I worked for the Atlanta Jewish Community Center in downtown Atlanta for eight years. It’s been about 20 years give or take since I left my friends there. Working among the Jewish population of Atlanta is an experience I will never forget and one I think back on with fondness.
My job was to assist the Publicity Director. I wore many hats as typesetter, writer, editor, paste-up artist, among others. I never in any job I ever had was treated with more respect or kindness than I was at the AJCC.
An example of this respect and kindness was never more evident than it was at Christmas time. On top of having every Jewish holiday off with the rest of the staff, we also got our Christian holidays off, especially Christmas.
It was a bit strange though to work in an environment where you saw no Christmas decorations during the holiday season. We had the menorah of course. The Center had a big outdoor one which was lit one candle at a time during the Hanukkah season. I did enjoy that tradition.
The non-Jewish staff was not forgotten, however. There were a handful working at the center including myself, the sports director, and all the maintenance staff. At Christmas time we were given space at the center to have our own Christmas party, usually during a lunch hour during the season.
I did manage to cut out a small Christmas tree out of cardboard, about six inches high, which I taped to the wall by my desk one year, in my view, but not in anyone’s else’s view were they to come into my office. I was not quite sneaky enough though, because one day I came to work to find a beautiful red poinsettia sitting in a prominent place on my desk. Come to find out, my fellow worker across the hall, a nice lady named Sadie, took pity on me, and brought it in to brighten up my office.
Sadie was just one example of how I was treated at the JCC. Their kindness was an ongoing thing. The religion of Judaism believes that you should take care of those around you, whether they believe in the same things you do or not. They believe as we do as stated in the King James version of the Bible, Leviticus 19:34: But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Occasionally I ran the switchboard at the front desk. We never turned away anyone coming in off the street asking for help. We would give them a set amount of money and if they needed a place to sleep for a night we’d send them to the Jewish shelter at the Temple down the street.
The Jewish people probably know the most about prejudice and hatred. They are not about to practice dislike of any race, sex, or creed of anyone they meet in the course of a day. They live Leviticus 19:34 every day of their lives.
Personally, the folks at the AJCC helped me in many ways when I was in trouble and needed help. If I think back I can remember many instances where they had my back.
At one time I needed another part-time job on top of my AJCC job to help pay off student loans and medical bills. I was offered and took occasional switchboard duty next door at the Jewish Federation as well as a job across the street which they found for me, at a school for court reporters, for three nights a week. All I had to do was walk across the street.
I had no medical insurance at the time when I became ill and ended up at Grady Hospital, a charity hospital downtown. My boss saw to it that I was added to the insurance plan of another department I occasionally did work for at no cost to me.
There was also a time when a very observant fellow worker saw that I was having trouble feeding myself. She was executive secretary to the President of the Center and was responsible for ordering kosher lunches for people attending the many meetings that took place there. She saw to it that there was an “extra” lunch for me to take home for my evening meal when she ordered these lunches.
As the Bible says again in Matthew 25:35: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in…
(I wrote a paper covering a lot of what is said in this story which I presented to a gathering at the Center. I will post it later on.)
I will always be thankful to the many friends I made at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center. As far as I’m concerned I have never met a more “Christian” group of people as far as living the Christmas spirit, of doing Mitzvahs, or good deeds, for those around them, all year long.
The AJCC is no longer downtown on Peachtree Street. The land the Center sat on was too valuable as far as downtown locations go, so they sold it and moved their operations to the Center in the suburbs. The building was torn down. I’m not sure what stands there today.
However, if I ever have occasion to walk past that spot in the future, I’ll remember the people who made the Center a place of refuge; a place where friends can be found; a place that would never turn you away in times of trouble.
Thanks for listening.
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