths in Mississippi, 167 of them along the coast.

The congregation marked the storm’s 10th anniversary by starting Shabbat services at its former home, then finishing the service in its new post-Katrina facility, 14 miles away in Gulfport.

After the congregants sang “Hinei Mah Tov” as the sun began to set over the Biloxi site, Beth Israel President Brad Kessie said “It is appropriate that we start here, because this is where we began.”

Though many felt an obligation to mark the 10th anniversary, there seemed to be little enthusiasm to relive those days and a desire for the anniversary to pass quickly.

After Kessie’s opening remarks, Goldin started leading a typical Kabbalat Shabbat service as 25 members stood in the location where the sanctuary and kitchen had stood.

At the new building, Amy Goldin led the rest of the service, with little mention of what had happened 10 years earlier.

The August 2005 storm brought a surge that flattened structures, often leaving just a concrete slab as the only evidence buildings had been there. Casinos that had been built over the

Gulf were lifted and placed on what was left of the beach highway.

Though Beth Israel’s building was still standing, much of the brick façade had been peeled off the building, and water ruined the inside.

The Torahs had been placed upstairs and were safe, and many of the fixtures were able to be salvaged and included in the new building.

Of the congregation’s 65 members pre-Katrina, 13 lost their homes, while most others were displaced. Many left the region, and the congregation’s overall numbers are still down.

In the days after the hurricane, a Chabad team wandered the Mississippi coast along now-unmarked streets, checking on Jewish families by using a list compiled from years of travels through the area, offering assistance with everything from food to ripping out moldy carpets.

With a rabbi and cantor sent by United Synagogue, Beth Israel was able to hold High Holy Days services at Keesler Air Force Base five weeks after the storm.

There was a debate over whether the old building could be renovated or rebuilt, while weekly services were held at Beauvoir United Methodist Church.

When it was determined that the building could not be saved and new guidelines made rebuilding prohibitive for a 50-family congregation, plans began for a new facility, much further inland on property donated by the Goldin family.

Contributions from all over the country brought in about $600,000 toward rebuilding.

Ground was broken in late 2008, and the new building was dedicated in May 2009.

The Biloxi site still sports a for-sale sign, and bits of the building’s bricks remain embedded in the ground. With many lots for sale in Biloxi, there is no telling how long it will take for the congregation to sell the land.

Rabbis Robert Loewy and Uri Topolosky reminisce with Eddie Gothard

Not the “victim” synagogue, Beth Israel celebrates renewal in Metairie While Beth Israel became the symbol worldwide for the devastation affecting the New Orleans Jewish community when the levees broke following Hurricane Katrina, the message from its 10th anniversary weekend was that it should not be considered the “victim synagogue.”

While every Jewish institution was affected by the flood, Beth Israel was one of only two institutions in Greater New Orleans that had to rebuild completely, and the only one that moved to a new location.

After the levees broke, Lakeview was one of the harder-hit areas, and Beth Israel had at least 10 feet of water inside the building.

Photos of the congregation’s ruined Torahs being removed from the ark in a sanctuary that still had chest-deep water ran in just about every Jewish newspaper following the flood, and became iconic images of the storm’s effect.

Eddie Gothard, past president of Beth Israel, said it wasn’t an easy decision to have the commemoration weekend. Many thought there should not be a weekend revisiting the storm, and it couldn’t be considered a celebration, especially given the death of the congregation’s long-time gabbai, Meyer Lachoff, during the storm.

But, he said, “we are the shul that survived Katrina. We understand the moral imperative to remember.”

Bradley Bain, president of Beth Israel, said the weekend was to reflect on the last 10 years, but also to “celebrate our accomplishments as a community,” and “to look at the next chapter we will write together, 10 years forward.”

Eddie Gothard noted that the congregation is stronger than it was 10 years ago. In his 30 years on the board, balanced budgets were a dream, but since 2006 it has been a reality each year.

Today, “no one has a conversation any more about if we will survive,” and the congregation is attracting newcomers who wouldn’t be there “if we were that pathetic remnant.”

It was noted that four Beth Israel representatives were interviewed for the JTA national wire service piece about Katrina — and three of them arrived in New Orleans after the storm.

Soon after the waters receded, Beth Israel began holding services at Gates of Prayer in Metairie.

Gates of Prayer Rabbi Robert Loewy admitted his “inner Orthodox Jew” never existed as he is a life-long Reform Jew, but he always has believed that a Jewish community should have Reform, Conservative and Orthodox elements. When Beth Israel’s then-president Jackie Gothard inquired about Beth Israel holding services at Gates of Prayer, Loewy said “that’s cool.”

But “if you thought I’d ever see a mechitza in a Reform synagogue…”

When Gates of Prayer built its second social hall, which Beth Israel used, they had installed an ark in the room. Jackie Gothard asked Loewy why they had done that, and Loewy did not have any idea why. “We looked at each other. We knew.”

In 2007, Beth Israel hired Rabbi Uri Topolosky. The Topoloskys left in 2013, but returned to New Orleans for the anniversary weekend.

The relationship between the congregations grew, and in 2009 Beth Israel decided its new building would be next door to Gates of Prayer, on

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September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 15

10 years forward

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land purchased from the Reform congregation.

Groundbreaking took place in 2010, and the building was dedicated in August 2012.

The Beth Israel history video that debuted at the building dedication was screened during the gala, and a multimedia presentation on “Our Past to Our Present” was narrated by Jackie Gothard and Lee Kansas.

A procession from Gates of Prayer to Beth Israel included five Torahs that had been donated by individuals and groups across the country, to replace the seven that had been ruined in the flood.

The morning of Aug. 23, Beth Israel Rabbi Gabe Greenberg led a Torah study session at the Beth Israel cemetery, right by where the seven Torahs are buried. Two weeks after the levee breach, Rabbi Isaac Leider of ZAKA made his way to the still-flooded building and removed the scrolls.

Leider transported them out by boat, and congregational secretary Becky Heggelund met him at Zephyr Field to claim the scrolls and bury them in her backyard with the help of a neighbor. The congregation later recognized her as a Righteous Gentile.

Months later, the scrolls were reburied in a single plot that was next to Lachoff. Jackie Gothard commented, “for 25 years as our gabbai he watched over our Torah scrolls, and he still is.”

Topolosky recalled Gothard’s comment to visiting groups that most Jews never see the burial of a Torah scroll in an entire lifetime, but this congregation saw seven at one time.

A headstone where the Torahs are buried carries three significant dates — the storm, the burial of the scrolls and the date when the headstone unveiling was supposed to be — in an ironic twist, the August 2008 ceremony was postponed due to evacuations for Hurricane Gustav.

There was also the burial of 3,000 holy books in the far corner of the cemetery.

The weekend began with Shabbat services and a musical Havdalah.

The culmination was a packed house for the Aug. 23 gala dinner.

Much of that evening was devoted to looking forward. It was announced that the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust was underwriting the rabbinic chair at Beth Israel. Rabbi Gabe Greenberg, who Bain then introduced as the holder of that chair, said that contribution “allows us to focus more narrowly on the mission of Beth Israel — spiritual life, learning and community.”

Greenberg said they will “double down” on children’s education and adult programming. “We’re confident about our future success.”

Part of the evening was a discussion between Loewy and Topolosky about the relationship between the Reform and Orthodox congregations, “two synagogues side by side with a playground in the center, where the kids can play together.”

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10 years forward

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Topolosky commented that uniformity “is not the value. We can be united, we can work together, but to be homogeneous is not the value of the Jewish community.”

Loewy said New Orleans is all about family, and half of the Gates of Prayer leadership had family connections to Beth Israel — not to mention other connections, including how Loewy officiated at the baby naming for Greenberg’s wife in Houston.

Topolosky said Katrina pushed the two congregations closer than they otherwise would have been, but also mentioned that the fundraising for Beth Israel’s first building a century ago included significant support from the Reform community of New Orleans.

While much was made of how Topolosky and Loewy studied and taught together, along with Rabbi Ethan Linden of Shir Chadash, they said it was not unheard of in New Orleans, with the legacy of the Melton program. The relationship continues during Greenberg’s tenure.

After Katrina, “We became the poster children for the concept that Reform and Orthodox congregations, rabbis and communities can work with each other in close, personal ways,” Loewy said.

At the beginning of Yom Kippur in 2006, Beth Israel was finishing Kol Nidre in the social hall as Gates of Prayer was just starting. Eddie Gothard said “we hear this sound system and a woman’s voice.”

Loewy quipped, “it was good for you.”

While some feared the visiting rabbi, Joseph Friedman, would walk back to Memphis in disgust, instead he said he was going in to the Reform service.

Loewy was told that Friedman wanted to address the congregation.

“I can’t say no,” he remarked. Naturally, Friedman would not use the microphone, but “he shared one of the most meaningful and touching moments of worship one could imagine.” He spoke of the midrash about the line in the Kedusha, “Holy, holy, holy,” when the angels turn toward each other. At that point, the angels who usually are rivals reconcile with each other before God. Topolosky recalled having national officials from the Orthodox Union and the Union for Reform Judaism sitting at the same table when the congregations signed the land deal that paved the way for the new Beth Israel building. “It was an incredible statement for this community… sending a message well beyond.”

Greenberg closed the evening by relating how Judaism has a blessing for everything, including a little-known one he had never done — a blessing for a destroyed synagogue that has been restored to its former glory.

The blessing praises God “who sets limits for a widow.” There is a time for grieving, he explained, but at some point “there can be rejoicing again.”

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September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 17

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Ten years ago, when the orders were given to evacuate New Orleans because of the approaching massive Hurricane Katrina, most figured it would be another typical two or three day trip, then going home to repair some damage from what was then a Category 5 storm.

“I certainly thought we’d be gone for 3 days” over the weekend of Aug. 28, said Deena Gerber, who was executive director of Jewish Family Service of New Orleans.

Sarah Rivkin of Tulane Chabad planned to ride out the storm, but when the announcement was made that there would be no 911 emergency services and since they had young children, “it would be the responsible thing to leave.”

Some chose to ride out the storm, which made landfall as a strong Category 3 hurricane near Buras and again at the Mississippi-Louisiana state line. After the storm passed, some who stayed ventured outside and saw that the city had survived the storm.

A couple of hours later, the levees started giving way, flooding the city.

Looking back at those events 10 years later, Carol Wise remarked that “having to go back through this whole thing could be particularly upsetting. Somehow, we had to be able to tell the story of our modern Exodus in Jewish terms,” as a story of “strength, love and perseverance.”

In a column written days after the storm for the Baltimore Jewish Times, Gail Chalew said that before Katrina “the Jewish population has been declining, primarily because of the poor New Orleans economy that provided few high-tech or corporate opportunities. In recent years, many young people have moved to Atlanta or Houston in search of good jobs.”

With the entire community scattered around the country, there was an open question as to if the community could survive, and if it did, what form it would take.

On Sept. 10, a team surveyed the Jewish institutions in the New Orleans area.

Institutions along West Esplanade in Metairie, including Chabad, Shir Chadash, Gates of Prayer, Torah Academy and the Goldring/Woldenberg Jewish Community Campus, had several inches of water, ruining floors, carpets and walls.

Rabbi Robert Loewy from Gates of Prayer noted that 30 percent of his congregants’ homes were uninhabitable and another 30 percent had serious damage.

The Northshore Jewish Congregation also had some roof damage and interior flooding. Most congregations were able to complete renovations by the first few months of 2006, though Torah Academy had to completely rebuild, a process that would take until the summer of 2014.

Beth Israel in Lakeview was flooded by at least 10 feet of water, ruining the congregation’s Torahs and over 3,000 books (see story, page 15).

In Biloxi, Beth Israel, Mississippi’s only Conservative congregation, suffered extensive damage to its building, located just two blocks from the beach (see story, page 14).

10 years forward Uptown congregations Touro Synagogue and Temple Sinai, along with Anshe Sfard, had little physical damage, but delays in opening surrounding areas due to lack of electricity and other infrastructure stalled the return of many members. Basement flooding at Touro led to an oil leak that kept the main sanctuary unusable until January.

There was little damage at the New Orleans Jewish cemeteries, but the Jewish cemeteries in Osyka, La., and Summit, Miss., had extensive damage from fallen trees.

In Hattiesburg, despite the city looking like a “war zone, a war we lost” according to Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn, the damage at B’nai Israel was limited to shingles and a tree that fell near — but not on — the building.

Because of slow disaster response and uncertain conditions, the Birmingham Jewish community was prepared to evacuate the entire Hattiesburg Jewish community, but it was determined that would not be necessary.

The Union for Reform Judaism set up Jacobs Ladder, working with the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Miss., to set up a relief distribution center in a vacant 24,000-square-foot warehouse. The Utica City Council approved the plan on Sept. 6, and the project launched on Sept. 9.

While ambitious projections anticipated that 1.25 million pounds of relief supplies would pass through Jacobs Ladder, the total turned out to be over 3 million pounds before the warehouse closed on Oct. 24.

