Atlanta Jewish Times, No. 42, November 6, 2015

100 YEARS

POP-UP FEAST

Hadassah Atlanta begins its centennial celebration with the opening of an exhibit at the Breman. Page 15

MAGIC MITCH

For one night, a Kennesaw State culinary student is turning Chabad of Cobb into a kosher eatery. Page 20

Mitch Albom returns to his first love with a novel about a war orphan with a talent for music. Page 25

Atlanta WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM

VOL. XC NO. 42

Giving Spirit Rains Down

NOVEMBER 6, 2015 | 24 CHESHVAN 5776

Slain Man’s Son Urged U.N. to Act

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ore than 300 people participated in Yom Tzedakah, the Epstein School’s metro-area day of community service, Sunday, Nov. 1, despite rain showers throughout the day.

By partnering with community members to benefit nearly 20 charitable organizations, the school practiced one of its core values, tikkun olam (repairing the world). Among the projects: • Old crayons were baked into new shapes and attached to healing cards for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Scottish Rite facility.

• Thank-you holiday cards for U.S. soldiers were prepared for “The Bert Show’s” Big Thank You. • Through Epstein’s Environmental Footprint program, the school’s Educational Garden was planted, weeded, cleaned and provided stepping-stones.

• More than half a ton of food was sorted and packed at the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

• Residents at the Cohen Home, an assisted-living facility in Johns Creek, were engaged in social activities, including a Senior Olympics.

• Toys, blankets and other comfort items for dogs and cats were made at the Atlanta Humane Society’s Mansell Road facility in Alpharetta.

• School kits and toiletry kits were assembled and winter blankets were made for the people Simple Needs GA supports.

ATLANTA IN D.C.

Nearly three dozen locals are heading to Washington for Federations’ General Assembly, where they’ll share inclusive ideas and hear Netanyahu. Page 6

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

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Lauren Skor helps daughter Jillian Skor, an Epstein School first-grader, make stepping-stones for the school’s Educational Garden as part of the Environmental Footprint project during Yom Tzedakah. More photos, Page 4

• Birthday and get-well cards were made for participants in Jewish Family & Career Services’ AVIV Older Adult Celebrations program.

LOVING LIFE

Eli Jacobs, who was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and lives at Belmont Village, talks about his war memories for Veterans Day. Page 19

• Outdoor maintenance, including gardening and raking, was carried out to support families participating in HomeStretch’s transitional housing program. ■

Local News

INSIDE 3

Books 21

Remember When 5

Business 26

Calendar 8

Education 27

Candle Lighting

9

Obituaries 29

Opinion 10

Crossword 30

Israel 14

Marketplace 31

ichard Lakin died at Hadassah University Hospital-Ein Kerem on Tuesday, Oct. 27, but not before sending a message to the United Nations about Palestinian incitement to violence.

During Lakin’s two weeks in a coma after he was shot and sliced open by young Palestinians, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Jerusalem hospital’s intensive care unit, where both the 76-year-old and one of his killers, Bilal Abu Ghanem, received care.

It was a quiet visit with no video coverage, Hadassah National President Marcie Natan told a crowd gathered at the Selig Center on Sunday, Nov. 1, for the opening of a Breman Museum exhibit on Hadassah’s centennial in Atlanta.

Lakin’s son, Micah Avni, came out of the hospital room with a photo of his father and demanded action, Natan said.

“My father is lying here because somebody watched a video,” Avni said, according to Natan. That video, spread on social media, showed how to deliver a knife wound to shred vital organs.

Avni urged Ban to persuade Facebook and other social media to eliminate such videos guiding the killing of Jews.

Regardless of whether Ban can or will listen to Avni, Natan said, we can take up his challenge and write to elected officials and newspapers about the role of social media in terrorist attacks and the need to remove such videos. ■ Hadassah begins centennial observance, Page 15

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LOCAL NEWS

GDOT Pitches Project For LaVista at Biltmore

Toco Hills residents fear more traffic

By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com

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Photos by Kevin Madigan

A Georgia Department of Transportation representative (top) tries to address concerns about the road project, while DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader (above) discusses the LaVista-Biltmore project with Jewish neighbors at the open house Oct. 27.

hospitals don’t have to come through our neighborhood. It would be safer for the children and safer for the residents.”

Listening to Rubin-Lewis was Stacey Key, who represents the 5th Congressional District on the state Transportation Board and is a strong supporter of the LaVista/Biltmore project. “Getting an exit off I-85 is a huge initiative,” Key told her. “It takes time; it takes money to make that happen. You’d have to cut through neighborhoods and houses, destroy some areas.”

GDOT did not respond to requests from the AJT for accident statistics in the area, but DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader said residents have voiced their concerns to him. “People were complaining about the danger to pedestrians, and then drivers were complaining because they were stopped behind other drivers trying to turn. Some drivers were behaving badly.”

Annalysce Baker-Wilson, a GDOT spokeswoman, said the $1.8 million project could start construction in the summer of 2017 and should take eight to 12 months.

You can submit comments and suggestions about the project until Tuesday, Nov. 10, by emailing ProjectComments@dot.ga.gov. ■

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esidents of the Toco Hills neighborhood are upset about the Georgia Department of Transportation’s plans to change to an intersection on LaVista Road to ease vehicle traffic through an area that is home to five synagogues and two day schools and is used by a steady flow of pedestrians.

GDOT wants to create left-turn lanes at Biltmore Drive for eastbound and westbound traffic. The project also calls for the construction of a rightturn lane going eastbound on LaVista, a flashing yellow beacon on the west side, and a grass buffer between the road and the sidewalk.

“We are changing the travel lanes from 12-foot to 11-foot (wide). It’s safer.

The sidewalk will now be 7-foot,” said Mehdi Bashirian, a design engineer for GDOT, which held a public information open house Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Congregation Beth Jacob. “There’s a huge concentration of people moving around here.”

Tuesday’s community input session served as a makeup for the first open house, which, in a display of ignorance about or indifference to neighborhood sensibilities, was scheduled for Sept. 23 during Yom Kippur.

“Our voices seem to have little or no impact,” said Stephen Filreis, who has lived in the area since 1973. “The impact on the neighborhood feels like the last thing on the minds of the DOT.” Filreis said other intersections are much more problematic in terms of traffic backups than Biltmore Drive, and a more comprehensive look at the area is required. “There are so many other projects I can think of which would be a much better use of taxpayer money. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why this project has even gotten past the initial suggestions.”

Sydney Rubin-Lewis of Torah Day School doesn’t see the point of the changes either. “This is a Band-Aid instead of addressing the problem,” she said. “All you’re doing is asking for more trouble and more accidents here … and saying, ‘How do we accommodate the drivers?’ ” What is needed, she said, is an exit off Interstate 85 straight to Clifton Road “so all those students, doctors and employees of Emory, the CDC and the

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LOCAL NEWS

Jewish Atlanta Embraces Giving Spirit

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onsecutive Sundays saw community members disperse across the Atlanta area to work with nonprofit organizations on mitzvah projects.

On Oct. 25, Jewish Family & Career Services’ Mitzvah Day for young adults sent more than 200 volunteers to 12 project sites. The work included planting 100 bushes and trees around

the new JF&CS group home at Camp Twin Lakes, weeding three beds of carrots and prepping six planting beds at Concrete Jungle, planting five garden beds with kale and broccoli at the Historic Westside Gardens, organizing the pantry and library and cleaning the basement at Hope Lodge, presenting a concert for 50 people at the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community,

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NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

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staining ramps and a deck at the Zimmerman-Horowitz Independent Living Program home, organizing clothing and transitioning the closet from summer to winter at New American Pathways, packing over 150 toiletry kits for JF&CS Mitzvah Projects, removing 75 bags’ worth of invasive species from the Oldcastle Nature Trail, cleaning crates and walking dogs for PAWS

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Atlanta, packing 732 meals for Open Hand, and organizing an ice cream social for 36 residents of the William Breman Jewish Home.

On Nov. 1, more than 300 volunteers spread out to 18 sites, including a few of those assisted a week earlier, for the Epstein School’s Yom Tzedakah (see Page 1 for some of the projects). ■

C A. Hope Lodge gets helping hands from (standing, from left) Caren Morganstern, Seth Morganstern, Hillary Levitz, Corey Brinn, Jessica Heilweil and Jon Forbes and (kneeling, from left) Sarah Goodman, Lisa Lebovitz, Hallie Brinn and Amy Forbes.

B. Like about 50 residents of the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, (from left) Eric Phillips, Russell Gottschalk, Staci Udwin and Amanda Doreson get to enjoy a free concert organized with the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, which Gottschalk directs.

C. Lauren Gross and Leah Lefkowitz help pack Open Hand meals for people in need.

D. (From left) Aaron Coonley, Leah Antonoff, Tyler Conklin, Beth Rosner, Carly Siegel, David Siegel, Arielle Klebanoff, Kevin Feld and Abby Siegel take a quick break from landscaping the new JF&CS group home at Camp Twin Lakes.

E. Nathan Brodsky and Ryan Kaplan work on staining the deck at the Zimmerman-Horowitz Independent Living Program home.

F. Beth Rosner (left) and Carly Siegel work on the landscaping at the new JF&CS group home at Camp Twin Lakes.

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1. Yom Tzedakah site captains (from left) Helene Marcus, Suzanne Davis and Tali Ben-Senior start the day at the Epstein School.

2. As part of “The Bert Show’s” Big Thank You, Carrie Poline and her daughters, Epstein first-grader Gabrielle and Alexis, create thank-you cards for U.S. soldiers who will be overseas during the holiday season. A project for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta repurposed used crayons into decorations for get-well cards.

3. Cherie Aviv, the founder of the JF&CS Aviv Celebrations program, explains to second-graders Marion Kogon and Lauren Dobkin the importance of their handmade birthday and get-well cards.

4. Epstein students (from left) Noa Young, Barri Seitz and Joeli Van de Grift sort and pack food for the Atlanta Community Food Bank on Yom Tzedakah.

5. Epstein eighth-graders (from left) Tal Brill, Nadav David, Zoe Rosenberg and Jeremy Leven work on a winter blanket for homeless people at Simple Needs GA. 6. Brothers Jonah and Adam Blum engage residents at the Cohen Home by putting on a Senior Olympics.

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Remember When

a desperate need for volunteer attorneys, said the head of a legal referral service for Jewish Family Services. The JFS Legal Committee needs lawyers for what is anticipated to be an even greater surge in the coming months, said Cliffe Gort, the Buckhead lawyer coordinating the committee.

■ Some Gwinnett County Jews are on a mission, and an auction Sunday, Nov. 6, could help make it a success. The 4-year-old Chabad Enrichment Center in Norcross hopes to draw 200 people to its Mission Possible fundraiser, whose proceeds will go toward the purchase of a home for Rabbi Yossi Lerman’s congregation. Rabbi Lerman and his wife, Esther, join Temple Beth David in Snellville in sending the message that Gwinnett is a viable choice for Jews.

■ Mr. and Mrs. Albert D. Maslia of Atlanta announce the marriage of their daughter Stephanie Ann to Bradley Clifford Ladden, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Ladden of Chicago, on Sunday, Sept. 2.

10 Years Ago Nov. 4, 2005

50 Years Ago Nov. 5, 1965

25 Years Ago Nov. 9, 1990

■ Savannah’s Jewish and non-Jewish citizens turned out Oct. 20 to share their pride in Dr. Bill Wexler, who was elected in May as the international president of B’nai B’rith, the highest rank of leadership ever held by a resident of the 232-year-old city. More than 500 people, including over 50 from other states, attended what was probably the largest testimonial ever held in the South for a Jewish leader.

■ Requests by Soviet Jews for free legal services have doubled since the arrival of 300 immigrants in May, creating

■ Mr. and Mrs. Victor Maslia of Atlanta announce the birth of a son, Richard David, on Oct. 28.

■ The bat mitzvah ceremony of Sarah Rebecca Arogeti of Atlanta, the daughter of Joel and Beth Arogeti, was held Saturday, Aug. 20, 2005, at Congregation Or VeShalom.

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LOCAL NEWS

Netanyahu Returns to Washington

Prime minister’s speech to highlight Federations’ national conference

By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com

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NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

srael’s prime minister headlines any Jewish event he attends in the United States.

As such, Benjamin Netanyahu can expect plenty of attention when he addresses the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington.

Meanwhile, with somewhat less fanfare, the three-day meeting will focus on the needs of Jewish communities and the fundraising to meet those needs.

Netanyahu will speak on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 10, the day after his first meeting with President Barak Obama since the completion of the Iran nuclear weapons agreement.

It’s also his first address to a large Jewish gathering since he drew wide criticism for overplaying the grand mufti of Jerusalem’s role in the Holocaust during a speech to the World Zionist Congress on Oct. 20.

