Savannah Jewish Educational Alliance holds inaugural Solidarity Shuk to promote community (2024)

More than 20 vendors and artisans set up tables to sell their wares at the Savannah Jewish Educational Alliance's (JEA) inaugural Solidarity Shuk, A Community Marketplace. A shuk is typically an outdoor market that often features fish and meats as well as household goods. The JEA's event took place indoors, with vendors selling everything from paintings to jewelry and spices. North American Israeli music cover band TLV played popular Israeli music from various decades, as well.

Lee Ann Homnick, owner of a new Asian-Kosher venture called Nosh, delighted attendees with her Belgian chocolate ginger truffles. Daniel King handed out free falafels to promote Zila's, which is a food truck that will soon be Savannah's only fully kosher restaurant at a forthcoming location on 33rd and Abercorn streets.

Kimberly Best of DH Designs sold earrings and makeup kits with wooden tops, for which she used CO2 lasers to carve and engrave. She knew that the shuk "would bring in a lot of people, you know, the diversity. So, that's why I wanted to be here."

Diversity and community is exactly why Assistant Camp & Children's DirectorJackie Laban created the Solidarity Shuk, particularly to showcase the diverse population of the JEA staff and those it serves. Many of the other vendors expressed the same sentiment of building community and connections through this newer opportunity to share their goods and talents.

How the event came to be is a story more than a year in the making and involves international funding.

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JEA market made possible through Israel grants

Laban created the event thanks to a grant provided in partnership with Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs.

According to Laban's press release, "more than $1.1 million in grants have been awarded to nearly 100 JCCs [Jewish Community Centers of North America] across 30 states and three Canadian provinces for the creation and implementation of programs focused on the three major Jewish and Israeli holidays and commemorations this May."

Laban was one of 18 applicants to be selected for the Martin Pear Israel Fellowship to promote Israel education through the JCCs. She and the other fellows started the program in January 2023. Their journey also entailed 10 days spent in Israel last May. The 10-month fellowship was still underway when Hamas militants entered Israeli towns near the border of the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Nova Music Festival. After the attack occurred, she said that members of her fellowship cohort realized that their final projects would have to change because the "purpose was much deeper."

Hamas militants killed hundreds of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. Hamas also took nearly 200 people captive. Some of those captured have since been released, others have died and some are still being held as ongoing cease-fire negotiations continue between Israel and Hamas. Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza in the days that followed Hamas's attack. To date, Israel's military response has destroyed entire neighborhoods, killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and forced the displacement of millions more in Gaza.

Tensions abroad have reverberating impacts across the U.S. and in Savannah. On April 30, Georgia Southern University students held a 'Rally for Palestine,' which they said was in support of a peaceful end to the conflict. On May 11, more than 100 protestors assembled and marched to Savannah's Johnson Square in support of Palestinians. Some counterprotesters showed up and carried the Israeli flag.

For Laban, bringing the community together peacefully was the main idea behind the Solidarity Shuk. She also wanted to provide an Israel education component in alignment with the grant she received, but also because she felt people may not be accessing the most accurate information about Israel. "Our purpose is never to convert or push our views...we're really here to serve our community with a Jewish cultural lens," she said.

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Israel education through immersive experience

Laban's Israel educational component consisted of a visual display that walked participants through a timeline of the conflict.

Laban sourced materials for the immersive experience from the JCC Resource Center. The content covered historical context of the conflict dating back to as early as 2000 B.C. because, she noted, "Jewish people feel that the land has been theirs...from Abrahamic days." The display also covered more recent history and, according to Laban, was meant to inform people about "basic things," such as Arabs being holding political office in Israel.

The educational component was located in a separate section of the JEA from where the shuk was held and was optional for any who wanted to participate. Laban did not want the Israel experience to deter people from attending, because she said that even "amongst the Jewish population, we're not agreeing on everything."

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah JEA market features local artisans and creatives