This Wednesday, Orthodox and Reform campers will come together for a joint “Americafest” Independence Day celebration in Mississippi.
The Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, which is part of the Reform movement, will host Camp Darom, the overnight camp coordinated by Baron Hirsch congregation in Memphis. The Orthodox camp is housed in Grenada, Miss., 140 miles north of Utica.
Ellen Alexander, development director for Jacobs Camp, said the Darom campers are expected to arrive around 2:30 p.m. and stay until about 10 p.m.
Musician Dan Nichols will do a concert for the over 400 Jewish youth in attendance, and Frank Levy will do experimental theater. There will also be a parade, fireworks and snow cones. The campers will also enjoy some of Jacobs Camp’s new lakefront offerings, including the Blob and Wet Willie Waterslide.
This will be the first time the two camps have held a joint program, and it was made possible with a grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp. Until two years ago, Camp Darom, which was founded in 1976, was housed in Tennessee. The camp changed to the Mississippi venue last year. Jacobs Camp began in 1970.
"While the two camps practice their Judaism differently, their missions are very much the same: to strengthen the Jewish identity of young people from small and isolated Southern Jewish communities by providing them with outstanding programs and powerful Jewish memories," Jonathan "J.C." Cohen, Jacobs camp director, said. "Jacobs Camp's motto, 'A Jewish Place at a Southern Pace,' will surely ring true during this one-of-a-kind celebration."
For the Henry S. Jacobs Camp, it was a case of going from the old to the new.
On June 16, the camp dedicated a new handcrafted ark, Torah stand and reading table, all made by Bob Cohan of Tallahassee. Cohan retired from the medical field and has devoted his time to woodworking and Jewish study.
The new ritual items are in the camp’s new Performing Arts Center, which until a few months ago used to house the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. The camp previously had a pulpit filled with items from defunct congregations throughout the region, but the museum is currently exploring a new location. The museum currently operates a satellite location at B’nai Israel in Natchez, but has not yet announced a new headquarters.
“When folks heard the Museum was moving, the question I was asked most often was ‘would we still have Shabbat services in there’?” said Camp Director Jonathan Cohen. “It was important that we continue to use the auditorium as a worship space, which made it a priority of mine to make sure we had the right ritual items to make that happen. My first call was to Bob Cohan.”
“Jacobs is an oasis of consistency of social order and great joy — a setting to truly build on the three legs of Judaism (God), Torah and community,” said Cohan, “and I feel very honored to have been able to bring some of this together in helping to create the worship area.”
Cohan’s family and friends were on hand for the dedication, where he recited the week’s Torah reading using a pointer he also had fashioned.
“As this building becomes the Jacobs Performing Arts Center and continues to be the place where we pray together, we turn a new page,” said Michael Danziger, Rosh T’fillah and Education Director. “It’s a celebration of our Jewish life now. It’s not from a place where there aren’t Jews left; it’s in a place where there are Jews — where Judaism is alive.”
“This weekend at camp with the children, family, friends and staff is, without a doubt, the most meaningful time I have ever experienced,” said Cohan. “The spirit was electric and will stay with me always.”
The Levy East Bed and Breakfast in Natchitoches, La., was gutted by fire yesterday morning.
The fire broke out around 5:30 a.m. and took an hour to get under control. The home, which is on the National Registry of Historic Homes, did not have anyone inside at the time and the business was not in operation.
The home was built in the 1830s. According to the B&B website, it was built by bricklayer Joseph Soldini and designed by Italian architect Athaneze Trizzini. A French Canadian doctor, Nichola Michel Friedelezy, was the first owner, but died after living there two years. His medical license was also suspected to be a fake.
After two other owners, Leopold and Justine Dreyfus Levy bought the home in 1891. Levy is listed by the Institute of Southern Jewish Life as the founder of the Othniel chapter of B'nai B'rith in Natchitoches, in the 1870s. Justine died in 1917, Leopold in 1937.
The home was in Greek Revival style, with five bedrooms, balconies overlooking the Cane River Lake and gardens, and a century-old magnolia tree. The house was in disrepair before undergoing renovations and opening in 1994 as a bed and breakfast.
According to KSLA-TV, Chris Levy had sold the house to the East family in the 1990s. The current owners, from Delaware, had recently been sued by a lien holder and the house was in foreclosure. Online reviews said the ownership changed in 2010, and the new owners did not live in the area. A writ of seizure had been issued last week, and the house was set for parish auction in August.
Photos available here.
The fire broke out around 5:30 a.m. and took an hour to get under control. The home, which is on the National Registry of Historic Homes, did not have anyone inside at the time and the business was not in operation.
The home was built in the 1830s. According to the B&B website, it was built by bricklayer Joseph Soldini and designed by Italian architect Athaneze Trizzini. A French Canadian doctor, Nichola Michel Friedelezy, was the first owner, but died after living there two years. His medical license was also suspected to be a fake.
After two other owners, Leopold and Justine Dreyfus Levy bought the home in 1891. Levy is listed by the Institute of Southern Jewish Life as the founder of the Othniel chapter of B'nai B'rith in Natchitoches, in the 1870s. Justine died in 1917, Leopold in 1937.
The home was in Greek Revival style, with five bedrooms, balconies overlooking the Cane River Lake and gardens, and a century-old magnolia tree. The house was in disrepair before undergoing renovations and opening in 1994 as a bed and breakfast.
According to KSLA-TV, Chris Levy had sold the house to the East family in the 1990s. The current owners, from Delaware, had recently been sued by a lien holder and the house was in foreclosure. Online reviews said the ownership changed in 2010, and the new owners did not live in the area. A writ of seizure had been issued last week, and the house was set for parish auction in August.
