The Charlotte Jewish News -June-July 2015 - Page 10
Donations to JFS in April
Community News
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
Elyssa Gorelick from Carol
Gorelick
Jennifer Collman from Ilya and
Chantal Rubin
Naney Coblenz on your 70th
birthday from Gary and Maxine
Silverstein
Riek Willenzik on your 60th
Birthday from Steven and Susan
Meyer
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO
Marshall and Barbara Rosen-
feld from Ann Langman
MAZEL TOY ON
The birth of your great-grand-
ehild to Abe and Rose Luski from
Carol Goreliek
The birth of your new grand
baby to Berta Straz from Carol
Goreliek
The engagement of Raehel
Luski to Abe and Rose Luski from
Carol Goreliek
The wedding of your daughter
Raehelto Mare and Cheri Title-
baum from Barry and Laura Reieh
Your granddaughter’s Bat
Mitzvah to Sam and Ollie Polk
from Ed and Jill Newman
IN MEMORY OF
Your beloved mother Joan to
Peter Slade from Martin and Roz
Husney, Amie and Helaine Stone
Elizabeth Hirseh to David
Hirseh from Abe and Bette Bober
Esther Kaufman to Miehael
and Judie Van Glish from Carol
Goreliek, Ed and Jill Newman,
Herb Pfeffer and Laura Milgrim,
Marion and David Kronovet,
Riehard Weber, Jay and Lisa
Weiner
Fania Valinskaya to Mariana
Leiberman from Herb Pfeffer and
Laura Milgrim
Faye Berman to Alvin and He
lene Levine from Carol Goreliek
Janet Jaffa to Wendy Rosen
from Monty Bennett
Libby Hirseh to David Hirseh
from Lynn Slutsky
Your father Herbert Cohn to
Nanei Granow from Miehael and
Elaine Denenberg
IN APPRECIATION OF
Mark Perlin for your assistanee
from David and Debra Van Glish
Miehael Van Glish for your as
sistanee from David and Debra
Van Glish
Naney Tarbis from David and
Karen Ransenberg
HAPPY PASSOVER TO
Diane Rosenberg from Margie,
Ben, Jaekie, Cameron and Hanna
Liebstein
Elaine and Marty Sehefflin
from Margie, Ben, Jaekie,
Cameron and Hanna Liebstein ^
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More Than A Legacy
A Tribute to Mark Bernstein^ z
By Amy Krakovitz
Each month, the Foundation for
the Charlotte Jewish Community
publishes a “Legacy Story,” a
beautiful tribute to a family or in
dividual that has written them
selves into the FCJC Book of Life
through the Create Your Jewish
Legacy program. Mark and
Louise Bernstein (z”l) were one
such family, and here is the piece
Mark wrote for the FCJC. This is
the first time it is appearing
in The Charlotte Jewish
News:
“In the Babylonian Tal
mud, there is an interesting
story about a man who
planted a carob tree. A carob
tree is known to begin to bear
fruit seventy years after the
date that it is planted. When
challenged by his neighbors
whether he would ever eat
the fruit of the tree, the man
replied, T am doing as my
ancestors did. Just as they
planted a carob tree for their
children, so am I planting the
tree for my children.’
“Our family has been
deeply involved in helping to
nourish and replant the trees
that bear the fruits of our Ju
daic tradition. We are proud
that we have been a part of a
faith that has endured 5,000
years, inspired the creation of
some of the world’s other great re
ligions and enriched the lives of
its adherents in so many meaning
ful ways. Our parents and grand
parents set the example by
providing financial support and
leadership for Jewish institutions
that served their communities.
When it was first organized. Tem
ple Beth El held services in a
room above a grocery store until
its first sanctuary was built on
Providence Road. Our family
pitched in to help the struggling
congregation, providing food for
covered dish dinners and money
to purchase a Torah.
“In the years that followed, we
have supported Temple Beth El,
the Jewish Community Center, the
Charlotte Jewish Federation, the
Foundation of Shalom Park, and
other community programs, in
cluding the planning of Shalom
Park. We are very pleased that our
children, including their spouses
and children, continue this tradi
tion by assuming positions of
leadership in the Jewish commu
nity and teaching in the religious
schools.
“When we were younger with
few resources to expend, we prac
ticed our tradition as volunteers.
As our resources increased and
our strength diminishes, we have
continued this tradition by con
tributing to the community
through our lifetime gifts. To in
spire and support the generations
to come, we have made provisions
in our estate planning documents
to provide endowment support for
the Jewish institutions that have
meant so much to us during our
lives.
