Lion of Judah Donors Honored at Special Lunciieon
At a special luncheon on
April 18, held at the Tower
Club, seven women were hon-
Lynn Lerner (R) receives pin from Meg Goldstein (L) as Emily Zimmern
watches.
ored for their outstanding
financial commitment to Jew
ish life. Lynn Lerner, the new
est member of this leadership
group, was presented with her
Lion of Judah pin by Meg
Goldstein, 1988 Women’s Di
vision Campaign chairperson.
Emily Zimmern, president
of Women’s Division, wel
comed each of the women. She
remarked on the importance of
their commitment to improve
the quality of Jewish life in
Charlotte, worldwide and es
pecially in Israel. Through
their leadership roles, these
women set the pace for the
campaign.
Guest speaker for the event
was Lois Blonder from At
lanta. Mrs. Blonder is the cur
rent ch£iirman of the Southern
Region Women’s Division Ca
binet of United Jewish Ap
peal. She also serves on the
National Women’s Division
Board for UJA. She spoke
about the National Lion of
Judah program and how the
program has grown since its
inception in 1972.
Mrs. Blonder described the
origins of the Lion of Judah
category, which was intro
duce in Miami for the 1972
Campaign. Before that time,
no women in Miami had given
anywhere near $5000, the re
quirement for this category.
After the introduction of the
Lion of Judah pin, forty-two
women came into this cate
gory. Since that initial year,
the category has grown by.
over 650%, and in 1985,
Miami’s Women’s Division
had 320 women giving $5,000
or more. In 1981, after having
been asked a number of times,
Miami apeed to allow other
conununities to use its Lion of
Judah design and provided
guidelines for leadership parti
cipation and giving. Since
1981 the pin has been adopted
by over 100 communities.
Charlotte adopted the Lion
of Judah program in 1986. Be
ing honored at this year’s
“Lion” event were Pearl Kier,
hostess of the luncheon, along
with Bobbi Bernstein, Anita
Blumenthal, Renee Gorelick,
Gloria Lerner, Lynn Lerner
and Sandra Levine.
The Lion of Judah
The Lion of Judah or Aryeh
Yehudeih is first mentioned in
the Bible in the Book of Gene
sis, Chapter 49, verse 9. The
Patriarch Jacob has called his
12 sons together and is pro
phesying as to what he thinks
wiU become of them and their
descendants. He refers to his
fourth-born, Judah, as a
“bon’s whelp” (“gur aryeh”)
the king of beasts whose anger
is to be feared. Of Judah, his
father says that he will main
tain the sceptre of the ruler and
be the recipient of tribute 2ind
homage from his people. It is
said, in fact, that the House of
David comes from the Tribe of
Judah.
Through the centuries, the
Lion of Judah has come to
symbolize not just Judah eind
his tribe, but the entire Jewish
people. This lion is frequently
depicted on our ritual objects
such as rimonim (Torah
crowns or finials), yadaim
(Torah pointers) and parochot
(Torah mantles.)
The kings of Ethiopia proud
ly referred to themselves as
The Lion of Judah, as they
believed they were directly
descended from Menelik, the
son of King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba. This queen
was, of course, a black Ethio
pian woman.
Among Jews, names deriv
ing from the Lion of Judah are
very popular. There is often a
mixture of the Hebrew and
Yiddish versions.
The ruby was chosen as the
stone to add for a commitment
of $10,000 because the most
famous reference to women, in
our scriptures, the Eyshet
Hayil (Proverbs 31) says, “A
woman of valor—seek her out,
for she is to be v£ilued above
rubies.”
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