Photos available here.
Several events will remember the three civil rights workers killed in Neshoba County, Miss., in 1964. On June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner went missing; their bodies were later discovered in an earthen dam in what became one of the best-known civil rights murders.
The National Conference on Civil Rights will take place starting this Sunday, with a 6 p.m. ecumenical service and awards presentation at Jerusalem Temple Church. Bishop Ronnie Crudup Sr. of New Horizon Church International will be the speaker. The mayors of Philadelphia and Meridian will also be in attendance.
The conference itself will be at the Silver Star Hotel through Tuesday. Opening keynote will be given by Jerry Mitchell, investigative reporter with the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, who has been writing extensively about unsolved and unprosecuted civil rights cases.
Monday’s luncheon speaker will be Joan Sadoff of Pennsylvania, who is on the board of the Jackson-based Institute of Southern Jewish Life. She, husband Robert and Laura Lipson produced a film, “Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders,” about women from Mississippi who were grassroots civil rights leaders, including Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hammer and Unita Blackwell.
A screening of the film will follow, along with a panel discussion. Sadoff previously did a documentary entitled “Philadelphia, Mississippi: Untold Stories.”
Another group is organizing a memorial service, conference and caravan for justice, calling attention to the large number of unsolved cases. The group states there were over 50 martyrs, who will all be remembered.
The caravan will assemble on June 22 at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church east of Philadelphia, departing at 9 a.m. for the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.
A March for Justice will recall the march Martin Luther King Jr. did in Philadelphia on the second anniversary of the murders of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney. It will proceed to the Capitol, with an 11 a.m. rally on the steps.
The caravan will continue after lunch to the 31st Missionary Baptist Church in Meridian.
The next day, the group will assemble at 8 a.m. at the COFO office site, then go to the Longdale Community Center in Neshoba County to have a conference on a range of topics. A memorial service will start at 11:30 a.m., followed by a picnic. On June 24, the Steele family will hold a gathering starting at 10:30 a.m.
The National Conference on Civil Rights will take place starting this Sunday, with a 6 p.m. ecumenical service and awards presentation at Jerusalem Temple Church. Bishop Ronnie Crudup Sr. of New Horizon Church International will be the speaker. The mayors of Philadelphia and Meridian will also be in attendance.
The conference itself will be at the Silver Star Hotel through Tuesday. Opening keynote will be given by Jerry Mitchell, investigative reporter with the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, who has been writing extensively about unsolved and unprosecuted civil rights cases.
Monday’s luncheon speaker will be Joan Sadoff of Pennsylvania, who is on the board of the Jackson-based Institute of Southern Jewish Life. She, husband Robert and Laura Lipson produced a film, “Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders,” about women from Mississippi who were grassroots civil rights leaders, including Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hammer and Unita Blackwell.
A screening of the film will follow, along with a panel discussion. Sadoff previously did a documentary entitled “Philadelphia, Mississippi: Untold Stories.”
Another group is organizing a memorial service, conference and caravan for justice, calling attention to the large number of unsolved cases. The group states there were over 50 martyrs, who will all be remembered.
The caravan will assemble on June 22 at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church east of Philadelphia, departing at 9 a.m. for the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.
A March for Justice will recall the march Martin Luther King Jr. did in Philadelphia on the second anniversary of the murders of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney. It will proceed to the Capitol, with an 11 a.m. rally on the steps.
The caravan will continue after lunch to the 31st Missionary Baptist Church in Meridian.
The next day, the group will assemble at 8 a.m. at the COFO office site, then go to the Longdale Community Center in Neshoba County to have a conference on a range of topics. A memorial service will start at 11:30 a.m., followed by a picnic. On June 24, the Steele family will hold a gathering starting at 10:30 a.m.
Marlene Trestman, a New Orleans native who now teaches law at Loyola University in Maryland, received grants to help her complete the first biography of fellow New Orleanian Bessie Margolin, a pioneering woman lawyer who defended the New Deal.
Margolin was raised in the New Orleans Jewish Children’s Home and received her law degree at age 21 from Tulane University, where she was civil law editor of the Tulane Law Review. In 1933, she was became the first female attorney hired by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation to provide electricity to poor rural areas.
Margolin went on to serve in the Department of Labor for 33 years and oversaw the court enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Equal Pay Act during her tenure. Despite so many accomplishments, she had to fight for fair pay and well-deserved promotions in her own career. When she retired from the federal government in 1972, nearly 600 U.S. Supreme Court and appellate cases had been prepared under her immediate direction and review.
Trestman said Margolin “was a trailblazing woman lawyer who used her brains, beauty and Southern charm to prove equality for women while contributing to three historic events of the 20th century.” In addition to overseeing the Labor and Equal Pay acts, she defended the constitutionality of the New Deal’s Tennessee Valley Authority, and drafted the rules for the Nazi war crimes Subsequent Proceedings in Nuremberg.
She also argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 25.
“A book about Margolin is long overdue, and I’m thrilled to have been given the chance to tell her story,” Trestman said.
A few months ago, she received a grant from the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. She recently received the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, a highly competitive program that supports advanced research and writing “that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both.”
The Hadassah-Brandeis grant noted the biography “will make an important contribution to American history and Jewish women’s history.”
Last year, Trestman spoke at the annual meeting of the Jewish Children’s Regional Service, the successor agency to the Children’s Home. Trestman had been a client of JCRS as a foster child, and like Margolin graduated from Isidore Newman School.
Trestman met Margolin in 1974 and spent time with her as she went through college and law school.
