SJL Deep South, December 2014

Southern Jewish Life ANDREW JACKSON POLLACK’S GLASS JUDAICA OUR LONE SOLDIERS SPEAK OUT SOJOURN, ISJL SLINGSHOT INNOVATORS SHARON POLLIN DISCUSSES COMMON CORE DELTA JEWISH OPEN ALABAMA BAPTISTS STAND WITH ISRAEL HONORING OUR VETERANS

December 2014 Volume 24 Issue 12

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shalom y’all shalom y’all In this profession, there are many contrasts and different perspectives to explore, and one recent 24-hour period drove home the wide range that is out there.

The first event was a panel at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, claiming to provide answers to “everything you ever wanted to know about Palestine but were afraid to ask.”

The four panelists were all hostile to Israel, though it was pointed out (by the organizers) that there was someone Jewish on the panel. Yes, David Gespass, who has been a long-time vocal critic of Israel was on the panel, but in such a manner as to say “see, we are balanced, even

On the cover: Chanukah Menorah by Andrew Jackson Pollack. See page 30.

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a Jew thinks this way.”

While I’ve seen worse events, there were plenty of howlers as Israeli history was warped and Israeli security concerns dismissed.

The biggest howler came after one of the roughly 15 Jewish and pro-Israel audience members asked a panelist who works with Palestinian health care groups why, if the humanitarian situation is so dire, did Hamas spend so much to build the tunnels from Gaza instead of helping Gazans.

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The answer? Those were for commerce and so Gazans could escape the “open air camp” much like the Jews tunneled out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

A more asinine statement would be difficult to fathom. Exactly what commerce was Hamas planning to do with the villages on the Israeli side of the Gaza border — the villages they kept firing rockets into?

And of course, any time an anti-Israel speaker can compare Israeli actions to the Holocaust, so continued on page 44

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December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 3

commentary

December 2014

The administration condemns U.S. citizens who engage in terror — unless they are Palestinian

by Moshe Phillips and Benyamin Korn Another young American man has given his life while fighting in the ranks of Islamist terrorists abroad. But this time, instead of being met with universal condemnations and scorn, the young terrorist is being greeted with sympathetic news accounts and “even-handed” statements from the State Department — all because he joined the politicallycorrect terrorists, that is, the Palestinians.

Just think. When Eric Harroun of Arizona joined an Al Qaeda group fighting in Syria last year, he was arrested as soon as he tried to re-enter the United States.

When Douglas McCain of Minnesota was killed in August while taking part in an ISIS attack in Syria, a senior Obama administration official told NBC that “the threat we are most concerned about to the homeland is that of fighters like this returning to the U.S. and committing acts of terrorism.”

When three young Muslim women from Colorado were caught on their way to try to join ISIS, the Obama administration strongly condemned them.

But when U.S. citizen Orwa Abdel Hammad, a former resident of New Orleans, took part in an Islamist terrorist attack in the Middle East in October, the response from the Obama administration was oh-so-different.

Hammad was a Palestinian Arab with American citizenship. On Oct. 24, he decided to take part in the wave of Islamist violence against Jews that has been engulfing Israel in recent weeks.

Hammad positioned himself alongside Highway 60, north of Jerusalem, and prepared a Molotov cocktail. Spotting an approaching Israeli motorist, Hammad rose to hurl the flaming bottle of gasoline. The goal was to set the Israeli car on fire, so that its drivers and passengers would be burned alive.

Because they were Jews.

Fortunately, Israeli soldiers on a stakeout shot Hammad dead.

It turns out that Hammad was the cousin of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered 10 Israelis in an attack in 2002. He was the nephew of a terrorist who died in a terrorist attack in 1989. And one of Hammad’s own cousins admitted to the Israeli 4 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

newspaper Haaretz that he and Hammad were among a group of Palestinian Arabs who were taking part in attacks on Israeli motorists.

The New York Times’ account of the attack did not mention anything about Hammad’s quite relevant family lineage or his cousin’s testimony.

The Times’ headline on the story began “Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Teenager…” not “Palestinian Teenager Tries to Burn Israelis Alive…”

And while the dead terrorist Douglas McCain was denounced by the Obama administration as a grave threat to America, the dead terrorist Orwa Hammad was warmly embraced by the Obama administration.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced that the administration had sent its “deepest condolences” to the Hammad family. Psaki demanded that the Israeli government undertake “a speedy and transparent investigation” of the killing of Hammad. She called on “all parties to help restore calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of the tragic recent incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

Psaki in no way called on the Palestinian Authority — in whose territory Hammad resided — to investigate its young people who are trying to burn Israelis alive.

Nor did Psaki make any distinction between Palestinian terrorists and Israelis acting in selfdefense. Instead, it was the fearsomely familiar Obama moral equivalency: “all parties” should be “calm”; “all parties” should “avoid escalating tensions.”

Psaki called the killing of Orwa Hammad “tragic.”

She got her tragedies wrong.

It’s a tragedy that the Palestinian Authority actively incites its young people to try to murder Israelis.

It’s a tragedy when American citizens take part in Islamist terrorism, whether in Syria or Israel.

And it’s a tragedy — actually, an outrage — when the United States government cannot distinguish between victim and aggressor, between right and wrong, or between good and evil.

The authors are members of the board of the Religious Zionists of America.

Southern Jewish Life PUBLISHER/EDITOR Lawrence M. Brook editor@sjlmag.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING Lee J. Green lee@sjlmag.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ginger Brook ginger@sjlmag.com WEB EDITOR Eugene Walter Katz eugene@sjlmag.com PHOTOGRAPHER-AT-LARGE Rabbi Barry C. Altmark deepsouthrabbi.com CONTRIBUTING WRITER Doug Brook brookwrite.com BIRMINGHAM OFFICE P.O. Box 130052, Birmingham, AL 35213 13 Office Park Circle #6 Birmingham, AL 35223 205/870.7889 NEW ORLEANS OFFICE 3747 West Esplanade, 3rd Floor Metairie, LA 70002 504/780.5615 TOLL-FREE 866/446.5894 FAX 866/392.7750 connect@sjlmag.com ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries to Lee Green, 205/870.7889 or lee@sjlmag.com Media kit, rates available upon request SUBSCRIPTIONS It has always been our goal to provide a large-community quality publication to all communities of the South.

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agenda interesting bits & can’t miss events

A group of Jewish young adults traveled through small-town Mississippi in a TENT-South trip from New Orleans to Memphis.

Here, they are at Adath Israel in Cleveland. The group was led by Rachel Jarman Myers of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, along with Alex Goldstein of Emory University as the traveling scholar.

Forum at Innovation Depot promotes business ties between Alabama and Israel A presentation at Birmingham’s Innovation Depot on Nov. 13 aimed to get the ball rolling to improve business ties between Alabama and Israel.

The Alabama-Israel Task Force, which was established in north Alabama earlier this year, put on the program in conjunction with the Birmingham International Center.

Katherine Malmay-Bazemore, president and chief executive officer of Cocoon Resources in the Huntsville area, said “you talk about Israel and you find people who are excited about Israel and Alabama.”

Cocoon brings together talent from academia, incubators and start-up executives to create business embryos and ultimately spin out viable business enterprises.

Andrew Scharf, vice president of OurCrowd, came to Birmingham from New York for the event. Based in Israel, OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform that has 6,000 accredited investors. It takes its name from the Stephen Birmingham book about prominent 19th century New York Jewish families.

Bazemore said she envisions Cocoon and OurCrowd as a catalyst for future endeavors in the state.

As has been well-documented, Israel is a hotbed of start-up companies, and joint ventures with companies around the world.

Scharf said it is now the norm in Silicon Valley to have an office in Tel Aviv, Herzliya or Jerusalem. He also noted that with an influx from the United States and China, Israel’s venture capital firms have an all-time low percentage of the market.

He said despite all of the missiles fired into Israel during the Gaza operation this summer, “the Israeli economy was affected not one iota” and “it made a lot of companies in Israel stronger.”

One Israeli company went public in the middle of the fighting. It started with a $1 Katherine Malmay-Bazemore of Cocoon Resources billion capitalization, but by the end of the first day of trading it was up to $8 billion.

“It’s like Google, but for matter,” he said. One There is a mentality that “failure is not an can scan fruits or vegetables at the grocery store option when you are fighting every day for your and find out which is riper, or if a salad has nuts survival.” hidden in it. The commercial applications go far One firm he mentioned that OurCrowd beyond that, though. funds is Tel Aviv’s Consumer Physics, which is Founded by John Medved, OurCrowd is 18 developing SCiO. He likened it to a tricorder months old, Scharf said, and has already raised from “Star Trek,” and noted it had raised over $2 $70 million for 50 companies. The company’s million in crowdfunding on Kickstarter. goal is to be the “smart money” in crowdfunding,

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 5

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and he noted that they fund about 2 percent of the pitches they receive.

OurCrowd itself invests in every company it brings to investors to reassure them that they also have “skin in the game.” They also have boots on the ground in Israel.

Bazemore noted that Cocoon has boots on the ground in Alabama, especially in chemistry, biotech, energy and medical fields.

She wants to take Alabama companies to Israel for strategic introductions and bring Israeli companies to Alabama. “Alabama can be the commercialization state” for Israeli companies, she stated.

The Alabama Israel Task Force was formed as a way of coordinating pro-Israel Christian and Jewish groups in the state, to more effectively advocate and network for Israel.

Bringing Pete the Cat to the kids

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New York Times bestselling author Eric Litwin brought his stories, music and energy to Birmingham’s Levite Jewish Community Center for a Jewish Book Month program. About 200 preschool and elementary school students greeted the author of the first four Pete the Cat books, starting with “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.” The books have been translated into seven languages and won 15 state and national awards, including a Theodor Geisel Seuss Honor Award. Litwin, who lives in Atlanta, is also author of the new musical series The Nuts, and co-creator of The Learning Groove.

JCC members cycle for disability aid On Dec. 21, the Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham will join JCCs nationwide in spinning its wheels in a Cycle for Good. The stationary bicycle event will kick off at 8 a.m. and run until 11 a.m.

Every year, Cycle for Good raises money for individual JCCs and gives a certain portion to a designated charity chosen by the JCC Association.

For 2014, the designated charity is Etgarim, an Israeli organization that serves 5,000 children and 700 adults with a wide range of disabilities, including physical, sensory and developmental. Founded by disabled IDF soldiers, the organization seeks to empower Israelis of all faiths and backgrounds who have such challenges through participation in physical and sporting activities.

Individuals can sign up by the hour or form a team to rotate. Participants agree to contribute or get sponsors for at least $25 per hour.

6 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

agenda Despite losing an arm, he wanted back in Israeli soldier from Miami to speak at Birmingham JCC Izzy Ezagui, an Israeli soldier who lost an arm during Operation Cast Lead, will speak at the Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham on Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

At age 19 he went on an Israel trip looking for fun, and instead returned with a desire to join the Israeli military. He made aliyah from Miami in 2007, a year before the December 2008 operation began.

He was hit by a mortar in Gaza and lost his left arm, which was his dominant arm. After he recovered, he insisted on returning to the battle. Before long he was doing one-armed pushups and pulling grenade pins with his teeth.

In May 2011, Israeli President Shimon Peres awarded him the highest award a soldier outside the battlefield can receive.

Ezagui speaks at events around the world, on topics ranging from motivational speeches to the Israeli military to living with disabilities.

In a speech in California last year, Ezagui said he views the loss of his arm as an important, tangible reminder of his love for Judaism and Israel.

His message isn’t always welcomed. On Nov. 20 he said he had his first walkout, at the University of Michigan, courtesy of Students for Justice in Palestine, who then took to Twitter to call him a murderer and terrorist.

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With stocks up, Foundation has year-end giving advice Those who have worked hard to buy stock can now let those stocks work for them, while helping the community and the Jewish world at the same time.

Sally Friedman, executive director of the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, notes that with all-time highs on the stock market, this “may be a great time to look at opening a Birmingham Jewish Foundation Donor Advised Fund” with a publicly-traded stock, “because many have increased significantly in value this year.”

She stated that “Gifting appreciated stock directly to the Foundation — rather than selling the assets and donating the after-tax cash proceeds — can significantly increase the amount of funds available for future charitable giving while providing the donor with a larger tax benefit.”

Charitable contributions of long-term appreciated securities (those held for more than one year), including stocks, bonds, and mutual fund shares, remain one of the most tax-efficient ways to benefit a charity, such as the Foundation. Donors are entitled to a tax deduction for the full fair market value of such gifts, up to 30 percent of their adjusted gross income in the current tax year, and there is no capital gains tax on any appreciation. Conversely, if the donor were to sell the stock and donate the proceeds, there would

Family Owned Family Operated

a tax on the amount of the gain.

Donors can make recommendations, suggesting which qualified charities should receive grants from the fund. Qualified charities are Jewish organizations locally and nationally, and to organizations that serve the whole community.

The fund can be named for the donor or family.

Opening a fund takes $2500 and about 15 minutes, Friedman said. Grant recommendations may be made from both income and principal in the fund, as long as a minimum of $2500 remains.

One can establish a fund by Dec. 31 to take advantage of tax breaks this year and then start making recommendations in future years. All stock gifts must be in the Foundation’s account

by Dec. 31 to count toward this year’s taxes, and gifts by check must be mailed and postmarked

by Dec. 31.

The Foundation has begun working with donors to facilitate discussions among family members of different generations concerning philanthropic values. Contact Friedman or Assistant Director Janet Aarons before Dec. 26 to discuss opening a fund or adding to an existing one. Friedman reminds donors to consult their tax professionals, and “with your gift, you can make a difference.”

(205) 870-5472

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Fund seeks to boost Auburn Jewish enrollment An Auburn Jewish Freshman Scholarship There is currently a $5,000 challenge grant to Fund was recently established at the Birming- match contributions to the fund. For further inham Jewish Foundation to help grow Jewish formation on contributing, contact Sally Friedenrollment at the university. man at the Foundation.

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 7

agenda Louisiana delegates decry Administration expletive aimed at Netanyahu Members of Louisiana’s Congressional delegation denounced the reported characterization of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by an unnamed administration official as “chickens---.“ The comment was included in an article by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic last month.

Sen. David Vitter said “Openly attacking an ally is exactly what’s wrong with this Administration’s foreign policy. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel and send Iran a message. One of our top priorities needs to be making sure Iran doesn’t move forward expanding nuclear capabilities.”

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said it was offensive that someone in the administration “would make such inappropriate comments about a foreign leader, let alone Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, our strongest ally and most trusted friend in the region.” He called on Obama to repudiate the comment and hold the staffer accountable.

White House spokesman Josh Ernest said the comment does not reflect the administration’s view and is “counterproductive.”

Birmingham’s Temple Beth-El will have a four-week course on how to play Mah Jongg, taught by Eva Wilensky. Women and men are welcome to participate. Classes will start on Jan. 11 at 9:30 a.m. and run for four consecutive Sundays. Registration is required.

Red River Radio in Shreveport and Alexandria will be broadcasting Chanukah programs starting Dec. 14 with “Hanukkah: A Great Miracle Happened There” at 6 p.m. The next four evenings, there will be 8 p.m. presentations of “Hanukkah Lights 2014,” “Eternal Echoes for Hanukkah,” “Chanukah in Story and Song 2014” and “Candles Burning Brightly.” The series concludes on Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. with “The Kabbalah of Chanukah.”

