March 2018 Adar/Nissan 5778

JCC FOCUS Jewish Community Center

of Corpus Christi

President - Iris Lehrman

Vice President - Renee Solomon

2nd Vice President - Gary Blum

Secretary - Kari Oshman Rhodes

Treasurer - Matt Adler

Parliamentarian - Carla De Pena

Pres. Appointee - Lois Blum

Pres. Appointee - Linda Snider

Board Member - Jaron Sela

Board Member - Jackie Franklin

Board Member - Rikki Schmitchel

Board Member - Heather Loeb

Board Member - Nene Schmukler

Board Member - Brittany Sandbach

Board Member - Meredith Ryan

JCC Director - Norma Levens

JCC Rabbi - Rabbi Roseman

JCC Preschool Rep. - Manuela Sela

CBI Rabbi - Rabbi Emanuel

CBI Rep. - Nedra Lockhart

Sisterhood Rep. - Leslie Levy

CJA Rep. - TBA

Chabad Rabbi - Rabbi Schmukler

2017-2018 Board of Directors

Board Meeting TBA

Congregation Beth Israel Rabbi Ilan Emanuel

4402 Saratoga Blvd. (361) 857-8181

bethisraelcc.com

President: Jim Gold

Coastal Bend Havurah hkwilk48@gmail.com

(361) 991-1118

Representative: Helen Wilk

Jewish Organizations in Corpus Christi

Combined Jewish Appeal (361) 855-6239

President: TBA

Assistant: Norma Levens

Chabad Coastal Bend Rabbi Naftoli Schmukler

4855 S. Alameda St., Suite 108

(361) 500-2173

chabadcorpus.org

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Jewish Community Council of Corpus Christi

In Honor of Pat Susser Happy Birthday!

Susser Family Foundation

A generous donation was made to the Susser Playground Fund

In Loving Memory of Leah Goltzman

Iris & Andy Lehrman

A generous donation was made to the General Fund.

2018 Membership January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2018

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2018 Jewish Community Center Members Patrons Chris & Robert Adler

Vincent & Shirley Muscarello

Susser Family Foundation

Members Nedra Lockhart

Gail Gleimer Loeb

Kenneth Maltz

Susan & Bill Martin

Amanda & Howard Mintz

Amy & Sean Mintz

Theresa & Abraham Moss

Deborah & Scot Oshman

Hilda & Charles Schechter

Rebecca & Maurice Schmidt

Manuela & Jaron Sela

Linda & Dean Snider

Renee Solomon

Carol Solovey

Barb & Chip Schwamb

Phyllis & Rabbi Kenneth Roseman

Marlene & Jack Super

Elizabeth & Jerry Susser

Pat & Sam J. Susser

Helen Wilk

Sue Williams

Mille Zalim

Sustainers Jaki & Richard Hausman

Annette & Melvyn Klein

Laurie & Michael Mintz (MD)

Toby Shor

Angels Annette & Jim Cottingham (MD)

Ginger & Richard Harris

Rona & L. A. Train

Members Randall Berry

Lois & Gary Blum DDS

Jeanne & Mac Brenz

Carla De Pena

Elizabeth Falk

Carol & Don Feferman

Roz & Ron Ferrell (DDS)

Susan & Myron Grossman

Patricia & Robert Harris

Marian (Sussman (MD)) & Michael Hiatt

Barbara (Samuels) & Sam Horner

Ruth Josephs

Ruth Kane

Jeri Kolpack

Amy & David Krams

Chris & Carl Kuehn

Iris & Andy Lehrman

Bobbie & Len Leshin

Norma Levens

Leslie & Carl Levy

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Rabbi Roseman’s Corner

When Abraham Goldfaden arrived in New York City from Romania around the turn of the twentieth century, he was already a well-known producer of stage shows. On Second Avenue, leading north from the heart of the Jewish Lower East Side, he discovered several theaters that would welcome his efforts. Soon after settling in, Goldfaden began to put together casts of actors and actresses who had also emigrated from southeastern Europe. His stars included Boris Thomashevsky, Jacob Adler and Molly Picon, plus famous cantors who organized choirs. Maybe the best-known of these was Sholom Secunda. A parade of significant stage personalities, like Edward G. Robinson, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and dozens of others, marched across Second Avenue footlights in Yiddish-language

productions directly or indirectly inspired by Goldfaden. There were serious dramas, including translations of Shakespeare, but also comedies. This was, after all, the age in which vaudeville flourished, and Jews (like all other Americans) wanted to be entertained. Radio and movies were still developing, and there was as yet no television. Working-class immigrants could not afford luxuries and their English skills were still rudimentary, but they sometimes could scrape together the price of a ticket and escape from their tawdry, numbing lives into the fantasy world that the Yiddish theater held out before them. The heyday of this phenomenon lasted until the end of the Great Depression. What killed the Yiddish theater? A number of factors. First, some alternative venues emerged. Jews moved away from the Lower East Side, relocating in Brooklyn and the Bronx. They were unwilling to schlep back to the area of first settlement just to see a performance. In addition, they were beginning to have a little more disposable income, and they no longer needed “immigrant” theater. A second consideration was that the flow of mass arrivals in America had diminished greatly after 1924. The second and third generation of these migrants were now much more comfortable with English; it was their native language, so they no longer needed Yiddish, even if many of them still spoke it. This was an ugly era of American xenophobia and, in the face of anti-Semitic assaults, these newer generations were determined to prove that they were as loyal to America as the Norwegian farmer in North Dakota. Finally, an entirely new entertainment and leisure opportunity was now open to them. Beginning around the time of WWI, a series of hospitality experiences were pioneered in the Catskill Mountains, only a few hours away from New York City. A number of grand hotels, like Brown’s, Grossinger’s and The Concord began to cater to Jews who could now afford to vacation outside the city, especially during the heat of the summer. These “palaces” were joined by a number of bungalow colonies where an entire family could set up housekeeping for a few weeks, maintain a kosher kitchen, and pray and play with like-minded friends. These bungalows were known as Kuch Aleins, places where you could cook alone. Two short-line railroads, the Ulster and Delaware and the Catskill Mountain Railroad, ran special trains that stopped near these establishments where busses and trucks would meet guests and ferry them to their lodgings. Some of them still exist, and some of the grand hotels are trying to make a comeback. Catskill resorts, or the Borscht Belt as it was sometimes called, became an alternative to Second Avenue. The food was copious, the recreation enjoyable and the entertainment was first-rate. Just about every significant person who became a television or movie star after WWII got a start performing in one of the show rooms in the Catskills. Not all of them were Jewish (Jimmy Durante or Abbott and Costello), but the vast majority were. You could begin with Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle and George Burns, then move to Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore, or Paul Anka and then add every comic you’ve ever heard of, like Buddy Hackett, Shecky Green, Don Rickles and Jerry Lewis. A complete list would contain nearly two hundred eminent stars of American show business. The Catskills were a very desirable booking, and that’s where most of these luminaries launched their careers. It was not the serious drama that Abraham Goldfaden envisioned when he came to America, but a distinctively American modification of stage entertainment that made life for immigrants and their children more bearable as they made the transition from the Lower East Side to their new small homes in Levittown, Long Island or apartments in one of the urban boroughs. I have no idea whether the Father of the Yiddish Theater would be proud of this legacy, but I hope so.

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(Visa, MasterCard and Most Insurances Accepted)

2018 CJA Kickoff Event We had a great turnout for the 2018 CJA Kickoff! Thank you to our Special guest speaker Leslie

Dannin Rosenthal. Thank you to Dr. Gary Blum, DDS for always capturing great pictures. And a huge thank you to our gracious hosts, Rabbi Kenneth and Mrs. Phyllis Roseman, everything was beautiful.

