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The Charlotte Jewish News - June-July 2009 - Page 22 Dear Members and Friends of Hadassah, I’m taking this opportunity to advise that the announce ments in both the Charlotte Jewish News and Hadassah Highlights about a Game Day/Card Party on behalf of the Women’s Abuse Shelter is not endorsed by the Charlotte Chapter of Hadassah. Although the cause is a worthy one, it must be clearly under stood that the Hadassah organ ization does not endorse or financially support any projects other than those within the defined scope of Hadassah. Furthermore, Hadassah would never plan a fund raising event on Shabbat. Any questions or concerns regarding this matter can be sent to me for further clarification. Bunny Bramson, President Charlotte Chapter of Hadassah The Jewish Traveler By Maxine Silverstein Newport, Rhode Island Hadassah Medical Organization (Continued from page 19) today. Contact Bunny Bramson, President (704-341-8322/bunny- bramson@bellsouth.net) or Penny Krieger, Membership V-P (704- 542-9402/pbk96@msn.com). ^ Rhode Island may be the small est of the American States, but it remains wonderfully rich in histo ry. And Newport is one of the prettiest places to find a unique slice of Americana. I have always wanted to visit Newport and this past fall I got my wish. What a charming and delightful place. Funny, Newport doesn’t look Jewish. Its harbors clogged with sailboats and its streets with the boats’ preppy owners, this sea side town is a page more likely tom from a J. Crew catalog than from a Jewish history book. But with a 300-year-old Jewish com munity founded by Sephardic sea merchants, Newport is a reminder that Jewish America did not begin on the lower East side. The colony’s reputation for religious tolerance encouraged all types of religious groups to settle there. The Baptist church es in Newport are the old est in the United States and the Quakers came to settle in 1656. In 1658, a group of fifteen Jewish families sailed into the Newport harbor. These Sephardim (the Hebrew word for Jews from the region in the Iberian Peninsula that is now Spain and Portugal), who like their ancestors were seeking a haven from religious persecution, founded the second Jewish settle ment in the colonies and Congregation Jeshuat Israel (Salvation of Israel). In 1677, they M NATIONAL HOTOmc KTI TOURO SYNAGOCIE J£lHVAT ll^ALL iHi Maxine at the plaque declaring Touro Synagogue a National Historic Site. The Touro Synagogue purchased and consecrated prop erty as a Jewish cemetery. The Hebrew cemetery here may be the oldest in America. Over the next 100 years the Jewish population of Newport flourished. In 1758, a Dutch Jew named Isaac Touro became the congregation’s first spiritual leader. A year later, the congregation purchased land and hired Peter Hanson, the preemi nent architect of the colonial era, to design Touro Synagogue. The synagogue was completed and dedicated in 1763. Virtually unaltered since its dedication, the Touro Synagogue is the oldest standing synagogue in the United States. Seen from the street the structure is all classi cal grace. Inside, its ornate yet elegant sanctuary reflects traditional Jewish worship practices. Here, Newport’s active congregation and visitors from around the world come to worship and Communitv Mews Teaching ErtQlish as a Second Lan^ua^e HIAS Ensures Refugee Clients Have the Tools to Succeed By Karen Brodsky It’s a great day for an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher when one of her students begins studies at a college. Sevda, a Meskhetian Turk, came to Charlotte as a 30-year-old mother of two young boys. Painfully shy and with very little English, she attended English as a Second Language classes with Dottie Shattuck, one of HIAS NC’s ESL teachers. Sevda progressed rapid ly. She was doing so well; she achieved a level of confidence, which led her to join an ESL class at Central Piedmont Community College. At CPCC, Sevda applied to earn a degree as a certified nursing assistant. She had to study medical terminology and prevailed upon Shattuck, who was also new to medicine, to help. After hours of the two of them poring over med ical dictionaries, Sevda was able to earn the CNA. She had come so far, she went on to nursing school. At present, Shattuck teaches nine ESL classes a week, but has taught as many as 14. Joyce Garrett, an ESL teacher, recently joined HIAS NC recently to share in the heavy load. HIAS has been in existence for more