' P.O. Box 13369
RAfJ. Y Charlotte, NC 28226
Address Correction
fOT Requested
SOVIET JEWRY
Apr. 12
See page 11
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage PAID
Charlotte, NC
Permit No. 1208
The Charlotte 'JiiWISH *^NEWS
Vol. 12 No. 4
Charlotte, North Carolina
April 1990
Update: Soviet Jewry Resettlement
Plans have begun for reset
tling Soviet Jews in Charlotte.
Bill Gorelick, Meg Goldstein
and Dr. Jared Schwartz have
agreed to chair the campaign
portion for local resettlement as
well as the campaign for Oper
ation Exodus which funds reset
tlement in Israel. Penny Eisen-
berg has already begun coordi
nating volunteer recruitment,
and Sally Schrader has been
hired by the Federation, under
the supervision of Jewish Family
Services, to work with resettle
ment. A Community Coalition
for Soviet Jewry, chaired by
Bobbi Bernstein, has been
formed to help mobilize and
encourage a total communal
effort to help meet the needs of
the Soviet Jews fleeing to Israel
and to the United States. The
campaign for Operation Exodus
(resettlement in Israel) and long-
range funding for local resettle
ment will begin this fall. The
Charlotte community must raise
close to $1 million over the next
three years to fund resettlement
here and in Israel.
The Charlotte Jewish commu
nity in phase one must raise
approximately $100,000 for the
resettlement of seven Soviet
Jewish families in Charlotte.
Two families will not receive any
help from the U.S. government,
while the remainder may be able
to receive minimal assistance.
Charlotte has accepted its re
sponsibility and is responding
with incredible enthusiasm and
responsiveness. At this point in
time, there is an effort to raise
dollars for the local resettlement
through parlor meetings and
quiet solicitation leading up to
a full program of reaching out
to the entire Jewish community.
The key to this effort is to
understand the plight of the
Soviet Jew and how we can
really be a part of making Jewish
history.
Once Charlotte has completed
its local resettlement and feels
comfortable in its coffers being
secure to participate locally for
the next three to five years, we
will then turn our attention
during the fall of this year, to
help Israel in its resettlement. As
Federations are doing through
out the United States, there will
be an effort to raise an additional
$220,000 above and beyond our
regular campaign to help Jews
resettle in the State of Israel.
Funds must be made available
to build housing, help with job
retraining, teach language, and
for the manifold complexity of
acculturating into another soci
ety.
Everyone’s cooperation is
needed. We are concerned with
saving lives. Anti-Semitism is
growing in the Soviet Union
with the rise in nationalism and
the decline of the economy.
A Look Back: **Ripples in Time”
On Monday, April 16 at 10
p.m., WTVI-42 will rebroadcast
a locally-produced hour-long
documentary. Ripples In Time,
which profiles a number of
people in the Charlotte area with
various connections to the Holo
caust of World War II. The
project was supported with
major funding from the North
Carolina Council on the Holo
caust, Royal Insurance Compa
ny and The Charlotte Observer.
Producer/director Stuart Gras-
berg wrote this account of his
experience during the produc
tion of the program.
The elderly man spoke with
a heavy Polish accent, but his
passion and emotion came
through. “With my brother, we
used to talk about it — some
times we’d say, ‘Maybe this was
a dream, maybe it’s not true.
How could we live like this?’ But
we did.”
For Isaac Lepek, the memo
ries of his months and years in
Hitler’s concentration camps
may have seemed like a dream.
But as he spoke, the look in his
eyes revealed a frightening real
ity. Isaac survived. Eleven and
one-half million people, nearly
one-quarter of World War II
casualties, died of starvation,
disease, physical abuse and
poison gas. Of those more than
In memory of Kristallnacht.
11 million, six million were Jews, talked with each person several
The rest were Christians, intel
lectuals, Gypsies, the mentally
ill, and any other minority the
Nazis deemed to be undesirable.
We have all heard the statistics
of the number of deaths in the
Holocaust, but what do we hear
of those who survived?
We began work on Ripples In
Time the summer of 1988, when
associate producer Sandra Bar
ley and I sent out questionnaires
to a number of people on a list
provided by the North Carolina
Council on the Holocaust.