(Labor Party Chairman Isaac Herzog, the leader of the opposition in the Israeli Knesset, will speak on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 9.)

The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta was one of at least 50 Federations across the United States, in addition to the JFNA itself, that issued statements opposing or expressing reservations about the Iran deal.

While funding projects in Israel is part of the Federations’ mission, such pronouncements on foreign policy issues have proved controversial.

Some 5,000 people are expected to attend the General Assembly, an annual gathering of 151 local Federations and a network of 300 smaller Jewish communities.

“The General Assembly is a moment in time to come together as a movement and share the experience and understand the power of the work,” said Rebecca Dinar, JFNA’s managing director of strategic marketing and communications. “It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, brickby-brick. The GA allows us to step back and look at how we all play a role in a movement that is shaping and building and empowering the Jewish community.”

The GA’s roster of speakers includes three also appearing this month at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center: TV journal6 ist David Gregory, the Book Festival’s

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opening night speaker; diplomat Dennis Ross, who is speaking free at The Temple on Nov. 9, the day after his GA appearance; and Jennifer Teege, the biracial granddaughter of the German camp commander portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in “Schindler’s List.”

The Atlanta Federation is sending 34 people — a combination of staff, executive committee and board members, and other lay leaders — to the General Assembly, which opens Sunday, Nov. 8. The plenary sessions will be streamed live online for those who don’t make the trip.

“The GA is the only meeting where all Federations convene, where we can learn from each other and see just how big an impact we make together.

It is a great opportunity to learn about big trends and get new ideas to bring back to our communities,” said Andrea Deck, the Atlanta Federation’s senior associate for community planning and impact. “This year Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta is at the table for Holocaust survivor initiatives, supporting those with disabilities, the role of endowment in fundraising, and we are thrilled to be bringing the inaugural cohort of fellows of the Joyce and Ramie Tritt Family Federation Leadership Institute, where we will introduce them to the national Federation system.”

The Atlanta Federation “transforms Jewish values into tangible deeds,” reads the mission statement on

Sheryl Arno (left) and Ina Enoch will speak at the General Assembly about the Atlanta Jewish community’s efforts to be inclusive for people with special needs.

monies raised by member federations, minus expenses; the interest earned on JFNA’s endowment; and “donor advised” funds designated to specific purposes).

By necessity, much of the discussion at the General Assembly will be about “building philanthropic muscle” to raise those funds.

Michael Balaban, the chief development officer of the Atlanta Federation, will address a GA session on how local Federations can use planned giving and endowments as part of their fundraising strategy.

Other sessions will cover best practices used by various Federations

Caring for the aging population of Holocaust survivors also is on the GA agenda. An estimated one-quarter of the 130,000 survivors in the United States live below the government-established poverty line.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded JFNA $2.5 million (a grant that requires matching fundraising) to support organizations that aid Holocaust survivors.

The discussion of this aid will be of particular interest to Cherie Aviv, who will attend as a member of the executive committees of both JFGA and of Jewish Family & Career Services, which offers a variety of such services.

The Atlanta Federation distributes millions of dollars annually to a myriad of organizations, ranging from schools and religious movements to social service projects and Israel-related concerns.

A partial list of recipients and the amounts of money provided by the Atlanta Federation can be found on the JFGA website.

The Atlanta Federation scores well in ratings done by Charity Navigator, a watchdog group. One component of the ranking is that slightly more than 90 percent of JFGA’s total expenses are for programs and services. In the fiscal year ending June 2013 (the most recent data available), JFGA took in more than $33.6 million in contributions, gifts and

In an example of cooperation between Federation-funded organizations, members of the Davis Academy Decibelles choir (led by Rabbi Micah Lapidus) perform for and visit with Holocaust survivors at Jewish Family & Career Services’ Café Europa, a monthly gathering of Holocaust survivors at Congregation Beth Jacob. Café Europa is one of several Federation-backed support services for survivors, a topic of discussion at the General Assembly.

its tax form. “We care for the vulnerable, reduce the imperiled and strengthen the Jewish community in Atlanta, in Israel, and around the world.”

It is an expensive mission. JFNA’s member Federations raise some $900 million a year (not including emergency campaigns or those targeting a specific issue). In 2014, JFNA disbursed about $2 billion (a combination of

to serve their constituent communities.

One Atlanta offering will come from Sheryl Arno and Ina Enoch, the chairwomen of the JFGA Jewish Disabilities Task Force. They will discuss the work done by the Jewish Abilities Alliance in a session titled “Access Granted: Creating Inclusive Communities.”

grants, and program spending exceeded $28.5 million.

Looming over the Atlanta Federation is a change of leadership. Michael Horowitz, who was paid more than $304,000 for the fiscal year ending in June 2013, has announced his resignation after five years as president and CEO. The process of selecting a successor is expected to last into 2016. ■

LOCAL NEWS

Ex-JCC CEO Helps Bring Newlyweds To Israel

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ormer Marcus Jewish Community Center CEO Mike Wise will be at the General Assembly to pitch a startup Israel engagement program that has just connected with Atlanta.

Wise and Avi Rubel, the son of Epstein School’s Middle School principal, Myrna Rubel, are the co-CEOs of Honeymoon Israel (www.honeymoonisrael.org), which offers subsidized nineday trips to Israel for $1,800 per couple, including airfare.

The purpose of the trips and local follow-up programming is to create a community of couples committed to raising Jewish families in whatever way is meaningful to them.

To be eligible, couples must have been married or in a “lifelong committed relationship” for no more than five years. The couple must include one person age 25 to 40, one who is Jewish, and one who has not traveled to Israel on a peer trip such as Birthright. LBGTQ couples are welcome.

During its launch, Honeymoon Israel has received four applications for every spot in the program. The organization operates in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Denver and San Diego.

Through Dec. 1, Honeymoon Israel is accepting applications at its website for its first trip for couples from the Atlanta area May 26 to June 5 next year.

If demand is heavy, the same applications will be considered for the second trip, set for Oct. 27 to Nov. 6. Each trip can accommodate 20 couples.

Congregation Or Hadash Rabbi Mario Karpuj is participating in the first trip to provide a scholarly voice.

“I’m looking forward to helping these couples strengthening their connection to Israel and all it represents to our tradition in general and to our generation in particular,” he said.

A free information session is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, at 5 Seasons Brewing at the Prado in Sandy Springs (honeymoonisrael. wufoo.com/forms/rsvp-form-honeymoon-israel-atlanta-info-sessions).

Before that meeting, however, Rubel and Wise will open their program to feedback at the General Assembly during a breakout session Tuesday, Nov. 10, to help them take Honeymoon Israel nationwide. ■

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CALENDAR THURSDAY, NOV. 5 Book Festival. David Gregory (“How’s Your Faith?”) opens the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with WXIA-TV’s Melissa Long at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $18 for members, $24 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

FRIDAY, NOV. 6 Book Festival. Nomi Eve (“Henna House”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at noon. Admission is $9 for members, $14 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-8124005.

SATURDAY, NOV. 7 Veterans Shabbat.

Congregation Shear­ith Israel, 1180 University Drive, Morningside, honors members who served in the military during regular services at 9 a.m.; shearithisrael.com.

Greek cinema. In its taste of New York’s Greek Film Festival, Emory University at 3 p.m. screens the documentary “Kisses to the Children” about five Jewish children who were hidden by Christian families during Greece’s Nazi

occupation. Tickets for the film, shown in White Hall, Room 208, are $12; filmstudies.emory.edu/home/events.

Film screening. Congregation Beth Jacob, 1855 LaVista Road, Toco Hills, shows the documentary “Beneath the Helmet: From High School to the Home Front,” a coming-of-age story about five Israeli soldiers, at 8 p.m. Free; www.bethjacobatlanta.org.

Book Festival. Judy Blume (“In the Unlikely Event”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with Greg Changnon at 8 p.m.

Admission is $26 for members, $31 for nonmembers (including a copy of the book); atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

SUNDAY, NOV. 8

Grief lecture. Emory University’s Nadine Kaslow, past president of the American Psychological Association, speaks about “Surviving and Thriving After a Loss” over a light brunch at 9:30 a.m. at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs. Free; templesinaiatlanta.org.

Daffodil Project. Congregation Beth

Shalom, 5303 Winters Chapel Road, Dunwoody, participates in Am Yisrael Chai’s Daffodil Project with a planting of 540 daffodils after brunch at 10 a.m. and an address by Holocaust survivor Ilse Eichner Reiner at 10:30. Free; bethshalomatlanta.org.

Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with former CNN executive Gail Evans at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $13 for members, $18 for nonmembers; atlantajcc. org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Book Festival. Mike Wien (“The Specific Edge”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at 10:30 a.m. Free; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-8124005.

Book Festival. Naomi Ragen (“The Devil in Jerusalem”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at noon. Admission is $9 for members, $14 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Book Festival. Rabbi Avi Weiss (“Open Up the Iron Door”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at 2 p.m.

Admission is $9 for members, $14 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Classical concert. Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead, hosts a concert of chamber music at 3 p.m. with Helen Kim on violin, Cherae Kruegar on cello and Robert Henry on piano. Free; aasynagogue.org or ivanmillender@earthlink.net.

Book Festival. Joe Klein (“Charlie Mike”) appears at the Marcus Jewish

MONDAY, NOV. 9

Book Festival. Dennis Ross (“Doomed to Succeed”) appears at The Temple, 1589 Peachtree St., Midtown, in conversation with Emory’s Ken Stein at 7:30 p.m.. Free by RSVP required; atlantajcc. org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

TUESDAY, NOV. 10

Book Festival. Letty Cottin Pogrebin (“Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate”) and Ronald Balson (“Saving Sophie”) appear at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at 12:30 p.m. Admission is $9 for members, $14 for nonmembers; aatlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

“We’re an interfaith family” Connected to Community, Making Jewish Choices InterfaithFamily/Atlanta is here to listen, connect you to other interfaith couples, host events and workshops and refer you to rabbis who perform interfaith weddings and other life cycle events. We also provide professional development for Jewish professionals who want to be more inclusive and welcoming.

This November, join us, along with these organizations* in giving thanks to all of the interfaith couples and families in our Jewish community during Interfaith Family Month 2015.

• Ahavath Achim Synagogue, Atlanta

• Hillels of GA, Atlanta

• SOJOURN, Atlanta • The Temple, Atlanta

• Congregation Bet Haverim, Atlanta

• In The City Camp, Atlanta • Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Atlanta

• Temple Emanu-El, Sandy Springs

• Jewish Kids Groups, Atlanta

• Temple Kehillat Chaim, Roswell

• The Davis Academy, Sandy Springs • Gesher L’Torah, Alpharetta • HAMSA, Atlanta NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

(Helping Atlantans Manage Substance Abuse)

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• Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, Dunwoody • The Sixth Point, Atlanta

* Participants as of October 27, 2015

404-991-2238 Atlanta@interfaithfamily.com www.interfaithfamily.com/Atlanta InterfaithFamily is a 501(c)(3) non-profit wholly supported by tax-deductible charitable donations.

• Temple Kol Emeth, Marietta • Temple Sinai, Atlanta • The Weber School, Atlanta

CALENDAR CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES

Parshah Chaye Sarah Friday, Nov. 6, light candles at 5:23 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 7, Shabbat ends at 6:18 p.m.

Parshah Toledot Friday, Nov. 13, light candles at 5:17 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 14, Shabbat ends at 6:14 p.m.

Team trivia. The Sixth Point’s Recess SPIN gathers at 7:30 p.m. at Buckhead Pizza Co., 3324 Peachtree Road, to compete for the trivia title. Free (food and drink available for purchase); thesixthpoint.org.

Book Festival. Dr. Ruth Westheimer (“The Doctor Is In”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with CNN’s Holly Firfer at 7:45 p.m. Admission is $18 for members, $24 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11

Book Festival. Archie Rand (“The 613”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with artsATL. com Executive Editor Catherine Fox at 12:30 p.m. Admission is $9 for members, $14 for nonmembers; atlantajcc. org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

The superior sex? Emory anthropologist Melvin Konner addresses “Women After All? Adventures in ‘Natural Superiority’ ” at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Shearith Israel, 1180 University Drive, Atlanta. Free; shearithisrael.com.

Book Festival. Michael Bar-Zohar (“No Mission Is Impossible”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $13 for members, $18 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

THURSDAY, NOV. 12

Book Festival. Chana Shapiro and Meta Miller (“Fruitfly Rabbi”) appear at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with Rabbi Brian Glusman at 10:30 a.m. Free; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Book Festival. Michael Solomonov

(“Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with Steak Shapiro at 12:30 p.m. The event includes lunch prepared by Goodfriend’s Kosher Grill with recipes from the book.

Admission is $22 for members, $27 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Holistic medicine and fertility. The Wo/Men’s Infertility Support Havurah discusses the benefits of yoga with Caren Cohen and acupuncture with Michelle Moody at 7 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs.

