Author: Jan Engoren

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Kol Tikvah The Synagogue Where Everyone Knows Your Name

“Shabbat Shalom! Good Shabbos!”  These are the greetings you hear echoing on any given Friday night, in the sanctuary and corridors of Kol Tikvah, a reform synagogue serving Parkland and the surrounding communities. From Rock Shabbats under the stars, to Paint & Sip Happy Hours,  to Mimouna celebrations and  social events, Congregation Kol Tikvah is the “synagogue that never sleeps.”

Boasting an early childhood center, teen nights, a caring committee, business networking events and social action (Tikkun Olam) opportunities with monthly PB&J sandwich collections for the homeless, the synagogue, sandwiched between City Hall and the Coastal Community Church on N. University Dr., is a hub of activity.

“As a reform congregation we can take more liberty in choosing what to participate in,” says Rabbi Melissa Stollman, Director of Lifelong Learning.  “We don’t have the same sense of responsibility toward Jewish law, but focus on our responsibility toward one another. The heart of our community is the relationships people have with one another that take place in a Jewish setting,” she explains.

“We hear from many of our congregants that this is their home, this is where their “family” is – friends who’ve become family,” Stollman says.  “This is where they feel comfortable bringing their kids, praying, with activities grounded in Jewish values.  Everyone is seen and known and important.” The synagogue was birthed in 1991 when six Parkland families, including a Jew by choice, an interfaith couple and several adopted children met for Shabbat dinner and decided to establish a synagogue in the Reform tradition. In fact, president Jennifer Levin-Tavares  likens it to the popular TV show, Cheers, comparing Kol Tikvah (which means Voice of Hope) to a synagogue where “everyone knows your name.”

With more than 350 families, this is not an easy task. One of those families is the Levine family Craig, a realtor, Jennifer, a physician and their three children, Benjamin, 12, Max, 11, and Rebecca, 5, who spent three years in Kol Tikvah’s Phyllis J. Green Early Childhood Center (ECC). The whole family is active and involved with Kol Tikvah.  Craig is a board member of Kol Tikvah’s Brotherhood while Jennifer is involved with the synagogue Chavarim, which works to create and deepen relationships between members. Their oldest son, Benjamin will be a Bar Mitzvah this September and is working hard with Rabbi Bradd Boxman, Cantor, Malcolm Arnold and Mr. “B,” Fred Berkowitz, the Hebrew teacher. “In our ten years as members of Kol Tikva, we have felt warmly welcomed by the staff and members. We are impressed with the sense of community and our children have made lifelong friends,” says Craig Levine.  “We are so happy to have found Kol Tikvah.”

President Levin-Tavares says what distinguishes Kol Tikvah from other Jewish institutions in the area is that Kol Tikvah functions as a community center, offering more than just religious school, Shabbat and holiday services. “We have an amazingly energetic, demographically diverse synagogue with a wide range of activities and programming for every age group,” Levin-Tavares says. Because the congregation is still young, “Our youthfulness allows us to change and evolve much more nimbly than more established institutions,” she says.

For Rabbi Stollman, who lived in 10 cities growing up, she says belonging to a reform synagogue was an oasis in the midst of her chaotic life and kept her connected to her Judaism and Jewish values. She says the same is true for Parkland’s Kol Tikvah. 

“If you identify as Jewish or are curious about being Jewish and seeking a faith-based tradition, being connected on a deeper level, Kol Tikvah will welcome you,” says Rabbi Stollman.  “You don’t have to look too hard to feel connected and feel a part of something.”

For more information visit: koltikvah.net or call:  (954) 346-7878The next Rock Shabbat is scheduled for Nov. 1.

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Anguish in the Aftermath

“Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength,” the current Dalai Lama has said. “ By examining tragedy, as painful as it is, we hope to make sense of it. A new exhibit by Coral Springs photojournalist Ian Witlen opening at the Coral Springs Museum of Art on Sept. 14 and running through Nov. 9, titled, “Anguish in the Aftermath: Examining a Mass Shooting,” proposes to do just that.

On Feb. 14, 2018, Witlen, received the assignment from the Miami New Times to cover the shootings and its aftermath at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and teachers were shot and killed. Witlen rushed to the scene and was on-site snapping photos and documenting the tragedy as it unfolded of this now scarred-in-our-memory event. As it happens, Witlen, now 36, graduated from MSD, so the events had a special resonance for him. “After the shooting I was at the school every day.” says Witlen. “I had many students and teachers coming asking me how can we get our stories told?”

