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Charlotte Jewish News - March 2016 - Page 11 Community News Supporting the Hebrew Cemetery Association By Brian Yesowitch, President, Hebrew Cemetery Association The Hebrew Cemetery Assoei- ation eontinues to eonduet its business of serving families at their time of need as it has sinee our first funeral in 1870. Although its mission is respeeted and the eommunity praises its volunteers and direetor, it’s still a faet that nearly 90% of the Greater Char lotte Jewish eommunity doesn’t ehoose to affiliate with the Ceme tery Assoeiation by paying $72 dues eaeh year. There are individ uals who do not have the means to assoeiate with the Cemetery Asso eiation (or other Jewish institu tions), but finanees should never be an impediment if Jewish fu neral arrangements are required. To that end, a partnership has been ereated between Jewish Family Serviees, The Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, our four partner Temples (Congregation Or HaTorah, Temple Beth El, Temple Israel, and Temple Kol Tikvah) along with our eommunity’s elergy and two partner funeral homes (JB Tallent and Sons and Harry and Bryant). This partner ship works in tandem with our As- soeiation’s Steinberger Funeral Assistanee Fund to support those needy families at their time of loss. What about the other families and individuals who live an aetive and engaged Jewish life in Char lotte and the surrounding region? Charlotte is a unique eity in that our Cemetery Assoeiation is inde pendent from the synagogues and other Jewish ageneies. That is a simple result of Southern Jewish history and geography. Many of you have seen the blaek and white photograph of Rabbi Mendelsohn that is displayed in Shalom Park (near the snaek bar in the Jewish history display). For those Jews living in Charlotte at that time, their spiritual needs prior to 1870 were met by affiliating with the synagogues in Charleston, SC or Wilmington, NC. It wasn’t until after the Civil War that the Char lotte Jewish eommunity assumed its own identity distinet and sepa rate from those eoastal towns. Furthermore, in those days, peo ple were self-reliant. They were often their own butehers, groeers and elothiers. Some eould even argue they didn’t need their own eemetery as Jews in our region had opportunities to be buried in eemeteries in the area. We have reeords of Jewish individuals buried in the historie Elmwood Cemetery among others. At some point in time, though, it beeomes more than an individ ual responsibility to live a Jewish life and instill Jewish values in one’s eommunity. That’s what the post-Civil War eommunity said in 1867 when they purehased the 11 aeres of land on MeColl Street north of Uptown to eonseerate as their eommunity’s Bet 01am - Eternal House - the Hebrew Cemetery. People don’t often ree- ognize the need for a well-funded and maintained eemetery. How ever, for nearly 150 years, our eommunity has supported its Bet 01am and made it available to all, regardless of station in life or Temple affiliation. The winter has been extreme. In just this short period our ehil- dren missed three days of sehool. The weather did elose the Ceme tery for a day, as the iee on Statesville Avenue as well as within the Cemetery gates would have posed a ehallenge for drivers and walkers alike. Beeause of the physieal toll iee and water play on the grounds, upkeep and mainte- nanee are required. When you be- eome a member of the Hebrew Cemetery Assoeiation, your $72 dues goes towards this mainte- nanee. Your membership and sup port are needed to eontinue to perpetuate the mission of the He brew Cemetery Assoeiation - pro viding a dignified final resting plaee for the Greater Charlotte Jewish eommunity. With the New Year, make this the time that you eonsider funeral pre-planning. When you pre-plan, you ean save over 30% in plot and serviee fees. Payments are gener ally on a two-year term. Our Di reetor, Sandra Goldman, ean walk you through the proeess - and there’s never “hard-selling” in volved. Membership is affordable at $72 annually - and funeral pre planning is available immediately upon beeoming a member. Perhaps in 2016, your family is expeeting a ehild or grandehild. Maybe you have just reeeived an inheritanee or are drafting a will. These are just some of the ways that you ean partieipate in the Cre ate Your Jewish Legaey program and ereate a lasting relationship between your family and the He- Hebrew Cemetery of Greater Charlotte brew Cemetery. Our Hebrew Cemetery has been a very real tes tament to the sustained sueeesses of our Charlotte Jewish Commu nity. I hope you will eonsider adding the Hebrew Cemetery As soeiation to your CJL bequests. For more information about membership or funeral preplan ning, legaey planning or any of the programs diseussed, please eontaet our direetor Sandra Gold man at direetor@hebreweeme- tery.org or 704-576-1859. ^ Shalom Park Community Garden (Continued from page 1) full summer of learning opportu nities for Camp Mindy, the teen eamp and the 80 ehildren who will attend the Shalom Park Free dom Sehool, a literaey based pro gram for low ineome families. The garden eommittee also has developed a plan to eontribute the food grown by its members and volunteers to Jewish Family Serviees and Friendship Trays. This part of the garden’s mission determines the list of erops sehed- uled for summer, whieh ineludes tomatoes, peppers, eueumbers, squash, green beans, eggplants, eilantro, and dill. The garden will host a variety of programs through the growing season, the first of whieh is seheduled Mareh 6 for families that signed up for “Eating Green, Growing Green” this month’s theme in the Shalom Green Chal lenge. If you are interested in at tending, eontaet Julie Rizzo at j ulie. rizzo @eharlottej ee.org. The garden eommittee will sehedule monthly workdays for routine garden maintenanee and eould use the help of anyone in terested. The work days will be announeed on the Shalom Green Faeebook page and on its sehed- uling Website at lotsahelping- hands.eom. Bobbie Mabe, the garden’s de signer and eonstruetion eonsultant has been hired on a one-year eon- traet to eoordinate the aetivities in what is expeeted to be a busy sea son. Mabe is the owner of Growth through Gardening, a eompany that speeializes in hortieultural therapy. She also will serve as a eonsultant to keep the garden growing well. Her eontraet is paid with grants from the ClearPath Foundation and the Jewish Feder ation of Greater Charlotte. Anyone interested in support ing ongoing garden operations is invited to join the Shalom Park Garden Committee simply by showing up at eommittee meet ings held the seeond Wednesday of eaeh month in Room A-lllof the Levine Jewish Community Center. ^ “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” —Chinese proverb Ready to change your job, your career, yourself? Call us today for your complimentary consultation. 704-604-1655 WWW. C^olinaBusinessCoach com Insurance for Home, Muto, Business and Life. "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 Counting the rings on the tree stump seats to see how old they Swimmer Insurance Agency 725 Providence Rd Charlotte. NC 28207 704.333.6694 www.swimmerinsurance.com
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 1, 2016, edition 1
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