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SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 | 13 ELUL 5776
Get a Golden Ticket for 4 Wilder Films
INSIDE Calendar �����������������������������������4 Candle Lighting ���������������������� 5 Israel News ������������������������������6 Opinion ���������������������������������� 10 Health & Wellness ��������������� 13 Business ��������������������������������� 14 Education ������������������������������� 15 Sports �������������������������������������� 17 Obituaries ������������������������������27 Simchas ����������������������������������29 Arts ������������������������������������������30 Crossword ������������������������������ 31
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is holding a four-film retrospective in memory of Gene Wilder at Lefont Sandy Springs on Sunday, Sept. 18. Wilder, who was born Jerome Silberman and who died Aug. 29 at age 83, “left behind a 50-year legacy of memorable roles and incredible comedic output” and “has shaped Jewish cinema for generations,” the festival said in announcing the quadruple feature.
The retrospective excludes Wilder’s best film, Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein,” but features four iconic roles: • Avram, a Polish rabbi wandering the Wild West on his way to a new congregation in San Francisco, in “The Frisco Kid” at noon. • His best-known part, the candy man himself, Willy Wonka, in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at 2:45 p.m.
INSIDE: TRAVEL, PAGES 18-26
SECOND COURSE Breadwinner’s success with local ingredients leads to two locations of a similar eatery, Farm to Ladle. Page 14
ISLAND ESCAPE Learn how the Philippines served as a Jewish refuge from Nazi Europe. Page 16
OVER THE TOP The Weber School’s Arbiv sisters rank among the nation’s best pole vaulters. Page 17
JEWISH COUNTRY Four years after converting, Texan Joe Buchanan mixes Americana and Judaica on his debut album. Page 30
Photo by Udi Goren
Towering Trail Markers
Solomon’s Pillars in the Timna Valley, formed through water erosion of sandstone, serve as a marker of the final phase of the Israel National Trail — more than 600 miles completed from Kibbutz Dan at the Lebanese border, about 20 miles to go to the Gulf of Aqaba at Eilat. Photographer Udi Goren tells how walking the length of the trail in 2014 changed his life, Page 24. Also in Travel: Take a train from Toronto to Vancouver, Pages 18-22, or a luxury riverboat along the Danube, Page 26.
Marking Decade of Moishe By Leah R. Harrison lharrison@atljewishtimes.com
Atlanta’s two Moishe House locations will join the other 89 houses around the world in a global Shabbat celebration of the organization’s 10th anniversary Friday night, Sept. 23. Each Moishe House is a place for young Jewish adults to come together for educational, religious, social and community action programs each month. Since the first house opened in California in 2006, Moishe House has spread
to 21 countries. The Inman Park and Toco Hills locations will hold a combined commemoration at 7 p.m. at the new Toco Hills Moishe House on Biltmore Drive. During the celebration, the Moishe House story will be told, and participants around the world will join in. The entire Atlanta Jewish community is welcome to attend. To get details or RSVP, contact Lander Gold at lander@ moishehouse.org or 202-779-9190. ■ • How Moishe House is growing, Page 16
• Jim, the hard-drinking sidekick of the new black sheriff in town, in “Blazing Saddles” at 5:10 p.m. • Leo Bloom, the accountant persuaded to join a scheme to get rich with a Broadway flop, in “The Producers” at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $11 for each film, or you can get a golden ticket and see all four movies for $36. For tickets, visit ajff.org/ genewildertickets. ■
New Home For Shaarei Shamayim “MAZAL TOV TO ALL OF US!” With that all-caps excitement, Rabbi Mark Hillel Kunis announced by email that Congregation Shaarei Shamayim had closed Monday, Sept. 12, on the purchase of its permanent home. Rabbi Kunis hoped to move the next afternoon from 1810 Briarcliff Road to 1600 Mount Mariah Road, which had housed a Baptist church since the 1880s. The shul planned to celebrate and sanctify the building with a ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The event was to include the marching of Torah scrolls under a chuppah and into the sanctuary and the posting of mezuzot on door frames. Rabbi Kunis said the sanctuary is slightly bigger than the shul’s old home and with well-maintained wooden pews requires little more than removing the crosses to be ready for his congregation. The original church at the site, Mount Moriah Baptist, outgrew the space about 25 years ago, moved to Tucker and rented to Mount Calvary Baptist, which also has grown too big. After Shaarei Shamayim tried to buy the property for four or five years, Rabbi Kunis said, Mount Moriah was ready to sell. The site is behind property the shul lost during the economic downtown and positions Shaarei Shamayim to serve Toco Hills Jews who live closer to Kittredge Park and Target than the synagogues on LaVista Road. The location “feels right,” the rabbi said. “It feels right.” ■
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Glasses and Golf Carts wrote back. “What is the staff member’s name?” “I don’t have it,” I replied. “My daughter won’t tell me. But perhaps you can call Elise and tell her you found out about the episode (not through me, of course) and must have the staff member’s name?” Unwittingly, my daughter opened the computer to print something and
Shared Spirit Moderated By Rachel Stein rachels83@gmail.com
noticed the email on my screen. Realizing there was no longer a reason to protect the culprit, she gave me her name and number. I called immediately. “Oh, Mrs. Marks,” she said. “I am so sorry about what happened to Elise. You can’t imagine how terrible I feel. I was wrong for allowing the girls to go on the golf cart, and I’d like to make amends. How much are the glasses? I feel so bad about the whole thing.” You should, I seethed. Not only did you behave recklessly, but you didn’t have the decency to call me. Then she tossed in the clincher. “As soon as I got home from camp, I was thrown into preparing for my brother’s wedding. I meant to call you, but there was so much going on. I really appreciate your coming straight to me and not speaking to the administration.” Gulp. Too late, sweetheart. “Thank you for your apology,” I said. “I’ll let you know how much the glasses cost.” “Great,” she said. “I will be happy to take care of it. And I’m so glad Elise is OK, besides the glasses, of course. I really learned something. I will never allow the girls on a golf cart again.” Do I accept the apology and put the story behind us? I can tell the camp we settled the issue. Or should I speak to the administration anyway, possibly placing this woman’s job in jeopardy? Her behavior was irresponsible, and who knows if she can be trusted with our children the next year. Your assistance in helping me determine the right course of action is deeply appreciated. Please respond by Monday, Sept. 19. ■ Shared Spirit is a column in which people share personal dilemmas. Readers are encouraged to assist by offering meaningful advice.
Sunday, September 25, 2016 1:00 - 5:00 Emory Conference Center
Showcase of Atlanta's Bar & Bat Mitzvah event pros! • Simplify your event planning by attending Mazel Tov Atlanta • Create a Spectacular Event...add more Sparkle, Glamour, Elegance, Memorable Touches, Organization, Music & WOW!
Pre-Register to double your door prize chances www.MazelTovAtlanta.com
The Atlanta Mitzvah Project
• Bring a donated kosher food item in lieu of an entry fee • Conduct a kosher food drive - bring collected items to EXPO
Food collection in support of the
KOSHER FOOD PANTRY
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Streams of people teemed forward, intent on reaching their destinations. Joining the crowds, I kept my eyes peeled for the one figure I longed to see. At last her slight form appeared, and I dashed forward to greet her, throwing my arms around her. “It’s so good to see you,” I told Elise, squeezing her hand. “We missed you.” A month of camp is a long time to be separated from your child, especially when she’s your only daughter. “What happened to your glasses?” I asked as we stood at baggage claim, waiting for her duffel bags. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she hedged, and my mother’s intuition zoomed into overdrive. “Nothing?” I echoed, staring at the frame, crudely taped together. “Well,” she said, “one of the staff members let us go on a golf cart. Then, when she rounded a corner, the golf cart tipped over. I sort of fell off, and a few girls fell on top of me. That’s all.” A lion’s roar was welling up inside me. If we hadn’t been in public … “Are staff members allowed to give campers rides on golf carts?” I asked. My mind flipped back to when I did a stint in a children’s hospital, and I remembered that golf cart rides were a leading cause of accidents. “No,” she said, “not really.” “What’s her name?” I demanded, planning to call the camp and blast them for letting it take place. “I can’t say,” Elise replied. “What do you mean you can’t say?” I sputtered. “She did something dangerous. And besides, who is supposed to pay for your glasses?” Elise shrugged, and I could feel my temperature rising. “She asked me not to say anything. She wasn’t supposed to give us the ride. If the director finds out what happened, she could lose her job.” “Elise, I’m your mother. You need to tell me the name of this lady. Now.” Elise closed her lips and turned to the carousel. Incensed, I contemplated the scenario. Not only had this woman endangered several girls, but she also wouldn’t admit what she did. What kind of example is she setting? Knowing I wouldn’t get far with my obstinate teen, I concocted various schemes to uncover the information. One way or another, I would identify this lady. Justice would be served. At my wits’ end, I sent an email to the camp administration. “This is very disturbing,” they
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Contributors This Week
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Daily shofar blast. Rabbi Brian Glusman sounds the shofar at 11 each week morning on Main Street in the Marcus JCC’s Zaban-Blank Building, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, to wake people up to Rosh Hashanah’s approach. Free and open to the community; 678-8124161 or rabbi.glusman@atlantajcc.org.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 15
SPLC speaker. Lecia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center talks at 10:30 a.m. about fighting hate, teaching tolerance and seeking justice to Edgewise at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free for JCC members, $5 for others; matureadults@ atlantajcc.org or 678-812-3861.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 16
Bluegrass Shabbat. Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead, offers games, kosher barbecue, Mason jar cocktails and music with the Cohen Brothers Band at 6 p.m. before a service with Sammy Rosenbaum. RSVP by Sept. 14. Tickets are $15 for ages 33 and up, $10 for 21 to 32, free for college students and ages 5 and under, and $12.50 for other kids; gadler@ aasynagogue.org or aasynagogue.org.
LEAH R. HARRISON KEVIN MADIGAN JEFFREY ORENSTEIN CHANA SHAPIRO ELI SPERLING KEN STEIN RACHEL STEIN RABBI ERIC YOFFIE
CREATIVE SERVICES
Rabbi Brian Glusman is blowing the shofar every weekday at 11 a.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center to prepare the way for the High Holidays. All in the community are welcome to join him.
and must be bought in advance; www. georgiaaquarium.org.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 18
Kranz celebration. Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, honors Rabbi Philip Kranz for 36 years with the congregation at services at 6:30 p.m. after a 5:30 reception. The celebration continues Saturday with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and Torah study led by Rabbi Kranz at 9. Free; RSVP at templesinai. wufoo.com/forms/z1kulj6z1mqlwqk.
Hebrew class. Registration is due today for a free, 10-week Hebrew class for adults, using a National Jewish Outreach Program curriculum and starting Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at Congregation Ner Tamid, 1349 Old Highway 41, Suite 220, Marietta. Email your name, address and email address to info@mynertamid.org.
Aqua Vino. The Georgia Aquarium holds its annual wine and food fund raising event with more than 200 wines provided by United Distributors, food from more than 30 restaurants and live music at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. for VIPs). Tickets are $95 ($250 for VIPs)
Liberator speech. The brunch meeting of Jewish War Veterans Post 112 at 10 a.m. at Berman Commons, 2026 Womack Road, Dunwoody, features speaker Dr. Morton Waitzman, who landed on D-Day with the 115th Infantry Regiment and went on to help liberate the
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SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
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POSTMASTER send address changes to The Atlanta Jewish Times 270 Carpenter Drive Suite 320, Atlanta Ga 30328. Established 1925 as The Southern Israelite Phone: (404) 883-2130 www.atlantajewishtimes.com THE ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES (ISSN# 0892-33451) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, LLC 270 Carpenter Drive, Suite 320, Atlanta, GA 30328 © 2016 ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES Printed by Walton Press Inc. MEMBER Conexx: America Israel Business Connector American Jewish Press Association Sandy Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Commerce Please send all photos, stories and editorial content to: submissions@atljewishtimes.com
Remember When
10 years ago Sept. 15, 2006 ■ With a big pink pig on a banner in front of the shul, Congregation Beth Jacob held its first kosher barbecue cook-off and festival Sept. 17. Eight teams of contestants prepared chicken, brisket and beef ribs for three judges, as well as chicken wings for the hundreds of festival attendees. ■ Jake Schwartz and Susan Levitas of Atlanta announce the birth of daughter Annie Isabelle Schwartz on Feb. 14, 2006. 25 Years Ago Sept. 20, 1991 ■ The Atlanta Jewish Federation will not hire a director this year for Atlanta Hillel, which has been without a fulltime rabbinical director since the summer of 1990. Jody Steinberg will remain the interim director for a second
Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Free to all; large groups should RSVP to robertjmax@gmail.com. Kabbalah and numerology. The Hadassah Greater Atlanta Health Professionals group hears at 1 p.m. at Harmony Place Spiritual Center: The Blue Barn, 1035 Green St., Roswell, from numerologist Gloria Parker and Karin Kabbalah Center director Shirley Chambers. Free, with optional $7 contribution from first-time guests; RSVP to Ellen Sichel (ellen@customcalm. com or 770-313-6162) or Sharon Frank (sharonafrank@aol.com). Nazi medicine. The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust screens the short documentary “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race” at 1 p.m. at
year, aided by a program assistant likely to be hired soon. ■ The bat mitzvah celebration of Jennifer Sophie Dinerman of Atlanta, the daughter of Laura and Marshall Dinerman, will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at The Temple. 50 Years Ago Sept. 16, 1966 ■ Marvin Singer, a distinguished leader of communal activities, will be the chairman of the 1966 Israel Bond drive at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, it was announced this week by Harry Lane Siegel, the president of Ahavath Achim. The campaign will be climaxed by a major event in October, inspired by a celebration of the 18th anniversary of Israel’s independence, the so-called Year of Chai. ■ Linda Anne Farber, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Farber of Atlanta, became the bride of Steven George Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Brown of Coral Gables, Fla., Sept. 4 at the Marriott Motor Hotel.
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CANDLE-LIGHTING TIMES
Ki Tetze Friday, Sept. 16, light candles at 7:24 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, Shabbat ends at 8:17 p.m. Ki Tavo Friday, Sept. 23, light candles at 7:14 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, Shabbat ends at 8:07 p.m.
