‘Fighting Hate for Good’: Regional ADL Chapter honors 2022 recipients of A.I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award
By DEAN M. SHAPIRO, Special to the CCJN
Surrounded by an appreciative crowd of supporters and members of their families, three deserving individuals were honored and presented with awards for their service to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) South Central Region on Wednesday evening, May 11. The event was held on the spacious grounds of the picturesque “Wedding Cake House” on St. Charles Avenue, owned by Calvin and Frances Fayard.
Temple Sinai Emeritus Rabbi Ed Paul Cohn with the A.I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award behind him. (Photo by Dean M. Shapiro)
Emeritus Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn of Congregation Temple Sinai, and Michael O. Smith, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans, were this year’s recipients of the A.I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award. The two were jointly honored for their accomplishments toward fulfilling the ADL’s mission of “Fighting Hate for Good.”
Jill Israel, a longtime activist with the organization, was also honored for “Distinguished Service to ADL.”
The prestigious award pays tribute to the efforts of Adolph Ira Botnick, a former regional ADL director. Botnick combatted hatred and violence toward Jews, African-Americans and other marginalized communities as the Jim Crow era morphed into a testy, often violent era of integration.
A New Orleans native and World War II veteran, affectionately called “B” by those around him, Botnick was recruited by the ADL’s Atlanta office in 1961. In 1964 he became the ADL’s regional director for the South Central region of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. He held this position until his retirement in 1992 and he died three years later.
During his tenure, Botnick fought back against the Ku Klux Klan and other racist individuals and organizations that stubbornly attempted to cling to the last vestiges of segregation. In 1973 he was the target of an assassination attempt by the notorious Klansman Byron De La Beckwith who, ten years earlier, murdered Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers and was freed twice by hung juries. De La Beckwith was stopped while crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway with a bomb and loaded weapons in his vehicle intended for Botnick and he was sent to Angola State Prison for three years. He was later re-tried in Mississippi and convicted of Evers’ murder and died in prison.
Jill Israel accepts her award for her years of service to the ADL. (Photo by Dean M. Shapiro)
Leading off Wednesday evening’s awards presentation, Jill Israel was lavishly praised for her many years of service to ADL in a multitude of capacities. Among other things, she was commended for her commitments to educational programming, providing anti-bias tools and resources to thousands of students and educators in the region and for the key role she played in establishing ADL’s partnership with Entergy.
She also served on the ADL’s executive committee as a member of ADL’s National Commission and Global Advisory Council, and she was a past recipient of the Barney Mintz Leadership Award.
In her brief acceptance remarks Israel said, “I love and appreciate this organization and all that it stands for. I appreciate all of you who came to this event and all of the others. It’s so important and now it’s more important than ever.”
The presentation of the Botnick Awards was preceded by remarks from Lindsay Baach Friedmann, the South Central Region’s current regional director. Praising Jill Israel as an “incredible mentor,” Friedmann began by reiterating the organization’s mission slogan and reaffirming ADL’s commitment to fighting for protections for the Jewish community and fighting against the revisionism that attempts to alter documented facts showing how Jews have been treated throughout history. “And while these challenges feel bigger than any of us, ADL is committed to always getting up against hatred and bigotry,” Friedmann said.
Citing statistics from an audit released for 2021, Friedmann said there was a record 2,717 reported incidents of virulent antisemitism that year, a 29 percent increase from the previous audit. “This correlation cannot be ignored and we must do more to call out raging antisemitism masking as anti-Zionism,” said Friedmann, adding that “It is vital that we respond to all incidents as they occur and work proactively to mitigate the harm they cause to our friends and our neighbors.”
Friedmann also reaffirmed ADL’s role in fighting hatred against the Black community, the LGBTQ community and “within the walls of our K-12 institutions and other marginalized communities.”
Barney Mintz Leadership Award recipients Rachel Swan, left, and Nanci Sterling. (Photo by Dean M. Shapiro)
Next on the agenda was the presentation of the Barney Mintz Leadership Award to two young African American women, Nan Sterling and Rachel Swann, who were regional graduates of the ADL’s Leadership Initiative. The two of them were praised for, among other things, helping the regional staff’s transition to digital programming during the COVID-19 pandemic’s restrictions on in-person contact.
Immediately preceding the Botnick Award presentation to Rabbi Cohn there was a five-minute video during which he spoke out about his commitment to human rights and dignity and cited some of the accomplishments of his 30-year rabbinate at Temple Sinai. Others in the video, including former Mayor Mitch Landrieu, current Temple Sinai cantor Joel Colman and former Human Rights Commissioner Larry Bagneris were equally effusive in their praise of Rabbi Cohn.
