Atlanta Jewish Times, Vol. XCI No. 8, February 26, 2016 by Atlanta Jewish Times

Atlanta VOL. XCI NO. 8

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FEBRUARY 26, 2016 | 17 ADAR I 5776

Photos by David R. Cohen

Final Feeding Frenzy

The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s closing night documentary, “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” plays out in real life as some 1,400 attendees go on a quest for Israeli food after the mouthwatering movie Tuesday night, Feb. 16. Festival Executive Director Kenny Blank, with Development Director Lesli Greenberg, maintains calm at the center of the storm at the Woodruff Arts Center. More on the festival, including the Audience Award winners and a decline in attendance, Pages 23-25

INSIDE

Calendar �� 2 Candle Lighting ��3 Opening Ideas �� 4 Opinion �� 9 Israel News ��12 Finance �� 15 Elections ��18 Arts �� 22 Home �� 26 Health & Wellness �� 28 Crossword �� 30 Cartoon ��31

SEC PRIMARY

Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — all just preliminaries for Georgia and 13 other states March 1; see what the candidates have to offer. Pages 18-21 Inside: Finance, Pages 15-17

OIL INSIGHTS

J. Paul Getty buillt the world’s biggest personal fortune in the oil industry, but what would he do with prices around $30 a barrel? Page 15

INTERESTING TIMES

Ed Mendel offers some common sense to keep your cool through good markets and bad. Page 16

Etz Chaim Hires Rabbi

ongregation Etz Chaim has found the replacement for the man who has led it through most of its 40-plus-year existence. The Conservative East Cobb congregation announced Wednesday, Feb. 17, that Rabbi Daniel Dorsch will succeed Rabbi Shalom Lewis as senior rabbi in July. “Rabbi Dorsch is passionate about the role of the shul in creating meaningful Jewish experiences. His energy is infectious and his ability to connect is uncommon,” Etz Chaim President Todd Surden said in a press release. “Rabbi Dorsch will be tireless in his efforts to engage all members of our community by exemplifying a spirited love of Jewish observance and Torah.” Rabbi Dorsch is the associate rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston,

N.J., where he has served since earning ordination, as well as a master’s degree in synagogue school education, from the Jewish Theological Seminary in mid2010. The native of Perth Amboy, N.J., who grew up in Marlboro, N.J., and Wynnewood, Pa., said he is excited and humbled by the opportunity to work with the team at Etz Chaim. “During our visit we were really impressed with the high level of warmth, kindness, and I guess you would say Southern hospitality that exuded from everyone we met,” said Rabbi Dorsch, who visited with his wife, Amy, and toddler son, Zev, during the Martin Luther King Day weekend. “We were just completely blown away by the people we met when we were interviewing.” ■ • Interview with Rabbi Dorsch, Page 6

The Kehilla Raises $145K In 24 Hours

n online crowdfunding campaign exceeded its goal by 45 percent and raised $145,204 in 24 hours for The Kehilla in Sandy Springs. The donations are part of The Kehilla’s main fundraiser, Kehilla Fest, set for March 20 at the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival. Like the money raised from the $36 concert tickets, Rabbi Karmi David Ingber said, the funds will go toward the congregation’s year-round operations. As much as the total raised, however, Rabbi Ingber is excited by the number of donors, which he said exceeded 380 people among the 339 donations and the three groups matching each gift. “That for me is the best part of this whole thing. It shows the reach that we’re having,” the rabbi said. “It’s very humbling and a beautiful thing for us.” The Kehilla was one of 25 outreach organizations participating in the Association of Jewish Outreach Programs’ United Kiruv Giving Day from 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17. In the all-or-nothing format — an organization had to hit its fundraising goal or none of the pledges would count — all 25 groups made it, bringing in $5.4 million against a $4.5 million cumulative goal. A group had to have three matchers provide $1 each for every $1 pledged, so a $1 donation was worth $4. Rabbi Ingber said The Kehilla doesn’t have individuals who could pledge $25,000 or more in matching funds, but supporters formed into matching groups based on the ways they have benefited from the congregation’s programs: Friends of The Kehilla; the Jewish Outreach Group; and the Association for the Wellspring of Torah. “I really want to thank everyone for being part of it,” the rabbi said. Thirty volunteers formed a call center at the Ingber home so that each donation would motivate more people to give. Rabbi Ingber acknowledged some nerveracking times and “points where I started to get a little bit concerned, but we felt we were going to get there.” ■

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CALENDAR THURSDAY, FEB. 25

Jerry’s Habima Theatre. “Shrek the Musical, Jr.” opens at 7:30 p.m. at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, and plays Feb. 27 and 28 and March 2, 3, 5 and 6. Tickets are $25 for member adults and $10 for children, $35 and $15 for nonmembers; www.atlantajcc.org/boxoffice or 678-812-4002.

FRIDAY, FEB. 26

Sober Shabbat. Jewish Family & Career Services’ HAMSA program offers food, fellowship and a community committed to a life free of addiction at 6:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth Tefillah, 5065 High Point Road, Sandy Springs. Free; RSVP to Eric Miller at emiller@ jfcs-atlanta.org or 770-677-9318.

SATURDAY, FEB. 27

Anniversary celebration. Congregation Beth Shalom, 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, celebrates 40 years with “The Tonight Show With Rabbi Zimmerman” at 8 p.m. Tickets to the show and a buffet at 7 are $72, while admission to the show only is $36 ($18 for students and military); bit.ly/1m5JXiW.

SUNDAY, FEB. 28

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Commandment talk. Rabbi Harvey

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Winokur leads a discussion on the 613 mitzvot or commandments in the Torah and how to apply them in business, family and personal relationships at 9 a.m. at Temple Kehillat Chaim, 1145 Green St., Roswell. Free; www.kehillatchaim.org or 770-641-8630.

Beth Jacob honor dinner. Congregation Beth Jacob, 1855 LaVista Road, Toco Hills, honors Rabbi Daniel and Bluma Estreicher with a 6 p.m. dinner after a 5 p.m. cocktail hour. Tickets are $100; reserve your seat by Feb. 15 at www.bethjacobatlanta.org/annual-dinner-2016.

Asking why. The weekly, six-session “Jewish Course of Why” begins at 8 p.m. at the Intown Jewish Academy, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Midtown. Tuition is $99; www.intownjewishacademy.org or 404-898-0434.

Preschool program. Congregation Shearith Israel, 1180 University Drive, Morningside, hosts K’tonton for ages 2 through pre-K from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Free and open to the community; www. shearithisrael.com or 404-873-1743.

Shelter fundraiser. Women’s shelter Rebecca’s Tent celebrates 32 years with its seventh annual theater gala — heavy hors d’oeuvres and the play “Woman of the Year” — at 5:30 p.m. at Dad’s Garage, 569 Ezzard St., Atlanta. Tickets are $75; www.rebeccastent.org.

Networking breakfast. Chabad Intown holds “The Big Wrap,” a tefillin wrap and business breakfast with speaker Doug Ross, at 8 a.m. at the Selig Center, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. Admission is $36; chabadintown.org/thebigwrap.

TUESDAY, MARCH 1

Asking why. The six-session “Jewish Course of Why” begins at noon at the Intown Jewish Academy, 928 Ponce de Leon Ave., Midtown. Tuition is $99; www.intownjewishacademy.org or 404-898-0434.

PAL 30th anniversary. Jewish Family & Career Services celebrates 30 years of its Big Brother/Big Sister program, PAL, by honoring Ellen Moore and Kaethe Solomon at 1 p.m. at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs. Free; YTFL.org/ PALcelebration or pal@jfcs-atlanta.org. Court session. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks with Nina Totenberg at 2 p.m. in a broadcast from New York’s 92nd Street Y at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree St., Midtown. After the broadcast, Magistrate Judge Andrew Margolis, a candidate for Fulton County Superior Court, speaks. Free; the-temple.org.

Moms and tots. Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta, holds its Babyccino class on household mitzvot, focusing on the bedroom, at 11:30 a.m. for moms and tots up to age 2½. The cost is $12; hs@chabadnf. org or www.chabadnf.org. Teege talk. Jennifer Teege, author of “My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me,” speaks about her Nazi family legacy at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Atlanta community event at 7:30 p.m. at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead. Tickets are $36; bit.ly/1RSNfEf.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

THURSDAY, MARCH 3

ORT dinner. ORT Atlanta presents its Young Leadership Award to Goza Tequila’s Adam Hirsch at 7:30 p.m. at Park Tavern, 10th and Monroe streets, Midtown. Tickets are $25 until Feb. 25, then $36; bit.ly/1lmfmgH or ealberhasky@ ORTAmerica.org.

FRIDAY, MARCH 4

Shabbat in the Highlands. As part of

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CALENDAR CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Parshah Ki Tisa Friday, Feb. 26, light candles at 6:13 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, Shabbat ends at 7:09 p.m. Parshah Vayakhel Friday, March 4, light candles at 6:19 p.m. Saturday, March 5, Shabbat ends at 7:15 p.m.

Corrections & Clarifications

• The age of Maddi Barnard, the cinematographer on a Camp Flix short film that appeared at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, was incorrect in an article Feb. 12. She is 14. • In an article on the winners of the North Atlanta Jewish Students Technology Fair on Feb. 19, ninth-grader Isabel Berlin was omitted from the list of Weber School winners and was misidentified in a photo of her with Head of School Rabbi Ed Harwitz.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5

Black-Jewish symposium. The DeKalb History Center, 101 East Court Square, Decatur, hosts “Roots of Friendship: African Americans and Jews in Atlanta, 1900-1950” from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with lunch and speakers including Melissa Fay Greene, Sandy Berman and Herschel Greenblat. Admission is $35 for members, $45 for nonmembers until March 1, then $40 and $50; conta. cc/1Xs4pIs or 404-373-1088, ext. 20. “Good Shabbos, Atlanta!” Congregation Anshi S’fard, 1324 N. Highland Ave., Virginia-Highland, holds its monthly game show at services at 10:45 a.m., followed by a Kiddush lunch featuring Greg Brenner’s pareve cholent. Free; www.goodshabbosatlanta.org or info@goodshabbosatlanta.org. Mystery night. Young Israel of Toco Hills, 2056 LaVista Road, plays host to a political murder mystery with an open bar, heavy hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction at 9 p.m. Tickets are $60 each or $110 per couple for members and $72 or $130 per couple for nonmembers; www.yith.org or 404-315-1417. Purim off Ponce. Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham is the honoree at the 10th anniversary of the fundraising party for SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity from 8 p.m. to midnight at Le Fais do-do, 1611 Ellsworth Industrial Blvd., Atlanta. Tickets start at $75 in advance, $100 at the door; www.sojourngsd.org/purim.

SUNDAY, MARCH 6

Concert. The Molly Blank Jewish Concert Series continues with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Music of Harold Arlen” at the Breman, 1440 Spring St., Midtown, starting with a reception at 4 p.m. Tickets are $49 for museum members and $59 for nonmembers; www. thebreman.org or 678-222-3700. Mussar program. “Seeking Everyday Holiness in Recovery” provides a practical introduction to the teachings and practices of Mussar every other Sunday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Temple Kehillat Chaim, 1145 Green St., Roswell, with no Hebrew required. The cost is $45; RSVP to TKCrabbi@gmail.com. Chocolate exploration. The Sisterhood at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, takes a trip “On the Chocolate Trail” with Rabbi Deborah Prinz, a chocolate historian, plus gourmet chocolates from diAmano Chocolate with wine pairings and a coffee bar, at 7 p.m. Free for Sisterhood members, $10 for others; 404-252-3073 or templesinaiatlanta.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

Caregiver workshop. Congregation Or Hadash, 7460 Trowbridge Road, Sandy Springs, hosts Weinstein Hospice’s “Kibud Av V’eim: Navigating the Journey From Child to Caregiver” workshop at 4:30 p.m.; the program continues at the same time March 16. Free; RSVP to rabbianalia@gmail.com.

THURSDAY, MARCH 10

Jewish Breakfast Club. The Atlanta Jewish Times holds the monthly business breakfast with former cookie and coffee mogul Michael Coles as speaker at Greenberg Traurig, 3333 Piedmont Road, Suite 2500, Buckhead. Admission is $15; jbc@atljewishtimes.com.

Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com. Find more events at atlantajewishtimes.com/events-calendar.

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

NJOP’s Shabbat Across America, Congregation Anshi S’fard, 1324 N. Highland Ave., Virginia-Highland, offers dinner around 7 p.m. after a service starting with candle lighting at 6:18. Dinner is $18; info@anshisfard.org.

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OPENING IDEAS

Readers Respond to the Marriage Storm

ecap of our recent dilemma: A father of three writes for advice on his floundering marriage. Should he stick with it against seemingly insurmountable odds? Dear In the Eye of the Storm, Write all your feelings down in a letter, then talk it out. Divorce is so detrimental for children, splitting them during holidays and vacations and making them feel splintered, as if the fabric of their lives is ripped beyond repair. It’s hard to find a good partner. When you find her, keep her! I approve of what Hilary Clinton did. She let the mud slide and kept the family together. Wishing you the best, Zhenia Gresczes Dear In the Eye of the Storm, Your marital forecast is pretty grim. You say that you’ve tried marital counseling, but “it hasn’t yielded beneficial results.” Well, maybe you should try again, or maybe you should go to a different counselor. How about asking Sharon if she’d be willing to go back to counseling with you? Clearly, the best resolution of your situation would be for you and Sharon to fall back in love with each other, model a healthy relationship for your three children, and live together happily ever after. But if Sharon refuses to return to counseling, or if you go to counseling and have the same results, you should get divorced. Your fear and sadness about divorce are completely understandable. But if you’re miserable, Sharon is miserable. And your children are miserable. If you think they

don’t know that you and Sharon aren’t happy, you’re deluding yourself. When you tell the children that you and Sharon are divorcing (and you

Shared Spirit By Rachel Stein rachels83@gmail.com

should do that together), they’ll probably be relieved and ask you what took you so long! It’s better for children to live in two happy, healthy households than in one dysfunctional household. If you wind up pursuing a divorce, here’s some practical advice. First, you and Sharon should avoid saying mean things about each other to the kids or in their presence. Just don’t go there. The kids need to love and respect both of their parents, whether they’re married or not. Saying mean things about one of their parents hurts them. A lot. Second, don’t view the divorce as a battle that needs to be fought. View it as a problem that needs to be solved. Third, you both need to be represented by competent family lawyers, and you should both try to hire lawyers who believe in handling divorces nonadversarially. (For example, look into “collaborative divorce.”) Only a small percentage of divorces wind up being tried before a judge or a jury. The goal should be to work out a parenting plan that’s in your children’s best interests and to resolve the financial issues in a way that’s fair to both you and Sharon. Most important, try to handle the

divorce so that you and Sharon can effectively co-parent your children and get along with each other after the divorce. That’s the greatest gift you can possibly give your children! Mark Twain wrote, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” You have the power to change the atmospheric conditions you described. You don’t need to suffer in silence. You don’t need to make yourself into a martyr. Life is short, and this is not a drill. Both you and Sharon deserve to be happy. If you’re miserable together, that’s sad, but have the chutzpah to do something about it! Sincerely, Bruce Steinfeld Dear In the Eye of the Storm, It was sad to read this story about a couple with three children who once found life “smiling.” It can still be that way. Please do not throw in the towel. Your wife’s anger is being projected onto the children. I’m sure she loves them, but obviously the anger, resentment and frustration have been building up for many, many years. First, your communication skills have to improve. Setting aside a date night once a week will help you relearn how to communicate once the atmosphere is relaxed. Woo your wife again. Pick one topic for discussion each week. Allow time for expression of feelings of disappointment and frustration, but with civility and respect — no anger, no name-calling, no raising of voices. There has to be give and take for a relationship to succeed. Second, trust has to be rebuilt, expressions of love should be verbalized

or shown, and if you really would like to give the marriage another chance, tell her so. She can’t read your mind. It appears that you are both stuck in your positions. A monthly budget can be instituted. In any given month when there is some money left over, perhaps Sharon can save up for something she really wants without extravagance or dipping into the retirement fund. Leave the children with grandparents, relatives or friends, and go on a trip, just the two of you. Rekindle the feelings from when you decided to marry and spend your lives together. Each of you should write a list stating the qualities that drew you to each other and review it together. It will stress the positives that are still there but need to be awakened. Your wife will feel happier once she is heard and vice versa. This happiness will project toward the children. The children will be emotionally happier when peace reigns in the home. Divorce is detrimental to children. Growing up with one parent because of a divorce leaves emotional scars. This should be the last resort. Wishing both of you the best in your quest to regain appreciation for each other’s positive qualities and the feelings that brought you together. A Woman Married 42½ Years Dear In the Eye of the Storm, I know of a well-respected organization that may save this marriage. It is called retrouvaille.org (“recovery” in French), and it is having some upcoming retreats in Atlanta. Best of luck to you and Sharon, Lori Lynde ■

J-Serve Helps Teens Help Israel, Atlanta

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

am privileged to be a part of the J-Serve Atlanta task force for the second consecutive year. I have gained so much out of planning this day of community service, which is on Sunday, March 6. Our group of 15 teens has coordinated a fun day for teens to give back to the community. Meetings started in October to give us plenty of time to plan. Thinking about projects for J-Serve, I immediately had a thought: Plan projects related to Israel. 4 Israel is a central part of Judaism

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and the Jewish people, making it applicable to a Jewish day of community service. I contacted StandWithUs,

Guest Column By Aaron Gordon

and together with Hadassah we have planned CPR training and a workshop on modern technology in Israel. Teens attending this project will learn about the amazing technologies

that the small state of Israel has developed that are used around the world. Participants will also learn the Jewish principle of pikuach nefesh — saving a life by learning to perform CPR. The teens participating in this workshop will walk out CPR-certified. Another Israel-related project came to me. I feel that education about the state of Israel is so important for being a knowledgeable advocate of Israel. I thus decided to take on the task of planning an Israel advocacy training and fair, where teens will walk out with a much better understanding of Israel and how to be its best advocates. I am excited to have renowned

organizations at the fair, including StandWithUs, Jerusalem U, Jewish National Fund, Alexander Muss High School in Israel and the American Jewish Committee. Teens will participate in service projects at the booths. There are 11 service projects, including helping the hungry at Action Ministries, hosting a party for special needs adults at enAble of Georgia and working on the BeltLine with Trees Atlanta. To find a full list of projects and to register, go to atlantajcc.org/jserve. Spaces are filling up quickly. I hope you will join me at J-Serve to help make the change you want to see in the world. ■

