Temple Beth El Welcomes Rabbi Temple Israel Welcomes New … · 2012. 2. 6. · ArtShots Photography, Bank of North Carolina, Carolinas HealthCare System, Creative Events, Dressler’s

Please join us for this verytimely program on Sunday, June12, at 10 AM at Temple Beth El.This event is free and open to theentire community. The TempleBeth El Brotherhood will sponsor

an optional breakfast prior tothe program beginning at 9 AMwhich will take place in theSilverman Social Hall at a cost of$10. Reservations for the break-fast can be made by going to

www.beth-el.com/rsvp.The Brotherhood of Temple

Beth El and the Jewish FederationCommunity Relations Counciljoin together in welcoming U.S.Representative Sue Myrick to dis-cuss the growing global threat ofHezbollah and Iran, and what themainstream media won’t tell youabout the Muslim Brotherhood,and the online jihad in our back-yard.

In 2009, Sue Myrick wasselected by House Leadership toserve on the House PermanentSelect Committee on Intelligence.The Intelligence Committee hasjurisdiction over the Intelligencecommunity, including intelli-gence-related activities of theCIA, Defense Intelligence Agency(DIA), the National SecurityAgency, and other agencies of theDepartment of Defense (DOD),and the Departments of State,Justice, and Treasury.

Recently, Rep. Sue Myrick wasappointed chairwoman of a sub-committee on the full Intelligence

Committee. Myrick, a CharlotteRepublican, will take over aschairwoman of the Subcommitteeon Terrorism, Human Intelligence,Analysis and Counterintelligence.The role puts Myrick in the posi-tion of holding hearings and inves-tigations, including a chief con-cern of hers, homegrown terror-ism.

Representative Sue Myrick(NC-9) came to Congress in 1995after building a successful adver-tising and public relations busi-ness, and serving two terms asmayor of Charlotte, NC, the state’slargest city and commercial hub.She is currently in her eighth termrepresenting North Carolina’s 9thdistrict, which covers portions ofUnion, Mecklenburg, and GastonCounties.

Sue Myrick is also leading thecharge nationally on issues relatedto terrorism. She is the founder ofthe Congressional Anti-TerrorismCaucus, which has more than 120Members. This caucus meets withexperts on terrorism and works to

educate the public about the dan-gers we face from radicalIslamists. Y

Vol. 33, No. 6 Iyar-Sivan-Tammuz 5771 June-July 2011

An Affiliate of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT # 1208CHARLOTTE, NC

5007 Providence Road, Suite #112Charlotte, NC 28226Change Service Requested

Temple Beth El Brotherhood and Jewish Federation Present U.S. Representative Sue MyrickHomeland Security and Homegrown Terrorism

Rep. Sue Myrick

Local, Global, Eternal

As of July 1, Temple BethEl will welcome two talent-ed and dynamic clergy.Rabbi Jonathan Freirich willjoin Beth El as AssociateRabbi and newly investedCantor Mary Thomas willbeautifully round out theclergy team.

Rabbi Freirich has servedTemple Bat Yam, a Reformsynagogue, in South LakeTahoe for the past eight years.

Prior to that, he worked with Hillel inTucson, AZ and Cleveland, OH for fouryears. Those Beth El members who havemet Rabbi Freirich describe him aslearned, personable, outgoing, funny, anda great fit for our congregation. His pas-sions include Jewish learning, combiningfun activities with a Jewish flavor, andenthusiastic participation in communitylife. He loves to bike, ski, and read sci-ence fiction and fantasy. His wife, Ginny,

is a ketubah artist and his four yearold son, Jude, cannot wait to playin the Levine JCC’s Camp Katanand learn in our Charlotte JewishPreschool.

Rabbi Jonathan grew up as aReform Jew at Central Synagoguein Manhattan and was ordained atthe Reconstructionist RabbinicalCollege in Philadelphia. He andGinny met as undergrads atMiddlebury College in

Vermont. Rabbi Jonathan has been alongtime member of both the CentralConference of American Rabbis and theReconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

Many in our community are alreadyfamiliar with the talents of Cantor MaryThomas as she served Beth El for threeyears as a Cantorial Intern prior to attend-ing Cantorial School. Cantor Thomas willbe working part-time leading services,teaching B’nei Mitzvah with CantorBernard, working with the ReligiousSchool, teaching adult education, creatingfamily programming, and sharing with all

Rabbi Noam Raucherwas born and raised inHamden, CT, with his par-ents, Gail and Steve, bothteachers, and his three sib-lings: Ari, Michal, andAviva. With gratitudeNoam believes the personhe has become is due, inlarge part, to the amazingfamily from which hecomes.

Rabbi Raucher graduat-ed from the AmericanJewish University in May2011. He attended Hofstra University inHempstead, NY where he earned hisBachelor of Arts with a major in JudaicStudies.

As a Rabbinic Intern at Temple BethAm in LA, he volunteered at the soupkitchen and worked on transitional hous-ing projects. He also createdand implemented a Learner’sMinyan, guiding participantsto develop a deeper under-standing of prayers and tradi-tions. Rabbi Raucher workedwith others to build a caringcompassionate intra-syna-

gogue network governed byJewish values. Also, while atTemple Beth Am, he served asan Education Intern/VicePrincipal of Religious Schoolwhere he created meaningfuland ongoing learning models.He developed multiple family-oriented lessons for familyShabbat morning services thatintegrated communication,cross-generational learningand Jewish literacy.

While at American JewishUniversity he served as the

Director of Student Life where he suc-cessfully developed one-on-one relation-ships with students and planned programssuch as alcohol and drug awareness,blood drives and career fairs. While atZiegler School of Rabbinic Studies, heserved as Minyan Coordinator, where he

helped organize and guide stu-dent-led morning and after-noon services. He also men-tored students to assume lead-ership roles.

He worked at UCLA

Temple Beth El Welcomes RabbiJonathan Freirich and CantorMary Thomas

Rabbi JonathanFreirich

Temple Israel Welcomes NewAssistant Rabbi

Rabbi Noam Raucher, hiswife, Tamar, and baby

Judah Reuben.

(Continued on page 10)(Continued on page 11)

Please join us at the McCollCenter for Visual Art for“Meeting Challenges withCreativity and Innovation”

The special evening willinclude:

* A behind the scenes viewof contemporary art

* Wine and refreshments* Creative exploration led by

a resident artist at the McCollCenter’s Innovation InstituteDate:

Thursday, June 16, 6–8 PMLocation:

McColl Center for VisualArt, 721 N Tryon St., Charlotte,NC 28202-2221, 704-332-5535.

Free Parking off 10th Streetis available directly behind theMcColl Center.

Space is limited. Registeronline today at www.jew-ishcharlotte.org. Cost : $10 perperson.

The Women’s ProfessionalNetwork offers women theopportunity to engage sociallyand connect with a cause. Itmeets five times each year andis open to all professionalwomen whether or not they areactively engaged in careers out-side the home.

For more information, pleasecontact [email protected]. Y

The Charlotte Jewish News - June-July 2011 - Page 2

The Charlotte Jewish News5007 Providence Road, Suite 112

Charlotte, NC 28226

Phone (voice mail after office hours)Office 704-944-6765FAX 704-365-4507

email: [email protected]

An Affiliate of theJewish Federation of Greater Charlotte

Amy Krakovitz - EditorAdvertising Sales Reps:

Jodi Valenstein, 704-609-0950, Rita Mond, 704-366-6632, Scott Moskowitz, 704-906-2474

CJN Editorial BoardChair - Bob Davis

Members: Bob Abel, Evelyn Berger, Jeff Epstein,

Ann Langman, Linda Levy

The CJN does not assume responsibility for the quality or kasruth of any product orservice advertised. Publishing of a paid political advertisement does not constitute an

endorsement of any candidate, political party or position by this newspaper, theFederation or any employees.

Published monthly except July

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JEWISH FEDERATION NEWS

Friday, June 3, 8:15 PM

Tuesday, June 7, 8:17 PM

Wednesday, June 8, after 9:20 PM




Friday, July 1, 8:23 PM





SHABBAT AND HOLIDAY CANDLE

LIGHTING FOR JUNE-JULY 2011

Federation News......................................pp. 2-7

Synagogues and Congregation.............pp. 9-12

Jewish Family Services ..............................p. 12

Schools..................................................pp. 14-16

Youth............................................................p. 17

Travel............................................................p.17

Jewish Community Center................pp. 18, 19

Mazel Tov ....................................................p. 20

Community News..........................pp. 20, 22-24

Levine-Sklut Judaic Library .....................p. 24

Dining Out ..........................................pp. 21, 22

Shavuot and Father’s Day..................pp. 25-27

CONTENTS

2011 Women’sProfessional Network…Forging Relationships,Building Community

More than 40 young adults marked the end of Passover at the Federation’s Young AdultDivision (YAD) Kugels and Kegs event at The Liberty.

Look forward to YAD’s Annual Picnic in the Park this August. Stay tuned.

Position AvailableThe Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte is looking to hire a

Director of Community Relations and Israel Affairs.

This position will be responsible for the oversight and execution of

the public affairs agenda of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte

and represents the interests of Charlotte Jewish community and its

connection with Israel.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

* Community Relations/Israel Advocacy and Awareness

* Government Affairs

* Missions to Israel

* Partnership 2000

* Community Shaliach/Emissary

Qualified candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree, a minimum of 1–3

years experience in Jewish communal service or related field; previous

media relations a plus. Candidates are expected to demonstrate full

knowledge and understanding of Jewish values, community life and

worldwide Jewish concerns.

Interested candidates should direct inquiries and resumes to

[email protected] by June 15.

The 13th Annual SpringLecture sponsored by theWomen’s Division of theJewish Federation of GreaterCharlotte was held onThursday, April 28 and featuredJill Zarin and Lisa Wexler, co-authors of Secrets of a JewishMother.

The event was co-chaired byJill Halverstam and Aviva Steinwho led a very talented anddedicated team of volunteerswhich included Amy Augustine,Jill Dinerman, Fern IngberEpley, Debbie Freedman,Donna Greenspon, Randi Lan,Roz Snyder, Liz Winer andRobin Zimmerman. The com-mittee not only worked on theoverall planning of the event,but also engaged corporate andindividual sponsors.

Many thanks go to ourCorporate and IndividualSponsors.

$2500 Sponsors:Melanie Rowe Catering,

Piedmont Plastic Surgery andDermatology

$1500 Individual TableSponsors:

Debbie Agisim, JillHalverstam and Randi Lan,Dana Meiselman and JennyMeiselman, Linda Seigel, AvivaStein

$1,000 Sponsors:Charlotte Radiology, Lowes

Foods, REACH – ReproductiveEndocrinology Associates ofCharlotte

$500 Sponsors:ArtShots Photography, Bank

of North Carolina, CarolinasHealthCare System, CreativeEvents, Dressler’s Restaurant,Friendly Neighborhood Dental,Guliani’s Fine Jewelry in theShoppes at Blakeney, HendrickLexus, Kelly Ann Wilson,Ph.D., Laxer, Long and Savage,Perfect Image Printing,Presbyterian Urogynecology,William Porter, MD, SangerHeart and Vascular Institute,Shower Me With Love, SwoozHair and Make Up Salon, ViaVeneto Shoes and Clothing

Jill Halverstam and Aviva

Stein welcomed over 320women attending a dinner heldin the Sandra and Leon LevineSocial Hall at Temple Israel.The room was beautifully deco-rated in pink and zebra print byCreative Events, and the deli-cious dinner was catered byMelanie Rowe Catering. LowesFoods generously donated allwine for the event. The audi-ence was filled with women ofall ages and in all stages of theirlives. Many thanks go to the 35table captains for all of theirefforts.

After dinner, the guestsmoved into the Sanctuary forthe program. Aviva Stein andJill Halverstam creatively intro-duced the program by playingoff the themes of glamour andfashion associated with the TVShow “The Real Housewives ofNew York City” which stars JillZarin. Fern Ingber Epley spokeon behalf of the FederationAnnual Campaign by inspiringwomen to achieve not onlyouter beauty but the inner beau-

ty that can be achieved by help-ing the less fortunate throughphilanthropy.

Lisa Wexler and Jill Zarinread selected portions of theirbook, gave the audience a quizto determine if they were realJewish mothers and talkedabout growing up in a warmcaring family in New York.Unfortunately, Gloria Kamen,their mother and co-author, wasunable to come to Charlotte dueto a sudden illness; however,the love and adoration Lisa andJill felt for their own Jewishmother was clearly conveyedduring their talk.

The evening concluded witha dessert reception featuring aspectacular candy bar, and abook signing with the authorswho warmly chatted with eachwoman who purchased a book.

As guests exited the Temple,they picked up goody bagsfilled with promotional itemsprovided by each of our spon-sors. We also thank BelkSouthPark, a sponsor of the

Fede ra t ion ’s Women’sProfessional Network, for fill-ing our goody bags with purseaccessories and cosmetics.

If you would like to getinvolved or share ideas for the14th Annual Spring Lecture,please contact Sue Littauer,Development Director at theJewish Federation, by callingher at 704-944-6758 or email-ing [email protected].

The mission of the JewishFederation of Greater Charlotteis to raise and distribute fundsto support and enrich thelives of Jews locally, nationally,in Israel and worldwide.Through education, planningand community building, theFederation’s mission ensuresthat Jewish values, goals, tradi-tions and connections are pre-served for current and futuregenerations. Y


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JEWISH FEDERATION NEWS

13th Annual Spring Lecture: The Secrets of a Jewish Mother

Local, Global, Eternal

Erica Coblenz, Gabi Gorelick, Jill Zarin, and DanaMeiselman

Back row, left to right: Jill Halverstam, Fern Ingber Epley,Aviva Stein, Randi Lan; front row, left to right: Jill Zarin,Lisa Wexler.

Event co-chairs, Aviva Stein and Jill Halverstam

Jen Schwartz, Jill Zarin, Beverly Perkins

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COMMEMORATING AND CELEBRATINGYOM HAZIKARON & YOM HA’ATZMAUT

THANK YOU! 10 reasons to love and to be proud of ISRAEL

on its 63rd birthday!

1. launch satellites of their own

2. -

3.

4. Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st

5.

6.

7. 8. 9.

United States10.