Kuniansky Family Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. The cost is $15, with advance registration required; atlantajcc.org/mitzvahdinner or 678812-3972. Book event. “Razor Girl” author Carl Hiaasen discusses the novel in a Prologue to the Book Festival event at 7:30 p.m. at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for others; 678-812-4005 or www.atlantajcc.org/bookfestival.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 23
Shabbat, Me and Rabbi G. A story, a Shabbat-related activity, songs and blessings with Rabbi Brian Glusman prepare children and their parents for Shabbat at 5 p.m. in the Sophie Hirsh Srochi Discovery Center at Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Free and open to the community; www.atlantajcc.org or 678-812-4161. the “Anne Frank in the World” exhibit, 5920 Roswell Road, Suite A-209, Sandy Springs. Free; holocaust.georgia.gov. Safe Harbor workshop. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta, Ahavath Achim Synagogue’s Awareness and Action to Abolish Child Trafficking for Sex Committee, the United Way of Greater Atlanta and Safe Harbor Yes hold an informal workshop from 2 to 4 p.m. at AA, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave., Buckhead, to discuss how to raise awareness and support for the Amendment 2, a measure on the November ballot that would amend the Georgia Constitution to protect and restore sex-trafficked children.
MONDAY, SEPT. 19
Bat Mitzvah Club. The club for sixthand seventh-grade girls meets biweekly at 6:30 p.m. at Chabad of North Fulton, 10180 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta. Tuition for the year is $300; www. chabadnf.org or 770-410-9000.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 20
Security program. Avital Leibovich, the director of American Jewish Committee Jerusalem, speaks about Israel’s security challenges at 7:30 p.m. at the Galloway School, Chaddick Center, 215 W. Wieuca Road, Buckhead. Free; www. ajcatlanta.org.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 Breman Museum overview. Museum
Corrections & Clarifications
Executive Director Aaron Berger discusses what makes a museum Jewish at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 1580 Spalding Drive, Sandy Springs. Free; RSVP to malberhasky@templeemanuelatlanta. org by Sept. 16.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 22
Lunch and learn. Rabbi Joshua Heller is the presenter at noon at the Marcus JCC, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Bring a lunch or buy food at the Healthy Touch kosher cafe. Free; www. atlantajcc.org or 678-812-4161. Tailgating for trees. Trees Atlanta and the Nature Conservancy of Georgia kick off the tree-planting season with a fundraising party featuring music, food, and beverages from Red Hare Brewing and the Wine Group from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Venkman’s, 740 Ralph McGill Blvd., Atlanta. Tickets are $40; treesatlanta.org/tailgatefortrees.
Bluegrass Shabbat. Nefesh Mountain brings its blend of bluegrass and Jewish musical traditions to Temple Beth Tikvah, 9955 Coleman Road, Roswell, for Shabbat services at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday. Free; www. bethtikvah.com or 770-642-0647. Acoustic Shabbat. The Marcus JCC’s Rabbi Brian Glusman and guest musicians welcome Shabbat in a program aimed at adults and older children at 7 p.m. at Crema Espresso Gourmet, 2458 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody. Free admission, charge for food and beverages; rabbi.glusman@atlantajcc.org or 678-812-4161.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 24
Bluegrass Selichot. Nefesh Mountain participates in a Selichot program at Temple Beth Tikvah, 9955 Coleman Road, Roswell, at 9 p.m. Free; www. bethtikvah.com or 770-642-0647.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 25
Legal lecture. Don Burris, the senior plaintiffs’ attorney in the “Woman in Gold” Nazi looting case before the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks at 7 p.m. at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, 441 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta. Free; www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov.
Kosher barbecue. The Atlanta Kosher BBQ Competition & Festival is 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Brook Run Park, 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody. Admission is free; food and drinks are for sale; www.theatlantakosherbbq.com.
Dinner and a mitzvah. The Marcus JCC and the Sixth Point invite adults in their 20s and 30s to prepare and eat breakfast for dinner at 7 p.m., then assemble hygiene kits and make sandwiches for Atlanta’s homeless at the
B’nai mitzvah expo. The Mazel Tov Atlanta expo showcases simcha vendors from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Emory Conference Center Hotel, 1615 Clifton Road, Atlanta. Free with the donation of a food item for the JF&CS Kosher Food Pantry; www.MazelTovAtlanta.com.
The last name of Davis Academy student Emily Mand was misspelled in a Sept. 9 article about a 9/11 program held at the middle school.
Breman Exhibits Family Stories The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum is opening an exhibit of “My Family Story” artwork Sunday, Sept. 18. More than 20 kids ages 10 to 15, most from Congregation Shearith Israel, participated in an Atlanta-area pilot of the family history program organized by Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of Jewish People, in Tel Aviv. The pilot program was a coordinated effort to reach a wide spectrum of Jewish families. Museum professionals and artists helped the young participants explore their own family stories within the larger Jewish experience through artwork, group activities, research and education over six weeks. One of those students, Noa Rudisch, who was a fifth-grader at Atlanta Jewish Academy while taking part in the program, was among 40 international finalists out of some 20,000 youths who created projects to complete “My Family Story” last spring. At age 10, Noa, who created an animated film about her family, was one of the youngest finalists. She won a trip to Israel with her mother, Adina Rudisch. “We owe the success of this program to the dedication of Shula Bahat and Rabbi (Micah) Hyman of Beit Hatfutsot, along with the dedicated educators, students and their parents,” Breman Executive Director Aaron Berger said. “We look forward to showcasing the completed works at the museum for all to see. We are also grateful for the generous support provided by the Covenant Foundation, who made this program possible in our community.” The final installation at the Breman is a celebration of the artistic efforts of the participating students. The exhibition opens with a program at 2 p.m. Sept. 18 at the museum. The community event is free and open to the public and features a collaborative art project for families under the leadership of artist Karin Mervis. The exhibit closes Nov. 6. The “My Family Story” program will return in 2017. For more information, contact the museum at 678-2223700 or thebreman.org. ■
Send items for the calendar to submissions@atljewishtimes.com. Find more events at atlantajewishtimes.com/events-calendar.
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
CALENDAR
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ISRAEL NEWS
Israel Pride: Good News From Our Jewish Home Spirit of Ali. Navonel Glick, 29, the chief operating officer and former program director of Tel Aviv-based IsraAID, is one of six Core Principle Award winners being honored Saturday night, Sept. 17, at the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards in Louisville, Ky. The Ali Center is recognizing Glick for embodying the principle of spirituality in organizing IsraAID’s response to disasters around the world. Fun day for lone soldiers. More than 5,000 of the 6,400 lone soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces were expected to attend a day of rest and recreation hosted by Friends of the IDF on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the Shefayim Water Park outside Tel Aviv. Those soldiers, who have no immediate family in Israel, come from 80 countries; they include about 880 Americans.
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For the children. Israel is among the world leaders in battling human trafficking for the fifth consecutive year, according to a U.S. State Department report. Israel is praised for the number of investigations and indictments and for the programs that protect and sup-
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port trafficking victims. But the report calls for tougher punishments for the traffickers. For the dogs. Tel Aviv has 25,000 dogs, or one per 17 residents, the highest rate per capita in the world. City residents have access to 70 public dog parks and special beaches, a no-kill shelter, a city patrol that checks on animal abuse, and 24/7 veterinary services for homeless animals. The first Festival of Dogs of Tel Aviv-Jaffa was Aug. 26. Mind-controlled nanobots. Researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya have demonstrated in an experiment involving humans under stress and cockroaches injected with microscopic robots made from shells of DNA that brainwaves can control the release of medicine by nanobots. The technique could be used to treat schizophrenia or depression, among other things. Intel’s fastest chip. Intel recently announced its seventh-generation Core processor, named Kaby Lake, whose
development was led by Intel’s Haifa facility. The new chip brings the promise of a double-digit rise in computer performance, longer battery life and better security to meet the needs of high-definition video, virtual reality and digital sports content. Second Temple tiles. The Temple Mount Sifting Project, which is sorting through tens of thousands of tons of rubble the Islamic Waqf dumped outside the Old City of Jerusalem during illegal excavations on the Temple Mount in the late 1990s, has identified some 600 colored stone floor tile fragments believed to have decorated the Second Temple after its renovation by King Herod in the late first century B.C.E. More than 100 of the fragments have been conclusively dated to the Herodian period. The sifting, begun in 2004, continues. Olympic benefit for sick children. Yarden Gerbi, who won a bronze medal in judo for Israel at the Rio Olympics, auctioned off her signed Olympic uniform name tag and raised 196,000 shekels (more than $52,000) to support
children battling cancer at the Dana Children’s Hospital in Tel Aviv. Record for Gaza. A record 88,000 trucks of goods entered Hamas-controlled Gaza from Israel through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the first half of 2016. Flying less blind. A new heads-up display for pilots from Haifa-based Elbit Systems uses special cameras to analyze the wavelengths of light and project clear images onto a pilot’s goggles despite inclement weather such as thick fog. Seeing through the rubble. Rescuers searching for survivors in the collapse of a parking deck under construction in Tel Aviv on Monday, Sept. 5, were the first to use Res-Q-Cell, a system designed by Israel Aerospace Industries to use cellphone signals to find trapped people. At least one person was found in the Tel Aviv rubble because of ResQ-Cell. Compiled courtesy of verygoodnewsisrael. blogspot.com and other news sources.
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ISRAEL NEWS
Curated Readings: Cyberwar, Missiles, BDS Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Center for Israel Education The Center for Israel Education (www.israeled.org) has complied a list of recent articles about Israel worth reading from all over the world: • Yaakov Amidror, “Cyberspace, the Final Frontier,” Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Aug. 30, besacenter. org/perspectives-papers/cyberspacefinal-frontier. • Peter Beaumont, “Gaza Becomes Social Media Warzone Ahead of Palestinian Elections,” The Guardian, Aug. 24, www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ aug/24/gaza-becomes-social-mediawarzone-ahead-palestinian-elections. • Hannah Brown, “Israeli Movies
Abound at This Year’s Toronto Film Festival,” The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 21, www. jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Israelimovies-abound-at-this-years-TorontoFilm-Festival-464687. • Niv Elis, “Israeli-Chinese Hardware Incubator Launches in Tel Aviv,” The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 30, www.jpost. com/Business-and-Innovation/IsraeliChinese-hardware-incubator-launchesin-Tel-Aviv-466382. • Tal Kra-Oz, “Shai Tsbari Storms the Heavens, From Bat Yam to New York,” Tablet, Aug. 22, www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/ music/211136/shai-tsabari-storms-theheavens. • Mazal Mualem, “Why the Sabbath Crisis Didn’t Topple Netanyahu’s Government,” Al-Monitor, August, www.al-
Today in Israeli History Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (www.israeled.org), where you can find more details. Sept. 16, 1977: Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan conducts secret talks with Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Hassan Tuhami in Morocco. Sept. 17, 1978: Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Accords. Sept. 18, 1949: The compulsory
• Max Singer, “The New Threat of Very Accurate Missiles,” Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Aug. 9, besacenter. org/perspectives-papers/new-threataccurate-missiles. • Benjamin Weinthal, “In Germany, Israelis Help to Launch Anti-BDS Group,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Aug. 27, www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/benjaminweinthal-in-germany-israelis-help-tolaunch-anti-bds-group. • Michael Yudkin, “Lies, Damned Lies and the Academic Boycott of Israel,” Fathom, Spring 2016, fathomjournal.org/lies-damned-lies-and-theacademic-boycott-of-israel.
education bill, passed by the Knesset six days earlier, enters into law. It mandates that all children ages 5 to 15 attend a state-recognized school. Sept. 19, 1988: Israel launches its first space satellite, the 340-pound Ofek 1, from an undisclosed location near the Mediterranean Sea. Sept. 20, 1890: Rachel Bluwstein
is born in Russia. She is considered the mother of modern Hebrew poetry. Sept. 21, 2008: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigns amid charges of corruption and financial impropriety. Sept. 22, 2000: Yehuda Amichai, the poet laureate of Jerusalem, dies from lymphoma at the age of 76.
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SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
TRAVEL
Hassan Tuhami (left) and Moshe Dayan speak at Camp David in September 1978.
monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/ israel-third-sabbath-coalition-crisisnetanyahu-katz.html. • Abigail Klein Leichman, “Israeli Lab Proves Stephen Hawking’s Theory,” Israel21c, Aug. 18, www.israel21c.org/ israeli-lab-proves-stephen-hawkingstheory. • Arye Mekel, “Turkey, the Refugee Crisis and Brexit: Concerns and Opportunities for Greece,” Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Aug. 12, besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/turkey-therefugee-crisis-and-brexit-concernsand-opportunities-for-greece. • Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe, “The Anti-Israel Movement’s ‘Anti-Normalization’ Campaign,” National Post, Aug. 3, www.romirowsky. com/19081/israel-anti-normalization.
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LOCAL NEWS
Living and Learning on Mountain Time More than 300 Jewish Atlantans and out-of-towners converged on the Kaplan Mitchell Retreat and Conference Center at Camp Ramah Darom in Clayton in the North Georgia mountains over Labor Day weekend for the eighth annual LimmudFest organized by Limmud Atlanta + Southeast, which recently marked its 10th anniversary. It was a nonstop weekend of education, music, food and more. Before LimmudFest, activists from Limmud organizations across the United States and Canada voted to create a Limmud hub in North America to advance regional development within the global Limmud movement. ■ In the middle of lunch Sunday, Rob Kistenberg proposes to Amy Price. The couple met at LimmudFest two years ago.
Photos by Joseph Aczel unless otherwise noted
With stars twinkling, Limmudniks end Shabbat in song at a Havdalah bonfire.
Camp Ramah@Limmud provides activities for children ages 5 to 12 throughout the weekend.
The Limmud2016 YAD cohort, a young leadership development initiative, concludes with LimmudFest. Participating are (from left) Sarah Lashinsky, Taylor Amsler, Madeline Oppenhaim, program coordinator Eliana Leader, Gabrielle Adler, David Cohen and Nathan Brodsky.
At the Sunday night gala, headliner Joe Buchanan performs original American music with a Jewish soul, accompanied by Sammy Rosenbaum and Adina Rudisch. Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival
The Cohen Brothers Band (David and Elie) perform a few bluegrass tunes at the Sunday night gala.
Photos by David R. Cohen and Ashley Oliver
Meredith Bluver stands between Evan and Marina Alberhasky as they enjoy the rooftop view at Ponce City Market.
Doug Ratner plays the guitar while Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman leads Havdalah.
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
A group that includes Sammy Rosenbaum and Deborah Abrams enjoys the White Party’s relaxed atmosphere. The event was planned by Mireille Naturman.
A White Night on the Rooftop
Around 150 young Jewish professionals joined for an evening of drinks, dancing and fun on the Roof at Ponce City Market on a warm, breezy Saturday night, Sept. 10. The YJP White Party, a new signature event hosted by Chabad Intown’s YJP Atlanta, was planned as a throwback to the times when the Temple stood in Jerusalem and young adults would take to the fields dressed in white to find their chosen one, or beshert, on Tu B’Av. YJP’s next scheduled event is Torah on Tap: The Anatomy of the Shofar on Tuesday, Sept. 20; visit www.yjpatlanta. 8 org for details. ■
AJT
Attendees put their own twist on the event’s white dress code.
