5007 Provkienoe Road
Charlotte. NC 28226
Address Correction Requested
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage Paid
Charlotte, NC
Permit No. 1208
The Charlotte
JEWISH
Vol. 17 No. 7
Av/Elul5755 August 1995
Let’s Build
Together!
Volunteers
Needed To Help
Construct New
Shalom Park
Playground
The Shalom Park partners are
proud to announce the upcoming
construction of a custom de
signed playstructure that will be
available to all users of Shalom
Park facilities-
The new, high quality equip
ment, will replace the existing
playground structures and will in
clude: capacity to accommodate
up to SO children, simultaneously;
3 slides; a clatterbridge; a variety
of different climbers; swings; and,
an assortment of specialized play
features such as a bubble wall, talk
phones, steering wheels and an
underdeck store front.
One of the most exciting char
acteristics of the new playstructure
is that its layout is consciously
fashioned for use by children wi^
special needs. The structure will
feature handicapped accessible
stairs, a transfer station and a
wheel chair ramp. In addition, the
installation of “wood carpet” will
provide a soft, safe and wheel
chair accessible ground cover.
Team Charlotte Off
To The JCC Maccabi
Youth Games
Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Shaq and the JCC’s Team Charlotte. What
do they have in common? The answer, Orlando, Florida. Yes, Orlando,
Florida, the site of the 13th Maccabi youth games that will be held
there from August 13-17. And, this year, Team Charlotte will be there.
The JCC Maccabi youth games is a highly organized athletic com
petition for Jewish athletes from North America and around the world.
Last year more than 2700 young Jewish athletes participated in the
national competition in Cleveland. This summer there will be more
than 3S0 athletes participating in Orlando (one of 5 regional competi
tion sites).
The Team Charlotte delegation is 30 strong and includes individu
als who will participate in basketball, swimming, tennis, and track &
field events. Our delegates to Orlando are: Phillip Brodsky, Adanr
Goldfarb, Matthew Gordan, Chad Jaben, Ryan Karp, Ben Linderman,
The new playground project
was initiated by an extremely gen
erous grant from an anonymous
donor. This grant was matched by
a contribution from the manage
ment committee of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Charlotte.
Additional funding for the
$30,000 project include donations
from the parent teachers organi
zation of the Charlotte Jewish Pre
school (a joint program of Temple
Israel and Temple Beth El), the
“special children’s fund” of the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Charlotte, the Jewish Community
Center and other individual do
nors.
The project, launched more
than 7 months ago, has been spear
headed by a committee of dedi
cated volunteers who have spent
countless hours learning about the
playground design and equipment
industry. Their work includ^ per-
Continued on Page 9
I
MACCABI YOUTH GAMES
Team Charlotte's Mitzvah Project-Painting the CAJE Trailer
Matthew Manes, Sean Ostrow, Stuart Shapiro, Robbie Slavin, Michael
Zelickson, Joseph Fuerstman, Derrick Hoffman, Adam Horner, Jason
Kaplan, Austin Karp, Benjamin Levine, Bradley Nathanson, Matt
Shapiro, Andrew Coen, Jonathan Friend, Adam Linderman, Micah
Monosoff, Erin Naman, David Sheffer, Darren Katz, Corey Goldfarb,
Marissa Lieberman, Ryan Pinion, and Brett Elko.
The Charlotte JCC youth Maccabi team and coaches have been
hard at work for more than 5 months, preparing for Team Charlotte’s
first entry in the games. The
athletes have practiced hard
and will be poised and proud
representatives of our commu
nity. ^
The delegation will be
leaving Charlotte on Saturday
evening, August 12, after a
Havdalah service, final prac
tice and a rousing send off from
parents and friends. The team
bus will travel all night, arriv
ing in Orlando on Sunday
morning in time for some
sight-seeing, registration and
preparation for the opening
ceremonies.
While the games provide
serious, quality competition,
they are geared to provide a
memorable, personal Jewish
experiencie for all participants.
All athletes are housed with
Jewish families in Orlando and each delegation has participated in a
mitzvah project in their home community.
The JCC Maccabi Youth Games is proud to have Coca Cola, USA
as a national sponsor.
Good luck! Play hard! Have a great time. Your home community
will be rooting for tiie JCC Team Charlotte.
TEAA/I Cl l-ARI.OTTT
Study Of Jewish Teens
Reveals Concerns From
Anti-Semitism To Dating
More than 40 percent of Jew
ish teens worry about being a tar
get of anti-Semitism. Marrying
someone who is Jewish is “very
important” to 52 percent, but dat
ing a Jewish person is of great im
portance to only 37 percent. Those
are just a few of the findings in
Values and Concerns of American
Jewish Youth, a national study of
1,115 Jewish teens published by
the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen
Center for Modem Jewish Stud
ies at Brandeis University and the
Jewish Community Center (JCC)
Association of North America.
The study is part of the Youth De
velopment Project funded by the
DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest
Fund.
Research on Jewish youth has
been scarce and the lack of sys
tematic information has affected
planning for youth programs, ac
cording to Amy Sales, senior re
search associate at the Cohen
Center and author of the study.
Community planning for youth
tends to be based on adult percep
tions of the teen world.
”This study opens a window
onto the lives, interests, and con-
Semitism, and crime and violence.
More than 80 percent of the
teens studied said being Jewish is
at least “somewhat important” to
them. The data show that Jewish
identity is set by the time children
reach seventh grade and does not
change during the middle and high
school years. Sales said.
Sales noted that social prac
tices are key indicators of teenag
ers’ Jewish identity since spending
time with friends and “hanging
out” are rated “very important” by
85 percent of the Jewish teens. The
study found that teens who live in
entirely Jewish households are sig
nificantly more likely than those
in interfaith families to form close
friendships with other Jewish
teens. They are also much more
likely to place a high value on dat
ing and marrying a Jewish person.
The study affirms communal
concems about Jewish continuity.
Sales said. It clearly shows that
children of interfaith families have
significantly lower levels of Jew
ish identit> than do children in
families with two Jewish parents.
The effects of these differences are
pervasive - from teens’ social ac-
cems of Jewish teenagers,’ Sales
said. “Its findings will be a valu
able resource for communal lead
ers and youth workers.”
The study shows that Jewish
youth place the most emphasis on
personal achievement - their great
est interest and greatest concern.
Nearly 90 percent of the teens
studied said developing their skills
and abilities - in sports, the arts,
technology, or other areas - is
highly important. A similar per
centage also expressed deep con
cems about their future college
and career.
As might be expected, Jew
ish teens are not immune to the
growing climate of violence in the
United States. Some 40 percent
arc very concerned about being a
victim of violence; 42 percent are
highly concerned about being a
target of anti-Semitism. Asked
which social problems they would
like to help solve, teens in the
study nK>st often said AIDS, anti-
tion interests, to social and com
munal attachments, to feelings
about Jewish life. The report sug
gests that Jewish organizations
need to be more hospitable to
teens with more meaningful and
engaging programming. Staff and
other adults must be mor sensi
tive to the teens’ interests and con
cerns.
ft.
L