Tlie Gliarlotte
JEWISH
5007 Providence Road
Chariotte, NC 28226
Address Correction Requested
Vol. 17 No. 17
August 1994
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage Paid
Charlotte, NC
Permit No. 1208
Rabbi Murray Ezring Arrives at Temple Israel
By Lisa Taub
Rabbi Murray Ezring arrived in Charlotte recently to
assume the pulpit at Temple Israel. His engagement, the
result of an intensive eight-month search that resulted in
choosing him from approximately sixty candidates, has been
eagerly anticipated by Temple Israel members. His duties
began officially on July 7.
Rabbi Ezring comes to Charlotte with an impressive
record of building congregations through innovative pulpit
and teaching techniques. Most recently he served at Congre
gation B’nai Torah in Boca Raton, Florida, where he spent
six years. During his tenure at B’nai Torah, membership
grew from 300 to 850 families. While there. Rabbi Ezring
also developed a ‘Tot Shabbatot” program, family services,
regular Shabbat dinners and established an informal, early
Shabbat service. He was also responsible for development of
a series of family education programs centered around
holiday observances (e.g., “Let’s Make Shabbat”); organized
and taught an adult B’nai Mitzvah class; initiated and main
tained congregational chavurot; launched a major outreach
program to college students; and created “Chavurim,” a pre-
Kadima youth group. In the past three years, the congrega
tion earned Solomon Schechter Awards for their bulletin as
well as social action and adult education programs.
In Boca Raton, Rabbi
Ezring was a leader and
innovator not only in his own
congregation, but in the
Jewish community and the
community as a whole. He
served as Chief Chaplain for
the sheriff’s department,
worked with terminally ill
individuals through a local
hospice and served as found
ing member of an interreligious cable television commit
tee. He also coordinated fourteen local congregations and
Federation response to Hurricane Andrew.
Prior to his tenure in Boca Raton, Rabbi Ezring served
fourteen years as rabbi for Temple Beth El in Oakhurst, New
Jersey. There, he molded a new approach to congregational
participation in Shabbat services by using open dialogue and
innovative sermon techniques. He also initiated a variety of
education programs and monthly breakfasts for high school
students and their parents.
Rabbi Ezring was bom in Rock Island, Illinois. His
father was trained as a rabbi and served as cantor in his Rock
Island synagogue. He received his B.A. with High Honors
from the University of Illinois in 1973, his M.A. from the
Jewish Theological Seminary in 1977 and received his
rabbinic ordination in 1978. He has received several awards,
including the Israel Bond Scroll of Honor (1987), the Ezrat
Nashim-Sarah Herzog Hospital New Frontiers for Spiritual
Leadership Award (1991), the Federation Rabbinic Leader
ship Award (1992) and the Men’s American ORT Commu
nity Leadership Award (1993).
Rabbi Ezring is joined in Charlotte by his wife, Barbara,
a speech and language pathologist and his four children who
range in age from seven to fourteen.
“2 Million U.S. Jews Unaffiliated’
Rabbi Murray Ezring
Inside the CJN
Ray Tobias-A Discovery of Self...Page 4
International News...Page 2
Federation Connection...Page 3
This n' Tbat...Page 21
According to the 1990
National Jewish Population
Survey conducted by the
Council of Jewish Federa
tions, 52% of Jews marry
outside the faith. Of the 5.5
million Jews in America,
more than 2 million are
unaffiliated with a syna
gogue. There are 287,000
Jewish children now between
the ages of four and eight
who live in intermarried
homes. Startling demograph
ics such as these were at the
core of the third national
“Conference on Jewish
Intermarriage, Outreach and
Conversion...Making Out
reach Work,” which was held
in early June in New York
City. Ruth Goldberg and
Adrienne Rosenberg, both
from Charlotte, were among
the 125 Reform, Orthodox,
and Conservative rabbis,
educators, social workers,
federation, synagogue and
service organization profes
sionals and lay leaders who
participated in the confer
ence. Dr. Egon Mayer,
director of the Jewish Out
reach Institute (JOI) which
sponsored the conference,
chaired the conference. JOI is
the only national organization
embracing all streams of
Judaism that is exclusively
devoted to preserving Jewish
continuity and identity. JOI’s
mission is to be the primary
national resource of the North
American Jewish community
in research, communication
and education directed to the
end that unaffiliated and
marginally affiliated Jews,
including their non-Jewish
spouses and their chil
dren, choose Judaism.
Rabbi Harold Kushner,
author of When Bad Things
Happen To Good People and
To Ufe, was the keynote
speaker and said, “Intermar
riage can be seen as a door
way into Judaism, not as
doorway out or as betrayal.”
He continued, “We feel so
threatened by intermarrying
Jews that we reject rather
than embrace them. Some
times outreach leads to
conversion; but when it
By Ruth Goldberg
doesn’t, we need to offer a
Jewish ambiance to interfaith
families.” Regarding what
appeals to potential converts
to Judaism, Rabbi Kushner
related in his lecture, “The
Spirit of Outreach,” that the
warmth, closeness and
sharing of the Jewish family
is appealing as is the intellec
tual freedom of belief and the
story of our remaining Jews
when it was threatening to
express those beliefs.
“Judaism is the com
munity through which to
find God. Judaism is the
science of taking the
ordinary and making it
holy,” such as sanctifying
food and washing hands.
“Nothing God creates,” he
went on, “is evil; it’s up to
us to determine what to
do with it, to use it right,
to make things sacred....
We invite people to join
with us to bring holiness
(Kedushah) into the world.”
Several concurrent
workshops were held at the
conference which gave
participants specific informa
tion about successful educa
tional outreach projects in the
areas of parents, children,
teens and young adults and
family-oriented programs.
Sessions on “Working
with Interfaith Couples,”
were led by Rabbi Rachel
Cowan, a Reform rabbi and
author, with her late husband
Paul, of the book Mixed
Blessings: Jews, Christians
and Intermarriage. In small
groups, she and four other
facilitators demonstrated
some model exercises which
illustrated and analyzed
effective practices in working
with interfaith couples in a
variety of Jewish communal
settings.
Rabbi Irving "Yitz"
Greenberg, president of the
National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership
(CLAL), is an Orthodox
rabbi, author and educator.
He urges congregations of all
denominations to welcome
warmly, anyone who comes
in--Jew or convert or
intermarried.
Dr. Egon Mayer,
professor of sociology at
Brooklyn College, is a
recognized specialist in
sociological studies of
Jewish family and Jewish
identity. He concluded the
conference with this
thought: Jewish outreach to
the intermarried, to the
unaffiliated and affiliated, is
about how to perpetuate a
great culture and a compas
sionate people who can
weather the storms with great
dignity. The goal is to trans
form people's lives so they
will live better through
Judaism.
Goldberg and Rosenberg
shared their conference
experience and materials with
members of the Interfaith
Outreach Committee of the
Community Services Board
of the Jewish Federation of
Greater Charlotte. Last year,
the committee conducted a
demographic and attitudinal
survey of about 2,5(X) Jewish
families in Greater Charlotte.
It will also serve as a forum
for the sharing and exchang
ing of outreach ideas and
plans in which all local
Jewish institutions and
organization are involved.
Goldberg cochairs the
Interfaith Outreach Commit
tee. Rosenberg, director of
Charlotte’s Jewish Family
Services, counsels families
on intermarriage issues and
has led several support
groups for interfaith couples.
Ruth Goldberg
Ruth Goldberg is a
former editor of the Ameri
can Jewish Times Outlook.
An active member of the
community, she currently
serves on several Federation
boards and committees.