Page 2 - The Charlotte Jewish News - September, 1995
Federation
Connection
perspectives
Letters to
by Harvey Cohen
Prelude to a Book Review
Rolfe Neill, publisher of The
Charlotte Observer devoted his July
9, op-ed column to a book,
“Zebulon Vance and 'The Scattered
Nation Richard Klein’s review of
that book, edited by Maurice
Weinstein, appears on page 6 of
this issue.
Until recently, the only contact
I ever had with Maurice was late
last year. I called to ask his permis
sion to reprint an article he wrote
about the role of Jewish newspapers
in this country. Other than that soli
tary contact, I didn’t know anything
about Maurice except that he was
an attorney. Then, in May of this
year, I was asked to call him about
the Zeb Vance book.
We met at his home and as he
welcomed me at the door, I was
immediately taken by his cordial, but
reserved yet friendly greeting. Once
inside and seated in his living room,
I couldn’t help looking at the
“things” in the room. To me, they
made a strong statement about the
man. For one thing there were
books, hundreds of them, neatly
arranged and categorized on
shelves. There were very interest-
Hello, l\1y Name’s Bond!
I talked with James Bond last
week on the telephone. Not the
movie James Bond.but a living
counterpart. Here’s what happened.
I was sitting in my office won
dering how I was ever going to get
this issue of the newspaper ready on
time, when the phone rang, I picked
it up, said “Hello” and the voice on
the other end of the line said, “Hi,
my name’s Joe Kenny and I ran
across something I think you’d be
interested in for the readers of your
paper.” Turns out Joe Kenny is a
retired FBI Special Agent as well
as being a former Military Intelli
gence Officer. What he ran across
while doing some consulting work
for one of the Baltic countries a few
months ago, is that Lithuania had
its own “Schindler” figure, but with
a twist.
His name was Chiyuni
Sugichara and if that doesn’t ex
actly sound Lithuanian, you’re ex
actly right. He was a Japanese
diplomat stationed at the Japanese
counslate in the city of Kaunas. He’s
crecUted with issuing 6,400 transit
visas to Polish and Lithuaninan Jews
in 1940, thereby saving their lives.
Even after the Soviets closed the
consulate. Sugichara continued to
issue visas from his apartment
against the explicit orders of his
superiors.
A monument resembling a hu
man shape holding up a crescent,
was unveiled in the city of Vilnius
in June.
He died in relative obscurity in
his native country.
Thanks for the story, Joe, as
well as the others you sent along. I
hope we stay in touch because, as
Jimmy Durante, the comedian, was
famous for saying, “I got a million
of them,” I think that holds true for
you, too. Thanks again Joe Kenny,
or James Bond or whatever your
name is.
THE CHARLOTTE JEWISH NEWS
5007 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28226
366-5007 Fax 365-4507
Published by:
Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte Adrienne Rosenberg - Acting Director
Jewish Community Center Alan Feldman, Director
Editor Harvey Cohen
Advertising Coordinator Rita Mond
Advertising Rep Lan^ Levy
CJN Executh^e Board
Co-Chairs - Bob Abel, Bob Davis, Rosalind Taranto
Evelyn Berger, Leora Itzhaki, Ann Langman, Linda Levy, Dr. Selwyn Spangenthal
MEMBER
PubUslMd montMy axoapt for July
Copy deadlln* th« 10th of MCh month
pr*c«ding month of Issu*
TW C//V 4ocs sot r—yoMi^gity for tbc ^aality or kaslinith
of uv prodact or servicc adveitiaMl. No articlos or advcrtiacacato
■Mv rcpriatcd withoot cditor’a aathorizatioo.
PohK«hiag of a |Mid political advertaacMcat doca aot coaathatc mm
eedorsemeet of aay caadidate, |»olitic«l i^rty or poKtical poahiea by
tiHa ocwapapcr, tiM Fcderatioa or aay eaiployeee.
ing looking objects d’art and an
tiques, even a cannon reputed to be
from Admiral Nelson’s own ship.
Some people have things to make a
statement about their stature in life.
Not Maurice! He truly loved what
he had and enjoyed sharing the his
tory of some'pieces with me with a
fondness and affection, as if the
pieces were alive and he was re
living its history with the telling.
