The Charlotte Jewish News - June-July 2012 - Page 21
The American Hebrew Academy: A Once
in a Lifetime Experience
By Miriam Smallman
As a graduate of the Ameriean
Hebrew Aeademy (AHA), I ean-
not help but smile as I reeall the
fond memory of my first visit to
the Aeademy. On a eool Oetober
day, my family made the trip to
Greensboro, North Carolina, and
entered the Aeademy’s green gates
to look at this unique, Jewish
boarding sehool. Although initial
ly shy, I was eaptivated by what I
saw that day in the buildings nes
tled on the open, woodsy eampus.
Modern-day teehnology eompli-
mented a dual Jewish/seeular eur-
rieulum to ereate a one-of-a-kind
Jewish living and learning eom-
munity. I ate in the kosher dining
hall, toured a dorm room, and
ehatted with students from around
the world.
That day marked the beginning
of what has been an ineredible
four years at the Aeademy. I
entered as a nervous freshman,
and through the opportunities and
experienees provided to me, I
have beeome the person I am
today. Being away from home has
strengthened my independenee
and self-responsibility, while liv
ing in a dorm has allowed me to
form eonneetions one does not get
by just seeing eaeh other at sehool
every day. Your friends are not just
your elassmates-they are the peo
ple you pray next to during week
end serviees and your athletie
teammates. AHA, where I entered
as that shy fourteen year old, is
where I really grew up, having
learned mueh about myself and
forever grateful to AHA for guid
ing me through my adoleseenee.
I sometimes wonder what
would have beeome of me had I
not ehosen to attend the Aeademy.
I eertainly would not have studied
abroad in Israel for three months
during my Junior year, nor would
I have probably not had the oppor
tunity to play varsity soeeer. With
eaeh year that I’ve risen through
the ranks. I’ve learned more about
the institution as well as myself:
four years ago, I would not have
been able to imagine that I’d be
matrieulating to George
Washington University in the fall
with a Merit Seholarship, but the
Aeademy gave me all the tools I
needed to get there.
When I returned home from
that initial visit to the Aeademy, I
seribbled a note on my dry erase
board that read: “AHA was AHA-
wesome!” It’s still there. ^
Miriam Smallman is a senior
(class of 2012) at the American
Hebrew Academy originally from
Charlotte, North Carolina.
Miriam is a member of AHA s var
sity girls soccer team (Go
Eagles!), Cheesewagon—AHA’s
comedy improvisation troupe—
and contributes to/participates in
Miriam Smallman
editing Unbound, AHA’s literary
magazine. Miriam has one sister,
Abby (class of 2015), also attend
ing the Academy, and Miriam will
be matriculating to George
Washington University in the fall
of 2012.
Where the Wild Things Were
By Dr. Erica Brown
(JointMedia News Serviee) —
Where will the wild things go
now? More than ehildren’s litera
ture lost out with the death of
Mauriee Sendak, a world-famous
artist and writer of ehildren’s
books who died May 8 at 83—but
not before upending a world of
fear by exposing it. His book.
Where the Wild Things Are, has
beeome an Ameriean elassie most
ly beeause it radieally altered our
depletion of ehildhood innoeenee.
Instead of pastel eolors and play
toys, Sendak gave ehildren a
ehanee to look at the monsters that
live outside of us so that they
eould look at the monsters that
live within.
In 2009, Sendak told
the Assoeiated Press that, “There’s
a eruelty to ehildhood, there’s an
anger.” He did not view ehildhood
as a plaee of safety but as a plaee
of untold demons. Sendak had
many of his own. His parents
immigrated to the United States
from Poland, and he was tortured
as a ehild by images of what hap
pened to his remaining family dur
ing WWII. He believed that his
writings were a way to eonfront
the sadistie nature of human
beings and allow the memories of
those in his past to live on through
his words and illustrations.
In a radio interview, Sendak
eonfessed that he believed that
ehildren were never troubled by
his work, only adults. Children
related to his images; they loved
his monsters. The eritieisms he
reeeived aeross his eareer eame
from adults who were afraid to
assoeiate ehildhood with darkness.
