The Charlotte Jewish News - May 2014 - Page 11
First Impressions
Sandra
Goldman
By Sandra Goldman
Spring is here and
the grass at the eeme-
tery is lush and green.
The idyllie setting just
minutes from uptown
and the eareful atten
tion paid to the grounds
shows now in its entire
beauty. For eemeteries,
it is all about first impressions. A
well taken eare of property sends
a distinet message to families: We
eare.
In order to eontinue to inerease
the respeet and affeetion whieh
our eommunity bestows upon
those who are buried here, it is in
tended that our eemetery perpetu
ally be an area of quiet beauty and
serenity - to beekon the living as
well as to provide repose for the
dead.
Last month I attended a funeral
and eemetery eonvention in
Miami. I find it important to net
work with fellow eemetery exee-
utives and learn about new
developments and see other Jew
ish eemeteries with my own eyes.
The eonvention began with a tour
of Mount Nebo eemetery. Proba
bly the most prominent person
buried here is Meyer Lansky,
known as the Mafia mob’s ae-
eountant. Flis grave is manifested
only by a simple flat marker.
Baek at the eonvention loeation
me and about 80 others from
around the Nation ineluding
Canada and England, listened to a
faseinating lady, Mareia Jo
Zerivitz, who is preserving the
history of Florida’s Jewish eeme
teries. She ealls death “The erisis
of life.” As the founding Exeeu-
tive Direetor of the Jewish Mu
seum of Florida, she travels up
and down the state, meets with
people, gets artifaets and eolleets
them to preserve the eemeteries
and their history.
Next up was a gentleman
diseussing eemetery manage
ment systems. He introdueed
a program that one ean ae-
eess from anywhere in the
world. One ean look up grave
loeations, marker pietures,
deed ownership, eontraets,
seareh reeords and other his
tory. It uses the Gregorian and the
Hebrew ealendar and ealeulates
Yahrzeits. We are eurrently look
ing into the possibility to aequire
this program.
Our heritage is enriehed by the
lives and deeds of the men and
women who have preeeded us. It
is, therefore, our goal, as part of
the remembranee of them, to
maintain permanent reeords of
those whose earthly remains have
been entrusted to us; and so I was
introdueed to Mona Morris,
Founder of the Jewish Genealogi-
eal Soeiety of Palm Beaeh County
and an expert on Aneestry.eom.
She spoke about the role of the ge
nealogy eommunity and how they
ean help support the eemetery and
about the historieal value of keep
ing reeords. The eonvention fur
ther ineluded the introduetion of
shivaeonneet.eom, a Shiva related
registry whieh ean be very useful
during the grieving time and the
importanee of endowment funds
and how eemeteries invest their
money safely.
The most impressive presenta
tion ineluded eemetery operations
with a panel diseussion from
Raleigh, NC, Riehmond, VA,
Burlington, VT, Bethlehem, NH,
Philadelphia, PA and London,
England. They spoke about their
problems, espeeially the smaller
eemeteries not having rules and
regulations whieh led to unsafe
headstones and an interfaith see-
tion with non-Jewish inseriptions
DrumSTRONG Rhythm and Arts
Festival
We Gather to BEAT
Cancer
May 16, 17, and 18 at Misty
MeadowsFarm, 455 Providence
Rd. S; Weddington
DrumSTRONG is an annual
event to raise money for eaneer
eauses. Eaeh year people gather to
beat eaneer with the drum eirele
running now for 24 hours non
stop.
“We are going to break the
planet’s reeord for the longest
eontinuous rhythm *Drum Cirele*
ever held (and possibly the
largest!), drum with people glob
ally (simultaneously) and, at the
same time, raise awareness and in-
eredible amounts of money for
survivorship assistanee, edueation
and researeh for one of the most
nefarious diseases known to
man,” says Seott Swimmer, who
ereated drumSTRONG in re
sponse to his son’s battle with ean
eer.
“We will throw ourselves at
eradieating eaneer, fortify our
friends, families and ourselves,
glean useful info about the re-
sourees available to address ean
eer and have a blast doing it!”
This year’s lineup features
Railroad Earth, The Feliee Broth
ers, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty
Band, and so mueh more, eneom-
passing three days of musie and
arts. For the full lineup, go to
drumstrong.eom.
Tieket information is at drum-
strong.eom/tiekets and range from
single day passes to full weekend
passes; this year there is even a
VIP tieket that ineludes beer,
meals, and aeeess to the VIP tent.
Join the fun and raise money
for a very important eause. Don’t
miss this year’s amazing drum
STRONG with the biggest lineup
ever and the longest eontinuous
drum eirele ever.
For information on Drums for
Cures, visit drumstrong.org. ^
Hebrew Cemetery
of Greater Charlotte
t-fcMA.c^r * C-eletrra-te. * Ew\fcra.oe
The marble ark is ready for its unveiling.
like erosses. Rural North Country
eemeteries deal with harsh winters
so they pre-dig graves in antieipa-
tion of deaths. Other lush eemeter
ies in warmer regions take eare of
over 2500 different speeies of
trees and bushes on their property.
The biggest impaet on me left
the speaker from England. He
deseribed the huge issues of aban
doned eemeteries due to misman
agement, migration, or eollapse of
eemetery assoeiations. A shoeking
example was an over 300 year old
totally overgrown Sephardie
eemetery surrounded by tall apart
ment buildings. In order to make
room for a more park like setting,
bones were exhumed and dumped
in a mass grave down the road,
markers were destroyed and
reeords disappeared forever, the
remaining graves slowly disinte
grating.
This brings me baek to first im
pressions. \^at a person reealls is
mostly eonveyed visually. Green
eut grass and properly pruned
trees don’t happen by aeeident. It
is all maintained with a labor of
love and devotion. I am grateful
and proud to see our very own He
brew Cemetery being well pre
served. Still, we ean’t do it all
alone, help is needed. Join the
growing eommunity of supporters
of the new Memorial Building,
make a five year pledge or pur-
ehase a plaque to memorialize a
loved one. Together we embraee
our eemetery to be always
grounds of pride where we ean
eelebrate and honor our loved
ones beeause one thing is sure -
one never gets a seeond ehanee to
make a good first impression.
To learn more about the build
ing, how to purehase a plaque,
pre-planning or to diseuss how to
leave a Jewish Legaey, eontaet
Sandra Goldman at 704-576-
1859 or direetor(@hebreweeme-
tery.org. ^
Meg D. Goldstein
Attorney-At-Law
Estate Planning,
Estate and Trust Administration,
Pre-Marital Agreements,
Charitable Planning and Entities,
General Corporate and Tax Law,
Business Succession Planning
5960 Fairview Road, Suite 400
Charlotte, North Carolina 28210
Tel: 704.523.2202 ♦ Fax: 704.496.2716
MGOLDSTEIN(a)MGOLDLAW.COM ♦ WWW.MGOLDLAW.GOM
Insurance for Home, Auto, Business and Life.
' 'i u )l. ' m
Photos [L to R]: Harry Swimmer, founder of Swimmer Insurance and Mitey Riders | Swimmer Insurance Today
it
"My father. Harry, founded Swimmer Insurance Agency over 60 years ago offering
security to the community and helping families through times of trouble. Today, we con
tinue that tradition of service with everything we do. We will be there for every mile
stone, every hardship and every transition your family or business experiences,”
- DAVID SWIMMER
Swimmer
Insurance
Agency
725 Providence Rd
Charlotte. NC 28207
704.333.6694
WWW, swimmerinsurance.com