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COMPILED BY STEVE STEIN

Extra Cash Averts
Cutbacks At Temple

c

ongregation members
of Temple Concord in
Binghamton, N.Y.,
dug a little deeper into
their pockets and avert-
ed cutbacks announced
by the temple board
of directors because CD
of a $25,000 short- ilmiliol
fall
The board threatened to dis-
band the temple choir, shut the
temple office two days a week
and end the publication of the
temple newsletter.
But a phone campaign by

Jewish
Cookbook Is
The Best

board members and the an-
nouncement of the planned cuts
in the newsletter
brought in enough
money to cover an
April 15 payroll.
According to a
story in the Re-
cC),
k lqmplimintiO porter newspa-
per published by
the Jewish Federation of Broome
County, some temple congre-
gants paid their dues early, while
others volunteered to increase
their dues or make additional
contributions to the temple.

ith an audience of
more than 1,000 food
professionals looking
on, Jewish Cooking in Ameri-
ca by Joan Nathan was named
the "Best Cookbook of the Year"
for 1994.
The honor was one of 10
handed out during the Julia
Child Cookbook Awards show,
an Academy Awards-style pre-
sentation which was part of the
17th annual conference of the
International Association of
Culinary Professionals in San
Antonio.
Ms. Nathan, whose book in-
cludes more than 300 kosher
recipes from across the United
States, received her award from
Ms. Child and Graham Kerr,
another popular television cook.

W

Attorney Helped Bring
Rams To St. Louis

N

ow that Na-
tional Football
League owners
have approved the
move of the Los Angeles
Rams to St. Louis, Richard
Riezman can breath a sign
of relief.
Mr. Riezman is the attorney
for FANS Inc. (Fans at
the New Stadium), a
group headed by for-
mer Sen. Thomas Ea-
gleton, which worked
for five months to con-

vince the Rams to leave Los An-
geles and make their home in St.
Louis.
The St. Louis team is sched-
uled to play its first game
in a new $260 million
domed stadium in down-
town St. Louis on Oct. 23.
The stadium will seat
70,000.
Mr. Riezman and Robert
Blitz are co-founders of the
Riezman & Blitz law firm, a
33-lawyer operation in St.
Louis.

AIDS-Infected
Rabbi On The
Lecture Circuit

abbi Marc Blumenthal,
who describes himself as
"the only rabbi in the
world with AIDS who is willing
to talk about it in public," is
speaking at synagogues across
the country about his struggle
with the disease.
Before recent Shabbat talks
at Congregation Beth Torah and
Congregation Beth Shalom in
Kansas City, Mo., Rabbi Blu-
menthal told the Kansas City
Jewish Chronicle that Jews
should have a unique sympathy
for those who have contracted
the HIV virus:
'We, as Jews, have been stig-
matized solely for being Jews ...
and we have been hated and
persecuted because of the accu-
sation of carrying disease, like
the Black Plague in the 13th
and 14th centuries. Who should
know better than we not to
blame the victim?"
The story did not say how the
rabbi acquired AIDS.

Flatow: Don't Let The
Terrorists Win

F4

yen though he lost his
daughter Alisa, a Bran-
deis University student,
to a terrorist bomb explosion in
Gaza last month, Stephen Fla-
tow says he remains convinced
that Israel is one of the safest
places in the world.
"If someone were to call me, I
would tell him to send his kids to
Israel, otherwise the terrorists
win," Mr. Flatow, a West Orange,
N.J., resident, said during an in-
terview with the Jewish Week in
New York.
"Parents have to understand
that violence is random through-
out the world," Mr. Flatow said.
"I used to lie in bed awake when
Alisa visited friends in Manhat-
tan. But when she was in Israel,
7,000 miles away, I felt comfort-
able."
Gail Flatow, 18, one of the four
remaining children of Stephen
and Rosalyn Flatow, has re-
turned to Israel to complete her

yearlong stay at B'not Chayil, a
yeshiva in the same Jerusalem
neighborhood where Alisa, 20,
had been studying when she was
killed.
Mr. Flatow, an attorney, is
president of Congregation Ohr
Torah in West Orange, a 25-fam-
ily shul.

1

.1

3

Alisa Flatow: Bomb victim.

You Say Potato, And I Say
Quarter-Pounder

I

sraelis who enjoy eating Mc-
Donald's Quarter-Pounder
hamburgers and Chicken Mc-
Nuggets didn't have to go cold
turkey during Passover.
The nine McDonald's restau-
rants in Israel were selling Quar-
ter-Pounders on buns made from

potato flour and Chicken Mc-
Nuggets made with matzah.
Because of the cost, potato
flour buns were available only
with Quarter-Pounders. The oth-
er hamburgers on the McDon-
ald's menu were not sold during
Passover.

Devout Christian Gives
$20,000 To Jewish Charities

ohn Birmingham of Min- the will, told the Canadian Jew-
den, Ontario, a devout ish News.
Christian and retired fac-
Payments of $5,000 were giv-
tory worker who died last year en to the Reena Foundation,
at age 85, bequeathed $20,000 to Baycrest Centre for Geriatric
four Jewish organizations.
Care, Jewish Family and Child
"Mr. Birmingham was Service and United Jewish Ap-
adamant in his belief that the peal.
Jewish people were God's chosen
Mr. Birmingham had no chil-
race," Glenda Burk, a legal sec- dren and his wife predeceased
retary who was the executor of him.

For Black Comedian, Being Jewish
Is No Laughing Matter

B

lack comedian Aaron Free-
man, who converted to Ju-
daism last year at age 37,
says being a Jew gives him a
sense of security he never expe-
rienced in the past.
"It's like rounding third base,
sliding home and hearing the
umpire say, 'You're safe!' " Mr.
Freeman told the Canadian Jew-
ish News before a recent concert
in Toronto.
"It's a culture I value and cher-
ish," Mr. Freeman said. "I'm
proud to say my children are

Jewish. They say the Sh'ma and
light the candles every Friday
night."
Mr. Freeman grew up in a
Catholic home in Chicago and
had Catholic schooling.
"I'm a survivor of Catholic ed-
ucation," he said. "It tends to pro-
duce non-Catholics."
For 16 years, Mr. Freeman
performed with the famed Sec-
ond City comedy troupe in Chica-
go alongside George Wendt,
Shelley Long, Jim Belushi and
Mike Myers.

U-M In The Running For
Wrestling Star

T

he University of Michigan
is one of five colleges being
considered by wrestling
star Scott Schatzman of Park-
way Central High School in St.
Louis. The others are Arizona
State, Indiana, Ohio State and
Northwestern.
Mr. Schatzman, called "per-
haps the greatest high school

wrestler in Missouri history" by
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, went
149-0 during his four-year prep
career.
The 5-foot-6, 135-pounder also
played soccer for four years at
Parkway Central. He recently
was voted the school's No. 1 stu-
dent-athlete.

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