Free; www.wishatlanta.org.

Book Festival. Faye Kellerman (“The Theory of Death”) and Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman (“The Golem of Paris”) appear at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, in conversation with Nadia Bilchik at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $18 for members, $24 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

FRIDAY, NOV. 13

Book Festival. Daniel Torday (“The Last Flight of Poxl West”) and Alexis Landau (“The Empire of the Senses”) appear at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at noon. Admission is $9 for members, $14 for nonmembers; atlantajcc.org/ bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Shabbat 180. YJP (Young Jewish Professionals), Midtown Atlanta, brings together 180 young Jewish professionals to mingle while enjoying an open bar, a buffet dinner and Shabbat spirit at the Trolley Barn, 963 Edgewood Ave., Inman Park. Happy hour is at 6:30 p.m., dinner at 8:15. Tickets are $30; 404-9316449 or www.yjpmidtownatlanta.com.

䐀甀渀眀漀漀搀礀 愀渀搀 䄀氀瀀栀愀爀攀琀琀愀

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䌀栀攀昀 䌀甀爀愀琀攀搀 䴀攀渀甀猀

SATURDAY, NOV. 14

Book Festival. Mitch Albom (“The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto”) appears at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, at 8 p.m. Admission is $26 for members, $31 for nonmembers (includes a copy of the book); atlantajcc.org/bookfestival or 678-812-4005.

Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com.

眀 眀 眀⸀ 猀愀 最 攀 眀漀 漀 搀昀 椀爀攀琀 愀瘀攀爀 渀 ⸀ 挀漀 洀簀 倀攀 爀 椀洀攀 琀攀 爀 㜀㜀 㠀 㐀 ⴀ 㠀 㠀 㠀 眀眀 眀⸀猀瀀 椀挀攀戀爀 椀挀欀 漀瘀攀渀 欀 椀琀挀栀攀渀⸀挀漀洀簀 䄀氀瀀栀 愀爀攀琀琀愀 㜀㜀 㜀㜀㜀ⴀ 㜀㜀㠀

眀 眀 眀⸀ 猀愀 最 攀 眀漀 漀 搀昀 椀爀攀琀 愀瘀攀爀 渀 ⸀挀漀洀 簀 䄀氀 瀀 栀愀 爀攀 琀琀 愀 㜀㜀 㔀 㘀㤀 ⴀ 㤀㄀㤀 㤀

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

Kristallnacht commemoration. Dr. Ruth Westheimer is the guest speaker at 7 p.m. at the Besser Memorial at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free; www.atlantajcc.org.

䌀爀攀愀琀椀 瘀椀 琀礀 圀椀琀 栀 倀愀 猀猀 椀漀渀

AJT 9

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Our View

Study Up

L

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

ast week we delved into the dangers of distorting history, but the news that 50 U.S. Army Special Forces troops are being sent into Syria to “advise” anti-Assad, anti-Islamic State rebels is a reminder that ignorance of history is not bliss.

President Barack Obama had insisted he would never put American boots on the ground in Syria, and the White House denies that these advisory troops violate that vow, just as the advisers in Iraq don’t violate the promise to pull the military out of that country.

The point isn’t that the president’s promises on foreign policy have proved less than reliable, although the continuing operations at Guantanamo Bay and the decision to keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of the Obama administration make that argument. Instead, the point is that no matter how principled the goals, foreign policy that ignores or is ignorant of history is doomed.

Obama was hampered by a lack of foreign policy knowledge when he took office, and he has stubbornly resisted learning from experience. Thus, nearly seven years into his administration, he continues to find reality in conflict with his statements.

Ambassador Dennis Ross, who is speaking at The Temple on Monday night, Nov. 9, in a free event of the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center, made the point in a recent interview that every administration starts with the certainty that it has important insights its predecessors have missed.

Ross found that story repeated over and over again in his study of U.S. policy toward Israel, detailed in “Doomed to Succeed,” but he said the lesson applies across the Middle East and beyond.

Obama took office with the certainty that he had a better way to deal with the world, whether reaching out to Muslims, engaging with Iran, operating as one nation among many instead of the world’s leader, or doing more talking and less fighting.

The president ignored history’s lessons, such as: • Despite our desire not to be the world’s policeman and our record of sometimes catastrophic errors in foreign affairs, the United States is the essential nation in any effort to turn chaos and killing into peace and hope. No other country has the strength and the willingness to act for the greater good, and no other country has the ability to earn nations’ trust.

• We can’t compel allies to provide positive leadership by withdrawing and leaving a power vacuum.

If we don’t take the lead, our allies step back instead of stepping up, and bad actors jump into the void.

• We can’t win friends and influence nations with noble intentions. We are judged by our actions.

A year from the election, we’re sure the next president will look at the world — hundreds of thousands of dead Syrians, millions of refugees from the Middle East, an emboldened Iran, expanded adventures by Russia, Arab frustration and oppression after the failures of the Arab Spring, the possible outbreak of the Third Intifada, the seemingly indiscriminate use of drone warfare — with confidence that he or she will be smarter and do things better.

Our fear is that the new policies will reflect a desire to be different rather than an analysis of what’s 10 right. That’s one of history’s frustrating lessons. ■

AJT

Making History South of I-285

A

look back gave a glimpse at the future Monheat process to kill bacteria in liquids, applied it to day night, Nov. 2, in Peachtree City. milk, called it pasteurization, and championed the About 20 people gathered at the home process worldwide. Youngest brother Oscar became of Jim and Judy Freeman to hear Joan Adler discuss the first Jewish Cabinet member, serving as secrethe Straus family, the 19th-century German Jewish tary of commerce and labor under Teddy Roosevelt. immigrants who owned Macy’s for 100 years. In a The historical tales woven out of such threads talk called “From Pushcart to Macy’s,” the execukept the group enthralled for hours, but the group tive director of the Straus Historical Society took itself could be making history by helping spark a us from southwestern Germany Jewish revival south to Philadelphia to a sales route of the Perimeter, based in Oglethorpe, Ga., to a where I’m told peoEditor’s Notebook classic “Jew store” operating out ple are being drawn

By Michael Jacobs of half a barbershop in Talbotton by the lifestyle and mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com to a bigger store in Columbus — the filmmaking at all before the Yankees won the Pinewood Atlanta Civil War — then on to New York Studios.

City and a budding retail empire Exciting things within 20 years, the opening of the iconic flagship are happening. Congregation B’nai Israel has a store on 34th Street in 1902, and lives of influence new rabbi, Rick Harkavy. Chabad of Peachtree City and philanthropy well into the 20th century. reportedly drew more than 150 people for a bar Adler, who spoke the day before at the Breman, mitzvah and celebration of its new home over the is appearing at the annual Harvest Days in Old Talweekend. The Temple is reaching southward with bot on Nov. 7 and 8 in Junction City. its Temple Tribe of the Southside, the group behind If you get a chance to hear her, take it. After 25 Adler’s visit. years of working with the Straus family, she is overDon Thomas, the evening’s organizer, urged flowing with delightful details. Some examples: bringing the south-side community together regular• The family picked the name Straus after Naly to talk about Israel, and Sharon Hudgins of B’nai poleon mandated last names in 1808 (a decree Adler Israel said a planning meeting Nov. 16 will discuss found in the family papers in 1990). Straus means pro-Israel activism. Tom Keating suggested inteostrich in German; Strauss is a bunch of flowers. The grating south-siders into a soon-to-launch series of family legend is that an ostrich lived nearby in Otter- talks about Israel at The Temple, with every fourth berg; Adler suspects the single s was a spelling error. meeting being held south of the city instead of in • Isidor Straus, Lazarus’ oldest son and the Midtown. Judy Freeman, who moved to Peachtree man more than any other who made Macy’s, was City from California last year, just wants the group to get together every month or so for events like the a 16-year-old who dreamed of military adventure one she and her husband hosted Monday night. when the Civil War broke out. He planned to enroll It was almost a 50-mile drive from the AJT ofin the Georgia Military Academy in Marietta, but a prank with a bucket of water convinced him that the fices to the Freeman home, but it was well worth the time to gain some southern exposure to the future of military wasn’t for him.

• Isidor’s brother Nathan learned Louis Pasteur’s another vibrant part of our Jewish community. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Remembering Rabin and a Different Israel Square in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo Accords negotiated with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“Peace entails difficulties, even pain. Israel knows no path devoid of pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war. I say this to you as someone who was a military man and minister of defense,” said Israel’s

From Where I Sit

By Dave Schechter dschechter@atljewishtimes.com

first native-born prime minister.

The rally ended with the singing of the “Song of Peace” (“Shir ha’Shalom” in Hebrew).

A video shows 25-year-old Yigal Amir, a law student and religious nationalist who considered Rabin’s policies a betrayal of the Jewish people, loitering near the prime minister’s car.

As Rabin approached, Amir fired three shots from a pistol.

Two struck Rabin. The third

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wounded a bodyguard.

Rabin was bundled into his car.

He died at a hospital. (In his pocket was a bloodied lyrics sheet for the “Song of Peace.”)

Amir (now serving a life sentence in prison) was wrestled to the ground.

Amir began plotting in September 1993 after Rabin shook hands with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn during an Oslo Accords signing ceremony.

The political opposition, led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, excoriated Rabin and his foreign minister, Peres.

A second phase of the Oslo agreement was signed in September 1995 at Taba on the Israeli border with Egypt.

The following month, posters depicting Rabin in a Nazi uniform or wearing an Arab headdress were burned at rallies where chants of “Death to Rabin” were reported.

“Violence is undermining the very foundations of Israeli democracy. It must be condemned, denounced and isolated. This is not the way of the state of Israel,” Rabin said in his final speech.

Despite the heated atmosphere, those entrusted with Rabin’s security remained focused on the possibility of an assassination attempt by an Arab, not by an Israeli Jew. I arrived a few days after the assassination to support the bureau where I had been a producer a decade earlier.

One correspondent repeated the phrase “a panorama of grief” in several dozen live reports for local television stations in the United States.

Kings of Israel Square was alight with memorial candles. Young people kept a vigil, singing songs, chalking messages or sitting with their thoughts.

A week later, what is now called Yitzhak Rabin Square was packed again for a memorial to the slain leader.

Acting Prime Minister Peres arrived in a car flanked by several motorcycles, each carrying a well-armed bodyguard.

There was no approaching for an interview. Those days were over.

They ended the night of Nov. 4, 1995. ■

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W

e waited for Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin outside a government building in central Jerusalem. On arrival, he said he had no idea how long his meeting would last.

A couple of hours later, in the dark, Rabin appeared. You’re still here, he laughed. He walked down the steps, may have bummed a cigarette from my colleague and briefly spoke with us.

These were the mid1980s, when journalists stood outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem (Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir in those years), hoping for a comment when he emerged. If the prime minister was elsewhere in the country, we waited at the event for a question-and-answer opportunity afterward.

The security detail would look us over, but no one was patted down, and often no bags were searched. It was relaxed and, by today’s standards, lax.

On Saturday, Nov. 4, 1995, nowPrime Minister Rabin spoke to 100,000 people who gathered in Kings of Israel

AJT 11

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

Retaliation Is Wrong Response to New Intifada

E

vents in Israel in the month of Cheshvan have conformed to the nickname mar Cheshvan, the bitter month of Cheshvan.

Israel is facing a bitter month; not only are Jews are being attacked and killed, but so are Palestinians. Some years ago, while I would have sympathized with the deaths of Palestinians, I would have added, “They started it.”

Isn’t this a justification for brawls by high school kids? He started it, and I defended myself. That doesn’t resolve hostilities.

As a Holocaust survivor, I can understand the desire to hit back. Ask any survivors how they felt after liberation, and they’ll mention the desire to hit back. But we did not.

On May 2, 1945, I was chatting with Lt. Schwartz, who commanded a tank, and few other soldiers who liberated me from Muhldorf Wald Lager.

The chief capo of the camp, a meanspirited German murderer, walked by.

I told the lieutenant of the beatings and torture the capo had inflicted on my fellow Jews and myself.

The lieutenant handed me his Colt pistol and told me: “Shoot that SOB. Nothing will happen to you.”

But I could not take a life. It would have been against my Jewish upbringing. I asked the lieutenant to arrest him and let the courts decide his fate.

The history of the Jewish people from the fourth century C.E. on is full

One Man’s Opinion

By Eugen Schoenfeld

of unjust physical and mental attacks by the Christian world. We were forced to restrain ourselves from counterattacks, lest the violence increase.

One of the first things I was taught is “Do not open Satan’s mouth,” meaning don’t give our enemies a reason to increase the punishments.

Remember Egypt: When Jews complained about the harshness of their life and their treatment, the punishment increased. As the haggadah in-

forms us, “They made our lives bitter.”

