The Charlotte Jewish News - June/July 2002 - Page 9
Speizman Jewish Library
klBE
Hats Off to Our Young Readers
In a world where books have to
compete with the internet, chil
dren’s books win. Sharon Eshet
learned to appreciate freedom of
religion from reading a biography
of Golda Meir. Shayna Bernstein,
who read a holocaust fiction,
learned that it is important to think
before you talk. Hannah Hindel,
who also read a holocaust fiction,
felt that learning about the holo
caust is the only way to prevent
this evil from ever happening
again.
These three young students par
ticipated in our essay contest.
They selected Jewish books from
the Speizman Jewish Library and
followed our guidelines of evalu
ating the books. The essays below
were selected from essays submit
ted by Temple Beth El fifth grade
students. The judges were very
impressed by all the essays and
have awarded the first place to
Hannah Hindel, second place
Sharon Eshet and the third to
Shayna Bernstein. Mazel Tov to
the winners and to their teacher,
Rebecca Plaisance
Our Golda by David A. Adler
Reviewed by Sharon Eshet
Our Golda is
telling how Jews
had to struggle
in the past and
Golda helped
them. I recom
mend this book
because it shows
how determined
Jews had to be
to fight for their religion. This
book helped me understand how
lucky I am to be free. I think we
can all learn from this book not to
ask for more, but to be thankful
for what we have. The Jews in the
past struggled to keep their reli
gion. We are free now. This is our
chanc£ to practice our religion
freely; to pray, to go to temple, to
keep kosher, and to keep Shabbat.
Sharon Eshet
Throughout her lifetime, Golda
held many responsibilities. She
was a Prime Minister, a shopkeep
er, a school teacher, a librarian, an
almond picker, and fund raiser and
many more things. She had two
sisters, Sheyna and Tzipke. Golda
married Morris Meyerson in 1917.
They traveled from place to place,
and finally, had two children,
Menachem and Sarah. Because of
the Nazis, six million men,
women and children were killed
for being Jews. This made Golda
more and more determined to give
the Jews a homeland. Over the
years, Golda gave speeches. She
spoke from her heart and mind.
Her wish for a homeland came
true. “Thank you,” she said “for
being Jews.”
Star of Fear, Star of Hope by Jo
Hoestlandt
Reviewed by Shayna Bernstein
I liked this
book. It talks
about the
Holocaust, but
I think it’s real
ly about friend
ship. You may
say something
that you will
regret, but once
your friend
leaves, they may never come
back. In the book, Helen tells her
best friend Lydia that she isn't her
friend anymore because Lydia had
to leave in the middle of Helen’s
birthday sleepover. Lydia had to
leave because she was Jewish and
the Nazis were invading France,
her home.
I liked the main characters.
Lydia is a very calm, quiet type
that doesn’t talk very much. Helen
is the exact opposite. She is very
outgoing and is not afraid to speak
her mind. What I like about them
both is that they both care about
each other. After Helen said that
she didn’t want to be Lydia’s
Shayna Bernstein
Speizman Jewish Library
Friends
We thank the following gener
ous individuals who contributed to
the Friends of the Library cam
paign in April. Their contributions
help the Speizman Jewish Library
to continue to serve the needs of
the Charlotte Jewish community.
We thank them for their generous
support.
For Library summer hours, please call 702-944-6763
or 704-366-5007.
Representative Sue Myrick
Declares Her Support for
Israel
The following is from the
Congressional Record of April 24,
2002.
Mrs. Myrick: “Mr. Speaker, I
rise today to speak about the situ
ation in the Middle East that is of
grave concern to all of us.
“Since September 11. we have
had a taste of normal life in Israel.
Americans have experienced the
fear, the terrorist alerts, the mili
tary and police presence at airports
and public sites and we don't like
it. Yet we must have it because we
are at war with terrorists just as
Israel is at war with terrorists.
“We must stand by Israel as
friend anymore, she immediately
felt sorry and wished that she had
n’t said that. Lydia made a present
for Helen for her birthday by her
self. These examples show that
they care about each other.
