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VOL.77 NO. 12June 22, 20122 Tammuz 5772

theJewish

inside:Cohn Moreau wins prize inAJWS design competition 2

Nashville Jewish Film Festival makes selections 3

JFS adds fresh vegetables,fruits to kosher food box 9

PJ Library marks 3 millionth book 10

SectionsLifecycles 9Around the town 10

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Coupon IssueSee page 5

By Kathy Carlson

Perhaps the first thing visi-tors to Akiva School’sHassenfeld Chapel will seefrom now on is a colorfultree of life, growing fromspiky and shiny blades of

glass and showing what makes theschool unique.

The tree is a large mosaic, four feetsquare, displayed on the back wall andfacing the ark and Torah. This year’seight Akiva graduates, guided byNashville artist Yvette Renee Parrish-Cowden, crafted the mosaic over manyafter-school sessions. The students –Brandon Coleman, Naomi Horn, ZoeLewis, Marissa Lipschutz, SamOppenheimer, Frances Palumbo, ItzikSedek and Yoni Taeedkashani - pre-sented the mosaic as their gift to Akivaon their graduation day, May 31.

“In the beginning, none of usreally knew what it was going to looklike,” said Marissa Lipschutz. The 6thgraders were confused, but as morepieces of tile fell in place, it lookedmore realistic, she said.

There was still a little confusioneven when the piece was completed,but “once it was on the wall, we allloved it,” Marissa said.

When the artwork was unveiled atgraduation, Naomi Horn said, “therewas a moment (when I thought) didmy class actually make that?”

The graduates’ parents had com-missioned Parrish-Cowden to designand help the students create a mosaicthat embodied the seven middot orvalues that Akiva works to instill.

Continued on page 2

All the pieces come together inAkiva graduates’ gift to the school

Front, from left: Naomi Horn, Marissa Lipschutz, Zoe Lewis, Frances Palumbo. Back,from left: Yoni Taeedkashani, Itzik Sedek, Brandon Coleman, Sam Oppenheimer

Federation’s Community RelationsCommittee. His talk was titled “TheArab Spring – One Year Later.”

He covered the rise of theMuslim Brotherhood in Egypt’s post-revolution politics, unrest in Sinai,what will happen to stores of chemi-cal weapons in Syria, Iran’s dancewith the West on uranium enrich-ment and nuclear capabilities, the sit-uation in Jordan, and overall, howthis unrest affects Israel. Fluent inArabic, he has spent considerabletime on the ground in the Arabiccountries of the Middle East.

Barfi, currently a research fellowat the New America Foundation,

noted that Egyptian Islamists arehurling hostile words against Israel,accusing it of breaching the CampDavid accords by failing to giveautonomy to the West Bank andGaza, for example. But Egypt’s econ-omy is in bad shape, with no tourismor outside investment to speak of anddwindling reserves of the foreign cur-rency it uses to trade with othernations. It has been reluctant toaccept a $3 billion-plus loan from theInternational Monetary Fund andmore than $1 billion in military aidfrom the United States is in jeopardy.

The fragile economic situation Continued on page 12

By Kathy Carlson

From Egypt to Syria to Iran,the Middle East’s landscapeis fraught with problemsthat Israel should addresswith restraint and an eyeon the long term, a Middle

East scholar and journalist told about140 people at the Gordon JewishCommunity Center.

Barak Barfi spoke on June 21 aspart of the series “Increase Your IsraelIQ: From Argument to Advocacy,”funded by a grant from the JewishFederation of Nashville’s NewInitiatives Fund and organized by the

Scholar paints a bleak picture of the turmoil in the Middle East

2 June 22, 2012 The Observer

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All the pieces come together in Akiva graduates’ gift Continued from page 1

Parrish-Cowden offered three differ-ent designs, but “this one was my favorite,the middot growing within the tree.” Shedonated stained glass; Marissa’s father, JayLipschutz, provided technical work tocolor some of the tiles that made up thesky; and Werthan Granite and Lowe’shome improvement store donated brokentiles that the students shattered for themosaic’s raw materials.

The students worked for severalafternoons after school, placing tiles inthe spots Parrish-Cowden had sketchedout on base of the piece. Parents broughtsnacks, helped with supervision and keptthe students on track, parent NaomiLimor Sedek said. Each year, graduatingstudents present a gift to the school, and

the mosaic was this year’s gift.“We mainly placed things down and

made color decisions,” Marissa said. “It was really fun to make,” Naomi

Horn said. “We had to take tiles andsmash them. We put them into a pillowcase covered with a towel and hit it witha hammer.” She smashed a $1 goldenyellow plate that became the sun behindthe tree of life.

