Southern Jewish Life
August 2016
Volume 26 Issue 8
Southern Jewish Life P.O. Box 130052 Birmingham, AL 35213 The final service at Meir Chayim in McGehee
shalom y’all shalom y’all y’all shalom
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So much for the notion of a quiet summer. As we wrap this issue of Southern Jewish Life, the Democratic convention is wrapping up, capping two weeks of political theater and mayhem. In Mississippi, the mis-named Religious Liberty Accommodations Act — which should more accurately be called the “God says I can be a jerk to you, and the state will let me” Act — was struck down, with plenty of input from the Jewish community. David Duke has crawled out of his lair to inflict himself on the body politic once again. Florida has been told it can’t refuse to serve kosher meals to Jewish inmates. A Georgia Representative compared Jews living in the territories to an infestation, while the Representative he replaced says Israel, not radical Muslims, was behind the terror attacks in Nice and Munich. And Israel moves Alabama and Mississippi from the Atlanta Consulate’s region to… Miami. A quiet few weeks leading up to this issue’s deadline. In the region, there have been several rabbinic transitions, the closing of two synagogues in Arkansas, and by the time this hits mailboxes it will be back-to-school time. There has been no shortage of things to write about, and you’ll find just about all of those in this issue — and as we go to press we already have several things lined up for next month. Enjoy the last bits of summer — and the extra time we have before the High Holy Days come around. And keep checking our newly-redesigned website, sjlmag.com, for what happens between issues. Because the way things have gone lately, Larry Brook there’s no telling what will happen! EDITOR/PUBLISHER EDITOR@SJLMAG.COM
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August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 3
Southern Jewish Life news Southern Jewish Life receives local, national awards Southern Jewish Life was honored on the local and national level last month. At the New Orleans Press Club Awards on July 9, Southern Jewish Life received second place for print special section writing, for the coverage of Katrina: 10 Years Forward events. The coverage, in the Sept. 2015 issue, had pieces about the commemorations at Beth Israel in Gulfport, which completely rebuilt after their Biloxi building was made unusable by the storm surge; at Beth Israel in Metairie, where the congregation built anew after the Lakeview location flooded; and the community-wide commemoration at the Uptown Jewish Community Center. Other articles included the TikkuNOLAm community service event and a retrospective timeline of how the New Orleans Jewish community rebuilt in the year following the storm. On July 14, the American Jewish Press Association announced that Southern Jewish Life won first place for Best Cover among all Jewish magazines nationally, in this year’s Rockower Awards. The Rockowers are the highest honor in the field of Jewish journalism. This is Southern Jewish Life’s 14th Rockower Award. The recognized covers were the March 2015 issue featuring the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, illustrating the 50th anniversary coverage of the Voting Rights March, and the June cover image of Longue Vue in New Orleans.
4 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
August 2016
agenda interesting bits & can’t miss events
The Jo Ann Hess Morrison Chai Tots Preschool at Bais Ariel Chabad Center in Birmingham held its graduation on May 26. Class members were Ori Duvdevani (not pictured), Sidney Eddy, Maddie Kaplan, Alexa Nelson, Jennie Ruth Nelson, Morgan Nelson, Brandon Padan and Taliah Price.
Israel shifts Alabama, Mississippi from Atlanta to Miami Consulate On Jan. 6, communities around the Southeast were relieved to find out that Israel would not follow through on plans to close the Atlanta Consulate. Now, that has turned to surprise as Alabama and Mississippi are being shifted away from nearby Atlanta and added to the Miami Consulate’s territory. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been contemplating some consolidation as a cost-cutting move, and Philadelphia’s Consulate wound up being cut, not Atlanta. With that, a realignment was announced in April, adding Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri to the Atlanta consulate’s footprint on Aug. 15, along with a staff increase. Previously, the Atlanta consulate’s territory was Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Louisiana and Arkansas are served out of the Houston Consulate. The Atlanta Consulate confirmed the realignment, which is to take place in mid-August, but referred any further questions about the decision to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As of press time, the Ministry had not responded to questions about the change. Federations and other groups in Alabama and Mississippi that work with the Consulate were not yet aware of the change. Ariel Roman-Harris, director of media and cultural affairs at the Consulate in Miami, said a formal announcement had not yet been made as “we’re still in the transi-
tion period” with a new Consul General and a departing Deputy Consul. “We’re very thrilled about the change” and “very keen on learning about the region,” Roman-Harris said. “We’re taking the torch from Atlanta and we’re going to run with it.” For Israelis living in Alabama and Mississippi, the shift means traveling to Miami instead of Atlanta for Consular services. Laura King of Huntsville said the Alabama-Israel Task Force has “enjoyed good relations with both the previous and now current ambassador in Atlanta, and I believe we can do the same in Miami. We hope to continue to enjoy good strong support from them for our future mutual goals, especially pushing the Alabama Israel ties that bind.” She said the Miami Consulate will be pleasantly surprised to find strong support for Israel from the Christian community in Alabama and Mississippi. Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Glenn McCullough, Jr., said “Mississippi values our steadfast relationship with the nation of Israel and the country’s consulate in Atlanta. We look forward to building even stronger cultural and economic ties in the future with the Miami Consulate.” Before this change, the Miami Consulate was responsible for Florida and Puerto Rico.
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 5
agenda ADL: Louisiana’s Blue Lives Matter law unnecessary
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6 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
Louisiana is now the first state to have a “Blue Lives Matter” law on the books, adding the targeting of police officers, firefighters and emergency responders to the state’s hate crimes law. The bill, which was signed by Governor John Bel Edwards on May 26, has received a mixed reaction among Jewish groups, with the Anti-Defamation League and the Zionist Organization of America sparring over whether it is needed. The law was proposed by Rep. Lance Harris after Darren Goforth, a Texas sheriff ’s deputy, was ambushed and killed while putting gas into his car in August 2015. Harris said the law was needed because such crimes are done “strictly out of hate for the officer and his uniform.” Under the law, anyone convicted of a haterelated felony can face a fine of up to $5,000 additional, and five more years behind bars. For misdemeanors, it is $500 and six months. The bill passed the House 92-0 and the Senate 33-3. It went into effect on Aug. 1. On July 19, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, praised the “Blue Lives Matter” law. Conversely, in a letter to Edwards on May 13, Allison Padilla-Goodman, regional director of the ADL, urged a veto of the bill because it was “unnecessary and risks confusing the purpose of hate crime laws.” The ADL, which she said trains more law enforcement officers than any other nonprofit in the country, hasn’t seen any lack of prosecution toward those who go after police officers, and existing laws are sufficient. She said the group believes the list of personal characteristics in hate crimes laws “should remain limited to personal or immutable characteristics, those qualities that can or should not be changed. Working in a profession is not a personal characteristic, and it is not immutable.” The bill “confuses the purpose of the Hate Crimes Act and weakens its impact by adding more categories of people, who are already better protected under other laws.” Klein said the ADL’s opposition makes no sense. “Protecting police helps protect all of us against hate crimes,” Klein wrote. “Proving the bias intent for a hate crime for law enforcement or first responders is very different than proving it for someone who is Jewish or gay or black,” Padilla-Goodman said. In 2015, there were 41 police officers in the U.S. who were intentionally killed while on duty, down from 51 in 2014 and an average of 64 per year since 1980.
agenda
Many healthy and kosher-style choices on the menu
Court rules Florida can’t deny inmates access to kosher meals The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the state of Florida’s Department of Corrections must make kosher meals available to inmates who request them, and saying it is too expensive is not a compelling legal reason to not serve them. The July 14 ruling was written by Judge William Pryor, who was formerly attorney general of Alabama and is a Tulane alumnus. In 2015, a Federal district court ordered Florida to make kosher meals available, but the state appealed the decision. According to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, 35 states and the Federal government provide kosher diets for prisoners. According to Becket, “Before the court’s ruling, Florida’s Department of Corrections was the only large prison system in the country that insisted it should remain free to refuse to provide kosher meals to observant Jewish prisoners, despite the fact that it already offers a variety of expensive medical diets for its prisoners.” “This is a huge win for Florida’s Jewish prisoners and for every American, because it supports the right to practice faith out of reach of government bureaucrats,” said Diana Verm, legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. “Today, Jewish prisoners in Florida won’t have to go hungry because earlier courts protected the rights of Muslims prisoners to wear beards and Christian families to run their businesses without abandoning their faith.” Florida has offered meatless and vegan options since the 1990s. In 2004 kosher meals were offered, but the practice ended in 2007. In 2010, a pilot program in just one facility resumed, with prisoners desiring kosher meals having to accept a transfer to that facility. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the denial of a kosher option, which Florida argued was legitimate due to the high cost. The state argued that the additional cost could lead to the elimination of 246 positions to pay for the meals. One report said 10 percent of the inmates, roughly 10,000 people, requested kosher meals, including Jews, Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists. In 2013, the state began offering a limited kosher meal of all cold items, with a series of tests to determine whether the inmate had a sincere religious belief. The ruling stated that the U.S. estimates an additional cost of $384,000 for the program, but Florida asserted it would be as much as $12.3 million. The ruling states “Assuming that no prisoners skip meals, the certified food option costs $3.55 per prisoner per day, the mainline option costs $1.89 per prisoner per day, the vegan option costs $2.04 per prisoner per day, and the medical and therapeutic diets cost between $2.00 and $3.05 per prisoner per day. Participants in the mainline option eat 85 percent of their meals, and participants in the certified food option eat 75 percent of their meals.” “When prisoners are allowed to practice their faith, the rate of recidivism drops dramatically, violent incidents are less frequent in prisons, and prisoners maintain their human dignity. As the majority of other states have learned, paying $1.50 a day for kosher meals is well worth the value to prisons and society overall,” said Verm.
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The Mobile Jewish community will welcome new Shlicha Ofir Rozenberg on Aug. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Mobile airport, barring flight delays. Beth Israel Sisterhood in Jackson will have its annual Membership Tea on Aug. 14 at noon, at the home of Charna Schlakman. Birmingham’s Temple Beth-El will have Sushi Shabbat on Aug. 19, following the 5:45 p.m. service. Music will be by acoustic artist Max Klapow, and dinner will be catered by Sushi Village. Reservations by Aug. 17 are
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 7
agenda Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El begins its annual ReJewvenation class on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Levite Jewish Community Center. Led The Jewish Federation of Central Alabama is looking for an executive by Rabbi Jonathan Miller, the class is for Jews and non-Jews who want to director in Montgomery. Resumes or inquiries may be sent to mail.jfca@ learn about the major ideas which motivate Judaism. Registration is free gmail.com. and can be made to Anita Winslett at Emanu-El, (205) 933-8037 ext. 230. Temple Beth-El in Pensacola will have its ninth annual no limit Beth Israel in Gulfport will welcome former CNN Middle East corhold’em poker tournament on Aug. 20. Doors will open at 4:15 p.m. respondent and Israel Television reporter Linda Scherzer for a general with play starting at 5 p.m. Rebuys are available until 7:15 p.m. Regismembership meeting, Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. For the last 10 years, Scherzer tration is $100 in advance for the first 100 participants, $110 at the door. has been director of a program called “Write On For Israel,” which trains Rebuys are $100. Registration and rebuys are for $3,000 in chips, with a one-time $5,000 add-on at 7 p.m. for $100. Blinds start at 25/50, going up a select group of distinguished high school students how to become deevery 45 minutes until 7 p.m., then every 30 minutes until 9 p.m., every fenders of Israel when they get to college. Linda is also a media and public 20 minutes after that. There will be free food and a cash bar. Non-cash relations consultant and advises the Jewish community on how to engage prizes go to the top nine finishers, including a Large Green Egg for first in constructive dialogue with the press. place and a large flat-screen television for second place. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham will host “Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War” on Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Presented by AlaBirmingham’s Temple Beth-El is debuting Scotch and Scripture, a bama Public Television, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birminglearning session with Rabbi Barry Leff. The first session will be on Aug. ham, the Levite Jewish Community Center, the Birmingham Holocaust 18 at 7:30 p.m., with the topic of “What does Judaism Have to Say About Education Center and the Birmingham Jewish Federation, the event aims Drinking?” to increase awareness of the extraordinary humanitarian efforts of MarThe Jewish Young Adults of North Louisiana are holding Jewish Com- tha and Waitstill Sharp and their courage in taking action to rescue Jews munity Wine Tasting event, with the Agudath Achim Men’s Club in and dissidents from Nazi-occupied Europe. They were the second and Shreveport, on Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. Wine and expertise will be provided third Americans honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Naby Cuban Liquors. There will be kosher wines for tasting, hors d’oeuvres, tions. A panel discussion will follow the film to facilitate dialogue about chances to win a bottle, and an opportunity to purchase wine at the event. the Holocaust and the ongoing need to protect human rights. Admission is $20 by Sept. 2, $25 afterward, and one must be 21 or older Beth Shalom in Fort Walton Beach will have an oneg meet and greet to attend. with Yonatan Greenberg, their new visiting rabbi, on Aug. 26 following B’nai Israel in Florence is holding a Rummage Sale on Aug. 19 from 6 the 6:30 p.m. service. a.m. to 3 p.m., and Aug. 20 from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. $15, free for ages 10 and under.
