STEPPING UP
FOR ART’S SAKE
The Crohn’s walk is just one way Jack Spandorfer, 14, and his family are fighting his diagnosis. Page 14
GIFT GUIDE
Weber students kick up their heels for a stage revue to kick off a three-day art extravaganza. Page 24
Robyn Spizman Gerson helps you get just the right goods for Mother’s Day and graduations. Page 26
Atlanta VOL. XC NO. 16
MAY 1, 2015 | 12 IYAR, 5775
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
Israelis Rush To Aid Nepal Israel and Israeli-based aid agencies responded quickly to the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated Nepal on Saturday, April 25. The Israel Defense Forces sent an 80-person team to Nepal, a 12-hour flight away, by Monday, April 27, and a second team of 170 personnel soon followed. “We’re on a mission to achieve three things: deploy major search-and-rescue operations; admit patients to our field hospitals within 12 hours of landing; help the Nepalese people,” said Col. Yoram Larado, who is leading the IDF humanitarian mission. The death toll in Nepal has topped 5,000. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Ler ner said Israel’s field hospital likely would be the first in operation in Nepal. The hospital includes pediatrics, surgery, neonatal care and radiology. Magen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross, had a team of eight doctors and paramedics in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the day after the earthquake, and IsraAID also was sending a team to Nepal. The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta joined with the Jewish Federations of North America to launch a Nepal Relief Fund (bit.ly/1KkFArv); all money raised will go to emergency aid. ■
$5M Gift To KSU Creates Leven School By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
Blues-and-White Celebration Photo by Michael Jacobs
Haifa native David Broza, who mixes Spanish guitar and American blues with Hebrew words and Israeli themes, helps the Israeli Consulate General to the Southeast celebrate Israel’s 67th birthday with a nearly two-hour solo concert at Congregation Or Hadash on Sunday night, April 26. More celebrations of Yom Photo by Michael Jacobs HaAtzmaut, plus Yom HaZikaron, Page 8
STILL GIVING BACK SANCTUARY
The AJC’s Selig Award will celebrate Eliot Arnovitz’s lifetime of community service, but he’s not ready to retire from the scene. Page 16
The Davis Academy has transformed an overgrown hillside into a space for contemplation, study and connection with nature. Page 21
Local News
INSIDE 3 Arts
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Calendar
6 Business
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Candle Lighting
7 Mother’s Day
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Israel
8 Obituaries
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Opinion
11 Crossword
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Education
21 Marketplace
31
Mike Leven said he never thought he would put his name on anything but a check, but after he committed to the biggest individual contribution in the history of Kennesaw State University, the Michael A. Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality was born. The University System of Georgia approved the name change April 15. Leven, who began working in the hospitality industry about two years before Kennesaw State launched in 1963, is donating $5 million to endow a faculty chair and provide student scholarships. Leven, the CEO of the Georgia Aquarium after retiring last year from Las Vegas Sands, said Kennesaw State attracted him because it’s a state school in the Atlanta area, it’s affordable for the middle class, it attracts many students who, like Leven, are in the first generation in their families to attend college, and the hospitality program is less than 2 years old. “Change is not easy as the bureaucracy gets intensified,” Leven said. He said he can be a mentor and facilitate student connections in the industry. He also can help close the gaps between what is taught and what the industry needs. Leven hopes to see the school grow from about 200 people taking courses now to 500 or even 1,000 and within a decade become one of the best of its kind in the Southeast, if not the nation. “If I can help it grow by being a resource to them, fine,” he said. “I don’t want to be intrusive; I just want to be used.” ■