SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 Y 12 TISHREI 5776 Y Community 1 B’nai Mitzvah See B’nai Mitvah section, pages 18-19. Published by the Jewish Community of Louisville, Inc. www.jewishlouisville.org INSIDE And The Louisville’s Got Talent Winner Is STORY, CENTERPIECE . PG. 1 Communit■ ■ y FRIDAY VOL. 41, NO. 01 12 TISHREI 5776 SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 Leon Wahba Wahba to Chair 2016 Federation Campaign by Shiela Steinman Wallace Dr. Muhammad Babar, at the microphone, called on the hundreds of people who showed up to repaint the River Road Mosque Hate Has No that had been defaced by vandals to make this day the start of long-term friendships based on love and compassion. Far left is Editor the mosque’s president, Dr. Waheed Ahmad; and next to him is Mayor Greg Fischer. So many people came out to help paint over Place Here the hate-filled graffiti that it was completely obliterated just minutes after the work began. Leon Wahba will serve as chair of the 2016 Federation Campaign and he knows he has a big job ahead of him that involves recruiting a strong team of vol- Hundreds Stand with Islamic Community unteers to help him. by Shiela Steinman Wallace Hebrew writing and other offensive ex- the two friends were interviewed by a Keren Benabou and Laurence Ni- Editor pressions. WAVE3 reporter. bur have stepped up and will chair the The Jewish community, standing in “Although we are sickened by this van- Young Adult Division; and Wahba is n Wednesday evening, Septem- solidarity with the Islamic community, dalism,” Goldberg said, “it provides us talking with other community leaders ber 16, the Islamic Center on responded immediately. Jewish Com- an opportunity to make our communal to ensure this year’s Campaign team has River Road was vandalized. munity Relations Director Matt Gold- ties stronger. Our already deep friend- the depth, strength and commitment it O The perpetrator spray-painted berg drove out to the Mosque as soon ship with the local Islamic community needs. messages all over the mosque, saying, as he learned of the incident where he will be deeper after this … the exact op- “I know from my past experience on “Moslems, leave the Jews alone” and embraced the Jewish community’s good posite effect of what the perpetrator of the Planning and Allocations Committee “this is for France.” The graffiti also in- friend Dr. Muhammad Babar and of- this crime intended.” that the needs of our community far ex- cluded Stars of David, the word, “Betar,” fered his help. Standing arm-in-arm, At the Islamic community’s request, ceed what we have been able to allocate,” the clean-up took place on Friday after- Wahba said. He’d like to raise enough noon and drew hundreds of participants money to increase funding for education INDEX from faith communities across Louis- and to send more money to Israel. JCRC Update ......................................... 2 ville. The Louisville Jewish community He also sees a real need for addition- Standing with our Neighbors ................. 2 was well represented including clergy al funding for the Jewish Community of Master Chorale Performs at AJ ............. 5 from all of Louisville’s congregations, Louisville. He highlighted some of the Etgar Keret to Speak Here .................... 5 JCL professional and lay leaders, and varied resources the agency provides Hanukkah Helpers ................................. 5 many, many others. A delegation from for the community including all the LBSY Programs ..................................... 5 Djibouti, including that country’s presi- programming at the Jewish Communi- POSTAGE Calendar of Events ................................. 5 KENTUCKY LOUISVILLE dent and military leader, who just hap- ty Center, from teen programming like PERIODICALS Sen. McConnel on Iran Deal .................. 6 Rep. Yarmuth on Iran Deal ..................... 7 see MOSQUE page 3 see WAHBA page 10 Background on Iran Deal ....................... 8 Hershverg, Kamen Win Bell Awards ...... 9 Cohen Named to Forty Under 40 .........10 Many Teens Experience Israel’s Magic Dror Biran in Concert ............................11 by Cynthia Canada of the Jewish people, but he really didn’t Chavurat Shalom ..................................11 Simchat Torah .......................................12 Special to Community know what was so great about it other Festival of Trees and Lights ..................12 than that. He wanted to better under- Lenae Price Promoted ..........................13 A number of Louisville teens traveled stand the significance of the Jewish state Hadassah ..............................................13 this summer to Israel, and Community and form a real emotional attachment. Joyce Bridge, NCJW President ............14 talked with four of them about their ex- By the time he returned home, he had Leonard Bernstein’s Mass ....................14 periences. All four were first-time visi- learned that it was possible to support Atherton Reunion ..................................14 the people and the culture of Israel and Cohen Does Mitzvah Corps .................15 tors to Israel, and they all said they were Review: Alexandrian Summer ...................14 deeply affected by the journey. connect to the place, whether or not he JFCS Calendar ......................................17 Jonah Goodman, a senior at St. Fran- supported specific actions of the govern- It’s Not Cotillion Anymore .....................17 cis High School, wasn’t really sure what ment. Jonah said that the bonding expe- Teen Topics ...........................................17 to expect from the trip until he started rience with other travelers was great, just Newsmakers ........................................ 