LEARNING ABOUTT RECYCLING
HELPING HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS IN NEED
JAGUARS TO HOST JEWISH COMMUNITY TAILGATE Fun, food and football to be had on Dec. 20 before kick-off Page 13
What JFCS is doing and how you can offer support Page 14
Students at DuBow Preschool get hands on experience Page 15 A publication of the
November
2015
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Cheshvan/Kislev
River Garden Gala to have Cuban flair
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Society of Healers to host guest speaker on Jewish genetics
BY KATHY OSTERER The biggest and most exciting event of 2015 is right around the corner as the River Garden Foundation is hosting its annual Gala, ‘Meet Me in Havana’, Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Marriott at Sawgrass Golf Resort & Spa. SunTrust Bank will return as the premier gala Sponsor and River Garden is proud to have the Honorable John and Gena Delaney as the evening’s honorary chairs. This unique and elegant event will open up the world of Cuba right before your very eyes, as you enter the world of vintage Havana. Those in attendance will be enthralled throughout the evening by the fabulous world-renowned Chez-zam Entertainment Group. The event begins at 7 p.m., with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and an enticing silent auction, then will continue with dinner, dancing and entertainment. More than 600 guests are expected at this fun filled event which the community looks forward to each year. For those not familiar, the gala directly benefits the residents of the River Garden Hebrew Home and helps to ensure that the frail elderly of the community are taken care of in the manner they so deserve. River Garden relies upon philanthropic support and deeply appreciates the generosity of the Jacksonville community. For more information about the event, please contact Kathy Osterer at 904-886-8430 or kosterer@rivergarden.org.
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John Entine
BY ERIN COHEN
Society of Healers Director
On Sunday, Dec. 6 at 10:30 a.m., the Federation’s Society of Healers division will host, Jon Entine, television news producer and pioneering author on the DNA of Jewish history and identity. Recent DNA research and genetic studies offer extraordinary insight into the origins of the Jewish people and its impact on all of us. His talk, ‘Abraham’s Children: The DNA of the Jewish People,’ digs into his fascinating research and will explain, among other things, how the study of Jewish genetics is making major inroads in medicine. “It’s literally saving thousands of lives around the world,” Entine said. “There are
some 40 known Jewish diseases, disorders that originated in single Jews and then spread throughout Jewish communities,” he added. “You can inherit some genetic disorders from either a mother or father— the breast cancer mutations are examples, but many diseases, such as Tay-Sachs, result from the virulent combination of mutations carried by both.” ‘Abraham’s Children’, was featured on the cover of Reform Judaism magazine and profiled on a Jewish Life Television report viewed on YouTube more than 500,000 times. “With recent advances in genetics, we now know that grouping people by race, making distinctions by such superficial characteristics as skin color, is a very simplistic and misleading way of describing human diversity,” he went onto say. “Today, geneticists use the terms ‘ancestry’ or ‘populations’ when describing how groups of people have evolved. Scientists today allow for a much more complex understanding of human differences, studying distinctive ‘populations’, which have different body types, disease proclivities, and even behaviors. Because of
See JEWISH GENETICS, p. 13
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rGEN’s Huts, Hula, and Havdalah parties long into the night
BY JEANINE HOFF rGEN Director
Palm trees, leis, and the now infamous Mitzmacher Maui Mojito were all the rage at the third annual rGEN Sukkot event, ‘Huts, Hula and Havdalah’. Hosts Jaimee and Jon Mitzmacher helped set the tone with tropical drinks and festive Hawaiian music, while
Rabbi Howard Tilman of the Jacksonville Jewish Center led a pool-side Havdalah service. The evening also helped welcome many new individuals and couples in the community, who along with the regulars all celebrated in the beautiful Mitzmacher Sukkah.
See rGEN PARTY, p. 12
Remembering former Jacksonville Jewish Center executive director Don Kriss BY RABBI JONATHAN LUBLINER Jacksonville Jewish Center
On Shabbat morning, Sept. 19th, just about the time that Don Kriss’ soul departed his body, we read the words spoken to Moses at the end of his God-given mission to shepherd the Israelites to the very threshold of the Promised Land. “This day I am 120 years old; I can no longer come and go, and the Lord has told me that I shall not cross the Jordan. Be strong and resolute, be not fearful or in dread because the Lord your God Himself will walk with you; God will neither fail nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:2, 6). Moses was granted the blessing of 120 years, which, even if not understood literally, has become the traditional way to express the thought that one has attained fullness of years. At the age of 61, Don lived but half of Moses’ lifespan; we are keenly aware that he has been taken from us far too soon. It may be said that he too, stood at the threshold of a Promised Land -- one that
beckoned with the hope of watching his grandson Finley grow up; sharing the journey to old-age with Janet, his beloved soulmate of 37 years; taking satisfaction from watching the synagogue he served continue to grow and thrive with his help until the age of retirement. It is hard, perhaps impossible, not to think about the many experiences Don might have had were it not for his untimely passing. Yet I cannot help but hear an echo of Don in the words of Moses to the Israelites: His insistence that those who would live on after him be strong and resolute; the reassurance that God will give us the strength to do what we need to. We draw on that memory for solace because Don spoke to us as a community in so many ways: with his deeds, his smile, his compassion, his uncompromising insistence on accountability; his willingness to admit when he was off-base, his expectation that others be ready to do the same when they were wrong.
See DON KRISS, p. 7
Jacksonville Jewish Center president Alyse Nathans with executive director Don Kriss
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