Cooking with Liat Tzionov
Thursday, July 23 (9 Av 5786) — Enjoy the sweet spot of summer while kids are still at summer camp and the High Holidays are two months away.
📣 NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a video this week calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.” Groups responded, saying the mayor’s message was putting Jewish people at greater risk.
👩🏻⚖️ Federal charges have been filed against Jordan Nicholas Hadley, a Texas man accused of threatening to kill Jewish workers at Georgia-based security company Flock Safety. He’s the fourth defendant in 12 months to face federal prosecution.
❓Rep. Mike Collins is under intense scrutiny over his son-in-law’s neo-Nazi propaganda. Sen. Jon Ossoff, his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate, is pressing for answers. “Paying a neo-Nazi propagandist, is itself disqualifying. So let me be very clear. I am respectfully urging members of the press to demand that Congressman Collins answer these questions,” Ossoff said on July 23.
🎤 Chef-storyteller Liat Tzionov‘s event at The Breman is sold out, but we have a surprise for you. Keep reading below.
👋🏼 A big thanks to the Y’alla team for getting the newsletter out last week. Thanks for reading!
Y’alla,
Logan
⛳ Golf Chastain: Nine at Night returns July 27 for a one-of-a-kind glow golf experience at Chastain Park. Enjoy dinner, drinks, music, and a glow-in-the-dark round of golf under the lights. Grab your friends and register here! SPONSOR MESSAGE
A Bukharian recipe
👩🏼🍳 A Bukharian Jewish Experience with Chef Liat Tzionov (pictured) is sold out this weekend at The Breman. We have the next best thing: Tzionov’s recipe for plov, a traditional rice pilaf with ground beef and spices.
Tzionov owns The Crazy Apron. She believes that through food, stories and traditions are preserved.
Now, here’s what you should make for dinner this weekend.
Bukharian Plov
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
• 2 cups medium grain rice
• 1 lb. (450g) beef stew meat or lamb, cubed (optional for vegetarian version)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 large carrots, julienned or grated
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 1/2 tsp Crazy Apron Plov Spice Mix, or a mixture of cumin, ground coriander seeds, paprika, and black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 3 1/2 cups water
Instructions
1. Rinse the rice thoroughly in cold water and soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain well.
2. Heat the oil in a deep pan or wide pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté until golden.
3. Add the meat (if using) and cook until browned on all sides.
4. Stir in the carrots and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly softened.
5. Add the spice mix and salt, stir well to coat the meat and vegetables.
6. Spread the rice evenly over the meat and vegetables. Do not stir.
7. Pour in the water gently over the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.
8. Cover and cook on low for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked and the water is absorbed.
9. Turn off the heat and let it rest, covered, for another 10 minutes.
10. Gently fluff the rice with a fork and serve warm.
🍽️ Enjoy!
Dinosaur Summer. It’s here.
SPONSORED BY THE FERNBANK MUSEUM
🦖 The world’s most famous predator is back—and science is rewriting its story.
At Fernbank’s T. rex: The Ultimate Predator, discover how new research is changing what we know about the “tyrant lizard king,” from feathered ancestors to lightning-fast growth spurts. Explore life-sized models, hands-on interactives, and come face-to-jaws with a full-scale adult T. rex during Dinosaur Summer, now through Sept. 7.
➞ See the king of dinosaurs up close at Fernbank this summer.
JCC fall arts calendar
📆 The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta has announced its Fall 2026 Arts & Authors season.
Aug. 16:Gotta Sing Broadway is a community sing-along built around show tunes with a buffet dinner and cash bar.
Aug. 23:The Velvet Hour: Sinatra, Swing, and Standards is an intimate cabaret evening channeling Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Ella Fitzgerald.
Sept. 10: The #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben (pictured) brings his new memoir on the craft of writing to the stage.
🎭 Audiences will also love A Night of Kosher Comedy with Eitan Levine on Oct. 1, Baddies of Broadway on Oct. 10, and All Smiles! on Oct. 11.
Opinion: A radical idea to bridge Chicago’s Black and Jewish communities
By Tamar Manasseh, The Forward
🏠 I have strong Southern roots. Both sets of my grandparents, with the exception of my Philadelphia-born maternal grandmother, were descendants of enslaved people who later became sharecroppers. I visited the South often as a child, and being different in a place like that could be difficult. There was no Black Jewish community there at the time. I was usually its sole representative.
Or so I thought.
… I was born in the late 1970s. I have no memory of the storied alliance between Blacks and Jews during the civil rights era. By the time I came along, much of that coalition had faded, and people were already asking how those bridges might be rebuilt.
📰 Read the entire article on The Forward.
⛳ Golf Chastain: Nine at Night returns July 27 for a one-of-a-kind glow golf experience at Chastain Park. Enjoy dinner, drinks, music, and a glow-in-the-dark round of golf under the lights. Grab your friends and register here! SPONSOR MESSAGE
Look & Listen
⚔️ The Odyssey isn’t a Jewish movie, but are there links between the Greek epic and the Bible? Philosopher and classicist Jacob Howland thinks so.
🔥 Today, the 9th of Av, is the saddest day of the Jewish year.
🤔 Yes, everyone is playing mahjong. But how do you feel about this list of top mahjong cities?
What’s doin’ around town
SPONSORED BY CONGREGATION OR HADASH
🌊 July 26: Intown swim and splash with PJ Library.
❤️ July 26: Tu B’Av singles event at B’nai Torah.
🀄 July 27: Mah Jongg Monday at Or Hadash.
🎭 July 30: “The World to Come” staged reading.
👶🏼 Aug. 1: Gather your littles for Tot Shabbat.
✡️ The next Jewish holiday is Tu B’Av on July 28.
🕯️ Light Shabbat candles this week at 8 p.m.
🗓️ Looking for your Jewish vibe? Or Hadash is a warm, welcoming conservative congregation with a modern, musical spirit. Explore our calendar, Tot Shabbat, Yom Banana, Shabbat Hadasha, and more. Come see what resonates.
We remember
🎗️ Rona Leichter Seidel died on Sunday, July 19. She and her husband, Barry Seidel, fell in love at first sight at Douglass College/Rutgers University and would celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary in a few weeks.
She is survived by her husband, Barry; children, Jonathan and Beth Seidel, Andrea Seidel Slomka and Howie Slomka, David Seidel and Erica Peters; and her 10 grandchildren.
