The Charlotte Jewish News - June-July 2014 - Page 13
Chai Minded Makes an Anonymous Donation to Temple Kol Tikvah
By Suzan Loeb
Reminiscent of the fictional
John Beresford Tipton, Jr., the
benefactor in a popular late 1950’s
television series, a modem day
real-life benefactor recently gifted
a $10,188 check to Temple Kol
Tikvah of Lake Norman in David
son.
Unlike Tipton, this benefac
tor’s identity is completely un
known.
What is known is that the
donor oversees Chai Minded, an
organization responsible for se
lecting synagogues and other Jew
ish organizations across the
United States to receive its gifts.
According to its website, chai-
minded.org, its mission is “...
making anonymous contribu
tions.” Temple Kol Tikvah is one
of 90 recipients to marvel at this
generous albeit mysterious dona
tion.
There is no way to apply to
Chai Minded for consideration;
there are no guidelines; no eligi
bility requirements; and no clues
as to who is behind this generos
ity. The website states this indi
vidual attended services in
numerous synagogues and recog
nizes that while each temple is
unique, each provides a “spiritual
haven”; and that nourishes the
benefactor’s desire “to help as
many of these communities as
possible.” Additionally, there are
no specifications as to how the
gift is to be used.
Temple Kol Tikvah is the egal
itarian, innovative, caring, and di
verse congregation of the North
Charlotte area. It embraces inter
faith couples, families of all
forms, and anyone who seeks a
deeper spiritual connection with
Judaism. Part of a rapidly growing
community, the synagogue is con
tinually expanding its program
ming and service to the Lake
Norman community. It engages
seniors and religious school stu
dents alike and offers social and
religious gatherings as well as
community events.
Slade Goldstein, the syna
gogue’s president, stated in his
thank you to Chai Minded, “Our
congregation has been growing in
leaps and bounds over the last
years. We have initiated many
programs with our growth both
spiritually and educationally. Your
gift helps us to continue the work
we have begun.”
Responding to Rabbi Shields’s
note of profound thanks for this
gift to his temple, Chai Minded
commends the Rabbi for his help
in “building the Kol Tikvah com
munity as well as the Davidson
College Hillel. Not only is your
religious school quite successful,
but your calendar is filled with
lots of activities at much larger
temples.”
As children, weren’t we all
warned by our parents to behave
well because someone somewhere
is watching us? Sounded ominous
then, but in light of Chai Minded’s
generous offering, it is comforting
and rewarding to know that some
one did see and was moved by
what Temple Kol Tikvah is
doing. ^
Temple Beth El: Relationships at the Center
Forming strong spiritual and
personal relationships are at the
forefront of all that is going on at
Temple Beth El these days. From
preschool to bar mitzvah families,
teens to grandparents, TBE is a
center for building purposeful and
lasting Jewish relationships.
It’s not that putting relation
ships at the center is a new con
cept; just that it has recently
gotten some new press. A year
ago. Dr. Ron Wolfson’s book. Re
lational Judaism, took much of
the Jewish organizational world
by storm. Many clergy, executive
directors, synagogue presidents,
and dedicated lay leaders from
across the denominations spent
the better part of the summer try
ing to figure out how to translate
Wolfson’s insights and observa
tions into something workable for
their own communities.
In a May 2013, in a Jewish
Telegraph Agency article Wolfson
asks, “What is the value of affili
ating with a Jewish institution?”
He reminds us that the real pur
pose of a religious affiliation is to
allow individuals to “build a face-
to-face community of relation
ships that offers meaning and
purpose, belonging and blessing.”
He argues that the job of syna
gogues can no longer be primarily
to program and provide content,
because similar high-level content
is readily available on the Inter
net. Furthermore, programs at
synagogues might produce short
lived benefits if the essence of the
programming does not foster re
lationships between participants
or with their clergy and staff.
Rather than synagogues continu
ing to embark on program after
program to engage congregants,
they should shift their focus to ac
tively building relationships.
At Temple Beth El, we know
that Dr. Wolfson is right. We
know that a catchy program title
might encourage someone to par
ticipate for the first time, but real
relationships cultivated on a per
sonal level are what keeps that
person engaged with the syna
gogue and with Jewish life. The
TBE clergy and staff have been
hard at work to make sure that the
community we are building to
gether at our synagogue is one
that affords congregants as many
opportunities as possible to build
meaningful and purposeful rela
tionships on a strong foundation
of Jewish identity.
Rabbi Schindler feels that one
of the relationships which pro
foundly touch each and every one
of us deals with times of great
need, like an illness or a death.
“Our senior adult community,
SPICE, really understands what it
means to support someone
through a loss. At a meal of con
solation following a funeral, not
one of those SPICE participants
will leave until the mourner is
ready to go. They truly under
stand that their presence lifts up
the spirit of the mourner. That is
the essence of Jewish commu
nity.”
Another relationship of on
going importance is our strong
connection with the people of Is
rael. Rabbi Schindler notes that
Temple Beth El congregational
trips to Israel are a continuing
source of building these strong,
lasting relationships. TBE partic
ipants who have travelled to Israel
create bonds that last long after
the trip is over. Israel trip partici
pants regularly connect after the
trip, especially to celebrate happy
occasions and offer support in
hard times.
TBE youth, especially our 8th-
12th graders, recently took their
abundant enthusiasm for reaching
out and making relationships with
others to URJ Camp Coleman for
NFTY-SAR Spring Kallah. Sixty-
six TBE young adults joined Dara
Gever, director of Youth Engage
ment, on a trip to collaborate with
their counterparts from all over
the country and make the kind of
friendships that bring lasting
meaning into their lives. This was
the largest participation by our
TBE youth ever at a NFTY-SAR
event. Rabbi Freirich, who was in
attendance, said “Walking around
[this] ... event, I was inspired by
the enthusiasm of our youth be
cause even in such a huge group,
one in six of the young people
there were from TBE. I knew a
kid in almost every group ... that
weekend.”
Other important relationships
take place ever day at TBE in the
form of congregational events.
For instance. Cantor Thomas sees
meaningful relationships forming
each week through The Porch,
TBE’s Young Adults and Young
Families community. The Porch
offers many different entry points
into synagogue life, all with the
goal of helping bring individuals,
couples, and families into rela
tionships that enrich their per
sonal Jewish meaning. “Our
Shabbat Supper Club ... is a key
opportunity for people to build
significant relationships,” she
said. “We have over 100 individ
uals who, as singles, couples, or
families, have committed to have
Shabbat dinner together with the
same group of people once a
month. It is incredible to me to
think that on Shabbat Supper
Club night, there are no less than
10 Shabbat dinners happening
throughout Charlotte where peo
ple are laughing, telling stories,
and deepening their sense of Jew
ish purpose around the dinner
table.” ^
i
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