Part of the biography appeared in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Supreme Court History.
Margolin was raised in the New Orleans Jewish Children’s Home and received her law degree at age 21 from Tulane University, where she was civil law editor of the Tulane Law Review. In 1933, she was became the first female attorney hired by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation to provide electricity to poor rural areas.
Margolin went on to serve in the Department of Labor for 33 years and oversaw the court enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Equal Pay Act during her tenure. Despite so many accomplishments, she had to fight for fair pay and well-deserved promotions in her own career. When she retired from the federal government in 1972, nearly 600 U.S. Supreme Court and appellate cases had been prepared under her immediate direction and review.
Trestman said Margolin “was a trailblazing woman lawyer who used her brains, beauty and Southern charm to prove equality for women while contributing to three historic events of the 20th century.” In addition to overseeing the Labor and Equal Pay acts, she defended the constitutionality of the New Deal’s Tennessee Valley Authority, and drafted the rules for the Nazi war crimes Subsequent Proceedings in Nuremberg.
She also argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 25.
“A book about Margolin is long overdue, and I’m thrilled to have been given the chance to tell her story,” Trestman said.
A few months ago, she received a grant from the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. She recently received the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, a highly competitive program that supports advanced research and writing “that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both.”
The Hadassah-Brandeis grant noted the biography “will make an important contribution to American history and Jewish women’s history.”
Last year, Trestman spoke at the annual meeting of the Jewish Children’s Regional Service, the successor agency to the Children’s Home. Trestman had been a client of JCRS as a foster child, and like Margolin graduated from Isidore Newman School.
Trestman met Margolin in 1974 and spent time with her as she went through college and law school.
Part of the biography appeared in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Supreme Court History.
Katie Held, co-chair of the Birmingham Jewish Federation’s 2013 campaign, is raising money and awareness for this Saturday’s Walk for Lupus Now event.
The event is personal for Held, who has lupus and is well aware that there is little public knowledge about the disease. The walk is the largest fundraiser for the Lupus Foundation of America’s Mid-South chapter, and supports programs and services for those battling lupus.
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys. Nobody knows what the cause is, and symptoms vary widely. In many cases, there are few visible symptoms. A person may look perfectly healthy but be in great pain and fatigued. For some, it can be life-threatening, and one in five patients are permanently disabled.
Lupus mostly affects women of childbearing age, 15 to 44. The highest incidence is in African-American women, ages 15 to 40. Held was 17 when she was diagnosed. Now 28, she takes 18 pills a day to help deal with the disease.
Held notes that Lupus “is one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed diseases, there is no cause, no cure, and the first drug for lupus in over 50 years was just approved this year.”
According to her team webpage, Team Katie has raised over $6,300, well over the $4,000 goal. The walk overall raised $45,000 last year and has a $50,000 goal this year.
The walk will be tomorrow at Heardmont Park, 5452 Cahaba Valley Road, south of Birmingham. Registration begins at 8 a.m., with the walk beginning at 9 a.m.
Walkers can do a 1, 2 or 3 mile loop around the park. There are water stations and a bathroom along the route. There are individual and team awards, and door prizes.
More about Team Katie:
On June 14, Antigone Rising, an all-female rock band from New York, will perform at The Nick in Birmingham. While the band is known for its extensive touring, it recently had a completely different concert experience — as United States arts envoys and cultural ambassadors in Israel and the territories.
The band had a whirlwind week-long Middle East visit in late February, with appearances in Beersheva, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem and Ramallah, among other stops.
Bass player and band founder Kristen Henderson said their former tour manager got an email in May 2011 from a high school classmate asking if the band would be interested in being guests of the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem.
Noting they are a “band of extremes,” playing 280 shows a year or not touring at all “because we’re giving birth to babies,” she figured it was “extreme” that “the one time we get an offer to play shows outside the United States, we're invited to do so by the U.S. State Department, as Arts Envoys as part of a peace program in which we perform for both Palestinian and Israeli audiences in the Middle East.”
Kristen Henderson and sister Cathy founded the band after graduating from college. At first an acoustic quartet playing in Greenwich Village, they evolved into a rock band. They were on the 1998 Lilith Fair tour, and have toured with The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers Band, The Dave Matthews Band, Rob Thomas, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Lucinda Williams and The Bangles.
Their 2005 release, “From the Ground Up” was the first CD in Starbucks’ “Hear Music Debut” series. The next year they were in national ads for designer clothing company 7 Jeans, and have appeared on many national shows.
Kristen Henderson and her partner, Sarah Ellis, became pregnant at the same time three years ago and delivered “twins.” Last summer, when New York passed legislation allowing same-sex marriage, their wedding was chronicled on the Huffington Post.
Their most recent album is “23 Red.” They are currently on a Southern tour.
Their Israel trip, which they chronicled online, included numerous shows for students of diverse backgrounds. The first stop was in Beersheva, where they performed for Jewish and Bedouin high school students, then off to Jerusalem. Vocalist Nini Camps called that concert “surreal” because “one hour prior we were walking the halls of the Old City and laying eyes on some of the most sacred places in the world. Religious or not religious, there is just such a sense of history here that it can be overwhelming.”
They played at an international school in Tel Aviv, and did a nightclub show. They also did Drums and Disabilities workshops and performed with the Kadima Tzoran girls choir.
David Brinn of the Jerusalem Post commented, “Who would have thought that some of the finest, most energetic rock and roll shows to take place in Israel in this still young year would come courtesy of the U.S. State Department? Appearing at the brand new and beautiful Meit Massie Theater in downtown Jerusalem… they were phenomenal. The souls who did make it to the free show were treated to a standout performance, featuring three-part harmonies, great musicianship, showmanship and good cheer.”
