The Charlotte Jewish News - November 2013 - Page 7
Temple Or Olam Receives Handmade Torah Mantels
Look at Temple Or Olam’s new
Torah mantels and you will see
powerful images. But you will not
see the typieal ones. Not the Ten
Commandments. Not a menorah.
Not a Magen David.
The new handmade Torah mantels.
Instead, we ehose to depiet the
Song at the Sea and remind our
eongregation: az yashir. They
sang. We ehose to reeall Mt. Sinai
and the deseription of our people
found in Torah — not only de-
seendants of Abraham, but an erev
rav, a mixed multitude — all of
whom went up to Sinai to reeeive
the gift of Torah.
\^y those images? Why those
seenes?
Az yashir: Think of the story—
a flight from Egypt (whieh means
“narrow plaee”). Anxiety by day
and terror by night—mitigated
only by God’s presenee leading
the people in the form of a pillar
of fire or a pillar of smoke.
It takes eourage to eross a
sea of any kind. As human
beings we eross over seas of
our own making — perhaps
of self-doubt or uneertainty,
perhaps a sea of repressed
rage. Some seas rage beyond
our eontrol, the result of a
tempestuous eeonomie storm
for example that takes our
jobs and ehallenges our abil
ity to take eare of house and
home.
Yet, we sing. For more
than two and a half millennia
I we have sung our way into
® exile and out of one home
after another to plaees we
have yet to know. Like Abra
ham, we have traveled many
times to many plaees. We have
been frequently enslaved and op
pressed; our stories are not simply
a thing of an aneient past. We eel-
ebrate like Miryam again and
again; eaeh simeha we mark, from
a bar or bat mitzvah to a festival
rieh with meaning, is an aeknowl-
edgment of a eertain kind of tri
umph, a reminder of our freedom
and how dearly we have paid to
Rabbi Rick Jacobs to Visit
Temple Emanuel of
Gastonia
Temple Emanuel of Gastonia,
NC, proudly eelebrating its
100th Anniversary, will weleome
URJ President Rabbi Riek Jaeobs
to Shabbat morning serviees,
Saturday, November 9, 10:30
AM, followed by a luneheon and
study session. The Jewish eom-
munity from throughout the re
gion is invited, and the eourtesy
of an RSVP is requested
(Marisa Marder, 704-460-533,
marisamarder@att.net).
The honor of Rabbi Jaeobs par-
tieipating in Shabbat serviees and
leading the study session is part of
a series of eultural, soeial, and ed-
ueational events eommemorating
Temple Emanuel’s 1913 eharter
with leaders sueh as David
Lebowitz (Lebo’s), and the
Sehneider, Silverstein, Goldberg
families, and many others.
Rabbi Jaeobs was ordained in
1982 by Flebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion in
New York, then spent 20 years as
spiritual leader at Westehester Re
form Temple (WRT) in Searsdale,
NY. Fie was installed as President
of the Union for Reform Judaism
(URJ) in June 2012.
The Rabbi travels the eountry
tirelessly and makes himself
available to eongregations large
and small and is fast
being reeognized as one
of the nation’s most in
fluential religious lead
ers. Temple Emanuel
weleomes Rabbi Jaeobs
to its eommunity as part
of its 100th Anniversary.
The eommemorative
season has already seen
A Night of Jewish Musie on Oe-
tober 13, featuring eongregants
Joel Florowieh on viola, and
Conny Thymius on flute, elarinet,
and saxophone, and eoneluding
with a raueous set from Char
lotte’s own Viva Klezmer.
The week following Rabbi
Jaeob’s visit will be the Temple’s
100th Anniversary Gala eelebra-
tion, with dinner, daneing, honor
ing of past and eurrent leadership,
and bestowing to Marshall Raueh
the Wisdom of Solomon Lifetime
Aehievement Award, the eongre-
gation’s highest honor and one of
the most eoveted awards granted
in Gaston County. Tiekets are
$125 and available through Alan
Nash, 617-510-1334, alane-
nash@gmail.eom.
Temple Emanuel would like to
thank the Union for Reform Ju
daism, espeeially Rabbi Jaeob’s
eapable and generous staff, our
major partners the Jewish Feder
ation of Greater Charlotte, the
Glenn Foundation, First Presbyte
rian Chureh of Gastonia, UNC-
Charlotte Dept, of Religious
Studies, Belmont Abbey College,
and all of the individuals who
made our eommemorative season
possible. ^
'Jew-ple
have it. Az yashir.
Erev rav alah—a mixed multi
tude went up. For our eongrega
tion, aeknowledging the rieh
diversity among our families has
been eentral to our mission from
the get-go. Making sure that we
understand how to honor eaeh
other has been eritieal to defining
who we are.
Mt. Sinai is a eritieal juneture
in our narrative. Exodus 19:8:
The Israelites eommit: N’aseh
V ’nishma. “We will do and we will
understand.” Every time you aet
on the basis of ethieal mandates,
you understand their purpose on a
new and higher level. A single aet
beeomes a praetiee, a way of life.
We must all go up. We must all
do. We must all understand.
Or Olam’s Torah mantels were
almost a year in the making. They
remind us who we are and what
we do. A eommunity blessed by
its riehness and depth.
A eommunity willing to sing.^
Hanukkah Starts November 27
Order Your Hanukkah Baskets Early
We carry a fine selection of kosher products and much more.
Gift Paper
Menorahs
Paper Goods
Candles
Custom Wreaths
Gourmet Baskets
Send a gourmet
basket that says you eare
to those who are sitting
Shiva
' Local delivery and shipping available
Open Monday thru Saturday 10am-5pm
Connie Kleinberg, Owner
704-849-7098
MAT THEWS
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BASKETS
Any Reason ■ Every Season
Located inside Matthews Holiday Haus ♦ 159 N. Trade St., Matthews, NC 28105
WWW. matthewsgiftbaskets. com
_ ^ B"H
Jewish Preschool
$5
pev
c\ass
Drop
,\conos
Mondays
9:15 -10:15 am
Oct. 7 - Dec. 16
t (no meeting on Nov. 25)
Jewish Preschool on Sardis
6619 Sardis Road, Charlotte, NC 28270
For more information contact:
704-364-8395 or info@JPSonSardis.org
A BENEFICIARY AGENCY Of
JEWISH^
FEpEfOTipN^