Youth Visions
Laura Kaplan and Class Explore The Book of Job at CHS
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The Book of Job is the Biblical
story of a man who, according to
the students in our class, “believes
that God rewards goodness.” Job
is very good, and is rewarded with
a large family and much wealth.
One day, however, God makes
a bet with the accusing angel that
nothing can turn Job away from
God. That day. Job’s employees
and grown children are all killed,
and Job comes down with an
itchy, painful skin disease.
Job’s friends come to comfort
him, but no one can think of a
word to say. Finally, Job breaks
the silence, and says, “I want to
die.”
satisfied man.” “I know things
will come better to you because
you are a good man.” “I think if
you do the right thing, God will
take care of you.”
But Job thinks these are all
empty words that don’t help him
at all. After ail, he thought God
used a system of rewarding good
and punishing evil, and now it
seems he is wrong. As one student
in our class put it, Job says,
‘There must be a meaning behind
this for sure.” He demands that
God explain it to him.
Professor Laura Kaplan
Job’s friends try to talk him out
of it. In the words of the students
in our class, here is what they say:
“What can I do to help you?”
“Your faith and integrity to God
Every Wednesday
God appears in a storm and puts
Job in his place. God asks if Job
understands the mysteries of the
universe or has the power to con
trol them. Job admits he does not,
and apologizes to God. God then
grants Job renewed wealth and a
family full of new children.
Does this story convince you to
have faith? Students in our class
gave different answers.
Yes, said some. Job obviously
didn’t have true faith, so the story
tells us how to have it.
No, said others. It’s hard to
have faith in the tough, mysterious
God of the story.
What does it mean to have true
faith? Students tried to explain;
Don’t question God.
Appreciate what God has done.
Never stop praying and loving.
If God is tough and mysterious,
why have faith at all? All the
members of our class agreed: ^
We have no choice. If we didn’t
have faith, the world would be a
most uncomfortable place.
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By Laura Black
Every Wednesday night, my
mom drives me to Hebrew High.
As I walk through, into the build
ing many other Jewish teenagers
from in and around Charlotte are
seen walking into their classes.
What are they going to learn
about? Is the information valu
able? Here is my account of what
I think.
My first class is my core class.
That’s where we study Jewish
History. We have discussions and
read different texts. We work on
interpreting them to modem day
life. We’ve discussed being
Jewish. Sometimes it can be diffi
cult to fit jn. We debate issues like
how the school system had picture
day on Rosh Hashanah. We also
consider the great things of being
Jewish. I consider all of this
extremely valuable. We can leam
lessons from history and relate
them to ourselves.
In my elective class we talk
about God. Our main focus is to
consider how good is God. We
read the book of Job. The story is
about God testing a man by taking
everything away from him to see
if he only cares about his posses
sions. He kills Job’s sons. He
gives Job a terrible itching dis
ease. Once again, we can relate
this to our generation. Why do
innocent people die? What keeps
us going? These are issues we face
every day.
So, all in all I think Hebrew
High is great. We leam a lot and
use the information in our very
own lives. I hope that you now
have a better understanding of
what we do at Hebrew High. ^
Yiddish Institute a Life-Changing
Experience for College Student
David Swimmer
Craig KATZ^ m
Harry Swimmer
725 Providence Road ■ Charlotte, NC 28207
704/333-6694 ■ Fax 704/333-3864
800/438-4933
By Evita Sokol, Jewish
Theological Seminary
New York - As the sun shone
brightly on a peaceful August
afternoon, I entered a bus filled
with strangers at the Charlotte air
port. Little did I know that after
only three days, the people around
me would become much more
than unknown faces.
I had only taken Yiddish for
two semesters at the Jewish
Theological Seminary where I
attend an undergraduate program
with Columbia University. I also
took a Yiddish literature class and
the history of the emergence of
Yiddish. By the end of my junior
year, 1 was able to understand and
read various articles and poetry
written in Yiddish. I tried several
attempts at conversing with my
grandparents in their mother
tongue, but unfortunately, I failed.
Never had I thought I could attend
a whole weekend of intensive
Yiddish experience.
I had heard about the Charlotte
Yiddish Institute weekend from
my best friend at school whose
grandparents are very involved in
the Institute. After hearing about
this wonderful opportunity, I felt
an obligation to attend the event to
further my understanding of the
Yiddish language, the Yiddish cul
ture, and the Yiddish past.
Yiddish has empowered me as a
young Jewish adult and fulfilled
my college experience. It captures
not only the twinkle in my grand
parents’ eyes, but it releases a
story to every person that utters its
words.
The one weekend that I spent in
the scenic North Carolina moun
tains allowed me to learn and hear
the stories of all the people who
attended the events. I have never
in my life encountered a more lov
ing, caring, open, and honest
group of people. The whole expe-
David Silverman Memorial Tournament
Results
The seventh annual David
Silverman Memorial Adult
Basketball Tournament,
held November 10-11 at the
JCC of Charlotte, was
another outstanding suc
cess.
A total of six teams from
four different Jewish
Community Centers com
peted in this special event.
Teams from Atlanta, GA,
Brooklyn, NY, Richmond,
VA and West Palm Beach,
FL as well as two teams
from Charlotte participated.
The defending tourna
ment champions from
Atlanta once again defeated the
two-time tournament champions
from Richmond in the champi
onship game by a score of 83-71.
The game was evenly contested
The tournament champions from Atlanta, GA
throughout, with Atlanta’s patient
play and excellent free throw
shooting at the end spelling the
rience was incredible. Although I
could not understand everything
that was discussed at the events,
each and every participant was
willing to translate and make me
feel part of the group. It was
absolutely amazing to see people
from different cities around the
United Slates congregate in one
area and act as if they had known
each other their whole lives. The
Institute was a family reunion for
all participants. Once I arrived, I
felt part of the family.
TTie whole weekend - Shabbat
dinner, onegs, discussions, stories,
singing, jokes, and Shabbat morn
ing services with the Torah and
Haftorah recited all in Yiddish -
burst with the joy and love not
only for Judaism but also for
Yiddish culture. I cannot even
describe in words what this week
end has meant to me and how it
has strengthened my love for
Yiddish culture. I know that I, too,
will continue to attend this event,
and God willing, I will one day be
able to bring my children with me
to further continue the memories
and love for Judaism that my fam
ily shares with me now. 0
margin of victory. The team from
Richmond, which had lived and
died with their three-point
shooting in their previous
tournament victories, saw
their outside shooting “go
south” in the championship
which helped ensure
Atlanta’s success. Brian
Jessie, Stanley Goldberg,
Michael Goldberg and Torie
McCrary led the way for
Atlanta with 20, 15, 14 and
14 points, respectively while
Bart Vaughn, John Burgett,
Warren Fischi and Dan
Plondke led Richmond with
21, 18, 17 and 11 points,
respectively.
(Continued on page 28)