Southern Jewish Life NEW ORLEANS EDITION INSIDE:
November 2023 Volume 33 Issue 9
Southern Jewish LifeLife Southern Jewish 3747 West Esplanade Ave. P.O. Box 130052 3rd Floor Birmingham, AL 35213 Metairie, LA 70002 New Orleans Stands with Israel community rally at Gates of Prayer in Metairie on Oct. 9
shalom y’all This is a pivotal time in Jewish history. There is much to be said about the barbaric attack on Jewish civilians on Oct. 7, and Israel’s response. It has been said that after this past month’s events, we have learned who our friends really are — and they are fewer than we thought — and how much closer we feel to each other as a worldwide people. Thankfully, in our region we have seen a lot of our Christian neighbors step up to the plate and vocally — as well as financially — support us and Israel. We have also seen longtime allies do the “yeah but” dance. Make no mistake. What is happening now in Gaza is not revenge. It is rooting out a maniacal, tyrannical regime that has vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 attacks, over and over, until the Jews decide it is just too much to bear and leave “the river to the sea” en masse. Make no mistake. A ceasefire is a win for Hamas. Anything short of a Hamas surrender and dismantling will be seen as a victory for Hamas and Iran, and will have serious negative repercussions in Israel’s standing with its new peace partners throughout the region. What about the innocent children of Gaza? In the long term, this is for them, to put a stop to the Hamas-launched terrorism that continues to put them in danger. It is their leadership that causes the tragedy. And after this is done, Israel needs to take the international media on a tour of Gaza to show them how thoroughly Hamas has been playing them as fools all these years. The latest controversy is over universities shutting down groups for being “pro-Palestinian.” That’s a farce. We’re pro-Palestinian. Israel is pro-Palestinian — the Palestinian people, not their corrupt, hateful leadership. Free Palestine? That’s exactly what Israel is trying to do. Rather, these activists are just anti-Israel, the Palestinian people are an afterthought, tools with which to bash Israel. These groups aren’t being investigated for being pro-Palestinian — they are being investigated for actively supporting a terrorist regime, for inciting violence and encouraging genocide. When they call for an intifada revolution,
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commentary
MESSAGES
Maccabi USA leader praises Birmingham Games
I have had the honor of attending many Maccabi competitions around the world. From Israel or to globalize the intifada, that is a direct callJCC sive coverage of around our region’s response to the to Australia to South America, Europe and the Maccabi games the United States for violence, and we know who the targets are. in Gaza (and more of my thoughts), check and Canada, I have logged many miles seeing howwar sports can be a vehicle to help build Jewish And despite the peaceful explanations of out sjlmag.com for the latest information. identity, especially in our young. “from the river to the sea,” that is broadly unMeanwhile, we have a lot of other stories we I felt honored to come Birmingham for the time andworking fell in love not just thesoon. city derstood as a call to thetogenocide of Jews in first have been on with that will be up but theThe people. havewho taken Southern hospitality to newtask levelinwith your and caring Israel. sameYou people insist it is a peaceLeta the Gaza be kind completed successapproach the JCC Maccabi Games. trying to fully, speedily, and may it usher in an era of ful phrasetowould bristle at anyone convince them theand Confederate flag is histor- peace. Led by the Sokol Helds, your hard-working volunteers were wonderful. They partnered ically a symbol of “heritage hate. ” Lynch, to make the 2017 JCC Maccabi games a huge hit. with your outstanding staff, not led by Betzy We could these 48 pagesaswith just covI want to takefillthis opportunity executive director of Maccabi USA to say thank you on behalf erage of theinvolved. war, and another 48 with editoof everyone rial comments (anyone who wants to help us I had just returned from the 20th World Maccabiah games Lawrence in Israel with a U.S.Publisher/Editor delegation of Brook, increase our page count, let’s talk!). For extenover 1100, who joined 10,000 Jewish athletes from 80 countries. Back in July the eyes of the entire Arnie Fielkow Jewish world were on Jerusalem and the Maccabiah. This past month with 1000 athletes and coaches from around the world being in Birmingham, you became the focal point.
Evil must be eradicated Everyone from the Jewish community and the community at large, including a wonderful
I tend to watch World War These II andgames Nazi will world. How wrong we as were. police force, are tomany be commended. go down in history being a seminal movies I wantcommunity to understand toto theOn Oct.by7providing the face such of evil reappeared momentbecause for the Jewish as weevil, build future wonderful Jewishas try and comprehend how human beings can Hamas terrorists shot, burned, decapitated and memories. commit acts of brutality so heinous they are raped 1400 innocent children, babies, women, Jed Margolis uniquely defined as “crimes against humanity.” and grandparents. The degree of evil was so Executive Director, Maccabi USA Eighty years ago that evil revealed itself to the intense that Israeli medics — 4 weeks later — world when Nazi extermination camps, once are still trying to identify the victims, who were supremacists would like to see pushed backfaces liberated, revealed methods of killing which burned and tortured so viciously that their On Charlottesville into body a corner and to feel lesser.The We terrorstand shocked the world’s conscience. Many thought and parts aremade unrecognizable. with and pray for the family of Heather Heyer, the gassings, cremations, sick medical Editor’s Note: This reactionand to the events in ex- ists also forcibly kidnapped hundreds of innowho civilians was thereand standing to the face periments would neverbyagain seen by the cent cruellyup paraded themofasthis prizCharlottesville, written JeremybeNewman, hate. es around Gaza, all while their family members Master of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Theta Colony from thethe world are forced participate Wearound recognize essence of the to American at Auburn University, was shared by AEPi hateau rugs ifts in a cruelas waiting game of old notstruggle knowingtoifrid they narrative a two-century National, which called it “very eloquent” and will ever see their corners, loved ones ourselves of such andagain. allow those in praised “our brothers at AEPi Theta Colony at America, time wethat wake upsoand underthem the seatit atisthe table they deserve. Auburn University and… the leadership they stand that the world is once again facing a true It is the struggle to fulfill the promise of the display on their campus.” battle of good evil. Thank God Nazism was Declaration of vs. Independence, that “all men are defeated, and letendowed us all hope similar fate awaits created equal… byatheir Creator with Hamas and its terrorist Contrary White supremacy has been a cancer on certain unalienable rights.partners. ” We know our workto what some would like us to believe (including our country since its beginning, threatening is far from finished, but we know we will not fringe anti-Israel groups like Jewish Voices for its hopes, its values, and its better angels. move backwards. Peace, which do not even have the decency to The events that took place in Charlottesville When men women, fully armed, condemn the and Hamas atrocities of Oct.take 7), the represented the worst of this nation. Those to the streets in droves with swastikas andabout who marched onto the streets with tiki torches current conflict in Israel/Gaza is not otherdisputes, symbols Israeli of hate,domestic it is a reminder how land policiesofnor any and swastikas did so to provoke violence and relevant the issues of racism and anti-Semitism other articulated reason. Instead it is about a fear. Those who marched onto the streets did are today. It is a wake-up call to thepeople work that deep-seated hatred for the Jewish and a so to profess an ideology that harkens back to needs to doneeliminate to ensurea aJewish better,homeland. more desire to be totally a bleaker, more wretched time in our history. welcoming country. But it should not come The slogan “from the river to the sea” is not A time when men and women of many creeds, without a reflection on how far we’ve come. some cute political chant, but rather a call for the races, and religions were far from equal and far annihilation of the State of Israel andAits people. America was born a slave nation. century from safe in our own borders. A time where Unexpected Elegance As Israeli we Prime Minister Meir intoformer our history engaged in aGolda war in partonce Americans lived under a constant cloud of famously peace in the region willWe come to ensure stated, we would not continue as one. racism, and pervasive hate. The 3544anti-Semitism West Esplanade Ave., Metairie when “loveconfronted their children more than they foundArabs ourselves by the issue of civil events that took Severn place in Charlottesville Between and Hessmer Aves. served hate (Jews). Clearly that has not to yetensure arrived. rights, and”embarked onday a mission as a reminder of how painfully relevant these 889-2300 • chateaudrugsrx.com also understand that evil is not limittheLet fairustreatment of all peoples no matter their issues are today. M-F 9am-7pm, Sat 9am-5pm FREE GIFT WRAP ed tocolor. the Middle East, butmade also exists today in skin Although we’ve great strides, Auburn’s Alpha Epsilon Pi stands with the Eastern Europe, where courageous Ukrainian it is a mission we’re still grappling with today. Jewish community of Charlottesville, and citizens have been forced to defend their own America was also born an immigrant with the Jewish people around the country homeland against the savagery of Russian country. As early as the pilgrims, many and around the world. We also stand with the troops. Russian Federation President Vladimir groups and families found in the country the minorities who are targeted by the hate that Putin is a war criminal who has committed opportunity to plant stakes, chase their future, was on display in Charlottesville. We stand unspeakable atrocities, including once again and be themselves. Few were met with open with the minorities of whom these white continued on page 7
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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Southern Jewish Life PUBLISHER/EDITOR Lawrence M. Brook editor@sjlmag.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING Lee J. Green lee@sjlmag.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Richard Friedman richard@sjlmag.com V.P. SALES/MARKETING, NEW ORLEANS Jeff Pizzo jeff@sjlmag.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ginger Brook ginger@sjlmag.com SOCIAL/WEB Emily Baldwein connect@sjlmag.com JOURNALISM INTERN Kiara Dunlap CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rivka Epstein, Louis Crawford, Tally Werthan, Stuart Derroff, Belle Freitag, Ted Gelber, E. Walter Katz, Doug Brook brookwrite.com BIRMINGHAM OFFICE P.O. Box 130052, Birmingham, AL 35213 2179 Highland Ave., Birmingham, AL 35205 205/870.7889 NEW ORLEANS OFFICE 3747 West Esplanade, 3rd Floor Metairie, LA 70002 504/249-6875 TOLL-FREE 888/613.YALL(9255) ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries to 205/870.7889 for Lee Green, lee@sjlmag.com Jeff Pizzo, jeff@sjlmag.com Media kit, rates available upon request SUBSCRIPTIONS It has always been our goal to provide a large-community quality publication to all communities of the South. To that end, our commitment includes mailing to every Jewish household in the region (AL, LA, MS, NW FL), without a subscription fee. Outside the area, subscriptions are $25/year, $40/two years. Subscribe via sjlmag.com, call 205/870.7889 or mail payment to the address above. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission from the publisher. Views expressed in SJL are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. SJL makes no claims as to the Kashrut of its advertisers, and retains the right to refuse any advertisement.
Documenting this community, a community we are members of and active within, is our passion. We love what we do, and who we do it for.
agenda interesting bits & can’t miss events
Mery Blitz asked the Jewish Community Day School for items of encouragement for her brother-inlaw’s tank battalion, as soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces bring such shows of support with them as a reminder of what they are fighting for. The next day, a shipment of letters, drawings, notes and pictures was sent off, and here is the unit holding the items they received from Metairie.
Michael Rawl named new CEO of New Orleans Jewish Community Center While it may seem that Michael Rawl was born to head a Jewish Community Center, as he reflects on his journey to New Orleans, it was more like he stumbled into the work. “It seemed like it would have been such a good choice,” he said, “but that’s not how it happened.” In October, Rawl was announced as the new chief executive officer of the New Orleans JCC, having served as the executive director of the JCC in Buffalo for the last three years. Rawl’s father was the only child of Holocaust survivors. “He had a perspective of a lot of children of refugees, you have to work hard and make enough money to take care of your family,” Rawl said. As he grew up, Rawl heard a voice in his head that it’s a great idea to be a teacher, social worker or artist, but will that really pay the bills? The thought of going into non-profit work didn’t enter his mind. In college, he majored in comparative studies at Ohio State, but had no idea what he wanted to do with it. He worked for his father in finance “and was never really happy about it.” He was asked to serve on the board of the JCC in Youngstown, Ohio, “and I had this epiphany.” He realized this field was one where being successful is correlated with building community — and one could make a living at it.
