Newspaper Page Text
FAITH
Ahavath Achim Synagogue celebrates
its 125th anniversary
What: Premier showing of “Reunion, Renewal
and Ruach,” a documentary about the
synagogue, premiere of a new song by Los
Angeles-based songwriter Craig Taubman,
and live music by a band that features A.A.
Associate Rabbi Lawrence Rosenthal on guitar.
When: Jan. 27
Where: Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600
Peachtree Battle Ave., NW, Atlanta, 30327
Cost: $18
To order tickets: 125thcelebration@
gmail.com or 404-266-8676
Ahavath Achim’s
home from 1901-1921
w
much of the traditional life they left be
hind,” she wrote.
A.A.’s original building, located at
Gilmer and Piedmont streets in down
town Atlanta, opened in 1901, according
to Goldstein’s book. The congregation
built a second, larger home on Washing
ton Street in the 1920s and relocated to
its present facilities in the 1950s.
As it’s grown, the congregation has
changed as well. A.A. started as an or
thodox congregation, then joined the
Conservative Movement in 1952,
Goldstein said. “It was changing
through the times,” she said.
Ezor set out to capture the congre
gation’s history and its contributions to
the community by interviewing mem
bers. He originally envisioned a short
movie compiled from interviews taped
with a home video camera, he said. But
he soon realized his subject required
more.
“One guy came in — he’s 97 years old
— and he says how he saw Jackie Rob
inson come to town to play the Atlan
ta Crackers and saw him steal home,”
Ezor said. “Another says how he came
face-to-face with Coretta Scott King.”
He sought help from a writer friend
and called on professional videogra-
phers to record his interviews. He got
Broadway actress Tovah Feldshuh to re
cord the voiceover.
As he compiled interviews, Ezor re
alized A.A. had contributed leadership
to Atlanta and its Jewish community.
“It’s really been a ‘mother ship’ for the
starting of programs in the Jewish and
secular communities,” he said. “A.A. is
everywhere. There are pieces of A.A.’s
heart scattered all over this town.”
In the 1980s and 1990s, as metro
Atlanta sprawled across north Georgia,
A.A.’s congregation changed, members
said. Membership declined as new syn
agogues opened in the suburbs. A.A.
Rabbi Neil Sandler said the metro area
now has nearly 40 congregations.
So, as it reaches 125, A.A. is chang
ing again, this time to attract younger
families and others who are returning
to the city. The synagogue offers a vari
ety of services and spiritual experiences,
from traditional services to meditation
to activities for children.
Sandler offers as one example of
something new: the “AAbsolute Shab-
bat,” a service set to pop music from
performers such as the Beatles, Elvis
Presley, Simon and Garfunkel or U2.
Sandler said some members no lon
ger want to be part of a passive audi
ence “where the people up on the stage
do it for you and you came to watch the
show.” Instead, “now we really want to
engage people,” he said.
As A.A. celebrates its 125th year,
“we stand at a very interesting place,”
the rabbi said. “It’s not a crossroads. It’s
a road. Where we stand is on the road
of renewal, to what it means to be a
congregation in the 21st century.”
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