Chai Cotton is a “guidebook” like Mardi Gras is a “parade” Most Jewish publications publish some kind of annual Community Guidebook.
Southern Jewish Life’s Chai Cotton is different. Chai Cotton is more than a listing of organizations, institutions and congregations… it is a portal to the history of the Deep South Jewish communities of Louisiana, Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Mississippi, and a guide to the present. Chai Cotton provides information on every community with a Jewish presence. It gives a history of each community, and finds the often-overlooked sites and fascinating stories. It also chronicles sites of defunct Jewish communities and tells those stories. It’s a keepsake edition that will be widely read and referred to — and the perfect place for your message!
Support Southern Jewish Life’s mission of independent, quality Jewish journalism and reserve your ad space in Chai Cotton today! To Advertise, Call (205) 870-7889 or (504) 491-0562
Email lee@sjlmag.com or dan@sjlmag.com • Deadline is approaching, act today! 8 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
community Denier Duke declares in crowded Louisiana U.S. Senate race He’s back. After threatening earlier this year that he would challenge Rep. Steve Scalise for the U.S. House, on July 22 former Ku Klux Klan leader, neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier David Duke filed instead to run for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana. In a video posted on his website that morning, he said “European-Americans need at least one man in the United States Senate, one man in the Congress who will defend their rights and heritage.” When qualifying ended, there were 24 candidates to replace the retiring Sen. David Vitter. Louisiana’s election process places all candidates from all parties on one ballot, and if nobody reaches 50 percent on Nov. 8, the top two regardless of party meet in a runoff on Dec. 10. With 24 candidates in the race, some see Duke as relying on his base of support to be enough to propel him into a runoff as the other 23 candidates divide the pie into thin slices. While there has been a mixture of concern and consternation in the Jewish community, Jewish organizations have been relatively quiet. Due to their non-profit status, they can neither endorse nor actively oppose candidates for public office; doing so would endanger their tax-exempt status. Duke has run for office numerous times since 1975, winning once. He ran for the Louisiana Senate in 1975 and 1979, the U.S. Senate in 1990 and 1996, the U.S. House in 1999, and for president as a Democrat in 1988 and as a Republican in 1992. His best-known race came in 1991, when he made his way into a runoff with ethically-challenged Edwin Edwards for governor of Louisiana. “Vote for the crook, it’s important” became the rallying cry of those looking to ensure Duke did not win that race. His only victory was when he ran for the Louisiana House from Metairie in 1989, riding an anti-tax wave as Louisiana was considering ending the homestead exemption for property taxes. In a special election, he received 33 percent of the vote and faced John Treen in the runoff. Treen, who had received 19 percent in the primary, lost by 227 votes. In his 1990 and 1991 races, Duke received over half the white vote statewide. In 1989, at the opening of a Holocaust exhibit at the Louisiana Capitol in Baton Rouge, Holocaust survivor Anne Levy of New Orleans vocally and publicly castigated Duke, who argued he didn’t deny the Holocaust, he just says it was exaggerated. The Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism was formed, keeping that aspect of Duke’s personality in the forefront, and ultimately deflating his popularity. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion for using raised funds at casinos and home improvements, confirming what many in the white supremacist movement had been saying about him for decades, going back to charges (that were later dropped) that in 1972 he raised campaign funds for George Wallace’s presidential bid but pocketed the money. Duke, who in the 1980s founded and ran the National Association for the Advancement of White People after six years as Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, served 15 months in prison in 2003 and 2004. While he spends a lot of time among anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi groups in Europe, he has been kicked out of the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy in recent years.
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Reaction to his campaign announcement was swift and vocal from Republicans in Louisiana and around the country. National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Ward Baker said voters can pick from several Republican candidates in the race “who will have a great impact on the Bayou State and the future of our country. David Duke is not one of them.” He added that the NRSC would not support Duke “under any circumstance.” Roger Villere, chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana, said Duke “is a convicted felon and a hate-filled fraud who does not embody the values of the GOP… David Duke’s history of hate marks a dark stain on Louisiana’s past and has no place in our current conversation. The Republican Party of Louisiana will play an active role in opposing David Duke’s candidacy.” Because Duke is a registered Republican, he was able under state election law to pay a $300 fee to be listed as a Republican on the ballot, independent of the party’s wishes. After qualifying ends, one may not change that designation. The state Republican party is considering a measure that would enable the party’s central committee to strip a candidate of the GOP label by a two-thirds majority vote. Many Republican candidates for U.S. Senate also immediately stated their opposition to Duke. Col. Rob Maness said “I’ll be damned if I allow David Duke or any agitator to make a mockery of the great state of Louisiana” and stated a DenounceDuke website. State Treasurer John Kennedy said “David Duke’s brand of hate is not wanted or welcome. Without question, I condemn his entrance into the race.” Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a Democrat, said “David Duke’s destructive rhetoric and legacy have the potential to rip our state and our country apart. Louisiana knows better. I vow to stand up to anyone seeking to divide rather than to unite our people.” Rep. John Fleming said he “has always rejected all forms of racism, discrimination, and prejudice” and is “wholly focused on uniting all Louisiana voters of all races, creeds, and religions behind his hopeful message of freedom, liberty, and security.” Rep. Charles Boustany said “I strongly denounce the racism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism of David Duke. His views are a relic of ancient history and are repugnant to Louisianians… David Duke’s candidacy in this race will be a disgraceful sideshow, and nothing more.”
Weekly classes at Baton Rouge Chabad Rabbi Peretz Kazen is leading a series of weekly learning experiences about contemporary issues at Chabad in Baton Rouge. The Jewish Learning Institute series began on July 26 with ‘Once Upon a Rabbi: An Overview of Rabbinic Ordination.” Upcoming topics are “A Jewish Land: What Israel Means to Us” on Aug. 2, “A Clever Opponent: Battling the Evil Inclination” on Aug. 9, “The Case for Mezuzah” on Aug. 16, “Better Than Perfect: When the Righteous Fail” on Aug. 23, and “Beware of Blood: What’s so Bad about Animals’ Blood?” on Aug. 30. “Life Behind Bars: Is Incarceration a Jewish Thing?” will be on Sept. 6, followed by “Read Between the Lines: The Marriage of G-d and Israel” on Sept. 13, “Journey of the Soul: Where is the Soul Headed” on Sept. 20, “Curious Customs of Rosh Hashanah: Getting the Best of the Satan” on Sept. 27, “A Time to Fast: What Yom Kippur is All About” on Oct. 4, and “Come Back Nation: Keeping Inspiration Alive” on Oct. 11. Registration is required and can be done on the Chabad website, chabadbr.com. Classes are free but there is a required textbook, which is $18.
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Looking out at the full chapel at First Presbyterian Church in Pine Bluff, where Anshe Emeth has met since 2003, Rabbi Eugene Levy asked, “where were you for the last couple of years?” The June 11 Shabbat morning service would be the final one for the 149-year-old congrega-
rently lists Anshe Emeth as having 15 members. The last full-time rabbi left Pine Bluff in the late 1980s, and in 2003 the congregation sold its final building to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, which turned it into a nursing school. Baim praised Bill Rubenstein for “a marvelous job of keeping the Temple going for the last
tion, which has seen the local Jewish community dwindle to a handful of members. As with so many small communities, the children and grandchildren moved on to larger communities, and many of them returned for the closing service. Levy, who retired as rabbi of B’nai Israel in Little Rock in 2011, has led services monthly at Anshe Emeth for three years. He also officiated at the final service of Meir Chayim in McGehee on June 17. Co-president Kenneth Baim said “it’s an unusual day for all of us. This is not just a service, it is a way of saying thank you, and a remembrance.” Baim said the community’s ancestors “came to America looking for freedom, for justice, and where they could go to take care of their families.” The congregation began in 1866, with the first building completed in 1867. By 1905 the Jewish population of Pine Bluff was 425, and a larger building was constructed. The community started to shrink after World War II, and when the final building was completed in 1961 Bill Rubenstein passes a symbolic key to Rev. the congregation had 85 members. Susan Wiggins at the conclusion of Anshe The Union for Reform Judaism curEmeth’s final service at First Presbyterian Church
15 years.” Anshe Emeth and Meir Chayim have both been working with the Jewish Community Legacy Project, which helps small congregations plan for an eventual closure, disbursement of Judaica and ensure care for cemeteries. Noah Levine, who leads the project, was given the final aliyah during the Anshe Emeth service. The Torah portion, Levy said, was about the Israelites packing up to go forward in its desert wanderings. “That in effect is what we are doing here,” and the Jewish story continues elsewhere. Levy noted that Anshe Emeth never adopted the more modern prayer books published by the Reform movement, sticking with the classic Union Prayer Book. He designed the deconsecration services for both congregations, pulling from the prayer books they use, and a deconsecration service by the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. As part of the service, Robert Rosen read the entire yahrzeit list, the names of every single deceased member from the congregation’s 149year history. For a couple of congregants, as the long recitation continued and certain names were read, it was too much and they made tearful exits into the hallway. “All these names and more have paved the road for where you have been,” Levy said. At the conclusion of the service, the congre-
Pine Bluff’s Anshe Emeth holds final service
12 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
gation’s remaining Torah was marched through the chapel. It will be delivered to Adat Israel in Guatemala early next year. Karen Kahn Weinberg of Atlanta, whose family had multi-generational roots in Pine Bluff, said she plans to make the trip to Guatemala to deliver the Torah. Adat Israel is a small congregation with a large proportion of members who have converted to Judaism. The group is led by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein of Toronto. Levy said he and his wife, Bobbye, also are planning to make the Guatemala trip in February. Anshe Emeth’s High Holy Days Torah went to Israel earlier this year. It was presented to the Megiddo Reform Community during the Israel Reform Movement Biennial Assembly in late May. Rabbi Danny Freelander, president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, told the 1,500 at the biennial about the Pine Bluff congregation during his Shabbat morning message. A third Torah from Pine Bluff went to Dallas a decade ago. When the congregation’s final building was sold, a Pine Bluff room was established at Congregation House of Israel in Hot Springs. The memorial plaques are housed there, and many of the remaining Pine Bluff Jews plan to attend services there. A trust will continue care for the Jewish section of Bellwood Cemetery, and the cemetery’s layout has been digitized. “We have taken care of the past and for the future,” Baim said. In appreciation for his assistance to the congregation, Levy was presented with a Torah yad by local glass sculptor James Hayes. Karen Baim Reagler, from the final Confirmation class, extinguished the Yahrzeit candle. Rubenstein, the congregation’s youngest member, removed the me-
zuzah at the entrance of the chapel and passed a symbolic key to First Presbyterian Church’s Rev. Susan Wiggins. After the service, members swapped memories in the parlor and posed for photos with the Torah. A table had been set up with prayer books, Hagaddahs and other items to take, along with copies of the congregation’s history. Carolyn Stover commented that near the end of the service, “when the rabbi started crying, I started crying.” As organist for the congregation for 20 years, “I moved with them from the Temple on 40th Avenue” when it closed. The congregants then headed to the Pine Bluff Country Club for a luncheon. Baim urged those in attendance to leave “with a feeling of positiveness for what we have done here, how we have been such a part of this community and the state of Arkansas.” Karen Kahn Weinberg and Rabbi Eugene Levy plan to bring the Torah to Guatemala next year
“Being from California, I liked the idea of going to a university in the South. UA is at a pinnacle point of growth, and I wanted to be a part of that. Bama Hillel gave me an opportunity to connect with a Jewish community away from home. I have found a true family with the people at Hillel.”
