Atlanta Jewish Community Archives

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Jewish Abilities Atlanta

Jewish Abilities Alliance Celebrates Very Inclusive People

Atlanta is blessed to have many remarkable advocates for people with disabilities and many programs that include people of diverse abilities in all aspects of Jewish Life. The Jewish Abilities Alliance (JAA) calls them VIP’s — Very Inclusive People. We are highlighting their commitment to inclusion all month long.

Dr. Melissa Wikoff, Au. D | Audiologist, Peachtree Hearing

“Working with individuals with hearing impairments, you naturally have an aspect of inclusion in your everyday life.” Dr. Melissa Wikoff, Au.D. takes inclusion to the next level by routinely advocating for her patients and the hearing-impaired community. Since starting her practice, Peachtree Hearing, Dr. Wikoff has founded a program to provide free hearing aids to Holocaust survivors, she has overseen the installation of two Hearing Loops in local synagogues, she advocates for students with hearing impairments in local schools, and she serves on the inclusion committee at Etz Chaim.

MEET MORE VIPs

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Camp Initiative

You Can Help Send More Kids to Camp

“Though he’s attended Jewish day camps since Pre-K, our son’s experience at overnight camp last year was deeply impactful. Our little boy came back a strong, confident, independent young man, filled with tears of joy, excitement, and memories that will last a lifetime. What an amazing opportunity to know years from now, our children will have lifelong friends because of their time at camp. It’s an experience they won’t be able to have without financial support, and we are truly grateful for the opportunity to reach out to you for this help.”

DONATE TODAY

When you support the Start a Campfire campaign you can help nearly 1,000 kids go to Jewish overnight camp this coming summer! We’re huge cheerleaders for camp because study after study proves that camp builds positive identity and creates life-long Jewish connections. Last year, over 200 Jewish Atlantans helped raise $50,000+ which provided 400+ camp scholarships for Jewish overnight camp. Your donation will be matched 1:1 through February 28!

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Federation News

Why I’ll Always be a Camp Guy

February is JDAIM, which stands for Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance, Inclusion Month. It’s also the time of year we launch our Start a Campfire Campaign to support scholarship for Jewish overnight camp. I hope you’ll support them both!

Start a Campfire

Jewish Abilities Alliance

I am singling out our Jewish camps for special praise because they are places where disabilities are not seen as obstacles. They are places where bullying is never tolerated and where all kids are liberated from the cliques and social rules that operate during the school year. In this way, camp is a sweet taste of olam ha ba, the perfect world we yearn for.

I got my first real glimpse of what inclusion looks like at Camp Barney Medintz when I worked in the kitchen. It was the best job I ever had at camp, and it taught me what is really involved in feeding several hundred campers and staff members three times a day — incredible focus and hard work! To see Scott Hyman, a person with disabilities, lead in the kitchen with competence and a strong work ethic, totally inspired me.

Our camps don’t merely pay lip service to inclusion, they model it. Camp Barney’s Chalutzim program for campers 10-22 years old with special needs has been nationally recognized since it was established in 1992. Camp Ramah Darom also prioritizes inclusion and launched its Yofi program for Jewish families with children on the autism spectrum years ago. It has become a national model for inclusion in a camp setting. The MJCCA’s Chaverim day camps include staff experienced in working with children with special needs, low camper-to-staff ratio, and access to camp activities. Chaverim campers run the camp Shuk, modeled after an Israeli marketplace, fostering independence, communication, and camper confidence.

Our Jewish Abilities Alliance has reached more than 1,000 day camp and overnight camp counselors and staff through its trainings, so that these values of compassion, understanding and inclusion endure all year long.

From my years as CEO of Camp Twin Lakes and directing the Isabella Freedman retreat center, to being a camper and a counselor myself, I’ve seen miracles at camp. That’s why I’ll always be a camp guy!

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring

For the Love of Jewish Atlanta

Carol Cooper to be Federation’s Lifetime of Achievement Award Recipient
Federation is delighted to announce that Carol Z. Cooper will be the recipient of the 2021-2022 Lifetime of Achievement Award.

The oldest of the three daughters of Doris and Erwin Zaban, Carol was born into a family that literally shaped and built Jewish Atlanta. Carol has said, “Atlanta was much smaller when I was growing up. There wasn’t the philanthropic infrastructure we have today. If the Jewish community needed something, the leaders got together, talked about the need, and raised the money. My father didn’t tell me how to live philanthropically. He lived, and I had the privilege of watching him do it. He set the example.”

