The Charlotte Jewish News - May 2011 - Page 10
Temple Or Olam’s Member Spotlight: Ruth Kingberg
Private Suite
FOR RENT
Private suite for rent in
townhome in centrally
located neighborhood. Full
bath, linen closet, phone
jack, cable hookup, free
WIFI, washer & dryer
available, $450 per month
including electric, gas and
water. No pets, no smoking,
no treif (though kitchen
is not kosher). References,
background check, and
credit check required.
Interested parties should
call 704-756-9505.
We often hear about what a eon-
gregation is doing or how they are
eelebrating, but it is, after all, the
people who make the eongregation
what it is. To this end, we spend
our eolumn inehes this month pro
filing the beloved matriareh of our
temple, Ruth Kingberg.
Ruth is 86 years old. She nar
rowly eseaped the Holoeaust by
leaving Germany on one of the last
Kindertransport trains, a program
whieh helped approximately
10,000 ehildren to leave Germany
for the United Kingdom in the
months just prior to the outbreak of
WWII. Ruth lived in England dur
ing the war and eventually made it
to Ameriea. She has lived in North
Carolina for the past 28 years.
Ruth is one of the founders of
Temple Or Olam. She is the eldest
member of our eongregation, our
matriareh, and for many years she
has lovingly taken on the joyful
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They are both past presidents
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You can call them at
704-405-1770 or 704-607-3936
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Ruth Kingberg (photo by Angela
Hodges)
task of welcoming new members
into our congregation. This tiny lit
tle woman not only welcomes new
members, but takes their hands
afterward and leads them in a
dance of celebration.
On Friday nights, Ruth takes the
congregation’s children to light the
Shabbat candles and not only leads
them in prayer but offers each
child a blessing and a hug. She is,
in fact, so beloved that college stu
dents have been known to rush up
to the candles in order to get their
own hug and their own blessing.
At Temple Or Olam, we know that
the children who are now nine, ten.
and eleven years old will grow up
with the memory of being blessed
at every Shabbat service by Ruth
Kingberg. We can only hope that
for these children, the tradition of
being blessed on Shabbat will
carry on and manifest itself in
beautiful ways in their own Jewish
lives.
It is Ruth Kingberg who cov
ered our leyning table with blue
velvet and gold trim, the leyning
table that her 86 year old husband
- also a Holocaust survivor—^built
for the congregation. It’s Ruth who
makes sure that every oneg is a
healthy oneg, that there are always
wholesome desserts on the table
and gluten-free latkes at
Hanukkah. It’s Ruth who reminds
us to lift weights like she does
every morning, and who brings
fruits and vegetables from the
Kingberg’s own garden to share
with congregants. It is Ruth who
calls to thank members who organ
ize the oneg, and help out before
and after services with set-up and
clean-up.
We feel so very blessed to have
Ruth in our lives, but we don’t
want to be selfish with her or the
many gifts that she gives to our
congregation, so we include here
one of her healthy recipes. As Ruth
always says, “Shake it easy!”
For Flealthy Eating — a Recipe
by Ruth — Zucchini Squash
You will need a 10” Pyrex pie
plate or equal (not metal)
4 med. size squash cut to 1”, then
cut crosswise to 1/8”
1 med. sized apple peeled and
sliced thin
1/2 sweet onion, cut small
2 T. of olive oil
1 t. of Mrs. Dash (or equal)
1 T. organic ketchup
1 stalk of celery, peeled and cut to
VF in length
Preheat oven to 330 degrees.
Sautee onions in oven for 8 min.
with oil. Remove from oven and
put all veggies into the plate and
toss with spatula till everything is
combined. Bake for 30 min. then
toss again (take care not to get
burned). Cover it tightly with alu
minum foil and bake for 25-30
min. till done.
Temple Or Olam is an inde
pendent, egalitarian congregation
that serves Cabarrus county and
parts of Mecklenburg county
(including University City,
Davidson, and Huntersville). For
information on our services, please
visit our website, www.or-
olam.org and subscribe to our
mailing list. You can also email us
at info@or-olam.org, or call 704-
720-7577.4^
Temple Beth El’s Annual Mitzvah Day Set
for May 15
On Sunday, May 15, Temple
Beth El will be holding its annual
Mitzvah Day event. On this day
hundreds of congregants and
Jewish community members gath
er as one to give back to the
Charlotte community. By reaching
out to those in need, Mitzvah Day
participants exemplify Tikkun
Olam, the Jewish tradition of
social action and the true essence
of the responsibility of repairing
the world.
Mitzvah Day is an extraordi
nary day filled with love and hope.
On no other day throughout the
year will more families and indi
viduals come together to serve so
many in a single day. However,
while TBE congregants and other
volunteers work to make a differ
ence in the lives of others, the vol
unteers themselves walk away
from their experiences feeling
renewed and changed forever.
This year, Mitzvah Day partici
pants will have the opportunity to
select from 29 projects for which
they can volunteer. In addition,
there are a variety of ways to con
tribute towards collections proj
ects, too. Since the downturn in
the economy, many of Charlotte’s
non-profits and other similar insti
tutions have lost revenue, keeping
them from completing much-
needed projects and having to cut
back on services and program
ming for the most vulnerahle in
our community. This is the time to
help.
Mitzvah Day volunteers will be
sprucing up the landscaping
around International House, the
Battered Women’s Shelter, Temple
Beth El, the Hebrew Cemetery,
and at the homes of senior citi
zens. Others will be hosting carni
vals and parties at Alexander
Youth Center, Thompson Child
and Family Focus, and Florence
Crittenton Services. Even more,
there are projects to help Israel,
Sterling Elementary School,
nil TEMPLE
BETH EL
Charlotte Community Health
Clinic, and Bright Blessings ...
just to name a few.
For those who want to donate
blood. Community Blood Center
of the Carolinas will have its
blood mobile available. Also, for
anyone wanting to clean house
and dispose of items in an easy
way, there will be collections
tables to recycle used electronics
and also to donate used books for
Habitat for Humanity and pet sup
plies for Mecklenburg County
Animal Care and Control.
Open to everyone. Leave your
mark on the community on
Sunday, May 15. Register for
Mitzvah Day online this year at
the TBE website, and be a part of
this wonderful tradition. 4^
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Stop in anytime between 4:30-6:15 PM
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