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LOCAL NEWS

Remember When

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10 Years Ago Feb. 24, 2006 ■ Two movies featuring Israelis were the winners of the 2006 Audience Awards at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. “Live and Become,” an epic about an Ethiopian boy who pretends to be Jewish to reach Israel, was named the best narrative film. The award for best documentary film went to “39 Pounds of Love,” about an Israeli with an extreme form of muscular dystrophy taking a road trip across America. ■ The bat mitzvah ceremony of Carly Anne Reynolds of Alpharetta, daughter of Don and Jill Peck, was held Saturday, Jan. 14, at Congregation Gesher L’Torah. 25 Years Ago Feb. 22, 1991 ■ “Anne Frank in the World: 1929-45” chillingly captures the life of one of contemporary history’s martyrs and the madness that brought about her death. The exhibit, assembled by the Anne Frank Center in Amsterdam, is on

display in the Emory University Library’s Schatten Gallery through March 15. The installation, costing $13,000, is being sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, A World of Difference, the Simon Schwob Foundation, Gil Bachman, Ron and Barbara Balser, and Dale and Susan Schwartz. ■ Larry and Bambi Eaton of Cumming announce the birth of a daughter, Melissa Joy, on Jan. 25. 50 Years Ago Feb. 25, 1966 ■ A testimonial dinner was given in honor of Rabbi Joel Geffen upon his completion of 10 years as director of the New York Metropolitan Region of the United Synagogue of America on Feb. 13. His father, Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Congregation Shearith Israel, the dean of Southern rabbis at age 95, participated in the program through a message recorded for the occasion. ■ The marriage of Mrs. Annette Newman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Goldress of Philadelphia, and Israel Katz, son of Mrs. Helen Katz of Atlanta and the late Louis S. Katz, took place Jan. 23 at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

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LOCAL NEWS

Jewish Moment Excites New Shearith Rabbi By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

hen newly hired Congregation Shearith Israel Rabbi Ari Kaiman headed off to the University of Florida about 15 years ago, he had Jewish communal service in mind, but he was thinking about lobbying for AIPAC. The Walton High School graduate, who said his real education came through USY as a member of Congregation Etz Chaim, was on that path as a political science major when he found in his sophomore year that “I had no idea for sure what I wanted to do.” So he prayed. He asked G-d what he should do with his life. And in an intense moment of feeling G-d’s presence, he had his answer: He was going to be a rabbi. He told his girlfriend, Emily Green, with whom he’ll celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary this summer, and things have fallen into place ever since. He won a rabbinic internship at 800-family Congregation B’nai Amoona in St. Louis, the Green family’s synagogue, for three summers while he attended the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, then was hired as an assistant rabbi there upon

his ordination. So the Kaimans’ four children, 6-year-old twins Eliana and Amalia, 4-year-old Maayan, and 2-yearold Shai, have lived close to their maternal grandparents. Rabbi Ari Kaiman When Rabbi Kaiman takes the pulpit at Shearith Israel on July 15, the children will be close to their paternal grandparents, Jay and Natalie Kaiman. “Family is a primary value for my family,” Rabbi Kaiman said. “To have the opportunity to move from one set of grandparents to another set of grandparents is a blessing. I have so many connection to Atlanta from the high school days and from people I knew in college who ended up in Atlanta, people from the Ramah Darom community (where he was a camper and a counselor) who are still in Atlanta, that it feels very much like a very natural transition to me and that I won’t be starting from Square 1.” When Rabbi Kaiman was in high school and became a subregion president in USY, Shearith Israel wasn’t Conservative. But many youth group members he looked up to attended

Shearith and joined Ahavath Achim Synagogue’s USY chapter. “We all grow older, and we all have opportunities to see the younger generation become adults,” the 33-year-old said. “I’m excited to get to see all stages of life, and that includes the parents of friends of mine from when I was in high school.” With all those connections, it’s not surprising Rabbi Kaiman is optimistic about the shul, the Conservative movement and the Jewish people. “I’m excited about this moment in Jewish history, to get to be a leader at this moment in Jewish history,” Rabbi Kaiman said. He said Jews have never been more accepted in the world, and Jewish wisdom has never been more attractive to Jews and non-Jews alike, creating the potential for growth and a “transition to what I think might be a new stage of Jewish history that might be the most vibrant of all.” “I don’t think it’s going to look like the past, and when we are talking about the challenges today, we are talking about the growing pains,” he added. “So I feel excited that I get to be not only a witness, but an active participant in this stage of Jewish history.” He credited his many teachers — he said he learns from clergy and from

congregants — for clarifying that vision of the future, which is “going to be defined by a joyous engagement. It’s going to be defined not by fear, but by love. And that’s where my heart is: My heart is inspired by love, so it feels really exciting to be part of it.” He’ll bring to Shearith that excitement and his experience creating and leading a young-adult group at B’nai Amoona. He said the key to engaging people from their mid-20s to their early 40s was to focus on the stage in life, not the age, and make sure the kids weren’t an obstacle to programming for the parents. Shearith’s intown location and dedication to tikkun olam, as typified by the Rebecca’s Tent shelter, were key attractions for Rabbi Kaiman, who had his own recent experience with social justice. After Michael Brown was killed in nearby Ferguson in August 2014, the rabbi spoke at an interfaith service and marched with other clergy. “I discovered the Torah of activism,” he said. “To this day, I sometimes wonder what we are accomplishing because the conversation isn’t over, but I know that being involved in the whole community from the perspective of Judaism is something that came to be an inspiration to my own rabbinate.” ■

Viral Connection Ties Rabbi to Etz Chaim By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

he match between Congregation Etz Chaim and Rabbi Daniel Dorsch was sealed by a stomach

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

virus. When Rabbi Dorsch, now an assistant rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, N.J., came to visit the East Cobb Conservative synagogue during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with his wife, Amy, they were advised not to bring their 2-year-old son, Zev. Sure enough, Zev fell ill with a stomach virus Friday night. Shabbat morning, Rabbi Dorsch let the search committee know his son was sick and his wife would not be able to attend services. It was a nerve-racking moment for the job candidate — until a pediatrician from the committee arrived to treat the toddler and deliver medicine, and someone came to do the laundry, and someone else sent food, and the congregation cared less about his Torah teaching and more about his fam6 ily’s well-being after Rabbi Shalom

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Lewis announced from the bimah that Zev was sick. Rabbi Dorsch realized that in a community full of transplants, people take care of one another. Rabbi Daniel “It was a misDorsch take in some ways that we brought our son,” he said, “but this too became for good. It allowed me to see the caring, warm, wonderful nature of the congregation.” When they got on the plane at the end of the visit, he said, they knew this was where they would be. Etz Chaim officially announced Wednesday, Feb. 17, that Rabbi Dorsch will succeed Rabbi Lewis as senior rabbi in July. “You wonder about things being beshert,” Rabbi Dorsch said, “and when you see the way Jews take care of each other in the best of times and in the worst of times, you really get a feel for what the sacredness of community is all about.” Rabbi Dorsch said he’s joining a

terrific team at Etz Chaim and is looking forward to the partnership with Rabbi Lewis, who will move to emeritus status after nearly 40 years at the congregation. “We are excited for a slower pace of life,” Rabbi Dorsch added, noting that his wife sometimes faced a 90-minute commute into New York. It was Amy Dorsch, who is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who pushed for her husband, who has lived most of his life in New Jersey and the Philadelphia area, to pursue the job in the South. She used to work in youth activities for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and visited Etz Chaim several times, and though she got caught in an ice storm, she was eager to be a part of the congregation. Etz Chaim’s Sababa USY chapter was a big selling point for her husband as well. “I don’t think it can be overstated how important that is,” the rabbi said, citing a line from the Talmud that translates as “The world only exists for the breath of children running around the schoolhouse.”

He said he was floored by the high level of questions he got from USY members during his visit. As a national board member for MERCAZ USA, the Zionist organization of the Conservative movement, Rabbi Dorsch is passionate about Israel and about re-engaging youth with the Jewish state. He has visited Israel each year since he became a rabbi in 2010. “The way that we will together meet so many of the challenges that face the Jewish people going forward into the 21st century is by talking with each other and building relationships with each other,” Rabbi Dorsch said, emphasizing the need to make connections beyond Etz Chaim and even beyond Jewish Atlanta. He said the covenant central to the human relationship with G-d and with one another involves sacredness and is the key to engaging Jews in Jewish life. “Today so many Jews feel disconnected from the brit, from the covenant, for one reason or another, and I view it as my role as a rabbi to bring them in and to connect them to G-d and the Jewish people.” ■

LOCAL NEWS

he Georgia General Assembly’s First Amendment Defense Act/ Pastor Protection Act combination seemed headed for rapid passage until Gov. Nathan Deal hit the brakes Monday morning, Feb. 22. Deal said he is working with House Speaker David Ralston to revise House Bill 757, the amended religious liberty legislation that the Senate passed 38-14 along party lines the previous Friday. Proponents say the bill is necessary to protect the religious rights of people who are driven by faith to reject same-sex marriage. Opponents say the measure would provide legal cover for businesses and organizations to practice hatred and discrimination against the LGBT community, single parents and others, so long as the actions are explained with faith-based reasons. One exchange during the Senate floor debate Friday, Feb. 19, revealed the disconnect over the language. Sen. Greg Kirk (R-Americus), the bill’s sponsor, repeatedly said it is not about discrimination but about equal protection, but Sen. Emanuel Jones (DDecatur) noted that phrase doesn’t appear anywhere in the legislation. Because the bill requires only a mission statement citing faith for an organization to be considered faithbased and thus protected from government action, Jones asked what would stop the Ku Klux Klan from taking advantage. Kirk first denied that the Klan would claim to be faith-based, then compared the hate group to the Black Panthers and Beyonce’s Super Bowl halftime show. As Republicans tried to shoot down specific criticisms of the bill, often by citing the priority of federal law over state law, Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) explained that it doesn’t matter what the legislation actually does; the perception if it passes will be devastating to the state. “If you’re explaining,” she said several times, “you’re losing.” The Metro Atlanta Chamber, Marriott International, and other businesses and groups declared opposition to the legislation based not necessarily on its direct effects or intents, but on its potential to drive away commerce. A high-tech startup owned by a gay man, 373k, has announced a move to Nevada because of the bill. The only Jewish member of the Senate, Buford Republican Renee Unterman, praised the bill’s passage Friday as a victory for religious freedom.

But after the hybrid legislation cleared the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 16, Rabbi Malka Packer of InterfaithFamily/Atlanta, Rabbi Pamela Gottfried of the Weber School and Rabbi Joshua Heller of Congregation B’nai Torah joined a group of Atlanta religious leaders protesting the measure Wednesday at the Georgia Capitol. “This is a discrimination act cloaked in the veil of freedom,” said the Rev. Kimberly S. Jackson of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center in Atlanta. “It is an affront to our religious beliefs.” The three rabbis said more of their colleagues would have attended the press conference, but it was arranged on short notice by Faith in Public Life. Rabbi Heller said he gave up Atlanta Jewish Film Festival encore tickets. “I’m actually a little troubled that good people of faith are supporting this bill,” Rabbi Heller said in closing the event. “The Bible says to uplift the downtrodden, and it doesn’t matter if they are Christian, Jewish, American, you name it. The Bible says to feed the hungry; it doesn’t matter if they are straight or if they are gay. The Bible says to heal the sick; it doesn’t matter who they are married to. The Bible says to care for the stranger, not to push them away. So I would ask that every person of faith in Georgia say about this bill: Not in my name, not in our name, not in G-d’s name.” The Southeast Region of the AntiDefamation League, which criticized the pastor protection measure alone as unnecessary, called the hybrid bill “disgraceful” and accused the legislature of turning back the clock 50 years. “This bill leads the state in the wrong direction and sends a bad message about Georgia to the rest of the country,” ADL Southeast Regional Director Mark Moskowitz said. After the bill passed the Senate, Moskowitz said in a statement: “We are staunch advocates for First Amendment rights, including freedom of religion and speech. But these freedoms are not absolute. For our pluralistic democracy to function, our Constitution recognizes that individual rights in certain contexts must be balanced with the rights of others. H.B. 757, however, provides some with absolute protection to violate the rights of others.” The ADL warned that the bill threatens not only LGBT people, but also divorced parents and people having sex outside marriage. ■

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Religious Bill Paused After Senate Approval

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LOCAL NEWS

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Something for Everyone Look for these upcoming special sections in your Atlanta Jewish Times: March 4

— Atlanta Jewish Music Festival Preview

March 11 — Camp March 18 — Purim FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

March 25 — Simchas

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To advertise in these or any other issues, call 404-883-2130. Send story ideas to mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com.

65 Men Attend Anshei Darom Retreat

The 17th annual Anshei Darom regional men’s club retreat approached a record by drawing 65 men from 13 clubs to Camp Ramah Darom for the weekend of Feb. 19 to 21. The turnout included 46 men from Georgia, including six Atlanta-area synagogues: Congregation Etz Chaim, Congregation Beth Shalom, Congregation B’nai Torah, Congregation Gesher L’Torah, Congregation Ariel and Temple Kol Emeth. Rabbi Josh Barton of the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Rabbi David Sirull of Congregation Adas Yeshurun in Augusta provided Torah insights and musical entertainment during the weekend, whose theme was “American Jews and Israel — Moving Forward.”

Free Day of Dentistry

Dentists Raymond Epstein and Carlie Wager and their team at Little River Family Dental are offering free dental services to the Woodstock community Saturday, March 5, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. “Now more than ever, there are people in Woodstock who need dental services but have no means to afford them — whether they’re out of a job or just don’t have dental insurance,” Wager said. “This event is a great opportunity for us to share our time and resources with those less fortunate and give back to the community we serve.” At least 50 patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis at the office at 12201 Highway 92, Suite H. They will have a choice of a cleaning, a filling or an extraction. “Our team is committed to lifetime dental care because good oral health is integral to overall health,” Epstein said. “By participating in this program, our goal is to engage patients and encourage them to adopt an ongoing oral care program and a lifelong regimen of preventative care.” For more information, call 678202-4904, or visit www.FreeDentistryDay.org.

Divorce Boot Camp

Jewish community member Debbie Dorman is helping run a free boot camp for divorcing women from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at the Milton Library, 855 Mayfield Road, Alpharetta. The event will cover legal, financial, emotional and other issues associated with divorce. Joining Dorman, a financial adviser with National Financial Services Group, are divorce lawyer Tommy Maddox, private investigator Pam Griggs and motivational speaker Sonja Stribling. Call the library at 770-752-5552 to register. For more information, call Dorman at 770-377-4941.

Police Captain Promoted

One of the most familiar non-Jewish faces at Congregation Etz Chaim has received a promotion. Cobb County police Capt. Jerry Quan, who commands East Cobb’s Precinct 4 and is a regular on security duty at Etz Chaim, has been promoted to major, effective Sunday, Feb. 28, The East Cobber reported.

Grey Day

Joel Grey, famous as the Emcee in “Cabaret,” visits with Rena Kahn (left) and the cast of “Shrek the Musical, Jr.,” this year’s Jerry’s Habima Theatre show (above), during a stop at the Marcus Jewish Community Center to promote his memoir, “Master of Ceremonies,”on Thursday, Feb. 18.

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OPINION

Mercy, the Jewish Contribution to Justice declaring: “When my ancestors wrote the book, yours were still running in forests, clad in animal skins.” Like Disraeli, I too was always proud of my heritage and especially that we were the “people of the book.” In my youth I believed, erroneously, that we Jews were the first to provide a legal code. My pride was hurt, and my ego as a Jew was threatened when at

One Man’s View By Eugen Schoenfeld

the age of 15 I became aware of Hammurabi’s Code. In 1940 I didn’t know much about Hammurabi except that he developed a legal code that preceded the Torah. At that time I didn’t have encyclopedias or libraries where I could get more information. It was much later, here in the United States, that I was reintroduced to Hammurabi’s Code. Hammurabi, the king of Babylon around 1850 B.C.E., approximately when Abraham walked in the Land of the Two Rivers, carved into a stone tablet the laws that he presumably received from the sun god Shamash and that became the foundation of Semitic codes of law. His laws, like those in the Torah in Mishpatim, start with statutes that govern slavery, then address crime, inheritance and divorce. I could not deny the historical reality of Hammurabi’s Code or an even earlier code of Ur-Chaldea. I had to readjust my thinking and ask myself what were and continue to be the Jewish contributions to the principles of the legal and moral code. First, let me propose that Hammurabi’s Code does not include any moral ideals — namely, it lacks the general principles from which one can derive proper, just and humane interpersonal relationships. The code consists of a set of laws, and harsh laws indeed, wherein most violators are executed even for insignificant infractions.

ORT to Honor Hirsch

dam Hirsch, 34, an Emmy-winning producer and director for Cabin 40 Productions and co-founder and creative director for Goza Tequila, is being honored with ORT Atlanta’s 2016 Young Leadership Award on Thursday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Park Tavern in Piedmont Park. Tickets to the event can be purchased at www.ortatlanta.org for $25 through Thursday, Feb. 25, and for $36 after that. Admission includes an ORTarita cocktail and one drink ticket. Email Evan Alberhasky at ealberhasky@ORTamerica.org for more information. ■

Hammurabi’s Code is a good example of lex talionis, a law that is punitive and does not contain the idea of mercy or understand the conditions that led to the violation. The law is founded on punishment: If one causes another to lose his eye, punish the perpetrator by taking out his eye, then a tooth for tooth and a life for a life. The weakness of Hammurabi’s Code is the absence of mercy and understanding. Such a view of law didn’t exist until Judaism introduced the ideal and principle of mercy. It is Judaism that proposed that G-d created the world committed to the ideals of justice but always mitigated by the ideals of mercy. It is Judaism’s view that led to a more modern view of law — one that substituted the principle of compensation for that of retaliation. Unlike Hammurabi’s Code, which demands that one who caused another to lose his eye should be punished by taking out his eye, Judaism teaches the law of compensation: The victim should be paid for the loss of the eye — the pain, the emotional suffering and the loss of earning capacity.