–Raychel
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 13
the Hebrew name of Herbert Abowitz, who was killed in action in Italy during World War II. The service began with sisters Betty Rae Green of Memphis and Irene Bisgier of New York lighting the Shabbat candles. Rabbi Debra Kassoff of Jackson, who served the congregation during her days as the traveling rabbi at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, introduced the recitation of the Shema with a reading that concluded, “on the merit of that declaration alone, we are blessed.” As she finished the sentence, a loud clap of thunder reverberated over the building. “God agrees,” Levy said. Never large enough for a resident rabbi, Meir Chayim had a reputation in the Reform movement of being a training ground for great student rabbis. Levy said roughly 45 student rabbis had served the congregation through the years, delivering 15 to 20 sermons a year. “Rabbi Barry Kogan is going to read all of them tonight,” he said. Kogan, who served at Meir Chayim in 196869, read from several tributes written by former student rabbis for the occasion. He noted that Congregation Meir Chayim may not have as a professor at Hebrew Union College, he roots that extend all the way back to the 19th has taught most of the congregation’s former century, nor was it ever a particularly large student rabbis, and called Meir Chayim “kind of congregation, but its absence will still be felt in a second home to virtually every one of us here.” southeast Arkansas. While most of the letters focused on the On June 17, the congregation that was community’s hospitality and the difference the founded in 1947 saw its 150-seat sanctuary in congregation had made in the lives of those McGehee filled to overflowing for the final time rabbis, there were two anecdotes from Rabbi as the building was officially deconsecrated. Daniel Allen, who would go on to become the As he did in Pine Bluff the week before, Rabbi head of ARZA, the Reform movement’s Zionist Eugene Levy of Little Rock officiated the final branch. service. Allen was there for his first High Holy Days Meir Chayim served the Jewish communities as a student rabbi when the 1973 Yom Kippur of McGehee, Dumas and several other nearby War broke out. Allen was from Nebraska and towns. Plans for the congregation began in 1946, was a strong, outspoken Zionist — when the and the proposed name of Beth Chayim was war started, his parents were in Israel, visiting changed almost immediately to Meir Chayim, his sister, who lived on a kibbutz. When he came back to McGehee for Sukkot, with the war still raging, he urged the congregants to support United Jewish Appeal. “An older gentleman in the congregation, during my remarks, stood and said this was not a subject for discussion, and we are Americans.” Part of the student rabbi’s duties on each visit was to meet with congregants at home or in their place of business, and when Allen visited with that person during that trip, they had a passionate but respectful discussion of their The entire 1968 Confirmation class returned for the final service perspectives. “His kindness
of style resonates with me to this day,” Allen related. The congregant then gave him a check for $25,000 to the UJA — “not a small sum in 1973” — and told him “not to reveal this matter.” Allen also mentioned that unlike many in small-town Arkansas, he did not come from a retail background. He spoke of how Seymour
One last packed house at Meir Chayim in McGehee
14 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
Rabbis Debra Kassoff, Eugene Levy and Barry Kogan delivered the priestly benediction Fleisig would open his store until all hours leading up to Christmas — and when Allen came to visit late one Saturday afternoon, “Seymour put me to work, often manning the cash register” so other employees could work with the customers. He learned two lessons — that retail “is a hard business” and that “Seymour was an angel.” When he saw someone purchasing something for Christmas that they clearly could not afford, he instructed Allen on how to ring up the sale, with a price that was more affordable for that customer. It was truly a lesson on being a mensch, he related. Susan Good of New Orleans, and Sally Wolff King of Atlanta, both from the Confirmation class of 1968, noted that their entire class was there for the final service, “which says something.” Good spoke of the congregation’s connection with the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, giving a history of the camp’s formation as a summer haven for Jewish children from small communities around the South, and how each congregation in the region was asked to do a “fair share” toward the camp’s establishment. “Many children from Southeast Arkansas benefited from these gifts,” Good said. The Meir Chayim legacy will continue in that direction, as Naron presented David Bauman, president of B’nai Israel in Little Rock, with a check to establish a scholarship fund in Meir Chayim’s name, with the proceeds assisting
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Rabbi Eugene Levy carried the Torah through the sanctuary, handing it to Lester Pincus, who presented it to Richard Dattel of Hebrew Union Congregation in Greenville Arkansas students in attending Jacobs Camp. The funds came from the sale of the Meir Chayim building, and will be administered by B’nai Israel. Bauman thanked the McGehee congregation for entrusting B’nai Israel with the scholarship fund. “We will tend it with great care,” he said. He also “lovingly” accepted the memorial plaques, which will be displayed at B’nai Israel, and the McGehee names will be added to the yahrzeit lists there. Many of the ritual items are going to Jacobs Camp and the Institute of Southern Jewish Life’s planned museum. Meir Chayim itself had originally been a repository of Judaica from closed congregations. A Ten Commandments tablet flanked by lions of Judah over the ark was from Temple B’nai Sholom of Bastrop, La., which closed in 1923 and was demolished in 1939. The Ten Commandments on the front of the building came from the 1872 building of Temple Beth El Emeth in Camden, which closed in 1927. Before the Kaddish, Rose Ann Naron read the entire Yahrzeit list, reciting almost 70 years of names for the final time in the building. The Abowitz family then made a presentation to Naron to express appreciation for “every thing you have done to keep the Temple alive, above and beyond the years we thought it could survive.” Closing the congregation had been a topic of discussion for 20 years, and the community is now down to just three or four members. After that presentation, the Torah was taken from the ark for the last time, with Levy carrying it through the congregation, passing it to Lester Pincus at the back of the room. Pincus then handed it to Richard Dattel, who accepted it on behalf of Hebrew Union Congregation in Greenville. Another Torah has been loaned to a Colorado congregation since 2005. The Yahrzeit lights and eternal light were then switched off as Debbie Friedman’s “T’filat HaDerech,” “May we be blessed as we go on our way” was sung. Kassoff, Levy and Kogan united on the bimah to recite the priestly benediction, and with the extinguishing of the yahrzeit candle, the ceremony ended — but the reunion was just beginning, as stories and anecdotes were swapped during a lengthy oneg. Kogan’s prayer was that “each of us will go forth from this sanctuary fully cognizant of the blessings we have been given, and we will choose to share them and extend them to others… simply because we realize we have been called from the very beginning to be a blessing.” He reflected that the evening was “the best kind of family reunion” though there was the sadness of closing the congregation. “The important thing is to take those wonderful memories with you and use them in our own homes, Temples and communities to reflect the best of what the people of Meir Chayim Temple gave us. It was truly God’s gift in partnership with our extended families.”
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community David Solomon at 100 by Rex Nelson
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The banner wishing David Solomon a happy 100th birthday stretched across the street that hot mid-July Saturday near the banks of the Mississippi River in Helena. Solomon long has been one of Arkansas’ most respected attorneys. He’s a Helena native and a stalwart of the Jewish community, which once thrived on both sides of the lower Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans. They came from across the Delta that Saturday. By late that afternoon, hundreds of people had made their way to the block of old buildings in downtown Helena known as Biscuit Row. Sam Elardo, who began restoring properties in the area in 1974, bought five buildings on what’s now Biscuit Row several years ago and began renovations. In a stuffy, crowded room, Solomon sat for more than two hours, greeting a steady stream of visitors. As we left the Solomon reception, I thought back to a far quieter day in July 2010. I spent the better part of a Friday at the home of Solomon and his wife, Miriam, who died the next year. It was a civilized affair with David mixing drinks before lunch and Miriam making sure everyone was comfortable. Lobster shipped in from Maine was served for lunch. Their Helena home was filled with books and art, symbols of a cultured life lived well. The Solomons had been married 68 years at the time. They were born in Helena. Miriam was three years younger. Jewish culture once thrived on either side of the river from St. Louis to New Orleans. At the time of my visit, David Solomon would still put on a suit and tie each morning and head to his office on Cherry Street, which once had been among the busiest commercial streets in Arkansas. In recent decades, Cherry Street has seen its buildings empty out and begin to crumble. With Helena’s Temple Beth El closed by the time of my 2010 visit, the area’s remaining Jews had begun gathering in the Solomon home for Friday night services. Beth El was built in 1916. The building has its original organ, purchased for $4,000 by the congregation’s Ladies Benevolent Association. It was a regional congregation, serving Jews not only from Helena but also from smaller farmoriented communities such as Marvell and Marianna. In 2006, with fewer than 20 members remaining, the synagogue closed and the temple was donated to the state’s Delta Cultural Center to be used as an assembly hall. The loss of thousands of sharecroppers due to the widespread mechanization of agriculture following World War II had led to the loss of the once ubiquitous Jewish merchants up and down the river.
Photo courtesy Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
David Solomon in a 2012 interview “There are only about six or seven of us,” David Solomon said on that Friday in 2010 when I asked him about the Friday night services. “One lady drives over from Marvell. Another comes from Holly Grove. There was just no way to maintain the temple. There were too few of us left. And we certainly weren’t going to give it to another religion.” He smiled at me as he said that. His wit is as much a part of his persona as his bow tie. The Delta is like many parts of rural America, a place that in some ways never made the transition from the agricultural age to the industrial age, much less the technological era. Those sharecroppers moved from the cotton fields of the South to the steel mills and automobile factories of the Upper Midwest. They deserted places like Helena on the Arkansas side of the river and Greenville on the Mississippi side in droves for the promise of better jobs in cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Gary. It’s still common during the holidays each December to see visitors in rural east Arkansas whose automobiles sport license plates from Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. There are counties in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana that had half or less the population in the 2010 census that they had in 1950. The first Jews arrived in Helena in the 1840s. A Torah was borrowed from a congregation in Cincinnati in 1846 to use for the high holidays. In 1867, 65 Jews formed Congregation Beth El. Now, almost 150 years later, the era of Jews living and thriving in the lower Mississippi River Delta is nearing its conclusion. David Solomon, who received his bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and his law degree from Harvard, expresses no longing for the past and no sadness at the decline of the Delta’s Jewish population. In his own stoic manner, he simply views it as things having come full circle. The Delta Jews, after all,
community met in private homes in the 1800s. By the 21st century, they were meeting in private homes once again. “I relate everything back to economics,” Solomon once told me. “It’s not just the Jewish population that’s being affected in the Delta. All of the mainline Protestant religions are feeling the effect. It’s simple. People are going to go where the jobs are.” The three Solomon sons, all highly successful, are a case in point. None of them stayed in Helena. David P. Solomon went on to become the executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society in New York. Rayman Solomon was the dean of the Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., for 16 years and now serves as dean emeritus. Lafe Solomon is an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., and served as the NLRB’s acting general counsel from June 2010 until November 2013. For the elder David Solomon, the equation was simple. Jews came to the Delta in the 1800s when cotton was king because there were jobs. They left in the late 1900s because those jobs had disappeared. The Delta long was known for its diversity.
Blacks came in bondage as slaves and stayed on as sharecroppers. The Irish, Italians, Chinese, Syrians, Greeks and Lebanese were other groups who came up the river from New Orleans or down the river from St. Louis, settling in communities along the way. The Delta was perhaps the greatest American melting pot outside a major city. In an effort to preserve the state’s Jewish heritage, Solomon established the Tapestry Endowment for Arkansas Jewish History. The endowment helped create a home at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Temple Beth-El, Helena Rock for Carolyn Gray LeMaster’s extensive the stones in Arkansas’ Jewish cemeteries, body of research on the history of Arkansas more than 1,500 articles and obituaries from Jews. The fund’s name is taken from the title of journals and newspapers, personal letters LeMaster’s book, “A Corner of the Tapestry: A from hundreds of present and former Jewish History of the Jewish Experience in Arkansas, Arkansans, congressional histories, census and court records and some 400 oral interviews in 1820s-1900s.” The Jewish Genealogy Library Collection more than 100 cities and towns in Arkansas.” David Solomon’s grandfather arrived from calls the book “one of the most comprehensive studies ever done on a state’s Jewish Germany shortly before the Civil War and community… Data for the book have been had eight children — six boys and two girls. collected in part from the American Jewish That second generation later would own a Archives, American Jewish Historical Society, department store, shoe store, wholesale dry
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 17
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community goods operation and cotton farms. Miriam Solomon’s father, Charles Rayman, operated Helena Wholesale Co. David Solomon started the first grade at a Catholic School known as Sacred Heart, which was operated by the Sisters of Nazareth. The nuns quickly moved him from the first grade to the fourth grade due to his native intelligence. He likes to joke that his mother finally pulled him out of the Catholic school when he kept coming home with crucifixes and tiny vials of holy water. After his graduation from Harvard Law School, he applied to be a tax lawyer at a large firm in Memphis. He wasn’t chosen and came home to Helena to practice law. He married Miriam in September 1942, traveling back to Helena from Camp Carson in Colorado Springs where he was stationed in the U.S. Army. Miriam had been working as an occupational therapist at a Chicago hospital. The wedding was in Miriam’s family home. In December 2009, the Jewish news service JTA distributed an article about a Friday night service at the Solomon home. Ben Harris wrote: “The plight of Helena’s Jews is mirrored in scores of communities across the Bible Belt, where Jews first migrated in the early 19th century, generally as peddlers. Those who stuck around opened small businesses, which for a long time provided an ample livelihood.” Harris went on to write that Miriam and David Solomon’s “benign resignation” over the impending end of Jewish life in Phillips County derived “at least in part from the success they have had in winding down their affairs and ensuring the continued maintenance of their synagogue and cemetery, which dates to 1875. Their ritual objects have been donated to other communities, and a trust has been established to ensure the cemetery’s upkeep. And with the synagogue and its glass-domed ceiling turned over to the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the building will not only be preserved, it will be put to good use.” At that lunch in 2010, Miriam Solomon told me: “I had made up my mind that we were not going to have the temple standing there with weeds growing out of the gutter. That wasn’t going to happen on my watch. In my mind, I gave it three years. If we hadn’t found a use for it by then, we were going to have it torn down.” I’m glad I was there for David Solomon’s 100th birthday party. He’s one of the last of the Delta Jews. Rex Nelson is senior vice president and director of corporate communications at Simmons First National Corp. He is a regular columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and appears regularly on various radio shows and has a site, rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
18 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
Michael Duvdevani, right, visits his Israeli home, Moshav Talmei Yosef
Belonging in two worlds Duvdevani has roots in Alabama and Israel by Karim Shamsi-Basha Michael Duvdeani’s eyes welled up thinking about his life in the United States compared with his home of Israel. Not exactly an ephemeral feeling. “Listen, my friends in Israel understand me better. But people here have taken me in and given me a life I would never have otherwise. It is a struggle, it’s just something I have to live with,” Duvdevani said. His home in Israel is two miles from the Gaza border and includes a bomb shelter. His home in Mountain Brook has five bedrooms and a two-car garage. When I met Michael Duvdevani, he seemed friendly and outgoing. After chatting for a few minutes, I found out he was born in A native of Damascus, Israel. I love making friends from that part of Karim Shamsi-Basha is the world. A region beautiful and rich with an award-winning writer and photographer in history and culture, a region plagued by strife Birmingham and discord, and a region where the school bus stop doubles as a bomb shelter. A region two hours away from Damascus, Syria, where I grew up, but seemingly a world away. A few months later, Michael invited me to join him on a visit to his family’s home. Duvdevani is a pedorthist in Birmingham and owns two shoe stores: Complete Feet in Homewood, and The Shoe Inn in Hoover. He lives in Mountain Brook with his wife Karen, and three children — Ella, Mia, and Adam. He came to this country at age 22, and stayed after meeting Karen. “We met at the train station in Birmingham. We were both going to New Orleans to visit friends,” Duvdevani said. We arrived at the Tel Aviv airport and Michael’s friend, Ronen, picked us up. The drive to Moshav Talmei Yosef was nothing I have experienced before. We passed Israeli towns and Arab villages, modern sites mixing with ancient times. Peace and discord at play on faces, and in the dirt. Michael’s mom Margaret, 69, and dad Giora, 73, decided to live in the farming community in the Negev desert about two miles from the Gaza border. Their house is quaint and modest and surrounded with fruit trees. Michael’s brother, Daniel, lives next door with his wife and two kids. In addition to the bedrooms, living room and kitchen, a bomb shelter built by the government is a constant reminder of the turbulent background of that region. They have lived there for since 1980. Michael remembers his youth.
