Jodi: Faces of Orthodoxy
I was thrilled to be hired as the photographer for Faces of Orthodoxy Season 6 Atlanta (backed by the Orthodox Union). They profiled 6 movers and shakers, to tell their dynamic stories, and show the world that Orthodox people are relatable, rather than exotic or strange as seen in the media.
Week three: Jodi Wittenberg
“Shalom Y’all! I guess you can call me a born-and-bred Southern belle. All 4 of my grandparents are from Georgia. My grandmother had bleached blonde hair, hot pink nails & spoke Yiddish with a Southern twang. I grew up traditional; we had the third-row center bench seats in our conservative synagogue. I went to Jewish day schools & camp. A few years after college (I dropped out), the Atlanta Scholars Kollel came to town. My parents got very involved & constantly encouraged me to participate. I got an invitation to one of the rabbi's homes for Shabbat lunch. I parked down the street & pulled on a skirt over my jeans. When I entered a room of 10 single Jewish guys, I thought if this is observant Judaism, then this is a good thing. I co-started a Sunday night singles group at that rabbi’s house, which later became a huge success.
In 1993, I co-founded a family business, a natural food store called Return to Eden. After going on a 10-day learning safari trip to Israel with my rebbetzin, I took a summer break from work & went back to learn at Aish’s new Jewel program. I also knew there was a guy at Aish, Josh Wittenberg from back home, who had a crush on me. As I walked out the door for the airport, I told my parents I was going to marry him. We went on a few dates that summer & that was it! We agreed to go back to learn at Aish for a year, so we ended up being a kollel couple living in the Old City! We now have 3 fantastic kids & a 10lb havdalah plate of candle drippings to attest to our 25 years of marriage.
When we returned to Atlanta, Josh joined me in my business. Return to Eden was a 7500 sq ft. store with 32 employees. I loved introducing new kosher symbols & products to the community & having kosher-tasting tours. I was known for my kosher cheese selection, so after the sale of Eden, I decided to open up a small cheese shop, The Chosen Knish, in my garage. I showed up at Jewish festivals & it grew. I then created a business plan for a new kosher store. I asked my co-president of the sisterhood & her mother if they’d want to open a store in the neighborhood with me. They said yes! We opened The Spicy Peach in January 2014.”
“I love retail because you never know who’s gonna show up that day. I love my store because it's my creation & I truly love my biz partners; they make it super fun to come to work. I love to eat & cook but I REALLY love to entertain! I get my validation from feeding people. One of my favorite challenges is the hunt to find new kosher, exciting food & seeing my customers light up as they buy them. At The Spicy Peach, we offer a lot of specialty gourmet, hard-to-find kosher products. And of course, every kind of kosher cheese you’d ever want. The store is an extension of my home. When I’m making a panini for a customer, I feel like I’m in my kitchen. We also sell takeaway soup, salads & sushi. And we make great tuna fish (a Jodi favorite).
Almost all of our products are trucked down from N.Y. The companies we work with get a kick out of us 3 women in the South who own a kosher store called The Spicy Peach. I like to think that our shop has Southern charm and personality – along with our signature hot pink grocery bags.
Shabbos cooking for me always starts on Fridays at 4 pm & I magically whip up Shabbos lunch and dinner. My Friday afternoons are like a Chopped episode: candle lighting, knives down! Some of my specialties include making good ole’ Southern food kosher. I love American comfort food & I’m great at converting treif to kosher. I have a bbq smoker in my backyard. One day I hope to write an American/Southern kosher cookbook.
I’ll do anything to support my community. I have a really hard time saying no. Making it into the Guinness Book for The Israeli Cookie Flag for Israel’s 70th is one of my hugest highlights. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, I helped spearhead the effort to host over 1000 people from Florida who came to Congregation Beth Jacob for a week. With the support of the OU, we housed, fed & entertained all these people who were displaced. Of all the hosting I’ve done and meals I’ve served, 1000 people, 3x a day definitely tops the list. My biggest regret was that I didn’t make a picture book from this experience – the stories that came out were incredible. I felt like I was walking in G-d’s hand for a week.”
Behind the scenes with Jodi photos by Yelena Hertzberg, who was with me every step of the way.