Esther Panitch

Esther Dina Feuer Panitch (born October 14, 1971) is an American attorney and politician. She has served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives representing the 51st district since 2023. She was the only Jewish member of the Georgia House of Representatives for the 157th and 158th Georgia General Assembly.

Early life and career Panitch was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in North Miami Beach, She describes her upbrigning as "Conservadox" and attended Camp Ramah summer camp.

After winning the Democratic primary, Panitch defeated Republican nominee Peter Korman in the November general election. Both Panitch and Korman are Jewish, ensuring that the 157th Georgia General Assembly would have at least one Jewish member.

Panitch won reelection to a second term in the Georgia General Assembly in the 2024 Georgia House of Representatives election. For the 158th Georgia General Assembly, she remained the sole Jewish state legislator.

Tenure In January 2023, Panitch invited Miriam Udel, a Yiddish professor at Emory University, to become the first female Orthodox rabbi to give the opening prayer at the Georgia House of Representatives, which she did on February 1, also making her the first female Orthodox rabbi to give an opening prayer at any state legislature.

She has said that she has been subject to antisemitism from the far-left and far-right. After the Goyim Defense League distributed antisemitic fliers in February 2023 in suburban Atlanta, including at Panitch's home, she sponsored a bill that would adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism as Georgia law. In January 2024, Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed the bill into law, making Georgia the 11th state in the United States to adopt that definition of antisemitism. Before the signing ceremony, Panitch was sent an antisemitic postcard containing antisemitic slurs and a reference to "gassing the Jews." She has argued against claims that the bill criminalizes the criticism of Israel.

Zionist activism Panitch buys trees in Israel through the Jewish National Fund in honor of anti-Zionist groups, such as after members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) did not show up to a planned meeting in 2023. She also donated a tree in honor of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at the University of Georgia. She has said that holding up JVP and IfNotNow as representatives of the Jewish community is a form of tokenization. Panitch was a part of the delegation of American lawmakers to the 50 States One Israel conference held in Israel in September 2025. Panitch said that she "couldn't be prouder to be a Jew and a Zionist; to me, they are the same".

In 2025, Panitch supported the potential candidacy of Brian Kemp in the 2026 U.S. Senate election in Georgia over fellow Jewish Democrat Jon Ossoff due to his perceived betrayal in supporting Israel and said, "Kemp has done things that I am fighting against every day, but it is a different level of betrayal that Ossoff has committed." Panitch said that that pro-Palestinian advocacy at the Democratic National Convention by fellow state representative Ruwa Romman, who is Palestinian, "helped Donald Trump win."

Personal life Panitch met her husband Roger in 1997 at a singles event at the local Jewish Federation in Miami. They have two sons and one daughter. Her children attended Young Judea summer camp.