This imprint inspired Carol Cooper to blaze her own unique path. She took the baton of leadership with excitement and passion. Her love of the Jewish community has been the driver of her volunteerism. Federation is honoring Carol not because of who her father was, but because of all that she is — a mentor, an advocate, and an architect of our community’s future.

Carol is a past president of both Jewish Family & Career Services. Carol has served on countless committees and boards and spearheaded many initiatives in our community. Along with her sister Sara Franco, and Ilene Engel, she is a founding trustee of the Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta.

Carol Cooper will be honored, along with other community leaders, at Federation’s 2022 Annual Meeting, Wednesday June 1, 2022. We will share more details about this event in the coming months.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Atlanta Jewish Foundation

Do a Major Mitzvah with Negligible Risk!

Atlanta Jewish Foundation is helping the Jewish Interest-Free Loan of Atlanta (JIFLA) expand its pool of guarantors for interest-free loans by sharing an Impact Investing opportunity with its donor-advised fund (DAF) holders. Impact Investing is the term financial advisors and philanthropists use to describe investments made with an intention to generate social and environmental change alongside financial return.

Atlanta Jewish Foundation currently offers its donor-advised fundholders an ESG Portfolio (Environmental, Social, and Governance), with a focus on companies and sectors that have positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics. Now, Atlanta Jewish Foundation is putting Impact Investing principles to work in a new partnership with JIFLA, the Jewish Interest-Free Loan Association of Atlanta. JIFLA upholds the biblical principle of interest-free lending primarily, but not exclusively, to other Jews.

JIFLA loans are funded entirely through community donations which continually recycle to others in need, generating many times the original value to help maintain fellow Jews in challenging times. Most JIFLA loans are small, in the $4-5K range. Because JIFLA uses a ratio of 4:1, an Atlanta Jewish Foundation donor committing $10K as a guarantor makes it possible for JIFLA to loan out $40K in small loans.

A JIFLA borrower shares her story: “I was completely at a loss, with no money and little hope, and I was close to being on the street. The biggest challenge with my JIFLA application was that I didn’t have a guarantor. An anonymous guarantor was identified, and I got the loan. The generosity and faith of that guarantor…bought me the time I needed to try to land on my feet.”

JIFLA boasts a very low default rate, so this partnership allows Foundation fundholders to become guarantors with negligible risk. It also greatly simplifies financial disclosure requirements because Atlanta Jewish Foundation acts as the DAF-holder’s reference. Guarantors can also remain anonymous. The best part is, the fundholder can keep their funds in their DAF, growing their investment, while helping those in need.

Contact Jori Mendel to learn more about using your donor-advised fund to become an interest-free loan guarantor.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Jewish Abilities Atlanta

Our Commitment Runs Deep

By Matt Bronfman, Federation Board Chair
February is Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion Month. This subject is personal to our family, and we have experienced firsthand how the Federation helps people with disabilities more fully participate in all that Jewish Atlanta offers. Federation does so in multiple ways.

First, together with the Jewish Abilities Alliance (JAA), Federation provides individuals, and their families with information and access to resources, services, support groups, workshops and clinics, and recreational programs within their community. Second, the annual campaign provides crucial financial support, targeting a myriad of needs. Moreover, the Atlanta Jewish Foundation connects our donors to organizations or projects doing innovative work in this space. Finally, we are the community’s convener, sharing information between our diverse organizations that allows them to collaborate more effectively. At every step, Federation is there to meet our community’s needs because we know that we are stronger and more successful together.

Support Jewish Abilities Alliance

Lani Preis In Atlanta Jewish Community, Secure Community Network

Jewish Atlanta Turns Out in Big Numbers for Security Training

420 people attended an online security training, Countering an Active Threat, presented on Sunday by Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. Neil Rabinovitz, Community Security Director, conducted the training, along with Jimi Horne, Deputy Community Security Director.

The training educated participants on how to commit to action if they encounter any type of active threat. There was a review of best practices including:

The definition of an active threat
Knowing the difference between security and safety
Learning the three modes of action in an active shooter incident: RUN, HIDE, FIGHT
Understand how to prepare for an active threat
The importance of additional training

One recent participant in the security trainings explains how it was memorable and how it helped them:

The information was easy to understand and there were clear suggestions on how to react to an active shooter situation.

It was so helpful to see and hear from someone who survived the Tree of Life shooting and the actions he took that saved his life. That was very compelling and memorable. Seeing videos of active shooter situations and hearing the comments of the security trainer was very helpful.