He didn’t strike me as the kind of
person you’d find at a Hornets bas
ketball game screaming encour
agement to the team. At the same
time I sensed he was a very pas
sionate man, passionate about
Jews, the Jewish condition and all
things Jewish. The book about Tjeb
Vance, Maurice’s book, was his fi
nal passion. On July 25, Maurice
Weinstein died.
Rolfe Neill wrote that “Maurice
Weinstein and Zeb Vance are giv
ing a speech still in need of hear
ing.” Understandably, how pleasing
it must have been fbr Maurice to
read Neill’s column and to feel and
be forever linked to one of his per
sonal heroes, Zeb Vance. Read the
review; read the book.
the Editor
Goodbye/Hello
With the New Year upon us, I
wanted to take this opportunity to
say goodbye and hello as well.
Despite the successes and ac
complishments I’ve enjoyed as Ex
ecutive Director of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Charlotte, I
want to say hello because, as most
of you know. I’ve left that position.
Sound confusing? I’ll explain.
Topically, when a Federation
executive leaves the Director’s
post, they usually move on to the
same position in a different city. I
have chosen not to do that. My wife
Susan, my children and I are stay
ing in Charlotte not only because
of what the city has to offer, but be
cause of its people, Jewish people
in particular.
Therefore, now that I’ve
stepped out from behind my desk
at the Federation, it’s time for me
to say “hello but in a new and dif
ferent role.
As a fledgling entreprenuer, I
am pursuing several avenues of en-
teiprise and although I have become
associated with a New York based
Jewish organization on a limited
basis, it is only one of several things
I will be doing. A variety of options
keep cropping up, so I’m not sure
what the future holds. One thing I
am sure of is how grateful I am to
everyone who advocated my efforts
of the past few years. So, to those
people, on behalf of me and my fam
ily, I say Shalom. Thank you for
what you’ve done for me person
ally and for helping me grow since
coming to Charlotte.
Daniel Z. Lepow
Federation often is equated
with fundraising and campaign. Too
many people in our community only
associate Federation with their an
nual pledges.
Fund raising, however, is only
a means by which Federation chan
nels the financial resources of the
community into those services criti
cal to its growth and well being.
This process by which our commu
nity allocates the more than $1.3
million raised in
this year’s cam
paign is about to
begin.
After serious
discussion, the
Federation board
has modified the
allocation pro
cess. As with last
year’s process,
several key deci
sions will be made
by the entire
Board: after set
ting the reserve
for bad debt and
deducting the cost
of the campaign,
the Board will de
cide how much to allocate to UJA
and how much to the partners in
Shalom Park to subsidize park rents.
This decision will be made at the
September 27 meeting of the board.
(The Board actually has addressed
the latter issue and determined to
allocate 10% of the campaign to
help the JCC, Temple Beth El,
Temple Israel and the Pre-School
meet the cost of operating Shalom
Park.)
The balance of the $1.3 million
campaign will go to the Allocation
Committee, chaired this year by
October Deadline
September 10
Sara Schriebman. The Committee
will allocate available funds to three
panels covering two broad areas of
programming - education and so
cial services - and major Institu
tions. Those panels then will hear
presentations by the relevant agen
cies seeking funds and make rec
ommendations to the Board
regarding the precise allocation to
each agency.
At its meeting on November
27, the Board will
receive the recom
mendations of the
Allocation Com
mittee and its pan
els. Your thoughts
on the allocation
of our resources
are always wel
comed. Our Board
meetings are open
to the community,
and your com
ments are wel
comed either at
those meetings at
which allocations
are discussed, or
in advance of
them to any board
member.
Two key Federation Commit
tees now have new leadership. The
Charlotte Jewish News Committee
will be co-chaired for the next year
by Bob Abel, Bob Davis and Roz
Taranto. While Roz and Bob Davis
have been active on the Committee,
Bob Abel is a new addition. It’s re
ally amazing that Harvey Cohen,
our editor, is able to produce so fine
a paper with the limited time and
resources available. Many thanks to
Harvey and his very supportive
committee.
The Speizman Library Com
mittee will be chaired this year by
Bobby Damsky. Bobby has begun
working with our librarian, Amalia
Warshenbrodt, to prioritize the
needs of the community for library
services and determine how best to
develop the potential of this fine
facility.
I trust everyone has a healthy
and happy new year.
Rich Osborne-Prestdent
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