Page 2-THE NEWS-August, 1988
THE CHARLOTTE JEWISH NEWS
Published monthly by:
Charlotte Jewish Federation Michael L. Minkin, Director
Foundation of Charlotte Jewish Community &
Jewish Community Center Barry Hantman, Director
Lubavitch of N.C Rabbi Yossi Groner, Director
Editor Rita Mond
Advertising Blanche Yarus
Copy deadline the 10th of each month
P.O. Box 13369, Charlotte, N.C. 28211
The appcarancc of advertising in Tlic New* dees not constitute a liasliratli
endorsement.
Editorials
Jewish Day School in Charlotte—
The End or a New Beginning?
The Charlotte Jewish Day School (formerly known
as the Hebrew Academy of NC) would have cele
brated its Chai yesir this new school year. However,
that will not happen since it has closed its doors of-
fici2illy this past month due to decreased enrollment.
The school will keep its incorporation and the board
will continue to meet on a regular basis with hope that
within the next few years it will be able to start once
again. There is extreme optimism that with the idea
of a Jewish community preschool on the horizon and
the initiation of Temple Israel’s pre-kindergarten,
that children from these classes will become the
nucleus of a new Jewish day school.
Good Jewish education is so important to our com
munity £ind the closing of the school will present a
terrible void for those who want it. However, with
the new Jewish Education Task Force having been
implemented and their concentrated efforts £ind
dedication, we can only look over the horizon for a
bright, new beginning. We need to educate our adults
as to the importance of Jewish education, our heritage
and the continuation of our religion, so that we may
impart the Jewish values to our children. When the
parents recognize this, then we will be able to have
a viable school once again.
—Rita Mond
Pope John Paul II Rewrites
Austrian History
Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum
The latest visit of Pope John Paul H was received
with deeply mixed feelings in the Jewish community.
According to reliable reports, the pope’s meeting
in Vienna with Austria’s chief rabbi and other Jewish
leaders was a generally positive experience.
Austrian Jews welcomed the pope’s rejection of
anti-Semitism, and his statement that ‘’we must
remember the Sho£ih and make certain that it is never
repeated.”
Jewish disenchantment — some said shock — was
in response to several contradictions. On the first day
of his Eirrival, the pope repeated the widespread
mythology that Austria and the Catholics there were
the primary “victims...of the cruel Nazi tyranny.”
Neither then nor later at the notorious Mauthausen
concentration camp did the pope refer to the Jews.
But the historic evidence is overwhelming to the
contrary and can not be revised. Austrians were not
passive victims. They jubilantly welcomed Hitler and
were among the cruelest Nazis.
Cardinal Innitzer and the Austrian bishops helped
establish Hitler’s regime by pledging to the Fuhrer
their total obedience. The Austrian hiereirchy did not
raise its voice in protest against the persecution of
Jews.
Mauthausen was one of the most vicious of the
concentration camps, where one-third of its victims
were tortured for being Jews.
What young Austrians needed to hear from Pope
John Paul II was an unambiguous caU to face that
nightmarish past, not to evade its evils by rewriting
history.
Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum is director of interna
tional relations for the American Jewish Committee.
The President Speaks
By Bobbi Bernstein, Pres. CJF
Six months have passed
since I assumed the Presiden
cy of the Charlotte Jewish
Federation emd it's time to
give a progress report on the
status of the Federation.
The 1988 Campaign is essen
tially behind us, and through
the combined efforts of our
wonderful volunteers and
staff, we’ve raised approx
imately 1.2 million dollars — a
7% increase over last year.
Plans are already underway
for the 1989 campaign: the
chairmen are in place, the com
mittees are forming, and the
campaign cedendar has been
developed. Over the summer,
the campaign cabinet (heads of
each division) will be meeting
with campaign cochairs,
Richard Klein and Paul Put-
terman, to plan activities, map
out strategies and actively
recruit new solicitors for the
upcoming campaign. Anyone
interested in being a part of
the 1989 campaign is en
couraged to call the Federa
tion office, 366-5007.
In addition to our all-
important campaign activi
ties, much time and energy
have been devoted to restruc
turing and revitalizing many
of the other Federation com
mittees. Cochairmen Bill
Ashendorf and Moses Luski of
Oakland, Calif. (JTA) — Kit
ty Dukakis denies criticism
that as a Jewish woman mar
ried to a non-Jewish mem, she
would serve as a bad role
model were her husband to be
elected president of the United
States.
In an interview with the
bimonthly magazine Tikkun,
the wife of Massachusetts
Gov. Michael Dukakis said her
marriage to the Democratic
presidential nominee actuaUy
encouraged her to seek a
“more formal identification”
with her Jewish roots.
“When people write articles,
as they have, about the fact
that I would be a bad role
model because I am married to
a Christian, what they don’t
realize is that there are men
and women like myself who
are much more closely iden
tified with their Jewish roots
because they have married
outside the faith,” she said in
an interview conducted May
20 by Michael Lemer, editor of
the magazine.