For a long time, we transferred the task of revenge to Elijah. On Passover, we open the door to welcome Elijah into our midst and beg him to pour out his wrath on our enemies.

As a boy of 14, I found this seder ritual hardly satisfying. I joined the Betar movement and began to believe in the power and glory of revenge.

The Betar Hymn told us that for ages enough of our blood had been shed from Dan to Beersheva and from Gilead to the sea. Our land (Israel) had been soaked by Jewish blood. It was time to defend the land and ourselves.

The rejection of meekness has become more dominant in post-Diaspora Jewish political philosophy. We renounce unquestioned submission as a people who previously were led like sheep to slaughter.

I believe that the rejection of the old response began during the Warsaw Ghetto rebellion and the formation of Jewish partisan groups. Like the children born in the desert to freed Egyptian slaves, we accepted the motto eyn breyrah (we have no choice), and we fought for our freedom and dignity.

filming

John Ford Samuel Fuller George Stevens

from Hollywood to Nuremberg

Through November 20, 2015 Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller created American cinema classics, but their most important contribution to history was their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services.

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

An exhibition by the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France.

AJT 12

AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Filming

George Stevens and his crew, France, 1944 © Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA

Atlanta History Center

We paid a great price for standing up. In 1944 I saw what the Germans did to the Warsaw Ghetto. I was brought to the concentration camp established in the center of the former ghetto on Novolipki Street. I worked in the destroyed buildings. The devastation was in its own way greater than what happened to Hiroshima.

Israeli wars have shown that Jews can be and are heroic and great warriors. Israel no longer needs to prove its capability to wage war to defend its right to exist as a free society.

Perhaps it is time that we prove Israel’s capability as a seeker of peace.

Are we not the children of Aaron, the epitome of a peace seeker? The great moral nature of Judaism is that it advocates equally braveness in battle and in peace seeking and values human life for its own sake.

When G-d drowned the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, the angels in heaven sang and rejoiced. G-d chastised the angels: My children are dying in the sea, and you rejoice?

Isn’t it time to follow G-d’s nature of being slow to anger and easy to appease? Isn’t this the value we should emulate? Isn’t it time to extend the olive branch instead of the bayonet?

Isn’t it time to stop emphasizing power and start emphasizing spirit?

Current events in Israel make me anxious for the future of the Jewish people and Israel. I am disturbed not only by the frequency of hostilities, but more important by their form.

Young Palestinian Muslims are using knives. Guns and rockets indicate far less anger and a less personal response. The greater the distance between the aggressor and the victim, the less personal is the hostility.

When one uses a knife, the relationship between the aggressor and the victim is extremely personal. Often as you slash or stab a victim, you see his face, hear his agony, hear his cry for help. This mode of killing points to bitterness and heightened anger.

I am concerned that the Palestinians have entered the state of hopelessness and have assumed a perspective of eyn breyrah: no other choice.

Responding to an attack with aggression leads to increased aggression.

My mother (of blessed memory) would always interfere in my sibling fights, reminding me that as the older and wiser sibling, I should stop the cycle. I similarly hope that at one point, and I hope it is soon, Israel will assume the wiser stance and seek accommodation rather than retaliation. ■

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

OPINION

WZC Builds From Chaos

W

e are all familiar with the first Zionist Congress, led

by Theodor Herzl in Switzerland back in 1897, which brought together and energized Zionists from around the world. It was a moment in history that announced the end of 2,000 years of exile and that once again we would be a free people in our homeland.

Herzl’s famous prediction that in 50 years from that congress there would be a Jewish state came true in the most miraculous way. Despite Herzl’s not being a religious man, the establishment of Israel was a spiritual, sacred moment in the history of our people.

To be invited by the Conservative movement’s Mercaz/Masorti to serve as a delegate to the 37th World Zionist Congress, held Oct. 20 to 22, was an honor and an opportunity to be a part of a historical event that connected me to Herzl, to Israel and to Jewish destiny.

The congress was a uniquely Jewish event. Decorum was an illusion.

The thousands in attendance were with their mishpacha, so Robert’s Rules of Order and buttoned-down behavior were not to be found. The proceedings reminded me of Genesis: There was chaos, but from the tohu vavohu came order and creation.

The passion of the delegates was palpable both when we were all together voting on resolutions and when we were negotiating and deliberating in the back rooms of the congress.

Never have I heard Jews arguing,

politicking and grandstanding in so many languages. Never have I experienced an agenda that dealt more with a constant call for respect and rule following than for the actual deliberation of issues.

Yet somehow at the end of the day it all got done. Perhaps we can say, as we approach the Chanukah season, “Nes gadol haya sham/po” (“A great

Guest Column

By Rabbi Shalom Lewis

miracle happened there/here”).

I was there when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his comments about Jerusalem’s grand mufti that erupted into a firestorm worldwide. Netanyahu has been known to bury accuracy within his oratory, and this was another such historically inaccurate, manipulative moment.

I have no tolerance for Palestinian self-righteousness, but they pounced on this issue, claiming that now Netanyahu is blaming them for the Holocaust. For sure, many in the Muslim world were complicit, but Hitler needed no encouragement in his Jew-hatred from anyone else.

The next congress will be in four years, but for now I feel that in some small fashion I have been a part of Jewish history. ■ Rabbi Shalom Lewis is the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chaim.

Letter to the Editor

Falling for the Big Lie How sad that even such a knowledgeable person as Harry Stern accepts the Palestinian Big Lie that Jews building houses are an obstacle to peace (“Ugly on Campus,” Oct. 23). Please consider the following facts.

The Palestinian refugee situation has deliberately been kept unresolved.

The Palestinians are the only refugee group permitted to pass refugee status from one generation to the next. Their designated U.N. agency, UNRWA, does not have a mandate for resettlement or rehabilitation; this is the opposite of the mandate of the U.N. agency that handles all other refugee situations worldwide, UNHCR. The Palestinians have been denied citizenship and economic opportunity in most Muslim countries for nearly 70 years. The propagators of the Big Lie reA fer only to 50 years of occupation (the Aand Gaza occupation of the West Bank

by Jordan and Egypt from 1948 until 1967 doesn’t count).

Israel liberated the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt in a defensive war that had been openly launched with genocidal intent. She offered to withdraw in 1968 in exchange for peace and was met by three Arab nos (no recognition, no negotiations, no peace).

Yasser Arafat (2000/2001) flatly rejected the proposal of Ehud Barak’s left-wing government for a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 97 percent of the West Bank with shared governance in parts of Jerusalem. Mahmoud Abbas (2008) did the same with a slightly more generous offer from the centrist government of Ehud Olmert.

Even if a Palestinian state is estab-

TASTE of TASTE

lished, Abbas will not grant citizenship to the refugees (actually mostly thirdand fourth-generation descendants of Arabs who fled the Arab-initiated 1948 war); Abbas still wants Israel to give them the homes their forebears fled.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank cover only 2 percent of the land.

No new communities have been authorized since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. Under Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, some unauthorized settlements have been dismantled, and the growth of existing communities has actually slowed.

Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was reciprocated with thousands of rockets being fired at Israeli population centers. Abbas’ government has not given any indication that withdrawal from the West Bank wouldn’t have the same result.

For true peace to be achieved, the Palestinian leadership must agree that signing a peace treaty ends the conflict.

They must begin to undo decades of anti-Jewish incitement and prepare the Palestinian people to live, peaceably, beside the nation-state of the Jews.

— Toby F. Block, Atlanta

GOOD of LIFE GOOD LIFE

Write to Us The Atlanta Jewish Times welcomes letters and guest columns from our readers. Letters should be 400 or fewer words; guest columns generally are 600 to 700 words. Send your submissions to editor@atljewishtimes. com. Include your name, the town you live in, and a phone number for verification. We reserve the right to edit submissions for style and length.

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AJT 13

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ISRAEL NEWS

Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home Fooling cancer cells. BioSight in Karmiel has developed the amino acid astrabine, which acts as a Trojan Horse chemotherapy treatment that kills leukemia cells without harming healthy tissue. Astrabine closely resembles a protein called aspargine that leukemia cells depend on, and the cancer cells are fooled into self-destruction.

Elephant clue to cancer treatment.

A U.S. study says elephants have low rates of cancer because they have 20

copies of the P53 tumor-suppressing gene, whereas humans have only two.

Now Professor Avi Schroeder from the Technion is testing nanotechnology to send the P53 gene to fight tumors in the human body.

Ethiopian journey into IDF command. Mekonen Abeba immigrated to Israel from an Ethiopian village after his father died. He overcame many challenges to become a paratrooper and then an officer in the Israel De-

fense Forces. He is now the subject of an inspiring film, “Mekonen: The Journey of an Ethiopian Jew.” More Arabs at Israeli universities. Arabs make up 14.4 percent of undergraduate college students in Israel, up from 9.8 percent in 1999-2000. Arab master’s students now make up 10.5 percent of the total, up from 3.6 percent, and 5.9 percent of doctoral students are Arabs, up from 2.8 percent. Women make up 67.2 percent of Arab university students, up from 61.7 percent.

A coexistence discount. The Hummus Bar at the M Mall in Kfar Vitkin is offering a free refill of each plate of hummus at tables seating Jews and Arabs together. The restaurant is kosher, meaning that observant Jews and Muslims can take advantage of the offer.

Israel joins U.N. space committee. Israel has been accepted as a full member of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Israel had the support of 117 members. Qatar abstained, and only Namibia voted no.

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Medicine for migrants. Israel has sent 1.5 tons of medical aid to Greece to assist the flood of migrants landing on the Greek islands. The medicine was flown to the Greek Ministry of Health, which will disburse the aid at refugee centers. IsraAid is also providing medical assistance to the refugees.

Solar power for Ethiopia. Aora Solar, based in Rehovot, is going to install a Tulip solar energy field in Ethiopia to help the African country achieve its aim of being carbon-neutral by 2025.

The modular system collects reflected sunlight on a solar concentrator tower shaped like a yellow tulip and generates electricity for day or night use.

A 3D printer for dental labs. Stratasys, a 3D printing company with headquarters in Minnesota and in Rehovot, has launched the Objet500 Dental Selection 3D printer for larger dental and orthodontic labs that require volume production of precise, lifelike models.

The printer can create a variety of dental-specific paletes in a single run.

Unemployment falls again. The unemployment rate in Israel fell from 5.2 percent in August to 5.1 percent in September.

Eilat hosts European beach tennis championships. Contestants and spectators enjoyed uninterrupted sunshine during the first European Beach Tennis Championships held in Eilat. Fifteen international teams competed.

Thousands stand with Israel. Thousands of people in New York took part in a pro-Israel rally in Times Square.

Rome, Paris, Madrid and Kiev had similar rallies, in which senior members of the ruling political parties joined in the call of support for the Jewish state.

Descendants of converts support Israel. Many Spanish and Portuguese Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity in the late 16th century. Their descendants have rallied to support Israel in Recife, Brazil, and El Paso, Texas.

Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other news sources.

November 2-15, 2015

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Israel Photo of the Week Climbing Into History

Solomon’s Pillars at Timna Park are part of an archaeological site in the Negev that has become a popular recreational destination for Israelis and foreign tourists.

Visitors can explore an ancient network of copper mines, among other activities.

Timna is going through a long-term excavation and development program led by Professor Beno Rothenberg of University College, London, and spearheaded by Jewish National Fund (www.jnf.org) with funding from Avrum Chudnow and his family.

LOCAL NEWS

MAYER SMITH ASKS Do you have a mortgage?

With a slight struggle, (center from left) centennial chair Phyllis Cohen, Greater Atlanta Hadassah President Paula Zucker, National President Marcie Natan and exhibition chair Ruthanne Warnick cut the ribbon on Hadassah Atlanta’s centennial exhibit at the Breman Museum on Nov. 1. Joining the quartet in the middle are Southeastern Region President Toby Parker (left), Israeli Consul General Judith Varnai Shorer, Breman Executive Director Aaron Berger and exhibition display designer Dale Brubaker.

B

C

Photos by Michael Jacobs

D

E

A. The original Atlanta Hadassah minutes book welcomes visitors to the centennial exhibit.

B. Centennial chair Phyllis Cohen performs a “stripteaser” for the celebration by shedding her early20th-century-style gloves and hat while singing.

C. “You can get involved in any way you see fit,” Greater Atlanta Hadassah President Paula Zucker says.

D. National President Marcie Natan talks about Hadassah’s present and future.

E. People attending the exhibit opening Nov. 1 could record two-minute videos about their Hadassah memories.

Hadassah Starts Yearlong Centennial Celebration

H

undreds of Hadassah members and supporters gathered at the Breman Museum on Sunday, Nov. 1, to launch a yearlong celebration of 100 years of the Zionist women’s organization in Atlanta.

