VOL. XCII NO. 38
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 | 9 TISHREI 5778
Ackerman Dies at 84 Send Us Sukkah Photos
We have no archaeological evidence of selfie sticks to indicate that ancient Israelites took family photos while lounging in sukkahs outside Jerusalem during the annual Sukkot sojourn to the Temple. Still, the AJT wants to dust off the tradition of printing and posting online a community gallery of Jewish Atlanta’s decorated temporary dwelling places. It’s not a contest; we just want to share the holiday spirit and creativity. Take a photo or two of your decorated sukkah, preferably with family and friends inside, and email the high-res images to editor@atljewishtimes.com by noon Thursday, Oct. 19. We’ll run as many photos as we can Oct. 27. That’s a special education issue, so we hope people will study up for next Sukkot, which starts Sept. 23, 2018. More on Sukkot inside: • The Marcus JCC is holding a Sukkot Farm-to-Table Festival on Oct. 8, Page 14. • Don’t limit yourself to scotch in the sukkah; Robbie Medwed has better suggestions, Page 16. • The land of Israel deserves a place in your Sukkot observance; Rich Walter tells you how, Page 18. • Find a few other ways to celebrate the holiday, Page 20. ■
The Chabad of Gwinnett Enrichment Center, as shown in this artist’s rendering, will include a social hall, a library, a kitchen, a roof garden, a mikvah, classrooms and a sanctuary.
Get Inscribed in Gwinnett Rabbi Yossi Lerman has no part in determining who is inscribed in the Book of Life, but he can ensure that you are engraved for the life of the Chabad of Gwinnett Enrichment Center. “Chabad of Gwinnett wants to include everyone in our building campaign,” the rabbi said. “We figured the best way to do this is to actually show them what Chabad is all about, and that is, we’re about giving.” So instead of selling bricks to pay for construction, Rabbi Lerman and his wife, Esther, the co-directors of Chabad of Gwinnett (www.chabadofgwinnett. org) since 2001, are offering every Jew in Gwinnett and Hall counties a red, 4-by8-inch brick engraved with up to three lines so that all the members of Chabad’s Jewish family can be part of the project. The Chabad center, now in 2,000 rented square feet on Holcomb Bridge Road in Norcross, draws people from beyond those counties, so Jews in places such as Dunwoody also can get bricks. “If somebody from New York wants a brick, that’s our limit,” Rabbi Lerman said, although such people can buy bricks ($45 for families, $500 for businesses).
Something NEW & FUN for our Jewish Atlanta Singles! The AJT’s Single Living issue is this October 6, 2017!
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Submission deadline is September 30, 2017. See Page 26.
Just the locals could produce a pile: Rabbi Lerman said his mailing list covers 11,000 households in Gwinnett and Hall. To reserve your brick, go to www. brickmarkers.com/donors/chabadenrichment -center and fill out the inscription you want. There’s no rush: Rabbi Lerman expects the capital campaign for the planned 12,000-square-foot center on Spalding Drive in Peachtree Corners to take two years, and construction will last a couple of years after that. The Lermans bought the property, which the rabbi said is commercially zoned despite being in a quiet residential area, a decade ago. But the time to push ahead with fundraising was never right. Now, he said, “it just feels right,” in part because of people such as the campaign chairman, Scott Frank, the president of intellectual property for AT&T. “The Chabad of Gwinnett that Rabbi Yossi and Esther have built is amazing,” Frank said. “The new building will allow the Chabad to grow its programs and serve many more people in the Gwinnett community, surrounding areas and throughout the world.” ■
INSIDE Candle Lighting �������������������������� 4 Israel News �����������������������������������5 Opinion ���������������������������������������10 Education ����������������������������������� 24 Business ������������������������������������� 30 Arts �����������������������������������������������33 Obituaries ���������������������������������� 42 Crossword ���������������������������������� 46 Marketplace ������������������������������ 47
Charlie Ackerman, the New York native who changed the Buckhead skyline and who survived life-threatening wounds to launch a home-security business, died at his Buckhead home Friday, Sept. 22, after a lengthy illness. He was 84. “As far as I’m concerned, he should be credited with creating the skyline of Buckhead,” Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell said. Massell gave Ackerman his start in real estate when he hired the University of North Carolina grad and U.S. Army veteran off the street at Allan-Grayson Realty in 1957, even though, as Massell recalled in an interview, Ackerman came from a foreign country: New York City. Atlanta real estate had been handled strictly by locals, so Massell asked Ackerman what he was running from. “He had made a study of major cities. He picked Atlanta as one that was going to have the best growth, progress and so forth,” Massell said. “He wanted to be a part of it, and indeed he was.” Massell, who left real estate a few years later to pursue politics, said he couldn’t imagine someone moving to a city and jumping into real estate without knowing the streets, but Ackerman’s decision “was our good fortune.” Ackerman founded real estate firm Ackerman & Co. in 1967, and in 1973 he broke ground on Buckhead’s first skyscraper, Tower Place 100. “Sam, do you think anybody will be able to top this?” Massell recalled Ackerman asking him. Massell now has his Buckhead Coalition office in the building. Ackerman launched Ackerman Security Systems after coming home to a burglary in progress in the late 1970s and being shot and left for dead. “He was the most competitive guy I’ve known,” from real estate to tennis to his social life, Massell said. “He had to be first, a champion.” A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, at Temple Sinai, which Ackerman helped found, at 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, with a reception to follow in the Charles S. Ackerman Social Hall. ■ • Full obituary, Page 42