After a few days in Israel, they went to Ni’lin, near Ramallah, for a concert and cultural workshop, followed by shows in Bethlehem and Ramallah. They had an exclusive performance at the old city of Bir Zeit for participants of the U.S. Consulate-General sponsored Ghaneeha! Season 3 and the Palestinian Youth Empowerment and Volunteerism Program. Ghaneeha is an American Idol-style youth development project designed to demonstrate the musical skills and talents of Palestinian youth. Audiences throughout the Middle East cast their votes.
Consulate General Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs Frank Finver stated, “Antigone Rising’s visit marked an exciting launch for an event-filled month. The historical and cultural contributions of women, both Palestinian and American, are something that all of us can celebrate. Antigone Rising’s music speaks to themes that unite us all as human beings, and I hope that Palestinian audiences enjoyed hearing their messages of empowerment, equality, and hope."
The final day included a workshop on musical improvisation — which they improvised — at a girls’ school in Jerusalem.
According to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, “These women are not only talented musicians, but also gifted authors and therapists who reach out to people who are dealing with difficult physical and social challenges. They truly understand the power of music."
Ayelet Dekel of Midnight East said Antigone Rising “are inspiring in their music and the way they walk the walk and show it can all be done – raising children, writing music, performing and touring.”
The band has links to several videos from their Israel tour, on their website, antigonerising.com.
Doors will open for the June 14 show at 8 p.m. A Fragile Tomorrow, touring with them, will open the show at 9 p.m., and Antigone Rising is scheduled to take the stage at 10 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. They are also playing Charlotte, Atlanta and Nashville on this tour, and in January performed at the 30A Songwriters Festival in the Florida Panhandle.
A preschool supplemental program that was developed in Israel is celebrating its 25th anniversary in New Orleans schools this week.
HIPPY, or Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters, was developed in 1969 at the National Council of Jewish Women Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It first came to the United States in 1984. HIPPY USA was established in Little Rock in 1988, with strong support from then-Governor Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
In 1987 HIPPY was brought to New Orleans by NCJW, and the New Orleans School Board has been supporting the program with funds and volunteer efforts since that time.
Behind Arkansas, Alabama has the most HIPPY sites with 30. The Alabama HIPPY project started in 1993 and currently is headquartered in Montgomery. There is one local program in Mississippi and three in Louisiana.
HIPPY is a home-based intervention program that was created for parents to give their kids the necessary tools to succeed in school and later in life. The parents in the program do not feel confident in their own experiences and education levels to help their own children with what they need to know to succeed in school.
With the guidance of trained home visitors, parents enhance their child's abilities and skills. Not only does HIPPY provide vital education for school and life lessons, but it also targets parental problems and needs. The program is for ages three to five.
Every other week, visitors from the local area make home visits to play HIPPY activities with parents. On the other weeks, there are group meetings where visitors and parents role play the week’s activities.
Each day parents spend 15 to 20 minutes engaging in HIPPY activities with their child, which are set out in a written structural format from which a novice teacher can follow without any issues.
Tomorrow at 11 a.m., the New Orleans Parish Public Schools' HIPPY program is having a Sponsors, Advocates and Volunteers luncheon to celebrate the 25th anniversary. The event will be at the Lindy C. Boggs International Conference Center at 2000 Lake Shore Drive.
HIPPY, or Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters, was developed in 1969 at the National Council of Jewish Women Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It first came to the United States in 1984. HIPPY USA was established in Little Rock in 1988, with strong support from then-Governor Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
In 1987 HIPPY was brought to New Orleans by NCJW, and the New Orleans School Board has been supporting the program with funds and volunteer efforts since that time.
Behind Arkansas, Alabama has the most HIPPY sites with 30. The Alabama HIPPY project started in 1993 and currently is headquartered in Montgomery. There is one local program in Mississippi and three in Louisiana.
HIPPY is a home-based intervention program that was created for parents to give their kids the necessary tools to succeed in school and later in life. The parents in the program do not feel confident in their own experiences and education levels to help their own children with what they need to know to succeed in school.
With the guidance of trained home visitors, parents enhance their child's abilities and skills. Not only does HIPPY provide vital education for school and life lessons, but it also targets parental problems and needs. The program is for ages three to five.
Every other week, visitors from the local area make home visits to play HIPPY activities with parents. On the other weeks, there are group meetings where visitors and parents role play the week’s activities.
Each day parents spend 15 to 20 minutes engaging in HIPPY activities with their child, which are set out in a written structural format from which a novice teacher can follow without any issues.
Tomorrow at 11 a.m., the New Orleans Parish Public Schools' HIPPY program is having a Sponsors, Advocates and Volunteers luncheon to celebrate the 25th anniversary. The event will be at the Lindy C. Boggs International Conference Center at 2000 Lake Shore Drive.
Chefs Tory McPhail of Commander’s Palace and Sue Zemanick of Gautreau’s will be leading a Food and Wine Adventure to Israel in October, coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.
The mission, scheduled for Oct. 14 to 23, is a follow-up to a visit by four New Orleans chefs to Israel last summer, and ties an exploration of Israel’s food heritage to the culinary landscape of New Orleans. Bruce Wainer and Sharon Jacobs are co-chairing the trip, with Arthur Pulitzer as honorary chair.
Participants will explore traditional Jewish cooking and cutting edge modern Israeli cuisine and wine. McPhail and Zemanick will lead a cooking workshop, and the group will cook a gourmet meal with Israeli Chef Tali Friedman, after she leads a tour of the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.
