ISRAEL-Y
Special Camp Section Pages 14-18
From its new home, Beit Reuven Chabad is launching a camp to take kids on virtual trips to Israel. Page 15
WONDERFUL
Camp Living Wonders builds confidence while moving toward independence — its campers’ and its own. Page 14
Atlanta
INSIDE
VOL. XCI NO. 6
SPOTLIGHT
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
Given a week at Camp Flix, two teens produce a short strong enough for the Jewish Film Festival. Page 17
FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | 3 ADAR I 5776
Shearith Israel Finds Its Rabbi
Rachel Stein �����������������������������3 Calendar ���������������������������������� 4 Candle Lighting ��������������������� 4 Local News �������������������������������5 Opinion ����������������������������������10 Israel News ����������������������������13 Camp ���������������������������������������14 Education �������������������������������19 Arts ����������������������������������������� 23 Home ������������������������������������� 26 Obituaries ����������������������������� 28 Crossword ����������������������������� 30
BIG NIGHT
Congregation Beth Jacob’s annual dinner will honor Rabbi Daniel and Morah Bluma Estreicher for their decades of shared devotion to Torah teaching. Page 6
BIG DAY
The University of Alabama’s Jewish life helps persuade a soccer goalie from Epstein and Riverwood to sign with the Crimson Tide. Page 21
BIG STAGE
Joel Grey explains the story behind his life story, “Master of Ceremonies,” before appearing this month at the Marcus JCC. Page 23
C Photo by Michael Jacobs
Little Old Ladies
Olivia Ozias (left) and Harlow Rosen, members of the Davis Academy’s Mechina kindergarten prep program, do some serious construction with plastic cups while dressed up as part of a much older generation during Davis’ celebration of the 100th day of school Thursday, Feb. 4. Kindergartners from Dunwoody Springs Elementary School crossed Roberts Drive to help their peers mark the special day. More photos, Page 20
AJA Picks Head of School
A
tlanta Jewish Academy has hired Rabbi Ari Leubitz to serve as head of school, effective July 1. The successor to Rabbi Pinchos Hecht, who has led the school through the 2014 merger of Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva Atlanta High School, was announced by AJA President Ian Ratner on Monday, Feb. 1, after a search led by Nancy Weissmann and Chanina Falk. Rabbi Leubitz has led Oakland Hebrew Day School since August 2012 and thus will be the second educator in a year to move from the San Francisco Bay Area to lead a Sandy Springs day school. Epstein School Head of School David Abusch-Magder came from the Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Francisco. “I am drawn to the opportunity to head AJA because I believe that my own
experience, vision and skill set align well with what the school needs as it moves from its strong tradition to its future as a bright light in the Jewish and secular educational communities nationwide,” Rabbi Leubitz said in a statement from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, where he was ordained in 2006. A joint AJA statement cited the rabbi’s experience in Judaic studies leadership, teen engagement and business. “Rabbi Leubitz is an educational visionary and a pastorally oriented rabbinic leader,” said Ruthie Strosberg Simon, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah’s director of placement and alumni affairs. Rabbi Leubitz and his wife, Florence, an audiologist, have three children, Eliana, Aviva and Ezra, who will attend AJA in the fall. ■
ongregation Shearith Israel brought a 1½-year search for a successor to Rabbi Hillel Norry to an end Friday, Feb. 5, by announcing the hiring of Rabbi Ari Kaiman. Rabbi Kaiman, who moved to Cobb County with parents Jay and Natalie Kaiman when he was a teen and joined Congregation Etz Chaim and its USY chapter, will take his new post in mid-July. He has served as the assistant rabbi of Congregation B’nai Amoona in St. Louis the past five years. In a letter to his new congregation, the rabbi said B’nai Amoona has allowed him to experiment with new ideas and develop programs. “I am ready to rise to the challenges of leading Shearith Israel to a bright future,” he wrote. “We will share our blessings with Intown Atlanta and do our part in making our community a great and holy place to live.” Rabbi Kaiman grew up in Pensacola, Fla., before moving to East Cobb and attending Walton High. He met wife Emily as a University of Florida freshman. The couple worked at Camp Ramah Darom during and after college. “Most of the skills I use every day as a rabbi were learned there,” he wrote, “and I’m so glad to be back in Ramah Darom territory.” He and his wife will celebrate their 10th anniversary in June. They have four children: twin girls Amalia and Eliana, 6; daughter Maayan, 4; and son Shai, 2. Rabbi Kaiman will succeed interim Rabbi Melvin Sirner, who arrived in August to fill the gap while Shearith Israel searched for a permanent rabbi. Rabbi Norry chose not to seek a new contract after 13 years at Shearith. ■