SYNAGOGUE GUIDE, PAGES 13-31 525-YEAR MISSION SURVIVAL STORIES
BIGGER BITE
Kol Emeth’s Noshfest expands the entertainment amid kugel and bagel contests. Page 13
What the Inquisition took away, Rabbi Mark Kunis helps bring back to Judaism. Page 18
Three Toco Hills shuls explore the ways Jews have endured through oppression. Page 22
Atlanta VOL. XCII NO. 32
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
AUGUST 18, 2017 | 26 AV 5777
Weber Stuffed, Smothered With Students $255K Raised For Chabad Of Forsyth By Michael Jacobs mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
Only 300 people are allowed in the black box theater in the basement of the Weber School, according to a sign posted by the fire marshal. For the first time, that limit could be an issue. Twenty years after its start as the New Atlanta Jewish Community High School, Weber opened Monday, Aug. 14, with its largest freshman class (71 students) and largest total enrollment (268). With 87 new students in all, Weber’s enrollment has grown 14 percent since last year and 25 percent in three years. “We wanted to build responsible, thinking, Jewish adults to enhance our community, and nothing speaks louder than the fact that our vision and our message is being embraced by the whole community, ’cause they’re sending their kids and their grandkids,” said Steve Berman, a school founder and former president. Aug. 14 also was opening day for two of the four other Sandy Springs day schools: the Davis Academy and Atlanta Jewish Academy, which now has preschool through 12th grade on one campus. The Epstein School started Aug. 10, and Chaya Mushka opens Aug. 21. Rabbi Ed Harwitz, who started as Weber’s head of school when the Class of 2018 arrived as freshmen, said at the firstday celebration in the school’s basement
Photo by Andria Lavine Photography
Sporting Waffle House-style shirts and hats, members of the Weber School Class of 2018 charge into the basement theater to celebrate the first day of their last year of high school Aug. 14.
theater that the increased size means more choices in academics — 15 new faculty members this year and 30 new courses the past three years — and in extracurriculars — from varsity gymnastics and intramural ultimate Frisbee to new music ensembles and the Sumo Robot League. Just as important, he said, is something senior Eli Katz pointed out: The school has more voices. Those voices “bring energy, intelligence and creativity to the Weber School, but also to our broader Jewish community and to the world,” Rabbi Harwitz said. The numbers indicate that commu-
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nity leaders were right to launch Weber. “There were times that we really felt like ‘Are we doing the right thing?’ People would tell us, ‘The community can’t support this; maybe we should allocate our resources elsewhere,’ ” Berman said. “So it’s gratifying to see. This really marks a watershed moment for the school.” Another former president, Mark Cohen, said: “It’s exactly what, as founders, we had envisioned the school to become. … We love it to be bigger, but it embraces all the concepts that we envisioned as a school — the Jewish content, the Jewish cross-section, is really phenomenal.” ■
INSIDE Candle Lighting �������������������������� 4 Israel News �����������������������������������7 Opinion �����������������������������������������9 Arts �����������������������������������������������32 Simchas ���������������������������������������34 Obituaries �����������������������������������36 Sports �������������������������������������������37 Crossword �����������������������������������38 Marketplace �������������������������������39
Two months after unveiling its new home south of Cumming, Chabad of Forsyth took a big step toward securing its financial foundation by raising more than a quarter of a million dollars in 24 hours. Like other Jewish organizations that have run one-day crowdfunding campaigns at Charidy.com, Chabad of Forsyth lined up donors to match contributions on a 3-to-1 basis, so that each dollar pledged was worth $4 to the first Jewish congregation in Forsyth County. When the campaign launched at noon Sunday, Aug. 13, the goal was $170,000 — $42,500 from pledges and the balance from matching gifts. Driving donations by email and phone, Rabbi Levi Mentz needed only about three-fourths the time allotted to reach the goal. The campaign then entered a bonus round, during which each donation was tripled instead of quadrupled. The bonus goal was $250,000 total; Chabad of Forsyth finished with $255,693 from 336 donations and their matches. Before the fundraising drive, Rabbi Mentz said the purpose was to clear the debt from Chabad of Forsyth’s 5.5-acre property at 795 Brannon Road He could not be reached for comment on whether the additional $85,000, 50 percent beyond the initial goal, will pay off debt or support other efforts to create a Jewish community center for Forsyth, Dawson and Lumpkin counties. Rabbi Mentz has said the Brannon Road site, close to Ga. 400, is the perfect location and size for Chabad of Forsyth’s needs now and in the future. “From here,” he said in a video for the crowdfunding campaign, “we will be a beacon of light to make Forsyth County the greatest county in the United States.” ■