Names Project/AIDS Quilt in Atlanta

Written by Nicole Bellovin, Mariel Liebeskind, and Hannah Walcoe

Nikki, Mariel, and Hannah in front of a panel of the AIDS Quilt

The first panel was made for Marvin Feldman who died in 1986

We just visited the Names Project in Atlanta, Georgia. It commemerates the death of those who lost their lives from AIDS . The project is a giant quilt that consists of of pieces created by the loved ones of those who lost their lives in the fight against AIDS and HIV. There are no restrictions on how you can be a part of the project. You can create a peice of the quilt in any way that you would like to represent the person has passed on.

This project stands out in many ways. These quilts are a celebration, remembrance, and way to honor the life of a person before AIDS. This is important because AIDS is an issue that is still taking lives today. It can cause one to be impoverished because of the cost of the medicine used to maintain a healthy life with AIDS. We learned about how AIDS affects every aspect of your life, from where you live, to how you spend your daily life. We also discussed how to prevent AIDS. We learned about how lucky we are to be educated about not just AIDs, but means of protection against it.

This project related to Judiasm in many ways. We discussed how when the disease first came out, it was mainly found in the gay community. We spoke about how Reform Judiasm are allies to the gay and lesbian community. We also discussed how AIDS did not descriminate on who it affected, it made people of all different ways of life and religions sick, which included Judaism. The project also started by the commemeration of a Jewish man who passed away because of the disease.

Havdalah

J.tel has a Havdalah service on the steps of the 16th Street Church. This is the church that was bombed during the civil rights movement. Four young girls lost their lives. J.tel learned about them at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Meeting Reverend Woods

Written by Amanda Liebeskind, David Krivoshey, and Adam Birnholtz

Reverend Woods teaching J.tel a civil rights song (see next post for the video!)

Reverend Woods led J.tel on a tour through Kelly Ingram Park

During our time with Reverend Calvin Woods, we felt as if we were in the time of the civil rights movement. His powerful and overwhelming voice told a story that took us all back in time. We each could hear the sound of screams and invision dogs and water attacking hundreds of people. We each felt our hearts break at the stories he told. His description of the different monuments made us really feel connected to what he was saying. But this meeting was not all sad. Although he spoke of hard times, he was jolly with song. He taught us all a few civil rights songs and we sang and danced in the middle of the park. His voice was bold and drew the attention of others standing in the park, and they began to join in.

All together the experience was unforgettable and gave us all the pleasure of meeting a person who experienced the Ciil Rights Movement first hand. It was later explained to us that these people were only getting older so it is important to take in what they are saying and pass it on to later generations before they pass. Reverand Woods passionate spirit and love for this movement made us believe that he could outlive us all and continue to spread his attitude to everyone. Overall it was a great experience to have and take in past history of a historic movement.

The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma

Witten by Josh Gale and Tracy Wolf

Saturday morning services underneath the Edmund Pettus Bridge

J.tel crosses over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of those who marched from Selma to Birmingham fighting for civil rights

This morning we drove to Selma, Alabama where we had a Shabbat morning serivce at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This service was led by J.telees. There were a plethora of meaningful prayers and everyone was able to find their own spritual connection. This bridge is famous for the multiple people that protested on it. Black protestors during the civil rights movement crossed the bridge during their 5 day march to Montgomery, Alabama.

Another highlight from today was meeting a lady from the Civil Rights Movement named Joanne Bland. She gave us her own personal story of how she fought white oppression. She shared her story of crossing the bridge at age 11. We were able to truly understand her compelling story because as Jews we have been opressed as well. After getting a tour of her hometown and seeing all of the iconic sights, we all learned that if we put out minds to it, we all have the power to take a stand against injustice.

Reverend Woods with J.tel

Reverend Woods teaches J.tel some Civil Rights music at Freedom Park in Birmingham.

Pictures in Selma and Birmingham

J.tel arrives in Selma, AL!

J.tel hears Joanne Bland's story. She marched across the bridge at age 11.

At the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute recording a video from the experience.

Jakob and Evan at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

J.tel hears from Reverend Calvin Woods, a civil rights activist who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr.

Friday Night Services in Alabama

Written by Zack Reiter and David Klein

J.tel takes a quick picture before Shabbat at Temple Beth Or

On Friday night we went to Temple Beth Or in Montgomery, Alabama for Friday night services. We were at a Reform synagogue that used mostly classical melodies. We were surprised to hear an adult choir perform the songs because we could not see them. They were in a choir loft hidden behind the bimah.

This Temple has the tradition of replacing the Rabbis sermon with Torah reading once a month. This happened while we were there. They Rabbi read each sentence of the weekly Torah portion in hebrew and directly followed it in english. When it was time to take the Torah out, there was a manican like structure set up for the Torah to hold it's parts. We thought it was pretty neat.



Everyone was very friendly and inviting and would always come up to you and say Shabbat Shalom. We noticed a few slight differences in the prayer book compared with the one we know at North Shore Synagogue. In our temple the text is italicized when the congregation should say the text outlide while their prayer book just has an indented line. The prayers that they used in their services are the same even though the melodies might be slightly different.



We felt like we were part of the community and we were welcomed. All of the people acted like we've been with them for all of our lives. This reminded us that id doesn't matter whether we are in New York or in Alambama since we are still part of the Jewish community of the world.