In honor ofPaula Alban by Darcy AlbanVida Fisher by Darcy AlbanCarol Wright by Darcy AlbanGeri Schwalb by Amy AugustineDiane Barr by Amy AugustineSylvia Rosenzweig by Amy AugustineThe Rindner Sisters by Shellie BarerCarol Sandler by Bobbi BernsteinMy wonderful sisters by Cary BernsteinLouise Bernstein by Cary BernsteinMarion Kronovet by Cary BernsteinElizabeth Lawrence by Lisa BlauSuzanne Harley by Lisa BlauMarilyn Yenof by Ellen Bottner Harriet Silber by Ellen BottnerSheila Granowitz by Ellen BottnerDorothy Uchin by Ellen BottnerJan Borinsky by Ellen BottnerPhyllis Uchin by Ellen BottnerLauren Greenfield by Ellen BottnerLilly Veron by Ellen BottnerEdie Bottner by Ellen BottnerDonna Greenspon by Amy ChoffinBrenda Flusser by Robyn ClementeSusan Stein by Robyn ClementeSharon Katz by Stacie CoblenzNancy Coblenz by Stacie CoblenzJaime Cojac by Lynne CojacAmy Cojac Andrews by Lynne CojacBarbara Hardman by Laura DanileLisa Pinner by Laura DanileKaren Wolff by Stephanie DiPaoloRuth Atkins by Dana DitesheimGloria Markman by Barbara EzringTami Ezring Rotchstein by Barbara EzringLeah Aberman Barker by Shelly FascianaLaurie Speicher by Nancy FelderBernice Resnick by Nancy FelderAlison Lerner by Michelle GoodmanIrene Goodman by Rachel GoodmanElinor Glushak by Rachel GoodmanPaula Somberg by Rachel GoodmanPatty Gorelick by Gabi GorelickPat Hemby Lieb by Gabi GorelickEllen Bottner by Linda GreenfieldBarbara Schumsky by Robin GreyJill Halverstam by Elizabeth HalverstamElizabeth Halverstam by Jill HalverstamAviva Stein by Jill HalverstamSusan Silverstein by Jill HalverstamNeet Rounds by Bonnie HartFrances Brenner by Emily HoodySusan Sloan by Emily HoodyElissa Camera by Dana KapustinLindsay Feldman by Dana KapustinPaula Cagan by Dana KapustinRandi Capone by Dana KapustinStacie Coblenz by Sharon KatzAviva Stein by Elise KosofskyJill Halverstam by Elise KosofskySara Glezer by Etti KrauseCary Bernstein by Gail KronovetMarion Kronovet by Gail KronovetBonnie Doliveck by Randi LanPanoy Lan by Randi LanAlyson Abramson by Randi LanMichelle Goodman by Alison LernerLynn Edelstein by Alison LernerLynn Edelstein by Julie Lerner LevineElise Menaker by Pam MenakerGale Osborne by Andrea MesoznikEvelyn Osborne by Andrea MesoznikAndrea Kabat by Elaine MoodyRay Fagan by Matti Ordan-ReiderCarol Hahn by Matti Ordan-ReiderGale Osborne by Evelyn OsborneJane Axelrod by Lisa RichmanBarbara Goldberg by Julie RizzoBonnie Hart by Neet RoundsAviva Stein by Chantal RubinConnie Kraus by Linda SeigelEllen Legow by Linda SeigelSandi Seigel by Linda SeigelElaine Melnick by Linda SeigelLila Doliner by Stephanie SeitlinGloria Levine by Lauren Sherman

Linda Schwartz by Meri SiegelDina Schwartz by Meri SiegelCissy Gottlieb by Fay SinkoeMichelle Luna by Roz SnyderHailey Luna by Roz SnyderRobin Zimmerman by Roz SnyderShevi Herbstman by Amy SobelLisa Weaver by Aviva SteinIrm Bellavia by Aviva SteinStephanie Simon by Aviva SteinRandi Rosenstein by Aviva SteinLauretta Warshauer by Beth WarshauerJulianne Weidner by Lisa WeaverAmy Githmark by Lisa WeaverFaya Falwell by Lisa WeaverLillian Warnick by Lisa WeaverFaya Falwell by Julianne WeidnerLisa Weaver by Julianne WeidnerAmy Githmark by Julianne WeidnerJan Weiner by Rebecca WeinerJordana Weiner by Rebecca WeinerMarilyn Wilensky by Marcie WilliamsJanice Brown by Bonnie WilsonIrene Perl by Bonnie WilsonBea Morse by Sue WorrelDeb Morse by Sue WorrelWendy Augat by Robin ZimmermanJodie Shields by Robin ZimmermanMarion Deutsch by Robin ZimmermanRuth Zimmerman by Robin ZimmermanJill Garfinkle by Robin ZimmermanAimee Bieber by Robin ZimmermanAnn Gallant by Robin ZimmermanRoz Snyder by Robin ZimmermanSue Worrel by Robin Zimmerman


Piedmont Plastic Surgery and Dermatology proudly announces and welcomes the newest addition to our

practice,

Laura B. Rosenzweig, M.D.

Plastic SurgeryGregory A. Mantooth, M.D. Miguel Yanez, M.D.

DermatologyKristen B. Higgins, M.D. Patrick S. J. McElgunn, M.D. Tonya S. McLeod, M.D., M.P.H. Laura B. Rosenzweig, M.D.

www.ppsd.com

5815 Blakeney Park Dr.Charlotte, NC 28277

ph: (704) 542-2220

OUR PHYSICIANS

Specializing in MOHS Surgery

(at the corner of Rae Road & Ardrey Kell Road)

Tributes 13th Annual Spring Lecture:Secrets of a Jewish Mother

In Memory ofAdele Rindner by Shellie BarerRunia Vogelhut by Adele BedrickShirley Hackel by Leslie BenjaminiAnita Kalver by Bobbi BernsteinIrene Kannry by Ellen BottnerShirley Silverstein by Donna CantorClara Kazilsky by Elaine CiglerMarcia Gottleib by Dana Ditesheim

(Continued on page 6)


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Yetta Ezring by Barbara EzringBlanche Rosenau by Gail FaganMuriel Palanker by Robin GershenMinnie Mazursky by Rachel GoodmanRuth Greenfield by Linda GreenfieldRuth Wallins by Donna GreensponDorothy Levin by Robin GreyClara Kazilsky by Annette GrossShandy Hirsch by Bonnie Herman GreenHarry Slip by Linda HumphreyMildred Kaufman by Fern Ingber EpleyBetty Kogan by Marcia JacksonAdi Krause by Etti KrauseClare Frieman Kivelson by Karen KroppMae S. Kropp by Karen KroppHelen Louise Rothandler by Shelley LeibmanRuth Leibman by Shelley LeibmanEsther Reinhardt by Sharon MannleinLila Cohen by Sharon MannleinHarriet Kabat by Elaine MoodyBessie Richmond by Baila PranskyRita Zeitlin by Lisa RichmanEvelyn Brown by Fran SamarelLaura Samarel by Fran SamarelRose Brown by Fran SamarelViola Kravits by Fran SamarelIris Kraut by Jennifer SchwartzMargaret Schwartz by Jennifer SchwartzAnn Nurock Rossien by Susan SchwartzAnnette Seitlin by Stephanie SeitlinCelia Gottlieb by Fay SinkoeSadie Klotzman by Roz SnyderBess Glick Cohen by Nancy TarbisCarolyn Cohen Whitten by Nancy Tarbis Anne Adelman by Rhea VogelhutShelia Biber by Jill YassJudy Yass by Jill Yass Y

Spring Lecture Tributes(Continued from page 5)

Randi Lan, Leslie Pokress, and Debbie Agisim.

Melanie Bamert, Jill Zarin, and Crystal Katz.

Campaign Total to Date..................$2,424,389

Number of Contributions Received .................................................1,507

Percentage of Campaign Complete................................................82.2%

CAMPAIGN 2011 AT A GLANCE

as of May 17, 2011 Local, Global, Eternal

The Levine Challenge: The LeonLevine Foudnation has pledged anadditional $50,000 when we reachour $2,950,00 campaign goal.Please consider a new or increasedgift today!

On May 5, the Jewish Community Relations Council sponsored “Yesterday, Today, andTomorrow: Germany and the Jewish People,” a panel discussion about the current relationshipamong Germany, Israel, and Jewish people all over the globe. Surprisingly, the audience dis-covered that after the U.S., Germany is Israel’s #2 ally. Additionally, the panel explained thatthe Jewish community is growing in Germany in an atmosphere of acceptance and equality.

Pictured here: Jeff Epstein, chair Jewish Community Relations Council; Opher Aviran, con-sul general from Israel to the Southeast US; Kurt Waldhausen, honorary counsel general fromGermany to Charlotte; Jen Algire, treasurer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte anda participant in a group of emerging leaders who visited Germany; and Lutz Hermann Gorgens,consul general from Germany to the Southeast US.


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Applications are now beingaccepted for the

2012 Jewish Federationof Greater CharlotteAllocations process.

Application Deadline is August 10.

For more information orto receive an

application, please contactthe Federation office at

704.944.6757.

During the weekend of May 13-15, theBernstein Leadership Group (BLG) met for aretreat at Wildacres, Little Switzerland, NC.Through spending Shabbat together, Charlotte’semerging Jewish leaders learned how their impactas leaders within and beyond our community canincrease when they work together. Inspired byHerzl’s words, they learned that no dream is toobig, and where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Lisa Blau, BLG Chair, facilitated group devel-opment sessions at the retreat, focusing on leader-ship skills and styles. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield,president of CLAL (the National Jewish Center

for Learning and Leadership), was the retreat’sscholar in residence. The Bernstein Leaders her-alded Rabbi Hirschfield’s sessions, which gavethem the chance to explore their own Jewish iden-tity and traditions.

Upcoming BLG sessions will feature a hands-on Tikun Olam program, a discussion on Israel,and workshops on effective communication andpresentation.

The Bernstein Leadership Group (BLG) is gen-erously funded by Don and Bobbi Bernstein. It isthe Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte’s 18-month leadership program seeking to prepare the

next generation of leaders(45 and under) to address theneeds of our rapidly chang-ing Jewish community. Formore information, pleasecontact Director of Outreachand Engagement, TairGiudice at 704-944-6759 [email protected].

“If You Will It, It is No Dream”Bernstein Leadership Group Retreat

Above: 8th class of theBernstein LeadershipGroup

Rabbi Brad Hirschfieldand Lisa Blau, BLGChair.

Maria Sharapovaand her Formula 1 Steel & Ceramic Chronograph with Diamonds

June, the perfect month for apicnic – not too hot (hopefully)and not too cold. It’s a great wayto greet the summer. This year,Havurat Tikvah has designatedJune 5 as the day for picnic fun.They’ll be no agenda, just thechance to be outside, relax withold friends, and meet some newones too. It’s a time for games(bring your favorites) and forgood outdoor eating (akosher/parve dish to share isalways welcome). We’ll kickthings off at 1 PM and plan toenjoy a full afternoon of picnicpleasure. For location informationand more, see our contact infor-mation at the end of this article.

We also invite you to contact usfor more information about ErevShavuot services. Services will beheld at 7:30 PM on Thursday June9.

Our “2nd Wednesday Minyan”will gather at 7:30 PM on June 8.The monthly Minyan is an infor-mal event, an opportunity to pausefrom the week’s hustle and bustle,to gather together in a welcomingatmosphere, and to take a fewmoments for reflection andremembrance. As always, the briefservice will be followed by coffee,a little nosh, and the chance tochat with old friends and newacquaintances. Call us for locationinformation.

In addition to our other activi-ties, Havurat Tikvah memberswelcome you to join us in our vol-unteer work. The Dilworth SoupKitchen, founded by HavuratTikvah member Allen Saxe, con-tinues to provide nourishing mealsand a friendly greeting to those inneed. Visit the kitchen onFacebook: www.facebook.com/

group.php?gid=77134194660 formore information about thisvibrant community resource.

And helping hands are wel-come at “Project Linus” whereHavurah members and friendsmeet to produce hand-made“security-blankets” for childrenwho are seriously ill, traumatized,or otherwise in need. We welcomeall willing hands; no experience isnecessary and there’s a job foreveryone.

Our teen group, Mitzvah’s inAction continues its contributionsto a variety of worthy projects

(and manages some fun socialtime as well).

Havurat Tikvah is an affiliate ofthe Jewish ReconstructionistFederation, providing a comfort-able, family atmosphere where allJews can feel welcome. OurSunday School, with its excitingcurriculum and opportunities forB’nai Mitzvah preparation, isopen to Havurat Tikvah memberfamilies. We invite you to visit,get to know us, and become partof our growing congregation ofnearly 60 households.

For an updated calendar or tofind out more about HavuratTikvah, specific event locations,worship services, Sunday Schoolprogram, and community activi-ties - please visit our website atwww.havurattikvah.org or contactnew member chair, BrianFeinglass, at [email protected] at 1-877-203-5848. Y


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&SYNAGOGUES CONGREGATIONSAn Annual Picnic and More at HavuratTikvah

Havurat Tikvah teens at the Dilworth Soup Kitchen.

In conjunction with the conclu-sion of the JLI Course, “Oasis inTime—The Gift of Shabbat in a24/7 World,” Congregation OhrHaTorah will be offering a specialShabbaton dinner on Friday, June17, called “A Taste of Shabbat.”The dinner will be open to theentire Jewish community in addi-tion to the students of the JLIcourse. The Shabbaton will high-light many of the themes of theJLI course featuring Shabbatthrough story, song, and specialactivities for adults and children.A traditional “home-cooked”Shabbat dinner will be served. Afull wine bar featuring excellentIsraeli wines will be available forthe adults and storytelling for thechildren.

The Ohr HaTorah Shabbatonshave gained a reputation as a fan-tastic Shabbat program geared toexcite the senses and awaken thesoul to the inner joy of Judaism.

The Shabbaton will begin with acandle lighting ceremony at 7 PMfollowed by a short service wel-coming in the Shabbat. Dinnerwill begin at 8 PM. The cost toparticipate will be $18 per personor $50 per family. To make areservation, visit the paymentpage at www.chabadnc.org ormail a check to 6619 Sardis Road,Charlotte, NC 28270. Pleasespecify the number of adults andchildren. For more information,please call 704-366-3984 oremail: [email protected]. Y

“A Taste of Shabbat”Shabbaton Dinner on June 17

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704-321-0220

Erev Shavu’ot and ConfirmationServiceTuesday, June 76:15 PMWednesday, June 8 (Day 1)9:30 AM and 7:30 PMThursday, June 9 (Day 2)9:30 AMYizkor, 11 AM (approx.)Minyan, 7:30 PM

Temple Israel celebratesShavuot, Zman Matan Torateinu,the moment in time during which

the People of Israel received theTorah at Mount Sinai. Thatevening Temple Israel will partici-pate in the Confirmation of the5771 Confirmation Class. Theservice will begin at 6:15 PM fol-lowed by Shavuot Showdown.Bring your own team or join ateam that night.

For more information contactthe Temple Israel office at 704-362-2796 or visit our website atwww.templeisraelnc.com.

Temple Israel Social ClubSocial Club Shabbat Services,

Saturday, June 11 at 9:30 AMSunday, June 26 at 3 PM: a

docent-led museum highlightstour of Mint Museum Randolph.Dinner at a restaurant will follow.Museum fee $8 per senior, muse-um members, free. Call RuthSilverman at 704-849-0003 forfurther information. Deadline:June 17.

Sunday, July 17, 2:30 PM:CPCC Summer Theatre produc-

tion of Hair Spray. Price: $20members, $24 non-members.Limited tickets available. Sendcheck to: Douglas Mann, 137 N.Canterbury Rd. Charlotte, NC28211. We will have dinner after-ward. For further information callBrenda Gale at 704-759-1115.

Temple Israel Judaica ShopSummer Hours Effective June 1Open Tuesday and Thursday 10

AM-1 PMFor your convenience, we are

happy to open the shop outside ofregularly scheduled hours. Justcall us to arrange an appointment.

Lisa Strunin 704-281-9150 orTess Berger 704-708-4857.Y

Celebrate the customs of thefestival of Shavuot in style atCongregation Ohr HaTorah.Shavuot begins this year on theevening of June 7 and concludes atnightfall on June 9. One uniquecustom of Shavuot is to study theTorah all night on the first eveningof Shavuot. According to themidrash, the Jewish people sleptsuch a peaceful sleep on the morn-ing when the Torah was to begiven that they had to be awak-ened by God. To show that we areeager to receive the TenCommandments and the entireTorah each year, we study all night

preceding the reading of the TenCommandments on Shavuot.Many people read a book calledTikkun Leil Shavuot, which con-tains selections from each book ofboth the written and oral Torah.There will be Torah study classesthroughout the night at OhrHaTorah, starting at midnight.

The festival of Shavuot is most-ly recognized for its deliciousdairy foods like blintzes andcheesecake. The reason for this isthat on Shavuot, the Children ofIsrael received God’s greatest giftto humanity - the Torah. One ofthe first commitments the Jews

made to God upon entering thisspecial covenant, was to observethe kosher laws. They were not yetfamiliar with Kashrut and only atedairy until they were proficient intheir new lifestyle.

Thus, it has been a tradition forthousands of years for Jews tofeast on dairy foods during thefestival of Shavuot in commemo-ration of this mitzvah. AtCongregation Ohr HaTorah wewill celebrate the festival with ascrumptious dairy kiddush lunch-eon, after morning services on the

first day of Shavuot.Services at Ohr HaTorah begin

at 10 AM on Wednesday, June 8. Anewer tradition for Shavuot is thegathering of all children, even thevery young, for the reading of theTen Commandments. There willbe a special children’s programstarting at approximately 11 AM,in which the children will preparefor their role of reading the TenCommandments. The children arethe guarantors for the Torah asthey are the key in the passing ofthe Torah to the next generation,

and this role is celebrated in grandstyle at Ohr HaTorah.