The camp itself was a refuge for about 150 evacuees during and immediately after the storm. Though there was no electricity, camp staff cooked with gas and secured generators until the evacuees could find more permanent housing over the next 10 days.

Jonathan Cohen, director of Jacobs Camp at the time, said its founders “couldn’t possibly have anticipated what we ended up doing during and after Hurricane Katrina. Still, to be able to be there for people in the ways we were — and, to have been able to be a conduit for America’s Jewish community to do something — was a most special opportunity.”

The camp did not escape unscathed. There was significant damage to its lake, as the storm destroyed the drainage system and the lake emptied.

Aside from that there was minor damage to some roofs and downed trees.

A benefit concert for Jacobs Camp was held on Sept. 29 in New York City.

Houston was the destination for roughly half of the New Orleans Jewish community, and the Federation office there also became headquarters for the “New Orleans Federation in Exile” as Bissinger described it.

Roselle Ungar, who was assistant executive director at the Federation, said “everyone got 713 area codes” and communicated by text message.

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September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 19

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and find out where others had gone.

ZAKA and Chabad rescue teams evacuated dozens of Jews and many non-Jews who had stayed behind.

A Chabad team wandered the Mississippi coast, checking on Jewish families by using a list from years of travels through the area, offering assistance with everything from food to ripping out moldy carpets.

Birmingham welcomed at least 100 from the New Orleans Jewish community, with some remaining in the city permanently. A reception was held on Sept. 15 to welcome the newcomers and let them know what services the community had to offer, whether they were staying for a few weeks or long-term.

Baton Rouge was also a destination for many in the New Orleans Jewish community, as were Mem- The satirical Jewish Krewes had phis and Atlanta. no lack of targets for the 2006 About 80 took refuge in Jackson parade as the city’s overall population doubled temporarily. Shreveport had about 70 from the New Orleans Jewish community.

Bluma Rivkin commented that as someone who hosts guests all the time, “being forced to be a guest after being a host” was a new experience, and “it was torture” to receive instead of give.

When school began a week after the storm, 85 children from New Orleans were enrolled in Houston’s Jewish schools as of that date. Ungar pointed out that a lot of non-Jewish families hadn’t been able to enroll children in schools by then. “The Houston community was extraordinary to us,” and noting the floods in Houston this past May, added “it’s now our turn to take very good care of them.”

Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis enrolled 24 students from New Orleans within a week of the storm. With children settling into new schools and New Orleans schools not opening for several months, many young families decided not to return.

The New Orleans Jewish community in Houston held its first meeting on Sept. 7 at Beth Israel, with about 200 attending. That was originally the date for the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans’ annual meeting.

That same evening, Bobby Garon and Allan Bissinger were having dinner in Baton Rouge with representatives of United Jewish Communities, now Jewish Federations of North America, and the Association of Jewish Family and Child Agencies, where the representatives “discussed their vision of being able to assist our Jewish community getting back on our feet.”

At the previously-scheduled annual meeting of the Federation, Bissinger was to succeed Garon as president of the agency. As they sat in the restaurant, Garon took Bissinger’s napkin and silverware and hid it. When the meal arrived, Bissinger looked for his utensils. Then Garon produced them and said “consider this, my friend, the passing of the gavel.”

Jewish Family Service and the Jewish Endowment Foundation set up Baton Rouge offices to assist evacuees.

On Sept. 18, another “originally” was reworked as the New Orleans Federation held a meeting in Baton Rouge, at the Louisiana State University Faculty Club. The evening was originally going to be a celebration of the Baton Rouge Federation’s 36th anniversary.

At the Baton Rouge event, Carol Smokler of UJC presented the first third of what became an initial $1 million to help with the recovery effort. A delegation from IsraAID, which had been working quietly in St.

10 years forward Bernard and Plaquemines Parish, spoke about their efforts.

On Sept. 23, Hurricane Rita followed, making landfall at the Louisiana-Texas border and forcing evacuations in Houston.

In Baton Rouge, Beth Shalom had been preparing for a huge Rosh Hashanah crowd, but roof damage from Rita flooded the building.

They had to re-evacuate Torah scrolls that had been brought there from Touro Synagogue and the New Orleans Jewish Day School.

This hallway at Shir Chadash five weeks after the storm was a scene repeated across the community

Beth Shalom held High Holy Day services at Jefferson Baptist Church as they began to repair their damage.

With the High Holy Days starting late in 2005, two New Orleans congregations held Rosh Hashanah services as some community members began making their way back to New Orleans Federation leaders and national UJC representatives the city despite few gathered in Baton Rouge on Sept. 18 services, questionable housing and spotty utility service. Several had been brought to Baton Rouge from Gates of parts of the city were reopened a few days before Prayer before the flood.

Rosh Hashanah.

Touro Synagogue’s service the next morning While Shir Chadash held its main service in packed over 200 into their chapel, including Houston, led by Rabbi Theodore Lichtenfeld, relief workers, military personnel and FEMA New Orleans native Anne Brener, a Reform rab- workers. binical student, led Rosh Hashanah services in Across the lake, Northshore Jewish CongreMetairie. About 100 crowded the chapel at Shir gation had been holding outdoor services since Chadash, where the carpet had been ripped out the storm until their building was deemed safe and one Torah was in the ark — a Torah that two weeks later. They had about 300 for Rosh

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Hashanah.

Beth Israel in Biloxi held services at Keesler Air Force Base, with a rabbi and cantor who were sent from United Synagogue.

With its Lakeview building unusable, New Orleans’ Beth Israel was able to hold a Yom Kippur service at the Comfort Inn in Kenner. In addition to losing their building, long-time gabbai Meyer Lachoff died just before Woldenberg Village was evacuated when the levees broke.

For the service, Beth Israel received surplus books from a New York congregation that had just dedicated new books in memory of their long-time gabbai. As dedication plates were prepared for the surplus books in memory of the two gabbais, it was noticed that the New York congregation had originally received those books from Chevra Thilim in New Orleans, one of the congregations that merged to form Shir Chadash.

Beth Israel’s Rabbi Yisroel Shiff, whose home was lost in the flood, took a new position in New Jersey two months after the flood.

Regular services began at most congregations in mid-October, though at first, curfews meant Shabbat evening services had to be held early.

As community members continued to trickle in, the community’s divisions fell by the wayside. Rabbis were not Reform, Conservative or Orthodox, they were simply New Orleans rabbis, doing what they could for whoever needed help.

The Uptown JCC was able to reopen its fitness area on Oct. 20, with the rest of the building, including the nursery school, opening on Jan. 3, 2006. Before then, the JCC offered a “Katrina Recovery Daycare Center” for parents trying to get their homes livable or get jobs started up.

Arlene Barron, then executive director of the JCC, had spoken at the JCC Association board meeting in New York on Sept. 12, after which an effort was made to have the national group pay employees and keep the institution on track to reopen.

FEMA used the JCC auditorium as an operations headquarters for several months.

The Metairie JCC required extensive first floor renovations, with the gym floor being

10 years forward a major project. All of the workout equipment on the second floor was damaged by the humidity and had to be replaced. The facility finally reopened on March 26.

The Federation reopened its Metairie office on the third floor of the Metairie JCC on Oct. 24. By then, approximately 1,000 to 1,500 members of the Jewish community had returned. Jewish Family Service also reopened its Metairie office that month.

“It was important that Federation hung its shingle in the city” as quickly as possible, Ungar noted.

In late 2005, it was estimated that Jewish organizations and congregations would have $20 million in losses and operational deficits through the end of 2007.

National organizations agreed to cover salaries and keep all New Orleans institutions open. Ungar said many of them would have done the work regardless, but having a paycheck coming in was very important and it enabled them to concentrate on their work rebuilding the community.

With UJC consultants and staff from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, a two-year plan was launched to keep the community working through survival mode into rebuilding mode.

Beth Israel, needing a new permanent home, took up residence at Gates of Prayer, receiving international attention for the novelty of an Orthodox congregation meeting at a Reform congregation.

As the year continued, New Orleans Hillel embarked on a national “Reunion Road Trip” for Tulane students who found themselves at other universities across the country.

Young Judaea organized a Caravan for Katrina, which stopped in Montgomery and Mobile on the way to New Orleans.

National Jewish organizations issued numerous grants across the region, concentrating on New Orleans, the Mississippi Coast and Baton Rouge, but also Lake Charles, Lafayette, Alexandria, Shreveport, Jackson and Hattiesburg; as well as places like Nashville, Houston and San Antonio, where large groups of evacuees lived.

The Birmingham Jewish community immediately set a high goal for hurricane relief, raising over $1 million in cash and in-kind donations.

Birmingham’s BBYO chapters raised $6500 in two events, and national BBYO sold 1500 relief T-shirts as a fundraiser.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger issued $1 million in grants to organizations working on disaster relief.

The Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana, Damage inside Biloxi’s Beth Israel which returned to its offices on Dec. 5, issued $1.4 million in grants that month from rainy-day funds.

Jewish Family Service processed need-based financial assistance, and the Federation launched a grant program for one-time expenses incurred in returning to the area.

Rosh Ha’Ayin, New Orleans’ Partnership 2000 community in Israel, got into the act and a Children to Children campaign raised $4,000 for hurricane relief.

One campaign that did not take place was the 2006 Annual Cam-

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10 years forward

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paign for the New Orleans Federation. Instead, the Super Sunday-style phoneathon in January was to contact community members and see what forms of assistance they needed.

By the end of 2005, over $30 million had been raised by Jewish organizations. UJC had raised $25.5 million and URJ had raised $3.5 million, and over $600,000 for SOS New Orleans, to help maintain operations at the four New Orleans Reform congregations.

Rabbi Robert Loewy of Gates of Prayer noted that they have a display in their building listing “the hundreds of people and organizations that donated to us. It’s something we will never forget.”

At the Union for Reform Judaism biennial in mid-November, held in Houston, about 40 delegates from the New Orleans area’s four Reform congregations, including all four rabbis, marched Torahs that had been rescued from the flood during the opening session. The Torahs were then used for the convention’s Shabbat services.

Helping the food situation for much of the community, Kosher Cajun reopened on Nov. 18 after extensive renovations from flood damage and the loss of $100,000 in inventory.

By Chanukah, the festival of rededication, more of the community was able to return, and December saw several “welcome back” events. Rabbi Irwin Kula and Rabbi Tzvi Blanchard of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership held events in Baton Rouge and New Orleans’ Temple Sinai on Dec. 12 and 13.

The community-wide Chanukah homecoming was held on Dec. 20 at the Uptown JCC, with Dashka Roth teaming with artist Gary Rosenthal and Rosenthal’s Hiddur Mitzvah project. Communities from across the country made hundreds of mosaic glass Chanukah menorahs and dreidels that were distributed at the event, along with toys and school supplies that had been donated.

Chabad and Krewe du Jieux held a Chanukah menorah lighting and parade at Riverwalk, and Hadassah held a Chanukah party as its first post-storm gathering.

In Biloxi, a group of Jewish volunteers was surprised to stumble upon a Chanukah celebration at Beauvoir United Methodist Church on Dec. 18, where the community was holding its annual party.

Still, in early December the Federation had found only 845 Jewish households that had returned. An initial survey gave better than anticipated results to the question of how many would eventually return, but congregations started their planning with the idea that one-third of their membership would not return.

With winter break approaching, Jewish groups were among those that flocked to New Orleans to volunteer in the recovery. The Federation set up a Volunteer Referral Program to coordinate the Jewish groups with

Dancing at the Jewish Music Festival 24 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

10 years forward local agencies that could use their help.

Representatives from Minneapolis-based Nechama worked for several months in Hattiesburg and Gulfport, and organized teams of volunteers for week-long trips to New Orleans.

Saying they had never considered not marching, the Krewe du Mishigas and the “wandering” Krewe du Jieux took to the streets with a FEMA-skewering agenda for the Krewe du Vieux’s “C’est Levee” parade on Feb. 11, in the early days of a controversial Mardi Gras season.

While members paraded in Hazmat suits or blue tarp outfits, Mishigas’ “NOLA’s Ark” sailed through the Quarter. Because local suppliers had been closed after the flood, the group had to import bagels for their prized throws.

On Feb. 16, the Federation held a community celebration in place of its annual campaign celebration, recognizing UJC and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff ’s Office, which helped coordinate rescue missions that retrieved about 50 members of the New Orleans Jewish community and many non-Jews. The event also featured guest speaker Carl Bernstein, and it was announced that half of the community had returned.

By March, the Federation had listings of 177 New Orleans Jewish households in Houston. Another 106 were reported to be in Baton

Rouge, and 96 in Florida. Another 81 households were in Atlanta, 65 in Dallas, 35 in Memphis, 29 in California, 21 in New York and 21 in Birmingham.

Also in March, Federation Executive Director Eric Stillman announced he was taking a position with UJC of Broward County, Fla. An “inaugural” New Orleans International Jewish Music Festival was scheduled for April 1 and 2 with many nationally-known performers, organized by Hiddur Mitzvah, Moment magazine and the Federation to help revitalize Jewish life in the area.

For those still without a kitchen as Passover approached, the community held a joint Seder at the Hilton Riverside on April 12 coordinated

by Hadassah.