Dukakis was responding to
an editorial that appeared in
the Denver-based Intermoun-
The Community Relations
Committee (CRC) have formed
a strong committee. CRC
already sponsored two impor
tant community forums. Plans
are in motion for sub-commit
tees to deal with issues of anti-
Semitism and other concerns
affecting our relationship to
the greater Charlotte commu
nity.
Leadership Development has
a new and dynamic chair in
Bobby Damsky and he and his
conmiittee have begun plan
ning their 1988-89 year. This
18-month program is tenta
tively scheduled to begin in
October and will be limited in
enrollment to 40 participants.
Because of the success of our
first Leadership Development
class, we are anticipating a
surge of applications. Please
watch The Charlotte Jewish
News for further information
concerning this program.
The Jewish Education Com
mittee, under the leadership of
Ruth Goldberg, has already
been active in addressing the
needs of Jewish education in
our community. The commit
tee first met with Rabbi David
Schluker, a representative of
JESNA (Jewish Educational
Service of North America) who
was invited here to help us
take a look at ourselves. Rab
bi Schluker met with represen
tatives of all the Jewish in-
tain Jewish News at the
height of the primary cam
paign, charging that a
Dukakis presidency would
represent a troubling endorse
ment of intermarriage.
In the Tikkun article,
Dukakis spoke at length about
her Jewish upbringing in the
Boston suburb of Brookline,
saying that she has a “very
emotional connection with my
heritage.”
She also indicated that she
would play an active role in
shaping White House decision
making on Jewish issues
should her husband be elected
president in November.
Asked by Lerner which
Jewish leaders a Dukakis ad
ministration would work with,
Dukakis replied, “I don’t
think I can answer that
definitely, because it’s a policy
Michael and I haven’t dis
cussed.”
We encourage our readers’ view
points. Letters should be submitted
typewritten and (Jouble-Sfjaced and
signed. Please indude yoor address
arxl phone number. We reserve the
right to edit
stitutions in our community
and gave the committee an ob
jective view of what it might
accomplish. The committee
then formed two task forces to
1) reestablish the Joint
Jewish Studies Institute
and 2) to investigate the
possibility of establishing a
Bureau of Jewish Education.
We look forward with great
anticipation to the results of
the work of these two task
forces.
The Allocations committee
is hard at work preparing the
format for its upcoming meet
ings. A new structure has been
formed and is taking shape
under the capable leadership
of Shelton Gorelick, chair and
Emily Zimmern, cochtur. Un
der the new design, many
more Federation board mem
bers will be actively involved
in the allocations process.
Meanwhile, all recipients of
Federation funds have been
notified to begin preparing
their budgets and to be ready
to meet in early September.
The Cash Collections Chair,
Ron Katz, and his committee
have met to discuss new guide
lines for dealing with cash col
lection problems. An aggres
sive, new approach is under
way to insure prompt pay
ment of Federation pledges.
The new and enthusiastic
Missions chairmen, Phil and
Maddye Joffe, are already
making plans for the 1989
March mission to Israel. This
promises to be “the trip of a
lifetime” and all who are in
terested in going should call
the Federation office today.
The Teen Israel Summer
Scholarship program (T.I.S.S.),
which was also chaired by Phil
Joffe, selected Michael Lass as
this year’s recipient of the
T.I.S.S. scholarship. Michael
is currently enrolled in six
weeks of study in Israel. The
T.I.S.S. committee spent
many hours revising the cri
teria for eligibility for this
scholarship and the Federa
tion is grateful for their
dedication and hard work.
Wendy Rosen will be the new
chair of this committee.
The By-Laws chairman, Hal
Levinson, is currently working
on some changes in our by
laws. Our budget committee,
headed by Bennett Lyons, is
hard at work improving our
reporting system and working
on the 1989 Federation
budget.
Women’s Division, under
the direction of Meg Goldstein
and Emily Zimmern, have put
together an outstanding cam
paign cabinet and are hard at
work planning their 1989 cam
paign calendar. They have re
instituted their education
committee, chaired by Lynne
Sheffer; the new Shalom Y’all
chair is Nancy Gugenheim.
Paul Putterman, who chaired
the personnel committee, nego
tiated a new contract for our
executive director, Mike
Minkin, which was overwhel
mingly approved by our board
of dir^tors. We are indeed for
tunate to have Mike as our ex
ecutive director as he is a
caring, dedicated and hard
working professional. As your
president, I am delighted to
report to you that our Federa
tion is alive and weU. Wishing
you a wonderful summer....
APPEAL fcl^PONSe
Im off to America
Israel, gel’me
d visa io freedom/
Welcome
!o Israel/
(toSSlAN
Dukakis Defends Her Marriage