The
Charlotte
Jewish
NEWS
Addreaa Correction
^quested
Non-Profit Organizatfon
BULK RATE
U.S. PuMtage PAID
(Charlotte, N. C.
Permit No. 1208
Vol. 3 No. 9
Charlotte, North Carolina
October, 1981
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May you be inscribed
in the Book of Life for a
Itappyand healthy year.
Project Makes Strides
Leadership Retreat Successful
Israel Bonds Honor Bernstein
Mark Bernstein, prominent
Charlotte attorney and com
munity leader, will be the reci
pient of the 1981 Israel
Humanitarian Award. The
presentation will be made Sun
day evening, October 25 at an
Israel Bonds dinner to be held at
the Radisson Hotel.
In announcing the award,
Jerome Levin, chairman of
Charlotte Bonds for Israel,
said, *‘Mark Bernstein has been
a major force in shaping every
aspect of Jewish life. Through
his outstanding efforts and
ideas, we have become a proud
and progressive Jewish com
munity. We are pleased to offer
Mark the recognition he so
richly deserves.”
Guest speaker at the October
25 affair will be the world
renowned author and jour
nalist, Robert St. John.
“I have had a love affair with
Israel for almost 30 years,” says
Mr. St. John, “and it grows
more intense each time 1 go
back to cover news events,
research another book or gather
lecture material.”
After being wounded by Nazi
bullets while fleeing from
Hitler’s Europe, St. John went
to Palestine to cover the war he
knew would break out when the
UN partition plan went into ef
fect. He has been back 28 times
since then.
He has written biographies of
David Ben Gurion, Abba Eban
(Continued on Page 9)
A “Spirit of Wildacres” is
developing among the leader
ship of Charlotte’s Jewish Com
munity as the result of a Labor
Day Weekend retreat attended
by representatives of the five
organizations that are planning
to be together on one Pro
vidence Road campus.
The retreat may one day be
remembered as the real turning
point in the years-long effort to
establish on one tract of land
new homes for Temple Israel
and Temple Beth El, a new
Jewish Community Center, and
a Joint Educational Facility to
serve those organizations, the
Hebrew Academy and the
Federation.
There were quiet discussions,
resolutions of differences,
developments of plans, and
much just plain camaraderie. In
fact, a number of the par
ticipants in the 63-hour
weekend described an euphoria,
a high, that could not be ex
plained away by the 3,300 foot
elevation and striking beauty of
the Blumenthal’s wilderness
retreat.
There were many crucial ac
complishments:
• Representatives of the
boards of Temple Israel, Tem
ple Beth El, the Jewish Com
munity Center, the Hebrew
Academy and the Charlotte
Jewish Federation hammered
out the Joint Venture
Agreements with surprising
swiftness in a four-hour session.
In a nutshell, the agreement
spells out in legal language the
accords reached in large
measure during the many mon
ths of cooperative effort by the
President Council. But the
document is also a historic first,
since the kind of effort we’re
doing here has never been ac
complished elsewhere. In fact,
Mark Bernstein, who prepared
the draft, had few legal models
to follow. More about these
agreements later,
• The site plan — the propos
ed location of the buildings on
the Providence Road site — got
another going over in a session
with architect Gene Warren.
Many of the Foundation board
members present had been stu
dying the plan for months,
however their spouses and folks
who were also at Wildacres for
a parallel Devorah Hadassah
retreat got the opportunity to
see the reasons why Warren is
making his recommendations.
The excitement was electrifying!
Warren’s plan, worked out in
conjunction with the Founda
tion building committee chaired
by Bill Gorelick, takes into ac
count the topography of the
site, the soil, the drainage, the
existing woods, the slopes, and
several other factors.
• The board members, at a
Sunday mojning session chaired
by Foundation President Her
man Blunwnthal and Campaign
Chairman Al Levine, began
putting together the elements of
the campaign, including the
campaign team that will raise
the money for the project. The
group also began working on
the budget — how much the
project should cost.
• Unmet needs, as disclosed
in the recently completed com
munity survey, were the focal
point of a Saturday evening
discussion led by Public Rela-
r-In The I^ews
tions Chairman Bob Conn and
Foundation Executive Director
Marvin Bienstock. For instance,
there was a perception that
many members of the com
munity, both newcomers and
oldtimers, feel socially isolated.