A world traveler and internationally published photojournalist, Witlen’s work has appeared in Time, der Spiegel, CNN and Vanity Fair, among others. A self-described apolitical person, Witlen was in shock and unnerved by what he saw and driven to express all the emotions and tumult he was witnessing the best way he knew how – through photography.

Over the past 12 months, in his spare time and during nights and weekends, Witlen interviewed more than 75 students and teachers who were in the freshman building at MSD  on that fateful day. To remain neutral in his role as a photojournalist, Witlen asked the participants only two questions: What was your experience that day? And what would you like to see come of it? Out of that project emerged the exhibit, a collection of black-and-white portraits and audio recordings from each of the participants.

Museum-goers can listen to the audio of the responses and hear what the students are saying at that exact moment Witlen captured them on film. Julie Andrews, executive director of the Coral Springs Museum of Art was introduced to Witlen through former Coral Springs City Commissioner Lou Cimaglia. “When I saw Ian’s masterful photography and heartfelt stories I knew I had to find resources to help him continue his work,” says Andrews. “His photographs are the perfect intersection between art and the humanities,” she says.

Artist Nicoelle Danielle Cohen, 41, understood Witlen’s motivation.  She created the Healing Hearts Project, and works with Parkland survivors to heal and honor the victims. “I think what Ian is doing is incredible,” says Cohen, who spent part of her summer working with the Shine MSD Camp to provide healing through the arts. While Witlen says his message is a humanitarian one, not a political one, Cohen is open about expressing her views.

“As an MSD alum and mother of a 7-yr. old, I want to use my art to raise awareness, create healing and to continue the conversation about common sense gun laws,” she says. “I look forward to seeing Ian’s show,” says Cohen. “He’s working hard and I know the emotional toll it takes.” “My dream is that we are all inspired to use whatever talents we have to help make changes in the laws,” Cohen says. “We owe it to our children.”

The Coral Springs Museum of Art offered Witlen an artist-in-residence opportunity and hope to have the exhibit to travel to other museums and educational institutions across the country. For Witlen, too, his life was changed forever on that fateful February day. Witnessing all the horror and speaking to so many people directly affected by the tragedy, Witlen says he experienced vicarious trauma along with much heartbreak.

The project helped him get through those dark days. “This was a cathartic and therapeutic experience for myself and many of the students,” says Witlen. He was surprised that many of the students and teachers voiced a sense of relief. “They expressed a desire to help others, and I was moved to tears knowing I had a positive effect and helped someone in their time of need,” he said.

Witlen hopes the community will feel the same way. “It’s an opportunity for these students, teachers and families to unburden themselves, give them a voice and help them heal in some small way,” he says. “These kids want to make a better world where others are treated with kindness.  Despite the hardship, these students and families have kept on.  They are an inspiration to me,” he says.  “The least I can do is to do my part.”

For more information about this exhibit, contact the Coral Springs Museum of Art at (954) 340-5000 or museuminfo@coralsprings.com and online at coralspringsmuseum.org. Meet the artist at a complimentary meet and greet reception on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 6 pm.

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Michelle Kefford Comes Home

New principal ready to lead Douglas forward

Michelle Kefford is pumped. And while spasms of enthusiasm seem to come with the job when you’re a school principal, the new principal of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High has plenty of legitimate reasons to be excited.

“It’s coming back home,” Kefford, 44, said.

Those four words explain almost every reason she’s back at the Parkland school, coming full circle from where she began her career 20 years ago as a biology teacher.

Kefford, who begins work at Douglas on July 1, replaces former principal Ty Thompson, who stepped down in May, and co-principal Teresa Hall.

The principal at MSD when a former student opened fire at the school, leaving 17 dead and as many injured on Feb. 14, 2018, Thompson had been under investigation by Broward Schools and reassigned to different duties at Douglas. A popular and exuberant figure at the school, Thompson cited personal reasons for resigning after six years as principal. The investigation, which district officials expected to complete by May, remains ongoing.

Thompson’s departure widened the administrative hole needing to be filled at Douglas. In the wake of 2/14 and the local and state probes that followed, three assistant principals were transferred and a second principal was named. Kefford’s hire is not only a move to fill that void, but to begin building anew.

Kefford declined to speak specifically about past events at the high school but did say she will be re-evaluating policies and procedures going forward.

She has been working on her transition from Flanagan High, where she served as principal for eight years. Her efforts at the Pembroke Pines school blossomed these past two years as Kefford was named Broward’s 2018 Principal of the Year, then in March earned the Florida Board of Education Principal of the Year honor for 2019.

“I love what I do,” she said. “It’s rewarding to work with kids.

“I’m driven by their success. I want to prepare our kids for graduation and what comes next in life.”

A wife and a mother of two, Kefford and her family reside in Parkland. Her oldest son attends Douglas, while the younger boy is a student at West Glades Middle School.

Valerie Wanza, the district’s School Performance and Accountability director, was Kefford’s first supervisor.

“I watched her career grow in the school district and watched as her leadership grew at Flanagan,” Wanza said.  “Under her guidance, Flanagan became a consistently A-rated, high-performance school — not just academically, but as an overall school experience.” 

Describing her as a highly accomplished school leader, Wanza believes Kefford is the right person at the right time to take the reins at Douglas.

“Michelle will seize this opportunity to go home, help the community recover, heal, and move forward,” Wanza said.

Michelle Kefford (center) is flanked by Broward Schools officials, including superintendent Robert Runcie (right) at a May 13 press conference to announce her hire as principal at Douglas High. (WLRN photo

Robert Runcie, at a May 13 press conference announcing Kefford’s appointment, said, “We are grateful to Michelle for taking on this challenge. It speaks volumes to the type of leader she is.”

The Broward Schools superintendent cited the “culture of pride” Kefford built with the staff and students at Flanagan.

“Given her qualifications and her background, we couldn’t be more proud — and lucky — to recommend someone that’s so qualified to fill this important role,” Runcie said.

For Kefford, the most fulfilling aspect of the job is witnessing the success of her students.

“I get to see these kids from their awkward adolescence through to young adulthood,” she said. “Watching (them) attain their goals, receive scholarships, graduate, walk across the stage, go on to college, and to know I’ve made a difference in their life is very satisfying.”

The daughter of two retired educators, Kefford once thought she’d become a veterinarian. She said it was her mom who encouraged her to teach, because of her passion for biology. “I tried it out and never looked back,” she said.

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Man on a Mission

Street Priest hits South Florida & beyond

Just 19, barely past his freshman year at Lynn University, James Okina is already well-traveled, very savvy, and passionate about his work. In fact, he’s a man on a mission.

At 15, in his hometown of Calabar, Nigeria, a city not unlike Boca Raton with its greenery and coastal proximity, he founded a nonprofit called Street Priests designed to help the children living in the streets.

By the time he reached 17, Okina says he became obsessed with solving this problem on a global scale and began to study why, despite increasing efforts to address the issue, this problem is growing and persists worldwide.

An estimated 100-150 million children live on the streets around the world, while 250,000 die every week from disease and malnutrition, and 10 million are child slaves, according to Womenaid International.

In the U.S., almost 2.5 million kids under age 18 — that’s 1 in 30 — experience homelessness each year. In Palm Beach County alone, more than 4,400 children are counted as homeless, according to the county’s Homeless Coalition.

Kids living on the street are often victims of violence and crime, and later often fall prey to abuse and drug addiction. They are especially vulnerable to the human rights violations inherent in gangs, sexual exploitation, and abuse and neglect.

As an adolescent, Okina had been tempted into gang life. He is thankful he escaped — and it inspired him. “I rose above my own difficulties when my parents divorced when I was 8, and many people helped me along the way.” He remembers a cousin who came to stay where he lived with his father. Okina told NPR in 2017, “I saw that he led a more quiet, dignified life.”

Okina had already made international news by his late teens, as Street Priests drew attention, help, and funding. Trying to find a framework that would help the nonprofit reach children across different cultures and societies, he moved to South Florida to study at the Watson Institute at Lynn. Okina is part of an inaugural cohort of scholars from around the world studying to earn a degree in social entrepreneurship while working on issues they are passionate about.

“The first word that comes to mind when I think of James is unstoppable,” Tyler Tornaben, director of programs for the Watson Institute, said. “He is majoring in his mission every day.”

In his first year at Lynn, Okina met Isaac King, 23, who also feels driven to solve the worldwide crisis of homeless children.

