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Happy Passover JewishTHE Georgian Volume 23, Number 2 Atlanta, Georgia MARCH-APRIL 2011 FREE Passover in Atlanta What’s Inside 1869-1959 Planning Your Passover By David Geffen Festival.” The writer stated, Check out our special holiday editions Only four years after the Civil War “The Jewish citi- of “Kosher Affairs” and “Kosher ended in 1869, The Atlanta Constitution ran zens of Atlanta Korner.” an article with the headline “Passover To are getting ready By Roberta Scher and Be Observed by Atlanta Hebrews.” Not too for the Feast of Rabbi Reuven Stein many details about the holiday are listed, Passover. Pages 34 & 35 but the members of The Temple, Atlanta’s Unleavened bread will first congregation, probably baked the mat- be eaten. The interesting Moses zoh themselves, since it was difficult to facts about observance will and is in arrange for the shipping of the unleavened be given plus an explanation of commemo- Remembering bread from other cities with larger Jewish the plagues of Egypt.” ration of the Ben Rabinowitz populations. One hundred and twenty five years departure of the chil- In 1886, the first year in which the ago, our ancestors here were quite involved dren of Israel from Egypt.” What followed The Atlanta Jewish community has lost Eastern European immigrants could truly in ensuring that the holiday was observed was a precise rendering of the ancient a loyal friend. be recognized as a separate group in in the precise fashion. “The Jewish citizens chronology, as calculated by that Atlanta Page 33 Atlanta, there was a major story about of Atlanta,” the story noted, “ are busily Constitution reporter. “Three thousand, one Passover on April 14, 1886, in The Atlanta engaged in preparing for the Feast of hundred and fifty years ago, the twentieth Constitution. The main headline read: Unleavened Bread. This is the first of the From words to film “Passover Preparations for Celebrating the three great annual feasts instituted by See PASSOVER page 6 The Breman is spearheading a new effort to make documentaries based on its Holocaust speakers series. By Ron Feinberg This year’s Holocaust Taglit-Birthright Israel Page 30 Remembrance Day is a provides life-changing Beating the Odds significant recollection trip for young adults Thanks to treatments pioneered in By Harold Kirtz Atlanta, ovarian cancer survivors have Taglit-Birthright Israel provides free first-time, reason to hope. What and how will we remember? These central questions for peer-group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish Page 44 the Yom HaShoah commemoration will be posed on Sunday, May 1, young adults ages 18 to 26. The program was cre- at Greenwood Cemetery on Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta. The ated in order to diminish the growing division entire community is invited. Eva Baron, a long-time resident of between Israel and Jewish communities around the A New Era Atlanta and a survivor from Hungary will tell her personal story dur- world; strengthen the sense of solidarity among ing the commemoration service. world Jewry; and strengthen participants’ personal As the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience moves from its original site Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish peo- at Camp Henry S. Jacobs, both institu- ple. Since its launch in 1999, it has provided free tions are poised for change and growth. trips to 220,000 participants. Page 42 Ariele Hershkovitz was a member in one of the groups that participated in a December 2010 trip. Eren Niederhoffer also participated in a December trip with a group of young adults with Asperger’s Walking for Autism syndrome. The Georgia Walk Now for Autism In this issue, we have included both of their sto- Speaks helps fund innovative research. ries. For more information, visit atlanta.birthright- By Janel and Jason Schwartz israel.com. Page 22 Memorial to the Six Million at Greenwood Cemetery See BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL page 18 & 19 See HOLOCAUST page 7 Page 2 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN March-April 2011 It is the bread of affliction: it is the bread of freedom Remember this day, on which you went scholar and know very few English trans- read, it is more than just a ritualistic activ- free from Egypt, the house of bondage, lations of Hebrew words, it is my under- ity. Now, in addition to following the dic- how the Lord freed you from it with a standing that the word used in the Bible in tum of remembering what was done for mighty hand: no leavened bread shall be the passages dealing with the Hebrew’s me in Egypt some approximately 3,500 eaten . And you shall explain to your BY Marvin status in Egypt is eved. In trying to better years ago and telling this to my children, I son on that day, “It is because