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VOL. XCI NO. 33
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
AJFF Is No. 2
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www.LeeBrant.com INSIDE Calendar �����������������������������������4 Candle Lighting ���������������������� 5 Israel News ������������������������������6 Health & Wellness �����������������9 Opinion ���������������������������������� 10 Business ��������������������������������� 17 Education ������������������������������� 18 Sports ��������������������������������������22 Home ������������������������������������� 24 Obituaries ������������������������������26 Marketplace ��������������������������28 Crossword ������������������������������30
SUPPORT FOR SEPSIS Football season provides the chance for a fundraiser for a woman struck by a catastrophic infection. Page 9
HATE AND THE LAW Two state legislators and the GBI director see the need but not the opportunity for hate crimes legislation. Page 15
STAR TURN Maggie Gallant’s professional and personal lives converge to bring her home. Page 17
FATHER AND SON The Foah family combines Italian food, business, art and music in Buckhead. Page 24
AUGUST 26, 2016 | 22 AV 5776
Digging In at Zaban Park
(From left) Bernard Howard, Erwin Zaban and Morris Benveniste break ground on the first full-service Jewish Community Center building at Zaban Park on April 30, 1978. Our annual look back at the way Jewish Atlanta used to be focuses on how some Dunwoody farmland Max Kuniansky bought with Zaban’s help 55 years ago to serve as a rural getaway for Jewish city kids has developed into the center of Atlanta Jewish life, Page 20. And don’t skip a montage of the AJT’s Olympic coverage from 1996 on Page 19.
Atlanta has lost the unofficial title of world’s largest Jewish film festival. The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival reports drawing attendance of 40,000 for its 18-day 36th annual festival, which ended July 31. That figure tops the record 38,600 the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival drew in 2015 to wrest the title of world’s largest from San Francisco. The AJFF attendance slipped to 36,092 this year, largely because Lefont remodeling reduced capacity, festival Executive Director Kenny Blank said. “Large or small, Jewish film festivals are united in a mission to celebrate a rich cultural heritage and showcase the finest in world cinema. We congratulate the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in achieving such far-reaching impact across their 30-plus-year history,” Blank said in a statement. He previously said the festival was planning increased capacity in 2017. “AJFF anticipates another record-setting year in 2017, growing our audience with a focus on inclusiveness, diversity, and social and cultural understanding through film,” Blank said Aug. 18. “Bragging rights as world’s largest may temporarily fluctuate, but support for the AJFF phenomenon in our community and industry remains undiminished.” The AJFF’s shot at regaining the top spot comes at the 17th annual festival Jan. 24 to Feb. 15. It will open at the Cobb Energy Centre and close at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Atlanta Symphony Hall. ■
$300K Grant to Help Restore Cemetery A $300,000, three-year grant from the Rich Foundation will help restore the Jewish Hill section of Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta’s original municipal cemetery. The project will include hardscape, landscaping, repair and cleaning of grave markers, restoration of paths,interpretive signage and other educational materials, said Neale Nickels, the Historic Oakland Foundation’s director of preservation. The 1.5-acre Jewish Hill is one of three sections purchased by what is now The Temple in the 19th century. With Rich Foundation aid, HOF previously restored
the Old Jewish Burial Grounds, dating to the 1850s, and Jewish Flats, 1.5 acres purchased at the same time as Jewish Hill in the 1870s. Ahavath Achim Synagogue owns and maintains a separate section. “The trustees of the Rich Foundation believe the restoration of Oakland Cemetery’s Jewish Hill is significant because those interred in the area played an important role in Atlanta’s early history,” foundation President Tom Asher said. The roughly 500 Jewish Hill graves include Rich family members from Rich’s Department Store. Nickels thinks most of
the section’s burials date to the 1940s. The $450,000 budget for the painstaking project, involving historically accurate mortar and era-appropriate plants, requires raising $150,000 to supplement the Rich Foundation grant. “The great thing is that Atlanta has a strong Jewish community,” Nickels said. “People are very interested in helping out.” In addition to mailing a check or delivering one at the visitors center, you can donate at www.oaklandcemetery. com (select “Jewish Section” in the Special Designation drop-down menu). ■