In May 2006, the North American Association of Synagogue Executives held its meeting in Biloxi, holding a service outside the ruined Beth Israel building.

For Jacobs Camp, summer 2006 was important because the previous summer was the last “normal” experience before Katrina. Over onefourth of the campers had been displaced by the storm and scholarship demands were expected to be high.

Aside from the lake draining when a tree

went through the dam, the Museum building’s air conditioning was fried by a brownout during Hurricane Rita.

Still, the camp reported record enrollment for 2006.

The Foundation for Jewish Camp set up a $1.5 million emergency scholarship fund for 2006, estimating about 400 families that sent their children to Jewish summer camp had been economically devastated by the storm. Jewish Children’s Regional Service was tapped to administer “Habayita: Coming Home to Jewish Camp.”

Fall 2006 saw the reopening of a much smaller New Orleans Jewish Day School, which has since been renamed Jewish Community Day School. Since the storm, the school has gone through fifth grade, making the Class of 2005 the only eighth-grade graduates in the school’s history.

The first anniversary did bring celebrations.

The first Torah donated to Beth Israel was dedicated, following the effort of Los Angeles teen Haley Fields to raise funds.

Tulane Chabad also held a groundbreaking for a previously-planned new facility.

At that point, roughly two-thirds of the New Orleans Jewish community had returned, and it

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 25

10 years forward was time to face hard choices. The community had an infrastructure for at least 10,000 — should there be downsizing to match the returnees’ numbers, or should there be an effort to expand the community’s size?

Jewish Family Service launched an interest-free loan program to bring back community members, with loans of up to $15,000 per household or business. When Gerber stepped down from JFS in 2013, 97 percent of those loans had been repaid, and she figures it is closer to 99 percent now.

It wasn’t just the money, she said, it was being able to sit with people and listen.

The first anniversary was also the day that the Federation interviewed Michael Weil, who would become the Federation executive director, using his background in urban renewal and strategic planning.

In 2007, the Federation implemented a newcomer’s program, offering incentives for those who agreed to move to the area. A renewed effort was made to retain Jewish graduates of Tulane, and social service agencies drew a large number of idealistic Jewish young adults.

That, and a renewed entrepreneurial spirit in the area, have helped turn the New Orleans Jewish community from one where the young people went elsewhere for opportunity to one that has opportunities to attract young people.

The Federation states that over 2500 newcomers arrived through the program, and the Jewish community now stands at 10,300.

Almost every large national Jewish group held a major meeting in New Orleans in an effort to help the recovering convention and hospitality industry. The UJC’s General Assembly was in New Orleans in 2010, attracting 5,000 delegates.

There are still struggles — membership numbers are still down somewhat at most congregations. The Federation’s annual campaign is now about where it was before the storm.

Cutting the ribbon at Beth Israel’s new building in Metairie in 2012 But innovation continues in the community, from the arrival of AVODAH and Moishe House to the inauguration of LimmudFest. Touro Synagogue embarked on an experiment where the dues structure is entirely voluntary.

The three Reform youth groups combined into one JewCCY chapter, and the Jewish young adults groups combined into JNola.

Weil said that in 2015, the New Orleans Jewish community “is strong, robust, growing, rejuvenating and thriving in ways that many would have deemed impossible at the time.”

The Jewish Women’s Archive embarked on Katrina’s Jewish Voices, an oral history archive available online. At a June program held at Touro Synagogue, JWA Executive Director Judith Rosenbaum said “what happens when the world splits open? Women tell the truths about their lives.”

In one video from 2006, Julie Wise Oreck went out on a limb, figuratively, by saying “it is possible we are going to be a better community.

We’re going to survive together. We’re going to come together in a way that no other community has done.”

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10 years forward TikkuNOLAm participants learn much work remains in Katrina recovery Ten years after the levees broke, the recovery effort still continues in parts of New Orleans.

Despite an excessive heat warning, about 60 members of the New Orleans Jewish community got up early on Aug. 9 to spend the day working on rebuilding four homes with the St. Bernard Project.

TikkuNOLAm was coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans as a day of community service with the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching.

The Federation presented the St. Bernard Project with a check for $5,000 as part of the day. It costs St. Bernard Project roughly $40 to $50 per volunteer for staff oversight and building materials.

Liz McCartney, who co-founded St. Bernard Project with Zack Rosenberg, said they have completed 604 homes since they came to New Orleans nine and one-half years ago “to volunteer for a couple of weeks. And here we are.”

They founded the organization in August 2007. “Our goal is not only to finish the job in New Orleans, but to make sure there is no other community that 10 years after a disaster is still trying to recover,” she said.

To that end, in addition to the 80,000 volunteers they have had in New Orleans, the project is also in New York and New Jersey working on Hurricane Sandy recovery, has rebuilt 200 homes in Joplin, Mo., following tornadoes there, and is now working on flood recovery in Texas.

The need is still great, explained Carol Ramm-Gramenz, in neighborhoods that tourists never see. “We get calls every day,” and with the 10th anniversary coming up, people who had given up hope Rabbi David Polsky tries his hand at cutting sheetrock of having their homes repaired are inspired by stories of the groups tially rebuilt, with progress halted when the clithat are still out there, working to rebuild. ents ran out of money. Some are living without Some of the clients have homes that are par- working plumbing or electricity, or living with

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hazardous mold. There are also those who want to return to the city but still haven’t been able to rebuild.

The day was co-chaired by Peter Seltzer and Julie Wise Oreck. Oreck, who was sidelined by a foot injury, called the day “a perfect example of rebuilding.”

Seltzer, a paramedic, spoke about how he was in New Orleans when Katrina hit “and saw what the storm did to my city.”

He ended up in Philadelphia, knowing that he would return to New Orleans. “I always felt I had a responsibility to come back and do this type of work,” he said.

Patricia, a client of the project whose home in the Lower 9th Ward was completed earlier this year, said the project is “a gift that keeps on giving,” especially for someone like her who is in a wheelchair from a traumatic car accident after Katrina. “The city was trying to take my property,” she said, but St. Bernard Project got everything figured out and “the next week they were building my home.”

Many of the volunteers were relative newcomers, but some were veterans of the storm. Saying “we’re all part of this,” Karen Remer related that her Uptown home was not livable until December 2005, but they remained in Maryland for the rest of the school year, returning in the summer of 2006.

Other volunteers came from the ranks of Tulane students or JNOLA members. Ivy Cohen, director of youth engagement with JewCCY, had hoped to bring some of her teens, but the project was limited to ages 16 and up.

Most of the work for the sweaty day was hanging drywall, after a brief tutorial on measuring, cutting and the proper technique for the power screwdrivers.

Three of the homes are on St. Roch Avenue, with a fourth home that is closer to completion on Louisa Street.

Patricia talks about how her home was redone by St. Bernard Project 28 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 29

community Bryant leads Miss. Israel trade mission

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The Mississippi Development Authority announced on Aug. 18 that Governor Phil Bryant will lead a delegation of Mississippi companies on a business development mission to Israel from Nov. 8 to 12.

The trip is designed to connect Mississippi businesses that want to expand trade and create new business relationships with qualified buyers in Israel.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Glenn McCullough and Mississippi Manufacturers Association President and CEO Jay Moon also will participate in the trip.

The trip will coincide with the UVID International Conference of Unmanned Vehicles, which will be held Nov. 9 and 10. The conference is a joint venture between AUVSI Israel Chapter and Israel Defense, the leading organizations in the Israeli Unmanned Systems industry. Israel is known as one of the leading countries in the world in the development and operational implementation of autonomous and unmanned systems technologies, and the conference will offer opportunities to forge business relationships and exchange professional knowledge.

“There is a strong trade relationship developing between Mississippi and Israel, and I’m driven to make that bond even stronger,” Gov. Bryant said. “Since my trip to Israel last year, we’ve hosted a very successful business summit here with Israel’s U.S. Ambassador and Consul General of the Southeast.

The Israel Meets Mississippi summit was held in Jackson on April 27 and 28, with Ambassador Ron Dermer and then-Consul General Opher Aviran in attendance. There were over 100 pre-scheduled meetings between Israeli companies and Mississippi entities.

Bryant called the November 2014 trip to Israel “the best opportunity for Mississippi since our relationship with Japan” and noted that deals were already being finalized during that trip.

“Israel is one of the fastest growing and most technologically advanced countries in the world, and Mississippi businesses can benefit from making connections with their enterprises,” Bryant said. “This business development mission to Israel is a cost-effective opportunity for Mississippi businesses interested in developing or expanding trade into Israel to make connections with prospective buyers and generate new investment through international trade.”

Prior to meeting with business members of the state delegation, MDA works with qualified potential buyers, agents, distributors and joint venture partners from countries targeted in business development missions.

MDA also works with Mississippi firms before, during and after the trip to help them best capitalize on the opportunities realized as a result of participation.

In some cases, the U.S. Small Business Administration-funded Mississippi State Trade Export Promotion program may reimburse eligible businesses up to 50 percent of travel costs, including airfare, lodging and per diem. The program also provides interpretation services at no cost.

Additional services include scheduled appointments with qualified prospects covered at 75 percent and free pre-mission market research and business potential assessment.

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Byrne critical of administration’s handling of Iran negotiations Back from Israel visit, Congressman addresses Mobile’s Jewish community

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While U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama spoke mostly about his experiences throughout Israel during his August visit, the focus of most of those in attendance at his talk at Springhill Avenue Temple in Mobile on Aug. 23 was Iran.

Byrne had returned a week earlier from his second visit to Israel, a trip with other Republican Congressional representatives coordinated by the American Israel Education Foundation. A trip for Democrats departed a few days earlier, and the groups intersected briefly in Israel.

Byrne explained that every two years, AIEF takes freshman representatives to Israel. He was considered a sophomore representative, but went because he went to Congress after a special election that took place after the trip two years ago, and this was his first opportunity.

Also on the trip were Louisiana Reps. Garret Graves and Ralph Abraham, and Alabama Rep. Gary Palmer.

Palmer said the Iran deal would result in war. Having read the entire deal, he said it allows Iran to ramp up terrorist activity and will lead to an arms race in the region.

Abraham describes the Iran deal as a “historic mistake” that “gives Iran an unrestricted pathway to build a nuclear weapon.” Lifting sanctions also opens Iran up to sponsoring more terrorist groups that threaten both U.S. and Israeli interests.

He urges the continuation of the sanctions that brought Iran to the table, and including Israel in the negotiating process.

He said he couldn’t find anyone in Israel who liked the deal, interacting with people during his morning jogs and talking with Israeli government officials on both sides of the political divide.

“Every time I think about this deal, I’m baffled that the United States would turn its back on one of our strongest allies to cozy up to one of our most ardent enemies,” Abraham said.

Graves said Iran simply can’t be trusted, and “any deal that eases the regime’s path to a nuclear weapon or threatens our ally Israel is a bad deal.”

Last year Byrne visited Israel as part of a trip with the House Armed Services Committee, where he is a member, but his two days there were entirely meetings, so “this was my first real trip.”

After his description of the trip, just about all of the questions were on the Iran deal, which he noted gives the United States “nothing back” but will lead to more U.S. involvement in the region — one way or the other.

The deal will lead to an immediate arms race in the Middle East, with the Saudis and Egypt pursuing nuclear weapons in response to Iran. With the deal “We have accepted Iran as a nuclear power,” but “I do not accept Iran as a nuclear power.”

During the trip, the delegation visited with Israeli Prime Minister

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Benjamin Netanyahu for two hours. “He started like a college professor, with charts and graphs, and he ended up like a good ol’ Sunday Baptist preacher.”

With a room full of Republicans, Byrne noted that Netanyahu was speaking to the converted, but “he made a compelling case for why the U.S. Congress should reject the deal with Iran, not because of the threat it poses to Israel, but the threat it poses to the U.S.” Iran does not need Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles to hit Israel, Byrne noted. They are needed “to attack the U.S. and Europe.”

He disagreed with the assessment by deal proponents that the only alternative to the Iran deal is war. “We’re already at war,” he said. “Iran is already paying for the training and equipment for terrorists being used against American military personnel… the idea we’re going to go to war presumes we’re not already at war.”

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been promoting the Iranian side of the deal, Byrne said. “I had to go to Israel to get the U.S. side of the deal.”

He also noted that Democrats in Congress are “in pain. They do not want to go against their president” but they have serious concerns over the agreement.

Byrne believes that Congress will reject the deal, but whether there are enough votes to override the inevitable presidential veto is still in question.

It isn’t unprecedented for Congress to reject deals. Byrne mentioned the SALT-2 treaty.

“We came back in the 1980s and got far more reaching weapons control agreements.”

His view is of an agreement where sanctions against Iran are lifted gradually as Iran’s nuclear capabilities are removed. “The only reason to have centrifuges is to have weapons-grade nuclear material,” despite Iranian protests that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

Byrne said the agreement is filled with concessions that the administration previously called red lines that would not be crossed.

He also blasted the “side agreements” that are being kept confidential. “You elect me to do my homework for you. How can I do that” if the terms are not being disclosed.