Services for the second day ofShavuot, (Thursday, June 9) beginat 10 AM and include the Yizkorservice at approximately 11:45AM. For more information, pleasecontact us at 704-366-3984 orvisit our website at: www.chabad-nc.org. Y


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Medical Center in the Departmentof Spiritual Care as a ChaplaincyIntern and as a Unit Counselor atYale Psychiatric Hospital in NewHaven, CT.

Rabbi Raucher has a widerange of experience working inthe community. He has worked asa grief counselor with teens atOur House, worked with PeopleAssisting the Homeless (PATH)in the job placement center. Hewas also the team captain at theLos Angeles Homeless Countwhere he recruited and trainedvolunteers to gather statistics onLA’s homeless. He also was aGroup Facilitator with Encounter:Bethlehem and Hebron 1 and 2.He attended panel discussionsalong with local grass-roots lead-ers in Bethlehem and Hebron tohear personal narratives and gain

perspective on life in heavily dis-puted areas of Jerusalem.

He now excitedly ventures intoTemple Israel of Charlotte, NC.On this journey he brings alonghis lifelong travel-mates: his wifeTamar, their baby boy JudahReuben, and their wonder-mutt,Lucy.

Noam enjoys traveling with hisfamily, exercising, hiking, camp-ing, playing sports, reading,studying, ice cream, ginger ale,wrestling with his dog, teaching,good music and butchering hisfavorite songs while singing themin the shower.

Noam is looking forward tomoving to Charlotte, becomingpart of the awesome TempleIsrael community, and startingthis new chapter in their lives. Y

Temple Israel’s New Assistant Rabbi(Continued from page 1)

Temple Israel Religious SchoolWelcomes New Education

Director

Stephanie Glasser-Alfieri

We are very excited and hope you will stop

TIRS to meet her this summer.

Temple Israel Shavu’ot Service Schedule

of us her shining personality, herinspiration vocal abilities, and thedepths of her Jewish wisdom.

Mary was at the top of herCantorial class and was in greatdemand for employment. Herdesire to settle here with her hus-band Matt, who will transfer hisjob for GMAC Ally Bank fromNew York to Charlotte, and theirjoint desire to raise their nowseven-month-old daughter,Johannah, in our Queen City,made her the ideal match for BethEl.

Throughout her five years ofCantorial School, Charlotte andBeth El have been the home towhere she regularly returned.Congregants rave about Mary’svoice, students feel strong con-

nections to her, and adults andchildren alike celebrate the wis-dom she shares through her teach-ing.

Beth El is blessed to have adiverse and dynamic clergy team.We are confident that our commu-nity will find within our walls aclergy person with whom they canlearn, seek counsel, and fully con-nect.

Join us on Friday night, July 1,at our 6 PM Summer Service,when we will warmly welcomeboth Rabbi Jonathan Freirich andCantor Mary Thomas to ourTemple family. We hope you willmake efforts that night andthroughout this summer to stop byand get to know them well your-selves. Y

Friday, July 296 PM Summer Shabbat Service7 PM Dinner7:30-8:30 PM Schloss SummerLecture

This year’s event will be co-sponsored by Temple Beth Eland the Jewish Federation’sCommunity Relations Council.Be sure to visit the Beth El andFederation websites to learn more

about this year’s scholars andexperts who will enlighten us onthe quickly changing landscape ofthe Middle East and its impact onour holy land. This annual sum-mer lecture was established sevenyears ago by Marc and Mattye

Silverman in memory of Marc’suncle, Simeon Archibald “Happy”Schloss, Jr. Happy was a passion-ate, original founder of TempleBeth El, and a treasurer.Reservations for dinner ($10/per-son) can be made at 704-749-3070or www.beth-el.com/RSVP. Formore information, please contactSue Hummel at 704-749-3054 [email protected]. Y


Seventh Annual Schloss Summer Lectureat Temple Beth El“The Revolutions and Evolutions of the Middle East andIts Impact on Israel”

ShavuotWith great pride the parents

and confirmands of Temple BethEl invite you to worship with us atthe Confirmation Service onShavuot, Tuesday, June 7, thesixth of Sivan 5771, at 7 PM.Temple Beth El, 5101 ProvidenceRoad, Charlotte.

Elliot Bogarad, Josh Brand,Jonathan Brooks, Robert Brooks,Brenden Carol, Isabelle DiPaolo,

Ian Goldberg, Josh Goldstein,Samuel Green, Aaron

Homburger, Robert Jessell, JoshKaplan, Jacob Maniloff, Katie

Mayopoulos, Ariel Morse, KaylaRosen, Brandon Samarel, Justin

Sly, Leah Weinstein, AaronWhetstone, Melanie

Zimmermann

Temple Beth El Service ofConfirmation

Save the Date – Gettin’ Down With The BrothersMark your calendar for the upcoming Brotherhood Dance, Saturday night,

July 30. All adults are welcome. Featuring: Kevin the DJ, food, wine, beer,

soft drinks, and the always entertaining TBE brotherhood.

Temple Beth El New Rabbi and Cantor(Continued from page 1)

Cantor Mary Thomas

The Chabad Jewish Center ofBallantyne invites you and yourfamily to join us to hear the TenCommandments read from theTorah and enjoy a delicious dairymeal in honor of the holiday ofShavuot. Shavuot is the timewhen we commemorate God’sgiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinaiand a time to celebrate the trueheroes of this holiday which arethe children. Before God gave theTorah, He demanded guarantors.The Jewish people made a num-ber of suggestions all rejected byGod until they declared, “Ourchildren will be our guarantorsthat we will cherish and observethe Torah.” God immediatelyaccepted them and agreed to givethe Torah.

Let us make sure to bring allour “guarantors” along on the firstday of Shavuot to be present forthe reading of the TenCommandments. In addition,there will be a special program,fun activities and an ice creamparty for them to enjoy.

Wednesday June 8, 11408Snapfinger Dr., Charlotte NC

28277, 6-7:30 PM.**Due to space, location is

subject to change. Please checkour website for updates.**

In addition there will be aMinyan and Yizkor service thefollowing morning

Thursday June 9, 11408Snapfinger Dr., Charlotte NC28277, 10 AM service begins,11:30 AM Yizkor, followed by aKiddush lunch.

Open to the community free ofcharge. Sponsorships are avail-able. To RSVP or for more infor-mation please contact RabbiYisroel and Leah Levin, 704-246-8881 or [email protected] or visit our web-site www.Jewish-Ballantyne.com

Happy Shavuot! Y

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JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES

After the joy of Passover, thecalendar takes us to the celebra-tion of the next great event inJewish history, the receiving ofTorah at Sinai. Although Shavuotwas initially an agricultural holi-day celebrating the first fruits,later tradition also aligns it withthe giving of Torah. Rabbi ArthurWaskow attributes this alliance tothe rabbis’ sense that Torah repre-sented a contact point with God,that Sinai was the moment of mar-riage between God and Israel inwhich the Torah was the contract,the ketubah, of the covenant. Oneancient writing, not included inthe Tanakh, even holds thatShavuot is observed on the samedate that God affirmed Hiscovenants with both Noah andAbraham.

For the rabbis, it was as impor-tant for everyone to stand at Sinaias it was for everyone to escapeslavery in Egypt — for only ifeveryone stands at Sinai can theTorah be heard anew in everygeneration. Indeed, it is partly inthis context of “everyone standingat Sinai” that we read the book ofRuth during Shavuot. Not onlydoes the book take place during

the time of the barley harvest, butRuth is depicted as acceptingTorah in her own way. In keepingwith this tradition, this year,members of our congregation willbe engaging in an intensive studyof the Book of Ruth with therabbi.

Although the origin of thepractice of eating dairy onShavuot is attributed to variouscauses, it is certain that our studysession will be accompanied byan indulgence in cheesecake,blintzes and other goodies. Whoknows — perhaps Naomi firstlearned to love Ruth because shemade the best noodle kugel in thefamily?

Temple Or Olam is an inde-pendent, egalitarian congregationthat serves Cabarrus county andparts of Mecklenburg county(including University City,Davidson, and Huntersville). Forinformation on our services orother congregational activities,please visit our website, www.or-olam.org and subscribe to ourmailing list. You can also email usat [email protected], or call 704-720-7577. Y

Shavuot at Temple OrOlam

The Charlotte area’s newestcongregation, Temple Kol Ami,enters its second year amid highexpectations and great hopes forthe future. Temple Kol Ami, cur-rently has members from FortMill, Indian Land, Lake Wylie,Tega Cay, York, Rock Hill, and theSteele Creek area of Charlotte.

Temple Kol Ami began its sec-ond year with its first annual gen-eral membership meeting on May22. After meeting at St. Philip NeriCatholic Church for the past ninemonths the congregation moved toUnity Presbyterian Church at 303Tom Hall Street in Fort Mill for allof its activities starting with aShabbat service on May 20.

Unity Church recently built anew sanctuary and invited TempleKol Ami to use their old historicsanctuary which was built in the1880s and is now on the National

register of historic places. TempleKol Ami will be able to worshipthere on a regular basis, storematerials, hold meetings, and pro-vide religious education for bothchildren and adults on the premis-es.

Temple Kol Ami, founded in anarea just south of Charlotte wherethe size of the Jewish populationwas totally unknown, has had avery successful first year under theleadership of Jonathan Shaw, oneof the founding members and cur-rent congregation President.

The first major challenge thenew congregation faced was pro-viding High Holiday serviceswithin just months after the con-gregation was formed. It was clearto the leadership there was s defi-nite need for the congregationwhen attendance for Yom Kippurtopped 100.

Also during the first year, theycelebrated Sukkot and SimchatTorah, and held their firstfundraiser, “An Evening at theShuk” at the Levine Museum ofthe New South. They have alsoworked within the community bymaking food donations to the FortMill Care Center and participatingin a local Habitat for Humanitybuild.

Temple Kol Ami which holdsShabbat services the first and thirdFridays of each month is an unaf-filiated, traditional Jewish congre-gation that welcomes those fromall walks of Jewish life as well asinterfaith couples and those redis-covering their faith.

For additional informationabout Temple Kol Ami, visit theirwebsite at www.kolamitemple.comor email them at yorksyna-gogue@gmail. com. Y

Charlotte Area’s Newest CongregationBegins Second Year

JFS is the focal point foraddressing the social service needsof the Charlotte JewishCommunity and is committed topreserving and strengthening thequality of life for individualsand families. Through CaseManagement, JFS helps othershelp themselves by providing vitalsupport to our community mem-bers at critical stages in their lives.Working directly with individualsand families from all walks of lifewho are experiencing financialcrisis, JFS offers advocacy, refer-rals, outreach, and emergencyfinancial assistance with the goalof developing effective long-termsolutions. Our programs work col-laboratively and seamlessly withone another.

Darcy Alban is a Case Managerwith JFS. The main role of the JFScase manager is to assist those inneed with long-term financial res-olution. Darcy is a LicensedClinical Social Worker with aMasters in Social Work. In her roleas a Case Manager, Darcy helpsindividuals and families tobecome self sufficient and accessfinancial and communityresources. She may assist withapplying for food stamps, lowercost housing, low cost medicalassistance, budgeting and finan-cial assistance, just to name a few.She collaborates directly withCrisis Assistance Ministries whichallows her to complete financialapplications, when appropriate, sothat our clients do not have to trav-el to the Crisis Assistance location.

JFS provides the followingCase Management Services:

Food Pantry – JFS providesnon-perishable food, personal careitems and other necessities to helpindividuals and families throughtough times until independence isre-established. JFS food pantryrecipients leave with more thanjust groceries – they leave with afeeling that the community cares

about them and they are not alone.In addition, clients facing medicalor other limitations may benefitfrom home cooked meals donatedby local volunteers.

Financial Assistance – JFSmanages the CommunityTzedakah Fund, a special fundmade available through the JewishFederation of Greater Charlotte.Financial distress can cut acrossall socioeconomic levels and ages.The increased unemployment rateand cost of living – food, gas,housing, electricity, and othernecessities – can result in the needfor help. Through the CommunityTzedakah Fund, JFS is able to pro-vide assistance to members of theJewish Community who qualifyfor assistance.

Jewish Experience Fund(Camp Scholarships) – TheJewish Federation of GreaterCharlotte’s Jewish ExperienceFund promotes Jewish identitybuilding among our Jewish youththrough Jewish camping, commu-nity building, leadership develop-ment and informal educationalopportunities. All scholarships areneeds based and requires the com-pletion of paperwork. Pleasedirect all inquiries to the JFSoffice at 704-364-6594.

Jewish Education Loan Fund– The Jewish Educational LoanFund grants interest-free loans toJewish students from Georgia,Florida, North and South Carolinaand Virginia for post-secondarystudy at accredited institutions.JELF’s loans are “last dollar” –they supply the final funds that astudent needs to attend school.Applications for interest-freeloans for post-secondary educa-tion (college, graduate school,vocational and professional cours-es) are available to Jewish stu-dents. For more information, visitthe JELF website at www.jelf.org,email [email protected], or call 770-396-3080.

Charlotte Jewish PreschoolScholarships– Over the last sever-al years, the Charlotte JewishPreschool utilized the services ofthe JFS Case Manager to evaluateconstituents’ needs and to makerecommendations regarding avail-able scholarship funds. Throughthis process, the JFS case manageris able to make referrals and rec-ommendations for both financialand community resources.

Dues Abatement - Last spring,both Temple Beth El and TempleIsrael engaged the services of theJFS Case Manager to provide thisservice to make decisions regard-ing dues abatement and religiousschool financial assistance. In thisway JFS helps maximize theresources of the entire JewishCommunity by applying a consis-tent approach to evaluating indi-vidual scholarship needs.

Hebrew Cemetery - On behalfof the Hebrew CemeteryAssociation, the JFS case managermeets with individuals and fami-lies to assess financial need forthose unable to pay full price tobury a loved one. Please contactthe Hebrew Cemetery Associationfor additional information at 704-576-1859.

It is important to contact JFSbefore financial situations becomea crisis. Make an appointment tospeak with a case manager beforeyour financial difficulties deepenso that you can be given theresources and tools to get back ontrack.

Community Resource ListJewish Family Services –

704-364-6594Charlotte Mecklenburg

Department of Social Services -704-336-3150

MeckLINK – 24 hour mentalhealth – 704-336-6404

Crisis/Case Management and CommunityResources


In March and April, Hadassahprovided 140 meals for JFS todistribute. Those who made thispossible are: Barbara Abrams,Susan Aizenman, MadelineAron, Cathy Bogus, EllenBottner, Sharon Cavanaugh,Helene Cullen, Gloria Feibus,Zelma Fink, Sandy Hoagland,Karen Kantrowitz, JudyKaufmann, Penny Krieger,Malka Me-Zehav, SharelPersin, Phyllis Romaine, JennySperry, Gabby Starr, Hagit Stavand Joyce Stoll.

Mitzvah Baskets

created by JFS

Zachary Strawser, RachelStrawser, Rachel Cohen,Maddy Gorelick, Joey

Kelso, Sophie Levinson,Rachel Fellman

MONTHLY DONATIONS AND TRIB-UTES TO JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES

CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 25

You are invited to attend our free wellness seminars in the CMC-Mercy auditorium, located at 2001Vail Ave. Complimentary meals will be provided. To register, call 704-512-3820. CMC-Mercy alsooffers Zumba fitness classes, wellness assessments, massage therapy and yoga for seniors and beginners.Visit www.cmc-mercy.org/events for details.

6 – 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 7 – Healthy at Any Age Judi Tassone, MD, from Carolinas Back andSports Specialists and Carolinas Rehabilitation discusses how to prevent functional aging of the mind, bodyand spirit.