As part of its Year to Celebrate Israel, Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El will hear from Asaf Stein, a Lone Soldier from Birmingham who fought in the Gaza operation this summer, during the Dec. 12 Shabbat service at 5:40 p.m. The community is invited. On Dec. 14, “The House on Chelouche Street” will be screened at 10 a.m.

The annual Big Buddy Shopping Spree sponsored by the B’nai Israel Men’s Club in Baton Rouge will be on Dec. 10 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Mall of Louisiana’s Macy’s. Volunteers from the Jewish community team up with Big Buddy and Macy’s for the annual event to help young children buy presents for their families. The congregation’s fundraising goal is $5,000, and volunteer slots are available for those who want to help the kids shop and wrap the presents.

Conexx, the America Israel Business Connector based in Atlanta, announced it now has a permanent representative in Israel, Bracha Shlomo.

She will identify Israeli companies and innovations that may be of value to American businesses, maintain contact with Israeli companies that work with Conexx or Conexx members in the Southeast, and educate the Israeli business community about opportunities and advantages of doing business in the Southeast.

Rabbi Marshal Klaven, who recently left the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson to become rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Galveston, was named to the 2014 Forward 50, “the 50 American Jews who have had the most impact on our national story.”

Pensacola’s Little Theater is presenting “Last Night of Ballyhoo,” Alfred Uhry’s play that is set around an assimilated Jewish family in Atlanta in 1939. Tickets have been held for members of the Pensacola Jewish community for the Feb. 5 performance, which starts at 7:30 p.m. The tickets, which are available through Dec. 19, are $13.

8 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

All aboard the B’nai Israel Turkey Train On Nov. 16, the Turkey Train pulled out of the station at B’nai Israel in Baton Rouge with a special delivery.

The Turkey Train began in 2009 to provide turkeys to the St. Vincent de Paul dining room, which serves over 230,000 meals to the needy each year.

Congregants and religious school students transported 100 turkeys this year. They work with Bill Hounshell of Matherne’s Market on Kenilworth to bring in the turkeys, which the market delivers to B’nai Israel the morning of the train.

Michael Acaldo, president and CEO of St. Vincent de Paul, said “We are so thankful for the Congregation of B’nai Israel… On Thanksgiving Day, we will serve many more meals than we do on a normal day. Many of the people who come to us have gone for days without a nutritious meal and even longer without a safe place to sleep.

Some are fleeing abusive situations. Others are suffering from chronic illnesses. They come to us because they are desperate and have nowhere else to turn.”

Julie Tepper, assistant religious school director at B’nai Israel, said St. Vincent de Paul is the largest hot meal provider in Baton Rouge, with thousands coming through the doors over Thanksgiving weekend.

Photo by Rebekah Westover

Interfaith learning weekends with Jewish scholar of Christian Bible 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 be the featured speaker at two scholar in residence weekends, in New Orleans and Greenwood, Miss.

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.” She will be the 2014 Usdin Lecturer at Temple Sinai in New Orleans, in conjunction with Trinity Episcopal Church. On Dec. 12 she will speak at the 6:15 p.m. Shabbat service at Sinai, discussing “Hearing Jesus’ Parables as Jewish Stories: Pearls, Pharisees, and Tax Collectors.”

On Dec. 13 at 6 p.m. she will speak on “How Jews and Christians Read Scripture Differently,” in a 6 p.m. program at the home of Joan and Julian Feibelman, Jr. Space is limited and reservations are requested to Temple

2415 Canterbury Road Mountain Brook, AL 35223

By appointment 205-970-6767 TheWhiteRoomBirmingham.com

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 9

agenda

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On Dec. 14 she will speak at Trinity’s morning services, discussing “The Prodigal Son: Hearing the Parable through Jewish Ears” at 9 a.m. and “The Good Samaritan as a Jewish Story” at 10:30 a.m.

The Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Greenwood is partnering with Ahavath Rayim and the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi for a weekend with Amy Jill-Levine entitled “Jesus and Judaism: Why the Connection Matters.”

The weekend will begin with a Shabbat service at Ahavath Rayim, a “traditional” congregation that is the last historically-Orthodox congregation in the state. Rabbi Jeremy Simons from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life will conduct the 6:15 p.m. service on Jan. 16. Afterward, Levine will speak on “How Jews and Christians Read Scripture Differently.”

There will be three sessions at the Church of the Nativity on Jan. 17, starting with breakfast at 8:45 a.m. “Hearing the Christmas Story through Jewish Ears” will be at 9:15 a.m., followed by “Hearing the Parables through Jewish Ears” at 11 a.m.

Lunch from the Delta Bistro will be available for $14, pre-registration is required.

At 1:15 p.m. Levine will lead a session on “Understanding Jesus in His Jewish Context.” This session is intended for those who teach, preach and study the Christian Bible.

On Jan. 18 at 10:30, Levine will deliver the sermon at the Church of the Nativity’s Eucharist service.

The Jan. 17 seminar is free, but donations are encouraged. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Alluvian Hotel, which is across from the church and five blocks from Ahavath Rayim.

Ramah Darom launches four-week camp for teens with autism

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Ramah Darom, the Conservative movement’s summer camp in north Georgia, announced the launch of a new Tikvah Program for summer 2015 and the addition of Audra Kaplan to its professional staff.

The Tikvah Program will offer a four-week summer experience for children ages 12 to 17 years who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Kaplan, who will direct this new program, is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in Jewish camp and in working with children with disabilities.

Geoffrey Menkowitz, director of Ramah Darom, said “We are thrilled to be able to open our doors wider and give more children the opportunity to experience the magic of our camp. The Tikvah program will enhance the entire camp, enabling us to teach our campers by experience what a truly inclusive Jewish community can look like and inspire them to bring that model home to their schools and synagogues.”

Debra Michaud, president of the Ramah Darom board, added “As we celebrate the 18th anniversary of Ramah Darom, this is a significant milestone for our organization. We are proud to build upon our commitment to being an inclusive community, which began with Camp Yofi and will continue with this exciting program.”

With this new program, Ramah Darom will build upon the expertise gained from 10 years of running its nationally recognized Camp Yofi — a 5-day camp for families of children with ASD. Ramah Darom will also expand the reach of the National Ramah Tikvah Network of programs in the Ramah overnight and day camps across North America that serve Jewish children, teens, and young adults with a variety of disabilities.

Camp Ramah Darom’s Tikvah Program will be the first program in the Southeast focused on providing a traditional, immersive, Jewish summer camping experience to Jewish teenagers with autism spectrum disorder.

The program will be fully integrated into a community that is steeped in Jewish celebration, learning, and ritual.

community Israeli Ambassador to speak in NOLA Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, will speak in New Orleans on Dec. 11.

The briefing will be an Israel Bonds event, at the Uptown Jewish Community Center. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m., with the program starting at 7 p.m. There is no charge.

Born and raised in Miami Beach, Fla., Dermer earned a degree in finance and management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University. For three years, he was a columnist for the Jerusalem Post.

In 2004, Dermer co-authored the best-selling book, “The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror” with Natan Sharansky. The book has been translated into 10 languages.

From 2005 to 2008, he served as Israel’s Minister of Economic Affairs in the U.S. From 2009 to 2013, he served as senior advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The JCC was originally scheduled to host author Tova Mirvis that evening as part of Jewish Culture Month, but her visit will be rescheduled. The Wine and Wonder evening planned by the Jewish Community Day School for Dec. 11 is cancelled. The Jewish Children’s Regional Service “Latkes with a Twist” fundraiser at Bellocq will go on as scheduled, opening at 8 p.m.

Pre-registration with the Israel Bonds regional office in Atlanta and ID are required for Dermer’s talk. Reservations can be made by calling (800) 7525649 or emailing Atlanta@israelbonds.com.

Hoops coach Pearl kicks off campaign season in Montgomery On Oct. 23, Auburn University Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl was the featured speaker at the Jewish Federation of Central Alabama’s annual campaign kickoff dinner at the Capital Club in Montgomery.

The campaign has a goal of $400,000 by Jan. 10 and as of Nov. 17 was at $220,000. Of that, $66,700 was pledged at the campaign dinner. A Stop the Sirens emergency campaign during the Gaza operation in the summer brought in just over $50,000.

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 11

community Accounts differ on death of Palestinian teen with New Orleans ties in the territories A Palestinian 14-year-old with New Orleans ties was killed in a clash with Israeli forces about 20 miles north of Jerusalem on Oct. 24.

Israeli soldiers patrolling north of Ramallah near Silwad said Orwah Hammad had taken a position along Route 60 and was preparing to throw a firebomb at traffic, and a sniper fired at him when he lit the fuse.

An Israeli army spokesman told Reuters the soldiers “managed to prevent an attack when they encountered a Palestinian man hurling a molotov cocktail at them on the main road next to Silwad. They opened fire and they confirmed a hit.”

A cousin, Moath, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Hammad had been part of a group throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers.

An uncle, Hakeem Khalek, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he didn’t consider the incident a clash — “little kids throwing rocks or pebbles against live ammunition.”

The incident will be investigated by Israeli authorities. The U.S. State Department called for a “speedy and transparent investigation” while expressing “deepest condolences to the family of a U.S. citizen minor who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces.”

Hammad’s funeral was held on Oct. 26 to allow his father, Abd al-Wahhab Hammad, time to travel from New Orleans. Thousands attended the funeral, which was followed by clashes with Israeli soldiers.

Hammad’s body was THE U.S. STATE adorned by a green DEPARTMENT Hamas headband.

CALLED FOR A Though some re“SPEEDY AND ports said Orwah was TRANSPARENT” born in New Orleans, INVESTIGATION he was born in the territories and visited New Orleans frequently. His father split time between them and New Orleans.

According to media reports, Silwad residents said Hammad was the cousin of Ta’er Hammad, who killed 10 Israelis in a sniper attack in 2002 near Shilo. An uncle of his was reportedly killed in the first intifada.

His older brother has been detained numerous times for stone throwing, and most recently was released from detention in September.

The stretch of Route 60 is the site of frequent demonstrations and rock-throwing by Palestinian youth.

Hammad’s father told Ha’aretz that in a phone call half an hour before the incident, he reminded his son not to go to the road, which he referred to as Route 90 instead of 60. Ha’aretz 12 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

noted the father, who “barely agreed” to talk with them, has a used-car dealership on U.S. 90 in New Orleans.

He said the family moved back to his hometown in 1999 because “I wanted a quiet, safe place, where my son could get a less dissolute education than in the United States, and have a more tranquil, less stressful life than in New Orleans. But you never know what God has in store for you.”

After news of the incident broke, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans said “We were saddened to learn of the death of Orwah Hammad… Our fervent sympathies are with his family, as the loss of any life is always tragic and painful. The incident is being investigated by the Israeli authorities, but as we wait to learn more about what happened, we continue our prayers and hopes for a meaningful peace that allows Israel and a Palestinian state to live together side-by-side as neighbors.”

Many of Hammad’s relatives attend the Muslim Academy in Gretna. School President Nabil Abukhader told the Times-Picayune that they will discuss his death on Oct. 27. “We’ll mention the nature of his death (and) at the same time in that moment of sorrow, that violence does not lead to any happy endings.”

The incident took place during a time of heightened tensions. On Oct. 22, a Palestinian motorist plowed into a crowd at a Jerusalem light-rail station, killing a 3-month-old girl who was a U.S. citizen, and a 22-year-old student from Ecuador. Numerous other attacks have taken place since then.

The week after Hammad’s death, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked about the reports of a Molotov cocktail, and Psaki stated she did not agree with Israeli assertions that Hammad was “essentially a terrorist” and said she did not have “any more details on the circumstances.”

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Paul Hirschson said “We do think that when somebody is throwing Molotov cocktails with malicious intent at cars on a highway because they don’t like Israel, I think it qualifies as terrorism.”

Hirschson told The Blaze that he had no problem with the official expression of condolences to Hammad’s family. “It wasn’t the parents who threw the Molotov cocktail and if you want to give condolences that’s fine.”

But throwing Molotov cocktails deserves “stark criticism and condemnation, first and foremost from the Palestinian Authority,” which instead is encouraging it, he added.

New Orleans stories, connections at Rabbi Greenberg’s installation The installation of Rabbi Gabe Greenberg at Beth Israel in Metairie was a blend of the past, the future and family.

The installation weekend culminated in an installation ceremony and congregational fundraiser at the Audubon Tea Room on Nov. 2.

The weekend began with a Shabbat service and dinner on Oct. 31, with guest speaker Ruthie Simon, director of placement and alumni affairs for the rabbinical school at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

Greenberg, wife Abby and daughter Adra arrived in New Orleans during the summer. Greenberg succeeded Rabbi Uri Topolosky, who came to New Orleans in 2007 and moved to Maryland in 2013 to become rabbi of a congregation in the community where he grew up.

A native of Newton, Mass., Greenberg was a “lifer” at Camp Ramah of New England, and his grandfather was a long-time pulpit rabbi.

He was on the track team at Wesleyan University, which he said has a reputation of being the most God-less university in the country, but he kept pursuing opportunities to study Judaism and seek leadership roles.

He decided to study at a yeshiva for one year in Israel, but that turned into three, after which he returned to the U.S. and entered Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

He became active in environmental concerns, especially their relationship to Judaism. He founded and ran the Kayam Farm Kollel outside Baltimore, where he met Abby.

While in rabbinical school, Greenberg served congregations in Norwich, Conn., and Berkeley, Calif. He was also the first rabbinic intern at the Hillel of the New School in New York.

Upon ordination he became rabbi and senior Jewish educator at Hillel at the University of California at Berkeley.

When Beth Israel started looking for a successor to Topolosky, Simon mentioned Greenberg to Bradley Bain, who chaired the installation weekend. Bain reached out to Greenberg “unofficially while he was at Hillel.”

Bain noted, “He hadn’t thrown his hat into the ring, we had just heard that he was a young, dynamic rabbi and that he would be a great fit for the community.” Then Bain discovered that Greenberg’s wife was from Houston, had family in New Orleans and had attended Tulane.

“What was supposed to be a five minute call turned into an over an hour conversation,” Bain said.

Greenberg had a contract with Hillel through the summer of 2014, but Beth Israel was hoping to hire a rabbi to start during the summer of 2013. The committee tried to convince Greenberg to go ahead and apply, even promising that his moving truck would not be broken into as had happened the year before when he moved to California, but he insisted on fulfilling his commitment to Hillel.

That “really frustrated but also impressed the committee,” Bain noted.

As interviews continued, Bain said they brought in an “incredible selection of candidates… but in the back of everyone’s mind, they were just no Gabe Greenberg.”

They brought in Greenberg for an official weekend, but as his daughter had just been born his wife did not accompany him. Bain gave “a perspective of how impressed we were” with him because they decided to offer him the position “not knowing the whole package.”

And, he said, Beth Israel hired him “knowing they would not be here

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 13

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for a full year.”

Greenberg did come in for several weekends during the interim year, and this summer when he arrived for good, he was put into action immediately.

Bain said he officiated a funeral, an unveiling and a bris, “all the weekend before his contract officially started.”

Bain told Simon that “you’ve truly made today possible.”

Eddie Gothard, who emceed the installation, noted that Bain had been elected president of Beth Israel on Rabbi Asher Lopatin, Richard Stone and Allen Fagin Oct. 26, then the next day he and wife Daniela had their second child. more time,” and especially for his late cousin The Oct. 27 birth was an emergency and her descendants.