If the agreement goes through, he noted that it is not a treaty. Treaties survive administrations, but agreements do not, and the next president can reverse the agreement. However, there is still a year and a half remaining in Obama’s term, and “things can be locked in on the ground” that would become impossible to reverse.

If the deal does go through, the best case is that the U.S. government would be more involvement to try and keep proliferation from “blowing up on us.”

There would need to be more financial and military aid to allies affected “by enhanced

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terrorism” and U.S. involvement in “tamping down threats to stability.”

Though the rhetoric in the Middle East is hatred of the U.S., the U.S. is seen as an “indispensible leader.”

The Republican group left for Israel on Aug. 8, and the biggest disappointment came first when both groups had dinner with the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. “We got a political speech instead of what I’m used to getting when I go on foreign tours,” he said. The canned responses instead of candor disappointed both Democrats and Republicans.

The group went to Sderot and visited with those who were on the receiving end of missiles from Gaza. They also saw the border with Gaza, then had lunch with soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces and saw an Iron Dome battery in Ashkelon.

They toured the outer neighborhoods of Jerusalem — “other people would call them settlements,” he noted, looking across the valley from Gilo, which in past years had been the target of random sniping from Bethlehem.

Seeing the security fence “gives us a first-hand understanding of what they face” in battling terrorism, Byrne said.

They had lunch with the opposition leadership, and Byrne noted that while the opposition feels they can easily topple the government, the opposition is in complete agreement with Prime Minister Netanyahu about the Iran deal. In fact, they didn’t find anyone who disagreed about opposing the deal.

They toured the Old City in Jerusalem, and Byrne called visiting the Western Wall a highlight of the trip. Being separated from his wife at the holy site was a new experience for them, but after they each visited their respective areas, “we had a very emotional moment after praying separately… (it had) great significance and great meaning for us.”

He was less moved by visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where three Christian denominations battle over the site, and the commercialism there made it “kind of hard to get as much significance of that as we did at the Wall.”

Being in the Galilee was different, with a visit to the Beatitudes, which “exuded powerful spirituality.” They also visited Kfar Nahum, which in church is taught as Capernaum.

They also saw a village with a fourth-century church near a large fourth-century synagogue. To him, that spoke of a time in the early days of Christianity when the two faiths lived together and cooperated, positive relations that were not always the case throughout history.

He noted that as an Episcopalian, they generally are “sprinkled” for Baptism. At the Jordan River, they decided to do the full immersion.

The group met with Israeli innovators and entrepreneurs. Dan Senor, author of “Start-Up Nation,” was with the group. They also went to the part of central Israel where the Green Line to the sea is nine miles wide, and visited a seaside town that “could have been Gulf Shores or Orange Beach.”

On the Golan Heights, they were on the border just a mile or so from where fighting was raging in Syria. He remarked on the importance to the world of Israel having the high ground of the Golan to monitor what is happening elsewhere.

The delegation went into the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah. They met with Mahmoud Abbas, who was “impressive” but nevertheless “did not have much to say” because of internal difficulties.

The atmosphere in the PA is “dramatically different” than in Israel, and Byrne noted that the Palestinians have to learn self-reliance from the Israelis and make their country. “The Palestinians don’t have the institutions needed to have a successful, peaceful, democratic state.” If the Palestinians were just given statehood today, “it would fail” and to see an example of that, “look at Gaza. And I don’t think that’s good for the Palestinians.”

Another change in tone came when the group went to Bethlehem. The Israeli guides and security could not go into Bethlehem with them, so

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they were handed over to Palestinian representatives and guides.

There was a huge — and nervous — Palestinian security force surrounding the Congressional delegation. “They hurried us through the Church of the Nativity” and seemed eager to get them back out of town as quickly as possible.

Back in Jerusalem, they had home hospitality for Shabbat dinner.

Noting he had been to Shabbat dinner with several families in Mobile, he said the experience was “incredibly meaningful.” He was especially taken by the ceremony of blessing the family’s son — who is a soldier in the IDF “with movie-star looks.”

They did an early-morning trip to Masada. “I saw the movie. You don’t get it until you go there,” he said, adding his amazement at how hot it was so early in the morning.

Then they had to do the “one cheesy tourist thing,” float in the Dead Sea and slather on the mud. After a while he noticed that all the Israeli tourists were in the hotel swimming pool, while “it was just the crazy American tourists who were in the Dead Sea.” Reflecting on his experience at the Western Wall, Byrne noted that as a lifelong Christian, at that moment “I knew that I’m also Jewish. And sometimes as Christians we forget that… at the very heart of who we are, we’re Jewish” spiritually.

In Congress “I hope I can live up to the standards my big brothers and sisters have set for me,” he concluded.

Atlanta Consulate could fall victim to Israeli budget cut Could Atlanta be losing its Israeli consulate?

The Israeli government is looking to cut the Foreign Ministry budget by NIS 55 million. According to a piece in the Jerusalem Post, that would put the consulates in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Atlanta on the path to closing, as well as the embassy in Cameroon.

The budget was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Aug. 6, but will need to go through several votes in the Knesset As an example of close ties, over the next three months. in April Mississippi Governor The Atlanta consulate has often Phil Bryant gave honorary been referred to as Israel’s embassy to Mississippi citizenship to CNN, and to a passionately pro-Israel Ambassador Opher Aviran Christian community. The Atlanta office serves Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas.

The next-closest consulates are in Houston and Miami.

The consulate just welcomed Ambassador Judith Varner Shorer as the new consul general, after Ambassador Opher Aviran completed his term in June. Aviran was seen as developing close relationships with government officials and other groups in the region during his tenure.

Atlanta is also home of Conexx: America Israel Business Connector, which credits the consulate’s activity with being a large part of the increased success of business ties between the region and Israel.

Foreign Ministry officials noted that Israel has only 100 foreign embassies while Iran has 167, and at a time when Israel is making its case against a nuclear Iran, they are cutting their diplomacy presence while Iran has increased its Foreign Ministry budget by 20 percent.

They also noted that in most of Israel’s embassies there are only two professional diplomats when there are supposed to be four in each.

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History was made at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery last month as a Chabad rabbi completed a five-week Officer Training School, the next step after being sworn in as the first Chabad chaplain in the United States Air Force.

Rabbi Elie Estrin is co-director of the Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center at the University of Washington. With his 11 years of experience on campus, he enters the Air Force as a captain.

Estrin had been sworn in as a military chaplain at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington last September. He had wanted to pursue that path after working with students at Washington who were veterans, but the ban on facial hair was an impediment.

“I felt that there’s a lot I could help with, but I didn’t know what it was,” he said. His brother is a hospital chaplain in Atlanta and his father has done some prison chaplaincy. “None of us expected to go into chaplaincy,” he admitted.

A Providence native, Estrin grew up in Pittsburgh and pursued the life of a Chabad emissary.

When the military beard ban was relaxed last year, he “immediately jumped at it,” called and was told “we don’t have many rabbis, and we need them.”

He was sworn in last year, “but to actually do anything you have to do the officer training.” He hadn’t had any military training and needed the basics — how do you present yourself, how do you salute. “Basic stuff.”

He said OTS is offered five times each year, but summer made the most sense for him. Part of it is because of his duties on campus, but part of it was that daytime in the summer is longer, giving him a better window for doing each of the thrice-daily prayers, which have to be done at certain parts of the day.

The fast day of Tisha B’Av was during the five weeks, and fortunately it was on a Sunday this year, which is a less strenuous day at the school.

Still, there was a field exercise at 5 p.m., “but it wasn’t a significant strain.”

He relied on packaged kosher Meals Ready-to-Eat, and was given the call sign “MRE connoisseur.” Shabbat meals consisted of beef jerky and tuna. At one point he got a Kosher Troops package with a challah.

A mandatory part of the program is “Dining In,” a formal dinner with “a lot of protocol.” He told his commander that he had no problem skipping that, because there was no way he was going to be able to find a kosher meal like that in Montgomery.

He emailed a friend who is in residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who made the connection with Rabbi Yossi Posner of the Bais Ariel Chabad Center. “He was thrilled to come up and bring me a wonderful meal,” and his commander was “blown away that someone would come an hour to deliver a meal” to him.

While it was nice to see “someone who speaks the language,” he also discovered he had a connection to Posner through Posner’s grandfather in Pittsburgh.

While in the program, they did not have an opportunity to interact with others, even in other areas of the base. Still, he noticed how religion plays a greater role in peoples’ lives in the South than in Seattle.

He will be on active duty 25 days a year and be in the reserves, and hopes to serve “as much as possible.”

“I’m not doing it on a day to day basis, but I’d like to serve as much as my normal life allows,” he said.

Is this New Orleans duck kosher?

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The fact that the New World is home to a peculiar species of duck, the Muscovy, was of no real concern to the vast majority of Europeans who emigrated to the United States and Mexico.

The Muscovy, native to Mexico and Central America, and seen all over New Orleans, is large, almost goose-sized, with long claws on its toes and a wrinkly bald face like a turkey’s.

This is all fine, maybe even interesting, unless you’re hungry and happen to have some incredibly strict but simultaneously kind of vague religious dietary laws.

The duck family is large and varied: There are tropical ducks and arctic ducks, ridiculously colorful ducks and boringly drab ducks, ducks that hunt for fish or other prey, and ducks that are obligate vegetarians.

Almost all breeds of domestic duck are descended from the very familiar mallard, but the Muscovy duck is an entirely different species. The Muscovy duck has no close relatives, and scientists aren’t really sure how to categorize the thing. It’s been variously placed in the “perching duck” group along with the wood duck; the “dabbling duck” group along with the mallard; and these days, some mitochondrial DNA sequencing suggests it might be in the shelduck family, along with a bunch of other ducks from halfway across the world.

So you can understand why the Muscovy duck was so confusing to the new residents of the New World, who were only familiar with the common mallard-derived domesticated ducks.

When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they found that the Muscovy had been semidomesticated and used for meat and eggs by various peoples, but those Europeans were barely convinced it was even a duck. There is nothing like it in Europe, Africa or Asia, which makes the Muscovy like a lot of other flora and fauna in the Americas, except the Europeans

immediately wanted to eat the thing.

As the breed is native to the warmer parts of the New World, it achieved some popularity among the residents of such cities as New Orleans by the mid-1800s. At that point, New Orleans had a smallish but observant Jewish community, which was eating Muscovy duck just like the rest of the locals.

That is, until one Rabbi Dr. Bernard (Yissochar Dov) Illowy moved from what’s now the Czech Republic to New Orleans to lead the Jewish community there, serving at Shangarai Chasset from 1861 to 1865, when he left after years of clashing with the community over what he perceived as their lax level of observance. That congregation merged with Dispersed of Judah around 1880 to become Touro Synagogue.

Illowy, through sheer force of personality, created a firestorm of debate about the Muscovy duck that exists to this day.

The rules of Kashrut are scattered across the Torah, declaring foods kosher with little to no explanation. Many of the rules are viewed as guidelines for Biblical-era food safety, a sort of Health Department of the time: pork goes rancid quickly, so don’t eat it. Shellfish are bottom-feeders and can have parasites, so don’t eat them. But the rules for eating birds are surprisingly vague, given the prominence of fowl in Jewish cuisine.

Instead of providing guidelines about which edible birds are kosher and which aren’t, Leviticus 11:13-19 simply lists 24 birds that aren’t kosher, leaving observant Jews to assume that any birds not on the list are OK to eat. That list: 13 “These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 14 the red kite, any kind of black kite, 15 any kind of raven, 16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the white owl, the desert owl,

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community the osprey, 19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.”

Biblical scholars got together and analyzed those verses, reading between the lines to come up with some guidelines. Those guidelines were sorely needed because the scribes that composed the Torah were not aware of the existence of, say, the prairie chicken, or the American turkey.

In general, the scholars’ rules prohibit the eating of birds that are predators (dores, in Hebrew), citing all the birds of prey in the list that appears in the Bible. (This turns out to not be that helpful; hawks are easy to peg as predators, sure, but many birds are omnivorous, or mostly vegetarian but occasionally found to feast on bugs or small amphibians or who knows what else.) But the guidelines, not being as binding as laws that actually appear in the Bible, are a little fluid, and if a biblical scholar makes a strong enough argument, he can ban or allow the eating of certain birds within his community.

Those rules include stuff like “does the gizzard have an inner lining that can be peeled?” and “do Jews have a history of eating this creature?” Even with more specific interpretations like these, it can still be very difficult to figure out whether it’s okay to eat a bird if the bird is so unlike any you’ve ever seen.

Domestic ducks are kosher, though duck is not a particularly common

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Muscovy duck is seen along waterways in the New Orleans area and on the menus of many high-end restaurants. But will it be on the menu of an event in the Jewish community where the dietary laws are followed?

Not according to the Louisiana Kashrut Commission. Rabbi David Polsky stated that the Orthodox Union, which is the largest kosher-certifying body in the United States, treats Muscovy duck as not kosher, and other major agencies share that opinion.

