the Jewish bserver www.jewishobservernashville.org Vol. 82 No. 11 • November 2017 12 Cheshvan-12 Kislev 5778 Community Relations Committee organizes for action By RON GALBRAITH could easily agree: There is so much to do! Chair of CRC So, we have organized to do more and to involve even more of our CRC mem- hanks to a long list of bership talent in the process. Rather than names—Venick, Saks, one large CRC meeting each month to Poster, Shelton, Wolf and review issues, programs and opportunities, Perlen to name just a few we have organized into five CRC subcom- from the last decade—the mittees. As the graphic below suggests, Community three subcommittees directly TRelations Committee (CRC) reflect our mission and are direct- of our Jewish Federation has ly responsible to provide leader- consistently brought aware- ship for our programs and initia- ness, education, outreach and tives. Two additional subcom- opportunities for involve- mittees will also help us organize ment to our greater commu- for action: the Rapid Response nity. When I look around the subcommittee is responsible for current CRC table, we have reviewing and recommending a wealth of talent and com- responses to exigent situations mitment, including six young Ron Galbraith as they might occur, and the Jewish leaders recently added. Talent/Nominating subcommit- CRC’s mission remains focused on tee will identify and orient additional three primary areas: Israel advocacy, com- members of our community for work with- Violins of Hope play Jewish stories munity outreach and social action. As in the CRC structure. Nashville Symphony Concertmaster Jun Iwasaki plays one of the Violins of Hope needed, your CRC also deals with inci- The CRC Coordinating during a program at Akiva School. Accompanying him on piano is Symphony key- dents of anti-Semitism that might — Committee—composed of all the board principal Robert Marler. Story on page 19. PHOTOGRAPH/RICK MALKIN either directly or indirectly—impact our subcommittee chairs, our CRC director community. With such a mission, we Continued on page 3 When courage battled hatred in 1920s: CRC talk exas writer Patricia for Texas Monthly, “We also see the prevalence of ‘fake Moody became a national sensation Bernstein will tell a Cosmopolitan and news,’ which was not invented by social overnight and went on to become Texas’ Nashville audience how the Smithsonian media,” she writes. “The Klan spread youngest governor ever at the age of the Ku Klux Klan rose in Magazine. vulgar, fantastical lies about various eth- 33. He was even considered as a possi- power nearly 100 years ago She sees “Ten nic groups. Many gullible and ignorant ble vice-presidential running mate for and how a young prosecu- Dollars to Hate,” Americans believed them.” Franklin Roosevelt. Ttor successfully convicted KKK members. her third book, as “Ten Dollars to Hate” explores the In Texas, the Klan quickly dwindled. She speaks on Monday, Nov. 20, at 7 particularly timely. rise of the 1920s Klan, whose ranks The final blow to the entire national p.m. at the Gordon Jewish Community “When I began numbered in the millions, a news release movement arrived in 1925 when the Center. to research the from Texas A&M Press says. The Klan head of the Klan in Indiana was convict- The event is sponsored by the Patricia Bernstein story of the 1920s attained widespread control of politics ed of murder for brutally raping a young Community Relations Committee of the ‘Super Klan,’ the only mass-movement and law enforcement across the United woman who subsequently died. Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation version of the KKK, I thought it was States, not just in the Deep South. Several Bernstein says, “We do not need of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. It is interesting history that was not well- states elected Klan-sponsored governors to indulge in fantasy scenarios like free and open to the public. known,” she says in an email. “With and U.S. senators. Klansmen engaged in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ or ‘The Man Bernstein’s talk will be rooted in the events of the last year or two, I have extreme violence against whites as well in the High Castle’ or Philip Roth’s her most recent book, “Ten Dollars come to feel that it is critical history that as blacks, promoted outrageous bigotry novel, ‘The Plot Against America,’ to Hate: The Texas Man who Fought everyone should know. against various ethnic groups and boycot- to imagine what would happen if an the Klan,” published this year by Texas “There are uncomfortable similari- ted non-Klan businesses. extremist right-wing group took over A&M University Press. She was born in ties between life in the United States in A few courageous public officials our cities and states. We have already El Paso and grew up in