One cannot create a status quo ante — the lost eye cannot be restored — but compensation can make the victim whole. Similarly, I would propose that we reconsider our commitment to capital punishment. For sure, taking revenge on one who has committed a heinous crime may satisfy our anger, but then what? Killing a murderer who caused the loss of a family’s wage earner may reduce the collective anger, but it will neither bring back the victim nor compensate the family for the loss of a wage earner. Let us extend the restitutive principle to make the criminal pay for the family’s loss of wages and not merely make the killer languish uselessly in prison. Even more important, Judaism and its ideals led to the creation of a sense of morality — principles such as tzar bal chai, the consciousness of pain, and the consciousness of duty to others, from which we derived the ideals of tzedakah and gemilut chasadim, or giving and doing good. Hammurabi did create a legal code, but it took Judaism to make such a code humane. ■

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

n a recent Shabbat the synagogue was filled, and the joyful noises of the congregants who came to celebrate a bar mitzvah sounded to me as a shout of am Yisrael chai — the Jewish people are alive. When it came to the Torah reading, I by chance opened to the start of Parshah Mishpatim. G-d tells Moses: “And these are the laws and judgments that you should set before them.” Suddenly my mind returned to my youth. My bar mitzvah in the late fall of 1938 brought some significant changes in my life. First, my hometown had been taken over by the Hungarians, who brought with them anti-Jewish laws. This event I believe hastened the development of my Jewish consciousness. As a child I never thought about being Jewish. I did what my parents required of me, but when confronted with official anti-Semitism, I responded with the development of a sense of pride. I am a Jew; I am part of the people who gave the world the “book.” This sense of pride reminded me of a converted Jew: Benjamin Disraeli. In spite of his political Tory perspective, and though he was instrumental in making India a British colony and elevating Queen Victoria to empress of India, I have a warm spot in my heart for Benjamin Disraeli. The Disraeli family (formerly D’Israeli) escaped Italy during the Inquisition and settled in England. His father, Isaac, after one of his numerous quarrels with his synagogue, rejected Judaism and converted his children to the Anglican religion. Benjamin thus didn’t participate in the Jewish rite of passage, the bar mitzvah, and instead at age 12 he and his brothers and sister were baptized. Late in his political career he became prime minister of Britain, and yet, in spite of his baptism and his marriage to a wealthy Christian widow, he was not accepted by many of his fellow members of Parliament, who called him “the Jew.” In a biting comment, he chastised his colleagues,

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OPINION

Our View

BDS Fail

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

srael won a significant victory in Washington this month against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. President Barack Obama agreed to sign into law the compromise Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act after the Senate approved it on a 75-20 vote Feb. 11, even though White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama opposes a provision of the legislation regarding Israel. The measure “contravenes longstanding U.S. policy towards Israel and the occupied territories, including with regard to Israeli settlement activity,” Earnest said in a written statement. In reality the provision merely treats all Israeliproduced goods the same while encouraging enhanced U.S.-Israel commercial ties. We could delve into arguments about the legal status of the West Bank and the illogic of treating the Green Line, a long-violated cease-fire line, as a border instead of the starting point for negotiations. But the key is the people, not the place: Israelis are Israelis, and what they grow and build is Israeli. The legislation puts the United States on the record against BDS and requires the administration to report on global BDS activities, including foreign companies boycotting Israel, AIPAC said. The measure also instructs U.S. representatives to seek antiBDS provisions in European Union trade accords. It was important to include territory under Israeli control as well as Israel proper because of increasing efforts to use settlements as a back door to boycott Israel. Israel’s foes first create a distinction between Israelis on different sides of the Green Line. Products from Israelis east of the line then are labeled as not coming from Israel for the sole purpose of encouraging consumers to boycott those items. Consumer boycotts make it easier for more formal BDS actions by businesses, institutions and even governments. And once Israelis living on the West Bank are subject to sanctions, it becomes ever easier to follow the money westward to ostracize all Israelis. In theory, economic pressure could force Israel into talks. But efforts to target Israelis with a boycott, even one with geographic limits, undermine peace prospects by encouraging Palestinian intransigence. The goal of the BDS movement is not a negotiated two-state solution; the goal is the delegitimization of Israel and the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state in its place. Any action supportive of BDS moves away from two states; full rejection of BDS brings a peace settlement closer. That’s why we hope Congress continues work on the logical companion to the trade legislation: a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that would overturn ill-advised regulations on the labeling of products from the areas Israel captured in 1967. The Obama administration in January reiterated the rarely enforced, 20-year-old rules barring West Bank merchandise from being labeled as made in Israel. We would like to see all references to Gaza dropped from Cotton’s bill, but the legislation otherwise is simple and fair: The country of origin could be labeled as Israel or the West Bank. The sooner we can settle such labeling spats, the sooner Israel and the 10 Palestinians can get down to the real issues at hand. ■

AJT

Legislature Plays the Victim Game

over H.B. 757 that bill supporters were making the s of this writing, Georgia House Bill 757, combining the unnecessary Pastor Protection Act case against themselves. For example, bill backers with the excessive First Amendment Defense rejected worries that the legislation would legalize Act, awaits action in the House amid threats from discrimination on faith-based grounds because fedthe business community and promises from Gov. eral laws already ban discrimination. But they didn’t Nathan Deal to change the legislation. accept that the First Amendment would provide One of the risks of writing about pending protection against any theoretical, highly unlikely legislation is that everything could change before crackdown on people of faith. you read this, but I don’t want to Still, as twisted delve into the problems with this and illogical as the bill and the whole drive for reliarguments may Editor’s Notebook gious liberty legislation except be, they’re sincere. By Michael Jacobs to make one point: If our First There may be Geormjacobs@atljewishtimes.com Amendment rights, whether to gia legislators who free speech or to the free exercise of religion, were truly in danger, I have to believe that Rabbis Josh Heller, Michael Bernstein, Loren Lapidus and Pamela Gottfried, to name just a few examples, would be on the front lines to demand protection rather than protesting proposed protective measures. After all, we in the religious minority need government protection of our religious rights more than anyone. Listening to Christians sincerely profess their fears of persecution and desire for equal protection under the law is beyond bizarre. What exactly are they afraid of? Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) made the only attempt during the H.B. 757 debate in the Senate to offer a reason for the legislation. He said Christian pastors are afraid of being silenced because they believe that same-sex marriage violates the Bible, and such legislation presumably would calm them down so they could keep carrying on. At the same time, Williams rejected as nonsense opponents’ fears of discrimination, even though the overwhelming Senate vote on the bill made a strong argument about who does and who doesn’t have to fear a loss of legal protection in Georgia. It seemed at times during the Senate debate

hate LGBT people or unwed mothers or Shabbat-observant Jews enough to risk national condemnation and financial losses, but not enough of them to pass this legislation. Something is driving the hell-or-high-water determination among normally business-friendly Republicans to enact this legislation over the opposition of companies big and small. It could be fear of change. It could be a desire to claim a win — any win — in a confusing cultural and legal climate. It could be the unfamiliar inability to shout down if not silence opponents. Or it could be jealousy. Victimhood is in, even if it’s not real. But it’s not easy for white, straight Protestants to be victims in Georgia. So they imagine they’re under attack in a society they’ve largely built for their benefit. The Orthodox Jewish position remains against same-sex marriage, but you don’t see Orthodox rabbis demonstrating for H.B. 757. They recognize real persecution, and it doesn’t look like this. But like the “war on Christmas,” the nonexistent oppression of those who disagree with the high court on marriage provides the least victimized members of society the chance to play the victim. ■

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OPINION

Fighting the Good Fight in Old Baghdad Building his worldview from a meticulous reading of the mostly Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible (part of it is in Aramaic), he defended seminal theological ideas: creation, revelation, redemption and the immortality of the soul. As a philosopher, his quest was unity. But as a careful student of

Letters To The Editor

for every Israeli who boycotted Noa, someone else attended, despite these challenges, simply to support Shai Robkin, the chair of the Arava celebration concert committee. And this is the main reason I feel compelled to write. You shared so much about Noa in Atlanta but neglected to mention Shai, who walked the line between visionary leader and fanboy beautifully. For all the difficulties contained within Jewish Atlanta, we are unique in the fact that passionate leaders can accomplish big things because our community is connected like one giant family. We support one another as many Jewish communities, bigger and smaller, simply cannot. I’ve seen this in other areas of my work and play in Jewish Atlanta, such as the Birthright Israel Atlanta organization, where I am privileged to serve on the Leadership Council. As you know, we hosted Birthright supporters from all over the country in November, and these machers were heaping praise on the standout work of our local Jewish Atlanta community and specifically

Pleased With Noa Turnout I enjoyed reading most of Michael Jacobs’ recent column “Becoming Our Own Worst Enemy” (Feb. 19) about Noa’s show in the Atlanta area Sunday, Feb. 14. Like Michael, I am often frustrated and perplexed by the country’s perception of Jewish Atlanta and our contributions to Jewish America. But unlike Michael, I was quite pleased with the turnout at the show, which ended up being over 300 people. I acknowledge that some Israelis publicly (and loudly) boycotted this event, but let’s be realistic: There were several factors that could have prevented someone from attending, including but not limited to other Valentine’s Day plans, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival tickets, unwillingness to drive to Kennesaw and an inability to shell out $40-plus for a seat. I would argue that

Guest Column By Rabbi Richard Baroff

language, his mind was keenly attuned to different shades of meaning. Therefore, Saadia has prevailed over a millennium as a great biblical commentator who always wishes to draw general conclusions from the text but who never is seduced by simple explanations. Saadia’s main intellectual and spiritual opponents were the Karaites. The Karaites rejected the rabbinic principle that two Torahs were given to Moses on Mount Sinai: the Written Law and the Oral Law. The Karaites held that only the Written Torah was given at Sinai. This smaller Torah is the sacred text of the Torah scroll. The Oral Torah became the basis for the Talmud and halacha, which the Kara-

ites held was not divine. (The ancient Sadducees also rejected the twofold Torah in favor of just the Written Law.) Saadia became the great champion of rabbinic normalcy and defeated this great threat to Talmudic Judaism. It was Saadia as well who interpreted Greco/Arabic science to the Jewish world living within Islamic civilization. Saadia’s great political nemesis was the Resh Galuta (the exilarch), the head of the Jewish community within the caliphate, who was named David Ben Zakkai. Originally from Egypt, Saadia eventually moved to Babylon to lead the great rabbinic academy of Sura as gaon. (The other gaon was from Pumbedita.) The exilarch was in theory over both gaonim. But such was Saadia’s prestige that his authority threatened the Resh Galuta. David Ben Zakkai actually deposed Saadia as a result of the quarrel, but the gaon was reinstated. Saadia was in another fight that would have more lasting impact. While traveling through Eretz Yisrael, he argued against the radical changes in the Jewish calendar proposed by Aaron Ben Meir. As usual, Saadia’s argument prevailed. The calendar we follow today is the one Saadia set almost 11 centuries ago. Saadia wrote hundreds of books

— about two-thirds in Arabic and the rest in Hebrew. Like his great successor Maimonides, he was not only a great Jewish scholar, but also a great Arabic sage, although of course not a Muslim. Of the three major arguments for which he is known, two of them bore important fruit. The theologian’s battle against the Karaites prevented a serious schism within the Jewish community, allowing rabbinic Judaism to flourish into modern times. Saadia’s contretemps with Ben Meir fixed the calendar to this very day. But the gaon’s political war with Ben David is an artifact of history. In the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot, the Chapters of the Fathers, we learn in Chapter 5 that when Jews argue, the fight will bear fruit only if the motivation of the debaters is to honor G-d and to strive to live by the divine will. The legacies of the calendrical battle and the theological struggle over the nature of Torah are great because they were quarrels over things that matter. The personal tug of war between the gaon of the Sura Yeshiva and the exilarch was not. Therefore, it was fruitless. A lesson perhaps for every rabbi and president in every shul. ■

our fearless leader, Doug Ross. Doug, Shai and so many Jewish Atlanta leaders (*ahem*) are elevated by Jewish Atlanta as a whole, and if our community were as small and unready for the spotlight as you imply, we wouldn’t have the biggest Jewish film festival in the world, we wouldn’t have the only Jewish music festival in the South, and we wouldn’t have a resurgent Atlanta Jewish Times. — Russell Gottschalk, Atlanta, executive director, Atlanta Jewish Music Festival

proud and unrelenting voice for peace, and while this voice has recently been misinterpreted as a bias toward one of the players on the political scene, all Nini wants to do is find a common language of peace and understanding. Her performance benefited the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which is building bridges of peace every day with Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians. Nini’s uplifting and beautiful music took everyone in the audience to a wonderful place that keeps the hope in all of us alive where our challenges and problems might best be dealt with in song, study and respect instead of the vitriol that has overcome so much of the dialogue. — Steve Berman, Sandy Springs

A Special Performance

The Atlanta community had a rare opportunity to hear a wonderful voice of hope and peace when Israeli recording artist Achinoam Nini (a.k.a. Noa) graced the stage at Kennesaw State on Sunday night, Feb. 14 (“Singer Noa Celebrates Sound Environment,” Feb. 19). For over 25 years Nini has been a tour de force on the Israeli cultural scene, and Sunday night Nini showed the 300-plus attendees just why she is so loved around the world. She is a

Rabbi Richard Baroff leads Guardians of the Torah.

Write to Us

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

aadia is remembered as the greatest of the gaonim — those leaders of the Babylonian academies who added so much to the richness of Jewish life and thought. They were all great intellectuals, and Saadia, who flourished in the first half of the 10th century in Muslim Bagdad, was the greatest of them all. Saadia was a scrupulous scholar of the Hebrew language and of language in general. He wrote grammar books and dictionaries. Living in the midst of the Abbasid caliphate, he understood the need for Jews living under the crescent of Islam to read Arabic. Thus he translated most of the Hebrew Scriptures into Arabic. Many hundreds of years later, Moses Mendelssohn would translate the Hebrew Bible into German for the same reason. Saadia was a prolific commentator upon the Torah and an author of a siddur/machzor (prayer book). His grounding in the close reading of the text became the foundation for a whole system of thought. His magnum opus was the magisterial Sefer Emunot v’Deyot, the Book of Beliefs and Opinions. Like most of his writings, this great work of speculative thought, drawing on both Greek and Islamic philosophy, was originally composed in Arabic.

The Atlanta Jewish Times welcomes your letters. Email them to mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com. Include your town or city of residence (for publication) and a phone number (not for publication) for verification purposes. 11

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ISRAEL NEWS

JNF Helps Israel Expand Inclusion

ewish National Fund has treated February, observed as Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion Month, as an action month to ensure support and inclusion for all and has dedicated its online resources to commemorating those efforts. JNF inclusion partners in Israel include Aleh Negev-Nahalat Eran, LOTEM-Making Nature Accessible, Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center at Kibbutz Grofit and Special in Uniform. JNF created its Task Force on Disabilities to bring partner organizations together to share resources and meet the needs of those with disabilities in the Galilee and Negev, which typically offer fewer services than are available in the heavily populated center of Israel. One member of the Task Force on Disabilities is East Cobb resident Aviva Postelnik, who served in the Israel Defense Forces as a medical corps instructor and was a special education teacher in Israel for 17 years. Working in Druze, religious and secular schools, she saw firsthand the benefits of empowering children with disabilities and special needs. “It was a great privilege to provide individuals with the tools for a productive life and helping to increase their abilities from the very basic to what a person needs to make a living — for them to be truly involved in society and achieve a greater degree of inde-

conditions as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and Tay-Sachs. Aleh Negev has become a center of excellence for people with disabilities and has developed cuttingedge rehabilitative Special in Uniform participant Chen Orpaz (left), with program programs that are being replicated founder Ariel Almog, works at IDEA, a Rehovot-based tech company. Orpaz is one of the first graduates of the program. worldwide. “A strong socipendence,” Postelnik said. As a member of the Task Force on ety does not abandon its most vulnerDisabilities, she said, she has seen how able members. It works tirelessly to enJNF helps Israel provide opportunities hance their quality of life and promote for each citizen to contribute in his or their inclusion within society while teaching the values of responsibility her own way. Alan Wolk of Roswell, who is co- and love toward every human being, president of JNF’s Southeast Region, regardless of level of ability or accomalso is a task force member. He said he plishment,” said reserve Maj. Gen. Douses the organizational, strategic and ron Almog, the chairman of the village. • LOTEM is Israel’s leading orgaleadership skills that helped him work as a corporate executive to “help JNF nization dedicated to making nature move forward and increase its positive accessible to people with special needs. Serving nearly 35,000 participants a footprint in Israel.” “The work our partners do in Isra- year through accessible hikes, nature el is incredible, important and unique- outings and clubs, LOTEM opens naly JNF,” Wolk said. “I knew I had to be ture to all. LOTEM works with children and a part of the Task Force on Disabilities. Helping those who cannot help them- adults who have little or no vision, selves, helping the weakest among us, have little or no hearing, have physical or intellectual challenges, are emotionthis is how I use my voice in Israel.” ally disturbed, or at risk of physical or Among JNF’s partners: • Aleh Negev, in Ofakim near Gaza, emotional abuse. • Red Mountain Therapeutic Ridcares for children and adults with such

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Israeli Ambassador Judith Varnai Shorer is flanked by two members of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Susana Braner of A Divine Event (left) and Suzanne Brown, founder of the LDEI Global Culinary Initiative.

The Israeli event draws 34 members of the Atlanta Chapter of LDEI to learn about the traditions, culture and history behind Israeli recipes.

The Israel Tour Co.’s Eileen Mason pours a glass of Israeli wine for Dana Shemesh and Eyal Carlin of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. Mason gave a presentation on Israel as the ultimate culinary tourism destination.