“It was a lot like a puzzle but theonly thing was, we didn’t have a box tomake it from. We had the sketch on theboard and our mind and our thoughts,”said Naomi. Not all of the studentsworked on the piece at the same time, sothey saw the work gradually emerge asothers worked on it, she said.

“It was really cool seeing them worktogether and see it come through,” saidBobbi Lipschutz, Marissa’s mother.

The seven middot – Torah, learning,respect, the Jewish people, community,responsibility and spirit – are spelled outin Hebrew at the tree’s roots and alongits branches. At the base of the tree is

responsibility, and at the top are theJewish people and spirit, Parrish-Cowden said.

“The Akiva Middot are the valuesthat drive our school,” said DaniellaPressner, Akiva’s director of Judaic stud-ies. They “are what we value in our chil-drens’ education and what we strive tobuild.” Wherever Akiva students contin-ue their education, she said, “peoplespeak about specific middot that shinethrough each student.”

On the day of graduation, Parrish-Cowden was at the Gordon JewishCommunity Center preparing an exhibitof her works and those of her husband.She wasn’t able to attend the graduationand unveiling of the mosaic that inte-grates, she says, “probably a couple thou-sand pieces of stained glass and tile.”

“I just feel it’s very special, full of pos-itive energy. … I hope that piece servesthe middot and people will feel that ener-gy when they walk into the room,”Parrish-Cowden said. As I told the chil-dren, I believe in the same values.” c

By Kathy Carlson

Nashville software engi-neer Michael CohnMoreau was one ofthree grand prize win-ners in the AmericanJewish World Service’s

recent design competition, whichinvolved rethinking tzedakah boxes forthe 21st century. He won in theWeb/Interactive category with the con-cept of “Discover Needs” tags for grocerystore products. The tags would be placedon a supermarket shelf near a specificproduct and would include a QR codeand short caption linking a social issuewith the product.

For example, someone buying insectrepellant could scan the QR code tolearn about malaria in the developingworld, AJWS said in a news release.Then, the shopper would be directedimmediately to learning about nonprofitorganizations that are working to fightmalaria, and could choose to donateright then and there, or to save the infor-mation and learn more later. Other pos-sible combinations would be sunscreenand cancer research, baby food and mal-nutrition. “The charities are thetzedakah boxes themselves,” CohnMoreau said.

Cohn Moreau and Nashville nurseElizabeth Traugott recently married, andhe told AJWS that she indirectlyinspired him to enter the competition.“She recently converted to Judaism andin order to be supportive, I went alongwith her to her conversion classes,” hesaid. “One of the classes focused on therole of tzedakah and tikkun olam and itreally struck a chord with me. I made apledge to donate to one charity a month

and look for opportunities to volunteer.When I stumbled on this contest Ithought it was a great way to explorethese topics further.”

Much charitable giving is doneonline these days, through specificweb sites and through Facebook.Discover Needs tags would dovetailinto this trend. Other categories inthe contest were tzedakah boxes them-selves and a broad category called“Out of the Box” for projects that did-n’t fit the two more specific categories.There were grand prize winners in allthree categories.

“We’re really excited and everyone Itell is really excited that he won,” hiswife, Elizabeth, said.

Part of the grand prize broughtMichael and Elizabeth to New Yorkthis month to receive the award, seeother entries and meet other awardwinners and AJWS staff. Michael alsowon $2,500 and an opportunity to trav-el with AJWS to visit some of its part-ners in the developing world.Additionally, the grand prize winners’designs and those of the six finalistswill be featured in a national mobiletour hosted in galleries, synagogues andvarious communal spaces.

“I wanted something practical andinexpensive in addition to driving dona-tions,” Cohn Moreau said. ImplementingDiscover Needs tags wouldn’t cost gro-

cery stores anything, he said. Expenseswould be incurred from printing tags,distributing them to stores and setting upa website with information about thenonprofits. “I learned a lot just comingup with the design.”

Note: AJWS is an internationaldevelopment and human rights organiza-tion, based in New York. Inspired byJudaism’s commitment to justice, itworks to realize human rights and endpoverty in the developing world. c

Cohn Moreau wins grand prize in AJWS design competition

Michael Cohn Moreau shows how his Discover Needs tags would work in a display at theAmerican Jewish World Service's event in New York this month for winners of its "Where DoYou Give" competition. Moreau took grand prize in the Web/interactive category.

The Observer June 22, 2012 3

The 2012 Nashville JewishFilm Festival (NJFF) willbe held from Nov. 7 – 15and planning for the line-up is well under way.

Here are a few of thefilms already slated for this year’s festival:

Hava Nagila, NJFF’s Opening Nightfilm, is a charming and entertaining docu-mentary about the song “Hava Nagila”that questions who wrote it and how it hasbecome a fixture at every Jewish event.

