The Charlotte Jewish News - January 2010 - Page 17
Dr. Ron Carter to Deliver Temple Beth Music Plays a Starring Role
El’s Martin Luther King Shabbat Sermon at Temple Or Olam
Each January, Temple Beth El
partners with a local and vibrant
African American Church for a
celebration of the Shabbat preced
ing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
On January 15, Dr Ron Carter of
Johnson C. Smith University will
offer the MLK sermon, challeng
ing us to create healing in our city
not just on the days we celebrate
the life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., but also throughout the year
Dr. Ron Carter is a rising star
on the landscape of Charlotte’s
leadership. He received his BA
from Morehouse College and his
Master of Theology and PhD in
Philosophy of Religion from
Boston University. In 1981, he
became the youngest dean of stu
dents of Boston University. At
University of the Witwatersrand in
A three-part course on the foun
dations of Jewish traditions for
those who want to reconnect or
find an entree into Jewish life. Our
clergy will use traditional and
modem Jewish texts to cover the
Jewish perspective on spirituality,
values and community. Free, but
registration is required by calling
Shari Hackman, Membership and
Outreach Director, at 704-749-
3051.
Introduction to Judaism, 8-9
PM, February 3, 10, 17, 24; March
3, 10, 17 and 24. Cost: $65/person
Johannesburg, South Africa, he
defied the status quo by becoming
the school’s dean of students —
and one of the first black adminis
trators at the traditionally white
institution. Prior to coming here.
Dr. Carter served as provost and
dean of faculty at Coker College
in Hartsville, SC.
Lifting the words of the service
will be the joint music of two
choirs. East Stonewall’s AME
Zion Church and Temple Beth El’s
adult choir Bill Ward, Co-Music
Director for East Stonewall AME
Zion and Temple Beth El’s organ
ist, will work closely with Cantor
Bernard to orchestrate the moving
music of the MLK Shabbat experi
ence.
This year’s event will also mark
the start of a new Johnson C.
or $115/couple (members),
$75/person or $125/couple (non
members).
An eight-week course designed
to give a basic understanding of
Judaism - its beliefs, values and
practices. You will explore funda
mental Jewish beliefs, Jewish his
tory, Jewish holidays, lifecycles,
liturgy and sacred texts, the
Commandments, Israel, philoso
phy and Judaism and Christianity.
Register at www.beth-el.com/rsvp
or 704-749-3070. ^
Smith Spring Semester course
entitled “African American-
Jewish Relations.” Jewish leaders
will partner with Johnson C.
Smith and other area faculty to
reflect on the history of our two
peoples. On one hand, this history
has involved deep and painful
struggles, and on the other, it has
witnessed the deepest levels of
trust and true partnership. The
course will explore commonalities
and differences, from our interpre
tation of Biblical texts to our
respective experiences of slavery
and the Holocaust. It will also
highlight historical partnerships
from the founding of the NAACP
to fighting for civil rights. Guest
instructors will include Rabbi
Murray Ezring, Mariashi Groner
and other Jewish community cler
gy, scholars and leaders.
Dr. Ron Carter’s speaking at
Temple Beth El and Rabbi
Schindler’s subsequent lectures at
Johnson C. Smith University are
part of a citywide sermon
exchange created by Crossroads
Charlotte and Mecklenburg
Ministries. From January 15
though Black History Month in
February, religious leaders across
our city will be engaged in sermon
exchanges that bring them to con
gregations racially, and perhaps
religiously, different from their
own.
Temple Beth El’s MLK
Shabbat Service will be held
Friday, January 15, at 7 PM in the
Sam Lemer Center of Cultural
Arts. An overflow sanctuary with
video and sound connection will
be set up in Gorelick Hall. ^
At Temple Or Olam, the first
and only synagogue in Cabarrus
County, music is an integral part
of the Jewish experience. And the
music is as eclectic as the mem
bership itself
Where else would you find the
Rabbi leading the congregation in
melodies that come from Yemen,
Poland, Germany, Israel and
America, playing guitar and
singing, while her husband
accompanies her on such unusual
instruments as the udu and the dar-
bouka, along with keyboards, tam
bourines and other percussion
devices?