A Taste of Israel

sraeli Consul General Judith Varnai Shorer played host to a night of Israeli food, culture and tradition Wednesday, Feb. 17, at her Buckhead home. The festivities featured James Beard Award-winning chef-restaurateur Michael Solomonov, who the night before presented the documentary “In Search of Israeli Cuisine” at the closing night of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. The Atlanta Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and the Israeli Consulate General co-sponsored the event, which was part of the LDEI Global Culinary Initiative, established to embrace world 12 communities through culinary connections. ■

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ing Center serves children and adults who live in Israel’s south and can benefit from therapeutic riding because of developmental, neurological, emotional, behavioral or learning disabilities or other conditions. Some 200 people from the Arava and Eilat regions participate in a weekly riding program. “RMTRC performs magic in the remote southern Arava,” said Jill Kisbee, the center’s riding project coordinator. The center received an award from Access Israel for its years of service to people with disabilities in the Eilat and Arava areas. • Special in Uniform integrates young people with autism and other disabilities into the IDF and in turn into Israeli society. Since becoming a JNF partner last year, Special in Uniform has grown from 100 to 200 participants. It has a long waiting list of Israelis who want to do their national service in the program. Special in Uniform’s goal is to recruit 1,000 enrolled participants in the next four years. “The IDF initially considered people with disabilities automatically exempt from mandatory service,” said reserve Lt. Col. Tiran Attia, who manages the program. “With Special in Uniform, we have rejected the IDF’s dogmatic equation of disability with inability and have proved that all can take part and succeed.” ■

LDEI members Lenada Merrick (left) and Gloria Smiley examine Michael Solomonov’s “Zahav” cookbook. The chef signed copies of the book at the end of the night.

Two LDEI members from Added Touch, Ashley Mitchell (left) and Sandra Bank, join Michael Solomonov, whose recipes the Added Touch team prepared for the event.

ISRAEL NEWS

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home

Israel-California biotech agreement. Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis has signed a biotechnology agreement with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The focus is stem cell research and related breakthroughs in treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and AIDS.

the project is done, 121 megawatts, or 1 percent of Israel’s electricity needs. Cheaper fish. Startup Subflex, based in Bnei Dror, builds cages for the planned offshore fish farms near Ashdod. The flexible net cage systems will enable the managed farming of fish in the ocean, lowering the cost of fish. The last smartphone standing. In the Flagship Smartphones Battery Life Challenge in China, the Meizu PRO5 with PowerXtend from Netanyabased Lucidlogix was running gaming programs 16 minutes after all other screens went dark.

The first Arab tech startup school. The first school for Arab high-tech entrepreneurs in Israel was set to open Tuesday, Feb. 23, in Kafr Qasim, an Arab city northeast of Tel Aviv. Sponsors of the project include Tsofen, an Arab-Jewish organization that aims to help integrate Arabs into the high-tech industry.

Testing services for HP customers. Herzliya-based cybersecurity startup NorthBit has struck a deal with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise to develop test automation software for mobile application developers. NorthBit’s 20 researchers are graduates of the top technological units in the Israeli army.

International Israeli aid. Natan-International Humanitarian Aid is a network of Israeli disaster relief organizations and civil society organizations working to alleviate humanitarian crises and disasters. In 12 years it has been active in Sri Lanka, Georgia (the former Soviet republic), Haiti, the Philippines, Nepal and now Serbia.

Return of the King. After a six-year absence, Burger King has reopened in Tel Aviv. The fast-food chain sold its franchise to Netanya-based Burgeranch in 2010 after Muslim groups boycotted it. Now it plans to open 10 branches in 2016 and 50 in the next five years. In response, Burgeranch is partnering with discount coffee chain Cofix.

Pentagon behind Israeli security contest. The U.S. Department of Defense is one of the sponsors of Israel’s 2016 Combating Terrorism Through Technology challenge program. Two $100,000 prizes will be awarded for innovative technologies that could fight terrorism or protect the homeland.

France’s singing star. Yael Naim is France’s singer of the year. The Frenchborn, Israeli-raised soul singer, 38, won Female Artist of the Year at the 2016 Victoires de la Musique, France’s Grammys. Her latest album, “Older,” was nominated for Album of the Year.

Astronauts land. Israel’s Space Week includes lectures and discussions with several astronauts, including NASA’s Shannon Walker, Joseph Acaba and Garrett Reisman; South Korea’s Yi Soyeon; and the European Space Agency’s Samantha Cristoforetti. The world’s tallest solar tower. Megalim Solar Power, an Israeli company formed by Jerusalem’s BrightSource Energy and France’s Alstom, is building the tallest solar tower in the world at Ashalim in the Negev desert. The project will use 50,000 computer-controlled mirrors to focus solar rays onto the 787-foot tower and produce, when

Oscar nominees win trip to Israel. A 10-day first-class trip to Israel, valued at $55,000, is the most valuable gift in the Oscar goody bag given to nominees for the actor and director Academy Awards, to be handed out Sunday night, Feb. 28. Beyonce’s Grammy dress. One of this year’s most talked about gowns is an Inbal Dror-designed wedding dress worn by Beyonce to the Grammys. “It was an amazing moment to see one of my favorite stars wearing one of my designs,” Dror told Brides magazine. Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other news sources.

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FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

ReWalk medically necessary. A U.S. surgeon, confined to a wheelchair after a spinal cord injury, has won his case to be reimbursed by his health plan for an Israeli-made ReWalk exoskeleton. The ruling will help make ReWalk available to all eligible patients.

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DOWN 2. ‫( לוחות‬32:16) 3. ‫( עץ‬31:5) 5. ‫( שתה‬32:6) 7. ‫( אכל‬32:6)

ACROSS 1. ‫( כרת‬30:38) 4. ‫( שמן‬30:25) 6. ‫( שבע‬33:1) 8. ‫( אהל‬30:16)

TLCITNLEE

UMLASREJE

(Hint: Shemoneh Esrei)

EIENNNTE

(scramble)

HELHAT

WORD CMRLESAB EECAP

KTSAHN

• Grandson of Yitro, nephew of Aharon and Miriam. Brother of Eliezer. • Brother in-law of Asenath, father of ‫פרץ‬, and nephew of Rachel.

GENEALOGY

Check your answers at: www.thefamousabba.com/kitisa

Complete the crossword by translating each Hebrew word into English. Use the parsha reference for help.

CROSSWORD

Cabbage, Celery, Corn Flakes, Cheerios®

Broccoli, Baked Beans, Banana, Apples

Find the food with the different bracha rishona in each group.

blessings

Humility: Compliment other people, especially if they did something that you hope to do in the future.

O H A D E

C S D T Y

P I T N E

P T E V S

A P

F H

R E T L O

E M X H C

F M

O E

Brought to you by:

F T F B D

O A A O N

www.thefamousabba.com

WORD FIND

Find the bold italic words on this sheet. The unused letters spell a secret message!

All the Jews, ages 20 and older, are commanded by HaShem to give half-shekel so they can be counted for the building of the sanctuary. Details are given for how to make a copper basin for washing, anointing oil, and incense. HaShem picked Betzalelּ and Ohali'av to make the holy utensils for the sanctuary and the garments for priests. HaShem commanded the people to observe Shabbat as it is a sign between Him and the Jewish people for all time! When Moshe did not return from the top of Mt. Sinai on time, the people asked Aharon to make a god out of their gold. HaShem became very angry at the people for doing this and wanted to destroy the Jewish people, but Moshe davened to HaShem and the people were saved. Moshe came down from the mountain and when he saw the people dancing around the calf he destroyed the the tables with the Ten Commandments. Moshe went back up Mt. Sinai and davened to HaShem to forgive the people. HaShem forgave them but said this sin will not be forgotten. HaShem created a second set of tablets and taught Moshe His 13 attributes of mercy. After 40 days on the mountain without food or drink, Moshe came down.

18 ADAR 1 5776 PARSHAT KI TISA

FORGIVER

‫ק‬ – ‫צט‬

‫ג‬ +‫ז‬

‫ו‬ x‫ה‬

‫מ‬ ÷‫ח‬

‫א‬

‫י‬ –‫ט‬

weekly chinuch podcast - over 100 posted! chinuch + Parsha < 5 minutes www.thefamousabba.com/podcasts

400 300 200 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

‫א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת‬

‫ע‬ ÷ ‫לה‬

One of the people chosen by HaShem to build the Sanctuary:

gematria

• The exhibit that you went to go see at the museum was closed. • Your parent did not put melting salt on the icy walkway.

Can you judge these situations favorably?

GRACIOUS

KINDNESS

COMPASSIONATE

YOU BE THE JUDGE

TRUTH WEALTHY

Which one is different? (Hint: 13 Attributes of Mercy - Parshat Ki Tisa, Ch. 34)

spot the difference

• What are 2 things you can do in your house to prepare for Shabbat? • The 2 Shabbat lights represent ‫זכור‬ (remember) and _____.

shabbat

• Moshe davening for the Jewish people after they built the golden calf. (32:11) • HaShem showing Moshe His “back” and teaching him the 13 attributes of mercy. (34:5).

Act out these scenes with friends and family:

PARSHAt SKIT ideas

SUPER SHABBat SHEET

good trait OF THE MONTH

CANDLELIGHTING IN JERUSALEM 4:54 P.M.

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

EDUCATION www.atlantajewishtimes.com

FINANCE

The Oil Bust and Getty months. This has been one of the most rapid price declines ever and is largely the result of a decision by Saudi Arabia to not reduce production in the face of excess world supplies. For 45 years, Saudi Arabia had reduced production to maintain a balanced market and price stability. Many believe that its decision not to

Business Sense By Al Shams

do so this time was based on politics rather than purely economic reasons. Some points to consider about oil: • Since the price decline, 27 million barrels of future production have been canceled worldwide. • Ninety percent of the oil industry worldwide loses money at $35 a barrel. The price for West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $29.64 on Friday, Feb. 19. • The U.S. rig count has dropped from 1,700 to 600. • From 2010 to 2014, even with all the capital invested outside North America, the only area in the world to show growth in production was North America. • U.S. production has dropped 8 percent in the past nine months and should decline even further. • The oversupply on a worldwide basis is approximately 2 million barrels a day with total demand at 94 million barrels a day. • Annually, worldwide demand grows by about 1 million barrels a day. • Oil companies worldwide have dramatically cut capital expenditures to find new sources of oil. • Many astute analysts believe that supply and demand will reach a balance in nine to 18 months. So what would J. Paul Getty be doing in the oil market today? It is clearly my view that he would be taking advantage of this price decline to acquire control of well-capitalized domestic energy companies or minority interests as a long-term investor. ■ Al Shams is a Sandy Springs resident, a former CPA, and an investment professional with more than 35 years of industry experience.

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SENIOR CONSULTANTS GROUP, INC Mayer Smith CLU ChFC LUTCF, Pres. Do Something Good for Somebody Today

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

ew stock market observers have an extensive understanding of the stock market and financial history, but such understanding provides a great deal of perspective during these uncertain times. Important lessons can be learned from the rise and fall of names such as Polaroid, Digital Equipment, Teledyne, LTV, Kodak, Simplicity Pattern, Fairchild Camera, Control Data, University Computing, National Student Marketing, The Mates Fund, Fred Carr, The Enterprise Fund, James Ling and Recognition Equipment. We also can learn from individuals, and in this time of depressed oil prices, it’s worth remembering that independent oil producer John Paul Getty was considered the world’s richest individual in the 1960s. Getty wrote a book titled “How to Be Rich.” He included a section on the “Art of Investment” via Wall Street. Here are some of his most important ideas: • Don’t approach the stock market as a source of quick or easy profits. • Stock certificates represent an ownership interest in a business enterprise, not betting slips. • Buy sound, quality companies with high inherent value — i.e., companies with high per-share assets and/ or good potential earning power. • Buy when everyone else is selling and hold until everyone else is buying. • In depressed markets, the stocks of many quality companies sell at a fraction of their liquidation value. • The veteran investor looks for bargains in growth stocks he can hold to gain the opportunity to reap handsome profits over a period of years. The following direct quote could summarize Getty’s investment approach: “Sound stocks purchased for investment, when their prices are low, and held for the long pull, are very likely to produce high profits through dividends and increases in value.” Getty made much of his stock market investments in the 1930s and 1940s, a period of depressed values. Another independent oil man in the 1980s, Boone Pickens, approached the stock market in the same manner as Getty. He strongly believed he could buy oil cheaper by acquiring the shares of major oil companies than by drilling for oil. As we all know, oil prices have had a 70 percent price drop in the past 20

The Ideal Savings Plan For Those Ages 18 to 55

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FINANCE

Investing in an Uncertain World

e live in uncertain times, and there are many things to worry about domestically and internationally. Remember, there’s never been a time when there wasn’t something to worry about. An amazing 70 percent of Americans think the country is going the wrong direction, helping explain Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. But in terms of managing your finances, I’m going to try in this article to share some unfortunate truths about investing to help you navigate the markets. I recently read an article that presented 50 bullet points on investing. Here is the list of my favorite missives, including a few of my own: • Most people would be better off if they stopped obsessing about Congress, the Federal Reserve and the president and focused on their own financial mismanagement. • Markets go through at least one big pullback a year and one massive one a decade. It’s just what they do. • Not a single person in the world knows what the market will do in the short run. End of story.

• You don’t understand a big bank’s balance sheet. The people running the place and their accountants don’t either. • There will be seven to 10 recessions over the next 50 years. Don’t act surprised when they come.

Guest Column By Ed Mendel

• Most of what is taught in school about investing is theoretical nonsense. There are few rich professors. • The market doesn’t care what you paid for a stock. Or your house. Or what you think is a fair price. • Most IPOs will burn you. People with more inside information than you want to sell. Think about that. • The low-cost index fund is one of the most useful financial inventions in history. Boring but beautiful. • If you have credit card debt, stop thinking about investing. You will never beat 30 percent annual interest. • However much money you think

you’ll need for retirement, double it. Now you’re closer to reality. • The next recession is never like the last one. • The stock market will never accommodate you. It doesn’t make winners of losers. Never has, never will. • Don’t let a little mistake become disastrous. Manage risk; take losses. Over the years, I’ve dealt with many of the biggest names on Wall Street. I have seen them make and lose fortunes. One of the things I have learned over the years is to be weary of people who make forecasts. As my former partner Ned Davis taught me, the only thing in life that is worse than making a forecast is sticking by it. With this in mind, here are some of the worst forecasts by gurus and pundits in the past two bear markets. Worse Economic Predictions Ever • Ben Bernanke, Jan. 10, 2008 — “The Federal Reserve is currently not forecasting a recession.” • Joseph Cassano, AIG’s head of financial products, 2007 — “It is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing one dollar in any of these credit

default swap transactions.” • Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae CEO, June 10, 2004 — “These subprime assets are so riskless that their capital for holding them should be under 2 percent.” From the 2007-08 Credit Meltdown • Ken Fisher — “This year will end in the plus column … so keep buying.” • Rep. Barney Frank — “Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound.” • Barron’s — “Home prices (are) about to bottom.” • Worth — “Emerging markets are the global investor’s safe haven.” • Bernie Madoff — “It’s virtually impossible to violate the rules.” These are some of the things you need to know to invest in an uncertain world. But while we worry about dollars and cents, the important thing in life is to do your best to keep a balance of family, friends and good health. That will make you truly wealthy. ■ Ed Mendel, co-founder of Ned Davis Research Group and Davis, Mendel & Regenstein, is a philanthropist, a limited Atlanta Falcons partner, and a life trustee at the Marcus JCC and Pace Academy.

Can We Do Divorce Better?

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

he “family law system,” as many refer to it, is evolving (think same-sex marriage) and is different in each state and even in each county. Good people across the country are continually trying to improve the system. I hope the energy of those who seek to improve the family law systems across our country continue their good work, helping ensure that families who undergo family law crises (divorces, paternity cases, custody disputes) get through these situations faster and better. The system needs help. But the truth is, the system being used in many places is the same system being used for criminal cases, personal injury cases and the like. That is, many courts handle criminal matters one day, divorce and family law the next day, and other civil suits the next day. And the system (or that particular court) does not work as well for each type of dispute. States or jurisdictions that have 16 family courts understand this situa-

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tion and strive to create systems or processes that work better for families and are separate from the systems that handle criminal matters and personal injury cases. So what is the main difference between litigants in a civil or criminal case and litigants in a family law case? The litigants in a family law case

Guest Column By Randy Kessler rkessler@ksfamilylaw.com

will likely still see each other again and still have some sort of relationship. For this reason, more patience, more alternative dispute resolution and more care are often required. The parties to a family law case are already in trouble. The system should help alleviate or reduce that trouble, not increase it. But ultimately if two adults cannot resolve their differences (about money, children and

possessions), a judge who knows very little about them will do his or her best to figure it out. And that’s a recipe for disaster. No judge can learn all of the facts and make a perfect decision. Yet time and again we see people who prefer to let a judge decide their future rather than keep negotiating. What do I suggest? Let’s support family law litigants and give them every chance to determine their own destiny. Let’s use more mediation, more late case evaluation, more therapy and anything that gives people a chance to resolve their issues. Judges may be great, but they can never understand the entire background and dynamic of the families before them. And they have pressure to make a decision and move on to the next case. Yes, at times there is no choice. There are times when we as family law attorneys do battle and put on the very best case we can and implore the court to grant the relief we think is warranted. But by the time the parties realize that they could have done it better themselves, it is often too late.

So again, my suggestion? Stop, consider, negotiate, mediate, relate, navigate and compromise. Be sure that if you must go to trial in a family law matter, you have done all you can to resolve it privately and amicably. Even if you go to trial, consider what you say in court very carefully. The court case will end, but the memories of what you say in court will not. Your words will resound forever, especially the harsh words. Is that how you want to be remembered? Is that going to make it easier to navigate and resolve your next dispute with that opposing party? End it as peacefully and politely as you can, and you will save yourself much aggravation (and cost) when the next stalemate arises. ■ Randy Kessler is the founding partner of the family law firm Kessler & Solomiany (www.ksfamilylaw.com) in downtown Atlanta, a former chairman of the American Bar Association’s Family Law Section, and the author of “Divorce: Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future.”