Nicky’s Family is NJFF”s religiousschool screening. The film is the story of

Sir Nicholas Winton, who as a youngman organized and funded a kindertrans-port from Czechoslovakia and saved morethan 600 Jewish children by finding themhomes in England. He never spoke aboutwhat he did and it was quite by accidentthat his mitzvah was discovered.

Dorfman, a comedy starring ElliotGould and Sara Rue and written byWendy Karp, tells the story of DebDorfman. Deb, who is always searchingfor the perfect date, falls for a foreigncorrespondent who is glamorous andexciting. It takes some life experiences

to get her to stand on her feet and realizethat the perfect guy is right next to her.

Little Rose is the story of the 1968ill-fated rebellion when anyone with pro-Zionist feelings was forced out of Poland.Told as a fictionalized account of a Jewishcollege professor and the lovely youngwoman forced to spy on him.

Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom is adocumentary about the life of screen leg-end Tony Curtis (father of actress JamieLee Curtis) and his rise from Brooklynbad boy to a matinee idol. This will bethe Thursday matinee shown on Nov. 8.

AKA DOC POMUS. Doc Pomuswrote songs for Elvis, songs that every-one remembers and dances to including,“Save the Last Dance for Me,” “MagicMemories” and a host of others. BornJerome Felder, he was a disabled kid fromBrooklyn who ended up in theSongwriters Hall of Fame.

In addition, this year will be the firstpreschool screening co-sponsored by thePJ Library and NJFF. All films will beshown at the Belcourt Theatre or at theGJCC. For more information, go towww.nashvillejff.org. c

Nashville Jewish Film Festival makes screening selections

The winner of the firstannual 2012 GJCCKehillah Award will beannounced at the GJCC’sannual meeting on July17. In the spirit of the

Ralph Shepard Memorial Award, theKehillah Award is presented by theGJCC to honor teens who have devotedtheir spirit, leadership and dedication tothe Nashville Jewish community.

High school seniors were nominatedfor the award by Nashville’s Jewish youthgroup leaders and education directors. Thewinners will be chosen in an anonymousselection process by a committee of formerRalph Shepard Memorial Award winners.

The 11 high school seniors nomi-nated are:

Madi Abelson: CongregationMicah, University School of Nashville;Sarah Baum: Congregation Micah, TheHarpeth Hall School; Leah Caplan: TheTemple - Congregation Ohabai Shalom,

The Harpeth Hall School; Anna Cone:The Temple Congregation OhabaiShalom, University School of Nashville;Emma Drongowski: CongregationMicah, Franklin High School; Ross Levy:The Temple - Congregation Ohabai

GJCC teen Kehillah Award recipient to be announced July 17

(JTA) — Alice Walker, author ofThe Color Purple, refused to authorize aHebrew translation of her prize-winningwork, citing what she called Israel’s“apartheid.”

In a June 9 letter to Yediot Books,Walker said she would not allow an Israelihouse to publish the book because “Israelis guilty of apartheid and persecution ofthe Palestinian people, both inside Israeland also in the Occupied Territories.”

In her letter, posted recently by thePalestinian Campaign for the Academicand Cultural Boycott of Israel on its web-site, Walker supported the boycott,

divestment and sanctions movementand offered her hope that the BDSmovement “will have enough of animpact on Israeli civilian society tochange the situation.”

It was not clear when Yediot Books,an imprint of the daily Yediot Achronotnewspaper, made the authorizationrequest, or whether Walker could in factstop translation of the book. At least oneversion of the book has already appearedin Hebrew translation, in the 1980s.

Walker said Israel's policies were“worse” than the segregation she sufferedas an American youth and said South

Africans had told her it was worse thanApartheid.

“The Color Purple,” which won the1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, wasadapted into a movie in 1985 directed byJewish filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

The novel and the film, which wasnominated for 11 Oscars, treat racism inthe American South in the first part ofthe 20th century and sexism amongblacks.

Walker has intensified her anti-Israel activism in recent years, travelingto the Gaza Strip to advocate on behalfof the Palestinians. c

Walker refuses to authorize Hebrew version of ‘The Color Purple’

Shalom, University School of Nashville;Alex Metzman: West End Synagogue,University School of Nashville; WhitneyPerlen: West End Synagogue, UniversitySchool of Nashville; Lesley Schiffman:The Temple - Congregation Ohabai

Shalom, Hume-Fogg Academic HighSchool; Zachary Snyder: The Temple -Congregation Ohabai Shalom,University School of Nashville; andJodie Weil: West End Synagogue,University School of Nashville. c

4 June 22, 2012 The Observer

President Obama presents thePresidential Medal of Freedom toIsraeli President Shimon Peres in theEast Room of the White House inWashington, June 13, 2012. (Amos Ben

Gershom/ GPO/Flash90/JTA)

By Debra Rubin

WASHINGTON (JTA) – HebrewNational boasts of “answering to a high-er authority,” but several class-actionlawyers are hoping to take one of thecountry’s largest kosher meat producersto an earthly court.

