Credit where credit is due
May 15 (17 Iyar 5785)
🎗️ Edan Alexander, the last known living American being held by Hamas, was taken hostage 18 months ago. He was released on Monday in stable condition. The footage of his emotional mother talking to him on the phone from New Jersey has gone viral.
💝 Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents sent the Alexanders a message of hope.
The release sparked a storm of conversation about Egypt and Qatar’s role in the release, an expensive airplane, and which American man should take the credit.
🧐 Just curious: If women had been in the headlines, would they be fighting over airplanes and street cred?
🎓 Meanwhile, it’s graduation season. At both Emory University and Georgia State University graduations, there have been signs of pro-Palestinian support by students.
✏️ On a lighter note, Y’alla is looking for a summer synagogue softball league reporter. Who do you know?
Until next time, Y’alla!
Logan
💙 Don’t miss your only chance to experience Not Letting It In—an unforgettable evening of immersive theatre and storytelling with Israeli artist Jason Danino Holt. May 20 at 7 p.m. at The Breman in partnership with BAMAH. Free with registration. One night only! SPONSOR MESSAGE
‘To learn what the hell is going on’
🎙️ Israeli journalist and Haviv Rettig Gur is speaking at Chabad Intown on Wed., May 21. Y’alla caught up with the Times of Israel analyst today over Zoom from Manhattan, where he is appearing on a livestream with The Free Press tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Here’s an excerpt:
Y’alla: What will you talk about in Atlanta?
Gur: We’re living in this moment of profound change, and the way American Jews have been doing things until now might not be up to the challenges of this moment. I can bring some perspectives from Israel and from the Middle East that can help American Jews think about how to discuss these kinds of challenges. A lot of the crisis American Jewry is going through is a function of the conflict in the Middle East.
Y’alla: How do you approach a general audience differently than talks with Jewish leaders and rabbis?
Gur: We owe each other loyalty and protection. We still disagree with each other, we still criticize each other vehemently and loudly. But there’s this fundamental sense of affinity and solidarity, and in a larger audience, it’s much more of just an educational seminar. They’re not there to find out how they can help, right? They’re there to learn what the hell is going on.
Y’alla: How do we maintain our Jewish history during this conflict?
Gur: There is now a campaign to rewrite Jewish history … the great tragedy is that Jewish kids in America, by and large, are profoundly ignorant of their story. They don’t know their history. They’re facing this mass ideological onslaught on new platforms that the older generation doesn’t even know about. What Jewish institution is run by 60-year-olds who are on TikTok or Instagram, or YouTube? But that’s where our kids are. Our kids will take the fight to TikTok. We don’t know how to take the fight to TikTok.
➡ Look for our full preview in the coming days and get tickets for the Atlanta event here.
HEAR MORE HAVIV
🎧 Rettig Gur describes his podcast, “Ask Haviv Anything,” as “a podcast about trying to close the gap of historical knowledge.” Listen on Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Teach your old fur new tricks!
SPONSORED BY RESTYLE YOUR FUR
❤️ Do you have a sentimental fur, stole, jacket, or coat hanging in your closet, collecting dust and not being worn? Let Restyle Your Fur perform an unforgettable “trans-fur-mation.”
Restyle Your Fur is a division of Labelle Furs, an Orlando 5th generation family business since 1919, and one of a few premier furriers in the US.
Come visit our event at Magnolia Moon in Alpharetta City Center on Wednesday, May 21 and Thursday, May 22 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. during our recycle fur and mink restyling event.
Two Jewish comedians walk into a bar
🤣 Next week, local Jewish comedian Amanda Goldstein Marks is hosting a show with Jeff Greenspan at the Red Light Cafe in Amsterdam Walk.
“Deviant Acts” breaks down known Greenspan’s viral pranks aimed at corporate crooks, privacy invaders, hipsters, and other cultural catastrophes. This multimedia show unpacks how he pulled off the stunts, and what happened when things went sideways.
RELATED
🚺 Don’t miss meno(pour) on May 21 at 7 p.m. with Decatur chiropractor Dr. Sheila Payton and comedian Amanda Goldstein Marks, featuring Nishée Moore Breathe + Bloom Wellness, a therapist who specializes in women’s mental health during perimenopause and menopause. Tickets are available.
Ain’t no challah back
Morningside’s one-and-only Challah Girl is at it again with her bespoke challah that will knock your kippah clean off.
Check out her offerings for next week:
😋 Halva Challah is filled with marbled chocolate and vanilla Halva and milk chocolate.
🍓 Strawberry Butter has homemade strawberry butter baked inside.
💚 Tie Dye is the “back to summer camp” classic in all the tie dye colors.
👰🏽♀️ White Wedding challah (in honor of her anniversary) is loaded with white chocolate and topped with white sprinkles and vanilla sugar.
🧀 Southern Hospitality knots are pimento cheese-stuffed challah knots coated in Ritz Cracker dust.
📧 Email her at challahgirlatl@gmail.com.
Park it for Shabbat
🕯️ Guitar strumming to prayers, vegetarian dinner, crying babies, and climbing preschoolers … It’s time again for Congregation Shearith Israel’s Summer Shabbat in the Park. Services begin at 5:45 p.m.
Shearith Israel members of all ages and prospective members are welcome to join.
- Friday, May 23 at Glenlake Park, 1121 Church St., Decatur
- Friday, June 20 at Sidney Marcus Park, 1797 Cumberland Road NE, Atlanta
- Friday, July 18 at Lake Claire Park, 420 Lakeshore Drive, Atlanta
- Friday, Aug. 15 at Noble Park, 1710 Noble Drive NE, Atlanta
Hidden Jewish History of Shanghai
📸 The Breman opened a new exhibition, shining a light on a lesser-known chapter of the Holocaust, “Hidden History: Recounting the Shanghai Jewish Story.” It explores the history of the resettled Jewish community in Shanghai, including Iraqi Jews who arrived in the mid-1800s, Russian Jews who fled pogroms, and German and Austrian Jews who escaped the Nazis.
The free port of Shanghai became an unexpected safe haven for Jews fleeing the antisemitic policies and violence in Nazi-controlled Europe.
Photographs by photojournalist Arthur Rothstein, the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, capture the plight of the Jewish refugees who were forced to live in the Hongkew Ghetto after the Japanese captured Shanghai.
👉🏼 Visit The Breman for more Information.
Trump’s new airplane sparks Jewish backlash
✈️ For President Donald Trump’s MAGA Jewish base, the plane may be a bridge too far.
Three influential Jewish voices in the MAGA movement — figures typically known for their unwavering loyalty to the GOP standard-bearer — are aghast over Trump’s decision to accept a $400 million aircraft from the government of Qatar.
If the deal goes through, the Qatari jet, dubbed “the palace in the sky,” will be repurposed as Air Force One, and will upon the end of Trump’s presidency be bequeathed to his museum.
➡️ Read the full story on the Forward.
Look & Listen
🗣️ Start a salon.
🏃🏽Want to run (or walk!) with Nice Jewish Runners? Join the Atlanta chapter.
✡️ Join us for New Israel Fund Atlanta‘s 8th Annual Tzedek Awards on June 8 at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, honoring Ambassador Stu Eizenstat! Help promote equality, democracy, and a peaceful shared society in Israel. Click here for more info! SPONSOR MESSAGE
What’s doin’ around town
SPONSORED BY CONGREGATION OR HADASH
🎗️ May 15: Yom HaShoah photo exhibit at Or Hadash.
🥩 May 16: Lag B’Omer in the courtyard.
🍽️ May 16: OneTable Shabbat dinner.
🥳 May 17: Porchfest at Chabad Intown.
⚾️ May 18: Jewish Heritage Day at the Gwinnett Stripers.
🫶🏼 May 22: Drop-in Jewish mindfulness meditation.
✡️ Today is Lag B’Omer. The next Jewish holiday is Shavuot on June 1.
🕯️ Light Shabbat candles this week at 8:10 p.m.
✨ Celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat and Lag B’Omer in our courtyard! Join us May 16 for a festive service and a delicious grilled dinner as we bless our graduating seniors. Bring your spirit—and your appetite! RSVP today to save your spot.
Before you go …
🍷 Bayit Ba’Beltline held its first Kabbalat Shabbat dinner on Friday, May 9 at Ponce City Market with 100 attendees. Shabbat Shalom!