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

FINANCE

hat product will pay 3 percent or more annual interest tax-free on monthly deposits over 20 or so years, self-complete in the event of disability, cover long-term-care expenses and multiply your deposits in the event of your death? With safety and certainty? The answer, of course, is a whole life insurance policy. Yet Suze Orman screams in a video to “buy term insurance and invest the difference!” Less than 2 percent of term insurance policies pay off as death claims. And most people don’t invest the difference; they spend it. For young and lower-income families who cannot afford to invest or buy whole life insurance, term insurance is the only answer to protect loved ones until their income reaches the level needed to do better. Experience is a good teacher. It has taught us that savings accounts become “put and take” accounts. We save until we see something we have to have. Then down goes the bank account balance, and we start over. Not so with a whole life insurance policy; you set up an automatic monthly draft that goes to the insurance company month after month, year after year. That account, silently building year after year, is available for a true emergency or an important opportunity or maybe a college education fund while providing protection — or, as in the case of a friend of mine, can provide the funds to meet payroll and payables when others abscond with cash from a business. When all the early-year needs are met and we approach retirement, where else can the cash accumulation be structured to be paid out tax-free while retaining meaningful amounts of protection or estate preservation? Let’s shift to business: Where else can you find a guaranteed buyer for a business for the full present-day value with an escalation clause in the event of your death by depositing into an escrow account 2 percent or 3 percent of the value of the business each year? Yes, the escrow account will be part of the purchase price, but the price will have risen proportionally. One additional feature: Should you die and your heirs call on the “buyer” to honor payment in full for

the business, the heirs also keep the business. Another additional feature: Should you become totally disabled before age 65, you will be relieved of having to make the deposits, but the

Guest Column By Mayer Smith

escrow account will continue to grow as though you made them, and the agreement remains in effect. Twenty or 30 years down the road, you’re ready to retire. You have multiple choices: Sell the business to others and get back all your deposits plus about 3 percent to 4 percent interest; sell the business and stop the deposits but leave the agreement intact for the original price by leaving the escrow account in place (cash value buys a paid-up policy); or give the business to your heirs and exercise either of the other options as to the escrow account. Let’s say we have two partners or equal stockholders. When one dies, what happens? Death terminates a partnership, and many complicated legal problems arise — unless a “funded” buy-sell agreement has been put in place whereby the surviving partner receives the funds and pays them over to the estate (spouse?) of the deceased and receives evidence of full ownership in exchange. A similar arrangement can apply if they are stockholders. Where does the survivor get the funds? The business should not deplete its working capital for the agreement. Solution? Cross-purchase life insurance. Each partner/stockholder buys a policy on the other partners/stockholders. But let’s say neither partner/ stockholder dies before retirement, and they decide to sell, pass on to heirs or close the business. Each insured can buy back his/her own policy for the amount of the cash accumulated in the policy. Death proceeds at death will incur no income taxes. ■ Jan. 13 marked 60 years for Mayer Smith as estate planner; financial planner; adviser to banks, lawyers and CPAs; and creator of insurance and estate concepts. Contact him at myfriendmayer@ gmail.com or 404-725-4841.

Israel Investing in Arabs By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

wo groups are holding back the Israeli economy by not fully participating: the Haredi, who have religious reasons, and the Arabs. As a result, the startup nation lags in many statistics compared with other members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, said Guy Tessler, the president of Conexx: America Israel Business Connector. How the government is addressing the problem with the Arab population, which is 21 percent of Israel but creates 8 percent of the gross domestic product, was the subject of a Conexx seminar Thursday, Feb. 11, at The Temple. “We are doing a lot to change this situation,” said Aiman Saif, the director general of the Authority for Economic Development of the Minorities Sector. “Israel cannot be a world GDP leader without the Arab sector.” In 2007, when Ehud Olmert was prime minister, the government began investing in Arab development. It’s a commitment that has remained as governments have changed and has produced a five-year plan costing about $2.5 billion through 2020. The core issue is the low workforce participation among Arabs, particularly women, Saif said. As of 2014, only 30 percent of Arab women were in the labor market, compared with 70 percent of Arab men. That rate for women is low even compared with surrounding Middle East nations, he said. As a result, Israel’s overall labor participation rate was 74 percent, compared with an OECD average of 84 percent to 85 percent. The issue is not cultural, Saif said; it’s a lack of jobs, although a dearth of day care centers and public transit in Arab areas and lower educational attainment are contributing factors. Israel is making progress, however. Only 18 percent of Arab women were in the labor market in 1990, and the rate was only 20 percent in 2000. The goal is 42 percent by 2020. Saif listed the top obstacles and opportunities for Arab development. The obstacles: • Over 70 percent of Israeli Arabs living in the nation’s periphery, away from the jobs and services in the center of the country. • Over 70 percent living in Arab communities, typically with fewer services than Jewish communities. • Bad economic infrastructure.

Aiman Saif was part of the first group of Arabs to work for the Israeli civil service in 1994.

• Poor local governments. • Low educational level. • Limited networking and Internet access. • Prejudice in the job market. The opportunities: • Positive trends in education. • Positive trends in employment. • Untapped local assets, such as tourist sites. • Untapped human potential. • The willingness of Arab women to integrate into the workforce. • The government recognition of Arab needs. Arabs are achieving in some areas, such as medicine, where more than half the doctors and nurses in hospitals are Arabs, Saif said. But 4,000 licensed Arab pharmacists are unemployed, and only 2 percent of high-tech engineers are Arabs in a nation facing a labor shortage of more than 4,000 engineers. Israelis often cite their army service as the source of the training and connections for high-tech innovation, but Saif said that’s not the obstacle to Arab high-tech success because the statistics are the same for Druze, who join the Israel Defense Forces, and Muslims, who do not. The government is creating tools to spark high-tech employment among Arabs, including incubators that invest up to $600,000 in each startup business and a college scholarship fund. Israel has made 14,000 job placements through new employment centers and is investing tens of millions of dollars to open more. Israel also is making microloans to develop women’s businesses and is investing in Arab infrastructure, including extensive bus lines. “There are still a lot of challenges. The gaps are big,” Saif said. “But I think we’re moving in the right direction.” ■ 17 FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

When Whole Life Insurance Makes Sense

AJT

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DECISION ’16

Preparing for the SEC Primary

hen Georgians go to the polls for the presidential primary Tuesday, March 1, they’ll get a reminder of recent history. Although only five Republicans and two Democrats are actively campaigning, the Republican ballot has 13 names, and the Democratic offers four because the state can’t redo the forms every time a candidate calls it quits. Jewish candidates make up half the choices on the Democratic side: Tampa, Fla., lawyer Michael Steinberg as well as Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton and inactive former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley complete the ballot. On the Republican side, the unsuccessful candidates far outnumber those still running. You have to search through Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Mike Hucka-

bee, George Pataki, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum to get to the active candidates: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. Absentee voting in Georgia began Jan. 12. In-person advance voting began Feb. 8 and continues through Friday, Feb. 26, at designated sites in each county (visit www.mvp.sos.ga.gov to find your site). Polls on March 1 will be open statewide from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 1 is the first multistate day in the nomination process. Georgia is one of nine states holding primaries that day, in addition to five states and American Samoa holding caucuses. Besides Georgia, primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and, arguably, Oklahoma give March 1 a Southern flavor. Secretary of State Brian Kemp re-

ported that the early voting in Georgia — 53,016 people voting in person and 10,487 mailing in ballots through Feb. 17 — tracked closely with the numbers from the 2012 presidential election. “It is great to see that thousands of Georgians are turning out to vote in the SEC Primary,” Kemp said. “This turnout shows that Georgians are excited and engaged in this election.” He added that a record surge in registration by the Feb. 1 deadline also reflected SEC Primary excitement. This week we offer four pages of Decision ’16 columns so supporters of the remaining candidates can make their pitches to the Jewish community. On the Republican side, former state Rep. Mitchell Kaye is speaking for businessman Donald Trump; real estate investor Scott Italiaander for

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; ear, nose and throat physician Jeff Kunkes for Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida; and high-tech consultant Dan Israel for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Real estate developer David Lefkovits, who supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, offers guidance on where Bush backers should go now. We lack a column for neurosurgeon Ben Carson because of a failure to find someone backing him in the Jewish community — we just didn’t ask the right people. Still, it’s hard to see how he could win the nomination. On the Democratic side, lawyer and former ACCESS Co-Chair Matthew Weiss writes on behalf of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and AJT circulation director Elizabeth Friedly takes up the case for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. ■

Republican Primary: For Donald Trump

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

ormer Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned, in trying to help Hillary Clinton, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” Most believe it is condescending, patronizing and an insult to our intelligence to expect support for any candidate based on gender, race or religion. Clinton has enough problems. Over 100 FBI agents are investigating her use of private email servers containing highly classified and top-secret information. She should be indicted, unless you believe some individuals are simply “too big to jail.” Clinton’s chief aide and longtime confidante, Huma Mahmood Abedin, comes from a family with extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal said, “It worries me that Mrs. Clinton is so close to Sidney Blumenthal, whose son (Max) is a raving, psycho anti-Semite.” Clinton received intelligence briefings from these old friends; Max used to write for Al-Akhbar and recently wrote “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.” Remember Yasser Arafat? He slept at the White House more than any other foreign leader during Bill’s administration. As King Solomon so wisely declared in Proverbs, “One who associates with fools will suffer harm.” Unfortunately, historical bipartisan support for Israel is a thing of the 18 past — almost never mentioned on the

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Democratic campaign trail or during debates. Neither are the words “radical Islamic terror.” The problem with Bernie Sanders and liberalism is that by giving away everything for free, eventually you run out of other people’s money. We have a national debt exceeding $19 trillion,

Guest Column By Mitchell Kaye

almost more accumulating during Barack Obama’s seven years than the first 233 years of our country. Unsustainable is an understatement. Today more than ever, America is crying out for leadership — leadership not corrupted by lobbyists, special interest money and political elitists, all with a common interest in protecting their turf. Donald Trump is a rich and successful businessman who doesn’t need anyone’s money. He can’t be bought, and he won’t sell out. He believes, and many agree, that our economic and political systems have failed — that the underlying rules of those systems have been rigged. Trump has unique qualifications and is the best candidate to address the critical issues and challenges we face. His plain-talking (no political correctness), no-nonsense, common-sense approach to our problems is long over-

due. No more apologizing for all of the world’s ills. Our allies must once again respect us while our enemies fear us. It’s time to make America great again. Three important issues to be addressed by President Trump are stopping illegal immigration, growing the economy to create jobs, and protecting Americans from ISIS and Islamic terror. The flow of illegal immigration will be significantly reduced by building a wall and enforcing current immigration law. This cancer, left unchecked, will destroy the fabric of our nation. A country without borders and no respect for the rule of law is a country no more. Even Immigration and Customs Enforcement admits there are Middle Eastern sleeper cells embedded in those who enter, increasing risks of domestic terrorism. President Obama and the Democrats have politicized this issue, having all the votes in 2009-10 to pass reform but doing nothing. Politics over policy! Trump believes any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans. Illegal immigration floods the workforce of job seekers and depresses wage rates. Today almost 95 million Americans are not in the workforce, a participation rate at a 38-year low. Is it any wonder why Trump’s support in the black and Hispanic communities exceeds any Republican in recent memory? Protecting and creating jobs are

a cornerstone of the Trump agenda. Intertwined with immigration policy, this includes tax simplification and relief for individuals and business, less onerous regulatory policies, and discouraging corporate inversions to repatriate jobs and capital from overseas. Trump will fight for free but fair trade to bring prosperity back to America. The goal is not protectionism but accountability — eliminating unlawful tariff and nontariff barriers (China) and globalist trade deals that have tilted the playing field to keep American companies out and have resulted in the offshoring of jobs. Two examples just last week: Air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier announced the move of 1,400 jobs to Mexico, while the Chicago Stock Exchange will be acquired by a Chinese firm. Trump’s plan will be “yuge” for American workers and businesses as jobs and factories stop moving offshore. Fighting terrorism is a national security and public safety priority. Trump recognizes the threat from ISIS and doesn’t shrink from calling it “radical Islamic terror.” His multipronged strategy includes increasing our intelligence capabilities, employing enhanced interrogation techniques, attacking their oil and other economic assets, and allowing citizens to better exercise their Second Amendment right to self-defense so terrorists will not be the only ones armed (as in “gun-free zones”). ■

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DECISION ’16

lthough American Jews care about a lot of issues, the U.S.Israel relationship still stands out as the one that galvanizes Jews across the political spectrum. While these days, sadly, a significant minority of liberal Jews openly identify more with Israel’s enemies than with Israel, most American Jews still support a strong and vigorous Jewish state and desire a president who is unequivocal in his support of our only true ally in the Middle East. As a Jewish Republican, I am interested not just in supporting a candidate who enthusiastically claims to be pro-Israel, but someone whose political record suggests he means it. By that standard, none would be as principled and unwavering in his commitment to the Jewish state as Ted Cruz. Cruz supports strengthening the military alliance between the United States and Israel, advocates cutting off all taxpayer dollars flowing to the Palestinian Authority, and promises to cut financial support to the United Nations if it remains openly anti-Israel. Unlike the self-styled frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Cruz would not be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; he would be an unapologetic ally of Israel. As an immediate signal that he means business, on Day 1 of his presidency Cruz would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognize it as the “eternal, undivided capital of Israel.” These are not just talking points to Cruz. According to his father, Pastor Rafael Cruz (who spoke in Atlanta the other week), Ted’s views on Israel are rooted in his strong Christian faith and familiarity with the Old Testament. He has also visited the Holy Land several times as a senator. There can be no doubt Cruz is passionate and resolute when he invokes G-d’s promise to Abraham in Genesis: “I will bless those who bless you.” While Marco Rubio and Donald Trump have expressed solidarity with Israel, Ted Cruz has a proven history of backing up his rhetoric with action. And Ted has a public record of not changing his positions in the face of political pressure. There are numerous examples of Ted backing his words with actions. While serving as Texas’ solicitor gen-

eral between 2003 and 2008, Cruz successfully led legal and policy fights on positions he had espoused for years. He sought to overturn Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban as an infringement of Second Amendment rights, defended the constitutionality of public Ten

Guest Column By Scott Italiaander

Commandments displays, and successfully sued to block the enforcement of international court rulings seeking to overturn Texas state law. Since he became a senator in 2013, Cruz has resisted tremendous political pressure by the leaders of his own party and led legislative and procedural fights in pursuit of the principles he ran on during his Senate election campaign. These efforts included his filibuster as part of an effort to defund Obamacare and his bid to prevent the Senate from considering the Gang of Eight immigration compromise between moderates of both parties in 2013. He has also been a steadfast champion of religious liberty, as his legislative record shows. Cruz’s legislative efforts for Israel are impressive for a first-term senator. He has either sponsored or supported efforts to condemn Hamas, to prohibit negotiations with Iran unless it recognized the Jewish state, to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, to condemn the labeling of Israeli products by the European Union and to fund Israeli missile defense. He opposed Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defense for his history of undermining U.S.-Israel relations. He has also penned numerous op-eds in support of Israel and against the Iran deal. Ted Cruz has consistently demonstrated that he means what he says. Senators often are accused of debating much and accomplishing little. In his first term, Cruz has amassed an impressive record of action on matters of principle that he has long espoused. There seems little doubt that should Ted Cruz ascend to the presidency, he will resist whatever pressures are brought to bear against him and will stand firmly and unequivocally with Israel. ■

Republican Primary: For Marco Rubio

ix presidential cycles ago a young, vibrant and glamorous political outsider challenged a career politician for the White House. He appealed to both young and old, and for the next eight years there was a prosperity in the country despite having a Republican Congress and a Democratic president. Taxes were lowered, money repatriated, welfare rolls cut, and work-forwelfare rules were adopted. Our obligations overseas were properly overseen with the bombing of Kosovo leading the way for NATO to end a long, dangerous war in the Balkans. Now we are having a repeat of the same scenario, except there is no Bill Clinton but Marco Rubio to compete against a grumpy grandpa, a frumpy grandma, and in the wings a man with so many holes from hair plugs that he can’t hold a thought. Marco in a short time has filled an impressive résumé as the youngest president of the state Senate in Florida, overseeing a prosperous economy, and more than five years as a U.S. senator with an expertise in foreign policy. His time in the Senate is two more years than President Barack Obama had when he ran for higher office in 2008 and only a little more than two years less than Hillary Clinton has to her credit. Marco’s complete record is easily attainable online, but there are several points that need to be repeated. He is the American dream personified. He comes from a family of Cuban immigrants, and Marco is well acquainted with the Spanish/Latino community. He speaks fluent Spanish and has a knowledge of the immigration problems that only an immigrant can fully understand. He can work across the aisles and worked to try to institute the DREAM Act for children and a path to legality for undocumented workers. This has won him high grades for compromise, extremely important for any leader of this country. Whatever side of the divide you are on, it is a fact that Obamacare is losing money, and the insurance companies are bailing out of its programs rapidly. Obama and the Democrats wanted public money to bail out the

insurance plans on a program that is already well above budget and has not come close to lowering the predicted number of uninsured in this country. Marco sponsored and got passed legislation that prevented more tax money being spent to keep afloat insurance

Guest Column By Jeff Kunkes

companies that were trying to corner the market by underbidding. America has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, and there are trillions of American dollars abroad that will not be repatriated until the laws have changed. That money could pay down debt, create jobs and make better infrastructure. Marco and the Republicans want to bring that money home to work for us by lowering the corporate rate, the exact opposite of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, whose only response is to increase punishing business taxation. So we are left seeing the money sitting in foreign banks and American companies establishing overseas offices to avoid this crushing tax rate. Most important for our community, Marco is a champion of Israel and standing firm against Iran getting nuclear weapons. He has sponsored more sanctions against Hezbollah and wants to increase our commitment against ISIS terrorism, not play second string to Russia’s Middle East power play. So if you are part of the 60 percent of the Jewish community that made up its mind 40 to 50 years ago to only vote Democratic no matter what, please feel free to skip to another section of the paper. But if you feel that all lives matter, that we are not all victims, that identity politics is damaging to the national morale, and that new solutions are needed to crippling problems, please check out Marco and read more on his website. The primary is coming, and this is an opportunity to jump aboard the train of a proven, accomplished leader who can cross the aisle and may actu19 ally deliver hope and change. ■ FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Republican Primary: For Ted Cruz

