CAMP & EDUCATION
Camp’s impact Lucy Greenbaum of Congregation Shaare Emeth writes that for her, camp proved to be a life-changing experience.
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Jewish groups look to bolster security in wake of Texas shul attack BY ERIC BERGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
ST. LOUIS GROUP BLENDS FILM & FRIENDSHIP FOR 20 YEARS (AND COUNTING) BY ELLEN FUTTERMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
As the new president of PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, Dr. Ken Haller recalls being on a panel at Webster University’s LBGTQ film festival in 2016 discussing a documentary about marriage equality in Massachusetts. There were about 30 people in attendance, including, as Haller tells it: “This very nicely dressed woman with a nimbus of black hair and a Mary Tyler Moore smile asking all these really thoughtful questions and taking notes.” After the panel discussion, the woman approached Haller, 67, introduced herself and said, “I really loved your answers to the questions that were raised. I’m part of a group we call the movie salon, and we meet once a month. We pick a film to see, then we all go back to my place and discuss it. I was wondering if you’d like to join us.” Haller, a pediatrician, thought for a second. Movie salon participants dress for the occasion during a ‘Downton Abbey’ film viewing and discussion in 2019.
“It sounded like fun, so I went, and never looked back. I’ve been part of movie salon ever since.” The woman with the billowy cloud of dark curly hair Haller describes is Susan Fadem, who started the movie salon 20 years ago. If her name sounds familiar it’s because Fadem, an award-winning journalist who considers herself a “cultural Jew,” used to be a frequent contributor to the Jewish Light, among other publications. She also was the subject of a 2019 story in the Light that celebrated her marriage to Richard Andersen — the two met on Match.com in 2011, a year after Fadem’s first husband, Rod, passed away. But that was that story.
The start of the salon This story begins in 2002, when Susan Fadem and her husband Rod, would regularly go to the movies together, though rarely talk about them afterwards. “Rod didn’t like discussing them with anyone who didn’t agree with him,” recalled Fadem. “He was very funny about it, but we did not agree on movies. I would hate a movie and he would love it or vice-versa. And he would manage to talk first and tell me all the reasons he
Susan Fadem hated the movie. Then I’d say, ‘But I think,’ and Rod would — I kid you not — turn on the radio in the car.” Fadem grew frustrated. In her universe, if you can’t discuss something, it’s just not worth doing. A close friend, Ethel Dimont, who was quite a bit older than Fadem, would regale her with stories about a time when friends took streetcars to the St. Louis home she shared with her husband, Max, a notable Jewish history author. According to Ethel, they’d all sit around a long dining room table and have heady discussions or listen while See MOVIE SALON on page 19
Rabbi Amy Feder of Congregation Temple Israel attended rabbinical school with Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and recalls him having a “nonanxious presence.” So Feder wasn’t surprised to hear that Cytron-Walker remained calm while he and three others were held hostage by a gunman Jan. 15 at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. A few hours into the crisis, the gunman released one hostage. Four hours after that, Cytron-Walker threw a chair at the assailant, which allowed him and the two other remaining hostages to escape. He told CNN that he and the others are alive because of security Rabbi Amy Feder training he and his congregation received from law enforcement, the Anti-Defamation League and the Secure Community Network, which secures Jewish institutions across the country. While Feder and other local rabbis also feel well prepared because they received similar security training, the Texas incident has prompted congregations to introduce or consider additional security measures, and rabbis to engage in soul-searching over whether, if faced with a similar threat, they would act as calmly as CytronWalker did. “Every time I get on the bimah, I think about it,” Feder said of the pulpit at the Reform synagogue in Creve Coeur. “That’s sort of just the reality, that we are always aware of who is in our community and who is walking in the doors and who we need to be keeping an eye on. So even though this was a very stark reminder (of the risk Jewish institutions face), it’s not a new thing.” In addition to the Colleyville attack, the American Jewish community has over the past decade faced several attacks that attracted international attention, including shootings at the Chabad of Poway in California; the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; and at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey. The World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency recently released their annual See AFTER TEXAS ATTACK on page 6