The opening of a compact exhibit highlighting the group’s first century of work came a day before the 99th anniversary of the first local meeting of 18 ladies.

Today, Greater Atlanta Hadassah has more than 3,600 members and associates and is vibrant and growing, GAH President Paula Zucker said.

“We’ve come so far, so let’s celebrate,” Phyllis Cohen, who is chairing the centennial celebration, sang during a welcoming number.

Cohen read from the minutes of the first local Hadassah meeting (on display at the entrance to the exhibit) while wearing white gloves and a hat in the style of the founders, who referred to each other as “Mrs.” and within a year found themselves planning for 1917’s 20th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress, arranging High Holiday hospitality for Jewish soldiers and raising an annual total of $4.05 for clinics fighting trachoma in children in Palestine.

Trachoma then was the primary health concern for Hadassah, founded in 1912. Today, Hadassah National President Marcie Natan reminded the group, the Hadassah Medical Organization is leading research into macular degeneration causing blindness in the elderly, as well as doing groundbreaking work on ALS, multiple sclerosis, breast cancer and other diseases.

“We need your support as members, as donors, as partners,” Natan said, “because we’re making a difference for the Jewish people, and the name of Hadassah is written into the history of Palestine and the state of Israel.”

The Breman exhibit is scheduled to be open until March 6 and is accessible with normal admission to the museum. Centennial events over the next year will include the national Hadassah convention July 25 to 28 in Atlanta and a gala celebration next October. ■

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AJT 15

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LOCAL NEWS

Singing Interfaith Praises

Jews, Catholics celebrate a half-century of dialogue

By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com

F

ifty years to the day after the papal declaration that launched a new era in Catholic-Jewish relations, around 900 people gathered to commemorate the landmark document at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center.

“For centuries, it was documented

by Catholics that somehow Judaism was a surplus religion following the rise of Christianity,” Rabbi James Rudin said. “Even though Jesus was a Jew living in the land of Israel and his early followers were Jews, the prevalent belief was that Jews had failed to recognize the Messiah and as a result Judaism was an extraneous religion subject to contempt. For over 1,900 years, there were tragic, horrific attacks, but Jews and Judaism did not disappear.”

As the American Jewish Committee’s director of interreligious affairs, Rabbi Rudin spent decades working to bring real-life meaning to the words of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council document that cleared Jews of blame for the death of Jesus and de-

clared that anti-Semitism was wrong.

Rabbi Rudin remains an AJC adviser and served as co-host of the anniversary event, a joint celebration of AJC Atlanta and the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The celebration Wednesday, Oct. 28, began with an inspired performance of Rabbi Micah Lapidus’ version of “Hinei Mah Tov” by a choir of Davis Academy and Marist School students.

A video presentation then shed light on the history of Nostra Aetate.

Rabbi Rudin explained how instrumental the document was in settling differences between the Jewish and Catholic communities.

He told the interfaith crowd that he believes there are “many paths to G-d,” and he concluded with a quote from poet Robert Browning: “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.”

After Rabbi Rudin’s speech, Fox 5 news anchor Russ Spencer was announced as a surprise guest host and said, “It’s my humble belief that we all pray to the same G-d.”

Spencer introduced the Weber School dance ensemble, whose perfor-

Photos by Thomas Spink, Georgia Bulletin

Left: The Weber School dance ensemble performs a routine during the interfaith event.

Above left: Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory says he looks forward to an even brighter future for the Jewish and Catholic communities.

Above right: Rabbi James Rudin, who spent decades working to bring real-life meaning to the words of Nostra Aetate, speaks to the crowd at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center.

mance preceded Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory’s thoughts on 50 years of positive interfaith dialogue.

Noting that Nostra Aetate means “in our time” in Latin, Archbishop Gregory said: “We now have a hope for tomorrow, but there is still much more work to be done in our time for a richer more blessed future for both of our communities.”

The performances after his speech emphasized interfaith cooperation.

A jubilee choir directed by Dónal Noonan, music director at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, per-

formed “The Lord Is My Light,” based on Psalm 27.

“More Than Hope,” a dramatic historic presentation exploring the growth of Jewish-Catholic relations, featured a cast of Pamela Gold, Clayton Langly, Kathleen McManus and Christopher Moses. Mira Hirsch, director of education at Theatrical Outfit and member of The Temple, wrote and directed the production.

A music performance of Ubi Caritas and Psalm 150 and a final communal song of “Siyahamba/Marching in the Light of God” closed festivities. ■

36th Annual Cultural Arts Concert Series Sunday • November 8 • 3:00 p.m.

Ahavath Achim Synagogue Ellman Chapel Featuring

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich: Homage to Victims of the Shoah

AJT 16

Helen Kim – Violin Charae Kruger – Cello Robert Henry – Piano Concert is open to the public. Reception following concert.

Ahavath Achim Synagogue | 600 Peachtree Battle Avenue NW | Atlanta, GA 30327

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

LOCAL NEWS

Intown Jewish Academy Lights Way Past Apathy

By Mindy Rubenstein mrubenstein@atljewishtimes.com

A

s Rabbi Yosef Yitchak Jacobson spoke Thursday night, Oct. 29, mouths were gaping, eyes engaged, and tissues were in hand. At the Intown Jewish Academy’s ninth annual dinner, people laughed and cried and laughed again during the rabbi’s talk, his animated voice often bellowing into the rafters.

The annual dinner is about celebrating “Jewish life and learning that is innovative, engaging and immersive,” said Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman, codirector of Chabad Intown.

Comparing Rabbi Ari Sollish, the education director at Chabad Intown, to the patriarch Abraham, Rabbi Schusterman said, “It’s a great honor to be able to work with a colleague who has that kind of humility.”

IJA has grown by leaps and bounds since Rabbi Sollish and his wife, Leah, moved to Atlanta. Thousands of students have taken hundreds of classes.

“Torah is not just an abstract philosophy,” Rabbi Sollish said, but is used to decide legal and medical issues.

Photo by David R. Cohen

Rabbi Yosef Yitchak Jacobson addresses the Intown Jewish Academy annual dinner.

The recent Jewish Literacy Initiative course on happiness shattered attendance records, he said.

As part of Chabad Intown’s 18th anniversary, a new program offers three tracks — Jewish Scholars, Jewish Action and Jewish Life-Skills — promoting vertical growth, with more content in a particular area to enable students to “take it to the next level,” Rabbi Sollish said.

Attendees can join any class and are not required to commit to the full track of bundled courses, but “vertical

growth systematically comes from the entire track program,” he said.

The main speaker, Rabbi Jacobson, was the first rabbi invited to the Pentagon to deliver the religious keynote address to the U.S. Military Chief of Chaplains and the National Security Agency.

“We live in a generation of profound ignorance,” he said, “and ignorance breeds apathy.”

He said Chabad and the Intown Jewish Academy “create a vibe of intellectual curiosity,” which is how to “rebuild broken hearts and shattered souls.”

He noted that the ark that held the Holy of Holies in the mishkan had two poles that were never removed, even when the mishkan sat stationary in Shiloh for 369 years. Thus, he said, “wherever you have the Torah, you are in the Holy of Holies.”

Jews can open a book of Torah at any time and be connected to our heritage and our true identity. “Discover the story that binds generations in an unbroken chain,” he said.

Rabbi Jacobson explained the five aspects of a soul-based life: • Surprise and humility. Humility

is an openness to opportunity and new experiences in life rather than allowing the scripts from our past to replay themselves over and over again.

• Validation within. Confidence is never based on approval. Your soul comes from G-d. Only confidence and joy are in G-d’s space.

• Vulnerability. Don’t fear being raw, real, authentic and vulnerable. We often create masks to protect. When you know your core is valuable and connected to G-d, you can be human and authentic.

• Sacred space. Under all circumstances, you have a space that remains connected. No matter the depth of sorrow or despair, that spark remains within, a sacred space. The soul is a fragment of G-d; it is indestructible.

• Be happy, not petty. Never be petty or small. Don’t hold a grudge.

Kabbalists say that children don’t hold grudges because they choose to be happy over being right. Adults are the opposite. Allow the soul to be happy.

“There are many mountains in life that seem insurmountable,” Rabbi Jacobson said. “But as long as we are alive, we never stop growing.” ■

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AJT 17

Chanukah ART CONTEST We’re looking for a festive Chanukah illustration for the cover of the Atlanta Jewish Times’ Dec. 4 issue.

If you’re age 15 or under, send us your Chanukah-themed artwork by Friday, Nov. 20.

Size: 9.5 inches wide by 8 inches high Materials: Anything that shows up bold and bright, such as crayons, markers or cut paper. We suggest taping your artwork to cardboard to protect it. Do not fold artwork. Digitally produced art is accepted. Artwork may be submitted as JPEG or PDF file at atlantajewishtimes.com.

To enter: All work must be received at the Atlanta Jewish Times office, 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, Atlanta, GA 30328 ATTN: Art Contest, or submitted through the website. (One entry per child, please.)

All work must have an entry form attached on the back or filled out online: Deadline is 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, 2015. Artwork may be picked up in January at 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, Atlanta, GA 30328 during regular business hours.

There are four age categories: 6 and under, 7 to 9, 10 to 12, and 13 to 15.

GRAND PRIZE $50 Gift certificate to Binders. Winner’s art may be the cover of the Dec.4 AJT.

FIRST PRIZES $25 Gift certificate to Binders for each category (total of 4)

Awards: Contest winners will be honored at a reception at Binders Art Supplies. Artwork may be reprinted in the Atlanta Jewish Times, posted online and publicly displayed at Binders.

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LOCAL NEWS

Bulge to Belmont

WWII vet reflects on Army, retirement

By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com

MAGGIANO’S LITTLE ITALY

“I

Photo by Kevin Madigan

Eli West Jacobs stands by his portrait in the “American Heroes: Portraits of Service” display at Belmont Village.

guarding something. I don’t know what it was, but there were snipers.”

Jacobs’ second, more serious wound happened during the Battle of the Bulge. “The first sergeant came in and said, ‘Saddle up, you’re going to Belgium. We’ve got trouble up there.’

So we got on the truck. It was the worst cold winter, and that’s when I got wounded in my face and my leg.”

Jacobs recalls his captain, for whom he was driving, as being something of a “nut” who always wanted to be at the front of the pack.

“I was in the hospital for four or five weeks in Nances,” France, he said.

He finally got to join the Air Corps and finished his service in Germany in 1946. Jacobs enrolled at Western Kentucky University on the G.I. Bill “because they had a real good accounting department, and that’s what I wanted to take. I got out, got a job with a CPA firm, but that got old, so I quit and got my real estate license. At that time, the ’70s, real estate was really good and stayed that way until I retired in 2002.

Then it went bad.”

Jacobs and his wife also ran Zager’s Fine Foods in Nashville for almost a decade.

The deli and catering business became a well-known fixture on Music Row and operated three other locations as well, attracting a string of celebrity customers.

The couple left Nashville for good after a flood destroyed their home, and they moved to Atlanta in 2010 to be closer to all their offspring, including eight grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.

Asked how he likes his upscale retirement home, Jacobs said: “This place is great. It’s the Waldorf-Astoria. I can afford to live here for the rest of my life — if I die next Tuesday.” ■

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f I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself,” joked 90-year-old Eli West Jacobs, a decorated veteran of World War II who lives in the Belmont Village at Buckhead retirement home in Sandy Springs.

With Veterans Day coming Wednesday, Nov. 11, Jacobs and six other war veterans who live at Belmont are being honored with an exhibition there called “American Heroes: Portraits of Service.” Also recognized is Vera Barton, a Holocaust survivor who was liberated from Auschwitz in 1945.

The portraits were taken by photographer Tom Sanders, whose book “The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of WWII” includes residents of Belmont locations around the country.

Nashville-born Jacobs, who was awarded two Purple Hearts, sat in a private room at the center to talk about his life. Also present was his daughter Shelley Jacobs Antin, who visits him three times a week and is one of four children. Jacobs moved into Belmont five years ago with his wife, Estelle, who died in 2013.

“We lived with Shelley and (her husband) Bob for about four months until they threw us out,” Jacobs said with a laugh.

Rising to the rank of staff sergeant, Jacobs served in the U.S. Army from 1943 until 1946. When he enlisted, he asked to join the Air Corps, but he was sent to Fort Benning as an infantryman instead. “I didn’t want that, but there was nothing I could do,” he said.

“So I had 13 weeks in training, and in the last week I got sick. They sent me to a hospital for three days, and when I got out, my shipment had left without me.”

Jacobs ended up completing several training cycles at Fort Benning and in Pennsylvania before shipping overseas.

“I did training in England for two months for combat engineering, and then two days after D-Day we went into Normandy. Those weren’t good days. In my company we had trucks.