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DECISION ’16

Republican Primary: For John Kasich

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

s Jewish Americans contemplate whom to support in the forthcoming presidential election, Gov. John Kasich from Ohio represents a hybrid candidate who appeals to our community’s desire for compassion and our intellectual need for financial probity and foreign policy prowess. Let’s first examine Kasich’s compassionate side. Kasich does not represent the fire-breathing cabal within the Republican Party. He has a record of building broad coalitions, and, importantly, Kasich collaborates with Democrats to get things done. His crowning achievement of working across the aisle was during the 1990s. As chair of the U.S. House Budget Committee, Kasich worked with President Bill Clinton to balance the federal budget for the first time since man walked on the moon. Kasich truly believes there is a moral purpose for government. He has created job-training schemes and school reforms in Ohio, as well as steered a higher percentage of state contracts to minority entrepreneurs. But he goes even further, stressing that prosperous states such as Ohio should use their resources to help those who “live in the shadows,” to use his words. In Kasich’s parlance, he is referring to the mentally ill and the drug addicts. For Kasich, government must lift them up, not push them aside. Perhaps that explains why he felt justified in taking federal money to expand Medicaid for the poor in Ohio. Kasich maintains conservative credentials on financial matters. Elected twice as governor of Ohio, most recently in 2014, Kasich used a simple but effective tagline: “Kasich works.” His constituents agreed with him, as Kasich won by a staggering margin of 31 points despite the fact that the battleground state of Ohio went for Barack Obama in 2012. Why? During his first term, Kasich closed Ohio’s $8 billion budget gap without raising taxes. Amazingly, he also cut taxes by $5 billion, the biggest in Ohio’s history. And he turned Ohio’s 89-cent rainy day fund into a $2 billion surplus. More important, he created more than 300,000 private-sector jobs. For our community, it is important to know that a candidate’s heart 20 and mind care about the Jewish people

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and Israel. Kasich led a three-year effort to build Ohio’s new Daniel Libeskind-designed Holocaust and Liberators Memorial on the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse. At the memorial’s dedication in 2015, Kasich said, “One of the greatest contributions that

Guest Column By Dan Israel

the Jews have given to the world is the sense that every life is sacred.” And, of course, there is Israel. His support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship goes back more than 30 years. Kasich first visited Israel as a new member of Congress with Gordon Zacks, a constituent and an icon of the American Jewish community. Kasich has proactively sought to learn about Israel and its security needs. He worked with President Ronald Reagan to institutionalize the U.S.-Israel bonds so no president could destroy the relationship — no matter how hard Obama or others may try. Kasich has publicly and privately admonished the treacherous deal that the Obama administration struck with the world’s biggest propagator of terrorism, Iran. Indeed, he even attended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress to stress the point and has called for the deal’s nullification if he is elected. Kasich is committed to helping Israel maintain its qualitative advantage over potential adversaries. He also opposes any unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood. These pronouncements are backed not by words, but by Kasich’s actions in Congress. Beyond Israel, Kasich is well qualified to deal with the recalcitrant Vladimir Putin of Russia or the truculent Xi Jinping of China. Kasich served on the House Armed Services Committee for 18 years and has more national security experience than anyone running for president on either side. Kasich’s compassion for his fellow citizens, wisdom on finances, and understanding of the Jewish people and commitment to Israel make him a compelling figure for the American Jewish community to support in 2016 for our next president. ■

Republican Primary: Jeb Is Out; What Now?

t is no secret that we are seeing a rebellion of sorts by the electorate against the entrenched political order in Washington. Anger, frustration, demagoguery and sensationalism have taken center stage over substantive debate about pragmatic solutions. This is unfortunate because the serious challenges facing our country demand serious and practical solutions, not empty promises and rhetoric. The economic and security threats to America and our closest allies are increasing, and the stakes for electing a new president are higher than ever. Our debt is out of control, reaching $19 trillion, with Social Security and Medicare on the path of insolvency. Our health care costs are higher than ever, and we are not preparing future generations to compete in a 21st century global economy. According to one study, we have dropped to an unimpressive ranking of 35th out of 64 countries in math and 27th in science. Our immigration system is broken, and Washington’s dysfunction and paralysis have hindered efforts to pass comprehensive legislation to secure our borders and provide a solution to the millions of undocumented workers and their families who live in the shadows of society. The vital U.S.-Israel relationship has been weakened by eroded trust between our leaders and by what a bipartisan majority feels is a dangerous and irresponsible deal with Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The administration’s disengagement has created a dangerous vacuum that is being filled by adversaries who threaten our interests and those of our allies. As a Jew, a Zionist and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I care deeply about Israel’s security. We need a leader who believes in the shared interests, values, and emotional and historical ties that make the U.S.-Israel relationship so important to the stability and future of the Middle East. A leader who is committed to restoring the trust between the United States and Israel. One who is firmly opposed to the anti-Semitic BDS movement to delegitimize Israel and has called for an end to “moral equivalence” between Palestinian terror and Israel’s efforts to defend itself.

We need a leader who is committed to holding Palestinian leaders accountable for acts of incitement that honor terrorists, glorify violence and teach children to hate. A leader who believes the pathway to peace requires an end to violence and the recogni-

Guest Column By David Lefkovits

tion of Israel as a Jewish state and one who is committed to moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In strengthening our own country, we need a principled leader with comprehensive, substantive and responsible policies to address our security, economic, education, immigration and health care challenges. This is why I supported Jeb Bush. If you judged the man on his character and his record as Florida governor, you would find a caring, sincere, thoughtful and levelheaded leader with a proven record and robust policies and solutions to the many challenges today. You would also find a committed advocate and ally for Israel. Now that Jeb is out of the race, I am challenged with identifying which candidate possesses the attributes that I found so appealing in Jeb. The one who would be best suited to lead our nation during times of increased threats and uncertainty and restore leadership and credibility in the world. Many candidates have expressed strong support for Israel and a commitment to restoring our country to greatness. However, their empty rhetoric and lack of civility raise questions of whether they can be trusted to manage the grave challenges at hand. Our leader will also need to get along and work closely across the aisle and with members of his own party. Many of us expect our children to be respectful of others, to be civil and decent, and to always show good sportsmanship. Shouldn’t we expect the same from the leader of our country and the free world? In my opinion, there are only two candidates left in the race who meet all of the above criteria, and only one of them seems to have a real chance to win. ■

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DECISION ’16

en. Bernie Sanders would be America’s first Jewish president, and he is by far the right choice, both for the Jewish community and for America as a whole. Born of poor Jewish immigrants from Poland, Sanders has devoted his career to supporting causes and drafting legislation that benefit the less privileged — as a consequence of race, class or gender. Tikkun olam (repairing the world) and tzedek (justice) are the core principles of his presidential campaign. He is the only candidate to have marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and protested segregation. In 1995, he spoke on the House floor to protest crude name-calling against gay servicemen and servicewomen, and he served two years as the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairman. His voting record is consistent with the long Jewish tradition of compassion. Sanders voted in favor of expanding services for victims of domestic violence and for paid family leave and equal wages for women. He voted for Wall Street reform and student loan reform when others turned a blind eye. Unlike other candidates, he does not accept funds from prison lobbyists, Wall Street or oil companies. His indignation at our political system isn’t the quality that sets him apart. Instead, his anger and his call for change are distinctive because of the morality that fuels them. When he speaks passionately of injustice, it doesn’t ring hollow or as pandering. His positions are born of years of tirelessly fighting for the same causes. To start, he is one of the key voices fighting income inequality. Deuteronomy 15:11 reads: “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor.” But according to Global Finance magazine, in a ranking of the income distribution of residents of 34 countries, the United States is 31st. Sanders has bemoaned our broken system. His rally cry of “Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty” and his campaign for a $15 minimum wage reflect the opinions of most Jewish organizations as well as individuals. In fact, 63 percent of Americans support a federal minimum wage increase to $15 by 2020. More than 600 economists,

including seven Nobel Prize winners, support a similar increase. The idea that raising wages will lead to unemployment has been disproved in numerous states. In 2014, 13 states that increased wages saw employment rates increase as well.

Guest Column By Elizabeth Friedly

Sanders also believes that higher education should be available to all citizens and advocates tuition-free college, funded by Wall Street reform. His tax plan would pull from the richest 1 percent to revive the rest of the country. He would provide jobs by repairing our badly neglected infrastructure. Contrary to the image of Sanders as a radical, he is in line with a long Jewish tradition of liberalism and support of social programs. Sanders has the highest constituent approval rating of any U.S. senator and had the most amendments passed of any member of Congress. A level of bipartisanship rarely seen in modern U.S. politics achieved that record, along with no small amount of hard work. A Sanders presidency would temper the spread of ISIS by fostering unity instead of isolating citizens with anti-Muslim rhetoric. Jewish citizens are particularly sensitive to religious persecution and most often respond with empathy. Simply put, Sanders’ approach to foreign policy would build bridges instead of burning them. On Israel, the senator sides with most Jewish voters in supporting a two-state solution. He fostered a personal connection with the land by living on a kibbutz. Like many Jewish leaders, Sanders is critical of Benjamin Netanyahu and some Israeli policies while supporting Israel’s right to exist. Sanders told the Christian Science Monitor that he is proud of being Jewish and that Judaism informed his view on government “in a very deep way.” He also said Hitler’s rise taught him the power of politics and the responsibility to do good in the world. It’s easy for politicians to offer words they know voters want to hear, but Sanders’ professed principles and his actions are one and the same. ■

Democratic Primary: For Hillary Clinton

am proudly supporting Hillary Clinton for president because she is uniquely suited among the candidates in both political parties to address the challenges that our nation is likely to face the next four years. Clinton is the single candidate in this year’s race who can build upon and enhance the legacy of President Barack Obama. Her greatest “weakness” is really her greatest strength. Accusations that she is part of the political “establishment” (whatever that means) are an indication that she has been in positions of power and been involved in major domestic and foreign policy decisions for the past quarter-century. As the first lady for eight years, a senator from New York for eight years and secretary of state for four years, Clinton would enter the White House better prepared to handle the challenges of the office than any president since George H.W. Bush. The challenges the next president is likely to face will be immense: economic stagnation and growing income inequality in the United States, the Syrian refugee crisis, the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians, to name just a few. Clinton’s experience and her close access to two of the past three presidents position her well to address these challenges. Clinton is committed to mainstream Democratic positions on important issues in domestic and foreign affairs. She has spent her entire career advocating on behalf of women, children and minorities. She is also a consistent supporter of women’s rights, LGBT rights, common-sense gun control, the protection of the environment and greater economic equality. This stands in stark contrast to the Republican field, whose leading candidates are running on platforms of, among other things, building a wall with Mexico that will cost billions, banning Muslims from entering the United States, repealing the Affordable Care Act without articulating any alternative for the millions who would lose health insurance, and blocking any moderate regulations on the sale of guns. The significance of Clinton’s contrasts with the Republican field is all the greater in light of the recent opening on the Supreme Court.

For the reasons listed above, the stakes of this election are extremely high. This is precisely the reason I’m backing Clinton in the Democratic primary instead of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Conservative icon William F. Buckley once famously noted that he

Guest Column By Matthew Weiss

would support the “rightwardmost viable candidate.” In this election, I would urge fellow Democrats to support the “leftwardmost viable candidate.” While Sanders comes across as an honest and authentic politician, and he should be credited for bringing attention to income inequality and the corrosive effect of money in politics, the likelihood of him accomplishing any of his stated policy objectives is slim. First, Sanders is simply too liberal to win a general election. The average American is not likely to support a Socialist. He has admitted he intends to raise taxes on the middle class. When Democrats nominated extremely liberal candidates on platforms of tax increases, as in 1972 and 1984, the outcomes were Republican landslides. Second, Sanders’ positions on Israel should trouble the Jewish community. Although I respect Sanders for being the first Jewish American to win a presidential primary in New Hampshire, the senator has stated that to the extent he focuses on foreign policy, he receives advice from J Street and James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, two sources not known for their strong support of Israel. Finally, even if elected, Sanders could not implement his agenda. Obama spent nearly all of his political capital to pass the Affordable Care Act by a single vote in the Senate when both houses had solid Democratic majorities. It is unclear how Sanders would persuade what is likely to be a Republican-controlled Congress to pass a more radical health care plan. Because what matters is a president’s ability to get things done, I have faith Clinton can utilize her relationships in Washington to put forward a strong, realistic agenda that moves our 21 country in a progressive direction. ■ FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Democratic Primary: For Bernie Sanders

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ARTS

Shot Through Time

Children’s series mixes education, adventure By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

magine you invented a time machine but, because a disease has condemned you to a wheelchair, you can’t use it yourself. Whom would you send in your place, and where? If you’re a billionaire woman named Chris Zandergoth, with the high-tech genius of Tony Stark in a

body afflicted by ALS, you recruit four 12-year-olds from Boston and send them to take photos of events never captured on film or memory card. That’s the setup of Dan Gutman’s latest series, aimed at children ages 8 to 12. The “Flashback Four” books — a series name Gutman credits to fellow Jewish children’s author David Lubar — begin with the just-released “The Lincoln Project,” in which the heroes

travel to November 1863 to get a photo of Abraham Lincoln delivering his twominute Gettysburg Address. As Gutman explained in an interview, Lincoln’s speech was so short in an era when orators routinely spoke for hours and when cameras took a long time to set up that no one managed to capture an image of the address. He has written dozens of children’s books, including such series as “My Weird School”; “The Genius Files,” which includes a visit to the World of Coca-Cola by twins named Coke and Pepsi; and the time-traveling “Baseball Card Adventure Series.” The latest series, planned for at least four books, gives him a chance to write about photography, a youthful hobby he taught at summer camp, while educating and entertaining. “It’s a great way to slip a little history lesson into a story and let kids learn something about history without really letting them know you’re teaching them anything,” Gutman said. Not that he sticks to the facts. The time travelers have run-ins with young Tad Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, neither of whom was in Gettysburg for the dedication of the military cemetery in 1863. They even thwart a Booth assassination attempt on the president. Fortunately, Gutman said, most young readers don’t think about the potential paradoxes of time travel. “Every so often there’ll be some genius smart-aleck kid who will raise his hand

Dan Gutman visits Gettysburg to research his first “Flashback Four” book.

and say, ‘Wait a minute. On Page 56 it says that blank, and if that happened, then on Page 150 this couldn’t have possibly happened,” he said about his appearances with young fans. “And I say, ‘Security, take this kid away.’ ” Such appearances at schools helped Gutman expand his repertoire. He found he had nothing to say to younger children even though he was expected to spend time with kindergartners. “That’s why I started the ‘My Weird School’ series. It turned out to be the most popular thing I ever did.” He has finished the second “Flashback Four” adventure, which takes the kids to the Titanic to try to photograph the sinking ship, but Gutman said he’s open to suggestions about where in time the quartet should travel next. Perhaps Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius or some pivotal moment of the Revolutionary War. The only limits are time and imagination. ■ Flashback Four: The Lincoln Project By Dan Gutman HarperCollins, 240 pages, $16.99

Who: Dan Gutman What: Author appearance and book signing Where: Little Shop of Stories, 133A East Court Square, Decatur; Foxtale Book Shoppe, 105 E. Main St., Woodstock When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, in Decatur; 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in Woodstock

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Admission: Free; dangutman.com

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ARTS

Films Help Poland Confront Troubled Past By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

he recently completed 16th Atlanta Jewish Film Festival provided three distinct views of Poland and its Jewish history. The murder mystery “A Grain of Truth,” the dybbuk-driven drama “Demon” and the short documentary “800 Jews From Our Town” confront a history of anti-Semitism and its legacy in different ways, but each makes a case for openness about the past. “Polish cinema since World War II has been amazing. … These films are also fascinating,” Emory University film professor Matthew Bernstein said. “There have been a series of films recently dealing with the more difficult history of Poles and Jews,” said Rachel Rothstein, who teaches modern Jewish history at the Weber School, has visited Poland half a dozen times, and lived in Poland in 2011 and 2012 while researching her dissertation on Jews in Poland and the United States. Those recent Polish films include “In Darkness,” nominated for a 2012 Oscar, and “Ida,” which last year became the first Polish movie to win a foreign-language Oscar. “Poland has been putting out a fair number every year for the last little while of films that deal with Jewish content and are extremely high quality,” festival chair Max Leventhal said. “For the most part the conversations these films have initiated have been very positive,” Rothstein said. The documentary “800 Jews From Our Town” is about such conversations. The half-hour film, which made its world premiere at the Atlanta festi-

The out-of-town groom falls under the possession of a Jewish spirit in “Demon.”

