1992
P.O. Box 13369
Charlotte, NC 28270
Address Correction
Requested
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage PAID
Charlotte, NC
Permit No. 1208
See Pages 12-13
The Charlotte ^JEWISH ^*NEWS
Vol. 14 No. 5
Charlotte, North Carolina
May 1992
Community/ to Celebrate Israel Independence Day:
Sol Zim Concert Featured
“Israel 44: Independence Day
Celebration” will be held on
Sunday, May 17, noon-2:30 p.m.
at Shalom Park. The entire
community is invited to enjoy
Israeli food, games, Israeli danc
ing, a scavenger hunt, archaeo
logical dig and a professionally
guided slide tour. A special guest
will be the Israeli Consul Gen
eral. The celebration is being
sponsored by The Jewish Fed
eration of Greater Charlotte,
The Charlotte Jewish Commu
nity Center, Temple Beth El and
Temple Israel.
After these festivities for
young and old, a family concert
will be presented at 2:30 p.m. in
Gorelick Hall, featuring Sol
Zim, one of the most exciting
singers, modern day composers
and arrangers on the Jewish
scene today, whose dynamic
personality and extraordinary
talent has brought acclaim and
sold out performances around
the world.
Admission to the concert is
$12; students/seniors, $6; chil
dren free when accompanied by
parents. Featured also will be the
Charlotte Jewish Youth Cho
rale.
•
It has been said that when
music comes from the heart, it
goes to the heart. The truth of
the maxim is gloriously realized
in SOL ZIM. This talented,
outstanding, prominent Jewish
personality has reached the
hearts of Jews the world over
through his rich tenor voice.
Mr. Zim has served the Hollis
Hills Jewish Center in New York
as its Cantor for over 20 years.
To develop his cantorial art and
technique, he studied privately
with Cantor Moshe Kousse-
vitsky and the master composer
of Yiddish theatre, Sholom
Secunda.
As an accomplished composer
and songwriter, Zim has com
posed hundreds of songs and
“hassidic niggunim” which are
sung by Jews the world over. The
Israeli Hassidic Song Festival
had invited Zirh to represent the
United States at the 16th annual
competition. His 1982 entry,
“Sheyibone,” was the first Amer
ican composition to have en
tered and won the* prestigious
competition. His 1984 entry,
“Shalom Alechem,” has joined
the ranks of the now famous
“Sheyibone” as a winning song
in the Hassidic Festival.
In addition, Zim has pub
lished seven songbooks of his
own original music. These music
Sol Zim
books are being used by count
less cantors, music teachers,
choral directors and Jewish
educators.
“From Russia with Love....a Russian Revelation”
CJF Loan Guarantee Program
Set to Go into Operation
By Rita Mond
Saturday, April 11 was a very
special night for the Jewish
community. A capacity crowd
filled Gorelick Hall for a con
cert, “From Russia with Love...a
Russian Revelation,” sponsored
by the Jewish Community Cen
ter and cosponsored by WDAV
89.9 FM. The concert was a
tribute to the Russian families
who have settled in Charlotte the
past two years and was a fund
raiser to enable the Russian
children to attend the JCC
Camps this summer.
The program began with
“String Quartet No. 2 in D
Major” by Borodin, which was
beautifully played by Susan
Blumberg, violin; Emily Cha
tham Widis, violin; Nancy Le
vine, viola; Charles Weins, cello.
A recent emigre, Rosalia Stru
gatsky, who plays with the
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra,
was the featured guest soloist.
There was a standing ovation for
her beautifully executed perfor
mance on the violin. Her pro
fessionalism and brilliant play
ing of “Romance for Violin and
Piano” by Gliere and “Valse
Scherzo” by Tchaikovsky en
thralled the audience. She was
accompanied on the piano by
Linda Moresi. She is truly a
great loss to Russia’s musical
world, but thankfully a tremen
dous gain for Charlotte.