We had bulldozers. We had to clear the road of mines. These were antipersonnel mines. About three weeks later they sent us (farther south), and I was wounded there,” he said. “We were

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lex Idov grew up in a family that loves to cook. His father, Bernie Idov, was known as Bernie the Baker by people who lined up on Friday afternoon for his fresh-baked challah at his store in Toco Hills.

The bakery is now closed, but Bernie is still baking challah in his home.

Now Alex is following in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a career in culinary management.

On Wednesday, Nov. 18, Alex is presenting Kosh Atlanta, a kosher pop-up restaurant at Chabad of Cobb, for his senior project at Kennesaw State University’s Michael A. Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality.

Idov said the Leven School faculty is excited about the program’s first kosher event.

“We are exceptionally honored to partner with our community to provide Alex a forum to demonstrate his talents and passion for kosher cooking and provide a new learning opportunity for the other students,” said Christian Hardigree, the director of the Leven School.

While his classmates are presenting their dinners in a house on campus, Idov would need to kasher the kitchen and secure a new set of cookware and serving utensils to prepare a kosher meal there. He thought about presenting his dinner at a kosher home, then he decided it might be good for the community to do it on a larger scale.

So Idov asked chef Thorir Erlingsson, an Icelandic certified master chef, whether he would be interested in a kosher night at a larger venue. When the answer was yes, Idov consulted with Rabbi Zalman Charytan, the Chabad rabbi at Kennesaw State, who recommended Chabad of Cobb in East Cobb.

The synagogue on Lower Roswell Road gives Idov room to serve 60 people at his “once-in-a-lifetime restaurant.”

Wine will be served with the meat meal, but instead of a cocktail hour, the evening will begin with a “Coketail” hour. That’s because Idov is drawn to nostalgia, especially regarding CocaCola.

He admires the late Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Congregation Shearith Israel, where Bernie Idov became a bar mitzvah. Among other notable contributions to the Jewish community, Rabbi Geffen was given access to the secret

Alex Idov is a big fan of cooking with Coke.

recipe for Coca-Cola and granted the Atlanta soft drink kosher certification in 1935.

“For someone who doesn’t drink soda, I sure use Coke a lot,” Idov said.

One of the dishes at the five-course dinner Nov. 18 is bourbon-and-Coke-glazed meatballs.

Saying he took a liquor class, Idov added, “I like cooking with liquor more than I like drinking it.”

On his website, www.thekosherologist.com, Idov shares an album of photos of his family cooking.

“Does every family have so many pictures cooking?” he posted.

“I grew up in the food business,” the budding chef said, “but I want to define myself.” To do so, the kosherologist hopes to break into the media side of the culinary profession, “exploring Jewish culture through the art of food.”

Several years ago, Idov studied at a yeshiva in Far Rockaway, N.Y., where he wrote a food column for the Five Towns newspaper and cooked and baked for small parties. But “I’ve never catered for such a large group before,” he said. “It’s going to be a fun night as long as I can pull it off, G-d willing.” ■ What: Kosh Atlanta, five-course kosher dinner with “Coketail” hour Who: Kennesaw State senior Alex Idov and classmates Where: Chabad of Cobb, 4450 Lower Roswell Road, East Cobb When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18 Tickets: $50; uc.kennesaw.edu/ levenschool/events.php Information: thekosherologist@gmail.com

BOOK FESTIVAL

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

Liberating Soviet Jewry’s Humble Heroes

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

R

abbi Avi Weiss can’t stop bucking the establishment.

The voice of Open Orthodoxy has waged his most recent battles against Modern Orthodoxy’s Rabbinical Council of America over the ordination of women and the acceptance of men ordained at the seminary he founded, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

Rabbi Avi Weiss But in his new book, “Open Up the Iron Door,” which he will discuss at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center, Rabbi Weiss is looking back at the quartercentury when American Jews took to the streets to demand that the Soviet Union let our people go.

Rabbi Weiss was on the front lines, and he said that after the publication of Gal Beckerman’s “When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone,” which tells the story

from the establishment perspective, he felt the need to provide the view from outside the mainstream.

AJT: Why did you choose to write this book now?

Weiss: I’m getting older, and I thought that as I traveled the country, I recognized that perhaps the most important movement post-Shoah, aside from the establishment of the state of Israel, which is more than a movement, was the Soviet Jewry movement. And there are people in America who did not live through the movement who don’t know the story. People have all kinds of heroes, and there are heroes in the Soviet Jewry movement: the Soviet Jews themselves and their junior partners here in America who really contributed to doing the impossible, and that is the freeing of Soviet Jews and making a contribution to the bringing down of the Soviet Union.

AJT: Does there always have to be tension between activists and the establishment?

Weiss: There doesn’t have to be tension, but the book talks about ten-

sion that did exist during the Soviet Jewry movement. There was unity in the ultimate goal, and that was the freedom of Soviet Jews. However, the tactics and the approach, even after the establishment created a national conference, were very, very different. … The real heroes were the Soviet Jews themselves. Those in the West played a junior partner role. Although it’s a memoir about my experiences, I hope it comes across that it’s not about me.

This is a memoir about humble heroes, I think, in the many hundreds of thousands throughout the world who stood with placards, who lobbied Congress, who visited the Soviet Union, who sang the freedom songs, who held freedom seders, who left empty chairs for Soviet prisoners of Zion. … I hope when people read it, that it inspires them to get involved and remain involved in the causes that are dear to us.

AJT: Why was this an issue that people latched on to?

Weiss: The Soviet Jewry movement started as a never-again movement — that the mistakes and the silence of the ’30s and ’40s we were not going to re-

peat. And I think we were very much influenced by the black civil rights movement, which enormously touched my soul, still does. And then there were great individuals like Glenn Richter, to whom the book is dedicated. He’s unknown to many people, but I consider him to be one of the greatest activists, if not the greatest, of the latter part of the 20th century, certainly in America.

And I think all that came together, and the movement converged.

AJT: Do you see any comparable movements today?

Weiss: I think that the key cause that people can become involved in is the rampant anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Israelism throughout the world, and I would say that an equally important spiritual activism cause is for Jews to become involved in a spiritual quest and seeking meaning and spirituality and greater Jewishness in their lives. ■ Open Up the Iron Door

By Avi Weiss The Toby Press, 326 pages, $24.95 At the festival Nov. 8

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AJT 21

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BOOK FESTIVAL

Family Reading Fun Planned for Nov. 15

T

he Family Reading Festival, one of the annual highlights of the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center, takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, at Zaban Park, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody.

The event targets children ages 6 months to 6 years.

Children can take part in craft activities based on the following books: • Tracy Newman’s “Hanukkah Is Coming.”

• Deborah Lakritz’s “Joey and the Giant Box.” • Andria Rosenbaum’s “Meg Goldberg on Parade.”

• Laura Gehl’s “Hare and Tortoise Race Across Israel.”

• Shoshana Banana’s “Family Ties.”

Joanie Leeds and Drummer Dan are performing at 11 a.m., and the Atlanta Hawks cheerleaders, Rabbi Brian Glusman and the Shabbat Dinosaur also are making appearances.

For the younger crowd, Shalom

Baby is telling stories and presenting puppet shows throughout the festival in the Sophie Hirsh Srochi Discovery Center.

Children’s tickets are $10 for center members and $13 for nonmembers in advance or $3 more at the door. Parents and infants under 6 months old are free. Get tickets at www.atlantajcc. org/bookfestival, or call 678-812-4005.

Don’t forget to bring new or gently used children’s books to donate to Project GIVE, which supports the Atlanta

Joanie Leeds will perform during the Family Reading Festival.

Jewish Coalition for Literacy’s tutoring of kindergartners through third-graders at Atlanta public schools. Donation bins are next to the front desk at the JCC. ■

No Saving ‘Sophie’

Too many plotlines undermine thriller

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

C

hicago lawyer Ronald H. Balson tries to do a lot with his second novel, “Saving Sophie.”

He personifies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Sophie, the 6-year-old daughter of an American Jewish father and Palestinian Muslim mother who is abducted to live in Hebron.

He criticizes the hypocrisy and exploitation of college athletics.

He attacks the greed of the superwealthy and power of the Russian mob.

He develops the relationship of Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart, the lead characters of his debut novel, “Once We Were Brothers.”

He does all of that and more amid what should be an edge-of-your-seat, thriller about a terrorist attack, but instead of a spy thriller a la James Bond, Balson gives us a spy melodrama like the less successful episodes of “Homeland.” The first clue it could go wrong comes when Balson uses “occluding” in the book’s opening sentence.

Driving the story is the embezzlement of $88 million through a misdi-

rected wire transfer during the sale of up-from-the-streets business mogul Victor Kelsen’s company. The lawyer handling the closing, Jack Sommers, disappears when the money vanishes, and Balson makes no secret of Sommers’ role in the theft. The mysteries are why he did it, where the money went, who’s behind the crime, and whether it has anything to do with a biological terrorist attack being planned

by Jack’s former father-in-law, Hebron physician Arif al-Zahani.

Kelsen sues Sommers’ law firm, which brings in Lockhart as its attorney, keeping her busy in Chicago after her boyfriend, Taggart, is hired by the same firm and then by the CIA to look for Sommers, who finds new romance while hiding in Hawaii.

Balson, appearing Nov. 10 at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center, tells a good story; he just tries to tell too many at once. ■ Saving Sophie

By Ronald H. Balson St. Martin’s Griffin, 448 pages, $15.99 At the festival Nov. 10

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BOOK FESTIVAL

Wien Gets Specific to Help Readers Find an Edge

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

P

eople who head to the Marcus Jewish Community Center on Sunday morning, Nov. 8, to spend an hour with Atlantan Mike Wien shouldn’t expect a typical Book Festival author talk about his book or his writing process.

Instead, Wien plans to deliver a motivational workshop to help his audience learn how to apply the lessons of his book, “The Specific Edge,” a guide to success in business and life.

Wien, who had a successful corporate career in brand management with Frito-Lay, Pepsi, Citibank and Deloitte, is trying do with his book what he has done as a consultant since 2003 through his Specific Edge Institute: teach people “how to effectively differentiate themselves in the market by being more specific in their targeting.”

Wien said he is honored and delighted at earning a place as one of the hometown authors at the Book Festival. He said his book’s advice applies just as well to a financial planner finding a niche in the market as it does to a

Mike Wien shares success from the boardroom to the triathlon course with his clients and his readers.

college student seeking that first postgraduation job.

As an adjunct professor at Georgia State University who loves talking to young people and providing guidance for the price of a lunch, Wien should know. He said a lot of job seekers make the fatal flaw of applying for every possible opening instead of “harnessing the power of being specific” to go after the best opportunity.

“The Specific Edge” can help people stand out by figuring out their real strengths — something more important now than ever.

“I didn’t realize when I wrote the

book why it’s so right for today,” Wien said. In this world of big data and technology driving marketing, “it’s no longer about outspending the competition; it’s about outthinking the competition. A lot of Davids out there are winning over Goliaths.”

That underdog success includes the competition for talent, where companies are attracting and retaining the top employees by helping them find meaning and purpose, he said.

The book’s emphasis on purpose and meaning in life instead of piling up money and things also fits the mind-set of millennials, Wien said.

“The book focuses on your personal specific edge, something that you’re going to be passionate about,” he said.

“Your work should be something that you enjoy doing. Compensation is just the icing on the cake.”

A key concept in the book is achieving balance, something Wien said is the responsibility of each person. “Early in my career, I was notorious for being a workaholic. … As I got older, I realized that while I was being extremely successful, it was unsustainable.”

He has found balance both by

moving from the corporate world to consulting and by turning himself into a world-class triathlete, but he knows some Ironman triathletes who have lost all balance in pursuit of their training goals.

He said the people best equipped for long-term success not only have passion for what they are doing, but also aggressively manage their life balance.

His book can help. It is a quick read — Wien calls it “a one-flight book, as long as you’re at least going to Denver” — but requires serious thought and long effort for its lessons to be effective.

“Sustained effort wins. Nothing is a quick fix,” he said. “Success is not about dumb luck. It’s not about being at the right place at the right time. Successful people have overcome failures and obstacles.” ■

The Specific Edge

By Mike Wien Self-published, 120 pages, $14.95 At the festival Nov. 8

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AJT 24

BOOK FESTIVAL

The Father, the Son And the Holy Golem

By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com

J

esse Kellerman had a Harvard degree and was on his way to law school when he sold his first novel, steering him from a legal career to the writing life, which might have been a good-news, bad-news moment for some Jewish parents.

But not when those parents are Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, each of whom is a best-selling novelist.

“They never pushed me toward or from anything,” in part because of their personalities and in part because of their “Free to Be You and Me” parenting era, Jesse Kellerman said in a phone interview in advance of his appearance at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center.

Kellerman never decided to follow his parents as a professional author because it’s unreasonable for anyone to expect to make a living from writing, he said. “It’s not a decision a writer gets to make. … We have no control over whether this gets to be our job.”

