MJCCA Exhibit Honors Spanish Jewish Community

Provided by Lora Sommer at the MJCCA

The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta presents “Pink Rice: Recollections of Atlanta’s Spanish Jewish Community,” with paintings by Betty Franco Handmacher in its Katz Family Mainstreet Gallery, on June 28.

The exhibit features 15 works of oil on canvas and includes abstracts, in addition to depictions of celebrations, life-cycle events and family portraits. The exhibits through Sept. 30.

“My work relates to my ethnic background, a small community in Atlanta,” said Handmacher, in a press statement. “I feel that it has universal appeal: The assimilation of a culture into the larger American culture. Some of the work expresses the celebratory aspects of our community. The abstract canvases express the feeling of disintegration of an old culture slowly disappearing."

Many Spanish Jews arrived in Atlanta in 1906, having originally emigrated from Spain to the Ottoman Empire. Spanish Jewish heritage and customs date back hundreds of years to Spain.

Pink Rice, or Sephardic rice, is a traditional food. Made “pink” by tomatoes, tomato sauce and other ingredients, the rice is simmered until it is crisp and golden at the bottom of the pan. It is generally scraped and served on the side. It is considered a delicacy, called ehkaka.