THE CHARLOTTE JEWISH NEWS
Published monthly by:
Chariotte Jewish Federation
MMTvitt Bienstock, Director
Jewish Community Center
Hsrold Cohen, Director
Charlotte Hebrew Academy
Eleanor WeinglMss,
Editors Ann Langman A Rita Mond
Copy deadline the 5th of each month
P,0. Box220188, Charlotte, N.C. 28222
For The Record
Editorial
Transportation for our older adults has been a
serious problem for almost every organization and in
stitution in the Jewish community. Most of us can easi
ly drive to the supermarket to do the weekly shopping.
If we need to see the doctor it’s only a short trip by
automobile. And when we wish to go to a movie or to a
meeting who thinks twice about getting there. For
many older adults who no longer drive a car these nor
mal daily activities have become problems of major
proportions.
Over the last year several possible solutions have
been investigated. First, how about volunteer drivers?
Attempts to arrange for volunteer drivers have mostly
been a failure. People just don’t have the time available
and the expense of such driving continues to rise. Se
cond, what about buying a van for the Jewish com
munity and providing it as a service? Even at a low
price of purchase the expense of buying and operating
would come to over $20,000 for the first year. That’s a
considerable amount of money in anyone’s book.
Third, what about somebody donating a van or other
vehicle? It’s not a bad idea if someone were interested
in such a contribution. So far there are no takers. Four
th, doesn’t the federal government have grants to buy
vans for this purpose? Yes, but no agency in Mecklen
burg County is able to apply for such a grant at this
time because the County has not completed the federal
ly required “county transportation plan.” This plan
will eventually be carried out once the County and
State can agree on who will cover the cost of doing the
study. It will then take approximately six months to a
year to complete and then we can apply for the federal
grant. The intricacy of the rules is a model of
bureaucracy in action. Fifth, would it be possible to
share van time with another local agency or group that
has one at little or no cost besides operating expenses?
This is probably our best option in terms of dollar cost
and practicality.
The Charlotte Jewish Federation has expressed its
concern about this problem and its willingness to be a
part of the solution. The Blumenthal Jewish Home
commissioned a study which indicated, among other
things, that transportation was the number one pro
blem of concern for the elderly in our community. With
larger numbers of elderly and almost totally inade
quate transportation resources in Charlotte our pro
blem can only worsen. If you’re feeling frustrated then
you’re experiencing a small part of what it’s like to be
without transportation for some of life’s necessities.
Transportation is a very concrete link which keeps peo
ple connected with the flow of community life and
allows them to live in independence and with dignity.
Take a moment now to think about this issue, and
then let me hear your reactions to it, c/o the Charlotte
Jewish Federation Department of Social Services.
L. Louis Albert, ACSW
Across The Editors* Desks...
Congratulations
E>ear Rita and Ann,
Mazel Tov on the third
Public Relations Award of
CJF. The two of you are do*
ing a fine job, and we of the
community are genuinely
thankful to you.
Helen sends her warm
greetings.
Shaloni,
Harold I. Krantzler
Rabbi, Temple Beth El
Good News!
I am pleased to report that
the Argentinian government
is showing signs of improve
ment and that several in
dividuals who had been held
for years without being
charged, including Deborah
Benshoam, have recently
been released. (See
December’s “For the
Record”)
Norman Olshansky
Regional Director ADL
By Norman Olahantky
R^onal Director
Anti-Defamation League
North Carolina/Virginia
Regional Director Anti-
Defamation League Of B’nai
B’rith
As I entered the Christian
Bookstore in Fayetteville.
N.C., I immediately felt an
atmosphere of calm and
respect. Soft religious music
was playing. About six
customers were browsing
among the racks. The place
was clean and quiet, not
unlike a library. You might
ask what would take the
Regional Director of ADL to
a fundamentalist Christian
bookstore? I had heard a
rumor at a Fayetteville
Ministerial Association
meeting, where I was the
guest speaker, that the store
was carrying the Crusader
Comics by Jack T. Chick, a
notorious publisher of anti-
Catholic and sometimes anti-
Jewish ‘‘religious’’
materials.
It didn’t take long before I
found the rack of Chick
Publications. There were at
least 30 different items with
titles such as King of Kings,
The Passover Plot, Support
Your Local Jew, and Angel
of Light. The most infamous,
Alberto, was not on display.
Alberto is a blatantly anti-
Catholic publication which
purports to be the true story
of a Jesuit priest whose job it
was to destroy Protestant
churches. The material is so
vile that the Canadian
government has prohibited
the book from Canada under
a law which makes the
distribution of hate
materials illegal.
A new Chick Publication,
which I had not previously
seen, titled “My Name?...In
the Vatican?”, was on the
rack. It is another follow-up
to Alberto, claiming con
spiratorial designs by the
Vatican against every Pro
testant church in the world.
By innuendo, the story
line leads one to believe that
Hitler was acting under
direct orders of the “holy of
fice.” The theme then iden
tifies Dr. Alberto Rivera as
“...an ex-Jesuit priest whose
job it was to infiltrate and
destroy Protestant chur
ches.” The authors claim
that because they dare to
publish his story that Satan
would stop at nothing to kill
its message. It goes on to
i
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Facts About Jewish Law
1. What makes a male baby
a Jew is not the bris, but his
birth of a Jewish mother.
2. A boy becomes Bar
Mitzvah not by being called
up to the Torah for an aliya,
but by living to be thirteen.*
3. Going through a wed
ding ceremony is not the on
ly way to get married under
The Editors welcome com
ments and letters expressing
all points of view and reserve
the right to edit.
Jewish law. Living together
will do it.
4. Having a Jewish funeral
is not a necessary condition
for achieving the world to
come.
5. One does not have to
have a rabbi at the bris. Bar
Mitzvah ceremony, wedding,
funeral, or at any Jewish ser
vice or ceremony. The rab
bi’s only religious function is
to answer questions of
Jewish law.
Saul Brenner
(Ed. note — if the boy is an
orphan he becomes Bar Mitz
vah at age 12)
talk about how Christian
bookstores have been
threatened and that some
have “held their ground and
were willing to face the
pressures...because they see
it as one of the best soul win
ning books to win Cath
olics.” The sequel to Alberto
is a comic book titled Double
Cross.
I asked the manager if she
were familiar with Chick
Publications. She admitted
that she was aware of the
controversy regarding
Alberto and as a result did
not have it on the rack. She
said some wanted it and
others didn’t and that she is
caught in the middle. When I
pointed out that other anti-
Catholic items were on the
rack, she protested that she
couldn’t read everything
that came into her store. I
told her about the Canadian
decision and not to my sur
prise, she knew all about it.
She went on to tell me of
her interest in family values
and concern about por
nography. I asked how she
could, at the same* time,
claim to be a good Christian
and fight pornography on TV
and in adult bookstores, if
she were allowing lies and
bigotry to be sold from her
store. I told her she had so
much other material in the
store for customers to pick
from, including good comics,
that I wondered why she
needed Chick Publications?
She said she would talk to
her husband indicating that
she was not making any fur
ther commitments. When I
left the store the atmosphere
was no longer calm and I felt
little respect.
Prejudice and bigotry are
like a sickness. If you do not
intervene it can grow like a
cancer. To be silent or to ig
nore a problem is tanta
mount to acceptance.
Whether its targets be
blacks. Hispanics, Jews,
Catholics or others, pre
judice is something America
can do without. If we truly
“care” we must not only be
concerned, but also respond.
For more information con
tact your regional ADL of
fice at 3311 West Broad
Street. Richmond. VA 23230.
The Jewish
Calendar
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