Kelsey Amico, Gabrielle Adler, Jeremy Katz and AJT Associate Editor David Cohen partake in the specialty cocktails, including tequila sunrises using Goza Tequila.
LOCAL NEWS
Friendship Takes Walk
Where: Brook Run Park, 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Friendship Circle of Atlanta is following in the footsteps of its sister programs by holding its first Walk4Friendship on Sunday, Sept. 18, at Brook Run Park in Dunwoody. The 2K (1.25mile) walk is new to Atlanta but has been used by other Friendship Circles for more than a decade. Rickelle New, the director of Friendship Circle of Atlanta, said the Rickelle New biggest walks draw is the director 5,000 people, and of Friendship “one day that will def- Circle of Atlanta. initely be our goal.” For the Atlanta walk’s debut, New said she expects about 350 people. Friendship Circle is a worldwide program started by Chabad to ensure friendship and inclusion for children and adults with special needs. The walk is raising money for programming. The walk, starting at 1:30 p.m., will be followed by a carnival until 4 with music, food for sale, a petting zoo, face painting, inflatables, a caricaturist, pony rides and other activities. Because Rosh Hashanah is only two weeks later, JCrafts’ shofar factory will operate at registration, which opens at 12:30 p.m. “The event itself is essentially free. You can walk, participate in the carnival, all free of charge; however, we obviously are encouraging everybody when they register to set themselves a small fundraising goal,” New said. The goal is to raise $75,000; by Sept. 8, the event had brought in about $50,000 toward that total, New said. Friendship Circle is giving T-shirts to walk participants, but to be sure you get a shirt, you must register in advance at atlantafriendshipwalk.com, New said. Every member of a walking family should register, not just adults. “It’s really, really just about coming out and celebrating friendship and inclusion,” she said, “so we figure anyone who believes in that should be there.” ■
Registration: Free (donations and fundraising requested); atlantafriendshipwalk.com
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What: Walk4Friendship 2K When: Sunday, Sept. 18, with registration at 12:30 p.m. and the walk at 1:30
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OPINION
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
Our View
Dead Water
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Israel just got some unexpected exposure: 15 men and women photographed nude on and in the salty soil alongside the shrinking Dead Sea. The shoot Sunday, Sept. 11, was the latest act of guerrilla art by Jewish photographer Spencer Tunick, who has spent the past quarter-century staging such events for his own mix of art and politics. We normally don’t pay attention to his stunts, but this one carries a message that shouldn’t be ignored: The Dead Sea is in big trouble, and it is time to act. “Israel is a unique place that I hold close to my heart and is the only country in the Middle East where I can be allowed to have proper freedom of expression,” Tunick said in revealing to the press his return to the Dead Sea five years after another nude shoot there. “I care deeply about the future of the Dead Sea and hope that my presence and involvement here can propel the Israeli government and local activists to take real, measurable action to save the Dead Sea.” Tunick focused on the destruction wrought by sinkholes, including the loss of the site of his 2011 installation, Mineral Beach. But those holes are a symptom of the Dead Sea’s long-term, possibly fatal disease: It is drying up because of greatly reduced water flows down the Jordan River. Clive Lipchin, who heads the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies’ Center for Transboundary Water Management, provided the scientific flash for Tunick’s artistic flare. “The threat to the Dead Sea’s existence is more tangible than ever,” Lipchin said. “The Dead Sea we once knew doesn’t exist anymore.” He said some damage is irreversible, and the window is closing on the opportunity to repair what can be addressed for one of Israel’s top tourist attractions and one of the world’s great natural wonders. The frustration is that even as Israel has largely freed itself from the dangers of drought through technology, conservation and reuse, the Dead Sea has not benefited because its health requires international cooperation. Its level is dropping more than 3 feet per year, and its surface area has shrunk by 30 percent the past 20 years — the Oslo Accords era. The Dead Sea is one of the most visible victims of the failure of Israel and the Palestinians to achieve a peace agreement. Along with borders, refugees and Jerusalem, the allocation of natural resources — none more important than water — remains both an obstacle to an Israeli-Palestinian accord and a hostage to the hostility. The shrinking Dead Sea, like Palestinian children born and raised as refugees, serves as a symbol of the failure of all sides to put aside politics and propaganda in the pursuit of reasonable solutions. The immediate hope lies with the plan to connect the Red Sea to the Dead Sea by canal, along with the construction of a massive desalination plant, to provide fresh water to Jordan, the Palestinians and Israel and pump salt water into the Dead Sea. The project is slowly moving toward initial contracts, and the exact route and the full consequences remain controversial. But the naked truth is that Israel, its neighbors and all who care about the Dead Sea need to make the 10 dream of that canal a reality. ■
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Cartoon by Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Tolerating Who We Want to Be The Catholic-Jewish event organized by the Roolam and pointed to our shared tradition of hospiman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta and American tality in its original, radical sense — caring for the Jewish Committee’s Atlanta Chapter offered some stranger — as one pathway to repair the world. vital optimism to nearly 200 people at The Temple Wolpe noted that the Torah tells us 36 times not on Thursday night, Sept. 8. to hate the stranger because we were strangers in a Look no further than the latest tweets, Facebook strange land. posts or TV newscasts about the presidential elecHe lamented that amid our electronic noise tion or the rest of the AJT opinion section to see the with instant, ugly arguments on social media, people appropriateness of the event’s have lost the talent theme, “Repairing the World: Our for respectful disResponsibility for Tolerance.” agreements exempliEditor’s Notebook Tolerance, responsibility and fied in the Talmud. By Michael Jacobs world repair are sadly lacking. He said fear is mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com The event itself was imporusually the problem, tant. It would have been easy but the Dalai Lama after last year’s 50th anniversary put his finger on the of Nostra Aetate, the Vatican’s solution: a recognigroundbreaking outreach to Jews and acknowledgtion that compassion underlies every religion. ment that we didn’t kill Jesus, to wait for the next big But I didn’t leave with renewed optimism for anniversary to get together in serious dialogue. our ability to tolerate our way to a better world. Instead, as Archbishop Wilton Gregory noted, The interfaith conversation at my table was Catholics and Jews gathered on the first anniversary thoughtful and honest and emphasized the necessity of the 50th anniversary and intend to keep talking. to see people as individuals. If we can stop thinking of The archbishop led the night’s optimistic tone, the couple next door as gay and the family across the speaking of a drive for unity and “the ability to apstreet as Hispanic, we can get past a lot of the stereopreciate one another more reverently.” typing, and if they make too much noise or don’t cut Temple Rabbi Peter Berg offered the hope that their lawn often enough, we won’t blame their groups. such encounters with the other would make a posiWe could all join hands and sing happy songs — tive contribution to the world. except that we crave our own group identities. Our Two Emory professors, Catholic Marie Friedgreatest fear in the American Jewish community mann Marquardt of the Candler School of Theology isn’t anti-Semitism; it’s assimilation. And assimilaand Jewish Paul Root Wolpe of the Center for Ethics, tion is little more than shedding group identities raised the reality of some persistent problems. (religious, ethnic, sexual) to fit seamlessly into the Marquardt warned that a “pervasive culture of greater whole. comfort” leads us to passive tolerance, in which we I don’t think the Borg from “Star Trek” had (will ignore suffering because it might disturb us. have?) any trouble with intolerance or with fear. “We want to engage in an active tolerance,” she Wolpe’s right that fear drives most of the ugly said. Otherwise, “we’re really being passively tolerbehavior we see in the world. The problem is that ant of intolerance.” when it comes to embracing the other, our fear is She praised the “beautiful concept” of tikkun fundamental to who we are. ■
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
Letters to the Editor Pain Is Destructive
As a medical writer, I worked with a lot of doctors, and because I have congenital heart problems, I’ve been a patient plenty of times too. From both viewpoints, I think James Carlson’s claim that “you need to have pain” is wrong (“ ‘You Need to Have Pain,’ St. Joseph’s Doctor Says,” Sept. 9). Sure, pain is a necessary warning signal of bodily malfunction or harm. But to imply that every patient who calls out for relief and gets it will get hooked on opioids is a sweeping generalization. And it’s just not true. Yes, there is much abuse of prescription medications, but most of us are capable of using them wisely and discarding them as soon as possible. Pain is terrible to experience, and it stops or slows down recovery from surgery or injuries. People with severe pain can’t eat, sleep or function; giving people a “pain pill” to get them through the hard times allows them to rest and tackle their plans for long-term health management. Withholding moderate amounts
of those little pills — or injections, if need be — takes away personal control, dignity and hope for a normal future. It reduces the patient to begging for relief and assumes he or she has no self-control. It seems that Carlson’s idea of how to treat a person in pain is to blow them off with casual instructions to “use the pool.” Long term, that’s not a bad idea, but it won’t help someone who is in despair right now. Carlson seems to look down his nose at the “nice Jewish ladies” who come to him with “terrible knees or bad backs.” They deserve more than his contempt. Carlson needs to sharpen his compassion and quit assuming that every patient he sees is a potential drug addict. Give us some credit. Give us pain relief. And believe that most of us can handle it wisely and well. — Maxine Rock, Atlanta
Sticks and Stones on Trump
I am pleased that my opinion piece (“Do Democrats Really Like Jews?” Aug. 19) caused people to consider the proposition that the voting home of American Jews for years, the Democratic Party, may not be as friendly now as in the past (“It’s Time for All Jews to Condemn
Trump,” Ed Rappaport, Sept. 9). Instead of a point-by-point response, I will offer just a few brief notes. Except for some personal insults to Donald Trump, not one of my points was refuted. Instead, we are treated to the talking points of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media, whose objectivity is certainly in question this election cycle. May I remind the readers that the daughters of both candidates married Jewish husbands? One still is a practicing Christian, while one, Ivanka, is a converted, observant Jew with the blessing of her father. The six-pointed star with dollar signs behind it to denounce Hillary is not the monopoly of the Jewish faith (there were no connecting lines), but rather the same as is worn by Georgia sheriffs, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement agencies. I do not associate them with anti-Semitism. The dollar signs behind the star reflect the money-raising efforts Hillary Clinton has made in Hollywood, the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard and other places the Clintons have been getting dough from the 1 percent while avoiding questions from the 99 percent in the form of a press conference.
Lastly, Mr. Trump has spent years doing land deals throughout the country, but especially in New York and Florida. He certainly has come across Jews in his dealings and has a healthy respect for their negotiating abilities. His comments in front of 16,000 Jews at the national AIPAC convention were tongue in cheek and more complimentary to the audience than prejudiced. In fact, Trump got a standing ovation at the convention. The comments of Mr. Rappaport remind me of my grandfather, who, when he got food delivered cold from the waiter, would say, “The cook is an anti-Semite.” You are welcome to stay with the same Democratic Party that has made a shambles of inner cities. This is what makes elections so exciting and wonderful. But please do not get into namecalling; concentrate on who offers the best hope for America and Israel. — Jeffrey Kunkes, Sandy Springs
Write to Us
The AJT welcomes readers’ letters and guest columns. Email submissions to editor@atljewishtimes.com. Include your name, the town you live in, and a phone number for verification. We may edit submissions for style and length.
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
OPINION
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OPINION
Setting Shabbat Standards in Israel
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
What is interesting about the latest round of the “Shabbat wars” in Israel is not what they tell us about Benjamin Netanyahu, but what they tell us about Israel’s Orthodox parties. It would be nice if the Orthodox parties believed in something when it comes to Shabbat, but if they do, reasonable people, including religious people of all Jewish points of view, have no idea what it is. Observing Shabbat is at the heart of Jewish tradition. One might think that religious parties in Israel would articulate a consistent, sensible approach to the question of how Israel’s state institutions should handle Shabbat observance. But they don’t. When it comes to what is arguably the central question for religious leaders in an independent, sovereign Jewish state, they have nothing to offer but gibberish, confusion and self-interested politics. It is no wonder that so many of Israel’s Jewish citizens look upon these
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parties with indifference or contempt. When Orthodox party leaders demanded that work on train infrastruc-
Guest Column By Rabbi Eric Yoffie
ture be stopped on Shabbat, leading to massive disruptions in train travel, Israelis were in an uproar. The immediate question was why had routine train maintenance that had long been accepted by the religious parties on Shabbat suddenly become unacceptable. But the larger question is this: If you accept, as I do, that it is reasonable for the Jewish state to restrict some activities on Shabbat, then what, from a religious perspective, should be prohibited and what should be permitted? And what are the religious values that should guide this decision? As a Reform Jew, I do not expect that Orthodox Knesset members will
answer these questions the same way I do. Still, I do expect to hear from them a perspective that is coherent, principled and rooted in tradition. But unable to find such a perspective in their ranks, I looked instead to an essay written 40 years ago by Yeshayahu Leibowitz in his Hebrew volume “Judaism, the Jewish People and the State of Israel.” Leibowitz, largely unknown in America, was an Israeli scientist, religious thinker and sharp-tongued public intellectual who died in 1994. An Orthodox Jew and a fierce Zionist, he was a prophet to some and a crank to others. But to all he was a truth teller, applying his uncompromising religious values to the most difficult political and religious questions of his time. In his essay “The Religious Problem of Shabbat in the Jewish State,” Leibowitz defined with precision the Shabbat “problem,” which was the same in 1976 as it is today. Jewish law prohibits most work on Shabbat, but in the Jewish state certain things must be done seven days per week. Israel must provide essential services such as water and electricity. The police must work, and the diplomatic corps must function. Certain industries, for technical reasons, must operate every day if they are to deliver the products that they manufacture. Leibowitz argued that Jewish law, a product of the Diaspora and Jewish minority status, did not address the Shabbat issues that would arise in the modern state of Israel. But, he said, it must do so now. He called on Israel’s rabbis and religious establishment to issue opinions on what exactly could be done on Shabbat in a Jewish state and what could not. And not only that: Once the rabbis had made their decisions, he called on Orthodox Jews to join secular Jews in carrying out those essential tasks. In his eyes, in fact, meeting essential needs for the Jewish state on Shabbat was something that Orthodox Jews should see as a religious obligation, no less important than any other religious obligation. For Leibowitz, it was unthinkable that a religious policeman or a religious provider of any essential service would demand to be exempted from his or her responsibilities on Shabbat. To do so was to consign reli-
gious Jews to an inferior status in the Jewish homeland and to declare that observant Jews would not take full responsibility for the well-being of the Jewish state. And because in many cases the tasks they would avoid would then be done by other Jews, such conduct was also prohibited by Jewish law, which does not allow a Jew to pass along Shabbat work to another Jew. What Leibowitz was proposing was not necessarily “liberal.” He expected the religious parties to oppose all Shabbat activity not considered essential for the operation of the state. But we should compare his fearless iconoclasm with the spineless, ambiguous and slippery declarations of the Orthodox parties today — especially the ultra-Orthodox parties. They know that things must be done on Shabbat in the modern state of Israel, but they prefer not to say what exactly is essential and what is not. Something that was essential a week ago may not be essential next week if enough pressure is exerted by the haredi press or the haredi public. And they are content to leave the dirty work of “essential” responsibilities to secular Jews, while their own constituents take refuge in home and synagogue. The result is what Leibowitz harshly referred to as “parasitism,” which, thanks to feeble and cowardly ultra-Orthodox leadership, has become the reality today in much of the ultra-Orthodox world. It is a world that has no plan for maintaining a modern state in a way that is consistent with Jewish law. It is a world that refuses to encourage the innovative spirit of Jewish tradition. It is a world that drags Israel from religious crisis to religious crisis. It is a world in which observing Shabbat means satisfying your individual concerns while separating yourself from the needs and the problems of the Jewish state in which you reside. It is a world, in short, that is prepared to disrupt the lives of a quarter of a million people for its own selfish purposes and in the process dishonors both Torah and Shabbat. ■ Rabbi Eric Yoffie (ericyoffie.com) is the former head of the Union for Reform Judaism. This column originally appeared in Haaretz.
