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 c; - 1 > F - T 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^