He became the assistant director, then the executive director in Youngstown. He admits there was a bit of a pay cut, but he felt “lucky to be able to do this work.” Instead of a punch-the-clock job, “I feel incredibly fortunate to invest my time in building community, making great outcomes for people.” Still, the winding path he took prepared him for his current position. Living with his grandparents instilled a social conscience in him. His business experience and studies of how cultures interact, “that whole mesh is very appropriate for the work I do today.” He followed up his undergraduate studies with a Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Studies from Spertus Institute in Chicago. He is looking forward to a fresh start in New Orleans, having led two November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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agenda JCCs during the pandemic, each of which was its own challenge. He said the New Orleans JCC is “in a fantastic place, we had a strong recovery from the pandemic,” and credits former Executive Director Leslie Fischman and her team. In Youngstown, they built a mobile meals program from scratch, doing 850 meals a day, five days a week, with lifeguards and front desk staff doing much of the work. “We didn’t lay anyone off.” They also ran a childcare for children of healthcare workers and employees of the Jewish assisted living home. “I felt lucky during the pandemic to have a strong sense of purpose,” he said. Three days after he took the position in Buffalo in late 2020, the state shut down their fitness center due to a new wave of Covid. “We were right back to worrying about layoffs” and maintaining programs. Being in New Orleans is “a great opportunity.” Aside from the chance to be part of an institution that dates back to 1855, he is a lifelong lover of jazz. The fact that last year, there was six feet of snow in one storm in New York, and that just before driving to New Orleans at the beginning of November, there was snow on the ground in Buffalo, may have also contributed. In New Orleans, “it’s a little humbling to consider I’m standing on the shoulders of shoulders of shoulders.” He looks forward to helping enhance the JCC’s role as “the town square of Jewish life,” where all Jews are welcome, while also serving as “an embassy to our neighbors” and building partnerships throughout the comDin tdoor munity, exploring ways Jewish values to ing serve the greater ingcan—useOu ter“we t — Ca ke Ou Ta New Orleans area.” d Chicken Fridays hi and Frie Jewish Sus Community Centers are a unique place “where that is possipm; different peoples and ursdays, 10am-7 ble. WeOpe haven aMon wonderful where days-Thintersectionality pm cultures come together, and everyone is welcome. ” In a time of rising anm-3 10a Fridays and Sundays tisemitism, that is even more important, he added. But there is another aspect of Rawl’s You! path was desr To this Your Ordethat Shipthinking Outside the New Orleans Area? We Will tined. He and his sister had worked on family genealogy, then a couple years ago, they were contacted by an author. Susan Gordon had written a book, “Because of Eva: A Jewish Genealogical Journey,” about her search for relatives and her family history, sparked by the search for the woman who had buried her grandfather. It turns out they were cousins. His grandfather had been born in Budapest, and came to America after the war on one of the 10,000 visas approved by President Truman, helped by the fact that he had been a translator for the U.S. Army. Gordon told Rawl that his family ran a JCC in the Budapest Ghetto during the war, mainly to feed orphans. “That’s how they spent their time until the Budapest Ghetto was liquidated,” he said. “For me to have stumbled on this work and have the realization that maybe it is in my blood feels special.”
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The Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival announced its lineup for 2024, featuring “Remembering Gene Wilder” as the opening event, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. “Closed Circuit,” an account of the terror attack that took place in Tel Aviv in 2016, will be on Jan. 11. The buddy comedy “Not Quite Kosher” will be on Jan. 13, and the festival concludes with “Vishniac” on Jan. 14. The 18th annual festival will once again be at the Manship Theatre. Patron packages that include a pre-show dinner and free tickets on Jan. 13 are available.
agenda >> Fielkow beheadings, rapes and even the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russian territory. I have seen this Russian evil with my own eyes while on the Ukrainian border as I held the hands of Ukrainian mothers, children
Elon Gold headlines Center Celebration
This year’s Center Celebration is pursuing the Gold standard. Comedian Elon Gold will highlight the annual fundraiser for the New Orleans Jewish Community Center, and will be at the Uptown JCC on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. The evening will feature an open bar and buffet dinner. A native of the Bronx, Gold starred in the television series “Stacked” and “The In-Laws.” He has also been a writer and performer on “The Dana Carvey Show,” and been on “Frasier,” “The Mentalist” and “Chappelle’s Show.” He is known for his impressions of several celebrities, including Howard Stern and Jay Leno, and was a judge on ABC’s “Next Best Thing,” an impersonation competition series. In 2014, he had a one-hour standup show on Netflix, “Chosen and Taken,” which currently streams on Amazon Prime. He is currently in Hulu’s “The Binge” and HBO’s “Crashing,” and has a recurring role in the current season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Though a comedian, not everything has been for laughs. In 2014, he was walking home with his family after a Shabbat dinner at a friend’s house when a car stopped by them and one of the occupants shouted “Free Palestine!” Another Arab young man in the car then got out and yelled at them “I hope your children die! Just like you are killing children in Gaza!” In a column in the Jewish Journal, he wrote that his young children “were unwillingly and instantaneously initiated into the ‘We Hate You Because of WHAT You Are’ club.” Tickets are $250, $500 per couple, or $125 for those under 35. Sponsor levels, named after Jewish comedians, continue up to $25,000. Proceeds will enhance many of the JCC’s programs, from early childhood to seniors.
continued from page 4 and orphans forced to flee their homeland, all while their husbands and fathers remained in Ukraine to defend their democracy. But none of us should be surprised. Just as Nazi Germany reflected the worst of humanity, today Iran, Hamas, Russia and North Korea are the modern day faces of evil. They have formed strategic alliances (having recently met in Moscow), and work together in supplying/receiving drones and other military equipment solely intended to kill innocents. I truly mourn the loss of innocent lives on all sides of the conflicts, and condemn all forms of hate, whether it be in the form of antisemitism, racism, or Islamophobia. I also hope and pray
that peace will one day soon return to our world. Until then, though, it is vital all of us understand that we as a country and world are at an inflection point in identifying and defeating the true enemies. As history has shown, one cannot appease nor ignore evil — it must be crushed and totally eradicated. I urge all Americans and people of conscience to understand this — including our lawmakers in Washington — and stand united against terrorism and with both Israel and Ukraine in their time of need. The future of our world depends on it! Arnie D. Fielkow is a former New Orleans City Council president and former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.
Larry David and Elon Gold November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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agenda
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Federation’s Annual Celebration Nov. 30 The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans will hold its 2023 Annual Celebration on Nov. 30 at the Audubon Tea Room. A special guest speaker on Israel is expected, information was not available at press time. The Federation will honor outgoing Board Chair Brian Katz, and the 2023 Annual Campaign co-chairs, Melinda Mintz and Marc Behar. Sarah Schatzmann will receive the Herbert and Margot Garon Young Leadership Award, and Howard Green will be presented with the Oscar J. Tolmas L’dor V’dor Award. Dr. Beerman grew up in Metairie, attendMetairie Countryand Day$55 School, Reservations areed $95, $250 Park for Angels for ages 21 to 39. Doors graduated from the University will open at 6:30 p.m., and the event will start of at Alabama 7 p.m. at Birmingham and then earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from LSU School of Dentistry. The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans announced that it She is a member of Spear Study Club and will hold a solidarity missionDental to Israel, Dec. 10 Louisito 14. the American Association, ana Dental Association, and New Orleans The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans also announced that Dental Association. She has her Botulinum the Goldring Family Foundation is matching up to $1 million in local Toxin Certification from the American gifts to the JewishAcademy Federations North America’s Israel Emergency of FacialofEsthetics. Fund. She is on the Jewish Family Services Board and the Tribe Board at Congregation The morning ofGates Oct. 31, there was “a small, contained electrical fire of Prayer.
in the Preschool office caused by a malfunctioning thermostat” at Gates of Prayer in Metairie. The fire alarm system promptly detected the issue and emergency services quickly responded to the situation. There were no injuries and a professional remediation company was on-site to conduct a thorough cleaning of the building. Beth Israel Rabbi Phil Kaplan will lead a Torah and TV discussion class on “Unchained,” at the Metairie JCC on Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m., starting Nov. 1.
Rabbi Micah Streiffer will be at Gates of Prayer in Metairie for a four-part series, “O Jerusalem! The Story of the City and the Symbol.” The class will be at noon on Wednesdays from Nov. 30 to Dec. 21, and will also be available on Zoom. The Jewish Women’s Circle at Chabad Uptown in New Orleans will have a DIY resin menorah program, with artist Nathalie Dubois, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. Registration is $25, sponsor levels start at $72. Nola Nights at Shir Chadash in Metairie will have a sand art menorah workshop, Nov. 29 from 6 to 8 p.m. Registration is $10. Shir Chadash in Metairie will have a Scholar in Residence weekend with Alan Avery-Peck the weekend of Dec. 1. He is the Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies and Chair at Holy Cross University. After the 6:15 p.m. Shabbat service on Dec. 1, there will be a Kahn-gregational dinner, followed by his presentation, “Miracle of Miracles! Thinking about the Exodus and Revelation at Sinai.” On Dec. 2, services will be at 9:30 a.m., followed by a luncheon and “Please, God, Just Fix It! The Problem of Fate vs. Free Will.” On Dec. 3, morning minyan will be at 9:15 a.m., followed by a Men’s Club breakfast with “And Then What? Afterlife, Resurrection and The World To Come.” “Under Her Wing,” a documentary web series, will be the next installment of the Cathy and Morris Bart Jewish Cultural Arts Series at the Jewish Community Center in New Orleans. The series explores the unique connections between grandmothers and their adult granddaughters, showing diverse cultural backgrounds in Israel and the ironies of cross-generational connections. After the film, there will be treats inspired by grandmothers. There will be a screening at 7 p.m. on Nov. 29 at the Uptown JCC, and on Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. Uptown and in Metairie. The event is free and open to the community, registration is requested. 8
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
Confrontation at Tulane
Photo by Pnina Sasson
Anti-Israel protesters start to burn an Israeli flag during a rally at Tulane University in New Orleans on Oct. 26. By David Swindle (JNS) and Southern Jewish Life reports Anti-Israel protesters assaulted multiple people at Tulane University in New Orleans on Oct. 26, the most serious being after Jewish students at a rally responded to those aboard a truck who attempted to set an Israeli flag on fire. Several arrests were made. None of those arrested were students, and all have been banned from campus. A rally organized by Tulane4Palestine, a group that was created a week earlier, was called for 12:30 p.m. at Freret and McAlister. Pro-Israel students took up a position across the street, holding Israeli flags and posters of Israelis who were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7. At the same time, Tulane Hillel was co-hosting an Antisemitism Awareness Week event with the university and the Anti-Defamation League, recommending a particular route to the building to avoid the demonstration. Hillel also encouraged students “not to engage in conflict.” Rabbi Leibel Lipskier from Chabad at Tulane said the day before the rally that he was concerned about the possibility of attacks, and they had arranged for counter-programming elsewhere on campus with “the opportunity to donate, pledge Mitzvot and pray for the safety of the IDF and the rest of our brothers and sisters in Israel.” Tulane President Michael Fitts, in a message to Tulane students on Oct. 26, said the rally “was intentionally staged on the public sidewalk… over which we do not have control.” The block in question connects two sections of the campus but is not technically part of Tulane. Tulane4Palestine had distributed a map showing where to meet on the public side, cautioning to stay on the sidewalk and not enter the street or the campus territory on the other side of the street. Dylan Mann, a Jewish freshman studying homeland security at Tulane, told JNS that he saw Jewish students waving Israeli flags and handing out fliers about kidnapped hostages. Across the street, others were rallying against Israel and its actions in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attacks on
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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community
From the back page of this magazine to under your drink on the coffee table Just In Time To Ruin Jewish Book Month! “He periodically spells my name right.” – Moses “Yes, we gave him a graduate degree. We’re looking into it.” – chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary “Half of the things he says I said, I never said. Including this.” – his mother “He knows more about Judaica than most, and you won’t find any of it in this book.” – his fourth-grade teacher “His translation skills are second to none, and it’s a very close second.” – his Hebrew professor “I’ll deal with him.” – The Almighty Big G
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Oct. 7. Soon, the two groups were responding to one another. The protesters “were screaming hateful things like ‘From the river to the sea’ and calling us ‘genocide supporters’,” Mann told JNS. “I knew at that point, I wasn’t going to leave. I was gonna stay.” The pro-Israel activists began calling those across the street “terrorists,” and “it got very hateful very quickly,” he said. A red pickup truck with two people in the back passed the rallies a few times, then stopped. While one person in the back of the truck waved a Palestinian flag, another began to burn an Israeli flag, and a pro-Israel student ran to the truck to grab it. The person waving the Palestinian flag started hitting the pro-Israel student with a flag pole, and Mann intervened to try to protect the student. The person who had tried to burn the Israeli flag gave a double-barreled middle finger to the pro-Israel crowd. “The driver starts punching me, and there were a couple of people who joined them,” Mann told JNS. “That’s where someone blindsides me with the megaphone and hits me in the face. And they instantly broke my nose with that.” “Thank God, there were two girls on the Jewish side who were able to pull me out; they risked their safety for that. They are true heroes for that.” Mann suffered a broken nose after being struck in the face with a megaphone and spent several hours in the hospital, where a CT scan revealed no brain damage, he told JNS. “It was just unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced before,” Mann told JNS. “I was mostly just in shock. You see the monsters and what they do on videos, and you hear on the news, but when you’re really experiencing it, it’s a new level of shock.” In a letter to the Tulane Hullabaloo, Nathaniel Miller said he was the one who grabbed the flag. He said “several pro-Palestinian protestors battered me and other pro-Israel supporters with flagpoles, a belt and a megaphone. My head throbbed, and one of my peers’ faces was bleeding.” He said his action was an “impulsive” reaction to “an act of hate.” Miller said Tulane4Palestine is not a recognized student group at the university, and the crowd seemed to be “a mishmash of pro-Palestine individuals” from outside Tulane. He said they chose to target Tulane, which has a 44 percent Jewish undergraduate enrollment, as a provocation. “They were not trying to educate us about Palestinian rights or the humanitarian issues that are affecting Gaza residents,” he said, and considered it to be a hate march, not a political rally.
community
Photo by Pnina Sasson
Blood on the sidewalk after a Jewish student got hit in the face by an anti-Israel protester during a rally at Tulane on Oct. 26.
