Price Confirmed; Trump Talks; Set for Trees, Songs

Here are a few essential, interesting and fun items to start the day right in the Jewish community.

In Case You Missed It

• Check out our interview with Evan Wolfson, the lawyer and activist featured in “The Freedom to Marry,” who will speak after the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival screenings of the documentary Monday and Tuesday.

To Do This Weekend

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• Scouts, songs and the soul take center stage this Shabbat. Congregation Ner Tamid at 7 p.m. and Temple Emanu-El at 7:30 p.m. are honoring Jewish Boy and Girl Scouts at Friday services. Special Shabbat Shirah services are held by Congregation Beth Shalom with Zimria Festivale Atlanta at 6:30 tonight and by Congregation Bet Haverim (at Oakhurst Baptist Church, 222 East Lake Drive, Decatur, for extra space) at 7:30 tonight. Chabad Intown holds a special Shabbaton exploring soul and spirit with Rabbi Tzvi Freeman and his wife, Nomi, starting with dinner Friday at 6:30 p.m.
• The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has nearly 40 screenings scheduled today through Sunday, the final weekend of the 17th festival. The highlight is Saturday night’s showing of “Family Commitments” for Young Professionals Night, organized by AJC Atlanta’s ACCESS chapter. Email YPnight@ajc.org for ticket information.
• Tu B’Shevat coincides with Shabbat. You can help celebrate the new year of the trees in a variety of ways, including joining Tu B’Shvat Atlanta and Trees Atlanta for a tree planting Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Carter Center (email aagreening@gmail.com).

From The Times of Israel

• Israel is permanently downgrading its relations with New Zealand and Senegal because they co-sponsored U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334.
• Israeli forces raided the West Bank home of the suspect from Thursday’s terrorist attack in Petah Tikvah.
• A new nonprofit is teaching Hebrew to immigrants in low-skill jobs.

Also in the News

• Roswell Republican Tom Price has been confirmed as health and human services secretary in the Trump Cabinet, so now the fun begins in the race to succeed him in Congress, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
• In his first interview with an Israeli newspaper, President Donald Trump tells Israel Hayom that he’s still mulling over an embassy move, he doesn’t see settlements as helpful for peace, and he doesn’t intend to condemn Israel.
• The British House of Commons has condemned Israeli settlement activity and reaffirmed support for Resolution 2334, The Jerusalem Post reports.
• Many of the Jewish groups that criticized Trump’s refugee/travel executive order from Jan. 27 celebrated an appellate court’s decision Thursday night to maintain a stay on the order, JTA reports.
• Israeli authorities are apologizing for the treatment of a New Israel Fund executive upon her arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport this week, Haaretz reports.
• Baseball in Israel is getting a boost from Team Israel’s upcoming appearance in the World Baseball Classic with a team largely composed of Jewish Americans, From the Grapevine reports.

Opinions

• Writing before the release of the Trump interview with Israel Hayom, Ottomans and Zionists’ Michael Koplow tries to parse the president’s practical position on settlements.
• Yossi Klein Halevi writes in The Wall Street Journal about how his fellow Israelis see the settlements.
• Two differing views on the Orthodox Union’s recent ruling against any clergy-type role for women in its affiliated shuls, one from Young Israel of Toco Hills’ Rabbi Adam Starr, who contributed to the discussion last year, and the other from Times of Israel blogger Rahel Rocklin of Teaneck, N.J.
• The Independent’s Patrick Cockburn warns that Trump’s tough line will lead to war with Iran; Al-Monitor’s Adnan Tabatabai explains why there won’t be a war.

Finishing on a Positive Note

• Just in time for Tu B’Shevat, Tablet ranks the top 13 trees of all time. And here’s a 14th: Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree.”