The Charlotte
Vol. 32, No. 4
Nisan-lyar 5770
April 2010
An Affiliate of ttie Jewish Federation of Greater Ctiariotte
Federation’s Twelfth Annual Soring Lecture
“Identical Strangers” Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein Speak
about Their Unique Experience as Twins Separated at Birth
The 12th Annual Women’s
Spring Lecture, presented by the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Charlotte’s Women’s Division,
will take place Thursday, April 22
in the Sandra and Leon Levine
Social Hall at Temple Israel. Guest
Speakers Elyse Schein and Paula
Bernstein, authors of Identical
Strangers - A Memoir of Twins
Separated and Reunited will tell
their emotional story in alternating
voices.
The Spring Lecture is the
Women’s Division largest cam
paign and outreach event. Amy
Augustine is chair of The Spring
Lecture and committee members
are Jill Dinerman, Debbie
Freedman, Jill Halverstam, Dana
Kapustin, Linda Seigel, Aviva
Stein, Roz Snyder and Robin
Zimmerman.
The event’s corporate sponsors
are Plate Perfect Catering, Reid’s
Fine Foods, Greenfield Integrative
Healthcare and REACH
(Reproduction Endocrinology
Associates of Charlotte).
Additional sponsors include
ArtShots Photography, Carolinas
Health Care System, Creative
Events, Laxer, Long and Savage,
Luna Homes, North Carolina
Bank and Trust, Perfect Image
Printing, Polka Dot Bakery, John
Ric Hair Spa and Via Veneto
Shoes and Clothing.
Identical Strangers is the amaz
ing story of two women coming to
terms with the strange and unbe
lievable hand fate has dealt them.
an account that broadens the
definition of family and pro
vides insight into our own
DNA and the singularly
exceptional imprint it leaves
on our lives. The authors
write about the immediate
intimacy they share as twins
and the wide chasm that
divides them as two complete
strangers. Interweaving eye
opening studies and statistics
on twin science into their nar
rative, they offer an intelligent
and heartfelt glimpse into human
nature.
Paula Bernstein is a freelance
writer whose work has been pub
lished in The New York Times,
New Yorker, The Village Voice and
Redbook among other publica
tions. Formerly a reporter at
Variety and The Hollywood
Reporter, Bernstein has also been
a regular contributor to CNN. A
graduate of Wellesley College, she
has a master’s degree in cinema
studies from New York University.
Bernstein lives in Brooklyn with
her husband and two daughters.
Elyse Schein is a writer and
filmmaker Her short films / Steal
Happiness and Private Dick have
been shown at the Telluride Film
Festival and at cinemas in Prague
and San Francisco. A graduate of
Stony Brook University, she stud
ied film at FAMU, Prague’s Film
and TV School of the Academy of
Performing Arts. She has also
worked as an English teacher, pho
tographer and translator. Schein
Authors Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein.
currently lives in Brooklyn.
The evening will begin with
dinner at 6:15 PM in the Sandra
and Leon Levine Social Hall; the
lecture will take place at 8 PM in
the temple sanctuary. A dessert
reception and book signing will
follow the program. Books are
currently available for pur
chase at the Federation office
and will also be sold at the
event.
Spring Lecture tickets are
$40 for the dinner and lecture,
or $18 for the lecture only. A
suggested minimum pledge of
$50 from each woman attend
ing the Spring Lecture will
assist us in our efforts to raise
$2,900,000 for our 2010
Annual Campaign. The money
raised by the Federation
Annual Campaign enables the
Jewish Federation to make a dif
ference everyday in the lives of
millions of people in Charlotte, in
Israel and in sixty countries
around the world. We do this by
offering financial support for pro
grams that feed the hungry, care
for the elderly, educate the young,
provide assistance for the trou
bled, and intervene on behalf of
families in distress who are unable
to meet their basic needs.
For more information or to pur
chase tickets, please visit our web
site at www.jewishcharlotte.org or
call 704-944-6757. ^
See comments from event chair
Amy Augustine on page 2 and
the Temple Israel book club
meeting on’’Identical Strangers”
on page 19.
JEWISH^
FEDERATION 5
OF GRCATER CHARLOTTE
Local, Global, Eternal
“The Family I Never Knew” Art Exhibit
by Ardyn Halter
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Thursday, April 29: An Evening
with Renowned Israeli Artist
Ardyn Halter
A unique and powerful art
exhibit addressing the Shoah by
acclaimed Israeli artist Ardyn
Halter will be on public display
during the month of April in the
Speizman Gallery located near the
Levine-Sklut Judaic Library and
Resource Center
Entitled The Family I Never
Knew, the prints and paintings
“depict the Shoah from the point
of view of the second generation
and also those were bom after it,”
Halter explains. “It was not my
experience to witness the killing,
murder, humiliation and atrocities.
That experience is second-hand,
read-of, heard-of, ‘inherited,’
whatever that means. My experi
ence is of being part of a family
and a people living after genocide.
It is about a void.”
In drawing them back from
oblivion, Ardyn Halter makes us
conscious of the scale of loss. This
is the family he never knew and
can never know.
Bom in London and educated at
Cambridge University, Halter
made his home in Israel in 1979.
Son of parents from Poland and
Hungary who survived the Shoah,
he created several major memorial
projects including Yad LaYeled in
Israel - the memorial to the 1.5
million Jewish children who were
murdered during the Shoah; the
memorial stained glass windows
commemorating the Rwandan
genocide of 1994 for the national
genocide memorial in Kigali,
Rwanda. His sculpture “Your
Fellow Man” at the Armored
Corps Memorial in Latran, Israel,
marks the contribution by Jewish
foreign volunteers during the War
of Independence.
A world-class artist with a well-
established reputation in both
Judaic and fine works. Halter’s
paintings and prints have become
popular in Israel, Europe, and
North America, highly sought by
museums and private collectors.
His work is included in numerous
collections such as the Israel
Museum, The Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, The British
Library, London, The National
Library of Ireland, Dublin, The
New York Public Library.
Join us on Thursday, April 29 at
6 PM in the Levine-Sklut Judaic
Library for a wine and cheese
reception with Ardyn Halter.
Tickets are available for $5. Please
RSVP to Talli Dippold at 704-944-
6780 or tdippold@shalomchar-
lotte.org.
THE RABIN-KING INITIATIVE
Ambassador Reda Mansour joins
Dean Lawrence Carter
see page 21 for details