Open to all congregants interested in broadening their learning and to members interested in beginning or continuing their Anshei Mitzvah study. Clergy led curriculum. Topics include: The Meaning of Mitzvah and Ritual, Brachot and Liturgy, Cycle of Torah and Haftorah Readings, Books of the Bible, Torah Chanting and more. 7:00-8:00 pm in the Bernstein Education Building, Room 218 June 6, 13, 20, 27, July 11, 18, 25, August 1, 8, 15 (Dates subject to change) Cost: Member $100 – Includes materials (Minimum number of students required) RSVP now!
Mitzvah Day- May 20, 2012
Mitzvah Day 2012 was a great success! Over 475 people joined us to participate in acts of generosity and community service. Thank you to the following businesses who donated food and supplies to support Mitzvah Day 2012!
Synder's-Lance, Inc., Panera, Bruegger's, Walmart, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe's, Healthy Home Market, Bi-Lo, Cookies by Design, Family Dollar, Wolfman Pizza, Home Depot, Renfrow Hardware, Fresh Market, Chick-fil-A
Moira Quinn Klein, our TBE Board President, wrote a blog post reporting on the Board's unanimous vote to support a Resolution advocating against Amendment One. See Moira's post and the Resolution here.
Mecklenburg Ministries celebrates its 25th Anniversary on June 5th with a special evening of performances reflecting the diverse religious faiths in the local community. The evening will explore highlights of Mecklenburg Ministries' history through speakers, local clergy, videos and performances by Carolina Voices' Festival Singers, Cedric Mangum & Co., Dennis Reed & Inspire the Fire, Unity in Diversity Dance, the new Carolina Men's Chorus, the Vocal Hymn Choir from New St. John's Baptist Church, and a mass choir from local congregations. Contemporary and traditional music and dance will leave toes tapping and voices raised in song for this special anniversary celebration.
Temple Beth El is a congregational sponsor of this event. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we are pleased to offer free admission. Attendees will have the opportunity to make contributions to support the future work of Mecklenburg Ministries.
Calling All Singers: Join the Mass Choir! The Mass Choir will perform at the 25th Anniversary Celebration. Space is limited; sign up today. Learn more.
Freedom School
A New Year at the Shalom Park Freedom School Temple Beth El will join eight other Jewish agencies in hosting the second annual Freedom School on the campus of Shalom Park this summer from June 18th to July 27th. Fifty low-income students from Sterling and Huntingtowne Farms Elementary schools will participate in a six-week literacy based camp and enjoy many fun "camp-like" enrichment activities, including twice weekly swimming lessons at the LJCC. We are delighted to welcome the following teens to the Shalom Park Freedom School Teen Board: Elyse Bodenheimer, Annie Brown, Brenden Carol, Jeremy Denenberg, Jason Fox, Sydney Frankenberg, Matt Greenberg, Allison Hunt, Allie Plepler, Jonny Plepler, Rachel Uri and Jane Wester. The Freedom School also needs adult volunteers to: • Organize supply donation drives • Shop weekly for school supplies from June 18th to July 27th (one week or more) • Bring your talents or skills and provide a 45 to 90 minute activity in the afternoon. To help, please contact Shirley Rosen at shalomparkfreedomschool@yahoo.com
worship@beth-el.com
We want to hear from you about worship at Temple Beth El! We at TBE strive to provide you with a rich and meaningful spiritual home. Yet, sometimes it is hard to truly gauge whether or not we have achieved our worship goals: to help congregants reach deeply inward to the self, outward toward the community, and upward to God.
Particularly now, in this time of changing service times and evolving worship style, it is critical that we hear from you. We have created a special email address in order to collect all of your wisdom: worship@beth-el.com.
When you write to worship@beth-el.com, tell us what your experience of worship at TBE has been. Think about everything from parking lot to preneg, prayer book to power points – each moment of Shabbat at the synagogue is part of your holistic worship experience. Rather than simply telling us what you love and hate, try to evaluate whether or not a particular service helped you to pray, both individually and communally. Wherever possible, be very specific with your feedback, including the date of a particular service to which you refer.