C-section after a screening showed a previouslyRabbi Asher Lopatin, president of Chovevei undiagnosed heart defect. On Nov. 5, the Torah, referenced the week’s Torah portion newborn underwent an eight-hour operation in where Abram left his ancestral home to go Boston. where God instructed. “In your lech lecha, you Despite more pressing concerns with have come to a place steeped in tradition,” he the birth, Bain continued to coordinate the said. weekend. Gothard told Bain “I can’t express…

Lopatin charged Greenberg with the how much you have amazed and inspired responsibility of working with all of the everybody you have come into contact with.” congregations and rabbis in the New Orleans Greenberg said one of the best aspects of area. being at Beth Israel for the last few months is He called Greenberg “a standard-bearer for learning the family stories in the congregation. modern Orthodoxy, committed to our tradition One such story at the installation came and unafraid to build and rebuild for the future.” from Richard Stone, past chairman of the Lopatin said “This is an incredible community Conference of Presidents of Major American for you to serve and to lead, and together to Jewish Organizations. Stone noted that “I kind show the world that we can rebuild, we can of pushed myself into this event” to become one reunite, we can pick up the pieces and move of the speakers. ahead stronger and more vigorous than ever.”

He said he returned to his hometown In introducing Allen Fagin, executive vice congregation because “I have a lifelong president of the Orthodox Union, Gothard spoke attachment to Beth Israel,” but there was a much of how the OU had stood by the congregation more personal family connection. when its building was made unusable by the He explained that he left New Orleans flood following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. after high school “with very strong feelings of “The OU has stood by us to provide the Yiddishkeit,” which he especially developed in resources and support, without which we may Bogalusa with his grandparents. not have survived, much less flourished,” he “Over the years I discovered how many great said. scholars in the European yeshivas ended up Rabbi Eitan Katz, New Jersey regional briefly in Bogalusa or were related to people in director for NCSY, was at the installation and Bogalusa,” he said. was recognized for leading over a dozen youth “We had Yiddishkeit in the air in Bogalusa,” trips to New Orleans for service projects and but also “on my father’s side at Beth Israel on rebuilding efforts through Alternative Spring Carondelet Street,” and he often returned to Breaks.

Beth Israel, including the weekend before Fagin spoke about how Judaism does not have Katrina. a holiday celebrating the building of anything, But what brought him to the installation but there are celebrations about rebuilding, and went back to his Bogalusa days, when relatives the strength needed to rebuild is greater than from Houston would often visit the “family what is needed to build in the first place. headquarters.”

Before joining the OU staff, Fagin was As a child, Stone developed a fondness for one chairman of the Proskauer Rose law firm. cousin in particular, who later died young after About a decade ago Fagin was “privileged” having three children. “One of those children, to open an office for the firm in New Orleans.

Risa, is here today. She is the mother of Abby “Many people questioned what a large Greenberg.” international law firm was doing opening an He added, “If Beth Israel has come to office in New Orleans,” he noted.

Bogalusa, I gotta come back to Beth Israel one But “the plans we worked so hard to

community accomplish were subject to forces we don’t control,” because shortly after the office opened, Katrina closed it. The office was relocated to Boca Raton, Fla., after making sure every staffer was accounted for.

The firm procured condos on the beach in Florida, arranged schools for families and took care of their needs. “We had them really well set up in Florida,” Fagin said.

Not long afterward, Howard Shapiro, the person who had been running the New Orleans office, said there was a hospital and grocery store that had reopened in New Orleans, and “we all want to go back.”

Fagin said it was “a really remarkable lesson in the power of resilience and a really remarkable testament to a remarkable community, and the love that every member of that staff had for their city, for their community and its future.”

Fagin praised the work of Greenberg’s predecessor, Rabbi Uri Topolosky, in the last few years. “The transition of leadership is a core value for a vibrant and forward-looking community,” Fagin noted.

He added, “We’ve been with you in times of pain and we’ve been with you in times of joy… I’m honored to share this event with you.”

In his four months in New Orleans so far, Greenberg said, “I learned quickly that the most important question you can be asked is what high school did you go to. I, of course, don’t have a good answer.”

Members have shown him all sorts of congregational memorabilia, including a program from a 1970s Israeli folk song sing-a-long, something “which we’re going to bring back soon.”

After a long day during his interview, even though it was almost midnight he was urged to watch the DVD of Beth Israel’s building dedication from two years ago, to better understand the congregation.

“All of theses stories, customs, traditions that these parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents planted and have grown,” he wondered, “How do I tend to these trees? Our physical structure is mostly new… but what are the spiritual elements, the vision, Bradley Bain and Eddie Gothard the values planted by the progenitors go over the day’s schedule of Beth Israel that we choose to make our central beam going forward?”

The first aspect he mentioned is “a shul community deeply devoted to Jewish education.” Every child in the shul is entitled to weekly one-on-one learning with Greenberg. “This program has been a joy for me” in getting to know the families better, and he also is emphasizing adult education.

He also mentioned love of the Jewish people and the land of Israel, encouraging learning, connection and love among Jews of different “denominations and flavors.” He noted the close relationship with Gates of Prayer, the Reform congregation next door.

He also mentioned Shabbat as “a centerpiece of Beth Israel life.”

He mentioned increasing the role of women “within the bounds of halacha” and keeping the building available for use by the greater community.

After Greenberg concluded his remarks, impromptu dancing broke out in the front of the room.

Jefferson Parish President John Young made brief remarks, and Rabbi Ethan Linden of Shir Chadash led the Hamotzi.

During the luncheon, artist Alex Harvie painted a portrait of the installation. The painting was raffled off at the conclusion of the luncheon.

Greenberg was seen as part of the New Orleans community nationally in the ninth episode of “NCIS: New Orleans.” He was cast as — what else?

— a rabbi, and part of the episode was filmed in one of the local Jewish cemeteries. The episode, “Chasing Ghosts,” aired on Nov. 25.

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While the Jackson-based Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life continues to be recognized as an innovative organization by Slingshot, an Atlanta-based regional organization in its first year of existence also made the list this year.

The Slingshot Guide, now in its 10th year, was created by a team of young funders as a guidebook to help funders of all ages diversify their giving portfolios to include the most innovative and effective Jewish organizations, programs and projects in North America.

SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network collaborates with religious and secular institutions to promote “equality and inclusion for gender- and sexually-diverse people from a Jewish perspective.” In addition to running inclusion training workshops for Jewish organizations throughout the South, SOJOURN has also contracted with the state of Georgia to train clergy of all faiths to address these issues in their communities.

Within the Jewish community, SOJOURN’s Welcoming Communities program works with synagogues and Jewish organizations to welcome and grow policies inclusive of LGBT people in all areas of Jewish life. SOJOURN also runs suicide prevention workshops in deeply Christian rural areas in the Deep South and regularly influences local Georgia politics. They plan to keep expanding the area they serve.

Founder Rabbi Joshua Lesser said “SOJOURN has been vital in creating a strong foundation of inclusion of GLBTQ people in Southern Jewish communities and beyond. SOJOURN embodies the best of Jewish and humanistic values around welcoming difference and recognizing the dignity of all people especially as we learn and grow together.”

This is the ninth time that ISJL has been included in the guide. The guide states that ISJL “works as a laboratory to develop methods that engage small and far-flung Jewish communities across the American South” and has “mastered this delicate process.” Itinerant rabbis make 90 visits to 44 communities in 13 states, and the ISJL standardized religious school curriculum serves 3,000 students in 69 communities where the teachers are often congregational volunteers who are only a few steps ahead of their students.

Other groups in Slingshot with branches in the region are AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, Challah for Hunger and Moishe House.

AVODAH has locations in four cities, including New Orleans. About 10 Jewish young adults spend a year living in the AVODAH house and working at anti-poverty organizations, giving those groups added staff capabilities.

Challah for Hunger gets campus student volunteers to bake challah, sell them and donate proceeds to Mazon and local anti-hunger groups.

One chapter is located at Tulane University, while others are at Texas, Emory, Georgia and Florida.

Moishe House, which has a location in New Orleans, provides young Jewish adults subsidized rent at a communal home in exchange for planning events for the local Jewish community, from learning programs to Shabbat and holiday celebrations, and social action projects. There are 69 Moishe Houses in 17 countries.

Photo by Rabbi Barry Altmark

Andy Saag, Judge Joseph Boohaker, Harold Ripps, Asaf Stein, Sheryl Kimerling, Louise Abroms and Jim Abroms at the joint Birmingham Federation, Foundation and Israel Bonds event

The stories behind the headlines Birmingham Federation, Israel Bonds event discusses Christians in Middle East, has presentation from Birmingham’s Lone Soldier This year’s annual joint event with the Birmingham Jewish Federation, Birmingham Jewish Foundation and Israel Bonds focused on aspects of the Middle East that aren’t widely reported in the United States.

Judge Joseph Boohaker, a Lebanese-American Christian, spoke about the plight of Christians in the Middle East, while Birmingham’s Asaf Stein spoke about his experiences as an Israeli soldier in Gaza this past summer.

The event, held on Oct. 29 at Temple EmanuEl, included a presentation of the three agencies’ annual awards.

Speaking about the rise of ISIS, Boohaker said “there is a cancerous tumor going in the neighborhood” and “the nutrient it demands is manpower and money.” It gets manpower from Turkey and money from oil, he said, which is provided to them at $30 a barrel and then resold at market prices.

ISIS is perpetrating “ethnic cleansing at its very worst” against Christians across the Middle East.

ISIS has not turned its attention to the U.S. or Israel, Boohaker noted, but “if not checked, they will soon.”

He urged the community to “seek and define common cause with the Christians of the Middle East… our common humanity once again depends on it.”

He also warned about possible Iranian nuclear weapons making their way to Lebanon, resulting in “nuclear blackmail on Israel’s northern border.”

He compared it to Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962, and those were 90 miles across a sea. Still, “the United States didn’t stand for that and neither should Israel.”

Boohaker said he made his first trip to Israel a few years ago, and “now that I’ve been on both

sides of the border, we are the same people… who are ignorant of each other.”

Three days before the Birmingham event, Stein was on the Syrian border manning a machine gun, making sure the fighting in Syria did not spill into Israel.

A member of the Golani Brigade, Stein grew up in Birmingham. After graduating from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he decided to move to Israel and was accepted into the Golani Brigade in the summer of 2013.

Jimmy Filler, Birmingham’s Israel Bonds chairman, recognized the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, where Stein’s mother teaches. “Our Day School produced Asaf,” Filler said. “Asaf is what it is all about.”

Stein recounted how, as a Lone Soldier without family in Israel he was allowed one trip home per year, and was in Birmingham in June. He was speaking at a Friends of the Israel Defense Forces event in Atlanta on July 10 and was instructed to return to Israel the next morning. “I had no idea how I was going to find my unit, they were already in Gaza,” he said.

Twenty minutes after landing in Israel, he saw his first demonstration of the Iron Dome missile defense system.

When he got to the Gaza border he found his team and also ran into Daniel Duvdevani.

The Duvdevani family moved to Israel from Birmingham over 30 years ago, living on a moshav two miles from the Gaza border. “It was fantastic to see Daniel,” Stein said. “The family showed me immense generosity from the moment I arrived in Israel.”

Stein’s cell phone was taken, and he couldn’t even say that they were going into Gaza. “It’s an intense few days before the invasion,” but there was no choice, they had to go in.

He noted that the IDF “is the most moral

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December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 17

community army that has ever been.” They started going into Gaza on a Friday night but stopped in mid-stream, delaying for 24 hours. Not enough Palestinian civilians had evacuated from the areas where they were heading.

“Hamas, at gunpoint, forced them to stay,” he noted. Hamas knew that dead civilians would “pay dividends in the international community.”

The soldiers evacuated a lot of Palestinian wounded to be treated at Israeli hospitals. “That was my first exposure to the morality of the IDF… the way we fight, the way they fight.”

When a cease-fire was declared, it was so “Israel could bring in supplies to Gaza to alleviate suffering — food, medical supplies. Hamas took the opportunity to launch more rockets.

“You see rockets flying into Israel and the trucks going into Gaza. That’s telling you all you need to know about Israel and Hamas,” he said.

After two weeks in Gaza he had a break on the Israeli side and got his cell phone back. The first picture he saw was students from his elementary school, the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, holding posters they had made in his honor, along the front porch of his family’s Birmingham home. “To say it was touching would be an understatement.”

The overwhelming show of support from the Birmingham Jewish community and community at large was very important, having “seen everything that is wrong with humanity, and then seeing everything that is right with humanity.”

They received care packages and donations of goods from around the world. “It’s not just that you need these things… it’s that you see people care.”

He related that their boots weren’t well suited to their mission. Back in Birmingham, Michael Duvdevani placed “one call” to Jimmy Filler, and new boots were on the way to the unit immediately. They arrived while the unit was in the staging area, and Stein explained that the boots had come from his community. “They couldn’t pronounce Birmingham,” though. “They’re fantastic boots,” he added.

“You can’t imagine what these donations do for morale, which is critical for soldiers.”

Coming home, “it makes you realize everything about the Birmingham Jewish community — how warm our community really is. And it’s something special.”

Two days after the event, Stein visited the Day School for Kabbalat Shabbat, where he was honored and the students recited the prayer for Israeli soldiers — while holding their posters from the summer.

Awards presented

It’s Greek to you… from us!

18 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

The Federation presented Andy Saag with the Joanie Plous Bayer Young Leadership Award. The award was presented by his mother, Amy Saag, a past president of the Federation and Foundation.

“My generation should think creatively about how our community agencies and religious institutions can work together to meet our community needs,” Andy Saag said.

Sheryl Kimerling received the Federation’s Susan Goldberg Distinguished Volunteer Award. Executive Director Richard Friedman said “Never in my 32 years as Executive Director of our Federation, have I worked with a volunteer leader who is any more positive, accessible, pleasurable to deal with and supportive than Sheryl.”

Louise and Jim Abroms were presented with the N.E. Miles Lifetime Achievement Award from the Foundation. Louise Abroms noted that she taught at the school named for Miles, and “we are so proud and humbled to receive this award that bears his name.”

Israel Bonds presented the Star of David Award to Harold Ripps, Filler noted that Ripps does not like to be in the spotlight, but “when called on for our BJF, his temples, Israel Bonds, and other Jewish causes, Harold Ripps stands tall.”

At last year’s event, it was announced that Ripps had committed over $10 million to the Next 100 Years initiative through his estate.

Being in IDF a “dream come true” for Colman Now that Josh Colman of New Orleans is in the Israeli military, he knows first-hand how important it is for Israel to know that there is support from around the world.

In 2008, Colman traveled from New Orleans to Israel on a Birthright trip, and one moment in particular gave him a “very strong connection” to the land.

The group had just visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, and was at Mount Herzel, the military cemetery. At that moment, “I knew I was going to do the army,” he said. “I didn’t know when or how.”

In 2010 he went for a six-month trip, and it took him two months to move to Israel. It took another 18 months for him to get into the Israel Defense Forces.

Joining the IDF “was very important to me. It was almost like a dream come true.”

When he went into the army, he didn’t know “any Hebrew, really,” but he quick“THE ONLY REASON ly found that “you’re not alone… I didn’t I’M ALIVE AND MY realize when I made that decision how BUDDIES ARE ALIVE IS many people were going to be like me” BECAUSE OF THE IRON from around the world.

DOME… IT SAVED SO He is known as a Lone Soldier, one who MANY LIVES” does not have any family support system in Israel. But, he noted, “If you are a Lone Soldier, they really take care of you.”

Putting on the uniform for the first time and going to the Western Wall and Yad Vashem was incredibly emotional, he said, and saluting the flag

is “one of the most amazing things.”