During his lengthy tenure, Rabbi Cohn was instrumental in reaching out to other marginalized communities in New Orleans, especially the African American community, as well as embarking on cooperative projects with other churches and faiths within the city and region.
Introduced by Sandy Levy, Rabbi Cohn was praised for “a lifetime of leadership, courage and determination [that] has made a lasting difference” to individuals and organizations. “You have touched many lives and shared your wisdom and advice for mankind and will continue to do so in the many years ahead,” Levy added.
Sandy Levy introduces Emeritus Rabbi Ed Paul Cohn. (Photo by Dean M. Shapiro)
“I am deeply touched, humbled and appreciative for this award this evening,” Rabbi Cohn began, adding, “Thank you to those who have given their time and efforts to the cause and for the events of this evening.
“The ADL of the South Central Region is back on the tracks and we give great thanks for the progress and for reinstating this great tradition,” Rabbi Cohn continued. “I am honored to be among other distinguished recipients of this award.”
The rabbi went on to credit his wife of 50 years, Andrea, “for her love and her patience and counsel and criticism.” He also praised his co-honoree, Michael O. Smith, and suggested to him, “Let’s get into some good trouble together in the future.”
Quoting from a sage in the Midrash, in a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, Rabbi Cohn said, “‘A community is too heavy to carry alone.’ This is central to ADL’s timeless message for us all. It will be only in the stubborn, complex, exhausting realm of honest human relations and shared responsibility that people will be lifted up to their better selves and mobilized to confront the challenges that await us.”
Rabbi Cohn then concluded by quoting renowned 20th century theologian, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, saying, “‘A leap of faith is always nice but better still is a leap of action.’”
Preceding Smith’s presentation was another video featuring prominent individuals lavishing praise on him, including former Mayor Mitch Landrieu who credited Smith with helping to get the city’s tourism industry back on track in the recovery years that followed Hurricane Katrina. Smith was also touted for helping to organize the annual Mayor’s Masked Ball for the United Negro College Fund which raised more than $2 million over the past six years for historically Black colleges.
Hyatt Regency general manager Michael O. Smith. (Photo by Dean M. Shapiro)
Introducing Smith, the evening’s final awardee, was Joel Vilmenay, president and general manager of WDSU-TV, Channel 6. In his introductory remarks, Vilmenay called him “a true servant and humanitarian [with an] incredible ability to mobilize people of different backgrounds. He has a pure heart filled with compassion. The more time you spend with him, the more you come to realize that. He’s a gift and a credit to the city and a blessing to us all.”
Coming from a large family of six siblings in North Carolina and raised in poverty, Smith spoke about a childhood spent during the turbulent transition from the Jim Crow era to the integration movement. He recalled riding on the school bus in the mornings and having to duck down below eye-level of the windows so as not to be seen while passing through potentially hostile white neighborhoods where bricks could be thrown, along with racist insults.
Encouraged by his mother, a domestic in a white household, who repeatedly told him, “Son, you’re made out of a special kind of wood,” Smith went on to make the honor roll in school 11 straight times and become the first member of his family to attend and graduate college. Continuing his education well into adulthood, he recently received his Ph.D. from Xavier University New Orleans.
“I’ve been with the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts for 44 years in 13 different cities and I’ve always had a platform to be a difference-maker: to have a higher purpose,” Smith said. “And I’ve always lived by that mantra. But you can’t just do it by yourself. So when people see you doing good thing they want to see you do better and they want to do their part as well.”
Noting that Botnick’s career and accomplishments paralleled those of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Medgar Evers – all of whom were assassinated – Smith said, “He (Botnick) represented courage. He had to deal with what I call the ‘Cave Dwellers,’ Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas; the last bastions to go down and against any progressive initiative. So he (Botnick) was fighting that fight 60 years ago and we’re still fighting it now.”
Quoting Dr. King, Smith said, “’You must set out to do a good job and do it so well that nobody could do it better.’ Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. That was A.I. Botnick because he was doing his work at the same time as these other figures in one of the toughest times and in one of the toughest geographical areas in the South.
“Fast forward to now, if the last five years have taught us anything, we are still seeing some of the same antisemitism, racism, civil rights and human rights [violations], poverty, social and economic disparity, hostility for LBGTQ and more. And this is why and what this award means to me. It reminds me that I am now facing where other people have been.”
Concluding his acceptance speech with quotes from Botnick’s resignation letter, he said, “’It is comforting to have known so many who have found in progress, a deep compassion for others. We shall hope for the betterment of the human condition in our city and in our area. Most of all, we share the belief in the goodness of the human heart that maintains the light in our world.’”