When I read this book, I felt
very sad. I was sad for Helen, for
Lydia, and for ail the Jews that
were taken away that night and all
throughout the Holocaust. The
first time 1 read this book, the fol
lowing statement at the end of the
book made me cry: “Stars in the
morning, better take warning.
Stars at night, hope is in sight. I’ll
always have hope.”
I think that this book teaches
people to think before they talk
because what you say could end
up haunting you for the rest of
your life.
Stones in Water by Donna Jo
Napoli
Reviewed by Hannah Hindel
Stones in Water has to be one of
the most revealing, truthful, and
emotional
books 1 have
ever read. It
tells you every
bit of the story,
good and bad
so that you can
really feel what
it was like to be
in the
Holocaust. The story, which was
based on reality, tells of non-
Jewish and Jewish children alike
captured, beaten, killed. In one
part, a little Jewish girl who is
aged 6 or 7 grabs a barbed wire
fence and doesn't get hurt but then
a Nazi comes and just tweaks the
wires. They swing back and hit the
little girl in the face, ripping open
her lips. The Nazis were terrible. I
think that it was horrible how the
Jews and innocent bystanders both
were treated like pure scum on the
German’s shoe. The people in the
camps had threadbare, cold
clothes, almost no food, and too
much work. The people — all the
people — were so desperate that if
a man died, he was immediately
stripped of his clothing by others
trying to survive.
I don’t think younger children
could stand the thoughts of pure
torture. Children aged 10 and up
can understand it because they
have learned not to be scared, just
astonished at how those people
could be so cruel. I am 11 years
old and was horrified to learn of
all the things the Nazis did to their
victims. At first I felt unadulterat
ed terror from the book. I later felt
that I had to know about the
Holocaust. I want to and need to
learn more so I can try to prevent
this evil from ever happening
again. I think that Stones in Water
did a terrific job of portraying the
role of a non-Jewish Italian boy
finding out, personally, the perils
of the Holocaust. I became aware
of the devastation and death. I fell
empty and scared because this
could just as easily been me. My
non-Jewish grandmother whose
father was Jewish could have been
killed since she lived in Berlin as a
child. At the age of 11, exactly my
age, she was fortunate enough to
escape with her family to the
United States. For this reason this
book is very personal to me.
Stones in Water is a fantastic
book. ^
Your
Connection
To The
Jewish
Community...
WHETHER CROSS TOWN OR ACROSS
COUNTRY, assisting families
in buying and selling
real estate since 1985.
Ordan Reider
Spectalldiig in
Sendee Since iM5I
704-367-7250
704-365-1093 - home
704-904-7250 - mobile
888-364-6401 - toll free
Hannah Hindel
“Mention you saw this ad in The Charlotte'
Jewish News and you get an immediate $20 off
any service call or repair. It’s my way of saying
‘Thank You’ for your business.”
Dewey Jenkins, Owner
Condition/og^
Morris-Jenkins
' Since
704-357-0484
Mr. Sam Lebowitz, Mr. and
Mrs. Ken Stern, Jane and Robin
Allred, Ms. Daphne
Koenigsberg, The Brandt
Family, given in memory of
Herbert Often, Mr. and Mrs.
Wayne Gould, given in honor of
Scott Gould’s bar mitzvah, Mr.
and Mrs. David Gamlin. ^
^Kyers U^ar£: harden Spo/
^or Cjxcepiionaf jewelry
they work to eliminate terrorism in
their homeland and we try to do
the same thing in the United
States. We must stand by Israel as
they fight for their very own sur
vival and as we fight for ours.
“As President Bush said in his
address to Congress, we must root
out terrorism and all those organi
zations that support it.
“It is time we firmly support
our Israeli friends in their fight
against terrorism. We must join
Israel now and continue this fight
until the wrath of terrorism is
ended.” O
Our inventory of 18 karat, 14 karat, j^latinum, ami sterling silver is larger tlian
ever and remains tke kest value you will find. Bring your desire for diamonds, emeralds,
sappkires, tanzanites and pearls to us for tlie fulfillment of your dreams.
Because you never know wliat will turn up in tke Karat Patcli.
KARAT PATCH
Jewelry
901 Providence Road (near Providence Cafe )
704-334-3188
WWW. karatpatcli .com