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 19
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community “We had total freedom on the Moshav. We would come home from school and then go out and play. Our parents didn’t worry about anything, they were working hard in the fields. Life changed in 2000 when the second intifada started and rockets from Gaza started raining. We used to go to Gaza often. The bank, mechanic, market, all that was there. It all stopped in 1987 when the first Intifada broke out,” he said. I asked Giora and Margaret about daily life on the Moshav. “Seven years ago when the first war with Gaza broke, the Birmingham Jewish Federation brought me to Birmingham to speak. I told people what life here was like during the war. You walked around the Moshav and saw the bomb shelters at the school playground and bus stops. It is very surreal. It is crazy to think how we have to live,” Margaret said. She continued talking about peace while doing the “quote” marks with her fingers. I asked her why she did that. “Peace? I think of it more as a non-belligerent state, the absence of war. I guess it is a relative thing,” Margaret said. Michael Duvdevani loves living in Birmingham, but he does miss Israel. “Both places are my home, it is a constant dilemma. Israel is where I grew up and where childhood friends are. America is where I created a home as an adult. It is tough,” Michael said. What about the bomb shelter on one side of the world, and the two-car garage on the other? “It is dramatic when you put it that way, unfortunately life in Israel requires a certain level of protection that we don’t have to deal with here in the states. Needing a bomb shelter is a way of life; it’s surreal. War is always on the mind in Israel. In America, having to find a parking spot is a daily thing,” Duvdevani said. My trip to Israel with Michael will be a reminder of how beautiful that land is, and how a Jewish man has learned to belong to two countries, separated by an ocean.
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community Seniors Hall honors Dorothy Ziff Birmingham’s Dorothy Ziff was honored by the Alabama Senior Citizens Hall of Fame on July 17 with a Lifetime Achievement Commendation. The recognition came during the annual Hall of Fame Award Ceremony, held at First Baptist Church in Montgomery. Ziff was nominated by Barbara Bonfield and Bob Greenberg for her work with Hadassah’s Bubbe Club and the Chesed Committee at Temple Beth-El. Since 1977, Ziff has served in a number of positions in Hadassah Birmingham, including as president, and later as coordinator of the Premier Leaders Institute in the Southern region. She chaired the Bubbe Club for 7 years, bringing together grandmothers and great-grandmothers to celebrate their grandchildren. Since 2006, Ziff has co-chaired Beth-El’s Chesed Committee, a group established to provide caring services for the Temple’s senior community. In this role, she has arranged programs and parties at Brookdale Place, Greenbriar, Fair Haven, St. Martins, Highland Manor, Mount Royal Towers, Town Village and Columbia Cottage, and planned many baking sessions. Committee members bake and prepare goodie bags for the residents of these facilities and then make personal visits to deliver them. Chesed members also bake cakes and deliver them to bereaved families, as well as visit homebound elderly, and send birthday greetings to members over age 75 and greetings to ill Temple members. A new program involves members making regular telephone calls to seniors to chat and offer the senior a social outlet.
Staying young while growing up
Many in community named to Top 50 Over 50 Numerous members of Birmingham’s Jewish community were named to this year’s Top 50 Over 50 awards. Begun in 2014 by Positive Maturity, the awards are presented “to show that while growing older is unavoidable, growing up is optional.” The awards go to those who “know how to dream, laugh, contribute, and achieve on many levels … all the key elements of staying young while growing up.” The 50 are honored at a July 28 event in Birmingham and profiled in B Metro magazine. Among this year’s honorees are Jeffrey Bayer of Bayer Properties, Charles Collat of Mayer Electric, Fran Godchaux of Rev Birmingham, Nancy Goedecke of Mayer Electric, sportscaster Eli Gold, community activist Joel Rotenstreich, Michael Saag of 1917 Clinic, and community volunteers Bobbie Siegal and Max Steinmetz. A Holocaust survivor, Steinmetz is receiving the William M. Miller Award, which is given to those “who go above and beyond in building communities and creating legacies.”
Southern Jewish Life Online: www.sjlmag.com
community Starting down the philanthropic path
Day School students research groups, allocate funds After studying about numerous non-profit organizations in the state and doing fundraisers, students in the Upper School at Birmingham’s N.E. Miles Jewish Day School allocated and presented their proceeds. The students raised about $2,000 through the Abroms Youth Philanthropy Initiative, by doing a cookie and coffee sale and a pancake breakfast. On May 24, they presented checks to seven organizations. The initiative includes a weekly philanthropy class and service hours. Students completed 400 service hours at organizations including the Levite Jewish Community Center preschool, CJFS CARES, Torah Time, J Serve, the YWCA and Grace By Day food kitchen. In February, the students traveled to Montgomery to visit the Equal Justice Initiative, Southern Poverty Law Center, Rosa Parks Museum and the Civil Rights Memorial Center. They also participated in the EJI’s “Lynching in America: A Community Involvement Project,” where victims of lynching are remembered through jars of soil collected at lynching sites. As part of the ceremony, they presented their jars of soil to EJI’s Estelle Hebron Jones. Marlie Thompson was recognized with the Karen Nomberg Award. Nomberg, a teacher at the school who died in 2007 after fighting breast cancer, spearheaded the idea of student philanthropy at the school. Thompson was also recognized as the national winner of a creative writing contest based on her experiences volunteering with CJFS CARES, a program that provides cognitive, social and physical stimulation to people with memory and movement disorders. The Day School received a grant from Better Together for the intergenerational project. Each participant in all of the schools nationally that received grants entered the contest. Thompson’s win earned the Day School $25,000 for scholarships, and she won half the tuition for her summer at the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Mississippi. Esti Friedman was recognized as the sixth grade winner for the school. The Equal Justice Initiative and CJFS CARES were each given $560. The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center received $260. Also receiving $260 was Better Basics, which provides tutoring and resources to promote literacy among children. The Southern Poverty Law Center was given $160 and the Civil Rights Museum $80, and Alabama Appleseed, which works for judicial reforms for those with low incomes or who are unrepresented, received $140.
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When “March of the Living,” an annual student trip to Poland to visit Holocaust sites, opened to adults in 1994, Birmingham’s Betty Allenberg Goldstein signed up. “It was life-changing,” she said. She came back with a passion for Holocaust education, and on Aug. 21 will be the honoree at the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center’s L’Chaim gala. As a friend and longtime supporter of the BHEC, Goldstein has worked behind the scenes for years to raise awareness of the importance of Holocaust education. “Anyone who knows Betty Goldstein knows that her energy and enthusiasm are boundless,” said L’Chaim co-chair Joel Rotenstreich. “Betty is a giver, doer, goer, helper, and more. She is all heart, and the first one there.” As part of the 1994 trip, she visited Auschwitz with a group from Birmingham. “I haven’t been the same since,” she said. “I became interested in the BHEC because their mission is to eradicate the hatred and intolerance that are rampant today. What they’re doing is more important than ever. They work hard to teach tolerance to schoolchildren. We have to start when they’re young, so when they become adults, they won’t have prejudice in their hearts.” The event will be at the Morris Sirote Theatre at the Alys Stephens Center, which has a personal connection. She and Sirote attended the center’s groundbreaking in 1993, and she suggested that he consider endowing one of the performance venues there. He did so, and the 350-seat theater bears his name. “Morris would be so pleased to know that the BHEC chose this theatre for the L’Chaim event this year,” said Goldstein. Goldstein is particularly impressed with students’ creative expressions in response to Holocaust studies. “You can tell that children have really learned the lessons of the Holocaust when they create art, poetry, and performances that tell the stories.” In Goldstein’s honor, this year’s program will feature scenes from “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” a play about the children of the Terezin concentration camp, performed by drama students from Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City. Dominique Linchet of the Alabama School of Fine Arts will give a teacher’s perspective. The event also features the favorite music of the honoree each year, and Goldstein immediately requested Frank Sinatra. Pianist and vocalist Ray Leach will perform Sinatra standards, along with Cantor Jessica Roskin. For Goldstein, Sinatra songs bring back happy memories of her long relationship with Sirote, Goldstein’s significant other for 17 years. She and Sirote traveled extensively together and especially enjoyed seeing Frank Sinatra perform. “We loved dancing to Sinatra’s songs,” she said. The event will be on Aug. 21 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for students, with patron levels starting at $250. Tickets may be purchased online at 2016lchaim.eventbrite.com.
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ISJL rabbi testifies in HB 1523 takedown Jewish groups were among those who spoke out against Mississippi House Bill 1523, saying the “Religious Liberty Accommodations Act” was little more than religious cover for anti-gay bigotry. Moments before the bill was set to become law on July 1, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves issued a late-night injunction striking down the bill in its entirety. There had been a hearing in Reeves’ courtroom on June 23 and 24, with Rabbi Jeremy Simons, director of rabbinic services at the Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson as one of the witnesses. The bill’s stated purpose was to protect three “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions,” namely that “Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman; Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.” Anyone with such convictions could not be punished for denying services on that basis. The government could not discriminate or retaliate against anyone who did that, and doctors could not be sanctioned for refusing to provide counseling or other services that go against their beliefs. The practical effect could have included landlords being permitted to evict same-sex renters, allowing private businesses to refuse to serve same-sex couples, and allowing religious employers to fire LGBT workers. The president of the Human Rights Campaign, Chad Griffin, noted that the wording was broad enough to catch single mothers and unwed couples in the net as well. The bill was one of many considered in numerous states in response to the Obergefell vs. Hodges ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court, which legalized same-sex marriages across the country. Many Mississippi officials felt that was a Federal overreach, out of step with the majority in the state. The bill passed both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature “overwhelmingly” and was signed by Governor Phil Bryant on April 5, to go into effect on July 1. The Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica issued a statement saying it was “deeply troubled” by the passage of HB 1523, which goes against the notion that all human beings are created in the divine image. “We at URJ Jacobs Camp will continue to welcome all into our community to model the world we wish to see.” Jacobs Camp Director Anna Herman said in a Clarion-Ledger piece that “HB 1523 defies my defining values as a Reform Jew, as a Mississippian, a Southerner and as an American.” The Goldring-Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson condemned the bill, along with “all such similar bills and acts in other states and communities, and alongside our neighbors we will continue to pray and work for a better world for all.” Simons and Rabbi Matt Dreffin, ISJL associate director of education, have been involved with the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference, which condemned the bill when it was being debated. Several of the plaintiffs in the suit that landed the bill in Reeves’ court are members of the MRLC. Also working to block HB 1523 was Roberta Kaplan, who represented the Campaign for Southern Equality. Kaplan, who spoke at Temple Sinai in New Orleans in April about her experiences litigating on behalf of LGBT rights, represented Edie Windsor in United States v. Windsor, where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, leading to the Federal government recognizing the legality of same-sex marriages. Kaplan also brought a case challenging the gay adoption ban in Mississippi. Beth Orlansky, advocacy director of the Mississippi Center for Justice,
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which filed the first suit against HB 1523, said “Ensuring that government maintains neutrality on religious beliefs and respects religious diversity is part of our commitment to Mississippi as a social justice state. Granting special protections to one set of religious views would allow legalized discrimination to put at risk decades of progress to secure full rights for all Mississippians.” Simons said the legal team was looking for Mississippi residents “who could speak from a religious perspective on how the bill influences them.” A week after first talking with them, Simons was on the stand, answering questions. “The idea that the state government would be choosing any kind of religious beliefs over others is a very concerning precedent to set,” regardless of whether one shares those beliefs, Simons said. Simons noted the bill was about bigotry, not about religion. He mentioned that Reform Judaism, by far the dominant group in Mississippi’s Jewish community, voted “5,000 to 0” in favor of transgender inclusion at the movement’s camps. The movement also welcomes LGBT members and most rabbis will officiate a same-sex wedding. He was asked whether he could see his religious beliefs “anywhere in HB 1523,” to which he replied that he could not find them anywhere in the 13 pages. As the evening wore on the night before the bill was set to become law, Simons kept looking at news sites online for any news, then gave up and went to bed thinking the law would go into effect Hours later, Simons was on the steps of the state capitol, speaking at a rally celebrating Reeves’ order. “A stranger is not simply someone who doesn’t live in your community. A stranger in the biblical sense is anybody who is a minority, anybody who is vulnerable. Anybody who could be the victim of oppression, you shall not oppress,” Simons said. In striking down the bill, Reeves said HB 1523 granted “special rights” to those who hold the three mentioned religious beliefs, thus violating religious neutrality and equal protection. “The State has put its thumb on he scale to favor some religious beliefs over others.” “In its simplest terms,” Reeves wrote, “it denies LGBT citizens equal protection under the law.” The ruling gave a historical context for the Establishment Clause, which separates church and state. Since 80 percent of Mississippians are Christian, Reeves wrote, one might think it “fitting to have explicitly Christian laws and policies. They might also think that the Establishment Clause is a technicality that lets atheists and members of minority religions thwart their majority (Christian) rule.” However, he said, the Establishment Clause was written “to protect Christians from other Christians” and only later protected other faith groups. Those who hold a view different from the three enumerated in HB 1523, therefore, become second-class Christians, Reeves wrote, and that is true for members of other faith groups. “Religious freedom was one of the building blocks of this great nation, and after the nation was torn apart, the guarantee of equal protection under law was used to stitch it back together,” Reeves concluded. “But HB 1523 does not honor that tradition of religious freedom, nor does it respect the equal dignity of all of Mississippi’s citizens.” Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced on July 13 that he will not appeal the ruling, because “all HB 1523 has done is tarnish Mississippi’s image while distracting us from the more pressing issues of decaying roads and bridges, underfunding of public education, the plight of the mentally ill and the need to solve our state’s financial mess.” He called HB 1523 “an empty bill that dupes one segment of our population into believing it has merit while discriminating against another.” He said the bill “is just plain wrong. I don’t believe that’s the way to carry out Jesus’ primary directives to protect the least among us and to love thy
L’Shanah Tovah
26 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
community neighbor.” Governor Phil Bryant and the director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services are appealing the ruling, going before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. On July 22, Bryant thanked the Alliance Defending Freedom for helping draft the bill. The group is a Christian non-profit founded by those involved with the Tupelo-based American Family Association. The ADF is also serving as co-counsel for
Bryant in the appeal. Kaplan has filed a public records request for emails between Bryant and ADF, showing how the Conservative Christian group influenced the legislation to reflect its sectarian beliefs. Simons said his rabbinate’s focus is on serving the Jewish community, but “when an issue like this arises, it’s a time for religious voices to make themselves heard. “It’s an honor that I was able to give a Jewish perspective in this matter.”
Settlers as termites analogy bites Ga. congressman Hank Johnson clarifies comments made at anti-Israel group’s panel Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson has apologized for comments made at a Middle East panel on July 25 where he referred to Israeli settlements in the territories as “like termites that can get into a residence and eat it up.” The comment was made as part of a roundtable called “Progressive for Palestine: Is the U.S. Ready to Rethink Policy on Israel,” sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, both of which promote the boycott-Israel movement. It was held in conjunction with the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. At the panel, he also charged that “Jewish people” claim Palestinian homes if someone does not spend a night there. “The home their ancestors lived in for generations becomes an Israeli home and a flag goes up.” Johnson is in his fifth term in Congress and serves on the House Armed Services Committee. After the remarks were reported, Johnson tweeted to ADL that he had made a “poor choice of words” and wrote “apologies for offense,” but “point is settlement activity continues slowly undermine 2-state solution.” The ADL tweeted back that they “appreciate @RepHankJohnson’s clarification here” but ADL Executive Director Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that “no ‘point’ justifies referring to human beings in such an abhorrent, inappropriate manner.” Johnson responded “you’re right… I sincerely apologize for the offensive analogy. Period.” David Wolpe, senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, said in Time magazine that it wasn’t an apology, just an expression of regret that some were offended by the remark. He noted that the Nazis had classified people as vermin to be exterminated, so the termite analogy is “base and vile.” As an example, Wolpe said if anyone tried to claim that Black Lives Matter is like a termite undermining American democracy, “the outcry would be long and loud, and entirely justified.”
On July 26, at a panel outside the Democratic National Convention, Johnson clarified and apologized further. “We must work to promote policies that support a two-state solution and encourage trust between both sides,” he said. The statement said Johnson “regrets the misinterpretation of his comments. He did not intend to insult or speak derogatorily of the Israelis or the Jewish people. When using the metaphor of termites, the Congressman was referring to the corrosive process, not the people.” Restating his tweet, he said “Poor choice of words — I meant no offense. The point is settlement activity has slowly and deliberately undermined Palestinian land claims.” Wolpe tweeted that Johnson “reached out to me & offered a full apology for the language, the imagery and the hurt he caused. He was very gracious.” Dov Wilker, Atlanta regional director of the American Jewish Committee, said that apology or not, “we are still concerned about his rhetoric.” Wilker said Johnson never mentioned anything resembling Palestinian responsibility for the ongoing situation, including incitement and terror attacks on Israeli civilians. Though in the past he had traveled to Israel with AIPAC and J Street, in May he was “in Palestine” and noticed a growing “sense of hopelessness” among Palestinians. J Street, whose PAC is supporting Johnson’s reelection, welcomed his clarification and blasted the Free Beacon for “irresponsible headline writing designed to stir controversy” and advance “their political agenda.” Ironically, Johnson was elected in 2006 as an antidote to Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who had made a series of embarrassing statements while in Congress, many of which were anti-Israel. Just two days before Johnson’s remark, McKinney was touting an online video that purported to show that Israel, not Islamic extremists, was behind the recent terror attacks in Nice and Munich.
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Two leaders in Birmingham’s Jewish community made large gifts toward the effort to revive football at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. On June 28, the UAB Department of Athletics announced a $1 million commitment from Jimmy Filler, the largest gift to date, and on July 6 a $500,000 gift from Harold Ripps was announced. The gifts are toward the Football Operations Center, a $22 million project that is to open before the 2017 season. Filler and his wife Carol, along with Ripps, have been longtime supporters of UAB and are members of the Champion Club, a group who provides the philanthropic leadership within UAB Athletics. Filler also serves as an active member of the UAB Athletics Campaign Committee, while Ripps is on the campaign committee and the UAB Athletics Foundation board. “UAB Football is good for the city of Birmingham and is good for UAB,” Filler said. “A strong UAB means a strong Birmingham, and football is an important component in declaring that message. My family is very passionate about both UAB and Birmingham, and we want to support the effort in a strong manner.” When the UAB administration shuttered the football program on Nov. 30, 2014, a day after the team became bowl-eligible for the second time in program history, Filler was a vocal critic of the decision. After tremendous public pressure, the decision was reversed on June 1, 2015, with the team returning for the 2017 season. “Jimmy Filler’s loyalty and dedication to the Blazer family is exemplified by this unprecedented gift,” Director of Athletics Mark Ingram said. “We couldn’t be more grateful for his donation and his unwavering support of UAB Athletics, the university and the entire Birmingham community. Gifts such as this have made the vision of building the Football Operations Center become a reality.” “We are grateful for the Fillers’ generous commitment that keeps this campaign’s momentum growing,” head coach Bill Clark said. “With increasing support throughout Birmingham and beyond, I am confident UAB Football is poised for unprecedented levels of success.” “UAB is the leading entity that impacts the city of Birmingham,” Ripps said. “What benefits UAB will benefit Birmingham as a whole, and the success of UAB Football is definitely a major component in this city’s positive momentum. I want to see both UAB and Birmingham be successful and it takes investments like this and others to make it happen.” “The amount of support we have received from UAB enthusiasts like Harold Ripps has been incredible,” Ingram said. “Harold is a valued member of the UAB family and we couldn’t be more appreciative of his generous donation. The Football Operations Center will elevate our program and Harold’s gift has been instrumental for this project.” “The contribution made by Harold Ripps continues to show the incredible support we have received from individuals passionate about making a difference in Birmingham,” Clark said. “Gifts like this support the notion that the sky is the limit for UAB Football. Here is another statement that we intend to pursue excellence in everything we do on and off the field.” Construction on the UAB Football Operations Center, which will house office space, meeting and film rooms, athletic training facilities, locker rooms and a weight room, is scheduled to begin later this summer in anticipation of opening prior to the start of the 2017 season.
community Ala. Chancellor gets national ZBT honor Robert Witt, chancellor of the University of Alabama System, was honored at the Zeta Beta Tau International Convention in Atlanta on July 23 with the Riegelman-Jacobs Award for Outstanding Interfraternal Service. Earlier this year, during the University of Alabama ZBT chapter’s centennial celebration, Witt was made an honorary brother in ZBT, the world’s first Jewish fraternity. From 2003 to 2012, Witt was president of the University of Alabama. During his nine-year tenure, he spearheaded an ambitious plan for academic growth and achievement that has positioned Alabama as one of America’s fastest-growing public universities. He also put an emphasis on enlarging the Jewish enrollment at Alabama, and during his time as president the Alabama Hillel moved to a new facility next to a new Temple Emanu-El building on campus. Under Witt’s guidance, the University of Alabama’s Greek community has doubled in size, becoming the largest community in the United States. He has championed housing reforms and diversity in organizations, among many efforts. “I have known Bob Witt for over 10 years, and I am proud to call him my friend. As President of the University of Alabama, and then later as Chancellor, he was responsible for the entire Greek System having its greatest period of growth in numbers, influence and relevance. There was nothing he couldn’t help you accomplish,” said Zeta Beta Tau Foundation President Bruce H. Weinstein, a 1970 alumnus of Alabama ZBT. “In particular for ZBT, he oversaw and spearheaded increasing Jewish enrollment, which was directly responsible for Psi Chapter doubling its size to over 100 brothers. He was recently made an honorary ZBT, and there is no one more deserving of this award than our new brother.” “Zeta Beta Tau is glad to have Dr. Robert Witt, a long-time advocate for diversity and academic achievement, be a part of our Brotherhood,” said International President Matthew J. Rubins, Kappa (Cornell University) ’90. “He has promoted the mission of ZBT throughout his career. We are grateful for his service to ZBT and to the Fraternity community at large.” “It is a great honor to be selected to receive the Riegelman-Jacobs Award and to be named an honorary brother of ZBT. I am proud of the leadership, service and many contributions of our country’s Greek organizations and particularly proud to be affiliated with ZBT at The University of Alabama,” Witt said.
Building Bridges
Israeli artist at Kennesaw this fall Ella Ben-Aharon a celebrated Israeli choreographer whose cutting-edge works have been performed around the world, will be a visiting lecturer at Kennesaw State University this fall. Ben-Aharon’s dance compositions have been performed in the U.S., Israel, Europe and Brazil. Ben-Aharon is particularly interested in multi-disciplinary collaborations, incorporating architecture, neuroscience, video and other fields into her choreography. Ben-Aharon, who will be in Kennesaw from Aug. 10 to Dec. 10, is currently on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Dance and Music and has been a guest teacher at other campuses in the U.S. She is lecturing at KSU through the Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artists Program, which will bring an unprecedented 14 Israeli artists for residencies at top universities across the United States during the 2016-2017 academic year. “The Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artists program is the bridge between the Israel Institute’s academic and cultural programming. These visiting artists provide more than just classes that teach skills; these artists provide a window into the heart of Israel,” said Ariel Roth, executive director of the Israel Institute.
Invite Karim Shamsi-Basha to speak at your Synagogue or event. Karim will share his upbringing as a Muslim Arab, taught to hate the Jews. He will also reveal how he has come to love the country and the people of Israel, and how to work towards understanding each other and living in peace. Karim is an award winning writer/photographer in Birmingham whose work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Sports Illustrated, People, Time, Southern Living, The New York Times, and many others. He is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, as well as many other news organizations.
