5007 Providence Road Charlotte, NC 28226 Change Sen^ice Requested Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Charlotte. NC Permit No. 1208 The Charlotte JEWISH Vol. 21 No. 5 lyar-Sivan 5759 May 1999 Shalom Park To Expand! The Leon Levine Foundation and Anita & Herman Blumenthal Lead $28 million Capital/Endowment Drive; Harry Swimmer and Hal Levinson Will Chair Campaign Shelton Gorelick, President of the Foundation of Shalom Park, announced the beginning of a cam paign to expand and endow Shalom Park. In all, the initial plans will enlarge the existing facilities from the present 75,000 sq. ft. to more than 180,000 sq. ft.! The community campaign received an incredible boost from early campaign commitments in excess of $17 million. As a result of the cornerstone commitment of $5,000,000 from The Leon Levine Foundation, the Jewish Conmiunity Center will be known as the Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center, A $5,000,000 founding gift from Anita and Herman Blumenthal and the Blumenthal Family, will create the Blumenthal Jewish Education Center. The generosity of Lori and Eric Sklut will provide $2,000,000 to bring into being the Mindy E. Levine Day .Camp at the Jewish Community Center. Gorelick was pleased to announce that a $2,000,000 pledge from Howard Levine will allow us to add a sec ond gymnasium to the Jewish Community Center. Founding pledges of $1,000,000 each from the Shelton Gorelick Family and the William Gorelick Family, and $500,000 from the Ostrow Family will help lead the Campaign ro expand and endow Shalom Park toward its $28 million goal. A full list of campaign com mitments appears on page 16. The Building Committee, chaired by Eric Sklut and Bill Gorelick, has been working with all of the Shalom Park institutions and the architecture firm of Lee, Nichols and Hepler for more than two years to design facilities that will address our community’s pro jected needs. The project will include both renovations to the existing building and the construc tion of new facilities. The project will have significant impact on the programs and services offered by the Temple Israel Religious School, Temple Beth El Religious School, Jewish Community Center of Charlotte, Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, Jewish Day School of Charlotte, Charlotte Jewish Preschool, Carolina Agency for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, Consolidated Hebrew High School and the Speizman Jewish Library. The $28 million campaign includes approximately $19 mil lion in ccMistructicn costs and $9 million as an endowment for oper ations. Shelton Gorelick states that, “Both capital and endowment funds are necessary. The existing Shalom Park construction was completed without a mortgage. We must have the funding for construc tion so we do not compromise the community’s future by saddling it with tremendous debt. And, we have to know, up front, that we will have sufficient funds to operate the facilities we build. While the Shalom Park institutions will still See pages 16 and 17 for the architectural rendering of the new Shalom Park. be responsible for much of the yearly operating and upkeep cosu, the endowment will provide a Targe measure of security. Anything less than these actions would leave the bulk of the financial burden to future generations. Our job is to create the fiscal foundation. Our responsibility is to get it done, now!” Shelton Gorelick is confident that the community will embrace a plan to enable the Charlotte Jewish community to build on the vision ary dream that originally resulted in the creation of Shalom Park. The next stage of this evolutionary pro ject will produce a new, creative and dynamic reality fashioned to address the challenges of keeping Jewish life in Charlotte vibrant and inspiring. Campaign Committee Formed With the agreement of veteran community leaders Harry Swimmer and Hal Levinson to serve as co-chairmen of the Campaign Committee, Gorelick is sure the campaign will reach its goals. Swimmer, who has in some way left his mark on almost every aspect of Jewish life in Charlotte, is one of our most revered and respected community leaders. In an almost single-hand^ fashion, he was the primary force in the origi nal campaign that raised the funds for Shalom Park when it opened in Harry Swimmer *• f, i i. Connecting Families Sustaining Tradtion 1999 Federation Campaign Achieves Goal - Raises $2 Million! Hal Levinson 1986. Swimmer has been at the forefront of Jewish community development for over 40 years Levinson, a native Charlottean and former President of the Jewish Community Center, continues to serve as a valued voice in commu nity planning and is widely aclmowledged as someone deeply