The Charlotte Jewish News - November 2013 - Page 12 WORK WITH A LEADER IN CHARLOTTE REAL ESTATE tmm: Executive Realty 704-926-2544 office 704-975-8500 cell www.LepowRealtors. com i “0 Steve r Lepow LEADING THE WAY TO YOUR SUCCESS SOLAMERE ADVISORS juDY H. August Client Advisor Providing wealth management clients with customized solutions, institutional resources, and personalized service. 4201 Congress St | Suite 455 | Charlotte, NC 28209 JudyHAugust@solamereadvisors.com | 704-547-3060 Investment Advisory Services offered through Bolamere Advisors, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Meg D. Goldstein Attorney-At-Law Estate Planning, Estate and Trust Administration, Pre-Marital Agreements, Charitable Planning and Entities, General Corporate and Tax Law, Business Succession Planning 5960 Fairview Road, Suite 400 Charlotte, North Carolina 28210 Tel: 704.523.2202 ♦ Fax: 704.496.2716 MG0LDSTEIN@MG0LDLAW.COM ♦ WWW.MGOLDLAW.COM Schools Is It Already November? Now that we are in November, we smile at the thought of Thanks giving and Chanukah oeeurring at the same time, what some have now referred to as “Thanks- givukkah.” This eombination of two popular holidays, one seeular and one religious, have ehallenged Jewish edueators to approaeh teaehing about both holidays at the same time. As we juggled the benefits of teaehing them sepa rately versus together, we realized that while this eireumstanee is eer- tainly onee-in-a-lifetime, it is nothing new at the Charlotte Jew ish Presehool for us to eombine religious and the seeular ideas in our elassrooms. CJP teaehers are eontinuously working on implementing Jewish values in the elassroom that apply to the ehild’s everyday lives and happenings. Children are being praised for their good deeds on the Chesed Tree through aets of kind ness and being a menseh at sehool. We hope that aets of kind ness for a presehooler, sueh as helping a friend who has fallen, or sharing a snaek translate into more signifieant aets of performing mitzvot. Our teaehers plan eooperatively by age level. This team planning involves all of the teaehers eollab- orating their thematie ideas and weaving them through our sehool aeademie eoneepts. For example, we might be teaehing about the farm as a thematie unit but will be eovering the eoneept of number sense and animals and their habi tats. Invariably we will always take the opportunity to ask the question “What is Jewish about this theme or eoneept?” This ques tion alone ensures that we are staying true to who we are and what we want our ehildren to be- eome. Our speeialist teaehers also work diligently to ineorporate the ideals from both religious and see ular eurrieulum to our presehool- ers. For the past several years, Morah Beeea has been teaehing Thanksgiving as a Jewish holiday in her Judaiea elassroom by em phasizing the Judaie value hachnasat orchim, or weleoming visitors. Thanksgiving is a holi day when we invite friends and family to our table to share a meal and be together, and we teaeh our ehildren the proper ways to wel- eome and treat visitors. Our stu dents also make signs that read “Bruchim Haba’im!” whieh means “Weleome!” so that guests are warmly invited into our Thanksgiving feast. These values also spill over into other speeial days at the presehool. For exam ple, we weleome parents and grandparents into our elassrooms for Bagels and Bloeks, Tea for Two, Grandparents Day, and our weekly Shabbat serviees. Our stu dents are frequently reminded to praetiee hachnasat orchim and weleome their friendly visitors into our sehool. Our seienee teaeher. Miss Mar- eie, merges Judaism with seienee in her lessons. When students were learning about the phases of the moon Miss Mareie also taught them about the eonneetion be tween the moon and Rosh Chodesh, our eelebration of the new month. Miss Patty, our musie speeialist, teaehes our students tra ditional Jewish presehool songs that bring joy and familiarity. Ad ditionally, she warms our Shabbat serviees with her musie and enthu siasm, eonveying to the students that Shabbat is simultaneously a plaee of prayer and a plaee of fun. At the library, students listen to stories dramatieally retold by Miss Debby. She brings to life Jewish stories, eharaeters, and themes for our ehildren to enjoy. In our monthly Judaiea newsletter, we eneourage parents to praetiee being Jewish every day Chariotte Jewish Preschool ■ •OW I with their ehildren and suggest a Judaie value for them to foeus on that month. Parents are eneour- aged to ineorporate their Judaism into their seemingly seeular every day lives so they ean see that we are not just Jewish when we attend synagogue or say a prayer. We are Jewish when we live Jewishly. When we studied Noah’s Ark at the CJP parents worked on tzar ba’alei chayim with their kids, teaehing them how we take eare of animals. For our tzedakah proj- eet families sent in old towels and blankets and animal treats to take eare of animals at Spay Neuter Charlotte. Families were eneour- aged to teaeh their ehildren proper eare of household pets, and for those families without pets we suggested they take their ehildren on a nature walk to observe God’s ereatures. The Charlotte Jewish Presehool takes pride in our strong eurrieu lum that has sueeessfully inter twined both religious and seeular eoneepts. As we light the meno- rah on Thanksgiving night we are reminded that we are not only Amerieans or only Jews - we ean sueeessfully intertwine our eul- tures and traditions, as we do on a daily basis at the Charlotte Jewish Presehool. Learn. Grow. Conneet. with our staff and families at the Charlotte Jewish Presehool. For further in formation on how to enroll your ehild into our wonderful world of learning, please eontaet Alyson Kalik at 704-944-6776 or aka- lik@shalomeharlotte.org. ^ Havurat Tikvah Celebrates 25th Anniversary (Continued from page 8) led the serviees. In its 10th year, the eongrega- tion made the deeision to affiliate with the Reeonstruetionist move ment. This was seen as a natural fit sinee its preeepts matehed many of the prineiples of Havurat Tikvah. One of the greatest aehievements was when the havu- rah purehased its own Torah. Other havurah members shared additional memories. Bill Gross spoke of the life-long friendships he had made at Havurat Tikvah and said, “I am in deep wonder ment at what grew out of the havurah: meaningful religious ob- servanees, lessons on Jewish tra dition and the emergenee of my personal praetiee of tikkun olam.” Gathering and supporting its eon- gregants has always been the eor- nerstone of how the eongregation funetions. He remarked that Havurat Tikvah was there when he got married and when he lost his mother. Pam Crown eommented, “I treasure my time with the havurah eommunity .... The warmth of the members toward neweomers is outstanding and makes the times of prayer more meaningful.” Lainey Millen shared, “For the first months that we gathered and prayed together, I was deeply moved beeause I felt that I had found my religious home.” Havurat Tikvah, a eommunity of hope, has been lay-led and egalitarian sinee its beginning. It eontinues to hold to its original eommitment of providing mem bers and visitors with an engaging and spiritual experienee. The havurah holds monthly Shabbat serviees and holiday observanees, adult study, an Israeli film series, as well as a number of soeial ae- tion projeets ineluding Room in the Inn and Projeet Linus. A eommunity Shabbat serviee will be held on November 16, 10 AM, at Avondale Presbyterian Chureh’s Aitken Classroom, 2821 Park Road. Future plans also in- elude adult edueation programs in early 2014. For more information about Havurat Tikvah - eontaet Mem bership Chair Brian Feinglass by email at membership@havurattik- vah.org, or eall 980-225-5330 or visit www.havurattikvah.org. Havurat Tikvah and Havurat Teens Charlotte groups are also on Faeebook. ^