Noon – 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 8 – Staying Fit Join Harris YMCA’s wellness experience directorKate Wheeler and certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor Sharon Bailey as they teach newand exciting ways to exercise at home. They’ll focus on strength, balance, range of motion and flexibilityand discuss the benefits of each. Wear comfortable clothing.

Noon – 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 29 – Fun Ideas for Senior Fitness Remaining active and socialhelps keep the mind sharp and the body in shape. Join certified personal trainer Marcia Patience as shepresents fun fitness ideas to improve daily living activities.

6 – 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 21 – Uterine Fibroid Solutions Join Amy Boardman, MD, director ofthe department of obstetrics and gynecology as she discusses uterine fibroid treatment options.

CMC-Mercy Seminar Series

www.cmc-mercy.org

Join Prime Club at www.carolinasmedicalcenter.org/prime to receive free 24/7 nurse access and discounts to restaurants and stores.

Spring is an exciting time at theCharlotte Jewish Day School.While many other schools andtheir students are suffering fromSpring Fever and winding downtheir year, we are celebrating

Grandparent’s Day and lookingforward to several out of townfieldtrips.

On Friday, May 6, about 200grandparents and grand “friends”gathered together with CJDS stu-dents to celebrate Grandparent’sDay. Musical performances,prayer, sign language and a jumprope presentation were all show-cased by our multi-talented stu-dents.

Mariashi Groner welcomed allof our guests and introduced thisyear’s honorees of the Barbaraand Jerry Levin Visionary Award,Patty and Bill Gorelick. “Jerry andBarbara Levin knew [that the sur-vival of Judaism rested in the chil-dren], so they stood behind theday school here in Charlotte andwhen their last grandchild gradu-ated from the day school, they cre-ated a legacy, an award that wouldbe given to an honoree each yearas the Barbara and Jerry LevinVisionary of the Year in JewishEducation.” She went on to say,“When our little CJDS was still upon the hill, I don’t think therewere too many people imaginingthe school becoming a communityday school. But Bill Gorelick did-

n’t really worry about those littledetails. He knew that a JewishDay School was an important partof a community’s puzzle, and hewas determined to make it hap-pen. And, anybody who knowsBill knows that when he decidesthat something has to happen, it’sgoing to happen. Thank you, Pattyfor supporting, advising, andcheering all that Bill does for thecommunity.” The highlight of thispresentation was the speech givenby Adelaide Gorelick, one of Billand Patty’s grandchildren and a2008 graduate of CJDS. “…I haveno doubt that CJDS has put me onthe course of my parents andgrandparents, giving to those whoare in need of my giving. I am sohonored to be part of a family whovalues tzedakah so much. I wouldalso like to congratulate mygrandparents for receiving such ahuge honor from such an impor-tant school…” Congratulations to

As you probably know,preschoolers do not need a desk orpens and paper to learn. These lit-tle ones learn through all of theirsenses. They play, explore and askquestions, all of which helps thembecome life-long learners. As par-ents how do you keep your chil-dren engaged and entertained dur-ing the summer months? Here aresome simple ways to enjoy the hotdays together and keep your chil-dren motivated, so they’re readyto jump back into the school rou-

tine once the fall arrives.Reading is the single most

important thing you can do withyour child. Read, ask questions asyou read, and ask your child to“guess” what the ending will be oreven to make up his or her ownending to the story. Making pre-dictions is an excellent way forpreschoolers to develop their lis-tening comprehension skills.Preschoolers also love to fill in theblanks while they’re reading.Repetition, rhyming and illustra-

tions are all great tools thatpreschoolers use to “read.”Preschool children do not need tobe engaged in a formal readingprogram, but instead should beexposed to print as often as possi-ble to develop “reading readiness”skills.

Parents can build letter andsound recognition throughout theday very easily too. When drivingin the car, ask your (older) pre-schooler to find things that startwith a particular letter of thealphabet. Or, use the first letter ofyour child’s name and see if he orshe can find five things outside thecar window that start with thesame sound. This activity alsoworks well in the grocery store.For younger preschoolers, lookingfor objects that are all the samecolor is another fun activity.

The summer is a great time tofine-tune some social skills thatare so important during the pre-school years. Take every opportu-nity to help your little one under-stand the people around them.Helping them become respectfulindividuals will help them nowand long after they leave pre-school. Talk to them about peo-ple’s feelings – “Look at yourbrother and look at his frown.

What do you think he is feelingand why?” Help them identifythese feelings and be able to dis-cuss them. Have plenty of playdates and act as a facilitator; beinvolved just enough to encouragepurposeful play and appropriateinteractions, but do not intervenewhen it is unnecessary. Conflictresolution helps children developsocial skills and learn how to getalong. Allow your preschooler towork out a simple conflict withoutyou if possible, and then praisethem for the “kind words” theyused or the way they compromisedwith a friend.

As September rolls around, youwill be looking for ways to pre-pare your child for the school rou-tine again. Research shows thatchildren thrive on routine and apredictable environment. Eventhough summer is here and yourschedules will be changing, main-taining some key routines in yourpreschooler’s day will make eachtransition easy for the whole fami-ly.

* Keeping a regular bedtime iskey. Even if you adjust yourchild’s bedtime to accommodatethe looser summer schedule, besure to stay consistent. A restfulchild makes for a happier child

during the waking hours.* Morning routines should stay

consistent too. Your school dayroutine should not change in thesummer, like eating breakfast,then brushing teeth, and gettingdressed (of course some lazy,relaxing days are always a treat).

* Limit screen time. Even in thesummer, computers, iPads, andTV time should be limited. Manyexperts believe that less than tenhours a week is appropriate forpreschoolers.

* Encourage family time. Iffamily dinners are the norm inyour family, try to stick with that.Preschoolers count on these pre-dictable interactions. If the schooldays are too hectic to plan dinner,maybe summer will allow yousome extra time to create a newfamily ritual.

Most of all, enjoy your littlewonders. They are at a fantasticage and truly just want to pleaseyou and have fun. Guide them,offer them plenty of opportunitiesto have unstructured free play andask them lots of questions.Treasure these wonderfulmoments. Y


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SchoolsHow to Keep Your Preschooler Motivated and EngagedOver the Summer

Springtime at CJDS

A third grade student at the SchieleMuseum

Barbara and Jerry Levin presentingthe 2011 Barbara and Jerry LevinVisionary Award to Bill Gorelick



The Jewish Preschool on Sardis

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704 364 8395 or [email protected] Visit our website: JPSonSardis.org

JEWISH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Where the journey begins

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Shalom Park will be the host ofthe 20th Freedom School inMecklenburg County, beginningthis June. Freedom Schools are aprogram created by the Children’sDefense Fund in Washington and

supported by Freedom SchoolPartners in Charlotte. The missionof the Shalom Park FreedomSchool is to build Jewish identity,pride and community by engagingall segments of the CharlotteJewish community in a collabora-tive effort to provide a high-quali-ty, summer educational programfor at risk children. The ShalomPark Freedom School will consistof a six week summer program forfifty students from HuntingtowneFarms Elementary School andSterling Elementary School, twoschools with existing partnershipswith Temple Israel and TempleBeth El respectively. DeidreGrubb and Shirley Rosen are co-chairing a three year commitment

to establish and build the ShalomPark Freedom School as it willexpand the current partnershipswith these two CMS schools andcreate year round learning supportto enrich the lives of these schol-

ars. Deidre Grubbbelieves “This is the per-fect vehicle to demon-strate the commitmentand strength of the organ-izations of Shalom Parkto the needs of theCharlotte community.This sets a great examplefor all members of ourcommunity as well as forother Jewish communi-ties around the country.”The Shalom ParkFreedom School is thefirst Freedom School in

the country to be sponsored solelyby Jewish organizations. “I thinkthis says a great deal about theimportance of social action withinthe Charlotte Jewish communityand our responsibility to thegreater community,” added co-chair Shirley Rosen.

The school session will beginJune 20 and run through July 29.Classes will be held in the TempleIsrael classrooms. Breakfast willbe served daily at the Day School,and morning reading sessions willbe held in Gorelick Hall with thetheater at the Levine Sklut Librarycreating the opportunity for inter-active storytelling. All of the sup-porting organizations will beinvolved.

Shalom Park Freedom Schoolis a collaborative effort of TempleBeth El, Temple Israel, the JewishFederation of Greater Charlotte,the Levine JCC, The CharlotteJewish Day School, the Levine-Sklut Judaic Library and ResourceCenter, Jewish Family Servicesand the Foundation of ShalomPark. All are excited about theopportunity to join such a stellarprogram as Freedom SchoolsPartners and make a commitmentto the importance of social actionand change in the greaterCharlotte community. A new com-ponent unique to the Shalom ParkFreedom School is the addition ofa Teen Board which will involveteen volunteers in the daily schoolactivities during the six week pro-gram. Teens from across the com-munity will be able to volunteer topartner with some of the scholarsand then explore the values ofsocial justice, develop leadershipskills, and gain an understanding

of the dynamics ofpoverty and education inour community. IanKutner and JackieFishman are workingwith the teen volunteerson this innovative proj-ect.

Volunteers from thecommunity are invited toget involved in variouscapacities such as read-ers, field trip chaper-ones, and shoppers.Collection boxes will be

available around the Shalom Parkcampus for collection of schoolsupplies and other materials.Donation boxes can be found inthe Federation office, the TempleIsrael/Charlotte Jewish DaySchool lobby, and Temple Beth El.For more information on theShalom Park Freedom School andhow you can get involved, goto www.SPFreedomschool.org oremai l sha lomparkf [email protected].

Contact Gale Osborne for addi-tional information at [email protected] or 704-366-4558. Y

Shalom Park to Sponsor Freedom School Summer 2011

Students are looking forward to attending theFreedom School this summer.

Freedom School teen volunteers meet with JackieFishman. Adult Abuse or Neglect –

704-432-0059Child Abuse or Neglect –

704-336-2273Crisis Assistance Ministry -

704-371-3001United Family Service Shelter forBattered Women – 704-332-9034

United Way 2-1-1 - 2-1-1Low Cost Housing -www.socialserve.com

Please go to jfscharlotte.org/about-us/resources for a listingof additional CommunityResources. Y

Jewish Familly

Services

Crisis/Case

Management and

Community

Resources(Continued from page 12)


BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORYTo advertise in the Business Card Directory, contact one of our sales representatives:

Rita Mond, 704-366-6632 or Jodi Valenstein, 704-841-4040

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+ Biodiversity Museum designed by architect Frank Gehry

+ Visit Embera Indian Village in rainforest

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CAPS OFF and MAZEL TOV to CJP’s 2011-2012GRADUATING CLASS!

Patty and Bill Gorelick for receiv-ing this honor and for Barbara andJerry Levin for their continuedsupport.

Charlotte Jewish Day Schoolstudents participate in many excit-ing field trips during their years atthe school, particularly in thespring. Second graders went toAtlanta on their first overnight tripwith CJDS. Special stops inAtlanta include visiting their penpals and having lunch at TheGreenfield Academy, touring theGeorgia Aquarium, and sleepingwith the pandas at The AtlantaZoo. The Schiele Museum ofNatural History in Gastonia is theovernight destination for our thirdgrade class. Students enjoy all themuseum’s indoor and outdoorexhibits and spend the night underthe stars in our area’s onlyPlanetarium. As part of their stud-ies of North Carolina, the 4thgrade class visits Raleigh to expe-rience our state’s capital in action.The 5th grade camping trip is onethat every CJDS student looks for-ward to. Two nights in theNantahala National Forest - aropes course, whitewater rafting,building their own tents and fires,and preparing their own food -makes this trip a tremendousexperience that the kids talk aboutfor years.

The spring is also the time thatwe begin to plan and prepare forthe upcoming school year. We areexcited to welcome many newfamilies to the CJDS communityand to continue working with ourcurrent students and their fami-lies. If you are interested in hear-ing more about the excitingopportunities at the CharlotteJewish Day School, please call ushere at 704-366-4558. HappySpring. Y

Springtime

at CJDS(Continued from page 14)

A group of fifth grade students whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River

The 2nd grade class at the AtlantaZoo

San Diego is one of my veryfavorite cities in the United States.Not only is the weather almostperfect the entire year, my twinsister Harriet lives in this beautifulcity.

There is so much to do and seehere. Wonderful restaurants, beau-tiful beaches, great museums,incredible zoo, Sea World, terrificshopping and a laid-back lifestyle.Wow, what a place!

There are six Jewish areas inSan Diego County where you canfind clusters of synagogues andJewish agencies. Three of themare located to the south and threeto the north. The three southerncommunities – including ChulaVista, central San Diego, and eastSan Diego – are older areas ofJewish settlement with lots of his-tory. The three northern communi-ties – La Jolla, North CountyCoastal and North Country Inland– are the newer, generally moreexpensive areas with lots of peo-ple living there. San DiegoCounty’s Jewish community hasapproximately 89,000 Jews. Insize, the community is quite simi-lar to that of Phoenix. The com-munity is facing many issues:what to do about a soaring inter-marriage rate, how to balance sup-port for Israel and Jews overseaswith support for local institutions,and where to locate other institu-tions for future growth. TheJewish community of San Diegodates back to the 1850s whenJewish merchants arrived in thecity. At that time Jews constitutedabout 10% of the city’s popula-tion. A major street in San Diego

was called Avenida des Judios(Avenue of the Jews).

We were able to visit TempleBeth Israel in Heritage Park locat-ed in the area known as “OldTown.” In addition to offering anawe-inspiring view of the bay, thepark is home to seven well pre-served Victorian buildings, one ofwhich is the original Temple BethIsrael. Constructed in 1889, it isthe second oldest synagogue inCalifornia. Its charming exterior isadmired by many as a primeexample of 19th century gothicrevival architecture. The interior isstunning in its simplicity andremains unchanged from the daythe first services were held to cel-ebrate the Jewish New Year onSeptember 25, 1889.

More spectacular ocean viewscan be found just north of the cityin La Jolla. Spanish for “theJewel,” this town is filled withwonderful cafes and interestingboutiques. It is also home to thePotiker Cultural Arts Complex. In

addition to hosting cultural activi-ties, the complex contains an artgallery that features rotatingJewish-themed exhibits.

The restaurants in San Diegoare fabulous and run the gamutfrom great Pacific seafood andauthentic Mexican to incredibleOriental cuisine. Many restaurantshave beautiful ocean views. Thispast visit we got to eat at D.Z.Akins – one of my very favoritedelis.

This place is huge with a menuthat is both excellent and over-whelming. I can personally vouchfor the matzah ball soup andchopped liver. This deli even hasits own gift shop.

Other favorite places areGeorges at the Cove – fabulous foroutside oceanfront dining in LaJolla, and Tapenade – an incredi-ble Provencal-style French restau-rant also in La Jolla.

Any reference to a San Diegovacation must include one of thebest city zoos ever. The San DiegoZoo is a must-see for animallovers. It’s very easy to walkthrough the entire zoo and the ani-mals are spectacular. We loved thepanda area and stayed watchingthese amazing creatures for aslong as we could. When my chil-dren were small, they had the

opportunity to go to Zoo Camp atthis fabulous place. Other greatplaces to visit are Sea World,North Beach and Del Mar for thehorse races.

If you’ve gotten the impressionthat San Diego has many facets,then I haven’t led you astray. Ifyou get a chance, go visit and seewhich is your personal favorite.Y


Youth Visions

At Hebrew High weencourage our teens toexplore their Judaismand express themselvesthrough many media. Justbefore Passover we hadan inspiring T’fillah (ser-vice) led by members ofLIBERTY, Temple BethEl’s youth group. Therousing prayer servicewas artfully led by BenSchine and RachelRappaport. With thetheme of freedom as a guide, per-sonal statements were read by sev-eral students. Below are excerptsfrom those statements:

Freedom by Abbe CohenHow would you describe free-

dom for Jewish peoplein the past? If it was notfor our ancestors wewould not have theamount of freedom wehave today. Withoutthem we would notknow what our realplace in the world wouldbe. They fought innumerous ways, all ofwhich took persever-ance and courage.

