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This Week in KJA
Stephen Rosen, President

This week KJA brings you three great opportunities to learn about ourselves, our community and Israel.  Tonight, you can enjoy a lecture on acupuncture from Dr. Diana Sarkar.  Wednesday night is your opportunity to learn and share your vision of dealing with homelessness with Compassion Knoxville.
 
Then on Thursday night, KJA will bring an opportunity to learn about life in the City of Ariel.  Ariel is about 12 miles east of the "green line." Come hear American Friends of Ariel Executive Director Avi Zimmerman talk about the city and its future.

Last week, President Obama shared his vision for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution based on the pre-1967 boundaries with agreed upon land swaps. At the AIPAC Policy Conference, he expanded his comments http://www.aipac.org/PC/webPlayer/2011-sunday-obama.asp  The topics of peace and boundaries are in the news and in our daily conversations.  KJA is happy to be able to provide some "from-the-scene" information on this topic.

The current issue of Ha'Kol features an article about a UT Art School project with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.  The project was funded through a grant made by members of our community, some of which came through the Knoxville Jewish Community Family of Funds.  The story is highlighted here in a UT magazine http://www.higherground.utk.edu/2011/05/art-grad-students-collaborate-with-holocaust-museum-on-citizen-history-project/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Higher+Ground+spring+2011&utm_content=Higher+Ground+spring+2011+CID_cb22f783920d11ee9c9e06a73793c0a0&utm_source=Email+marketing+software&utm_term=Read+more

Last week, President Obama celebrated Jewish American Heritage Month with a reception for Jewish leaders and notables at the White House.  This is event was started by President Bush 5 years ago.

This Week's "Below the Calendar" has absolutely nothing to do with Knoxville nor did I ever meet the person eulogized.  However, it is worth a quick glance as Jack Mandel is a great example of the success our Jewish community has had in the United States in the last 100 years. 

We have more to share on Birthright Israel as Jared Britcher will be attending the program in June.

An orthodox newspaper in Brooklyn edited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton out of the instantly iconic photo of President Obama and staff watching the events of the Bin Laden raid.  Funny or embarrassing, it's up to you.  http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/jewish_techs/hasidic_newspaper_photoshops_hillary_clinton_iconic_photo

And http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110509/ts_yblog_thecutline/wheres-hillary-hasidic-paper-breaks-the-rules-by-editing-her-out-of-white-house-photo

 CALENDAR  

 

Tonight  7pm  AJCC Adult Lounge

Dr. Diana Sarkar speaks on Acupuncture as part of KJA's Wellness Series

 

May 23  Capitol
PM Netanyahu addresses joint session of Congress

 

May 25  AJCC  7:30pm
Compassion Knoxville presentation on homelessness sponsored by KJA Community Relations Council

 

May 26   AJCC Adult Lounge 7:30pm
Avi Zimmerman, Exec. Dir Friends of Ariel

 

May 29  Opening Day for AJCC Pool

 

May 29  AJCC Gym  4pm-6pm
Milton Collins Day Camp Open House

 

May 31  Milton Collins Day Camp and Camp K'ton Ton Session 1

OTHER NEWS
THE PASSING OF JACK MANDEL, z"l
 May 13, 2011
 
The Jewish Federations of North America mourns the passing of Jack Mandel, z"l, of Cleveland, a longtime friend of the Federation movement and a dedicated supporter of the Jewish community.
 
Mandel, a generous philanthropist who was actively involved in the Jewish community in Cleveland, passed away on Thursday, at age 99. With his brothers Joseph and Morton, Jack founded the Premier Industrial Corporation as well as the Mandel Foundation, a billion-dollar philanthropy whose impact can be felt throughout the Jewish world.
"Jack had a big Jewish heart. He and his brothers built a company together, then shared the success of their company with the entire community," said Stephen Hoffman, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. "Jack worked so hard to strengthen and grow the Jewish community - of Cleveland, of the country and of Israel. His legacy is in the great institutions that he and his brothers founded and supported."
Born in Poland, Jack came to the U.S. when he was nine years old, and settled with his family in Cleveland. In 1940, Jack and his brothers invested $900 into remnants of an uncle's auto-parts store, and called it Premier Automotive Supply Company. After several decades of growth, the company, which eventually changed its name to Premier Industrial Corporation, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1964. Under the leadership of the Mandel brothers, the Premier Industrial Corporation posted record earnings and won numerous business accolades.
Jack and his brothers created the Mandel Foundation, a charitable organization focused on management of nonprofit organizations, Jewish education and continuity, leadership, higher education and urban neighborhood renewal, in 1953. Since then, the foundation's footprint has grown to include the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations and the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western University; the Mandel Center for the Humanities and the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University; the Mandel Center for Excellence in Leadership and Management and the Mandel Center for Jewish Education at the Jewish Community Centers of North America; and the Mandel Leadership Institute, the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev and the Mandel Center for the Humanities at The Hebrew University, all in Israel.
The Jewish Federation movement has also been the beneficiary of Jack's generous philanthropy. In addition to founding The Jewish Federations of North America's Mandel Center for Leadership Excellence, the Mandel brothers helped fund the Jewish Federation of Cleveland's new offices in Beachwood, Ohio, and Jack served as a life trustee of the Federation.
Jack was also a life trustee at The Temple-Tifereth Israel, but his philanthropic involvement extended far beyond the Jewish community. He served on the board at Montefiore, the Cleveland Sight Center and the Cleveland Play House.
 

The Knoxville Jewish Alliance cares for those in need, rescues those in harm's way, and renews and strengthens the Jewish people in Knoxville, in Israel and around the world.