A class-action lawsuit filed recentlyalleges that Hebrew National’s iconichot dogs and other meats do not comportwith the brand’s claim to be kosher “asdefined by the most stringent Jews whofollow Orthodox Jewish law.” The suitfiled May 18 in a Minnesota state court

accuses ConAgra Foods, Inc., whichowns the Hebrew National brand, ofconsumer fraud.

ConAgra, which has rejected theclaims unequivocally, asked on June 6that the suit be moved to the U.S.District Court for the District ofMinnesota. The company has until July13 to respond to the complaint.

Lawyers from firms in Scottsdale,Ariz.; Long Beach, Calif.; andMinneapolis, Minn., submitted the com-plaint on behalf of 11 named plaintiffs.

The lead attorney for the plaintiffs,Hart L. Robinovitch of ZimmermanReed, is based in Scottsdale but his firmhas offices in Minnesota. Robinovitchwould not say how the suit was initiated.

Zimmerman Reed, however, solicit-ed consumers through its website, wherea page until recently announced aHebrew National investigation.

“Our firm has received troublingreports that some slaughterhouse plantssupplying Hebrew National with its beefmay not be upholding the strict kosherstandards Hebrew National promises,”the page stated. “Workers are threatenedwith losing their job, or demotion, ifthey speak up and try to point out viola-tions of the kosher food laws.”

The firm advertised a free casereview for anyone who purchasedHebrew National hot dogs in the pasttwo years or had information about thepreparation of the products.

“The lawsuit contends thatConAgra marketed, labeled and sold

Hebrew National according to thestrictest standards defined by OrthodoxJews. We allege that it does not meetthose standards,” Robinovitch said.“We’re certainly not alleging that they’reusing pork products, or anything as bla-tant as that.”

The lawsuit’s 11 named plaintiffslive in various states, includingCalifornia, Minnesota, New York andArizona. JTA was unable to reach any ofthe individuals.

The suit, which was reported origi-nally by the American Jewish Worldnewspaper, is seeking monetary damagesequal to the total amount of monies thatconsumers in the class paid for HebrewNational meat products.

Triangle-K, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based supervising agency that certifiesHebrew National products as kosherand the company that processes thekosher meat, also unequivocally reject-ed the allegations and contended thatdisgruntled former employees might bebehind them.

Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag, who ownsTriangle-K, said in a statement that theclaims in the lawsuit were “outrageouslyfalse and defamatory.”

He added, “Those who make thefalse allegations know full well thatbecause their identities are concealedand their false statements are made in acourt pleading, Triangle-K and its princi-pals cannot sue them for defamation.”

AER, which provides the kosherslaughtering services at HebrewNational facilities in the Midwest,including in Minnesota, rejected thecharges as well. “The company intendsto defend its reputation and good name,”AER’s president, Shlomo Ben-David,said in a statement.

Teresa Paulson, a ConAgraspokesperson, said she could not com-ment on pending litigation, but that thecompany stood by Hebrew National’skosher status.

Neither AER nor Triangle-K isnamed as a defendant in the suit.

Triangle-K has been supervisingHebrew National products since 2004.The Conservative movement acceptsthe Triangle-K kashrut certification.

Kosher consumers choose amonghundreds of companies nationwide as towhich certifications they trust.

There are about 750 Orthodoxkosher certifying organizations in theUnited States, according to Rabbi YosefWikler, editor of Kashrus magazine,which also maintains a website for non-Orthodox certifiers.

“Almost no kosher organizationaccepts 100 percent of any other kosherorganization 100 percent of the time,”Wikler said.

The suit, which does not attributethe allegations to anyone by name,alleges that the Hebrew National brandwas not, as the company advertises,kosher “as defined by the most stringentJews who follow Orthodox law.” Asresult, plaintiffs, who paid a premium

price “believing the kosher title and cer-tification made them a higher qualityproduct than other meat products on themarket” were “deprived of the value ofthe goods they purchased,” the com-plaint states.