“We hope that, like the planter
in the carob story, our gifts will
both inspire and assist future gen
erations to continue to perpetuate
the great traditions of Judaism
throughout the community in
which we have been privileged to
serve.”
Building Shalom Park
Much has been written and said
about Mark Bernstein since he
passed away a few weeks ago. He
was an exemplary professional at
his law firm; he was the consum
mate family man; he was a clear-
Photo of Louise and Mark Bernstein (z”l) cour
tesy of The Foundation for the Charlotte Jewish
Community
eyed visionary; he was tirelessly
devoted to his community. Each
story and eulogy touched on all
his service: to the Symphony, the
Blumenthal Performing Arts Cen
ter, the Levine Center for the Arts,
Shalom Park, Temple Beth El,
The Jewish Federation of Greater
Charlotte, and more. Stunningly,
none of this appears to be exag
geration or hyperbole. Bernstein
was everything his friends and
family professed him to be.
“When I first met him,” says
Bill Gorelick, “I thought he was
very sophisticated. He impressed
me as an outstanding gentleman.”
And soon Gorelick would get to
know him as part of the commit
tee that developed Shalom Park.
“Mark just felt that all the Jews in
Charlotte should know each other,
that their kids should play to
gether.”
It was certainly a huge task to
unite Temple Israel, Temple Beth
El, and the Jewish Community
Center on one piece of property.
In Bernstein’s own words: “I was
considered a crackpot sometimes.
... Nobody in his right mind had
ever attempted anything like that
before.”
But as we all know, after years
of negotiating, the Joint Venture
was conceived, written, and im
plemented and many credit Bern
stein with putting it all together.
“Take it from me,” says Bob Abel,
“without Mark Bernstein, the
Shalom Park concept would have
been DOA. He had the patience of
a saint, was smart enough to wade
through and understand the com
peting issues, and had the inter
personal skills to deal with a
myriad of competing egos and
personalities. I used to tell young
people to get involved in commu
nity organizations, if for no other
reason, than to be exposed to lead
ership skills like his that they
probably won’t be privy to in their
own organizations.”
His skills at overcoming differ
ences in any board room were leg
endary. Michael Marsicano,
President and CEO of The Foun
dation For The Carolinas, remem
bers, “I would marvel... watching
him pull the threads of diverse
ideas expressed around the room
and weave them into a tapestry of
direction everyone could support.
It was artful.”
But Bernstein saw his own
strengths in these meetings dif
ferently. Regarding the negoti
ating skills needed to make an
agreement, he opined, “The
theological differences [in the
institutions] weren’t serious
enough. ... Our shared her
itage made us compatible.”
And though many have lauded
him for “vision” when it
comes to creation of Shalom
Park, he laid the credit else
where. “The sum of the parts
was greater than the whole,”
he said, about uniting the or
ganizations. “The synergy of
the combined institutions
brought a greater energy” to
the Jewish community, he said.
Though Bernstein may have
discounted his own talents in
seeing the creation of Shalom
Park to its fruition, his col
league in both professional and
community circles, Sara
Schreibman, disagrees. “He was a
quiet force,” she says. “At every
meeting, he was the one who had
all the right questions. He left no
stone unturned.”
Beyond his efforts to establish
Shalom Park, Schreibman says,
his interweavings of his Jewish
pride and his community pride
were strong.
Larry Polsky remembers how
instrumental Bernstein was in
helping him bring Coltec to Char
lotte from New York. “We initially
had those typical views of a south
ern city, that there would be no
Jews or it would be anti-Semitic,”
Polsky explains, but Bernstein
quickly assured them of the great
and growing Jewish community in
Charlotte and of the welcoming
nature of the city’s non-Jews. But
beyond that, even after Coltec
moved its headquarters here,
Bernstein “demonstrated his sin
cerity,” Polsky says, “by express
ing a continuing interest in the
company and in my personal life.”
The Bernsteins and the Polskys
became dear personal friends as a
result of this encounter.
It’s just this kind of human de
cency that Skip Smart, a colleague
of Bernstein’s from Parker Poe
often witnessed. When Smart was
a first-year associate, Bernstein
was his mentor and often invited
him into meetings with clients. “In
one specific incident, I saw a
client come in, literally bent over
with the weight of his situation
holding him down,” Smart re
members. “Mark would make
clear that he understood what the
issue was, that his client’s prob
lem was his problem, and that he
was there to accompany him on
his journey. I literally saw this
(Continued on page 22)