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Miriam Recognition Award

The annual Jewish Women’s Joint Installation will be held on May 9, 2018. The MIRIAM RECOGNITION AWARD will be presented recognizing an outstanding woman of the Corpus Christi Jewish Community. The recipient will be honored at this luncheon and will receive a MIRIAM’S CUP. The committee will be accepting nominations for this award from the community. A NOMINATION WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED WITH A RESUME OF THE INDIVIDUAL, according to the following guidelines:

Full participation in a variety of calendar community activities, with emphasis on contributions to Jewish

organizations. Ongoing acceptance of responsibility as a Leader and/or a Worker in the Jewish community. Value and quality of contribution in time and work to the Jewish community. Previous recipients of the Woman of the Year Award and the Miriam Recognition Award are NOT eligible. IT IS NOT MANDATORY TO MAKE A SELECTION FOR THE MIRIAM RECOGNITION AWARD

EACH YEAR. Please do not go to the person you intend to nominate for the resume. If you obtain help from family members, please ask them not to consult the nominee. If you need help preparing a resume or have questions concerning the nomination, please contact any of the following recipients of the Woman of the Year/Miriam Recognition Award:

Chris Adler Amy Krams Phyllis Roseman Robin Adams Suzy Hilliard Nedra Lockhart Leigh Sheinberg Ann Engel Ruth Josephs Marcia Marks Elizabeth Susser Roz Ferrell Glenda Kane Laurie Mintz Helen Wilk Laura Hausman Ruth Kane Mary Lynn Rhodes Mille Zalim

Please send your nominations for the Miriam Recognition Award to: Suzy Hilliard 4817 Lake Granbury Corpus Christi TX 78413 or Suzyhh@sbcglobal.net Important Reminders:

A resume is needed for the nomination. Do not consult the nominee for a resume. Nomination deadline is March 16, 2018.

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Meet The 90 Year-Old NJ ‘Yenta’ From The JDate Billboards

Bea Slater has become an accidental celebrity after appearing in the JDate campaign.

If Bea Slater had ever been a shrinking violet, her sudden celebrity might be uncomfortable. At 90, the great-grandmother has her image plastered on billboards up and down Manhattan and in Brooklyn. There’s even one on the roof above Junior’s, the famous cheesecake place. Along with three other women of almost equal seniority, she has become the face of JDate, the Jewish matchmaking site. They’re not poster girls for senior dating; rather, JDate is promoting their images to suggest that it’s “yentas” who are working out the algorithms for perfect pairing. Hence messages on billboards like, “Her dreidel game is filthy. But her code is clean.” Slater, not a coder though a savvy computer-literate social media user, is taking her celebrity status in stride, loving every aspect and eager for more. Chatting with The Jewish Week in her home in Springfield, N.J., where she has lived for 65 years, she talked more readily about her family (two sons, Mitch and Jeff Slater; a daughter, Diane Bedrin; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren), but was content to answer ques-tions about how she is enjoying her new found fame, as well. “When my picture is up in the subway, then I’ll really be a star,” she predicted. Though she has never modeled professional-ly — and the last time she did any acting was in eighth grade — posing came easily. After all, Slater, who grew up in West Philadel-

phia, was a much-pictured daughter of a photographer. In fact, she became a photographer herself when she grew up, at least until she turned her focus on raising her kids. Almost every wall in her home is adorned with family photos, assembled and collaged by her father and, after he passed away, by her hus-band Jack, who died in 2009. Judging by the joy she takes from those pictures and the way Slater talks, it’s obvious the family is close. She said they worried about how she would handle being alone since Jack died, and have done all they can to help her stay active. In particular, Mitch, her younger son who lives in Westfield, takes her on all kinds of “dates,” and it’s thanks to him that Slater has found herself in the spot-light. Last November, a friend mentioned to Mitch that JDate was trying to find older women for a marketing campaign. He told his older brother, Jeff, a market-ing executive, who initially dismissed the idea, sure their mom wouldn’t be up for it. But the younger brother, a financial adviser, called Jeff back within minutes to

let him know that not only did he decide to broach the subject with their mother, but Bea had agreed on the spot.

