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The Charlotte Jewish News - January 2004 - Page 4 UJC’s General Assembly Draws Fourteen Charlotteans to Israel Fourteen Charlotteans traveled to Jerusalem the week of November 16 for United Jewish Communities’ General Assembly of North American communities. Those attending were; David and Debby Block, Roz and Ivan Cooper, Susan and Donald Jacobs, Sue Klein, Sue Littauer, Nicki Ostrow. Jody Pinion, Heidi Rotberg, Sara Schreibman, Linda Scigel, and Rabbi Ari Sunshine. The comments that follow describe the incredible experience in the delc^ gates own words. f , lsra« nriiinS ' ■h 'Ugh jt-ruS' •alerrU' this jhrou; ■gh the' ■\one pci 000 to 6 ryif^S purt rioi 0/5 ,dci quite I the ■■ - the nd close. d to oil I" u/fic. Israel -yrs^eetofj-r'soUdaellV-MaH*'' jerus. ;ole"’ with . pr'«' the UJC very prof ^Ue'tdi ltd to e Rotbers/ '■'Vc ■' /4c, '‘/Or&v. ", Inarch'''*, Chorlotlf shoy^ t.v^O' tUil 'fn necf, 'OVot •Jivi 'lOfj ^ not ^■e/A h( '-un '""ff//,, »'4f. !/te a H -e . Ga, '’Olp, •epir. "a/'///, 'rtie/i an,/ ’^'''aa/Z *? yyod'Z'''""'/ ■'‘■'ois/, s/ap/ "ac/. /he ‘aun/r, ’‘/-orp ■'"/las. I ^lrave'led^olTlhfrZoh7'’"r"‘^^ During the Solidarity March, people kept coming and com ing. We filled Ben Yehuda Street and more. It wu.v the first time I really had a .sense of how many people were there for the con vention. In every store we went into the merchants thanked us for coming and were so happy for the business. And it vvezs all Judaica. Not a single Christmas decoration anywhere. I talked to a woman who made aliyah three years ago from Richmond. When we told her we were from North Carolina, .she wai' so thrilled. And the more she talked, the thicker her .southern accent became. —Jody Pinion The mission wai' an enlightening experience for me. It showed me that while Israel is a country that is attracting an extremely diversified community and that a common thread is Judaism, there exists the .serious dichotomy of bringing together such multi cultural communities. With success, Israel will pro vide a message of hope to the rest of the world. A truly provocative comment from an Ethiopian woman was (paraphrased). "When I first .saw Jews outside of our community, I did not believe at first there could be a Jew with white skin. I thought all Jews had black .skin." While there is so much.work to do. then is so much hope. I am considering a way in which I may be able to contribute to the success of unifying Judaism within and without Israel. Thanks for th opportunity for the trip. Outstanding. —David Block 9 . ■ . Vkmm Iftrf-cu’^nrs “Wk |tcOWt fLl ./fid-.:. This picture truly represents why I feel .so passion ately about going to Israel as often as I can and work ing as hard as possible to help our people fake care of our homeland. Imagine traveling to one of the most I beautiful places in the world, certainly the most .spir- I itual and meaningful for us Jews, and being thanked I I for going there. Everyone with whom we .spoke shared their concerns about the future of Israel, the challenges of the economic crisis AND their commit- ; I ment to maintaining our Jewish homeland. Israelis I clearly recognize their ties to American Jewry and | need for our continued support. We can do .so much to help them - and in doing so. will help ourselves develop into the caring people we all want to be. -Nicki Ostrow | While at th,> nA ^^isignedto vn, amazing day ^aliural "" ‘‘n'erlained ij'^here an aduU ^''"k'h“e first Sephardic and ,',L"f-adino mnZ’Z S’’""/’ 'he Cnncnfa-aT f""' Klhwpian ahsfZf ^‘""e and theffZ'T^'fi’^ "■"h 'radifZf;;;; ‘ " here Zlten ffi I 'S o mehinfi "’P'‘""hmce Whtl i '""»ned eS:j£;r •s:r,77- _Z7Zf7yh,„a„ r ■lotu^’ one^ ’7: rtee" I "^o/fiaare, , peol ,pl.v CO”’ iirnio’ . Th‘-' Urvite- whhl''’ indofe a«a our .ntertai' Co”” pres‘0 heoro ^ ciciuS’' Isrot titost J' ;{,-CetS jefW jtfOOg’ ■Atnerlea;; I ola"* we we'd the .Ite^^tiswas';': iliJaed^ Every*'!' : This jnung'. • - •yy-l;ehearea' Israel , wave. cve't e thoitlee' icootey ols’'".! .•conddh ^Sasd" J hot'te- I'*'* ‘ eni ideas oj The GA provided Roz and me a chance to participate at a different level than our past "ordinary touri.st" type trips. For me, the highlight of the GA was the march from the new convention center. Binyan Haoomah, through the streets of Jerusalem, past the open market of Machanae Yehuda, to Ben Yehuda Street and the Zion Square for the .speeches, dancing, and generalfreilach. I was .so moved, .seeing everyday Jerusalemites standing along the parade route, waving Israeli flags, and just being happy that their over 6,000 brothers and .si.sters from around the world cared enough about them to show support and march for them. We .saw secular and religious Jews all waving Israeli flag, singing and dancing with us, little children with gleams in their eyes, everyone having a wonderful time, enjoying a relief from their stre.ss of everyday life. Each of the other events sponsored by the GA, including officials’ speeches, the trips to various parts of Israel, the party in Tel Aviv were wonderful, but paled in comparison to the unforgettable march. As another note, flying El Al. we had our choice of four morning minyans throughout coach. I tried to get upgraded to the bu.sine.ss class minyan, hut it was full. —Ivan Cooper
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Jan. 1, 2004, edition 1
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