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Heroin: Not Even Once, Ever theory, in which the perpetrator is the one who actually pulls the trigger, it is my opinion that dealers who lace heroin with carfentanil should be prosecuted as murderers. Adding carfentanil to heroin is the equivalent of adding poison to candy. Even though we know it is bad for us, many of us choose to eat candy.
Guest Column
By Leah R. Harrison lharrison@atljewishtimes.com
However, we would never knowingly buy and consume our favorite candy if we were aware that deadly toxins had been added. Anyone who surreptitiously augments heroin with a substance that is as unequivocally lethal as carfentanil should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Since publishing the first part of our series on the Atlanta area’s Jewish Heroin Triangle Sept. 2, we have heard from you. Heroin addiction in our community and beyond is far more prevalent than most of us can fathom. It is an epidemic that we must acknowledge and wage war against. Additionally, as discussed in Cady Schulman’s Sept. 9 article, “Drug Treatment Success Begins With Genes,” the issue of genetic predisposition to addiction is rising, in sync with the need to regard addiction as a disease. It is increasingly clear that there is a genetic component, and some
people react differently than others when exposed to the same MARIETTA drug. Just as we don’t judge a diabetic for a physical reaction to a substance, to combat this epidemic our society needs to shift from regarding a person with the inability to metabolize medication as a criminal and instead consider that person as an individual with a disease that requires education and personal vigilance (just like diabetes). I believe that genetic testing will enable progress in identifying those at risk in our efforts to reverse the deadly trend of addiction. To be fair, a distinction should be drawn between opioid dependence from a prescription and purely recre-
JOHNS CREEK
ational consumption, but the issues of metabolism and disease still exist. In the coming weeks you’ll read of sudden, tragic loss, of shattered dreams and a family that has thrown everything at addiction in the battle for a child’s life, and of emergence from recovery and the possibility of an inspiring and hopeful future. We’ll also explore anti-addiction and recovery resources that more members of our community would like to make a reality. Get out your checkbooks, and stay tuned. ■
Carfentanil in Cincinnati
Carfentanil is so new to authorities, according a New York Times article Sept. 5, that the Hamilton County coroner’s office “had to call zoos, rural veterinarians, federal law enforcement authorities and a licensed manufacturer in Canada to find a sample” to use to calibrate drug-testing equipment. It’s “an animal tranquilizer used on livestock and elephants with no practical use for humans,” and my MacBook spell-check doesn’t yet recognize the name of the drug. A mere 2 milligrams of carfentanil can knock out a 2,000-pound elephant, and an amount smaller than a snowflake can be deadly to a human. Suspected to be a test batch that was permeating the Hamilton County (Cincinnati) area, the potent mixture monopolized two-thirds of the police officers on the street, flooded emergency rooms and had first responders carrying two to three extra doses of the antidote naloxone for themselves in case of ingestion or any physical exposure. Calls went out to declare the epidemic a public health emergency. While one quick spray of naloxone is typically enough to reverse a heroin overdose, Cincinnati first responders found that they had to use two, three or up to five doses to revive people from the carfentanil-laced heroin during that deadly wave of overdoses. ■
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
In the past few weeks it has become apparent that heroin use is deadlier than ever. As adults and as parents, we must be vigilant about opioid prescriptions and use, which can lead to heroin addiction, and we must insist that our children know to their cores they cannot try heroin even once. Not ever. Disregarding heroin’s insidious addictive qualities, the period from Aug. 24 to 29 was a record for heroin overdoses in Cincinnati. A toxic new additive, carfentanil, made the drug 100 times more lethal than when it was mixed with the already deadly fentanyl. Overdoses in Cincinnati averaged 29 per day, totaling 174 in that six-day span. The carfentanil-laced heroin was so toxic that emergency responders had to use protective gear when in contact with the substance. Our teens and young adults must fully understand going forward that the allure of heroin can’t ever be regarded simply as a crazy high that can be experimented with just to see what it’s like. Just one use can kill, or the inevitable addiction can catapult your entire family into a gut-wrenching, draining, horrifying money pit of a maelstrom that only those who have experienced it can ever imagine. Addiction is a vortex that takes down the whole family in its wake. Drug dealers don’t care about your child or your family. Their primary concern is selling more of an increasingly addictive substance. Fully understanding the smoking-gun
ALPHARETTA
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BUSINESS
Breadwinner Ladles Up Two More Eateries By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com Breadwinner Café & Bakery in Sandy Springs has morphed into a venture that occupies a coveted space in Midtown’s hip Ponce City Market. Breadwinner, which opened in 2010 in the Springs Landing center, is the brainchild of Geoff Melkonian and his wife, Katie. Their new place, Farm to Ladle, was the first eatery at Ponce City Market when it opened last year. “We were approached by them to bring the Breadwinner concept there, but part of their concept was they wanted everything to be original and first to market as far as the name goes. They wanted something else but with us doing it,” Melkonian said. “We had to figure out what would work there. We came up with the name and then built up from the Breadwinner ideals of fresh food, locally sourced produce and meats, and fresh bread baked every morning,” he said. The couple started out in the food business almost by accident with Melkonian’s sister, Wendy. “Before 2010 we baked pumpkin bread for Souper
to Paris and New York. You go in and see these beautiful displays of sandwiches and salads, and we wanted to capitalize on the concept of the fastcasual cafe. We thought, ‘Let’s have a go at this.’ ” Breadwinner received a lot of media attention Shaun Winters (left) and Geoff Melkonian are partners during its first in Breadwinner spinoff Farm to Ladle, which has locations at Ponce City Market and Avalon. year. It was later Jenny,” Melkonian said. “She was our featured on Food first customer and helped us get start- Network’s “Road Tasted” show. ed. We kind of did it more for fun: We “That really put us on the map, not had a lot of ingredients left over from only locally, but nationally, and creThanksgiving 2005 and baked a bunch ated a nice online store for our prodof bread. All of a sudden, a business ucts. Breadwinner became not just a was born.” wholesale distributor to restaurants By Christmas they had sold 600 like Souper Jenny and MetroFresh, but loaves through that one outlet. became a corporate gift company like “In 2009 we wanted to take it to Harry & David,” Melkonian said. the next level and have a retail presMelkonian, who plays in an R.E.M. ence. Ultimately, I wanted to have a cover band, said Farm to Ladle was restaurant,” Melkonian said. “My wife a natural progression. “In Year 4 we and I were inspired by trips we’d taken wanted to do something else — build
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Mansions Names Head For Alpharetta Campus
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Angela Stanton has been named campus executive director for The Mansions at Alpharetta, a new senior independent living, personal care and specialized memory community. Stanton will oversee the daily opera- Angela Stanton tions of all phases of the community. “I look forward to working with families, residents and staff to bring the newest practices in senior care to the Alpharetta area,” she said. Stanton, a former divisional director for a senior care chain, has managed facilities in Georgia and Michigan. “We are thrilled to welcome Angela to our family of senior living properties,” said Wes Bartlett, the property manager. “Her extensive background in geriatrics, combined with her education in business, will make her a tremendous asset as we open our new, dynamic senior living community.” The Mansions at Alpharetta, the company’s fourth senior care community, is set to open its independent living community in October. Phase 2,
another location or create another concept or another brand. We weren’t quite sure what that was going to be, but we also weren’t in a hurry to do it, so we let things play out.” Ponce City Market was being billed as the next Chelsea Market (in New York), according to Melkonian. “I think they delivered on that. The building is beautiful; the setting is great. It’s a true food hall. It’s not like the food court at Perimeter Mall. You can smell it; there’s a vibe when you walk through there. They’ve done a good job of attracting customers. There are tourists from out of town, … office tenants and residents in the buildings in the area. It’s a very pedestrian community. The BeltLine is right there, and dozens of condos around.” Shaun Winters, Melkonian’s business partner, said Farm to Ladle now has a second location at Avalon in Alpharetta. “I do see it as having legs and resonating with a lot of people. The feedback we get from Facebook and Yelp is off the charts. There are people gravitating toward us because it’s fast, it’s fresh, it’s affordable. Avalon was void of this niche, and we could fill it.” ■ providing personal care and specialized memory care, is opening next year.
Hux Expands to Charlotte
Atlanta-based online house-cleaning marketplace Hux has had a successful launch in its second city, Charlotte. CEO Stanley Vergilis, a Georgia Tech alumnus and son of Russian Jewish immigrants, said business in Charlotte has grown 40 percent a month with a small marketing budget and one person on the ground. “I think that’s a testament to a great product.” Hux helps cleaning services find residential customers online. In less than two years, the business is operating at a revenue run rate of more than $2 million. Charlotte’s proximity to Atlanta and its high-tech scene led Hux to choose it for expansion, Vergilis said. Company investor Tim Draper also had another company launch there, Favor. Hux, whose marketplace approach to connecting providers and customers could work for a range of home services, is sticking with house cleaning for now because “our focus is on acquiring more customers with our existing offering of cleaning,” Vergilis said. “Once we have a large geographic footprint, then we’ll launch new service verticals.”
EDUCATION
Training Wheels participants have learned that although sukkahs are temporary, they can be delicious.