According to OU, “It is clear that many authoritative poskim permitted it, and others did not. In such a case, OU certification will not be given.”

As for a local ruling, the issue is moot because there is no supply.

The local agency could not certify it on its own, as there is nobody in New Orleans that does shechita, the process of kosher butchering.

Therefore, “there’s no real way it could be sold or served without it being certified by other reliable agencies,” Polsky said.

In the decades following Rabbi Illowy’s ruling in New Orleans, other rabbinic authorities around the world were asked to weigh in on the issue, with mixed results. Among them was Rabbi Shmuel Salant, chief rabbi of Jerusalem and great-great-great-grandfather of Birminghamian Nate Salant, who recently stepped down as commissioner of the Gulf South Conference.

Rabbi Salant decreed in 1908 that the birds were kosher.

Decades later, most rabbis reversed the permissive rulings, stating that the earlier rabbis did not have the opportunity to observe the Muscovy’s behavior, and as a predatory bird it is not allowed.

The duck’s popularity in Israel is attributed to the early days of the state. Raising the Muscovy was inexpensive and very attractive as the new state struggled economically in the 1950s, leading some rabbis to be lenient in their interpretations. That does not seem to be the case any more.

In a paper in the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Rabbis Ari Z. Zivotofsky and Zohar Amar state “In 2003 there are no Israelis whom we know of who raise muscovy for its own sake” and “We are unaware of mulard or muscovy currently being sold as kosher in other parts of the world.”

In 2010 a kosher processor in Kiryas Joel, N.Y., issued a recall after it was determined that it had sold a batch of Muscovy duck.

community protein on the Jewish table (except perhaps in Sephardic, or Mediterranean, families). But the Muscovy was so weird that Rabbi Illowy, upon moving to New Orleans and finding it eaten there, immediately declared it off-limits.

New Orleans Jews were familiar with the Muscovy, and told the new rabbi that there was indeed a history of eating this bird, therefore making it kosher, but Illowy arbitrarily declared, according to Kashrut.com, that he doubted the expertise of the rabbis who had allowed the eating of the Muscovy in the past. He is quoted as having bemoaned that there were just four rabbis in all of the United States, and the other three were not at his level.

Various other rabbis in other parts of the world—Argentina, Jerusalem, Hungary—took up the debate, arguing whether it was permissible to eat this weird American duck. No real conclusions were reached; Jewish law is a serious matter, but so is arguing, and rabbis never pass up a chance at a truly epic argument.

Eventually most rabbis declared that if you had already eaten the Muscovy, you had a history of eating the Muscovy, and were therefore allowed to continue eating the Muscovy. But if you had never eaten it, you had no history, and were thus banned from eating the breed.

The Muscovy duck never became nearly as popular as the mallard in the U.S., but bizarrely enough, it became very popular in, of all places, Israel. A scholarly paper from late 2010 from Zohar Amar and Ari Z. Zivotofsky documents its wide acceptance there.

The duck was fairly common in Israel by the late 19th century and was never really considered anything but a kosher duck there. In fact, in early 2010, an Israeli duck farmer shipped, by accident, a huge shipment of Muscovy ducks instead of mallards to kosher communities in the U.S., where the shipment of strange alien-looking ducks was greeted with horror.

The final ruling on whether the Muscovy is kosher comes down to which community’s rules you follow. It’s not nearly as simple as reading the Bible and making a note; this is an argument that can, and probably will, go on forever.

Happy New Year

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L’Shana Tovah!

Nashville to host first kosher Hot Chicken festival and contest While kosher barbecue contests continue to proliferate across the country, and other contests involve everything from chili to red beans and rice, the Nashville Jewish community is unveiling the first Kosher Hot Chicken Festival.

Nashville-style hot chicken isn’t Buffalo wings. Several Feel the burn: Nashville hot chicken, restaurants serve up the city’s extra-hot. fiery signature dish. According to legend, hot chicken was born when a woman found out her man was cheating on her. For revenge, she made his favorite meal, fried chicken — only, she coated the chicken with cayenne.

He loved it, and thus an industry was born.

In the hot chicken spectrum, mild is about equivalent to a Popeye’s spicy. Medium is much hotter, hot is even more extreme and people work up to sample extra hot — which some people eat while soaking in a cold bathtub, and others have likened to a religious experience.

Since this is a kosher event, there won’t be any dairy products to help with the pain.

Teams in the Nov. 8 contest at the Gordon Jewish Community Center will deliver entries in medium, hot and extra hot categories. Prizes will be awarded for tenders, drumsticks, team name and people’s choice.

Registration and event information is available online at nashvillekosherhotchicken.com.

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community Reform rabbis join march from Selma to Washington Reform rabbis from across the country have been in the region over the last month, active participants in America’s Journey for Justice.

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is one of several groups partnering with the NAACP on the march.

The 40-day protest march started in Selma on Aug. 1 and will arrive at Washington Hebrew Congregation on Sept.

15 for an interfaith service and teach-in, followed by an advocacy day on Capitol Hill.

Each day, two or three rabbis are marching with the group, carrying a Torah brought by Rabbi Seth Limmer of Chicago.

“I knew the Jewish community needed to be on this march, from beginning to end,” Limmer said.

Rabbi Robert Loewy from Gates of Prayer in Metairie Rabbi Robert Loewy from Gates marched early in the journey. of Prayer in Metairie with Cornell He attended a rally on the steps William Brooks, president and CEO of the Alabama Capitol Build- of the NAACP ing on Aug. 3, then took part in the march on Aug. 4, walking along U.S. 80 to an evening teach-in by Tuskegee.

On Aug. 16, Rabbi Barry Block of B’nai Israel in Little Rock marched between Atlanta and Athens. Rabbi Jeremy Simons, director of rabbinic services at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, and Rabbi Alexis Pinsky, assistant rabbi at Gates of Prayer, marched on Aug. 17.

Simons noted that of the 24 marchers who set out from Crawford, Ga., that morning, seven were Reform rabbis.

Loewy said they were marching “in the footsteps of history,” recalling that Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath carried a Torah in the 1965 Selma march, next to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

“Compelled by the legacy of our Rabbi Eisendrath, I thought it would be powerful if our Torah scroll didn’t just appear in DC for the final rally, but accompanied us the entire 860mile journey,” Limmer said.

Loewy said carrying a Torah is a “wonderful vehicle for explaining Jewish values to those who are not Jewish.” They also taught Hebrew songs to the marchers, including “Hinei Mah Tov.” When Loewy marched, the Rabbi Barry Block of B’nai Israel, leader was 83-year-old Hazel Little Rock, with Keshia Thomas Dukes, a Montgomery native.

community Loewy thought her name sounded familiar, so after chatting he realized that she had moved to New York as a teen and was a civil rights leader when Loewy was a teen in Nassau County.

The march is focusing attention on several issues — voting rights and barriers to exercising that right, violence and policing, mass incarceration and education.

Block said he was marching because “America cannot fulfill its promise until we end mass incarceration of African American males and restore universal suffrage as envisioned by those who framed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”

Marching with Block and carrying the Torah for a time was Keshia Thomas, who was captured in an iconic photo in 1996. She was part of a counter-protest against a Ku Klux Klan rally in Ann Arbor, Mich., when someone said there was a Klansman in the crowd. As the man was being beaten, Thomas, then 18, threw herself on top of him as a shield and shouted for the attackers to stop. It turned out the man had not been a Klansman, but was wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt and had an SS tattoo.

“She did the Torah scroll honor by carrying it for a mile,” Block said, and she has continued to carry it throughout the 40-day journey.

JCRS reaching over 1500 youth this year While there is still more of 2015 to come, Jewish Children’s Regional Service is already on a pace to serve over 1500 Jewish youth in seven states of the mid-South this year. Youth in 200 communities in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas receive assistance each year.

Many of the programs offered by JCRS, such as special needs scholarships, Chanukah gifts and outreach programs are unique, and not offered by other Jewish social service organizations. Eligibility for all of the scholarship programs is based on documented financial need.

This December, over 200 Jewish youth and 30 state hospital residents from the region will each receive a bag of eight Chanukah gifts. Each bag contains gifts that were selected, individually wrapped and shipped by volunteers and staff of the 156-year-old agency.

The youth who received these gifts are either ongoing clients of JCRS, whose needs are known to the JCRS, or new clients referred by local rabbis and Jewish Family Service agencies. Families who reside in the region can register for gifts now, but they must act quickly by emailing ned@ jrs.org. They will be sent a registration form for each child in the family.

Gifts are age and gender specific, and the form contains a place for children to list their interests.

This year’s Chanukah gift wrap-a-thon will be on Oct. 11 at the Goldring-Woldenberg Jewish Community Campus in Metairie from 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up and help wrap the mountain of gifts.

During 2015, 900 Jewish youth, ages 8 and under, are receiving free monthly books from JCRS through PJ Library, a national outreach program that brings literacy and Jewish learning into family life.

Approximately 70 dependent and special needs youth are being funded or served through the efforts of the JCRS Case Committee, while the JCRS studied the needs of other Jewish youth for whom case plans and funding are pending.

Over the summer of 2015, JCRS funded 316 Jewish campers, who annually attend 35 to 45 different Jewish, non-profit overnight camps across the United States. Financial aid is being provided to approximately 120 college students during 2015, and these students attend undergraduate programs throughout the U.S. as well.

Funds to support the annual budget of JCRS comes primarily from large and small contributions from individuals, families and foundations, and the annual income derived when a family starts a scholarship fund at the agency.

To learn more about the oldest Jewish children’s agency in the U.S., visit the website: www.jcrs.org or call the office at 1-800-729-5277.

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 41

community

Rick Recht leads Birmingham youth in song at community concert Performing in New Orleans on Oct. 18 On Aug. 15, students in Birmingham’s Jewish community joined Rick Recht onstage during a free community concert.

The evening was organized by Robin and Hilton Berger in celebration of their children’s B’nai Mitzvah that morning at Temple Emanu-El, Mason, Adison and Kyra. The concert was co-sponsored by the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, LJCC and N.E. Miles Jewish Day School. The next day, Recht led a teacher training at Temple Emanu-El. After opening with Havdalah, local high school song leaders Ben Honan and Max Klapow accompanied Recht. He was also joined by former Birminghamian Abraham Hausman-Weiss, who now lives in Houston.

Recht will perform in New Orleans on Oct. 18 in the Touro Synagogue main sanctuary. There will be a community lunch at 11:30 a.m. with a $5 suggested donation. The concert will follow at noon.

Auburn offers study abroad at Ben Gurion Auburn University has announced two study abroad programs for students with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, though there is some extra red tape associated with the programs.

They are listed at Auburn Abroad’s Office of International Programs, but on a separate page for ”travel warning” countries according to the U.S. State Department.

According to the site, “Auburn University has implemented a policy precluding all student travel associated with Auburn activity to such countries. However, specific academic activities within countries under travel warning can be allowed under certain circumstances.” Those who want to study at Ben Gurion must apply for a waiver of the warning policy.

The first program offered to students is the Global Health International Summer Program. The scope of this program includes Health in the Age of Globalization and Israeli Public Health Innovation for the world, selfstudy, professional field trips, exercises and small-groups mentoring in the following key areas: public health, globalization, and development.

The second Spring Break program features an Entrepreneurship and Innovation track. Participants in this track develop career skills that will be fundamental to their future work as entrepreneurs or employees, and will be inspired in the same country that created successful products like PillCam, Waze, ICQ and the Intel Pentium MMX chip technology, as well as cellphone and voicemail technology.

42 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

community Chabad expanding campus presence throughout South This fall, Chabad on Campus is opening centers at 19 universities, including the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University. Meanwhile, the Chabad staff at Tulane is expanding, with family ties to the new Alabama center.

The over 230 Chabad on Campus centers are partially funded by a seed grant through the Rohr Expansion Initiative of philanthropists George and Pamela Rohr, and are financially independent.

Chabad at the Capstone

Emory and Central Florida, and a week before they moved to Tuscaloosa, brother Leibel started at Tulane Hillel.

Lipskier said they were attracted to Alabama because it is a growing school with a growing Jewish student enrollment, one that has doubled in the past decade to around 700.

“Our goal is to create a thriving Jewish student community with students from all backgrounds, and create more Jewish awareness and pride on campus and a comfortable place where students can socialize and explore their Judaism on their level in a informal and comfortable homeaway-from-home environment,” he said.

They plan weekly services, a weekly barbecue and holiday observances.

The center is currently being run out of their home at 50 Sherwood Drive.

After finishing his rabbinic studies, Lipskier traveled the world, leading Birthright trips to Israel and providing education and aid to Jews in Brazil, Morocco, Ukraine, Australia, Guatemala and Thailand.

Mrs. Lipskier recently spent a year doing outreach in Florida, and her mother runs a large overnight camp for Jewish girls.

In the short time they have been in Tuscaloosa, “the feedback that we’ve received was incredible, with the students being very excited in joining and being a part of Chabad at Alabama,” Lipskier said.

A Brooklyn rabbi and his wife have moved to Tuscaloosa to “Roll Tide with Jewish pride.”

