Hadassah Hosts 33rd Annual Chesed Student Awards

The 33rd annual Hadassah Greater Atlanta Chesed (loving kindness) Student Awards took place on May 5 at Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs. HGA partnered with JumpSpark to honor 24 of the best and brightest young leaders representing synagogues, Jewish day schools, and organizations in the Greater Atlanta community.

Eighth through twelfth graders are eligible for the award. Each organization chooses its own recipient based on criteria that are paramount to Hadassah and its members: concern for Jews, Jewish culture and heritage; concern for Israel; concern for fellow human beings in manner and deed (menschlichkeit); and good academic standing.

Grace Engel receives the Chesed Leadership Award Essay Prize from Phyllis M. Cohen.

The winner of the 2024 Leadership Award sponsored by Phyllis M. Cohen went to Grace Engel, nominated by Temple Beth Tikvah. As editor of her school’s yearbook, Engel led her team to find ways to ensure that the Jewish Club in her school that had been restricted this year would still be represented as usual in the yearbook. She confronted further antisemitism by seeing that hand-made Palestinian flags tacked on the hall bulletin board were removed. Her concluding sentence stated: “I will remain confident in my Judaism and stand up for myself and others.”

The 2024 winner of the Community Service Award sponsored by Linda and Michael Weinroth went to Ava Satisky, nominated by Creating Connected Communities. As part of a JumpSpark panel for parents with children entering high school next fall, she gave helpful advice to cope with and handle antisemitic remarks in school. She stood in solidarity with her community at the Sandy Springs rally in support of Israel and the fight against antisemitism. She also engaged her three most active social media platforms to share facts that are informative and beneficial to a broader audience than at school. Satisky believes that like in math, which she loves, there is always an answer to a problem, and even if the answer eludes us, that doesn’t mean we should give up and assume there is no answer.

Ava Satisky receives the Chesed Community Service Award Essay Prize from Michael and Linda Weinroth.

Phyllis M. Cohen and Linda Weinroth of Hadassah Greater Atlanta chaired the event, and JumpSpark was represented by Jessie Schwartzman, Manager. They noted how inspiring and impressive it is to share the activities and achievements of these teens who have demonstrated their potential to be our future leaders.

Michele Weiner-Merbaum, National Chair of Hadassah’s Prime Membership, spoke about Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah Villages in Israel which put at-risk youth on a secure path to success. She shared that at the start of the current war in Gaza, students and whole families were relocated to these villages from besieged southern Israeli towns. Donations made this year to the Chesed program are being allocated to Youth Aliyah to continue the rescue and support of hundreds of disadvantaged students in Hadassah’s care.

A special and powerful video message from Anat Sultan-Dadon, Consul General of Israel to the Southeast, stressed the importance of supporting Israel and its right to defend the country and its people at this crucial time and of standing strong in defiance of antisemitism. Hadassah has been at the forefront of support for Israel with its life-saving medical treatment facilities and its “End the Silence” campaign openly focusing attention on calling out the physical atrocities committed by Hamas and calling for the release of all hostages.

Since 2019, the Hadassah Chesed Student Awards have offered two monetary awards based on student essay submissions. This year’s competitive essay contest focused on how the students were impacted by the increase of antisemitism as a result of the events of October 7, how they coped with it personally or helped others to cope, and ways in which they took action to fight it.

To learn more about Hadassah, go to https://www.hadassah.org/chapter/greater-atlanta

To learn more about JumpSpark, go to www.jumpsparkatl.org