King spent six months in the Dominican Republic after high school. The Ocala native learned Spanish and was drawn to the island’s street children, known as palomos — literally translated as “doves,” but in street slang, meaning “rascals.” King later spent a year in Brazil, working with the homeless “beach kids” of Rio de Janeiro.

At Lynn, joined in common cause, Okina and King set out on a self-proclaimed “audacious” trip back to the Dominican Republic to dive deeper into the street culture there.

Okina (right) and Isaac King flank Ana María Domínguez, Governor of Santiago Province, paying their respects during a recent visit to the Dominican Republic.

Over a period of eight days last March, the two traveled the island, interviewing more than 60 kids, community members, police officers, and government officials for a documentary.

“The stories and plights of both the Haitian and Dominican children we met left a deep and burning desire in us to commit to this problem and create a long-lasting change in our world,” Okina said.

A few of the children living in the streets in Santo Domingo. (Photo courtesy of James Okina)

The two will travel to London this summer to present their findings at the Map the System Global Challenge, part of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School at Oxford University.

King calls his mission partner an inspiration.

“James is a leader in every sense of the word,” King said. “He embodies everything he talks about. When you hear his conviction, you know it comes from a place of compassion and empathy.”

In the fall, Okina is set to help tackle gun violence in Palm Beach County. Partnering with Angela Williams, founder of Mother’s Against Murderers Association in Rivera Beach, they hope to design a plan of action to work with kids in the community to interrupt the cycle of gun violence.

Even if he can’t solve all the world’s problems, it seems likely Okina will at least provide sparks of inspiration and fellowship in lending a hand. Engaging with kids is the first step. “The future won’t create itself. Young people must take an active role,” Okina said. “We are only 25 percent of the population, but we are 100 percent of the future.”

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Subverting Super Heroes at Boca Art Museum

Look — up in the sky — it’s a bird, it’s a plane! No — it’s the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s new headliner, Beyond the Cape! Comics and Contemporary Art.

The exhibition offers a new look at the relationship between contemporary artists and graphic novels and comic books.

Many of today’s most high-profile artists have been influenced by this genre and the exhibit takes a deeper look at how graphic novels and comics address societal issues of race, class, gender and politics.

“It’s exciting to see younger audiences express strong interest in this exhibition,” Kathleen Goncharov, the museum’s senior curator, said.

Goncharov — aided by Calvin Reid, senior news editor at Publishers Weekly and a comic book expert — has selected an eclectic, playful, and sometimes wickedly burlesque collection of video, photographs, sculpture, prints, and drawings in addition to rare comics and contemporary and historic animation for display.

The installation features more than 80 works by 40 artists, including Christian Marclay, Kerry James Marshall, Elizabeth Murray, Joyce Pensato, Raymond Pettibon, Peter Saul, Kenny Scharf and Michael Zansky among others. Works by Takashi Murakami and Yositomo Nara, who specialize in Japanese comics, or manga, are also highlighted.

Work by Japanese manga artist Takashi Murakami.

“There is a long history here, in Europe and in Japan, between comics and fine art,” Zansky, whose work is prominently displayed, said. “Comics have a large influence in the culture and on contemporary artists.  This exhibit showcases artists who are attracted to (the) quirky visuals and subversive content of adult comics.”

Michael Zansky’s Saturn Series, standing 19 feet high, was created with carved, burnt, and painted plywood. (Photo by Jan Engoren)

Zansky comes to the world of comics naturally. His father was Louis Zansky, who drew for the circa 1940s Classic Comics series of graphic adaptations of famous literary works. Michael Zansky’s Walking Figure, a 16-foot-high carved, burnt, and painted plywood panel of a giant foot on an octagonal foundation, is based on the Colossus of Constantine, a gargantuan marble statue of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.

The work is displayed at the entry to the exhibit, next to and juxtaposed with Manuscript, a giant hennaed hand by Indian American artist Chitra Ganesh.

The show looks beyond the 1960s Pop Art movement, led by New York-centric artists such as Andy Warhol and Ray Lichtenstein, and features the “other” art movements from the ‘60s and ‘70s such as the Hairy Who and Bay Area Funk Art. Hairy Who artists Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum, along with works by underground comic book artists such as R. Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Mimi Pond are also featured.

