Ahavath Achim Synagogue

Arlington Cemetery Info Session 🔀
2023-05-18 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Ahavath Achim Synagogue—Ellman Chapel, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta, GA, 30327, United States
Ahavath Achim Synagogue is proud to announce that we have partnered with Arlington Memorial Park and Dignity Memorial in the acquisition of a new section designated for our congregation. We are equally proud to announce the creation of the Unity Garden, a sacred space created by Ahavath Achim Synagogue for the burial of multi-faith families, allowing for families to remain together even in death. This area has been created with the guidance put forth by the CJLS (Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement).
Part of the proceeds will directly benefit AA and the AA endowment. Congregants will also be able to take advantage of a 10% discount on all the ancillary items associated with cemetery property.
Please join us for a virtual information session hosted by our Executive Director, Barry Herman, in partnership with the team from Arlington Memorial. Find out how to protect your loved ones by planning your life celebration in advance. Learn how you can create a personal, loving, meaningful tribute that honors your legacy of service and provide for both you and your loved ones, peace of mind.
Registration is not required. Spaces are limited!
Join Via Zoom

Israel Independence Day Celebration ⏺️ CANCELED
2023-05-18 17:00 - 19:00 | Brook Run Park, 4770 N Peachtree Rd , Dunwoody, GA, 30338
Celebrate Israel's 75th Independence Day with a party for all ages! Festivities will include food trucks, activities and crafts, games, face painting, live music, and more. Kosher food will be available for purchase. Free and open to all! AA is a proud community sponsor of this event.

Candle Lighting
2023-05-19 20:16, 2023-05-25 20:21, 2023-05-26 20:21, 2023-06-02 20:26, 2023-06-09 20:29, 2023-06-16 20:32, 2023-06-23 20:34, 2023-06-30 20:34 | GA

Conclusion of Shabbat
2023-05-20 21:01, 2023-06-03 21:10, 2023-06-10 21:13, 2023-06-17 21:16, 2023-06-24 21:17, 2023-07-01 21:18 | GA

