Y’alla takeover
Thursday, Av 2 5786 — The Y’alla team is taking over this week’s newsletter while Logan is enjoying some well-deserved time off.
🗞️ The Guardian reported on Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senate nominee, Mike Collins, and his ties to a white nationalist influencer — his son-in-law.
🎗️ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed his planned trip to the U.S. until the end of the month so he can attend the funeral of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly last weekend. Graham was one of Congress’ staunchest supporters of Israel. He last visited the country in February.
💛 The Forward featured the friendship of Sen. Graham and the late Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was an observant Jew.
⚾️ Dylan Cease with the Toronto Blue Jays made history on Tuesday as the first starting pitcher with Jewish heritage in an MLB All-Star game in more than four decades.
📸 We want to see your Jewish travel photos. Please send them to Logan, including your name and hometown.
Thank you for reading,
The Rough Draft team
JWFA awards grants supporting Jewish women and girls
👏🏼 The Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta (JWFA) announced $331,479 in grants to 26 organizations committed to gender equity in the Jewish community.
JWFA Impact Grants support programs in Israel and the U.S. that improve the lives of Jewish women and girls, including initiatives addressing sexual violence, expanding STEM access, promoting economic empowerment, and combating human trafficking.
“Through a rigorous selection process, our Trustees identified these Grantee Partners for the coming year,” said Executive Director Jodi Hirschfield. “We are especially excited to welcome seven new partners advancing our mission of social change.”
Grant recipients include:
- Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel: “Transforming Israel’s Justice System for Survivors of Sexual Violence” $23,400
- Atid Plus: “Girls+: Expanding STEM Opportunities for Girls in Youth Villages” $20,300
- Benetivei Udi: “Nitzanim: WomenTech” $25,500
- Institute for Gender Equity in Education: “Leaders of Tomorrow” $20,500
- Israel Hofsheet: “Combatting Gender-Based Segregation” $11,000
- Itach Ma’aki: “Legal Aid Hotline: Shifting Policy for the Economic Empowerment of Marginalized Women in Israel” $17,600
- Lada’at: “Know Your Rights, Exercise Your Rights, Fight for Your Rights” $16,400
- Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution “Combatting Sex Trafficking and Prostitution in Israel on a Citywide Basis” $18,500
- Yoav Path: “Bereshita” $19,000
- Atlanta-based Nashira: “Rising Together” $5,000
JWFA also awarded grants to support the general operating funds of organizations in the U.S. and Israel, as well as Women’s Leadership Grants through a partnership with the Zalik Foundation.
👉🏼 Read more about JWFA and the grants it awarded.
Where to Find Summer Inspired Drinks in Roswell
SPONSORED BY ROSWELL INC. AND VISIT ROSWELL
🍹 Explore Roswell’s beverage scene with a summer inspired twist. Enjoy Summer Sippin’ at participating locations all around Roswell.
The beverage competition returns for its 11th year and showcases creative seasonal beverages at restaurants, coffee shops, tasting rooms and breweries.
➞ Check out the NEW interactive event guide and rate every sip you try this summer to help decide the ‘Best Sip in Roswell.’ Get you sip on.
Opinion: Antisemitism forced my son to quit his job
💼 Antisemitism came home today. My son called to tell me he had quit his job where he had worked for two years. I knew he wasn’t particularly happy, that they weren’t giving him the opportunities they’d promised, that the hours were long and the pay not great, but I asked anyway – Why did you quit?
“Because I am tired of all the antisemitic comments,” he said. I was shocked. That was the first I’d heard of this. What are you talking about? I asked. And he told me — outlining one example after another. He’d brought it to his supervisor, but that only exacerbated the situation.
📍 Read Debra Finkler’s column.
Bam buddies
🀄️ Do you wish you played Mahj more often but don’t have the time or energy to coordinate getting a game together?
We all know the challenges of the endless text threads, confirming how many are playing, and who’s bringing the food and drink.
Sandy Springs and Buckhead residents Rebecca Bernath and Steffi Rohn created BamBuddiesApp to solve this. It’s an intuitive app that automates the logistics so you can focus on the tiles, not the calendar.
🎲 Check out the website to learn more.
‘The World to Come’ at the Breman
🎭 The Breman will present a staged reading of Atlanta playwright Ali Viterbi’s play “The World to Come” on Thursday, July 30.
The performance tackles the questions: How do we, as a society, care for our elders? And can you still come of age at the end of your life?
The play received its world premiere in a co-production by Washington, D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Theater J in February.
🎟️ Get more information and register here.
‘The Winter’s Tale’ is one of Shakespeare’s most confounding plays; was it also his most Jewish?
✡️ We all know about Shakespeare’s anti-Jewish play. But did he also write a Jewish play? Well, not explicitly or consciously, but “The Winter’s Tale”appears to be full of Jewish motifs — themes from the Hebrew Bible (filtered through the Christian Bible, of course).
The play is a tale of exile, the abandonment of a child, years in the wilderness, repentance, homecoming, and redemption. It is reminiscent at least in part of the stories of Moses in Egypt and the Exodus, as well as Joseph and his brothers.
➡ Read the full story on the Forward.
What’s doin’ around town
SPONSORED BY CONGREGATION OR HADASH
🥗 July 17: BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Shabbat
💦 July 19: Brookhaven Splash Pad
🧢 July 19: Kibbitz & Connect at the Atlanta Braves game
🀄️ July 20: Mah Jongg Monday in the afternoon
✡️ The next Jewish holiday is Tisha B’Av on July 22.
🕯️ Light Shabbat candles this week at 8:30 p.m.
🗓️ Find your people at Congregation Or Hadash, a welcoming Conservative synagogue in Sandy Springs. Experience inspiring and innovative services, lifelong learning, joyful celebrations, and meaningful Jewish connections. Discover a community where tradition, innovation, and belonging flourish. Learn more.
Before you go
❤️ Mazel tov to former hostages Sasha Troufanov and Sapir Cohen, who were recently married during an emotional ceremony earlier this month. Cohen was freed during a temporary ceasefire after 55 days, while Troufanov was held for nearly 500 days.
Haaretz reports this is the first marriage of people taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