‘A bunch of rioters’ Bali Levine, a junior double-majoring in public health and Jewish studies, was one of the students who pulled Mann away from his attackers. “I wasn’t gonna let him be beaten by a mob, by a bunch of rioters,” Levine told JNS. Levine told JNS that the truck driver then “got out of the car, unbuckled his belt, and began to whack and whip the belt on students.” The event Levine was helping to plan was meant to be a positive gathering with a table outside the university’s student life center, complete with baked goods like brownies. “We had no political statements going on — nothing of the sort,” Sasson told JNS. There were Hebrew songs, including the Israeli national anthem “Hativkah.” “It was very much a peaceful protest on our side.” But when she saw other Jewish students standing against the anti-Israel demonstrators, “I wasn’t going to let them stand there alone,” she said. “I felt it was important for me to go. I’m glad I went. I witnessed the hate firsthand.” Even after the assaults appeared to have ended, the fear did not abate, Levine told JNS. “Three minutes later, people started saying that ‘the truck’s gonna come back around. The truck’s gonna come back around.’ I don’t want to speak for everybody. I personally did not feel protected by the police.”
‘The most violent act I’ve seen’ According to Pnina Sasson, a freshman who is considering a journalism major, two others were in the truck with the driver. Those two, who appeared to be of middle or high school age, were the ones lighting the Israeli flag on fire and displaying the Palestinian flag. (She added that many of the protesters appeared to be middle-aged.) When the young person, whose face was obscured by a scarf, began setting the Israeli flag on fire, Sasson and others knew “the line had been broken and had been crossed.” She told JNS that the whole incident hit very close to home: “It’s very frightening, especially seeing people that were protesting against us
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community who live in my dorm and are in my classes.” “I just cannot get that image out of my head—the moment that he was hit in the head with that megaphone. It was just so violent,” Sasson said. “This is the most violent act I’ve ever seen in my life, period. Antisemitism aside.” “Having it happen to my friend was just absolutely traumatizing,” she added. Tulane Hillel issued a statement, “horrified that Jewish students were attacked violently yesterday at what was supposed to be a peaceful event.” On Oct. 27, a day after the incident, Tulane’s president Michael Fitts and two other senior administrators said there were “no active threats,” and that the campus was “secure.” They went on to state that the Tulane University Police Department is increasing its numbers and visibility of officers on the ground, among other precautions. “The several individuals who have been arrested in the last few days have been issued a restricted presence by TUPD, which prevents them from entering and engaging on any of Tulane’s campuses,” the three officials added. “We must unite in our efforts to protect one another and to stand against all forms of violence and hate including antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism.” While those arrested had not been named, the newly-revitalized New Orleans chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a fringe group opposed to Israel’s existence, posted on Instagram that one of its members had been “taken into custody.” Posters on the anti-Israel side included “Globalize the Intifada” and “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution.” The two Intifadas were violent Palestinian uprisings, targeting Israeli civilians in the late 1980s and early 2000s. Targets included bus stops, restaurants and even a hotel Passover Seder, and the Second Intifada killed over 1,000 Israelis, mainly civilians. Other posters used the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The phrase is commonly seen as calling for the erasure of Israel.
Photo by Bali Levine
A rally at Tulane got violent after a pro-Palestinian supporter hit a Jewish student in the face on Oct. 26. The day before the rally, “From the river to the sea” was spray-painted on a wall on Freret Street. A student who has not been named was arrested and charged with criminal damage to property. The student reportedly claimed the message was not intended to be antisemitic. The university had the graffiti removed. Before the rally, Tulane4Palestine had issued a statement as “Jews, Muslims and others who condemn Tulane’s endorsement of Zionism and Israeli apartheid.” The group stated that Zionism has nothing to do with Jews, meaning anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. They called on Tulane to “denounce the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people” and Israel’s actions since Oct. 7, as well as “the ongoing terrorism Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian
Extensive original coverage at Southern Jewish Life online: sjlmag.com Due to space limitations in print… Here is a sampling of the articles available on our website, sjlmag.com
Birmingham Islamic Society issues Gaza statement, ignores Hamas terrorism Baptist church hosts interfaith Israel gathering in Mobile Dillard president among speakers at March For Israel in Washington Educator with project assisted by Alabama philanthropy murdered “A Jewish Hero”: Lone Soldier from Atlanta killed in Jerusalem by Hamas with her family attack Five fallen for Rosh Ha’Ayin, partner community to Birmingham, Southern states show support through large Israel Bonds New Orleans investments Large crowd attends community Israel gathering in New Orleans Florida takes lead as universities probe Students for Justice in Alabama flags at half-staff for victims of Hamas terror in Israel Palestine for support of terrorism Philos asking Christians to bring white roses to synagogues in Opinion pieces solidarity on Oct. 26 Global editorial: Jews worldwide haven’t been this fearful in living St. Louis area restaurant goes kosher for a day in Israel fundraiser memory Alabama-Israel Task Force urges churches to advocate for release of Using the term “genocide” regarding Gaza is a dangerous misuse of Israeli hostages the word Coalition of Christian groups urges churches to stand with Israel Stop equating antisemitism and Islamophobia in public and the Jewish community pronouncements Hamas attacks are personal for many in Deep South Jewish Reporter’s Notebook: Decrying “genocide” while making genocidal community calls for Israel’s destruction, at University of Alabama at Overflow crowd pack Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham event Birmingham for solidarity event Don’t turn away: Reflections on the war against Hamas terrorism Huntsville holds solidarity event outside museum Arieh O’Sullivan: Reflections on the Hamas attack: Returning to a Birmingham families launch campaign to assist their frontline changed Israel community near Gaza Arnie Fielkow: Time to come together and denounce evil 12
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
community people for the past 75 years,” meaning from the founding of Israel. After the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of Israel, Fitts had issued a statement saying “We are grieving over the truly horrific attacks by Hamas on Israel, and the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza.” Tulane4Palestine also demanded divestment from Israel, including initiatives like the U.S.-Israel Energy Center at Tulane, along with other collaborations with Israeli universities. They also demanded the protection of Muslim and Arab students, as well as any others who speak out against Israel. A visiting professor of communications, Cheree Anna Franco, promoted the rally in messages to all of her students. After video of the attack at the rally went viral, Tulane4Palestine issued a statement decrying the media trying to “twist this peaceful protest into an attack on Jewish students.” They said the event “featured Muslim and Arab students sharing their experiences of discrimination and harm on campus, Jewish students sharing how they had been ostracized by speaking on how Zionism is not antisemitism (sic),” and they were met with jeers and taunts from students “garbed in Israeli and IDF flags.” They claimed that “the peaceful nature of our rally” was disturbed by “Zionists who rushed into the street, violently attacking Palestinian youths, including two minors.” The attempt to burn an Israeli flag was not mentioned. They also posted a video featuring members of JVP stating that the “river to the sea” chant is not antisemitic, but a call for justice, and statements that it involves expelling or killing Jews reflects racist and Islamophobic tropes. The video was posted in response to Fitts’ condemnation of the “River to the Sea” graffiti of Oct. 25. On Oct. 28, a letter signed by over 1200 students, alumni and parents, coordinated by Alpha Epsilon Pi, called for a university investigation into the protest, and disciplinary measures for those who became violent or promoted hate speech. The letter faulted the university for not shutting down several instances of antisemitism, including the attempt to burn an Israeli flag. “While we fully and wholeheartedly respect the right of EVERY individual and group to express their views and engage in free speech, free protest, and free assembly, it is the central responsibility of the university to ensure that such expressions can NEVER escalate into violence, endanger safety and lives, or perpetrate any form of hate or hate speech.” Among the signatories was Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Epsilon Phi and Students Supporting Israel.
In Huntsville, remembering the children Chabad of Huntsville dedicated its renovated yard for Aleph Academy, their Jewish preschool, with a marker declaring it the “Israeli Youth Memorial Yard” in memory of the children who were killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 invasion. “It’s our way of always remembering those whose childhood was brutally ripped away from them,” said Rabbi Moshe Cohen. We will live on for them, and keep their memory nearby always.” On Oct. 31, Mushky and Moshe Cohen celebrated the bris of their newborn son, who is named Chaim. Cohen said the name is the word for life, and “sends a strong message that although our nation is at war, and our enemies are literally trying to destroy us, we live on! We counter darkness by adding light. We counter loss by adding Chaim.”
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
community Escaping the Nova Festival massacre Rosh Ha’Ayin resident recounts harrowing experience Rosh Ha’Ayin, the Israeli sister city of Birmingham and Partnership2Gether community of New Orleans, may be relatively far from Gaza, but it is by no means unaffected by events of the past couple of weeks. On Oct. 22, the Partnership among the three communities held a multi-generational panel online to discuss current life in the central Israel city. Located east of Tel Aviv close to the pre-1967 Green Line, Rosh Ha’Ayin has seen several red Alerts for incoming rockets from Gaza, and has reported several residents killed either in the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre or the subsequent military operations. Amit Zehavi, a Partnership coordinator, noted that there had been plans for a Momentum women’s trip, a cycling group and community missions in the coming months, and “hopefully we can get back on track when all the dust settles.” Florina Newcomb, assistant executive director at the Birmingham Jewish Federation, reiterated the partnership among the communities, saying “we have had some very good times in Birmingham, New Orleans and Rosh Ha’Ayin.” Robert French, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, told the Israeli participants on the call that “we stand with you 100 percent, we think of you every day. We are mobilizing ourselves to support you in every way possible.” Noa Kalash started the program by describing her experiences in escaping the Nova Dance Festival, the outdoor music festival near Gaza where about 260 were killed in a direct Hamas attack. She said she had been taking a break after telling the world about losing one of her best friends and barely escaping the festival herself. She went to the festival with her boyfriend, arriving right before sunrise, around 5:30 a.m. She met Noam, her friend, “and we ran to the rave area. We started dancing together, and after 15 minutes of freedom, joy, dancing and beautiful people, I started seeing rockets over us.” The sky “was shining” from the rockets, fired indiscriminately from Gaza toward Israeli communities. The 3,500 in attendance did not know what to do, though they were aware of the possibility that something could arise from Gaza. She said they went back to their cars and she started driving back to Rosh Ha’Ayin, though driving during a volley of rockets is very dangerous. After a couple minutes, they saw the rockets were continuing, so they stopped on the side of the road and went into a small shelter near a bus stop to wait for calm. But after 20 minutes, she decided to try and go home “even though everything was still happening and it wasn’t safe.” Just 10 seconds after she headed out, cars in front of her started suddenly turning around, and she could hear shouts of “terrorists shooting.” She turned around, then stopped in the middle of the road as a friend told her he had been shot in the leg and needed help. “We started driving the other way, toward the entrance of the party… there was a huge traffic of cars getting out.” The friend found someone to help him, but they figured there were terrorists all around. “Security and police told us, just run, run to the fields, run and hide. They didn’t have anything else to tell us,” she said. She and her boyfriend, Maor, took off, and she called Noam to tell her to run away. “At the time,” she said, “we didn’t realize how many terrorists were in the area. We just figured it was a small terror attack. It’s sad to say, but it
community sounded like just another day in Israel.” Thousands of festival-goers were running, and “we could hear the terrorists running after us, shooting at us.” For a while, they hid in a bush. Then, they heard gunshots in the direction to where they had been running, and wound up turning toward an open field with nowhere to hide. “My boyfriend said no way we are running that way, we ran to the nearest bush we saw” and burrowed deep inside. They were there for the next eight hours. “We heard everything around us… helicopters, terrorists, shooting really close, we heard motorcycles passing close to our bush.” Another girl was hiding in a nearby bush. “After three hours, we heard them passing by and they kidnapped her. We heard them speaking Arabic, then heard a car, then silence.” Four different groups tried to rescue Noa and Maor, but some encountered terrorists and had to retreat. Still, when they heard calls in Hebrew, they remained silent, lest it be a Hamas trick. Only after someone called out her name did they respond. She added that she was so deep in the bush, Maor had to pull her out. Her friend, Noam, was killed in the initial attack, but Noa didn’t know that until the following Saturday. “They just couldn’t recognize the body for an entire week.” She said she does not know where her friend was found, nor what happened to her. “It’s probably better that way.” While she was still hiding in the bush, her 25-year-old sister was already being called up to her unit in the IDF. Noa said the current fight in Gaza “is not about choosing sides, or ‘I stand with Gaza or Israel.’ I stand with humanity. I stand with things that are bigger than politics.” She said it is not about choosing sides, “it is helping Israel and the Palestinian civilians to fight against terror” and against “people who have pure evil. It’s something I can’t understand, how a human being is capable of doing what they did to my friends.” But living through that day affected her. She had spent a year traveling Central and South America, making Christian and Muslim friends without a second thought. She travels to Egypt every few months to hang out with friends living there. She would go to the Arab town of Kfar Kassem, located between Rosh Ha’Ayin and the Green Line, “all the time.” After what’s occurred, “it’s impossible to see a Muslim on the street and not be scared something will happen… we can’t trust anyone. Things are different, and knowing some of the Muslim students in the university support terrorism and Hamas, it’s something I can’t pass by. “These people killed my friends, these people almost killed me.”
