Skip to main content
Category

Atlanta Jewish Community

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Global News

Race in Israel: Weber Students Learn the Ethiopian Story

This spring, just as Americans were rising up to protest the killing of George Floyd, Michal Ilai, who heads Israel Programs at Weber was preparing an intense month of high-level Hebrew learning for her summer school students. Given the protests, she felt it was a great opportunity to engage her Hebrew students in issues of race and diversity in Israel.

“With demonstrations occurring in cities around the world, it seemed like a great opportunity to talk about racism and diversity in the Israeli community. I reached out to my long-time educational partner Harel Felder at Dror Israel, an organization that is at the forefront of diversity education in Israel and asked him to help my students learn about race relations in Israel,” Michal Ilai said.

Harel Felder immediately thought of his colleague Liel, an Ethiopian immigrant who runs Dror programs for the Ethiopian community and invited her to speak with the students and share her personal story all that she’s doing to lift up the lives of Ethiopian Israelis.

Seth Shapiro, a rising Weber senior said of the experience, “Liel’s story expanded our minds and brought a new significance to many current world issues and even some of the more local issues. Listening to people like that speak of their experiences broadens horizons.”

Another rising senior in the class, Carly Spandorfer, said, “During our month-long summer course, we learned about and met many different types of people living in Israel. As we are seeing issues of race relations here in America, I feel it was absolutely necessary to discuss race relations in Israel. Learning about Ethiopian Jewry was particularly meaningful for me because we’re so used to speaking about Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews — it was refreshing to hear about somebody who is Ethiopian and has a different story than many of us. It was very empowering to hear that despite struggles Liel faces in Israel due to her skin color, she is even more committed to her Zionism and to improving her country.”

Michal Ilai felt the partnership with Dror Israel was a success. “My hope for this lesson was that students would be able to analyze events with greater clarity and articulate their position about racial inequality both here and in Israel. I was glad to see both goals were achieved.”

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community

MJCCA & JKG Offer Bold New Educational Options

What will back-to-school look like for your family? Whether your children will be attending school in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid model, families are dealing with unprecedented uncertainties and anxieties for the ‘20-‘21 school year. To address these needs, the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA) and Jewish Kids Groups (JKG) are each launching innovative day and after-school programs to fill in some of the gaps, and to provide supervision, safety, and fun for school age kids.

MJCCA Program Director Jodi Sonenshine said, “We knew that the MJCCA could offer much-needed support for our families. By merging two of our most popular programs, Club J and MJCCA Day Camps, and making some adjustments and enhancements, we’ve created something truly unique. Parents now have three different options to choose from for both educational and social support: full day, school day, and after school. Parents can pick the option that best fits their family’s needs knowing their child will benefit from our educational support and plenty of fun, movement, activities, and adventure.”

MJCCA: Club J Your Way – Starts Monday, August 17, 2020

  1. Full Day Option
    Club J Your Way’s Full Day program offers both an educational and social component. Staff will oversee each child’s remote learning by assisting with logging in and out of school platforms, turning in assignments online, and periodically helping with schoolwork. There will also be meaningful “brain breaks” that include free time and fun activities, plus amazing camp-style activities like boating, archery, swimming, ropes course, crafts, rock wall, sports, and more. Participants will be assigned to the same small group for both online learning and outdoor activities. Club J Your Way Full Day will run from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm.
  2. School Day Option:
    Club J Your Way School Day provide the ideal space for completing daily virtual learning plus built-in “brain breaks” and fun camp-style activities between or after virtual classes and assignments. Staff will oversee each child’s remote learning by assisting with logging in and out of school platforms, turning in assignments online, and periodically helping with schoolwork. Between school assignments and at the conclusion of lessons, participants will enjoy camp-style activities, including crafts, swimming, boating, archery, rock wall, ga-ga, and more. Participants will be assigned to the same small group for both online learning and outdoor activities. Club J Your Way School Day will run from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm.
  3. After School Option:
    The after-school option (whether your child’s school is in-person or virtual) will provide a safe way for kids to get outdoors, socialize, and have fun. Think camp fun year-round. Taking full advantage of the MJCCA’s 52-acre campus, kids will be engaged and active all afternoon with ropes course, swimming, archery, sports, and more! All participants will be placed in small group cohorts that will remain together. For children attending school in person, there will be an optional homework hour. The afternoon option will run from 2:00-6:00 pm.