Among the suit’s allegations:• Knives used in the slaughtering

process were nicked, preventinga clean cut mandated by kosherlaw;

• Organ meat was not consistentlyinspected after slaughter, asrequired for kashrut;

• The blood of slaughtered ani-mals was not consistentlyremoved within 72 hours, asrequired by kosher law;

• Managers took certificates thathad been issued to trainedslaughterers and replaced theirnames with individuals who hadnot been trained;

• Kosher meat was not consistent-ly kept separate from non-koshermeat.

In his statement, Ralbag said, pointby point, that all the allegations are false.

The suit also alleges that workers atsome AER facilities, including in St.Paul, Minn., kept kosher, but would noteat the Hebrew National products.Those workers, according to the com-plaint, were allowed to purchase meatsfrom “specifically selected cows [that]would be slaughtered and checked instrict accordance with all kosher laws,unlike the cows that routinely slaugh-tered for sale to Defendant and use inHebrew National Products.”

AER said the allegation is mislead-ing. According to AER, employees whoeat only glatt kosher were provided meatto comply with their personal preferences.

Glatt is a higher standard of kosherand means that the lungs of the slaugh-tered animal are free of any blemishes. Ifthe lungs are blemished, the meat is stillconsidered kosher, but not glatt.Triangle-K does not claim that the prod-ucts it certifies are glatt kosher.

Additionally, the suit alleges thatemployees involved in the kosherslaughtering process complained to AERsupervisor Rabbi Moshe Fyzakov andRalbag, but those officials “did little ornothing to correct the transgressions.Rather, the persons making the com-plaints were terminated or otherwisethreatened with adverse retaliation, suchas job transfers to other facilities orstates. In turn, non-kosher meat wasdelivered to ConAgra and packaged,labeled and sold to the public [includingthe plaintiffs in the lawsuit] as strictly100 percent kosher.”

A Triangle-K spokesman said,“Every complaint was followed up on,and no one was disciplined for making acomplaint.”

The spokesman also said it is “total-ly false” that non-kosher meat was deliv-ered to ConAgra to be sold as kosher andthat “We have clear distinctions inplace to prevent such happenings.” c

Hebrew National’s owner rejects suit’s claimthat products are not up to kosher standards

See what’s happening in the community. Go to www.jewishnashville.org

The Observer June 22, 2012 5

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lifecycles

GraduateRachel Rummel, daughter of

Laurie Rummel and granddaughter ofBettie and Irving Slotichiver, graduatedfrom Phoenix Country Day School onMay 31. Rachel, a National MeritFinalist and recipient of the MargaretMadden Senior Speech Award, gave theprincipal address for the graduatingclass of 58, with 20 of them NationalMerit Finalists and/or scholarship win-ners. Rachel will attend NortheasternUniversity in Boston, Mass., on a fullfour-year scholarship.

HonorsThe Nashville Area Chamber of

Commerce has announced the finalistsfor the 2012 Nashville Emerging LeadersAwards. Among them are: PhillipShmerling, Choice Food Group, in thecategory of hospitality and tourism; andJames Mackler, Bone, McAllester,Norton PLLC, in the legal category

Sympathy. . . to the family of Atreal Beatrice

Ceigler, 83, who died June 3 inRichmond, Ind. Born June 11, 1928, in

Tennessee, she is preceded in death byher husband, Alfred Ceigler; daughter,Edna Ruth Fietelson; parents, Charlesand Maggie Bohannon Bullard; fivebrothers and three sisters. Survived byson, Wayne Phelps of Richmond, Ind.;brother, Dr. Jesse Bullard of Texas; sis-ters, Patty Jones of Nashville andFrances Hanner of California; threegrandchildren and three great-grandchil-dren. Mrs. Ceigler lived in Nashvillemost of her life and retired from MetroGovernment in Nashville.

. . . to the family of TamsenDouglass Love of Atlanta who died June5. She is survived by her husband, JohnLariccia; children, John DouglassLariccia, Phoebe Katharine Lariccia,Thomas Albert Lariccia and KatherineMarsch Lariccia; father, William

Douglass Love; mother and step-father,Jean and Philip Roseman of Nashville;sister, Lydia Catherine Love; brother,Andrew Berrien Love. Contributionsmay be made to Atlanta Pet Rescue,4874 S. Atlanta Road, SE, Smyrna, GA30080. Online condolences may bemade at hmpattersonspringhill.com.

