Newspapers / The Charlotte Jewish News … / Feb. 1, 2010, edition 1 / Page 18
Part of The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The Charlotte Jewish News - February 2010 - Page 18 Refugees are Looking for a Joyous Ending By Karen Brodsky The Purim holiday is near, and the story is familiar to most of us. It is a story with a happy ending. An evil man tries to rise to power; he plans to kill all the Jews of Persia. In the end a beautiful woman, Esther, with the help of her cousin Mordecai, saves her people and everyone is joyous. Modem Persia is called Iran. In power there is an evil man bent on the destruction of Israel. Also in power are Islamists who believe anyone who is not Moslem should have no personal freedoms, no jobs, no education, and no future. In countries throughout the world this story is repeated. Governments have been over thrown. Ethnic and religious minorities have had their rights taken, and they fear death and destruction to their families and villages. Country to country, the stories are similar—from Burma, from Somalia, from the Sudan, from Iraq—hundreds of thousands have fled, hoping to find safety and a fiiture. The United Nations High Command for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates there were 34.4 million refugees, asylum- seekers, internally-displaced peo ple, returnees, and stateless per sons, in the world at the end of 2008. For most of them, there will be no joyous ending. Some, however, will be reset tled in countries in the West and Australia. Of the 17 counfries that accept refugees, the U.S. accepts the most—more than the countries combined. The number that the U.S. will accept is determined by the president and the Department of State. Last year that number was 80,000; and 68,000 were actu ally resettled in the U.S. in 2009. Welcoming refrigees in the U.S. is the life-saving mission of HIAS Inc. since the late 1800s. The Charlotte office continues the mis sion. HIAS NC settles refugees without regard to religion, ethnici ty or race. Saving lives is a Jewish concept that is not reserved for other Jews alone. HIAS NC saves lives on a daily basis, said Ellen Dubin, executive director Last year, the Charlotte office resettled some 260 refugees and “we plan to resettle 300 or more this year,” Dubin said. Saving lives is an obligation that is cenfral to our Jewish tradition. In Leviticus we are told, “Neither shall you stand by the blood of your neighbor.” Rabbi Jacob Elisha Fine, rabbi and assistant director of Hillel at the University of Washington in Seattle, in a commentary provided to the website. My Jewish Learning, com, said that “the clas sical rabbis developed the overar ching principle of pikuach nefesh, which asserts the supreme respon sibility of protecting individuals who are in potentially life-threat ening situations. This obligation to protect life is considered of such great import that it trumps virtual ly all other legal considerations.” Rabbi Fine further asserts that, “as Jews, the bitter experience of exile from one’s homeland should be something to which we are acutely sensitive. For 2000 years we have suffered through the chal lenge of being sfrangers in lands not our own. As is often noted, the Torah has more to say about the proper freatment of strangers than it does with any other set of laws, including worshipping God or observing festivals.” As the executive director of a Jewish organization, American Jewish World Service, that has dedicated itself to helping those who suffer across the world, Ruth Messinger said of our Jewish com munity, “. . . this is a community that has the experience of being an outsider, and we know what hap pens when no one responds, when you call for help and no one’s there.” At a moment in history when over 34 million human beings are displaced from their homes. Rabbi Fine said, “it is time that we reded- icate ourselves to this central mes sage of our fradition.” HIAS NC dedicates itself to saving and rebuilding lives. You can help with cash donations, gen tly used furniture and house wares and by volunteering. For more information, call 704-535-8803 or e-mail ellen.dubin@hias.org. Like the Jews in the Purim story, the world’s displaced people By Bunny Bramson, president, Charlotte Chapter of Hadassah As Hadassah looks forward to its 98th birthday, we look over our shoulders to the beginning which really began in 1904 when Henrietta Szold and her mother, Sophia, fraveled to Palestine. They wit nessed unmitigated dis ease and unrelieved poverty throughout the area. Henrietta had a study group for women in the United States. We are told that her mother said to her at this time: “This is what your group ought to do.... You should do practical work in Palestine.” The seed was planted and received. Three years after Miss Szold returned to the United States, her women’s study group are hoping for a joyous ending. Esther didn’t save the Jews by her self She had the help of Mordecai. We can help, too. ^ became an activist Zionist organi zation. We were bom and the mis sion expressed in Hebrew and English was (and remains).' Aruhat Bat Ami (the healing of the daugh ter of my people). As a vibrant body we have been eclectic: teach ing, healing, rescuing - a powerful leader on women’s issues in the United States. Our work continues to challenge us in the fast changing world. The technological advances commit us to advance our humanitarian work which sfretches and reaches well beyond America and Israel to the farthest comers of Europe, Asia, and Africa. We take deep, unabashed pride in our beginnings; the future beck ons with a new vigor ^ OUR STAND EVERY INSURANCE POLICY SHOULD COME WITH A LIVING. BREATHING OWNER’S MANUAL. Call us today for a complimentary financial and insurance review. (704) 846 9700 HOWARD EPSTEIN, MBA PROVIDENCE RD& 1-485 CHARLOTTE howardepstein(5)aiistate.com Serving the community for over 15 years. /Illstate. You're in good hands. Insurance subject to availability and qualifications. Allstate Insurance Company and Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Northbrook, Illinois ©2009 Allstate Insurance Company Tkas iiolii’Eni Tburnanienl TO BENEFIT CHARLOTTE JEWISH DAY SCHOOL Roast Beef Sandwich Dinner served at 6:00. Monday, February 2^2010 Sam Lerner Hall, Levine JCC S80 cover includes dinner and game play MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO CJDS OverS3500in gifts and prizes RSYP Gale Osi)orne 704 944 6821 or iOsi)orne@cj(isciiooi.ori DmmkHm SOJJTHPARK 'Iht OJfKtai of ike CarofiiM charlotte Jewish Day School Kosher for Passover Order Online www.beth-el.com Women’s News Twelve Jewish women in Charlotte, NC, joined women in the Carolinas and across the United States in a day of Solidarity and Support of Nofrat Frenkel, who was arrested on November 19 at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for wearing a tallit (prayer shawl). In Charlotte, Rabbi Judith Schindler of Temple Beth El led the gath ered women in song and prayers, including Hineh Ma Tov, the Shma, and the VAhavta. The brief service ended with Debbie Friedman’s “Miriam’s Song.” In solidarity with Frenkel, the women in attendance wore tallitot and kipot (skullcaps). The women in attendance were, left to right: Elsa Multer, Sara Schreibman with her grandson, Asher, Betsy Olinger, Amy Krakovitz, Susan Jacobs, Shari Hackman, Bettina Rappaport, Amy Lefkof, Sheila Peltzer, Rabbi Judith Schindler, and songleader Patti Hartman. Some of the women in attendance wore tallitot purchased from Women of the Wall Foundation. Proceeds from the sale are used direct ly for defense funds. The Women of the Wall tallis can be purchased at http://womenofthewall.org.il/wordpress/shop/. PHOTO BY EDDIE GLUCK Hadassah Prepares to Celebrate Its 98th Birthday Bunny Bramson
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 1, 2010, edition 1
18
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75