A highlight of the show is Chicago artist Kerry James Marshall’s comic series Rhythm Mastr, which documents violence in his hometown. Known for his flat, colorful paintings of contemporary black America, Marshall’s work is in high demand.

Although comics and graphic novels are part of a genre dominated by men, a number of women are highlighted in the show. New York artist Jody Culkin, in particular, raises the feminist bona fides of the exhibit with A Prophetic Drama. The 9-minute animated comic is based loosely on a play about mummies coming to life in the British Museum, written in 1875 by Harriet Hosmer, a celebrated 19th-century sculptor who also enjoyed dabbling in science fiction writing.

Snapshot showing a scene from New York artist Jody Culkin’s animated comic A Prophetic Drama. (Photo by Jan Engoren)

Also featured are Chitra Ganesh, figurative artist Elizabeth Murray and Jamaican feminist artist Renee Cox, known for upending sexist and racist stereotypes with her art. Beyond the Cape! runs through Oct. 6.

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A Shared Moment in Time

Like Tibetan sand mandalas, which are swept up and scattered on the water, the Temple of Time is about the moment, the process, the creation, and the transitory nature of life itself.

The beech-plywood temple on Sample Road, created by artist David Best, is the first of five public art installations in Coral Springs and Parkland that are part of the series Inspiring Community Healing After Gun Violence: The Power of Art.

The two cities, in partnership with the Coral Springs Museum of Art, were awarded $1 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies to fund the projects, which aim to use art to help heal the community after the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018. 

With help from local residents, the Balinese-like temple rose from the site of the old City Hall over a two-week span in early February, and opened to the public one year after the Feb. 14 school shooting that left 17 dead and as many injured.

What Best, his crew and community members created was an object of great beauty out of shared loss. 

The temple, where visitors are encouraged to leave mementoes and write messages directly on the raw wood, has transformed into a repository of the community’s hopes, fears, wishes, and dreams.

The Temple of Time, said Best, is a way of honoring the time it will take for the community to process the feelings it shares from a common tragedy.

The California-based artist has dedicated his life’s work to designing and building ornate yet ephemeral temples for communities that need healing.

In what some might say is a paradox, the 35-foot-high, non-denominational structure will be set on fire and destroyed in May. It is Best’s hope the community’s grief over the shootings and the loss of life on 2/14 and in the aftermath will dissipate with the flames.

Best began creating temples in 2000, as a way to honor a friend killed in a motorcycle accident, and he and his 14-person Temple Crew have become known for the elaborate structures they’ve built at the annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.

Best recently spoke about his work to the Miami New Times: “I make an empty structure — it doesn’t mean anything; it’s just a pretty shape. And then people come, and they put in their religion, their faith, their anger. Whatever they’ve got, they put it [in the temple], and they develop their mythology. It doesn’t matter what we believe. It matters what they believe.”

The Temple of Time in Coral Springs is very nearly covered with the inspirational and heartfelt messages visitors have left on the carved mosaic-like scrollwork. “Tell the sun and stars hello for me. We love you, Gina Rose,” reads one of thousands of personal notes. Another states: “Hate, anger, fear, indifference, and jealousy will never win.”

Hand-painted rocks emblazoned with “MSDStrong,” “A Little Bit of Gratitude Goes a Long Way,” and “There is Always Hope,” adorn the temple altars along with stuffed animals, photos, religious trinkets, hand-drawn hearts, flowers, and a brown manila envelope full of shredded bully testimonials from students at Pioneer Middle School.

Particularly poignant is a photograph from 18-year-old Meadow Pollack’s kindergarten teacher saying, “Proud to have been your kindergarten teacher, Meadow.” A senior at Douglas, Pollack was among the 17 killed by a lone gunman at school that day.

On a cool weekday morning in March — the installation is open every day from 7am until dusk — the temple was alive with visitors. Jonathan Koota, a massage therapist and Coral Springs resident, came with friends Lynne Mass, of Delray Beach, and Judy King, of Pompano Beach. They walked quietly through the temple, discreetly taking photos and reading the temple’s messages of love and hope to their grandkids. Lanie Hyman Shapiro visited the temple in February. The Coral Springs woman called the temple “an amazingly powerful and intricate” tribute to MSD’s 17 victims. “It’s a place to come together, to reflect,” Shapiro said. “It’s a place to begin a catharsis.”

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