Erev Shavuot
2023-05-25 | GA

Office Closed at Noon
2023-05-25 | GA

Tikkun Leil Shavuot 🔀
2023-05-25 18:00 - 2023-05-26 08:00 | GA
Join us for our community's all-night learning in celebration of the giving of Torah. We'll offer multiple in-person and virtual learning tracks and special learning for children, families, teens, and adults.
This event is free and open to the community!
Time Session Slot 1 (Ellman Chapel) Zoom Link This is the Zoom link for all sessions held in Ellman Chapel Slot 2 (Koplin-Borochoff Library) Zoom Link This is the Zoom link for all sessions held in Koplin-Borochoff Library Thursday, May 25 6:00 p.m. Evening Minyan Ellman Chapel Zoom Link 8:15 p.m. Candle Lighting and Welcome Ellman Chapel Zoom Link 8:50 p.m. Session 1 Leader: Dr. Peter Saulson We are "Citizens of Two Realms”Through careful reading of Chapter One of his classic Man is Not Alone, we’ll see how Abraham Joshua Heschel argued that “the realm of the ineffable” was at least as real as the physical world. This insight forms the basis for understanding Heschel’s argument for the realness of God. Source Sheet Leader: Richard Friedman Everything We Knew Was WrongJust a couple of examples to show how two revolutions—Archaeology and Bible Criticism—have changed what we know and what we understand in most of the Bible. Source Sheet 9:50 p.m. Transition 10:00 p.m. Session 2 Leader: Dennis Gilbride How Abraham Joshua Heschel Understands the Purpose of Prayer This session will discuss Heschel’s view of prayer. We will explore several components of prayer including gratitude, wonder and moving beyond self-centeredness. We will also discuss Heschel’s view on the differences between prayers of praise and petition. Source Sheet Leader: Rabbi Neil Sandler Reading Torah—Challenging the Mind and Uplifting the Spirit: A Session in Memory of Arnold M. Goodman z"lRabbi Arnold Goodman, my teacher and our teacher, enjoyed a very fulfilling career in the rabbinate. He touched many lives through the Torah he taught and left with many people. Of course, Rabbi Goodman’s Torah began with study of THE Torah. In this session on the day we celebrate our people’s receiving Torah, we will look at the meaning of the public reading of the Torah, the purpose it serves and the spirituality of the practice in our services. Source Sheet 10:50 p.m. Transition 11:00 p.m. Session 3 Leader: Edward Queen Torah and Tikkun: Study and Observance as a Spark for Redemption Most of us know the Hebrew word "tikkun" from the phrase "tikkun olam" (repair the world) and may wonder what does it have to do with Shavuot? Traditionally the word, meaning repair or rectification, described activities undertaken to "fix" some sin or transgression, either individual or collective. They served to repair the world on a cosmic scale and pave the way for the messiah. This session looks at the kabbalistic doctrine of "theurgy", the idea that human actions affect the divine realm, and the essential role that Torah study and observance play in sparking redemption. Source Sheet Leader: Dr. Linda Lippitt Chasidic Psychology and DemonsThis is the teaching of Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh. Close reading of the Torah and the Zohar reveals what G-d left unfinished and why.We will discuss the strategies available to suppress scars of trauma or desires for things that take us further from G-d. The most critical name for G'd for this purpose is "Sha-'ai. We will start the session with an orientation to the kabbalistic tree of life. Hopefully this will allow novices to mysticism to be enriched by this and want more. Source Sheet Friday, May 26 12:00 a.m. Session 4 Leader: Steve Chervin Abraham Joshua Heschel and Prophecy: God and Justice Just as the prophets in the Hebrew Bible were consumed by God's demand for justice in the world, so too was AJ Heschel consumed with his own appreciation of the divine imperative to seek justice. In this session, we will examine excerpts from Heschel's masterpiece The Prophets, based on his doctoral dissertation in philosophy completed for the University of Berlin. Source Sheet﻿ Leader: Rabbi Chaim Listfield “Is God a Gator?”A story making the rounds is that one of America’s most famous rabbis blessed the University of Florida Men’s basketball team two years in a row, and the Gators won the national championship both times. We’ll discuss this charming story—and then we’ll debunk it. Shavuot is about following God, not influencing God. Source Sheet 12:50 a.m. Transition 1:00 a.m. Session 5 Leader: Joe Citron Torah in Relationship to Music, Songs and Artists We will look at the influence of the Torah in song. Also see the diverse applicants of Torah in their works. Source Sheet Leader: Jordan Forman Got to Get a Get? Got It!Jordan will touch on some highlights from the tractate of Gittin (and maybe other sources) to see what Judaism has to say about divorce and the process of the get. What are the rights and responsibilities of the parties to the divorce? What can be done when someone is not performing his/her obligations? We will discuss these and other related issues. Source Sheet 1:50 a.m. Transition 2:00 a.m. Session 6 Leader: Jay Waronker Synagogues of Sub-Saharan Africa: Architecture, History and CommunitiesA book talk on Jay Waronker's just-released book Synagogues of Sub-Saharan Africa: Architecture, History and Communities. This publication provides a written and richly-illustrated (including Waronker's careful watercolors) history of the three hundred or so synagogues realized by diverse communities of Jews in thirteen regional countries: South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Eritrea. These religious buildings, varying in scale and appointments from the grand and luxurious to the one-roomed and humble and constructed in large cities, towns and villages, date from the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Some are still operational, others repurposed and yet more demolished. Filling in a previous gap in scholarship and general knowledge, these synagogues reveal a fascinating story of Jewish, African and architectural history and identity. Source Sheet Leader: Rabbi Hillel Norry The Most Remarkable Object in History—The TabletsNot all characters in the biblical stories are people. Sometimes it is a remarkable THING, an object that plays a crucial part in driving the narrative forward, and creating the story. We will look at the description of the tablets themselves (not the commandments… the TABLETS… and ask simple but revealing questions about this remarkable object: Where is it, and where did it come from? Who made it? What is it made of? Is it the only one of its kind? When does it appear in our story? What happened to it, and where is it now? Source Sheet 2:50 a.m. Transition 3:00 a.m. Session 7 Leader: Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal Homosexuality and the Torah—A Jewish Perspective For millennia, the words of the Bible have been used to exclude, ridicule, and demean homosexuals. The few words in the Torah on this issue are often read and taken at "face value." Is this "face value" reading really what the Torah says or are generations of bias, fear, and social control being read into our understanding of God’s will? A deeper reading can reveal a lot about how the Bible might be understanding sexuality and sexual behavior. Source Sheet There is no second slot session, only a first slot session in Ellman Chapel. 3:50 a.m. Transition 4:00 a.m. Session 8 Leader: Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal Israel Through the Eyes of a Poet Explore the artistic expression of love, life, and hope as poets give us deeper meaning into the Promised Land. This session will look at how Israel was expressed through the minds of poets and what their heartfelt expression means to our modern understanding and love of the Jewish State. Source Sheet There is no second slot session, only a first slot session in Ellman Chapel. 5:00 a.m. Transition 5:15 a.m. Gentle Yoga and Stretching Memorial Garden Zoom Link 5:45 a.m. Hashkamah Minyan (Early Morning Service) Memorial Garden Zoom Link 8:00 a.m. Breakfast Paradies Hall Zoom Link

Shavuot Day 1
2023-05-26 | GA

Office Closed
2023-05-26, 2023-05-29, 2023-07-03 | GA

Shavuot Evening Service 🔀
2023-05-26 18:00 - 19:00 | Ahavath Achim Synagogue—Ellman Chapel, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta, GA, 30327, United States
Join Via Zoom

Shavuot Day 2
2023-05-27 | GA

Conclusion of Shabbat and Shavuot
2023-05-27 21:05 | GA

Memorial Day
2023-05-29 | GA

The 136th Annual Meeting of Ahavath Achim Synagogue 🔀
2023-06-11 14:00 - 16:00 | Ahavath Achim Synagogue—Srochi Auditorium, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave. NW, Atlanta, GA, 30327, United States
The Annual Meeting is our time to gather as a congregational family to take stock of where we are, where we are going, and to attend to synagogue affairs. The "State of the Synagogue: Past, Present and Future" will be presented. The business portion of the meeting includes the election and installation of both officers and board of directors.
The full slate of officers and board of directors that has been presented by the Nominating Committee has been mailed to every congregant. All AA members, in good standing, who are present at the Annual Meeting, in person or by proxy, are eligible to vote. A quorum of 100 members is required in person or by proxy (proxy form linked below).
The Annual Meeting will be held virtually and in person, with light refreshments served.
2023–24 Slate
Proxy Form
Join Via Zoom

Juneteenth
2023-06-19 | GA

Independence Day
2023-07-04 | GA