He became part of the homefront command, a search and rescue unit. A lot of his friends went into Golani and other fighting brigades, but Josh Colman, right, with fellow Lone Soldier “I wanted to do some- Gabriel Ben-Naim, who was wounded in Gaza. thing that was more of a rescue, helping people if there was a missile attack or chemical attack.”

He was training to be on the fighter side, but after three months he hurt his knee. Because of the injury, his responsibilities were lowered so he is now working in the armory. While that was a disappointment, “at the end of the day you’re doing something, and every job is important,” such as repairing a gun so it fires properly for a soldier.

His base is on the border with Gaza, and he casually mentions that they were subjected to “about 100 rocket attacks” this summer. Because of the proximity, they have only six seconds from detecting a rocket to seek safety before it hits.

“The only reason I’m alive and my buddies are alive is because of the Iron Dome” anti-missile system, Colman asserted. “I got to see it plenty of times. It saved so many lives.”

The experience gave him an appreciation of the pressure of Israeli society. “I didn’t realize how much on a daily basis there’s always something…

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community it’s amazing what they have to go through. But they continue their daily lives.”

One rocket attack damaged some stores near him. “They were open for business the next morning,” he said.

Hamas operatives came through a border tunnel and tried to infiltrate his base, Colman noted. “They didn’t succeed.” After that, there was a barrage of 40 rockets in a three-hour span.

Because of the activity around the base, most of them were moved to Netivot, a nearby town, where they slept on the floor of a sports facility.

His unit was responsible for going door-to-door in the town, making sure everyone was okay, and reassuring the children.

The assistance went both ways. One night a caravan of 10 cars pulled up, with volunteers bringing food, flags and necessities for the soldiers. More important was the implicit message: “We are here with you through this.”

A moment of pride was when he received a package from the Temple Sinai Brotherhood in New Orleans, containing shirts, socks and other items for his unit. “They were so happy to have that. And more so, that it was from America.”

During the summer, a delegation from New Orleans visited Israel, and he was able to spend time with them. Part of the delegation was his father, Temple Sinai Cantor Joel Colman.

During a group visit to Sheba Tel-Hashomer Hospital, they saw Gabriel Ben-Naim, who Colman had trained with. A Lone Soldier from France, Ben-Naim was injured in Gaza entering a booby-trapped home, which then exploded around him.

Colman said Ben-Naim was hoping he could go back into Gaza. “They want to be there, no matter what happens.”

They also visited the family of a soldier who had been killed in Gaza.

Colman said it was very significant for them to know “that they weren’t alone, even in the lowest point in their lives, they had that support.” It was also meaningful to them that Kaddish had been recited for him at Temple Sinai, a place where nobody had ever met them.

Colman came back to New Orleans for a visit in late October, speaking at Temple Sinai on Oct. 31.

Colman said it is vital that people see Israel for themselves instead of on the news, and then let people know the truth about the conflict. He also hopes to see more Southern Jews coming to Israel and joining up.

Looking to the future, his service will end next summer, and “I want to contribute more.”

Your Place to Belong Experience the Jewish Greek experience at University of Alabama, College of Charleston, Emory University, Florida State University, University of Georgia, University of Texas and Tulane University.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant led a trade mission to Israel, with 10 Mississippi companies taking part and meeting with over 40 Israeli companies. While in Israel, Bryant was the only governor to speak at the Third International Conference on Homeland Security, on Nov. 11.

A quick greeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned into a 45-minute conversation. For more coverage, visit sjlmag.com.

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20 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

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6/13/2014 1:00:16 PM

Nashville Pastor Lyndon Allen starts his message at the Night to Honor Israel in Birmingham with blasts from the shofar

Jews, Christians rally in Alabama to support Israel On Nov. 18, representatives of Alabama’s Christian community stood up and proclaimed their support for Israel and the Jewish people, and representatives of Birmingham’s Jewish community welcomed the support.

Christians United for Israel held a pastor’s lunch at Temple Emanu-El, drawing about 50 pastors, then had a Night to Honor Israel at the Levite Jewish Community Center, drawing about 150.

CUFI, founded by Pastor John Hagee in 2006, is the largest pro-Israel organization in the nation, claiming 1.8 million members. Nights to Honor Israel have been held nationwide, including in Shreveport and Jackson. Events were also held last month in Columbus, Ga., and near Chattanooga.

Pastor Lyndon Allen, who has been CUFI’s central region coordinator since January, was the keynote speaker. He is pastor of Woodmont Bible Church in Nashville, and in 2012 established Total Life Victory, which teaches the Hebraic roots of the church.

Allen spoke about how the United States “was designed to stand with Israel and must do so, regardless of what comes out of the White House.”

He also pointed out that ISIS is “definitely Islamic” despite President Obama’s assertion otherwise, and that the administration’s use of the term ISIL is “a slap in the face to our most trusted ally in the Middle East,” because the Levant refers to a land mass that includes Israel.

Pastor Reginald Gibson, who co-chairs CUFI in Alabama, said “the church needs to stand up. Christians need to stand up and support Israel in every way possible.”

Birmingham Jewish Federation Executive Director Richard Friedman explained that the Federation’s vision is to be “a gathering place for Jews and Christians to come together around a sacred and common cause… that transcends whatever differences we might have.”

Friedman said to his knowledge Birmingham is the only Federation that has an employee whose task is outreach to the pro-Israel Christian community, and one of the few making allocations to groups aiding Christians who are being persecuted in the Middle East.

CUFI “is the partner we’ve been waiting for,” he said.

At the pastor’s lunch, Federation Assistant Executive Director Daniel Odrezin said “we are proud to be partnering with all of you in creating a strong pro-Israel alliance.” He said the Federation works on three issues — combating media bias regarding Israel, anti-Israel activities on campus and dealing with the security threats against Israel.

Emanu-El Rabbi Jonathan Miller told the pastors about his personal journey, explaining that he grew up in the north just after the Holocaust in an atmosphere where Jews felt “friendless” and nobody else could be trusted when it came to the welfare of Jews.

Miller told the pastors “I am grateful to God that God has turned my heart toward you as you have directed your hearts and energies toward the people of Israel.”

(Additional coverage on sjlmag.com)

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At a time when some church denominations, such as the Presbyterian Church (USA), are considering or passing one-sided resolutions critical of Israel or, in the case of PCUSA, divesting from businesses they see as profiting from Israel’s “occupation,” Alabama’s Southern Baptists said that won’t fly with them.

At the Alabama Baptist State Convention, held Nov. 11 and 12 at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, resolutions were passed “In Support of the Right of the State of Israel to Exist” and “In Opposition to Anti-Semitism.”

At a Christians United for Israel pastor’s luncheon at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham on Nov. 18, Rev. John Killian informed pastors about the resolutions and that they had passed unanimously. Killian, immediate past president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and pastor of Maytown Baptist Church, told the CUFI gathering “let’s let everybody know Alabama Christians stand for Israel.”

According to the Alabama Baptist, the convention’s 13 resolutions passed with “no significant debate nor changes.”

The anti-Semitism resolution cites increasing anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in Europe and supports the right of the Jewish community “to fellowship without harassment.” It concludes that “Alabama Baptists will teach respect for our Jewish neighbors and would discourage those anti-Semitic attitudes which may seek to find a place in public policy.”

The Israel resolution notes the “historic connection” of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, and that in 1943 Alabama was the first state to pass legislation calling for a Jewish homeland.

It expresses “abhorrence” of terror, denounces “revenge in any form as a response” but supports “the right of sovereign nations to use force to defend themselves against aggressors.”

Israel, the resolution adds, must be held accountable in the same manner “as any other nation,” and the Palestinian people are called upon to “reform their government structures to repudiate terrorism and tyranny.”

One passage likely to raise eyebrows on both sides states that “We affirm God’s love for and offer of salvation in Christ to all people, including both Jewish and Palestinian people.” The next statement then says “Both Old and New Testaments affirm God’s special purposes and providential care for the Jewish people.”

The resolution concludes with “we pray that the true peace of our Lord will reign in the lives of the Israeli and Palestinian people and that this peace will bring blessing to this war-torn land.” (Full text at sjlmag.com).

Nationally, the Jewish community and the Southern Baptist Convention have had a roller-coaster relationship given the Southern Baptist Great Commission mandate to witness to the entire world, including the Jewish community. Calls to evangelize the Jewish community, including a controversial 1996 resolution, have been widely criticized in the Jewish community, as has Southern Baptist support for “messianic” congregations.

commentary

NAGHI’S

Comprehending Common Core: Upside, Downside & “My Side”

by Sharon Pollin The Common Core is causing an uproar.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal enthusiastically supported the state’s adoption of the national standards in 2010.

In 2012 Jindal outlined his plans to reform Louisiana’s education system, and included the standards as part of his strategy.

Now, in 2014, Jindal has filed two lawsuits designed to derail educators from aligning their teaching to the standards.

As with most innovations, there are those who are in favor, Byron Garrett, CEO of the National Parent Teacher Association, said the standards “support teachers in preparing students to thrive in a democratic society and a diverse, changing world as knowledgeable, creative and engaged citizens and lifelong learners.”

Conversely, the Utah County Republican Platform states that “Schools or other government entities should not invade the privacy of parents or their children. We favor local accountability and control in all aspects of the education system.”

I believe the Common Core State Standards Initiative has much to offer America’s schoolchildren.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2012 the U.S. eighth grade mathematics scores were lower than the average for all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

Twenty-nine education systems had higher average mathematics scores than the U.S. average score.

In the same year, 22 education systems had higher average science scores than the U.S., and 19 education systems had higher average reading scores than the U.S. Those higher ranking education systems range from Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea, to Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Canada, Poland, France, Iceland and Belgium, among many others.

Also in 2012, only 25 percent of high school seniors were ready for college in all four subjects tested by the ACT college readiness assessment.

According to several national measures, Louisiana ranks 48th in K-12 achievement.

These statistics should make all Americans, and certainly all Louisianans, sit up and take

notice. In terms of excellence in education and global competitiveness, our schools are not doing so well. Why not?

Prior to the Common Core Initiative, each school, each school district and each state established its own curriculum standards, the educational requirements in each subject area at each grade level that students are expected to learn and teachers are expected to teach.

Although created with the best of intentions, individual state standards have often been broad, vague, lengthy, difficult to assess, and vary from state to state. Particularly in mathematics, individual state standards have generally pushed for an enormous shopping list of math topics to be ‘covered’ in an entire year. Such ‘coverage’ does not lead to rich student learning.

The way math has been taught in the United States is often described as “a mile wide and an inch deep.” The average American 4th grade math textbook is 530 pages, compared to the international average of 170.

In order for publishers to sell to a broad range of consumers, i.e., school districts, the content is not aligned to a single set of standards or measurements. In the 29 countries that outperform us, “teachers may spend a month on a topic, while we spend days,” says William Schmidt, the U.S. research coordinator for the Third International Math and Science Study. The result is the next year, teachers must re-teach the same material, students having rarely acquired the necessary deep conceptual understandings upon which to build new knowledge.

To address the lack of preparedness of our nation’s young people to effectively participate in the world around them, and the wildly uneven expectations of student learning from state to state and school to school, the states-led initiative to develop the Common Core State Standards was launched in 2009 by state leaders, including governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states, two territories and the District of Columbia, through their membership in the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Louisiana was well represented in the endeavor, with many local educators, college faculty and experts joining their colleagues from other states to create and revise the standards.

The work focused on key goals to ensure U.S.

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commentary students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career and life, regardless of where they live.

There are three major shifts in each large content area.

In math there is a deeper focus on fewer topics, a linking of topics across grades to ensure a solid foundation, and a rigorous conceptual understanding, with procedural skills and fluency, and how to apply them.

A fifth grade question in the former standard would read: “Donna buys 40 apples at 35 cents each. She eats 2 apples and sells the rest for 45 cents each. How much money does she make?” This question requires only the use of simple arithmetic.

The Common Core standard question would be: “Donna buys some apples at 35 cents each. She eats 2 apples and sells the rest for 45 cents each. She makes $4.40. How many apples did she buy?” This question requires the student to formulate an algebraic strategy in order to answer the question.

English Language Arts standards include regular practice with complex texts and their academic language; reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from texts, both literary and informational; and building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction.

Here is a comparison of questions from reading “Charlotte’s Web,” by E.B. White.

The former standard’s questions would be “Who is telling the story in Charlotte’s Web? How does Wilbur feel towards Charlotte at the end of the story? How do you know?”

The Common Core questions are “What is your point of view about Wilbur? How is it different from Fern’s point of view about Wilbur? How

24 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

is it different from the narrator’s point of view?”

From analyzing the text, the new expectation requires students to explain that characters see the world differently. The reader learns about the characters from the narrator as well as by what they say to one another and how they act in different situations.

The U.S. education system has been accused of preparing students for a world that no longer exists. Think about how the world has changed since you were in school.

Think about what the world will be facing 20 years from now. Two billion more people. Climate change. Subsiding coastlines. Microbiological resistance. The continuing mingling of the world’s cultures. Immediate information access.

Our students require skills as well as habits of mind and behavior to succeed in their world. They need to be deep thinkers, problem solvers and collaborators who are able to apply the skills they’ve learned in school to the very real issues of the 21st century. The goals of the CCCS are to provide a path to achieve that.

Are they perfect? No. Are they a huge step forward for our youth? I believe so.

At Jewish Community Day School, we understand that learning is a progressive continuum. Our teachers utilize the standards as a blueprint that guides curriculum planning and instruction. Instruction at JCDS is guided by these standards, by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and by the treasured values of our Jewish heritage.

Sharon Pollin is Head of School for Jewish Community Day School in Metairie.

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JCRS to honor four families, celebrate 160th at musical roots gala This coming year’s gala for the Jewish Children’s Regional Service will celebrate the unique agency’s 160th birthday and honor four families for their contributions and passion for Jewish youth.

The “Jewish Roots of Music” will be directed by renowned musician Harry Mayronne, who created this year’s JCRS “Jewish Roots of Broadway” production at the National World War II Museum. Mayronne’s credits include musical direction of the Big Easy Awards and co-writing and producing the off-Broadway production of “Waiting Around — The Restaurant Musical.”

The event, which will be on March 7 at the New Orleans Hyatt, will recognize the Cahn and Goldring families of New Orleans, the Klein family of Louisville, Ky., and the Grinspoon family from Western Massachusetts.

Originally formed as the Jewish Children’s Home in New Orleans, JCRS became a social service agency when the home closed following World War II. Serving seven states, JCRS provides need-based assistance for Jewish summer camp and undergraduate college aid, along with outreach and case management services. The agency serves over 1500 Jewish youth annually.

The Goldring family is well-known locally, nationally and internationally for its numerous philanthropic endeavors that support many causes within the civic and Jewish communities. The Goldring Family Foundation was created by the late Stephen and Mathilde Goldring in 1957, and its vast work has continued to be carried out through their son, Bill, and grandchildren Diane Franco and Jeffrey Goldring.

Mike Cahn, a Mississippi native, and Blanche Lazard, a New Orleanian, met and married in New Orleans in 1911. They had two sons, Emile and Jules. Their two sons, together with their spouses, Adele and June, carried on a tradition of passionate and involved philanthropy, that has now passed down to their children, New Orleanians Jimmy and Marie Cahn, and Richard and Vivian Cahn, through the Cahn Family Foundation.

Mike and Blanche Cahn were already supporters of, and mentors to, the residents of the former Jewish Children’s Home in the early part of the 20th century, when in 1936, their son, the late Emile Cahn, married Adele Karp. Adele was one of four Karp sisters raised at the Home. Today, at age 97, Adele Karp Cahn is one of the oldest and most proud surviving alumni of the Jewish Children’s Home.

