Lake Oconee Chabad Pop-Up Builds “New Jewish Family” In Georgia

Lake Oconee is a reservoir in central Georgia that has become a vacation destination. Dozens of towns, resorts, and golf communities dot the 374 miles of scenic shoreline. Scattered along the shore are an estimated several hundred Jewish families.

Chabad reps to rural Georgia, Rabbi Chaim and Chayala Markovits, hosted a four week popup Chabad center at Lake Oconee where Jewish residents, snowbirds, and vacationers had the opportunity to connect.

Fred Benoff has been meeting Rabbi Markovits once a month for years. Rabbi Markovits will often drive hours each way to visit a few Jews in a remote town, and Lake Oconee has been a regular stop for some time. 

“I joined them for Shabbat dinner, and for bagels, lox and tefillin on Sunday morning,” Benoff said. “Then I asked the rabbi if he would start a Talmud class for us. Markovits, of course, gladly agreed, and the burgeoning Lake Oconee Talmud class plans to transition to Zoom during the winter months. 

Besides Shabbat meals, community prayer services, and brunches, the Markovitses spent quality time with many locals over mahjong evenings.

Joyce Gropper is a Florida resident who spends her summers in Lake Oconee. A friend introduced  her to the Markovitses after a Providential meeting at a grocery store. Joyce met Chayala at a home on the lake for a friendly evening of mahjong. “Chaya was learning how to play, but we made sure she won her first game,” Gropper said. 

“It’s so important because I got to meet multiple Jews at one event—15 or 20 at a time,” Gropper said. After years of barely knowing anyone Jewish in the area, Gropper now has meetups scheduled with many new Jewish friends 

“Because of this encounter, I have a bigger comfort level in my surroundings here,” she said. “I’m reaching out to people like crazy to get together. Because of the Markovitses I have a new Jewish family up here.”

As the Markovitses prepared to head back to Atlanta and their work serving Georgia’s rural communities across the state, Joyce and her friends stopped by with a token of their gratitude and newfound friendship for Chayala: her own mahjong set. 

“Now, when I walk into a room, I don’t feel like a stranger,” Joyce said. “And I wanted to say thank you for that.”