Training Wheels Rolling for Preschoolers Hadassah Greater Atlanta is launching its Training Wheels/Al Galgalim program for preschoolers ages 3 to 5 and their parents with a Rosh Hashanah program Sunday, Sept. 25. The family education program follows the year al galgalim (on wheels) with nine sessions focused on holidays from Rosh Hashanah to Shavuot, including Shabbat. Activities include songs, stories, crafts, games and holiday foods, all of which enable adults and children to experience the pleasures of celebrating the holidays. The program is all about families participating in Jewish rituals and spending quality time together. Each Training Wheels session is
led by trained Hadassah volunteers on a Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon in the Perimeter area. The Rosh Hashanah session is free, although there is a fee for the yearlong program. Make reservations by contacting Sheila Barid and Melissa Kornfeld at barids@bellsouth.net or 404-636-2696. More information is available at www.hadassah.org/atlanta or www.facebook.com/TrainingWheels-Atlanta-237308792957896. The rest of the Training Wheels calendar: Sukkot, Oct. 16; Chanukah, Dec. 18; Shabbat, Jan. 8; Tu B’Shevat, Feb. 5; Purim, March 12; Passover, April 2; Yom HaAtzmaut, April 30; and Shavuot, May 21. ■
Applications will be due in January for the 2017 Faculty Fellowship Summer Institute in Israel, which provides 24 full-time college faculty members with a 10-day trip through Israel and a chance to develop lifelong academic relations. This year’s program, in late May and early June, included lectures about Israel and its history, the Holocaust, women’s rights, and research and development. The academic exchanges included meetings with doctors trying to cure Alzheimer’s and a discussion of video game designs with a Nobel laureate in mathematics. The program is sponsored by Jewish National Fund and Media Watch International. Sharon Tzour, the founder and executive director of Media Watch International, said, “The beauty of Faculty Fellowship is that the relationships made during the two-week program are transformational as they become lifelong partnerships between profes-
sors in both the U.S. and Israel who are truly trying to help — inside and outside the classroom — make the world a better place and pass that information on to their students.” Emory epidemiologist Michael Goodman is among the alumni of the program, although no Georgia universities were represented this year. The closest participants were Tuskegee University historian Lisa Bratton, Davidson College physicist Wolfgang Christian, University of Florida musicologist Jennifer Thomas and Florida Atlantic University art historian Linda Johnson. “I have long believed that Israel is a special place. The people, places and experiences on our trip confirmed that belief with overflow,” U.S. Naval Academy math professor David Ruth said. “Thank you to everyone, hosts and participants, for making this a journey of a lifetime.” To learn more about the program, visit www.ff2israel.org, or call Rene Reinhard at 212-879-9305, ext. 235. ■
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
10-Day Fellowship Connects Faculty, Israel
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LOCAL NEWS
Moishe House Matures in Atlanta and Beyond By Leah R. Harrison lharrison@atljewishtimes.com Moishe House turns 10 Sept. 23. An international phenomenon that began in 2006 when four young Jewish adults in Oakland, Calif., began hosting Shabbat dinners for their friends, Moishe House now has 91 houses in 21 countries. Recent additions include Montevideo, Uruguay; Be’er Sheva, Israel; St. Louis; Mannheim, Germany; and a third house in Boston. Houses in the works include Cincinnati; South Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Fla.; and White Plains, N.Y. Lander Gold, the senior director of advancement and philanthropic partnerships, said at least 95 houses are expected by year’s end. Demand for houses is particularly strong in countries that have experienced massive persecution, such as the former Soviet Union and Hungary, where the young population is experiencing a Jewish renewal, Gold said. In Paris and Brussels, young Jews are experiencing anti-Semitism but do not want to leave. Community growth and a desire for connection are taking hold in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, and Shanghai and Beijing, China. In an age when the organized Jewish community is grasping for ways to
engage young adults, Moishe House brings them together organically on their own terms. Each house is home to three to five Jews ages 22 to 30 who have outreach and networking skills. Creativity, social conscience and a high level of community activism are also desirable qualities. Locations for houses are vetted as carefully as the residents. A home environment with ample gathering space, easy accessibility and individual living space is required. In exchange for subsidized living in a desirable location with a social atmosphere, residents conceive, plan, publicize and host monthly religious, social, educational, cultural and community service programs for their friends, peers and social networks. Events range from Havdalah dessert gatherings and Passover seders to speakers, resident birthday parties and community service days. The residents bring together their Jewish friends and those on the periphery of Jewish life. House residents become more engaged in the Jewish community while learning leadership skills on top of the day-to-day responsibilities of their
jobs, lives and families. Atlanta’s first Moishe House opened in Toco Hills three years ago. It was followed by an Inman Park location, and a third house is possible by year’s end. Moishe House drew total attendance of 2,889 and 1,166 unique participants for 168 Atlanta programs in 2015. The two houses drew 1,221 people to 76 programs in the first half of 2016. Each house holds five to seven programs per month. The Toco location was just recognized as the international Moishe House of the month for its programming and participation. New locations are determined in one of two ways, Gold said. The first: An area with a significant young Jewish population is identified and contacted to investigate feasibility and gauge interest. Gold said Moishe House wants a community with 1,000 to 1,500 Jewish adults ages 22 to 30. “It is usually pretty clear if a community can support and sustain one or more Moishe Houses,” Gold said, adding that Atlanta likely could sustain four. The second method for opening a Moishe House is through the efforts of potential participants. “We are usually
approached for a new location. We are very much demand-driven by the young adult Jewish population,” Gold said. The Moishe House website offers applications for houses. “Once the desire for a house is established, we then work to secure the funds and move forward.” For the general community, Moishe House is piloting a League of Champions in Atlanta, New York, San Diego and Chicago to garner support for houses. Two to four area leaders are identified, each pledging a minimum of $1,000, and they engage other supporters and community activists. A minimum of $20,000 must be secured the first year to move ahead with a location. The goal is to cover 75 percent of house expenses ($90,000) through such champions. Moishe House provides a bridge from college life and Hillel or Chabad to the established adult Jewish community. So far in 2016, Moishe House has held 30+ peer-led and national Jewish learning and leadership retreats for present and former participants. “We want to complement a community’s young Jewish population,” Gold said, noting the effectiveness of engagement through personal invitations. “It is a low barrier to entry to the community, and Moishe House is providing that entry point.” ■
Philippines Opened Door to Jews Fleeing Nazis By Kevin Madigan kmadigan@atljewishtimes.com
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
A Filipina-American historian in New York state is unraveling the role played by the Philippines in sheltering Jewish refugees during World War II. Sharon Delmendo, an English professor at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, will present the story of the Manilaners, as they became known, at Congregation Or Hadash on Sunday, Sept. 18. She will also discuss the life of refugee Hanna Kaunitz and the doctor she met in Manila and eventually married, Alfred Weinstein. “It’s a two-part presentation,” Delmendo said in a phone interview. “Part of it is going to be a history of the Manilaners and then the story of Alfred and Hanna. I think it’s important for people to know about Alfred and that he was really a hometown hero and a very important part of the Emory University School of Medicine.” The free event will begin with a 16 documentary about the Philippines’
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refuge for Jews, “An Open Door.” The Philippine Commonwealth was a territory of the United States until the end of the war. Under PresiAlfred Weinstein, standing in front of dent Manuel the Holmes Street Quezon, it had veterans apartments, the distinction faced down threats for forbidding racists of being the and bigots as tenants. only country in the Pacific that took in Jews and protected them. “Quezon wanted to give large numbers of Jewish refugees not only shelter during the Holocaust, but actually wanted to give them citizenship, a legal home,” Delmendo said, “because of course the Nazi regime stripped Jews of their citizenship, so they were stateless persons.” But he did not have a free hand in
deciding who could attain residency. “He had concrete plans for around 177,000 refugees,” Delmendo said. “But the U.S. held the right to approve visas, and the U.S. did not want large numbers, certainly not that large, of Jews in the Philippines because during the commonwealth and all the way up to formal independence, the country was legally American soil.” The State Department feared that Jews would use the Philippines as a U.S. back door. The Japanese invasion in December 1941 removed the Philippines as an escape for Jews. But some 1,300 German and Austrian Jews managed to find sanctuary there. Among them was Kaunitz, who fled Vienna and found work at a Manila department store. She met Weinstein, an American surgeon imprisoned by the Japanese after they invaded. After the war, the two married and settled in Atlanta. Weinstein wrote a best seller, “Barbed-Wire Surgeon,” about his war experiences; it was published in 1948 and recently was reissued. He became a
well-known doctor and professor, Delmendo said. “In his private practice he had the first integrated waiting room in the entire city of Atlanta. He was head of staff at Hughes-Spalding, which was a colored hospital back then.” He worked against Jim Crow laws and established the Michael Weinstein Award (named for his father) to honor African-American doctors. Delmendo said Weinstein, who died in 1964, was ahead of his time. “He really did work for the brotherhood of man, and Hanna devoted herself also to good works, extensively and tirelessly. Between the two of them you could make a Hollywood movie and it would all be true. They had remarkable lives.” ■ Who: Sharon Delmendo What: “An Open Door” documentary screening and discussion Where: Congregation Or Hadash, 7460 Trowbridge Road, Sandy Springs When: 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 Cost: Free; RSVP to dlee@or-hadash. org
SPORTS
Becky and Ariel Arbiv stand on the top two spots of the podium for the pole vault at the GISA state track and field championships in April.
Becky Arbiv gets some serious air during a vault.
Ariel (left) and Becky Arbiv attend the national championships in July.
Pole vaulting may be one of the most difficult sports, but two sisters from the Weber School make it look easy. In April, Becky and Ariel Arbiv finished first and second in the pole vault at the Georgia Independent School Association track and field state championships, earning the sisters spots in the U.S. track and field national junior championships July 25 to 31. At nationals, both finished in the top six of their age groups while setting personal records in the pole vault. Becky, now a senior, finished third among the 17- and 18-year-old girls with a jump of 3.8 meters (12 feet 5½ inches). It was the second-highest jump of all time for a girl from Georgia. Ariel, a sophomore, jumped 3.5 meters (11 feet 6 inches), good enough for sixth in the 15-to-16-year-old girls division. The sisters come from a family of athletes. Brother Jordan, a junior at Weber, plays basketball and soccer, and their father played professional soccer in Israel. Their mother was a high
school athlete and is an active runner. “All three of the Arbivs are leaders on and off the field and are shining examples of what a student-athlete should be,” Weber Athletic Director David Moore said. “When I tell people about the Weber Rams, I tell them about Becky, Ariel and Jordan Arbiv. We have experienced nothing but great attitudes from all three. They each have their own special personality, but each brings it every day and works as hard as they can.” In addition to pole vaulting, Becky Arbiv has played volleyball and basketball for Weber and is widely recognized as the school’s top female athlete. Ariel has a chance, however, to push her sister’s athletic achievements by the time she graduates. Besides finishing second to her sister in the region and state in the pole vault, Ariel was also the top runner on Weber’s cross country team as a freshman. Weber’s track and field team competes in the spring. ■
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Weber’s Arbiv Sisters Vault Into Nationals
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TRAVEL
Toronto Launches Cross-Canada Adventure A genuine “bucket list” dream trip for many begins in Toronto, a metropolis worth visiting by any mode of transportation, then takes VIA Train No. 1, the Canadian, across Canada to Vancouver. Toronto deserves its reputation as one of the world’s great cities. It is Canada’s largest and most cosmopolitan town. More than 200 ethnic groups speaking over 140 languages call it home. We spent an enjoyable couple of days of sightseeing before our train’s departure in late March. Getting downtown is easy. After clearing customs at Toronto Lester Pearson International Airport, we boarded the UP Express, a 25-minute train ride to Toronto Union Station. It runs every 15 minutes and costs $12. The station has convenient municipal transit connections, and many downtown hotels and attractions are within walking distance. We enjoyed a narrated Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour that showcased Toronto’s diversity, architecture, shopping and arts. Don’t miss the CN Tower for lunch or dinner and an amazing view from the revolving restaurant. If the weather is nice, check out the waterfront and enjoy a boat tour to see the impressive skyline. We also recommend a stroll down Yonge Street and the theater district. If you want to visit some of the far-flung ethnic neighborhoods and regional attractions, the Go Transit regional rail network has frequent service radiating in several directions from Union Station.
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Leaving in the Dome Lounge As sorry as we were to leave Toronto, VIA Rail Canada Train No. 1, the westbound Canadian, was scheduled to leave at 10 p.m., so we headed to the station about 9. Fortunately, our Toronto experiences were not quite finished because our night departure afforded a spectacular view of Toronto. It is something not to be missed. The same nighttime view is available from the commuter trains that ply these tracks, albeit without glass domes. As we sipped coffee in the plush departure lounge, it was not long before the “all aboard” call came. Our 2,775-mile transcontinental journey 18 was beginning.
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The conductor escorted passengers on a short walk to the platform and directed us onto one of the 17 cars of gleaming stainless steel that would be our home for the next four days. After stowing our bags in a small but nicely appointed first-class sleeper compartment, the car attendant told us about his daily routine of changing the compartment from day sitting Photos by Tourism Toronto
Left: As night falls, downtown Toronto lights up. Below: With the CN Tower in the background, a hop-on, hopoff bus provides a good way to tour downtown Toronto.
Simply Smart Travel By Jeffrey R. Orenstein jorenstein@SimplySmartTravel.com
room to bedroom and back and invited us to walk four cars back to the last car in the train, the Glacier Park dome lounge, for complimentary champagne and hors d’oeuvres as the train departed. Precisely at 10 p.m. the train began to move slowly. As we glided past the end of the covered station platform, Toronto’s night lights and sights burst into view from our 360-degree vantage point. We slid past the brightly lighted CN Tower and through downtown Toronto while enjoying a unique view of many trackside buildings, some with people in the windows waving to us. As we sipped champagne and munched on a nice selection of passed hors d’oeuvres, urban scenery gave way to the suburbs and then the exurbs. As the city lights receded, our journey across Canada had begun in a memorable way. We retired to our sleeper car, convinced that the rest of the trip on Train No. 1 would live up to and even exceed this auspicious beginning. We were right. Before You Go Check these websites: • www.seetorontonow.com. • seetorontonow.uberflip. com/i/632133-toronto-visitorguide-2016. • www.viarail.ca/en/exploreour-destinations/trains/rockies-andpacific. Getting There Toronto Lester Pearson International Airport (YYZ), six miles from the city center, hosts major airlines. VIA Rail offers frequent service to Toronto Union Station from Canada and a train from New York City via Buffalo.
Major highways radiate east, west and north from Toronto. The nearest cruise ship port is Montreal, 336 miles away. On a Short Trip Steal some time from your schedule and visit: • Yonge Street, Dundas Square and the theater district. • The CN Tower. If You Have Two or Three Days Must-sees for a slightly longer but still short visit: • Royal Ontario Museum. • A Maple Leafs hockey or Blue Jays baseball game or a live theater performance in season. • City Hall, the Ontario Legislature (Queens Park), Casa Loma and other notable buildings. • Shopping at tony Eaton Centre. If You Have More Time If you have the luxury of spending several days in and around town before your transcontinental train trip, explore the region by visiting: • Niagara Falls, which is just 90 minutes away. • Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. • The Welland Canal locks between Lakes Erie and Ontario. How to Dress The keys to dressing for long-
distance train travel are efficiency, comfort and reuse. Onboard space is limited, even for passengers with small private bedrooms, and large suitcases remain in the baggage car. Also, you have the option of pre-trip touring and stopovers, some for an hour or two, so pack casual clothes appropriate for the season. At a Glance Mobility level: Low to moderate. Although touring Toronto and riding on the train require getting in and out of various vehicles, most of the city and the train are handicap-accessible, and alternative mobility options are available. When to go: Any time. Winters are cold, and summers are hot. But each season has its charms. Rail fares increase in the summer. Where to stay: The Fairmont Royal York and the Strathcona Hotel are close to Union Station. Many other choices are nearby. Where to eat: CN Tower Special travel interests: Canadian culture and scenery; rail travel. ■ Jeffrey Orenstein and his wife, Ginny, enjoy simply smart travel and sharing their trips and tips with you. See their travel tips, photos, articles and blog at www.SimplySmartTravel.com and like them at www.facebook.com/SimplySmartTravel.
TRAVEL
Photo by Tourism Toronto
Toronto Union Station features an imposing main concourse.
Photo by Tourism Toronto
The onboard service chiefs of the train greet passengers in the VIA first-class departure lounge.
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
The Glacier Park dome lounge is inside the last car of Train No. 1.
Photo by Tourism Toronto
Toronto’s waterfront is a lively place in the summer.
Toronto has the largest Jewish community in Canada. Jewish immigration started in the 1830s, and the community grew in late 19th century and early 20th century as Jews fled Europe’s anti-Semitism. By 1911, the Jewish population was over 18,000. The Jewish population topped 45,000, dominated by Polish immigrants, during the Great Depression. By World War II, it was about 50,000 and was the largest ethnic group in a city with more than 200 ethnic minorities. When the strongly pro-French Canadian Parti Quebecois government was elected in Quebec in 1976 and Quebec independence became a live issue, the mostly English-speaking Jewish population of Montreal felt threatened. As a result, many moved to Toronto, firmly establishing it as the Jewish center of gravity in Canada. As Quebec Jews poured into the increasingly crowded central city Jewish neighborhoods, a Jewish migration to the suburbs marked the decentralization of the Toronto Jewish community, which continues today. The contemporary Toronto community has an active Jewish Federation, day schools, and about 50 congregations in the city and its far-flung suburbs, including many in North York and Thornhill. The Jewish regional population is about 200,000 out of a total population of about 3.5 million. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, about half actively identify with the Jewish community, of whom about 20 percent are Orthodox, 40 percent are Conservative, and 35 percent are Reform. Kosher food and restaurants are available. For observant Jews contemplating a trip on the VIA Canadian in Sleeper Plus class, kosher meals are available with a 10-day-advance request. ■
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Jewish Toronto
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TRAVEL
Rail Ride Across Canada Brings Beauty, Luxury Put this trip on your bucket list. This train is a fantastic throwback to an earlier travel era. It smoothly traverses incredible scenery with luxury, great service and punctuality. Travel doesn’t get much better than this. The Train The Canadian is one of the last 1950s-era streamliners. Totally refurbished recently, our train had two 3,000-horsepower locomotives pulling 17 matching streamlined stainless-steel passenger cars. In summer, the train often exceeds 20 cars. Our train had a baggage car, several reclining-seat coaches, a dome for coach passengers, two dome cars for first-class passengers (including an activity dome with movies, wine and beer tastings, and game tables), several sleeper cars and a magnificent domed, round-end observation car. Our first-class Sleeper Plus accommodation was a small but nicely appointed compartment with a sink and a toilet. The car attendant transformed it twice daily between a daytime sitting room and a bedroom with upper and lower beds.