Like Adele Karp Cahn and her three siblings, Elias Klein and his brother, Ike, in the 1930s, found themselves in need of assistance from the Jewish community of New Orleans and the former Jewish Children’s Home.

Elias and Ike were child refugees, who were sent out of Nazi Germany by their parents, who were left behind. The community helped to place the boys with New Orleanian Lillian Greenwald, who became their foster mother.

Elias married native Beverly Aronowitz in 1948. The couple was residing in New Orleans in 1981, when a teaching position at the University of Louisville Medical School lured Elias from his position as the director of the Gulf South Research Institute. In appreciation of the support that the young Klein boys received from New Orleans Jewish institutions, Elias and Beverly have given back to New Orleans, and together with their children, have created a college scholarship fund at JCRS that supports children from refugee families.

In 1993, Harold Grinspoon a real estate developer, created a family foundation whose original mission was to support services for residents of Western Massachusetts and to support a variety of programs for various Jewish communities. Over time, both the mission of the Harold Grin-

Happy Chanukah to our Camp Barney Medintz families

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 25

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26 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

spoon Foundation and the number of his own family members that he involved in the foundation has grown exponentially.

One deep passion for Grinspoon is his desire to enhance Jewish continuity, and to channel that passion through programs for Jewish youth and young families. In 2006, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation launched the PJ Library, a program that now provides free, monthly Jewish-themed books to 136,000 Jewish youth in North America. PJ has also expanded into South America, Australia, and Israel. With additional local support from the Goldring Family Foundation, JCRS administers PJ in New Orleans and across parts of six states, providing over 900 Jewish youth each year with book subscriptions.

The Grinspoon Foundation also believes strongly in the value of Jewish overnight summer camping, which is also one of the primary initiatives of JCRS. The JCamp 180 program works with over 75 camps on consulting and grant-matching.

12/12/2012

The 27th annual Delta Jewish Open was held in Greenville the weekend of Oct. 18. About 75 attended the dinner at Hebrew Union Congregation, then the four-man scramble tournament began the next morning with a shofar start.

The winning team was Eric Miller, Greenwood; Fred Miller, Rolling Fork; Jimmy Stewart, Franklin, Tenn.; Rabbi Ted Riter, Jackson.

Second place was Mauri Turner, Monroe; Barry Piltz, Greenville; Sam Goodman, Greenville; Fred Miller, Palm Harbor, Fla.; Richard Dattel, Greenville. The third place team was Phil Co11:22:58 AM hen, Lexington, Miss.; Sam Silverblatt, Shreveport; Alan Silverblatt, Indianola; Samuel Cohen, New Orleans.

Corky Goodman, below, was named Queen of the Hot Tamale Festival, which took place the same weekend.

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A’mano has a wide range of gifts, including a few Judaica selections — books like “Bar Mitzvah — A Guide to Spiritual Growth” and a beautiful mostly photo book “The Light of Jerusalem,” which contains a foreword by Elie Wiesel.

A’mano also has artistic/crafty gifts by Jewish designer Jonathan Adler, such as picture frames and paperweights. They also carry Ceri Hoover Handbags, handmade leather handbags from Nashville. Hadakin, out of New Orleans, makes handbags and laundry bags.

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A fun, new Chanukah tradition

by Lee J. Green The new Funukkah doll and book brings a fun, new way for kids to learn more about Chanukah and being good. But this brainchild came from two seriously talented entrepreneurial Jewish girls who live just south of Atlanta.

Twelve-year-old Ellie and 10-year-old Anabelle Taylor live with their parents Brian and Ashley 30 miles south of Atlanta in Griffin, Ga. There are very few other Jewish kids in that area, so most of their friends celebrate Christmas.

“The girls wanted to have an elf-like figure that they and others could embrace for Chanukah,” said Brian Taylor. “We really got into the ‘Shark Tank’ TV show and they were inspired to come up with the idea for the Funukkah dolls and story. I told them if they would design them we would get them made.”

It took a year of design work and they went through 20 different prototypes before coming up with the Funukkah doll and story book that is now on sale at www.funukkah.com.

Each 13-inch-tall doll is carefully made of plush materials, to make them both extra huggable and safe, said Taylor. They come with a colorful backpack along with a Star of David pattern printed on their clothing.

The Funukkah hard-cover story book introduces families to the village the Funukkah dolls come from. It explains how the village spends all year preparing for Chanukah all over the world.

“Each doll and the box set come with the Funukkah rules. The rules let a child know the importance of being good and how to play with their Funukkah doll throughout Chanukah,” said Taylor. Some of those rules include saying please and being thankful; respecting family, along with giving the Funukkah dolls names.

The dolls are put to bed by the child at the child’s bedtime. While the child sleeps, the dolls “come to life” and with a little help from the parents, they “hide” in the home for the children to search for the next morning.

The Funukkah Kid’s backpack “magically” produces the Shamash candle for the following evening.

If a child has been especially good and has followed all the rules, then the child may also find a gift or that the doll has played a fun trick. This nightly routine repeats itself for all eight nights of Chanukah.

Taylor said a significant portion of the profits will go to benefit the ADL, which is where his cousin works in Atlanta.

He said that if Funukkah is successful, Anabelle and Ellie have already said they plan to spend their winter break this year coming up with ideas and designs for a Passover doll and story book.

“I am just so proud of them for their creativity, passion and working hard to see this vision through,” said Taylor.

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December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 29

chanukah Four things Adrian’s Tree Service is proud of from 5754 (2013-14): • Formosan termite treatment in New Orleans Garden District: 250 trees in 75 city blocks of historic homes, with our “Pork’n’beans” mixed with 2 million gallons of water (Aug.-March) • Final tree treatment for Mountain Pine Beetle at Art Janklow’s Mystery Mountain Resort, Rapid City, S.D. and the collapse of the beetle epidemic in the Black Hills. (Oct.) • Planting 108 shade trees in memory of Art Janklow II at Henry S. Jacobs Camp, Utica., Miss. — a diversity of 25 species (Oct-Feb.) • First bottling of American Chestnut honey from Gerd Oppenheim’s farm in Norwood, La. (August). Chestnut honey usually has to be imported from Italy.

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NOLA’s Pollack shapes glass into holy, secular items On a crisp October weekend near Tuscaloosa, amid the hundreds of artisans and self-taught artists at Kentuck displaying pottery, paintings and letterpress prints was a New Orleanian with a wide range of glass mezuzahs and Chanukah menorahs, and a couple of Torah pointers.

Judaica is a large portion of what Andrew Jackson Pollack makes in his New Orleans studio. An Atlanta native, Pollack was enamored by a visit to JazzFest and decided to move to New Orleans in 1997 to attend Loyola University.

He was already an artist in a family of artists. His mother, who did ceramics, was making glass beads when he was 12, and “I went from making beads of clay to making beads out of glass when I was 15.” Naturally, his first efforts at glass, the beads, were a natural fit in New Orleans.

He enrolled in glass blowing classes at the New Orleans School of Glassworks and Printmaking. Before long he became a member of the faculty, coordinating the lampworking department.

He has also studied at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, working with some of the top artists in glassmaking.

Pollack left the New Orleans School shortly before Katrina hit and established his own studio. With the flood, “we were lucky” being Uptown. An aunt and uncle lived in Lakeview by the 17th Street levee breach and had 10 feet of water in their home.

Pollack had gone to Atlanta just before the storm, and they remained there for eight months while their relatives lived in their Uptown home, until the Lakeview house was habitable. “We knew we were coming back,” he said.

Upon returning to New Orleans, he established Andrew Jackson Pollack Designs and started looking for clients and wholesale accounts, continuing “one person production but as more of a business.”

Fashioning Judaica goes back to the beginning of his artistic career.

“Probably one of the first things I tried to make out of glass” was a mezuzah, he said.

He came up with a Judaica line of designs after Katrina when he began wholesaling. Though he has certain designs, “none will be the same” as he does everything new.

He does about a dozen Chanukah menorahs per year. He also does Kiddush cups, dreidels, Torah pointers and even a Seder plate. He estimates that in 20 years working with glass he has done “a couple thousand” mezuzahs.

Aside from Judaica he does sculptures, perfume bottles, candleabras, jewelry and goblets, among other items.

Currently, a lot of his work includes birds, especially Louisiana birds such as pelicans. “I really enjoy bringing out their personalities” with the glass, he said. A few years ago, fish dominated his works, as he has been a scuba diver for years.

He no longer goes the wholesale route, because “I find I can only make so much.” There are a few places he has worked with for years that carry his pieces, but “it’s hard to keep up as one artist” who makes everything as a one-of-a-kind piece.

Pollack is also a home brewer, and this month was scheduled to do a show of beer-related glassware at The Avenue Pub. He also reclaims beer bottles that have the labels etched into the bottles, turning them into drinking glasses.

His works are carried at Rhino Gallery at Canal Place, and at Dashka Roth in the Quarter. He teaches classes at YAYA Creative Glass, and goes to art festivals from Texas to Georgia. His works are also available through his website, andrewjacksonpollack.com.

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A great new tradition for Jewish children and families during Hanukkah

The Funukkah Kids travel from the village of Funukkah to good girls and boys all over the world. They come right before the start of Hanukkah and spend all eight nights with your family. The fun and magic really starts to happen when the child goes to bed the night before the first night of Hanukkah.

Each Funukkah kid comes with “the Story of Funukkah” book, their list of rules, and a magical backpack which (with a little help from the parents) holds the Shamash candle to be used later that evening for the lighting of the Menorah.

A gift and a mitzvah — A significant portion of the profits will benefit the Anti-Defamation League!

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December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 31

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NOLA native Emily Stone asks, “Did Jew Know?”

Did you know that New Orleans native Emily Stone wrote a book entitled “Did Jew Know?”

The “handy primer on the customs, culture and practice of the Chosen People” is a witty presentation of the breadth of the Jewish experience, “from Saul to Seinfeld.”

Part of a family rooted in Louisiana, Stone moved to New York as a child. Her father, Harvey Stone, got a job as a U.S. Attorney in the 1970s and moved the family to Brooklyn, which “was not even starting to gentrify at that time,” she said.

Growing up, Stone visited New Orleans two or three times a year, and sometimes would also visit Bogalusa. “The Jews who grew up in Uptown and went to Newman… that is the New Orleans I know,” she said.

She also went to “the seven restaurants my grandparents went to,” and assumed that like New York, everyone was Jewish in New Orleans because “that’s who was at Chris’ on Sunday night or Galatoire’s for lunch on Saturday… when my mother told me New Orleans is only 3 percent Jewish, I said we must know the entire 3 percent.”

Of course, her experiences in both worlds drove home the notion that “the New York Jew is so different from the Southern Jew.” “Did Jew Know” has been described as irreverent but “deceptively comprehensive.” Stone has said the Judaism is still mysterious and foreign to many people, including Jews.

Aside from being a writer, she has taught yoga for 12 years and became the head writer and co-creator of The Yogapedia Project, an interactive series of ebooks for yoga teachers and dedicated yogis.

She noted that Bhakti yoga is a devotional practice that “includes chanting to Hindu gods, which isn’t exactly the way to go in Judaism.”

There are a lot of Bu-Jews, Jews who follow Buddhist teachings, and she has been referred to as a Hin-Jew. Recently, though, her brother has become more observant Jewishly. She has followed suit, and “become more uncomfortable with the Bhakti practice of yoga… it’s been an interesting journey.”

She added, “I’m returning now to Jew. The Hin part is fading.”

She thinks her next writing will be about returning to faith, about keeping Shabbat and what it entails, and talking with others who are traveling that path.

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

Charles Bell American, 1935-1995 Cats’s Eye and the Best of ‘Em, 1993 Oil on Canvas

MUSEUMS

Photorealism: The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Collection Considered one of the finest photorealist collections in the United States, more than 70 works from Sydney and Walda Besthoff are now on exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The paintings represent works from 1969 to those of recent vintage and include those by premier artists Chuck Close and Richard Estes.

The image that is shown partially above, of Charles Bell’s “Cat’s Eye and the Best of ‘Em,” came after a meeting with the Besthoffs at which Bell offered the couple a handful of marbles and a mirror, with the opportunity to arrange the marbles as they wished. They, however, declined and left the composition to the artist.

The museum’s Odyssey Ball last month was centered around the exhibit, with Sydney and Walda Besthoff serving as honorary chairs. Scriptura used “Cat’s Eye and the Best of ‘Em” for the event invitations, and Cafe NOMA morphed into a K&B diner for the event.

The exhibit is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, “Photorealism: Beginnings to Today.” Declared “mind-blowing” by the Times-Picayune’s Doug MacCash, the exhibit will be on view through January 25, 2015.

BOOKS

The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor

by Joel M. Hoffman (Thomas Dunne Books)

The Bible you usually read is not the complete story.

Some holy writings were left out for political or theological reasons, others simply because of the physical restrictions of ancient bookmaking technology. At times, the compilers of the Bible skipped information that they assumed everyone knew.

An impressive blend of history, linguistics and religious scholarship, “The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor” reveals what’s missing from your Bible, who left it out and why it is so important.

APPS

Israel. You Dig? A free app from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, “Dig Quest: Israel,” is geared toward getting children interested in what archaeologists do, and virtually include them on some of the greatest discoveries of the last 2,000 years, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and a Roman period mosaic at Lod. At each of the two simulated dig sites, players solve puzzles, take fast-paced quizzes, and are able to get the feel of some of what the IAA does, like the laboratory use of advanced spectral imaging process. Excerpts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are translated and spoken. Each site features discoveries that explain the artifacts found, and those artifacts can be placed in the player’s own collection box.

Gabe, the character host, is inspired by real IAA archaeologists, and the game includes over 30 levels and 50 images of historical treasures. Find the game by searching “Dig Quest: Israel” at the iTunes store.

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 33

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FILM

Exodus: Gods and Kings This month, director Ridley Scott’s (“Gladiator,” “Prometheus”) adventure “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the Biblical story of Moses (played by Christian Bale) and Ramses (Joel Edgerton), will be released. Using state-of-the-art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott seeks to bring new life to the story of the terrifying plagues God sets upon Egypt, and the epic journey of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who escaped.

“Exodus: Gods and Kings” will be in theaters December 12.

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TELEVISION

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Anita Diamant’s best-selling “The Red Tent” has been made into a miniseries premiering December 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.

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ONLINE COURSES

Jewish History, from MIT

MITOpenCourseWare makes available online, at no charge, actual MIT graduate and undergraduate courses. Among those available now, “Jewish History from Biblical to Modern Times” with instructor, Professor Peter Temin. ocw.mit.edu

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Presence in Eastern Europe, 2004-2012

Loli Kantor (University of Texas Press)

Beginning in 2004, Loli Kantor, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, traveled in Ukraine and Poland, photographing Jews in their everyday lives and listened to their stories in their homes, synagogues and other gathering places. Her luminous black-and-white and color images eloquently reveal the honor of the past and building of the future.

MAH JONGG: The Art of the Game Ann M. Israel and Gregg Swain Photographs by Michel Arnaud (Tuttle)

Offering an intimate look at the history of the game as well as the visual beauty of the mah jongg tiles, this book chronicles sets from the most basic, made simply of paper, to the most precious materials such as ivory and mother-of-pearl.

Recognized and respected scholars and game experts contribute important chapters on the game’s history and its pieces as well as technical information on the tiles.

