Community Shabbaton September 23 Through 25
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The Community Newspaper of the Jewish Council of North Central Florid a September 2016 Elul, 5776 - Tishrei, 5777 Community Shabbaton September 23 through 25 By Marcia Baron Community Day School, (3830 NW 16 Glaser Musciworks Blvd, Gainesville, FL 32605) on Friday, September 23 from 4:30 to 5:30 The Jewish community of North Central pm. After Shabbat there will be Havda- Florida will host a series of special pre- lah with Sam followed by dessert and a holiday musical events the weekend of Selichot learning program that will take Friday, September 23 through Sunday, place in Congregation B’nai Israel’s so- September 25. Recording artist Sam cial hall on Saturday, September 24 Glaser, an award-winning Los Angeles- from 8 to 9:30 pm. based composer and performer of con- The Shabbaton culminates in a temporary Jewish music, will be leading community religious school concert to a High Holiday warm-up Shabbaton take place at Temple Shir Shalom, (3855 sponsored by the B’nai Israel Communi- NW 8th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32605), ty Day School, Congregation B’nai Israel, on Sunday, September 25 from 10 to 11 JCNCF, PJ Library and Temple Shir Sha- am. All programs are free and open to lom. the community. For more information The Shabbaton will kick off with a about these events, please contact Deb- pre-Shabbat family musical program by Kinman-Ford at 352.376.1508 or which will take place at the B’nai Israel [email protected]. Our Community Says Farewell to Frank Towers By Ken Wald woman on that train contacted him, did front evil. Those who attended the an- JCNCF Yom HaShoah Committee Frank let on about his role as a savior. nual Holocaust commemoration in Like many of the Greatest Generation, Even when he broke his silence, Frank Gainesville may remember hearing that Frank Towers was a silent hero. For did not call attention to himself. The focus message as well when he was the guest years, he did not speak publicly of his was always on those who he rescued, their speaker in 2012. part in the rescue of a trainload of Jews lives, their futures, their hopes. Or he Frank was one of the regular candle bound for the extermination camps near talked about what could possibly prompt lighters at the Yom Hashoah ceremony, the end of the second World War. Not humanity, if one can use that term to refer chosen to represent the liberators who until decades later, when the child of a to the Nazi authorities, to treat other hu- deserved our respect and gratitude. He man beings with such wanton cruelty. always showed up promptly, usually the That modesty extended to his volun- first to arrive, and walked across the teer work as a historian at Camp Blanding. stage with military bearing. Every email he sent me trumpeted the glo- At the end of the ceremony, I cus- ry of the Army’s 30th Infantry Division, not tomarily shook his hand and thanked himself, and ended with the signoff, “Yours him for his participation in the event in Old Hickory Friendship.” and in the rescue of my fellow Jews. He I only heard Frank describe his own always returned the thanks vigorously, actions when he was speaking to audiences wordlessly telling me of his gratitude about the importance of standing up for that we understood and embraced his what was right. Those audiences usually message. comprised students who he believed need- Frank died, fittingly, on July 4th. He ed to be taught their responsibility to con- is and will be missed. (Continued on Page 12) Page 2 The Chronicle September 2016 A Great Big Thank You, Heath Lynn Silberfeld! By Dawn Burgess-Krop a beloved member, and was unfailingly JCNCF, indeed, our entire Jewish com- committed to our JCNCF mission. munity owes a debt of gratitude to Heath spearheaded important pro- Heath Lynn Silberfeld for her mem- jects that led to JCNCF becoming strong- bership on our board and service as er and more responsive to our commu- JCNCF secretary for three years. nity needs. She was always there to Heath's expertise as an editor proved volunteer and encourage others to fol- invaluable to JCNCF on many levels. low her example. Did you know she also With her characteristic diligence, makes a mean guacamole? We have Heath kept business moving along long appreciated her many talents and with gentle nudging, made sure our will aspire to maintain her expectations community was notified of the loss of of excellence. Todah raba, Heath. JCNCF Mission Statement Submissions Policy As set forth in the Articles of Incorporation, the JCNCF has been formed to operate and engage in philanthropic, cul- News and announcements of events that are of interest and open to tural, and other group activities for charitable and educa- the entire Jewish community will be included as space allows. The tional purposes that shall