There will also be visits to the port of Jaffa, the Shuk Levinsky market in Tel Aviv, a stroll through paprika fields and a lesson on making the Israeli spice blend za’tar. A tour of Israel’s wine industry is scheduled, as well as more conventional mission visits like Masada, the Dead Sea, Yad Vashem and the Western Wall.
Meals are scheduled at some of Israel’s most innovative restaurants, including Ein Camomim, which has boutique goat cheese and an olive oil farm, and organic farm-to-table restaurant Muscat, in view of the Golan Heights.
Naturally, there is a visit to Rosh Ha’Ayin, the New Orleans Partnership 2Gether city.
The land cost for the mission is approximately $3500. Participants are responsible for arranging their own air travel, with the mission beginning in Israel on Oct. 15. For more information, click here.
The mission, scheduled for Oct. 14 to 23, is a follow-up to a visit by four New Orleans chefs to Israel last summer, and ties an exploration of Israel’s food heritage to the culinary landscape of New Orleans. Bruce Wainer and Sharon Jacobs are co-chairing the trip, with Arthur Pulitzer as honorary chair.
Participants will explore traditional Jewish cooking and cutting edge modern Israeli cuisine and wine. McPhail and Zemanick will lead a cooking workshop, and the group will cook a gourmet meal with Israeli Chef Tali Friedman, after she leads a tour of the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.
There will also be visits to the port of Jaffa, the Shuk Levinsky market in Tel Aviv, a stroll through paprika fields and a lesson on making the Israeli spice blend za’tar. A tour of Israel’s wine industry is scheduled, as well as more conventional mission visits like Masada, the Dead Sea, Yad Vashem and the Western Wall.
Meals are scheduled at some of Israel’s most innovative restaurants, including Ein Camomim, which has boutique goat cheese and an olive oil farm, and organic farm-to-table restaurant Muscat, in view of the Golan Heights.
Naturally, there is a visit to Rosh Ha’Ayin, the New Orleans Partnership 2Gether city.
The land cost for the mission is approximately $3500. Participants are responsible for arranging their own air travel, with the mission beginning in Israel on Oct. 15. For more information, click here.
The Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery is debuting an exhibit about a Jewish woman who fought the apartheid system in South Africa, and is hosting a panel discussion tonight as an opening event.
“Helen Suzman: Fighter for Human Rights” will be displayed through Aug. 27. Tonight’s panel, which starts at 7 p.m., includes Suzman’s nephew, Cedric Suzman, who will discuss political and cultural influences that made his aunt an activist. Troy Uniuversity History Professor Dan Puckett and a representative of the Israel Consulate will also speak.
The exhibition, developed by the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, debuted at Georgetown University in 2009. The Montgomery exhibition is a partnership between the Rosa Parks Museum and the Jewish Federation of Central Alabama. The exhibit has also been at Dillard University in New Orleans in early 2010, and at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute last summer.
Suzman was a member of the South African Parliament from 1953 to 1989. She was the sole opposition voice condemning apartheid during the 13-year period (1961-1974) when she was the governing body’s only member of the Progressive Party. The exhibition explores nearly four decades of Suzman’s life and vision through photographs, personal letters, quotations from speeches and news articles.
It tells, in part, of the animosity, anti-Semitism and intimidation Suzman faced throughout her career. It also highlights her enduring friendship with Nelson Mandela which began in early 1967 when she met him at the infamous Robben Island Prison where he was a political prisoner.
Suzman was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Price in recognition of her contribution to the pursuit of justice in South Africa. She received the United Nations Award of the International League for Human Rights in 1978. In 1989, Queen Elizabeth conferred on her an Honorary Dame Commander (Civil Division) of the Order of the British Empire. Suzman died on Jan. 1, 2009, at the age of 91.
There will also be a panel discussion on “Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement: A Fragile Alliance” on June 21 at 6 p.m.; and on women’s leadership in the Alabama Legislature, July 12 at 6 p.m.
The museum, located at 252 Montgomery Street at Troy University Montgomery, is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Asa Carter was a passionate white supremacist and vitriolic anti-Semite. He wrote some of Governor George Wallace’s most memorable lines, including “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” until he became too extreme even for Wallace.
Years later, Forrest Carter became a celebrated author for his “true story” sensitive portrayal of a Cherokee boy who is orphaned at age 5, “The Education of Little Tree.” It topped the New York Times bestseller list in 1991, 15 years after it was originally published. The book was lavished with praise for authentically portraying the Native American experience and being a sensitive multicultural and environmental work.
How, then, can it be that both Carters are really the same person? His greatest story, “one he never told,” is the subject of “The Reconstruction of Asa Carter,” which premiered on public television stations in April and will be aired on Alabama Public Television’s IQ channel on June 20 at 10 p.m., and June 21 at 3 a.m. It also was featured at Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham last fall, and screened at the University of South Alabama.
Douglas Newman, producer of the documentary, said the film is the result of a classroom challenge while he was attending Brandeis.
“I was assigned ('Little Tree') in college for a psychology class, and my father mentioned to me that he remembered it being a hoax, so I mentioned it to my professor, and he kind blew me off, saying it was never proven,” he said.
Newman mentioned that exchange to another professor who had lived in Montgomery and had interviewed Carter when he was in high school.
Newman did his research and wrote a project about it, then set aside the topic for several years. After graduation, he worked for ABC News Productions and did documentaries for several cable channels.
He decided to come back to the story of Carter because of how “complex” Carter was. The film’s executive producer is Laura Browder, who he met while at Brandeis, where she had been working on a book about false ethnic autobiographies.