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NO ONE SAVES MORE LIVES IN ISRAEL IN TIMES OF CRISIS.
This Chanukah, there are many ways to support Israel and its people, but none is more transformative than a gift to Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical system. Your gift to MDA isn’t just changing lives — it’s literally saving them — providing critical care and hospital transport for everyone from victims of heart attacks to casualties of rocket attacks. Join the effort at afmda.org or call 866.632.2763.
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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community
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Beth Israel in Metairie has launched a “double mitzvah” Israel Bonds project, in lieu of their annual fall fundraiser. The idea is to buy Israel Bonds and donating the purchase to Magen David Adom to help with the agency’s emergency needs during the war. A donor is matching part of the bond project. The goal is $115,000 for a Life Support Ambulance, the stretch goal is $140,000 for a Mobile Intensive Care Unit. Bonds purchases are also encouraged for those who are not in a position to donate their purchase to Magen David Adom. Beth Israel, Shir Chadash, Gates of Prayer and Chabad of Metairie are uniting for a special initiative to pray for Israel by reciting the entire Book of Psalms as a community every week during the war with Hamas. Participants are encouraged to sign up for one psalm, committing to recite it in Hebrew or English once weekly. Rabbi Levi Partouche in New Orleans is organizing an initiative to honor those who were murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7. MezuzahNola will provide mezuzahs for households, and each mezuzah will be engraved with the name of one of the victims of the massacre. Kosher scrolls will be provided. Donations are appreciated but not necessary. For information, contact Partouche at (770) 765-3560 or Rabbi Phil Kaplan at Beth Israel in Metairie.
www.icneworleans.com shannon.buckley@icneworleans.com
504.585.4379
444 St. Charles Ave. New Orleans, LA 70130
Ariel reports that four of its community members have been killed thus far. Ariel is Mobile’s sister city, and the focus of activities by Birmingham-based JH Israel. Yulia Didenko Lamai and 23-year-old Karina Pritika were murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova Music Festival. Sergeant First Class Vitaly Skipakevich, 20, and Sergeant Adir Eshto Bogale, 20, were combat soldiers in the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade.
On Oct. 26, the day of the anti-Israel assault at Tulane, the Philos Action League distributed white roses to Jewish institutions across the country as a symbol of solidarity from the Christian community. This was received at Chabad at Tulane. Wendell Shelby-Wallace of Philos said the Tulane deliveries “were most special, considering what happened just moments before we arrived.” (Story, page 9) 16
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
2023 Impact Report jfsneworleans.org
@jfsnola November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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Mission
Our Board
Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans (JFS) is a social service agency dedicated to preserving, strengthening and enhancing the well-being and self-sufficiency of individuals and families at every stage of life. Jewish Family Service is a constituent agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and a community impact partner of United Way of Southeast Louisiana.
PRESIDENT Debbie Pesses
History Jewish Family Service was initially created when the Jewish Children’s Home closed in 1948. JFS became a separate organization, with its own 501 (c)(3) status in 1976, and opened its doors to people of all faiths in 1982. JFS now serves Greater New Orleans individuals and families regardless of race, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Services are available on a slidingscale fee based on household income. Through the years, the scope of the agency has increased tremendously. JFS helps the community strengthen the family and the individual to reach their full potential through various programs and services including: providing individual and group counseling, educating our young people about depression and suicide prevention, promoting independence for the elderly, providing case management, and assisting in adoptions.
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Ashley Merlin Gold
Rochelle Adler Effron
TREASURER
SECRETARY
Michele Allen-Hart
Stephanie Kaston
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
David Dulitz, MD Elizabeth Ahlquist Bradley Bain Gail Chalew Josh Friedmann Elizabeth Kahn Barbara Kaplinsky Sara Kottle Allison Kupperman Jordan Lieberman Sallye Marcus Melinda Mintz
Gail Pesses Julie Schwartz Rabbi Todd Silverman Ann Streiffer Hallie Timm Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin Ellie Wainer Ginny Wise Margot Beerman Yost Ian Zlatkiss, MD
(504) 831-8475 l jfs@jfsneworleans.org l jfsneworleans.org l 3300 W. Esplanade Ave, S., Suite 603, Metairie, LA 70002 2
Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
I 2023 IMPACT REPORT
Letter from the President & Executive Director
Dear Friends, 75 years ago, on May 14th, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel. This momentous day marked the dawn of a new and hopeful age for Jews around the globe. Across the Atlantic Ocean, some 6,861 miles from Jerusalem, a cadre of Jews worked to sow the tender buds of hope in New Orleans. After the closing of the Jewish Children’s Home, Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans was founded as a committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. For 75 years, our community has worked together to give aid to the friendless, voice to the voiceless, and comfort to the afflicted. Our Platinum Jubilee year celebrates our community’s dedication to repairing the world through social services. This year is also an opportunity to reflect on how we can continue to sow the seeds of Tikkun Olam. This year, JFS continued our historical dedication to welcoming the stranger through refugee resettlement services. JFS added 8 more staff to our refugee resettlement program, enabling our team to serve 447 unaccompanied minors. Our Bruce Levy Memorial JFS Passover Food Basket Program remains a beloved and growing mitzvah. We are embracing new methods to help families respond to the youth mental health crisis. Our youth suicide prevention and education program, Teen Life Counts, updates our information and approach annually to ensure relevance and effectiveness. JFS brought Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), a new, evidence-based treatment program, to our community. We continue to leverage our essential programs and staff to better serve the most vulnerable in the Greater New Orleans Community. Our staff and board were thrilled to host Decades of Service for the Decades Ahead: 75 Years of Jewish Family Service, our Platinum Jubilee celebration. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us at the Ritz-Carlton! As our community looks to the decades ahead, we are confident that donors like you will help us serve people of all identities, live our Jewish values, and innovate creative solutions. May the memory of those brave Jews establishing a new nation in 1948 be a blessing and an inspiration to us as we face the challenges of our day. Here for the decades ahead,
Debbie Pesses
Roselle M. Ungar, CFRE
BOARD PRESIDENT
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
2023 IMPACT REPORT
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Strengthening Our Bonds Services for the Jewish community combat isolation, fulfill our traditions and values, and guarantee inclusion to everyone in our community.
“The Seder meal I receive from JFS is the highlight of my Passover! I am so grateful to the volunteers who delivered it to my home.”
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families and individuals made ends meet through our Financial Resource Center
Less than half of Americans could cover a surprise $1,000 expense with savings. Source: Bankrate survey, January 2022. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/ financial-security-january-2022/
“JFS saved us from financial ruin when our medical bills ballooned after my husband’s cancer treatment. Now we’re two years cancer and medical debt free thanks to JFS bridge grants!”
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community members accessed affordable transportation through Catch-A-Cab
300 community members joined the global Seder table with the Bruce Levy Memorial JFS Passover Food Basket Program
24%
of older adults in the United States are socially isolated. Source: Cudjoe TKM, Roth DL, Szanton SL, Wolff JL, Boyd CM, Thorpe RJ. The epidemiology of social isolation: national health and aging trends study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. (2018) 75:107–13. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby037
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Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
I 2023 IMPACT REPORT
Nurturing Growth and Enriching Lives Our holistic care meets the particular needs of each client, and prepares them for self-determination and self-sufficiency.
“Our case manager offered me so much guidance. She helped with the kids’ school, housing, all kinds of logistics and red tape. I’m not sure how I would’ve made it through the last few months without her help!”
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37%
community members assisted via our Information & Referral Services
of those polled cited cost-related issues as preventing them from seeking mental health care Source: from a survey conducted by The Harris Poll ob behalf of the National Council on Mental Wellbeing. https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/2022-access-to-care-survey/
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clients developed and healed through JFS Counseling Services
132
clients found understanding and transformative aid with our Case Management Program
447
new citizens found sanctuary and independence in JFS Survivors of Human Trafficking & Immigrant Services
“My case manager made sure I had everything for school. He helped my aunt with a lot of forms, too. I really liked him.” 2023 IMPACT REPORT
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Educating the Next Generation We’re providing teens and mental health professionals innovative and transformative education with life-saving results.
“JFS approaches mental health challenges by caring for the whole person. I learned so much in this internship, especially why the holistic approach is more effective and necessary.”
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mental health professionals educated through our Continuing Education Workshops
62.3% of Louisianans age 12–17 who have depression did not receive any care in the last year. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s restricted online data analysis system (RDAS), National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2017 and 2018, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive.
2,793
Students & Gatekeepers learned life-saving information through Teen Life Counts
High school students with depression are more than 2x more likely to drop out than their peers. Source: Dupéré V, Dion E, Nault-Brière F, Archambault I, Leventhal T, Lesage A. (2018). Revisiting the link between depression symptoms and high school dropout: Timing of exposure matters. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2018;62:205–211. doi: 10.1016/j. jadohealth.2017.09.024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29195763/
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masters-level student interns developed professional skills in our Behavioral Health Training Center
“TLC helped my friends take mental health more seriously. After the class, I felt more comfortable telling them that I go to counseling for depression. It’s made us better friends!” 6
Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
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Preserving Dignity and Independence Our compassionate services ensure meaningful living for people of every age and life stage in our community.
“I gained peace of mind through working with JFS to get my button. I like that a local company manages my updates and calls for monthly testing reminders. My emergency alert button helps my family not worry.” Statistic: Nearly one-fourth of adults aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated.
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clients prepared for the future of their family with JFS Older Adult Services
Source: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25663.
More than 14% of US adults over 65 were diagnosed with depression Source: America’s Health Rankings analysis of CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2022
“I didn’t want to become a burden on my daughter, who is busy raising children of her own. I’m so glad that I reached out to JFS Older Adult Services. Now we have a plan in place where I can be a help to my daughter and my beautiful grandchildren!”
2023 IMPACT REPORT
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Support JFS Become a Friend of JFS
Make a general or designated gift during our Friends of JFS campaign. No matter what program you support during this September through December annual campaign, your support enables JFS to offer affordable social services, such as counseling, case management, senior services, and more.
Make a Tribute Gift
Honor or memorialize a loved one or community member by supporting one of our programs or services in their name. Such meaningful expressions of affection and respect make a material difference in the lives of our clients.
Give a Stock Donation or Israel Bond Donation
Updating your portfolio? Consider donating shares of stock or an Israel Bond to benefit JFS. Call (504) 8318475 for more information.
manages all automobile (or other motor vehicle) donation details, which provides you a hassle-free and tax-deductible way to support JFS. Find more information at jfsneworleans.org/donate
Build a Lasting Legacy
Help JFS maintain and enhance our essential and lifesaving work to meet the needs of the day. A rainy-day fund, such as our JFS Legacy Fund, ensures that JFS can sustain our caretaking role and that YOUR legacy is the crucial work of our mission. Join us as a caretaker of the Greater New Orleans community and ensure that future generations have a place to turn when they are in need, no matter what happens. To build your legacy with JFS, contact Bobby Garon, Executive Director of the Jewish Endowment Foundation, at (504) 524-4559, or Roselle Ungar, Executive Director of JFS, at (504) 831-8475, to discuss your vision for your legacy.
