Atlanta Jewish Community Archives

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Global News

AURA Receives Matching Grant

The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta is proud to announce that we have been awarded a $73,000 matching grant from the Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with the Shapiro Foundation.

This grant is part of a $1 million national initiative to support Ukrainians seeking safety in the U.S. Eric M. Robbins, President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, says, “This grant will support the work of Jewish Family & Career Services (JF&CS) to build capacity within social service organizations to support displaced Ukrainians in the community.”

The grant award is a dollar-for-dollar match; The Shapiro Foundation will match all donations to AURA (Atlanta Ukrainian Relief Assistance) up to $73,000. These funds will help Ukrainians who have made their way to Atlanta as they escape the war in their home.

Zane Blechner, Program Manager of AURA, says, “Achieving this $73,000 goal from our community would open up the opportunity for AURA to help many more people.” So far, AURA has supported 56 individuals in Atlanta.

Most people fleeing the war are on “humanitarian parolee” status in the US. Until their work permits are approved, they may not take a job to support themselves and their families—and work visas are backed-up.

Blechner says that visa approvals are taking upwards of 10 months, causing a cascade of financial needs for these families. “Resettling a family usually costs about $8,000, but our families so far need more like $30 or $40 thousand.”

While only about 10% of Ukrainians fleeing the war are Jewish, Blechner says that the Jewish community has been instrumental in offering support. “The Jewish community has stepped up,” he says. “We have had so many generous offers, but what these families need most are funds.”

It is vital that these families are supported and comfortable while they shelter in Atlanta and that they can live with dignity. Your monetary donations ensure that they are fed, clothed, and housed and that their medical needs are covered while they wait for the conflict to end.

Click here to take advantage of this matching grant and donate to AURA. Your generosity makes Atlanta a haven for those seeking safety during war.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, PJ Library Atlanta

PJ Library Atlanta Heads Intown

For the past 4 years, PJ Library Atlanta has been meeting families where they are—with an emphasis on those living OTP. This summer, PJ Library Atlanta has been spending time learning all about its Intown families so it can bring unique, high-quality, low-barrier experiences to the breadth of our community. Through surveying families and studying the changing trends in PJ Library subscriptions, we know that the population of families raising young children is increasing in Intown Atlanta.

PJ Library Atlanta has a very successful history engaging families in Metro Atlanta.  This has traditionally been done by hiring a neighborhood connector (a part-time staff member) to establish programming in an area, connect families to each other, and deepen their relationship to the greater community.  In the past, connectors have been centered in Smyrna/Vinings, Dunwoody, North Fulton, and Brookhaven.

Now, we are replicating the model as Pam Cohen (Federation’s Family Engagement Coordinator, and former PJ Connector) is reaching out to families for one-on-one conversations to explore the findings of a survey which was posted in the new PJ Library Intown Atlanta Facebook group and plan events based on that feedback. Once we meet the right person, there will be a designated PJ Intown Connector to continue growing community connections and ensure PJ Library is meeting the unique needs of Intown Atlanta families.

If you are an Intown family, join the Facebook group for details on two park meet ups around Decatur and Grant Park planned in August! Reach out to Pam at pcohen@jewishatlanta.org with any questions.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Federation News

Camp is such a special time for kids

When you think of “summer camp,” what comes to mind? Swimming, singing songs, roasting marshmallows over a fire?

When I think of Jewish summer camp, I think of smiling faces. Camp is such a special time for kids—it gives them space to grow and learn, and introduces them to lifelong friends. Those bonds, and the joy they bring, are the hallmark of summer camp.

Last week, I had the immense pleasure of visiting Camp Coleman on Camp Kindness Day. After two tumultuous summers disrupted by Covid-19, Jewish summer camps are once again thriving.

Covid proved an enormous challenge for our camps. Staffing issues, kids leaving early—kids having to quarantine at camp! Our camp professionals deserve recognition for facing these challenges and making sure their campers had fun while still being safe.

This summer, our camps are seeing pre-covid registration rates. Camp Coleman was buzzing with excited energy, alive with laughter. All day, I saw children helping each other, making each other laugh, creating memories they’ll never forget.