Lastly, great collectors from around the globe have shared their incredible sets and memories for the first time in one book for everyone to enjoy.

The perfect gift for the mah jongg maven in your life.

THE JEWISH WORLD: 100 Treasures of Art & Culture, The Magnes Collection Alla Efimova, Francesco Spagnolo (Skira Rizzoli)

A fascinating survey of Jewish art and history from one of the most comprehensive Jewish collections.

Through beautiful photographs and insightful texts, this richly illustrated book brings to light masterpieces of Judaica and craftsmanship — from classical paintings to lush illuminations, from intricate silverwork to modernist sculpture — from The Magnes Collection, one of the world’s largest and most preeminent collections of Jewish ceremonial, modern, and contemporary art, music, rare books and manuscripts.

AUTHORS

Marcie Cohen Ferris

Author of “Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South,” Marcie Cohen Ferris pens “The Edible South: The Power of Food and the Making of an American Region,” a 480-page, heavily-footnoted history of how Southern food shapes our identity, past and present. Of particular Jewish interest are gems such as how Eli Evans’ family store kept their position as the only integrated lunch counter in downtown Durham, subverting Jim Crow laws by removing seats and adjusting the counter top to elbow-leaning height.

In 2005, you broke new ground with your acclaimed book “Matzoh Ball Gumbo.”

In “The Edible South,” you offer an extraordinarily ambitious, wide-reaching social history of the foodways of the American South over more than five centuries. Why is food a particularly revealing lens through which to look at key historical events?

Food is history. Food is place. Food is power. When we examine the historical arc of food in the American South, we encounter the tangled interactions of its people over time, a world of relationships fraught with conflict, yet bound by blood and attachment to place. The contradiction between the realities of plenty and deprivation, of privilege and poverty in Southern history resonates in the region’s food traditions. Today, Southern food has become untethered from the history responsible for this cuisine. This history helps us understand why Southerners eat the way they do, and why we think of our foods as deeply Southern.

Any myths or stereotypes about Southern food that you hope to dispel?

Fried chicken, biscuits, and pitchers of sweet tea — the caricatures of Southern foods are so “super-sized,” enriched, sweetened, and filled with butter that these iconic foods have become unrecognizable to native Southerners. Despite the exaggerated versions of Southern food we see on television and in popular, Southern-style, “country” restaurant chains, a core culinary grammar and history remains at the heart of these foods, whether it be the rich desserts of the plantation South or the plain meals of working-class and impoverished Southerners. Consider the Southern larder of seasonal fruits and vegetables — greens, ramps, butter beans, home-made preserves and pickles, oysters, shrimp, cured hams, stone-ground grits, peanuts, Carolina Gold rice, roasted sweet potatoes, a piece of hot cornbread.

Southern food is a distinctive, innovative cuisine that is grounded in the world of local agrarian traditions — soil, waters, region, season, flora and fauna — and the influence of global cultures. Southern food also embodies the memory of racial and class trauma, land loss, poverty and disease.

What important changes and struggles might lie ahead for the evolutionary South?

Both the creativity and the crisis of Southern foodways are exemplified by two poles in the region today — one of distinctive, innovative foods grounded in tradition, story, and the influence of global cultures, and the other, an inheritance of racial and class trauma. To visualize a dynamic, just and healthy future for all Southerners, we must learn from the region’s history, in which progress and resistance to change have done constant battle. Southern food today reflects the rapidly changing food geography of the region as Latino, Asian, Eastern European and Middle Eastern Southerners have influenced Southern cuisine.

A conversation with Marcie Cohen Ferris, author of “The Edible South: The Power of Food and the Making of an American Region” (University of North Carolina Press, Fall 2014). The text of this interview is also available at http://www.ibiblio.org/uncp/media/ferris_edible_south/

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December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 37

culture

Happy Chanukah

Simchas are just cooler with planes

LOCAL AUTHORS

10 DON’TS ON YOUR DIGITAL DEVICES Daniel Bachrach and Eric Rzeszut

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In “10 Don’ts on Your Digital Devices,” Daniel Bachrach and Eric Rzeszut use personal anecdotes and news stories to illustrate what can happen when individuals are careless with their devices and data. Each chapter takes on a different “don’t” and explains how common blunders can render one vulnerable — and what to do about it.

The book teaches non-technical readers 10 key lessons for protecting digital security and privacy with the same care they give to physical security and privacy. Strategies in the book help prevent phishing, giving away passwords, getting lost in the cloud, doing secure transactions in insecure places and many more common problems.

Bachrach is the Morrow Faculty Excellence Fellow and Professor of Management at the Culverhouse College of Commerce at the University of Alabama. He has published extensively on employee and team performance drivers, transactive memory systems, and organizational citizenship behavior.

Rzeszut recently moved from Birmingham to Charlottesville, Va., where he is the help desk manager at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. Previously, he was an IT manager at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a founding member of the UAB Enterprise Information Security Council.

LIFE’S FINGERPRINT: Your Birth Order Robert Hurst

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Is the order in which you were born the key to your personality? Robert Hurst, who has been in private practice in orthodontics in Covington, La., for 40 years, says he realized through his practice that each patient’s birth order was key to understanding behavior patterns, and being aware of it facilitated treatment.

Birth order is a person’s rank by age among his or her siblings. Those family roles and interactions carry over to the workplace. That order, which Hurst calls a “life fingerprint” is key to understanding people.

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He writes about how birth order affects one’s path through life in “Life’s Fingerprint: Your Birth Order.” He also has a lecture series, and blogs about current events by analyzing the individuals through their birth order.

During the summer, for example, he analyzed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that as a second-born he is outgoing, competitive and has his own value system that he will stick with. Having lost his older brother in the Entebbe raid in 1976, he also has taken on some first-born personality traits. As most world leaders are first-born, his acting that way while responding like a second-born is why world leaders often are frustrated with him, Hurst wrote — but at this time, “there could not be a better man for the current job of protecting Israel.”

pet care an annual SJL special section

Photo by Marcelo Rabelo

Hollywood Feed offers Chanukah pet safety tips The holiday season is filled with good food, fun decorations and family gatherings that bring joy to everyone. Don’t let the festivities turn to turmoil by neglecting to remember the holiday season can also be a dangerous one for your pets.

Many Chanukah traditions can spell disaster for your dogs and cats, but there are ways to prevent tragedy. Be mindful of everything during the season, and remember to explain the rules to houseguests. Everyone should be on the same page and understand that sad puppy eyes are never a good excuse to dole out table scraps.

Always pay attention to where one places decorations and foods. Traditional Chanukah foods such as doughnuts, latkes and chocolate coins wrapped in gold or silver foil can cause harm to pets.

Doughnuts, also known as sufganiyot, are packed with calories, sugar and fat. Ingestion can cause diarrhea and pancreatitis in pets.

Latkes can give your dogs the same gastrointestinal upset as doughnuts but can become considerably more dangerous. Consumption of onions, one of the main ingredients in many latke recipes, may result in Heinz body anemia — which could be fatal.

Chocolate coins and their metallic foil wrappers can be toxic to pets.

Theobromine and caffeine are found in chocolate. If ingested it can lead to severe medical complications and can be fatal. The wrappers can cause stomach upset and other gastrointestinal problems.

Never leave these foods out where a curious pet can happen upon them. Store them out of reach in secure containers. It’s also important to remember to keep a secure lid on the trash can to prevent pets from stealing a surprise from the garbage.

A traditional game played during the holidays can also pose a significant danger to pets. The dreidel might spark enough interest in your dog that he or she accidently swallows it. If ingested, this whirling top can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal obstructions.

The menorah is an important part of the eight days of Chanukah. But

imagine a lit menorah being knocked over by an excitedly wagging tail, or a dog bumping into furniture and the menorah falling to the ground?

There are pet-safe options available, including a battery-operated flameless menorah instead of customary candles. .

Just Happy Hounds keeps tails wagging

by Lee J. Green Dogs boarded at Just Happy Hounds in Birmingham’s Southside are never bored. They receive much attention and care so they can enjoy carefree fun. Dog days, in this case, are good.

“We’re all dog lovers and owners. We think the best people are dog owners,” said Just Happy Hounds Owner Charlie Hopkins. The 10,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor day care, boarding, training and grooming business opened this past July. “We want to make sure our clients are comfortable with us caring for their dogs and to know their dogs will be well cared for.”

Hopkins said with people’s busy work schedules, they might not get the opportunity to give their dogs the attention and exercise the pups want and need. That’s where Just Happy Hounds comes in.

“One of the greatest benefits is that the dogs here exercise and can interact with other dogs all but one hour during the day,” he said. “Our trainer takes the dogs on walks and we also have a treadmill for the dogs.

That way when you pick the dogs up after work, they are happy and just as tired as you are.”

Hopkins opened up Just Happy Hounds on the advice of retired veterinarian Dr. Chandler McGee, who is on staff to monitor but does not perform medical procedures. They also employ a trainer, groomer, two vet techs and other caring staff. continued on page 42

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 39

pet care

Riverview Animal Clinic offers advice on keeping pets well

by Lee J. Green Pets are just like their people in that they are happiest and healthiest when they eat the proper foods, get regular exercise, and have plenty of love and socialization opportunities.

Arthur Serwitz and the rest of the doctors and staff at Riverview Animal Clinic want to help ensure that pets get the care they need at the veterinary clinic as well as regularly at home.

“For dogs especially, training, socialization and proper exercise and nutrition are so important,” said Serwitz. “Giving pets as gifts is not recommended. There are too many personal situations regarding ability, knowledge and resources to know if the timing is right and the pet is the right choice for the personalities and their circumstances.

“It’s best when everyone understands and embraces all the responsibilities that come with owning a pet,” he said, adding that Riverview Animal Clinic sees not just dogs and cats, but also “exotics” such as birds, snakes, rabbits, ferrets, “pocket pets” like hamsters, guinea pigs, and rodents, reptiles, amphibians, chinchillas, and hedgehogs.

If people are thinking of getting a new pet, consider the many rescue groups, shelters and humane societies. It would be a very good thing to “save a life” and can be the most rewarding.

Busy work schedules, along with home and children responsibilities sometimes conflict with giving and getting pets the necessary exercise and socialization. Many resources are available for meeting these demands, such as personal trainers, doggy day care facilities, play groups, pet sitters and pet walkers, dog parks. Be sure to check out the facilities personally and get referrals.

Living in the South exposes pets to many environmental “incitants” and allergens. Consider the warm and humid climate and the prevalence and variety of grasses, pollen, trees, insects, insect parts, molds, weeds, pesticides, herbicides, as well as fleas and ticks. Some animal breeds may have a prevalence for “allergy problems.” Investigate breed health resumes and history for choosing the right pets.

Environmental concerns would be another consideration for “puppy or kitten proofing” one’s home environment. Scented candles, Airwick plug-ins, perfumes, strong household cleaners especially chorine/Clorox based products, toxic plants, human medicines, yard chemicals and even plastic toys can be hazardous.

Today’s veterinary practices have taken advantage of the latest medical technologies and resources, offering advanced dentistry, advanced imaging, new and updated lab testing and clinical diagnostics, cancer diagnosing and therapies, intensive and urgent care facilities, hospitalization, preventive care, and specialized veterinary practice with “boarded” veterinarians in the fields of internal medicine, surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, dermatology, oncology, cardiology, as well as others.

“We are lucky in Birmingham to be within a few hours driving to some of the very best veterinary schools in the country: Auburn, Tuskegee, Mississippi State, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana State, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech and Florida,” said Serwitz.

He also noted that “micro chipping” has become more widespread and accepted in identifying pets. The technology has been around for many years. It is a simple, safe, and affordable method to help with lost pet identification, added Serwitz

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www.justhappyhounds.com December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 41

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Another current trend is pet insurance. In Europe, approximately 25 to 30 percent of pet owners have pet insurance. Those numbers are closer to 1 percent in the United States.

But with the rising demands for good and advanced veterinary care comes the opportunity to add a dimension of protection with pet insurance. There are at least a dozen veterinary insurance providers.

“It’s important to get a policy when a pet is younger so it is more affordable. Most cover a good portion of major medical, hospitalization, and interventional surgeries,” he said. “It is important to think of the insurance choices in regard to benefits and deductibles.”

Pet feeding, along with advances in nutritional information and counseling, has given people more choices in healthy diets for pets. It is everyone’s job to become informed, he said, such as knowing how to read a label on a pet food. Know the reputation of the company, where the food is produced and where the ingredients have come from, he advised.

“Veterinarians are continually educated regarding newest information on pet diets and special medical diets. We have seen a trend of pets becoming more sedentary and overweight — overfeeding, less exercise, neutering and spaying too young without adjusting diet and calorie needs and keeping up with exercise needs. Know the websites that monitor pet diet recalls. Rely on your veterinarian to help guide you,” said Serwitz.

“The lifestyles and longevity of our pets, along with the human-animal bond have contributed so much to the quality of their lives as well as ours,” he said.

>> Hounds

Continued from page 39

“Dr. McGee and I worked together to ensure that this is a healthy and safe place for dogs as well as people,” said Hopkins.

They brought in an engineer to design and build an advanced ventilation system that draws out odors and airborne germs.

The sealed epoxy floors at Just Happy Hounds keep them from absorbing odors.

The kennel turf outside is over sand and gravel, with it being drained every day. For older dogs, several of the kennels and runways have cushioned gym mat flooring, similar to gym mats at the Levite Jewish Community Center.

Just Happy Hounds can feed the dogs Hill’s Science Diet or clients can bring in foods their dogs are accustomed to. For grooming, they offer a wide variety of shampoos, some for dogs with sensitive skin.

Before a dog is admitted into day care, it must pass a temperament test. Owners cannot be with their dogs during the test but can monitor everything on security screens in the front lobby area.

Speaking of TV screens, some of the boarding rooms at Just Happy Hounds feature flat-screen TVs that can be turned on for the dogs. Bright murals adorn the walls as does dog art by local artist Christopher Davis.

Just Happy Hounds also partners with the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, Hand in Paw, Adopt-a-Golden and other organizations that seek to help dogs in any way that they can.

“Community service is very important to us, especially those who are helping our canine friends,” said Hopkins. “Our dogs bring us so much joy and we want to do the same for them.”

42 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

the story of us • veterans Students get veteran’s perspective Judge Sol Gothard, the commander of the New Orleans Post of the Jewish War Veterans of America, addressed Jewish Community Day School students at an all-school assembly for Veterans Day. “Every branch of the United States Military as well as the Israeli Defense Forces not only protects our country during times of war,” Gothard said.

“They also perform community services such as helping immigrants, building houses for the homeless and responding in times of disaster.”

Gothard is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He is a former social worker, lawyer, and Judge of the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court and the 5th Judge Sol Gothard with two Circuit Court of Appeal. He currentDay School students whose ly serves as a full professor of Social parents are serving in the Work and Law at Tulane University military. Gianna Harris’ father, Graduate School of Social Work. He Bryan Harris, is serving in the is a lecturer, actor and consultant.

Army. Joseph Todd’s father, He was recently honored by the James Todd, is serving in the National Association of Forensic SoCoast Guard. cial Work with the creation of the “Sol Gothard Lifetime Achievement Award” and by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation, who recognized him as a “Pioneer in the Field of Social Work”. He is also a recipient of the People’s Health Award.

His three older brothers, Gerald, Jack and Abe, all served in World War II, with Abe being awarded the Purple Heart for serious wounds sustained in battle.