He writes books and previously wrote plays because he has always been a writer, going back to telling stories while he was a toddler. He said he has no more choice about whether to write than he does about whether anyone pays him to do it.

Kellerman, 37, appeared at the Book Festival three years with Erich Segal’s daughter, Francesca, in an event focused on second-generation writers.

This time, he’ll be there as a co-author with his father.

The Kellerman men are out with the second book in their “Golem” series, “The Golem of Paris,” which focuses on Los Angeles police Detective Jacob Lev, the son of an Orthodox rabbi and a double direct descendant of Rabbi Judah Loew, who raised the Golem in the 16th century to protect the Jews of Prague.

Kellerman said Lev is interesting because he’s a cliché who breaks stereotypes: a hardboiled, hard-drinking cop who happens to have a yeshiva education.

Kellerman’s own yeshiva education helped draw him to the Golem story and its exploration of man’s limitations. “One of the central themes of Judaism is the fundamental difference between G-d’s power to create and man’s power,” he said. “That makes Him superior to us, gives Him dominion over us.”

He said Shabbat is a day of rest to force us to desist from creation. “Guess what? You don’t get to do this all the time. … It’s a little bit of a rebuke.”

The first book was inspired by a trip to Prague by Jonathan Kellerman.

He then read up on the Golem myth and wrote an outline for a book but never had time to write it. Jesse Kellerman loved the outline and urged his father to write it. They decided it would be fun to do it together, even though the father is in Southern California and the son lives in Northern California.

They’re comfortable with the collaboration, which comes naturally for Jesse Kellerman because of his experience in the collaborative medium of theater. The biggest problem, he said, is keeping their versions straight as they pass the computer file back and forth after tackling 50 to 100 pages.

The first Lev book, “The Golem of Hollywood,” ended on a “strange and ambiguous note,” Kellerman said.

“Paris” lacks the ambiguity but leaves plenty of mysteries to keep Lev busy if the Kellermans want to do more.

Kellerman said that when he was a teenager, he tried working with his mother on a story about Jack the Ripper and his mother. It didn’t go well.

“I was really obnoxious. She never collaborated with me again.”

Faye Kellerman is out with her own book, “The Theory of Death,” and is joining her husband and son at the festival. Jesse Kellerman said they’ve made appearances together, but this is the first time they’ve worked to have books published at the same time.

Someday, there could be a threegeneration book event. Kellerman said his son, Oscar, has the storytelling gene. “He’s a narrative guy,” Kellerman said. “He’s got to tell you what he’s thinking.” ■

The Golem of Paris

By Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 512 pages, $27.95 At the festival Nov. 12

www.atlantajewishtimes.com

BOOK FESTIVAL

Albom’s ‘Strings’ Makes Musical Magic

‘Charlie Mike’: Fighting The Good Fight at Home

By Anna Streetman

By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

By Mitch Albom Harper, 512 pages, $25.99 At the festival Nov. 14

S

tories abound of soldiers coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who find themselves unable to cope with civilian life. They suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and many commit suicide.

What you hear less of are stories of those who survive, and in some cases thrive, by involving themselves in work that helps others.

Joe Klein’s new book, “Charlie Mike: A True Story of Heroes Who Brought Their Mission Home,” is about two such men, Eric Greitens and Jake Wood, who form nonprofit organizations that enlist other veterans to help with disaster relief and community service projects.

Klein, who wrote the best-selling novel “Primary Colors” about Bill Clinton’s run for the presidency, told the AJT in an interview that positive stories arising from war don’t get enough coverage, whereas tales of woe proliferate across the media, and he sought to re-

dress the balance with this book.

Greitens, a Navy SEAL who was wounded in Iraq, in 2007 founded the Mission Continues, an “organization that empowers veterans facing the challenge of adjusting to life at home to find new missions.”

Marine sniper Wood started Team Rubicon, which sent rescue groups to assist victims of the Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Sandy and the recent floods in South Carolina, among other disasters.

Not all these valiant deeds yielded positive results, however, and Klein does not shy away from revealing sadder truths. Part of the book focuses on the mental deterioration of a troubled vet named Clay Hunt, who killed himself in 2011 despite Wood’s efforts to lift his spirits.

“Charlie Mike” is a powerful story well told, but it cannot diminish the ultimate futility of war and the terrible toll it can take on its participants. ■

a r d e a p

Joe Klein appears at the Book Festival of the MJCCA at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8.

concert production Book by Alfred Urhy. Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Directed by Harrison Long. Music direction by Judith Cole.

Department of Theatre and Performance Studies Presents Nov. 19, 2015 | 7:30 p.m. | The Strand Theatre | $5-$20 | Marietta, GA ticketing.kennesaw.edu Nov. 22, 2015 | 4 p.m. | The Temple | Atlanta, GA Free with Registration: paradetemple.eventbrite.com Alfred Uhry’s Tony-award winning musical, “Parade,” recounts the events that culminated in the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, the Jewish manager of a pencil factory who was accused of murdering Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old employee. One hundred years later, we commemorate these tragic events with performances at Marietta’s historic Strand Theatre and at The Temple in Atlanta. Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and composer Jason Robert Brown (Bridges of Madison County) bring this painful chapter in Southern history to life.

Co-sponsored by Kennesaw State University Office of the President, Kennesaw State University College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Paul and Beverly Radow Lecture Series, the Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives & Rare Books as well as The Temple–Atlanta.

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

M

itch Albom’s “The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto” tells the tale of a fictional guitar superstar and his magic strings.

Albom will talk about the book when he delivers the annual Eva and George Stern Lecture at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center.

Frankie Presto is a Spanish war orphan whose talent is nurtured by a cantankerous blind guitar teacher Frankie knows as El Maestro. Frankie’s talent is G-d-given, and his life is narrated by the voice of music itself.

Frankie’s life is both tragic and magnificent.

He steps in to perform as Elvis, falls in love, has a daughter, achieves international fame, and is rumored to have performed at Woodstock.

But misfortune strikes from the beginning. Frankie is abandoned in a river as a child. And along his road to fame, he makes a few mistakes. His power becomes his burden, and one day he disappears, haunted by his past.

He finally makes a legendary comeback before surrendering his soul to music and leaving this world.

Albom’s love for music shines through every page. A lifelong musician as well as an award-winning sports columnist and author of “Tuesdays With Morrie,” Albom calls music his first love.

The character of Frankie is inspired by musicians Albom has met and admired, the author said in an interview. He described El Maestro, Frankie’s guitar teacher, as “a blind, Spanish, guitar-playing version of Morrie.”

“The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto” pays homage to Spanish music.

Frankie is born in Spain, and much of the music he plays originates there.

“I consider a lot of Spanish guitarists, like Francisco Tárrega, the fathers of guitar, and a lot of modern and classical guitar began in Spain,” Albom said. “It’s only fair the setting be there.”

He said he wanted the book to portray an international feel for music. “I wanted to remind people that there’s a world of music outside of ‘American Idol’ and ‘The Voice.’ Sometimes we (Americans) stick to the idea that we created music. Music is universal; it changes lives all over the world. And it has been around forever, not just

with your first band record.”

Albom added that the talents we are given in this world affect everyone. “Even if you don’t Mitch Albom, perhaps like or care best known for his about munonfiction, returns to sic, you will novels with a lyrical tale. care about Frankie. You will see how his talent changes the lives of people and how it changes the world.”

“The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto” is inventive, is beautifully narrated, and hits all the right notes. ■

AJT 25

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resh off the stage of the Georgia Ensemble Theatre production of “Calendar Girls,” Atlanta native Jenny Levison made headlines with the announcement that her restaurant chain’s anchor location in Buckhead will move from East Andrews Drive across West Paces Ferry Road to the Atlanta History Center.

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Jaffe: What is your History Center concept? We see the massive construction there.

Levison: They are working on making their image more accessible and fun; thus, our restaurant will have parking out front and seat 60 inside and 60 outside.

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

AJT 26

Jaffe: You now have six locations.

Any thoughts about venturing outside Atlanta?

Levison: I think for now we are done expanding and want to concentrate on making the new History Center location fabulous. And I want to spend more time in the kitchen myself. But I’ll never say never.

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Jaffe: What do you prepare at home? What are your best dishes?

Levison: I love to entertain and

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use clean ingredients. I’m into wild cod and roasted vegetables right now. I make a good flank steak too.

Jaffe: Where do you like to dine out?

Levison: Rumi’s Kitchen is my recent fav. Lots of good new places on the Atlanta scene too.

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Jaffe: How do you balance both running a company and acting?

Levison: The play took two months. I now have a great team and executive chef, so I can rely on them and don’t have to come in at 5 a.m. like I used to. I also parent my 11-year-old son, Jonah.

Jaffe: My favorite scene in “Calendar Girls” was you spreading the sunflower seeds on the grave. What was yours?

Levison: Oh, the fight at the end was the most dramatic!

Jaffe: What is your dream role?

Levison: Desiree in “A Little Night Music.” “Send in the clowns” — I sing also.

Courtenay Collins Eckhart, one of Atlanta’s most renowned actresses, said: “Acting opposite Jenny in ‘Calendar Girls’ was the easiest work I have ever done. She is such a natural that you don’t feel that she is acting at all. Her craft is so centered, focused, genuine and real. It always amazed me that she could come to the theater after a full day of being Souper Jenny with this amazingly calm and giving energy, which she Souper Jenny Levison transferred says she has no plans into her role. to expand beyond the She really is Atlanta area, but “I’ll a souper hunever say never.” man!” ■

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EDUCATION

Weber Brings High School Drama to Life

T

A

C

ADL Sending 3 to D.C.

A

tlanta Jewish Academy juniors Ezra Blaut, Max Cohen and Ruby Jacobs are among 11 high school students selected as the Lynne & Howard Halpern Atlanta delegates for the Anti-Defamation League’s 16th annual Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership Mission to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington Nov. 15 to 18.

“I want to participate in this mission because I have witnessed prejudice, especially anti-Semitism,” Ruby said.

The ethnically and racially diverse group of students will convene in Washington to wrestle with the issues of bigotry and intolerance in America.

“I think this trip will give me useful skills I can apply to my life both now and in the future,” Ezra said.

The centerpiece of the mission will be a visit to the museum, which will not only educate the delegates about the Holocaust, but also enable exploration of the issues of extremism and bigotry.

“I am excited to participate because I have encountered hatred towards me and want to do what is possible to end those situations,” Max said.

The ADL developed the National

Youth Leadership Mission to confront racial and ethnic tensions by motivating students to fight prejudice in their lives and their communities.

“This mission encourages open communication and frank discussion so our youth can learn the benefits of diversity and be given the tools to combat bigotry,” said Shelley Rose, the senior associate director of the ADL Southeast Region in Buckhead.

Besides AJA, the Atlanta delegates, all juniors, are Kara Christopher, Erin Massey and Japjee Singh of Dunwoody High School; LaTivia McCowan, Chrystal McLeod and Cedric Tuggle of Cedar Grove High School; and Brittaney Jackson and Roland Pack of Benjamin E. Mays High School. ■

B

D Photos by Michael Jacobs

A. Emily Kurzweil B. Mattie Rosen follows Fhena’s lead in dancing during the show’s finale.

C. Sammy Weiss-Cowie and Samantha Seiden perform a scene from “Blind Dates.”

D. Ayelet Bernstein, Blake Rosen and Relly Hayut appear in “From Where I Stand.”

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he first half of the Weber School’s fall drama production, “From Where I Stand: Life Through the Eyes of Our Youth,” felt like just another high school show: seven students reciting someone else’s 34-year-old words, doing their best and mostly succeeding but not quite connecting with the material or the audience. It was the kind of show parents could love and others could like.

Then Act II, written by the students themselves under the guidance of director/artist in residence Hilda Willis, began, and something special developed on the Morris & Rae Frank Theatre stage at the Marcus Jewish Community Center on Thursday night, Oct. 29.

Juniors Ayelet Bernstein, Relly Hayut, Emily Kurzweil, Blake Rosen and Mattie Rose, sophomore Sammy Weiss-Cowie, and freshman Samantha Seiden thrived while performing one another’s words, supplemented by Kurzweil’s guitar and Weiss-Cowie’s flute, as well as Omelika Kuumba’s drum, Myron Carroll’s double bass and Fhena’s sound effects and singing.

Willis, whom Weber Head of School Ed Harwitz called “our artistic mensch,” compiled the second act from prose and poetry the students created during three writing sessions dealing with issues high school students face today and reacting to “Blind Dates,” the 1981 Canadian show from which Willis took the scenes for the first act. Willis gave Mattie Rosen credit for playing a central role in the writing and noted that Rosen is working on a musical that could be a future Weber show.

Love was a central theme of the second act, from learning to love yourself to loving to laugh. The students delivered ideas such as “Love is a plural” and “Let love you” with passion and joy.