Donate Your Vehicle
Jewish Family Service accepts charitable donations of vehicles through CARS (Charitable Adult Rides & Services), with sale proceeds benefiting JFS. CARS
Thank You Volunteers & Supporters! JFS recruits dedicated volunteers who work closely with staff to ensure the best care for the people we serve. Volunteer opportunities are available for the following programs: Lifeline, Educational Programming, Events, Bikur Chaverim, and Bruce Levy Memorial JFS Passover Food Baskets. Interested in giving your time and talents? Call (504) 831-8475 or send an email to jfs@jfsneworleans.org.
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Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
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JFS Partners in CARING Giving Society The JFS Partners in Caring Giving Society is in recognition of the magnanimous support from our compassionate partners. The purpose of this society is to recognize individuals, corporations, foundations and organizations whose cumulative generosity has made a significant impact on the lives of vulnerable individuals and families at every stage of their life. This listing is based on donor records beginning in 1990.
Visionary ($50,000+) Baptist Community Ministries Bruce Levy Family for the Benefit of Jewish Family Service Donor Advised Fund The Estate of Dr. Leona Bersadsky Bissinger-Timm Family Joe W. & Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation “Adele K.Cahn* / Adele Cahn Catch-A-Cab Designated Fund”
The Cahn Family Foundation c/o James & Marie Cahn & Richard & Vivian Cahn Covenant House Ferber Family Foundation of Houma Goldring Family Foundation GPOA Foundation Robert* B. & Shirley* Haspel Albert and Rea Hendler Charitable Trust Institute of Mental Hygiene
Jewish Endowment Foundation Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans Louisiana Children’s Trust Fund Pratt-Stanton Manor Fund Sara Matile Schwarz* Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust United Way of Southeast Louisiana The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Woldenberg Foundation Lynell D. Zelenka Foundation
Chai Guardian ($18,000 - $49,999) Anonymous Cathy & Morris Bart, III Evelyn & Billy Burkenroad Foundation David & Sue Daube Rochelle & Mark Effron Leslie & Jonathan Fawer Alan and Diane Franco Deena Gerber Howard & Susan Green Hancock Whitney National Bank John Haspel & Amy Gainsburgh-Haspel Sandra P. Heller* Dr. & Mrs. Harris Hyman, III Dorothy S. Jacobs
Judge Jacob & Vicki Karno Jeffrey & Betsy Kaston Paul & Marilyn Kullman Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home & Cemeteries Fran* & Jonathan Lake Andrea & Terrence Lestelle Renee & Rusty Levy Anne Lowenburg MAZON, A Jewish Response to Hunger Susie & John Meltzer Julie Grant Meyer Max Nathan, Jr.* NGCF Donor Advisory Fund Marshall* & Julie Wise Oreck
Sanford Pailet, MD Julie Schwartz & David Radlauer RosaMary Foundation Henry & Susan Rosenblat Joshua L. Rubenstein Madalyn & Robert Schenk William & Jane Sizeler Robert & Pamela Steeg Sara B. Stone* Harold Wainer Judge Miriam Waltzer & Mr. Bruce Waltzer Carol Wise Frances Sontheimer Wolff*
Benefactor ($10,000 - $17,999) Dorlene Alaynick Donor Advised Fund Allan & Nikki Berger Shelly & Benay Bernstein Burkedale Foundation Bridget & Robert Bories Ella West Freeman Foundation Jeffrey & Debbie* Friedman Bobby Garon & Robin Levy Marcy & Mike Gertler Cathy & Charles Glaser Dr. Dov & Margie Glazer Mr. & Mrs. Ricardo Guevara Mrs. Jimmy Heymann* Mitchell J. & Susan Hoffman Andrea & Jeffrey Huseman The Estate of Irwin Isaacson* Julanne Isaacson* Jefferson Parish Medical Society 2023 IMPACT REPORT
Jewish Federation of New Hampshire Hugo and Lis Kahn Jeno & Monica Kalozdi Keller Family Foundation Ellen & Stanley Kessler Scott & Geri Kisner The Greater New Orleans Foundation Jonathan Levy Lauren Levy Neustadter Walter and Laura Levy Anna Manteil Richard S. Margolin Jan & Henry Miller Melinda & Morris Mintz Foundation New Orleans Artists Against Hunger & Homelessness (NOAAHH) Bennie P. Nobles Sarah & Joe* Pasternack Jr. Debbie & Leon Pesses
I Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
Gary & Charlotte Reiss Gary & Jenny Rich Edie & Paul Rosenblum The SAC Foundation Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation Jonathan & Debbie Schlackman Dana & Louis Shepard Sherman Charitable Trust Percival Stern Foundation The TJX Foundation, Inc Touro Infirmary Foundation Patty C. & Randy J. Ungar Roselle & Stanley Ungar Bernard Van der Linden Ellie & Bruce Wainer George, Helen, Harold Wainer Foundation Art & Martie Waterman Guy & Dale Williams 9
Our 2022-2023 Supporters $50,000+
$2,500 - $4,999
Henry & Susan Rosenblat
Baptist Community Ministry
Evelyn & Billy Burkenroad Foundation
Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans
Franco Family Donor Advised Fund
Network of Jewish Human Service Agency (NJHSA)
Jewish Endowment Foundation
Howard & Susan Green
Shawna Jones & Joshua Rubenstein
Jacob & Vicki Karno
Madalyn & Robert Schenk
NGCF Donor Advisory Fund
Kathy & Hal Shepard
Debbie & Leon Pesses
Leopold & Karen Sher
United Way of Southeast Louisiana U.S. Committee of Refugees & Immigrants
$25,000 - $49,999
Elliot & Susan Shushan Susan Silver
Anonymous
William & Jane Sizeler
Bonnie & Harris Blackman
Steeg Family Foundation
Goldring Family Foundation
Sue & David Daube
Luther & Zita Templeman Foundation
Louisiana Children’s Trust Fund
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Stanley & Roselle Ungar
Woldenberg Foundation
Richard & Linda Drucker
Bruce & Ellie Wainer
Leslie & Jonathan Fawer
Virginia Wise & Kevin Wilkins
The Cahn Family Foundation; Marie & James Cahn, Vivian & Richard Cahn
$10,000 - $24,999
Bobby Garon & Robin Levy Marcy & Mike Gertler
$500 - $999
Councilmember Joseph Giarrusso, III
Cathy & Morris Bart
The Bissinger-Timm Family
Scott & Ashley Gold
Allan* & Nancy Bissinger
Rochelle & Mark Effron
John Haspel & Amy GainsburghHaspel
Robert & Felicia Boggio
Katherine Haspel & Paul Silver
David & Kristen Dulitz
Dorlene Alaynick Donor Advised Fund
Institute of Mental Hygiene Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home & Cemeteries Bruce Levy Family for the Benefit of Jewish Family Service Donor Advised Fund Jewish Community Day School
$5,000 - $9,999
10
$1,000 - $2,499
Edie & Paul Rosenblum
Sandy* & Edward* M. Heller Donor Advised Fund Ferber Family Foundation of Houma Linda Jacobs Hugo & Lis Kahn Ralph Katz Jonathan Lake
Adele K. Cahn* / Catch-A-Cab Designated Fund
Sessions, Fishman, & Nathan, LLC.
Harris & Barbara Hyman, III
Ruth & Joel Loeffelholz
Blake Jones Law Firm
Alvin & Carol Merlin
Jeffrey & Betsy Kaston
Jan & Henry Miller
Stanley C. & Ellen W. Kessler Donor Advised Fund
Ivan Morton Sherman Foundation Fund
Mantell-Goldstein Charitable Trust
Julie Grant Meyer
Melinda & Morris Mintz Fund
Sanford Pailet, MD
Rifle Tree Charitable Fund
Gary & Charlotte Reiss
Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust
Ricchiuti Family Fund
Andrea & Terrence Lestelle
Kelley & Guy Brenner Professor Robert Force Jeffrey & Debbie Friedman Deena Y. Gerber Cathy & Charles Glaser Maurice* & Harriet* Handelman Donor Advised Fund Fred & Amanda Herman Susan & William Hess Andrea & Jeffrey Huseman Wynn & Lori Kapit Rabbi Philip & Abra Kaplan Barbara Kaplinsky Paul & Leah Katz Albert & Sue Katz Brian & Lisa Katz Rene & Janet Koppel Paul & Marilyn Kullman Glenn & Judy Lieberman
Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
I 2023 IMPACT REPORT
Jordan Lieberman
Israel & Sylvia Finger
Susan Sternberg
Ellen & Stephen Manshel
Elliot & Lisa Finkelstein
Matthew & Sherri Tarr
Toby & Joel Mendler
Robert French
Jeff & Michele Varon
Andree K. Moss
Edwin Fried
Gail Wall
Richard & Carole Neff
George & Laura Fuhrman
Harold & Janet Pesses
Louis & Debbie Gertler
Judge Miriam Waltzer & Bruce Waltzer
Joyce & Sidney Pulitzer
Hon. Robin Giarrusso
Julie Schwartz & David Radlauer
Jan & N’Ann Glade
Andre & Robbie Rubenstein
Sandra Chass Goldsmith
Dana & Louis Shepard
Jeff & Linda Green
Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation
Barbara Greenberg
Rick & Ann Streiffer
Lisa & Mike Herman
Patty & Randy Ungar Usdin-Weil Foundation Vanderlinden Foundation Lynne & Michael Wasserman Art & Martie Waterman Karen Weissbecker Remer Marie & Robert Wolf
$250 - $499
David & Lauren Greenberg Mitchell J. & Susan Hoffman Stanley Jacobs Richard & Lisa Karlin Stephanie Kaston Gutierrez Celia L. Katz Charel W. Katz Beverly Katz A. Keith & Evelyn Katz Steve & Pat Klein
Anonymous
Susan B. Kohn
Vicki Adjmi
Ruth & Larry Kullman
Harriet Aguiar-Netto
Donald I. Levy
Michele Allen-Hart
Walter & Laura Levy
Sabina Altman
Barbara & Sanford Maslansky
Bradley & Daniela Bain
Marjorie McCants
Nicholaus Barber
Bennie P. Nobles
Lisa Barnett
Randy & Kathleen Opotowsky
Sue Barton
Sarah & Joe* Pasternack Jr.
Allan & Nikki Berger
Paul & Marie Pechon
Shelly & Benay Bernstein
Stuart Phillips
Joe & Lee Blotner
John Pizer
Melanie & Daniel Bronfin
Sue & Fred Preis
Stuart & Gail Chalew
Molly Pulda
Bonnie Chambliss
Cynthia & Leon* Rittenberg Jr.
Richard & Ina Davis
Nita-Joan Sams
Ed & Theresa Dennis
Robert I. Shepard
Kenneth & Melanie Ehrlich
Edward Soll Richard & Jetty Spector
2023 IMPACT REPORT
I Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
Marrero Land & Improvement Association Richard Wilkof Lorraine Lake Williams Marshall* & Julie Wise Oreck Margot & Austin Yost Renée Zack Marilyn Pailet Zackin
$100 - $249 Anonymous Ken Adelberg Paul & Arlene Barron Mark & Jaymi Baum Kent & Patricia Berger Debbie Berins Marvin & Marilyn Bernstein Caron Bleich Lauren Bombet Barbara Bresler Debra Bresler Caroline & Bob Brickman Gerald Cohen Alexander & Sarah Cohen Congregation Temple Sinai Arnold & Arlene Cooper Gregory & Joan Cox Alan Director Martin Drell, MD Rosalie Dulitz Emily & Evan Dvorin Alan Emerman Martin & Arleen Falchook Neel & Deborah Fallis Irina Foxman 11
Our 2022-2023 Supporters (continued) Fred Franklin
Freda Katz
David & Lisa Schlakman
Lynette Fried
Clifford Kern, III
Florence Schornstein
Marc & Susan Friedman
Scott & Geri Kisner
Reuben & Marlene Friedman
Sara Kottle
Judy Schwartzer & Christopher Schneidau
Lynn Friedman
Ronda Kottle
Josh Friedmann
Carlos & Terry Kronberger
Judith Gainsburgh
Wilfred & Yvonne Kullman, Jr.
