Special Message
Shabbat Corner
Friday Evening–Saturday Evening
For a full schedule of Sukkot and Simchat Torah services and programming, please visit our website calendar.
- Candle Lighting: 6:57 p.m.
- Shemini Atzeret and Yizkor Morning Service 🔀: 9:30 a.m.—Zoom
- Torah Study 🔀: 10:30 a.m.—Zoom
- Rebbe's Tish in Honor of Torah Study Leaders 🔀: 12:30 p.m.—Zoom
- Erev Simchat Torah Evening Service and Family Celebration 🔀: 5:30 p.m.—Zoom
- Candle Lighting: 7:39 p.m.
- Torah Parsha (Shemini Atzeret):
- Annual: Deuteronomy 14-22–16:17
- Maftir: Numbers 29:35–30:1
- Haftara: I Kings 8:54–66
- Torah Portion (Erev Simchat Torah):
- Annual: Deuteronomy 33:1–17
- Torah Parsha (Simchat Torah):
- Annual: Deuteronomy 33:1–34:13, Genesis 1:1–2:3
- Maftir: Numbers 29:35–30:1
- Haftara: Joshua 1:1–18
Feel-Good News
Kiddush Sponors
Shabbat Kiddush (10/7) is sponsored by Jordana, Elan, Amira and Michael, Zev and Emily, and Tova in honor of the retirement of their parents, Dr. Bruce and Linda Beeber. After more than four decades of service as a pediatrician, Dr. Beeber is closing his practice. May they continue to go from strength to strength.
Simchat Torah Kiddush (10/8) is sponsored by Lois and Bob Kurpiel and Cathy and Rick Swerdlin in honor of the baby naming of their granddaughter, Emma Grace Kurpiel (daughter of Robyn and Scott Kurpiel).
Events
Other Things Happening at AA
A tallit was recently left behind during services. If the tallis (pictured left) is yours, please contact Jill Rosner (jrosner@aasynagogue.org; 404.603.5741).
The 2023 Fall Beineinu High Holiday issue is out! If you haven't yet received your copy in the mail, you can view the electronic version here.
Are you fun? Innovative? Passionate? Good with children? We are always seeking exceptional subs to join our Kesher team. Kesher is AA's supplementary education program for students four years old through sixth grade.
If you are interested, please email our Interim Director of Education: Annsley Klehr (aklehr@aasynagogue.org).
Registration for Kesher religious school (3 Yrs–6th Grade) and Neisah teen program (7th–9th Grade) is now open! Take advantage of our early-bird rates by applying before 
We feel blessed to have a vibrant community that believes in the power of prayer as a source of comfort, strength and healing. At every service, we take a moment to recite the names of individuals we are holding in our hearts for health and healing. Beginning January 1, 2023, all are welcome to add names to our Misheberach (Healing) Prayer List for 30 days. These names will be recited each morning during prayer regardless of their support's presence at services. At the end of 30 days, we request that names be renewed with our office receptionist, Fern Schorr (fschorr@aasynagogue.org; 404.355.5222). Without renewal, names will be removed from the list with our hope that our prayers were successful in sending strength and wholeness.
Do you know an AA congregant who is in the hospital or infirm? We are concerned about loved ones and friends who are in the hospital or infirm. Although our synagogue office remains closed, we are still working and would like to connect with you, especially in regards to pastoral care. If you have information about friends or family in the hospital or other care facilities, please contact Rabbi Rosenthal (lrosenthal@aasynagogue.org) directly. We always appreciate the opportunity to speak with anyone in need and offer support in any way we can.
Help feed the women at Rebecca's Tent, a shelter for homeless women at Congregation Shearith Israel! There are 21 dates to fill during the months of December, January, and March. This year, we will be feeding 14 women. Meals do not have to be kosher (or even kosher-style), and the shelter welcomes restaurant meals or your home-cooked specialties.
If you're ready to choose your date(s) to volunteer, please fill out the online form (link below). After signing up, we will email you with confirmation of your submission. For more details or questions about volunteering, please contact Ann and Herb Alperin (alperin@mindspring.com; 404.231.2310).
Volunteering to provide dinner is a wonderful mitzvah. Scott Kaplan, who volunteers with his wife Shelley, said in his recent minyan shpiel, "The Torah and Jewish tradition are explicit in commanding that we feed the hungry. In Isaiah, God commands us to 'share our bread with the hungry …'"
Build your community. Strengthen your connections. Do Judaism your way. Get $180 to host an event at the place and with the people you choose. You select the date. You set the location. You invite the attendees. You plan the activity. Federation picks up the tab. If you've been looking for an excuse to get together with friends, family, or neighbors, look no further!
When you receive a $180 Gather Grant you can:
- Host a Shabbat dinner or holiday celebration to meet your Jewish neighbors
- Teach friends how to make a special recipe from your childhood
- Plan a picnic with other families who have similar-aged kids
- Arrange a fun night to reconnect with camp, Birthright, or school friends
- Buy copies of a Jewish-themed book and host a discussion group
- Organize a poker night, a nature hike, a volunteer project… whatever and wherever you want!
Any Jewish-identifying individual, couple, friend group, or family in greater Atlanta can apply to receive a $180 Gather Grant.
Through our membership with the ADL's (Anti-Defamation League) Kulanu Initiaitve, our AA family is creating an antisemitism task force to partner with other communities across the country to collectively fight hate and antisemitism. Membership on the task force will require a year's commitment and involve participation in ADL virtual meetings and community of practice working sessions. Our congregation will also offer special programs, initiatives, and action steps to raise awareness, call out local and national antisemitic incidents, and build relationships with communities susceptible to antisemitic infiltration. To learn more about or to join the task force, please contact Rabbi Rosenthal (lrosenthal@aasynagogue.org).
We need your involvement in AA's social action programs! Motivate your family and friends "into action" towards the betterment of our community, and envision our current programs continued for the future. Reach out to your nieces, nephews, friends, and new neighbors for new contacts and ideas to help us increase our pool of volunteers for our wonderful existing and future programs. We need you! Find out how you want to be involved by reviewing the list of social action programs in which our synagogue has been involved for many years. If you'd like to become involved, please email our Social Action Chair: Alan Wexler (alanwexler@databankinfo.com; 404.872.8880).
Are you a warm, friendly, dedicated volunteer who wants to make a difference in a fellow congregant's life through acts of loving kindness? Are you willing to make a personal call or visit to comfort and support a congregant who has lost a loved one or been ill? These caring touches – acts of loving kindness – make all the difference in the world to those receiving them. If you want to be a part of strengthening our community, then AA's new Chesed Initiative is for you! This committee will work with our clergy, staff, and lay leaders to connect members who need help with members who want to do good deeds! Additionally, if you know of a congregant who is facing personal difficulties related to health, loss, or grief, please contact Fern Schorr (fschorr@aasynagogue.org; 404.355.5222) to let us know. Help us reach out to members in need. We welcome your help and time with this important project.
Donate to the Ukraine Emergency Fund of Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta