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August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 29
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STEAMBOAT NATCHEZ, NEW ORLEANS Friday, Sept 23: Opening evening Jazz concert at a historical local venue. Saturday, Sept 24: Three stages, multiple bands, performing under the stars on the Steamboat Natchez. Dinner included. Sunday, Sept 25: Sunday Jazz Brunch on the Steamboat Natchez. Tickets and more information available on the festival's website www.steamboatstompneworleans.com 30 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
Cantor Jessica Roskin of Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El said it is rare for a congregation to have the opportunity and ability to commission an original musical composition, let alone an entire service. On Aug. 26, Emanu-El will hold the world premiere of “The Klezmer Shabbat Service,” composed by Alan Goldspiel, who chairs the Department of Music at the University of Montevallo. Goldspiel said he was going on sabbatical and wanted to compose a Klezmer-style service. He approached Roskin to see if she knew of anyone who might be interested in commissioning such a work. As it turns out, Roskin was looking to commission a piece in recognition of the Ruth and Marvin Engel Cantorial Chair at Emanu-El. Goldspiel recalled, “I spoke maybe three seconds” before Roskin jumped at the idea. Roskin explained that the cantorial chair “ensures that we will always have the funds available to have a Cantorial position at Temple Emanu-El, and to provide monies for cultural arts programming and a professional choir during the High Holy Days.” The work, she said, will be in honor of the Engel family and “a tribute” to the Birmingham Jewish community. A classical guitarist, Goldspiel moved to Montevallo in 2008, after 13 years teaching at Louisiana Tech University. Goldspiel has performed world premieres at New York’s Carnegie and CAMI Halls, been featured on NPR radio stations from coast to coast, and performed in the critically acclaimed Goldspiel/Provost Duo. He has been a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Monroe Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Philharmonic, Sinfonie-by-the-Sea, Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra, and he served as an Artist-in-Residence for North Carolina’s prestigious Visiting Artists Program, presenting over 80 concerts throughout that state. He was the 2013 recipient of an Escape to Create Residency in Seaside, Fla., and was awarded the 2014 Alabama Music Teachers Association State Composition Commission. In June, the Alabama State Council on the Arts awarded him a music fellowship grant, saying “Goldspiel’s compositions exhibit a variety in thematic melodies that are well suited for musicians and audiences. His work is imaginative and explores new musical ideas.” His Klezmer odyssey began six years ago, when the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center asked him to perform Klezmer music at the opening of the “Darkness Into Life” exhibit. “I said I don’t play Klezmer music,” Goldspiel said, but Deborah Layman insisted that is what they wanted. “Of course, I’d heard Klezmer music before, I just didn’t play it.” He put together a trio, but “getting musicians who had never heard it before to play it was a challenge.” The trio soon became a quintet, the Magic Shtetl Klezmer Band, and has since played numerous times in the region. “I became fascinated with” Klezmer, he said. “It had touched a part of who I am” after being a “stranger in a strange land” as a New Yorker in the South for so many years. For his sabbatical, he wanted to “do something that puts everything together that I’m interested in.” But he figured it would be an odd mix — Klezmer and the sacred? Klezmer and classical guitar? But it all came together in an 18-composition service, done in the Reform tradition. Another challenge was working with Hebrew texts in a musical form that took its phrasing and inflections from Yiddish. He visited YIVO in New York to gain more historical understanding of Klezmer, and came across the “holy grail” of recordings on Edison cylinders, where people “went out into the fields in Eastern Europe and made recordings of people singing Klezmer tunes.”
community The research and composition took about a year, but he had to complete four pieces for a “taste” in January. The 18 pieces total about 55 minutes of music, “a significant undertaking,” he said. The Klezmer Shabbat Service is scored for a soprano soloist, accompanied by a four-part choir and five-part band of violin, clarinet, classical guitar, stand-up bass and drum set. Roskin will be the soloist, and Paul Mosteller will conduct the 12-member choir and the ensemble. Some pieces are for the entire ensemble, while others are for a soloist and a single instrument. Though there aren’t any additional performances scheduled, Goldspiel said he would love to take it elsewhere. He also plans to write more music in Jewish styles, including a “more introspective” Shabbat service. Roskin said “this musical work will always be associated with our Temple, and will be noted by the other congregations who perform it around the country.” The service will be on Aug. 26 at 5:40 p.m., followed by a heavy hors d’oeuvres and champagne oneg. There will also be a Grafman Legacy Luncheon to meet Goldspiel and learn about the service, Aug. 25 at 11:30 a.m. Lunch reservations are requested by Aug. 22, with a $10 suggested donation.
Dothan represents at Jacobs The Dothan Jewish community made its mark on the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica this summer. The small community is hometown of Jacobs Camp Director Anna Blumenfeld Herman, and this year Dothan’s Temple Emanu-El sent a record five students to camp. Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith served on faculty for a week, and Dothan’s Abbey Lewis was camp programming director. This year, Jacobs Camp had a record enrollment of 437 campers.
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 31
community Sarah Silverman to headline NOLA Hell Yes Fest Comedian Sarah Silverman, who some say delivered a key moment of the Democratic National Convention, will headline the Hell Yes Fest in New Orleans this October. The festival runs from Oct. 7 to 16, with each event ticketed separately. A variety of standup, sketch and improvisational acts is scheduled for numerous venues throughout the city. She briefly was a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” and had stints on numerous television shows, but later achieved notoriety for her routine, “Jesus is Magic.” In 2007 she debuted “The Sarah Silverman Program” on Comedy Central, playing a fictional enhancement of herself. It earned the network its first-ever Emmy nomination. A 2013 HBO special, “We Are Miracles” won the 2014 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. Silverman was most recently seen as the star of “I Smile Back,” the film adaptation of the Amy Koppelman novel. The drama premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and was later released in theaters. Silverman received much praise for her role as “Laney Brooks,” culminating in a 2016 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.” She will be in “The Book of Henry” and “The Top Secret Untitled Lonely Island Movie” later this year. Silverman also continues to lend her voice to the Emmy-nominated Fox animated series “Bob’s Burgers” and has a recurring role on the Golden Globe-nominated Showtime series “Masters of Sex.” Silverman is sister of Rabbi Susan Silverman, a leader of Women of the Wall, seeking greater equality for women at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In 2014, Silverman attended a protest Chanukah menorah lighting that the group held at the Wall. On July 25, Silverman, who had backed Bernie Sanders, told the Democratic National Convention that she would endorse Hillary Clinton. As Sanders backers kept loudly chanting his name, she chastised them with “You’re being ridiculous.” Also scheduled to perform during the Hell Yes Fest are Clayton English, Cameron Esposito, Nick Swardson, Hasan Minhaj, Fortune Feimster and stars of MTV’s “Girl Code.” Silverman will perform on Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Saenger Theater. Tickets range from $59.50 to $149.50.
Over 125 students from Camp Ramah and USY On Wheels led minyan at Birmingham’s Temple Beth-El on July 27 32 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
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Exhibit in Mobile explores leading filmmakers’ efforts to document Nazi atrocities Seven decades ago, the world got its first glance at film shot by the Allies in the Nazi concentration camps. An exhibit about how that footage was gathered will open this month at the History Museum of Mobile. Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller are known for American cinema classics like “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Shane” and “The Big Red One.” But their most important contribution to history was their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services, filming the realities of war and the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Few knew of that contribution, and how their confrontation with Nazi atrocities affected them for the rest of their lives. Their documentation provides an essential visual record of World War II. “Filming the Camps” presents rare footage of the liberation of Dachau with detailed directors’ notes, narratives describing burials at Falkenau, and the documentary produced as evidence at the Nuremberg trials, among other historic material. The exhibition, curated by historian and film director Christian Delage, was designed, created, and circulated by the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, and made possible through the support of the SNCF. The Field Photographic Branch was created in the 1930s to train cameramen “in case of emergency.” Films supervised by Ford included footage from Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. In 1943, Stevens joined a team under General Eisenhower, the Special Coverage Unit, which filmed the Normandy landings. They were given specific instructions to document “evidence of war crimes and atrocities” and would later enter and document the Dachau concentration camp. Their film documentation of World War II and concentration camp liberation was utilized as evidence during the Nuremberg trials — the first time movies were used in such a fashion. They served as inspiration for Hollywood cinema as well. The exhibit’s artifacts include rare film footage, interviews, manuscripts, photographs, director’s notes, and additional video of World War II. Last year, the exhibit was at the Atlanta History Center. The History Museum of Mobile will open the exhibit on Aug. 29, and then host a series of accompanying events until the exhibit closes on Jan. 16. The exhibit’s documentary will be screened on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m., followed by a question and answer session with Delage. That day, there will be a workshop for Holocaust educators from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Sept. 7, there will be a War and Memory conference, “The Holocaust in Memory and History” at the University of South Alabama. Scholar presentations and roundtables will be at Seaman’s Bethel from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and at 7 p.m. there will be a keynote lecture by Brad Prager at the Faculty Club. On Sept. 14, there will be a Learning Lunch at noon with Gary Scovil, producer of the film “We Remember.”
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August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 33
community On Sept. 26, “Memory of the Camps” will be screened at 7 p.m. at the University of South Alabama’s Marx Library auditorium. Dan Puckett of the Alabama Holocaust Commission and author of “In the Shadow of Hitler: Alabama Jews, the Second World War and the Holocaust,” will give a presentation on “Alabama and the Holocaust” on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at Spring Hill College. On Oct. 20, Roger Grunwald, the child of survivors, will present his one-person drama “The Mitzvah Project” at 7 p.m. at Spring Hill College’s Mitchell Theater. A film series will start on Oct. 23, with screenings at Spring Hill College LeBlanc at 2 p.m. “Imaginary Witness” will be screened on Oct. 23, with “Night and Fog” on Nov. 13 and “Son of Saul” on Dec. 4, in collaboration with the Mobile Jewish Film Festival. On Oct. 24, Matt Rozell will present “Photographs from a Train Near Magdeburg” at the University of Mobile’s Ram Hall, at 11 a.m. David Meola will present “Reflections on a Concentration Camp: Encountering Bergen-Belsen” on Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m., at Mobile Public Library. Paul Bartrop will speak on “The British Dimension: Filming the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen in April 1945,” at the University of South Alabama’s Marx Library auditorium, on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. First Baptist Church of Mobile will host “Conversations on Holocaust Liberation and Rescue” on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., and Ahavas Chesed will host “Memories of Agnes Tennenbaum,” a Holocaust survivor who died in Mobile on May 30, on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. The museum, at 111 Royal Street, is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $7.50 for ages 13 to 17, $5 for ages 6 to 12 and free for ages 5 and under.
New JLI examines character struggles Birmingham’s Bais Ariel Chabad Center is holding a new six-week Jewish Learning Institute course, “Strength and Struggle: Lessons in Character from the Stories of Our Prophets.” The course starts on Aug. 17 at 7 p.m., running for six Wednesday nights. There is also a Thursday option at 11:30 a.m. starting Aug. 18. The course uses Biblical characters as inspiration in overcoming struggles and becoming stronger from them. Gaining perspective through emotion, beating burnout and breaking out of routines are among the topics to be explored. To register, call (205) 253-4408. There is no charge or obligation for those who want to sample the first session. 34 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
food & dining an annual SJL special section
Tujague’s celebrating 160 years of culinary tradition and innovation In the restaurant business, staying open for 16 years is an accomplishment — let alone 160. New Orleans landmark Tujague’s is celebrating its 160th anniversary this year, having sailed through changing neighborhoods and changing ownerships, overcoming a few bumps along the way. “It’s truly amazing to have a 160th birthday and it couldn’t have happened without our loyal customers and visitors from near and far who have walked through our doors for over a century and a half,” said owner Mark Latter. Last October, ‘Tujague’s Cookbook” by Poppy Tooker was published, with an extensive history of the restaurant and its influence on New Orleans cuisine, along with about 100 recipes. Tooker said the restaurant’s location has always been significant in New Orleans history. It originally was Madame Begue’s, which opened in 1863 and was known for serving only “second breakfast” at 11 a.m., originating the concept of brunch. The butchers’ market was across the street, and those who had been working the docks since before sunrise had quite an appetite by then. The “butcher’s breakfast” as it came to be known was a five-course meal. Tooker said by the 1880s, when the butchers were no longer across the street, Madame Begue’s was the No. 1 tourist attraction in New Orleans, even though she would feed only 30 people per day. Tujague’s began in 1856 and was three doors down from where Begue’s would be established. Guillaume Tujague, a butcher from France, decided to open a restaurant after working for three years in the butchers market. Like Begue’s, Tujague’s served the butcher’s breakfast, and Tooker said “that is the origin of the prix fixe menu, multiple courses and the meal everyone looked to Tujague’s for.”
The first courses have always been a shrimp remoulade and beef brisket. The competitors would come together in 1914 when Tujague’s bought Madame Begue’s space and moved Tujague’s there. Begue had died in 1906 and Tujague had died in 1912. Philip Guichet, who had purchased Tujague’s from Tujague’s sister, teamed with Jean-Dominic Castet, who had started working at Begue’s in 1908. After the second generation of Castets died without children, the Guichets became sole owners in 1965. In 1982, the Guichets sold Tujague’s to Stanford and Steven Latter, with Noonie Guichet, grandson of Philip Guichet, staying on as manager. In her history of Tujague’s, Tooker said Stanford Latter saw the building as an investment and was going to rent the restaurant space to a fast-food operator, but Steven Latter left his position at Wembley Ties and “devoted the rest of his life to Tujague’s Restaurant.” Though the Latters had no restaurant experience, Steven Latter immersed himself in learning the industry. He researched the history of Tujague’s and revived many of the culinary traditions. He filled the walls with historic photos, and displayed a collection of thousands of liquor miniature bottles — which were illegal to sell in Louisiana until 2014. In 2008, Steven Latter was named Man of the Year by the Downtown Irish Club and tapped to lead the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, where it was joked that he would wear a “Kiss Me, I’m Jewish” button. On Feb. 18, 2013, Steven Latter died unexpectedly in his sleep. Less than a month later, word started spreading in New Orleans that Stanford Latter, who owned the building, was planning to rent the bar space to a fried chicken establishment, and the restaurant space would become a T-shirt shop. For a community just seven years removed from the flood that had
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 35
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Piggly Wiggly is so happy to be back home in Crestline in our new location, with plenty of kosher items in stock. If you don’t see it, just ask & we’ll order it!