Jewish Kids Groups: Full Day Child Care & School Support in Morningside, Decatur, and possibly Sandy Springs.

JKG will offer full-day childcare and school support, Monday – Thursday 9 am-5 pm and Friday 9 am-3 pm, beginning on August 17. JKG’s Executive Director Ana Robbins spoke to the emotional needs her full-day program will meet. “JKG Full Day provides a unique opportunity for children who may not typically connect with other Jewish kids at school to do just that. Our goal is to counter the loneliness many kids felt this spring and summer by providing a warm, nurturing, safe, and fun Jewish environment. We also want to provide some relief to parents! Safety is paramount so groups will be limited to 10 kids and everyone will wear masks.”

JKG Full Day children will:

  • Receive help from JKG teachers to access their online classroom, participate in online instruction, and submit online assignments
  • Build friendships with neighborhood Jewish kids who are also learning virtually
  • Participate in activities like art, music, yoga, and outdoor play when schoolwork is complete
  • Enjoy Jewish-camp-style fun with cool Jewish role model teachers

The program combines the safe, reliable weekday childcare program you need, with the fun, enriching, nurturing experience your child wants. Classrooms will operate in small groups of up to 10 students and 2-3 teachers.

JKG Full Day will follow all local and CDC recommendations to keep kids, teachers, and families safe and healthy. All teachers and students will be required to wear masks. Complete safety details here.

  • Students will not mix with other groups.
  • Siblings will be placed in the same group to minimize contact for each family.
  • We will group students according to their school districts as much as possible.
  • We will honor friend requests to the best of our ability.

Space in the JKG full-day program is limited and will fill on a first-come, first-served basis. Learn more.

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Journeys

“Camp is crazy fun! I can’t wait to go back!”

My name is Murray Marks. I’m a fifth grader in Decatur, and this summer I had the most crazy fun experience of my life at Camp Ramah Darom. This was my first time at sleepaway camp, and even though I didn’t know anybody in the bunk, we all became friends very fast. I was a little nervous, but at camp you’re always with friends. My bunk was like a team.

Every morning we’d clean up the bunk, and even that is a fun activity called nikayon – Hebrew for clean-up. On Friday, we did an extra nikayon to get ready for Shabbat. When Shabbat came, the whole camp felt special. I dressed up and wore a kippah. Before dinner we had services and sang in Hebrew at the top or our lungs. Then there was the most delicious matzah ball soup at dinner. And more singing!

One of my favorite activities at camp was the climbing wall, where you have to trust the people who are holding onto your ropes. We really did trust each other, because I made it all the way up and down!

With so much stuff going on, there was no time to be homesick. My parents were okay with that because they were so glad I loved camp as much as they did.

Murray’s parents, Amanda and Aaron, are grateful for the scholarship assistance they received through Federation’s One Happy Camper program. “Aaron and I met on JDate because our profiles talked about Jewish camp. Ramah has given Murray a great sense of independence and exposure to Jewish ritual. We call it ‘Bar Mitzvah Boot Camp.’ As soon as they’re old enough we want to send Oscar and Ruby, Murray’s younger twin siblings, to Camp Ramah Darom.”

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Federation Innovation, Innovation, Philanthropy

What Brad Does

You don’t need to save the future of Jewish Atlanta by yourself, Brad Cook already has an idea for that – it’s called Career Up Now and it creates professional connections for young people through a Jewish lens.

