New Course Offered at the MJCCA�s Lisa F. Brill Institute for Jewish Learning; Curriculum was Written in Memory of Susan Arnovitz Saltz

The Curriculum was Written in Memory of Susan Arnovitz Saltz, and Made Possible by her Daughters Dara Grant, Shauna Grosswald, and Jessica Sacks and their Families

The MJCCA was recently involved in a beautiful tribute to one of its late members, Susan Arnovitz Saltz, who passed away in 2015, at the age of 61. The memorial gift was given in Susan’s memory by her three daughters and their husbands: Shauna & Steven Grosswald, Dara & Andy Grant, and Jessica & Jeff Sacks, as well as all nine of Susan’s grandchildren. The curriculum, Exploring a Forgotten World: A Social History of Medieval Jewry as Revealed in the Cairo Genizah was commissioned through the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning by Shauna, Dara, and Jessica as a gift from Mimi’s Fund which they had established.

“Mimi’s Fund is about preserving our mom’s legacy,” explains Dara. “One of the ways we do this is by contributing to programs and causes that are meaningful to us and were to our mom, as well as showing our children how and why this is so important.” 

“Our mother was a longtime student of the MJCCA’s Lisa F Brill Institute for Jewish Learning,” says Jessica. “We made this gift as a lasting tribute because Shauna, Dara, and I know how much she loved her Melton classes. It was an important part of her life for years.”

The Melton School hired Dr. Shelley Buxbaum, one of Susan’s instructors from the Lisa F. Brill Institute for Jewish Learning, to write the curriculum.

“This exceptional project has been in the works for years; we are so pleased that Exploring a Forgotten World is now written and published, and that we get to share it with the community,” says Dr. Buxbaum.

“This newly commissioned curriculum can now be used all over the world for the Melton School,” adds Shauna, “and it will be dedicated with love to our mother’s memory.”

Exploring a Forgotten World: A Social History of Medieval Jewry as Revealed in the Cairo Genizah:

This course will reveal how a collection of worn-out scraps, fragments of texts, and other documents more than 1,000 years old open an otherwise hidden era of history. We will learn the story of the Genizah (a storeroom for timeworn sacred manuscripts and documents) and examine some of its contents. Through translations of the original texts, the course will explore the daily lives and behaviors of Jewish men, women, and families living along the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. 

In 2020, the MJCCA is offering this class four times across Atlanta, and each time it will be taught by Dr. Shelley Buxbaum, the author of the curriculum.

• MJCCA – Zaban Park
  January 8 – April 29 | Wednesdays, 9:30 – 10:30 am      
  MJCCA – Zaban Park
  January 16 – March 19 | Thursdays, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
• Atlanta Jewish Academy
  January 21 – May 19 | Tuesdays, 8:15 – 9:15 am
• Congregation Etz Chaim
  Fall 2020 

“We are so humbled by this inspirational gift made by Shauna, Dara and Jessica. They are truly embodying their mother’s ideal of the importance of Jewish education,” says Talya Gorsetman, MJCCA’s Director, Lisa F. Brill Institute for Jewish Learning. “Likewise, we are thrilled to present this new class that we feel will be so enlightening to the community.”

The MJCCA’s Lisa F. Brill Institute for Jewish Learning:

Atlanta’s largest adult Jewish education program, the MJCCA’s Lisa F. Brill Institute for Jewish Learning offers classes to more than 550 students at the MJCCA and 11 partner locations across metro Atlanta. Courses are taught by some of Georgia’s most outstanding Jewish scholars, rabbis, and educators, with a range of daytime and evening options.

To learn more, visit atlantajcc.org/brill, or call 678.812.4153.

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