“We’ve had a wonderful time,” Willis said about the three-week creative process. “They’ve done a wonderful job.” ■

AJT 27

EDUCATION OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

2-by-2 Intelligence Kindergartners Ethan Kirkel and Josephine Marzullo work together to build a model of Noah’s Ark during a recent session of the Epstein School’s Kindergarten Connections Program, designed to give parents a glimpse into their children’s integrated educational experiences. Parents observed their children in experiential activities integrating math, science, literature, Hebrew and music, all centered on that week’s parshah about Noah.

Elementary School Principal Tal David prepared the parents with a discussion about the theory of multiple intelligences and how children are smart in different ways.

Rabbi Michoel Druin

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

Head of School for Chaya Mushka Chaya Mushka Children’s House Elementary and Middle School has hired Rabbi Michoel Druin to be the head of school, effective March 1.

Rabbi Druin will work from New York on school projects until he moves to Atlanta.

Chaya Mushka, a part of Chabad of Georgia, is Atlanta’s only Montessori Jewish day school.

Rabbi Druin brings highly developed leadership skills in teaching, administration and communication and has a passion for excellence in Judaics and general studies.

Rabbi Druin, a father of four and a grandfather, co-founded and taught at Machon L’Hora’ah, a rabbinic ordination program in Pretoria, South Africa, and taught at Crawford College, Preto28 ria, a school with 1,500 students.

AJT

Scholarships for Israel Study The AJT has received word about two scholarship opportunities for study next school year in Israel.

The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund is accepting online applications until Feb. 16 for scholarships to support full-time study in Israel.

Six scholarships for $4,000 each will be awarded for one-year programs. Students may study at yeshivas, at seminaries and in other approved post-high-school programs.

Awards are based on academic achievement, volunteer activities and financial need. The scholarship is especially valuable for students who have shown promise in religious studies.

Full details and application forms are available at www.alisafund.org.

Also supporting gap-year programs at yeshivas and seminaries is Torah Letzion, a nonprofit organization led by people ages 24 to 28 who are current or former Yeshiva University students.

Torah Letzion believes that every person who desires to spend a year studying in Israel should have the opportunity to do so. In seven years, TLZ has sent 200 students to Israel.

The typical scholarship ranges from $500 to $3,500. For more information visit torahletzion.org.

OBITUARIES

Carole Gordon Babush 74, Brookhaven

Carole Gordon Babush, 74, of Brookhaven passed away peacefully Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015.

Born Jan. 18, 1941, in Houston to Dorothy and Jack Gordon, both of blessed memory, she met her husband, Richard Kenneth Babush, in 1958 in Youngstown, Ohio. She earned a scholarship in music at Rollins College, which she attended until her marriage June 7, 1959. A founding member of Temple Sinai and current member of The Temple, Carole was active in volunteer work with Compassionate Friends, The Link and Reading for the Blind.

She was predeceased by her daughter, Susan Lynn Babush, and is survived by her loving husband of 56 years, Richard; her daughter, Jacquelyn Gordon Babush; and a son-in-law, James Poulakos.

Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Susan Lynn Babush Memorial Scholarship Fund at Georgia State University, the William Breman Jewish Home, or Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. A memorial service was held Friday, Oct. 30, at The Temple with Rabbi Peter Berg officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Maurice Draluck 86, Marietta

Maurice Draluck, 86, of Marietta passed away at home surrounded by family on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015.

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Sharon Levy Draluck; daughters Lori Struletz (Allan), Betsy Popkin (Mark) and Yehudit Asif; son Jerry Draluck (Enid); grandchildren Adam and Scott Struletz, Jeffrey Draluck, Ilana Davis (Jonathan Lind) and Shira Davis; brothers Sam Draluck (Harriet) and Marvin Draluck (Barbara); and brother-in-law Stanford Levy (Andrea). The family is thankful to have had four wonderful caregivers: Randalyn Yoboty, Barbara “Precious” Latner, Grace Baker and Alisah Robinson.

Graveside services will be held at noon Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015, at Crest Lawn Memorial Park with Rabbi Shalom Lewis officiating. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Congregation Shearith Israel, Congregation Etz Chaim, the Atlanta chapter of the American Cancer Society or a charitable organization of your choice. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.

Death Notices

Saul Codner, 93, of Atlanta, husband of Bette Codner on Oct. 28.

Jack Greenberg, 83, of Chicago, father of Marc Greenberg on Oct. 27.

Dennis Hoffman, brother of Temple Sinai member Arlene Turry, on Oct. 23.

BOOK FESTIVAL

By Leah R. Harrison

I

n her latest novel, “Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate,” legendary feminist writer Letty Cottin Pogrebin deftly and knowledgeably tackles many themes and tensions confronting Jews in America today.

The issues of assimilation vs. tradition and Jewish continuity weigh heavily on Zach Levy, the central character in the book. What is worth continuing, and at what price? How do we fulfill our obligations to the past and still find a way forward?

Without wasting a single line, Cottin Pogrebin provides an artfully written, tightly woven novel that is full of

questions and thought-provoking dilemmas. The reader is caught up in the journey until the end and even then is intrigued by the possibilities of what is to come.

According to Professor Cantor, from whom Zach seeks answers about intermarriage and Jewish laws of descent: “The magic word is ‘maybe.’ I just love that word. It keeps the door open.

‘Maybe’ can take a person to a whole new place.”

Letty Cottin Pogrebin appears at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, with “Saving Sophie” author Ronald H. Balson.

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

The Magic of Maybe

AJT 29

CLOSING THOUGHTS OBITUARIES – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A BLESSING

Dancing With a Star

T

ango anyone?

Perhaps the cha-cha-cha?

How about that Charleston or mambo or, dare I say, the Lindy?

Attention, all Shaindle’s Shpiel readers. I am giving you a moment’s warning. I am about to confess, so if you are not into hearing confessions, best not to read the next sentence.

I am guilty of watching “Dancing With the Stars.”

There, I said it, and I am proud of it.

Well, actually, I only have the patience to watch the last four or five episodes. They all work so hard. They shvitz like crazy. They break legs and sprain ankles. They have been known to faint, for goodness’ sakes. Some become too emotional to speak.

All for the want of a ball of bling.

Seriously? C’mon, people!

I started dancing as I exited my mommy’s (z”l) womb, and believe me when I tell you that there was no ball of bling waiting for me.

At first, my poor dad (z”l) was so disappointed I was not a boy to carry on his legacy.

He soon came to realize how truly lucky he was; I sure gave him a run for his money.

First of all, he was not an athlete in the pure sense of the word. A son would have surely wanted to play catch (tossing a ball back and forth with your partner, for those who don’t know what catch is).

Second of all, he had to work so many hours a week just to keep his family in the style to which we became accustomed — with clothes on our backs, food on the table and summer trips to the mountains.

Let us not forget all my years at summer overnight camp, ballet, tap, baton, piano, cheerleading, and, of course, Yiddish shul (after school Jewish parochial school for socialists’ children, requiring cultural awareness).

He was also lucky in that I did not balk at learning skills typically reserved for the boys of that generation.

I could look at the engine of the car and identify all the moving and 30 nonmoving parts. I could fix a drain,

install a light fixture, fix the washing machine, mow the grass, use a measuring tape, and build with hammer and nails.

I could feel his pride in me.

Being smart in school was not such a big thing to him. After all, his goal was that I should be a secretary; I would not need college.

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

CROSSWORD “Gan Games”

By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Easy

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Fix what needs fixing — now that’s a big thing.

I will say this, however: He loved to dance, and he was good at it.

Now you all know who bestowed the love of dance on me. He and I were a great dance team.

Every bar mitzvah, wedding and family event, there were Hymie (yes, that’s his name — also sometimes Hy — Mom called him Hymush) and Shaindle on the dance floor.

There were so many issues on which we did not see eye to eye (OK, maybe that’s putting it lightly), but dancing — now that was the one activity that did not require discussions. It was the activity that made us shine, the activity where he was the star.

He taught me to lead. “You never know when you will have to be the man” (der mahn), he told me.

I became a pretty good dance leader — just ask my sisters, cousins, even some of my friends. Although I do not believe they saw me as der mahn, I was acknowledged as the leader when we danced. My sisters and I can cut a rug. Dad did good!

Funny thing, though. We never broke a leg or sprained an ankle. We did not shvitz profusely, never even fainted. We did not need to warm up, did not need to practice for weeks on end. We just danced.

Yes, we just danced and smiled, our ball of bling spinning around from the ceiling.

Our prizes were those moments of peace, an unspoken truce. ■

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Dancing — now that was the one activity that did not require discussions.

It was the activity that made us shine, the activity where he was the star.

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ACROSS 1. Blessing response 5. What some yell off Masada 9. Actor Segal 14. Deli spread 15. Yankee who played with Youkilis 16. Like Moses when he first left Egypt 17. Some votes that mean “ken” 18. Lamented 19. Fire called for, at times 20. Nursery game played in Eden?

23. Holy cow 24. Sukkah nuisance 25. Terem personnel, abbr.

26. Unkosher home?

27. With 2-Down, nursery rhyme based on the 5th Commandment?

31. “___ ever!” (“Betach!”)

33. Polytheistic book 34. Nursery game based on a bossy son of Jacob?

40. ___ another’s cup (seder action) 41. Nonlethal weapon 42. Bottom tip of Israel: Var. 43. With 27-Across, nursery game based on the Jews in the desert?

45. Part of Yom Kippur 46. Kosher Caps 47. See 43-Across 48. Part of an infamous name 51. Ben-Gurion posting: Abbr.

53. “___ Shorty,” Sonnenfeld film 54. It might show a genetic link among some Jews 55. Items from a seder used for nursery games?

61. The youngest Haim sister 63. It might be brushed off

“We Bought a Zoo” family name 37. “Put ___ on it!” (“Sheket!”)

38. School with Hebrew in its seal 39. Magen, symbolically 41. “___ beam up,” said Spock with Kirk 44. Sixty Knesset seats, e.g.

DOWN 1. One’s about half a yard 45. ___ profit (make some kessef) 2. See 47-Down 47. Bet or nun 3. Got a good look at 48. Hebrew National, e.g.

4. Schnoz 49. Isaac to Leah 5. Parnasa maker 6. Like Andrew Dice Clay’s 50. “Beautiful” girl’s name 52. He shrugged, according humor 7. Toils the soil at a kibbutz to Rand 8. Dustin Diamond’s 53. “We’re Not ___ Take Screech, compared with It,” song written by Dee the other “Saved by the Snider Bell” characters 56. Wood used in 9. “The Michael ___ Solomon’s Temple Tapes,” Boteach book 57. Joseph’s was recently 10. Drink that’s chometz damaged by terrorists 11. Flies (El Al) 58. Cookie that wasn’t 12. Genesis always kosher 13. Tzedakah recipient 21. Where Sisera is when 59. Benjamin Disraeli, e.g.

60. Downhill racer rarely Yael kills him used in Israel 22. Locale of a biblical 62. There’s often one over witch a bimah 27. Drive meshugah 28. Cholent, essentially LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 29. Toil the soil S C R A P S L A V I C P S S T at a kibbutz P R O S E T O R I N O R A C E R E B E C C A B L A C K A R A L 30. Bat A L S O I N N A T E mitzvah locales I D E A T O R L I E P R E A C H 32. “___ man P E P S I in your future” E S T H E R R O L L E U S O D O E S O K A T M (declaration O G R E H O U D I N I L I P from a false G E N T I L E P R U S S I A prophet) E A T T A I L F I N A N T I 34. Joined a U N R E A D H A S N T H S A G A N D E B O R A H K E R R Shabbat meal O P T F O R A V A D U O 35. The T R I O B I N D M A R I S A Chazon ___ R A C H E L C A R S O N A L D A 36.

E L A I N E L E O N E D O O R Johansson’s S I N N E D P A N S Y E E N Y before Shabbat 64. Kind of Torah 65. Adam’s lack?

66. Frank of note 67. ___ mortals 68. Orlando Bloom bickers with one in several films 69. Prepare the shank bone 70. Like Judah Maccabee

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NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

• • • • • • •

AJT 31

10 am–1 pm

MJCCA Family Reading Festival

12:00 pm

Anthony David

An Improbable Friendship

7:30 pm

3:00 pm

Tess Gerritsen

Dan Ephron

Playing With Fire

Killing a King

Mike Kelly

The Bus on Jaffa Road

7:30 pm

Arlene Alda, with Alan Alda

Just Kids from the Bronx

22

10:30 am

Josh Levs

All In

2:30 pm

Laurie Ann Levin Life in Life

Joey Reiman Thumbs Up!

7:30 pm

Ted Koppel

Lights Out!

NOVEMBER 6 ▪ 2015

PRESENTING SPONSORS

AJT 32

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