The Spring Looks to Build Midtown Jewish Community

More than 115 people squeezed into the Woods Chapel BBQ in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood to sample a unique pre-holiday menu created by celebrity chef Michael Twitty.

Twitty, the author of “Koshersoul – The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew,” created a menu reflective of his unique take on Jewish cuisine and his personal identity.

Not only was the dinner menu he recreated an interesting take on his life as a Jew of color, it provided for an interesting discussion of the many influences in his cooking.

The dinner, with its interesting mix of food, culture, and religion, was a reflection of the work of the dinner’s main sponsor, The Spring. The organization is a concerted attempt to stage events that reflect the diversity of the city’s intown neighborhoods while creating a focus that is uniquely Jewish. Barely a year old, the group’s successful dinner, which sold out quickly, caps a year of increasingly ambitious programming.

Samara Minkin, who runs the project with Dina Kimball, an experienced hand at visionary philanthropy, described the dinner as a reflection of the diversity of Atlanta’s city center.

“It was The Springs’ vision of what a dinner party might be like,” Minkin said. “And people came from all over. It was very intergenerational. It was not all Jewish by a long shot. It was a very mixed crowd.”

As has been the case with other first year programs, The Spring partnered with more established organizations, the American Jewish Committee Black-Jewish Coalition and The Breman Jewish Heritage Museum. Both have important connections to the urban environment The Spring hopes to shape.

The board is co-chaired by Matt Bronfman, CEO of Jamestown Properties, who is best known for his highly successful development of the Ponce City Market. His company transformed the former Sears Roebuck property on Ponce De Leon Avenue into a mixed-use development of over 2 million square feet. It had an enormous impact on the surrounding urban neighborhood. Bronfman, who has also served as the board chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, believes the intown community is overdue for a community center similar to the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody.

“I think a Jewish place, in town, is important for all people, but let me be clear, it’s particularly valuable for the intown community, to get them a place where they will gather.”

He points to the rapid development of Midtown and the continued attractiveness of surrounding older neighborhoods that have lured many young people. It’s also become popular with older residents, who like the cultural attractions and the lively urban environment and who also want to live closer to their children and their families in these neighborhoods.

One of the prime beneficiaries of the intown development boom has been The Temple, which has seen a lot of history since it moved to its present Midtown location on Peachtree Street in 1929. It’s the city’s largest Jewish synagogue, with a membership of 1,800 families and a thriving preschool with a waiting list of 70.

The Temple is literally bursting at the seams and is well on its way to a major building project, the cost of which dwarfs any similar campaign by a Jewish religious institution here. It has raised more than $29 million of a $33.5 million fundraising project.

The building project will expand the pre-school and add a rooftop outdoor events facility as well as transform several other outdoor spaces on The Temple site.

The new building program is on top of a $20 million modernization program the facility underwent in the recent past. The Temple’s senior rabbi, Peter Berg, does not underestimate the impact of The Spring on his synagogue.

“In many ways, Midtown is the center of the Jewish community. I think that more and more people have moved into the Midtown area in the last 15 years than at any point in recent memory.

“It’s really booming, and although we’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish, we want to make sure we have all of the programs and services available for everyone in the Midtown and Buckhead areas.”

With the Federation offices moving to Sandy Springs and the future of the Breman Museum complex uncertain, putting a plan in place for a new structure to service the community is, Bronfman’s opinion, a project whose time has come.

“I think there’s a lot of things you can debate about what goes on the inside of this new center,” Bronfman says, “but I’m firmly convinced it will happen.”