Happy Y’allaversary
Jan. 8 (19 Tevet 5786)
👋🏽 Lots of news to share. In the arts, the Atlanta Jewish Storytelling Festival kicks off, Jonah Platt is performing on Jan. 17 at City Springs, and a group of Jewish woodworkers is exhibiting in Marietta from Jan. 10 to March 22.
👓 Below you’ll read about The Temple’s newest building project, a generous donation to Georgia College, and ways to volunteer on MLK weekend.
✡️ This week marks the second anniversary of Y’alla, the best newsletter for Jewish Atlanta. Friends send Y’alla to friends.
Y’alla,
Logan
❤️ Do you have a sentimental fur, stole, jacket, or coat collecting dust and not being worn? Restyle Your Fur is holding a fur recycling and mink restyling event at Magnolia Moon in Alpharetta City Center on Thurs., Jan. 15, and Fri, Jan. 16, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Jewish woodworkers exhibit
🪵 A group of Jewish woodworkers are displaying their creativity at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art from Jan. 10 to March 22.
Expect to see work by third-generation woodworker Philip Moulthrop, retired rocket scientist Jody Pollack, professor emeritus Abraham Tesser, and award-winning artist Doug Pisik.
🎨 An opening reception will be held on Saturday, Jan. 10 from 6-8 p.m. Admission to the museum is free on the first Sunday of the month: Feb. 1 and March 1.
Lecture Series with Brendan Murphy
SPONSORED BY BEARING WITNESS INSTITUTE AT MARIST SCHOOL
✨ Join us this January and February for a powerful, three-part adult education series examining the history of Jewish–Christian relations.
📜 From the roots of Christian antisemitism to the horrors of the Holocaust and the hopeful pathways of reconciliation today, participants will explore this complex story with clarity and compassion. The series includes an in-depth historical overview, a focused session on the Holocaust, and a moving testimony from survivor George Rishfeld.
✔️ All are welcome to deepen understanding and strengthen interfaith commitment.
$9 million to Georgia College
💰 The estate of a Jewish woman donated $9 million to Georgia College and State University, the largest in the school’s 136-year history.
Dr. Gertrude Ehrlich was one of Georgia College’s first international students, having escaped 1939 Nazi-controlled Austria for the US with her family. Ehrlich died at 102 years old in Gaithersburg, Md., in 2025.
The Dr. Gertrude Ehrlich Endowed Scholarship will provide financial assistance and need-based scholarships to students. The funding marks the university’s first endowed housing scholarship, a spokesperson said.
The Temple’s new building
📹 In a video to congregants and the wider Jewish community, The Temple’s Senior Rabbi Peter Berg announced a new building will be named after the late Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, pictured above with Carol Nemo and Jackie Garson Howard.
“His visionary, leadership, and moral clarity were recognized by the ADL, the King Center, and the American Jewish Committee, Emory University and so many others,” Berg said.
An Atlanta native, Sugarman was known for activism in Civil Rights and co-founding two shelters. He spent 30 years as rabbi at The Temple after growing up in the congregation. Sugarman died on Jan. 17, 2025.
🕍 The Sugarman Building will house educational areas, meeting spaces, and a rooftop terrace.
Michele Weiss and Justin Brasch mark milestones as first Orthodox Jewish mayors in their cities
👩🏼⚖️ As New York City inaugurated its first Muslim mayor, two cities in the United States also made history with the swearing-in of their first Orthodox Jewish mayors.
While Orthodox mayors have been elected in cities and suburbs across the county, including New Jersey, New York State, and Florida, the inaugurations of Michele Weiss in University Heights, Ohio, and Justin Brasch in White Plains, New York, this week marked a milestone for Orthodox representation in local politics.
➡ Read the full story on the Forward.
❤️ Do you have a sentimental fur, stole, jacket, or coat collecting dust and not being worn? Restyle Your Fur is holding a fur recycling and mink restyling event at Magnolia Moon in Alpharetta City Center on Thurs., Jan. 15, and Fri, Jan. 16, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. SPONSOR MESSAGE
MLK volunteering and events
🍴 Jan. 16: Third annual MLK CommUnity dinner in Grant Park.
🕍 Jan. 16: MLK Shabbat at The Temple.
🍗 Jan. 18: Cook and serve dinner with Repair the World.
🫶🏾 Jan. 18: All-ages family mitzvah day with JF&CS.
🌳 Jan. 19: Dunwoody tree planting with Repair the World.
🤍 Jan. 19: Assemble care bags with Chabad Intown.
👪🏼 Jan. 19: MLK Family Day of Service in Dunwoody.
What’s doin’ around town
SPONSORED BY CONGREGATION OR HADASH
🀄 Jan. 12: It’s Mahjong Monday at 7 p.m.
☕ Jan. 14: Ben Gurion Society kickoff.
🎤 Jan. 17: Havdalah Song Circle at Or Hadash.
🇮🇱 Jan. 26: Not Your Bubbie’s Ulpan Intown and Sandy Springs.
🍽️ Jan. 30: Georgia Legislature and Judiciary Shabbat across the state.
✡️ The next Jewish holiday is Tu B’Shevat on Feb. 1.
🕯️ Light Shabbat candles this week at 5:28 p.m.
🎶 Start the year on a spiritual note. Join Or Hadash on January 17 for an uplifting Havdalah Song Circle. No experience needed—just come as you are, listen, hum, drum or sing. Bring a friend! Details and to RSVP.
We remember
🎗️ Eva Schloss, Holocaust survivor and stepsister of Anne Frank, died on Jan. 3 at the age of 96.
Schloss was born in Austria in 1929 and fled with her family in 1938 after it was incorporated into Nazi Germany. They settled in Belgium and later in the Netherlands, where Schloss befriended Anne Frank in Amsterdam. Their families lived on the same block, and she and Anne were only a month apart in age.
📔 Schloss settled in London and became a prominent voice among survivors. In 1990, she founded the Anne Frank Trust UK, which promotes Holocaust education in Britain.