Seven months after their wedding, Rosie and Rabbi Kussi Lipskier are heading the new Chabad House at the University of Alabama. For their first event, they had a Shabbat dinner with 26 students in attendance on Aug. 21.

Though Lipskier is 26, he isn’t a newcomer to Baton Rouge debut campus outreach. He is After a summer of directing the rejuvenated Gan Israel Day Camp in the ninth of 11 children New Orleans, Chaya Mushka and Rabbi Peretz Kazen have arrived in Bain his family, and for ton Rouge with their infant daughter to establish a Chabad Center there. years two older brothers “For the time being, our house will double as our Chabad center,” said have been with Chabad at Kazen, who grew up in Brooklyn, “so moving into our home is essential-

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 43

simchas community ly opening up our Chabad House as well.”

In addition to opening a Chabad Center, they will also head the local Chabad on Campus, catering to the roughly 350 Jewish students at Louisiana State University.

The Baton Rouge Chabad will be a branch of Chabad of Louisiana, from New Orleans. The Mississippi Coast Chabad that opened last year is also connected with New Orleans.

Before moving to Baton Rouge in August, they visited several times, getting to know members of the community and distributing holiday supplies for Purim and Passover. Baton Rouge has the second-largest Jewish community in the state, estimated at about 1200, with two Reform congregations.

Kazen has served Jewish communities in Japan, Virgin Islands, Ukraine, Greece and Arizona. His father, the late Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Kazen, was regarded as the “Father of the Jewish Internet,” helping develop the Chabad presence online and serving as a “virtual rabbi” worldwide.

Mushka Kazen is the daughter of Rabbi Zelig and Bluma Rivkin, founders of Chabad’s presence in Louisiana. They had been sent to New Orleans in 1975 to establish a presence near Tulane.

“People have been very welcoming,” Kazen said. “There is an upbeat positivity in the air about this great community and what the future will bring.”

Expanding at Tulane

After 16 years of directing the Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center at Tulane University in New Orleans, Sarah and Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin are expanding.

Mushka and Rabbi Leibel Lipskier have moved to New Orleans with their two young children to become the directors of undergraduate student programming at Tulane Chabad.

The Rivkins will focus on the graduate student population, especially providing programming and services for medical and law students who have more diverse schedules. “They don’t really feel like there’s much of a platform for them to meet other young Jews,” said Rivkin. “So that’s something we hope to be able to provide.”

Rivkin said “undergraduate programming is going to grow” because the Lipskiers “will be focused full-time on this significant population.”

There are an estimated 2,000 Jewish undergraduates at Tulane, and about 500 graduate students.

Rabbi Lipskier is one of four siblings running Chabad on Campus efforts. One brother, Rabbi Kussi Lipskier, runs the new Chabad at the University of Alabama.

Mushka Lipskier, who grew up in an emissary family in Montreal, is eager to “really get to know” Tulane’s many Jewish students. She says she values the opportunity to have an impact on them and to learn from them as well.

“College is a pivotal time in their lives,” she says. “There are so many choices, and many are on their own,” away from their families for the first 44 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

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community time. “These are important years to tap into their Judaism.”

The couple organized “Welcome Week,” a back-to-school barbecue and a resource fair as the students returned to campus.

In addition to regular Shabbat dinners, services, social and educational programs, and one-on-one meetings with students, Mushka Lipskier will also hold challah-making classes and a monthly women’s group. “I want them to learn about powerful Jewish women in history,” she said.

Rising senior Sophia Waldstein, 21, met the new Chabad couple at a “meet-and-greet” lunch earlier this year. “I felt like I really connected” with Mushka Lipskier, adding that she looks forward to getting to know the whole family.

Garrett Langfeld, a junior, said “What I’m excited about is that they’ll be able to focus exclusively on undergraduates. They’ll also be a little bit closer in age.”

Langfeld also likes that they seem interested in educational, yet entertaining, ways on engaging students in Jewish life. “I hope they continue ‘Pizza & Parsha’ and many of the other fun programs that might attract students who don’t normally come to Chabad.”

He added that the Rivkins “have been absolutely terrific here; they’re both really warm, welcoming people. They make you feel at home when you’re at Chabad. I’m sure the new couple will follow in their footsteps.”

(Reported with material from chabad.org)

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Amy-Jill Levine, a self-described “Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt,” will speak at numerous venues in Mobile during a scholar-in-residence weekend for the Mobile Christian/Jewish Dialogue.

Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences in Nashville. Her books include “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus” and “The Meaning of the Bible: What The Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us.” Her most recent work is “Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.”

Last November she was the Usdin Lecturer at Temple Sinai in New Orleans, and in January she was featured in a joint weekend coordinated

by Ahavath Rayim and the Episcopal Diocese in Greenwood, Miss.

Her Mobile talks will be announced in more detail later. On Oct. 8 she is scheduled to speak at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Daphne. She will address students at Spring Hill College on Oct. 9, then speak as the Paul and Fran Brown Scholar in Residence that evening at Springhill Avenue Temple.

On Oct. 10 she will speak in the morning at Ahavas Chesed, and that evening at Our Savior Catholic Church. The weekend will conclude with a morning talk at First Baptist Church on Oct. 11.

The Dialogue will also bring in Rabbi Joseph Polak from Nov. 8 to 10. Polak is assistant professor of public health at the Boston University School of Public Health and rabbi emeritus of the Hillel House at Boston University.

A child survivor, he is author of “After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring.”

culture art • books • apps • music • television • film • theatre

Photo courtesy Derek Bridges CC BY 2.0

Louis Armstrong’s cornet

MUSEUMS

Satchmo: His Life in New Orleans While it’s easy to conjure visions of Louis Armstrong traveling with his horn, it’s more difficult to imagine him schlepping a heavy Smith-Corona typewriter everywhere. But that’s just what he did, and his typewritten and handwritten notes, including remembrances of his time growing up with the Jewish Karnofsky family, make up the beginnings of the “Satchmo: His Life in New Orleans” exhibit going on now through Jan. 15, 2016 at the Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans.

The young Louis Armstrong would point to a cornet in a storefront as he made deliveries with Karnofsky and sons, and that Karnofsky would one day purchase for him, explaining that Louis could work it off. The one on display in this exhibit is not that one, but the one Armstrong received and learned to play at the age of 12 while he lived at the Colored Waif ’s Home.

Included in his “Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907” written in 1959 and 1960 is a story of Mother Karnofsky rocking baby David to sleep while singing. “Of course I sang the Lullaby Song with the family... When Mrs. Karnofsky would start singing these words to ‘Russian Lullaby’ we all would get our places and sing it. So soft and sweet.” He also wrote, “I will love the Jewish people, all of my life.”

The exhibit includes family photographs, television clips, artifacts from the Colored Waif ’s Home, and two of his instruments.

DATES

CALENDARS FOR 5776 The Jewish Museum Calendar 2016 Featuring 16 images of paintings, prints, sculptures and ceremonial objects from The Jewish Museum, New York

Hebrew Illuminations: 2016 Calendar Jewish artist Adam Rhine’s Judaic paintings that combine modern styling with medieval illuminated manuscripts and lettering

The Jewish Eye: 2016 Calendar Fans of D. Yael Bernhard’s children’s books and illustrations will especially appreciate her art here, such as ‘Amidah’ and ‘The Rabbi’

Jewish Celebrations 2016 Paintings by Malcah Zeldis Each month, a work by Malcah Zeldis draws on her childhood memories and experiences of Jewish tradition

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While the app is geared toward kids five and under, the shofar feature is fun for all.

Two other very nice features include being able to pick either a girl or boy to star as the main character, and the ability to choose to read or be read to in English or Hebrew.

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September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 47

culture EXHIBITION

‘Darkness Into Life’ at Vulcan The traveling exhibition “Darkness into Life: Alabama’s Holocaust Survivors Through Photography and Art” reaches new heights this month as Vulcan Park and Museum hosts the exhibit for an eightmonth run.

Vulcan, the world’s largest cast iron statue, towers above Birmingham in a facility that includes a museum about Birmingham’s industrial history. In recent years, the museum has explored the diverse immigrant groups that formed communities in the area and helped contribute to the city’s growth.

Ruth Siegler at the first public showing of “Darkness Into Life” in 2007

According to the museum, “One of the most important groups was the Jewish immigrants who played a vital role in keeping Birmingham financially, educationally and industrially relevant. The continued pride in their heritage is now reflected in a moving tribute not only to Birmingham, but to the world itself.”

The exhibit, which opens on Sept. 25, is coordinated by the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. Originally created in 2007, the exhibit combines paintings of the recollections of Holocaust survivors in Alabama with present-day photography and stories of how the survivors rebuilt their lives. The paintings are by Mitzi Levin and the photography is by Becky Seitel.

The exhibit started with nine survivors but eventually expanded to 20 and has traveled to numerous venues across the state. The survivors originated from several different European countries including Germany, Poland, Romania, and Belgium. All tell their unique stories in the exhibit of life before World War II, during the Holocaust, liberation and life thereafter.

“We are looking forward to our partnership with the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center to bring this exhibit to Vulcan Park and Museum’s Linn-Henley Gallery,” said Vulcan Park and Museum President/CEO Darlene Negrotto. “In keeping with our mission to share the history of Birmingham’s diverse community, this display portrays the triumphant stories of human survival and the impact these survivors had on our community upon re-entry into society.”

The exhibit will be at Vulcan through May 16, and additional events connected with the exhibit will be announced soon.

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New Orleans, from the rooftop of the Monteleone

DISCUSSION DISCUSSION Building

New Orleans, from the rooftop of the Monteleone

New Orleans: Building Orleans: A Jewish New Perspective A Jewish Perspective Friends of the Cabildo’s second Thursday lecture series will welcome one

of its guides, Schwartz, to speak at The Old U.S. Mint, 10 atone 6 Friends of theJulie Cabildo’s second Thursday lecture series willSept. welcome p.m.

She will discuss the Jewish history and influence of New Orleans. of its guides, Julie Schwartz, to speak at The Old U.S. Mint, Sept. 10 at 6 Admission is free andthe open to the community. p.m. She will discuss Jewish history and influence of New Orleans.

Admission is free and open to the community.

Courtesy Jerry Speier

Artisanal gefilte fish from The Gefilteria Courtesy Jerry Speier

TELEVISION TELEVISION

Artisanal gefilte fish from The Gefilteria

Holy & Hungry Holy & Hungry Sherri Shepherd hosts Cooking Channel’s new show, “Holy & Hungry,”

discovering people across the nation who feed with a& helping of” Sherri Shepherd hosts Cooking Channel’s new others show, “Holy Hungry, faith and tradition. discovering people across the nation who feed others with a helping of

faith tradition.

In theand premiere, Sherri visited the kosher eatery Holy Schnitzel in Staten Island, and in the Sept. 13 episode at 9 p.m., entitled Cakein&Staten In the premiere, Sherri visited the kosher eatery Holy“Bible Schnitzel Gefilte shethe meets Theentitled Gefilteria in Brooklyn.

Island, 2.0, and” in Sept.the 13co-founders episode at 9 of p.m., “Bible Cake & Their gefilte terrines, crafted from fish brought Gefilteseasonal 2.0,” shesmall-batch meets the co-founders of The Gefilteria in Brooklyn. in from the Great Lakes, are gluten-free and certified by the Next Their seasonal small-batch gefilte terrines, crafted from fish OU. brought year, they’ll be publishing a new cookbook, “The Gefilte Manifesto: New in from the Great Lakes, are gluten-free and certified by the OU. Next Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods. ” year, they’ll be publishing a new cookbook, “The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods.

From visiting Italian pasticcerias and”Hindu restaurants to a church where “Jesus and Mary Biscuits” with chorizorestaurants gravy is served, the show From visiting Italian pasticcerias and Hindu to a church confirms what we know: food brings people together. where “Jesus and Mary Biscuits” with chorizo gravy is served, the show confirms what we know: food brings people together.

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 49

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mazel Matt Schwartz named Tulane Hillel’s Big Pastrami Tulane Hillel announced that Matt Schwartz, a leader in real estate and community development, is the recipient of the second annual Big Pastrami Award.

The award recognizes leaders in New Orleans who have made an impact in its resurgence and recovery. The award will be presented on Nov. 19 at Schmancy, Tulane Hillel’s annual community celebration gala at its new facility on Broadway.

Schwartz first came to New Orleans from New York in the mid-1990s to attend Tulane University. A few years after co-founding The Domain Companies in New York, Schwartz returned to New Orleans with his family. Domain Cos. has become one of the nation’s preeminent real estate investment and development firms with a strong focus on community development.

Domain ignited the redevelopment of Mid-City’s Tulane Avenue corridor with the development of The Preserve, The Crescent Club and The Meridian apartment communities, along with the renovation of single-family homes, neighborhood commercial spaces and community amenities. Most recently, the company created the South Market District, a $250 million project that transformed an area of underused parking lots in the Central Business District into 700 apartments and 200,000 square feet of retail space.