Camp isn’t just a couple weeks or months; it’s an experience that changes kids and impacts them for the rest of their lives. Camp Kindness Day is a chance to celebrate the hardworking pros who make camp happen, and it was my honor to share it with them.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community

Have a Jewish July

We’re in the dog days of summer, and while it’s tempting to chill out by the pool or stay cool in your air-conditioned digs, there’s also a tempting array of Jewish activities in metro Atlanta. Check out what’s happening around town and take some time to connect with the rich social and cultural Jewish community just outside your door. Here are just a few options—for other ideas, see our online calendar of happenings at Atlanta Jewish Connector.

Dive Into Shabbat — July 15 and July 29 at 5pm. Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta invites everyone to celebrate Shabbat with an open swim followed by songs and blessings with Rabbi G at 6 pm. Bring your own food; drinks available for purchase at the Snack Bar. For information call the MJCCA at 678-812-4000.

Hillel Tour D’Ice Cream — July 12, July 19, and July 26 at 2 pm. It’s Hillel of Georgia’s answer to cooling off this summer! Meet Hillel at a different ice creamery Every Tuesday through July. July 12 is Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Westside; July 19 is Big Softie, Summerhill; July 26 chill down at Roll It Up Ice Cream, Buford Highway. RSVP at hga.engage.hillel.org

Chabad of North Fulton Workshop — Thursday nights at 8 pm. Explore Jewish Spirituality and Mysticism during this weekly workshop designed to create meaningful personal growth. Phone: 770-410-9000

Shabbat Learners’ Service — July 16 (second Shabbat of each month) from 10:45 to 11:45 am. Bathe in the spirit of Shabbat in a warm, friendly setting. Enjoy inspirational stories, discussions, moving prayer and intelligent commentary. After the main service and Musaf, there is a Kiddush luncheon. Intown Jewish Academy, 730 Ponce de Leon Place, NE, 30306. RSVP at www.intownjewishacademy.org/shabbat

Book Festival of the MJCCA — July 26, 2022 at 7:30 pm. Daniel Silva, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of an Unknown Woman: A Novel, in Conversation with Nadia Bilchik, CNN editorial producer, author, and speaker. $40. Become a Patron, Pacesetter, or Sponsor of the Book Festival to receive a complimentary ticket and pre-signed book. Tickets: https://www.showclix.com/event/daniel-silva-portrait

Splish Splash Shabbat — July 30 at 12 pm. Bring your little ones for a Kiddush lunch followed by water play at Congregation Etz Chaim. Learn more at www.etzchaim.net/event/splishsplash.

Sojourn’s Drawing from The Well – Every Friday from 12 to 1 pm. SOJOURN, the Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity, holds a weekly LGBTQ+Jews+Allies Meetup via ZOOM. Gather with an all-inclusive community and connect around the Torah, holidays, and relevant happenings around the world. LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/992253992⁠

CIE’s 21st Annual Educator Workshop — From July 24, 2022 at 11 am until July 26, 2022 at 3:30 pm. Sponsored by The Center for Israel Education helps build a comprehensive understanding of modern Israel’s history, politics, economy, and culture with a focus on curriculum enhancement. Get 14 hours of learning over three days. Registration: $150. Register at israeled.org/workshop. Questions? Contact workshop coordinator Heather Waters at heatherwaters@israeled.org.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Camp Initiative

Working Hard to Have Fun at Camp

By Allyson and Mark Tibor
Our daughter, Rachel, has attended Camp Barney Medintz since she was a rising 3rd grader. There was no two-week session for her, as she was ALL IN from the very beginning. (She was so excited to have a vacation from her brothers!) Camp quickly became her true happy place.

Rachel entered 10th grade last Fall, along with her twin brother. She was returning to school in-person, like so many other kids, after a year and a half of remote learning. Unfortunately, this school year would prove to be very different. The pandemic had taken its toll, and it became evident that she would need extra assistance, and likely also summer school.

Panic began to set in, since her whole world revolves around camp and the friends she’s made there. She was devastated to learn that she might not be able to go. This summer she would be a JIT, which is the last year teens are eligible to be campers. Her friends were all registered and chattering about camp. But our hands were tied—with only a month or so left in school, nobody had any hope that she would pass her classes.