. . . to the family of Sidney W.Schatten, 91, who died June 21. Mr.Schatten is preceded in death by his wife,Delores Babin Schatten; parents, Maxand Sadie Silverman Schatten; brother,Emanuel Schatten; sister, CharlotteSchatten Morris. He is survived by hisdaughters, Suzanne Schatten Oppleman(Jeffrey) of Richmond, Va., RobinSchatten Mishkin (Joe) of Mobile, Ala.;grandchildren, Brian Mishkin, ToddMishkin (Nicole), Staci Bedell (Brian)and Brooke Capoino (Anthony); great-grandchildren, Dean Bedell, Zoe Bedelland numerous loving nieces and nephews,and great nieces and nephews. Mr.Schatten attended public school andgraduated from Hume Fogg in 1938. He

Nashville attorney Marlene Eskind Moses, founder and managing partner of Moses Townsend& Russ, PLLC (also known as MTR Family Law), recently received the 2012 DistinguishedAlumna Award from the Newcomb Alumnae Association at Tulane University. The award rec-ognizes Moses, a 1972 graduate of Tulane, for her many academic and professional accom-plishments. The award was presented to Moses in the annual Under the Oaks ceremony, host-ed by the Newcomb College Institute during Tulane University’s commencement week.Members of the Moses family are, from left: Ben and Marissa Moses Russ, Bob and MarleneEskind Moses, Elaine and Edward Eskind. Photo: Cheryl Gerber

Jewish Family Service has beenproviding nutritious, non-perish-able food boxes to individualsand families in need since 2009.Each food box contains certifiedkosher items that have beenapproved by a rabbi and a dieti-cian. JFS has wanted to include

fresh vegetables and fruits but due to theperishable nature of these foods, it hasnot been feasible until now.

JFS has partnered with IsaacStaton, the owner of a local vegetablestand on Highway 70 and PercyWarner, to provide recipients with afood voucher. Each family receives avoucher when they pick up themonthly food box that can beredeemed at the vegetable stand. Thefamily then selects which items theywant to purchase.

The partnership between Jewish

Family Service and Isaac Staton hasbeen a success. Food recipients havereported that they are delighted to beable to choose fresh vegetables andfruits and have been happy with thequality of food items offered. Statonoffers a variety of items such as squash,zucchini, tomatoes, onions, potatoes,okra, corn, cantaloupe, watermelon,oranges and peaches from local farms.The vegetable stand is open from 10a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Sundaythrough October.

In addition to the fresh vegetablesand fruit, food box recipients continue toreceive three frozen vegetables through-out the year.

If you are in need of food assistance,contact Toni Jacobsen at 354-1672 ortljlcsw@aol.com.

For more information about JFS, callPam Kelner at 354-1644. c

JFS adds fresh vegetables and fruits to kosher food box

Isaac Staton is accepting food vouchers for fresh fruits and vegetables from JFS kosher foodbox recipients.

also attended Andrew Jackson University,and completed a cost accounting courseat Vanderbilt University in 1942. Mr.Schatten was in the Armed Forces forfour years. He was a Master Sargeant inthe Army Air Corps assigned to the1341st base unit, 1359th base unit, andthe 1350th wing headquarters overseas inChina and India. He was an operationsand administrative specialist in the move-ment of the Chinese Army from Burmaand North China to East China. Whilewith the 1341st and 1359th base units, hesupervised the weights and balances oftroop transfers, and transports flying gas,bombs and troops from India over thehump to China. Mr. Schatten was in thewholesale shoe business from 1950 to1971, when he joined Schatten PropertiesReal Estate and Development Companyowned by his brother, Emanuel Schatten,as a partner and member of the board. Mr.Schatten was also a member of TheTemple, West End Synagogue andMasonic Lodge. Memorial contributionsmay be made to Alive Hospice, 1718Patterson St., 37203.

To access the Community Calendar,go to www.jewishnashville.org and click on “Calendar.” Every community event is listed for your convenience.

10 June 22, 2012 The Observer

MARSHALL-DONNELLY-COMBS FUNERAL HOME327-1111

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around the townIsraeli dancing

The Nashville Israeli Folk Dancersmeet every Thursday evening at theSchulman Center for Jewish Life (acrossfrom Memorial Gym) at VanderbiltUniversity. Warm-up and beginnersdances are 7:30-8:30 p.m. Intermediate-advanced dancing and requests are from8:30-10. Stay for all or part of the time,and attend any or all of the sessions. Noprevious dance experience is required.For more information, please CarolRubin at 352-9447 (Carol.Rubin@van-derbilt.edu) or Sharon Morrow at 662-4881 (smorrow@wswcpasnashville.com)or visit the website at www.vanderbilt.edu/israelidance/

GJCC splashball and water polo

The GJCC Aquatics Departmentsplashball program for 5-13 year olds anda water polo program for teens and adults

have openings. Water polo has beenadded as a varsity sport in high schoolsthroughout Tennessee. Splashball is awater polo program for children whichhelps them to develop water safety skills,build endurance and muscle tone, culti-vates health and wellness, provides socialinteraction and helps build relationships.Splashball is going on now through July19 on Tuesdays from 6 – 7:30 p.m. andThursdays from 1 – 2 p.m. Water Polo isalso scheduled through July 19 and takesplace Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30 –8 p.m. through July 19. Contact YvonneHall with questions or to sign up atyvonne@nashvillejcc.org.