Dallas, where she the early 1920s and what we are experi- tried to make Klansmen pay for their seen it in the 1920s. … It was a horri- was a member of the Temple Emanu-El encing today. … We see irrational fear crimes, but all failed until September fying spectacle. congregation. She graduated from Smith and paranoia directed at immigrants and 1923, when young Dan Moody con- “The fight against the 1920s KKK College and has run her own public rela- refugees because of the actions of a tiny victed and won serious prison time for also gives us hope and instruction in how tions agency, Bernstein & Associates, minority. Then it was Jews and Catholics five Klansmen in a tense courtroom in to fight such a great evil successfully— in Houston since 1983. She has written who were feared; today it is Muslims. Georgetown, Texas. lessons we can apply today.” • A Publication of the Pardes scholar There’s more Travel & Hattin explores still to see at Leisure aesthetics at the Nashville Special Global Day, Jewish Film Section, page 5 Festival, page 11 page 6 WWW.JEWISHNASHVILLE.ORG Think Globally. Learn Locally. Online registration available6th Annual at www.jewishnashville.org/globalday Nashville Theme: Beauty and Ugliness Date: Sunday, November 19, 2017 Cost: Free of Charge – Complimentary Lunch Included Schedule: Location: The Akiva School 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Baby-sitting available upon reque Arrival, Registration and Opening Learning st) Session with Pardes Scholar Rabbi Michael Hattin: ics and Unearthing the Temple Menora: Aesthet Allegory 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. To register for the Learning Session with Pardes Scholar Global Day of Jewish Rabba Yaffa Epstein: ave Learning, please contact If You Would Have Been Ugly You Would H Barbara Schwarcz at Studied More: The Talmud’s Take on Beauty (615) 354-1630 or [email protected], 12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. or visit Complimentary Lunch www.jewishnashville.org. 1:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Breakout Learning Sessions with Rabba Yaffa Epstein and Rabbi Michael Hattin PresentedP by the Jewish Federation 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. anda Jewish Foundation of Nashville anda Middle Tennessee and its Joint Learning Session with Rabba Yaffa partnerp local Jewish agencies and Epstein and Rabbi Michael Hattin congregations.c The Global Day of JewishJ Learning is a project of the Is Physical Beauty a Jewish Value? Ambiguity or AlephA Society. The Nashville Global Ambivalence? DayD of Jewish Learning is funded by a grant from the Jewish Federation (More details and updated information about Global Day programs anda Jewish Foundation of Nashville anda Middle Tennessee. and activities will be available) online at www.jewishnashville.org and in The Jewish Observer The Global Day of Jewish Learning in Nashville is generously underwritten by Libby and Moshe Werthan to support the participation of Rabba Yaffa Epstein and Rabbi Michael Hattin of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. 2 November 2017 The Observer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un, don’t walk, to &$$/% +3 & #,&%; /+); *)#0&3 Girls Night Out Nov. 9 %0&#0$%+ %$%+ t’s not too late to get Jane Weitzman, who with her in on an evening of husband, Stuart Weitzman, food, fun and philan- became synonymous with thropy: the Girls Night Sole fashionable footwear. She also #%+; Out event taking place to is well-known for her philan- &$ %,% &&) %,% on Thursday, Nov. thropy, and that’s what she’ll &$$ . &$$ . I9, at the Gordon Jewish Soul be talking about during Sole Community Center. The to Soul. Local women also event is produced by the will discuss how they became Jewish Federation and Jewish involved in philanthropy. ' *'&%* Foundation of Nashville and The event is open to all Middle Tennessee. women. To attend or for more &$$ . The women’s philanthropy event information, contact Barbara Schwarcz, &&)CRC %,%&$$ .=&$'&*&& ##+*/<&$$##+ . )*7&/)is called Sole to Soul and starts with Jewish Federation events coordinator, )+&)%+&)<''& %+0&#/%+) )=1 ##1&)"+&&&) %+*/*+')&)$*7 tapas and drinks at 6:30 p.m., fol- at [email protected] or (615) Continued from page 1 • Rapid Response */''&)++1&)"%+)&$$%,&%*&+0) &/**/&$$ .*%&$$/% ++ lowed at 7:15 p.m. by guest speaker 354-1630. • and the Board-appointed volunteer – Irwin Venick, co-chair % ,,0*&+0) &/*1&)" %)&/'*9**%,##37+)#1&)"+*&%++*/<&$$ .#0# 1 chair—will+$&)$$) work to*%$& coordinate)&3 suggest&/%3&/)+#%+%- – Joshua Segall, 3&/*&/#&&*+&&$ co-chair %0&#0ed programs, %+ *%1* support+)/+/ the)9 work and the • Talent/Nominating recommendations of the various sub- – Avi Poster committees and communicate the ini- – Daniel Reches Tennessee Craft holiday tiatives of the various working groups.