Ana & Juan Gershanik
Allison Kupperman
Mr. John E. Gilcrease
Stephen & Mara Kupperman
Amanda Glinky
Betty & Harry Lazarus
Melvin & Jacqueline Gold
Cathy Lazarus & Eric Simon
Mark Goldstein & Peggy Usner
Barry & Charlotte Leader
Blayne Gothard
Sandy Levy
Estate of Leon Greenblatt, II
Sari Levy
Ron & Leslie B. Gubitz
Carol Marx
Andrew & Ann Gutter
John & Marilyn Mendoza
Devvie & Harvey Harris
William & Gabrielle Mimeles
Seth Harris & Julie Schwam Harris
Harry & Marion Mohre
Sherril Herman
Betty Moore
Steven Herr
Barbara & Robert Namer
Beth Hershberg
David & Tiffany Oestreicher, II
Daisy & Ron Heumann
Levi Partouche
Marcia Hirsch
Gail Fenton Pesses
Capt. Rick Jacobs, USN Rt
National Council Of Jewish Women
Shellie & Terry Jacobson
Joel & Paula Picker
Jay & Andrea Jospeh
The Post Foundation
Patty Joyce
Ronald & Diane Rabin
Elizabeth Kahn
Gary Remer & Toni Weiss
Mark & Barbara Kaplinsky
Congregation Anshe Sfard
Mark & Susan Kappelman
Rubenstein Brothers Donor Advised Fund
Ellen Katz
Robert Shaddox Helen Siegel Seth & Sharyn Silverstein Lesley Smith Edgar & Kay Starns State of Israel Ministry of Finance Edgar Stein Judith Steinberg Paul & Laurie Sterbcow Henry* & Audery* Threefoot Hilton Title Aran Toshav & Rebecca Friedman Vadim & Michele Gelman Raymond Ventura Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin & Tim Lupin Eileen Wallen Deb Weinstein Arlene Wieder Judge Jerome Winsberg Carol B. Wise Marilynn Wohlstadter Edward & Veronica Young Lawrence & Joan Zaslow Ian Zlatkiss *Deceased
Kathy Rush
This list represents contributions of $100 and above to Jewish Family Service from July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023. We regret any errors or omissions in this publication. Please contact the Communications Office to update your records so that we may recognize you appropriately in the future.
Thank you to all of our JFS supporters! 12
Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
I 2023 IMPACT REPORT
Financials CHANGE IN NET ASSETS Change in Net Assets Beginning of Year (1/1/2022) End of Year (12/31/2022)
-$437,056 $3,290,452 $2,853,396
ASSETS Cash and Cash Equivalents Accounts Receivable Grants Receivable Unconditional Promises to Give Prepaid Expenses Funds Held by: Jewish Endowment Foundation Israel Bonds Right of Use Asset: Lease Standard Property and Equipment, Net TOTAL ASSETS
$288,896 $9,235 $121,437 $ ($32,500) $5,544 $2,452,365 $6,000 $352,901 $5,594 $3,274,472
2% Special Event $28,337
27% Program Service Fees $322,566,
5%
TOTAL REVENUE $1,188,858
United Way $65,358
8%
63%
Jewish Federation Allocation $138,941
Grant Income $661,312
1% Miscellaneous $9,281,
19%
-29%
Contributions $396,582
Investment Income -$345,399
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS Liabilities Lease Liability Liabilities Accounts Payable Accrued Vacation
$368,985 $5,822 $46,269
TOTAL LIABILITIES Net Assets Net Assets Undesignated Board Designated TOTAL WITHOUT DONOR RESTRICTIONS TOTAL WITH DONOR RESTRICTIONS TOTAL NET ASSETS TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
$421,076 FUNCTIONAL EXPENSES $1,625,914
$351,863 $2,452,365 $2,804,228 $49,168 $2,853,396 $3,274,472
TOTAL REVENUE: $1,188,858 (percentage and total of all below): Grant Income $887,828 $748,887 (63%) Contributions $220,887 (19%) Miscellaneous $9,281 (1%) Investment Income -$345,399 (-29%) Jewish Federation Allocation $138,941 (12%) United Way $65,358 (5%) Program Service Fees $322,566 (27%) Special Event $28,337 (2%)
2023 IMPACT REPORT
76% Program Service Fees $1,233,353
17% G&A $208,898
7% Fundraising $111,663
TOTAL EXPENSES
$1,625,914
FUNCTIONAL EXPENSES (percentage and total of all below): Program Service Fees $1,233,353 (76%) G&A $280,898 (17%) Fundraising $111,663 (7%)
I Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
13
Our Staff *Former JFS Staff as of June 30, 2023
Executive Staff Roselle M. Ungar, CFRE Executive Director Michelle Beard, LCSW-BACS, MBA Director of Clinical Services Mario Figueroa, BSW USCRI Program Manager & Regional Supervisor Rabbi David Posternock* Director of Business Services
Clinical Staff Juan Ballen USCRI Family Support Coordinator Maryury Castaneda, LMSW USCRI Case Manager Stephanie Crowder, LPC, LMFT Therapist Charlotte Dillon USCRI Regional Supervisor Fran Dinehart, LCSW Therapist Peter Estapa USCRI Family Support Specialist Cinthia Sostenes Millan USCRI Case Manager Yennifer Martinez USCRI Case Aid Geraldine Page USCRI Case Manager Tania Salinas USCRI Family Support Coordinator Mark Saucier, LPC Therapist Carly Smith, LCSW Intern Program Supervisor Maleny Thomas USCRI Family Support Coordinator Lorena Wever USCRI Case Manager Margaret Winston, LPC Jewish Community Day School Therapist 14
Older Adult Services Jan Miller* Office Support Staff Kim Nonenmacher* Senior Services Manager Karen Parham Older Adult Services Support Specialist Tiffany Pounds, MA Older Adult Services Manager Harrison Wool, RTA* Field Support Staff
Teen Life Counts Frances Currie, LMSW Teen Life Counts Program Manager Ashleigh Hite, LMSW* Teen Life Counts Program Manager Lauren Jones Teen Life Counts Program Coordinator
Communications & Events Haley Hemenway Sledge Communications & Events Coordinator
Administrative Staff Teri Conrad Administrative Assistant Cortni Randazzo Client & Donor Services Specialist
2022-2023 Behavioral Health Training Center Interns Erica Uli, Isabella Goldman, Ryan Martin, Katherine Sharamitaro, Frances Currie, Kiolga Butler, Diamond Every, Emily DeFelice Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
I 2023 IMPACT REPORT
community
EXECUTIVE COACHING • LIFE COACHING LEADERSHIP COACHING
Foundations offer year-end charitable and tax planning strategies As the end of the year nears and community members start looking at end-of-year financial planning, the Birmingham Jewish Foundation and the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana are sharing pertinent information about what the financial and tax landscape look like this year, and steps that can be taken to minimize taxes that might otherwise be due. Both organizations stress that they do not provide tax advice, and everyone is encouraged to consult with their tax advisor or other professional for optimal tax advantages and guidance.
Key considerations
per year, indexed for inflation, from an IRA directly to a charity, free of any income tax one would otherwise be paying. In addition, such rollovers help satisfy the IRA minimum distribution requirement (RMD). Prior to 2022, an individual had to start taking their RMD from a retirement account at age 70½, but with a recent change in federal law this age requirement for some has increased. Now, if the individual turned 72 in 2022 or earlier (born in 1950 or earlier), there is no change to the RMD starting age. If the individual was born from 1951 to 1959, they can delay taking their RMD until age 73. If they were born in 1960 or later, 75 years is their RMD starting age. However, the minimum age for making a Qualified Charitable Distribution remains 70½. Please note that rollovers cannot be made to a Donor Advised Fund, but can be made to a Designated Fund, which JEF can create for a donor, or directly to a charity. The Birmingham Jewish Foundation is not able to accept such gifts, but charitable distributions may be made directly to the Birmingham Jewish Federation, synagogues, and other partner agencies.
Use appreciated assets to make a charitable gift in 2023. As in previous years, gifts of appreciated assets, such as stock, remain a best practice. Such gifts may not only provide a deduction to the donor for the full value of the asset, but also avoid the capital gains tax that would apply if the assets were sold. Conversely, built-in loss assets generally should be sold, generating a tax loss, with the resulting cash proceeds donated, if desired. As in previous years, capital losses can offset gains, and net capital losses may be used to Expansion of IRA Charitable Rollover Prooffset ordinary income up to $3,000, with any vision. Last December, Congress passed the excess capital loss carried forward to be used in Secure 2.0 legislation, which expands the IRA a future year. charitable rollover provision to allow for a oneConsider donating to a Donor Advised time, $50,000 distribution to charities through Fund this year for maximum flexibility. If one charitable gift annuities and charitable remainis considering making a significant donation to der trusts, effective in 2023. charity over time, but wants a deduction today, Consider accelerating non-charitable gifts. adding funds to an existing Donor Advised The 2023 unified estate/gift credit of $12.92 Fund or opening a new DAF is an option. A million is scheduled to automatically reduce to DAF is a fund from which one may make recaround $7 million beginning in 2026. Accordommendations for grants to various charities at ingly, taxpayers who intend to make significant any time. Another favorable benefit to opening family gifts, either during their lifetime or in the a DAF is the ability to bundle charitable conform of bequests, may want to consider acceltributions in any given year, enabling one to erating some or all of those gifts early, as their exceed the standard deduction but distribute resources permit. money held in the DAF over time. Both BJF and For more information, contact Sarah GotliJEF offer donor advised funds and are happy to eb (sarahg@bjf.org) at the Birmingham Jewish assist. Foundation at (205) 803-1519, or Bobby Garon Look into an IRA charitable rollover. The (bobby@jefno.org) at the Jewish Endowment IRA charitable rollover may be an attractive opFoundation of Louisiana at (504) 524-4559. tion. It permits the transfer of up to $100,000
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community
Two new exhibits detail the Rosenwald Schools story
ONE-DAY CONCRETE FLOOR COATINGS From The Best In The Business
Two exhibits focusing on the partnership between a Black academic and a Jewish philanthropist to expand educational opportunities for Southern Blacks a century ago are opening in the region. “A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America” is opening on Nov. 16 at the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans, and “History Lives On: Preserving Alabama’s Rosenwald Schools” is already on display at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery. Rosenwald, president of Sears, contributed to Black institutions in Chicago. In 1911, he and his rabbi traveled to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which Washington had founded. Washington asked Rosenwald to serve on the school’s board. In 1912, Rosenwald made numerous charitable gifts in honor of his 50th birthday, including $25,000 to Tuskegee. Toward the end of the year, Washington asked Rosenwald for permission to use $2800 on a pilot program to build schools for rural Blacks. A grant of $300 each went to help build six schools in central Alabama — Notasulga and Brownsville in Macon County, Loachapoka and Chewacla in Lee County, and Big Zion and Madison Park in Montgomery County. Every Rosenwald school was built with matching funds from the local community, and black communities rallied to raise the funds needed to become part of the project. In many cases, the white community also chipped in. In 1914, Rosenwald gave an additional $30,000 for another 100 rural Alabama schools, followed by funds for 200 more schools in 1916, opening the project to other states. Rosenwald organized the Julius Rosenwald Fund in 1917 to administer the program. He was of the opinion that a foundation should have set goals and a timetable for disbursing all of its assets and go out of business, since one never knows what the long-term future needs in society would be. By the time the fund ended in 1932, about 5,000 schools had been built throughout the South. Forty percent of Black children in the South attended a Rosenwald continued on page 44
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
Andrew Feiler/The Filson Historical Society
Students and teachers at Jefferson Jacob School, in Prospect, Ky., circa 1920s.
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
33
commentary Eat up this program Kander doing ISJL Chanukah Zoom based on newest book Author Beth Kander will bring in the Chanukah season with a children’s Zoom program through the Goldring-Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Dec. 3 at 4 p.m. Kander will read from her new book, “Do Not Eat This Book! Fun with Jewish Foods and Festivals,” She will lead a sing-along and an art project to make coloring sheet placemats. The $18 registration includes a downloadable activity packet with coloring sheets and a recipe. The registration includes contributions to ISJL and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Communities or congregations can also arrange with ISJL to provide the program to their members. The book showcases foods connected to various holidays through the Jewish year, and Shabbat. Kander is the ISJL chief strategy officer. Registration is available at isjl.org/cultural-programming.