But Rachel became a machine, churning out her work and staying after school. Two weeks before school got out, she had brought up all her grades, and even passed an online course to make up for a science class from the Fall. I had always told her that if she could make it happen, I could make it happen. So now it was my turn.

I kicked it into high gear, much like she had. I made calls, completed paperwork, and prayed. I hoped the donors in our community would want a deserving young girl to have the opportunity to go to camp. Camp Barney was very understanding, supportive, and generous. The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s Jewish Camp Initiative placed the last piece into the puzzle. Though we were very late in making our request, they understood our predicament and played a big role in “making it happen.”

Rachel attended Camp Barney’s first session, making new friends and participating in experiences that she could never have had anywhere else. This was the year for “solo,” in which she had to survive alone for 24 hours. She was so proud of herself for not only surviving but thriving! The confidence she gained from that one activity will surely serve her well in the future. If she could do that, she will have faith in herself, knowing what a strong woman she is becoming.

We are forever grateful to our Jewish community for assisting our child in having this life-changing opportunity. She was truly happy, and it showed in all the photos and letters from camp!

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, People in Need

Inside the Allocations Process

By Avery Kastin

I’ve always heard that a gift to Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta supports the entire Jewish community. But what process ensures that those funds are wisely distributed? It seemed so opaque from the outside. It wasn’t until I became a volunteer on Federation’s Allocations Committee that I saw firsthand the incredible work we do.

See how we make allocation decisions.

The scale of our work is vast: Over 60 volunteers plus numerous Federation staff work year-round to identify and evaluate those organizations that will 1) take care of Jews in need and 2) build a stronger Jewish community today and tomorrow. Everyone is committed to the same goal: making informed decisions on how best to allocate the dollars Federation has raised.

The work of our committee is year-round: we have detailed discussions and site visits with partner organizations, address overlooked needs within our community, identify future issues that could impact our neighbors, and study best practices and trends in the Jewish world. Last year, those efforts culminated in our Allocations Committee distributing over $23 million in Jewish philanthropy to over 70 partner organizations!

Yes, the community has entrusted us with an enormous responsibility, but it is also the most wonderful and rewarding volunteer job. We facilitate all the good made possible by our collective Federation dollars. Together we create a more caring, more connected and stronger Jewish Atlanta.

We need your help to further our sacred work. Pease consider joining the Allocations Committee, a pearl of Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, and help us shape our future together.

Avery Kastin is Vice Chair of the Community Planning and Impact Cabinet

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community

A Sanctuary for our Children

By Matt Bronfman, Federation Board Chair
It is summer, which for many of us means Jewish summer camp. More than ever, camp is a sanctuary for our children and many of us remember our camp days as some of the happiest and most carefree times of our lives. Federation’s targeted fundraising plays a key role behind the scenes to make sure that camp is accessible, dynamic, and safe for our children.

This summer we have provided over $1M in aid to eliminate financial barriers for over 700 campers. We are on the ground training camp staff to work with children who have disabilities. We also make camps better by providing grants that support inclusion, as well as obtaining and disbursing outside grants. Federation awards Innovation Grants that launch and develop new programs like In the City Camps.

Most importantly, Federation makes sure that camp is safe. We provided additional Covid relief funds to overnight camps to help with testing and other preparations. On the security front, we have trained over 340 overnight staff and provided security assessments for multiple camps. Through your generosity and support, we are providing the infrastructure to make summertime for Jewish Atlanta better. I hope you enjoy your summer!

Lani Preis In Atlanta Jewish Community

Pride Reflections

Pride lives in the present moment. It draws breath through whole-hearted people, here and now, celebrating the joy of love, and the freedom to do so without fear.

I want to take a step beyond the present moment of Pride and honor the struggles of those who led us here in their daring willingness to imagine an impossible future.

L’dor’v’dor (from generation to generation). I pass it on. I can imagine a future in which the freedoms I have as a white-passing queer woman surrounded by a community who accepts me are the norm. A future in which inclusive and safe workplaces like the Jewish Federation are standard. A future in which the brutal attacks on the rights and lives of trans and gender non-conforming people, particularly People of Color, have given way to a reality in which fear, and hatred melt into acceptance, even compassion. A future in which gender and sexual diversity open the door for every person to explore the multitudes within them, free of judgement, and released from the binds of other’s expectations.