of what the Botnick understand and make more meaningful the can better identify with the narrative by Lord did for me when I went free from story in the Haggadah, I felt that it would recalling what I have witnessed during my Egypt.” be helpful to try to define in today’s terms lifetime and the conditions under which Exodus 13:3–8 dren the great miracle that took place and the concept embodied in the word eved. my parents lived in Belarus. the message of freedom; hence the name What I have been told and from what I It is important that we understand that Spring is in the air; the trees and flow- Haggadah, which refers to the book that is have been able to research, Biblical we are celebrating more than a single ers are bursting forth with the signs of used at the Seder, that means to tell. Hebrew does not have a word that trans- event, as important as it is. We should read renewed life; the heavy clothing is being The reading of the Haggadah is not lates into slave as we in this country into this story the physical and mental put aside for bright, airy attire; and plans just a course in ancient history. There is would understand this term today. bondage that Jews and non-Jews have are being made to remove the binding more to the telling of the story than the Apparently eved comes from the word endured over the centuries, whether it was confines of the winter and burst forth into recalling of the servitude in Egypt and the meaning “to labor” and refers to a laborer. the limitations that were a part and parcel the freedom of the outdoors. miracle of the exodus from that country. The term can and is used in different of the Jewish ghettos; serfdom under For us, there is also another reason to There is the underlying story of the repug- translations to include bondsman, servant, European rule; the untouchables in India; rejoice. This is the Passover season during nance of the use of power to control and or slave, but in this narrative it is clear that the existence imposed on the Native which we gather around our tables with inflict dehumanizing, demeaning condi- the labor is not voluntary, nor is it freely Americans; the slavery that is still prac- our families and friends to joyously retell tions on others. sold. ticed in parts of Africa; the second-class the story of freedom from Egyptian slav- Different languages and the changing But in a broader sense, actions and status of women in many cultures; inden- ery. As we fulfill the commandment to perspectives in which a person lives can rules – whether official or accepted cus- tured servitude; the exploitation of chil- recount this wondrous gift, we celebrate give a different connotation to the mean- toms that restrict opportunity, job avail- dren for financial reward; or any other with song, food, and merriment in thanks ing of words. The word most commonly ability, mobility, education, legal rights, exploitative condition. and to be reminded of the imperative to used in the English translations describing association, or living conditions – also are The matzo is the bread of affliction; seek justice and freedom for all people. the later-stage status of the Hebrews in the all forms of slavery. Societal limitations so, too, is it the bread of freedom. As we But this celebration is not only about Pharaonic age was “slaves.” Today, when imposed on a person or people are limit- partake and participate in the Seder, we giving thanks, it also is a fulfillment of the we hear that word, we associated it with ing, controlling factors, and these serve as need to remember and give thanks for the injunction to tell and explain to our chil- the status and conditions under which impediments to others’ freedoms. removal of the yoke of bondage and rea- Black Americans lived prior to emancipa- For me, understanding this broadens vow our responsibility to seek freedom for tion. THE the Passover experience. Now when the all people. As Abraham Lincoln said, “As While I am anything but a Hebraic story of the deliverance from Egypt is I would not be a slave, so I would not be a Jewish Georgian master.” The Jewish Georgian is published bimonthly by Eisenbot, Ltd. It is written for Atlantans and Georgians by Atlantans and Georgians. Publisher Marvin Botnick Co-Publisher Sam Appel Editor Marvin Botnick Managing Editor Marsha C. LaBeaume Assignment Editor Carolyn Gold Consulting Editor Gene Asher Associate Editor Barbara Schreiber Copy Editor Ray Tapley Assistant Copy Editor Arnold Friedman Makeup Editor Terri Christian Production Coordinator Terri Christian Designer David Gaudio Medical Editor Morris E. Brown, M.D. Photographic Staff Allan Scher, Phil Slotin, Phil Shapiro, Jonathan Paz Graphic Art Consultant Karen Paz Columnist Gene Asher, Susan Asher Jonathan Barach, Janice Rothschild Blumberg, Marvin Botnick, Shirley Friedman, Carolyn Gold, Jonathan Goldstein, R.M.