So an effort was rapidly plann
ed to beef up the social and
cultural offerings through a
joint coordinating committee.
This committee would be form
ed under Foundation auspices,
but in reality would be a federa
tion of the member organiza
tions. Besides more coopera
tion, the survey called for more
emphasis on Jewish youth. A
solution for this should be made
easier by the project’s evolution
(including Track II discussions
that already have begun.)
• With much of the critical
work out of the way, there was
a consensus to aim for a vote on
the project at the individual in
stitutions during October. At
Temple Beth El, Temple Israel
and the JCC, votes of the
membership w\U bfe required. So
one key task of the public rela
tions committee is making sure
that everyone has enough in
formation to make an indepen
dent judgment. . Furthermore,
individual information commit
tees are being formed within
each organization to answer
questions about the project
from that organization’s
perspective.
(CJontinued on Page 8)
Academy News
...p.
5
For The Record
..p.
4
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs..
...p.
11
JCC News
..p.
6-7
Books In Review ...
...p.
8
L’Chaim
..p.
4
Bulletin Board
...p.
10
Lubavitcher Rebbe .
..p.
3
Calendar
...p.
11
Random Thoughts..
..p.
3
Candlelighting
...p.
3
Recipes
..p.
9
Classified Ads
...p.
11
This’n That
..p.
9
Editorials
...p.
2
World Beat
. p.
4
The Saudi Arms Package
The desert kingdom of Saudi
Arabia has no legislature, no
constitution, no political parties
and no suffrage. It is ruled by
one family in the most ab
solutist Arab tradition. Its
population, estimated at less
than 9 million (there has never
been a census), is more than 75
percent illiterate.
Since 1973, this backward,
feudal state has ordered no less
than $34 billion worth of
military hardware from the
United States, including a vast
array of military and training
projects. The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers is currently
managing the construction of a
huge network of Saudi military
cities, naval bases and air bases.
The U.S. Navy is managing a
Saudi naval expansion program
including two naval bases, a
naval academy, headquarters
and repair facilities, a training
program and the procurement
of corvettes, patrol boats,
minesweepers and Harpoon
missiles. The U.S. Army
Material Development and
Readiness Command is equipp
ing and training one logistic and
eight combat battalions of the
Saudi national Guard. Another
program is a package deal for
the purchase of F-5 fighter
planes, maintenance of the
planes by the U.S. and the train
ing of Saudi fighter pilots,
ground crews and other person
nel.
In 1980 alone Saudi Arabia
budgeted some $20.7 billion for
military expenditures, amoun
ting to nearly $300,000 for every
man in the Saudi Army — the
highest per capita military
budget in the history of the
world. But this apparently is not
enough. The Pentagon would
have us believe that the Saudis
can defend themselves only if
they get the AW ACS spy-and-
command plane — the most
sophisticated piece of electronic
equipment in the American
arsenal — and extra equipment
for their 62 F-I5’s that would
turn these jet fighters into lethal
offensive weapons equipped
with Sidewinder missiles, extra
fuel tanks and air-to-air refuel
ing equipment. (A fleet of aerial
refueling tankers is included in
the proposed $8.5 billion deal,
which adds another $110,000
per man for every Saudi soldier
under arms.)
The real mystery is why the
hard-headed, pro-Israel Reagan
Administration appears willing
to break a solemn pledge to the
United States Senate and risk
the loss of some of America’s
most highly-guarded military
secrets. For these will be two
immediate effects of any Con
gressional agreement to sur
render to the Saudi appetite for
the latest American military
hardware.
Three years ago Secretary of
Defense Harold Brown promis
ed the U.S. Senate, then
debating the sale of F-15 jets to
Saudi Arabia, that these planes
would never be equipped with
' the offensive capabilities that
could be used to attack Israel.
President Carter publicly
repeated that pledge last Oc
tober. Nothing has changed to
warrant breaking that promise.
How can the world believe
American commitments abroad
if promises made to the
American people are so lightly
repudiated?
The parallels between Iran
under the Shah and Saudi
Arabia under the sheiks are
frightening. When Khomeini
seized power in Iran,
sophisticated U.S. electronic,
radar, and weapons control
systems were compromised.
Saudi Arabia, like Iran, is
unstable and unreliable. Cor
ruption is rampant, discontent
growing, religious fanaticism
mounting. The danger of
revolution is underscored by the
(0>ntinued on Page 9)