I am fortunate in my career with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta to be able to work toward a regenerative future. Through my role on the Atlanta Jewish Foundation team, I get to help re-imagine what a community-wide support system can look like, and to serve those doing the work to realize this vision.

I want to be clear that though my instinct is to express a positive and hopeful outlook, I am absolutely terrified for the future. The right for trans people to simply exist in the world, let alone thrive, is under legal attack, as are the rights to bodily autonomy for anyone with a uterus. I lead with hopefulness and positivity, but I am also angry and afraid.

What gives me hope is parents raising children to understand and respect consent at an early age. I find hope in children who have no issue accepting gender and sexual diversity, because they were never taught the restrictive narratives to begin with that we are as a society are having to claw our way out of. Change and transformation are core tenants of nature. As queer activist, poet, and comedian Alok Vaid Menon so beautifully puts it: “Nothing in this world is fixed. Everything is constantly moving. And that’s the vibrancy and the joy of being alive.”

L’dor’v’dor. I cannot wait to learn from future generations.

Kaylin B.
Foundation Operations Manager

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Camp Initiative

Never Underestimate the Power of Jewish Day Camp

By Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez,
There is no question that summer is in full swing in Atlanta and summer means day camp for so many of Atlanta’s families. Each summer, approximately 3,000 children will attend Jewish day camps, where they will experience unique joyful Judaism and experiential education which they get to bring home to their families each evening.

“Jewish Day Camp is where my children can be most proudly, happily and authentically themselves,” says Eliana Leader. “They can be joyfully and loudly Jewish, explore their creativity, take chances, and expand their horizons. As a parent I love seeing the connections my kids make with their counselors as cool Jewish role models.”

Another day camp parent shared that they love that their children get to meet kids from a wide array of Jewish backgrounds, while other parents love that the language of Shabbat and kashrut is interwoven throughout the programming.

Jewish Atlanta is blessed to have so many phenomenal day camps to meet the needs of the diversity of our community. We know that the impact goes beyond the summer as these connections continue throughout the year and into the future summers and their families’ collective Jewish journeys.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Federation News

Meeting the Moment Together

Summer is here and July lies before us with its promise of fun, family, travel, and leisurely light-filled nights. Friends, we have earned it! As Campaign 2022 closes, I am buoyed by the satisfaction of knowing that our Jewish community has again gone above and beyond to meet human needs in Atlanta and around the world.

It wasn’t easy. This year, unanticipated issues hit us relentlessly — the refugee crisis in Ukraine, deadly antisemitic acts in the U.S. and around the world, serious challenges that continue to face us in the aftermath of COVID-19, and the opportunity to reunite Ethiopian Jews with their loved ones in Israel.

None of these issues are “over.” All of them will require ongoing philanthropic support. But there is no denying that in 2022, Jewish Atlanta met the moment! Here are the incredible numbers:

The Partners Fund, which supports local, Israel, and overseas needs, is to exceed its ambitious goal of $14.2M.
Thousands of you stepped up to raise more than $2.6M supporting the urgent needs of Ukrainian Jews through the Ukraine Emergency Response Fund.
Today, as Ukrainian evacuees make their way to safety in metro Atlanta, you continue to support them through Atlanta Ukraine Relief Assistance AURA, in collaboration with our partner, Jewish Family & Career Services.
Atlanta Jewish Foundation fundholders sent grants of more than $51.7M to 1,169 grantee organizations. Atlanta Jewish Foundation fundholders directed 80% of their grants to Jewish organizations, and 70% of those dollars stayed local.
Funding for special projects in education, mental health, housing for older adults, support for Holocaust survivors, feeding the hungry, responding to antisemitism, and more, added significant revenue to Federation this year.
We tallied $23.5M in total philanthropic dollars, which includes direct fundraising, incoming grants, and donor advised funds.

With passion and purpose, Jewish Atlanta demonstrated its ability to pivot, to raise funds, and strengthen our people. I have never been prouder of us. Thank you.