val, follows high school students in the southeastern town of Bircza as they seek the truth about the fate of the Jews who lived there until World War II. The students work with School of Dialogue, a government-chartered educational program that focuses on Polish-Jewish dialogue and deals with the past to strengthen the future. Rothstein said: “It’s one of many organizations that’s really trying to bring together Jews and Poles or at least expose Polish students to Polish-Jewish history. The things I’ve seen are very interesting.” Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, who leads Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland, said School of Dialogue is good at providing information to Polish students, and the organization’s success comes through in the film. The students, who don’t know any Jews, overcome their stereotypes and misconceptions as they uncover the truth. “The people bringing this history back are the youngest members of the community,” director Filip Luft said. “They are entering adulthood by learning about Jews and telling that story to others. … It’s something that happens in Poland. It is between these two realities, between something totally forgot-

ten and history we have to deal with and want to bring back.” Buried history forces itself into the present in the two feature-length fictional films that played at the festival. In “A Grain of Truth,” ritual murders are staged to echo the blood libel in a provincial Polish city so obsessed with that anti-Semitic lie that the cathedral features a mural of the libel. In the course of the investigation, the secret Jewish past of one resident is revealed, raising the question of whether that person is a killer or a scapegoat. Rabbi Beliak said the movie was entertaining and instructive. “Usually, one does not want to burden an entertainment medium with too much ideological trappings,” he said, adding that the film is loaded down with coded material viewers might miss on first viewing. “I think the discussion will demand some sophistication in the genres of not only folk rumors and history, but also detective novels.” “Demon” is the least straightforward of the three. It’s a story of possession with some of the shock value of “The Exorcist” and the depth and spookiness of “The Shining.” The possession leads to the revelation that

the farm where the action takes place came into the possession of a well-off Polish family because the Jewish owners were killed by the Nazis. Anti-Semitism does not come into play; instead, the underlying theme is the lingering guilt over the advantages some Poles gained from the slaughter. Polish filmmakers are telling such difficult, painful stories while society at large is finally talking about the history, Luft said. “It’s something still in our minds as kind of an open wound — that we had a big Jewish community before the war, and now there is nothing. We kind of perceive this absence.” But Rothstein said Poland has an unfair reputation for anti-Semitism. She said the way the Jewish community feels safe without visible security reflects the reality. “It’s such a difficult history,” she said. “You have to try to look at it from the Polish perspective as well as the Jewish perspective.” Luft said Poles get frustrated when their country is viewed only as the scene of the Holocaust. But he also said his countrymen can’t be afraid to acknowledge the difficulties of their past. “We want to talk about it now much more than we used to,” Luft said. Rothstein said the remarkable thing about Poland today is how the past three generations have lived through such different times under such different governments, and college students today are able to look at what they’re learning compared with what their parents learned under the Communists and what their grandparents experienced under the Nazis. “It’s pretty phenomenal,” she said. “It’s a country with a lot of healing to do and learning to do.” ■

udiences at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival voted films that ranged from bittersweet to plain bitter as the top entries at the 16th annual festival. The day after the festival ended with a day of encores of popular movies, the festival announced the winners of the AJFF Audience Awards, presented by the Helen Marie Stern Memorial Fund. The three winners were not among the 10 encore films, which were chosen based on ticket demand, not ratings: • Best narrative — “Naked Among Wolves.” • Best documentary — “Breakfast

at Ina’s.” • Best short — “To Step Forward Myself.” All three movies will be shown at Georgia Theatre Co.’s Merchants Walk Cinemas in East Cobb on Sunday, March 6. “Naked Among Wolves,” which made its North American debut at the festival, is a German Holocaust film set at the Buchenwald concentration camp in the waning days of World War II. Resistance leaders in the camp are planning an uprising until a new prisoner arrives with a 3-year-old boy hidden in his suitcase, and the men focus on protecting the child instead of

breaking out. “Breakfast at Ina’s” tells the story of Ina Pinkney, the “breakfast queen” of Chicago, as she prepares to close her restaurant because of the physical strain from post-polio syndrome. “To Step Forward Myself,” “Breakfast at Ina’s” follows Ina Pinkney as which had its world premiere she winds down her restaurant business. at the festival, is the true story of Alex Singer, who made aliyah from showing at 12:20 and 6:35 p.m., “Naked upstate New York after college, vol- Among Wolves” at 2:20 and 8:15 p.m., unteered for military service and was and “To Step Forward Myself” at 4:55. Tickets to the two feature-length killed in action in Lebanon on his 25th films are $13; tickets to the short are $8. birthday. On March 6, “Breakfast at Ina’s” is

Visit ajff.org to buy tickets. ■

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AJFF Audiences Favor ‘Wolves,’ ‘Breakfast at Ina’s’

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Community, Festival Bring Each Other Together

t is just after 7 o’clock on the final evening of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, and I am struggling with a platter stacked with 20 pounds of marinated stuffed grape leaves. I’m part of an effort to feed a hungry closing night crowd after the final festival documentary film about Israeli food. Dangling from my neck is a purple-and-white plastic card that boldly proclaims me a festival “Volunteer,” something I had been doing in one way or another for eight months. Little did I think that my journey that began in June as a volunteer at the AJFF would end in front of mounds of medjool dates and dried apricots, gallons of hummus, and a film festival credential that threatens to be lost amid the large mound of oily grape leaves I carry. For eight months I have been part of one of the most ambitious cultural programs that the Jewish community has created in this city.

Without the help of a small army of volunteers and financial contributors working under the festival’s executive director, Kenny Blank, and his very capable professional staff and board of directors, the festival simply wouldn’t have happened. Volunteers helped to whittle down over 500 film entries that became

Guest Column By Bob Bahr

the 77 finalists in the festival. The 163 volunteers who participated in the sixmonth film evaluation process created over 13,000 individual evaluations for the films they screened. Volunteers also accounted for an overwhelming majority of the 400 participants who provided programming before or after many of the films during the three-week run. Finally, volunteers donated much

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of the multimillion-dollar budget for the festival. Because ticket sales account for only 20 percent of the budget, the rest comes from a long list of donors, large and small. Their names pack four closely spaced pages in this year’s program guide. Their efforts are a testament to the maturity and deep strength that the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has developed over its 16-year history. Those efforts also confirm the immense vitality of an organization that stepped out Photo by Duane Stork 18 months ago as an indepenBob Bahr (left) and “The Midnight Orchestra” star Avishay Benazra talk to the audience after dent nonprofit entity, separate a screening at UA Tara Cinemas on Feb. 11. from its founder, the American Jewish Committee. flickered out. But all this is not surprising for a As support for the Atlanta Jewish festival that has been part of a Jewish film Festival grows from year to year, educational and cultural movement so does recognition of the power of the that has made motion pictures into Jewish film movement to help create, a major force in America’s Jewish as one critical observer put it, a comcultural life. munity that is reborn and revitalized. Since 1980, when the first Jewish In a world where we are more offilm festival in the United States was ten defined by our differences than by organized in San Francisco, these fesour agreements, a Jewish film festival tivals have grown and prospered, even such as ours bring us together on comas support for other cultural programs mon and congenial grounds. has tightened. Today there are over Through the power of film and 100 Jewish film festivals that serve in the lure of Jewish stories, we are able varying degrees as a source of Jewish to forget, if only for a few short weeks, identity and participation in their loour religious and ideological differcal communities. ences. In Atlanta, this year’s showings It helps us to engage in a converprovided many encounters with insation about what truly matters to us spiring, little-known corners of Jewish all. The great gift of the festival is that experience and life. Who knew about it encourages the healthy dialogue Carvalho’s trek across the uncharted that is at the heart of a vibrant and American West or Ina Pinkney’s dynamic community existence. breakfasts or David Broza’s journey That all came together last week across the ethnically frozen borders of as the closing night’s film ended and Jerusalem? the crowd spilled out into the theater For many for whom Jewish learnlobby. Plates of chicken wings, swirls ing is a daily process or just a someof hummus and bites of barbecued time thing, the festival provided an lamb pitas competed with film talk opportunity to grapple in a darkened and farewells. theater with many profoundly Jewish As I took off my volunteer badge themes. for a final time, I was reminded that There was the message of interin the sharing of the food, as in the cultural understanding and intergensharing of all the ideas and experierational forgiveness in “The Midnight ences that had bound this crowd Orchestra,” a discourse on the ultitogether, this festival was truly not just mate cost of loneliness and despair in a celebration of the movies, but also a “Mountain,” and the powerful search celebration of us. ■ for meaning in a difficult life in “Wedding Doll,” to mention just a few. Bob Bahr has just begun a six-week Many who attended could speak series at The Temple (the-temple.org) at length and with passion about titled “Fitting In — A Short History their favorites. Often the individual of Jewish Film in America.” It is cosponsored by the AJFF and the Breman conversations about these films would Museum. continue long after the screen had

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Festival Crowd Gets Taste of Israeli Cuisine

losing night of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival drew 1,400 people in search of a gastronomical education and expedition to the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown on Tuesday, Feb. 16, for the Atlanta premiere of the documentary “In Search of Israeli Cuisine.” Celebrity chef and restaurateur Michael Solomonov, who appeared at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center in November in conjunction with his cookbook “Zahav,” took us through 97 minutes of mouthwatering dishes with a map and jaunts through the small country while delving into the question “What really is Israeli cuisine?” Ripe tomatoes, charred eggplant, lamb, grilled fish, organic farms, wine and cheeses had their turns on screen. It was a true learning experience and a political exposé as Arab cooks weighed in on our cross-cultural food connection. In the best line from the movie, Solomonov said, “I’m allergic to alcohol” when he eschewed a fine kosher

wine toast. He added, “When I drink, I break out in handcuffs and police cars.” After the movie, we were treated

Jaffe’s Jewish Jive By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

to a light combination buffet from Café Sababa, Hal’s Kitchen and Cooking With Margot — all done with good intentions. But after the three pre-film speeches and trailers for the next day’s encores, I was ready to eat my leather purse by the time the movie presentation ended after 9 p.m. People who arrived early got a small sample bag of CaJa Popcorn to sustain them. Little did we know we should stock up. In their fervor for food, many in the audience stampeded out before the panel discussion while the credits rolled. The movie, as good as it was, almost taunted empty stomachs.

Photos by Marcia Caller Jaffe

David Lewis, who introduced and moderated post-film discussions for several movies during the festival, says he is heading for the baba ghanoush after “In Search of Israeli Cuisine.”

Café Sababa rolls out Israeli fare for the hungry crowd.

Next time, maybe it would be wise to serve the hummus, olives and apricots before the film and the rest of the food afterward. Still, it was a special night and a fun finish to the world’s largest Jewish film festival. ■

“Watching that movie on food really made me hungry,” Janet Rafshoon says.

A lineup of Sephardic cooks attends closing night: (from left) Suzanne Dinur, Suzanne Hanein, Judy Bernath and Jackie Benveniste.

AJFF Attendance Slips 6.5 Percent He said ticket sales as a percentage of seating capacity remained consistent with previous years. “Short- and long-term plans are being developed to increase seating capacity to meet demand for 2017 and beyond,” Blank said, adding that a comprehensive debriefing in the next few weeks will help festival staff understand audience demographics and satisfaction rates and will contribute to the planning for the 17th festival. The film festival held 184 screenings, including 15 encore showings,

from Jan. 26 to Feb. 17. “We invite everyone who attended AJFF to complete the online audience survey at ajff.org/2016survey,” Blank said. Initial feedback indicates high approval for the audience experience and for the quality of the films. “We continue to grow the lineup of films we show each year, but we obviously want to ensure the quality remains as high as it always has been,” Blank said. “I’ve been really pleased to hear from our audience that we achieved that mark.”

The decline in attendance gives San Francisco a chance to reclaim its longtime title as the biggest Jewish film festival in the world. San Francisco has drawn about 35,000 filmgoers annually the past few years. Its 36th festival is scheduled for July 21 to Aug. 7. “Our first priority continues to be a world-class audience experience,” Blank said. “We continue to be stunned and honored just how enthusiastic our audience is, but the size of the audience is secondary to the quality of their time at the festival.” ■

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FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

he world’s largest Jewish film festival did something different this year: It failed to break its own attendance record. A year after drawing more than 38,600 filmgoers to claim the title of world’s largest from the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival saw attendance decline about 6.5 percent to 36,092. The cause, festival Executive Director Kenny Blank said, was a reduction in seating capacity resulting from remodeling at Lefont Sandy Springs.

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Let There Be Light: An Artist’s Haven

ynette and Malcolm Joel built a spectacular, bright, clean-lined house. The level first floor was ideal for her elderly parents, who lived with them. The design has worked well for the mutigenerational household, including 17 visiting grandchildren. Lynette has carved a niche for herself in Atlanta as a talented innovator. She started silk-screening exotic clothing and wearable art. She evolved into books, jewelry, pillows and upholstery, chuppahs, Torah covers, and stained glass. She is best known for her “Twelve Tribes” series and unusual clothing style. “My style of art is really my own and comes from the heart,” she said. “The bright, clean colors and angulated shapes have a strong influence from my native Africa.” Local designer Jill Vantosh said: “Lynette is an amazing artist and role model. She continuously takes on new challenges and has captured Jewish traditions and stories with vivid color and imagination.” The Joels’ 5,300-square-foot house is the vessel through which the sun provides color and great views to the landscape and wildlife beyond.

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Jaffe: Your Sandy Springs house on 3 acres with its glistening lake is a hidden treasure. Lynette: There is actually a story behind it. Knowing that we wanted to walk to synagogue in this area, we researched county maps to find this property. We bought an older ranch on the property and leveled it. Terry Patrick was the architect; we designed the house together. The 21-degree pivot in the house gives a view of the lake from all the rooms.

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Jaffe: Your studio workshop is multifaceted and humming with energy. What goes on in here? Lynette: In the main studio are six sewing machines and a quilting loom, where a cow quilt is in progress. The side room houses two large commercial, 15-thread embroidery machines, where I embellish multiple projects concurrently. My favorite medium is computer digitizing, resulting in my own embroidered designs, turning them into wearable art, quilts, pillows and upholstery. Jaffe: What are some of the

unique features in your kitchen? Lynette: The counter granite surface is Mari Blue Leather, which is heavily textured. My storage pantry converts into a Passover kitchen. The marble table in the breakfast room appears to float on one end, anchored by one stainless post on the other. A Calder print contrasts the stained glass

Chai-Style Homes By Marcia Caller Jaffe mjaffe@atljewishtimes.com

“Mother and Child,” which I designed and fabricated myself. I did not enjoy this medium but wanted to experience glass construction to understand its limitations so that I am able to design fine glass windows one day for a synagogue. Jaffe: Your dining room beckons family gatherings amidst the art. Lynette’s “Twelve Tribes,” third son David’s charcoal drawing of Martin Luther King, and second son Jared’s hand-painted acrylic “Seven Days of Creation” adorn the walls, showcasing the family’s talents. The leather furniture in the family room was designed and built by eldest son Darren in his custom furniture business. Lynette: The dining table is a three-part aluminum-and-glass art piece I designed with artist Paul Freundt to seat 20 people. I am probably best known for the “Twelve Tribes of Israel.” Embedded in the designs are many intricate stories from biblical and traditional sources. The series, a limited edition spanning a 30-year period, was created as fundraisers for varies Jewish institutions. I am most proud of my design in mosaic “The Donor Wall for Young Israel of Toco Hills.” Jaffe: What are some of your favorite pieces collected from South Africa? Lynette: (Laughing) My 6-foot beaded Ndebele doll had to have her legs cut off at the airport to fit her onto the plane back to the U.S. The large beaded animals were bought along the roadside and from street artisans, as were the handmade rugs from Kwazula. Africa is rich in culture and art, but one has search it out. On a more serious note, we have a collection of

C Leonard Matsoso’s art pieces. Malcolm: My favorite indigenous wood carvings, “Thanks for the Meal” and “True Bull” by Lucas Sithole (an internationally renowned sculptor), were acquired 40 years ago in South Africa. Jaffe: How does the South African art dovetail into the formal living room? Lynette: The 15 woodcuts by Lucky Sibiya depicting the Zulu version of “Macbeth,” “uMabatha,” dominate the room. I designed the carpets and had them handwoven in South Africa. In here the 21-degree pivot allows full view of the lake. Malcolm: We have a wonderful collection of silver, ceremonial Judaic pieces by our Israeli artist friends, Emil Shenfeld and Yaakov Greenvurcel. Jaffe: The master bedroom is captivatingly off-beat. Lynette: I created the musician quilt on the bed, which took about six months to complete. Much of the art in the bedroom is from African artist Matsoso, drawn with millions of tiny

pen-and-ink strokes. Jaffe: I see this rather eccentric orange, wild-haired orchestra conductor repeated in some of your work. Lynette: My musician series and “Figuring Figures” are printed on aluminum and give a three-dimensional impression like many layers of glass. This is accomplished by the shadows and light that I created. Jaffe: Malcolm, how would you describe your wife’s talent? Malcolm: She has an eye for color, texture and detail. She is willing to take on new challenges and stick to the subject until she has mastered it. Lynette: I would share: If you are able to find your passion, don’t fear failure. Jump in and do it. It’s hard work but worth it in the end. I am currently working on a coffee-table book describing the “Twelve Tribes” and the biblical sources. Life has a way of throwing challenges, which push me to another level of accomplishment. Jaffe: Your home and talents are multilayered, and there is nothing in moderation, which makes this the story within the story. ■

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G E

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

Photos by Duane Stork

A: Lynette Joel displays her own “Insect Species” quilt in front of “Assegai Spear Man” by Matsoso (left) and “Rain” by Petro. B: Sithole created this wooden dog, “Thanks for the Meal,” in indigenous South African wood. C: Lynette Joel’s “Twelve Tribes,” son David’s charcoal of Martin Luther King Jr. and son Jared’s “Seven Days of Creation” fill the wall behind the Freundt aluminum table in the dining room. D: The Joel house sits on 3 acres right on a serene lake. E: The formal living room displays 15 woodcuts by Sibiya of “uMabatha,” the Zulu version of “Macbeth,” and a colorful, hand-designed rug. F: The backyard pool provides fun for the Joels’ 17 grandchildren. G: Malcolm and Lynette Joel enjoy their kitchen with Mari Blue Leather granite counters. H: The artwork on display includes Lynette Joel’s flamboyant orchestra conductor in aluminum layered to appear three-dimensional, a beaded bird from a South African roadside, and a limited-edition Jiang Tiefeng piece (in the black frame). I: “Benjamin,” which is silk screen printed on giclée, is part of Lynette Joel’s “Twelve Tribes” series. J: Lynette Joel is adept with two commercial-size, 15-thread embroidery machines, six sewing machines, and two looms.

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

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Adult Children Offered Help to Become Caregivers

einstein Hospice created the “Kibud Av V’Eim: Navigating the Journey From Child to Caregiver” workshop to help adult children care for aging parents and to help people be creative, deliberate and realistic about their own aging and dying. Social worker Jenifer Firestone, who is the hospice’s volunteer coordinator and describes her experience caring for 92- and 95-year-old parents for 4½ years as “the most heart-wrenching, anxiety-producing, costly, complicated and frustrating experience of my life,” provided answers to possible questions about the program. It is being offered in a two-session series at Congregation Or Hadash in March and Congregation Beth Jacob in May, and the hospice is seeking other synagogues as partners. Q: What is the journey referred to in the workshop title? A: Two journeys are taking place at the same time. The first journey is that of older people going from being active, independent and relatively healthy to being less active, having more health problems, and needing increasing assistance and support in daily life. The concurrent journey is for adult children having to provide care and assistance to the people who were their caregivers. Aging parents and childrenturned-caregivers are often reluctant to find themselves on these journeys.