Lego Jerusalem, Menorah in New Orleans
The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans is building community, one brick at a time. The New Orleans Lego Marathon will consist of two events — building Jerusalem with Legos, and building the world’s largest Lego Chanukah menorah. On Dec. 4, the Jerusalem event will be at Blessed Sacrament Parish Joan of Arc Church in the Riverbend, starting at 4:30 p.m. A light snack will be served, and then the build will start at 5 p.m. Participants in the build will be tweens, teens, adults and siblings. Participants are asked to wear socks, as shoes will not be allowed during the build. The Jerusalem build will conclude at 7 p.m. with latkes and sufganiyot. The World’s Tallest Lego Menorah will be on Dec 5 at the Goldring-Woldenberg Jewish Community Campus in Metairie, with a snack at 4:30 p.m. The build, geared to grades 3 and up, along with parents and siblings, will start at 5 p.m. and conclude with a dinner at 6:30 p.m. Both events are free. Participants in both projects are invited to bring donations for area families in need, a list of suggested food items is on the Federation website, or monetary donations are welcome. The programs are presented by the Feil Foundation, Shine a Light on Antisemitism, the New Orleans Jewish Community Center, Jewish Community Day School, Tulane Hillel, Jewish Children’s Regional Service, National Council of Jewish Women, Gates of Prayer, Shir Chadash and Temple Sinai. 34
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
health/wellness
community
Everyone knows of someone who was in the Home Marlene Trestman writes history of New Orleans’ Jewish Orphans Home In late October, Marlene Trestman embarked on a number of activities in New Orleans connected to the release of her new book, “Most Fortunate Unfortunates: The Jewish Orphans Home of New Orleans.” “There’s no other place the book could launch,” she reflected. The book details the history of the Home, which was established in 1854, dedicated its first building at the beginning of 1856 and closed in 1946, after which the Home has lived on in the form of Jewish Children’s Regional Service. An accomplished attorney, Trestman is a native of New Orleans, and was orphaned when she was 11. She and her brother wound up as wards of the state — had it been two decades earlier, they would have been residents of the Home. Instead, JCRS supervised their foster care as legal guardians. “For all of the advantages I was given in my unfortunate circumstance, I felt like a most fortunate unfortunate,” she said. “I wanted to find out if the children who grew up in the Home felt the same way.” The idea for the book came as she was writing a biography of Bessie Margolin, who was a champion of wage and hour rights for workers, and argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Margolin was instrumental in many provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, drafted the original regulations under which the post-World War II Nuremberg trials took place, and was an attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Margolin was also an alumna of the Home. Trestman, who met Margolin when she was headed to college and struck up a lifelong friendship, had often been asked to give talks about Margolin’s legacy. Since nobody else was going to write a biography, Trestman decided she had to do it. “As a lawyer, I know how to write,” she said, “but it’s different writing a book where people want to purchase it.” As she went through the Home files from 1913 to 1925, “I was really seeing all the history of the home in the boxes, digests and board minute books.” Going through those files and seeing the range of stories as she was looking for information about Margolin, she knew that her next project had to be the history of the Home. She figured there were two main audiences with different interests — families who had relatives in the Home, and scholars who are looking to understand the history of Jewish orphanages, philanthropy and education. The Home was the first Jewish orphanage in the country to have a purpose-built dedicated building. Trestman is particular about the wording, because a Jewish Home in Philadelphia opened before New Orleans, but it was in a rented building. She explained that the founders in New Orleans felt that they had to offer something of permanence to attract donors, so they rejected the idea of renting another facility. “Life in the home was really nothing like the Charles Dickens or Jane
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
35
community Eyre, or even Little Orphan Annie,” Trestman said, but “it certainly was regimented and nothing someone would wish for anyone.” After all, it meant that both parents had died, or one had died and the other was unable to provide care. “The home was always intending to be a compassionate place for the kids, and for the most part it really did serve kids in a humane and caring way, the best that an orphanage can do.” Compared to other Jewish orphanages in the country, the one in New Orleans was rather small. Homes in New York might have 1,000 kids at once, while the Home in New Orleans had a peak enrollment of 173 in 1915, “where there might be seven other kids your age instead of hundreds.” In all, the Home had over 1600 residents in its nine decades of service. With that, “I don’t think you can shake a stick in New Orleans or around the South without hitting somebody who had a family member in the Home,” Trestman said. There were 390 who came from Texas, while the rest were from the other six states in B’nai B’rith District Seven, which established a formal relationship with the Home in 1875. The book’s title, Trestman said, is somewhat of a question. While not everyone had a happy
36
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
experience, as one might expect in an orphanage, “by and large” the residents felt fortunate. As she went through stories, “I wasn’t cherry-picking kids.” She said there was “great fortune afforded these children in terms of the care, medical attention, food, clothing, social well being, education they received.” What is now Isidore Newman School was first established in 1904 to educate residents of the Home. When the Home closed, an agreement was reached with the school to continue to admit anyone who would have been eligible for the Home. Trestman said that agreement was used in her case, and she thinks it may have been the last time that was needed. Another institution connected to the Home was a camp in Bay St. Louis, run by the Jewish Charitable and Educational Federation. There was a growing trend to establish camps and get kids outside of cities during the hot summers, and the Home started bringing the residents there in 1918. By the 1930s, the residents would go to the camp for a month at a time, and it was a “uniformly beloved feature of the home… even kids who hated living in the Home, Bay St. Louis was a respite and soothed their soul.” But the book is only part of the story. Her
website, marlenetrestman.com, has an extensive list of resources, including a list of American Jewish orphanages; the founders, officers and superintendents of the New Orleans Home, children’s birthplaces, siblings, ages and lengths of stay; and a searchable list of all of the Home’s children, listed by registry number. The website “may end up being a bigger impact than the book,” she said. In addition, she is assembling profiles of as many of the residents as possible. It is “my way of honoring all the people who shared photographs and memories.” She was “delighted” every time she got a message from someone who had relatives in the Home, whether they knew about it for decades, or started exploring genealogy and found they had an ancestor they did not realize was Jewish and discovered they had been in the Home. Having a relative from the Home was a source of pride for so many people, she said. Thus far, she has done 73 profiles on her website, and had hoped to do 100 before the book launched. “I’m going to keep going, I feel a commitment to do that,” she said. She was able to interview many former residents, but “so many of the alumni who I interviewed are now deceased.”
community The oldest one she interviewed was Ellis Hart, “and I’m so glad I got to interview him before he passed.” Trestman grew up with his niece and nephew, Susan and Richard Hart, at Newman, and she believes their father, Carol, “had a hand in my being identified and able to go to Newman School under the Home’s charter.” Many hugely successful, well known individuals throughout the Jewish South were alumni of the Home, and both the book and website have many of their stories. There were also a lot of stories from the staff. In the 1920s, to provide more adult supervision, promising graduate students were offered free room and board at the Home, as long as they watched the kids and ate with them. In many cases, they wound up being role models.
Uncomfortable topics Because the book is also for historians, she did not shy away from thornier parts of the Home’s story, starting with the Home’s founders and slavery. Many of the founders owned slaves, showing how deeply rooted the institution was in the South, and how people in the Jewish community participated as part of becoming American. In all, she said 14 of around 30 founders had a total of about 90 slaves, with
over half being owned by the Home’s founding vice president. She noted the “apparent irony of the seemingly well intentioned philanthropists who dedicated time and treasure and talent, and at the same time were putting ads in newspapers for their runaway slaves who were mothers and children.” Four of the board members fled the area rather than take the oath of allegiance to the Union after New Orleans fell, she added. “It would have been a huge hole if I hadn’t gone into that,” she said. “It puts the Home in the context of New Orleans and the context of the times.” In recent years, many institutions have faced reckonings of sexual scandals by staff, and the Home also had an episode — but one that was well publicized in the 1880s, when it happened. Rabbi Simon Weil, who had been at the congregation in Woodville, Miss., became superintendent, but after a couple of years was forced out when a 15-year-old girl accused him. Because of the times, the language used was quite vague, but what surprised Trestman is how the board was transparent, issued a statement that was printed in publications across the country, and that they “believed the young accuser and took her word over the former rabbi/teacher
who had come with high recommendations.” Despite that, the board released the girl to her brother’s care in Port Gibson and would not consider requests for her to come back to the Home, because of 19th century mores on virtue and purity. As for Trestman’s writing career, unless it is related to her legal work, those days are over. The histories of Margolin and the Home “are the only two stories I felt compelled to write,” though work on the Home’s website is far from done and will continue. “It’s been a complete joy.” In addition to the presence of JCRS, there are a few physical signs of the Home still in New Orleans. The site of its final building became the Jewish Community Center’s Uptown location. The cornerstone from the Home’s 1887 location is embedded in the JCC by the front entrance. When she started writing the book, she went to Jackson and Chippewa, the site of the original Home. “Some of the original intricately designed fence posts are still there,” not connected to anything. A large tree has engulfed that fence, physically growing over it. She reflected, “It’s almost poetic, the history of the Home is so absorbed into New Orleans.”
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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Southern Jewish Life
Lebanon’s Cafe
Spring Dining Guide
1500 S. Carrollton Ave., New Orleans (504) 862-6200
921 Canal Street, New Orleans inside the Ritz-Carlton
A New Orleans favorite for over 22 years, Lebanon’s Cafe offers authentic Middle Eastern dishes in traditional and fusion varieties, bringing people together through food. Now also open on Tuesdays.
M bistro’s menu is an indigenous approach to the preparation of the finest meats, seafood and produce from growers in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama.
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The grand dame of New Orleans’ time-honored restaurants, Galatoire’s is a 106-year-old, James Beard award winning restaurant located in the heart of the French Quarter.
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M Bistro
New Orleans
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
The premier destination in the Vieux Carré for enjoying the finest cocktails and traditional steakhouse fare. Galatoire’s “33” Bar & Steak is New Orleans’ next great tradition in a restored historic building that begins a new chapter in Galatoire’s storied history.
Birmingham
Umami
Southern Jewish Life
Spring Dining Guide
2808 7th Avenue South Birmingham (205) 201-4337
The Fish Market
612 22nd Street So., Birmingham (205) 322-3330
A wide variety of Sushi and unique Asian-inspired cuisine, with cold bites, hot bites, Asian-influenced tacos, using carefully selected ingredients intended to create a meticulously crafted flavor.
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Want a Nobel?
Historic prize given to Jewish scientist for penicillin available at M.S. Rau The beginning of October marks Nobel Prize season, as the year’s winners are announced in Oslo. For those who haven’t been named this year, there is now a rare opportunity to get a Nobel Prize, at M.S. Rau in New Orleans. The high-end antiques and fine art store just acquired the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine presented to Ernst Chain, one of the three honorees that year for the discovery and development of penicillin. “Nobel prizes do not come up” on the market, M.S. Rau CEO Bill Rau said. “The great majority of people… it would descend through their family as a badge of honor,” as it is “the most prestigious prize in the world.” Nevertheless, he heard “through the Jewish geography grapevine” that this prize might be for sale, and he had a friend in England approach the family. “It took some time to get it done,” Rau said. After the five or six weeks to close the deal, he then had to wait a few weeks to get an export license from the British government, a mandatory step for taking anything over a certain price out of England. While Rau has owned many amazing items over the years, Chain’s Nobel is “one of the coolest things we have ever owned,” he said. “Penicillin is arguably the most important drug that has ever been found.” It has saved hundreds of millions of lives, and Rau said that if it did not exist, the average human lifespan would be 10 years shorter. “How many people would have died of strep throat or pneumonia?”