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
The Route For a little over four days and nights, our magic carpet on rails took us across the immense Canadian Shield and the vast prairie and through the Canadian Rockies. We left Toronto on a Tuesday night in late March. By Wednesday morning, we were tracking across the heavily wooded, rugged, sparsely populated Canadian Shield (the largest mass of exposed Precambrian rock in the world) at speeds of up to 80 mph. We passed through a wilderness of snow-covered pine and birch forests broken up by small towns, massive rock outcrops and huge frozen lakes. Though the train pulled briefly into sidings every so often to avoid a freight train heading east, we were ahead of schedule all the way. As we approached Winnipeg on Thursday morning, the Canadian Shield gave way to the great prairie with vast farms, grain elevators and seemingly endless sight lines. The occasional snow flurry was not unpleasant to see from inside the warm and comfortable train. The train stopped in Winnipeg for three hours as crews changed, the 20 exterior was washed, and supplies
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were replenished. Adjacent to the large station was the impressive Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Taking the advice of fellow passengers, we toured it during our layover. The displays and
Simply Smart Travel By Jeffrey R. Orenstein jorenstein@SimplySmartTravel.com
view from the top were excellent. We recommend it highly. After reboarding midday, we spent the afternoon and evening traveling west across the vast Great Plains. Awakening Friday, we looked forward to a day of extraordinary scenery and were not disappointed. During breakfast, the Front Range of the snow-capped Canadian Rockies loomed in the distance. By midmorning, the domes were crowded with sightseers as the train reached the mountains. The view was accompanied by hushed conversation and a steady click of camera shutters. After snaking around huge mountains and through tunnels, we paused at Jasper. Our layover was long enough to explore the small town’s restaurants and shops, and we vowed to return someday. Leaving Jasper, we continued through the Rockies with vistas so beautiful they defy description. As night fell, we rolled through the rugged Thompson and Fraser River canyons. The lights of passing towns and settlements, the mountain peaks, and even stars in the sky were gorgeous. Saturday morning, we learned that we were running ahead of our scheduled Vancouver arrival. After breakfast, we passed through the cosmopolitan Pacific city’s exurbs, suburbs and downtown, overtaking commuter trains, crossing the great Fraser River on an impressive bridge and enjoying the early April cherry blossoms in full bloom before gliding to a stop at Vancouver’s Pacific Central Station at 8:30 a.m., an hour early. The Experience As the continent passed by our windows, we enjoyed many hours of great conversation with fascinating fellow passengers, spontaneous group
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
Another train heads east as Train No. 1 crosses the Canadian Shield.
singing, and a lot of good food and drink. Dining car meals, included in the first-class fare, were quite good, and the dining staff was efficient and pleasant. There was always a choice of entrees and desserts and were large portions. Breakfast seating was open between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. Lunch and dinner seatings were by reservation for one of two or three times, depending on the number of passengers. The only extras were drinks from the bar, which featured some nice wines from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley at reasonable prices. Each night in the Glacier Park lounge car, we were delighted to find a railroad-sponsored professional musician playing a guitar and singing, often joined by amateur musicians among the passengers. The music entertained us for hours as passengers made requests and sang along to Canadian and railroad songs. Hanging out in the observation car is marvelous. First-class passengers can watch the train wind around curves and enjoy unlimited free coffee and tea and attentive bar service. As we pulled into the Vancouver station and said our goodbyes to new friends, we were sorry to see this incredible trip end, although we were excited to be in Vancouver and looking forward to adventures ahead. This trip deserves its reputation as one of the world’s best train trips. There was plenty of room on board,
and it was far more luxurious than flying or driving. We recommend it with enthusiasm because it is the way to see Canada, eh? Before You Go Check these websites: • www.viarail.ca/en/explore-ourdestinations/trains/rockies-and-pacific/toronto-vancouver-canadian. • www.youtube.com/ watch?v=s80ZvedSSeE. • www.seat61.com/Canada. htm#Canadian. The Trip Mode: Deluxe trains set out on the 2,275-mile transcontinental trip twice a week in each direction off-peak and three trains a week from June to October. Stops: 10 scheduled plus onrequest stops Accommodations: Reclining seat coach, Sleeper berths, Sleeper Plus (cabins for one, two or three) and Prestige Class cabins Food: Included for first class, optional for coach passengers Fare: $397 to $3,850 Canadian each way, depending on season and accommodations. ■ Jeffrey Orenstein and his wife, Ginny, enjoy simply smart travel and sharing their trips and tips with you. See their travel tips, photos, articles and blog at www.SimplySmartTravel.com and like them at www.facebook.com/SimplySmartTravel.
TRAVEL
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
The grandeur of the Canadian Rockies is clearly visible from the lounge car’s dome.
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
The dining car has open seating for breakfast and two or three seatings at lunch and dinner.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, visible from the Winnipeg train station, includes an extensive Holocaust exhibit.
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
The Rockies rise behind the dome lounge during a layover in Jasper.
This is a typical breakfast in the diner. Specialty omelets are always available.
Jewish Travel on VIA Rail Canada
Expires Sept. 30, 2106
NOW OPEN Located in the same building as Food 101 (Backside)
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Because a rail journey across Canada involves several days and nights on the train (four nights to travel the entire route), kosher meals for observant Jews are an issue. If you want to keep kosher on the train, your choices are simple: You can either bring nonperishable food for your entire trip, or, if you are traveling in Sleeper Plus or Prestige Class cabins, you can place an order at least 10 days in advance with VIA Rail for kosher meals in the dining car. The VIA Rail Canada website reads: “Special meals are not available in Economy, Touring and Sleeper classes. Passengers can inform on-board VIA personnel of their special needs. When possible, the crew will do their best to meet your request.” Another possibility is to order kosher food to go from the BerMax Caffé + Bistro (www.bermaxcaffe.com) at 1800 Corydon Ave. when the train stops in Winnipeg. The restaurant is about a 15-minute cab ride (5.4 miles) from the train station, and it advertises delivery with an average time under 45 minutes. Check out www.skipthedishes.com/bermax-caffe. No kosher food is available in the other places where the train stops long enough to detrain and shop. When you are in Winnipeg during the three-hour stopover, be sure to visit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a short walk from the station. It has a large Holocaust display and is highly recommended. The city has a large Jewish population of over 12,000. British Columbia, the train’s West Coast terminus, has a Jewish population of more than 30,000, with the majority living in Vancouver. Toronto, the train’s eastern terminus, has a regional Jewish population of about 200,000. Kosher food is readily available in both cities, as are many Jewish places of interest and worship. ■
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TRAVEL
Vancouver Should Be More Than a Stopover Vancouver, British Columbia, is a cosmopolitan and approachable city. Canada’s major gateway to Asia, it is strategically located where the mountains of the coast range meet the Pacific Ocean to form a picturesque and busy harbor. The city has been a center of trade and transportation since the era of the First Nations (the Canadian term for Native Americans). The 1858 discovery of gold in the Yukon and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Transcontinental Railroad in 1887 launched Vancouver on an urban trajectory that has transformed it into a world-class city with a metropolitan population of 2.5 million that is growing. High-rise condominiums are sprouting up all around town because both Canadians and foreigners find the city such a pleasant place to live. Not surprisingly, throngs of visitors flock there as well. Many Americans fly to Vancouver to catch a cruise ship to Alaska and see little besides Canada Place and their hotel. That is a missed opportunity because the city is full of nightlife, gorgeous sights and attractions that should not be missed. This cosmopolitan mix of East and West has become a delightful cultural crossroads with a mixture of food, cultures, sights and sounds that will delight even the most urbane traveler. If your travels take you through Vancouver, plan to stay for a while and explore it. Better yet, plan a visit and stay a while. Before You Go Check these websites: • www.tourismvancouver.com. • www.hellobc.com. • www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hU6a-b6ADSE.
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Getting There Vancouver is a transportation crossroads. Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is nine miles from the city center. It is served by 66 air carriers and offers service to 121 destinations in Asia, Canada and the United States. It is connected to the city by the Skytrain rail system. By train, VIA Rail Canada’s transcontinental Canadian calls on Vancouver three times a week in summer and 22 twice a week in winter. Amtrak runs
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four times daily from Portland, Ore. There is also service from the Rocky Mountaineer private train. By car, Vancouver is on the TransCanada Highway and on Canada Route 99, the northern extension of U.S. Interstate 5. It is 143 miles from Seattle. Downtown Vancouver is a major
Simply Smart Travel By Jeffrey R. Orenstein jorenstein@SimplySmartTravel.com
cruise ship port with frequent sailings to Alaska from May through October and cruises to Hawaii, California and elsewhere all year. On a Short Trip • See Canada Place and the waterfront. • Take a carriage tour of Stanley Park’s lush foliage and the spectacular harbor and skyline views. • Enjoy the architecture, food and drink in the Gastown District.
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
Canada Place, a cruise ship terminal and convention center, offers beautiful harbor vistas and is a beehive of activity in downtown Vancouver.
at intersections, and all Vancouver bus, SeaBus, SkyTrain and West Coast Express trains are accessible. Getting around: Leave your car at
If You Have Two or Three Days Must-dos for a slightly longer but still short visit: • The FlyOver Canada flight simulator ride at Canada Place. • Dinners at Glowbal and Gotham Steakhouse. • The Lost Souls Walking Tour by Forbidden Vancouver. If You Have More Time Some activities to consider when you have the luxury of a longer stay in Vancouver: • A day trip by ferry to Victoria. • A walk around Granville Island (market and restaurants). • A day trip to Whistler and nearby British Columbia mountains by car, train or bus. • A guided Vancouver Photowalk to enjoy the scenery while improving your photography, no matter what your level of skill or quality of equipment. • A whale-watching tour. • A floatplane tour. • Hiking or skiing at the Grouse Mountain Resort in North Vancouver. At a Glance Mobility level: Low to moderate. Most sidewalks have curb cuts
the hotel. Downtown is walkable. A $9 transit pass in Vancouver covers bus, SkyTrain and SeaBus services. When to go: Any time. Even though it is north of Seattle, Vancouver is the warmest part of Canada, with an average winter high temperature in the 40s, delightful spring and fall, and summers in the 70s. The popular Vancouver International Jazz Festival brings crowds in June and July. Where to stay: The St. Regis Hotel is a delightful New York-style heritage boutique hotel with an attentive staff and fine rooms. It is a 15-minute walk to Canada Place. The Fairmont Pacific Rim at Canada Place is popular for those seeking an upscale experience convenient to the cruise port. Special travel interests: Cruises to Alaska; whale watching; water sports. ■ Jeffrey Orenstein and his wife, Ginny, enjoy simply smart travel and sharing their trips and tips with you. See their travel tips, photos, articles and blog at www.SimplySmartTravel.com and like them at www.facebook.com/SimplySmartTravel.
Photo by Jeffrey Orenstein
The Vancouver Rowing Club is one of Stanley Park’s attractions.
Jewish Vancouver
Greater Vancouver has a significant Jewish community of about 25,000 people, making it the home to about 7 percent of Canada’s Jews and 80 percent of the Jews of British Columbia. While the metropolitan area does not have the Jewish gravitas of Toronto or Montreal, the community has numerous synagogues, kosher restaurants, a Jewish Community Center, and the typical big-city array of Jewish organizations and agencies to serve its population and visitors. Early Jewish settlers arrived around the 1880s, drawn by the harbor and the railroad and the promise of commercial growth. While they were largely isolated from the Jewish centers of eastern Canada, they were deeply involved in the growing civic and commercial life of Vancouver. The city’s second mayor was David Oppenheimer, a German Jew, who was in office from 1887 to 1891 and who is widely recognized as a significant figure in city history. In the current century the Jewish community has continued to develop. Sephardic Congregation Beth Hamidrash opened a new synagogue in 2004, and Orthodox Congregation Schara Tzedeck, the largest in British Columbia, celebrated a century of existence in 2007. Other Orthodox, Reform and Conservative congregations are in the city and in surrounding areas, including Victoria, and Hillel and Chabad centers serve the University of British Columbia and other colleges in the city. ■
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The opening keynote address and Friday night services will take place at Natchez’s Temple B’nai Israel.
Jane Wexler is the queen of the Natchez Pilgrimage one year.
Jewish South Conference Heads to Historic Natchez The Southern Jewish Historical Society is taking its annual conference to one of the smallest but most historic Jewish communities in the region: Natchez, Miss. Held in partnership with the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, the SJHS conference will run from Nov. 4 to 6 and focus on the experiences of Southern Jews in small towns and rural areas under the theme “Jews in the Southern Hinterland.” From a beautiful old synagogue with museum exhibits to a scenic setting on the Mississippi River, Natchez offers a fine setting for the 41st annual conference. The gathering starts Friday morning, Nov. 4, in Jackson, where buses with tour guides will depart for a drive of slightly more than 100 miles to Natchez via Vicksburg and Port Gibson. In Vicksburg, bus riders will meet with members of Congregation Anshe Chesed; visit the Jewish cemetery, which is on the National Register of Historic Places; and have lunch in the restored former home of the B’nai B’rith chapter. In Port Gibson, people will visit the oldest standing synagogue building in Mississippi, Gemiluth Chessed. Upon arrival in Natchez, conference attendees will gather under the dome of Temple B’nai Israel to learn about the state’s oldest Jewish community. B’nai Israel also will be the site of a community Shabbat service led by Rabbi Jeremy Simons, the ISJL’s director of rabbinic services, and reporter and editor Robin Amer will give a live performance of her radio story exploring the traditions and challenges of the
Natchez Jewish community. Topics to be discussed by panels and presenters the next two days include relations between Jews and gentiles, responses to natural disasters, the Ku Klux Klan, family history, and diaries and memoirs. Program details are available at www.jewishsouth.org/ upcoming-conference. The buses will leave Natchez for Jackson at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6. “The city of Natchez is celebrating its tricentennial year, and hosting this conference is a wonderful way to honor their rich Jewish history,” said Rachel Myers, the museum and special projects coordinator for the ISJL and the conference host. The B’nai Israel building “is part of the Natchez landscape and always will be,” she said. “We very much look forward to having SJHS in Natchez to show support for the congregation and to continue the traditions of vibrant Jewish life in a historic community.” Conference attendees will have several options for walking tours featuring antebellum homes and important Jewish sites, so they won’t be cooped up listening to papers all day. Conference registration is $135 until Oct. 1, then rises to $150; it includes lunch and dinner Friday and lunch Saturday. You must be a member of the SJHS to register for the conference; membership is $36. The fee for the bus to and from Jackson is $55, although you can get yourself to and from Natchez instead. You can join the society, register for the conference and get hotel information at www.isjl.org/sjhs-natchezprogram.html. ■
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TRAVEL
Trekking Into the Soul of the Israel National Trail By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com Udi Goren hit a low point in 2014; his legs lifted him onto a higher path. He was struggling financially and feeling frustrated professionally as he tried to establish himself as a freelance photographer in Tel Aviv. Then the war in Gaza broke out, fueling a frenzy in traditional and social media. “I felt that Israel was going into another round of violence and division, and it just was too much for me to handle,” Goren said. But instead of following his tendency to pack up and leave — he spent six years traveling, studying and living abroad after his Israel Defense Forces service — he decided to turn inward and do something he twice started in 2007 but abandoned: walk the entire Israel National Trail, running more than 620 miles from Kibbutz Dan on the Lebanese border in the northeast to Eilat on the Red Sea in the south. “I left the country of Israel and went to travel the land of Israel,” said Goren, who became the first professional still photographer to walk the entire trail in one trip. “It’s very powerful to tread every mile of where you live,” he said in a phone interview. That life-changing 2½-month physical and spiritual journey opened his eyes to the beauty and soul of his own land and gave his professional life direction with “my first big passion project in Israel.” It’s a project with many phases, including, he hopes, the first coffee-table book of the trail. He’ll be sharing that passion during a 1½-month fall speaking tour of the United States, his second U.S. trip this year. He will start at the University of Florida Hillel on Oct. 26, then move north and west.