In October 1991, the New York Times published a piece exposing how Asa and Forrest Carter — who also wrote “The Outlaw Josey Wales” — were the same person, and his new first name had come from Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Newman said knowledge of the connection between Asa and Forrest “goes through phases — people know, then people forget.” What he found in many instances was that people did not want to know who Carter really was.
In the film, he shows footage of Carter’s segregation days to friends who only knew him as Forrest in Texas. They were stunned to learn the truth about a person they thought they knew. “You got to see it in their head, making the connection,” Newman said.
While the film concentrated on his racism, Carter was “certainly anti-Semitic,” Newman said, but they did not have the time to go down that road in-depth in the film.
In the 1950s, he worked for WILD, a Birmingham radio station, with broadcasts sponsored by the States Rights Association. He was the favorite radio host of the White Citizens Council, but was eventually fired for being too anti-Semitic. Newman said Carter had blasted National Brotherhood Week, which promoted brotherhood with the Jewish community.
While the WCC was racist, Newman said, they were businessmen, and the businessmen felt they had to work with the Jewish community to be successful.
Carter “called them hypocrites and not true to the cause.” He would then start a rival group, which was the one responsible for the attack on Nat King Cole during a 1956 concert. He left that group two years later after shooting two members in a dispute over group finances.
While he had his radio show, Carter would go to pay phones following the show and make crank calls to local Jews.
According to his FBI file, Carter also had been in Jackson when the home of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum was bombed, and “left the next day, which was kind of convenient,” Newman said. Carter was never charged or even questioned, but Newman thinks he may have met some of those involved in the bombings of Nussbaum’s home and the synagogues in Jackson and Meridian.
As the 1960s progressed, Carter felt Wallace too had abandoned the cause, and ran against him for governor in 1970, coming in last in a five-man race. He then dropped out of view, reemerging as a new person, Forrest, a short time later in Texas, and denying he was Asa Carter.
At that point, Newman said, Carter probably didn’t know what he really believed, and it is an open question as to which Carter was really him — the sensitive autobiographer or the virulent racist. “Everyone has their own interpretations… we don’t pretend to have the answer.” Newman believes he was a genuine racist and anti-Semite, who later tried to reinvent himself by passing as non-white.
Carter died in 1979 and is buried near Anniston.
Newman said it is remarkable “that an anti-Semite can write a book with a kindly Jewish peddler as one of the characters, and really pull it off.
“A screenwriter could never write this story and have people believe it.”
Years later, Forrest Carter became a celebrated author for his “true story” sensitive portrayal of a Cherokee boy who is orphaned at age 5, “The Education of Little Tree.” It topped the New York Times bestseller list in 1991, 15 years after it was originally published. The book was lavished with praise for authentically portraying the Native American experience and being a sensitive multicultural and environmental work.
How, then, can it be that both Carters are really the same person? His greatest story, “one he never told,” is the subject of “The Reconstruction of Asa Carter,” which premiered on public television stations in April and will be aired on Alabama Public Television’s IQ channel on June 20 at 10 p.m., and June 21 at 3 a.m. It also was featured at Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham last fall, and screened at the University of South Alabama.
Douglas Newman, producer of the documentary, said the film is the result of a classroom challenge while he was attending Brandeis.
“I was assigned ('Little Tree') in college for a psychology class, and my father mentioned to me that he remembered it being a hoax, so I mentioned it to my professor, and he kind blew me off, saying it was never proven,” he said.
Newman mentioned that exchange to another professor who had lived in Montgomery and had interviewed Carter when he was in high school.
Newman did his research and wrote a project about it, then set aside the topic for several years. After graduation, he worked for ABC News Productions and did documentaries for several cable channels.
He decided to come back to the story of Carter because of how “complex” Carter was. The film’s executive producer is Laura Browder, who he met while at Brandeis, where she had been working on a book about false ethnic autobiographies.
In October 1991, the New York Times published a piece exposing how Asa and Forrest Carter — who also wrote “The Outlaw Josey Wales” — were the same person, and his new first name had come from Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Newman said knowledge of the connection between Asa and Forrest “goes through phases — people know, then people forget.” What he found in many instances was that people did not want to know who Carter really was.
In the film, he shows footage of Carter’s segregation days to friends who only knew him as Forrest in Texas. They were stunned to learn the truth about a person they thought they knew. “You got to see it in their head, making the connection,” Newman said.
While the film concentrated on his racism, Carter was “certainly anti-Semitic,” Newman said, but they did not have the time to go down that road in-depth in the film.
In the 1950s, he worked for WILD, a Birmingham radio station, with broadcasts sponsored by the States Rights Association. He was the favorite radio host of the White Citizens Council, but was eventually fired for being too anti-Semitic. Newman said Carter had blasted National Brotherhood Week, which promoted brotherhood with the Jewish community.
While the WCC was racist, Newman said, they were businessmen, and the businessmen felt they had to work with the Jewish community to be successful.
Carter “called them hypocrites and not true to the cause.” He would then start a rival group, which was the one responsible for the attack on Nat King Cole during a 1956 concert. He left that group two years later after shooting two members in a dispute over group finances.
While he had his radio show, Carter would go to pay phones following the show and make crank calls to local Jews.
According to his FBI file, Carter also had been in Jackson when the home of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum was bombed, and “left the next day, which was kind of convenient,” Newman said. Carter was never charged or even questioned, but Newman thinks he may have met some of those involved in the bombings of Nussbaum’s home and the synagogues in Jackson and Meridian.
As the 1960s progressed, Carter felt Wallace too had abandoned the cause, and ran against him for governor in 1970, coming in last in a five-man race. He then dropped out of view, reemerging as a new person, Forrest, a short time later in Texas, and denying he was Asa Carter.