committed to the diversity of the Charlotte Jewish community. Together, Swimmer and Levinson represent Uiist and effec tiveness spanning two generations of Charlotte Jewish communal leadership. They have successfully completed the first task of their current assignment by assembling a skilled and energetic Campaign Committee that includes: Gail and John Baron, Lee and Jeff Bierer, Alan and Lee Blumenthal, Tracy and Larry Brown, Michael Cohen, Larry Farber, Roni and Glenn Fishkin, Mickey Gold, Meg Goldstein, Bill Gorelick, Shelton Gorelick, Stacy and Todd Gorelick, Nancy and Bob Kipnis, Karen Knoble and Barry Bobrow, Alan Kronovet, Allie and Eric Lemer, Norm Levin, Daniel Levine, Miles (Continued on page 27) In an unprecedented show of support, the Jewish community has pledged over $2 million for the Jewish Federation’s 1999 Annual Campaign. Achieving the $2 million mark is a historic accomplishment for Charlotte and establishes a strong foundation as the community moves into next millennium. Meg Goldstein, 1999 Annual Campaign Chair, is thrilled with the accomplishment and attributes the campaign’s success to a vari ety of factors. “Our Major Givers initially established the momentum for the campaign at the Major Gifts event by responding positively when asked to raise their gifts by 25%. We built upon this momentum with the Leonard Nimoy event which was hugely successful. With close to 500 in attendance we were able to effectively tell the Federation story and 80% of those who were present raised their gifts. Additionally, the gala allowed us to broaden the base of Federation donors by garnering 97 new gifts. The ‘99 Campaign Cabinet also deserves consider able credit for working hard to reach out to those who were unable to attend the gala.” Of Greater CHARLorre Federation President, Bill Gorelick agrees with Ms. Goldstein that education is the key to the success of the Annual Campaign and that bringing in a major speaker for a Federation community wide event was the winning ticket. “We have heard overwhelming ly positive feedback about the gala and we were so pleased that the community responded positively to our first effort. It was gratifying to see that when asked the com munity stopped forward to meet the challenge to provide the dol lars that are needed. We should be very proud that we have achieved this historic total ” $2 million represents an 18% increase over last year’s campaign and will make an additional $300,000 available to be allcx;ated lo the Federation’s beneficiary agcncies. Special thanks to the following (Continued on page 20) Yugoslav Jews Send E-mails to Describe the Crisis They Face SHALOM PARK By Ruth E. Gruber ROME (JTA) - A former leader of the Yugoslav Jewish communi ty plays tennis with a group of friends two times a week in Belgrade. When they play now, the men wear bull’s-eye targets pinned to their backs — a symbol worn by Yugoslav citizens protesting NATO bombs. Last week they had to cut short a game because of an air raid siren, but despite the bombing the games “will probably go on,” he quipped by e-mail, “as long as the tennis courts are intact - or as long as we are intact.” This man, like most people con tacted for this story, asked that his name not be used. He added; “I still feel that Uiis is surreal. I still cannot believe all this is happen ing. OK, I do, but not yet 100%. I suppose people in Beirut, Sarajevo and perhaps Vietnam, for that matter felt the same way.” NATO’s ongoing air war against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s campaign against eth nic Albanians in Kosovo has placed Yugoslavia’s 3,000 Jews, The Federation has established the Kosovo Relief Fund to purchase food, clothing, medicine and other humanitarian needs. Checks can be mailed to the Kosovar Relief Fund c/o the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte. am. tatf Atart A* Mnr Aaiw M* fltti Wwr aMw PMfc AiihlNrtiil iterieihn Smatar**MnrIM MBiMt ff. 1 ft 23 1«-17 Also inside ... Federation News ....page 4 Jewish Family Services ... page 7 Temple Beth El page 8 Temple Israel . page 9 Lubavitch of North Carolina ... . page 10 Women’s Page . . • •• page 12 CAJE ... page 13 Speizman Jewish Library .... . page 14 The Jewish Travckx ••• page 15 Dinsng Out ... page 24 26 Jewi-ih Coir;n.anUy C€=-:.r .. . most of whom live in Belgrade, in much the same crisis as that faced by their fellow countrymen. Yugoslavia’s Jews are well inte grated into mainstream society, and they share the sante concerns, frustrations and fears - as well is the same black humor • experi enced by their feliow citizens as they try to carry on their daily lives. “Our worries are the same, and our troubles- too,” i^id on? BelgraHc Jewish coim rixni-