Rabbi Yonah Schiller, Executive Director of Tulane Hillel, said Schwartz “provides an inspiring example of an innovative leader. His passion for building community paired with his entrepreneurial mindset and business skills have provided a much-needed spark for the city’s redevelopment. These efforts and his civic engagement make him a powerful role model for the more than 250 Tulane undergraduates who participate in Tulane Hillel’s leadership incubator each year.

“Even more important than his business success, Matt understands the importance of giving back. As a principal of the Domain Companies, he has created a culture of community involvement that is deeply infused into all aspects of the organization. We are so lucky that Matt and his family have made New Orleans their home and we are very excited to celebrate his accomplishments.”

As part of Schmancy, Tulane Hillel established the Leading Forward Awards, which will be presented to five to seven individuals nominated by the New Orleans community. The Leading Forward Awards recognize local community members who represent the mission of Tulane Hillel.

Nominations are open now and will close on Oct. 2. For more information or to nominate an ideal candidate, visit Tulane Hillel’s website.

Schiller said “As we inspire our student leaders to make an impact in the local community, we will showcase local leaders, across a wide variety of professions, who have made community involvement a priority in their busy lives.”

Rutsky honored for quiz bowl advocacy The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence presented the 2015 Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award to Joshua Rutsky of Hoover High School in Alabama. Rutsky was recognized for his efforts in spreading pyramidal quizbowl in Alabama, including spearheading the transition of the ASCA state championship to a pyramidal format, as well as his enduring willingness to help out new teams and coaches in need of advice. PACE is a national organization that promotes high school quiz bowl and runs the National Scholastic Championship. This year’s national tournament was held June 6 and 7 in Reston, Va.

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Greenberg serving as Alabama SGA V.P. Branden Greenberg of Montgomery is serving as Vice President of Student Affairs on the University of Alabama’s Student Government Association this year.

Greenberg won a runoff election on March 30. A senior Honors and Blount student, Greenberg is majoring in political science and plans to attend law school after graduation. He previously was speaker of the Senate and a senator representing the College of Arts and Sciences.

During his term, he is emphasizing transparency, working with the administration to lower the burden of college costs, organize a philanthropy event that will also include the greater Tuscaloosa community, and expand activities regarding veterans and the Honor Flight Funding Initiative.

Last fall, he was part of a predominantly Jewish group of Alabama students to co-found Alpha Mu Omega, a community service fraternity.

Other co-founders were Abigail Greenberg, Elie Allen, Jon Knohl, Matthew Filderman, James Futterman, Joe Bloomston, and Alex Pattie.

There are approximately 120 members to date.

They provided over 300 meals at Thanksgiving to a homeless shelter, provided and served at the Tuscaloosa community soup bowl, raised school supplies for Al’s Pals, and have visited patients at the Hope Lodge in Birmingham.

They played an active role in Greek Week, which provides community service throughout the Tuscaloosa area.

Alpha Mu Omega was awarded the “Greek Week” Grant and recognized by the University for outstanding service.

Positive Maturity presented its second annual Birmingham Top 50 Over 50 Awards on July 30 at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center.

The awards recognize outstanding citizens who have continued to achieve, dream and contribute to the community on many different levels after the age of 50. Among the honorees were Judy Abroms, Rabbi Jonathan Miller, Lester Seigel, Mike Slive, T.K. Thorne and Linda Verin.

automotive an annual SJL special section

Car manufacturers keep wheels of innovation turning for 2016

by Lee J. Green Automotive manufactures are driving forward innovation, advanced technology, improved fuel economy and performance with their new models for 2016.

Long-Lewis Ford Lincoln

The best-selling vehicle in the world for 22 years in a row, including all cars and trucks — the Ford F-150 pick-up truck — is even more advanced for 2016.

It is the first to have an aluminum alloy body that makes it 700 pounds lighter; more dent resistance; increased towing capacity; improved fuel economy approaching 30 miles per gallon thanks to Ford’s Ecoboost 2.7 engine technology, and it is 100 percent recyclable.

“Ford always wants to be ahead of the curve and to improve what is the world’s most popular vehicle to make it even better,” said Gary Mason, new vehicle manager at Long-Lewis Ford Lincoln. The Ford F-150 with 3.5 Ecoboost engine can pull 12,000 pounds and now offers an automatic, key fob-controlled lift gate.

Mason said the 2015 50th anniversary Mustang has been generating great buzz and sales at the Birmingham area dealership. “We’ve had four times the retail orders with this Mustang than in previous years. It has a vintage feel new design, and is the first Mustang to offer Ford’s Ecoboost technology. It delivers 325 horsepower but still gets 32 miles per gallon.

It’s sportier than anything else on the road with great gas mileage,” he said.

The company has launched its Sync 3 technology in the 2016 Ford Fiesta and Escape. This integrates the technology features on the vehicles, such as phone, climate, navigation, entertainment on its eight-inch screen, for the first time, offering “pinch and zoom” features along with voice control.

From a safety standpoint, Ford’s Adaptive Cruise Control will brake if someone gets too close to a vehicle in front while on cruise control. The vehicles also offer lane-detection features that notify a driver if the vehicle

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drifts into another lane. Additional airbags have also been added to the Fusion and other Ford vehicles.

As for Lincoln, the Ecoboost engine technology was added to the MKZ luxury sedan, which now gets 31 miles per gallon on the highway.

The Lincoln MKX mid-sized crossover vehicles offer the Sync 3 technology as well as push-button transmission to allow for even more interior room.

Mason said Long-Lewis stands behind all its Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

He has been with Long-Lewis for more than 20 years and still drives his 1992 Ford truck with 334,000 miles on it.

“It is amazing to see how much Ford and Lincoln have advanced the brands, especially in the past six to seven years,” he said. “These are American-made products that are more advanced and on-par with anything else in the U.S. as well as across the world.”

Brannon Honda

Honda continues to cross over into some rarified air with its crossover vehicles as well as others that rate best in class in fuel economy as well as resale value.

Patrick Brannon, co-owner of Birmingham’s Brannon Honda, said the Honda CRV crossover vehicle was named 2015 Crossover of the Year and for 2016 Honda has introduced a new HRV compact crossover.

“Honda continues to advance its crossover vehicles to offer even better fuel economy, technology for convenience and safety as well as more features to satisfy all types of customers,” said Brannon.

The Honda Pilot minivan, built nearby in Lincoln, Ala., has been redone for 2016 with a new look and added technology features, including seven USB ports. “It’s the first full makeover of the Pilot since 2008. It is sleeker, aerodynamic and with added features along with improved fuel economy,” he said.

Also new for 2016 will be the popular, redesigned Honda Civic. Brannon said it will be revealed this month at the national Honda dealers show in New Orleans and released shortly after.

Some of the Hondas come equipped or can be equipped with the Honda Sensing Package that offers early collision warning systems including enhanced safety cruise control and lane guidance technologies that can pick up the paint of highway lines to help someone keep a vehicle in its lane.

“Honda doesn’t believe that safety should be an option,” added Brannon.

He said that Brannon Honda now is the only Honda dealership in Alabama to also sell Honda power equipment, including lawnmowers, generators, tillers and pumps.

Ray Brandt Infiniti

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automotive

QX50 premium crossover. The QX50 offers greatly increased rear passenger room, as well as additional cargo space. It also features new exterior styling.

The QX80 full-size SUV, which is limited to 1,000 Special Edition units, features Driver Assistance and Split Bench packages, Saddle Tan high-contrast interior, bodyside moldings and chrome mirror caps.

The flagship Q70 sedan enters the 2016 model year with a new Premium Select Edition package for the standard wheelbase models, featuring unique exterior and interior accents, unique 20inch aluminum-alloy wheels and a rear decklid spoiler. The Q40 is being replaced by a new entry-level model, the Q30 premium compact, in late spring 2016.

Ray Brandt Infiniti earned the coveted Infiniti Award of Excellence for outstanding sales, service and customer satisfaction. They work to exceed the norm and go beyond cars to build life-long Infiniti owners.

The Total Ownership Experience includes complimentary car washes at every service, courtesy loaner vehicles during overnight services and convenient service hours, including Saturdays until 5 p.m. A café-style atmosphere features complimentary fresh pastries and gourmet coffee, sodas and much more.

In addition to new Infiniti models, Ray Brandt

56 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

has luxury pre-owned vehicles ranging from Audi, Mercedes and BMW to Toyota, Nissan and Jeep. A new easy-to-navigate website features chat service and online pricing, allowing for prompt response and information.

Med Center Mazda

Mazda’s Miata sports car has become even sportier and more advanced for 2016, but Med Center Mazda’s Bobby Bloomston said what is great about Mazda is that all its vehicles drive like sports cars.

“Mazdas are fun to drive and thanks to the Skyactiv engine all vehicles get among the best fuel economy in their class,” said Bloomston, an involved member of the Birmingham area Jewish community and a top salesperson at the Birmingham area Mazda dealership for many years.

The new 2016 Mazda Miata boasts a sleeker body style and advanced technology features. The Miata also has a convertible option and starts at $31,000. “The new design is just beautiful and it feels so good to drive it,” added Bloomston.

Also new for Mazda in 2016 is the CX3 crossover vehicle. It is a subcompact SUV that offers an advanced navigation system, blind-spot monitoring and 19-inch wheels. It gets 38 miles per gallon on the highway and starts at around $23,000.

“The CX3 also features Mazda Connect which integrates the technology on the vehicle to offer touch-screen and voice-operated controls on

the console so people can keep their eyes on the road,” he said.

The all-wheel-drive vehicle also offers several other features designed for a safe and comfortable ride. For those that need a bit more interior space, Mazda sells the CX5 mid-sized crossover vehicle and larger CX9.

Bloomston said that currently the CX5 and the Mazda 3 sports sedan have been the highest-selling vehicles at Med Center Mazda. The Mazda 3 gets 40 miles per gallon on the highway and the 2016 Mazda 3 models should be in full supply this month at Med Center Mazda.

“Mazda believes you can have it all — performance, luxury, fuel economy, affordability and enjoyment of the driving experience,” he said.

Benton Nissan

Nissan believes that a sports car can have four doors, and its 2016 Nissan Maxima is proving to be the best of all worlds.

The Maxima has a 300 horsepower engine and increased fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon on the highway. Several added technology features — for performance, convenience and safety — have been added to the Maxima for 2016, which is available now at Benton Nissan in Hoover as well as Anniston.

“The new Maxima brings greater performance, luxury and is even more technological savvy than previous models. It has been a very popular seller for us,” said Tom Morgan, owner loyalty manager for Benton Nissan.

Some of the Maxima’s safety features include predictive forward collision warning, forward emergency braking, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert and rearview as well as aroundview monitors.

Morgan said the new Nissan Murano crossover SUV for 2015 came out earlier this year and is selling well at Benton Nissan, which opened in July 2014 and is the largest volume dealership for Nissan in Alabama.

The Murano is Nissan’s mid-sized crossover SUV, larger than the subcompact Rogue but smaller than the Pathfinder SUV. Morgan said the new Murano features a “sportier look and complete redesign.” It also has advanced technology amenities that can be voice-activated.

In Nissan’s truck line, the Titan has been redesigned for 2016 and has gone to a diesel engine.

This allows for more towing power along with greater fuel economy.

“Nissan continues to push forward with advancements in technology that lead to even better vehicles. There is a Nissan that is right for every type of driver need,” added Morgan.

automotive

King Acura

Acura has cruised to a 12 percent sales increase over the previous year and the automaker continues to drive forward innovation, along with more features for its 2016 models.

King Acura General Manager Reed Lyles said that Acura restyled the RDX SUV for 2016 with a sleeker body and Jewel Eye LED headlights. It also can come with the Advanced package option, which includes adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring and heated seats.

RDX owners can also enjoy a power tailgate as standard equipment.

“It was just announced that Acura is the only luxury automotive brand to have all its lines earn the top U.S. Government Safety Rating,” said Lyles.

He said beginning in 2013, Acura incorporated more advanced engine technologies and body redesigns to enhance fuel economy.

For the 2016 MDX, a larger SUV than the RDX, a new nine-speed electronic push-button transmission comes as standard equipment. “Having nine speeds makes the ride even smoother between shifts and also offers greater fuel economy,” said Lyles, also adding that it allows for more interior room and an even-more luxurious look to the MDX. The nine-speed electronic push-button transmission is also available on the TLX luxury sedan. Another feature of the TLX, which was redesigned for 2015, is its noise-cancelling acoustics. The mid-sized sedan also now can get 34 miles per gallon on the highway, with the smaller ILX boasting 36 miles per gallon.

Acura’s flagship RLX, the highest-end luxury sedan, now can come equipped with a 360-degree camera on it, taking safety to a whole other level.

Lyles said a 2017 model coming in the spring of 2016 will be Acura’s most advanced NSX sports car in the company’s 30-year history. It will be the first twin-turbo V6 hybrid sports car.

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 57

automotive

Keeping your car in shape Environmentally-friendly service at Green Garage

by Lee J. Green Repairing automobiles and fixing the environment go hand in hand at Green Garage in Birmingham.