Q: Why “navigating”? A: The journey is not straightforward or clear. There are many, often confusing options and decisions that have significant implications for care recipients and caregivers. Successful navigation requires forethought and familiarity with the possibilities. Q: Why did Weinstein Hospice create this program? A: As hospice and geriatric care professionals, we have accompanied hundreds of families as they struggle through these journeys. Aging and dying are difficult under the best of circumstances. These life challenges are exacerbated by denial, resistance, and a lack of emotional and logistical preparation. Our experience with aging and dying has made us aware of what so many people learn the hard way. Q: What are the biggest challenges to families as aging occurs? A: The first challenge is the resistance to recognizing the need for and accepting help. The rejection of walkers, electronic medication dispensers, the end of driving and private home care assistance leads to falls, medication errors, dehydration, muscle atrophy, poor nutrition and the increasing weakness that cuts away at people’s prized independence. These problems exacerbate the trauma and frustration of the adult children who are increas-

ingly responsible for their parents. The second challenge is the dearth of appropriate and affordable living options for aging people. Without the wealth to pay for increasing amounts of private care over five, 10, 15 or more years, a person can’t truly “age in place.” It is not uncommon for elderly people of some means to move from their own home to independent living, then assisted living, then a nursing home. All of those moves take a terrible toll on the elderly and their children. If you don’t have the means to pay 24/7 caregivers or a respectable nursing home, you are looking at the gaping black hole of elder housing. The third challenge is the lack of chronic and palliative medical care for frail elders who do not meet hospice criteria. Only 1 percent of American physicians specialize in geriatrics, and doctors or nurse practitioners who make house calls can’t make a living from insurance reimbursements. The overtreatment of the elderly in emergency rooms and hospitals often creates more problems than it solves. It is a systemic problem through which

each family must find a way. Q: What are some of the joys of helping parents and grandparents through old age? A: The joys come when you as a caregiver can identify and actualize simple things that bring a loved one pleasure: a ride in the car on a beautiful day, a homemade bowl of soup, live streaming of High Holiday services or a granddaughter’s dance concert, a manicure, a fire in the fireplace. Q: Who should attend the workshop? A: Many people who are expecting a baby attend multisession birthing classes to be prepared and make appropriate decisions and arrangements. Aging, caregiving and dying are inevitable and can take years. We must consider and learn as much as we can to sustain us through this difficult period. If you are 40 or older, it is not too soon to think about these issues for yourself. If you have a loved one over 70, you must get ahead of the situation to prevent a crisis. ■

What: Caregiver workshop Where: Congregation Or Hadash, 746 Trowbridge Road, Sandy Springs; Congregation Beth Jacob, 1855 LaVista Road, Toco Hills When: Wednesday, March 9 and 16, at Or Hadash; Sunday, May 15 and 22, at Beth Jacob Admission: Free; RSVP to rabbianalia@gmail.com or 404-250-3338 for Or Hadash or sfberkowitz@bethjacobatlanta.org or 404-633-0551 for Beth Jacob

Immersion Spreads Life’s Essence to the Infertile Recently through the Jewish Fertility Foundation, women took part in a meaningful ritual for those suffering from infertility.

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

o the unformed images of G-d yet to join me in this world: As the living waters of the mikvah flowed from one person to the next, I found myself turning my thoughts and prayers to you. These waters flowed from one person to another, from one life to another, from one journey to the next. Three women immersed, each one as vulnerable as the next, and the waters held them and comforted them. The first, in her ninth month of pregnancy, immersed to mark the life that will be brought into the world. The living waters, mayim chaim, sur28 rounded her and were blessed by the

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life within her. As she left, I blessed her that everything should happen “in a favorable time” (b’sha’a tova). These living waters were not

Guest Column By Rabbi Jessica Shafrin

done. The next two immersions were for women struggling with infertility. Their thoughts were brought to our ancestors Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Chana, who asked, begged, cried and prayed to be blessed with a child. The prayer of these two women was the same as for those who came before them. They acknowledged the salt of their tears as prayers running down their faces. They prayed that the water

of the mikvah would wash away the saltiness and that they would be filled with light and new life. Each immersion consisted of three dunks, marking the past, present and future. The women said two blessings, one on the immersion and the second to praise the source of life. And so I prayed. I prayed that these same living waters that were touched by the first woman to immerse would touch these two women with that which is their essence: life. Mikvah is the womb of the world, creating from the chaos of the waters. These waters were illuminated: G-d spoke, and there was light, a brightness that would be a guide, that would glow in our hearts and in our souls. And with the help of the light, creation can take place and continue. Sitting in the mikvah, surrounded by the water that splashes around her body, a woman feels this light. For a

moment, there is no chaos, no doctors, no tests — only her vulnerable body and the waters. There is hope. There is light. There can be creation. I prayed and remembered Sarah’s laughter, Rebecca’s tears, Rachel’s innovation and Chana’s prayer. Each had her own response but the same yearning for a child. I prayed that these women would be remembered by G-d just as G-d remembered those before them and blessed them children. As they left, I blessed them that they would walk with the angels Michael and Gabriel at their sides, would follow the light of Uriel, and would be trailed by the healing of Raphael. Above all, that Shechinat El would continue to rest above their heads. ■ Rabbi Jessica Shafrin guides seekers through immersion at the Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah and is on the board of the Jewish Fertility Foundation.

SIMCHAS

Yolanda and Abe Gaynes have been together for more than 75 years.

Anniversary Gaynes

Shelley, Bruce and Carley Gaynes stand behind the anniversary couple, Yolanda and Abe Gaynes, at the party Feb. 14 at Berman Commons.

Berman Commons residents Abe and Yolanda Gaynes celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary Sunday, Feb. 14, with a party hosted by their children, Shelley and Bruce Gaynes. The couple met at the Jersey shore in the summer of 1940 when Yolanda was 16 and Abe was 18, and it was love at first sight. They became engaged shortly before Abe was drafted into the Army, and when he returned home after World War II, they married Feb. 10, 1946. Abe was the proprietor of Red Star Paint, a business his father started in Irvington, N.J. Yolanda was active in Hadassah and ORT. They retired to Boca Raton, Fla., in 1972, then moved to Atlanta eight years ago to be closer to their family, which includes five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. ■

OBITUARIES

Last Treblinka Survivor Dies

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

amuel Willenberg, 93, the last survivor of the 1943 revolt at the Treblinka death camp, died Friday, Feb. 19, at his home in Tel Aviv. Willenberg was born in 1923 in Częstochowa, Poland. He was taken to Treblinka in 1942 at age 19 and, at the advice of a man who whispered in his ear, claimed to be a bricklayer, which saved his life. All 6,000 people who arrived with him were killed. He was one of the leading members of the prisoner revolt in August 1943. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, about 300 prisoners escaped, and 100 survived the resulting Nazi SS manhunt. Willenberg joined the Polish resistance and took part in the Warsaw uprising in 1944. He joined the Polish army after World War II and reached the rank of lieutenant, then made aliyah in 1950. “Samuel Willenberg was a hero who defied the odds and risked his life during the darkest time in modern history. He dedicated his life’s work to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and to honoring the Jewish people,” World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer said. “As the number of living Holocaust survivors dwindles, it is our duty to continue their legacy and ensure that future generations remember their sacrifices and never forget the horrors that the Jewish people were forced to endure.” He dedicated most of his life to teaching about the Holocaust. He became an artist whose work focused on the Holocaust, and he led frequent trips to Poland to teach children about the horrors of the war. His memoir, “Revolt in Treblinka,” was published in Hebrew in 1986 and was translated into English and seven other languages. Willenberg was involved in a project to establish a museum at Treblinka until his death. He is survived by his wife, Ada, a Holocaust survivor from Warsaw, and a daughter, Orit Willenberg-Giladi, an architect working on the new Israeli Embassy in Berlin. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday afternoon, Feb. 22, delivered the eulogy at the funeral in Moshav Udim. “The life story of Samuel Willenberg is the eternal story of the Jewish people. It is a story of hope and faith, of destruction and rebirth, of strength and pride,” Rivlin said. He said 850,000 Jews were killed at Treblinka; 67 survived. “You were among them, the last witness.” ■

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CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

A Terrace By Any Other Name …

he front of our apartment building faced Prospect Avenue. A beautifully tended, U-shaped entranceway led to an even more attractive lobby. When I was little, both doubled as our playgrounds. Definition of a Bronx playground: any open space where children can cause havoc, including sidewalks or the gutter (a road specifically on which cars can travel). A space where imagination reigned, not swing sets, slides, monkey bars or grass. A space for such games as hit the curb, stickball, potsie, jump rope, Spalding rubber balls, pick up sticks and jacks. Around the corner, in the back of our building, past the entrance to the superintendent’s apartment, was yet another U-shaped playground out of sight of our nosey yenta (gossiper) Mrs. Goldberg. Of course playing back there meant we had to watch out for the dripping laundry hung with clothespins on a rope pulley strung from apartment windows. All the apartments boasted beautiful terraces. These terraces were multifunctional structures. There were those apartment dwellers who found their cucumbers turned into delicious pickles when cured on the terrace. Others found that the terraces had the perfect combination of sun and shade to grow beautiful plants. Some used them as extra refrigeration or as a place to cool baked goods. And still others found them a peaceful place to sit and smoke (yes, everyone was still really into that oh-so-healthy habit) alone. Full disclosure: Some Bronxites might refer to our terraces as fire escapes. I don’t ever recall actually seeing anyone running down the steps of the terrace, a.k.a. fire escape, because of a fire. My cousins Barbara and Frannie lived in the apartment directly below us. Among us five girls — my two sisters, Maggie and Joycie, and myself, plus our cousins — we created more 30 uses for those terraces than any of

today’s billionaire millennial entrepreneurs could have imagined. Proof of our creativity:

The Playpen Break down a large cardboard box and place it on the base of the terrace. Voila! A perfect place to color, do

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

CROSSWORD “And the Nominees Are...” By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Challenging

By Shaindle Schmuckler shaindle@atljewishtimes.com

homework, create puppet plays, play board games, or just get away from the parents and out of the apartment for a breath of fresh air.

The Futon Need a quiet place to read or tell secrets? Simply place pillows on the steps leading to the floor above.

attached to a long rope. You guessed it! We created our own dumbwaiter with a pulley system. I would reveal more, but I’d best be thoughtful, given the public arena I chose to share my nostalgia. Suffice to say, we were too young, too naïve and too afraid of our parents to do anything illegal or immoral. Immature? Probably. Did we have fun? Absolutely! I feel compelled to share my great sadness with you. Whereas many neighborhoods in the Bronx were gentrified, my childhood home was not. Mine was replaced with the Cross-Bronx Expressway, as were my elementary and junior high schools. I am blessed to have my cousins and sisters available to share these treasured memories. ■ Shaindle wishes to thank Margorino for her extraordinary editing abilities.

49 56

43 46

60 62

20 22

8 16

Shaindle’s Shpiel

I don’t ever The Air Bed Remove the mattress recall actually from the bed. Place on the seeing anyone terrace. Relax and enjoy. running down the steps of the The Dumbwaiter The five of us often terrace, a.k.a. shared our precious items, including secret notes, by fire escape, placing them in because of a fire. simply the box or pail that was

AJT

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54 59

61 65

ACROSS 1. No. 1 fan of Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski 5. Hawkeye Epstein, e.g. 8. Some on Mount Hermon 14. Bracha follower 15. “Indiana Jones” snake in a plane 16. Like Perlman’s talent 17. Elijah, perhaps (with “The”) 19. This clue, e.g. 20. Cronenberg’s go-to actor Viggo 22. Result of Braddock vs. Baer, e.g. 25. Washing outcome of a kittel but never a tallit 29. Israel’s Mafdal (19562008): Abbr. 30. Gedi preceder 32. Couple after the chuppah 33. It’s passed down 34. Imported energy to Israel 36. Unlikely occupation for a Jewish girl 38. Settle 40. Crossing for a fateful 12? 44. Pur of Purim 45. Fast or holy 46. “___ Grit” (Coen Brothers’ film) 48. Part of Passover? 49. Kosher restaurant in Venice, when squared 52. Loc. for some shekels 54. Appendage by which to play “Hatikvah”? 55. Jonathan 58. Serve chicken soup 60. Is leery of, like Solomon to Adonijah 62. Claim in beth din 65. Locale with largest concentration of Jews outside Israel 69. Og’s was high 70. Those with the initials of the theory of relativity man

71. Grandson of Sarah 72. Aliyah makers 73. Org. that spied on Bibi 74. Stern home?

Shabbat 37. Say “yes” while praying 39. “Pick” of a hard to please shviger 41. Battle for 5-Across 42. Like all the attempts by 43-Down to destroy Israel 43. See 42-Down 44. Second word of an Elvis movie 47. “How long will it be ___ thou be quiet?” (Jer. 47: 6) 50. Houses in Katamon and Talpiot 51. “Shalom” site 53. Amy Winehouse was one 56. The end of the Greeks? 57. Karl in Abrams’ “Star Trek” films 59. Partook in a seder 61. Sammy whose baseball career wasn’t so kosher 62. Miracle emotion 63. Upcoming role for Jesse (Eisenberg) 64. Chutzpadik body part 66. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” soundtrack grp. 67. Babi ___ (memorial site) 68. Lev. follower

DOWN 1. Start of a simcha? 2. Had leek on Rosh Hashanah 3. Ashi, for one 4. These puzzles always have one 5. Possible setting for priests, rabbis and ducks 6. Make like the Jews, in the face of all oppressors 7. The leek in 2-Down 8. Jams with Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman 9. A quarter of the way into the Dead Sea 10. Like Jerry Zucker’s “Airplane!” 11. (Mostly) kosher sports nutrition brand 12. Hwy. 1, e.g. 13. Sabbath msg. 18. One on the bottom of an ArtScroll Talmud page 21. Israeli cyber warfare grp. bought by a U.S. private equity fund in 2014 22. Sch. of Lewis Black and Michael Jordan 23. Much of Dershowitz’s work LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 24. One in A J A R E M T S N I P P Y 14 15 16 Noam Murro’s R O L L D I O N O P E R A 17 18 19 E L D O C T O R O W “300: Rise of an O N E S 20 21 22 23 M A R T I N I W O E S U N Empire” 24 25 26 27 A S T I R E B B S F E D S 26. Chose at 28 29 30 N E B U L A D O V Aroma 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 O H W E L L I L P E R E T Z 27. Chanukah 38 39 40 41 42 B A I A O L L E S R E I on New Year’s 43 44 45 46 47 I J S I N G E R A S S E N T Day, e.g. 48 49 50 C O D G A L L E Y 28. 1989 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 C H O U E G G O R A B B I Sammy Davis 58 59 60 61 A Y N A L I N O T G O O D 62 63 64 65 Jr. film J D S A L I N G E R N O R A 67 68 31. Bench end? 66U R I E L G E R E O N E H 69 70 71 35. Started N A N C Y S O S O N E R O

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AJT 31

EDUCATION

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Second-grader Benjamin Barkan, eighth-grader Abigail Barkan and fifth-grader Miriam Barkan, representing the present and future of the Davis Academy and the Davis family, get their turn with the shovels at the groundbreaking.

Photos by David R. Cohen and Michael Jacobs

Mechina student Harlow Rosen dances along to a song led by music teacher Adam Griff.

The Davis Academy A boys team shares a fist pump and cheer after leading the Friday blessings and being honored for winning a Metro Atlanta Athletic Conference division championship this month.

Sixth-grade sisters Shelby and Olivia Bercoon ponder their mystery-box “winnings” of salt and tomato soup at the Kabbalat Shabbat service.

First-grader Sierra Frank sports one of the yellow plastic hard hats that joined kippot as Friday morning headgear.

Davis Digs Toward the Future

FEBRUARY 26 ▪ 2016

AJT

also includes a kosher kitchen and dining hall, flexible learning spaces, and a spiritual and communal gathering space. The Middle School also will get some improvements. Shafron said it is the fourth expansion for Davis, which started in 1992 in the basement of the Junior Achievement building on Abernathy Road. “Together, we are building a sacred space for our community,” Shafron told more than 60 people gathered for the reception, whom she thanked for giving the project their time, energy and generosity. “Our facilities must be as outstanding as our offerings.” She offered special thanks to the capital campaign’s honorary co-chairs, longtime benefactors Ann and Jay Davis, Dulcy and Jerry Rosenberg, and Carole and Sid Kirschner. Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, joined by council member Andy Bauman, praised the school for showing dedication to the arts by building the auditorium — and for not overlooking the need to feed the body as well as the soul by adding the dining hall. ■

“The Next Stage” T-shirt is the uniform of the day Feb. 19 for Davis faculty members.

Davis Academy pupils, parents and teachers pack the gym Feb. 19 for the Kabbalat Shabbat service that also celebrated the groundbreaking.

Wielding shovels are (from left) project architect Kyle Epstein, volunteer project manager Joseph Rubin, Head of School Amy Shafron, Sam Tuck, Jerry Rosenberg, Dulcy Rosenberg, Jay Davis, Ann Davis, Debbie Kurzweil, Jon Leven, Mara Berman and Mayor Rusty Paul.

he Davis Academy celebrated the next stage in its physical development Friday morning, Feb. 19, with a double dose of shoveling dirt. First, an all-school Kabbalat Shabbat service, after multiple references to the additions planned to the nation’s largest Reform day school under its $7.5 million capital campaign, culminated in Head of School Amy Shafron digging into a pile of dirt on the gym floor next to Davis board of trustees President Debbie Kurzweil and capital campaign co-chairs Jon Leven, Sam Tuck and Mara Berman. Second, after a brief reception for donors and Sandy Springs leaders, a dozen shovels moved some dirt outside the media center in front of a bobcat ready to get to work next week. Under the expansion planned by Kyle Epstein, who also was the architect for the existing facilities on the Davis Lower School and Middle School campuses, a 600-seat performing arts center will be built on the 32 site behind the media center. The project

Davis Academy Head of School Amy Shafron talks about the groundbreaking.

Sixth-grader Sasha Wildstein looks for a surprise after opting for a mystery box held by Pepe Pasillas, Davis’ operations and facilities manager, instead of a stuffed lion from Rabbi Micah Lapidus. She won an “iPad” — a paper pad with the letter I written on the front.

(From left) Jon Leven, Sam Tuck, Mara Berman and Debbie Kurzweil help explain the dirt piled in the front of the gym during a skit at the end of the Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul shows his excitement over Davis’ latest investment in the city.