Compiled by Sharon Wisch-Ray

Faces and Places: A Julie Eisenfeld Retrospective

For nearly 50 years, Julie Eisenfeld has found artistic satisfaction by expressing herself through a variety of media.
Her art career for the first 30 years focused on acrylic painting, serigraphs (silk screen), etching and crafting linoleum prints. Through expressionism and her perception, she has placed people with recognizable, everyday elements in unprecedented situations that draw the viewer into the artist’s viewpoint and invite them to become part of the art.
For the past 20 years, she has focused on and continues to paint watercolors “that have given her the opportunity to ‘play within the light’ to suggest traditional form. Watercolors allow her to capture the transient and momentary effect of sunlight…,” according to her daughter Candice Eisenfeld, an artist known for landscape, abstract painting.
She holds a B.F.A. from Indiana University, studied printmaking and painting, and has taught kindergartners as well as college students. “Art is storytelling,” she says, emphasizing the importance of interacting with people, places and objects.
Her works often express her emotional experience rather than physical reality. As a result, they appear playful and creative, but still give rise to serene contemplation combined with subtle odd, eccentric or humorous elements.
Both the media along with the moods or feelings she has captured — whether humorous, entertaining or profound — are bold and evocative. Her drawings make a statement and have something to say. “If you can laugh at yourself, things aren’t half bad,” she adds.
Simply put, she views creating art as fulfilling her personal need to release energy, followed by printmaking that she considers the next step in producing a truly original work of art.
Beauty as well as other qualities in works of art are often said to be in the eye of the beholder. While Julie Eisenfeld accepts that others see qualities in her work that she doesn’t, she finds it “especially gratifying and worthwhile when someone comes along and likes something just as she did it.”
—Submitted by
Arlene Reynolds

Garsek Lodge honors 2 exemplary students with academic awards

Earlier this month, the Garsek Lodge presented its 2019 Award for Academic Excellence to Lily Goldberg and Rafael Cocchi.
Lily is the daughter of Kim and Bob Goldberg. She graduated from Paschal High School, where she attained a 4.0 GPA and a score of 1520 on her SATs. Lily is attending Washington University in St. Louis in the fall, majoring in biology.
Lily is enthusiastic about her education. She received several awards including National Merit Commended Scholar Awards and several AP Scholar with Distinction Awards and two Regional Visual Arts Scholar Awards. She was a member of the National Honor Society for four years, Paschal Society of Academic Excellence and Paschal’s Key Club.
Three years ago she also founded the In Tune Music Education Partnership (read about it in the Aug. 8 edition of the TJP).
Throughout her high school career, Lily was active in Beth-El Congregation and served as a religious Sunday school teacher’s aide. She has also been a counselor for three summers at Camp Impact.
Lily enjoys playing the violin and painting when she is not studying or volunteering.
Isadore Garsek B’nai B’rith Lodge is honored to recognize Lily Goldberg’s achievement and present her with its 2019 Award for Academic Excellence.
Rafael Cocchi is the son of Horacio Cocchi and Suki John. Rafael graduated from Paschal High School, where he attained a 3.8 GPA and a score of 1360 on his SATs. He is attending the University of North Texas at Denton and pursuing a degree in media arts with a minor in theater management.
An excellent student, Rafael was a member of the National Honor Society, a FWISD Superintendent Scholar, an AP Scholar with Honor, National Hispanic Recognition Program and a FWISD Academic Sweatshirt Scholar.
Rafael was a member of Paschal’s cross-country and soccer teams. He was involved with the school’s theater and served as its backstage manager. He was also a member of the Yearbook Club his senior year.
Rafael was active in Beth-El Congregation’s youth group (FWFTY) and served as a religious Sunday school teacher’s aide for two years. He volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House as well. In his spare time, Rafael managed to work as a public pool lifeguard, teach children’s swim lessons, be a soccer referee and deliver pizzas for Perrotti’s.
Gone 2 Texas Exhibit extended through May 2020 at Ahavath Sholom
The eye-catching exhibit at Ahavath Sholom, filled with African sculptures and Russian keepsakes, has been extended through the end of May 2020. The family of the late Bernard Zilberg, who donated Zulu walking sticks and heirloom copper pots to the displays, has requested that his memorabilia and those of other immigrants remain on exhibit until Dr. Zilberg’s unveiling in May.
Titled “Gone 2 Texas,” the exhibit intertwines the histories of Jewish migration from South Africa and the Soviet Union from the 1970s to the 1990s.
New to the exhibit, in the corridor outside the library at Ahavath Sholom, is South African currency engraved with images of lions, water buffalo and hippos. Also added is a set of vintage Russian nesting dolls that children in the Religious School may handle. In one of the locked display cases there is now a comical set of matryoshka dolls with likenesses of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Gennifer Flowers and a saxophone.
The exhibit received a strong review in Southern Jewish History, an academic journal published in Atlanta. The reviewer, Dr. Nils Roemer, director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, wrote that the “intimate exhibition illustrates how relocating involves not only change and the retooling of both old and new cultures and identities but demonstrates continuities as well.”
The exhibit was organized by the Fort Worth Jewish Archives. It includes African textiles, Zulu jewelry, and wood carvings on loan from Anita Davidson; also a Soviet samovar from Alex and Sophia Nason and a Gzhel teapot from Claudia Boksiner.
—Submitted by
Hollace Weiner

B’nai B’rith Person of the Year dinner set for Sunday, Sept. 22

Some of the most anticipated events of the Tarrant County Jewish community year are those surrounding the B’nai B’rith Isadore Garsek Lodge Person of the Year announcement and dinner. This year’s program will be held 6:30-9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, at Beth-El Congregation, 4900 Briarhaven Road in Fort Worth. Last year’s winner Debby Rice will reveal the best-kept secret in Fort Worth to those attending. Speakers for the evening will be B’nai B’rith International President Chuck Kaufman and Fort Worth Jewish Archives historian Hollace Weiner, who will give a history of the Isadore Garsek Lodge. The Garsek Lodge is celebrating its 143rd year. Cost for the evening, which is being catered by Babe’s Fried Chicken, is $25. Wine and beer will be provided with ticket purchase. To buy tickets, contact Marvin Beleck at marvinbeleck@aol.com; Rich Hollander at rich.d.hollander@gmail.com or 817-909-4354; Alex Nason at alexnason@charter.net; or Dan Sturman at dsturman@charter.net.