WWII TRAVELS
KSU’s “Georgia Journeys” exhibit makes the war and Holocaust personal. Page 20
VETERANS DAY WWI TRUCE
The opera “Silent Night” finds a moment of peace in the horrors of war. Page 21
MAIL CALL
The Packaged Good and Love Notery organize card creation for the troops. Page 22
Atlanta VOL. XCI NO. 44
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM NOVEMBER 11, 2016 | 10 CHESHVAN 5777
Trumping Expectations: U.S., Georgia Are With Him Donald Trump overcame poll deficits and claims of anti-Semitic tropes in his closing campaign ads to win a presidential election Nov. 8 he had repeatedly claimed was rigged in favor of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. At 2:47 a.m., Trump — a man with Jewish in-laws, a Jewish daughter and Jewish grandchildren — made his first appearance as president-elect. “Mazel tov” was shouted from the crowd. He said the nation owes Clinton gratitude, and he vowed to be the president for all Americans and asked those who opposed him to offer guidance and help. “I promise you that I will not let you down,” Trump said. “I will do a great job.” With the exception of Virginia, Trump swept the South, including battlegrounds Florida and North Carolina. The insurgent Republican also captured Ohio and Pennsylvania and led throughout the night in Michigan before Wisconsin put him over the top in the Electoral College. Clinton did eke out a win in the popular vote but fell well short of a majority. Trump won Georgia with the lowest percentage for a Republican in 20 years. While the breakdown of presidential votes within Georgia was surprising — Republican strongholds Cobb and Gwinnett counties went to Clinton — most of the state’s results met expectations. Republican Johnny Isakson cruised
U.N. POLITICS
Ambassador Danny Danon, in Atlanta for an Israel Bonds dinner honoring Norman Radow, explains his optimism about Israel’s struggles at the United Nations. Page 8
Photo by Jacqueline Morris
(From left) Jenn Stokes, Felicia Schall Levin, Michelle Chelmer, Gilad Moyal and Dave Levin are among the young professionals watching the early returns at the Election Night party held by American Jewish Committee Atlanta’s ACCESS group at Jefe’s Tacos & Tequila in Brookhaven.
to re-election to the U.S. Senate with more than 55 percent of the vote against Democrat Jim Barksdale and Libertarian Allen Buckley. The GOP retained control of both chambers of Congress. All 13 U.S. House incumbents on the ballot won re-election, including Lithonia Democrat Hank Johnson, whose comments about Israel in July didn’t stop him from getting 76 percent support against Republican Victor Armendariz. In the race to replace retiring Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Drew Ferguson beat Angela Pendley to keep the seat Republican. Few state legislators faced strong challenges. One who did, Democrat Taylor Bennett, lost by 315 votes (roughly 1.4 per-
REMEMBER PARIS
Pope High School junior Ellie Coe and the World Solidarity Club are holding a benefit concert on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 130 last year. Page 23
cent) to Republican Meagan Hanson for the Brookhaven-Sandy Springs seat that belonged to Mike Jacobs until last year. Three of the four proposed constitutional amendments won easy approval: Amendment 2 (83 percent voting yes), providing secure funding sources to support victims of sex trafficking; Amendment 3 (63 percent yes), putting the commission that oversees judicial behavior and ethics under the control of the General Assembly; and Amendment 4 (81 percent yes), assigning taxes from the sale of fireworks to trauma care and public safety. But more than 60 percent voted against Amendment 1, Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposal to create an Opportunity School
District composed of individual schools deemed to persistently fail their students. Scores of representatives of Atlantaarea Reform congregations, including rabbis from The Temple, Temple Sinai and Temple Kol Emeth, spent Election Day at polling places in Macon-Bibb County, greeting voters, offering help and remaining alert for any problems. “The day went pretty easily. I wouldn’t say it was boring, but it was almost boring,” said Kol Emeth Rabbi Erin Boxt, who was stationed with the congregation’s youth director, Ezra Flom. Most of the voters they met were happy they were there, Rabbi Boxt said. The poll-watching effort was part of the Nitzavim initiative of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, conducted in cooperation with the NAACP, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and others, and it marked the kind of Jewish re-engagement with civil rights that Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO David Bernstein called for during a visit to Atlanta (see Page 19). Rabbi Boxt said it was interesting that at the end of the day at the church where the volunteers had received training, “there was a woman in a hijab and a gentleman in dreads and then a guy in a yarmulke, all standing next to each other discussing what they had experienced at their particular spots.” ■
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