Y’alla’s Youth
July 24 (28 Tamuz 5785)
🙋🏻♀️ This week, Y’alla is all about the young folx. From JCC Maccabi Games to campus safety, there’s a lot to offer Jewish Atlanta Gen Z and Alphas. Passing the torch (or the mic, in this case) isn’t always easy – but it’s necessary.
🎯 Lots of students are returning from Jewish travel and summer camp. If you have a hankering for that communal loving and camaraderie, try a retreat. Local camp guru Eliana Leader will tell you why it’s a smart investment.
Y’alla,
Logan
✡ Machaneh Shai (Hebrew for “Camp Shearith Israel”) is Congregation Shearith Israel’s religious school, serving kids 3 years old through 7th grade. Our approach blends tradition, creativity, and community to create a joyful and meaningful Jewish learning experience for students and families alike! Learn more and enroll now. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Safety on campus
🏫 The Center for Israel Education is presenting “Being Safe, Smart and Jewish on Campus: Resilience Prep for College Students” from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 10. The two-hour program is free.
Increasingly normalized antisemitism and anti-Zionist activism can make it difficult for Jewish students to live and learn without hiding their identities. Students will hear from Jewish student leaders, Hillel, Chabad, and the ADL.
Topics include:
• What problematic and even slanderous words and phrases mean.
• How to identify and respond to bias in the classroom.
• How to recognize when protesters violate your rights, and what to do.
✏️ Register to attend in person or via webcast.
Mythic creatures meet modern art!
SPONSORED BY FERNBANK MUSEUM
✨ Step into a world where mythology and art collide! “Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles“ brings vibrant, hybrid animal sculptures to life in Fernbank’s WildWoods.
These whimsical sculptures blend Zapotec culture and contemporary art, each representing spirit guides tied to personality and destiny. Designed by renowned Oaxacan artists, this exhibit offers a soulful journey through indigenous culture, identity, and the natural world.
➡ Open now through August 3 with special after-hours viewings on select nights. Don’t miss this magical experience!
Happy, happy challah bake
🧑🏼🍳 Knead to get out and meet people? Join Young Leadership Division, JF&CS Young Professionals, and BeWellATL for a chill night to unwind and get into the Shabbat spirit from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, July 31.
The night will kick off with happy hour and apps, followed by baking challahs. No baking experience needed. Just come for the good vibes, great company, and a chance to connect before the weekend. Location available upon registration.
This event supports BeWellATL, a mental health initiative of JF&CS.
🥖 Learn more and register here.
Coast to coast Maccabi Games
🏃🏽♂️ Tucson JCC will host JCC Maccabi Games and Access from July 27 to Aug. 1, celebrating 25 years since the city first hosted in 2000. Access has continued to grow, becoming a permanent feature of JCC Maccabi that supports Jewish teens and young adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities.
And nearly 2,000 Jewish teens will descend on the University of Pittsburgh campus for the inaugural JCC Maccabi Campus Games — an Olympic-style event from Aug. 3-8.
⚽️ According to the JCC Association of North America, 69% of Maccabi athletes had no other Jewish teen affiliation before participating. From soccer to baseball, volleyball to star reporters, Maccabi teens are having the summer of a lifetime.
Photo: Participants from the Atlanta 2023 JCC Maccabi Games.
Be a Mensch
🥙 In the City campers made and delivered an Israeli-themed dinner in a partnership with the Z-H Independent Living program at JF&CS. The menu included hummus, Israeli salad, falafel, baba ganoush, chocolate balls, and matbucha.
Interested in giving back with family or friends? Remote projects like making dinner, holding a fundraiser, or running a lemonade stand can benefit JF&CS.
RELATED
Aug. 17: Join JF&CS for Back2School Creative Connection. Families with school-aged children can start the school year with a healthy mindset. Connect over art and volunteer projects.
Remembering Ozzy Osbourne’s Jewish vow renewal
🤵♂️ Ozzy Osbourne, the foul-mouthed frontman of Black Sabbath who rebranded as a reality TV star, has died at 76, just weeks after his farewell concert. On Dec. 31, 2002, he renewed his vows in a Jewish ceremony on an episode of “The Osbournes.”
In the Season 2 episode “My Big Fat Jewish Wedding,” the Prince of Darkness was characteristically befuddled by the plans of his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, to have a “Jewish rabbi” officiate the ritual on New Year’s Eve.
“I’m not Jewish,” Ozzy told the camera crew in the episode. “My wife’s got crucifixes coming out of her a**.”
But Sharon’s father, music manager Don Arden, was Jewish (and on the episode is briefly seen singing “Vhy don’t you give a Yiddishe boy a chance”). Despite her daughter Kelly’s insistence that Judaism was passed on matrilineally, Sharon stated that she felt more Jewish than anything. To rest her case, she claims, “excuse me, but my husband is circumcised.”
➡ Read the full story on the Forward.
✡ Machaneh Shai (Hebrew for “Camp Shearith Israel”) is Congregation Shearith Israel’s religious school, serving kids 3 years old through 7th grade. Our approach blends tradition, creativity, and community to create a joyful and meaningful Jewish learning experience for students and families alike! Learn more and enroll now.
SPONSOR MESSAGE
Look & Listen
🕍 Read about a Chassidic bar mitzvah with Creole seasoning.
😅 Every Jew’s first thought after viewing the infamous Coldplay video.
What’s doin’ around town
SPONSORED BY CONGREGATION OR HADASH
🕯️ July 26: Shabbat Hadasha.
💦 July 27: Splash into summer with PJ Library.
🧘🏼♀️ July 29: Gentle, prenatal yoga with JBaby Intown.
🌞 July 31: Summer Torah Tour in Chamblee.
🥗 Aug. 1: Soulful Shabbat with vegetarian dinner.
🧒🏽 Aug. 2: Tot Shabbat in Sandy Springs.
✡️ The next Jewish holiday is Tisha B’Av on Aug. 2.
🕯️ Light Shabbat candles this week at 8:25 p.m.
🔎 Looking for your people? Find friends, connection, and joyful Jewish living at Or Hadash. Join our August 8 Open House Shabbat with young family nosh & mingle, soulful services, and dinner. Discover where you and your kids belong. Details/RSVP.