Visit our clergy's new blog: www.TorahBuzz.org! TorahBuzz is the space where the TBE clergy reflect on the religiously relevant topics that are most meaningful to them. Here you will find musings on everything from prayer to politics, music to mysticism. To see Rabbi Judy's first post entitled: "Religion and Politics: Rabbi Judy, Where Is the Line?" CLICK HERE. A link will be posted in "This Week at Beth El" each week. You can also subscribe to TorahBuzz by clicking "follow" at the top of the blog page. www.TorahBuzz.org
Rabbi Judy- Charlotte Woman of the Year
My friends, Tuesday night was a special night for Rabbi Judy Schindler and Temple Beth El. We are so proud of Rabbi Judy...she was honored at the 57th Charlotte Woman of the Year celebration. A capacity crowd filled the theatre at ImaginOn as Carol Hardison, Executive Director of Crisis Assistance Ministries and Mary Lou Babb presented Judy with the award.
The award recognizes extraordinary contributions of women in our community...not just in the world of work, but for their impact on community and family. Both Carol, and keynote speaker, Davidson College President Dr. Carol Quillen, recognized Judy for her work lifting Temple Beth El, in social justice and social action, inclusion, LGBT issues and most of all, in the realm of moral courage.
We thank Emily Zimmern of the Levine Museum of the New South (and Beth El congregant) as well as the Charlotte Woman of the Year organization for the honor and recognition of our own Rabbi Judy.
I was proud as well to see so many TBE congregants in the audience to watch Judy receive this honor and teach with such wisdom. Appropriately, she drew her remarks from Jewish text...this one was Kol Ishah....the power of the voice of a woman. Click here to read the moving text.
If you want to honor Judy, please consider a donation in her honor to the Community Relations Fund.
Moira Quinn Klein President, Temple Beth El
"Families enjoying the Archer Atrium while waiting for students in B'nei Mitzvah tutoring"
Torah Yoga
Prepare for Shabbat with your bodies, minds and souls. Sign up now for our Spring session! Friday mornings 8:30 to 9:30 am April 20th through June 22nd in the Beit Midrash at Temple Beth El Rabbi Judith Schindler and Shelley Bear (RYT certified yoga instructor) will help us to welcome Shabbat in through Torah yoga, where we will combine moving through yoga poses guided by Jewish teachings. Enter Shabbat renewed and replenished. Please bring a yoga mat. The fee is $70 for the ten weeks for members of Beth El and members of the Levine Jewish Community Center and $75 for non-members. There is a $10/session drop-in fee. To RSVP through Beth El, www.beth-el.com/rsvp or call 704-749-3070. To RSVP through the LJCC, please call 704-366-5007. Financial assistance is available for those in need.
Click on the green box above to subscribe to our weekly newsletter- "This Week at Temple Beth El"
Click the banner above to learn how you can help solve the puzzle of homelessness in Charlotte. Sponsored by Temple Beth El.
Have you ever wondered how Temple Beth El got involved with Affordable Housing? Learn about our journey of the past and our vision for the future in a conversation with Judy Seldin-Cohen, past Co-Chair of our Social Justice and Action Committee and our leading Temple Beth El voice on this issue. Read "Conversations with Judy Seldin-Cohen" HERE. To learn how you and your family can make a difference for people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte contact Judy Seldin-Cohen at judyseldin@yahoo.com
Jewish American Heritage Month
May is Jewish American Heritage Month-
promulgated by an act of Congress in 2006. The national website to celebrate this event highlights a timeline which begins of course with our state of North Carolina. In 1585 Joachim Ganz, a Prague Jew sailed with Sir Walter Raleigh and lived on Roanoke Island, NC making him the first Jew to settle in English speaking America. To read more about Joachim, view our website, www.jhfnc.org and look for the logo above. On our site you can also view parts of our book, Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina, which covers NC Jewish history in greater detail. The national website for Jewish American Heritage Month and the Library of Congress website are chock full of interesting stories, images and videos about Jewish American history – http://www.jewishamericanheritagemonth.us/index.aspx http://www.jewishheritagemonth.gov/
Bereavement Healing Service
New Monthly Bereavement Healing Service on the first Friday night of each month in the Dale and Larry Polsky Beit Midrash at 7:15pm - As we embrace Shabbat and stop the chaos of our weekday world, our public displays of mourning are meant to cease. Yet still, it is on Shabbat when work is no longer a distraction that we feel the pain of our loss more profoundly. Through prayers and words of reflection, those who have experienced losses will have the opportunity to find healing, to find community and to find the comfort of Shabbat.