Setting Young Jews on Amazing Career Paths

Dr. Bradley Caro Cook

As a Jewish entrepreneur and innovator (and an Atlanta native), I create simple solutions to engage Jewish young adults with low to no current Jewish connection or engagement. I believe that unless there’s a drastic shift in how we grab the attention of 18-26 year-olds, keep them engaged with Judaism, and inspire them to become the next generation of leadership, our Jewish communal infrastructure is at risk. When I learned about Federation Innovation’s Propel Grant program, I got excited.

I know that college students and recent graduates are hungry to advance their careers, grow their networks, and build community. So, in 2015, Rabbi Adam Grossman and I launched Career Up Now, combining mentorship and engagement, through a Jewish lens, to help emerging professionals form personal, professional, and soulful connections with industry leaders in the Jewish community. Since launching we have piloted in 9 U.S. cities and are scaling in four of those cities. Now, thanks to a Bloom seed grant from Federation Innovation, and support from the Joyce and Ramie Tritt Family Foundation and Mark Silberman, Career Up Now is in Atlanta.

In Atlanta, our first cohort consisted of 12 student leaders from Emory University. I soon thereafter realized there is little support or mentoring for young Jewish women entering business and STEM fields.  As time went on I found this to be true on a national level and kept hearing Rabbi Tarfon, our ancient Jewish cheerleader and rebbe say, “while you don’t have to complete the task, you are not free to desist from this critical endeavor.”

While examining our mentor demographic, I discovered that we had only one woman industry leader contact or mentor for every 20 men. To address that imbalance, we doubled down to solve the problem we’ve launched Women of Wisdom https://www.careerupnow.org/atlanta-spring-2019.

While we achieved gender balance for our initial Atlanta Career Up Now due to the high demand for more women’s programs in Atlanta we needed to rapidly grow the number of women industry leaders in our network. To do this, we leveraged growth hacking for engagement,  a process of rapid engagement growth enabling non-profits to accomplish in three months that which would take years to do. Using these strategies, we recruited 200 women industry leaders into our network in just three months. Now these Women of Wisdom are helping expand our network by engaging their colleagues and friends with Career Up Now programming.

Atlanta has been a pivotal experience and we are excited to continue to grow Career Up Now in Atlanta.

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Federation Innovation, Gather Grants, Innovation, People in Need, Philanthropy, Young Leadership Division

MLK Shabbat Suppers Celebrate Diversity & Dialogue

For Jews and their loved ones, Shabbat dinner is far more than a meal. It’s a weekly platform for holiness, hospitality, peace, and plenty of conversation. With that in mind, Federation awarded a Bloom Innovation seed grant to several organizations who collaborated on ways to use MLK weekend as a moment to turn Shabbat dinners into opportunities for dialogue and understanding.

On the Friday preceding Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 144 individuals across Atlanta showed up for an “MLK Shabbat Supper,” a guided dinner and discussion to honor Dr. King made possible by the collaborative efforts of Repair the World Atlanta, OneTable, the American Jewish Committee, Hands On Atlanta, and Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. There were ten simultaneous MLK Shabbat Suppers throughout the city, in neighborhoods ranging from Sandy Springs to the Westside. The religiously, racially, and gender-diverse group of hosts came from among the lay leadership of Jewish community partners including the above organizations, as well as Jewish Family and Career Services, Moishe House, and The Schusterman Family Foundation.

Participants at the dinners enjoyed a meal while diving into a discussion guide filled with thought-provoking quotes and questions from a Jewish perspective about civil rights, racial justice, and other issues of importance to Atlanta. Feel free to download the guide.

As OneTable Atlanta Hub Manager – Shira Hahn- put it, “By joining together at the table, we work towards creating new traditions that foster authentic and thoughtful engagement across difference to recognize our past and ideate a better future. Moving forward we will continue to build solidarity and greater understanding within the Jewish community and with all Atlantans.”