Photos by Udi Goren
The Negev is the most challenging part of the Israel National Trail, but it also yields views such as this small makhtesh.
Visit www.israeltrailtalk.com to book him for a school, synagogue or other group, whether to speak about the trail, set up an exhibit or lead a workshop on seeing your world through the eyes of a photographer. It might be a cliché to say Goren truly saw his Israeli world for the first time during his trek. After all, he has been a hiker his whole life, and his parents took him to explore the natural side of Israel when he was a boy. “But it’s very different when you’re outdoors for 2½ months than when you wake up one Saturday, drive the car, hike in the Galilee, then drive home,” he said. This journey was the first time he got to experience all of his country — all facets and all factions of a society that so often seems permanently divided. The political entity is the place facing daily friction, but “when I talk about the land, I talk about the physical place, the actual people that I’ve met personally and seeing the landscapes for myself, treading the mountains and the beaches and seeing the wildlife and the historic sites along the way.” He said an archaeological site near Be’er Sheva illustrates the difference between learning Israel’s history and geology and experiencing it. It’s one thing to drive there in air conditioning, look around for an hour and drive
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
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away; it’s another to come upon this place people have lived for 4,000 years after walking through the desert with sweat pouring out of you for half a day. That ground-level view of Israel connects with people in a nonpolitical way, Goren said. “Talking about the land is actually the reason that people care about Israel, about this place and the people, our mutual heritage and mutual history. It gives people an opportunity to connect.” In addition to rekindling passion for Israel, Goren said he hopes his presentations spark a sense of adventure so that people will venture outside the standard tourist haunts in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. “You get to experience the place in a very different way.” ■
Walking the Trail
Udi Goren treks the Israel National Trail in 2014. Goren, who interned with acclaimed Israeli photographer Ziv Koren earlier in his career, had to overcome a hip injury and minor aches and pains while making the journey with a travel partner.
A goatherd goes about his business near Tiberias.
The trail runs along the Mediterranean coast in the north, providing access to Tel Aviv beaches.
The Israel National Trail has one major advantage and one major disadvantage, Udi Goren says. The advantage is that the trail is small, well-mapped-out and can be broken up into easy segments. So even though only about 300 people a year walk the full length, going south to north in spring or north to south in the fall, “you can go in and out pretty much every day,” Goren said. You can carry a tent and camp out anywhere along the trail, or you can leave the trail to get lodging at night. There also are trail angels who, with notice of a day or two, will let you stay the night with them free. But the ease of supply and logistics lasts only until you get to Arad, which is east of Be’er Sheva on the northern edge of the Negev. The desert portion is tough, Goren said, and you have to plan for your water and food. You can arrange for deliveries at certain points, or you can bury supplies in advance, which is what he did in 2014. ■
TRAVEL
Photo by Tali Erickson-Gini, Israel Antiquities Authority
Students of the Har Ha-Negev Field School sift organic matter at an archaeological dig in the Avdat National Park.
The eight-week application period for winter Birthright Israel trips opened Monday, Sept. 12. The free, 10-day trips are open to Jews ages 18 to 26 who have not taken a peer educational trip to Israel since age 18 and have not lived in Israel since age 12. Visit www.birthrightisrael.com to start your application. Birthright also runs trips in the summer; registration for those trips will open in February.
Beth Tikvah Trip
Temple Beth Tikvah is planning a trip to Israel in June, and it is open to the community. Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner is leading the trip from June 1 to 11, which will include Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Safed and the Yokneam-Meggido region. For more information, contact Rabbi Shuval-Weiner at rabbi@ bethtikvah.com.
Day Trip to NYC
Chabad of Peachtree City is planning to lead a trip to New York on Oct. 9, the Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rabbi Yossi Lew said the group will fly to LaGuardia Airport and take a bus to the gravesite of the Lubavitcher rebbe, followed by brunch, a walking tour of Brooklyn, a visit to the Jewish children’s museum and a meal at a New York restaurant before jetting back to Atlanta. The cost of the trip is $120 plus airfare. Email Rabbi Lew at rabbi@ chabadsouthside.com if interested.
Archaeological Garden Launched
Israel established its largest archaeological park at the Kirya Base in Tel Aviv on Sunday, Sept. 11, in a festive ceremony attended by the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and a representative of the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage.
On display are dozens of items from major cities in the ancient world, including a stone that weighs 6 tons from the Kotel. “The decision to inaugurate an archaeological garden here in the base of the IDF general staff conveys first and foremost an important moral message: Recognition of Israel’s history is essential in building the image of the soldier who knows his past, understands the challenges of the present and is always ready to ensure the future of his people for the sake of future generations,” said Miri Regev, the minister of culture and sport.
Israel Seeks Hotels
To increase the number of hotel rooms and reduce the cost of visiting Israel, the Knesset Finance Committee has approved financial incentives for the construction of hotels in certain parts of the country, on the periphery of large cities and close to Airports. Projects in approved areas will be eligible for government grants of up to 20 percent of the total investment. Israel also recently approved a program worth up to 33 percent of the total investment in budget hotels.
Byzantine Stable Found
A structure that was used as a livestock stable in the Byzantine period 1,500 years ago was recently found in an excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority carried out in the Avdat National Park in the central Negev. The excavation, with the participation of students from the Har Ha-Negev Field School, was directed by DePaul University’s Scott Bucking and the IAA’s Tali Erickson-Gini. The stable was constructed in a rough-hewn cave on the mountainside and was used as a service structure by local residents, who appear to have been monks. Stone basins were probably used for storing food and water for the animals. A yard-thick layer of manure leaves no doubt that donkeys, sheep and goats lived there in antiquity.
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SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
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TRAVEL
These shoes on the Danube bank in Budapest serve as a memorial to the Hungarian Jews killed during the Holocaust.
You’ll want to reserve tickets for the Anne Frank House in advance.
The Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest has been restored to its prewar grandeur.
Budapest provides an illuminated backdrop along the Danube for Esther and Mike Levine and Robyn and Ed Gerson.
The Viking Legend is like a floating hotel that stops in another port every day.
Track 17 illustrates when Jews were shipped off to the Nazi camps from Berlin.
Cruising the Magical Danube
History, culture and luxury mix on a Viking riverboat By Robyn Spizman Gerson
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Seven days, five countries, three capitals, 11 locks. Sounds like a month’s worth of travel, but thanks to a river cruise, it was an easygoing weeklong adventure. If you are wondering what makes a riverboat cruise the right fit, our travel-loving friend Fred Katz suggested we call Fran Penn of Nice and Easy Travel in Boca Raton, Fla. Fran, a seasoned travel agent, said: “Riverboat cruising is ideal at this time. It’s relaxing, the food is wonderful, and the individualized service is superb.” We agreed. With family members Esther and Mike Levine on board, we selected Viking River Cruises’ Danube Waltz itinerary (www.vikingrivercruises.com) on the Viking Legend, which proved to be a wonderful way to travel. Unlike a larger cruise ship, this elongated riverboat resembles a floating hotel and moors daily at a port. Every morning you awake to another city, sometimes a new country, with diverse experiences right at your doorstep. While it’s a laid-back experience, make no mistake: You start early, have plenty of choices how you will spend your time, and top off every day with a five-star dinner. You can soak up each new port with a wonderful selection of wellplanned excursions, and Viking in26 cludes a daily complimentary city tour.
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Since 1997, Viking has grown to a fleet of 60 river vessels offering scenic cruising along the rivers of Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, China and Southeast Asia. It has topped USA Today’s annual Readers’ Choice Cruise Poll for best river cruise line. Cruise director David Morgan, Chef Marius and the Danube Waltz’s accommodating staff made our trip along the Danube a memorable experience from shipboard comfort to regional fresh food prepared to perfection. From Budapest to Bratislava, Slovakia, to Vienna, Durnstein and Linz in Austria to Passau, Germany, our days were filled with fascinating sights. It is easy to add cities before or after the cruise, and we selected Berlin and Amsterdam. What began as a weeklong cruise into an array of picturesque, historyfilled cities was transformed as it became a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore Jewish life, past and present, along the way. Budapest, our launch city and Hungary’s capital, was a highlight. This vibrant scene of 19th century architecture is home to the Moorish Revival Dohany Street Synagogue, which took our breath away. Tony Curtis donated $1 million to restore this synagogue in honor of his father, Emanuel Schwartz, a Hungarian Jew. A focal point is the “Tree of Life” memorial dedicated to the 400,000 Hungarian Jews who per-
ished during the Holocaust. Vienna, the renowned “City of Waltzes” and Austria’s capital, is filled with such landmarks as the Jewish Museum and staggering Albertina Museum. Featuring the world’s greatest artists, the Albertina includes one of Europe’s largest and most important private collections of classical modernist paintings. The museum’s permanent exhibit offers 500 works from 130 years of art history, from French impressionism to the present. When the river cruise ended, we were off to Berlin for two days of Jewish heritage walking tours with guide Heidi Leyton, who navigated and educated us through the Jewish Quarter to visit monuments, museums, synagogues and memorials. Around every corner and at every step across Berlin, we were reminded of the devastation of the war and Hitler’s horrific regime. At Heidi’s suggestion, we paid our respects at Track 17, one of the deportation sites of Berlin Jews headed to ghettos and concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. This poignant track-side monument illustrates the date and number of Jews sent to their deaths during the Holocaust. Concluding our trip, we flew to Amsterdam and stayed at the stunning De L’Europe hotel. Our travel agent stayed up half the night to secure coveted assigned etickets to the Anne Frank House. This
advance purchase is a must unless you want to wait in a line that wraps around the block. The Anne Frank House, the most popular tourist-visited memorial today, lives up to its reputation. To stand in the room where Anne dreamed of a happier life and freedom is inspiring and life-changing. Amsterdam is a colorful city filled with thought-provoking history and flower-lined canals. From the Jewish Quarter with its synagogue, museum and preserved history to the Rijksmuseum, a Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history at Museum Square, close to the Van Gogh Museum, there are endless must-sees. Of unusual interest is the Museum of Bags and Purses, devoted to 4,000 historic handbags, purses and suitcases dating back to the 16th century. It is a small jewel among the city’s many museums. It was a trip that will long be remembered. A riverboat cruise is a wonderful way to step into the rich history of our Jewish roots and explore the picture-postcard cities that embrace the Danube. ■ Robyn Spizman Gerson (www. robynspizman.com) is a New York Times best-selling author and communications expert who has appeared often on NBC’s “Today” show and on NBC affiliate 11Alive (WXIA-TV).
OBITUARIES
Jack Baranovitz 92, Atlanta
Jack Baranovitz, 92, of Atlanta passed away Wednesday evening, Sept. 7, 2016. The son of Ida and Hyman Baranovitz, he was born June 6, 1924, in Bialystok, Poland. Jack came to the United States with his mother at age 6 to join his father, who immigrated several years earlier to Atlanta to establish citizenship. He attended public schools in Atlanta, graduated from Boys’ High School, and attended Emory University until he was drafted into the Army during World War II. Jack served in the European theater of war, then returned to Atlanta and graduated from Georgia State University and received a B.B.A. degree. He spent the next 50 years in the retail grocery business, where his friendly manner made him many friends with customers, employees, salesmen and fellow grocers. He was partnered with his brother-in-law and friend, Walter Hirschberg, for over 25 years in the business. Jack is survived by his loving wife of 61 years, Rosalind; three children, Donald (Joy) Baranovitz, Neil (Sally) Baranovitz and Helen (George) Steinheimer; grandchildren Harris and Sydney Baranovitz and Benjamin and Lauren Steinheimer; sister Rosalie (Walter) Hirschberg; sister-in-law Idella Lichter; and several nieces and nephews. He was a longtime member of Ahavath Achim Synagogue and the Jewish War Veterans. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, one may make donations to Ahavath Achim Synagogue or Weinstein Hospice. Graveside services were held Friday, Sept. 9, at Greenwood Cemetery with Rabbis Neil Sandler and Mark Zimmerman officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
Maury Benamy 55, Atlanta
On Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, we lost a very special person. Maury Benamy was 55 and, as he would say, “feelin’ alive.” He appeared to be in great health and was very active. He went caving and hiking whenever the opportunity arose and was always up for the next adventure. He loved his two daughters, Cora, 14, and Caitlin, 18, with all of his heart and would do everything in his power to make them happy. He loved his business and those involved in it. He will be missed by all who knew and loved him. Rest in peace, Maury. Survivors include daughters Cora and Caitlin; mother Gloria Benamy; sister and brother-in-law Lauren and Danny Kahn; the mother of his children, Teresa Benamy; aunt Rita (Ronnie) Klee; uncle Joel (Toni) Adler; and a large extended family of cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Fredric Benamy, of blessed memory. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations should be made to the Southeastern Cave Conservancy Inc. A graveside service will be held Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 11 a.m. at Crest Lawn Memorial Park with Rabbi Bradley Levenberg officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, A770-451-4999.
