On the Shabbat before the Georgia General Assembly’s 2023 session convened, more than two dozen state legislators stood together at Congregation B’nai Torah and received a blessing from Rabbi Joshua Heller. “Bless them with the strength of character to always put ethics before ego, purpose before personality, and public before…

Darkness falls at too early an hour this time of year. I often join a late afternoon video chat with my mother and a sister in Chicago and sometimes another sister in Boston. Boston and Atlanta are both in the Eastern time zone but currently the sun sets there at…

by Dave Schechter ( JTA) — The congregational arm of Reconstructionist Judaism has endorsed reparations for Black Americans, approving a resolution that calls for “ongoing learning,” “deep reflection” and “teshuvah,” or repentance. But the resolution approved by Reconstructionist congregations earlier this month does not mention financial compensation for those who…

A funeral service was scheduled for Monday at Ahavath Achim Synagogue for former congressman and state legislator Elliott Harris Levitas, who died Friday, 10 days shy of his 92nd birthday. Levitas’ political career began in 1965, when the attorney was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, where he demonstrated…

Jeremy Fingerman calls Jewish camps a form of “communal glue.” “Summer camp provides a real joyous Jewish experience for all the participants and that’s a positive, joyous experience that really sinks into you hard and stays with you,” said Fingerman, CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC). …

When Estelle Walovsky was turned down for a secretarial job at a magazine, she wondered if her Jewish-sounding name was a handicap. So she applied as Elaine Wales — and was hired. When John Minify realized that the magazine he published discriminated in hiring, he felt ashamed and ordered that…

I remember two things from a dinner not long after my 60th birthday. My wife was out of town, so I was solo with three other couples. As the meal progressed, the hostess and I, without paying too much attention, bit by bit, nibbled our way through a chocolate babka. …

Georgia is rarely mentioned among the states where the Jewish vote can influence a statewide election. That said, Jewish Georgians could play an out-sized role in the Dec. 6 U.S. Senate runoff between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. The general election vote was close, with roughly…

Some weeks carry greater emotional weight than others. Monday’s moment was an appointment with the surgeon who removed a cancerous tumor three years ago. That diagnosis prompted my August 2019 column titled “A Club No One Wants to Join.” For three years I have received “maintenance treatments,” punctuated by procedures…