For those interested in further opportunities for service and dialogue, join Repair the World and partners for an anti-human trafficking event on January 27 and cooking for the Nicholas House family shelter on February 22; details and registration here.

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Federation Innovation, Innovation, Philanthropy

Tradition Kitchens

Julia Levy’s Tradition Kitchens’ Hands-on Learning Programs

At Hanukkah, when the latkes sizzle, Tradition Kitchens celebrates both the classics and the modern — the gluten free, Southern sweet potato with leek latkes and organic pepper jelly garnish from Ivy Rose Farm, a family venture with Jewish roots.

This is our first Hanukkah with Tradition Kitchens, our mother-daughter start-up transforming kitchens into classrooms to connect cultures, generations and neighborhoods. By empowering home chefs and restaurateurs to teach family recipes with history, we host pop-up affordable cooking classes around Atlanta, from intown to the suburbs.

When we think of food, we think of family. This year, we’ve been learning our Jewish Atlanta family’s favorite foods and the stories behind them — Noodle Kugel with Leslie Kalick Wolfe’s mother’s recipe, Challah with Sara Franco, Molly’s Mandel Bread with Michele Glazer Hirsh and Jennifer Glazer Malkin —to name just a few. And we’ve been welcomed into the Federation family as PROPEL Innovation grantees with a cohort, coach, ecosystem of Jewish organizations across the city, mentors, workshops with Zingerman’s Deli and so much more.

Along the way, we’ve discovered a treasure trove of Atlanta Jewish recipes — some scribbled down between friends and others recorded in beautiful cookbooks by The Breman Museum and Congregation Or Ve Shalom. We strive to elevate the foods that have thrived for generations and put Atlanta on the Jewish food map while also discovering the home chefs whose delicious dishes should be shared. Our goal is to create community through our gatherings and build upon it organically.

As you sit down for a Hanukkah holiday meal — whether it’s with family or friends — our winter wish is simply to ask about the story behind the food. And if you’re inspired by what you discover, as we have been, send the story our way and nominate the home cook to teach. We hope to sample old and new culinary traditions with you in 2020.

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Federation Innovation, Innovation, People in Need, Philanthropy

Mental Health Responder Toolkit

Imagine if more people re-thought mental illness as a quest for mental and spiritual wellness. Imagine if more people had the tools to understand, support, and overcome the shame, stigma, and challenges of substance abuse. Now, with support from a Federation Innovation Propel grant, Atlanta-based Blue Dove Foundation is moving in exactly that direction, addressing issues of mental illness and substance abuse through a compassionate Jewish lens. Blue Dove works locally and beyond to educate, equip, and ignite our Jewish community with tools to understand mental illness and substance abuse and connect them with the right local resources, such as professionals from JFC&S. They are in the midst of creating a Mental Health Toolkit packed with resources and written by local rabbis and health professionals, to increase understanding and extend hands of healing.

Blue Dove’s Toolkit begins by articulating Jewish mental health values and defines the key issues that individuals and families struggle with. For example, the concept of b’tzelem elohim — to be created in the divine image — suggests that any conversation about mental wellness must begin with a foundation of dignity and respect. This can counter the shame of illness and the tendency to hide from conversations around mental health.

Or, refuah shleimah — healing and wholeness. Judaism recognizes that healing is not just physical; it is holistic. When we pray the misheberach for healing, we pray for refuat hanefesh v’refuat haguf, a healing of spirit and of body. The Jewish emphasis is also on healing, not on curing. Even when mental illness is under control, healing and a return to wholeness are in order. We see healing as a process, one that has many components and may be a lifelong journey.

The Toolkit will also provide a comprehensive list of local resources to recognize, respond, and set people on the road to healing.  The hope is that people will become more comfortable talking openly about mental health, mental wellness, and illness. Learn more at Blue Dove Foundation.