Through responses and other
word-of-mouth connections, we
culled the list down to nine.
Before production began, we
Conditions are very similar to
those of the 1930s which pre
ceded the Holocaust. If we really
mean “Never Again!” we must
put our words into positive
action and give generously of
our time and our financial
resources. We need volunteers to
provide transportation for ap
pointments, shopping, school,
religious and community activ
ities; to help find employment;
to help with tutoring English and
to translate (must be fluent in
Russian). Thanks to Gil Portnoy
and Fleetco, we now have stor
age space for the furniture and
household goods we are collect
ing. We are just beginning; there
is so much left to do.
Make a difference in this
world. Don’t wait to be called.
To volunteer or for more infor
mation call Sally Schrader or
Jewish Family Services, 364-
6596/364-6594, or Penny Eisen-
berg, 847-4037, or The Charlotte
Jewish Federation, 366-5007.
Yofti Hashoa Program
To be at Shalom Park
times in an effort to get to know
the individual. In the process,
and in varying degrees, each one
began to relax. By the time we
rolled video tape, they opened
up and shared their stories.
For some it was difficult,
having not spoken about their
experiences for over 40 years. As
the world was licking its wounds
from the devastation of World
War II, survivors and liberators
were told to “forget,” to go on
with their lives. Indeed, it is
apparent that people often do
not want to hear of the horrors
of the camps — and a growing
number even deny that the
See RIPPLES page 30
A special program for Yom
Hashoa will be held at Shalom
Park in Gorelick Hall on Sun
day, April 22 at 7 p.m. It is being
sponsored by The Jewish Com
munity Center and The Char
lotte Jewish Federation. “An
Evening with Madame F.” is a
drama-with-music written and
performed by pianist-singer-
actress Claudia Stevens. This
unique one-woman presentation
is based on “Playing for Time,”
Fania Fenelon’s account of her
life as a musician at Auschwitz,
where she performed and ar
ranged music in order to survive.
Performer Claudia Stevens,
whose amazing versatility mir
rors that of Fenelon, recreates
the unimaginable horror of
Auschwitz and the courage of its
inmates. She plays and sings
pieces actually perf^ormed by the
musicians of Auschwitz, includ
ing songs of faith and resistance,
from a score developed for her
by composer Fred Cohen.
In her distinguished perfor
mance career, Claudia Stevens
has been presented in recitals at
Carnegie Recital Hall and by the
Community Concert Associa
tion, performing throughout the
Catefxlar 30
Classifieds 30
Editorials 2
Engagement/Marriage.. .25
Family Services 5
Federation 7
JCC 13-20
Kids’ Page 12
Library 10
Lubavitch 8-9
Organizations 26
Recipes 31
Temples 28-29
This'n That 11
Teens 21
World Beat 4
Special Features
Fifty Years Ago: Holocaust 27
From Here to USSR—Part VIII 6
JCC Sumnier Camps 16-17
Errtertainment/Restaurants 22-24
Painting by Ephraim
United States as well as in
Europe and Israel. She has
recorded for Perspectives of
New Music and National Public
Radio.
There is no charge for this
presentation and it will be fol
lowed by dessert.
Prior to the actual perfor
mance there will be a memorial
candlelighting ceremony for the
11 million who perished during
the Holocaust...6 million Jews
and 5 million others. Six candles
will be lit by second and third
generations of Holocaust survi
vors and the remaining five by
the liberators and righteous
gentiles.
Special arrangements, through
the Charlotte members of the
NC State Holocaust Commis
sion: Dr. Susan Cernyak-Spatz,
Celia Scher, Irving Mond and
Henry Hirschmann, have been
made for a display of memora
bilia and posters of the Holo
caust. These will be in the
Speizman Galleries April 1-30.
Included in the display will be
photos taken by James Todd, an
Army liberator who resides in
Cherryville, and actual Battalion
Books donated by James
Shrum, another liberator, who
lives in Lincolnton. School
children, church groups and the
general public are invited to view
these and also special slide
presentations. If your group or
class would like to come, please
call Irving Mond, 366-6632 or
Scott Snyder, 366-5007.
IN
THE
NEWS