“I said, ‘You never know…’” — which happens to be her response to virtually every question. It’s a principle she applies to herself as well as those around her. A few years ago, Bea persuaded her granddaughter Fanny Slater to enter TV personality and celebrity cook Rachael Ray’s Great American Cookbook Competition, which she won. Bea was in the audience when Fanny was named the winner, and in Febru-ary, both grandmother and granddaughter will appear on a Cooking Channel show, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” featuring the Millburn Deli. A few months ago, Mitch — who has a wide circle of friends in showbiz, including Bruce Springsteen and his cohort — ar-ranged for his mother to introduce Steve Van Zandt (of the Boss’ E Street Band) and his band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul at a concert in Staten Island. She admitted to being nervous standing alone in the spotlight (with the protective Mitch hovering near-by). “I didn’t want to disappoint Steve,” she recalled. Later, to her astonishment, Slater was mobbed by fans who wanted to take selfies with her. The photographs were taken by award-winning photographer Randal Ford, and the “yenta” concept came from creative di-rector and stand-up comedian David Roth, who produced the campaign with Hogarth Worldwide. Roth said grandmothers have la-bored forever to ensure the young meet and procreate, to sustain the Tribe, and that was the spirit he had in mind. “Bea was an instant star,” he told NJJN. “She has one of the most expressive and comedic faces I’ve ever seen. We had an embarrassment of riches — so many funny photos of Bea to choose from. She was hilarious on set and an absolute delight to work with.” Slater was chosen by the Donna Grossman Casting agency. Speaking for Grossman and her team, Paul Bernstein said they auditioned around 40 women, though many more applied. They were looking for “authentic Jewish grandmothers in their late 80 to 90s,” Bernstein said, and Slater and her costars stood out because of “their heart, their humor, style. They all had their own chutzpah and heimishe feel.” Some 60 years ago, Bea and her husband helped cofound their synagogue, Temple Sha’arey Shalom, the Reform congre-gation near her home in Springfield. It was a big part of their and their children’s lives. Going on without Jack was a challenge, Bea admitted, and many of her friends are gone too, or not as youthful as she is. Still, she attends the temple’s Renaissance Club, drives (though not at night) and keeps up an active social life. And now she’s auditioning for other advertisement campaigns. Asked what Jack would make of her celebrity, Bea laughed. “He’d have said, ‘Do you know what you’re getting yourself in-to?’ He was much more conservative than me.” As for using JDate herself, she is adamant that she has “absolutely no interest in meeting anyone. I’d never find anyone as good as what I had.” But like so many Jewish grandmothers, she’s eager to help others find love. “There should be more money next time, though,” she added, with exactly the kind of twinkle in her eyes that got her the JDate gig in the first place.

By: Elaine Durbach Reference: jewishweek.timesofisrael.com

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Happy Birthday To Our March Friends!

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JCC Community Calendar

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11 12 13 14

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22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

CBI Services @ 9 a.m. Torah Study @ 11 a.m.

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CBI Services @9 a.m.

Torah Study @ 11 a.m.

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CBI Shabbat Services @ 6:30 p.m.

CBI Services @ 9 a.m. Torah Study @ 11 a.m.

CBI Services @ 9 a.m. Torah Study @ 11 a.m.

CBI Shabbat Services @ 6:30 p.m.

*Family Dinner to follow

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CBI Shabbat Services @ 6:30 p.m.

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March 2018 Adar/Nissan 5778

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Shabbat begins

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Purim

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CBI Shabbat Services @ 6:30 p.m.

CBI Services @ 9 a.m. Torah Study @ 11 a.m.

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Why My Grandmother’s Kugel Became a Family Staple Long After Her Death