CHAZON BETH EL – The Vision for Beth El
With our upcoming 70th anniversary in 2013, the Temple Board has commissioned a strategic planning effort entitled "Chazon Beth El – The Vision for Beth El" to anticipate the Temple's needs and ensure its future.
Thank youto those who participated in a focus group on Sunday, January 8th. We will keep you updated on our progress, and recommendations will be presented at the Annual Meeting on May 21, 2012.
The Foundation of Shalom Park is a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that owns and manages the properties and facilities for most of the organizations that are located on the central campus of Shalom Park, which includes: Temple Israel, Temple Beth El, the Levine Jewish Community Center, Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, Jewish Family Services, Temple Israel Religious School, Temple Beth El Religious School, Consolidated High School of Jewish Studies, Charlotte Jewish Preschool, Charlotte Jewish Day School, Levine-Sklut Judaic Library & Resource Center, and the Charlotte Jewish News. Go to www.shalomcharlotte.org for more information
The Place to Be on Wednesday Nights! The Consolidated High School of Jewish Studies of Charlotte is a supplementary Jewish high school for students in grades 8-12, sponsored by Temple Beth El and Temple Israel, and open to all Jewish teens in Charlotte. CHS offers courses in all aspects of Judaism and a unique opportunity for students to interact with their peers. CHS also offers diverse social and community-service activities. CHS students are encouraged to develop strong Jewish values and a sense of unity with the Jewish People. Go to www.hebrewhigh.org for more information.
The American Hebrew Academy is the only Jewish college prep boarding high school in the United States. The campus is located on 100-picturesque acres in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Academy attracts students from all over the world, and currently enrolls students from 23 states and 13 countries. Ninety-Two percent of all families, whose children attend the Academy, NEVER even considered a boarding school until they visited this remarkable school. Here is a link to a short movie that gives a convincing case for the American Hebrew Academy and why more people should consider this extraordinary option. www.americanhebrewacademy.org/movie
Watch Moments from the URJ Biennial
The Union for Reform Judaism Biennial President Obama addressed those in attendance Friday afternoon, 12/16/11. Some of Temple Beth El's Clergy and Staff were there!
Beth El at the Biennial 2011
One highlight from Charlotte's Interfaith Thanksgiving Service that Temple Beth El hosted. Cantor Andrew Bernard conducting and Cantor Mary Thomas singing with the Interfaith Choir.
CONGRATULATIONS TO LIBERTY (our Beth El Senior Youth Group) for being number #1. In a national report, our Temple Beth El had the most registrations and also the most participants in NFTY (national) events in the 2010-2011 year. We thank Andy Harkavy, our Youth Director, our LIBERTY Board, our Youth Activities Committee, and our entire congregation for their support of our Beth El youth. To see our outstanding statistics on participation click here.
Use the following link to check out an assortment of Temple pictures taken by ArtShots Photography: http://artshotsphoto.exposuremanager.com/g/temple_beth_el *You will have to enter your email address before you are able to view the photos*
Our Temple, in conjunction with Shalom Bayit and United Family Services’ Victim Assistance Program, is collecting cell phones for victims – or potential victims - of domestic violence. Unwanted cell phones will be reprogrammed to call 911 and used in the event of an emergency. Simply bring the cell phone and battery charger (in a bag or box, if possible) to the office for collection. For more information check www.shalombayit-nc.org.
Please pick up your Rededication Journal from the Reception Desk. We have reserved one for every member family. The Journal features numerous businesses that support Temple Beth El, as well as Temple History and messages from previous clergy and dignitaries.