contribute to the welfare of the times and places of regular and special Jewish religious events, as well Jewish community of North Central Florida and other Jew- as Jewish organizational events, will be placed in the Chronicle’s ish communities around the world. monthly community calendar. Please submit original material of 500 words or less, not published or to be published elsewhere, along with photos of interest to the com- The Chronicle munity. Submissions may be e-mailed in Word document format to [email protected]; or dropped off at the Jewish Council of North is published 10 times per year by the Central Florida office. Please submit photos in high resolution with a Jewish Council of North Central Florida, Inc. caption identifying the subject and all people depicted. JCNCF reserves PO Box 357936 the right to edit all submissions. Gainesville, FL 32635-7936 The Chronicle does not publish letters to the editor. office: 352.371.3846 www.JCNCF.org - [email protected] If you have any questions, email [email protected] or call 352.371.3846. The Chronicle is produced for the community by JCNCF staff and volunteers. The Chronicle and the Jewish Council do not endorse the goods and services advertised in these pages, and make no representation as to the kashrut of the food, products, and services in such advertising. The entire contents of The Chronicle are copyright © 2016 by the Jewish Council All submissions are due on or before of North Central Florida. the 10th of the month prior to publication. President: Dawn Burgess-Krop Treasurer: Adam Smith Vice President: Rosalie Bandyopadhyay Secretary: Nadav Katz Past President: Steve Bobroff Campaign Chair: Steve Slutsky Board Members 2014/2016 Executive Director Board Members 2015/2017 Stuart Cohn Stacey Steinberg Virginia Brissette Hirshik Joanne Block Sharon Hirshik Richard Howard Ken Wald Abe Goldman Myrna Neims Assistant Director Helene Johns Kim Sandler Cohen Jenna Backer Price William Alford Elul, 5776 - Tishrei, 5777 The Chronicle Page 3 JCNCF Community Grants Impact Locally By Sharon Hirshik the story of Jews in Atlanta "through 18 Chair, JCNCF Grants Committee artifacts." The installation modeled an The JCNCF Grants Committee is the innovative way to learn history that was contact for community grants requests. as interesting to our teenagers as to our We receive each request in a pro- parents. We had budgeted very little time scribed format as part of our determi- to this museum; we ended up staying nation of the cost/benefit of each re- much longer than planned. For this grant, quest. We take the responsibility of Temple Shir Shalom is asking for funds to being good stewards of our donors’ create a similar exhibit focusing on the money very seriously. After we receive Jewish history of Gainesville and north grant requests from local organizations, Students from the High Springs Communi- central Florida, albeit on a smaller scale. we spend several months carefully re- ty School, a past grant recipient, attended This project will be managed by Rabbi viewing them. We must decide if we the Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg Joseph, enlisting the talents and energies will advise the board to fund a particu- particularly of our local Jewish teenag- lar grant request and how much of that the whole family! “It is a well-known ers.” request we want to fund. We encour- fact that the Jewish community The Center for Jewish Studies pro- age all the organizations requesting comes together, especially when gram “is intended to help promote coex- grants, to seek additional funding from there is delicious food involved. Our istence among Jewish and Muslim stu- other sources. The Grants Committee goal is to bring a little piece of the dents”, says Jack Kugelmas, Director of then presents the recommendations to New York Deli to Gainesville! It will be the Center for Jewish Studies. Jack asked the JCNCF Board. The board members a food lover's dream! Pastrami will be JCNCF “to help fund a concert of Jewish may vote to accept the committee’s featured on the mouth-watering and Arab music, tentatively called Playing recommendations or, after thoughtful menu along with corned beef, knish- for Peace 2… we feel strongly that in the discussion, decide to make modifica- es, stuffed cabbage, matzo ball soup, face of a seemingly intractable Israeli/ tions to the recommendations. A vote is kosher hot dogs, falafel plates, and Palestinian conflict, campuses have be- taken and the Grants Committee noti- other traditional Jewish style eats –– come difficult terrain for Jewish students fies the organizations of the board deci- but make sure to save room for deli- and that many students would welcome sions. cious parve desserts direct from New an opportunity to express their desire to This year, JCNCF was pleased to York along with other delicacies im- see an end to this conflict.