At that point, Newman said, Carter probably didn’t know what he really believed, and it is an open question as to which Carter was really him — the sensitive autobiographer or the virulent racist. “Everyone has their own interpretations… we don’t pretend to have the answer.” Newman believes he was a genuine racist and anti-Semite, who later tried to reinvent himself by passing as non-white.
Carter died in 1979 and is buried near Anniston.
Newman said it is remarkable “that an anti-Semite can write a book with a kindly Jewish peddler as one of the characters, and really pull it off.
“A screenwriter could never write this story and have people believe it.”
Rabbi Michelle Goldsmith judging at the Kosher Barbecue Contest in May.
Rabbi Michelle Goldsmith of Birmingham’s Temple Beth-El announced on Sunday that the coming year would be her last with the congregation.
She made the announcement at the end of the congregation’s annual meeting. Goldsmith arrived in Birmingham in the summer of 2009 after serving as associate rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota, Fla., where she also was president of the Sarasota-Manatee Rabbinic Association.
She graduated from the University of Judaism, now American Jewish University, before enrolling at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Upon ordination, she became associate rabbi of Beth Shalom Congregation in Jacksonville, Fla., before going to Sarasota.
The Conservative congregation with over 600 families is currently in the middle of a long-term strategic planning process, with parlor meetings and other forums anticipated later this year.
Rabbinic contracts typically have their beginning and end in mid-summer. The “searching season” generally runs from January to June.
Pictured: Oak Grove School, Prairieville, Alabama
A century ago, a 50th birthday celebration for a northern Jewish philanthropist would initiate a tremendous legacy for generations of African-Americans throughout the South. This month, a large-scale effort to preserve that legacy will be undertaken with the first-ever national Rosenwald Schools Conference, to be held at Tuskegee University in Alabama from June 14 to 16.
The conference, entitled “100 Years of Pride, Progress and Preservation” is presented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and numerous Alabama partners.
Tracy Hayes, field officer and project manager for the Rosenwald Schools Initiative, said “in this centennial year we decided we’d like to commemorate and celebrate the mission (of the schools) as well as educate people on how best they can preserve their school, their oral traditions.”
Over 5300 schools were built in 15 states in the Rosenwald Schools program. There were 405 Rosenwald Schools in Alabama, 639 in Mississippi, 442 in Louisiana and 127 in Florida. It is estimated that today no more than 15 percent of them are still standing, many in dilapidated condition. A handful have been restored and are being used for other purposes.
Birthday gift
Julius Rosenwald was president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. He was fascinated by Booker T. Washington, who headed what would eventually become Tuskegee University. Washington advocated economic and academic advancement as the first step toward equality, rather than direct confrontation of segregation.
On his 50th birthday, Rosenwald gave gifts to many of his favorite causes, including $25,000 to Tuskegee Institute. The gift was to fund grants to African-American teacher training institutes.
Washington had a goal of providing safe buildings for black students in rural areas. As it was, the few public school buildings for African Americans were substandard, and most classes were held in churches or other private buildings. Washington envisioned schools that would be built by the local black communities, then turned over to local governments and run with a vocational curriculum as part of the public school system.
In September 1912, Washington had $2800 remaining from Rosenwald’s gift, so he asked Rosenwald’s permission to use that money as a pilot project in school building.
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 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.
In 1917, Rosenwald organized the Julius Rosenwald Fund 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.
The program had grown so large that in 1920, the administration was moved from Tuskegee to Nashville, where Samuel Smith was hired to run the program. He developed school design plans of several sizes, which were seen as “a benchmark of modern design for educational facilities” and quickly copied for white schools.
The designs incorporated large banks of windows for natural light, breeze windows for ventilation and moveable partitions between rooms so the buildings could be used for larger school and community gatherings.
The Fund had numerous conditions communities had to meet. The site had to be at least two acres, with space for school gardens and a playground. Local communities had to match the Rosenwald funds in cash and in-kind donations. Tax funds were the largest source of support, followed by local African-Americans, and a small amount of support from whites.
The fund insisted on standards for a school year, so students would have more classroom time and their teachers could earn a decent salary.
By the late 1920s, it was apparent that local school boards often would not pay for adequate materials, so Rosenwald Libraries were started, first for Rosenwald schools, then for other African American and rural white schools. Rosenwald Radios were installed in classrooms to bring news and information, and school buses also were purchased by the fund.
By 1928, one in five rural schools for African-American students in the South was a Rosenwald School. The program gave African-Americans unprecedented access to education and a stronger sense of community pride in the segregated South.
Officially, the schools emphasized industrial education to assure whites that the social hierarchy would remain the same, while others used industrial education as a ruse, giving them cover to implement regular academics in the classrooms.
Rosenwald died in 1932, and it was announced that the program to build schools would end within a year. In the 1940s, the fund gave out its final grants and went out of business, as Rosenwald intended.
In all, Rosenwald provided more than $4.3 million in seed money to build the schools in 15 states. African-Americans themselves, many who were already struggling financially, raised over $4.7 million in the effort.
With the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision against racial segregation in schools, the Rosenwald schools started to close as desegregation was implemented through the region in the 1960s.
First-ever conference
The conference will celebrate the legacy of Rosenwald schools, engage the National Trust’s partners in an effort to save 100 Rosenwald schools and empower activists to save many more.
“For the past 10 years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Rosenwald Schools Initiative has been helping local organizations save Rosenwald Schools and preserve their rich legacies,” said John Hildreth, vice president, Eastern Field Services for the National Trust. “This conference provides an opportunity for Rosenwald School alumni and preservationists to share their rich and varied stories, network with each other, and learn more through educational workshops, documentary films, tours and poster presentations to preserve this important part of our nation’s story.”