When I was in ele-mentary school a girl who was inmy class came up to me and said,“Oh, you’re Jewish … when youdie you’re not going to heavenyou’re going to hell.” During theholocaust if a comment like thatwas said you would not be able tostand up for yourself, and if youdid it would result in death. To thisday Jews are still fighting for reli-gious freedom and all other typesof freedom. In the United Stateswe are lucky enough to have manyrights that can’t be taken awaybecause of our religion or race orwhat we believe in. As one of ourmost popular American songstates, “Let Freedom Ring.”

Freedom by Caleb SeidlerIt’s about a week until Passover

and spring fever is sweeping thenation. It is amazing that we couldget this many Jewish teens togeth-er to create such an awesomesanctuary. Three thousand yearsago we would be in Egypt build-ing some pyramids. Think abouthow lucky we are to be listening tothis amazing music. Think aboutthe freedom and liberty we havewhen just 70 years ago we werebeing killed just for being Jewish.This country has provided us withhomes and jobs some countrieswouldn’t. As we continue, thinkabout the kids and teens our agewho are still oppressed in centralAfrica, think about the rights wehave that others don’t.

Freedom by Lexie PlayerWhat does freedom mean?

Freedom does not just have onedefinition. To some, freedomcould mean staying out late ormissing school. In our countrythere are three guaranteed rights -life, liberty and the pursuit of hap-piness. We are also guaranteed theright to freedom of speech, pressand especially religion. Religion is

a huge debate throughout theworld and not all of the othercountries in the world offer thefreedom of religion that is offeredhere in America. What does thisfreedom mean to our religion? Itmeans that we have the freedomand the right to practice our reli-gion free of persecution.

Freedom by Debbie RabinovichFreedom has been fought over

more than anything in the world.Sometimes we take it for granted,but in all seriousness, we should-n’t. As Jews, we have always beenoutsiders looking in; looking in aswe were exiled from Spain, from

England, and even from our ownhomeland. We made our way tothe Promised Land, our first tasteof Zion, and of freedom. Thiscountry has made us, the Jewishpeople, insiders. I leave you withthis: when you hear others makeJewish jokes or slurs, remindyourself that we are insiders justas much as anyone else. Thiscountry has given us freedom, andthat is what freedom means. Itmeans the right to stand up forwhat we believe in; the right toZionism and the right to be Jews.

The 5771 Hebrew High, schoolyear is about to come to a close.Don’t let your teens miss out onthe opportunity to express theirJudaism in an open, nurturingenvironment. At Hebrew High westudy, learn and create together ina community of caring Jewishteens and adults. For more infor-mation about our program, or toregister your 8th-12th grade stu-dent for the 5772 school year, callRoz at 704-944-6782, or [email protected].

Hebrew High is a joint ventureof Temple Israel and Temple BethEl and, is supported by The JewishFederation of Greater Charlotte.Y

Lexie Player

Rachel Rappaport

Abbe Cohen

The Jewish TravelerBy Maxine Silverstein

SAN DIEGO

Maxine at Temple Beth Israel in Old Town.

A panda at the San Diego Zoo.

Hebrew High Students Examine Meaning of Freedom


Mazel Tov & Congratulations

The Mecklenburg Timeshas selected Claire Krusch,Director of Marketing andHuman Resources of Krusch& Sellers, Attorneys atFamily Law, one ofCharlotte’s 50 MostInfluential Women. Theaward is created to spotlightwomen in business, govern-ment, education and the non-prof-it fields.

Suzanne Meyer, President and

Founder of the WelcomeCommittee, Inc. is one of33 successful work-at-home moms featured inthe newly released MogulMom, How to Quit YourJob, Start Your OwnBusiness, and Join theWork-at-Home MomRevolution. Suzanne is a

Life Member of the Lake NormanHadassah Chapter, a member ofTemple Israel and Beth Shalom of

Lake Norman and volunteered asan usher at the Charlotte JewishFilm Festival this past March.

Dr. Vicki Parker has beennamed “Rising Star” in a CharlotteWomen Business Owners compe-tition. Parker, founder of TheBrain Trainer, has won theNAWBO Rising Star Award fromNAWBO Charlotte – the Charlottechapter of the NationalAssociation of Women BusinessOwners. Parker’s company, The

Brain Trainer, is an evidence-based brain training and speechtherapy center in Charlotte. VickiParker, Ph.D., is a speech lan-guage pathologist with a concen-tration in neuroscience who hasworked in this field for nearly 30years and a member of TempleBeth El. Y

Three Community Women Honored by Their PeersClaire Krusch, Suzanne Meyer, and Vicki Parker Receive Awards

Judy and Steve Kaufmann arepleased to announce the engage-ment of their son, Craig to KeriNusbaum, daughter of Sheri andthe late Jay Nusbaum of BocaRaton, FL. A summer wedding isplanned. Y

Suzanne Meyer

EngagementNusbaum-Kaufmann

Community News

By Karen BrodskyAfter his mother-in-law was

murdered in 2010 in the formerSoviet Union because she was aJew, David* appealed to CarolinaRefugee Resettlement Agency(CRRA) to get his father-in-lawand brother-in-law out of the for-mer Soviet Union (FSU) toCharlotte.

Grassroots anti-Semitism stillexists in the FSU.

Dmitri*, who is also from theFSU, supplied CRRA with all thenecessary papers—and there aremany, which the agency filed - tobring his parents to Charlotte.

Now it is a waiting game forboth David and Dmitri. If it is pos-sible, CRRA and its affiliateagency, HIAS, will have successwith these two families — butonly while the LautenbergAmendment provisions are still ineffect.

In the early 1990s when theflood gates opened in the U.S. towelcome Jews from the FSU afterits collapse, HIAS and its affiliateagencies settled thousands of themacross the country. The CharlotteJewish community pitched in tohelp. HIAS NC — the predecessorof CRRA — was born during

those years.So was the Lautenberg

Amendment, which is named forSenator Frank Lautenberg, long-time senator from New Jersey. Theamendment facilitates Jewishexits from the Soviet Union.According to the JewishTelegraphic Agency, “It broadensthe definition of religious refugeefor groups designed by the U.S.State Department as of ‘humani-tarian’ concern.” The amendmentwas expanded in 2004 to includeIranian religious minorities,including Jews, Christians,Zoroastrians and Baha’is.

In February in a letter, TheJewish Federations of NorthAmerica, HIAS, and other Jewishand Christian groups appealed tothe U.S. House of Representativesto extend the LautenbergAmendment, which was due toexpire in October 2010, saying“hundreds of Iranian religiousminorities will be stranded in Iran,unable to access the protection ofthe U.S.”

The Lautenberg Amendmenthas been renewed each year sinceits first passing; it expired onOctober 1, 2010, and was extend-ed to March 1, 2011. This allowed

applications filed since October 1,2010 to be considered retroactive-ly. Now it has been extended toJune 1, 2011. New applicationswill also be considered only ifreceived by June 1. HIAS isencouraging its affiliates to con-sider June 1 as the end of theamendment, although there isongoing advocacy from HIAS’Washington, DC, office to extendit into 2012. It is not possible toknow if it will resurface later.

In 1988, the HIAS networkresettled 10,300 refugees from theFSU; in 1989, the number jumpedto 36,114. In 1992, an increase inthe refugee quota resulted in arecord number — 48,871 — ofrefugees arriving in the U.S. fromthe former Soviet Union.Thousands arrived from 1993through 2004, when the numbersdeclined to hundreds. Since, itseems, there are fewer who wishto leave, but the mere existence ofthe Lautenberg Amendment

entices families who are in theU.S. to apply to bring theirremaining relatives here.

There are three applications(six people) pending for familiesstill in the FSU and eight applica-tions (eleven people) for relativesstill in Iran that have been filed byCRRA. The agency is encourag-ing others who wish to bring rela-tives here to complete the applica-tions no later than the end of May.

In 2009, Senator Lautenbergcelebrated the 20th anniversary ofthe amendment, saying the U.S.has a “special responsibility tothose who have been displacedbecause of political conflict andthose who are threatened by eth-nic, racial, or religious persecu-tion, and I have worked hard toguarantee the LautenbergAmendment is renewed byCongress each year.”

This is a different year, and adifferent time, when appropria-tions bills are being picked apartand the funding scrutinizedbecause of the government’s mas-

sive deficit. Indeed, the refugeeresettlement program itself is indanger of being reduced in futureappropriations bills. Please findthe names, e-mail addresses andfax numbers of your legislators atwww.Congress.org and appeal forthe continuation of the LautenbergAmendment and the refugee pro-gram:

“HIAS NC and now CRRAhave resettled hundreds of Jewsfrom the FSU and Iranian reli-gious minorities since its incep-tion. It would be a shanda — ashame - for us as Jews and for theU.S. if we were to allow partisanpolitics to end their resettlementand acceptance in our great coun-try. Please let your legislatorsknow how you feel, and pleasesupport CRRA.”

CRRA needs cash donationsand furniture and housewaresdonations. Please call us to donateand volunteer at 704-535-8803 orvisit our website at www.car-olinarefugee.org. Y

* Not their real names.

Jews Could be Denied U.S. Refugee Status

By Lorrie Klemons, publicityAt the writing of this article, we

have just completed the holiday ofPassover and with it, we com-memorated yet another Yizkormemorial service for those lovedones who preceded us in eternallife. What is it about Yizkor that soconnects us to our past? What is itabout Yizkor that draws non-observant Jews to the synagoguefour times each year to recite thekaddish - the mourner’s prayer?What is it about Yizkor that haseven the most secular of Jewslighting Jewish memorial candlesfor their dearly departed?

Judaism is an ancient and his-toric religion. We are connectedby our collective sacred past, ourever-changing present and ourprecarious future. We were all atSinai to receive the TenCommandments and the Torahand we have been passing onthose traditions for almost 3,500years -from generation to genera-tion. L’dor v’dor.

By the time you read this arti-cle, the Passover dishes will havebeen stored away for yet anotheryear, and it will be Shavuot, thecelebration of our receiving of the

Torah at Mt. Sinai. It was themoment when we Israelite slavesbecame a people, a Jewish people.This gifting of the Torah to usfrom God took place more than3,500 years ago, but every year onShavuot, it is as though we werereceiving it all over again. Eachyear on Shavuot, we renew ouracceptance of God’s gift. The giv-ing of the Torah was a far-reach-ing spiritual event – one thattouched the essence of Jewishsouls for all time. Our sages havecompared it to a wedding betweenGod and the Jewish people. Oneof the meanings of Shavuot is“oaths” and on this day, Godswore eternal devotion to us, andwe in turn pledged everlastingdevotion to Him.

In turn, we pledge our everlast-ing devotion to those we lovedand cherished over the years whohave been called to their eternalrest. We loved them in life and wecherish their memory when theyare lost. We long to renew the rela-tionship we once had with them.We yearn to recall the joyousshared memories. The passage oftime doesn’t ever fill the hole inour hearts left by their death. It is

that connection, that longing forrenewal, that sense of gratefulnessfor having them in our lives, andyes, that sense of loss, that keepsus going to Yizkor services andvisiting the cemetery where lovedones lie in holy repose year afteryear.

Rabbi Yossi Groner ofCongregation Ohr Ha Torah saysthat when you go to visit yourloved one at the cemetery, youshould make sure you are talkingto the soul and not to the bones. Indoing so, you elevate the soul andvalidate the eternal relationshipthat all righteous souls have withGod. By placing stones on yourloved one’s tombstone, which isan old Jewish custom, you leaveyour mark for the soul to embrace.By reciting Yizkor, you eternalizethose memories and perpetuate thetraditions of our ancestors.

For more info on membershipbenefits, graves, prepaid funeralcosts, donations, endowments,and/or including the cemetery inyour estate planning, contact con-tact Cemetery Director, SandraGoldman at 704-576-1859 or 704-944-6854 or [email protected]. Y

Hebrew Cemetery Association


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Over 500 people from theCharlotte community gatheredoutdoors at Shalom Park onSunday, May 1 for the YomHaShoah service and to dedicatethe Children’s HolocaustMemorial Sculpture. The sculp-ture is located in the Margaret andLou Schwartz Butterfly Garden,named for Holocaust survivorsand the parents of Levine JCCBoard President, Larry Schwartz.

As part of the Yom Ha’Shoahservice, twelve survivors and theirfamilies were present to light can-dles in memory of the brothers,sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts,uncles, and cousins who perishedin the Holocaust.

The sculpture by Paul Rousso,renowned Charlotte artist, incor-porates over 2,800 hand-paintedceramic butterflies, each one craft-ed in memory of a specific childwho died in the Holocaust. Thesculpture was the result of TheButterfly Project, which wasbrought to the Levine JewishCommunity Center from the SanDiego Day School by three verydedicated and talented Levine JCCvolunteers, Wilma Asrael, GwenOrland, and Barbara Ziegler.

Over three years, these womenled more than 60 Holocaust educa-tion workshops with area schoolchildren, as well as with faith andcommunity groups. During theworkshops, ceramic butterflieswere painted and lessons on intol-erance, diversity and acceptancewere taught as part of the Project’s

ongoing commitment to educa-tion.

Judy August, past Levine JCCBoard President, and Jill Newman,current Levine JCC BoardMember, spearheaded thefundraising effort to bring thesculpture and garden to ShalomPark. Patty and Bill Gorelick,Sandra and Leon Levine, andLarry Schwartz were prime donorsto the project. Thanks to the plan-ning, persistence, and generouscontributions of many volunteersand community leaders, whatstarted as “a small dream for mak-ing a few butterflies to adorn theLevine Jewish CommunityCenter” became “like a butterfly

… spreading its wings and becom-ing something very special.”

Now the sculpture’s archingexpanse and colorful mosaicinstantly draw the eye as oneenters the Park. However, the ded-ication of this magnificent sculp-ture is not an end, but a beginning.

The Levine Jewish CommunityCenter and the Levine-SklutJudaic Library are collaborating toprovide educational workshopsthroughout the Charlotte commu-nity on the Holocaust, religioustolerance, diversity and accept-ance. This initiative will includethe recruitment and training ofvolunteers to lead these work-shops and fielding inquiries andrequests from area schools,churches, and other communitygroups and agencies.

It is hoped that additional finan-cial and volunteer support willsustain these educational work-shops in perpetuity as TheButterfly Project enters this newphase of its development. TheMargaret and Lou Schwartz

Butterfly Garden, the site for theworkshops going forward, will beappreciated not only for its beautyand artistic merit, but also as ahaven for reflection and discus-sion.

Dr. Racelle Weiman, Directorof The Center for Holocaust andHumanity Education at TempleUniversity, shared in her lecturefollowing the ceremony the shock-ing fact that only 7-8% of Jewishchildren survived Nazi-occupiedterritory. Only 33% of Jewishadults survived. Thousands ofnon-Jewish persons who weresympathizers, disabled, homosex-ual, or otherwise deemed undesir-able were also eliminated.

But out of our collective mem-ory of this tragic and horrible past,the seeds of hope and peace cangerminate.

One wonderful surprise thatcame about through preparationfor this year’s Yom HaShoahobservance was a play created bylocal teens, named “Who Will TellTheir Story? Passing on theLegacy.” It recounts the early livesof Holocaust survivors SulyChenkin and Irving Bienstock.The play’s executive producer,Wilma Asrael, said the process ofcreating the play was moving andshe greatly respected the “amazingteens who have all shown continu-ing commitment to the work,understanding and a joy of life sel-dom seen.”

During this year’s YomHaShoah service, Rabbi Judy

Schindler reflected, “As Jews, weare called to continually move for-ward: from despair to embracinglife, from fear to faith, from ashesto hope.”

Rabbi Yossi Groner ofCongregation Ohr Ha Torah stat-ed, “Today we look at this memo-rial as a beacon of hope and weresolve to raise our children in abetter world where evil no longerhas a place. We educate our chil-dren to be living Torah scrollswhere the words of God are writ-ten in their minds and hearts.”

Live butterflies were released atthe close of the service. As the but-terflies tested their wings andbroke free of their paper“chrysalises,” the sun brokethrough the cloudy skies.

If you are interested in makinga donation, volunteering, or wouldlike to get more information aboutthe educational workshops, pleasevisit The Butterfly Project atwww.charlottejcc.org or emailBu t t e r f lyPro jec t@char lo t t ejcc. org. Y

Margaret and Lou Schwartz Butterfly Garden Dedicatedon Yom HaShoah

Barbara Ziegler and Gwen Orland passingthe flame, pictured with Hanna and HowardAdler of Statesville, NC and other Holocaustsurvivors.

Suly Chenkin pictured with the twoyoung ladies who perform as olderSuly (Margo Smith) and youngerSuly (Maya Goldsmith) in the playabout her harrowing childhoodexperiences.

Judy August, past president ofthe Levine JCC, shares, “Theinteractive workshops – theeducation against bigotry andagainst indifference – willremain at the heart of the proj-ect.”


So maybe Friday afternoon isnot the best time to visit MachaneYehuda. Or maybe it is. It dependson what you want to see. If youwant to see the marketplace in itsfull glory, with maximum crowds,enthusiastic stall keepers, and thefreshest meats, produce, andbaked goods of the week, the pre-Shabbat shopping period is whenyou should be here.

But if the crowds are too muchfor you and you prefer a little lesschaos for your lunchtime shoppingand meal, pick a different day.

Machane Yehuda is bustling.Each and every stall is packedwith customers and products.There are baked goods, both chal-lah and desserts, produce in a rain-bow of bright colors, spices andnuts from across the globe. Underan awning in a closed-in alley, thebeef, chicken, and fish stalls keeptheir fresh wares in refrigeratedcontainers. The concrete floors areslippery here, and the odor is lessthan pleasant. But you can hear thelocal residents bickering for a bet-ter price on a smaller chicken, orchoosing a fresher looking fish.

We decide to break into smallgroups to buy our lunches.Someone gets the pita, someone

else the hummus and babaganouche, someone else the figsand other fruits, and someone elseselects desserts. It’s easy to gooverboard here. The prices are rea-sonable and the selection is enor-mous.

Just for a few minutes beforewe meet for lunch in a park, Idecide to go off on my own to lookat the many stalls. Not just foodhere, there are shops with Judaica,kippot, T-shirts, almost anythingyou could ask for. But the Fridayafternoon crowd grows more andmore anxious to be done in timefor cooking and the people I

encounter are far from polite. It iswith relief that I catch up to ourgroup and set off to a nearby parkfor lunch.

Perhaps at one time this was apretty park. Perhaps someday itwill be again. But the litter hastaken over, and the dry summer

weather has turned the greeneryinto brownery. There are limitedplaces to sit. But we make andbecause we are all together, wecreate a pleasant atmosphere forourselves. Each family groupshares its wares with the other.Here, try our hummus. Mmmm,your kumquats are delicious. Isthat rugelach? Thank you for the

baba ganouche!The morning has been hectic

and chaotic. I am so looking for-ward to the peace of Shabbat afterthis busy, frenzied day.

We have time to rest and fresh-en up and change for Shabbat. Weare spending the evening at Birkat

Shalom, a Reform syna-gogue in Kibbutz Gezer.Birkat Shalom’s spiritualleader is Miri Gold, aReform rabbi who wasborn in the US, but hasbeen living in Israel formost of her life.

We are fortunate thatour bus driver, Benny,will drive us to KibbutzGezer. While we arethere, he’ll go back homefor Shabbat dinner withhis family, and thenreturn to take us back to

our hotel later in the evening. It’ssurprising the number of cars thatare on the road during Shabbat; Iexpected to see far fewer.

The Friday evening service isvery close to familiar for most ofus. The prayer book used at BirkatShalom is reminiscent of our oldGates of Prayer, except: THEREIS NO ENGLISH. But we all rec-

ognize most of the melodies of thesongs we sing and can join in. Andwhen Miri gives her sermon (all inHebrew of course), I find that Ican follow about 20% of what sheis saying, a big improvement frommy first day in Israel.

There are some pleasant sur-prises during services. First, Miripresents a book of photographsfrom Birkat Shalom to the TempleBeth El Women of ReformJudaism. As I am the representa-tive of that group in attendance,I accept her gift. She also asksour B’nai Mitzvah to sing theKiddush and the Motzi. Lindsayand Lauren Label, SydneyFrankenberg, Josh Rappaport, andJake Gilbert all performadmirably. Miri introduces someother guests from the US. A cou-ple has come from Louisiana(which at the time had just experi-enced the BP oil spill). And RabbiSteve Chester from Oakland isthere. I have family in Oaklandand I am determined to find out ifhe knows them at the end of theservice. Y

Next: dinner at Kibbutz Gezer;B’nai Mitzvah in the HUC garden.

Israel, Part XI: Machane Yehuda and Shabbat at Birkat Shalom

An amazing variety of spices isavailable at Machane Yehuda.

Josh Rappaport, Jake Gilbert, Lindsay Label,Sydney Frankenberg, and Lauren Label sing thekiddush and the motzi during Shabbat services atBirkat Shalom. Miri Gold is at the far right.

Alan Kronovet servedFoundation for the CharlotteJewish Community’s board chairfor the past three years. The fol-lowing remarks were delivered onMay 16 at the joint annual meet-ing of the Jewish Federation ofGreater Charlotte and theFoundation for the CharlotteJewish Community.

Tonight I end the third year ofmy two year term as Board Chairof The Foundation of the CharlotteJewish Community (FCJC). WhenI became the Board Chair of FCJCI was lucky to follow two greatcommunity leaders - my old AZAadvisor, Bob Abel, and my goodfriend Rich Osborne. I was alsofortunate that Rich had the fore-sight and wisdom to hire PhilWarshauer as our director ofplanned giving. It was my privi-lege during my term to work withthe board to promote Phil to ourexecutive director.

As board chair I had twothoughts. First – do no harm. Iquickly realized that our role atFCJC required strong governanceand stewardship - first and fore-most. Both of which are accom-plished by FCJC’s partnershipwith Foundation For TheCarolinas and the strong internalcontrols implemented by Bob,Rich, and Phil.

Second – I focused on howFCJC could work more effectivelyto achieve its primary mission ofensuring the long-term financialviability of our Jewish communi-ty. At times this seemed almostimpossible to do as we faced theworse economic recession sincethe Great Depression.

That said, we never lost sight ofour mission and worked creatively

with our partner Jewish organiza-tions and our donors. Over thepast four years FCJC has initiatedconversations about legacy plan-ning and endowment building, andworked side by side with morethan twenty Jewish organizationsthat serve the greater Charlottecommunity.

We established the Book of LifeSociety to recognize individualsand families who have establishedlegacy gifts to benefit any of ourJewish community organizations.The Book of Life Society now has87 generous members and fami-lies who have confirmed previous-ly established legacy gifts or creat-ed new ones. These legacies repre-sent future gifts in excess of $12million. At the present time twelveof our Jewish organizations havebeen named as future beneficiariesof these legacy gifts, with recentadditions including the CharlotteJewish Preschool and TempleEmanuel of Gastonia.

I invite you to visit the Book ofLife permanent display in ShalomPark across from the Sam LernerCenter. The display recognizes thegenerosity of our donors andshowcases their inspirational sto-ries. I challenge each and everyone of you to follow in their foot-steps.

Finally, it was important to methat FCJC be prepared for thefuture. As part of the Federation’scommunity wide planning initia-tive, FCJC embarked on creating astrategic plan. This plan beganwith interviewing a combinationof donors and national JewishFoundations, as well as localJewish organizations and lay lead-ers. The FCJC board endorsed thestrategic plan, which was complet-

ed this spring. The plan clearlyidentifies FCJC’s role as a facilita-tor and expert in raising and man-aging long-term charitableresources to sustain the quality ofJewish religion, life and culture bylinking the philanthropic intent ofdonors with the needs of the com-munity.

We elected Jeff Bierer as thenext board chair of FCJC. Hisskill, vision and love of this com-munity will serve the organizationwell over the next two years. WithJeff’s leadership and our strategicplan, I am confident that FCJCwill achieve great things in ourcommunity in the years to come.

I want to thank Phil Warshauerfor all his hard work these lastthree years. I can tell you frompersonal experience that Philworks tirelessly on behalf of ourcommunity and that we are luckyto have him as FCJC’s executivedirector. Moreover, he has mademy term as board chair a successdespite my short-comings. Forthat I am eternally grateful.

I want to thank my family,Cary, Zoe and Eli for theirpatience and understanding as Imissed many a meal to attendFCJC meetings and events. Theirsupport is a reflection of theircommitment to our Jewish com-munity. I am lucky to have them asmy family.

I also want to thank you for thehonor of allowing me to serve asboard chair of The Foundation forthe Charlotte Jewish Communitythese last three years. It has beenan honor, privilege and experiencethat I will always cherish. Y

Alan Kronovet Ends His Tenure as BoardChair of the Foundation for the CharlotteJewish Community

LJCC Butterfly Project

In honor of Wilma Asrael

and Irving Bienstock from

Temple Israel’s Tzedakah

Collection

In honor of Suly Chenkin

from Linda and Robert Isser

In honor of Barbara Ziegler

from Claire Kelson

In Honor of Wilma Asrael,

Gwen Orland, and Barbara

Ziegler from Lois and Sanford

Benjamin

In memory of Joseph Stier

from Gwen and Paul Orland

Oasis Program Fund

In honor of Jack Sideman’s

birthday from Evelyn Berger

In honor of Robert Meyer

from Roz Baldwin

In memory of Buddy Fisher

from Evelyn Berger

Musler Memorial Fund

In memory of Sol Levine

from Wendy and Michael

Hennes

Fine Arts Preschool Program

In honor of Gwen Orland

and Michelle Rusgo from

Rebecca, Steven, Terri and

Richard James

LJCC Babysitting Room

In honor of Susan Estroff

from Rebecca, Steven, Terri

and Richard James

Mindy Ellen Levine Day

Camp Fund

In honor of Blair Sklut’s

college graduation from Jill

and Ed Newman Y

JCC Tributes

“Whoever gives the poor money

is blessed sixfold;

whoever does it with a kind word

is blessed sevenfold.”

– Talmud: Baba Bathra 9b


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Appalachian State University’sCenter for Judaic, Holocaust andPeace Studies will be sponsoringthe 10th Annual Martin and DorisRosen Summer Symposium on“Remembering the Holocaust” onSunday, July 17 to Friday, July 22at the Broyhill Inn and ConferenceCenter on the ASU campus inBoone, NC. The Conference onJewish Material Claims AgainstGermany is the major underwriterof the symposium. While the sym-posium is primarily gearedtowards teachers, everyone in thecommunity is welcome to attendany session. All sessions are freeof charge. Teachers who attend allforty hours of the symposium willearn four CEUs.

One highlight of the sympo-sium will be the survivor testimo-ny of Morris Glass, a Holocaustsurvivor who lives in NorthCarolina. Other distinguishedspeakers are Dr. MichaelBerenbaum, a founding director ofthe United States HolocaustMemorial Museum, Dr. KennethWaltzer, a professor of history atMichigan State University, Dr.John Cox, an assistant professorof history at UNC Charlotte, ScottMiller, a researcher at the UnitedStates Holocaust MemorialMuseum, Dr. Peter Cohen, a lec-

turer in religion at Clemson, andDr. Harry Reicher, a law professorat the University of Pennsylvania.All will be presenting lectures intheir areas of expertise. The rangeof topics to be covered includesJewish culture and history, the his-tory of Holocaust, the mind of theperpetrator, and resistance efforts.In addition, Appalachian StateUniversity faculty members Drs.Zohara Boyd, Rennie Brantz, andRosemary Horowitz will facilitatea number of discussions.

Along with the lectures, therewill be numerous teacher-orientedsessions. Teachers will learn howto use Holocaust literature, film,and survivor testimony in theclassroom, as well as learn aboutonline resources for learning andteaching about the Holocaust. LeeHolder, an award-winning educa-tor from North Carolina will be inattendance all week to work withthe teachers. Linda Scher, anotherNorth Carolina educator, will alsobe a guest speaker.

Several exhibits will be on dis-play during the week. One will bethe Florence and LaurenceSpungen Family Foundation’scollection of Holocaust-erastamps, covers, postcards, letters,bank note forgeries, and manu-scripts from concentration camps

and Jewish ghettos.Appalachian State University’s

Center of Judaic, Holocaust, andPeace Studies provides education-al opportunities for students,teachers, and community mem-bers. The mission of the Center isto strengthen tolerance, under-standing, and remembrance byincreasing the knowledge ofJewish culture and history, teach-ing the history and meaning of theHolocaust, and using these experi-ences to explore peaceful avenuesfor human improvement and theprevention of future genocides.The symposium is one means offulfilling the Center’s mission.Check the center’s websitewww.holocaust.appstate.edu, call828-262-2311, or email [email protected] for moreinformation. Y

10th Annual Martin and Doris RosenSummer Symposium on Rememberingthe Holocaust to be Held on the Campusof Appalachian State University

Friends of the Levine-Sklut JLRC FundDavid and Faith Cantor

Sarah Grossman

James Neugass

David and Debby Block inhonor of Susan Jacobs

Janet Jaffa in honor of RuthGoldberg

Steven and Janice Zacks inmemory of Arthur Benjamin

Levine-Sklut Levine-Sklut Judaic Library andJudaic Library and

Resource CenterResource CenterWe acknowledge with gratitude the following donations to the Levine-SklutJudaic Library and Resource Center.These donations allow us to expand thecollection of books, DVDs, CDs, videos,maps, posters, games and various teaching aids. The entire community benefits from these thoughtful gifts.

Mother-Daughter Book Club DATE CHANGE!

Date: Sunday, July 10 Time: 3:30 p.m. Place: Library RSVP--Free

The Levine-Sklut Judaic Library is hosting a Mother-Daughter Book Clubgeared for 3rd and 4th grade girls and their mothers. Please join us for snacksand a lively discussion on the Sydney Taylor classic All-Of-A-Kind-Family.

We have a few books available at the library! Read the book in advanceand come ready to enjoy a lively conversation on the book.

RSVP to Talli: [email protected]

By Linda MorelNew York (JTA) — Joan

Nathan says she’s always had aparticular fascination with FrenchJews and their food.

For Nathan, author of“Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous:My Search for Jewish Cooking inFrance” (Knopf, 2010), the loveaffair with French cuisine startedas a teenager when she made herfirst trip to France in the 1950s.

The prolific cookbook authorsays the simple pleasure of sam-pling a slightly melted bar ofchocolate sandwiched into acrackly baguette transformed herlife.

Believing a girl’s educationshould include fluency in otherlanguages, her father approached acousin in France who opened hishome, immersing Nathan in hisculture.

“Because I have relatives andfriends who are French, I’malways curious what they’re doingfor holidays,” said Nathan, whorelishes visiting people’s homes tosee what they eat and how theycelebrate.

Falling seven weeks afterPassover, Shavuot is a minor holi-day with major importance, as itcommemorates the giving of theTorah at Mount Sinai.

It is traditional to eat dairyfoods on Shavuot, which this yearfalls on June 8, because of thepurity of the Torah.

Nathan has vivid memories ofthe holiday in France from the pastfew decades.

Many French Jews attend syna-gogue in the morning and comehome for a well-rounded meal atlunch - more like a dinner - asopposed to a typical Americanbagels-and-lox brunch.

While the French often incor-porate dairy products into recipes,they don’t go overboard onShavuot the way Americans do byeating a meal composed almostentirely of blintzes, kugels andcream cheese. The French, howev-er, do enjoy a good cheesecake.

The most important element atFrench holiday celebrations is asense of style, with elegant tablesettings and presentation of food.Even the least affluent Jews servefood with great care for its appeal.

Some 600,000 Jews are livingin France, making it the thirdlargest Jewish population in theworld after Israel and the UnitedStates. French Jewish history goesback 2,000 years.

Many cultures have seasonedFrench Jewish cuisine. Over thecenturies, Jews have come toFrance from Spain, Portugal, theBalkans, Eastern Europe andNorth Africa. Moving back totheir original countries withFrench recipes, some Jews laterreturned to France, bringing backvariations of dishes they had takenwith them.

“Food has never been static,”Nathan said. “Even old recipes arein a constant state of flux andrefinement, subject to outsideinfluences and improvements.”

French Jews tend to be discreetabout their religion, mostly inresponse to centuries of anti-Semitism. This is why Nathan, asthe title of her cookbook indicates,had to search for Jewish cooking

in France.In recent decades, North

African Jews have built a vibrantlife in France. From Morocco,Tunisia and Algeria, they revel intheir Jewishness. Fragrant withspices, such as harissa (hot redchili sauce), their foods are easy tofind in French markets. Their tastysalads, sumptuous stews, hummusand couscous have great appealfor French Jewish families.

Recent decades have seen inter-marriage between Ashkenazimand Sephardim in France. Withcross-cultural menus becomingthe norm, Sephardic food is over-taking traditional Ashenazi cui-sine.

Aware of this reality, a friend ofNathan’s pleaded with her, “Pleasefind the old Ashkenazi recipesbefore they die out in France andit’s too late.”

“My whole life has been aboutguarding the legacy of Jewishfood,” said Nathan, whoseresearch in France found manytraditional Jewish foods can betraced to other countries.

“I love French cooking,” saidNathan, marveling at its variety.“The recipes in my cookbook areeasy, and I use as many of them aspossible on Shavuot.”

The following recipes are byNathan from “Quiches, Kugels,and Couscous: My Search forJewish Cooking in France.”

Fougasse (Dairy)A traditional Sabbath and holi-

day bread usually made with oilbut at Shavuot is prepared withmilk.Ingredients:2 t. active dry yeast1/2 c. softened butter1-1/2 c. milk, heated to lukewarm6-8 c. all-purpose flour1 T. salt1/4 c. honeySemolina for scatteringOlive oil for brushingPreparation:

Put the yeast, butter, and luke-warm milk in the bowl of a stand-ing mixer and blend. Graduallyadd 6 c. of flour, the salt, andhoney to the yeast mixture, stir-ring with the dough hook andadding more flour as necessary tillthe dough comes together. Formthe dough into a ball and let it risein a bowl, covered, for 1 hr. Thendivide the dough into 2 equal por-tions. Roll out each into an ovalabout ¼” thick. Preheat oven to400 degrees, scatter some semoli-na on a cookie sheet, and transferthe dough onto the prepared sheet.Let rise for 30 min. Brush eachloaf with olive oil and bake in theoven for about 20 minutes. Eatwhen warm, if possible.

Yield: 2 loaves of Fougasse

French Cold Beet Soup(Borscht) (Dairy)

Russian immigrants beforeWorld War I brought Borschtrecipes to France.Ingredients:2 lbs. raw beets (about 4)1 lb. onions (2 med. sized)2 cloves garlic, peeled and leftwhole1 T. sugarSalt and freshly ground pepper totaste3 T. balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. sour cream4 T. fresh dill, chervil, or mint cutinto chiffonadePreparation:

Peel the beets and onions. Cutthem into chunks and toss themtogether in a large soup pot. Pourin about 2 quarts of water, orenough to cover the vegetables byan inch or so. Add the garlic,sugar, salt, and pepper to taste.Bring to a boil, skimming the sur-face of any impurities that rise.Lower the heat, cover, and simmerfor about an hour, or until thebeets are cooked. Stir in the vine-gar and let cool. When the souphas cooled off, ladle the vegeta-bles and some of their broth into ablender and puree to the consisten-cy of a thick soup. Adjust thethickness and seasoning of thesoup to your taste, adding morebeet broth for a thinner soup.Serve cold in soup bowls with adollop of the sour cream and asprinkle of one of the herbs.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Salmon with Pearl Onions,Lettuce, and Peas (Dairy)

This recipe has been handeddown through the generationssince the first Jews left Spain dur-ing the Inquisition.Ingredients:10 oz. pearl onions1 T. butter5 lg. lettuce leaves (preferablyRomaine or Bibb), washed andhalved2 c. shelled peas, fresh or frozenand defrosted2 t. sugar3 sprigs fresh thyme3 sprigs fresh summer savory2 T. chopped fresh parsleySalt and freshly ground pepper totaste2 lb. salmon fillets, cut into 4-6servings

Preparation:Bring a sm. saucepan of water

to a boil. Drop in the pearl onionsand boil for 3 min. Turn off thewater and remove the onions witha slotted spoon to a bowl of coldwater. When they reach room tem-perature, cut the root ends and poponions out of the skin. Melt thebutter over medium heat in aDutch oven or other heavy-bot-tomed pan. Stir in the onions andthe lettuce, and saute for 2-3 min.Stir in the peas, sugar, thyme,savory, parsley, salt, pepper, and1/4 c. water. Cover and simmerslowly for about 5 min. Gentlynestle the salmon pieces amongthe peas, onions, and herbs. Coverand cook for 10-15 min., or till thesalmon is just barely cookedthrough. Pluck out the herb sprigsand serve.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Sweet Couscous (Dairy orPareve)

Popular year-round amongNorth African Jews in France, forShavuot this dish is made withbutter and served with yogurt.Ingredients:4 lbs. onions (about 8 med.sized), peeled and thinly sliced inrings4 T. vegetable oil or butter1 T. sugarPinch of saffron1/4 c. raisins1/2 c. sliced or roughly choppedblanched almonds1 lb. (about 2 c.) uncooked cous-cousSalt and freshly ground pepper totasteOptional accompaniment: yogurtPreparation:

In a frying pan, saute the onionsin the butter or oil over med. heattill translucent. Add the sugar andsaffron, and continue to cook tillcaramelized and jam like. Add theraisins and almonds, cooking until

the almonds are golden. Preparethe couscous according to thepackage instructions, seasoning itwith salt and pepper. Mound thecouscous in the middle of a plateand surround with the onions,raisins, and almonds. Accompanywith yogurt, if using.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Tarte Au Fromage (CrustlessPolish Cheesecake) (Dairy)

This cheesecake, quite differentfrom its American counterpart,reminds Joan Nathan of many shehas eaten throughout France,including the one at Finkelsztajn’sDelicatessen in Paris.Ingredients:Butter for greasing the pan1/2 c. milk16 oz. ricotta cheese1 c. creme fraiche5 lg. eggs,separated2/3 c. sugarZest and juice of 1 lemon1 t. vanilla extract1/4 t. salt1/2 c. all-purpose flour1/2 c. raisins (optional)Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350degrees. Butter a 10” springformpan. Beat together the milk, ricot-ta cheese, creme fraiche, eggyolks, sugar, lemon zest and juice,vanilla, and salt in the bowl of anelectric mixer or another lg. bowl.Toss the flour with the raisins, ifusing, and beat into the cheese bat-ter. In a clean bowl with cleanbeaters, beat the egg whites to stiffpeaks. Gently fold them into thecheese batter in three batches.Pour into the greased pan and bakefor 40 min., or till golden and firmin the center. Allow to cool for atleast 20 min. before unmolding.

Yield: 8-10 servingsb Y

The Charlotte Jewish News - June-July 2011- Page 25

WISHING A FULL ANDSPEEDY RECOVERY TO

Arlene Goldstein from Jill andEd Newman

Elliot Sanderson from Marilynand Mike Tuckman

Paula and Richard Klein fromMarilyn and Mike Tuckman

Zachary Shporer from Lillianand Irving Bienstock

Gerri Goldenberg from RuthBrandt

Helene Cullen from RuthBrandt

Helene Rivlin from RuthBrandt

MAZEL TOV TOJack Fagin from Eugene

SchafferAbigail Lillian Levinson for

your Bat Mitzvah from BerniceZeitlin

Jake Miller for your BarMitzvah from Susan and BlakeKelley

Roz and Ivan Cooper on yourgranddaughter’s naming fromRuth and Alan Goldberg

Jerry Wolff on your weddingfrom Meg Goldstein and MattLuftglass

Alene and Sam Strause on themarriage of Lisa and Lucky fromMaxine Silverstein

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TOShirley and Edwin Goodman

from Fay Sinkoe and Family

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TOLinda Bass from Eliza and Rich

Carney

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOAlvin Schoor from Celia

MandelEd Newman from Jackie

Pickus, Harriet and Mark PerlinBarbara Sussman from Ruth

and Alan GoldbergCynthia Abrams from Ruth and

Alan GoldbergNorma Pepper Andell from

Erika Prager

IN HONOR OFPenny Krieger from Eileen

Schwartz

IN MEMORY OFPhilip “Buddy” Fisher to Jerry

and Sheila Fisher from Fran andBill Schwartz, Lynn and PaulEdelstein, Barbara Sklut, Berniceand Nat Roberts, Bette and AbeBober,

Eugene Cohen to Arthur Cohenand Vera Cohen from Jenny andRich Rosenthal

Ilse Weiss to JenniferRosenberg from Jenny and RichRosenthal

In memory of Ilse Weiss toJennifer Rosenberg and JoanTerlinsky from Melissa and BarrySchumer

John Pransky to Baila Pranskyfrom Dorothy Schulman

Karen Dubin to Bernice andBuddy Roberts from MonaRadiloff

Ralph Geldbart to MadalynGeldbart from Audrey and MarkMandel

Rosa Kohn to Renee andJoseph Steiner from Jenny andRich Rosenthal and Ida MarieBerman

Ruth Hannum to Wayne andLarry Seltzer from BeverlyDarienzo

Sol Levine to Miles Levinefrom Maxine and Gary Silverstein

Steven Gainsboro to HollyGainsboro and Sally Ann andManny Rosenfield from Lois andSanford Benjamin

The sister of Ruth Sachs fromDorothy Schulman

HAPPY PASSOVER TOJoan and Morton Kaplan from

Joel Josephs

BEST WISHES FOR GOODHEALTH TO

Vera Mendel from Lois andSanford Benjamin Y

Donations to JFS from April 1 to May 12

Shavuot with a French Accent


By Edmon J. Rodman Los Angeles (JTA) — I hear

America singing, except it’s inHebrew.

Approaching Shavuot, the timeof matan Torah, the giving of theTorah, I have heard the song of thenew Torah reader in a storefrontminyan, and the song of the Jewby choice; the singing of Torah incyberspace, and the 60-year-oldchanting for the first time.

How did this happen? Aftergenerations of relegating Torahreading to professionals, and tothose seemingly born into this art-ful skill, who finally took the“can’t” out of cantillation?

A new wave of Torah readers iscoming online, literally. How dothey do it?

To begin, open a Hebrew andEnglish edition of a Chumash, theFive Books of Moses — it willhelp you navigate through theweekly Torah portions. Beloweach word are the usual dashes, Tshapes and dots — the vowelsused by many non-native Hebrewspeakers to give each word properpronunciation.

Look closer still and you willsee above and below each wordanother set of curlicues, dots,curves and zigzags. These marksare the Torah trope — “ta’ameiha-mikra” or “te’amim” — usedfor the public singing of sacredtexts wherever Jews gather topray.

As a group, the trope form asystem of musical notation thatcan connect us in an intimate wayto the Torah — the gift that withShavuot we are about to celebrate.

Trope, also called niggun, orcantillation, in addition to telling

the chanter, the ba’al koreh, howto sing each word, tells them howto punctuate each verse — whichwords to sing together, whichapart and where to place theemphasis.

Arguments have even beenmade that trope adds meaning tocertain key words.

Here’s the really hard thingabout trope: They do not appearon the Torah scroll, and must bememorized and then applied to thetext.

Torah trope typically is taughtto bar mitzvah-age childrenthrough CD, cassette, and mp3player, accompanied by a printedversion, a mnemonic device thatshows the musical notes for eachtrope, arranging them by commoncombinations and usage.

For most Jews in NorthAmerica, bar mitzvah time is tropetime. Once it’s missed — perhapsyou passed on the whole bar mitz-vah thing — it’s very difficult foran adult to go back and learn.

Yet you can. I did.I did not read from the Torah at

my bar mitzvah. With too manybaby boomers at my suburbantemple and not enough teachers,the cantor was happy if we learnedthe Torah blessings and sweatedthrough a haftarah.

I was nearly 40 when I finallyread from the Torah. My prayercommunity, the Movable Minyan,had just purchased a sefer Torah,and I wanted to be among the firstto read from it.

A friend who often read Torahrecorded three verses for me on acassette. Wary of trope, I learnedmy first reading the way manyteens do — by memorizing it.

The morning of my first read-ing, our minyan had moved into aneighborhood living room. On asimple tabletop, converted to ashulchan, I picked up the silverTorah pointer, the yad, and readfor the first time, stumbling whenthe tape in my head didn’t matchthe reading, but pulling through tothe final “sof passuk,” the musicalcue marking the end of the pas-sage.

I didn’t need someone givingme a Cross pen to know that inthose few minutes, about 26 yearslate, I had chanted myself into anew Jewish adulthood: Hebrewcalligraphy was singing, and Icould finally hear the words.

Today, years later, after leaningthe trope and being able to mastera short aliyah or two, I need to ask:If we can Twitter, why can’t wecantor?

The music of our lives is allaround us. Why don’t we want tosing it? Tone deafness does notquite cover it. Inability to readmusic doesn’t either. Gender-based prohibitions, in many set-tings, are no longer an argument.Is reading Hebrew the barrier?

There is already an intrepidcrew of cantors, tutors and knowl-edgeable lay teachers out there

struggling to teach the pre-teenlearner: the Hebrew beginner, thetone deaf, the “my parents-made-me-comers.”

We also need a group just aseager and trained to teach the adultlearner: the shul-shy, the preoccu-pied, the “don’t-have-the-timers.”

With the rise of the minyan andhavurah movements, who willread Torah? How will new readerslearn?

Go online. An explosion of sitesand products teaches trope inevery conceivable way: terrifictrainers, tutors, CDs, and mp3s,even powerful learning tools thatcreate individual Torah portionrecordings.

Sites that will get you up andchanting are ORT’s Navigating theBible (http://bible.ort.org) andEllie Wackerman’s Torah TropeTutor (http://www.ellietorah.com/index.html). YouTube evenhas a video that will give you ataste, graphically and in song, howto chant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6X42cb8aE.

Listen, you can do this. A newsong, a shir chadash awaits.

Music is all around us, flyingabout our heads; simple melodies,memorized, internalized: the fivenote pattern from “CloseEncounters,” the six notes leadingup to the word “charge,” at theballgame, even the Super MarioBrothers theme song.

We have grown accustomed toso many bits and downloads, thatlearning the few notes of themunach or gershayim tropesshould be easy.

To a generation that invented itsown text messaging notation, andworks emoticons into their texts,

integrating a few musical squig-gles into your lives should be acinch ; -).

Need an assist? Simply followthe teaching in Pirke Avot and“find yourself a teacher; get your-self a friend.”

At our minyan, mov-ableminyan.org, we have had suc-cess in teaching Torah reading byorganizing small classes, four tosix students, who study with ahired teacher.

Each student pays a portion,and the minyan underwrites thebalance. Meeting one evening aweek for a short six weeks, thestudents, adults all — some withgood Hebrew skills, some stillworking hard — are ready to chantat one of our Shabbat morningservices.

Some totally zing it, othersstruggle. Proper names and trickytrope combinations can trip upeven the most polished reader. Ourexperience has been be patient andcorrect gently. This is the invest-ment that a community must maketo continue a tradition that goesback to Ezra, and some say evenMoses.