FA M I LY

EYE

CENTER

Kanter honored at World Peace lunch At the National Veterans Day celebration in Birmingham on Nov. 11, Fred Kanter was honored during the World Peace Luncheon. He was one of six veterans presented with the Governor’s Annual Alabama Veteran of the Year Award, given to those who have “done most to foster the highest Ideals in Community Service, Membership, and our American Way of Life.”

He was also presented a quilt from the “Quilts of Valor” organization, whose mission “is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor,” made by volunteer quilters.

Kanter served as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy, taking part in the invasion of Okinawa. He received a battle star for his service. He also served as a communications officer in the Korean War. Kanter was commander of Jewish War Veterans Post 608 from 2011 to 2014, revitalizing it after it had been inactive for 10 years. After the luncheon at the Sheraton Birmingham, the JWV post had a car in the Veteran’s Day Parade, which is the largest in the nation.

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Continued from page 3

much the better in their view.

Any pro-Israel question was dismissed as a “Fox News question” or received howls of protest (they had announced that they would rotate taking questions in “pro-Israel, anti-Israel and neutral” order).

One questioner took issue with a pro-Israel questioner’s characterization of Arabs fleeing of their own accord in 1948, urged by invading Arab armies to get out of the way so they would later be able to return after the Jews were expelled. Why, he belittled the previous questioner, nobody believes that anymore and he hadn’t heard anyone seriously make that argument for 20 years.

Then he apparently hadn’t heard about George Deet, an Israeli diplomat in Norway, whose speech I read the next day and linked to in that week’s e-news (if you missed it, Google him and read the speech).

His family fled from Jaffa in 1948, urged by Arab leaders. Upon arriving as refugees in Lebanon, they decided to return to Jaffa and build lives for themselves instead of being mired in refugee status.

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Deet called upon the Palestinians to give up the “victimhood” narrative that paralyzes and morally corrupts them, which consigns them to misery.

You know, the narrative presented at the UAB forum.

After an evening hearing about those supposedly-monsterous Israeli soldiers, I interviewed one the next morning — Josh Colman, a Lone Soldier in the IDF from New Orleans. His words showed just how hackneyed the assertions of the previous evening were.

Colman spoke of his extreme pride in putting on the IDF uniform, and about having to counter the deplorable misinformation that those who oppose Israel put out about him and his fellow soldiers.

You’ll find more of his thoughts in this issue.

Then late in the afternoon, the Alabama-Israel Task Force and Birmingham International Center held a forum at Innovation Depot about business opportunities with Israel.

The event was pretty much all business — any mention of conflict was fleeting and peripheral. There was mention of Israel’s defense technology, and that during the Gaza conflict of this past summer Israeli business was not hurt or affected in the least. If anything, one speaker noted, the absence of businesspeople called up to military service forced companies to be even more nimble and responsive.

All of this was within 24 hours. On an individual level, it demonstrated the need to stay well-informed about what is truly happening there (and sadly, relying on much of the superficial mainstream media is a bad idea). On an institutional level, it showed the need to forge ahead with Israel activities that have nothing to do with conflict, building allies through normal interactions.

Sure, those in the fever swamps of anti-Israel agitation will try to have their fun and aren’t going away. They need to be answered and their silliness exposed.

We need to take a cue from Israelis who are great at shaking off the conflicts and forging ahead to build the best, most inclusive society possible, even in the midst of existential conflicts.

Larry Brook EDITOR/PUBLISHER SouthernJewishLife_COA_HeadlineAd.indd 1

44 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

9/8/14 1:50 PM

EDITOR@SJLMAG.COM

simchas Richman Reinauer of Lake Charles was appointed to the Louisiana Real Estate Commission as an at-large member by Governor Bobby Jindal. He is vice president and property manager at Reinauer Real Estate.

On Oct. 2, Nathan Rickoff was posthumously recognized as the Martin C. Glasser Kiwanian of the Year by the Pensacola Kiwanis Club. This award is presented annually to the club member whose support of club activities both internally and externally helps to promote the Kiwanis mission of “Serving the Children of the World” in the local area. Rickoff, who died in July, was a member of Kiwanis for 64 years. Also installed at the annual meeting were Joel Levin, incoming Kiwanis president, and Chuck Lisner, Kiwanis board member.

Time for a great Chanukah gift

Lila Pinksfeld, daughter of Princess and The YWCA of Alexandria-Pineville held George Cohen, Lake Charles, was named re- its “Decades of Women” luncheon on Nov. 13 gional director of the American Jewish Com- at Alexandria Convention Hall. Among the mittee’s Seattle office. women being honored was Rabbi Judy Caplan Paul Aaron, the Ray Loper Endowed Chair Ginsburgh. Six women, one from each decade in Environmental Geology at the University of of age from the 20s to the 70s, were honored Alabama, was awarded a Lady Davis Fellowship for “community excellence and achievement,” at Hebrew University. He is teaching a graduate nominated by the community and selected by seminar at Hebrew University through January. the YWCA board.

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simchas Two added to Judah Touro Society On Oct. 11, Harris Hyman III and Salvador Caputto were honored as the 2014 Judah Touro Society Award winners by Touro Infirmary.

Named for the 19th century philanthropist and founder of Touro Infirmary, the Judah Touro Society is composed of benefactors whose generosity and dedication to the values and mission of Touro Infirmary place them among the hospital’s strongest and most committed supporters. Voted upon by former recipients, the award is given annually to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the welfare of Touro Infirmary.

Hyman was appointed to Touro’s medical staff in 1961 and served as medical staff president from 1977 to 1980. While Chief of Gastroenterology he developed and started the Endoscopy Unit at Touro and performed the first gastroscopy. He was the Silver Scope Physician of the Year in 1967, an inaugural member of the Judah Touro Society, and was a member of the Touro Governing Board.

Photos by Mike Palumbo Hyman’s family has a long relationship Haris Hyman III and with Touro dating back to the late 1800s. His Salvador Caputto great-grandfather, Henry Newman, was involved in the 1890s, and his father and grandfather were board members of Touro.

Hyman has also served as president of Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans and on the board of the Jewish Endowment Foundation, and is currently a clinical professor of medicine at Tulane.

Caputto currently serves as the chair of the Continuing Medical Education Committee and is a practicing physician with Crescent City Physicians, in the Hematology/Oncology Division. Caputto joined Touro in the Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery in 1981.

Among the many in attendance at Mardi Gras World applauding them were their spouses, Barbara Hyman and Luz Caputto; Louisiana Children’s Medical Center Health CEO Greg Feirn; and from Touro Infirmary, President and CEO Jim Montgomery and spouse Donna, Touro Infirmary Governing Board Chairman Hugh W. Long and wife Susan L. Krinsky, Touro Infirmary Foundation Director Shon Baker, and former Governing Board Chairwoman Ruth Kullman with Larry.

The 2014 gala chairs were Adrian Cohn and Shira Glazer, with Sammie Wolf and Matthew Rosenthal. Also in attendance were Clay Smith, Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn, Richard and Flo Schornstein, Jon Brouk, 2004 JTS honoree Jane Bories, 2013 honoree Margaret Epstein with Joe, former board chairman and 2010 honoree Paul Rosenblum with Edie, 2002 honoree George R. Cary Jr., and 2009 honoree Cathy Kahn.

The gala after-party, titled “L’Dor V’Dor,” took place in Mardi Gras World’s Mansion Room and featured music from the Panorama Jazz Band and Mississippi Rail Co.

Greene, Markstein honored at Smart Party The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham held its third annual Smart Party on Oct. 16 at Iron City, honoring “10 of Birmingham’s smartest women,” including two in the Jewish community, Susan Greene and Ellen Markstein. Proceeds from the event go to the Women’s Fund programs that help women move beyond poverty.

Greene is the executive director of the Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Foundation. Before that, she volunteered extensively in the Jewish 46 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

simchas Community as campaign chair and president of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, and has served on the board of Temple Beth-El, the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, the Levite Jewish Community Center and the Birmingham Jewish Foundation. She was also the Development Director for the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School.

Markstein is co-founder and managing director at Markstein, an 11-year-old strategic communications agency that was ranked Alabama’s 2nd largest public relations agency by Business Alabama in 2014. She has provided counsel to clients ranging from blue chip pharmaceutical companies to technology start-ups on international and domestic programs related to Markstein’s four practice areas: Marketing and Public Relations, Digital Influence, Corporate Strategy and Public Affairs.

Lisa Engel, the current president of the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, is on the board of the Women’s Fund.

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Wexler receives Compassionate Physician Award from Touro Touro Infirmary physician advisor Nathan Wexler received the Murrel H. Kaplan Compassionate Physician Award on Oct. 22.

The Kaplan Award is an annual honor recognizing a Touro Infirmary medical staff member for values important to Kaplan during his 50year practice: compassion, empathy, respect for the patient as a whole person, and genuine care for the patient’s welfare.

Wexler has been a member Nathan Wexler with Touro Infirmary of the Touro staff for over President and CEO James T. Montgomery 40 years. Kaplan’s son, Jay Kaplan, presented the award in his father’s memory before a crowd of Touro medical staff, leadership, family and friends.

Touro Infirmary Foundation Director Shon Baker said, “Touro Infirmary’s mission is dedicated to providing compassionate healthcare of the highest quality to the people it serves. Dr. Wexler continues this mission as both a physician and administrator and serves as a wonderful model of kindness and compassion for the entire Touro community.”

Wexler graduated from Tulane University and attended medical school at Louisiana State University. After an internship at Touro Infirmary, Wexler joined the Air Force, where he achieved the rank of captain.

After completing residency programs at LSU and Tulane, Wexler joined Touro in private practice from 1974 to 2001 and is currently a Touro Physician Advisor. During his Touro tenure, Wexler has been chief of Urology, a member of the Medical Staff Executive Committee, chairman of the Bylaws Committee, chairman of the Special Care Units Committee and member of the Medical Advisory Committee.

Outside of Touro, Wexler is a former board member of Touro Synagogue and is currently a reader and board member at WRBH Reading Radio for the blind and print disabled. WRBH is the only full-time reading service on the FM dial in the country and one of only three in the world.

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December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 47

simchas: b’nai mitzvah Ella Lucinda Rockoff, daughter of Susan and Stuart Rockoff, at Beth Israel, Jackson, on Sept.

13.

Samuel Miller Banks, at Temple B’nai Sholom, Huntsville, on Sept. 13.

Simon Brickman, son of Caroline and Robert Brickman, at Temple Sinai, New Orleans, on Sept. 13.

Esther Feinstein, at Ahavas Chesed, Mobile, on Sept. 13.

Jacob Kipp, son of Naomi and Alan Kipp, at Temple Beth-El, Birmingham, on Sept. 13.

Josh Scherer, son of Lauren and Rich Scherer, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Sept. 13.

Hanah Mari Bloom, daughter of Akiko and Al Bloom, at Temple Beth Or, Montgomery, on Sept. 20.

Isabelle Shroyer, daughter of Lori and Lyle Shroyer, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Sept. 20.

Julian Box, son of Robin Goldblum and Kent Box; and Max Perlstein, son of Patricia Kissinger-Perlstein and Michael Perlstein, at Temple Sinai, New Orleans, on Sept. 20.

William Goldenberg, son of Doris and Lee Goldenberg, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Sept. 27.

Joshua Nemet, son of Jennifer and Gerry Nemet, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Oct. 11.

Emma Meyer, daughter of Hope and James Meyer, at Temple Sinai, New Orleans, on Oct. 11.

Emily Bebenek and Alex Bebenek, children of Lisa and Paul Bebenek, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Oct. 18 Nola Manning Timmins, daughter of Cheryl Timmins, at Touro Syagogue, New Orleans, on Oct. 18.

Benjamin Zimmerman, at Temple Beth El, Pensacola, on Oct. 18.

Sarah Bronson Webster, at Ahavas Chesed, Mobile, on Oct. 18.

Lester Seigel was presented the Thomas Smith Award for Excellence at the Alabama Choral Directors Association convention during the summer. Nominees for the award must have been in choral music for at least 25 years, providing leadership in the choral arts.

Seigel is Director of Choral Activities and the Joseph Hugh Thomas Professor of Music at Birmingham-Southern College, where he conducts the BSC Concert Choir, Hilltop Singers vocal ensemble and BSC Opera. He is also Choirmaster and Organist at Canterbury United Methodist Church and founder of the Sursum Corda choral group.

48 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

Garrett Brainis, son of Amy and David Brainis, at B’nai Zion, Shreveport, on Oct. 24.

Matthew Ethan Winfield, son of Lori and Howard Winfield, at Temple Emanu-El, Tuscaloosa, on Oct. 25.

Eli Benjamin Kanner, son of Robin and Allan Kanner, at Touro Synagogue, New Orleans, on Oct. 25.

Nathan Ruha, son of Jessica and Jason Ruha, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Oct. 25.

Aaron Weil, son of Allison and Ben Weil, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Nov. 1.

Taylor Maurine Rosen, daughter of Maurie and Lane Rosen, at B’nai Zion, Shreveport, on Nov. 8.

Jonah Grayson Weinberger, son of Lora Asburry and James Weinberger, at Temple B’nai Sholom, Huntsville, on Nov. 8.

Max Moses, son of Leann and Ted Moses, at Temple Sinai, New Orleans, on Nov. 8.

Eric Geoffrey Cordover, son of Jennifer and Andrew Cordover, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Nov. 8.

Joshua Feist, at Temple Shalom, Lafayette, on Nov. 8.

Anna Rebecca Zipes, daughter of Lori and Paul Zipes, at B’nai Israel, Panama City, on Nov. 8. Rabbi Matt Dreffen of the Institute for Southern Jewish Life officiated.

Dylan Strasser, at Beth Israel, Meridian, on Nov. 8.

Joshua Bloomston, son of Alana and Barry Bloomston, at Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, on Nov. 15.

Emily Anderson and Abigail Anderson, daughters of Lorna and Todd Anderson, at Temple Emanu-El, Dothan, on Nov. 21.

Eviana Linder, daughter of Lauren Linder and Pat Langnau, at Temple Beth El, Pensacola, on Nov. 22.

Kayla Tarr, daughter of Sherri and Matt Tarr, New Orleans, was named the Patrick Taylor Science and Technology High School Student of the Year.

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 49

community

Mobile’s Jewish film festival lineup set

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The Mobile Jewish Film Festival announced its lineup for next month’s screenings.

The festival starts on Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. at Springhill Avenue Temple with “Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love.” The biographical film chronicles his personal and creative highs and lows, including winning every major artistic award by age 31 — Grammys, an Emmy, three Oscars, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.

On Jan. 13, the festival moves to the Laidlaw Center for Performing Arts at the University of South Alabama. “Run Boy Run” at 7 p.m. is the true story of a Polish Jewish boy who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto at age 9 and relied on strangers — and an assumed identity as a Christian — to survive. The film will also be screened at the USA Fairhope campus on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.

“Body and Soul: The State of the Jewish Nation” will be on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. It documents the undeniable historical connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, at a time when Palestinian advocates are insisting there is no such history.

On Jan. 15 at 7 p.m., “Zaytoun” portrays the uneasy odyssey of a downed Israeli pilot and a Palestinian boy during the 1982 Lebanon War. On Jan. 18 at Ahavas Chesed, “Above and Beyond: The Birth of the Israeli Air Force” details how Jewish American pilots smuggled planes from the U.S., trained in Czechoslovakia and flew to Israel to fight in the 1948 War of Independence. The screening will be at 3 p.m.

The Mobile Public Library and Mobile Christian Jewish Dialogue cosponsor “The Jewish Cardinal,” Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Ben May Library.