About 500 delegates are expected to attend the conference.
The conference kicks off with an opening plenary at Tuskegee University Chapel on June 14 at 3:30 p.m. There will be remarks by National Trust officials and local representatives, and inspirational stories about Rosenwald and Washington.
The opening reception will be at Moton Field, the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, at 6 p.m. The field was built from 1940 to 1942 to train black pilots, with funding from the Rosenwald Fund.
On June 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. there will be a “school reunion like no other” for Rosenwald School alumni and enthusiasts. The closing plenary on June 16 at 10:30 a.m. will feature Nikki Giovanni, a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. She will discuss oral traditions spawned from African-American education and how to preserve the stories for future generations.
Classroom-style sessions the rest of the time will highlight history, preservation success stories, best practices in renovating, organizational development and fundraising, and preserving oral traditions.
A series of documentaries will be screened, and there will be optional walking and riding tours of the Tuskegee campus, civil rights sites in Montgomery and Selma, and tours to nearby Rosenwald schools.
Registration information is online here.
Other partners for the conference are the Alabama Historical Commission, Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, Alabama Black Heritage Council, City of Tuskegee, Macon County Commission, National Park Service, Tuskegee University, and the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center.
AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps will celebrate four years of activism in New Orleans with its first Partners in Justice Jazz Brunch this month.
AVODAH works to strengthen the Jewish community’s fight against poverty and the issues that cause poverty. Members serve on the staff of anti-poverty organizations, working on issues such as housing, education and health care.
During their year of service, AVODAH members live together and form a network of young people committed to social change and Jewish life. They receive a small stipend, and allow the non-profit organizations where they work to apply what otherwise would go to staff costs to serving the public. Thus far, the anti-poverty groups have been able to reallocate over $860,000 so they can accomplish more.
After participants finish their year of service, there is an alumni program, and over half of the New Orleans members who have finished their service are still living in New Orleans.
The June 24 brunch, which will be at 11 a.m. at the Tulane Hillel, will honor Carole Neff. Dani Levine, New Orleans director of AVODAH, said Neff “has been a bold leader in the Jewish community in New Orleans and an incredible role model for all of us.” A past president of the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana, Neff was the founding advisory council chair for AVODAH in New Orleans “and has dedicated the past four years to promoting the next generation of social change leaders in New Orleans, whose work for justice is rooted in and nourished by Jewish values.”
Tickets are $50, $30 for those under age 30. Those purchasing at levels of $90 or more will be listed in the program. Max Nathan is honorary chair.
AVODAH New Orleans is trying to access a challenge grant from the Clayton-Royer Family Foundation. All new and increased gifts to AVODAH New Orleans will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $15,000.
For tickets, click here.
AVODAH works to strengthen the Jewish community’s fight against poverty and the issues that cause poverty. Members serve on the staff of anti-poverty organizations, working on issues such as housing, education and health care.
During their year of service, AVODAH members live together and form a network of young people committed to social change and Jewish life. They receive a small stipend, and allow the non-profit organizations where they work to apply what otherwise would go to staff costs to serving the public. Thus far, the anti-poverty groups have been able to reallocate over $860,000 so they can accomplish more.
After participants finish their year of service, there is an alumni program, and over half of the New Orleans members who have finished their service are still living in New Orleans.
The June 24 brunch, which will be at 11 a.m. at the Tulane Hillel, will honor Carole Neff. Dani Levine, New Orleans director of AVODAH, said Neff “has been a bold leader in the Jewish community in New Orleans and an incredible role model for all of us.” A past president of the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana, Neff was the founding advisory council chair for AVODAH in New Orleans “and has dedicated the past four years to promoting the next generation of social change leaders in New Orleans, whose work for justice is rooted in and nourished by Jewish values.”
Tickets are $50, $30 for those under age 30. Those purchasing at levels of $90 or more will be listed in the program. Max Nathan is honorary chair.
AVODAH New Orleans is trying to access a challenge grant from the Clayton-Royer Family Foundation. All new and increased gifts to AVODAH New Orleans will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $15,000.
For tickets, click here.
The Louisiana legislature passed a House concurrent resolution by Rep. Valarie Hodges of the East Baton Rouge area that “expresses support for the people of Israel and for their right to live in freedom and to defend themselves and extends best wishes to the people of Israel for peace, security and prosperity.”
The resolution was adopted on May 8 and sent to the Senate, where it passed 36-0. It was sent to the Secretary of State on May 24.
A Senate resolution, by Sen. A.G. Crowe of Slidell and Rep. Hodges, urges and requests “the President of the United States to maintain steadfast support for the State of Israel and express vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders.”
The Senate resolution details the Jewish community’s history in Louisiana dating back to the early 18th century, with the first congregation — Gates of Mercy — founded in 1828.
The Senate bill passed 30-0 on May 10 and was sent to the Secretary of State’s office on May 21 after being passed by the House.
The resolution was adopted on May 8 and sent to the Senate, where it passed 36-0. It was sent to the Secretary of State on May 24.
A Senate resolution, by Sen. A.G. Crowe of Slidell and Rep. Hodges, urges and requests “the President of the United States to maintain steadfast support for the State of Israel and express vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders.”
The Senate resolution details the Jewish community’s history in Louisiana dating back to the early 18th century, with the first congregation — Gates of Mercy — founded in 1828.
The Senate bill passed 30-0 on May 10 and was sent to the Secretary of State’s office on May 21 after being passed by the House.
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