Elie Wiesel, who was not
lueky as
Ameriean
as
Sendak to be on
shores during the
Holoeaust, wrote
about fear in many
of his works. The
quote above eomes
from his
play, Zalman, Or
the Madness of
God. Wiesel faeed
fear, not as an
abstraet image
lying under a bed or
in a eloset, but as a
real, tangible foree
to be reekoned with
daily. In an interview, he deseribed
the fear that would grip him and
other ehildren on Christmas and
Easter when neighbors often beat
up neighborhood kids. That fear
only got worse. He understood,
too, how fear paralyzes us and tor
ments us, preventing us from aetu-
alizing our best selves. As an adult
he overeame many of these fears
and beeame a foree for religion
and humanitarianism. Not afraid
to speak out, Wiesel gave lieense
to others to tell their most fright
ening stories and thereby gain
eontrol over them.
But perhaps our deepest fears
are not to live in darkness but to
Israel, Part 19: Winery and
Bonfire; Good-bye to the
Galilee
Dr. Erica Brown
live in light. Marianne Williamson
tapped into this fear and writes.
Our deepest fear is not that we are
inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our
darkness, that most frightens
us...You are a ehild of God. Your
playing small does not serve the
world.”
Ironieally, we often fear our
sueeess. Through the illustrator’s
imagination or through the eold
faets of Jewish history, we have
been handed an opportunity to
faee our fears, to overeome them
and ultimately to shine. ^
Dr. Erica Brown is a writer and
educator who works as the schol-
ar-in-residence for the Jewish
Federation of Greater Washington
and consults for the Jewish
Agency and other Jewish non
profits. She is the author of In
the Narrow Plaees (OU
Press/Maggid); Inspired Jewish
Leadership, a National Jewish
Book Award finalist; Spiritual
Boredom; and Confronting
Seandal.
Editor’s note: This article is
distributed with permission of Dr.
Erica Brown. Subscribe to her
“Weekly Jewish Wisdom” list
at http://leadingwithmeaning.com.
By Amy Krakovitz
On the way baek from Zippori,
we get a ehoiee: the Arab eireus in
Carmiel or a winery. It doesn’t
take mueh eonvineing for the bus
load to ehoose a winery in the
area. We stop at the Meister
Winery in Rosh Pina. After retir
ing from a eareer in banking,
Yakov Meister opened this unique
winery, with its
vats, proeessing
equipment, and
tasting room in
some natural eaves
adjaeent to the
vineyards. In addi
tion to the grapes,
he grows other
fruits and ereates
fruit liquors and
olive oils as well.
While those too
young to partake
of wine stayed
outside and played
with the Meister family dogs, the
adults enjoyed several kinds of red
wines ineluding a Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cabernet Frane, and
Shiraz. Mr. Meister also provided
snaeks in the form of eraekers,
goat eheese, and hyssop mixed
with his own olive oil. The eavem
loeation kept us eool and proteet-
ed from the 100+-degree heat and
we enjoyed both the wines and the
eompany.
Mr. Meister explained the
proeess as we toured the irmer
eaves: growing, pressing, yeast-
ing, fermenting, oaking. Doron
said that the working in a winery
is mueh more arduous that it
appears: it’s stieky work, always
fighting bugs, freezing in the
morning, steaming in the after
noons.
The bonfire on the last night at Kfar Blum.
That evening, baek at Kfar
Blum, the resort hosted a bonfire
with roasted potatoes and eom on
the eob. Though most of us were
too full from our afternoon and
dinner, we enjoyed the bonfire as
a time to relax and soeialize and to
get to know one another better
over a few bottles of the good
Israeli wine we purehased that
afternoon at Meister’s. We knew
that the next day we would be on
our way from Kfar Blum
and the Galilee and headed
for our last stop of Tel Aviv.
Next: Caesarea, Haifa,
Hadera
Maurice Sendak, z"l
Kelly and Doug Wilson and
Donna and Rich Gilbert.
Zack Gilbert with the Meisters ’
family dogs.