20 writing essays for his scholarship ap- like any “summer camp kind of thing,” Around Town ...................................20, 21 plications. He realized then that he was but he came away with a deep appreci- Lifecycle ......................................... 22, 23 “blindly supporting” Israel as the home see ISRAEL page 17 D’var Torah ........................................... 23 2 Community Y SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 Y 12 TISHREI 5776 Communit y Community is published monthly by the Jewish JCRC UPDATE Community of Louisville, Inc., 3630 Dutchmans Lane, Louisville, KY 40205-3216. by Matt Goldberg, Director the United States are opening up new We must deepen our ties with our USPS #020-068 at Louisville, KY. Jewish Community Relations Council passages to friendship all of the time. Muslim neighbors. More of us need to Here in Louisville, we have cooper- participate in their annual Iftar dinner, The Jewish Community of Louisville is ated on so many occasions for so many and we hope to see more of them at our a nonprofit organization. $26 of your pledge Vandalism at Mosque is for a subscription for Community. projects, they are too numerous to men- Interfaith Chanukah Party and Yom Affects Us All tion … a sign of our growing friendship. HaShoah Commemoration. For more information, call his past week, our good friends 502-459-0660, fax 502-238-2724, Our Muslim brothers and sisters are our The heinous act, which sought to di- e-mail [email protected] or check out in the Islamic community were doctors, our lawyers and our community vide us, should bring us closer, and ren- the website www.jewishlouisville.org. Tforced to confront an act of pure leaders. We go to work with them, we go der these kinds of acts irrelevant hatred – the vandalism of their house POSTMASTER – Send address changes to to school with them and we invite their of worship. The content of this vandal- kids to our kids’ bar and bat mitzvahs. Happy New Year Community, 3600 Dutchmans Lane, Louisville, This has been an event-filled year, as KY 40205-3216. ism is vile and repugnant, and I con- We share the common values of family, veyed that message to our friends at education, and good citizenship, the val- every year is. From a JCRC perspective, the mosque, the greater Louisville faith ues that all Americans aspire to share. we had murders in France, a visit by the COMMUNITY DEADLINES Israeli Prime Minister to Congress, and Deadlines for the next two issues of Community community and the media. The fact that That is why an attack on a mosque is so for copy and ads are: OCTOBER 16 for Stars of David were spray-painted on frightening because it could easily hap- an Iran nuclear deal that has divided publication on OCTOBER 23 and NOVEMBER 13 the building along pen to us. our community to an extent. Still, I am for publication on NOVEMBER 20. with Hebrew writ- Our answer to this attack is extremely a firm believer in the resiliency of our community and the continuing trend Community publishes News makers and Around ing was especially vital and will have, I hope, positive and Town items at no charge. Items must be troubling. permanent repercussions. Of course we of our “rising to the occasion” when we submitted in writing. Please include your name I can under- must think of security, capturing the are faced with adversity. Yet, I hope that and a daytime telephone number where you stand why there perpetrator, being vigilant, keeping our these positive traits are not revealed in can be contacted in the event that questions is a sense of be- eyes open for suspicious activity. But the the coming year, that only positive devel- arise. Community reserves the right to edit all wilderment at our response of our Jewish community must opments face our community. submissions to conform to style and length wonderful rela- May it be a sweet and prosperous year requirements. also encapsulate the Jewish ideal of lov- tionship with the ing your neighbor as yourself. for you and your family. Muslim commu- ADVERTISING INFORMATION nity here in Lou- To advertise, please contact our sales Matt Goldberg isville. After all, representative at 502-418-5845 or e-mail Proud to Stand with Our Neighbors [email protected]. events in the great- er world often show our communities in by Sara Klein Wagner and concern standing side-by-side with The appearance of advertising in Community conflict, and events in the Middle East our neighbors.