Newspapers / The Charlotte Jewish news. / Sept. 1, 2008, edition 1 / Page 16
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The Charlotte Jewish News - September 2008 - Page 16 NEWCOMERS Joshua Harold Rubin Plumbing, LLC LICENSED - BONDED - INSURED COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL Layouts for slabs - Rough-in and Finish Water Heater Repairs and Replacement Kitchen/Bath Remodeling Toilets, Tubs, Faucets, Sink, and Disposal Repairs/Replacement Josh is a native Charlottean and attended the former Charlotte Hebrew Academy - 10 YEARS EXPERIENCE ~ 704-517-4918 NC State Lie. #29197 Are you a newcomer to Charlotte? Would you like to be featured in this new and growing section of The Charlotte Jewish News? We are looking for people who have been here less than a year who wouldn’t mind answer ing a few questions and sitting for a photograph. Please call 704-944-6765 if you or someone you know would like to be our next Newcomer feature family. Are you the owner or propietor of a business that would be of interest to newcomers? Let them know who and where you are by advertising in the new Newcomer’sResources Guide. Closest Hotel to Shalom Park Hampton Inn & Suites SoutfiTar^ at Tfiiffips Tface 704-319-5700 • www.hamptongbuthpark.com im gout SouthPark’s most prestigious hotel. Surrounded by retail shopping, dinning, and entertainment venues, Features 124 beautifully decorated guest rooms and suites. We offer special Bridal, Shopping, and Couple’s Night Out Packages. Select rooms feature balconies, patios, mini refrigerators, microwaves, whirlpools, and garden bathtubs. Two room suites feature full refrigerators, microwaves, sofa, recliner, end tables, and select suites have a whirlpool spa and fireplace. Newcomers One Newbie’s Experience Even the toughest transitions can turn into the most rewarding life experiences. By Amy Krakovitz Every newcomer to Charlotte has a different experience. For some it is difficult, breaking ties from old homes, creating new friends and a new life. For others, it is easier; friendships come easi ly, synagogue life becomes a pleasure, doctors, plumbers, schools are easily located. But everyone has challenges. Even the toughest transitions can turn into the most rewarding life experiences. When we first moved here, our children were seven and two, so school selection was of the utmost importance. My research at the time led me to McKee Road Elementary School, and • without suffi cient time to build or purchase a house, we rented an apartment. The space in the apartment was certainly big enough, but both boys were active and lively. Soon our neighbors began complaining about the noise from our house (little boys do a LOT of jumping). My younger son was enrolled in the Charlotte Jewish Preschool, one of the best things I have ever done for either of my children. Debby Block was director at the time and I will never forget any of his wonderful teachers: Susan Aizenman, Sandra Perlin, Andrea Wilson, and Carol Klein. I had left a full time job at a publisher of travel magazines and was interested in going to work again once my children were set tled in school. Finding work was more difficult than I expected, in spite of the prosperous economic climate of the early 1990s. I was shocked at the low salaries being offered and even more suprised at the saccharine interview tech niques. “Why, darlin’,” I would hear (add in your own version of a syrupy Southern accent), “you are truly marvelous! You are perfect fo’ this position. We’d all benefit from havin’ you heah.” And then they wouldn’t take my calls. So when we had been here six months, I was unemployed, in an apartment with two small boys, missing my friends, and it was my 40th birthday. I think I handled it beautifully during most of the day. I received flowers from my sisters and I called one sister in Atlanta to thank her for the gift. Instead of speaking, though, I suddenly heard myself crying. Weeping, really. Forty years old, my kids are out of hand, and I have no value. Or so I thought. Not long after that I got a phone call that saved my sanity. It was Melissa Raphael, who was chair of the Camp Shalom (now known as Camp Mindy) Committee, asking if I would join the committee. I am ever grateful for this opportunity, because this opened up a whole new world to me. Volunteering in the Jewish community brought me more friends and more opportunities than I had had as perpetual trans plant. I was now a real citizen of Charlotte. What I should have said to my self on the night of my 40th birth day was, “This too shall pass,” as indeed it did. We bought a house. My children grew up and settled down. And I have been editing The Charlotte Jewish News for ten years now. So my suggestion to newcom ers is to start out by volunteering. Read The Charlotte Jewish News to see what is going on in this community. But you will also find many of the basics you need as a newcomer in Charlotte; where to hold your children’s bar/bat mitz- vah; an- agent for your new home owner’s insurance; a dentist; a real estate agent to find you that new home ... and so much more. Charlotte Jewish Film Festival Donates Film to Levine Skint Library The mitzvah of Tzedakah is one of the pillars of Judaism. The Charlotte Jewish Film Festival embraces the Jewish tradition of giving back to the community by donating films to the Levine Sklut Judaic Library and Resource Center. This year, the Festival will be donating the film God and Allah Need to Talk: A Film for Healing and Reconciliation. This must-see interfaith film by peace activist Ruth Broyde-Sharone has been enthusiastically received at churches, synagogues, mosques and universities world-wide. It was a hit at the Charlotte 2008 Film Festival as well, with over 200 people attending the viewing and panel discussion at Temple Beth El. The Festival is pleased to be able to share this compelling movie with the s/^ lowish Charlotte community. Mark your calendars for February 28-March 8, 2009 when the Fifth Annual Charlotte Jewish Film Festival returns with the best in Jewish cinema from around the world. ^
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