Piggly Wiggly has a rich tradition built over several decades by stores that are locally owned and operated.
Crestline: 41 Church Street Homewood: 3000 Montgomery Hwy River Run: 3800 River Run Dr Clairmont: 3314 Clairmont Ave pigbham.com 36 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
taken so much, this news struck a nerve. ‘That place is so special to so many people,” Tooker said. For a lot of people, she explained, “you’ve lived through Hurricane Katrina, you’ve rebuilt the city. We’ve got to a point where we’ve clearly lost too much and we’re not willing to give up any more ground.” Within days, tens of thousands had read about the planned closing and protests were underway. On April 1, the story made it into the New York Times, and soon after, Stanford Latter recognized the community’s passion and signed a long-term lease with his brother’s son, Mark. With the restaurant’s future secure, Mark Latter embarked on some renovations, brightening the space and showcasing the miniatures collection. He also made a radical change to the menu — while the traditional five-course meal is still front and center, he added a few new menu items and allowed a la carte ordering. He explained that this is more accessible for those who do not have all evening to dine, and feels that has helped boost business. Tujague’s “really is America’s oldest neighborhood restaurant, in America’s oldest neighborhood,” Tooker said. It is the secondoldest continuously-operating restaurant in New Orleans, behind Antoine’s. It also has the nation’s oldest stand-up bar, where the Grasshopper and Whisky Punch were created. Though Tujague’s has a prime spot in the tourist magnet that is the French Quarter, Latter said the majority of Tujague’s diners are locals. It is also a holiday spot for many families, on days when most people traditionally dine at home. “Tujague’s is the place that feels like home for them” on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Tooker said. Last year, Tujague’s served over 800 on Christmas. For the second year, in early August Latter and Executive Chef Marcus Woodham traveled to Birmingham for the annual Night in New Orleans at the Bright Star, the oldest restaurant in Alabama. For three nights, they serve Tujague’s specialties in Alabama. In September, Tujague’s will travel to New York. Tooker will have an appearance on the Today Show with Kathy Lee and Hoda on Sept. 13, preparing the signature Chicken Bonne Femme. On Sept. 15, Tujague’s will prepare a dinner at the James Beard House. There have been many other anniversary events during the year, with the three-course $18.56 lunch being highly popular. It will be available through the end of the year. There is also a monthly Guest Chef dinner series, which will feature John Besh on Aug. 25. The Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans also currently has an exhibit about Tujague’s history.
food & dining
Alex Kimerling making his mark with Daddy Bob’s by Lee J. Green When photographers want to get their subjects to smile, they might typically instruct them to “say cheese.” That’s appropriate in the case of Birmingham Jewish community native and now Nashville resident Alex Kimerling, who has gained and given smiles with his business, Daddy Bob’s Pimento Cheese. “The response we have gotten has really exceeded our expectations,” said Kimerling. The product is available in the Birmingham area at Piggly Wiggly and Western supermarkets as well Urban Cookhouse. It’s also at numerous craft breweries and markets in the Nashville area. “It’s fun to introduce people to such a great product and to make them happy.” Kimerling wanted to maintain the family tradition of operating a business in his 20s. His family owned a successful metal recycling business in Birmingham for 80 years. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, he earned his MBA from Samford University, where he met his wife, Whitney, who was in law school at the same time. Her family is from southern Tennessee. So how did Kimerling decide to start up a pimento cheese business? Ironically, he said he hated pimento cheese before being offered some by Whitney’s father, Bob Henry, when the two were dating. “It’s his special recipe. You don’t say no to your girlfriend’s dad. So I tried it and it was actually
one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. I immediately thought that this is how pimento cheese should be,” he said. Kimerling knew then what his business startup would be. He, sister-in-law Sims Henry and his father-in-law refined the recipe and took their product to market. They make two versions: “Original Recipe with bacon” and “Veggie Recipe.” “We had Daddy Bob’s at our wedding and it was so popular that we ran out early in the evening. One of the guests (somewhat jokingly) said ‘since the pimento cheese is gone, I’m leaving’,” he said. “I describe the taste as having a consistent spice profile but it’s not ‘knock you down’ spicy. The spice blend and fresh ingredients really make the product.” Kimerling, his father-in-law and sister-in-law started putting together a business plan in 2014. They first went to some independent markets in the Nashville area as well as craft breweries, bars and restaurants. The cheese was a hit on first taste, and places started carrying Daddy Bob’s just more than a year ago. Then they brought the pimento cheese to the Piggly Wiggly and Western stores in Birmingham, who were very receptive and started carrying it. “Our goal, of course, would be for the product to go national but it’s more of a process getting it into the larger supermarkets. We are definitely working on that,” he said. They make Daddy Bob’s pimento cheese out of a commercial kitchen in downtown Nashville. They don’t do any direct shipping of the cheese but people can request it at stores across the region. The website, www.daddybobs.net, has some recipe recommendations, photos, product info and all locations where the pimento cheese is sold. Kimerling, whose parents are Mary and David Kimerling in Birmingham, also works full time for an energy technology company and spends as much time as possible with Whitney as well as their 3-month-old son, Henry. “We’re all about family in our lives and in our business. That’s what makes everything so rewarding,” he said.
Red Beans and Rice cookoff to benefit NOLA Jewish education On Sept. 5, the second annual kosher Red Beans and Rice cookoff will be held at Torah Academy in Metairie from noon to 4 p.m. Last year, Hadassah New Orleans took first place among the six teams with a recipe that included kosher chorizo. With that win, the red beans and rice sold at this year’s festival will be from their recipe. The cookoff was started last year by Alan Smason and Crescent City Jewish News and was a fundraiser for Torah Academy. This year,
Jewish Community Day School is also participating in the benefit for Jewish education in New Orleans. Teams of three to seven members will assemble at Torah Academy on Sept. 4 at 4 p.m. to start prep work. Entries are prepared in a 6-quart crock pot with pre-requested ingredients, and teams can check their entries starting at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 5. The team entry fee is $118 and includes six meal tickets.
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food & dining
Cahaba Brewing now an event destination by Lee J. Green
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Cahaba Brewing Company’s hoppy success story dates back almost 10 years ago to a recently-married UAB graduate and Huntsville native making home brew on his stove. Today the Birmingham craft brewery is one of the largest in the state of Alabama, which has gone from zero microbreweries to 30 currently. Earlier this year, Cahaba Brewing Company moved into a start-of-the-art, 51,000-square-foot production facility, tasting room and event space in Avondale. Plus, Cahaba’s beers are sold in cans, as well as growlers and crowlers in some places, at stores across the Birmingham area, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa and soon across more of Alabama and the region. It is also served at many restaurants and bars across the region. “It’s surreal and so exciting to think about where we have come from to today, not just as a brewery but looking at the rise in the beer culture here in Birmingham and Alabama,” said Eric Myers, Cahaba Brewing Company Managing Partner and Brewmaster. “It’s so rewarding to have a product and an environment (at the brewery) that make people happy.” Myers said Cahaba is all about community, and since moving into their new place this past spring, they have hosted several Jewish community public and private events, including Temple Beth-El’s raffle fundraiser, a welcome party for Beth-El’s interim rabbi, Todd Dubrow’s surprise 40th birthday party and the Aug. 7 fundraiser for the Levite Jewish Community Center’s Early Childhood Learning Center. “We have a comfortable space where people can communicate and have a good time,” he said. Myers graduated from Huntsville High School in 1996. He started in pre-med at UAB but his passions were elsewhere. He held various jobs and almost 10 years ago a friend of his wife’s got him into homebrewing. “I have a strong science background from my time at UAB. I like trying processes and changing methods,” he said. At the time, the thought of opening a craft brewery never really entered his mind. Alabama’s alcohol laws were very strict and the state made it difficult for microbreweries to open. The allowed Alcohol By Volume for beer was only 5.9 percent, also discouraging craft beer production. But a few years later things started to change with the raising of the ABV to 13.9 percent due in large part to the lobbying efforts of Alabama’s Free the Hops organization. Myers took a chance with something he loved. He made an investment, got some partners and in 2011 started Cahaba Brewing LLC. In 2012 they started making and selling beer at a much smaller facility in Birmingham’s Lakeview district. Now the microbrewery is not so micro anymore. “We for sure want to grow, but growth will always come with making sure we are putting out the best quality beers possible that our customers really want,” he said. A few of Cahaba’s large batch beers are in the stores, including American Blonde and Liquid Amber. A new canning system will allow them to change labels on the beers during can production so they can add some smaller batch and seasonal beers. Plans are for an Oktoberfest and an IPA to be out in cans by Labor Day. Pairing food and beer Cahaba Brewing Company does not serve food at its facility, but does bring in food trucks. Myers said they are also happy to give some tips on pairing foods with their beers. For example, the American Blonde goes well with pizza, fried chicken
food & dining
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 39
food & dining
and cold cuts. Liquid Amber has hops with a bit of a bite to them, making it pair well with spicy foods. Their darker offerings such as Rye Stout (with coffee notes) and Porter (with chocolate notes) go well with heavier dishes and those with cream cheese. “Good beer and good food go hand-in-hand,” said Myers. “We’re excited to be a part of such a growing food and beer culture here. Birmingham is getting a great reputation nationally as one of the best beer and food cities in the country.”
How many bagels can you eat in 5 minutes? Noshfest announces the first Southeastern Bagel Eating Contest, to be held at Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, Ga., on Sept. 4 at 2 p.m. Contestants will have five minutes to eat as many bagels as possible. The winner with the highest number of bagels consumed wins a prize of $500, an amount higher than most eating contests. The contest is co-sponsored by Bagelicious in Marietta, Ga. There is a $20 entry fee and entrants will be given a $20 certificate to be redeemed at Bagelicious. The maximum number of contestants is 15, and participants must be 18 years of age or older. Once the final whistle blows, a bagel in the mouth is counted, but only if it is swallowed within 30 seconds. Eaten bagels must be retained in stomach until conclusion of award ceremony, or the contestant will be disqualified. The only beverage allowed is water, which will be provided. The deadline to enter is midnight on August 12, and mailed entries must be postmarked by this date. For more information and to enter the contest, visit www.Noshfest.com. Noshfest features Jewish food, entertainment and family fun on Sept. 4 and 5. The event features dishes from local restaurants, live music from local artists, community vendors and children’s games and inflatables.
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With expanded product line, Golden Flake continues to be the flavor of the South As Golden Flake snacks expands its product line and geographic distribution, one thing will always remain the same — Golden Flake is the flavor of the South. And that is expected to stay the same, even with the planned merger with Utz Quality Foods of Hanover, Pa. The July 19 announcement stated that Golden Flake would continue as a separate subsidiary of Utz under its current management, and continue to be “The South’s Original Potato Chip.” In 2011, Utz acquired Zapp’s, “the little chippery in Gramercy” that is part of Louisiana culture. One aspect of the Utz merger is enabling Golden Flake to continue expanding product selections. Recently the Birmingham-based company added a couple of new products that are selling very well — Tortiyahs and Fuego Rojo. Fuego Rojo are spicy corn chip curls with cayenne pepper added, sold currently on a trial basis. Tortiyahs are similar to Golden Flake’s current tortilla chips but are stronger chips made to hold up to dips. “We ask our customers what they are looking for in new Golden Flake products and we do a lot of research and taste testing to get everything just right,” said Marketing/PR Director Mary Jane McAllister. “The initial response to these two new products has been great.” Two products that were test-launched last year, Buffalo Ranch and Tangy Pickle BBQ potato chips, became a part of Golden Flake’s permanent product mix. Each Golden Flake product also has its own unique packaging design. “If people like the new look and the new flavors, please let us know,” she said. These new products, as well as most of Golden Flake’s products, are OU-certified kosher, with the pork skins and cheese products as the exceptions. Products are distributed throughout the Southeast and Southwest. In other areas of the country, products can be ordered at www.goldenflake. com. “Our motto is ‘party responsibly, snack tastefully’,” said McAllister.
food & dining
Larger Pig in Crestline means more kosher space by Lee J. Green This Pig does kosher. The new Piggly Wiggly store in Mountain Brook’s Crestline Village increased its retail space by 40 percent from the previous location and with that came growth in the number of kosher and specialty products carried. The previous Crestline Village store was not large enough to carry enough of the specialty products Piggly Wiggly wanted to supply for its customers, said Piggly Wiggly Secretary Andrew Virciglio, whose father co-owns the Birmingham stores at River Run and Homewood as well. “When we built the new store, we knew we needed much additional space to add many specialty products to our store brand and national brand products,” said Virciglio, who along with his brother Austin started working in the stores at the age of 14. “I grew up in this business and it’s all about family. Our customers have become like an extended family and we want to make sure they have everything they need.” Andrew Virciglio’s great-grandfather A.J. was regional director of the Western Food Stores and his grandfather, Stanley, opened the Homewood Piggly Wiggly in 1973. The original Crestline location was opened in 1983 and River Run came along in 2006. The Crestline store closed in 2013 and the new location opened at the beginning of June 2016. Virciglio said the expanded new Crestline store has 28 linear feet of shelf space devoted to traditional kosher Jewish foods on a regular basis. He said several products have been very popular, especially Hebrew National Beef Franks. During the major Jewish holidays, they plan to add more shelf space and specialty kosher products. “If we don’t have it on the shelves, a customer can request it and in most cases we can get it in within two to three days,” he said.