Many new readers have said it’sa life-changing experience. A fewhave become regular chanters; twowomen were able to have their batmitzvahs as a result. All wouldagree that learning to read Torah,to leyn, has drawn them into thecircle of understanding and own-ership of the text.

On Shavuot, with the chantingof the Ten Commandments, cele-brate a moment when we werehanded so much. Teachers, adultlearners, hold on to the Tree ofLife by singing together. Y

(Edmon J. Rodman is a LosAngeles writer and designer.)

On Shavuot, Why is That Calligraphy Singing?

By Edmon J. RodmanLos Angeles (JTA) — Like to

stay up late and party all night?Do I have a Jewish holiday for

you.Shavuot, literally “weeks,” is

the festival marking the end of theseven-week period of the countingof the omer that began the secondnight of Passover. The two-dayfestival, which begins this year atsundown June 7, is celebrated asthe giving of the Torah.

An increasingly popular customis the tikkun leil Shavuot, “repair-ing the eve” of Shavuot, an all-night study session on the holi-day’s first night. According to amidrash, at Mount Sinai the nightbefore receiving the Torah, theJews slept and needed to be awak-ened with a shofar. So now wemust make repairs by showing weare awake and ready.

Think of it as a lack-of-slumberparty. Many sessions begin late inthe evening and run all night,straight on till morning. It’s aTorah all-nighter that leaves yourefreshed and reconnected.

Traditionally, a group tries tocover as much Jewish texturalground as possible studying theTorah and the Talmud.

Untraditionally, I have organ-ized several group study eveningsbased on the idea that on Shavuot,in the time of the Temple, Jewswould travel to Jerusalem to offertheir first fruits.

Participants present things cre-

ated or accomplished that year:work finished, classes completed,Jewish books that were read andenjoyed.

Many of us already pull all-nighters for all sorts of things —mostly work, sometimes play. Sowhat about pulling an all-nighteron Shavuot, with your first fruitbeing taking an hour or two tostudy Hebrew?

You know, Hebrew, Ivrit, thatforeign language elective forwhich you received an “incom-plete.”

On Shavuot, does receiving theTen Commandments need to belike seeing a foreign movie?

Wouldn’t you like to lose thesubtitles?

As teenagers, many of us gaveHebrew a good try; we have theconfirmations and bar/bat mitz-vahs to prove it.

What happened?According to my friend Cheri

Ellowitz, education director at TheTemple-Tifereth Israel inBeachwood, OH, and author of“Mitkadem” (URJ Press), a self-paced program for learningHebrew, the issue of studentsretaining Hebrew is a matter oflack of context.

“If they don’t do Jewish thingsout of their classrooms and theydon’t go to services and use theskills we’re teaching them,” shewrote to me recently, “then there’sno relevance to the material.”

As an adult, are you still dig-

ging for a context? Searching forthat relevance?

If it’s any consolation, therehave been generations of Jews,especially since Roman times,who spoke no Hebrew; they usedAramaic. During that period,Hebrew remained a language ofholy texts and correspondence, butit was not the language of thestreet.

Hebrew’s revival as a spokenlanguage didn’t happen until thebeginning of the 20th century,thanks to the determined work ofteacher and journalist Eliezer BenYehuda, who is known as thefather of modern Hebrew.

So are you ready for a Hebrewrevival on your street? Do youfinally have a context? Like want-ing to attend synagogue, but find-ing those “trenzleeturayshuns” arenot really helping. Or on a trip toIsrael you’re dying to know whatit says on the protest signs.

Some days I feel Hebrew is inthe air. I get a buzz when I seeHebrew letters on a sign, shirt oreven bumper sticker.

Kabbalists for centuries haveclaimed that Hebrew letters havetheir own energy. Somewherebetween the second and third cen-turies, an unknown author wrotethe Sefer Yetzirah, called either thebook of formation or creation. Ashort but powerful text, it’s aboutthe formation of the universe —how God used the energy of the 22letters of the Hebrew alphabet to

create it.The text reveals how each letter

has its own spiritual power thatGod combines and focuses to cre-ate planets and stars, the cosmos,even time.

“Twenty-two letters he carvedthem out, he hewed them andformed them with life of all cre-ation,” the Sefer Yetzirah says.

As we accelerate atoms tounimagined speeds, crashing themtogether, it’s humbling to discoverthat centuries earlier this textalready imagined the power creat-ed by simply combining alefs,beits, and gimmels.

What if there’s some energy tobe gained by pushing a few letterstogether on the first night ofShavuot?

The idea that a creative forceinhabits each letter is a concept werecall from the story of RabbiLoew and the Golem of Prague. Inone version of the folk tale, thelifeless human form of clay isbrought to life by writing the word“emet,” truth - spelled aleph,mem, tav - on the Golem’s fore-head.

As I approach Shavuot, afterweeks and weeks of omer count-ing, there are days when I feel justlike an emet-less version of theGolem: listless, unformed, justlying around. How then to stay upall night on Shavuot and study?

You could try sticking a fewHebrew letters on your forehead.Or for even better results, holdthem about ten inches in front ofyour eyes. Y

(Edmon J. Rodman is a JTAcolumnist who writes on Jewishlife from Los Angeles.)

Visiting the Alef Garden on Shavuot

“Ruth the Moabite knew all about wheat and wheat fieldsAbout eyes big with love

And golden stubble after the harvestAnd Naomi, who said, “I went out full

And the Lord hath brought me home again empty-”She knew all about the physics of the empty and the full,

About her sons who died, about the stifled cryOf a womb emptying like an accordion

Which makes music out of the full and the empty.”

--Yehuda Amichai, translated by Hannah Bloch and Hannah Kronfeld

By Edmon J. RodmanLos Angeles (JTA) — In a

knowledge world ruled by booksand pages and digitized memory,why do Jews hold onto the scroll?

As Shavuot and its focus onreceiving the Torah approach, Imust ask: Could it be that rolledalong together somewhere in ourminds with the love of Torah is thelove of scroll?

We are fascinated with bookforms that when opened, extend-ed, unfolded or unrolled changeshape before our eyes. In thescroll, we have a form that canalso expand our minds.

Though the scroll is used inother cultures and religions, itremains a distinctive Jewish form,distinguishing it especially fromearly Christian writings that usedthe newer form — the Romancodex, or book, to record theirwritings. It is our handmade, notmass-produced form passed fromgeneration to generation that weread, study and honor.

Seeing the words of the Torahscribed in perfect columns makesus think of a book. But as the

parchment unrolls without abeginning or an end in sight, wethink of a journey. You find yourplace in a book by turning thepages, moving through paper bythe numbers. With the Torah, youturn and turn and move throughplace and time.

Grab on to the wooden spindlesto which the Torah is attached, theetzai chaim. As your hands andarms move, you also movethrough time, places, names andlaw. As you cross the Red Sea, youcross the sea of context as well. Asyou scroll, and the portion ischanted, the physical actionmoves you inside the story: thesea parts, you hurry through, andare saved and ready to sing as youreach the other side.

Consider that in the Torah whenthe Ten Commandments aregiven, they are written on twotablets. From a book designer’spoint of view, the tablets are twopages — a spread. Form-wise thisis perfect — attention is focusedonly on the two tablets; nothingmore is needed.

Yet the Torah is not contained

on a series of tablets or pages, it ison a roll. So where is our attentiondirected?

Open the Torah scroll to a sin-gle column and that is what wesee. Open it two columns, three,four, and our attention suddenlyopens to the entire beautiful calli-graphic panorama before us.

As time passes the scrollbecomes more modern. As aninformation system, the scroll is aforerunner to many of our moderninformation systems that alsowork by revolving mechanisms:computer hard drives and DVDplayers. We scroll down our com-puters only reluctantly, hopingwhat we need is in the openingscreen. But unlike the monitor, theTorah scroll encourages us by itsform to scroll across — to contin-ue to read, visualize and, weekafter week, make the journey’send.

Our brains are wired mostly forvisual experience. It‘s a visualsystem that is ready for more. Asyou scroll through the Torah,names and places pass by and themind makes connections. The

scroll encourages the particularform of Jewish study that requiresskipping from passage to passage,and from book to book. (So, addWeb surfing to the claims ofJewish invention). The form helpsthe mind hold together as one thewords, the verses and parashotfrom throughout the Torah.

For those whose task it is to thefind the place in the Torah for theircongregations, the scroll can be acurvilinear calendar, the positionof the reading being associatedwith season or date. Many of usknow that if the left side is small,then the end of the Jewish year isapproaching and it is time to sendout your Rosh HaShanah cards.

Even our coming Shavuot read-ings remind us of the scroll’s cir-cularity. On this holiday, manyread the liturgical poem Akdamut,which pays poetic homage to theendlessness of Torah. The end ofeach line ends with the Hebrewletters tav-alef, the final and firstletters of the Hebrew alphabet,reminding us that when we get tothe end of the scroll we beginanew.

Our culture places high valueon creating whole designed envi-ronments. In restaurants, hotels,theaters and homes, we surroundourselves with music, lighting, artand colors. We admire the seam-less and the artful motif.

The scroll, the Torah, is a gate-way to a whole environment aswell. It unrolls in so many ways,and as it does, we can becomeenveloped by its words and tex-ture, and understand that indeedeverything is in it.

It is said that on the first nightof Shavuot, at midnight, the heav-ens open. This year, imagine theyunroll. Y

(Edmon J. Rodman, a bookand toy designer, designed“Mitkadem” and “JewishHolidays Building Blocks.” He isthe author of “Nomo, the TornadoWho Took America by Storm.” Heis a Torah reader and occasionalroller at the Movable Minyan inLos Angeles.)


By Edmon J. Rodman Los Angeles (JTA) — Does it

take a special gift to be a Jewishfather?

Father’s Day is coming, YomHaDad, and it’s a good time whilewe are unwrapping the heartfeltgifts made by our school-age chil-dren, or opening the card or tiefrom our wives, to think aboutwhat it means to be a Jewishfather.

I mean a real Jewish menschdad. Not a Coen brothers blackcomedy “Serious Man” Jewishdad, or a Krusty the clown Jewishcaricature rabbi dad on “TheSimpsons,” but a real life, change-the-diaper to off-to-college kind ofJewish dad. What does it mean tobe one of those?

A Jewish dad, an abba, being afraternal member of an order thathas survived by questioningeverything, turns the gift ritualaround and asks: What gifts have Igiven?

According to the Talmud(Kiddushin 29a), “A father is obli-gated to do the following for hisson: to circumcise him, to redeemhim if he is a first born, to teachhim Torah, to find him a wife, andto teach him a trade. Others say:teaching him how to swim aswell.”

For a daughter, modern obliga-tions for most Jews include mostof the above minus the “redeem-ing” and a simchat bat, or babynaming, instead of a brit. Anddon’t forget the Code of JewishLaw’s “A father must provide hisdaughter with appropriate clothingand a dowry.”

For a Jewish man contemplat-ing fatherhood, or already there,this is a daunting gift list.

So, considering my three sons,and taking the Talmud as a Jewishfather’s gift list, I am going toreview past purchases to see how Ihave done. Have there been anybargains or returns? Besides myeternal wisdom that black cherry

soda goes great with latkes, whatJewish gifts have I given?

Gift No. 1: the bris. There wasshaky moment of indecision whenthe mohel asked me, “Would youlike to perform the mitzvah your-self?”

Now there’s a gift. At the time I was working

extensively with creating thepaper mechanical workings ofchildren’s pop–up books. It wasexacting work, requiring dexteritywith very sharp cutting blades. Ina morning full of great expecta-tions and Jewish life-cycle buzz Iremember thinking: How hardcould this be?

Fortunately I listened to a stillsmall voice that said somethinglike, “Get real. Set up a collegefund instead.”

Gift No. 2: the redeeming. Ourfirstborn was one half of a duo offraternal twins. He is proudly sixminutes older than his brother. Atthe pidyon ha’ben, the redemptionof the firstborn, I get asked anoth-er question, this time by the rabbi:“Which do you prefer, to give meyour firstborn or to redeem him?”

Though asked rhetorically, Ibriefly consider the proposition,and then hand over five silver dol-lars. One month in, I am a muchinvested Jewish dad.

Gift No. 3: “Teaching himTorah.” Here’s where the longjourney into the heart of abba-nessbegins. Sending our kids to pre-school at the local JCC was thefirst step. We still use the meno-rahs they made from large metalhex nuts.

Later we decided to send oursons to an afterschool Hebrewprogram at a nearby synagogue.The gift included occasional chatswith the principal on theirprogress and “exuberance,” aswell as occasional “groan andmoan” commentary from my kids.

But they learned, and all threehad bar mitzvahs in a smaller,minyan setting, where things like

the importance of showing up, lis-tening and leading are much morepronounced.

They graduated to a uniquecitywide Los Angeles Hebrewhigh school program where stu-dents examine Jewish values,study Jewish stereotypes in themedia, and are encouraged tolearn and lead services; all giftswith a lifetime guarantee.

Gift No. 4: “Find him a wife.”For anyone who has helped some-one to find a wife or husband, thisis a true gift. Though I don’t planon finding any of my sons a wife,I have supplied a certain amountof commentary on what religionthat wife should be.

What’s my argument? Basicallythat sharing my life with a Jewishwoman has brought compassionand a sense of “shalom bayit,”peacefulness, into my life.

For my kids, only time will tellif this is a gift that will keep ongiving.

Gift No. 5: “Teach him a trade.”Colleges, trade schools and thearmed services already do muchof the work here. That leaves theJewish dad with giving his chil-dren, I think, the greater gift:teaching them once a week not topunch the clock.

Call the gift “applied slackeris-tics.” On Shabbat, our kids saw usstop for a day, not answer thephone and just hang out. The“trade” here is learning to leavetime not just for the sayings of thefathers but the mothers, daughtersand sons, too.

As for that last item, “Teachinghim how to swim,” a JCC swim-ming instructor performed thoseduties.

As for me, the Jewish dad,swimming against the cultural tide— I’m still taking lessons. Y

(Edmon J. Rodman is a JTAcolumnist who writes on Jewishlife from Los Angeles.)

Exchanging Gifts on “Yom Ha’Dad”

At Shavuot, Professing a Love of Torah and for the Scroll

Commentary of The Bookof Ruth

Askenazi Jews read The Book of Ruth on Shavuot for a num-

ber of reasons: because the book’s events take place at harvest

time, because Ruth’s “conversion” to Judaism mirrors our on-

going acceptance of Torah since Sinai; and because of the book’s

concluding genealogy which leads from Ruth to King David,

who, tradition says, was born and died on Shavuot. A major

theme of the book is the intense love and devotion between Ruth

and her mother-in-law Naomi, a love which deepens as they sup-

port one another in the days and years after the deaths of Naomi’s

sons. The three major figures in the book -- Naomi, Ruth, and

Boaz -- all exhibit great chesed (lovingkindess), which entails

doing more for a person than the law actually requires, sensitive-

ly providing for his/her unique needs. Through the study of

Ruth’s classic and modern commentaries, we can derive insights

about the nature of friendship (some trace Ruth’s name to re’ut,which means friendship) and appreciate the help loved ones pro-

vide in coping with suffering and tragedy.

--Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, LMSW; SeRaF, NationalCenter for Jewish Healing

Ruth and Naomi’s relationship is also a metaphor that allows

us to explore the dynamic relationship between Israel (the Jewish

people) and God. We are all Naomi in her deepest despair.

Having lost everything, Naomi cannot find anything to hope for.

She sees herself as bitter, empty. Ruth accompanies her in her

despair, commits herself to being a part of Naomi’s life, no mat-

ter what. Ruth says: “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you

dwell, I will dwell.” Ruth is the symbol for God, standing with

us, bringing us hope, strength and assurance even in our worst

moments. Naomi provides Ruth with an opportunity to give love

and support, and Ruth provides for Naomi’s needs, showing her

that hope is the only antidote for despair. Both women give, and

in so doing, both women receive.

--Excerpted from Torah Commentary for Shavuot 5765,Rabbi Rafael Goldstein, SeRaF, National Center for Jewish

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