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Michael P. Davis Michael P. Davis, age 68, of Atlanta died Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. Survivors include his wife, Laura Davis; children Rachel, Joshua, Benjamin and Anna, all of Atlanta; brother and sister-in-law Eugene and Christel Davis of Boca Raton, Fla.; sister Jewel Davis of Rollinsford, N.H.; and nephew Jonathan Davis of Boca Raton. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Midtown Atlanta Rotary Foundation (indicate Haiti School Fund on the memo line). A graveside service was held Sunday, Sept. 11, at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs with Rabbi Mark Zimmerman officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
Death Notices
Inna Galetskaya of Atlanta on Sept. 3. Ivan Solomon of Sandy Springs, founder of Solomon Brothers Fine Jewelry, husband of Rayna Solomon, father of Adon Solomon, Ari Solomon and Jaren Solomon, and brother of Howard Solomon and Anthony Solomon, on Sept. 6.
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SIMCHAS
Births Eloise and Oliver Wollner
Jill Koretzky Wollner and Robert Wollner announce the arrival of their daughter and son, Eloise Rue and Oliver Banks, on May 11, 2016, in London, England. The proud grandparents are Leora and Herb Wollner of Marietta and Susan and Barry Koretzky of Birmingham, Ala. The great-grandparents are Penina Bowman and the late Harold Bowman of Marietta, the late Elise and Reuven Wollner of Atlanta, the late Estelle and Izzy Eubanks of Birmingham, and the late Edith and Sol Koretzky of New Orleans. The Hebrew names of Eloise and Oliver are Chaya and Chayim, respectively, in memory of their late great-aunt Chaya Bowman Baer of Gesher Haziv, Israel, and their late great-grandfather Harold Bowman of Marietta.
Bar Mitzvah Liam Rex England
The bar mitzvah celebration of Liam Rex England of Marietta was held Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, at Congregation Etz Chaim. Liam is the son of Lance and Tamar England and has two sisters, Eden, 10, and Talia, 6. He is the grandson of Michael and Etti Alon of Dunwoody and Gary and Ginger England of South Pittsburgh, Tenn. For his mitzvah project, Liam raised funds for the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Coasterthon, an annual event that raises money and awareness for sick children in Children’s Healthcare’s three hospitals in the metro area. Liam raised over $500 and participated in the roller coaster riding marathon at Six Flags Over Georgia in August.
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SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Births, B’nai Mitzvah, Engagements, Weddings, Anniversaries, Special Birthdays
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ARTS
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
Reviewers Unsure Of ‘Denial’ Photos courtesy of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival
Baladino co-founder Thomas Moked jams at the JCC with his Godin electric MultiOud. Baladino co-founder Yonnie Dror blows the shofar during the band’s eclectic performance. Performing for Baladino are (from left) percussionist Yshai Afterman, singer Yael Badash, multiwind instrumentalist Yonnie Dror and string player Thomas Moked.
Baladino Delivers Mediterranean Folk
Israeli folk band Baladino, with members from Tel Aviv and Berlin, performed Sunday night, Sept. 11, at the Macus Jewish Community Center. The band specializes in fresh but authentic takes on Sephardic and Ladino melodies, creating a Mediterranean sound featured this year on its second studio album, “Nedudim.” ■
Jewish Soul Uplifts ‘Unbroken’ Country By David R. Cohen david@atljewishtimes.com
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
Native Texan Joe Buchanan had been married 13 years when he learned his wife, April, was Jewish. Already searching for answers, he looked into her faith and found his voice in Jewish values, history and Torah. It has been four years since he finished his conversion to Judaism, and he tells of his spiritual journey through his debut album, “Unbroken.” Produced by Saul Kaye, the pioneer of Jewish blues, “Unbroken” features a distinctly Southern sound. From the first track, a rowdy, countrified version of “Shalom Aleichem,” to the last, “We Are Here,” an introspective tune about his sense of Jewish belonging, the album fills a musical space that was nonexistent: Jewish Americana. The album mixes original songs and original takes on traditional Jewish music. Buchanan’s second track, “Hear (Sh’ma)” is an inventive blend of original and traditional Jewish music. An 30 original melody with new and familiar
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lyrics, the driving tune ends with a powerful recitation of the Shema. He picks things up with an upbeat third track, “Repair,” before getting into the title track, a soulful tune that sheds light on his decision to convert. “I was lookJoe Buchanan performs at LimmudFest 2016 ing for G-d all over Labor Day my life,” the weekend at Camp song begins. Ramah Darom’s “Being told G-d Kaplan Mitchell Retreat and Conference was good and I Center in Clayton. wasn’t right. … No matter how good your life, it will never add up in G-d’s eyes.” Buchanan told the AJT he was deeply moved by Judaism’s positive outlook on the world and life-affirming perspective. He wrote all of the songs on “Unbroken” after his conversion. The 14-track album continues with
Buchanan’s country and folk versions of “Elohai N’tzor” and “Modeh Ani,” as well as his twangy take on a Kabbalistic niggun with “The River’s Niggun.” The remaining original tracks offer insights into Buchanan’s inner workings with “A Joyful Noise,” “Sarah Laughed,” and “Home,” a moving song with a catchy chorus that borrows from the traditional “Etz Chaim Hi.” Buchanan’s soulful debut is well worth a listen, not only for the novelty of authentic Jewish country music, but also for the perspective of an enthusiastic former outsider on the Jewish faith. ■
What: “Unbroken” Who: Joe Buchanan Get it: joebuchananmusic.com
The early reviews are mixed for “Denial,” the movie about Deborah Lipstadt’s defense of a libel lawsuit brought against her in England by British Holocaust denier David Irving. The film, starring Rachel Weisz as the Emory professor and Young Israel of Toco Hills member, had its world premiere Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Toronto International Film Festival. “It’s a curiously awkward and slipshod movie that winds up being about nothing so much as the perverse, confounding eccentricities of the British legal system,” Variety senior film critic Owen Gleiberman writes. He finds that “Denial” falls short of courtroom dramas such as “12 Angry Men,” “Anatomy of a Murder” and “The Verdict.” He criticizes David Hare’s script, based on Lipstadt’s book “My Day in Court,” for failing to explore why the British legal team chose not to put Lipstadt or any Holocaust survivors on the stand. The Hollywood Reporter’s Deborah Young, however, says the film “makes few missteps.” She praises Hare’s script as “carefully balanced” and Jackson’s directing for a serious approach leavened by English wit. While Gleiberman thinks Oscar winner Weisz’s performance feels like an acting exercise, Young says her “arresting, combative Lipstadt, a shining woman warrior, is a role she will be remembered for. … She is a rousing, articulate heroine channeling her passion and energy into a concrete cause.” The Wrap’s Steve Pond provides a positive review without Young’s breathless excitement. Jackson’s directorial restraint and dignity drain some of the energy from the drama, Pond says, and “the beats are sometimes too predictable.” He calls Weisz “excitable.” “Denial” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Sept. 30 and arrives at Atlanta’s Regal Tara Cinemas 4 Oct. 7. Young Israel is holding a special screening at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Tara theater, 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road, to be followed by a question-andanswer session with Lipstadt, then a dessert reception at the synagogue. Tickets are $25 for Young Israel members and $36 for others and must be bought through the shul; 404-3151417 or www.yith.org/event/exclusiveyith-screening-of-denial.html. ■
Teacher Taxonomy Educators take classes about distinct types of learners, right? Is it fair that clues to differences remain solely in pedagogic hands? No! As a responsible public servant, I am here to enable students to assess the characteristics of three major teacher types and thereby to thrive in the classroom. You can trust me because I have diligently culled information from real-life individuals who, predictably, prefer to remain anonymous. User discretion is advised. The All-Children-AreGifted Teacher This instructor is convinced that every young person is a poet, musician, artist and inventor, and it is the teacher’s duty, indeed one’s calling, to liberate latent talent. Students create block prints and batik napkins to be sold to raise money for a Moog synthesizer. There is a filmmaking station cordoned off in a corner of the room. Every wall bears a montage of student self-portraits, and each week a different class “poet laureate” is Uber-ed to Georgia State University with an original poem. This poem is subsequently set to music by the GSU jazz ensemble or chamber group and eventually aired on PBS. Sample lesson: Invent a new use for a Slinky and write a story about it. Illustrate your story. Next, turn the story into a video and create an appropriate commercial and jingle. Extra credit for animation. Student strategy: On the first day of school, introduce yourself and ask to be called by your pen name (example: “La Boca”). Wear cunningly mismatched clothing, and doodle a lot. Bring in a mosaic you made of broken glass from the school Dumpster. The Repair-the-World Teacher This educator has life-size posters of Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Jonas Salk, Bill and Melinda Gates, and PETA founders Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco mounted above bins in which students collect wire hangers and glass jars. There are several lined trash cans in which students compost lunch scraps. Art activities include fashioning sandals from corrugated cardboard and making peace symbol jewelry from plastic bottles. The ongoing class project consists of growing aloe plants for free distribution. Students earn extra credit by
learning bookbinding for the school library and mastering a Swiss Army knife to assist in school repairs. Most learning is done in groups, and the day ends with a drumming circle. Sample lesson: Learn “We Shall Overcome” on harmonica or recorder. Student strategy: Wear natural-fiber clothing. Write compositions about
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ACROSS 1. A king of Judah after Manasseh 5. Result of a Crystal crack? 9. It might be used to tie down a sukkah 14. Gilbert of “Roseanne” 15. Harrison’s bearded “Star Wars” co-star 16. City of refuge 17. ___ Maga 18. Some lashon hara speakers 20. Island where many Jews once landed 22. Teva bottoms 23. “And the earth ___ without form” (Gen. 1:2) 24. Real ___ (like a Mason set) 26. Broderick’s Simba, for one 30. Thummim’s partner 32. Kiddush cups and such 34. Passover time 36. Sit for a shot like Rafaeli 37. Isaac’s eyes, later in life 38. What one could use to build the Temple, nowadays 39. Many a doctor, stereotypically 40. The ___ Days 41. Bobbie Gentry sang one to Billy Joe, not Billy Joel 42. Billy Joel often covers their “Highway to Hell” 44. Walters was one on “The View” 46. Vegetable a Jewish mother might force on you 48. What a macher has (in a school, perhaps) 49. Former Seattle team owned by Sam Schulman, for short 50. Like an unclosed honey pot 52. Many a retired Torah 55. Quality of an ideal IDF soldier 57. Challah topper, at times 59. What Israel Day Parade
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The Organization-Is-the-KeyTo-Learning Teacher There is a place for everything, and everything has its place. Each cabinet and shelf, complete wall areas, and every classroom quadrant have specific uses. All student assignments are initialed daily by a parent and the teacher. There are dozens of up-to-date charts in the room, and analog and digital clocks hang above the teacher’s desk and above the door. A clear rotation of student chores is followed. There is a “do now” activity written on the board when students enter the room. The teacher stands just outside the door as students enter, greeting everyone by name and pronouncing names perfectly. Multiple facial tissue boxes and accompanying trash cans are around the room. Sample lesson: Using a graph program, record the kinds and amounts of vegetables consumed by your family in October. Use a different, appropriate symbol for every person. For extra credit, write a 5-7-5 haiku or an eightline poem with the rhyme scheme ABBA or ABAB about vegetables. Student strategy: Cover your books with matching geometric-patterned paper. Make sure your pencils have pristine erasers. Get to class in time to clean your desk with a disposable wipe. Tell your teacher you rode MARTA over the weekend, and you have subway maps for the whole class. I hope this column helps identify teaching styles and classroom cultures. If it doesn’t level the playing field, well, I tried. Fair is fair. ■
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family camping trips, your beekeeping grandparents, your favorite resale shop and your rescue pet. Bring homemade granola and fruit slices to share. Volunteer to monitor the ant farm.
“Alternative Medicine?”
By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Difficulty Level: Medium
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Chana’s Corner
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
marchers stand in 63. Be a sherut passenger 64. Hurricane that closed some yeshivas in 2011 65. “Belle ___” (Bob Dylan) 66. Fisher of film 67. Western currency worth less than a shekel 68. Lex Luthor’s sidekick in Donner’s “Superman” 69. Stern’s nautical counterpart
33. Pull, like a falafel cart 34. Shlumps 35. Martinez who played for Wilpon’s Mets 39. Grp. fighting antiSemitism 40. Gary Bettman’s skating org. 42. Yields, like Mephibosheth to David 43. ___ Rica, home of the Haim Weizmann Comprehensive School 44. Bloomberg bean counter: Abbr. 45. Israel, from a Zionist view 47. Michael who directed Midler in “The Rose” 51. Martial arts star who made his Hollywood debut in Donner’s “Lethal Weapon 4” 53. Matzah ball server 54. Locale of Jacob’s ladder? 56. Rush, e.g. 58. “Battle Cry” author Leon 59. Have a bit of the Manischewitz 60. Heavy metal that becomes light in Hebrew? 61. Moonves of CBS 62. “Amen!”
DOWN 1. Like the views of Sabbatai Zevi 2. Stepmom of Ivanka, once 3. One deeply dissecting Rashi or Maimonides? 4. Devorah, e.g. 5. Partakes (of the Kiddush) 6. ___ the good (“Gam zu letovah”) 7. Shadchan, perhaps? 8. Skin woe for Adam Levine, once 9. “Under ___” (Stephen King show starring Rachelle Lefevre) 10. Uprising locale 11. “___ Gotta Be Me” (Sammy Davis Jr. hit) 12. Tamid preceder 13. They surround Nisan? 19. Foolish challenges, in gan 21. Meat often LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION used in cholent 1 L 2 E 3 I 4 G 5 H 6 S 7 M 8 O 9 G 10L 11A 12T 13S 25. “No way!” to 14A L L O W 15T E A R 16E G O N 17 18 19 a teen O O N A W I L L Y W O N K A 20 21 22 H R S A B N E R S A G A 27. Job for 23 24 25 26 B O N N I E A N D C L Y D E Howard Stern 27 28 I A N E U R O or Alex Ansky? 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 28. Brockovich 39A W E 40 P E 41E W E E 42 O M E R B E R G S K I D S M O T E and Daniels 43 44 45 46 T I N S E L M A D A D A R 29. Went on 47 48 49 50 I L A N N I S a second 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 B L A Z I N G S A D D L E S 58 59 60 61 shidduch date L I S Z T I G O A N E W 62 63 64 65 31. Where Or E T N A G E N E W I L D E R 66 67 68 Sasson made I R A N N O O N E C H E R 69 70 71 Israel proud H E R D G R I T A M N O N
SEPTEMBER 16 ▪ 2016
CLOSING THOUGHTS
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SEPTEMBER 16 â–ª 2016