The Charlotte Jewish News - December 2013 - Page 12
Jewish Preschool on Sardis Opens Up Jewish Connections
By Yael Osovski
When my husband, our 1-1/2
year old and I first arrived in Char
lotte, I learned very quiekly that
unlike other eities 1 had lived in
previously, sueh as Philadelphia,
NYC, and Tel-Aviv, 1 would have
to aetively seek out the eity’s Jew
ish eommunity. Charlotte has a
Jewish eommunity, 1 was in
formed, but it is small enough that
you must attend events and join
various Jewish organizations if
you really want to meet other Jews
and have any sense of eommunity.
My husband and 1 are not reli
gious at all; if anything, we eon-
sider ourselves very seeular. Thus
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The Osovski family.
I had not really thought of sending
our son to a Jewish presehool be
fore arriving in Charlotte, but see
ing what my options were in the
area and not wanting him to be the
sole Jewish ehild in his elass, I de-
eided to eheek out the Jewish
presehools.
I first heard of JPS in passing.
By ehanee, it was mentioned to me
that there was an additional pre
sehool run by Chabad. Now please
understand - when I first heard
Chabad I immediately assumed
that JPS would be very religious
and not exaetly what I was looking
for. As I said, being seeular, I truly
didn’t know what to expeet and
was a bit eoneemed. I said that
sinee I was new to the area and I
knew from experienee that
Chabad differed in terms of its in-
elusivity in different eities and
eountries around the world, that I
would at least eheek the sehool
out.
I ealled JPS one afternoon and
explained that I was new to the
area and was looking for a pre
sehool for my son. I told the diree-
tor that I had a lot of questions
about the sehool in general, as
presehools go, but was partieularly
eurious as to the religiosity of the
sehool and its eurrieulum
sinee it was run by Chabad.
Dedee was ineredibly honest
and open in all of her an
swers- I truly appreeiated her
eandor and sense of humor.
What I would soon learn
for myself, and what she ex
plained at the time, was that
Chabad here in Charlotte and
the JPS itself were inelusive
of all levels of religiosity.
When I entered JPS for the
first time, several observa
tions struek me: boys and
girls in elasses together, the
absenee of long skirts on the
staff and mothers visiting (parents
in tank tops even). It looked like a
regular presehool but with Hebrew
and Jewish-themed toys and signs.
I heard English and Hebrew being
spoken and found two mothers sit
ting and talking while their ehil-
dren played nearby. I asked them
if they were eonsidering JPS for
presehool and they both answered
a resounding yes. I asked them
why and they both answered the
same telling answer: “the atmos
phere here is very warm and lov
ing - your ehild reeeives a lot of
attention and is nurtured. Some of
the other sehools in the area are
larger, but we prefer something
more intimate.”
For my family, JPS has beeome
our first eonneetion to Charlotte’s
Jewish eommunity. The families
and the sehool itself are warm and
very weleoming to neweomers
and try to get everyone involved in
the various aetivities the sehool
and the eommunity provide. The
offiee staff and teaehers are truly
weleoming and genuine; eaeh time
I enter the sehool with my son I
see just how mueh love they give
him by the greetings he reeeives
from his teaehers and the adminis
trative staff. He loves going to
sehool and runs to his teaehers and
hugs them. When I piek him up on
Fridays he is gleefully yelling
“Shabbat! Shabbat!” and “Shabbat
Shalom.” We’ve started lighting
the eandles on Friday night at
home to keep some sort of eonti-
nuity from what he’s retaining
from sehool; as I bless the Shabbat
eandles he danees around and
eovers his eyes. It seems that
what he’s gaining from JPS may
instill a sense of tradition in our
family whieh I’m eoming to real
ize is our responsibility as Jewish
parents. ^
•V
♦
jps
TheJevfish
The Jevfish Preschool on Sardis
★ ★★★★ 5-Star Preschool
Early Childhood Development & Jewish Discovery
Help Us Bake
Challah for Shabbat2Go
Packages
Wednesday,
December 11
9:15-11:15 AM
JPS, 6619 Sardis Rd.,
Charlotte, NC 28270
RSVP
Leah(fl)JPSonSardis.org
To recommend a
package visit
www.shabbat2gochar-
lotte.com.
Youth Visions
Chai Chaverim BBG, a Thriving
Chapter
By Natalie Berman
The term has started off with a
bang. The girls of Chai Chaverim
are having a great time getting to
know our MITs, Members in
Training, and partieipating in fun
programs every Tuesday. From
making elothes out of trash bags
to show off our inner beauty, to
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Monroe
bonding in the sukkah with other
ehapters, we have had a lot of fun
and it has brought us even eloser
as a ehapter. We also had a great
evening when we all went out to
Qdoba and Ben and Jerry’s; a
sweet treat and a great time with
our sisters. What eould be better?
We’d like to give a big thank
you to everyone that supported
our bake sale at the end of Sep
tember, where we raised $206 to
support our ehapter and eontribute
toward meaningful Jewish experi-
enees. Make sure you look out for
upeoming fundraisers; we always
love getting together and sharing
with the eommunity around us.
The MITS are doing a fabulous
job learning all about BBYO from
their awesome MIT Mom, leader
and edueator, Jenna Rosen. They
went to their very first eonvention
on Oetober 18-20 and I, for one,
was very envious of them. While
there, they met other kids from
Eastern Region (North Carolina
and Virginia) and I’m sure they
are very exeited to see their new
friends at future eonventions
throughout the year. A senior
member of our ehapter, Danielle
Adler, got to go and train our new
members, along with others from
Eastern Region. She got to eon-
neet with the younger members
and teaeh them about BBYO and
all it has to offer. We’re very
proud of her and we know she did
a fabulous job.
On Oetober 22, we had a joint
program with MBA, our brother
ehapter, and learned about Glob
alization. BBYO has been grow
ing as an international movement
and Eastern Region is ready to be
a part of it. In our Global Game of
Trivia, we also raised a eolleetive
amount of $109 for the Interna
tional Serviee Fund, BBYO’s
seholarship fund that helps teens
in other eountries form a eloser
eonneetion to Judaism while de
veloping their leadership skills.
We’ve greatly enjoyed the year
so far and we’re all looking for
ward to a wonderful year ahead of
us. ^