The 1945 prize was presented to Chain, along with Alexander Fleming, who first discovered penicillin, and Howard Florey, Chain’s research partner. Nobels are awarded to as many as three individuals who contributed to an endeavor. The physical prize is a 23-karat gold medal weighing almost 8 ounces. It is accompanied by a fitted box and a hand-illustrated Nobel diploma, signed by the entire Nobel Institute. Chain’s original typewritten acceptance speech is also included. In 1945, the cash prize was around 121,000 Swedish kroner; the 2023 prizes were SEK 11 million, approximately $1 million. Chain was born in Berlin in 1906. His father was a chemist and indus-
What’s Your
TRADITION? w w w. g a l a t o i r e s . c o m
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
community dustrialist, and Chain became interested in chemistry during visits to his father’s laboratory. His father died when Chain was 13 years old. He graduated from Friedrich-Wilheim University in Berlin in 1930, and worked for three years at Berlin’s Charite Hospital in enzyme research. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, he knew he would not be safe there as a Jew, and moved to England with about 10 British Pounds in his pocket. His mother and sister stayed behind, and were ultimately murdered in a concentration camp. In England, Chain worked at University College Hospital, then moved to the School of Biochemistry in Cambridge, where he finished his doc-
torate. In 1935, he started at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, working with Howard Florey, with whom he would eventually share the Nobel Prize. Florey suggested that Chain work on lysozyme, which had been identified by Alexander Fleming in 1920. During that work, he came across Fleming’s paper on penicillin, and how Fleming had tried but failed to purify penicillin. In 1928, Fleming had been studying staphylococcus bacteria, and later said that if he had been neat, he never would have discovered penicillin. He had left samples out overnight, and one of the cultures was contam-
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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community inated with mold — which cleared out a zone where the bacteria would not grow. He realized something in the mold was killing the bacteria, and isolated it. But he didn’t know what to do with it, or how to grow it so it could be of further use. Florey and Chain started working on penicillin in 1938 as a scientific exercise, without considering its possible benefit to humanity. In 1940, they did an experiment on eight mice that had been infected with strep. The four that received penicillin were fine, the other four were dead the next day. The decided to do a human trial and grew a supply. In 1941, they treated Albert Alexander, a police officer who had a lethal infection from a rose bush scratch. They gave him penicillin and the infection began to subside. The infection was almost gone when they ran out of their supply, after which the infection came back and killed him. Chain, who had figured out how to isolate and concentrate penicillin, vowed he would not do another test until they had an adequate supply. The next year, they treated a woman, Anne Miller, who made a full recovery. However, it took six weeks for them to grow the amount that had been used to treat her, hardly a sustainable model. They had to figure out a way to grow penicillin in quantity, and succeeded in 1943. That was fortuitous, because Florey developed pneumonia that year, and his life was saved by their research. In 1944, penicillin was being deployed among Allied troops in World War II, and it is believed to have saved 2 million lives during the war. In his Nobel acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 1945, Chain said “as a member of one of the most cruelly persecuted races in the world I am profoundly grateful to Providence that it has fallen to me, together with
my friend Sir Howard Florey, to originate this work on penicillin which has helped to alleviate the suffering of the wounded soldiers of Britain, the country that has adopted me, and the wounded soldiers of our Allies, among them many thousands belonging to my own race, in their bitter struggle against one of the blood lost and most inhuman tyrannies the world has ever seen.” He emphasized the role of scientists in pursuing discoveries for the greater good, and not to ignore the fight against barbarism by saying it is Ernst Chain the role only of the politician. After the war, he worked in Rome, becoming the scientific director of the International Research Centre for Chemical Microbiology. He returned to London in 1961 as professor of biochemistry at Imperial College. He died in 1979. Chain served on the board of the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and was a supporter of Jewish education in England and beyond. Of the 954 Nobel Prizes awarded through 2022, at least 212 have gone to Jews, or individuals with at least one Jewish parent. Rau said a physics medal from 1965, without the accompanying folder and speech, sold for $1 million at auction, while James Watson’s 1962 Nobel in medicine went for over $5.3 million in 2014. The Chain Nobel is priced well below Watson’s, Rau said. “I get excited about history,” Rau said. “This is history, and it is history for good. The discovery of penicillin was one of the great goods of all time.”
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community Incentives available for summer camp With the filing of summer camp applications, scholarship and incentive grant applications are not far behind. The annual incentive programs for first-time campers and rural Louisiana campers, coordinated through the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana, are now open, as are the need-based scholarships from Jewish Children’s Regional Service. The Goldring Jewish Summer Camp Experience, funded by the Goldring Family Foundation, offers grants of up to $1,500 to help families send first-time campers to nonprofit Jewish sleepaway camps. Sponsored by the Goldring Family Foundation since 2001, this program has distributed grants enabling more than 1,800 children to attend Jewish summer camp for their first summer. Children in grades one through nine who reside in Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle are eligible to apply. The Goldring grants are not need-based, synagogue affiliation is not required, and families with a non-Jewish spouse are eligible. The application deadline is March 1, and grant award notifications will be made by mid-April. Another incentive for campers from small communities in Louisiana is the RoseMary and Saul Brooks Fund for Jewish Youth Engagement, providing grants of at least $550 for up to 10 Jewish campers. To be eligible, a camper must identify as Jewish with at least one Jewish parent, reside full-time in Louisiana outside the New Orleans or Baton Rouge areas, be entering grades one to 12 and attending a non-profit Jewish sleepaway camp. Siblings are eligible, and recipients may reapply in future years. The funding is on a first-come, first-serve basis, and applications will be reviewed by JEF staff and board members, and a representative of the Brooks family. The fund was initially established by RoseMary Brooks of Baton Rouge at JEF to enable her grandchildren to travel to Israel. After the youngest turned 18, the fund was converted to enable other kids to attend summer camp.
JCRS Scholarships Last summer, the New Orleans-based Jewish Children’s Regional Service provided partial scholarship funding for over 430 children to attend summer camp. The need-based scholarships are available to campers in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma, entering grades 3 to 12. There are two scholarship options — a short form with an award of $250, or a longer form with a need-based award to be determined on a case by case basis. Both require financial documentation, and no award covers the entire cost of summer camp. The priority deadline is Feb. 15, and the applications are done entirely online at jcrs.org. The agency also provides college scholarship aid, special needs assistance and often coordinates disaster relief. They also administer PJ Library in numerous communities throughout the region, and provide Chanukah gifts for children in need, or isolated residents in adult care facilities. In all, over 1,200 Jewish children in the region are served by JCRS annually.
Double dose of Latkes with a Twist For nine years, the Jewish Children’s Regional Service in New Orleans has hosted what the Washington Post calls one of the top 10 Chanukah parties in the country. Now, Latkes with a Twist will also be in Houston. The New Orleans event will be on Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Press Street Station in the historic Faubourg Marigny. Stephen Stryjewski, award winning chef, New Orleans restaurateur
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life 43
community and philanthropist, will be the “celebrity chef,” with assistance from Forrest Jackson, Chef de Cuisine at Cochon Butcher, and NOCCA culinary program students. Winner of the 2011 James Beard Foundation “Best Chef South,” Stryjewski is Chef/Partner of New Orleans’ award-winning restaurants Cochon, Cochon Butcher, Pêche Seafood Grill, private event facility Calcasieu, neighborhood bakery and café La Boulangerie, and Gianna. The evening will also feature live music, an open bar featuring a Vodka Latke Punch, a Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned Hanukkah Hi-Ball, wine and beer. Tickets are $54 in advance, $75 at the door. A pre-party event for patrons will be at 6 p.m., with patron levels starting at $150. In Houston, the Nov. 30 event will be at Kenny & Ziggy’s Deli, starting at 6 p.m. Ziggy Gruber, award winning chef and philanthropist, will create a Latke Bar with all the fixings and accompaniments. The evening will also feature live music from The Kosher Klezmer Band, and a bar similar to the New Orleans event. Houston community partners include Congregation Beth Israel, Congregation Beth Yeshurun, Congregation Emanu El, Camp Young Judaea-Texas and URJ Greene Family Camp. The Jewish Herald-Voice is the event’s media sponsor. Tickets for the Houston event are $54, $75 at the door.
>> Rosenwald
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November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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school at the height of the program. Black communities and white supporters advocated for educational opportunities, raised funds, and maintained the schools for decades. Among the thousands of graduates of Rosenwald schools are poet Maya Angelou, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Little Rock Nine pioneer Carlotta Walls LaNier, and Congressman John Lewis. By the time of widespread school integration in the 1960s, many of Rosenwald Schools were deemed too small or otherwise unsuitable for continued use. While some of these schools today have found new life as community centers, museums, and church facilities, most have disappeared from the landscape or are under threat of deterioration and destruction. The New Orleans exhibit consists of photographs and stories collected by Andrew Feiler, a fifth-generation Jewish Georgian. Feiler tracked down and photographed more than 100 of the 500 schools still surviving across 15 Southern states. Feiler believes the story of the Rosenwald schools is particularly resonant now. “In deeply segregated 1912 America, Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington reached across divides of race, religions, and region and fundamentally changed this nation for the better,” he said. “It’s especially fitting that these photographs and stories that bring people into this history are being hosted by the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience.” Through Feiler’s exhibition, the Museum hopes to raise awareness of a chapter of history that is still not widely known. “MSJE is proud to be part of bringing this story in front of the public eye. The history of the Rosenwald schools is also the history of the South and the many diverse people and actors who have shaped it,” says Kenneth Hoffman, the museum’s executive director. The exhibit will open on Nov 16 with a 6:30 p.m. program featuring Feiler, along with a book signing. There will be a preview meet and greet for members and patrons at 5:30 p.m. MSJE will run a full program of events centered around the exhibit, including the opening reception talk by Feiler; screenings of “Rosenwald,” a documentary film produced by Aviva Kempner, on Jan. 18, Feb. 28 and April 4 at 6 p.m., and a matinee on March 10; a lecture by Stephanie Deutsch, author of “You Need a Schoolhouse” on March 7 at 6 p.m.; and a
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panel discussion with Rosenwald School graduates, date to be announced. A bespoke field trip has been designed to introduce students to this important part of American history. This exhibition is supported by Bill and Susan Hess and the Cahn Family Foundation. Bill Hess is Rosenwald’s great-grandson. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) is a media partner. The exhibit will run through April 21.
Alabama exhibit The Alabama exhibit is the culmination of a research project entitled “Realizing Rosenwald.” This multiphase project began in 2020 as an interdisciplinary collaboration with Auburn University Professors Junshan Liu, Building Science; David Smith, Graphic Design; and Gorham Bird, Architecture. The research focuses on the identification and documentation of extant Rosenwald Schools in Alabama using the latest technology to digitally measure and survey the existing places. Visitors to the exhibit will learn not only about the individuals who started the Rosenwald Schools and the buildings themselves, but also about local communities across Alabama who worked to raise funds and to build and sustain these schools over generations. The exhibit will also explore today’s efforts by community members and alumni to preserve Alabama’s remaining historic Rosenwald buildings and the rich legacies they represent. The exhibit opened on Oct. 17 and will be displayed through May.
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>> Rear Pew continued from page 46 “And he called, command an eighth childbirth, one diseased after the death, holy ones speak in the mountain by my decrees.” Don’t count on the cobbled names for Numbers, “In the desert take a census, when you step up send Korach a decree of Balak, Pinchas, tribes’ journeys.” Deuteronomy closes out with the slightly cryptic, “Words, and I pleaded, if you follow see judges when you go, when you enter, those standing, and he went out, listen, and this is the blessing.” From those sentences, there’s only one conclusion: After reading them, anything in the Torah should seem far more comprehensible, by comparison. Doug Brook just released a book with only one name: “Rear Pew Mirror: Reflections From the Back of the Sanctuary,” a collection of past columns, in paperback and Kindle. To acquire the book, read other past columns, or listen to the FIVE-star rated Rear Pew Mirror podcast, visit http://rearpewmirror.com/. November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life 45
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What’s in a Name William Shakespeare famously stated in his bard mitzvah speech that when it comes to the Torah, “that which we call our prose by any other name would start with Beresheet.” So, what’s in a name? On Yom Kippur, everyone atoned for any name calling they did during the previous year, including for the names given to certain newborns who’ll be haunted for life by their parents’ selections. This raises the related question of who named the weekly Torah readings, and did they atone for it. What were they thinking? Remember, each weekly Torah reading (aka parshah) was named in the same painstaking, descriptive manner as each of the five books of the Torah were named: By using the first distinctive word in it, no matter what the word is. But not the word “is,” it’s not that ridicul… distinctive. The first distinctive word isn’t necessarily the first word. If it were, several parshahs would share names like “And These” or “And He Spoke.” Though “and He spoke” is, admittedly, descriptive of a lot of the Torah. Some scholars opine about the possible existence of multiple authors of the Torah. This notion of different writers could be a corollary to the fact that each book of the Torah has three different names: the Hebrew name, the actual English translation of that name, and the at-best tangentially relevant English name that’s actually used. For example, the first book in Hebrew is Beresheet, which basically means “in the beginning.” In English, it’s commonly referred to as Genesis — a name appropriated by the Torah to ride the wave of popularity from the Genesis device in “Star Trek That’s the Torah’s II.”The second book, Shemot, literally means “names.” Therefore, of course, names, don’t in English it’s called Exodus. wear them out The third book, Vayikra, means “and he called.” This makes the relevance of calling it Leviticus obvious, in no way whatsoever. The fourth book, Bemidbar, means “in the desert.” It’s commonly referred to as Numbers, because during 40 years in a desert with no cellular reception there’s not much to do except count the days, the grains of sand, and the number of times Moses had to talk the Almighty Big G out of wiping out someone. Including himself. Devarim means “words” or “things.” This volume serves double duty as both the fifth and the final book. Thus, it is aptly named Deuteronomy, due to economy in leveraging some ancient Greek into this ancient text. If the names of the books of the Torah are this distinctive, what about the names of each parshah within those five books? Rather than going through each one individually, it might be interesting to explore all the parshah names in each book strung together into a sentence. Perhaps it will give a meaningful summary of what happens in each book. (Perhaps.) For example, from Genesis the names of the parshahs declare, “In the beginning, Noah, get going… and appeared the lives of Sarah, generations he left, and he sent and dwelled at the end, and drew near, and he lived.” That’s as straightforward as the nomenclatured abridgement for Exodus, “Names, and I appeared; go, having sent Yitro laws, an offering you’ll command when you take, and assembled amounts.” For Leviticus, the least clear book has the clearest one-line delivery, continued on previous page
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NOVEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 24
November 2023 • Southern Jewish Life
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