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Caring, Jewish Abilities Atlanta, Jewish Camp Initiative, Jewish Journeys, People in Need

How Friendship Circle Inspired Me

By Daniel Stern

I was still a freshman at The Weber School when my older sisters suggested it was time I took part in Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). It was at this point that I decided to volunteer with Friendship Circle’s “Buddies at Home” program. I signed up and became a buddy to a young adult with special needs named Mike. Mike and I met nearly weekly, as our schedules permitted, and we had so much fun hanging out, playing sports together, going to the dog park, having lunch, and things like that. It was a great relationship.

By the time I was a sophomore, I began to think about creating a one-week summer day camp for people with disabilities modeled on Friendship Circle, where every camper has a “buddy.” I was really pumped to do it, but I did not have a plan set in stone. My mom said, “Go for it, but, remember, this is your project, not mine.” I went to the Sandy Springs Tennis Center and asked them if they’d donate a couple of tennis courts, and they said OK. I was excited to launch what I was then calling “Serve it Up” Summer Camp, but pretty soon it dawned on me that I needed a little backup. I wanted it to be a free camp to encourage all who wanted to participate to attend. I knew I needed to raise money and I knew I needed my friends to help pull this off. I launched a Go-Fund-Me campaign online that raised over $1,000 for us to get started.

I worked with Rickelle New, the Director of Friendship Circle, and I created the tennis program and she created the arts and crafts program. We developed a flyer and reached out to all of the families that had participated in Friendship Circle activities. Recruiting my friends to become buddies for our campers was the next challenge, but eventually more than 20 of my friends signed up to volunteer. It was a great success to be outside playing tennis with our special friends. So, the following summer, I was excited to create another camp. We decided to move the camp indoors to the gym at Atlanta Jewish Academy, so those who did not want to be outside all day could also participate. That summer, we played many sports in addition to tennis and still included arts and crafts. Many of our campers with special needs even had two buddies! I learned that many people with disabilities have other health issues. They can’t take the heat and need the comfort of air conditioning.

I really thought I was doing this for kids with special needs. But, when the parents of these kids came up to me and told me how much they valued the camp, it felt so good. I realized that not only did the kids benefit, but their entire families benefited from what we had created. So did my volunteers. Now, as a freshman at Vanderbilt University, with the benefit of hindsight and a little maturity, I can see I was also doing it because of the values I learned in my family, at school, and through Friendship Circle. When you help others and build real relationships, you are doing the work of tikkun olam.

jewishatl
In Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Abilities Atlanta

Being a Self-Advoate for Autism

Eren Niederhoffer is an Atlanta young professional with skills in business administration and non-software analytics. He is also a self-advocate for people with autism and is leading and growing an organization called Autistic Self Advocacy Atlanta (ASAA) which offers social experiences for people on the spectrum. Eren’s activism includes intentionally calling himself “autistic,” rather than “a person with autism.” Below he shares why he chooses using this language, instead of people-first language.

Have you noticed that a lot of people say they’re Jewish when it comes to politics, but won’t go into detail about how they practice Judaism? They simply say they come from a Jewish family and seem unwilling to express pride in their roots or their culture.

I see it as fear. That’s why when a person says, “I’m autistic,” it feels to me like instead of running from who they are, or dismissing that part of who they are, they’re acknowledging that it is part of them. They’re acknowledging the need to accept and live with the autistic part of them rather casting it aside. Just as Judaism is a part of who I am, when I say, “I am autistic,” I am saying, “this is who I am.”

Right now, my organization Autistic Self Advocacy Atlanta (ASAA) is providing lunch and dinner socials so that many autistics can meet and make friends. I am mentoring other autistics to become event hosts and leaders and also trying to help them realize they don’t have to hide who they are. Autistics can be open about themselves and to others around them. We should not hide that we are Jews either. Why would we be ashamed of being Jewish? Should some of us be shamed for being autistic? The logic is the same! This is why building an autistic community can give us that sense of confirmation to be true to ourselves.

Learn more about ASAA, self-advocacy, and MENTRA.

Close Menu