For Rabbi Barbara Thiede, song
and prayer work together and are
critical components to the Shabbat
services, especially in a congrega
tion that didn’t grow up with
Hebrew as its native language.
“The way that the music will
frame the emotional and spiritual
message of the text of the liturgy is
critical,” says Thiede. “Maybe
they only know the word ‘shalom’
and they know no other words in
‘Oseh Shalom,’ but if the melody
and music provides a setting for
that kind of expression of longing,
then the message of the liturgy
will come through.”
Rabbi Thiede provides a
diverse collection of songs and
melodies that reflect the worldli
ness of Jewish culture.
“How do I select music? I select
mostly by listening,” says Thiede.
“I try to have as much diversity as
I can find. Listen to Ashkenazi
music, but also listen to Sephardi
music and Mizrahi music. I think
another ingredient in all of this is
recognizing that whatever congre
gation you have, no matter what
size, Jews have been all over the
world. Even those who think
they’ve been straight Ashkenazi,
at one point or another there were
probably Spanish or Portuguese
Jews, Yemenite Jews, North
African Jews somewhere in the
mix, because there’s been so much
traveling around.”
All of that figures into the musi
cal selections Thiede makes.
“What we’ve got is an attempt on
my part both to listen and then to
transmit the diversity of this expe
rience through the music the peo
ple are hearing,” says Thiede.
And one of the real joys for
Thiede and the rest of the congre
gation is how music draws chil
dren into prayer “There is nothing
as infectious as music for chil
dren,” says Thiede. “What you
want more than anything as a spir
itual leader is for children to
delight in their expression of their
Jewishness. We have a wide range
of music that they can move to,
that they can clap to, that they can
play a little tambourine to.”
That only serves to reinforce
their faith.
“Their association with services
will be the association of joy and
enthusiasm,” says Thiede. “And
what are they really doing?
They’re experiencing thousands of
years later something like what
people must have experienced at
the time Levites made the music at
the Temple. We’ve been playing
music and singing at worship ever
since.”
To leam more about Temple Or
Olam, an independent and fully
egalitarian congregation, check
out our website at www.or-
olam.org. ^
Fundamentals of Judaism
Courses at Temple Beth El
Taste of Judaism, 7-9 PM, January
13, 20 and 27
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Friday Night Shabbaton on
January 29 in Honor of Tu
B’shevat at Ohr HaTorah
The last Shabbat in January of
2010 marks the festive day of Tu
B’shevat, also known as the New
Year for Trees. The theme of Tu
B’shevat is to celebrate God’s gift
to us with the splendid trees and
delicious fruits He has given to us,
especially in the Land of Israel.
There are many beautiful tradi
tions associated with this special
day, including the tasting of the
five fruits that Israel was blessed
with in the Torah. They are the fig,
date, pomegranate, olive, and
wine grape.
On Friday night, January 29,
the eve of Shabbat Tu B’shevat,
Ohr HaTorah will host an exciting
Tu B’shevat family Shabbaton
open to the community. The
Shabbaton at Ohr HaTorah
will present fruits that are unique
ly described in the Torah as being
associated with the Land of
Israel and will also feature an
extravagant wine tasting of some
of the greatest wines from Israel.
The celebration of the bounty
was a major event in ancient
Israel, and it involved all the peo
ple with many ceremonial obser
vances and rituals as commanded
by the Torah. The trees have a spe
cial place in Judaism, as the Torah
says that we humans are likened to
the tree in the field. There are
many rules regarding how to treat
trees, care for them, and not cut
down fruit-producing trees.
Judaism leams many teachings
about Jewish life from how we
treat the trees.
The Sephardic community is
known to hold a special Tu
B’shevat Seder with four cups of
wine and a display of dazzling
exotic fruits in celebration of this
day. In Israel they plant new trees
on Tu B’shevat, although this year
they will be planting on Sunday in
respect for Shabbat.
The evening will begin with a
candle lighting ceremony at 5:30
PM, followed by a joyous Friday
night service. The holiday Shabbat
dinner will begin at 6:45
PM. There will be an array of Tu
B’shevat activities for adults and
children during the dinner For
more information please visit our
website at ohrhatorahnc.org or call
our office at 704-366-3984. ^
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