Owner Chris Palmer, who had worked in the auto industry on and off since he was 15 years old at a friend’s dad’s tire store, started Green Garage in September 2013 with his wife Samantha (formerly Levitt; her father is Ron Levitt).

“Sam and I thought it would be a good market opportunity. We noticed there weren’t other green auto repair places in Alabama. It’s good to be able to do things that help, not harm, the environment,” said Palmer.

“We buy in bulk and recycle as much as we can.

It may add three to four work hours per week but it’s worth it,” he said.

Palmer said that in most vehicles, Green Garage can use recycled oil and they have an anti-freeze recycling system built in-house. They also have a rainwater collection system built in.

“The recycled materials we use on vehicles work as well as new but are friendlier to the envi-

58 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

ronment,” he said.

Green Garage also puts a special focus on repairing hybrid vehicles and they also have a lot of experience with exotic vehicles, along with higher-end European automobiles.

For drivers who want to try to be as environmentally friendly as possible, Palmer recommends recycled materials when possible and regular tune-ups.

“A well-maintained car gets better mileage. You will spend less on fuel and pollute less,” he said. “I served a tour of duty in Iraq so I saw first-hand what oil can do to countries that are too dependent on it.”

Sherrill at the forefront of body service since 1929 For more than 85 years, Sherrill Paint and Body has been repairing auto bodies on Birmingham’s Southside. Now, the company is called Sherrill Auto Body.

“People can trust in us. We have many years of experience in quality auto repair,” said Tad Lidikay, who is the third owner of Sherrill since its inception. “We treat every car like it is our own and we treat our customers like family.”

Lidikay said the number one piece of advice he could give to customers who have been in an accident is that they have the right to choose any repair shop they want.

“Insurance companies may try to sway you to their shop, but it is your choice,” he said. “We work with all insurance companies and explain our estimates so our customers understand everything.

When someone has been in an accident, they are already jarred by the experience. We want to put them at ease.”

Sherrill Auto Body has made some major equipment and technology upgrades recently with the purchase of a computerized laser measuring system. That allows them to measure the car after repair to make sure it is repaired and aligned to factory specifications. They also have very advanced paint matching equipment and experience.

Lidikay’s wife, Christa, currently serves on the board of the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. She also is the director of the annual Yom Hashoah reading of the names.

They are also significant contributors to the American Friends of Ariel, Mobile’s sister city in Israel. “We have been to Israel twice. Our heart is for Israel and the Jewish people,” he said.

nosh

jewish deep south: bagels, biscuits, beignets

Sweet Shanah Tovah of Life double Gifts Tree old fashioned glasses from Mignon Faget, New Orleans, $40/set

Kenny & Ziggy’s Chocolate Babka via foodydirect. com $19.95

Library of Flowers parfum crema FTD flowers in Honeycomb shipped anywhere from A Little from Rouses Something, Market, varies by Birmingham, arrangement varies

L’Shanah Tovah cards from Rudman’s Card and Party, Metairie, $2.51/ea set of 25

Original Creole Pralines from Aunt Sally’s Pralines, New Orleans, $14.99/ box of 6

Michael Aram Pomegranate Candle from Adler’s, New Orleans, $60

KOSHER

WAFFLES ON MAPLE x 2 IN SEASON

MUSCADINES Muscadines and scuppernongs (a variety of muscadine) are indigenous to our area, and they’re ripe for picking right now. Whether found at roadside stand, farmers market, or farm (perfect field trip: round up the family and bring home a bucket hand-picked from a local vineyard found at pickyourown.org), these juicy orbs make fabulous jams and jellies and lend extra flavor to everything from ice cream to chess pie.

Most wineries in our area — there are over 20 — base their stock on the fruits. Start your amateur operation now and you may be able to serve your own vino by Pesach: a little immature, but poured with a well-developed sense of satisfaction.

Kosher dining options in the New Orleans area will expand soon with the announcement of a second Waffles on Maple location in Metairie.

The original Uptown location, on Maple Street near Tulane University, was opened by Belinda and Rotem Dahan in spring 2014. Certified as Cholov Yisrael, the restaurant is under the supervision of the Louisiana Kashrut Commission.

While the specialty is upscale sweet or savory waffles, the restaurant also does a range of pizzas, cheddar garlic bread and even king cakes. This summer they introduced paninis and salads, and have a Nespresso café.

Belinda Dahan said “With our high demand of Waffles on Maple we thought what better place to open than in Metairie.” The new location is at 4650 West Esplanade, in the former C’s Pharmacy building, which had been purchased by CVS in 2012 and closed in 2013 because of its proximity to another CVS location.

The location is in the middle of a Jewish corridor that includes Shir Chadash, the Metairie JCC, Gates of Prayer, Beth Israel, Chabad and Torah Academy.

Belinda Dahan said they purchased the building as a commercial development, and it will have as many as six businesses. The signature waffle exterior at the original location will be replicated in Metairie, and the restaurant will front West Esplanade. The property’s remaining spaces are listed for lease with Skip Weber.

They anticipate opening toward the end of this year.

COOKBOOK

SPIRITUAL KNEADING THROUGH THE JEWISH MONTHS

by Dahlia Abraham-Klein (Shamashi Press)

Conceived as a jumping-off point for a women’s Rosh Chodesh Challah Baking Group, “Spiritual Kneading Through the Jewish Months” starts of with the background and rituals for making challah, then moves into the spiritual aspect of challah baking for women. There are numerous recipes, themed for each month of the Jewish calendar, including the Seven Species Pomegranate-shaped Challah, Flame-shaped Challah with Corn Grits, and a Moroccan Purim recipe, boiled egg in challah. Each recipe includes an introduction to the challah theme, a meditation during kneading, and for group activies, discussion topics for while the dough is rising.

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 59

nosh KOSHER-STYLE RECIPE

Eli’s Jerusalem Grill

by Lee J. Green

A culinary trip to Israel became much more affordable thanks to Eli’s Jerusalem Grill, the only authentic Israeli restaurant in Birmingham.

Co-owner Eli Markshtien said he and his wife, restaurant co-owner Laurel WurthmannMarkshtien, have been very pleased at the response since Eli’s opened last November on Highway 280 in the Inverness area.

“I would say about 70 percent of the people that came in for the first time had never tried Israeli cuisine so they had questions we were happy to answer,” said Markshtien. “People have been very supportive of us Eli Markshtein in the Jewish community and family and the overall community.

They realize that Israeli food is tasty and much of it is very healthy” as well as kosher-style.

Some of the biggest rave reviews have come in for the soft, thick pita bread, hummus, falafel and schwarma. But people have really taken a liking to cuisine new to even those who have had some

Eli’s Jerusalem Grill 4673 Hwy 280 Birmingham 205/637.3658

Shakshuka

Put olive oil in a pan at medium heat. Add peppers and tomatoes. Cook until soft, then add onions along with all the seasonings. Cover and let simmer on medium heat for five minutes (adding water if needed).

3 medium tomatoes 1 large red pepper 1 medium onion 1 jalapeno pepper 2 eggs Olive oil Seasonings: salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, chili powder

more common Middle Eastern foods, added Wurthmann-Markshtien.

“We’ve been surprised how popular the shakshuka has been. Most people had never had that before but said how much they liked it and how unique they thought it was,” said

Break two eggs on top, cover again and continue to simmer on low heat until the eggs are cooked to one’s liking. Makes one portion.

Wurthmann-Markshtien. Shakshuka is a spicy dish with egg, peppers, tomatoes; meat can be added upon request.

Wurthmann-Markshtien said they have also seen strong growth in the number of

continued on page 61

Traditional Southern Elegance in the Heart of Downtown Birmingham

Weddings Special Events Bar/Bat Mitzvahs Corporate Events Guest Room Accommodations The Tutwiler: Hampton Inn & Suites Birmingham Downtown

2021 Park Place • 205-439-9102 • www.thetutwilerhotel.com 60 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

Continued from page 62

Hanukippur, either latkes or sufganiyot were to be eaten, but not both on the same night. Candles would still be lit, and gelt offerings would still be provided. Remember, gift giving used to be on Purim, and only recently landed on Hanukah.

Telfon even suggested some whimsy to lighten up the atonement. As people would recite the confessionals, they’d spin the dreidel. How much they had to atone for each transgression depended on how the dreidel landed.

Unfortunately, this holiday was lost to us for centuries. With any luck at all, it will stay that way.

‫שנה טובה‬

Doug Brook is a writer in Silicon Valley who never, ever participated in a game of strip dreidel. Nope. Not him. Okay, but he just played it for the articles. For past columns, other writings, and more, visit http://brookwrite. com/. For exclusive online content, follow facebook.com/the.beholders.eye.

Recognition at B’nai Zion On Sept. 11, B’nai Zion in Shreveport is dedicating its donor wall with plaques honoring those who contributed to last year’s sanctuary renovation. The service is at 6 p.m. with a special oneg following.

>> Eli’s Jerusalem Grill catering orders. Eli’s Jerusalem Grill has catered everything from medical facility events to Bar/Bat Mitzvahs at the synagogues. “The doctors are telling their patients and employees the importance of healthy eating so that’s one of the reasons they like bringing in our food,” she said.

Markshtien said they even had a unique catering job earlier this year.

Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Temple Emanu-El was with a group who came to the state to commemorate the anniversary of the march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

The group had a delay in its flight back to North Carolina. “To accommodate them we made 2,000 falafel balls and others items to feed 300 people. We rushed to the airport and got everything to them in time.

Each falafel ball is made from scratch and hand-scooped, so it was a challenge,” he said.

But Eli, Laurel and their team are happy to accommodate from one diner to several hundred.

Moroccan fish is available on Friday and Saturday, grilled or fried.

Grass-fed spring lamb chops and a special pita for those who are gluten-sensitive were recently added to the Eli’s Jerusalem Grill menu.

Markshtien said potato burekas are coming soon, along with the possibility of breakfast a couple of days per week. A bit further down the line, considering the success of the current location — which seats 70 people — likely will be the opening of a second location of Eli’s Jerusalem Grill in the Birmingham area.

“If there is something our customers want that we are not already offering, we’ll find a way to make it happen,” he said.

September 2015 • Southern Jewish Life 61

rear pew mirror • doug brook

Hanukippur

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Referred for a reason.

In case either of you missed it, this year’s High Holy Days column appeared in July. Riding on that early arrival’s tallis-tails, it’s now time to talk about Hanukah.

After all, isn’t it nice in September to think about Hanukah instead?

Hanukah, by any other spelling, is a whole lot less effort.

Or is it? Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur involve dressing up, reflecting on the past year, eating apples and honey without getting the nice clothes sticky, perhaps a couple of big meals, one large absence of meals, and attending extensive amounts of services.

Hanukah involves getting eight presents for everyone, hiding and wrapping them, scraping off eight nights of melted wax from last year, realizing at the last minute you don’t have enough candles but they’re all sold out, baking many more latkes than actually get eaten due to burnage, schlepping to Krispy Kreme for sufganiyot, working off the sufganiyot, resolving to buy a home gym to help work off the sufganiyot, coming up with excuses to not buy the home gym, trying to remember how you used to get away with cheating at dreidel, reflecting on that late night college game of strip dreidel that you never told your spouse about, wondering if your spouse isn’t telling you about a secret strip dreidel game too (because, unlike yours, that would be wrong), and girding up to repeatedly answer WHY NOT A the time-honored Talmudic question, “why is this December holiday different from all other MASHUP OF HANUKAH AND December holidays?”

Which list made you more tired to read?

YOM KIPPUR? So, why is Hanukah more relaxing to think HERE’S WHY about this time of year? Perhaps there’s a NOT reason that’s been long forgotten but is buried somewhere in our unconscious psyches.

Embedded in a piece of the Jewish DNA that has gone untapped for centuries.

According to the recently-discovered Mishnah tractate Bava Gump, there once was a proposal for a merged holiday. Yom Kippur was deemed too dreary to survive, and Hanukah too festive and cheerful to be truly Jewish. Thus, there would be the hybrid holiday of Hanukippur: The Festival of Light Atonement.

The most challenging question was when to celebrate it. Rabbi Telfon, the great communicator, offered the most logical perspective.

He said that atonement should not be limited to one day of the year.

Therefore, spreading it out over all the nights of Hanukah made sense.

But the Torah says when to have the Day of Atonement. Therefore, the first night of Hanukippur would be observed on the traditional day of Yom Kippur. Then, reasoning that if the miracle of Hanukah could last for eight days, it could also last for eight weeks, he said that each additional night of Hanukippur would occur once per week, every week until the traditional date of Hanukah.

Telfon believed that this starts the year with people reflecting and atoning on a weekly basis, which could carry through the entire year.

Also, it would give a more festive, less self-flagellating feel to atonement that might foster more participation.

This was all well and good until one of Telfon’s students pointed out that there are over 10 weeks between Yom Kippur and Hanukah. Tarfon decided to skip the weeks of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, and sent that student to another school to become an accountant.

As an homage to the fasting of Yom Kippur, on any weekly night of continued on previous page

62 Southern Jewish Life • September 2015

hen r i d auss i. c om

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