The concert concluded with
“Octet for Wind Instruments” by
Stravinsky, with members of the
Charlotte Symphony under the
conductorship of Mark Cedel.
A beautiful reception fol
lowed the performance for those
who sponsored the concert.
There were three underwriters,
31 Grand Patrons and 65 Pa
trons who really helped to make
this evening possible. Over 400
individual tickets were sold.
Approximately 75 Russians
were in attendance, 65 of whom
were sponsored for the evening.
Many of the Russian women
helped with the reception by
Ali Kavadio (L) and Rosa Strugatsky, guest soloist.
Nancy Levine (L) and Emily Chatham Widis, members of the string quartet,
enjoying the reception after the concert. photos courtesy of aii Kavadio
baking some of their special
delicacies.
Barry Hantman, executive
director of the JCC, reports that
the event grossed over $12,500
and netted enough money to
send all the Russian children to
camp this summer plus a surplus
to offer programs for Russian
resettlement and acculturation
for the entire year.
Special thanks go to Gene
Kavadio who chaired the event
and to Patty Gorelick and Sue
Ades who chaired the patron’s
committee. A special thank you
goes to Fran Rosenberg, adult
program director of the JCC, for
coordinating the evening.
WDAV recorded the perfor
mance and will feature it on their
station in the near future.
The North American Jewish
Federations have given the
Council of Jewish Federations
final approval for th*e CJF $900
million Loan Guarantee Pro
gram for the resettlement of
Russian Jews in Israel.
This major philanthropic en
terprise authorizes CJ F to guar
antee direct loans of up to $ 1,250
per immigrant from Israeli
banks. The immigrants have 10
years to repay the loans, with no
money due to the banks during
the first three years.
The program, which is not
related to Israel’s request for $10
billion in loan guarantees from
the United States government, is
a response by the Federation
System to the challenge repres
ented by the immigration of up
to one million Jews from the
former Soviet Union to Israel
over a three-year period. Tradi
tional fundraising would not
have been adequate to meet the
enormous costs of resettling the
newcomers.
The loan guarantees requested
by Israel from the U.S. would
have permitted Israel to receive
favorable interest rates in its
borrowings. The CJF program,
however, guarantees direct loans
to the immigrants themselves to
help them meet the costs of
starting new lives.
The Federations gave their
original, overwhelming appro
val to the program at a Special
CJF General Assembly in Wash
ington, DC on April 16, 1991.
Under the concept of equitable
collective responsibility, which is
the fundamental premise behind
the loan guarantees, each Fed
eration agrees to indemnify CJF
for its fair share of the risk of
making the loans.
CJF has now received signed
agreements and legal papers
from the Federations, represent
ing more than 90 percent of the
amount to be indemnified, thus
enabling the program to become
operational.
Indemnification agreements
were also required from Keren
Hayesod, which conducts fund
raising for Israel outside of
North America, and the United
Israel Appeal/Canada. Other
participants in the program
include the United Jewish Ap
peal, United Israel Appeal and
the Jewish Agency for Israel.
The Indemnification agree
ments submitted by the Feder
ations have permitted CJF to
reach contractual agreements
with the Israeli banks that will
be making loans to the emigres.
Intricate negotiations were
conducted with all participants
in the program both before and
after the Special General Assem
bly.
Implementation of the pro
gram had been held up because
of the “complexities arising from
the extensive number of interre
lated transactions, and the need
to address and resolve the con
cerns of the banking communi
ty.”
The concerns of the banks
arose because the program “in
volves not just a commercial
loan guarantee structure, but is
See LOAN page 5
In
The
News
Calendar
24
Family Services
6-7
Recipes
24
Classifieds
24
Federation
11-13
Temples
14-15
Dining Out/Ent
19-21
JCC
8-9
This'n That
10
Ed-Op
2-3
Lubavitch
16-17
Tributes
10
Eng/Marriages
22-23
Organizations
18
World Beat
4