By Uriel Heilman

NEW YORK — PJ Library wants tocome between parents and children —literally.

Every month, PJ Library mails freeJewish-themed children’s books to near-ly 100,000 households in North Americawith a grand ambition: that somewherebetween Dr. Seuss and the BerenstainBears, a child may turn to a book likeVivian Newman’s Ella’s Trip to Israel orLaurel Snyder’s Baxter, the Pig WhoWanted to Be Kosher, and spark a Jewishdiscussion in a household that doesn’thave enough of them.

“The conversations that take placein the home between parents and chil-dren, and parents among themselves, isone of the most important byproducts ofthis program,” said PJ Library’s director,Marcie Greenfield Simons. “We’re help-ing Jews on the periphery take those firstbaby steps to being welcomed by theJewish community.”

Currently, 254 Nashville-area fami-lies participate in the PJ Library, saidMelissa Sostrin, local program coordina-tor. Children from six months old to age5½ can join the program and receive 11books and either a CD or DVD eachyear, free of charge. The program is opento all families raising Jewish children inthis age group, regardless of synagogueaffiliation or level of participation inJewish events.

The program, she said, not onlyopens up opportunities for parents to talkwith their children about Jewish topics,but also opens doors for parents towardJudaism and the community. The booksare “just little things to nudge peopletoward conversations, action, connec-tion with other families,” Sostrin said.

The PJ Library is available inNashville with the local support of theJewish Federation of Nashville, GordonJewish Community Center Early

Childhood Learning Center, MicahChildren’s Academy and the TemplePreschool. It is funded through aFederation Next Generation grant aspart of the Best Jewish Nashville priori-ty-setting project.

Nationally, PJ Library can providebooks to children up to age 8, andSostrin said the Nashville program hopesto extend eligibility to age 8 as well.

In the past seven years, the nationalPJ Library organization has helped pub-lish more than 200 titles that have filledkids’ shelves in 175 North Americancommunities, become a force in the pub-lishing industry through its mass pur-chases and spawned two similar programsin Hebrew — one in Israel and one forthe children of Israelis living in theUnited States.

This month, the organization is setto send out its 3 millionth freely distrib-uted book.

For Harold Grinspoon, the 82-year-old real estate mogul and Jewish philan-thropist from Massachusetts who found-ed the program, PJ Library is about morethan just books. It’s meant to be a portalto Jewish life. “What kind of an educa-tional process are we getting with thesekids?” Grinspoon said. “How much arethey loving Judaism? Are they bakingchallahs? Are they dancing and singingand enjoying the joys of Judaism?”

PJ Library said most of its recipientshail from households where there werefewer than 10 Jewish books before thedeliveries began.

That figure is from a 2010 PJ Libraryemail survey of more than 16,000 recipi-ent households that also showed that 26percent of respondents were interfaithfamilies, 32 percent were not synagogueaffiliated and one-third saying they wereunlikely or only somewhat likely to readJewish content if not for PJ Library.

About three-quarters of respondentssaid they read the books at least once a

Nashville families read along as PJ Library marks 3 millionth bookweek, and the vast majority said it madethem feel or think about being Jewish.

The books, which are chosen by aselection committee of educators andeditors, run the gamut from explicitlyJewish to barely so.

The themes reflect the personalpredilections of the program’s founder,who puts a premium on stories promot-ing tikkun olam (repairing the world),Jewish summer camp, visiting Israel andcontemporary families enjoyingJudaism.Each age group receives its ownage-appropriate books, and all the booksinclude a parents’ guide for further dis-cussion or activity.

The $100 or so per-household cost ofsending a year’s worth of PJ products —11 books and one CD — is split betweenthe Grinspoon Foundation and the com-munity institutions. The institutions alsohelp market the program to new familiesand run community events around thebooks, including pajama Havdalah par-

ties, holiday concerts and intergenera-tional book readings at senior homes.

Keeping the program free for recipi-ents is the key, PJ officials say, thoughrecipients are asked after a year or two inthe program if they’d like to “pay it for-ward” and make a donation to fundbooks for someone else.

“The idea that this is a gift from theJewish community is an important mes-sage that each family is getting: You’repart of something bigger,” saidGreenfield Simons, PJ’s director. Asbooks become increasingly digitized, PJLibrary said it is committed to stickingwith the old pulp-and-paper model.