than 125 years. A grandfa ther, great-grandfather or mother might have been helped by HIAS in Europe, Asia, or the Arab coun tries, to name a few. HIAS was In the beginning ESI class, a liberian and ethnic Chin women from Burma learn with their babies. founded on the Jewish principles and values of tikkun olam (repair ing the world) and pikuah nefesh (saving a life). HIAS NC’s direc tor Ellen Dubin estimates that since 1996, HIAS NC has saved more than 1,200 from more than 36 countries. Through various grants, HIAS NC provides service to refugees and asylees by resettling them and their families, placing them in fur nished apartments, finding them employment, helping them to acculturate, registering their chil dren in schools and providing funding for at least the first month of life here. They receive case management for up to six months, ESL classes for up to five years, and aid in finding employment for up to five years. The ESL program is a crucial step refugees must make in their acculturation process. Some who go through the program are illiterate in their native languages, having never had the opportunity to go to school. Others were on the run to refugee camps out side of the countries of their birth. ESL, Shattuck says, “helps to get them functioning, handle a job, ride a bus, and work with their children’s schools. We teach them to read, write, tell time, and count U.S. money. They leam prepositions of place. directions, how to call 911, read workplace safety signs, and even what to do in the event of a torna do.” These are skills we take for granted, but for refugees they rep resent a big leap. “ESL for the refugee client must be very practical. It is geared for the refugees’ survival in English. The hardest part is that many don’t have math skills,” says Shattuck. In a previous position, her first refugee students were Hmong, who came from Laos. They were mostly illiterate and had no written history. Siding with the U.S. during the Vietnam War, the Hmong were targeted for extinction by the Communist gov ernment of Laos. Shattuck learned that adult refugees come with “vast experience unlike ours. My reflect. We so enjoyed our tour of the synagogue. Admission is free and tours last thirty minutes. Except for some new chairs and a carpet laid over the origi nal, the synagogue looks just like it did 200 years ago. We did save some time to see some of the marvelous mansions of Newport. During the Golden Age of Newport, at the turn of the century, such illustrious families as the Astors, Wideners, and Vanderbilts established their glit tering “summer cottages” here. These homes are incredible and a home tour is such fun. These homes are magnificent and very ornate. One is grander than the next. We visited Hammersmith Farm the home of the Bouvier family. It was used for the recep tion when Jacqueline Bouvier married John F. Kennedy in 1953. Hammersmith also served as the “Summer White House” during Kennedy’s years as President. Newport may be small, but it accurately reflects many mile stones of the American experi ence. Natural beauty and human skill live happily here, side by side. What a spectacular little gem. ^ Shattuck teaches the advanced ESI class, where a mar ried couple, both Iraqi and a newly-arrived young man from Bhutan all learn together. job is to make this relevant to them — to put two worlds togeth er. They worry about losing their identity. They have left so much behind.” With 23 years of teaching ESL classes, Shattuck moves confi dently among the refugees, whose many languages and dialects make up a Tower of Babel. Among the populations she and Garrett teach currently are Liberians, Burmese, Iraqis, Montagnard, and Bhutanese. Some students bring their infants on their backs in order to attend the classes. Shattuck says, “I’d rather have them here with their babies than not come at all.” Those familiar with the Israeli Ulpan, or Hebrew immersion pro gram, may think that ESL is simi lar It is very different, says Shattuck. Students who attend Ulpan begin with edu cation and experience. They can make notes and have the tangible skills to succeed. “For many of the refugees,” she says, “memories are their learning tools.” For more information about HIAS NC, contact Ellen Dubin at 704-535- 8805. HIAS welcomes vol unteers, cash donations and donations of gently-used fur niture and house wares. ^
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 1, 2009, edition 1
20
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