The film tells the story of Jean-Marie Lustinger, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants who converted to Catholicism and eventually became Archbishop of Paris, while maintaining a Jewish cultural identity.

The festival concludes at Ahavas Chesed on Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. with “Aftermath.”

The 2013 Polish film is the story of brothers who are sons of a poor farmer. In the 1980s, one of them immigrated to the United States and cut off all ties with his family, returning only when his brother’s wife shows up. He discovers his brother has been ostracized from the community and threatened, and they eventually uncover a dark secret about their family and hometown.

The film won the Yad Vashem Chairman’s Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Polish nationals have accused the film of being anti-Polish propaganda, as well as a distortion of a sensitive piece of Polish history, leading the film to be banned in some Polish cinemas.

The lineup for the Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival, which runs Jan. 14 to 18, was announced in September. Jewish Cinema Mississippi will be in Jackson from Jan. 21 to 25, but the lineup has not been announced.

Renowned artist Mordechai Rosenstein will be at Temple B’nai Sholom in Huntsville for an artist-in-residence event on Dec. 9 and 10. His vibrant, colorful calligraphic illustrations of Biblical verses are in homes and congregations world-wide.

On Dec. 9 there will be a wine and cheese reception at 7 p.m., followed by a slideshow, “Art Becomes Me.” On Dec. 10 at 11:30 a.m. he will lead “Art is for Any Age.” Participants will create a piece of art while learning about Jewish art. Box lunches will be available for $10 at the door with advance reservations.

At 5:30 p.m. there will be a family program, “Fascination With the Hebrew Alphabet.” A pizza dinner will be offered in conjunction with the North Alabama Hebraic School.

nosh

jewish deep south: bagels, biscuits, beignets

KOSHER

The Historic Schapiro’s Comeback: Sederade Schapiro’s wine, with the motto, “The Wine You Can Almost Cut with a Knife,” hasn’t been in production for several years now, but the founder’s great-grandson has a plan to bring the family name back to the beverage aisle.

In 1899 in the Lower East Side of New York City, Sam Schapiro added a sweet kosher wine using concord grapes from upstate to his restaurant’s offerings. The restaurant wasn’t a complete success, but the wine absolutely was, and its production and storage eventually took up an entire city block. A series of cellars ran under the store, where the wine was sold and tours were given.

During prohibition, Schapiro was given permission by the city to produce their ‘sacramental’ wine, and it’s been written that a line at the back door of the store came about when customers were looking for the higher alcohol content wine they were more accustomed to.

Recently, Daniel Schapiro, who lives in south Florida and has a background in beverage development, started a Kickstarter campaign for the latest concept for the Schapiro name, Sederade: non-alcoholic fruit-flavored drinks that are kosher for Passover, all-natural, gluten-free and vegan. He set a goal of $10,000 by Dec. 5 for the Kickstarter campaign.

The idea for Sederade may have started as a joke, but Daniel Schapiro thought he could make a go of it. With the name trademarked and using his expertise and contacts, over the course of a year he was able to get samples made and do focus groups to fine-tune the flavors.

The drinks are 100 calories per bottle, in black cherry, orange and lemonade flavor. They will be made in New York, at the Organic Food Incubator.

To find the Kickstarter campaign, search for sederade at kickstarter.com.

COOKBOOK HOLIDAY SPIRITS

Hanukkah, Chanukah Beer

Specifically for the holiday, Schmaltz Brewing Company has developed a new dark ale brewed with — appropriately — eight malts and eight hops. Hanukkah, Chanukah Pass the Beer is available at better beverage outlets.

SOUTHERN HOLIDAYS The University of North Carolina Press has published 10 Savor the South cookbooks, and this edition by Debbie Moose includes 50 recipes for 17 holidays. Chipotle Brisket and Sweet Potato Lakes fill the Hanukkah section, and Passover is made up of Matzoh Balls, Cajun Style and Sephardic Matzoh Lasagna. Savannah’s Shalom Y’all Jewish Food Festival is represented as the author returns with recipes for blintzes, chopped liver, and one of the most popular dishes at the festival, ShoLoMein. There’s plenty to make it into the holiday repertoire from other dates as well. After all, we believe in a good Brandy Milk Punch year round.

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 51

nosh

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Falafel

serves four

½ pound raw chick peas ½ bunch finely chopped parsley ½ bunch finely chopped cilantro 1 teaspoon cumin 5 medium finely chopped cloves of garlic

1 medium finely chopped onion 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup water Sunflower oil for frying

Soak chick peas for 10 hours in water. Preheat oil to 350o. Drain water and grind chick peas for several minutes.

Add each ingredient listed above and continue to mix for several minutes, adding water to reach desired thickness.

Using a rounded scoop, place the falafel balls (about 6 at a time) into oil for 3 to 4 minutes, until dark brown. (Eli’s recommends using non-GMO sunflower oil for best taste).

the authentic cuisine of Israel,” said Markshtien.

Some of the menu items at Eli’s Jerusalem Grill may be familiar to those who have visited Israel — shawarma, kabobs, falafel, hummus, Israeli couscous, Israeli salad and baba

by Lee J. Green ghanoush. But others such as shakshuka (an Eli Markshtien’s grandmother, who lived in Israeli Tunisian dish of eggs poached in a spicy Jerusalem, inspired a young Eli’s passion for sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, garlic, onions cooking and cuisine from his native Israel. and cumin), red beet salad and Moroccan carrot Markshtien brought that passion to share salad might not be as familiar.

Israeli cuisine with his current hometown, and “People can ask me any questions and they last month opened the city’s only Israeli-style can sample anything before they order it. We’ve restaurant — Eli’s Jerusalem Grill on Highway been told, one of the many favorites on the 280 in the Inverness area of Birmingham. menu is the chicken schnitzel. People have said “My safta (Hebrew for grandmother) cooked all they love it because they also love fried chicken the time. In the beginning, she would only let me here in the South,” said Markshtien. learn by watching her. She passed down her love “We have a gluten-free option too!” said Laurel. of cooking to me, with knowing the right amount The produce is naturally grown from a of what to add. It was about creating food the local farm. All of the beef is grass-fed with no old-fashioned way, with passion” said Markshtien, antibiotics or hormones added. The chicken is who grew up with his parents at Kibbutz Sha’ar organic and the cooking oil they use is nonHaGolan at the foot of the Golan Heights in Israel. GMO. MSG is never used and the restaurant Markshtien came to the United States serves organic basmati rice and Israeli couscous. about 20 years ago, moving to Chicago for “We also serve organic beer and wines. Just a government contract job. He met his wife, about everything is made fresh here, organic Laurel, in Chicago. When Markshtien’s father and gluten free,” he said. “It is important that we took ill he moved back to Israel from 2008 to give our customers the highest quality, freshest, 2011. Laurel’s parents, who are not Jewish but healthiest foods at reasonable prices” — the big Zionists, had retired in Birmingham. Eli and highest-priced item on the menu is the $12.79 Laurel thought it would be a great place to raise combination plate. While Eli’s Jerusalem Grill is their now 8-year-old daughter, Lilah. not strictly kosher, it is kosher-style.

While in Chicago he owned some successful Eli’s seats 64 people and is open 10:30 a.m. businesses and in his free time he would help to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 out at friends’ restaurants. The seed was planted, a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays. Catering is available. but it did not blossom until recently.

“We’ve been very pleased with the response so “Not too long after we moved to Birmingham, I far. We already have some customers who come decided to follow my true passion. I so missed the in several times a week and we welcome new food of my native land and thought this would be customers to come experience an authentic taste a great opportunity to introduce Birmingham to of Israel,” he said.

KOSHER-STYLE RECIPE

Eli’s Jerusalem Grill

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Continued from page 54

fastest land animal, for the often forgotten second-most significant fast day.

Long before Saint Valentine shot cupid’s arrow and saw its shadow, giving young couples six more weeks of winter to keep each other warm, Judaism had Tu B’Av. This Jewish date for dating has had a recent revitalization, and in anticipation of the 20th century advent of the Teddy Bear, is symbolized by the bear.

Of course, the holiest day of the year is Shabbat — every Shabbat. What animal best represents the day of rest? The greatest of all sleepers: the cat.

Several rabbis contended that the greatest of all sleepers are, in fact, congregants during sermons. However, to this day, most rabbis agree that, with few exceptions, congregants are not animals — even though several sound like animals while snoring.

Doug Brook is a writer in Silicon Valley who believes every Jewish holiday is better with Animal from “The Muppet Show.” For past columns, other writings, and more, visit http://brookwrite.com/. For exclusive online content, follow facebook.com/the.beholders.eye.

History project for Hattiesburg 100th

Hattiesburg’s B’nai Israel was founded in 1915, and in honor of its centennial, the congregation is kicking off a history project to compile as comprehensive a record as possible of its beginnings and its members through the years.

Aside from finding out who they were, the project seeks to uncover what brought them to Hattiesburg, how they contributed to the life and growth of the city, and where their families are today.

The congregation’s current building was constructed in 1945. Now numbering 95, the community is a mix of retirees and a younger generation of working professionals employed and studying in local universities and colleges, as well as in the medical fields and other trades. Interest in the documentary project came from the younger members.

Improvements to the congregation’s website are planned to facilitate dissemination of material in hopes of filling in the gaps.

Emanu-El wins Radwin tourney The second annual Rusty Radwin Memorial Softball Tournament was held at Birmingham’s Levite Jewish Community Center on Nov. 2. Radwin was a former member of Zeta Beta Tau and Temple Beth-El and long time member of the LJCC who shared a love of sports and the Alabama Crimson Tide. He was instrumental in fostering pick-up softball games on Sunday mornings at the LJCC and organized a team called The Tribe to play in a local church league. Temple Emanu-El defeated Chabad in the first game, then Chabad and Emanu-El both defeated Beth-El in subsequent games, giving Emanu-El the title.

December 2014 • Southern Jewish Life 53

the beholder’s eye • doug brook

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This is Your Chai

Mascots unmasked

18

In the beginning, there was a Easter has an egg-laying bunny. Thanksgiving has a turkey, a turducken, question. a group of Lions losing, and — if you wake up early enough — a large, It was a warm, sunny, summer helium-inflated hedgehog. Christmas has reindeer, jolly Saint Nick, and Shabbat morning, when an Geoffrey the Toys R Us giraffe. unsuspecting woman was What do the Jewish holidays have? Services. approached in a synagogue parking lot, and asked the question that But wait. For the first — and last — time ever, the long lost, recently would launch a thousand quips. discovered Mishnah tractate Bava Gump reveals the animal mascots “Do you think you know four rabbis who would prefer people sleeping designated for the Jewish holidays. through the sermon, rather than talking during it?” She said, “probably.”

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, everyone eats apples and From that came the headline, “Rabbis prefer sleeping during sermon.” honey. Therefore, the mascot is a bee. Some rabbis suggested basing it on In that first fateful column, 18 years ago, her innocuous “probably” the apples instead, but nobody wanted to wear an earthworm costume. was the basis of the scientific assertion that four out of five rabbis prefer The official mascot of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the sleeping during a sermon. From where came the fifth rabbi? Simple: cheetah. Of course, the biggest fast day of the year should be represented When was the last time five rabbis agreed on anything? Thus, four out by the fastest land animal. But also, because Yom Kippur is a day for of five. cheaters to repent.

The journalistic integrity and investigative skills demonstrated there Sukkot is honored by the firefly, because they are the least annoying could have easily led to a prestigious career today in covering the Middle — and nicest to look at — of the flying pests that visit these outdoor East for most major news outlets. But instead, this column labored every huts during dinner. (The Talmud makes no mention of this choice being month (except for the ones that were missed), and sometimes twice influenced, or decided, by Israelites drinking Firefly sweet tea vodka in monthly, to bring almost several laughs to its almost several readers. the desert.)

It rode the sound waves of The Southern Shofar though, despite The eighth day of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, honors its separation from contractual stipulation, never rode in the seat behind a Southern the rest of Sukkot and its eightness with the ritual octopus. Despite some Chauffeur. It then spoke in its own Deep South Jewish Voice, before beliefs, Shemini Atzeret was not the first time an octopus was thrown on settling in to Southern Jewish Life‘s hind end — unless you read the the ice to celebrate a Detroit Red Wings home victory. magazine right to left, which does not make most of the news today make Simchat Torah, the celebration of the Torah, is symbolized with a cow, more, or less, sense. whose hide was the original parchment upon which Moses wrote the Over the years, this column presented the wisdom of the recentlyTorah. discovered, long-lost Mishnah tractate Bava Gump which, among other Much like the mascot of the football team perennially playing in things, teaches how shrimp can be kosher. bowl games this time of year like no other, Chanukah is represented by The column retold the legendary adventures of the beloved young the elephant. Though, while it seems like Alabama has played in every kabbalist, Harry Plotzer, and his adventures with The Sanhedrin’s Stone, postseason since ancient times, there’s another reason for the elephant — through The Chamber of Shpielkis, and with The Prisoner of Ashkenaz go read the complete Chanukah story. and The Gabbai of Fire, though not yet getting to The Deadly Challahs.

While you do, you’ll learn why the official tool of Chanukah is the Occasionally there were guests, such as the recurring one due to a harehammer. After one kids party, you’ll learn why the official Chanukah brained rabbinical typo, Ask the Rabbit, as well as Gurb the Caveman drink for parents is the screwdriver.

Rabbi, and the occasional special report from The Oynion.

Tu B’shvat, the Jewish Arbor Day, appeals to many tree animals. But the Explored were calendar anomalies and events, real and surreal, such as mascot is the wisest tree denizen of all, the one who can recite the entire Thanksnukah, Mezuzapalooza, Kol Nidre the 13th, Purover, Chrisnukah, Torah while standing on one branch — the owl. (You don’t understand Yomtober, and the pirated Rosh Hashaarrrnah and Day of Aarrrtonement. the recitation because you don’t speak owl.)

The chorus of “Bubbe’s Been Run Over By a Reindeer” was sung, the Purim’s mascot is the rabbit. What would springtime be without the Rebbe at the Bat got his bell rung, and the Grinch who hated Jew-ville Esther Bunny? had his hatred unstrung.

So many animals are involved in Passover, in so many ways. Should its In case it wasn’t apparent, this is the 18th anniversary of this space mascot be the lamb, of shankbone and Chad Gadya fame? Or the chicken, not being for rent. In honor of this Chai anniversary, it would seem in case it came before the seder plate’s egg? Or perhaps some recompense appropriate to toast it with some chai tea. to the plague-related frog, locust, or cattle that was undeservedly inflicted Except that chai tea has baffled rabbinic scholars for hundreds of with disease? None of these. seconds. (“Should we have seconds? Is one cup enough? Let’s drink on Passover’s symbol is the gefilte fish – because there is no better use for it.”) After all, chai is not pronounced like Chai, though a cup of chai all that horseradish. makes it easier to pronounce Chai. And some say that chai has properties It took the Israelites 40 years to cross the desert. Shavuot — beyond that help to extend one’s life, one’s Chai. commemorating the giving of the Torah — is the festival of weeks, And what is chai tea’s relationship to Thai Iced Tea? Is there such a representing how long it takes to find two rabbis who agree about thing as Thai Chai Tea? If there is, are its effects best described as tai chi something. To best symbolize the molassesque pace at which these things for the digestive system? occur, Shavuot is represented by the tortoise.

These are questions to ponder during this High Holy Day season, The Tisha B’Av mascot is the pronghorn — the often forgotten secondthough perhaps not late afternoon on Yom Kippur. This column continued on on theprevious previous page continued

54 Southern Jewish Life • December 2014

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