“There’s something incredibly pow-erful about parents and children snug-gling together with a real book in theirhands,” Greenfield Simons said. “We’repretty wedded to this idea.” c

Observer staff writer Kathy Carlsoncontributed to this JTA report.

The Observer is now online!You can find the latest issue, past issues, plus streaming news

updates and links to Jewish organizations at

www.jewishobservernashville.orgNow you have a choice:

Read the print edition or read us online.

The Observer June 22, 2012 11

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12 June 22, 2012 The Observer

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN 2012

DOING A WORLD OF GOOD

“ Without the youth center, it would be

tough for me to keep in touch with my

peers, keep up with all the events in

Israel, all the traditions and celebrations

of Jewish holidays. “

Meet Alex

Discovering and embracing Jewish ancestry in Ukraine

Born and raised in Cherkassy, Ukraine, Alex did not grow up with a strong sense of Jewish iden ty, although he was aware that he came from a Jewish family. He found out about the Jewish Agency through his grandparents, who now live in Haifa. “They helped my grandparents get to Israel,” Alex explains. He began a ending events at the Jewish youth center in his hometown, where he learned about customs and holidays.

Thanks to support from Federa on, Alex has been able to pursue his interest in learning about Judaism, and eventually to get to Israel. “I went on a Birthright trip, which helped me realize the most that I belong there,” he says. “Before I rst came here, I knew I was Jewish, but the things I’ve learned and people I’ve met at the youth center really helped me realize it.” Having just graduated from university, Alex will soon travel to Israel again in order to spend ve months learning Hebrew.

Federa ons Make a Di erence

Everyone has a story. What happens next is up to all of us. They are our cousins and our grandparents, our neighbors and our long lost rela ves. They are our family. And whether here at home, overseas in over 70 countries around the world, or in Israel, Federa on will always be there to help the needy, respond to crisis and enrich Jewish life.

Help us make a world of di erence.

DONATE NOW at www.JewishNashville.org or use enclosed envelope in the brochure in this

issue of the Observer.

Scholar paints a bleak picture of the turmoil in the Middle East

Barak Barfi speaks with Mary Shelton, Joan Shayne and Betty Werthan Barak Barfi addressed 140 people on June 21. Photos: Judy Saks

Continued from page 1reduces the likelihood that Egypt will takehostile action against Israel, Barfi said.

Sinai, however, could pull Israeldown a “slippery slope” toward war, hesaid. Attacks on Israel from Sinai have

become more brazen, and in the latestattack, one of the Arab gunmen was aSaudi, he said, signaling the entry of for-

eign players into hostilities against Israelfrom Sinai.

“I’m not predicting war but there areproblems we have to be aware of,” hesaid. In his opinion, Israel and Egyptneed to restore Sinai as a buffer betweenthe countries and “Israel needs to helpshepherd Egypt toward democracy whileremaining in the background.”Moreover, he said, Israel should be pre-pared to anticipate a few losses fromSinai in the next few years so that Egyptcan deal with economic problems ratherthan shift its attention to a fight withIsrael in the Sinai.

Relations with Egypt may be prob-lematic, he said, but “Syria is just a night-mare. … The revolution is not over andnobody knows how it’s going to end.”

Topping all that, Syria has largestocks of chemical weapons, he contin-ued, and there’s a fear that Hezbollah,the Iranian-backed militants inLebanon, will get them. The chemicalweapons are well guarded by Assad loyal-ists, he said. Americans are poised to getthe weapons out before terrorists can gethold of them, he said. “This is a nation-al security concern for the United States,to safeguard these chemical weapons.”

Hamas is the silver lining in the dis-cord in Syria, Barfi said. It has cooled itsties with Iran and is aligning with Qatarand Saudi Arabia. A Sunni regime inSyria would isolate Shiite Iran, Barfi said.

He indicated Iran has been cagey inplaying the West while continuing toenrich uranium well past the point atwhich it is used for fuel. The most recenteconomic sanctions against Iran may prodit to back off on uranium enrichment, hesaid, adding that the regime in Iran ismore susceptible to public opinion than,say, Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Jordan plays a key role in MiddleEast stability. The nation “is Israel’s bestfriend” in the area, he said, adding thatthey agree on 80 percent of the issuesthey face. “Americans have no betterfriend in the Middle East,” he said.Jordan wants peace, he said, but mustcope with divisions among the popula-tion and pressures on its economy asneighboring Syria tries to quash a rebel-lion. “The U.S. would never allowJordan to fall,” he said.

Asked to give a five-year forecast forthe region, Barfi replied, “You can’t pre-dict anything in the Middle East; nobodyknows what’s going to happen. Thereare going to be big problems in the nearterm in the Middle East, but the movetoward democracy is good for Americaand good for Israel.” c