My grandmother’s kugel recipe came to me as a gift from the beyond. Eight years ago, just before the High Holidays, my father received a message from a cousin. In the process of cleaning out her mother’s house, she had found a stack of yellowed recipe cards in a drawer. They were labeled with my grandmother’s name and so, she wondered, did my father want them? In many families, recipes like this would have long ago been taught to any interested family member. Daughters and daughters-in-law would have traded cooking tips and even spent the days before a holiday side-by-side with the generation above them, chopping and measuring and sifting togeth-er. Though a recipe might always be referred to by its originator—“Aunt Hannah’s strudel”—it would travel both geographically and across generations. In the case of my in-laws, for instance, everyone makes Aunt Susan’s brisket, Nana’s sponge cake, and Uncle Fred’s fried salami. The fact that Nana passed away many years ago is meaningless; the sponge cake is hers. There are still family members who watched her make it in her own kitchen. In my family, though, things are different. My grandmother died nearly 60 years ago, before her daughter had finished high school and her son had become a bar mitzvah. Even if that daughter had learned to make her mother’s recipes, she herself died young, without having had children and before the knowledge could be passed on. My grandfather remarried a woman who did not cook. My grandmother’s culinary legacy was, it would seem, entirely lost until those recipe cards were discovered decades later and clear across the continent from the kitchen where my grandmother last cooked a meal. In the decades after my grandmother’s death, my father led a full life: school, marriage, travel, career, children, grandchildren. Though my parents named me for my grandmother, there was so little about her that my father could share: no heirlooms and just a few photos. When my father received the recipe cards, he scanned them and sent me the images. It is no surprise to me that, nearly immediately, my mother did exactly what I did. On opposite sides of the country, we both began to make my grandmother’s food. Perhaps we were both looking, through this simple act, for a connection to the woman neither of us had met. I got to work. In the 1950s, when these recipe instructions were last followed, there was no such thing as lactose intolerance, and so my first job was to find close substitutes for the ingredients I couldn’t eat. Vegan cream cheese and soy milk procured, I took out the metal mixing bowl I had picked because it was just like my mother’s, and I began to follow my grandmother’s directions for apricot noodle pudding. Lokshen kugel—aka noodle pudding—is a controversial thing altogether. Ask two Jews to pronounce it, and you’ll hear “cook-gull” and “coooo-gill.” Ask three Jews what goes in kugel, and you’ll get six answers at minimum, ranging from cottage cheese and mozzarella to raisins and cinnamon to apples or peaches. The kugel of my childhood relied on fruit and cottage cheese. The kugel of my in-laws is a simple concoction of noodles and sweet cheese topped with cornflakes. This kugel, from my grandmother, is the most exquisite one I’ve ever tasted. The recipe is similar to others I’ve seen but with some surprising ingredients, most particularly apricot nectar, which I find most readily available in the Hispanic section of the grocery store. The quantity it calls for is just one-half ounce different from the standard volume of the cans in the store. Where did my grandmother go to get apricot nectar? Was this a commonly stocked product in kosher groceries on the east coast in the 1950s? What else would they do with it? What’s with the missing half-ounce? I picture my grandmother, her children at junior high and high school like mine are today, going to the market in the red leather jacket she wears in my father’s favorite photos of her. What else did she buy? Did she, as her cousins have told me, sing to herself as she walked back through her door, just as I do? I’ll never know the answers to any of those questions, but I do know this: My mother told me that the taste of this kugel brought tears to my father’s eyes. He remembered it. This kugel is now known as “Grandma Dorothy’s Kugel” by my daughters. One of them counts it among her favorite foods and so, when she became a bat mitzvah last year, we shared the recipe with the caterers so that it would appear on the menu. In that way, more than half a century after her death, my grandmother had a presence at the bat mitzvah celebration of her great-granddaughter. She is with us, too, at the High Holidays, when her kugel’s place at our Rosh Hashanah lunch table is now expected. The New Year begins with a taste of family, an inheritance that cannot be taken away. As prescribed, it is sweet, it brings life full circle, and, of course, it is delicious.

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By: Debi Lewis Reference: kveller.com

JCC The Place To Be! page 14

Happy Birthday!!!

17th Amanda Elizondo

(Toddler 1 Asst. Teacher)

20th Trixy Galindo

(Aftercare Teacher)

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1st JCC Registration - Open to Community begins for 2018-2019 School Year 1st School Purim Celebration 2nd Shabbat 9:00 AM/ Mitzvah “Acts of Loving Kindness” Ms. Christal 8th Spring Fling 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (See Invitation Below) 9th Shabbat 9:00 AM/ Mitzvah “Feeding the Hungry” Ms. Vanessa 12th-15th Spring Break (School closed/ Holiday Care is open) 16th Spring Break (School closed/ Holiday Care closed) 21st-22nd Spring Pictures (Individually only/ No class pictures) 23rd Shabbat 9:00 AM/ Mitzvah “Feeding the Hungry” Ms. Vanessa 29th PTO Meeting 9:00 AM (after drop off in the auditorium) 30th CCISD Holiday (No school/ No Holiday Care)

JCC Preschool PTO Spring Fling 2018

For more information contact: Preschool/ Summer Programs Director - Manuela Sela Call (361) 855-6239 or Email: jewishcommunitypreschool@yahoo.com

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For more information contact: Executive Director - Vanessa Nisbet Call: (361)814-9399 or Email: director@risecorpuschristi.org

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