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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 26, 1986 Page 3 Growing Pains Leaders look at what by Richard Bono TSl staff writer It is evident that Atlanta's growth as one of America’s lead ing cities has taken Jewish lead ers here somewhat by surprise. Jews of many ages have moved to the Gateway City of the South to join in the economic prosper ity, the appealing lifestyle and the moderate climate that have come to characterize Atlanta’s growing metropolis. But the rise in prosperity and population in metro Atlanta has brought with it a whole range of social and educational needs, which the community is strug gling to provide. “Everybody has a need,” said Betty Jacobson, president of the Atlanta Jewish Federation (AJF). “We’ve gotten caught running a community for 20,000 and we’re actually a community of 60,000. We do not have the facilities that we need. We are short on every thing. We have tremendous prob lems to grow and catch up with the population.” AJF, which is the umbrella organization helping to support a dozen different Jewish groups in Atlanta, raised $8.5 million during its 1986 fundraising cam paign. AJF Executive Director David Sarnat said that the ’87 campaign will necessarily be larger. “1 want to feel that people believe in helping others,” Mrs. Jacobson told The Southern Is raelite. “I’m hoping people will give and keep on giving.” As the Federation works to build a stronger base to sustain Atlanta’s large Jewish commun ity, it has the solid support of the Atlanta Rabbinic Association (ARA). particularly as regards Jewish education and social needs. “We as a rabbinic community will do everything in our power to make certain that Jewish edu cation, which is the only guaran tee we have for survival, will be strongly supported, financially and in other ways, in the com munity,” said Rabbi Shalom Lewis, president of ARA. One of nearly 17 congrega tional leaders in Atlanta, Rabbi Lew is said the rabbinic commun ity here, which he called the“con- science of the community,” is not unaware of the challenges of pro viding for the religious, educa tional and social needs of the estimated 60,000 Jews in metro Atlanta. Shalom Lewis “It is a difficult challenge,” he said. “We know what needs to be done and we know that the re sources at the community’s fin gertips are limited.” It is onward and upward for three of Atlanta’s larger Jewish schools. The Hebrew Academy, the Epstein School and Yeshiva High School have been working for years planning, designing and raising funds for their new facili ties. And, for each of the schools, 1987 will see those plans near fruition. Each of the schools is follow ing the path trod by their desired constituencies to Atlanta’s north- side. Hebrew Academy is currently preparing a tract of land in Sandy Springs near Northside Hospital to build a 65,000 sq. ft. school, into which they hope to move during September 1988. The Ep stein School is preparingto move into its new 52,000 sq. ft. home in the fall of 1987 at the Sandy Springs site of the old Underwood Hills Elementary School, which it is leasing from the Fulton County Public School System. And Yesh iva High School, at the end of next month, will move into its new facility, situated near the juncture of Interstates 85 and 285. The new school is at the site of the old Northwoods Elemen tary School, a 47,000 sq. ft. facil ity, which they have purchased. As The details of design are ironed out in the coming new year, officials with the three schools are also busy planning fundraisers to pay for their new' facilities. For Yeshiva High School, whose 75 students currently oc cupy a wing of the Jew ish Corn- Dale Schwartz. munity Center on Peachtree Street, the new school brings welcome breathing space. “We were one of the first high schools in the Atlanta area to have computers,” said Charles Lowenstein, past president of Yeshiva. “But for the last several years the computers have been locked in a storage room in the Community Center because we haven’t had the room to set them up. Now we’ll be able to restart our computer training program.” Moving to its new location on the north side, Lowenstein said, will also have the important, but less tangible effect of giving Yeshiva students a placeto better identify with. “At the Jewish Community Center, there is no sign anywhere that says ‘Yeshiva High School of Atlanta,”’ he said. “The new building will add to our identity and to the spirit the kids feel.” Hebrew Academy, according to its president. Dr. Jerome Blumenthal, is anticipating ex panding its student enrollment at its new campus from the current level of about 350 students to nearly 500 students within the next five years. Hebrew Academy is the only one of the three larger Jewish schools in Atlanta building a new' school from the ground up. But, the composition of the soil at the Sandy Springs site, Blumenthal said, is proving problematic and additional preparations to the ground are needed before con struction can begin. “I think we are going to end up with a com pleted building a year later than our original target date,” he said. “We’ll spend one more year in the old building than we thought ’s ahead for’87 Jack Freedman we would four years ago when planning began.” Gary Snyder, president of the Epstein School, said its new' school in Sandy Springs will double the size of its present location at Ahavath Achim Syn agogue. Snyder said Epstein School officials are anticipating an additional 65 students will enroll at the school next year. And when the new school opens its doors in the fall of next year, actual classroom size, he said, will be doubled to meet the growth. When Jewish youngsters are done for the day at their respec tive schools on the north side, they can look forward to using the facilities at the new' Cobb County branch of the Atlanta Jewish Community Center, which will be planned in greater detail in 1987. “Eventually we will have ev erything in Cobb County that we have at the Zaban Community Center,” said AJCC President Jack Freedman. “But to start with, we’ll probably build a 15,000 to 20,000 sq. ft. facility.” Situated on 34 acres of land on Post Oak Tritt Road, the Cobb County branch has been planned by Jewish leaders to meet the needs of the estimated 3,000 Jew ish families there, according to Freedman, who said he hopes the Center will be cleared for a major fundraising effort in thespringof the coming year. Freedman said officials are “working on the possibility” of selling the Peachtree Street site of the community center, which has been the gathering place for Atlanta Jews for some 30 years. Once sold, however, Freedman said a midtown/intown site will still be maintained forthose Jews in Atlanta who haven’t trekked to the northern boundaries of the metro area. Jewish Family Services, con sidered by many to be a show- place for the social services it delivers to Jews and non-Jews in Atlanta, will also be struggling to meet the myriad of social prob lems the community faces in the coming year, according to its president Dale Schwartz, who said that JFS’s work resettling refugee families will also continue. Schwartz, who noted the de cline in Soviet Jewry emigration to the United States, said “All we See Leader, page 7. ‘ > r f 7 TSl seeks first ’87 baby Will yours be the first Jewish baby born in the Atlanta metropolitan area in 1987? In our Jan. 9 issue. The Southern Israelite will highlight the family of the first arrival of the New Year. Send the date and time of birth, hospital, attending physi cian and photograph to: The Southern Israelite, P.O. Box 250287, Atlanta, Ga. 30325 by Jan. 6. In addition to the story, parents will receive a $50 savings bond compliments of TSl and additional gifts donated by community merchants. A new dining room design available in a natural beech finish with an extendable table. DISTINCTIVE FURNITURE INC 674 Miami Circle Atlanta NE 30324 Phone: 404-2319253