For information about upcoming security trainings, or to request a no-charge security assessment of your facility, visit Federation’s Security Planning page.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring

We Went to the Mikvah Together Before Our Wedding

By Shari Rabin & Matt Berkman

Note: MACoM is the only mikvah in Atlanta open to the entire Jewish community regardless of affiliation, observance level, sexual orientation, or capacity for physical mobility. The possibilities for traditional and modern immersions at MACoM are almost limitless. Below, Shari Rabin and Matt Berkman, who are faculty members at Oberlin College, share their experience immersing right before their wedding

Neither one of us had immersed in a mikvah before, but Shari had taught about mikvah many times in her Jewish studies courses and accompanied several friends and relatives as they immersed in preparation for their weddings. Matt is open-minded about engaging with tradition and agreed to go as well. We set up our appointments for the Thursday evening before our Sunday wedding. This was in early August 2021, just as the Delta variant was rising worldwide, and so the weeks leading up to our immersion were filled with stress as guests pulled out and we grappled with how to safely hold our already long-postponed wedding.

We were able to serve as each other’s mikvah guides, each of us undergoing the ritual with only the other present. While we understood that this went beyond the bounds of Jewish law, we were grateful MACoM allowed us to do this. During the immersion ritual, we each felt vulnerable, open, and powerfully rooted within Jewish tradition. It marked a moment of transition for each of us as individuals but serving as one another’s guides added an additional layer of meaning. That we were doing this amidst a global pandemic also felt momentous, honoring the fact that our bodies are more than just vectors for disease.

We came out of the mikvah to the cheers of our waiting family members, who whisked us away to a celebratory dinner. While COVID-related stress did not totally dissipate until after the wedding, at that moment we felt lighter, happier, and spiritually prepared to become a Jewishly married couple.

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community

Celebrating Jews in Civil Rights

With the MLK weekend and the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel still fresh in our minds, we want to lift up the historic role Jews have played in advocating and “showing up” for justice and human rights in America. What inspired them should inspire us — the Jewish imperative to seek justice, and the wisdom of Pirke Avot that “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it (2:21).”

jewishatl In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Federation News

Ready for Whatever Comes Next

Many Jewish leaders around the country tell me they are exhausted and dispirited. I am not.

It is a blessing to be a part of Jewish Atlanta. There is a generous spirit here, an optimism as tall as the buildings rising in Midtown, and as fresh as the burgeoning neighborhoods of our northern suburbs. These qualities have taken us from the darkest days of COVID to our current moment — not quite “normal,” but resilient, limber, ready for whatever comes next.

Jewish Atlanta thrives because of you. Not quite six months into the 2022 Community Campaign you have helped us pass 77% of our goal for the Partners Fund. Total Philanthropy is robust at $15.4M — well on its way to the $22.2M goal. All of our Targeted Philanthropy initiatives are more than 50% towards goal or higher. Atlanta Jewish Foundation is growing, helping more and more people do good in our community. These are all healthy signs.

As 2022 gets underway, here are some things that excite me:

Federation’s North Metro Making Jewish Places (MJP) initiative has been a huge success. It’s all about connecting people right in their own neighborhoods and encouraging local collaboration. In 2021, MJP engaged 7,000 individuals, awarded 80 Gather Grants, and 31 Organizational grants. We will be expanding the program to a new geographic area, soon to be announced.
Spearheaded by the Zalik Foundation and supported by generous community donors, the Jewish Community Professional High School Tuition Grant Program, continues as part of our effort to attract and retain great Jewish professionals. Full-time Jewish professionals, clergy, and educators are eligible to receive up to a 50 percent tuition reduction if their children are currently enrolled or have been accepted to a SACS accredited Jewish high school in Atlanta. It has created a new source of risk capital, enabling the day schools to fund new investments in educational and co-curricular excellence. It has been a token of appreciation and gratitude for the work Jewish professionals and educators do on behalf of our Jewish community.
Our teens are loving life in Israel. With generous second year funding from The Zalik Foundation for Gap Year programs in Israel, and new support for Root One from the Marcus Foundation, we are sending more young people to Israel than ever before.

Dreaming big about our community’s future, as I do, means securing big resources. We all know people who, for a myriad of reasons, don’t give to Federation and don’t feel connected to us. This is where you can help. If there are people in your social or professional network who might benefit from a thoughtful conversation with me about our impact and mission, please let me know. I would be honored to reach out and tell them about the good we do, and the things their generosity can empower. Email me.

If you have not already made a commitment to support the 2022 Community Campaign, or to any of Federation’s five Targeted Philanthropy options: AgeWell Atlanta, Jewish Abilities Alliance, Jewish Camp Initiative, Jewish Innovation Fund, and PJ Library, please make your gift now. You’ll feel great about it!