Publix readying for High Holy Days It may be August, but Publix is already kicking things in high gear for the High Holy Days by upping its selection of kosher wines, candles, gefilte fish, tea biscuits, matzo ball soup, chopped liver and grape juice. “Publix carries a good variety of kosher products for customers. However, stores offer these selections based on customer demand. We encourage customers to inquire with their store managers to confirm that specific items can be ordered and made available,” said Publix Public Relations Director Brenda Reid. The Publix bakery has earned high praise for its fresh baked breads, cakes and pies. Reid said the stores in Alabama and the Florida panhandle are in the midst of updating their kosher selections to have an even greater variety. Reid said the meat departments offer a variety of kosher beef provided by Alle and Aarons, along with poultry provided by Empire. Other items frequently ordered at Publix stores include boneless ribeye steak, boneless chicken cutlets and frozen turkeys. Publix has an authentic kosher bakery and deli at its Toco Hills location in the Atlanta area. “You can also order deli meats, cheeses, platters and sandwiches online from our website (www.publix.com) or through the app,” said Reid. She also added that Publix offers a variety of healthy grocery items that are kosher including Krinos Tahini Sesame, Yehuda Matzo light salt (a product of Israel), Gefen Honey Bear 100 percent pure clover honey, Manis Mix Matzo Ball Soup and Joyva Choc Choc Halvah, which is gluten-free and has zero grams of trans fat per serving.
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August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 41
culture Traveling the world with Toruk by Lee J. Green
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42 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
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Through being the publicist for traveling Cirque du Soliel, Laura Silverman has gotten the opportunity to tour the world. A native of the Cleveland, Ohio Jewish community, Silverman is excited to let everyone know about the “out-of-this-world Toruk, The First Flight” coming to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Aug. 19 to 21. The latest Cirque show was inspired by James Cameron’s “Avatar” movie. The collaboration and re-imaging is considered a prequel to the movie in the Cirque style. “It features the Nabi people on the planet Pandora,” said Silverman. The Nabi are blue and 10 feet tall. “James Cameron is a huge Cirque fan and the Cirque creators are big fans of his and ‘Avatar’ so it seemed to be a perfect fit. They decided upon the re-imaging and just featuring the Nabi people, since they are all 10 feet tall. It would have been difficult to also have regular-sized performers and characters.” Silverman grew up in Beechwood, Ohio. She went to the Jewish day school in the Cleveland suburb and had her Bat Mitzvah there. She always loved theatre and communications growing up, so going into this line of work seemed like a natural. “It was during an internship at a newspaper while I was in high school that I learned about public relations and publicity. I immediately took to it,” said Silverman. She would go on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications and — oddly enough, math, from the University of Miami in Florida. “I thought I would go into corporate PR for banking and finance, but when I had an internship with arts PR at the University of Miami I started looking at opportunities in those areas,” she said. Silverman moved to Chicago after graduating and was hired by a PR agency focusing on entertainment clients. She was the account supervisor for Cirque du Soliel, which is how she first became familiar with the company. Silverman promoted Cirque’s “Kooza,” “Banana Shpeel,” “Alegria,” “Dralion,” “Quidam” and “OVO.” In 2012 she was offered the opportunity to join “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” by Cirque. She said this incredible experience allowed her to tour and work across 27 countries in four continents. “The Michael Jackson show was such an incredible experience. He was so iconic and this show in many ways was different than any other Cirque show,” said Silverman. It meant spending the High Holy Days a few years ago in Australia and Passover in Richmond, Va., as a couple of examples, but Silverman said she always found a receptive community or family away from home with the productions, and in the places that the Cirque shows have visited. She said she has had several meaningful visits to Israel in recent years. Her aunt lives in a Kibbutz outside of Jerusalem. “There is something so special about Israel and the people. I fell in love when I first visited and fall in love every time I return,” said Silverman. She said she has never been to Birmingham or Alabama and looks forward to her visit. “We are only there a few days but I look forward to getting to know some folks in the community and seeing some great things,” she added.
culture 17th Sidewalk Film Festival welcomes Lyric to venue list by Lee J. Green There are several types of ironies in film, and in that tradition the 17th annual Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, coming to the downtown theatre district August 26 to 28, welcomes a new, “old” venue. The historic Lyric Theatre, which re-opened earlier in 2016 after being vacant for many years, will be added to the theatres showing short, documentary, animated, kids and narrative feature-length films during the festival, which was named as one of the top 10 film festivals in the U.S. Several of the films that will be featured have Jewish themes or filmmakers. The likely opening night film is “Little Men,” directed by Ira Sachs. It is about a 13-year-old boy named Jake whose family moves back into its old Brooklyn home after his grandfather dies. Jake befriends Tony, a Chilean boy whose single mother runs the shop downstairs. Greg Kinnear stars as the family patriarch. Another feature film will be “Service to Men,” directed by Aaron Greer. It takes place in 1968, a racially tense and turbulent year for Nashville and the rest of the nation. Two young men are admitted to historically black Meharry Medical College — Eli Rosenberg and Michael Dubois. Eli is a working-class Jewish boy from Brooklyn while Michael is the son of a well-to-do black physician in New Orleans. Eli and Michael are initially forced to study together, but ultimately with Nashville in flames, they forge a friendship that transforms them both. It is based on a true story. The documentary “Breakfast at Ina’s” tells the tale of the “Breakfast Queen” of Chicago, Ina Pinkney, who is from a first-generation immi-
grant American Russian Jewish family and was raised in a kosher household. For the past 33 years, Pinkney had been feeding Chicagoans but has decided to close the doors of her breakfast nook due to being in the late stages of polio. Ina is a community leader, pioneer, television personality and “she lives life with pure joy.” Also showing at Sidewalk will be a short film called “Bacon and God’s Wrath.” Directed by Sol Friedman, the film follows an elderly Jewish woman as she tries bacon for the first time. As of press time, the 2016 Sidewalk Film Festival schedule was still being worked out, but for updates and more information go to www.sidewalkfest.com.
LJCC holding Hawaiian tennis tourney The male and female winner of the Levite Jewish Community Center’s Hawaiian luau-themed mixed doubles tennis tournament on April 21 in Birmingham can enjoy Hawaiian pizza from sponsor Mafiaoza’s in Crestline Village. The first 12 men and 12 women to sign up will be entered in the tournament. Players will be randomly paired with different partners in seven five-game mini sets, from 2 to 5 p.m. The male and female players with the most game wins get the $50 gift certificates from Mafiaozas. Hawaiian attire is strongly encouraged and free refreshments will be served. The cost to register is $18 for members and $20 for non-members. Register at www.bhamjcc.org or call (205) 879-0411.
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August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 43
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sherrillpaintandbody.com 44 Southern Jewish Life • August 2016
Instructions
Brixx 181 Main Street #241 Patton Creek Hoover (205) 989-0091 brixxpizza.com
Take 10” pizza dough Brush with 100 percent olive oil Add 1 cup diced mozzarella Add 1-1/4 cup Wild Mushroom mix (portabella caps, shitake, and regular mushrooms: sliced and mixed with dried parsley) Sprinkle with Salt & Pepper Brixx uses a wood-fired oven, so if making at home, bake on 425 degrees and monitor times for desired level of crust browning. Top with 1 cup fresh Arugula and 1/3 cup Shaved Parmesan after removing from oven.
Kosher Recipe
Brixx by Lee J. Green Brixx in Patton Creek continues to build upon its excellent reputation for tasty wood-fired-oven pizzas, a fun, family-friendly environment and in the not-to-distant future will lay the bricks for a new location in Lee Branch. Brixx Birmingham Owner Justin Allgood said they have gotten some excellent response since opening in the spring of 2015. “We love it when people tell us that they had a great dining experience with us. We’re continuing to do what has made us successful while also adding new menu items as well as entertainment and specials,” said Allgood. This past spring they added a Cubano pizza as well as Ban Mi Vietnamese-style sandwiches. More items will be added this fall. Brixx also now offers Happy Hour seven days a week with half price on all appetizers as well as $2 for domestic beers and $3 for house wines. For lunchtime, Brixx has a deal for a half pizza and half salad until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. “And we have buy one get one free after 10 p.m.,” said Allgood. The restaurant is open until 1 a.m. every day, except 11 p.m. on Sundays. Brixx offers several salads and appetizers that are kosher style. It offers six different vegetarian pizzas that are kosher-style, and vegan cheese is an option. “We are happy to customize any pizza and if there is a pizza that someone wants without certain ingredients were are happy to make it the way they want,” he said. Allgood said he and his business partner have acquired a space in the Lee Branch shopping center. Construction on the second Brixx location in the Birmingham area has not begun yet but he expects it will open sometime in 2017.
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they have persevered? Does it matter? It’s the difference between working just for the goal, or working for the work itself. Between a means to an end, or the means being an end unto itself and the end being just gravy. Twenty is the useless age. At 20, anyone can already vote. Or, at least are allowed to register. They can already drive. Or, at least is allowed to apply for a license. Whether they can actually do these things competently is for historians to decide. At 20, people typically haven’t graduated from college yet. You can’t drink yet, legally. Did Isaac know at 20 that he was only halfway to getting married? The Torah says very little about what he actually did. Because of contractual disputes, it couldn’t mention that he spent those years beta testing jDate. Where was Jacob after 20 years of working for Laban? Married. Twice. Destined to never get the last, or even next-to-last, word again. Where was Daniel 20 seconds into bring thrown into the lion’s den? He was in a lion’s den. With lions. Enough said. Where are congregants 20 hours into Yom Kippur each year? Looking at their watches, feeling like they’re only halfway there.
Birmingham’s relationship to famed Israeli artist Yaacov Agam is explored in an exhibit currently on display at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts. “Yaacov Agam: Metamorphic” features over 30 small works by Agam, entirely from private collections in the Birmingham area. The exhibition highlights works spanning multiple decades with a strong emphasis on Agam’s popular Agamograph technique, which utilizes lenticular printing to create different images in a single artwork when viewed from multiple angles. Agam visited Birmingham last summer to sign “Complex Vision,” his work on the front of the Callahan Eye Hospital at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, just blocks from AEIVA. Originally installed in 1976, “Complex Vision” was disassembled in 2014 for a year-long restoration project. The AEIVA exhibit will be displayed through Aug. 20. It is curated by John Fields, and supported in part by Judy and Hal Abroms and AEIVA members.
“We’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got. It doesn’t really matter if we make it or not. We’ve got each other, and that’s a lot… We’ll give it a shot.” Bon Jovi Doug Brook is a writer in Silicon Valley who premiered this column in The Southern Shofar in September, 1996, though he still acts like a 15-yearold. To read this or any other past columns, visit http://brookwrite.com/. For exclusive online content, like facebook.com/the.beholders.eye.
August 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 45
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Halfway There “It is not upon you to complete the task, nor can you desist from it.” Rabbi Tarfon (from Pirkei Avot) “It is not upon you to complete the task, but you’ll hear about it if you don’t.” Rabbi Telfon, the Great Communicator (from Bava Gump) “When going from one point to another, if you keep getting halfway there, you will never arrive.” Zeno, the Paradoxical (of Elea)
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“Whoa, we’re halfway there; whoa, livin’ on a prayer.” Bon Jovi (with keyboardist David Rashbaum) “And you know that when the truth is told, that you can get what you want or you can just get old, you’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through…” Billy Joel “Focus on the process of what it takes to be successful.” Nick Saban
Many things in Jewish history took 40 years. Sometimes 40 days. Whether days or years, 20 was the halfway point. Where were the Israelites 20 years into their 40-year nature walk through the Sinai? Up the creek, without a paddle. Or water. Or a boat. Where was Noah 20 days into his 40-day Celebrity Cruise? Lost at sea. Desperately trying to invent the air freshener. Breeding gefilte for future generations, because 20 YEARS: he’d gotten tired of all other seafood. IN JUDAISM, Where was Jonah 20 days into warning THAT’S ONLY Nineveh to change their ways or they’d be HALF THE destroyed? Thinking he was telling a whale of a tale, while they all thought it was just a big fish SIGNIFICANCE story. OF 40 YEARS Where was Moses 20 days into his 40-day stint on Mount Sinai? Taking two tablets to help cure his recurring headache from the Israelites. Where was Moses 20 days into his second 40-day stint on Mount Sinai? Getting cramps in his writing hand, while waiting for tech support after smashing his tablet from the first trip. Kings Saul, David, and Solomon each ruled for 40 years. Where was Solomon 20 years in? In endless board meetings debating the High Holy Day seating policy for his new Temple. What were the southern and western parts of the kingdom doing after 20 years of harassment by the Philistines? Pulling out their hair, until 20 years later when Samson grew his hair out. Did they all know they were exactly halfway there? That they had just as much time ahead of them as behind them before they got where they were going? No. They had no idea when, or if, it would ever change, or end. If they had known, would it have changed what they did next? Would continued on previous page
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